Purple Exorcist
The Tale of Reiji Shiratori
Chapter Two
The Doctor and the Bowl
Reiji walked into the classroom and felt the eyes of the other students on him. The trio of girls whispered in hushed tones, but in a class of six, it was less than subtle. Taira eyed him warily, but smiled and waved all the same as he passed. Shuri however, glared daggers at him as he went, clearly not interested in being discreet about his distaste for him.
Throwing himself into his seat, the class started with little hassle, Mr. Yunokawa talking them through various aspects of demons. After about an hour, he paused in his lecture to outline a task for the Pages.
"Alright, next we're going to do some practical work," Yunokawa announced, hefting a metal cylinder onto his desk.
"This spray can is filled with Triple C concentration Holy Water. You don't need to know what that all means right now, but after all that fuss yesterday, we're gonna go around and spray the vents for Coal Tars." he explained, attaching a tube with a spray nozzle to the cylinder and testing it.
"Um, Sir, how are we going to know when we're done? There's Coal Tars everywhere." Taira asked, his hand in the air.
"We're not trying to exterminate them all, Futamura, just so long as we keep their numbers under control. Now then, we've only got three cans on hand, so I'll be splitting you up into pairs for this. Kashino and Todo, Nishiwaki and Omoto, Futamura and Shiratori." As the pairs were announced, the girls breathed sighs of relief, but Shuri turned to glare at Reiji once again. Reiji rolled his eyes as he got up, heading for the front of the class. Grabbing Taira by the collar as he passed, he made a beeline for the door, picking up one of the cans in his free hand as he passed.
/
After escaping the classroom, Reiji threw the spray can to Taira before stalking off down the corridor with a scowl. Scrambling to catch up, the shorter boy arranged the can in his grip.
"Uh, Shiratori, you okay?" Taira asked timidly. Reiji rounded on him, his anger boiling up until he remembered the demon dwelling somewhere inside him and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.
"I'm fine!" he snapped, going back to his brooding trudge through the hall.
"Uh, okay..." Taira accepted quietly as he followed, occasionally stopping to spray holy water into the vents.
"So what do you want to study?" the smaller boy asked suddenly, drawing Reiji's attention.
"What? I don't care, why?"
"Oh, I just thought that since you were going to True Cross Academy, you had something in mind for your future." Taira explained.
"Tch, coming here was my parents' idea. I don't give a crap what I end up doin'." Reiji growled.
"Oh, yeah, the girls were talking about how they were pretty famous when we found out you were going to be in our class."
"Do you always talk so much? Just shut up and spray the vents!" Reiji said angrily. Taira recoiled, cautiously stepping past Reiji to go to the next vent. Stretching up, Taira struggled to reach the gap, the hose fully extended as he poked it through the grate. Struggling with the can, Taira pulled the trigger, but the nozzle simply dripped water onto the floor.
"Urgh, gimme that!" Reiji walked over, pulling the can from Taira. Raising the apparatus, he sprayed into the vent, which issued a loud hissing and began to rattle. The two looked at each other. Before they could move away, the grate exploded outward, a wave of Coal Tars flying out into the corridor. Knocking the spray can aside, the can broke open, drenching Reiji in holy water. The young man's skin smoked as the water burned like acid. With a howl of pain, Reiji dropped to the floor as the cloud of Coal Tars converged behind them.
Swarming together, the tiny bodies of the demons blurred, melting into one another before, with a slight pop, they merged into a giant, singular body. Hovering before the students, a giant Coal Tar with a sleepy expression and a crown on its head billowed black smoke as it yawned at them.
"It's Lord Coke!" Taira cried out, covering his mouth and nose. Reiji looked up at the monstrous demon, but couldn't muster the strength to move as the holy water seared his flesh. Looking between the demon and the debilitated Reiji, Taira gulped as he stepped forward.
"What're you doing, idiot?! Run!" Reiji growled through gritted teeth.
"I couldn't live with myself if I did that." Taira announced. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small square of paper with a simple circular design on it.
"May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help." Taira intoned the words, a golden light shining from the paper in his hand. With a cracking like shattering glass, a small figure popped into existence. A deep round bowl with a crack down one side, stood before Taira. Just as Reiji thought he was losing it, the bowl stood on two tiny cartoonishly thin legs, grew a similar pair of arms from its sides which began to wield the chopsticks that sat inside it like a pair of swords for a tiny, ridiculous samurai.
"Master, what do you wish of me?" the bowl asked boldly, apparently not deterred by the sheer gap in size between him and Lord Coke.
"Chawan, erect a barrier, protect Shiratori and me until we escape." Taira ordered, his voice far more forceful than Reiji had heard it before, his expression steeled in the face of the demon.
"Right away, Master." the bowl announced, crossing his chopsticks. A barrier of golden light shimmered into existence in front of it, stopping the noxious black cloud from encroaching on the pair. Taira moved to Reiji's side immediately and produced a roll of bandages, cotton balls, a small bottle of disinfectant and a pair of scissors from his pockets. Working quickly, he began to treat Reiji's burns while the purple haired boy sat stunned.
"What the hell is that thing?" he muttered, staring at the back of Chawan.
"That's Chawan, my familiar. He's a Tsukumogami." Taira explained as he pressed disinfectant soaked cotton balls to Reiji's skin. Behind him, Chawan stood against Lord Coke, the giant Coal Tar billowing black smoke as it slammed against the bowl's barrier, each hit causing another crack to appear in the shield.
"What, like those old stories of sandals coming to life and crap?" Reiji asked, not even noticing the burn of the disinfectant compared to the fiery pain of the holy water.
"Yeah. He belonged to my dad when he was a kid. He said that Chawan came alive when he was in Med-school, but for some reason went back to sleep. We were using him as an offering bowl when he suddenly woke up again." Taira continued as he wrapped Reiji's leg in bandages. Lord Coke let loose another yawn of miasma, the foul blackness beginning to seep through the cracks in Chawan's shield as the ginger boy tried to help Reiji to his feet.
"Urgh, you don't have time to treat me. Just hurry up and get goin'! I'll hold off that big ugly mochi!" Reiji struggled to stand, pushing Taira back, but the other boy grabbed his arm.
"No way! I'm going to be a doctor someday, I have to save everyone!" Taira said firmly, meeting Reiji's gaze.
"Are you an idiot?! Your stupid crock pot or whatever isn't gonna last much longer. If you make a run for it, you might make it back to the others." Reiji snarled at him. Black smoke flooded through the cracks in Chawan's barrier, the golden light finally shattering to nothingness, blasting the tiny familiar off his feet. Taira dove to catch Chawan before he hit something solid.
"Master, I'm sorry, I couldn't fulfil your wish." Chawan apologised, the crack in his side lengthening slightly.
"That's okay, just so long as you're alright." Taira smiled at his familiar, but before they could move, Lord Coke bore down on the pair. Charging forward, it looked as if the giant Coal Tar meant to crush the boy and his bowl until its giant black form collided with Reiji's outstretched fist.
"Back the hell off, you piece of crap!" Reiji roared and for the first time, Lord Coke's sleepy expression changed to one of panic. Backing away, it released another yawn of miasma, enveloping Reiji in a cloud of black.
"Shiratori!" Taira called out, trying to mask his face from the smoke.
"Who the hell do you think you're playing with?" A guttural voice echoed from within the dark. Shooting from within the cloud, Reiji swept past Lord Coke, a long black tail lashing behind him as his clawed hand slashed through the demon's side.
"I'm a god damn Exorcist!" Reiji sneered. "Now get out of my sight." Lord Coke exploded, waves of Coal Tars scattering into the dark corners and vents nearby to escape the wrath of the purple haired boy. Looking down at his hand, Reiji breathed, trying to compose himself.
"Shiratori," Taira called to him, beaming from ear to ear.
"Huh? Oh, you're okay." Reiji sighed, glancing at his now normal hand.
"Yeah, thanks to you. I was a little worried for a second there, but I guess whatever power you've got protects you from miasma." Taira nodded.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so. Come on, we better tell that idiot Yunokawa that King Coal showed up."
"Lord Coke."
"Does it look like I care?" Reiji grumbled as they headed back for the class.
/
"Wait, so you're telling me, that you two defeated Lord Coke on your own?" Yunokawa scratched his beard in surprise.
"Well, defeated might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it retreated after Shiratori attacked it." Taira explained happily. Shiratori stood next to him, annoyed as usual. Glancing behind him, it seemed that the aspiring doctor's report of his heroism had put him back in the girls' good graces, their earlier hushed tones replaced with looks of awe and admiration that, quite frankly, unsettled Reiji more than Lord Coke had. Shuri on the other hand, frowned at him. It seemed the monochrome kid still disliked him, but couldn't deny the part he played in saving his friend. Reiji smirked. Anything that pissed other people off was fine with him.
"Well, that's very impressive. Shiratori, are you okay to continue class with your injuries?" Yunokawa addressed him, pulling Reiji out of his musings.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." oddly, it was true. Despite the burning of the holy water and taking a face full of Lord Coke's noxious vapours, he actually felt fine. He had heard that Coal Tars were related to Astaroth, so maybe with their boss inside him, their excretions couldn't hurt him anymore, but that was merely a half-baked theory. As much as Reiji hated to admit it, he would have to find out a lot more about the King of Rot in order to figure out just what his body might be capable of.
/
After class, the students drifted off in various directions. Reiji was the last to leave, wanting to avoid an encounter with the girls who were mooning after him since Taira's report had somehow spiralled into some Greek epic in the hands of the three teenaged girls. Stepping out into the corridor, he came face to face with Shuri.
"Hmph, what do you want?" Reiji said, already pissed off just by looking at him.
"Thanks."
"What?" Needless to say, Reiji hadn't expected this.
"For saving Taira. He's my friend, and I guess I owe you one now, but don't get the wrong idea. You're still possessed." Shuri explained.
"So I guess that got around after yesterday, not exactly a surprise." Reiji mumbled irritably.
"Yeah, it did. You know what kind of people get possessed? Weaklings. People who give into their darkness and let it eat them up inside. If you've got a demon in you, I don't care what the grown-ups say, you're a liability." Shuri continued, glaring.
"What the hell do you know, shut the hell up!" Reiji bit back, feeling his anger rise and pain sear across his back. That sensation was getting more than a little old.
"I'm just saying, I owe you, so I'm not going to go out of my way to stop you as you are now, but if that demon gets out, I'm gonna kill you." Shuri finished, turning to leave.
"Who the hell says shit like that!" Reiji shouted after him before storming off in the direction of his own dorm.