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Chapter Text

The moonlight paled against the streetlights of Shibuya. She crouched on a rooftop, watching the very occasional passerby, trespassers in the peaceful darkness.

She kept a wary eye on the building across from her, having been tipped a couple days ago by an anonymous source that the new big fuss in town would be busting a bank heist. And of course, she wanted to be the first one there to scope out a potential rival, and this might be her only chance, since he tended to avoid everyone and everything.

He called himself the Raven, and the girls from school had spoken of him nonstop since his first public appearance, daydreaming about being saved by him (though why they would want that was questionable, since you first had to be in danger to be rescued) and forming fan clubs for the newest hero.

She knew that the appearance had been unavoidable after a fiasco with the police a couple weeks back, because being known as a hero was a hell of a lot better than being hunted as a suspect and criminal. She herself tried to avoid as much publicity as physically possible, since the smaller amount of people actually knew what you looked like, the less chance your enemies had of knowing how to find you.

She rubbed her hands together and blew on her fingers through her gloves, hoping to restore some warmth to her freezing digits. It was barely February and bitterly cold, her breath coming out in white clouds through the cloth she used to cover her face. The conditions may have been bearable if only they'd had snow this winter, but wouldn't you know it, no such luck. The fact that it was a clear night didn't help.

Movement from across the street caught her eye. It wasn't the Raven, she knew he'd be as stealthy and careful as she herself was being, but it was the robbers he was supposed to be coming to bust. Her source had been right after all, so she was going to have to keep in touch with them.

She reached up and hooked her harness to the zip line that she'd secured earlier, which would also serve as her way out of the building. It was as level to the ground as she could make it, and if she didn't push off hard enough, she'd end up stuck in the middle of the street like a sitting duck.

She backed up a couple feet, as much as she could until her back hit the air unit she’d hooked her line onto. Then she ran silently towards the edge of the roof, jumping at the last moment and allowing her harness to take her weight.

As she flew silently across, she kept an eye on her surroundings for any onlookers, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Mentally, she cheered, since the first time she'd done this she'd forgotten to look around first and had almost been caught. Reaching her destination undetected, she unhooked herself from the line as soon as her feet touched the ground and rolled soundlessly into a crouch.

Gathering the folds of her cloak around herself, she moved towards the roof access door like a shadow. She'd been thorough with this one, making sure the hinges were oiled and that a small, nearly invisible piece of cardboard blocked the locking mechanism. Simple, but it was easily explainable as a child's prank if it was found.

The stairwell was dark as pitch after the lights of the city, so when she closed the door behind her, she stood there letting her eyes adjust. When she could see at least the outlines of the stairs, she proceeded down them slowly until she reached the second floor. Sound carried easily, so she was very careful to move slowly so as not to trip and alert any lookouts they may have. The door to the second floor was as well oiled as the one on the roof and didn't make a sound as she turned the knob and pushed it open.

As soon as she stepped into the corridor, she heard the arguing. Grinning, she listened to the would-be criminals berate each other for one thing or another, like not bringing for flashlights, rope, etc. She moved over and settled into her chosen spot behind the railing, which looked out into the large open area of the first floor.

The usually brightly lit crystal chandelier sparkled as the beams from their flashlights swept around the room, not one coming close to her hiding spot. The night guard lay prone on the ground near the far wall, and she frowned as she closed her eyes and sent her awareness out to the men below. The guard was thankfully still alive, though when this was over he'd wake up with one hell of a migraine from whatever drug she saw clouding his aura.

Turning her attention to the other men, she saw with relief that most of them weren't the kind to kill unless their own lives were in danger. Their auras were muddied with agitation, but none of them were even close to pulling any extravagant maneuvers brought on by adrenaline. The other two men were quite different, almost opposites of each other.

The aura of the man she guessed to be the ringleader was dark and had a soiled feeling to it, the aura of a man who had killed without remorse and would do it again. The other was a blank, unmoving wall, meaning he was either extremely mentally disturbed, or a strong enough psychic to block her probing with a mental shield.

She opened her eyes and peered down at the last man. He was tall, with a somewhat slight build that somehow managed to look strong and capable. She couldn't see his face, as it was covered with a ski mask. Oh, how original, she thought dryly. He was wearing all black, standard cliché robbers clothing, and the hood to his sweatshirt was pulled up.

He stood there, not moving around anxiously like his companions, but rather just looking around. He would occasionally turn, his eyes roving over everything and she shrunk back when they moved over her hiding spot. Even with the dim light from the flashlights, she could see that they were a bright, unclouded blue. This man was definitely not mentally disturbed, and she'd bet anything that he was, in fact, Raven.

If it weren't for hours of mental training, she may have made a sound as a feeling of elation filled her. Here was a worthy opponent, resourceful and smart, taking apart a bank robbery from the inside. She would never be able to pull it off, with her being a girl and all.

Everything she did, never speaking and always wearing loose clothing and a cloak to keep her feminine curves hidden was to keep up the farce that she was a man. It was the cloak, which people had taken to be her signature distinguishing feature, which had earned her the name that she proudly bore.

She turned her attention to the leader of the group as he barked some orders at the men. The explosives had already been set up and everything was ready to go. This was puzzling, because if things were all set up, why weren't they starting?

As the man pulled out a gun and motioned the rest of them against the wall, her eyes widened in understanding just as the thick blanket of fear rose through the room to hover around the ceiling. Even the man she suspected to be Raven seemed surprised, so this was clearly not part of the plan that had been discussed between them. The leader would kill them all, blow the safe, and take everything for himself.

She stood up slowly, her hands grasping the railing. She moved along silently until she was directly behind the man with the gun. By now, all the others were lined up along the wall with their hands up, waiting for their execution. With a jolt, she met Raven's eyes as she swung up onto the railing. How long had he been watching her creep along? She shook the thought off and crouched on the railing as the man brought his gun up and aimed at the first accomplice.

Raven pushed the man out of the way as the shot rang out and she jumped, landing lightly in a crouch behind the gunman. She kicked out with her right leg at the back of his knee and ripped the gun out of his hands when he fell to the ground.

She swung her new weapon up as she lifted herself into a standing position, seeing that, as she had suspected, Raven was standing a few feet away with a gun of his own, pointed at her chest. She calmly leveled the weapon at his own chest and met his piercing blue gaze without blinking.

They stood there like statues for a moment, while the robbers looked on with shocked expressions on their faces. Then, he did something that surprised her, though later she'd look back and respect him for doing the smart thing.

His aim never wavered, but apparently he had decided that he would rather not have to deal with a rivalry at this time.

"Truce," he said, looking at her. "This isn't a time to be at odds with each other." She nodded and brought her gun down first, as a sign of her agreement. Sticking his own gun back into a holster on his belt, he turned to the men who were now cowering against the wall, recognizing just who had come to their rescue. As Raven knelt next to the men, she looked for the man she knocked to the ground and cursed herself for not knocking him unconscious.

She looked around, spotting him standing near the bank vault. He was holding the bomb in his hands, preparing to throw it. He had seemingly given up hope of attaining the money and was determined to take the building down instead. She watched as he threw it up onto the second floor, over the railing.

The explosion seemed to happen in slow motion and she watched the rail blow apart and a couple of the columns crumble as the ceiling cracked. She dodged a piece of stone that rained down and switched her gaze to the man. Was he insane? If the building came down while they were all in there, he would be trapped too.

An arm wrapped around her bicep and pulled her out of the way of a larger piece of the ceiling as a voice near her ear said, "Snap out of it, we need to leave." She looked around to see Raven behind her, those blue eyes brimming with seriousness.

The damage to the building was worse than she had thought. She could smell smoke from where something must have caught fire in the explosion. When she looked back, the man was gone. This was the least of her worries though. Her way out on the zip line was now useless, so she'd have to find another way out.

She grabbed the first two men she came to on her way to the glass door of the front entrance. She paused, contemplating about the thickness of the glass, then lifted the gun she still held in her hand. Beside her, she saw Raven do the same and they shot the glass at the same time, as if they'd planned this out.

She glanced sideways at him as the glass fractured and they kept shooting as the main alarm started blaring. When the glass finally shattered, most of the upper floors were on the verge of collapsing, so she dropped her gun and they shoved the men out in front of them. She was about to follow when part of the ceiling just behind her fell, narrowly missing her, but pinning her cloak to the ground.

As she tugged on it furiously, she saw Raven run out the door dragging the guard, who now had blood running down his forehead, out with him. More chunks of masonry fell around her as she kept trying to free herself, cursing quietly. Suddenly, a hand with a knife flashed out at her.

She reeled back, hampered by her cloak as the man from before advanced on her. She raised her arms, her forearms protected by metal guards painted a matte black. The next slash glanced off of them, resulting in sparks and chipped paint and her falling to the ground. He was stronger than she'd thought.

There was a loud crash as the third floor came down in the middle of the room, distracting both of them. Suddenly, the man flew backwards as a fist crashed into his jaw. His knife was snatched out of his hand and used to saw through her cloak just above where it was caught. She thanked her lucky stars that she had extras and looked at her rescuer, eyes widening as she saw that Raven had come back for her.

He reached out a gloved hand to help her up and she took it without hesitation. He glanced at the man, who had fallen unconscious against a piece of the ceiling. They each took one of his arms and dragged him out as the building came down around them, making it hard to see with so much stone dust in the air.

They left him tied up across the block, in full view where the police would find him when they finally showed up. Flames were starting to lick at the curtains of some of the windows of the floors that were still partially intact, smoke and rock dust making it hard to breathe and making her grateful her mouth was covered. She looked over at Raven, and satisfied that it was finished, they parted with a nod, each of them melting into the shadows.

Chapter Text

Mai yawned, turning over in her bed. There was a very annoying beeping coming from somewhere to her left, but she was too tired to tell it to shut up. Then her eyes flew open as she realized it was her alarm clock. Groaning, she turned to look at it, noting that she only had an hour before she had to leave for school.

She had somehow slept through forty five minutes of loud, annoying beeping. She eased her sore body into a sitting position and ran her hand through her hair.

Throwing her covers back, she slowly slid to the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching out her aching muscles as she did. Last night, she'd barely had enough energy to take a shower, but now she was glad she had. Every visible part of her clothing had been covered in clinging white dust, some of which had found it’s way under the layers of gray cloth. The upper part of her face had looked like a ghost, all white and pale, with dark circles under her eyes.

She shuffled to the bathroom and inspected herself for any remaining dust. Her short, light brown hair was tangled and her brown eyes were still clouded with sleep. No one looking at her now would think to associate her with the mysterious figure of the night, Shroud.

Turning on the water, she splashed some on her face. After lightly slapping some color back into her face, she looked again. Now she looked a bit more like Mai Taniyama, cheerful, carefree high school student. She turned the water off and left the bathroom, heading next for her small kitchen. She set some water to boil for tea and headed back to her bedroom to get dressed.

The kettle was whistling by the time she was decent and had brushed the tangles out of her hair. She walked to the cupboard and pulled out her favorite tea cup and a few tea bags. They smelled of vanilla, which she loved. She placed the tea bags in the cup and poured in some water, turning the burner on the stove off as she did. Smiling, she sniffed the fragrant steam that rose from the cup.

After fixing her tea to her satisfaction, she gathered what she needed for school as she sipped from the cup. Stuffing it all in her bag, she finished her tea and put the cup in the sink, running water in it and leaving it for when she got home.

She glanced at the clock, seeing that she only had a few minutes before she had to leave. She grabbed her coat and walked out her front door, locking it behind her. She walked down the walkway to the stairs and ran to the bus stop, knowing that it came early on Wednesdays.

The bus was crowded, as it always was. She stood near the front, having learned years ago that if you stood nearer to driver, there was chance you'd get felt up. She kept a close eye on the rest of the people on the bus anyway. Any man harassing a young woman while she was there would find himself in pain and not knowing where to look for his attacker.

Fifteen minutes later, she was off the bus and walking towards her school, which was about two blocks away from the bus stop. She pulled her coat closer around her slight frame and shivered. There were frost flowers blooming on the sidewalk and they sparkled slightly in the early morning light. She walked faster, hoping to warm herself up in addition to getting inside the heated building faster.

She sighed with relief when she reached the front doors, the glass bringing back memories from last night. She grinned as she pulled them open, nodding at the students milling around the hall waiting for classes to start. She walked down the halls, dodging people as she went until she made it to her classroom. When she slid the door open, she blinked in confusion.

Everyone was gathered in a large group near the window and the sound of their chattering voices filled the room. She closed the door behind her and walked over, hefting her bag on her shoulder as she moved closer. It soon became obvious they weren't gathered at the window, but around one of the desks near hers.

The object of their fascination soon came into view as she raised herself onto the tips of her toes to peer over their shoulders. It was a boy, maybe a year or so older than her, with black hair and a fair complexion. He was smiling, talking to the others, but the smile never reached his startlingly blue eyes.

He was handsome, enough so that some of the girls were already swooning at the sight of him. Mai, however, recognized him with a jolt. She sat down hard on her chair, squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head. It couldn't be him.

She peeked another look as the teacher walked in and the students moved reluctantly back to their desks. He looked exactly like Wraith, but she knew it couldn't be him. Wraith was always smiling, his eyes shining with kindness, and well, he was dead. This boy, whoever he was, was cold and emotionless. His eyes though, she knew those piercing blue eyes.

Her own widened a fraction as she realized that Raven himself was sitting at the desk next to hers. She gulped and turned her attention to the teacher as he announced the arrival of a new student. She shut her eyes as he called on Raven, who then walked up and introduced himself as Kazuya Shibuya.

The day went on without much incident. Eventually, Mai got used to having her newest rival sitting next to her and decided that he wouldn't guess who she was if she went about like everything was normal. He did look exactly like Wraith though, so she was going to have to ask him about that tonight. She might finally get some answers out of him.

She had also decided that there was no way that Raven, or Shibuya-san, could be Wraith. He didn't even glance her way, and by now, if he was in fact her friend, he would have sent at least a wink her way. After all, Wraith was her teacher and reason for becoming a 'Hero', as the crime fighters and protectors were known as.

By lunch, she was joking with friends and listening to the regular gossip, that is, until someone mentioned that there were reports that both Shroud and Raven were seen working together at a bank explosion that had happened last night. They had apparently stopped a robbery, but there had been some kind of explosion and they had dragged everyone out, leaving the leader tied outside for the cops to find.

Girls from the fan clubs of both heroes have squealed at the thought of both the mysterious Shroud and the handsome Raven teaming up. Mai gulped and glanced at Shibuya, who didn't appear bothered at all. ‘Self assured bastard, isn't he?’ she thought, a vein on her forehead twitching. Then he glanced over and she met his eyes. They held the look for one second, then two, maybe three, before he got a slightly confused look on his face.

She realized that he may recognize her from her own eyes, as she had him, and looked away, cursing herself. She forced a blush on her face and looked again, hoping he'd think she just had a crush on him, and blushed for real when she saw he was still looking at her.

It was then that she felt someone probe at her mental defenses, but she was more adept than he was at blocking people. Instead of a wall, she put out fake information about herself, hiding who she was under layers and layers of a false persona. It was, after all, what she was best at.

Wraith had taught her everything she needed to know about hiding herself. Apparently satisfied that she was just a schoolgirl, he gave her another smile that didn't thaw his gaze and turned back to the teacher.

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When the school day was finally over, Mai heaved a sigh of relief. As she walked out the front entrance, she glanced behind her. Shibuya-san was surrounded by people vying for his attention; girls, boys, even a teacher or two wanted to impress the handsome new student who had proven himself way too smart in Mai's eyes.

When the door was shut, she sighed again, glad to be out of the noise.

"You know what they say about people who sigh like that." A voice said from behind her. She spun around to see a woman with long red hair leaning against the wall next to the door. She eyed the woman nervously, searching her memory for some spark of recognition, knowing she had seen her somewhere before.

"W-what do they say…?" She asked nervously. The woman pushed back against the wall, propelling herself towards Mai.

"They say that they're in love~" she said, winking. At that moment , Mai realized who she was.

Ayako Matsuzaki was the new school nurse and was known for three things. One, her professional, sometimes stern behavior when it came to injured students. Two, her impeccable fashion sense, which she gave the young ladies advice on sometimes whether they wanted it or not.

And lastly, her somewhat odd sense of humor, sneaking up on students and poking fun at them out of nowhere. Mai laughed faintly, even more nervous now. She knew next to nothing about this woman, and had only seen her in the school halls. She tried her best to stay out of the nurses office since she didn't want any injuries she came by while 'working' being found.

Matsuzaki-san walked up and nudged Mai in the ribs. "So, who's the lucky boy, eh? It wouldn't be that new student, hmm? Love at first sight." She sighed, standing there with a dreamy look on her face.

"Ah… I'm sorry Matsuzaki-san, I have to get going now." She grabbed Mai’s hand, almost forcibly dragging her away from the school. "You know, I like you. You remind me of a slightly younger me! Cute and delicate, and I bet you're quite fiery too. And please, call me Ayako." Mai’s eyes widened. Where exactly was she planning on taking her?

“You don’t look too busy, so I’ve decided to take you shopping.” The older woman cackled as she pulled Mai along the sidewalk. ‘Why did things like this always happen to me?’ she thought, trying to keep herself from tripping.

After spending some time with Ayako, Mai discovered that she enjoyed her company immensely. Despite her odd, impulsive nature, she was an honest woman who was very passionate about what she believed in. For example, she claimed herself to be a miko, which considering her age, Mai found hilarious.

When she finally headed back home, she had several bags hanging from her arms. Over several hours, they had bonded considerably and Ayako had insisted that she had more money than she knew what to do with, so she had taken Mai clothes shopping to many different stores, ignoring her protests. She had double her efforts after Mai had relented and shared the fact that she had been orphaned at a fairly young age and lived alone. In fact, Mai was almost certain she had been thinking of trying to take her home with her! She chuckled at the thought. As Mai unlocked the door to her apartment and shouldered it open, she heard a faint sound from the living room. She immediately tensed and forgot about her previous train of thought.

She put the bags down as quietly as possible and crept towards the end of the front hall. It was no good trying to go completely undetected, since if there was indeed a person there they would have heard her come in. She peeked around the corner to find a tall, black haired boy a couple years older than she was lounging on her couch, reading.

With a sigh of relief, Mai stepped out into the bright light of her living room. "Yasu, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?" Instead of replying, he held up a lock pick kit and his newspaper. She groaned, now knowing exactly why he was here. "It wasn't my fault ok? I couldn't just let those guys die."

"First give me the whole story, every juicy detail" His glasses gleamed as the light hit them just right. That was a sure sign that he was planning something horrible, but I told him anyway.

"Hmm... Maybe we can make this partnership work. IF you can get Raven to agree. It's not like you can't be partners and rivals at the same time." Mai just looked at him like he was crazy

Osamu Yasuhara, fondly referred to as Yasu by his friends, was her source of information about everything, not to mention her adviser. He made sure that she always knew if there was an upcoming heist or sometime where she couldn't avoid a public appearance or where she should avoid one. He had also been her best friend all through high school, which admittedly wasn't too long, but they were still close and he was only one to whom she had confided in about everything. Even Wraith had thought it was a good idea.

"Do you have a brain or empty space between those ears?" She said, with just enough humor in her voice to let him know she was joking. Then she turned serious. "You didn't miss the part where we were thinking about shooting each other, right Yasu?"

"But that's the beauty of it! If you work with him, you can see how he reacts to things. All you have to do is do the same thing over and over and he'll come to rely on the fact that you always act the same. And then, when he's least expecting it, POW!" He accentuated his choice of words by getting up and smacking his fist into his palm in an exaggerated motion. "You knock his lights out when things have quieted down."

"Aren't you always the one telling me to think of how the people see me? How are they gonna react when I'm partnered to one of their favorites and then I turn around and stab him in the back?" She sat down heavily in one of her chairs.

"Well, then... Hmm... Oh! We get him to initiate the partnership and then manipulate him into sabotaging it himself. He's got to be thinking of this himself, I mean he's had to have heard of what the papers said. If that's so, then you guys can put on an act for the people and still have your little rivalry in private." He settled back into his seat as he spoke, picking up the paper he had been reading and acting as if it were already settled.

Mai could see no way out of it, so she slumped in her seat, sighed and asked, "So when do we do this?"

He looked up with a mischievous grin. "Tonight."

Chapter Text

As Mai slipped quietly through the dark streets of Shibuya, she reflected back on how odd her life had gotten. She'd only just gotten used to the idea that she was actually considered a superhero and that her teacher was a dead guy that she had dreams about. She stopped at the mouth of an alley and pulled her cloak closer to her.

It seemed even colder tonight than it had been before, if that was even possible. She was careful to avoid any puddles as she started out again after making sure that the coast was clear. Any standing bodies of water, big or small, had frozen solid back in January. While most of them ones on the main streets had been cracked and were easy to avoid, the puddles on these back roads were smooth as glass and hard to see in the darkness.

Away from the streetlights, the moon shone brightly, lighting up the few small clouds that scuttled across the sky, propelled by an invisible breeze. She climbed up a fire escape on the side of a building, pausing her ascent every time it creaked. If she were to pass unnoticed, she would have to be careful.

Once she was on the roof, she stopped and looked around. Raven's supposed 'hunting' route would cross hers near here, so it wouldn't look like she'd been looking for him if they met. This was a pretty big if, though. Yasu may have been studying criminal justice in order to become a police officer, but even he had somewhat limited resources of information.

She looked around for a high vantage point and shifted her weight from foot to foot. It wasn't as if she didn't risk her life every time she did this, but she had seen him in action up close now. He was cold, ruthless, and efficient. He seemed to have a conscience, which was a relief. If there was a chance that he didn't feel remorse, there was a chance of him going bad.

She hopped a couple rooftops, having to take running jumps for some. Directly in front of her was the apartment building that she usually used when she was scouting. She leaped across the alley three stories below and grabbed onto the fire escape on the other side. The first time she'd done this, she'd been so scared of falling that she was visibly shaking. Now, after almost half a year of doing this, she felt at ease with the jump.

Once she had safely clambered to a platform, she started to silently ascend. As she rose higher, she could see parts of the streets between the buildings, the streetlights making her pause to adjust her vision.

She was just climbing up the ladder when she heard the sound of someone walking on the gravel that covered the roof, the tell-tale thump of a footstep, the skitter of a kicked stone. She inched her head up over the ledge to find a tall someone with their back to her. She lifted herself up as quietly as possible and moved away from the edge a couple paces, so they couldn't knock her off if they turned and attacked her.

The figure stood silhouetted in the moonlight, looking out over the city. The wind picked up, moving an icy breeze through their hair and making her cloak swirl around her legs. She crossed her arms and waited.

"There's a problem." The sudden sound of his voice startled her. He must have seen her coming up the fire escape and been aware of her standing behind him. He turned around, confirming what she already knew. Raven was wearing his traditional outfit of black skin-tight clothing and a bird mask, from behind which glittered his midnight eyes. The mask hid his whole face, covering his mouth when he talked, but left the back of his head bare, save for the strap that held it in place.

He apparently knew that she would say nothing. It was part of her persona, after all. "Everyone thinks we're working together, partners." he spat vehemently. "Well let them think what they want, but I don't work with anyone, not-" He stopped himself, probably before he said something private. She wondered if he'd had a partner before this, and if he had, what had they been like?

"We will not have any public hostility," he said reluctantly, like all he wanted was to strangle her. He was obviously just taking out whatever anger he had about the situation on her. "But let me make this clear. If you get in my way, I will remove you from my path. Permanently." With those words, he reeled around and walked swiftly towards the edge of the roof, anger clear in the way his back was set as he moved. He bent swiftly to pick something up; a rope, it looked like. he clipped it to his belt, and with one last contemptuous look back, he jumped.

Mai ran to the edge to find him swinging away towards a rooftop down the street, the rope having been secured to the corner of the apartment building. Absently, she wondered about his behavior, and how his family and friends, if there were any, dealt with him on a daily basis. She shrugged and moved away from the edge.

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The boy known as Kazuya Shibuya paced back and forth on a rooftop many blocks away from the silent trouble maker. He was angry, only allowing himself to show it because he was safe behind a mask and no one was here to see. He cursed himself for blowing up at Shroud like that. He should have known better, should have controlled himself. And almost letting a vital piece of information slip past his lips? What would his brother have said?

‘If my brother were still alive’, he thought bitterly. He had come to this country, adopted a fake name, enrolled in a public highschool of which he was far beyond the educational curriculum of, just to look for his brothers body. The first thing he had done was to check all the morgues in the area that his brother had been known to be in. That had taken months, and by that time it was clear that there would be more time spent on this.

He had invented a new image, based around his original alias, the Ghost. He and his brother had roamed the streets of London undetected, known merely as a myth. Here in Japan, it seemed that 'heroes' were a common thing.

He scoffed at the foolishness of being known as a hero as the roof access door opened behind him. The man who stepped out to meet him was tall, and his bangs had been allowed to grow out and were swept to the side in a way that looked almost careless, but Kazuya knew it was anything but.

"Lin... This person, Shroud. They could present a problem with our progress in the future." He threw an annoyed look at the quiet man. It had been his idea not to fight it out with Shroud, but rather to warn him. He'd get a warmer reception from the people of this city if he wasn't publicly set against their little savior.

Lin said nothing, but he didn't need to. With one last look at the city, they both walked through the door.

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After their confrontation, Mai had roamed around the city with an almost aimless intent. It was a quiet night, something she was usually grateful for, but this time it just gave her more time to think. She had returned home, out of the cold, to a few hours of blissful, albeit dreamless, sleep.

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She walked into the classroom to find everyone already there and the teacher close behind her. "Taniyama-san, another minute and you would have been late." Her teacher gave her a stern look, at which she nodded resignedly and went to her seat.

There had been a hold up on the bus route from her house, so it wasn't really her fault for being late. She glanced at Kazuya, who seemed unaffected by everything that had happened. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say he was zoned out in his own little world.

She pulled out her notebooks, hoping to distract herself from having to deal with thinking about him. She'd have to tell Yasu how the whole thing went after school anyway, so she might as well try to have some peace of mind before then.

First session passed in a blur, and then second. Since her schedule changed depending on the day of the week, her next class was music. This was her favorite subject, since there was always laughter and sound and liveliness. It also helped that the teacher was one of the best in the school (in her opinion).

Houshou Takigawa was a tall man who looked to be in his late twenties. This was very young for a teacher, she knew, but he was extremely good at his job. He wore his long bleached-blond hair in a ponytail and was what most of the girls considered to be their ideal image of 'cool'.

He was a very talkative and open man, often telling the students about where he grew up and how he was at their age. His parents had apparently owned a temple on Mount Koya, so he'd grown up in training to be a monk. However, he'd been fascinated by music and had left the temple to join a band, which he was still in.

He was the most easy-going out of all the teachers, letting everyone call him Bou-sensei or Norio, which was his band name. He was also on first name basis with all the students who took his class, but was careful not to drop the honorific unless they were alright with it.

"Ah, Mai-chan! Guess what came in the mail yesterday?" He winked broadly and she grinned. During her time at this school, she'd become fast friends with him.

"Anything I should be worried about, Bou-sensei?" She shrugged her school bag off of her shoulder and and plopped it into a chair before walking over.

"Unless you've suddenly developed an aversion to instruments since I last saw you, then no." With a flourish, he produced a long, thin box from a pile that rested behind his desk. "I believe this was the one that you ordered."

Her face lit up as she took the package and opened it, revealing a carved wooden flute. Every student was required to play an instrument for this class, but they were ordered by the school that they wouldn't have to lug them around the halls, to their homes, and back again. At the end of the year, they were allowed to keep them, since they had paid for them through the school in the first place.

She had initially chosen the flute because it looked easy, but soon discovered the difficulty of playing something that depends on airflow and hand position. She had gotten the hang of it eventually though, on one of the practice flutes.

She picked it up and placed it to her lips, blowing into it and playing a scale with only a few errors. It had a wonderful mellow tone to it that sounded almost close to a person singing. She hugged it her chest and grinned. "I just knew this model would be perfect."

Bou-sensei simply grinned back and turned away to hand out the rest of the class.
The period passed so quickly that it took Mai by surprise when the bell chimed. After putting her flute away, she moved out into the hall and was walked towards her next class when the badly wired intercom squawked through the speakers.

"*FZZZT*... Will all students please *fzzt* move to the auditorium for a previously unscheduled *fzZZt* assembly." Then the voice was cut off by some loud shrieking as it was turned off. They hardly ever used it because of it's condition, so they always tried to make sure that things were planned ahead of time.

When everything was quiet again, people started migrating towards the auditorium, which was actually just the gym. The large double doors were already open and a steady stream of student was moving through them. Once inside the huge room beyond, there were rows of chairs set up to sit on, all facing towards a slightly raised platform.

On that platform sat three people, along with two empty chairs. One of them was the principal, who was rarely seen except for assemblies and celebrations. Another was his daughter, whom he schooled himself privately. She always attended assemblies with her father for this reason.

Shito Hara and his daughter, Masako, were both renowned throughout the school for their ironic distaste for the public education system. More the principal than his daughter really, since at least the younger Hara-san had a reason to not be on a normal school schedule. She was a celebrity.

She had her own TV show at the age of 16 about channeling spirits. Most people believed she was a fake, but Mai didn't think so. She would have respected her, if not for her displays of stuck up behavior, which she got from her father, the few times they had met.

Hara-san's gaze was centered elsewhere in the room, unblinking and focused. Mai followed her gaze across the room to Shibuya-san and raised an eyebrow. She then shrugged and turned back to study the third person on the stage.

He was young, sitting nervously with his hands wringing around each other in his lap. He was obviously a foreigner, with bright blond hair and clear sky blue eyes. He was wearing casual clothing, and apart from his current nervousness, he seemed to expel a confident feeling.

Mai closed her eyes and studied him psychically. His aura was blue and bright green, shot through with yellow. All bright, pure colors that made her smile. However, when she opened her eyes, he was looking directly at her with a surprised expression on his face, all other movement halted.

She realized he must have felt her probe and smiled at him slightly as an apology. Not only was he somehow important to this assembly, but he was also a powerful psychic. How interesting.

As he smiled back, two more people came onto the platform. One was the vice principal, and the other was the kindly pastor from the local Catholic church. The pastor sat down while the vice principal walk up to the front of the dais.

"Ahem! May I please have your attention." The vice principal cleared his throat again and gestured to the pastor. "This is Father Tojo. He and one of his associates have volunteered to work with our school in order to provide some guidance for you young people."

Father Tojo and the blond haired boy stood up and stepped forward. "I am pleased to meet all of you, and I'm very happy to have this opportunity. My friend, John Brown, will be acting as your guidance counselor on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Please make him feel welcome." They both bowed and smiled cheerfully at the crowd.

The students clapped and everyone filed off the platform. Once they were gone, the room emptied slowly as people returned to their classes. Mai was about to exit the room herself when she found herself face to face with Shibuya-san. She stood there staring at him in surprise for a moment. He looked back at her, his expression unreadable.

"Like what you see? Everyone else does." he remarked drily. Her eyebrow twitched. Was he that self assured of his good looks that he assumed everyone thought he was gorgeous? Which he was, but that wasn't the point!

He smirked as he walked past her out of the doorway. That... That narcissist! Who knew that someone who patrolled the streets to help people could be so conceited? She stomped a foot on the ground. From now on, he'd be Naru the Narcissist to her. She glared at his receding back for a moment before heading to her next class.

Chapter Text

Over a period of several weeks, Mai confirmed that her suspicions were correct. Raven, or Kazuya (she refused to call him by his last name respectfully because he had been rude to her), was in fact, an extreme narcissist. He only seemed to enjoy himself, meaning he didn't seem quite as bored as he usually did, when he was surrounded by a group of chattering girls, who were all obsessed with his pretty face and flawless manners, both of which Mai saw through. It helped that he wasn't as skilled at hiding his true intentions and feelings as she was, at least in a non-physical sense. Yasu always said to her that that reading her face was like reading a picture book for kids.

They had only met a couple times during their patrols, and they treated each other with extreme disdain, never speaking to each other (she didn't talk anyway), and always sending glares. He was particularly good at glaring, something she figured was helped along by the fact that his deep, indigo colored eyes somehow seemed to pale and become icy cold, chilling the recipient of the glare to bone. Not the weather outside helped that. Lately though, it had been warming up. Spring was definitely coming.

How they treated each other at school wasn't much different on her part, since she not only knew that he was her rival, Raven, but because she had witnessed his pigheaded rudeness first hand outside of his persona. What the heck was up with that?

She grumbled to herself, sneaking glances at his stupid, smug face. Let him think she had a crush on him, it made no difference to him. In fact, it might make for a better way for his to completely rule out who she really was, even if he was convinced, along with everyone else, that Shroud was male. She grinned maliciously, hiding it behind a textbook that she was pretending to read. If she could bear to ask him out, sacrifice her pride long enough to feed his ego so much that he accepted, then keep it up so that he had her pegged for a silly schoolgirl infected with puppy-love that had nothing but fluff between her ears, then maybe she could sabotage him from this side of his life.

Of course, she thought with a frown, if he already thought she was like that, then there would pose a problem. If he already thought that of her, then he would already have her down as the type to watch from a distance, always longing, but never making the first move. In other words, the type that didn't interest him at all.

"-yama... Taniyama! OI!" The sound of someone shouting her name drew her out of her thoughts and she blinked owlishly. She looked up to find an annoyed English teacher glaring pointedly at her from the front of the room.

"Now that you're finally with us," the teacher ground out, "perhaps you can read for us the passage on page 112." Mai stood up hurriedly, almost dropping her book.

"H-hai, sensei!" She cursed herself for stammering like an idiot, then proceeded to read through the line of foreign words without thinking.

"'Do you think it's going to rain tomorrow?' asked the wood mouse to his companion. 'I certainly hope not!' replied the mole. 'I simply cannot stand the damp!'" It was only when she finished that she realized she was being stared at. Realizing her slip up, she like slapping herself. She wasn't supposed to know English so well! The only reason she did was because Wraith often slipped into speaking it, and had decided to teach her. By this time, she was passably fluent.

The teacher stared at her with wide eyes, as did many of her classmates. She couldn't, however, tell whether Naru was surprised, since his face was completely blank. He was also looking at her, however, which made her feel self conscious and agitated.

"V-very well then, you may sit down now, Taniyama-san." The teacher was the first one to regain her wits, and promptly turned to the blackboard. Mai sighed in relief and sank down into her seat, grateful to have most of the eyes diverted from her to whatever the teacher was writing. However, before she could completely settle herself, a comment in hushed tones from her right made her freeze.

"Maybe you aren't completely brainless after all." Her head whipped around and her eyes made contact with Naru's cool, calculating gaze. She felt her face heat up as the blood rushed to her cheeks, and could swear that she almost felt the steam shoot out of her ears. Her mouth opened to make a scathing comment, but at that moment, the chimes sounded for the end of school. She turned away, packed her things and left without looking at him again.

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Kazuya frowned slightly to himself as he walked down the rapidly emptying halls. He doubted that anyone would notice the subtle expression, and he didn’t really care at the moment. From the moment the girl who was seated next to him- Taniyama, he recalled- had recited the phrase from the lesson with such a slight British accent that he was sure no one else would have noticed, he’d been unwillingly thrown into a sort of tragic nostalgia. He missed Gene with all the heart he had left, which after the death of his brother wasn’t much.

Still, her unexpected fluency in English has surprised him. Normally, he had to sit through horrid pronunciations and stuttering, but Taniyama's voice had been steady, her words clear, and it had almost seemed like she had used some of the some enunciations as his departed brother. His eyes narrowed as he thought back on it once more, but then he dismissed it. His initial reading of her during their first encounter had resulted in the usual, with an underlying sense of emotional pain. Typical high school girl. He assumed the pain to be from some bad breakup or some such. Though he couldn't quite see why someone would break up with her badly. She didn't seem clingy like the others, and she was actually quite easy on the eyes...

He stopped himself from thinking anymore about it. He wasn't here to get involved with some girl, much less one who could bring out such strong and horrid emotions simply by talking. It didn’t matter that she acted like she liked him in a romantic way, caught between sending his angry looks and shy ones. His mission was much more important than that. He was almost to the front door when he heard a loud smack. Turning his head slightly, he saw, to his surprise, that Taniyama was standing a ways down a branching hallway with a young man about his age.

He had a mop of straight black hair, which was currently mussed up from being hit over the head by the large text book being held by Taniyama, and large, round glasses that sat slightly askew on his face. Behind said glasses, mischievous gray eyes glared playfully at the girl. She was not nearly so calm as the boy was, however. Her face, what he could see of it, was flushed a bright red, and her stance was indicative of violence. However, there was a certain balance to her that made him wonder if she were some kind of dancer.

The second he stepped into the view of the boy, since Taniyama had her back to him, something surprising happened. She had stiffened and seemed to notice his presence a few moments before the boy did. Interesting...

He chalked it to up to the crush she appeared to have on him, pausing to send a fake smirk at her as she turned. They did say that you were always hyper-aware of the presence of the person you had feelings for. The boy straightened up, revealing himself to quite tall; perhaps taller than himself. As Taniyama turned and sputtered angrily, still apparently riled up from his comment during class, the boy swooped forward gracefully. Kazuya was instantly on his guard as he approached.

"Oh my!" The boy exclaimed. "Mai, you simply haven't given enough credit to his features! Why, I think I've fallen in love with you right here and now!" The boy grabbed Kazuya's hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips over it softly. Kazuya didn't know what to think about this, and simply stood, his eyes a millimeter wider than normal.

Taniyama stomped up behind the boy and gave him another whack over the head.
"Kn-knock it off, Yasu! Stop being weird!" Her blow seemed to have had no effect on the boy, whose name Kazuya's brain registered must be Yasu. In fact, all he did was straighten up, still holding his hand, and turn to Taniyama.

"My, how rude of me! Did you want to be the one in my position, Mai? Or perhaps," he said, dropping Kazuya's hand, "You'd rather I say those things to you?" He spun around and swept the frustrated girl off her feet, then dipped her down low in a classic motion like the end of some kind of passionate tango or waltz. However, short skirts were not quite meant for that pose, and Kazuya got a glimpse of her underwear before looking away. He wasn't able to stop himself from letting out an amused snort, however. What kind of high school girl wore pink underwear patterned with teddy bears?

Taniyama's eyes, which been glaring at Yasu, instantly snapped to him. When she realized what he had laughed at, her face turned an interesting color and she flailed about, shouting at Yasu to put her down. He did so by simply letting her go, resulting in her falling to the ground and cursing while he merely smiled at her. Kazuya was just relieved that most of the teachers had already left, or someone probably would have noticed all this commotion by now.

Taniyama stood up and sent a red faced glare his way, and he was once again struck by an odd sense of familiarity. Of course, it could be that she glared at him almost every day in class...

That thought was pushed out of his mind as he watched Taniyama berate the older boy like a mother hen. He ruled out the probability of them having some kind of romantic relationship, since they seemed more like close friends than anything else. Yasu was pointedly ignoring her, instead sending suggestive glances towards Kazuya, who glared back at him bemusedly.

Taniyama seemed to interpret the glances as meaning he was still going along with farce of being attracted to him, which just made her even more angry. She glared once more at Kazuya, then grabbed Yasu's sleeve and stormed off.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Only when she was safely in her own apartment did Mai turn to Yasu and glare at him menacingly.

"Since when, in the period of time since I told you about his identity did you decide it was OK to act like a fool in his presence!?" she said, with a deadly calm in her voice. Yasu stood there, smiling at her pleasantly, waiting for her bout of anger to pass. They both knew that she could never stay mad at him for long.

Sure enough, the worst of her annoyance with him passed within a couple minutes. She sighed, letting out all the hot air that had been building up on their way to her apartment building.

"He's probably gonna think I have such a big crush on him now." She moaned miserably into her hands. Yasu laughed lightheartedly and she raised her face enough to pout at him.

"Well, it's not like he's not attractive. I mean, even if I was acting I could still see why a nice, sweet, innocent girl like you could fall for such a handsome face." He grinned devilishly at the term 'innocent' and she groaned again. They were rivals for Kami's sake! She couldn't have him thinking she actually liked him that much!

"You know," she said, not looking up, "Before that happened, I was considering sabotage from this side of life, but now everything's been messed up, thanks to somebody." She shot a half hearted glare at him before dropping onto her couch and letting her muscles relax so that her arms and legs were laid out in a sprawling manner. Yasu sat down beside her, carelessly pushing aside the limbs that were in his way, then re-positioned them so that she was comfortable.

She grabbed the remote for her small television and turned it on, flipping to some news channel. On the screen, Yasu's father, a well known detective, was making a statement about a small robbery that might have been connected with a series of other, random thefts that had happened in broad daylight. All efforts to identify the perpetrator had been unsuccessful.

She sat up straighter and looked at Yasu. The reason that he was her main source of information was because his father often consulted him about the cases he was working. Despite his ridiculous actions, Yasu was something of a genius when it came to tactical situations and research.

"Has your father mentioned much about these robberies to you, Yasu?" One of her eyebrows lifted, disappearing into her bangs. He shook his head, still looking at the television.

"No, but I know that something's been up. He's been working very late nights recently." His tone was indifferent, but Mai hear the underlying worry in his voice. She smiled softly and ruffled Yasu's hair, earning a bright grin from him.

"Well, what do you say about having our good friend Shroud help him out, eh?" she said with a grin.