53 A fallen angel's confession

"What am I to you in your previous world?" Mike asked the question Raynare is most afraid of. Raynare wasn't that surprised. She already knows that Mike would figure this out. Mike in this world is a lot smarter than how he was in the previous world after all.

Raynare smiled and calmly replied. "I don't want to talk about it."

"So, you won't deny that I am a part of your previous life huh..." Mike stated.

"I love you. Always have, always will." Raynare confessed. "Every advice I give you is because I care about you. I don't want you to get your memories back. You should just be happy in this world without caring about my feelings. So, I will never talk about what happened between us in our previous lives." Raynare said with a determined face looking straight into Mike's eyes.

Mike sighed, "Well whatever, I don't really want to remember my 'previous life' either."

"Why?" Raynare asked.

"You look at this world as if it isn't real, Raynare. You don't care about anything except for me because I am the only one you consider 'real' in this world." Mike explained, "I don't want my memories because I don't want to look at this world like that. Looking at the people I love like they are part of fiction is something I don't want to do. So, I don't want to remember anything about that life."

Raynare smiled but she couldn't stop tears from her eyes. "Sorry, I also know it's for the best if you didn't remember anything. But the fact that you don't want to remember me still hurts, you know?" Saying this she rubbed her eyes but the tears won't stop no matter what.

Mike took his kerchief and gave it to her. "I think you should cry and let it all out. If I won't remember anything from that life, doesn't that mean that my previous version is practically dead and I am a different person now? It's okay to mourn if someone dear to you is dead."

Hearing this, Raynare started laughing, "Hahaha... That's right. There are a lot of things different about you when compared to your previous life. You are a lot smarter when compared to your previous dense version. But your core is still the same, Kei-kun. Your kindness won't change no matter what. That troublesome kindness made me fall for you. Why won't you let it go, Kei-kun?"

Raynare touched Mike's cheek with her hand and stared into his eyes. "Since you can't respond to my feelings, you wanted me to move on. That is why you wanted me to consider your previous version is dead. That kindness of yours won't change no matter what, huh... Kei-kun... How many times will you make me fall for you?" Raynare said with a bright smile even though her eyes are filled with tears.

Raynare continued, "Don't worry... You don't have to respond to my feelings. Because I don't deserve you. But I will keep on loving you and care about you and help you as much as I can. Complete dedication without wanting anything in return. That's what my love has turned into."

"Hey Mike, just because someone you love lost their memory, you won't stop loving them, right? My situation is also the same. I will keep loving you as long as I exist." Raynare declared.

Mike was simply mesmerized by her love. Mike thought that 'Kei-kun' is a lucky guy to have a girl like Raynare. It would be a lie if we say that Mike isn't curious about what happened between Raynare and Kei-kun but Mike ultimately decided to not ask her about it. Mike already loves Gabriel and he is afraid that he might really fall for Raynare once he gets the memories of 'Kei-kun'.

"Raynare, I can't respond to your feelings. I am not the 'Kei-kun' you know. I am asking you this as 'Mike'. Please tell me everything you know about DxD. I need your help with that." Mike requested her again.

Raynare smiled. "Haha... You are a cruel person, Mike. Rejecting a girl and asking her help at the same time... Somehow, I feel like Rem."

"Who's Rem?"

"Well, she's not related to this world in any way. So, I won't bother telling you about that tragedy." Raynare sighed. "Haa... It looks like you are not going to give up huh. That's so like you, Kei-kun. Fine, I will tell you everything I know about DxD."

"Thank You, Raynare." Mike smiled because he finally managed to convince Raynare.

Raynare said, "The story starts with Issei... Issei Hyoudou..."

Immediately, Mike's smile disappeared. "Did you just say 'Hyoudou'?"

******************************************

(After a few hours...)

"So, you are saying that you met a lot of main characters already. Mike, you truly are the protagonist of this world, aren't you?" Raynare asked.

Raynare gave a summary of the story of DxD instead of going into full detail because that might take a few days. Mike told her a few truths about himself and that he is acquainted with a few of these characters.

"Haa... Nozomi is not supposed to be in this world and she replaced the main character, 'Issei'. 'Rias' is supposed to the main female character. Seriously? Rias?! Then, there is Baraqiel's daughter 'Akeno'... There is also the child I saved from Holy Sword Project, 'Isaiah'. There is 'Kuroka' and her sister, 'Shirone', the daughters of Fujimai. And there are Irina, Asia, Xenovia... To think all of them are a part of this messed up story..." Mike felt like he was about to get a headache.

"Hey, don't call it messed up," Raynare retorted.

"What do you mean it's not messed up?! Don't you see how much the author made them go through? But hey, the main character is here. Issei will solve their problems and heal their trauma and voila! If it's a boy, he gets a great friend and if it's a girl, he gets additional pair of boobs that will help him power up for the next part of the story! You have got to be kidding me!! What the hell is this story?!" Of course, for Mike who doesn't see his own world as fiction, this story will definitely sound absurd.

"The story is not meant to be taken that seriously though..." Raynare commented.

"How can I not take it seriously when lives are being affected!!" Mike shouted at Raynare's comment. He calmed down and sighed.

Mike declared, "This is not fiction. I don't want people to suffer. So, I am gonna stop all those tragedies because 'I_hate_tragedies'"

Raynare sighed, "This is why I didn't want to tell you the whole story. Messing with time can bring drastic changes, Mike. You already saw how the Holy Sword Project and Asia's event happened faster than they should."

"Then I just have to be even faster and take measures before those changes could happen," Mike stated.

Raynare sighed again, "Alright, I am with you. What do we do first? In my opinion, there are three main threats. Khaos Brigade, Trihexa, and ExE Gods."

"Khaos Brigade is first led by Ophis, then led by Rizevim... I can't stop the organization from forming. So, we need to somehow find Ophis and stop her. Do you have any idea where she can be?" Mike asked.

"Ophis is a shapeshifter. We can't know what form she might take. It is mentioned that she met Azazel once before her appearance in the novel and asked him to help fight the Great Red. That's currently the only lead." Raynare stated.

"It looks like finding her is a pain. As for Rizevim, you mentioned that he became the leader after Euclid Lucifuge brought him information about Ophis's powers, the Holy Grail, proof of another world, and Trihexa, right?" Mike asked to confirm the info.

"Yes. But in this world, Euclid is a reincarnated person. I don't know what he would do." Raynare stated.

"Euclid is the type of guy who stays on the side that wins. If he already knows that Rizevim will lose, he won't side with him. He will most probably stay as my ally since he considers me as a dangerous being." Mike pointed out. "But just to be safe, we will take measures so that Trihexa can't be awakened no matter what."

"What do you mean?" Raynare asked.

"Sephiroth Graal, the Holy Grail. The sacred gear that was used to locate Trihexa and also unseal it. We need to secure it. According to your story, the girl must not have awakened her sacred gear yet. So, we will secure her before she awakens it." Mike declared. "In other words, we are gonna kidnap 'Valerie Tepes'."

"What about 'Gasper Vladi'?" Raynare asked.

"Let's just kidnap him along with Valerie Tepes," Mike stated.

"Haa... I can't believe that I am gonna help a kid to kidnap two other kids..." Raynare sighed and commented.

"The fact that you love the said 'kid' is more unbelievable in my opinion." Mike countered her comment with a smug. Raynare couldn't say anything against that and pouted for a while.