Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“O straying lambs. Confess thy sins, and pray for forgiveness…”

“Yeah, but we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Where did you get that cut on your face?”

“Shi-” a clap echoed. “Ow-”

Me and my older brother- Rin- were stuck in the confessional stalls as our adoptive father attempted to interrogate us over the cuts and bruises littering our bodies.

Me and Rin has gotten into another fight earlier with some dudes who were trying to murder some random birds with a crossbow, for fun. Like- who even does that? These guys apparently.

I don’t really mind the murdering thing but to do it to some poor random birds? That’s not right, just murder humans instead. They suck anyway, but our father does not agree about my thoughts of humans and to be honest, I don’t think my brothers do either.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic, me and my eldest brother are always getting into fights - I can’t help it though. I just get really angry really easily, especially if my family is disrespected. Although, I do enjoy fighting but only if the opponent is strong enough for it to be fun. Which is probably the reason why I enjoy the fights where it’s me and Rin brawling- it’s not ever serious fighting though- just playing and messing around.

I was born into a set of triplets, me (the youngest), Rin (the eldest) and Yukio (the middle child). Yukio was apparently born super weak whereas me and Rin were strong. I like to think I was getting ready to eat Yukio cause he was so small but then he was born just before and that was why I was last out - because I had to put away my dinner table real quick.

Oh yeah, our mother died after our birth so that’s why we live in the monastery with Father Fujimoto acting as our father. He’s nice though and I can’t imagine living without him, I see him as my dad. He is a priest though which is weird considering I'm not very religious at all.

“I fell down the stairs.” Rin said, snapping out of my internal monologue. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead and cheek from his panicking, it was actually kind of gross. I’m just gonna scoot away from that whole situation, I don’t want any of his sweat on me, bleh.

Wait a damn minute, wait a damn minute, why was I not included in his lie. What blasphemy, if I’m not in the lie then I will be left to fend for myself against father’s nagging and pestering. I’ll just insert myself into the conversation real quick.

“Yeah! I fell too cause he grabbed onto me for support ya know? And at first I was like - I think the fuck not bitch and tried to yeet him away from me but then he still clung on like the annoying and persistent creature that I’ve grew to tolerate. It must be because I'm so awesome but I decided to be a great ototo and pull him up but he was too heavy, so we both just ended up tumbling onto the hard floor.” I breathed heavily after the explanation.

Now, I’m not one of those people that ramble when they lie- I’m a great liar. I just have a habit of going deep into stories. Yukio says it’s because of my ADHD but I don’t know. I don’t mind either way. It’s a part of who I am.

I heard dad huff after my amazing speech and I saw Rin’s head slowly turned to look at me. His eyes conveyed the message: ‘what the fuck was that!?’ so I just shrugged my shoulders in response. I don’t know how to respond to that without dad hearing and knowing for sure that we lied and he should know that I’m a badass boss bitch by now

“Your clothes are a mess, even your back.” Dad spoke in reply to my amazing and spectacular lie, he was trying to spot holes in our story. Dad is smart too so this could be the end of mine and Rin’s life of freedom for a couple weeks.

“It was a real mother of a fall, just like Aki told you.” Oh yeah, did I tell you guys my name? It’s Akito by the way, I’m 15 and currently trying to avoid an ass whooping off my holy father.

“What about that trace of a nosebleed? And don’t think I didn’t notice the split lip on Aki’s face.” I can just imagine the light reflecting off his glasses in a really creepy and intimidating way, like in an anime or something.

More sweat dropped off Rin’s face, now it was properly grossing me out. I think he decided he needed to divert attention because the next thing he said must have been a desperate attempt to survive dad’s wrath but alas it was the wrong move to make.

I facepalmed at Rin’s stupidity of the statement that left his mouth.
“Right when I fell, I bumped into this super hot chick, see?”

It was at that moment, he knew, he fucked up.

Dad immediately sprung into action like the pervert he is. He jumped out of the stall and flung his head around, he was definitely flushed as well at the thought. Me and Rin snapped our necks to look up at him in shock.

“What’s that? Then let’s go after her, Rin! Akito!” And that was the moment our plan fell to ruins, I began to giggle. I tried to smother my mouth with my hand and muffle the noise, hoping father wouldn’t notice. “Show me the way- right now!”

I began to all out cackle at this point, it was too funny to me. Although, it seemed like my laughter shook him out of his weird and most likely disturbing thoughts and he grabbed me and Rin in a headlock in each arm. How the old man was so strong is beyond me.

“I mean… wrong answer!” He shouted at us while my cranium was being squished by this man’s armpit muscles. “Admit it, you two got into another fight, didn’t you?” He then began to also shake us. I swear I saw Jesus but that could’ve just been the statues of him or the pictures, I guess we’ll never know. “Why must you always brawl…?”

At that point Rin decided he had had enough.

“Let go of me, you old fart!” I just decided to scream in hopes of getting help from someone in the surrounding area.

“Fire! Fire! Fir-”

“Oh shut it Aki, I’m not even doing anything that harsh!” Says the one not having their voluptuous brain abused in a man-baby or better said ape’s arms.

“Yes you are! I’m a delicate being!” Honestly, the disrespect.

“I just received a phone call from your employers,” shit, me and Rin sweatdropped, “They informed me that they have no need for delivery boys who don’t bother to come back.”

“Yeah, big deal.” Wow Rin, smart idea with that reply, that’s totally not gonna piss him off even more. I just decided to slowly back away from this whole situation, hopefully he would forget that I was involved and I could go to my room and read. I mean, dad and Yukio have always been good at forgetting my existence when it suits them.

Rin always gave me attention, I think mostly because when he was bored I was his only option for amusement and we attended jobs together all the time. Like the one that caused all of this trouble. I guess we just sort of connected more with each other than with Yukio.

Father and Yukio were always immersed in themselves and each other during our whole childhood. The only time father would give me the time of day was when I was in trouble or sick, he preferred to spend his time with Rin and Yukio. I spend most of my time alone in my room reading books and sipping tea.

It’s surprising me and Yukio don’t get along better considering I’m also really smart like him but I don’t think we’ve ever even spoken to each other long enough for him to realise.

Plus, I decided to stay in the middle of class in test scores so the teachers wouldn't expect anything from me. Smart plan in my books. I got an easy-going middle school experience.

Rin carried on his rant,

“There was no way I would cut it, anyway. As if a guy like me could ever hold down a respectable job…”

“Don’t be such a baby! The day will soon come when you must leave the monastery- when you’ll have to strike out on your own. As your guardian, it’s my duty to see you do so with my own eyes. Unless… you’d like to become a priest and take over this monastery?” Dad ranted, although, the sound of just becoming a priest and leading this place one day doesn’t seem too bad.

“Take over this crappy church? In your dreams!” Rin exclaimed, dad smirked like he expected that answer, which he probably did to be honest.

“First of all, it would be weird if dad dreamed of you taking this place, especially when he probably dreams of women with big boobs. Second of all, sure, I’ll take over the place- I’ve already memorised all of the scriptures so it’s an easy job.” I say to them both. They both slowly turned their heads and looked at me with disbelief.

“What? Is there something on my face?” I asked, looking at them both. Yukio took this as the perfect time to interrupt.

“Dad. I’m done getting ready to move out. All that’s left to do is to carry out my luggage.” Yukio spoke softly, like the perfect child that he is.

“Good job.” Dad turned to him. Yukio turned to me and Rin.

“Welcome home, Rin.” Oh so I’m not even here then?

“Baby, I’m not even here, I’m a hallucination.”

“Oh, sorry Akito, welcome home too. Did you both get into another fight?” He still calls me by my full name even though we are brothers. He is so formal, what a prick.

“Just shut the hell up.” Rin said stubbornly, turning his head away.

“Preach!” I jeered and in response I got a clump around the head from Father Fujimoto. “Wah! So rude!” I fake sniffled. He grabbed me and brought me into a hug while rubbing my head.

“Really, how could triplet brothers be so different in caliber?” One of the clergymen said.

“Stop comparing us, just because we share a womb at the same time doesn’t mean we will be the same in every way, take some note cause this is basic knowledge, dumbass.” I spoke, turning away from dad and shooting him a glare. He decided to continue his little speech.

“Yukio, the middle brother, is a top student and excels at all sports. This spring he will be entering the prestigious True Cross Academy as a freshman.”

“Meanwhile, his elder brother does little more than cause trouble, Rin, you really should try and take a cue from Yukio.”

“And Akito, the youngest of the three, also does little more than cause trouble but doesn’t feel guilty about it either, and only cares for family. You should try taking a page out of both your siblings' books.” The clergymen laughed to each other.

I started getting really angry and I could tell Rin was too. Everything got tinted red and the room started feeling a lot hotter.
“I said, just shut the hell up!” We shouted together at them.

The heater in the middle of the room burst into bright blue flames- scaring the hell out of all of us. Dad was the first to react to the fire.

“What the.. Whoa… my goodness… It’s about time we had this old piece of junk replaced…”

I was getting really confused at that point, we’ve never had any troubles with the heater before to be honest.

Dad went over to look at the heater and as he did one of the clergymen neutered the room and went over to him. Me, Rin and Yukio just stood and watched the scene, too stunned to react.

“Father Fujimoto… Someone is here to see you.”

“Sure.” Dad got up and looked at the other men, “Clean up this mess before the service starts.”

“Yes. Father.” They responded.

“Yukio, I want you to tend to Rin’s and Aki’s wounds,” he said as he left.

Yukio is studying to be a medical student so this was his area of expertise, but all I had was a split lip and some bruised knuckles and they were both healing quite quick so I don’t really need to go to Yukio.

“Yes, Dad. Let’s go, nii-san, ototo.” He said to us, beginning to move to the kitchen where the medical box was.

“Yeah… no thanks.” I bolted to the kitchen, leaving them behind as I made myself a cup of tea and left the med kit on the table for them. I then went to sit at my bed and continue to read a book.

~~~~~~

I finally stopped reading when I could smell dinner from my room. My stomach rumbled in response so I decided I should eat something tonight.

My split lip had already closed and when I looked in the mirror there was some left over dried blood, I quickly wiped it away to stop dad from worrying about it.

I stumbled over to the kitchen – my legs were numb and felt prickly from sitting on them for so long and not moving much either.

Everyone at the monastery were sitting at the table, and a mass array of food was laid out. I sat down next to dad and reached for some food when my hand was rudely slapped away. I looked up to see the mortal who dared stand in the way of me and my food when I saw it was father – yeah… it is not worth glaring at him over food.

I looked over at everyone else at the table and saw them all just sitting there awkwardly. I also noticed that Rin was missing which must have been the reason that we weren’t eating yet.
He must be running a bit late so I’m going to nap instead. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea…

My head was shaking, and I blearily opened my eyes to see Yukio and the clergymen leaving the room. Dad was still here though, and I looked at him for a second and saw he was also looking at me. I was just about to go back to sleep when he cleared his throat.

I straightened my back and stopped leaning my head on the table to look at him- raising my eyebrows in a silent way of asking him to say what he wants so I can finally sleep.
“Wah-?”

“So, what was that you said earlier about taking over the church, kid?” Dad asked me. To be honest, I was still half-asleep, and I think there was some drool hanging out of my mouth but I’m not too sure. It wasn’t the best time for someone to be asking me questions.

“I’ve already memorised all the scriptures and the important books, so it seems like an easy enough career path- that’s if you’re okay with it?” I mean, don’t get me wrong, the bible wasn’t that great of a read, too much paedophilia with Mary and murdering those different from you.

“Eh!? Mind!? I’m glad you want to join! Means I can retire sooner and get some time to flirt with some hot ladies with big boo-”

“Dad!” I interrupted his gross fantasy. “I don’t want to hear stuff like that coming from your mouth. Bleh.”

The clergymen eventually came back but Yukio hadn’t so either he found Rin, or he got murdered/abducted. Hopefully the latter, that would be a score.

Rin and Yukio finally arrived back and just in time to see father and Yui’s father talking. Rin interrupted them and spoke about a weird monster-monkey looking thing that was bullying Yui.

I recognised his description though, it sounded like that thing I saw on the way home from school a couple months ago. It had tripped up this businessman but everyone else hadn’t seen it and I thought I was going crazy or something.

“Rin, no sukiyaki for you!” I snapped out of my thoughts. Sucks to be him, more for me though.

Everyone but Rin enjoyed some sukiyaki before going to bed. I shared a bunk bed with Rin, I slept on the lower bunk because I was younger and apparently the eldest gets first dibs.

Anyway, as we were going to sleep, I asked him something.

“Hey Rin?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you actually see something today? At the store?” I clarified.

“Yeah, I did. Why? Gonna call me crazy like Yukio did?”

“Of course not, because I think I saw it before too.”

“…”

“When I heard your story, I thought you were finally going crazy until I remembered my experience.”

“Oh... Hey! What do you mean finally?” He yelled down to me.

“Shush.” I whispered-yelled to him, “just go to sleep nii-san!”

“Don’t tell me what to do you little- bleurgh.”

“Ha!”

~~~~

It was late at night when footsteps could be heard throughout the old church.

If you peered inside you could see Father Fujimoto holding a lit taper candle and a key. He was walking into a secret room that only him and an annoying clown knew about.

He slowly pushed the key into a draw and opened it, a gasp echoed in the small stone room.

Inside the draw were two matching katanas, but that wasn’t what made him gasp. It was the burning, degraded, paper seals that were stuck to the blades.

“Just as I thought.”

~~~~

Rin woke me up the next morning, saying something about Yukio’s goodbye being cold. I didn’t really pay too much attention because I didn’t really care too much. I opened the window’s blinds- Rin standing next to me still looking asleep.

And there we saw little black things with cute tails and cat-like ears floating in the sky.

“Wha- What’s that?” Rin started freaking out, which confirmed that he could see them too and I wasn’t just going a little crazy. No one else on the streets were panicking so they couldn’t be able to see them. I just decided to ignore the issue until it eventually left me alone and went to my bed, rolled myself into a blanket burrito and went to sleep. I ignored Rin running out of the room.

I woke up to a calming burning sensation all over my body. I opened my eyes and saw blue flames surrounding my body. Instead of panicking I melted into the flames, finding them to be quite comforting.
I felt like I belonged with these flames.

Chapter Text

Eh!? What dumbass opened the blinds- wait… I’m the dumbass. Fuck me sideways and call me a Kentucky fried sleep-deprived chicken bucket meal.”

I rubbed my crusty eyelids, trying to sweep away any residual eye dust. Bad bitches don’t put their makeup on with crusty, dusty, musty eyes underneath.

I had a quick shower and put on the clothes closest to me, heading to the door, I quickly ran back to the bathroom as I remembered I hadn’t brushed my little teethlings.

Once that was done, I went back to strutting down the stairs to the monastery like a boss.

I made it downstairs without passing out. To slay you need to sleep, that’s the truth right there. Sleep is the only thing I look forward to, and with Rin being late last night, I missed out on my usual amount of sleep. As long as I’m not lying in bed, Shiro won’t scold me for lazing about and ‘wasting’ my day. I lay in one of the pews and almost instantly fell asleep, dreaming of ramen and sleep. Failing to notice the panicking clergymen running about the monastery.

“We are being attacked by kinsmen of Astaroth.”

“Huh! I wasn’t sleeping!” I shot up and peered around the room squinting. I forced my brain to compute and realised what dad said. “Like the Demon King of Rot?”

Is dad part of one of them mythical roleplaying games? It wouldn’t surprise me, from what I saw some of the female characters have four chesticles and I know he would like that.

I’m more of a Genshin Impact sort of person but each to their own.

Dad looked at me in surprise. I literally told this man I had memorised all his Christian and demon-related books, and he’s still surprised I know about his sort of thing.

“Douse the sewers with triple-C density holy water. Not a single one can be allowed to infiltrate!” I looked past him at Rin, my man was looking so fuckin’ confused and scared. I sauntered over to him and stood on my tippy toes. Leaning in close to his ear,

“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. He jumped in shock and looked at me with surprise, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. I responded with a blank look making him even more confused.

“Yes Father!”

Me and Rin turned back to stare at the men running behind us. Suddenly the ground shook and we stumbled. I jumped into Rin’s arms and he pulled me close. I know that might seem kind of weird, but Rin has always looked out for me and protected me whenever we were in an unsafe scenario.

He is basically my protective older brother, my relationship with Yukio on the other hand, probably the complete opposite.

He has always looked at me with disdain, like I’ve wronged him when I can barely remember interacting with him since we were seven when he started spending more time with Shiro.

Strange creatures like the ones we saw this morning were trying to fly and run into the monastery, they were being fried by some glowing sigils like Kentucky chicken.

“Heh, look at them trying to get in. Can I get some fries with my fried demon?” I shouted at them, spurring them on, while giggling. I felt eyes drilling holes into my head and I turned to see Shiro and Rin staring at me like I was insane. “What? I thought we didn’t like them?”

Dad pulled some furniture away from the wall.

“Come with me.” We followed him and saw there was some secret room. What. The. Actual. Fawk.

He put some old dusty key into a draw and pulled it open. Inside were some sick looking blades. I reached forward to touch the one farthest away and my hand was viciously smacked away.

“Fucking bitch.” I whispered while cradling my poor injured hand, it never deserved such cruel and evil treatment.

“The Koma swords. Also known as the Kurikara pair. They’re legendary demon-slaying swords from ancient times. I have transferred your demonic powers to these swords and sealed them in its scabbard.”

“Is that why I was covered in blue flames earlier?” I asked. Shiro looked at me in alarm.

“My… powers?” Rin murmured, he looked completely traumatised.

“These swords are more important than your lives. Don’t ever let them fall into anyone else’s hands. Always keep them by your side, even when you sleep. Just remember- these swords must never be drawn. Once drawn, your demonic powers will be awakened, and you can never go back to being human again.”

While he was saying that, he had given us our swords. As soon as he said we can never go back to being human I immediately drew the sword. A bright light erupted from the blade and then surged forward. Blue flames surrounded me, and I stumbled back in surprise before smirking.

This is awesome.

Rin and Shiro snapped their heads towards me and boy, did Shiro look pissed.

“What? I was given a chance to get powers and no longer be human, score.” He still looked pissed over and slightly fearful, so I dimmed the flames until they disappeared. He seemed to like this better.
I heard him whisper,

“I always knew you had more demonic blood in you than Rin.”

“Hold on. If we’re demons, then what about Yukio? Don't tell me he’s one, too?” Rin asked, looking panicked. Like why? I don’t give a fuck about Yukio and his ugly ass glasses and mile infested chicken face.

“You three are fraternal triplets. As Yukio was underdeveloped and frail, he proved too weak to sustain the power. You two alone inherited these demonic powers.” Rin gasped and I yawned. This is getting boring now.

The ground shook again and Rin and Shiro stumbled while I didn’t even flinch, keeping balance was super easy. These demonic powers are already coming in handy.

“Did everybody know about this? That we aren’t human… That we are the devil’s spawn?” Wait- what- back up a second bitch, we are what?!

I’m the spawn of Satan!? Fuckin’ sick. This day just keeps on getting better and better. I kind of blanked out the rest of what Shiro said, too wrapped up in everything. No wonder Rin looked so lost when he walked in here originally.
Shiro shoved me and Rin downstairs, I landed on my feet.

“Wait! I’m claustrophobic Darren!” I shouted. I started humming traitor by Olivia Rodrigo. A bop and perfect for the mood.

Rin managed to open the door and looked around. I came up behind him too and had a peer around, sword in hand. We saw the absolute mess this place had turned into. Rin grabbed a pitchfork looking thing and threw it at who I’m presuming is Astaroth.

“I said we’re not done talking yet, you old fart!”

“Wow, insult him while saving him, real classy.”

“Yeah, well no one asked you, Aki.” Bitch.

“Young princes…” Astaroth said, or gurgled? I don’t know but it was creepy as fuck and super gross. “Wh- what on Earth?” Oh no, he sounded kind of betrayed, too bad dickhead. He interrupted my beauty sleep; he deserves everything he gets and more.

“Wash your hands you dirty pig.” I said in reply to his confusion, like, I know rot isn’t the cleanest but still, he could be cleaner.

Shiro intercepted and trod on him with a shotgun pointing at Astaroth’s dirty head.

“Yass, stomp on him! You go King! Period.” I shouted to him. Rin sent me a weird look again. He needs to go and watch more western shows. He doesn’t understand what he is missing. The drama, the zest, I mean, he doesn’t even know who Oli London is. It’s embarrassing, really.

“Lord, hang a millstone around his neck. So that he may never again rise from the depths inhabited by Leviathan!” Dad chanted. The dirty demon groaned and yelled in pain?

“S-stop.”

“Unable to see, unable to hear, imprison him in eternal darkness!”

A dark misty cloud thing spewed out of Astaroth’s mouth with a yell and his vessel returned to normal. Now that I got a closer look it was that dipshit who was shooting at the birds the other day.

I once again spaced out, it seemed to be becoming quite a bad habit. My body was beginning to feel quite warm now, I would be able to give amazing hugs and cuddles with this body heat.

Rin and dad seemed to be arguing about something, but it didn’t really concern me, and I didn’t want to get involved and make it worse like I usually do.

But then I heard a smack.

“It will be morning soon. Hurry, go get your things.”

Um, what the hell just happened? Why the fuck did Shiro hit Rin? I swear, I’ll throw hands with him, I ain’t afraid of no priest… Okay, maybe a little… Okay, a lot. Yeah, he can be terrifying.

I mean, the man just exorcised a demon while holding a shotgun to its face. So, I feel like I have the right to be a little afraid.

I ran over to Rin and held his face in concern- trying to soothe the pain and looked over to glare at Shiro.

“Okay.” Rin turns around and goes to leave, I trail behind him and I think Rin noticed my hesitance because he grabbed my hand and pulled me up so I’m next to him.

I offer him a small smile in thanks. I’m not really in the mood for sarcasm right now.

I am a tough bitch, I mean, that much is obvious. I never imagined that dad would hit one of us like that. We would get the slipper if we were in trouble, but I guess hitting our faces is too far.

It just has another effect, ya know? It’s different.

I heard a weird sound and turned around to see Shiro on the floor. He looked like he was in pain and struggling to control something.

“Don’t come near me!” He shouted at us and then suddenly the lights all smashed out. Coincidence? I think the fuck not.

“Wha- What’s going on?” Rin asked.

“Yeah, what the fuck’s happening right now?” I asked as well.

Father started cackling maniacally and I slowly backed away, Rin came over and pushed his body in front of me.

“At long last… I’ve claimed it as my own! This body!” Dad? Exclaimed?

“Hey!” Rin shouted, running over and I followed behind him. Dad smiled and I saw that his teeth had elongated, they were all sharp like canines.

“We meet at last, my sons!” Blue flames erupted from dad- but I’m presuming he is possessed by our biological father. “Oh, but I jest!”

“What’s wrong with you, old man?”

“I don’t think that’s Shiro, onii-chan.” I whispered to him, tugging on his sleeves. “Plus, I’m pretty sure Shiro never had those ugly-ass teeth.”

“My, my, you are a smart one, aren’t you little one?” Ew, gross, but also kind of sweet. I’ll take the compliment and shoot him a smile in thanks. He seemed to like that I wasn’t panicking as much as Rin and he smiled back at me.

For Satan, he’s quite nice.

“He’s been possessed. Satan has taken over his body!” We were told by one of the clergymen.

“Well you don’t say?” I said to him, sarcasm oozing out.

“Huh?” Rin replied.

“Exactly, I am Satan.” His irises were warped and bright red. “I am the ruler of Gehenna, and your true father! You can call me papa, if you want.” He then proceeded to cackle again. It’s getting old now brochacho, stop with the cackling, you're not a witch from Macbeth.

“Father Fujimoto!” The clergymen shouted.

“Shut up!” Satan told them and boy, did he look mad, I would not want to be in his line of fire right now. Poor guys, they should have just stayed quiet.

“Heh, get told son!” I shouted; Satan then set them on fire. “Oop-”

“You guys!” Rin yelled, he looked scared and worried about them but to be honest, it was kind of their own fault. They already told us that wasn’t dad and they still shouted out to him.

“Don’t you dare spoil our touching reunion… Time is running out for me!” He spoke while cracking his hands weirdly. I looked away so I’m not sure what completely happened, but the sound was gross enough.

“Ew, that sounds gross.”

“You see, my power is too overwhelming for Assiah. And so, whatever I possess is doomed not to last very long. Just like this man’s body… And just like your mother…”

Um, what was that I just heard? So, dad’s body is going to deteriorate because Satan’s power is too much for Earth and the same thing happened to our mother? Jeez, I am so smart.

The floor began bubbling and weird faces were forming in the slime. I pulled Rin back a bit and peered over his shoulder to get a better look, standing on my tip toes.

Creatures started coming out of the slime, it was really disgusting. Wait, do you think they have the consistency of oobleck? Like, the demons are watering and slimy until hit and they are solid. That would be awesome.

“What the hell is that?” Rin asked, stumbling back and forcing me back with him.

“Yeah, I agree, what the hell is that thing? And what does it feel like? Can I touch it?” I asked ‘papa’. I really want to touch it now.

“Gehenna Gate. The magical door linking Assiah and Gehenna! Now, then, let’s be off- to Gehenna. You can touch all the demons you want there, as prince of course.” He spoke, addressing the last part to me. I’m really warming up to him, minus the whole murdering thing which isn’t that bad.

But he probably wouldn’t treat us that well and we would probably be a part of some intricate scheme where he would use us just so he could come back to Earth and destroy it.

It sounds like way too much effort to me and I really don’t want to be a part of it. Plus, he is super creepy.

“S- stay away from me! Stay away!” Me and Rin shouted in sync at the end, both of us erupting in blue flames but in contrast my ears lengthened, and I grew fangs unlike Rin. I also just noticed I had a dark blue fluffy tail flicking behind me.

“Holy shit. I have a tail! I actually have a tail!” I shouted excitedly, completely forgetting the situation we were in. Rin nudged me harshly and gave me a look.

“Not right now Aki.” I grumbled but stopped looking at it and focused on Satan, who was once again, you guessed it, cackling.

“What’s up with that? Did you just piss your pants or something?” He laughed while pointing his finger at Rin. “Pathetic… Just get your demonic powers back, already! Like the smaller one! Although, he hasn’t got all his powers yet either, probably because his body is too weak.” He was shouting but began to talk normally by the end.

He came over and grabbed us by our shirt collars.

“I’m not a demon! I’m a human…” Rin was shouting while we were both being dragged towards the gate.

“I’m a demon but like, that’s not what we are discussing right now...” I spoke, trailing off at the end. It wasn’t the topic right now, Satan was focusing on Rin, probably because he was older. Maybe age has significance in the Gehenna power chain.

Like how the eldest prince will become king first?

Satan turned to look back at us. “The blood of the god of Gehenna runs in your veins, yet your body exists here in Assiah… You are both extraordinary beings!” He pushed us away as the gate began to climb? Over to us. Sucking us in. I began to scream, and Rin started too. “Splendid birth cries! Today is the day of your rebirth as a demon, my sons!”

“Somebody!” Rin yelled for help. I looked around but everyone was knocked unconscious or dead. “Help us!”

“Happy birthday, my beloved sons!” He sang to us, more blood began to ooze out of his eyes and nose. He cackled again.

“No… it’s not true…” Satan said, but from looking at the scene I could tell it was Shiro. Especially since he grabbed his weird cross necklace and stabbed himself in the chest.

“Dad!” I yelled, trying to reach over but the demons were in the way.

“That boy… is my son. And I’m taking him back!” Shiro said.

“C-curses… damn you, exorcist!” His voice grew deeper by the end, making me shiver. “You mean to sacrifice your own life? You astound me, wretched priest! However… It's too late. Gehenna Gate has taken hold of you… And it will never… let you go…”

Dad, you can’t leave me! No…

“Old man! Hand on, old man!” Me and Rin swam over, both of us were trapped in the slime. We grabbed on to him and tried pulling him out. My side was lifting up but Rin wasn’t strong enough as a human. We both grunted, trying again and getting the same situation.

Rin grabbed onto his sword while I kept a hold on dad.

“Koma Sword…” Rin spoke softly, almost as if he was questioning if he should open it.

“Stop it, Rin! Did you forget what Father Fujimoto told you? If you draw that sword… you will…!” Rin ignored the clergymen

“Old man…Listen, I haven’t even shown you anything yet!” Why is he having a dramatic backflash right now anyway, talk about bad timing. “Don’t die, old man!” Rin opened his sword, blue light erupting much like what happened with my sword opening.
A massive group of blue flames and when Rin stood up again, he had long demon ears as well, like me and a tail too! Rin looked over to me and knew what to do. I unsheath my sword again and lifted it up.

We both looked at each other and nodded before turning away. I pulled my sword back behind my head and forcefully swung it at the gate. Pure blue flames surged throughout the room.

I could feel the power lying dormant in the air and instinctively brought it to my sword, where the blade pulled in the power. Almost like an adrenaline rush I felt amazing and pushed more power into the gate with Rin.

We both eventually overloaded the gate and it disappeared along with all the demons. Everything went silent. We sheathed our blades together in sync and looked over at dad. He was lying there motionless.

I began to cry silently. What were we supposed to do without him? I don’t understand what to do.

“Dad!” Rin cried, leaning on his katana.

“Nii-san.” I heard Yukio’s voice and turned over to look at him, Rin doing the same. Yukio sees dad and runs over to dad. I just continued to cry, I guess I just never thought about a day where dad wasn’t here.

~~~~

Fresh cherry blossom leaves littered the floor as the harsh rainfall swept them away. Me and Rin stood in front of dad’s gravestone. Yukio was over with the other people under an umbrella.

I enjoy the rain and like it falling on me. I looked over when I heard some of the guests whisper to each other about leaving now, even though they were quite far away, perks of a demonic awakening, I guess.

Yukio and the guests left, leaving me and Rin behind.

Rin held a phone I’ve never seen before in his hand and rang a number on it. While he was doing that, I noticed a bunch of odd looking people arriving and standing around us.

A sudden ringtone sounded in the cemetery and Rin looked up and startled at the people. Some purple-haired dude answered the call.

“Pleased to meet you.” He answered.

“Hey! My name’s Akito. Pleased to meet you too! I absolutely love your outfit, it’s fuckin’ awesome, not gonna lie. The umbrella is pretty cute too.” He turned to look at me and smiled. He looked me up and down and let out a hum.

“Yours is adorable too! The bows are so cute!” I was wearing a black dress that fell just below midthigh, I also wore long lace black socks that went just above my knee, they had cute bows on the top of them too. I had black doll shoes on my feet which also had bows on them too.

Gender norms can suck my left toe.

“Thank you!” He looked as if he was going to say more but one of the people behind him coughed so he turned and looked at us both.

“I am Mephisto Pheles, Preceptor of the Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross.”

“Wait a damn minute, wait a damn minute, that’s a real thing?” He seemed to ignore my words to which I pouted.

“I was a friend of Father Fujimoto’s. Please allow me to extend my dearest condolences.” He bowed.

“Are you guys all exorcists, too?” Rin asked.

“Obviously.” I said while turning away and scratching my head.

“Yes. We know all about you both. It seems that Father Fujimoto intended to raise you as a human, but against his wishes, you instead awoke to your true nature.” He stopped for a dramatic pause which was a king move. “Having the son of Satan at large in Assiah puts mankind in the worst kind of jeopardy. As such, we are compelled to eliminate you, in the name of the Vatican.”

“Uh, I think the fuck not you trick ass bitch.” I spoke to him, snarling. He seemed amused by it, but I saw the way he slightly tensed up.

“Hey, I thought you were going to offer us protection!” Rin yelled at him, this seemed to excite Mephisto as his eyes narrowed and he grew a large smile on his face, teeth sharp.

“I never let my personal feelings interfere with business. Two options remain for you two. Either be killed by us or kill us and flee… Oh, wait, there’s also the option of taking your own life, so that’s three, actually. Now, then, which do you prefer?”

Me and Rin had spoken about this before and I knew he would never kill anyone, and he would never kill himself after Shiro died for us.

“Let us join you guys.” We spoke in sync.

Mephisto looked super shocked, he really didn’t expect that, heh.

“We don’t care what you say. We don’t care what you think. But we’re no sons of Satan.” Rin spoke passionately.

“Um, actually, we are.” I interrupted but he ignored me, though I did see Mephisto look over at me and smirk at my comment. Sly bastard.

“We only have one dad- and that’s Shiro Fujimoto!” He shouted.

“Preach!” I yell. Mephisto schools his features.

“I see… so you’re saying you’d like to carry out Father Fujimoto’s dying wish… But please, listen to me for a moment. Just what do you plan to do as an exorcist?” He asked us.

We both turned and looked at each other again, this whole experience brought us a lot closer than before.

“Beat the shit out of Satan!” We shouted, Mephisto’s eyes widened again, before he began to chuckle and then cackle. Me and Rin deadpanned.

“Oi! Stop cackling! It’s annoying and reminds me of Satan, ugh, it grates my eardrums.”

“What the hell’s so funny?” Rin asked him.

“Funny? The son of Satan, an exorcist.” He cackled again. “How brilliant! I haven’t laughed so hard in ages!”

“Hey, we’re serious about this!” Rin said for us, I was too busy staring at his umbrella handle which I just noticed was shaped and painted like ice cream scoops.

“How droll! Very well, then!” The people behind him looked panicked.

“Wait…! Sir Pheles!” One of the exorcists said.

“Huh! You’re okay with it?” I replied.

“This is an extra-legal measure. However, Master Rin and Master Akito. You have chosen to follow a thorny path. You may very well regret not having chosen to die today- the fate that awaits you will be that painful and agonizing.” Mephisto told us, ignoring the people behind him.

“I don’t give a damn and I’m pretty sure Akito doesn’t either as long as he gets food and a bed. We’re not human or demon anymore… Don’t you see, our only choice is to move on!” I focused back onto the event unfolding.

“We are gonna become exorcists!” We shouted and me and Rin turned and high-fived each other. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

I’m gonna become an exorcist, and I’m gonna destroy Satan!

... Probably.

Chapter Text

Me and Rin were waiting outside the monastery for Sir Mephisto Pheles to pick us up and take us to an exorcist school.

Wow. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d think of in my life.

After the whole, Satan in a church incident, and Shiro dying, Mephisto became our legal guardian and because we said we wanted to become exorcists, we would have to move to True Cross Academy where we would be taught all we would need to know.

Apparently we would be moving into a dorm with Yukio which sucks cause that means Rin will just spend his free time looking out for Yukio because he probably feels guilty about Shiro. Oh the joy.

I guess I’m just going to have to find other friends or isolate myself from society as a way to cope with being ignored by my brothers because they are too obsessed with keeping each other safe because of their guilty consciousness.

That right there folks, was a rant, moving on-

Rin was standing in the middle of the road waiting for Mephisto’s car to pull up, and I, like the intellect that I am (and like a person not in the mood for being hit by a car), decided to sit against the monastery wall and watch Jujutsu Kaisen while waiting.

Simping for imaginary people is an excellent pastime.

My blade was behind my back where I could grab it easily if I wanted but wasn’t too visible, people might think I’m weird… I am weird. Not the point though.

I heard a car approaching and perked up, my demon ears twitching like a dog’s nose when they tried to sniff a hedgehog. I plopped my phone in my pocket and stood up, wiping the dirt away from my thick booty.

Rin, unfortunately, was not as in touch with his new demonic traits (nor his flat booty) and didn’t notice this until it was too late.

He just noticed the car and managed to dodge it, looking angry at the vehicle like it was the thing in the wrong. He held his knees and puffed out waste gas as the adrenaline left his body. Dumbass.

Speaking of which, the monstrosity that was a limo, was bright pink and honestly, pink is just not my colour- who am I kidding? Everything is my colour, but that thing didn't deserve to be on a road, let alone the Earth.

Rin turned back to the repulsive limo.

“Watch where you’re going! Are you blind?” He shouted at the driver, who by the look of it, wanted to either strangle him or finish the job and run him over for good.

The door popped open and Mephsito stepped out, power and confidence flooded the street and I honestly stumbled a little. Rin obviously didn't notice this.

“Well, well, the sun has come out!” Mephisto held his hat up, supporting his almost regal body posture. He looked like a dumbass. “A glorious day befitting a new departure, wouldn’t you say? Hmh?” He peered down at us.

When his eyes landed on me I felt the need to take a step back, and when I did, his smirked widened and his eyes lightened up with curiosity. It was just a little bit concerning.

I went to open my mouth and make a snarky remark when Rin beat me to the chase.

“Jeez, what’s up with that car?” He asked.

“If you can even call that thing a car.” I muttered, staring at the thing.

“And where are you taking us, anyhow?” He continued, but let out a small chuckle at my remark.

“To True Cross Academy, of course.” Mephisto replied, unbothered by Rin’s ignorance.

I turned to look at said boy, “How could you not figure that one out?” He gave me a small glare before turning back to Mephisto. Rude.

“You see, in my official capacity I serve as the director of Trues Cross Academy.” He snapped his fingers. “As such, starting today you two will become students of our school.” Oof, that’s gotta hurt Rin, he wasn’t even planning to go to school anymore.

I mean, neither was I, I think.
Someone was approaching from behind and I turned around to see Yukio strolling towards us, with his stupid mole face.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m really glad. Now we don’t have to be apart, Rin.” He said, smiling at him as he got closer.

Am I invisible? Because I’m pretty sure he just ignored my existence, and that time was definitely on purpose. I’m gonna fucking end him and his supid face.

I growled (what am I? A dog?) and began to step toward him, without me noticing, my fangs had also become a little bigger.

My ear was suddenly yanked and I let out a whine, looking up I saw Mephisto pinching my now sensitive, pointy ear. He shook his head lightly and tutted before letting go. My hand zoomed up to my ear and I was about to rub it when my hand was also grabbed.

“No, no, no, naughty little demons don’t get to rub the pain away now do they?” He questioned me, a smirk ever present on his smug face, keeping his voice low so my other brothers, who were too obsessed with each other to notice anyway, wouldn’t hear us.

I glared at him, “You aren’t my dad, I’m pretty sure that spot has already been fought over. So don’t scold me like you are!” I whisper yelled at him, my top lip snarling over my teeth, tail swishing angrily.

“Now, now, no need to get angry, it’s simply really.” He smirked at me, patting under my chin, forcing the jaw shut with a clang. “You are mostly demonic, compared to your brothers, and therefore have more demonic instincts and behaviour and I have decided to guide you about all this.”

“That doesn’t mean you can treat me like a child.” I grumbled.

“Oh but it does, because your demonic brain will not have aged much from birth, because of the seal. Your older brothers are alright because they inherited less of the demon blood. So I must treat you like an itty bitty demon to help you grow!” He spoke normally to me but towards the end his tone grew slightly mocking. I was about to growl again when Yukio turned his attention to Mephisto.

“Thank you for taking care of us, Mr. Faust.”

“Faust? But I thought your name was Mephisto?” Rin questioned. I stayed silent, thinking about what just happened with Mehisto.

Mephisto leaned in close to Rin and put his hand up, he whispered, like actors do at a pantomime or theatre production.

“Johann Faust the Fifth. My official name, so to speak.” Rin gasped. “Now then, let’s be off! To True Cross Academy!” He turned to the direction he came from and pointed in the general direction.

As we ducked into the atrocity that was called a limo, he whispered in my ear.

“We’ll speak more later about our previous discussion!” He smirked again and winked, giving me a peace sign.

I swear to god, the urge to claw his face grows with each interaction.

His boots are gorgeous though, I wonder if he'll let me borrow them sometime?

Most of the limo was spent with Mephisto obnoxiously whistling, Yukio and Rin talking to themselves and me finishing Jujutsu Kaisen and keeping an eye out at the scenery. True Cross was kinda crazy looking.

“Welcome to True Cross Academy! Every learning facility under the sun can be found right here in Academy Town. Please study to your heart’s content.” His eyes were wide as he peered out the window, like it was the first time he had seen the place.

“Now then, Rin, Akito. Please change into your uniform.” He spoke to us.

I changed quickly, faster than Rin, I tied the blazer around my waist because it was way too hot for that today, and left my top button undone with the tie hanging loosely around my neck.

"Pervet fuckin' clown wanting to see me get changed-" I continued to murmur throughout the ordeal. Yeah, me and Rin had to get changed in the car. With Mephisto being a creep the whole time.

Oh, the joys.

I stumbled out of the car and grabbed my bags and my blade, muttering about Yukio and Rin being dumbasses, luckily they couldn’t hear. I think Mephisto could have because he shot me a smirk and lightly giggled like a creepy clown.

Me and Rin trailed after Mephisto and Yukio, for different reasons I suspect though. Mine being that I didn’t want to be near the guy after my previous experience outside the limo and Rin’s probably being because he was confused.

I think Yukio already knew about demons and such because he is way too calm for a boy that just lost the only father-figure in his life. Plus him and dad did kinda disappear all the time throughout our childhood.

I don’t think Rin gets that yet though. Poor oniisan.

They just kind of ditched me and Rin any chance they got and then dad wonders why Rin acts the way he does, like bro, abandonment issues? Feelings of not being good enough for his only father figure to spend time with? It’s like dad was dumb, which I know he wasn’t.

The only time he spent time with me and Rin was at dinner and when he was scolding us for things that we believed were right. Honestly, I do feel bad for Rin, I never cared much but he always wanted to spend more time with Yukio and Dad.

We were led to an assembly hall and made to sit down with the other kids. I hate school assemblies though. Why must I be punished like this? Once everyone sat down the whole thing began.

“First-year representative, Okumura Yukio!” A middle-aged boomer shouted to the whole school. Damn though, Yukio got representative, kind of not surprising but I would have thought some rich kid would have got it.

“Yes sir.” He stood up. He reminds me of Iida Tenya right now, hehe. I swear to Shiro, if he starts waving his arms around I will lose it. I don’t think I did a good job muffling my giggles because some people were starting to look at me and glare.

Rin found Yukio’s position very surprising to say the least.

“Yukio!” He sweatdropped, jaw hanging open. I stopped paying attention at this point and rummaged around in my blazer pockets, pulling out a box of english candy that a pen pal sent me.

I felt eyes drilling into my skull and looked to my right and saw some girl with purple hair and tiny eyebrows staring at me. I looked down at the candy then beach at her, I reached my hand out and offered her some.

She looked at me for a few seconds then offered a small smile, before grabbing a handful and leaning back in her chair. I shrugged my shoulders and followed her lead.

When the assembly had finally ended, I followed the girl out of the hall and when all the students started flocking outside I decided to begin a conversation. I can’t fear social interaction, I’m a boss.

“Hey, purple hair! What’s your name?” She stopped and turned to me when I started speaking, I saw a small bland looking girl come up and stand next to small brows.

“My name is Kamiki Izumo. This is Paku Noriko.” She gestured to the girl next to her. “What’s your name?” She questioned.

“My name’s Okumura Akito.” I offered a small polite bow to the girls, hey, maybe I could make some friends. “Wanna meet up some time?” I ask them.

“Yeah sure!” Paku answers before Kamiki can even get a word out. I look at Kamiki and she just shrugs. Eh, fair enough.

I once again rummage around in my pockets and pull out a small notebook, I rip out a sheet and scribble my name and number on it with a pen (that I also managed to find in my pockets).

The girls look mildly impressed with what I managed to hide away in my pockets and I send a wink in reply. I was about to start conversation again when-

“Incoming first-years! I will now conduct a tour of the campus, so please follow me.” I hear a voice shout and look over, my ears twitching at the noise of everyone.

I didn’t notice but Kamiki seemed to focus on my ears. All the first-years herded towards the speaker and me, Kamiki and Paku followed the crowd. Making small talk throughout the tour.

We split up and I went up to Rin, following him into a classroom. We started talking and I overheard some stupid girls talking about Rin and by the look of it, he heard them too.

“What’s the deal with that guy, anyway?”

“What’s someone like that doing at this school?”

I walk towards them, not getting noticed in the process, I creep up behind them.

“Why are you talking about my brother like that?” I speak slowly to them, keeping my pitch deep. They all jump and look at me with fear. “Stop being nosy and keep your ignorant opinions to yourselves, no one wants to hear you speak.”

One of the girls, probably the ‘leader’, looks offended.

“How dare you speak to me that way! Your brother looks like a thug and I’ll have you know that my mother-” She begins to rant, acting all stuck-up.

“I’ll stop you right there. I don’t care who your mother is and what she paid to get you into this school because you obviously aren’t smart enough. You’re not special.” I speak to her. She begins to open her mouth. “And d’you want to know something else?” I ask.

One of them shakes their head.

“None of you would dare speak like that if you weren’t in your little pathetic group, the only reason you’re judging is because of pack mentality. You are cowards when alone, you are nothing when alone. Remember that next time you decide to act all high and mighty. Your mother’s money means nothing to me, and I’m not afraid to hit her girl if she wants to act rude towards me or my brothers. Understood dumbasses?” I question the whole group.

I allow a Mephisto smirk to grow on my face, and they all look equally petrified an dnod quickly. I give a final ‘hmph’ and leave them, walking back to Rin. I made sure to keep my voice quiet the whole time so the teacher didn’t notice a thing, this is not my first rodeo. Normally people are chatting shit about me though.

Rin shoots me a thankful smile before he turns his attention outside the window.

“Now then, that will be all for today. You will now return to your dorm rooms and prepare for next week’s classes.” The teacher speaks again, in a dull, boring tone.

Me and Rin walk out together and continue down the stairs. Both stuck in our own little worlds.

Suddenly Rin stops.

“Hold up, where the hell is the dorm?” He turns to look at me and I shrug, equally confused. “No one told us jack!”

I hear a noise and look down to see a small, disturbing, creepy, repulsive Mephisto looking creature. I scream and jump onto Rin’s back - holding on for dear life.

“A dog? Whoa!” Rin states and the creature walks past, making Rin stumble and me cling on tighter, body shaking in fear. The dog starts running and Rin decides to follow it. “What’s going on?” He questions.

“What’s going on is that you’re being an idiot and following that creature! Turn the other way, Oniisan! It’s not safe! First of all it’s a dog and second of all it looks like Mephisto!” I scream, while he runs after the monster.

He runs all the way out of the school and onto a road. Where the dog jumps up this thingy and then with a poof of pretty pink smoke, it turns into Mephisto.

“I fucking called it! I said it looked like him!! I hollered, jumpin off Rin’s back. “Phew, that was hard work, all that running.” I fake huff and puff like a wolf and wipe sweat off my forehead.

Because of that, Rin proceeds to shove my shoulder. I grunt in pain.

“Pardon me… It wouldn’t do for the School’s Director… to be prowling the grounds for no reason.” He taunts. Half his face concealed by his hat, bah, he’s trying to look mysterious.

“Oh, but it’s alright for a creepy dog to be doing it!?” I shout at him, still angry and scared. Oh yeah, I’m scared of dogs. They terrify me, I’m more of a cat person myself.

He merely shrugs at me.

“Hey, you mean exorcists can shape-shift, too?” Rin yells.

“No, they cannot. I’m an exception.” He pulls a key out of the air and throws it at Rin, said half-demon just managing to catch it. “That key can access the cram school anytime, through any door.” He explains to us with a smug smirk.

“Cram School?” Me and Rin question. My head tilted to the side.

“A cram school for training exorcists. You will both attend high school at this academy, but after classes, you will train at the cram school to become a page. In other words, you will be studying exorcism as an exorcist-in-training.” He explains to us.
“Are you serious!? That’s twice the amount of work!” I shout, I really can’t be bothered to do all that work. Ugh. He ignores me other than a slight nod.

“Your high school classes don’t begin until next week, but cram school starts today. You’re both fully prepared, I hope?” He leans in close to our faces, being creepy again. I shove his face away with my hand and then rub my hand on his cape.

“As much as I love your fashion, please do not lean in close to my face like a pervert, yeah?” I said to him, Scrunching my face up to get the point across.

“Sure I am!” Rin grumbles.

“I do have one warning for you both. You must keep that you’re the son of Satan confidential. You might be able to explain the ears, teeth and tail, but flames are definite no-no. Kindly control yourselves.” His eyes darted to me as he said the last part.

“Sure, I’ll do my best.” Rin said. I just growled at him.

“Fine.” Mephisto jumps up on the ledge again. “Now then, shall we?” He then jumps off the edge.

“Hey!” Rin shouts and I just shrug and scuff my shoe on the road. Rin went over and peered over the ledge, he relaxed so I strolled over and saw that Mephisto had landed on his feet just fine.

“I’d like you to try and open one of these doors with that key.” Clown number one stated.

“Y-yeah, sure.” Rin stuttered.

We both jumped over the ledge, me landing a lot better than Rin did.

“Ouch…” He whispered. We walked over and he pushed the key into the door, twisting it slowly. When he opened the door and I peered inside with him, curious to see what was there now.

Woah.

There was a whole corridor there now, with multiple rooms connecting to it.

“The first-years will be using Room 1106. Let’s go.” Mephisto demanded.
“O-okay.” Rin stuttered, trailing behind Mephisto and I trailed behind Rin. We eventually made it to a room and stopped.

“Here we are. Just so you know, I will be observing the class today.” Oof, he’s being a creep again. I wish I was surprised.

“Stalker.” I say in a sing-song voice, lengthening out the ‘all’ sound, purposefully not looking at him.

I walked into the class, leaving Rin and Mephsito in the dust.

Another one bites the dust…

I hum the song to myself.

I lift my head up and peer around. There was a weird looking kid with a puppet in the front row; a group of kids including: a pink haired boy, a rooster head guy and a short little one who reminds me of a mouse. There was a random person near the back wearing all black.

Yo! There’s Kamiki and Paku! Who would have thought? They look up and see me, looking equally surprised as I am probably looking. I walk over to them.

“Hey Kamiki, Paku. Fancy seeing you here?” I say to them, sliding into the seat.

“Oh hey Okumura.” Paku says, smiling. Kamiki offers a small smile and faces back to the board - damn, she’s cold.

I see my brother walk into the room, a small demon dog in tow.

“I’m Okumura Rin. Nice to meet you.” He says, trying to look all cool. That was so embarrassing for him, and he doesn’t even realise it, that’s the worst part. He sees me and shoots me a confused look.

“I met these guys at the assembly. You can join us if you want?” I ask him, tilting my head. “Leave the dog though.” I add on under my breath.

“Nah, I’m cool.” He responds and walks over to an empty table, looking like a Shounen emo character. I try to stifle my giggles at his actions, loveable dumbass.

We were all just kind of waiting for the teacher now so when the door opened everyone immediately quietened down and turned their gazes to the door.

And in stepped Yukio.

Wait- what!? I sweat-dropped. I looked over and Rin was doing the same thing.

Yukio walked over to the desk and settled down his granddad style briefcase.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Yukio Okumura, your instructor.” He spoke stoically. Rin jumped out of his seat.

“Y-yukio?” Rin said? I’m not sure, it might have been a question, I don’t know at this point. I just kind of slumped down further in my seat. This is going to be embarrassing.

“I’m a new instructor teaching Anti-Demon Pharmaceutics.” Yukio just carried on, smiling at the class like he isn’t a total dick outside of school. I can just see everyone loving him, just like in middle school.

Everyone started saying “Pleased to meet you” and I just nodded slightly, earning a disapproving look already from him. Like I care what that mole-face rat has to say.

“What the hell, Yukio?” Rin shouted.

“Is there a problem?” Yukio said all nonchalantly. Of course there’s a problem you fuckin’ idiot.

“You didn’t even tell us you were teaching exorcism. Let alone that you knew about it all together!” I shout at him, who the hell does he think he is?

“Please calm down, or I will be forced to send you out and you can talk to the principal.” He scolds me, barely sparing me a glance and maintaining his attention on Rin, again. I slump back down in my seat.

I’m just gonna keep quiet, at least this way I don’t have to bother Rin, he slightly cares about me I think. I mean, he cares about me enough to let me follow him around and make trouble.

“W-what do you mean, is there a problem? The question is, what’s your problem?” Rin yells, confused.

“Although I’m actually the same age as you all, I’ve been studying exorcism since I was seven and finished all of my courses two years ago. So just to be practical, I’d appreciate it if you called me ‘Sensei’ in this class.” Yukio says, all smiles.

Ugh, I just want to punch his stupid face. I let out a low growl, not even realising it until Paku nudges me and asks if I’m hungry, which was a very embarrassing situation if I might add.

I just want to go home, read some manga and drink some tea- maybe some camomile with some honey.

Rin’s still standing in the middle of the classroom, his world falling apart all around him. I feel so bad for him, I just want to go over and hug him. Wow, all of this is making me either want to cry and hug Rin or murder Yukio.

I’m just gonna nap instead. This seems boring.

“Yo Paku, Kamiki, if stuff gets interesting, wake me up.” I lean over and whisper and don’t give them a chance to respond before I conk out for the lesson.

~~~~~~

I wake up to a weird smell, my nose twitching.

I blink blearily and rub my eyes, clearing all the fogginess. Everything looks fine except the only people in the classroom are my brothers.

“Holy shit-!” I shout, falling out of my chair as I see some weird green ball demon yeeting towards me. What the fuck is that? I look over at Rin and Yukio for a second and see Yukio shooting the creatures up.

I grab my sword and unsheath it, slicing up anay that are near me, making sure to try and keep the whole ‘blue flames thing’ on the down low. Once I’m finished I look over at them to see what they’re doing and see that my bros were speaking.

I focus my hearing into what they’re saying.

“Knowing that you and Akito were demons, I thought of you as a threat. Needless to say, I still do, although Akito is more threatening than you.” Yukio says. So that’s why Yuko was always so rude to me. He hated what I was, what I represented even more than Rin.

Yukio shoots more of the things but I don’t care anymore. I just sit back down on my desk in shock, tears welling up in my eyes. The things come close to me again and I snap my head to them, when I snarl and growl they back away from me. They must be demons then.

Instead they bounce over to Yukio and Rin.

I try to ignore Yukio but then he tells Rin that he should just die and I gues I snapped because next thing I know I’ve grabbed him by his stupid coat and shoved him against a wall.

“Don’t you dare tell Rin to die, you monster! You’re the son of Satan too! Just because you didn’t get demonic traits doesn’t change the truth!” I snarled at him, fangs bared. “You don’t deserve Rin’s love and you sure as hell don’t have the right to tell him to die!”

I throw his body against the wall and retreat to stand next to Rin, my tail swishing angrily. I look over at Rin to see if he is okay and all I see is fear in his eyes when he looks at me.

Like- like I’m some monster. I choke up, tears threatening to flood my eyes as both of my brothers look at me like I’ve committed mass genocide.

“You don’t deserve dad’s sacrifice. You should never have been born! At least nii-san tries to be human! You’re nothing better than a lowly demon!” Yukio shouts at me. Anger flashing in his eyes, his guns aimed directly at my chest and head.
I stumble back and sheath my blade and run. I bolt out of the classroom without looking back. Tears falling freely out of my eyes. The moon watching me and the stars guiding me.

I find a tree in a nearby forest that is strong enough to hold me and I climb up it easily. Just sitting there staring at space. Tears silently leaked from me, pondering my existence.

~~~~~

I stay there until the sun starts to rise. Then I sniff out Rin (he barely baths so it’s pretty easy) and sneak in through the window. I change my clothes quickly and charge my phone back up and then jump back out. Heading back to the forest and waiting for the right time to head to the school.

Chapter Text

School had finished for the day and I was heading back to the forest for the night, which sounds really sad but I’ve started practicing my flames out there where they can’t be seen by mere mortals. I feel like Loki when I think stuff like that.

While on my journey, I heard a weird poof sound from behind me, I turned around and came face-to-face with a clown.

Yep, Mephisto had stalked me and just appeared out of nowhere.

“What d’you want?” I asked, just kind of wanting this whole experience to be over. The forest is lookin’ mighty fine right about now.

“Well, I heard that the littlest demon triplet was going missing after school and decided to find out why! Imagine my surprise when I see him walking to the dirty forest all by himself, oh the horror!” He says, putting the back of his hand to his forehead and fake fainting at the end, basically acting really dramatic.

“Yeah, so surprising.” I say, voice monotone and face blank. He pauses and opens one eye to peer at me. Seeing my face, he straightens up and wipes off any dirt on his clothes. At least he can tell I don’t want to see him, I just want to go and practice my sword wielding.

“Anyway, I believe we are due a conversation.” Seeing me open my mouth, about to shut him down, puts his hand up to silence me. “I have tea at my house~!” Dragging out the end in a sing-song voice.

I perked up at the information about tea.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll go with you, I guess.” I pause, “Got anymore clothes like that?” I ask, gesturing to his outfit.

“Of course I do! What else am I supposed to wear?” He asks, looking generally offended for a second. Like, I’m sorry dude it was just a question.

If you want to insult Mephisto, insult his wardrobe choices, and insinuate he can’t afford better clothes. Rich people hate it when you call them poor, especially when you are poorer than them.

“Awesome, I’m stealing some.” I say, and when we continue to stand there like idiots, I say, “well, lead the way then!”
He nods and then flings his umbrella about.

“Eins! Zwei! Drei!” He shouts and then all I see is pink smoke.

Okay, this is pretty cool though, I’m digging his choices in magic themes. This man really said ‘powerful, but make it aesthetic as well’.

Once the pink smoke cleared up I saw that we were in what looks to be a home office, this must be where he does his work when at home.

I peer at the walls and see that they are a pink-maroon sort of colour, filled with pictures of cute anime girls and boys. He had shelves filled with merch and his desk was quite clean and organised, a couple of notebooks decorated with more anime stickers.

I can imagine that the books were filled with rambles about his weird anime fantasies, Mephisto doesn’t seem like the type to write down all his plans and thoughts. He’s too smart for that.

I heard a cough and looked over to see that Mephisto had made his way over to the big poofy pink chair behind the desk, he motioned for me to sit down on the chair opposite and I obliged. The sooner this was done the better.

I pulled my backpack off my back and my sword, placing them both down by my feet and looked back up at Mephisto, waiting for him to start the conversation, ain’t no way in hell im starting it, but first:

“Where’s the tea I was promised?” I asked him.

“Ah yes, my apologies, what tea would you like, little demon?” He asked back, a smirk present on his face. I swear to god-

“Camomile would be nice, with a little pot of honey on the side so I can stir it in, thanks.” I answer back, putting on a sickly sweet smile, showing off my fangs to the man. I saw him stiffen slightly before letting go, and poofing up a tray with said items on.

“Now, let’s begin shall we?” He asked, the smirk that seems to be always present, growing even larger (if that’s even possible).

“Yeah sure, you start.” I say, focusing on my tea. I’m really spurious, don’t get me wrong, but this seems like it’s gonna be a really long conversation.

“Okay! Splendid idea!” I hear him exclaim, it sounds like he is honestly happy just to hear his own voice again. “Well, as you can probably tell by now, you have inherited more demonic blood and power than your brothers.”

I nod and look up at him, blowing my tea to cool it down, before saying:

“Yeah I guessed so, it’s kind of obvious.” I reply, listening in.

“Yes, now, I can tell you why if you want?” He asks, smirk widening slightly. “As you can tell, Yukio hasn’t got any demonic powers, this is because when you were all in the womb, the little fetus version of you drained his powers because of his weak body.” He says, leaning back in his chair, his right leg folded over the left.

“Wait- so I stole bitch boi Yukio’s powers?” I question, my smile widening, fangs slightly pointing over my lower lip and tail wagging. “Awesome!” I shout out.

“Ah, ah, ah, not quite-” He says to me, peering at me like he was trying to work me out. “Yukio was already weak in the womb and the blue flames would have caused him to light up like a little blue firework when he was born, so you took his powers as a way to ensure he would live!” He says, saying it like it was a good thing.

“Ah fuck.” Yukio could’ve been dead if I wasn’t such a good person. Task successfully failed.

“Yes, well, no point dwelling on the past-” He spoke, and smiled slightly like he was laughing at an inside joke. Clapping his hands he continued on, “now, because of your heroic act, you have the demonic powers and traits of two demons.” He speaks, leaning forward.

“I mean, that’s cool but like, what does that even mean?” I ask, taking a sip of tea.

“Well, you have inherited many of your demonic instincts since your awakening, have you not?” He asks, to which I nod, “A lot more than your brother, which is what has caused me to take such an intrusive role in your life.” He speaks.

I tilt my head, confused.

“Huh? How does that explain you being creepy?” I ask, scowling a little as I do so.

“You need someone taking up a parental role in your life, teaching and guiding you through these instincts and desires, and I am just the person to do so. Shiro failed at teaching you and keeping you under control because he was disciplining you like you are a human, when he needed to do so like you are a demon child.”

“What!? I am not that childish.” I protest, slumping down in my chair. This is totally not fair, if I hadn’t saved Yukio, then he would be dead and I wouldn’t have a clown acting like a parent towards me.

“No, you aren’t, but your demonic side is. All this time it has been locked away, now that it is free, it hasn’t matured at all, which means that all your instincts are that of a demon toddler.” He giggles slightly, the thought sounds absurd.

“So, because demon me was locked away, it is still a child and will influence my actions and mood because I’ve accepted his nature?” I ask, adding in my own thoughts and smirking. For a short second, Mephisto looked surprised, but then he schooled his features. Ha.

“Yes, very true. How did you figure out so much?” He questions. I just tap my nose in answer. “Ah okay, understood. Now, your inner demon child is too much for you to control and a normal human won’t be able to help either, so I will.” He says, looking so he feels superior.

Basically, he looks like an asshole.

“How are you any different from any other human? Just because you know about demons and are our legal guardian doesn’t mean you can help, by the sound of it.” I ask, finishing up my tea.

“Nein, nein, nein, I am different from other humans, because I’m not human!” He says, standing up and posing. It look so stupid, why is he trying so hard.

“Phaha-” I giggle, “why are you posing like that? Sit down dumbass.” I say, finally stifling my laughter. “Are you actually a demon though?” I ask, getting serious, this is actually a big deal though.

I wonder though, because my demon father is Satan, Mephisto is going to have to be a high level demon to be able to ‘control’ me, as he so kindly puts it. “Why, my demon name is Samael, and I am the Demon King of Time and Space!” He exclaims, his face becoming more demonic near the end, and his nails sharpening more demonically.

“Yo, that’s fuckin’ awesome dude.” I say, leaning forward and touching his sharp nail. He watches me silently, assessing my reaction, almost like he is cataloguing my reaction.

I remember reading about Samael though, he is one of the eight demon kings and second in power ranking, below Lucifer only. He is kind of a big deal, and it makes sense that he is a part of true cross.

“I guess that makes sense that you would be able to help though, considering how powerful you are.” I saw, while nomming on a cookie.

“Ja, and I thought that we could get along quite well, especially after seeing your interest in my outfit choices.” He says, smiling at how I complemented his outfit choice when we met at Shiro’s funeral.

“Well you did look amazing, to be fair though, you always look amazing so…” I finish nibbling on my cookie. “I guess you just look pretty awesome all the time.” I say while shrugging.

“Thank you, littlest demon.” He says, tipping his hat towards me in thanks.

“You’re welcome, Samael.” I say, smirking slightly.

“I do not like to be called that name anymore.” He says, stiffening slightly.

“Of course, my apologies, Mephy.” I say, giggling. This is going to be way too much fun. He grunts and looks at me, he honestly looks like he wants to scold me but holds it in.

“I will punish you if you act out like any father would, mostly with groundings and extra homework. I will also reward you for good behaviour by letting you have days of school because I know you are smart enough to graduate now.” He says, smirking at my obvious surprise at his knowledge and also excited by the prospect of missing time off school.

“Okay, good, good, I totally agree with these things.” I say, aggressively nodding at him. I need this freedom from school and my triplets for a day, not just at night. Mephisto nods slightly too before continuing with his speech. “Over your time here in my academy, I will be having private weekly lessons with you, where you learn about demonic behaviour and what your body language means; history of Gehenna and much more.” He says, looking over at me.

“Sounds cool.” I say. Looking up at him, I gesture to my cup and he gets the idea. He snaps his fingers and with a small pink poof, my cup is filled with tea again.

“Yes, and I am going to give you a couple of tips before our meeting ends and you go back to the dormitory.” He says, smirking at my look of outrage. “I don’t want to go there, I’m perfectly fine where I am!” I shout, standing up and snarling. I don’t want to be near them. Mephisto seemed to stiffen again and snarled back at me, he started to growl too.

I don’t know why but it caused me to freeze. My instincts were screaming at me and I decided to follow them. I lowered my eyesight and my head too. Which seemed to stop the growling and I then heard Mephisto sit back down.

“Sorry about that little one, but it wasn’t my fault. You can sit down now. It’s alright.” He says, breathing deeply. I sat down and looked back at him. He looked like nothing had happened, minus the heavy breathing. His eye’s still held that annoying gleam in them.

“What was that all about?” I questioned, still feeling slightly uneasy. Lowering myself back into my seat. I tentatively grab my cup of tea and take a sip, my tail staying still for once.

“That's what I wanted to speak about before our meeting’s end. I can’t bear the thought of leaving you so ignorant to these problems.” He spoke to me, his smirk widening, he was obviously enjoying my confusion.

“Well get on with it.” I snap at him, I’m really starting to get annoyed now. “Fuckin’ slow ass clown.” I grumble. His eyes narrowed, so I know he heard me, but it seems like he is going to ignore that one.

“Yes, well, some actions have specific meanings to demons.” He says, seeming to think about his words a lot, like he is carefully considering what to say. “For example, when you bared your itty bitty fangs at me.” He teases, winking at me. “Was a threatening action in Gehenna and to other demons.”

“Wait- but I do that to everyone all the time.” I say, slightly concerned about how many demons I may have pissed off.

“Don’t worry about that, you are royalty in Gehenna, they would never respond to your threat, you are their prince. I, on the other hand, am a demon king, and therefore will respond to your threat.” I open my mouth to speak. “But it isn’t just a threat.”

“Ah, shit.”

“Snarling your teeth is an action of threatening a demon’s position, not just their life. It is basically an invitation to fight for your power. I wouldn’t recommend you do that to any demon kings or Satan. That would not end well.” He says, smirk gone and for once looking serious.

“Okay, I won’t do it anymore boss.” I say, getting ready to leave.

“That’s not all you need to know right now.” He states. “Sit back down.” He demands, and I obey.

“What more?” I ask, exasperated.

“Your tail-”

“Don’t you dare bring my tail into this!” I interrupt, holding it up to my chest and gasping. “This is a beautiful appendage and I won’t listen to your slander.”

“That’s one of the things I was going to say if you hadn’t rudely interrupted me.” He interjects.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay now. You have your tail out in the open, for anyone to see. Which can mean something as well.” He says, clasping his fingers together, “That can also be an invitation challenge to fight, a demon’s tail is sensitive, so the fact that you have it so easy to see means that you are stating to any other demons that you are more powerful and don’t even have to worry about their power. It’s an insult to high level demons.” He lectures.

“Jeez, there is so much I don’t know.” I mutter, this is good to know though. I’m actually so glad that he told me. Can you imagine if I met another high level demon and just like, threatened to fight him without even knowing.

That would be such a bad situation, funny to think about after though.

It does make sense though, it is such a sensitive appendage that having gout so openly is a sign of strength.

“Yes, well, that is why I have decided we will have weekly meetings where I will teach about the customs of Gehenna, as well as the old demonic languages. These things are important for a prince to know.” Mephisto says to me.

Holy shit, I forgot I was a prince in Gehenna. That’s kinda crazy to know bro. Ha, that rhymes. I mean, that’s awesome though, like, I am amazing. Well, I already knew that but even more so now.

“So if someone was to, I don’t know, kill Satan. Would I become king?” I question, a manic gleam in my eyes. Watching as Mephy looked surprised for a split second before once again hiding it.

“I’m not completely sure on the matter.” Mephisto says, leaning forward on the desk, hands clasped together near his chin, “Your brother, Rin, is older than you so I believe he would be more likely to inherit the throne that way but your demonic powers are much greater, meaning you should inherit the throne.” He tutted to himself.

That is quite the predicament. So it’s between me or Rin. I think I would be much better suited to be king over Rin, if I do say so myself.

“That’s cool, I’d definitely be a better king than Rin, I don’t want to kill all demons just because they exist. Which I think is definitely something the kind of demons should think.” I say, nodding to myself. Mephisto seems to agree too, if the slight nodding is anything to go by.

“Yes well, I believe it is time for our meeting to end. Your brothers are heading back to the dorm as we speak and I’m sure you won’t want them knowing about your visit.” He says, smirking and standing up, dusting off non-existent flecks of dirt on his clothes.

I nodded along and stood up too, finishing off my cup of tea. Stretching quickly, my tail stretching with me too, I shake off.

Oh shit - my tail, I tuck that under my shirt and wrap it around my chest. I can already tell that is going to hurt in the future. I am definitely going to have to think of a new way to hide it.

I followed Mephisto to the door but stopped and looked at him weirdly.

“Can’t you just poof me to the dorm?” I question, confused on why we are even walking to the door. He just winked and put a finger to his mouth.

He placed a gloved hand on the handle and pulled the door open. I peered over his shoulder and saw my dorm room.

I look from the office, to the room, and back to the office. And then back to the room.

“Yo, these Demon King powers are ace. You totally need to teach me this.” I exclaim as I waltz into my room. Looking around, I touch the walls and I can confirm, they are real. I look over to Mephisto to see him already gone.

Wow, bitch.

I get dressed into some pyjamas and settle down for the night. Putting the alarm on my phone and plugging it in, I settle under the covers and I fall into the darkness. Sleeping through the existence of my brothers

Chapter Text

I was sitting in Cram school, after Mephisto had unceremoniously ditched me in my room, I had fallen asleep for the rest of the night.

And let me tell you, it was one of the best night's sleep I’ve had in a while.

I looked over at Rin to see him sleeping on his desk. Oof, someone obviously didn't have as good of a night as me. Sucks to be him, especially since our teacher seems to be glaring at his unconscious form.

Our teacher is this old, fossil of a man. Like, experienced and super strict, makes you want to wet your pants when he yells type of dude.

Yeah, I’m really glad that’s not me.

Like, this class is really boring, but I do not want to deal with a yelling teacher and Mephisto scolding me about it. Not worth the stress if I’m being honest.

Oh no, looks like the teacher is about to make a move.

“Okumura!” He yells, and when Rin doesn’t seem to wake up, he yells again. “Okumura!”

Rin bolts up in his seat.

“Sukiyaki!” He shouts, looking so confused, it made me just outright wheeze. Kamiki looked over at me in concern. I probably sounded like a dying elephant.

The blonde girl beside Rin looked so scared as well, making me wheeze more.

“If you don’t intend to pay attention, you’re free to leave anymore.” The old guy scolds. Making Rin look even more pitiful, he really needs to build up some confidence. I'm totally going to have to hype him up, even if he doesn’t hang out with me as much as Yukio - his relationship with Yukio is so toxic, man.

Like, Yukio treats him like shit and he just accepts it because he thinks that he deserves it. Well we are all Satan’s kids, so why do me and Rin have to get the abuse? I’m not having it, I will hype Rin up and make sure he knows that he doesn’t deserve that.

“S-sorry!” Rin says, wiping his face before the teacher begins to prattle on about all this boring stuff, that I already know. What is this class, was my 13th reason? Huh!? That’s what I thought.

“Now then… In the Hebrew Scriptures, these books - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus-” Blah blah blah, this is all so boring. I am seriously thinking about grabbing my sword and yeeting it at the teacher just so he will shut up.

Placing my head on my hand, I peer over at Rin. Only to find him having a gay staring contest with a rooster head looking guy. I always knew Rin’s wrist was a little floppy. My gaydar is OP.

I see Rin blush before looking away, appearing smug. The rooster head, on the other hand, looked even angrier. Well this will be a fun show to watch over our time at Cram school.

Rin begins giggling to himself and the teacher shouts at him again.

He is definitely having some sort of gay daydream right now, he’s gotta be. Rooster grumbles to himself again.

~~~~~~

Class was over and we were left to our own devices until the next teacher showed up.

“Why were you suffocating during class?” Paku asked me, I saw Kamiki pretending to look uninterested but still looking over at me.

“Well, Rin is my older brother, as you know and when the teacher scared the shit out of him, it was too funny and I couldn’t hold it in.” When they both still looked confused, I elaborated. “You have never experienced true comedy until someone close to you almost pisses themself from a jump-scare.”

“Oh, okay.” Paku says, still confused but smiling lightly, obviously finding my reason for wheezing slightly funny. Kamiki was just smirking at me though, my thought process and sources of entertainment also amusing her.

“It was pretty funny.” Kamiki says, nodding slightly to show her agreement.

“I knew you would have my back.” I say, putting my fist up for a bump. “Respect G.” I say, nodding back at her.

Paku nudges both of us, snapping me back to reality and I look over to see our next teacher has arrived.

During class I see Rin once again, almost falling asleep.

“What is the lowest-level demon related to the King of Rot, Astaroth?” Our newest teacher asks the class, and when he sees Rin, he snaps. “Okumura!”

“Oh! Um… Well, since I’ve never seen one…” Rin rambles, trying to think up an answer even though he doesn't even understand the question properly.

“It’s a Coal Tar! Teach.” I shout out, feeling a little bit merciful for once, and deciding to help out a homie in need. The teacher sends me a glare.

“Correct, but maybe next time you can withstand your need to shout out the answer.” He scolds, glaring at me.

“Ah, sorry dude, I just heard Okumura and thought you might be talking to me, and considering you wanted an answer, I don’t know why you are acting so salty.” I shoot back, sick of people always attacking my bro.

Like, give him a break.

The teacher seems to open his mouth to respond but then just turns away and looks back at Rin.

“Your brother was correct, it’s a Coal Tar, and one of them is right next to you.” He speaks to Rin, sounding a lot calmer than before.

I once again decided to zone out, focusing on the manga I’m currently reading and then spend the rest of my lesson daydreaming creating an intricate version of the storyline and inserting myself in it as a way to dissociate from reality.

Ah, my only emotional support, daydreaming.

I only snap back to reality, oh, there goes gravity. Wait- no, stop it Akito.

“Akito!” I hear a shout and look up to see Yukio standing in front of my desk with my test from the last lesson in his hand and a disapproving look.

I take my test back and stick my tongue out at him, fully well knowing that I scored well on it. He tuts at me before moving on, obviously not knowing how to react because he is still scared of me from our experience in class.

Ha, loser.

I checked my score to see it marked at 100%, and knew it. My memory is so OP, call me Spencer Reid already. Yeah, I watched Criminal Minds, subbed of course. I’m a real one like that.

I look and hear the new girl being spoken to by Yukio, she looks so meek. I honestly don’t know if I could handle sitting next to someone like her. It would make me want to be sick.

I see Rin getting scolded because of his low score, he walks back over to his seat as he walks past Rooster head, also known as “Suguro”. As they walk past each other I hear Suguro start chatting shit to Rin.

“I couldn’t get a 2 even if I tried! It’s because you’re fooling around with that girl. You make me sick!” He says to Rin. Yukio would have heard but he just chooses to ignore it.

“What did you say, you rooster-head?” Ha, glad to know he made the same connection I did. “You’re the one who’s fooling around!” Rin says to him.

“Excellent work, Suguro.” Yukio says. Rooster chuckles before turning his test to show Rin a 98. Wow, what a dick.

I stand up and face the Rooster.

“Oi! Get your head out your ass. Just because no girl ever wants to be with you, doesn’t mean you need to attack my brother just because he talks to a girl and stop chatting wass. You need to stop being all judgy just because he doesn't act the same as you in class.” I say to him,

“You don’t pay attention either, so maybe you should just keep your nose out and stop fooling around with those two.” He retorts, pointing at Paku and Kamiki, trying to act all tough but I can see the flustered blush on his cheeks from my call out.

“One, I would never ‘fool’ around with Kamiki and Paku, I care about them too much. Two, I got a better score than you.” I say, lifting up my test to show him. “So maybe, instead of spending your time in class glaring at my brother and fooling around, you should pay attention.” I respond, feeling my tail trying to get out from under my shirt and the urge to bare my fangs at him.

Yukio clears his throat and points at me and then back at my seat, so I dutifully follow his silent orders and sit back down, not in the mood to deal with Mephisto already. Rooster just goes back to his seat and Rin goes back too.

And Yukio looks like he wants to end his short life.

Ah, I do well, I just broke up a fight that hadn’t even happened yet.

~~~~~~~~

After class, Kamiki, Paku and I went to a little cafe and hung out while the others in class calmed down.

“How do you even cope with those two as your brother?” Paku asks, as we sit in the corner sipping tea. I saw Kamiki smile and silently laugh at the question, cute.

“Well, isolation and manga.” I responded. Taking a sip of my tea.

“Eh?” Paku responds, Kamiki tilting her head.

“I stay in a separate room and only leave for food, and I read manga to ignore them and the rest of the World.” I explained.

“Oh. That makes sense.” Kamiki replies, and I see Paku look over in surprise, like she didn’t expect Kamiki to speak so openly.

“Yeah, that’s the only way to survive.” I jokingly tut. Gulping down the rest of my tea, I buy another quick and we all spend the rest of the break laughing and joking. Me and Paku laughing and Kamiki chuckling silently every now and then.

“It’s time to get to class now.” Paku says, checking the time on her watch.

“Ugh gross.” I groan, “Aren’t we doing something practical?” I question, throwing my cup away.

“Yeah, I think so.” Kamiki says, throwing her cup away as well. As we turn around to Paku we bump into each other and Kamiki stumbles. I reach out and grab her before she hits the floor.

“Wow, falling for me already?” I say cheekily, winking at her. She gasps lightly before pushing herself up and shoving me away, blushing lightly. Pinching my ear to make me let go of her hand.

Ouch. What is it with everyone going for the ear. I bring my hand up to rub the sore appendage.

“Idiot.” She grumbles, walking past me and Paku to the door. Leaving both of us bewildered at her actions. When we both don’t follow she turns, “Coming to class or not then?” She asks. We both stumble after her, Paku managing to get out the door and then I proceed to fall to the floor as well.

She catches me this time.

“Now you’re falling for me?” She questions, winking at me. I stopped computing. What the hell just happened. Um, I am so shooketh.

“Uh,” I just mutter unintelligently. She snickers lightly before pulling me and shoving me out the door. I stumble and almost fall on top of Paku before managing to upright myself. I shake my head and decide to ignore what just happened until later.

We all walk back to class, deciding to collectively ignore the elephant in the group.

~~~~~~~~

We all got changed into tracksuits before learning that we were spending a whole lesson running away from demon toads. Fun.

Note the sarcasm.

We were sitting in a weird sort of octagon concrete building, it was massive and in the middle the floor dipped down to form a giant arena with three cages that held demon toads in them.

One of the toads was out of his cage with a chain connecting to a mechanical lever and a collar around its neck.

I sit with the rest of the class as we watch Rin and Rooster race each other while also running from the demon toad. Poor thing is just being let out and teased with food before being yanked back by chains and locked away in tiny cages.

I hate the way they treat demons. They honestly don't deserve it, well, not all of them.

“Okay, class, this is not a footrace, understand? The goal is to get you conditioned to demons’ movements! Try to pin down the Reaper’s movements!” Our creepy teacher shouts out, watching those two act like fools.

They both run while chatting shit to each other before Rooster kicks Rin. What the fuck!? Nah, that ain’t okay. I go to stand up before Kamiki yanks me back down by my sleeve and points to the teacher.

The toad goes to eat the Rooster and I start to cheer up until teach yanks on the demon’s chains, yanking it back.

“What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get yourselves killed?” He shouts. He runs down to the arena as Rina and Rooster start fighting each other.

I try to stand up again and shout at Rooster when Kamiki tugs my sleeve again,

“You need to let them fight so they can become friends.” She says quietly, shaking her head at their stupid actions.

“Oh, okay.” I nod. I’m going to take her word for it but if Rin gets hurt I’m going to get all demon shit on his ass. I'll tell you that right now.

The teacher takes Rooster away from the group and the Rooster’s posse goes up to Rin. I listen to their conversation with my awesome demonic ears and hear about how Rooster also wants to kill Satan because he attacked his old monastery or something.

Something about a blue night, I don't know, man. It's a lot of effort.

I couldn’t care less to be fair, just because you have a tragic backstory doesn’t mean you can act like a dick. Sorry, but it’s the truth.

After their little fight and their conversation, Kamiki and the new blonde girl, I think her name was Shiemi, were up next for the running.

The only problem was that Shiemi was wearing some old school clothes, she needed to get a set of the school uniform because she can’t run in that outfit. I mean, she acts like she hasn’t left her house her whole life so I don’t think she can run all that well anyway.

She trips over like I knew would happen and just as she is about to get munched on, the demon is yanked back again. Poor thing.

“How many times are you going to trip?” Our teacher asks her.

“I-I’m sorry.” She shouts.

“First of all, why are you the only one in a hakama?” He asks.

So that’s what it’s called.

“Um… these are the only clothes I have that are good for sports.” She says, flustered.

“That outfit was fashionable about 100 years ago, you know that?” Okay, that’s kinda harsh, funny though. “Next, Shima and Yamada!”

“Okay!” The pink haired kid says, sliding down into the arena. The emo kid followed after him.

Kamiki came up first and sat down next to me and Paku.

“Good job!” Kamiki says.

“Yeah, well done.” I say, blushing slightly as I think back to the cafe incident.

“Whatever. It’s not like I’m tired!” Kamiki says, looking proud. Man, she really is amazing. A little bit smug though, if I’m being completely honest, but that’s fine. I can deal with that with a friend.

“You’re really something, Izumo!” Paku cheers. Yeah, that definitely doesn’t help with not getting a big ego. I saw blondie look over at us.

I hear a cell phone start ringing and I look over to the source of the sound, finding it to be the teacher.

“Whose cell is that? In the middle of class?” Rooster asks, acting all grungy. The teacher picks up his phone, making him fall to the floor in shock. Ha.

“Hello? This is he…” He says to the phone. “What’s the matter honey? Y-you mean right now?” He looks shocked. “You really are a handful, my cute little kitty!”

What, tha hell, just happened. I know others didn’t hear that but I now want to gouge my eardrums out. Ew, what if that was my 14th reason?

“Gross,” I mutter, Paku shooting me a confused look, I just shake my head in response.

“Listen up! The rest of this class will be a study hall!” Our teacher shouts.

“Eh?” We shout. Well, I didn’t, but the others did.

“Listen to me! Normally, the Reaper is a docile demon, but he has the annoying habit of reading people’s emotions and attacking. Until I get back, you’re not to go down to the field, and you’re to stay out of the range of the Reaper’s chains! Got that? All right, that’s it from me!” He shouts to me. He turns to the door and runs away from us. “I’m on my way! My cute little kitty!” He yells.

Why dude? Why?

I feel a little puke come up in my throat and I swallow it back. I really didn’t want to hear that from my teacher today, nor did I expect it.

I fall back and promptly fall asleep. I am not dealing with all the shouting and stuff that is about to go down.

~~~~~~~~~

I wake up to my body shaking and see Kamiki waking me up, Paku standing nearby. I lift myself up and notice that Paku had sid her jacket under my head.

“Thanks.” I mumble, still half-asleep and give Paku her jacket back.

I see Rooster and Rin head to head, literally.

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I snap my head up to see Yukio in the fair exit of the place, pointing a gun towards Rin.

I strain my ears to listen to him.

“Yes, it’s under control now. All of the students are safe.” He puts down the gun. “Of course he didn't draw Kurikara. Goodbye.” He hangs up the phone and stares at Rin all emo-boy like.

I look away before he can notice me and follow the group out of this place and back to our dorms.

Chapter Text

“I overslept!”

I shoot up awake. What the hell is going on? Rubbing my eyes, I walk over to the door of my dorm and peer out of the door.

Just in time to see Rin running through the halls, panicking and aggressively trying to get changed. That only means one thing. He’s late.

Ha, sucks to suck sucker.

Imagine being late to school-

Wait... We go to the same school, so if he’s late, then I am too.

Shit.

Suddenly I’m wide awake and sprinting to my wardrobe, pulling out my uniform and yanking it on. No time for a shower today.

I quickly brush my hair and teeth, before racing out of the dorm and to class. I have an exam today!

~~~~~~~

Phew- I’m glad that’s over.

I sat back in my chair as I finished my exam. I don’t want to repeat that ever again. I have an excellent memory but exams like this, make me want to commit scuba dive.

They are so tedious.

I look around and see a bunch of other kids close to tears. Yeah, that seems right.

The bell rang finally and I handed my exam back with the rest of the kids before making my way to the lunch hall.

Don’t get me wrong, I can’t afford any of it, but I meet up with Rin and Yukio there.

I walk into the hall and see Rin freaking out and Yukio grabbing hold of him.

“Eh? What’s going on?” I ask some girl standing nearby. She just shrugs, looking increasingly worried with the scene.

I walk over to them and tap on Yukio’s shoulder. They both pause and look at me.

“What are you guys doing?” I ask, tilting my head.

“These rich kids’ lunches are way too much money!” Rin shouts out, well, that’s embarrassing. No need to tell the whole school we are poor compared to them. Jeez.

“Why don’t you just ask Mephisto to lower the prices or something?” I ask them, confused on why they haven’t yet. That seems like the most obvious choice.

Maybe an allowance instead.

“Good idea, Akito.” Yukio says, seeming surprised that I have smart thoughts.

Yeah, suck on that Yukio. Stupid twot.

~~~~~~~

“Lower the prices in the student cafeteria? I’m afraid that won’t be possible. To provide first-rate cuisine, we purchase first-rate ingredients and hire first-rate chefs, you see.” Mephisto speaks, sitting at his desk with his hands clasped under his chin.

We had made our way to Mephisto’s office and I had sprawled myself over one of his chairs. My head leaning over one of the sides, with my legs leaning over the other.

Rin and Yukio were standing awkwardly behind me, facing his desk.

“Well, the student cafeteria doesn’t need to be first-rate, does it?” Rin asks. I get what he’s saying but like, the people in this school are those rich kids who are used to having top-notch chefs cooking for them everyday for every meal.

“Dining is culture. One’s life is enriched by experiencing first-rate cuisine.” Said the man who then proceeded to eat a pot of instant-ramen. That’s just not right. I love instant-ramen but homie, you can’t have a speech like that then eat them.

Gordon Ramsay could never.

“Then at least give us an allowance!” Rin shouts, obviously frustrated.

“Oh, my… Rather unlike me to completely forget such a detail. After all, even the sons of Satan need something to live on, no?” Mephisto says, not sorry at all- he probably did it on purpose. It seems like something he would do.

This clown then proceeds to whip out a 2000 yen bill and waver it around like he just bestowed a blessing upon us. My man, it’s not even that much, it’s cool that it’s all in one bill but like, who would even get excited at something like that-

“Whoa! A 2000 yen bill!”

Rin would.

“A phantom bill whose existence is said to be an urban legend.” Yukio says, looking absolutely flabbergasted. Ha, he looks like such an idiot. Wait- idea time. This is a perfect time for a selfie.

I fish out my phone and quickly scramble to stand in front of Yukio, I quickly pose, winking at the camera and doing a peace sign while Yukio stands behind me. This is totally going to be my lockscreen for the next three years.

I then yeet back over to my seat. Pretending like I never move, and because I am such a ninja, no one even realises.

“Great, I can buy 10 yakisoba with this!” Rin says, holding the note in both hands.

I could buy two volumes of manga with that, and those volumes are much more important than food. I could find out what happens to my favourite pink-haired, finger-eating, happy-go-lucky, possession prone, dork in those two volumes!

“Oh, before I forget… You will be paid every month on the 10th, alright?” Mephisto says, smirking at them, face half-hidden behind his hand, in his signature creepy pose. He is trying way too hard.

I peer over to my brothers, and see their little dream world broken. I guess figuring out that while it’s a lot of money for one day, it isn’t a lot for a whole month.

It’s fine with me, if I get hungry, I pop over to Ukobach in the kitchen for some food or just raid Mephisto’s pot noodle supply. I think he knows, but he never says anything to me.

Now that I think about it, do Rin and Yukio not know about Ukobach? They don’t seem to realise that he can make them food, and Yukio is such a demon hater, surely he wouldn’t be okay with that? And Rin is so protective normally about his kitchen.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic, back to Rin and Yukio’s impending mental break-down.

“Every month? This is for the whole month?” They ask.

“Correct.” Mephisto says bluntly.

“We can’t live on this, dumbass!” Rin shouts at Mephisto, waving his hands around like a maniac. I outright cackle at that, their faces are too much.

“Stop laughing Akito, this also affects you as well, you know?” Yukio says to me, glaring daggers and pushing up his glasses.

“Obviously I know that, I’m not dumb, opposed to what you like to believe.” I growl out, standing up, I can feel my tail trying to get out of its confines under my shirt, trying to show dominance against Yukio.

I forcibly sit myself back down and breathe deeply, I can’t find it in myself to turn my back on Yukio, not yet at least. I maintain eye contact with Yukio, as I hear Mephsito waltz around his desk and rest his heavy hand on my shoulder.

“Now, now, boys. Let’s calm down shall we?” His words are questions but they sound like demands. Yukio breaks eye contact and looks over to Mephisto, allowing me to relax slightly. Man, these demon instincts got me tripping.

“Anyway, what’s this, displeasure?” Mephisto asks, looking genuinely confused. “Very well, how about an obsolete 100 yen bill?” He asks, looking like he knows the answer. “Taisuke Itagaki’s image on it is my current favourite…”

I think I’m going to take that note, it’s free money at the end of the day, and I love free money.

“Like I care who your freakin’ personal faves are!” Rin looks pissed and tries to take his blade out of its sheath.

Ha, I got a blade that’s sheathed as well, but it’s not the type that cuts you.

I chuckle to myself. I am such a great comedian.

“Calm down, Rin!” Yukio shouts, holding on to Rin. They both start to struggle against each other. These idiots just kick the other in the balls, it’s not that hard. Well, it definitely won’t be after a kick, unless you’re into that but like, I don’t think they are.

Yukio is definitely vanilla and Rin just seems like he would be too. They are both so boring in that sense. No ‘your mum’ jokes, and no ‘deez nuts’ jokes.

Mephisto just turns around to eat his noodles, I cough slightly and he turns to face me, I point to my mouth and then to his noodles. He seems to get the message, and looks offended, before feeding me a mouthful of them with his fork. I slurp them up and offer him a thumbs up and head bop in thanks.

Rin and Yukio finally decide to leave the room and Yukio drags me along with him. I asked for help from Mephisto and he just waved me off, saying it’s my penance for having some of his noodles.

Yeah, he’s a dick like that.

All three of us were walking down the corridors towards our dorm, and when I say we were walking, I mean they were walking and I was being dragged. I really don’t want to go with them, I would much prefer to stay with Mephisto.

At least there I can steal some scrumptious noodles.

“Remember what dad used to say: man shall not live by bread alone.”

“That’s a stupid saying.” I retort, turning to face them.

“Yeah!” Rin turns to look at me, “well, lectures don’t exactly fill you up, you know?” Rin turns away from me and looks towards Yukio, “listen, are you cool with this?”

“Huh?” Yukio replies, obviously confused.

“Are you satisfied with a lame allowance of 2000 yen?” He asks. I turned to look at Yukio too, as well as I could while my collar was being held by Yukio.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am easily stronger than Yukio but I would rip my school uniform, and I don’t have the money for that, nor do I want to owe Mephy a favour.

“Well, I have my job as an instructor, and I get paid pretty well as an exorcist, too…” Chicken responds. This answer seems to piss Rin off as well.

“You traitor!”

“Damn, you are very hangry today homie.” I say to Rin, momentarily confusing him, I pull a chocolate bar out of my pocket. “Here have a snickers, you’re not you when you’re hungry.” I then stuff it in his mouth.

These inexperienced meme-rs wouldn’t understand my pure genius.

This seems to confuse Yukio as well, giving me time to yank out of his hold and let myself away from them. Ahh, the art of stunning an audience.

I then spend the remaining slot of freedom in the forest again, messing around with my half of the kurikara.

After spending time with Mephsito and spending time meditating with the blade. I realised that my blade and Rin’s are actually the same, they are from the same materials and imbued with the same essence and intent. They are two halves of one whole.

The only issue with this is that mine and Rin’s demonic powers aren’t the same. Mine are stronger and more instinctual, meaning that the bonds forged to hold my magic don’t work that well, nor do they actually do their job.

Not to toot my own horn, but I’m too powerful. So really, the blade is just there to be used as a sword, nothing more, nothing less.

My ears tingled and I tilted my head, hearing Rin and Yukio opening the doors to the dorms. Shit, I got to get home now, they can’t know about my secret hiding place.

This is mine, and mine alone, mwahahaha.

Ooh, I’m totally going to get an evil mastermind cackle. This is going to be a great experience if I do. I’ve always wanted one.

I finally got into the window of my room, due to my amazing ninja-ness and parkour skills, it was an easy thing to do.

I hear my brother making noise downstairs and make my why down there, after a quick change of clothes of course. I can’t go down in the same clothes as before, they have dirt on them now.

I walk down to see Rin chopping up lettuce and food being cooked. The delicious smell smacked me in the face.

I walk into the kitchen quickly and grab a bit of leftover veg and stuff it in my mouth.

“Hey, you don’t need to start this late at night, you know?” Yukio says to Rin.

“You should prepare lunch the night before and freeze it. Next morning, you bring it to school frozen, and it will thaw to just the right temperature by noon. Just a little housewife’s tip, should I say?” Rin says, smiling towards us, looking proud.

I clap and cheer.

“Woo! Go mother Rin!” I yelled, throwing some leftover lettuce leaves in the air in celebration. Rin slaps my round the back of my head as a consequence of my action, when did he become my parent.

“Jerk.” I mutter. Rubbing the back of my head.

“Bitch.” He replies, before turning back to his cooking. I snap my neck over to him, placing a hand over my chest.

He-

He knows-

And I know he knows-

Who would have thought? Not me, that’s for sure.

Yukio seems to have decided to ignore our exchange.

“I see… I’d be glad if you spent the same amount of energy on your studies.” Yukio replies, acting all smug.

“Stop being a dick man!” I whine, turning around to face him. “Could you stop with the constant snide comments, I can’t deal with it right now. I am way too tired.” Rin sends a glare to me and I shut up.

Why does he always want to defend Yukio when all he does is hurt him.

“Shut up, will you? Just piss off and go to bed!” Rin says to Yukio, jokingly by the sound of it, but I’m not sure, facial expressions are difficult sometimes.

“Yes, sir. Good night.” Yukio replies, going to bed.

I turn back to look at Rin, he waves me off too.

“Oh, okay, harsh.” I say, “I’m wounded, honestly.” I pretend to stumble and hold my chest like I’ve been shot as I walk up the stairs after Yukio.

~~~~~

I woke up late the next morning.

“Shit, shit, fuck, shit, piss, aw no.” I mumble, the whole way through my morning routine, stumbling out of the dorm, with literally none of my belongings.

Oh well, they aren’t that important.

I stop past the kitchen, which looks like a bomb had hit it during the night.

Rin definitely found out about Ukobach last night.

Damn, I wish I had woken up, then I could have witnessed the amount of delicious food that would have been produced.

That would have been one of the best experiences of my life.

~~~~~

I stumble into class late, ignoring my teacher, and sit down on my desk.

Just as the bell rang.

Great. Just great.

This day is going to be terrible.

Ugh.

I have cram school tonight as well.

This is too much to deal with.

I then proceeded to yeet myself out of school and into the forest.

When did the forest become my safe space. Why am I this emotionally stunted?

Chapter Text

Cram school had finally finished. Thank the lords.

Wait- what lord would I thank? Not Satan, because of obvious reasons and not the Christian idea of God for obvious reasons again. Are other religious deities real? I am going to have to ask Mephisto, these are important questions.

I was walking out of the classroom, standing on Kamiki’ left and Paku on her other side. Shima was walking next to us, trying (and failing) to get Kamiki’s attention. That dude is so desperate. Honestly, shameless in his advances.

“Ms. Kamiki! Ms. Paku!” We heard shouting, we all turned around, seeing that blond haired girl trying to get the girls’ attention. “H-hello!” She stutters. Just as she is approaching us, I see her stumbling.

I dash forward and grasp her midsection, trying to remain as respectful as possible, keeping my hands on her waist.

“Whoops, wouldn’t want an accident now, would we?” I say, smiling and laughing slightly, trying to ease her embarrassment. That must have been a terrible experience, especially after I’ve seen how she acts in class. “The name’s Okumura Akito, call me Akito.” I say to the girl.

“Oh, uh, my name is Moriyama Shiemi, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She says gently, bowing slightly in greeting. “Thank you for saving me.”

“It’s no issue, I’m glad you’re okay.” I bow back slightly. I can have manners when I want.

The poor girl acts like she has never been in public before, and from the conversations I’ve overheard from Yukio and Rin, that seems like the brutal truth.

I wink slightly at her, lifting her up fully. Once I made sure she was alright, I let go and walked over to my friends, seeing a light blush on Kamiki and Shima’s face. Now this is an interesting development. I am going to have to test these results later.

“Ms. Moriyama?” Paku asks sincerely.

Kamiki doesn’t look as concerned, and Shima just looks awkward.

“Klutz!” Kamiki mutters, but loud enough for us all to hear, turning away. Wow, that’s a bit harsh.

“Come on Kamiki! Don’t be too mean, she just tripped, I do it all the time!” I say, pulling on her shirt sleeve slightly. She looks at me and sighs.

I looked over to Moriyama and saw her looking super embarrassed, face a flaming red.

Oof, that face she’s making is more embarrassing than her initial stumble.

“Fine.” Kamiki says, turning back to face us all.

“Are you okay?” Paku asks, after seeing that Kamiki is staying put.

“Um, yes.” Moriyama says, nodding mutely.

“Be careful.” Paku said softly, smiling at the girl. Before noticing that Kamiki is getting impatient and turning to face her. Paku nods at her and they both begin to leave, Kamiki pulling on my sleeve this time.

I wave and smile softly at blondy and then see Shima standing there, looking like he is debating an important life choice, when in fact he is probably just thinking about which girl to follow.

I grab his shoulders quickly and use the momentum to yeet myself onto his shoulders, he stumbles before standing up.

“Wah!” He jumbles out, obviously bewildered with the way his day has turned out.

“Onward Pinky Pie!” I bellow, pointing to the girls’ retreating figures, he gets the message and lets out a resigned sigh, before following my order.

I could get used to this.

As we are catching up with Kamiki and Paku, I decide to make conversation with my steed.

“So, Shima, what was up with that blush earlier?” I say down to him, watching his ears turn pink, a clear indicator he’s blushing again. “Do you find me pretty?” I say teasingly in his ear. Giggling when he makes a flustered noise.

~~~~~~~

“All right, summer vacation is less than a month and a half away, but before the break, you’ll take this year’s Exwire Authorization Exam.” Yukio drones on. This class is honestly so boring.

I scratch my back in my sword (leaving it in the sheath of course) and yawn, leaning back in my seat, I close my eyes.

Hearing a heartbeat pick up, I open one eye and see Shima staring at me, blushing lightly. I wink at him and he freezes, before snapping his head to face Yukio. I chuckle slightly. Closing my eyes again, I try to nap.

Ignoring Rin’s confusion over everything once again. I love my brother (not the singular terminology, I mean only Rin) but he can be such a dumbass sometimes. This dude just needs to read.

“Be aware, once you’re promoted to Exwire, you’ll be subjected to more specialized combat training, so the exam won't be easy to pass.” I faintly listen to what Yukio is saying.

“So there’s actually going to be something fun to do.” I mutter, hearing the weird emo kid behind me chuckle slightly at what I’m saying. I’m glad someone is amused.

“Therefore… Next week we’ll hold a week-long boot camp to prepare you for it.”

“Ah, fuck.” I grumble, that is going to be shit week, I like my privacy, and I hate being surrounded by people all the time. “I am definitely going to end up hitting a kid during that time.”

The creepy emo kid laughs again. I turn around and smirk at them, doing a head bow and a hand flourish. Okay, maybe thing one isn’t too bad either.

That rooster dude can suck my left toe though, he is definitely on my shit list, along with Yukio.

I am such a loving younger brother, honestly.

Speaking of Yukio, he starts handing out some forms to the class. I grab mine and flick through it.

It asks about if you’re participating in the bootcamp (which I will be because Mephisto forbid I’m out of Yukio’s sights for a second) and what meisters you’ll be taking.

“As the camp isn’t mandatory, indicate if you’ll be participating, as well as the meister, or title that you’d like to acquire, and turn in the form by Monday.” He says, acting like a true teacher.

~~~~~~~

Well, the lesson’s over so I’m going to run myself to the forest. I can think over my options there, I’ll sit in a tree.

Yeah, that seems like a plan.

I get over to the forest and trot through the greenery, taking in the atmosphere.

The forest seems to be a lot more happy today, the animals and demons are being more active.

Chirping and making noise, unafraid like they usually are.

The demons in the forest are normally really wary of everything. I can’t say I blame them, if they’re spotted by an exorcist they’ll be killed on the spot. No matter if they’re innocent.

I finally walk over to the clearing I usually frequent to see another person there, I sniff the air slightly, no, another demon.

He seems to be lying star-fish style on the grass, a hobgoblin rolling around next to him.

I creep forward, trying to be as quiet as possible. He could be a pervert for all I know, I need to be cautious.

I stand next to where his head lies, my shadow covering his body. He’s definitely breathing, but he hasn’t woken up.

What should I do?

Jump on him wrestling style.
Poke him on the head.
Ignore his existence.

I’ll poke him on the head.

Why did I even make a mental list? I knew the answer.

I lean down… And poke his forehead.

His eyes snap open.

Ah, shit.

I stay completely still, and he seems to do the same.

He studies me and I study him.

I finally used this time to look at him.

This dude has gold-eyes and ombre hair that fades from yellow to green, the yellow portion of his hair being a spike. I glance down to his hands and see that they are black claws.

It seems that me breaking eye contact was something he wanted though, because he lets out an appreciative growl- don’t ask me how a growl can be appreciative- and pounces on me.

I yelp in surprise and fall backwards. He cages me in and I shove him back, pouncing on him back. We both growl at each other, and I smirk at him, flashing his fangs back in a smirk.

And, so, we begin to fight.

I think it’s more of a play fight ya know? Like you do with your siblings when you’re younger. I’m not sure how long it went on for but I fell back panting, he does too, and we both lay back silently for a few minutes.

“Who are you then anyway?” I ask him, finally gaining back the ability to breathe.

“I’m Amaimon.” He replies, voice monotone. I turn to look at him and see his face blank.

Huh, must be a quirk.

I’ll call him Izuku from now on, his hair’s green too to match.

Wait-

“The Demon King of Earth?” I ask, surprise clear in my voice.

“Yes.” He replies.

“Yo, that’s awesome. Now I've met two Demon Kings! You and Mephisto!” I exclaim giddily.

“You’ve met Aniue?” He asks, finally turning to look at me.

“Yep!” I say, popping the word. “I’m Akito, ya know, bastard son of Satan and all that?” I say, laughing slightly.

“I thought you smelt like Father, but Aniue told me you were raised by humans so you wouldn’t want to play. He made me promise not to.” He seems to shiver at the mention of a promise.

He looked scared now.

“No, no, don’t worry, we’ll go to Mephsito and I’ll tell him it was my fault. Don’t worry about it.” I reassure him, “I enjoyed the experience anyway, I feel a lot more relaxed and refreshed now.”

“Yeah, I was bored. Now I’m not.” He says to me, standing up. I get up and shake off the grass and dirt on my clothes.

He reaches for my hand and I let him hold it. He pulls my hand, basically yanking me forward and holds me to him. When I let out a noise of confusion, he explains;

“You’re still a baby demon, ototo. You don’t know how to do this yet.” Which is still confusing to me.

“Dude, that is not an explanation!” I yell, but he ignores me.

He bends his knees slightly and then we’re off, speeding through the forest and then up to Mephisto’s office.

He jumps through the window and drops me on the floor near Mephy’s desk.

“What the fuck is up Kyle?!” I shout, shooting up and facing Mephisto, winking at him.

Amaimon seems to gravitate towards Mephisto, leaning against his chair, twitching his hand slightly.

“Hello Akito, it seems you have met Amaimon. Now, this is quite a surprise.” He says, smirking at me.

“Yeah, well, you know me? Just exceeding expectations every day. In a good way, in a bad way? I guess we’ll never know.” I state, falling onto the soft couch he has in the room.

“Yes, well..” Mephisto squints his eyes, letting them rake over me before turning to Amaimon and doing the same thing. “Did you fight with Akito?” Mephisto questions Amaimon.

“Yes, but it was my idea, and it was just play. We were having fun.” I cut in, taking his attention away from Amaimon.

“Oh?” Mephisto utters the syllable.

“Yeah, it was super fun! I would like to do it again soon. If you can stop being a dick and let Amaimon hang out with me.” I state, leaning towards him.

He leans forward towards me and maintains eye contact with me. I continue to stare at him as well.

I don’t know how long this went on for but my ears picked up on the rustling of Amaimon as he fidgeted around.

Eventually, Mephisto looks away to face Amaimon, giving him an appraising look before nodding at him, and then at me.

Amaimon seems to radiate joy at this, even though his face stays blank.

Ha, Mephisto thought he could stop me. I had loads of fun with Amaimon today, and I am not giving that up any time soon.

“Well, have you thought about what meisters you would like to take?” Mephisto asks, looking towards me again.

I sprawl myself on the couch, chucking my blade under it, Amaimon’s eyes seeming to follow it. I’ll let him play with that later.

“I’m going to take the Knight one obviously, and I’m gonna take Tamer because I’m a demon and like, I can talk to demons. So it seems like the obvious choice, plus, I just like them.” I explained.

“That does seem reasonable.” Mephisto replies. Leaning back in his chair and pouring some hot water in a pot of noodles.

“Yeah, I will probably take another later on, but I cannot be bothered to do more work.” I reply, gesturing for Amaimon to come towards me. He comes towards me and once he is close enough I pull him to sit next to me and lie my head on his lap.

“Eh?” Amaimon yelps.

“Good lap. Good pillow.” I reply, shutting my eyes.

Mephisto chuckles at this and says something to Amaimon that has him relax. I don’t really know, I’m not paying that much attention anymore.

~~~~~~~

I’m shaken back to reality and see Amaimon’s face hovering above me.

“Fuck dude, don’t hover. Shit on a bowl of coco puffs that scared me.” I say, getting up slowly and stretching. “So why did you wake me from my beloved slumber?”

“You have a lesson in five minutes, where you can try and summon a familiar.” A voice calls out and I look towards it to find Mephisto.

“Sick.” I exclaim. “This is gonna be awesome. I hope I get a cool familiar that will help me with pranks.” I say, deepening my voice and rubbing my hands together.

“Yes well, don’t get caught and we won’t have a problem.” Mephisto says, I go to leave, when he calls out. “Wait there.” I stop and look at him.

“What do ya want now?” I ask, rubbing my eyes a little.

He snaps his fingers and I look down, seeing myself in a fresh school outfit.

“I thought that might look a lot better, don’t you agree?” He drawls, smirking at me.

“Yeah, thanks.” I grumble, opening the door again.

“Oh,” I look back again. “Don’t mess with my noodles in your little pranks either.” He threatens.

“Of course not, my lord.” I say sarcastically, bowing and waving him off, before waltzing out the door like a boss.

~~~~~~

I get to the room needed for the class and wait for everyone to arrive before the teacher gets us to stand on a chalk-drawn summoning symbol on the floor.

“Alright, I will now summon a demon.” He says, after finishing the drawing.

I am so excited for this.

Rin begins to step forward, like a dumbass. Yukio really needs to help him more. I have Mephisto, and he helps me out with all this stuff.

“Don’t step on the drawing! If the Magic Circle is broken, it will lose all effect.” He verbally forces him back, “To summon a demon, you will need a drop of your own blood and a suitable invocation.”

He then drops some of his blood onto the summoning circle.

“Sick.” I whisper.

“Son of Typhoeus and Echidna, comply with my request and show yourself!” A wind begins to circle in the symbols. A brown mass begins to grow before the shape forms into a wolf with stitches on it.

“Is that a Naberius?” The bald mouse kid asks, already looking scared.

“I’ve never seen one before.” Rooster says.

“Smells like Sulfur!” Shima exclaims.

“Few have the ability to summon a demon to use as a Familiar. Not only do you need the immense willpower to tame a demon, but a natural aptitude is also indispensable. I shall now test to see if any of you have this aptitude.”

“A test?” Rin questions.

The teacher pulls out a piece of paper that looks the same to the ones he gave us.

“Using the rough sketch of the Magic Circle I just passed out, place a drop of blood and chant whatever words come to your mind.”

Kamiki is the first person to prick their finger with the needle. I’m not gonna lie, this stuff seems to come naturally to her.

“I humbly appeal to the goddess of Inari. I entreat you not to leave my prayers unfulfilled!” She chants with two pieces of paper and spreads her arms out like Marionette in Miraculous when she gets changed into Ladybug.

Anywhore, two foxes formed out of thin air.

Man, I wanna give them some snuggles.

“Whoa! What the heck? So cool!” Rin exclaims, him and Shiemi looking enchanted.

“Not one, but two Byakko, white foxes… Splendid, Izumo Kamiki!” Teach congratulates her.

“That’s amazing, Izumo! I’m not having any luck.” Paku says softly.

“Well, of course! I’m from a long line of shrine maidens!” Kamiki says smugly.

“D’ya think I could get some snuggles in with you two later?” I kneel down near the foxes and ask them. “If ya don’t mind.” I quickly add to the end.

They both seem to pause and look towards each other before nodding at me.

“Thank you both!” I exclaim before crossing my legs and sitting upright.

“No good, I don’t have this skill.” Rooster grumbles.

“Me, neither…” Mouse boi replies.

They both look at Shima and he just shrugs at them.

I longingly towards the foxes' fur.

“L-let me try, too!” Shiemi says, thrusting the paper upwards. Snapping my attention away from them. “Here, boy… here, boy… Just kidding!” She whispers, smiling.

A little green light pops out from the paper, before popping into a little greenman. How adorable! I’m totally getting snugs with that too sometime soon.

“That looks like an infant Greenman. Stupendous, Shiemi Moriyama…” Teach says, rubbing his chin.

“H-hello!” Shiemi says to her familiar. It jumps on her. “H-hey, Ms. Kamiki… I-I-I was able to summon my familiar, too.”

“Awesome, it’s unbelievably tiny and adorable like a peanut!” Kamiki says, trying to seem mean. I’m totally gonna talk with her separately about that. It’s so rude to poor Shiemi.

“What? Awesome? Adorable? Thanks!” Shiemi says, smiling brightly. Poor girl, she has no idea.

“Has everyone had a try?” Teach asks.

“Uh, nah, I gotta go still, sorry teach.” I say, looking towards my paper.

“Have a try then, Mr. Okumura.”

“Okay.” I place a drop of my blood on the paper, pausing to think of something to say. “Yo, come forward and greet me if you wanna cause mischief, play pranks, annoy people, have snuggles… and can shapeshift.” I chant, adding the last bit in the end, shapeshifting is awesome.

I hear the teacher tut quietly, muttering, “Not many demons play just tricks like pranks, there isn’t a Demon King of Mischief so there isn’t a subspecies for that field. Some people need to open a book.” Wow, what a bitch.

I hear gasps and look down to see my paper turning black and disappearing. Before and shadow appears, slowly shaping into a bat-like creature.

I was all black, and had arms and wings. It had no legs and instead it’s lower body faded off like the genie from Aladdin. It was just a little bigger than the average bat too.

I was in love.

I squealed loudly at the cutie and he squealed back before flying forward and circling around my neck, nuzzling into me. Releasing a purr, I wanted to do so too but couldn't because I was in class.

It stopped and floated be in front of me,

“So, what’s ya name?” It asks, it’s voice sounded mascualine but was also quite high pitched.

“The name’s Okumura Akito, and yours?” I ask him. I’m gonna go with ‘him’.

“I don’t have a name, that’s up to you.” He says. I think for a second before getting the perfect name.

“I’ll call ya Itazura!” I exclaim.

“I like it, good choice.” He says before laying down around my neck.

I look up to see the class looking shocked and confused.

“What’s up doc?” I asked them all, mainly aiming the question to our teacher who also looked shocked.

“I don’t know what species of demon that is. It’s undocumented.” He says, stumbling over his words slightly before composing himself. “Congratulations Okumura Akito for your discovery.”

“What the hell?!” Rooster shouts, trying to get up in my face but Itazura growls lowly at him without even opening an eye- which stops him dead in his tracks, before backing away.

“It seems we have no shortage of Tamer candidates this year. Now then, the ability to manipulate demons during combat is extremely rare among exorcists, so Tamers are highly valued. A demon will never obey a master weaker than itself. So if its master lacks confidence, it will turn on them and attack. As I mentioned, breaking the Circle will release the familiar, causing it to vanish. So if you ever sense danger, tear up the sheet of paper.”

The teacher explains before ripping his piece of paper up to show his familiar disappearing.

“Woah.” I hear some of the class gasp.

“That’s all. Class is dismissed.”

Everyone begins to leave, I run out in front of everyone.

“I’ll see ya later Rin, I’m gonna hang out with Itazura! Get to know him some more!” I yell, but what I really mean is go to the dorm and sleep.

Just sleep.

Itazura is, so I will too.

~~~~~~

Today was the day of the bootcamp. Oh, what a joy.

As you can tell by my enthusiasm, I don’t want to be here at all.

I was waiting outside our dorms with Rin and Yukio, wishing to be anywhere but here.

“Hey, look at that… that Shiemi… she’s totally running around like an errand girl. Nothing… Anyway, why are we holding the camp in our dorm?” Rin asks Yukio, sitting on the steps in front of the dorm's doors.

“Yeah, good question. Why are we having to house the miscreants in our dorm?” I ask, while playing minecraft on my phone. “Ha, take that skelly.” I mutter, fist pumping the air.

“There’s nobody in the dorm but us, so it’s fine if we cause a ruckus. It’s just convenient.” Yukio tells us, as the group pulls up.

When me and my gang pull up-

“Good morning!” Shima says to us.

“Good morning!” Yukio replies, smiling politely.

“Listen, this place is like a ghost hotel or something!” Rooster exclaims.

“Oh my gosh, this place is so creepy! Couldn’t you find a better place than this?” Kamiki says, looking up at the dorm. I nod along to her.

“I know right!?” I exclaim getting up to greet her.

“Oh, take this, will you?” Kamiki turns to Shiemi and demands that she take her bag.

Oof, I’m gonna just turn away from that. That’s just wrong, and bad taste.

“Sure.” Shiemi agrees. That girl is way too nice. Paku seems to think so too as she turns to Shiemi as well.

“Ms. Moriyama, if you don’t want to, just say so.” Paku says.

“What? I don’t mind at all. I’m helping out a friend, after all!” Shiemi exclaims, smiling brightly.

“I see.” Paku says softly, looking upset.

“Oi, Moriyama.” I shout out, and she turns to look at me. “Being someone’s friend doesn’t mean doing everything they ask, it’s just being nice to them and having fun together.”

“I- I don’t understand.” She says back to me softly. Looking so confused.

“You just need to be there for eachother. That’s all.” Kamiki looks disgruntled with my opinion.

“And she is there for me.” Kamiki says, “and she’s there for my bag too.” Looking proud of herself. Sheimi nods along and smiles.

That poor girl has been completely manipulated.

~~~~~~~

Yukio had forced us all into a room with two tables pushed together, and gave us papers to do.

“Alright, time's up. Turn your papers over and hand them in.” Yukio speaks, making us all shut the booklets and sigh.

I stretch out and crack back, sighing at the release of tension. God, that was so boring.

“Man, it’s finally over.” Shima says, shutting his eyes.

“Hey… I’m gonna go out and get some air.” Rin says, getting up from his seat.

“Tomorrow, everyone be up by 6am. We’ll have an hour before class to go over the answers to this test.” Yukio says to the class.

I groan, I never wake up that early. I hate this prick so much.

It seems that Rin agrees with me as he turns to face Yukio on his way out, looking completely exhausted.

“Beast! You’re a beast.” He utters the words.

Kamiki gets up as well. Looking proud of herself again- I am really gonna need to talk with her during this camp.

“Paku, let’s go take a bath.” She says.

“Okay.” Paku agrees.

“Oh! Me, too!” Shiemi says, standing up. “I hope the bathtub is big.”

“I don’t care, I just want to soak.” Kamiki replies.

“You like taking baths, Izumo-chan?” Shiemi asks, as they all begin to walk out.

Shima’s eyes follow them out. I growl softly, causing his attention to drift from the girls to me, I smirk and wink.

Instead of blushing though, he smirks back at me, winking.

Ooh, now this is a surprise. I’m rubbing off on him, I like it.

I begin to chat with Shima, as Rooster boi glares at me. We just begin to get a bit closer to each other when I hear a crash.

I look over to where the sound was from, my eyes widening. I look around and see the others have heard it too.

“The sound is from the girl’s bathroom!” I shout and that seems to spur everyone into action.

We all ran over to the girl’s bathroom, Yukio stopping us at the entrance and going in first, gun in hand. The rest of us followed from behind.

I see Kamiki sitting on the floor in just her underwear and quickly yanking off my top, handing it to her and helping her put it on.

Luckily, I like to wear oversized clothes. The top was large enough to go down to her mid thighs.

I hear Yukio shooting at the demon and that Shiemi is caring for Paku, so I quickly grab on Kamiki’s shoulders and hold her close. Pulling her up I pulled her out of the room and into the room that she would be sharing with Paku.

“I’m going to take her to her room.” I say to the rest of them, but I don’t look back to check, too busy focusing on Kamiki. “C’mon Kamiki, I got you.” I whisper to her.

I look down and see tears running down her face, but overall she seems to lack any emotion. She must be in shock.

I pull her blanket back and make sure she is lying down before placing them on top of her. All the while muttering reassuring words to her.

“Don’t worry Kamiki, go to sleep.” I whisper, kissing her forehead gently. She seems to understand me and her eyes flutter shut.

I quickly write her a note and leave it on her bedside table.

Hey Kamiki,

It’s Akito, after the incident in the bathroom, I gave you my shirt to cover you up and took you to your room. Don’t worry, I made sure none of the other boys got to look at you. I’m not sure what happened there but it wasn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself. Shiemi is looking after Paku and getting Nee to create healing plants for her. I’ll be in my room if you want to chat about anything that happened. I won’t blame you if you don’t want to though, it’s not your fault. I’ve left some fruit on your bedside table, try and eat some when you wake up, and take a few sips of the water in between bites.

Love,

Akito.

After that, I quickly left the room, shutting the door behind me. I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed some fruit and a glass of water, quickly running back and leaving them on her bedside table.

I go back to my room and see Itazura napping on my pillow. This dude loves sleep, and I can’t blame him at all.

I push him aside softly, earning a growl, before lying down and getting a nap in. Itazura moved to lie down on my chest, snuffling slightly.

Ah, now, time to nap.

Chapter Text

I woke up to a knocking sound resonating throughout my room.

“Ugh…” I groan, pulling myself out of the covers, Itazura continuing to cling around my neck and lay across my shoulders.

Scratching at my neck, I pull open the door. “Hey, what’s up?” I ask, not looking at who’s there, too busy rubbing at my eyes.

“I- You wrote I could come talk to you.” Is that Kamiki’s voice? I look at the figure, rubbing my eyes vigorously until I can finally see her.

“Oh yeah, sorry Kamiki, come on in.” I say, opening the door for her to come in, and shutting it behind her. “What did ya want to talk about?” I ask.

“I- well- just- here, this is yours.” She stutters before pulling herself together and shoving something at me. I look down and see that it’s my t-shirt.

“Thanks.” I say, smiling brightly, grabbing the shirt and going to place it in one of my draws. “Did’ya want to talk about anything then?” I questioned.

She obviously wants to say something but she’s too prideful for it.

I just stand there and wait for her to say something.

“Thanks. For helping me get to my room.” She says quietly, looking down and blushing, bowing slightly.

“Ah, no problem for a friend!” I say, grabbing her and giving her a hug.

“Yes, well, it won’t happen again.” She says, forcing her chin up. “Where did my familiars go?” She asks, shivering slightly.

“Ah, yeah, about that…” I mutter, scratching the back of my head.

“Yes. About that?” She questions, a bit more forcefully.

“Well, I saw them growling at you and ripped up your summoning papers, I don’t think they’ll like me anymore.” I say, whining slightly near the end.

“Ugh, well if that’s all you have done, then everything will be fine.” She says, chuckling slightly.

“But I wanted fox snuggles!” I whine again. Itazura snuffles slightly and growls in his sleep, like he knows that I’m saying I want another familiar’s affection. I quickly stoke his back, making him go quiet again.

“I’m going to see Paku, do you want to come with me?” Kamiki asks, changing the subject completely. I look at her and can tell that she's nervous, I can hear her heart beating rapidly as well.

“Of course I will, she’s my friend too as well, ya know?” I exclaim, ushering her out the room, following behind her and closing the door.

We walk into the room that Paku lays in and see Yukio injecting her with something. Rin is also in the room, standing behind Yukio and looking at Paku with concern.

He looks up when he sees us and smiles at Kamiki, ignoring me completely.

“Dick.” I whisper, Kamiki elbowing me in return. “Ow.” I whine quietly.

Paku looks at us and smiles gently, looking back at Yukio when he begins to speak.

“In two or three days, your fever will break, and you’ll be able to move about. Just get lots of rest.” Yukio says, grabbing all of his doctor stuff and packing up.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Okumura.” Paku says to Yukio.

“Take care.” Rin says to her.

“Thank you, Okumura!” Paku smiles at him. Rin smiles back and then he and Yukio leave the room.

Paku turns and smiles at us. “He’s so cute… That Rin Okumura. I mean, don’t you think he’s cool?”

Ew gross. Nope, never. This ain’t Alabama.

“Huh? A-are you crazy? Where’s that coming from?” Kamiki exclaims, obviously shocked at the question.

I giggle slightly. She’s blushing so much she looks like red paint. Ya know…? Cause she has a red face cause she’s blushing. I feel like I explained this joke too much.

“Mr. Okumura’s attractive, too, but… Those two don’t look like they are two thirds of triplets at all, do they?” She pauses and looks at me. “Neither do you.” She says to me.

“I take that as a compliment.” I reply, smiling proudly. Paku giggles slightly but it causes her to wince in pain. Kamiki seems to notice too because hse immediately saddens.

“Paku…” She whispers.

“Izumo… I… I’m quitting the cram school after all.”

Oh shit. I should not be here for this conversation.

Aight, time to head out.

I creep out of the room quietly, staring at the floorboards and making sure I don’t stand on any creaky ones.

After I make it out of the room, I sprint back to my room and jump into bed, Itazura seeming to agree with this arrangement and leaves me alone to cuddle with a stuffed animal I own.

“Wow, I’ve been replaced that easily.” I exclaim, dramatically placing my hand on my chest. “That thing doesn’t even have body heat!”

“Yeah, but don't talk.” Itazura snidely replies, opening one eye to look at me before snuggling closer to it.

Yeah, okay, I get that. I do talk a lot.

“Fair enough.” I reply, shrugging before grabbing some clothes and going to the bathroom to have a quick wash and get changed.

~~~~~

“The majority of demons have lethal passages known as Fatal Verses… Specific words or phrases that will unfailingly cause their death. Arias are professionals who are able to identify and recite these Fatal Verses!” The old lady lectures us.

“Ugh.” I groan quietly, rolling my shoulders and slumping forward. This is literally so boring, why am I even here?

“Now then, would someone recite the passage I assigned for homework?” The beady-eyed woman looks around the room. Her soulless black eyes landed on Kamiki.

“Ms. Kamiki?” She asks.

Kamiki has been acting really introverted since Paku left Cram School. I mean, her best friend has ditched her at the school, while she was already blaming herself for Paku’s harm.

“Oh no.” I whisper, looking at Kamiki.

“Ms. Kamiki, is something the matter?”

“I-I’m sorry. U-Um…” Kamiki stutters, shooting up.

“Here, I’ll do the reading, I haven’t tried it yet.” I say, standing up and giving Kamiki the eyes, telling her to sit back down.

“Well, I don’t know-” The teacher starts to say.

“We all know Kamiki knows, and can do this sorta thing easily but I want to give it a go.” I speak, making sure I’m at my most persuasive form.

“Go on then dear.” The teacher gives in, letting me do the passage.

“Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name… Praise thy name forever, and world… And world, uhh,” I start off confidently before slowing down.

“Is there anything wrong dear?” The teacher asks, disappointment cear in her tone.

“I can’t remember the rest,” I shrug my shoulders sheepishly, “Guess being an Aria isn’t my thing.” I chuckle before sitting back down in my chair.

Hopefully me being an idiot will make Kamiki happy- or at least find it funny. I don’t want my purposeful embarrassment to be in vain.

I look over to Kamiki and see her smiling at me slightly, I wink at her. She giggles some more before looking back down at the work.

I’m glad she’s feeling a bit better.

“All right, Mr. Suguro, will you take over?” The teacher turns to Rooster.

Of course he knows, this dude knows a lot and likes to let everyone know- that’s the worst type of person.

That, and people who are amazing at everything and act like they are not and say they are terrible. It’s annoying.

“Yes, ma’am.” The rooster stands up, “day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name forever: and world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day: to keep us without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord: have mercy on us. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us: as we have hoped in Thee. O Lord, in Thee have I hoped: let me never be confounded.”

Damn, the dude isn’t half bad. Still doesn't have to act like a douche though.

“That was perfect, Mr. Suguro!” The teacher exclaims.

The rest of the class begins to clap and Rin’s mouth is hanging open wide. Okay, you don’t have to look that shocked- I could do that too.

“Amazing… That was incredible!” Shiemi says gently, awe lacing her voice.

I sigh before leaning forward and resting my head on my arms. Closing my eye and breathing softly, I try to sleep.

Something rubs against my leg, I jerk back and look down to see my bag moving around. I lean down slowly and unzip my bag, and Itazura’s head pops out of the bag, before sharply flying up and laying across my shoulders behind my neck.

Why is it about him and my shoulders. I ain’t some pirate and he ain’t my parrot, this is completely the wrong cliche.

“Easy now, don’t fall for me!” The rooster boasts.

“Nobody could fall for you if they tried, dumbass.” I mutter, rolling my eyes before nuzzling closer to Itazura and leaning back on the table again.

“Hey, so you really are smart!” Someone that sounds like Rin says, I focus on where the words are coming from- yeah, that is definitely Rin.

~~~~~

I woke up to Yukio’s voice.

“That’s enough already.” I look up, rubbing at my eyes wildly to see him standing near the entrance to the classroom. I look to see my classmates in a verbal battle.

Ah shit, this can’t be good.

~~~~~

“Wh-What the hell’s up with this pickling rock?” Rin exclaims.

We were all forced to kneel in a room in the dorm, this magic rock on our knees.

“It’s supposed to get heavier. It’s a low-level demon, the longer you hold it, the heavier and heavier it gets.” I say matter-of-factly. Flipping to the next page of my manga.

Everything goes silent and I look up to see them all staring at me like they’ve seen a ghost.

“I-” Kamiki cuts herself off.

“What?” I ask, looking at them all.

“Y-You’re smart?” Rin stutters, looking shocked and exhausted at the same time.

“Uh, yeah.” I say sighing.

Is that what all that fuss was about? I don’t try to hide it anymore.

I look back down at the manga, laughing at the scene currently happening.

“Akito, please put the book down.” Yukio sighs, pushing his glasses up.

“Why should I? It’s not like I was fighting in class.” I say, not looking up at him.

“It’s called collective responsibility.” Yukio speaks.

“Well I don’t care. Shit like this only makes us innocent folk hate you and our classmates, and make us not trust you. Which does nothing to help build our team’s ‘strength’- if anything, it ruins it.” I retort, still not looking at him.

I’m only chatting facts. No wass.

“Well…” Yukio starts but then stops.

“Exactly. So I’m leaving.” I say before getting up, lifting the Bariyon off me.

My classmates gasp, probably shocked at me being able to do that. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be human.

Well, Yukio can think of a reason why I could do it, I don’t care about being demon, or people knowing about it.

I walk over to the emo kid and the puppet kid, lifting the Bariyon off of them too. They probably didn’t get involved, they never do anything really.

“I’m gonna head out, see ya later.” I wave goodbye and leave them all.

I’m gonna go see Mephisto, and hopefully Amaimon if he’s there. I’ve been itching to have to play with him again.

~~~~~

“Yo Mephy, you in here?” I ask, poking my head round the door.

Belial tried to knock on the door but I just decided to go straight in, I’m his bro so it should be alright.

Peeking inside I see Mephisto sitting behind his desk, he seems to be doing paper work but stopped to look at me. I waved to him, seeing him quirk an eyebrow up, obviously questioning why I’m here.

“Akito, not that it’s a problem for you to be here, but, why are you here?” He asks, gesturing for me to sit down.

I look back at Belial and wave him goodbye before skipping over to the chair and sprawling across it.

“Can’t I just want to see my big bro?” I ask, squinting my eyes over at him.

“You can, but you don’t make a habit of doing such a thing.” He smirks, looking over at me.

“Okay, ya got me. I managed to summon a familiar and wanted for him to meet ya.” I say, looking at him innocently. Fully well knowing that Itazura will take great pleasure in annoying Mephisto.

I hear a sound from my right before a head of green hair is in my face.

“You got a familiar? Let me see!” Amaimon asks, “Him and Behemoth can play together.”

This dude manages to look excited while keeping a perfectly blank face, but I can see the sparkle in his eyes.

“Yo! That is a great idea!” I exclaim, getting up and sitting straight in excitement.

“Calm down for a second children.” Mephisto interrupts, me and Amaimon both looking over and glaring at him.

“Why, this is great!?” We yell in unison.

“It matters on the type of demon that our young Akito has summoned. Some aren’t made for such an activity, some are more intelligent or skilled in deceit over physical skill.” Mephisto says.

“Um, I’ll have you know Itazura is my bro, so he can do anything. So don’t go around chatting lies.” I say, putting a hand on my hip. Amaimon copying my actions and raising an eyebrow sassily.

I love this demon. Definitely my favourite brother so far.

“Well, let us see him then. I can make sure.” Mephisto says.

“Yeah, let me see him.” Amaimon agrees.

“Yeah, yeah okay. Yo, Itazura come on out.” I yell the last part just to the room. We wait a few seconds before a shadow in the corner of the room grows and out pops Itazura.

He looked around before spotting me.

“Akito!” He yells, before flying over and wrapping himself around my neck like a scarf and nuzzling into my neck.

“Itazura. Great to see you too, boo.” I say, purring at him, causing him to purr back.

I hear two growls and look up to see both Mephisto and Amaimon staring at Itazura in distrust.

Itazura growls back, growing larger in size.

“Hey, everyone calm down. What the hell is going on.” I say, trying to diffuse the situation while also trying to not listen to my own instincts which are all over the place.

They don’t know whether to defend my brothers or my familiar.

All three of them continue to growl at each other.

“Can you all just calm down!” I yell, feeling horrible. My flames seem to sense my confusion and panic because I light up in blue.

The flames actually calm me down a bit, they feel like a warm blanket.

Even in my panicked state, I can notice that they all seem to have stopped fighting each other.

“Come on, breathe slowly. Breathe with me Akito.” Mephisto says, crouching down next to where I fell. “We aren’t arguing, you don’t need to defend anyone. You don’t need to fight anyone. It’s fine.”

I nod along, breathing in and out with him. Itazura lays on my shoulders, making calming noises.

Once I calmed down enough, I got back up and stumbled over to the chair again.

Seeing a tray of tea on the table, I pour myself a cup and sip it slowly. Focusing on Itazura’s presence, I finally fully calm down.

I look up and see Mephisto sitting back down behind his desk with Amaimon sitting on a chair next to me.

“So, what was that? It felt like I was fighting with myself.” I grumble, leaning back in the chair and looking through lidded eyes at Mephy.

“Yes, well, it seems that your demonic instincts were extremely confused about who to fight and who to defend. Most likely because we are your brothers so your instincts say to protect us but he is your familiar.” Mephisto gestures, looking confused when he looks at Itazura, “so they also wanted to defend him.”

“Oh okay, that’s fucking stupid.” I replied. “What a stupid ass instinct.”

“They’re actually really helpful. You can even tell when your familiar is in danger or hurt.” Amaimon says, I look over to him. He seems to be staring at Itazura, looking curious.

“Why are you both staring at Itazura like that?” I ask, feeling quite annoyed.

“Yeah, why don’t ya both piss of, huh!?” He agrees, obviously getting annoyed at all the negative attention like me.

“My, my, what a big temper you have for such an itty bitty body.” Mephisto taunts Itazura, pissing him off even more.

Why does he have to be such a dick. Man, I wish Itazura could grow huge just to get back at Mephisto though. That would be hilarious.

“Why you-” He pauses and seems to shake a little-

“Are you okay?” I ask, worried. What the hell is wrong with him?

Heh, get it? Hell?

Chile, anyways,

He just continues to shake before stopping and then beginning to grow, he grows so huge that he almost touches the ceiling. A massive smile sitting on his face.

“What the fuck?” I ask, feeling extremely confused about this whole situation, “You could grow and never thought told me? The amount of pranks I could have pulled.” I mutter the last parts under my breath.

“I didn’t know. Of course I would have told you otherwise, dumbass.” He retorts, looking down at me.

“Oh.” I pause. “Sorry bro.”

“No problem bro.”

“You good bro?”

“Yeah, thanks for asking bro.”

“No worries bro.”

“I love you bro.”

“Love you too bro.”

“Am I interrupting something or can I speak now?” Mephisto interrupts and we both snap our heads to look at him.

“You were interrupting, but I guess you can speak.” We said in sync. I turned to look at him and he’s looking at me already. I hold out my fist and we fistbump.

That was fucking awesome!

“Anyway, I’ve never seen a demon like Itazura.” Mephisto says, squinting his eyes at my homie.

“Nah, of course not. I’m limited edition.” Itazura says, me and him preening.

“Yeah, of course he is. We are amazing.” I say, nodding along.

“It seems as if you’ve discovered a new species.” Mephisto says, ignoring what we said, “or, he is the beginning of your kin.”

Amaimon gasps at this and makes binoculars with his hands to look at Itazura behind the safety of Mephy’s desk.

I wonder if that even works.

“Wait, what’s my kin?” I ask, leaning forward.

“Well, your kin are the demons that live in your kingdom in Gehenna. Each Demon King has their own different type of kin. For example,” Mephisto pauses, taking a pot of noodles out of his drawer. “Amaimon’s demons are all Earth based because he is the Demon King of Earth.”

That actually makes a lot of sense.

Wait a damn minute though…

“What’s my special power and title?” I ask, eagerly, jumping up and down in my seat.

“I’m not sure yet. We will have to wait for more of your kin to appear or for Itazura to show specific traits.” Mephisto replies derisively.

“He sleeps a lot. If that helps.” I say, tilting my head to the side.

Mephisto just chuckles before pouring some boiling water in the cup.

Itazura shrinks back down and snuggles around my neck, snuffling slightly before falling back to sleep.

“I believe it’s time for you to head back to your dormitory. I will continue to research if there are any other demons like… Itazura, already discovered.” Mephsito says, digging into his noodles.

“Yeah sure. Tell me if you find anything though.” I say, heading to the door. “Oh, and Amaimon, next time we meet, we can play.” I said to him, making his eyes light up with glee.

I have a feeling Mephisto had told Amaimon that I wouldn’t want to play again.

As I walk back to the dorm I think, isn’t Mephisto supposed to be the Demon King of Time and Space? How didn't he know I was going to want to play again?

This is all too confusing for me.

I’ll google it.

That makes sense to me.

Chapter Text

I wander back to my dorm, thinking back to what Mephisto said, while Itazura continues to snore.

Seriously though, is the only thing this bitch can do is sleep and grow?

As if hearing my thoughts he proceeds to kick my face in his sleep. I grumble and rub my cheek, little twat packs a kick.

Anyways,

I walk back to the dorm and see madness.

Madness = Mephisto kicking Rin.

“How the hell did you get here before me!?” I question, walking into the room, seeing all of the cram school lot in the room too. “Wait, don’t answer that I already know.”

It was probably some demonic teleporting shit.

“M-Mephisto?” Rin asks, laying upside down, with a bright red bump on his head.

“Of course it is dumbass, who else do you know that has purple hair and dresses like a fashionista clown?” I ask him, hand on hip.

“All right. Hi! My young pages. Thank you for all your hard work!” Mephisto exclaims with a flourish. Ignoring my comment.

Remind me to eat his noodles later.

“I-Is that the director?” Rooster asks.

“What’s going on?” Shima asks, looking so confused, the poor boi.

“Of course I would never allow an upper-level demon to infiltrate this school!” Mephisto says, he then clicks his fingers and a bunch of grown ass men jump out of nowhere.

“What the actual fuck!?” I exclaim, looking around. “Why did you hire exorcists to perve on us?”

I feel violated.

“I would never dare!” Mephisto replies, looking honest-to-satan offended.

Wait, what demon?

“Wait, though, what demon?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

Shima turns to look at me, bewildered, before just shaking his head and coming over to me.

“Don’t worry about it.” He says, before patting me head, “It’s not like two terrifying demons attacked us or anything!” He exclaims, sounding a little manic to be honest.

He seems shook, shaken, shakethed.

“Sorry homie, if I was here I would have protected ya.” I say, giving him a close eyed smile, while leaning into the head pats.

What?

They feel nice.

I hear a thump and feel no head pats so I look over to Shima and see no one there.

“Huh!?” I look down and see him on the floor, blood coming out of his nose.

He totally finds me hot.

Can’t say I blame him though.

“Instructors with Doctor credentials, kindly tend to the wounded.” Mephisto says, looking forward. The exorcists walk over and one of them grabs Shiemi.

“No way…” Rooster says, looking like he’s seen a ghost.

“Surprise! That’s right! This boot camp also happened to serve as your ExWire Authorization Exam!” Mephisto exclaims, clapping his hands.

“Yay!” I yell, jumping up and down. Easiest test ever, I didn’t even have to be there.

“While camp was in session, we tested you thoroughly via strategically placed instructors around the building. I will now read their reports and make the final call on whether you’ve passed or failed.” Mephisto says, throwing shade at Rin.

Sucks to suck loser,

“Bet I passed.” I say, nudging Kamiki while she gets something injected into her by Yukio. She just grumbles in response.

“Please look forward to the announcement of those results!” He finished, winking at us.

“Perv.” I mutter under my breath. I see his eyes twitch and swivel over to me.

I smile back at him innocently and he only tuts slowly before looking away.

Why do I feel like I’m gonna get in trouble for that one?

~~~~~~

Basically, after that, we were all guided to another room by the exorcist medic folk.

Shiemi was still unconscious so they hooked her up to an IV and laid her on a bed.

A lot of the others were hooked up to the IV, Kamiki included.

So obviously, I went and sat down next to her on a bed.

“Ah, this is nice.” I sigh, closing my eyes. I relax for a couple seconds before I’m whacked round the head. “Ow, you bit-”

I turn to see Kamiki glaring at me, shooting daggers at me.

“You bitty beautiful human!” I sit up, smiling at her, mentally sweating myself.

“Don’t act like you actually fought anything, you oath.” She speaks to me. I go to open my mouth and reply before Rin sighs loudly, causing us all to turn our attention to him.

“Jeez, who would’ve thought that was a surprise test?” He questions us all, while sitting down next to Shiemi.

“We sure got punked good, huh?” Rooster replies, sighing.

I really wanna strangle him right now. I’m not sure why currently, but I’m sure a good enough reason will appear.

“We should have at least kept the possibility in mind, right?” Shima responds. I look over at him, and attempted to slink over, but Kamiki seemed to have other ideas and grabbed my shirt, pulling me back.

“Wha-!?” I gurgle out, before she yanks my ear and forces me to sit next to her. “Ouch!” I whine, rubbing my sensitive appendage.

“Oh, boy, I wonder if I made it…” The mousy looking boy says softly, looking down.

“Hey, it’s no use worrying about that now.” Rooster replies, obviously trying to reassure his friend.

Ha, a mouse and rooster, friends.

Hehe.

“Oh, you and Shima will be just fine.” Mousy boy sweats, “Me, on the other hand… I could barely stand up…”

Oof, sucks to suck homie.

Well, it doesn’t always suck to suck if ya get what I mean?

Cue wiggling eyebrows.

“I’m sure you guys will be okay. Remember how Mr. Okumura kept reminding us, before the exam?” Kamiki says, no longer looking over to them.

“No… I don’t remember…” I say, scratching my head.

She just sighs and shakes her head at me.

“An ExWire should have the ability to work well with others in battle… And in those terms, no one failed worse than me.” She continues on, gripping her skirt with shaking hands.

I reach over and grab her hands softly.

“Don’t worry, if my brother fails you, I’ll bitch slap him and forge his signature to get you a pass.” I say to her, tapping her hand reassuringly.

She cracks a small smile before shaking her head at me again. Jeez, what is up with me today and causing people to shake their heads in dismay.

“Hey, you weren’t that bad, you know.” Rooster says to her, and then directs his attention to the puppet kid with the demon puppet and the emo, “Those guys just parked their butts on the sidelines the whole time!”

“Hey! Playing Mario Kart is very important and life threatening!” I shout in defense of the emo who was currently playing on a Nintendo Switch.

Rooster boi just tuts at me before ignoring me altogether.

“Yo, you got something to say for yourselves? Huh?” He shouts at them

“Sweet. I scored a dragon claw!” Emo responds, monotonously.

“Okay, not Mario Kart but still-!” I say, starting to get up before being yanked down again by Kamiki.

“Huh! Shut up, you little brats!” The puppet replies to Rooster.

While this was happening, I turned to Kamiki whispering softly in her ear.

“Damn, never knew you were such a femdom.” I chuckle softly before being whacked in my stomach.

“Yes, and I’ll hit you again if you don’t shut up and sit still.” She says back, keeping her voice stern.

Bro, if that doesn’t cause tummy swoops then I don’t know what would.

Guess I’m just gonna have to be quiet for once.

“What makes you think I’d have anything to say to you?” The puppet continues to verbally whip Rooster.

“They talked! I never knew what to make of those two.” Rin exclaims, looking shocked. “And he really rocks at ventriloquism, huh?”

Shiemi chooses this moment to wake up, taking the focus away from those two.

“Shoot.” Rin mutters, turning to Shiemi. “My bad… I woke you up.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine now. I feel a lot better!” She says, rubbing her eyes softly.

Okay, I know she is acting all sweet and everything but sis, you cannot feel fine just with a snap of your fingers. Fucking idiot.

Although she does look like she just woke up from one of the best naps ever.

Like the ones you have after school and when you wake up you don’t even know what month it is - and you have all the marks on your face from lying down on creases.

I fuckin’ love those naps.

“What are you all talking about?” Shiemi asks, her eyes not even fully open yet.

“We’re talking about the exam.” Shima responds to her, smiling.

“And most of the credit belongs to you, Moriyama.” Mouse boi says, giving her a closed eye smile.

“Imagine what might’ve happened if you hadn’t been there… We owe you big time!” Rooster says, bowing in his seat.

I swear down, Shiemi fucking deadass stopped living for a second.

And then she just exploded.

“N-no, thank you!” She says, face going bright red.

“I think you’re a lock to pass the exam.” Rooster says to her.

“‘Cause if you don’t, they’ll have to fail the rest of us!” Shima chuckles.

I can’t comment, I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t even there.

I bet I could have carried them though. I’m slick like that.

“By the way, Okumura, how did you defeat that ghoul?” Mouse asks Rin.

Rin doesn’t want to be exposed and then proceeds to do stupid shit like this. It’s a wonder they haven’t figured him out yet.

Maybe that are all that dumb.

Who knows?

“Huh? Oh, that… Well, I… Uh… Shoved this into him…” Rim stumbles through the words and then blindly points to his balde resting on his back.

“Really? That’s amazing. You have the potential to be a knight, then!” Mouse boi exclaims, looking impressed by Rin.

I whistle and clap.

“Yeah boi! My bro’s a knight!” I yell, gesturing my hands wildly.

Kamiki grumbles under her breath but doesn’t say anything else.

“What do you mean, you shoved that into him?” Rooster questions him, looking suspicious. “Could you be any more vague? If you ask me, there’s no bigger enigma than you. Or maybe Akito.”

I look up from staring at my feet as I hear my name and look around.

“Well, what can I say? I may not look like it, but I’m full of mistakes!” Rin says, looking proud of himself.

I just slap my face and shake my head.

“What the… Did you say ‘mistake’?” Shima sweat drops.

“Mis-tell? Mis-chil?” Rin asks, looking so utterly confused it's adorable but annoying.

“It’s ‘mysterious’, dumbass!” Rooster yells at him.

Rin just laughs it off, looking embarrassed.

~~~~~~~

After that I head back to the dorm with Rin, me and him both talking about the newest issue of this manga that we read.

We split paths at the dorm when he goes to cook food and I wander up to my room.

I pull Itazura off my shoulders and force him to wake up before settling him on the floor and sit opposite him with my knees crossed.

“What d’ya want?” He asks me, yawning slightly,

“We gotta practice fighting, we haven’t tried fighting as a pair before and I think it would work well.” I reply, sighing softly. “We need to be strong to protect Rin from Yukio, I think something will happen in the future, and we need to be ready,”

“Ah okay, that makes sense, I’ve been getting bad vibes from that dude since my beginning of existence.” He nods his head wisely, rubbing his chin.

Fucking idiot.

“Wanna head out to the woods for a bit then?” I ask him, getting a nod in return before we both hop out the window and run to the forest.

When we find a suitable clearing, we stop and catch a breather.

“I think we should try meditating and connect our powers more.” I said to him,

“Yeah that works for me, then we might be able to talk through our minds, like psychics.” He responds, before adding on quickly, “Like that pink-haired dude you watch on the TV. The one with the green antenne things.”

“Yeah, exactly.” I respond, nodding.

We both sit down opposite each other again and close our eyes, focusing on clearing our thoughts.

I don’t know how long it was before I began to feel my fire flickering inside me.

I knew immediately that it was my demon heart, I could hear the thumping in my ears.

I pushed that aside and delved deeper into my soul, finding what I was looking for.

My power.

I can’t explain how it feels.

It’s like this part of me, it burns brightly and flows through every atom of my being, resting under my skin, yearning to be let out.

So I do.

Only slightly, I don’t want to let everyone see a massive blue light.

I let my flames reach out for Itazura, and feel his power nudging mine.

His doesn’t feel like flames, it feels like a shadow. Shifting into whatever it pleases, giggling at the feeling of the flames.

I push forward, winding my power around his.

He does the same.

I’m not sure how long went by doing this but I knew that it had been long enough to form a deeper bond when I felt a click in my soul, and then I heard a voice.

“I guess it worked then, huh?” I realised it was Itazura, talking in my head.

I jumped up and opened my eyes, reaching for him and squealing.

“I can’t believe it worked!” I yell out loud, startling a small goblin nearby.

Itazura just chuckles at me before yawning loudly, causing me to yawn too.

I take a moment to look around and realise it’s almost pitch black out. We must have been doing this for hours, jeez.

“Let’s head back to the dorm.” I mind-tell him.

“Sounds good to me boss.” He responds, before we both take off running.

It only takes us a few minutes before we are back, both of us quietly slipping into my room and getting under the covers before conking to sleep.

I’m exhausted homie.

~~~~~~~

We were all in class the next day, Rin, Yukio and Shiemi sharing glances with each other.

Something must have happened last night.

Oh well, maybe they had a threesome.

Doubt it though.

Mephisto was standing in front of the class, basking in the attention like the attention whore that he is.

“Eins, zwei, drei!” He puts up three fingers, “Congratulations to you all for being promoted to ExWire!” He exclaims, spreading his arms out wide.

“All right!” They all yell, I just kinda nod.

I mean, I’m happy, but like, I didn’t do much.

Who am I kidding, it’s even better that I didn’t have to do anything.

I whistle and yell louder than anyone else.

“I’m so proud of myself.” I say, smiling.

“Thank goodness…” I hear mousey exclaim.

“Now then, to celebrate your promotion… I shall treat you to a feast of monja!” Mephisto says, looking pleased with himself.

Dick.

“Only monja, huh?” Rooster says.

“At least make it a barbecue!” I hear Rin say.

~~~~~~~~

As much as they all complained, they still went with Mephisto so obviously they didn’t care that much.

I sat next to Kamiki, speaking with her about whatever popped into my mind.

“Did you know that snails have teeth? They have from 1,000 to 15,000.” I say.

“Mmh.” Kamiki replies.

“Did’ya know that crocodiles cannot stick their tongues out?”

“Mmh.”

“Did you know that cats can’t taste sweet things because of a genetic defect?”

“Mmh.”

“Did you know that a group of hippos are called a bloat?”

“Mmh.”

“Did you know that before my dad died he secretly married your mum?”

“Mmh.”

“Did you know that because of that we can be in a cringey low-budget porn video?”

“Mmh.”

“And you can accidentally get stuck under my bed or in a window?”

“Mmh.”

“Sweet.” I say, before stopping the recording and maniacally cackling.

Kamiki finally looks up and sends me a questioning look, I just shake my head and pretend nothing happened.

Perfect blackmail.

Shima stares at me, nose bleeding, shocked.

I just wink at him before turning back to my monja.

“You know she will find out?” Itazura says through my brain.

“Nobody needs to know, why would they know? How would they know?” I respond, smirking lightly.

“Pinky knows. Dumbass.”

“He won’t say anything.”

“How do you know that though?”

“Cause, he wouldn’t tell her and even if he did, she wouldn’t believe him.”

“Fair enough.”

Chapter Text

Rin and I were stumbling down the street.

It’s absolutely boiling and I just want to go home, I hate the heat - which is ironic considering I literally control flames.

Itazura elected to stay at the dorms for the day, like me, he also hates the heat.

“Man! It’s hot!” Rin exclaimed, pulling two ice pops out of their wrappers, handing one to me and biting down on his own.

“Thanks dude,” I say, sucking down on my own. “I fucking hate the heat.”

“This is killing me as well… We’ve got to eat these before they melt!” Rin smiles widely after biting down again, “Nothing beats these in the summertime though!”

“I’ll give you that one, these do taste mighty fine in the summer heat.” I nod, closing my eyes as a ray of sun stabs my eyeball.

We headed back to the dorms, Rin walking into his and Yukio’s shared room while I walked past and went to my own room.

I shut the door behind me and turned on my fan, letting the cold air circulate around the room.

I then grabbed my headphones and placed them over my ears, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I turned some music on before lying on my bed.

I was lying down for like, 3 songs worth of time before my shoulder was shaken.

I threw my eyes wide open and looked at the person who touched me, seeing Rin standing before me.

“Come on, Yukio’s got some exorcist work and I’m gonna follow him!” He exclaims before running out of my room, I sit there silently for a minute before he runs back in the room. “You’re coming with me!”

“Oh okay, that makes sense.” I respond, getting up and following after him.

We ran after Yukio and waited for him to get to the ‘keep out’ tape and show his credentials, before ambushing him.

“I’m Okumura Yukio, Intermediate Exorcist First Class.” Yukio says, all stiff and proper.

“We’ve been waiting for you.” The exorcist behind the tape said, pulling it up for Yukio to walk under it.

Rin and I then pull up.

“And I’m Okumura Rin, ExWire.” Rin says, standing up straight for once.

“Yeah, I’m Okumura Akito, ExWire and your mum’s lover.” I say, closing my eyes and smiling with my tongue out, throwing up a peace sign.

We both then duck under the tape.

“Rin! I told you not to come!” Yukio scolds him before turning to me, “and why are you even here!?”

“Well, I was worried about your second pair of glasses.” Rin says, trying to act all innocent and sincere.

“What does that even mean?” Yukio yells at Rin. “I don’t have time to play your games right now! Go home!”

“No way!” Rin replies, sticking his tongue out.

Their conversation is interrupted by a loud crashing sound, and we all look over to where it came from.

“This way, please!” The random exorcist said, running towards the sound.

“What’s the situation?” Yukio responded, rushing forward.

“Kuro, the Cat Sidhe guarding the South Rear Gate, has gone berserk. Currently, we’re sealing off the area within 1km of the rear gate road.” The exorcist says, huffing.

I look over and see this massive fucking cat standing on the bridge sign post.

It had black fur but a grey tuft of fur on its chest. It had light green eyes and had light green ridges on its head - it also had two tails.

“Liars!” I heard the cat yell, I snapped my head over to look at it, seeing Rin do the same.

“Did you hear that?” I ask Rin, seeing him nod.

“You’re all liars!”

“Are you all right? What happened?” Yukio asks the exorcist around us.

“Kuro suddenly blew up in size and attacked us.” One of them responded.

“I fucking doubt that, somehtinf obviously happend to cause him to do this.” I gesture to the scene in front of me. “Don’t chat shit.”

Honestly, all humans do is blame demons, they seem to forget that a lot of us have a consciousness.

Yukio shot me a glare that very obviously was meant to shut me up.

“He… He’s right, we accidentally let it slip that Father Fujimoto had passed away…” They responded looking ashamed. “I think he overheard us. I’m sorry. Um… what’s gonna happen to Kuro?”

See! I fucking knew it! Wait- what about Father Fujimoto?

“Don’t worry. We exorcists will take him down.” Yukio responded.

“Uhh, the fuck we will.” I say, putting my head on my hip, “there ain’t no way anyone is hurting an innocent demon near me. Okay fuckers?”

“Yeah! What are you talking about?” Rin asks Yukio, looking concerned. “What does this have to do with the old man’s death?”

“That cat… That Cat Sidhe is dad’s familiar.” Yukio tells us.

“The old man’s…?” Rin replies. “What’s a Cat Sidhe?”

“A demon that possesses cats. The ones in Japan are unique for developing that split tail you see there, if they’ve lived long enough.” Yukio says. “That Cat Sidhe was revered for centuries in a part of the country as the protective deity of silkworms.”

“I mean, that’s pretty swag.” I say.

“For protecting the silkworms from mice, or natural disaster, he was worshipped at a local shrine and co-existed with humans but as times changed, and silkworm breeding gradually died out, the people came to forget about their protective deity. And then… Having lost his home… He became a demon…”

All the exorcists began to shoot darts at Kuro, and that was when I got pissed off.

Who the fuck do they think they are!? Just shooting at him instead of trying to calm him down!? I’m gonna fucking kill them all after this shit.

I started growling under my breath, and I saw Rin and Kuro both stop and look at me, both looking on edge.

“Everyone better stop fucking shooting at Kuro!” I yell, walking towards Kuro before getting yanked back by Yukio.

He didn’t even bother talking to me, just turned to another exorcist near us.

“Back when Yukio was still an ExWire, he went on the mission with Father Fujimoto. A series of bizarre phenomena occurred on a construction site in a certain village.” She said to us,

“Aha, I really don't care.” I respond, scuffing my trainers on the ground

“Fearing that it was a curse, the locals called in several shamans but none of the shamans were a match for the Cat Sidhe, and the situation became hopeless. Clutching at straws, as a last resort they turned to the knights of the True Cross. The man chosen to annihilate the god-turned-demon was the Paladin, Father Fujimoto…I was stunned by his ability to resolve the situation without spilling a single drop of blood.”

“Damn, never knew he was the Paladin. Heh, that’s pretty neat.” I say, chuckling under my breath.

I can’t believe the Paladin was raising the children of Satan.
“I had no idea there was such a backstory…” Another exorcist replied after hearing the story.

“Afterwards, dad named him Kuro.” Yukio says, adding onto the conversation. “And put him under contract, to serve as gatekeeper of the academy.”

“But the fact is, he’s a demon after all. Once he loses his master, he reverts to his wild state, I guess.” Another of the exorcists says.

“My father prepared for this contingency, and kept this at hand.” Yukio says, lifting up the leather basket thingy in his hand and opening it up, “it appears to be a modified hand grenade, most likely filled with medicine that will kill Kuro.”

“Nah, nah, nah, that ain’t happening babes. No one is killing Kuro.” I say running towards Kuro.

Kuro jumped down onto the bridge and growled at me, his hair standing up.

“Hey, Kuro, calm down.” I say to him, slowing down and gesturing behind me for Rin to start walking forwards. “I’m not going to hurt you and my brother, Rin, can’t even stand on an ant without crying so don’t worry about him.”

“You’re all liars!”

Rin had managed to get by my side at this point and I nudged him, he’s a lot better at nice stuff than me.

“I’m Okumura Rin! I’m Shiro’s son.”

“Shiro’s…?”

“Shiro’s dead.” Rin says.

Damn, he ain’t holding back any punches is he?

“Rin!” Yukio yells.

“He’s dead.” Rin continues.

“That’s a lie! I don’t believe you!”

“He’s dead!”

“Liar! Don’t lie to me!” Kuro shouts even louder before hurtling towards Rin, head first. Rin lowers his head so he is in prime head-butting position too.

And then, like we all expected, they clash together, shaking the whole blooding bridge.

Kuro stumbles back and then falls onto his side, half knocked out, poor dude.

I’ve had my fair share of hea-butts of Rin and let me tell you, his head is very, very, firm.

I look back at Yukio and he looks like he’s about to wet himself with fear and shock.

Fucking idiot.

“Listen, you… You really loved my dad, didn’t you?” Rin asks Kuro, looking down at him. “So you were just sad. That’s all, right? I’m the same as you… Let’s make up, okay?” Rin reaches his hand out to him, kinda like a peace offering.

Kuro begins crying at Rin’s words. This is so fucking sad.

“Shiro… So I’ll never see you again, then? Shiro…” He whimpers, before bursting into tears.

After this, Rin grabbed Kuro and basically decided that Kuro was going to be his familiar.

Yukio came over and they began talking to each other, cutting me out of the conversation.

Well, can’t say I’m not used to it. I just back away from them all and no one seems to notice, so I just run off and back to the dorm.

It’s not like they fucking care anyway, fucking dipshits.

I wish I could say it hurts me, but it’s always been like this, I’m the second choice unless Rin wants a partner to do something stupid with.

~~~~~~~~

Kamiki, Shima and I were walking to a small cafe that was near the school, which basically meant Shima and I were chatting about anime and Kamiki was strolling silently next to us and rolling her eyes at us.

“Come on Kamiki, you’ve gotta have watched some anime!” I say to her, directing my puppy dog eyes at her.

Sis needs to add to the conversation, otherwise it’s gonna become boring, like, I need some spice in my conversations.

“I don’t watch anime, it’s for children.” She says to us, looking away.

Shima and I stumble back, away from her. Grabbing on to my chest and gasping dramatically, I fall onto the floor and close my eyes, sticking my tongue out.

I quickly peek my eyes open to see Shima doing the same thing as me, and Kamiki rolling her eyes and grumbling under her breath.

I see her begin to walk away and leap up and run after her.

“Kamiki! No! Don’t leave us here!” I yell dramatically.

“Stop being so embarrassing.” She scolds me. I lean closer and see that her cheeks have gone red.

“You’re blushing! That’s adorable!” I say, hugging her tightly, “who knew I had such an effect on you?” I say to her quietly.

I mean, I knew.

“Shut up you small oaf!” She says, shoving me away.

Wow, that shit hurted.

I hear giggling and snap my head over to see Shima laughing into his hand.

I squint my eyes at him.

He notices me looking and stiffens, going silent and slightly pale.

I smirk, before pouncing on him…

Only to be grabbed by the back of my shirt mid air.

I gag slightly and fall to the ground, my shirt still being held tightly. I twist my head back and follow the arm to see Kamiki holding onto me.

“Why’d you do that!? I was gonna get him!” I whine, slightly annoyed, but mostly just playful.

“Woah, thanks Kamiki! I thought I was gonna die for sure. That was scarier than a bunch of bugs running at me.” He shivers dramatically.

“No problem.” She says, pulling me over to a table and plonking me on a seat, then sitting down next to me. Shima follows us and does the same.

“How’d you know he was gonna do that?” Shima asks, looking down at the menu.

“Akito is basically a cat. So I just presumed he was going to act like an annoyed cat and that was what he did.” She says, acting like that’s completely normal.

I don’t act like a cat! I mean, yeah, I sleep a lot, pounce on people, growl and purr when I get comfortable in bed.

Oh- I’m a cat.

For fucks sake.

“You’re totally right! He acts like a cat! Now I can’t unsee it.” Shima says obnoxiously, with an expression that shows complete shock.

“Just shut up.” I say, pouting and batting my hand at his face - only for it to be grabbed by Kamiki before I can hit him.

“See what I mean?” She asks, smiling slightly, and rolling her eyes.

At least I made her smile.

“This is cruel.” I say, lowering myself in my seat.

Wow, I have evil friends.

I thought I’d be the evil one cuz I’m the son of Satan but I guess not.

“Hiya! What do you want to order?” I look over at the new voice and see a waitress standing with a notepad in her hand.

“I’ll have a plain black coffee with two sugars, thank you.” Kamiki orders politely.

“I’ll ha-” I get cut off by Shima.

“Ah, ah, ah, good pets wait till the end.” Shima scolds, holding back obvious laughter.

I’m gonna kill him when we are out of here, just wait you pink haired cretin.

I look back at the waitress and see a light blush on her cheeks, she’s totally gone the wrong idea, oh my days.

I hear giggling next to me and look over to see Kamiki laughing quietly as well.

I’m gonna kill both of them.

“I’ll have a white coffee with three sugars please.” Shima says, smiling politely, like he didn’t just call me a pet.

I’m totally gonna bite him.

“Yeah, I’ll have a chamomile and manuka honey tea please.” I say, flashing the waitress a closed-eye smile and blowing her a kiss.

She blushed harder and stumbles out a goodbye and leaves to go give the orders to the barista.

Ah, good to know I still have it, but that could’ve been due to Shima’s stunt- thinking of which…

“Ow!” Shima whines as he rubs the back of his head, after I smacked him.

“I’m putting bugs in your bed tonight, so watch out.” I say to him, glaring. “Beetles and mealworms, maybe some centipedes.”

Shima goes white as a sheet, then his face turns green.

I watch him look around before he spots the toilets and runs to them, no doubt about to go and throw up.

No regrets.

“He is such a loser.” I turn to Kamiki after hearing her speak.

“You only say that because you like him.” I tease, stretching out the ‘I’ sound in ‘like’.

“So what if I do?” She retorts, her tone blank, but her face showing sounds of nervousness. “I like you too, but don’t get all big headed now.”

“Awww, Kamiki!! I like both of you too! You’re such a softie past that cold, unforgiving, terrifying and frankly nightmare-inducing persona of yours.” I squeal, making a heart shape with my hands.

I go to speak more before I’m interrupted and ultimately distracted.

The waitress comes back over, walking decidedly steadier and puts out mugs on the table before sliding a muffin over to me on a napkin and giving me a wink before walking off.

My eyes widen in surprise and I look at the muffin again to see a phone number written beside it on the napkin.

I chuckle slightly and smirk.

Definitely still got it.

I pick the muffin up and peel back some of the wrapper. Just as I’m about to take a bite, Shima plonks himself in his seat, startling me.

“Stawp! I coulda dropped mah croissant.” I yell as I almost drop the muffin.

Shima looks over and focuses on my muffin.

“What!? How did you get a muffin!?” He whines, looking sad.

“The waitress gave it to him along with her number.” Kamiki says to him, but I don’t bother looking up at their faces, too busy nomming on the muffin.

I don’t listen to them talking about going shopping after we finish drinking.

It takes me a few minutes but I finish my treat and look back at the table to see the napkin missing. I look up at Kamiki and Shima, confused on its whereabouts.

“Where’s my napkin?” I ask them, scratching my head.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you ate it.”

They both speak at the same time.

That's suspicious… oh well.

I shrug and move on to sipping my tea.

“Yo, how much money do you have?” Shima asks me, not sure why though.

“69 cents.” I respond, smirking slightly.

“Aye, you know what that means?” Shima responds, smirking with me.

We both know how this is going to go.

Kamiki was completely confused and wondered why I said cents instead of yen.

“I don’t have enough money for chicken nuggets.” I finished, we both cheered and high-fived.

Kamiki just sighs and shakes her head - disappointed but not surprised.

“I don’t even care about what just happened, let’s just go back to the dorms, I just want to sleep now.” Kamiki says, shaking her head and putting her empty mug on a small table where dirty dishes are meant to be put for quicker cleaning.

“Yeah sure.” Shima nods and places his mug on the table too.

“Wait- I haven’t finished yet!” I gulp down the rest of my tea before placing the mug on the table as well. “Now, let us walk, my two crocs.”

They both grimace at the name but continue to walk by my side, Kamiki as my left croc and Shima as my right.

~~~~~~

We get back to the dorms in one piece and I say my goodbye to Kamiki, before turning to face Shima.

“Watch out, pinky pie.” I warn him, before turning on my heel and walking towards my dorm.

Once I get there, I fall into my bed and snuggle under the covers with Itazura, thinking about what Kamiki said.

Does she want a relationship with Shima and I?

She admitted to liking both of us, so did I though.

"Does Shima lik-"

Shut up and sleep, you numb-skull.

"Right yeah, sleep."

“Goodnight Itazura.” I mumble into the pillow.

"Night twot."

Chapter Text

Kamiki, Shima and I were sitting together on the coach to the beach.

We had all been selected to go on a exorcist mission to the beach (along with Rin) so we all decided to sit next to each other.

Which translates to Shima and I plonked down next to Kamiki and forced her to sit next to us.

If I’m gonna be honest, this all seems like a free holiday to me, so I’m not gonna argue, I don’t have to do schoolwork but it also means I have to be at the beach.

I hate the beach.

Moving on:

Unlike every other protagonist ever in the history of stories, I decided to engage in communication.

Crazy, I know right?

"So are we gonna talk about the romantic tension growing between us three or just pretend it doesn't exist until there will eventually be a misunderstanding between us all causing us to hate each other until we communicate and realise we liked each other all along?" I asked them both, raising an eyebrow at them.

They both just sat there silently staring at me as I explained the plot to every romcom to ever exist.

I have skills, I know.

“Wah-!” Shima splutters, face flushed bright red as his eyes dart around the carriage.

Kamiki just rolls her eyes at him before turning back to me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She says flatly, but I can see the light brush of pink on her cheeks.

I know she’s only acting like that because she doesn’t know how to react, I mean, she literally admitted it to me at the cafe.

“Awe! You’re both embarrassed! This is adorable!” I exclaim, squealing.

If I’m gonna be honest, I thought Shima would be more nonchalant about the whole thing.

Kamiki doesn’t surprise me though, she is a definite tsundere.

“Shut up Akito!” They both shout at me at the same time.

“Oof, sorry.” I reply, no remorse showing on my nor in my tone. “Are we going to though? Genuine question this time.”

“I mean… I like you both… I think…” Shima manages to say, looking terrified of out reactions.

Like homie, if I brought up the conversation then why am I gonna get angry at you saying it. It’s gotta be the pink hair that makes him act this way.

“That’s sick because I like both of you guys and I know for a fact that Kamiki likes both of us.” I respond, smiling gently at him.

Kamiki catches my eye and sends a short, brief smile showing her thanks to me admitting it for her.

“Oh thank God! I thought you guys were gonna think I’m a freak or something!” Shima visibly relaxes in the seat, looking a lot less like he was about to be attacked by hordes of bugs and insects.

“Of course not you idiot.” Kamiki says softly, looking as confident as ever.

“Do you guys wanna do, like, a mock test on dating each other, like, we date for a week and see how it goes?” I ask them both.

“But isn’t it weird for all three of us to be dating at the same time?” Shima asks gently, looking confused again.

“Not really, it used to be a very common thing but over time society has moved to a more monogamous romance era, leaving polyamory behind.” Kamiki says to him like she’s quoting it straight out of a book.

I nod along to what she’s saying.

To be honest, Mephist told me all about polyamory. In demonic culture, it’s a very normal thing.

When a demon mates to another demon, they share their powers, so the more demons you mate with, the stronger you become, but if you bond with too many in a short space of time, you will literally explode from too much power being injected into your soul too fast.

Mephy said that he doesn’t know how it would work with Rin and I because we are fully demon but he suspects that if I was to enter Gehenna then I would fully turn into a demon because of my high percentage of demonic DNA in my body as well as my strong instincts.

Anyways, I’m getting off topic, the point is, human society sucks ass.

“Ahh okay, that makes a little more sense now, thanks Kamiki.” Shima responds, looking like he has just gained his first braincell.

“No problem, I enjoy reading so it’s good to put my knowledge to use.” She responds, looking pleased with herself.

I mean, I can’t blame her.

“Alright, sounds like we have a game plan folks.” I say to them, gesturing my han dout for a fist bump.

Shima smashed his fast onto mine, causing him to groan in pain.

Kamiki sits there and just shakes her head.

I lean back against the seat and close my eyes, thinking about what’s just happened.

I don’t know how Mephisto will take me dating humans but I know for a fact that he probably already knows considering he is the Demon King of Time and Space, even if he doesn’t know completely, he would have known something was happening between us all.

I mean, he spies at all the different potential timelines for devil's sake!

Which reminds me, once it comes out that I'm a demon, how will Shima and Kamiki take it?

I mean, Kamiki has an underlying scent of a kitsune under her human scent so I’m assuming she would be okay with the idea of a half-demon, or nephilim in my case.

And Shima sometimes stinks of sulphur, like he’s been doused in demon essence or something.

And with Shima, I know that he is in contact with one of my demonic brothers quite regularly, or at least around them because he comes back smelling like kin and I know we aren’t related.

Or at least I would hope, I ain’t into that Jace and Clary life, ya know?

I open my eyes and peer out the window, spotting a road that goes beside us, I spot a sign on the road and roll my eyes.

“Road works ahead. Uh yeah, I sure hope it does.”

~~~~~~~

We had finally made it out of the train and were stranded at the beach.

“The ocean! The swimsuits!” Rin yells out, “let’s hit on girls!”

Kamiki stands there scowling at him, Shima and I just shaking our heads.

It’s embarrassing to watch, honestly.

I lean close to Shima’s ear, getting on my tippy toes.

“Imagine being single.” I say quietly, causing him to silently laugh.

“Time to go for a swim, Okumura!” Shima shouts, marching towards the beach and dragging me with him.

“Wait- what!?” I splutter, pushing my heels into the sand and silently begging Kamiki for help with the use of my puppy dog eyes.

“Hey Izumo, Akito, get changed, get changed! Hurry, get in your swimsuits! Man, I love the ocean!” Shima yells again, looking pleased with himself.

Bitch what-?

“I don’t think so pinky pie. We have a job to do.”

~~~~~~~~~

“Why?” Shima mumbles as he sits on the floor beside the grill where Rin is. “Why do we have to help with the grilled squid shop, when we’re surrounded by the sand, ocean and two people I definitely wanna see in their swimsuits?”

Rin looks confused at the last statement but quickly lets it go, shrugging his shoulders and getting back to work.

“Bitch, I’ll whoop your ass if you don’t shut the fuck up.” I grumble, snapping at him.

“Ouch, that was a bit harsh.” Shima says, looking hurt.

“I'm sorry, I just don’t like the sand, nor the ocean, so the beach is a rather unpleasant place for me.” I respond, smiling tiredly.

He nods lightly and smiles back, looking happy again and unhurt.

“Hey, stop by our shop and have a bite!” Rin yells at random strangers. “Our grilled squid is so good you won’t mind selling your soul for a taste!”

Well, that’s a bit dark… I love it.

“You really are a good sport, Okumura.” Shima says to Rin, looking up at him from his spot perched on the floor.

“Eh? Well, I don’t really mind doing this kind of thing. The only thing is… It’s a total wash, isn’t it?” Rin says, looking slightly disappointed.

“Don’t worry bro! I’m positive once someone gets a mouthful of your squid they will moan so loud at the pleasure of the flavours that everyone will come wanting some.” I say, feeling satisfied at my encouragement.

Feeling two pairs of eyes on me, I look up to spot them both staring at me bemusedly.

I stare back until eventually Shima breaks.

“Yeah! I don’t understand it. These squid look damn good!” Shima exclaims, looking frustrated.

“They sure smell tasty. Can’t I have one, Rin?” Kuro asks, popping up from behind Rin, drooling.

Yeah, Rin brought Kuro with him, I was gonna bring Itazura but he didn’t want to come near this place. He said there wasn’t enough shade.

“No, no - they’re for sale.” Rin responds.

“Hey, is that him?” Shim asks, having spotted Kuro. “The Cat Sidhe that became your familiar?” He asks standing up.

“I brought him ‘cause they said it was a mission, but…” Rin says, drifting off at the end.

“Mission, my butt! Some pretext, having us find seaweed for use in demon-warding potions… I’m telling you, this is what we’re really here for! And the inn we’re staying at… this Ocean House… I hear it’s run by the family of Old Sideburns' wife.” Shima exclaims, annoyed at our situation.

“Period king, vent!” I whoop.

See, I always feel better when someone else whines, it means I can too without being judged, ya know?

“Jeez, I’m starting to think that Bon and Koneko were the ones who lucked out, getting sent to Tamagawa to hunt for Bariyons.” Shima groans. “You know what? We need hot girls to sell these or we won't be sellin jack.”

I smell a familiar pleasant scent, I look up to see Izumo approaching us. I wave at her, smiling brightly, she waves back and I wave back even faster, my tail waving as well under my shirt.

Yeah, because I’m surrounded by people that have a temptaint, I have to wrap my tail around my upper body or my waist like a belt.

Just because they’ll attempt to murder me.

Honestly, they need to work on their homicidal tendencies.

“You look cute in that swimsuit today!” Shima says, making love heart eyes at Kamiki once she was close enough for him to notice her.

I roll my eyes and show her a fang filled smile, but nodding slightly at what Shima said.

Kamiki rolls her eyes and then turns away from us but then quickly turns back and grabs hold of my hand before yanking me along after her.

“Not again! I’m too handsome to die!” I yell and attempt to pull away, I almost make it before I feel a sharp pain in my ear.

Turning my eyes towards the source I notice that Kamiki has grabbed hold of my ear
instead of my hand.

“No running away.” She says, smirking as I grimace.

“C’mon, I haven’t even done anything wrong yet!” I whine, falling in step behind her. “Shima! Come help me!”

“I’ve already done my swimming for the day, so go enjoy yourself!” He hollers from behind me, I try to twist around to glare at him but immediately stop as I twist the ear in Kamiki’s hand.

Instead I flip him the bird from behind, smirking as I hear an indignant scoff from him.

Kamiki forces me to sit on the sand near the sea as she goes out to float in an inflatable ring after I completely refused to go in the sea.

I think I fell asleep as the next thing I know, I’m waking up to a commotion next to me, looking up, I see Kamiki, Rin and Shima all together with a small child.

Accidental child acquisition?

I look further ahead of them, I’m just going to ignore the child, and notice that all of the town folk are running towards one direction.

“Harry Styles?” I mutter, peering in that direction, not noticing the weird looks off my brother and partners.

They all start running over and I follow.

“For fucks sake, I am not built for this shit.” I mumble as we run.

I hate running.

Once we get to the pier, I finally get the chance to see Harry, but instead I see a dark patch of water amongst the sea.

“What the heck just happened?” Shima says to us.

“It’s a demon.” An old man says to the left of us. “When the sea turns black as ink, a demon the size of a small mountain shall appear, and wipe out the village.”

Yo, that sounds awesome. In a completely not morbid way.

“Do you mean…” Rin starts,

“A legend that’s been passed down in these parts since ancient times…” The old man begins again.

I swear down, this dude is as cryptid as Dr. Deaton.

“Move on with the story please.” I say rolling my eyes and getting a smack round the back of the head from Kamiki. “Fuck…”

“Mercy on us… Follow me…” He says and then wanders off.

“So are we just going to follow the potential child predator?” I ask but they’ve all already started. “Okay, don’t blame me when the candy tastes funky.”

I then proceed to jog after the child predator.

“What’s this?” Rin asks as we arrive at some sort of temple.

“A votive tablet written by the priest of this temple about 400 years ago…”

I lay my eyes on the tablet to see an engraving of a giant squid.

“This is some kraken like shit…” I mumble, getting a closer look.

“A monster squid…” Shima also mumbles.

“The sea must be black from the ink spewed by the squid.” The old guy says to us.

“Or just some classic pollution.” I suggest, then turning to look at him but being ignored.

“But isn’t that just an old legend?” Kamiki asks, also turning to look at him.

“Actually… Just six months ago, the sea turned black as it did today, and a fisherman set off alone to drive out the demon. However… To this day that man hasn’t returned.”

“L + ratio.”

~~~~~~~~

“Still, who would’ve thought we’d be hearing about demons this far from school,” Shima speaks as we walk back from the child predator.

The sun had begun to set by now and everything looked a shade of orange or red, it was actually kind of pretty.

“Don’t you think it would be flashier to defeat that demon as our first mission?” Rin asks us all. “What the…?” He stops as he clashes into a small child.

“Hey! Ain’t that the same small child as before!?” I ask Kamiki, squinting at the boy.

“Yes.” She answers back softly, but looking disgruntled as she stares at the boy.

Huh, I wonder why.

“Look where you’re going!” He shouts up at us.

“Oh, it’s you.” Rin replies after noticing the boy. “Where’d you run off to just now? We were worried, you know!”

Were we though? Were we really?

The child grunts and turns away from us.

“Nowhere.” It- I mean he- responds, sometimes it’s just so difficult to remember that children aren’t parasites that feed off money and attention.

“What do you mean, nowhere?!” Rin asks him softly, sounding confused, poor boy.

“Huh.” The child just grunts again.

Can it not speak well or something? - Shit! I meant ‘he’.

“Man, you really are hardheaded…” Rin says, yeah, takes one to know one.

Rin’s the epitome of being hard-headed, fucker unsheathed a sword just to say someone who was already dying.

At least I opened mine for a good reason… boredom and curiosity.

“He sure is!” Kamiki says and facepalms in annoyance.

“Does it still hurt?” The boy quickly turns around after noticing Kamiki and steps closer to look at her head.

“Of course it does!” She responds sharply,

“Wait- what hurts!?” I say, sniffing the air for any trace that she was in pain but not finding any, making a confused noise in response.

Ah- she must be lying to make the child feel guilty, makes sense to me.

“My bad.” He responds, looking down.

“Come on. You saw us coming your way, didn’t you? You could’ve just given us a little room.” Rin tries to lecture the boy.

“No way. A man’s gotta walk a straight path - that’s what my dad taught me!”

Funny, my biological father taught me that murder was okay. I guess we shouldn’t all follow what we are taught by our parents.

“He only meant that metaphorically, you know.” Shima shrugs at the boy. “Anyway, if you only go straight, won’t you wind up lost?”

“Nope, nope.” Rin turns slightly to face Shima, making a face like Shima is being the dumb one right now.

Normal Rin behaviour to be fair though.

“Listen, do you know how to get to the pet shop?” The boy asks and both Rin and Shima make noises of confusion. “Where the pet shop is. I’ve got it written down on this note, but… That’s why I got lost!” The boy explains, holding out the piece of paper for us to see.

“I guess we’ll have to take you there then!” Rin states, looking proud of himself for some reason.

“Yeah, that sounds fun and all but I’m just gonna head back to our beds.” I say to them all, throwing Kamiki and Shima one last smile and saluting Rin before absolutely legging it towards sleep.

“Oi! Get back here!” I hear Shima shout but I’m already too far away for a human to hear so I don’t turn back around.

I’m almost at the place of my dreams (No pun intended) when I fall through a pale pink hole in the ground.

“Ah, for fucks sake Mephisto.”

Chapter Text

I fell through the pink, poofy hole (sounds like a description for an asshole) and smashed against the floor of Mephisto’s office.

Perfect.

I growled quietly before pulling myself up off the floor and into an upright position.

Looking around I noticed Mephisto looking frustrated behind his desk and a small green hamster lying on the side of the desk, seemingly stuffing its mouth with marshmallows.

Sniffing slightly, I blink in surprise and tilt my head slightly. Creeping slowly towards the green fluffball, I’m about to reach out and grab it when Mephisto puts his gloved hand in the way.

“No no, leave the poor thing alone. No need to let your instincts run wild, right now we have more pressing matters to discuss.” He says, and leans forward, resting his head on his hand.

“Oh?” I question, barely managing to tear my gaze away from the hamster that I know is Amaimon, and shutting down the thoughts of play and catching my prey.

“Yes, it seems that our dear father has become quite, shall we say… agitated… with the loss of you and your elder brother following the situation with Father Fujimoto and has begun to send high level demons to my barrier in an attempt to wither wear it down, or me, until one can manage to break in and take you both to Gehenna.” Mephisto explains, looking more and more annoyed and angry the further he gets into the explanation.

Homie, why would I care? Like, I’m sorry but in my opinion, I kinda want to go to Gehenna, seems lit. Get it? Cuz lit = fire and like, the blue flames and all?

Sometimes I make myself laugh.

So back to what I was saying, in Gehenna I’m a literal prince, and here in Assiah, I’m just an average human. Not to sound all power hungry or anything, but it seems obvious where to be for better life quality.

Plus in Gehenna I can actually listen to my demonic instincts, like, I don’t need to ignore them.

Which let me tell you, is really fuckin' annoying.

“I don’t get why you are telling me this though, normally you keep everything secret unless absolutely necessary to tell.” I shrug, making a face of confusion while reaching over slowly for Amaimon again, only for him to squeak and alert Mephisto of my actions, resulting in a pinched ear for me and for Amaimon to be pulled to the edge of the desk furthest away from me.

“Yes well, the only way these demons are going to stop is if someone of a higher ranking tells them to, and father dearest has told them not to listen to Amaimon nor to me so I need you to order them to stand down.” He explains, actually being serious for once. “Do not cross the barrier when you do so otherwise you will be taken by them, understand?”

Wow, he just gave me the perfect way to Gehenna, ha, totally snatching this moment.

“Of course Mephy, no crossing the barrier and act like a hard dom to a bunch of bratty subs. I’ve got this!” I say, smiling and giving him a thumbs up.

I get up to leave, ignoring the brief flash of pure bewilderment on his face and open the door before stopping and realising something very important that I need to know first.

“Where is all this happening though? And where do I need to go?”

~~~~~~~

Mephisto told me where I had to go and gave me a map of True Cross with a big pink circle made of markers for showing where I needed to go.

I then crept out of the room while keeping eye contact with hamster Amaimon.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m really hyped for this now, I’m finally going to see what Gehenna looks like. Plus I want to see what father looks like.

Mephisto told me in one of our sessions that while he didn’t have a corporeal form, in Gehenna he was visible and touchable because he willed himself to be, and kept this rule with the rest of the demons in Gehenna.

I eventually arrived at where Mephisto had told me to go and could spot the demons that were attacking the barrier.

I looked around and couldn’t spot any exorcist so I assumed that I was in the clear and allowed my flames to grow around me before stalking forwards towards the lowlifes that thought they could attack my brother’s work.

I let out a loud growl once I was in ear reach and smirked when they stopped and knelt immediately before me.

I even heard one whimper.

I stopped to get a closer look and noticed the many coal tars around them and the moss that grew on their vessel’s faces, along with the deep black eyes.

They are Astaroth’s kin.

That sneaky fucker.

"What the fuck is up Kyle?" I shout at them.

All I get in return is silence, I guess I need to be serious for this one.

“Lead me to my father.” I commanded them, my voice deepening and snarling at the vowels, I winced at the pang in my throat and spoke again. “Take me to Gehenna.”

I startled for a second as I realised I had just spoken in another language.

It must have been in a demonic language because they understood and dropped their head lower before speaking.

“Yes my prince.”

Oh yeah, I guess I'm a prince. At least demons won't roast me.

They got up and waited for me to begin to follow before guiding me towards a dark section of the forest, they stopped at a clearing and then one of them stepped forward and let out a loud howl.

I’m not sure if it was a howl but that was what it sounded like so that’s what I’m gonna call it.

Theory confirmed: Astaroth’s kin are huskies.

A portal to Gehenna then appeared, looking as disgusting as the last time I saw it.

I actually forgot how manky looking these things are.

I gestured for one of them to go in first, waiting until they had before I stepped in myself, allowing the gross goo to suck me in. It was kind of like quicksand… pink, slimy, quicksand.

I tried to hit it and my hand just fell through, heh, at least I know it doesn’t have the consistency of oobleck now.

Shit wait- I turned my head abruptly and let out a relieved sigh when I realised that I still had my blade on my back, that would’ve been an awkward situation otherwise.

Imagine being in hell and just forgetting the thing that makes you most powerful.

Yeah, embarrassing.

I soon lost consciousness as I was swallowed by the slime.

Please don't make me into a slime smoothie.

~~~~~~~

I awoke to quite murmuring before a loud snap reached my ears, before excruciating pain engulfed my whole body and the feeling of being burned alive greeted my nerves.

I let out a deafening screech of pain before losing consciousness once again as the feeling of my body being decimated became too much pain.

I do smell mighty fine though while being cooked.

10/10 would munch on myself if I had the ability to move.

Right, I'm gonna pass out now.

Later losers.

~~~~~~~

I gulp in the air as I wake.

And then I cough as my charred lungs reject the deep inhale, scar tissue burning at the contraction of my lungs.

I slowly inhale and exhale until my lungs no longer protest at the thought of fresh air.

Once my lungs are fresh enough, I notice that the air is a lot drier than what I'm used to, and has a taste of burntness that I can’t really explain.

Oh yeah, I was burning alive last time I checked, I wonder what happened. I guess I’ll probably find out eventually, hopefully.

Cracking my crusty eyelids open, I peer around the foreign room. Sighing in relief when I realise that the lights are turned off so my poor retinas don’t get burned.

The bed I’m lying on is large and soft, the covers made of soft silk, causing me to curl up and purr slightly.

Don’t judge me, it’s soft.

The cover’s are a deep and rich shade of blue and the posts are made of black material that I don’t know the name of.

Maybe it’s obsidian, like from minecraft.

Rest in peace Techno.

The walls are a pale blue, different to the usual cracked white paint in the dorm, and all the furniture is made of the same material as the bed posts.

I look at myself, and pause.

The fuck-?

I look completely different.

Peering around the room, I spot a full length mirror and crawl off the bed and stumble towards it, naked apart from a thin set of boxer shorts that I have no clue how they got on me.

Looking past the patches of black smudges from the burning session, I notice that my skin has turned really pale, I’m not white like paper but close to it, with an undertone of blue peeking out.

I look like I’ve got fucking hyperthermia.

My hair is completely white, it actually looks really cool. I accept this, oh my god, if I was taller I would look like Gojo. I need an eye mask right now. Preferably black.

I look down at my hands and notice that my nails have sharpened, they aren’t as long as when I shift to demon form but they definitely don’t look human. They are also black now, with a light shade of grey covering my finger tips.

My ears have taken a more demonic form, longer than human and shaped sort of like elf ears from D&D. They also seem a lot more sensitive, as they keep on twitching as I acclimate to the surroundings.

My tail swishes behind me and I lock my eyes onto it, it’s covered in white fur with the tip having a floof of pastel blue fur at the end of the tail.

My eyes are a light shade of blue with a ring of red around the iris, they aren’t fully warped, but they have taken a more feline shape.

An ache in my mouth distracts me and I open my mouth in front of the mirror and notice a second set of fangs growing in next to my canines (which are where my first set of fangs grew in).

Now that’s kind of pissed me off, I thought the only time I would have to go through teething pains was when I was a smol toddler and I wouldn’t have to remember it.

Who knew being a demon would result in teething pains?

Sadly, I haven’t grown any taller, I call bullshit.

Of course I’m still going to be the short friend, it feels like my destiny now.

This demonic shit feels a whole lot like pain and no gain.

And finally, the most attention grabbing part of the whole transformation:

The glowing blue heart in the middle of my chest.

Mephisto spoke about this once during a meeting. That demon's had separate hearts that contained their power, and that they hide them to protect them.

So I should probably hide my heart. I look downwards so I'm staring directly at my heart instead of a reflection and imagine it not there.

Slowly, after pulling a face that is normally only used on the toilet with severe constipation, my heart begins to melt away.

I search for the heat in body and feel my heart beating but it's now not visible.

I'm so good at this demon shit.

My eyes lock onto my blade through the reflection in the mirror and I notice something very important.

It’s snapped.

Shit, that doesn't look good.

Sharply, I turn around and grab onto the blade, holding it in my hands. I try to sense my flames but the blade is empty.

Yo, I bet that means I’ve got all my power, no wonder I’ve taken a more demonic form, all of my demonic power has finally been unleashed.

This is fucking lit.

I’ll accept the teeth ache in return for my demonic power, now it’s worth it.

I could really nom a barbecue bacon burger right now.

Barbecue bacon burger

Right, moving onto a more worrying issue, clothes.

Where are my clothes??

I'm hot but this is a bit creepy, it's giving me yandere vibes.

Giving me Criminal Minds.

I guess now is the time to actually snoop around the room and find something to wear. Maybe there’s some designer clothes, that would be pretty cool.

Just as I begin to walk towards what looks like a closet, a knocking sound echoes in the otherwise silent room.

Shit, this is when the tentacle monster comes into the room.

Not that I can judge the whole monster thing to be fair considering by the look of it I’m basically fully demon now.

"Master Akito, may I come in?" A polite sounding British voice spoke through the door.

Okay, being called master is a little weird to be honest, not sure how to feel about that one.

And then second, why is someone calling me master? Is it because I'm fabulous? Cause then I'd understand.

"Yeah sure." I shout back, allowing entrance.

I know it could be a serial killer or something but like, when have I ever had any common sense before anyway.

The sound of the door clicking open causes my ears to twitch slightly and I turn towards the door.

A slender man walks in. He has short-ish black hair and red eyes, and is wearing an old fashioned butler outfit.

He even has a pair of white gloves on.

Now this, this is the start of an adult entertainment video.

I make eye contact with him as he quietly shuts the door behind him.

"Good evening, young master. I have been appointed as your personal butler by his majesty and have consequently been commanded to help dress you for a dinner that you must attend." The man- that we all know is a demon- says, bowing slightly in greeting.

It is then that I notice he has a pile of neatly folded clothes placed over his arm.

"Cool." I say, shrugging. "What's your name slenderman?"

His eyes widen slightly, and I see his jaw clench for a second before relaxing.

"My name is Sebastian, young master." He responds shortly.

"Just to let you know, a potato flew around my room before you came."

"I don't understand young master." He says, looking so confused it's hilarious.

Imagine all the references I can make here and everyone will just be confused.

To be fair though, that is basically what school was like anyway.

Not much has changed in that regard, everyone lives under a big, ugly, rock.

"Nevermind, so, quick question. What the hell is going on right now??" I ask, smiling sweetly while making sure my fangs are on display.

The demon doesn't seem fazed by my non-verbal threat and responds calmly.

"You are in Gehenna, in the Royal Castle, and his majesty, your father, has requested your presence this evening for dinner if you were awake. Which you are."

"I fucking knew it! I'm so smart." I say, patting myself on the back. "Okay, clothes. I wanna meet father dearest sooner rather than later."

"Yes young master." Sebastian says, as he lays them out neatly on the bed. "If you would step out of your undergarments, I have a clean pair here."

He lifts up a pair of black boxers.

"We got them imported from Assiah so you would find them to your liking."

"That's nice, but I don't need any help getting changed, my guy." I say, nervously chuckling.

"It is part of my duty as a butler to the Royal Family to help dress His Majesty's younger children, and as such, you, young master." Sebastian, responds calmly again.

All this dude has is patience, what the fuck?? Who stays calm for this long, monotonous slenderman.

"Well I don’t need any help, do I? I'm grown enough, jeez, I'm 15 for crying out loud!" I growl, this is stupid.

Why the fuck would I need help getting dressed?

"I need to request you stop throwing this tantrum before I must call your His Majesty to the room to dress you himself." Sebastian says, looking quite smug with himself.

Against my will, I feel my ears twitch downwards, my tail droop to the floor between my legs and the growling in my chest stopping.

For some reason, that sounds terrifying.

"Eh?"

"Yes, normally for the Royal Family, staff are employed to care for the young of the rulers but I suppose if you feel necessary to act so unruly I will have no choice but to have your father involved." Sebastian sternly states and I stop completely.

"Fine." I whisper, moving closer to him and pulling down my underwear.

He doesn't seem to look at my crotch at all, just helps slide on another pair and then helps dress me the rest of the way.

After he's done I turn back to the mirror to get a look of myself.

I'm dressed in some sort of Victorian young lord outfit.

A pair of black shoes, white socks that come past my knees and are clipped onto the pair of dark blue shorts I'm wearing.

A white long sleeved shirt is tucked into the shorts, a dark blue waistcoat around my chest with a matching dark blue bow tie around my neck.

"Why do I have to wear these gross clothes?" I whine, yanking at the shirt collar that's currently scratching my neck.

Sebastian quickly moves my clawed hands away and fixes the damage I've caused before responding.

"Because these are the clothes required to be worn by Royalty young master. You must look presentable when out of your room." He says, going to the door and opening it with a click.

"That's stupid." I say, going through the doorway and waiting in the corridor for Sebastian so he can lead me to the dining hall.

"Yes, well, tell His Majesty of your thoughts, as he is the one who can change the rules, young master." He says, leading me down the corridor.

"I will." I respond, looking around the corridors.

The walls are a really dark blue colour, like, almost black, and covered in paintings of wars and what I'm assuming are my siblings.

As we walk, we pass by a few servants, all of which bow as we walk past.

I could get used to this life.

After a few minutes of walking, Sebastian stopped in front of a large set of double doors that were well over nine feet tall.

He nodded to the guards next to the doors and they nodded back before opening the doors for us.

I peered inside the room before wandering in.

A large table is set in the middle of a massive hall, and I see a large figure at the head and three figures spread out on both sides of the head.

They all stop talking and look towards me as I slowly trot over to who I am assuming is Satan.

I get about two foot away from him before stopping. No one moves, we all just stare, so I take the chance to look at my demonic family.

Almost directly to Satan’s side (there's a empty seat in between) is a woman, she has red skin and long deep red hair, as well as red flames sprouting out of her head like horns. She also has long red nails and is wearing a dark red and black suit.

On the other side of Satan is a guy I recognise, even if not in a vessel, I can recognise that aura, and that gross smell. It's Astaroth, dick. He is wearing a black suit that looks like it's rotting at the edges.

He also has horns but his are black and curl forwards slightly.

Next to him is another man who has little insect flying around him and crawling on him. He is wearing a dark brown and black suit as well, although it isn't as well kept as the woman's. It seems like moths have ruined the sleeves, leaving them slightly deteriorated.

His horns are brown and have tiny little critters bumbling around on them.

Finally, Satan himself.

He's fucking massive.

Like, the dude must be seven foot tall. He has long white hair that's been left flowing down his back and across his seat.

His suit is a light blue, like our flames.

He also has flames sprouting from his head like horns but his are blue.

His eyes are warped and his ears are longer than mine. His skin is also pale with blue undertones.

I turn to face him, offering him a closed mouth smile before saying:

"These clothes are stupid."

Chapter Text

Satan sat, eyes remaining open as he seemed to fully process the fact that the first thing I said to him was a complaint about clothes.

Yeah I know, I smash every assumption ever. I’m a boss bitch like that.

My ears twitched as they picked up the sound of Astaroth’s muffled giggles, okay, now that really pisses me off. That dick doesn’t deserve to enjoy my comedy and he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to laugh at me being myself.

I flick my wrist in his direction and let out a chuckle at his immediate yelp.

Yep, I lit blue flames on his chair and burned his ass.

No ass for the asshole.

Hey! I should write that down and put it on redbubble as a sticker, bet I could sell a few easily.

Satan’s lips twitch and slowly stretches into a smirk before he outright cackles.

“That’s my boy!” He says proudly, smiling at me.

I’m gonna ignore that, like, homie, how could I ‘be your boy’ when we’ve only met once before. Bro, take a look at nature vs nurture. Personality isn’t genetics- right?

“These clothes are stupid.” I say again, continuing to maintain eye contact with the dude - I call him dude as if he isn’t my father, I have got to start remembering that.

Satan just stares at me - blinking slowly as he tries to understand that one of the first things I've said to him is a complaint about clothes.

I stare back at him.

Eventually he breaks out of his trance and chuckles.

"Don't waste any time with chit-chat, do ya?" He says to me - it's not really a question but I shrug at him anyway. I'm not backing down, these clothes are fucking stupid. "I know they are different from your Assiahan taste but I've always been quite fond of Victorian England fashion. So you better get used to it."

He stares at me with this look in his eyes that tells me I definitely shouldn't argue back - even though I definitely want to.

I know, big surprise, but I do actually have survival instincts somewhere rattling around in my head.

I forget to nod in acquiesce and when I do eventually leave my brain, I notice that he has begun to growl in warning at me, obviously thinking I'm disagreeing.

Which I do, but not right now.

Immediately, I tilt my head down. My demonic instincts blaring warning sirens in my head.

Jeez, that was fucking scary - remind me to never do that again. Although to be fair, it wasn't really my fault but we'll keep that thought to ourselves.

I look back up at him after a minute and notice him smiling (if you can even call it that), obviously pleased with my actions. Fucking sadist.

"You're settling into your demonic instincts quite nicely. Come, sit here." He beckons me closer and forces - who I'm assuming is Iblis - to a different seat, allowing me to sit next to him. I honestly don’t know how to respond to that comment.

I nod and move to take a seat. Now is not the time to be a dickwad.

Bro…

These seats are so fucking comfortable, I could live on these things - like, forever. They are perfectly cushioned and smooth, with some well-conditioned leather covers over the melting cushion.

Right, I really need to stop simping for a chair and get back to the real world.

So, I’m sitting at a dinner table with fucking Satan and his offspring.

Although technically I am also a part of that group.

I look at the table and see place mats set out along with cutlery. So I’m assuming there is gonna be some grub served soon, I’m famished....

Ew, did you hear that fancy talk? Famished? I’ve been hanging out with Mephisto for way too long.

I sit for another second and stare unblinkingly at my father.

“Anyways, are we having food? I’m starving - the whole demonic transformation thing really takes a lot out of ya, ya know? Well obviously you don’t but it does. I could eat an orphanage full of children with the children included.” I ramble, tail flicking behind me as I speak.

“Yes, yes,” Satan snaps his fingers and a servant appears out of nowhere. “Tell the cook that I want dinner ready now and dished out as soon as possible otherwise she won’t cook another meal in the next century.”

The servant nods solemnly before backing out of the room and through a dark doorway in the corner of the room.

That was kinda harsh though, not gonna lie, I am really hungry though, so I’m gonna ignore the threat. To be honest, if I had just woken up and someone else was making my food, I would also threaten them.

Iblis scoffed quietly at father’s response to my hunger. Sucks to suck them, obviously she’s jealous at the attention I’m receiving.

Like, miss gurl, respect my awesomeness. Silly sausage, why is she surprised that I’m getting so much attention? Like babes, one, I’m skinny, I’m winning, and all you bitches are ugly. And two, this is this man’s first time having me at what he believes is my rightful home (something that I believe too) so of course he is going to be giving me some extra fuss.

Plus, Sebastian said I’m like a baby in demon standards, so that’s got to stand for something right?

“Watch the attitude, Iblis.” Father says, turning to face her and giving her a glare. Oof, being at the end of one of those, wouldn't recommend.

“Well, you’re fawning over him like a human child seeing a puppy for the first time.” She responds, sneering in my direction. Astaroth sneered back at Iblis and Beezlebub just sat there, wincing as Iblis dug herself a deeper grave.

“You’d be wise to watch your mouth.” Father says, his flames rising and growing hotter. The others begin to shift in their seats - uncomfortable with the situation. “Remember your brother is just a child, and needs more attention than you do at your age.”

Okay, I’m happy for the defence but the age thing was a bit of a blow.

Iblis glares at me for a second longer before looking away and down at her empty plate,

“Okay, so now that that’s over, can we move onto something a bit more lighthearted? Anyone ever played snakes and ladders?” I ask, rocking back and forth on my seat, bored and trying to get out of the awkward atmosphere that had settled in the room.

Beelzebub perked up.

“I played that once, although the pythons kept on eating the humans I used for counters so the game didn’t last long.” He responds looking at me, waiting for a response.

“... What the actual fuck.” I turn and face him, ready to start rambling - or maybe lecturing to be honest - about the absolute masterpiece of the snakes and ladders game and what exactly he meant before feeling a sharp pain on my ear. “Fuck.” I howl as my head gets turned to face father by my poor ear.

“While I would be happy for you to be rid of human standards, swearing will not be accepted. It is unbecoming of a prince and second heir to the throne.” he says and gives my ear one last pinch before pulling away.

I immediately rush my hand up and rub my ear. What is it with demons and pinching my ears? It hurts. Better than being beaten though, which is the sort of punishment that I thought he would do.

C’mon, not to think bad of someone, but man’s the literal devil. Like, if you’d been forced to listen to Yukio rant about the dude and how being a demon is bad, then you would think the same.

Oh ma gawd, I’ve got Stockholm syndrome from Yukio. I spent too much time as his captive in the monastery and the shitty dorms. I’ve been infected with his ideas. I always said this would happen, but no one listens to Akito - noooooo, why would we do that?

Just as I was about to speak, the food came out, carried by servants. Which was probably a good thing cause I was about to say some stupid shit anyway which would have got me in some deep shit.

A tray gets placed before me and the lid is uncovered before the servants back away to the outside of the room and then back out the door they came from.

That was really well organised, could never be me.

I look down at my dish and see a sight which honestly bamboozles me.

The dish seems to consist of a bedding of lush purple leaves, on which three yellow fish lie atop… alive. They flop frantically and as I see them open their mouths, two rows of sharp teeth become visible to me.

Okay, well, this seems like effort to eat.

I look up at the others and see them all waiting and looking at father, claws tapping on the side of the table, itching towards their plates. They all also seem to have a lot more fish on their plates.

I look towards father and see his plate is piled with the wriggling, scaled creatures. I then also notice that he is looking at me, as if waiting for my reaction to the dish.

I smile weakly.

“Not to seem stupid or anything, but what the actual furniture is this?!” I question bewildered, gesturing towards the plate and tilting my head to the side. Father cracks a smile which slowly widens before he all-out cackles. “Okay… still not answering my question…”

“It’s a famous, and expensive, dish in Gehenna called ranjang kematian ungu. I’m not sure why it is called that, although I do believe that the demon that came up with the concept was Indonesian - so that explains the name slightly more. The funniest part about the name though is that it actually has nothing to do with the main part of the meal, the κίτρινο ψάρι - which is the fish, but instead to do with the foliage on which it lies.” Father says as he calms down, going back to looking at me and gesturing towards the dish when needed. “The finder of the fish was Greek so that also explains the name of the fish.”

“That’s really great to hear, but I still don’t have a scooby about what it actually is.” I reply, grimacing slightly as I see the fish on the right of my plate give an aggressive flick towards the middle one.

“Yes yes, I speak around the point sometimes, comes with the territory of being so old and thus so knowledgeable. It is, essentially, fish on salad, but the fish and leaves are very rare and difficult to cultivate - only found on opposite sides of Gehenna.” He replies, acting smugly when he speaks of his ‘knowledge’.

“... How do I eat it?” I question slowly. I just want to get to the point now, I can’t interrupt a freaking kind either so I just have to sit through his rambles.

“You just bit it, obviously” He says obnoxiously, with no further explanation before picking one up from his plate and throwing the whole thing in his mouth.

Quickly after everyone else on the table reaches for their plates and shoves a fish in their mouths, killing all the fish in their mouths.

Sorrows, sorrows, prayers.

Right, well, guess I’ll just give it a go then.

Tentatively, I reach out a hand and pick up a fish before putting it in my mouth. I’m quickly surprised as it pops in my mouth as soon as it comes in contact with my tongue. A strong, delicious meat is left in its place, I can only explain the texture of duck.

It’s really fucking odd. It’s definitely a mind fuck, but a delicious mind fuck.

Wait, it’s a mind duck.

Jeez, I’m good.

I reach for my send and quickly consume that and then my third. By which point, I was pleasantly full, however, I still manage to eat the salad as well. Which also has a weird taste, it tastes like carrots mixed with broccoli.

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really know how to explain it, you just have to try it.

Once finished, I look up to see everyone else’s plate devoid of food, with a few still putting the last of their salad in their stomachs.

I look towards father again and he is also finished. Once we are all done, he flicks a hand and the servants appear again, collecting up the empty dishes and leaving again.

“I’m assuming that you liked it?” Father questions me.

“It was surprising, but nice overall.” I respond, not really seeing the point of this small talk. My legs begin to twitch and I tap my claws against the table in a rhythm. My tail also swings from side to side as I begin to feel antsy.

Ugh, I’ve never been this fidgety before, even with ADHD and all that.

“Heh, the young demon inside of you is already bored. A great sign of your power to come.” Father says to me while nodding approvingly. “Dessert is on its way, after that I will take you to your training and playroom where you can burn some of that energy before you go back to bed, you did wake up just before dinner unfortunately.”

“Sounds awesome.” I respond, slightly confused at the first part but excited to mess around after and for dessert as well.

I mean, how does fidgety connect with my future power? No one knows, except every single demon in Gehenna.

I look around at my siblings, Astaroth seems to be picking around his teeth with his claws, hunting for any leftover morsels of food. Iblis is glaring at me, but smiling as soon as father looks her way and Beelzebub just seems to be shrinking in on himself as soon as I look at him.

Aw, poor baby is self conscious.

I begin a staring match with Iblis. Neither of us break eye contact, even when the servants come round to deliver dessert and even after they disappear.

My eyes twitch as I hear a loud cough, I quickly turn towards father and peer out the side of my eye to see that Iblis did as well. We’ll have to do a rematch soon.

Father seems to be looking amusedly towards Iblis and I but ultimately chooses to ignore the staring match and instead turns directly to me and gestures towards the new dish on my plate.

“I got one of the servants to go to Assiah shortly and collect a popular dessert in Japan for you. They said that it is called anmitsu.” He says to me, looking quite pleased with himself for the thought.

Sharply, my head snaps to look at my plate and I smile widely, I love this stuff. A bowl lies in front of me filled with mochi, chestnuts, ice cream, peas and slices of dried banana. To the side of the bowl is a separate bowl with mitsu in it.

My mouth waters as I look at it and I slowly look back at father, my eyes pleading as they flash from the bowl to him. He chuckles slightly before picking us his spoon and filling it before putting it in his mouth.

I take that as the chance to eat and as the others pick up their spoons for their first try, I’m already digging in for my second spoonful.

Wahhh, this is some of the best anmitsu I’ve eaten in my whole short life.

I finish quickly and once I am done, the food driven orgasmic haze that flooded my senses begins to lift and I notice that no one else is finished.

I sit back and relax waiting for everyone else to finish their portions.

Near the end of my wait, I begin to fidget again as my tail flicks around and my knees bounce. I tap my sharp claws against the dark table and stretch my back and neck.

Father chuckles at me and flicks his hand again, the servant once again appearing, picking up the bowls and then disappearing again.

He then stands and my siblings follow suit, I clumsily follow their lead and stand up quickly, almost knocking my chair over in the process.

He gestures to me to follow him as he heads towards the large doors that act as the exit and entrance of the dining room.

I follow and stand next to him, the doors open and he steps out and begins walking in the opposite direction of the hallway that leads towards my room. Sebastian, who I think had been standing outside of the room the whole time, begins to follow after me, five steps behind me.

I soon come to realise that I’m so fucking short compared to Satan as I take two steps for his every one. By the time we reach the training room, I already feel like I’ve been through a full workout.

The door for the training room is a lot less grand than the door to the dining room, and also seems lighter as father opens it with one hand.

However, he could just be really strong, which would make sense considering he is fucking Satan.

He walks into the room and lets go of the door, Sebastian quickly steps forward and takes the weight of the door as he holds it open for me.

I smile at him in thanks as I walk past him and into the room, which is a hell of a lot bigger from the inside than what it appeared to be on the outside.

It looks quite bare, but in a good way, like it has an even flat surface for playing and fighting. I take a closer look at the floor and see panels on some parts of the floor, discreetly hidden.

I shoot a questioning look at father but he has already moved to the centre of the room. I start walking towards him and he finally turns back to me.

“Come on, give me your worst.” He taunts, raising a brow and flexing his claws in my direction.

I feel my lips curl up as a thinly hidden snarl leaps behind my smirk.

I lunge.

Chapter Text

Satan immediately dodged me and chuckled because he’s an annoying little bitch boy.

Yeah… that thought is gonna stay with me, myself and I.

My hackles raise as I bare my teeth playfully before preparing for another attack.

“Come on now, is that the best you’ve got?” He taunts, as he leans back in a relaxed posture - like I am no threat to him. Which I’m probably not to be honest, but I’m still gonna have a go at him.

“Sorry old man, just thought I should go easy on ya, brittle bones an’ all.” I retort, my grin widening as I see him huff at my words’

I do so love aggravating people, especially people more powerful than me. I should probably see a therapist now that I think about it. Wait, do you think they have therapists in Gehenna? LIke, what would they speak about? Do you think demons get PTSD from being murdered by exorcists? That would be really sad if it’s true.

Great, now I’ve upset myself. For fucks sake.

“Watch your words, little demon.” He smirks at me, before gesturing for me to attack him again. I growl lightly before lunging forward again, this time aiming for his neck. Again, he dodges me. I can tell that this is going to get old real quick.

We end up in an eternal dance, me lunging and him dodging. At one point I went for his legs but he managed to side step just in time, I can tell it almost got him though before his eyes widened slightly.

Honestly, I’m taking that as a win considering he’s literally Satan. So, suck that you overgrown fish finger. I will definitely never say that to his face, let’s be honest, that’s basically asking for death. My brain is just constantly producing treasonous thoughts, it’s not a great attribute.

Exhausted, I finally collapsed, my chest heaving as I gasped for breath. Sweat dripped down my forehead and along my neck and back. I haven’t had a proper work out like this since before my original demonic awakening.

“Well done, my son.” Satan praises me as he looms over my twitching body.

“I couldn’t even get a claw on you!” I say back, annoyed at him. I squinted my eyes and waved him off, happy to sit here and wait out my exhaustion.

“I’m not mocking you, considering this is your first fight after your final awakening, and that you haven’t really got used to your instincts and how to fight like a demon, I would say that was rather impressive.” He responded, seeming quite pleased that his offspring was already quite powerful without any formal training.

“Ah, that makes sense.” I respond less sharply now as I know that he was actually being sincere.

Who would have thought? The devil, sincere?

“Don’t worry though, you will have the finest teachers and tutors all of Gehenna has to offer. Soon enough you will be the prince you were always meant to be. I’m interested to see at what level your power falls.” He responds idly, deep in thought.

“I just want to be powerful enough to beat Yukio’s ass.” I reply, grinning at the thought.

Retribution, finally.

Nothing too bad, just some slight maiming and overall bodily harm. I wouldn’t kill him… probably. Nah, I definitely wouldn’t because it would upset Rin, and I can’t be bothered to deal with that. He cries really easily and his sniffles are really loud. Am I becoming more insensitive as time goes on?

Eh, probably.

“Ah yes, that human brother of yours, You could easily overpower him now, although I do understand the want for absolute power before doing so. There is nothing better than crushing someone so thoroughly they will never be able to oppose you again.” Satan nods along to himself, smiling creepily.

Yeah, I’m not even going to touch that can of worms.

“Sebastian.” Satan commands sharply, summoning him forward from against the walls.

“Yes, your majesty?” He responds, bowing as he nears.

“Please take Akito back to his room, I’ve left a surprise there for him I know he will be interested in.” Satan commands, giving me one final look before exiting the room.

“Well, that seemed pretty cold.” I respond, like, dude, we were just having a decent conversation (sorta) and then he just ends it like that. Like, not even a goodbye to his long lost son. Harsh.

“He will warm up to you shortly, young master, Gehenna isn’t like Assiah in terms of human affection between parents and offspring. The ultimate gift from a parent is to make the child demon self-sufficient and independent.” Sebastian speaks to me, seeing the slightly annoyed and maybe hurt expression on my face.

“Mmh.” I mumble, getting up and brushing my clothes off. “Welp, take me to my room then, I have a surprise waiting for me.”

“Of course, young master.”

We walk back through the corridors of the castle. I again glance at gory tapestries and paintings. I literally can see one without at least one dead body and enough blood to fill a bathtub.

Eventually we make it back to my room and I ask Sebastian to wait outside, I just wanna strip down to my boxers and relax under my bed sheets. I really want a long nap, yes, one of them when you wake up and you have creases on your cheeks and you can’t remember what year it is. They are the best things to ever exist.

I’m also gasping for a cup of tea, I’ll ask Sebastian to fetch me a cup for breakfast tomorrow. I’m really settling into this prince role, I’m already bossing around servants. I chuckle to myself slightly as I open my door and shut it behind.

I stretch, clicking my back and other joints before peering around my room for the surprise that was left for me.

It isn't that hard to spot, considering there is a humanoid body lying on my bed like they own it.

I growl deeply - I just want a fucking nap.

A head pops up from under the blanket, black fluffy hair falling out.

“Hiya Akito! It’s me! Itazura!” The figure chirps happily, smirking slightly when he takes in my shocked expression. Spreading out on the bed smugly, he basks in my state of shock.

This cheeky fucker.

He gets up fully, standing tall, and I just look at him. My eyes just rest on him, blinking slowly, as I restart all my internal functions and faculties. Finally, my brain starts working enough for me to take in his new appearance.

His skin is pitch black, with black claws and black eyes. Short demonic ears protrude from the sides of his head, and a glimmer of fangs peek out through beneath his black lips. He seems to be around six foot, his fluffy hair easily adding another few inches to his height.

His torso is covered in a black shirt, fully buttoned with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows. Around his neck lies a light blue tie. Black, baggy cargo/tech trousers cover his legs, with a black belt clasped around his hips, the excess spilling down his legs. I also notice that he’s wearing light blue combat boots, the same colour as his tie.

I raise an eyebrow at him, only one thought coming to mind at this exact moment.

“You dead built like a giraffe.” I say, looking him up and down.

“Yeah well, you dead built like a baked bean and I thought the best way to protect you was to become a meat-shield, so the bigger the better. Your dad agreed.” He replies, looking quite pleased with himself, which is when I remember that he can change his size. Imagine just being able to grow with a click of your fingers, that would be a nice skill.

“Well, you’re not wrong. At least I don’t have to worry about becoming JFK.” I respond despondent, somewhat annoyed that someone else is taller than me.

“Aw don’t worry, you should grow pretty quickly. With your demonic origin finally fully unlocked, the growth that has been trapped in your Koma sword will cause your body to shoot up.” He reassures me.

“You’re well informed.” I respond, squinting at him suspiciously.

“Your father spoke to me about it, it seems he has accepted my position as your familiar. Which is great news, he could have easily separated us, which would be concerning considering I have no idea which domain I originate from. I just kind of appeared in that classroom…” He trails off, staring off, confusion clear in his dark eyes.

“Hmm, that is slightly odd. Oh well. You’re all mine then.” I shrug at him, the answer becoming clear to me.

“Yes, it seems so. That’s not a bad thing, you’re one of the least annoying demons in Gehenna.” He jabs at me, smirking when I growl back at him.

I move over to the bed and lie down, groaning as my bed hits the mattress.

This is what Hell feels like.

“Rin and Mephisto have been panicking quite a bit in your absence. Mephisto seems scared that you’ve been caught in the clutches of Lucifer while Rin is just panicking, thinking you’ve been kidnapped. Yukio is just saying you’ve run away for attention, don’t worry though, I cut all his shoelaces in return and tipped a dash of poison into his food.” Itazura mentions casually, as he lies back down on the bed next to me, leaning back on the mountain of pillows.

“You poisoned Yukio!?” I whine, hitting in on the chest. “I wanted to be the one to maim him!”

“Chill out, it was nothing serious, you still can. It’s just some nausea and diarrhoea.” He reassures me.

“Good good. I have plans.” I respond, happier now. “Did you speak to my father about anything else?”

“Yeah, it seems he also doesn’t know where I appeared from, apparently I’m not like any other demon in Gehenna. My characteristics don’t match any of the other domains.” He answers.

“That’s slightly more concerning, if he of all demons doesn’t know where you come from.” I turn to look at him, a frown etched on my features.

“I believe that I may be created from your power as the start of your kin.” Itazura says to me, turning to face me as well. “I didn’t mention this to his majesty, in case I am wrong.”

“That… actually makes a lot of sense! Mephisto said something about that in his office when you guys had a snarl off that one time!” I reply to him. It does make a lot of sense, this also suggests that my powers will have something to do with Itazura’s two forms. I wonder what it is. I hope my specialty is something good. I don’t want to be weak. “Why couldn’t my kin be an endless kettle filled with Earl Grey!” I whine, that is such a missed opportunity.

“Oof, sucks to be you.” Itazura replies, “I’m glad I don’t resemble Mrs Potts from Beauty and the Beast, so no complaints from me towards your demonic leaning. Although I can imagine it now, Akito: Demon King of Tea.”

“Ugh, shut up. You would look a lot better as a teapot, wait, question, why do you look human-ish?” I ask him, changing the subject as I stare at him, confused by this development.

“I’m not completely sure, I think being in Gehenna changed my form because I can do it without the threat of exorcists. Whereas in Assiah it is easier to survive when I’m smaller.” He responds thoughtfully, gazing into the abyss while his few brain cells try to think.

“Careful, don’t hurt yourself thinking about it and that’s also really sad, but it does make a lot of sense. Like Darwinian theory?” I reply, starting to get undressed as I prepare to settle in for a nap, or to sleep for the night, I genuinely don’t know what time of the day it is.

“Yeah, probably. I’m just gonna hang out with you while we are here. I’m basically going to be a friend you can’t get rid off. Plus, because I am your familiar, I don’t have to act all formal to you unless you want me to!” He speaks, looking happy with this.

“Yeah, I’m definitely not having you speak to me like Sebastian does.” I say back to him thoughtlessly. As I slide under the cover, relaxed and ready for sleep. I feel Itazura go stiff and peek at him. Emotionless black orbs stare back at me.

“Who is Sebastian?” He questions, voice monotonous and trying to be unassuming.

“Uhhh, my personal servant… I think that’s his job? I’m not too sure on the details. He’s outside the door if you want to speak with him?” I respond, snuggling under the cover more and pulling a pillow out to rest my head on. The best thing about coming to Gehenna is the bed. I would sacrifice all of my morals just to sleep in this bed for the rest of my life. Luckily, my morals are flexible, so I don’t have to give anything up.

“Yes, I think I just might. You’re mine to protect.” He speaks calmly and clearly, before slipping off the bed and towards the door. I hear it creak open and the shuffle of clothes tells me he slipped out as the door shut silently behind him.

Okay, well, that possessiveness is slightly alarming.

Well, at least I can get some sleep now.

~~~~~~

Itazura slips out through the door and into the corridor. His eyes quickly landing on the demon he perceives must be this ‘Sebastian’.

In one sharp movement Sebastian is pinned against the wall, forced by the arm pushing on his neck and the claws resting on his abdomen, waiting for the chance to pierce the skin and disembowel the body.

A low growl emits from Itazura’s mouth as he bares his fangs at the lowly demon he sees as a threat against his master.

“Akito is mine. Mine to protect. Mine to obey. Mine to follow.” He punctuates each sentence with a hard push on Sebastian's neck and a graze to his now rumpled shirt.

“Of course. I was just filling in your position while you were occupied. I will leave him in your care, if you’ll allow me to leave.” Sebastian merely smiles and gestures weakly with his hands for Itazura to let him go.

With a huff, Itazura backs up next to the door leading to Akito’s room. His black, glinting orbs never leave Sebastian’s figure as he straightens up before walking away from the room that holds his sleeping master and what could have been a murder scene.

As soon as Sebastian’s person escapes from his sight, he relaxes and leans calmly against the large, heavy, wooden door. Itazura smirks in the direction Sebastian left before opening the door and going back into the room quietly so as to not disturb his master.

He moves back to the bed and slips under the soft covers before snuggling up to Akito, pulling him up and allowing him to use him as a large pillow. This also had the benefit of providing heat that Itazura loved to be encompassed by. Tilting his head back against the giant structure of soft pillows, he breathes out and falls asleep peacefully with his master lying against his chest.

~~~~~~

Akito woke up pleasantly warm, his pillow rising up and down under his hea- wait, rising?

He sprung up and looked down at the bed, seeing that he had been lying on top of Itazura, who was still fast asleep. His face showing only signs of relaxation as he let out another puff of breath, before a frown grew on his face and his limbs sluggishly felt around the bed.

His eyes sprung open and his eyes frantically looked around before relaxing on the figure in front of him.

I quirk an eyebrow at his reaction before shrugging.

“Do you know when I need to get up for breakfast?” I ask him, assuming that it’s morning because the windows are pouring in more light than they were before I went to sleep. Looking around for clothes to wear, spotting the doors to a closet on the opposite side of the room and beginning to lean forward to get up and out of the bed.

“You still have another two hours before you are needed in the dining hall for breakfast, just go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up in an hour.” He says to me, nodding happily at the thought of more sleep and reaching out an arm, he grabs me and pulls me across his chest again. A light blush fluttered across my cheeks and down my neck.

“I- What are you doing?” I splutter, confused at his antics.I’m starting to not like this new big Itazura. He has been given too much power, the power to manhandle me. I can’t wait until I’m tall enough that he can’t do this anymore - which will apparently be soon enough.

“Just allow it, Aki, I prefer sleeping with heat and you’re hot. Don’t overthink it, I’m your familiar, not another stupid human.” He mutters, eyelids already shut. I mean, it’s a good point.

“Sure.” I respond, well, at least one thing hasn’t changed since all of this. Itazura is still a hoe for sleep but it’s actually kind of calming in a way that at least some things haven’t changed. I do like some constant things in my life surprisingly, considering I’m such a chaotic bitch.

I increase my internal temperature slightly with the use of my flames and am rewarded with him sighing happily and pulling me closer. He pulls my head to rest in the crook of my neck and chuffs slightly, before relaxing again.

I huff before closing my own eyes and starting my own journey back to sleep. I’m gonna be honest, it was a very short journey. By which I mean, I fell back to sleep almost immediately.

Chapter Text

“You do know you’re going to lose, correct?” Iblis’ honeyed voice trailed over to Akito as they sat across each other, a chess board between them.

Once I had gotten out of bed this morning, I realised that I had nothing to do - at least, that I was told to do anyway. First I went to the dining hall where I ate breakfast alone, Itazura told me that I had woken up around midday and everyone had already eaten.

So after I had started walking around the castle, which was when I was confronted by Iblis, who wanted to introduce herself to me. She then decided that the best way to do this was through a game of chess.

She’s lucky I know how to play. Imagine if I didn’t and I mean, I don’t fully understand her reasoning or thought process, but I’m not in the position to deny her. I haven’t grown into my powers enough. Once I’m fully fledged, I’m hoping I’ll be way more powerful than her - she seems scary.

Imagine if I’m more powerful than Mephisto, that would be awesome. I could wipe that smug look off his face once and for all.

I still want to play with Amaimon, though, no matter how powerful I am. He’s great and really fun to play with. Maybe I can meet him down here? I’ll need to ask someone about it. How do you contact a demon from Gehenna? Like, I’m assuming you can’t just give them a call, considering I haven’t seen one bit of technology down here. Yeah, I doubt there is access to 5G in Gehenna.

Like, who is planting a cell tower in Hell? Definitely not EE, Kevin Bacon ain’t that powerful.

Anyways, back on track.

So here I am. In the library. Surrounded by books. Sitting at a table. Opposite Iblis.

Now, I can’t say I’m too upset with the arrangement, considering I have a nice cup of steaming earl grey beside me. Itazura had plopped two sugar cubes in it once it was sat at the table, so I’m truly set. I’m glad he knows me well enough by now that he can make my tea without having to ask. It makes life so easy.

I ignored Iblis and focused on what moves I was going to make as I set up my side, I’m playing white. I used to play chess all the time back at the monastery. Well… not all the time, but I did play it often with the clergymen when I could stand their existence. Sometimes, they were too busy sucking up to Yukio as well, and I didn’t want to interrupt them as they worshipped his existence while tutting at Rin and I. Yeah, dicks.

“Hey, why are you ignoring me? Brat.” Iblis hissed, setting up her pieces. She aggressively put one of her pawns down, the table shaking slightly due to the force.

“Silence is the best response to stupidity.” I shared, the edge of my lip twitching upwards when she glared at me in response. My ear twitches as I catch Itazura trying to muffle his laughter behind me where he is standing against the wall. I sip my tea, slurping loudly just to annoy her even more.

“Hmm, witty. We just may get along.” Iblis ponders, looking amused and slightly shocked at the thought of getting along with one of her brothers. I’m just that great, I make everyone love me. Eventually. After wearing them down.

“Well, let’s play then, wannabe Lava Girl.” I respond, smirking at her while making my first move.

“Haha, very original-” She starts to retort while moving her piece forward, perfectly groomed nails glinting in the light. The perfect warning to anyone that even thinks about getting on her bad side or annoying her. Threatening with a quick and painful disembowelment to the offender.

Now, back to annoying her.

“I know right?” I interrupt her, grinning widely when I see one of her eyes twitch in response. Heh, she is going to be so fun to annoy.

“You are trying so hard to be a smartass right now, but all I see is an ass.” She counters, watching my hand as I move my next piece.

“Yeah, a thicc ass, thanks for noticing! Ya know I was scared that this new outfit change would make my ass look flat but I’m glad to know it doesn’t! Aw man, You have just released so much stress from my body.” I ramble as I watch her make a move and then block her attack with one of my pawns.

She squints her eyes at me, shaking her head while a light growl erupts from her throat at my response. My hackles raise slightly before I remember that she is kin, and I calm down straight away. I playfully snarl back, her ruby red eyes widening in delight at my response.

Hah, bitch thought.

“I didn’t think you would be this attuned with your instincts already. I am impressed considering the useless verbal diarrhoea that you just spewed out.” She raises an eyebrow at me, a smile beginning to show on her face.

I sit up straighter in pride, it took a while to get my demonic spirit merged with my human mind this far. A lot of meditation out in the forest back at school led to this moment, I’m glad it finally paid off.

I then finish processing her words and glare at her for the last part, rolling my eyes while I move my bishop, taking one of her pawns as it gets too close to my side of the board for comfort.

We continue playing, moves being made as our battle becomes more aggressive and bloody. Soldiers are sacrificed as we each fight for the win. After she makes a particularly reckless move, I look at her smirking.

“Whatever is making you this stupid, just know it’s working.” I say in a reassuring tone, taking her rook mercilessly with my queen. Her scarlet claws scratch against the old-looking coffee table. After which I think of a great move to make, which must show on my face because she comments before I can clear the emotions showing.

“Wow, a thought just came to your mind, it must be very lonely.” She exclaims sympathetically, her knowing eyes glinting as they appraise me and my actions.

“Heh, nice one, but you’re way too old to be making sarcastic comments. I mean, surely your birth certificate has expired by this point?” I ask her, mock pouting and lowering my head before peering up at her - giving myself a false look of innocence.

“Why you-” She stops and breathes in slowly, a smirk begins to grow on her face as her eyes light up. I don’t like the look on her face right now, not at all. “How are your partners doing lately? I mean, they just found out you’re half demon afterall.”

I stop.

Moving my piece randomly and looking up at her bewildered, shocked and scared. Is… is it true? I haven’t had the chance to think about them with everything that has been going on down here. Something must have happened for them to find out, there’s no way anyone just let it slip. No, someone screwed up. I can sense it.

When did it happen though?

How did they react?

Do they even still like me? Kamiki might, but Shima… I don’t know, he panics so easily.

“Check. Mate.” Iblis’ breathy voice whispers to me as I sit still.

~~~~~

Kamiki and Shima sat next to each other at the cafe they used to meet up at with Akito. A coffeed sat in front of both of them as they thought about the fact that Akito is a half demon and son of Satan.

The truth had been revealed to them a few nights ago, when their class found Amaimon and Rin fighting against each other in the forest. It had been brutal, they had fought hard against each other, Rin’s sword flashing as he attempted to strike Amaimon - blue flames had been covering his body at one point. Terrifying the whole class before Shura interrupted.

“So… What are we supposed to do now with Akito? I mean, he’s still missing. For all we know he’s in Gehenna with Satan! Seriously like…” Shima rambles nervously, his shooting all over the place as he tries to convey how he’s feeling.

Kamiki just shakes her head and shoots him a baleful look, all too used to his antics since Akito went missing and left her to deal with his nervous energy all by herself.

“I’m sure he’s fine wherever he is.” Kamiki cuts in, shutting down the rest of Shima’s long, long paragraph of words and worries.

Shima fully turns his body to face her, stress etched all over his being, “I mean, we’ve been dating a demon!” He shrieks.

“I don’t think it’s that important, many exorcists are part demon in some sense.” She shrugs, staring down at her coffee, brows furrowed.

“Yeah, but they aren’t spawns of Satan!” His voice cracks, eyes blown wide. “It’s terrifying. Ugh imagine, what if he can control blue flames as well!”

“As long as he doesn’t try to burn us I don’t see the problem.” She mutters, her face drawn as she thinks. She partially lied to Shima but it was for his own good, if she shows she’s stressed out as well right now, then he’ll panic even more. She was also scared of the idea of him having the blue flames. They terrify her as well.

“I guess so.” Shima responds, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m still not sure though.”

“That’s fine.” She tries to reassure him, not really sure what she’s doing. The comforting part of this relationship fell on Akito most of the time. It wasn’t really her thing, I mean, considering the childhood trauma, it’s kind of understandable. She awkwardly reaches her hand over and pats his arm, aiming for a calming touch.

Shima smiles at her gratefully, he knows how difficult this sort of thing is for her. If Akito could see her now, slowly becoming more human.

“Ew, I just thought, what if he introduces Beezlebub to us!?” He sharply reaches forwards and grips onto her arms, “I can’t deal with all those bugs. I’ll die.” He whines, looking petrified at the thought.

He looks more scared at the idea of bugs than dating the son of Satan, Kamiki thinks silently, looking at him while he looks around paranoid for bugs.

“Although, I guess if I knew he was the son of Satan, I might not have dated him.” Kamiki whispers, mostly to herself while Shima leans in to hear, “but now I’ve got to know him, I don’t think I’ll break up with him over it.”

Shima nods along, still looking unsure but willing to follow Kamiki. She tends to make more informed decisions than him.

“Mmh, that makes sense. I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait till he turns up and speak to him then. I swear Sir Pheles told us where he is.” Shima responds, idly scratching at the phantom feelings of insects on his skin.

“Yes, that sounds like a good plan. Sir Pheles didn’t say where he was, just that he was safe.” Kamiki answers, getting up and throwing her cup in the bin. “I’m going to head back to the dorms now, see you tomorrow Shima.” She leans in and pecks his cheek.

Shima waves as she leaves dumbly, face bright red from the kiss as his hand reaches up to hold the spot where her lips met his skin.

He stays there for a few minutes before also getting up, muttering under his breath as he throws his cup in the bin as well. “I mean, let’s be honest, it doesn’t matter if he’s a demon. I’m literally working for one anyways. Plus, it looks great that I’m dating him. It’s definitely helped me get higher in the ranks.”

He walks out the cafe, smirking smugly as he thinks about how far his dating life has gotten him. Well, now he has to go and report that Akito has gone missing to Lucifer, hopefully he doesn’t get in trouble for losing him.

~~~~~

“Well, this was fun. Your wit is impressive too, I would love to play again in the future. I’m looking forward to training, little demon.”

Iblis’ words startle me, I focus my eyes and watch as she walks out of the room, her posture exuding the confidence. I hear Itazura snarl and growl lowly in her direction as she leaves, obviously sensing how I’m feeling. I can’t believe I forgot about them. I need to know what happened.

I try to shake off her words, trying not to give them too much thought. “Let’s go back to my room.” I decide, desturing for Itazura to follow me as I leave the library. He shoots ahead of me to open the door for me, in return I shoot him an annoyed look. I can open my own doors.

He then follows just slightly behind me as we walk through the castle. I just want to go and have a nap, this day has already exhausted me. I didn’t even get to enjoy my tea with everything that happened.

I see Beelzebub approach down the corridor and internally hope that he just walks past me. I actually can’t be bothered for this shit. Ugh, what if he wants to play a game with me as well? What if he wants to play twister? I hate that game, my legs are too short for that shit.

He stops in front of me and I internally roll my eyes. Here we go again.

I put my hand up in front of him, “I’m not playing twister with you.” I cut him off as he began to open his mouth.

“I-” he fumbles slightly, looking confused, “I was just going to tell you that father h-has su-summoned you to his office. I really d-don’t know what you mean by ‘twister’.” He mutters the last part, scratching behind his left ear, where a wasp flies out. Oof, bit gross, not gonna lie.

“Ah okay, that’s chill. I’ll go there now.” I say, smiling at him. I start to walk forward before pausing and spinning around to face him, “where is father’s office?”

Gingerly, he smiles at me, “it’s jus-st down th-there, I c-can guide you if you want?” He looks unsure as he points down the hallway.

“Aw yeah! That’d be great, thanks dude.” I exclaim, gesturing for him to take the lead. He looks slightly unsure on his feet as he steps forward and begins the journey. “So… What do you do around here anyways?” I ask, bored as we stroll.

“I- I’m not sure what you mean, I just do what father or Iblis wants me to do. Unless Lucifer or Mephisto are around - which is rare these days - then I follow their order as well.” He answers, looking bewildered at the thought of doing something without someone telling him to do it. A small swarm of flies begin to fly around his head in circles.

“That is so depressing.” The words fall from my mouth before I can stop them. I mean, am I wrong though? Dude is a walking zombie. “So you don’t just do anything because it’s fun?”

“Of-of course not.” He responds slowly, batting at a fly that got a bit too close to his black eyes.

“Dang dude, I’m gonna have to play a game with you some time. Show you the joys of life.” I shake my head, staring at him concerned.

“O-okay.” He agrees.

We walk the rest of the way in silence, Itazura walking so softly that he doesn’t even make a sound behind me. Making me forget he’s even there for a moment. Before long, Beezlebub stops and gestures towards a large, dark wooden door. He then swiftly turns and strides away.

“Okay… Welp, wish me luck in there.” I mutter to Itazura as he steps forward and opens the door, shutting it with him outside and me inside. I look towards the dark, heavy-looking desk in the middle of the room, of which my father resides behind in a dark, cushioned chair.

He smiles my way, fangs flashing as he points towards the chair opposite for me to sit at. I smile back shakily before sitting in the aforementioned chair. I mean, I’m not gonna disobey him am I? Sirens are blaring in my head for me to do everything he says. I guess being stuck with him in a room where everything smells like him and screams that this is his territory doesn’t make for a very relaxing atmosphere when you have baby demon instincts.

“I’m glad you got the message, son.” He tilts his head to the side, assessing me and my body language probably before smirking, “been talking with Iblis have we?”

“Yeah, something like that.” I respond, scratching the back of my neck and almost cutting myself with my claws, I quickly bring my hand down, onto my lap.

“Yes.” He corrects my language before continuing, “it’s good that you have spoken to her as I have decided that she will be helping you train your fighting skills as well as coming more into your instincts – although I can see that you have accepted a few of them already.” He gestured to my tight lips, where I’m hiding my fangs as much as I can, with a smirk.

Damn, I’m going to have to hang out with her again- wait, training? When did that become a thing that I would be doing regularly? I thought it would just be every now and again. At least it gives me something to do though, I don’t want to be one of those spoiled princes you see in movies and tv shows.

“Yes, I have got a few of them. Mostly the ones that tell me I’m in a dangerous situation.” I send him a close lipped smile. Annoyance creeping up in my mind as I can’t seem to relax.

“Well, they are the best to have, I suppose. Although you shouldn't feel in danger often, considering your heritage and power status. Don’t worry though, you’ll come into your power soon and will feel relaxed almost all the time.” He reassures me, which is when I notice his tail swishing behind him.

I peeks out from under his frost-white hair. It’s a light blue colour, although in the light it seems to change shades. It’s covered in a fine layer of fur, with a white tuft on the end of it.

I pout at the thought of having my tail free. Ever since dinner, I have kept it under my shirt unless in my room because I’m unsure about my siblings. I don’t want to offend any of them. Satan seems to notice my look and put out expression as he chuckles.

“You can have your tail free. I am your father, so I won’t take offence to it, and I know you're not challenging me, plus, you’re just a little demon, it would be silly to feel challenged by such a thing.” He chuckles again at the thought before using his hand to gesture for me to free my prisoned appendage.

I immediately free it as soon as I process what he says, not even paying attention enough to feel insulted by the ‘little’ thing. I let out a sigh of relief as my white tail falls out from under my shirt, it swishes around - out of my control - as it also relishes in freedom. The small fluff of hair at the end expands slightly as the hair falls about and floofs out.

Satan smiles genuinely at me. “There was a time I never thought I’d get to see you and your brothers again. So this is nice to see.” His smile turns sad as he thinks about the past.

I sit there, slightly unsure on how to respond, apparently my brain knows what to do however because without thinking about it, my throat lets out a high trill. What the fuck is that sound? Apparently the right one because his smile turns happy again.

“I need to focus on what I summoned you here for.” He nods to himself, “starting tomorrow, you will be following a schedule I made to help you flourish.”

So I escaped school just to walk into another one? Great. Just what I wanted.

“Okay.” I respond, unsure of what to actually say in response to his statement.

“Yes, you will be tutored by the very best Gehenna has to offer about demonic culture, manners and Gehennan literature, a prince must be well cultured. Beezlebub will be teaching about demonic creatures and how to identify them, as that is his specialty. While Astaroth will be teaching you about plants that grow here. Iblis will be training your physical prowess like I mentioned earlier along with sharpening your combat instincts and helping you grow into your power. I will then be teaching about more royal matters, such as how to act around company, other noble families and helping you realise some of your other instincts for starters.” He informs me, not giving me any time to react to what he is saying.

I sit there silently for a moment, taking in all the information and understanding what it means before I comment. “That sounds like a good plan, I am getting bored.”

“Yes, we don’t want that. A bored demon is a destructive demon, and I just got the carpet refitted.” He laughs, taking my response in stride along with my obvious inability to fit into the conversation.

“The carpets were looking especially tempting.” I remark before I can stop myself, looking down at them. I pause, slowly craning my head up to get his reaction. He just chuckles at me, seeming amused at my comment. Phew, crisis averted.

“Hopefully, daily interaction with your father and your family should also aid in your growth. I don't think it will be long before your niche begins to show, especially considering you already managed to summon your familiar.” He remarks, eyes glinting as he mentions my niche. “I do hope it’s something interesting.”

“I hope it shows soon.” I respond, eagerness showing in my eyes and body as my tails speeds up in its swishing at the thought.

“Your personality might begin to alter slightly as this happens due to the deep connection between your abilities and your thoughts.” He must see my concerned look as he’s quick to add on “It shouldn’t be a big change, only slight.”

I relax slightly at that, “alright, I can handle that.” I nod, breathing out deeply.

“You will also grow very quickly.” He says offhandedly, my head snaps up to face him from where I was beginning to nod off.

“How soon?” I demand, leaning forwards, tail swishing sharply behind me as my claws dig into the chair I’m sitting on.

Father’s right eye twitches at my manners and posture before deciding to ignore it. “I imagine you will wake up tomorrow slightly taller already.” He responds, my grin widens as joy fills my body.

Ah, finally I won’t be the short friend.

“Your body is still getting used to the atmosphere, causing you to tire easily, which is why you woke up so late and why you are already exhausted.” He tells me as my head falls forward as I almost fall to sleep. I was in the moment when everytime I close my eyes, I feel really good. “You should go to your room and retire for the day. Itazura will wake you up early for breakfast, from which he will guide you through the day.”

I nod at him, beginning to get up. “Thank you, for everything.” I say, smiling gratefully at him.

“I’m your father, it’s my duty. Now, hop along, I imagine that familiar of yours is beginning to get antsy being away from you for so long.” He smiles back at me while using his hand to shoo me off.

I reach forward and pull the door open, where Itazura is leaning against the wall opposite. As soon as he sees me, he lunges forwards, taking the door from out of my hands and closing behind me. Then he wraps his arms around me and stuffs my head into his neck, while bringing his head down to snuffle against my hair.

“Thank Satan you came out when you did, I was getting ready to tear the door off its hinges if you were in there for much longer.” He mutters into my head, annoyance leaking out of his tone.

“Well I’m here now, and I want to go to bed, so let's get moving.” I say, trying to usher him along. He pulls away from me and leads me back to my room, where I promptly strip to my boxers and fall into bed, sighing as my back hits the sheets.

“It’s weird, I’ve been away from you for longer and I’ve never been affected like that. I felt horrible being away from you for that long. I needed to see you.” He mutters, pacing back and forth in front of the bed.

“Yeah yeah, we can think about it tomorrow, let’s just sleep.” I mumble back, eyes already closing.

“Okay, you can tell me about what your father said as well.” He responds, stripping into his boxers as well, pulling me under the sheets and then wrapping me up in his arms on his chest like last night. Sighing happily as the heat hits him, crooning softly, he shuffles my body while I begin to fall asleep, resting my head in the crook of his head.

He relaxes under me, his breath evening out as he falls asleep instantaneously. Damn, I wish I could fall asleep that easily. Which is what I think as I also fall asleep almost instantaneously.