Angel vs. Demon
Chapter 52 – The Aftermath
Two days after I had regained consciousness, I was released from the infirmary. They had done lots of tests and checkups during the past two days to see how much energy I had, if I had been mentally affected by the battle, and to see if I was strong enough to maneuver around on my own. That kind of thing. Finally, I was given the "OK". The doctor said I was still frail and in need of plenty of rest and nourishment, but I could finally go back to living in the dorms. I didn't have to be cooped up in my room all day long.
All my other friends had recovered way before I did, so we threw a party in the Newspapers Club's staff/meeting room for this special occasion (which was the only convenient and roomy space we could access; there was no way we could fit all the people into a small dorm room). I had finally been released from the infirmary, after all, and we were all well and back together. This caused for some celebration.
"Yay!" Kurumu cried with her party hat on, blowing into a noise-maker. "Congrats on all of us finally being better! And let's celebrate Ame's release from the hospital!"
I looked around the room in shock. Kiseki had led me here, saying that there was going to be a celebration, but I had no idea it was going to be this big. At best, I had thought it was going to be something of a potluck.
Moka and the others had gone all-out! The Newspapers Club room was fully decorated; there were streamers lining the walls, balloons tapped to the back of chairs, and food and gifts piled up on the tables. Oh, the food! Forgive me for sounding like that, but my inner fat kid needed to be released. My sweet tooth was just aching at the sight of all the food.
Kurumu had baked batches and batches of different cookies, all stacked up on the giant party plates. Mizore had brought the ice-cream, popsicles, and the shaved-ice. And, since it was almost Summer, all those cold treats were more than welcome. Moka had brought the drinks and the punches… although I realized that, strangely, almost all of the juices were bright red colored.
Yukari brought the candies and the sweets; there were bowls and bowls of them. They were all monster treats that I had never tasted before, and I was eager to try them. Tsukune brought the center-piece: the elaborate, layered cake that rested in the middle of the table. Of course, there were plates, knives, and forks to go along with it. I suddenly felt extremely bad… I seemed to be the only one that didn't bring anything to contribute to this party. Although, I guess they had wanted to surprise me, but still… I felt just a twinge of guilt.
What had astonished me the most, though, was Kiseki. I didn't think he'd actually get anything for this party, because he didn't seem very excited about it, but he had – most likely – brought the most expensive thing there. It was a chocolate fondue-fountain, a machine that churned and mixed liquid chocolate. Startlingly, it reminded me of the Headmaster's Fountain of Holy Water, the way it was all set up. Except, of course, this fountain dripped chocolate fondue instead of holy water. And I was more than happy of that fact. Kiseki had even brought a plate of fruits and treats (such as marshmallows and biscuits) to dip into the chocolate! I was so ecstatic I hugged him right there on the spot.
Kiseki looked stunned; he didn't know how to respond. Under normal circumstances, I would have waited and given him a chance to say something first, but just then I was too excited; I left his side and hurried over to everyone else and all the food, laughing. I saw Kiseki shake his head, smile, and follow me.
"Cheers!" Moka exclaimed, clinking our glasses together. Everyone had, in their cups, Moka's red fruit juice (which, thankfully, didn't turn out to be blood or tomato juice). It was fruit punch, fortunately.
"To a new start," Kiseki said, drinking his juice.
"To a new beginning," Tsukune added, nodding his head. He drank his share as well.
We all mumbled in agreement and drained our cups. I barely had my mouth off of it before I heard that familiar, deep, teasing voice from the doorway.
"Ha!" the voice chortled. "Don't tell me you guys are celebrating with fruit juice?"
Kurumu turned towards him, eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with juice?"
"Forget juice! How about some… Gin?"
I turned around to see the werewolf standing in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe. Ah, how I missed him.
"Get it?" he asked, grinning widely. "Gin, my name, and gin, the drink? Haha I crack myself up!"
Kurumu rolled her eyes. Then, she caught sight of something behind Gin's broad frame.
"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Kenta…"
"Oh yeah," Gin said, as if only just remembering he had a kid behind him. "I saw this kid loitering around in the hallway in front of your door, so I thought I'd bring him in."
Kenta stood there at the door awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to us after his father just died. We'd all seen his emotional breakdown, so it must have been quite uncomfortable for him. Nonetheless, we welcomed him with open arms.
"Kenta," Moka said warmly, ushering him in. "Feel free to eat whatever you want! Join the party."
Kenta look astonished; he had probably expected us to bombard him with questions and fuss over him. He should know us well enough by now, though. We'd accept him no matter what. I went over to him and gave him a tight hug.
Kenta still didn't look fully happy, though; how could he? His father just recently passed away. He did have a smile on his face, however, which lifted my spirits by a lot. I heard he had been in a worse state the few days after the battle, when I had been unconscious. Thank goodness he was at least a little better now.
"Hmm, you guys really should do something about that drink table of yours." Gin said, "It's missing a little something."
He walked to our table and placed two bottles of sake down on top of it. "Ah, there we go! Now everything seems much better."
I looked quizzically at the bottle. I'd tried some alcoholic beverages before, of course, but not sake. I didn't even think they had it in my hometown… Ah, I thought in realization. Isn't sake a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage? And Gin is Japanese, so it makes sense for him to bring us sake instead of…
"Hey, watch it!" Kurumu chastised, slapping Kenta's hand. He had been reaching for the bottle! I smiled in amusement.
"Just a little?" he asked, pouting. His little doggy ears flopped own sadly.
"Nope, not while I'm here," Kurumu said firmly, wagging a finger at him. This made me smile; Kurumu was so motherly sometimes. "You're underage, kid! I don't want you getting drunk and making a fool of yourself in front of everyone. Not that I care so much, really… it's just that you're Kenta. I just can't let you do anything wrong."
Kenta huffed, and slouched away to munch on the sweets instead. Yukari, being the same age as him, followed reluctantly as well, sticking her tongue out at Kurumu. The two of them sat there, moping and nibbling on cookies. Satisfied, Kurumu reached for the sake bottle popped the lid open.
"Alright, everyone! Bring your glasses up!"
Mizore was the first in line, surprisingly. She asked Kurumu to fill her glass all the way up to the rim, and she downed it all at once. My eyes widened; Mizore could really handle alcohol.
Everyone else got their share, and when my turn came, I asked Kurumu to fill it up only halfway. I never had sake before, and I wasn't sure if it suited my taste or not… or, most importantly, if my stomach could handle it.
"Oh, c'mon, Ame… loosen up!" Kurumu winked at me, then poured sake into my glass until it was practically overflowing. My eyes bugged out, and I had to quickly take a few sips before it leaked everywhere.
"Aren't you having any, Gin?" Kurumu asked, holding it out to him. "You're the one who brought it, after all…"
"I'm good, thanks," Gin replied, smiling evilly. "I don't want to get drunk just yet… I want to see something first. And I have to be sober enough to enjoy it."
Kurumu shrugged. "Whatever~" And with that, she drank straight from the bottle and finished whatever was left of it – which wasn't that much. Kurumu hardly got a drop of sake. Frowning in dissatisfaction, she pried open the other sake bottle and finished almost half of it all at once. My jaw dropped open in shock.
"Kurumu, you practically hogged it all to yourself!" Moka said, slapping her lightly on the shoulder. "We barely got any – how could you finish half of the last bottle?"
Kurumu didn't answer. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes as we finished our own drinks and pigged out on the delicious cake. Suddenly, Kurumu smiled slowly, and dropped the now-empty sake bottle down loudly on the tabletop.
Moka analyzed her for a moment, then groaned. "Oh no, please don't tell me…"
"You having fun, everyone?" Kurumu asked loudly, her words slightly slurred. "'Cause I AM!" She began laughing as she made her way unsteadily towards the cake. While almost half of it was eaten, she still didn't have any yet.
Kurumu dipped her finger into the icing of the cake and tried to lick it off, but ended up smudging it all over her face. She looked like a clown with bad makeup on.
Gin, standing across from her on the other end of the table, slapped his knee and cracked up in laugher. He kept cackling in that deep booming voice of his until he had tears in his eyes.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Gin declared, grinning widely in amusement. "This is the reason why I didn't want to get drunk…! I had to see this first."
I rolled my eyes. Typical Gin. Things got worse, though, when Kurumu climbed up on one of the tables and started singing (more like yelling) into an empty plastic cup. She jumped up and down, upsetting the forks and plates, and sang bad karaoke.
Suddenly, Gin whipped his camera out and started snapping photos of Kurumu.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Yukari demanded, smacking him on his back. "If Kurumu knows you're taking pictures of her she'll-,"
"But look at those boobs!" He cried, ignoring Yukari. "When Kurumu's drunk, she isn't afraid of swinging them around. Oh, oh, look at them now! She's jumping up and down! They're bouncing like-,"
I smacked him over the head with my empty plate, cutting him off, trying to look angry but failing miserably. I ended up laughing. This was how it was supposed to be… this was the way things were before everything got messed up. And no matter how perverted Gin was, I wouldn't have it any other way.
To say the least, the party ended up being more crazy and fun than I'd ever imagined. With the help of Moka, we managed to get Kurumu down from the table in safely into a chair, far away from Gin.
We even managed to finish most of the cake! The candies and cookies would have to be saved for later (there was just so much), but the cake was delicious. Nobody got too drunk tonight (with the exception of Kurumu, of course), and we all got to appreciate the tasty snacks.
The piece of cake I had was vanilla and chocolate, two different layers on top of each other. I got so into savoring the taste of the cake that I didn't notice Kiseki staring at me until he was practically in front of my face.
"What's wrong…?" I whispered, eyes wide. "Are you not enjoying the party?"
Suddenly, without warning, Kiseki swooped down and kissed me on the corner of my lips.
Blushing madly, I tried to look at his face but failed. My eyes dodged to his and back, glancing everywhere around him but not meeting his face.
I slapped him lightly on his chest. "What did you do that for? People could have seen us and-,"
Kiseki rolled his eyes at me. He tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal, but he was smiling. I could tell.
"You just had some icing on your face, that's all," he teased. He grinned at me, and I grinned back shyly.
It was just another typical day at Yokai Academy.
Classes still continued on as usual, except for the fact that we no longer had Ms. De Mone as our teacher. Thank goodness for that. Not only was she horrible towards the students, she was also a bad teacher. Even pretending to act teacher-like didn't suit her.
Truth be told, I actually had no idea what happened to Lucy after the big battle incident. I hadn't seen her fighting on campus or anything, and she wasn't with Garron when we met him in the Headmaster's garden. She must have escaped, or committed suicide (like the other female demons rumored to be heartbroken after the death of their "Master"). It gave me cold shivers just thinking about it.
I wasn't really upset that Lucy was missing, though. It wasn't like I was going to chase her down and kill her or anything… I'm sure she was already suffering enough. The Headmaster probably agreed with my thinking; he just let the loose demons be.
Other than that, things were finally back to normal. Or as normal as things can get now, anyway. Because parts of the school had been demolished during the battle, most students only had half-day classes. Freshmen and sophomores had classes during the morning (up till lunch), and juniors and seniors had classes in the afternoon (after lunch).
We didn't get free time after the half-day classes, though, no way. It was mandatory for students (as well as the teachers that were well enough) to help repair the destructed buildings and patch things up. This might sound like a lot of work, but the Headmaster had loosened up the school policies a bit and allowed students to transform into their monster forms if need be, to help with the repairing and the renovating.
This made a world of difference; winged monsters (such as Kurumu and myself) could fly up to replace the window glass high up near the ceilings without much difficulty, monsters with speed and power could clean things up and get things done a lot quicker, and junk monsters (that lived off of consuming garbage) were now free to eat whatever rubbish and trash they wanted to (that were littered on the ground, of course. No more need for sweeping them up!).
This was a good experience because it brought everyone closer together; all the monsters worked beside each other like family. Even the normally uptight, mean teachers loosened up and laughed beside the students. I guess we still shared the same goal and dream, after all… we all wanted to protect the school. And after so much struggling, it was a relief that we had accomplished it.
I guess even the Headmaster felt affected by the atmosphere; he ordered the chefs and cooks to make extra dessert. It made the entire student body very happy, to be sure.
Speaking of the Headmaster… he had finally decided what to do with Nicolas. The human's memory of the past school year had been erased, and he was placed in a mental institution in the human world, close to his home town. The Headmaster pulled some strings, used some magic, and he made it so that the doctors and nurses working at that hospital thought Nicolas was one of their patients from a long time ago. He had simply been dropped into that mental institution, and no one questioned a thing.
I was glad of this, though. Even if Nicolas might never be the same again, he was still alive. That was a good thing.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Author's Note:
Hey guys~ Thanks for reading!
I hope you liked the way things ended after the battle; hopefully it wasn't too boring, haha.
Oh, and I have to apologize about how Kurumu got drunk. It wasn't because it was inappropriate or anything (at least, I didn't think so), it's just that I had to rush through the scenes fast to fit everything in accordingly, and that part might have seemed a bit fake and unrealistic. So just please try to understand x)
Alright, I guess I have to say the inevitable now. *Ahem-ahem*
The story is coming to a close, everyone! Yeah, I know, it seems like both a good thing and a bad thing. I'm just giving you a heads-up here :)
Read till the end, guys! We're almost there.
- ACookieZ
