DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Everything except my imagination and OC belongs to Kazue Kato and the rightful owners.
Paper Moon
"Look up."
"Dad says every person sees the colour of the moon differently. He and Mama see purple."
"What colour do you see, Fujino?"
Blue.
I see blue.
She wasn't sure when, why, or how the memory had suddenly resurfaced. Her mind was so completely shredded and raw that it had just come out, and she had answered for no reason.
Flashes of cerulean burst before her eyes, illuminating the night until it was almost blinding to keep looking. A bitter iron taste touched her tongue; she hadn't realized she'd bitten her lip too hard.
Why? Her brain helplessly whispered, refusing to let her believe what she was seeing, but the proof was right there. She vaguely wondered if this was how he had reacted to seeing her secret and suddenly wanted to vomit. Bon's hands holding her shoulders felt alien now, and in a split second the thing she wanted most was for Rin to come back.
"Everyone, are you alright?!" Her neck seemed to quiver with dull pain as she twisted it to look at the younger twin who was approaching the cliff as quickly as he could. Chiho's head spun; it looked like there was three of him now.
Did you know this? Her silent yet vulnerable voice asked. But if you're his brother, then that means you're also… A shock of goosebumps clawed up her back and arms, entire body seeming to throb with every quickening beat of her heart.
"S-Sensei!" Konekomaru whipped around to face him, Shiemi still limp in his arms. "O-Okumura-kun… what's…"
"We'll talk about it later!" Yukio hastily promised, his lenses reflecting the fire his brother was covered in head to toe. "For now, we need to get out of here!" He stumbled up to the clearing, expression illegible behind his glasses but obviously frantic as he knelt down next to her and Bon. "Takahiro-kun! Your leg…"
She clamped down harder on her lip, shaking her head furiously and grabbing his wrist before pointing out at Rin. What's happening to him?!
He put a gentle hand on the makeshift bandages Bon and Shima had made, face grim in the light. "I'll explain everything later, but we need to get you medical attention right away." Still unable to protest against what was happening, she weakly lifted her arms up as he grabbed her gingerly under the legs. The pain revived and shot through her, making her twist and writhe as she gripped his shirt so tightly she was sure she ripped it. "Suguro-kun, please take care of Shiemi-san." Stunned, Bon didn't protest either as he lifted her up onto his back.
Ugh… ghk…! Gnashing her teeth together, she tried to block out the yells reverberating in her ears and buried her face into Yukio's shirt to try to release the intense stinging in her left leg. Letting out a huge breath and sucking in another to hold in, she squeezed her teacher's shoulders tight as if to urge him to move faster. She couldn't take this much longer; her breathing was going erratic and she knew he could feel the unnatural thudding of her heart trying to recover the blood she was losing. She shook him slightly when her head started feeling a bit too light, and he simply nodded and carried on.
Her ears rang almost painfully as she struggled to get the image she had just seen out of her head, but it wouldn't leave. She wondered if it ever would. Everything was too surreal, and every few seconds she had to remind herself that she was still breathing and wide awake.
Once they finally reached a small clearing in the forest, he signaled the Exwires to stop to take a quick break. They were probably safe enough from the flames that were bursting across the skies.
"Takahiro-kun. We need to stop the bleeding in your leg immediately, so please listen carefully and do exactly as I tell you, do you understand?" Yukio spoke gently yet firmly, turquoise eyes completely grave. There were a million questions she wanted to ask, but she nodded stiffly and clamped down on her trembling lips as he slowly lowered her to the ground on her back. Her legs shook violently as she tried to stretch them out, knowing she had to help him make this easier. All she could do was dig her fingernails into the flesh around the wound and the torn fabric surrounding it.
"Relax." He assured her, though that was the last thing she was capable of doing at the time. "It's going to be fine." Yukio glanced to the other students. "Everyone, I need your cooperation. I promise I'll explain everything later, but for now we need to treat this. Understood?" Without waiting for an answer from the shocked classmates, he plowed on. "Suguro-kun, please lift up Takahiro-kun's left leg. I'll tell you when to stop."
He blankly stared for a few seconds before nodding, silently rushing over to wrap his hands around her ankle and raising it upwards and causing her to flinch at the intense shocks running up her limbs. Fuck, do you really need to move it-?!
"I know it hurts." Her teacher said sympathetically, though his face was starting to blur. "But please bear with it for a little longer. I just need to stop the bleeding, and this should help somewhat." He turned to Konekomaru, whose eyes were still wide with astonishment. "Miwa-kun, get me a clean cloth from your shoulder bag. There should be plenty." Fumbling around with the contents with shaking hands, the shorter student awkwardly offered the fabric to his teacher, who then proceeded to wrap it around her thigh.
"Okay, take a deep breath for me. You're going to be fine. I'm going to start applying pressure to the wound." Chiho dared to take a peek at her thigh and almost fainted at the sight of the blood already starting to seep through the cloth. "Takahiro-kun." She forced herself to look up at her teacher, unexpectedly strict and somewhat nervous while hovering above her. "Take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. You're doing great."
Great, my ASS! She quickly turned her head to the side, chest heaving with heavy breaths. Just… hurry up and apply the fucking pressure… Needing to start, she gave a weak thumbs-up to signal he could.
"Alright, I'm going ahead." He quickly turned to Suguro. "Make sure you keep the leg elevated. That helps to reduce the bleeding."
Then why the fuck... does it still hurt so goddamn much?! The urge to let out a scream was unbearable at this point, but she refused to let go of her lip.
When his palms started steadily pushing down onto the wound, she jerked wildly and threw her head back, clawing at the dirt under her. Somewhere in her jumbled-up mind she knew that this much pressure was needed to get the blood to clot, but in the rest of it all she could wonder was why the hell he had to press so hard.
She couldn't do it. She tried to roll over on her side to get his hands off, but after a few attempts Yukio seemed to have made another order and Shima was beside her, pulling her shoulder back with some force to get her lying on her back again every time she turned. Unable to keep suppressing it, her teeth fell from her bleeding lips and soon her mouth was wide open, spilling out a thousand whimpers and yells of utter pain nobody would be able to hear. She didn't even care how pathetic she must have looked. It hurt, and she felt as though she were being tortured. Even if she wanted to, there was nowhere to run. Her vision soon consisted of blotches of black and red and gasps were all that could come out of her throat.
Time was no longer moving for all she knew. She had a feeling her eyes would have squeezed shut if they could have, and she was sure that Yukio had been talking to her, probably something along the lines of relaxing and trying to breathe. For the first time she wished someone could hear her thoughts; that she couldn't hear him because all that was left in her ears was a dull ringing noise that left her head spinning and much too light.
Her breathing was so utterly shallow she nearly blacked out multiple times, and Shima had to keep turning her shoulder and face back with a shaking hand. Everyone's faces were too blurred for her to make any sense of what was going on.
"I know. I know it hurts, hang in there. Just a little longer." Yukio kept saying, but it all fell upon her deaf ears. It wasn't supposed to hurt this much. "Stay with me, just a little longer."
Desperate for something to cling onto, she clawed around helplessly until her dirtied hand found Shima's arm the next time she tried to turn on her side. She gripped it like a lifeline, and she wished she could have seen his face. It was too hard to see anything at this point, it was like she was half blind. And more than the pain stabbing through her leg all over again, it scared her.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed before Yukio finally lifted the crushing pressure off her thigh, and in a split second precious oxygen was rushing back into her lungs and bringing back some of her vision. Blue flashes still illuminated the sky, and she deducted that she had blanked out for at least ten minutes, though the severe stinging in the wound never lifted.
Her stomach and chest rose and fell heavily as she greedily sucked in breaths, still holding painfully tight onto Shima's wrist. Chiho's left leg had gone completely numb from how long Suguro had kept it suspended at heart level. Was this supposed to happen? Not that any of it mattered at this point.
Please, she would have choked out, but resorted to limply mouthing the words to Yukio. No more… no more… She reached out weakly for him, but his back was turned as he shifted through a shoulder bag. Her hand fell flat to the ground again, muscles completely slack and drained in an instant.
Another layer of fabric looped around the cloth, and she gritted her teeth, preparing herself for more; but all that came was a firm tug and more but not as intense pain. It took her several seconds to realize why- this way the pressure would be steadily applied.
"We don't have a lot of time." Yukio's voice still sounded a million miles away, but her leg soon lowered and his face resurfaced in her vision. "You did good, Takahiro-kun. I'm proud."
I didn't just… give birth… She shocked herself at how she could still make a half-assed joke when she was crippled with pain. When she tried to lift her upper body up, she quickly gave up the second a pair of sturdy arms slipped under her and lifted her up, one arm around her shoulders and the other under her legs and mindful of her injured thigh. Rather than resisting, she was too tired to do anything but let her head fall against his shoulder. One thing was for sure; there was no way she was sleeping tonight.
"Oiiiiiii! You guys alright?!" She had to focus a bit too hard before she saw a flash of black, red, and yellow streaking from the trees with a purple sword in hand. Shura ran over to the group, not looking fatigued in the least. Chiho had to try not to flip him off when his gaze landed on her. "God. Don't tell me Amaimon got to ya…"
"And just where have you been?!" Yukio snapped, glare almost evident in his tone.
"Hey, cool it! I was dealing with Amaimon's pet. I wasn't slacking off, Four-eyes!" Shura shot back, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the cerulean inferno blazing behind them. "Anyways, we gotta get out of this forest, now. Tch." He closed his magenta eyes and smiled grimly at the ground. "Shiro, you dumbass. Wanted me to take care a' this beast…"
Right as they started to move, Shura caught up with the instructor and held out a very familiar-looking sword. "Kyohei. Figured this was yours. Found it earlier when I was coming back."
Where did you… She blankly turned her head and saw the crimson sealing tattoo running up along his abdomen. Oh. Her fingers hesitated as he offered her precious weapon back to her. The only other sealing tattoo she'd ever seen was right here, but she wondered if it hurt to literally rip it out of his stomach. And who knows what else had been floating around in there…
"Just take it." He forced her hand up and shoved the hilt into her palm, closing her fingers around it. "You don't have any other way to defend yourself if you don't have this thing on ya. You can't go losin' it everywhere, got that?" He must have noticed how disoriented she was, because he simply sighed after she didn't respond. "Just put it back in yer tattoo. It's safest in there."
Okay… She carefully rolled up her sleeve to avoid decapitating anyone with the motion. As she tried to steady herself and press it back into the seal, she noticed that she'd been putting it back in more than actually using it while it was out.
As the world rocked back and forth as they trudged closer towards campus, she bit down on her lip again and shoved the heels of her hands into her eyes and scrubbing furiously to deter the tears that weren't even there. She was too exhausted to question why she had.
Ferocious growls and yells of extreme exertion echoed in her brain in the distance, and she buried her face into her sleeves to avoid the living hell around her.
Why am I so useless?
When the dull, falling sensation finally left her body, gold and brown was blurred in her vision and the ringing sound never left her ears. Her arms hung limply at her sides as she slowly looked around, feeling dizzier than ever. Several bodies swayed in front of her, and the smell of smoke and dirt brought her crashing back down to earth faster than she'd expected. Suddenly her blood was drumming through her ten times faster, and she had to remember to breathe before she blacked out again. The raging inferno behind them hadn't ceased, still a blinding shade of blue that she now despised.
Where am I?
A heavy panting noise resonated from beside her, and she twisted her head to see Shima limping along while gripping onto the golden railings at their sides. She instinctively reached out before hesitating from how little she could do. Shima-!
"I… can't breathe…" He choked out, pressing a hand to his chest as he staggered along, and her fingers slipped off his sleeve. Shima-
"Shima-san!" Konekomaru called, turning around. A drop of sweat rolled down the teen's cheek, and she lightly hit Yukio's chest with her hands. Judging from what she'd seen, he must have broken a few ribs at the least. He couldn't just go walking around in that condition.
Yukio, really, put me down! She knew full well that she would be just as horrible at walking as Shima was, but she seriously couldn't bear being babied like this all the time.
While she tried to get his attention, she jerked in surprise at the sight of Izumo, Bon, and Shiemi in front of them. They seemed uninjured, and a giant weight lifted off her shoulders.
Fucking hell, let go-! She pounded a fist into his chest, and he finally looked down at her with those piercing teal eyes. Suspicion, anxiety, so many emotions had pooled into them that it was hard to read them all, and she caught herself staring for longer than necessary. All this time she'd been thinking about Rin, but what about Yukio? He was his twin brother. It wasn't as if he wasn't under a heavy burden either, having to look after him. Guilt poked into her side like a thorn. She was being selfish.
"Takahiro-kun? How are you feeling?" His legs stopped moving along with the rest of the group, and she quickly reached into her pocket to type out a message.
[I'm okay now. You can put me down.]
"Your leg is still severely injured. You shouldn't be walking around." He frowned before glancing up from her. "We're almost at the True Cross Academy Japanese Branch. We've taken shelter here for now, but…" Yukio shook his head, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry." Slowly he lowered her feet down to the ground delicately, and she flinched at the sensation of the blood abruptly rushing back to them. Stumbling a bit, she swayed as she tried to balance on her toes rather than the balls of her feet. Eventually the pain increased upon putting too much weight on her soiled leg, so she ended up having to drag it along somewhat while holding onto the railing with Shima.
What now? Rin is still…
"Shura-san." Yukio called with an edge to his voice. "Did you purposely get rid of me because you knew this would be the outcome?" His tone started to sharpen, and Chiho began to inch back towards the other students, nearly tripping a few times as she did so. She blatantly avoided the gaze of her classmates, though she knew for a fact she was the last thing they were thinking of in the midst of all this chaos and revelation. "Didn't you say you wanted to see how Rin used his sword? Isn't that it?!"
Yukio… her back met a wall. Never in all her time of knowing him had she seen him in such a state.
"Meh, don't get yer panties in a twist, Scaredy-Four Eyes." Shura brushed off the matter, making her insides twist in aggravation. Even at a time like this, how could he sound so casual?
"Um…" Shiemi softly spoke up, but stood up straighter to get her message across. "What's going on… with Rin?" Her emerald eyes stared straight at the teachers. "Please explain it to us."
Chiho pressed a hand to her face, gritting her teeth and trying to wipe all the emotion off her face. She could almost hear his screams already.
A deafening silence hung in the air before Yukio finally turned around to face them. She still couldn't read the expression on his face. He seemed… guilty, or disgusted almost. She held her breath tight in her chest.
"Rin is…"
"Now that shade of blue,"
A new voice cut into Yukio's, and everyone's heads turned upwards to see a tall figure standing on the tip of a platform. She trained her focus in on the intruder, paranoid hand reaching towards her wrist.
"No matter how you look at it, isn't it just like that night?" A man with long, flowing blonde hair asked from above them. He was clad in a white uniform head-to-toe and brandished a huge Claymore at his side. A pair of fake wings trailed behind him like a cape.
Who the hell… She stared a little harder to see a multi-coloured pin on the front of his uniform. …An Exorcist?
"Bourguignon, restrain and take the statements of those Exwire children." He ordered into a small receiver from his ear. "See to it that you don't forget to have their injuries treated by medics. And once the fire brigade arrives, let them use holy water to extinguish the blaze. There should be a vat of grade-A holy water stored there already. Hurry up."
"Who's that?" Izumo asked, backing away already. Shura made another 'tch' noise in distaste at the mystery man, and he turned towards the group with an arrogant smile that seemed to frown down upon them at the same time.
"My name is Arthur August Angel. An Upper First Class Exorcist of the Vatican branch." He proudly introduced himself, but for some reason just looking at his face made her want to hurl a dagger at him. For a second she sympathized with Shura's feeling towards him. Something about him just… grated at her nerves.
"Though I was only recently appointed the rank of the current Paladin." He went on, and her jaw nearly dropped. Paladin?! This old man is seriously the strongest Exorcist right now? "Which means I'm now your boss, Shura." Arthur chuckled haughtily at this.
"Hmph." Shura snorted at his colleague, crossing his arms over his chest. "Did you have something to say or what?"
"That aside, Shura, what is the meaning of this?" He went on to ask, gesturing at the massive flames surrounding him. "It was your duty to investigate if the deceased Fujimoto Shiro was conspiring with the head of the Japanese Branch, Mephisto Pheles. Yet you haven't reported on the thing they were keeping hidden, have you?"
"Well, I wasn't the only spy dispatched, am I right?" He calmly argued, magenta eyes sharp. She hadn't known he could look so serious at times like this.
"Maybe so, but you still have another important mission, don't you?"
Just as Shura opened his mouth to retort, an all-too familiar puff of purple-hued smoke burst from beside Arthur, and a shock of blue jolted down from the clouds and feet away from them, causing the students to recoil and draw back. Mephisto gracefully landed without being shaken whatsoever, and a glowing blue mass collapsed into the concrete.
She would never forget what she saw that day.
Rin's face was completely torn away from its previous state, still smothered in cerulean flames. His visage had contorted to a mess of fangs, saliva, and wild eyes, the only humane feature left being his body with the demon sword Bon had mentioned still tight in his hand. How could this have happened? Just a minute ago, she could've sworn he was perfectly fine, but now…
He spun towards the group, still growling, and for some reason her heart skipped a beat out of pure fear. Like this… in a state like this, with his fangs bared and ears twice their regular length…
He could definitely kill any one of them, and he wouldn't even recognize it.
She clapped her hands over her mouth, legs beginning to go weak. What the hell is-?!
A brutal growl tore itself from his throat, shaking the air and turning it stagnate as she stared in horror, every thought and image she ever had of him destroyed in mere seconds. She was right.
All this time she never knew him at all, and neither did he.
"Oh, my. It certainly has been a while, hasn't it, Angel?" Mephisto Pheles was much too calm considering the situation at hand, but Chiho was too shocked to even despise him at the moment. She was stiff with fright, looking at the boy she'd once known reduced to a mess of ashes and completely demonic if it weren't for the human body still holding him together. Her mouth open and closed; it looked as though if any more power leaked out it would completely tear him apart from the inside out. She forced down her rising wrist. There was nothing she could do now. And she was afraid. Their principal latched onto Rin's wrist in a flash, sliding the sheath of the sword back over it again, slowly masking the blue flames once again.
Could it be… the sword? Did that release all that power?
"Allow me to express my pleasure at you receiving the meister in Paladin." The purple-haired man said, top hat casting an eerie shadow over his eyes.
"'If you were able to judge that it was something related to Satan,'" Arthur continued, and it took a few stunned seconds to realize he was quoting given orders. "'Immediate elimination was permitted.'" He tipped his chin down to the group below him. "Shura, this beast spouting blue flames… Does it not strike you that it is related to Satan?"
Related to Sa…
She'd slid down against the wall without noticing, and she gripped at her thigh, still unable to do anything but stare.
So it was true?
Rin was really the…
She wanted to deny it with all her heart, but she knew she couldn't. He was right there covered in blue flames, not the least bit human anymore, and… what state was she in to say he wasn't? Chiho couldn't even calculate time anymore, yet she was freezing, like someone had just grabbed her ankle and pulled her under a bottomless ocean.
The clicking of the sword being sheathed pulled her back up, and the life and flames fled from Rin's body in an instant as he suddenly fell limp with Mephisto's hand still holding his wrist.
"Mephisto Pheles." The blonde man at the top of the tower said, eyes hardening. It seemed as though everyone was wary of this guy. "So you finally show your tail. Grigori will be informed of your betrayal. This incident is all the crucial evidence I need."
Wait, what? Grigori? Evidence? But Rin is… what's… Her head spun. What was going on? What was everyone talking about?
Mephisto smirked, green eyes flashing as he gave Rin's arm a harsh yank to keep him upright. "I haven't shown my tail. You're being rude to a gentleman such as I." He abruptly turned to Rin and whipped a hand across his face, an angry smack piercing the air. His teal orbs fluttered open, bewildered and looking around as if he remembered nothing of what had just happened. "Wake up." He ordered. "You don't look like someone who's about to have a demon sword-to-sword fight." Is he… back?
Arthur briefly brushed his lips against the pommel of his claymore, closing his eyes as he gripped the handle tight. "Caliburn, give me strength."
After a high-pitched squeal of excitement and compliance, he took a step forward, and from there was a blur. She recognized it too late; the same sort of teleportation Shura had used during their first battle. She reached out weakly, but he was already there.
Appearing right in front of Rin, a large hand held his throat in a death grip with his sword level to his throat. Her heart plummeted into her stomach, wanting to scream more than ever. Confusion and frustration muddled her brain; why was she still trying to defend him, even at a time like this?
"By order of True Cross Academy's supreme advisor of Grigori," The Paladin stated, voice even and face completely calm. "I shall execute the spawn of Satan."
Everything was happening too fast. Another blur of purple and red streaked across the ground, and a sharp gust of air blew the taller man back. She started to grow dizzy again. S-Shura?
"He… he disappeared again!" Rin blinked, head turning every which way to try to locate the intruder.
He didn't even look as though he was thinking. Shura roughly bit the skin of his thumb open without so much as a flinch and ran it along the length of his sword. She watched in awe at how skilled he was. She was still learning to use hers properly and when she did use any blood-related abilities, she did so clumsily. Not to mention the whole thing about her attacks using pieces of her soul, which is why it was reserved for emergency situations only. But why didn't that apply to him?
"Kirigakure style demon sword ability," He quickly turned the sword in his hands, and multiple blades burst from the single one in a waving pattern, the green eyes still adorning it. "Form of Serpent's belly… Snake Lance!"
Without skipping a beat, his feet slid across the tiles and swung at Arthur with an infuriated yell, causing him to wince and leap back.
She opened her mouth, and there he was again, right behind Shura with his sword raised to his neck and a hand clamped around his wrist and pinning him where he stood. The instructor seemed dangerously calm as he was apprehended, but so was Arthur as he spoke.
"Shura. Why are you protecting Satan's spawn? Have you gone over to Mephisto's side?" He asked, seeming to tighten his grip on him.
"Tch. Fat fucking chance." He spat back, eyes narrowing.
"Oh, that reminds me." The Paladin continued smoothly, apparently further aggravating Shura. "I had heard you'd been asked by Fujimoto Shiro to teach this vermin about his demon sword."
"W-What?" Rin stuttered out.
"Even though you'd furiously yelled, "Don't joke around, ya bald idiot!" at him…" Arthur tapped the edge of his sword against his neck once. "Don't tell me you intend to comply with the dying will of your dead teacher?" His blue eyes flashed as they narrowed. "For the man who was most incompetent out of all who received the title of Paladin?"
Fujimoto Shiro… The name dug into her mind, trying to pull out the previous memory of which it was mentioned. That's their…
"Yer wrong, ya fucktard!" Shura shamelessly shot back, eye twitching. It was the first time she'd seen him so worked up when he was usually too carefree. So of all things to get defensive over… Fujimoto Shiro clicked? Just what kind of relationship did they have? "You'd never understand shit even if it took yer whole life, so back the hell up before you decide to blurt out more a' this bull." Shura spat on his shoe and narrowly missed. A vein seemed to pop out of his forehead before he finally threw in one last insult to make up for it: "Baldy!"
Silence.
"Ahahahahahaha! But I'm not bald!" The blonde-haired man laughed much too loudly, much to Shura's (and Chiho's) disgust. "What an interesting joke!" His face straightened a second after. "However, the orders of the Grigori are absolute, even for you." A buzzing noise resonated from his ear, and soon he was speaking into the receiver again. "Yes. Yes, understood." He sighed and closed his eyes in exasperation before sharply stepping away from Shura.
"An order has come from Grigori." Arthur raised his voice so that it seemed to echo around them and instead aimed the tip of his massive sword at the principal. "It's been decided that I will now perform disciplinary action in interrogating Mephisto Pheles, the head of the Japanese Branch. Naturally, I will also be taking Satan's spawn as material evidence."
W-Wait, hold the fuck up! You're taking him? She tried to beg to someone, anyone, to stop but they were all too fixated on the situation unfolding before them.
"Ho ho! I'm looking forward to it!" Mephisto snapped his fingers and raised his top hat. Wait, someone explain what's going on!
"Shura. I'll also be having you act as a witness." Arthur ordered, grabbing Rin by the back of his shirt looking as though he wanted to crush him like some sort of cockroach. He turned to his balding advisor. "Bourguignon! Take the Exwires!"
"Excuse me." Yukio cut in somewhat roughly, having had enough of the silence himself. "I'm their instructor. I'm the one in charge of this pharmacy class." She could've sworn he bit his lip for a brief moment out of guilt before regaining his composure.
"Ah, got it." Bourguignon nodded. "All right, ladies and gentlemen, follow your teacher. First we'll go to the first aid room."
Chiho had collapsed against the wall, and she was afraid to look at everyone's faces. Why… why, why, why?
"U-Uh," Rin awkwardly began before yelling to the shaken group of students. "Is everyone safe?!"
The words rang emptily in her ears. No one even dared to breathe.
Is everyone… safe? She repeated silently, still staring. But… you were the one who…
"Why the hell is Satan's kid here in the Academy?!" Bon screamed in a fit of pure rage, making her cringe and curl up tighter against the doors. She'd had more than enough of all this.
"Suguro-kun!" Yukio held his shoulder as he coughed and hacked from the sudden pressure that had just left his lungs.
Lifting her face from her hands, she slowly turned her face up to him and shrank back. There were no words to describe how absolutely infuriated he was. He'd just been betrayed, and given what he'd said moments before… This was too much to take in. His narrow eyes were burning with pure hatred and disgust.
"I'll explain everything." Yukio tried to console the group as he started steering them towards the exit. "For now, please calm down and come with us."
Soon Chiho and Shiemi were the only people left in front of the half-demon, and she was conflicted as to whether she wanted to punch something or cry.
"Rin…" Shiemi whispered so softly it almost came out like a brief gust of wind.
"Sh-Shiemi…" Rin lamely greeted her. "A-are you okay? Not hurt anywhere, right…?"
The lack of response made him break out into a sweat and laugh even more awkwardly than before. "S-Suguro… overreacted a bit. As you can see, I'm not that different from a regular human, ri-" He cut himself off after his thick black tail swished right in front of his waist, and he grabbed the end of it to stop it. "Ahaha… I-I'm not being very persuasive, am I? Hahaha…!" The pure embarrassment in his voice was enough to make her burn up inside. At a time like this… how could he sound like nothing had just happened? Was he even aware of what he had looked like just five minutes ago?
"Why…" She whimpered, fists at her sides beginning to tremble. "Why are you laughing…" Her chin suddenly rose, revealing the tears rolling down her cheeks. "As if there's nothing strange about it?!"
S-Shiemi… since when had she ever raised her voice to such a pained tone…?
Shock widened Rin's eyes, and she spun on her heel and stormed down the exit, leaving her and Rin alone in that hallway with Arthur and his advisors feet away.
"K-Kyohei." He managed to get out, still painfully oblivious as she struggled to get up and lean against the wall. "I-Is your leg… okay? You jumped in an' all during the fight with Amaimon, and…" He trailed off, still stunned by Shiemi's desperate cry.
At this point she was overflowing with the mixed emotions and memories. He was back to the normal Rin, but she knew what sort of thing he could become just at the pull of a sword. She'd promised she'd be there for him and protect him. And yet… Why did this…
Exhausted pants heaved out of her mouth as she stumbled along the railing, dragging her left leg behind her that now felt like a dead weight. She felt like she wasn't getting enough oxygen to her lungs and mind, leaving her gasping for breath as the world began to blur and spin around her, but her target was still right there in front of her.
When she finally got close enough, she grudgingly broke away from the edge and pulled out her sword with a shaking arm, tip rattling from how wildly it was trembling. She broke it in two uneven halves, and they almost slipped from her sweating palms. She lost count of how many times she almost fell over from loss of balance.
"K-Kyohei?" He blinked, staring down at her. "No… Chiho."
Summoning as much power as she could pour into her muscles at the time, she slammed her fists into his shoulders, sending them both toppling to the ground. Her thigh screamed at the sudden shock of her knee knocking against the ground, and she had his waist straddled under hers. The blood running through her went cold, and she opened her mouth to let out a silent scream as she raised her right arm above him and brought it down, whistling through the air.
She caught a blink of teal and her heart suddenly stopped pounding, dagger halting in its death path just inches from his neck.
All she could hear was the blood thudding in her ears, seeming to bruise her skull with every labored breath.
The tip of the dagger started shaking again, and her left hand gripped his shirt so tightly she must have ripped it. Why… after all of this, after all they'd done…
Those eyes. His face was so confused, and through her blurred vision she could plainly see the shock begin to set into his features, like he couldn't believe his friend was about to stab him but stopped for no reason. By now she was so used to seeing him cheerful and open, friendly and awkward and passionate for what he cared about, she hadn't realized how much she had missed seeing his usual smile. And now, looking like this, trying to understand why she would try to do this… He looked as though he had just been betrayed. Not afraid, but betrayed. He never was afraid of her, and now she was…
"C-Chiho? H-Hey, your leg, you can't…!"
Head tipping down and entire body trembling in humiliation, she sloppily raised her arm again and slammed the dagger into the tiles next to his head, making him jerk in the opposite direction at the last second with a surprised yelp. At this point her leg was the last thing on her mind, though she was positive it had started bleeding again judging from the spreading warmth running down her thigh.
Why… Her thin frame was shaking beyond belief, feeling as though she was going to melt again. Even though you lied, even though we both lied, even though you're a half demon and you could kill any of us… Even though you're the son of Satan, I…
Her forehead gently pressed against his chest, positive that she would be crying if she could.
I can't… kill you…
"Restrain that Exwire!" Arthur's yell sounded a million miles away as legs pounded all around her and grabbed onto her arms, starting to pull her away. "We can't have him killing the spawn of Satan before the trial! He is crucial evidence!"
"I-I sincerely apologize!" Yukio came running down the corridor again. "I will take responsibility for his actions. Please forgive me." He brushed off the hands of the Exorcists and gently took her by the arms, lifting her back. "Takahiro-kun. Please calm down and come with me for now. Okay? Your leg needs to heal."
W-Wait, but I just- Rin sat up, still dumbfounded as she was lifted off. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so utterly confused. She wanted to hate him, and yet she was still blindly reaching for him. Surely clinging onto these feelings was what was keeping her so frustrated. But the consequences of what she had just done began to bite into her, and suffocating guilt crushed down on her lungs. She gave in, pulling herself up the best she could. She could never face him again. Not after what she'd done. Bitterly, she considered this their goodbye.
Yukio slung her arm around his neck, and they started walking towards the exit. He felt cold and clammy, and though his grip on her wrist was firm, she felt as though he would start slipping away at any second now.
Her dagger almost slipped from her left hand, and she cast a single look over her shoulder to see Rin getting dragged away in the opposite direction. Biting her lip, she forced herself to look forward even though there was nothing more she wanted to do now than cry. She looked up at Yukio, with his tired eyes and mouth pulled in a tight line.
She was sure he wanted to too.
The next time she felt anything, it was the itch on her cheek.
She tried to move her arm, and it sent a shock up it, forcing her vision to return. How long had she just been lying there? It felt like she'd been sleeping for years from how heavy she felt. It was like someone had injected liquid lead into her veins. With a soundless groan, she lifted her sleepy wrist up and rubbed her face with the back of her hand, feeling several bandages on her face and fingers before brushing away the strands of the wig that had been tickling it.
Letting her hand fall back to the mattress below her, the world eventually started to come back into focus. Her head turned to see fluttering curtains at the wall beside her, the open window letting in a breeze that was strangely cool in the midst of the midsummer heat. Early afternoon sunlight seeped into the room, spots of light seeming to dance on the edge of the bed and the floor.
Chiho stretched out her arms and legs, feeling the blood start to kick into them again. The sensation of having slept too long in the same position was rare for her, but she had to take in the fact that she was absolutely exhausted from everything that had happened yesterday.
Still drowsy and confused, her gaze shifted around her. Another curtain had been set up on her left side, separating her from another bed.
This is… She vaguely remembered that she had been here before. The smell of fresh laundry, the curtains hanging from the windows, the rough feeling of the sheets against her skin. She sat up and pressed a hand against her face. The True Cross Infirmary… why am I…
A sudden shock of déjà vu made her fall back to the bed. All of it replayed like a distorted broken record in a matter of seconds. The training camp. Her secret being revealed. Blue flames. Rin being the son of Satan. Nearly stabbing him in the neck. It all came rushing back faster than she could absorb it, and she curled over on her side and sucked in deep breaths, trying not to hyperventilate.
It wasn't a dream, she thought as she covered her face under the blankets as if to mask the nausea creeping up her throat. It was all real, and… and he's… he's really…
Why was she having so much trouble accepting what she saw?
What did Okumura Rin mean to her that made her so… upset?
I… A lump rose in her throat, and she painfully swallowed it down, holding a hand over her mouth before she started crying. I don't know… Her fingers tangled in the sheets, trying to restrain herself. She was so confused she just wanted to melt, and she harshly yanked off the tube running up her arm despite the sting it caused. She needed to move.
Chiho tried to swing her legs off the bed when she felt the numbing pain from her left leg. Gritting her teeth and lifting away the covers, she carefully looked over her body and held out her hands.
Her ripped hoodie and tank top had been replaced with an oversized white shirt with the True Cross Academy symbol embroidered in a small stitch over her heart. A pair of loose sweatpants had taken the place of her slacks, and she rolled up the legs to reveal pure white bandages over her wound rather than cloths and ties. Awestruck by how clean she felt in just a few hours, she hurriedly inspected her hands.
All the dirt and grime seemed to have been magically swept off her body, for there wasn't a single speck under her fingernails. Her palms were wrapped in bandages as well; this time she had to be careful not to cut them open again. She wasn't sure exactly what they'd used on her while she was unconscious, but her skin felt unnaturally smooth. Some sort of lotion? She knew this was a rich-kid school, but what kind of doctors did they have here?
Whoa… that's insane. Though it still hurt, her leg didn't feel as though it was twisting itself a million times over every time she moved it. The medical treatment was top-notch.
With a yawn, she slipped herself back under the covers even though she knew she should really have been getting up and going. She turned over on her right side to avoid touching the wound and buried her cheek into the pillow, letting a heavy sigh out of her nose.
She hadn't thought about it much. What was Rin to her? Considering she wouldn't have time to think alone during any other time for the next few days, might as well do it now while the topic was still fresh in her head.
Uh… crap, how do I do this? She played around with the corner of the blanket to keep her hands occupied as she glanced around, trying to sort out of her thoughts. First she tried thinking of different words to describe him. That seemed like a simple enough plan of action to start with.
He's crazy, stupid, strangely cheerful, blunt, protective, stupid, good at cooking, fails at school, has no common sense, always jumps into things headfirst, stupid- She cut herself off when she stopped counting on her fingers. She slapped a palm to her face and mentally groaned. Jesus, this is getting me nowhere.
Maybe thinking back from when we first met would do something. Chiho decided, and then tried to rewind back to the earliest memories she had of him, starting from the beginning.
I think… the first time we met was when I saw him around on the first day of school. He was so excited about absolutely everything, and it was so annoying. But I couldn't do anything, so it was like he was saying what I actually felt inside. She recalled the memory, beginning to see the escalators and chandeliers in the cafeteria materialize around her once again, the sights mixing in with Rin's awestruck voice. Her faint smile dissolved a second later. And then there was that whole fight we had, when I couldn't apologize to Shiemi and we punched each other. He was so mad, but I guess more than anything at the time I was just pissed. This guy didn't know half a thing about me, and then he went on saying I'd never be an Exorcist. I guess I'd never admitted it till now, but he became part of the reason for my motivation. So I could prove him wrong. She slipped a hand under the cool side of the pillow and sighed again.
I wondered, 'why do I have to share a dorm with this guy? We hate each other.', but then he started telling me things I was positive I would never have cared about, and… I guess… he just had some kind of aura. She hugged the blankets to her middle, feeling her body start to heat up. He was stupid as fuck. Hell, he's probably the biggest dumbass I've ever known. But… there's just something about him. A… A really warm, kind, accepting side to him, like when he told me both on the roof and at the resort that I wasn't alone, that I was just like everyone else. And deep down, that's… what I always wanted to hear. A strange, fluttering sensation made her heart pound a little faster in her chest upon remembering the scene. When I'm around him, I feel… normal. He treats me normally, even though I'm like this. And sometimes when we're alone I just feel like something's biting into me. It's so weird. It's weird, but… sometimes… I really like being with him.
Her face started to burn, and she knew she probably should have stopped, but instead she just grabbed the pillow from under her and stuffed her face into the cooler side, forcing herself to continue.
I feel sad when someone else is with him, when someone else makes him give some sort of reaction that I can't. And it hurts because he doesn't know this, because he'll never think of me that way. He doesn't know that I…
The train of thought broke down and crumbled to pieces. She clutched her shirt desperately, almost as if begging her wrenching heart to just come out and push away her pride for one goddamn second and-
I like him.
Just like that.
Just like that, it just popped out of nowhere, echoing in her deteriorating brain for much longer than necessary. The thought tormented her, completely paralyzing her from head to toe and rendering her somehow more speechless than she already was as she lay there still as stone.
When she thought about it, it kind of clicked. Well, it could just be a little, insignificant and unrequited crush. That could explain why she wanted to be around him, make him smile, and protect him, because that's what you do when you have that little innocent crush.
But now it was different. It was stronger than that now. It was the kind of crush where you needed to protect them, where having him blush and stutter in front of someone else was painful as you watched them slip away. Where just seeing a smile could make her day just a bit brighter, and being around him made you happy and uneasy at the same time- she was still trying to figure out how that could be.
Human attraction is a strange thing. It makes people tear themselves up inside to decide, it can make them happy or sad or frustrated- love was just a huge umbrella for all the ranging emotions that existed in the world.
And they were all mixed inside her right now.
And now it's out that he's the son of Satan… She slammed the pillow over her ears, rolling over on her stomach. I thought I knew the guy a little, but now this… just makes everything a billion times worse. Dammit… Dammit, dammit, dammit! She brought her face up for air and then buried her face back into the cushion.
What does he think of me now, though? He knows that I'm a girl now, and he knows about my secret too. She stared blankly at the fluttering curtains, enjoying the sound that they made. Not that it matters anyway, Chiho thought bitterly, trying to push the image of him smothered in flames out of her head. I'll probably never see him again. But… She lifted a wrapped hand into the air, remembering how his own had felt bandaging it. Why had he done that in the first place? He… didn't seem afraid of me. Why? He said that we were the same, but…
She cringed, seeing blue flames spark across her vision again and burrowed under the blankets to avoid them.
No, we're not. We're completely different. Stubborn pride welled up in her, pushing aside the rationale behind her thoughts. This… this will be the last time I ever think about Okumura Rin. We're two different species. Demons and humans can't coexist. Gritting her teeth, she touched the skin just under her eyes. They can't.
For the next hour she lay like a starfish with the blankets tousled around her body, staring at the ceiling and only thinking of one thing:
I wish I had never met you.
If it meant we would have to go through all of this, if it meant we would all be so hurt in the end…
I wish I had never met you.
The click of the door opening seemed a thousand times louder than it actually was, cutting through her thoughts and the silence and making her jolt up in her bed. She suddenly felt horribly exposed; even though she hadn't said anything and nobody could hear her innermost thoughts, somebody had walked in on her while she was in this vulnerable state and in a split second everything she had just thought of became unbearably embarrassing. Practically shoving herself under the covers again, she slammed her head to the pillow and pretended to be asleep until she heard them.
"Yo."
There was a moment of shuffling, and then a voice on the other side of the curtain: "Bon?"
Wha- she sat up, leaning forward to see. Bon?
"Koneko-san!" A familiar tone greeted, tone laced with relief. From where she sat she could hear the rustling of a bag. "How you holding up? Brought you some manga."
"Shima-san… Why are you guys here? What about cram school?"
"We've got today off." Bon explained, he and Shima crossing over to his side of the room. "For today going to cram school is optional, so we thought we'd come and see you."
…Oh, right! Konekomaru, his arm was-
"Um, I'm not the only person who you should be visiting." The shorter boy said, and two very familiar faces appeared from the other side of the curtain.
Though she was laid out bare for them to see, she swallowed it down, knowing there was nothing she could do now. They knew now, and she couldn't do anything even if she wanted to. This wasn't something she could run away from anymore.
She gave an awkward wave.
Hey.
Shima was the first to step towards her, looking unusually serious as he approached, clad in a loose T-shirt and black beanie. "Hey." He pulled up a chair to sit next to the bed while Bon leaned against the wall, face tipped to the floor. The pink-haired boy slipped something out of his pocket and gave it to her, and her heart swelled with joy.
Though her PSP was old and now very scraped up and battered, it still turned on when she hit the switch. She smiled in spite of the situation. Oh…!
"They had most of your stuff taken, but I managed to save this for you." He explained, avoiding her gaze as he ruffled his hair. "Figured you'd want it back." She gently took the console from his hands, bubbling up inside and thoughtlessly forgetting the matter at hand entirely.
Shima, thanks! Oh… where's my phone? I gotta thank… She reached around the bed for her phone when her hand brushed his knee. Trailing off from the silence, she looked up to see his face uneasy, paler than usual, and… somewhat put off.
Oh. She drew back, rejection starting to bite into her already and make her stomach twist. So you already…
The lump in her throat started to rise up again, and she swallowed it down with some force. This was all too surreal. Her worst nightmare was coming true, and she pleaded for it to be a dream. Even now she still had to ask herself if any of this even happened. Her sweaty palms awkwardly flipped her PSP over and over again in her hands, and a pen and notebook clattered onto her lap.
"We'll explain everything to Konekomaru." Bon said, voice nearly a commanding growl, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes were intense and smouldering as they refused to meet her own. "So write down what you wanna say."
She stared at the paper for a moment before wiping her hands on the blankets and taking a deep breath, the room feeling as though it were about to suffocate her from the crushing pressure.
I was so stupid, she thought over and over, trying not to just slam the notebook into her face and hide behind it. I was so, so stupid and I deserve this.
The screeching of cicadas scraped at her eardrums as the minutes crawled on. Her hand shook wildly as she tried to put everything into words. Their gazes on her didn't help lift away any of the weights pressing down onto her shoulders, and she bit down hard on her lip to try to cease its pathetic trembling. In about two minutes the entire side of her right hand was smudged in blue ink, and it took her at least five to get a somewhat-decent explanation onto the page. She nodded at her knees and offered the small notebook to Bon, who returned to Konekomaru's side of the room with it in his hand. Shima stayed sitting beside her, and for the first time she wished he could leave.
"Bon? What's going on?" He asked, and Chiho hugged her knees to her chest, wishing the world would just swallow her whole now. Sweat started to bead on her skin. "Is Takahiro-kun badly injured?"
"No," Suguro sighed, and she had a feeling he was rubbing the back of his neck. "That's not it. There's something we gotta tell you that we didn't get to explain during the training camp. Takahiro's got it all down on here, so I'll read it to you. Just… be prepared."
No, can't you just give it to him…? Completely drained, she sank back into the bed, defeated. I don't care anymore, just get it over with...
"Konekomaru, you're a really good guy." He read aloud. "You're smart and funny and your glasses are pretty badass. I see you as a friend to me, but you probably won't be able to because I've been hiding something from all of you the entire time you've known me. I'm sorry. But it's the truth, so all I'm asking is for you to believe me."
It felt weird for someone else to read her thoughts out loud, almost like she was being violated in a way. A breach of privacy. All of a sudden she wished she had never written anything at all. Surely they could've gone on like this without Konekomaru knowing, right? She pulled the covers over her head, ignoring the pitiful look from Shima.
"My appearance and voice were stolen." Bon's voice tightened as he continued, causing her to curl up even tighter. "Seven years ago my home was attacked by a demon disguised as a blue butterfly, and it tricked me into giving it my body. Now it looks like me, and I look like a mannequin. My face is blank. My eyes are missing and I wear a wig, but I can still see."
Suguro paused, and Chiho was grateful for the curtain separating their beds for she was sure she would never be able to accept the look on her friend's face. Her blood rushed to her ears, pounding relentlessly and bouncing around the inside of her skull.
The silence was broken by Konekomaru after two minutes of stunned quiet. "B-Bon, you're not being serious, right? There's no way that's possible. Takahiro-kun… you don't need to let these guys fool you. You didn't really write this, did you?"
She slammed the pillow over her ears, curling her knees into her chest and feeling like she was about to explode. No more. No more, that's enough… Why did he have to make this so difficult…?
"He did." Bon sharply insisted, making the bespectacled boy let out a squeak of surprise at the harsh tone. "Just let me finish reading it." There was a crinkling sound, and the first thing she thought of was the notebook in his hand snapping forward so it wouldn't go limp. "Takahiro Kyohei isn't my real name. Murakami Chiho is what I haven't been called for the past several years."
"Murakami… Chiho?" He echoed, though it was just above a whisper. "No… no, that can't be right. Takahiro-kun… you're a male student here, aren't you? None of this can be true. Right?"
Bitter silence resonated in the air, disbelief seeming to tear at everyone's skin. She struggled to breathe in and out, arms crawling with goosebumps and hands still over her ears. This was the worst form of torture she could ask for, and she begged someone to say something, anything at all.
"There's no way that's possible, there's no way." Konekomaru kept saying, urgently trying to forget the words. "You're just kidding, right? Right?"
There was no response, only making the pressure in the room triple. You could nearly feel the tension. The air was hard to breathe in.
"Shima-san!" He desperately pushed one last time, frantic for an answer, for someone to tell him this wasn't true. "Bon!"
"Forgive me." Was all he could mutter in response, shame filling his voice. "If you need proof, it's right in front of you." There was a pause before he spoke again. "Shima."
"Right." Said boy nodded quietly, leaning forward and pulling the curtain aside so that they could clearly see each other now.
Chiho stared dumbly in disbelief, not meeting Konekomaru's eyes. No… no, are you really making me do this? She shot forward and gripped onto Shima's arm, trying to push away the déjà vu. She shook, silently begging him to close it again, but all he did was shake his head sadly.
"You shouldn't have kept this a secret from us." Bon growled, crossing his arms again. "I thought you saw us as comrades. And now Okumura's the same too. I'm fed up of you guys bein' in the dark."
"Why…" Konekomaru whispered, and by then she knew it was too late to hide. "Why did this happen to you? Why didn't you tell us earlier?"
A wire snapped in her brain, causing a wildfire to course through her blood. This was enough. Swinging her legs off the bed, she slammed her feet onto the cold tiles and melted from the sudden pressure she had to put on them. Despite the furious emotions spinning through her head, her knees crumpled to the ground anyway, leaving her helpless and humiliated at how weak her body was.
How the hell am I supposed to just tell you something like that?! Throwing away all the shame, she looked up and straight at Konekomaru as she kneeled there on her hands and knees. Shockingly, her lips moved with the angry words in her mind, and in a second the embarrassment returned because there was no depth, no meaning, no sound to the words she suddenly wanted to say more than anything. The silence had never been so deafening. A tight coil twisted her throat and stomach, making her bite her lip to keep the sobs down.
"W…What? What did you say?" She wouldn't look at Konekomaru. She didn't want to see his face, or anyone's face for that matter. She should have known this would happen. "What happened to you…? Why can't you speak?"
I… I'm not like this because I want to be, I swear, you've gotta believe me! Her forehead met the tiles, hands curled into painful fists and threatening to cut through the bandages again. She was disgusted at how pitiful she looked.
Fraught for escape, she crawled forward and rashly grabbed the curtain, trying to pull herself up when the horrifying realization struck her- it was on wheels. Too late to stop it, her lips parted as the curtains clattered to the ground. The metal bar fell on her torso and she threw it off with an arm, sending it flying in the opposite direction. She still couldn't get up and was left scrambling for the exit like a crippled crab.
Her body temperature was risen so high she felt dizzy from the heat of mortification. A hot bubble of shame welled up inside her, threatening to burst. This was the last thing she wanted.
No, at this point it wasn't so little as wishing that she had never met Rin.
She wished she'd never come here at all.
Her sweat-slicked palms slid against the tiles, and a painful ringing noise reverberated in her ears. Dragging herself out the doorway, she slammed the door shut behind her and melted to the floor with her back against it. The quiet hallway felt almost chilly compared to the heat inside.
She slapped her hands over her face, wishing she could just die. Soundless sobs shook her body, unable to move away from the room. Frightening questions started to run through her mind.
Why am I even trying?
Why was I saved?
Why did I come here?
Why can't I just be normal?
Why am I still alive?
Why do I keep trying to make my dream come true?
Her face lifted out of her palms, and all the sound left her ears as shock tore itself into her heart.
That's why they're called dreams.
Because they'll never be reality.
A/N: Ha! Got this kind of on time! I'm glad this didn't take another month.
Wow. Okay. I feel like basically nothing happened in this chapter, but I'm still determined to finish this story! (Sorry if this chapter was really boring, haha...) I'm confused about where the plot will go from here now. I literally read all the chapters of the ANE manga in the past week, and I'm loving it so far! The Impure King arc is interesting but pretty long, and I'm not sure if I would be able to write it out or be able to incorporate Chiho into the plot. That's why this AN I really need your feedback on whether you'd like me to write the Impure King arc or not. There are definitely certain moments I'd love to put Chiho in, so I most likely will be, but I'm just nervous about how long that will make the story and if anyone would mind. Chances are if I do write the Impure King arc, this story will be extremely long by the time I get to Chiho's final resolution/arc. So please feel free to leave your input in a review below! (Or maybe some of you would like it to be longer? xD)
Anyways, I also have a new question for you guys this chapter! What are your personal ANE ships? I've never really been a fan of Rin x Shiemi (Yukio and her deserve to be together), so Rin x Izumo, while it's a pretty tiny pairing, is what I'd like to see more of, especially with the current manga chapters! I think they have nice chemistry. c: (i wonder if anyone ships Rin and Chiho as a hardcore pairing now tho coughcough)
And as for the usual notes: SINCE WHEN DID SO MANY PEOPLE START LIKING THIS STORY OMFWAOIHBEIOAWHGEIAW. Firstly, we've finally got 125+ reviews, and we reached 104 FOLLOWS! I'M SO HAPPY! :'D You guys are so amazing! I'll try my best to update in between school and personal stuff! Thanks for all the feedback on Rin and Chiho's relationship in the previous update! I'm glad that the majority of you thinks they have nice chemistry together.~
I'll shut up now, so thanks so much for reading all this! I love all of you!