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Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The gymnasium clock marks two minutes until the end of break time. Issei Hyoudou takes a deep breath, sprawled on the bench like a rag, every muscle in his body begging for mercy. A drop of sweat trickles down his forehead and falls to the floor, joining the small puddle that has already formed beneath his feet.
"How did I end up in this mess?" he thinks, as his lost gaze wanders across the gymnasium ceiling.
Flashback
That morning had been the beginning of everything. Issei would never forget it: opening his eyes to find Rias Gremory, completely naked, lying by his side. Her red hair spread across the pillow like dancing flames, her skin white as porcelain, and that smile... damn, that smile that would melt even the thickest ice wall!
"B-Buchou?!" he had stammered, nearly falling out of bed.
"Good morning, Issei-kun," she replied naturally. "I was just healing your wounds through skinship."
"Skinship," he repeats mentally, releasing a sigh deeper than a bottomless well. What a way to heal someone! If he could choose, he'd be sick every blessed day.
After that came the training sessions. Trying to awaken the Sacred Gear that, according to Rias, he carried within himself. Dragon-type, she had said. Something powerful. But no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened.
"Focus on your strongest feelings, Issei-kun," Rias would guide him with that voice that was pure honey. "The Sacred Gear responds to your emotions."
And he tried, boy did he try! But the result was always the same: a big round ball of nothing.
"I can still sense something, but it's very weak," Koneko commented once, while nibbling on a cake. The silver-haired girl never wasted words, but when she spoke, she hit the mark like an arrow.
BOOM!
A distant noise cuts through Issei's memory. It was the following day that he had been attacked. Some fallen angel, thinking they could get the better of him. Luckily, the Occult Research Club arrived in time. Rias, Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko, all of them. His new family.
And then, like lightning on a sunny day, came the news.
"Buchou and Akeno-san will be away for a month," Kiba informed him, with that princely smile that got on his nerves.
"What?! Why?!" Issei almost choked on his own air.
"They discovered that a nun would be sent to the fallen angels' church," explained Koneko, without taking her eyes off the sweet she was eating. "They want to extract her Sacred Gear."
"But for some reason, this ex-nun disappeared," Kiba added. "They tracked her to a city called Sainan and are going to investigate."
"Buchou really is amazing," Issei thought at the time, admiringly. "Saving a nun and bringing her to my harem... I mean, bringing her back safe and devout."
But then came the words that threw him into a bucket of ice water:
"Rias also arranged for you, Issei-san, to stay with Sona-san."
A shiver ran down his spine like an ice centipede.
"You'll have a new companion in this endeavor," added Koneko. "Sona also has a new pawn."
End of flashback
TWEEEEEEET!
Sona's shrill whistle yanks him from his memories. End of break. Time to return to hell.
"Get up, Hyoudou!" her voice cuts through the air like a sharp razor. "The training is far from over."
On the other side of the court, Genshirou Saji, the other rookie, also drags himself to his feet. He looks like he's been run over by a herd of furious elephants – exactly how Issei feels.
"Is Buchou punishing me for being weak?" Issei wonders for the thousandth time. "Because I can't awaken my Sacred Gear?"
The morning had started with him meeting Saji at the Student Council door. The boy seemed as frightened as a cornered mouse.
"So you're the other pawn," said Saji, shaking his hand with exaggerated force, as if he needed to prove something. "Genshirou Saji. Pleased to meet you."
"Issei Hyoudou," he replied, noticing how the young man's eyes seemed frantic.
"She... she's waiting for us in the gym," Saji gulped, like someone leading a condemned man to the gallows.
WHAM!
The sound of the volleyball hitting the floor near his feet brings Issei back to the present. Sona Sitri, president of the Student Council and heiress to the Sitri clan, stares at him with eyes as cold as winter.
"Are you daydreaming again, Hyoudou?" she adjusts her glasses with a precise movement. "Focus!"
Issei clearly remembers the scene from earlier. They had barely set foot on the gymnasium track when Saji started running like a madman. Like a guided missile, a volleyball hit him squarely, producing a sound that echoed through the empty gymnasium. The impact threw the poor guy to the ground, about three meters away.
"What are you waiting for, Hyoudou Issei?" Sona's icy voice had asked, as she tossed another ball into the air. "This is your Dodge and Endurance training. Run!"
ZOOM!
Another ball comes toward him, cutting through the air like a projectile. Issei throws himself to the side, but the ball changes trajectory at the last second – charged with demonic energy, of course – and hits his back with enough force to knock all the air from his lungs.
OOF!
He falls to his knees, coughing.
"Pathetic," comments Sona, already preparing another ball. "How do you expect to awaken your Sacred Gear if you can't even dodge a simple ball?"
"Simple ball?" thinks Issei with a mixture of indignation and despair. "That's a bomb with a leather cover!"
CRASH!
On the other side, Saji also takes another hit, this time to the head. He staggers backward like a rag doll.
"You two are a disgrace to your respective Houses," declares Sona, her voice colder than the depths of the ocean. "Not even real chess pawns are this useless."
The words hurt more than the blows. Issei feels something boiling inside him. Anger? Determination? A bit of both, perhaps.
"I need to prove my worth," he thinks. "When Buchou returns, I want her to be proud. I want to protect her, protect all of them."
THUMP-THUMP
Something pulses in his left arm. A strange heat, like embers under the skin.
"Well, well," Sona pauses for a moment, adjusting her glasses. A tiny, almost imperceptible smile appears at the corner of her lips. "It seems we're getting somewhere, after all."
Issei looks at his own arm. A red glow, weak but undeniably present, begins to emanate from his left hand.
"Could it be...?"
ZOOOOOM!
Another ball comes his way. This time, however, he sees its trajectory more clearly, as if time had slowed down a bit. He throws himself to the side and, miraculously, manages to avoid the impact.
"Don't stop now, Hyoudou!" Sona's voice sounds almost... enthusiastic? "Focus on that feeling!"
The glow in his hand intensifies a little more.
"So that's it?" thinks Issei, a shy smile forming on his lips. "Is this how you awaken a Sacred Gear?"
From across the court, Saji also watches, mouth agape. For a moment, their eyes meet, and a mutual understanding passes between them. Maybe, just maybe, they aren't so useless after all.
SLASH!
Sona prepares another round of balls. Her face remains impassive, but there's a different gleam in her eyes.
"Let's see what you're capable of now," she says, and for the first time, it doesn't sound like a death sentence.
Issei stands up, feeling the warmth in his left arm. He still has a long way to go, but now, at least, he knows he's heading in the right direction.
"Wait, Buchou," he thinks, preparing for another round of "training." "When you return, you'll find a very different Issei."
WHOOSH!
The balls fly, and the training continues, relentless as ever. But this time, there's a small flame of hope lit in the heart of Issei Hyoudou.