Chapter 7. Time Passes.
Warning: Language
Over the next few weeks at True Cross University, the girl studied hard and progressed through the cram school program, despite not yet receiving her temptaint. Having such great determination had only kept her from falling behind for a short while. For a majority of the lessons, she was unable to see the demons that the classes might have been working with, not even the small soot demons – but she knew of them, and seemed to be adept at sensing when demons may be in the vicinity, whether or not they would appear for her. Learning to protect herself from demons that chose not to show themselves proved to be one of her greatest weaknesses, and still the teachers couldn't let her receive a temptaint. In turn, it was difficult for the girl to be on the offense, since she often could not identify the demon in order to use the methods needed to exorcise it. For such reasons, she was beginning to fall behind the more the classes advanced to using real demons.
The girl had grown rather close to Rin and the new exorcist-in-training, Shiemi, and by association, their own first-year teacher, Yukio. She had been excited when Shiemi first started classes, since it was apparent that Yukio and Rin knew her from elsewhere, and Rin had been her only friend up until that point. The two of them had spent many hours walking to classes together or taking walks through campus or the town, talking and laughing—but she was eager to make new friends.
Over Moyiama's first few weeks at the cram school, she was introduced to the girl by Rin, and all four of them had gotten together on several occasions. Sometimes they went to Shiemi's while she had to watch over the shop, or went out for food or shopping. They had even made a trip to the theme park within the town, coined as Mephy Land; however Shiemi decided not to go and gave a reason that sounded fairly made up. The girl had to admit to herself, that it was lonesome without her new found friend, but poor Shiemi was terribly shy, and she couldn't help but to wonder if that was the real reason why the blonde girl cancelled. Rin had won the girl a large stuffed animal from one of the strength games, which he proudly carried around for her, but he made the trip awkward when he seemingly grew bitter towards his brother when Yukio shared his food with the girl. Part of her wished she would have called off the day's plans when Moriyama said she couldn't go.
When the group had come to the girls' private dorm for the first time, they were astonished by the size and finishes, and Yukio made mention that the private dorms were reserved only for students of utmost importance – like princes and princesses, the children of prime ministers and other important politicians, and students from families who spent a year's tuition like pocket change. There was only one of those types of rooms placed on the top floor of each dormitory, so there were very few available and frequently the headmaster opened them up for bidding to settle the dispute. Often times, the whole top levels were reserved for the students' staff to have their own quarters while serving. This news of course shocked the girl, who was an average student at best, who came from a small town full of average people. After the girl assured her friends that she was none of those things, the question then came to: how come she was so special? And frankly, she wasn't sure. Yukio had gotten quiet after that.
Every now and then, the strange Johann Faust would make an appearance to the girl, or would randomly come to announce something to the whole first-year class. The girl couldn't help but to notice Yukio's sharp eyes upon the headmaster whenever he entered the room, or whenever he was around in any setting, since sometimes Sir Faust even appeared while the young group of friends was out and about within True Cross Town. It was growing increasingly more apparent to everyone that he began to treat the girl differently than the other first years; he lingered on her longer, called her out more often, popped up randomly as she walked the halls, or the campus, or the town; he would engage in conversation with her specifically, or at least kept an eye on her while addressing or conversing with others. If that girl was in the vicinity, Faust was distracted, and some people were beginning to take notice—especially her group of friends.
There were a couple of times that the headmaster had called the girl to his office, or would ask to walk with her on her way to and from classes; he would inquire how she was enjoying it at his University, if she was having any problems, if she had enough money to get by, and so on. Their interactions grew to be more relaxed, speaking to one another as if they were colleagues. On one occasion, Faust walked into a coffee shop while Rin and the girl were sitting in the corner, invited himself to join the two, and began asking silly questions, such as whether the students had begun to develop even the tiniest little seeds of feelings for anyone, as such young creatures normally do. Rin grew silent, blushing lightly under Faust's stare, while the girl insisted that love was something archaic that served no real purpose in life except to fill the void of loneliness. She argued that one could fill such a void with dreams and goals, for one loved their dreams and goals and that's all they ever really needed. She went on to say that if someone ever felt lonely on a cold night, there was nothing wrong with cuddling or even fucking a friend to fill those primal needs—that had of course gotten Rin's attention—but it wasn't something she felt needed to be a focus for those who saw a purpose in their lives. Johann rebutted her practical debate with words of whimsy, romanticizing love, and sex as something most poetic that left the girl flushed.
At first, the girl was completely oblivious to the special treatment by her headmaster; maybe because she didn't want to see it, or because she didn't find herself to be interesting enough to deserve attention from anyone, much less the dean of the school. After her friends began to take notice and tell her, she tried to convince them that he was just worried, taking interest in his scholarship students. But that was the peculiar part—Rin and Yukio were scholarship students, but Rin hadn't noticed any special interest being taken in him. Yukio stayed quiet yet again.
Once Izumo made a passing snide remark about the headmaster's pining for the girl being the only reason why she hadn't flunked out of the exorcist program, the girl began to speculate that her friends weren't just biased or making things up, or reading between lines that weren't there. Of course, Izumo could have been being a jealous bitch, as always. But finally the girl started to dissect her headmaster's actions, and was a tad creeped out by Faust's behavior. What could he want with her, she wondered; and why her? She spent more time critiquing herself in the mirror, thinking surely he wasn't attracted to her by any means—when in actuality, she much more attractive than she let herself believe. Shima had even made passing comments about how she should model, but then again, Shima found everything with two legs and a vagina to be pretty appealing.
It was about that time that something changed in Faust. Instead of him randomly showing up places, or being at a location that the girl arrived at, he was clearly seeking her out and addressing that he was looking for her for one reason or another. Most of their chats were him checking up on her, making sure she was indeed doing well in the school; she would mention how she was falling behind due to her lack of temptaint, and he would assure her that he would look into it for her. He kept it as professional as possible at first, squelching the feelings in her gut about his actions and interest seeming outlandish, as it turned into a comprehension that he just cared. She began growing accustomed to seeing his face a few times a week, and over time, their talks grew longer and more subjective. She would attempt to deflect his personal questions, but with careful prodding the two of them would ultimately engage in conversation that branched just ever so slightly beyond the professional.
Until it finally broke through that barrier of professionalism when Sir Faust asked the girl to accompany him to dinner. He had called it a meeting, but ended up rented out the banquet room at one of the nicest restaurants in the town, and had a five course meal catered to them as their conversation covered a variety of topics, exchanging thoughts, ideologies, personal goals, amusing stories, and dreams. He was so well poised, established, well spoken, and charming. It was that night that the girl began seeing him as more than just a headmaster, but instead as a friend. A notably handsome friend at that, but she quickly stopped herself; he was the head of the University, after all, and there was no use letting her mind wander anywhere for even a second.
The night ended with Faust writing an advance for her allowance so she could afford some optional course textbooks to get extra studying materials, and making a note in her file to have the cram school teachers cater to her better. He then had his limo driver take her to her dorm, where he opened the door for her and sent her off with a kiss on the hand.
