Chapter 2.1 (1/2)

Chapter 2: A Crooked School

PART 1

Early in the morning –– Seisen Academy had been shrouded in thick fog. Being this close to the sea, such things occurred every morning and evening. The Academy was surrounded by a dim and gloomy forest covered with fog, where big trees twisted their way upwards with leaves and branches looking like devil’s fingers.

“No matter how you look at it, this location looks somewhere where you can get molested.”

Mikoto said that in amazement, while walking on moss-covered stones. Aside from her young voice filled with tension, you could only hear the chirping of the birds.

“Shh! Your voice is too loud.”

Takeru scolded her careless sister, walking slightly behind her.

“We are not the only ones who go to school first thing in the morning. Everyone in this Academy is a serious Christian…… Look, there is one just right ahead.”

Mikoto stopped in her tracks, turning her face towards where the finger of her sister was pointing. In the distance, they could see the Academy’s gate emerging from the fog, with a long-haired girl standing right behind it. The exact appearance of that unknown person was obscured by white mist, but it looks like it was a petite girl. Wearing dark-green blazer and a plaid skirt, together with black knee-socks perfectly fitting thin, slender legs. Her fair skin was shining in the grey fog.

A small silhouette went through the gate and then proceeded towards the Academy, making a cross sign with her hand. Although there was a chapel in here, no one was obliged to do this at this time of a day.

“Doing something like this at this hour?”

“Prayer maybe, or maybe confession…… No, the first thing that you need to do in the morning is definitely cleaning.”

Mikoto showed an expression of puzzlement, while Takeru’s comment seemed very probable. Sometimes Mikoto was amazed by the amount of knowledge her study-serious sister held. And since the occurrence of Western demons during previous jobs got more and more common, lately she seemed to be studying especially diligently.

“Voluntary service is of most importance in the Protestant Church, but it does not mean that Catholic Church is all about prayers. God is watching all people, even if they are not aware of that, so you must always behave good, or so their teachings go.”

“Hmm? So in short, it means that being good all the time has it’s advantages?”

Contrary to her younger sister’s elaborate speech, the older sister was somewhat vague. One could say that Takeru’s way of dealing with things was to get to the very core of the problem, while Mikoto’s was to simply barely scratch the surface. You couldn’t clearly say which one of those methods was good or bad, and besides, in Mikoto’s eyes there were so many types of demons out there that studying all of them was a total waste of time.

“But, such information are becoming essential in times like this.”

While walking side by side with her sister, Takeru speaks in a low voice. Mikoto’s step was usually huge, and she could easily get carried away with it, so in order to listen to her sister, she needed to adjust her pace.

“Before the commotion occurred, many of the rich volunteer students remained in the school building even if there was no extra lessons, doing all sorts of activates which I looked into, among them there were ghost searching and other strange things.”

“The devil, eh? Could it be that this the Boss we are looking for?”

To this blatant question, Takeru showed an unpleasant expression, shaking her head with a wry smile.

“No, it’s nothing like that. To the princesses of this place, those are the things that far exceeds the realm of their understanding. But if the have the likes of angels, it wouldn’t be hard for them to conjure the appearance of a demon.”

Young demons, just like snakes and some plants, have a spooky appearance. Not being even close to normal flora our fauna, they are rather hard to find. Ordinary Japanese people will easily mistake them for a ghosts or youkai, whilst the students here will say that they are devils. But it looks like Mikoto was able to grasp the general idea, as she cocks her head in a cute way.

“But isn’t that strange? Aren’t demons always attacking the first person they come across after spawning? Isn’t that just the same as simple sexual harassment?”

“What are you saying, Mikoto…… Did you even heard what the Principal was saying?”

Under the sharp glasses, Takeru’s green eyes gleamed. Faced with that look of outright condemnation, Mikoto could only scratch her head apologetically.