The morning sun bathed the quiet streets in golden light as three figures walked side by side, laughing loudly and spouting nonsense.
— Dude… that new teacher… — Matsuda said, a perverted gleam in his eyes, making a suggestive gesture with his hands. — I can only think of one thing when she walks by!
— You and everyone else, Matsuda! — Issei replied, bursting into laughter. — Seriously, that skirt… there's no way that's allowed!
Motohama adjusted his glasses, smirking:
— You guys are such amateurs… — he said with his usual sarcastic tone. — I've already made a mental ranking of the most "appetizing" girls in school…
— WHAT?! — Matsuda and Issei shouted in unison, eyes wide.
Motohama raised one hand, counting on his fingers as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
— First place, obviously, Gremory-senpai, followed by Himejima-senpai, Shitori-senpai, Shinra-senpai, and then the new teacher… then the new second-year girl… the one who always takes a bento to the rooftop… there's also the girl from the tennis club with drill hair…
— Damn… — Matsuda scratched his head. — You're still the same cold-blooded perv as always…
Motohama let out a low chuckle, leaning forward slightly, eyes closed for a moment…
But inside…
He wasn't the same.
While they talked nonsense, he could feel it.
It was strange — almost uncomfortable.
Every step, every word… the world didn't sound the same anymore.
He could sense it, even without meaning to: the faint yet undeniable spiritual flow emanating from Issei — something hidden, repressed, but pulsing near his friend's chest.
Name: Hyoudou Issei
Race: Human (technically... until further notice)
Sacred Gear: Boosted Gear – weakened form (factory-nerfed version)
Rank: F (F for "funeral-ready")
Class: Minion (yes, the one who dies first in games)
Unique Ability: Blessing of Chichigami (Goddess of Boobs)
Description: A young man with simple ambitions: a harem, many wives, and a lifetime of breast worship. Chosen by the legendary Chichigami, the Goddess of Boobs, as her champion — probably due to a lack of better candidates.
— "Sacred Gear…" he thought, smiling — "Issei is living proof that divine selection is sometimes a blind raffle with wet tokens. But… he's my friend. Stupid, annoying, perverted… but my friend."
And Matsuda… less obvious, but there was something there, too.
Name: Ishikawa Matsuda
Race: Human (technically... until further notice)
Sacred Gear: Regulus Nemea – weakened form (factory-nerfed version)
Rank: F (F for "funeral-ready")
Class: Minion (yes, the one who dies first in games)
Unique Ability: Enhanced Vitality
Description: A natural athlete. Promising fighter. Trained body. Focused spirit.
But he threw it all away to chase panties with Issei and Motohama.
Matsuda could've been the pride of the martial arts club or the top disciple of some martial arts master… but chose instead to be the pride of Kuoh Academy's disciplinary report board.
— "Matsuda's the kind of guy who could be a state champion if he stopped thinking with the wrong head. But he's loyal, can take a beating like no one else, and he's my friend."
Latent. Hidden.
Powers they hid from him just as he hid his own from them.
Motohama smiled outwardly, but inside, he was analyzing coldly:
— "I'm different from them now… but they also… aren't as normal as they pretend to be."
— "Hey, Motohama! Spacing out again?" — Issei nudged his shoulder, laughing. — "C'mon, tell us, what's your fantasy today?"
Motohama scoffed:
— "Today? Hm… thigh-highs nurse. Obviously."
— "CLASSIC!" — Matsuda raised a hand for a high-five, which Motohama returned without hesitation.
They kept walking, talking nonsense, planning to peek into the girls' locker room during break — as always — laughing and teasing each other.
But while the two friends were distracted by the banter, Motohama glanced up at the clear sky, feeling the Reishi in the environment flowing around him, invisible to human eyes.
— "Come on, slowpokes! If we're late, the teacher will be annoyed… and I'd rather see her smiling…"
Issei and Matsuda laughed loudly, and the three of them walked down the street as if nothing had changed…
But everything had changed.
Motohama was now an awakened Quincy, heir to an ancient and terrible power…
For now, he was content with still being publicly just Motohama, the bespectacled pervert, walking to school with his friends like always.
— "Hey… look at that."
The three of them stopped almost simultaneously, lining up in front of an electronics store window. There, a huge TV was broadcasting a live news report, with bold red letters spinning on screen: "OUTBREAKS OF VIOLENCE IN CITIES NEAR KUOH!"
The image shifted abruptly, showing shaky footage from cellphones. In one, a grotesque creature — a misshapen blend of wolf and serpent, with elongated fangs and black-scaled skin — lunged at a car on a narrow street, terrified screams echoing in the background.
— "What the…" — Matsuda frowned, stepping closer to the glass.
Another video appeared: a public plaza, broad daylight, with a panicked crowd running as two humanoid figures — monstrous but clearly intelligent — clashed. One had black flames streaming from its arms; the other looked spectral, like solid fog.
Explosions, screams, then the screen froze on a disturbing image: a humanoid creature with sharp teeth and completely white eyes staring directly at the camera before the footage abruptly cut.
The news anchor returned on screen, her expression tense:
— "Authorities suspect clashes between extremist gangs. There are unconfirmed reports of 'monsters' and 'supernatural beings' causing destruction in isolated areas around the city of Kuoh… but official investigations have not confirmed the exact nature of those involved."
The headline below blinked: "Public fears new attacks. Government advises: avoid going out at night."
— "What the fuck…?" — Issei muttered, eyes wide.
— "This… this feels like something out of a movie, dude…" — Matsuda said, swallowing hard.
As they watched, unable to look away, Motohama kept his hands in his pockets, his expression seemingly calm… but inside, his mind was racing.
He didn't need the images to know what was happening.
He felt it.
The Reishi in the air around Kuoh was restless… dense… as if the very city were breathing faster, as if the spiritual world was stirring beneath the calm, mundane surface of everyday life.
— "All of this… might be my fault…" Motohama thought, watching the disturbing scenes — "My presence is different… but not enough to make supernatural beings act like this… or is it?"
The current world Motohama lived in was already chaotic, filled with public incidents involving supernatural beings, but most people still preferred to deny that reality as much as possible.
It was like humans destroying the very planet they lived on yet continuing to follow the same lifestyle — at least Motohama had planted a few trees on his grandparents' land in the countryside.
People sought "acceptable" versions of the truth — like mutant beings created from scientific experiments — instead of accepting the supernatural for what it was.
However, terrible events would soon force people to see the world as it truly was.
There were other incidents, like monsters attacking a group of police officers who had interrupted their "dinner" in a lair. Or a group of hunters fighting orcs trafficking "special" humans at a port in the U.S.
There were many other occurrences many believed to be fake, though there was overwhelming evidence.
Many regular humans still struggled to believe these reports, but with so many videos, photos, and eyewitness accounts, it became harder and harder to deny the existence of the supernatural.
Things became especially tense after a rumor spread that demons were hunting and forcibly converting "special" humans into a kind of demonic slave.
That wasn't even remotely acceptable to many countries with large Christian populations.
Since the factions of angels, fallen angels, and demons had not revealed themselves publicly, they slowly manipulated the media to turn "reincarnated demons" into rumors, while spotted demons and stray devils were framed as mutants.
It was almost funny how both religious and atheist people preferred to view those beings as genetic monsters rather than openly acknowledge the supernatural.
The gate of Kuoh Academy appeared ahead, just as imposing as ever, with dozens of students hurrying through, chatting about tests, clubs, and daily gossip.
But to Motohama, everything felt… muffled. As if there were an invisible layer between him and the rest of the world.
Then… those presences.
Motohama could feel them from afar… negative presences.
He could sense the devils within Kuoh Academy perfectly — two of them, likely Rias and Sona, had the most disturbing auras.
Issei and Matsuda walked beside him, still chatting about the news they'd just seen.
— "Dude… did you see that monster?" — Matsuda asked, still a bit pale. — "It looked… way too real."
— "Probably fake," — Issei replied, forcing a laugh to fight off the chill down his spine. — "Or, I dunno… drugs. There's always some nut trying to go viral."
But neither of them truly believed what they were saying.
As they passed through the gate, the ambient sounds of school filled their ears: laughter, hurried footsteps, a teacher's whistle telling someone to stop running.
And in between those familiar sounds, whispers — quieter, but tense.
— "Did you hear? Last night, in the central park… they say a creature attacked a dog…"
— "Yeah, and near the station… some guy swore he saw a huge shadow… like, bus-sized…"
— "Seems like people have been disappearing… but no one's really talking about it…"
Issei and Matsuda soon got distracted, laughing as they spotted a girl from the swim team walking by in her sports uniform, but Motohama… didn't.
He kept wearing that same sarcastic smile…