Brother's Fiend (New Version)

1: New

We are all searching for someone's demons who play well with ours.

Cold, refreshing air. Sweaty palms, clutched together. A tall, ostentatious man guiding me to a doorway to nowhere.

"...and that just about concludes the grande tournée. This little life-saving key is yours to keep! It grants you access to the cram school and many other mysterious locations. Don't lose it, whatever you do," the director stated ominously.

"O-Okay, thank you for showing me around," I stuttered clumsily, kicking myself for being so shy.

"Not a problem child. However, if you find yourself with one, please see me imminently. Well, I'll be off now. Ta-ra!"

And with some sort of whimsical, magical *poof*, Mehphisto Pheles disappeared from my line of vision.

That was...really peculiar.

I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my pink skirt, which felt kind of gross but at this point - really necessary. Inspecting the key, I noticed it's gold detail which exuded the wealth and richness that my brother mentioned when describing True Cross Academy. He had been sending me texts about his time here, about the people he liked and disliked, and about the missions he would go through.

Shakily, I inserted the key and opened up a portal to a long, intricately designed hallway. The detailed artwork sparkled under the stained-glass windows. However, despite the initial impression, this part of the school almost felt empty compared to what Mephisto had shown me earlier.

I marched myself down the hall, taking a big inhale in and preparing myself for meeting new people. Why did it seem worse when I knew there was going to be less people than a standard classroom? Shortly, I approached the occupied classroom where I could see a young man addressing his class.

knock knock knock

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, is this the exorcist cram class?"

I sound like a fucking mouse.

The tall man, who I suspected was Yukio Okumura, nodded and gestured for me to enter.

"Indeed, it is, you must be (Y/N), lovely to meet you. Please introduce yourself to the class."

His stance was strong but not intimidating, and approaching him made his features more visible. He had square spectacles, broad shoulders and a constellation of freckles or moles dotted on his face. He also appeared to be a lot younger than I initially thought.

I had been staring at him way too long so I quickly turned to directly face the class.

"Hello everyone, I'm (Y/N), it's really nice to meet you all," I gestured to the students nervously. I was almost certain they could nearly taste my discomfort.

I tried to take a moment to take everyone in, noting only two girls in the entire class, but my vision grew blurry due to the nerves racking up.

This should be interesting.

"Well, (Y/N), I am Yukio Okumura but you may call me Mr. Okumura. It'll be good to have you in the class."

"Thank you," I said politely. God, I was nervous.

"I'm just going to go over everyone in the class so that you get a rough idea who everyone is. Over here we have Izumo, Nemu and Shiemi. Next to Shiemi is Rin, and over on our other side here we have Shima, Konekomaru and Bon. I'm going to sit you next to, let's see...Shima," he said whilst he looked over the room.

Rin. That's familiar.

I didn't even have time to scan the people whilst he was saying their names because I was tunnel visioning on the back wall of the class where Shima sat, anxiety pulsing through my veins.