I Feel Like Dracula - DXD: Gasper's Bizarre Escapades

It was another beautiful day in Kuoh Town. Right outside Kuoh Academy's old school building, Koneko Toujou stood looking up at Gasper's window.

She looked around, surveying if anybody was nearby. Seeing that there was nobody, she leapt up to the window and landed right on the frame.

She then slid the window open with the tips of her fingers and invited herself into the room.

As she stood in the room, she couldn't help but sigh and think to herself, 'He might be the worst.'

What?

Is what you might be asking right now, dear reader.

For you see, Koneko has told Gasper many times to clean his room, and yet.

It seems it has only gotten worse.

Her eyes sharpened as she looked at the mess all around the room. 'If you won't do what I asked...'

"I'll just have to do it myself."

Wait, is it happening?

OH MY GOD PEOPLE, IT'S HAPPENING!

Koneko grabbed a mask and slapped on some gloves and grabbed a duster.

CLEANING MONTAGE!

—<20 minutes later>---

Koneko took off her mask and took a deep breath.

"Ahh~"

'Much better.'

Around her was surprisingly nothing except just a normal room. No papers, no whiteboards, no books. They'd all been organized on shelves on the wall.

The mess was gone.

Well, actually most of the mess was gone.

She turned to look at her final frontier.

GASPER'S DESK!

She walked up to it and saw just a bunch of books. 'Where do I put all this?'

'Maybe the closet.' She walked up to the closet and opened it. An altar with a magical girl's staff stared back at her. Then she closed it.

'I'm going to imagine I didn't see that.'

Then she saw a white cat walk across the room as it looked straight at her.

She followed it. It seems that Shiro was leading her somewhere.

And that somewhere was to a stack of boxes.

Grabbing some, she made her way back to the desk and started packing stuff up neatly.

Everything there was almost mostly the same. It was just drawings of a perfect rectangle with a spiral in it, with some talking about believing in it or something like that.

She didn't pay much mind.

But eventually she got to the bottom of the desk and found something truly interesting.

'A book?'

She grabbed ahold of it and read the title.

"Deep Thought With The Deep Vol. 69" by "Gasper Vladi"

'Gaspy…wrote a book?'

Her interest piqued. She sat in the nearest chair and opened it.

"Ok so… Where did I leave off on the last one? ...shit, I don't remember."

"Well then, a different topic then."

'Even in a book he's unfiltered as ever.'

She ended up just flipping the page, ignoring the first.

"Ah, this is a good one."

"Yep, to this very day, I remember what that Elder Dragon said to me atop the Throat of the World."

Koneko blinked. 'A dragon? At the throat of the world? Did I miss a chapter?'

When the hell did Gasper meet a dragon?

"He said to me, "Is it better to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

Her eyes widened a bit. But she kept reading.

"Back then, I had no answer to such a question. I was but a feeble mind, unable to truly grasp the weight of words spoken by one so ancient and wise. Even now, I still do not have a true answer. But I have gained enough insight to understand what he meant."

"And so I ask this. What determines good and evil? Is it the actions you take while you live, or is it the blood that runs through your veins?"

Her palms started to sweat a bit.

"I would say that, as I am, I would be considered a person born evil. A creature of sin. Not a devil, but a vampire, a being that feeds on the living. And yet, I am also human. Something made in the image of the Heavenly Father who sits upon the throne of heaven."

"But I ask, is it truly evil for a vampire to covet blood when that craving is nothing more than a want to live?"

"Such an act is condemned by mankind, yet vampires themselves do not see it as wicked. To them, it is simply nature."

"So what if a vampire doesn't want to feed? Would that make them a slave, a prisoner, chained by their blood?"

"Would it be better if they just died? I ask this because if a vampire truly wishes to overcome their evil nature, they must stop feeding, but if they do, they will ultimately end up dead"

"The truth is, I don't know which one would be the right outcome, but…I will say this. It is neither just the blood you are born with nor just the actions you take, because we are forgetting one simple factor…intent."

"Intent plays the biggest role, but it cannot exist without action. After all, the worst things in human history were not accidents, but the result of intent put into motion. So we have to ask ourselves, do the ends truly justify the means? Or do we tell ourselves that it does because it makes the weight easier to bear as we commit atrocities and blind ourselves to the harm we cause?"

"After all, even a good man may seek to do only good and bring only harm for it, and an evil man may seek to cause suffering yet unintentionally bring about good anyway."

"But who knows? Perhaps one day, I will truly understand the wise words of the dragon who sits atop the Throat of the World. As a being of both sin and man, maybe then I too will become, in my own way, so grossly incandescent, as he once was."

":0"

"Wait, hold on, did I just cook?"

…

Damn, she felt dirty.

She shouldn't have even opened this book.

But even so, as she looked at the pages. She couldn't help but be captivated.

She even thought the little doodles on the side of the pages were cute.

But.

She pocketed the book

'...Gasper… He really is the worst..'

She got back up and started organizing the desk.

And as she did, she thought to herself.

'Can I too… one day meet…'

…

'...The dragon at the Throat of the World?'

*****

MHMMM~

MUNCH!

GULP!

"Man, I love this burger."

Both Saji and Gasper just stared at the British man devouring his burger in front of them.

"You know, they don't make these types of burgers every day. I personally know the owner here in Kuoh, so don't be shy, try one."

Saji and Gasper exchanged a glance, then both shrugged and grabbed a burger in unison.

Gasper's eyes studied it. 'It looks good…'

He pulled the top bun off and let the aroma overtake his senses. 'It looks perfectly made. It even has cheese on it—the perfect amount, as well. And… What is this sauce?'

He raised the burger to his mouth and took a BIG bite.

"..."

"THIS IS AMAZING!"

Saji followed up, "YOU'RE RIGHT, I NEVER THOUGHT A BURGER COULD TASTE SO GOOD! THE FLAVORS ARE LITERALLY MELTING ON MY TONGUE!"

Saji then shook his head furiously. "Hold on, we're getting sidetracked here!"

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right, mate." Crowley said, Sticking a fry in his mouth

"So will… you teach me?"

"Well, yeah, I gave you the card for a reason…" Swallowing his fry, he continued, "But tell me, how far have you gone with that gauntlet of yours?"

Saji almost visually deflated, "...Well, the thing is…not far."

Crowley stopped eating for a second and rubbed his chin. "Hmm. Well, that's fine, mate; honestly, it's better than fine. You could have picked up bad habits." He turned his gaze to the blonde vampire. "So, how about you, my vampiric friend?"

Huh,

Gasper stopped mid-bite, fangs out, as if he was about to suck the life out of the burger.

"Honestly, I don't think there is much you can teach me."

"Ha! Yeah, right, like that's true. Trust me, kid, no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better—" he brought his hand up and tapped on his temple "---and you can never have too much knowledge, so why not give me a chance, kiddo?"

Gasper took another big bite. "You know what? Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Alrighty then, some rules though before we start." Crowley leaned in and raised a finger. "Rule one: don't bother calling me between 3 and 9 in the morning. I'll be flat-out dead on my bed from a hangover or entertaining beautiful company."

He raised a second finger.

"Rule two: if you need help with anything, go to the address on this card."

He reached into his trench coat and tossed them another card.

"It's also where we'll meet to train… Hmm, seeing that one of you is a student, let's say at 6 PM. How does that sound?"

Saji counted on his fingers. '6 PM…so 18:00, right, should be fine.' He nodded. "Seems good to me."

"Same."

"Alright then… So tell me, do any of you two buggers know the beauty of alcohol and where a man could get a good drink around here? It's been a while since I've been in Kuoh, and all the good spots are gone."

Saji, deadpanned, "Dude… we're minors—"

"You could try Lizzy's Bar, or if you like wine, Mr. Hanazuka's is pretty good stuff."

Saji froze, and he turned to Gasper, who was still munching on his burger.

"Hanazuka? That old bastard's still kicking, eh? Well, that's good to know."

"*munch* I guess."

*****

—---

Inside the Occult Research Club room, Rias was staring into the distance, watching the snow fall while wearing a cozy sweater.

'It will be the new year in a couple of hours.'

She kept staring at the snow, almost mesmerized by it. 'What should we do to celebrate?'

Click!

Creeeak!