Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All things considered, Mika was doing pretty well these days. It had been around a year since he’d been “taken” by Shu during one of his first official missions with the demon army. I say “taken” because Mika wasn’t exactly opposed to it. It was weird honestly. Or maybe he was.

—
The sky was murky when Mika and Arashi, along with some classmates, had been given their first “mission”, and I say “mission” because there really was no risk factor at all. Go survey the area. Easy. Simple. But everyone knows the straightforward ones always have the most setbacks. The pair walked side-by-side in silence, steps ringing out into the empty space.

“Mika, I think we’re lost.” Spoke Arashi, saying what they’d both been dreading to. Mika jumped at the sound of her voice, letting out a sort of Nagh! noise as he flinched.

“You scared the crap outta me, Narucchan!”

The blonde laughed, however, there was not much humour in the situation they’d found themselves in.

“I tried t’ follow the map but…” the raven haired boy mumbled, “apparently I can’t read all tha’ well.” He turned the map around in a circle to illustrate his point. Or maybe to find where they were. Arashi took it from his unsteady hands, turning it to the correct rotation, and pointed to a spot between the buildings.

“I think that’s where we should be goi-“ Her words abruptly cut off, accompanied by another one of Mika’s strange yelps as they both found themselves suddenly suspended mid-air. A shiny golden string wound around both of them, tight to the point of being itchy but not painful. Arashi managed to balance in a way that made her still look graceful, Mika on the other hand, was splayed out in an extremely strange position. His arms and legs both tangled in the beautiful wire to an extreme degree.

“Oh dear, Mika, are you ok?” Arashi began to reach for her gear, attempting to pull out a pocket knife.

“‘M fine Naru, I’m just not as elegant as you.” He sighed in a slightly dramatic fashion, making Arashi smile fondly. The blonde worked against the string with the sheer power of her will and a pathetically small pocket knife for a couple minutes before another presence made themselves known to the pair.

“This is truly pathetic. What unworthy fools have found themselves in my web?”

A person- no- a vampire walked into view, peering up at the struggling duo with equal parts disapproval and annoyance. Their pink hair was cropped short, purple eyes glared daggers into any spot they found themselves. Their clothing was the most peculiar part, this vampire was dressed quite like some noble from centuries ago, the beginners didn’t recognise any of it, but it was remarkable. Mika found himself immediately enamoured by this unlikely beauty. His mismatched eyes were wide, absorbing this creatures appearance to the fullest, putting every little detail to the back of his mind. Cane. Hat. Monocle. Gloves. Cape. After storing that information safely, Mika felt his mind come back to the present.

The strings holding them up unexpectedly dropped, the two falling unceremoniously to the ground. The next thing he knew, the pink haired vampire was suddenly in front of them, using their cane to lift Arashi’s chin up, forcing eye contact between the two. The blonde made a particularly nasty face before snapping her head away, pulling it back down. Mika thought he heard the vampire tsk.

“Non! What insolence!” They spoke loudly into the empty space where Arashi’s face previously was.

The vampires attention turned to Mika now, he felt himself shudder under their intense stare. A strange sense of excitement washed over him next, some part of him hoping the vampire would inspect him like they did to Arashi. Wanting approval from the things they were meant to despise and kill was stupid. Mika knew that. It didn’t stop him. It was almost like they could hear Mika’s thundering heartbeat, and beyond that, being able to identify that it wasn’t entirely caused by fear. The vampire wore a complicated expression as they looked down at Mika. The latter felt his lip tremble slightly, and a completely unnecessary blush rose to his cheeks.

—
When Mika awoke, an entire day had passed. His groggy mind supplied him with vague memories of the previous day: reinforcements came to aid them, Arashi was rescued without any injuries, and Mika got kidnapped by the 2nd progenitor, Itsuki Shu.

Huh?

Mika sat up in an extremely lavish and decorated bed, the bed posts were high and dark, the bed sheets were a deep red which matched the canopy above his head, and the room itself was filled with items that could only be described as antique. All the wooden furniture was dark, all the fabric was maroon, and all the windows had covers over them. Maybe his brain wasn’t crazy after all… Mika gave himself a brief once-over, checking for any noticeable cuts or bruises. Or bites. But his search turned up empty.

His attention snapped to the door at the other end of the room as he heard it begin to rattle, and eventually creek open. Mika held his breath, bracing himself to perhaps be the midday snack for a certain pink haired vampire, surprisingly, no such fate befell him. In the doorway stood a boy, around his age but far shorter in stature, his blond hair was straight and well kept.

“Uhhh hey?” The boy did not respond, his eyes darted around the hallway behind him before he scurried inside and just as quickly was standing next to Mika. His red eyes were big, full of an intense emotion Mika couldn’t quite understand. Yet. The blond put his hand on Mika’s arm, accompanied by a firm yet comforting squeeze.

What Mika would learn later was that this boy was only a year his senior, also a member of the Demon Army named Nito Nazuna. And he apparently found Shu a lot less charming than Mika did, trying to escape or call for help at almost every opportunity. When the day finally did come, and the reinforcements arrived to fight Shu and maybe save the other two, Nazuna was more than ready to make his great escape. Mika was less than willing.

—
The late evening moon was high, the desk being illuminated by the soft orange glow of both the desk lantern, and the fire place which occupied a large portion of the wall behind them. The table was covered with all sorts of materials: fabrics ranged from deep sea blue to brightly patterned arrays, sewing tools so fancy looking Mika didn’t even quite know what they were, and, best of all, Shu. Shu’s short pink hair took on a gentle, calm glow under the radiance of the lamplight, Mika watched as her nimble fingers flowed seamlessly from stitch to stitch. The black haired boy had strangely splayed himself out over half the table, lying comfortably despite the various dangerous objects littering the surface.

“Don’t stare, Kagehira. It will distract me.” Shu’s voice spoke firmly and with an air of superiority, but no anger was present. Mika felt himself blush at the embarrassment of being caught so openly staring at someone, Shu didn’t even look up from her work to reprimand him, and that made it all the better for Mika. It would take someone exceptionally obtuse to not notice how Mika would preen after having received any acknowledgment from the vampire.

Mika yawned loudly and open mouthed, stretching himself similar to how a cat would when it was feeling particularly comfortable.

“If you’re so bored, then make yourself useful and help me with this.” Shu’s words fluttered around Mika, quite effectively waking him up.

“But teach…” He began as he sat up, “I don’t kno’ how t’ sew.” He looked up at Shu, being a good amount shorter than the vampire, and mustered his best pathetic expression hoping to coax sympathy.

“Why did I pick up such a-“ Shu put down the fabric in her hands and shot Mika is glare that could destroy cities with its sheer magnitude, “useless wretch?”

They stared at each other for a long moment. Mika swallowed audibly, he watched as Shu’s attention was brought to his bobbing throat. He resisted the urge to swallow again, the dryness was irritating him beyond measure. Mika looked away quickly, his heart beating heavily and his face a colour which now matched the maroon curtains.

“‘m sorry..” he mumbled, picking up the items in front of him and beginning his attempt at stitches, still slightly steaming.

A while passed in a relative silence, Shu occasionally correctly Mika’s techniques.

Mika eventually glanced back over to the lady seated beside him, at some point in the night Shu had rolled up her white frilly sleeves so they sat slightly above her elbow. Mika had many thoughts about that. Most consisted of the word hot multiple times. In Mika’s (prolonged) moment of distraction, the needle in his hand strayed from the fabric and instead jabbed the tip of his finger. Clearly Mika was expertly distracted, the needle travelled quite far before he yelped and pulled it back.

“Kahehira, what is it now?-“ Shu glanced up at first but upon seeing the decent pool of blood coating Mika’s finger, she immediately spun around. “How careless can you be!?”

“Ngh, I got distracted for a second teach…” He spoke sadly, fearing he had angered the vampire enough that she wouldn’t even look at him. Suddenly Mika realised something though.

“Do ya want to… ya know-“ He could see Shu shift. “Drink m’ blood or somethin’?”

Shu whirled around, fury blazing from her violet eyes.

“Non! What a shameless thing to even suggest!” But Mika didn’t miss the way Shu’s sharp eyes lingered ever so slightly at his injury. “Who wants your filthy blood!” Who indeed?

“I mean, it only makes sense right?” Mika shrugged defeatedly, “I’ll go wash it off then…” he rose from his seat slowly.

“Stop.” He stopped. “Don’t just waste it.”

“So ya do want it?”

“Of course not!”

Mika stifled a sort of pained laugh, all but used to the bossy vampires antics by now. He sighed instead, “I really don’ know what ya want from me teach..”

“Kagehira, you really don’t mind?” Shu inched a step forward, struggling to not lick her lips at the offer.

“‘Course not! I trust ya.” Before Mika could say anything more, he felt his wrist being pulled upward toward Shu’s face.

The vampire looked down at the shorter man through half lidded eyes, looking slightly annoyed. Mika let out one of his signatures squeaks when he felt his finger meet the warm inside of the vampires mouth, his face first paled at the shock then just as quickly burst into a crimson red blush. He bit his tongue fervently when he felt Shu’s own pushing against his injured finger. Her tongue swirled gently around his long digit and Mika felt himself go genuinely weak in the knees at the current of electricity that shocked through him. Shu’s teeth never once made contact with his flesh, she didn’t want to overstep and do something regrettable, but it was already far past enough for Mika. His breathing began to go ragged and he quickly tried to jerk his hand free from Shu’s tight grasp.

“What are you doing?” The ever so slightly breathless nature of Shu’s voice, coupled with the even slighter pink blush that adorned her cheeks, made Mika really start to panic. He pulled again and his finger came out with a muted pop.

“Ma hands were gettin’ sweaty…”

“Give me some sort of warning before you do something so unexpected,” Shu lectured, “I could have bitten your finger off!”

The prospect of that was both terrifying and exciting, putting himself into the mouth of danger. Literally. Shu huffed and made her way back to the abandoned desk, resuming her art as though the stunned-into-silence man wasn’t even there.

The night progressed but Mika couldn’t will his mind to think of anything other than what had occurred. He hoped next time it would be more than his finger. No, that sounded bad. His neck. He meant his neck. Definitely. Cough cough.

—
Even though Mika had no intention of parting from his vampire companion ever, he still missed his friends over at the Demon Army. Today was one of the rare days when him and his closest friend, Arashi, would have the chance to meet up.

The two wandered around side by side as Arashi expositioned all the new updates and gossip to her mostly willing listener.

“And then I said, ‘Leo stop! You can’t compose a song using only weapons clashing!’ And he said ‘Wahahah!’ (Arashi does a poor impression of one of her squad mates) ‘I can do whatever! I’m a genius!’” Arashi was gesturing wildly during her many stories, making Mika both laugh and slightly worried for her joints.

“Mika~ talk to me, what have you been up to these days?” She leaned in to nudge their shoulders together in a gentle move.
Mika thought for a second; should he tell her? How much? They were best friends and Mika trusted her with the world but maybe she’d think he was weird? No, Arashi wasn’t judgmental, if anything, she’d just be worried.

“Actually, somethin’ did happen the other day-“ Mika began, not missing the way Arashi’s eyes lit up, “Teach-“

“Is that the vampire??” Arashi’s face contorted, “are they really being alright to you?”

“Yes! Teach is great to me, she might be loud and a bit mean sometimes but she just wants me to be the best I can be!” Mika smiled genuinely at his friend, easing her worried heart slightly.

“So what were you saying, Mika?”

Mika explained very briefly what occurred.

“HUH?” Arashi gasped and put a hand to her heart, looking truly scandalised, “you LET that vampire drink your blood? Mika!”

Mika spent a while trying to sooth the blonde’s fury, and eventually it calmed down enough for Arashi to continue filling Mika in on what was going on at their dorms (Mika successfully changed the subject after that unsuccessful conversation.)

Now their topic of conversation was something about how the squads got split up and mixed together when it came to dorms? Strange.

“Who’re ya roommates with then, Narucchan?”

“One is slightly older than we are, blue hair and not very talkative. He seems like he’s trying very hard to be himself, and I hear his squad is totally crazy.” Arashi moved her hand to her chin, feigning as though she were thinking very hard about how to accurately describe her roommates. “The other is slightly younger, black hair and quite loud in a bro way but not in a bad way. Some redhead keeps coming into our dorm and asking to fight him?? I didn’t want to ask.”

“That sounds scary, are you sure you’re safe in there?”

“Pfft sure, I might be a maiden but I’m far from helpless, little Mika.” She winked and Mika believed that wholeheartedly. He never wanted to get on Arashi’s bad side, which is where he feared Shu was right now.

The two spoke for a while longer before Arashi declared she had to go train with ‘Knights’, Mika assumed that was her squad, if not, he was extremely concerned. What’s about this ‘king’? As far as Mika knew, their country hadn’t had a king in many years. The two hugged tightly, not knowing when or where they might meet again, but never doubting that they would find a way.

“Bye!” Chirped Arashi.

“Bye-“ Called Mika.

—
“Kagehira.” Commented Shu, seated at her favourite sewing spot once more, gesturing for Mika to take a seat. He did. It had become a strange but comfortable routine for them; sewing together that is. Shu’s doll, Mademoiselle, sat poised and proper and definitely judging whatever Mika was doing. He smiled to himself.

Chapter Text

The sun had already set, plunging the world into a dangerous darkness. The unlucky group was forced to continue their cramming session by way of lamp light. Huddled around a small table, Tetora, Aira, and Mitsuru exchanged both answers and exhausted sighs. Their upcoming test was tomorrow (well, today), and focused entirely on the origins and creation of cursed gear, set by Kiryu, their strict but understanding teacher. A lesson which Tetora had slept through, Aira couldn’t will himself to understand and Mitsuru apparently briefly forgot how to take in information, opting instead to doodle all the types of bread he’d seen in old baking magazines.

“This is tortuuuure,” moaned Aira, breaking their roughly around 2 minute silence (a record at this point), “I don’t get this at all…”
He slumped against the desk, face planting himself into his notes. Maybe breathing them in directly will help. Mitsuru stopped chewing his pen to give the other boy an encouraging pat on the back.

“Don’t be sad, Aira.” Spoke the boy, with a surprising air of calm. “We’ve got the whole night to get it!”

His confidence and encouragement forced Aira to lift his head, leaning his chin against his work. He puffed out one last sigh before sitting up again.

“Yeah!” Clapped Mitsuru, and Aira couldn’t help but be taken in by his strange amount of confidence, maybe they can do this. He looked across to Tetora, at a glance one might think this was the face of someone steeped in concentration, but Aira knew just as well as any student that these were the eyes of a lost cause.

Tetora stared at this notes. At the words. At the pen in his hands. At the clock which was threatening to chime 1am at any moment. Absolutely nothing was staying in his brain. Nothing. Cursed gear something something sacrifice something demons mumble mumble.

“Yeah we got plenty time!” He offered with an unconvincing smile.

We do not got plenty time.

An indeterminate amount of time later, a rustling in the shelves of the library startled the trio out of their zombified state. Mitsuru opened his mouth to yell a ‘who’s there!’ but Aira had his hand over his mouth before he could utter a single syllable.

“What if it’s a ghost,” hissed Aira, “or Hasumi!” An infinitely worse possibility, they all silently agreed.

“Don’t be such a wimp.” Commented Tetora, who also remained firmly in his seat. He wasn’t going to take any chances with it possibly being Hasumi, their much stricter and much less forgiving teacher.

CRASH

“Ouch!!!” Came a yelp from a few bookcases in front of them, the three amigos glanced at each other. Who wants to go see what that was? was the silent question in all of their eyes.

“As the manliest man among us,” Tetora stood, quietly resigning himself to an encounter with a ghost, or perhaps a fate worse than death were he to run into Keito. “I’ll go look.”

Aira silently applauded him, thank you Nagumo!

Mitsuru cocked his head to the side, a quizzical look on his face. As Tetora cautiously neared the shelf from which the ominous noise originated, a bright head of blond hair sprang up to greet him.

“AH!” Squeaked Tetora, stumbling back a few paces. Aira and Mitsuru both sprang up to see what had startled the manliest man among them.

“Big bro Nazuna!!” Mitsuru exclaimed as he rushed towards the blond and past Tetora, who was still reeling from the scare of his life. When Mitsuru reached the shelf, he extended his hand and pulled the other up off the ground.
“Big bro, we thought you were a ghost who’d come to haunt us for not listening in class!” Thanks Mitsuru, let’s hope that doesn’t make it to anyone-who-we-don’t-want-it-to’s ears, prayed Aira, who was also making his way over, standing next to Tetora.

“Mitsuru-chin, sorry to have startled you!” Spoke the…boy? He was quite a bit shorter than Mitsuru, but he gave off the aura of someone older, maybe one of Mitsuru’s squadmates? Tetora and Aira whispered amongst themselves. “I was trying to reach that book, but…” the implications here were obviously. Tetora snorted but quickly reigned himself in when Nazuna’s menacing glare reached him. The laugh that still hung in the air was covered by a not-so discreet cough from Tetora.

“I’ll grab it for you.” He reached up and pulled the large text book from the shelf, handing it to their senior.

“Thank you...?”

“Nagumo Tetora, Ryusei Black.” The second half of that didn’t sound as enthusiastic.

“Oh and I’m Shiratori Aira! We’re first years.” Spoke the lighter blond as he made his way to stand next to the proud Ryusei Black.

“I’m Nito Nazuna, and I didn’t mean to spook you guys!” The blonde stood proudly and, despite his small stature, he had a large aura around him.
“Mitsuru-chin,” he turned his attention to the brunette, “what class has you up to such an hour?” His voice was soft and full of genuine concern, accented by a slight lisp.
“Well, big bro…” Mitsuru looked sheepishly to his midnight accomplices, “we have a test on the history of cursed gear tomorrow-“

“-and we don’t get any of it!-“ added Aira.

“-we’ve been here for HOURS-“ Mitsuru clung to Nazuna’s arm in a way one might to a parent who was ignoring you.

“-Chief is gonna kill us!!-“ whined a bereaved Tetora.

All their grievances which had been steadily building up throughout the night came gushing out. Nazuna took half a step back as the three practically yelled their troubles at him, but he quickly regained his composure and just as quickly fell into his big brother role.

“Cursed gear? I think I remember that module from when I was in your year.” Nazuna watched as three pairs of eyes shone hopefully at him. No going back now. “And I myself wield one, maybe looking at it could help you guys visualise the material?” He suggested.

Tetora was sold from the sentence ‘I wield one,’ like how cool is that yes show us.
Aira had just put the puzzle pieces together in his tired mind, Nazuna? Of Rab*its? The cute but deadly new up and coming squad? Awesome!!~

“I knew you’d come through for us big bro Nazuna!” Beamed Mitsuru, the sleep deprivation clearly hit them all differently.

“What time is your test?” Asked Nazuna.

“It’s after lunch,” answered Mitsuru, “so I’ll be nice and energised!” He laughed to himself.

“Ah that’s good, maybe we could meet up again in the morning? I think you guys should get some sleep.” Nazuna suggested, full of the worry of an overprotective older brother.

The three younger boys couldn’t agree more, and in no time, they were all quietly tucked away into their respective dorms. Agreeing to meet at 9:30 the next morning.

—
Rab*its' dorm

The morning sun greeted Mitsuru with warm rays across his sleeping form. He grumbled sleepily as he awoke, being roommates with the rest of Rab*its had its perks. Nazuna never letting him oversleep was one of them, and today was definitely no exception.

“Mitsuru-chin! We need to go meet the others, remember?” Spoke a soft but authoritative voice into his ear. Ohhhh yeah! Big bro is gonna show off his big cool weapon! Mitsuru was out of the door in what could only be described as record time. Hajime and Tomoya watched with bemused expressions as their teammate hopped out of their door.

—
Ryuseitai's dorm

The world was peaceful, so calm and quiet. Nothing could bother- "Nagumo"- him. The sun was so- "Nagumo!"- pleasantly warm and-

“NAGUMO!!”

Tetora jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling.
“Morisawa-senpai…? What are you yelling at me for…” He grumbled and rolled over, effectively avoiding his leader.

“Come train with me, Green and Yellow!” Suddenly Tetora had a million different things to do. Hmmm. He thought for a moment. Then he jumped again, definitely denting the ceiling this time. The test!!

“Sorry, but I’m meeting with some classmates to revise for a test we have today.” He sprang out the door with equal parts speed and grace. Midori and Shinobu watched with envious expressions as their teammate effectively avoided training.

—
Alkaloid's dorm

“Aira.”
"..."
“Aira.” Nudge nudge
“…Hiiro? It’s like 7 in the morning…”
“That’s weird, the clock says 9:27, it must have-“
Hiiro did not get time to watch Aira leave, only a cloud of smoke proved he was ever in the room.

—
9:30am, at their meeting spot

The group assimilated on a quiet rooftop. Nazuna brought out a small key-looking object, and with the flick of his wrist, it transformed into a massive scythe, easily twice the height of Nazuna himself.

Cooooool!! Thought both Tetora and Aira. Mitsuru put his hands on his hips and raised his chin like a proud younger brother, he was happy his big bro had such an impressive weapon.

The scythe itself was sleek and mostly lightweight, dark blue with accents of lighter blues along the blade itself. Nazuna spun it around a few times to show how to safely use such a large weapon, and also slightly to show off to his gawking underclassmen. Nazuna spent the better part of an hour explaining the detailed mechanisms and inner workings of the gear, and coupled with the massive and deadly scythe with which he often punctuated his points, waving it around and sometimes slicing into the air, nobody lost focus.

Mainly out of fear but hey, whatever works works.

At the end of the second hour, it was time for lunch.

“I brought all types of bread to celebrate our victory in the test!” Chirped Mitsuru, offering some to his classmates.

“We haven’t even sat the test yet…” Laughed Aira, not sure whether he should be grateful for the faith or scared of disappointing him.

“No I think Mitsuru’s right, after that lecture,” spoke Tetora between bites of bread, “I think we are gonna ace this thing.” And I actually mean it this time.

“I’m sure Kuro-chin will be happy to see your improvements none the less.” Smiled Nazuna.

Kuro-chin? Thought Aira. Ohh Kiryu… oh no. Is Nazuna friends with him? Is going to tell him about this?? He fretted silently whilst staring at Nazuna. No, Nazuna is nice, he helped us without us even asking! Aira decided to file away his worries for a moment and enjoy his sweet bread.

The time for the test was fast approaching so the three juniors excused themselves to head to class, opting to take the stairs by the roof as it would be faster, according to Mitsuru. Nazuna gave them one last pep talk and answered any remaining questions they had. And then he was finally on his own.

“Nito.”

Nevermind.

He looked towards the origin of the voice, the door at the other end of the roof was now occupied by a tall man with red spikey hair and a general do not mess with me aura.

“If you want tutoring with your work you can forget it,” Nazuna narrowed his eyes in a mocking way, “Kuro-chin.”

“Of course not.” He responded, voice low but not unfriendly. “I wanted to thank you for helping my useless students.”

Kiryu made his way over to Nazuna with the leisurely pace, one hand wound through his messed hair. Nazuna suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to touch his hair too, man, the sleep deprivation must be getting bad. The blonde shook his head, the tips of his ears slightly red.

“Of course I’d help them, my dear Mitsuru-chin was suffering too!” He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, feigning anger.

“Oh I’m terribly sorry, how could I ever make it up to you?” Now that definitely just sounded weird. Nazuna turned his head away from the other man to add to his act of disapproval.

“Nito, look at me.” Kiryu moved closer. The atmosphere was light, neither of them taking this facade too seriously. “Why do you hate me?” He pouted.

“Hmph!” Nazuna turned his entire body, now facing the city beyond and baring his back to Kiryu. Clearly a mistake. He felt the sharp edge of a blade press against his back.

“Oi, never turn your back on an opponent.” The blade travelled slowly down the line of his spine.

“You looking for a fight?” Nazuna spun his key, his own cursed gear coming out to meet the back of Kiryu’s head-on as he turned to face him. “Think you can pick on me cuz I’m little??” The blond hooked his scythe around the back of the other man’s neck, and with his free hand, grabbed the front of Kiryu’s uniform, effectively pulling him down to his level. The redhead let himself be pulled down easily.

“Oh I’d never dream of fighting you, Nito.” Kiryu’s eyes widened, a guilty look adorning his handsome face. “I know you’re stronger than you seem.”

“Hmph, you’re damn right!” Nazuna released his uniform just as the bell rang out loudly across the school. The test! The both of them remembered simultaneously. Kiryu realising he was going to be late to his own class, and Nazuna sending some telepathic courage to his underclassmen. As Kiryu pushed away from Nazuna, the two exchanged fond glances before the red head left.

Now he’s finally alone.

The silence of his surroundings finally brought Nazuna’s attention to his own hammering heartbeat, the way his breathing had hitched embarrassingly during their confrontation. Nazuna called his cursed gear forth once more, maybe some training will help distract from his thoughts.

—
A couple days later, at the library.

“Nii-chan!!”
Before Nazuna had properly registered the situation, a certain energetic brunette had already thrown himself onto him, hugging him tightly. Nazuna regained his balance, patting Mitsuru on the back as he did so, he noticed the other two familiar faces looking back at him.

“Nito-senpai~” called the blond, the taller boy with black hair next to him also gave a friendly greeting.

“Guys! What’s with the happy faces?” Nazuna asked, “is it safe to assume the test went ok?”

Mitsuru finally detached himself, beaming his teammate.
“We all passed the test!” The brunette practically had stars in his eyes.

“We’re so thankful, Nito-senpai!” Aira chirped, his mood was finally lightened, feeling secure in himself after the successful test. He clutched his hands above his head as a display of his gratefulness.

“Yeah!! You really saved our butts there.” Tetora added helpfully, nodding happily. “If you ever wanna work out, I’ll be happy to train with you!”

“Thank you, Tetora-chin, I’m grateful for such an offer.” He smiled genuinely, although he didn’t know whether he’d ever make use of it, weightlifting was never one of his strong suits.

“Uh huh, and I’ll always share my bread with you, big bro!”

“Mitsuru-chin, I’m so happy to have such a kind squad mate.” And you share your bread with everyone already…
“I’m not all that useful yet, but when I am, I’ll make sure to return the gift tenfold!” Aira seemed slightly dissatisfied with his own being, Nazuna gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, attempting to put him at ease.

“Don’t worry Aira-chin, I didn’t help you with the end goal of a reward.” Nazuna spoke decisively, and Aira felt his words soothe his worried heart.

“Yeah Aira, have some bread, that’ll cheer you up!” Mitsuru fished around in his bag until he pulled enough bread for the four of them. “Let’s feast to celebrate!!”

“Again with the bread?” Tetora questioned lightheartedly, still taking his share.

“One can never have enough bread!” Mitsuru smiled through stuffed cheeks. Aira laughed quietly, slightly concerned for his classmates affinity to such a bland food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitsuru’s score: 43/80
Aira’s score: 50/80
Tetora’s score: 46/80

Passing mark: 40/80

Kuro’s stress levels: 72/80

Chapter Text

Tsumugi lay starfished on the hard gravel beneath him. His arms and legs stretched in a way that made it seem like he was trying to create a very sad snow angel (gravel angel?), his face was completely blank despite the mildly compromising situation he’d found himself in. His gaze travelled from light grey trousers to black turtleneck paired with a pentagram necklace to a wholly piercing glare, amber eyes blaring from above him like he was the one to blame for this.

Aah, he remembered now. He’d gone for a “well being walk” in the city, being caught off guard and abruptly shoved to the ground by something (vampire or lunatic, at some point labels really don’t change the situation) which had kindly sat itself direct on his chest, one knee on either side of his torso. The thing was occupied with both burning holes into Tsumugi’s face as well as effectively cutting off his oxygen supply through regular chest-crushing means.

After a moment of their staring contest, Tsumugi realised he actually quite missed being able to breathe without the burning sensation of blood at the back of his throat and so attempted to reanimate himself as best he could.

“Ah- I can’t-“ he began, feebly trying to push himself up.

“Shut uP, who said yOU could speak?” The redhead above him hissed suddenly, causing Tsumugi to shrink back further into the earth. Noticing the strangers sharp fangs, Tsumugi mentally kicked himself for getting himself into such a situation. A member of one of the best squads out there? Well, former member now. The lingering feeling of sadness and betrayal worsened inside the older man’s chest.

The harshness of this strangers tone, coupled with the emotionally tumultuous day he’d had, finally caused the long suffering man to reach his breaking point. He lay motionless for a moment longer, large tears collected in his eyes, attempting to blink them away only causing them to fall prematurely. His lip started to quiver. How pathetic. No wonder Eichi had let him go.

“Ugh, stop thAt-“ the redhead grimaced, suddenly feeling kind of awkward watching a grown man weep. He pulled back slightly, giving Tsumugi’s lungs a chance to catch up.

The hot tears that streamed down his face did not slow. Tsumugi, desperately trying to retain some level of dignity in front of this creature, threw his arm over his eyes. Unfortunately, this weak barrier did nothing to drown out any scattered hiccups or whimpers which unfortunately sprung from this bout of sadness.

The vampire, yes Tsumugi was sure after he’d seen that pair of spiky teeth in there, was temporarily stunned. Unsure of how to approach this situation, he let the blue haired man wriggle out of his grasp, watching as he pushed himself up against the nearest wall before promptly slumping in on himself once again.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” Sniffled Tsumugi, feeling more like a tangled mass of emotion than a human. The redhead pulled a face, his brows scrunched and his eyes narrowed. “It’s cruel to taunt prey…”

“You think I’d eaT you?” He scoffed, standing in front of the blue haired man, “if you want to die so bad, dO it yourself.”

Tsumugi looked up, his sleeve thoroughly soaked, and opened his mouth to rebuke this, however he didn’t manage to utter a single syllable before the vampire continued. He was slightly taken aback that this thing had so unabashedly told him to kill himself.

“And why do yOU think I’d eat you anyway? You look nasTY.” He raised his head and turned it to the side, embodying the energy of a snobby child being presented with a gift they don’t like.

Tsumugi felt himself laugh at this, a weak smile broke out on his face.
“You’re right, you’d probably get indigestion from me, I’m sorry.” His voice broke off at the last words, quivering as another sob wracked his body. His curly haired curtained around his head, shielding him from the cruel outside world.

“Fucking hELL-“

For a second he was stunned at the sudden profanity, nobody cursed like that around him at ES. Tsumugi then felt the air shift around him, a curiosity warm body slid down carefully next to him. The blue haired man turned his head slowly to the side, leaning blearily against his folded arms as he tried to blink away his tears anew. The red headed vampire wouldn’t look at him, keeping his sharp gaze focused in front of him.

“You looK goofy.” He spoke to the air in front of him, however was clearly meant for the depressed mop next to him. “Did your girlfriend breAK up with you?”

Tsumugi felt another laugh bubble, but it fizzed out just as quickly as the last had. It certainly did feel like that. Seeing that he gave no response, the vampire continued.

“Was it becaUSE you look like a bluE haired hobo? HairbrushES didn’t get destroyed in the catastrophe yoU know.”

“I’m sorry if my hair annoys you so much-“

“Ugh just shut up! ‘Eeeuhh im ssso ssssorry!’ (He does a truly pathetic impression of Tsumugi) so annoying.” He huffed, “why are you wailing like a babY anyway?”

Tsumugi was sure he shouldn’t divulge possibly important information to someone who was clearly one of the enemy, but he also somehow sensed that the redhead didn’t have any evil intentions, his tone was harsh but underneath that he seemed to be concerned. Tsumugi appreciated that. His mind took him back to the events of earlier in the day, to the image of the elegant blond hair man handing him the dreaded contract, to the crushing feeling of absolute betrayal which had been suffocating his heart ever since.

—
After Tsumugi had recounted, in very sparse detail, the events which unfolded earlier in the day, he breathed out a heavy sigh, the burden of grief finally slightly lightened.

“So basicalLY-“ began his new companion.

Tsumugi braced himself for a horrible (and probably offensive) oversimplification of his tale.

“The emperor kicked you ouT of your…”

“Squad.”

Tsumugi assumed by the hateful nature in which Natsume (he’d learnt his name a bit further into their exchange than he’d like to admit) spat out the title, the two might share some bad blood.

“YeaH ok, your “squad.” And? That guy is the worST.” There was real anger in his voice as he spoke, “the whole demON army is the worst.”

“Eichi just wants the route with the least… causalities.” Tsumugi scratched his cheek awkwardly, readjusting his glasses, all too aware of how bad he sounded, “he’s a good guy really…”

“Oh yeah, that’s whY he did that tO you?” Natsume still sounded angry.

There was really nothing to say to that, Tsumugi smiled ruefully tilting his head back to lean again the building behind him. For a moment he saw a flash of bright orange in his peripheral.

“So you’re jUST going to crawl back to him after thiS?” Natsume watched carefully as the blue haired man stood.

Tsumugi pushed himself off the floor, finally brushing some dirt and dust off his clothing as the two stood in silence. The world finally quiet around them. The ashes of humanity evident before them.

—
Tsumugi was stood in a similar fashion as earlier, only this time he was staring not at crumbling, long abandoned buildings, but at a small but well presented shop front.

Standing directly in front of the old swinging door was a small boy (small stature-wise as he seemed to be at least 15, as far as Tsumugi could tell, they were still slightly too far for his deteriorating eyes). He began to make out more detail as they approached the place; the boy had blond hair cut short in a messy way, large, knowing blue(?) eyes, and wore some sort of blue school blazer. A pastel yellow hoodie was layered underneath it, though it wasn’t particularly cold outside.

“Master!” The boy waved his arms excitedly, leaning on his tiptoes to better get his master’s attention. The giddy blur of blond hopped up and down, but didn’t come any closer to them. Tsumugi wondered if maybe there was some sort of invisible barrier, Natsume wasn’t shy about threatening him with various hexes during their short time together, however, the boy didn’t seem upset or… prisoner-y. Maybe it acts as more of a safety precaution, decided the blue haired man, already unconsciously defending the vampire in his mind.

As they neared the shop, Tsumugi could visibly see Natsume’s shoulders relax once he could hear the happy shouts from the boy. The redhead mirrored the blond, waving his arm to signal he’d seen him, though notably less hyper.

“Sora!” Natsume flipped his wrist in a peculiar way, the blond (Sora?) immediately stumbled forward a few steps, as if the invisible wall he was leaning against was dissolved. Sora zipped forward, closing the (reasonably large) gap between the other two almost instantly, and quickly threw his arms around the vampire in front of Tsumugi. The two stood, enveloped in their friendly greeting for only a brief second before the blond noticed the blue haired stranger standing awkwardly behind his master, Sora’s head was comfortably nestled in the crook of Natsume’s shoulder, his friendly face suddenly lit up.

“Mister! Are you master’s friend?” Deep blue eyes analysed the newcomer, Tsumugi felt as though he might be looking directly through his human outer appearance and straight into his inner thoughts.

“Uhhh-“ Tsumugi began carefully.

“No. He’s just some sad loseR I found moping on the streets.” The redhead pat the shorter boy on the back, separating from their hug. "He's going to bE staying with us for...-until i find a good potion i can put hiS bones into."

The spikey vampire sent a particularly nasty glare at Tsumugi.
‘Why is he looking at me like this was my idea?' Tsumugi searched the gazes of both Sora and Natsume, one's flaming eyes were on the verge of burning two equal holes into his head while the other's were blank for a moment, like they were searching his energy, but suddenly they blew wide. Sora's blue eyes sparkled with joy, almost like he was relieved.

“Sora is so relieved!" he leapt up happily, "Master hardly ever gets visitor, and he is desperately lo-" Natsume suddenly and violently coughed, causing both Tsumugi and Sora to jump slightly.

“AnywAY. Let’s gO inside.” The faint pink blush which adorned Natsume’s cheeks signified both that he was embarrassed by whatever Sora was about to say, and that Tsumugi should pretend it didn’t happen, which he gladly did. Pretending things didn’t happen was half his job back at the moon demon company. Following behind Natsume, Sora and Tsumugi exchanged vague pleasantries about themselves and their new situation.

“If I may ask, you called Natsume ‘master,’ what does he teach you?” Tsumugi earnestly hoped he’d say something wholesome like… knitting, and not something… murder-y. Sora scrunched his face slightly, like he’d smelt something unpleasant.

“Master doesn’t kill people,” he helpfully posited, “he helps Sora learn magic! Master is super nice, and Sora can tell from your colour that you’re nice too~ hehe~”

Before Tsumugi could enquire on his ‘colour’ any further, they reached the shops entrance. He watched as Natsume drew some sort of rune onto the door, the handle of which then helpfully unlocked itself and swung open.

Tsumugi followed Natsume, at first keeping his eyes on the shorter man’s vibrant hair, but quickly getting completely overwhelmed by how vastly different the inside of the shop was decorated to how he’d imagined. The place was cluttered, but in a cosy way, every wall had a different colour paint (or tapestry) and were each dressed with shelves of all kinds (Tsumugi spotted anything ranging from books on the occult to old video games.) Plants of various types and sizes were kept in a way which almost made the moderately sized shop front seem like a never ending jungle, and with all the curtains drawn and only a few orange toned lamps to light up the place, it really gave off the atmosphere of one.

Tsumugi guessed that the shop, in its previous life, had served as some form of restaurant, the only evidence of this was the (now completely redecorated) kitchen area located against the back wall, slightly sectioned off from the main chaos by a low wall with no door. Everything in this place seemed to be both clustered and cramped, but at the same time open; no area was ever fully separated from the others so it never felt claustrophobic. Next to Tsumugi, Sora giggled.

“Mister likes it!” He reported back helpfully to Natsume, who had now made his way to the small, square kitchen table located in the very back. “It’s Sora’s turn to make dinner, so you two can relax~”

And so Tsumugi pulled out a chair opposite Natsume, met once again with their familiar silence. The pair watched as Sora bustled around the kitchen, a moment of clarity hit Tsumugi and he couldn’t help but question…

“Uhh… so what’s- what are you making?” He inquired cautiously, suddenly afraid of the various unsavoury possibilities.

“It’s a stew madE up from the last man we brought back here.” Natsume deadpanned. Tsumugi’s eyes widened but before he could make a verbal expression of fear, Sora spoke.

“Don’t worry sir, master is just trying to scare you~” the boy giggled as he continued his meal prepping.

Tsumugi let out a sigh of relief, Natsume huffed and crossed arms.

“Master and Sora don’t drink blood, huhu~” Sora turned back around to continue mixing the strange concoction. It certainly resembled blood… a deep red-ish purple liquid sloshing around.

“It’s beetrooT, if you’re so curious.”

“Oh! I’ve never heard of a ..ahem, vegan vampire before,” Tsumugi adjusted his glasses, rightfully interested.

“Who said we were vegAN?” Natsume licked the front of his teeth, much the same as a lion might when seeing a distracted zebra, clearly enjoying his new role as prime Tsumugi scarer. Tsumugi decided it would be best for his heart if he just assumed everything he said was a joke.

“Here you go! Enjoy~~” chirped Sora, pulling over a third chair for himself.

The two thanked the blond and reached for their respective cutlery.

—
Tsumugi lay on his back, not in an all too different placement than earlier that day, however, instead of the hard gravel digging into his skin, there was only a soft mattress. The blue haired man would be inclined to question why these vampires slept at night, but after the whole beetroot incident, he chalked it up to them being slightly eccentric.

The room was completely shrouded in darkness, Tsumugi felt his mind slip back to the events of around an hour ago:
~~
“You can share with Sora!~” the blond happily suggested, but the logistics of that soon became apparent. Tsumugi, a fairly regular sized man for his age, definitely wouldn’t fit in the bed of a child, not to mention with said child also present. Natsume had various complaints about that suggestion too, one notable one was:

“Sora needS enough space! With this mop-head taking up the entiRE thing, how will he rest properly?!”
Sora giggled in response to that, although it seemed like he was looking around Natsume rather than at him directly. Amused by his colour? Tsumugi had thought.
~~
That conversation had ended with Natsume (feigning some level of annoyance, guessing by Sora’s continued laughter as well as the redhead’s own pink ears) offering his bed instead, the ending of those events weaved his mind back to the present. Tsumugi was cold. The vampire has effectively bundled up more than 70% of their blanket and curled himself around it. Natsume might be shorter in stature but he really made up for his height with his scary aura, Tsumugi wasn’t sure whether he’d rather freeze to death without a blanket, or be burnt to a crisp under the redhead’s fiery stare.

“Could I maybe have a bit more-“

“No.” Natsume pulled a bit more of the blanket away from him. Tsumugi smiled though he felt like a cool tear might slowly fall down his face anytime soon.

It seemed the events of the day had truly exhausted Natsume; after a few mere minutes, Tsumugi could tell from the way his breathing deepened that he’d fallen into a deep sleep. He lay there for another moment trying to decide whether it would be worth it to try steal some blanket back. He pulled once. No give. He pulled slightly harder. Still no. On his third attempt, he wriggled the blanket to try and loosen the redhead’s iron grip. Natsume’s eyebrows scrunched, Tsumugi froze instantly. Crickets. He didn’t wake. Eventually, he’d managed to gather enough of the blanket that it could cover him, although he had to scoot dangerously close to the vampire in the process. Finally, pleasant warmth, Natsume too was surprisingly warm (he’d always assumed vampires were cold, maybe that assumption was unfounded.)

Tsumugi felt his eyelids droop, the sweet release of sleep coming to claim him too. He was grateful, for the first time in a long time he’d fallen asleep quickly.

—
A commotion woke Natsume, accompanied with the unsteady beams of light filtering through the blinds, pouring sun onto his pale face. The human still lay beside him, curled up feebly against his side, Natsume tried to be careful when sitting up.

Only once he had reached the end of his bed, sitting on the very edge, did he hear exactly what kind of commotion had befallen his unlucky soul. The redhead could hear brief snippets of conversation:

“Master is still sleeping-“ Sora.

“I wish I were too, it’s far too early for my old bones to be out and about.” Rei.

Natsume sighed audibly. Of-goddamn-course they had to come here of all times.

“We’ve “heard” word about a “human” here~” Kanata.

“Sleeping with the enemy, as it were.” Laughed Rei, quickly followed by a grunt of pain.

“Don’t say such vulgar things, Rei!”

Natsume felt his body run cold, then immediately turn scalding hot. He turned carefully to make sure Tsumugi was still knocked out in dream land. Or he’d have to knock him out himself, and hard enough to forget that insinuation too. Not that he’d be against that.

“Oh my! Shu, if you make that face any longer I’m afraid you might pop a blood vessel!” Ah perfect, the other two clowns were here too. Just perfect.

Natsume took a deep breath before standing up, quickly brushing through his hair with his hand, and making his descent into hell.

The room immediately fell into a deafening silence the moment he stepped foot into it, the other progenitors watching him closely. Shu was the first to speak.

“You have some nerve!” She stomped toward the redhead, only to be pinched on the sleeve by Rei, halting her. “Unbelievable!” She spat.

“Why arE you all here?” Natsume finally spoke, wisely ignoring the pink haired woman’s exclamations, “did something happEN?”

“”Something” happened, yes~ ♪” Kanata posited calmly.

“Our little Natsume has grown up so fast!” Lamented Wataru, dramatically throwing himself back against Rei, who begrudgingly also caught him.

“What are yoU guys talking abouT.” The youngest among them was sick of being treated like some ignorant child, always having to jump through hoops just to get basic answers from his peers.

“You can’t just invite any of the common rabble into your home!” Shu protested loudest once again. “What if they-“

“I’m not a chilD, Shu nii-san.” and i could definitely pulverise that idiot if I needed to… he also decided it would be best they don’t know the “common rabble” was not as common or as rabble as they thought, letting the other eccentrics know that one of the moon demon company’s main players was here would be. Bad. Natsume had conflicting feelings, but Shu would quite possibly actually blow up.

“Shu is just “worried”,” Kanata’s mellow voice soothed the growing unrest in the atmosphere, “so we came to “check” on you~ ♪” Kanata moved toward Shu, placing his two hands against her back, effectively pushing her into the kitchen.

“I can walk perfectly fine.” She snapped, turning her head to the side but still cooperating.

“Yes yes…~” But the hands never left, and in a moment, they were both out of Natsume’s field of vision.

“Sora, could you waiT in the kitchen toO?” Natsume figured the further away his apprentice was, the better. And Shu seemed to quite like Sora so maybe his presence could placate the fierce vampire.

“We get to stay? How amazing! ✩” Wataru launched himself again, this time toward Natsume, attempting to trap him in a hug.

The redhead quickly zipped to the other end of the room, moving so fast it seemed like he could teleport at will.

“My oh my, you’ve gotten good at that, haven’t you Natsume?” The long haired vampire recovered from the rejection swiftly, the three meeting back in furthest corner from the kitchen to discuss the situation.

“Did you seriously come here just to embarrass mE?” The redhead felt embarrassed by that sentence alone, feeling more and more like a child getting scolded in front of their friend. He looks to Rei for an answer, gathering that the rest of his Nii-san were all here for slightly different reasons.

The black haired vampire pressed a hand to his chest, feigning hurt.
“Oh, how you wound this old man.” Rei pouted and tilted his head, taking the stance of a thing which demanded sympathy, but his red eyes never dimmed. “A little birdy, or two, told me something, something I absolutely had to see for myself.”

“And what’s with the sudden reuniON?” Pushed Natsume.

“We few, we happy few! We band of brothers must stick together!” Spoke Wataru.

Natsume thought he would be the one to explode. Rei gently placed a hand on his shoulder, a sign of sympathy.

“Yes yes, my mistake, I underestimated how excited everyone would be at the news that our little Natsume has a friend…” Rei smiled, a kind smile, one that never showed his teeth. “Can you blame us?”

“Um. Yes. Goodbye.” Natsume’s cheeks burned as he attempted to push Rei toward the door, the thought that his Nii-san had gathered here for an impromptu visit all because he’d brought someone home. To HIS home. Was exceedingly embarrassing.

__
Tsumugi had awoken early, sensing the presence of high ranking vampires. He wouldn’t be a very good soldier if he slept through an enemy attack would he? That made the man think, were they the enemy? The two he’d met earlier certainly weren’t…

The bickering from downstairs did not stop. Tsumugi decided he should let Natsume and Sora sort out whatever is going on. He could sense at least 2 other high ranking vampires, which was at least 1 more than he could handle alone.

He lay staring at the ceiling. He could hear Sora and an unknown voice laughing. Somehow he trusted that Natsume wouldn’t let him be eaten. Yet.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Yuzuru says we should tell you that the ginger guy with the ponytail is back.” The telephone line crackled slightly, indicating that the pair were either underground or quite far away. “He says you’ll know what that means.” Tori clicked his tongue from the other end of the line.

“Yes, thank you Himemiya, I understand the situation.” Keito held the phone from his face to quietly sigh, rubbing his eyes from under his glasses. “Goodbye.”

Just before he could hang up and assess the situation however-

“Hey wait!! What are you talking about!? I wanna know too you know…” Tori shouted, the line cracked more and Keito could just barely make out Yuzuru shushing his young master. “Is it about the weird guy who writes music? What’s the big deal??”

“Indeed. Tsukinaga left the army a while ago. Against almost everyone’s wishes.” Keito kept it brief, already getting up from his seat, “If he has returned in one piece, I will be highly impressed.” He hung up.

Tori looked both confused and unimpressed by such a non-answer type answer, him and Yuzuru exchanging brief interested glances. After the president had taken a step back due to his deteriorating health, all hell had broken loose at the academy and Keito had been forced to take the bull by the horns so to speak.

Not long after he reached the roof, Keito heard a familiar laugh echoing around the grounds of the facility. He sighed again. May the president give him the strength.

__

Tsukinaga Leo had returned, and again, had made everyone’s lives just that bit more difficult by refusing to re-join his old squad, Knights. He’d wanted to see how they were, and in his words, ‘whether they were still any good.’

Tsukasa gnashed his teeth at that. He’d never met their elusive leader at any length but from the stories his seniors had told him, he imagined their king to be noble and brave, a true genius. But right now he just seemed like a bit of a jerk. Tsukasa mentally slapped himself for thinking that way about their king, he was looking out for them… supposedly.

Him and his remaining seniors walked in cooperative silence through the city, scanning the area for the reported four-horseman-of-John with the intention to slay it and hopefully win back their leader. Tsukasa really couldn’t believe they were going through with this childish idea. Couldn’t their leader just believe they were strong? They were one of the most respected squads after all and they had done just fine without him for a year!

In his distraction, the redhead missed a crack on the floor and stumbled a step. Embarrassing but at least not injury provoking. Just as he was recovering from his wobble, the ground shook and the decaying buildings started to flake. Their target had come to them quite early it seemed, and with the commands being shouted by Arashi and Izumi even Ritsu had begun to become more lively. Their attacks were synchronised, their swords sharp and their clothes untarnished by the dirt and grime of the world. They were Knights. Tsukasa felt pride at being one of them, even if leader didn’t share the same values.

A glint caught Tsukasa’s eye, he turned his gaze for a second, only to be met with the king himself, sitting with his legs dangling off a buildings in the near distance. Watching them. Judging. He smirked at the redhead.

Tsukasa faltered, Arashi shielded him from a potentially life threatening blow from the huge beast. He thanked her quickly and she reprimanded him for his carelessness.

They continued, closing in on the creature, but Tsukasa couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. He fought his urge to look again to confirm what he already knew. He lost. He looked again. Leo still sat, arms crossed with a smug grin across his face.

“Kasa!” Hissed Izumi, “you’re supposed to be on the left!” His senior had had to make the split second reaction of changing their agreed upon formation by taking Tsukasa’s place, just as the redhead accidentally took Izumi’s.

Eventually, the beast fell. Tsukasa looked to his teammates, their annoyed faces telling him exactly what he’d be in for when they got back.

__

“He was distracting me!” Tsukasa tried to argue, his seniors all sitting at the table in their training room while he stood. “I couldn’t concentrate at all! I mean, why did he choose now of all times to return?”

Ritsu was unresponsive under the table, clearly worn out from the fight. Izumi huffed an annoyed breath, turning his head away.

“He’s our leader! Shouldn’t he be here instead of lurking in the shadows!?” Tsukasa continued to question, his voice naturally rising.

“Hahahaha!” Came a voice from behind the door before it slammed open, “Hear ye, hear ye! I have returned!”

The three still awake stared in silence, more than unamused.

“Oh hey, Leader is back.” Replied a sleepy Ritsu, his tone warm and welcoming, a sharp tooth poking out as he smiled lazily. Leo walked over to ruffle his hair and Ritsu only mumbled a protest before his eyes shut again.

“Everyone’s here!” Yelled the cheerful man, “Ritsu, and Naru, and Sena! Sound the reunion bells!” He stood himself next to Tsukasa, but somehow completely blocked out the boys presence.

“Leader! I am so honoured that you have returned!” The boy bowed, a bit embarrassed at being caught talking bad behind his back.

The rest stayed silent.

“And you are…?” Leo tilted his head inquisitively.

“How is it possible that you forget who I am every time we see each other!” Lamented Tsukasa, covering his face with his hands and bending over dramatically.

“Now Leo, it’s not nice to treat our junior that way~” Arashi spoke up to defend him, “he’s been training awfully hard waiting for you to return.”

“Wow and none of it shows.” Leo’s smile didn’t fall, his eyes cat-like and narrow.

“There’s no reason to belittle him, king.” Rebuked Izumi, keeping his eyes closed and arms folded. The two clashed like fire and ice, even after a year apart.

“He’s only a first year after all, there is room for improvement, but he is incredibly capable.” The blonde spoke out too.

“Is this how far Knights has fallen?” Leo sighed, his face suddenly becoming cold, “how pitiful. How about this, Knights versus my new squad in a sparring match.”

The unease in the room was palpable.

New squad? What was he talking about?

“If you win then I’ll leave Knights, but If I win,” Tsukasa knew the next words weren’t going to be good.

“I’ll disband Knights.”

__

After a good amount of arguing, they had all returned to their shared dorm, agreeing to the idea, but also agreeing to discuss it more at length the next day.

Tsukasa lay on his bed unable to sleep, the sun had long set and Arashi had already finished her lengthy beauty routine which told him it was late. He couldn’t sleep. He felt uneasy. He sat up on his bed, scanning the room for any abnormalities. As expected, two pretty big abnormalities were missing were obvious. Sena and king had not returned.

The redhead quietly slipped out of bed and into his house shoes, sneaking past Ritsu and Arashi. As silently as he could (which really wasn’t necessary), he unlocked their door, successfully making it into the corridor without detection. It was a decently warm night out so he didn’t feel too out of place in only a thin shirt and pyjama pants, his concerns for his seniors whereabouts were far too strong. He knew they had a lot of history and were both equally hot tempered, he’d hate for them to get physical.

He walked slowly along the corridor to the corner, before he could round it-

“What are you doing.”

Tsukasa jumped, his conscience way too guilty to act natural. There was a million reasons he could he out right now: getting water, getting fresh air…he lost something?? But of course the person to stop him was Himemiya. The one person who wouldn’t believe any of those reasons.

“Hey I’m talking to you.” Tori stood with his arms folded and head tilted up, impatient. “Why were you walking like you have pins and needles?”

“Tori-kun, I was-“ The redhead turned slowly, trying to come up with a reason that Tori wouldn’t care to follow up on, he didn’t want to his senior to get into any trouble for dodging curfew.

“What’s this about Tsukinaga coming back and causing problems?” Tori interrupted almost immediately.

Ok don’t even give me a chance to explain then. Tsukasa breathed in slowly. “It’s true our leader has returned and has posed some… challenges for us Knights…”

“Ugh I don’t care about Night or whatever your lame group is called, but if he starts causing problems for the president then I’ll feed him to the vampires!-” Tori grumbled loudly. The redhead worried that his seniors might wake, or worse, Sena and king would notice them.

“SHHH!” He shushed the other.

“How DARE y-“

“I came out to find my squad mates, they haven’t returned yet!” Tsukasa said quickly, hoping Tori would take the bait and be quiet for once.

The pink haired boy stilled, “what’s that to me?”

“You may accompany me. IF.  You won’t tell the council…” he lamented to have to say those words, but for the sake of his mission he shall.

Tori stared for a second, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “If they do something bad I’ll be forced to report them. Buuuut-“ he grinned and ran to catch up with Tsukasa, his voice now not below a whisper, “the president doesn’t have to know yet.”

The other boy breathed a sigh of relief, “Our training room is along this way.” The pair walked in silence down the few short hallways.

As they rounded the final corner Tsukasa heard the distant, but distinct, voice of Izumi. His voice raised and accusatory. Tsukasa’s heart started to beat quicker, should he really be out here? Snooping on his seniors? He shook his head. No- he was looking out for them and for Knights. An equally raised voice made his ears perk up more, the unmistakable voice of their leader.

“They’re so noisy, no wonder the president had to take a break.” Tori scoffed.

“Do you ever stop talking about the president??” Before Tori could properly become angry and retort, Tsukasa held a hard out- quiet. Their steps slowed down, fearful of being heard.

“I can’t believe how difficult you’re being! Are you a child?”

“You’re one to talk, Sena!”

“What does that even mean!?” Izumi huffed, “you were so rude back there!”

“I don’t want Knights, OUR unit, to fall into mediocrity!” replied Leo, the two stood close, and getting progressively closer with each sentence. Each provocation had them more and more in each others faces,

Cautiously he peered into a small slit in the door, followed by Tori who did the same but lower against the door. If this escalated he’d have to intervene, but rushing into a confrontation with Izumi Sena was dangerous for anyone.

“Oh Knights is our unit now? It didn’t feel like that when you left me with it!” The silver haired man hissed venomously.

“It’s all of ours.” But Leo’s voice softened, Tsukasa could see how his balled fists loosened, how he licked his lips gingerly and glanced away before looking back. “Sena, I’m s-”

Slap

Tsukasa felt his eyes widen in pure shock, he could hear Tori under him gasp at the impact. A stunned moment of silence from the two juniors, the sound seeming to echo quietly.

Knights were gentlemen! Gentlemen should never resort to violence in an argument! Tsukasa snapped out of his shock and began to move- but Tori held his wrist tightly. Wait. Tsukasa looked down confused then back again at his seniors, Izumi’s hand still raised and a noticeable red patch began to form on Leo’s face, but neither of them moved. Locked in a stalemate.

The room was quiet, save for Izumi’s slightly raised breathing.

Tsukasa suddenly felt an immense amount of shame at what he was doing, seeing his senior, who is normally so poised and cold, become so unlike himself was not something he was supposed to be seeing. He pushed away from the door slightly, intending to leave it. The last thing he caught sight of was Izumi grabbing a fist full of Leo’s shirt and pulling him into a kiss.

Wait a what?

Tori let out a shocked ‘oh my god’ and Tsukasa did the fastest double take in history. Maybe this was all a dream. No. He hadn’t started hallucinating either. For a split second they both stood frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

Then, Leo closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the others neck, pulling them closer. If this was a dream, Tsukasa feared he’d have to talk to a professional about it.

Tori shrieked. Tsukasa instantly slapped his hand over his mouth.

The pair inside the room glanced at the door for a moment, was there a noise? But the door was closed and it was quiet in the hallway.

__

Outside, the younger boys were doubled over, gasping for air.

Tori was the first to speak, as he usually was. “That was. Absolutely scarring.” He coughed out, cheeks slightly pink.

Tsukasa didn’t know how to react. Were his seniors… together? Was this just a spur of the thing? Neither answer was good and would absolutely cause problems for their squad. Did the others know? How would he face them tomorrow?

Tori punched him in the arm.

“Ouch! What was that for!?” He stood straight, rubbing his arm.

“If your family wasn’t so poor, I’d have you pay for years of therapy for that!”

“How was I supposed to predict that!?”

“You-!” But Tori stopped, looking down.

“Tori-kun… are you-“ Tsukasa reached toward the other boy, intending to rest a hand on his shoulder, but he was stopped when the pink hair boy burst into laughter. The kind he’d never heard from him before, even with the president.

Tsukasa stood, then he too started laughing.

“Don’t tell the president about that, he’d probably-“ the redhead spoke between laughs.

“He’d probably have a heart attack!” Tori finished- not exactly what Tsukasa was going to say, but also not untrue. The two stayed like that for a couple minutes, the tension of their failed heist finally dissipating.

“Tori-kun?” Tsukasa suddenly thought, “where is Fushimi senpai? Wouldn’t he notice you being gone so late?”

Tori suddenly didn’t find anything funny anymore, his face immediately souring like he’d bitten into a tart thinking it was sweet but was tragically the opposite. “He went to give something to one of those reuse a tie ones or something. He goes like once a week.”

“Ryuseitai?” Tsukasa wanted to ask how he could think their squad was called ‘reuse a tie’ but a true gentleman knows when to leave it.

“Yeah whatever.” Tori waved his hand dismissively, “I don’t know what could possibly take so long, it’s unfair to me. He’s my butler after all.”

“Fushimi doesn’t seem like the type to slack… that really is unusual.” Tsukasa wondered.

“He sneaks out after he thinks I’m asleep too-“ Tori makes a confused face. “Suuuuper shady.”

“You don’t ask?”

“I did once and he told me something about vegetables… and art?” Tori was visibly struggling to remember what Yuzuru had said. “He’s strong enough to protect himself, and it’s not like I’m his chaperone…” Tori still seemed slightly hurt at Yuzuru disappearing.

“Do you dislike being alone?” The redhead asked as soon as he thought it, then quickly regretted it, not wanting to argue after they’d seemingly started getting along more. “Sorry that was out of place-“

“Yeah.” Tori looked around, a bit embarrassed. “Yeah I don’t like it, especially at night. It’s creepy as hell here.” He admitted.

“If you told Fushimi I’m sure he’d-“

“I’m not his child!” Tori suddenly got annoyed, his embarrassment turning to anger. “Im not a kid anymore.”

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

They both looked shocked. Tsukasa had half a mind to pull out his sword and confront whoever had just possessed his body. But he was in his pyjamas, and it was him who had spoken. It was the chivalrous thing to do, he rationalised.

Tori turned abruptly and started walking away, Tsukasa watched a bit confused. Guess he wasn’t surprised though.

A moment passed.

The pink haired boy turned back, putting on an annoyed face, though his face looked more red than annoyed. It was a cold night.

“Come on then! Don’t just stand there like a moron!”

Tsukasa exhaled through his nose, amused. He followed.

___

Yuzuru gently pushed the door to his and Tori’s room open, peering inside before entering. Seeing that the lights were off he quietly took his shoes and jacket off, making his way to his young masters bed. He stilled, blinked a couple times, then sighed fondly.

His young master was indeed asleep, and so was the young man beside him. This was young master Suou if he wasn’t mistaken. The two were definitely an unlikely pair…

Yuzuru pulled the blanket up around them and left again, feared it would embarrass his young master far more if he was there in the morning.