Side Character DxD

Chapter 4: A dream in Kyoto

"Hey, Ken, can we stop running for a moment? My feet are sore." Issei called out to me.

It's late march, me and the boys decided to start working out. It started with using the money Ruruko's parents gave me to buy small 1kilo and 3kilo weights, and soon Oki and Issei joined me.

Starting with Middle-school, fitness exams become a large point for finals score, so we decided to start training early.

"Tired already Issei? How will you become the harem king if you can't even run a lap around the park?" Oki egged him on, running in place in front of him.

"Grrr, I'll show you! I'll become the best harem king ever!" Issei yelled and began to run in overdrive.

We had to carry him home later that day because his legs fell asleep.

We ate dinner with his parents before Oki and I both went our separate ways.

One month left till Middle-School.

...

Three weeks before the new school year began, My family of mom and I decided to take a trip to Kyoto.

"Ken-chan, What do you think of this picture?" my mom asked me as she showed me the pictures she took on her new camera, Smartphones aren't as smart as they were in my past life, so cameras are the main source of picture taking.

That's what happens when you live in the early 2000's

Motohama Kaho is a wonderful woman and an amazing mother. After the divorce, she took custody of me while dad ran away to gamble and drink.

Her thick glasses always highlight her dimples when she smiles, and her puffy sweaters always make her soft and warm. She's a great hugger.

One of the reasons I'm trying so hard to be at the top at school is so I could get a good job, get rich, and then Mom wouldn't need to work so hard anymore.

The alimony allows us to live comfortably, but it won't last forever.

"Hey, Ken-chan, what do you think about buying some Dango?" Mom asked me as we walked into a small market district filled with street vendors.

Personally, I never my Mom's fascination with sweet food like Dango and Mochi, they don't even taste that good.

Maybe that's just my pallet from my old life influencing my new one, Bit it doesn't matter.

Mom loves Dango, so we'll be eating Dango, simple as that.

After buying four sticks of Dango, two for me and two for her, we sat down on a bench and started eating.

Or my mother started eating and I just snacked lightly.

When we finished she went to throw the sticks into a bin and left me to wait for her on the bench.

As I sat there, a couple of local kids approached me and asked me some questions, the usual stuff of young children seeing other kids they never met before, 'where do you come from?' 'What's your name?' 'where are your parents?'

So I answered them, not really thinking about it, Kuoh is hours away by car and still close to three hours by Shinkansen.

A minute after the kids left mom came back and we went back to the hotel we're staying at.

...

"Oi!" A man called out to me as I found myself Sitting in a meditative position on the floor of an empty dojo, a Tachi and sheath laid in front of me on a velvet pillow.