CHAPTER 1

Amaimon's POV

"Who is that?" I asked, pointing to a girl with short blonde hair and a pink headband.

"Shiemi Moriyama," Mephisto responded, only flicking his eyes up to glance at the girl. "She works for her mother at the Exorcist Supply Shop. Mainly uses plants in combat."

"And that?" This time I pointed to a girl with long purple pigtails.

"Izumo Kamiki. Demon summoner. Very harsh, but her classmates have begun to see through the stark façade."

"And that?" One of my long fingernails tapped the window as I gestured to a boy with a streak in his hair and piercings in his ears.

"Ryuji Suguru. Very bright, excels in memorization of verses and chants. Is constantly butting heads with our little brother, Rin."

I sat with my brother in his office. We faced the window as we watched the students of the cram school go about a training exercise, me eating potato chips from a bag, Mephisto sipping tea.

My eyes were suddenly drawn to a figure in a short uniform skirt and a hooded sweatshirt, hood drawn up over the girl's head.

"Who is that?" I asked, pointing to her. Mephisto closed his eyes and smirked.

"That is Avery Porter. American immigrant. Extraordinarily intelligent, though not the best student. Very quiet, though quite sarcastic when she does talk. She is remarkable at hand-to-hand combat – most combat, really – though her strong suit is strategy."

"She sounds interesting," I said.

"She is quite interesting," Mephisto agreed. "I have had her in my office innumerable times and am always amazed by her."

"Why does she come to your office?"

"It used to be because the teachers would complain about her attendance, but now I call her in just to talk. She is remarkably intelligent and strikingly well-read."

"So you have befriended a student," I said.

"You could say that," Mephisto said as he took another sip of tea. "I think you would like her. She's not particularly afraid of demons and can put up quite the fight."

"Perhaps that's why she isn't particularly scared of demons."

"Perhaps."

I looked away from my brother and back out the window, pinpointing this Avery Porter immediately. She reached up to take off her hood and shook out a bundle of brown hair. She turned back to face the window and revealed green eyes and tan skin with a smattering of freckles over her nose. My brother had failed to mention that she was pretty.

"I want to meet her," I said suddenly.

"She may not want to meet you, brother."

"So? What does it matter what she wants?"

"Childish as ever, Amaimon," Mephisto scolded weakly.

I finished the bag of chips and tossed the empty bag into the trash can, the wadded bag hitting the rim before bouncing into the bin.

"Why would she not want to meet me?" I asked.

"She doesn't particularly like people. It's a wonder that Professor Okumura was able to befriend her."

"She's friends with him?"

"I'm as puzzled as you are."

Looking back out the window I noticed that Avery Porter and Yukio Okumura were standing side-by-side surveying the cram school students as they continued with their exercise. The exercise they were partaking in was one of combat, a pink-haired boy with a staff fighting a short boy without any hair. Professor Okumura wrote something down on his clipboard before holding up his hand, signaling for the students to stop fighting. He spoke and then turned to Avery Porter. She nodded and went to stand in the ring that had been drawn on the ground.

"Oh ho!" Mephisto exclaimed beside me. "It seems it's our lucky day. We get to see her fight."

"Nobody looks frightened," I observed.

"I may have seen her fight, but that doesn't mean the rest of the cram school has."

"Hm."

Another girl – Izumo Kamiki – stepped into the ring. I could see her smirk from where I sat in my brother's office. Izumo placed herself in a defensive stance, and then ran at Avery Porter. Avery sidestepped the attack and grabbed the extended arm, twisting it behind the girl's back and incapacitating her. Avery looked exceedingly bored.

She let Izumo go as Professor Okumura held up his hand. Izumo left the ring and was replaced by Ryuji Suguru. The boy grinned wickedly before attacking, swinging his fist at the girl. Avery blocked his punch with her forearm before swinging her own punch, this one quickly landing and sending the boy toppling to the ground. Professor Okumura held up his hand and Suguru left the ring.

To my surprise, Professor Okumura himself entered the ring. He swung a punch and Avery ducked, punching him in the gut. He doubled over but continued the fight.

The fight lasted several minutes, neither Avery nor Okumura landing another blow on the other. In the end Avery managed to punch Okumura in the face, sending him to the ground. By the time the fight ended I was wide-eyed and my brother was smirking.

"She is quite the fighter," Mephisto said.

"I want to fight her," I said.

"Not now, brother. Wait for a while."

"But why?" I whined.

"Because she's only been in Japan for two weeks. Let her settle in and then I will arrange a fight between you two."

"Whatever you say, brother."

I continued to watch the students fight, my mind never quite wandering from the possibility of fighting this Avery Porter.

Avery's POV

"Well done, Miss Porter," Yukio said, wide-eyed. I had to suppress a laugh. It sounded so strange to hear my friend call me by my last name, and his expression was so unlike him that it was laughable.

"Thank you, Mr. Okumura," I replied, once again suppressing a chuckle at the formality. I noticed the corner of Yukio's mouth twitch and realized he was thinking the same thing.

Not many people knew of the newfound friendship between myself and the youngest Professor at True Cross Academy. It wasn't that I was ashamed of it, or that I thought it was inappropriate, or even that I didn't want anyone to think that I was getting special favors. The information simply hadn't gotten out yet, probably because we never hung out in any public places, preferring to sit on the couch in his and his brother's dorm.

Like my friendship with Yukio, very few people were aware of my… friendship with the school's principal, Mephisto Pheles. The demon still made me slightly uncomfortable, but I was becoming more and more accustomed to his company as the days went by. I found that he was exceedingly well-read, highly intelligent, and generally impartial or apathetic towards everything that happened at the school; for these reasons I felt that I could talk to him about my problems regarding my move to Japan, my near inability to make friends, my anxiety, etc.

I had two friends, though, and that was enough for me.

"That will be all for today," Yukio said as he picked himself up off the ground, snapping me out of my trance. "Class is dismissed."

"Thank you, Mr. Okumura," the class said, not really paying attention. Everyone began walking back to the cram school classroom to collect their things, and I fell into step beside Yukio.

"Where did you learn how to fight?" he asked me.

"I've taken a lot of classes," I answered. "Tae kwon do, karate, judo, kickboxing… If it involved fighting, I took it."

"Hm," he hummed and nodded his head. "Why did you take classes like that?"

I shrugged.

"They just interested me. It's not like I didn't do other things, too."

"Like what?"

"Horseback riding, archery, dance – that didn't last long – piano, voice lessons, musical theater…"

Yukio whistled and I chuckled at him.

"You can do a lot when you're homeschooled," I said.

"Homeschooled?"

"You see, it's when you go to school, but at-"

"I'm familiar with the concept, Avery," he interrupted me. I smirked at the ground. "I was just surprised. I don't think I've ever met a homeschooler before. Is this your first time going to a real school?"

I nodded.

"It's not as daunting as I thought it would be, though the definitive deadlines are a bit hard to get used to."

"Yukio!"

We looked ahead to see Yukio's brother, Rin, jogging back to join us. He greeted me briefly before talking to his brother again.

"What do you want for dinner tonight? I'm going grocery shopping later," Rin said.

The two boys discussed dinner for a few moments before Rin went back to his small group of friends, draping an arm around the boy I knew to be Konekomaru and laughing at something Shima said. Yukio turned to me.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" he asked.

"And have Rin's cooking? Absolutely."

Yukio laughed.

"It's his only-"

"-productive skill, I know."

That night I stayed for dinner and, as expected, it was incredible. I thanked Rin and Ukobach for the meal and Yukio for inviting me before leaving, promising that I'd pay them back somehow. How, I still had no idea. Maybe I'd teach Yukio some more advanced hand-to-hand techniques, or Rin the basics.

I placed one foot in front of the other as I walked back to my dorm, fiddling with my pocket knife in my sweatshirt pocket. It was completely dark outside and I was slightly nervous, but then I remembered that I could fight. I wasn't helpless, so I had no need to be worried.

Then a face appeared in front of my own and I squeaked in surprise. I placed a hand over my heart and felt it pounding.

"What the hell, man?" I said in English, then said it again in Japanese.

The face was that of someone in the years between boy and man. He had slightly green skin, green hair with a large spike on the back of his head, and a tattered coat that seemed to defy gravity as he… floated upside down.

"I'm guessing you're a demon," I said.

"That I am," he said, spitting out the lollipop stick he held between his teeth. "Are you Avery Porter?"

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "What do you want with me?"

"I saw you fighting earlier today, and I want a chance to fight you."

I sighed.

"Look, I'm flattered that a demon wants to fight me, but I have things to do-"

"Like fighting me."

"No," I said dryly. "Like homework. In my non-native tongue. So it's going to take a while."

The demon whined childishly and I imitated it mockingly. He narrowed his eyes at me and moved to flick my forehead. I grabbed his wrist.

"Don't flick me," I said. "Don't even touch me."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like to be touched."

"Why not?"

"What are you, twelve?"

"I am not twelve, human."

I scoffed.

"Then fucking act like it."

I sidestepped the floating demon and stuffed my hands back into my pockets. I suddenly felt a tug on my hair and squeaked.

"What the fucking hell!?" I yelled. "You don't just do that to people!"

"Why not?" he asked.

"Don't do this again," I groaned.

"You didn't answer my question," he said, tugging at my hair again.

"Ow! You piece of-"

"Amaimon!"

Both of us looked around and found Mephisto standing on the steps leading away from Yukio and Rin's dormitory. I let out a relieved sigh.

"Mephisto," I said. "Thank God. This asshole is bothering me."

"Be careful what you say, Avery. That's my brother," Mephisto warned.

"Wait, did you say 'Amaimon?' Like the Earth King?" I asked.

"That would be me," the green haired demon said.

I ran my hands over my face before shoving them back in my pockets.

"What does he want with me?" I asked Mephisto.

"He wants to fight you tonight, even though I told him that I would arrange a fight between the two of you at a later date."

"Sounds like an asshole to me," I grumbled. Mephisto shook his head and chuckled. Amaimon narrowed his eyes and tried to flick my head again, but I grabbed his wrist and squeezed. "Stop."

"Brother, I think it would be best if you left Miss Porter alone," Mephisto said.

Amaimon sighed.

"Whatever you say."

With that he floated over to his brother and placed his feet on the ground, finally standing like a normal person.

"Thank you, Mephisto," I said. "It was… nice to meet you, Amaimon."

The green demon scoffed and crossed his arms. I had to push down a smirk before walking back to my dorm.