It was a new feeling.
The feeling of utter happiness.
This was the first time in a while.
Now that I knew I could exist in this world without being utterly powerless, I was truly happy.
Because this world, though it's not shown a lot, this world is dominated by the strong.
There was always the philosophy that the weak don't deserve the ability to live.
Especially in the world of DxD.
Where gods, angels, devils, and yokai exist, each with unique abilities.
And where mana existed.
Humans were always on the brink of death and defeat.
They couldn't do much without the Sacred Gears.
The blessing of God.
But...
He was now dead.
Those who weren't blessed always had one thing in common.
They were utterly weak.
Though there were some people strong enough to go against this system, they were all long lost to history now...
They were only stories. Fables that were passed down.
And I didn't want to end up like them.
Dictated by the strong.
Cowering under their feet.
I want to live.
To exist.
And to pass on my blood.
That last thought brought me up short.
It wasn't my own. Not entirely.
It had felt… grafted on.
An instinct layered on top of my consciousness. A deep hum from the core of my new body.
Pass on my blood.
It was the "Breeding Lineage" passive.
The "Mating Dominance." They weren't just descriptions in a system menu.
They were directives. They were a purpose written into my DNA. As fundamental as the need to breathe.
The happiness I felt was immediately soured by a thread of unease.
Was this feeling truly mine? Or was it just the orc's primal satisfaction at finally having a tool to fulfill its base purpose?
I looked at my hands again.
The heavy, brutal strength.
The dense, destructive energy.
The drive to procreate.
This power was a cage as much as it was a key. It would let me survive, but it came with its own set of instincts. It's own agenda.
I didn't want to be a monster.
But I was already changing.
The anger, the satisfaction, the territorial feeling I got just looking at my room—it was all amplified. The world seemed simpler now. Broken down into threats, resources, and… opportunities.
The reflection in the mirror stared back. The platinum hair, a stark crown on a head that now held foreign thoughts.
But I had to let it all go.
If I have to embrace these desires to live...
I don't mind throwing away my humanity for it.
My thoughts were as clear as day.
And I knew that I wouldn't regret it if I had to throw my humanity away.
But...
How was I going to go to school now?
My appearance alone was way...
Way different than before.
I was a nobody.
My old body was weak. Small. And without muscle mass.
But now...
The heavy feeling in my body was gone.
Replaced by an even denser strength.
My clothes didn't fit anymore.
My shirt was tight around my chest and my shoulders. The sleeves looked like they were about to burst.
I was bigger.
A lot bigger.
I rummaged through my closet. Everything was the same.
Small.
I found an old black hoodie. It was one of my baggiest ones. I put it on.
It fit like a compression shirt. The fabric stretched thin across my chest and arms. My new physique was obvious.
I sighed.
There was no hiding this.
I walked to the door of my room, my steps heavy and deliberate. The floorboards didn't creak anymore. They groaned.
I placed my hand on the doorknob. The cold metal felt small in my larger grip.
A thought, a primal one, surfaced from the depths of my new mind.
What was outside?
My room was my territory. My den.
Outside was unknown. It could be a threat. Or it could be an opportunity.
The "Orc Presence" passive made me aware of this. My senses were heightened. I could smell the dust in the air. I could hear the faint hum of the refrigerator from the kitchen.
I had a six-pack. And I had grown.
Beyond belief in one night. I had gone from 5 feet to 5'11. I had checked after getting used to this new body. I had grown 11 inches in one night.
This was more than just a change in my muscle mass.
My skeleton had been remade.
No wonder my clothes didn't fit. I wasn't just bigger. I was a different person entirely. A different species, almost.
I had to go to school.
But how could I explain this?
"Oh, sorry for the sudden growth spurt. I also dyed my hair white and gained 10 pounds of muscle overnight."
No one would believe that.
They would think I was a monster.
But...
Were they wrong?
I had received this power from a system that sold infertility pills and passive charms.
The issue was that the devils would instantly notice it.
That I had gone from a complete nobody to a person who screamed: *I'm not human.*
Though there weren't massive changes to my body, other than gaining 10 pounds of muscle and my hair turning white...
That alone could be classified as weird to them.
Because no normal human, or even a human in general, could do what I just did.
I wore the most baggy type of sweater I could find.
Though we all had to wear a uniform, I could hide it when on break.
Hopefully.
They don't notice.
I styled my hair.
The neatly styled fringe accompanied my forehead. Just enough to hide it.
But...
I put on a hat.
A curved brim.
I pulled it low.
The fringe wasn't enough. It seemed like I had just dyed my hair.
The hat was black. Plain. The kind that didn't say anything because it didn't need to.
I adjusted it in the mirror.
Today was a weekend.
Yesterday was Friday.
Though it was my first day.
I had transferred and only arrived this Friday.
So today was a weekend for me to enjoy.
But...
Even though I wanted to stay cozy at home, I had to move.
And I had the perfect idea.
I looked the part.
I could pass as that.
The application in front of me was my lifeline.
And my hope.
A Bodyguard position:
[Need a bodyguard with experience.]
[Needs to have at least 2 years of experience.]
***
Where was I...?
I was in the world of the past.
But I was not there.
I was not in the past, nor was I in the story before it had begun.
When I was reborn—or transmigrated—I had become a nobody.
And I was in the time after Issei had reincarnated as a devil.
And I knew that because of one main fact.
The perverted trio didn't exist when I transferred.
There were only two people.
And they no longer did what they would have normally done.
Being perverts.
Two of the three had reincarnated into a peerage and had stopped peeking at new girls. Though their perverted nature didn't change.
It was just directed elsewhere.
But where I was... was way different than what I had expected.
Though I wasn't inside of school, nor was I inside my home.
I was out and about.
Today was the interview.
That decided my fate.
I was in front of a rural coffee shop.
The bell above the door chimed when I walked in.
It was old-fashioned. The kind of detail that told you this place had been here long before the chain stores moved in and tried to copy this exact aesthetic.
The air smelled like dark roast and cinnamon.
The wooden tables were worn smooth by decades of elbows. A counter with a glass display case showed pastries that looked homemade. It was in the way that mattered. They were slightly imperfect. But they were perfect because of it.
Behind the counter was a middle-aged woman with silver streaking her dark hair.
She was currently cleaning the counter.
As her eyes caught mine, her hands stopped moving.
I felt it happen.
The [Orc Presence] was doing exactly what the system said it would. Her awareness sharpened towards me. Her body turned towards me like a plant moving towards light. It was unconscious. And just instinctive.
"Hello, do you have an appointment...?"
Her voice was flat and professional. But there was also something underneath it.
Was it caution?
It wasn't there a moment ago. But underneath her flat, professional voice, there was caution that wasn't there mere moments ago.
"Mhmmm."
She nodded. But her eyes lingered.
Then she glanced around the shop.
It was empty.
I hadn't noticed it until now. The chairs were up on most of the tables. And the pastry case was fully stocked. They weren't the leftovers of a slow day. It was a full display.
Like they had been preparing for someone.
"Take any seat by the window."
She said in a flat voice.
"We're... closed for a private booking. So you'll have plenty of privacy."
The person who had posted the bodyguard position.
The one I had applied to.
On a whim.
The one who had accepted my obviously fake credentials.
They had booked an entire coffee shop.
In rural Japan.
That wasn't cheap. That was the kind of money that truly meant something.
I adjusted my hat as I moved towards a table by the window. I put my back to a wall.
I was confident in my instincts.
Ever since my body had undergone that transformation, the instincts that came along with it were no longer mine.
The heartbeat of a human. The breath of someone passing by. The sounds I could now hear were no longer mine. Maybe 50 meters apart, I could hear and feel everything.
If I closed my eyes, I could probably still act like I had my eyes open.
It was nauseating.
Always listening.
But I had grown accustomed to it.
These orc sensations.
These instincts of mine screamed at me to keep sightlines clear, exits visible, and threats identifiable.
The chair groaned under me when I sat down.
I put my hands on the table and waited.
And waited.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
The coffee shop was quiet.
The worker who had met me was currently behind the counter.
But there was no noise being made.
Until...
The bell chimed.
And there I saw her.
She was small.
That was the first thing I registered. She was petite in a way that made the oversized hoodie she wore seem even larger. It was black. Plain. The kind of thing anyone could buy at any mall in any city. The hood was pulled up, casting her face in shadow.
Dark sunglasses hid her eyes.
She looked like someone trying very hard not to be seen.
And yet...
And yet something about the way she moved made it impossible to look away.
She paused just inside the doorway.
Her head turned slowly, scanning the empty shop. The upturned chairs. The stocked pastry case.
The middle-aged woman behind the counter had gone completely still.
Then her head turned toward me.
Toward my table by the window.
And toward my appearance.
My hat pulled low. My white hair barely, visible beneath it.
But I felt her attention.
Like a physical weight.
She started walking towards me.
Her steps were quiet and careful. The kind of quiet that came from practice.
It was not normal. Like she had trained to move through spaces without announcing herself.
Almost like an assassin.
The chair across from me scraped against the floor as she pulled it out.
She sat down.
Close enough that... that smell intensified. The faint sweetness of her lip balm. It smelled like flowers.
She pulled down her hood.
Indigo-purple hair spilled out.
It wasn't black, nor brown. Not quite purple either. Somewhere in between, with hints of pink catching the light when she moved. Half up and half down. A side ponytail on the left. With a cream bunny hairpin adorned with two gold stars.
She removed her sunglasses.
And I saw her eyes.
Gradient. Indigo-purple to pink. And in each one, a six-pointed star that seemed to glow even in the dim coffee shop light.
She pulled down her mask.
And smiled.
It wasn't the smile I had seen on posters. It wasn't rehearsed, like I had seen before. This wasn't the award-winning smile she always used. The one that sold out stadiums.
It was like...
It wasn't a facade.
"I'm Hoshino Ai."
Her voice was lighter than I had expected. It was softer. The kind of voice that made you lean in to hear better.
She tilted her head.
And those impossible eyes.
Studied me.
This person was Hoshino Ai.