Dualität
Chapter 2: Projects
Roman was sitting in his chair listening to the gruff instructor teach us on the types of demons. He an older man, maybe in his early to late forties. He had the standard exorcist uniform Yukio had on the day before, but it seemed to heavier on this man. His hair was long, brown, and messy, and he had a black eyepatch over his left eye.
The man was explaining the domain of Iblis, that being fire, and their elemental weaknesses.
"Iblis kin are often very hot tempered, cooling them off is a difficult task, holy water is the recommended when you encounter kin of Iblis," the professor stated, pointing to a chart on the board detailing all the kinds of demons.
Roman raised his hand straightly, the professor paused then asked.
"What is it Roman?"
"Well, Professor Neuhaus, if cooling them off is a hard task, what about taking away another part of the triangle?" Roman asked in an intrigued tone.
"Triangle? Care to elaborate?" Professor Neuhaus queried clearly intrigued.
"Well, fire consists of three points, Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel, if you take away one, it causes the reaction to stop," Roman Elaborated, listing them off with his fingers.
"Well their fuel is generally from their spiritual energy, however, some are known for using living fuel, like peg lanterns, they some form of fuel to run," Neuhaus said thoughtfully. "However, the oxygen theory has some merit, that could provide a useful tool, even if other demons prove immune."
Roman seemed pleased and let the teacher continue his lecture.
"Now, some examples of the types of demon's in Iblis's domain include: Peg lanterns, Imps, or even dragons," Mr. Neuhaus explains, pointing to several diagrams referencing each.
Peg lanterns were giant lanterns that could move, imps looked like actual depiction of imps, and dragons were rather similar to Chinese mythology as shown.
"Okumura, head up, you might actually learn something if you didn't sleep," Mr. Neuhaus barked at the sleeping teen.
Rin Okumura was the older twin of Yukio Okumura, his appearance didn't lie, the kid spent most of class sleeping, but he attended the classes, probably under threat from his Mr. Okumura.
Rin Immediately shook awake from the teacher's voice, and he looked sheepishly forward at the livid teacher. Roman spotted Suguro glaring daggers at the kid's head.
"Alright, for the next few days I will have you guys work in groups," this immediately got the class's attention, good or bad. "You will be in groups of three, however, you will get to choose your partners."
"Now, I will give you a minute to deliberate your groups," the professor said before leaning on the wall behind him and watching the class for issues.
Roman quickly weighed his options, Rin was incompetent, not to mention a bit of a jackass, Takara hated his guts, and the hoodie student, named Yamada, was too busy playing a game. The Kyoto boys were already about to group up. That left the two girls, which seemed to be the best choice for a group project.
'Well, let us see if we can make this not awkward,' Roman thought before approaching the pair.
"Uh, hey would you mind if I worked with you two?" Roman asked when he got within general hearing range with the pair.
"Uh, well we need another member," Paku stated, glancing at Izumo.
"Well, you seem to be the best option out of the students, so I guess that will do," Izumo reluctantly agreed.
Roman sat down next to the two to designate his group, Izumo giving him a weary look, while he simply sipped at my water nervously.
"Alright, that seems to be everyone grouped up," The professor stated, while he took his place back at the front of the room.
"This will be a simple project, each group will need to compile a section on a demon chosen by raffle," Mr. Neuhaus explained, pulling out a bucket filled with slips of paper. "Now, one person from each group, come up and pick a paper."
Roman, Suguro, and Rin all got up to retrieve pick one, Roman didn't bother to glance at the paper until he was back with his group to which it read, 'Wendigo'.
"Huh, lucky me, now which type does he mean," Roman muttered to himself.
"Lucky you? And what do you mean what type?" Izumo asked, puzzled by the boy's comment.
"Oh, I had a run in with a southern Wendigo, it was brief, but it was enlightening. As for types, there are two, the north and the south, and they are two beasts altogether," Roman elaborated. "The Northern Wendigo are people who resort to cannibalism and end up becoming demented spirits who feed on people who get lost in the cold. The Southern Wendigo is much different, they are also referred to the moniker 'Skinwalker', they lure in, trap, torture, and kill whoever they come across. They take the skin of their prey and use them to mimic the original owner. They are terrifying if you ever come across one."
Paku seemed to pale slightly at the realization of the demon, while Izumo shrugged after Roman finished.
"Which one did you run into?" Paku asked nervously.
"The southern, I was taking a vacation in one of the states back in the US, called Arizona. and one got cocky and was in the middle of an event, almost got shot by some guy with a Remington, though." Roman recounted, slightly shuttering at the memory.
"Did the guy kill it?" Izumo asked curiously.
"Nope, hit the thing in the leg with some buckshot, left a blood trail a few miles into the desert, no searches came up conclusive, however," Roman shrugged.
"Well, since you have firsthand knowledge, let us use the southern variety," Izumo recommended.
"Uh sure, however we need to label some requirements on here, such as kingdom, ways to exorcise, fatal verse, and original sightings." Paku reminded, gesturing towards the paper that the teacher had just given our group.
"Well, how about this, we all can take a few tasks for our requirements, to make things fair," Roman suggested as he looked at the paper.
"Well, first things first, I am not the person for art, last time I drew something I cursed their eyes with the drawing," Roman explained chuckling at the memory, shaking his head in slight shame.
"You can't be that bad," Paku tried to reassure Roman,
"Trust me, I can write and present a speech with little issue, but nothing that requires the finesse of an artist," Roman pushed, starting to sweat nervously.
"Got it, you can't draw to save your live, so how about you make yourself useful making the verbal arguments for our speech, specifically visual appearance and physical abilities," Izumo ordered, turning to Paku she stated in a softer tone. "Paku, could you work on a nice hook and counter measures, I will work on the visual accompaniment and the wrap up."
"Well Miss Kamaki, what style would you like me to write in? I can do a few, some to draw attention from the students, and others to maintain a dull but accurate drone," Roman asked, counting off the options on his fingers.
"Why don't you mix a professional and an upbeat one, we want to teacher to be engaged, as well as the students, so let us keep a professional language, but add emphasis to the more entertaining parts of the Wendigo," Paku recommended, nodding her head at the idea.
"I am fine with that," Roman answered, nodding his head with the words.
"I am too, we should be able to make that work.," Izumo said, having a small genuine smile on her face.
Paku eyes lit up when she noticed the semblance of happiness of her friend's face.
"Let us start our work, so, their region they live in is in the United States of America all the way down to Mexico…"
{-}
The seemed to pass swiftly, before the group knew it, the teacher was calling them to attention again.
"Everyone, we have five minutes of class left, I advise you all work out how you plan to finish your projects, they are due by Monday at the end of class," the professor advised before going up to his board and erasing any marks he made on it during the period.
Roman heard some of the other groups starting to pack up, he turned to start with the same task.
"I don't think we can finish by end of class Monday, today we barely got through our introduction and first paragraph," Izumo stated looking over our work.
"I did get done with about a third of my work, but I will have to work on my section over the weekend," Roman replied, putting his pencils in the blue pouch.
"I mean, he could always come over to our place," Izumo bluntly suggested.
Paku and Roman just froze and blinked for a few moments before Paku snapped out of it.
"Did you just ask someone to come over?" She asked with a slight tone of apprehension.
Izumo seemed to realize what she said, she froze up a bit before recomposing herself.
"I mean, he is rather skilled at writing, plus it would be easier to work with each other instead of guessing," Izumo reasoned, shrinking back a bit.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind," Roman said, mulling it over. "If invited, I would be happy to accompany you two."
"Well, then, as long as Paku is fine with it, guess that is settled then," Izumo concludes, turning to her friend, who still seemed rather shocked.
"S-Sure, I have no problem with it," Paku said, finally breaking from her shocked state.
"Good, meet us outside of the scram school after our last class," Izumo ordered.
"Yes Ma'am" Roman said in English, standing a bit straighter. Izumo just blinked at him, trying to translate what was just said.
Roman realized his mistake, and then said, "Yes Ma'am," in Japanese this time.
"I forgot you spoke mainly English," Izumo mumbled, stating to him. "Anyway, meet us back there, we'll see you there, don't be late."
"I won't, see you there," Roman said before packing the rest of the papers up and neatly tucking them into his binder.
The bell rang and the students headed to their next, and last, class, Demon Pharmaceutics.
{-}
The final period slowly ticked on for Roman. Mr. Okumura had a test that day, Roman and Suguro were the first to finish at the halfway point, both having studied together when the materials were handed out.
Roman was positively board. He had left his book in his locker accidently, and the professor was strict on anyone leaving class. So Roman sat at his desk, and simply watched the class.
Roman remember Izumo got done a few minutes after he returned to his seat. He looked over to see her silently drawing on a piece of paper, it looked like some sort of magic circle to Roman's eye. She was doing so absentmindedly, as if it was a practiced routine.
Roman saw someone else get out of their seat from the corner of his eye, turning he saw that Shima had finished and was walking up to the teacher. Roman also noted the student known as Yamada sitting back down in their seat, despite not seeing them stand up in the first place.
Roman went back to searching the classroom and gazed over at the professor. He was quietly grading tests, occasionally glancing up at the class to make sure the class was in order. Roman was unsurprised by the lack of any quirk the teacher exhibited; he was just as professional as always.
Roman noted that konekomaru was the next to finish, shortly followed by a nervous Paku. Roman noted the way her stance seemed to be jittery, and she seemed to hesitate when placing her test in the basket.
Roman glanced up at the clock and realized there was five minutes left in the class. He glanced around the classroom and saw only one test left, that of the slack off Rin. Roman didn't even question when Takara put his test in the basket.
Roman noted that Suguro was giving him a death glare from across the room, but some general discomfort seemed to drift from most of the students, the unrest grew as the clock slowly drifted towards the end of the hour. At two minutes until the ending bell, the teacher noticed the time.
"Rin, please submit your test now, you have two minutes until the class bell rings," Mr. Okumura calmly told his sibling. Turning to the rest of the class he said, "for the rest of you, you may begin to talk once again."
A sigh escaped from the students, and the Kyoto trio began to talk about the test. Roman grabbed his belongings and moved up towards the pair of girls in the front of the class.
"How would you say you two did?" Roman asked as he came up to the left of the duo.
"I don't think I did that well, I didn't understand half of the questions," Paku mumbled, fidgeting nervously.
"I feel I did pretty well," Izumo stated before turning to Paku. "I will help you study more next time; you just need a bit of help on the subject."
The bell rang and Roman turned to the two, "I will see you at the 'gate' to the cram school." He received a nod from Izumo and a short response from Paku before he left for his locker.
He went to the class door, put in the school key and left opened it. He entered into the hallway of his locker, he moved over and inserted his locker key. It popped open and he reached down to grab the forgotten book, along with the black bag he had in there, he stowed his books in the bag, closed his locker, then inserted the second key on his keychain into the same door he left from, and suddenly he was at the gates of the cram school.
He saw Both Izumo and Paku and walked up behind them, catching the tail end of Izumo's sentence.
"…nice guy, he seems trustworthy, plus he isn't as ignorant as the others, plus there is something trustworthy about him," Izumo finished, not noticing the person in question.
Roman chose to take not of it, but not comment on the compliments, though it was interesting that she seemed to like him so much, she seemed distant with everyone sans Paku.
"I have arrived, did I keep you two waiting?" Roman asked, announcing his presence.
The reaction was immediate, Izumo flushed and yelped, turning to face him with embarrassment written on her face.
"How much of that did you hear?" Izumo quickly blurted out.
"Of what?" Roman asked, tilting his head to emphasize his 'confusion'.
Izumo calmed down and recomposed herself, she turned back to the boy and asked, "Are you going to be comfortable in that?"
Roman didn't get what she meant at first but then realized she meant his state of dress.
"Uh, good point, however I have a key to my room for quick transportation there, I can open a gate to grab set of clothes when we get there," Roman explained, holding up the keychain with five of Mr. Faust's keys on it.
"Well that will do, we have a small bathroom you can change in," Izumo says before opening the cram school door, revealing the entrance area to the school, currently low on traffic since it was the middle of the afternoon.
The group walked across the plaza, Roman scanning the plaza for the others, no one of note or threat came up so he relaxed.
"So, you said you were a shrine maiden, Izumo," Roman prefaced, before asking. "What exactly does that entail?'
Izumo seemed caught off guard by the question but turned to Roman, nonetheless.
"My duties are to appease the spirit of our shrine, my duty is to give our spirit offerings of food and preform many of the rituals, however, I am not quite the successor to the shrine," Izumo listed off, stating it more uncertainly, showing her trepidation with the question.
"Ah, makes sense, is it all work and no play then?" Roman asks.
"No, there are some upsides, I am given the ability to summon familiars that stem from our spirit, Inari," Izumo explained, starting to relax her posture.
"Summon? I was familiar with he concept of people making pacts with demons, since it is a common trope in fantasy, and I understand the term familiar from some old games I played, but I wasn't aware that those were real," Roman rambled, his eyes lit up with curiosity at the prospect.
"Summoning is very common actually," Izumo explained. "One in ten Exorcists have the ability to summon I believe."
"Wow, I can't believe I never heard of that until now," Roman mumbled to himself, letting the conversation die down.
The small group had made it to a large clean building. It looked like an apartment building with, the walls we a gaudy white. The building looked just like the others that surrounded it, sans for the pink adorning some of the doors and the top of the building.
The trio approached the main doors, Roman opened the door for his two companions, ushering them through, not missing the slight blush on Izumo's face from the action. They approached the main elevators, and Izumo called one down. They all stepped into the elevator and Paku clicked the button to the tenth and top floor.
"Am I the only one surprised by the sheer scale of these buildings?" Roman asked suddenly, breaking the calm silence in the group.
"What do you mean?" Paku asked, intrigued by the randomness of the question.
"I mean that this building is as tall as the tallest buildings in Alaska, wow this is ten floors of housing, not even a business," Roman elaborated, making a sweeping gesture to prove his point.
"Really?" Izumo questions. "Those buildings must be tiny then, we have buildings like this all over the place, these are considered medium to small sized."
"I know, but still, I really don't see architecture this big," Roman replied.
The elevator reached the top floors and the three exorcists in training walk down the hall and stop at a door labeled 1090. Izumo takes a normal house key and unlocks the door and the group steps inside.
The apartment was rather simple, to the immediate right of the door was a small area for shoes, it looks like there was a set of boots for both of the girls, Just down the hall to the right a closed door. The left was open revealing a small kitchenette and living room with no dividing wall. At the end of the hall to the right there was another door, this time open to reveal a small bedroom.
"Your apartment has a rather homey fell," Roman compliments, politely removing his shoes.
"Why thank you," Paku says, the girls removing their own shoes.
"So, which door am I supposed to use to get to my apartment?" The sole boy asks, removing the keyring from his belt.
"The one to the right," Izumo says pointing at the shut door.
Roman nods and approaches the door, slipping his key into the lock, he turns the key and the door pops open to reveal his dorm room. He walks in and quickly grabs a change of clothes from his drawer in the dresser.
When he turns around to go back through, he notices Shima sitting on his bed.
"Where are you off to with a change of clothes?" He asks, a smirk evident on his face.
"Izumo and Paku's apartment," was the cheeky reply before he walked back into door he came out of, closing it behind him. Leaving a shocked Pink-head in his wake.
When he arrived back, he found Izumo and Paku sitting on a couch in their living room.
"I'm back," Roman stated, smirking from his actions to his roommate.
"What happened?" Paku asked, noticing the smirk on the boy's face.
"Just had a run in with Renzo, he is now gaping like a fish," Roman said, chuckling at the look Shima gave him before he left.
Izumo started to laugh with him, enjoying the though of the insufferable boy getting a dose of karma.
"So, may I use the bathroom to change, or do you want me stripping here?" Roman inquired.
Paku, who was drinking from a water bottle started to splutter, and Izumo simply blushed.
"S-Sure, just don't start stripping until you IN the bathroom!" Izumo replied, trying to fight the blush in her cheeks.
"Thanks, now don't drowned," the boy called before entering the bathroom.
The girls took the few minute break from the male to calm down, or in Paku's case, drain the water from her lungs. Soon the two fell into an awkward silence.
For Roman, he continued chuckling as he closed the door behind him. He swiftly removed his shirt and neatly set it on the porcelain countertop. He did the same for his pants and slipped on a set of black athletic pants and an olive-green shirt that said "ARMY" in English on the front of it.
Roman came out of the bathroom and neatly set is stuff on next to a table in the living. He found the girls had recomposed themselves and were now talking mundanely about the project.
"So, what should we start work on first?" Roman ask as after he set his stuff down.
The two looked him over critically, and Roman fidgeted slightly under their gaze.
"What?" He finally asked.
"We have just never seen you outside of your uniform," Izumo stated in return.
"Speaking of which, aren't those uniforms uncomfortable?" Roman asked, trying to divert the subject.
"Well, yeah, we should get changed as well," Izumo said, turning to Paku, who nodded in agreement.
They walked into their bedroom and closed the door behind them, but not before uttering a quick, "No peaking" to Roman. The boy decided to get his stuff out of his bag, taking out his binder with the assignment, and he started work on his section again and quickly became engrossed in his work.
About ten minutes later, Roman felt a tap on his shoulder and saw the girls had come out of the room.
Izumo was now wearing a set of sweatpants with artic foxes printed on it, with a black shirt with a Japanese character for "spirit" written on it.
Paku, on the other hand, was wearing a blander set of grey sweatpants and a dull yellow shirt.
"Now, I believe we are ready to start," Izumo state, taking a seat opposite Roman. "I believe we were at possible mating…"
{-}
About an hour and a half passed as the group working on their project, Roman and Paku just finished the essay, and Izumo put the final few lines on the accompanying image of the wendigo.
"Finally, we are done," Izumo says, letter herself lay back on the floor.
"And so are we," Roman says, leaning back and massaging his right hand.
"I guess we got it all done instead of just a bit," Paku joked, mimicking Roman's actions.
The group settled into more relaxed positions, Izumo and Paku took the couch while Roman laid back on the floor, straightening his back.
"Welp, I guess I should go home," Roman say, coming up to a sitting position.
Izumo seemed to think something over instead of responding directly. She seemed to come to a conclusion.
"Why don't you stay a bit longer," Izumo offered, shrinking back afterwards.
Paku looked at her friend with a look of pure shock, much more vivid than the earlier reaction.
Roman, for his part, kept his composure. He took a moment to think it over and came to a simple answer.
"Sure, I wasn't planning on anything else tonight," Roman replied, noting Izumo's eyes light up slightly.
"What are we going to do though?" Paku asked, finally controlling her shock.
"A movie wouldn't be a bad idea," Roman recommended, looking at the two on the couch.
"Not a bad idea," Izumo stated, looking over at the television on a small shelf. "We have a DvD player and a few movies."
"Got any with subtitles?" Roman asked, with an idle curiosity.
"A few, why do you ask?" Paku inquired.
"My primary language is that of English," Roman stated in an elegant English tone.
The two girls sat in silence, only catching a partial part of his statement.
"I forgot you were American," Izumo stated bluntly.
"I am indeed, anyway, got any interesting movies?" Roman asked, chuckling.
Paku got up and looked through the collection, after a few minutes of deliberation, they decided to watch an old animated movie about a witch moving to a bigger city with bigger ambitions.
They all settled down on the couch, Roman in the middle of the two girls, mainly because Izumo wouldn't let him discomfort either of the girls, however. The movie started and roman leaned back and put his arms out on the top of the backrest, letting them rest loosely behind the two girls, but not making contact.
About halfway through the movie Roman felt himself drifting, he leaned his head back and thought closing his eyes for a second wouldn't hurt. Instantly Roman was out like a light, but the other two had been too tired to notice, they other two slowly started to drift out of their conscious state, Izumo was the first to nod off, shortly followed by Paku.
As the three became victim to the sandman, one would swear they heard the chuckle of an otaku on the wind.