It was a Saturday night in Tokyo, the streets were filled with people and the city lights were giving the town a completely different charm. Among those people, a girl named Shiraki was going home after celebrating with her friends the passing of their final exams. Most of her friends wanted to go to university, some of them wanted to go to Tokyo's university while others got accepted to prestigious foreign universities like Harvard and Oxford, those that didn't want to go to university had a position in their family's business already.

Shiraki is a half-human half-demon kitsune hybrid, she's a tall girl with a muscular body with short pure white hair, pure white fox ears and tail with heterochromatic eyes, the right one being yellow and the left one being red.

On her way back home, Shiraki was thinking about what to do with her future. She had plenty of choices at her hand, but she was struggling to make a decision. Now that she was 18 years old and she was done with high-school, it was time to make a choice.

Finally at home, she entered and took off her shoes leaving them at the ingress.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back."

Her grandpa shouted from the living room, Shiraki went to the living room finding him sitting on his armchair watching the tv.

"Did you have fun with your friends?"

"I did, we went to eat at a good ramen shop and then went to do some karaoke, we talked about our future projects and plans and nothing more. Did you have dinner?"

"I did don't worry."

Her grandpa is Kenzo Ryu, a former Kendo international champion that now runs a forge, he has short grey hair with black eyes.

"Say jīchan, what should I do? I'm battled between going to university since most of my friends are going there, or help you out in the forge, what should I do?"

"Nothing, because you going to the Demon World."

Shiraki looked at him confused as Kenzo stood up from his armchair while turning off the TV, he went to sit on the sofa and started patting the seat next to him while looking at Shiraki.

"Shiraki dear, you are finally 18 years old and you are done with school as well, but since you are a half-demon you'll have to go in the Demon World for a while, it's the law."

"Law? What law?"

"Since you never knew your parents, I kept this matter for a time where you would've been mature enough to understand, I didn't want to give you those kind of news at such a young age. Now you are mature enough for it, so let me explain. As you know there are different laws for demons and half-demons for them to live in the human world, as well for heavenly beings, and this one is among those laws. All demons and half-demons that turned 18 years old and are done with their school obligations, they have to go study in the Demon World to learn how to use their powers."

"So now that I'm done with high-school I'll have to go in another school, why can't I study here?"

"Because all those kinds of schools are all in the Demon World, they tried in the past to make some in the human world as well but they were too risky, too many incidents led to the projects being scrapped and confined in the Demon World. You'll have to go there for a while, and when you'll be done with this other school you can come back here."

Shiraki looked at the floor with a sad look on her face, it was the first time she heard about this kind of law and she didn't want to leave her grandpa alone.

"This is for your wellbeing Shiraki, this law was made after young demons began to use their powers without being able to control them, most of the times resulting in very bad incidents. A demon that doesn't know how to handle their powers always met the worst-case scenario of their end."

"I understand why you waited so long for this, but it's still a lot to take all of a sudden. You raised me all alone and if I were to know that one day I had to part ways for something like that, I think I would've lived my life trying to stay attached to you in every way I could, in order to no be alone. I know it's for my own good, but I just can't..."

"I know it's hard to accept, but I'll give you another reason to go in the Demon World. Your dad lives there."

When Kenzo nominated her father, Shiraki jumped from her seat with her eyes open wide.

"W-What? My dad is there? Really?"

"Yes he is, you are now old enough to learn about your parents, sit down so I can tell you."

Shiraki sat down and stared at her grandpa in the eyes, in that moment she was feeling a vortex of emotions inside her. Her grandpa never talked about her parents before, and seeing him ready to talk about them made her extremely curious.

"Let's talk about your mother first. Your mother is called Tomoe Ryu, she was the head of the demon worker's union. I raised your mother the same way I raised you, but since she was little she has always been very sensitive for matters regarding demons, maybe because of our family's heritage. She graduated in law and with time she became what she always dreamed of. During her time there she got close with a demon, one thing led to another and she got pregnant of him. That baby was you Shiraki."

"What happened later? Also... are those tears?"

Kenzo quickly dried his eyes and sighed heavily.

"It's nothing, it's just that this story doesn't have a happy ending. The demon that got your mom pregnant with you left her shortly after, later on she discovered that he was already married meaning that she was only an affair for him, he probably didn't even know she was pregnant."

"Truly a demon."

Shiraki said that while cracking the knuckles of her hands, with a pissed off look on her face.

"During the pregnancy your mom left her job, but during the whole time she was anxious. She was always telling me that she felt as if someone was following her everywhere, she just couldn't shake off that feeling. When she gave birth to you she came here in secret, her anxiety got worse with time and she started to fear the worst for herself and for you. She left you in my care saying that who has been following her all this time could come for you, saying that you were better in my care than hers."

"What happened to her?"

"I wish I knew it, after that day she simply disappeared, she was nowhere to be found. Police searched for her with no success, she disappeared without leaving a trace. 18 years has passed since that day, it's like she disappeared into the void, and never came back from it."

Shiraki sighed staring at the roof of the living room.

"In the end I'm the result or byproduct of an extramarital relationship of a demon and a human, where one left after consuming and the other one simply disappeared. I can imagine why you saved till now, this is a lot to take and it kinda hurts, at this age I should be mature enough to process it but I don't think I'll be able do it. I want to meet my mother, and I don't think I want to meet that scumbag that is supposed to be my dad... I think I'm starting to get a headache."

Kenzo pushed Shiraki to himself in a hug, caressing her head and ears.

"I know it isn't what you wished to hear, but I know very little myself, maybe if you'll find them you can ask for the whole story. Only the two of them really know how things went, all you have to do is find them, and that's where the hard part begins."

"And that hard part begins in the Demon World... how much time I have before I'll have to leave for there?"

"You have a week, I enrolled you the day after your 18th birthday, the school sent you all the things you'll need there, from textbooks to uniforms. Stay here, I'll go pick them up and show you."

Kenzo got up from the sofa and went to the storage room to get Shiraki's stuff. A couple of minutes later Kenzo came back with 2 big boxes, when she saw the boxes Shiraki got up and helped her grandpa putting the boxes on the table. One box was made of what looked like cardboard with a mark on top, while the other one was made of wood.

Kenzo opened the cardboard box showing what was inside to Shiraki. The box had textbooks and a lot of spare uniforms, the uniform was composed of a white shirt with a red tie, black pants and black shoes.

"Since I know how much you hate skirts, I asked them to give you the male uniform so you'll able be use wear pants instead of skirts. I had to force my hand a bit since they didn't want you to wear it, but in the end I was the one to win, they had no chance to win against me."

Seeing that there isn't much more inside the box with the textbooks, Shiraki looked at the wooden box.

"What is this wooden box jīchan?"

"This isn't from the school, this is from me. Since I won't see you for some time I wanted to give you a parting gift for the school. It took a lot of time to make it, but I hope you'll like it."

Kenzo invited Shiraki to open the box, Shiraki took the offer and opened the wooden box. Inside it there was another box, the box was black and well decorated, it was smooth on the surface and it had no lock on it.

Shiraki took out the black box and placed it on the table, after taking a deep breath she opened it. Inside the box there was a katana resting on a stand. The sheath was pitch black with a golden fox drawn on it, the guard was made of gold with the kanjis 'キツネの爪' sculped on it (kitsune no tsume, fox's claw). The handle had a black cord with a golden dragon as decorative grip, the end of the handle was made of gold as well.

"Draw it."

Kenzo spoke with a smile while inviting Shiraki with his hand as well. Shiraki stood up and took the katana from the stand, she unsheathed it and looked at the blade: the blade was clean and shiny, and its sharpness could be felt just by looking at it. At the base of the blade, the kanji '竜' (Ryu) was carved on both sides.

"Do you like it?"

"I like it? I love it... I know what it means to receive this gift, I'm not going to disappoint you jīchan."

Shiraki sheathed the katana and placed it on its stand, she closed the box and hugged her grandpa.

"I know you won't, I raised you myself after all."

Kenzo patted Shiraki's head while messing with her hair.

"It's late, I'll help you carry those things in your room and I'll head to bed. Before I forget about it, the day you'll arrive at the school you'll have to fill your part of the documents. I did everything I could from here, the rest of the documents require your signature to finish the enrollment procedure."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks jīchan."

Together they moved the boxes upstairs to Shiraki's bedroom, once moved Shiraki gave the goodnight to her grandpa and changed to her pajamas. After washing her teeth Shiraki laid down on her bed, what her grandpa told her wasn't letting her sleep. The more she was thinking about it and the more it didn't seem real, all that thinking made her gradually more sleepy, till she finally fell asleep.

Shiraki was sleeping quietly in the dark of her room, when a sudden scream woke her up. Shiraki jumped out of her bed and rushed out of her room, she turned the lights on but they weren't working.

"Why doesn't it work?!"

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Shiraki rushed downstairs, when she arrived unexpected guests were waiting for her. Three hooded men wearing black robes were waiting for her, illuminated only by the moonlight that was shining through the windows. The table of the living room was broken, meaning that a fight happened, but there was no trace of her grandpa.

"Who the hell are you?! Where is my jīchan?!"

"Your grandpa is coming with us, he put on a fight but an old man like him was a joke to subdue. You are coming with us as well."

One of the hooded men spoke, calling for Shiraki with his hand.

"I asked you who the hell are you?! What do you want from me or my jīchan?!"

"Test subjects shouldn't talk or make that much noise, you are coming with us that you want it or not."

Another one answered as he slowly began to walk toward Shiraki.

"If you aren't going to tell me then I'll force the answer myself!"

As soon as Shiraki finished that sentence, the second man that spoke dashed to Shiraki with a fist. The man threw his punch at Shiraki that blocked it with her hand, she swept her other arm under his and executed a judo shoulder throw. The moment the man touched the ground, Shiraki broke the man's arm by kicking him on the elbow.

"GHAAAAAA MY ARM!!!! SHE BROKE MY ARM!!! ARG....GHAAAAAA!!"

The other member of the ground that didn't speak yet rushed to aid his companion. When the man was close enough he attacked with a kick, Shiraki countered by raising her knee allowing his kick to connect to her knee. Seeing that his first strike got countered the man prepared to kick once more using his other leg, but the moment he was going to switch leg he fell on the floor.

The man was confused by his lost of balance, he looked at this leg and saw why he fell: his leg was broken, the fibula and the tibia of his right leg were broken in half, and his leg was bent to the left. Unlike his companion the man didn't scream, he was too confused and shocked to make a sound as he was staring incredulous.

"Two on the ground, looks like the only one left is you."

Seeing his companions on the ground, the remaining man took a step back while grinding his teeth.

"We knew the old man wasn't going to be a problem, but we weren't informed of how dangerous she was! They tried to screw us!"

The man took out a knife and raised his guard up.

"As long as you are alive the mission will be a success, if you get a couple of cuts it won't make a difference!"

The man charged at Shiraki with his knife pointed at her. The attacker charged with his knife head on in a thrusting attack, using her left hand Shiraki parried the attack, leaving the man wide open. In that moment Shiraki punched the man on the chin, just when the attacker was going to strike back his body failed him. The man collapsed on his knees dropping the knife on the floor, his body was completely unresponsive.

"What... what have you done?"

"If you knew a bit of boxing you would know the wonders a good punch in the chin can do, but looks like you didn't know. Since the three of you are all on the floor, why don't you begin to answer some questions?"

Shiraki kneeled in front of her attacker, she grabbed the man's knife while with her other hand she removed the hood from his head, revealing that the man was a human. Shiraki grabbed the man's hair and pulled his hair backwards to raise his head, pointing the knife at the man's throat.

"You are a simple human I see, therefore if you don't answer my questions and I slit your throat, you'll die of blood loss in a matter of a couple of minutes, will you tell me what I want to know or do I have to kill your companions first?"

"What... do you want... to know?"

"Who are you? Why did you kidnap my jīchan?"

"We are an organization called Stigma... our mission here was to kidnap you and the old man for your blood... we know about the particularity of your blood..."

"What kind of organization? And for what do you need our blood?"

"Your family is made of humans with dragon blood in your veins... we know the story of your entire family... with such particular blood our objective is to use it for experiments..."

"What kind of experiment? And why you didn't answer the first question?"

"If I tell you more I'll be dead... I already talked too much..."

"You are wrong you lowlife, you are already dead."

The voice of someone else echoed in the house, Shiraki looked around herself to look if there was another man, but she saw nobody. Under the hooded man she was holding at blade point, a puddle of an unknown black substance formed, slowing dragging down the man.

"No no no no no no please no, please don't do it PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT BUT DON'T KILL ME-"

The man was screaming in terror as the black substance slowly dragged him down whole. Shiraki turned around seeing that the other 2 men got dragged down by the same substance, leaving no traces behind as if it never happened.

"Useless fools, if they can't do their job properly then they don't deserve to breath, it's a waste of precious oxygen and space, to not mention that they were completely replaceable, nothing of value was lost."

Shiraki quickly turned to where the man was kneeled and leaped away. A hooded figure wearing a dark red cloak was standing on its place, with a red mask on his face.

"So you are the girl they failed to kidnap, I can see that your resistance was higher than expected, but since we got the old man it should be enough I think, I don't want to increase my workload any further so I declare that you aren't needed anymore."

"First those men in black and now one in red? Are you their boss or something? What are you going to do to my jīchan?"

"Looks like the beans have been spilled, but I see no risk in telling you who we are, after all nobody will believe you even if you tell the truth. We are an organization called Stigma as that lowlife told you, our objective is to overthrow the current state of the Demon World and bring back the chaos that has always been part of the Demon World, therefore bring back the world to its state of endless bloodshed."

"Why do you want such thing?! And how can my jīchan help you in this?!"

"It's simple, since magic is no more the only thing that matters is science, we are demons of science therefore we'll use his blood for everything we see fit. You are a half-blood human mixed with a demon, but you also have dragon blood flowing in your veins, that allowed you develop strength and a body superior to any other human, if a half-blood like you developed to this level I can't wait to test it on some demons, I pray for the success of the experiment."

The moment the hooded figure finished to speak, Shiraki attacked the figure thrusting her knife in its chest, but to her surprise the figure stopped the knife with just 2 fingers of its right hand.

"Wha?!"

Seeing her attack was blocked, Shiraki left the knife in the hands of the figure and leaped back, placing some space between her and it.

"Nice attempt, but something like this could never harm me."

In the very next moment, the figure snapped in half the blade of the knife using its only 2 fingers, in an instant the black substance from before swallowed the knife as well.

"As I said nobody will believe you if you'll tell this story to anybody, nobody will ever believe a random person that says their grandpa was kidnapped by an organization that wishes to destroy the world, they'll assume it's the story of a book you are reading. I think I spent enough time here, I don't think we'll ever meet again, and judging by the darkness of the sky I supposed this is the time where humans sleep, and you should go back to sleep as well."

"We'll meet again when I'll come for your head and save my jīchan!!"

Shiraki took a step forward to reach the figure, but in the blink of an eye the figure was now standing before Shiraki.

"I'll look forward for it then, family reunions are always a sweet thing to see, especially when they give you the occasion to meet the relatives you never had the occasion to meet. Have a goodnight."

Shiraki didn't have enough time to react that the figure gave her a finger flick on her forehead, almost instantly Shiraki's consciousness faded away. Shiraki collapsed on the floor knocked out by that finger flick, after ascertaining that Shiraki had lost her senses the figure disappeared into thin air, leaving no traces behind of his presence or the events that occurred that night.

It was the morning of the next day, Shiraki was on the floor of the living room when she slowly woke up.

"W-What... JĪCHAN!!!"

The moment she woke up the events of the previous night flashed before her eyes, making her scream for her grandpa. Shiraki got up from the floor and looked around herself, it was just as the figure said. Everything was at its place, the table of the living room that broke during the fight wasn't broken anymore, the table wasn't substituted by a different one but it was the same old table. The rest of the room and the house was perfect, it was clean and nothing was broken, there wasn't any kind of trace of yesterday's events, as if they never happened.

"How is this possible... nobody will believe me if- DAMN IT!!!"

Shiraki slammed her hand on the wall, everything the figure said turned out to be true. Shiraki leaned on the wall behind her and let herself slide till she touched the floor, and the feeling of being helpless began to stir on her.

As Shiraki covered her face with her hands, tears began to fall from her eyes as she looked where the red hooded figure was standing.

"I swear on my family name that I'll save you jīchan, I'll save you and wipe out that organization with my own hands!!!!"

Those tears weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of rage. Her hands were covering a face that was the very picture of rage, grinding her teeth as she kept looking there.

Shiraki dried her eyes and went upstairs. Shiraki was all alone and soon she was going to leave for the Demon World, she had to find a way to keep everything going even in her absence and her grandpa's one. After changing her clothes ready to go outside and making a couple of phone calls, Shiraki left the house.

5 days later

It was Shiraki's last day on the human world before going to the Demon World, during those days she prepared everything in order to leave. Since she was leaving for an undefined amount of time, she spoke one last time with her friends and close people. She went to her favorite places, hang out with her best friend one last time and similar activities. In those 6 days she did all those things as if she was never coming back to the human world.

As she was done with her personal things, she also took care of the important ones, like the house and the forge.

"Thank you a lot for your help Ren, I wouldn't have known what to do if it wasn't for you."

"Don't mention it, your jīchan helped me countless times, finally I can help him back with this even if it'll never be enough."

Ren Tanaka was among the first people Kenzo hired when he opened the forge, earning the position of Kenzo's assistant and second in command in the forge. Shiraki and Ren were sitting in the living room while drinking green tea.

"This is the house, I think you remember it no? All you'll have to do is to clean it up from time to time and take care of the garden, you can even stay here a couple of days to give the impression the house is still inhabited."

"I see, if they see no one in the house they may think it's abandoned, all clear."

"Since jīchan has been kidnapped and I'll be going to leave for the Demon World tomorrow, there will be no one to take care of our house, that's why I called for your help. Jīchan always said that when he's gone you are the one in charge of the forge, so the forge is yours for the time being. You are the only one that knows what truly happened to jīchan, I take I don't have to say anything more about it."

"Don't worry my lips are sealed, and I'm sorry you had to live something like that, I wish I could've been there to help you."

"I appreciate the thought but if that monster took me out with a finger flick, I can't imagine what it could've done to you. I'll be leaving tomorrow in the early morning, we probably won't see each other tomorrow morning so I already made you a spare key, here."

Shiraki handed Ren a spare key of the house together with a spare key of the mailbox.

"Early morning eh? It'll be far from a short trip then. Since I won't see you tomorrow I'll see you off today, you have grown into a strong girl so I'm sure you'll be fine out here. Your jīchan spent the last 3 months making that katana, it wanted to make the best katana he could make just for you, it took him many attempts but in the end he was able to craft it. Show them who you are and rescue jīchan."

Ren stood up and raised his fist to Shiraki, she smiled and stood up as well, fist-bumping Ren.

"If hell exists in this world I'll make sure to send each one of them there with my own hands, I'll bring jīchan back at home no matter what I'll have to do."

"Well I have to go now, it's getting late and I have some errands to do. Goodbye Shiraki, I hope next time we'll meet it'll be with jīchan as well."

"Goodbye Ren, I hope that as well."

With that said Ren took the spare keys and bowed to Shiraki, she bowed to him and he left the house. Now alone, it was time for Shiraki to finish to pack her stuff and prepare for tomorrow, today was her last day in the human world.

Shiraki went upstairs and packed the remaining clothes in her luggage, while preparing another luggage for all the books and school stuff. After leaving a clean uniform on her desk for the next day, Shiraki began to read the letter with the instructions to reach the school.

"Instruction for the student: The train will depart at 5am. The student will have to go to Tokyo's central station and board on the Demon Arrow train wearing the school's uniform with their luggage. The student will need to exhibit the train ticket attached to this letter to the conductor in order to board on the train. After the student is welcomed aboard, the student will be guided to their cabin. Upon arriving at the destination, the students will be gradually sent to the school's offices to finalize their enrolment. Students will be sent to their dorms once their enrolment will be finalized. Estimated travel time: 9 hours. Estimated arrival time: 3pm. All meals are included. Destination: Demon School Cerberus Castle."

"5am? It's so early! I hope I'll be able to get some sleep in the train..."

After reading the instructions, Shiraki placed the letter and the train ticket on her desk. Upon putting the last of her textbooks in her luggage, a note fell from inside the book, a note with 'For Shiraki' written on it. Shiraki picked up the note and opened it, judging from the handwriting Kenzo was the one that wrote it.

"Live well, eat well, sleep well and make a lot of friends. Take your sword and show the world the fruits of your hard work. Look for your parents and study hard, I'll be here waiting for you when you'll finish your school. With Love, your grandpa Kenzo."

Reading that note puts a sad smile on Shiraki's face, that note has been written probably many days ago, even before his kidnapping. Shiraki placed the note inside one of her textbooks and closed the luggage, after turning off the lights and setting the alarm for tomorrow, Shiraki throws herself on her bed, falling asleep in no time.

It was 4am when Shiraki's alarm rang, Shiraki woke up with difficulty since she didn't sleep even for 5 hours. After turning off the alarm she went to take a shower in order to wake up a bit.

"I want to sleep..."

Still sleepy even after a cold shower, Shiraki dried herself and dressed up wearing the uniform. Shiraki looked around herself, those were the last moments she was spending in her room before departing for the Demon World. Now all dressed up, Shiraki opened the box where her katana was resting.

Shiraki took the katana off its stand and tied it to her hip on her left side. With her luggage at hand, Shiraki went downstairs to put the uniform's shoes, now all dress up Shiraki left the house locking the door. After gazing at house one last time, she left for the central station, the station wasn't near so it took her some time to reach it.

Shiraki finally made it to the central station, she entered the station and began to search for her train.

"Binary number 20... it should be that one."

Shiraki was walking toward a big purple train with yellow lines, while getting closer she saw that other people wearing her same uniform were there.

"Ticket."

"Here."

Shiraki gave the ticket inspector her ticket, the inspector made a hole in Shiraki's ticket and gave it back to her.

"Cabin number 753 on the ground floor, have a safe trip."

"Thanks."

Shiraki boarded on the train and began to look for her cabin. With this Shiraki took the first big step to a new chapter in her life, she had no idea what she was going to find in the Demon World but her goals were clear in her mind: find her parents, rescue her grandpa and destroy the organization that kidnapped him. Her journey was only at the beginning.

END CHAPTER 1