"....So, Yuuma-chan wanted to kill me? Because of this Sacred Gear thingy inside me?"
Zelretch nodded while he continued examining the corpse I brought back through various magecraft spells that were probably beyond my understanding.
Ever since I brought Hyoudou to this place with the dagger, this was probably the hundredth time the boy asked this question.
Honestly, I don't really blame him for feeling so shocked.
God knows how shocked I felt when Zelretch gave me the crash course and then handed me several books as 'homework' to bring my knowledge about this world up to acceptable levels, along with tomes that would help me understand the magic systems of this world.
Gods, devils, angels, magicians, touki practitioners, Sacred Gears, it was all too much and too bizarre for me.
But just like always, I soldiered on for the sake of my goal.
And given that Isse does not have the 'buffer' of being in the know about the supernatural side, unlike me, who stumbled upon that Archer card all those years ago, this shock went double for him.
Thankfully, despite his flighty nature, which was a result of his workload, Zelretch is a really competent teacher, which translates into patiently giving the boy a similar crash course as he did with me.
While Zelretch continued his observations, Hyoudou slumped into his chair with a self-deprecating look.
"Figures. The one time a girl showed any interest in me, it was to straight up kill me for something outside my control."
"Well, if you could control your perverted ways, you might actually have had a girlfriend by now."
The way he slumped even more made me wince a bit, but I know I cannot mince my words here.
Issei Hyoudou is an unrepentant pervert. There is no doubt about it. His perversion most of the time borders on harassment and can get him locked up in most countries, including our own, if not for the school's leniency for some reason.
However, under all that perversion, there is a good heart that I have witnessed before.
An honest and hardworking kid who never shirks his duties.
Cleaning duties assigned to him by the class rep as punishment for peekin on her? He will complain, but he will still do it. Told to carry some seriously heavy stuff by the teachers because they see him as less than human? He will do so without complaint, taking it as a method to train his body and 'show off' to girls.
Someone he knows is in need or facing some tough times? He will genuinely try his best to help them, even if he will make a big deal out of it and say that he will ask for some favors as compensation.
There is a reason why, despite getting beaten up so many times by the girls, orders of magnitude more than his so-called comrades, Hyoudou often receives fewer injuries than Matsuda and Motohama at the hands of the girls.
There is a reason why his parents are treated rather politely by the teachers in the school meetings, despite the teachers' disdain for him. In contrast, Matsuda and Motohama's parents receive quite the heated words and pointed conversations that would embarrass them publicly.
Because everyone who knew him from his admission into the school believed that, underneath all that idiocy, he still had the potential to be redeemed into a decent human being, unlike his two degenerate friends, who had none of those qualities and were literal human wastes.
Hell, back in the day, when Kuoh High first became co-ed, I remember many female students showing interest in him. Of course, all that interest went down the drain the moment he opened his mouth after the entrance ceremony, but that is a different matter altogether.
All in all, he is a good kid whose nice qualities are overlooked because of his open pervertedness.
Now, watching the idiotic kid's downcast look, I could not help but sigh and sit down on the chair beside his.
"Look, Hyoudou, instead of brooding over what happened, why don't you take this as a lesson?"
"...Huh?"
The blank look on his face and that dead gaze told me that this incident had seriously scarred his mentality.
Taking a deep breath, I spoke seriously.
"Now that you know about this side of the world, and the fact that you have a Sacred Gear, I think it is best if you start considering your future seriously from now on. And I am not talking about your mundane future either, because let's face it, that future has already died a dog's death at this point."
He winced at my words, but I still spoke seriously.
He needs to understand the gravity of the situation and know that from now on, his life is no longer going to be as simple as before. He needs to know what kind of dangers will now actively haunt him and, potentially, his family as well.
"You are a pathetic fool. An incorrigible pervert. Someone who only exists to inflate the population statistics of our country."
With every word, he shrank further into himself and appeared to be on the verge of crying.
"However, that is not everything there is to you. I know that because I have seen it."
The time when he helped out a lost little girl while he was on his way to school, knowing that he would be scolded silly by Shitori and the teachers. The time when I saw him help out an elderly couple who manage a local sweet shop despite not getting any pay for it, simply because they asked him for help in carrying a heavy crate.
That time when he stared lustfully at a student from Homura high and even followed her for a bit to try and get her number, only to have all his pervertedness fade when he saw the depressed look on her face and the direction she was going in, towards a really high spot of the Kuoh bridge that stood over the river, and then calling in the cops then and there.
Seriously, there are so many incidents that I saw with my own eyes, and who knows how many that nobody saw, that showed the kind of person he is under all that pervertedness.
The way hope and gratitude flashed in his eyes at my words made me wince a bit.
'Just how starved of compliments are you that such simple words made you react like that?'
Ignoring those thoughts, I continued speaking.
"Yet, why should anyone care? Hyoudou? Why should anyone care to look deep enough to see the real you when you do such a good job of portraying yourself as a criminal in the making?"
Once again, he deflated.
This is it, the point which will either break him or forge him into steel that will break before it bends.
"What are you going to do about it? Issei? What are you going to do about people like that Fallen woman, who will manipulate you with your desires for their own goals? What will you do when they come after you for the power that you hold? Power that you don't know how to use because you never earned it, like those who are really strong?"
"What are you going to do when they try to bribe you with the offer of giving you any woman you can ever desire? With the offer of making you so rich that you can basically buy anything you want? Will you throw away your humanity? Your very existence that was born from the loving union of your parents, who care so much about you?"
"And what about your parents? Issei? What will you do if someday, someone comes along and demands your life in exchange for theirs? A situation where you will not be able to do anything because you are weak? Because you don't have the power to protect both your life and that of your family? Will you force your parents to watch as your enemy kills you in front of their very eyes? Their only son-?"
A sickening crack rang out across the room as a fist met a face at full force.
Needless to say, it was Hyoudou's fist that landed on my face, causing his skin to scrape off due to my body's durability, while I barely even felt it.
Yet, it was not the attack that I thought about. No, it was the look on his face. That rage-fuelled madness that stems from his love for his family.
The same madness that burns within my own blood.
My aria for my reality marble is no mere poem. It is a fact. A statement.
And now, it seems my attempts to awaken a similar flame within the boy has succeded.
"Fuck you and fuck all of your hypotheticals! Emiya! I will not allow anyone to harm my family! Even if I have to kill them myself!!"
That proclemation, it came straight from his soul. I can feel it in his words.
And, it seems, whatever power lies dormant in there also heard it.
Blinding light shone in the room before a huge crimson gauntlet manifested on his left arm.
A sight that made me grin a bit while he stared with a dumbfounded look.
"Good. Keep that fire alive, and you truly will achieve what you just said. That Sacred Gear is the proof of your conviction."
Suddenly, he turned from the gauntlet and stared at me with a confused look before it morphed into one of gratitude.
Looks like he figured out what I was doing.
"Senpai! I see what you were doing now! You really are a good guy! The Kuoh Academy Weekly Bachelor Rankings that those girls like to read did not lie about you!"
"Oi! I just heard something truly outrageous there!!"
Tears comically poured down his face as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder with a guts pose.
"From this moment on, you are my comrade, no, my senior! No. You are already my senior, so, yes! I got it! You are now my Shishou!!"
"Oi! Go back to the previous conversation. What is this Bachelor ranking thing you were speaking about? Why am I mentioned in there!? OI! I need answers for that before anything else. And don't go assuming that I will teach you anything."
Watching our interaction, Zelretch chuckled a bit before speaking up.
"You pushed him into the abyss with your words, and then pulled him back up to make him like you. Truly worthy of a harem protagonist."
Those words instantly made Issei assume a neutral look and take a great distance from me.
"Shishou. As I said, I really like you and respect you. But I don't bat for the same team. So don't think about those kinds of things with me as the focus-OWW!!"
Using the trademark Tohsaka smile, I smacked Tora-Shinai straight on his head.
"What was the stupid thing that escaped your mouth just now? Hmm? Care to repeat it again?"
"N-NOTHING SIR, EMIYA SIR!!!"
He stood at attention comically with a salute while his face morphed into a terrified look. Good.
Looks like the Tora-Shinai is still effective in maintaining discipline.
"Hehe. How interesting."
...And then there is the flightly immortal I need to deal with.
Truly, what did I do to deserve all of this?
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1