"You have no idea who I am," the words rocked and shook in Cora's head. All she could remember was what her friend, her best friend since kindergarten, had said before trying to kill her. Mari had been her friend for nine years before trying to kill her. Really, Cora was lucky some people found her after Mari left her for dead. She told of her attacker, but by then Mari was nowhere to be found. The last conversation they had was about Mari's native Japan, where she lived until she was four and visited every summer. Cora knew, now that she had no one left, she was free to find Mari.
Her mother had fallen ill with cancer within a year before, dying a month before Cora was in the hospital. And a month after the attack Cora had passed her 15th birthday. Her father was killed in the line of duty by a drug cartel lackey. So now she was going to live at a school run by one of her mother's friends from Germany. Her Mutti had told her many tales about Mister Faust or Johann as she called him. Eventually she told her a secret, Mister Faust was only called that in public; his real name was Mephisto Pheles, and he was an Exorcist. Cora never believed in demons, but she would humor this friend of her mother. He was taking care of her.
Cora thanked herself that Mari's mother had taught them both Japanese while they were growing, thanks to that she was able to follow the signs and what people were saying to the baggage claim. She was able to ask a nice pair of airport workers to follow her with her bags. The lawyer said Mister 'Faust' would send someone to pick her up. She spotted a sign in German, 'Gutten Tag Cora Amsel.' The look on the face of the person sent to pick her up was complete shock. He had expected this little blonde girl, but he had not expected her to be rolling up in a wheelchair.
"An… accident," she said motioning the two workers to give the man her bags. The man quickly put on a more presentable face and asked her to follow him as he picked up her five suitcases and tossed them into the limo sent to pick her up.
At her troubled look at the limo, the man simply said, "Faust-san is excited for his niece to be coming, and he can easily pay for this anyways." She nodded and he helped her into the car before folding up her wheelchair and placing it on the floor of the car. Cora sat quietly, watching TV shows on her iPhone, the entire hour trip from Tokyo to True Cross Academy. Her arrival was quiet, much like her departure from the airport. Her bags were taken to Mister 'Faust's' house and she was place in her wheelchair and escorted to his office at the school.
Once entering, Cora was surprised that apparently no one in Japan had been told of her condition. Mephisto Pheles was expecting a young woman with short blonde hair and defiantly walking; instead Cora looked almost matronly, with her newly long hair in a messy bun and sitting in her wheelchair with a blanket over her lap.
"Johann Faust I presume," she said in her Virginian accented Japanese.
"Ah yes my dear," he said, recovering slightly. "And you are Cora. You look much like your mother. I must say, I didn't expect… Well the wheelchair most of all…"
"I had an accident about a month after Mutti died, leaving me in a coma for five months. My fifteenth birthday passed and as did my father's death and funeral. And as you can see, I will most likely never fully recover." His face saddened.
"A sad fact of life. Unfortunately at the moment we must talk about other things. Like your schooling… I understand you skipped two grades, putting you as a student in 11th grade."
"Yes sir. I finished 10th a little before the accident, I was on a different track than the other students."
"Well so you will be able to start 11th in three weeks when the school year here at True Cross comes?"
"I..." Cora faltered for a moment. "There is something I would like to do while I am in Japan. I have some… unfinished business with an… old friend of mine. You see, the 'accident' was; she tried to kill me by pushing me off a bridge into oncoming traffic. She disappeared soon after." She almost grinned, "I would like to pay her back for the service…"
"Well then," Mephisto said, smirking. "Your mother's blood runs strong. I'm sure I could finance such an operation… But first, I would like to know her name. Who knows, we could save time and money by checking if she might be going to school here."
Cora was confused about the comment about her mother's blood, but complied with his request, "Kurokawa Mari."
He went through a list on his computer before stopping at a name, "This isn't Kurokawa 'Mari' but it is a Kurokawa. Care to have a look?" He showed her the school picture of the girl, revealing Mari.
"That's her," Cora croaked, jerking back at the sickening smile Mari had on her face.
"Kurokawa Mariko, I can understand why she used Mari. She is starting as a 9th grader this year." He eyed her. "What do you want to do?"
Cora grinned, "We will see."
"I would prefer no killing," Mephisto said.
"Oh I won't kill her. She believes she has killed me. So let me befriend her again, and show her I have every ability to beat her," her grin straightened into a tight line.
"In these three weeks you have to prepare, how are you going to fix it so she won't know who you are?"
"Colored contacts and a name change should do. I've only ever had short hair. She didn't recognize me after one summer month where I let my hair grow half an inch."
"So what is your new name?"
"Zenzi Faust."
He smiled, and then frowned suddenly. "There is one problem… Your mother has of course told you my job, correct?"
"An exorcist. I respect that but I have never really believed in demons."
"How would you like to see them?"
"See them," Cora, now Zenzi, asked, shocked.
"See them," he nodded. "The problem with you not seeing them is eventually you will. As my new ward, you are a target to them. You need to know how to protect yourself."
"I think I can protect myself just fine," she shot at him.
"From things you can't see when you could?" She paused, a little frightened.
"Fine…" She stared at him. "So how do I see these… demons?"