I know. I updated. That's freaking insane.
/=+=/
Rizal was the first person out of the portal, and was rather surprised to see that Natalya was standing in front of him. She wasn't looking at him; instead she was looking at the portal that he had climbed out of.
"You're here."
"Yes I am. I heard the call again." She answered. "So they're back."
"I'm afraid they are." Rizal nodded. "We've already gotten victims."
"I see. How many?"
"Two. One asshole decided to jump after him."
"I see. How about-?"
"Ivan's fine. He's pushing everyone out as we speak."
"I see."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
"No. I want to relay a message to him…and only him."
"Oh…well, he's going to take-"
"OW, SON OF A BITCH! STOP PUSHING ME THROUGH!"
"You're going to have to go through soon, Lovino. You're blocking the way~"
"DAMMIT YOU RUSSIAN BASTARD!"
*push*
*crash*
"…now."
"Thank you."
Lovino looked up from his position to see Natalya staring back at him, making him whimper and crawl away (behind Rizal, but let's not tell him yet). Everyone else started pouring out of the portal, Ivan being last, so no one could warn him of the fact that his stalker sister was standing in front of him.
"Eh? Uwa!"
"Big brother…I have a message for you…"
"I told you, I'm not going to marry you!"
"It's from big sister."
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"Eh?"
"She says that the others have gotten the message as well."
"The message…"
"The Shadows are back, aren't they?"
"…yes, Natalya. They are."
"…as I feared. Here I thought we got rid of the threat a long time ago."
"Natalya…"
"Fine. I'll relay the message to everyone else." She sighed. "I follow your orders, of course."
Rizal watched her as she walked away, and then turned around to leave. Gilbert could only stand up and watch him leave, and started to try calling after him, but then again Rizal was already far away.
Man, he's a prick.
/=+=/
He knew that he should've stayed and helped the others, but he also trusted Ivan to tell the other two on the Shadow world. Besides, he had class in ten minutes on the other side of the campus. As he rounded the corner, he noticed that Toris was waiting for him. They didn't lose any of their stride as they headed to class.
"Natalya told us everything." He stated. "Are the Shadows…?"
"Yeah, they're back." Rizal answered. "They already got a few victims."
"Were you able to save them?"
"Yeah, and they got summons too." He smiled. "That means that you don't have to get involved."
"Are you sure?"
"Ivan might want to shove you into it, if he wants to. But I think we'll be OK."
"Wow…Shadows are coming back…" Toris shook his head. "I never wanted to deal with it again."
"I'm not going to ask you to join us in Shadow hunting. I am going to ask you to bring the rest of the family together and make sure to get rid of any that leak into this world."
"I…I think I can do that."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I can. Don't worry about it."
"All right. Tell the others."
"But they're in class."
"…I mean after."
"Right, right."
Toris headed off, leaving Rizal alone to sigh and walk away, a thousand things going through his brain. The Shadows were never this crazy and rabid, taking their prey in the waking world. The last time that happened, Ivan was handling America in the Cold War. And even then, they never went after nations…
"Rizal?"
He turned his head and noticed that Erika was standing there, holding onto her books and clearly not in class. Then again, don't they have the same class? He blinked for a few minutes in confusion.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"Aren't you?"
"I had things to do…" Rizal rubbed the back of his head. "You?"
"I was doing a study session with my brother." She responded. "You want to walk to class together?"
"Huh?" He never heard that before. "Um…sure, I guess?"
Erika quietly trotted alongside him, and the both of them started walking toward their class. Rizal couldn't help but look around ("where was Vash, anyway?") before turning to Erika as she was shuffling her books around, the ones she needed on the top.
"Huh."
"What's wrong?"
"Why are you wearing a boy's uniform? Last time I checked, you actually look like a woman."
"Well, the school ran out of them."
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"The school…ran out of girl's uniforms."
"They weren't expecting that many girl nations. Remember that humans were making these."
"Oh…right." Rizal rubbed the back of his head. "Humans that knew about us?"
"I don't think so. Otherwise they would've made more girl uniforms."
"…all right."
They fell back into awkward silence again as they headed to class, and he couldn't help but wonder if hanging out with his obnoxious older sister was the reason why he couldn't talk to normal women. Maybe he should think about something else.
sO tHe DeMoNs HaVe ReTuRnEd.
He sighed.
Not you again. I thought I got rid of you.
YoU wIlL nEvEr GeT rId Of Me.
No, but I can make you shut up.
He quietly rubbed the glyph on his shoulder, and after a few seconds the voice no longer bothered him, leaving the Filipino alone again with his thoughts. He couldn't help but be grateful for Alexander, the Persona he obtained. God knows what would've happened if this voice came to him and he wasn't prepared to fight back. But that's another thought.
I still have class to handle…and the infamous "math test".
/=+=/
Yes, irony is ironic.