Chương 9: Offering a Little Advice
Two days, that's how long it had been since I had returned home to Kuoh and the Hyoudou family. Yet in those two days, I had been forced to question my previous actions more times than I had done in the years I spent training.
I regretted them.
I regretted killing Miki, yet at the same time, I knew that if the same situation would come around, I'd do it again. But I still regretted taking her life and costing Issei a mother because, at the end of the day, he was a nice guy. Everyone I met, even Rino to an extent got close to me because they needed something from me.
Saechōrō wanted to train me in order to become a valuable member of his clan so that I and Saeko could produce powerful offspring.
Tokita Niko had gotten trained me purely because I had potential that could serve his plans well in the future.
And Rino, she got close to me not only because I saved her life from the Mikazuchi assassin, Rei. But also because I was her fighter, a skilled one in the Kengan Tournaments that had gifted her plenty of money, generating more than thirteen billion in total from all my fights. She needed me and so she got close to me.
Issei, on the other hand, he didn't need anything from me. Yet he still tried to get close to me and it was strange, not in a bad way though.
Honestly, though, I didn't know if this was a good thing for me. It was easier when I didn't care when I could simply brush off my cruel acts without so much as batting an eye and in most cases, I still can. I've killed, I've lied and I've cheated many people. I have done some bad things to people who probably didn't deserve it because it made me stronger.
And I could look back at them all and not so much as bat an eye.
Yet every time I looked at Issei I was reminded of the look on Miki's face when she realised the plane was going to crash. Pure panic and terror, not only for herself, but her eyes looked to me all throughout as it happened. I was the only thing upon her mind before the plane was blown up.
I regretted what happened but I also knew that even if I had refused, that plane was going to blow up anyway. Saechōrō had made that very clear and so, could I be blamed for it? The answer is, yes I can.
I know that now.
'At the end of the day, I will have to do similar acts if I want to survive. This world is cruel and filled with powerful beings.' I reminded myself. 'If I'm going to survive then I need to become a monster surpassing them all.'
"Mikoto-kun." Opening my eyes, I saw Ingrid looking at me in concern, placing the latest item of food into the trolley. "Is everything okay?"
Lips twisting, I smiled assuringly to her. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind." I replied hoping to put her at ease but she didn't appear totally convinced. 'I need to work on my acting skills if she can see through me this easily.'
"Okay." She said. "Well thank you again for coming out to help me with grocery shopping. It's probably not how you wanted to spend your second day back home, but I appreciate it."
"It's not that much effort or a bad thing." As Ingrid pulled ahead, my eyes dropped to her ass clad in her jeans. They were not overly tight, but not loose-fitting either, she just had a nice ass that her jeans naturally showed off. "Issei's at school, Gorou's at work and to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure on where everything in Kuoh is so coming grocery shopping will give me a basic idea."
"You and Issei-kun have been spending a lot of time together recently, it's nice to see you two getting along so well." Ingrid turned to me smiling brightly. "I'm glad to see that, Issei-kuns has always been a withdrawn child, spending most of his time in his room, at work, with his friends or at his club."
That last bit caught my attention. "Club?" I asked unsure if I had heard her correctly.
"Oh, didn't Issei-kun tell you?" She asked surprised and I shook my head. "Well, he's been doing martial arts at the nearby dojo. I can show you where it is on the way back home. It's quite a big martial arts club that does numerous types."
Issei did martial arts? Bullshit.
I may not know a great deal about DxD, hell I knew next to fuck all but there was one thing I'm certain of, Issei did not do martial arts. He was a pervert and 'mine' and Miki's death hadn't changed that, I'd actually go so far as to say that he might be worse because he's not overt about it like he was in canon. He was more subtle, just like me in a way, but I knew for a fact that Issei didn't do martial arts before becoming a Devil and I'm not even sure he learned martial arts then
'Though he probably did learn to fight after becoming a Devil.' Shaking my head, I felt my lips upturn into a slight smile. 'Martial arts, the Boosted Gear and if he becomes a Devil, he'll become all the better. That's good, I need someone to push me to get stronger.'
"I'll have to check it out," I murmured and Ingrid looked to me in realisation.
"That's right, you used to do martial arts before didn't you, Mikoto-kun?" She asked and I nodded my head.
"I still did even after the plane crash. I didn't do as many as I did when I was at home, but I still did various martial arts." That was an understatement but she didn't need to know just how much or how challenging my training was.
"Maybe you can join up?" She suggested and I shrugged. To be honest, I doubt I'd get anything out of it, I had trained and fought against some of the best fighters in the world, second and third rare martial artists that would be teaching at a dojo in a place Kuoh wouldn't be able to teach me anything I hadn't learned years ago.
"Possibly." Not likely though, I'd get nothing out of it. The only thing I needed now was the experience and while I had gotten plenty during the Kengan Matches and the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, I needed more. I had reached a limit in my martial arts, a limit that could only be surpassed by gaining experience. Training and learning katas would accomplish nothing at this point.
-X- Line Break -X-
"So what the hell happened to you?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe of Issei's room, looking in to see my brother stuffing tissues up his bloody nose. It wasn't broken, I'd seen enough of them to recognise it on sight, but it was busted. "And don't give me the bullshit that you walked into a pole like you did Misako. I recognise when someone's been in a fight."
"And how'd you recognise that?" Issei asked and I rose a brow in response.
"You gonna tell me or am I going to have to guess?"
Issei didn't answer straight away before sighing. "There's a guy at my dojo, Daimonji. He's one of the stronger martial artists there any he likes to bully people he views as weak."
"And you're weak?" I asked making Issei flinch, turning to me with a glare. I rose my hands in a sign of surrender. "Just making an assumption based upon what you've said." Though even I could tell that Issei was weak. He may be in relatively good shape but he was weak compared to me.
"Yeah," Issei admitted defeatedly, shoulders slumping.
"What martial arts does he use?" Pushing off the doorframe, I stepped fully into the room.
Issei looked at me in confusion. "Karate, why?"
That made him look to Issei again, taking note of quite the heavy bruising upon his face. Karate was looked down upon by many because they didn't fully understand it. In a sporting environment, Karate was not a full-contact sport and much like Kendo operated on a points-based system. It was entirely different to the sports of boxing and MMA. It consisted of short exchanges aimed at scoring points and not for knocking out your opponent.
It was deemed as a fighter having a lack of proper control if they knocked an opponent out, though it's a different matter in full contact karate. But because of that and the fact that Karate doesn't have a good track record in full contact sporting environments, it has a bad reputation.
But the thing was, Karate wasn't suited to a sporting environment and the rules that came with it. And that was because a lot of the more dangerous karate techniques were illegal. It was martial arts designed for civilian defence against trained soldiers and so, made use of more illegal attacks targeted at illegal areas to disable said opponents. With the rules and regulations of sports, such attacks weren't allowed.
The only place you could find said attacks being used by a karate practitioner was in street fights or underground fighting rings, such as the Kengan Association. I had come across many Karateka in my time there and they had been quite difficult to deal with in the beginning because I had the same mentality as all those that looked down upon it.
But as I grew and grew, gaining a new appreciation for the art it became easier to deal with. It had gone to remind that even martial arts like Karate which were looked down upon by many were actually more dangerous when used in their natural environments and not constrained by rules and regulations.
'From the looks of things, this Daimonji is just a bully like Issei said.' I thought to myself. 'That doesn't look like a hit that was intent on just scoring a point. That was a hit aiming to cause harm.'
"Stand up," I said after a moment and Issei hesitantly did so. "Show me what Daimonji did to you."
After a moment of hesitation, Issei threw a high head kick, it was a pretty decent kick from him as well. A little rigid, but he chambered the leg and flicked it out quite well. But his balance was a little off as well.
Honestly, I would want to teach Issei because he was going to be my rival in the future. But at the same time, it was embarrassing to have someone sharing my last name getting their ass kicked by some third rate martial artists. If it was someone from the Kengan Association or one of the other underground fighting rings I'd be fine with it.
But this was just sad.
"Alright, do it again and this time, try and hit me."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up." Issei shook his head, waving his hands rapidly. "What the hells going on?"
"I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself against a kick like that," I told him.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why help me?" Issei asked frustratedly and I sighed, running one hand through my hair.
"Because we share the same name and blood, we're brothers and it's embarrassing that you're getting your ass kicked. You're making me look bad." Issei glared at me for that and I just smirked. "Besides what kind of older brother would I be if allowed my Otōto to get his ass kicked constantly."
"We're twins!"
"But I was born first."
"By a few seconds!"
"So you agree that I came first, ergo, I'm the older brother." Issei in response let out a shout, swinging the roundhouse kick round towards my face, my smirk never once subsiding. Then I moved, stepping forwards and closing the distance between me and Issei, one leg lashing out and sweeping his back leg out while my right hand pushed his chest.
Issei let out a shout as he fell back, landing upon his bed with a grunt.
"See what I did there?" I questioned. "I closed the distance, hitting your back leg and pushing you while you were off balance."
"That's mental," Issei muttered.
"Not really. Kicks like that direct most force towards the shin or the flat of the foot. It's a whipping motion and just like a whip, the end of it is where all the power is focused. Step in close and you avoid most of it. Though if the opponent follows it around you'll at most get maybe a sore arm. But when you're in close, target their back foot and push." My explanation was simple and Issei nodded along as if understanding.
"Let me try it on you." He got to his feet, me stepping back to give him some room.
"I'll go slow. Let your practice."
"Don't you want to stand where I am, so that you can fall back on the bed?" I struggled not to laugh, just smiling widely. "What?"
"Issei, if you manage to knock me over on your first go then you should never have lost to Daimonji." He scowled at me for that and I smirked. "You ready?" He nodded his head and I slowly raised my leg, chambering it tightly against my chest as my back foot shifted, toes pointing behind me. Then I flicked it out, Issei already having stepped in close and foot targeting my back-foot with a loose sweep and hand pushing against my chest.
Yet I didn't budge and Issei tilted his head in confusion as I remained in my position, foot extended in a kick and one leg braced upon the ground for support. Even as Issei tried to sweep my leg and push against me I didn't move.
"Why can't I move you?" He asked in frustration as we both stepped back into a relaxed position.
"Two reasons mostly," I said, raising one finger. "First, you're sweeping too high, don't aim for my calf, aim just above my ankle and do it with the inside of your foot. Secondly, you're not on my level."
That teasing remark made Issei's scowl deepen. "Asshole." He muttered before raising his arms.
"Do it again."
I did and again, Issei didn't manage to push me over, but he was getting the hang of the technique. But he was still a long way off from being able to make me stumble. Thanks to the Gu Ritual I had the strength of dozens of men stored within my body. Not to mention I had years of experience, perfecting my technique and form. Issei wasn't going to be able to make me budge with just this.
"Alright, go a little faster this time. As fast as you can." Issei demanded eagerly, hands raising in preparation.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "You might not be able to see it coming."
"Don't worry, I'll be ready for it."
Looking at him for a moment, I weighed my options before nodding my head. This would be a good chance to show him how far he had to go. At this point, he was too weak but if I showed him how large the gap between me and him was, then he would work twice as hard.
'But if I show too much it may demoralise him. I'll go at just twenty percent for now.' I decided before shifting, Issei tensed in response and then I swung my foot round. It was a blur of motion and Issei didn't even get a chance to step in close before my foot finished its movement, coming to a stop right beside his face. There was a small gust of wind that ruffled his hair, Issei's eyes wide as they flickered to the side to stare at my foot.
"W-what?" He muttered in shock.
Slowly lowering my foot, I smiled at him. "Keep practising Issei, tomorrow we're going to your dojo and you're gonna beat Daimonji and redeem yourself. Trust me, it'll be worth it."
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