Sweet Like Candy

Summer Camp, But With Demons

Rin was relieved when the last day of school before summer vacation finally came. She was able to push through the term without too many major problems thanks to Yukio's notes and the Kyoto Boys helping her sometimes. Well, Suguro and Konekomeru helped her, Shima just stared at her the whole time.

Rin thought she did pretty good considering she had to juggle regular school, Cram School, and occasional exorcisms. Not to mention training with her sword and making up attacks for Rodan in combat when she couldn't sleep(which was annoyingly often thanks to constant night terrors haunting her).

She'd just reached the bottom of the school's front steps when someone called out to her. She turned and noticed the Kyoto trio coming down after her. “This is the first time we’ve met outside of class.” Konekomeru commented.

“Hey guys!” She greeted, smiling.

“Once the closing ceremony is done, we have to assemble at the True Cross Halfway Station.” Suguro told her.

“Want to come along, Rin?” Konekomeru offered politely. 

"Sure!" Rin walked alongside them and it felt nice to actually have friends to walk around and chill with.

Suguro had his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face, but it looked more like he was trying not to smile. Maybe he liked having a friend outside of Shima and Koneko?

§~•~§~•~§

“Everyone’s going to have a fun Summer Break starting today!” Yukio told them with a smile.

"Yeah, everyone but us." Rin grumbled. She got snickers from the rest of the group–including Shura–and a glare from her twin. "And since when did you know what fun was?"

Yukio huffed and looked away from his sister, composing himself once more after the blow to his professionalism.

"However, all the ExWires will now be participating in a Forest Training Camp. You will all go through Combat Training in the Academy forest section for three days. Miss Kirigakure and myself will be leading this Training Camp.” Shura gave them a little wave from her spot beside Yukio. “The focus on the first half of the Training Camp will be strength training. The second stage will be a series of tests to see if you are ready to take part in actual missions. This Forest Training Camp will also serve as a test, so let’s all do our best.” Rin shook her head. Yukio needed to work on his motivational speech-giving skills.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin could hear the heavy breathing and complaining behind her from her classmates as they hiked through the forest the whole way there.

“I don’t feel like an Exorcist." Suguro groaned. "More like one of those marching soldiers.”

“It’s so hot....my bag is so heavy...." Konekomeru wheezed.  

“I’m so tired....” Shima whimpered.

“There are so many mosquitoes!” Kamiki sneered.

"Can you find anything else to whine about? We can make a game out of it if you try hard enough!" Rin huffed with sarcastic cheerfulness.

"Why aren't you tired? You're not even sweating!" Shima pointed out.

Rin shrugged. "This is easy! And besides, this place is beautiful!" She spotted a waterfall and ran to it excitedly, letting the surprisingly cold water run over her hands. "We missed out on this kind of stuff while we were growing up in the city!"