Chapter Text
After the whole incident, things really slowed down. They had their final exams, of course, they were still in high school. But there were no sightings of Prince Rinka or the Illuminati since the battle. The holidays were quiet as well. Renzo was noticeably absent. He had stayed at the True Cross dorms until exams had finished but after that… he was gone. He left a voicemail on Ryuji’s phone, explaining that he wasn’t ready to come back to the Myoda just yet. But that was all anyone heard from him for the entire winter break.
The gossip amongst the temple members about Renzo was disgusting in Konekomaru’s opinion. He was ashamed to admit that at first he didn’t say anything. To be fair, he expected Ryuji to say something, to blow up like he always did the moment he heard it. Instead, Ryuji surprisingly kept his mouth shut. He’d changed a lot the past year, especially once he became Lightning's apprentice. He was quieter, actually thought before he spoke, and was able to control his temper better than before. Konekomaru could tell that the comments people were making about Renzo were getting to Ryuji, but for some reason he wasn’t stopping it. It took a few days for Konekomaru to crack.
The entire temple was surprised by Konekomaru’s outburst, most of them shocked into silence. Thankfully, Ryuji backed him up in lecturing the others. A good amount of people looked ashamed of their actions. Yaozo Shima looked secretly thankful that someone said something. The amount of rumors about Renzo decreased after that, but Konekomaru would sometimes catch stray whispers. People normally didn’t notice him, and his time at school had only made it sneakier. When he was with Ryuji, he never heard those whispers. He wasn’t built for stealth and his status among the Myoda families made people notice when he entered a room. People went quiet when he appeared, that wasn’t anything new for Ryuji. But that meant he never knew people were still repeating those nasty rumors about Renzo. Konekomaru thought it was for the best.
Konekomaru powered through the winter holidays. He always tended to stay on the outer edges of the celebrations, having no family of his own to celebrate with. He was relieved when the break finally ended and the second school year began. Since Renzo was no longer attending the cram school, Konekomaru was now roommates with Ryuji. They had talked it over with Ryuji’s former roommate, Nemu Takara. Now that there was an uneven number of male students it meant that one of them would get a room to themselves. Ryuji didn’t feel comfortable living in the same room as one of Mephisto’s spies and Takara was all too happy to take the private room. Rooming with Ryuji wasn’t anything unfamiliar, thankfully. They had grown up together after all. It was a bit smellier than rooming with Renzo since Ryuji worked out a lot more often, but at least he was neater.
On the first day of the new school year, Konekomaru woke up bright and early. He made it to the classroom in good time. He was a bit early, so there weren’t many people there yet. He sat down at an empty desk and opened his book, lazily skimming the pages to pass the time. Students slowly filled the room. They caught up with friends they hadn’t seen since before the break, sharing gossip and swapping stories. Nothing too interesting. Because of how his schedule for the year worked out, Konekomaru was the only one of the exwires in this class. Typically they tried to put all of the exwires in the same classes, but it didn’t always work out like that. This year, Konekomaru’s first class on Mondays was his only class without the other exwires.
Konekomaru briefly glanced up as someone sat next to him. It wasn’t anyone he recognized from a quick glance, so he just went back to his book. Or at least he tried to. He was interrupted by a cheery greeting from the student.
“Hey there!” The student said. “Nice to meetcha!”
“Hmm?” Konekomaru hummed, looking up.
“This is my first day here.” The student said. “I mean, not like, okay I know it’s the first day of the new school year, but I wasn’t here last year I only just enrolled so I’m starting a year late? Shit, am I rambling? I’m so sorry…”
“I’m Konekomaru Miwa.” Konekomaru said, holding out his hand for the nervous student to shake.
The student stopped his nervous rambling, paused, looking at the gesture in shock. He grinned happily and shook the offered hand enthusiastically.
“Nice to meet you! My name’s Rin Egin!” The student said, shaking Konekomaru’s hand way more than necessary.
Konekomaru broke the handshake, then finally took a good look at the new student’s face. His eyes widened. He felt his face go slack. Rin. Rinka. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Konekomaru remembered the conversation he had with Renzo just before the winter break. He desperately wished he wasn’t the only one of the exwires in this particular class. He forced his expression to remain as neutral as possible.
“Uh, yeah… nice to meet you too…” Konekomaru mumbled.
The nephilim gave him a toothy smile. Konekomaru noted the sharp teeth that filled his mouth. His ears were slightly pointed as well, but small enough to appear naturally human to those that didn’t know about the existence of demons. Konekomaru glanced at Rin’s backside not-so-discretely, checking for his tail. It wasn’t there. He glanced back up at the demon, who just grinned at him. Konekomaru quickly looked back down at the book in front of him. This wasn’t good. He could feel Rinka’s stare on him. Eventually the nephilim looked away, pulling out his own school materials. Class started and ended without incident. Konekomaru could barely focus, continuously sending glances over and over to the nephilim sitting next to him.
When the bell rang to dismiss class, the nephilim gave a cheery, “Bye Miwa!” on his way out the classroom. Konekomaru shoved his things back in his bag and hurried to his next class with his head down.
Ryuji was in his second class that day. Unfortunately, he arrived a little late and was forced to sit on the other side of the room from Konekomaru. He sent his friend panicked looks from across the classroom, hoping to send him a message. Unfortunately it seemed like Ryuji didn’t see.
It wasn’t until class let out for lunch was Konekomaru able to talk to Ryuji. Of course the other sprinted full speed to the shop the moment the bell rang to get his favorite sandwich before they sold out.
“Bon, we need to talk.” Konekomaru grabbed Ryuji’s arm, stopping him from running off.
“Huh? Is something wrong?” Ryuji asked.
Konekomaru dragged Ryuji through the crowd of students, ignoring the other’s protests. He looked around the crowded area, through the throngs of identically dressed students. Eventually he found who he was looking for.
“Miss Kamiki!” Konekomaru exclaimed, rushing towards her, pulling Ryuji along behind him. “And Miss Paku!”
“Eh?” Izumo hummed, turning to Konekomaru, annoyed at the interruption.
“Sorry to bother you, but can we eat lunch together for today?” Konekomaru said, giving the girls a quick bow in apology.
“Fine.” Izumo sighed. “I assume this is important if you can’t wait until cram school later.”
“Thank you!” Konekomaru said.
The group settled down on a patch of grass under a tree. Other students walked past, chatting and looking for their own spots to eat as well.
“Um, are you sure I should be here?” Noriko asked. “I’m not part of the cram school anymore…”
“It’s fine.” Konekomaru said.
“What about Moriyama?” Izumo asked, looking around. “Shouldn’t we wait for her?”
“She doesn’t go to True Cross, just the cram school, so she’s probably not going to bother getting caught up in the lunch rush.” Konekomaru reminded the others. “We’ll have to catch her up later.”
“So what’s up?” Ryuji asked, unwrapping his sandwich carefully.
“I met a new student in my first class this morning.” Konekomaru explained. “His name is Rin Egin.”
Ryuji immediately choked on his food. Konekomaru thumped his back, helping to dislodge the food stuck in his throat.
“Sorry, I’m lost. What’s the big deal about this guy?” Izumo shrugged, wrestling open the plastic packaging of her lunch.
“Egin.” Ryuji said, coughing a little. “That’s the last name of Rinka’s mother.”
Izumo froze. “Wait, seriously?”
“Rinka? As in, the Son of Satan?” Noriko squeaked.
“I didn’t know that.” Konekomaru said to Ryuji. “But the first name, Rin… it’s just a shortened version of Rinka. And he even took his mother’s surname? He’s not even trying to be subtle…”
“What the fuck!” Izumo cursed. “What the actual hell is he even doing here?”
Konekomaru was quiet for a minute. Then he buried his face in his hands. “Damnit. I knew I was forgetting something.”
“What do you mean?” Ryuji asked.
Konekomaru sighed heavily. “Shima told me before the break that Rinka was going to be attending this year. I guess I assumed he would tell the rest of you, but apparently not. I mean I did try to stab him when he told me, but still… I shouldn't have assumed he would tell the rest of you. I’m sorry guys.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Izumo muttered.
“Why?” Ryuji interrogated Konekomaru. “Why bother attending school? We know he has spies all over, why does he need to be here in person?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t ask.” Konekomaru said, shaking his head.
“This is bad…” Ryuji mumbled.
“Not necessarily.” Izumo said. “I mean, what has he actually done? We thought that the whole battle was because he wanted to do something evil with the gate, but he closed it just like Okumura said. And he did defeat the Impure King for us. And he’s definitely in my good books for killing that rat bastard Gedoin.”
“You have a point…” Konekomaru said. “The issue is we just don’t have enough information. I could try to bribe Shima but…”
“I think Shima’s a bit biased on that particular subject.” Izumo finished for him.
“Yeah.” Konekomaru nodded.
Ryuji sighed. The group ate their lunches in silence for a few seconds.
“So, is there anything else you forgot to tell us?” Ryuji eventually asked, not unkindly.
“Um… I can’t think of anything else.” Konekomaru said. “Again, I’m really sorry. I just assumed you all knew.”
“It’s fine.” Ryuji said. “It was a… especially hectic time.”
“Speaking of, I spy trouble.” Izumo said, looking over the boys’ shoulders.
The sound of footsteps on the grass approached the group.
“What’s up, party people?” Renzo greeted the group happily. “Do you mind if we join you guys?”
Renzo had his arm over the shoulder of a shorter boy, with black hair and suspiciously blue eyes.
“Depends.” Izumo said warily. “Who’s your friend?”
Renzo grinned. “This is Rin Egin! He’s new here.”
The entire group glared at Renzo. The two sat down in the grass next to the others anyway. They were sitting so close to one another that their shoulders were almost touching.
“So…” Izumo drawled. “Where are you from, Egin?”
Ryuji coughed. Konekomaru gave Izumo a Look(™). Noriko just continued eating quietly, pretending to ignore the bullshit occurring in front of her. Renzo just grinned.
“Oh, I grew up in a small monastery not far from here!” Rin explained.
“Right…” Izumo drawled. “Cool.”
Renzo and Rin dug into their bags and pulled out identical bento boxes. The food inside was practically gourmet looking compared to the cheap meals wrapped in plastic they others had bought from the convenience store.
“Woah, that looks really good!” Konekomaru exclaimed, practically drooling. “Where did you get it?”
“Rin made them!” Renzo exclaimed. “He’s such an amazing cook! He’s so good it’s better than most restaurants I’ve been to!”
Rin smiled, blushing. He wiggled in his seat happily. If he had a tail at the moment, it would certainly be wagging back and forth furiously.
“Aw shucks, you don’t have to say all that!” Rin said. “It’s not really all that complicated or hard to do…”
“It’s like magic.” Renzo said solemnly. “He turns raw ingredients into masterpieces. I tried to learn and I ended up burning a pot so bad we had to throw it out, haha.”
A few people forced an awkward laugh. The group fell into awkward silence mixed with equally awkward conversation after that. The only one trying to keep the conversation going was Renzo. In practice, that just amounted to him asking a question, getting a one word/sentence answer in response, then Renzo proceeding to monologue to fill the silence once he realized no one else was going to say anything. Rin tried his best to join in, but would ramble for a bit before biting his tongue after a few words. He would stop and start in the middle of sentences, glancing at the faces of the rest of the group to gauge everyone’s reactions or expressions. He seemed to visibly deflate a little when he got nothing but cold stares.
Towards the end of the lunch period, Izumo was the first to excuse herself from the group, taking Noriko along with her. Konekomaru was next after that, taking Ryuji with him. Once they were far enough away, Ryuji dragged Konekomaru to a secluded spot to watch the nephilim as he and Renzo finished their lunches. Nothing happened, of course, and when the bell rang the two packed up their empty bento boxes and hugged goodbye, going to different classes for the afternoon period.
“Got any theories?” Ryuji whispered to Konekomaru, watching Rin disappear into the crowd.
“It’s too early to tell.” Konekomaru said. “I’ll see what I can get out of Renzo.”
“Do you think Father Fujimoto knows?” Ryuji asked.
“Don’t know.” Konekomaru said. “Also, there’s the matter of Mister Okumura. I haven’t seen him all day, so I don’t think he came back to school this year.”
“I haven’t seen him either.” Ryuji said. “I’ll ask around, see if my Master knows anything.”
“Right.” Konekomaru said. “Just… keep an eye out. And stay safe.”
“You too.” Ryuji nodded.