"I- a wha.." She sighs. "Okay, calm down, calm down. No need to get worked up like that. I know this is quite the shock for you, but I will explain everything, I promise.” She sighs again and stretches "Ughhh, okay, listen.. This will sound crazy but, you are a devil, Sueharu." "Huh.." I completely froze upon hearing her words. " I am a devil as well, although it's not quite the same. I'm a pure blooded devil and you are just half devil and half human. After you went missing a few days ago we found you lying down near a destroyed construction of some sorts. You looked horrible when we found you.. your entire left arm and half of your chest were exposed to some sort of energy. You were very close to dying and the only choice we had was to turn you into a devil.. so you would be able to heal slowly but surely." I stayed silent as I really didn't know what to say. Devils, fallen angels, all of this is so weird.
"Thank you for saving me, Tobichi. I owe you.” "Don't mention it, I know all of this must be really difficult to take in and all, but you still have a lot in front of you, and I'm afraid it won't be easy." "Will those things attack again ?" I asked. “Oh yes, I’m afraid they will.. And you need to learn to harness your power and use it to protect yourself against them. Come to my place after school today and I will explain the rest." "Hey, um, I don't know where you live though…” "Don't worry, I will send a friend of mine to pick you up.”
* After that conversation, Yokou left the house. I was so confused.. but scared as well of what might happen to me in the future. I feel petrified with fear just by the thought of what I might come across next time. This time I made it, but maybe I was just lucky. Why did that happen to me though… I was just a normal person like everyone else, I don’t understand. Why me out of all people?? * After I spent some time reflecting on what I had just witnessed ,I went to school like I normally would, but today things very different. Something was wrong. I’m used to people avoiding me or not talking to me, but today it’s not the same. Not only are people avoiding me, in fact they are straight up trying to get away from me and not even come near me… what is this?
I’m sitting in my empty classroom while everyone ran off as soon as the lunch break came. “Honestly, we barely even did anything during our classes today” I sigh deeply. Suddenly, I hear a familiar voice coming from the entrance "Sueharu-kun, are you alright?" It's Akiri-san. I wonder what she’s doing here at this time.
"Oh my god, I was so worried." She rushes towards me. Honestly it was kind of shocking to see her act like that after what just happened. "Jeez, these people." she says and hugs me tight as she gets to me. “Huh.. wait. I- Em” My mind immediately turns into a complete mush after that.
She lets me go and holds my shoulder as she looks me right in the eyes. She was concerned, I could see it on her face. I could read right through her expression. For the first few seconds I couldn't even bring myself to speak, as I was still way too shocked after getting hugged by her. It was the first time that had ever happened to me (not counting my mom, of course) It felt so nice and warm.. I sigh "Akiri-san… do you think there is something wrong with me?" I ask and the question seems to catch her slightly off guard. After a moment, she smiles at me and says. "Of course not, you dummy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It's just.. weird things happen sometimes you know.. especially with the recent events going on "Yea tell me about it.." I respond "Hey, maybe this is a bit too sudden and all but.. would you like to go to the mall with me next week ? You know, maybe it could help you get a little distracted and give you a little bit of time to relax and get your mind off of everything.”
I blush and quickly look away. "Yea.. sure" I say quietly and slightly stutter. I never expected her to say that, but I can’t deny the fact that it made me happy. "Oh sounds great!" She responds as the bell rings and the break has come to an end. A few more classes have passed and I could finally leave the school and meet Yokou at her place. "When is this guy gonna show up?” "Right now actually." I flinch as I look to my left.. This guy is hanging upside down from a tree. " Yo." He says. "Yo.. ?" I reply. He jumps down and with confidence he moves his hand towards me. "Tayou Takahashi, nice meet you, Ayato-san." "Yea.. nice to meet you."
I say and shake his hand. He honestly scared the living hell out of me, but let’s just ignore that. He definitely seems to have a very… interesting presence, if I do say so myself. "Well, come on, Sueharu.. the others are waiting." He says as he puts his hands into his pockets and starts walking. Honestly, I’ve never seen this guy in our school. I think he is a first year student as well? I'm not really sure though.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
| Tayou Takahashi, 15 year old high school student. He wears an oversized hoodie over his uniform. His messy red hair covers his eyes and he also wears a hood on his head|
After about 15 minutes of walking we finally got to the house . "Alright, we are finally here, Sueharu. Yokou and others should be in there already." He says as he opens the door and we both head inside. This place is kinda huge, not gonna lie. "Why is it so dark here?" "Ah, well, you know, just for the atmosphere, I suppose?” Takahashi responds. We enter the main room. I don't know what you would call it .. I would say it's some sort of office ? I'm not sure.
The room we just walked into was very large and spacious. Despite having several windows in here, there is very little amount of light, since the curtains weren’t completely open. It's sort of spooky, if I’m being completely honest, but just as Takahashi said, I guess it must be for the atmosphere. In the middle of the room, there is a huge, dark wooden table with two couches, one on each side. Behind all of that is a desk. I could tell it is Yokou’s desk. It looks very imposing and majestic. It’s like the main focus of the entire room. I can’t help but feel like I don’t really belong in such a serious looking place, but at the same time, I was impressed by it.
Oh, it seems Tobichi is sitting on the main desk at the end of the room. "Great, you are finally here." She says as she takes a small sip from her cup of tea. Two other people were sitting on the couches. They look very familiar. I think I might have seen them in school a few times. A girl, probably first or second year and a guy, probably third or fourth year. "Well, allow me to introduce you to everyone. You’ve already met Tayou, he is our, as he likes to say "stealth specialist". That big guy right there, Kagami Ichisou, fourth year." He looks at me and nods. "Glad to see you here." He says calmly, but in a rather serious tone "And this cute girl right here is Sakura Sato." "Seriously, Yokou! Could you stop with that already?!"
|Kagami Ichisou.
19 year old student in the fourth year.
He's tall and well built. You may not be able to tell just by looking at him, but he's very calm and doesn't talk as much as the others||
"Well, Ayato, now that you’ve met everyone, we can now move on to explaining. Sakura, you know what to do." Yokou says and I listen carefully. "Well, as you know, we are all devils. To explain in a more thorough manner, in this world stuff like that exists. Angels, fallen angels and devils mainly. That's pretty much it. You can become a devil by being born as one or, like in your case, being turned into one, which brings us to your situation. We have been watching you for quite a while now and we discovered that you actually possess a large amount of energy. We weren't able to identify the source but that's why you have been targeted lately. It's because of all the energy you have and can't control. This unknown source is extremely powerful for someone like you so you can't really control it. That's why everyone always avoids you, in case you were wondering.
Normal people around you just cannot stand the uncontrollable energy you have. Of course, around us it's alright since we have a large amount of energy as well." Oh…It all... Actually makes sense now... "Hey, but.. why do my mom and Akiri-san seem to have no problem with it?" I asked anxiously. "Well.. we aren't really sure about that yet.. but I'm trying to figure it out." Sakura said. Yokou gently places her cup of tea on the plate and stands up and elegantly rests her arms against the table. "And that's why you have to learn to control the power you possess. Not only because you might get attacked, but for the sake of others not getting hurt, especially now since well.. your left hand and your chest." Yokou says.. Oh yea, now that I think about it, I’ve never even checked what is under my bandages. When I tried to look at it, I wasn't able to get the bandages off. "Oh yea, well that isn't just a normal bandage, it's a seal." Says Sakura Huh- "Wait, what.." I say "Basically, as Yokou mentioned before, when we found you your chest and left hand were seriously damaged. If not for the seal, all the normal people around you could have been seriously injured."
Sakura explains once again. This is all so crazy.. " Well, now you are gonna stay with us. You can consider us as a family if you want" yokou says and smiles. "But you must understand that sometimes you will be in great danger. We are devils, after all, and we have loads of enemies." I sigh.. how did I even get into this? I see no other choice.. for my sake and for the sake of others, I have to do it.. Yokou walks close to me and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Listen, Ayato.. I understand that you must be feeling really scared and confused.. but trust me. We are going to protect you as much as we can until you get strong enough..." "Oh, and besides that, you are her servant already!" Tayou says out of nowhere. What- "Tayou.... YOU CAN'T JUST... UGHH."
"Come on, Yokou. It's okay, don't worry." Sakura says as she tries to calm Yokou down while I just stand there very confused. Yokou sighs. "Well.. when I made you a devil yes.. but when devils turn a human into a devil.... They kinda become their... Ahem- servant and must obey every command they make....... Ahahaha, I kinda forgot to mention that, how silly of me..." HOW CAN YOU FORGET TO MENTION THAT, TOBICHI!
|After that they explained few more things and we went straight into this "training"|
"So.. Sueharu-kun.. your seal helps use your energy safely, without losing control.I have one question though. How did you manage to manifest the sword when you were imprisoned ?" Yokou asks. Oh that.. My memories are very blurry and I can't really remember what happened at that time.. although one thing was clear as day. " It was when I was nearly killed by the fallen angel.." I can still feel the pain I felt that time. "Mhm, I see, I see.”