Here I am again, coming with another chapter for MM!
"I'll have to rush to the market to buy some ingredients, and perhaps some books on cooking... Kasai-kun seemed to like wearing glasses growing up, so maybe I can buy non-prescription ones as a 'It's-Great-We-Finally-Met'-present... I do have to find a way to thank him for his help with those girls. Wait what will he do while I'm gone? Does he even knows the material? What if-
"Okumura Yukio-kun!" the yell startled him, back going ramrod straight as he jumped. "Yes Fujimoto-sensei!"
Shiro was looking at him in a strange mixture of amusement and disappointment. "Earth to Yukio, didn't you hear? Go to your books and turn to page 394..."
The glasses-clad boy sighed as he took out the aforementioned book, an identical pair of blue eyes following his every move. "He had to call you like three times before you answered back." Rin told him as he leaned forwards to peer at the book. "I was getting worried..."
"You don't need to. I'm stronger than you think." Yukio replied, not quite managing to hide a silver of bitterness in his voice. "My reflection is the Son of Satan, after all."
Rin didn't reply right away, but Yukio could see the beginnings of a smug glint in the other's blue eyes. "You haven't seen me fight."
"I know."
For his part, Rin tried to concentrate in the chapter they were supposed to be reading, but there were a few problems with that. One, learning passively has never been his forte -he liked to think of himself as a thinking-with-his-feet kind of guy. Two, he had no idea how he was supposed to behave in a classroom. It didn't help that the attitude of the other students varied greatly; from attentive and hardworking (cock-hair and bald kid a few seats behind) not exactly caring but not showing it (Eyebrows-chan over there) not exactly the most attentive of the bunch (blond girl and pink boy) or simply, that they had the smarts or so it seemed, yet for some reason they lacked either motivation or they were suffering from thoughts overload (and that particular label went to the boy he affectionately called Len).
Rin liked to label people. It made behaviors predictable after a while. Besides, he needed to have a generalized point of reference if he ever was to become a judge. Or, since he had promised to Len, he could try his hands at cooking...
"I already know this." his reflection mumbled while staring listlessly at the book. The black-haired boy followed suit, scanning the contents of the page.
"I do too." Rin mumbled back. "Since I was ten, really. Why are you even learning this, this is just the bare bones!"
"Then, Kyōei-kun, please speak up. Who is Abezethibou?"
It was Rin's turn to jump and stare at the father of his counterpart. "Huh?"
"Enlighten us." Shiro repeated, and Rin forced himself to focus on the human before him, to force frantically-moving eyes to still. He wasn't used to being in the spotlight so suddenly.
"I believe Len can answer it-"
"Such it may be, but I asked Kyōei Rin, not Okumura Yukio." Shiro said curtly, glasses flashing in a way that reminded Rin of the boy sitting next to him. He didn't know how to react. He was a reflection, he was supposed to reflect light instead of absorbing it. He was supposed to be the unseen.
It was only dawning on him now that, on trespassing the mirror, he had not only been able to meet his other self. He had become a little more real, a little more there, as well.
Sighing, Rin steeled himself and looked into his memories of those long, pointless lessons. "Abezethibou is a one-winged demon who works under Beelzebub, the King of Insects. He is one of the Fallen. His domain is Tartarus, where the damned souls reside. Humans say he drowned at the Red Sea, but that's ridiculous. After all, Beelzebub claimed that when he Abezethibou is ready, then he will come in triumph."
"Kasai-kun, that's enough." Len said sharply.
Rin stopped and looked first at Len then to Shiro.
Shiro was eyeing him with a single, arched brow. "Yes, that's enough," he said. "It's good to know that you've already familiarized yourself with the material, Kyōei-kun. But, please don't think everything taught here will come from books."
"Uh, right." Rin slouched back into his seat, relieved as Shiro turned his attention back to his own book.
The rest of the class was uneventful. At least until it ended, and Rooster-hair was suddenly there, eyeing him.
"Where'd you learn all that about Abezethibou?" he demanded. "Half of it isn't even in the textbook!"
Rin stared at him, uncertain.
Beside him, Len was glaring. But Pink Boy, standing behind Rooster-hair, spoke before he could say anything, laughing lightly.
"Don't mind Bon, Kyōei-kun," he said. "He's an over-achiever and wants to know your study secrets."
"Oi!" Rooster-hair half-turned to glare at the pink-haired boy.
Bald Kid piped up then from the other side. "The part about Beelzebub claiming Abezethibou would come in triumph was interesting though. Where did you learn it?"
"Uh," Rin searched for an answer. "It was part of the lessons I got on demons back home. I don't know what book it was in."
"Are you from an exorcist family too?" Bald Kid asked.
Rin choked down a snort at the irony. "Not... exactly."
"His family has connections to the exorcist world," Len put in as he stood, sweeping his textbook into his schoolbag. "But, Rin will be one of the first exorcists in his family."
Rin blinked at his friend and then grinned at the truth of that. "That's right! I'm gonna be the best Knight there is."
"At least he has realistic goals," Eyebrows-chan chimed in. "Unlike some people..."
Rin stared at the pigtailed girl in confusion before he remembered one of his conversations with his counterpart. "Ah, yes, two of you are gonna defeat Satan, right?"
Both Rooster and Len fixed the other with a competitive glare that left no room for doubt. Rin nearly laughed at the display but held it in. He didn't want Len mad at him.
"Ne, Kyōei-san," a blonde girl with green eyes intervened. "Why are you learning exorcism?"
"Why, to be with Len of course!" Rin answered, and wasn't that the sincerest he could be. The pink-haired boy made an odd sort of noise, somewhat like a squeal, which attracted odd looks from his classmates. Rin paid them no mind, being focused on the girl's familiar. "Is that a baby Green Man?"
"Yes, his name is Nii-chan..."
If someone had told Yukio he'd somehow be carrying a lot of grocery bags, and shopping to buy glasses that were not his, he'd have laughed. But that was a few days ago. I wonder how he'd like them... Perhaps some frames similar to mine...
He ended up deciding for dark blue frames. As he made his way back to the school, now saddled with a new gift-wrapped package, he stopped once he looked in a mirror of a displaying store.
No reflection at all. It was incredibly freaky, and not only because he knew his own reflection was somewhere else, studying with Shima. The more he looked at the mirror, the more...off it seemed. At one point, he'd call it translucid. At another, that he could actually see ripples in the reflective surface. It was simply strange.
And as he reached out, his hand didn't meet a smooth cool surface. It went right through it, with blue light coming from where skin made contact with glass, and he...
He couldn't pull away.
He couldn't pull away.
He was wirst-deep inside the mirror, and he couldn't pull away. It was met with some sort of resistence, and Yukio forced himself to calm the frantic beatings of his heart.
He could pull away, after an eternity.
He didn't spare the mirror a second glance as he ran back to school like a bat out of Hell.
It soon became quite apparent to Rin that Shima wanted to do anything but study.
"You and Okumura-kun have known each other for a long time, huh?" at Rin's confused look, Shima explained. "Me and Koneko have been friends with Bon our whole lives, and, it's just something you notice."
"Oh, well...Yeah. Since I can remember."
"So, -this is a question me and Koneko have been wondering... are you and Okumura-kun boyfriends?" the pink-haired boy went straight to the point. "It's okay if you are, I won't judge."
Rin blinked, tail twitching inside his shirt. Did the Shima boy meant what he thought? "Boy friends?" he was about to say yes, but for a split second he panicked. "I think...I don't know, I haven't asked him yet." the demon answered, shifting uneasily. He had to ask Len that, right? Yeah, what if he was under the assumption that things were this way but in reality they weren't? Oh Hell, what if he had said something he shouldn't or behaved wrongly around him.
"What do I do?" Rin inquired, more than a bit desperate. The pink-haired boy smiled. "Well, Kyōei-kun, you have come for advise to the right guy..."
"You gotta be upfront. Be bold! And don't underestimate the importance of body language, ha!" Shima said while doing an odd little dance.
This would be an interesting lesson.
