Third Person

~

Cracks.

Ripples in the Spirit Barrier that when crossed would give spirit entities access to the human world.

Minor entities like ghosts or lesser Yokai would barely be able to have any effect on the human world. More powerful entities like demons could possess humans to attain a physical form and carry out further misdeeds.

Fortunately enough, Cracks were far and in between, rarely found where humans are densely populated with their technology and daily lives to keep them distracted from the unseen magic surrounding them.

Cracks, however, did exist, the Spirit Barrier was an ever-expanding phenomenon still trying to close all gaps and keep the plains from merging into chaos. Where cracks exist, there were sure to be monsters lurking, most especially at the depths of the world.

Reaches yet to be touched by human life and of far less importance to the phenomena that is the Barrier.

In the trenches of the oceans, a creature struggled up from the swirling crack, feeling around for sources of life energy.

***

"Why can't we catch a break?" Kuro whined, sliding to the surface of the roof where the trio had assembled for a quick meet-up before they set out for patrol.

Kira, hopped up and down, trying to get some blood pumping since they decided to leave training for the night. Just a quick round to make sure the city was safe then she'd head on over to school, look through the script, and be back home to practice the questions.

It hadn't taken Lucifer and Mammon that much to convince her to 'scout' her questions. She didn't have much of a choice unless she wanted to fail and miss out on participating in the semifinals.

Kaito had told her the girls' team was closer than it had ever been since it was made, all because of her, Sasaki, and Tenya. Now if that wasn't pressure, Kira didn't know what was.

What she did know was that she couldn't let anyone down. She most definitely had to be there.

"Let's get going boys, chop chop," she clapped.

"You seem rather eager tonight," Troy raised a brow. Kira flinched, for someone who didn't talk much he had the awful habit of opening his mouth at the worst moments. She could feel his penetrating gaze following her as she moved away, averting her eyes.

"Huh? Really? I didn't notice," she chuckled, backing towards the direction of her the route she'd be taking, "It might just be the excitement from beating Ahlai and Beelzebub, y'know?"

Kuro picked himself up from his spot and trudged towards his own route, "Let's get this over with, Ryu's gonna start physical therapy tomorrow and he wants me there early."

Kira halted, she hadn't forgotten about everything that happened with Ryu but the world had been spinning so fast after the ordeal she hadn't had time to sit down and really dwell on it, "How's he coping with everything?"

Kuro gave a small shrug, "He's super quiet sometimes but he bounces back almost immediately. It's probably still a pretty big shock but I think being there with him helps."

Kira smiled, she'd made the right call convincing Kuro not to end their friendship. She had no idea how Ryu would see things, waking up to realize you'd lost your ability to move and a friend as well.

"It still shocks me he isn't suspicious of how much free time you have yet," Troy drawled.

"I'm home-schooled, remember?" Kuro winked before spreading his wings for take off.

"I'll try to visit during the weekend but say hi for me tomorrow," Kira said as he leaped off the side of the building. She did the same, there wasn't much time. They had agreed to check in by text earlier and head home for a good night's sleep.

That was fine with her, once she checked in, she'd head over to the school.

'In and out,' Mammon encouraged, 'It'll be like you were never even there.'

"How the hell did I let you guys talk me into this?" She groaned as she made her way through the rooftops.

A couple of hours later, Kira was at the window of her classroom. She pulled out one of the daggers from the side pouch and sliced through the lock.

In one swift movement, she was inside and shuffling her way through the dark halls in the direction of the teachers' office. She'd barely stepped out of the class when her instincts alerted her to the presence in the room with her.

She stepped to the right, a dagger ghosting the side of her hood and planting itself in the frame of the door.

She groaned, "Why the hell are you here?!" She screamed pointing at the blond that had come from seemingly nowhere.

"I was suspicious, so I waited around to see if my hunch was correct," Troy responded with a very unamused look like he wasn't all that surprised to see she was here.

"Nice to know you hold me to high standards," Kira pouted, fingers flexing in anticipation of a fight, "You're not stopping me."

"It's not too hard to guess what you're here for, but I can't let you go forward with such a dishonorable act as my leader," he said, taking a combative stance, "I'll resort to force if I have to."

"You can't be serious right now?" She growled, "It's none of your business, Angel boy."

"I fail to see it that way."

"Just walk away and pretend you didn't notice or something," this wasn't a discussion to have on literal school property at whatever the hell o'clock in the morning.

"I can't turn a blind eye to evil, no matter how minuscule," Troy threw back.

"Looks like we have a little bit of a problem," Kira sighed, eyes narrowing as the air between them grew heavy with palpable tension. They both knew they couldn't use their powers due to their destructiveness, sure no one would know it was them, but an unexplained attack in a school would lead to more mayhem.

Troy lunged, Kira stepped out of reach into the corridor, activating her enhancement ability to increase her speed and keep out of his hold but Troy was still faster than any regular human should be. They bolted through the halls, Kira doing her best to shove him off while he tried to hold her down.

Kira scowled, this had dragged out far too long. They weren't evenly matched, this way, Troy had better battle sense so unless she found a way to hold him down fast, he'd find an opening to take her out sooner or later.

An idea struck her, she dodged into the next hallway before Troy could turn the corner and pulled a talisman from her pouch. She poked a dagger to the tip of her right index finger and watched as a small trickle of blood swelled.

Kuro had only taught her this spell once and she hadn't practiced after but this was as good a time as any.

She scribbled down the symbols hurriedly and hoped she was chanting the right words in her head as she stepped out into view, "Eat smoke Angel boy." She clasped the paper between her hands and poured her magic into it. The paper burst into a thick cloud of fog engulfing the whole hallway.

"You can't run, Kira, I know where you're going," Troy scoffed, not to mention he could still see her form in the shadows.

"I'm not running,"

Troy's eyes widened a fraction as he watched her dash toward him, hand pulled back for a punch. He tsked in disappointment, she should have known better than that. He raised his gauntlets, they'd absorb the shock from the hit, super strength or not and he'd force her into submission before she could counterattack.

Kira's fist connected, the pressure of air blowing the fog around them away. It wasn't until Troy felt the tug at his core that he realized he'd made a very big mistake.

From where Kira's fist met his gauntlet, a chain had trailed out from her sleeve, wrapping down from her arm to his.

He fell to the ground, the split-second weakness enough for Kira to create more chains to wrap around him.

"Damn you, Vermillion," he hissed as she dragged him through the halls like some weird type of luggage.

Kira grinned back at him over her shoulder, pushing open the door to the teachers' office, "It worked out better than I expected," she hummed, propping him up against a wall, "Now stay here like a good little boy and we'll be off in no time."

She ran over to Miss Saito's desk and began to rifle through the drawers, her enhanced vision making everything things easier. She could feel Troy's eyes on her, which coupled with the uneasy silence between them was putting her on edge.

Kira huffed out a breath, meeting his demeaning gaze, "Can you please stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" He asks plainly, a slight derisiveness to his tone.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Like I'm robbing a bank or something."

"You might as well be."

"I don't have time for this, I'm constantly putting my life on the line for a fight that wasn't mine in the first place. Every day, forcing myself to believe I have to do this when all I want to do is not be a part of it," She sneers while pushing aside papers. She wasn't some sort of fictional main character who could successfully juggle the weirdness of two lives at once.

She wasn't dumb enough to believe she could but she desperately wanted to keep it all together because once this house of cards fell, there was no way she'd be able to build it up the same. Not the way she'd grown to love it.

"It's not fair you know, I just want to do the one thing that makes me feel good about myself and keep the people I love safe. Just be like other girls and have normal teenage problems, is that so hard?"

She hadn't been expecting Troy to reply, he more or less ignored her complaining on a regular day.

"I don't know what you're expecting from me Vermillion, but it definitely can't be sympathy."

She looks up to meet his glowing gold eyes, and irritated scowl twisting her lips but he went on anyways.

"I can't relate to anything you're talking about, in fact, I feel the opposite. I've always wanted to battle, ever since I knew what true darkness was I've wanted to banish it. If I had to shatter this idyllic fantasy you've built to take Nightmare down this second I would," he said.

"You're yet to decide what's really important and you keep relying on what you think is normal to handle what's happening but face it Kira, normal is being unable to control everything. Normal is finding yourself in a pinch and figuring out how to get out of it the right way," his gaze hardened, "You're not handling this the right way, Kira."

'What does he know, life's practically given him everything, from looks to skills, bet he really hasn't had to work that hard,' Mammon whispers in Kira's head.

'You're doing what you have to Kira,' Lucifer added, 'We understand, we're the ones who truly know your pain so we're behind you.'

She could feel them, their pressure suddenly becoming stronger and their whispers louder as her hand hovered over the last drawer she hadn't checked. They were right, it was just a test, and it wouldn't be the end of the world if she knew the answers before then.

Students cheated all the time, "I'll just be one in a million who get away with it," she muttered under her breath.

"Is that really how you want to pass, Kira?" Troy asked lowly.

"No student ever really wants to pass by cheating, it's just... circumstances."

"I'm not talking about anyone else, Kira, just you, do you really want to do it this way, all that pride for what? To win without your own strength, is that the victory you want?"

Kira froze, hand hovering over the drawer handle.

'There's a thin line between noble and stupid, Kira,' Lucifer drawls, 'If you turn back now, you'll be the latter.'

Kira feels the pressure around her start to subside, her spiked emotions calming down the more she thought about Troy's words.

She let out a nervous laugh and pulled away from the desk. The chains holding Troy down fell away and vanished, freeing him.

He stared up at her, eyes questioning, he really hadn't been expecting her to listen to him.

"I guess I'm stupid huh?" She couldn't help but think out loud as she walked past him out of the room.

***

The next day, she's seated in front of Miss Saito's desk as the teacher hands the test sheet to her.

"Hope you're ready today Vermillion-kun," the teacher asked sweetly.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess," she shrugged off the nervous jitters that tried to come through.

"I'll give you till the bell for next period rings. Remember, don't feel too pressured, tests are just a preparation for finals."

"What if I fail those too?"

"Have a little more faith in yourself, and don't give up until the last minute," Miss Saito gave a small thumbs up.

Kira returned a smaller smile of her own and turned her attention to the test sheet. After a shaky breath to calm herself, she started the task of finding the easier questions first and answering them as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, the ones she was sure of were less than half the ones there. The harder ones were already starting to make her head spin.

'You're really hopeless when it comes to this,' Mammon snickered, 'It can't be helped, listen closely girlie,'

'Wait, you know Math?!' she shrieked in her head.

'Shocked me when I found out as well,' Lucifer hummed, 'He's a neanderthal, a smart one maybe, but a neanderthal still.'

'Shut up will you?'

'Thanks, guys, but I don't think I want to cheat,' she said, breaking up their argument.

'Listen, kid, we feel bad we weren't able to convince you get the questions -'

'Even though it was for your own good and you seemed more than willing until golden brat appeared,'

Kira hoped her confusion really wasn't that obvious, they had really wanted her to go through with it huh?

'What Lucifer is trying to say is that we couldn't help ourselves and we kind of respect your choice, but we're a part of you now.'

'And right now it's not really cheating of were literally part of you, is it?' Lucifer pointed out.

Kira sighed. Demons were meant to be fierce beings, feared by all those who encountered them and loathed for their wickedness. Her demons didn't exactly fit the bill, she wasn't scared, and they didn't seem malicious. Wild, crazy, and annoying? Yes. Malicious? No. They tried to be but quickly failed after a while.

Right now, they sounded very genuine in wanting to help.

'Just five, I'll handle the others on my own no matter what,' she couldn't help but concede. She could almost feel the seal beneath her sleeve throb in their excitement through their bond.

***

Kira was breathing hard, bent over and hands on her knees, as she came to a stop. She watches sweat drip down to the wooden floorboards of the volleyball court. She'd told Haru to forget about their study session for today.

She was just about to get back to running just as the doors flew open to reveal Kaito and Captain Miura who had probably come in to set up before everyone else arrived.

She righted her position to face both of them.

"You're here early," the captain said coolly.

"I'm making up for the other day," she smirked.

"Hope this means good news?" Kaito asked with an inquisitive raise of his brows. Kira bolted over to her bag on the bench and back to them waving her script which held a scrawled B next to her total score.

"Looks like I'm not getting benched!" She declared.

The older boy smiled and let out a relieved sigh, "That's a relief."

"You're the one who wanted me on the bench," she snarled.

He gave a dismissive wave, "We need you but not at the expense of your grades, Kira."

"That makes no sense."

"Well done," the captain said suddenly interrupting their conversation.

Kira's eyes widened and a blush redding her cheeks, "Well, I just couldn't abandon you guys to fight semis without me," she muttered, "It was a hassle but I had to pass for your sake as well."

"Looking down on us, newbie?" The senior asked.

"Not really, I actually like playing with you guys," Kira replied, she hadn't been as open with her old team as she was now. She hadn't wanted to because of the insecurities she held back then.

Here, she wasn't insecure, she didn't feel like people were talking behind her back because they didn't like her. Sasaki outwardly disliked her and everyone else was welcoming and easy to work with. Being able to read people was its own blessing and curse. She could tell this team was okay working with her.

Other team members began pouring through the doors, their chatter filling the hall as they entered. The excitement from the upcoming game had them all restless and ready to fight harder than they did in previous matches.

Captain Miura ruffled Kira's hair, something very rare due to her firey but aloof demeanor, "Let's get to work then."

***

The next week came far sooner than Kira was ready for. Due to it being a school day, their match was due to start at five in the evening.

Kira took the school bus with the team while her friends assured her they'd get there earlier by train.

They, in fact, did not get there early.

The whole team had already changed into their uniforms and Kira was still anxiously looking around for her friends. Ares wouldn't be there because of work but Kat, surprisingly, had the benefit of the doubt because Kira had often spotted her among the crowds while they were in America.

She excused herself and made her way toward to bathrooms in the sports center. She wasn't sick or anything, she just needed to calm down. Her heart may have been beating way above average but she was totally alright.

That was when she heard it.

"Angel boy, hurry up!" Kuro's voice came out as a loud whine.

"You're making a racket, Kuro," Jade scolded.

"But Kira's probably waiting for us!"

"It's a surprise remember?" Momo chided in a soft playful tone.

Kira ran the corner and turned to see Jade, Momo, Haru and Kuro standing in front of the male bathroom. They were wearing purple pants and a white t-shirts with her name on them.

"Surprise!" Momo screamed, waving purple and white pom-poms.

"Her idea," Jade rolled her eyes.

"Haru's actually, I just thought up the uniforms."

"We wanted to cheer you on since you mean a lot to us," Haru stuttered out.

"You guys are unbelievable," Kira sighed before moving to hug him, "But thanks, it's nice to know you'll all be there."

"We're just waiting for Troy now," Kuro groaned.

"I'm not stepping out in this humiliating excuse of an outfit!" Came the blond's scream from behind the closed door.

"Then just wear your regular clothes," Kira said.

Everyone pointed to Kuro who was holding a small pile of folded clothes, Troy's most likely, Kira guessed.

The younger boy sneered, "If you want 'em back you have to come out."

The door slammed open to reveal a very pissed off Troy. Kira looked him over, regretting it a bit as those shorts really made his legs look super nice.

"Your noses are bleeding!" Haru squealed pointing at where she and Kuro stood. They both hurried to wipe with the back of their hands.

"It doesn't look that bad," Kuro tried at sounding serious as the blond stalked over to take his clothes.

"You're both disgusting," he said before vanishing into the bathroom, he came out a minute later, still wearing the shirt, but his own black pants beneath them.

A call came through the speakers, stating that teams should report to the court in five minutes. The group had barely made it towards the entrance when Momo's phone beeped.

She slowed her pace down a bit to read, "A bunch of ships are caught in a whirlpool in Tokyo bay, horrible."

"It'll be fine, Blondie, there are coastguards for a reason," Jade said taking the phone from her, "Don't ruin the mood with bad news."

"Oh yeah, sorry."

Kira shook her head, trying to play it off like there wasn't a problem as they kept walking, but deep down she could feel the tug of her instincts telling her this wasn't natural.

'Play your game,' she heard Troy's voice in her head.

She turned to stare at him in surprise.

'He's right, we can handle this,' Kuro chirped in, 'Just a simple rescue mission.'

'But-'

'We said we'd handle it,' Troy repeated.

'This is your day Kira, focus on this match and we'll be back to cheer you in in no time.'

'We just have to escape the other's first.'

Kira smiled, thankful for the teammates she had, both on and off the field. She waved her goodbye before running to join the Hamada High girls at the bench where Coach Making was briefing them.

She pulled on her elbow guards as she listened to the last part.

"Remember girls, hit them hard and fast, Kira, Mayu, be relentless and Tenya leave no openings. Keep your cool and we will win this," the woman clapped, "Up on your feet, ladies!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all stood sharply from the bench.

"Moment of truth girls," Miura smirked adjusting her own guards, "Lets do this!"

"Yes ma'am!" They screamed before dashing unto the court. Kira marched forward, doing her best to put the uneasiness out of her mind. It was a rescue, Troy and Kuro could handle it.

The memories of their encounter with Akio resurfaced. She'd trust and wait, and if things got bad... she wouldn't sit back.