I never felt something like this in the Devils' society, and I never will now on as well. The only time I can enjoy my life as myself is when I’m in the human world.”
Buchou has a distant look. She also has very sad eyes. She told me a story of the world that I can never imagine. I’m Hyoudou Issei, and I never felt anything to my name. I am myself; I’m just the son of my mum and my dad. Right now, wherever I go, people looks at me as “Hyoudou Issei” as an individual. Buchou has been spending her life while carrying the name of Gremory on her back. That will be the same from now on. “I want to be with someone who will love me as Rias without the fact that I’m a Gremory. That’s my small dream I have…… Unfortunately, Raiser only looks at me as Rias from the Gremory. And he loves me as Rias from the Gremory. That’s why I hate it. But still, the pride of being a Gremory is very important. My feelings may be complicated, but I want to cherish this small dream I have.”
So Buchou wants to be loved as “Rias” and not as “Rias Gremory” from the opposite sex…… That’s what you call a maiden's feelings huh. But there’s no doubt that Buchou is feeling complicated because of her house's problems. Hmm, I don’t understand both the feelings of a girl and the structure of the Devils' society, so I don’t know what to say to her……
“I like Buchou as Buchou.”
I just said what I thought. But Buchou stares at me in wonder. “I don’t know anything about Gremory or about the Devils' world, but to me Rias-buchou is Rias-buchou…… Nggh, I don’t understand all the complicated stuff but to me the usual Buchou is the best!”
I said everything I can think of with a smile. Hahaha, I can’t even say things that sound romantic. ……Hey, Buchou-sama? I don’t know why but Buchou has her cheeks red. “B-Buchou? D-Did I say something weird?”
I ask her with a dubious voice, but Buchou shakes her head where she says, “I-It’s nothing!” while panicking. What? Did something happen? Well, I’ll leave that aside. “But having an opponent like that for the genius Buchou’s first match, it certainly will be a hard obstacle, right?”
“I don’t actually like the word “genius”?”
Buchou answers me still with a red face. “Why is that?”
“A talent that is given by heaven……it feels like it’s a gift given by God so I don’t feel good. My talent is born from the roots of the House of Gremory that has been passed down to the generations. I inherited that trait as a Devil. I never thought that I received it as a gift from God, and that’s impossible. My power belongs to me and the House of Gremory. That’s why I won’t lose. I will win if I have to fight. I have to win.”
Buchou says it to me as if she was saying it to herself. Amazing. Buchou is really strong. Compared to that I…… I……
“Buchou, I’m worthless. I have been useless……since I got here.”
Buchou makes a dubious expression while looking at me said that in a weak voice. “Ise?”
“I think I’ve gotten stronger since I came here and trained with everyone, but more than that……I felt the difference between us. If I do sword training, I realised how amazing Kiba is and realised that “I won’t be able to become a swordsman like Kiba”…… When I do the training for using demonic-power, I realise how superior Akeno-san is while Asia is improving her demonic-powers…… And I can’t do anything…… I’m fine as long as I have my Boosted Gear! I acted tough by thinking like that……”
I have so many tears flowing out from my eyes without realising it. I’m frustrated, just frustrated. The more I train, the more I realise how weak I am. —I have no talent for battle. I have come to realise it. “I found out that I was the weakest…… I also found out that……I’m the most useless…… I realised it means nothing if I’m the one with the ultimate Sacred Gear. That’s why I was laughed at by Raiser back then, right? “Pearl before swine, certainly a fitting phrase for me.”
I start to shed lots of tears in front of Buchou. I’m having so much tears from my eyes due to this frustration that it makes me look pathetic. Even my nose is dripping. Buchou stands up and sits next to me. HUG. —! Buchou hugs me gently. She starts to pat my head many times. “You want confidence, right? Okay, I will give you confidence. But now, you have to rest your body and mind. I will be with you until you feel like sleeping.”
That time I didn’t know what she meant. Except, Buchou’s warmth is healing my soul. That is enough for now. “Use your Boosted Gear, Ise.”
Next day. Buchou says that to me before the start of the training. She is allowing me to use my Sacred Gear that I was forbidden to use since I got into the mountains. She is allowing me to use it now……but what does she want me to do with my Sacred Gear? “It should be okay to have Yuuto as the opponent.”
“Yes.”
Kiba comes forward after Buchou urges him. He stands in front of me. Hey, is she telling me to fight Kiba!? “Ise, activate your Sacred Gear before the mock battle. Let’s see……we will start the battle two minutes after you activate your Sacred Gear.”
“Y-Yes.”
I make my Boosted Gear appear on my left arm just like Buchou orders me to. “Boost!”
[Boost!!] The Sacred Gear makes a sound at my words, and I can feel the power coming into my body. With this my power has doubled. Ten seconds later. [Boost!!] My power doubles again. The power I can feel from my Sacred Gear runs through my body. It’s all right that my power is getting doubled, but there are things that I need to keep in mind when I use my Boosted Gear. You may think there are no limits to my powers increasing, but the truth is that isn’t the case. Once I activated my Boosted Gear to see how far I can increase my power but after a few minutes I fainted. The reason is simple. My body can’t handle the power as it increases more. When I asked Buchou afterwards,
“For example think that you are a truck. What will happen if you carry more package than the truck can carry? It won’t move right? That’s how it is.”
That’s how she explained to me. The package equals my powers that are doubling. If the quantity of package keeps on doubling, then the truck will decrease in speed and by the end it won’t move. So in other words if the power gets too big, then it puts stress on my body. That’s why I fainted. My body which is a vessel won’t be able to withstand the increased power. That’s what happened when I activated it for a few minutes. The jewel in the gauntlet made a sound which said [Burst], then my body got heavier and it felt like all my senses froze. Even if there are no limits to the Sacred Gear, the user which is me in this case does have limits. That’s my Sacred Gear’s weakness. Well, it’s more like my weakness. It’s not the Sacred Gear’s fault. I got my twelfth power up after Buchou ordered me to power up. Then Buchou orders me to “Stop” my Sacred Gear’s power up. “Let’s do this, Boosted Gear!”
[Explosion!!] This sound also represents the stop of the power up and acts as a stopper.