S.Ikaruga & M.Otomi || An Exorcist's Romance

|| Chapter 1 ||

3rd person POV

It had been a few weeks since the strongest exorcist - Abe no seimei - had appeared.

Life went on peacefully. Narukami - home of the twin stars - had, more or less, been restored to its former glory.

The identity of their saviours had been magically forgotten by the majority of the town. No common folk knew who the twelve guardians were. Thus, Arima Tsuchimikado - the Chief Exorcist - sent his youngest guardian to Narukami.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"What a pain." Shimon Ikaruga sighed as he stepped off the train. He tried to stay calm as he headed in the direction of the Seiko Dormitory, despite having to fight the urge to empty his stomach contents onto the floor. I really have to get over this motion sickness.

Shimon arrived at the dorm. "What are you doing here, kid." A man with large dark circles under his eyes said while receiving a shoulder massage from Ryougo.

"Arima-sama positioned me in Narukami to monitor the Twin Stars and-" his mouth zipped shut as he turned his head away. A light shade of pink crept up his face but soon disappeared.

"And what." Seigen asked.
"N-Nothing-" Shimon left as quick as he came, this time headed in the direction of the Twin Stars' home.

He knocked. He knocked again. No one seemed to be home. Shimon figured he would just wait for them to get home so he thought really hard.

If I were stupid Enmado, where would I leave the key? It clicked.

He took a step back and lifted up the door mat. Behold. There was the key that could unlock the door.

A fatal flaw in Arima's security was that one of the people trusted to keep it tight was Rokuro Enmado!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Achooo!" He sniffled.

"Rokuro! Are you okay?" Benio asked in concern for her partner.
"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Maybe someone is talking about you?"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Shimon unlocked the door with ease. He sat down on the sofa but soon grew bored.
Who knew how long the Twin Stars would be out? The young guardian decided to use this spare time to train in the underground area.

"Air Fissure Bullet!" small rocks surrounded by spell power smashed against the targets. It seems someone was home after all. However, it wasn't someone he expected to see.

"Otomi-san?" he said while casually strolling down the stairs, "Do you normally train here?"

"O-Oh, Ikaruga-kun. Uh, yeah. I often come down here to practice. Rokuro and Adashino-san are so strong! I want to be able to fight alongside them without holding them back!" Mayura said, quite motivated by the pair.

"That's quite diligent of you, Otomi-san." he smiled, "I see you have gotten a lot stronger since we last sparred together." Shimon looked at her with his light blue eyes.

"T-Thanks," Mayura was startled by the sudden compliment. Quite like her father, Shimon didn't give praise often.

"Do you know when the Twin Stars are coming back? I need to tell them something." he asked.

"They'll be back in an hour or so. Knowing them, they're probably having a competition on who can exorcise the most kegare~" Mayura laughed, firing the rest of her rocks before finishing up.

"I should probably go too then-" He was cut off.

"Don't bother~ There probably wont be any kegare left for them if you help~ Plus, I need you to help me with something." she took his hand in hers and led him up the stairs.

"O-Otomi-san?" Shimon stuttered, embarrassed by her sudden touch.

Mayura left for a second but then came back wearing a pink apron. She then tied a similar styled apron, but in black, around Shimon. "You're gonna help me make dinner~"

"Well- I uh-" he panicked, "I... have no experience in the kitchen." Shimon admitted.

Mayura just giggled at him, "Don't worry~ I'll be with you. Besides, Rokuro and Adashino-san are probably immune to food poisoning at this point."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"No-n-no-no-n-nooo!" Mayura was in distress: Shimon lacked in basic cooking knowledge, "Ikaruga-kun! You mustn't put metal in the microwave! We're not even cooking anything that requires the microwave!"

"What do I do with the pasta then?" he innocently asked.

"PASTA?!? WE'RE MAKING RAMEN!" Mayura exploded but soon realised what she had done and apologised, "Sorry Ikaruga-kun, for shouting at you." she bowed.

"Don't be. I'm useless in the kitchen anyway," Shimon said, "I'll just go-"
"No don't! Please stay!" she grabbed his arm.

In a battle of strength, Mayura would lose against him, instantly. Luckily, Shimon wasn't really trying to leave. He was too distracted by the feeling on his arm she held so close to her chest.
"F-Fine-" he composed himself, "I'll stay if you want me to so badly-"
"Yaay~"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Mayura overcame many, many hardships that day and was able to prepare a meal for the four of them. All that was left was to heat it up when they got back.

"I'm exhausted." Shimon said before collapsing onto the sofa, "Is cooking always this hard?"

"Not usually," Mayura said, "but it's kind of like exorcism in a way!"

"Oh? Do you mean how I'm excellent at destroying food like I am with kegare?" Shimon smirked.

"No~ I don't mean it in that way~" she laughed, "I mean how you can train to get better at exorcising by exorcising kegare. The same applies to cooking! You can get better at cooking by cooking food. If you just keep trying, eventually, you'll get there!"

Mayura's positive view on life was something Shimon admired about her.

"Yeah no. Heading into battle and potentially risking your life is waay easier than cooking." he said, "I doubt I'd ever get better at it."

"Well, let's test that~ You're gonna be in Narukami for a while, right?" she walked closer to him, closing the distance between them.
"Yeah?"

"Then, I'll help you practice cooking and maaaybe you could help me with exorcism?" Mayura eagerly suggested. Shimon immediately shot it down.

"Aww, whyy?" she made a pouting face at him. A faint blush was visible on his face as he turned away.

"Too bothersome." Shimon said.

The truth was, he didn't mind cooking or helping her train all that much. The reason he didn't want to was because whenever Mayura and him were together, his heart would beat noticeably faster. It was a sensation he was unfamiliar with him and something that was unique to just her.

"Please, Ikaruga-kun?" She looked at him with her pretty blue eyes as she got down on her knees.
"V-Very well-"

"Yaay!" Mayura pounced onto him, tackling Shimon into a hug. It startled him - which was very bad considering he was supposed to be Suzaku of the Twelve Guardians.

"O-Otomi-san!" She was practically on top of him. If anyone walked in on us now, they'd probably get the wrong idea.

"Well, you two sure are close~" the Twin Stars made their entrance.

Okay that's all for this chapter~
Remember, this is based on the anime only.
Author-tan out! - 17/03/2023