Chapter 1
Enter: Lust
"…land...?"
Who's… who's there?
"…evland…"
Is that Sojiro?
"Come on ya bum, wake up already!"
Revland shot up, images of last night's dream still lingering in his mind. The Velvet Room, Igor, the ruin. However, the images of that girl lingered a little longer. Shaking the remaining sleep from his head, he turned to look at the clock.
"What times the meeting supposed to start?" he asked
"It's starts in less than an hour and I heard that the trains are running late so we're driving."
"You have a car?"
"Yes, normally I wouldn't let a guy sit in my passenger seat but today I'll have to make an exception."
Placing his feet on the floor, Revland stretched to the sound of a low groan. He hadn't slept that deeply in quite some time and that's considering the weird dream last night. Thinking back on it, he remembered Igor's words,
"You have already formed a contract with the Hierophant and have made contact with the Hermit."
I have an idea on who the Hierophant is, but who's the hermit… think, who have you met since you got here? There was the delivery driver… No, doesn't seem to ring right… the old lady… nope, still nothing… was it that girl, the one in the window? Just as before, his heart pulsed and felt as if it was ringing.
So, it was her, but who is she?
Revland stood and dressed in his school uniform, a mainly black jacket with the school insignia in white over the left breast pocket, red buttons with a white undershirt as well as a pair black and red plaid pants. All in all, he didn't think it looked too bad on him. After completing his outfit with his black rimmed glasses, Revland grabbed his school bag before he made his way downstairs.
Sojiro stood waiting at the door with an unpleasant scowl on his face, "You sure took your time."
"Have to look the part don't I, don't want them thinking that I'm a complete Neanderthal."
"Cheek like that will get you into trouble, try to keep it to a minimum will you?"
"Yes sir." He said while resisting the urge to solute.
Sojiro's personal vehicle wasn't what Revland had expected. With all the talk of being a ladies' man, he expected some kind of muscle car. What he found was a slightly modified condor yellow Porsche 356. To be honest it fits, the car is more than meets the eye and he could see that the car was meant for Sojiro.
"You're not judging my ride are you?" Sojiro asked, breaking his train of thought.
"Nope, the opposite actually."
"You know, you're not as good at lying as you think you are."
"You're under the impression that I'm lying in the first place."
"Yeah yeah, butter up the guardian and maybe he won't be as strict. Come on now I practically wrote that one."
"Are you admitting that you're old Boss?"
After a moment Sojiro gave Revland a glare that didn't have the right amount of malice behind it and answered; "No Comment"
With a chuckle, Revland took his seat then he and Sojiro were on their way to Shujin Academy.
BREAK
About ten minutes into the drive they came to a standstill, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"
"Maybe it would have been faster to take the train instead?" Revland said off hand.
"Can it!"
Revland put his hands up in surrender, "Meant no offense Boss."
With a sigh Sojiro continued; "No, it's not your fault. It's just frustrating that we haven't moved in nearly 15 minutes."
"Maybe there was an accident?"
With a pause Sojiro switched on the radio as a report a news report explained that there was a large-scale subway accident that resulted in numerous injuries and, remarkably, very few deaths. It also stated that everyone should expect delays throughout the city.
"That's quite the intuition you have there." Sojiro remarked.
"You were the one that decided to drive instead of taking the train." Revland countered.
Both sat in silence as they listened to the report about there being not only a "Catastrophic Brake Failure" but, according to inspection reports, the train lines have been degrading for the last 4 years.
"You'd think someone would have noticed that little detail." Revland added
"It's all about saving money, now they have to payout lawsuits to those who were injured and fix the train lines."
"Still sounds like it would have saved them in the long run."
"And if everyone thought like that the world would be a better place."
The story concluded with the traffic report saying that the delays were going to last for quite some time. With another muttered curse, Sojiro pulled out his phone and called the school to explain that they were both stuck in traffic due to the accident. He seemed to calm slightly as the phone call continued, being told that there was no rush and that they understood the situation.
A different report started while Sojiro was on the phone. It told of an accident that happened about a few months ago resulting in the death of a young woman. Sojiro hung up the phone and caught the tail end of the report; "It's sad to hear about that kind of thing, a whole life ahead of her and it was taken away."
Revland only nodded in agreeance for the loss of life; "Seems to be too much of that lately…"
Sojiro looked at Revland, knowing that he was thinking about his own situation and how his life would most likely never be the same.
"Say Sojiro, I have a question for you." Revland said after a moment of silence.
"Okay, shoot."
"Do you live alone?"
Slightly taken aback by the question, Sojiro responded; "What brought this up?"
"Yesterday, when I visited your house, I noticed some movement in the upstairs window. I thought I saw a young girl staring down at me, though she was gone before I could get a good look."
Sojiro paused deciding on how best to answer. Do I lie to him and tell him that he was seeing things or do I tell him about her… there's also that intuition of his, he may find out on his own at some point.
After some time, Sojiro came to a conclusion and answered, "No, I have a daughter that lives with me. That's who you probably saw in the window."
"I didn't know you were married boss."
"I'm not…" Sojiro said with a small hint of sadness.
"Jesus Boss, I'm sorry."
"Oh no it was nothing like that, I was never married. However, she's still my daughter so don't go getting any funny ideas."
"I haven't even met her, how could I have any ideas if I don't even know what she looks like?" Revland stated, suddenly put on the defensive.
"Just figured I should tell you now… just in case..." The thought of this kid calling me dad…
With a look of confusion on Revland's face, Sojiro let out a small chuckle. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad..." Sojiro said more to himself. Revland caught it but decided to let the subject drop for now.
After about another 10 minutes of stand still traffic, they finally started moving again.
"By the way this is a onetime thing, starting tomorrow you'll be taking the train." Sojiro stated.
"Understood Boss."
The Pair arrive at Shujin Academy, an elite prep school located in Aoyama-Itchome. It is a large building with a decent sized campus.
"As schools go, I think you did alright." Sojiro said looking up at the school from the gate.
"Guess I'm about to find out how good of a school this place really is..." Revland stated solemnly. He couldn't help the thought that there was something... wrong with the place. Just standing outside the gate gave Revland the chills.
Maybe I'm just nervous... or could it be something else? He mused.
A few moments went by before they were greeted by a teacher and were escorted to the principals' office. She was in her late-20's, of medium height and slim, unkempt dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and has a somewhat long face. Revland also noticed the signs of sleep deprivation under her eyes though it was covered up by make-up.
"Checking out the teacher already, huh? You sly dog." Sojiro whispered.
Suddenly embarrassed, Revland looked away; "It's not like that, she doesn't seem to be sleeping well is all."
"Oh, how can you tell?" Sojiro asked.
Revland thought a moment on how to explain, "If you look at her eyes, they seem puffy but not red, means she's not crying or at least not lately. And if you look close enough you can see the signs of make-up under her eyes and on her fingertips."
"Yet again, you amaze me on how observant you can be. are you saying she's not attractive?" he said with a smirk.
Revland looked up to the ceiling his face on fire; "Well… no… I wouldn't say that…"
They arrived at the principal's office and the teacher held the door for the pair; "For the record, I'm sleeping just fine and I don't date student." she brushed her hair behind her left ear feeling a little subconscious.
"Ouch, shot down before you had a chance." Sojiro said with a wide grin.
"It's your fault she heard us." Revland replied trying to hide his embarrassment.
Temperance…
Confused, Revland turned and asked the teacher, "I'm sorry ma'am, did you say something?"
"No, I didn't say anything." looking just as confused as he felt.
Great if she didn't think I'm crazy, she does now…
The principal was a large, middle-aged man, bald with dark brown eyes and wearing a gold-colored suit with a red bowtie. The name plate on the desk read: Kobayakawa. His office was adorned with trophies and certificates that the past and current students of the academy have earned.
Kind of a lot to live up to… Revland thought.
"You must be Antrie-kun and Sakura-san, hello and welcome to Shujin Academy." Kobayakawa said with a well-practiced smile that Revland could see was fake.
"Good to finally be here." Sojiro replied.
"I'm principal Kobayakawa of Shujin and this is going to be your homeroom teacher" gesturing to the woman next to him.
With a sigh the teacher continued; "I'm Ms. Kawakami and starting tomorrow I will, unfortunately, be your homeroom teacher."
Reaching into her pocket she produced 3 items. Two were black and had the school insignia on it and the other was a pink paper with bold yellow lettering. The moment she noticed the pink flyer on the desk, Revland saw a glimpse of panic go across Kawakami's eyes as she grabbed the flyer and stuffed it back into her pocket.
"Here's your student ID and handbook, follow the rules and complete your assignments. I won't be able to help you if you get into trouble. Isn't that right principal Kobayakawa?" Kawakami asked.
"Antrie-kun is responsible for his own actions, so keep an eye on him Sakura-san and insure he toes the line." The principal stated with a nod.
"We've already been over that part yesterday; Revland already knows what's expected of him." Sojiro answered with hint of distain that Revland wasn't quite sure where it came from.
The principal continued addressing Revland; "I hope you understand that this is your last chance, if you screw this up there will be no other place that would accept the likes of you. I hope you count yourself lucky, not many schools would enroll someone like you."
Revland's gaze grew cold. How many times are you going to be brought up?
"Don't worry sir… you won't have to worry about me." He stated coldly.
Oblivious, the principal continued; "Good, you'll start first thing tomorrow. Just check in at the teacher's officer when you arrive in morning."
Not quite as oblivious, Sojiro placed a calming hand on Revland's shoulder; "Don't worry he'll be there. Now if you excuse us, we have a bit of a drive ahead of us. It was a pleasure to meet you both." Tipping his hat toward Kawakami, he turned with his hand still on Revland and walked out of the office.
As they were leaving the school, Sojiro spoke; "Some people aren't as oblivious as the fat headed principal of yours Revland. You need to keep that anger in check if you want to make it through this."
"I'm not here for five minutes and the staff already act as if I'm some rabid animal that's been let off the chain." Revland vented.
"Unfortunately, that's what having a record does to you, it labels you. I doubt they will be the last ones to something about it, keep your head down and try to role with the punches."
Revland sighed and continued down the steps.
"School hasn't changed much sense I've been here, doesn't seem to be for the better either." Sojiro said.
He wasn't kidding about being labeled right out of the gate, kid's going to have it rough for a while.
"Come on, let head back to the shop."
"Yeah…"
(Later in the courtyard of Shujin)
Sadayo Kawakami walked out of the main school building into the courtyard to clear her head after the meeting.
Why did they have to put him in my classroom, a male teacher would be able to handle him better.
She suddenly remembered that Antrie-kun had noticed that she wasn't sleeping very well and felt her nerves start to creep up on her.
If he noticed that much, then what else did he see?
She also remembered that she accidently pulled out a flyer for her part-time job that she had been keeping quiet about.
ooooh, what if he tries to hold this over my head?
Her worries were cut short by a baritone voice. "Hey Kawakami, how did the meeting with that new transfer student go?"
She turned to find a man with long black unkempt hair with thick eyebrows, his jawline is broad and square with his eyes being a common shade of brown. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black track pants with double white stripes. Around his neck he has a red timer and a whistle. He is unnaturally tall, she noted, appearing to be nearly 7 feet tall.
"Oh, it's you Mr. Kamoshida…" Letting out a small sigh of relief. "The meeting went well, he starts tomorrow as scheduled."
"It's hard to believe that the principal let someone like him enroll here, he does have a record doesn't he?"
"He does… but to be honest, I never got that kind of vibe from him. He seems too quiet to be the type with an assault charge."
"It's the quiet ones that you have to watch out for, but don't worry if he causes any trouble, I'll throw him out of here like he was yesterday's garbage."
As weird as he is, I wouldn't exactly call him garbage… she thought to herself. "I appreciate the thought Mr. Kamoshida, but we'll see how Mr. Antrie acts before we take such actions."
"Well suit yourself, I still don't trust him. With him here, there's only so much I can contribute with my volleyball team and don't get me started on that failure of a track team."
"I'm sure the principal brought him here to make the school look better especially with the track teams very sudden suspension." She responded suddenly with a small hint of malice.
Where did that come from, not like it was his fault one of the students attacked him, or maybe there was something else...
Kawakami's sudden defense of both the new transfer student and the track team took Kamoshida by surprise.
Who do you think you are challenging me…?
"Say… Kawakami, are you busy later? We could go for a drink, maybe dinner?"
If I can't persuade you then maybe I can entice you…
"Why the sudden interest?" she asked, unfazed.
"We'll we have been working together for some time now and I feel like it'd be better to get to know you better."
"Sorry, I have plans later tonight so that will have to be a no." she replied.
You little bitch, how dare you turn me down! Me, the great Kamoshida!
"Oh, is that so… then some other time then?"
"Afraid not, my nights are busy for the foreseeable future… and I try not to date colleagues."
I don't know what it was just now, but I feel that I should be careful around him from now on… Kawakami thought to herself.
"Well, it was worth a shot."
Who would want garbage like you anyway…?
"Anyway, I should get back to practice. We do have a meet coming up."
Alone once more, Kawakami's thoughts briefly went back to Antrie.
He noticed that I wasn't sleeping well and the make-up that I used to cover it up… Sakura-san said it was Antrie-kun's intuition but maybe he's just observant… very observant… I just hope he doesn't cause too much trouble… wait… did he... blush when I told him I don't date students?
