Ordinary Life
By: Aviantei
Chapter Fourteen
The sound of Kamiki and Paku's screams was still ringing in Whiskey's ears as she ran as quickly towards the bath as she could. Along with that, the crawling sensation of a nearby antagonistic demon prickled—and it just got stronger the more Whiskey opened her powers up. Her jaw was clenched tight, and her incisors grated against the rest of her teeth as they lengthened into fangs, but she didn't bother to fall back. Rin might have felt uncomfortable showing off his half-demon status, but Whiskey had already learned that others' safety was far more important than her secrecy.
If it comes down to it, I'll go all-out, but if we're lucky—
Her hopes for a peaceful resolution didn't last long as a rotten, sulfuric scent worked its way into her nose. Whiskey almost gagged, but she dealt with it as she charged forward. As she rounded the corner, she saw another figure rush into the bathroom. When she entered the room seconds later, she realized Rin had come running to help, too, and he was standing between Izumo and her familiars. Unlike before, the twin foxes had their hackles raised, growls slipping from their throats as they stared down their summoner with ill intent.
"Rip the circle! The paper!" Rin shouted, and Izumo complied. The foxes vanished in swirls of mist, and Whiskey felt a split second of pride at Rin for remembering his lessons correctly before she realized that the foxes hadn't been the problem.
The naeberius was.
Whiskey drew to a halt when she was at Rin's side, sizing up the demon before them. No wonder she'd smelled sulfur and rot. Izumo must've tried to summon the foxes to help but lost control. Thankfully, she appeared physically unharmed, if not shaken and in her undergarments. Paku unfortunately wasn't as lucky, seeing as she was collapsed on the floor nearby and with a dark wound forming on her arm. It was a nasty looking temptaint and could cause injury if left untended to, but Whiskey didn't have anything on her that could do any good.
Dammit, I talked big about being a Doctor, but I can't even do something about this…?
"Rin-kun!"
"Shiemi?!"
Moriyama burst into the room, looking out of breath. "Paku!" she gasped, rushing up to the fallen girls' side. Atop her head, the baby greenman she'd summoned as a familiar chirped in worry. All too aware with what that species of demon could pull off, Whiskey put the pieces together.
"Moriyama-san, can you take care of Paku-san for us?" she said, finally settling into the weird calm that could find her in the middle of battle. Moriyama looked perplexed for a moment but nodded in determination. Whiskey stepped forward, knowing that, for the moment, the best thing she could do was serve as a protector. "Rin-kun, me and you are the safest fighting that thing. Let's hold it off while Moriyama-san handles Paku-san!"
"Hunh?" Whiskey didn't give him time to think, heading towards the naeberius. If she could make contact, she could potentially pull of a Submission. While it would sting to touch it, her half-demon body would heal much faster from a temptaint than the other girls' could. Rin clicked his tongue and pulled his kendo bag off his back, awkwardly wielding it as a sword as he smacked the naeberius straight on top of one of its heads. "Easier said than done, but alright! This way, you gross freak!"
Leaving Rin to handle aggro, Whiskey dove in, aiming a kick at the demon's head. It took the blow but kept its focus on Rin instead.
"My…young…prince."
What the hell's that supposed to—
Whiskey couldn't even finish her thought before the naeberius grabbed onto Rin's head with one of its thick hands and flung him through the glass doors towards the bath. A great crash and the following downpour of tinkling glass threatened to give Whiskey a headache, but she followed after the demon as it charged after Rin, trusting Moriyama to handle Paku and Izumo.
"Who said you could do whatever you want?!" Whiskey shouted, jumping straight onto the naeberius's back. The was a faint hissing sound accompanied by blended stench of rot, sulfur, and burning as its toxic skin began to melt away her uniform. The naeberius paused as it noticed her attack. Opening up her powers and putting as much force into the word as she could muster, Whiskey shouted, "Submit!"
She'd opened her Submission wide, even though it sent a faint pang of pain through her chest. Despite that, the naeberius didn't so much as start to slip towards her abilities. Finally deeming her enough of an annoyance to counter, the demon reared, sending Whiskey flying off. She slammed into the wall, a faucet jamming straight into her spine. Shards of glass scraped her palms as she hit the ground, only registering as a faint sting.
What the hell's anchoring that thing down that it won't even bend a bit to Submission? I know I'm stronger than some dumb mid-ranked kin of rot!
The naeberius made it over to Rin, one of its rotted hands clamping down on his neck. "Forgive…me," the naeberius said in its croaking voice. Rin made a choking sound as Whiskey staggered back to her feet. "I act…on the will…of my master."
Was someone controlling it? That was at least as concerning as the idea of a demon as strong as a naeberius being able to sneak inside her father's barriers around the Academy. It wasn't something she could take on while restricting herself, and Whiskey started to channel more of her demonic abilities, letting a snarl slip out of her throat as her nails started to elongate into sharper points, becoming claws. She knew from past experience that her ears were lengthening and that her pupils were shifting shape to be less like a human's and more like a monsters'.
But if that's what it takes to protect everyone—
"Rin! Pheles-san!"
With her senses tipped to the maximum, the hail of gunfire was almost deafening, and Whiskey slammed her hands over her ears. Yukio had arrived, and he stood in the entryway, his still smoking gun raised. The naeberius turned both of its heads at the new opponent. In that moment, it must've decided whatever it was after wasn't worth it, as it leapt with surprising grace and broke out of the windows near the top of the bath.
Even with the threat gone, it took Whiskey a few moments to calm herself enough to stop twitching at every single movement. Two more breaths and she was able to pull back her demon abilities to their regular, stagnant state. Rin seemed to be doing well enough, as he was able to sit up and start chewing out his brother for showing up late.
"Whiskey-chan!"
Mocha launched herself at Whiskey, not even caring that she was stepping on glass. The force of the hug was great enough that Whiskey's legs decided it was much more practical to give out, and she and Mocha collapsed on the ground together. Thanks to the dampness against Whiskey's skin and Mocha's shaking shoulders, it was obvious she was crying. Whiskey raised her once more ordinary hands and patted Mocha's shoulders.
"Shhh, it's okay, Mocha-chan. I'm okay."
"Stupid, Whiskey-chan. Running off and doing things by yourself all the time…"
"Hey, hey, that's why I had you guys go get Yukio-kun. Besides, I had Rin-kun with me, too. We weren't by ourselves." Mocha pulled back enough to deliver a weak headbutt to Whiskey's chest. Whiskey just left her to it, drawing reassuring circles on Mocha's back. Even from their awkward angle, the broken door made it very easy to see into the changing room. The rest of the class seemed to have arrived, all of them hovering over Moriyama. "How's Paku-san?"
"She's fine," Ruma said, waltzing over. Whiskey was jealous of how cool and calm Ruma managed to look. "Sounds like Moriyama took care of her with that greenman of hers. Everyone's gonna be okay." Once she was in proximity, Ruma knelt down to Whiskey's eye level. "If you run off like that all the time, you're gonna give Mocha-chan a conniption. You know we decided to come to cram school because we wanted to stand up for ourselves. Stop acting like we're hopeless, dammit." Without any concern for the fact that she had just been in a fight, Ruma delivered a not so gentle karate chop to Whiskey's forehead.
"Oi, oi, oi!" With Mocha still hugging onto her for dear life, Whiskey didn't have any options to retreat, either. "I got it, I got it. If something stupid happens again, I'll try not to run off on my own." The ideal situation would be a remarkable lack of sudden demon attacks, but she got the feeling that wasn't possible. The naeberius mentioned having a master, plus I couldn't drag it into Submission. Maybe someone summoned it…?
"Dammit, don't space out on me when I'm chewing you out." Ruma scowled, delivering another blow to Whiskey. If she hadn't already been forming a headache, the constant head trauma was likely to cause one. "What the hell are you so caught up in that you can't even focus for five minutes?"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just trying to process what happened." She wasn't about to bother them with her dumb theories when they had to be panicked enough. Maybe she'd fill them in later, but for the moment it'd do everyone some good to keep it a secret. Making sure she wasn't obviously looking like she was avoiding Ruma's gaze, Whiskey glanced around the mess the skirmish had made of the place. "Looks like we're gonna need to use a different bath, huh?"
Mocha let out a sound that was half sniffle, half laugh. "Stupid, stupid Whiskey-chan. I'm not buying your fruit milk anymore."
"Got it, I'll cover the drink bill for the night."
"Haruhana-san, Izona-san, Pheles-san." The trio looked up at the sound of Yukio's voice. The rest of the group was filing out, with Moriyama covering her face for some reason. "We're going to move Paku-san to a different room so I can finish treating her and she can rest. It'd be better if we leave this place be so no one gets hurt. Would you all mind evacuating for now?"
"Sure thing," Ruma said, standing up and offering a hand to Mocha. The smaller girl took it, managing to stand up. They both had tears in their socks but were otherwise alright. "Come on, Mocha-chan. Let's see if we can snag the other bath and calm down."
"Mmkay, Ruma-chan."
Whiskey pulled herself up to follow, with only a faint buzz of adrenaline still surging through her. Even without it, though, she didn't feel any pain, as her accelerated healing had taken care of her otherwise assorted injuries. She was about to leave the room, except she caught sight of Rin—his back to a wall, a hand hidden behind him, and minus the long-sleeved shirt she was pretty sure he'd still had on during the fight—which was enough to bring her feet to a halt.
"Whiskey!" he said, his voice shifted up half an octave. Once he remembered who was in the room with him, he released his tail, which he'd apparently been trying to hide from the others. "Are you okay? Paku got hit with that necro-whatsit, but I healed up right away. I dunno if your healing works the same way as mine, but—what happened to your clothes?!"
For the second time that evening, Rin's face flamed into a brilliant red. It took Whiskey a moment to recognize why until it registered that she'd jumped pull bodied onto a naeberius, which in turn had taken a chunk out of the front of her blazer. It wasn't enough to be anything drastic, as her tie had taken the brunt of the damage, but it still happened to expose a bit of her neckline, as well as a glimpse of her bra underneath.
Honestly.
"Calm down!" Caught up in Rin's hysteria, Whiskey half-shouted back. "Kamiki-san was running around in just her underwear and you didn't near panic as much!"
"That's because there was an emergency! And I already gave her my shirt, so I can't do the same thing here." So that was where it had gone. Behind him, Rin's tail was twitching in agitation. "Besides, isn't it weird, to, y'know…?"
"Weird to what exactly?" Not even bothering to cover the hole in her clothes, Whiskey propped a hand onto her hip. "You didn't even think I was a girl until like an hour ago. And it's not like it matters anyway! I have way bigger things to fuss about then whether I'm acting accordingly to the damn body parts I was born with." Realizing she was working herself up into an unnecessary tirade, Whiskey sucked in a deep breath and started to massage her temples, begging to keep the pounding in her skull at bay. "Look, it's been a giant mess. Can we not make this awkward because I have slightly different biology than you? Let's just be friends like we have been, okay?"
Rin took a moment to process what was Whiskey was saying, and she took the time to survey the damage to her uniform once more. Objectively speaking, it wasn't so bad, but it would be enough to throw the whole mess out. Thankfully she'd packed another one to change into. Though she would've overall been happier if she didn't have any powers whatsoever, it was issues like this that made Whiskey wish she'd inherited a slightly different ability set than what she had from her father.
"Sorry," Rin said, looking down at the ground. Whiskey let him talk. "You're right; that stuff doesn't matter. I still like being your friend. It was stupid of me to get so worked up." Rin reestablished eye contact, the lovely blue color of his eyes almost burning like a warm fire. "If you say you don't care about that stuff, I'll try not to, either. Just go easy on me if I get worked up, okay?"
Whiskey smiled, the warmth of his honesty reaching her heart. "Deal," she said. Instead of offering a hand to take, she slipped her damaged blazer off her shoulders and held it out to Rin. "You don't want anyone to see your tail, right? That'll be easier if you cover it up. Can't say it'll fit perfect, but it'll at least get you upstairs without any problems."
"Oh, thanks." Rin accepted the jacket, the look on his face signaling that he hadn't thought of that problem at all. "Um, I'm guessing you don't really want this back, huh? Uh, I'll pay you back for it somehow!"
"Don't worry about it, Rin-kun."
As far as Whiskey was concerned, he'd already done enough.
This doesn't have to be awkward. Why are you making this awkward? Goddammit, Whiskey, you can full body tackle a naeberius, but you can't own up to your own stupid mistakes?
The answer, apparently, was no.
She stood outside the room Suguro had mentioned he'd taken Paku to, debating on whether it was worth it to head inside. If she was just there to visit Paku, it wouldn't be so bad, but Whiskey knew that Yukio would likely be there, ensuring that the injured girl was safe. Moriyama had managed to use her baby greenman (Nii-chan, she seemed to have named it) to summon some aloe, so Paku should be in the clear, but kin of rot had nasty ways of leaving their mark on humans in the aftermath.
Yukio-kun is still your Demon Pharmaceuticals teacher. You won't be able to do this without him.
Whiskey allowed herself one last steadying inhale before she gently knocked on the door and opened it a crack. "Can I come in?"
There was an elongated pause (or maybe her nerves were just making her imagine it) before Yukio said, "Come in, Pheles-san." Making sure she couldn't chicken out, Whiskey intentionally took a few steps inside the threshold. She still avoided eye contact with Yukio seated at the bedside and glanced at Paku, who seemed to have fallen asleep. "If you were worried about Paku-san, she's in the safe zone. We're just taking precautionary measures."
Whiskey mutely nodded; her father had made sure that she knew most treatments for demon ailments in her studies—and it had done her absolutely no good on the scene. Instead, she'd had to resort to brute force to even make a difference. Maybe it was a bit arrogant of her to think she could do better before even earning her official Exwire certification, but still.
"Yukio-kun," she said, the syllables coming haltingly out of her mouth. After so long calling him Okumura-sensei out of spite, it felt strange to revert back to informal speech. Yukio glanced up, his expression simmering in a sense of confusion. "Look I'm…really sorry for blowing up on you before. I was upset because you were talking trash about Vati. And, yeah, I'm still mad you went and said all that, but I shouldn't have used it as an excuse to fight with you." With the space between then and the present, she could recognize that she'd been worn out from her shitty day and had handled it poorly—just like always. "I… It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. But I miss Shiro-kun, too. So I guess I'm here if you ever feel ready to open up about it. And, yeah, I'm sorry."
She still hadn't had the courage to look him in the eyes, so she wasn't sure what to expect when she finally glanced to Yukio. He seemed to be in a similar awkward state of mind, seeing as he was staring down his medical equipment without actually doing anything with it. After what stretched on for another eternity, he said, "I was in the wrong, too. I should've handled things better seeing as I'm your teacher…and also your friend."
Whiskey's draw dropped straight open; it was the first time she could remember Yukio referring to their relationship as friends. Her manners snapped her mouth shut as she tried to regain some sense of her composure. "Well I don't know about what you think, but I'm forgiving you, Yukio-kun. And, well, if you feel the same…" Despite her negotiation training, she still hesitated. "I was serious. About wanting to become a Doctor. But when the naeberius hurt Paku-san, I couldn't do anything to fix her other than fight." Her Submission failing hadn't helped matters, either. "I want to be able to save people. So if you could, I'd like it if you'd teach me more."
Bowing at the end of her request squandered what fraction of conversational advantage she'd managed to gain, but Whiskey didn't care. Apologizing had been tricky enough, but opening up her insecurities even further burned in her chest like the strain from Submission. She felt open and raw, and she didn't want Yukio to see as her face twisted up in worry.
"You know," Yukio said, his voice calm and thoughtful, without any of the irritated edge Whiskey had feared, "Shiemi-san said that you were the one that asked her to take care of Paku-san. You may not have had the tools on hand to help, but you gave the job to someone who could. Those are the sorts of decisions a Doctor needs to reliably make." Wait, is he saying…? "If you ask me, you already have the right state of mind for it, Pheles-san. You just need the equipment so you can act on those thoughts."
Nervousness still swirled in her stomach as she peaked through her bangs. Yukio's expression had relaxed somewhat, though there was still a tiredness beneath it all. "So, then…?"
"Our schedule is a bit packed during this training camp, but I see no reason why I can't give you extra help afterwards. We'll start doing more specific lessons for meisters then, but I don't have any oppositions to helping you get ahead—" his face shifted into an uncharacteristic taunting smile "—ah, excuse me, if you can keep up, that is?"
The only reason that Whiskey was able to keep her voice down was thanks to the sleeping Paku. "Just who do you think you're talking to?!" Whiskey hissed. "I may not be as accomplished as you are, but that's because I didn't want to be. But now that I care, no little extra study program you throw at me is gonna give me trouble. Next time, you won't even have to show up to the fight."
"Is that so, Pheles-san?" Yukio's expression softened, and Whiskey realized just how rarely she'd seen him smile. "I'll be looking forward to it."
[Author's Notes]
And with that, we're partway through the training camp arc! There's still a little bit to take care of, but for now we've got some progress. And maybe just a little bit of progress on the Yukio and Whiskey front?
Thanks to kyokosa2gawa015 for the favorite and the follow! I do appreciate it!
I'm really grateful to be at the end of the year and on vacation! Additionally, I'm in the process of updating all my stories for my fanfic anniversary, so you'll see chapter fourteen by the end of the month! Please look forward to it!
-Avi
[12.23.2019]