The word demon is a term used to describe an evil spirit. A fiend. A person who is considered to be extremely evil, wicked, and cruel. Ever since his adolescent youth, Rin has dealt with being called an akuma.
Rin denied everything he heard and tried to lock the mocking away. The internal pain would escape, appearing in his brutal strength which he used to hurt his peers. As his twin brother I would attempt to comfort him, but there would always be nothing close to success. Father was the cure.
Fujimoto Shiro, the well-known exorcist and preacher. He's been the one I've always looked up to.
"Keep a hold of yourself! Don't be intimidated by them."
"Papa! Make them stop! I'm not a demon!"
"Calm down, Rin. You are not a demon. You're my son. You must remember to use your power for a gentler purpose."
At the age of seven, I was secretly trained to become an exorcist. To follow in father's footsteps, and to protect Rin. The mashou(1) I received at birth allowed me to become aware of demons. This had always been a skill that helped me greatly during my training, but also one I would do anything to get rid of.
"Yukio!"
My head jerked up involuntarily, crashing up to the crack-filled ceiling. Suddenly my vision blurred. I reached up to push my glasses in place, but felt nothing. With a sigh, I descended the shaking ladder and approached my desk, covered with deep patterns of scratches. I opened the drawer and searched doggedly for spare glasses. Luckily it wasn't long before my eyes were shielded once again.
"Ugh, Yukio! What's taking you so long?" Rin appeared holding a kitchen knife, wearing an apron, and his hair clipped up. Obviously he had been cooking.
"Nii-san! Gomen. I spaced out." I admitted my careless behavior, not liking the feeling one bit.
Rin's face scrunched up as he scowled arrogantly. "If you don't fix the ceiling in time, we'll all be drowned in the rain!"
"Hai, hai. Wait a few more hours and I'll be done for sure," I joked.
"Tch." With that, he scurried away as the smell of burnt meat entered the room.
Heh. Rin's good at nothing else besides cooking. He doesn't achieve high marks in school and isn't the most popular guy around, but no one can beat him in house chores. Even the tamed cooking demon of the dorm's kitchen couldn't say a word against him. Besides, we made a deal. In exchange for my tutoring, he would be in charge of cleaning the hopelessly antique rooms I've never bothered.
The dormitory was already worn down, but I appreciated the isolation it provided. However, Shiemi would visit every day with fresh flowers delivered. We would accept, for she would complain about the boring interior of our room. Besides, her company was nice. Father had passed away not long ago with orders of Rin to enroll in True Cross Academy, the cram school I taught at. I must admit that Rin's intelligence is not the brightest, but this way I could keep him close without sounding like a sissy.
I patched up the final openings in the ceiling, relief flooding in my heart. An incident similar to this had occured before and I would be pleased if it were to not happen again. I walked out of the room dragging my feet along the wooden floor, not bothering to close the door behind me.
Once again, dinner was silent except for the occasional slurping and nom-nom of Rin's improper table manners. I slid my chopsticks down onto the table and sighed. Rin didn't bother to look up. He could guess what was going through my head.
Nii-san needs close friends more than ever before after revealing himself as Satan's son during the previous camping trip. He didn't think about any consequences but the present moment where his accomplices were in trouble when he withdrew Kurikara(2). When this was done, his burning blue flames appeared, sending an obvious message of him being an akuma. There might as well have been a sign over his head claiming this. The purpose of the trip was to bring awareness to the exorcists-in-training how important cooperation and team work is. Instead of the preferred outcome, they were brought apart. This was more of a stupid act than a courageous one. Too late when Rin figured this out after everything that followed.
His name was dreaded. His face was cursed at. He was denied as a whole. Even Shiemi, the careless individual she was, stopped her daily visits to our dorm. I can understand how Rin feels inside, though he doesn't show it.
I just hope for Rin to recover mentally soon. He needs to understand that he is who he makes himself, not what others think or say. It's important that he lays the path of his life slowly and carefully, something he should have learned from the unfortunate occurrence.
Rin, you need to define your own life.
1 - Mashou:A diabolical stigma Yukio received in order to be able to see demons.
2 - Kurikara:Also known as Koumaken. The demon-slaying sword Rin uses that summons blue flames to his body when taken out of the sheath.
