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The Shadow's Duty

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Chapter IV: Contracted Spirits and Exam Prep

*~Takao Vacation Home, Contract Room~*

The room was full of contract circles, each matching a person in the room's hair color. In the middle of each circle, also floated a spirit. On the sidelines, three people were staring, dumbfounded at the results of the 6 others in the room.

"...*Pant*...So…*Pant*...h-how...did…*Pant*...we do...Chiakicchi…?" Asked the group's resident 'puppy'.

"You...how did...this shouldn't be possible...I mean, one or two of you, if you're lucky...but all of you? There's just no way…" Chiaki continued to ramble on in her own world, causing Takao and Mayuzumi to have to speak up for her. Takao cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention before speaking.

"Ehem…" Once he was sure he had gotten everyone's attention, he began again. "In place of my Nee-sama, I shall inform you all of everything. First off, you all did very well, better than we expected even, hence my sister's current state of confusion." Before Takao could continue however, Akashi interrupted.

"But Kazunari, even then, that shouldn't be enough to cause this much confusion, correct?" Akashi looked over towards the worn-out looking Chiaki. Despite it not being said, everyone knew the general idea of the unasked question that Akashi had hidden in his words. 'What's the real reason behind her current state?'

"As perceptive as ever Akashi-san. I really can't hide anything from you huh?" Takao gave a wry smile as he said this. Then, his expression turned serious, and he faced the rest of the group. "Okay, the reason why Nee-sama is like this is because all of your spirits are very high ranking. Normally, only nobles are able to summon such spirits, but not only are you guys nobles, but you guys aren't even part Shadow. Therefore, it should be impossible for you guys to summon such spirits. However, you just proved all three of us wrong. What's worse though is that what you have all just done, is essentially, tip the balance of power. If word of this gets to the King, there's no telling what he would do you guys. You're all anomalies. You've done the impossible." Takao then closed his eyes and turned his head towards Akashi, reopened his eyes, and then questioned Akashi. "Is that enough information, Akashi-san?" Akashi smiled before answering.

"Yes. Thank you for your cooperation, Kazunari." The red-head smiled a little too sweetly, sending chills down everyone's spines.

"Takao-kun, I shall take it from here." Mayuzumi said, putting a hand on Takao's shoulder. Then, Mayuzumi looked up at everyone else's opinion of Takao and Mayuzumi then switched places, with Takao now leaning against the wall, and Mayuzumi sporting a more serious and lively expression than usual, if that was even possible for the dead-looking phantom man of Rakuzan. All of a sudden, Mayuzumi snapped his fingers, and Aoi appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Aoi then suddenly introduced herself in another language. At least that's what everyone thought most likely happened, since next, everyone's own spirits said something back to her, and eventually, the spirits were immersed in conversation, ignoring the dumbfounded and/or curious occupants of the room. The whole situation went something like this:

Spirits POV:

"Hello, my name is Aoi, of the Water Spirits." Aoi slightly inclined her heads towards them as she said this. All of a sudden, the blonde (male) and pink (female) haired spirits of the group bounded towards her, acting like a mini versions of their contractors, Kise and Momoi, respectively.

"Hello! I'm Kinu, of the Lightning Spirits! It's nice to finally meet another humanoid spirit, Aoi!" The blonde spirit said, starting the conversation off. How Kinu was so excited was something that Aoi couldn't understand, but she just nodded her head in confirmation anyway, wanting to have as friendly of a relationship with her fellow spirits as possible. "And I'm Minu, Kinu twin, and of the Lightning Spirits as well! Let's get along as fellow females of the group, alright?" Minu had a smile on as she said this, earning a smile from Aoi as well, who appreciated having another female in the small group of 7. The next one to move was the red-head of the spirits, whom all the other spirits watched carefully, as that one seemed to be the highest ranked among them, so, whatever he did would severely influence how the rest acted. Once the red-head was an arms length away from Aoi, he extended his hands towards her, and smiled.

"Aoi, is it? I am Rai, Prince of the Inferno Spirits. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." None were really surprised when he said this, as every time a new member to any spirits royal family was added, those spirits made sure everyone knew about it. And with all of them being among the upper echelons of their respective spirit societies, they were all among the first to know of the newly crowned Inferno spirits prince. The question however, was why the spirit prince would go into a contract, not to mention so early into his new position as official heir, when most royals never even went into contracts at all. Aoi grasped the young spirit prince's hand and turned to the 13 year old looking purple-haired male spirit walking up towards her.

"Hello, Aoi." The spirit said slightly lazily. "I am known as Kumai, of the Dark Spirits. Do you have any snacks?~" As Kumai said this, she held out her hand to Aoi, who replied with a solid 'no'. Kumai then pouted and walked away, slightly sulking, before the last two spirits came forward. The first one to speak was Midorima's contracted spirit.

"I am Tanji, of the Earth Spirits. I'm not going to become friends with any of you, it's just that it might be good to know some fellow humanoid spirits. Just for future reference! That's all! So don't go getting the wrong idea or anything..." The male with forest-green colored hair said.

"Oi! Aoi! I don't really care who these guys are, but all I got to know is if any of them can give me a decent fight. But...I guess I could at least grace all of you weaklings with my title. I'm Hyou, of the Water Spirits." A navy-blue haired spirit said, directing the last part to the other 4 spirits. 'Really, these spirits were far too similar to their contractors.' Aoi internally sighed. 'What's worse, I can't believe that someone was actually able to contract with Hyou of all people...his contractor must have quite the ego to be able to tolerate Hyou…'

"Everyone, if it isn't too much trouble, I would like to ask all of you something." All heads turned towards Aoi at the statement, making the blue-haired water spirit the center of attention. Aoi took a deep breath before continuing.

"All of your contractors, as well as my own, are curious as to why you decided to contract with them." There was a sudden and high tension silence in the air as Aoi waited for the group of powerful spirits to speak.

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer to that question. All I know is that when I felt someone summoning for spirits, I felt drawn towards it. When I made the contract, it felt...right so to speak. Nothing else. I assume it was the same for the rest of you correct?" Rai had dissipated the tension in the air with his words, and the rest nodded in unison at his question. Aoi on the other hand, stood their slightly dumbfounded. After all, there hadn't ever been a contract where a spirit just felt it was the...right thing. Most of the time it was only because the contractor and spirit were decently comfortable with each other, and the spirit deemed the reason for summoning a valid one. These 6 cases were very strange…

"Thank you everyone. My contractor is asking for me, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut our conversation short. Besides, I believe that your contractors are all quite confused as well." Aoi looked at the colorful group of six as she said this, effectively diverting the attention of the spirits away from each other, and towards their respective contractors. The spirits then each went to greet their own contractors in Estrelían, with some getting along extremely well due to their similar personalities, and others seeming to have conversations that sent sparks flying due to their far too similar thought processes and ideas.

Aoi in the meantime, just went back to the spirit realm after quickly reporting what she found out to her contractor telepathically.

*~Time Skip~*

Third Person POV:

It had been about 2 weeks since the GOM and Momoi had first summoned their spirits during that period of time, they had been training with Mayuzumi, Takao, and Chiaki to help pass the exam. The group surprised the three once again with their incredible compatibility with their respective spirits and how well they became able to control their powers in such a short period of time. Honestly, it scared the three quite a bit. After all, if the group of six were this powerful now, how powerful would they be once they get official training at the academy? After all, based on their current strength, Chiaki and the other two were certain that the group would pass.

"Alright everyone. We're ending training early today. We have the entrance exam tomorrow after all, and we don't want any of you failing because of fatigue. So, go to sleep early tonight." Chiaki said, dismissing them allndll after a sweaty day of training since dawn, while it was now sunset.

"Ah~ that was painful ssu~. Now I'm all sweaty and smelly!" Kise whined, crocodile tears at the edge of his eyes.

"Shut up Kise! We do basketball training, so how is this any different?" Aomine said, irritated by the blondes antics, and having to deal with Hyou's ego for the past few weeks, and possibly, for the rest of his stay in this world utility they got Kuroko back.

"Ki-chin. You're annoying." Was all Murasakibara was willing to say after their long and tiring lessons.

"You guys are all so mean ssu~! If Kuro-"

"Ryouta" Kise was cut off by a menacing Akashi.

"Ah...I'm sorry Akashicchi...I...didn't mean to…" Kise looked apologetic, and very similar to a puppy who had lost his master, which, actually, wasn't really too off of the mark. Kuroko had been his instructor in basketball after all.

"Just don't do it again, Ryouta." With that, Akashi walked away, his shoes clacking on the marbled floor of the ivy covered walled mansion. Everyone stared after their leader, knowing that he had been affected the most. After all, one would have to be extremely dense to not see that the red-head had a crush on the phantom.

That night, all of the group fell into an uneasy sleep, each worried about their old captain and phantom.

*~The Next Day, Mortia Academy Entrance~*

The entrance was devoid of people, with only the GOM, Momoi, and Chiaki awaiting at the entrance. Chiaki first showed the guards her gold emblem, symbolizing her rank, as well as the fact that she was a student of the school. The man nodded, not even looking at the extra six people she had brought with her, with the group giving her questioning looks for the guard's behavior. Once they were out of earshot, Chiaki spoke up.

"Have you guys learned the motto of the school yet?" The group stayed silent, until Akashi spoke up for them.

"I believe it was something along the line of 'Power is Everything' was it not?" Akashi slightly frowned at the last part, and the rest of the group slightly shivered as they heard the school's motto. After all, a very similar motto had caused their downfall, and the loss of a very important and precious friend. The very friend that they were now here to find.

"Yes, that's correct. The instructor will explain everything to you, so don't panic." Chiaki sighed, before looking at all of them sternly. "Don't make all of your training for nothing." She then turned around, and politely greeted a man who was walking towards the group, and once all of their identities were confirmed, the group bidded farewell to Chiaki, who returned it, and headed to her class, as school had started two weeks ago, but she had taken time off to train them, and made up excuses for her father every day to make sure the man wasn't suspicious of her absence.

"Ehem." The man in front of them cleared his throat to get attention. "Alright, late entries, get ready. If you fail this exam, you shall not be accepted. To pass the exam, you must change the color of this crystal emblem into one of the following: Bronze, Silver...or Gold." The man seemed to hesitate before saying the last part, as if there was something else he had wanted to include in the list, but decided not to. However, before any of them could call the man out on it, the man had thrusted crystal clear emblems into each of their hands, opened the door, shoved them in, and closed it before any of them could even react. All of a sudden, there were two tremors, and the wall opened, revealing what appeared to be a baby giant. The baby giant looked enraged, as if it had been deprived from a revenge. In the darkness behind the giant, if one squinted closely enough, one could see the outline of a far larger, adult giant with two of its four arms missing. The group however, were far too focused on the current threat to notice the larger outline behind the said baby giant. And so, began their exam.

Hello everyone! I hope you guys liked this chapter more! I was stuck on this one for a long time, trying to figure out the names. I'm pretty sure I rewrote them at least 5 times...oh well, ar least this is done. I'm sorry that I didn't write the GOM's and Momoi's exam scene. I just couldn't. If you can't tell by now, then I should just let you all know that I suck at writing action scenes, which is pretty weird since I decided to write a story like this, but I'll try! But also try to avoid as many as possible. Except when showcasing Kuroko's power. Because that needs anaction scene to be known. Okay, next chapter will be Kuroko's life at school. Yay! Hopefully I'll finish within the next few days or so. Until next time guys! Once again, I'm sorry for my absence and negligence. I think summer just makes me super lazy. Thanks for reading! See you all later!