Yesterday had been fine but today the world was monotonous and Nora could feel her energy leaving her like an ink stain into blotting paper. She struggled to feel with anemic emotions that had no substance, they were flat and drained, like a used tea bag.
Her sigh was of a softly deflating; it was as if a tension had lifted yet left her with a melancholy instead of relief. It triggered a chuckle from a certain blonde haired student council president who seemed to be amused by the entire situation as the witch scowled at him menacingly, completely worn out and drained from the day.
It had barley started and she already wanted it to finish.
"I can't be the only one who's been getting these load of confessions all day." Nora whined as she whimpered, dropping and arm full of dozens and dozens of paper bag bouquets of flowers, all of different types. Roses, carnations, all sorts. It was lunch and she was getting swarmed by males and females alike.
"It's not White Day is it?" Teru asked with a flicker of amusement. "Not funny." She hissed at him, dropping a bouquet of roses onto his desk. With an angry snap of Nora's fingers, all of them disappeared. "Now Princess can have all the flowers that she wants." The witch had sent all of the flowers onto the door step of the Minamoto manor.
Teru picked off a rose petal from her ebony hair. But nonetheless, Teru got serious as he pulled open the drawer that was connected to his desk in which he was working at. Inside the drawer, Nora gaped at how many sweets there were. Cookies, pies and cakes all alike as he shut the drawer with a sigh.
Suddenly, he looked just about as haggard as she did.
Nora and Teru both got occasional confessions a few times a week, no more than that. Today, Nora had been getting pestered left and right, receiving multiple a day, with many of them requesting her to meet them by a certain tree in the Kamome Academy courtyard.
Apparently it had been dubbed the 'Confession Tree' by many people. Suddenly, it had caused an uprise and surge in couples at the school, Nora wasn't oblivious to this fact, considering she had already walked in on three couples kissing. One was in the bathroom, which she indefinitely did not want to witness.
Teru had been seeking shelter inside the Student Council room, escaping as many people as he possibly could, for as long as he could.
"That tree. I don't remember it being there before." Nora stared out the window where there was another duo, more specifically, their vice-president, Aoi Akane, practicing or rather, confessing to one of his classmates, in which she believed his name was Lemon Yamabuki. She let out a withered groan.
"Everyone who's confessed under that tree had become a couple immediately. Look at this." Nora waved her hand as Teru flinched backward as suddenly out of thin air, dozens and dozens of slips of paper had fallen onto his desk, each with different handwriting but just about the same words as he picked one up.
"I've been getting these from third year junior high kids and third year high school students!" She hollered, massaging her temples.
"I opened my locker, I open my bag, I open my book, they're everywhere!" Nora was losing her composure, which was rather rare, but she was flustered and bashful, unsure of how she should be handling all of the compliments and confessions that were being thrown her way every time she even breathed.
"They've been getting passed to me in class, all day, telling me to meet them by the stupid tree." The girl flopped down into a chair. With a fellow swoop of her hand, a table flew across the room and was propped against the door as a barricade. Teru covered his mouth, stifling a snicker as the aggravated witch threw a piece of candy at him, in which he had caught one-handedly.
"Most likely an apparition or supernatural of sorts." The blonde got up from his seat as he stared out the window as well. Because it was disguised as a tree, neither of the two had caught it on their patrol last night. Until it begun to harm students, Teru would tolerate it.
Neither of the two exorcised apparitions during school. It would attract too much attention toward them, which would be tedious. So therefore, they tended to exorcise everything they could at night until dawn broke over the horizon, which was enough to keep the entire town safe from apparitions until they went on patrol again.
"I want to exorcise it." Nora said bluntly, her ruby orbs drilling hateful holes into the tree as Teru chuckled, placing a hand on her head as she looked up at him curiously. "Well now. We don't know if it's an apparition yet. Right now it still looks like a normal tree. It'd look bad on my reputation if I guessed wrong." Teru said simply.
She raised a brow at him. "Then lure it out." Nora shrugged at him. He tapped his chin, pondering the simple minded response. "Now how do you plan to do that, Nora?"
The witch let out a hum before waving one of the slips of papers in front of his face. "I could just meet one of them by the tree, wait for him to confess, say I like him back. Magically if we start dating the next day, you can exorcise it." In all honesty, Nora was used to being bait by now. She would rather get rid of the stupid tree now than later.
Teru furrowed his brows. "That's dangerous." The exorcist stated obviously as she nonchalantly plopped a chocolate into her cherry lips, untying the red ribbon that held her hair back. "Well, I don't think I can handle a day two of this." Nora grimaced.
"You're going to have to. Lunch is ending and we have class." Meaning one thing, the two of them would have to walk through the halls, which would equate to another uproar.
With a cheerful and bright smile, Teru pushed the desk away from the door as he turned the knob, pulling it open. Nora sat there and deadpanned at him, as if he were insane. "Come here. We have the same class, don't we?" Teru extended out his hand to her as she stared at it, as though it were a foreign object.
With extreme hesitance and reluctance, fear of being mobbed again prevailed over fear of skin contact as she gently placed her ivory hand into his own.
Sticking to Teru like glue was convenient for warding off any other people who wanted to approach her. And seeing Teru with Nora, was enough to tell the other girls to back away quietly. Sticking to Teru like glue, quite literally meant what it sounded like with his hands on her shoulders, towering behind her small stature and her back pressed against his abdomen.
It was already nightfall as Nora stared up at the big wooden oak tree. It was massive, larger than any of the other trees or plants in the practice garden, providing lots of shade as the moonbeams protruded through it's leaves creating a dancing array of shadows that fluttered against her skin.
A sudden protrusion of footsteps eluded the air as the witch turned around to be faced with the blonde haired exorcist splattered and tainted in magenta blood, belonging to supernaturals. Teru poked the tree with the sheath of his blade, running a small spark of electricity though it, but nothing happened.
"Is it just a normal tree?" Nora questioned in confusion as she sliced through one of it's leaves with a blade of air. The leaf that was split into two, came fluttering down gently into the palm of her hands. "We can always test it out." Teru said with a smile. She shuddered and her nose scrunched up in distaste.
"Theoretically speaking, if we become a couple the next day, who would exorcise the stupid tree?" She hummed, making an 'x' with her fingers against her lips as he chuckled. "Kou, the elders, there are plenty of people who are capable." Although Kou had never exorcised a supernatural before.
Nora let out a chortle as the tall male approached her closer. "No." The witch said bluntly before smiling at him. "So you're willing to do it with anyone else, but me?" He raised a brow. She stopped to think about it before nodding her head.
Teru exhaled a sigh. "I see. What a shame." The blonde said, as the witch blinked in confusion.
"A-Akane ..?" Nora sputtered out as her hand clasped against her mouth, she paled considerably, leaning against Teru who steadied her. Aoi Akane stood before them, radiating like a beaming light, much shinier than one of Teru's scary nonchalant and innocent smiles. He was quite literally glowing.
"I had no idea he swung that way.." Teru muttered beneath his breath. "Well the power of love can cause many unpredictable things, senpai~" Akane said with a smile as the two shuddered.
Word had spread to the two of them rather quickly, Akane had joined the couples side, his new partner being Yamabuki Lemon. "W-Weren't you infatuated with that girl .. Akane Aoi?" Nora stuttered in concern as she raised a brow. Akane pulled out a picture of Lemon from his breast pocket as he stared at it adoringly.
The seventeen year old couldn't stop quivering. "Well it's just .. Since he helped me practice confessing my love yesterday .. I just couldn't get Yamabuki out of my head." The first-year vice-president had said as he flashed the two his phone screen, in which it was a picture of the two doing an indescribable pose, puckering their lips together.
"Excuse me .. I'm going to go puke." Nora said as she turned away. "Senpai! Are you alright? Do you need me to take you to the nurses' office?" Akane ran to her side as he placed a hand on her back. The witch visibly cringed as her face contorted into one of death.
With a cheery smile, Teru zapped the boy's hand as he let out a yelp. "A-Akane would never ask me if I was alright." Nora wanted back the vice-president that they knew of, the one who would complain and whine and the one that they would freely abuse their power towards without feeling guilty.
But this Akane ... was ... soft. He spewed on and on about love, making Nora want to tear off her ears and rip the boy's mouth off, and his face was genuinely innocent and pure hearted like a normal fifteen year old boy, making it very difficult to hit him without feeling guilty.
If she heard another word concerning love, she was going to lose her mind.
"I-I forgot that when I enchanted those glasses, he would be vulnerable to supernaturals when he had them on. How could I forget?" She covered her mouth in horror as Teru wrapped Akane in prayer beads, sealing the boy's mouth shut until they could figure out what to do. There was no reason for the two of them to test out the tree now, considering their handy vice-president had already done so for them.
Teru plopped down into his chair with a sigh. "Well, it's not harming students for now, so we can wait a bit longer until patrol and exorcise it then. Until now, you can try and snap Akane out of his trance. It's painful looking at him."
No more was needed to be said as Nora knocked him out and slipped off his glasses.
The cat who had been dozing off by the window, waiting for Teru to finish up his paperwork, had suddenly perked her head up as she stared at the pair outside by the tree. Suddenly interested, she sat up into a sitting position, her tail waving as her medallion orbs narrowed, observing carefully.
"Nora?" Teru called out. Usually when she did something like perking her head up, or her ears twitching, it meant something.
He stared out the window where she was looking out into a pair; a boy and a girl. More specifically, an apparition and a human. Teru's gaze had immediately turned cold and distant. "That girl .. I think I know her." Nora muttered. Silver hair that faded green at its tips, large daikon-like legs and magenta eyes. Her hair was clipped onto the side by two Magatama clips.
"First-year .. Yashiro Nene. She's in Akane's class." Nora said aloud, this was also the same girl who had pushed Kou down the stairs.
"If she's with Number Seven .." Teru murmured as he gripped the hilt of his katana. "What a shame .. She's only a first year student." Nora sighed in pity for the young girl. Hanako-san of the Bathroom, also known as the Seventh of the Seven Wonders, as well as their leader, was only able to be called out of his boundary with certain means.
If she was with him, it meant that she was able to fulfill the conditions to lure him out. She was the human who had been causing a stir in supernaturals, causing more trouble for them since the beginning of the school term.
"So they're bound together ..." Nora whispered. Teru walked back to his seat, suddenly looking more serious than before. "It won't matter. Once he's exorcised, the contract between them will go void and she can continue living a normal life." The president said as he leaned back into his chair.
Nora watched as they defeated the tree apparition. "That is .. if she doesn't get too infatuated with him before that happens.."