So. Next chapter. I hope to update regularly. Wow. Anonymus~! You just spoiled the next few chapters...augh. Oh well. The only reason she has flames is because of what Mephisto said before about it being a demon's heart. Oh, and you'll find Miyu's stats on my DeviantArt page soon too. Her powers are sorta weird though. I wanted a little of both worlds when I came up with the story, so here's the next chapter. P.S. Which of you guessed correctly who her father was?

赤いの祓魔師 – Episode 3 – "Mayo Chiki?!"

Miyu couldn't remember much of the night after that fateful meeting with her "true father." All she knew was that she was already healed up by the time she had woken up. Her sisters, well, her adoptive sisters, were still alive at least, that was one thing that she was grateful for. Their goodbye consisted of a staring contest and many tears and hugs, but it was a bittersweet ending to her life at the temple.

She sighed deeply and looked out the limo's window.

Each and every time she blinked, Miyu could see Mrs. Miyamoto's broken form lying on the floor boards, struggling to hold onto life. To her surprise (and relief) the image hadn't haunted her dreams, but her waking moments instead. However, this only made getting through the day all the more difficult.

The strangely soothing voice cut into her inner turmoil before she could continue to dwell on such "Once again, my dear Miyu, why did you insist upon this?"

Her Father, Mephiso Philes. A demon. It sickened her, yet there were traces of intrigue in her underlying thoughts. The question he had asked was simple enough. The reason he had asked? Well, for one, when preparing all the necessary things for her immediate transfer to True Cross Academy, Miyu had requested a boys' uniform.

"I told you...father..." That particular word was so foreign to her that she couldn't believe that it actually came out of her mouth. "I don't want the whole school seeing my tail. Besides, I think it could be fun to pose as a guy, y'know?"

Even if she was his child, this 'Miyu' girl was certainly odd. Especially in all the ways that he hadn't expected.

"I told you, normal students won't be able to see it."

Though she had a point with that 'disguised as a boy' business. Mephisto was a fan of all genres of manga and anime, so he could see the logic in that. Why, there were many gender bender fandoms he enjoyed, so he figured why not? Besides, she was partially right. The other students, despite being Exorcists, would probably be extremely distracted by such a small detail about her.

"I don't really care whether or not they see it, but it's...embarrassing."

Her statement was followed by a light painting of pink across her face.

"I always knew you would grow up to be a refined young Lady," Mephisto said, smirking. It was proper etiquette to hide your tail of course, since it was a major weak point of demons the world over. He hadn't told her this fact, but he was glad to see she had innate need to conceal it.

"Me?" Miyu snorted in contempt like an overgrown hog. "A 'refined young Lady'?" She straightened out the uniform jacket over her extremely flat chest. "I* am a kickass shrine maiden who beat up a demon king. I am going to be an Exorcist."

"How brave of you," he said, still looking at her intently, referring to her use of a rather unfeminine noun for 'I' in Japanese. His viridian eyes took a glance outside the window, thought he didn't need to. Mephisto had sensed the second they passed the spiritual barrier. "We're here. Academy City."

For a brief moment she looked outside. It didn't really interest her much, so Miyu began her preparations. The uniform was already on, so she didn't need to change when she got there. There was only one thing she had to do, though.

"Is there a mirror I can borrow?"

The words were barely out of her mouth when he decided to provide such a simple object.

"Eien, Swei, Drei!"

Click!

Mephisto snapped his fingers. In the air in front of her was suddenly a hovering mirror. Miyu stared at it for a second before getting to work. By now she was already used to his odd powers. It was the same finger-snapping method that he had used to pack her belongings away, after all. Sure, when she saw the nearly-bottomless trunk appear out of thin air and her things fly into the hungry receptacle, she had a mini-breakdown. But he'd done quite a few more impossible things while in front of her, so she had already become accustomed to it.

"May I have a scissors as well?" she asked politely, mocking a high-class refined tone.

Again, he conjured up the item she requested. Miyu took it fast in her hands, spurting out a quick "thanks" before getting to work. Mephisto looked on from beneath his top hat as she proceeded to slice off her hair. She started slowly at first, not trying to cut her bangs at all, but focusing on the actual length of hair that flowed down her back.

She decided just above her shoulders was a good place to cut it at.

"So you're serious about this?" the demon said, his amused grin still stretched wide.

Snip Snip. Several more dark red strands came off in her hands.

"Of course," she said, trying not to chop off her bangs while shaping back.

"I see…" he looked at the completed disguise and felt a surge of joy that the apple did not fall far from the tree. "Well Miyu-kun**, I hope your first day will be very memorable."

…

They parted ways away from the main building, so that most of the students wouldn't see her departing from the large Pepto-Bismol colored car. He gave her a ring full of three keys before she did go, however. One was a direct link to his office. The second was the key to the Exorcist school. The third was to her new dormitory.

"Oh, Miyu," said Mephisto before she left. "By any chance would you like me to unpack your things before you go to the dorm?"

"Uh, sure?" she was surprised by the request, but had no reason to refuse. It was less work for her, after all. "Just…make sure no one really sees you…" she added quickly "…or my things, please."

"You'll be staying in a special dorm," he explained. "Since your newly awakened demonic powers could become difficult to handle for you."

"A-alright."

"So for the most part you'll have the building to yourself," he said brightly, "save for another half-demon and his twin brother."

"What?"

"It's alright, I've instructed them to give you space. You're on the whole other side of the building after all, so you should only see them in class." He waved his hand to denote a carefree attitude about the whole arrangement. "However, I would advise not to ask whom their father is."

"Why's that?"

"Now that is a secret." He put a finger over his lips to denote the seriousness of the situation. "Still, I would advise you to keep your flames hidden, young lady."

"My flames?"

"Yes. You can always explain away your ears, tail, and teeth, but the flames would certainly be a difficult manner to explain. This is especially so, since they would begin to ask who your father is."

She bowed shallowly, the short hair following the simple tilt of her head.

"I understand, father."

"What a good child," he muttered to himself. "Well goodbye, dear. Have a good day at school!" He waved flamboyantly, and she timidly returned the gesture with mounting chagrin. It took all her self-control not to blush stoplight red at that moment. It was an odd fuzzy feeling to have your own father say that on the first day of high school, despite his absence over the years. He had good reason, though, she realized quickly. He was a very powerful demon, as she was told. His evident power over space (and time, as he had explained as well) was proof enough of that.

She wondered if she could do that too. Make things appear if she wanted them. Miyu shook her head. Later, she'd ask him later if he could help her with that.

Kusanagi was slung over her back in a blue sword holder. "Let's go, Miu," she whispered to the air, walking forward to the main school building.

It was the typical first day for a main character in a manga, especially if they were in high school: 1) go to homeroom, 2) introduce yourself to the class, 3) get a seat near the window, 4) daydream the whole day, 5) get into a fight…

Wait, what?

Miyu had been doing fine up until lunch. Yeah, sure. She had been snarky and quite the spitfire in class. Answering questions, pretending to be a boy, having girls flock around her for some reason, it all was good. She'd even noticed a few hot guys in the class that she would remind herself to befriend later. Most of all, she was surprised that the disguise had even worked.

Maybe it worked a little too well.

Maybe that was why one of the students had challenged her to a fight. A male student no less.

He had called her a "stuck-up pretty boy" who wanted to steal all the hot girls away. The little bastard couldn't have been farther from the truth.

"And what's with that dumb sword you carry around?" he jibed, pointing at Kusanagi. "Not another one of you effin' cosplayers around here!"

Miyu wanted to ask about the other 'cosplayer' but was cut off by an attack at her "girly" name.

For some reason that was what pushed her over the edge.

"You want a fight, shitface?" she said, cracking her knuckles. The nondescript boy took his own stance, both fists raised in front of him. For a moment the air was so tense you could slice it with a katana. But then something odd happened.

Miyu walked past him before he could react. "What an iiiidiot. I'm not fighting you."

The girls swooned at the display. It was just so cool of "him" to do that!

"What?" said the challenger, staring after the retreating form of Miyu. His face was getting redder by the moment, mostly from embarrassment at such a harsh rejection.

She paused, one hand holding Kusanagi over her right shoulder as she glanced backwards.

"Don't pick fight you know you'll lose," warned the new student. And with that, she left the fuming boy to stew in his own anger, held back by a couple of his friends.

…

Lunch had gone smoothly, despite the requests to sit with her by a couple of people. Her father gave her plenty of money for food for the month, so she was having a good day ordering up all the Western food she could eat.

By the time it was time for Exorcist school she was content and ready for some real learning. No more of that stupid high school busywork. She was ready to become an Exorcist.

…for Mama.

She was going help as many people as she could.

So. Any door could be opened with the key and it would take her there, huh? She reached into the pants pocket and pulled out the keyring. The one with the heart engraved on it was Papa's office…creepy. The one with the moon on it was the dorm. So, the one with the star had to be the one to the cram school. She went over to a nearby hallway door and put in the key. One turn, she opened the door, and she was in the hallway of the Exorcist school.

Well, that was unexpectedly easy. She tracked down the classroom with the number Papa had given her, and went in. Glad to know it hadn't started yet, she sat down at one of the seats in the front and leaned her sword on the chair she was sitting on. There were only two others sitting in the classroom with her, but like before when she introduced herself to the class, Miyu was too shy to speak to them, let alone tell them her name without a prompt. It wasn't long until a few more people arrived, including a blonde girl in a uniform and a very tall boy with glasses.

"Morning class," said the megane, smiling at his tiny group of cute students. His eyes were a bright electric blue, and there were…a couple of very conspicuous moles on his face. Miyu tried not to stare at the distracting features, but failed miserably.

"Morning, sensei," the students answered, at varied volumes.

'SENSEI?' thought Miyu, glancing at the boy who was probably no older than her. 'That guy? He's a teacher?'

"Today we will be going over some important points you'll need to know about Pharmacology for the exam." He began taking out some papers from his briefcase and placing them on his desk at the front of the classroom. "Now, first I'd like to take the time to—,"

BANG!

The door flew open and collided with the wall to reveal a disheveled-looking Rin.

"Ah…I'm toast," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry I'm late, guys."

"What is this, the fifth time in a row?" said Bon under his breath.

"As I was saying," Yukio's eyebrow was twitching in annoyance. "I'll be passing out last week's quiz." His eyes scoped the room before he ventured out, however, and landed on the one unfamiliar face. He blinked in surprise. He had heard from the headmaster that there was going to be a new student, but he didn't expect them to slip in unnoticed like this. Not even an introduction or announcement of their arrival had been given. Instead, the person in question sat at one of the desks in the front, and remained silent and attentive.

This was eerie in its own way.

"We…have a new student," Yukio said. Miyu flinched at the minor introduction. "Would you please introduce yourself to the class?"

She stood. "Miyu Himura. Nice to meet you all." That was it. She returned to her seat.

"Well, thank you Himura-kun," said Yukio, grinning warmly.

* In this sentence, she uses the form 'boku', a very uncommon way of referring to yourself in Japanese. Even though she uses it interchangeably with 'atashi' (a cute form of "I"), she switches to it exclusively for school. 'Boku' is normally used by tomboys in anime, and helps to serve with ambiguity as to her gender when amongst her classmates.

** An honorific usually used in reference to boys. But sometimes used for underclassmen or those of lower rank.