Chapter Text
When she came to, it was dark. Rubbing her head, Shiro sat up, looking around the darkened room she found herself in. Had someone carried her here? That wasn't a pleasant thought. If someone had carried her, they'd probably expect something, or worse, try to be nice to her. Still, the someone carrying her explanation only answered how she got here, not where she was. This clearly wasn't her bedroom at home.
Glancing down at her desk, she found a note.
All students are to report to the courtyard at 8:00 sharp! If you don't, there'll be consequences~
Shiro decided she didn't want to find out what those consequences were. She looked around for a clock, and felt her heart almost stop when she realized just what time it was. 7:55. That gave her only five minutes to get there, and she wasn't going to waste any more time. Dropping the note, she shoved the door open and sprinted off down the hallway, without pausing to think about where in the world the courtyard was.
Shortly after leaving her room, Shiro tried to round a corner. She tripped over something on the floor and sent herself crashing into someone else, who let out a surprised yelp. As she stood up, she took a moment to look at the girl she'd crashed into. The girl was tall, and wearing a dark gray cloak. In fact, most things about this girl were dark. Shiro could see black hair under the cloak's hood, and the girl's eyes were such a dark gray that it seemed as though her pupils and irises were one. As the girl held out her hand, Shiro took note of the fact that it was covered by a black glove.
"Sorry. Call me Ayano."
Her voice was flat and monotonous, sending chills down Shiro's spine. She cautiously shook Ayano's hand. "Shiro. My apologies for crashing into you like that."
Ayano nodded, her arm disappearing back beneath her cloak. "Courtyard. Follow me." With that, she turned around and walked away. After a moment, Shiro decided that she'd rather follow this girl and risk getting murdered than risk being late to whatever was going on in the courtyard because she couldn't find where it was. She headed after Ayano, hoping she wouldn't lose the cloaked girl in the darkened hallways.
After a while of walking, Ayano and Shiro made it to a large wooden door. Ayano pushed it open, stepping out. Shiro followed her and took a quick look around.
The courtyard was a large outdoor space, bounded by four stone walls with wooden doors in each of them. Shiro wasn't sure just how big the walls are, but right now she didn't care. What was more interesting was the crowd of other people. Shiro scanned the crowd, looking for familiar dark red hair. She spotted her sister talking to a small girl with crossed arms and pale blue hair. Turning to say goodbye to Ayano, she found that the cloaked girl had already disappeared.
Oh well. If Ayano couldn't be bothered to stick around for a proper goodbye, that wasn't Shiro's problem. She shrugged, content with the fact that she knew where her older sister was, and that she'd gotten here on time. Or at least, she was probably on time. Nothing bad had happened yet.
Shiro was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of laughter. Her eyes flicked up to the source, and for a moment, she was taken aback. The source of the laughter was a tall figure wearing a mask that completely covered their face. The mask was white, with a smiling expression painted on in black. After recovering her composure, she glared up at the laughing figure, which only seemed to make them laugh harder. "And what exactly is so funny?"
Though the figure's face was covered, their tone evoked the mental image of a wide grin. "Oh, nothing. Just seeing eyes as razor-sharp as yours lost in thought! It almost takes the edge off of them! And once you glared at me, that edge came right back! My, you're rather interesting, aren't you?"
Shiro crossed her arms. "Whatever you wish to believe, I will not stop you."
The masked figure chuckled again, and held out a hand for a handshake. "To speak of other matters, I've noticed that almost all of us seem to have an Ultimate Talent. May I ask yours? And your name, as well. It would not do to speak to such a beautiful lady and not ask her name~"
Shiro didn't take their hand. "Shiro Akemi. Ultimate Exorcist."
"Won't even take my hand? Such a shame... oh well, I suppose that's to be expected from a girl with razor-sharp eyes like yours. You may know me as Mask. And as more my talent, well... telling you that would make things boring, wouldn't it?" The masked figure dropped their hand and took a bow. "But now, my dear Miss Akemi, I must bid you adieu." And with that, they left.
Shiro shuddered. Whoever this 'Mask' fellow was, she really didn't like them. From behind her, Shiro heard a voice ask "Visit from Mask already?"
She turned around, and found Ayano standing behind her. "Yes. Have they been speaking to everyone they meet?"
The cloaked girl nodded. "Yeah. Went to look for other people to avoid them." She paused, taking a quick glance around. "Caught the tail end of the conversation. So you're an exorcist?"
"Yes, I am. What are you, Ayano? I did not get a chance to ask you when we first met." Shiro was betting that Ayano was something that required sneaking around. Her current best guess was either Ultimate Thief or Ultimate Spy, maybe Ultimate Assassin.
Ayano adjusted the bandana over her mouth and nose. "Sniper."
That certainly wasn't what Shiro was expecting. She made a quick note to never get on Ayano's bad side. She really, really didn't want to find herself in Ayano's crosshairs. "Sniper? So are you military?"
Ayano didn't meet Shiro's eyes. "... Yeah. Let's go with that."
Shiro had a feeling Ayano was lying. But before she could press the matter further, she was interrupted by laughter. At first, she thought that Mask was back. Turning to the source of the laughter, she felt her heart sink. It wasn't Mask. In the center of the courtyard was a wooden object, almost like a podium. And standing atop the podium was a bear. One side of the bear was white, with an almost cute expression. The other was black, with sharp teeth, and a glowing red eye.
"Upupupu!"