[Alex Miller (Katsuya Akiya MC) POV ]
The world reassembled itself in pieces. First came sensation—soft sheets beneath me, the smell of something cooking downstairs. Then sound—birds chirping outside, the distant hum of traffic. Finally, sight.
I opened my eyes.
Memories suddenly flooded into my head, settling into place as if they had always been there. The multiversal chat seamlessly integrated my background into this reality, and as I sorted through the information, my stomach completely dropped.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I muttered, rubbing my temples.
I pulled up the Multiversal Self Chat in my vision.
[Koneko: How's the integration? What's your background?]
I sat up slowly, looking around the room. It was a normal teenager's bedroom. I walked over to the desk, glancing at the school transfer paperwork. My name here wasn't Katsuya Akiya. Because of my integrated amnesia and being adopted by an American family, my name in this world was Alex Miller.
[Alex: I'm FUCKED!!!]
[Koneko: What? Why? What happened?]
[Alex: The background the system gave me is ridiculous. I'm Akeno Himejima's younger brother!]
A long pause.
[Koneko: ...Explain.]
[Alex: According to these integrated memories, I was born to Baraqiel and Shuri, just like Akeno. But I never inherited the Fallen Angel genetics somehow. I had black hair that I spiked up to look like Baraqiel's, and I got Shuri's light brown eyes, while Akeno got Baraqiel's violet eyes. When the Himejima Clan attacked our home—led by Akeno's grand-uncle, Suou Himejima—they killed Shuri. But because I didn't have any Fallen Angel genetics, they didn't kill me. Leaving them with only another thing to do]
[Koneko: Oh no.]
[Alex: Oh YES. They handed me off to some other rogue organization that wanted to create a living vessel for the malevolent Yamata no Orochi. The ritual actually worked, but at the cost of their own lives because the Orochi energy went berserk and wiped them all out. I was found barely alive in the ruins by an American couple passing through—Marcus and Sarah. They adopted me, gave me the name Alex Miller, and took me to the States. We just moved to Kuoh because of my adoptive dad's work. I have amnesia, so I don't even remember Shuri or Akeno!]
[Koneko: Ugh. You just HAD to get the most complicated background possible, didn't you?]
[Alex: I didn't pick it! But at least there's one silver lining. My actual physical body came with me. So instead of looking like that black-haired, brown-eyed kid from my memories, I still have Hazama's green hair and yellow eyes. I look absolutely nothing like Shuri, Baraqiel, or the kid I used to be. If Akeno saw me on the street, she wouldn't recognize me at all.]
[Esdeath: I step away for Two day's and this is what happens?!]
I groaned. Esdeath had logged in.
[Esdeath: Let me get this straight. You are currently in the DxD world, playing boyfriend to Koneko, AND you owe Scathach two sexual favors for that ring?! It's not fair! You're just handing out favors and dates to everyone but me!]
[Alex: I DON'T EVEN WANT TO DATE HER! We're literally the exact same soul! I'm only doing this so Rias stops bothering her!]
[Esdeath: That doesn't explain why you're ignoring me but owing Scathach favors!]
[Alex: Why are you even jealous of yourself?!]
[Esdeath: It's the principle of the thing!]
I sighed, physically dropping my head into my hands. Arguing with her was pointless.
[Alex: ...Whatever. I give up. Koneko, how long do we actually have to do this?]
[Koneko: Two days. Just enough time to establish the story and get Buchou to back off.]
[Alex: Fine. Two days.]
I dismissed the chat and walked over to the mirror. Green hair, yellow eyes. The exact same Hazama body I'd been using since I got to Remnant. It was a tragic, messy backstory, but at least my current face was a perfect disguise.
My hair was getting a bit long, constantly falling in front of my face. I grabbed some gel from the bathroom and slicked it back. I briefly debated just going out and getting a haircut to save myself the hassle, but decided against it. This worked fine for now.
I grabbed my casual clothes, got dressed, and headed downstairs.
The smell of breakfast filled the air. Sarah was at the stove, humming quietly, while Marcus sat at the kitchen table reading a book.
"Morning, Alex," Sarah smiled, turning around. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, slept great," I replied, the words flowing naturally thanks to the memories.
Marcus looked up and grinned. "Heading out today? Meeting up with some friends before the semester starts?"
"Yeah, just catching up with someone," I said.
Marcus stood up and gave me a warm, tight hug, clapping me on the back. "Have fun out there, kiddo. Enjoy your freedom. Tomorrow, you've got school, so make the most of today!"
"I will, Dad. Thanks," I smiled, grabbing a piece of toast from the counter.
"Be safe!" Sarah called out as I headed for the front door.
"I will!"
I stepped outside into the morning sun, taking a deep breath of the Kuoh air.
The walk to the park was surprisingly peaceful. Kuoh Town felt like a nostalgic slice of my old life in Japan, completely untouched by Grimm, Aura, or the chaotic nonsense of Remnant.
I spotted her sitting on a bench near the fountain.
Koneko Toujou.
Even though we were technically the same soul, her personality had definitely shifted from living as a stoic devil girl for years. She was wearing a light pastel sweater over a dark skirt, dark thigh-high socks, and a simple black headband holding back her white hair.
I walked up with an easy smile, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting."
She looked up, her golden eyes locking onto mine. She stood up, taking a moment to look at my slicked-back green hair. "Hair's better like that."
"Thanks," I replied. I gave her a quick once-over, my smile softening. "You look really nice, by the way. I like the headband. It suits you."
A faint dusting of pink touched her cheeks, though her expression remained mostly flat. She reached up to adjust the headband, looking away. "It was cheap. But... thanks. Let's just go. Rias has familiars watching, we need to look like we're on a date."
"Right," I said, offering my arm.
She sighed softly, but wrapped her small hands around my arm, and we headed off. "Arcade."
"Arcade it is."
The local Game Center was loud and flashing with neon lights. We exchanged some yen for tokens and immediately went to the fighting games. I sat down at the cabinet, cracked my knuckles, and felt a familiar, ridiculous energy take over.
"Prepare yourself," I declared, my voice dropping an octave as I leaned into the screen. "You face the harbinger of your destruction!"
"Just pick your character, loser," Koneko muttered, her expression deadpan.
The match started...
And I completely demolished her.
"Is that all?!" I shouted, doing a perfect parry into an ultimate combo that wiped out half her health bar. "Behold the true abyss! Suffer!"
"Shut up," she hissed, her fingers slamming against the arcade buttons with terrifying force.
"Your despair is exquisite!" I cackled as the screen flashed K.O.
I leaned back, crossing my arms smugly. "Another flawless victory for the shadows."
Koneko was glaring at the screen so hard I thought it might shatter. Her knuckles were white on the joystick. She looked genuinely pissed. "Rematch."
Five matches later, she had lost all five. She was radiating an aura of pure, murderous salt, glaring daggers at the side of my head.
Realizing my alternate self might actually assassinate me in a public arcade, I quickly dropped the chuuni act and pivoted back to being a good guy. I dragged her over to the claw machines, spending way too many tokens to win a stuffed cat plushie. When the claw finally dropped it into the chute, I grabbed it and shoved it into her hands with an apologetic smile.
She hugged the plushie to her chest, her intense glare softening just a fraction. "...Thanks."
By the time we left the arcade, the afternoon sun was bright and warm. We stopped at a small street stall near the station to grab some crepes. Koneko got a massive strawberry and whipped cream one, while I opted for chocolate banana.
We walked back toward the park, eating as we went. It was funny watching her demolish that crepe with absolute focus. She was definitely her own person now.
We sat down on a shaded bench. I finished the last of my crepe and checked my scroll for the time.
"It's only two o'clock," I noted.
Koneko finished hers and wiped her mouth with a napkin, hugging the cat plushie with her other arm. "Yeah." She turned her golden eyes toward me. "Is there anything else you want to do?"
I leaned my head back against the bench, looking up at the green canopy of the trees, and began thinking. "Let's...go shopping?"
We ended up walking around the shopping district for another hour.
As we neared a larger plaza area, Koneko stopped and pointed toward a nearby building.
"I need to use the restroom," she said. "Wait here."
"Sure thing," I nodded, leaning against a nearby brick wall.
I was mindlessly looking around kuoh when I heard a group of loud kids running down the sidewalk. I took a step back to get out of their way, not paying attention to what was behind me.
My shoulder collided with something solid. And I mean solid—it felt like backing into a brick wall.
"Oh, my apologies, sir," I said immediately, spinning around and bowing my head slightly. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It is fine. No harm done," a deep, resonant voice replied.
I looked up, offering a polite smile, but the moment my eyes registered the man standing in front of me, my brain stalled.
He was a tall, heavily built man, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a dark casual jacket. He had dark hair, strong, stern facial features, and a small amount of facial hair. He looked like a normal, albeit intimidating, middle-aged man.
But I knew exactly who he was.
It was Baraqiel.
Akeno's father. A high-ranking cadre of the Grigori. And, according to my cursed background in this world, my biological father.
My heart hammered against my ribs, but my confusion quickly fought through the panic. What the hell was Baraqiel doing in Kuoh? From what I remembered of DxD lore, he specifically stayed as far away from this town as possible because Akeno hated his guts. He avoided her sight entirely so he wouldn't upset her. So why was he casually walking down the street in her territory?
Stay calm, I told myself. He doesn't know you. You have green hair and yellow eyes now. To him, his son died over a decade ago. You're just a stranger... Right?
Still maintaining my polite smile, I discreetly opened the Multiversal Self Chat in my vision.
[Katsuya: KONEKO. HURRY UP.]
[Koneko: What? I'm washing my hands. What's wrong?]
[Katsuya: I JUST BUMPED INTO BARAQIEL. What is he even doing in Kuoh?! Doesn't he avoid Akeno?!]
[Koneko: ...Don't do anything stupid. Act natural. I'm coming.]
I closed the chat, trying to figure out how to smoothly excuse myself and walk away.
But Baraqiel didn't keep walking. Instead, he stopped and looked down at me, his dark eyes studying my face for a moment. My breath hitched. Did he sense my Aura? My Terumi semblance?
The stoic Fallen Angel cadre just gave a small, polite nod.
"Hello," Baraqiel said.
——
[fake flash back whoo~]
The memory washed over my mind, painting the world in the warm, golden hues of a late afternoon sunset.
I was six years old—or at least, the version of me in this world's background was. I had black hair and dark brown eyes, holding onto the hand of a slightly older girl with long, black hair tied in a familiar ponytail. Akeno.
We were walking home from a nearby shrine, our small shoes tapping against the stone path. Akeno was swinging our joined hands back and forth, humming a happy little tune. She stopped suddenly, turning to look at me with big, bright violet eyes.
"Touya," she said, her voice completely serious for a six-year-old. "Mommy said that when people love each other very much, they get married and stay together forever."
"Uh-huh," my six-year-old self replied, not really understanding the weight of the concept.
Akeno beamed, squeezing my hand tightly. "Then it's decided! When we grow up, I'm going to marry you! That way, we can be together forever and ever, and no one can ever take you away from me!"
The memory shifted, fast-forwarding to a year later. I was seven now. The same golden sunset, the same walk home. Only this time, Akeno wasn't just holding my hand; she was practically glued to my side, her arms wrapped tightly around my arm as we walked.
The scene shifted again. We were at a local park. I was sitting on a sandbox border, having just built a rather impressive sandcastle. A group of three other little girls from the neighborhood had wandered over, looking at the castle in awe.
"Wow, you're really good at this!" one of the girls said, blushing a little as she looked at me. "You're so smart, Touya-kun. Do you want to come play house with us? You can be the dad!"
Before I could even answer, a dark shadow fell over the sandbox.
Akeno practically materialized between me and the other girls. Her violet eyes were wide and swirling with an intense, terrifyingly possessive dark aura that completely lacked any childhood innocence. She wrapped her arms around my neck from behind, pulling my head against her chest and glaring daggers at the other girls.
"No," Akeno hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "He's not playing house with you. Stay away from him! Touya is mine! We're getting married, and if you try to take him, I'll curse you!"
The girls screamed and ran away crying. Akeno just smiled sweetly, resting her chin on top of my head. "Don't worry, Katsuya. Big sister will always protect you from those thieves."
——
[Back to present whoo~]
I blinked, the residual terror of the tyrannical child Akeno fading from my mind as I looked down at Koneko.
"...So yeah," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I just realized that in this world's timeline, before the incident that 'killed' me, Akeno wasn't just a loving older sister. She was a massive, completely unhinged brocon who was convinced we were going to get married."
Koneko stared at me, her deadpan expression perfectly still, but I could see the gears turning in her head.
"Do you see the problem here?" I sighed, crossing my arms. "You brought me here to pretend to be your boyfriend so Rias would stop teasing you. If Akeno finds out that her precious, long-lost, 'dead' younger brother is not only alive, but dating her underclassman in the peerage?"
Koneko's golden eyes slowly widened. The color literally drained from her pale face.
She had just painted a massive, lightning-shaped target on her own back. Akeno's sadistic streak was legendary on a good day. If she thought Koneko was 'stealing' her beloved brother...
"Oh," Koneko whispered. "Oh no."
"Yeah," I nodded sympathetically. "You just screwed yourself. And to make matters worse..." I pointed down the street where the large man had disappeared. "Remember how Baraqiel just asked for directions to Kuoh Academy? What time is it?"
Koneko quickly checked her phone. "It's past three. Club activities..."
"Exactly. Akeno is probably at the Occult Research Club building right now. And her estranged father is walking straight there."
Koneko completely dropped the stoic act. Absolute panic flashed across her face. She practically shoved the cat plushie into my arms.
"Date's over! We can hang out tomorrow at school!" Koneko blurted out, her voice slightly frantic. "I have to get back to the clubroom before everything explodes!"
Without waiting for a response, she turned and sprinted down the street, her small legs moving at a terrifying, supernatural speed until she disappeared around the corner.
I stood there on the sidewalk for a moment, holding the plush cat and looking in the direction she had run.
Slowly, a grin spread across my face. I slipped my hands into my pockets and started the walk back to my auto-generated house, chuckling to myself.
"Well," I mused aloud. "At least my Koneko self is the one in trouble today, and not me."
——
[Rias Gremory POV]
I set my delicate porcelain teacup down on its saucer with a soft clink. The afternoon sun filtered through the windows of the Occult Research Club, casting a warm, peaceful glow over the room.
"Akeno," I said, smiling at my friend. "Could I trouble you for another cup?"
"Of course, Buchou. Right away," Akeno replied, picking up the teapot with her usual grace.
Before she could even pour the tea, the ambient magical energy in the room spiked violently. A heavy, suffocating pressure washed over us, accompanied by a flash of dark light in the center of the room.
My demonic power flared instantly. Kiba moved with blinding speed, drawing his sword and stepping between me and the intruder. Akeno dropped the teapot—it shattered on the floor—and her hands instantly crackled with fierce, yellow holy lightning.
Standing in the middle of our clubroom was a tall, heavily built man with dark hair and a stern face.
Baraqiel. A Cadre of the Grigori...and my friends father.
"What is the meaning of this?!" I demanded, readying my Power of Destruction. "You dare intrude on Gremory territory?"
Baraqiel didn't draw a weapon. He didn't even summon his wings. Instead, he slowly raised both of his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I am not here to fight," Baraqiel said, his deep voice calm but strained. "Akeno. It is something serious. You have to hear this."
Akeno's eyes darkened with a hatred so profound it made the air physically heavy. Her lightning arched and snapped violently around her arms. I knew she wanted nothing more than to reduce him to ash right then and there, but she was holding back. She didn't want to destroy the clubroom, and she didn't want to endanger her friends.
"Leave," Akeno hissed, her voice trembling with barely contained rage. "I have nothing to say to you. Never speak to me."
Baraqiel lowered his hands slightly, his stern eyes filled with a heavy, agonizing sorrow. "Akeno... it regards Touya."
The temperature in the room dropped.
Akeno's restraint snapped completely.
With a scream of pure, unadulterated fury, she thrust her hands forward. A massive, blinding pillar of holy lightning erupted from her palms, striking Baraqiel dead center.
Baraqiel didn't defend himself. He didn't dodge. He just planted his feet and took the full force of his daughter's wrath. The lightning scorched his jacket and burned his skin, filling the room with the smell of ozone, but the Cadre remained standing.
When the lightning faded, Baraqiel let out a heavy breath, smoking slightly. Without saying another word, he reached into his pocket and tossed a small, glossy photograph onto my desk.
"Just look at it," Baraqiel said quietly. Then, in a flash of dark light, he teleported away, leaving us in stunned silence.
Akeno was breathing heavily, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, but her gaze was drawn to the physical photograph resting on my desk. I leaned forward to look at it as well.
It was a candid shot, clearly taken from a distance with a telephoto lens to capture a tight close-up. In the corner of the printed frame, I could see Koneko holding a stuffed cat plushie. But the focus of the picture, taking up the center of the glossy paper, was the young man standing next to her—a guy with slicked-back, vivid green hair and sharp yellow eyes, looking down at his phone.
At that exact moment, the clubroom doors slammed open.
Koneko stood in the doorway, panting heavily from sprinting all the way from the shopping district, her eyes wide with panic. "Buchou— Akeno-senpai—"
But neither of us looked at her.
Akeno leaned over the desk, her trembling fingers hovering just inches above the photograph. Her breath hitched. Despite the green hair and the yellow eyes, the underlying facial structure was unmistakable to someone who had spent their entire childhood memorizing it.
Tears spilled over Akeno's cheeks, falling onto the polished wood of the desk.
"...Touya?"