Sometime in the Future:

A flash of lightning tore through the sky, a crack of thunder following it as Tsumiki looked over the battlefield that had once been Hanadate Academy. His uniform was in tatters. His peerage was spread thin. How could they not have foreseen this? How could he not have foreseen this? He felt took a step forward, a sting running through his leg and up his body from the wound that damned fallen angel had inflicted earlier. He clenched his teeth, powering through as he walked. He reached around his body to clutch his left shoulder with his right arm. He couldn't move it. Had it been dislocated he could have popped it back into place. No. It was broken.

His vision blurred for a moment. He was weak. Still, he could hear the sound of combat in the distance. It shouldn't have come to this. "I have it." He mumbled to himself. He was quiet though. He could barely make a sound above a whisper. It hurt so much. As he drew closer to the the spot he'd been knocked away from he couldn't help but try and recall how he'd ended up an estimated 3 blocks away. But he could see it. A dragon. No. Yes. Maybe not. It wasn't quite at the standards of what he'd come to expect. He remembered Sieg saying something about it being a lesser member of his brethren. "I..." He tried again.

This was all because of that idiot. No wait. He couldn't possibly say that. He had made the choice to pursue this. It was nobody's fault, but his own. He could make it right though. He could fix all of this. He stopped. He could hear it. A powerful voice. A scream, though it sounded more like a roar. No... Sieg was going to go on a rampage. He had to stop him. He moved faster. As fast as he possibly could, jolts of pain shooting through his entire body.

"Koha... na?" He had begun to try and call out to his queen, but stopped when he saw her. "How?" He gasped as he forced his body to run and dropped to his knees beside her. He looked around as he pulled her up into his arms and turned his head to scan the battlefield. "Ryuunosuke! Rin!" He called out, as loud as his lungs would allow. "Argos! Kenji!" A few feet away he could see Rin taking shelter behind a piece of the asphalt, most likely turned upward by the clash of forces. He could see the blood running down her arm. Ryuunosuke was out of sight, but he could hear his voice. Shouting, trying to fight his way out of whatever mess he was in. Argos and Kenji were most definitely side by side. But he didn't see them. Were they hurt? Were they anywhere at all nearby?

"I'm so sorry... This is all my fault..." He held back tears, gritting his teeth in order to try and stay strong. Then, there was another flash. A brilliant bright light swept across the field engulfing all parties present. And then...

Nothing.

---

Present Day:

"Another exciting day." Tsumiki Grimmond chuckled as he entered the club room. Located on the far end of the school building he often found himself being questioned as to why he would take part in such club when it was given the room assignment it had been given. It was a club room rumored to be haunted. As such not many students showed any interest in joining, let alone even visiting the room. In truth though, the ghost had been little more than an apparition who'd yet to pass on. Tsumiki had since remedied that problem. Now, any instance of the paranormal was most likely courtesy of him, a member of his peerage or his familiar Lutra.

"Kohana, I have your school work for the day. Please try to complete it as soon as you can." He said placing a small pile of papers on the coffee table sat before a couch in the center of the room. Being that nobody came and he paid for any furnishing outside of the school budget, Tsumiki had taken to stocking the large classroom with anything he or his peerage could need. "The same goes for you Argos." He added placing another small stack on the desk on the far side of the room so the two would not get their work mixed up. He'd managed to work out an arrangement for the two since Argos could not attend school in the day time, hence the black out curtains lining the windows of the room, and Kohana couldn't likely go to class while under the influence.

"I assume Sieg is off doing as he pleases again." Tsumiki shook his head. "Kenji will likely be hear soon." He was mostly speaking to himself at the moment as he sorted himself and his thoughts out. "Hopefully both manage to complete their devil work for the day." In truth he didn't worry about either of them. They'd been with him long enough to know the drill. The same went for Argos. And though Kohana had only been with him a short while she had adjusted fairly easily, though he had taken to sending his Lutra with her on jobs just in case. Nobody ever said this would be easy.

Because of Kenji's rather odd schedule, he had a lot of free time on his hands - for the day at least. Two hours before the dismissal of majority of the others, he was already out of the campus. He had a request come in yesterday about a man needing help with his rifle. Of course, it fell upon his hands. Modern weaponry like guns were his area of expertise. It had to be, since he frequently used one of his own making.

And now, there he was, outside with a rather young man holding a Dragunov rifle in his hands. He laid down on his stomach and adjusted the rifle to his body. Kenji stepped closer to him and helped him adjust. He let out a small yawn, hiding it behind his hand as the man continued to adjust. Kenji had already shown him how earlier. The Fallen Angel was wondering why exactly the man held possession of a Dragunov when he had next to no clue how to use it. He was thinking that if someone passed that piece of beautiful weaponry down to their son, they would teach them how to use it.

Apparently not. "I-I think I got it." The man stuttered out and Kenji refocused back to the man.

"Good. Now can you try and shoot that target I placed over at that mound?" Kenji asked, pointing at the small target. It was around two hundred meters, give or take, but it should be easy to hit any part of that target. The man replied with a small grumble before adjusting the sights to match the target. He pulled the trigger. Miss. He reloaded. Shoot. Miss. Shoot. Miss. Kenji looked down at the man and could see him trembling as he continued to shoot. He knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down and breathe. You're losing your focus because of agitation. A sniper is patient and precise. Because you are a beginner, do not let your missed shots deter you. Calm down and shoot again."

He released his grip from the man. The man took a deep breath and released it. He took one more shot. It finally hit the target. It was nowhere near the center but at least it hit the outermost ring. The man released the sniper in shock and looked upwards at Kenji. "I did it!" Kenji smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. After twenty more minutes of him shooting, they finish and Kenji heads back to the clubroom.

"Done and done." He muttered to himself as he opened the door to the clubroom. The fact that Kohana was already occupying the beloved couch made him quite sad. Though, he guessed the cushioned chairs were just as comfortable. Upon seeing Tsumiki, he quickly greeted him with a question. "Heya King, as much as I hate foregoing sleep for work, I'm pretty sure you'd yell at me to get my shit done. So, do I have any work?"

Though it wouldn't seem that he would like any work as he collapsed onto the chair, his head propped onto his hand. "'Cause if I don't have any work, I'll just -" He yawned and he only looked down as to hide it. Once done, he looked back at the King of the peerage and continued his sentence, "- sleep."

Argos had been in the corner reading another book that the humans made. He had to admit for being an inferior species they had a few artists that were able to be noteworthy and good. Argos was practically immortal so few things in this world interested him books was something that did and he found one his favorite authors named Shakespeare so he was actually reading a copy of The king and I when the king came in telling him that he needed to do his homework and he sighed loudly.

Their was so little point to this homework and it was like a chore for him but he did it regardless since he needed to keep up a good grade since he doubt he could find a place better then the club room to stay safe. He stayed in the corner farthest away from the windows because even if there were black out curtains its hard to fight something he was raised to know. Stay away from windows during daytime. He soon saw another of his comrades come in and it was their sniper bishop which he had to admit was nice since he was one of the few people he could tolerate talking to. "Stupid humans, thinking that this is a suitable education for one like me" He then got up and carefully went over to where his king placed his homework and took it before going back to his corner with a pencil to start working...

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Urgh, nooo...it couldn't be morning yet.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Well, it was probably afternoon. Likely school just had gotten out.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Whoever invented alarm clocks should be tied to a stake and burned alive.

BEEP BEEP BEE-

There was the sound of a crashing noise as the alarm clocks beeps where suddenly cut off as the fox forcefully pressed the off button on the alarm, almost breaking the poor device as a last pathetic beep was heard from it. She really didn't want to be awake right now. Aside from the fact she had stayed up all night, the covers were just so comfortable. Not to mention, her current choice of pillows were absolutely the best. What were her pillows, you may ask? Three, fluffy, black furred tails that just so happened to belong to her. She pulled them out from under her head, wrapping her arms around the three of them in a tight hug. She may not like other people touching her tails, but herself? Well, they were fluffy and soft, what else could she say? The fluffiest and softest.

....She should probably get up right about now, though. She had already missed probably all of school, and Tsumiki would be cross with her if she didn't at least show up at the club. Urgh, but moving was so difficult, and the bed was still so comfortable. With a great amount of effort, Kohana managed to toss the covers off of herself. With a loud yawn, she rolled over...only to fall off the bed and right onto the floor.

"Gah!" She landed face first, falling right on top of a mostly empty bottle of whiskey she had forgot to finish last night. Sitting up, and rubbing her forehead she picked up the bottle with her other hand. Well, might as well finish what she started, heh! Standing up, she walked over to where her laptop was normally kept and opened it. Had to check a few things before she got going, after all. Had various...obligations to take care of. Internet things.

Also delete browser history. Yep, that was always a must.

After that was done, the fox finally decided to go about getting dressed. Not that she minded walking around in her underwear and a loose fitting shirt, but going out in public like that would have just gotten her a bit in trouble and was more hassle then she was willing to deal with. After a quick shower, she slipped on some loose fitting pants, her normal boots and a loose fitting shirt and jacket. Tossing the now empty bottle on her now unoccupied bed, she finally left her home.

She was running low on her supply, coming to think of it. She'd need to get some later.

---

By the time Kohana reached the club, school was already over with. She walked in, a bag filled with a few bottles of alcohol slung over her shoulder. She wasn't going to be drinking all that much in Tsumiki's presence, but it was for later. Besides, she already drank half a bottle on the way over. She waltzed in, ignoring most of the others of the peerage as she plopped down on the couch, using it as an impromptu bed and setting the alcohol on the ground next to it. Humans and their silly rules about alcohol. She'd drink as much as she damned well like, where she liked. Even at school.

She was here, so they could let her do that much, at least.

It wasn't much longer before Tsumiki showed up, carrying with him a stack of papers that was supposed to be homework. He set them on the coffee table. At least he asked nicely.

"Meh." she replied dismissively, one of her ears flicking idly in boredom. "Yeah, yeah, I'll do it." She didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. She didn't pay much attention to the others in the room, but was glad Sieg was nowhere to be seen for the moment. That fool was always grating on her rather limited nerves. She could only tolerate so much of that one.

"Just do it, Argos." Kohana replied to the vampire with a yawn. "I have to, so you bet your ass you're gonna."

Alternatively, she could just find a nerd or someone who enjoyed these things and just pay them to do it. Of course, if Tsumiki found out she'd probably be in a lot of hot water.

Argh, this was annoying...

"I'll do mine later tonight." She continued. "Barely been up an hour." Which anyone would also know, that meant, she had likely just drank something. The half empty bottle among the other bottles of freshly bought alcohol, was any indication.

"What a bother"The grumpy voice of the clearly displeased Siegfried resounded by the empty warehouse, suddenly startling the thin, glasses wearing male that stood shaking by his side, provoking him into weakly voicing of a quick apology. "I-I'm sorry. They said they were going to be here. I-...""Sure, sure. Whatever. I don't really care for that, just hope that these mongrels won't make me wait any longer." Sieg grumped, directly interrupting the other other male and quickly restoring the previous silence. Still, I wonder how did i end up in this situation...

---

Flashback Start
It all started as normal as any other day in Sieg's life, as he pretty much repeated the same daily ritual as ever - that included bathing, putting some clothes, avoiding his King and any other members of the peerage while making his ways through the outskirts of the school, randomly grabbing something from a nearby convenience store to eat and finally starting a stroll by the city while searching for something amusing to do - after waking up, when a sudden urge of doing something productive - mostly motivated by the lack of means of entertainment that opened that early in the day - afflicted him, motivating him into accepting one of the pending contracts of the peerage.

After a few moments of not-so-deep thought, Sieg ended up deciding the summon of a new client merely as a way of providing some extra amusement to the situation, directly changing his route to the residence of the youth that is now by his side, that for convenience's sake will be called as Boy - although he did present himself by some affeminated name. Something along the lines of Renya, if Sieg remembered well - and presenting himself as a devil without caring for the surroundings. While at first the reaction of the thin youth was that of disbelief, it quickly changed after Sieg demonstrated a few of his skills - that quickly pushed the youth into a terrified state and most certainly confirmed the dragon's identity as a creature belonging to the supernatural world - and offered making a contract to the still impacted boy, that immediately accepted in fear of offending the dangerous person in front of him.

The boy desperately explained that he tried to summon a devil as a last measure against some delinquents, that - motivated by how weak sounding and delicate the boy was and how that attracted the attention and sympathy of a popular girl of his class - started to harass him, consistently picking on him and going aa far as physically beating him in a daily basis, turning him life almost unbearable for the last few weeks. As a result, the boy steeled himself to try any method to make them stop, deciding to summon a devil to scare them away before things escalated to an even harsher level.

Sieg, of course, accepted this reason and decided to - in his own way - help the boy, directly asking him to call the delinquents to a fairly desert area to "solve their differences" as soon as possible, what brought him to the current situation.
End of the flashback

---

"Eh!? What the hell!? You brought a forereigner to help you, pansy?" An annoying voice exclaimed loudly, filling the empty warehouse with an unpleasant noise as five Yankee-looking delinquents entered the area, loudly chuckling as their leader - A boy with an annoying voice, orange dyed hair and away too many piercings in his ears - continued with the verbal abuse. "So, who exactly is this? Maybe it's your boyfriend? Suits a pansy like you" he said, once more starting to laugh in the same annoying high-pitched tone as before.

"Just making clear, you just want me to scare them a little, right? You don't want them dead or anything?" Sieg asked, turning towards his contractor while ignoring the annoying pest who constantly made noise, just to be faced by the shaking head of the boy, that clearly didn't wish to seriously hurt the other youths. "Tch... Whatever. I guess I can just teach them a little lesson." The Dragon said with a sigh, clearly tempted to dispose of the annoying guy, as he walked towards the small group, provoking another wave of unpleasantries coming from the leader of the youths. "What the hell!? Is this guy even serious? Let's get this crazy fa-..." He started, just to have his words stopped by a hand that suddenly grabbed his lower face, holding his jaw in a way that blocked his speech. "Shut up, insect. I'm already pretty annoyed because your blabbering" Sieg's muttered in a cold tone, directly meeting the youth's gaze with his unnaturally crimson eyes - that brought a sense of pressure similar to what one would feel when facing a wild beast to the group of delinquents - as he once more started talking. "Now... Shall we have a small talk about how to properly behave as a human being..?"

---

By the time he finished his business - taking the signature from a terrified teenager boy standing amidst the even more terrified figures of the delinquents that once bullied him, now trying to discover the limits of their capacities of maintaining a perfect seiza posture in the hard ground of the warehouse - school was already over, and the club activities were about to start. Naturally, he directed himself to the club room to slack off a little more and maybe sleep if Tsumiki still didn't get there report to his king, just to directly hear Tsumiki's small comment about his attitude, triggering him into boldly entering the room while waving the fulfilled contract. "Who was the one doing as he wanted, grumpy king? I was clearly doing my job responsibly as the great person that I am." He said with a grin in his face, directing his gaze to Kohana and Argos - more specifically focusing in the bottles of alcohol brought in by the kitsune - before continuing with his self declared righteous speech. "On the opposite of a certain lazy pet, I daresay."

"One, two, three, four . . . around twenty? Eh, good enough."

Ryuunosuke turned around, exiting the room he had been using as a hiding spot while observing his newest prey from a distance. They were situated in a building just opposite of this one, and likely weren't aware that he was watching them, and even if they were, they probably dismissed him as another thug or squatter living in the area. This part of town was full of them after all, so what was one more? Either way, they probably couldn't imagine anything like what he had planned for them happening.

He'd caught wind of them a week ago. For thugs, they stood out immediately even in the slum areas, because they didn't act it. They were too professional, too disciplined. They weren't two-bit muscle cashing on some quick money via a bit of rough-housing, and they certainly not delinquents that just hung out in these places to act tough. They had more purpose, and a bit of digging uncovered that purpose.

Ryuunosuke tolerated a lot of things, but drug-trafficking was a no-no. It wasn't happening, not in his town and not on his watch. Of course, the truth of the matter was that stopping the trafficking was only a side bonus, and not quite his main objective.

He was aware that the town fell to some devils jurisdiction, but that was on a mere technicality and it wasn't as though he actually acknowledged their authority, after all, who died and made him king? In any case, they would only act when it came to something concerning the supernatural, not something like this. Things like mundane thugs and street fights weren't something they would bother themselves with - all the better really, because that left more fun for him. It was often that he skipped school whenever he found a good place to let loose, like now.

He stepped out of the abandoned building, rotating his shoulders lightly on the way out to get them warmed up. He wasn't using ki or Senjutsu for this one, oh no, that privilege was for a different kind of enemy. For normal humans, his flesh and blood would suffice just fine.

He approached the guards standing outside of what was probably their headquarters. A low flat with that was connected to several apartments. A bit run-down but otherwise nothing suspicious. The perfect place for a hideout, in hindsight.

The three guards on watch turned as he approached, on of them reaching into his jacket for what Ryuunosuke was sure was a gun, from the way his wrist was angled; he had to wonder how he got his hands on it and if the others possessed one as well. It didn't really matter much in the long run though.

"What do you want kid?" the thug scowled. Ryuunosuke smirked back at him, and just as the man was about to snap at him in irritation, his leg shot out and buried itself into his chest. The man barely had time to comprehend what happened to him before his eyes bulged out of his sockets and he was set flying back, the force of the blow no doubt shattering several ribs and taking him out of the fight. The other two guards barely had time to react before a set of hands snapped out towards them palm first, and cracking them squarely on the jaw. They dropped like puppets with their strings cut even as Ryuunosuke strolled idly past them, a bit disappointed by how little of a fight they put up. If the others inside didn't up their game, then this trip will have been a waste of time.

---

He plowed through the other guards with annoying ease as he made his way to the center of the flat, where they were undoubtedly storing their goods. He was also bored out of his mind - he'd skipped classes just to make it here in the afternoon, where their activity would be at their peak, where they should have been at their most alert, instead, he'd been greeted by weaklings and chumps who didn't know their fist from their ass.

When he thrust open the doors of the room, he grinned. Inside, over a dozen men were standing at attention. Some of them had guns drawn and aimed squarely at him. The person standing at their center, a man with dirty blonde-dyed hair and wearing an expensive looking denim jacket, was from what he knew, the ringleader, and he was scowling at him deeply.

"Alright kid, I don't know who you are or-"

That was about as far as he got before Ryuunosuke jumped right into the middle of the crowd, a mad grin on his face. He took the the boss-man out first, smashing his fist into his face where he was rewarded with a satisfying crunch. Being where he was, the thugs with guns couldn't open fire lest they accidentally hit one of their own; he turned to them next.

For the next ten minutes, Ryuunosuke became a whirlwind of punches and kicks, barely taking any damage himself as he brought down thug after thug. By the end of it all, each and every one of them were on the floor, unconscious and in the cases of others, heavily injured. He was pretty sure some of them wouldn't be fighting for a long while, and he was damn certain that at least two of them weren't qualified to become fathers after what he'd done.

As for himself, while not completely unscathed, he had come out relatively fine - asides from an additional bullet hole in his thigh. He'd work on that on the way back home. In any case, it was a relatively satisfying fight, even if none of them were any good individually, they made up for it in quantity. He noticed that the number of people had increased from when he had entered the room, so there were more of them out there than he'd originally counted.

His job done, Ryuunosuke left a call to the police using one of the downed thugs cellphones, and strolled out with a slightly limp. It would be healed by the time he got home, but it was probably going to leave a scar.

He got to a nearby park, and took note of the time. School had just finished so that meant he'd been waiting there for around an two hours. Come to think of it, wasn't he supposed to do something at school . . . ?

Oh, right. The teacher had asked him to deliver a few documents to a certain club. What was it again? Animal Research Club? Animal something something anyway. He'd left those documents at home on the way to the hideout . . .

"Well, I ain't got nothing better to do," he said with a shrug. It was rare that a teacher would talk to him, given how he looked like and behaved, but the one that had asked him to deliver those documents was a pretty young teacher, who had hardly interacted with him and was just innocent enough to have no problems with talking with him, or other delinquents. In someways that made her naive, but in others, it was endearing. For his part, Ryuunosuke respected her convictions as a teacher, and it was true that she was more interesting than most of the other staff members. Besides, her really had nothing to do, and he wasn't some kind of petty delinquent that ignored a teachers request just to act tough - that kind of attitude just reeked of being insecure about ones own weakness. It was why most high-school delinquents, in his eyes, were not even worth taking the time to beat the shit out of - most of them were just brats acting tough, and probably rarely got into fights that didn't involve them lynching a lone nerd in some alleyway.

If he really booked it, he could make it from here to the school in thirty minutes at least.

Inhaling deeply, he felt the life energies of around him become clearer, even as he circulated his own chakra over his body. His wound healed at an abnormally fast pace as his body responded to the sudden influx of power. He grinned at the feeling, and sprinted towards his house, not intending to stop until he had reached the school.

Rin smiled as she politely greeted everyone and excused herself for various reasons as she head up to the school roof. It took some planning and time but this had to be one of the greatest ways to get across her calling card all at once. In a exactly 5 minutes and counting multiple remote controlled planes would take flight and deliver a downpour of her calling card. Announcing that the "Arsene ghost" would be making another heist.

The police was in a turmoil the damn phantom thief was making a mockery of them. Sad part was they were in no way prepared for any of the heists that was pulled off. First was a jeweled broach, second a bejeweled chalice, third a ornate mirror. These items all had nothing in common really beyond being in some shape or form being involved in some form of occult business. Smiling though unseen to all was Rin or shall we say Elizabeth Arsene Lupin as she listened to the turmoil in the police station a few blocks away. Though that grin only widened more as she looked up and saw multiple planes fly by releasing its contents all over the city a simple black business card with a bird in a circle in bright gold. Raising her hand she grabbed one of them and started to flip it between her fingers it was game time.

"To those that may concern I am Arsene the ghost of the first gentleman thief it is time that we begin our game once more. The item I seek is this time is something as of late I took quite a shine to so as such I shall liberate it from those who do not know its true legend. The item I seek has gathered quite a bit of a following the jeweled tree branch will be mine. I shall be taking it in 2 days from now at high noon so catch me if you can.
Yours Truly Arsene"

Rin read aloud making it seem like she was reading it from the back of the card when in fact she was reciting it from memory in two days the jeweled tree branch would be hers and she can start on the heists of the five impossible tasks of Kaguya.

Back at the small apartment that Nora called home, the poor girl was just waking up. After the terrible nightmare she had experienced two nights ago, she hadn't really felt like going to class and had been sleeping in past the end of the school day. At least she thought it was a nightmare. It had to be. How else could she explain those strange crystals that appeared behind her and that strange silver-haired boy appearing as if from nowhere, just before she took her last breath? It had all felt so real though, especially the intense pain and warm blood she felt pooling around her. Could she really have imagined all of that?

Finally rising out of her bed, the first thing the blond noticed was just how soar her back and neck felt. It was almost like she had spent the entire night sleeping on the floor. As she pushed herself off her mattress though, she realized that that description wasn't very far off from the truth. Releasing a surprised scream, she pushed herself away from the pile of broken and shattered crystals that had once been her bed, backing up against the wall near her door. Upon touching the frame though, it too was suddenly encased in the dark structure.

"Oh my God! What's happening?!" she managed to shout out before a sudden migraine took hold of her. Wincing at the pain, she instinctively reached for her head and began to rub her temples in the hopes that it would help dissipate the discomfort. "No! No, I can't touch anything!" she reminded herself, remembering what had happened to her bed, the door frame, and the warehouse two nights ago. Immediately, she stretched her arms forward as far away from her body as she could.

Backing into the corner of her room, Nora curled herself into a ball as she unconsciously continued to use her Sacred Gear, forming a cocoon of crystal around herself as she tried to hold back her sobs. "What have I done? What did I do?" she asked herself aloud, thinking that this was the result of some mistake she had made in the past. Perhaps it was some divine punishment for lying to her parents in an attempt to avoid moving. Panic would subside into acceptance though as she realized there was no escape from her situation. It appeared that she was fated to die yet again.

Once she was completely surrounded in the solid formation though, she found that she wasn't suffocating as she thought she would. Instead, it was almost as if she had trapped herself within a snow globe or crystal ball, though one that was much more dense and harder to break than either of those objects. "What do I do now?" Nora asked herself, her mind momentarily wandering to the memory of that silver-haired boy with colorful eyes. If that night was real, then did that mean so was he? Would he come to save her yet again? She hoped he would, otherwise she saw no possibility to get out.

Tsumiki found himself interacting with the members of his peerage all at once not long after his entrance into the room. Kohana wasn't quite happy about the work she'd have to do, but he was glad she was willing simply for his asking. "Thank you very much." He spoke to both Kohana and Argos. He knew they wouldn't let him down. And being that there wasn't much more to say on that topic there came Kenji.

"Hmmm..." He tried to think about whether or not there was anything. "If you aren't caught up on your school work I suppose that is all there is to do." He chuckled calmly. That would be until tonight. Humans had a tendency to wait until the night until to call for the services of devils. Of course, there were always exceptions to the rule, but there was likely to be a bit more business tonight. It might have seemed odd to some; the idea of a devil keeping up with school work. Still, living as a human and protecting his territory, he had to maintain a reputation among the humans.

Then, there came Siegfried. "Well, weren't you only doing your work because it was what you wanted to do?" He asked with a small scoff. "I suspect you simply went about such business because you were bored. Skipping class and with nothing to do." He shook his head. He opened his mouth as if to speak more but then noticed something out the window. He walked over to it and opened it. Cards?


Tsumiki reached out and grabbed one. "What is this?" He asked himself quietly before turning it over to read it. "Hmmmm." He laughed a bit and tossed it onto his desk before finding a small glowing card of his own. This just got better and better. "Argos. Inspect this." He tossed the card of Arsene to the vampire. "Don't act. Simply search and report to me."

Then, something on his desk began to glow. A small card. One of the many he had his familiar and the others pass out to complete their devil work. If it was going off his newest piece was probably freaking out, hoping for him or anybody else to come. "Interesting." He spoke to himself.

"It appears I'll be needing to go." He said as he stood back up and walked towards the magic circle situated in the far corner of the room. He kicked the rug that covered it to the side; didn't want anybody seeing it after all. "If anybody comes by for us be sure to greet them hospitably. If they need me specifically, I'll be back in soon. They'll be more than welcomed to wait." He said calmly as he stepped onto the circle. It began to glow red as he activated it using his magic power honing in on the card reacting to the wishes of the person he'd given it to; his knight. And thus, without another word the King was gone.

---

Tsumiki appeared in the apartment of his new knight, Nora Evans. "What do we have here?" He asked with a soft laugh as he inspected the influx of crystals coating the room. Finally his gaze fell on the small sphere in the far corner. He walked towards, moving slowly. "You're sacred gear is running wild." He said as he placed his fingers along the small barrier she'd created. "I need you to calm down. It reacts to your emotional state." He explained giving no further information as to who he was. That could come later. She couldn't know. Her knew life was just beginning and he wasn't about to let it end due to her inability to control her sacred gear. "Take a deep breath. You can control this. Force it open, make it weaker. Change its shape. It won't be easy. It'll take a lot of concentration. But I often find that humans..." Well she wasn't human anymore. "Humans are far more capable than many of you give yourselves credit for." He shook his head and finished the statement.

"Do you understand Nora?" He finally asked waiting for her to pull back the crystals. It'd take concentration. Perhaps he could have sealed the power, but that wouldn't have done her any good. She would have needed to learn to suppress it herself.

The crystals around Nora began to grow again as Tsumiki first appeared in her room, the light from his magic circle terrifying her at first until she recognized the silver hair and the heterochromatic eyes. It was the same boy who had helped her two nights ago, surely he could do so again.

When he began to speak, Nora struggled to hear his words. The crystals surrounding her were muffling what he said, but she was sure she at least picked up the important bits, for example, this really was all her fault. She was the cause of this strange prison she had locked herself into, but at least she now knew how to get out.

The blond girl closed her eyes and began to concentrate, imagining the crystals sinking back into the ground from whence they came. "Come on, Nora. You can do it. You have to. You don't want to be stuck in here forever," she goaded herself aloud when she couldn't hear any results. Her face began to grow red as she continued to push herself, trying her best to follow the boy's words and focus on the image in her mind of the dark structures retreating back beneath their feet.

With a huff, she finally gave herself a moment to breathe after holding her breath for so long. Nora let out a sigh of defeat as she told Tsumiki, "It's not working. I can't do it. I'm just not strong enough." Her eyes were still forced shut though, so she couldn't see that she had in fact been successful. Not only were the crystals that had been cornering her already gone, but so had the ones that had been covering the door and her bed, though the mattress and frame were still in pieces. At least she had succeeded, now she only needed to be notified of her accomplishment.

Kenji looked over to the mounds of homework that was apparently for their Queen and his fellow Bishop. Hearing Argos's mumble, he let out quite a hearty chuckle. "We need to keep up appearances after all." He stood up and walked over to the other pile of papers that belonged to Kohana and then took the topmost. Ah, wasn't this their assignment that needed to be passed the day before? "I've learned all about this before, and now here I am again, havin' to do it all over again." Of course, he had to change his name from what he had used before, and this was before he met Tsumiki and became part of his peerage, so no one has suspected him. Not yet, at least.

He placed the paper back on the pile. "If 'ya need any help, Fox Queen, just ask me. Our classmates are pretty worried about you getting the possibility of being retained for the year, and that'll cause a lot of problems. But I won't do all of it for 'ya, King here's gonna have my head if I do that." He gave her a small grin. The blonde quickly claimed his position on the chair again, giving Siegfried a small nod as a form of greeting. Besides Tsumiki, he has known the dragon the longest out of all the others. He respected the guy enough to not really comment much on his boastfulness. He has and will always chalk it all up to him being a dragon and that he was originally powerful enough to back up his large ego.

"Alrighty then. If Kohana doesn't need help, I'll sleep." He muttered before settling quite nicely on the chair. His eyes followed the silver haired demon as he moved from his position to the window to see a card floating down. The blonde didn't show much interest in it though as his eyes started to close. Then Tsumiki said that he'll have to go for a while and he opened one of his eyes to look at him. "Mhm'kay." It probably had something to do with their newest recruit - the Knight. He doesn't know much about her. If he remembered correctly, none of them aside from Tsumiki had met her. Though he was pretty sure that the time of them meeting her was close.

Argos was still doing homework ignoring the others as they came in. He wasn't going to dignify the others with his time the only one he needed to listen to was his king and the only person in the group that he can stand being around was his fellow bishop. He can get along with their queen as well but otherwise the other members of their group didn't deserve his attention with their arrogance or their pride.

Soon he heard the king laugh so he turned his attention to him just as he threw a card his way which he caught easily turning it over before he heard the order he gave him which was sadly to just watch and report. He sighed softly as he put the last marks on his homework before he stood up and stretched. At least it will kill some time" he said before he walked out knowing it was getting dark and he wasn't able to leave the place while it was still light out so he waited till sundown once that was done he got to work investigating. The first thing he did was search the museums for the item that Arsene said they would steal. Argos was able to make an educated guess as to what the thief was referring to so he used his superior skills in stealth to stay hidden as he investigated the target the thief would go for.

Barely even five seconds after being thankful he wasn't there, Sieg conveniently decided to show up. The kitsune clamped her mouth shut, teeth grinding together as one of her ears twitched in obvious annoyance. She didn't want to start anything with him as Tsumiki would frown on that - plus it'd be tiring, but how fucking difficult was it for him to at least not refer to her as a 'pet'?! Show some basic human decency and respect! It wasn't that hard. She could tolerate pretty much every single other bad habit of his, but being referred to as a pet? It made her naturally violent tendencies act up, and Sieg was lucky she had a little self control, unlike he did.

Otherwise, she would have already killed the guy.

"Yea, yea..." She grumbled in reply to Tsumiki thanking her, ignoring Sieg. That was the best way to deal with someone like him. Ignore him, and he'd eventually go away or get so pissed he'd start something. Then well, she could just ask Tsumiki to put him down. Or do it herself if Tsumiki didn't want too. At least Kenji made her laugh.

"Worried? About me? Pffft," She chuckled. "Since when do our classmates care about the girl who went around stealing their money and snarling at them for looking at her funny?" If they were, the students were a lot better people than she could ever be, that was certain. It made her feel a little bad, too. They shouldn't worry about someone like her, that was sure. "'Sides, if I get held back a year...not like I'm gonna go back unless they can force me. Which uh, ain't happening." She replied with a scoff. You know, unless Tsumiki made her or something. Still, she wasn't going to fail this year, at least she had no plans too. She did make sure to attend the minimum number of days possible and at least make sure her grades were...passable at least.

"Well, if no one needs me..." If Tsumiki didn't have need of her or anything she was going for a walk. She couldn't stand being in the same room for longer than she needed with Sieg. "I'ma be outside. Breathing the same air as Sieg is killing my mood." Using some fairly minor Youjutsu, her tails and ears vanished almost instantly. Bad idea, walking around campus with those still out. Hopping off the couch, she headed for the door. She had half a mind to tell them no to touch the alcohol, but she didn't want to give Sieg any ideas.

She grumbled, walking out of the room and started loitering outside of it. Reaching into her pocket, she produced a hand-held gaming device and started playing.

"Touche, Kingsly." Sieg said as aoon as his king pointed the fact that even his willingness to work came from his boredom and thus counted as him once more doing as he wanted." But that doesn't change the fact that I did something that contributed for the peerage, that is already something." The Dragon continued, as if implying that doing a job for the peerage was something he did outside of his responsibility and deserved recognition, quickly turning to face the other members of the club as Tsumiki got distracted by the strange card.

The first one that he paid attention to was, of course, the fallen angel Kenji - that together with him composed the original trio of the peerage and had earned his respect since quite the while ago - answering to his small gesture with a small nod similar to Kenji's own before turning back to Kohana. "Can't you drop the self-pity already, pet?"He harshly said as soon as he managed to recover from the sudden impact that the twitching eat of the kitsune brought to his weak-to-animals heart, hardly taking more than a second to recover his usual attitude - albeit a little more annoyed by how Kohana managed to mess with his state of mind for a second in despite o being such a hateful person. "Even if you continuously rant about how the world hates you and you're an horrible person, nothing will change unless you effectively do something useful." The Dragon continued, moving to pick one of the alcohol bottles that Kohana brought to the club room and waving It, as if to demonstrate it as an example of her flawed attitude. "And while at it, drop this freaking habit. I'm already more than tired of smelling the reek of booze coming from you." He finished while moving the bottle back to its original spot while ignoring the disrespectful comment made by Kohana, turning his back to her as if refusing to acknowledge her presence.

He waited until the three other members of the club took their leave before once more turning to Kenji, leaning in a nearby wall as he directed his words to the fallen angel for the first time in the day."Why do you and Tsumiki even bother with trying to help that queen of self-pity anyway, Kenji?" He asked in the casual way that he reserved to Kenji and Tsumiki, completely dropping his usual haughty attitude. "It's already more than clear that she can't do anything but bury herself in alcohol and pity herself anyway, why should we even take her if she can't handle living as a proper person?"

Takenori Ryuunosuke

Ryuunosuke ran as quickly as his legs could take him. As predicted, his wounds were fully recovered by the time he had returned home, and after swiping the notes he made a beeline straight back to the academy. His estimation of thirty-minutes was on point, more or less, and while he was moving fast enough to be looked at with wonder, he was still slow enough that no-one would immediately suspect anything supernatural. That being said, if he passed by anyone with acute sensory capabilities it would be obvious he was pumping ki through his body to speed him up slightly.

He stopped in front of the school, having hardly broken a sweat despite the speed and distance that he had just run. Immediately, students loitering at the gates stepped away from him. Those he walked by wouldn't even dare meet his eyes. It was the usual treatment. He did, after all, have an admittedly accurate reputation as a delinquent, and his appearance didn't exactly endear himself to others. Moreover, while it was well known that he wouldn't pick a fight with weaklings, or actively bully other students, what had happened to those people that he did fight was well known, if not slightly exaggerated.

It was not uncommon, after all, for some overconfident genius to challenge him to a fight. Such a thing occurred every once-in-a-while, with the challenger most often being someone who was new around the area and had no idea who he was asides his reputation, or someone who'd gone and gotten cocky after having a few victories under his name, and while he didn't start fights with weaklings, he would gladly end one with an idiot. Unfortunately for his opponents, once Ryuunosuke got started, he didn't stop easily.

Against mundane people it was true that Ryuunosuke limited himself, fighting with nothing more than his battle-forged body and inborn instincts, however, that did not mean he held back. On the contrary, it didn't matter who his opponent was - whether they be unfortunate delinquents or a passing yakuza, Ryuunosuke treated them all the same, and word of what he'd done to them circulated around town with surprising alacrity. Some were inclined to disbelieve them, but for the normal student, they felt it best not to take any chances. It was easy to be intimidate by him, after all.

He passed through the corridors of the school practically unhindered. Not even teachers were willing to bump into him if they could help it . . . well, most of them anyway. Eventually, he reached the other side of the school, at the very end of the building, where the club he was supposed to deliver the documents for sensei was located.

Just outside of said room, a shabby looking girl with messy black hair loitered about, gaming device in hand. Ryuunosuke took a moment to note that, strangely enough, the girl smelled of alcohol.

Huh. This was the Animal Appreciation Club right? What the hell was a girl like this doing here? She looked like someone who'd rather be out stealing pocket money or glaring down any poor sucker that looked at her funny.

Anyway, on to business. "Oi, angel-face, this the Animal Appreciation Club? I got some documents that need signing, pronto. . ." He approached the girl to hand her the documents, before pausing just as he was right in front of her.

There was something weird with the girls circulation of chakra. It was moving in areas that didn't seem to exist - it felt as though she had an extra pair of ears and a tail, despite nothing being visible to the naked eye. Not to mention . . .

The girl was damn strong. A lot stronger than your run-of-the mill thug. Hell, she was on par with a moderately strong devil, if the vibes he felt coming off her were any indication.

Ryuunosuke suddenly broke into a huge grin, his expression absolutely feral. His blood-thirsty nature suddenly came to the forefront as he was presented with an opportunity for what he would deem an extremely satisfactory opponent.

"Heh-he, to think that someone like you was hidin' right here at school. I need to stop cuttin' classes," he remarked to himself derisively. "Say, what's a devil like you doin' at a school like this?" A reckless question, but Ryuunosuke was hardly someone who cared about such things like subtly. The sooner the girl knew that he knew what she was, then the sooner he could get a fight out of her. Maybe. She might be one of those pacifistic types, despite her looks, which would suck massively.

For the most part, by the time Sieg had started speaking to her she had already left the room. She really, really, hated that guy. If it was for Tsumiki, she'd have already showed him how to make bacon out of giant lizard. Besides, wasn't like anything intelligent ever came out of the guys mouth that deserved to be listened too...probably. She did catch some comment about her 'ranting' about her being a horrible person. Ha! No, that wasn't ranting, that was a fact. She was objectively a terrible person. No way around it - just like the rest of humans.

Annoying, foolish, and greedy little creatures. The lot of them, and she wasn't any better. Her history proved that. Reality was a bitch, wasn't it?

...though thinking of herself and Sieg as the same thing sort of irritated her. She started mashing the button on the handheld device a bit harder. Yeah, being the same as Sieg really wasn't something she wanted to be at all. By the time Ryuunosuke showed up, the Kitsune was aggressively mashing the button and glaring at the screen as if the poor device had somehow insulted her.

"Oi, angel-face, this the Animal Appreciation Club? I got some documents that need signing, pronto. . ."

At the greeting, Kohana calmly pressed the button once more before taking a deep breath. Tsumiki would have her fluffy tails mounted over the fire place if she picked a fight with a random human. Angel face, though? That was likely an insult, considering her not exactly glamorous appearance. The expression he was wearing when she looked up after tucking the handheld back into her coat pocket definitely was one of aggression. She could tell - she wore the same expression pretty often. The fact he also commented on the fact she was a devil, also meant that he was looking for a fight.

How tiring. She didn't mind a fight, but she didn't want to get in trouble and she wasn't feeling very...up for it.

"I go to school here, duh. Not to bright, are you?" She replied with a slightly annoyed expression. She honestly didn't want to deal with him. She had a few other things she'd want to do...so she'd let one of the others take care of him. It might even be funny. She reached out, taking the papers from Ryuunosuke. "I'll uh, make sure they get to who they need too." Had she seen him somewhere before? She didn't think so, but if he went to school here for a few years, it was a wonder she hadn't run across him before considering her not exactly upstanding history.

"Sorry to be a killjoy, but boss man would be cross with me if I picked a fight with a human." No sense in hiding it since he obviously knew. She wasn't just being lazy, really! "Buuut," An impish smile formed on Kohana's lips as she continued. Hey, maybe she could get some entertainment out of this. "If you head inside and ask for 'A smelly, perverted, overgrown lizard who smells of disappointment and failure' I'm pretty sure you could get a fight out of him."

Kenji rolled his eyes at Kohana's reply, more of a comment really, to his statement. "I never said all of 'em. It's more like class rep and some of her friends worryin' about 'ya. Generalizin' all of 'em seemed easier to do." He knew some of the students... or well, most of the students wasn't in good terms with Kohana. Even before she became part of the peerage, he already took notice of her. She barely went to class and barely passed her exams. The next thing he knew about her was the story of her being inducted into the peerage and the rest is history. "Well, whatever floats your boat I guess." He muttered, not finding the energy to try and convince her that what she was doing was a very bad idea... well, that wasn't very unusual. He never did get the will to actually do something about it.

That was when Siegfried decided it was the perfect moment to be his usual self around Kohana - a rather harsh person to be honest. Kenji said nothing as the Dragon continued to speak, finding that it was no use trying to break the tension between the two. They never liked each other after all. For as long as he could remember, the two never went an entire day without something like this happening unless they didn't see each other. It was practically routine by now and something the Fallen Angel has come to get used to. They usually acted up when Tsumiki was not around. Then again, they still do even when he was around. But whenever the King wasn't around, Kenji had to watch all of it alone, as Argos usually disappears at that time, and begin to hope to drift asleep.

However, Kohana didn't seem to like the idea of bantering with Siegfried and quickly left the room... without taking any of the paperwork outside. Ah, hopefully she does that later on. Kenji once more relaxed into the chair, lazily looking at Siegfried as the male leaned on the wall and began speaking to him.

He let out a small chuckle, "That is the question, isn't it, Siegfried?" Was the first reply Kenji made to him before slipping into silence, thinking about what his reply would be. "Personally, her living like that is my reason for having to put up with her. Sometimes, 'ya just gotta have to work on your patience for those kinds of people. 'Sides, she's already part of the peerage and it doesn't look like King's gonna let go of her anytime soon. The least I can do is help her school work... even if she refuses to do them."

He then paused once more to stretch. Once he settled back into his position, he continued, "Her reputation isn't anything to scoff at either. She is pretty damn good at fighting. Don't 'ya think her being Queen is something someone should respect? It isn't easy choosin' who the Queen's gonna be and looks to me like King trusts her a lot, despite who she is. Give her a few more months - it took me that long to get used to you after all." He didn't hesitate on telling the truth. After all, the Dragon already knew about that. Their first months putting up with each other (for having pretty much contrasting personalities) weren't the best but they eventually managed to get along. So, he thought, why couldn't those two?

Siegfried couldn't help but frown a little when confronted by Kenji's behaviour, finding his attitude filled of the usual listlessness especially unsettling when considering how the subject directly impacted their daily lives to the point of being potentially dangerous to the stability of the peerage. He even moved as if about to talk as soon as Kenji took a break from his speech to stretch and fix his position, partially opening his mouth and moving to fix his position, just to slightly shake his head in the next moment, letting the fallen angel talk as he once more leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that would normally suggest that he was against what was being said - albeit most likely being a demonstration of how the Dragon couldn't accept the fact that the angel was indeed telling the truth, Kohana was already a part of their peerage and getting annoyed over it wouldn't help him in any way.

"I... I know." He said with a sigh, looking somehow tired as he uncrossed his arms and buried his hands inside the pockets of his pants, purposefully leaning his head towards the wall - resulting in a small impact with the solid surface behind him - and took a deep breath while facing the ceiling before once more starting to talk. "I just can't handle that 'the world should hate me' attitude of hers." He said, once more facing the angel as he explained his annoyance over the Kitsune's act. "I mean, I do understand that she's young and has made some stupid stuff before, but that act is just too much. It almost makes me want to purposefully provoke her just to see her act as a proper sentient being rather than an alcohol-craving leech." He finished, looking somehow annoyed as a wandering thought that especially annoyed him passed by his head. Besides, if someone whose the crime was beating some kids still has to feel such a shame for her acts even after almost dying for that, what the hell am I supposed to do considering my own historic? Pay for my behaviour with my death? Utter bullshit.

Takenori Ryuunosuke

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"Eh, thanks," he replied as she took the papers from his hands.

Aww, well that was a disappointment. Guess she wasn't up for a fight right now, which was a shame. She did mention something that caught her interest - "boss man" she said, which meant there was someone above her. He had his suspicions, but now that she'd confirmed that she was a student here, he was sure of it: There was peerage here at his school.

He nearly threw his head back to laugh at the irony of it all. Christopher sent him here to have a somewhat normal life, but like a lot of things, the old man had bungled it. There were devils at his school, and for Ryuunosuke, that meant new potential playmates.

He couldn't start a fight right now, however. Under normal circumstances he would have provoked her a bit more to make her a bit more willing to pound his face in. Unfortunately, he was in school right now, and there was no way he was going to risk getting these normal students in a fight between him and a devil. The amount of lives lost in the crossfire would be astronomical.

Well, he had done his job and was just about to leave when the little she-devil added what was basically bait.

"It's obvious yer just tryin' to use me to get some payback, amirite?" He said, casually walking to the entrance of the room. "Ya must really think I'm stupid enough not to recognize bait when I hear it? Well guess what-"

With an enthusiastic thrust, he threw the door open, a mad grin on his face. Hopefully he could get some fun out of this!

"You were right!"

Inhaling deeply, he shouted as loudly and provocatively as he could into the clubroom, heedless of the presence of Siegfried and Kenji. Hell, the presence of two people that were clearly devils might have even made him more excited.

"S'CUSE ME FOR A BIT YE ARSEHOLES, BUT I'M LOOKIN' FER 'A SMELLY PERVERTED OVERGROWN LIZARD WHO SMELLS LIKE DISAPPOINTMENT N' FAILURE', KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND 'IM?"

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@Spanner-@Polaris North-@Rune_Alchemist

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