Somewhere in the vicinity of a blind alley in downtown Majima, where the dregs and near-dregs of town congregated, a magic circle suddenly appeared. Invisible, it hummed and glowed, becoming more distinct in shape and pattern as time went on. Eventually, the design was complete, and a dark-purple bubble, still invisible, rose from the circle. It kept on growing until it was the size of a man, and then after straining, it burst, revealing Specialist Nora of the Runaway Spirit Squad and Dokuru School, her superior and Section Chief of the Far East.

If there had been any humans in the vicinity, they might have seen the flash of light and sudden appearance of the two demons, but only for a second, as they soon vanished like a bad hallucination.

Dokuru had his palms upward, reinforcing the magic circle before dropping his arms and nodding in satisfaction. "Infiltration complete. Let us proceed then, Specialist Nora."

The magic circle rose from the ground, hovering delicately as it carried the diminutive Section Chief and the tall, buxom Specialist like a flying platform. With the glinting of runes, the unseen transport zipped away from that place.

"It's a good thing you don't have Member Hakua's problem with instant-porting." Dokuru commented off-hand while consulting his workpad. "Poor dear could never stomach that."

"I'm flattered sir," Nora replied, her eyes looking all-too pleased as she scanned the tall and short buildings. "I'm sure she can . . . overcome her flaws in time."

"We all have our faults," he said simply. "And I have high hopes that she can; she is an excellent devil of Hell."

"I wholeheartedly agree!" Nora smirked, rolling her eyes mentally. The magic transport zipped through an alley. "Where shall we go first, sir?"

The workpad expanded into a big glowing map, showing the entirety of Majima. There were blue glowing lights on it, each at different places in the city. Dokuru pointed his boned finger to one. "That seems to be closest. Let's investigate there first."

Nora nodded and guided the magic circle in that direction.

OoOoOoOo

Doors were smashed open, teachers were knocked aside like flimsy junk and delinquents prostrated themselves like she was Shiva reborn, as Kusunoki dragged her spoils through the winding corridors of Majima high. Keima was doing the best impression of a near-dead Hector as he seemed to dangle lifelessly, still clutching his PFP.

The chaos that had erupted from Kusunoki's challenge and subsequent victory had died down, with a lot of delinquents swearing to their lady's newfound legend. Many were upset that bets hadn't gone through – because no one betted on the Otamega. Some were vocal about the otaku's failure, Chihiro foremost, though Ayumi sensed a distinctly wry sarcasm dripping through her friend's declarations. She was about to call Tenri aside for clothes-changing – but found that the reticent girl had disappeared.

"Let's head back to change, Chihiro," Ayumi urged her other friend. She glanced at the Maestro who was still at it before a troop of their classmates. "And do something about those guys, they're embarrassing our class."

Chihiro barked a mere "Maestro!", and that seemed to be enough to cow the flamboyant rabblerouser and dissolve the crowd.

"That was a crazy match," Chihiro observed on the way back.

"Bizzare," agreed Ayumi. She noticed the pieces of old polish and wood along the floor of the hall that marked the trail of Katsuragi being dragged off. "Wonder what Kasuga-senpai wanted with Keima. I can't imagine him being involved with anything involving delinquency; he's kinda single-minded and obvious about his unique wants. I really can't imagine him being involved in fights." Chihiro shrugged, muttering something about not caring as long as she (hopefully) didn't kill him.

They trudged on in silence, Ayumi lost in the study of her thoughts until it was interrupted when she realized she'd left her friend behind; Chihiro having stopped a ways back and tilting her head in the middle of the hall. She was frowning at a puzzled Ayumi, who doubled back to her friend.

Chihiro raised the tip of her finger. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. 'Keima'? You used his first name just now. It literally took my brain five seconds to get that. If you're- but that's- then you're- And that usually means-"

"Wha-" Ayumi couldn't believe she was starting this again. "It was a slip of the tongue! Anyone would have done it."

"But not consistently," Chihiro pointed out with a growing smirk on her face. "It's calling him by his first name now, and before I remember your concern for him at the challenge-"

"Why wouldn't you be concerned?" Ayumi interjected, feeling an odd flush in her neck.

"-And you keep mentioning him at the most inopportune times, like when we discussed 'doability' in idols and you mentioned him?" The smirk was full-blown now.

"I said it would be impossible to do him-" Ayumi was finding it a bit harder to breathe.

"That and many other clues I'll be remembering from now on makes me think," Chihiro put a finger to her chin, then her eyes widened, bopping her hand on her palm as if she'd come to a sudden conclusion. "-that Ayumi has a crush. . . "

"WHAT!" The fully red-faced Ayumi shouted, making the few loitering students in the corridor turn their heads.

"Ayumi has a crush. . . " Chihiro pranced, lowering her voice just enough in a sing-song voice, "-a crush, a crush. . . Ayumi has a crush on our very own Ota- hey! Don't raise your fists like that! You know you can't punch a damn, ahaha~"

Chihiro ended up being chased right to their classroom. Many wondered why the up and coming ace and champion of the previous track-and-field tournament took too long to catch her seemingly unathletic friend, who cackled away like a lively witch.

Their new friend watched them zip by on the staircase landing. She smiled awkwardly at their antics, before letting it slip and continuing on with her climb. The sun-touched railing glimpsed her unguarded expression for a while – an eye that fiercely brooked no opposition.

OoOoOoOo

Proud Kasuga stood, arms akimbo. She faced the eastern part of the rooftop, part meditating on her victory and contemplating on the questions she would soon be asking the suspicious student.

((

For the most part, though he was an unusual opponent to deal with, wielding an illegal style and having a disagreeable demeanor, at his core I could see he was just as any human.

Which was to say, average. Not like those such as myself.

Apparently that assumption would fall on its head if he did turn out to be involved with those that I hunt. Many possibilities came to mind, coming from what I'd read from the Kasuga family scrolls. The demon could have taken his flesh, or possessed him by some strange artifact (perhaps the pendant). The demon might even be living inside him, lodging inside his spiritual pathways like a parasite.

Should the demon be strong. . . I clenched my fist.

I sensed the student coming to. I turned and declared, making him at least feel the extent of my mission and my purest determination, "I am Kusunoki Kasuga of the Noble House of Kasuga, a family of demon-hunters. I ask you this: are you involved with demons?"

))

Keima took several seconds to reorient himself after being served that declaration. He checked his PFP absentmindedly, noting the distinct crack on the screen, adjusted his glasses, and checked his body for any injuries. Finally he stood up, brushing the dust from where he could see it. He regretted seeing the white being tarnished like this, but cleaning it up was a lost cause with all the tears it had gotten from Kasuga's attacks.

"Demon hunter?" Hakua whispered from somewhere. "As I suspected Katsuragi, she's-"

"Answer the question, student." Keima made no move to reveal an emotion on his face. The first thing he'd learned to do during uncomfortable confrontations such as these was "Deny, deny, deny" – ever the most helpful tip one could use in the face of uncomfortable accusations or questions. But with Hakua whispering incessantly in his ear, almost as bad as that other thing in his head, he was finding it hard to retain his composure.

"Demons?" asked Keima. He made to look as if the term was a confusing subject. "What kind of demons are you talking about, Kasuga-senpai? Like the ones in the legends? Or the ones you see in cartoons? Or those books... Did you sign a contract. . .?"

"Do not fly around my question. Do not lie. I see through your answer as clear as glass. My clan arts have detected an anomaly, something distinctly demonic about that pendant you keep wearing on yourself." Kusunoki glared at his chest.

"Respectfully senpai,that was but a mere trinket, and I had to wear it because I lost a punishment game. My mother's terribly good with the consequences thing, and she thought it appropriate that I wear one that looks completely gaudy." Truthfully, her mother could be very particular in getting what she wanted. He then went on to describe how he'd lost, and what the pendant meant to Katsuragis. He didn't flinch on the thought that the backstory had been blatantly ripped off from a character in his games – a girl from his games.

"I will be the one to ascertain that, student. Show me your pendant again." Kusunoki held out her hand. She didn't look like his response had affected her judgement.

Keima made a motion of being uncomfortable. "It's. . . I'm telling you honestly that I don't have it on me anymore. I've left it-"

"You lie!" Quick as lightning Kusunoki pounced, grabbing the front of his PE uniform. Yep, she's inhumanly fast. She started ripping open the front. And isn't afraid to touch people when she feels like it. He tried struggling, but it was a helpless gesture.

"How can this be?" Kusunoki wondered, her eyes goggle-like in their sockets when she discovered that the pendant was no longer attached to the student's neck. Nor was it on his person, as she searched, much to Keima's discomfort, his gym clothes. "W-where-"

"I told you, it was only for a short while, under the terms of the punishment game," explained Keima, still being held by the front of his shirt. He was increasingly finding it hard to contain it's symptoms by Kusunoki's close proximity. It didn't help that she smelled good for someone who'd just gone through a sweat-inducing fight.

He let Kusunoki wrestle with her emotions for a while, watching it steal across her face, changing it to many different expressions. "If you understand, could you let me go? I have to change, and salvage what little is left of my reputation in this damned school after your challenge." The second was less than half-true, he didn't give a damn what other people thought.

He was less than pleased by what Kusunoki said next.

"Then, allow me to come to your house. Show me the artifact. It shall prove your innocence, and I will let you go if you are proven thus."

For once, Keima let indignation show among his carefully-controlled expressions. "What? You can't be serious, senpai! I just had my reputation shattered, my PFP cracked, my personal space violated, and now you want to go to my house? That's more than enough!"

"I am a demon-hunter-"

"Oh, really. I don't mean to be offensive, honored senpai, but if you expect me to believe that, you've got another thing coming. You're freakishly strong, sure, and fast, and otherworldly even, but demons?" Keima said, chuckling. "They don't exist. In my games, maybe, but not in reality." He could almost imagine the thing in his head rolling on the floor laughing.

"You have to hear me out student. This may become important to the survival of the people." Keima raised his eyebrows. "So I'll prove it to you." She let him go, and walked to the other side of the rooftop.

"Prove what? That demons exist?" He was really sure he'd be biting his tongue sometime soon.

"Just as I revealed myself to you, so too shall I enforce that it will remain a secret," a tiny bit of killing intent leaked out. It alarmed him far less than the unspoken threat of physical pain. "Of course, if you were involved with demons, I'd also be demonstrating what I will do to you when it's true."

The tall, long-haired warrior clad in pure white took a bow. Keima wondered if it was directed at him. Then he watched her crush her clenched fists together, letting a full stream of killing intent flow that was strong enough to make him stop breathing when it couldn't before. He had the urge to run, or at least retreat a safe distance, but the old Katsuragi stubbornness made him stay his feet. Then she muttered something he couldn't hear before running forward a few yards and thrusting out one of her fists in the air.

Tendrils of blue-colored lightning erupted from her outstretched fist, illuminating the day with eye-dazzling clarity. He smelled the rich scent of burning before he hummed in an interested way.

"That's. . . new. . ." Actually it wasn't, having been a witness to the devil's magickery, but he had to keep appearances. He wore the face of someone who had just seen something he couldn't believe, but couldn't deny as well. Like seeing a release date being pushed back six months.

He shook a finger at Kusunoki's who was approaching, twiddling it like he was about to say something. He settled for silence afterward as the maiden warrior stared with s grim satisfaction at him.

"Are you satisfied? Denying me now after I've shown you the seriousness of my claim will make you look suspicious."

Keima was in a right conundrum. He resolved to beat the devil over the head later on. He was about to open his mouth before a breeze wafted past them, and the roof door shut with a loud bang behind him. They both looked quickly at the door, Keima shrugging first and saying as if he had no choice in the matter, "Agreed. This is like the first time I've seen something amazing-ouch!"

"What is it?" Kusunoki asked with narrowed eyes.

"No nothing. . . " Keima turned away, bringing a finger to his lips. He opened his mouth, trying to have the air relieve his now-swollen tongue. "I gueth I've no choithe then. . . I shall lead the way, senpai, but please keep a distance from on the way to the house, wouldn't want people to misunderstand. . . "

OoOoOoOo

"She" descended the stairs, a cramped, contemplating look on "her" face.

"She" looked down at the metal railing. Her eyes looked uncertain, as if she was worried by someone or something.

OoOoOoOo

Nora stood watch, eyeing the sprawling city below her with minute distaste. A secrecy shroud had fallen over the rooftop of the building, allowing the demons to do their task with impunity. On the other side of the roof, her superior was tracing lines on the concrete, muttering in a dialect she couldn't understand. She squinted her eyes as the human sun peeked between two buildings.

"I have completed diagnosis of the tear," Dokuru announced, the suddenness making her muscles twitch ever so slightly. She schooled her face before walking towards the diminutive demon, who loomed over the channeler seal that rapidly materialized on the ground.

"This is Hakua's handiwork alright. The script looks just like how she inscribes runes. And these markings leading to the contextual ley-lines, you can plainly see her mark," Dokuru commented excitedly, as if seeing something fascinating.

Nora, who only saw a rudimentary channeler seal being forced to reveal itself to demons' sight, didn't comment. She was about to throw out a disparaging comment about her colleague's shoddy excuse for a circle when Dokuru continued talking, forcing her to bite that thought back.

"She's greatly improved since last I saw her perform. . . Have you ever seen her perform, Specialist Nora?" She shook her head, a bit impatiently. "I was one of those overseeing the Academy's final projects. Member Hakua's version of a disguise circle was filled with many errors; wrong syntaxes, inappropriate ley-lines, even the design was wrong, and the style left much to be desired. It was a wonder how she passed that."

"I wonder too," Nora's eyes widened pleasantly in their sockets. Jackpot!

"- though she has improved much over the decades. And now this, this. This. . . is masterwork. It's like a Royal seal all by itself, right Specialist Nora?" Dokuru asked Nora's opinion again.

Her mind being filled by thoughts of sweet maliciousness, the most Nora could utter was a quizzical "Er. . . maybe?" She truly didn't see anything amazing in this remarkably below-average circle.

"You don't see it?" Dokuru chuckled, making Nora flush to her cheekbones. If there was something her superior saw that she hadn't, then that was a bit fine, but it irked her all the same. Irritably, she shook her head, acceding her ignorance of whatever it was the old coot had seen. She instead channeled her hidden fury at a certain Hakua, who had made something to impress even the chief.

"Well, primarily, I say the seal's impressive because of the Heaven runes."

Nora tilted her head. "That demon used those runes?" she asked increduously.

"Yes," here Dokuru assumed the air of his part-time alternate job, an instructor at the academy. "They're all very rudimentary, all very basic forms, ones you might get from reading up on the archives. But even in spite that, it's still a wonder she was able to comprehend it at all." That was no joke, Nora thought. She couldn't even understand Paradisia herself; most devils couldn't. Typically any demons who laid eyes on even a single piece of Paradisial runes would have a blinding headache. Those with greater power could suppress their forms' aversion to the script and force themselves to attempt to read it, but even then, that was only the first step. The next would be to understand what the rune meant, which was virtually impossible for the average devil.

There was a special class in the Academy dedicated to the study of Heaven-runes, and understandably, not many took those. It was fairly unpopular, and the more unsavory demons would have harassed the space dedicated to it had it not been indirectly protected by the instructor's runes haphazardly drawn on the outside. So these settled for ambushing the students who took said course.

Odd, she couldn't remember Hakua taking those classes. Or any of her past and present underlings for that matter. Though maybe they might have just missed her coming and going.

"Nora? Specialist Nora?" Nora stirred, apologizing saccharinely for the lapse. Dokuru was still crouched over the seal, tracing his fingers through the visible marks on the circle. After she murmured her apologies, he turned back to the process of examination.

"So very intriguing designs... almost as if she was marking a deliberate pattern ... one never sees that often in Paradisian seals ... Oho, Kiseth would have a field day were I to copy this and show it to him ... Hmm, maybe I can-"

"Sir?" Nora interjected.

"Ah yes," it was Dokuru's turn to hastily apologize. "I'm sorry dear, I just feel... excited, I guess? You may prepare the returning spell now, I believe we've gathered most of the data we needed. I just need to tweak a few more..."

"Understood," Nora stepped back to the edge of the shrouding spell where she began tracing another seal in midair. The rum-red sigils flared, casting an infernal glow on her darkened body. She turned to watch Dokuru crawling over the circle.

The chief wanted to test something, he was already scrawling over some of the Heaven symbols around the outer edge with his own script. After tracing the last one, the red symbols superimposed over the yellow ones glowed, before settling into the yellow color. Dokuru sat, humming to himself. He then stood, snapping his fingers. The shroud fell apart, returning back to the original seal. The transport seal descended to his level, after which he climbed on, urging it towards Nora. He glanced back at the still-visible seal.

"A lesson, Nora. Just a little tidbit from Advanced Paradisial Studies... something our very own Hakua seems to have mastered so well. Now, generally, if the seal's contextual barriers aren't reinforced by the right scripts (and the right runes of course), the whole thing falls apart if another knowledgeable seal-user tampers with them afterwards..."

"Uh-huh," Nora turned back to channeling the transport cantrip.

"-rune, syntax, and context, all very basic of course, that's the foundation to all Heavenly scripts. Of course, true seals utilized by the higher beings no longer exist on the human realm, to our knowledge, so questions like structural integrity and hermentology of 'proper' Heaven seals are out of the question..."

That reminded her, Nora needed to change around her scheme involving that Hakua now. If that demon actually had any shred of skill in her – she didn't want to be caught flat-footed. Even if she knew she could handle anything that flat chest could throw... Better to be err on the side of caution. She unconsciously clenched the hand that wasn't held out channeling. A thought occured to her. A bit of research perhaps?

"-so as an example, just a little test, I rewrote a small portion of the seal. If her seal's design were any less, it would backfire, but if it were, my intended effect shall occur right...about... now."

Never would Nora admit to her underlings, to her bosses, or to herself that she was easily floored, or knocked aside, that fact simply was untrue – save for certain occasions. Certain several occasions. Dokuru's modification to Hakua's seal was one instance, one that she would gladly store away into her memories.

A battered Nora picked herself off of the branches of the tree, cursing at the twigs and leaves in her hair. She consulted her raiment, she'd been blown quite a few ways south of the previous location.

She looked up to see Dokuru approaching on the transport, apologizing profusely once again for that particular mishap.

"But that did validate my little theory, Specialist Nora. That was certainly very impressive sealwork. Oh Hakua, how far you've gone... and how far will you go?"

Nora felt like she'd been blown away yet again by a Class-V magical explosion.

OoOoOoOo

In the direction of a certain cafe in the town of Majima, there was a huge explosion.

Not that anyone felt it, which was indeed strange for an explosion such as this. But were any old hands who'd considered themselves delinquents twenty some years ago present in the area, they would have felt the cold, creeping power of the killing intent that spread throughout the town for but an instant. A force that they would be so familiar with, that haunted most of their number's nightmares long after they'd joined society peacefully.

The legend of Majima's "Yukionna" lived on.

Author's Note: Well, have a happy holidays too.

Merlin out.