The first time he'd seen her, he thought she was some kind of forest spirit.
She was leaning over the railing of the bridge, looking at the water below. The evening air made her hair flow in a way that obscured her face. He couldn't help but stare at her, even though he was too far away to see anything else; her hair was dark, she was short but not entirely slim. Instead of the white and pink uniform, she was wearing a leather jacket and skinny jeans.
He must have been staring at her for too long, because she turned to him. He couldn't tell if she saw him, but her reaction was instant. She scrambled away from the railing as if it had burned her. She shoved her hands in her pockets and began walking towards his general direction, looking down.
Even when she passed by him, he was still staring. She was close enough that he could smell her shampoo. She didn't even glance at him, but he could make out one green eye behind the curtain of brown.
As stunned as he was, she faded from his memory soon afterwards.
He only remembered again her after she walked into his classroom, hands in her pockets and her head down. Okumura-sensei had introduced her as Maira Kazume, a transfer student from Europe. She looked up at the mention of her name, sparing everyone a short glance before sitting down behind Izumo.
He tried not to stare at her again, but he found the very thought of her too distracting. There was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on. She wasn't the first quiet or shy person he'd met. Heck, she wasn't even as pretty as he thought she was on the bridge.
"-Suguro-kun?" Okumura-sensei broke him out of his trance.
"Yes?" Ryuji asked, dumbfounded.
Okumura-sensei frowned. "I asked you if you know any water-class demons." He repeated his question. Ryuji tried to fight off the blush that was creeping it's way to his face. As he got up to answer the question, he noticed Maira looking at him. She was hunched over her notes, but was looking at him blankly, as if he wasn't really there.
Magic Seals was next. Suguro had managed to get the newcomer off his mind, but it didn't really matter now. Shura didn't like wasting time to check if anyone had studied.
Instead, the woman began her lecture right away. This lesson was about demon-inflicted seals, where a human was marked by a demon either as prey or a charge. There were high ranking demons from all classes that could perform such a seal, but very few of them needed to compete with their brethren, and almost none of them wanted to protect a mortal.
"Well, does anyone know of any such seals?" Shura asked, expecting to be met with complete silence. Maira raised her hand timidly, and Shura lit up.
"Air-type demons have a special seal, unlike the other classes, where each demon has it's own, indivintual seal." She said. Her voice was low, and a bit strained.
Shura took no notice of the girl's discomfort, and clapped her hands.
"Good, good. Can you draw it?" She asked. Maira slid from her seat and walked over to the black board, after taking the piece of chalk Shura offered her.
Suguro almost missed it. The small, airy flick of her wrist as she began drawing the seal. He didn't make much of it though; her wrists seemed so bony, her sleeve was probably in the way. By the time she was finished, Suguro wasn't able to tell where each line began and where it ended. It wasn't messy, by any means. It looked as if she had practised drawing it many times before. Even the circles were perfectly round. Shura nodded satisfied and Maira went back to her seat.
"As I was saying, the seal cannot be removed by either the human subject or the demon that inflicted it. It will, however, disappear if either die." Shura continued.
"Don't familiars do that to their masters?" Rin asked, and Suguro was surprised to find out that the half-breed had actually been paying attention.
"Not always. The demon must be very powerful to do it, and even First-Upper class Tamers have next to zero chance of being marked. Oddly enough, demons with the ability to do it target mortals who haven't received the taint. Of course they do, after they've been marked." Shura answered.
Suguro glanced at Maira. She was hunched over her notes again, her hair falling down in a way that obscured her face. He noticed that she was still wearing the leather jacket, although the rest of her attire had been replaced with a white button down shirt and a pink skirt. He also noticed that the jacket was a bit too big for her, and covered half her skirt when she stood. Wait, why was she standing?
He looked at his friends, only to see them up as well. He frowned, figuring that the bell had rang without him noticing. As soon as he got up, Shima practically pushed him out of the way and ran up to Maira, who was getting ready to leave.
They talked, him throwing pick-up lines every now and again, and her in a quiet, barely audible voice. She had stiffened and seemed to expect Shima to stop talking.
"Leave her alone, you're probably scaring her." Suguro said as he and Konekomaru made their way to them. Shiemi and Rin weren't far behind.
"I'm Suguro by the way." He said to the girl. He towered over her, almost as much as he did over Koneko. "This is Miwa, this idiot's Rin and that's Shiemi. Oh, and that's Kamiki." He introduced his classmates to her, and she simply nodded. She kept her face blank, but otherwise looked ready to take off running.
"Hey, are we still eating together today?" Rin asked. Everyone answered in grunts or hums, except for Kamiki.
"What about you, Polkabrows?" Rin asked casually, obviously not getting the message the first time around.
"Polkabrows?" Izumo's eye twitched at the name.
"I've got better things to do." She said coldly. "Now, out of the way." She said as she pushed her way out.
"Man, she's soooo cold..." Shima complained as he watched her go.
"Maira, you wanna join too?" Rin asked, ignoring Kamiki's rejection.
"I've gotta get back early..." She trailed off, about to turn around and leave as well.
"Don't worry, you'll be back at your dorm in no time!" Shima reassured her and swung one arm over her shoulder to keep her from leaving. Maira's left eyebrow twitched as she glanced at Shima's arm. Suguro wouldn't be surprised if she punched him for it.
"I don't stay at the dorms." She answered simply and ducked under Shima's hold.
With thinking much on it, all five students stuck their heads out of the door to watch her go. She pulled on a pair of bright green headphones and practically ran to the door, with her key in hand.
"I think she likes me." Shima said after she exited the cram school, earning a whack in the back of the head from Suguro.