A New Motivation: Chapter 7

February 11th, 2009

School in this world turned out to be no different to the one in my old one. You know, if you disregard all of the stuff that absolutely was.

I looked up from my notebook as the sound of a ringing bell echoed throughout the classroom. The teacher, a short woman with long hair and a lovely personality, stopped in her lecture as her students began to pack up.

“Alright, I suppose you all are free to go! Have a good rest of your day everybody!” She said happily as the class burst into motion, “Don't forget the homework I assigned. It's due next Monday or you will be marked off points.”

I packed my things into my bag leisurely, having absolutely zero desire to get trampled by the crowd of students rushing out of the door in a hurry to get to lunch. I gave a nod to a group of girls as they passed by my desk, getting several happy smiles and one giggle in return.

Even though I had just started school here, I had already garnered a great deal of attention by the people in my classes. This was mostly by virtue of being seen with both Rias and Akeno, two of the most popular students in the entire school, but it was also because my naturally blonde hair made me a bit of a rarity in Kuoh Academy, with only a select few people sharing the color including Kiba.

I was glad that I hadn't gained some sort of cliche moniker or nickname like literally every other member of the peerage but I had a feeling it was only a matter of time.

Hopefully it was a good one at least.

Finally the flood of students let up and I was free to leave. I gave my teacher a farewell which she responded to happily as I made my way into the bustling halls.

As I turned in the direction the rest of my classmates had headed off in, I stopped dead in my tracks as what sounded like a stampede made its way in my direction.

Somehow already knowing what I would see, I turned to look down the hallway at the commotion. My eyes widened and I was forced to almost literally jump out of the way however as three extremely familiar students nearly ran right into me, missing me by less than a foot.

Matsuda, Motohama, and Issei Hyoudou didn't spare me more than a passing glance as they sprinted past me, too preoccupied with running for their lives from the irate group of females following closely behind them, shouting obscenities and threats that blend together in a cacophony of hatred that only made the boys run

I watched them go for a moment, keeping my eyes on a certain brunette who would one day turn the supernatural world on its head, legs pumping and chest heaving as he fled his inevitable beating.

Truth be told, he wasn't all that impressive.

I shook my head at the sounds of violence that echoed through the hall as the group of girls caught up with the three of them.

Someone like that having such potential was… absurd really. Appearances really could be deceiving.

I sighed as I realized that there was absolutely no way I wouldn't be able to hear them being beaten half-to-death from the cafeteria. I would have to find a place to eat where their screams for mercy wouldn't ruin my lunch.

~~~

The roof of Kuoh Academy was normally inaccessible to most students. More accurately, it was off limits to the non-devil student population. That made it the perfect place to eat lunch when you didn't want to be bothered.

I hummed as I took a bite of juicy chicken from my bento, enjoying the fresh air and complete lack of screaming that was found up here

Normally I would be eating with Rias and Akeno since we were in the same year and shared quite a few classes, but the two of them were busy with Sona, leaving me all on my lonesome today. That worked just fine with me though because I could use the opportunity to finally get my priorities in order and figure out what I needed to focus on in the next few weeks.

“Top of the list is definitely doing something about this arm.” I said aloud, looking down at the demonic limb encased in layers of gauze and held in a sling, “I've been lucky so far that nobody's really questioned it, but the longer I keep it like this the more questions are going to be asked.”

Hopefully training with Akeno would provide some sort of breakthrough. Getting through life with only one arm was getting to be a little tiresome.

Speaking of Akeno, I needed to figure out some way of broaching the topic of her father, as much as I honestly didn't want to.

What happened to Shuri Himejima was horrible and nothing short of a tragedy, but Baraquiel wasn't to blame for it. That lied solely on the rest of her family and their blinding racism.

Unfortunately, Akeno was too blinded by her own hate for her father to realize it and her strength in battle was suffering for it. The addition of Holy Lightning would be an incredible boon to her already immense arsenal and she was actively weakening herself by refusing to use it.

Bringing the subject up out of the blue would just be asking for trouble. Akeno was touchy at even the mention of the Fallen so a girl she met less than a week ago suddenly asking to talk about the person she blamed for her mother's death was just asking for a lightning bolt to the face.

I sighed, “And then there's that whole thing with Kiba too. Now that he actually knows that Valper’s the one responsible for basically everything I hope he doesn't run off and try to find him like a moron. I'll have to talk with him too just to be sure.”

Shelving that topic for now to save myself from the stress, I put my mind to more immediate matters that needed my attention.

Let's see… I also needed to get my own apartment. I doubted that Rias would have any issue with me continuing to stay in the old school-house but I needed my own space, a place that I could have completely to myself.

I’d check nearby apartment listings. Hopefully there was something relatively close to the school that was currently available.

Finally, I needed a training regimen. Back on Earth, I had gone to the gym regularly and actually sort of enjoyed it, staying in pretty good shape until I was thrust into this new world.

Now that I was here though, pretty good shape wasn't good enough. With my new biology, I had no doubt that I could reach new heights in a fraction of the time and then go even further beyond that. All I needed was a place to start.

I stuck a chunk of rice in my mouth, chewing thoughtfully, “I've got quite a bit to do in the next few weeks, don't I? At least I won't be bored I guess.”

My ears perked up at a clicking sound and I looked over to find the door to the roof opening. Who could that be?

My eyes widened slightly as the door opened fully to reveal Koneko. My white-haired Kohai looked around the roof for a moment before her eyes locked onto me and she began making her way over.

“Hey, Koneko.” I greeted her as I got over my surprise, “What are you doing up here? You want to eat with me?”

As I asked my question, I glanced down at her empty hands, noting that she wasn't carrying anything to eat. Maybe she just wanted to hang out?

Koneko shook her head silently as she reached me, stopping just a few feet away, “No, that's not why I came here. I actually have a… question.”

I raised an eyebrow at the slight hesitation in her voice, “Okay then, shoot. Whatever it is, I'll do my best to answer it.”

Koneko opened her mouth, lips moving as she went to speak, only for her to immediately shut it and furrow her brow in consternation, apparently having trouble getting out what she wanted to say.

I waited patiently for her to speak, grabbing a piece of chicken from my lunch and eating it to show Koneko that she could take as long as she wanted to get what she had to say off her chest.

Eventually, after around a minute or so of silence and several bites later, Koneko huffed in slight annoyance.

“You… you know where my sister is now, right?” She finally forced out, clenching her fists slightly as if the words took a lot of willpower to say.

My eyes widened minutely but I managed to keep my reaction mostly hidden. I admittedly should have expected this after the revelations that had come to light a few days ago, but I was still a bit shocked that Koneko had inquired about Kuroka so soon.

I gave her a searching look, “If I tell you, you aren't going to run off on some sort of quest to drag her back and get her absolved for her crimes, are you?” I asked seriously.

Kobeko shook her head, “No. I…I know that bringing her back right now wouldn't change anything. She's still insane to everyone in the underworld so associating with her wouldn't do anything but make them suspicious of me and Rias too.”

I nodded silently at her words. Even if we all knew that Kuroka wasn't truly insane, that she had killed her King in a bid to save her sister from his cruel experiments, convincing the greater portion of the Underworld aristocracy of her innocence was a great endeavor. It would be a long time before she was welcome anywhere near Koneko, even with supervision.

“I just want to know what she's doing.” Koneko continued quietly, “Is she okay? Safe?”

I hummed, “Safe is… different for a Stray as infamous as her. Practically the entire world knows who she is and they certainly aren't friendly towards her. As it stands, at the moment she's got several allies that are as strong as she is, if not stronger, but her enemies are just as powerful.”

I could see my words worried Koneko by the way her fists clenched, “But she'll be okay, right? She was in your world, wasn't she?”

“She was, yes. And I don't doubt she will be here as well.” I reassured her, “Kuroka is strong, Koneko, way stronger than all of us combined, I doubt I have to tell you that it would take someone extremely powerful to do her in.”

That caused the girl to smile slightly, a small thing that was barely noticeable, “Yeah, you're right. She's always been like that. Even when I was a kid she was the strongest person I knew…”

Noting the slightly wistful tone in her voice, I placed my bento on the ground, patting the space beside me with an inviting smile, “Come, sit. Tell me about her. I'm sure you've got at least a few good memories of your time together.”

Koneko stared at the spot I had indicated for a long moment, and just when I was about to tell her it was fine if she didn't want to accept my offer, she moved forward and plopped down beside me, causing me to smile.

We spent the rest of lunch chatting about Kuroka's journey and what she might be doing now. As we talked, Koneko's monotone voice grew more lively as the girl recounted fond memories she had of her sister before everything had fallen apart.

She never reached the level of emotion she had shown in the later parts of the series with Issei, but I was glad to see her opening up more, even if it was just a bit. Hopefully I could speed up the process of undoing the damage that Kuroka's perceived betrayal had done to the poor girl.

It was half an hour later, as I dumped my empty bento box in the trash inside the school and my stomach growled with hunger that had not been sated, that I realized something extremely important.

I stared inside the trashcan in disbelief, wondering how in the world I hadn't noticed it had happened or even that it was happening.

“She ate my lunch.”