Devil Beside Me | Blue Exorcist

02 Night Encounter

A/N: Pardon me for the errors you may spot below; this chapter will be revised again when I find the time. And by the way, in case you didn't know, I have changed to the chronology of this story. Instead of two years, this story takes place three years after the anime.

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#02 – Night Encounter

The school bell rang the moment the hand of the wall clock struck one, signalling the end of their History lesson and the start of the next lesson. Tsubaki moved her bored gaze away from the teacher in the front and to Kaoru who had taken up her rightful duty as the class representative by standing up, prompting the class to greet the leaving teacher.

Getting up from her chair, Tsubaki mirrored her classmates around her, bowing at the waist and joining the lazy, sleepy chorus of greeting. Everyone dropped their stance as soon as the teacher exited the room. Groggily groans that filled the room were quickly turned to idle chats as her classmates turned to each other.

Tsubaki let out a weary sigh. Lethargy could be seen from her slumped shoulders and her incessant yawns. Raising her arms over her head for a stretch, Tsubaki twisted herself at her waist to the right, feeling a satisfying pull in the muscles at her side before twisting to the left to do the same for the other side.

Before she could finish her stretch, the empty seat at the back of the room caught her eyes.

With a frown, Tsubaki dropped her arms and was driven by curiosity to turn to look at the vacant table down the row, freshly recalling Rin asking their teacher to allow him to leave at the start of their fifth lesson for a toilet break in a demanding, urgent tone before dashing out of the room with the sword he always carried around on his back. The need to bring his sword with him to the toilet puzzled her as much as his absence for the entire hour and counting.

"Tsu-chan!"

"Huh?" Tsubaki snapped out of her pondering and turned back to find Mei whose seat was in front of her, looking at her impatiently. "What is it, Mei?" Tsubaki's eyebrows rose at the look she was receiving.

"I've been calling you for four times but you did not even turn!" The frown on Mei's mouth turned into a pout. "I was going to ask you whether you are interested in dropping by at the yogurt shop with me and Kaoru-chan after school since your patrol duty only starts tomorrow."

Tsubaki gave out a sheepish laugh. "My bad, I was thinking about something." The sheepish look on Tsubaki's face was quickly replaced by an apologetic frown. "Sorry, Mei, I promised my mom that I would go home straight after school. Plus, I'm training with my dad today."

"Aikido againnn...?"

"Yes, so next time alright?" Tsubaki shook her head at the sight of puppy eyes the redhead gave her, effortlessly dismissing the glittering rounded green eyes many had given in to. "Next timeeeeeee." She emphasised before reaching out to ruffle Mei's hair.

Mei harrumphed before sticking out her tongue childishly at Tsubaki. "Fine–"

Slam!

The sudden sound from the front of the classroom made them turn, alerting them to the arrival of their Biology teacher. "Alright, back to your seats! Enough chattering!" The loud chatters reduced to groans the moment the teacher said that. The clusters of students around the room dispersed as quickly as they had gathered.

The room was noisy again within seconds, this time with sound of chairs scraping against the floor, grumbles from her classmates and loud yawns filling it.

Their teacher wasted no time waiting for them to greet him. "Turn to Page 34 of your textbooks." He had already started writing on the blackboard, his white chalk producing thuds as it hit against the black surface at every stroke. "We're going to cover something really important today!"