DxD : kuoh’s Hidden Star

In a town known as "Kuoh", there was once a normal family, living happily, in a normal house.

This family consisted of 3 members. The mother, the father, and the young boy - their son. This family was known as the Hyoudou family.

The young boy, despite being born into a normal family, unbeknownst to even himself, was a special existence.

This boy's name — was Hyoudou Issei.

Ding!

"Ise! Lunch is ready~!"

The person who's voice rang throughout the kicthen was the boy's mother, who called out to him from the kitchen of their home. A timer had dinged from the left side of the stove, indicating that whatever his mother was cooking up was done settling and ready to serve. Though she was already preparing the table, which her husband, the boy's father, was sitting at, she still received no response from her son.

"Iseeeeeee! ...Honey, where is Ise and why isn't he answering me?"

The boy's mother prodded her husband inquisitively, wondering why she was receiving no response from her hyper playful and food addicted boy when lunch was ready.

The boy's father, who was reading a newspaper in a stereotypical manner, simply answered her casually while continuing to read.

"Hmm? Oh, Ise? If you're asking about Ise, he left quite a while ago. He most likely went to the park."

"What?! When time did he leave? He didn't even say anything."

"Mm... I think he may have left around an hour and a half ago? I didn't notice it right away either. He must've gone unnoticed intentionally."

The boy's mother glanced towards the door worriedly.

"..But to not tell us? It doesn't seem normal at all."

"Well, he has been quiet lately. But it seems pretty obvious why, doesn't it? Irina just left a week ago. He's all alone now after all."

"..That's true, but... where could he have gone? Even if he's sad, Ise hates being alone much more than anything. It wouldn't make sense for him to go to the park with no one else.. I would've at least expected him to ask you to play with him a bit."

The father continued speaking to his wife as she set the table.

"Mm.. Maybe he went off to talk with that old man?"

"Oh, goodness no! I hate that old man! Such a dirty, perverted person is a bad influence on my poor Ise. Honestly, he should be arrested!"

"Hahahaha! Now, now, Kaa-san. Isn't that going a bit far? Ise's still young. He's just trying to look up to someone. I don't see any harm in it."

"HA! —Are you joking? He is the worst role model there is! He is the last person Ise should be around! Don't you see that he is making Ise think of bad things? Just last month when we took him to the beach, all he did was make large, round mounds of sands mimicking Oppai, instead of sand castles like Irina!"

"Oh, come on! He's a boy. I'm sure I did something similar when I was younger."

"At the age of 6? I highly doubt such a thing. Not only that, but he's done worse! Just a week ago, when I decided to bathe him after so long, he asked me what was it that was inside my breasts! Then, when I told him it was nothing but fat, he asked if he could t-touch them!? Do you have any idea how ashamed I was?!"

"Hahahahahaha! I think you may be confusing "lecherous" for something else, honey. To me, that just seems like a child's curiosity. I like to touch your breasts and that doesn't make me lecherous."

"You're my husband."

"And he is your son."

To her husband's response, the mother gave an almost hopeless sigh of despair.

"Haah... Nevermind, you are a lecherous husband so it is useless."

"I am lecherous and he is curious. I see no difference."

"How do you expect him to take responsibility for his actions if you always take his side?"

"He's my boy. I will always take his side."

"And will you take his side if I have you sleep in the living floor?"

"Yes. Then I will just sleep with Ise in his room."

"And if I forbid you?"

"Then I will sleep with Ise in the living room futon."

"You would force Ise to join you?"

"No. But he will join me because he will not want me to be lonely. I know my son."

"HAAH... Such troublesome boys."

The mother sighed once more, finally taking a seat at the table. She sounded irritated with her family's actions, but she was smiling sweetly.

Part 1

The subtle sound of rusted metal creaking. An empty swing moving back and forth, slowly.

A boy was swinging on the next swing oh so slightly. Alone. Looking to his feet with a melancholic expression, his shoes not fully reaching the ground below him.

—The boy named Hyoudou Issei.

"Ossan wasn't here today, huh…"

The boy said that meekly, to no one in particular.

It seems the person he had expected to see wasn't present. He was the only one in the park.

"...Guess I'll go home then…"

He spoke half heartedly to himself again. No matter how odd it would seem, the boy felt like there was possibly someone listening. Or at the very least, he never truly felt alone. He wondered why he always felt that way, despite his newfound loneliness.

Issei stood up from the swing and proceeded to make his way home in silence.

He felt odd.

For some reason, he felt like he wasn't at that park for that long. And yet, it was somehow already sunset. He had arrived at the park around 3PM. It couldn't have been that he was sitting there doing nothing for that long.

Not only that, but it seemed like there weren't many people around as well. Usually, more people would be at the park so that Issei could at least play with someone else while he was there.

But, this time, nobody was there, all day. From the time he arrived, to now when he was leaving. It's almost as if they were avoiding it. To be fair, not many people actually went to that park altogether, but there were some kids and their parents. Circumstances aside, there should be at least one family, or a couple kids.

As a matter of fact...it didn't even seem like there were people around in general, oddly enough..