Angel vs. Demon

Chapter 1 - Angel

~My parents can afford no money to send me to a proper private high school… I am stuck here, until I find a way out… to Yokai Academy~

"Ame!" My dad called from down the stairs. "Ame? Come down right now…!"

Startled, I quickly logged off and shut down the computer. Yes, I am ashamed to admit it… I still share a computer with my parents. It's no big deal, right…? My parents know it, and they mostly approve of whatever I do.

I'm the oldest in my family, so of course I have to put on a responsible, cool, big-sister type of cover. You can even call it a façade, if you wish.

To my parents and my siblings, I am the studious, perfect sister who appears tedious of everything she does. Alone, I can give in to my guilty pleasures and nibble on sweets, spend time with my cat, and daydream.

"Ame, this is urgent. Will you hurry up?" My dad was starting to sound impatient.

I hurried down the stairs, and found my dad standing at the bottom of it with a piece of paper in hand.

"What is it?" I asked. I wanted to hurry up and get it over with. When parents say they have something urgent to tell you with a piece of paper in their hands, it's never a good thing.

My dad immediately broke into a wide grin. "We've decided on your new school, Ame! Isn't that great?"

"What?" My eyes widened in genuine surprise. My parents had been looking for a good high school for me to go to in my senior year since forever, but almost all of them were too expensive.

"Some guy dropped this while he was walking by our house… I think this is meant to be." My dad waved the paper in the air, grinning. "This is the flyer to your boarding school!"

"Whoa, Dad… Aren't boarding schools extremely expensive?"

"No, for this one, the fee isn't that bad. Plus, the campus is huge! You can get lost in it! I think you can also get in with a scholarship, too… In that case, the entrance fee is free. You're smart, Ame; I'm sure you'll make it."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you going to drive me there, Dad? Where's this school?"

"Ah, this school is actually quite mysterious… there was no exact address written anywhere. All I know is that it starts in April, and the school bus will pick you up at the bus stop. You'll need to be there a week early, at least, to make preparations! Why, there will be the need to take a tour of the school, too, and…"

I had stopped listening to him at this point. My dad can get carried off like this, and when he does, it's best to leave him be. Encouraging him by asking questions, interrupting him, or any other form of disruption will only prolong the rant.

"You're independent now, Ame… And you can do everything for yourself now, can't you? You'll go there on the bus by yourself, fill in all the necessary forms, and purchase the uniforms at the school. You're seventeen! Although this is your final high school year, you must try hard. Make me proud, alright?"

"Yes, alright."

"Here, take the flyer upstairs and look at it. There's information you'll need on it."

My dad handed me the flyer, and I took it in both of my hands. "Yokai Academy Enrolment Form", it says.

Running upstairs, I slammed my door shut and sank into my bed, with the paper still in my hands.

I'm actually going to a boarding school! I thought. All those other schools – private, public, or whatever else – won't compare to this, I'm sure.

My mind was buzzing, and I was so excited. This was going to be a whole new experience! I've always wanted to be independent from my parents and family, however much I love them. This was going to be "the chance" for me; I can completely be myself, no restraints included. In a school with hundreds and thousands of other students, I can find myself a place where I belong and fit in, definitely.

A whoosh of the wind stopped my mental jubilee, and cold air blasted into my room.

You must know that in my room was different from they rest of my siblings', or even my parents'. A balcony was attached to my room, divided by a glass screen door. Curtain-covered windows were placed on the adjoining wall next to the balcony, and all my furniture – including my piano (yes, I am musical) – were placed touching the walls in some way.

Light beamed in through my window as well, even though it was late in the afternoon. It was almost blinding, bright enough for me to cover my eyes. Snow-white feathers drifted down from above, and it felt soft as it wafted against my face.

Any other normal, functional human being in this situation might say, "Where did all these feathers come from?" But all I could utter then was, "How did my balcony door open by itself?"

A figure was approaching me, floating down from above. She looked human, but she had wings attached onto her back. Brown hair flowed in soft curls down her waist, and she looked… normal. Except for the obvious wings and glowing ring floating above her head.

Duh, I thought. An angel! I must have died.

"Don't be frightened, dear; you're not dead yet. I came to help you! You need to be safe at Yokai Academy."

"Safe?" I echoed. Then that means, what, it'll be dangerous at that boarding school?

"Yes, it will be extremely dangerous," the angel answered. I flinched as she spoke. She almost sounded like… like she could read my mind.

"Of course I can, Ame. I'm an angel, after all. I even know your name, your birthday, your birthmark in that certain area…"

"Um…"

"No, what I meant to say was, unfortunately for you, dear fragile human, this Yokai Academy is a school for monsters."

"Huh?"

"A school for monsters… The supernatural, yokai, spiritualists, et cetera…"

I was silent. I understood what she meant by "monsters", of course. What I couldn't understand was the whole idea of it.

Monsters? Don't even get me started on that subject. I've loved them since I was still an embryo (if that's possible), but living life made me realize they were all unreal… only existing in books and movies. In real life, it wasn't the norm to see angels floating in your room and talking to you about a school full of monsters.

Now, any normal person would question this and go, "What the hell? Am I drugged? Monsters don't exist!" I, however, didn't respond normally…

"I get it," I told her. "But is this all true?"

"Angels don't lie," the angel replied. "Especially an Advanced Angel like me. Plus, you are destined to be there, Ame, it's true. I'm sure you have many questions for me… I'll explain the basic information to you now."

Although I didn't know this strange woman and didn't have the slightest idea of what she was going on about, I settled down and listened.

"I'm Maria," she began. "A human angel."

I was about to ask her what a "human" angel was (since I doubted that angels could be classified as "humans"), but she beat me to it.

"A human angel is an angel that was once human," she explained. "It's different for monsters. When they die, their spirit won't become like ours do. Their soul is… stronger, I guess you could say, and they already possess powers and supernatural abilities. When they die, they won't gain or lose anything. Besides, it's really hard for them to die in the first place…"

"Can they be reborn?" I asked. It's not every day when you get an angel to answer questions on the subject "monsters" for you… I've got to grab every chance I get. "Or reincarnated?"

"No, they can't be reborn. If monsters could be reborn, then our world would be full of monsters with the same souls as they had in their past lives. Their souls would just keep finding new bodies to be reborn in, and it would be an endless cycle of the same living spirits." Maria shook her head, as if troubled by the thought.

"They could, however, be brought back to life." Maria hovered near my piano, speaking while she inspected it. "These situations have happened before. Lesser monsters reanimated, reshaped, recreated, reincarnated or whatever by other monsters of a stronger power and higher class."

"That makes sense…"

"The only way to survive in the monster world is to become the opposite of most of them… to be virtuous and use your powers for good. There are many monsters helping Yokai Academy's headmaster in his plan to create peace between humans and monsters, and they all use their powers for good."

I nodded. Good monsters are good, if I'm going to have to mingle in with them. I was expecting Maria to teach me self-defence or something, since I'll be throwing myself to the sharks and spending my senior year at Yokai.

"You know, Ame, humans who enter this academy will never be the same. That's why they don't allow your kind in there. Well, other reasons might be the devouring of humans, but that's besides the point…" Maria cleared her throat and continued, seeing I was getting nervous. "There are too many monsters there, and the danger is too great. Sooner or later, the effect will get to you, and Yokai Academy's demonic aura will overpower you and change you inside out. It's not a safe place to be…"

I was starting to rethink this whole thing. Boarding school was worth this… Danger? Demonic auras? Overpowering humans and devouring them? No, not even satisfying my curiosity for monsters was worth that risk. I desperately wanted to confirm everything that Maria told me, but I compare my safe (though tedious and restricted) life to a life of demons, monsters, and evil things and, surprise-surprise, I reconsider.

"Don't fret, dear… I have a gift for you, to ward off all evil and protect you from monsters at Yokai. It's something that will repel the dark energy." Maria handed me a gift bag, with bright pink tissue paper sticking out from the top of it.

This definitely looked suspicious. I didn't even know if I was awake or not, or whether or not to trust this woman. I wanted to believe what she was saying, sure, but now she was giving me an object. A very suspicious-looking object.

Should I open it or not? Should I even accept it? Who knows what might happen if I do… A bomb might spontaneously combust as soon as I open up the wrapper, or there might be cobras and deadly vipers inside the package…

I glanced at Maria.

"I hand-wrapped it myself," she said, smiling encouragingly. "It's just a pair of earrings and a bracelet… Go ahead and open it."

I decided to trust her. Opening up the wrapper, I jiggled the accessories into the palm of my hand. I couldn't help it; I kind of squealed at how cute it was.

Maria looked pleased. "You like it?"

"Yes, of course I do! Thank you."

Looking down at the accessories, I wondered how Maria got it. It looked like hand-made ornaments… I'm sure they were one-of-a-kind. The pair of earrings were both baby-blue-coloured O's, in an oval shape. They each had a mini golden halo above them, completed with fluffy, mini pure-white angel wings on either side of the ovals. The bracelet was made out of beaded pearls, and had a white dove charm dangling down on one end of it.

"They're beautiful," I exclaimed softly, just staring down at them.

"Don't just look at them; try them on. Oh, but be sure to put the bracelet on your right wrist though… you know it's traditional to put it on the "holy" good side."

"What?" I asked, confused. There was a good side to my body?

"The right side is the good, virtuous, "holy" side of a person… and the left side is the darker, evil, more cynical side, you know. Each person has a good and bad side to them, and so do objects. Putting that object on your good side will enhance the effect."

"What effect?" I asked, intrigued.

Maria was silent for a while.

"I can't tell you," she finally answered. "There are many questions you have for me, I'm sure, but I cannot answer them all. I must keep inside information confidential, you see. And as for your gift, you will have to figure it out yourself. I cannot help you there."

Maria said "gift" like she was talking about a power… like I was gifted. This was starting to freak me out.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, child. I wish you the very best, and you must make sure to take care at Yokai Academy…"

"What? Wait, you're leaving now?"

"Why, yes… I have other appointments to make, you see. I'm afraid my time's up. You will do fine at Yokai, I'm sure."

I was in a state of shock, as if I'd just accepted the fact that she was real, and monsters were real, and that I was going to Yokai Academy. She couldn't leave… Who would explain the details to me? There were so many questions I needed to ask… If monsters, demons, angels, and whatever else there are real, then that would change a lot of things.

How come humans didn't know about this? I didn't want the wrong people to find out, of course, but others had to know. How could monsters – dragons, demons, spirits, mermaids and other mythical creatures – stay hidden all these centuries? That had to be impossible!

"Farewell, child. Be careful, and don't get into any accidents… Just remember, don't get involved with evil and don't trust demons!"

Maria's angel wings wrapped around herself, and she started to fade. Sparks and feathers whirled around her like a mini-tornado, and with that, she disappeared. The only thing left of her was a few white angel feathers.

There she goes, I thought. What do I do now…?

Author's Note:

Hello, dear readers~!

I was greatly inspired by Akihisa Ikeda's "Rosario + Vampire" series, and this was the result of my obsession.

If you're already reading this, then please don't quit on me now. This chapter does not summarize the entire story! To be honest, I don't even count the first two chapters as Chapter 1 and Chapter 2… I think of them as Prologues. This is not what the actually story is about, mind! The interesting part comes when the original characters of the Rosario Vampire cast show up… and then, of course, a ton of things happen afterwards. Things start to pick up around the end of Chapter 4 and the beginning Chapter 5, in my opinion. That's when I, myself, actually start enjoying my own story xD. The first few chapters are not my personal favorites :/

Now, for a few facts…

Ame Kanmuri: A girl of 17 that transfers to Yokai Academy. Her first name "Ame" means "rain".

I wanted this to be her name because rain falls down from the sky just like fallen angels. Ok, that sounds stupid, I know, but at least it has something to do with my overall topic. "Ame" also means a type of candy (in Japanese), and I like candies, so that name's fine by me~

I'm not exactly sure what happens to our original Rosario + Vampire characters, since Rosario + Vampire Season II isn't finished yet… so my story just takes place in this period of time (when the characters are starting their senior year). If the series finishes, then I guess this story will just stay the way it is.

I also want to add that the whole idea of this story might not be correct based on the fundamentals (or on Akihisa Ikeda's points of view), but I tried my best to make sense of it. Also, since this story includes angels, demons, and supernatural powers, nothing is very fixed and set-in-stone. I just try to illustrate the obvious, so everyone can understand it~

Well, my rant has come to an end. Thank you for reading up to here, and be sure… there will be plenty (emphasize on the "plenty") of more chapters to come after this! So if you liked Rosario + Vampire Angel vs. Demon Chapter 1 so far, stick around and Chapter 2 will be up soon.

P.S.

If there are any spelling mistakes, typos, or any other form of incorrect grammar, please forgive me and try to make the best of it. I read and reread and edited and re-edited this, but of course I'm not perfect.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed (or figured it out) yet, this is just a WARNING: this story includes OCs. There are fictional characters (created by moi) that do not belong in the Rosario Vampire cast. If you don't like these kind of stories, you might not enjoy mine :(

Best wishes and happy reading~!

— ACookieZ