Chapter Text
"So that's why." Yukio says, taking the sword and the phone and the bag of quickly packed clothes. It's falling into place, all of it, all the lies and the secrets. He doesn't have any answers, not really, but he can guess. "What about my brother?"
"He's fine, he didn't inherit anything from your demonic parent."
"What about--"
"Yukio. We don't have time for this. Take this. Call the number. You won't be able to come back to your normal life, but he'll shelter you."
"You're getting rid of me."
"I'm not getting rid of you, Yukio. I'm doing this to protect you!"
"No you're not. You've never wanted me here, you've never cared about me! You only care about my brother! You're just using this as an excuse to get rid of me!"
"Yu--"
"Don't ever pretend to be my father again." Yukio hisses, and he wants it to hurt.
Father Fujimoto's never hit him before. Yukio's cheek stings, his glasses are knocked askew, and Father Fujimoto has never hit him before.
"Stop arguing and do as I say."
Yukio reaches up, settles his glasses back onto his face, says "yes, sir" and turns to go.
Behind him, Father Fujimoto collapses to the floor with a gasp of pain, and Yukio turns back just in time for everything to go horribly wrong.
"I'm not going to die. And I'm not going to kill you. You need me to join you, because I'm going to be the one who defeats Satan." Yukio says, as the rain hits against his umbrella. He's standing in front of Father Fujimoto's grave, after everyone's left. The phone in his hand, the one Father Fujimoto said he needed to use to call someone who would protect him just ended up summoning someone who wants him dead. This man is dangerous, focused eyes and pointed ears and flashing fangs, all demonic threat signals despite the ridiculous clothing and his claim to being a friend of Father Fujimoto.
The exorcist laughs out loud at Yukio's statement, snaps his fingers and says "You're a bold one! I like it! I'll give you this chance!" but they both know that there was never any other option, that this is the only reason Yukio has still been permitted to exist. Somehow, this was planned, calculated, already decided. Yukio is going to live, going to become an exorcist, going to continue to be a pawn in this chess game until he figures out how to break his way out of it.
Rin is practically bouncing in the limousine as he looks out the window, watching the buildings flash by as they head towards True Cross Academy. Yukio's barely spoken to him for days, since Father Fujimoto's death, since the funeral, since everything in their lives was suddenly upended and it's all Yukio's fault.
"This is so cool! Yukio! Look!" He points out the window, and Yukio follows his gesture, trying to pretend to smile. "I can't believe I get to go to True Cross too!"
Yukio had asked. There's no way his brother would have been able to get in, not with no entry exam and low test scores and an unfinished middle school record. But Yukio had asked, just because he wants to keep his brother close, just in case, and for Mephisto Pheles had agreed. Another move on the chess board.
They'll be rooming together, after Yukio's things had been unceremoniously removed from the room he'd been originally assigned to and dumped into an abandoned dorm, the entire building just a year or two away from its planned demolition. So much for his normal high school life, for the nervous excitement of rooming with a stranger and spending his time focusing on schoolwork and trying to maybe make friends.
He has to keep his brother safe. Rin, for all his hotheaded excitement, is still just a human. There's no way he knows about this, he can't keep a secret to save his life, he would have said something by now. Besides, Father Fujimoto wouldn't have pulled Rin into this world of exorcists and demons, he cared about Yukio's older brother far too much for that.
Rin is still bouncing around next to him, and Yukio tries to focus, to calm down, to remember exactly what's going to happen next, where to go where to stand what to say. The script he's written out for the introductory speech is in his jacket pocket, he'd already checked. His tail is wrapped around his chest, under his shirt and wrapped with gauze to keep it still and make sure it doesn't show. He can do this. He has to.
"So, Okumura," says Suguro Ryuji, cornering Yukio after their first (and uneventful) day of cram school. "What kinda strings did you have to pull to get your dorm room switched two days before cram school started?"
His two lackeys are standing behind him, as Suguro blocks the doorframe. A bully. Yukio is so tired of bullies, and he doesn't want to deal with this right now. At least he's escaped having to room with this guy.
"I apologize," he says, meeting that glare with an expression he knows is calm. "The circumstances behind my change in rooming situation were beyond my control."
"See?" Says the pink-haired boy, clapping Suguro on the shoulder with a grin, and the bully turns his glare on his friend, who is apparently completely unphased. "I told you he probably wasn't actually being a huge asshole! I'm Shima Renzou, nice to meet you!"
It's just a misunderstanding. Something in Yukio's chest loosens slightly, a release of one bit of the tension that's been suffocating him all day.
"Miwa Konekomaru," the shorter boy says, with a bow and a slight smile. "I'm sorry for the trouble, Okumura-san."
"It's all right, I'm sorry for any confusion." And then, to Suguro. "I didn't intend to offend you."
"It's fine." Suguro says, and he looks... embarrassed, maybe.
"Bon's been grumpy," Shima confides, grinning. "He wanted to get a chance to meet the Paladin, but the guy kicked the bucket before we got here."
"Fujimoto Shiro," Suguro explains, gruffly, in response to Yukio's slightly quizzical expression. "He was the Paladin, and his specialties were dragoon and aria. He was supposed to be teaching our demon pharmaceuticals class, but... like Shima said, he's dead."
Yukio gets through the rest of the conversation, somehow. Smiles, listens, puts away the actual information in the conversation for his mind to process later while all of his focus is torn between trying his best to still look normal while his mind is screaming you killed him, you killed him in a rush of choking pressure like the tail wrapped around his chest.
Rin is waiting for him in their dorm room, wearing an exorcist's coat and grinning with the excitement of someone who finally gets to reveal a secret.
Yukio thinks that maybe, just maybe, his life can't get any worse.