Dualität
Chapter 1: Transfer Student"…To wrap up this problem, we need to run all the numbers through the equation, and now we see our answer is five tenths of the original shape," the ecstatic teacher explained, her curly hair bouncing as she spoke.
The class was surprisingly attentive for a middle school classroom, most were following the words written on the board and jotting down some notes in relation to the subject at hand. However, there were a few students not paying much attention, but they were only a small group in the back of the class.
"That wraps up today's lesson on shape scaling, your homework is about ten questions long," the hyperactive teacher began to give stacks of papers to the front student of each columns, the students toke one and passed the stack back.
In the back of the class, a student busy writing down the last of the notes. The guy in front of him hands him the last paper from the stack, and he took it and mutters a quiet 'thank you' before glancing over the homework. He sighs before quickly answering the fill in the blank questions for the formulas and definitions.
The student talked focuses solely on his work and was seated away from the other student groups. The student had short cut brown hair, his skin was slightly rosy on his face, but his hands seemed pale. He was wearing a simple black shirt with a breast pocket, he had a set of black slacks on, and a light windbreaker on over his torso. The windbreaker was black with bright blue accents on the shoulders and left breast.
When the student finished with the first few problems, he looked up and saw that he had two minutes until the class was dismissed from class. He quickly packed up his stuff before heading to his before making his way to the door. He opened it gently and locked it in place with the doorstop, just the doorstop slid into place the bell rang. The student quickly left class and moved down the hall.
The student mentally reminded himself that his next class was advisory, which acted as a homeroom class. He noticed a few students giving him glares as he passed, he just continued walking, feigning ignorance to them.
He reached his locker and he turned the combination lock a few times clockwise, before coming to stop on 13, then rotated once counterclockwise and came to land on 23, then back clockwise to 35. He pulled on a lever and the locker opened, revealing some school supplies including, a heavy jacket and backpack, resting inside.
He packed his stuff into his bag, totaling four binders and two notebooks, plus a small blue bag to hold his pencils and the like in. After zipping up the backpack, the student takes it out along with the heavy green jacket. He closed his locker and walked a few feet down the hall and entered a small classroom. He sat down at his desk, putting the items he took out of his locker at his feet.
The last of the students filed in and the bell rang, the teacher tallied the students lazily, then copied the information to his computer. He stood at the front of the class and called for attention.
"Today, I have to have been told to inform you of our transfer student program," the teacher droned drably. "Normally you would have to be an 8th grader to apply, since you would be a freshman the next year, but two of you in this class are gaining an offer for this."
"Jeffery Pharynx and Roman Chevrolet," The teacher called lazily. The student in the black jacket got up along with a taller black-haired student. "Both of you get up here so I can give you the school's formal offer."
Both students walked up, and the teacher handed them an envelope with an M seal on it. They both sat down and opened the paper package, the brown haired candidate started to read the letter.
'Dear Roman Chevrolet IV,
I have written his letter for the purposes of formally inviting you to attend my academy, I am John Faust, director of True Cross Academy. I am in need of students of your caliber, we offer training to become an Exorcist. "What is an exorcist?" You might ask, well if you have noticed, there are things others cannot see, like those black bugs you see everywhere, we called them coal tars. We can offer you not only knowledge on the subject, but ways to defend yourself from them, yourself and others, I might add.
I only need one thing from you, I request you take a Japanese language course over the summer before your term, you will need it. All travel and amenities will be covered by us, we just request you attend our classes at our academy, and we can better help prepare you for the would just beyond view.
Sincerely, John Faust V'
After the student, now named Roman, finished his message he stiffened. He glanced at the other student and noticed him reaching to throw out the ornate letter. He checked the envelope and found a return address. Finding one for Japan, he assumed it to be the right address.
Roman pulled out a sheet from his binder and started to write, starting out with the words 'Greetings Mr. Faust,'
{-}
Roman stepped out of the taxi and bid the driver a good day before walking up the steps to his new school. He saw the signs directing the freshman towards a large building. When he entered, he saw many people lined up in seating of an auditorium, most looked to be freshman like him, but he noticed a few older people in the crowd too.
Chevrolet took a seat inside the crowd, blending in fairly well since he was now dressed in the school uniform, a white shirt and red tie under a black overcoat bearing the school logo.
He toned out the speech for the most part, he understood the Japanese coming out of the instructor's mouth, he just didn't care to pay attention. He heard the mention of their class representative and saw another freshman come up onto stage. He had glasses and two moles under his left eye, he was dressed in the academy uniform like himself, and seemed to compose himself well.
Chevrolet still toned out the speech of the representative, he could tell from the tone that it was a simple and generic speech made for this presentation. Roman did catch the giggles of girls behind him when the representative left the stage.
Roman filed out with the other students and did a quick tour of the school, high class but functional, the architecture was quite beautiful, but it worked to give us a space to learn. He found an area of the school currently abandoned by the students, then pulled out a silver key. Glancing around, he saw no one in the hall, then inserted his key into the lock of the nearest classroom.
He came out into a hallway with many doors, most having a number on the top, he walked down until the room number 1049, he opened the door and saw that there was two other students in the classroom, someone in a hoodie, and a kid with a pink sock puppet.
The newly arrived student nodded to the others before taking a seat near the back of the classroom, he idly watched the door as other students filed in.
The first group was a group of three boys, all Japanese, the center one in the group was a boy with two toned hair, he had a mohawk that was dyed lighter than his normal hair color. He was standing straight as he entered and sat down professionally and waited diligently. As he sat down in the back left of the classroom.
The boy to his left had light pink hair, and a pale face, he seemed laxer and sat down more casually and seemed to look for something to do. He took a seat by the first boy.
The final boy had a shaved head and was shorter that the other two. He had circular glasses and was more mixed than the other two, as he glanced around the classroom. He took a seat by the other two.
As those two sat down, a pair of girls walked in, both talking relatively calmly as they took a seat at the front right of the class.
The dominant of the two girls seemed to be a purple haired girl, her haired seemed natural since her eyebrows and roots seemed to be that color too. Her eyebrows were somewhat sharp but were slightly soft, her attituded seemed pretty mellow with her friend but she was aggressive towards other students judging by her piercing glare she gave to the rest of the class with her maroon eyes.
Her friend was the opposite, she had brown hair and was a lot softer with her features, she looked around the classroom with curiosity rather than distrust.
Finally, a raven-haired student entered, along with a familiar looking mut. Roman couldn't place the mut nor the student. The student was wearing a sloppy uniform and a red sword bag slung over his shoulder. The student glanced around the room took in the students present, he saw an open seat in the middle of class and sat down. The dog sat calmly down next to him, with no order.
One minute before the bell rang, someone else walked in the class. He stood at the front of the room he was the class representative from earlier. Now he wore a blue uniform jacket with a silver pendant latched onto it.
"I am your instructor, my name is Yukio Okumura," he stated in a calm tone, the student with he dog seemed to panic, and he shouted.
"Yukio"
"Hello there everyone, I am Yukio Okumura, I shall be your teacher for your demon pharmaceuticals class,"
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Okumura," replied the purple haired girl in the front of the class.
"Pleased to meet you, sir," replied her friend.
"What's up, sir," said the pink haired teen from the back of the class.
"What the hell Yukio?" asked the punk boy with the dog.
"I'm sorry is there a problem?" asked our instructor.
"What do you mean is there a problem, yeah there is a problem, what's your problem?" the teen spluttered, as he pointed an accusatory finger at the teacher.
"Although I am the same age as you, I would appreciate if you call me teacher when class is in session," the teacher elaborated. "I have been studying exorcism since I was seven, and I finished the last of my courses two years ago," as Yukio stated this, the other teens arm slowly lowered as he elaborated.
"Since you were seven? You're kidding."
"Alright then, let's get started," the teacher said, assuming the argument had passed. "Is there anyone in class who has yet to receive a temptate?" The mohawk kid, the hoodie kid, and the brown-haired girl raised their hands. "OK three, let's start with the temptate ritual."
"The room we are in is normally unused, so goblins moved in," he stated. "Now goblins, if you already didn't know are a type of demon," this elated a confused breath from the brown-haired girl.
"Is this place safe?" she asked nervously.
"Yes, it is safe, the goblin is a low-level demon," he stated while chuckling. "A mischief maker, so they are perfect for ritual like this." He proceeded to start to dig around in his bag, the sound of vials being prevalent.
"Hey Yukio," the punk said again standing up.
"Class is in session; would you please sit down?" the teacher requested, to which the punk did not respond or move. "Where was I? oh right, even though it is a low-level demon, it is still a demon."
"Come on Yukio talk to me," the punk yelled again, causing Roman to groan internally, this was embarrassing to watch.
"That being said, if they catch the scent of rotten animal blood, they get excited and turn ferocious," he continued as if not hearing the punk. Causing the punk to reach forward and grab the teacher's arm.
"Hold on we need to talk, man" the punk yelled again, closing the distance between the teacher. "Right now."
"What do you want to talk about?" the teacher asked keeping his voice level.
"Don't play dumb!" The punk yelled again, doing a wide sweep with his other arm. The class seemed honestly annoyed by now, the punk mohawk from earlier narrowed his eyes, as Roman facepalmed heavily from the situation. Resonating a loud smack that caught some of the students' attention.
"Sir, Permission to leave class so you two can solve whatever this is?" Roman asked in an irritated tone, seeing the student was not going to drop the issue.
"Sure, the rest of you wait with him in the hall, while I resolve, this…situation," he replied evenly, only showing signs of stress when he paused at the end.
Roman stood up rigidly, grabbed his water bottle, a clear blue one with marking on the sides for ounces, and marched out to the hallway, leaning hit back against the opposite wall, he opened the lid and took a sip of the chilled water inside, using it to cool his nerves. He screwed the lid on before holding it in an offhand grip.
Roman turned to the crowd in the hallway and noticed the mohawk kid seething and mumbling like 'who does that punk kid think he is?'.
"Well, might as well make the best of this situation, guess we should introduce ourselves then." Roman said before quickly adding. "I am Roman Chevrolet"
The mohawk kid blinked before turning and grumbling, "I am Ryugi Suguro, despite the situation it is a pleasure to meet you."
The pink haired kid looked up and stated in a chipper fashion, "I am Renzo Shima, pleasure to meet you."
The shortest out of the gang, turned and politely bowed. "I am Konekomaru Miwa, I am glad to make your acquaintance."
The student in the hoodie just grunted as a reply.
The brown-haired girl gave a small wave and said, "my name is Noriko Paku, nice to meet you."
The purple haired girl from earlier seemed to look me up and down before stating, "Izumo Kamaki, and don't forget it."
The one with the sock puppet just turned his puppet towards me, then in a childish voice, he made the puppet say, "Nemu Takara, you American pig,"
Roman nearly flipped the puppet kid off but came up with a better idea. He looked the kid dead in the eye and asked.
"What? Scared of the taller American, little guy?"
The smaller boy scoffed but didn't continue the verbal joust.
"So, where is everyone here from?" Roman asked bluntly. "As Mr. Takara said, I am from America, specifically from Alaska."
"Us three are from Kyoto, here in Japan," Shima stated draping his arms over his two friends for emphasize. That elated a surprised shout from the two.
"Paku and I are from a more Rural area, I am the shrine maiden for one of the shrines out there," Izumo said reflexively, like a well-rehearsed speech.
The Hoodie student shrugs again, and Takara just glares daggers at me.
The door is opened gently, and the teacher pokes his face out.
"Sorry to keep you waiting class, shall we continue our lesson for today?" He asked in a well-rehearsed cheerful tone.
I nodded and walked around the corner, to see the state of the classroom. Tables had been pushed back, there were spent casing on the ground, and there was some ash scattered around the room. The punk was leaning against a desk, his sword bag now back on his back. While the teacher stood to the side of the lecture podium. Both seemed content with the end of their argument.
"What happened to the room?" Paku queries as she gets the full sight of it.
"Forget the room, I wanna know what happened between those two," Suguro states, curiosity lacing his voice.
"Take your seats class, we have a few minutes before the bell, and I plan to use them," Mr. Okumura states, causing me to move back to my desk. I straighten it out before sitting back down. I look around to see the others doing the same.
"Now, temptates will have to wait for now, however, we can get a quick syllabus out the way." Yukio states as he began to pass out his syllabus.
{-}
"Ok, 907, 907, ah here we go," Roman says as he inserts his key and enters his dorm room. He looks around to see the three kyoto boys in there already.
"Figures they would put the exorcists together," Roman mumbled as he made his way into the room.
"Ah, Roman, so you were our missing roommate, your stuff is in those two boxes over there," Konekomaru states gesturing to the two plastic boxes with duct tape holding it closed.
"Well the seals weren't touched," Roman muttered as he opened the boxes to reveal some clothes in one, and multiple decoration items in the other.
"Got anything interesting in there?" Shima asks leaning over his shoulder to peer inside of the open boxes.
"Just some old pictures of family…." Roman stated before finding another photo in there that definitely didn't belong,
"I swear to god I will kill him for this one," Roman stated before pulling out a cellphone and dialing a U.S. number.
"Drakeo Mother Fucking Miller," Roman said in perfect English to the phone. "What in god's name possessed you to put a picture of your boyfriend and you into my stuff?"
"Oh…is that where that picture went?" came the lazy response from the other end.
"Apparently, next time, be more careful, I have roommates now," Roman said with some venom in his voice.
"Aww, ok, did anyone else see it?" asked Drakeo in a curious tole. Roman looks back to see Shima and Konekomaru blushing furiously while bon looked like he was about to burn someone, namely Roman.
"Welp, it seems they all saw it." Roman lightly admitted. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go keep this guy from strangling me, talk to you later."
"Same, see ya" was mumbled lazily before the line went dead.
"ROMAN CHEVROLET, WHY IS THIS IN YOUR THINGS!?" Suguro furiously asked, jabbing a finger in his direction.
"Cool off a bit, will ya, my buddy put it in as a prank or something and forgot about it," Roman coolly said, trying desperately to save his hide.
"OK, STILL, WHY?" Suguro pushed.
"Ask him when I call him next, he speaks no Japanese tho, so crack open that English textbook," Roman replied cheekily. "Anyway, too much shit for one day, I am going to take this and pass out," Roman says before popping a small prescription pill and lying on the unclaimed bed. His eyes fell shut and snoring was immediately heard. The others simply shrugged and decided to sleep themselves.
As the occupants of the room fell victim to the sandman, the sound of cicadas were heard from outside.