Hyoudou Issei didn't always have a corrupt and perverted mind. Long before that, he was a bright and innocent young boy, full of youth and eager to please. Less so on the bright side, since he was one of those case studies of a so-called 'book dumb', but indeed, he was of a calm and mild nature. Such that his innocence invited the attention of his friend to be, one that influenced much of his childhood and to the present. Shidou Irina, a girl who was apparently so masculine, so tomboyish, that for most of their early friendship Issei Hyoudou had assumed that she was a boy.
The two were close, very close in fact, that the girl had actually developed a crush on the boy as they grew together through thick and thin. Although they may have their occasional argument, they were both of the same temperament, allowing them to nurture their bonds even stronger after every compromise. Such was the nature of childhood innocence.
Not all things were to be, however. Their friendship ended suddenly, but neither were truly at fault. At some point in their lives, Irina's family had to leave for England. Their bond was torn apart, and not much could be done about it unless Irina could come back to Japan to meet him again. As it is, he left his home late at night, feeling crushed and betrayed. The experience was one that would change the course of his history forever.
In the normal world, Issei would put his foot down and move on with his life. He'd attend High School having almost forgotten about the friend that colored most of his childhood, only a footnote smudged by childhood trauma. It was all until a fateful night that would get him almost killed by his psycho ex, revived, and made to serve one of his schoolmates as a bonafide demon. Later on, he would meet her once more, finding out her actual physical sex in a rather violent manner, and the story would go on from there.
This isn't that story, however. To begin with, in what world would a young boy turned girl go out of their way to voyeur on the fairer sex when they themselves have a pair of the important bits of their own? Certainly not without some reluctance, and she'd need to actively make them bigger anyway. It's not easy doing your business when you're a clone of the girl who would sit inside your head for the rest of your life.
One day while walking in the park, Issei stumbled across something that would change his life. If fate were allowed to do their job for once, he would come across an old gentleman sitting on the bench who would be responsible for turning the boy into an excessively pubescent and lecherous young adult. Although what he did encounter there was not a lecherous old man, it was still set up by the mischievous motives of another old man whose intentions derive either hate or amusement from their victims.
It was an intricately made magic circle. An eight pointed star like a compass was fitted in the middle. A language, archaic and seemingly mystical, covered every section like paint to a canvas. Glyphs, circles and various other symbols dotted the rest of the image.
Issei took a little more time to process what he saw, sweat beginning to gather behind his back. He looked around the area surrounding him, seeing if what was before him was truly there or not. And true enough, there didn't seem to be much of anything. There was no real reason to be afraid of what this was, right? Magic wasn't real, the warning signs chanting in his head were just being paranoid. It's just an elaborate painting made by a possibly demented cultist, right? Absolutely nothing wrong at all, unless those crazy cultists were right behind, right!? He looked around again as shivers went up his spine.
The park was simply dead silent, in an almost deafening manner. Not even any sounds of animals, cars, or the whistle of the wind interrupted his mania. Just him, his bated breath, and a glowing, spooky witchcraft circle. The glowing part honestly didn't help things.
He was, after all, in an age where belief in the supernatural and fantastical beings began to wane. Magic wasn't supposed to be real, the circle couldn't be made of maybe blood... He might just be tired. Whatever fantastical story he had brewing in his mind was all fiction. And yet, he still couldn't take his eyes off it.
Indeed, it had come to such a point that the boy simply stared blankly at it, moving ever so slowly and cautiously noting any signs of movement. As he moved forwards, he clutched his beloved Gameboy closer to his chest, seemingly entranced and totally unaware of his surroundings. All it took was a loose pebble on the ground to trip him straight into the ground, face first on the concrete before the circle itself.
If the boy hadn't panicked and covered his face at the last moment, he would have been witness to the dull red of the circle beginning to glow before him. Even then, however, he wouldn't be able to case as Issei somehow fell unconscious before he even hit the ground. As he drifted unconscious, the mental image of an old vampire with an impish look in his face met his mind, and before he knew it, he was somewhere else.
Issei found himself in a large empty room devoid of anything but himself. Panting, he looked around the white void of nothingness where the circle had brought him. Before he could even consider panicking, another voice broke the silence.
"Hey kid," a girl said. Red eyes met his own, and Issei nearly burst into panic. Despite the mass hysteria he had brought to himself, he somehow came up with one rational thought; was it truly a smart idea to scream at the sorceress who brought him here? This same sorceress seemed very capable of cutting him down immediately, sword in hand, mind you, right before him.
The witch held a very intimidating image indeed, if she even was one. Her wide smile beneath the military cap and her blood red eyes emanated charisma and venom. The rest of her outfit didn't give much of a magical feel, however. A military uniform, red cape and yellow boots gave her an image of a general awaiting for battle, and not someone who weaved with sword and sorcery. Even in his fear however, he silently fanboyed at the thought of a modern day magician using revolver and wand hand in hand, an example that was definitely before him.
"Do not fear," the girl had told him, but the boy, already in great panic, thought the exact opposite. He could see it now, this witch cutting him up and throwing his guts into a bubbling cauldron. Right there and then he knew he should've stayed home, should've learned to never touch random objects he didn't know the purpose for. He should've ran home before it could've gotten much, much worse. But it was all for naught, he was already in the worst day of his life. His life was over. The best thing that he could do now was clench his teeth and stare at his would-be murderer with a thinly veiled mask of defiance hiding a scared-shitless little boy wanting his mother.
Unimpressed, the girl leaned forward at the boy who was now kneeling on the cold white floor. He clenched his teeth. This, Issei thought he knew, was the moment where he would die. Memories flashed before him, the lessons drilled into him by his parents, the times they had together, and Shidou's bright smile.
And yet, her facial expression changed, seemingly satisfied by what she saw before her. "We're going to do great things, you and I," she beamed, smiling contently for once in their one sided conversation. Issei didn't know how to process the information, the message sent to him was far too strange to his hear. Was he to be her slave? And that farce of confidence he showed off earlier burned away when he felt her icy cold grip around his neck. He shut his eyes, whimpering murmurs and apologies to his family for being such a bad boy to them, wondering still if the heaven that his best friend talked about would let some annoying brat like him in.
"But we can't do any of that with a body like that, now, can we?" She said with a shrug, although seemingly with apprehension. She put her left hand on the other side of his neck, and Issei could only see red, his vision blurring.
Her hands were colder than the sweet embrace of death. It was so cold in fact that Issei thought that what was surrounding him was in fact the lowest circle of hell. Issei couldn't tell from the pain if it was hot or cold anymore, the distinction not all mattering as the pain went further beyond. His mind was only focused on the pain and the strange, almost euphoric numbness he could feel around his body. He simply didn't know what was happening to him. What was unknown to him, yet very obvious to the beholder.
"Here's to a wonderful partnership, partner!" she cheered. What was once a blindingly white void turned into a burning hellhole. A massive skeletal being appeared before him, still ignored by the feeling on his hand. Smoke and soot flowed out of every hole, making him hack and cough violently.
The pain on his neck was tame compared to his left arm and hand now. Issei rolled on the ground, tears dried up by the ever present flame covering his arm. It was almost like his body was burning from the inside and out. The pain was too much for him, and so he fell into blissful unconsciousness. As the fires died down, the girl stood still as the transformation before her continued.
Issei's body shifted, his hips rearranging, shoulders moving, and hair growing. His body morphed painfully and ever so slowly into a clone of the girl behind him. If anyone were to witness the two in action, one would even think they were twins, if not an elder sister to her younger.
The girl that saw fit to do this to him knew what was happening with a melancholic, almost sadistic smile. Then suddenly, her face became pained, as her smile turned into regret. Where once her eyes seemed manic and dull, they immediately widened in horror, quickly removing her hands from the boy's neck with a quick tug, but the damage was already done. With only a little time before her host would wake up, she used up her last moments inside the empty space to say one last thing to him, knowing yet that it would only be heard by deaf ears.
"I am so, so sorry."
Nuzzling closely to the prone body, she carries the newly made girl's upper body, and hugs it tightly as the once brightly white expanse darkens into an abyss.
At this moment, Issei woke up with a start with his face meeting the ground. He lifted his body slightly off the ground and with an ache in his head. With a yelp, he pushed himself off the ground entirely, his beloved Gameboy falling to the ground by his weakened grip. Issei backed away from the dull red circle, heartbeat accelerating.
By some instinct, Issei reached down to his waist and pulled a gleaming katana from the sheath on his side before the circle that had scarred him for life. He felt safer for a moment, until rational thought had pointed out that he had never touched a sword, much less a katana, in his entire life, nor did he have the martial ability to hold one so efficiently Yet here he was, holding one with his gloved(?) hands as if it were drilled into him. He also wasn't the type to wear hats as a fashion sense either, yet the feeling of fabric around his forehead was quite clear to him.
With a practiced motion that Issei was sure he never practiced, he turned the flat portion of the blade to face him. It was a mirror image he didn't expect to see.
Reflected before him was a face all too familiar to him by now. It was the witch that had burned him alive. Somewhat younger, yet he could tell that the clothes she wore were an exact match as well.
"Surprise!" her voice echoing in Issei's mind as he almost drops the blade in shock. His body moved, looking around the surrounding area for the source of the voice. Even as he panicked, the sword he held with two hands was already hungered for blood and vengeance.
"W-What do you want?" The voice of the murderer came out of his throat. "What did you do to me?"
It was strange to hear the voice of her tormentor come out worried and falling apart, especially the surreal feeling that it came from his own mouth. The few words they've exchanged came out hardened and sharp enough to cut steel compared to his anxious muttering.
"Hyoudou Issei," the echo came. Issei shuddered, facing back to meet absolutely nothing once again. "Circumstances have brought us together in this fashion," he heard in his left ear. His right hand twitched on the sword that he held, sheathing it despite Issei's best attempts to prevent it. His face unwillingly turned from a grimace of fear to a smile, and then the boy found himself sitting down.
"I'd like to introduce myself first, however," he found himself saying unwillingly. "My name is Oda Nobunaga. I was remembered as the tyrant who united Japan. Remember it well." She tapped her golden boots impatiently, doing her best not to attract anymore people's attention.
"We happen to be sharing a body, now," his mouth said, though Issei noted that her would be more accurate at the moment. Tears began to form, though the hold on his body slowed their production to just one every few seconds.
Issei knew his history well. The name of the most infamous warlord in Japanese history could send shivers down the spines of the people living during his era. If it weren't for the booming voice of the ghost inside of him insisting that she was who she spoke of, he truly wouldn't have guessed her identity.
"Your historians got only part of the story correct. True, there was a period of time that I became a man in order to better lead my soldiers in the field of battle, but that was so long ago," she said with a contemplative tone. "I suggest relaxing a bit. It's barely been an hour since we've been together, after all."
"I'll get this right off the bat, though. I am dead. Best I could describe it, I'm a ghost possessing you right now." She moved his hand to get a rock and began tossing it up and down. "In any normal situation, I would have been summoned to fight in a Holy Grail War as a servant. However, that didn't quite happen."
"Instead of appearing before you as a servant, you were pulled into the circle and met me inside of it. There was something that stopped me from being summoned normally, and I felt… compelled to turn you into me instead," she said sadly, pebble throwing paused for a moment. "This," she pulled his glove down to reveal an intricate red tattoo. Her, Issei begrudgingly corrected. "Should have been the sign of our connection together. A command seal." She then pulled it back up.
"I don't know why this all happened, honestly. All I can gather was because you fell into that magic circle," Nobunaga surmised, taking a quick glance at the circle. "I don't know who drew it, or for what reason, or especially not why it coerced me into doing this," she gestured to their shared body. "To you. I believe it called me from…" she considered the situation and her magically ignorant host, "the underworld. Hell."
Issei felt like a prisoner in his own body, barely listening to her monologue. He was only slightly able to control what he felt outside. All he could do at this point was imagine the same demon king beheading his parents in his own body, taking their skulls and drinking sake and wine from their empty shells. If he had any sway over it still, he'd have begun crying again at this point.
"I took a quick look at your memories up to this point," Nobunaga said sadly. Issei heard her, moving his eyelids slowly. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry. Any child having to deal with this much trauma in just a day would just feel devastated at this point. And I think that lesser minds would've dealt with this far worse..." Issei's inner mind couldn't resist releasing a chuckle.
"Just to let you know? We shouldn't be alive at this point. Both of us, to be honest," she said, grinning, though Issei couldn't properly process what he heard. "Your left hand kept us both alive, I think."
And Issei's mind shot into overdrive. The burning from earlier erupted once more, searing him, his family, his home, and everyone close to him. Tears gushed out, only to be silenced once again by her response.
"LISTEN TO ME CLEARLY!" She shouted out loud, to be met by curious faces by passersby. It had cut down Issei's panicked thoughts. He only had to listen. This was the voice that led armies to unite Japan or die trying, after all. It was a voice that could not, and should not be ignored. Anyone who tried were to be shot and hanged.
"I would never do any of that unless your parents became my sworn enemies, and something like that is never going to happen." She countered exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "We need to lay down some ground rules, kid," she said.
"This was your body, so I think I'd be willing to give us two or three options," she said, raising two fingers and another on the other hand. "The first option is we stay like this as we are, allowing me to take the reins whenever I'd like," she said while emphasizing her ring finger. "This lets you do the most of the oral and nonverbal communication while I handle anything you need me with like giant monsters, evil religious fundamentalists, or the bog standard ninja out to assassinate you." None of them boded well for the child, but it was better for her to be prepared than anything.
"The second option is for us to swap between one another every morning. Although this might seem a bit selfish, I did count this in at least partially so that I could experience modern life to the fullest without having to interrupt you every now and then. I won't interfere with your day to day activities, and you won't in mine." She twitched his middle finger to point out where it was.
"The third and last option would be the unthinkable. We would merge. Our memories, souls and existence in general. Two beings becoming one is becoming very popular nowadays, I think a Shonen series you've watched had that concept as one of the gimmicks?" Nobunaga said, tilting her head as if she was talking to someone. "Though if I were to be honest, I still think I'd come out on top." Knowing how easily she took over his body earlier, Issei felt inclined to agree, and a nervous bead of cold sweat threatened to fall down her neck.
"I was kidding! The first option it is," Nobunaga laughed shortly, having a blank expression on her face. "I like being myself, retainer, and I know you would too. I wouldn't want to deprive you of your own life anymore as it is." she tapped their shared noggin, "So for now, I'll wait until you need me out there, kid."
Letting out a rumble of crazed laughter, her hold vanished. Issei fell backwards on herself like a fisherman losing his grip. She regretted the action, as the veritable blanket of hair behind her slid underneath, pulling her head backwards as she fell face down on the paved floor. The cape behind her didn't help any as it just pulled her further backwards. Slowly pushing herself up, she processed what had transpired as she began to cry slowly, heaving heavy breaths.
After all, even knowing the ghost's noblest of intentions simply didn't want any of this to happen and tried to make the most out of a terrible situation, she was still a child. A child that had just returned from experiencing betrayal and one of the most traumatizing experiences in her life, who could blame her? She cried harder and harder with her face down, ignoring the murmurs of the pedestrians that passed by.
She could still feel the flames that burned her alive, the boisterous laughter of the girl that ruined her already horrid day even more. Not even the call of his mother could rouse him from his tears. The voice grew closer and closer to her until she was right beside him. All those who passed by ignored him, except her mother who had just arrived to pick her up. One did not simply help an upset cosplayer lying on top of a demonic circle, after all, and anyone curious enough to come close didn't wish to test if the blade she held was real or not.
"Excuse me, Miss", her comforting voice came, hand patting her back to help her in this hour of need. "Are you feeling okay?"
"M-Mommy," she said, pushing his face to her stomach, arms slowly moving to her waist in an embrace. A few more desperate sobs moved her body in sync. Despair formed in her stomach, wondering if her own mother could even recognize her in this state. Realizing this, Issei cried even harder, as the iron grip clutch tightened on her mother even more.
Mrs. Hyoudou could only stand silently as the stranger buried her face onto her chest. She frowned as she assessed the ominous looking circle on the ground. The paint and blood comprising the once intricately and carefully made circle of magic was smudged and smeared was most likely caused by the young girl before her, boot prints and other imperfections damaging the image. As she moved her eyes across the ground, her eyes widened as she noticed a discarded object, a Gameboy Advance. Though it was far away from her, she was sure of its identity. The scratchy Hyoudou Issei on the back written with a black permanent marker was a very familiar sight to her.
To her dismay, the strange little girl was still clamped around her waist and had little intention of letting her go. She idly considered the looks of the few who strolled along during the evening, all thoughtful or otherwise meek and sheepish. She waved at them to move along, then considered what brought her here in the first place. Issei hadn't come home in time. It was far from his normal return around 4 o'clock for an afternoon snack, and completely missing his dinner at six in the evening. His meal still sat cold on the dinner table, waiting for the cheerful child to come and eat it.
She narrowed her eyes at the girl, who most likely knew something about him, then shook her head in disbelief. She didn't want to consider the most insane option in her mind. That the little girl bawling her eyes out on her could possibly be their one and only child. It couldn't be. And to begin with, what would even make such a thing happen to him in the first place? She took a momentary look at the magic circle once more, and sighed, wondering what could possibly inspire this theory of hers besides her old history... If anything, it would at least be worth a shot. She didn't have anything to lose, did she.
Hesitantly, she asked the girl politely to confirm at least part of what was in her mind. "… Issei?" She asked to the girl. Issei's breath hitched and thought that maybe, just maybe she had a chance to at least make her listen to him. She slowly craned her head to face her mother's face, snot and tears making her even more like a total wreck. It was at this point that her mother gasped, the pathetic state of Oda Nobunaga's host pulling her heart strings.
"I-I found this circle mom, a-a-annd I fell in and there was—!" Issei's jaw hanged open, and suddenly he found himself wordless. This gave enough of an impression to the Hyoudou elder, her eyes moving in confused acknowledgement. Learning that part of her brain dead theory was apparently true, which scared her more than the how, she motioned for the child to continue.
"KID! You can't just say that; she won't believe it !" Was Nobunaga's response to his attempt in explaining the current situation. Though it was said under Issei's bated breath, it was as if her mother didn't hear it at all as she tilted her head in uncertainty. A look of confusion from her rushed speech was the only expression on her face rather than fear or wariness.
Issei realized as much, and with a rush of adrenaline she told her, "I-It turned me into a girl mom, I don't know how or why, just please believe me!" His voice faltered with each word, and yet there was a certain level of determination regardless. "It's me, ma. It IS—" Issei was cut off by her mother brushing the hair off her face.
"Issei, you don't to be like that..." the mother responded in kind, her face confused but understanding. "I believe you." Issei's eyes widened at her name, and with it the hope that she could finally go home after all of this mess. There was a moment of pause before she couldn't handle it anymore and bawled all over again, pushing the mother to the ground as onlookers watched, amazed. The mother once more told them to move along with their lives then took the time to consider what she just learned. Before continuing, she took the opportunity to take the discarded Game Boy next to her before moving on.
Although she had her own reservations about the concept, she knew, just knew somewhere deep inside that there was no reason for the girl to lie about what she was saying. You can't fake raw emotion like that, it simply cannot be done. And there was a sinking feeling in her stomach that told her to take the risk anyway. With all that in mind, she takes a moment to wake the girl who cried herself to sleep.
"Issei…" She said, catching her attention. She smiled weakly and told her, "Let's go home." Mrs. Hyoudou helped get Issei to stand up, who could only limp and lean on the side of her mother. They walk home together, Mother and son-turned-daughter- though she still had her reservations about that—leaving the circle that caused all of this madness behind.
Though Issei thought his mother fooled, Nobunaga knew better. People walking into magic circles one gender and coming out transformed was not accepted in modern society as a viable excuse without sufficient evidence, and even with. Memories could be extracted, mannerisms imitated. Although it may seem as if Issei's mother was at least willing to listen to their reasoning, the mind of Oda Nobunaga, very familiar with treachery and betrayal, had every reason to be cynical about their situation. The public wouldn't simply believe that magic was real, and even if the Hyoudou matriarch did, she would know something was wrong just by being near her. A servant bound in mortal flesh was no trifling thing.
If Issei, poor traumatized Issei, tried to justify his original arguments, and explain why he was now a long haired girl wearing military clothes, he would've dug himself a grave so deep that there was no chance of recovery from the situation. He would learn over time, however. With these experiences, the boy would grow more cunning, more vicious, and more brutal. Although 'she' was more appropriate now, there was no going back at this point. Issei was no longer a man, a boy. He was her own spitting image, a successor, even if knowing that all of it was done unwillingly.
But even before she became her host, she saw in him a spark of greatness so similar to the monkey that she trusted with her life in her time. The knowledge the grail would normally give servants came despite the nonexistence of such a thing around. Even though the knowledge was incomplete, given the obviously magical nature of the world she was in now, she knew just enough to tell that something was very wrong. A ghost of a mage, no grail, the drive that made her possess Issei, and her icing on the cake, another abnormality within her very own host and master.
Nobunaga didn't consider this a coincidence. A boy capable of hosting heroic spirits walking straight into a magical circle in broad daylight in the middle of a public park was far too conspicuous to be mere coincidences alone. In Nobunaga's experience, these coincidences did not exist; something or someone had to be moving the pieces around in such a manner. Luck was just another factor in the grand scheme of things, and as such could be faked or mitigated.
She had been granted a second chance. A new destiny in life was ripe for the taking. And thus, she would make the most out of it. Not for conquest or bloodshed, oh no, she had enough of that in her time. Her dream of a unified Japan had been fulfilled long ago, and Japan had become one of the world's most prosperous countries. United and glorious enough that she didn't need to interfere with it so directly anymore. She was free to do whatever she pleased, and that was fine.
***
Omake
"Wait a minute, Issei-kun/Shidou-san, you were a girl this entire time!?" Was the equally shocked reactions of the two reunited friends pointing at each other at the latter responder's home. See, Hyoudou Issei, former man, and now a female teenage high school student very elaborately hiding her current sex, didn't know that her old childhood best friend from long ago, Shidou Irina, was a girl this entire time.
Although to Shidou's credit, she had been somewhat expecting Issei to be surprised that she was a girl at first anyway. What she wasn't expecting when she walked into the Hyoudou household was to see that the charming young boy she had grown in love with in their short time together was a woman as well. Considering that she had him fooled by accident in the past... I believe the Buddhists would call this Karma, Shidou thought dryly.
Issei herself was surprised. Despite becoming used to the shift in her life since that fateful day almost 10 years ago, part of the reason she even went to the park that afternoon was to mourn the loss of her friendship. The fact that the boy she grew up and played with all those years was a girl this entire time had put an entirely new take on the interactions they had together growing up. The only reply she could muster at first was a bright red blush that covered her entire face.
"I um… yes. Yes, I was, Shidou," Issei said, pulling her cap down to cover her face. This was her best option if she didn't want to bring into attention the powers she now possessed, or how she got them. Although she only held a mild resemblance to her former face back then, age had simply made some to conclude that the boy from back then had matured in a different way.