So as it turns out, I'm not dead. Hooray? I deeply apologize for the extremely late update. It's just that I've been really busy with school is all. I just found this laying around in my folder so I thought I should just put this up lmao. I hope this chapter'll be worth the wait. :-(

(Also, guess who just turned fifteen last week LOL. Fifteen! And I started this fic when I was, what, twelve? Holy daaaamn.)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own -Man nor Ao no Exorcist. Katsura Hoshino and Kazue Katou own them respectively.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future." -Jeremiah 29:11

Chapter 6- No Other Way But Forward

Mephisto led them through the high-vaulted halls of True Cross Academy. Just as Allen expected, numerous scrutinizing stares drilled mercilessly into his back which he paid no heed of.

After some time, during which Allen came to the realization that he was going to get lost frequently, they now stood in front of large double doors which Allen guessed was their destination. It was a wonder that they had arrived anywhere; the size of the school was ridiculous. There was a plaque on the left of a set of massive doors with the word 'Auditorium' written in gold and curly letters.

Mephisto pushed the doors open and let them into the loud chattering and murmuring of who Allen presumed were the students of True Cross Academy. The auditorium was so large it resembled a curled cavern with thousands of seats pushing up the walls and sprawling across the floor, separated in groups by aisles of straight stalactite steps which led down to the stage. Crystalline, blinding lights illuminated only the stage.

"You three should go find your seats. The opening ceremony is about to begin." Mephisto told them with a devious smirk before sweeping off with a jaunty wave.

Yukio nodded to Allen and Rin before going off to find his own seat, not even bothering to wait for them. Allen found his rude behavior to be quite odd—almost like he was avoiding them. Opting to think nothing else of it, he and Rin went further down the steps as they searched for a set of empty seats. To their dismay, almost all the seats were taken. Luckily, after searching amongst the swell of seated students, they finally found two empty seats adjacent to each other.

Allen sat quickly and quietly, tuning out the numerous murmuring and silently wished that everything would soon be over with. The situation reeked of far too much pomp for him to be truly comfortable.

The sound of a microphone being tapped could be heard and repeated through the massive speakers situated around the auditorium. Allen refocused and saw Mephisto standing at the center of the extravagant stage.

"A pleasant afternoon to everyone~! I am glad to see everyone back for another wonderful school year~!" Mephisto began jovially.

Mephisto went on and on and on with his seemingly endless speech of platitudes and welcomes. Allen found his mind wandering too many times during the speech that he lost count.

"Thank you very much, my precious students~! Now, before you children go on with your first and exciting day in True Cross Academy, Mr. Nakamura will make a small announcement~!" With that, Mephisto relinquished his hold on the microphone with an indecent amount of flair and passed it to another man before exiting the stage.

The man cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, students. As Principal Faust said, I would like to make an announcement. We have a new freshman representative this year who achieved the highest grade in this year's entrance exam. Please welcome…Okumura Yukio."

The named boy stood up from his seat and modestly made his way to the stage. Allen and Rin stared at each other with their mouths wide open and then turned to gape at Yukio. They were unknowingly thinking the same time:

'Yukio?! He's the freshman representative who supposedly got the HIGHEST GRADE in the entrance exam?!'

Murmurings issued from the students once again for a second before they were briskly silenced when Yukio cleared his throat loudly, and began.

"Passing through the gates of the Academy I so admired, I feel nervous just as much as I feel grateful."

Rin stared at Yukio in awe, his heart swelling with brotherly pride. 'The crybaby who always got bullied…' A small smile graced his lips.

"I hope we can further our skills through friendly competition and that we have a wonderful year together. Once again I am the freshman representative, Okumura Yukio." He bowed and a round of applause ensued.

Line Break

After the opening ceremony, the new students were given a short tour around the campus. Allen had to admit, the place was impressive and was almost on par with the interior design of the Black Order European Branch HQ, which was saying something.

Rin had been gawking the whole time and Allen could tell that many people were already staring at him like he was an abnormal weirdo. But, typical Rin remained oblivious to them. That or he probably just didn't care.

After the tour, they were sent to their respective classrooms. This was Allen's first time attending school and frankly, he wasn't sure what was going to happen.

'Just follow their lead and you'll be fine. Loosen up!'

'I thought this place was supposed to be a school for exorcists?' Allen groused internally.

After class was finally let out, Allen and Rin roved through the halls of the Academy hopelessly searched for their assigned dormitory with steadily rising levels of frustration.

'Gah. I could care less about high school. I'm doing this to become an exorcist!' Rin thought to himself.

"And where's the dorm anyway?! The teacher told us to go to our dorms but we don't even know where it is!" Rin exploded vehemently.

"We'll find it, I'm sure…" Allen trailed off hollowly. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself instead of Rin.

They were pulled out from their dejection when they heard a loud woof. The duo looked down to the source of the sound to see a white Scottish Terrier with comically droopy eyes. A large pink polka-dotted bow was tied around its neck, with a brooch was stuck into the bow. Allen scrutinized it, and realized with some trouble that it was eerily similar to Shiro's pendant.

"Huh? Why's a dog in here?" Allen questioned aloud.

"Beats me," was Rin's clueless reply.

Without warning, the dog lunged forward to bite into one of Rin's pant legs before trotting forward, forcefully turning Rin around. Rin yelped as he lost his balance and almost fell down. The dog released its hold on the pant leg and then glanced almost snootily at the two from over its shoulder and scampered away from them as if gesturing them to follow him.

Utterly perplexed by what had transpired, Allen and Rin decided to follow the dog. After quite some time running after the dog, they ended up on a roadway that was quite a long way from the campus.

The dog scampered towards the ledge of the road and then hopped on top of it. Allen and Rin watched amusedly as it squirmed around effortfully to climb up on an intricate street lamp and perched on the bulb.

The two boys jumped up and hugged each other as they screamed in fright when the dog exploded in a pink cloud. When the cloud cleared, there on the dog's stead was—

"MEPHISTO?!" Both Allen and Rin screamed as if they had just seen a ghost.

"I apologize, but the Principal cannot be seen gallivanting around the campus," Mephisto informed them with an amused grin before hopping down from the ledge.

Rin quickly recovered from his astonishment. "I didn't know exorcists could shapeshift! You gotta teach me that sometime!" he exclaimed with childish wonder.

'No matter how different these exorcists are from Accommodators, they can't possibly have the ability to shapeshift,' Allen thought dryly.

"Don't be silly, Okumura-kun~. Exorcists possess many abilities but shapeshifting is not one of them~. It's just a special trick of mine," Mephisto clarified with an amused grin. Rin deflated, and Allen was left to wonder whether Mephisto's ability to shapeshift had something to do with him being a demon.

Mephisto materialized two golden keys from his pocket and then tossed them to Allen and Rin who caught them easily.

"With that key, you can easily access the Cram School from any door." Mephisto explained.

"Cram School?" Allen questioned.

"It's the school for exorcists. As you attend high school, you will also simultaneously attend cram school to train to be an exorcist."

'Now I think I know why it's called Cram School…'

'Good luck. You're gonna need it, trust me.'

Allen just internally groaned in response.

"Cram School starts today so both of you should hurry up before classes start. You're ready, right?" Mephisto continued with a taunting smile directed to Rin.

"Of course," Rin replied with his chin held up high.

Mephisto leaned towards Rin and whispered into his ear, "I must remind you that no one must know that you are the spawn of Satan." Rin gritted his teeth at this. It was obvious that the subject still hit a sore spot.

"While we can come up with an excuse for your demonic physical traits we cannot, however, do anything about your blue flames. So I advise you to control yourself and under no circumstance are you to unsheathe your sword. Understood?" To the slight surprise of the two boys, Mephisto was solemn. The words 'Mephisto' and 'solemn' fit each other just as much as the words 'Leverrier' and 'amiable' did. Allen cringed at the thought of Leverrier.

Rin just nodded in understanding as he inwardly realized just how serious Mephisto was with this.

Mephisto backed away from Rin and climbed up the ledge once again, his serious demeanor quickly returned to his usual eccentric behavior. "Marvelous~! Now, we'd better be off to the cram school! Follow me~!"

To both Allen and Rin's alarm, Mephisto lept up and fell backwards over the ledge. They raced forwards and peered down over what they would see...only to discover that the drop was just about six feet. Mephisto stood with no blood or awkwardly angled limbs whatsoever. The two boys released the breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Come down here, the both of you." Mephisto called out to them.

"Um, right..."

So the two climbed over the ledge and then jumped down. With a grunt, both Allen and Rin landed into a crouch on the grassy ground.

"Alright! Now, use your key on that door over there, Okumura-kun!" Mephisto instructed as he pointed at something behind the two. There was a worn out green metallic door which had been hidden from sight under the road. Rust decorated the whole door, indicating its age.

Without a word, Rin neared the door and then inserted the key that had been given to them into the keyhole and then twisted it. A click ensued and then Rin grabbed the knob. Slowly pushing the door open in suspense, he secretly expected to see something along the lines of a rundown warehouse. But when the door was fully open, he was left to gawk at the sight before him.

Instead of a dusty old room, they were met with a grand corridor with checkered tiles and stained glass windows. Fancy chandeliers hung overhead, lighting the corridor with a bright and comforting golden light.

Bringing them out of their reverie, Mephisto spoke, "Use that key on any door and it will lead you here, regardless of what the door originally leads to~. Now, the first year classes are held in room 1106. Follow me~."

Mephisto walked along the hallway with Allen and Rin trailing behind him. Rin was still gawking childishly at his surroundings which Allen was currently mimicking but more dicreetly. Looking up, Allen immediately knew that the building they were magically transported to must be very very tall. He tried looking for the ceiling but he feared that he'd break his neck in doing so. Even then, he probably still wouldn't find it.

Their trek was abruptly halted when they arrived at a door that had a sign that read: '1106'.

"I hope you remember the way here as I won't be guiding you here next time." Allen visibly paled as he remembered vaguely that they had made turns that he had failed to take note of. "And just for today, I'll stick around with you two."

'But didn't he say that the Principal can't be seen roaming around?' Allen wondered to himself.

"Ein, zwei, drei." Mephisto uttered crisply, snapping his fingers. He became shrouded in a bubblegum pink cloud, causing Allen and Rin to slightly jump up in surprise yet again. When the cloud dispersed, the now familiar white Scottish Terrier stood in his place.

"Let's go, shall we?" Dog Mephisto said, which was a weird sight to see.

Rin placed his hand on the knob but lingered there as his once steadfast expression began to waver. His sudden change in demeanor did not fail to escape from Mephisto's watchful eye.

"Weren't you so confident and determined to become an exorcist? Where did all that resolve go?" Mephisto goaded him, his doggish lips moving north to imitate a goading smirk.

Rin diverted his gaze from the doorknob and down to Mephisto. He indeed looked troubled and anxious. Allen watched with worry as Rin struggled to steel himself for the future that he was literally going to walk into.

For what seemed like an eternity, he finally nodded in understanding and then returned his gaze to the knob. But this time, the fire was back in his eyes burning fervently and resolutely once more. He once again nodded to himself and then turned the knob.

For the second time that day, they were met by a room that did not meet their expectations. Their faces were greeted by the stuffy air shrouding the dilapidated classroom which didn't match the hallway's ostentatious grandiosity.

The walls were painted a forest green which looked dull from age and it was even peeling off the wall in some places. Wires hung from the poorly functioning slender light bulbs so most of the lighting was brought by the sunlight pouring into the decrepit room through the open windows. Finally, mahogany tables and chairs were arranged in three columns which barely left any space for walking around.

Seated on the chairs and even on the tables were students who Allen assumed were also exorcists in training just like them. Their bored gazes just so happened to be fixed on them.

Rin did a quick observant sweep through the room and its occupants and then with a nonchalant expression, he introduced himself, "My name's Okumura Rin. Nice to meet you."

"Allen D. Campbell." Allen said with a small wave and a friendly smile. The pair then went to take the front row seats in the middle column with Mephisto, still in dog form, trailing behind them. Rin set down the red slender bag containing Kurikara on the floor so that it would lean on the table's edge.

As they were both left to their own devices, Allen meanwhile discreetly stared at Rin with uncertainty. 'Being out in the battlefield fighting tooth and nail with humanity's worst enemies...it's going to be tough. You'll see the worst kinds of things, most of it being the death of your own loved ones. But I suppose Rin's had a taste of that already. He needs to stand firm and be ready for more. He has to be...'

Allen averted his gaze from Rin and chose to stare at the space in front of him with a hard expression as he recalled Shiro's last wish. 'I'll carry out your last wish, Fujimoto, as you have requested of me. I've given you my word and I'll definitely keep it.'

He was snapped back to reality when the door suddenly creaked open and a horrifyingly familiar voice greeted them, "Good afternoon, class."

Allen abruptly turned to the person who was now walking towards the teacher's table and then proceeded to set down his briefcase on the wooden surface with a soft thud.

"I am your homeroom teacher, Okumura Yukio.".

The ear-splitting sound of wood scraping against the wooden floor pierced everyone's ears, as Rin stood up from his seat and then pointed an accusing finger towards his younger brother who was apparently their teacher.

"Y-Yukio?!" Rin exclaimed incredulously.

Despite the loud interruption, Yukio continued as if what he had heard was just the whistle of the wind. "Nice to meet you everyone. Starting today, I will be teaching you Anti-Demon Pharmacology."

"Nice to meet you." Everyone said in a dull and monotone unison except Allen and Rin, who were busy gaping at Yukio.

"Hey, Yukio!" Rin tried once again, upset that his brother of all people was disregarding his presence.

Allen slightly leaned towards Rin and then hissed to him discreetly, "Rin, please stop shouting and sit down. This is not the time nor place."

Allen was sure that Rin had heard him. However, he was ignored.

Yukio finally decided to acknowledge Rin's existence and met his eyes coldly. Allen watched with alarmed eyes.

'What's up with him? This isn't Yukio at all!'

"What is it?" Was Yukio's cold reply, causing slight chills to actually run through Rin's spine. Nevertheless, he plowed on like a stubborn mule.

"Don't 'what is it?' me! Why are you here?!" Rin yelled with frustration seeping through his voice.

Disregarding the real meaning behind Rin's words, Yukio turned to address the whole class with his lips pulled into a tight smile and said, "You may be wondering why I will be your teacher despite being the same age as everyone in this room. However, I actually started my training when I was seven years old and finished just two years ago. Therefore, I am more than qualified to be your teacher."

Rin's eyes widened in disbelief. 'What? What's he saying all of a sudden?'

"Having said this, I appreciate it if you address me accordingly while in class." Yukio added while staring at Rin pointedly. This motion, however, went unnoticed by Rin.

"You started your training when you were seven? H-Hey, quit pulling my leg here, Yukio. It's not funny." Rin stammered, shocked at the prospect that his twin brother—his cute, litte, baby brother —would actually keep something like this from him. Rin was hurt. For as long as he could remember, they've always traded secrets no matter how utterly embarrassing it was. That was how close they were.

"He's a genius in Anti-Demon Pharmacology and is the youngest person ever to earn the title of an exorcist." Mephisto supplied Rin with a voice barely above a whipser to prevent humans from hearing.

Rin snuck a glance towards Mephisto with shocked eyes but immediately removed his gaze away from him and returned it to Yukio. Rin was proud to say that he knew Yukio like the back of his hand. Had he been wrong all this time?

"Now, is there anyone here who have yet to receive a Temptaint?" Yukio asked as if nothing had happened. Rin chose that moment to sit down, albeit reluctantly.

'A...Temptaint?' Allen repeated the unfamiliar word in his mind.

As if reading Allen's mind, Yukio quickly elaborated, "A Temptaint is a wound given to you by a demon. Once you acquire this, you will gain the ability to see them. That is why a Temptaint is compulsory for every exorcist and exorcist-to-be."

'Hmm. Then it's quite similar to my cursed eye. If that's the case then I suppose a Temptaint is unnecessary,' Allen speculated.

Some of the students stared at each other briefly before three people finally raised their hands.

"Three, huh? Alright, we shall begin with the ceremony for the Temptaint."

"Is it safe though, Okumura-sensei?" One of the students, a brown haired girl, nervously asked with her hand shyly raised.

"Don't worry. The demons I will be using for the ceremony are low-level demons and does not possess any particular power." Yukio assured.

Rin chose this moment to rise from his seat once again with one thought haunting his addled mind. "Hey Yukio!"

"Class is still ongoing. Please take your seat and kindly stop interrupting my class in such a rude manner." Yukio answered with a sharp tone and without looking up as he opened his briefcase and produced a vial of blood from its contents.

"Now, even though the demons I will be summoning are low-level demons, demons are still demons." Yukio proceeded to explain, ignoring Rin who has yet to take his seat.

"Yukio, you have a lot of things to explain!" Rin yelled, his temper beginning to flare up and his patience starting to thin.

"Rotten blood intoxicates them, so to speak, and they become wild."

Fuming, Rin marched towards Yukio and violently yanked his arm to get his attention. "Stop that! Why the fuck do you keep on avoiding me?! Explain all of this to me, Yukio!" Rin yelled irately with eyes flaring heatedly.

Allen's eyes widened as he watched the scene in front of him. He'd never seen Rin this mad with Yukio, much less see them fight at all.

Yukio boldly met Rin's fiery blue eyes with his own icy teal ones. "What do you mean?"

Something in Rin exploded and his chest began heaving in anger and frustration. Unable to tame his fiery temper any longer, he slammed his palm flat on the teacher's table, causing a loud boom to echo throughout the small room. Everyone jumped up from their seats in surprise from the sheer volume of the deafening noise.

"Are you messing with me?!" Rin roared vehemently, making no effort of filtering his fury from his voice. Right now, if Yukio was the frigid ice, then Rin was the raging fire.

Yukio just sighed, annoyance clear in his eyes. "I'm sorry class. Please wait outside the room while I clear something up with Mr. Okumura here."

"Tch, annoying brat!" Allen heard one of the boys mutter. The sound of multiple chairs screeching against the floor resounded noisily as everyone stood up and began filing out the room, all the while voicing out their displeasure in the form of grumbling.

Everyone had left...except Allen.

"That means you as well, Allen." Yukio told him with a stony voice, his indifferent gaze never leaving Rin.

Allen stayed silent for a while as he pondered to himself but soon decided that this was a deep familial matter and he therefore had no right to interfere. So with a sigh, Allen stood from his chair and then walked towards the door. A creak soon followed, and all that was left in the decrepit room were the two clashing elements currently warring with each other.

Allen joined the other students huddled together in the dimly-lit hallway. One of the boys, the punkish guy to be specific, chose that moment to voice his annoyance clearly. "Tch, what does that brat want with the Sensei that could be so important even class had to be interrupted?"

"I don't know, man. But did you notice that they share surnames? Do you think that they're brothers? That guy was acting like he knew Sensei his whole life." His friend, the pink-haired one, pointed out.

"Man, I don't care. I just want the dumb brat to get this over with so that we can go back to class." The guy retorted hotly. Allen opened his mouth to tell him off. Before he could speak, however, the shrill sound of shattering glass emanated from behind the door. Allen gasped as his eye suddenly activated with a loud mechanical whine. Moving fast, Allen hastily slapped a hand over it.

'D-Did anyone see?' Allen thought as irrational panic settled in his stormy gray eyes.

'You better hope not.'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The loud shouts from inside the classroom was drowned out by multiple gunshots which reverberated through the door, falling on everyone's ears as steadily as their collective dread.

With the words "demons" and "they're in trouble" echoing in his mind, Allen prepared to bust into the room and help them out.

'Not so fast there, kid.' Neah's deep voice, which Allen sometimes swore held a great deal of wisdom once in a blue moon, intercepted him.

'What? Why?'

'What do you think you're doing, Allen?'

'I'm going to go help them, of course!'

'Yeah, that much I figured. But how?'

'What are you going on about? I'm-!'

Allen stopped when realization dawned on his troubled features.

'Dammit!'

'Finally figured it out, kid? You can't use your Innocence if you want to keep up this charade, not in front of those two. Just leave them be. That kid, Yukio, is an exorcist. I don't think there's anything to worry about, really. So just sit tight and let him handle it. While you're at it, just get a damn eye patch for that eye, to, you know, blend in. It might help.'

'...You're right. Sorry. And an eye patch? Really, Neah? That won't conceal the gears.'

Allen forcibly released the tension in his body now that his plan to help Rin and Yukio was thrown out of the window.

"Hey, did anyone hear that?" The guy with the pink hair wondered aloud, addressing the other students.

"The gunshots? Everyone can hear it, idiot," the girl with purple hair tied into twin tails replied with her nose metaphorically stuck up in the air. This only served to antagonize the guy with the punk-like appearance.

"He didn't mean the gunshots! There was this whine before the gunshots began!"

"Oh, you mean when you were all 'Ugh, I wanna go back to class!'? Anyone from a mile radius could hear, dumbass." The girl sneered with a patronizing voice that dripped with sarcasm. Working as intended, the guy's face turned redder by the minute, his temper reaching its peak.

"Why you-!"

Cleverly diffusing the heated argument before an all-out brawl could arise, the shy brunette girl inconspicuously raised her hand.

"I heard it..." was her almost inaudible mumble.

"Well, I didn't hear anything," purple-hair interjected snootily.

Everyone's heads then turned to the only people who had yet to speak: the guy with the puppet, the guy-or-girl wearing the hoodie, and Allen.

"What?" The one with the puppet said with a high pitched voice whilst moving the puppet's mouth with his hand in sync with his words. Despite this, his mouth did not move at all to create sound.

'Whoa, that's some awesome ventriloquism skills...' Allen silently reflected.

Feeling a vein pop in his forehead in exasperation, the tough brunette guy proceeded to dumb it down. "Did you guys hear that...mechanical whine too?"

In response, the individual of unconfirmed gender just shrugged as if he or she didn't have a care in the world.

"I didn't hear anything." Allen lied through his teeth and then tried to divert the subject. "Umm, shouldn't you guys be worrying about the gunshots instead?"

"He's right, you know..."

This comment, however, was ignored as the tough-looking guy engaged in another argument with the purple-haired girl. Allen watched in bemusement at the scene unfolding in front of him. This group had several mixed priorities. It made him nostalgic, being reminded of the days he used to bicker back and forth with Kanda.

"I'm telling you, I heard it! Your friend here even agrees with me!"

"Tch, and I'm telling you that I didn't hear anything! And don't you dare bring Paku into this!"

Ah. So the shy one with the brown hair was called Paku. Allen finally got a name from one of the students. It's a work in progress, Allen thought.

"When was the last time you had your ears checked, eyebrows?! It was loud and clear! How can you not have heard it?!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"Wow, just like I thought! Ya really are deaf! Should I repeat everything I said in sign language?!"

"Silence, you brute!"

Allen's eye began to twitch violently, a dark aura beginning to emit from his form in plumes. The other students, save for the two who were still bickering, felt the hair behind their necks rise up as the atmosphere suddenly felt thick and oppressive.

Allen was going to yell at the two bickering kids to shut up but was spared the need when they noticed that the gunshots ceased wh9ich someone fortunately pointed out. Allen internally sighed in relief when he felt his eye deactivate with a low whine. He returned his hand to his side.

The door opened with a creak and the students were greeted by a slightly haggard looking Yukio.

"I apologize for the wait. We can continue class now." he said with a small smile. Yukio opened the door wider and beckoned them to enter.

As they passed through the door, they can't help but gape at the room...or what was left of it to be exact. The room looked like it survived a cyclone and an earthquake.

Compared to their former neat arrangement, the tables and chairs were misaligned while some were even upturned and thrown to the walls.

The students were then thoroughly convinced that whatever happened in the room while they were out frequently happened in the classroom, hence its horrible shape.

"W-What the hell happened here?"

Their perplexed eyes fell on Rin who was leaning on a table with his arms crossed over his chest with the slender red bag housing Kurikara slung over his shoulder. Judging by the content smile gracing his features, Allen knew that everything was resolved.

Some time later...

"602...602... Where the hell is room 602?" Rin wondered aloud as they passed through the clearly neglected corridors of the barren dormitory building. Their dormitory building. Apparently, with Mephisto pulling the strings, they were given their own dormitory building due to Rin's special circumstance.

So here they were with luggage in hand as they were lead through the dorm building by Yukio, searching for their rooms. As Allen's eyes swept through the numerous doors, a thought reintroduced itself in Allen's mind.

"Hey Yukio, I need to tell you something." Allen began.

"Yes, what is it?" Yukio answered, his cold tone of voice from earlier all but gone completely and replaced with his usual friendly voice.

"I introduced myself as Allen D. Campbell to Mephisto and I thought I should let you know."

Yukio's eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. "You changed your surname? But why?"

Allen gave him the same explanation he had given Rin, all the while rubbing the back of his neck to enhance his sheepish facade.

Of course, the thing with his surname originally being Campbell was a huge fat lie and was simply a surname he borrowed from Neah.

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. A wise choice on your part, I admit. But why didn't you tell us back at the monastery?" Yukio questioned. If talking about the monastery still hit a sore spot, Yukio did not show it.

Allen simply shrugged in response. "Well, it wasn't a subject that I could just bring up. It wasn't that important at that time, anyway."

Yukio only nodded at the logic. "Fair enough."

They then remained silent after a while until a thought presented itself to Yukio. Hesitance and doubt ate away at his mind but he forced it down.

"Hey, Allen. So you already have a Temptaint? How'd you get it?" Yukio asked conversationally, oblivious to the fact that Allen had tensed.

'Back in class when Yukio asked for the people who still hadn't received a Temptaint to raise their hands. Allen hadn't raised his.'' Rin averted his gaze to Allen, who by now refused to meet their curious eyes, and awaited his answer. Come to think of it, it made sense that he would have a Temptaint.

"Don't you care that I'm the son of Satan? I mean, you act like these stuff happen to you everyday!"

"Eh, strange things happen when you're on the road. A lot of strange things."

"Strange things? Did they involve demons or somethin'?"

"Something like that."

That's right. He had said that after the incident. Could it be that Allen's encounter with Shiratori, or Astaroth as he had called himself, wasn't his first encounter with a demon? And that night, Rin caught Allen's left eye. It was nothing that could be called human. Rin wanted to think that it was his imagination—a lot of crazy stuff happened that night—but it would make sense if that unusual scar of his was a Temptaint. That left one question—did Temptaints affect a body part like it did Allen's eye?

Meanwhile, Allen swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and did the easiest way of ending a conversation in the history of ending conversations.

"Umm, I really don't want to talk about it..."

Rin and Yukio were rendered silent after that. By those words alone the twins immediately knew that Allen's Temptaint was associated with a tragic event. Whatever it was, they didn't know. And it looked like they won't be knowing any time soon.

No words were exchanged for the duration of their long trek and the twins pretended that nothing had happened, mostly for Allen's sake. After countless flights of stairs and corridors, they finally found the rooms that had been assigned to them.

"Here it is. Room 602. Allen, you're supposed to take the room across ours." Yukio pointed to the door with the number "603" engraved on the door in golden bold font.

"'Ours?' Does that mean that we're gonna share rooms? No fair! How come Allen gets his own room?" Rin whined.

"Because unlike him, I need to keep an eye on you." When Rin opened his mouth most likely to protest, Yukio hastily added with a stern voice, "And don't ask me why; you know full well why I have to."

Rin shut his mouth and then turned away with a defeated huff.

After Yukio handed him the key to his respective room, Allen promptly inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted. A click was heard and Allen turned the knob. His hand immediately groped the wall beside the door for the light switch. His gloved fingers came to a rest upon a small bump, exactly the thing Allen was searching for. When he flipped the switch, he was expecting to see the room just as neglected as the dorm building itself. He was proved wrong when he was instead greeted by a room that was surprisingly spick and span.

'Good. I don't have to worry about cleaning, then.' Allen thought while secretly sighing in relief.

"Well, that's that. We've got a long day ahead of us so we better hit the hay early." Yukio said. Both Allen and Rin nodded their heads wearily, already feeling their exhaustion by the end of tomorrow.

After brushing their teeth in the dorm building's shared bathroom, the three retreated to their respective quarters after bidding each other good night.