Issei instantly deflated. He looked the other way, grumbling, "Geez, what's with kids these days?"
There was a small pause, "…I am not a kid."
"As I was saying," Like a sensible adult, he ignored her and addressed the rest. "You might not know this, but I've had a fair share of your kin coming to ask me to join their peerage across the years."
That was a lie. He had, in all his years, only been approached by two devils over this matter. One of them was a blonde with a fake smile, squinted eyes, and a bookish politeness that gave him the creeps to this day.
The other was…sigh…Cleria. That big-mouthed snooping fool had made him jokingly promise he'd join her peerage if he even got tired of living as a human and thought of spicing it up, in her words. That never came to pass, of course. Her snooping habits came back to bite her, and the promise ended up just that, a joke.
Still, to this day, that was the only instance he'd ever entertained the thought of joining someone else's motley crew.
Issei smiled through the moistened eyes, watching the Gremory's heiress's face wither with his words. She must be thinking about how her chances of convincing him just plummeted. After all, if he was telling the truth and was still sitting before them like this, then he had resoundingly rejected all previous offers.
Internally, he thought of reassuring her. Of telling her not to be so gloomy, that their partnership was not to end so abruptly. It was about to go a long way. And that he needed her as much as she wanted him. It might not be in the same way she would be thinking, but this was the start of a symbiotic relationship that he would do his best to work out.
Not because Sirzechs would hound him if he didn't, but because she was the perfect person to introduce him as a piece to the chessboard that was the devil world. Only when he'd begin to participate in the game and reach the promotion square will he be able to get the chance to put his hands on the nasty player controlling the pieces- Zekram himself.
"R-Really? That must be exhausting, right?"
"Not really." He shook his head, scratching the back of his head. "It's actually flattering, if anything."
He met her gaze, looking straight into her cerulean eyes, and continued, "I mean, the peerage means a lot to you, right? To think I am worthy of being a part of something so intimate…why would it be exhausting?"
"Then, how come you didn't say yes to any one of them?" Akeno pointedly asked.
"Y…Yeah, about that…" Issei looked down at his feet, "It's not so much that I didn't agree as it is that I can't."
"Eh…?"
Oh, dear. Time for another bullshit spitting session. Issei thought with exasperation. Alas, he had to play along as requested by the scary siscon.
"Well, this is embarrassing…" He mumbled under his breath. "To start…did any of you find it surprising that I am the new host of Ddraig?"
As he asked and looked up at them expectantly, the reaction he got was a confused head tilt from all. So he explained, "Err…as in…did any of you think 'he's the boosted gear's wielder' in your head when you saw me…?"
Koneko raised her hand, "Yes."
"Yes, Koneko."
She held out the half-eaten crumb between her thumb and index finger, "…Tiny."
"…Petty brat. But yeah, something like that."
Rias was next. "Well, now that you say it…" She gave him a once-over, "I expected the Red one to have some more muscles on those bones. You look like-" She stopped shortly, searching for words. So Issei helped her with it.
"Like a soggy paper straw someone chewed out?"
"Pfft…Cough…Cough,"
'Kiba, why are you trying not to laugh, bro. I thought we were friends.'
He raised his hand, looking apologetic and shit, "I am really sorry…"
"Don't be." He shrugged, "They're right. Anyway, the reason I handed out the roast-me pass wasn't that I have a fetish, but rather because it'd be easier to explain."
"I am not going to go into details over it. But to put it in simple words, I have a condition where the soul and body are misaligned."
"Misaligned body and soul?" Rias asked rhetorically. Issei's eyes swept across the room, and they all had a confused look painted on them.
"Yep. You see, while the heavens' system might've been a little good since it stitched partner's soul to mine, it also fucked up big time and crippled me for life."
Issei continued, twisting some of Azazel's initial conjectures about his troubles and making vague hand movements, "Dunno the exact mechanics, but the last expert I asked said something about the system failing in completely wiping the last me."
"The last you," Akeno mimicked his tone, "As in your last reincarnation."
"Uh-huh. Not that I remember much, but that person said that every time someone dies, the system resets the soul- whatever that means-but in my case, the incomplete reset caused a dissonance between the new vessel and the experienced soul. This dissonance only grew as I aged,..." His casual description was suddenly cut off.
"Wait, that sounds dangerous!" Rias exclaimed in panic, "Is that why you're so thin?" When Issei evasively answered with affirmation, she almost jumped him, "Then why are you acting so casual, fool!?!?"
"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, it's not that-"
"That last part sounds like Sleep disease." Akeno's grim assessment suddenly drew everyone's attention.
Kiba stared at Akeno with wide eyes. "That deadly disease?" Aww, the good knight. He was worried for Issei. "But doesn't that just happen to devils?"
"Yes, but this body weakening…and weren't there rumours that Sleep disease might be because of Soul curses?"
The room was suddenly enveloped in a blanket of gloom. The light felt a tad dimmer, and Issei's eyes twitched. Damn, these melodramatics.
Clap Clap
"You know, I didn't say all this for a sob story, right?" He said. He had a sour face as he threw annoyed glares their way. "Don't go pitying me. I am still strong as fuck and can still mop the floor with everyone, except those stronger than me."
"Uhmm…?"
"Ahem, what I meant was that the devil pieces don't work on me." He finished what he had to say from the beginning. "Been there; done that."
Rias calmed down slightly, hearing the assuredness in the voice. But hearing the last part of his statement made her brow shoot up, "You agreed to become someone's servant?"
He didn't. Never has and never will. "I was curious."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry for the delay and the short chapter.
Terrible day. Spent close to two hours in a loop of just staring at the screen, writing 10 lines, and Ctrl A + Backspacing.