“Eh?”

“Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing right now?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“B-but… your sister is with that creep.”

“Didn’t you also complain that students are lazy and need to do the work expected of them properly?” I continued.

Rosita’s face flushed. “I may have said something like that…”

“My current place is selling tickets, so I will complete the task at hand. This dance depends on such an activity continuing smoothly.” When Rosita tried to say something, I continued over her. “With regards to my sister, that’s something you don’t need to concern yourself with.”

“Ah…” She lowered her head, a slightly disappointed expression on her face.

Part of the reason that I didn’t explain anymore was that I didn’t have a plan. I wasn’t some reckless hero who could come rising in to save a maiden in distress. Even if it was my sister, I would carefully weigh the pros and cons. I would take the course of action that was most beneficial to myself while minimizing my risk. If it turned out that I couldn’t do anything, then I would do nothing. Pointless posturing was just a waste of time.

However, the ticket booth wasn’t just the entrance, but the only allowed exit. They wanted to keep a tally on everyone, so all of the other doors were locked. They didn’t want students running around the school or finding dark corners to unleash their teenage hormones. That meant that I would know when my sister left the party with that boy. In the meantime, I’d trust that Ms. Alma would do her part as a chaperone and keep the students from acting too inappropriately.

I turned and started heading back to the main area, making sure to avoid the dark, loud, and crowded gymnasium which was now full of dancing teenagers at the height of their hormonal imbalances. As we came up behind the ticket counter which had been set up with a long table that blocked the hallway behind. A long line of people had entered that nearly went out the front door, and the two girls Lana and Ivy were frantically trying to service an increasingly annoyed group of incoming guests.

When I walked up to the table, Ivy let out a long breath. “You guys are finally here! What took you so long?”

“Something came up,” I responded simply.

Lana and Ivy’s eyes went over my shoulder to where Rosita was standing. She was following me now, and her demeanor that had been domineering previously had seemingly grown submissive. They probably realized that I wouldn’t give them an explanation, so they had immediately sought one out from Rosita, but when both eyes landed on her, her face flushed red and she looked away.

Lana’s eyes narrowed, and she looked between Rosita and me suspiciously. “Don’t tell me there is already another girl.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Lana, leave it for now,” Ivy whispered over to her as she gave Rosita a stormy look.

Rosita only seemed to wilt under that look, which in turn confirmed whatever suspicions that Lana seemed to contain. I ignored the pair of them and sat down in a spare chair, calling up the next person. The task in question wasn’t hard. I either had to confirm they had already purchased tickets or if they needed to buy them, I had to confirm they were a student of the school.

As soon as Lana and Ivy were focused back on their work, Rosita took the chance to slide into a chair and also start taking tickets. The crowds finally started to move in proper order. However, a group of guys who had been acting particularly rowdy ended up at the front of the line.

“…Lots of cute high school girls tonight.” One of the guys was laughing.

“I’m going to nail at least one of them.” Another boy stated as he stepped up.

His eyes immediately brightened as he looked down at Lana, who was busy looking at her sheet of paper. “Do you have a name?”

She wasn’t paying attention to the situation, but Ivy tensed immediately. There were five guys, and it was clear by their appearance that they were not in high school. One of them was wearing a letterman jacket from the school, and so were the former students.

“You want my name?” The boy grinned, leaning toward Lana. “And what might I call you first?”

She finally looked up, and leaned away as he leaned toward her, her eyes like something that of a deer in headlights. Ivy came to her rescue.

“You don’t look like students here.” She declared.

The guy looked back at the other four, and they all burst into laughter. Ivy’s face flushed, and even Rosita glared at them angrily.

“Of course, we go here,” he finally responded, tugging at his coat. “Don’t you recognize the coat?”

“Wait, I know you…” Lana suddenly declared. “Aren’t you that super senior dropout? What was the name… Dominic?

Rosita and Ivy looked at each other cluelessly. They were both newer students, but Lana had been at that school since she was a freshman, so she would be the most likely to recognize someone from an older year. The guy let out a laugh.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I didn’t drop out.” He declared. “I was kicked out, and I go by Dom”

The elicited some chuckles behind him.

“I’m sorry, only current students are allowed in this dance.” Rosita stood up, trying to regain the strong personality she had lost a short while ago.

The guy didn’t seem to take her threatening look to mind. He looked her up and down appraisingly until she covered her chest with her arms.

“The girls this year sure are pretty.” He laughed, but when Rosita tried to say something else, he leaned forward. “I don’t see any of the teachers here. It’s fine if you let me in. I’m only friends with the principal. We just want to liven up the party. You just need to look the other way.”

He spoke those words slowly so there was no missing the slightly threatening undertone.

“Get lost!” Ivy slammed her hands down. “This is a private function.”

Her outburst only seemed to amuse them further. The one named Dom slapped his hands right in front of her, causing Ivy to flinch.

“You’re pretty cute too.” He grinned. “I’ll tell you girls what. This boy here can watch the ticket booth. If you three ladies come with us, we’ll give you a time far better than anything you’d experience at this lame dance.”

“You pig!” Rosita growled.

Dom ignored her. Instead, his eyes seemed to fall on me. I had avoided making eye contact with him, but it seemed like I had caught his interest anyway. It was really a shame. I had a lot of experience with demons and avoiding their unwanted attention, but even with all my experience, I had never gotten good at dealing with someone looking for trouble. If you looked them in the eye, they saw it as a challenge, and if you avoided looking, they saw it as a weakness they could exploit. I never got the hang of what would avoid the least trouble.

“So, what about you, boy. You wouldn’t mind watching the table while these ladies have some fun, would you?”

I knew it was a trick question. When I reached a certain point, I just had to accept that there was going to be a fight. With a sighed and stood up in my seat. All three girls were looking at me like I was going to rescue them from this situation. Wasn’t Rosita the student president? She let getting locked in the basement get to her, as she wasn’t properly doing her duty.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” I finally said.

Dom had been waiting for this. He reached across the table and grabbed my shirt. The girls gasped as she pulled me toward him until our noses were almost touching.

“Oh, you want to do something about it?” He asked in a threatening tone.

I let out a chuckle of my own. “How exactly would I be able to do something?”

His eyes blinked as if he didn’t quite hear me right.

“What’s going on here?” Another voice cut in.

“Miss Alma!” Rosita let out a cry of relief.

Miss Alma had stepped out from the dance floor for a few moments. It appeared like one of the other kids had grown concerned and run to fetch her. A dozen other students were watching from the doorway while whispering to each other. Some even had their phones out and were recording it.

Dom let go of my shirt and then fixed my collar. “Nothing much. This guy and me were just having a pleasant conversation.”

Miss Alma’s eye narrowed suspiciously. “You don’t appear to be active students at our school.”

“Apologies, we just entered the wrong building.” He shrugged before turning around and waving the rest of his gang on. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I see, mistakes happen.” Miss Alma maintained her stony look as they walked away.

Dom stopped for a second, half turning his head back to me. “Hey, kid. Watch yourself. Wouldn’t want any accident to happen on the way home from school, now would we? Teachers can’t be looking out after you all of the time.”

It seemed like this guy was going to lay his failure down on me. I did not doubt that he’d come looking for me when I was

“I’m well aware of that,” I responded dryly. “I’ll be exceptionally careful that an accident doesn’t happen.”

He gave a dark chuckle, and the five boys finally left. Miss Alma stormed right up to me with a glare, her hands on her hips.

“Aiko, what problems are you causing this time?”

“I didn’t say anything more than I had to,” I responded completely honestly.

I had picked the fewest and most disarming words possible. However, when you were dealing with a demon, there was little that could be said to avoid their ire. Trouble would follow no matter what choices I made.

“Miss Alma… he didn’t do anything…” Rosita quickly cut in, trying to explain everything that happened.

The previous event had left her extremely tense, and she started talking about getting locked in the basement as well, and her story came out as a jumbled mess that no one could understand. Miss Alma was about to say something else when a student shoved through the group from within the dance hall.

“Miss Alma, students are fighting on the dance floor.”

Miss Alma’s eye twitched slightly, and she rubbed her temple before turning to Rosita. “It looks like whatever issues you were facing are resolved now. I need to go.”

“Y-yes…” Rosita flushed.

Miss Alma gave me one last look for some reason and then turned around. When she headed back into the gymnasium, the group of spectators split up to let her pass. Once they were sure the interesting stuff was over, they all filed back into the room. We went back to passing out tickets, and things quickly returned to normal.

With the group of us working, we quickly got through the remaining people in line without any more issues. Soon, the pressure was off while the dance was in full swing. As the incomers slowed to a trickle, and even a few guests chose to duck off early, an awkward silence emerged over the three girls.

Rosita cleared her throat. “We’ll need to keep two people here the entire night. Since the pair of you were stuck working in the beginning, you can go enjoy the dance for a bit…”

“The two of us?” Lana blinked, her eyes once again dancing between me and Rosita.

“I think I’ll stay here as well.” Ivy suddenly declared, raising her arms. “How about Lana and Aiko get a break, huh?”

“Huh?” Rosita blinked, finally noticing the dark stares Lana had been giving her. “Lana and Aiko?”

“Th-that’d would be good,” Lana spoke up excitedly, her voice cracking slightly.

“Does the student president have any issues with this?” Ivy asked, her voice explicit.

Rosita blinked again, looking slightly confused, but when she looked in my direction, she gave a slight nod. “No, just come back before the end to help with the flood of students leaving. Good luck.”

“Um, thanks?” Lana seemed a bit confused too, but Rosita had meant good luck to me.

She must have thought that I was going to use the time to do something about my sister. Meanwhile, it was impossible to understand where the young witch’s mind was at. I got up anyway and Lana followed me. Ivy gave Lana a thumbs up and a wink as she left. It seemed the pair of them had started to become good friends, although that had nothing to do with me. We ended up stopping in the doorway looking into the gymnasium. There were flashing lights and a band playing loud music.

“S-so where should we go?” Lana asked, eyeing me nervously.

“You’re free to do what you wish, but I have some business to do,” I responded.

The night was still young.