Chapter Text
“Hey, has anyone got number three?”
The exwires of the exorcist cram school were lining a small table in the True Cross Academy’s library. The small, huddled corner they were crammed in was chosen specifically so that they’d have some privacy, lest some student without temptaint overhear their conversations and cause a minor scandal. It really didn’t matter though; they were there after cram school, which meant only the janitors were out, and janitors are always the best keepers of secrets. Shiemi wasn’t particularly worried about that anyways. Several of the normal students had temptaint, she was sure, and it seemed like it was impossible for the secret to have been kept perfectly for all the time the academy and the cram school coexisted, so there had to be some countermeasures or something. All she was really concerned about was making sure everyone got along. Which was never easy.
Suguro glared at Rin. “Don’t try to cheat, cheater. We’re working together, not giving you answers.”
“Hey, I am not cheating! I just wanted to compare answers. Plus, that’s kind of a hard one, so I thought [Name]-chan might need help with it too!”
“Ah, thank you, Rin-san,” [Name] said, seated between Shiemi, who she shared some normal classes with, and Suguro, who was actually helpful in terms of tutoring. “ And thank you again, all of you, for doing this for me. It must be troublesome to have a beginner hanging around when all of you have worked so hard.”
[Name] was the newest addition to the class. She come to Japan from overseas, originally enrolling at the academy only for academic education. However, an incident had occurred, and she received her temptaint soon after arriving (legally, upper-level exorcists could not explain further, but everyone had pretty much figured out that Rin accidentally scratched her or something during an especially enthusiastic episodes. He was supremely embarrassed by it, even if [Name] herself hardly cared at all). After conference with the Headmaster, who had everything explained to her, she elected to begin training as an exorcist.
“Couldn’t we have just gone to bed?” Shima whined, voice muffled since he was slumped face down on his workbook. “Today was so hard.”
“What if [Name]-chan get’s to stuff in the homework she hasn’t learned? What is she gonna do, ask her roommate how to summon a c-rank spirit? I’d like to hear that conversation!” Rin scoffed, and Suguro chucked an eraser at him from across the table for being difficult.
Shima continued to grumble. “Well, all I’m saying is that Izumo had the right idea, skipping out on this.”
“No one said you had to come, Shima-san,” Konekomaru remarked.
“Thank you, Koneko-san!”
“Yeah, a-and isn’t kind of better this way?” Shiemi braved piping up. “I think it can be really helpful studying in groups. This way none of us gets stuck. Plus, it almost makes it fun!”
[Name] smiled at her and Shiemi felt her chest swell up. Ever since she herself had joined the cram school, she had been determined to make friends. It had been hard at times, but with [Name] things seemed really simple! It was easy to talk to her, and had an overall mellowness that prevented clashing too hard with some of the difficult people they had to deal with daily.
“I think it’s pretty impressive that you’re picking up stuff so fast, too,” Suguro commented as he penned in some answers in his own book.
“Oh, I’m not really. Just trying to keep up with the current stuff. Really, I haven’t hardly studied anything in the first units. It would be easier, but I didn’t want to wait until the next term to enroll.”
“But you’re so cool! For a dragoon, too, it can’t be easy!” Shiemi was a little embarrassed over how much she gushed. You’ve even gotten to handling pistols already. I’m not into combat at all, but a girl with guns is so cool!”
“Only because Yukio-sensei gave me extra practice sessions. Hey, it looks like pages four through six are multiple choice, so after these twelve and thirteen, we can go back to our dorms?”
“Oh, thank GOD.”
“Shima-san, shut up.”
Luckily, it only took about a half-hour for those two short answers, and most of the troubles wasn’t even on [Name’s] end. Rin had apparently slept through the lesson that covered the material, and Shiemi had managed to forget the name of every single procedure it made reference to. At this rate, Shiemi felt it wouldn’t take long for [Name] to catch up, since she practically heard every lesson she missed as Suguro recited it back for the less academically inclined duo. After a hell of a lecture, they all were making their way out of the library, parting ways for the Girls’ and Boys’ dormitories. Shiemi and [Name] bid goodnight to the boys, and had to call out goodnight to Rin, who was racing away with the energy of having sat in the library for so long. He turned to wave, grinning as he called goodnight. As an afterthought, he shouted across the courtyard, “Maybe tomorrow we’ll have something exciting, like practical training!”
~~~
They did not have practical training.
They didn’t even have a new lesson to absorb and struggle through. Today, Yukio-sensei thought it would be good to test the thoroughness of their understanding of the material by having them write essays. Not even singular. Essays plural. All the prompts were in the workbook, so they didn’t have to come up with an original thesis or anything, but even Shiemi thought that anything would be better than this. No one was even allowed to convene and share ideas with each other, so it was absolute silence apart from the scrapes of pencils and pens. This was worrisome, as she still had some issues remembering the official terminology for the topics they covered. Usually, she just asked Rin or Konekomaru for the names, and then completed the information-based parts herself. And if she was struggling with this…Shiemi looked over to see how [Name] was doing.
She appeared to be doing fine, scribbling away in the pages provided. However, every few lines or so, [Name] snuck a peek at a page chapters later—where what appeared to be geometry worksheet was tucked. She would do several problems, subtly glancing up at Yukio as she scribbled, before returning to the proper page and continuing on with the essay prompts.
Shiemi hadn’t really thought about how in addition to struggling to keep up with exorcist studies, [Name] had weeks and weeks worth of work to catch up on in their normal academy classes as well. The thought that she wasn’t paying proper attention to the needs of her friend made her wilt considerably. Oh, this was never going to easy! But it was absolutely silent work time, and Yukio was a strict sensei. All she could do right now was focus on her own essays. She grimaced at the work page. This certainly wasn’t easy either.
“Miss [Name], about your coursework…”
Shiemi jumped in her seat from the sudden interruption to the silent classroom. She looked to Yukio, but he seemed just as surprised and distressed as she was. He set his book down to frown at the entrance to the classroom, and the entire class subtly shifted with him to identify the intruder.
Marked by his ever-exuberant attire and slinking eyes, the headmaster of True Cross Academy and the Exorcist Cram School, Mephisto Pheles, stood just in the doorframe of the room, looking contemplative. There was a stretch of silence as they waited for him to finish his thought, but he did not. He just stood, considering something near the ceiling. The students glanced furtively between their teacher and their headmaster, trying to gauge exactly what was happening, and what would go down next. Yukio noticed and cast a stern look, and their eyes quickly returned to their workbooks. Their ears, however, remained open.
“Would you like to speak to [Name]-san in private, Mephisto-sama?” Yukio inquired, keeping his voice professional despite obvious annoyance.
Mephisto waved a gloved hand. “No, no, no need.” He remained in the doorway, and [Name] on the opposite end of the classroom. Yukio’s jaw clenched and unclenched as the silence went on.
[Name] was not nearly so perturbed. If there was one thing Shiemi had figured out about her new friend, it’s that she very rarely ever appeared bothered. As soon as their principal had first spoken, [Name] had let her pencil down and set her hands in her lap, attentive to him, and now she spoke. “Can I help you, Mephisto-sama?”
“How’s your dragoon training going?”
She braved a cautious glance at Yukio. “Well enough, sir.”
“I heard you were nervous at first. With the pistols.”
“I’d never held one before.”
“I see.”
From a hunched position over her workbook, Shiemi could see [Name’s] fingers tap against the back of her hand anxiously. Shiemi risked sharing a look with Rin, and glanced at her classmates behind them. Everyone else seemed nervous with this turn of conversation as well.
“….Is there something wrong with my progress, Mephisto-sama?
“Oh no, nothing wrong. You see, there’s just something I’m curious about,” he said languidly, eyes finally focusing and drifting down to the student he was speaking to. “No worries, you’ll continue your dragoon training per usual, of course. But you will humour me, won’t you?”
[Name] thought carefully before replying. “I think you should really be asking Yukio-sensei that, instead.”
A dangerous grin slowly stretched across his face, eyes brightening. “Dear Yukio-kun,” his voice strengthened and he straightened with a new energy. “Please stand aside. I would like to personally administer some testing.”
“Could this wait until later?” Yukio didn’t bother hiding the resentment this time. “Or at least take place elsewhere? My students are busy.”
Mephisto blinked and looked to the rest of the class (who had abandoned any pretense of minding their own business) as if he were noticing them for the first time. “Oh, that’s right. Everyone can take a bathroom break then!” He announced, striding over and to plop down in the teachers’ chair that Yukio had begrudgingly relinquished. “Get a snack, stretch those legs, take a nap,” he kicked his boots up onto the desk and tipped back in the chair, much to Yukio’s disdain. “Well, I am obligated to tell you that this testing is not limited to [Name],” the class perked up at that. “But if you want my advice, I recommend taking the nap. This is purely to satisfy my curiosity. Logistically, the overwhelming odds is that nothing will happen at all! Boring,” but there was a glint in his eyes as he said it.
“Now, hmm,” the demon’s eyes wandered about the room lazily, and suddenly a brightly-dyed marble pedestal popped into existence in front of the lectern, in the center of the class room, a bit more than a meter high. There was a moment more of contemplation until a glossy ceramic vase popped atop the stand.
Students had gotten up to stretch with the impression that the test would occur in the practical exercise room, settled back down in their seats, disappointed. Shima looked about ready to take him up on the offer of nap time.
“Now, Miss [Name], you’re the esquire of the hour, you get to go first. The prompt is simple,” he clapped his gloved hands together. “Please—move the vase!”
Any remaining shreds of interest from the class disappeared, and students reclined and observed, if only to avoid writing the essays.
Mephisto continued. “But you cannot touch it! With your body, or otherwise artificial extension of your body. No projectiles, or shaking the floor to rattle it. But, you must make it move. For example,” he snapped his fingers, the vase shot into the air abruptly and zipped over the heads of the students before returning to it’s starting position. “Now you try.”
There was a silence. Konekomaru raised a shaky hand.“Um, principal? W-we’re only human, isn’t this impossible for us?”
“Unless, like, you mean she has to summon something to do it for her, which is totally unfair. She’s a dragoon.” Izumo was irate.
“Oh, thank you Izumo-san, I forgot about that rule. You can’t summon other demons to move it for you either, Miss [Name].”
Yukio was not amused. “You interrupt my class with such nonsense—”
“Ah, dear Yukio,” he wagged his finger. “You said that you would humour me.”
“I never said that.”
“Didn’t you? Well, that’s too bad. Go ahead, [Name]. Give it the ol’ college try.”
Shiemi marveled at how she nodded rather calmly for such a ridiculous command. Everyone watched as she mulled all of this over. “Is there anything you’re not telling me?”
“Plenty.”
“I meant pertaining to the situation at hand.”
“Still a great deal.”
She didn’t press any further, just shrugged, and focused her gaze on the vase. Then she shut her eyes tight and held her breath for several seconds. suddenly exhaling very sharply, like a cross between a wheeze and a cough.
The vase wobbled. It was a small movement, but the unsteadiness of its base made a sound that everyone heard. The class was speechless, even Yukio, staring in shock at the extravagant pearly vase. Mephisto eyes glinted faintly. “Good.”
[Name] was frowning. “That wasn’t very much. Tell me the rest of the instructions now. I want to do better.”
“Hey, hey, [Name]-chan, he said everyone can try! I want a turn too!”
“Oh no, not you, Okumura,” Mephisto said dismissively. “Your blood isn’t really good for this sort of work. That goes for you too, dear Yukio. This isn’t something either of you should be practicing.” Yukio looked taken aback. “And let her try once more, then you all can have your turn, I promise. Are you ready, Miss [Name]?”
“You still haven’t told me anything more.”
“How do you think I do it?”
“Demon-magick.”
“Well, that’s pretty much the secret. Go ahead.”
Once again Konekomaru’s hand lifted. “But headmaster, [Name] isn’t a demon…are y-you?” he stammered the afterthought, scooting closer to Suguro.
“I dont know. Mephisto-sama, am I a demon?”
“It would be news to me.”
“I stop class for this—”
“Yukio, shut up. I’m working,” Mephisto snapped, and Yukio flinched. “[Name], go ahead. Remember, you can do anything asides the restrictions. Do a little dance if you feel like it, nothing is too silly.”
She nodded again, much more firmly. she hitched her breath immediately this time, and raised her left hand in front of her with index and middle raised like a closed peace-sign. held at an incline as if the vase were in front of her and she was to tap it gently. the breath hissed out from her teeth, hand jerking forward in a hard jab.
The vase promptly fell off the pedestal and shattered on the floor. Again the class stared in shock, but Mephisto’s dangerous grin returned, eyes opening wide. “Good,” he breathed. “Exactly what I wanted to see. Alright, now the rest of you can have a turn. Knock yourselves out.”
The class practically sprang to their feet, absolutely enthralled to try something so strange and new. They all tried seriously at first, even if making up pseudo martial artist moves isn’t really to serious, and many of them managed the budge the vase on at least one try. Shiemi was ecstatic she managed a wobble on several attempts. Rin was so grumpy about not being allowed to try that he jokingly mimicked super saiyan moves and power rangers signals. After that it devolved into a competition between Rin and Shima on who could perform the most absurd dance moves, and Shiemi was rolling on the floor with laughter, even Izumo bent over her desk painfully in attempt to stifle her laughter.
The two proctors looked on. “Is this something I need to report, Mephisto? Yukio asked quietly, watching the attempted enchantments with a suspicious glare. “I’ve never seen training like this.”
“Of course you haven’t. It was a bit before your time,” he sounded wistful.
“That was not reassuring. Could I please get a straight answer out of you for once.”
“No, you cannot,” he replied simply, then clapped his hands together once again. “Alright, children, settle down. You can play more later, but first let’s learn some learning things! Okumura, sit down, you weren’t even participating. At least tuck your tail in—sit in the chair, Okumura. There you go. Now then,” he beamed at the young exwires before him. “Children, have any of you heard of empaths?”
Shiemi heard some sharp intakes of breath from the table behind. “Weren’t those…banned by the Vatican years ago?” Suguro said.
“That’s right! Excellent~! Count on you three temple-otaku to know a thing or two!”
“Mephisto,” Yukio’’s voice lowered in a warning tone.
He did not care. “Could any of you three tell us why they were banned?”
“Sorry, sir. I don’t know anything asides from that.”
“No worries, I shall teach you!” he straightened his suit coat and sat at the lectern properly, seeming to enjoy play-pretending the role of a teacher. “You all know of the paths you chose for this cram school; Tamer, Doctor, Dragoon, Knight, Aria. Well, some time ago, there was a sixth role, called Empath! Like tamers, they sharpened the natural affinity between demons and humans, only instead of building personal connections to demons, they honed the…hm, how would you say it. The…qualities inside themselves that both humans and demons possess. Emotions and mental capabilities were a part of this, sure, and these individuals were often called for attempts at diplomacy and placation of demons, but this is not what they are remembered for. No, it was the sharpening of the energy that set them apart.
“There’s no good way to put it, in this language. It’s not aura, or life-force. Perhaps it could be called some universal energy, as bland as that sounds. You see, demon-magick isn’t entirely demonic, per se. Different beings make use of the universal energy in different ways, and demon-magick is how demons use it. It’s just another sort of science. Though humans are not born with an innate ability to utilise this power, it still remains inside of them. Empaths exert themselves—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually— until they can draw out ability that resembles magick.
“However, it’s a highly exhausting job, and exercising this empathy is taxing on all facets of the mind and body. Because of this, they were especially susceptible to possession by violent demons, and there were so many gruesome incidents involving such that the Vatican banned the training of any new empaths some decades ago.”
“This is something I should report.”
“Yukio, dear, wait up. The only reason it was dangerous is because it was offered so freely like the other five paths. Most individuals have at least some natural ability to become ‘empathetic’, but only the talented and well-disciplined can perform their duties safely. It was all those weak, flimsy human minds that sabotaged a brilliant profession.” he shook his head sadly. But then he was beaming once more. “But [Name]! I can feel that you have a talent! An aptitude! A great opportunity! You are not like the common mortals. I simply came here to test that ability. And for you to get so lucky as to get results on your first try—you have potential! Yukio, calm down, I need to test her further. As for the rest of you, you are welcome to join in. I cannot promise you further training after today, but perhaps this will be at least stimulating for some of you.”
“The next one i shall give you some phrases…hm, our own language is maybe a bit unwieldy. Latin is a good stand-in, believe it or not. I’ll let you have a generic…spell, if you will. Something is bound to happen. Repeat after me: impius flamma Ingram te ipsum.” he snapped his fingers and a stick of chalk came to life to write the foreign tongue across the blackboard behind him. The students peered at it, muttering under their breaths its pronunciation. “Alright, whenever you’re ready.”
One by one, the class tried it, this time much more seriously, excited to be the one to get the vase to break, or at least get some sort of result. Their competitive spirits were especially high; Shima and Izumo had even begun to exhibit annoyance when their attempts failed. Shiemi herself got very fired up, excited since she had managed to make it move previously. But this time, nothing happened, not matter how hard they tried. Even Konekomaru who seemed to have a small talent for empathy (“But a weak mind. beware the trickery of demons, boy”), could not get it to budge. There wasn’t even a wobble, except for when Rin got so caught up in the excitement and frustration he couldn’t join in that the tremors he was stomping in the floor knocked it over. The worst part, Shiemi thought, was that Mephisto seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, grinning without bothering to hide his sharpened teeth, and laughing maliciously as they become more and more aggravated.
Finally, even Suguro was absolutely enraged. After his umpteenth attempt of shouting the spell in a commandingly strong voice, he stomped the ground and shouted in frustration, then whipped around and huffed. “[Name], you have GOT to do it. You’re the only one who hasn’t tried, and I’m pissed at his goddamn cackling. Show this bastard what you’ve got!”
But Mephisto still had a wicked smile on, and they all could tell he was savouring some secret he hadn’t divulged.
[Name] seemed unfazed by his glee and sat up straighter to focus again, not even leaving her chair. “Impius flamma Ingram te ipsum,” she said, clearly but without much volume, punctuated with a harsh thrust forward of a clawed palm.
A white flame fizzed in fissures all over the vase, before it shattered very quietly, crumpling into itself upon the pedestal.
After a moment of silence, the whole class cheered and whooped, gathering around to ruffle her hair or give her a slap on the back [Name] did look immensely pleased, if not surprised. Shiemi had to giggle, suspecting that her classmate had more of a competitive streak than she let on.
Rin was the most boisterous of them all, all jumping around with his tail out, but when he whipped around to rub this in Mephisto’s face, he froze. His classmates noticed immediately, and when they followed his gaze, they, too, fell silent.
Mephisto was not smiling. He was not frowning. For possibly the first time since anyone had met him, he looked surprised. “[Name],” he said quietly, after a few moments. A fresh vase appeared. “Please perform it again.”
[Name] looked uncomfortable. Her classmates silently released her and backed up some to give her some space. She called the spell again, with the same motion. This time only a large chunk near the mouth of the vase was affected, shattering with a loud bang. It wobbled a little, intact but for a quarter. The vase was replaced once more “Again.” Mephisto was not lounging anymore, he was leaning over the desk in an urgent fashion, observing unblinkingly. Maybe it was because of where she was sitting, but Shiemi thought it looked he was staring at [Name], and not the vase.
The third time around the fizz of fired returned and there was a harsh cracking all across the vase before several holes fell through. The vase was not replaced this time. Mephisto continued to stare.
“Am I doing something wrong, Mephisto-sama?” [Name] asked, clearly anxious.
“…No,” he answered. He shook his head slowly. “No, you're not.” he got up and left quickly without another word or bit of fuss.
No one moved, not even Yukio, as they all tried to process what had just happened. Konekomaru, surprisingly, was the first to speak.
He cleared his throat and came to stand in full view of his classmate looking more concerned than frightened for once. “[Name]-san, please don’t pay our headmaster any mind. He’s always really flighty, he gets ideas all the time. I mean, nothing like this has ever happened before, but it’s really not surprising, if you know him.”
Shiemi caught on real quick and grasped [Name’s] arm in comfort. “Th-that’s right, [Name]-chan! He’s always like this, and weird things tend to happen. I mean, I was kidnapped by his brother once, and everything is still fine, so don’t worry about any special attention you get!”
“And even if he is headmaster, he is a demon,” Suguro came forward, serious as always. “We can’t let him trip us up.”
“Bastard didn’t even clean up after himself,” Rin grumbled, eyeing the remaining shards.
“Rin-san, clean this mess up.”
“Aw, Yukio-kuuuun,” but the older brother did not protest past that and went out to fetch a broom and dustpan. Yukio came forward to take his place in front of [Name’s] desk.
“I’m sorry I let the headmaster interrupt us. Sometimes he has something useful to impart, but this time I definitely regret it,” he looked genuinely concerned, and perhaps a bit embarrassed that he let such a disturbance occur in his class. “If you ever have any worries—Mephisto-related or otherwise—come to me, okay? I know I am young, but I am your teacher, and a certified exorcist. I can help with anything you need, and I have connections if I cannot do enough.”
“Oh, I’m fine, Yukio-sensei. There are humans weirder than him. I’m not worried about it,” [Name] was back to her state of calm, like a switch had flipped back to erase her anxieties. It was strange how it happened, her hands no longer dug at each other, her toes did not fidget. But she was so antsy a moment before.
His face was dark, but he turned away from her. “Class dismissed. Essays two through five are due tomorrow at the beginning of this class. Do your work and get some sleep. Goodnight, everyone.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely be sleeping easy after that.”
“Shima-san, shut up.”
By the time Shiemi processed that cram school was really over, [Name] was already out the door and. Gathering up her materials and hastily shoving them in her bookbag, Shiemi jogged to catch up, pushing past her classmates on her way. Finally, she caught up, and came to a walk beside her, slightly out of breath. “[Name]-chan, are you really okay?”
“I think so,” she said, keeping her eyes ahead of her. “That was just a little strange. I’m still getting used to everything; it’s all so new to me.” she was silent for a moment. “Who knows,” she laughed strangely, looking to Shiemi finally, “Maybe I really am a demon.”
Shiemi thought that even someone good at being a friend wouldn’t have anything to say to that.