Like a brilliant and blazing star of energy, shining down on everyone, was not only the sun but the school's star, Minamoto Teru with his bright and bubbly smile while dragging the ebony haired girl behind him. Just hours ago she was bubbling with rage, her loud and angry voice bouncing off the olive walls of the Minamoto manor.
However, that seemed to be the last tid bit of her energy as she had helped Tiara dress for school, and Kou's bags, finishing Teru's yukata as she sighed, rubbing her face while the smiley president dragged her along for morning class duty for homeroom.
Over the years, she had learned that the less sleep Teru got, therefore meaning the more tired he was, his body and personality naturally responded by being more upbeat, and it was terrible. It was bright, shimmering and blinding. She hated it. It was like he was a superhuman, but as soon as he got home after burning out every ounce and fiber of energy he had left, he would be out cold.
The opposite happened to him as well. The more sleep he got, the more lazy he was. He would feel the need to sleep more and would end up dozing off on the kitchen counter or couch, occasionally using the witch as a standing sleep stand, much to her dismay as she had to teleport him to the bed, leaving her shoulder sore.
Nora was neither of the two. She was tired through and through, simple. An all nighter usually left her haggard.
But no matter how upbeat Teru had become or how tired Nora was, the two after an all nighter of draining their energy was .. dysfunctional.
Akane stared at the two with a raised brow. It was barley mid-day and Nora already looked more agitated than usual as Akane stared. Something was wrong with the president's usual look, pushing his tousled hair aside and the extremely lethargic witch, he snapped his fingers, causing the two to stare at him in confusion.
"Minamoto-kaichou .. Was your tie always that short?" Akane asked as he tilted his head to the side. Nora's vision was blurry as she rubbed her eyes to focus on the blonde as she blinked, hitting herself on the forehead. "Crap." The witch muttered as Teru looked with a blank smile as he stared down at the fabric around the collar of his neck.
"Did you ...?" Teru trailed off as she picked up his sentence. "Switch the ties. I did.." Nora nodded as her head thumped against the wooden desk. She had unintentionally switched Kou and Teru's ties when picking them up from the laundromat. Usually, she was in charge of putting on their ties for them, especially the very hopeless Teru.
And so it seems, she had gotten them mixed up accidentally, which could be the reason why Teru's tie was awfully short today.
"Senpai .. are you sleepy?" Akane stared at her bewildered as the witch, truthfully honest, nodded her head while massaging her temples. The Elders had given her quite a bit of trouble just a few hours ago, and Tiara was more bubbly than her throbbing head could handle. "Ah well .. I'll go switch them. Kou should be having class right around now, right?"
Teru straightened up his papers onto the desk, placing them flat down as his wooden chair scraped against the floors. "Yeah ... I think he has Science class about now." Nora said in a hoarse tone, standing up as well. Akane blinked and stared at the pair as he watched the blonde haired president grab onto the collar of her uniform as though it were the scruff of a cat.
In the blink of an eye and a puff of smoke, the witch had climbed up onto his shoulder with her four furry limbs, not feeling like walking herself. The vice-president never really got used to knowing that she was both cat and perfectly and normally human at the same time. One glance at her and you would never assume a thing.
Just like how you would never assume that he was one of the Seven Wonders, how Nora was a murderous witch and how Teru was the sadistic exorcist that no one made him out to be.
No one was normal. They were all living deceptions, living fake lives with two faced identities.
"We'll be off then, Aoi. I need to pay a visit to my little brother and switch with him. After all, I need to look respectable as the President." Teru said half jokingly as the two set off. The third-year junior high students were located on the first floor of the building, more specifically that was where the science lab was located, where Kou's class would be taking place.
It was convenient for the President anyway. Although Kou was having class, he needed to speak to the Science teacher for a message his English teacher had asked to pass. Not only that, but he was able to see his little brother.
As they descended the stairs, Nora lazily made herself invisible to human eyes as Teru knocked on the classroom door. The grey haired teacher wearing a white lab coat with his blazer and tie beneath had answered with a curious glace, looking at the red armband of the blonde as he realized.
"Ah! Minamoto, what brings you here?" The man asked with a smile. The president as always, returned the facial expression politely. "Ah well, my brother and I seemed to have gotten our ties switched. That and .." The boy handed the teacher a white envelope as the Science teacher nodded and looked into his classroom.
"About that .." The man trailed off. Teru's smile had wavered ever so slightly as he peeked into the small crack of the classroom. "Is there something wrong with Kou?"
The Science teacher opened the door to his class, allowing both the exorcist and the invisible witch in. "Yaba, what did you say Minamoto had?" The man asked one of his students with a seaweed green mop of hair as the boy brightly responded. "Ah, Minamoto told me that he was having labor pains, so he went to the nurses office!"
Both the teacher and president knew what this meant as Teru sighed and smiled at the young boy. "Is that so? Thank you for telling me. I'll be off then, Sensei." Teru bowed his head at the teacher who sent the boy off with a sheepish chuckle.
Nora leapt off of his shoulder and onto the floor. "Labor pains huh .. I wasn't aware that he was giving birth. If he was going to skip, he could have at least given a better excuse .." Nora massaged her temples. Now they had a skipping Junior High student to add on to their list of exhaustion for the day.
Teru stayed quiet, his finger on his chin. "Kou skipping? Now .. that's odd. We definitely just passed by the nurses office, I would've been told if Kou was there. So .. Nora." He turned to the witch with a soft smile as she rubbed the back of her head, waving her hand dismissively at him with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, I know .."
It took her less than a moment's notice to track the boy down, much to her surprise, he was in the school courtyard at the back-gates, which was rather odd.
Much to his surprise when the witch had shifted into a cat again, her ears twitching as her small nose spased. Almost as if there were something wrong, although he had no time to ask because her small paws were already padding across the floor as they took long strides outside of the building.
Her eyes darted around left and right as she skillfully leapt over the black metal gate of the building as they begun to hear a murmur of voices. Using some strength, Teru single handedly pushed the gates open, seeing as he couldn't causally leap over like the cat.
Her medallion orbs widened as she stopped running, staring at the scene in front of her. Kou was on the floor, a look of shock betrayed his features, sitting on top of him was the Seventh of the Seven Wonders, Hanako-san of the Bathroom. The same one that Teru's grandmother had used every ounce of her spiritual energy to seal away a generous amount of his original powers.
The same one that had murdered someone when he was alive. The wonder had his kitchen knife, tip pointed down at Kou. Instinct kicked in faster than reflex as she had automatically shifted to a human once again. "Bind, Hanako!" Her chanting and inscriptions written with her fingers were faster than the ghost as he turned around, unable to move any further, his restrictions being forced to a stop.
A bolt of black lightning caused the apparition to bend his back in pain as his face twisted in agony and his body withered. The crackle of electricity whizzed right past Nora, anger was evident in the attack from Teru, his blade was drawn and an icy look was plastered on the student council president's face.
"AHH!" Hanako cried out in pain as Nora panted. "We made it in time." She breathed out in relief.
"Hanako!" Kou shouted to the supernatural in worry, beckoning to the boy's side. "It's not like you to skip class. We wondered what could have caused it ... Kou." Teru's voice was no longer cheery, airy and light as it was usually. He was rather angry right now, but yet calm and level-headed. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep.
"Nora-nee .. Teru-nii .." Kou stared at them in surprise with clenched teeth as his fists curled up, knowing what would happen in the next moments.
"Well Kou? I was right, wasn't I?" Teru approached the two, passing Nora who stood there, watching.
Teru had the face on again; the face he would make when he exorcised supernaturals in disgust, hatred and repulsion. The same look that Nora would never want to see on his face if he ever looked at her. It scared her to be frank.
The look on Kou's face was enough to tell her that Teru had never shown him that same face before, which was expected. "He's a dangerous supernatural. I'm going to exorcise him. Right here, right now. So ... If you would get out of the way?" His eerily livid mask had slipped as he smiled at his younger brother.
But it didn't take a genius to see how plastic it was. "N-No!" Kou stammered as he held up his golden staff.
"Oh honestly." Teru sighed as he slipped off the prayer beads from his wrist with a snap. "I'm sorry to hear that." His tone was apathetic. With a rattle, faster than Kou could blink, the prayer beads were already wrapped around his figure, causing him to tilt over and fall flat on the ground. Usually, Teru would use the beads to immobilize smaller supernaturals.
Occasionally (often) he used them to hang Aoi Akane from the ceiling, just for pure sadistic amusement.
"Teru-nii!" Kou shouted, trying to release himself from the binds, his eyes flickered to Nora who was always there to get him out of trouble, however, the witch wasn't even making eye contact with him, but rather at Hanako who was staring at her with his pain contorted features.
"You just aren't mature enough, Kou. No need to bother yourself with all of these unnecessary thoughts." Teru smiled once again as he turned to the withered Hanako. "Haven't seen you since yesterday, School Mystery. Glad to see you're doing well." Teru had said, patronizing the ghost boy as he clenched his teeth.
"Haku-joud-" The crackle of electricity cut him off as his wisp was unable to fly to him, as it was repelled back by obsidian lightning that sparked wildly revealing Teru's black lightning cage that surrounded the two of them.
"I won't let you summon your tsueshiro. I wouldn't want to make this fight anymore difficult." The exorcist chuckled as Kou stared wide eyed. Nora crouched down to his level with a bored expression on her face.
"You're probably thinking, oh no, Hanako can't get away at this rate. But Teru-nii's anti-spirit blade is an anti-evil artifact that's mainly only used for attack! It shouldn't be that good at controlling lightning, so how?" The witch perfectly recited his thoughts aloud as he stared at her in both shock and surprise, watching her nonchalantly twirl a lock of ebony hair around her index finger as her scarlet eyes flickered down to him.
"The answer to that is right in front of you. It's because he's the next head of the Minamoto family. He's been capable of exorcising supernaturals since he was eight. He has a much further versatile range of lightning than you think he's capable of. After all, he's your big brother, right? That blade doesn't do all of the work. Teru uses his own spiritual power to create lightning by injecting it into the blade."
"That, and he has a rather marvelous witch by his side who is rather adept at enchanting things, including that earring of yours." Nora tapped as he flinched, staring at her as though they were some sort of strangers.
It was all new to him. He was so .. different from the two in aspects he hadn't noticed before. "That's your first time seeing Teru's scary face right? I thought the same thing when I saw it. He doesn't like to scare you and wants you to continue looking up to him like the big brother you always have, so he hides it away. But that's why Kou, we're doing this for your own good."
When and how had he not noticed? Was he living in a fairy-tale they created this entire time? He was clueless to everything, living his life through and through as he told himself growing up that he wanted to be just like Teru. But yet, he hadn't exorcised a single supernatural and he was already fourteen.
He was consistently being forced into the shadows that his brother created for him to live in happily, to not worry about a thing.
Even now, Nora seemed more distant and cold than usual. "Teru is ruthless when you and Tiara aren't around. This is reality Kou. Not everyone is what they seem. You saw it with Hanako as well, didn't you?" She asked as he pursed his lips in hesitation. Was it really all the truth? Did Nora have a reason to lie?
Hanako glowered at Teru, his knife glinting in the sunlight. "What a scary face. No matter how you try to cover it up ... In the end, you can never hide what you truly are. A troublesome ghost that goes unstable at the drop of a hat .. And harms the living at the slightest provocation. Self serving and violent."
"You took life from another, and yet you cling on stubbornly to the nearshore and refuse to accept your own death. To be perfectly honest ... It's painful to look at." Teru reeled his arm back as his blade crackled dangerously with a sparkling lightning that singed the boy from head to toe.
Hanako was weary of the blade as he readied his own. Using the friction caused by the exorcist's shoes as the dust kicked up into the air, Hanako was temporarily blinded as he rubbed his eyes, it gave a perfect opportunity for Teru to flash behind him and kick the apparition as the Seventh Wonder was sent skidding, the knife accidentally slipping out of his grasp.
As he tried to reach for it, Nora's fan had caused a strong gust of wind, flapping the collar of Teru's uniform was he walked closer. The wind had created a sharp blade of air, cutting Hanako's hand as he winced. Teru stabbed his anti-spirit blade into the apparition's palm, blood sputtering out.
Teru slammed his foot on top of Hanako's head as the boy let out cries and shouts of misery. "AGHH!"
"Hanako! Teru-nii ..! Nora-nee, please!" Kou turned to the witch who ignored him and stood up. The process from here was rather simple. Small simple supernaturals, about the size of a school bus or smaller, were easy for them to deal with solo. Teru had a specified way of doing so.
He would knock his opponent off balance to give himself an opening, stabbing them with his spiritual energy and electrocuting them. As his spiritual energy converts itself into lightning, destroying the soul of the supernatural starting from the outside and to the inside as the electricity crawled in.
For normal people, The Elder exorcists and Kou as well, staying out of range of Teru's lightning was the best option. Either that or interfere and die. Simple.
Nora was capable of withstanding his lightning as she walked into the cage, wincing slightly at the sparks of electricity that zapped at her face as she covered it. Although she quickly adjusted as Teru ripped his blade out of Hanako's palm, the boy letting out an ear-piercing cry.
"Maybe because you retained your human body from when you were alive .. but you have red blood, not purple. It kind of makes it weird." Nora said simply as she picked up his hand carelessly as Hanako relentlessly tried to crawl away, of course to no avail as Teru sighed.
"You've been in the nearshore for how many years now? It's about time you accepted your punishment." Teru said icily. The boy's body began to quiver, this time not of pain, but of laughter as it rung out.
"Ha .. Ha-ha .. Punishment?" He croaked out. The witch raised a brow at him. "Did you say something?"
The apparition was able to sit against the stone pillar of the gates as he wheezed, with Teru's blade poking at his shoulder. "You living people are all the same ... You all think dying, disappearing is the best way to atone. As if the life of a murderer could atone for anything .." Nora crouched down to his height as she stared at him, as if trying to nitpick the dead boy.
"Destroying me would only be a release! I still have things I need to do here!" He shouted, his eyes welted with tears and agony as he cried out to the witch. Her nails elongated. "Can I cut his mouth off?" Nora's eyes hollowed out as she asked Teru who only chuckled, patting her head. "You'd get blood on your uniform."
She stared down with a frown, sighing as the witch stood up, placing a foot on the boy's chest. "Listen kid. If the life of a murderer can help the victim's families to sleep better at night, then it's something. If the life of a murderer can allow the victim to torture you in hell, then it's something."
"Destroying you would be a release, for whoever you killed that's waiting for your demise so that you can join them in hell. You've already taken a living life when you were alive. That was your choice. You attract supernaturals, you've tied that girl into your mess, let go of the nearshore and let her go. After all .."
"She doesn't have much time left does she?" Nora retracted from his ear as she stared down at him hatefully. "I'm sure you would know all about hell ... How's it like?" Hanako still had cheek in him as he was able to groan out the words, his body ached as the witch scoffed. "I also know about dying. Especially allowing humans to burn me at a stake alive, while they cried and celebrated."
"My life atoned. It helped them sleep better at night, it allowed them to be free from their hate and resentment. It allowed them to cry tears of joy as they partied and laughed. It made them feel safe so that they could die happily. So die already." Nora held spite laced in her tone as she shoved the boy back down to the ground.
Hanako chuckled at the witch as he grabbed her ankle. "That just means that you had nothing left for you in your life .. giving up so easily. But unlike you .. I still have things I need to fulfill here!" He shouted as Teru zapped his hand that was holding Nora in place as she walked over to the male exorcist.
"Don't soil my subordinate please." Teru said casually. "I see that you're having your own issues that you're working through. But .. It doesn't matter. None of it. You're a dangerous supernatural, so I'll exorcise you. That's all there is to it. It's over." His katana plunged into Hanako's chest.
Nora's eyes widened, because before the blade could completely puncture his heart, a sudden hand wrapped around it. "Restrain-" Kou's eyes snapped at her. "You-- how .. When did you break free?" Teru's azure eyes had gone wide with surprise as he stared at his younger brother who was now suddenly in front of him.
"Kou stop it!" Nora shouted as the blade continued to cut through his flesh as he rammed into Teru, knocking both of them over onto the ground. "Kou .. you're bleeding.." Teru murmured as a trickle of his brother's blood sneered onto his cheek. Kou panted, breathing heavily as he regained his sense of reason, grabbing Teru's collar.
"Stop treating me like an idiot! I know I'm weak! And I'm a lot stupider than you-- both of you! But It's not true that I don't have to think about anything! I can figure out that much! You're right, I know next to nothing about him .. And I think .. it was totally wrong of me to decide whether he was good or bad without knowing anything."
"But .. exorcising all supernaturals just because "supernaturals are dangerous" .. I just .. I think there's something wrong with that .." Kou had tears forming at the corner of his eyes as he sniffled, letting go of his elder brother, wiping his tears away with his forearm. "It's gonna take some time .. I'm gonna get stronger, just like you, Teru-nii. And then I'm gonna decide what to do. If I need to, I'll exorcise him!"
"So keep your hands off of him! You too, Nora-nee!" Kou pointed as he barked at the two. Teru stared unsurely at his younger brother, silent for a moment before opening his mouth to speak. "He may attack a student tomorrow."
"I-I-I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't! I'll take responsibility, just like you do with Nora-nee!" He stuttered as the witch blinked. "What responsibility?" She inquired with a raised brow, however it fell deaf to their ears.
"Honestly .. We should exorcise him right now. But I don't want you to hate me. So all right. Don't forget what you said. But i'm only doing this once .. Kou." Teru turned his back, walking away from the pair as Nora snapped her fingers, turning him around as he blinked. "Forgot what we came here for in the first place, genius?" She leaned closer to his face before yanking the tie off of his neck and Kou's off of his shoulder as she swapped them.
Before the two left, Nora turned around. "Get that checked later .. You can't pick up Princess unless it's bandaged." Nora pointed as the boy gulped and nodded his head silently.
As they re-entered the school building, Nora slid down the wall and onto the floor with a heaving sigh. "Nora?" He called out to her as she smiled weakly. "Can I have a nap when we get home?" She asked as he crouched down and pat her head. Teru would be feeling extremely tired when they got home and his upbeat energy wore off. He had just used up a bit of spiritual energy despite being drained from last night— early morning.
Her fingers enticed themselves around the collar of his shirt as she straightened out the wrinkles and pulled the tie through, buttoning the one button that had come loose, tightening the tie a bit but leaving it partially loose as she rubbed off Kou's smeared blood off of his cheek, staining the white handkerchief that smelled like her honeysuckle jasmine scent that was all over his blanket and sheets, mixed with his cologne.
The halls were silent as they walked. "We're already late to class." Nora said in exasperation, checking the watch on her wrist as Teru pat her head. "It's alright. We can just say that we helped Kou to the nurses office." There were many ways the two of them could slither out of tardiness.
So, they took their time heading to their already late social studies class.