Chapter Text
Rengoku Kyoujurou is a history teacher that currently works at Kimetsu Gakuen, beloved by his students, he is always caught up with the trending discussions among them.
From the bakery that opened up a few days ago, to student's mischief, a new TV drama, to gossips, and school rumors...
There was a certain rumor that bothered him, more than a little.
"Hey, Rengoku-sensei, have you heard of Akaza-san?"
A girl started as she stapled another stack of papers together, a boy glanced up at her, his expression worried.
That afternoon, the cicadas cried outside of the student council's room, the sun shone into the room, the air condition had mollified the heat of the summer, making the paperwork far more pleasant for the students.
"Hm?" Rengoku hummed, he had heard about similar names before, but he still stopped the movement of his ren pen, lifting it slightly above the papers.
"Akaza-san," she repeated the name again, "The rumors go like this, if you knock on the third floor's last classroom, just down this hall," the blond boy sitting across her dropped the papers in his hand, he collected it again and tapped one side of it on the table to align it again.
"Knock three times, with a lit candle, about 9 centimeters in your right hand," she gestured, then continued, "On 9 o'clock, say this," She breathed in, stretching out her arms, as if recalling the words, 'Akaza-san, Akaza-san. Are you there?' She looked Rengoku in the eye with a smile, "Akaza-san will grant you one wish, but the price comes greatly.
"Mostly, girls use this method to get boys to return their feelings, boys usually try to summon Akaza-san just for the thrill."
"They say, Akaza-san will destroy your lungs if you disagree to pay the price when your wish came true."
Rengoku laid against his chair, relaxing his body as he finished grading the student's quiz.
He glanced at the clock hung up in the teacher's office, his co-workers have already gone home. Alone in the office with an empty stomach, with the clock's hands approaching 9 o'clock, he recalls the rumor, retold by many students.
It was a matter he had decided to look over, he doesn't want his students to get dragged into supernatural incidents.
He feels quite foolish, but he searched the closet for the candle, about the same measurement according to the rumors.
Just to be safe, he thought, if he really did summon Akaza-san - a ghost? A spirit? Doesn't matter, he'll ask it to leave, he'll ask it to stop bothering his students.
If not, he can just tell his students there are no such things, and they don't have to worry about their lungs being ripped out? Punctured? Nevermind, doesn't matter.
He can't let this demon, ghost, spirit, whatever, hurt anyone in this school. Or he can just ask Himejima-san to perform an exorcism.
The quiet school enveloped in the moonlight was quite wonderful to look at, the buildings seemed eery at first, as he got used to it, he enjoyed looking at the windows which sharp edges reflected the light, listening to the rustling of the trees and the chirping of the insects. With only his footsteps echoing in the building, in his pocket, was a candle, a lighter and his cup's saucer which he will be using to carry the candle later. He made his way up to the third floor, which is quite bone-chilling with a feeling of someone's eyes following his back (he is pretty sure that was his imagination), he hoped that he won't catch a student actually trying to summon Akaza-san too.
He made his way down the hall, although the building is packed with students during the day, this floor is not used often by them.
The last classroom was only occasionally used for storing, festival or activity preparations to prevent getting other classes messy, they use to catch students lingering here after school and skipping classes here, though the number decreased as the student council room was moved to the other classroom, next to the astronomy club.
He noticed, it was the ninth room on this floor, at 9 o'clock, with a candle, about 9 centimeters... Is Akaza-san around 9 years old, or 9 meters tall, or something?
He huffs a humorless laugh at the ridiculous thought, as he stood in front of the classroom, he felt a moment of hesitation to summon the so-called Akaza-san.
He shrugged and took out the ceramic saucer from his pocket, he rests it on the ground as he crouched down to burn the end of the candle, letting some wax drip down onto the saucer.
The fire on the wick flickered, Kyoujurou put away his lighter and picked up the saucer on the ground, the candle was glued to the ceramic plate by its wax.
Kyoujurou inhaled and spoke in a clear tone.
"Akaza-san, Akaza-san. Are you here?"
He held his breath, but to his surprise - or horror - dark fingers gripped at the classroom door, almost in an instant right after he finished talking, Kyoujurou's eyes were wide as he stared.
"I am here."
Kyoujurou's stomach twisted at the voice, it doesn't sound particularly threatening, but, to hear a voice speaking to him in an empty building, with the lights turned off as moonbeam curved at his shoes, he felt a shiver down his spine. he couldn't gather much information from the fingers he just saw, it looked human-like, even if it were coated in black.
Kyoujurou evens his breath, he furrows his breath, gathering the courage to speak with a strict tone that he usually uses to lecture problem students.
"Show yourself," he says, grateful that he's at least brave enough to speak without a hint of quivering in his voice, "Whether you're a student that enjoys pranking others, or a spirit, a ghost, whatever you are, do not bother doing this again."
The classroom door opened further, Kyoujurou stuck the candle into the room, his heart beating hard, he switched the candle to his left hand, his right hand blindly swiping on the wall next to him for the light switch.
The light flickered on before he even touched the switch, he jumps in place, a yelp stuck in his throat.
"You should've asked me to turn on the lights for you," swiftly, he turns to his right, the direction of where the voice was coming from.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe, there was an unfamiliar face backing him up to the wall, the door slid shut with a click, even though the didn't see the ghost touch it. The ghost approached him soundlessly, three dark strikes curved his pale white skin, one along his nose bridge, in his right eye, a kanji was carved into it, another showed off his yellow irises, almost the same as Kyoujurou's, gazing at him under pink eyelashes. His hair was pink, too, Kyoujurou trailed his eyes over the dark ink on the ghost's skin until its chest, he wore a vest, sleeveless as it exposed its body, Kyoujurou found it interesting that, its muscles sculpted perfectly, at his hips, a blue belt with red stripes dangling from the side was wrapped around a white, baggy pants, Kyoujurou eyed his thighs, to the spirit's legs, which turned more transparent as it reached floor.
"What brought you to me?" Akaza-san spoke, one arm crossed across his chest, another was poking at his own chin. He was leaning too much into Kyoujurou's personal space, Kyoujurou felt as if he was the one that's transparent, that the spirit right in front of him could read him like a book. His heart pumped fiercely, setting heat throughout his body.
That brought Kyoujurou back to reality, he blinked twice, with his brows still furrowed, he straightened his spine.
"I'm here to ask you to leave this school," Kyoujurou glared at him, but stayed rooted to where he was.
Akaza-san hummed, and raised a brow, this certainly is a weird encounter, he had never seen somebody walking into the classroom so boldly right after summoning him, not that he bothered to make an appearance. And, he had never heard of someone asking a spirit to leave. "And why do I have to?" He made his way towards a table and sat down on it, his chin resting in his palm, his tone filled with curiosity.
"I do not want any students to be misled, or hurt," Kyoujurou followed Akaza-san's movement, the fear inside of him dissolved lightly, but his guard was still up, he put on a stern face, his heartbeat was steadier, so was his voice, "Can't you go anywhere else? This place is boring anyway."
"If I could, I would," he hopped off the table and smirked at Kyoujurou, who took in another sharp breath.
"If you came to make this wish, perhaps, I could fulfill it," Akaza-san floated up the elevated area where the teacher's desk was at, then flopped himself onto it.
Kyoujurou stayed silent, waiting for Akaza-san to proceed. The spirit's expression looks like he's getting Kyoujurou into some trouble, a playful smirk, the corner of his eyes narrowing to match his expression.
"But, you know how the legends go-"
"It comes with a price," Akaza-san left the table he was sitting on, jumping off without making a thud, he's moving around a lot, Kyoujurou noted, suddenly annoyed by the spirit's movements and attitude, who made his way behind Kyoujurou, and lightly dragged his fingers across his shoulders, making goosebumps rise on his skin.
Akaza-san made a half-circle around him as he stood a few feet away from Kyoujurou - still too close to his favor. There was a moment of silence between them, one gazing at the young man with a raised brow, another in deep thought as he studied the spirit.
"What do you want?"
Akaza-san rubbed his chin, amused by how far this teacher would go for the safety of the school, he doesn't think of himself as a potential threat, since the last time he killed, was a few years ago, not a student of this school, he doesn't really remember, eh, doesn't matter. His thumb ran across his bottom lip, brushing past his fang which alerted the blond.
He floated up to Kyoujurou, sending a sudden chill through Kyoujurou's body.
"How about... You give me... Your heart?"