Festival of Love By: Angelicbutterfly789
Chapter One: Festival of Spirits
"Alright everyone! It's time to settle down! I have an important announcement to make and I need you all to listen to me right now!" Yukio shouted out to the Cram School students. The morning light shined inside the high windows of the classroom, a cool breeze flew in, signifying the true feel of the fall season. Fallen leaves on the ground made a fresh 'Crunching' sound as the first year students of True Cross Academy rushed around outside; giggling amongst themselves while working diligently all the while.
Inside the Cram School classroom, the students knows as Suguro, Shima, and Konekomaru instantly listened to their teacher, who was no older than them. They stopped talking amongst themselves as they turned their attention to Yukio. The female students of the room, Izumo and Shiemi, put away their books and waited as diligently as the boys. Even their female teacher, Shura Kirigakure, who frequented their classroom often, kept herself awake for a change. Unfortunately, the only one who was snoozing was Yukio's older brother (by a mere few seconds), Rin Okumura.
Rin and Yukio were born as twins which inherited the powers of Satan directly from Satan himself; their true biological father. Rin was the first and true heir of their father's power, straight from birth. Luckily, with the help of their eldest brother, Mephisto Pheles, Rin's power of the Blue Flames was contained within the demonic sword known as the Koma Sword.
The boys managed to live a fairly normal life with their adopted father, Father Fujimoto. That is until the day Rin pushed the holy man too far emotionally, causing Satan to possess his body and reveal everything to his illegitimate son. But before Satan could finish summoning the entity known as 'The Gehenna Gate', Father Fujimoto ended his life with his Exorcist badge while Rin used the power of the Koma Sword to defeat 'The Gehenna Gate'; unleashing his own demonic power against it. At Father Fujimoto's funeral, Rin met his distant, elder brother, Mephisto Pheles, and vowed to the demon before him that he will become an Exorcist to defeat Satan; no matter the consequences.
In the past month, Satan created another attempt at summoning another 'Gehenna Gate' by possessing Yukio. But in the end, Yukio broke free of his father's control, and together with Rin, defeated the Gate and restored a semblance of peace to True Cross Town and to True Cross Academy.
"RIN! WAKE UP!" Yukio exclaimed at his sleeping brother; a bead of drool falling from the corner of Rin's mouth. When he didn't awaken, Sheimi's familiar, Nee-chan, hopped off of her shoulder. He walked across the table Sheimi shared with Rin, climbed up Rin's folded arms and launched himself to Rin's nose. With a quick 'CHOMP', he attached himself to the tip of Rin's nose causing the boy-demon to finally wake up angrily.
"GAHHH! DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL JUST BIT ME?!" he yelled out as Nee-chan held firmly onto his nose. Rin crossed his eyes, taking notice of Nee-chan and his strong grip on his nose.
'Knock, knock, knock!'
Before Rin could completely chastise Nee-chan, there was a soft knock at the classroom door. The knock was followed by, "Um…excuse me…". The soft voice on the other side of the door was quickly replaced by a stronger one.
"Damn it! Quit being so timid all the time!" said the strong, female voice; chastising the first female voice. The classroom door flew open suddenly as a group of five teenage girls walked in.
At the head of the group stood a tall woman with long black hair and golden eyes. Those said eyes scanned the room in a menacing fashion while a pair of girls, each of them as tall as the first girl, stood next to her. They were followed in by two, shorter, non-violent looking girls, one of which held a large stack of papers. To round out the group's entrance stood Mephisto Pheles, proudly dressed in his usual formal attire; which Rin believes makes him look like a clown.
Mephisto bent down the to girl holding the papers to whisper something to her quickly; smiling sweetly to her all the while. Her face flushed up when his face hung dangerously close to hers as she managed to say, "O…okay…Sir…Pheles…I'll try not…to be so…shy…thank you…for your…w…words of encouragement…". "Any time, my dear! Now to the task at hand, yes?" he said, as she felt a shiver escape her attempt at self-control as his hot breath passed by her ear. She thought she was going to faint when he placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly as he stood back to his full height once more; flashing her a quick smile before turning his attention back to the students in the room.
She stood next to Yukio at the head of the room while Mephisto took up a place at her left. She placed the stack of papers upon the teacher's desk while the other girls took up a spot next to Mephisto's left. The three menacing looking girls rolled their eyes while waiting impatiently for their task to be completed. The girl standing directly next to Mephisto's side looked over to her friend as Mephisto turned his attention to Yukio. "Mr. Okumura, have you told your class the great news yet?" he asked as the meek looking girl pointed to Rin's face.
"Umm…why is there a Greenman attached to your nose?" she asked perplexedly, as Mephisto stared at his youngest brother; sighing exasperatedly.
Before Rin, or anyone else could answer, Nee-chan mumbled a quick response; while still refusing to let go.
"You were waking him up because, when everyone else was ready to listen, he was snoring very loudly?" the girl asked Nee-chan as everyone else in the room stared at her in amazement.
"Wow! That's amazing! I thought only the Familiar's Tamer knew their Familiar's language!" Konekomaru asked excitedly.
The meek girl lowered her hand in front of her body, squeezing her large 'F-Cup' breasts together with her arms. Shima noticed instantly as his nose began to drip a bit of blood down his face. Before the girl could respond however, Mephisto placed another gloved hand on her shoulder as he said proudly, "She knew what he said because she's a third year student training to become a High Class Tamer Exorcist." Her face lit up like a Christmas tree as his hand on her shoulder gripped her tighter while he continued, "I would like to introduce you to Miss Namiria Yoshihara. She's the top of her class and is the President of the Cultural Committee." His free hand waved to the other girls on his side as he said, "And these girls are Namiria-chan's Committee members! Their names are: Anju Kanata, Asuna Mataa, Makie Kagesaki and Satsuki Murakami."
Each of the girls bowed when their names were called, which surprised Namiria and Anju when the menacing girls graciously bowed to the classroom in front of them. "Namiria-chan, that's your cue," Mephisto whispered to Namiria as she nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt his breath at her ear once more. He smiled slyly to her as she looked at him meekly once more. Their eyes met for a moment and in that quick moment, Mephisto felt his face warm up slightly.
Even though Namiria didn't want that moment to end, she knew that the occupants of the room would start to ask questions to the pair at the head of the room. She tore her gaze away from him as she turned back to the class in an attempt to salvage the rest of her presentation.
"My committee members and I are here today because in three days we are going to be hosting a special festival. It's a very special festival, only held here, proudly, at True Cross Academy," she said as everyone thought about the reason for the festival Namiria was talking about. Izumo was the only one that raised her hand to ask, and when acknowledged by Namiria, asked, "What sort of festival is it this late in the fall season?"
"That is a great question, Miss…", Namiria began, but petered off mid-sentence when she didn't know the inquisitive girls' name. "Oh, my name is Izumo Kamiki. I'm studying to be a Tamer Exorcist too, Namiria-sempai," Izumo said, standing from her seat to bow to Namiria proudly. "My, my! So formal! But you don't need to call me 'Sempai'. We're training to be the same Meister after all! So please just call me 'Namiria-chan', ok?" Namiria said happily, cupping her face in her right hand while smiling sweetly to Izumo, causing a blush to creep up on Izumo's face at being addressed informally. Izumo kept her head bowed low, out of sight of Namiria or anyone else for that matter as she said, "O…ok…N…Namiria…chan…".
"Hey, Namiria! Can we go now? We said we'd help you carry those damnable bins here, you know the ones in the hallway. Now that we've done our job, can we go back to class now?" Asuna asked in an annoyed tone. "Yeah, it's getting too happy and bubbly for us in here," said Makie as Satsuki nodded in agreement.
Namiria looked to her so called friends sadly for a moment before responding, "Sure, go ahead then. Just tell our homeroom teacher that Anju and I will be a bit longer, ok?" Asuna and the others just snorted at her derisively as they turned their backs on her; heading for the classroom door. "Thank you again for your-", Namiria started but was cut off as the classroom door slammed shut; causing her to look at it sadly for a moment.
"Nami…don't let them get to you, ok? They're not worth it, trust me, I know," Anju said reassuringly as she walked over to her friend. She placed a consoling hand on her shoulder as Namiria looked to her friend happily. "Thanks Anju-onee chan. You always know what to say to help me get out of a bad funk," Namiria said, smiling sweetly to Anju as everyone else in the room watched the pair of girls have their bonding moment; Mephisto moved away to stand next to Yukio while that happened.
"You're sisters? But you're the same age, right?" Shima asked perplexedly when no one else would.
"OH! Well technically no, we're not ACTUALLY sisters, but that is a story for another day. For now let's get back on track here, ok?" Namiria said, waving a hand in front of her face to brush off the quizzical looks from the rest of the classroom; which included Shura and Mephisto respectably. "Now where was I? OH! Yes, the reason for the festival, right?!" she said, bringing an index finger up to her face as she remembered what the conversation was about a moment ago. "Well, as you might already know, this weekend is a special holiday for Exorcists and all in-training Exorcists," she said with a sweet smile on her face; her head cocked to her left side. Mephisto watched her intently while another faint blush swept over his face again. 'She's really cute for a human. I've had many female lovers over the course of my long lifetime but none of them were as cute as she is,' he thought as he suddenly felt an urge to caress her face this time. But he was snapped back to reality as Suguro stood up with a raised hand. "Isn't this weekend Halloween? The single night when spirits and demons are allowed unrestricted access to Assiah?" he asked inquisitively.
"You're right! This weekend is indeed Halloween! And to celebrate said holiday, each first year class, including the Cram School Students, namely you guys, will band together for the annual 'True Cross Academy: FESTIVAL OF SPIRITS!'", she said happily, practically cheering joyfully at the end of her statement; clapping her hands together happily all the while.
"A festival for spirits and demons?! Seriously?! That's so cool! Will there be food vendors there too?!" Rin asked excitedly, jumping up from his seat and nearly launching Nee-chan off of his face. Everyone else looked at each other excitedly as Namiria snuck a quick glance at Mephisto. He noticed her sweet smile, as he returned it right back to her. She turned her attention back to the classroom before responding to Rin's questions. "Yes of course there will be food vendors there. Which actually brings me to the next topic," she said as she patted the stack of papers in front of her. She looked to Anju and asked, "Can you please pass out the Cosplay Contest forms?"
"Cosplay Contest?! There's going to be a Cosplay Contest too?!" Rin asked just as excitedly as he was a mere moment ago. This time Anju smiled at him sweetly as she replied, "Yes there will be a Cosplay Contest and of course the theme is Demons and Spirits. If anyone wants to enter, you can choose to Cosplay as any demon or spirit of your choosing or if any of you are Tamers, you can choose to Cosplay as your Familiar." Instantly Shima and Rin pictured Shiemi Cosplaying as Nee-chan, causing them to blush uncontrollably. "Are you going to Cosplay too, Namiria-chan?" Shiemi asked as an embarrassed look crossed her face. Namiria looked to the blonde girl, feeling a bit uncomfortable at being asked, as she nodded her own embarrassment plaguing her face. "Really?! I bet you've got a cute Familiar just like Shiemi!" Shima said in awe as Rin followed suit. "If you don't mind, I'd like to save revealing my Familiar to another time. For now we have some other business to discuss first, ok?" Namiria managed to say as she turned to face Yukio; a faint blush still pigmented on her face. "Mr. Okumura, right? May I use your black board for a moment?" she asked, smiling sweetly yet again.
Yukio looked to Namiria, mild surprise crossed his face when she addressed him so formally. "Yes of course you may, Ms. Yoshihara," he replied with a kind smile on his face. She poked him in the nose while saying, "Oh no! You can call me Namiria-chan too! Even though you're a teacher, it's fine with me! Sir Pheles calls me 'Namiria-chan', so why would it be so bad if you did too?" She pouted at him as he held his hands up to her defensively.
At that moment, Shura nudged Mephisto in his left side as she said in a whisper, "And here I thought you were calling her that to flirt with her." "I was only trying to be friendly," he said back as she quietly scoffed at him. "You? A demon lord being 'friendly'? I find that extremely hard to believe," she said mockingly, luckily no one could hear them as everyone was focused on Namiria's inability to reach a higher spot on the black board to write down the class themes for the Festival. Mephisto noticed this as well, as he took off his hat and cape. He gave them to Shura causing her to exclaim, "HEY! I'm not your coat rack!"
"Namiria-chan! Here let me help you with that," Mephisto said, completely disregarding Shura's complaining while walking over to the struggling girl at the end of the black board. As he stood behind her, he felt her jump at his touch as he said, "Don't worry my dear, I don't mean you any harm. I just want to help you, that's all." He smiled sweetly to her as she meekly looked up to him, the piece of chalk she held in her right hand nearly turning to dust with him being so close to her. 'Be calm, cool and collected Nami! Yes, he's standing right behind you! Yes, you can feel his chest on your back but its alright! Just remember that he's older than you! He's your school's principal! And he…smells really good! Mmmm…he kind of smells like chocolates and strawberries. NO! Damn it! DO NOT FALL FOR HIM! IT'S NOT HEALTHY! OR RIGHT EITHER!' she thought, trying to not faint against him or the black board.
When she didn't say anything to him, he took it upon himself to take the chalk from her hand, walked around to her right side and stood at the black board. "Alright then, Namiria-chan! What's the first theme?" he asked the positively perplexed young woman next to him. "Umm…ok…well the last remaining themes that you guys can choose from are: Haunted House, Maid Café, Demon's Lounge…which is a bit more risqué for first year students to handle and is usually left for the classes in our grade year," she said, facing the class, speaking shakily at first while finishing her statement with a bit more confidence as Mephisto diligently wrote down each of the themes as she spoke.
"How 'risqué' are we talking?" Shima asked with a mischievous grin on his face accompanied by an intense blush.
"Anyway, and the last theme is: Coal Tar Catching Den…it's catered more to kids as the campus will be open to the public," Namiria said, disregarding Shima's question completely.
"Hey! Don't ignore my question!" Shima exclaimed, dramatically pointing to Namiria at the head of the class.
"Even though I personally prefer it, but should I just erase the 'Demon's Lounge' from the board, Namiria-chan?" Mephisto asked, as he reached for the chalk board brush.
Namiria got to it first as she quickly erased the title theme from the black board for him. "Forget I mentioned that one then. And I'm sorry for not acknowledging Mister?" she said, while tapping her chin with her finger thoughtfully.
"My name is Renzo Shima. And thank you for your apology, Namiria-chan," he said, accepting her apology before sitting down in his seat.
"Would you like a copy of the class roster?" Yukio asked as he opened up his work bag waiting for her response.
"That would be a great idea, Okumura-sensei! Thank you!" she said happily as he handed her a page filled with the names of the students in the Cram School classroom. He smiled and nodded kindly to her but suddenly felt uneasy at doing so. He looked at Mephisto for a brief moment and though he saw a look of jealousy on the demon's face.
Mephisto placed the chalk on the ledge of the black board while turning to Namiria thoughtfully. "Is that all of the themes, Namiria-chan?" he asked as she simply nodded to him meekly.
"Y…yes…Sir Pheles…thank you for your help. I appreciate it greatly," she said, giggling lightly to him, causing a faint blush to take over his face for a moment.
"Namiria-chan! Just out of curiosity, can we have our theme choice at the dorm Rin and Yuki-chan live? It would be the perfect place for the 'Haunted House' theme," Sheimi asked, while enthusiastically thrusting her hand up in the air suddenly.
"That would be a an exceptional place for that theme! And if you want to choose that theme, I wouldn't mind in the least if you wanted to host your theme there. OH and of course it'll be up to the boys too, right boys?" Mephisto said, peeling his attention away from Namiria and turning to face his younger brothers.
"Yeah I don't mind either. Actually if we do this at the dorm I was going to suggest that we could do a 'Haunted House Restaurant' too," Rin said, as he looked to his twin brother for support.
"If Rin and Sir Pheles are ok with it, then so am I. Everyone else?" Yukio asked, turning to the class as everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well it's settled then! But to ensure that the preparations are completed on time, Namiria-chan and Anju-chan, you two will be in charge," Mephisto said, returning his attention to Namiria; as Anju bowed gratefully to him behind Namiria's back.
"Thank you, Sir Pheles! We promise, we won't let you down!" Anju said as Namiria looked back at her friend happily. Anju gave her a look which Namiria understood immediately as she turned back to face Mephisto once more.
"Yes, thank you Sir Pheles! Your trust is well placed in us," she said, bowing to him a couple of times before standing at her full height again. She cocked her head to her right side to smile sweetly to him. He smiled back to her, a small blush creeping on his face as she turned to address the class. "Alright then! Anju and I will assist you in preparation of the Festival! While those other girls that were here earlier will be the judges of the Cosplay Contest!" she said happily, clapping her hand together all the while. "Let's get to work, yes?!" she exclaimed, thrusting her right hand into the air causing the students in the classroom to follow suit.