"Hey Issei-kun"

"What is it, Yuuma-chan?"

"Can you listen to my request?" The girl with black hair asked a boy with short spiky brown hair, two short locks of hair behind his head.

"What's your request?" The boy asked the girl with a shy expression.

"Will you die for me?" The girl asked with a cunning smirk. She formed something that looks like I light spear and threw it to pierce the boy's abdomen.

"No." The boy easily caught the spear before it could pierce him as if he was already expecting it. There was also a red gauntlet on his left hand.

"Huh?" The girl is visibly shocked. "How did you-"

"Hey Raynare, I went along with this skit of yours cuz it seemed fun but dying here would be too embarrassing, you know. You are not even a low-level villain. You are basically a tutorial-level villain that anyone can win against even if they didn't want to." Issei talked with a calm expression and easily dispersed the light spear in his hand.

"Bastard, how did you know?!" Anger was clearly visible on Raynare's face. She immediately transformed into her fallen angel mode and summoned multiple light spears. She already understood that the guy in front of her already awakened his sacred gear. She didn't dare to be careless.

"Ohh~ but seriously, is this skimpy outfit really your true form? And I can even see your naked body during the transformation, aren't you even a little bit embarrassed, Raynare?" Issei dodged the spears with ease and closed the distance between them and punched Raynare in the gut.

"Gah!! You asshole, I'll kill you!" Raynare was enraged. She shot a spear at Issei and twisted her body and tried to fly to make some distance between them. Issei dodged the spear, caught Raynare's leg, and punched her to the ground.

"Ah!! Wait, Issei. Let's talk this out." Raynare's breathing was ragged. She clearly understood the power difference between the two. "I am sorry. I really enjoyed our date."

"Yeah, me too. That's my first time going on a date with an old hag." Issei said with a smile but he's still wary of her on the inside since he knows her true nature.

"Old hag?!" Raynare was never called that before.

"What the hell am I supposed to call someone who is more than 500 years old?" Issei made a face indicating as if it's obvious. "Now that I think about it. Raynare, why is your level so low when you are that old?"

Raynare understands that he is mocking her. She still calmed down and put on an act. "Hey Issei, I am really sorry. Could you let me go? I can give you anythi-"

Before Raynare could say anything else her head was lopped off. "Alright enough of that shit. I am gonna be late. I don't want to make Issei's parents worried." With that remark, he walked away from the dead body as if nothing happened.

********

(About a year ago)

"Damn, that hurt... wait, where is this place?"  The boy looked around in confusion only to find nothing.

"Kukuku" A sharp voice akin to a roar sounded in the boy's ears.

"Hmm? Who is it?" The boy looked around for the source of the voice.

"Look beside you." Suddenly a large red figure appeared on the boy's left.

"A talking dragon?" The boy looked at the source of the voice curiously.

"So, you are my new partner. Looking forward to fighting together with you." The dragon roared in joy.

"Wait, this situation... Huh?" The boy looked at his own body. A confused look appeared on his face. "Hey dragon, do you have a mirror in here?"

"Huh? Why would I?" This time, it's the dragon's turn to be confused.

"Bend your head and bring your eye closer to my face, I can see my reflection like that." The boy made such a request to the dragon without any trace of fear.

"Hmm... It seems this time, my partner is a weird one." Making that remark, the dragon brought its eye closer.

"You've got to be kidding me. Issei huh..." The boy was momentarily surprised, then he became thoughtful, finally, he looked at the dragon and said, "Ddraig, I presume?"

"Hmm... so, the partner already made some research. I guess that makes you worthy of me. Rejoice human, now you have the honor of fighting alongside the mighty Welsh Dragon." Ddraig exclaimed in a proud tone.

"Yeah right. The mighty Welsh Dragon that got his ass beaten and got sealed in a sacred gear and gets into pointless fights with Vanishing Dragon again and again for no fucking reason." The boy said as if he has no intention of listening to the dragon's boasting.

"What did you just say, human?" Ddraig roared in anger.

"Am I wrong though? Also, I have a name. It's..." The boy went into thought for a while. "Issei. Issei will do for now."

"What do you mean by that?" Ddraig was a little confused by the boy's slight pause in his introduction.

"Basically, I possessed this body. I am not the real Issei. I am not even from this world, Ddraig." The boy confessed.

"Huh? Possession? I don't know what you are talking about, human. You are the one I met after my awakening. I don't know how you were before. Something like this never happened with my other hosts." Ddraig looked at the boy and wondered if he got some screw loose in the head.

"Is that so?" The boy sighed, "Anyway, let's talk about you. Ddraig, now that you have awakened, am I right to assume that you are gonna be watching my whole life from now on?"

"Naturally, as the being sealed in the Boosted Gear, I stay by the hosts' side and give them the power they need until the end." Ddraig seemed proud about it.

"Dude, that's creepy." The boy remarked.

"Huh?" Ddraig was confused.

"That's creepy as fuck. I mean, think about it. What about the times I go to the bathroom? What if I had sex? Are you gonna be watching all of that? Do you have some voyeurism fetish or something?" The boy shuddered.

"Partner, I can give you strength that many cannot achieve. Stop paying mind to these petty things." Ddraig looked at the boy weirdly.

"Oi, I prefer privacy over strength. If you can't give me that. I don't need you. Get out of my body. Well, technically it's not mine but still, get out." The boy said with an assertive tone.

"Calm down, partner. If you want privacy, you can make sure that I can't sense what's going on outside with a little practice as long as you don't use your gear. Some of the previous hosts did that. Most of them died as I couldn't warn them about the dangers around them. I wouldn't recommend it." Ddraig explained and he concluded that this boy will be one of the hosts who would die early.

"Well, that's good to know. Let's stop there for now. I have a lot of things that I should explain but we can slowly catch up. See ya." With that remark, the boy closed his eyes to get out of this place. He already knew that he was in a dream because these direct conversations with Ddraig only happen in Issei's dream.

"The host this time looks a bit interesting although he's not going to last according to my experience," Ddraig remarked after the boy disappeared from the place.

**********

The boy woke up from his bed, checked his surroundings, and stared at himself in the mirror. He also found that the memories of the original Issei are still in a corner of his mind. "Well, I guess I can't deny it anymore. I have become Issei for some unknown reason."

The boy or rather Issei sat on the bed and arranged his thoughts. "So there's still a year for the main plot to start huh... And also, all the major events of the major characters' past like the death of Akeno's mom, the Holy sword project, Kuroka's escape, and Asia's banishment must have already taken place. Can't do anything about that."

"Let's focus on me first." Issei looked at his left arm and easily summoned the Boosted gear and made it disappear.

"Hmm... Issei is supposed to be the weakest wielder at the start of the story. He wasn't even able to get Boosted gear to its final form at the beginning. But I am able to do it just after I came into this world. Basically, I got a headstart. Why? Maybe except for the outward appearance, everything inside me might have been rewritten according to my original body." The person who possessed Issei used to be a bit stronger than the average person in his original world. So, he thought that strength is what allowed him to access Boosted gear.

"As for what I am gonna do in this world. Hmm? Now that I think about it, isn't this world kinda fucked? The villains in the later part of the novel are absolutely overpowered. Heck, there's even a guy who one-shots Great Red. And instead of the real Issei, I am in the protag's place. Should I go through all the shit that the real Issei went through... Oh, hell Nah. I give up. I am not boob-obsessed to get the same powerups as Issei. He even had to lose his body once to get a powerup... Nope. Not happening. Let's just have fun while it lasts." 'Issei' came to this conclusion.

From that day, Issei used his headstart strength and trained with Ddraig. He slowly explained to Ddraig about his situation. Ddraig didn't believe it at first but he had to believe it when Issei revealed a few truths about the world that he read in the novel. Issei got advice from Ddraig and mastered concealing it because he wants to get as strong as possible before the plot starts. He got some battle experience by secretly hunting some stray devils. Fortunately, no one noticed him for the whole year.

As for his personal life, since he has memories of the original Issei, he made sure that no one suspected him. He decided that it's best if the real Issei's parents don't know the fact that their real son is gone. Issei maintained his perverted persona and gradually toned it down during the span of a year. He still is considered a pervert but a lesser one compared to the other two friends he hangs out with.

And after the plot began, he met Raynare, or rather Yuuma, went on a date with her. He made sure that Gremory peerage are keeping tabs on him. He decided to kill Raynare rather than letting her go and hoping the next plot remains the same. Obviously, Gremory peerage noticed this. And so, Issei finally started getting involved with the main characters of the story.