"He went that way!!"
"Catch him!!"
"Haa...haa..."
Heaven... It was a place where only angels with white wings lived... It was truly a sacred place. But in that very place, a brown-haired boy was being chased. He was wearing armor with a red dragon emblem from head to toe. He was being pursued by about 300 angels from Heaven... and not just any angels, but those from an elite unit. As he turned down an alley to escape, the angels turned to pursue him, but he was already gone.
"Damn... we missed him."
"Hey, you there..."
One of the angels rudely questioned an old man wearing a worn hood.
"Didn't a brown-haired boy, about 14 years old, wearing red armor come here? Or rather, did he not?"
Realizing his harsh tone, the angel hastily changed his words to be more polite. The hooded old man, after some thought, said he seemed to have gone that way, indicating a direction. The angels, wielding their spears of light, went to the place the old man indicated. After the angels disappeared, the old man took off his hood and said,
"The angels are gone, Cael."
"..."
At the old man's words, a boy who had been hiding in a container beside him revealed himself. The old man spoke as if he knew the boy, and the boy, called Cael, approached the old man and collapsed.
"Thank you.... I'm alive thanks to you."
"Hahahaha. The greeting is done. But it's strange. You, one of the ten angels considered the strongest in Heaven, and who earned the fear of devils and fallen angels as the Red Dragon King by killing countless pure-blooded devils and fallen angels in the war... why are you being chased by angels who were on the same team? ... Is something wrong?"
"Don't say that. It's not right for you to say that."
"Is that so? Then let me ask, what's going on?"
"..... You won't believe it.... but I'm going to be framed for the absurd crime of treason."
"!! Treason? No way... Cheon, what happened?!!"
The grandfather looked at the boy, Cheon, with an expression of disbelief. Cheon clenched his fists, unable to hide his indignant expression.
"It must have been the top-tier angels in the Heaven that didn't like it. The fact that someone with half the blood of a fallen angel is one of the ten angels who were called the strongest in the Heaven...."
Half of him was angel, the other half was fallen angel. But that didn't matter.... What mattered was his heart.... An illegitimate child born between an angel and a fallen angel.
Cheon tried to change the image of the fallen angel bloodline that was negatively imprinted on the angels. So he participated in the war at a young age. He won. He made a name for himself not only in the Heaven but also in the world of devils and fallen angels, proving that he was strong. And he was recognized. He was recognized by all the angels, to the point that he received the title of El, which only the highest-ranking angels receive. That's why he became one of the ten angels, and he thought everything had changed. He thought that even if you had the blood of a fallen angel, if your heart was pure, you could rise to a high position in the Heaven and be recognized....
He was definitely recognized. But the nobles of the Heaven, who didn't like the fact that someone with mixed fallen angel blood had risen, framed him.
"... I roughly know what happened, but it seems the rumors were true."
"..Ah..."
"Then you must escape the Heaven quickly, Cheon."
"How am I supposed to escape? Right now, nine other Archangels besides me are desperately searching for me to kill me..... Escaping is almost impossible. Besides, even if I escape, there's nowhere for me to go. I'll just run around and get caught...."
"Why are you so sure there's nowhere to go? There's still one place, you know? Just one..."
"..... Huh... You mean I should go to the Human World?"
Cheon, who always had a stoic expression, chuckled uncharacteristically, and the old man continued with a serious expression.
"There's no other way.... I happen to know someone in the human world who is very worried because they don't have any children. How about going to that house?"
"..... You want me to live with humans? Forget it. If that couple gets hurt...."
"I'm sorry, but the place where that couple lives is ruled by the pure-blooded devil... the noble Gremory family. Even angels won't be able to easily enter that place. Besides, the Gremory family is a noble family known even in the Underworld. They won't bother with such a small matter."
"The Gremory family....."
"I just contacted that acquaintance. If you go to the human world now, your name will no longer be Cheon, but the son of the Hyodo family. If you're willing to live under that name, then enter the gate I've prepared."
As the old man spoke, Cheon began to worry. But then,
"Don't worry. I'll protect the gray beings no matter what..."
Hearing the old man's words, Cheon decided to go in without hesitation. He jumped into the gate the old man had mentioned. And turning back, he tried to make his expressionless face into a smile, but instead forced a grin and shouted,
"Grandpa... Thank you. I'll live my life to the fullest. Not as the gray hero of the heavens, Kael... or the Red Dragon King Cheon... but as Hyoudou Issei..."
As soon as Cheon finished speaking, he disappeared from the gate, and the old man put his hood back on and muttered,
"Live happily in the human world, without all your burdens."
And the Archangel, who was watching him leave from afar, also muttered, looking at Cheon,
"..... Are you leaving..... The first hero of the gray beings. But it's only for a while..... We'll meet again someday. I hope you'll be stronger than you are now, Kael."
============
"Wake up! Wake up! Ah, if you don't wake up, i-I'll, I'llk-k-kiss you...!"
"Ugh...um..."
Ignoring the alarm clock's tsundere voice, a hand emerged under the covers, slapped the alarm clock, and turned it off. The alarm clock's owner then fell back asleep.
"Wake up!! Issei!!"
Knowing the alarm clock was ineffective, the alarm clock's owner's mother came to wake the boy herself. The boy scratched his head and slowly emerged under the covers.
"Issei!! You have to go to school!!"
"Is it already morning? Ugh... Okay! I'll get up now!"
After saying that, Issei got up and pulled back the curtains. Bright sunlight streamed in, and Issei opened the window and stared blankly at the sky.
'.....Four years.....I've gotten used to the human world, haven't I.'
"It's not a bad life, so it's fine....."
"Issei!!! Get down here now!"
============
Private Kuoh Academy:
Currently co-educational, but because it was an all-girls school until a few years ago, the ratio of girls to boys is high. The ratio of boys increases as the grade level goes down, but overall, it's still a school with more girls. In our class, which is the second year, the ratio is 3 to 7. The third year is 2 to 8. The girls still overwhelmingly dominate in terms of influence; the student council is mostly girls, and the student council president is female. It's a school with a strong atmosphere where boys can't easily stand out. Issei arrived in the classroom and immediately fell asleep on his desk. Since Issei always slept on his desk, the teachers ignored him and continued the lesson. And so, it became lunchtime. Issei and his friend, Matsuda Motohama, went outside and lay down on the grass near the playground.
"Ah..... I want to touch breasts!!"
"....."
Issei ignored Matsuda's loud cries. However, Motohama, who was beside him, sat up and said with a serious face.
"Matsuda, Issei.... Why did we enter this school?"
"Because it's close to home...."
"That's not it!! Issei!!"
"Our private Kuoh Academy recently became co-ed from an all-girls school. So there are overwhelmingly more girls, and many beautiful international students."
"Because of that, boys are rare. In other words, even if you do Cheon, you'll be incredibly popular! You'll be swarmed with girls!"
"..... Harem! right?"
"Yeah, what awaits us is a reality-filled life overflowing with breasts!"
"But the reality is a sewer.... Even after two years of spring since entering, you guys haven't even gotten one girlfriend."
"..... Don't talk about it. It's depressing."
"More than that, Issei!! Why are you leaving us out!!"
"..... I don't see the need to have a girlfriend.... In reality, we just look like perverts.... Unless we get plastic surgery, neither you nor I will get a girlfriend. Except for that Kiba guy over there...."
Where Issei pointed, a beautiful boy with blond hair and a birthmark under his left eye was walking by. Behind him, girls with flushed cheeks followed him, and Matsuda and Motohama glared at him with hatred.
"Kiba Yuto, 2nd year class C. The object of every female student's admiration and... the enemy of all us men!!"
"Damn it, he's so handsome, so smart, and has such a great personality, he catches every girl he wants!!" - Motohama
"... Don't talk about it. Even if we compare, we can't copy his hair, looks, or personality, right?" - Issei
"Issei!! You're too calm!!Don't tell me... Did you...get a a girlfriend! "
"What?! Not only is he the best-looking of the three of us and decent at studying, but he also got a girlfriend!! You traitor!!"
"..... What are you talking about?"
Motohama and Matsuda, grabbing Issei's collar and shaking him, shed tears of blood. Seeing that Motohama and Matsuda weren't calming down, Issei scratched his head and sighed.
"Okay. I'll show you a good place. Come with me."
=======================
"Murayama's breasts are really big!"
"82-70-81"
"Katase's legs are amazing!!"
"78.5-65-79"
The kendo club room used by the school's kendo club members... Issei, who had been eating his lunch nearby, had seen a hole in the kendo club room, and now he was leading Matsuda and Motohama there to admire the kendo club members' bodies, while leaning against the wall with his hands clasped behind his head, watching the gentlemen shaking their hips from side to side.
"..... Are their real-life breasts and legs really that good? Aren't the girls in anime much bigger and have better legs?"
"Tsk tsk... Issei still doesn't know anything..."
"He's right! It's natural for a man to want a real woman! Once you see a real naked girl, you'll get it!"
"Hey Matsuda, that's all well and good, but... there are kendo club girls with bamboo swords in front of us right now?"
Issei's words made Motohama and Matsuda, who were giving a passionate speech, slowly turn their heads. The girls were emitting a sinister aura, with bamboo swords in their hands, and Matsuda and Motohama began to back away.
"It's you guys again?"
"Uaaaaaah!! Issei, do something!!"
"What can I do...? Once you peeked, there's Cheon we can do."
"How can you be so calm?!"
"Yeah, really!"
"No matter how you excuse it... you're still going to get beaten."
'Well, that's true!!' - Matsuda, Motohama
Issei looked at the kendo club members with an expression that showed he was ready to get beaten, and the girl named Murayama, with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail with a red ribbon, who was holding a bamboo sword, sighed after seeing Issei's incredibly confident attitude.
"Issei... how can you be so confident? Show us some embarrassment, will you?"
"Because I didn't see anything."
"Huh... but you're the one who brought them here?"
"Yeah. I was eating my lunch here, and there was a hole, and I could see the kendo club room clearly through it, so I introduced them."
"You pervert!!"
The kendo club members simultaneously swung their bamboo swords at Issei. However, Issei had already anticipated their attack and, grabbing the ground with his hands, jumped back, rotated, and dodged their attacks. He then dashed off without looking back.
"Stop there!!"
"Issei!!! You pervert!!"
"I won't forgive you this time!!"
They chased after Issei, swinging their swords, but the moment Issei rounded a corner, he suddenly disappeared, and the kendo club members ended up missing him. And while chasing Issei, Matsuda and Motohama had already escaped, so the kendo club members collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
"Hahh... phew.... We could catch Motohama and Matsuda easily...."
"But that guy... Haah.... always gets away."
"What is that cheat-level athletic ability and skill....."
==========
Meanwhile, Matsuda and Motohama, who had escaped safely thanks to Issei, collapsed near the old teacher's house. Issei, who had arrived before them, was leaning against a tree with his arms folded.
"You're late."
"Ahhhh... we're alive thanks to you, Issei. No, why did you leave us behind!! Luckily, all the attention was focused on you, so we could escape safely...."
"Traitor!!"
"It's fine as long as we got out safely."
Matsuda and Motohama were furious at Issei's words. Issei looked at them and a slight smile played on his lips. he closed his eyes for a moment. As he looked at the sun peeking through the leaves, countless events from his past flashed through his mind. His past... it was a history so bloody. He could confidently say that if an ordinary person living now were to experience what Issei had experienced in the past, they would surely lose their mind. His past was so terrible. He was comparing his current life to that terrible past. It was so peaceful. And as if he felt it, he muttered, looking at the sun between the leaves.
"Peaceful."
"Huh?"
"What's that? Issei."
"..... Cheon."
Issei said that and turned his head to the side. Then, a vibrant red hair fluttering in the wind caught his eye.
"!?"
Issei's eyes, which had never wavered before, were severely shaken when he saw a girl with crimson hair and a beauty detached from humanity in the courtyard visible from the classroom window. Meanwhile, Matsuda and Motohama, who saw Issei's eyes wavering violently, looked in the direction Issei was looking.
"Huh? Issei, what are you looking at... OOOOW!! What?! That pretty girl?!"
"Rias Gremory. 99-58-90. 3rd year head of the Occult Research Club. Rumor has it she's from Northern Europe...."
Motohama was explaining like that, but none of it entered Issei's ears.
'That red hair definitely means she's a child of the Gremory family!! No way!! Why is a member of the Gremory family here.... Did they find out?'
'That red hair... she's from the House of Gremory! No! Why is a Gremory here?! Did they find me? No, impossible... I haven't used my wings in four years. They can't sense me!'
Just then, Rias Gremory looked up. Her eyes met Issei's.
Issei was so startled he jumped to his feet. His foot slipped. He fell from the tree, crashing right on top of his friends.
CRASH!
"Gyaaaah! Issei! What the hell?!"
"My back! Hey! If I can't... you know... 'perform' after this, you're taking responsibility!"
Ignoring his friends, Issei frantically looked towards where Rias had been. But Rias was gone. Cold sweat streamed down Issei's forehead, and he muttered with a wry smile.
"...Damn it. This could be a problem."
=============
"....."
Meanwhile, Rias Gremory, who had seen Issei in the old school building, felt something about him. She stared blankly at the chessboard on the table, arms crossed.
"....That boy just now."
"Yes?"
"The one who saw me from the tree just now."
Rias asked Akeno, her peer, a black-haired girl with a ribbon in her ponytail, and one of her devil servants, about the boy who had seen her from the tree. Akeno slowly searched her memory.
"From 2nd year, Class B... I'm sure his name was Hyoudou Issei. Is something wrong with him?"
"No, his complexion changed the moment he saw me... It must have been my imagination."