Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: To Tame a Demon
A/N: I'm so sorry it took me this long to update - once again. You could say that I've been really busy with school and other stuff. Thank you for all the lovely comments and support! But anyways, I really hope you'll like this chapter. And I wont be able to update in while again, because I'm going to a long vacation with my family and I'll returning in January, so until then it's bye (and I swear I'm going to update at least once in January).
But now, I wish you guys Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, as well as happy readings!
D/C: I don't own Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, I only own my own OC's.
**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**
Chapter 12
Nagisa's pov:
We were running through the woods, Isogai-kun in the lead. His demon was running next to him, I and Karma behind and Nakamura-san and her demon as the last ones. We had been running like that for a good five minutes already - but why?
Well, the reason was the small purple ball in my right hand, which we had just stolen from Kayano's team. And they were after us, while we were just trying to get away as quickly as possible. After all, Kayano's team consisted only from girls (her, Kanzaki and Kataoka) and in all honesty, girls were scary when they were angry.
"We have to distract them!" Nakamura yelled behind me.
"But how exactly?" Isogai-kun asked, giving us a glance.
"I don't know!" the blonde girl answered, sounding a bit annoyed and I heard Karma snort next to me. The red head seemed fine with running, but he wasn't human and I had no idea what his limit was. Who knew, maybe he could run five days straight? "Come up with something, Isogai! You're the team leader!"
Isogai-kun quieted down to think and so did I, even though I honestly hadn't said a thing in while. I was still a bit taken back by the fact that we had managed to steal the curse-ball from Kayano's team. The plan Nakamura and Karma had come up with in order to get the ball once we had noticed that Kayano's team had a one, had seriously been ridiculous. We had basically fooled the girls with Isogai-kun, who was, as many knew, a very handsome young man and popular with girls. It had never crossed my mind that girls would actually fall into a stupid trap like that - but while they had been busy listening Isogai's singing (yes, Nakamura and Karma put him sing), I had been able to steal the curse-ball from Kayano's backpack.
Easy as that.
But boy, did those girls get pissed when they noticed what had happened.
"We could split up", I suggested. "You and Nakamura take an another direction, and me and Karma an other."
"Isn't that a bit too risky?" Isogai-kun asked, giving me an uncertain look.
"Actually", Karma started to reason. I was a bit surprised that he even voiced out his thoughts, since he had been pretty quiet the whole day, in his own little world. "That might be the only possible option we have right now. At least the only one that will work - fighting would be the other option, but it could get… bad, I suppose."
In other words, Karma was worried that I wouldn't be able to control him and his powers, and that he'd might end killing someone - which would probably mean that Karma would be then killed by some Hunter. I was pretty sure that Karasuma-sensei wasn't going to let the red head kill anyone on his watch.
"I guess we don't have any other choices…", Isogai-kun sighed. "Alright, Nakamura come with me with your demon. We'll soon be at the waterfall, so we'll split up there. And the girls will split up too, but it'll be easier for us to fight them then. Either we get them lose the sight of us, or we'll fight."
"And lets meet at the waterfall, okay?" Nakamura said.
"Right", I nodded, seeing as the small waterfall already came in sight.
"Also, make sure no one follows you", Isogai quickly added, before we could split up. "Nagisa-kun, take good care of that curse-ball and watch out for other balls too."
"Roger that. And good luck, don't let them kick your asses", I said, before speeding up and running away from the open, back to the forest. I glanced back and saw Isogai and Nakamura disappear too, together with their demons. After a good minute, I saw Kayano and her team appear to the open, and the green haired girl yelled something before starting to run to my direction, while Kataoka and Kanzaki went to the other. "Okay, I'm pretty good at hiding, and I think you're as well. The only problem we have, is Rei who is an Earth-demon - this is his element."
"So, the plan is to find a hiding place?" Karma asked.
"Yeah… if you're fine with that."
"Whatever", I heard him sigh as we ran, Kayano getting scarily close.
"Take the curse-ball for a moment, Karma", I said, tossing the purple ball to the red head. He caught it but almost immediately dropped it. Luckily, he realized to toss it back, hissing in pain.
"Fuck no", he growled. "I'm a demon, I can't touch a freaking curse-ball, idiot. You keep it."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that", I mumbled and Karma gave me the "are-you-fucking-kidding-me"-look. "I'm sorry - don't kill me." For that I only deserved a roll of eyes. Then silence fell upon us as we continued running, Kayano still after us.
"You know…", Karma suddenly broke the silence. "I think her stamina is going to run out soon and then Rei will stop too. If you can keep up the running for five more minutes, I think we'll lose her. And then we can find a hiding place and you can use some stupid spell to hide us from Rei as well - you can do that, right?" He turned to give me a questioning look.
"I do have few spells in mind that could work", I nodded. "And don't worry, I can still run."
"Good. Just watch your step."
Was that worry I heard in his voice?
Couldn't be, right? Karma had just twenty minutes ago been pretty pissed at me for being too curious. And he had been acting all distant and grumpy all day, so he couldn't possibly be worried about me.
"Don't think that I would care about you specially", he said after probably reading my thought. The golden eyes were staring ahead, bored and empty. "I just don't want to carry you if you twist your ankle or something stupid like that. So, if you do something like that, I swear I'm going to let Kayano catch up with us."
"Okay, I got it. I'm not going to get hurt, alright?" I said, a bit annoyed and Karma chuckled, actually chuckled. He obviously found teasing me amusing - but hey, that wasn't anything new really. I was just glad to hear that he wasn't so tense anymore.
But anyways, Karma had been right. After running for five more minutes, I sensed that Kayano was getting left behind and the Earth-demon that had been jumping from tree to other started to slow down as well. I again picked up the pace, running faster than before, despite that my lungs were burning. The fact that Kayano was finally giving up on the chase made me wishful and I knew we'd get away. I just had to hope that Isogai-kun and Nakamura-san had gotten away as well, without getting hurt. After few minutes I no longer sensed Kayano at all and we slowed down. I was breathing pretty heavily and I drank the water in my backpack quickly and like my life would depend on it. Karma seemed fine, his breath not even faster than usually. He was looking around, guarding our backs while I took a break.
"We can't stay put for long, but I think we can ditch the hiding plan", he said calmly. "I say that we go back the other way around so it'll distract Kayano as much as possible. Maybe we'll find a new ball on the way."
"That might be the wisest decision", I agreed, putting the purple ball inside my backpack. "Shall we get on the move?"
Karma only gave me a nod as answer and with that, we started to walk to the other direction, away from Kayano and Rei. We didn't talk and the silence upon us was awkward, to me at least. I was still feeling anxious about Karma's earlier words.
"You could still turn and walk away."
Yes, he was probably right. I could still do that and then life would be so much easier. Maybe I would just forget about becoming a Hunter, forget about ever befriending a demon and all that. It wouldn't take all that much to make it all happen and my mother would probably only be on my side - for the first time in my life. I lifted my gaze from the ground to look at Karma, who was walking few steps ahead of me, but still so close that I could see his face. The golden eyes were glimmering in the sun light like always, bright and wise, but then again, there was a lot more emptier look in them. Had been all day long, and there was this strange gloominess around him that I couldn't explain.
Did he look tired?
Yeah, that might've actually been it. Karma looked tired, mentally not physically.
Something was wearing him down and that something had to do with his past, his personal life and affairs, that he kept as a secret. Secrets that I would possibly never come to know.
"You know Karma, despite what you and I talked about before…", I said and Karma turned to give me a glance, maybe a little surprised look in his eyes. "If you ever need to talk, you can still come to me. I know you're a demon and you've been taught not to rely on humans but still… I'm right here if you need to talk."
I could see something sift behind Karma's golden eyes and the emptiness disappeared for a moment, but came back soon. "Whatever you say", he snorted, turning away from me.
"Are you sure you even listened to what I just said?" I asked, quickening my pace so I was walking right next to him.
"Of course I did", he answered slowly, ducking a bit when we passed some shorter trees. "Despite what you think, Nagisa, I always listen. It's just my decision, do I want to remember those things or not."
I was about to say something, but before I could, I noticed something green glimmer in the sun light and it drew my attention away from Karma. I stopped and blinked my eyes a few times, before finally being able to see where the glimmer was coming from. Not too far away from us, there was an old tree that looked like it would fall soon, and under it there was a small cavity. And inside it, I could see a small green ball, about the same size as the purple one inside my backpack.
The healing-ball.
It was because of the sun that I could see it. The rays of sun were coming just from the right ankle and hit the ball, making it glimmer brightly. And if you didn't look from the correct place, you missed it.
How lucky for us.
"Karma, do you see it?" I asked, noticing that my demon had stopped too.
"Yeah… but don't you think it's a bit too obvious? I mean, it's completely out in the open, basically waiting for us to get it. Too easy", the red head mumbled and I couldn't help but agree with him. But still, I felt really temped to just run to the ball and get it.
"We should still try if we can get it", I said. "I'll just check if there are any traps around it - it's a healing-ball, so can you touch it?"
Karma shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe, we'll see."
I only nodded to that, before taking few steps closer. There was a simple spell in my mind, probably the most easiest trap-search spells there was but I knew it worked well and that our classmates weren't strong enough to make too many or too strong spells - I just had to hope that Karasuma-sensei hadn't decided to leave surprises for us. I was now standing about five meters away from the ball, not too close nor too far, and then I slowly raised my hand, mumbling the spell quietly, one hand holding onto the cross hanging from my neck (spells usually relied on holy powers, which meant that Hunters either needed to carry holy-water or a simple cross around).
I could feel Karma's stare on my back but I didn't let it bother me, as I continued to mumble the spell and after a moment, I could see strange mist gather around the old tree. It was magical mist that detected if there were (not so strong) traps around the tree and the healing-ball inside it. It become soon clear that there weren't any, since the mist didn't change color from white to blue or red. I sighed as I lowered my hand and then I motioned Karma to get the ball. Funny thing was, that he actually did it without complaining like usually.
He easily picked up the green ball and brought back to me, so I could check if the ball was fake or if it had something bad hidden inside of it. In the end, I found nothing out of ordinary. To me it appeared to be a normal healing-ball.
"So, no traps?" Karma asked and I nodded.
"I suppose it was just good luck", I said, holding the green ball inside my left palm. "Now, we should head back to Isogai and Nakamura. We still have to go the other way around and it'll take longer that way - they might already be waiting for us and we do have something to bring back too."
Karma opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut off by someone's sudden yell. It was coming from south, close by us and it wasn't all that loud, but detected trouble anyway. I did still wonder, if I and Karma were the only ones who heard it. An another yell, now closer and now I could also tell that whoever the person yelling was, he was a grown-up man and not a kid. It also wasn't Karasuma-sensei or Koro-sensei (though I don't know can you say that Koro-sensei is a man) - but then, who could it be? I knew for certain that the students and teachers of the main-campus stayed as far away from the mountain as possible.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" the voice called out, making me a bit confused.
Karma turned to look at me, waiting for some kind of response. "So, answer or not?" he asked inside my mind and I thanked the gods we could talk telepathically. That way we at least didn't give out or whereabouts.
How should I know? Can't you tell is he trouble or not with your super-senses? I asked back.
"He smells like a Hunter to me, though really sweaty… ugh, and there's also some other smell on him that makes me want to puke", Karma answered, one hand going over his nose, disgust visible on his face. "I'll switch my form - he's going to be here soon." And with that, instead of a red haired boy, next to me was a red furred cat, who jumped right away on my shoulder.
I stayed quiet and waited until the yelling man finally came in sight. He was looking pretty exhausted, his short hair a sweaty mess and an empty water bottle in his hand. He was probably in his thirties, around the same age as Karasuma-sensei, though he was a bit… well, heavier, and he was wearing normal clothes and looked a lot like a normal person… maybe he wasn't a Hunter? I also noted that he had a heavy looking backpack on his back and some plastic bag on his other hand as well.
"He is", Karma hissed, his small body tense on my shoulder. I could tell that he didn't like the man, who had noticed us and had now a big smile on his face.
"Finally I found someone! You can't believe how long I've been wondering around this place!" the man said, sounding really relieved. "You know, if you could please tell me where this E-class building is, I'd be really thankful. I'm new around here and I accidentally got lost on my way, hah ha, stupid right?" The man scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, waiting for my answer.
"Um, sure…", I finally got out, though I knew I sounded a bit uncertain. "I know you can get easily lost in the forest if you don't know your way, so I'll show you where to go. Just, follow me."
"Fantastic!" the man said, clapping his hands together in excitement. "Thank you!"
I sweat dropped and I could feel Karma's uneasiness get bigger. "Don't thank my just yet… Anyway, let's go. We actually have a practice going on right now, so it might be a little dangerous - I mean, people might try and jump on us on our way."
"Hm? Is that why I've seen few magical-balls around the forest? Have you been looking for them?" the man asked, as we started to walk. I kept my distance, because something inside of me told me not to trust the man. And Karma made it very obvious that I better not let the man too close.
"Yeah, not alone though, I have my team", I told him.
"Interesting…", the man nodded, smiling as he did and it made me slightly uncomfortable. Why did he smile so much? It was kinda creepy to me.
"He's fake", Karma said inside my mind, his tail wagging around, eyes never leaving the man.
"Is that your demon?" the man suddenly asked and I nodded slowly. "Cool! I cat-demon! I haven't seen a one in years - you must know that they're really rare demons. And may I ask, what element is it?"
"He", I automatically corrected, before realizing that I probably should've kept my mouth shut. "He's… I mean, he doesn't have any particular element. The closest is Earth, but he isn't exactly an Earth-demon." Oh great, I sucked at lying when I hadn't prepared for it. I waited for the man to answer, afraid that he'd start asking more.
But instead, he just nodded. "I see, that's cool. It's a bit of a waste actually, cat-demons are usually something special."
Oh, if you'd know, I thought and Karma slapped me with his tail.
"Anyway mister… what's you name? I'm Shiota Nagisa from the 3E-class", I said, trying to change the subject from my demon to somewhere else.
"Ah, just right! I totally forgot to introduce myself, how foolish and rude of me!" the man said, shaking his head violently, looking at the ground for a moment, before lifting his gaze, a big, creepy smile on his face. "My name is Akira Takaoka, and I'm the new PE teacher of your class! Nice to meet you, Nagisa-kun. I hope we'll get along well!"
The way he smiled, the way he acted… It was all a bit suspicious and made me very nervous.
"Yeah, I hope that too", I answered politely, though every word I said was a lie. "Welcome, Takaoka-sensei."
**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**
Karma's pov:
I did NOT like the new fatso teacher following us, as we walked towards the E-class building. He smelled bad and weird and the way he acted - it just gave me the creeps. And he was a Hunter, outside of the class, who could find out about my powers in the future. In all honestly, Akira Takaoka was trouble.
It didn't take all that long for us to reach the building and I was a little surprised no one had attacked us on our way here. We did hear some yelling and screaming on the way, but all of us had decided to ignore them. I could tell that Nagisa was really nervous and I believed that so could Takaoka. And seriously, showing that you were afraid to a person you didn't know? That was just plain stupid.
At the empty backyard were standing Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei, talking with each other, while Koro-sensei was probably keeping an eye at the students. "Karasuma-sensei!" Nagisa called out, speeding up a bit and I jumped off of his shoulder to walk next to him. The whole time I could feel Takaoka's gaze on me and that made me want to slash out on him.
There was just something seriously wrong with him, not just the weird scent but the way his eyes glimmered… I swore he was nuts from the head. It would just be the matter of time until he'd show it to everyone else.
"Nagisa-kun", Karasuma-sensei nodded once we had gotten closer and he was probably going to greet me as well, but seeing Takaoka, he just closed his mouth and turned his gaze away from me. "And Takaoka-san, long time no see."
"Good day to you as well, Karasuma", Takaoka nodded, his smile faltering a little. I also noted that his voice turned colder and less fake.
These two do not get along, I thought, a bit amused by this.
"Why are you here Shiota?" Bitch-sensei asked, totally ignoring Takaoka. "Shouldn't you be with your team running around the forest?"
Nagisa smiled weakly. "Takaoka-sensei here was lost and I happened to meet him… so I offered to show the correct way here."
Karasuma-sensei's eyes narrowed for a moment and I knew he was thinking of the same thing I thought when I first saw Takaoka.
How could a grown-up Hunter get so easily lost in a small forest?
Either Takaoka was a really stupid Hunter, or he was hiding something. And I was pretty sure it had something to do with the latter, because even though the fatso looked pretty laid back, he certainly wasn't that. There was a way too sharp look in his eyes - and even though, he did put up a good act, he wasn't going to fool a person who had been taught to deceive people from the moment of being born. And that person was me. I saw how his movements were a bit stiff and his smiles a bit forced. Takaoka was acting some goody-good teacher that he certainly wasn't. A people who knew nothing about deceiving, wouldn't have noticed. I knew that Nagisa did suspect something, and so did Karasuma-sensei and even the idiot Bitch-sensei - but Takaoka would most certainly fool the others easily.
Though, not Koro-sensei. That octopus was like the god of deceiving, or at least he shared the title with my father.
Despite what my other classmates and teachers might've thought of the octopus, he was good at deceiving and hiding things. The fact that he was able to fool them with his foolish acting was a bit amusing. And ridiculous. Maybe Karasuma-sensei suspected something, but no one else did. No one else knew.
I knew that behind Koro-sensei's carefree act where hidden dark secrets. Shiro's and Itona's case had been just the beginning - trouble was on its way.
But all beings in this world have secrets they hide, I reminded myself. There's always something hidden from the eyes of others. And that is one of the things that tie us demons and humans together, forever.
"The practice is ending in two minutes, so I think it's useless for you to go back anymore, Nagisa-kun. You might as well as stay here, while the octopus will gather up the other students", Karasuma-sensei said. "I can see that you've found two magical-balls, that is fairly well done." Nagisa smiled a bit at the compliment and I could feel his uneasiness. The poor kid was wondering if Isogai and Nakamura were okay with their demons.
The bluenette sat down on the grassy field and I sat next to him, while Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei kept staring the forest, rather than talk with the fatso teacher. Takaoka was just smiling, eyeing the building and sometimes, his gaze went to me and Nagisa as well. I didn't like the way his eyes stayed on me a little too long - maybe he knew? It wouldn't be that hard to actually find out what kind of demon I was, if he'd just use his brains. And though he smelled really bad, there was still a scent on him, that I recognized to be familiar. I just couldn't place the scent and the memory together.
We didn't need to wait long until the other students started to appear from the forest, still with their teams. Nagisa stood up as he saw Nakamura and Isogai come out, both looking just fine. He ran to them and I followed quickly, because that meant that I could get away from Takaoka and his eagle gaze.
"Isogai-kun, Nakamura-san, I'm so glad you're both okay", Nagisa said, smiling at his friends. "You got away from them, right?"
"Yeah, of course. Though, we did have to run a lot", Nakamura-san answered, grinning widely. "And you know what else? We found a barrier-ball!" She took out a orange ball from her backpack, proudly showing it to Nagisa and the other teams, who eyed us in envy. I could see that few teams had balls as well, but none of them had all three. Which meant that our team won.
"That's… great", Nagisa responded to Nakamura, looking a bit puzzled. "Then, I suppose I have more good news to you." He opened his backpack and took out the two balls in there. "While we were separated, I and Karma found a new ball, the green one."
Nakamura let out an excited squeal and Isogai grinned widely.
"That means we got them all!" the blonde girl yelled.
"You stole our curse-ball", Kayano's voice suddenly growled and I noticed the three girls who had chased us before, walking towards us. The green haired girl looked a bit disappointed, but not angry. "But you did a good job. Congrats." She gave Nagisa a weak smile before sighing. "I can't believe we fell for your stupid trap - it honestly was so stupid and obvious… that's the only thing that pisses me off right now."
"Ahaha", Nagisa chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, Kayano."
The green haired girl shook her head slightly, her smile growing a bit wider. "Don't be, Nagisa. You won fair and square. Enjoy your victory, I think your team was the only one who managed to get all the balls."
"I think we only got lucky", Isogai-kun pointed out. "But you did well as well, Kayano-san, Kataoka-san and Okuda-san."
"Thanks Isogai-kun", Kataoka nodded.
"Okay, class! Enough chatting, we'll go through the results now", Karasuma-sensei announced, earning everyone's attention. "It's pretty obvious that only one team got all the three balls, and I want to congratulate that team - Isogai-kun, Nakamura-san and Nagisa-kun, good job. You did well. And now for the others, the thing standing next to me said that you all did pretty well." The thing next to Karasuma-sensei started to nag at the raven head to start calling him by his name, but of course Karasuma-sensei only ignored him. Like always.
"I'd like to go through this all now, but you might've already realized that we have someone new here", Karasuma-sensei continued after a small pause. "Everyone, this is your new PE teacher, Akira Takaoka."
"Hello children!" Takaoka said right after Karasuma-sensei had stopped talking. "My name is Takaoka, as Karasuma just told you. I'm going to start teaching you tomorrow, but I decided to come and visit you already today. Just to show you guys what kind of guy is going to be your new teacher, you know."
The way he lied made me want to throw up - he was so damn bad at it that I felt bad for him.
Talk about an idiot.
"I bought you guys something good as a gift", the fatso continued, opening the plastic bag he had with himself, revealing a huge collection of different kind of cakes and candies. "You had just a rough practice, so why not take a break and enjoy some sweets? These are all just for you, be brave and come and taste!" I could see everyone eyeing the food with interested and slowly, the students started to walk towards Takaoka. I could still sense that they were a bit untrusting, but it was normal with new people.
"Could I have a taste too?" Koro-sensei asked, now standing straight behind Takaoka, a hungry look on his face. I saw Takaoka gulp nervously - for a reason too, since Koro-sensei was pretty intimidating when he looked like he'd be about to eat you alive - but then he smiled again.
"Of course, just leave something for the students!" Takaoka nodded, offering a small strawberry cake to Koro-sensei, who ate it with a one bite, grinning widely and happily. This was nothing new, everyone in the class knew that Koro-sensei had a sweet-tooth. Honestly, so did I, because sweet things were like the only one I could taste in the human world.
I followed Nagisa again when he went to Takaoka with the other students and slowly and carefully took some weird cake covered in… chocolate, was it? Well, anyway in some brown thing. It didn't take long for the students to relax and start talking casually with Takaoka and the suspicious air around the fatso seemed to disappear, as he relaxed.
I could tell that the only ones still on their guards were I, Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei - though I was sure Koro-sensei was still cautious with the fatso teacher, but he did hide it well, once again. If the octopus would look like a real human, I think it would've been a lot more easier for me to read him. Now his face was just a yellow ball, with a grin on it.
"I can see that almost all of you have your own demons!" Takaoka said, and I turned my attention back to him. I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous when he talked about demons. He was a Hunter after all, and I had yet to find out how strong he was. Surely he wasn't stronger than Koro-sensei or the principal of this school, but if he was at the same level as Karasuma-sensei, that was already enough trouble for me. Since I couldn't really fight Nagisa in control and all the bluenette could make me do was kill others. Not surely something you could brag about to your friends and tell at home to your parents. "I'm interested to see how well you work with them - I have faith in you guys that you will do well!"
Nagisa almost choked on the chocolate cake and I almost laughed. Ridiculous. I was pretty sure that for the two of us, it would be impossible to get along. I was too much like my father to be controlled by a human, I had too much pride for that, I had been taught to hate humans, to always despise them.
But also, I was too much like my mother, too much like Mayu, to turn Nagisa completely down.
"Ah, Shiota-kun, I can see that you're doubting yourself", the fatso teacher said, turning to us. "Would it be because of the fact that your demon is a Fire Demon?"
The atmosphere went from warm to freezing cold in a second.
The students stopped talking and the smiles disappeared. Karasuma-sensei's head turned to look at Takaoka so quickly that I was sure he almost broke his neck and Koro-sensei's smile grew a little smaller, but didn't leave his face.
I knew it, I thought.
"Don't look so surprised, I recognize a strong demon when I see a one. And I know for certain that a red furred cat demon who basically glows warmth is something special", Takaoka smirked, his voice cold and hard. So, he finally decided to drop the act. "It's not my first time seeing a Fire Demon, actually. I once saw a one from far - you know what it was doing back then? Killing people. Slaying them so easily. I was lucky to get away."
I could feel Nagisa's gaze on me for a moment, before he turned to Takaoka again.
"Karma isn't like that", he blurted out and it made me roll me eyes.
Like he would know about the bad things I've done in my lifetime.
"Yeah, sure~", the fatso teacher chuckled, standing up. Nagisa jumped up from the ground as well when Takaoka started to walk towards us and I felt threatened too. And hey, now that I knew that the fatso knew who I really was, it didn't matter was I in my cat-form or not, right? So, I switched forms, now appearing in my human-form. That was enough to stop Takaoka from walking and it also gave me and Nagisa a chance to get a little more distance between us.
I honestly felt uneasy under the eagle sharp eyes that now eyed me curiously. Nagisa's hand clutched onto my arm, holding onto it for his dear life - was he that scared? Takaoka had yet to actually pose as a threat to him so I didn't really understand why was feeling so nervous. But I let him clung onto me anyway, because there would've been no use pushing him away either.
"Interesting… you're a young one, aren't you?" Takaoka said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "But you must be old enough to know him…"
"Know who?" I asked.
Takaoka turned to give me a smug smirk. "My demon, of course."
I could see the eyes of my classmates widen, and I too, felt a bit surprised. But then I reminded myself that Takaoka was a Hunter after all, of course he had at least a one demon under his control. It was only natural.
"I think I should show him to you. You might want to have a chat with him - who knows, maybe you're even old friends. Though, he was tamed by me ten years ago, so I don't if you remember him anymore…", the fatso said, before laughing a bit.
Ten years ago?
I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to remember if there had been a demon-king level demon who disappeared ten years ago… but all I could remember from that time was the death of my younger sister, which had shaken the whole Hell - no wait. There was a one person, a one very important person, who had disappeared exactly ten years ago.
No way. No fucking way.
"Did you remember?" Takaoka asked, his smirk even wider if possible.
"Karma… who is he talking about?" Nagisa whispered next to me, but what was I supposed to answer to that? Nagisa wouldn't know who Takaoka's demon was, even if I'd tell the bluenette about him.
"Oh, you'll see. I'm going to introduce you guys to him", the fatso teacher said, sounding a bit crazy. "I'm sure he is as thrilled to see you as well, Fire Demon. He's been feeling really anxious these days, so maybe seeing an old friend will help him relax. C'mon, Kris, you can come out now."
The air got cold.
I honestly mean, that it could freaking cold. The temperature probably dropped to under zero and even the grass was suddenly frozen. Thank God it didn't start snowing or anything, but I still hated the cold creeping up my body. Then there was a sound that reminded my of someone breaking ice and suddenly, next to Takaoka was standing a tall, lean man with snow-white hair and angrily and coldly glimmering turquoise eyes. He had a bad looking scar under the right eye, which looked like someone would tried to claw his eye out. And actually that was it, but I swore it wasn't me who tried to do it - I wasn't that crazy. He was wearing a long, white sweater with overly long sleeves and ice blue jeans (which looked really weird on him because those were human clothes, but could I blame him since I was wearing human clothes as well?). Weird thing was, that he was barefoot, but seemed completely fine with that.
And for a second, I could see a fiery red chain go around his neck, and being linked to Takaoka's hand.
A master and a Demon.
"Shit", I said, taking a step back. "And fucking hell."
"Karma, watch your language", Nagisa warned me and I gave him a cold glare - he seriously was scolding me when in front of him was standing one of the strongest demons alive?! Stupid human, really.
"Now, everyone, I want you to meet my special demon", Takaoka said smugly, while Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei were both looking pretty terrified and Koro-sensei just little surprised. "This is an Ice Demon and his name is Kris. He has a bad attitude, so don't get too close. He might freeze you to death accidentally."
"That kind of shit doesn't happen accidentally", I said before I could stop myself. And instead of Takaoka, it was Kris who turned to glare at me.
"Shut your trap, Fire Demon kid", he growled. "Or I'll freeze you to death."
Bitch, excuse me, but what did you just say?
Thank God I was able to hold that thought inside my mind.
"Sweet move Kris, really sweet. Who would've guessed that for these past ten years, you've weren't dead after all - just chained into a human. And you're all tamed too", I hissed at the Ice Demon. "Ridiculous - how could you let that even happen?"
"I could ask the same from you. You're chained to a human as well."
"Let's not go there, that's low", I said right back. "And I'm still very much controlling myself."
Kris narrowed his eyes at me, but said nothing. The tension in the air grew, but suddenly Takaoka started to clap his hands together loudly. "Hah! I knew you guys would know each other! Of course, you're both demon-kings and one if a Fire Demon while the other an Ice Demon! Great, great. But could you start getting along with each other - as I'm going to start working here, I'd like for my demon to have a friend. So, Karma-kun, please act a bit more nicely to Kris."
"Hell no", I growled.
"Why not?"
"Our personalities are completely different - I even find it easier to get along with humans than him."
"Huh, really? I don't think Kris is that bad", Takaoka said, glancing at his demon, a bit dumbfounded. "Are you sure you wont get along with him?"
"I've known him as long as I've lived. I think I'm pretty certain when I say that I wont get along with an Ice Demon", I bluntly stated, eyes narrowing at Kris, who looked back with equal anger.
Yeah, that's how it went for Fire and Ice Demons. We basically hated each other, and only Rin was an exception. And I did know Kris personally. He was one of the oldest Ice Demons, which was one of the reasons I had such a hard time believing he had let himself be tamed by a Hunter as stupid as Takaoka. If it would've been the principal of this school, I might've understood it, but not with Takaoka. Seriously, that fatso was stupid as a freaking moose. But Kris… he was supposed to be a wise guy. One of the oldest and strongest. I couldn't believe I had actually looked up to the idiot standing before me now, but guess demons could change too - unfortunately, for the worst, not better.
In Hell, the demon-kings were cherished and as a Fire Demon I automatically belonged to the one group of superiors, even though I was still young and a lot more inexperienced than Kris or Kazuo for instance. But for the years I had lived, Kris had belonged to that group of strong demons, he had been a person people had trusted and respected. I had too and Kris had even been really close with Mayu and Kazuo, because of his laid back personality. He had been really close with Rin as well and I knew that Rin still cared for him and was wondering where he had disappeared to ten years ago.
Well, that fucker is right here, Rin, I thought a bit bitterly. Kazuo was probably still watching us, though because of Kris's immense aura, I couldn't sense him anymore. I did wonder what he was thinking about this situation right now. Kris had been missing for ten years after all…
"This might be a problem in the future", Takaoka suddenly mumbled, snapping me out of my thoughts. He still sounded a bit out of it, crazy to put it simply. I could see how Karasuma-sensei eyed him a bit nervously. "I was planning on using Kris as a practice opponent for you guys. You could've learned to fight with a real, scary demon-king."
"We have Karma for that", Terasaka-kun snorted and I had to hand it to him - it was funny that he even had to guts to speak in a situation like this.
Takaoka gave the idiot student a hard glare before turning back to me. "You know, I've always been really interested in demon-kings. That's why I caught Kris as well, even though, I sane person would've ran away from him. My luck was that he had been badly wounded the time I made a contract with him. But you - you're still young and chained to a kid. It would be really easy for me to break that contract with you and Shiota-kun. Tell me Shiota, wouldn't that be easier for you? Let someone stronger and older than you take care of the Fire Demon. You see, demon-kings are no joke. I could do so much better than you."
Nagisa looked pretty shocked. "Are you saying you'd like to tame Karma?" he asked.
Takaoka nodded a few times. "Yes, indeed. I've always been curious to see, how much torture it will need to break a Fire Demon. After all, with Kris, it only took seven years. And like I said, Karma-kun here is so very young for a demon - it might only take a year or too…"
"So that's why…", I mumbled, eyeing Kris. "The chain on your neck is a fire chain that causes immense pain for Ice Demons - no shit you're not trying to get away from him. Could burn your throat open if you'd try." The thought of that made me grimace and Kris roll his eyes.
"Yeah, thanks for the information Karma, like I didn't already know that", he said and I smiled a little. It had always been rare for him to call me by my name - he'd always refer me as a kid or brat. Even though we honestly didn't get along all that well, never had, Mayu had liked Kris and so, the Ice Demon had stuck with us a lot. I had gotten used to him and his personality. In all honestly, Kris wasn't that of an asshole, I was the problem. Kris was really lazy and laid back - while I was always bouncing on move and doing something. That's why we were the total opposites. Mayu had been the reason we had gotten along. Now that she wasn't there anymore, was the a reason for me to even try?
"Lets make a deal, Shiota-kun. I'll tame the Fire Demon for you, okay? I just want to you know experience the feeling of taming one of the strongest demons there is", Takaoka continued talking to Nagisa and I was a bit surprised that no teacher came between. Was it because they wanted Nagisa to make the decision himself - or maybe they thought that it would be just better if Takaoka would tame me.
Like hell I'm going to let that asshole touch me, I decided. If he was going to cut my contract with Nagisa, I'd even rely on Kazuo to get as far as possible from the crazy fatso.
"No", Nagisa then bluntly answered. "I'm taming Karma, not you. I don't want you to torture him - he's my demon. It's my job to tame him, not yours. Thank you for the offer, Takaoka-sensei, but my answer is no."
Koro-sensei's smile grew wider and I could see Karasuma-sensei sigh in relief. It was obvious that they didn't like Takaoka and I could tell that the little trust the fatso had earned from the students had already disappeared into the air.
"No, huh? That's a really stupid decision", the fatso said, shaking his head a bit. "You see, I want to tame the kid. So, I'm going to tame him, and I don't care about what you say. Kris - cut their contract."
I automatically moved further away from Kris, who seemed to hesitate. It had been an order, but he obviously didn't want to do it. Maybe he was having second thoughts about freezing me to death after all. Which was kinda nice, because I honestly had no chance against him. Either Koro-sensei would do something or Kazuo would have to step in - if my brother was there anymore.
The yard was silent, no one made a move.
"Kris, you heard me. Cut the contract between those two", Takaoka said, calmly but there was a storm coming.
Karma, what are we going to do? Nagisa asked, panicking inside my head.
"You'll order me to kill Kris, that's what", I answered. "That's the only order you can give to me, because it's so easy and simple."
Do you actually want to kill him? Isn't he your friend?
"He is not my friend Nagisa. He is just a person I used to know", I glared at the bluenette, thankful for the fact that Kris was hesitating so long. "And it's not like he'd even lose to me, Kris is one of the oldest Ice Demons alive. He is at least two decades older than I am. He's a lot more stronger too."
Then what's the point for me to order you to kill him, if you're going to lose anyway? Nagisa continued to question. I rolled my eyes - it was so like to him to not let it go.
"We'll get time. And I wont lose either, it'll be a tie", I argued. "Hopefully."
Great, Nagisa shook his head and sighed.
"Kris! This is an order - just fucking kill the bluenette!" Takaoka suddenly yelled angrily, getting fed up with Kris's hesitation. And we all know - the order to kill was the most oldest and strongest there was. Of course Kris was no longer able to refuse it, as he charged towards Nagisa. I jumped on the way out of reflex, ready to pull out the Hell's Blade, but someone managed to come between me and Kris before any hit could land on me.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Koro-sensei who had looked like he'd be ready to move any moment, but it was someone both I and Kris knew pretty well.
The Ice Demon was pushed aside easily by a strong heat wave, and Takaoka let out a girly squeak. "The hell?" I heard the fatso mutter while Kris growled angrily. There was a tall man standing right in front of me, blocking the view so I couldn't see how badly Kris had been wounded by the heat, but the curses he let out were able to tell a lot.
"And who the hell are you?" Takaoka practically screamed at the man standing in front of me.
Does he have brains at all? I asked myself, facepalming internally.
"Master…", Kris's voice said but I still couldn't see him because there was a damn person standing before me, one hand keeping me in place so I couldn't even move. And yes, this person could easily keep me in place with a one hand and it annoyed the shit out of me. "I think you should keep your mouth shut now. This guy is not a person you could pick a fight with."
"Huh?" Takaoka's dumbfounded voice said and I shook my head a little.
No one said anything in a while, and as I looked around, I was able to see shocked looks on everyone's faces. Even Koro-sensei looked a bit surprised if that was possible with his face.
"Who is he?" Nagisa asked from behind me and I turned to give him a slightly apologetic smile.
"Um, how should I put it…? He's a Fire Demon?" I answered uncertainly, it sounding more like a question than answer.
"A Fire Demon?" Nagisa repeated eyes as wide as possible. "Then doesn't that mean -?!"
The person in front of me slowly turned around, his red hair a bit messy because of the wind (I also noted that because of his arrival the coldness had disappeared) and his golden eyes were glimmering darkly. Whoops, someone was pissed and I was pretty sure it was my fault. All by judging from how hard he was gripping on my hand right now. But still, he smiled at Nagisa, though his smile was scary and made me want to run away.
Yeah, older brothers could be really scary when angry.
"Hello there, little human boy who managed to make a contract with Karma", my older brother said calmly, yet there was burning anger in his voice and I grimaced. "My name is Kazuo and like Karma here just said, I'm a Fire Demon as well. You wouldn't mind if I'd now take my stupid little brother back to Hell with me, would you?"
My day was now officially ruined.
End of chapter 12
**Ansatsu Kyoushitsu**The arc of Hunters**