Symbols
Of all the things he had to get used to, Rin Okumura had never thought that simple symbols and holy sentences would become an obstacle on his path to kill Satan. Even though he was not a full-fleshed demon child send to Assiah to destroy humanity, he would still feel the effects of a cross, a bible verse or a ritual. Some would affect him while other ones would do nothing worth mentioning.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." He mourned, but he did not feel comforted. The holy words would comfort those who had sinned and regretted doing so, those who feel grief from wrongdoings, yet he did not feel any blessings send his way. Instead, he felt judged, those words were not for him, and he knew that. If there really were a god, then why would he bless a demon?
"And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Yet another verse. This one gave him goose bumps, a cold chill traveling down his spine and ended at the tip of his tail. He found himself taking on his jacket to stay warm, all color draining from his face. Was he simply imagining things? Maybe he took the words personally, that had to be a good reason for him to feel this weird. He was not sure, all he knew was that this feeling was new, and he did not like it.
Yet he stayed put and listened, ignoring the side effects of each verse as they practiced one part after the other. He found his tongue to be burning when he had to read something aloud and lips starting to swell, as if he was having a battle with himself. So far, he was losing the fight.
"Therefore submit to god. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The students raised a cross and repeated the sentence. Okay, he was not simply imagining things, his heart started to beat faster and it felt like small spiders had somehow managed to get under his skin and started crawling around, biting as they did so. He found himself scratching his arms and not daring to lift the cross just yet. This rewarded him with a glare from the teacher. Was he keeping an eye on him? Why?
Once most of those cursed verses were finally over, they moved on to symbols. Here he found himself going through all kinds of emotions and physical states. He went from freezing to suddenly sweating and feeling hungry. He then suddenly had the urge to tear his skin off and cry for no apparent reason.
However, he still stayed put. He would become an exorcist, even if that meant that he had to torture himself to do so. It was not as everything they did or said hurt him, it was manageable, and he needed to know his limits. What was the point of being there if he could not attend class? Rin had made it just fine without anyone getting suspicious, and when Shiemi asked him whether he was feeling okay, he had lied and said that he was just a little tired. It was not new to him to dose off in the middle of a lesson, so nothing strange there. However, to tell the truth, he was exhausted, and everything ached. She did not seem to believe him, yet she went back to write notes.
The teacher told the class to study the metal cross lying on their desk, the same one he had asked them to lift earlier. Finally feeling brave, Rin had reached for it, only to cry out and redraw his hand. His hand burned upon touching it and left a mark in his palm. He inwardly cursed himself for being stupid enough to try something like that in public. The class went quiet and turned their eyes to him. He hid his hand and gave them an awkward smile in return, blaming that the cross was cold to the touch and that he was feeling a bit under the weather, which would explain why he kept taking his jacket on and off.
He flinched when Shiemi suddenly placed a hand on his forehead, only to withdraw it as fast as Rin had upon touching the cross. "You are burning!" she exclaimed, and for a second he thought she meant that quite literally. "You are having a fever." She stated and he shrugged. He was not feeling his best, but that had nothing to do with an actual illness so it should not be a problem.
How wrong he had been to ignore it. After refusing to leave class, determined to stay put and continue as if nothing was wrong, he started to tremble, went through a short Epileptic-like seizure and fell unconscious upon hearing Bon recite another sacred verse. He sure as hell had gained everyone's attention by now, though Bon brushed it off as if it was nothing. "Oi, he fell asleep, so what? That whole act of his was probably just bullshit trying to scare us. That kid ain't normal."
The class went quiet once more. Only after Yukio entered to collect his fainted older brother and pretended to take him to the nurse, did the class start up again from where they left.
He ended up staying in bed for the rest of the day, a burning rash covering his neck, mouth and hands after being in contact with certain religious objects. This had been a lesson learned: If sacred verses and symbols make you feel like you are about to collapse, then find a reason to leave class for a couple of minutes instead of being a stubborn ass. He sure hoped those side effects would only be temporary, or he might have a serious problem finishing cram school.