2 Saeko Busujima

There were a lot of people and I didn't like it.

Namely, because it meant I had to keep pretending to be happy because every time one person took their gaze off the group of children I was a part of - not by choice mind you - someone else would look over to us. So, even as I sat here pretending to aimlessly play with the new baby toy I got given as a gift by god knows who, I tried to ignore the finger prodding me in my chubby cheek.

As I did, my gaze flickered around the room and looked at all the people around us.

First the kids.

Well, there was one other kid besides Issei who was around the same age as me. That was a young girl called Irina Shidou who I think was an actual cast member of the High School DxD anime. Not completely certain, however, but I'm pretty sure she was also an Exorcist or at the very least, worked for the Church. Her parents were certainly religious so I was pretty confident that was the case.

Next were five girls, all older than myself. The first pair was from the Hayasaki family, belonging to a single father who had lost his wife during childbirth to his first and only legitimate child called Hayasaki Noemi. She was the oldest of us all being ten years old. Her younger siblings were adopted and were the same age, seven. Their names, Hayasaki Mio and Yurine.

Didn't know who they were but I suppose they could be members of the later series of High School DxD but I honestly had no clue. I could be wrong and they could just be random people who had no influence on the story and we're just here to flesh out the world that I lived in.

It was the same with the next two, five-year-olds Megumi and Ayami Suzumaru. Their mother was the very busty blonde MILF, Arisa Suzumura, a Russian woman whose husband travelled around the world quite a bit. Honestly sounded like a porno in the making there, especially when you looked at Arisa because holy fuck, I would fuck that woman if given the chance.

But yeah, besides a few other miscellaneous and quite frankly, uninteresting characters, that made up mine and Issei's party guests. And I was left here staring at the MILF Arisa while also being poked in the cheek by a very irritating Yurine.

Calm Mikoto, calm. Just breathe and it'll all be over soon.

*Prod*

My eye twitched.

*Prod*Prod*

I didn't want to do this, it's embarrassing and demeaning but I just couldn't take it anymore. So I used my secret weapon, I cried.

-X- Line Break -X-

"Are you excited?" Miki asked from her position in the passenger seat as Gorou drive the car down the street. Nodding my head in my best attempt to imitate a young child - using my experiences with Issei and Irina as a basis helped greatly - as I held my Kendo stick in one hand. "It's a shame Issei couldn't come, are you sure he'll be okay?"

Much like the good husband he was, Gorou put his wife at ease, but I tuned out the sound and instead looked out the window in thought. Now seven years old, the thing had progressed quite nicely in my life, sure I still hadn't figured out how to unlock my magic, that one aspect irked me more than anything else. However, after turning two and still no sign of unlocking my magic I had decided to hold off on that and focus on my fitness.

I must have been doing something wrong to have not unlocked magic after all this time, but I also knew that focusing on that alone would lead to more problems. What good would it be to unlock magic if I had completely neglected to train myself in other ways? I had to be prepared in all ways otherwise I would die because as a human, I was weak, simple as that.

Calling me weak was an understatement, I was basically a cripple walking blind, deaf and dumb through the world of DxD with no way to protect myself. So when I turned four - a controversial decision on Miki's part - decided to join up for numerous clubs all across Kuoh, Martians arts clubs to be exact. Clubs such as Kendo, Judo, Karate, Ninjutsu, Jujitsu, Kenpō, Kyūdō, Boxing, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Aikido and Sambo.

Yeah, I did all of them and I can tell you that for a lazy guy like me, it had been difficult in the beginning. However, Gorou who had paid for all these memberships made sure that I took each and every lesson I could and after a while, I started to fall into a routine. Issei who had joined in with only a small number of those gave up after the first month when his membership expired. However I kept at it, I had no choice if I wanted to become strong.

And it wasn't as hard as I expected, for someone lazy like me it was a bit of a troublesome situation for sure, but physically it wasn't all the demanding. Considering my age it was mostly just teaching me the basics of self-defence and all about making things fun to ensure that kids would return for the next session and continue to be monthly members. Doing brutal training would be counter-productive to that. Even so, if you looked at some of the kids who joined those clubs, well it was just sad and pathetic to watch.

They could hardly even throw a punch without falling on their ass. So when I, someone who had been training my body since I was a baby and having the mental age of a thirty-three-year-old plus a four-year-old making me thirty-seven gave me the distinct advantage over others.

I didn't have a natural talent for fighting, that was far from the truth. But thanks to my actual age I was capable of understanding instructions and able to move my body much easier than any other kid. So while I knew the truth of my 'prodigious talent' to others I was a genius. It was why I was here, no seven years old and heading to a Kendo tournament. I had already fought in a few tournaments for Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai and Sampo, winning each and every single fight I was in. Again a kind of unfair advantage considering I was basically an adult beating up little kids, but this was the only time it was legal and it was fun.

Winning, I liked that feeling.

I liked it a lot.

That's why I was heading to a Kendo tournament now as well, I wanted to accumulate as much experience as possible which was one of the reasons I was doing this. Another reason I was doing it was that I remembered that Kiba helped out with the Kendo club at Kuoh Academy, by being this huge Kendo expert I could do the same and gain a possible in with Rias.

Say what you want about her being useless, she's hot and that's all that mattered to me.

But above all else, the reason I was doing this was that I enjoyed winning, I liked the fame and glory I got from it. True I wasn't a well-known name outside of Kuoh, but I liked it all the same. I had never really liked a protagonist that disguised themselves as another person. To me, I didn't like people claiming my achievements for their own, even if that other person was me. Just a little pet peeve of mine and who I was, I was a prideful guy and I recognised that fact.

So here we were, heading out and I was going to win this one as well.

-X- Line Break -X-

Saechōrō Busujima looked down at the proceedings below with a healthy dose of interest. The tournament he was a part of was the national Japanese Junior Championship. It wasn't a huge crowd, mostly fighters and their families, maybe a few family friends as well along with a few older martial artists that had come to watch the young talent.

There wasn't much to see from most of the fighters, of course, they were young and some looked like they were still learning the proper stances. However, this event would no doubt prove to be a valuable experience for their future in Kendo should they choose to pursue it.

Yet the only thing that made the people stay was the match currently taking place right now. The two fighters that had made short work of all fighters they had come across with skill that many didn't possess many years their senior. Yet these two fighters of seven years fought with such ease ending their ten minutes bouts within the first five minutes by scoring two clean Ippons. Now they were witnessing these two fighters going at it and Saechōrō was one such man.

Clad in the Bōgu, the two fighters faced off against one another, one clasped with a red cloth to their back and the other white. Shinai resting against one another as they circled their opponent before engaging in a short clash with neither coming out the determined victory, the judges ruling it as no Ippon scored.

Five minutes had already passed and neither fighter had scored a single point.

Again and again, they circled, Shinai's clashing before the two fighters broke apart. Time ticked by and it seemed like it would never end as this bout would end with no clear victor, but that was when the fighter with the white cloth scored an Ippon. A clean precise strike that struck the Do. Yet as Saechōrō watched the fight proceed he frowned, leaning back into his chair as the fight was eventually called to an end.

Out of the two fighters, his granddaughter, Saeko Busujima was declared the victory having emerged victorious over the rising martial arts star, Mikoto Hyoudou. Yet despite this victory, Saechōrō was not pleased.

His granddaughter dedicated all her time to training in the art of Kendo, yet struggled against an opponent who dedicated himself to dozens of different martial arts. If that wasn't talent Saechōrō didn't know what was. And as Mikoto and Saeko bowed to one another, the former heading to where his parents and Sensei comforted him on his loss, Saechōrō picked up on the frown on his face.

There was a fire there, a burning desire to be the best. Perhaps Mikoto didn't know it yet, but there was something within him that craved more and as he looked towards his granddaughter, Saechōrō saw the same burning desire reflected within her eyes. Despite her victory, Saeko had recognised the same thing he had, if Mikoto had dedicated his time purely to Kendo then she would have lost. That was something she would not allow and Saechōrō smirked.

'I suppose a change of scenery might be good for us both.' He thought to himself, rising out of his seat and heading down to wait for his granddaughter outside. 'Mikoto is a talent I can't allow to slip through my fingers, not when he could make the Busujima more powerful. The world is changing and a storm is brewing and like always, we will be ready.'

The Busujima Clan, an ancient family that could trace their lineage back to the age of the Samurai. A family who had dedicated their lives to the way of the sword, a family well-respected amongst the world of shadows that hide beneath the surface. A family that had been impacted heavily after the death of his son and daughter-in-law, leaving him to raise his granddaughter. And perhaps, as if the stars were aligning, he had found the perfect suitor for his young granddaughter, one who would help strengthen the Busujima Clan.