Ch.1 Exchange
'Alright You all know how this goes; person dies, person ends up in void, person gets wishes, person is reborn, right? Well Not entirely, at least not in my specific instance.'
'I've been in this void floating about for who knows how long, the only thing keeping me remotely sane has been an ongoing mental monologue I've decided to keep up. Oh where are my manners my name is *&^%$m I was @( years old and I died from a snowplow.'
"..."
'Yeah I know not the most memorable, anyways back to the Void'
"..."
'Yep still nothing; and I mean that quite literally, when people think of Void they imagine either a black or white all encompassing space... well their wrong it's so far out of our capability to image a void, so our brains simply picture one of those two scenarios. No the void is pain simply because it can't be comprehended, hence why my internal monologue and complete denial of my current location.'
'I'm probably in hell....'
'....'
<....>
"Ok...now what" I might as well go along with this not like I've got better options
"Of course this place is a trash shute" I mumble in resignation
"Alright lets SPIN these WHEELS"
With my confirmation secured 4 giant blank WHEELS materialized and started spinning without my input in front of me.
-High School DXD/Kuou
-Exchange-
"The ability to Exchange anything and everything with another sentient/sapient entity so long as you have their acceptance in the exchange"
-Omnilingualism-
"The ability to understand, speak, and communicate in all languages. This can include spoken, written, and non-verbal communication"
-Blank-
"You are immune to all forms of mental and fate based manipulations and interventions, you are the ruler of your own destiny"
-You're a 12 year old orphan who inherited enough money to last a regular human life time; government oversight what's that? You've slipped through the cracks in the system and unless you go around stating your situation you'll be left alone. You live in a small cottage at the edge of Kuou with the surrounding 10 acres as your own personal kingdom.
-Your most distinguishing feature are your Emerald green eyes. Everything else is pretty average, 6/10 overall. Black hair, average height....yup average. Congratulations!
'Geez it's not like I wanted to be here in the first place, not even giving me time to properly digest all this info'
"Alright I'll go by Akira, that good enough for you?"
"Wai....."
Before I could lodge my complaints I'm sucked into what feels like a vortex. Color, sounds, and feelings are hammering away at my very soul, and being without any for so long causes me to pass out.
When I come to again I find myself laying face down on a hard wooden floor, in what I can only assume to be my little cottage.
"Fu4k...not doing that again, 0/10 would not recommend, alright first lets see what I look like, I mean I know the wheel said average but I'm still curious." Having said that I pick myself up and start looking for a bathroom.
After exploring a bit I see that all this cottage has is 1 bedroom, a foyer, a bathroom, and a kitchen, rather small but considering it's only me living here it ain't to shabby. Going back to the bathroom I look myself over in the mirror and see.....
"Wow I really am average looking, like a background character in a generic anime."
Sighing in slight disappointment I decide to go over my options in my bedroom.
"Ok first things first gotta stop monologuing now for obvious reasons."
'Now lets see, short-term goals: need information on my timeline and to flesh out my understanding of the Exchange ability, long-term goals: gain power and leave this universe'
You may ask 'Akira why would you want to leave?! There are so many anime beauties.' My response....Ok? I'd much rather survive and live than deal with all the crap that's gonna happen in this world, if it's anything like the Light Novels then I'm screwed 70 ways to next week and that's just by existing.
'Alright with that out of the way first thing I'm gonna do is take a well deserved nap.'
What you think that's anticlimactic? Well how about you try drifting endlessly in a void where you can't do anything but think. I'm gonna enjoy my newfound ability to sleep and you can't stop me.
The following morning after getting up and doing my morning routine which now consists of shit, showering and brushing my teeth, I decide to head on into town and see if I can't find myself a library and some groceries considering that I have none.
-------
Well good news and bad news; good news is I've found the library, bad news is that I have new stamina. It took me 3 hours just to get here, but whatever I'll just have to find a way to remedy that issue.
While browsing the library a bit I finally find a computer and check the date...
'Oh this is fantastic news it's currently 2003 and since the plot of the OG series started around 2008 I've got 5ish years to prep and find a way out. Now if my exchange works how it's described then I think I've finally got the skeleton of a game plan to work with.'
After browsing a bit more and finding nothing more of interest I decide to head to the local park and relax for a bit, I deserve it.
While sitting on a bench I decide to spread to my gaze around and see if I've got that protag luck to run into Issei.....and after a few hours, I'd estimate its around noon now.
"Damn it"
'No ones here, whelp guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way. Not like I wanna be around that disgrace of a human being but I need something only he has, and considering he's my age now and most definitely a pervert now is the best time to take it. Of course I'm talking about his Sacred Gear and Plot Armor, you know what while I'm at it I guess I'll take whatever else he might have that'll benefit me'
What? I never said I was a good guy, plus in a way I'm saving his life, he'll be able to live an ordinary life if he's not in prison. All I gotta do is "Exchange" some porn mags with him and I'll take what I need. The power never said it had to be of equal value and I fully intend to abuse the absolute stuffin out of it.
Deciding not to waste anymore of my time I head on over to the local market and purchase this weeks groceries and head home and to try again tomorrow.
'I'm so not enjoying this distance, I'll have to fix this soon.'