"Lovely morning today, isn't it, sir?" That was what Ray was greeted with when he stepped out of the dorms. He really wasn't sure if he was seeing things. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up again. Sir Caller was still there.
"Uh... what are you doing?"
"I believe I am currently hanging around here, sir." Responded a Sir Caller who was currently hanging off a tree by his feet. It would seem that Elleno had been dead serious about lynching him. "And, I do believe that I am currently in the slow process of dying."
"I may regret asking this, but how did Elleno get you up to the highest branch on that tree? That has to be at least six meters!"
"It's quite a funny story, sir..."
"It's seven in the morning. We only have meet sensei at eight. I have time." Ray spoke. For once, he had actually woken up to his alarm, which went off half an hour earlier than it was supposed to. Since he couldn't get back to sleep, he decided that he'd just get ready for the day.
"Pity. Well, sir, if you want to know, this one wasn't Elleno. Ask the Director if you really, really, want to know."
0o0
Back in his office, Mephisto sneezed.
0o0
"Wouldn't it make more sense to ask you, though? I mean, you are here right now." Ray pressed as Sir Caller shot him a deadpanned look.
"Don't you have more pressing issues to attend to, sir?"
"... Was that a pun?"
"No sir."
"Anyway, what do you mean by 'this one'?" Ray asked, referencing what Sir Caller had said in a previous sentence.
"I mean to say that the others hung me outside the Director's office."
There was a pause as the gears turned in Ray's head, before...
"Oh. Oh." The teenager said, realization dawning on him before he let out a few muffled snickers, which quickly changed to full blown laughter since the implications of Sir Caller's sentence were much too hilarious to not laugh at.
"Sir? Would you be so kind as to let me down? Sir? Sir!"
0o0
"Hey, didn't we leave Sir Caller here?"
"You think he got himself down?"
"Nah, he's too stupid for that."
"Right."
0o0
Ray had nearly been late, since it took him quite a while to stop laughing and attempt to get Sir Caller off the tree. Eventually, he had been able to get his fellow classmate off the tree via conveniently placed tall foldable ladder that had been left against the side of the dorm building. It took him half an hour to set the ladder up since it didn't come with instructions, and get Sir Caller down. Almost immediately, his senior had run off and abandoned him, leaving Ray to keep the ladder which took him another twenty five minutes.
All in all, Ray had five minutes to reach the academy, which was fifteen minutes away from the dorm. Thank whatever being was up there that he was a fast runner.
"Congratulations, my dear Pages, sorry, Esquires! You've passed!" A shower of confetti rained down on the newly promoted Esquires, promising days of picking the bits of paper from their clothes and hair. Mephisto had somehow pulled a brightly colored bannered from his hat, the ridiculously blinding neon words reading, 'Congratulations Esquires!'.
"Good lord, he's mad." Chi muttered under her breath.
"You just realized?" Ray couldn't help but quietly voice. Both were either ignored, or Mephisto just didn't hear. It was probably the former, judging from past experience.
"For this momentous occasion, I, as your wealthy Director, shall treat you all to Monjayaki!"
In the back of the room, Yukio facepalmed.
0o0
Yukio sat away from his students, more content to watch to watch the birds than to sit around and watch the students cook the Monjayaki.
He'd never admit it aloud, but it pained him to see the scene. Go back in time fifteen year, and it would have been an identical replica of his first class's celebration in becoming Esquires.
Well, almost, if Caller would just stop trying to dump an excessive amount of salt in Elleno's monjayaki...
"Okumura-kun!" Mephisto, unsurprisngly clad in a pink Honey Honey Sisters yukata, came up to Yukio in his usual manner.
"Director Pheles," Yukio greeted half heartedly, not really in the mood to speak with the King of Time. "What now?"
"There's no need to take that tone with me," Mephisto huffed, just as a grin crossed his face. "I just thought I'd tell you that the Vatican is getting rather suspicious. Too many demons are beginning to gather."
Yukio narrowed his eyes from behind his glasses. "What are you implying?"
Mephisto shrugged, throughly enjoying messing with the younger Okumura twin aa he completely ignored the younger male's previous question. "I wonder, if the Vatican came across someone who looks just like Satan's youngest spawn, would they take him in for trial? Or, would they just execute him?"
Yukio shot the demon the dirtiest look he could muster.
"But of course, this is all hypothetical." Mephisto continued. "But still, it is just something to watch out for, even more so due to the rise of demonic activity all over the world."
"Man, this looks great!" Ray loudly commented from the counter where he just was finishing preparing the monjayaki, cutting off anything Yukio was about to say. "I can't wait to eat it!"
"Hey! Don't start without me!" Mephisto cried, all traces of his previous seriousness gone in the blink of an eye as he rushed over.
Yukio didn't move from his spot, but simply took out his phone. The Vatican would no doubt notice something if he didn't hurry. They would come investigate, and when they find Ray...
No, his blood couldn't be spilled again.
Yukio pushed away the memories of that day, of Rin's life blood painting the concrete pavement with gore, into the darkest crevices of his mind.
He couldn't do this alone.
He dialed a number and held it to his ear, listening to the ringing before there was a click as the other person on the end of the line picked up.
"Hello, Suguro-san. I'm sorry to bother you, but I need you, Shima-san, and Miwa-san's' help. I can't do this myself."
o...o
"No, I'm afraid you'll need to see it to actually believe me."
o...o
"Yes, I will be asking Kamiki-san."
o...o
"Thank you, Suguro-san. And I do apologise for calling you out here from Tokyo."
Yukio hung up. He let his eyes trail towards Ray, taking in his cheerful appearance as he laughed at some joke Daku told.
Never again.
0o0
On the other end of the phone, Suguro sighed as he replaced the device back onto the receiver. Trust his old teacher to suddenly call him up out of the blue and ask for help.
Exactly what he needed help with, Suguro had no idea.
He wished Yukio had told him what that was all about though. He was the Head priest of a temple, he couldn't just go off suddenly without a good reason.
He'd just have to give his former teacher the benefit of the doubt. After all, he didn't call if it wasn't important.
"Hey Bon, who was that?" Shima asked, poking his head into the room. He no longer had his hair dyed pink, and left it as its natural hair colour. Much like Suguro who had long outgrown having his trademark 'rooster hairstyle', as Rin (Suguro felt his heart clench at the thought of the male) had dubbed it.
"It was Yukio," Suguro answered, before adding, "And cut it out with the 'Bon'!"
"No way!" Shima snickered. "It's too good of a nickname to pass up! Anyway, you said something about Okumura?"
Suguro, although still slightly miffed about the nickname, answered. "Okumura needs help back at True Cross, and he asked us and Konekomaru to come and help him out."
Shima whistled. "Sounds important. Did Okumura tell you what it was about?"
The Head priest shook his head. "He just said I'll need to see it to believe it."
"Aw man, that sucks." Shima moaned. "Now I'm feeling worried."
"That's what you always say." Suguro commented flatly as he stood up. "Get Konekomaru. We're leaving on the earliest train we can get on."
"But that's an hour from now!"
"Well then, you better get packing."
0o0
Izumo hung up, after telling Yukio that no, it wasn't like she wanted to help him, but she didn't have anything to do for the next three weeks, and she was bored.
Although, she was a tad bit curious about what her former sensei needed help with...
She shook her head, brushing strands of short purple hair from her face. She had cut it a while back, deciding that she hadn't liked the look.
Well, she had better get packing. It wouldn't be good to be away from Inari for too long a time and leave the shrine unattended, especially with more and more shady people appearing around these parts.
0o0
"I see you've called your brother's old classmates." Mephisto addressed Yukio, who narrowed his eyes.
"What of it?"
"Oh, nothing." The Demon King replied flippantly. "And that wasn't what I called you here for. I assume you remember that forest camp you took your first class on to determine whether or not they were ready for missions?"
How could Yukio forget? That was where everything went downhill.
Seeing the dark look on his youngest half brother's face, Mephisto wisely decided not to tread on that particular ground, and continued on a different path.
"Well, this year, I have decided to conduct no such thing!"
"Director Pheles!" Yukio began to protest. "That test determines whether or not the Esquires are ready for actual field work!"
"And what better way to test them than on the actual field?" Mephisto grinned. "Dangerous, yes, but being an Exorcist is not without risk! Have them realise early on how dangerous Exorcism is, rather than keeping them sheltered. Am I right?"
Begrudgingly, Yukio had to admit that Mephisto's idea actually made sense. But he couldn't help but feel as though there was some ulterior motive behind this.
"Fear not, Okumura-kun," Mephisto propped his feet up on the desk. "You'll be there, carrying out your 'duty' I believe. I'll even allow your old students to accompany your current students. That is a suitable compromise."
Finally, after a moment, Yukio sighed. "What is it that you have in mind for my students to undertake?"
"Excellent!" The demon crowed, seeing that he had won. "As for the assignment, the Cram School students will head over to the Singapore branch and investigate the increase in demonic activity, which currently has one of the highest concentrations of demonic activity besides Japan."
"Wait, Singapore branch?!" If Yukio had been sure before, he just knew there was some ulterior motive regarding Ray now.
"Indeed, Okumura-kun! Apparently during recent years, their numbers have dwindled due to a decrease in number of those receiving a Spirit Wound. As such, they need extra manpower, and what better way is there than to kill two birds with one stone?"
Yukio couldn't respond to that.
0o0
Yukio stood at the platform of the train station, awaiting the arrival of the former Cram School students.
He checked his watch. The train from Kyoto should be arriving in about a minute...
The train pulled into the station, not one second late as it stopped at the platform.
The doors slid open, and amongst the small crowd, Yukio was quickly able to recognise his former students, even though it had been a while since he had actually last seen them.
"Yo, Okumura!" Shima waved as soon as he had spotted their former teacher.
"Shima-san," Yukio greeted him, still unused to seeing the man without a head full of pink hair, before turning to Suguro and Konekomaru.
"Miwa-san, it's good to see you." The aforementioned nodded.
"It is good to see you too." He spoke. He still sported a bald head, although he had significantly grown taller since he was fifteen.
Finally, Suguro. "Thank you for coming all the way out here with Shima-san and Miwa-san."
"It's alright." The Head Priest then chamged the topic. "So, what was it that you needed help with?"
Yukio looked uncomfortable for a moment, before reverting back to his usual stoic appearance. "I... I'd prefer to show all of you at once, so please wait for Kamiki-san. And... I don't know how any of you will react, especially after..."
He trailed off, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "Please, don't over react, no matter how shocked you are. He won't understand."
The three Kyoto natives cast a glance at each other, the unspoken question in the air.
He?
A few minutes passed as they waited for the last member of the group to arrive, until another train finally pulled into the station.
The doors slid open, and out stepped a familiar face, her tsundere-ness as visible as always.
"Izumo-chan!" Shima waved happily, to which he was met with a cold shoulder and a 'tsk!'.
"Hmmph, idiot." She scoffed, ignoring the over dramatic wails from the male before she walked over to Yukio.
"What is it that you need help with? Get it over and done with, because I have things to do."
Yukio hesitated for a moment, before he sighed, gesturing for the group to follow him. "Alright, follow me back to the dorms. And again, I repeat. Do not act or say anything rashly."
"Why would we do that?" Izumo asked, her frown still in place.
"Is it something... serious?" Konekomaru couldn't help but ask nervously.
"Not serious right now, but this situation will turn for the worse if the Vatican discovers it."
"Ahahaha... you didn't kill anyone, did you?" Shima asked, laughing nervously as he tried to lighten the mood.
"No, I did not." Yukio deadpanned. "But since you all appear to be so insistent in knowing, I will give you a brief run down. This involves one of my current students, and... you will know why I'm so concerned soon enough."
Seeing that their former sensei was not going to say more on the matter until at a later time, they walked in silence until they reached the old boys' dorm.
Yukio pushed the door open, and quickly moved into the building, the others following after.
The tense silence was absolutely killing them, as was their burning curiosity, but none of them said anything. They just had to wait and see what the fuss was all about.
Finally, Yukio stopped in front of one of the rooms close to his own, before he turned to his former students. "Alright, we're here. I'll answer any questions you may have, as soon as I get this over with. But first, move a little further away."
"Hurry up." Izumo said flatly, looking disinterested although she too was curious to finally see what their former teacher had called them out for.
Yukio knocked on door, and there was the sound of footsteps just before the door opened, revealing a very familiar looking teenager with blue eyes and dark hair.
"Okumura sensei? Is there anything you need?" He asked, oblivious to the additional people in the area.
"Yes. Could you tell your other classmates that the Director just gave the Esquires an assignment to test if you all are ready for field work? I'll give the details later, but for now, please tell them." Yukio spoke, trying to ignore the stares from his former students boring into his back.
He could already hear them demanding for an explanation.
"Okay. One moment." The teenager shut the door to the room, and a click from the other side signaled the use of a magic key.
Yukio turned to face the former Cram School students.
"That was Ray Owens, my student. And he is the reason I need all of you to help me."
[A/N I'm so sorry I took like a month to update! I've got exams to study for!Anyway, my next update should come out after my exams or something, so until then, I'm sorry I won't be updating!
Also, since I'm here, I would like to address something that I find rather irritating. If you wish to ask questions, please use your account, so I can reply to you.
And to that one guest who said I was rehashing Blue Exorcist with the characters I have, I don't mean to be rude, but have you read the chapters I wrote up until chapter 8? They were all original! Sure, I had to use the manga to ensure that I was getting my facts right, but other than that, I didn't reference the manga or the anime. Chapter 9 I do admit was similar to that one part of Blue Exorcist, but it only mildly resembles it. Sure, sure, same setting and punishment, but completely different circumstances. And regarding your concern with the OCs, I did say that they were going to be important for a while, but not for the whole story. I specifically mentioned that a while back in one of the Author Notes. And, since I utterly suck at creating decent OCs, the ones I use right now that belong to my brother are practice for any future OCs I create.
Anyway, sorry for that. I needed to get that off my chest. And the OCs should be gone by the time this arc is over, and I'll be able to build things from there to get to the part I've been waiting to write.
And then comes angst...
Anyway, thanks for reading, and bye!
~ Gwntan12 ]