Magnanimous (Blue Exorcist ~ Yukio Okumura)

Chapter 39

Christmas break crept up quickly, and snow was slowly beginning to fall in white layers on the Academy. A few of the Pages had gone home, but the Kyoto trio, the Okumura brothers, Shiemi, Izumo, and myself stayed around the Academy. Without much place to go, I was glad that I wasn't the only student staying at the Academy over break.

"All right," Yukio said to the Cram School class in front of the bus stop, "I asked you all here because for those of you who aren't going home over break, you will be participating in a three-day drill in the form of a camp, which is why I asked you all to bring enough belongings for that period of time, and it will be chaperoned by myself and Miss Kirigakure," Yukio gestured to the pink-haired woman next to him.

"Meow-hoo," the woman gave a wave, staring at us.

There's something up with this, I realized, She showed up only a month ago or so, and Yukio never mentioned why. Then she comes up to be a chaperone for some random camp. What's she doing?

A red city bus pulled up at the Academy's bus stop, and the driver opened the door for us. Yukio gestured his class of Pages into the otherwise empty bus, and I filed into the bus last before Yukio and Shura.

I could feel eyes staring at me as I made my way to the middle of the bus, just behind the rest of the group. As I turned around, I could see the fiery-haired woman staring at me, her lips pursed and her hand on her almost-bare hip. I watched as Yukio came up on the bus, letting the door close behind him. He looked at me, giving me a soft smile from the front of the bus, sitting down.

Something's definitely up.

I sighed to myself with a shake of my head, leaning against the window and left my backpack on the ground by my feet. "Oi, okay if I sit here?"

I gazed up at Rin, who held his red-cloaked sword slung across his shoulder. "Yeah, of course," I nodded at him.

"Cool," the raven-haired boy left his backpack on the ground under his feet and sat down next to me. "So what's goin' on with Four-Eyes? He's acting all weird, you two get in a fight or something?"

I shook my head. "No, he's just acting weird, I've noticed it, too. I think it has something to do with that Shura chick."

Rin hummed. "Dango?" He held out a small stick of the sweet dumplings.

"Rin!" I exclaimed, laughing. "We were told not to bring food!" I laughed at the boy again.

Rin shrugged his shoulders, shoving one of the dango sticks down his throat and consuming it. "It'll be fine as long as you don't tell the Teach," he laughed.'

I shook my head with another small laugh as I finally accepted his snack. "You're ridiculous."

After chatting with Rin and talking for nearly two hours, the bus stopped at a forest. Yukio and Shura led the students off the bus, and I could still feel the woman staring at me as I stepped off and onto the ground. Once everyone was standing around on the dirt-covered ground, everyone began following Yukio on a snow-plowed path through the trees.

"Yo, Teach," Rin shouted from the back of the group as he walked next to me. "How far is it?"

"The campsite is not too far away," Yukio explained, "We should be there in nearly a half hour, then we will begin setting up camp and making wards against demons."

Most of the group sighed, but continued following Yukio, with Shura taking up the back of the group. I lifted my backpack strap farther up my shoulder, my legs freezing under the short uniform skirt. Even if I had decided to wear my hentai-style thigh-high uniform socks today, they probably would have done no good to hold in heat.

"Man, it's cold as shit," Shima complained, hugging himself under his uniform jacket. 

"No kidding," Suguro agreed, doing the same. 

"Oi, at least you three have pants," Izumo protested. 

I laughed silently, nodding at the frozen Izumo in agreement. 

"All right," Yukio interrupted, stopping in his tracks with his hands on his hips in front of a large clearing. "Let's get set up. We will let you all change into some warmer clothing once we have finished" 

Shura took the girls to draw out a large Magic Circle around the camp with giant compasses and chalk, but all she did was sit in the tree watching us as we worked. Yukio, on the other hand, helped the guys set up tents and shelters. Once we had finished, Rin had set up food for dinner for the class, and we gathered around a small fire to keep warm in the dark. 

"So, Teach," Rin called to Yukio with a mouthful of food. "What're we doin' here."

"I will explain to you all the details tomorrow," Yukio declared, pushing his glasses up. "It will be a three-day long drill, and I would like to maximize work ability as much as possible by starting in daylight after you all rest."

"Wouldn't it be best then to tell us the details now, at least?" Suguro asked, "So we can start as early as possible."

"We don't want any of you brats cheating," Shura slurred, obviously drunk with a can of beer in her hand, adding a small girly giggle.

"Hey, I thought Miss Kirigakure said she was eighteen," Shima pointed out, "That means she's underage."

"What are you talking about?" Yukio turned his head down from where he stood to the pink-haired boy, confused. "She will be twenty-six in-"

Shura threw her can across her large bust at Yukio's head. "Oops. My hand slipped."

Yukio made a slight growling noise at her, obviously irritated. 

Can't help but admit that's kind of hot.

I shook my head, scolding myself. Quit acting like another one of those dumb fangirls. 

"Act your age and do your job," Yukio said quietly though gritted teeth.

Shura laughed loudly. "He's mad! He's mad!" She waved her hands drunkly above her head. 

"All of you," Yukio addressed his class, returning to his calm tone, "Return to your assigned tents for the night. Kamiki and Katai are together, as are Miss Kirigakure and Moriyama. Okumura and Shima are together, and Miwa with Suguro." 

Shiemi's face turned pink and she turned her head down shyly at the thought of having to share a tent with the drunk woman. "Hey," I passed a comment to Shiemi, "We can switch if you want, you can go with Izumo, I can share with Kirigakure."

Shiemi shook her head slowly with a gentle smile. "Oh, it's okay. Thank you, though."

"What about you, Teach?" Rin looked up at his brother. 

"I will not be sleeping tonight, I plan to keep watch, just in case. And seeing as our other chaperone is... Unable to help," he mumbled mostly to himself as he looked down at the already-sleeping Shura. "I will be able to keep watch on my own."

"All right," Rin shrugged. 

As the rest of the class retired to our tents, Shiemi asked Yukio if she should help take Shura to her tent. Yukio gave a gentle appreciative smile and told the blonde girl to leave Shura there, she would be fine in front of the fire as Yukio kept watch from across the camp.

I headed into the tent with Izumo, who was stripping her hoodie off to sleep in her white tanktop and joggers. "What do you think the drill will be about?" She asked, pulling her pigtails back. 

"I don't know," I shrugged as I slipped into my own sleeping bag, "Something that'll make us have to think, I'm sure."

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A/N: It's been almost a month since I updated this oof