"Amelia-san, all personnel are ready and standing by," reported the police officer, saluting hand to brow and heels together to the teenage daughter of police chief Philionel Toudaiji. Odd, how the police chief let her order around his subordinates. She wasn't looking at him but at the painting on the wall before her. "When the painting thief appears, we'll capture her."
Amelia, a sixteen-year-old girl with short purplish-black hair, snapped her head toward him, a glint in her dark blue eyes. "Painting thief? Painting thief?? This isn't an ordinary cat burglar, officer. This is the most sly, law-breaking, arrogant, villainous housebreaker in all of Japan's history! No, in the world's history!! Every single time she strikes, her ego is so large she has to announce it to the victim so they can be there and futilely watch before their eyes as she steals their soul-bought painting with another one. But, I, Amelia Toudaiji, will put an end to her villainy! I will bring down this thief who has eluded both security systems and police for so long! All this in the name of Justice!!"
"Well then, until next time! Adieu!" waved a figure leaping from the outer wall surrounding the mansion. The light of the full moon glinted off of the short white kimono and the long purple hair pulled back into a ponytail with a long red ribbon. "Yet another checkmate for Slayer Luna!"
"Eh? What?" Amelia broke out of her posturing and stared at the painting that was not more than a meter behind her. Instead of the beach landscape before, it was now a portrait of a white-winged fairy peering at her reflection in a placid lake. "When did she?? Damn it, she's stolen another one!!"
There were pattering of feet as Lina Kusakabe, cute genius sixteen-year-old high school student, dashed to the school gym, already removing her school jacket that she had so hastily thrown on not twenty minutes before when she woke up late for morning practice. Who the hell had turned off her alarm clock? Rushed and late was not the kind of image she wanted to show. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Lina opened the gym door with a bright smile fixed on her face.
"Good mor - ACK!"
Lina found herself buried under a pile of balls, the ones the rhythmic sports gymnastics club used. One of them wouldn't have been bad. Ten would be an annoyance. But twenty?!
"Who the hell did this?!" the red-haired girl roared, not looking too unlike one of those mythical demons. Of course, her best friend Amelia, already dressed for practice and who was standing right in front of her, wasn't phased.
"I'm sooooo angry!! That Luna thief got away again last night! It's enough to make me scream!" Amelia huffed, tightly gripping one of the clubs they used for practice.
Lina whacked Amelia on the head with one of her indoor slippers. "That doesn't mean you can go around indiscriminately assaulting other team members! What kind of police officer daughter are you?"
"Well you do it all the time," Amelia pointed out, picking up her second club from the mess of balls. "And actually, I didn't throw the balls on you. I was so angry that I wasn't paying attention and I lost my grip on one of the clubs which flew off and hit the clip that held the net holding the balls which just happened to be over that door when you came in."
Lina blinked. If anyone else had told her this, she would have suggested they go visit the school psychiatrist right away. With Amelia though, who wasn't nearly as much of a klutz as she had been several years ago but still had repeat episodes of that past trait, she could believe it.
"Anyway, just because we're childhood friends, I'll overlook it this once," Lina shrugged as she changed into her practice leotard. Though this was their first year of high school, they had both joined the rhythmic gymnastic team and succeeded in becoming the top members. Of course, if you asked Lina, she would insist on being the better of the two. "But don't you think you should give up on trying to catch this Luna person? I mean, you're a civilian and the police are trained professionals. I'm sure they can handle it."
"Don't be silly, Lina. How else can I become a great servant of justice just like my father if I don't get some firsthand experience? A burning spirit of Justice can overcome any deficiency in skill!" But while saying so, Amelia misjudged her toss of a club and it hit her on the head.
Lina sweatdropped as she finished with the ribbon to tie back her long hair. Oh give me a break. Like you can ever catch me. Oh yeah, did Lina forget to mention that she's really the Kamikaze Slayer Luna? Though, everyone keeps calling her 'Thief Luna'. Such ignorance. "Come on, Amelia. Just look at you. Ever since you got obsessed with Luna, you've become distracted and clumsy again. In the recent competitions, you haven't even matched me in either scores or wins. If you're not careful, you'll be dropped from the team."
"You don't have to worry about that. In fact," Amelia turned around to glare at Lina accusingly, "I think you're just jealous that if I catch Luna, I'll become even more famous in school than you are. I can't believe you would be so petty."
"Me, petty?! Hah! There's no chance you can outdo these!" Lina scoffed, showing off her certificates of the competitions she scored top champion as an individual. "You know what I think? I think you're the jealous one and because you know you can't beat me in rhythmic gymnastics, you're over-hyping this Luna character so when you accidentally catch her, you'll get tons of limelight."
"I would not! That's only something you would think of Lina!"
"Oh yeah? I'm just throwing your words back at you!"
"Justice is never so self-serving!"
"Really? So then just how is your family so wealthy then? And furthermore, Miss Love and Justice - "
A gold rod topped with a blue ball fell between the two arguing girl's faces. In slow trepidation, they both looked down its length, up the arm that held it, to the serene face of their club manager, Sylphiel-sensei. Also their homeroom teacher, Sylphiel-sensei was easily the most elegant woman in school and the perfect person to serve as a model and manager for the rhythmic gymnastic team.
"Gymnastics is very much an art form that is a reflection of one's heart. If you harbor ill will toward another, it will show and overshadow the beauty purity of a young girl," Sylphiel-sensei said with a smile.
Lina and Amelia studied the ground. In her time, Sylphiel-sensei had been the rhythmic gymnastic champion of their home district. She knew what she was talking about even if it did come out overly poetic at times.
"Now then, which of you started the argument?"
"Lina."
"Amelia."
The placid smile remained on Sylphiel-sensei's face, which only made it scarier since those who knew the teacher for awhile, like her students, knew she was secretly quite angry. "I see. Alright then, both of you will remain after practice is over to clean up the gymnasium before homeroom. Did everyone hear that?"
Lina and Amelia groaned. There was only fifteen minutes between the end of morning practice and the start of homeroom. Plus, when clean-up fell to the two of them, as it has before, everyone always left everything lying around.
"Now return to practicing you two."
"This is all your fault," Lina whispered to Amelia.
"Was not."
"Was too."
"Was not."
"Was too."
"Lina, Amelia. Do I hear you volunteering for clean-up duty for the next two weeks?" Sylphiel-sensei asked sweetly, tapping her rod in her free hand.
"No, Ma'am!"
"Enough Amelia. Stop following me around like a kicked puppy! It's embarrassing," Lina complained as the glass doors of the apartment complex slid open. She was in a bad mood from clean up this morning, which wasn't to say that she was always in a bright cheerful one either. "It's your fault I got scolded by Sylphiel-sensei. You're always getting me into trouble."
"Me?! Lina, you're the one always pushing the blame and responsibility onto someone else!" Amelia retorted. "And I'm not following you home. I live right next door to you so where else am I supposed to go! Lina, are you even listening to me??"
Lina shut her empty mailbox with a blank expression. She sighed.
"Lina!" Amelia yelled, her arms waving wildly. Any other day this would have been alright, she wasn't going to smack her hand into the walls of the building she had been living in for almost her entire life. But today wasn't any other day, as she realized when her flailing hands struck a stack of boxes.
"AAAAHHH!!"
Obvious observation: Lina and Amelia were buried under the boxes.
"...well, at least the boxes were empty," Amelia laughed weakly off as if it was nothing. "No serious injuries and such."
"I'll show you serious injury," growled Lina, reaching for Amelia.
"Hey...hey! I wasn't the one who put all of these empty boxes here!" Amelia protested, scrambling to get up and out of Lina's reach. For all of the smiles and good sportsmanship Lina showed at school, she could be downright demonic among people who really knew her. "It wasn't my fault!"
She felt a hand helping her get up. Looking over her shoulder, she saw one of the cutest guys she's ever seen. Amelia froze, cheeks red, that way even as walked past her to hold a hand out to Lina.
Lina of course didn't see the offered hand. Her eyes and mind were too busy cataloging the new face's total looks. Fair skin, light lavender hair brushed to just sweep past one of a pair of sapphire blue eyes set in a handsome serious face, slim build, did she mention nice dress sense? Dark turtleneck and jeans, jacket whose sleeves were rolled up a bit beyond the shirt sleeves, and he had a black laptop bag slung over his shoulder. Intelligent type or geek type? But he was too cute for that to matter much yet!
"Are you alright?" he asked, leaning over to take Lina's hand since she was otherwise unresponsive. He looked directly at her and she couldn't tell if she was blushing more from the contact or the eyes. "Sorry about that. Those empty boxes are mine. I was going to get rid of them right away. Looks like the elevator is here."
"Th-thank you very much," Lina stammered, quickly taking her hand back and studying his shoes. Trying to think of something else, she turned away to grab Amelia, by the collar incidentally, and dragged her into the elevator. "Let's go, Amelia."
Lina could still feel his eyes on her as the elevator doors closed. So she didn't feel safe enough to say anything until they cleared the first floor. Amelia wasn't as restrained.
"What's the idea of almost choking me, Lina?!" the dark-haired girl grumbled, rubbing her sore neck. "I can walk by myself just fine." Then she noticed that Lina wasn't paying attention to her and had a distinctly non-Lina-esque look on her face. "...you think he's pretty cool don't you?"
Lina almost suffered a heart attack. Not because Amelia surprised her, not because Amelia had voiced exactly what she was thinking, but because she was thinking like that. It was just a guy after all! A really cute, courteous, and honest one...wonder if I'm his type?
"I'm not sure he would go for a girl who gets angry enough to beat up her childhood friend just over a matter of empty boxes," Amelia pointed out, again striking the bull's eye of her friend's thoughts.
"Wh-wh-what are you talking about!! I'm just thinking that if all of those empty boxes are his then he must have just moved in. Which means I'll have to run into a thoughtless person like him again," Lina huffed, looking away from her friend who wasn't convinced.
Downstairs, the guy sneezed. Those two girls must be talking about him. But it probably wasn't anything he had to be concerned about. On his opened laptop, he opened the protected folder to access the most recent file. It was a picture taken of Lina during the last gymnastics match.
"That was her then," he smiled, and it wasn't a very nice one. "Lina Kusakabe. So we finally meet."
Lina briefly looked at the nameplate on her apartment door. She lived in 702, her name written quite plainly on the plate. A pang of loneliness came and went as it always did when she looked at it. Well, she wasn't quite as alone as the nameplate implied.
"I'm home," Lina called, removing her shoes in the entryway just at the door. She made sure the door was closed behind her, after all, a girl living alone could be tempting to any robber or rapist. Something flew out of her room toward her. "Filia?"
"Welcome back, Lina!!" A six-inch person with white wings with long blond hair appeared. Long bangs framed her angelic face; a circular gem matching her blue eyes set on her brow. Over her pink and white garb that showed lots of leg was a checkered apron to go with the duster in her hand. "Your guardian angel Filia Fish has cleaned up the entire apartment!"
Lina sweatdropped. "Filia, for one thing, you don't need to keep cleaning the place for me every day. Another thing is an angel who cleans just sounds silly. And finally, you're a quasi-angel, not a full one!!"
Now, Lina wasn't insulting Filia by acting as if she knew more than an angel did, yes Filia was an angel even if she was a quasi, but Filia had explained to her before. The hierarchy in the place up there was different from all of the mythological and religious texts Lina had read. Angels do not sit on clouds playing harps or golf for all eternity, they were actually employed workers, receiving part of Ceiphied's essence to do good things. The more good things you did, the harder you worked, the higher up the celestial hierarchy you rose. Above quasi-angel was the full normal angel and above that was the Grand Angels. Obviously the Grand Angels were the highest, most powerful, and the fewest.
Filia pouted, following and picking up after Lina as her human charge began to discard her school stuff starting with her book bag. "Well, if someone whom I've been sent to advise and assist would work harder, I'd be promoted to full angel in no time!"
"Hey, I'm a busy high school student with test and practice and such," Lina snorted, removing the jacket of her uniform with its puffy short sleeves and hanging it crookedly on a hanger in her wardrobe. "Plus this is the best time of my life! I'm not going to spend all of it running around at all hours of the night doing work for you. I'm not an angel who has enough free time to clean up an apartment everyday."
"You think it's easy for me to be stuck with such a lazy, self-centered human? Sometimes I wonder if you really are the reincarnation of Luna Inverse," Filia moaned before turning to lecture mode. "Why is it you remember the celestial hierarchy but not the reason I'm here for the past month?!"
"Oh that?" Lina pulled out the bow at her neck and dropped it on the dresser, ignoring Filia's protests that the ribbon should be hung on the rack she had prepared. "You mean how I'm not only the descendent but also the reincarnation of Luna Inverse, a famous female knight several hundred years in the past who fought for the oppressed and the weak in the name of the Flare Lord Ceiphied. At least, that's the historical record. But in truth, she was gifted with some of the essence of Ceiphied, allowing her to see and do battle with the demonic minions of the Ruby Eye. And as her reincarnation, I also have that power! In addition to being a cute, genius high school student. Of course, I'm not too crazy about the purple hair part."
Filia sweatdropped. "And you don't have any modesty either."
"Hey, do you still want me to work with you or not?" Lina asked evilly, causing Filia to once again question the incarnation part. "So anyway, Ruby Eye hates Ceiphied's guts and just recently found a way to weaken him by using the paintings in the human world. Taking advantage of people's fascination with the paintings, Ruby Eye implants his demons there to take control, manipulate, and eventually destroy the human and others. That works because the source of Ceiphied's power lies within people's hopes and 'beautiful' spirits. If the demons aren't stopped, Ceiphied will die, humans will die, everyone will die, etc etc. Not just anyone can try to fight the demons because they'd get possessed but I, Lina Inverse, bearing the power of Ceiphied, am immune to such low tactics and hence the fate of the world rests with me!!" Lina paused dramatically and winked at her angel. "So, did I miss anything?"
"Oh, just the part about how you're going to fight another demon...," Filia suggested, tapping her fingers together nervously.
"Oh yeah and fight another demon..." Lina caught on as she pulled off her mock turtleneck. "Absolutely not! Didn't I just get rid of one last night?! I need time for my beauty sleep."
"Or are you afraid Amelia is going to catch you this time?" her angel challenged, having a good idea of which buttons to press to get Lina to go demon hunting.
"Hah! She couldn't catch me if I stood right in front of her, tied and gagged," Lina scoffed.
"Ummmmm." Filia really didn't want to use this but she was getting desperate. Lina was getting more and more rebellious when it came to capturing demons. "I guess you don't want the reward then..."
Lina was at Filia's side in a heartbeat. "Reward? What reward? You never mentioned any reward before? Reward for what? Capturing all of the demons? Handing Ruby Eye's head on a platter to Ceiphied?"
"Errr, not something that...grotesque. If you succeed in defeating all of Ruby Eye's minions, you'll be granted one wish - "
"Wish?!? One wish? Any kind of wish? World domination? Richest person in the world? A super model figure? All the food I want when I want it? Magic?? How about wishing for more wishes?"
"Wait a minute, it's just a wish! I don't know the specifics!!" Filia screamed, really wondering if Lina got anything from her ancestor other than the divine power. To think the fate of the world was resting in the hands of this selfish, somewhat good-hearted, girl.
"Alright then! Demons, prepare to meet your maker!!" Lina laughed crazily, the fire of determination with just a bit of greed roaring from her eyes. "There's nothing I can't do when my mind is set!!"
"Oh, you're really going to do it!" Filia almost cried with joy. "We're off to Kakimachi!"
"Right, Kakimachi!" Lina cheered, pumping her fist in the air. Filia imitated the gesture. There was a moment of silence, and it wasn't for praying.
"Where in Kakimachi?" Lina turned to Filia with a bright smile, still in the same position.
"I don't know." Filia has the same smile as she answered Lina.
"You got me all worked up and you don't even know exactly where the demon is??" Lina yelled, towering over her fairy like a giant.
"The wish!" Filia frantically reminded before Lina decided to lock her in a cookie jar or something. The magic words returned Lina to some semblance of her normal self.
"Right, right. The wish. Okay. Calm. Be calm." Lina took a deep breath to calm herself. She walked out to the balcony of her apartment. "Kakimachi is the next district over, straight that way. As a crow flies you might say. Well, that's not too bad!"
"Good afternoon," said a familiar voice. To Lina's right, right of her balcony that is, was the boy she met downstairs now leaning against the railing.
"Go-Good afternoon." Ahhh! She could feel her face turn red as he smiled. He looked good smiling too, more points! But she didn't need to blush!
"We meet again."
"So, you're living next door." Lina wondered if his family was with him. That was certainly a lot of boxes downstairs to move by oneself.
"Sure looks that way. I just moved in today. Name's Nagoya."
He's a bit more friendly than he was downstairs. Well, it was just a first meeting. If he's next door, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other.
"Nice view. It's better than I originally thought."
"Yeah, it's great being on the seventh floor," Lina agreed. "You're above much of the other buildings."
"Actually, I wasn't talking about the scenery," Nagoya kept smiling widely. Lina was beginning to get a bad feeling. He cocked his head, looking intently at her. He pointed a finger. "You've got more of a chest than I originally thought."
Lina gasped, suddenly remembering that yes she took off her school blouse earlier and the undershirt she was wearing was the only thing over her bra, which was still peeking out around the straps and the top and -
"Pervert!!" she screamed, throwing her slipper at him before running back inside of her apartment. Lina didn't see Nagoya's smirk as he caught the slipper before it connected. OH MY GODS!! I can't believe I was standing there the entire time practically half naked!!!
Filia began moving all of the breakable things into a safe place where Lina couldn't easily get her hands on them.
"Um, hey, Amelia? You in there?" Lina rapped lightly on Amelia's head but got no response from the dreamy-eyed girl. The entire walk to school had been this way. Lina had to keep steering Amelia away from road hazards and streetlights. "Hey, isn't that someone taking papers from the teacher's desk?"
"Where?!" True to form, Amelia, defender of law and justice, leaped to her desk, ready to capture and punish the evildoer. Of course, it took her a minute to realize there wasn't one. She jumped back down, a bit embarrassed at making such a scene over nothing. "Lina, just what was that for?"
"I called you five times already and you didn't respond. Just what were you smiling so dreamily about earlier?" the redhead asked, sitting on the edge of Amelia's desk. "Dreaming that you caught Jeanne or something?"
"No, just love," Amelia sighed deeply.
"Oh brother. First Jeanne, now this. Who's the person I should give my condolences to?"
Amelia frowned. "Oh, you're just jealous that I'm growing up faster than you are. And if you must know, it's that guy who graciously helped me to my feet yesterday in the lobby."
Lina's first thought was she was not jealous. So what if Amelia was already a few inches taller and a bit fuller around the chest. Her second thought was that Amelia was embellishing her memories again. The third thought was that it was just like Amelia to fall in love because of such a simple gesture. And her fourth thought was -
"Him?! But you don't even know his name!!"
"It's love at first sight," Amelia sighed (again). "And even though we are childhood friends, I will not consider that as we are now rivals for true love!!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Let us be completely honest about this. It will go better that way. I saw your face yesterday, you fell for him too!"
Well, yeah, I thought he was good looking but that was before I found out he was a pervert! And he even had the daring to admit he was checking out my three sizes earlier! (Apparently, Amelia wasn't the only one who had a tendency to embellish memories.) "I'll pass on one of his type. You can have him, Amelia. He's probably into someone with your measurements anyway."
Amelia blinked, not understanding Lina's last comment. "So you really aren't going to go after him?"
"No. Nada. Non. Iie. Nein. How many ways do I have to say 'no'?"
"Then take a step back and watch Love and Justice triumph!!" Confetti sprinkled around Amelia as she posed on her desk and chair again. Lina just edged away to keep anyone from immediately associating her with Amelia. It was always the same. She just hoped Amelia wouldn't be too disappointed by the guy. If he broke Amelia's heart, Lina was going to break some of his bones.
The classroom door slammed open before Sylphiel-sensei stormed into the room. No, literally, she stormed into the class. Her face was dark, her eyes cross, and the metaphorical thunderclouds were all around her class. "Get in your seats and be quiet!"
"Gods, what's up with her? Found a run in her stocking or something?" Lina muttered moving to her seat for homeroom. Much of the rest of the class was just in shock. Sylphiel-sensei never stomped anywhere.
Gasps of awe and appreciation rose, from the female half of the class of course, as a male student followed Sylphiel-sensei into the room. He casually unbuttoned the top of his school jacket and dress shirt as he came to stand in the front of the class.
"Everyone, we have a transfer student."
Amelia's eyes were hearts.
Lina's face was a mask of dismay.
"This is Zedalgiss Nagoya."
"That's Zelgadiss, sensei," Zel corrected smiling.
"Whatever! Just take an empty seat. I'm busy," Sylphiel-sensei snapped, furiously going through her morning announcements so fast that it was just a blur.
Lina didn't know if it was some curse from Ruby Eye or some quirk in Ceiphied's humor if the deity had any that put the idea in that pervert's head to take the seat right next to her! She sat quietly in her seat, shaking with frustration, with a scarf wrapped around her head to hide her face.
"Nice to meet you," Zel greeted. Damn it, did he always have to smile like that??
I already told Filia I would work, Ceiphied! So you don't have to punish me or anything, Lina mentally groaned. Just have to make sure I don't make eye contact...
And Lina did just that, boring holes into her desktop by the intensity of her focused gaze to make sure she didn't look elsewhere. Of course, she could feel someone else's gaze going up and down her body and it was coming from the left, his direction. Didn't he know enough to keep his eyes on the blackboard during class?
"Hey. You're that girl from yesterday. What a coincidence that we're in the same class."
Coincidence? More like jinx! Of course if he lived in her apartment building they'd have to go to the same school but why couldn't he be in one of the other three second year classes???? Ceiphied!!
Lina pulled off the scarf and began twisting it into weird knots and shapes for not hiding her face successfully. Maybe Ceiphied would smite the guy and save her the further embarrassment of carrying on a conversation with him.
"So, what's your name?"
Ceiphi~~~~ed Lina mentally whined. "Lina Kusakabe." Now stop talking to me. I can feel Amelia's eyes trying to run a stake through my heart.
"You live alone?"
Trying to see how easy it is to come over and attack me huh? Lina made a mental note to set up some traps on the front and balcony door. Of course, she wasn't technically living alone but no one could see Filia anyway. "...my parents are out of town for awhile." Like the last ten years or so.
"I see." Zelgadiss replied so understandingly that Lina wondered what he was up to. There was something about him that set off bells and whistles but she couldn't figure out what. He leaned on his elbow, resting his chin on his hand as he leaned toward her as far as was allowed without obstructing the aisle. "So, want to go out with me?"
"Look, you're not supposed to talk in class and - EH?!" she paused as she processed that last question. Go out?? With him?! They've barely known each other's existence for less than twenty-four hours and he's asking her to go out with him??? Where was that cool, serious guy from the lobby? This was like his total opposite!! "Now you look you flirt - "
Lina was eating wooden desktop as a slipper thrown with all the might of righteousness slammed into her head from behind. Then she felt her best friend resting on her back, keeping Lina from getting back up immediately to retaliate.
"Hello, my name is Amelia Toudaiji," Amelia smiled cutely, heavily resting one of her elbows in Lina's neck for good measure. "We met yesterday remember?"
"That's right. You were the one who knocked over all of the empty boxes I had stacked up. And I thought I had stacked them so neatly to one side as well."
Amelia sweatdropped but kept her smile. "Well, accidents happen. May I call you Zelgadiss-kun?"
"Zelgadiss is fine. I'll do the same for you."
Amelia was about to say something in return but Lina finally wriggled herself out from underneath her friend, almost causing Amelia to fall into the aisle. She was dubiously saved by Lina grabbing her collar for an interrogation.
"Just what do you think you're doing??" Lina growled. Usually, this was about where Amelia would back off but not today.
"You said you weren't going to go after him, Lina. The whole class heard you so you can't take it back," Amelia said smugly, justice on her side as it always was. She turned her attention back to Zel. "Ne, why'd you choose Lina anyway? She can be such a violent person for the most ridiculous things. You saw what she was about to do yesterday."
Lina quietly fumed at the Amelia's bulls-eye accurate description of what she was about to do yesterday. Usually she kept her temper in check but Amelia was an exception and she hadn't expected anyone else to be there. Well, as long as Amelia didn't exaggerate what had happened, she'd let her friend live.
But Amelia did have a point. Why ask her? After all, he had met both of them at the same time yesterday and that quip about her...her...well, let's just say he made it clear he was looking for those kinds of things! Not that Lina particularly wanted to dump something like him on her best friend but trying to steer Amelia away would make Amelia think Lina was after him. She'd have to learn the hard way and when that time came, Lina would be there to take care of this two-faced jerk.
"Well, I did see her afterwards. My apartment is right next door to hers."
"No way! I live next to Lina too," Amelia gushed, flashing eyes of death at Lina for indirectly getting in the way of her true love. To tell the truth, Lina wouldn't mind changing apartments. "I suppose then you two talked a bit then."
"Out on the balcony," Zel agreed, looking around Amelia to catch Lina's eye. "We had a discussion about the lovely view - "
"No more talking in class!!" Lina yelled, slamming her desk on Zel's, almost getting his hands in the process if he didn't have such quick reflexes. Everyone stared at her. "Um, I'm sure Sylphiel-sensei has something to tell us for homeroom. Right, sensei?"
Lina almost wished she hadn't said that because now everyone looked to their teacher whose face was now almost as dark as her hair. You could almost imagine the aura of anger around her. "Do you know how long you've all been flirting with that new student? It's nearly time for first period now!"
It was only then that Lina noticed how intently the entire class was focused and huddled around the trio. But it was strange, Sylphiel-sensei usually didn't yell at them, instead, she would have praised them for making the new student feel so welcome. Lina would rather show him the welcome mat on his way out.
"Honestly." Sylphiel-sensei jammed her papers into her folder. "Lina Kusakabe! You are the only one who hasn't turned in last week's homework. Since you didn't turn it in this morning either, you will be docked points off of your grade."
That's right!! All that demon hunting and slaying last week had put her slightly behind in her school work! Not that it was anything a genius like her couldn't handle but normal people needed to sleep. Lina quickly went through her book bag to find the right assignment. She wasn't going to get points deducted for this!
"Sylphiel-sensei!" But the longhaired teacher was already out the door. "I have it right here!" she called, waving the paper in question as she made to follow her. A hand on her arm stopped her.
Lina had three guesses and the first two didn't count. She glared irritably at Zelgadiss. "What do you want? I need to catch the teacher."
"Remember what I said," Zelgadiss smiled.
That smile again!!! Lina jerked her arm away. She yelled back at him from the classroom door. "As if! I don't bother to remember bad jokes like that!"
Going down the hall next to the classroom, Lina could hear the other students flooding Zel (when did she start thinking of him with a nickname!) with questions of where he was from and such. Above it all, Amelia was proclaiming herself as the Star of Justice who was going to capture the painting thief Luna. Well, Lina didn't care, she was looking for Sylphiel-sensei.
After all, what need did she have for some flirting prince? It wasn't as if Lina was ever really interested in him (heh, denial). All those kinds of guys did was use girls and she wasn't the type to be used by anyone, not Lina Kusakabe!
Passing by a window to the courtyard, Lina caught sight of Sylphiel-sensei kneeling by one of the many flowerbeds around the school. Sylphiel-sensei loved flowers so Lina hoped this meant that the teacher was in a better mood than before. I wonder what was wrong with her...old maid blues?
"Sylphiel-sensei!" Lina called, running outside with her homework. "I have it..." Her voice trailed off as she saw what the teacher was doing. Sylphiel-sensei was tearing the flowers, the ones she had planted herself, out with her bare hands. But that wasn't all. Perhaps it was only the partial side view or maybe a trick of the light, but Lina could swear she saw something shadowy slithering around the teacher.
No way...A demon???