It seems like just as fast as Rochelle found out the truth about Rin and Yukio, things reverted back to normal for her. Sure, Yukio flipped out when he found out Rochelle knew the truth about him. He didn't seem angry, but more so worried.
"Rin, you told her?" Yukio said while holding onto his hair so tightly it looked almost as if he was going to rip it out.
"She found out before I could tell her!" Rin protested. They then spent the next few minutes going back and forth about how important the matter was. Rochelle only sat between the two with her legs crossed, chewing a piece of bubble gum. After a while, she was getting really pissed off so she shot out of the chair she was sitting in and cursed them out.
"Shut the hell up and plant yo' asses in some seats!" She yelled, causing them to fall down into the two chairs they were once sitting in.
"I ain't even finta trip about it because y'all never did anything to hurt me, and I doubt you ever will." She said while pointing at Yukio. "So man the fuck up or shut the fuck up." The two were silent for a few seconds, then they turned to each other.
"I wouldn't tell your secrets. I love you guys." She said, not regretting or withdrawing a word of what she had said. She really did love both of them, she just didn't love Rin the way she loved Yukio, who blushed and sunk into his seat awkwardly. Rin laughed and elbowed his younger brother.
"Just like that, my stud phase is starting." He said.
"I didn't mean 'love' like that, you ass wipe." Rochelle said before leaving the two.
Of course, now that they were Esquires, everyone had missions. Rin, Shima and Izumo had to go to a beach someplace, and Rochelle had to go to a temple to handle some demons that were causing mischief. It wasn't really that big of a deal at all.
Now they had to go to handle the ghost of a little boy who was in Mephisto's amusement park. It only seemed like the practical jokes Rochelle used to play when she was a little girl, like skirt flipping except she blamed it on any innocent boy that would be standing nearby. It wasn't until after she was briefed on the mission and think about how she used to act as a little kid did Rochelle realize that she was a genuine jackass.
As for catching the ghost, it didn't seem to be much of a problem; Rochelle had a bigger one. This former street thug had been in multiple fistfights, fought against demons and even made acquaintance with the sons of the devil. The only problem she had was her undeniable fear of ghosts. Not even ghouls, demons or evil spirits; just simple ghosts. She laughed at movies like the Boogeyman, Paranormal Activity and Nightmare on Elm Street but she couldn't bear being face to face with a single ghost who was only a little boy.
After the briefing, she caught herself trying to back out and thought of a lie to tell them as to why she couldn't do it. Then, one thought flashed through her mind.
"I ain't no punk bitch!" she said out loud, causing everyone to stare at her.
"Um, Rochelle. Are you okay?" Konekomaru asked with a puzzled look on his face. Rochelle only put up a grotesque frown in an attempt to show her inner strength while beating her chest with her fists twice. In the end, it only made everyone think there was something dreadfully wrong with her brain. Their attention, however, left her when they saw Shiemi coming to join, or rather, they saw her breasts look like they were going to fall off from all of the movement of her running form. As they all gawked, she only scoffed.
"Pfft. Actin' like y'all ain't never seen some boobs before." She said with her arms crossed over her own chest.
"Aww! Someone's jealous." Rin pried.
"Like hell!" Rochelle said back.
Yukio had to brief Izumo and Shiemi on the mission as well before they all went on their way. Sadly, Rochelle had to go on her own. Sure, Yukio knew this and offered to go with her but she refused for two reasons; One, she couldn't bear being alone with him and two; she insisted (once again) that she wasn't a punk bitch. It was settled and the search was on.
Rochelle went off into the northeastern part of the park and began to search, constantly repeating the affirmation "I ain't scared of no ghost!" Even so, it didn't really make much of a difference. It got to the point when her own shadow scared her and made her wonder if she was having a nervous breakdown. The ghost, however, watched her from the shadows and noticed her jumpy behavior, how she flinched at everything and thought that it would be fun to mess with her, so he emerged.
As Rochelle approached a house of mirrors, she heard a rattling sound and took the opportunity to really prove to herself that she wasn't afraid, so she walked in. Sadly, mirror houses weren't her strong suit. Within a few seconds, she found herself completely lost. Sighing, she leaned against a mirror and took a moment to think.
"Okay, so when I walked in, I took a left, then I walked straight, then another left… or was it a right?" she said aloud to herself. When she looked up in the mirror in front of her, she saw her own face. It seemed distressed. When she blinked, her face wasn't there anymore.
"Wha-?" she said. Then, the empty space that was once hers turned into the face of a little boy with red eyes and blood trickling down the side of his mouth.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Rochelle screamed and tried to get out of the house with everything she had. In every mirror, she saw the same boy, who was now giggling like a maniac. She ran into a few mirrors and multiple dead ends until she finally found her way to a balcony with bubble machines. It wasn't where she had entered, but that didn't matter. She only wanted to get out, so she hopped off the ledge and ran hopelessly into any direction of the park.
"Hey, wait for me!" the boy said while laughing.
"NO!" she screamed back. She continued to run until the boy somehow made his way in front of her and tripped her. With the speed she was running in, the damage to her knees was great. However, when she saw the boy fly in front of her, she got up and ran as fast as she could, bloody knees and all.
"Wait up!" the boy called once again as his small hands found their way to the left sleeve of her shirt.
"Let go of me!" Rochelle cried, pulling away so hard that the sleeve that the boy was holding had ripped off. She was truly a sight; bloody kneecaps, a sleeve on her shirt missing and tears running down her face. Rochelle rounded a corner and crashed into someone so hard that they both fell over.
"Rochelle, what's wrong?" Yukio asked. She looked up at him before burying her face in his chest and crying more.
"Yukio! Make him go away! PLEASE!" Rochelle begged while sobbing. It was very ironic that she was running from a ghost and she turned to the son of the devil for comfort. She felt someone tapping her shoulder so she looked up.
"BOO!" the ghost boy said, causing her to scream loudly once again. Finally, her vision went black. She had passed out from shock.
When Rochelle finally woke up, she bolted out of a hospital bed, thinking that everything that had just happened was just an awful dream. Her breathing became very heavy.
"Rochelle, calm down!" Yukio said while placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw the rest of her class in the room, staring at her with concerned eyes.
"Wh- what happened?" she said as her eyes darted around.
"You passed out." Konekomaru said.
"What about the ghost?" she asked frantically.
"Shiemi handled it. Turns out the kid only wanted someone to play with." Bon said. Rochelle looked up at Shiemi, who was blushing and smiling like it wasn't a big deal. She continued to stare until her vision grew hazy with tears. When the tears finally escaped, Rochelle stared at her folded hands and smiled, trying to act like she wasn't crying.
"I guess I suck." She said with a chuckle. "All that poor kid wanted was someone to play with, and I…" Rochelle was so choked up that she couldn't speak anymore. She heard someone shuffling about and was surprised when she felt Shiemi gave her a hug.
"It's okay." Shiemi said, only causing her to cry even more.
"I'm such an awful person!" she sobbed. "I didn't even hear him out."
"It's not your fault." She encouraged. Rochelle cried even more. No one else in the room knew what to say or do. Even though they thought they knew so much about this girl in their class, she seemed so distant at that moment. One by one, they left until it was just Shiemi, Rin and Yukio.
Yukio suddenly found a deep sinking feeling in his heart because he couldn't protect her. Even if she did deny his help, he felt like it was his obligation as her teacher to protect her, but for a slight moment he felt like this obligation to keep her safe didn't come from his teacher/student relationship with her.
A/N: So yeah, I've actually had the beginning of this chapter (up to the point when Rochelle started looking for the ghost) done since early October, but the rest of this chapter has just been a total mind-fuck since then. I had absolutely no idea as to where it was going until last night. I was listening to a mashup song of "Regulators" by Warren G with a song from K-On and the dango song from Clannad and a light shined down on my head and I had this epiphany from the epiphany circle in my room. It's this part on my wall right above the doorframe where the paint somehow chipped to form into a circle and for some reason it has this illusion that it's floating and every time I look at it my mind empties itself and I have an epiphany. The last time I looked at it I had the epiphany that I wanted to be a jewel thief… that's a different story.
Anyway, I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long.
