5:00 AM.

  The sun wasn't even up yet, but I was.

  The Old Male Dormitory groaned in the wind, sounding like a dying animal, but I ignored it. I laced up my running shoes and headed out.

  True Cross Academy Town was a fortress, but at this hour, it was a ghost town. I started my run, keeping a steady pace. My heart rate sat at a resting 45 beats per minute—not because of cardio, but because I had commanded my body to remain in a state of perfect stasis.

  I wasn't just running for cardio. I was mapping out the terrain. I was checking exit routes, sightlines, and energy signatures. The campus was saturated with barriers, seals, and hidden wards. It was impressive, in a paranoid, conspiracy theorist kind of way.

  As I looped back toward the dorms, I picked up a scent.

  It wasn't the smell of morning dew or overpriced cafeteria coffee. It was earth. Dense, magical earth. And underneath it, something... rotting.

  "Demonic energy," I noted, stopping mid-stride.

  I closed my eyes and extended my senses. To my right, nestled far behind a high stone wall, there was a cold spot—a void of life where the natural flow of the world had been snagged on something parasitic.

  It took some time to navigate to the place, but I was eventually able to discover a bridge made entirely of stone, holding something at its high point, and protected by several layers of barriers.

  Interesting. Whatever's up there, gotta be something of extreme value if they're going through this much trouble to protect it, I pondered.

  As I scaled the bridge, I felt the barriers trying to slow me down or stop me entirely from continuing on.

  The barriers must be for warding off demons, I thought. There's gotta be treasure or something up here then. Something irreplaceable.

  I willed them off me and reached the high point, landing in a lush and overgrown garden. It was captivating, exploding with plants I didn't recognize.

  In the center stood a quaint little shop with a sign that read, 'Exorcism Supply Shop Futsumaya.'

  And here I thought I'd have to order my demon-slaying gear from Amazon.

  The door to the shop was open. Inside, I heard voices.

  "Yukio! It's so good to see you!"

  "It's good to see you too, Shiemi. Is your mother around?" asked a familiar voice.

  I quickly hoped over the small gate, not trying to spring any trap and found Yukio standing at the counter, talking to a girl.

  She was blonde, dressed in traditional kimono-style clothing, and looked like she was about to cry from happiness just because someone visited her.

  That's right, Shiemi Mori-something.

  But I wasn't looking at her face. I was looking at her legs. To my vision, they were a mess of tangled, stagnant energy.

  "Aye yo," I said, leaning against the doorframe.

  They both jumped.

  "Rin?!" Yukio adjusted his glasses, looking annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

  "Explorin'," I said, stepping inside. The shop smelled like dried herbs and musk. "I smelled something rotting. Figured I'd check it out."

  Shiemi flushed, looking down at her lap. "R-Rotting?"

  "Rin, you shouldn't be here," Yukio said, stepping between us. "This is an official supplier for the Order. Go back to the dorm."

  "Relax, I'm just browsing." I looked past him, locking eyes with Shiemi. "You're the source of the cold spot, aren't ya?"

  "E-Excuse me?" She stammered.

  I walked closer. Yukio tried to block me, but I sidestepped him with a shift of weight so subtle he didn't react until I was already past him.

  Ha! Got his ass.

  I crouched down in front of Shiemi. "Your legs," I said bluntly. "They aren't working, are they?"

  Shiemi went pale. "I... I have a weak constitution. I can't walk well."

  "Yea, right," I said, reaching out.

  Her legs looked nasty. Like tree roots or something sprouting within her.

  "It's a parasite." I muttered.

  "Rin, don't touch her!" Yukio warned. "It might be—”

  "Shut up for a second," I snapped, not looking back.

  I hovered my hand over her knees. I didn't touch the fabric. I just pushed a tiny, concentrated needle of heat—about 40 degrees Celsius—through the cloth.

  Underneath, something squirmed.

  Shiemi gasped, clutching her skirt. "Something... moved!"

  "A Dekkarp," Yukio quickly diagnosed.

  "A what?"

  "A garden spirit. Usually harmless, but this one must have rooted itself into her nervous system." Yukio responded.

  "Hmmm. It's feeding off her guilt."

  Shiemi looked up at me, eyes wide and watery. "My... guilt?"

  "Let me guess," I said, glancing around the overgrown garden. "You never leave this place. You think you have to protect it because, what? Someone important to you died? You think it's your fault?"

  She flinched as if I'd slapped her. "How... how did you know?"

  "It's written all over you," I lied. It was mostly anime knowledge, but the energy she was exuding was stagnant, and heavy with regret. "It's eating you alive. Literally."

  "Rin," Yukio said, his voice low and dangerous. "If there is a demon, we need to perform a proper diagnosis. We can't just—"

  "That'll take too long," I said, cracking my knuckles. "The roots are deep. If we wait, she loses her legs permanently."

  I looked down at Shiemi.

  "I can get it out," I told her. "But it's going to get hot. And it's going to hurt."

  "You... you can fix me?" Shiemi whispered, hope warring with fear.

  "Yep, but it's going to get very hot," I told her. "Can you handle it, Flower Girl? Do you want to stay planted here forever? Or do you want to walk out that gate?"

  Shiemi looked at the garden, then at her useless legs. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking out.

  "I want to go..." she whispered. "I want to see the Amahara Garden!"

  "Good answer," I said.

  I placed both hands directly on her knees.

  "Rin! Stop!" Yukio lunged forward, grabbing my shoulder. "If you burn her, the tissue damage will be irreversible! We need to use Naberius root to numb the—"

  "Relax," I said calmly. "I'm not burning her skin, Four-Eyes. I'm targeting the foreign spiritual signature. Just watch and learn."

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  I turned back to Shiemi. "Deep breath. This might sting."

  I placed both hands on her knees. I didn't let my flames erupt; I visualized my absolute will flowing into her.

  I utilized Divine Permeation to map out the information of her body.

  The roots were wrapped around her nerves like a spiritual vine. If I pulled them, I'd paralyze her. So, I used Conceptual Cauterization and set my aura to the exact frequency of the Dekkarp's existence and began to erase it from the inside out.

  Shiemi screamed, her back arching at the heat entering her body unexpectedly.

  "Hold her down!" I barked at Yukio.

  Yukio hesitated for a fraction of a second, staring at my hands. There was no fire. Just a blinding, white-blue light radiating through Shiemi's skin, illuminating her bones like an X-ray.

  "You're cauterizing the demon from the inside," Yukio muttered, shock replacing his anger. He moved in, pinning Shiemi's shoulders to the floor. "Shiemi! Stay still!"

  "It burns! It burns!" she cried.

  "Almost there," I gritted my teeth.

  This required insane precision. I was telling the universe that the Dekkarp was gone, while simultaneously commanding Shiemi's cells to remain untouched by the heat.

  And she wasn't the only one burning up. The longer this went on the hotter I began to burn up too. I felt my core getting hotter and hotter by the second.

  There you are, I thought as I finally spotted the target.

  Flash of Absolute Severance.

  I dumped a surge of blue-white light into the core of the root's system. A high-pitched shriek erupted from her legs. A black, sludge-like smoke burst from her skin, coalescing into a contorted face.

  "Get out!" I grabbed the smoke with my bare hand and snuffed it out.

  The demon didn't just die; it vanished into nothingness.

  The tension left Shiemi's body and she slumped against the floor, panting.

  "It's... gone," she whispered. The heaviness in the room vanished.

  I stood up. "Roots are erased. Might be sore for a day, but you're clear."

  Yukio stared at Shiemi's legs, then at me. He looked like he was trying to solve an equation that didn't make sense.

  "That level of precision..." he murmured. "Without chanting? Without an instrument of focus?"

  "I told you," I said, walking toward the exit. "I'm a Chef. I can debone a fish with my eyes closed."

  I stopped at the threshold and looked back. "She needs water. And maybe some new shoes. She's gonna be doing a lot of walking."

  The rest of the day was a blur of boring orientation speeches and regular high school classes. But, the real fun began later in the afternoon.

  I stood in the classroom of the Exorcist Cram School. It was dingy, smelling of chalk and old paper.

  "Sit down, Rin," Yukio said from the podium, fully in 'Teacher Mode'.

  I took a seat in the back, propping my feet up on the desk. I scanned the room.

  There was Ryuji Suguro—"Bon." Rooster hair, angry face, looked like he was constipated.

  Renzo Shima—Pink hair, looking at girls on his phone.

  Konekomaru Miwa—Small, bald, looked like he was afraid of his own shadow.

  Izumo Kamiki—Eyebrows that could cut glass, sitting next to her friend Paku.

  And Shiemi, who had rushed in late, beaming at me like I was the messiah.

  There were like two other kids too, but my memory about them from the ani-manga is kinda blank.

  "Hey!" Bon slammed his hand on his desk, glaring at me. "Who the hell is this guy? He walks in here like he owns the place, no uniform, feet on the desk..."

  "Rin Okumura," I said, not looking up from my fingernails. "And if you shout any louder, you're gonna pop a blood vessel, Rooster-boy."

  "What did you say?!" Bon stood up, knocking his chair over. "I'm Ryuji Suguro! I'm here to defeat Satan and restore my temple! Show some respect!"

  "Defeat Satan?" I chuckled. It was a dry, humorless sound. "You and what army? You gonna yell at him to death?"

  "You wanna go?!" he responded.

  "Sit down, Mr. Suguro," Yukio commanded. "And Rin, feet off the desk."

  "Whatever," I rolled my eyes, sliding down in my chair.

  Yukio sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. He knew he wasn't going to get any actual teaching done with Bon staring daggers at the back of my head.

  "All right," Yukio announced, closing his textbook with a sharp snap. "Since energy levels are... high, we will skip the introductory lecture. Change into gym clothes. We're having P.E."

  "Finally," Bon grunted, kicking his chair back. "Time to see if the new guy can walk the walk."

  I stood up, stretching my arms over my head. "Yea, yea. Let's get this over with."

  In a secure location...

  Underground Training Arena:

  The "gym" was a massive, reinforced concrete bunker deep beneath the academy, designed to contain low-level demonic outbreaks.

  "Listen up!" A burly Instructor with a scar running down his cheek barked. He wasn't Yukio. This guy looked like he ate rocks for breakfast. "Today is about evasion. Demons are faster than you. Stronger than you. If you can't outrun them, you die."

  He gestured to cages in the middle of the room. Inside, were Reapers—goblin-like scavenger demons with razor-sharp claws and a frog-like tongues—hissing and rattling the bars.

  "We're playing Tag," the Instructor grinned maliciously. "I release a Reaper. You run. If it catches you, you get a shock from these tags I'm handing out. The last one standing passes."

  "Are you serious?!" Shima whined, pinning the shock tag to his shirt. "That thing looks hungry!"

  "Go!" the Instructor yelled, yanking the lever.

  The cage opened.

  The Reaper shrieked and bolted. The class scattered like roaches when the lights turned on.

  Bon, Shima, and Konekomaru sprinted hard, using the obstacles for cover. Izumo, Paku, and Shiemi stuck together, looking terrified. The other two in the class were nearby as well.

  As the class scattered, I calmly placed my hands in my pockets and started jogging.

  To them, the Reaper was fast. To me? It looked like it was moving through molasses.

  It lunged at Shima, who dove out the way, barely getting hit. Then, it turned towards Konekomaru, who shrieked and scrambled up a wall.

  Finally, it saw me. It hissed, sensing prey that wasn't running scared and launched itself at my back.

  I didn't even turn around. I just side-stepped.

  Whoosh.

  The Reaper sailed past me, claws swiping empty air, and crashed face-first into a pile of mats.

  "Olay," I muttered dryly.

  I kept jogging, and happen to lap Bon it the process.

  "On your left," I said as I breezed past him.

  Bon was wheezing, sweat pouring down his face, his legs pumping as hard as they could. Seeing me casually jogging past him—not even breaking a sweat—snapped something inside him.

  "Don't... mock me!" Bon roared.

  He wasn't thinking. Fueled by adrenaline and bruised pride, he broke stride. Instead of running from the demon, he lunged at me from behind, aiming a kick at my back.

  My senses flared and my body reacted on its own.

  I didn't dodge. I turned on a dime and caught his ankle.

  "Huh?" Bon gasped, hopping on one leg, realizing he was stuck.

  "Cheap shot," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "And sloppy."

  I didn't squeeze. I just flicked my arm, tossing him like he was a bag of empty soda cans.

  Bon flew ten feet through the air, flailing, and crashed into a stack of gym mats.

  "Suguro!" The Instructor blew his whistle, storming over. "What the hell are you doing?! Attacking another student during a live fire drill?"

  "He... he was..." Bon stammered, his face red with humiliation as he struggled to stand up.

  "He was kicking your ass without trying," the Instructor snapped. "Get back in line!"

  The drill ended. The Reaper was corralled back into its cage by the Instructor using a sedative dart. The class regrouped, panting and exhausted. I stood off to the side, waiting for the next objective.

  Shima and Konekomaru walked over to me. They looked nervous.

  "Hey, man," Shima said, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about Bon. He's... intense."

  "He's an idiot," I corrected.

  "He's under a lot of pressure," Konekomaru squeaked, adjusting his glasses. "His family... his temple... it was destroyed during the Blue Night. He's trying to become a Dragoon and an Aria to defeat Satan. He thinks you're not taking this seriously."

  "The Blue Night," I repeated like it was any other story.

  "It's not just a story to him!" Konekomaru insisted. "He carries the weight of his entire sect. That's why he works so hard. seeing you... well, seeing you be so naturally gifted without seeming to care... it hurts him."

  So it's the classic shonen backstory, I thought. The hard worker vs. the natural genius. Blah, blah, blah.

  "Cool story," I said flatly. "But I don't care."

  Shima blinked. "Dude, that's cold."

  "I'm not his therapist," I shrugged. "If he wants to beat Satan, he needs to be faster. Much faster. And getting mad at me because I'm better than him won't fix his temple."

  "You..." Bon had walked back over. He heard the last part. He was shaking, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white.

  "You think you're so tough?" Bon pointed a shaking finger at the caged Reaper. "You think you're better than us? Prove it."

  He pointed at a chained up, sedated Reaper.

  "Any Exorcist worth his salt has guts," Bon growled. "I bet you're too scared to get close to a demon without running away."

  "Are you dumb?" I asked, looking at the creature with disgust. "Why would I touch it to prove anything to you?"

  "Coward," Bon spat. "I'll show you."

  Bon reached his hand out at the creature.

  "Suguro, don't!" Konekomaru yelled.

  "Hey! Get away from there!" The Instructor shouted from across the gym.

  Bon ignored them. He wanted to prove he had the resolve. He reached out to grab the Reaper's collar, trying to show dominance.

  A stupid move, from a stupid child, I thought, shaking my head.

  The Reaper hadn't been fully sedated yet. Its eyes snapped open, glowing yellow. It didn't shy away. It lunged, its jaw unhinging, needle-teeth aiming straight for Bon's exposed arm.

  Bon froze. Fear—primal, paralyzing fear—locked his muscles. He couldn't pull back in time.

  Except the teeth never made contact.

  A hand had shot past Bon's face.

  I caught the Reaper by the throat mid-lunge. My grip was a command. The demon choked, its claws scrabbling uselessly against my forearm.

  "You're very annoying," I sighed, standing right next to a frozen Bon.

  I let a fraction of my presence leak out. My pupils constricted, the ruby rings flaring for a microsecond.

  I stared into the Reaper's yellow eyes.

  "SIT."

  The Reaper went rigid. It felt the lineage. It felt the heat of the Blue Flame burning just beneath my skin. To the demon, I wasn't a human student; I was a higher predator on the food chain.

  It whimpered and I let go.

  It scrambled backward into the deepest corner of the cage, curled into a ball, and covered its head with its claws, shivering violently.

  Damn, now I feel kinda bad.

  Silence. Absolute, heavy silence descended on the arena.

  I wiped my hand on my pants. "Gross. It's slimy."

  I turned around.

  Bon was staring at me, his face pale, his mouth slightly open. He looked from his unscathed arm to the cowering demon.

  Shiemi had her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with awe. "He... he just..."

  Izumo was staring at me with narrowed, calculating eyes, her arms crossed tight. She realized that wasn't normal strength.

  "Aye Rooster-boy," I said, breaking the silence.

  Bon flinched when I looked at him.

  "Next time you want to prove a point," I said, walking past him toward the exit. "Try not to lose an arm. It's messy."

  "Class dismissed," I called out to the stunned Instructor, pushing the heavy doors open.

  Man, this high school shit is exhausting.