Vanilla Smoke (Blue Exorcist)

Chapter 27

Into a new arc! Ok so, I really need the opinions of my readers, so please read the note at the bottom! Thanks, and enjoy!

The sun had set and everyone had mellowed out from the excitement that evening. The situation was strange, even without Shuku being completely unconscious, out cold from some form of mental exhaustion. The teacher, who had returned shortly after the unfamiliar man had come ashore, apparently the kid's dad, had asked about her, and if she was injured, but Shuku was physically fine, out, but they had no idea about her mental state at the moment. Izumo had made a particular remark about Shuku already being insane with the way she acted, jumping out windows and talking to snakes.

Everyone had started going their separate ways, with Rin stuck carrying Shuku, who was heavier than she looked, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Teacher Sideburns had gone off to talk about transportation arrangements to go back to the academy after their 'field trip'.

"So, what's Shuku's problem anyways? Were all exhausted after that, but not to that degree, she didn't even do anything." Izumo said her usual tone as always.

Shima glanced at Shuku in Rin's arms, "Well, if I had to guess, I think she'd be a bit of an aquaphobe from the way she kept glaring at the water, and never even went near it the other day." Shima guessed, then he shivered at his the thought of his own arachnophobia.

"Hm, guess that makes sense." Rin agreed, and Shima blinked, realizing what he just said. Wow, he really sounded smart there.

"Well, yeah, but I honestly thought that there was nothing that someone as scary as Shuku sometimes, could be scared of something as simple as water." Shima commented.

Even though he had found out Shuku was a girl and had apologized, her first impression had clung quite tightly onto him in particular, her death glare promising agony. He still vividly remembered the incident at the Coffee shop that day and didn't think he would forget it anytime soon either. Even in a swimsuit, Shuku had the full capability of being intimidating as any demon Shima had seen.

"I can see where you're coming from, but I guess, it just means the freak is more human than we initially thought. Everybody's afraid of something." Izumo said, and the rest of the walk was silent back to the hotel.

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Shuku scanned herself over in the mirror in her dorm room wita slight frown. It felt weird wearing a bra again. She had decided, since it was no secret, that she was going to start wearing, and at least slightly dressing, like a girl again, which included wearing a bra. She wasn't going to wear the short skirt from the girl uniform, despite the hot weather, Shuku was keeping her boys uniform and hoodie, but today, Shuku was going to leave that here.

They had a field trip, or as the teachers put it, an educational mission today, and it was too hot and Shuku didn't want to overheat. So she was just going to wear the regular boy's undershirt instead. The white button-up shirt with the striped tie was much more preferable to the girls' bow. After tying the tie around the collar of her shirt, Shuku switched her blades and vapor pen into a sheather resting on her hips, then slipped her summoning papers into her breast pocket on the shirt. Shuku ran her fingers through her short boy cut hair, her purple bangs lazily falling over her left eye.

After waking up after the trip on their day of return, Shuku's eye had changed again, not drastically, but it was noticeable. The pupil of her right eye was slitted, and Shuku found that her instincts and reflexes had sharpened considerably, almost to an animalistic type of level. She could honestly smell someone coming near her before she could see them. It was hard to get used to, especially the things that used to be fine beforehand then were now overpowering, like Rin's scent.