PRELUDE

"Hmm~?"

I look at my alarm clock beside my bed. It read 5:50 AM. It is a bit earlier than expected, to be honest. I remembered waking up a few hours later than this during my college days.

But this is a different scenario now. I then look at the wall to my right, and there hanged a solo picture of me wearing my toga, diploma in my right hand. Yeah, I just got my Masters degree in Education, major in English, from a university in Kyoto a few months ago. And thanks to making phone calls left and right, I finally landed a job.

It was just for a part-time basis as an English teacher in Maijima Academy, but the opportunity is just too good to pass off.

"Guess it's time to begin the rest of my life for once," I said, as I fixed myself and my bed.

Then I heard a knock at the door.

"Breakfast is ready!"

I then left my room and headed for the dining hall. There I saw the small but modest table laid out like a typical breakfast, with the usual rice, eggs, and a plate of honey-glazed beef strips.

"It seems you're ready for your first day as a teacher, Suzaku. Here's hoping things get a bit more interesting for you than I expect," said the woman with medium-length, dark green hair which was tied up with a small hairband below the neck.

"Let's not complicate things, Sylvia," I said, after flushing a morsel of beef from my mouth. "We do not have any other 'capture targets' for now, so let's just keep it on the low. Besides, you did say that there were about 3 other members of the RSS in the immediate vicinity, right?"

"I guess I did," she said, while uttering a very light chuckle. "I still want to meet them for myself. Just to be sure I'm not doing this job alone…"

I guess it's good to point out this late in the game that I was not always this ordinary. I, Suzaku Shinozaki, am a human "buddy" to a member of New Hell's Runaway Spirit Squad for more than two years now. And the new devil I was paired with for the entirety of that period up until now is the woman seated in front of me - Sylvia du Lac Vindictus.

A few minutes have passed now, and everything in the small, but decent apartment space I have rented was cleaned up. With that done, I finally boarded my bicycle and left for Maijima Academy. Sylvia was not far behind, wearing a black coat and her green Hagoromo wrapped around.

Also, she's keeping herself afloat while riding her Scythe of Testament – which according to her was given to her about half a century ago after graduating with flying colors. So far, it has seen its share of use, with only one horn remaining after having encountered a total of 3 Level-4 Weiss. But that's for another story.

Right now, all I am concerned with is my new job at Maijima Academy. I cannot wait to start teaching the students at the high school department. And my first assignment: English class at Class 2-B.