I flicked a coal tar as it floated past. A tiny puff of smoke drifted up as my touch disintegrated it. That was a brave little guy. Usually, coal tars stay away from me, sensing that just brushing against me would kill them immediately. I sighed, taking out my phone. I considered calling that annoying guy again, but thought better of it. I wanted to put off hearing his annoying voice again. Instead, I started playing Tetris. I got to level 10 before I heard a car pull up. I growled as my phone beeped, signifying that I'd lost.
I looked up and saw something that I didn't expect. I groaned and picked up my bag. Parked in front of me was a pink limousine. The horn emitted an annoyingly catchy tune which I was sure was going to be stuck in my head for at least a day. The window rolled down and a man's head popped out. His appearance matched his car perfectly. I noticed his pointed ears, "So, you're a demon?"
He nodded, "Correct! You're sharp!"
"It's kind of obvious…you reek of it," I replied, yanking the door open. I sat across from him as he rolled his window up again.
"That's offensive, you should watch what you say to me," he said. I stared at him, "Suuure." I sighed and stared out the window. I wanted to take out my files on the students where I was going, but I figured that would look suspicious to this guy. I doubted he knew what I was or why I was coming to his school. Dad had pulled a few strings for me and made it easy for me to enter, but that didn't mean this guy knew anything. He had said that he'd gotten the order from his higher ups. I figured he was clueless. Honestly, that's better.
"Take this," he said, handing me a key. I sensed some magic in it.
"Convenient," I mumbled.
"Then you know what it is?"
I nodded, "Can I get out now? You don't need to drive me anywhere. I'll just use this."
He frowned, "Fine. You're not a very kindhearted person, are you?"
I shot him an incredulous look, "Seriously? Did you just ask me that?"
"Or maybe you just try to hide the fact that you're kinder than most."
I growled and shoved the door open. I slammed it behind me and walked back towards the door to my building. "I'll put your luggage in your room! Do try to be nice to your classmates! I assume whoever sent you here knows about the Okumura brothers?" he called after me. I ignored him and turned the key in the hole. The door clicked. That's why I was sent here, demon.
I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. I took a long look around. It was an impressive space. The ceilings were tall and the hallways were long. I started walking, my footsteps echoing. I ran my fingers along the edges of my knives. Their presence always made me feel more secure. My back itched. I usually didn't have to conceal my wings for this long.
I looked at the letters above each floor-to-ceiling door, searching for my classroom. Somehow I doubted that kids filling up every room here. It seemed pretty empty to me. Finally I found it. I placed my hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. Welcome to hell, Grace. I walked into the room and took in the view.
It was pretty much a shithole. I frowned. The paint on the walls was chipped and an old-school black board hung at the front of the wall. Most of the desks were empty. I immediately recalled the names of the students who sat in the occupied desks along with the teacher. Yukio Okumura, brother of Rin Okumura and son of Satan, paused and looked up at me, "Welcome. You must be Grace Sato. Sit anywhere you like."
I surveyed the room, crossing my arms over my chest. I let out a puff of air, blowing my bangs out of my face. Sitting solo was Ryuji Suguro. I grinned. I knew his father…actually, I'd saved his father's life when I was younger. I smirked as he glared at me. Shiemi Moriyama and Izumo Kamiki sat beside each other. Moriyama patted the set beside her, and I frowned. No way I was sitting next to someone like that. I took a step forward. I spotted Rin Okumura, my target, sleeping nonchalantly at the back of the room. I scowled. He was snoring loudly and drooling. I wondered why my father suspected him of coming up with an intricate plot…he seemed like a dumbass.
Sitting side by side were Konekomaru Miwa and Renzo Shima. They looked up at me and Shima leaned over to his friend, "Hey, she's pretty cute." My blood boiled. No one calls me cute. As I walked past them, on my way to sit near Rin for surveillance reasons, my hand reached to my thigh. I slipped my knife out of its sheath and stabbed in in between his fingers. It plunged into the desk.
"What the—" Shima cried.
"Next time you call me cute I won't miss," I said with a smile. I wrenched the knife out of the desk and sheathed it again. I sat down beside Rin who was now conscious.
"Miss Sato, please refrain from stabbing things in the classroom," said Yukio. Psh.
"Sure thing, teach," I said, banging my combat boots onto the desk. I tipped my chair back and yawned. Damn, I'm already feeling sleepy.
"Great, another crazy person," muttered Suguro.
"Thank you," I called to him. Rin laughed beside me.
"Rin Okumura," he said, sticking his hand out for me to shake. I eyed it for a few seconds. I grinned, an idea popping up in my head. Man, I'm cruel.
"Grace Sato," I replied, reaching for his hand. I took it. He cried out as his skin burned at my touch. It had occurred to me that it would seem suspicious if my touch burned him, but I didn't really care. I figured he was too dumb to figure out the truth. Either that or the truth was too inconceivable.
"What the—do you wash your hands in holy water?" he questioning, blowing on his burnt flesh. Yep, too dumb...
"Who knows?" I said, shrugging.
"Hey, sorry for calling you cute," said a voice. I turned and saw Shima leaning towards me and grinning. I nodded. "Cool knife, by the way," he said.
I grinned. At least the guy could recognize a good knife when he saw one. I guess I couldn't gold a grudge against him. I mean, he was trying to become an exorcist, right? He couldn't be all that bad if he wanted to destroy demons. "Thanks," I said, smiling. He looked excited that he was able to make me smile.
"Hey, stop talking. We're in the middle of class!" hissed Suguro.
"Calm down, Bon. You don't need to be so uptight," Shima retorted. I snickered. 'Bon' growled at us.
"Miss Sato, Mr. Shima…please pay attention. If you don't want to you're free to leave any time," said Yukio. I scowled and seriously considered taking him up on his offer.
Over the course of the next few hours, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep three different times. The first was when Teach was talking about a variety of medicinal herbs. I had no use for herbs considering the fact that I could pretty much snap my fingers and heal people. I drifted off due to a lack of interest. The second time I can't even remember what he was talking about, but I remember waking up when Konekomaru threw a pencil at me. I snapped awake and nodded to him gratefully. He smiled and leaned back. I looked to my left and saw Rin passed out on the desk, a puddle of drool dripping from his chin. I flicked his forehead and he sat up slowly.
I don't remember falling asleep the third time, but apparently I had. When I woke up I felt strangely comfortable. I opened my eyes slowly. I realized that I was leaning on Rin's shoulder. I looked up at him and saw that he was sleeping too. I snapped awake, rocketing away from him. I tumbled out of my chair and fell to the ground, hitting my ass hard.
"God damn," I groaned. I liked using that phrase. It made me happy to insult my mysterious father.
Shima laughed out loud and Konekomaru snickered. One of my feet was still propped up on my chair and the rest of my body was sprawled out across the ground. I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. "Idiot," grumbled Suguro. I stuck out my tongue just to piss him off. "Miss Sato, are you alright?" questioned a concerned and high-pitched voice.
I looked up and saw Moriyama standing over me. She knelt beside me and smiled. "I'm good. I've hit my head before," I sighed, getting to my feet and brushing the dust off of my uniform. Moriyama smiled and went to sit down again.
"Guess that explains your stupidity," said Suguro as the bell rang. I would thank God for the bell, but I wouldn't sink to that level.
"Wow, you're not nearly as nice as your father," I mumbled, walking past him. Suddenly I was slammed against the desk, the corner stabbing into my leg, "Ow! Asshat!"
"How do you know my father?" demanded Suguro. Shit, I'm so dumb! Why did I let that slip out?
"Uh, I…" my voice trailed off. Normally, I was good at lying, but for some reason I couldn't right now. I couldn't think of anything. That was unusual for me.
"Come on, Bon. Back off," said Shima, trying to pull him off of me.
"She said she knew my dad," he said angrily.
"What? Daddy issues?" I asked…not like I was one to talk. He growled and slammed me against the desk again. I grunted in pain.
"Mr. Suguro, I don't appreciate fights breaking out in my classroom," said Mr. Okumura. I silently thanked him. I wasn't about to tell Ryuji that I saved his dad's life all those years ago by flying him away from Satan's flames. That was a big no-no. I had to keep my identity secret. Only a select few know about angels. Those people are either solely lucky, having seen us by chance, or are extremely important humans. Suguro growled and let go of me.
I stared after him, wondering what his issues with his dad were. I didn't remember his father to be a bad guy. "Remembering anything that has to do with the Blue Night is rough for Bon," Konekomaru said.
I nodded, "Makes sense."
"Well, at least you're not as clueless as Rin. He didn't even know about the Blue Night when he first came here," said Shima.
I raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? How would you not know?"
Rin scratched the back of his neck, "I only found out about this whole demon thing recently, actually."
"Even though your dad is Satan?" I asked. Everyone tensed up and no one spoke. "What? Is that like a sensitive topic here?"
"Satan is not my real father," Rin said angrily.
I raised my hands, "Alright, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."
"Our real father was the Paladin. He passed away, though," said Yukio, standing beside me.
"Impressive," I said, though I figured if I took a Paladin on it wouldn't be that difficult to beat him, "Well, at least you have a father." I smiled at him.
"What's that mean?" asked Izumo. I sighed, "I grew up in an orphanage and ran away when I was eight."
Izumo stared at me, "Oh."
"It's ok. It's not something sad. Anyways, is there food here? I'm starving," I said, turning to leave the classroom. My wings were itching to get out. I was really looking forward to flying again. I flexed my arms to try and ease the soreness.
"So, where are you from?" asked Moriyama, walking beside me.
"Same place as Ryuji," I replied.
"What?" asked Shima, surprised. He walked up beside me and I looked at him, "What, what?"
"You grew up so close to us?" he asked as if his question were obvious.
I nodded, "I didn't get out much, though."
"Weird that we never saw you," he said, stroking his chin. It wasn't really that odd, though. I wasn't allowed to leave the orphanage grounds, so I didn't have any friends. All the kids in the orphanage avoided me because I looked strange. I sighed.
"So, this food I mentioned," I said, clapping Shima on the back.
"It's just ahead," he replied. I nodded. "Hey, after lunch we have physical training, so you shouldn't eat too much."
"No promises," I replied. Rin grinned, "The food here is pretty bad, unless you want to go to True Cross…where the meals are designed for rich kids."
"I'm poor, so I'm used to eating shitty food," I replied. He grinned. Wait, what am I doing? I shouldn't make friends with the enemy! Stupid, stupid!
"Hey, Miss Sato, can we be friends?" asked Moriyama. I stared at her, "Seriously?" She nodded hopefully. I sighed, "Sure thing, Moriyama."
She grabbed my arm, "Don't call me Moriyama. Call me Shiemi!"
I nodded, "Whatever." We walked down the hallway. I was strangely looking forward to physical training. I wouldn't have to sit around in a classroom for hours. I smirked.
No, you have to be careful not to show your true self! I scolded myself mentally, reminding myself that I couldn't have all the fun I wanted. Still, physical training was next.