A/N:
this doc has been in my drive for like weeks with nothing but "I should really write this chapter" written in it. I'm so FUCKING sorry lmao.
A little (read: extremely) late, but I'd like to give a special shoutout to WhiteWing, who left me a review saying "update already!" which is actually really annoying for an author to get as I write this story for no one but myself and I'm not obligated to update it for you since it's not like I'm being paid here (this is a psa disguised as a shoutout), but followed it up with another review like three seconds later saying "Nevermind. You wrote this story rather recently. Update as soon as possible." and added 'Guilty' to their name, because that was really funny and I laughed for like a solid four minutes. Thanks buddy. I hope you're doing well. This one's to you. Cheers.
And so, without further ado (breaks knuckles) let's do this.
More notes at the end.
"Nii-san, you should really learn how to tie a tie by yourself," Yukio lectures as he carefully goes through the steps of tying his brother's tie. "I can't always do it for you."
"Ties are a pain in the ass," Rin mumbles, watching closely as Yukio finishes tying his tie, trying to memorize the movement. "I can tie ribbons, though."
"I know you can." Yukio says as he turns to walk down the path towards the school building, Rin quick to follow. "So you should be able to learn how to tie a tie, right? Also, button your jacket."
"Um, no, I need to retain my look of casual rebellion."
"You look like a delinquent." Yukio tells him.
"Yeah, it's my aesthetic." Rin replies, running a hand through his blue hair, making it messier than it already is.
Yukio shakes his head. "If you say so."
For a few minutes, the walk is silent as they get closer to the building, Rin hopping over cracks in the sidewalk, idly humming a song that doesn't exist yet as he does. Beside him, Yukio is fidgeting, fiddling with the hem of his sleeves, brushing away dirt that isn't there, straightening out his already straight tie.
"Are you nervous?" Rin asks.
"A little bit, since— ah," Yukio cuts himself off and shakes his head. "Nevermind, I want it to be a surprise."
Rin pouts. "I thought we said no more secrets." He says, and pretends his tongue doesn't burn with secrets untold as he does. That's different, he tells himself.
Hypocrite, a voice that sounds suspiciously like his brother's echoes in reply.
Yukio chuckles, unaware of Rin's inner turmoil of the week. "A surprise isn't a secret. You'll know... later," he says smugly in that 'I'm-a-little-bastard' tone of voice.
So Rin kicks at Yukio's shin and calls him out on it. "Bastard," he glares, albeit while grinning.
Yukio laughs, and Rin tries not to feel so guilty.
(It doesn't work very well.)
The entrance ceremony comes and goes— Rin is hardly surprised to hear Yukio ranked first in the entrance exam and thus is the first year student representative, though that doesn't mean he's any less proud.
But it leaves a bittersweet taste somehow, and the crowd of students surrounding him only makes it worse, almost suffocating him and pulling his mood down further.
Yukio, ever attentive to his brother, doesn't miss the change in Rin's mood either. "What's the matter, nii-san?" Yukio asks once they're outside after the ceremony.
Rin shrugs listlessly, attempting something casual. "I'm fine." He assures without thinking.
Yukio's expression quickly falls to a scowl, and Rin winces. Anyone with a brain could have seen how shitty that lie was.
"Sorry, um... Habit?" Rin tries, then shakes his head. "Ugh, I'm just. Feelin' kinda depressed now. No real reason. Just. Ugh." He confesses and wow talking about feelings sure does suck. "I'm gonna go... wander off. Somewhere quiet. That clown wanted to talk to me after the entrance ceremony anyway."
Yukio grabs Rin by the arm to stop him from walking off. "Wait, nii-san, are you— Uh," he hesitates, thinking his word over. "Are you okay to be alone right now?"
"Yeah, it's nothing, like, serious, I just..." Rin shrugs. "Can't stand to be in this crowd right now. It's suffocating."
As his brother contemplates over saying something else, a group of girls sneak up on him, giggling to each other before tapping on his shoulder. "Okumura-kun!" They sing, and Yukio shivers, gaining a look on his face like he's eaten something rotten and is trying to pretend it's delicious.
Of course, ever the excellent actor, he plasters a polite smile onto his face and turns to the group of girls. "Ah, yes?"
While he's distracted, Rin takes the opportunity to slip away from the crowd.
Yukio doesn't miss him as he leaves, but makes no effort to stop him. He does, however, slide his phone out of his pocket, and shoots Rin a text on his new phone.
I'm here if you need me.
He'll give Rin space if he needs it, but he'll always be there for him. Just like Rin was there for him.
Yukio gives the girls talking to him a quick excuse and makes his own escape from the crowd.
Mephisto finds Rin wandering far from the rest of the students, a pensive expression on his face showing him to be deep in thought as he makes his way down the path.
"You have cherry blossom petals in your hair, young Okumura-kun," Mephisto points out as he appears from around the pole of a lamp.
Rin doesn't startle like he'd expect, instead he shrugs and gives him a look. "Maybe I put them there. You don't know." He shoots back, but still raises a hand to brush through his hair.
Mephisto chuckles. "Oh, of course, my apologies." He bows dramatically with the sarcasm.
"So?" Rin prompts with a tilt of his head. "How do I become an exorcist? Yukio mentioned a cram school or something,"
With a flourish of his cape, Mephisto stands up right once again. "That's correct!" He claps. "You'll begin studying exorcism as a Page at the exorcist cram school! Regular classes begin in two days, however cram school starts today. I'll guide you there myself." He elaborates, before swinging his hand to point at Rin, who actually flinches a little from the sudden motion. "However! A word of caution— It's a secret that you are Satan's illegitimate child. While your ears, teeth, and tail can be covered... That flame of yours is no joke, so please, do try to control yourself."
Rin blinks, staring at the finger in his face before brushing his hand away. "I know that already." He says. "I think that should go without saying."
"Of course," Mephisto smiles, all sickly sweet and laced with smugness. "That's what I like to hear. Nonetheless, I'm a little worried, so I'll be sitting in on your class today." He says, then proceeds to twirl around and face away from Rin. "Eins, zwei, drei!" He calls out and with a snap of his fingers and puff of colorful smoke, Rin finds himself looking down at a fluffy white dog with a pretty pink bow tied around its neck.
Rin blinks.
Sure, he knew it was coming, but it's definitely a little disorientating to witness in real life.
With a sigh, he pinches the bridge of his nose and attempts to ground himself in reality again. "Jesus Christ," he mumbles under his breath, before he shakes his head and looks to Mephisto, who has a rather amused expression upon his face for a dog. "Yeah. Okay. This might as well happen. Lead the way."
"Of course, but first," Mephisto trots up to him— It's stupidly cute, considering just who he is, and it's mildly irritating— and Rin crouches down to meet him. A small golden key materializes seemingly out of nowhere, and Mephisto drops it into Rin's hand. "This is the key to the cram school. With it, you can enter the cram school through any door— Convenient, isn't it?"
Mephisto scampers (yes, he scampers, it's very cute) off to the nearest door, Rin trailing behind. "Go ahead and try it," he encourages.
So of course, Rin slides the key into the door's lock without question. With a quiet click, it unlocks and he steps inside, followed by Mephisto.
He finds himself looking up in awe at the tall hallway, eyes drifting over the intricate and colorful designs on the walls and doors. Rin quickly realizes that the design on the walls is the exact same as the design on the doors, complete with a fake handle. It's a door on a door. It both irritates and amuses him the same way a pun would, and he can't decide whether to glare at the dumb design or laugh.
At the very least, it improved his mood by a little bit.
Completely ignoring Rin, lost in thought, Mephisto trots on ahead. "First year lessons are held in room 1106," he explains, leading Rin down the hall.
"Here we are," Mephisto stops in front of one door— 1106, as it says on the wall beside it.
Rin takes a moment to collect himself. As he recalls, there were only a few kids in the class. A trio of boys who were close friends (childhood friends?), a pair of girls who stuck together (also childhood friends maybe?), two who were loners and stuck to themselves (and also were not actually students?), and... another girl, who would be his own friend.
With determination set in his shoulders, he holds his head high and enters the classroom. He's rather surprised when he does— to put it simply, the room was a fucking mess.
Yikes. He thinks, scanning over the room that appears to be falling apart at the seams, with grungy-looking walls and half-torn posters, not to mention the immediate dusty smell that hit him the second he stepped in.
He glances over the students next, all staring back at him with varying degrees of interest, but...
That girl was missing.
Confused, Rin stares at the front seat where he's pretty sure she's supposed to sit, until it hits him. She's not even in the cram school yet, he realizes dumbly. She doesn't enter until...
He doesn't finish the thought when he realizes he's simply been standing at the door, staring off into space. Sheepishly, Rin makes his way to his usual spot in the far back of the room (door-side, as opposed to furthest from the door which is where he would normally sit, but sitting furthest from the door would put him directly behind the bald kid, and that would be a little awkward since they don't know each other and there's plenty of other open seats and also—), ignoring the stares from the other students.
(And, yes, he's definitely overthinking the seating thing.)
Rin slides into his seat and looks up again as Mephisto hops into his lap. Instantly, he makes eye contact with a boy with pink hair a perfect match to his blue. He feels both instinctive hatred and a sense of kinship with this boy. (Sh... Shimura? Something like that.)
Anyways.
The door to the classroom opens not long after Rin sits down, and Mephisto perks up in his lap. "Your teacher is here," he whispers.
And, of course, in strolls his baby brother, decked out in his full exorcist uniform, shoulders back and head high with confidence. "Quiet down everyone," he commands, and the quiet chattering stops as they all turn to him.
Yukio takes his place at the front of the classroom. "Class will begin now," he says, placing a briefcase upon the desk. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Okumura Yukio. I'll be your Anti-Demon Pharmaceuticals instructor." He introduces himself with a smile.
Yukio glances over to Rin in the back of the room, watching as he stares at him blankly for a moment, before he appears to go through a series of different emotions and his eyes go wide and he makes some kind of halted motion with his hands. Rin's expression settles on a strange combination of pained, exasperated, and proud, and it's highly amusing.
"Although I am the same age as all of you, I finished all of my courses two years ago, so please address me as your teacher." Yukio turns his attention back to the rest of his students and smiles. "To begin with, is there anyone who has yet to receive a Mashou?"
A few of the students raise their hands. The plain looking girl sitting next to the girl with the short eyebrows (henceforth known as Eyebrows), the cool looking guy with all the piercings, and the person in the hoodie who Rin is pretty sure is lying and also not a real student.
"Three of you?" Yukio says. "Well, our first lesson will cover the Mashou ritual." He begins, opening his briefcase and taking out a vial of blood, a carton of milk, and a cup, placing them all on the table. "Normally, this classroom isn't in use. It's a nest for demons called goblins," Yukio explains.
The plain girl tenses. "Is— Is it safe?" She asks.
"Yes, goblins don't usually appear in bright places where people gather." Yukio affirms. "They're a low-level demon with only enough power for cheap pranks, so they're easy to handle... But when they smell fermented animal blood, they grow violent." He explains, holding up the vial of blood. He puts his other hand on the carton of milk. "Goblins love milk, so I'll use one drop of a mixture of one part blood to nine parts milk to draw out a few goblins for our ritual. Please wait while I prepare the mixture."
Rin snorts. Somehow, the idea of goblins liking milk is rather funny to him.
But he brushes the thought aside, and watches carefully as his brother goes about the Mashou ritual, listening eagerly as Yukio explains each step.
He has a lot to learn, after all.
A/N:
So like wow this was... a LONG wait. Sorry about that lol. And the chapter isn't much but it was a struggle to write anything at all...
I know it follows pretty closely (I'm so sorry) but there's really not much to change here... I tried to keep it as interesting as I could with some humor and stuff, but I don't know;; I'll look back on it another time to see if there's anything I can change up. The biggest change is the confrontation just. Not happening lmao. Tbh I really wanted to include details on the Mashou ritual, but I just couldn't figure out a way to do it. I honestly might come back to that though...
Also did you fucking know the cram school walls are just the fucking doors? I hate it. I noticed it when I was skimming the manga and I was like "Hm, the walls are really interesting what are they oh are you fucking kidding me."
Uhh I think that's all I have to say today. Ok bye bye thanks for reading sorry for the long wait and for a chapter where not much happens other than rin is kinda guilty and depressed and also goes to cram school for the first time and dissociates in the doorway for like 20 seconds then overthinks where to sit (which is a mood btw) THANKS FOR READING please leave a review I'm begging you