Kokuma hated the white hot sun, overbearing on her exposed nape. The light autumn air wasn't enough to cool her—hardly anything was, save for the dead of winter or a high-end AC. She fanned herself with one of her pale hands as she stepped inside the school building to replace her outdoor shoes.
If there was one thing Kokuma Jutsu couldn't get used to in human life, it was how unbearably hot everything was. Though, she supposed that was more a symptom of being a demon than a trait of the overworld.
She placed her outdoor shoes in her locker. Ah, yes, Kokuma was a demon. It had been about a year since she came here, to the prestigious Japanese school Akademi High, but an uncountable number of years since Kokuma was born.
Closing the metal door, Kokuma turned and walked down the hallway to her club, the Occult Club. She couldn't help but chuckle whenever she thought of it; the members' devotion to the otherworldly was admirable, if a bit (or incredibly) inaccurate. Irony was probably the main reason why Kokuma decided to join despite her circumstances, only staying because of everyone's friendliness and open-mindedness.
As Kokuma walked into the dark room, she saw one of her clubmates look up at her. "Oh, Kokuma, you're here!" That was Supana Churu. She was a first-year and slightly shorter than Kokuma's human form, putting her hair up in pigtails adorned by plastic skulls. "How come you're late?"
She fanned herself again. "It's too hot out. How am I supposed to drag myself out of bed like this?"
"It's 16 degrees out," said someone else, a boy named Daku Atsu. He was a second-year who wore glasses and always seemed to be annoyed with something.
Kokuma rolled her eyes jokingly. "That's too hot."
"Um." At that, the room fell silent. "It's set to be a full moon tonight." Saying this was the quiet club leader, Oka Ruto. Oka had a mop of black hair covering her pale face, eyes big with perpetual nervousness. "It's a full moon tonight" was codeword for "I want to try to summon a demon"; why Oka always insisted on equivocating was a mystery.
Of all of the Occult Club's activities, demon-summoning was their hallmark. Not for any allure in the mysterious act, but in the fact that it always ended in predictable failure.
Propping open the club doors with one leg was Shin Higaku, who was closest to Oka. "I have most of the materials here." Shin, with hair as disheveled as Oka's, was carrying a hodgepodge of artifacts. Beside him carrying more things was the final club member, Chojo Tekina, whose hair covered his right eye.
"Good." A small smile appeared on Oka's lips. "Once we're set up, we can start."
"And hurry up so we don't get late for class like last month," Daku quipped, setting out the paraphernalia.
Kokuma was completely clueless as always when it came to the odd rhythm of setting up the charms, the tomes, the relics, the what-have-you's, but the whole place was decked out to Oka's satisfaction in about 15 minutes.
The humans knelt and chanted something vaguely in Latin under the dim tealights (real flames were banned after the incident), but Kokuma instead closed her eyes and searched for her link to the demon realm. After all this time she was still in the dark about exactly what she needed to do here. All her superiors had to say was that the school gave off an unsettling atmosphere.
Inhale. Exhale. The ambient sounds of the clubroom faded away, the imprint of light on her eyelids turning into the inky black place Kokuma called home. Communicating like this was something she had never mastered, and her control over her form slipped away into something earnest.
Slowly, Kokuma steadied herself until she could stand straight on the ghostly plane. Waiting in front of her was one of her brothers, watching her with amusement.
"Are you done?" he asked boredly, stifling a yawn.
She scowled at him. "Brother, you know why I am here. Have you heard any word about what I need to do?"
"Why do you ask me?" He looked away as if preoccupied with something else. "Ask the one who gave you your mission."
"Don't answer the phone if you're just going to complain." She crossed her arms.
"Answer the phone you say?" Her brother smirked. "Why, it's only been a year and you already act so human!"
Kokuma glowered. "You're always so superfluous. Just answer my question before they finish."
"Ah, your human friends' cute little rituals." He laughed. "I would have punished them just for the audacity! I simply don't understand your hesitation."
"Excuse me for being considerate," Kokuma said. "It's anyways charming."
"To answer your question: no, I haven't heard anything, though I might have were I listening." He grinned. "Don't you have to go soon?"
And then the link was severed, Kokuma falling squarely back into reality. She startled, feeling Supana's hand on her arm.
"Are you okay?" Supana asked softly. Everyone else was cleaning up.
"Yeah, just spacing out." Kokuma smiled and stood up.
Supana stood as well, biting her lip.
Kokuma looked at her in concern. "What about you? You look kinda nervous."
"Well, I…" Supana looked to the side. "I—nothing. There's just a test coming up. Speaking of which, I should, uh, go take it." She darted out of the club.
"Stop trying to escape responsibility!" Daku scolded as Supana left.
I wonder if I can get away with communicating with the realm again, Kokuma thought as she barely listened to the teacher in front. No, it'll be just as boring as this.
She inwardly sighed and doodled in her notebook. As she doodled, though, a feeling of unease struck her with sudden vigor.
Her pencil fell out of her hand onto the desk, but its sound was muffled against the dread building in her heart. Gods, she felt sick to her stomach; Kokuma couldn't remember the last time she felt this way.
Unable to take it anymore, she stood up. "Nana-sensei, please, could I be excused?"
The teacher waved her away, and Kokuma left. Even leaving the room didn't quell the unease. Kokuma decided to stop by the restroom, hoping a splash of cold water would calm her nerves.
But there's a thing about gut feelings—they're usually right.
The first thing Kokuma heard upon entering the girl's bathroom was the sickening sound of skin being torn apart. A black-haired girl stood over the supine form of a bloodied body, blossoms of red pooling around them both. Unthinking, Kokuma screamed in horror.
The black-haired girl whirled around, her manic grey eyes a sight more devilish than any creature from the realm. The knife in her hand gleamed under the fluorescent lights, and she dashed at Kokuma.
She can't hurt me, she can't hurt me, she can't hurt me—yet the black-haired girl running after her without fear still caused Kokuma to yelp and leave the school as fast as she could.
As she passed the school grounds, she caught sight of the black-haired girl glaring at her with cold eyes. The panic didn't settle until Kokuma finally reached home, door slamming behind her.
Leaning on a bookshelf, Kokuma caught her breath, starting to feel ridiculous for letting a teenage girl overwhelm her. "What the hell was that…"
The unsettling atmosphere made sense now. After a moment of racking her head, the name of the black-haired girl finally came to her: Ayano Aishi. Ayano was a mysterious second-year that mostly kept to herself. The perfect kind of person who would commit such a crime.
Kokuma sat down on her sofa and crossed her legs, closing her eyes. The motion was still unsteady, but the environment of humans soon faded away into the ghastly realm.
Before her now wasn't the smug face of her brother, but her grandfather. She knelt on one one leg in respect. "Grandfather, I believe I have discovered what I must do."
He gave a silent gesture to continue. "It concerns a girl named Ayano Aishi. Just today I found her in the middle of a murder."
"Aishi…" That was a voice, she felt, that stretched upon epochs. It was utterly ageless and primeval; simply put, it demanded respect. "That is not a name of no significance."
"What do you mean…?" She lifted her head.
"The line of the Aishi women began a long time ago." He moved a hand outwards, creating apparitions of the past. "Its founder made a contract with a demon to secure her love. However, her bloodline was cursed to be devoid of emotion henceforth."
"I see." Kokuma's family was one of the most influential in the realm; still, her elders were dreadfully protective of any threats to their status. She should have known their concern of the school wasn't altruism.
"So, my granddaughter, that is your task. Kill the Aishi girl, and eliminate the curse."
Kokuma rose slowly. "Ah, Grandfather, must I kill…?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "However you lift the curse is no matter to me."
The connection severed.