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Shion was exhausted yet deeply proud, yawning as he finished his last essay for his literature final before tomorrow’s deadline. It had even left him time to revise and edit it tomorrow before the deadline, what luck! If she was already done with all her essays like usual, he could ask Safu to check his work.
Shion got up, stretching, and packing away his laptop and textbook in his bag and leaving the library. It was already dark outside, and his fellow classmates were all camping to stay there until the library closed to finish their work. One of them was pulling at their hair, typing words almost like they were keysmashing. Shion decided to not bother them as he exited from the library, stepping out into the courtyard.
Shion looked up to see the falling snowflakes, seeing their dancing descent as he fixed his scarf. It was almost time for winter break, and he couldn’t wait for it to come. He wanted to spend some time with his mom in the bakery and not have to worry about an assignment or essay. University was rough sometimes but, at least, it would be worth it once he graduated. He’d never have to worry about papers after graduation!
Shion was about to enter the cafeteria to eat his dinner, glad he had not missed time in his work to eat, when he saw a strange light out of the corner of his eye. He frowned, turning as he saw the flash of light glow even brighter. Was there an event on campus right now?
Shion’s curiosity led him to follow the direction of the flash of light that began to flicker, akin to the flame of a dancing candle. He wondered if there was a light ceremony tonight again, struggling to remember if his friends had sent him anything for tonight. He had been too busy to look at his phone earlier and he hadn’t checked his notifications earlier.
Shion grabbed his phone and saw a message from Safu asking him if he’d eaten yet because it was getting late. She was right, it was getting late, and he shouldn’t be chasing after lights like an idiot when he should be eating. He was ready to turn around and abandon the strange light when he heard something even stranger than the light.
“Shion. . . Shion. . .”
Who was calling him?
Now he felt compelled to follow it, his legs moving faster as something told him to walk faster and even faster, or it would be too late. He wasn’t sure why he felt this sense of urgency, but he knew he had to reach the light.
“. . . Shion, hurry. . .!”
Shion finally arrived at the area of his university where the light came from and, immediately, it entranced him. It was a small little thing that was moving around in circles, changing from a harsh white to a warm gold to a soft blue to a bright red and other colors. Shion was fascinated by how it moved, walking closer to see it. It reminded him of something but, for the life of him, he could not remember from where or even what he was supposed to be remembering.
“Shion!”
The scream seemed so loud, as if someone had shouted right in his ear. Shion flinched, covering his ear with a loud shout. He looked around but there was no one but him. It was just the strange light and him. Where had that scream come from?
He saw the light stop moving, as if it was waiting. Was it waiting for him?
“I’ve been waiting for you, Shion.”
The voice sounded so familiar, so clear in his head. It felt like he was talking to an old friend. He felt at ease as he walked closer to the light. He stretched out his hand and the light floated to rest on his palms. It glowed a brilliant scarlet shade for a long time, illuminating their surroundings and chasing away shadows.
The light didn’t burn, it was as warm as Shion expected it to be. He held it up closer to his face, moved by its beautiful swaying and the way it felt so right to be held by him.
“Why were you waiting for me?”
“Silly Shion, you don’t remember?”
Remember? Remember what?
What was he supposed to remember?
“I. . . I’m sorry? I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be remembering. . . sorry.”
The light floated up and down excited. It was cute, Shion thought with a smile as it approached and rested itself on Shion’s nose.
“Shion, I was waiting because you are. . .”
The ground was no longer underneath Shion and he felt himself start flying, seemingly thrown into the air. Shion opened his mouth to scream, clutching the light closer to him, and was about to yell when he crashed right into a hard chest, sending him and the owner of said chest crashing against one of the nearby trees.
“Ouch!”
“Oh, sorry!” Shion yelled out, trying to get up, “Something launched me, oh no, my bag! My laptop is in there! My essay!”
“Shion, dodge!”
Shion did not understand why the light was so panicked until the other person tackled Shion to the floor and Shion’s eyes widened when he saw something sharp had stuck itself to the tree trunk where, just moments before, his head had been.
“Oh shit!”
“That’s an understatement, what the hell got you on that spirit’s shit list?”
“What spirit?! That thing looks like a massive guillotine blade!”
“Never mind, get up!”
Shion felt the person get off him and the person, his savior, grabbed his arm to help him get to his feet. Before Shion could get a proper look at his savior or even thank him, he was being dragged abruptly to rest his face against the person’s chest again just in time to avoid another attack from his mysterious assailant.
“If you’re going to pick on the weak, at least do it in a way that isn’t overkill. This is like using a gun to kill an ant, damn spirit.”
Shion frowned, trying to get out of the person’s arms because he would not stand for this rudeness, “Who are you calling weak? I’ll have you know that I’m in excellent condition, I just wasn’t expecting to be thrown in the air!”
“You’re not impressing anyone, kid, so don’t even try it. Just hang on tight and let me handle this, you’re definitely unsuited for this.”
Shion was ready to protest when his savior picked him up and his hours watching his computer screen and writing about Paradise Lost while not eating must have fried his brain because his savior jumped, and they were flying up in the air.
They were flying!
Shion clung to his savior and looked up to see his face. It was a young man that must have been his age but that was where their similarities ended. This young man was beautiful with a slender jawline and fair skin that was as beautiful as the moonlight that illuminated his beautiful features. His hair was long and reflected the moonlight, floating around him like some kind of heavenly halo. All of these features were beautiful, but it was his eyes that took Shion’s breath away.
Oh my goodness, his eyes.
His eyes were glowing silver, a precious stone that befit such a beautiful person. They were gray but calling them gray was a disservice to how wonderful they were. They were so full of life and filled with so much expressiveness. It was like an ocean of silver that Shion wanted to drown in.
His eyes were also. . . familiar?
It was the same sensation Shion had with the light, this sense of familiarity. He knew this person but, for some reason, this person was also a stranger at the same time. A familiar stranger, the perfect oxymoron that was consuming Shion’s waking thoughts.
If this was a dream, things would make sense. This was, however, not a dream.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
Shion was startled back to reality by the young man’s voice, feeling sheepish that he had been caught staring. He was about to apologize for his blatant ogling when they landed on the roof of one of the buildings. The young man let him go and stepped forward, summoning something from nothingness.
“Of all the days for me to patrol when I should’ve been having my break . . . that damn dog owes me.”
Shion stared at the weapon and saw it was beautiful silver blade that glinted with the light of the moon. This young man was so complimentary to the moon with his beautiful blade and eyes, his beautiful savior of the moon.
“Wait!”
His savior turned, raising an eyebrow, “What?”
Shion felt his heart race just a bit before smiling, “Thank you. . . for saving me. You didn’t have to, but you did. So thank you.”
His savior looked surprised and flustered for a moment before he smirked, overconfident and arrogant. However, underneath that bravado, Shion could see how he was still happy over his thanks. This person was so gentle. . . Shion needed to give him a hug.
“Who else but I could save you? You’d be helpless without me.”
He was still some arrogant person, but Shion didn’t find his arrogance obnoxious. At least, not while he was still looking at him with rose-tinted glasses.
His knight in not-so shining armor turned just in time to use his sword to deflect attacks that resembled what had attacked Shion earlier. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a scorpion’s tail that crossed with the world’s biggest butcher’s knife and wasn’t that bizarre?
The knife tail was attached to a monster that was hissing, ant-like mandibles clicking as its eight – eight! – pair of eyes stared them both down. The monster looked like a cross between a person, a spider, an ant, a scorpion, and other creatures and that was so unsettling. Shion clutched the light closer to him.
“A monster!”
“That’s right. We just call them spirits, but monsters is a good way to call these things.”
The monster- no, the spirit, hissed and it began to speak. Speak?! Shion have never imagined the thing could even speak! A creature that shouldn’t exist doing things it should never be doing. . . he really must have passed out in the library from exhaustion.
“You insignificant, scurrying little rat! That is my prey! I found the Pearl! It’s mine! Mine!”
The spirit attacked and the person used his sword to shield himself and Shion. Shion felt warmth against his chest and looked down to see the light was glowing brighter. Something was pressing against his chest and, instead of hurting, it felt right.
“GIVE IT TO ME!”
“Get down!”
Shion felt himself land on the ground before even realizing that he had even been pushed. His savior was dodging various attacks, swinging his sword with such precision like he was a trained dancer. The spirit was relentless, and, to Shion’s horror, he could see his protector getting his arms and legs sliced by the spirit’s bladed tail. Blood splattered on the snow like paint on an artist’s canvas and Shion’s heart hammered against his chest and the light.
Despite the cuts and gashes, the young man had not stopped defending and striking when he could, swinging himself and the blade around to hit the spirit and deal it great damage. He would also yell words that Shion found familiar yet could not place and any hit after he chanted the words made parts of the spirit’s body burn.
He was so brave, a hero of myth that leapt out of the pages of an epic. Despite the pain that he must be feeling, his gallant hero was still fighting and even making comments as he danced around the battlefield with poise and elegance. It was like he had done this many times before.
“You’ve got some nerve attacking this area when it’s under our protection. That desperate to chase after a myth? The Pearl is a myth.”
“IT’S MINE, YOU LITTLE RAT, YOU EXORCIST SCUM!”
The spirit screeched as the sword blasted it with a large gust of wind that made the snow on the ground flutter around the exorcist, his beautiful dark hair whipping around his face. The blast sent the spirit flying, making the exorcist look back at him with a cocky smile.
The exorcist spun around, his sword making a circle around him that began to glow. Shion stared at the glow of the circle and the exorcist closed his eyes, beginning to chant an even longer phrase than the ones he had been using previously. To his awe, symbols were forming in the circle, moving around the circle in an almost hypnotic manner. The spirit looked agitated, hissing, and writhing around as it tried to make one last ditch effort to attack the exorcist.
“Watch out!”
The exorcist opened his eyes and, oh, they were glowing this time. He raised his sword and swung it, releasing a cyclone that twisted and turned with parts of the exorcist’s blood and the snowflakes that were caught in its path. The spirit was caught in the blast and completely vanished, as if it had been disintegrated.
Something fluttered to the ground and the exorcist reached out his hand to catch whatever it was. He put it in his pocket, huffing and looking annoyed. Shion moved before he even realized he was doing it, coming face to face with the exorcist.
“That was incredible! How did you do that?! Was that magic? How did you learn how to fight like that-?”
“Whoa, slow down!” The exorcist half-laughed, taking a step back, “You must be some nutcase if your first questions are how my powers work and not what you just witnessed.”
“You already told me – it’s a spirit monster and you. . . it called you an exorcist! Exorcists get rid of evil spirits, like shamans.”
The exorcist looked amused and a bit annoyed, making a hand sign that made his sword disappear. Shion wished he could learn how the exorcist was capable of doing that when he saw him flinch, holding his arm where he had been sliced.
“Let me see that-.”
“Back off,” He hissed out, almost hostile, “The wound is a spirit one, these things are dangerous to ordinary people like you. Unless you want a violent death, step away. I just need a cleanse, that’s all. I’m fine.”
Shion knew he wasn’t fine. He looked pained despite his best efforts to look confident and unhurt. How could he not be in pain? What person shrugged off multiple slices and gashes like it was nothing? Was he running on adrenaline? If so, the adrenaline was going to run out soon and then this exorcist would be incapacitated by the pain.
Shion had to help. He didn’t know what a cleanse entailed or if that was just code to disinfecting the wound or something, but he had to help. This person had risked himself in order to save him. He could’ve just left him somewhere alone and left. But he didn’t. He had stayed behind to save him.
He had to help him. He had to!
“. . . Is that a wish, Shion?”
Yes, it was his wish to be able to help this exorcist with moonlight in his eyes. He wanted to help him, he couldn’t fail him again, he shouldn’t let him die again-.
Again?
“Anything for you, old friend.”
Shion reached out his hand and watched how surprised the exorcist with the most beautiful eyes was when he cupped his injured cheek. He didn’t want his face marred with these wounds. These wounds were his fault. He refused to let them fester and hurt this young man who had fought to protect him.
Something was glowing. In the reflection of the other young man’s eyes, Shion could see a brilliant light. It was beautiful, illuminating the area they were in. It complimented the young man so well, it was a beautiful glow.
“What are you doing?”
Shion sure didn’t know but he saw with his own eyes as the wound on the young man’s face slowly vanished, as if he had never been in battle. Was he. . . healing him? Was this Shion or was this the power of the light? He wasn’t sure but he also didn’t care.
He had wanted to help and, this way, he was helping.
The glow settled down just enough that the young man reached out and grabbed Shion’s hair. Belatedly, Shion realized that the glow that had been so mesmerizing had been coming from him, specifically his hair that was glowing a bright white. When it stopped glowing completely, it became its usual brown.
“The spirit mentioned the Pearl and I thought it was kidding. Fucking hell, the fucking Pearl is real? The higher-ups are going to have an aneurysm when I tell them the Pearl was here, right next to headquarters, this whole time. How did you find it?”
“The light- I was following the light, it was calling to me?”
Shion tried to show him the light but, instead of the beautiful light that had hypnotically led him to this situation, he showed the exorcist a pearl the size of his palm. The young man pulled away, releasing Shion’s hair as if he had been burned.
“The damn Pearl of the Goddess. . . after five hundred years, it’s back.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
The exorcist looked at him with so much pity that it made Shion recoil. Pity? That was the wrong emotion. Why should he be pitied for having found the light, the light had helped him heal the exorcist? It was a good thing, wasn’t it?
“We need to get you to headquarters, you’re not safe here.”
“Headquarters? Wait, wait, I have things to do, I have a paper due tomorrow-!
The exorcist rolled his eyes and grabbed Shion’s hand. He began dragging him to the edge of the roof, getting up on the ledge like he was walking up the stairs and looking down at him, trying to drag him up.
“Come on, it’s either your damn essay or your life. Trust me, the essay will not kill you.”
“You don’t know my professor.”
“I’m not letting you die, you idiot!”
Shion wanted to argue more but something about the exorcist’s expression made the argument die on his lips. The young man was angry, yet it was less about being mad and more about being frustrated that the person he was trying to help was not allowing him to help. Hadn’t he been frustrated with himself because he’d been unable to help his savior?
“. . . my name’s not idiot! It’s Shion!”
Shion stepped forward, trying to avoid looking down because they were really high up. The exorcist grabbed his hand as Shion almost tumbled down, quirking his eyebrow in an amused expression. Shion felt himself be at ease because, for some strange reason, this expression felt so right, so familiar.
“Nezumi.”
“Huh?”
The exorcist lightly flicked Shion’s forehead, a level of playfulness Shion had not expected from such a powerful person. It made his heart race, and he knew it was not because his life was in danger or because he was on top of the roof of a four-story tall building.
“My name, doofus. You have to get used to singing my praises, Pearlkeeper, I know this will not be the last time I save your life.”
“Who says I’ll continue being such a damsel, huh?!”
The exorcist, Nezumi, laughed, tugging his hand, “Stop whining and jump!”
Shion would never have jumped if anyone else had asked him to do so. Only an idiot would jump if a stranger asked them to. However, Nezumi had saved his life, so he’d easily earned Shion’s trust. Nezumi also didn’t feel like a stranger with his wonderful smile and beautiful eyes that almost haunted Shion with their familiarity.
When someone like this young man, like this exorcist, like Nezumi, asked him to jump . . .
Well, Shion jumped.
The two jumped off the roof, holding each other in the freefall before taking flight into the winter night sky, the shining moonlight illuminating them and the path ahead towards their destiny.