Ordinary.
That's how everything felt now. There was nothing to do. Sure, the factions were stirring again (but they were always up to something or other), but there was really no use for his powers. Not to serve his Mind Breaker, at least. And what good was the point of having your powers amplified by a Mind Breaker if you weren't going to use them?
He glanced around the room, bored, seeking out his fellows, wondering if they felt the same. He doubted it. Kaname was always with Kirihara; it was disturbing how affectionate the Darklore could be. Amou was as blissfully oblivious as before being Mind Breaked; the releasing of his memories had done little to dampen his spirit. Shiba-sempai didn't seem at all bothered; everything had gone well for him, including him being able to shake off his fiancée. And, of course, Nakaura-sensei was busy with normal things—running the tennis team (he'd scolded Naoya several times for missing practice), teaching math, and trying to be Amou-kun's father while really harboring deeper feelings (not that anyone mentioned those—Nakaura-sensei was scary when mad).
Naoya sighed and leaned back in his chair, angling himself so that he could look outside. He couldn't even remember what class he was in (a glance at the board told him it was literature; thank goodness it wasn't math) and he didn't really care. He could always borrow Kaname's notes. The sun was bright and the birds were singing. How exciting. How cliché. How utterly ordinary.
He glanced over at the clock for the umpteenth time that morning, noting that there were only three minutes left. He could survive for three more minutes. Why, he could even take three minutes to pack up his—
"Huh?" he gasped, without realizing he'd said it aloud. No one seemed to notice, though, as he slowly swiveled himself around in his seat. Something was prickling at the back of his mind. It was the gentle spark of power. Someone with power—someone he hadn't previously known about—was here. Slowly, he took stock of the room. He scanned every student, using his psychic powers to probe their minds. There were no new students, and none of the old ones showed any signs of newly awakened power. He felt the familiar spark of Amou, Kirihara, and Kaname—but nothing new.
Readjusting himself in his chair, he let his gaze wander outside. Everything seemed normal… he peered down at the empty sidewalk. It was in the middle of class on a closed campus, so it should have been free of stray students and strangers. But a flash of red caught his attention. He craned his neck to see around a tree branch in his way. There! Naoya frowned. Where…
The girl standing beneath the tree had long, straight dark hair reaching to her knees. It fell in a single thick ebony wave, and was tied loosely with a red ribbon. Rather than a school uniform, she was wearing a long red dress reaching to her feet. It was fitted over her breasts, but flared out below them in a long, loose, flowing skirt. The sleeves were also long and wide, trailing to midway down her skirt. He couldn't see her face. If he leaned over some more…
"Itsuki-kun?" Mana Kirihara's voice broke his concentration.
"Kirihara-san?" he asked, turning back around.
"Kaname asked me to bring you his notes. He said he knows you weren't paying attention during class, and he wants to know what was so interesting."
"Ah, arigatou Kirihara-san. Tell Kaname it was nothing, I was just bored." He took the proffered notes and stuck them into his bag.
"Okay!" she said brightly, turning and flitting back towards her desk, just as the bell rang.
Naoya turned to look out the window one last time. When his eyes found the spot under the tree where the girl had been standing, only the tree's shadow met his gaze.
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"Good practice, boys. At this rate, we'll be good enough to be Regional champions, easily," the coach was telling the team after school. Isshin nodded and wiped his face again with a towel. He'd heard the speech before; he didn't need to pay much more attention this time.
"All right. Get back to the locker room—I'll see you tomorrow after school." Isshin set off for the locker room as soon as his coach dismissed him.
"Shiba-sempai!" He stopped and turned just outside the gym doors, waiting for Kusakabe to catch up to him. "Good game," Kusakabe offered, referring to the scrimmage match they'd played earlier during practice. Despite Kusakabe's speed, he'd been fairly ineffective against the taller and ever so slightly slower Isshin during the game.
"Same to you." They set off again at a leisurely walk, waiting until they were out of earshot of the other students.
"Tonight, at Nakaura-sensei's house, eight o'clock."
"All of us?"
"Yeah."
"Does it have to be his house?" His already shaky relationship with the math teacher and Wiz-Dom magician was well known and usually respected.
"It's the only place we won't arouse suspicion. It'll look weird for any of us to be bringing home a teacher, plus I know Itsuki's mother will know that Mana is a Mind Breaker and that none of us are E.G.O. members. Same goes for your family, I imagine." Isshin nodded in agreement.
"What's up?" They rarely all met with their master… Nakaura least of all. As far as Isshin could tell, he hadn't been flat-out Mind Breaked by Mana, having joined as a stipulation of Amou joining, and certainly did not show as much affection for the young girl as the others did.
"Itsuki and Haruna think there's a reason for us to be concerned. Some great power in the area… We couldn't really talk, since Mana and Itsuki were off to E.G.O. headquarters to talk directly to Haruna." Kusakabe shrugged. "We'll find out later, I guess."
"Okay. See you then." Kusakabe took off at a light run for the remaining distance, while Isshin remained walking. It wasn't that much farther…
"Hmmm?" he stopped dead in his tracks, completely captivated by the sight before him.
She was leaning against the bike racks to his left, partially hidden by the side of the locker rooms. Her dress was odd, and a vibrant, eye-catching red. She was a nice height too; he thought that if she stood up straight, the top of her head would rest just below his chin. But he was so close to her he could see her face. Pale, china white, with finely chiseled features. Dark, emerald green eyes that flickered and shone with every movement, every single drop of sunlight catching and reflecting in them. High, angular cheekbones. Long, soft, thick eyelashes. Finely arched eyebrows. High forehead patterned with locks of her dark hair. Small, full, ruby red lips. She was as perfect as a picture… In fact, if Isshin hadn't known better, he would've thought she was nothing but an illusion.
She blinked once, twice. Long, slow, drawn out blinks. She gave a little half-smile and…
"Shiba-sempai!" one of the younger team members came out of the locker room, calling his name. "Shiba-sempai, Coach wants to talk to you!"
"All right!" Isshin called, turning to give the boy acknowledgment. When the boy was gone and he'd turned back to the girl, the bike rack was empty.
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"Tomonori-san?" Tsukasa's soft voice asked politely. "I'm going home now. Should I start dinner?"
"When are the others coming?" Tomonori asked absently, crossing out a wrong answer on a math test.
"Eight."
He glanced up at the clock hanging in the back of the classroom and shook his head. "I should be home in plenty of time. I'll make enough so that they can eat, if they want."
Tsukasa nodded and collected his things. "I'll see you when you get home."
At six o'clock, Tomonori sighed, rubbed his throbbing temples and put the math tests away in a desk drawer. He could finish tomorrow morning. He locked his room and walked down the empty school hallways, noting the beautiful patterns the dying sun cast on the cold linoleum floors. Out the door… down the steps… and onto the sidewalk. He began walking home, trying to remember what exactly there was to make dinner with.
The sound of wings caught his attention as they descended around him. Carefully, coolly, he glanced out the sides of his eyes to take stock of the interesting situation. Darklore, he concluded. Evil Darklore. He wondered how strong they were. He reached into his sleeve for the cross on the chain, keeping an eye on the demons. Just as he had asked no questions when prepared to expel Kusakabe, he wasn't going to ask any now.
With a quick flick of his wrist he let the cross fly, arching around him to make a full circle. It cut across the demons with its light, a move that should have defeated them if they were weak. When the light faded, he saw that they were all still standing, and had closed the circle slightly. He gritted his teeth. He rarely used much more power than that, even when fighting strong enemies… these demons were strong. He didn't know where they'd come from, but if a Mind Breaker was controlling them, it was an extremely strong Mind Breaker.
One of them broke the circle, lunging towards him. The chain whipped out and wrapped around his arm, pulling him to a stop. Physically their strength was incomparable, but Tomonori hoped that his magic would even things out. He reached out with his other hand, gripping a metal cross. He began to whisper the spell to expel the demon.
Suddenly a long string of beads shot out of nowhere past his face and wrapped itself around the demon's neck. The beads tightened, then snapped the demon's neck. It began to disintegrate, dropping Tomonori's chain to the ground with a loud clatter. As the beads whipped by him as their owner retrieved them, he saw the ornate gold cross hanging from the end. He turned to look for the owner of the beads.
She was standing behind him, perfectly still, beads wrapped around one hand and the cross dangling from the other. Her face was impassive, showing no sign of strain or even exertion. Calmly, slowly, she began to walk towards him. The demons were perfectly still. Tomonori, usually unable to sense power very well, could feel the Wiz-Dom magic radiating from her. The long red dress fluttered around her ankles, the rustling the only sound to be heard. It felt as though she'd made time stop as she walked, made it wait for her.
When she was beside him, she turned to look at him, and said, softly, "You're too slow, sensei." Then she turned away, and in a blur of red she'd flung her string of beads out, the cross cutting across the demons' chests. With a sharp cry she caught the bloody cross in her left hand. Her right hand extended, magic concentrating itself at her fingertips. With a little flick of her wrist she'd released the power, sending the ball of energy straight at another demon. Then the cross was flying again, and Tomonori found himself surrounded by the dust of dead demons.
She stood beside him, still and beautifully dangerous. Without so much as a glance at him, she began to walk away.
"Wait!" he called, taking a few steps to follow her.
"Don't follow me," she ordered, voice soft and deadly. "You'll only get into more trouble. Those demons were looking for me, not you. You just happened to be a convenient Wiz-Dom target. Understand?" she asked coldly.
His eyes widened, and he found himself unable to speak. "Y-y-yes," he managed to stammer. He remained frozen in place for a few more moments as she walked away. Only when she turned the corner and was out of his sight was he able to move. Rather than chase after her, he turned and resumed his walk home, mind spinning with the display of power he'd just witnessed.