Aoko and Rin
She was 17 around the end of Showa Period. Then attended Clock Tower while juggling a University in England, before going on a journey around the world five years later after graduating both schools, while annoyed that Touko pins HER debts on her by borrowing obscene amounts of money in HER name. Karma came back biting when what she used that money for, got her a Sealing Designate, serves her right! Humph!
By 1995, she met a young boy unlucky enough to get saddled with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. She gave him a pair of glasses she stole from Touko for his use.
Around 2000s, she heard of a wonder-teacher in Clock Tower who got saddled with the title Lord El-Melloi until its actual heir was of age. Churning out many Brand and Pride-Class Magi with humanity and a conscience. She felt Clock Tower will be fine with him around and he's forever safe because his students adored him to bits they'll readily defend him, because circuit quality and amount be damned, they gained those ranks!
By 2003, she met Shiki again, this time as a High Schooler...for the last time. She's 31 and STILL unmarried.
After wandering some more, she got into a particular town, where she felt great power within.
More powerful than her unless she uses Blue, she sought to check it out.
"There had better not be a trouble-maker here!" she frowned as she tracked down the presence...to a little girl in a simple, but cute summer dress and a pair of slippers. She was by a park all by herself, playing by herself with a sullen look on her face.
'That's quite a gloomy face kid.' Aoko approached the girl who was sitting on a sandbox. 'What got you sad?'
'School.'
'School?'
'Ano ne, my twin brother is super-smart, but he's a shy kid, so boys pick on him. I lose my temper easily when he's in trouble and fight off the bullies who are so weak they needed an ambulance!' the girl huffed. 'They wanna look strong by picking on the shy, quiet kids! But the teachers scold me for fighting back yet not them who started it?' she cried incredulously. 'Even daddy scolds me for fighting! At least my brother understands and thanks me!' she was upset about that very much!
"Needs an ambulance?" Aoko frowned. 'How strong are ya kid?' she asked curiously.
'Well, I'm always so strong s'long as I remember so I had to be careful sometimes.' said Rin as she picked up a rock...and crushed it in her tiny hands till they're crumbs! Aoko's eyes widened. 'The ambulance part was as nice I can be or...gulp...' she croaked awkwardly.
Yup, cannot leave this kid unchecked, she thought. No wonder the bullies needed an ambulance! She subtly cast spells on the kid to determine her traits.
...a core, not circuits...only phantasmal creatures can have cores!
...and she's a half-demon. Demon mother perhaps, raised as a human? Or a demon father?
At least the girl genuinely means well, but goes about it WRONG!
'Where do you live?'
'In a monastery where my dad and other priests live in.' said the girl. 'They're like his followers. They raised me and Yukio after daddy found us under a bridge as babies. I'm Rin!' Rin piped up with a smile.
'I'm Aoko, chibi.' Aoko patted her head. 'Where's your twin?'
'Daddy's training him to be a priest...semi-something.' Rin explained with a stumble in her words as she couldn't pronounce that one word.
'Seminarian.' Aoko snorted. 'And he's not making a Nun out of you?'
'Nope. No idea how to teach nuns, probably...we live in an all-male priests' dorm.' said Rin. Ahhh, that explains it, Aoko thought with an eyeroll. 'When I'm 15 one day, I hafta move out...but don't wanna...makes me think I don't wanna grow up and I'm eight right now.' Rin told Aoko sadly. 'I'll be separated from Yukio one day. Doesn't help I don't have friends since everyone's scared of me.'
That explains why she's in a playground all alone and friendless.
'Well Rin-chan...not all kids are strong like you...and nobody wants to get hurt.' Aoko told Rin. 'That is why, be gentle.'
'Be...gentle?' Rin blinked. 'Aren't I gentle enough?'
Aoko inwardly snorted. She was no gentle girl when she was young. She was quite the hellion tomboy in her day with an 'extremely strong' personality and lived an honest life, in order not to regret any decision she makes.
'Yes...hold back, even when you're angry, so whenever you're mad, kids no longer go to hospital.' Aoko explained gently. 'I'll teach you every after school on how to be a gentle lady.' Rin perked up at that.
'OK!'
'Let me see the place you live in. Anyone home?'
'Nope!'
(A:N-now kids, do NOT bring strangers to YOUR home however gullible and dumb you are...this bring home nice people thing only works in fiction! Do this in real life, you're DEAD, and your house's valuables taken!)
Rin led Aoko to the dorms...and Aoko sensed a Bounded Field over the place. Nothing against mages like her. Most likely for something else...maybe, pure phantasmals to hide Rin from them perhaps?
Aoko put a hypnosis spell on Rin so she can explore unhindered.
They're no ordinary priests, if they can make Bounded Fields.
She invaded the office via windows instead of lockpicking the door as there's no way to unlock it from the inside if she did and she doesn't know magecraft how to!
The books...were eyebrow-raising.
Books about Demon Lore, Demon Pharmacology, and Spellbooks regarding Summoning and other sorcery definitely NOT known by the Church she knows, and nothing about this in Clock Tower either!
It's different.
She decided to stake out the dorms, while subtly teaching Rin every after school when they're sure nobody's around...while Aoko rented a cheap apartment to get by.
That's the plan.
For now, as Rin told her that everyone comes home for a late dinner, she definitely has time to read all these books, so she had Rin knowing false memories and put her to bed while setting an alarm to seven thirty pm so she can read the books...by copying everything she could, and gathered information by looking into files!
In three hours, she managed to accomplish a lot and leave after closing the lights in the office, and closed the windows, before renting said cheap apartment.
xxx
In her apartment, a typical 1R cheap place with thin walls to match...
"OK, let's go over this again." Aoko thought, "There exists another Church Branch nobody knows about specializing against demons and both the Church I know and Clock Tower clearly clueless about it, just as how these guys are clueless about their counterpart." she frowned. These bunch, the True Cross Order specializes in Anti-Demon Magecraft, calling themselves Exorcists.
Has it occurred to them that they're dealing with Phantasmals, thinking they're Demons?
Only Phantasmals, can have cores, not Circuits.
Training Stage: Page to Exwire to Licensed Exorcists come some Exams.
Not only that, they report to someone weirdly enough, called Mephisto Pheles!
Letters from him to Fujimoto Shiro, were his replies to the man regarding Rin herself. The older twin is unaware of her heritage. Yukio was pure human, while Rin got the genes.
There's also progress letter replies regarding Yukio's training as a young Page, an Exorcist Trainee studying the basics. Yukio has no ability in wielding a sword, but with his smarts, is capable of being a licensed Aria, Dragoon and Doctor one day, with limited ability in Taming that Summoning greatly exhausts him, even low-level demons! Yukio is aware of what his sister is and poor Rin left in the dark!
Rin is a sweet, but sad girl who genuinely cares for her twin though answers it with violence on anyone who dared look at her brother wrong because nobody told her what to properly do. The priests here did a good job raising her though they forgot crucial stuff, but a future betrayal may turn her against humanity, if ever and the kid is powerful. Magic Cores are akin to Nuclear Power Source, an inexhaustible supply while Magic Circuits mages have are akin to factories that rely on supply before generation. Poor kid will get killed for what wasn't her fault and that did not sit well with Aoko, girl's lineage be damned. She believed ANYONE can save the world, race-be-damned.
'Let's keep this a secret, Rin-chan.' said Aoko in mischief with a 'shhh' expression with a wink the next day, after Aoko told Rin about training in how to be a gentle lady, and a 'magic girl' like Aoko.
'K~!'
Aoko told Rin that Rin was very strong because she had magic. And plenty of it that excess made her body too strong that Rin's current strength, was akin to a physically-fit bodybuilding man whose strength can break bones...despite how Rin looked as a little girl.
Proper Girl lessons aside, she taught Rin Magecraft, to inspire the girl to study as 'There's no such thing as dumb Magical Girls! We study every day!' indeed, Magi do, and Aoko told that to Rin who showed lack of interest in studying even if she was motivated to learn magic. Schoolwork? She's demotivated with good reason: its an unhappy place for her.
She taught Rin sorcery, and making things simple, so she can 'cast quickly' as being slow in battles will get you hurt or worse, dead! She taught Rin what made Aoko deadly in that regard... Aoko's specialty is her remarkably skilled utilization of mystic energy, which is about a hundred times more efficient than the average magus, allowing her to perform wonders with very little energy.
Rin is a Fire and Wind-Element Mage with the attribute of Reinforcement, using Blue Flames and capable of Kinetic Energy attacks as well. Aoko taught her the Fundamentals and Elemental Magic known to Clock Tower as well as making Bounded Fields and Barriers(she asked connections for help regarding Rin's education as Aoko's own know-how is limited)...and when she was older, taught Rin how to fight. When Rin expressed interest in magical beauty products as girls her age are starting to use some...Aoko cheerfully called many people about that!
Normally for Magi, Magic is activated when a Magic Formula is set into motion. To run a magic formula, one must first generate mystic energy by converting one's life force into mystic energy via Magic Circuits, and the generated energy travels through the circuit, sent to the magic foundation to activate the magic formula.
That will NOT apply for Rin and her kind. Not even with Exorcists. All they needed is knowledge and power to execute, and bam. They need not contact formulas and foundations.
Which is unfair.
Magi cannot leave the land where their foundation is engraved. If they do, it'll cause their decline. However, if teachings are passed orally, Magi can live and operate anywhere with no worry about declining, but all magi are effing shut-ins preferring never to leave unless forced to and engraved their foundations into the land. But for the Aozaki, they declined upon leaving their original land before they got saddled with Misaki Town...and when that ol' geezer engraved in their new land when he figured how to gain Blue, this resulted in Touko and her own gain of Magic Circuits when generations before them after the ol' ghoul got jack.
She studied the Exorcists. They too, have Circuits, but their case was oral education and 'simply doing it'. They operate and live anywhere thus have no fear of declining in power through children.
Thus when Rin is 15, she is many things: a budding beauty, a capable woman in the house, and unknown to her family, a mage.
A young girl of average height with long hair and chin-length sidelocks. She wears her hair in a high ponytail with cute scrunchies. She has very pale skin due to what she unwittingly was and thanks to her own modifications, has a very feminine face with no hint of androgynity as normally, everyone resembles both parents but her face was utterly feminine, and was curvaceously-slender and trim with shapely legs and stacked where it counts. Her eyes were also an unnatural shade of blue impossible for all human genes to have and make. The shade of blue fire.
Granted, too much magic exposure alters the practitioner over time, but Rin's was minimal.
She changed over the years due to Aoko's teachings. From the explosive tempers if anyone dared to harm Yukio, she developed a malice technique where she amplifies her angry aura with her presence into terrifying the mooks...she calmed down, especially when as a kid, people remember how she sent her brother's bullies packing in an ambulance so people feared her and Yukio lived a normal school life no longer fearing bullying for his intellect, and glasses that made him look like a nerd.
Everyone quickly learned that bully him, you go to hospital with broken bones as the twin sister, was crazy-strong.
Her foster family enjoyed her cooking when she learned how to, and the monastery never looked and smelled cleaner! However, everyone noticed her interests in regards to books. She collects science books now as well as manga of a specific genre!
But one thing Rin was cranky over these days?
When they were 13, the twins had to have their own bedrooms. Rin had separation anxiety the priests had to wean her out of. She cried, whined and threw a tantrum, but its an absolute necessity in life...
And now at 15?
'Nee Yuki, any reason why I can't stay here?' Rin asked her brother during spring break. She was washing the dishes after breakfast. 'Bad enough we get separate rooms, this is even worse.' she said sulkily.
Yukio sighed.
His older sister was too good for him despite what she was. Overprotective, clingy, but thankfully NOT smothering and is on the supportive side...because she pushes him to be stronger and go for what he wanted in life when he once told her he wanted to be a doctor. She went as far as making him continue to high school as due to money issues, only one of them can proceed. She let him have it.
Normally, Exorcists earn a lot of money. The lowest salary is 600.000 yen for lower-class Exorcists and he is currently a middle-class, his salary being 1.2 million yen because he has two meisters. Those with more meisters earn more than those with just one. The problem? Exorcist supplies are expensive. What little they have left, goes to bills and life's necessities. Their father bargained Pheles for a higher salary until both twins are fifteen to be able to finish Junior High levels as Elementary to Junior High is absolutely compulsory education. This is so Rin can get a job at fifteen to ease financial woes.
'Neesan, priests are getting crappy reputations as pedos and lolicons lately no thanks to some idiots overseas. We keep up to date with religious news worldwide.' Yukio told her much to her choking and nearly dropped a plate in the sink. 'That's on the news lately.' he pointed out with a sigh. 'You really have to move out so nobody accuses father and the others that they're keeping a girl for their lolicon fetishes.'
'You've got to be kidding!' Rin gasped out, looking at her much-taller brother incredulously who was by the dining table, drinking tea. 'Dad and the uncles aren't like that!' she cried in horror.
'Everyone's under suspicion, so your moving out is a necessity to keep accusations away.' Yukio deadpanned. 'It doesn't help that you grew up...er...well-developed...' he gulped as he looked at her from head to toe. Doesn't help that his sister wears long skirts and grew up a good girl, adding to fantasy factors of the mentally-depraved. 'If only those morons in the west weren't thinking with their lower heads, we wouldn't be having this problem.'
'No kidding.' Rin moped. 'This is all their fault I have to move out!' she wailed.
She really did NOT want to.
However, she knew at some point, she needed to...because unknown to her family, she's a mage. She was unhappy for the rest of the day.
Well, Yukio would miss his sister's cooking. When she started at nine years old, she had great talent in being a cook that even the most mundane of home cooking, was made incredible by her and somehow, the others looked and felt younger in years though they paid for that by suffering in the toilet a lot. For them as kids, they grew up stronger too. Yukio was able to endure hellish training because of her food. When he eats during break, his fatigue goes away and his body quickly recovers from stress and exhaustion somehow. At abnormally quick rates at that.
He felt his sister was slowly but surely awakening, and unwittingly uses her powers through food and cleaning, as an old building like this cannot be impossibly, perfectly spick and span done alone by a teenage girl. Those yellowing tiles with mold? Perfectly white and clean tile grout as an example!
And now that they're fifteen...he was worried.
The seal will break soon...and she can soon see THEM.
xxx
At the Job Centre...
Rin went for her strengths. Cooking. But in the Culinary Area of the Job Centre, applicants were tested on how well they work under pressure.
Rin was glad she watched cooking videos on Youtube now...
'So applicants, you will have five pressure tests and you must pass at least four before we can qualify you for any restaurant as you lack College Diplomas in HRM Courses.' said the head judge, Takaoka Senji. 'We will start with the basic French Omelette...a soft-boiled egg...and a poached egg. All in 8 minutes!' he declared. 'Even College Graduates and seasoned chefs have trouble with this, but they made it.' he said. 'A restaurant's accolades depend entirely on the cooks! How fast they made it, the skill and instinct required, presentation, and of course, taste and texture! To add to the pressure test, onlookers are watching you!' he grinned, as some of the applicants look nervous. But not Rin as indeed, there ARE watchers!
"Hah, I watched pressure tests, and even challenged myself at home until I got it perfect, even with help of Structural Analysis spells. This is easy!" Rin thought, keeping a cool look on her face. She conquered the 4 minute omelette benchmark with half a minute to spare as well as done this challenge at home. To quote Chef Leung, when one tests a newcomer chef, the first thing you get them to make, is an omelette. And Eggs...while they're dirt cheap, they're also tough to handle due to how fast they cook, how they quickly stick, etc.
Since most people here aren't familiar with the challenge, looking curious and lost, clearly, they didn't watch the show! She only knew when she explored enough in youtube for cooking challenges. The judges clearly did.
'You are granted only 5 eggs, have 8 minutes, only one chance...starting now!'
This was multi-tasking skills. Rin first heated up her two pots of water to high heat, before working on her omelette. The eggs were the large kind, and the time needed for a soft-boiled egg for a large egg, is five minutes. And a boiled water on a level she wanted, is three minutes. The poached egg is a bit tricky, as the sign it's just right is 2-3 minutes, but she favors 2 mins and 40 secs. Then the 4 minute omelette, she can perfectly do. The 4 minute moist-and-custardy type with a smooth, perfectly-yellow surface.
Time management and vigilance, is a must-have here. The tricky parts were the poached egg and omelette. At least when the water boils, soft-boileds are mostly hands-off!
So as she waits for water to boil, she whisks her eggs for omelettes and adding the right amount of salt so the eggs will break down as she whisks.
When the water started boiling, she put her soft-boiled egg in one pot carefully...and for her poached egg, she stirred up the water using cooking chopsticks, before putting her cracked egg in, and skillfully stirring it to an ideal shape, while buttering the heated pan with her free hand, coating the whole thing.
The tricky part, was extraction and timing.
Soon, all she had left, was plating, and towel-drying the omelette with a paper towel aaaand just in time. Just as how she practiced at home!
Judging came!
Rin's was perfectly done, while others flunked in one or two eggs or worse, all three. Others had the taste and texture but flunked in presentation.
The next challenge, is the Oyster Challenge! Really straight out of Masterchef! Seriously? But only one dish at least, the Japanese Poached one instead of three.
The last one, as apparently, those eggs were three challenges? Why, a curry dish!
'This is gourmet curry we're talking about, cooks! This is not your mom's home-cooking curry with those roux cubes! You will make your own spice blends with your curry!' said second judge Oomura Takahiro as assistants took out wooden chests of who-knows-what. 'We gave you a Spice Box, and we will finally allow you to use the mini fridges that were behind you the whole time! Use them well as you only have one shot, and your time is 45 minutes! This is your last test, make the most of it!'
Rin found herself glad she studied now...
xxx
'I'm home!' Rin sighed tiredly as she has a last day in the Monastery.
'Neesan, how did your job hunt go?'
'I was given a recommendation to work in a restaurant Yukio.' Rin showed the envelope she carried. 'I passed five exams and I watched Masterchef and practiced till I got sick of em.' Rin snorted with a scoff. 'Passing the exams was easy! I'll start next week!'
'Heee, that gives us plenty of time for transition too.' said Yukio in relief.
'Yeah, I'll have to stake out the place I'll be working in soon.' said Rin. 'Taste their food, know what it looks like and how it's made so I won't screw up. But uh...transitioning might be a little difficult...' she said awkwardly.
'Why is that?'
'I got chucked to Kyoto, working for a Ryokan called Toraya Inn!' upon hearing those words, Yukio knew Mephisto has a hand in this! This was so they can keep an eye on her! Toraya Inn is the Myoo-Dha Headquarters! 'I have free room and board at least, thank goodness...' said Rin in relief. 'Incase anything happens, I can earn enough money to go to an apartment of my own...'
xxx
Seijuuji Gakuen, Principal's Office...
Yukio confronted Mephisto about it.
'Hoho! Yes, I admit, I had a hand in that.' said Mephisto while drinking tea. 'Both of you are fifteen now. In her case she will awaken soon, so it is imperative she must be near Exorcists as a precaution until it's safe.' he said with a laugh. 'But still, little sister's a good cook, something I'd never see coming in our kind who only knew nothing but causing havoc and mayhem.' he snorted. 'For now, I will handle everything to keep our world away from her until some things just can't be helped.' he said. 'Let's see how long this lasts...her stay in a human life, before what's inevitable comes around...' he purred.
'By the way, I studied that bit of lunch you have me study.' Mephisto continued.
'And?'
'After studying it, I ate it and it's damn good!' Mephisto smacked his lips. 'However! There were traces of something intriguing.' he grinned. 'Sorcery.'
'Sorcery?!' Yukio howled, wide-eyed in disbelief.
'Yeees...it's too well-done to be accidental out of late-blooming powers.' said Mephisto. airily 'You say that her food heals stress, fatigue and exhaustion? I detected that in all ingredients, the health benefits and properties are all maxed out somehow. The deliciousness was at least, done normally, to mask the fact that she tweaked the food.' his grin was all-teeth out of amusement. 'Let's visit her room shall we? Where is she now?'
'She went out to get the cheapest tickets to Kyoto, a one-way trip. We haven't much time.' said Yukio urgently as the two found themselves in Rin's clean and very girly bedroom.
Mephisto did most of the exploring...and by the foot of Rin's bed, was a box. A box with the label, 'Comic Books'.
'Her comic book collection?' Yukio frowned as Mephisto knelt on one knee to open the box. Indeed, what's inside is comic books! He took them all out carefully, and with a wave of his hand, the empty box suddenly had hardbound cover books inside!
'Wha?!' Mephisto took out a book and opened it but found runic writing in red ink. All pages in parchment.
'Bingo.' he said. 'Someone discovered your sister, and taught her magic.' said Mephisto to Yukio's disbelief. Slack-jawed as Mephisto looked at the title. 'And this one says, 'General Fundamentals of Sorcery, Grade One'.' with a snap of his fingers, the box was as if nobody touched it. He simply reversed time and erased their traces. They were also back in his office.
'Then, can we go back in time to know WHEN neesan learned magic?' Yukio croaked out.
'I'll look at the 'when' part...and we'll wait for Fujimoto-kun to come back from his mission since it's something both of you must view together.' said Mephisto. 'That means enough time for me to look waaaay back.'
'Right...I can't believe this happened under our noses! So much for normal life for her!'
'Well, no matter how we plan and triple-check it...there will always be a spanner in the works as there is no such thing as a perfect plan. I learned that about 900 years ago.' said Mephisto wryly. 'Which is why I learned the art of back-ups.' he chuckled. 'By the time Rin is in Kyoto...we can do the film-viewing all we like, unhindered! Won't that be fun with popcorn?'