-LE GASP- Another chapter? Man, I am really flowing with new chapters nowadays! I guess maybe because I'm trying to put off studying...
Anywho, enjoy :) And once again, thanks for everyone who favourited, subscribed and reviewed!
I was eased into consciousness by the sounds of murmuring above me.
I opened my eyes slowly and saw a bunch of random people and Shuichi sitting around a TV. I sat upright from the couch that was I previously lying on and realized I'm in a house that I don't recognize. "Where am I?" I asked with an unsteady voice.
"So, sleeping beauty has finally awaken", an old lady walked over to me, "you're at your friend Shuichi Minamino's house"
Ughh, so it really wasn't a dream.
I rubbed my forehead, "last night really happened did it?"
The old lady nodded her head but didn't say anything.
"And my brother Kazushi?"
"Sorry..." a guy clad in a green uniform walked over to me in a grim face.
"Mr. Credit Card", I said in recognition, then took in account what he just said.
Does that mean… My brother Kazushi... And the monster...
I stayed silent and felt my face burning so I turned away from the two.
"SYKE! Nah he's all good, Kurama and I checked out your house and everything's fine" he said with a goofy grin and patted my back.
The old lady slapped him over the head, "Dimwit! This isn't the time for your stupid pranks!"
Mr. Credit Card pouted angrily and rejoined the people at the TV.
"You're gonna have to excuse Yusuke, he's my idiot apprentice. He may have given you a bad first impression, but he's a good guy I guess", the old lady explained.
"That's alright, just made my blood stop for a second though...who's Kurama?"
The old lady pointed towards Shuichi.
"Although I'm sure you know him as Shuichi. He went by the name Kurama in the demon world. There's a lot that you don't know, but we'll bring you up to speed soon"
Demon world? If this is this a game that Shuichi plays with his friends, then my opinion of him will reach -10 on my scale.
The old lady sighed, "you look to be as lost as a Chihuahua in Disney World, I think Kurama owes you an explanation on a lot of things" she nodded to Shuichi and as on cue, he sat on a couch opposite me and began to explain all about demon world, spirit world, spirit detectives and everything in between. Honestly, I didn't know what to do with this information, but a hunch told me to believe him.
The old lady whom I came to know as Genkai gave me a light pat on the shoulder and left the room to grab some tea.
"So demons are real..." I repeated for the umpteenth time.
"Yes, they are" Shuichi also repeated for the umpteenth time.
If everything that Genkai and Shuichi said were right, it means that he isn't simply a nerd with an education fetish.
Huh, who would have thought that he was a powerful demon... Ironically the conspiracy theories were right.
"Another question- why did you choose to tell me about your secret worlds? I'm simply a human, was I just coincidentally attacked by a random demon?"
Shuichi looked at Genkai who nodded to him from the doorway.
"While it is true that you're a human, by chance, you were attacked when you were 4 years old by a demon. You see, in the demon world there is a group of demons who favour humans and are split into 2 factions, one consists of pacifists who chose not to devour humans, however the other group is interested in humans for their scientific purposes" he explained, "you were attacked by a demon in the latter group at a young age when you happened to be nearby when he was drawn to my demon energy. We believe his experiment failed and the resulting effect is your inheritance of his demon powers"
"...Like Harry Potter?" I asked
"...Yes, like Harry Potter" Genkai rolled her eyes.
"You inherited the demon power to create force fields. I assume your abilities lay dormant throughout your life, only to take affect when you were assigned a seat next to me in the beginning of the year, being exposed to my powers must have catalysed this whole event. Unbeknownst to you, small portions of my demon energy have been steadily converted and utilized by you in a hybridized form of energy. We have reasons to suspect that the recent influx of class D demons in this town is the likely..."
"Shuichi, Plain English please" I interrupted.
"In other words, you've somehow found a way to steal small and steady amounts of Kurama's demon energy and using it for yourself, you dim-witted girl" Genkai finished, "maybe you weren't aware of it the whole time. But since Kurama noticed you were doing this, there have been a lot more low level apparitions in town. He went to the Spirit World library for a week and found out you were steadily forming multiple force fields in Demon World, across different demon territories".
Why couldn't Shuichi have said that in the first place? Now I look stupid.
So if I understood what they just said, I've been stealing Shuichi's demon energy thing to take over demon territories with force fields without me knowing. And without a place to go, low class demons have been flocking here. Especially to track down the source of the force fields.
WHAT THE HELL?
"This... It seems like too much right now" I looked at Genkai and Shuichi.
10 hours ago, I was a simply high schooler with raging hormones.
"Well, put up with it, like how Yusuke had to put up with eliminating demons from your house in Kurama's absence" Genkai started to get impatient "Well, the late demon got past him because the idiot fell asleep...but what you need to know right now is that you'll be staying with me to train for 3 months to control your energy before you're demon chow"
Did she just say 3 months...? What about school? What about my life? What will my family say; I can't just say that I'll be training at an old lady's house for 3 months to harness my powers!
"Uhh, Genkai I can't do that"
"You don't understand the gravity of this situation!" Genkai stood up
"You clearly don't understand my parents!" I retorted, "They won't even let me out past 1am! I have an established life before any of this happened!"
Genkai sat down and sighed in exasperation. "Fine. It can't be helped. Since Kurama is closer to you than any of us, he'll be your mentor to help control your energy. The way you are now, it's like hanging a neon sign above you for every demon to see. I don't think you'd want to endanger your family and friends. You two can just swap timetables or sort out your schedules or something."
I looked at Genkai with a blank stare.
I'm going to be spending time with Shuichi? I've always dreaded and tried to avoid this kind of experience with him. Being near him has never been anything other than awkward.
Although I know now that he's a demon, it still doesn't change the fact that I've even actively trying to avoid him my whole high school life!
"You can swing by here every Friday after school" Shuichi told me, "it's the only day throughout the week that I have free time"
Oh great, now my Friday evenings are booked out too.
"...Sure" I replied, making sure to show my obvious lack of enthusiasm, "hey, I'm gonna go now... My brother would be worried sick if I'm gone without notice any longer"
Shuichi and Genkai nodded and I said my goodbyes to everyone in the house and stepped outside the front door.
One glance outside and I recognized my street. Great, it seems that we're neighbours too. Well, I guess it explains a lot. I rubbed my forehead again, I felt a headache coming. I took a deep breath and thought of everything that I was just told.
I WANT MY NORMAL LIFE BACK! I WANT OUT OF THIS WHOLE DEMON BUSINESS!
I don't want to be anything more than a regular human with normal priorities! This was stupid, why should I care about this whole spirit thing anyway? It's their concern, not mine.
I trudged back to my house, passing a couple of girls standing next to a lamp post, staring at Shuichi's house with a hopeful look.
"HE DOESN'T LOVE YOU!" I yelled at the stalkers and watched in amusement as they ran away in surprise.