Sweet Like Candy

The Tea Has Been Spilled

"What the hell is Satan's daughter doing in the Academy?!" Suguro demanded once everyone was properly bandaged up. Yukio sighed, a forlorn look on his face.

"Please, don't judge my sister by her parentage. She's here because she's trying to right Satan's wrongs. All she wants is to live. She'll never have a normal life, but if she can take Satan out, she can have a chance at a decent life." He told them.

"You really expect us to believe she just wants to live like a human?" Konekomeru asked shakily. Yukio gave him a deadpan look. The shaking in fear act was getting old. This kid needed to grow himself some backbone.

"Mr. Miwa, a person's personality is not determined by who their parents are. It is determined by their experiences in life and how they are raised." He said coldly. "My sister has suffered a lot and I let it happen, so I'm not blameless in this case either. But I'm telling you, here and now, that all Rin wants is a life worth living. If you can't deal, just don't try. Rin doesn't need anything else on her plate right now."

"You're her twin right? What about you?" Kamiki questioned. She didn't sound scared or disgusted or even betrayed, just curious.

"I was weak in the womb, so I ended up totally human. I take a test every day just to be sure, but that has never changed. Rin got all the powers because she was strong enough to be their lone vessel and she's the only one acknowledged by anything from Gehenna between the two of us." He answered.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Suguro asked, his voice unusually strained. He almost sounded hurt, which seemed awfully backwards to Yukio. He just knew his sister was probably riddled with anxiety and probably covering it up with sass and sarcasm right now.

Yukio shook his head, dispelling the negative thoughts. "Suguro, how could she ever tell you something like this? Rin was told that if anyone found out about her biological father and that she had his powers, she'd be hunted down and killed like an animal just for being alive. And, if you didn't notice, she was just taken away by the Paladin." Yukio took a deep breath and released it shakily. "I can only hope she's able to bargain for her life well enough against the Grigori or things will get messy."

None of them needed to ask for clarification on that–none of them could imagine Rin just letting them execute her with no protest or without fighting. If anything, Rin would make an escape and go on the run.

"As for how she grew up, Rin was raised as a human until a week before school began. Most of her demonic qualities and abilities were sealed inside a demon-slaying sword to pass her off as human. She's always been abnormally strong and sometimes gets sensory overload from her enhanced senses, but aside from that, she was and still is just like you all. The only reason all this is happening now is because Satan finally found her a week before school began and Rin had to break the seal to save herself and our adoptive father from him. So, she's new to all of this. Please don't judge her too harshly for not knowing how to handle this situation. We don't have anyone but ourselves to figure all this out."

Shiemi felt the sting of betrayal in her chest fade some. She had no reason to be so upset about such a dangerous matter–Rin was just scared. She'd told Shiemi that she'd never had friends before, so of course she'd be afraid to lose them! How could she tell her first ever friends a secret so terrifying? It still hurt that neither Rin nor Yukio had ever told her since she'd at least known Yukio and his father for a long time, but she wasn't mad at them for it, at least.

Suguro, on the other hand, just felt the betrayal stab into him more. He knew he'd been terrible to Rin not too long ago, but recently, they'd gotten along great. Hell, they'd even flirted a little! He'd never enjoyed someone else's company more than he enjoyed Rin's. She was fun, and a cute dork, and brave, and fiery.

Fiery like Satan, possibly. Demons were made to kill, steal, destroy, and deceive. Even if she was only half-Satan, wasn't that enough for her to be like him? For her to be loyal to him because he was the only one that was anything like her? He'd heard enough horror stories from people both inside and outside of the temple that Satan had warned such a shitty reputation for. 

Rin seemed so human though. So human that it hurt sometimes. She was tough on the outside–all witty commentary, sarcastic comebacks, and in possession of a wellspring of knowledge on how to put people in their places. That definitely didn't come from an easy childhood, but that was just all the more reason for her to turn on humanity.

But on the inside, Rin was soft. It was rare for her to show it, but whenever she was with Shiemi, she let her guard down, just a little. She spoke in soft tones and laughed and smiled genuinely at the girl. She reflected Shiemi's softness back at her easily, like that softness was something real, though it was deep down inside where it could be protected by the brashness of her defensive personality.

Suguro had thought about Rin more than he'd care to admit. He thought he knew her decently and that she was a pretty open person. But when he looked back at all the conversations Rin had been involved in, she'd avoided answering specific things or changed the subject so smoothly that it didn't sound like she was doing it. She also usually pulled that anxious, embarrassed expression to make them see that she didn't like talking about a particular subject so they'd willingly move on to keep from offending or upsetting her. It went so far beyond just being defensive and went straight into manipulation! She was a natural.

Why could she manipulate conversations that easily? If she was that good at it now, what made her need that skill so much in the past? Too many questions and only a few answers. It wasn't like he could ask her about it, he couldn't trust anything she said now after she'd lied to them for so long now.

And her twin was even in on it too! Their own teacher! He was trying to make Rin sound innocent and blameless, but she had to have done something bad in the past to be how she was now. She was rough and manipulative and dangerous. Suguro had flirted with that danger, and oh God. He'd liked that danger! Up until now, that is.

He groaned as he tried to fall asleep in his cot between Shima(who had a few bruised ribs and one fractured), and Konekomeru(who's arm was broken and put in a cast and sling). His head was telling him Rin was a traitor, but his heart said something else.