Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Many things can turn out unexpected; dying is one of them. Will you get hit by a car in traffic? Will you drown in a community pool? Or will that one friend you thought you could at least trust to not leave you high and dry gets to you a second to late? There are probably a whole lot of other examples one could give, but that would only detract from what really is rather unexpected; what happens after death.

Something which one young florist is about to get a taste of, right here, right now.

It was cold; freezing to be honest.

What happened? He had been in the shop, arranging some of the flowers… then what?

Roaring … Darkness… Cold…

He really didn’t like the cold; it was usually much too unforgiving…

....

A sweet fragrance in the air, soft… Gentle…

Fl-flowers?

What was with the glowing flowers?

Was that a seed? What were they doin-

PAIN

….

It was still so cold…

...felt so weak…

Huh? Why was there screaming?

….

Wait… was that a light? It was bright, and ever so blue…

It was really pretty… and warm.

Maybe he could get closer to it?

Wait, wait, Not THAT close.

Fuck no, too hot, much to hot!

SCREEEEEEEEAM!

BURNINGBURNINGBURNING BURN-

....

....

… It stopped...burning? Even though it’s still there?

Oh, the burning is mine now?

O-k..ay t-hen… r..est… no-w…

…

What… What was he?

Human…

Humans usually die when they burn though…And they didn’t have his flowers...

...Partly so then?

....

Who was he?

Simon, Florist of Nature’s Delights on 1302 East Cooper Street… Just finished off paying his last student loan, and ready to enjoy life…

… But he couldn’t really do that any more, could he?

After all, he died in that store…

The roaring(?) got him…

.... He was hungry again… Yells soon followed...

…

….

He wanted to sleep.

But he couldn’t…

PAINPAINPAIN

He was so tired.

He was so upset…

BURN!

…

…

More flowers? All around him?

...He was so confused…

…..

Oh… That was why everything was confusing…

Metal, polished to shine on one of those who hurt, showed back a curious round face that stared into it, eyes that tasted like his flowers...

He was a baby…

Chapter Text

I: Analysis

At five years old, Simon had been able to actually start understanding the situation he had been ‘born’ into.

He was a lab experiment; he had literally come from a test tube from someone’s alchemy set, made all for some alchemists and wanna-be mad scientists to test out their magic and theories on.

What they were testing on him, he had no clue really, only that it involved his flowers.

“My, such growth so soon!” an elderly man exclaimed, getting Simon’s attention along with some other scientists, seeing that the man was observing some of the flowers that grew wildly around his cell, claiming territory as it was.

“It is only to be expected; after all, the subject has been receiving quite a few ‘nutrients’ lately.” a fellow researcher mumbled, even as their experiment lost interest in them, turning their gaze to the very flowers the others were carefully observing, which he himself had somehow created.

They were all roses, each and everyone of them practically perfect, not a petal out of place or lost even as they bloomed so beautifully in differing shades of blue, hiding just how damn deadly they were behind that beauty they held. Simon had seen first hand how fatal they were; one of his first memories that he could actually remembered showed his just how they wrapped around a scientist, strangling the life out of them rather quite literally, leaving only ashes and torn clothing in the wake of their thorny attack. The roses were always ready to react at any upset on his part, and unfortunately for all, he was upset a lot what with being the labrat to a bunch of sadistic knowledge seekers.

Really, what could one expect when they decided that on some days it was an excellent idea to test his pain resistance or decide that they needed to see if he could handle being cut open at times? It was lucky he seemed to have an insane healing factor along with his roses, otherwise he would be pretty messed up, or probably even deader than a doornail and disco. As it was, the previously dead man kept his head down, followed orders as well as he could, and learned.

After all, if he wanted to escape these assholes, he was going to have to learn about his new tricks and how to control them; wouldn’t want to leave with half the info, then find out he could kill others with his mind if he so much as sneezed.

That was just a recipe for disaster. So biding his time was all he could do for now.

“-Can’t be serious!? The other subject is not only seriously unstable, but a hazard for all to be around! And yet you still want them to meet?” was suddenly yelled out, startling Simon out of his thoughts once more, making him frown as he looked out at the scientist outside his cell, now all fully in an argument.

“Subject Blue has shown not only great healing abilities, but from some analysis done on the roses themselves there has shown strong purifying qualities. Not only would it be great opportunity to see how far that goes, but it would also give a possible chance to subdue Subject Black, if only for a little while.

“That subject is already a waste of the Amahara flowers bequeathed to it, we will not let it possibly taint another!”

“Silence!” was suddenly called out, making all chatter and noise in the room stop, with only the heartbeats of one’s own heart be able to be heard.

The Head Scientist had come.

A man of seemingly impossible length and width, making bean poles look fat, Simon had never been able to really get a good look at the other, their face hidden in the shadows of their hood even as tufts of brown could occasionally be seen to fly out. But despite looking like a good wind could knock them out, they obviously had power, with authority all the ready to be used and busted out. Though honestly, the past florist could admit that they liked the guy despite them being in charge.

After all-

“... Now then, is dear Blue ready to meet young Black?”  

- The man actually gave a fuck about him and how he was as a damn person. It was all in the little things, with how they never called him an experiment, always talked to him, even started teaching them the strange language they were speaking (which led to an interesting discovery in that Simon’s absorption and learning rate was ridiculous, leading to him learning the language in two months). Sure, it could have been a plot to get close to him so that he would be loyal, except that Simon could literally sense the truth and goodness to gracious honesty the elder held. That had been fun, discovering that he could sense truth from lies so easily, as if one were picking out flies from butterflies.

(Though while he might like them, even let them help him, he in no way, shape, or form actually trusting the guy; they were still in charge of this pain factory after all.)

“Blue, are you ready?” was asked, get the young boy’s attention with that. (Damn, was being a kid a pain, he didn’t remember his attention span to be so short before… Then again, he had been 25 when he died, so it had been a while...)

“Yes, Sir.”

“Come then Child, there is someone who you should meet.”

And with that, Simon followed, a few guards surrounding him as he did so, each at the ready to knock him out if necessary, the only sure fire way anyone has found to stop his roses from going berserk. (Though soon they might need to get faster guards or get drugs involved, because just like him, so too does his roses learn as well.)

Though the long twisting and turning hallways, only the simple tap, tap, ta-tap of boots along with a child’s cat soft slipper ones is heard, heart beats all surrounding him as they move ever onward in this facility. Looking from wall to wall, ceiling to floor, shining silver metal is all one can see, with strange symbols and what Simon thinks as runes in blacks, golds, and the occasional white ones to add some flare around them.

As they finally stop by a door, the Head Man having to do his thing to open it, Simon is able to fully get a look at himself that isn’t in the swords around him or the slim pieces of equipment that the scientist carry that warp his image so.

…

… He looks so ridiculously like a little girl, it was actually kind of funny.

From soft lips to the angles of his face, he looks like some European princesses from the fairy tales come to life. Though maybe more for the anime, since he seems to now be the proud owner of blue hair, light enough that it almost seems to be glowing in fact. He looks like he could be one of those shy little girls in a guy’s harem anime game or something.

Amused, the newly discovered bluenet decided to look away from his frankly crazy long hair, and to his eyes, wondering if maybe he got a Kekkei Genkai like in Naruto-

...Oh…

Near mechanically, Simon followed along as the door finally opened, stuck in thought about just what he had seen.

...Well, at least he knew why the scientist were so freaked out whenever he watched them; not only did his eyes have no pupils, but the blue iris of his eyes were freakily large, seeming to leave just enough white in his eyes to not seem too abnormal, though gave a bit of an illusion in that the edges were glowing.

In conclusion, his eyes were creepy as fuck (though he wondered just how was he actually seeing right now? Because weren’t pupils kind of necessary?).

“We are here.” was said, a voice once more knocking off Simon’s train of thought into crashing, making said apparent youth to look up, blinking over at the head guy.

Huh, was it just him, or did the other seem nervous or something?...

“If at any time you feel uncomfortable or in danger Blue, I want you to get out of there; all you have to do is knock.” was explained to him, making Simon wonder if this ‘Black’ was really as terrifying as the others said he was, making even this guy, who has seen his roses go berserk, seem wary even as he worried.

So even as he nodded, Simon admittedly had some expectations when he went to meet Black.

They were all dashed away as he looked to the terrified, starving for near everything child before him, shielded from the world in a cradle of black thorns and roses.

Holy fuck, but was this place messed up, or was it messed up?

Chapter Text

II: Stories

Now, in most stories, the young hero is able to just dash on in, make all the friends, get the love interest for themselves, and then save the day leading to the happily ever after everyone wants.

Simon was not that guy; not in any shape or form at all. He was not the person who could magically fix a person with words, he couldn’t just make someone magically better with smile and a hug, nor any trauma-erasing kisses. Simon the Florist was someone who could help you with flowers, suggest some great anime to watch along with some manga to read, but besides that not much else could be offered. He drifted off from his high school and college ‘friends’, and his own roommate barely even knew he was alive honestly.

Thinking back on it, Simon probably should have got out more… Maybe try and make a few lasting relationships…

(Maybe this was his second chance?)

But at this moment, he was before a child, one who looked to be experiencing hell, the roses and thorns coming all around them, some bristling in what the blunet recognized as a readiness to attack. Watching even further, pupiless blue eyes watched as the thorns came out of the child’s arms and sides, the transition from branch to thorn seeming seamless if not for the differences from a pale tan skin to the black brambles that came off. It was honestly interesting to watch, as usually Simon was in to much pain/panic whenever he created his own.

Taking his eyes away from the roses for now, the faux youth took in the kid’s features. Judging by the shape of the other’s eyes, the creepy eyed bluenet thought maybe they were asian, a possibly? They were also really black, like coal black, which kind of reminded him of a certain ninja family, even the black hair, while very much messy, was like the-

… Wait a minute… Looking around the area around him, taking in all the bright polished shine to everything, the effects on it, even the fucking outlines…

Hot damn, he was in an Anime/Manga? Fuck.

Sitting down a little shakily, the young reincarnation stared at his hand, actually taking it in, as he obviously hadn’t really recognize what he saw in the metal a while ago. God damn it, he had even thought he had anime hair just a while ago, why didn’t he connect it then?

He was really going to have to do something about his attention span at this rate if this continued.

“W-what you looking at?” was askingly demanded, the accented voice making Simon look up and over at the black rose covered child he had accidentally forgotten about.

… Okay, regaining his focus was going to be high on his list from now on.

“My hand looks weird to me.” and so saying, the blue reincarnate showed of his hand, moving it as he did so. This caused the other to stiffen, the roses around them stilling, before they relaxed only just the slightest to actually look at his hands with their more normal black eyes.

“... Snow…”

“Snow?”

Looking away quickly at the word from him, the dark haired other continued, “It looks like it is made of snow, it’s so white.” And with that, Black as it were, hid his head in between their knees, the roses coming close to seemingly give a better sense of safety.

“Huh, cool.” looking at his hand, he could see it how the other got that, though that did make him wonder.

“Have you ever seen snow?”

“...in books…”

“Huh, do you still have them?”

“...n-no… hurt them…”

“Ah… Well, would you like me to tell you a story then?”

“Wh!?” was the sound the other made, looking up so confused.

“Well, it looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while, and I’m bored; and telling stories to myself has gotten a bit dull to be honest.” Being a fanfic writer when he had been a little tween had only come in even more handy when in school, improving on his bullshit storytelling and science papers. (Which, in turn helped make his fic writing even better, at least until college became hell.)

“... You do that?” was near whispered, making Simon have to strain just so to hear him.

“Do what? Make stories?” getting a nod at that, the blunet hummed, before nodding.

“Yeah, I can makes stories; would you like to hear about the kid that cut waterfalls in half and could become an army?” getting a nod from the other, Simon began, telling a little more condensed version of Naruto to the wondering eyes before him.

(What Simon might not realize is that while he is not one of those magical heroes from his favorite stories, doesn’t mean he can’t heal others in his own way; it will just takes time, which in the long run is better thing.)

Chapter Text

III: Connection

Story time with Black (apparently that was the only name the other has ever had) soon became a regular thing; the seemingly young blunet didn’t mind too much, as not only was Black a rather appreciative audience, but it was nice to go into a fantasy world to escape the reality that was lab testing, evaluating, judging, and the annual adjustment to see where he was at.

(Worst birthday party ever, zero out of ten would not recommend to attend.)

It was honestly much better to think of other worlds, where Naruto could have your back, Luffy was cheering you on, Ichigo was getting your sorry ass out of trouble, while maybe you could have Rin’s own reckless back. It was time better spent honestly, and Simon was pretty sure Black enjoyed the time together as well.

Speaking of which, with all the time the two have spent together, Simon would like to think the two of them as friends now, but with how distant the other boy was being no matter how long they spent together, admittedly made him wonder. As this was the other boy’s as safe as could be space in this hell hole, the blue eyed boy refused to break into the other’s personal space, asking if he could get closer, only to be met with a resounding no every time and leaving it at that while he got on with a story.

It was strange; such a look of fear was always on the other’s face when he asked, Black’s roses bristling in the background in reaction to the emotion. Simon started to only ask every now and then instead, not wanting the other to go berserk on fear; never fun waking up from those episodes, always made the bluenet wake up with the mother of all migraines, ones he didn’t really want to imagine a child to go through.

Though it was obvious that the other enjoyed his company, just by how those dark eyes would brighten and their roses would relax ever so much.

“Hey Black, would you like to hear more about the pirates today, or are you in the mood for stupid Vampires?” Simon asked once he got comfortable in his place on the floor, just to the side of the door so he wouldn’t be knocked into if it opened.

“Pirates please.” was his answer, an actual tiny, shy smile on the other’s face as they looked to him.

Progress!

“Alright then, let’s see-” and just when he was beginning, the door slammed open, the sound thundering in the room thanks to all the metal that it contained.

Looking over, blue eyes took in the rather rumpled and wrinkled appearance of the intruder, an older guy with white in his hair and murder in their green eyes. They looked like they have just ran some marathon, what with how they were panting, large gulps of air that left off with some wheezing and coughing at times.

“Finally….” The man managed, baring his teeth in a grin much like a tiger would, those murderous greens of his with Black in their sights, “Found you, you little monster!” and with that, the man took out what looks like a really, really old gun.

(What the fuck?)

The next few bits seemed to happen in slow motion for Simon.

The man went to cock it.

Black started to freak out, his roses writhing and rustling, whipping about as they reacted to their creator’s distress.

Noticing that the bastard still hasn’t noticed himself but just a few feet away.

Simon, who has grown attached and caring for the little guy he told stories to, not wanting him hurt, lets his own roses out, easily rushing and catching the man off guard.

It doesn’t take them long to die, as the beautiful blue roses wrap tightly around the man’s body, thorns of green staining red as they gouge into the flesh in their way, and even occasionally going through the body themselves if need be, stabbing here and there. Watching as how the thorns wrap around the man’s head and throat, roughly cutting into the adam's apple that is there while another thorn stabs straight though an eye to the other side.

How the man screams and cries as the roses drain him of all he has, eventually leading to nothing but silence and ash in the wake of it all.

It’s only after a moment of staring at the bundle of ash and clothing that Simon realizes that he just killed a guy before the already traumatized and terrified child.

Fuck his life is all one can really think to be honest.

Turning worriedly to the other, seeing if they are at least hopefully calmer, the bluenet get the shock of his life when he sees they are right next to him, watching his roses in awe.

Huh?

“You have flowers too!” was said with such relief, hope, and happiness that it took a while to process it.

Oh… “I never told you I had them, did I?”

“No.”

…. No wonder the kid was afraid; he wasn’t afraid for himself, he was of himself! He probably thought he would hurt the only other nice person around if he ever got close to him, thus the constant distance between them. After all, didn’t want the only possible friend in this place to fear and hate you after all.

Huh, he really felt like an idiot now; a dense one at that as well.

“... Hey, you can call me Blue if you want.”

“Really?!” was asked, getting big black eyes to practically twinkle up at blue orbs, the biggest smile that Simon has ever seen on the other’s face (which was pretty much a normal one).

“Sure.” the reincarnated youth said, blinking a bit dumbly when he suddenly felt extreme happiness.

Whaaaa, where did that burst of emotion come from??

(Unnoticed to both boys, blue and black met with curling green/black thorns and falling petals of blues/blacks swirled around as they met together in the middle, a connection now formed.

Time will only tell what will become of it.)

Chapter Text

IV: Introspection

So, apparently the stranger was not suppose to have been able to enter into Black’s room. Gee, what a surprise there, it made Simon feel so much better about the fact that at least they didn’t intentionally let a madman come in to kill Black. My, whatever else should he thank the wonderful, gentle and most generous scientists all around him for? That they didn’t use dull and rusty needles to give him agonizing shots that made his veins feel like volcanoes had erupted into them, followed by the most freezing of feelings as his roses curled and withered? Oh, maybe he should be most gracious that they didn’t make him drink down what felt like liquid nitrogen anymore, burning as it froze him stone cold in his tracks, before his stomach forcibly rejected every bit of it, having him throw it all up to experience it all once more.

He just had so much to be so fucking grateful about, didn’t he? (Huh, seems he’s finally gotten his sarcasm skill, something that apparently took laboratory experimentation to get…)

Sarcasm aside, at least this breach in security seemed to be treated seriously, getting guards, researchers, and even the Head Man himself involved, seeing about ways they could better secure everything.

One of those ways seemed to involve moving.

“What’s going to happen to my flowers here.” Simon asked, watching how the few things that hadn’t been destroyed in his cell were being gathered in a little bag, while all the room’s equipment was still being loaded up into boxes, or put on funny, old looking wooden slider-like trays with wooden wheels. (Why not use a dolly, it’d probably be faster and would carry more much easier? He didn’t ask that though, because why would he make his tormentor's lives easier?)

Staring in turn at each scientist, searching for the weak link that would be seriously creeped out by his eerie blue orbs, Simon managed to finally unnerve one to spilling their guts.

“The rest here will stay here and be put under observation, monitored and researched to see how they handle over time.” was hastily said by the guy, who then went about his way to get away, taking a box of random gadgets with him as he did.

Turning from the doorway his victim left, the bluenet turned to face the others in the room, feeling slightly amused as they flinched at feeling his gaze.

Simon hadn’t really noticed it, but growing up like this really changed him.

In that other life so long ago, he would have never thought he would actually enjoy seeing others in pain, much less enjoy putting them through it, even if it was only just unnerving.

But he really didn’t think he had it in himself to actually kill another.

Sure, the guy had been going to kill Black, but that didn’t mean he had to kill the other, and in such a painful way; he had much more control over his roses then that. He could have easily just bound the guy up, then wait for the guards to get off their asses and actually do their joy. Heck, he could have just as easily knocked the other out, got Black out of the room, then lock them in there with a whole bunch of deadly black roses to meet his fate.

But he didn’t; he had taken matters into his own hands, and made sure that it would damn well hurt the other through and through.

He might be a bit more dependent on Black then he thought at first; to be fair, they were the Blue Rose Master’s only friend in this hell side of the hole there was, no matter how young the other was. In fact, they were probably the only other living being that they trusted right now fully.

...Fuck, no wonder he reacted so harshly to that bastard; Black was practically his family to him now. Didn’t that just make his escape plans so much more complicated now.

“Subject Blue, follow me this way if you will.” was suddenly said to him, startling him from his thoughts as a big guard with an equally big sword stood before him as they looked down upon them, before going their own way.

...Okay then, this was creepy; though seeing how the scientists around him were reacting more with awe and shock instead of fear, he thought he could be somewhat okay with the other, despite all the chain mail.

So off he went to follow the really big guy, Simon nearly running just to keep up with the other’s ever so much longer strides. And as if to both comfort and worry him at the same time, they were lead to a group of scientists, the Head guy tall as ever as he towered over his minions.  

“The Subject my lord.” was said, just before the guy knelled before Head Man.

...Okay then...

“My many thanks, brave knight; you may go and rest easy the rest of this night.” was the Head Scientist’s reply, sounding seriously respectful, even as the other finally stood up, bowing even as he did.

“I will try, but I doubt I will succeed with so many villains about.” was what Simon managed to hear the other mutter as they left, the rest lost as they did.

… Well, someone took their medieval roleplays a little far; talk about in character; they were even dressed the part in their shining armor.

“Now then, young Blue, I have others to introduce you too; they are named Thorn, and I’m sure you will get along.”

Even as the guy said this, the one dubbed Subject Blue suddenly had a very bad gut feeling in my body, seeming to be pulling and jerking him and his emotions around.

(He suddenly had the feeling his escape plans were going to become more than just “complicated” to be honest.)   

Chapter Text

V: Warmth

Oh, but was he right; staring from one set of normal, if dull grey eyes to another, Simon could easily see the bare bones of his plotting go up in ashes in his roses as he took in the two twins before him. They just sat on the floor side by side in this metal cell before him, not a movement made even as he walked in, looking much like two dolls dressed in the same grey patient gowns that he and Black wore, then had been set in this cell for decoration… The twins before him looked so dead inside, no smiles, no focus, just two children so listless that they didn’t even bother to move their long ash brown hair from their faces.

They honestly looked like they were waiting to die any minute now.

He’s asked before, he’ll ask it again; was this place messed up, or was it messed up.

“Umm, can I get closer to you guys?” Simon decided to ask, not even getting a blink for his question from either twin

“...I’ll take that as a no then....” with that out of the way, the bluenet sat down, looking between both kids in front of his to see if he could get anything out of them. Besides looking an unhealthy shade of pale that reminded the former florist of sickness and that the two could actually blink and breathe, he honestly couldn’t get much more; heck, he couldn’t tell what gender they were as the age they were made it hard to tell.

And damn, was the quiet starting to get to him; though he wasn’t really in the mood to tell stories just to hear his own voice, it really didn’t fit right.

So he decided he would give a song a try.

“Yohoo, Yoohoo~

Yohoo, Yoohoo~

Yohoo, Yoohoo~

Gather up all the crew, it’s time to share Bink’s Brew~

Following the sea breeze and riding waves!

Far across the salty depth and beneath the merry evening sun~

The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky~” Fuck, Simon forgot just how much this song made him cry, always hitting him in the feels for Brook and that whale. Maybe he should have picked another song?... Nah, everyone could use a good cry honestly, though this especially applies to college students, and to be honest, he’s probably overdue.

He did not expect the sudden cool hand on his cheek, feeling up on his tears as they fell.

“What the hell!?” Simon cut himself off from his singing, backing away from the hand, and thus the owner of it…

Only to somehow get in someone else’s lap…

Seems the twins have a bit more life in them then he thought.

“So warm…” Was said so softly, big grey eyes looking so owlish as they consider wet fingers.

“So warm.” was echoed by the owner of the lap he had accidentally invaded, making yet another pair of grey eyes look on ever so wonderingly as soft child hands also went to touch his face.

…

…

… This was so weird, being petted like some kind of cat by two doll like kids.

Though it didn’t feel too bad, as they not only had soft hands, but also feather soft touches, kinda hypnotic in a way…

Made him feel sleepy in a way honestly....

(When Simon finally woke up again to hear the rather large door opening, the bluenet found both twins snuggled up against him, leaving him in the middle to act as their personal heater.

He found that he didn’t mind that much, despite them destroying most if not all of his basic and simple plots on getting out.

Oh well, back to the drawing board it was.)

Chapter Text

VI: Cognizance

Oh boy, didn’t he just love his annual analysis and assessment, showing how another year of pain, inhuman practices, and torture has either improved or destroyed his body before evolving into another year plan to see if his body will sorta/maybe be able to handle now. Yes, no longer does Simon have to deal with sharp needles injecting really questionable fluids, this seven year old body can now handle ingesting said fluids instead. Yeah, no more hand holding here with only one questionable runic circle that will slowly drive him mad, he gets to experience several in a day now! Oh, and that isn’t even where it stops, because there. Is. So. Much. More! And if ‘Subject Blue’ proves unable to handle it? Well, just go back to the good old methods, those always worked after all.

God damn it, this place was making him hate his own birthday.

Though at least he could actually remember this one; last time had been around when he first met Black, the experience actually leaving him so out of it he not only didn’t remember it, but his roses had actually been inactive for quite a while. (Which had fucking terrified him at the time, as they were his only defense in this world of testing and experiments, no matter how futile a one it was.)

As it was, he was feeling a whole lot better in comparison; it seemed he only became blind this time.

...Yeah, he was actually freaking out a lot to be honest, but it did seem he was getting his sight back at least, slowly as it was. Though for some reason, everything was now coming back in blacks and whites, which was honestly rather disorientating and seemed to make him even clumsier in comparison to before. (Though he was mostly blaming that on the fuzziness in his vision to be honest.)

But yeah, this defiantly beat last year at least with him being awake and all now; maybe he would get to spend time with his new friends? He’s told all three of them about each other, and they have expressed interest, though not a whole lot when ‘There be stories?’ or ‘Songs and warmth?” is their first thoughts. They really were such cute kids, and while Simon would rather no one is actually suffering, he’s glad that he can at least be around others who can not only understand, but can be there for him at times when they can.

It means a lot to him to be honest.

Though he is honestly a bit more worried about the twins, as while Black is so terrified of his flowers, which seem to actually be poisonous, he still is so alive; the twins barely act like so, looking so dead whenever he enters the room, then going right back to it as he leaves. They were really like a set of dolls, so mechanical and toneless in how they are, only brightening up when around him.

Like he said, they worried him.

Hearing the hinges of a door opening, Simon would admit to being put out that he was merely being led back to his room, only to find a surprise when he got there.

The Twins seemed to have come for a visit; a magic circle of some kind put on the floor to act as one hell of a terrifying welcome mat merely set the mood.

The Bluenet wanted to see his friends; he did not want to see them like this.

But what could he have expected? The scientist had to have a reason for introducing him to the others? Of course they were probably going to get involved in an experiment together eventually, they were probably just checking to make sure they got along enough not to accidentally kill each other…

Simon felt just the slightest bit sick to his stomach, wondering what the hell they were getting into.

It didn’t take long.

“Ha...ha...ha….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” soft laughter that suddenly turned loud, blue orbs turned to take in the sound, colorless sights set on some strange looking insane asylum escapee running at the twins full force.

“Fuck that!” Simon yelled, his roses reacting to his anger, and skewering the laughing guy before twining around him in one hell of a deadly embrace, the man still laughing, a bit wetly all the while as the roses bloomed over him, draining and stabbing as they took all from him as he still laughed.

(Though Simon felt all the man wanted to do was cry and rest; well, hopefully they could now.)

“So pretty.”

“Very pretty”

That got his attention fast, as both the twins went over to the roses, hands reaching out.

“Ah, careful they’re-”

“Oh!”

“Ow.”

“-Sharp…” Simon trailed off, just as the circle that once lay so dormant, suddenly came to life.

And with it, so too did his roses, which both suddenly surrounded the two other children.

“NOOO!” Simon near screamed, memory after memory of how his beautiful flowers could just so easily destroy anything in their way, how they cut through flesh like butter, and how they could absorb all the life in a being so quick.

And the twins had so little life in them all ready; he never wanted to be the reason for dull grey eyes to become ever so much duller, to ashes as it were.

“No, no, no, nononononoNo!” blue eyes filled with tears as the thorns dug into soft skin, making even more blood spill while two pairs of confused grey eyes took everything around them in, uncomprehending of exactly they were going through. Simon found he couldn’t even move, something about the circle pasting his feet to the floor as if he were stuck in quick drying cement, while also making sure he couldn’t even look away from the two stuck in his flower’s clutches.

And yet, if he had thought that sight a torturous one, that was nothing compared to when the two started to suddenly scream.

Oh god, if he could have moved at that moment, he would have definitely been sick to go along with the river of tears going down his face, burning probably just as hot as they left him sore.

But even as he watched this pure torture, Simon frowned when he noticed all the petals going all all around the room, quite a few even going so far as to hit him in the face (which was actually how he noticed them in the first place.)

Looking closely, even while his heart wrenched at the sobbing screams from the two, pupiless blue eyes took in how the thorns weren’t just cutting through the two kids, but actually seeming to merge with them, turning a branch-like grey as they did as the flowers shed themselves of the branch..

… What the fuck?

After what seemed like hours and hours to go through, it all finally stopped, just as the strange circle gave off one last beam of light that washed over all three of them, before everything was at peace.

Sniffling and hiccuping, Simon crawled to where the twins had fell, both knocked out cold once the thorns had let them go. Crying when he saw the two were still breathing at least, the bluenet curled up next to both of them, eventually crying himself to sleep.

(And yet even while all three slept, a bond has been made and set, all according to a blood covenant.)

Chapter Text

VII: Trepidation

When clouded blue eyes open, everything around them is sightless; not even that black and white vision is there to at least help them guess at walls and floors for them, it’s just as if he’s never opened them in the first place.

For the few blissful moments, it stays like this, nothing to disturb the eyes owner as memory is fleeting, exhaustion overtaking, and a mind that thrashes and roars, pounding over and over again like it wants to escape from the skull that has it captive.

So with a heavy migraine and the nausea to go with it, the owner of two sightless paired pools closes, the one barring them noticing nothing outside of how much colder it has gotten.

It is so cold.

….

….

The next time he wakes up, the bluenet can see this time, but it’s as if everything was done in sepia and their is something over his mouth, making him breathe in something that makes him feel heavy.

Or maybe he was already feeling heavy, and he’s just blaming it on the mask.

Just as he is taking in the room that looks like so many others he’s been in, except with more beds, someone takes note of him and immediately comes over and takes a needle to his IV.

Wait, why does he have an IV? Is his last thought before once more he has none.

…

…

Like they say, the third time's the charm. (He even got normal vision this time, despite the fuzziness.)

And it seems he has some friends with him this time; the Twins…

The Twins….

… THE TWINS!

Up like a shot, Simon notices that they’re in the Twin’s room, which the blue boy can’t help but be thankful for, as he really doesn’t think he could have handled being back in his cell at this moment.

(He’ll probably never be able to, to be honest.)

“You’re awake! That’s great to see.” was suddenly said, as one of the twins smiled at him, a bit a small relieved smile as they relaxed against him, sighing as they did so.

...?

“You were asleep for a long time; we were both getting worried.” was said rather blunting by the other twin, who didn’t really react outside of a softening around their eyes and gently grabbing one of his hands to hold, which he dumbly let so.

…. What the ever living fuck?! Was this a case of the body snatchers? Because not to insults these kids, but how did they suddenly get injected with a personality? Before, they were dolls only interested in warmth and hearing him sing, how did they go from that to this 360?...

Did that fucking ritual have something to do with this?

“Uh.” Simon managed, when he noticed them still watching him, waiting for a response, “Sorry about worrying you, but what happened to you?”

“You gave us Purpose.” Was answered by both Twins, as if it were the best thing to ever happen to anyone.

… Why did he feel like purpose needed a capital in there somewhere? “Purpose?”

The relaxed twin nodded, smile still in place, and yet seeming all the brighter, “Yeah, before, nothing had meaning, nothing mattered, nothing would ever matter because our soul’s had no destiny.”

“Because those born without Purpose would never have anything; tis the way it is.” The blunt twin finished, frowning ever so slightly as they did.

“...And I gave you one?” Simon asked, so ever lost in all this.

That got him small smiles, “Yes.”

“To forever be by your side.” The relaxed one.

“To help you whenever able.” The blunt one.

“To protect you always.”

“To serve you however you desire.”

“And thus we have our purpose.” They said in time, both looking so wonderingly happy, an awe in their eyes as they took in him.

Simon felt just the slightest bit sick; oh, those bastards did so much worst than he thought.

Those bastards took two broken children (And these were real children, he could feel it), probably broke them even further with some kind of magic, then used more magic to make them another child’s slave.

Fuck, does this just break his heart and make him want to rage even more.

“Can we still be friends though?” Simon asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

“Whatever you desire!” was what he got in response.

 (Despite the positivity of the answer, it didn’t make him feel any better at all.)

Chapter Text

VIII: Thoughts

When you think life can’t screw you over anymore than it already has, well, it just seems the bitch she is has to not only go out of her way to prove you wrong, she does so with vigor.

Sure, the twins (he is really going to have to think of something else to call them, as twins is just what they are…) now actually have a personality to go around with, which is definitely better than being the former mechanical dolls; he just wishes they would stop acting like his servants. It kind of gets creepy at times with just how much they follow his orders, at attention twenty-four/seven of any need he could possibly have whenever they were around. It only got stranger though when the Twins seemed to have their own thorny powers, able to get vines and vines of thorny rose-less thorns to do their bidding. Though he would have to admit, he had been amused when they used it to whip one of the scientists who had been freaking all of them out, before throwing them out of the room; good memory in a place with so few.

But this new ability of their's had only reminded him of what he remembered the Subject name to be in the first place; Subject Thorn. Meaning that the experiment had been planned right from the get go, even before he even met them here.

It made him sick to think of all this insinuated for them all, Subjects Blue, Black, and Thorns…

Oh, did he not want to know, he felt that he really didn’t want to know…

…

Sighing as his thinking was just making everything worst, Simon got up from his bed in the even newer of his cell/room, looking at the bars that locked him in his torturous daily life. Flicking them, the bluenet sight as the Ting sounded through the room, soon to be drowned out by the obnoxious hum of the good and old tech in the room.Trying to break these annoying metal barriers would only result in him being electrocuted along with a few days of harsh testing if they thought he did it on purpose and a ‘I’m disappointed in you dear child’ speech from the Head Scientist, though light testing if it had been an honest one. He found that out the hard way, and he had not been able to move well for so long he lost count of it all.

But at this moment, breaking these bars sounded so tempting; because these bastards were planning something, and something big.

Something so big, they hadn’t spent any time on testing or experiments all day, but in total prep the the whole of it instead, even going so far as to cover him in head to toe in blue, black, and grey runic symbols, circles, and strings of it on his body. He had tried to get it off at first, but whatever they did it with wasn’t even smudging so much as a wink, so he had to give up on that. And it was probably a good thing too; if he messed with it to badly, it might make the magic in the words kill him, which he would like to avoid, thank you very much.

…

…

...God, he was so terrified; he had no idea what was in store for him tomorrow, but knowing his luck, it was probably so rotten, nothing was probably going to smell the same again.

Hopefully, he and the others could actually be alive to escape at some point, because with just how everything was going, they just might not with how these experiments just seemed to be uped more and more in risks and deadliness.

At this point, all he could probably do is hope, pray, and probably kiss his ass goodbye.

Chapter Text

IX: Shaken

He is awake, bright and early he would like to think, though with no way to honestly tell the time here besides word of mouth, he thinks it’s probably just the fact he maybe got like an hour or two of sleep last night. The scientist around him at least seem excited, speaking in hushed whispers like high school students with particularly juicy gossip, gasps and chuckles, and even an ‘oh my’ was heard here and there.

Simon only felt like he was going to hurl, making it a probably good idea that he hadn’t eaten anything just yet (unless he started dry heaving, that would not be on at all).

And his stomach did a flip before tying itself into a knot when after all the hallways and maze doors, he finally entered the hugest room he has ever seen in this place, reminding him of those stadiums or maybe a coliseum? But it was just the room that made him nauseous, nervous yes, but about to throw up? No, no it wasn’t the freakishly large room that made him so; it was what it held that did it.

At four points in the room, over the largest magic circle he has ever seen, was the twins and Black, all closed off, all wary and cautious of all the excitement surrounding them from those who only tormented them daily. The bluenet was directed to be across from the raven in their group, with the twins across from each other in their diamond of a pattern. Looking to his left and to his right just showed he had a twin on either side, both looking just at ill at ease as he did. Black just looked like he wanted to curl up in a ball and hide, constantly scratching at his arms and looking so small without his roses there to have his back.

(This whole situation sucked.)

Simon gave them all the weakest smile he’s probably ever done, getting just as weak ones back as they stood there, while more and more people started to feel the stadium like room they were in. While the fuzziness has never left him since that one experiment, the reincarnated youth took in that everyone around them seemed to be wearing strange black robes and maybe masks as well? It was a big difference from the grey the scientist always wore, except maybe the head guy, who wore a brown robe with his hood always up.

…

…Was he in a cult? Because fuck his life if he was.

“MY CHILDREN! LEND ME YOUR EARS!” was suddenly shouted, making him hurry to cover his own ears, even as the crowd roared at them. Looking around with his hands on his head, blue orbs took in a figure dressed in a purple robe being the source of the noise, looking all the ridiculous as they had their arms out over their own head, looking as if he were about to be accepting a big hug.

“IT IS NOW TIME FOR AN END OF AN ERA! NO MORE SHALL WE SUFFER THIS MORTAL COIL, NO MORE SHALL WE EXPERIENCE THE SUFFERING OF MAN, BUT TONIGHT, OH TONIGHT WE SHALL DINE IN THE HEAVENS, LEAVING ALL THE WORRIES AND WOE OF MORTALS BEHIND.” The guy continued, getting screams of joy and bliss as he did.

“TONIGHT IT WILL ALL END AND WE WILL REJOICE IN IT! US, THE CHOSEN!” and oh, how the crowd goes crazy at this, the cries of hundreds creating a noise that went through the soul and out the head like thousands of bullets.

Oh fuck his life, he wasn’t just a lab experiment, but a cult’s lab subject?

Just great.

“Now my friends, start the ritual!” was called out suddenly, making knight like figures each stand behind him and his friends, the familiar one who had once guided him to the twins standing right behind him as they did.

Simon didn’t dare look behind anymore then he did, as he saw each of the four suddenly pull out their blades, even as the echoing sound of a slick shhhhick following behind him as well. Gulping, the blunet watched as first the knights behind the twins stabbed their swords in the floor on the opposite side of the two kids, making it to where it got both blades on their left side.

This caused twin (ha..) gasps to come from them, as the thorns that became so apart of them suddenly spread out, now truly creating a diamond as spiky branches reached out to both him and Black, only stopping about a foot or so from his feet.

Sniffling, Simon closed his eyes as he heard a blade sink into the ground behind him, knowing that the same had happened to the raven across from him.

And with a sob, the false youth felt his roses go out of his control, reaching along the thorns already reached out to them, knowing his tears were being echoed by the other three as magic forced them into something they both did not want or nor understand.

It felt ever so warm in this room, from tears, body heat, magic and something he couldn’t quite name, and yet all he could really feel was how cold he really was soul deep.

How strange in a way, really; leaves one shaken honestly.

It’s only as he actually falls to the floor, that he realizes he actually is being shaken.

“Wha..?” Simon croaked out, opening his eyes to see only chaos as everything turned out to be shaking, a large crack appearing straight through the circle and even leading through the wall as everyone ran about, panic clear in all the voices and actions of everyone around.

Blue eyes could barely take this all in before suddenly their owner found themselves being picked up like he was a melon by the familiar knightly figure, before finding he was not alone.

“You’re okay!” Simon managed, seeing that it was one of the twins, who was looking dazed but still so alive.

“Somehow yes.” ah, t’was the blunt one.

“Good, you got the other two, let’s hurry before we are noticed.” was said from behind by a voice he had memorized.

The Head guy? (Though maybe just Head Scientist? Because the Purple Robe seemed to be in charge, if that speech was anything to go by.)

“Yes my lord.” was all the knight said before they were off, Simon barely able to glance behind him to see that the other adult was too also carrying his other friends like they were watermelons at the fair.

Huh, who knew the beanpole had it in him? Especially since he had to carry them through shaking and sinking ground that was this hellhole before finally stopping before a wall.

“This is where we must part my Lord; I will buy you time to get them to safer lands.” was all that the Knight announced before he gently set them down, determination and fearlessness shown in equal force in his voice and blade as he put it before him.

“...Goodbye my friend; may we both experience each other again in the next life.” was all the other said to the knight, sorrow heavy with regret.

“If thy Lord be willing and wanting, who am I to disagree?” the armored man said, ever so gently cupping his ‘lords’ face hidden in shadow and-

Oh...Okay then.

Things one didn’t need to know about another’s personal life.

But with that out of the way, the one with the blade went on his way, while the beanpole that was the head scientist watched after him for a moment, just standing there. Then all of a sudden, the man burst into action, slamming their hand into the wall, snarling out words in some language Simon couldn’t even begin to understand, which eventually made the very wall disappear before their eyes, showing off the hidden room that has been their the entire time apparently.

In it was another magic circle, though much smaller in size compared to the other one, along with some simple candles acting as light and probably a help with focusing. There were a few bags around the room, along with one giant trunk to one side of the circle, but besides that it was rather plain.

“This circle will take you to the safest place it can, as well as far as it can from here that could possibly exist. In the bags are some supplies that can come in handy if things turn out for the worst; hopefully they will not be needed, but in this world one can never know for sure.” Their savior(?) suddenly said, even as he directed all four of us into the room, cutting his hand as he went along and smearing it along the edge of the circle, though not picking it up even as more and more pooled around it.

“Blue, I’m counting on you to make sure you all make it through any trail you all will go through; this will be the end of the line for me it seems.” the hooded scientist said, sounding so sad, worried, and yet hopeful.

“W-wait a minute! Why are you doing this? And why me?” Simon asked, seriously confused and just this dark side of terrified.

“When you were created, all of you, it was my dream that you all would be used for good; not want those damned monsters desired. As for why you?” and here, the bluenet thought he almost saw a smile in those shadows.

“Well, I must say you did a good job on convincing everyone else of their only being a child’s soul in that body of your’s, but as I was the one who planted it in there, I’m pretty sure you can handle things from here, my good sir. I wish and bless you with luck though, for you shall need it.”

And thus with that bombshell delivered and well wishes given out, everything went up in a great light.

Chapter Text

X: Cry

Simon blinked, rubbing his eyes a few times over, before he stopped once more to actually take in his surroundings, not an easy thing to do with how dark it was at the moment, a soft silver light the only light source around.

But feeling the uneven ground, soft and sandy and slightly itchy with some cushioning grass on his bare toes, after feeling only icy cold metal was near blissful to him at that moment. How the wind cut through his body, pushing warm air all over and tempting him to give a roll around on said ground a try was so terrifying yet exciting. How even in moonlight, everything was so much brighter than it had been just a few hours ago, the big funny leaves of what could only be of Palm trees swaying in the wind, the big body of water before him giving off gentle roars with each turn and slap of the waves making Simon feel like he was going through a near spiritual experience each time. Blue eyes started to well up, at first too stunned to let go of all the sights and stimulus around them before the boy they belonged to let out a sob, hugging the other three very stunned and disoriented children close to him that his own seven year old body could allow, the situation hitting him like a rock.

They were finally free! They were out of the labs! They were away from those crazy sadistic assholes and their equipment! They wouldn’t have to worry about being experimented on for hopefully forever! They were finally fucking free!...

...They were also so very much alone in the world, only a chest of stuff to aid them in this strange anime land they were in.

...Well, at least this time it was more out of the frying pan and onto the floor then any fire really? Or maybe saved from the fire only to be caught in the frying pan?

Something to think on later.

First, he had to stop crying and talk to the others.

“So.” the blunet sniffled, trying to tone done on their tears, “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah…” Black put forward, his hands gripping on tightly to Simon’s gown, even as he kept on looking around them everywhere a noise came from. (The Blue Rose’s master was starting to get a bit worried that the other might get whiplash if he kept doing that.)

“All is well with me.” Blunt twin said simply, while the relaxed one only nodded, before cocking their head.

“Why did that man say you were pretending to be a child? You never pretended to be anything you were not.” they asked, relaxed grey eyes curious as they considered him.

“Yeah, always true I feel, no matter what.” Black said, turning away from his paranoid watching to focus on them. (Seeing the black roses that have spread out into the sand, Simon can see just why he did.)

But hearing all of them say this, and thinking about the Head Guy’s words, it all brought blue eyes to a realization.

A blue eyebrow twitched, “...Well, originally my soul and mind were that of a twenty five year old guy named Simon… I guess from the way I acted, they thought I was a child instead of the adult I really was…” Okay, now Simon was insulted. Just because he liked to tell stories, sing songs, play games with kids, had a bit of a focusing problem, didn’t care for most adult things…

Okay he was not helping his case; but so what if he was a child at heart? There was nothing wrong with that.

“Does that mean Simon is your name?” was suddenly asked, the blunt twin once more entering the conversation, getting a blink from said Simon.

“Umm, yeah?”

“Can we call you that?” relaxed twin comes once more.

“Sure.” Simon says, before noticing how Black gets the weirdest look on his face, before looking at him a bit pensive.

“Adult soul, adult name… Name us?” was asked ever so hopefully, getting the Bluenet to suddenly face three pairs of some really impressive doe eyes.

Fuck. His. Life. Noooo. He could definitely see why they wanted him to name them, as why the hell would they want to keep their subject names, but the thing was he always named any pet he got after anime and manga characters! It wasn’t like he could just do that here!

…

… Could he?

… Well, why not?

“Uh, first I need to know; are you boy or girl?” Simon asked seriously, because he has seen how some of his classmates have been teased and tormented constantly over having names either too boyish/girlish in the past and he wouldn’t want to have his friends go through that.

“Boy.” the raven in their group said.

“Boy.” The relaxed twin replied, waving as he did.

“Girl.” the blunt one said.

Huh, okay then, this he could work with.

Pointing to Black, who jumped a bit, Simon declared, “Shisui: Named after one of the fastest Ninja ever!” who was also one of his most favorite Uchiha.

Simon then turned to the twins, both of whom straightened up as he did.

First, the relaxed one.

“Kaoru: Named after one of the most trickiest and mature adventurers to live!” and who happened to be a twin from one of his favorite manga.

Now for the blunt one.

“Yue: A powerful Guardian of the moon, protector of an all powerful magical artifact.” and who also turned out to be a body double and true self of another of his favorite characters.

“You are all named from stories that have come from my world; I don’t know if they exist here, but if you like, I can tell them to you sometime.” Simon offered, a soft smile on his face as he saw the awe and pure happiness on these ever so broken children, grey thorns (Huh, when did they get there?) curling around their feet, even as black ones relaxed ever so much more then he has ever seen.

“I think we would like that, Simon.” Kaoru said, grey eyes bright even as who they saw as their master gasp, hit by the sudden sound of their name after literal years of not hearing it.

And with that, there was once more an overwhelmed group of children crying, all so happy and relieved, the bonds they shared just heightening the emotions even more.

It was like that that they fell asleep, protected from danger as their roses and thorns guarded them from all around them.

(Later on Simon would have the thought ‘If they turned out to be in Japan, he was going eat his nonexistent shoes; after all, everything had to happen in the Sunrise Land didn’t it?’)

Chapter Text

XI: Plans

Waking up on sandy ground was a must not ever do again; period, no matter what, the end.

“I don’t remember it ever being this itchy before.” the bluenet grumbled, washing himself the best he could in the salty sea/ocean they were in. He was trying to be quick about it as well, because sun burns were a thing, and he didn’t think anything the labs had cooked up would prevent his pasty snow white ass from getting toasted like some buns in an oven.

Sighing as he felt some relief finally, Simon went to check on the others, making sure they were as clean as could be while also no longer itchy. This is where the experience of being a paid babysitter came in so handy, a job he used to help him pay his way through college along with a few others on the side (some of which will never be spoken of).

Finishing last with Yue, who seemed to be the most wary of all the water around her thus taking her longer, Simon got them all back on the beach and into the clothing that he had left to dry there on some of the lower hanging Palms. (Island living tip number one; Make sure your clothing goes for a dip first, this way it will be drier when one is done with their own washing.)

The patient gowns felt a bit awkward, which was probably because of the salt water, but as they were still wearable, Simon felt it best to put them on.

After all, they didn’t really know just how much supplies their rescuer had managed to give them.

Well, it was about time to check.

Going over to the bags and trunk, Simon was able to count that there was ten of them in all and of course the one trunk. Five of the bags were filled purely with food, all jarred and preserved, or at least that wouldn’t perish anytime soon along with clean water. They would probably be able to ration that okay enough, and in this case their lab meals and treatment would come in handy, as they would be able to put up with hunger if needed or if the flavor wasn’t to their liking.

(He just really hoped that wasn’t necessary.)

Four of the other bags were filled with clothing, all looking like tunics from some medieval renaissance fair, though at least there were plenty of pants in there too. Hey, there were even two pairs of shoes for each of them! Now those would come in handy when they explored this place.

The very last bag on the other hand had been filled with something very valuable though; as in riches valuable. Gold, silver, precious gems, even a few pieces of some rather fine jewelry, all was in there and very apparently there's now.

Okay then; he was now very nervous to see just what the hell was in that trunk then.

Cautiously, warily, with the others having his back, Simon very carefully opened the large lock on the truck. Peeking inside, the bluenet first smelt a smell a lot like a library, of old pages and wood, maybe the hint of sap in a way along with a fine ink to it.

And to his awe, there was in fact an entire, actual library in the trunk; a literal, two story looking one, with actual fucking steps to lead him down into it.

… Well, at least they didn’t have to worry about sleeping in caves now…Though it would probably be a good idea to make a safe place for them to leave the trunk, preferably guarded by all their powers.

But they had a game plan now; they could do this.

“Alright guys, gather round, this is what we’re going to do.” Simon motioned, a grin on his face even in his seriousness, while the others did as he said, relaxed yet just as serious as always.

They could do this.

Chapter Text

XII: Schedule

• First thing: Set up a safe haven.

“Alright, move your thorns like so Kaoru, make them twine with your sister so they’ll be a bit more durable in case of storms.” Simon directed, the two twins following as directed, letting their grey thorns twine and braid themselves along three of the many palm trees a bit more in land, but still within easy walking distance from the large body of water that would most likely provide them much needed nourishment in the future.

“Leafs!” was suddenly said, making the bluenet turn to see that Shisui was back, the raven putting down a freaking ton of palm leaves next to a few stone slabs.

(Just how strong was this boy?)

“Alright, once the twins are done making the roof, we’ll use these slabs of rock to make the floor for our base. Then the walls will go up, which is where we’ll go our turn and make the supports.” The reincarnation explained, waiting to see if there were any more questions.

“And Leafs?”

“Will be used as bedding and covering for roof and walls… lets go and get some more, shall we?”

Huh, if they carried on like this, they just might have a stable safe place to put the trunk.

Though he did wonder if they would ever get better bedding options; it didn’t seem to be a thing going for him at this moment.

• Second thing: Explore Inside.

Sadly, the island/beach(?) was not the first thing they were to explore; the library trunk was, which was not at all much of a chore. There were pretty much books on everything in here, from fairy tales to even very appreciated cookbooks and survival guides, if somewhat a bit dated.

(There was also a huge pile of apparently favors, boons, and debts that were owed to the guy, which somehow were magically (literally) now his; that could only come in handy hopefully.)

Actually, looking them all over, pupiless blue eyes noted that despite only looking a few years at most, most of these books looked like they were printed in the 50’s and just a few in the 60’s. Heck, the one made in 1963 looked brand new! And it wasn’t the only thing, there was even a brand new typewriter, rather fine quills and fountain pens along with nice inkwells, and some rather fresh pieces of paper and parchment at the only desk in their library.

…

…

...He really needed to start focusing better.

(But at least he now knew what language they were speaking in; Italian.

Though thanks to all their learning in the labs, all of them could at least read English (Simon the only one able to speak it), German, French, and Latin.)

“Simon! Can you read us this one?” Yue asked, the grey girl showing him a story book with a fully armored knight before an interesting looking creature.

“Sure, we should take a break anyways.” Simon said, rubbing his eyes as he did, a bit tired from having to squint at the lettering in the books.

Damn, with the rate he was going, he was really going to need some glasses.

• Third Thing; Explore Outside.

From the look of things, they were indeed on an island.

Also apparently, it looked like it wasn’t as uninhabited as he feared; on the flip side, the inhabitants weren’t as friendly as he would have liked.

• (Fourth Thing: Fuck His Life.)

Chapter Text

XIII: Risk

Pupiless blue met golden hues head on, not backing down no matter what, even if their owner felt like he was going to fall over any minute now.

Honest to fuck, just how did he manage to land himself in these situations?

~Flashback~

They had been investigating a waterfall, taking a breather from fighting through the jungle all around them, and seemed nearly out to get them at times. Beautiful as this seemingly tropical island was, Simon had not exactly enjoyed having to actually go through it.

Honestly, he was just counting his blessings that the wildlife didn’t seem to have one bit of interest in them, besides a few deer coming over to occasionally sniff at them before moving on. The bluenet was honestly thinking that this would be a pretty good day of exploration when they heard a gasp come off from the side.

Immediately all four of them in their small group were together, trying to find the source of said noise, unease and caution spreading through all of them like roots through ground, anywhere and everywhere it could reach.

The labs have taught them paranoia well.

The cause of the gasp is a woman similar in looks to Shisui, dressed in what the reincarnate thinks is a yukata in bronze and golden colors, with hair and eyes of dark brown colors with an aura of power surrounding her, no matter how small a pressure it was.

/“...So, you are the guests our lady has expected.”\ was said, the language sounding familiar to the anime obsessed florist, but with no subtitles, he had no clue as to what she was saying.

Shisui on the other hand seemed to understand all too well.

/”What do you mean by guests?”\ the real youth asked, eyeing the woman warily even as she only nodded her head to them in a slight bow. Simon, Yue, and Kaoru could really only stare on between the two, the conversation showing in Shisui’s body language just how defensive and worried he was getting, how he gripped on tightly to Simon’s sleeves even as his frown grew and grew and grew all the more.

Finally, the boy turned to him, frown still in place, worry trapped in his eyes and he said.

“Sun Queen Himiko see us; no choice.”

Well, didn’t that give a person all the good feelings. (Because if his raven haired friend said they had no choice, then they probably didn’t.)

But feelings or no, they went to see this royal, traversing through the jungles, past some cliffs, walking down a few worn but obviously well used paths before suddenly city!

And a bustling one at that too, a mixture of old and new in clothing worn and magic meeting with toys and phones any 2000’s kids would go out in.

It was a shock to say the least; all four of them huddled close together, fists clenched tight in each others as they took everything in at all sides, Simon doing his best to keep them all calm even though he was just as affected by the huge crowd. Those labs did so much to them, and yet Simon had never actually thought just how that might effect their outlook on crowds and people themselves... Though at least they all were wearing their cleaner tunics and pants, so they didn’t stick out like any pointed nails or such; as it was, they still drew a whole lot of stares here and there, or at least the lady before them did, which didn’t help.

Before long, they finally reached a beautiful castle, much like one of those Simon had seen in the Edo-based mangas, with flowing and interesting designs and guards of all sorts standing before the doors, men and woman ready and dedicating to their duty. They were let in, escorted right to a staircase, directing them to go up and up before stopping before a very large door.

Their guide moved aside, motioning them inside.

Gulping, they did, finding strength in at least there didn’t seem to be as many people around here and that so far they have not been hurt by anyone.

And then before them stood one Sun Queen, for the woman couldn’t be anyone but.

With golden eyes that stared out at the four of them, considering, weighting, thinking before landing straight on him, a slight smile coming over those painted lips as this traditionally dressed woman just took them all in.

“So, you are the ones that man had used his boon on…” the woman not so much as said as it immediately went into their minds, causing gasps and jumps to come from all of them.

Was she a freaking mind reader?

“Not at all; I am merely using the mind as a place to speak, as I will need to make sure all my points will get across, and as only one of you speak Japanese, this would be the best way.” was telepathized (was that a word? He was making it one now.) to them.

Holy fuck…

“Language please; I rather not hear such foul words in my presence.”

Uhh, sorry ma’m.

“Good, now on to business; a great man who has done a great service for me and the Kingdom of Yamatai has used his boon to ensure that I would aid you four and provide protection in your time of need.”

...Simon was sensing a but here.

That thought gets him a smirk from this pretty painted woman, the Queen nodding to him as she does.

“However, I would like to ensure that you were indeed actually worthy of all the sacrifice he has done; prove to me that all that he has done for you was worth it, and my kingdom will take you all in with open arms. If not, I will still provide aid for you and the others, but my city will be closed to you now and forever. ” was how the Great Sun Queen Himiko finished, those golden eyes of her’s still watching him.

~End Flashback~

...Okay, this… barely made any sense to him to be honest, but apparently Himiko had other thoughts; Simon guessed the Head Scientist really made an impression on her or something.

But honestly, he just hoped he could do whatever test Himiko would put him through; not for his own sake though, but for the kids relying on him. While they could probably live without the city and it’s comforts did not mean they should; the bluenet knew it wasn’t healthy for them to just rely on each other, that they all needed help mentally and probably physically as well. And would Himiko’s aid even go to the extent of giving them mental health, or would she only do enough to make sure they could survive physically?

He wouldn't, couldn't fail; not ever again if it was in his power.

(Because after all, who knows what could have happened if the Head Scientist hadn’t gotten them out of there? Not anything good, because Simon knew they would probably still be there suffering with the own way his plans have been going, always changing, always shifting, never staying solid.

Well, his feet are now on solid, if sandy ground now; time to see if he can find his balance.)

Chapter Text

XIV: Chance

Now that Simon thinks about it, he’s pretty sure that Dante was onto something, what with there being levels in hell. Maybe instead of people saying something ‘is hellish’ or ‘this is hell’, the should be also saying what level it is, to give others a perspective?

For example, so far the Labs have been the lowest of low levels he has ever been on (and by god does he hope he never finds one lower).

Himiko’s test would probably be around some middle stair.

“Find one damn egg in this jungle? Oh sure, how about I find a fallen star while I’m at it, shouldn’t be too hard after all; at least those aren’t a dime a dozen.” The bluenet grumbled to himself, scowling as he jumped out of yet another tree, another dead end there. Of course, it wasn’t just any old egg; oh no, it had to be one that shone like diamonds in the sunlight, yet was blue like the sky otherwise.

Shouldn’t be too hard to freaking find, not in this god forsaken jungle where anything and everything could be out to get you, all up and ready to pick and peck at you if you dared get an inch close to glancing at the little treasures inside.

Yeah, Simon was not having a good day. Blowing a tuff of blue hair from his face and wishing he had a hair tie, the youth once more set off, sensing as best he could for any life in any of the trees all around them.

/“Oh, hello there dear!”\ was called out, the sound drawing his attention to a little old lady and her basket of clothes. Blinking at the woman, Simon took in the interestingly pointed ears and even the furry tipped tail that waved back to and fro from behind her, the golden coloring matching the woman’s hair, though her eyes were hidden by how much she was squinting.

“? Huh, sorry, I don’t speak Japanese?” the bluenet told the woman, really regretting that he couldn’t bring any of the others with him, because as the oldest Simon was their leader and it was mostly him that Himiko was testing. (Which was really weird now that he was thinking about it; didn’t she say she had wanted to test to see if all of them were worthy?)

“Ah, English then?” The woman asked, making Simon blink, before sighing in relief when he heard that.

“Ah, yeah, I can. Did you need anything?”

“Well, since you’ve offered, would you mind carrying my washing? It gets ever so heavy at times.”

“...Is the place far?” because while Himiko didn’t give him a time limit, he rather not be far away from the others for too long.

“Just to my home, along the way.” The otherworldly old woman said, nodding in the direction she was going.

Thinking about it, Simon shrugged; if she tried anything, he could always run away or use his roses if need be. Though he probably wouldn’t go into her house; that lay the route of Hansel and Gretel, and no thank you.

So with that, off they went, a tiny seven year old bluenet helping out a beastly old lady with her laundry, humming as they went along. And while it was a bit farther then the lady led him to believe, he could understand not wanting to carry the heavy basket all the way to her house.

“What the heck is in here, rocks?!” Simon couldn’t help but ask, even as he put the basket gently down next to her door, not wanting to upset the dirt there and get all her nice things dirty again.

“Ah, no, there is eggs in there.” the woman said as she reached in to take one out, showing off said egg.

Which happened to be such a pretty shade of sky blue… and even glittered like starlight as the sun’s light shone over it.

Oh fuck, just the luck…

“...Umm, is there any chance I could have one?” Simon asked, making the woman who was once so smiley sudden frown, making all her wrinkles go down with her and aging her to a literally terrifying degree.

Oh fuck indeed.

“...If you can survive the night in my home, then yes, you may.” was all the woman said, frown still on her even as she went into the house, beckoning him to follow.

Gulping, the faux boy did just that, not helping himself as he looked around the entire house, noticing how it seemed filled to the brim with life and sound, homey in simpleness, even as the table was cluttered with odds and ends, from candles and spoons in honey jars, to magic circles and what looked like one very mutilated voodoo doll.

...Oh goody, it looked like he was in the house of a witch. Definitely better not piss her off.

“Now then, for the rules; do not touch anything on the table, do not take anything from here unless I tell you can, do not leave this room at night, and in the morning, if you so happen to still be here, sing any song you like, just that you must sing once you fully wake up.” the woman warned, wagging a finger over at him.

“... Can I have a written reminder about the singing part, please?” Simon requested, knowing he wouldn’t remember that first thing in the morning.

That got the woman to look at him thoughtfully (at least he thought so, kind of hard to tell), before she nodded, even as she got a brush from her table, wet with something, motioning him over with it, getting a few drops of some green substance to drip onto the floor.

“Let me see your hand for a minute, ah, that’s a dear, there we go there; think you’ll remember that?” The woman said, nodding to his arm where she had basically painted Morning Sing onto.

“Gotcha; I’ll just be over in this little corner here, away from the table and all.” and with that, Simon did just that, wondering if this was all there really was to it; when it came to rules in stories, characters always ended up screwing even the simplest of rules over, breaking promises and disobeying even the strangest of orders. Sure, they had their morals and all, but why couldn’t people just listen honestly?

Hopeful in that he would be able to make it through this, Simon did not expect to be nearly betrayed by one thing.

The most heavenly of smells filled the room, making the blue haired former florist blink, turning over to see that his current host was making the most heavenly of feast right before his eyes.

And put every single dish on the table he wasn’t suppose to touch….

With a growling stomach, Simon reached into his pocket, pulling out his beef jerky and started munching on it, turning away from the savory and sweet delights behind him and cursing the unfairness of his life.

This was just plain dirty.

Chapter Text

XV: Motivation

Never let it be said that spite wasn’t a great motivator.

Make a big feast, one that smells so heavenly and fine, stacked high on a table he really shouldn’t so much as look at, much less touch, and then leave it there all fucking night will you, just so he couldn’t get a lick of sleep?

Well screw you, he’d just not look; he could do without a night of sleep thank you very much, and besides, he would at least be able to get that morning sing thing out of his way. And he would make sure to pick the most annoying song he could think of, just see how the old lady liked that.

Grumbling to himself, Simon almost didn’t hear the footsteps over his upset, quiet as they were.

As it was, the labs taught him way too much in their painful lessons for him to even forget a lick about his paranoia. (Which could be said for their entire group to be honest.) taking a glance behind him, blue eyes widen as they take in the giant shadow men, three of them in all, who sit down ever so quietly at the table, right before the food.

Simon jerks his head away, not wanting to take in the inky black visions any second more then he has to, quite honestly terrified of them. Looks like it’s going be something else besides a growling stomach that makes him lie awake all night.

And hearing the clicking and clanging of silverware as it tore the food, ripping, stabbing, and at times making a shrill sound against the plate it was all on, the bluenet was really starting to wish he was still outside, it was starting to seem more welcoming at the moment.

But who knows, maybe that was just what the outside wanted him to think; run out there, only to be gobbled up as he went, all because he left the safety of this simple little room.

Hahahaha, oh, he was probably fucked no matter what, but at least he would hopefully survive as long as he hid out in this corner.

It was as he was lamenting his life choices that led him to this crazy house that Simon noted a very important thing; there was no longer any sounds coming from the table. Taking a chance and giving a glance over, blue eyes widened when he saw each shadow man right in from of the windows as the morning sun started to rise up over the mountains on this little island.

Holy fuck, it was really almost morning; he really did stay awake the whole night, the first time in this body in fact.

… There was something he should be doing, shouldn’t he? He had to do something once morning came and he was awake. Taking a glance at his arm, the reincarnated finally remembered, a slightly evil grin coming over their face.

Well, if it was a song they wanted, who was he to deny a performance? Oh, revenge would be sweet. And if the Shadow men attacked, well, he did sing after all.

“Meow, meow, meow, meow meow~” First start off with some Meow Mix theme, then-

“This is the song that never ends~” switch it up with that, followed by-

“What’s new pussycat?” and last, but not least-

“This is the crazy frog!~” Finishing at that, Simon grinned, feeling in a rather good mood at the moment; if fact, he might actually sing something pretty good now, he felt so much better.

“OH~

Yeah~

It’s time to shake it up so stir the pot baby~

Come on and face the music,

Time to shine just make a wish!

You got so many problems but the night is young~

Let’s take one down and pass it round!

From dusk till dawn let’s have some fun,

Boom, Boom, Boom~” Simon sung, an english cover of one of the bluenet’s favorite songs, Flyers.

It really was a good song; he was so glad he remembered it. (Funny how that was, Simon didn’t remember having such a good memory before…)

But soon, his singing was interrupted by the sound of three gasps. Blinking, Simon looked over to see that where the shadows once stood there were now three people; two of them being children while the third was a rather tall man.

Watching how the three cried in joy and relief, Simon himself was a perfect deadpan; did that old lady use him to break a curse for her?

Seeing how a beautiful young maiden, one with familiar golden hair and a tail to match suddenly came running down, near tackling the grown man before the window, the bluenet figured she did.

Well then; at least spite has some good outcomes too.

Chapter Text

XVI: Worth

“My Queen, why did you test him like so?” was asked by the ever faithful attendant, her brown eyes curious even as she handed over some of the dreaded paperwork to be done.

“Because, my dear, anything that has to do with that man must be treated with caution; save us and our lands he did, but anyone so willing as to throw away everything, from love to even their own name, is a person to watch for.” The Witch Queen of the East, Himiko the Sun Queen frowned as she looked over the papers, considering them carefully.

The Man who threw away his name, while indeed a great one, was not someone she could say she liked.

In fact, she would say she downright despised the man, one so willing to throw all he had away all for just the most dangerous power and research, the results of which now stood before her in that young man and these children, one off for their trial while the others hopefully asleep.

Honestly, those poor souls… So mangled and changed, some born without a purpose until a most disgusting of blood rituals was performed, literally changing one’s destiny into that of being a servant in exchange for a hint of the new Master’s power. And with it all being powered by a life that was sacrificed, using years that they had and would have lived was just yet another sickening aspect of the whole thing... And the one that was a fellow countryman, if from Japan, developing a connection, a bond with a soul so much older than himself, just to stay sane…

Yes, it was best to test the one these poor children orbited around, see if he really was worth all their devotion and care that the other three had given so freely. While a dead man he already was once, he had through some cruel fate been given a second chance, and she would ensure to make sure that the blue youth was actually worthy of it.

Just because that man had saved them by introducing his magic and technology to them, as well as warning of how the True Cross Order had been on a witch hunt nearly fifty years ago, the golden eyed Witch would not let someone into her city that would mean it harm.

She would test him, having some from her city put him through trials that would test his character and honor, see what he would become after time spent on a seemingly never ending test, chipping at him until only his core self could be left. And if he passed, then she would have one of her people give him an imitation of the egg, one made so long ago to give to her.

But if he did not pass… Then she would-

“My Lady! We lost him! The boy has wandered over to the spirit’s world!”

…

...Probably have to train her guards better, if they couldn’t stop one youth from going into such dangerous lands.

Chapter Text

XVII: Grateful

Amazing, the 360 people do when you happen to do them a huge favor.

“Here, you might need this, oh! That could only come in handy as well!” The beautiful woman who happened to have once been the old Lady, rushing around in her home before coming back to the door to drop even more stuff into his newest bag, one that seemed rather bottomless.  It was honestly making him a bit dizzy watching her dart around here and there, for a bit he thought her back was hollow, what with the way the back of her dress seemed to be sucked in… Or it could be, he was in an anime world after all.

“I’m starting to feel a bit guilty; I mostly did it to spite you for putting all that wonderful smelling food on the Table Not To Be Touched.” Simon admitted, getting a few laughs for that.

“It’s okay! And if you want something, h ere’s a cookie! Me and Papa made it and this one is just for you!” was said by one of the cured children, a little boy he thought.

Not stopping the amused smile on his face, the bluenet shook his head at the sweet, “Thank you, though I must know if this is safe for me to eat; I don’t want to be trapped in the spirit world to be honest.” the words of his got a blush from the other, while their father just laughed.

“Can’t blame a youth for trying.” The rather handsome man said, green eyes sparkling as he brushed dark black fringe from his face while the other hand took the entrapping sweet from his child’s hand, much to the pouting of his kids.

“But we want Blue to stay with us forever, like you stay with Mama!” the other child said, pout as big as ever. They were cute kids, but when Simon had found out that he was apparently in some sort of spirit world, he was so fucking glad he didn’t accept anything to eat, as at first he didn’t know if the rules still applied (i.e, the no taking anything that the woman of the house said he couldn’t). But when the golden haired woman let slip that he was indeed in a spirit world, offhandedly as it was, the bluenet could only be glad for said rules, as his own world’s lore (Thank you Spirited Away) and her looking out for him was what probably saved his bacon.

“Ah” was suddenly said, making Simon tune back into the conversation, “Your mother has never had to bewitch me though; despite her Huldra heritage, she has never needed those charms to ensnare my senses or fae trickery to dupe me into anything. I chose this life, and I have never regretted it.” The rather attractive man said, smiling over at his mentioned wife, who smiled back at him as well as she pecked his cheek.

Simon was still lost on what a Huldra was; he only knew that apparently the golden haired woman was only part of one, her father’s sorcerer blood apparently much stronger than most humans, thus gifting her with her own powers as well. This apparently translated into her being one powerful as hell witch, which made her very desirable to a lot of people.

And was apparently part of the reason why they and her were cursed.

“My only regret is that it was my actions that got you cursed in the first place; oh, if only I had known…” the tailed woman said, frown on her face as she looked out into the yard.

“What is in the past is in the past; we have the future before us now.” the green eyed raven said, gently turning her face to his own so that they might share in a kiss, making pupiless blue eyes look away.

“Sooooo… Can I have my egg now?” Simon asked after a while, still refusing to look over at the loving couple.

“Oh but of course! Here you are; now, if ever you have need of anything, just ask and I, a witch of considerable power might I add, shall help you however I see fit.” The blonde woman said, a serious look on her face as she did, staring him straight in his blue eyes with her own blue hues.

“As long as it actually helps me, alright then.” Simon accepted, taking the very egg he needed to grant him and the others citizenship.

They now might have a chance at not just surviving, but living life.

“Thank you, so much.” the old soul in a young body thanked, a bit choked up as tears started to build u[ in the corners of his eyes.

“No young one, thank you; you and any of your’s will always be welcome at our doorstep, just say the word and we will help.” The just as grateful woman replied, eyes soft as she kissed the boy on his forehead, a smile on her lips as she sneaked a blessing over him, wishing his the best as she did and good health.

(And oh, what promise and blessing that was.)

Chapter Text

The boy had managed it; he had actually gotten a real version of the egg. As golden eyes took in the rather beautiful treasure, their owner couldn’t help but honestly wonder.

Originally, the test had been made centuries ago to get the mentioned egg from the Witch Queen of the West, the Queen of the Hearth Hestia, to see the worthiness and core of a person. The eggs would be placed with those that were cursed for safe keeping, and if the one who was after them broke the curse on the family, the eggs would grow that much closer to hatching, becoming creatures most wondrous and beautiful, but yet always different. 

She could only wonder what this one egg would become, already so close to hatching in but a day or two’s time.

“It’s so pretty.” was said in such awe that Himiko had to look up, seeing how one of the twins, looked with such wonder at the small blue treasure. The Sun Queen would admit she was quite pleased with the translation charms they wore, as it insured she wouldn’t have to have anymore conversations in their minds; always something that gave her dreadful headaches.

“Breakable.” was all the other one said, eyeing it dubiously as one would eye a gaudy trinket of any sort.

“Is it edible?” was all the raven in the group had to ask, frowning over at it, looking as if he were to poke at it.

Ah, out of the mouths of babes.

“If you want one Kaoru, I can go and see if I can get another one from them, though I’m not sure what I’ll have to do next to get it.” The blue haired one, Simon she recalled, said to the first twin who had spoken, making them brighten up and blush, even as they shook their head.

“No, there is no need to…” Kaoru said, looking away from the egg just as quick as he was admiring it, fidgeting all the while.

“Do you want one?”

“....”

“Kaoru?”

“...Yes…” was said in such a small voice, the ash brown haired boy blushing even more heavily as he did.

But no matter how cute this conversation, something in it did catch her attention.

“The family you helped; they had more?” the dark haired queen asked, curious about that; usually, when passing the test, one would take all the eggs from those they aided, as was their right.

“Well, they were their eggs and I only need one for you, so that’s all I took.” Young Simon said, ever so matter of factly about it, as if it were that simple.

… What an interesting young man indeed; definitely more likeable then who had created him.

“... There is no need to go back; the egg is for you to do whatever you wish to do with. All that I needed was to see that you could get the egg.” Himiko explained, not mentioning that she never actually expected him to get a real one.

Talk about one whom can exceed expectations.

Though she would have to admit she did smirk at the deadpan face he gave her, before going off and giving the much treasured egg to his friend.

“Wherever you are staying, you may take a guard or two to get your things, and a house to set up in to take care of yourself… But let me be the first to say, welcome to Yamatai, my home; I hope soon that it too can become yours as well.”  

“What a welcome.” the bluenet said, but the relieved smile on their face made the words carry little bite, especially when it was shared by the rest of the broken children, all so relieved to at least have a place they could consider their own.

Himiko, who had wondered if she did the right thing in giving them the option, couldn’t help but smile, watching how the four were escorted out. She considered how young Kaoru was guarding the fragile little being in their arms with a ferocity of one who has lost so much and didn’t want to lose anymore. She saw how the other twin had their back, ever watchful, ever cautious of all around them, only to smile slightly whenever addressed by those she trusted around her. She wondered at how the raven in the group stayed so quiet and considering, jumping at the slightest noise only to be calmed gently by their leader, relaxing just the slightest at the safety the other must represent to them.

And finally, she took in Simon, the bluenet that unknowingly held the key to terrible power, that could be considered a threat even greater than Satan could ever dream, who could and probably would actually be able to unite Assiah and Gehenna in ensuring his destruction. She watched how he cared, how he loved and watched and calmed these children with him, smiling as he guided them out to the light.

Smirking, Himiko allowed herself one rather unlady like huff; she didn’t know what the future would have in store for them, but she was pretty sure it would be a thrill to watch.

It was time the worlds were shaken a little; she just wondered if she would have some snacks with her when she watched the inhabitants reactions. It was guaranteed to be interesting at least. 

(After all, before she was a Queen, she was a Witch; and Witches were all about changing the world around them.)

 Meanwhile~

After moving all their things into a rather nice, cozy if little dorm room like place, which apparently was home to students or orphaned children who could take care of themselves, Simon grinned as he saw it all come together. Thanks to a stipend that all those still learning received, the blunet and the others were able to easily decorate their tiny studio-like apartment easily, and still have some left over for food.

The former college student had made sure all of them had the essentials; clothing, fridge for the food, and futons to sleep on. When he saw they still had enough after food purchases, he also sprung for a washing machine and snack foods, eager to try them all out with his new friends. He didn’t bother getting any tables or chairs, since he could easily get them out of the Library Trunk, which was now in its honorary spot in the very back of the apartment.

But honestly, looking at the back of his new fridge and all the strange writings on the back of it, Simon couldn’t believe how crazy magic was. Apparently, due to the crazy amount of it on the island, along with the spirit world being right next door, electricity worked funny, so they had to go through a strange process to make sure electronical objects could work here in Yamatai. This sadly meant that they could not get a Laptop or any game systems, as the process to convert those was ridiculously expensive just for something used as a want and not a need.

(And oh, the pain he went through when he had to pass by what looked like a 3DS, but was apparently called a COMP here. But who knew what could happen in this life they lived, if any day something went wrong and they didn’t have the money to pay for anything because Simon spent it all frivolously? No, he had the others to think about right now, saving what he could, especially all the literal treasure the Head Scientist gave him. A safety net was vital right now for them, so the bluenet only got a few board games, puzzles, and toys for the others which were considerably cheaper options for fun.)

“Simon! Simon! It’s hatching!” was cried out, making said mentioned person blink, looking over to see that the boy of the twins was nearly jumping on his knees before his egg which was for now on the cushion of one of the chairs.

Simon, along with Yue and Shisui, got up from what the were doing, staying to the side as they watched Kaoru’s egg finally break through, a larger than expected black beak poking through as it did. Actually, looking closer, Simon felt his eyebrows raise when saw that the angry clicking and screeching little grey baby bird that came out seemed about three times bigger then the egg that once contained it.

Well then…. Magic and it’s fucking cheat codes, how much more ridiculous could it get?

(He really regretted asking that question, especially once they started school; the ridiculousness never ends .)

 Omake: Origin of a Curse

Once upon a time there had been a sorcerer, talented and handsome, with a skill in magic that made all around him gape in awe at his control over it. He was a man so charming he could make anyone’s inhibitions come out, meaning he had many a lady after his favor. 

But out of all of them, it had only been one being who had ever captured it, a creature so seductive and dark that the man never once stood a chance against her.

She had been a Huldra, a woods creature that lured in men that could possibly sexually satisfy her, and if failing in that would then be killed.

And like the man he was, the Sorcerer fell for her charms and seductions, following after her and making sure she was left nothing but satisfied.

Multiple times. 

Before long though, the Huldra soon came to be with child, and when the sorcerer found out, he insisted on being there in the child’s life, which the woods creature eventually allowed.

And so thus a child was born, a Huldra and Human in her blood as her father’s power was not so easily overcome, especially since she inherited both their charms and their magics, once more leaving the world in awe around her.

Needless to say, she had many suitors, many of whom wanted her as theirs forever.

But always, the beautiful blonde maiden said no, refusing to be anyone’s but her own. After all, she was still part Huldra, and she would not bow; the woods were very much still her world and always would be.

But then she not only found a man who wanted to be kept, but who cherished and always left her feeling whole, wishing to marry her and staying with her when she tested him, making herself a crone only for him to merely smile at her and kiss her forehead, promising to remain forever true.

It was good for a time, they even had a daughter and a son before the maiden faced a certain problem; her former suitors who she had spurred.

They had not been happy; they were very unhappy with this little happy family, wanting the Maiden for themselves.

So as one, they pulled on their magic and cast at the family, leaving them nothing but shadows of themselves, while the Maiden so desired turned into a crone she had tested many men with and whom only one had actually passed.

And this way they would remain, until the shadows filled themselves up with magical food as to gain substance, and the sunlight from the morning sun brought them back to the light of day once more, singing from one who had stayed the night in their place reminding their souls of what they once had.

It had been this way for many years, so long the the now older lady had almost given up; until a certain bluenet helped her with her laundry, with spite as a good motivation.

And so this tale ends, with one happily ever after (for them).

Chapter Text

Amazing how times flies when one isn’t being tortured or hating life. Really interesting honestly, Simon forgot how nice it could actually really be.

Of course there were the random reminders, but the reincarnated bluenet took great delight in not having to deal with them, relishing in his freedom in being able to walk away or even prove his point in things.

He had a voice once more; and boy did he use it.

Especially since he was surrounded by ridiculousness twenty-four/seven, what with being surrounded by magic, creatures, and anime sparkles. (Which he would probably never get used to, especially the aura’s sweat drops, and little fucking souls that would occasionally leave their fucking body … Yeah, one can never really forget about being stuck in an anime honestly, especially when it is always there in your face. Sometimes, it even made him wonder if getting his glasses had been worth it, and how life might work for him if he went around half blind instead of actually seeing all the anime everywhere… But not for long, as he rather not hit any walls or poles in the near future.)

But as it was, despite the ridiculousness of a life filled with magic and real life anime, Simon and his now newly minted thirteen year old body found that he was actually enjoying this life better than his old one by a long shot. Maybe all those self insert fan fictions had it wrong, maybe it was possible to live life without any drama or worry about destroying some sacred plot? Then again, he could have been reborn into one he has no clue about or recognize, and has totally destroyed any resemblance to the plot because of his actions. Or maybe he was born way after the series, or maybe way before it’s time, thus his actions having so little effect, much like one single grain of sand in the ocean.

But at this point, the bluenet could care less; whether he was the butterfly in the effect or not, this was his damn life, and he was going to fucking enjoy it to the best of his ability, along with his best and most treasured friends.

Speaking of which, that was one familiar bird perched over at that cafe.

“Ben Poe? What’re you doing out here?” Simon asked the heron-like bird, which stood proudly on it’s chair-perch, accepting a scratch on the grey feathers along it’s neck. On one hand, Ben Poe had looked like any other grey heron baby bird that the group had searched up in one of the few internet cafes in town, abet one with a black feathered crest atop its head and an ebony beak along with the talons and claws to match it.

Then the baby bird had managed, with just one cry, to spring forth an entire field of flowers, one's Simon had never even seen before, then going to sleep as if nothing was out of the ordinary. After much talk and discussion, they figured that the bird had at least some of the Bennu Bird of ancient Egypt in their heritage, thus why they could bring forth a field of flowers, but not entire worlds with its call like the original one in myth could do. 

It was not for a while longer, when Ben’s feathers finally all came in from the down and showed a very distinctive striped pattern of black and grey on it’s wings, along with a full crest of feathers that only formed during… troubling times that they figured they were also part Hoopoe, yet another important bird from Egypt.

Thus the bird had been named Ben Poe, answering to either name easily, but always looking to Kaoru first, as he was the boy’s familiar, something that always made the ash haired boy smiled, proud of himself and his accomplishments.

As he should be, as an apprentice witch, nearly a master in fact in his Arte. Heck, Kaoru’s master, an all around great Witch himself, was so impressed with him, he let both the twins share his name, Adachi. In fact, all of their group should be proud of themselves, what with how Yue, while no interest in magic beyond how it could help her, had the beginnings of being quite the talented Weapons Mistress, learning and mastering any weapon and style the girl could get her hands on with a blatant glee. (Made him almost regret not calling her Tenten when he had the chance.) Shisui on the other hand took great delight in living up to his namesake, becoming quite the ninja just from Simon’s stories and magic he manipulated. The raven was easily a very high genin from what he last remembered, taking special interests in traps and the academy three, managing the all of them but the henge.

Simon himself had little magic of his own, much to everyone’s surprise but himself and few others. After all, he’s pretty sure magic comes from the soul, and he was very much a muggle in his world; he was actually surprised he had any at all to be honest. But apparently that magic was just enough for him to be able to do blood magic, enabling him to learn and become one of Yamatai’s leading Blood Witch/Mage in it. (Though that was mostly because he was one of the only three who actually was into it.) And due to his love for a certain anime, he found that he wasn’t to bad at Onmyodo, a Chinese magical art that combined natural science and occultism, built on the chinese philosophies Wu Xing or the five elements of Water, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Wood. Speaking of which, he seemed most in tune with the Wood (not surprising) and Fire (which was a hell of a surprise), which in their own ways effected his own magic at times.  

But he was getting off track, as he still had no clue on where a certain twin brother was; noticing how the bird was motioning to the side with their rather impressive beak, Simon looked over, only to snort at the scene before him.

Oh boy, looks like their excitable and ever so annoying neighbor still hasn’t given up just yet; poor girl, and she never stood a chance.

“Come on now, you would look absolutely marvelous in these robes! They are even your color and everything!” The girl, one Sato Ran, exclaimed, attempting to shove an actually rather beautiful robe at the older male twin, who merely frowned, nearly scowling at the garment as if it personally offended him.

“For the the last time Sato-san, no, I will not be wearing a robe; I will be just fine in an apprentice Yukata, like everyone else will.” the ash brown male twin delivered finally, crossing his arms as he did so as well as giving a slight glare at the brunet girl before him.

“But Adachi-kun, you have to wear something at least a little fashionable! We’ll be going to an official Esbat next new moon, one held with all the Witch Royalty! We have to look unified and professional, or no one will take us seriously.” the fellow witch apprentice said, making Simon blink in surprise.

Wait, an official business meeting with all the Witch Royals?

Holy fuck; last time something like that happened, it had been when the witch hunts had been at an all time high and that the Queens and King pulled together to save as many of their own as they could. And before that had been when the black plague had come a knocking, with all of them doing their all to discover a cure. Not to mention the oldest recording of such a meeting was when they had all pulled together to make sure they and their covens would survive the Great Flood. Sure, there were smaller meetings with two, some rare occasions even three, but all four of them?

This was a conversation he needed to be part of. Getting up from the table he had been leaning on, Simon felt sharp talons dig into his tunic shirt, Ben Poe giving an unpowered call as it settled in on his shoulder.

“What’s this about an Esbat for the Witch Queens?” the bluenet interrupted, much to Kaoru’s relief and Ran’s sour face.

“I’ll tell you if you can help me convince him to wear the robe.” ever the opportunist, even with those she didn’t like, the hazel eyed girl tried, motioning over to the grey eyed thorny witch.

“No deal, I’ll just ask Kaoru here… Besides, I’m surprised you aren’t trying to convince everyone to wear a kimono instead, seeing as this would be the perfect chance.” the blue rose master deflected, having to hide his smirk as he saw the girl freeze at the possibilities he just suggested.

(Anything other than robes was preferable to wear when compared.)

“The four Witch Royals are going to make a show of solidarity, as well as getting ready for when they all have to meet with True Cross Order for negotiations.” the still rather relaxed young man said, calming even further once his familiar came to rest on his shoulder instead, smiling softly at the bird as he gave it some petting.

(Simon couldn’t help but be glad with just how far him, all of them to be honest, have come over the years in their development and healing. Oh, some parts of the puzzle that made them were run jagged and worn smooth in places, never fitting quite right together ever, but you could at least get an idea of the picture now, as functional as could be after a childhood starved of affection and filled with torture.

The Scientists hadn’t taken everything from them; they had endured and they would keep on doing so, living as they do.)

“So that means we’ll be having the Witch Queen of the West, the Hearth Queen Hestia and our own Witch Queen Himiko in the same room, much less the same space, as the Witch Queen of the North, the Snow Queen Anastasia and the Witch King of the South, the Moon King Bahloo… Oh, I would pay to see the fireworks of that.” Simon snorted, as everyone knew the history behind the Witch Royalty, what with the Moon King refusing the Sun Queen’s courtship and the Lady Hestia’s own problems with Lady Anastasia, what with the woman trying to dose her hearth at times.  

It was guaranteed to be five star entertainment at it’s finest.   

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t have to pay; both Kaoru and you will be going to the meeting in Tokyo as well!” was said with such devilish glee Simon jumped, slowly turning around to see that Ran was rubbing her hands together, plots of all sorts covering that usually sweet face of her’s.

“And I know just the perfect Kimono just for you.” the girl finished, making the Blunet make a face most displeased, cautious as he eyed the girl cooking up something.

...Well, it was better than a robe at least.

Omake: Mishaps in Magic.

Okay, this wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened; oh it was up there, but it wasn’t something world ending or like anything the scientists had thrown at them.

Mostly though it was just the second hand embarrassment that was getting to Simon.

“Well, at least you’re still human shape.... And a mammal.” Shisui said with a grin, actually enjoying the situation; after all, whenever would anyone ever see either Yue and Kaoru screw something up, and at the same time.

“If you laugh Shisui, I will ensure you never get your precious scrolls back ever again.” was Yue’s response to that, her grey eyes narrowed in on the raven haired boy, who yelped at that. It was slightly diminished though by the rabbit ears that were twitching atop her head and making her look rather cute.

“Okay, isn’t that going a little too far?”

“I’m not sure it’s far enough.” was muttered by Kaoru, scowling as well at the other boy, his own dog-like (or wolf?) like ears perked to attention.

“..,Have you at least realized what a bad idea it is now to do magic without supervision?” Simon asked hopefully. Really, trying spells or generally any magic that was related to anything animal just spoke of something going wrong; Hermione sure learned it well.

“...” when both twins didn’t answer him, the false youth had to do his best to keep back a groan; maybe he should figure out the hospital's number now instead of later; it looks like they’ll be making good use of it in the future.

Chapter Text

‘Well this trip was just getting better and better wasn’t it’ , Simon thought, keeping a blank face even as he walked down the bustling street, ignoring stares and whispers as he past by. It wasn’t hard to see why all these city people were staring, as it wasn’t everyday someone wore an actual real Kimono in day to day life, and with Simono looking as pretty as he did, well…

At least he looked good in the Kimono, which was a dark blue with black flowers decorated all over it, a white and darker blue obi wrapped around to keep him decent with a little blue rose decoration to add a little flare. Though he thought the white flower piece in his hair, currently dyed black, was a bit strange and unneeded, but apparently the other ladies in the group thought it absolutely necessary. And while he made sure they only used light make-up, because according to them god forbid there be none, he still looked like a pretty princess, despite the scarred cut that ran to the side of his mouth, cutting across both of his lips and right next to the one beauty mark he had on the left side of his mouth. Heck, not even his glasses could apparently take away from being the classic beauty he, apparently, was. 

...Well, at least this way he would be picked clearly out of a crowd, a good thing for those who were lost as fuck, which he was currently.

And all to blame for this was a certain vain fashionista; really, he knew the girl was obsessed with fashion and clothing, was indeed pretty vain when it came to her own looks, which apparently he was a threat to? Yes, he knew he was a pretty boy, but damn did he actually try and make himself look that way, it was probably genetic or something. Even in his other life he had always looked rather fair to be honest, but apparently anime world turned that into a full trap existence, full stop. And if he thought about, it also probably had to do with the little crush the girl had on certain grey eyed boy, which apparently he was also a block in front of somehow? Really, why did she blame him for the rather relaxed guy refusing her, he was just Kaoru’s friend! But apparently Sato Ran was getting tired or frustrated or something to try something like this, to go so far as to not only make sure he would get separated from the whole group, but even to use a spell that would ensure he would remain lost for an hour.

That had not been a fun hour; at least he hadn’t wandered into any place too dangerous, but as it was he rather not risk anything right now, especially with his magic as he knows that the Exorcists are just looking for any excuse to put them down, negotiations or no negotiations with Witch Royalty.

“Hey there baby, wha’chu look’n so nice for today?”

“Got a hot date, don’tcha?” and so thus his safety was compromised, as two grown men leered down at him, eyeing him up and down as if one would eye a perfectly grilled steak, weight it with their eyes, making the disguised bluenet feel sick, seeing how others immediately started looking away from the scene.

Well screw them, fucking bystanders. 

“How ‘bout you come with us, I’m sure we’ll be better than who you’re meeting up with.” The first man said, who actually was pretty attractive in his own right, a silver fox as it were, but was seriously detracted from with how he was looking like he would rather eat him it seems.

“I’m sure we’ll give you a lot of fun.” the other said, looking pretty much like a total thug honestly, the most notable thing being that it looked like he’s had his nose broken a few times. 

“I’m not interested.” Simon said calmly, cursing the fact that his voice had to be so naturally soft, making him seem even more girly to be honest. With that, the youth had the intention of walking around the men, only to find himself stopped as one grabbed his arm.

“Come on baby, don’t be like that.” The silver fox said cajolingly, but his eyes were dark with warning, as his hand tightened harshly against his arm, making Simon bite his lip at the action.

While he may have had a ridiculous pain tolerance, along with a good dose of stamina to go with it, his physical prowess could definitely use some work, especially since he usually relied on blood magic and his roses most of the time. He should at least make a note on learning some kind of self-defense in the future.

As it was, he was here in the now, and he really didn’t want to add rape to his trauma sheet; it was long as it was already.

“Please let me go.” Simon said, letting his voice rise, as he really couldn’t use either of his powers at the moment, lest he risk starting off another case of Witch Hunts anew in a worst case scenario. Hopefully someone would be a good samaritan and help him.

Except no did, all looking away as they went on their own way, ignoring the distress to the side.

Bastards.

“Come on now, don’t be this way; we’ll make you feel real go-ugh!” and thus the thug was cut off, hit with an incredible amount of force, knocking him out for the count.

This got attention, as screams and yells filled air around them, people backing away even more from the scene.

But at this point, Simon couldn’t even be bothered to pay any attention to them; he was more focused on his his rescuer, fierce dark eyes that burned and raged as they stared at the world, and messy raven locks to give them an even more delinquent like look. And yet, despite looking so dangerous, all that the dolled up boy could think of right then was hugging this adorable kid before him, maybe even buy him a flower or something just to make him smile.

(Why did he seem so familiar though? He could swear he’s met him before, but he couldn’t quite say.)

“She said to let go; shouldn’t you be doing so?” and with those words and a single glare he made the bastard let go, shaking as he did so before running off, tail between his legs as he did.

“Hey, you okay?” the guy asked, looking ever so concerned and much younger now that he wasn’t threatening assholes. Huh, the other couldn’t be much older then he was, maybe just a bit younger?

“Ah, yes, thank you very much for helping me; no one else was coming and I was starting to get a bit worried to be honest.” Simon admitted, bowing to the other as he did so. When he came back up from the bow, he noticed that the other was rather flushed, scratching the back of his head as he did so.

“Hey, I couldn’t just leave a pretty girl in a situation like that; it would have been wrong.” Simon’s rescuer said, making the kimono wearing boy want to face plant and never get up again.

… He would let this slide, seeing as those goons too have mistaken him as a girl, along with probably everyone else around them too.

“Halt! What is going on here!”

“Are you okay miss?” and thus the announcement of the police, who were finally here now.

Both the officers were before them now, along with a crowd surrounding them, making Simon finally pay notice to all the whispers and murmurs around them.

“Isn’t that-”

“It’s the demon child.”

“I’ve heard he’s already sent a few of his classmates to the hospital.”

“Poor girl, having to be so close to him, I hope she’s okay.”

“Best to get away from that monster now.”

“Ma’m, are you alright.” One of the officers asked again, shooting the only one who reached out to help him a dirty look.

Well then, can’t let that slide; time for the dramatics.

Sniffling, Simon immediately went to grab the other boy’s arm, as if he were to comfort himself after a harrowing encounter. Which wasn’t that hard, even if he wasn’t in any true danger himself, it just would have caused a lot of problems in the future.

(But when he felt the shattering of a certain spell at the contact, Simon had to hide his face in the other boy’s shoulder, lest they see his utter rage; oh, that utter bitch , just wait until he was through with her, he would make her regret so much .)

“I was so scared; I had gotten separated from my school’s theatre group and I’ve been wondering around for hours, looking for them. We’re from out of town, so I’ve never really known just how dangerous the city truly was until just now.” the Blue Rose Master started his performance, making his voice as distressed and troubled as he could, slightly shaking as he forced himself to remember one of his bad days, gripping just the slightest bit tighter to the other guy with him, as if he were his rock in his storm.

“When those two men had me surrounded, and no one came to help me after I called out, I feared for the worst.” Simon admitted, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see a few people flinch and/or even look away; yeah, they better feel guilty.

“But then like an angel, my rescuer came to help me, getting both my assaulters to go away; I am so grateful to him and for how he has helped me, if only I could in some way repay them.” and finish with some starry eyes and big smile directed up on the real raven he was clinging to, making everyone swoon.

There was a reason after all that their cover was an acting group from a far off school. And the best part was that he didn’t actually have to lie too much either!

But with that performance, they were soon let go, the cops and everyone else looking a bit sheepish as they did. But the best deal that the currently raven haired rose creator got out of it all was that his new friend even knew the Park that their group was to meet at!

Score for him; now he just needed to make sure that he settled one last thing with a certain vain brunet girl, and this day would be done.

“Well, this is it… Thank you though, for what you did back there.” the other suddenly said, all shy all of a sudden, making the magic user blink.

“Not… Not everyone would go to my defense like that, so it meant a lot to me, so again, thanks.” and paired with that grin, the glasses wearer felt it go through his heart.

He had to do something… Maybe that… It could only help the other after all... especially with just how much demon activity was in the city.

Putting his hands into the long and flowing Kimono sleeves, Simon made one of his blue roses form, twining and braiding the thorns quickly into a loop that would easily be able to hook onto a keychain. Taking it out, Simon smiled up at the slightly taller guy, who blinked a bit confused by the flower.

“It’s a charm of protection and purification, and it will aid you in your time of greatest need; so try and carry it whenever you can, okay?” Simon offered, getting a slow nod back, the other boy gently taking the flower from him, eyeing it a bit dubiously as he did but looking as if he really did like it.

That settled, Simon went off, revenge on his mind and feeling like he was forgetting something as he did.

(When Okumura Rin finally looked up from the flower he had been admiring, the sweet fragrance and warmth it just seemed to give off nearly intoxicating to be honest, it was only to see the pretty dark haired girl was gone, much to his dismay.

He never even got her name…) 

|Backstory Ends|

Omake:

“Hello, Sato-san.” was whispered into the girl’s ear, making the brunet flinch before doing a full body freeze.

“What do you what.” the hazel eyed girl scowled, going into an even fouler mood than before; she hadn’t expected for anyone to see her pushing the disguised blunet out of the transportation circle, but caught she had been, meaning that she was to be punished once they arrived home. That the other came back at all was honestly punishment enough for her honestly, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud; she wasn’t stupid.

“Oh, you know, just a little bit of Witch’s business, you know the drill after all.” the rather stunning boy said simply, a dangerous grin appearing over his face.

“You can only do a revenge in proportion to the crime made.” the girl said the rule quickly, sweat started to bead it’s way down her brow, even as she turned quickly to the other, just in case he tried anything.

“Oh don’t worry, I will definitely make sure the punishment fits the crime; one shove out of a magic circle, a lost spell, and one very well hidden and made Dark Attraction spell.” the blood witch said, grin growing ever so much sharper as he practically spat those words out from beautiful if scarred lips. 

“H-how did you?” the girl actually stuttered, fear gripping her heart now; she had thought she had layered it perfectly, so that no one would be able to see that spell.

“Dark Attraction is easily broken any time one comes into contact with a pure, broken, or old soul. You really should have known better, Sato-san, because when we get home, I am going to make sure you suffer .” Simon promised, his blue eyes burning even as they looked at her so coldly, making one Sato Ran regret some life choices today.

They weren’t really worth it in the end.

Chapter Text

How interesting life can be in the mornings; if you want to make it even more interesting, have a deadline for anything involved. To make an interesting morning a nightmare on the other hand- 

“Ahhh, don’t put those there, that’s for where our uniforms go!”

“But then where else am I going to put my blades?!”

“Put them in a sealing bag; that’s where Shisui is putting all his weaponry.”

“Shisui only has to worry about a few weapons, he can easily make more! I on the other hand have to get all of my collection to fit in just a few sealing bags? They wouldn’t fit, besides... everything that comes out of those bags smells like smoke.”

“Which is why the uniforms have to be put in the case; it’s the only one that doesn’t do anything off to whatever is put into it.”

-have it to where everyone and everything must go.

Pupiless blue eyes stared unseeingly for a time at the arguing trio, their owners blue hair still stuck in a rather impressive bed head. After just getting a drink in hand, taking a fortified sip of it, Simon entered the fray, hoping to at least prevent any bloodshed. The sixteen year old didn’t have much hope for that honestly, but hey, one could dream couldn’t they?   

“Out of curiousity, why can’t your collection go into the Library Trunk? It would most certainly fit.” Simon asked, effectively cutting Yue from another blunt and cutting retort to both her brother and their group’s resident ninja.

This got blinks from everybody.

“You’re… bringing the chest?” Kaoru asked in surprise, grey eyes quickly turning considering as they, along with a similar if darker pair as well as a black pair also processed this.

“Just finished warding it last night; of course, only magical items along with personal objects that we don’t want any of the exorcist getting their hands on are to go in it, anything else you will have to carry out in your bags yourself… We’ll be going to a border school for all our high school lives, which will definitely be three year away from Yamatai, surrounded by the unknown and exorcists. No way in Gehenna or Assiah am I leaving my Library behind.” Simon said, smirking as the others immediately rushed off, no doubt as to stake their territory in the trunk.

But the smirk soon slid down his face, his thoughts turning to just why they would be going to school filled with exorcists and prospective ones as well.

After three years of arguments, strife, and much, much stubborn patience on both sides, the Witches and Exorcists have finally decided on a treaty between themselves for hopefully better working relations, as demons are usually a problem for everyone. It was a good thing in the end, as it allowed Witches to at least rejoin, if a bit slowly, with the rest of the world while Exorcists got another ally in the ‘good’ fight. This did not mean everything was happy happy joy joy fun times for everyone; there were conditions of course. 

One of these conditions was to see if Witches could actually work with Exorcists, see if they could all honestly work together for a common goal and just get along. Thus Witches from under their respective Queens or King would be sent to certain schools around the globe, all learning what they could as Exorcists. (Or maybe see if they could be brainwashed into better values, was not said but thought by most; after all, why not do an exchange program?) 

Thus after much time and thought, along with the fact that no one else wanted to get involved or wanted to get the exorcists down on their heads, Simon, Yue, Kaoru, and Shisui would be going to True Cross Academy in Japan, under one Johann Faust the Fifth who was apparently a demon themselves.

Thinking about it, Faust was probably one of the reasons the Sun Queen even agreed to even send students, the other being that the bluenet and his group were some of the volunteers to go. Apparently a lot of shit has been going down on the mainland, something about a blue light, making the woman most wary in even thinking of sending anyone to Japan. It was probably the thought of actually getting rid of them, along with getting the agreement signed and sealed finally, that made Himiko change her mind about sending them to the Sunrise Land.

(As it was, Simon only really wanted to go because of all the much easier access to anime, manga, and video games there. Meanwhile, the others were more curious about different weapon styles (Yue), the place where Ninja first came from (Shisui), and actual curiosity about demons, as they could not be summoned on their island home (Kaoru). Besides, it would be nice to get out and see the world a bit more, spread their wings as it were.)

Sighing, the bluenet took another drink of his hot chocolate, gathering strength for all the other packing he would have to do now that the magic warding and tricks were finally settled.

Oh, this wasn’t going to be fun.

But thus it must be done, they would have to leave Yamatai the next day, especially since the school started in a week after all. With that, the sixteen year old Blue Rose Witch got to work, cleaning his cup before hand. ( Thinking of the title, Simon couldn’t help but wince; he didn’t really mind the title, because usually one didn’t get them till they’ve mastered their crafts, but he wished people would stop thinking he was a girl because of it... Maybe he could get away without telling anyone that he had one?) 

After a bit more hard work, a little more drama, and a dinner of good food, everyone stood proud of themselves, looking at how everything was finally bagged and ready to be moved; and there hadn’t even been any bloodshed! That in and of itself deserved a celebration.

Of course, this was when things made a turn for the wrong.

Simon had just been patting himself on the back, smiling as he saw everyone lying down and taking a breather when he had this sudden, terrible sensation all across his body, as if someone had taken all the heat from the room itself. 

This cold was quickly followed by what felt like a pull on his very soul , making the youth fall to his knees, all the breath leaving him, while also gaining the other’s attention.

“Simon?” Shisui asked in worry as he came over, even as Yue immediately came to his side, looking him over for any injure, Kaoru immediately casting a spell of detection as he went, eyeing the room for any threat.

“Activate....” the blue haired glasses wearer commanded, gasping out the word in such pain even as an old but ever true barrier formed around him, forcing the others away from him, like all the other times when one of them had a panic attack or freak out.

(it was a sad necessity that they needed, what with the damage their better trained bodies could do now.)

And just in time too, as that was when his roses went berserk . 

Tangling, writhing, thrashing, reaching , with petals going everywhere around the barrier, thorns bashing and slicing each other to ruin, even as the one they answered to screamed , unheard though it was behind the protections, with only the other three teens to stand beside and just watch as their most treasured person was suffering.

(There was no point in acting like a hysterical idiot and bang on the protections; it would do none of them any good and would just be a waste of time and any actual help they could give.)

And after so long of watching this, after thinking this hell would never stop, it finally did, leaving behind nothing but shredded roses and a bleeding Simon, the wounds healing at a much quicker rate due to him being a Blood Witch, the others running immediately over to help him, healing magic at work and bandages used to help when that was not at their hand.

Yue, Kaoru, and Shisui shared a looked, frowns and scowls on all their faces before they went back at work, all in total agreement for the silent words they shared.

The thing is though that none of these injuries could honestly have been caused by the roses; with the bluenet being their creator and master, they couldn’t no matter what. This meant that some outside force had caused the damage, was in fact still doing so as it was literally siphoning magic off their loved one in a way only a magical agreement could.

Now, if this was an actual, real emergency situation, they won’t mind as much, because in those times you take advantage of anything you have to get you and your love ones out; true, they would be bitter towards them for hurting Simon, but they would be understandable to the potential victim.

(On the other hand, if this was someone taking advantage of Simon for ill intentions… Well, they were talented and creative people; they would definitely think of something very special for them.)

Omake: Lullabies for the Sleepless

Metal and stone all around them, so hard and cold everyday. (Except for the silky soft black petals surrounding everything, with dangerous stabbing ebony thorns to act as faux protection; the flowers were the real threat there.)

Smell of ozone and something old everyday, a chemical sense to everything sometimes drowning it all out. (Except for the sickly sweet fragrance of his roses, so alluringly sweet, yet with a most interesting faint bitter sense to them; the poison in them ever so entrancing.)

Hands, hands everywhere, forcing, touching, hard and unrelenting as they did whatever they pleased. (Always followed by the double edged vindication when ever he was able to make those hands stop moving forever, followed by days alone and a fear of his own powers even as he always relied on them.)

Knowing nothing but to kill, knowing nothing gentle, knowing nothing about anything good for so long, not since his own parents sold him to his first masters, not since he was so very, very small. (How everything just seemed to chip and chop away at him, his very flowers which he so relied on seeming to also be poisoning him as well, as he got weaker and weaker by the day, leaving his very mind ready to betray him.)

Blue eyes, so full, so beautiful, followed up with a voice that told of things that lied outside these walls, some so unreal while others ever so true. (The hope the other brought with him, like a lifeline all fishermen had at the ready, even as he panicked and wretched over the fear of tearing it all apart, leaving him at sea, with only ashes left-)

Shisui jumped from his bed, dark eyes heavy, his roses out, and his breathing completely off.

…. That’s right… he wasn’t at the labs anymore; They were in Yamatai…

“Can’t sleep?” was suddenly asked, making black meet pupiless blue, the raven nodding over at the other boy.

“Come on over, I’m sure I got a lullaby I could wring out of my memory somewhere.” was Simon’s answer, drawing back some of the blanket so Shisui could join him along with the other two already there (really, why did they get four futons anyways?)     

“Hmmmm, ah! I got one; so lie back, relax, and I’ll send you to better dreams.” the bluenet said after some thought, his hands carding through black hair as he did.

“Hey, won’t you come home soon~

On nights my sighs sway the crescent moon,

I close my eyes and think nothing but you~” Simon sang so gently, making a certain raven finally relax, eyes closing as he did.

(It was only too bad that the other couldn’t help his lifesaver in the same way; the blue rose user looks like he hasn’t slept well in weeks either.)

Chapter Text

Bandaged, exhausted, and very much still hurting, one Simon Self (he knew he was never going to live that down, that one drunken experience was already enough to screw himself over) already found himself and the others in True Cross Campus Town. The others, never far apart from him unless necessary, were hovering over him, Shisui even going so far as to let him lean into him, arm wrapped around his shoulders and eyes glaring at anyone who even dared to get any closer than they already were. In fact, all three were giving off glares of doom, accompanied by the following aura of darkness and despair that just begged for anyone to be stupid around them.

And while Simon usually would get them to cut it out, at the moment he was too damn tired to actually try, enjoying the quiet around them at least.

Whatever happened to him nearly a week ago had kept him out for a whole day and had in fact nearly killed him if it wasn’t for his own powers and magic from his friends; heck, his body had actually started leaching the energy and power from them, which they happily gave him before he realized exactly what he was doing and stopped himself.

The sad thing was that he probably wouldn’t have been awake now to go to the school if he didn’t have that energy in him. He already missed the day to explore the campus along with Kaoru who had stayed behind to watch over him when he was asleep, having both Shisui and Yue go on their own so that at least someone would have an idea about the place while also getting all the stuff they needed for the Cram School. The reincarnated teen really didn’t want to miss the first day of school honestly, injuries or no injuries; just had to keep telling himself that he could do this, that he had the ability as well as the pain relief aids to do it with!

Sighing, the glasses wearer opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) when he felt the train finally come to a stop. With only a little bit of help and some cheating from magic, they were off with all their things, fully taking in all the sounds and delights of True Cross Campus Town, a place that seemed like it’s own little world honestly.

… Simon was so glad he took those pain meds along with a relaxation spell, otherwise he would be having such a migraine at the moment. Damn anime and their crazy, impossible, literally mind bending architecture and logic.

(Briefly, he wondered if he read a manga or watched an anime with a world like this; it seemed really familiar for some reason… or maybe he was just tired) 

“...So, I guess we should probably follow the rest of the students to this Matriculation Ceremony, right?” Kaoru asked softly, looking to the bluenet, who merely nodded slightly.

“Yes, it should be held in the main auditorium here, so we should be able to ask for direction if need be if we happen to be following others with no idea either. But first I think we should leave all our non-valuables over there” Simon said, motioning to where everyone else was also leaving their luggage while remembering all from what he had read from reading the pamphlet and map of this place, which in itself had been even more daunting than some of his text books. 

Easy place to get lost in, especially without any Keys to help one get around; luckily, they had one to the Cram School, along with another that lead straight to where their dorm room would be, so less walking for them thankfully.

And with that, they were off.

“First Year Student Representative, Okumura Yukio!” was called out to everyone in the auditorium, getting polite applause and cries from the first year student body as one of their fellow classmates went up to the stand.

“Not even up there for a minute and already the poor guy has a fanclub.” Simon mused, watching how some girls started to gush over the glasses wearing representative, even as he frowned slightly, turning his gaze down from his seat to the stage, his brow creased in thought.

Okumura… Yukio… He knows he’s heard that from somewhere, but to heck if he can remember at all right now.

“That’s the guy who aced all the exams right?” Shisui asked, gazing thoughtfully down at the brunet below on the stage, obviously considering him.

“Simon could have easily done so as well.” the only girl in their group bluntly asserted, only to get nods from the other two at that.

“Maybe; as it is, we’ve had a vastly different education from everyone else here, putting us very behind from everyone else in the world, so that definitely affected all of our grades; a month to catch up to the rest of the modern world isn’t the best for learning.” Simon pointed out, considering how much more magic based Yamatai was, making their science grades the weakest they had along with history. With those factors, Simon didn’t mind just being in the top one hundred, settling in at a comfortable rank of seventy.

Tuning out the rest of the speech, it didn’t take too long before they had to be off for the Cram school, seeing how it started right after the opening ceremony unlike the rest of school, which started the next day.

“Alright, here we go… anyone else want to do the honors?” Simon asked, getting out his nice and shiny new key from his school pants, looking to the others, who pretty much shrugged.

“If you don’t want to, I guess I can do it.” Shisui said, going to take out his own key, but stopping when the bluenet shook his head.

“Nah, I just wanted to make sure no one else wanted to before I did it.” Simon said, before getting his key and going to open the door to their brand new schooling experience.

(And oh , what an experience it was going to be.)

Chapter Text

It was a rather grand hallway to be honest; spic and span everywhere he looked, some places even shinning if he stared too long.

Really glad for all the pain aids he has.

“1106 for first years, that’s where we need to go, right?” Kaoru asked his sister from Simon’s left, to which he got a nod from her before she led the way, with Shisui in the rear, looking for all the world as if he was calm and collective.

...Really, these guys, picking out guard positions, as if he was about to be attacked-...

Biting back a sigh, Simon said nothing as they followed Yue to their classroom. 

Which in comparison, was absolutely filthy compared to the hallway, and in fact looked to be in quite the state of disrepair. If it weren’t for the seven other people in there with them, along with multiple dark presences, the blue haired student would have wondered if this was some hazing for them. 

But even as he looked around, blue eyes creased slightly as they took in all his new Cram School classmates, who all were so damn familiar , but heavens knew if he could remember from where exactly. It had to be an anime or something, that was the only explanation , but for the life of him he couldn’t even think of which one .

Oh, Simon just knew this was going to bother him for the rest of the day now.

After a bit of internal debate, Yue led them to the corner table in the black, the one with the row of four most closest to the door in this four by three table scheme. It wasn’t ideal, but it gave them space from the others around them while making sure that they could take in the entire room from their table, having their backs guarded as best they could get them.

Both Yue and Shisui abstained from sitting at the bench chairs at their table, the ash haired girl leaning against the wall as she considered everyone in the room while their raven ninja sat on the table itself, legs hanging off to the side even as he faced Simon and Kaoru as they sat down.

“Another student incoming, along with another presence.” Shisui warned quietly, motioning with his head to the door before it opened, which showed another male student (a flash of entrancing blue fire, a spark that burns so fiercely, yet ever so gentle?) along with their(?) not-a-dog (ageless yet so powerful, like time itself).  

...Simon was starting to get a head headache, making him rub his temples in hopes of relieving at least some of the stress, even as he eyed the other teen counting them off, frown on their face as they did.

This was getting very familiar, but where? From the two girls in the front of their row, to even the hooded guy(? Didn’t feel like a guy, mostly like snakes and why did that feel so important?) in the seat next to them, everywhere he looked he knew he had seen somewhere before, he just couldn’t get it and it was driving him nuts.

Right up until it didn’t, even as the answer slowly came to him with all the harshness of a slap to the face.

“Take your seats everyone, the lesson is about to begin.” was said by the ever so familiar Class Representative, Okumura Yukio.

There was a ringing going on in his head, a shrill sound that toned out anything and everything even as his own blue eyes, hidden from the world with much needed glasses watched as two brothers argued before him. A fight and argument he knew all the words to easily, because if there was one thing his new brain was good for, it was remembering and keeping things, especially those that the bluenet had liked and treasured.

And Ao No Exorcist/Blue Exorcist had been very much loved.

“...We need to get out of here… now…” Simon managed weakly, looking to the vial of mixture that would incite the demons in the room, making them attack when it would eventually shatter on the ground.

Oh by god, did he want a drink right now instead.

No sooner then when her Master had said those words, Yue was at the ready, one of her smaller chains, disguised as a mere decoration before, was in hand even as she made to lead the way as unnoticed as possible. Which was so pathetically easy, only their neighbor noticing as they got up because everyone else was watching the drama between two brothers going on to pay them any mind.

How disgraceful; and these students were going to be future exorcists, bane of Demons and killers of Witches? Laughable to be honest.

Turning to see how her beloved master was doing, Yue frowned when she noticed that he was leaning heavily against her twin, beautiful blue eyes open but still flickering at the pain they must be in. They would probably have to reapply the relaxation spell, the stress he is facing wearing it down to threads as it were, taking away from the much needed relief the other needed to even think of resting.

Unfortunately, her distraction cost her, as a shattering of glass followed by a rather foul stench of rotten blood marked what was probably Simon’s warning was about, as it made the dark presences come out in droves.

Oh how lovely, they were heading right for them.

“Demons? Where?” not paying any mind to those who yelled, the ash haired Weapons Mistress threw out her chain, her battle skill coming easily as breathing.

“As thou art a blight to my eyes, so shall it be afflicted.” Yue intoned, the sharpen links on her chain easily slicing through the beasts, killing all but one, which wouldn’t last for long thanks to her poisoning of it.

Though the gunshot was admittedly a much quicker way for it to go.

“Everybody, out of the classroom!” was called out by their teacher, who was shooting even more of the dangerous beings in the place.

She did not have to told twice, immediately making sure their way was cleared as they headed out of the door, the rest of their classmates behind them.

All but one who had decided to stay behind, closing the door on him and his brother

Well then, hopefully they would fix the mess they created.

“Yue.” was said so quietly, yet as it was said near her she was easily able to hear it. Taking a glance, she noted that it was Shisui who had spoken, even as he looked to be concentrating on the sounds of gunfire and indistinct yelling behind the door.

“Sensei dropped the vial on purpose; he just took the chance that Okumura gave him to make it seem like an accident.” was stated ever so softly, even as Yue’s eyes narrowed.

Looks their schooling would at least never be dull, what with all the hijinks and mysteries to content themselves with.

Just lovely indeed.

Chapter Text

In life, first impressions can really affect how the rest of the relationship will go.

“Now class, please answer here when I call your name.” The Cram School Teacher started, taking out his list of student names.

“Adachi Kaoru.”

“Present.” the rather calm answer easily given, the boy in question giving off a relaxed smile even as he did so.

While the girls in the class would never say it out loud, the ash brown haired and grey eye boy was very easy on the eyes, and charming to say the least, his easy smile just as easily making one’s heart all the flutter. The boys from the cursed temple didn’t have much of an opinion about him, aside from grumbles of laziness and how the other was going to steal all the girls. On the other hand, one Child of Satan frowned, something about the look in the other’s eyes, which despite looking so relaxed, also reminded him of the clown in a way, as if the other teen was just messing around with everyone and biding his time for something, unsettling the half-demon so.

“Adachi Yue.”

“Here.” was stated simply, even as she looked upon the teacher with distaste before going back to the book she had been reading.

This girl, despite the obvious relation to whom most assumed was her brother, was very much different from him and a bit of a mixed bag for the rest of the class. For those who had witnessed what had happened on the first day, they remained a bit cautious of the girl, her power and skill obvious in how she had torn down those demons back then. On the other hand, said skill also made them have a heavy respect for her, with her pretty, if foreign looks making it to where some would have a slight crush on her. The only detraction and reason why she didn’t have more admirers was how she acted so superior at times, the complex at times seeming to drive most around her away, which seemed to be how she liked it most of the time. That, combined with her cold air about her along with her distaste with seemingly everyone, did not make her well liked, but as she didn’t go out of her way to antagonize anyone, meant she was in a limbo state of where she would be on any popularity ladder.

“Kurosaki Shisui.”

“Yo!” said the mentioned boy, giving off a lazy wave as he did, reading from what was obviously a comic book, much to quiet a few people’s displeasure.

Unlike the twins, the raven got quite a few disapproving glares directed his way by one striped hair teen, but seeing as the other actually got passing grades was less of an annoyance to them then one certain half-demon. One pretty normal brunet thought he was a lot more attractive than the ‘Princely’ Kaoru, the bad boy vibe he gave off drawing one in like butterflies to sweet honey, while her friend thought him annoying, someone who probably wouldn’t ever have a real future at all. The elder Okumura honestly thought the other seemed pretty cool and much more approachable than either of the twins any day of the week; though he would admit, those dark eyes at times, with how they seemed to suck you in at times and never let you go, could get really intimidating really fast. The raven was definitely someone who one shouldn’t mess with, despite how welcoming he seemed to most.

“Self Simon.”

“...” the mentioned person didn’t really react, staring blankly at the board before them, making the teacher look a bit more concerned than before.

“Self Simon?” the exorcist teacher tried a few more times, having to say it three times before actually getting a response.

“Ahh...I’m here…” the other trailed off, blinking a few times, shaking their head as they did so before looking like they seriously regretted the action, wincing in obvious pain.

“If you need to, Self-kun, you can be excused from class today.” the teacher offered, worry heavy in their eyes as they took in the boy.

And none of the other students could actually blame him, as with all the heavy bandages and near permanently dazed expression on the Simon’s face, all the Cram School Students, along with even some teachers, wonder on how the heck they were even able to attend class at all, a hospital seeming more like where the other should be. A certain Miko’s daughter didn’t really care much about the other, as long as the invalid didn’t get in her or her friend's way, while said friend worried at times if the other was going to be alright. And while the Temple Trio respected the bluenet’s resolve to learn, one certain heir didn’t really want the other around to drag them down; they couldn’t just wait hand and foot on him, this was a place of learning and rules, no matter who ran it. On the half-demon’s part, he honestly worried about how hurt the other seemed, especially when with his new enhanced senses, he could actually smell the other’s blood mixing in with a strong floral mix; even see at times where red would appear on some of his bandages before class would even end, resulting in a hurried escape from the room by his posse.  

But despite all their thoughts about the group, there was one thing obvious to everyone; they were always together and they obviously cared for each other, which all of them found that they could at least respect. 

(Interesting little fact though; only one pair of blue eyes actually noticed that the leader of the group seemed to actually be the heavily injured bluenet. But funnily enough, no one knew that Self Simon was actually a boy, all looking at him and assuming he was a she, despite the uniform they were wearing.)

Chapter Text

Shisui gritted his teeth, pulling on all his years of training to maintain his ever aloof outlook as yet another girl squealed like a damn pig as he pass by. Just a little longer and he would make it to where all the food was being held, then he could make his escape.

“Kyaaa, he looks so cool!~”

“Like a total bad boy, really!~” was gushed out before another cry was released into the world; really, was that even necessary? Yue never made such sounds like that, the closest maybe being when she had gasped or took a sharp breath when she saw that one of a kind blade or bomb, so what was with these girls that did?

Then again, a few of the girls did giggle and act weirder the older they got in his magic classes back at the island, so maybe it was an age thing?... Did that mean he would one day have to face those kind of sounds coming from Yue’s own mouth.

Oh by the gods did he hope not.

“How is class C’s ‘bad boy’ holding up?” was asked by the ever there and all knowing ash haired Witch, the other boy smirking even as the raven ninja scowled at him.

“Oh, yes, laugh it up, class B’s ‘calming prince’; if those girls even had an idea about your true character, they would be running for the hills.” Shisui snapped back, not even caring that the other just continued to mock him with that ever growing smirk. (Gods, if there was ever one good thing about them all nearly being in different classes was that Shisui wasn’t in the same class as the male twin.)

Kaoru, while ever so calm and mature, had a sadistic streak that ran a mile wide and was used with quite a bit of glee. Shisui even knew for a fact that the other loved to fight, even more so than his ever practical yet battle loving sister. But unlike Yue, who usually only fought to win and get that win as fast as she possibly could, her twin loved to drag it out, making sure that his opponent would suffer before they finally either pass out or died.

Their classmates back home knew very well not to fight the ash haired boy, especially after everyone found out who was the one that did that to one Sato Ran for harming their blue haired savior.

Even Simon had commented on that being a little harsh, asking the fully classed Witch to please break his spell, which he of course did… eventually…

“Oh, they might just call me a ‘dark prince’ instead; amazing how good looks and shallowness can carry one so far in life, no?” the other asked, relaxed as ever, smirk now going back to his regular slight smile as they walked ever onward to the cafeteria and the nourishment there. 

And that was the kicker, because everyone still had thought the grey eyed boy was dreamy … well, maybe if you meant in the nightmare sense, but otherwise he really couldn’t understand.

But at least it didn’t stop him from being a good friend; the young ninja knew he could at least always count on the other, especially if Simon was tossing into the equation.

All of them knew they owed the reincarnate so much; they could never even think of how they could pay him back, and the other wouldn’t want them too. Their company and companionship was all that the other wanted, and Shisui knew that they would all easily give it to him and more, all he had to do was ask.

(Honestly, with how things were, it was them benefiting more than anything with Simon usually having to take care of them along with cleaning up any of their messes. He, like the other two, really wished that their blue savior would ask for more, but wouldn’t, couldn’t dare himself because he thought he would be taking advantage of them.

As if he ever would; Simon was the only one to never even think the thought whenever he was with them.)

“Hmm, what’s this?” Shisui asked himself, eyebrow raised as he saw the sign in the hall that said…

“Is that ‘poop’ or ‘lunch’ for 500 yen?” Kaoru asked from his side, both of his eyebrows rising as they took in the words.

“...Well, might as well check it out; if it’s decent, we might be able to save up to get Simon that game he’s been having his eye on lately.” the dark eyed raven suggested, though already planning on eating whatever was in the room; Simon had been practically mooning over the Demon Endurer sequel every time it was even mentioned or shown, the glasses wearing reincarnate getting nearly always depressed every time he found he didn’t and wouldn’t have enough for when it did finally release in the next month.

But if this place was giving food away for five hundred a meal, that would save a huge load off of their monthly allowance, easily giving way for a few ‘frivolous’ items for each of them, as Simon never liked getting presents just for him unless it was on birthdays or holidays. (On the other hand, he would be perfectly happy to give presents for just them three if he could get away with it, which they never did.)

And maybe it would finally pull him from the strange daze he’s been in ever since school started, the blue boy acting as a mere shadow of himself all week, just completing his assignments and making sure that they themselves were alright. Otherwise the boy stayed quiet, thoughtful and pensive as he mumbled to himself, frowning down at history books from both regular and Cram school classes.

Yes, getting that game for Simon was sounding like a better and better idea the more he thought about, crappy food or no.

But to their surprise, the place was not only busy, it was near packed, with the cook being none other than their classmate, Okumura Rin.  

“Oh! You’re from the Cram School as well, aren’t you?” was asked ever cheerfully, making them turn around to see yet another classmate, the newly entered Moriyama Shiemi-san. That really was a beautiful kimono she was wearing, made Shisui wonder where she got it from.

(He did not wonder though how Simon would look in one, smiling a smile just as big as the girl before him; that way lies madness, and he wasn’t there just yet, thank you.)

“Yes, Moriyama-san right? Could we both have two large miso soups please?” Kaoru asked, even as Shisui took interest in an argument between a certain demon king and cooking student.

“5000 yen notes are so boring, 2000 are so much more interesting~” their headmaster said ever so whimsically, even as he was enjoying his food.

“WHAT KIND OF REASON IS THAT!” was Okumura’s rather reasonable response in the ninja’s humble opinion, even as he idly noted that the headmaster and the student shared a certain resemblance to each other; maybe Faust was a distant relative? It could be possible, what with how familiar both Okumura’s were with the demon.

“If 2000 yen doesn’t appeal to you, how about 100 yen? Recently I’ve become rather obsessed with all that can be bought with 100 yen.” Oh, that was nearly too cruel, Okumura was nearly crying now.

“Who cares about your obsession.” yep, those were some pained tears if Shisui ever saw them, idly taking a bite of the soup that just came to their table.

Immediately, he froze, feeling Kaoru following quickly behind them.

“Okumura-san, if I may have a moment of your time.” Shisui said as calmly as he could, quickly doing the math in his head, even as his fellow raven turned to face him.

“Uh, yeah? Oh, you go to the Cram school too, don’t you?”

“Yes, I’m Kurosaki Shisui, I usually sit in the back of the room with a few others; I hope you don’t mind, but there is something I would like to talk to you about.” 

“Sure, shoot, though I do have to cook still.”

“Then I will be brief; I would like to do an exchange of sorts if you would be willing, with you cooking four bentos with food like this everyday.” Shisui started, seeing how the elder twin of the half-demons was nodding in understanding, even as he frowned.

“Of course, in return you will be payed for it; does 10000 a week sound agreeable to you?” Shisui asked, only to jump in a bit of alarm as the other teen nearly whacked himself with his own cooking supplies.

“10000 yen? Hell yeah! Just give me all your allergy lists and anything else you can’t have or that you love.” and off the other went, yen signs heavy in his eyes.

? He didn’t think it would be that easy for the other to agree; after all, school is six days a week, meaning meals would cost for just one of them to be 3000 apiece if they went by his 500 yen limit. The amount was literally the lowest they could go, and the other teen immediately went for it?

He was either an idiot or just too kind hearted for his own good.

(In time, Shisui would sadly find that the other was an unfortunate mixture of both.)

Chapter Text

Simon was starting to once again regain his grip on reality; slowly and bit painfully , but regaining it he was. 

But after tearing through all his class history books, along with the Cram School ones, the A-class Student could no longer deny the truth of it all; he was in the world of the Blue Exorcist, where Satan’s Sons were both alive and very much real, but with demon kings and spies all around the galore. He’s always known he was in a world of magic and creatures, but damn did he think he was in a world that reeked of hope and tragedy at the same time.

Because this series was going to have it’s heartbreak, it was going to have all the feels, covered as they were by the Powers of Friendship and Love™ as they were. And looking to their young brunet teacher that just came in, Simon frowned slightly as he considered where part of that was a source of it.

Okumura Yukio was still half-demon; he’s just never awakened, his body too weak at the time to support it… Of course, this means that not only does the boy have no one but probably Mephisto who would ever doubt him and his skill as an exorcist and human, maybe Shura, but that he’s never actually been sealed before, with part of his soul locked away like his more powerful brother had needed at the time to pass as human.

The megane blue haired student felt just the slightest bit sick; oh was he so not ready for this. Thank the good gods for pain meds and healing spells, otherwise he wouldn’t even have the strength physically and mentally to head for class, which he really did have to attend.

“Now then,” was said from Sensei, getting Simon’s attention, “I will just hand back the results from your recent tests. Self-kun.” was called out, getting a sigh from mentioned boy.

“If you want, I can get it for you Simon.” Kaoru offered, to which the bluenet only shook his head at.

“It’s okay, I can always use the exercise.” the injured, not invalid boy said, even as he winced when he got up from his seat. Hopefully after another few days or so he could actually go through an actual healing cycle, as it wasn’t really safe to do one so soon after near fatal magical attacks; they would just actually kill one if they weren’t careful. And with him facing a backlash from a magical contract, (which still confused the heck out of him about when he made it) it would amount to suicide for him to even consider going through one so soon, as it was suppose to be him to pay for the boon, no one else.

But it didn’t mean he couldn’t go for some wishful thinking.

“Excellent work, Self-kun. But remember if you need to rest, please do say so; I’m sure none of the teachers would mind if you missed a day or two to recover a little more.” Okumura-sensei reminded, frowning slightly over the visibly bandaged injuries, along with the paler condition even as he handed over the perfectly scored paper. (He had been a florist, had a degree in biology under him, and was an intermediate Blood Witch; he knew his stuff perfectly well, thank you very much.)

“I will keep that in mind Sensei.” Simon said, smiling slightly, remembering that despite all his worries about the other, they were a teenager, one who did indeed dearly loved (and admittedly hated, but what siblings didn’t?) his brother.

But with that, the blue boy made his way back to his seat, passing by both Okumura and Shiemi (couldn’t remember her last name for the life of him) as he did.

“Whoa, such a pretty blue!” Simon heard as he passed, sounding much like something the girl said instead of her companion.

“..Uh, yeah it’s… nice.” was said rather weakly from whom the bluenet thought to have come from her neighbor, the glasses wearer easily feeling a fiery blue gaze directed at him.

Yeah, he didn’t think Rin was a big fan of light blue; Simon’s hair probably reminded him of his flames probably, come to think of it.

But just as he went to sit down, he ended up getting slightly surprised by yelling in the front.

“Listen, okay?! You wanna know why I come to these classes?! To do some serious studyin’ an’ earn my right to call myself an Exorcist!” one Suguro Bon exclaimed, fire burning his eyes as he and Rin got into it.

Oh yeah, the Rin vs. Bon chapter of their lives… Fun times ahead for all it seems…

Not.

“Now class, what we will be doing for today will involve actual demons in order to learn their movements, so make sure to be as careful as possible and follow exactly as I say.” Their teacher lectured from the podium in the middle of the gym, even as he motioned over towards the strange and giant frog-like demons.

“We will start out with some relatively more docile ones for our first exercise with demons, the Leaper. If anyone is truly confident in their physical prowess and skills, I will invite them to come down into the pit and see if how long they will manage; this will not only allow a physical workout along with a chance for teamwork, but it will let the less abled students to observe the movements from the sidelines safely out of reach from the beasts. And will me at the leashes, there will be no worry about anyone getting in harm's way.”

“Any volunteers?”  

“I do!” Rin yelled, waving his hand as he did.

“I will!” Suguro yelled at the same time, which was quickly followed by a glare at the raven haired half demon, who in turn glared back as well. 

“Seems like fun, want to try Yue?” Shisui asked, leaning down a bit to take a gander at the demons down below, calm and relaxed for beings so chained and caged. Simon couldn’t help but shudder, rubbing his arms slightly as he eyed the cages; he only knew to well how much that has got to suck for them, being stuck in that.

“I’ll pass for now, I would like time to observe how exactly they move before I join in.” the ash haired girl declined, grey eyes thoughtful as she took in the frog creatures.

“Three volunteers? Alright then, please make your way down to the pit and be careful! I want no horseplaying or mindless races, I want you to actually pay attention to the beasts and your current teammate’s movements…. Begin!” Their double chinned teacher called out once all three boys were on the ground, letting one of the beasts loose.

Immediately the budding rivals were off, leaving the ninja to the side, the Leaper following after the two fast moving and rather emotional targets with vigor. The bluenet watched concernedly as Shisui started to follow closely behind, enhancing his speed at times when needed to occasionally get a better idea of the Leaper’s sudden tunnel vision on the two boys, or when he needed to actually get out of the way of a nearly well timed kick here and there. Simon relaxed slightly when he saw that the raven was as satisfied as he could be, joining the other boys in their rather argumentative race.

… All of a sudden, Simon got a really bad feeling in his gut; he felt like he was missing something here.

“Haha, you can be as smart as you like, it won’t help you in the real world though!” Okumura-kun taunted, teeth gritted in the most sinister smirk the raven haired ninja has seen yet, truly living up just that bit more to his heritage.

After all, it seemed every demon had to either have a sinister look to themselves; made sense that a half-demon would have to have one as well.

“Nggg.” was practically growled by the other boy, eyes only on his taunter as he ran, a rage in those eyes that honestly worried Shisui.

And oh, how he had every right to be worried.

It happened as if in slow motion.

“In the real world…” the other started, his body readying itself for what must have been the most stupid thing the dark eyed boy might just ever live to see.

“I’d do anythin’ to win!” was yelled, as the rather delinquent looking, supposedly smart kid went in for an attempted high jump kick at one oblivious Okumura.

Key word here, attempted .

Drawing on every last bit of speed, skills, and reflexes he had, the Black Rose Master flash stepped, grabbing one suicidal idiot by the collar of their shirt, effectively choking him due to the opposing forces before speeding forward just a bit, grabbing the other idiot by his collar as well, allowing a second to get a better grip on both boys before he jumped.

“Leap frog anyone?” Shisui asked faux calmly from behind the Leaper, which due to the force it exerted into going forward for a nice good snap up of an actual imbecile, was quite a bit further away from them.

“Gaack!” and one “Uhhg...” were the only responses the ninja got for his joke.

“...What the hell was that for?” was yelled by Suguro-san, who glared at the other boy only to freeze at the cold look in those eyes.

“Well, for attempted murder and suicide, I’m pretty sure a little chokehold wasn’t that bad in comparison.” was all the other boy had to say, his words as cutting and cold as those dark black eyes, making both other teens gulp in a little bit of fear.

When it looked like he was about to continye, the two troubled rivals were actually a little bit relieved when the teacher started yelling at them, Bon especially, as it meant that the other teen changed their focus to there, so that they could gaze up to them.

Scary guy that one.

Chapter Text

Holy fuck; Simon had forgotten all about how Bon was such a little shit at the beginning, right up until he finally got a good smack of sense put into him and started on a good path to maturity. (Even if it somehow involved becoming Lighting’s mom/manager somehow?)

Damn, talk about one major screw up; though it seemed Shisui at least yelled some sort of sense into the boy before the teacher just called him away, which in the end signaled Bon’s slightly tragic backstory for all those down in the pit below to hear.

...Hopefully he wouldn’t have to tell any of his friends not to murder the guy; as of now, at least Kaoru and Yue only looked disinterested and unimpressed, not outright ‘doing the world a favor’ murderous.

(Shisui on the other hand… yeah, no way is Bon-bon gaining any respect fast with the path he is on at the moment; the raven probably wouldn’t even trust him to screw something up, that’s just how little he thinks of the other right now.) 

“Complete idiot's.” Yue deadpanned, her twin merely nodding even as they watched the ongoing drama.

...Wait a minute.

“...Is the teacher honestly leaving a group of adolescents in a room with a dangerous creature? And expecting us to not poke at them?” Simon asked faintly, staring as the teacher left to do something for their…’kitten’?

“It does seem like that is indeed happening.” Kaoru noted, idly taking in the rest of the groups reactions, some leaning towards slight shock like Okumura-kun, to even the outrage that one Suguro was sporting.

“...Do you think we could check out the Leapers? They’re suppose to be okay to be around as long as one is calm when around them.” the bluenet asked, looking between the two ash brown haired twins, both who blinked up at their master as they did so. Pupiless blue eyes were practically shining at the thought of such an activity, Simon’s interest in both magical creatures and plants being well known to both. Sadly, as Yamatai was on not only a ley line, but was literally side by side with the spirit realm, Demons could not enter the land, thus making it impossible for the bluenet to ever meet one, despite his natural talent as a blood mage.

This put the Twin Thorns in a rather tricky predicament; on one hand, dangerous creature near their very much vulnerable, injured savior.  But on the other hand, Simon really wanted to do this, had been in fact one of the reasons he had been looking forward to their soon to be upcoming Tamers classes. Lighter grey eyes stared into a shade a bit darker, a silent, unreadable conversation to all but two others outside the twins taking place, before the sister nodded in confidence to her brother.

“...Let me prep a quick transportation spell, as well as have Ben Poe on stand by, alright? Yue will have a defense spell ready to provide us with a bit of time to get out if need be.” the male twin finalized, getting a bright smile from his blue master for those words.

“Alright, let’s go then.” the injured yet cheerful boy got out, sparkles practically surrounding them even as they winced when trying to get up, not even bothered when Yue had to help him, leaning on her for support as they made their way down to the Leaper.

“Wow, he’s pretty big.” Simon said in awe, reaching out his hand to the demon so that it could get a whiff of it, which was actually a pretty funny thing to watch. The way the nose wiggled as the giant and very dangerous creature took in his hand’s scent. The big guy even went as far as to lick it, which felt so strange, like someone had gotten gorilla glue on duct tape, then slowly was trying to pull it all away ever so slowly.

So fucking cool. Worth at least a little risk, as this was probably going to be the safest time for him to interact with any demon until his Tamer classes, but also because it confirmed a very big thing that had been driving him crazy for a while now.

His new body definitely had some demon in him; sensing his hand being in actual contact with a fully demonic creature and noting just how similar the two were, if only in physical presence itself at least, his soul could easily feel the difference, the memories of being in a human body showing the stark difference between his old vs. his new one.

After all, if his body had been fully human, there would have been no way for him to live through the magical backlash he had; it was simple as that.

(But it gave him one more clue as to what those people in the labs had done to him along with the others as well. While the twins he felt were fully human, he knew Shisui had some demon in him as well. 

And it would always be important to know more about themselves; what with them being around exorcist and all. And despite there supposedly being lots of familes breeding with demons, that didn’t mean it was a welcomed and widely accepted thing. Heck, Izumo’s family had been pretty fucking isolated, which maybe was partly because they had a really fucking important job to do, but Simon would bet that the main house also didn’t like the fact that they had some literal demon in them, watered down as it was.

Best to be prepared, to know what they would have to be ready to defend themselves against in time.)

“See, if that girl can do it injured as she is, I sure as hell can!” was suddenly yelled out much louder than before, making Simon blink even as the Leaper he had been petting looked over to the newcomer coming closer towards them, even as Yue and Kaoru gently dragged him back a safer distance.

(...Really, the Bluenet knew he was wearing his gym outfit, but he had also been in classes with the others since the beginning, and he has been wearing the male’s uniform; did they still think he was a damn girl? Sighing, he wasn’t even upset, he was used to it after all.

But still, fuck his trap status.) 

“I’m… I’m gonna defeat Satan!” was yelled out by the young striped haired teen, the frog beast looking nonplussed by the declaration at all.

 And Simon wonders where he had heard that before, taking a quick glance at Okumura Rin before watching Bon once more, who stands tall and sure of himself for himself and his words.

At least until laughter fills the room, echoing slightly in the silence that was once there.

“Did, Did he say defeat Satan?” one Byakko Tamer laughed, Kamiki’s words seeming to ring mockingly through the air, “what is he, a little kid?”

…

Really? You’re going to say that, nearly the perfect words to weaken anyone’s resolve, accompanied by mocking laughter just as they are facing off against a demon in a test of will.

‘Wow, how did these kids live through all their adventures again?’ was going along Simon’s train of thought, even as Yue and Kaoru used their magic and skills to get themselves out of the situation safely, even as Rin was coming down to save the day.

… oh yeah, that’s usually how it goes, Rin plus improving teamwork… By the gods can he not wait for the day when they all finally grow into themselves; he’ll become a silver haired anime character going at this rate, what with all the stress these kids are going to put him through in the next three years…

Heck, thinking of that, he might just lose all his hair and go bald.

Great... 

~The Next Day~

“S... So creepy. Is this an omen?” was what Simon and the others heard as they entered their free study class, Rin starring in concern over at one delinquent smart guy with a book in one hand while the other held a hair pin.

“...The fuck was that…?! Why you little! When I’m trying to nice an’ all!” Bon practically growled out, looking insulted, angry, and flabbergasted all rolled up in one.

“Everything okay here?” Shisui asked cooly, eyes narrowing in on Bon, who flinched in reply at that cold gaze directed at him, before warily glaring back.

“Oh, Bon just gave me something to help with my studying, to keep the fringe out of my eyes.” the student Okumura was quick to defend, showing off the new hairpin he had.

Hmmm, maybe Simon should look into getting himself some more while he thought about it; his hair has been getting ridiculously longer as time goes by.

“If you need help studying Okumura-san, we would be glad to assist you.” Kaoru offered, making Simon blink.

What? The bluenet had never thought he would double take so fast in his life, but damn if he didn’t just then, staring at the ash haired haired male, that calm smile on their face ever present.

Kaoru was not one to offer such things lightly, in fact he usually never would offer something unless he was sure he would get something out of it. So this begged the question; what did Rin have that he wanted?

“Eh, really, you would do that?” and wow were those some sparkling eyes.

“We can’t let our food ticket fail and get kicked out of school; where would we get our bentos then?” was Yue’s reply to that, making quite a bit of gloom surround the young half-demon.

“So that’s why, you only like me for my cooking skills.” the teen said gloomily, an actual aura forming around him.

“Wait, you’re the one who made those delicious lunches? I thought those were professionally made.” Simon asked, agape.

Fuck, the others mentioned that they managed to get a deal on lunches, getting the money for it and getting what Simon thought was five star bento’s for them all. He had no idea it was coming from a fellow student, Rin at that. The series hadn’t been kidding, the boy really did know how to cook, and cook really fucking well at that, a fucking cooking god to be honest.

“Heh, yeah, if there is one thing I really excel at, it’s in the kitchen.” the blue eyed halfa boasted, wide grin on his face even as he did.

“... Whoever you marry in the future is a person I am going to be most jealous of, Okumura-san.” Simon stated seriously, getting a blush from Rin while a few other people choked at that.

“Is his cooking that good?” was mumbled a bit too loudly in the back, reminding him that Bon did too exist.

“He is a cooking god, each of his works I have tasted a culinary masterpiece.” Simon said, remembering the lunch he had had today; it had been so good, the meat had been cooked to perfection and not even a grain of rice had been out of place, as if indeed a benevolent god had blessed each and every grain.

… And judging by the bright red blush on Rin’s face, he had accidentally said that out loud… 

“... This is a little late, but I’m Self Simon; thank you very much for all your hard work, Okumura-san.” now it was his turn to blush, bowing slightly to the other boy as he did so.

“Ah, I’m Okumura Rin, but I’m guessing you already knew that… You can drop the san though, Self-san.”

Giving a smile to the other boy, all Simon could reply was, “Likewise Okumura.”

(And thus the roots for a whole other friendship has finally sprung about, time once again only able to tell what will come about from it.

Chapter Text

Everyone has at least at one point in their life felt so excited about something, felt so joyous they couldn’t help but to express themselves in some small way. From a literal skip in their steps, to even just huge as hell grins, these moments of joy come out and attack when others around them, if they don’t know the person that well, least expect it.

Luckily for Simon and his group, they knew him quite well, so weren’t too shocked to see him so excited today. The bluenet was near bouncing on his feet, his bruises and injuries nearly forgotten thanks to the one healing cycle he had been able to go through, along with the pure excitement probably fueling him at the moment to tone out the aches and exhaustion.

Because finally, finally , they would be having their first actual summoning in class today!

Damn, was he getting more excited just even thinking the thought. So far all they have so far been studying was magic circles as well as different types of demons they could possibly tame in their demon studies class, (Kaoru being the star student there, what with his interest in the diverse species) which while good and all wasn’t the same as actual real life summoning.

Oh damn, Simon really hoped he had at least some skill as a Tamer; even if he could only summon coal tars, he would probably be pretty content with that.

(After all, it was like becoming an actual real life Devil Survivor character!... Just hopefully one without any of the bad ends and all the mass amount of deaths.)

Humming under his breath, Simon near gleefully opened the door to the Cram school, nearly nothing able to break his excitement.

Unless it was almost tripping over one Moriyama Shiemi.

“Wha-oh! Moriyama-san, what are you doing on the floor?” Simon asked rather bemusedly, reaching a hand out to help the young platinum blond out, who gratefully took it.

“A..ah, t-thank you Self-san.” The poor girl stuttered out, face a blushing mess as she looked down, “I sorta fell…” she finished lamely, looking just this side of miserable as she said those words.

“Well, I can see why; you probably can’t go fast in those shoes can you?” Shisui pointed out, eyeing her footwear in interest; it was almost like they were back in Yamatai with a fellow student, what with the traditional clothing that Sheimi wore.

“Ah, you may have a point.” the girl mumbled, looking at her sandal-like shoes in dismay.

“Oi, is everything okay over there?” was called, making the group look over to see one Okumura Rin come over, a mixture of curious and worried.

“Rin…” The girl said, trailing off slightly, looking just an inch away from crying before she turned away, straightening her back in shoulders in determination, making the other boy stare after her all confused.

“It’s nothing!” was all she had to say as she walked away, going at a probably more reasonable pace.

Huh, looks like they have a girl on a mission in their hands… And once again Simon felt like he was missing something, a feeling he hated that he was starting to get used to.

“...I see...?” the half-demon said, looking over to them, to which he only received some shrugs, before he too followed after the girl he liked.

Sighing, the blue haired megane shook his head, absolutely refusing to let anything drag him and his mood down; the only thing he would let depress him today was if he couldn’t summon anything!

With that, Simon made his way to the classroom, hoping time would just go by a little faster for the much awaited class two periods away.

He could do it, he could make it.

“Huh, I forgot that summer vacation was coming up.” Simon said a loud, even as he listened to Yukio lecture about about the Exwire Authorization Exam that would be happening the week just before it. Weird to think how fast the days passed by really, they only started school in April, and now it’s already July.

Urg, he really isn’t going to be looking forward to all the homework they would get.

“Huh, hey, after all this Cram School stuff is cleared away, want to see if we can maybe go to the beach?” Simon asked, a smile starting to show on his face as he suggested it.

“We want watermelon.” and now the twins were sparkling, making Simon laugh a little, before grinning when he noticed a certain ninja also joining in.

“We will see; we’ll have to make sure we get all our homework done along with any Cram School business squared away.”

“Uugg, yeah that… So, what meister you thinking of getting?” Shisui winced, his sparkles disappearing once the dreaded word of ‘homework’ was mentioned, while the twin’s went away as they thought over the question.

“I’d like to try Aria and Doctor out, they look like they would be most suited for me, what with how many languages I know along with my memorization skills … Hmm, but I do wonder if having Ben Poe as my familiar could get me counted as a Tamer?” Kaoru wondered, even as he looked over the sheets their rather young teacher had passed out. Simon could see that those would definitely fit the other, as while he wasn’t as physical as his sister, more preferring to use his magic and tactics to fight then anything else, the two Meister positions would work out well for him.

“Knight and Dragoon; I already know many sword styles, so that wouldn’t be too much for me, but I am curious about these heavy weapons that were mentioned in the books. Guns weren’t exactly popular back in Yamatai.” Was Yue’s input as she wrote down her choices, looking actually pretty interested for once about their studies. Again, the bluenet could see just why the Weapons Mistress would pick those two positions, her love of any weapons knowing no bounds.

“Huh, I think I’ll just stick with being a Knight for now, though I admit being an Aria could come in handy.” Shisui muttered to himself, making one heck of a face as he read over his paper. And the blue haired teenager could definitely see where the Ninja was coming from, as his skill with a blade was even better than Yue’s due to him dedicating more time for it, but with how he held little love for any more book work than necessary, he would probably just stick with the one for now.

“Well, I know I’m definitely going to go for Doctor, maybe Aria too, but I’m really hoping for Tamer as well. Fighting with Demons on my side would be so cool.” Simon couldn’t help but gush, his turn for sparkles coming, unfortunately making him look ever so pretty as he did. With all his knowledge of plants and even his stash of knowledge in healing potions of all shapes and sizes, not to mention his own ridiculous memorization and absorption skills, the bluenet felt confident in that he could at least get a passing grade for the class. And since his actual physical fighting skills pretty much only went up to free running and basic self defense as his body was just not strong enough, getting those three would be very helpful for his survival rate.

“Oh, yeah, that would be useful as heck.” the raven in their group added, looking rather thoughtful himself.

And as they continued to talk, none of them noticed how fellow classmates kept glancing at them all the while.

“Uh, Self-san, are you okay?” was asked by one bald headed teen, who looked quite a bit worried as they watched just how the bluenet was moving about even with how injured they have been.

Simon was practically vibrating, sparkles and rainbows coming off him as he watched the magic circle being made, the chalk smoothly going over the ground with a well practiced hand.

This was it, this was the class he would finally find out if he had any talent in it.

“He’s fine, just a little excited about this class; we’ve never had the chance to try summoning demons back home, so this is going to be a new experience for all of us.” Shisui explained simply.

“That is a little?” Okumura said before falling silent as it looked like the teacher was nearly done.

Fuck, did the bluenet hope he had any talent, it would be such a bummer if he couldn’t. Crossing his fingers, even as he carefully griped his summoning circle, the glasses wearing reincarnation listened carefully to the teacher’s words.

“You blood and an appropriate appeal is also necessary for a successful summoning.” and so saying, their teacher, one eyepatch wearing asshole, showed by example, summoning one heck of a foul beast, a Naberius if Simon was recalling it correctly as he covered his nose.

“Damn, does that reek.” were Shisui’s words on the matter, with the twins agreeing with him judging how they too covered their mouths and noses.

But the reek no longer mattered; their teacher had finally given them the go ahead, with one Kamiki Izumo leading the charge, summoning her two Byakko’s.

“Impressive.” the tallest boy in their group, Kaoru, murmured after his own failed attempt, observing the two beings carefully.

“Dang, looks like I can’t do it either.” the ninja in their group muttered, glaring at the scrap of paper in their hands.

“Oh, looks like Moriyama-san can summon as well.” Yue pointed, her attempt also a failure, as they watched the blushing girl approached the other Tamer in the class.

“Alright then… What the heck do I say…?” Simon asked himself, not spilling any blood just yet as he wanted to at least think of an appeal first.

But nothing was really coming to mind… well, except for that…But that couldn’t possibly work...

...Eh, he couldn’t think of anything else, so why not? Spilling a drop, the Blue Rose Master smeared it over the circle before reciting his appeal, which got his classmate’s attention, especially since he was saying this in English.

“None are innocent, no, not one: Peaceful days are over, let’s survive.” Simon called out, not helping himself with the video game reference. So what if he was a big nerd about the Shin Megami Tensei series? They were his favorite games of all time after all. (And ever though the Shiro Megami Tensen series in this world was great as well, the one from his world would always have his heart.)

At first nothing seemed to happen, making Simon start to droop a bit, hoping that maybe it was just the appeal that was the problem before all of a sudden, his circle reacted.

And boy did it react, as what looked to be a halloween pumpkin came out, even wearing a long dark blue witches hat and cape around it, with white disembodied gloves to act as it’s hands, one of which was holding an old fashioned lantern, burning merrily all the while.

It looked a lot like a Jack O'Lantern, or Pyro Jack from a certain game series.

“So cool!” Simon gushed, grabbing the hand that wasn’t holding the lantern as he practically sparkled at the creature, not even noticing how it blushed as he did so. “Thank you so much for appearing for me, if you like later I can give you an offering of sake and food for your kindness.” the boy continued, even as the poor demon didn’t seem to know how to react.

“Ah, thank ye for th’ compliment, good fellow.” The being said, Irish in origin if judging by the accent, looking rather flustered by the attention so suddenly given to them. 

“A Jack O’Lantern; quite a powerful summon.” The teacher said, their one good eye narrowed in on the flushed being being showered in attention from their new tamer.

“If you like, for any time I summon you I can provide you with some sake for the service you have given me… that is, if you want to be summoned again?” was asked so hopefully, big blue eyes that glasses couldn’t really hide shining ever so hopefully up at the levitating creature.

“Ah, tisn’t necessary, bu’ I won’t say nay to any food or drink.” the Jack O’Latern said faintly, going even redder as the boy just smiled at him, actually hugging him as they did.

“Thank you! I know you won’t regret it Jack-san!”

“H-he’s so cute Self-san!” was said all of suddenly, making the glasses wearing blue boy blink, looking over from his hug to see that Shiemi-san to was admiring the demon he had summoned.

“I know, he is, isn’t he?” and thus started the Sparkle Zone™ around the two, the poor creature that was stuck in it quite overwhelmed by the combined force of such beautiful people.

“I wonder if I can summon anything else; Sensei, can I please try again once more?” Simon wondered, before turning his sparkling question to the sweat dropping teacher.    

Neuhaus took a glance over at the demon that the bluenet had smothered in affection still looking rather out of it, before turning back to the boy once more, “...You are allowed one more try, after that, I expect everyone to write a three page report about the history of Tamers and how their contributions have aided Exorcists throughout time.” the grim teacher allowed, seeing as another student before him had already used two circles herself, before speaking out to the rest of the class, who were starting to get back to their seats, only Simon’s group along with Shiemi and Rin staying behind to watch what else the bluenet would try. 

Well, one video game quote worked, why not go for another?

“I art Thou, Thou art I; The time has come to awaken, so open thy eyes and call forth what is within!” the reincarnation once more intoned, this time though seeming to get a much quicker reaction, the paper seemed to come alive as it were. After a bit of some shifting and shaping itself, it formed into a strange medium box-kite like being, except with a lot more paper trails then were needed.

“A Shikigami? And an Shiki-Ouji as well.” Their teacher noted, considering the paper creature as it circled their new master, considering them as the bluenet was practically beaming as it did, still just as excited, but a bit more toned down now as they had lost all the nervous energy from before.

Of course, he was still ecstatic as all hell; he was just able to control it better now.

“Ah, thank you for answering my call, I am very grateful for this service.” Simon blurted out, stars in his eyes even as he bowed to the being which had now stopped in front of him, seeming pleased with the respect given.

“You will do, Blood Witch; do not disappoint me.” was all the creature had to say before they went over to his side, resting on blue hair as it took in everyone around them.

“I will endeavor to do my best.” the bluenet said with glee, grin on his face making him look radiant as he did. And not even when the creature disappeared a moment later did his spirits go down, as he was in all honesty just too relieved.

“C-cute..” was muttered from the side, making Simon blink as he looked over at Rin, who seemed rather conflicted at the moment. From his side, the garden girl only nodded in agreement, blushing and smiling as she did so.

“Thank you Okumura-kun, Moriyama-san, I thought the Shiki-Ouji was too… Would you like to study with us? It’s probably be easier to tackle this paper with a few more heads in the mix?” Simon suggested, checking with his friends to see if they had any objections, pleased when he saw they didn’t have any.

Maybe they were getting a little more social with others.

(What the bluenet didn’t know was that it wasn’t so much as being social as having their own motivations and agendas in the mix. Shisui was glad about not being the only one at the mercy of the terror twins tutoring/torturing, Kaoru didn’t mind some new student/victims, and Yue wondered, a bit curious about the young half-demon’s fighting skills.

Oh well, what was a friendship without manipulation?)

“Uh, sorry Self-san, there’s something I want to do first.” was suddenly said, making the blue youth look over at the other girl, who was now squaring her shoulders, a sort of determination in her blushing stance that the boy did not expect to see from her now. Watching how the other was glancing over to a leaving Kamiki and Paku, Simon could only nod at her, watching the girl leave with a slight frown on his face.

It seems he hadn’t been remembering the series as well as he thought he was, forgetting about the time that the platinum blonde had been, in Rin’s own words, Izumo’s bitch. (Made him wonder just how much more he wasn’t remembering, and just how that would end up affecting him and this new life he was living…)

...Well, he could already tell this could only end in tears.

Chapter Text

Simon felt his eyebrows rise when he saw the Former Upper Division Boys Dormitory and the state it was in.

“... Do you think the headmaster is keeping that up with magic?” Shisui asked, whistling as he took in just how much of a wreck the place was. Really, it would not be out of place in an amusement park, easily fitting in as a haunted or, with a bit of a stretch, fun house.

“I sense some magic to the place, but they feel more like wards then anything structural in nature… Then again, with Demons who knows, they could easily go on a whole other set of rules.” Kaoru imputed, eyeing the place with a frown as he looked it over.

“...Well, the walls should be easier to break if need be.” Yue considered, kicking lightly at the building, raising an eyebrow of her own when the brick crumbled a bit at the light force applied to it. “...Very easy at that.”

“Could you please not break anything unless necessary.” Simon suggested flatly, knowing if he didn’t say that the girl would probably actively look for a reason to break a wall. A strange, if understandable, quirk of Yue’s was in how she rather enjoyed finding out just how quickly she could take something out and made sure it stayed down/gone for good. On the other hand, her hatred for walls, again rather understandable, was a bit more costly, making it to where Simon would have to suggest for her to tone it down a bit, which she always followed even if she tested it at times.

(Which honestly relieved him so much that she did, trying to find loopholes and such in his words, no matter how annoying it could get. His control, power, and sway over these kids at times terrified him, especially with the twins; the raven Ninja would at least actually at times argue with him if he didn’t agree, the ashed haired duo would only make their opinion known, maybe debate something, but outright disagree with him? 

Never; his world was the law with them, always and forever. Hence why he never said anything as an order with them, only questioned or recommended, maybe once in awhile suggest something, but that was it.

And as tiring as it could be, as heartbreaking as it was, he was selfish enough to never want them to ever change; he rather have this then the broken dolls they had once been so long ago.)

“Oh, the Okumura’s are already here.” Simon noted, not even bothering to sigh when he saw how they tensed at seeing their young teacher; the trio were not very forgiving of their first class, what with the brunet putting the whole class in danger by dropping the vial. Luckily, it wasn’t very noticeable, though he’s pretty sure that both the brothers have noticed the coolness directed at Yukio from the other three, though they haven’t really commented.

“Oh, you guys are early; coming to get the best rooms?” Rin said, looking them and their luggage over, offering a hand out to take something, which only Shisui and Simon took him up on while the twins assured him they had it well in hand already.  

“The sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can leave, right?” the more relaxed of the ash haired twins simply said, his casual smile never leaving his face as he did. Simon only sighed while the Okumura twins sweatdropped at the words, a sense of awkwardness going through the air after that.

Luckily it was soon broken.

“Ugh, it’s creepy... isn’t there any place better than this?” was the input by Eyebrows, even as she had her pack mule-uh, he meant Shiemi carry another item for her.

Ugh, why did she have to come? As much as her backstory made him able to sympathize with the girl, he could easily admit he really didn’t like her; and probably still wouldn’t until after her own arc… The way she just treated everyone around her, sans Paku, just really got on his nerves to be honest, though her treatment of the sweet garden child really was starting to piss him off.

No one deserved to be used; it made her no better than those who have used her and her family.

… Well, at least he knew she was redeemable, otherwise he would have probably just outright have hated her, which wouldn’t have been too good for her health.

  Shaking his head, the bluenet moved on, entering the house right behind the three other girls, their teacher and other male classmates right behind them.

No time to really ponder on their classmates; they had an exam to ace.

…

.... Was the basically the only sound going through the room, the scritching and scratching of lead on paper being the only noise to echo around the four walls they were trapped in. Simon was admittedly having problems holding back the sigh that wanted to come out, idly checking his paper for what felt like the thirteen time again. He had easily finished it way before the time limit, the worksheet a breeze as long as one actually paid real attention in class along with completing the homework. Looking around lazily, the blue rose creator saw that Kaoru had also finished early as well, while Yue herself had just done so. Shisui was still struggling, frowning in concentration down at his paper, as well as obviously double guessing himself as he checked previous answers. Oh, was Kaoru going to have a field day with him if he got anything less then a B; the usually relaxed guy would turn even more hellish than usual in their study sessions if that was the case.

“...Alright, times up. Please flip your papers over and pass them around.”  Yukio announced, collecting all the papers from them, Shisui visibly drooping once he did.

“I-I think I’ll go out for some fresh air…” the raven haired ninja said a bit faintly.

“Do you mind some company…?” was asked weakly by the elder Okumura, getting a nod from the other academically disinclined to get some of that needed fresh air.

“If you two have any problems, just remember I’m always available for tutoring.” was said with a smirk by Kaoru, getting full body shudders from the two ravens.

(Poor Rin found out firsthand just how ruthless and downright devilish a tutor the ashed brown haired twin could be, the relaxed grin probably haunting his dreams as those lips made sure one did not forget your lesson, even if it destroyed anything that wasn’t complete obedience.)   

“N-no thanks.”

“N-not necessary, r-really.” and with that, the two booked it out of there, rushing as if Satan himself was after them. 

Almost like two peas in a pod, those two… Now if only Simon’s Ninja could get along with Bon, they’d probably have another new trio to watch and laugh at, though that sadly probably wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Not with how Shisui couldn’t trust the striped haired teenager or his decisions, their past actions reflecting horribly in those black eyes of the trained killer.

“Ah, Adachi-chan, are you coming to the baths?” was asked, making Simon glance over to see the garden child ask his female Thorn, only getting a head shake for an answer before going back to her book.

“I will take one later, for now I would like to read a little bit beforehand… Though I’ll probably go and get myself something to eat before I do.” the grey eyed girl explained, getting a nod from Shiemi before quickly following after the other girls heading to the baths.

Frowning slightly, Simon frowned as he wondered why this felt familiar before shaking his head, going and getting his COMP out, leting it boot up and planning to play.

Ah, now this was just what the doctor ordered.

Yue could only blink at the bit of ridiculousness that she was experiencing (i.e. dragged into), even as the idiot assassin beside her could only laugh as they went to keep up with the two running morons before them.

“Why are we chasing after these two again?” she couldn’t help but ask herself, accidentally saying it out loud.

“Because this is fucking hilarious.” Shisui snickered, grinning over at her as he did, the expression making her face feel weird, but as it didn’t hurt she didn’t mind.

“Besides, he interests you, doesn’t he?” the raven added, motioning with his head the boy who was ahead of them.

“...I want to fight him.” Yue admitted, her eyes now narrowed in on the elder Okumura. Unlike his brother, who rubbed each and everyone of their group the wrong way, Okumura Rin was actually someone she could admit she appreciated, a sentiment shared by the rest for their own reasons. He was just someone she found that was very likeable, his intimidating looks not even bothering her. 

In fact, they made her curious; this was a boy who knew how to fight, and to do so well. He obviously carried great strength, but the control he had over it had honestly engaged her, wondering just how much he had to be keeping in those hands of his. That, along with the natural battle instincts she had seen in gym, ones that not even some of the other students could claim to have besides them, had been something that made her want to see what he was like, going full out.

She wondered, just how powerful a son of a powerful demon could be.

(When Simon had told them about that, though saying nothing more than that, as this was Rin’s secret to tell, Yue could only wonder just what he could be capable of. Whatever he had made Simon have a premonition about, it could only have been something rather big, big enough to intimidate the older soul and yet completely trust in him at the same time.

Of course she would be curious and interested in the other; Simon trusted no one outside of them, and yet Okumura Rin had easily gained it just like that... Though it was interesting to note that the twin brother did not get the same, wariness and a certain type of caution being all that was directed towards him.)

Though these thoughts would have to be for another time, because just as the half-demon had caught his prey, screams could be heard.

Hmmmm, well that could only mean one thing; that things were about to get interesting.

It didn’t take long to get to the source of the yelling, all four of them rushing to get to the restroom, just in time for Rin-san to punch away one of the Kamiki's familiars, make two ash eyebrows rise.

Yes, she would fight him, she would experience that power all out, even if it meant she had to teach him herself.

She would gladly welcome the Challenge.

Chapter Text

Shisui didn’t hesitate to enter the bathroom behind Rin and Yue, backing up the other boy with some of his enchanted steel wire, having it act as a barrier between them and the Naberius that was attacking them. He would trust the other two to take care of the girl’s contrary familiars, and hopefully rather quickly; the foul big guy looked rather determined to get at them.

But taking the creature in, the dark assassin couldn’t help but wonder as he did, taking needed time to steady his blade, readying for once it broke through. It was a ghoul-type demon, kin of Astaroth if Kaoru’s tutoring proved true. Weaknesses were light and most likely a verse from the Gospel of John, but heavens knew if he could remember it at all.

But the biggest thing he could take of note, was that it should have been impossible for one to get in; unless it was let in... 

And oh, if memory serves him right, wasn’t there a convenient Tamer who could actually summon ghouls? An actual teacher at that?

Oh fuck his life, he really didn’t want to deal with this shit now, not when they had to be studying-

…

Hmmm, that would be a thought for later, as of now, he had a beast to beat.

Rin could admit, he thought most of the strange group of four were pretty neat.

Kurosaki was pretty cool, if scary whenever it came to Bon, and he was pretty relatable with his struggles with studying as well. Adachi-san, while a rather calm guy to be around in any situation, was actually pretty terrifying to the young half-demon, who instincts practically screamed at him to keep an eye on the other, just in case.

(He tended to listen to his instincts, as they always usually turned out right.)

On the other hand, the guy’s sister was a total mystery to him, her cold and blunt words usually quick to put down any attempts at conversation with her. And yet, she was never truly mean to him, always listening in first before she made any of her thoughts known. (And that was more than most people would ever even think to give to Rin, something he appreciated about her, especially with how honest she was.)

Simon on the other hand... Well, she was honestly rather beautiful, nearly as much as Shiemi was now that he could actually see under the bandages. She didn’t treat him any different than their other classmates, had even welcomed him as a friend, offering help and advice if he needed any at all with the classwork. (She was a much more likeable Tutor then Kaoru; they were like an Angel and a Demon if one were to compare them.) Honestly, the only thing he found unsettling about her was admittedly the color of her hair and eyes; they reminded him of the color of his flames.

(Not reminded; they were the exact same color-)

But aside from that and a few other misgivings, the elder Okumura had never really been overly concerned about the group.

Until he saw just how they fought; Adachi-chan fought with obvious skill, her blade like a longer arm as she sliced and cut the smelly demon off, making it back away so that he could get some much needed breathing room. Shisui on the other hand tended to go for more underhanded methods and tactics, literally tripping the creature up and even going straight for the eyes and throat whenever he could get to them.

But what really chilled him was the utter ruthlessness in which they fought; they didn’t hold back, they really went out for the kill, and they obviously didn’t care, treating it as if it were another assignment in class with how casual they would get, the same determination they would give to homework like it was here. And when they all had found out that the demon was after him, the creature even saying that it was under orders? The two merely narrowed their eyes (Adachi) and huffed out loud (Kurosaki), before using that info to trick the creature into a corner, all without Rin ever actually getting really hurt.

It really unsettled him; if they could fight like that, why did they need to be going to the Cram School?

(In his mind, he remembered how he saw Simon that first day and the days following, so nearly broken and beaten, a distance in her face that showed that while she was there in body, she sure as hell wasn’t in mind…)

“...To Thee and not be silent. O Lord my god, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.” Bon finished the psalm, Simon nodding in agreement with the teacher; it truly was a good memorization, no flaw able to be found in it; extra or forgotten words were truly an Aria’s bane. 

“... You have to memorize all that…” was said faintly by one very gloom filled ninja, blue lines all around him showing off the aura of doom rather well, only getting a pat on the back by a not as sympathetic Yue as comfort.

“That is why I am sticking with weapons; they make so much more sense.” was all she had to say on the matter, getting an agreeing nod from the other physically inclined person in their group.

“Uh oh, looks like things are going to get a bit heated up today; though I’m surprised Kamiki didn’t blow up sooner, what with how’s she’s been all day.” Kaoru idly noted, watching how the girl and Bon were starting to go at it.

“Isn’t too surprising; she hasn’t had anything or one to give her an excuse to go off, and here Suguro-san is, coming out of nowhere and showing her up right in one of her most strongest classes. An opportunity if I ever saw one.” Shisui pointed out, while Simon frowned over at the arguing duo, before getting up.

“Ano, Kamiki-san, Suguro-san?” the Bluenet called out, only to get ignored as the two started to get into it right over Rin. “Ah, Okumura-kun watch-” and there went the nicely delivered punch, being blocked from it’s original target by one child of Satan's cheek. 

Right in front of the teacher as well… Rin’s yonger brother in fact.

Oh dear…

Sometime later~

Simon grimaced at the rock demon in his lap, idly poking at it which only made it growl at him. Okay then no more touching on the Baryon, it apparently didn't like that.

Toning out most of Okumura’s speech on collective responsibility and how they all had to get along together as no exorcist could fight alone.

On the other hand, he did catch the part on leaving them like this for three hours, warding them in from even thinking of leaving.

“Sensei, I don’t think I could last three hours like this…” Simon said faintly, the rock in his lap increasing in weight and pressure every single second.

That got the younger Okumura to actually consider him, eyebrows drawn close together before clearing, “Well, considering you would be most likely one of the ones to suffer most if your teamwork broke, you can take it off in another ten minutes.” their teacher allowed, giving Simon a bit of a feeling of relief, even if the rock felt like it was trying to break every bone in his legs.

“So lucky not having to face this for three more hours… What a monster...” Was Shima’s words on the matter, the strain obviously getting to him.

“Not really; what he’s basically saying is if a break in teamwork happened, I would most likely end up dying in ten minutes.” the bluenet explained, getting scowls among his friends while he got double takes from the others.

“Wha...?”

“Not only am I still recovering from my injuries, but besides my magics and Tamer skills, physically I the weakest of any of us here. If one or more of our teammates was possessed, I would be one of the ones they would gun for first, seeing as I could not only heal and free any of my teammates from their control, but because I would also be pretty easy picking.” Simon explained, getting slightly horrified looks as understanding reached them.

“...Well, this is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into.” Bon grumbled, wincing as his Baryon got just that bit heavier.

“Says the one who was manhandling me by the chest earlier!” Kamiki of course had to reply, making Simon frown over at them, a glare coming into his eyes.   

“Guys- 

“You’ll make every person around you run around for the hills acting like that!” the delinquent looking smart guy finally delivered, gaining a stunned reaction but no return response.

“You two idiotic smart people.” Shisui practically hissed, gaining both their attention just as the lights went out.

Fuck his life, just fuck it.

“Oh light of my life, please guide my way, and lead me ever onward; Illuminate!” Kaoru cried out, the verse of magic causing multiple balls of light to appear, bobbing up and down as if the air were lazy waves for it to float on.

“Is everyone alright?” Simon asked, feeling a bit relieved to hear multiple confirmations from his quiry. Well, that and Shisui had taken the chance to shove the rock off him, giving him some much needed relief.

“I’m going to check out the hallway, see if we can find anything.” Shima suggested, getting up to go to the door.

It was just at that moment that Simon felt a familiar, hostile presence at the door, making him jump up immediately to stop the other boy, grabbing him by the side and tugging him to a stand still.

“There’s a ghoul on the other side.” the bluenet stated quietly to the pink haired boy’s questioning face, face grim to match the other’s paleness.

“Oi, how can you tell that?” Bon asked, though just as quietly in regards to the situation.

“I can sense otherworldly presences; Kaoru can too to a degree, though Shisui and Yue can only pick out hostile presences.” Simon explained, motioning for them to back away.

“What do we do?” Moriyama asked, gulping, but showing her spine in how she refused to back down.

“We’re warded in tight in this place.” Shisui took over explaining, motion with his hand the area they were in. “Ideally, we could knock over some walls, but with how unstable this building is, that could kill us all faster than the demon itself. We’ll need to find good fighting positions, support in the back, with out head fighters in the front-” the ninja continued, only to get cut off by the door being smashed quite thoroughly.

Impatient these guys were, weren’t they?

“If you can’t physically fight, get in the back! Okumura, Shima, do you think you two can fight with the us or do you think you can act as a guards?” Yue yelled, before getting out two blades, slicing through the air just once, while the Ninja set up a wire trip, using a lightning spell to at least ward off the beasts for a while.

“I guess I could be the backup; the least of what I can do around here, seeing as I know no fatal versus.” the pink haired boy said, taking out a staff as he did.

“Yukio isn’t answering his phone... I could draw one of them away-” Okumura was about to suggest, before Simon himself smacked the other boy upside the head.

“No, you one self-sacrificing moron, splitting up is probably what the things wants.” the rose witch explained, even as Rin stared at him as he rubbed his head. “From what Yue and Shisui have told me yesterday, it seems it might be after you, so having you by yourself without any backup just yells of ambush or something of the like.” Simon went on, watching as those blue eyes before him went through some inner conflict.

“I can handle-” the other boy tried, only this time to get a smack from Bon as well.

“Are you crazy? We need everyone we can here with us; we’re lucky as hell Adachi has those lights setup or we would probably be even worse off then we could have been. And if those creatures are after you, then I sure as hell don’t want you out of my sights.” the temple child said, scowling at Rin, who seemed just the slightest confused and frustrated, if touched.

“Not to interrupt the wonderful atmosphere going on here, but do we have any semblance of a plan at all? I’d say my wires could last one more minute, maybe three if I put my all into another electricity spell.” The Ninja in their group admitted, a good sweat building up now as he tried and make sure the beasts couldn’t get at them.

And then one of the heads exploded, spraying around a liquid that was making things go from pretty bad to even worse.

“I can help!” was suddenly said, making some of the group turn to one garden child “I need Una-Una-kun! Ni-chan!” and with that, there was suddenly a tree in the room, easily blocking off the beasts and taking a load off Shisui, who was finally able to let go of the pathetic remains of his trap. 

“No way…” 

“Urg, fuck, you guys are officially on a time limit now.” Shisui scowled, frowning at the trees that protected them, the crashing and banging on the other side anything but good.

“Huh?” Rin asked, frowning as he saw everyone, except for him, Simon and Shisui coughing and complaining.

“That spray… But are you guys saying you’re not effected?” was said rather incredulously by Kamiki, looking from the unaffected three with wide eyes.

“We really have no time to be talking like this.” Yue said, coughing slightly before straightening, giving one of her blades over to Okumura, who stared dumbly at it.“You can’t use your blade around others, can you? Then right now, you can use one of mine; you better take care of it, or I will skin you alive when this is all over.” 

“But-”

“No questions or arguments Okumura, we are the first line of defense right now, we can not fail.” the girl barked, glaring at the other, who stared before nodding grimly back at her.

“Well, I can’t let you do this all alone, so I’ll try a recital.” Bon said, wincing just a bit.

“Do you know the Fatal Verse for these things?” Shisui asked, getting out his own blade, standing by Shima as they would be acting as the second line.

“No, but it would probably be in the Gospel of John; I’ve memorized it all already, so I can recite it all, it will eventually react to something.” Suguro explained, face grim even as he took a glance at Shiemi, who was shaking from both effort and the beasts taint.

“... Aren’t there twenty-one chapters in that…?” the ninja asked, looking a little sick at the thought.

“Allow me to help; I’ve memorized only to chapter ten myself, so I can cover all those.” Konekomaru said, standing as well.

“I’ve only gotten to chapter fifteen myself, so I can at least say those in between.” Simon offered as well, looking to the other two, who seemed grateful at the admission, even as they looked a bit concerned. (Kaoru frowned, hand clenched into a fist at his side; he himself had not gotten that far, focusing first on demon entries and bios.

It would have to be something he would correct in the future, even as he stayed by Simon's side.)

“Are… Are you all crazy!? If you start reciting that, they’ll go straight for you once they break through!” was input made by one Miko’s daughter, making the bluenet sigh even as Bon exploded.

“Is this the time to really be concerned about that? Everyone here is getting prepared while that girl right there is working her ass off; no way am I going to sit around and do nothing.” the head of the temple trio exclaimed, pointing over at Shiemi as he did, the girl panting from all the effort she was putting in.

“That’s Bon for you, he’s a real man.” was one pink haired boy’s input, before getting into a defensive stance with his staff, preparing for the worst.

“This...is insane.” was the girl’s only response, Simon not even bothering to look at her anymore, sitting down and going over his chapters he would have to recite.

“You’ve been acting tough this whole time, but when push comes to shove, you just want to run?... Then stay back if you’re not gonna fight.” And with that, Bon turned to him and his other friend not currently defending them, going over which chapters to speak.

Clock was a ticking; time to get serious.

To all the exorcists watching and observing the fight the young pages were doing before them, many were in states ranging from impressed to even downright concerned.

Many were impressed with Moriyama’s skill and command of her familiar, the impressive barricade a great boon in the battle that came a head, providing debris and other handy throwing objects when needed. Another thing that was found impressive was Suguro’s skill in memorization, and just how he had been able to memorize an entire gospel and recite it on the spot as he was, impaired at that as well. And once Kamiki had gotten her resolve once more, her impressive control over her two Byakko was still as impressive as ever. 

Of course, what was concerning for some was not the same that was worrying some others; quite a few were not happy with how well the Satan child was doing, worrying he might pass if things kept going at this rate. Others found it impressive just how effective he was, working as well as could be expected with someone they knew but never have really fought with, battle instincts mostly at work there.

But hands down was anyone expecting just how talented a certain group of four children were; the Adachi Twins, Kurosaki Shisui, and Self Simon.

Of course, all of them expected something from the children that Mephisto had ‘found’ and were required by the Vatican to attend school. And of course none of them had expected these children to come into their classes with one of them looking an inch away from needing a hospital bed, mind barely even there with only glazed eyes to take in the world around them. It was understandable just how overprotective the three were over the more petite bluenet, what with just how damaged they were, thus why none of them wondered about the weapons they all carried.

Of course, none of them knew they could use them with this level of skill...

The spell the male Adachi, Kaoru, used was one many Exorcists hadn’t ever heard of, much less hold it for as long as they did. And the strain was obviously getting to the young boy the longer he had to hold those multiple lights, yet never complaining as he did, staying close to the bluenet and ready to defend them at any moment’s notice. He even went as far as to control the movement of the lights, waving his hands and having the orbs smack the Naberius in the face, making it back off and give a bit of breathing room for the physical fighters.

His sister on the other hand, Adachi Yue, despite her impairment obviously knew her way around a blade, wielding it much like an expert would. And like her brother, she was able to use spells that no one has ever even heard of before, making the demons back away and keep back. But the most impressive thing was that she could work with the child of Satan, and work well with them, making up for Okumura’s inexperienced swords skills, and actually using them to the advantage.

Kurosaki Shisui was also a surprise; the worst out of the four with book work, yet the best when it come to anything physical, they expected him to be talented with fighting, a Knight candidate obviously. No one expected him to fight like an actual ninja , using steel wire with ease along with throwing stars, every strike of his blade used to kill, no questions or such asked. And even with him acting as the second line of defense for the Arias in the group, he didn’t stay idle, taking opportune moments to confuse and injure the ghouls, pushing them back with the Shima child the few times they had managed to make it through the first two fighters.

And then there was Self Simon himself, the youth who came into the school year so injured and yet was pulling his own weight even now. Once he finished his chapter, instead of hanging back like he could have, the bluenet took a summoning paper and summoned a golden teardrop-like creature, which one of the exorcist recognized with a gasp as a Saki Mitama. With the being’s aid, Simon had been able to heal and aid his comrades, lessening the toxin the ghouls had released and giving the group a better morale along with it.

It seems there would be much to expect from this group in the future after all.

Chapter Text

Once the ghouls had been beaten, one taken out by a combination of Yue and Rin while the other taken out by Bon’s recital, everyone allowed themselves one breath of relief, a moment to just relax and get their hearts calmed down.

And then the lights were suddenly on and Okumura Yukio and Nauhaus Igor were in the room.

Needless to say, they didn’t exactly get a welcome reception.

“Wha-” their young sensei started, only to get cut off when suddenly the man right next to him found himself a bit tied up, a knife at his throat posed, all done by two certain students.

“Neuhaus-sensei, with all due respect, please explain why we shouldn’t gut you like a fucking pig right here, right now for the damn shit you put us through tonight.” was said very cheerily so by Shisui, the grin on his face downright terrifying even as those black eyes were closed, tightening his wire as he did so. 

“And just what it is you have against Okumura Rin.” Yue added, eyes narrowed up at the man, a great dislike easy to see in her grey eyes.

“What the heck are you guys doing? He’s a teacher-” Bon started, seeming taken aback at his other classmates action, very much ill at ease before being cut off.

“A Teacher of Magic Circles, one of the rare one percent of Tamers who can actually summon aid at any time in the academy, and has already shown a talent in his ability in summoning specifically ghouls.” Kaoru explained, glaring over at their teacher, letting his spell go now that the lights were on, standing up and shaking himself off as he did so.

“Wha- That can’t be-” Konekomaru-san stuttered, looking very much disturbed as he fully thought out the situation now.

“Now, now, there is no need to be so worried~” was suddenly said, their headmaster literally just dropping in on them on them all of a sudden, easy grin on his face as he took in the situation all around him, and nearly getting the drop on Rin. The teen had only barely dodged out of the way thanks to Simon’s current familiar gently dragging him away, ensuring he was in a much safer zone and away from the Demon King’s feet.

But as if some signal had been released, exorcists of all shapes and sizes suddenly came out of the wood works, popping up here and there, Doctors in the mix ready and willing to help everyone to the best of their ability. Hesitantly, both Yue and Shisui looked to Simon, the bluenet himself frowning before nodding, the action making the two let go of their asshole of a teacher.

“...W-what’s going on..?” was asked a bit weakly, everyone but the passed out garden child wondering the exact same thing.

“Congratulations on the good work Pages; the Exwire Authorization Exam has now been complete.” was the only answer they received, only causing the way for more questions.

Simon just stared for a bit, before facepalming as he realized that this was in fact the very same test in the manga and anime, just with a few key differences like them being there and Rin staying… Fuck, while he didn’t mind that he didn’t remember a manga chapter this time, as fighting for your life does that too you, the reincarnate still feels like he should have remembered it.

But as much as he would like to beat himself up for his faulty memory and focusing problems, now is not the time; he has to make sure that his friends don’t actually kill anyone, especially a teacher that is for now under Mephisto's thumb. 

“I can’t believe that was a fucking test!” was growled out by one Okumura Rin, a scowl on his face as they sat in True Cross’s Cram School Infirmary. “We were completely deceived by it too…”

“...We should’ve at least considered it a possibility.” was Shima’s answer, making Shisui snort from his position against the wall.

“Yeah, I was a little more focused on making sure those creatures didn’t actually try and kill us.” was the young Kurosaki’s reply to that, getting a bit of a helpless shrug from their pink haired classmate. “I get putting us in combat situations to gauge how we work and if we’re actually ready for it, but this test was a little too out there for our supposed skills.” 

“Well, if these are the regular testing standards, it’s no wonder there aren’t many exorcists in the ranks; if that was a simple Exwire Examination, I shudder to think of what lies beyond that.” Kaoru muttered, though his words easily carried in the large room, making everyone consider them.

As one, a feeling a gloom entered the place, the thought of what other tests might be like in the future.

“.... I wonder how I did? I hope I at least pass…” the teen with the least hair of them all said, worry on his features along with some blue lines.

“Well, Surgure-san and Moriyama-san have definitely done good, what with the tree barricade and being the one to deliver the fatal verse.” Simon said a bit thoughtfully, considering how everyone did in this time, unknowingly getting everyone’s attention. “And as a strict Aria prospect, Konekomaru-san did rather well, displaying a good grasp of his memorization and recitation skills under pressure, aiding in the demons departure much quicker. Kaoru was also a big help, keeping up those lights for us and using them as available weapons when needed, easily backing up our front line of defense and Kamiki’s Familiars. Okumura, Shima-san, Yue, and Shisui did well acting as guards and backups for us, which would all make them really good Knights, maybe Dragoon, candidates….Hmm, we just might pass this, especially since we got the major goal of this all under our belt.” Simon thought out loud, considering and going over the points in his head, and hoping they met with reality; he did not want his presence in this world to take away something so important to the group. They needed to be Exwires, he knew this, it was non-negotiable. 

Hopefully Mephisto would be able to pull it off; after all, he made them all pass in the canon of this world. (Unfortunately, he was realizing more and more that this probably wasn’t anywhere close to being canon anymore.)

“The major goal?” was suddenly asked, breaking Simon out of his thoughts, making him realize that he had the rest of his classmate’s attention.

“She means what Okumura-sensei kept reminding us before the exam; no exorcist can fight alone. In other words, the quality desired for exorcist is the ability to cooperate with each other…” the Kamiki Tamer explained for him, Simon not able to help making a face at how she called him a girl; for fucks sake, he was even wearing a male uniform, how dense could they all be?

(….Now he’s curious just how long he can keep them in the dark about his gender; it will either be fucking hilarious or rage inducing.)

“...And so I’d be the worst out of all of us.” the girl said with a sigh, only to find herself corrected by a very unlikely source.

“You sure as hell ain’t the worst one; those guys just decided to sit off to the side lines the entire time.” was said by a scowling Temple Heir, who was now glaring at ‘those guys’, being Takara Nemu and ‘Yamada’.

But even as they get in an argument, which also has the effect of awakening their resident garden child, Simon considers the two who he knows to be spies; one for the order and one hired by a certain Demon King. Glancing over to a certain Pinky, the bluenet frowns as he remembers that they two are a spy, though more of a double agent who swings on the fence anyway he pleases then anything else.

Urg, why does everything have to be so convoluted in this school? 

“Oh yeah, Adachi-chan, here is your sword; thank you for letting me use it.” the young half-demon says, getting Simon out of his thoughts once more as he sees Rin going through the motions of returning the blade.

Only for Yue to refuse it.

Simon openingly gapes at that. Her brother nearly falls out of the chair he had been sitting in, barely managing it because he reached out for a much more stable bed post. Shisui actually face planted, eyeing the two sword holders with nothing but shock.

Because Adachi “Touch-My-weapons-And-You-Will-Become-My-New-Training-Dummy” Yue does not just give her stuff away. They had all thought they had been in a life or death situation, and with the girl impaired as she was by the Ghoul’s toxin, they could see why she would give Rin a blade, especially with how reluctant he was to reveal his own.

But that she wasn’t taking it back now meant that she was basically giving it to the other boy, which basically spoke of just how high an opinion she had of him… or it could be that…

“Keep it Okumura; you’re going to need it.” the Weapons Mistress said, a very threatening smile coming over her face, making the other who also had a twin in the room nervous.

“Why?”

“Because if I’m going to teach you how to fight, you’re going to need a blade that you can pull.” the girl explained like it was the simplest thing in the world, her face just daring the boy to refuse.

And while Rin may not be the smartest of the bunch, he had excellent instincts; those were obviously what led him to merely nod weakly at the girl, who smirked at the action.

Well, here’s to hoping she doesn’t traumatize the boy too bad with her ‘lessons’ on proper combat...Heck, hopefully Shisui won’t join just to make sure and teach him the ‘improper’ ways to go about the fight. That wouldn’t just give Rin trauma, it would probably expose him to a full on explosion between Yue and Shisui; something that was always meant to be avoided if possible.

“What.. the hell?” was asked by a rather lost Bon, stareing from Rin and Yue with a concerned expression. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t exactly know how to say it.

“Haha, you guys sure are good though at fighting; almost like experts really.” the Shima boy said, curiosity in his dark eyes as he looked over at them. 

“As Exorcists we still have a lot to learn, but as fighters? We've received plenty of experience.” Kaoru brushed off, not looking really interested even as he eyed the pinkette warily; they were obviously someone to watch out for.

“It’s easy to tell, though I don’t recognize any of the spells you’ve used.” Suguro asked, frowning as he did so.

“They are from our homeland; it was there that we learned all that we know.” Shisui explained without explaining anything, something the Temple child easily caught on to, though grudgingly putting the subject on that. 

Some communities and lands were all about keeping their secrets, Bon knowing this especially well since he was the heir of the Myo Dha Sect.

(Shame he didn’t know all the secrets there just yet.)

“Doesn’t hurt that we’ve basically been fighting our whole lives; it would make sense for some lessons to stick in that case.” Simon added his two cents, not noticing how his words brought in their own share of disquiet, the few bandages he had on reminding them of just how the bluenet had entered their classes, and the state he had been in.

“But anyways, enough about us; I’m honestly curious about just how much you have memorized Suguro-san, and if you have any tips to spare.” Simon asked, thus diverting the awkward atmosphere and pushing it to other things.

(For now at least, as their classmates still wondered.)

“And everyone has passed!”

Simon stares along with the others as the confetti goes everywhere, their headmaster seeming to get really into their success, even saying he will treat them all. Which gets everyone to complain about this ‘Monja’ that the demon is going to be taking them to.

“Umm, is Monja bad or something?” Simon asked, getting multiple double-takes for those words.

“Wait, you have never had Monja Before?” Shima-san actually looked rather stunned as he said this, looking the bluenet over like he was unreal.  

“None of us have; the island we lived on didn’t have anything called that.” Yue answered, which made their whole group get a weird look.

“Well this must be corrected; one hasn’t lived until they’ve had Ramen and Monja!” their headmaster announced, and quicker then one would think (time manipulation maybe?) all of them were ready and at the shop for the much anticipated Monja.

“...This should be interesting.” Kaoru muttered, watching how Rin and the others made it up, getting the batter all nice and grilled up on the giant skillet.

“...It looks like pancakes, just with meats, cheeses, and veggies…” was Shisui’s opinion on the matter, looking it over curiously.

“It smells really good though; I hope it tastes just as well though.” the blue rose witch hoped, stomach growling as the food started to get more and more well done.

Yue stared for a moment at the exchange going on between both the headmaster and their teacher, eyeing the restrained violence that the younger Okumura was holding back as he looked (more like glared) at Faust. The staring didn’t last for long though, as once their teacher joined them, she went along to also get herself a drink.

But even as she drank down her lemonade, she once again considered the two people she trusted least of all in this place; the teen on a fragile knife’s edge, and the Demon King who played everyone like a puzzle piece all around him… or maybe like a chess board would be more accurate?

But despite what game the Headmaster had going, one which the ash haired Thorny girl would have no choice in taking part in, she refused to let him have her dear precious people hurt in it. She would not be able to beat him in power, magic, or intelligence, it was impossible for a girl like her to win against the Samuel, Demon King of Time and Space.

(That didn’t mean she couldn’t have a few surprises in store if it ever came to it.)

Chapter Text

“Urg, why the heck is the canteen so crowded? It just makes everything hotter.” one raven haired rose master muttered before taking a swing of his mineral water, sighing in a bit of relief afterwards.

“No one feels like cooking in this heat, and all the good snacks can be found here, especially icecreams.” Kaoru started, getting his own water opened as he drank it, the grey eyed boy also seeking some relief from the heat with the drink.

“Well, we got enough icecreams and snacks to last us through our upcoming studying and homework session, so we should be alright; not to mention cooling spells if need be.” Simon was found saying, opening an ice cream for himself to eat. (Sea salt icecreams were actually pretty delicious and Kingdom Hearts was beautiful for advertising it to the world). It was as he did that a certain person caught his eye.

“Oh, Okumura!” Simon called out, waving to the other boy who had just finally managed to make his way out of the crowd.

“Oh, hey Self, what are you guys all doing here?” the half demon asked, looking between the group as he did.

“Just getting some snacks for when we go over our homework and studying.” Shisui said, waving his water in example, which made Rin make a face at the thought of school work, before he paused, his eyes fixed on the mineral water in the other’s hand.

“.. .Fuck, Yukio’s water…” was said with feeling, the poor guy looking rather miserable as he looked back at the chaos that was the canteen. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that he did not want to go back in.

Simon took some pity on him, taking out his own mineral water for the other, “You can pay me back for it later, I wouldn't wish those lines on anyone.”

“You… Are a saint.” and wow, Rin should not have looked so sparkly and cute, the anime verse the world had making him look ever so much more adorable as he grabbed the water, making them hold hands for a bit as he said his thanks.

At least until the aura of doom followed right after, the Simon Protection Squad geared up and ready to overreact and overprotect.

Just one of many reasons of why the Blood Witch doesn’t date. (Number 1 being that everyone besides actual demons being way too young for him. Another being that the only ones who would find him sexually attractive would have to either be demons or pedophiles.

And oh, could Simon go on, but he rather not.)

Sighing, the pupiless eyed boy made sure the other had a grip on the water before removing his hands, before patting the other on the back. 

“So, how is your studying going, Okumura?” the reincarnate asked, getting a scowl from the teenager.

“Ugg, it’s just so much; even though we’re all Exwires now, all we do is study like we did when we were pages. It fucking sucks!” Rin complained, blue eyes frustrated in how the crinkled and narrowed. “And with how we’re just the damn underlings doesn’t make it any better, as we don’t get any cool missions.”

“Could be worse, we could be getting no mission and still be stuck as Pages.” Shisui pointed out, getting a wince, then a nod from Satan’s half-human child.

“But if you’re getting bored, we can go over your sword forms once more; you could still use a lot of work.” Yue said, her dark grey eyes narrowing in on the group’s outsider, who flinched, rubbing his arms.

“I think I’ll just stick with our Sunday and Wednesday sessions.” Rin said, looking like he very much wanted to run.

Yeah, Yue could be a bit of a slave driver.

“Hey, if you like, we can go over to your place and study instead; it’d be nice to have one more.” Simon suggested, and he could see that the Okumura was tempted, though kept looking warily at the Twins.

His answer would probably depend on if he was feeling like he would die of boredom, or if he was willing to go through Kaoru’s hell tutoring for a better grade.

“... Well, let's go guys, my ice-pop is melting.” was the answer they got, the want for better grades and the fight against boredom winning.

Well, their study session just got that much more interesting.

“This is really the best you can do? Wow, I am impressed; you’ve somehow gotten much worse since we’ve last studied together.” was said by a coldly smirking Kaoru, his lighter grey eyes nearly lit up as he took in his two victims, both of whom were practically clinging to each other.

“Evil…. So evil….” Shisui whimpered, looking so close to crying.

“....Demon-tutor…” was all that Rin had been able to contribute, their words doing nothing but making the male Thorn’s smirk grow.

“Maybe a light snack break wouldn’t be amiss for now; we’ve been at this for a while now after all.” Simon suggested, getting two worshiping gazes directed towards him for those words.

“Oh beautiful light of my life, you always know how to ease my pain.” the ninja is their midst said, looking near tears even as Kaoru scowled.

“Simon is always so soft.” Yue said bluntly, but since she wasn’t arguing either, it should in how she too wanted a little break as well. 

“Truly a saint.” Okumura said with relief, flopping back on the seat; they were currently set up in the breakfast area of the not so abandoned boy’s dormitory, going hard at work on their summer homework for both regular and Cram School after Rin had given his brother the mineral water and come back. And thanks to the steady pace they have been keeping, they soon wouldn’t have to worry about anymore of the dreaded busy work after today, meaning that they would actually be able to enjoy the rest of their summer stress free! 

That honestly sounded like a really wonderful thing right now, making Simon sigh as he stretched, though quirking a small smile at Jack when they offered him a drink, the Jack-o-Lantern grinning back as they did so.

“Man, having a familiar seems pretty neat honestly, useful too; Shiemi-chan was able to really kick ass with Nii-chan. Oh, Self and I guess Eyebrows has been able to do some really cool things with them too.” Rin said a little wistfully, watching how the demon, shrunken for convenience, though looking much like a hand puppet, went to happily rest on blue hair, obviously very pleased as they did so.

“Hmmm, well, if you want to be a high ranking Exorcist like you want to be, you’ll need to get one eventually; since we’re not Tamers though you’ll have to just find one the old fashioned way.” the ash haired boy in their group explained thoughtfully, looking a lot more relaxed as he was no long in ‘Hellish Tutoring’ mode.

“Old fashioned way?” the blue eyed half-demon asked, looking interested.

“You’ll basically have to ask nicely and form a contract with one willing to fight for you.” Simon explained, getting a thoughtful look from the teenager.

“Huh, now that I think about it, how did you do on your summoning Okumura? I don’t remember you trying.” Yue said with a frown, her pointer finger pressing firmly to her mouth as she thought, obviously trying to remember just how he did that day.

“Ano… I never actually got the paper for the class…” Rin admitted, frowning as he thought about it now.

That made a bit of silence go around the table, everyone thinking one certain thing, if for different personal reasons.

That bastard Neuhaus.

Frowning, but now sitting up, Simon dug through his pack, getting out some of his spare summoning circles and giving it over to the Child of Satan, the blue haired Witch’s curiosity getting the better of him.

Because someone who could control the blue flames, showing off his Royalty to all demons? Who knew what he would summon.

“Uhh, what if there was a reason the sensei didn’t give me a paper though?” Rin asked, looking admittedly worried as he stared down at his paper.

“Then rip the paper and be done with it; everyone deserves the chance to at least get a try.” Yue stated firmly, even as her dark grey eyes burned. (She knew she should have slit that man’s throat when she had the chance.)

“And if needed, we can do so in your stead.” Shisui reassured, grinning at the other who shared it, resolve now entering his eyes.

“Alright then, so I just use some blood and say something, right?” Rin asked, getting nods in return. “...What do I say?” 

“Anything should work; after all, that worked for Moriyama-san.” was pointed out by Kaoru, making Rin think even as he did a small cut on his finger.

“Urg, it’s too hot to think though…” the boy said, only just then noticing there was blood on his paper, the room silent at that as they all stared.

Unlike before, they did not have to wait long for something to come out.

Out of lights that practically blinded everyone in the room, when they could all see again, they could only just stare at the very large, very demonic looking dog before them. It was easily big and long enough to carry five or so people, and had what looked like coarse red fur (and scales?) around it with a yellow snake-like underbelly going for it. It’s tail started to fork midway down and seemed rather happy to deny that gravity was a thing, wagging most fiercely as it did, along with a strange chain that was attached to a very spiky collar around the beast’s throat, with eerie, fully blue and glowing eyes staring straight at Rin and Rin only.

“Grrr, I am Wilder Garm. Thou art my Master. I wag my tail for thee.” and so the demon growled, indeed wagging their tail even harder for Rin as they sat down for them, looking ever so much like a very overgrown puppy that just wanted to be petted.

Rin only gaped at the other, seemly slightly in awe even as he went and petted them.

Simon couldn’t help but grin, having to stuff down his laughter; of course the Okumura would summon a softy with a hard exterior. How could anything else fit with him?

(For some reason though, he couldn’t help but feel that while a dog fit Rin, a cat would have too; wonder why that?)

On a bridge, where a certain Demon Cat was raging on it, a figure that was bandaged and a bit banged up approached the beast, easily calming the Feline’s rage as they did.

“Calm down ya big furball; it’ll take more then some asshole to take me out permanently; though I won’t say no to a helpful paw here and there.”  

Omake: House Training

Having Garm around the place was… Interesting to say the least in Yukio’s opinion.

When he had first seen the beast, the younger of the twins honestly didn’t know how to feel about it. Garms were very High Ranking Demons indeed, something his Nii-san had been pleased about, happily making the creature his familiar, which honestly just seemed happy to have someone around who cared for it.

So much like Rin in that way… was the thought that made Yukio’s thought that made his heart clench, making him accept the creature a bit more easily, especially since it could control its size.

On the other hand, he did not accept the demon’s habits of chewing on shoes and homework.

“Okay Garm, I think it’s time for you to get a little house broken.” and thus saying so, the brunet twin loaded his gun up right and ready, satisfied as the click was easily heard throughout the room, even as it made Garm whimper.

The demon was really regretting that he had tried to eat the other’s lesson plans now; he didn’t think the other would react this bad to that.

He would not have done it otherwise.   

Chapter Text

When one thinks of missions, one usually doesn’t have something like this in mind.

“This is kind of embarrassing honestly.” Simon sighed, frowning at all the shelves of mislabeled or wrongly placed ingredients. “How did someone even let a poltergeist not only into such a delicate place, but to lose track of it...?” the bluenet wondered as he shook his head.

Well, the noisy ghost wasn’t his problem; as an Exwire, all he had to do was make sure to clean up the mess that the creature made and had left behind while other higher level ones took care of the bother. Easy, sweet, and simple and didn’t have him cleaning out the Leaper cages like some of the other classmates.

Though it sucked that he couldn’t be doing this with the others in his group, what with them also having their own missions to do. Which didn’t please any of them honestly, as they really didn’t like being apart from each other for long times, even though they had gotten used to it at times being a necessary. The problem was that these were hostile grounds for them, with many untold dangers for them to be surrounded by; being separated here made them down right uneasy.

And it seemed he had all right to be uneasy, what with the malicious presence that suddenly entered the room, human in origin.

“Oh, now what is such a pretty student doing all by themselves in such a dusty place?” was asked out of nowhere, the blue haired Witch tensing even as he eyed the other cautiously, not even bothering to wait as he summoned Jack to his side.

“Oh, now don’t be that way sweetheart, I won’t hurt you; in fact I can make you feel better then you could ever imagine.” the figure said, showing that while he was a good looking man with brown slicked back hair and attractive brown-black eyes, he was just a slime ball that needed to be put down before he hurt someone else. Especially since he was dressed well in his higher ranking Exorcist uniform, making Simon morbidly wonder who else this bastard has gotten to, then made sure they couldn’t do nothing against. 

After all, who would trust one blue haired student’s word, especially since he was but a Witch? The man could easily have said that he had been enchanted by the other, hence why he had done it.

Well tough for him, Simon would kill him first before he let the other have his way, using his roses if he had to to do it.

Overkill? Maybe, but to get one more sick fuck out of the world? Worth it.

“You know you’re just making it harder on yourself here, right? And here I was hoping for a quicky.” the attempted Rapist to be said, getting out his gun as he did then starting to move .

The blue Witch did not expect the bastard to be so fast, which in the end cost him big.

With a few shots Jack had been dispatched, making the reincarnate cry out in alarm as that happened, even as he hurried to perform a blood spell.

He barely finished it in time, just as the other man had managed to push him up against the shelves, jostling all the contents behind the Exwire.

Damn it, he had just finished organizing it too!

“What...What did you do?” was bit out from above him, the exorcist who had him pinned now glaring down at him, obviously straining to even say those words.

“Why in hell’s name would I tell you that.” Simon spat out at the other, glaring just as harshly at the other. Thank god for immobilization spells, and that there was basically one for about every magic out there. Unfortunately, with Blood Witches one had to use blood to bind a person, and as Simon didn’t have the guy’s blood, he had to use his own to bind the other, having it act much like rope as long as he had enough and stayed conscious to hold it.

Of course, he wouldn’t have to hold it long; after all, holding ashes wasn’t an easy feat at all.

Though fortunately for the assaulter, it never came to that.

“Wh- What is going on here!?” was demanded, making Simon blink at the sudden entrance, even as he looked over to see none other than his young Cram School Teacher, the one and only Okumura Yukio-sensei.

“Ah, Sensei; could you pull this guy off me, his immobilization is only temporary and I rather not have any of his body touching mine.” the blue haired glasses wearing student asked, motioning to his attacker even as the younger of the Okumura twins sprung into action, ripping the man away from him, gun pointed even as he called Mephisto right up then and there.

What followed next could only be described as a complete circus of action and chaos, fitting for the clown who was brought along, even as he took the situation seriously for once.

Then again, that could have been a factor of why the circus was so chaotic; wasn’t used to seeing their Ringleader so stern or strict. 

Okumura Yukio could easily admit that he was concerned. 

And considering he had that way in practically a constant state since whatever happened between Nii-san and Tou-san that fateful day, he could rightly say that was what he was feeling; to think another exorcist would-

“The little bitch had it coming, just look at them; practically begging for it.” was sneered by the incarcerated man, who grunted as Satou-san took just that extra effort in making sure the handcuffs were actually tight enough; wouldn’t want them to be too loose after all. The younger of the Okumura twins really wished he could help the other in the endeavor, especially when he looked over to Self-san.

Once the situation had actually caught up to the blue haired student, they understandably went into a state of shock, trembling and shaking just the slightest, hugging their knees close to their chest as they stared listlessly out the window, blue eyes looking just so dead even behind their glass frames. Couple that with the even paler skin tone then normal, and it was easy to see that not only had the situation hit the bluenet over the head with all the gentleness of a mallet, but coupled with the blood lost it probably seemed even scarier in hindsight.

(He really didn’t want to imagine what could have happened if he hadn’t come in or if this hadn’t been caught now; would the other students, even his own classmates, have fallen victim to that absolute sicko?

Would Shiemi-chan have been…?)

“-nd are you sure the bluenet hadn’t bewitched the man?” was said, the words barely processing before Yukio turned, outrage as he fully took them in. How dare-

“While it is in a Witch’s skill case to do so, the only magic Self Simon had performed had been purely in self-defense of themselves and the assaulter has no enchantments but blessings of protection from demons and such on himself. Smart there is he, otherwise he probably would have been easily possessed long ago.” was said by the familiar, if much more irritated than normal Headmaster’s voice, his ire both easy to hear and feel.

“But-”

“Need I remind you that the Contract that the Vatican signed not only expressly forbade any non permissioned spells on anyone or anything from the Witches, unless in the act of self-defense, but that no exorcist loyal to the True Cross Order was to put any of the young exchange students in danger from themselves, unless related to training or their future careers?” was said with such a deadly calm that made the brunet freeze, even as he actually watched for what was probably his first time seeing Mephisto actually maybe mad.

“Do you know how close that contract is to breaking at this very moment, and making it in favor of the Witches?” was said so dangerously soft, making all the humans in the room shudder at the tone. “Do you honestly want to face the full wrath that is the Royal Witches in full, with them having all power over any lives that declare their loyalties to the Vatican? Because let me tell you; it is not a pretty thing.” were the grim words that were departed, making the whole room enter into a suffocating silence.

Only to be broken by an unlikely source.

“...Witch’s business….” was said softly, but was easily heard throughout the room so covered in silence, making most turn to the speaker. Simon still looked a bit out of it, and awfully pale making the doctor in Yukio want to make him sit down and stay down until he recovered, but he did seem to have gained a second wind as it was as those blue eyes met the Demon King of Time and Space.

“... Indeed a valid point, but would such a clause apply?” was asked curiously by the oldest being in the room.

“A crime against me will be a crime I judge the punishment of; for an attempted rape castration sounds like a good deal.” The bluenet spoke seriously, getting a nod from the headmaster even as the words gave everyone else the shudders, even as they understood.

After all, thinking of one's friends, families, and even just being a decent person, they would never want anyone to go through something like that again. What could be judged as a harsh punishment by some, seemed a practical one to others.

And when one works on destroying real monsters everyday, practical won by a far margin.

(But Yukio would have to admit he was a bit confused as well as wary; what contract was the headmaster talking about, one involving actual real live Witches and not just Demonic ones? And from the sound of it, Simon was indeed one as well, judging by what they had just did said. Did the contract make them go to school here, making them become Exorcists? Were the boy’s friends Witches as well?

...Why couldn’t he go back to the days when school just made sense with no complicated plots going on in the background?)

Simon honestly just hated the outdoors right now, especially since he was surround by others, even if they were the familiar presences of his Cram School class.

He honestly just wanted to be alone right now, and not on another mission. On the other hand, he also didn’t want to be alone at all, he wanted to be lost in the crowd and do normal stuff with his friends, and just get this dumb class mission over with.

The tug-a-war between himself was getting annoying real fast; maybe he should consider some therapy?   

...Nah, he’d probably send them running for the hills.

“Oi! Self, how was your first mission?!” was suddenly called out, making Simon finally realize once more that there was indeed people around him, his friends in fact looking rather worried by his daze he was in. It took him a minute to go over Rin’s question, before he scowled.

“It fucking sucked, I hated it, and never want to think on it again.” the bluenet growled, an aura of doom surrounding him as he said it, making the boys in their class back away from his group, who only tensed in response to his mood change.

“Sorry I asked.” the child of the King of Gehenna mumbled, looking honestly worried as he did, making the Blue Rose Witch in turn sigh as that.

“No, I’m sorry for snapping at you Okumura; it was just a really long day for me yesterday, one in which I really don’t want to talk or even think about right now.” Simon apologized, his glasses hidden strange eyes looking to Rin’s, who merely smiled and nodded, showing that they were still cool.

And just in time too, especially with the other two girls in their class just arriving, with Moriyama in her brand new outfit of a schoolgirl uniform.

...Huh, foreshadowing maybe?

“It… Looks a bit weird, doesn’t it?” the ever so self-conscious garden child asked, looking nervous as she did.

“It’s fine! You look real cute Moriyama-san!” was Shima’s seal of approval, giving the girl a thumbs up for her out fit, the other boys in his group also nodding in agreement at his words.

“You look very nice Moriyama; the uniform suits you very well.” Simon complement, getting a even darker blush as the young girl took in all the praise.

“Thank you!” was said from a bowed position, the girl looking so overwhelmed and relieved at the same time.

“OWWWWW! THAT HURTS YOU STUPID FOUR-EYES!” was what broke the cute atmosphere, getting everyone’s attention now on the Okumura twins.

And then they were split up.

“Alright, now that everyone has gathered, I will be putting you all into groups of two; Miwa and Takara. 

Yamada and Suguro.

Okumura and Moriyama.

Kamiki and Shima.

And Adachi-kun with Self-san, leaving Adachi-chan with Kurosaki-san. Now, on to the actual mission itself.” their teen teacher stated, going on about the Child Ghost in Mephy Land and how they were to either exorcise it or help it move on to the next life.

“Once you’re divided into the pairs I listed, you will have until nightfall to try and find it.” Their young teacher continued, even as the bluenet in the group felt a chill go over his spine, as if someone was watching them, making him look around only to find nothing obvious.

…. 

Thinking it over, Simon sighed; already he could probably tell he was just going to absolutely hate this mission. Hopefully though it would be much better than his first one, where there was no teachers to try and molest him, since there was only just a ghost to worry about.

“Any other questions?”

“Yeah, why do we only have until nightfall?” Shisui asked from the side of the blue reincarnate, making them blink. Looks like he accidentally checked out of another conversation again.

“Because this ghost is not active at night, seeming to only come out and about around park hours only… Well then, if there are no other questions, you are all dismissed.” and so saying from their teacher, everyone fanned out, going and searching out the ghost. (Simon had to admit he found Suguro’s grumbling about his partner hilarious, especially considering just who Yamada was after all.) 

….Sighing to himself, he had the thought that the mission couldn’t be too bad, right?

Some Time Later~

He spoke too fucking soon, because it could be almost that bad.

It didn’t matter that it was a ghost, it better hope Moriyama catches it first, because if Simon did, he’d give the ghost the spanking of a lifetime. Seriously, why the heck it thought it could get away with groping his ass he had no clue, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to be forgiving it anytime soon.

Then again, maybe he is letting this get to him a bit to much; they’ve already lost both Rin and Kaoru aways back, the other two probably not bothering to chase for long. (Good thing the male Thorn did not see exactly what the spirit had done, otherwise he probably would have just slaughtered it then and there, no questions asked; they were trying to aim for a more peaceful passing after all.)

But while Simon usually did have great stamina, being the only thing he was actually physically good at, he was still not in the most healthiest of straights, so it wasn’t completely surprising that he lost both the ghost and Moriyama after a while.

The roller coaster on the other hand seeming to get destroyed did come as a surprise. Running over to the disaster, Simon got another surprise when he saw what looked like a claw made out of fucking blue flames protect Shiemi and the ghost, making the boy blink slightly at the brightness of the flames.

(And at the slight reaction from his magic, making him feel ever so cold; what was that about?)