Sometime in the early morning, Kiara woke up with a throbbing pain at the base of her tail and lower back. She sat up quietly walked out of the room, making sure there was no one in the halls before unwounding her tail from around her waist. She was sharing a room with Sheimi, which meant her tail was going to be kept wrapped around her waist unless she was sure she was alone.
It wasn't long until Kiara heard a door open, and she quickly lifted her hoodie slightly and wrapped her tail back around her waist.
"Kiara, what are you doing up?" Someone asked, and Kiara looked to see Yukio not too far away from her.
"I normally wake up early. You know what they say, 'Early bird gets the worm'." She said simply. "Hey, Yukio, I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Earlier, with the ghoul, it said something to Rin. something about a young prince. Any idea why it would say that?" She looked over to Yukio, who had no change in his expression.
"I have no clue why the ghoul would say something like that." He said, nervously adjusting his glasses. "You might of been hearing things because of a fear response."
She knew he was lying. Ever since she was a child she could easily detect the lies of the other kids— it helped her a lot when they tried to lure her places to play cruel pranks on her. She could never explain it though, it was as if something went off inside her head when someone told a lie. Looking at Yukio, she shrugged and turned around, shoving her hands in her hoodie pocket. "I don't hear things out of fear, teach. But go ahead, you can keep your secrets. Though I have to warn you— the bigger the secret, the harder it is to keep it quiet." With that, she walked off, she was already up and probably wouldn't get back to sleep now, so she might as well get some studying done.
***
Later that day, Kiara was sitting in a classroom, listening as Bon read over a passage that Izumo had just struggled a bit with.
"That was perfect Mr. Suguro!" The teacher exclaimed once he was finished.
"Amazing!" Rin exclaimed.
"That was great!" Sheimi said.
"Good job Mr. Mohawk." Kiara said with her head on the desk.
"Easy now, don't fall for me!" Bon said with a grin.
Kiara scoffed, "I'll try not to."
"Hey, so you really are smart." Rin said, causing Kiara to start snickering.
"What do you mean 'really'?" Bon asked with an annoyed expression on his face.
"It's not that Bon's smart, he's just very good at memorizing things." Konekomaru explained.
"In other words, I'm smart, right?"
"Uh, yes!"
"But anyone can just memorize something!" Izumi said from across the room.
"What, did you say?" Bon asked.
"Says the girl who wasn't able to memorize the passage." Kiara teased, earning a glare from Izumo.
"I-it's not that I can't memorize it! I just choose not to!" Izumo said defensively, "Arias are completely defenseless while they're reciting, so they have to be protected by their party. They're nothing but a burden!"
Kiara narrowed her eyes, Izumo had the nerve to practically call people she cared about burdens. "A burden, huh? Like how you were when the ghoul attacked last night?" She said, making Izumo grit her teeth and start walking up to Kiara in anger.
"Why don't you just shut up, I'm tired of your attitude." She snapped.
Kiara stood up, a grin on her face. "Tired of my attitude, huh? Well I'm tired of the way you're treating Sheimi." She tilted her head, her eyes glinting almost dangerously as her grin disappeared. "I'm tired about how you act like you're better than everyone here despite not knowing what any of us has gone through to get to this point. And finally, I'm tired how you laugh at other people's goals despite them having those goals for reason that you might never be able to comprehend." She took a step forward, only to have Shima and Konekomaru grab her arms and start pulling her back— which they struggled a bit with due to Kiara's enhanced strength.
"K-Kiara! Please don't!" Konekomaru begged.
"Goals? Oh, you mean their 'goal' of defeating Satan? Seriously, it's a joke. What else can I do but laugh?"
"Yeah, then how about you?" Bon challenged, walking up to Izumo. "What's your purpose in becoming an exorcist, huh? Spill it!"
"Purpose?" Izumo asked before going silent for a few seconds, "I never told anyone what my purpose is, Since I'm not an attention seeker like you!"
Bon reached forwards and grabbed Izumo's sweater. "Why you-!"
Izumo reached her hand back and attempted to hit Bon, but Bon managed to just barely miss it and cause her to hit Rin in the face.
"If you're gonna brawl, do it somewhere else!" Rin shouted.
"All right, settle down." Someone said and Kiara looked to see Yukio walking into the classroom. "That's enough already."
Damn it Yukio, why'd you have to come in? I was just about to get free from these two. Kiara thought, knowing all too well that they're going to be punished later for this little scuffle.
***
A couple hours later, Kiara was sitting on the floor of the old boy's dorm with the rest of her classmates, a stone resting on her legs getting heavier by the second.
"Eh, what the hell? What's up with this damn rock?" Rin asked from Kiara's left.
"It's a demon, one of the lower level ones. The longer it sits on you, the heavier it gets." Konekomaru said.
"You don't know what a Bariyon is?" Bon asked from Kiara's right, "You really are pathetic."
"Oh yeah? Well it's your fault we're here so why don't ya-"
"Can you two not fight with me right between you guys? I'm already suffering enough as it is." Kiara interrupted. "Besides, It's Izumo's fault for starting this."
"It's everyone's fault." Yukio said, "One of the objectives of this boot camp is to strengthen your academic skills. The other is to start becoming closer as a team."
Izumo scoffed, "I'd rather die than be friends with these losers."
"Right back at 'cha." Kiara muttered.
"You need to learn to get along." Yukio scolded, "Exorcists do not go into battle alone! We fight in groups of two or more. That's basic procedure. It covers your weak spots and enhances your strengths. In a real combat situation this ridiculous infighting could get you or someone else killed. You keep that in mind." He let out a sigh and rolled up his sleeves, "I have to leave on a mission and I won't be back for about three hours. Now then, because of that attack yesterday, I have taken extra measure and will be placing a powerful demon warding charm on the building."
"Lockin' us in? Then how are we supposed to get outta here is we need to?" Bon asked.
"You're not going anywhere. I'll only be gone three hours, so cool off and get along until I get back." With those words he walked out of the classroom and shut the door behind him. Almost immediately her classmates started to complain.
"Three hours?" Shima asked. "He's evil."
"Someone kill me." Bon groaned. "You know, I find it hard to believe you and that teacher are related."
"But he's a good guy. I know he is." Rin said as he hung his head.
"Anyway, we're stuck here thanks to a certain someone." Bon said.
"Huh? I didn't go up and grab you by the collar, did I?" Izumo asked.
"You're the one who picked a fight with me in the first place!"
"Would you guys quit fighting with me in the middle again!" Rin shouted.
"You're really one twisted witch, you know that?" Bon asked, glaring at Izumo.
"Thanks for stating the obvious. Anything else?" Izumo said snidely.
"With a personality like that, no wonder you're all alone."
just after her said that, the lights flicked off and everyone looked around in confusion. They all slid the Bariyons off their laps and stood up, Rin dropping his on his foot.
"You're kidding... did he turn the lights off on the way out?" Bon asked.
"No way!" Konekomaru said.
"Is it a black out?" Izumo asked.
"No, I can see lights on outside." Shima said.
"You mean our building's the only one without power?" Rin asked.
"I'm going outside." Shima said, walking towards the door with a little chuckle. "I love stuff like this. It's like a real life test of courage." He looked back at the group as he opened the door, "There's nothing here." He glanced out the door and immediately closed it. "Heh... my eyes must be playing tricks on me. Either that or we got a dem-AHHH" he cut off with a scream as a deacon crashed through the door and and the ghoul from last night peeked in.
"N-not again." Rin said.
Kiara grabbed the staff that was still in her skirt pocket— summoning her familiar might result in the whole dorm burning down, and she didn't want that. What were the chances of a low level ghoul getting past the barrier not only once, but twice? This has that damn clown's name written all over it.