Warmth.
It was a deep, soothing warmth that spread throughout his body, having nothing to do with the morning sun filtering through Aika's curtains.
He stared up at the ceiling, unable to stop himself from smiling. On his back, one arm pinned beneath a weight, he couldn't feel more content than this. Turning his head, he looked over at the source of that weight.
Aika lay asleep on his arm, brown hair a wild mess across his shoulder and the pillows. The sheets were tangled around their legs, leaving most of her upper body bare.
The joys of magic, the frantic fumbling, the kissing, the exploration of their bodies that followed…
It was all just perfect.
Carefully, he extracted his arm and stretched both arms above his head, a full-body motion that made his joints pop softly.
The movement stirred her.
She made a small, sleepy sound, nuzzling closer to him before her eyes fluttered open. He watched as her brain slowly computed, likely because she couldn't see with her glasses off. Then a slow, smug smile spread across her face as clarity filled those golden orbs.
"Mornin'," he whispered, his morning voice raspy.
He punctuated his word by leaning down and kissing her, a soft press of his lips against hers.
When he pulled back, her smile widened. "Well good morning to you too, hot stuff," she purred, tracing an idle pattern on his bare chest with a finger. "Sleep well?"
"Better than I have in years," he admitted, surprising himself with the truth of that statement.
As it turns out, the gnawing decade-long tension of working yourself to the bone didn't make for very relaxing sleep.
After a bit of back and forth, they lay in comfortable silence, the sounds of the waking neighborhood surrounding them. Then Aika's tracing finger stilled. She looked up at him, her expression shifting into something purposefully casual.
He stiffened, recognizing that look. She only did that when she was about to say something that might freak him out.
"So…" she began slowly. "We're, like… dating now, right?"
Kousei winced instinctually, then paused. That… was it? He was expecting her to say something worse.
He snorted. "I'd hope so. Up to you, really."
"Really?" Aika's eyes went wide, both eyebrows raised high. She rubbed her eyes, reaching over and plucking her glasses from the nightstand. "Just like that?"
He shrugged in response.
"Damn!" A slow, smug grin adorned her face as she put her glasses on. She propped herself up on an elbow, the sheet falling away. "Guess that spell earned me, like, a mountain of brownie points. Not that I'm complaining!" she added quickly.
"It… did," Kousei admitted, getting distracted by her bosom, but then immediately shook his head. "But that's not the reason I want to go out with you."
"Huh?" she stopped, confused. "Then what's the reason?" Her playful mask slipped, revealing the vulnerability underneath. "I've been shamelessly throwing myself at you since, like, before I even knew what a boyfriend really was. You've always just… shrugged it off. I… I'll admit I was a bit insecure, at first, but after a while I realized you didn't look at anyone that way." She tilted her head slightly. "What changed?"
He was quiet for a moment, looking at her. The girl who was always by his side, who'd called him a dork for his supernatural obsession more than a dozen times… but she'd never called him an idiot. Never thought any lesser of him for it.
The only one he could rely on in this life.
"I like you, Aika. I always have."
Her smile brightened.
"But… I didn't want to hurt you. I knew if I didn't find what I was looking for, I'd spend my entire life chasing it. I'd be a terrible partner. Distant. Neglectful. A single-minded madman chasing an impossible dream. That… that wouldn't have been fair to you. To anyone."
"But now you have it," she said quietly.
"Now I have it," he confirmed, a small smile gracing his lips. "And I didn't even have to leave to find it."
"So you can finally chill the hell out," she finished with a grin.
He chuckled. "Something like that."
"Then… good," she said, nodding once. "Great." Her smile kept widening. "Fuckin… fucking yes." She sat up abruptly, almost shaking with joy. Her bare breasts bounced with her movements as she pumped her fists into the air. "Fuck yeah! Let's fucking go, baby!"
Kousei just lay there with raised eyebrows, amused and exasperated at the same time. "You good?"
She turned to him, her eyes sparkling. "I'm fuckin' ecstatic!" she declared. "Don't you get it? While you've spent our entire friendship looking for magic, I've been strategically, relentlessly, artfully trying to get this." She poked his bare chest. "This stoic, muscly, magic-having idiot. And now… this dick, finally, is mine. Mine!"
She flopped back onto the pillow, letting out a gleeful, witch-like cackle that was entirely too loud for the early hour.
"I'm happy you're happy," Kousei interrupted her laughter with a chuckle. "But we have to get up, y'know? We've still got school."
Aika's cackle subsided into a theatrical groan, burying her face in his shoulder. Then she paused, before peeking up at him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Oh, right. School." She let out a tiny giggle. "Now I finally get to brag about having a boyfriend. The mysterious, hot, secretly-magical boyfriend every teenage girl wishes she had. Aah, the jealousy is going to be so delicious~"
Kousei opened his mouth. He was going to point out that, given her openly perverted commentary and constant teasing of… everyone, most of the school likely already assumed she was sexually active. The so-called 'school slut' bragging about having worn down the resident delinquent into being her boyfriend would probably give others a very different idea…
But he saw the pure, simple joy of a normal teenage milestone she thought she'd miss, and the words died on his tongue. It was fine to let her have this, let her brag.
As long as nobody bothered her with their false perceptions, then all would be okay. No point bursting her bubble.
Not when she was shining so brightly.
-=[DxD]=-
While Kousei was physically in history class, listening to his teacher drone on and on about meaningless dates and treaties… his mind was elsewhere.
Gaze fixed outside the window, he traced the smudges on the glass idly as he thought back to the conversation that had him stuck in thought.
"It's weird, you know?" He remembered Aika saying that morning, swinging their linked hands as they walked. "Your magic. It's not really like chi from Drag So-Ball."
She was referring to this world's version of DBZ.
"How so?" he'd asked instead of starting another argument about how terrible that anime was. It had nothing on the true Dragon Ball, but she wouldn't understand that.
"In Drag So-Ball," she'd elaborated. "All the fighters, aura or not, are super strong. Like… their chi is an internal amplifier, and the aura itself is just to show they have a LOT of chi. But with you, it's like a switch on and off. Without the white aura surrounding you? You're just a really buff nerd."
She'd said it with a teasing grin, but that accurate observation stuck in his mind.
He'd been considering his own energy to be similar to other magic systems in modern media. Like how chi was a well of power you could tap into. Or the same with mana, chakra, etc.
But what if it wasn't?
Magic, in mythology, was more… esoteric than that. It wasn't something so easily measured.
Clearly there was some principle behind how it worked, but what?
Kousei bit his lip in thought, subtly writing down their collective observations about the so-called Reinforcement Magic in his grimoire. Luckily, with the mental writing aspect, it took no time at all and was completely discreet.
Then he blinked, as something weird happened.
'Am I… smarter, all of a sudden?'
Connections upon connections were made, in a direction he wasn't previously focused on. As if his mind had suddenly gone into overdrive with increasingly obscure, subtle pattern recognition.
And, weirdly enough, he suddenly saw a pattern where there once wasn't one.
His power… it functioned only when the aura was active. It was hazy, white, and could either be controlled or burst out of him while draining faster. It reinforced his body, enhancing his strength, speed, and durability…
All things that connected to a different power system from his first life. An anime he'd almost forgotten about.
Nen.
Four basic principles to control the life force that leaks from all living beings.
Ten - To surround the body with aura.
Zetsu - To shut the flow off completely.
Ren - To flood the body with aura.
Hatsu - To utilize the unique aspect of one's aura to create a specialized technique.
His eyes widened as he realized it mapped perfectly. His bench press was just a wild, instinctive usage of Ren. It explained his sixty-second limit. Turning it off after getting tired was an instinctual Zetsu. That was something even children learned naturally to protect themselves from Nen leakage.
And what Aika had helped him invent last night… that was Ten.
But… despite all of the similarities, his Reinforcement Magic was subtly different from Nen. Aika could see it, after all, and Nen could only be seen by other Nen users, if he remembered correctly.
Plus, Nen was unlocked naturally when you did something that encompassed your nature. Like Netero punching until he acquired it one day. Or Komugi gaining it from playing Gungi.
Kousei, on the other hand, obtained it out of a desire to just not die.
Since it was similar yet different… he didn't mind stealing a few techniques from Nen to add to his personal magic.
'Huh…' He sat there with wide eyes, wondering where that burst of inspiration came from. 'That was weird.'
But seeing as that was a seemingly random occurrence, he simply shrugged it off.
Focusing, he began to mentally write in his grimoire, inscribing the observations and his new thoughts.
{Reinforcement Magic — Fundamental Principles}
Life Energy: A constant emanation from the living body. Uncontrolled, it dissipates, weakening the source. Mastery over this energy is the very foundation of utilizing Reinforcement Magic.
—[Principle 1: Zetsu (Cessation)]
Usage: The opposite of utilizing reinforcement magic. Take control of your aura, and relax it until it ceases to pour out.
Effect: Likely causes the user to appear mundane, rendering the user unmeasurable by supernatural means. All magical enhancement ceases. Life energy is conserved internally, allowing for quicker recovery time.
—[Principle 2: Ten (Shroud)]
Usage: Activate the outward flow of life energy, then hold it close to the body as a thin shroud. To prevent pressure buildup, allow the energy to flow freely along the body in a controlled loop.
Effect: Provides a constant, low-level physical enhancement. Minimizes waste of energy while in effect.
—[Principle 3: Ren (Fighting Spirit)]
Usage: Deliberately release the outward flow of life energy, allowing it to burst out in an erratic manner. Increasing the output of energy increases the enhancement.
Effect: Provides a temporary, drastically high physical enhancement. Drains the user the less controlled it is.
Note: May cause self-cannibalization if the user loses control.
—[Principle 4: Hatsu (Self Expression)]
Usage: Unknown. Likely will be easier to utilize after testing Water Divination.
Effect: Theoretically, would allow the user to manifest individualized applications of Reinforcement Magic beyond raw physical enhancement. If it exists, such effects would likely be inefficient or impossible to replicate by others.
Note: {This principle has been hidden such that only Kousei Inoue can read this until further exploration is commenced.}
With all of that written, Kousei let out a deep breath, sitting back in his chair.
Even just theorizing in his grimoire about how his magic truly functioned… It was just so much fun.
A slow, content grin spread across his face.
This was exactly what he wanted to do in life.
-=[DxD]=-
Later that same day, back in the sanctuary of Aika's room, Kousei sat in the center of the floor again.
'Ten.'
He didn't have to mentally say it to activate it, but it was fun.
The hazy white aura shimmered to life around him, clinging to his skin in a stable shroud. Holding it in place, he felt the gentle, circular flow of energy operate smoothly. The clock on her nightstand ticked.
One minute. Two. Three.
He let out a slow breath, letting his aura dissipate. "That's… weird."
"What is?" Aika asked from her bed, looking up from a manga.
After the initial bout with magic, Aika began to treat it as his thing. Something she'd help with if asked, but not something she was interested in personally. She said his brand of magic seemed too difficult to acquire, so she wasn't keen on exploring it without him.
Instead, she'd help out if he asked, or if she had an idea. She'd be the Bulma to his Goku.
Or maybe Vegeta, since they're dating.
'Whatever.'
Shaking his head, Kousei refocused and replied to her.
"My uh, Ten. It was significantly easier to do than yesterday. Before it was like trying to wrangle a bunch of different animals to stay in their pens. But now, it's like… herding sheep? All the little energy motes seem to follow one directive."
"'Ten'?" She tilted her head, picking up his grimoire and reading it over. Then she hummed. "Oh, you made a name for it. Neat. But yeah, that is weird…"
As she thought about it for a bit longer, he watched her eyes light up with mischief.
"The only thing you've done since yesterday was a bit of… strenuous cardio, no?" She waggled her eyebrows. "Could it be that you've stumbled upon a classic cultivation trope? The wonders of Dual Cultivation?"
Kousei stared at her blankly. "No."
"Oh, c'mon! It makes total sense! Where two cultivators merge their 'energies'..." she made a looping gesture with her fingers, and pumped her fingers in and out. "...to achieve greater harmony or whatever! Maybe your yang chakra or whatever increased from taking away my yin~"
Kousei pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I've read a paper on the zodiac signs affecting the nature of crystal harmonics."
"Is it, though?" she challenged, hopping off the bed and circling him like a shark. "Think about it. Life energy is life, right? Sex literally creates life. In that context, wouldn't it be the most energy inducing activity there is?"
He opened his mouth to retort… but she was right, technically.
Didn't make it any less absurd.
"See? You can't deny my theory makes sense," she declared, nodding. "Your Ten is better. Of course, we can't confirm this theory after only one event. We must replicate it, multiple times. Under the name of science, of course." Her expression was one of utterly fake scholarly concern, belied by the wicked gleam in her gold eyes. "It's a sacrifice, but for the advancement of magic… I'm willing to give up my body."
Kousei couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. Her logic was absurd, her motives transparent, but the offer was…
Well, magic or not, he was still a teenage boy.
He was about to play along and suggest they begin their 'research' immediately, when an electronic buzz went off.
It was his phone.
Taking it out, the screen lit up with a single word of caller ID:
| WARDEN |
All the ease and warmth bled out of Kousei in an instant, replaced by irritation. The playful mood of a moment ago was replaced with a deep frown, and a cold reminder of his home.
Aika, too, lost her teasing grin. She was merely looking with a worried frown of her own.
The caller, after all, was his father.