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Chapter 2
It was now 6:30 in the morning as Vella dashed out of her bathroom and into her closet. Today was the first day of school and she didn’t want to get behind in her strategies. It only took ten minutes for Yumi to make new enemies and the freshmen needed to be kept out of their group. Popular fish tended to force their way into a secure popular group and gather enough dirt to allow them to take over. Vella smiled at the thought- that’s what she had told Yumi to do when they had first started high school.
Vella was already in her school uniform which was a tan button up polo shirt and a short, pleated teal skirt that reached two inches above her knees. Everyone in her school was hoping that the colors would change soon. She brushed her long hair and pulled it back into a pony tail. She then placed a hair clip underneath to make her hair look shorter. It now reached her shoulders. As she was pulling on her socks, she heard her alarm clock go off. It was now 6:45. Vella quickly pulled on her boots that zip up to mid-calf and then ran downstairs to the kitchen.
“Good morning!” she greeted cheerfully to the figure behind the newspaper.
“Hmm…What’s so ‘good’ about it?” the figure responded in a deep, tired voice as Vella sat down to eat her breakfast.
“Aw, you didn’t have to get up yet. You should have stayed in bed, Tanjiro!” she teased as she pushed down the newspaper to reveal his deep blue eyes.
Tanjiro glared at her before running a hand through his tangled silver hair, “I wouldn’t be up right now if you didn’t run around the house at five in the morning.”
“You know I have to get to school early so I can make sure the stupid, preppy freshmen stay away from Yumi.” Vella answered with her mouth stuffed with bacon and eggs. Tanjiro sighed and straitened his crumpled newspaper.
“Well, I guess that’s a good reason…Ugh! Freshmen are annoying sometimes…Hey, wait, I AM a freshman!” she giggled at him as a frown formed on his face.
“Oh yeah, when does college start?” she asked before she sipped her orange juice.
“Next week. I need to go over there to buy my textbooks. Do you need me to pick up anything, Lyra?” He turned towards the counter where the doll sized Lyra was shoving bread into the toaster.
“No, unless you find a magical cream that can change me back to my normal size.”
“Well, I’m off! Have a nice day at work Tanjiro. Bye Lyra!” Vella announced after kissing Tanjiro on the cheek. She then walked over to Lyra and gently kissed her tiny cheek before leaving.
She faintly heard the goodbyes from Tanjiro and Lyra as she rushed outside to her car. Once the engine started, the car pulled out of the drive way and then zoomed off. The car sped down the street only to screech to a halt and back up as Bethany ran to the end of her parent’s driveway angrily screaming “Vella!”
“I always hate it when I’m excited on the first day of school and then the next day, I don’t want to be bothered to get out of bed,” Vella commented before finally standing still in front of her friend.
“Do you think we’ll still get to spend time together?” Bethany wondered.
“If things go as planned, then this year I should get both A and B lunches and hopefully you and Yumi get separate lunches, if not, then we’ll still have dual credit classes together.”
“Yeah, until then I can always hang around your fan club,” Bethany giggled when she saw Vella’s eye twitch.
“…They are not my fan club. They are annoying gamers that are constantly asking me about the secrets of video games. And it is not my fault that I have mastered every RPG and fighting game created so far,” she muttered angrily in her defense.
“Well, if I’m going to get in good with Yumi then this ‘Vella Petrenko’ girl has to go.” Vella cautiously glanced behind her, but did not turn around. There were two freshmen girls walking past them, one was a short reddish brown haired girl with blonde highlights and the other girl was slightly taller and had dark cinnamon colored hair. Vella blinked, the taller girl’s hair style was just like hers, but she didn’t have highlights in the bangs.
“But Sakura! Vella is not going to be easily disposed of. She is the mistress of strategy, the queen of blackmail, and no one, not even Yumi, can get close enough to find out embarrassing secrets from her. Oh how I hope to be as good as she is when she graduates, then I could be her successor,” the taller girl swooned before Sakura stopped and rolled her eyes at her friend.
“Oh, I bet that preppy wanna be isn’t as bright as you think, Hikari. How is she going to know we’re trying to worm our way into Yumi’s popularity when we are only going to compliment her? Oh, and if you don’t stop your Vella worship, then I will have no choice but to go look for a new best friend.” Sakura flicked her hair and walked away. Hikari sighed and followed her with her eyes to the ground. Once the two girls were out of hearing range, Vella and Bethany began laughing at the fact that Sakura had just insulted Vella and had not realized that she was standing behind her.
“Preppy wanna be huh? She is definitely going on Yumi’s blacklist,” Vella smirked.
“Well I was wrong,” Bethany started as she picked up her backpack, “Hikari is your fan club, not the gamers.”
Vella groaned as she remembered Hikari. The last thing she needed was someone who wanted to be just like her and praise her on her dirty work of blackmailing. Although she didn’t look it, Vella actually hated giving personal secrets to Yumi so she could make the victim her slave. Suddenly, a white limo pulled up to the fountain that was ten yards away from where they were standing. The chauffeur came out and opened the door on the other side of the car, letting out a rather disgruntled Yumi. Vella winced when Yumi saw her and sang her name in a high pitched, out of tune voice.
“That’s my alarm telling me to get to work, so see you later Bethany,” she said as she waved goodbye.
“Okay, see you in first period…I think.”
Vella arrived as the limo pulled away. People were already starting to gather around Yumi so she started to push them aside.
“Make way, back off. As you can see, Yumi is upset over something,” Vella warned as she took her place by Yumi’s side.
“Upset is an understatement! I hate these ugly uniforms! The darn school board won’t listen to me when I say we need new uniforms…maybe I should pull daddy into this…,” she stopped in her ranting and glanced at Vella, “But of course as usual, you make them look good because they look good on you.”
Vella looked down at her uniform then back at Yumi, “You think so? I think you look nice in the uniform too.”
“Don’t lie to me, teal does not go with blonde hair,” she pouted earning many nods of agreement from the surrounding group.
“If that’s so then what do you call that teal bikini you wore to your pool party?” Vella teased while leaning forward with a grin on her face.
“She got you there Yumi!” one of the girls called out, before Yumi acted like she was going to cry.
“Ooh! You’re mean sometimes,” she fumed before obtaining an evil grin much like the one Vella uses when pulling a prank on someone, “But this time I know how to get back at you…Hey Ryuu!”
Ryuu was standing beside Yumi facing another direction until he was called. Vella didn’t even realize he was there. It was hard to sense someone who has an aura with no feeling. If he didn’t have a black aura surrounding him, Vella would have confused him for a Seeker. The mentioned Destroyer was currently adjusting the uncomfortable stiff fabric of his long sleeved teal shirt before giving Vella a good natured smile and waved to her.
“What’s up?” he asked as he glanced down at Yumi.
“Vella doesn’t think she looks good in her uniform, what do you think?” she inquired sweetly. Vella glared at the girl before opening her mouth to tell him that Yumi was lying until she heard a whistle from him.
“I wonder why she thinks that? I think she looks hot,” he answered, his dark blue eyes staring deeply into hers. She clenched her hands to her sides and fought down the blush that threatened to invade her cheeks. He was the first boy around her age to ever compliment her like that.
After hearing no response from the young Seeker, Ryuu shrugged his shoulders and put on an evil grin, “But, I’m going out with Yumi so tough luck.”
Vella’s eyes widened as the crowd ‘ooh’ed at the scene before them. No one ever even had an opportunity to put her down, except for Yumi on a few occasions. Vella’s eyes narrowed before she crossed her arms and put on a sweet smile.
“Speaking of luck, you’d better be glad Yumi isn’t shallow and dates guys for their personality and not for their looks because honey, you have a face only a dog would love.” That earned a few chuckles. Vella heard energetic clapping and spied Hikari in the crowd next to an amused Sakura, reminding her that she needed to warn Yumi about those two. Ryuu’s smirk disappeared and was replaced by a look of surprise. Yumi then cleared her throat and leaned over to whisper in Vella’s ear.
“I think now would be a good time to get to know Ryuu before that big oaf Duke shows up,” She then smiled and turned to the crowd, “I would like to have some time alone with my good friend, so I will see you all inside, okay?”
The people whined and grumbled as they slowly began to walk inside the now open cafeteria. Sakura and Hikari were beginning to approach Yumi until Vella came between them and grabbed Yumi’s arm.
“Well let’s go…you’re coming too Yukio!” she shouted before snatching Ryuu’s arm and dragging them to the other side of the fountain, effectively making Sakura give up for now. Once she stopped walking, Yumi calmly smiled and took a seat on the wall surrounding the fountain. Vella then sharply turned towards Ryuu and gave him an evil glare, making him back away until the back of his legs touched the fountain wall a few feet away from Yumi, just where she wanted him.
“Time for the interrogation!” she announced while stepping closer to Ryuu until she was directly in front of him.
“Uh, did I do something wrong?” he asked, tearing his gaze away from Vella and onto Yumi.
“Nope, this is an important ceremony that all my new boyfriends have to face. This will determine if you will be a good boyfriend and allows my best friend to decide if she likes you or not,” Yumi explained.
“I’m leaning towards ‘not’,” Vella muttered under her breath where only Ryuu could hear. He gulped loudly as Vella leaned closer to him and poked his chest with one of her long thin fingers.
“What is your full name? How old are you? When is your birthday? What is your sign? Where do you live? What is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite animal? How many other girlfriends did you have before Yumi? If any, how long was the relationship? What would you do on a first date? ….Hoo boy, this is a dumb question-How good of a kisser are you? Have you ever or will you ever cheat on your girlfriend? Answer quickly, truthfully, and in order. Make it quick!” This was where they usually cracked and changed their minds about dating Yumi. Every boy thought that something bad would happen if they answered incorrectly or if they messed up the order. Hopefully, this would be the case for Ryuu, or that’s what Vella thought until he smiled and brushed off her hand.
“Is that all? My full name is Ryuu Draco Yukio. I’m 17. My birthday is August 27. I’m a Virgo. My address is 446 Isamu Rd. My favorite color is emerald and hunter green. My favorite food is corn dogs. My favorite animal is a dragon. I only had two other girlfriends before Yumi. They both only lasted two weeks. On a first date I would take my girl out to the movies and then to a restaurant. I’ve been told that I am a great kisser. I have never cheated on anyone and I never intend to. Did I pass?”
Vella stepped back in surprise. Two things stuck in her head. One of them was the fact that he said ‘dragon’ and she absolutely loved dragons and the other was where he lived. She lives on 444 Isamu Rd. which meant that he was her next door neighbor.
“Um, what’s a corn dog?” Yumi inquired, tearing Vella away from her thoughts.
“A hot dog dipped in a sweet batter and served on a stick, it’s a popular food in North America,” Vella responded, glancing at her friend for only a second.
“Oh. …Oh yeah, Ryuu answered ‘dragon’ for his favorite animal. He should pick an animal that actually exists,” she protested while pointing at him accusingly.
“But dragons are cool!” Ryuu and Vella exclaimed in unison. Vella jerked her attention back to him and quickly recovered.
“Er-Pick another animal!”
“Okay, I was born in the year of the tiger, so I pick tiger.”
“Year of the tiger?” Yumi muttered in a confused tone.
“Chinese Zodiac where you get your fortune told by what year you were born. I don’t believe much of it because I’m a tiger and you’re a rabbit and we’re supposedly unable to get along,” Vella explained, rolling her eyes at the thought.
“Wow…You’re cute and smart,” Ryuu grinned.
“And you are a cheeky ass wipe,” she countered as she pushed him into the fountain, only to be unexpectedly dragged down with him as he grabbed her arms before falling into the water.
“Looks like you got your just desserts, Vella-chan!” Yumi squealed between fits of laughter, using the pet name she hasn’t used since she was 13 years old. Vella’s hands found the bottom of the fountain and pushed her head off of his chest. His teal shirt and khaki pants were completely soaked while she remained dry with the exception of her arms. Ryuu sat up and took a deep breath while water dripped off his messy black hair. Vella’s eyes widened and she found herself frozen still when she realized their noses were nearly touching and it seemed that his face was getting closer to hers. Suddenly, two muscular arms wrapped around her waist and helped her stand up.
“You alright Sis?” a concerned, deep voice said from behind as the arms released her. Yumi looked up only to turn her head away in disgust.
“…Hello Duke…,” was her cold greeting as Vella glanced behind her. Duke Nakamura was a handsome, muscular boy with neatly trimmed brown hair and emerald green eyes. Over the years, during his and Yumi’s off and on relationship, he became like a protective brother to Vella and called her ‘Sis’ because they looked like they were related. Vella gave Ryuu a mischievous glare before burying her face in Duke’s shoulder and pretended to cry.
“Oh oniisan! T-that meanie keeps picking on me and then he tried to push me into the fountain!” Duke patted her on the back gently, trying to comfort her, while turning his angry gaze at Ryuu, who had just now managed to sit on the wall next to Yumi.
“Is that so? Don’t worry Sis, I’ll take care of him,” he said as he broke away and stormed over to Ryuu. Just like Yumi, Duke was also all looks and no brain, so it was easy to convince him to do nearly anything. He flunked eighth grade and ended up in the same grade with her and Yumi. If Vella can’t do anything to the Destroyer without rising suspicion, then she would just have to resort to her ‘oniisan’ to make his life miserable.
Duke had no trouble grabbing Ryuu by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him off the ground. Ryuu stared helplessly at Vella and spied the evil smirk under her naturally highlighted bangs. He gave Duke a cold stare while Duke raised his fist to punch him. The smirk on her face vanished when Vella realized that she put Duke in danger. Ryuu could easily kill him, but then again, he could have done so a long time ago.
“Stop! You better put my boyfriend down RIGHT NOW!!!” Yumi screamed, causing Duke to nearly drop Ryuu in shock.
“B-boyfriend!? …Sorry, Yumi, but I need to-” He paused when he felt Vella’s hand on his arm. She sniffed and wiped away a fake tear.
“That’s okay oniisan, I think he learned his lesson.” That was enough to make him put Ryuu down.
“Sis saved your face this time, but next time I catch you picking on her, you won’t be so lucky,” he sneered as the bell rang. Ryuu didn’t look fazed by his threat at all. In fact, he found it amusing.
“I’ll take note of that, now if you’ll excuse me, the bell just rang and I need to find my first class,” he said smugly as he brushed past Duke and held out his arm to Yumi. Duke growled in jealousy and was about to follow them until Vella’s voice stopped him.
“Uh, oniisan?”
“What is it?”
“I can tell the relationship won’t last for long. She is only doing this to make you mad,” she reassured.
“Well, it’s working!”
“I know…but could you hold out on your anger long enough to do me a favor?” The anger vanished immediately and was replaced with curiosity as he faced her.
“Maybe…”
“There are two freshmen girls trying to get into the group and I know you and Yumi have the same class first period, so I was hoping you’d make sure she doesn’t talk to anyone except for you and the new guy until you’re in class.” She clasped her hands together and put on a pleading look while he thought it over.
“…Okay, anything for you Sis, but you owe me one,” he agreed.
“Thanks oniisan!” she cheered as she hugged him and then ran off to her first class.
“Vella! Guess what! The school board must’ve heard Yumi’s complaints because they are going to change the color of our uniforms,” Bethany announced as she laid her pencil down.
“Really? What color did they chose?”
“For the girls we’re going to have cream colored polo shirts and black skirts and the boys will keep their khaki pants and will get black shirts. …Hey, did you find out what lunch Yumi has?”
“Nuh-uh, too busy with the interrogation,” Vella replied while nonchalantly looking across the cafeteria.
“Did he pass?” Bethany wondered. She already knew the answer had to be ‘no’, but she was running out of things to talk about.
“Yeah,” she answered, taking Bethany by surprise, “The jerk-off answered every question in order, but what he answered is not very compatible with what Yumi likes so he will only last until Duke and Yumi make up again.”
“Goodness…he actually passed your interrogation?” Vella shrugged and leaned her arm on the back of her chair as she turned back to Bethany.
“Well, he is a dragon lover and dragon lovers are known to think fast, right ‘Sorceress Myst’?” she finally responded, using Bethany’s pen name. Bethany was an aspiring fantasy writer writing novels in her spare time. She nodded in agreement to Vella’s comment even though Vella wasn’t paying any attention.
“Dragon lover, huh? He sounds like your type,” Bethany chuckled before she was silenced by a glare. She coughed and then quickly changed the subject, “So…did you warn Yumi about the freshmen?”
“Didn’t get the chance to, she walked off with his royal cockiness when the bell rang.”
“What’s happening to you today? You’re not usually this behind, even on the first day of school. Is Yumi’s boyfriend really that cute?”
“W-what?” Vella jumped, completely shocked by what her friend had asked.
“Well everything that slowed you down this morning was because of him and he’s the first person that you ever call by so many rude names. If that isn’t crush denial, then I don’t know what is,” Bethany clarified while pushing her glasses up. Vella narrowed her eyes and leaned over the table. She then slammed her hand down in front of Bethany, causing her to gasp and gaze up to her fuming eyes in slight fear.
“I do not have a crush on him. I. Just. Don’t. Like. Him,” she growled before glancing down at the pile of papers her hand slammed down on, “Hey, is that your new novel?”
Bethany took a deep breath to clear out her fears before she answered, “Yeah, but I need to revise it because it still seems incomplete. I think I need to add another character, maybe a second main character…”
Vella had long since settled down in her seat and listened intently to what Bethany said until she paused. She gave her a questioning look, wondering why she had stopped before she recognized a presence right behind her. She saw a flash of dark light as the presence pulled out a chair and sat next to her.
“Why’d you run off? Ever think that I might’ve wanted to walk to class with you?” Ryuu asked accusingly with a smug look on his face. Bethany held back a startled gasp while Vella held back an irritated growl and the urge to hurt him.
“What are you doing here?” Vella snapped as he held up his schedule.
“I got Dual Credit History, so I have to stay in here until classes start.” Vella snatched his schedule and looked through it to make sure he is telling the truth. Sure enough, his first period slot had Dual Credit History and she noticed with ire that she had second period with him too and- She picked up her schedule to make sure it wasn’t true. Ryuu had every class with her including A and B lunch.
Ryuu glanced across the table and noticed Bethany, “Hey, you’re that girl from the mall. Miss Nozomi, wasn’t it? My name is Ryuu Yukio.”
Bethany blushed several shades of red as he held out his hand to shake hers. She only managed to reach out her hand and said, “I’m Bethany-” before Vella slapped Ryuu’s hand away.
“We need to talk…now,” was her excuse as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the cafeteria.
“Uh, see you later Beth,” he said before he disappeared through the swinging double doors. Bethany was still blushing as she looked down at her novel and picked up her pencil.
“Wow…he really is cute…” she muttered in a small voice and began writing again.
Vella kept walking through the hallway, past the lockers with Ryuu in tow until she found a secluded area where they could talk alone. Once she released him, she crossed her arms and began pacing furiously. She had a feeling that he was stalking her with him living so close to her and having the same class schedule as her. It was hard to get a schedule like that so he must have done something. Ryuu opened his mouth to ask what was wrong only to be cut off.
“Why are you doing this? Are you upset that I didn’t hunt you down the other day or something?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” he inquired with a confused look.
“You’re stalking me! Don’t give me that innocent look. Why did you have to come to this school? Why did you get the same schedule as me-” she froze when he placed his fingers on her lips to silence her.
“Okay, the schedule thing was a coincidence,” he assured her, “As for coming to this school, there is no other school to go to, though I must admit that I’m have a hard time adjusting this experiment of theirs.”
Amatsuotome was one of the five Japanese towns participating in an experiment where the high school and colleges start school in the fall instead of spring and the high school students serve four years instead of three like the Americans. Of course, the students would still be taught the same way as they would in a regular Japanese school, but will be given an advantage of one extra year of learning before they would have to take their exams to get into college.
“You get used to it…” Vella said off-handedly as she backed away from him, forcing his hand away from her face. Ryuu gave her a solemn look before staring at the ground.
“Listen…I want to thank you for not killing me the other day…” he mumbled after an awkward silence. This shocked her.
“I don’t kill Destroyers, I hunt them down and take them to a correctional facility to give them second chances. Though with all this teasing, I’m thinking about doing something worse to you than what I did to the other Destroyer the other day,” Vella threatened as she placed her hands on her hips and turned away from him. He gave her a serious glance that she didn’t see as he smiled.
“What teasing? I was only telling the truth…” This made her quickly face him with a red, angry face. She was about to jab him in the chest with her finger until he nervously backed away. She then realized that he had been acting different ever since they had been alone. He was more quiet and more serious, and in Vella’s opinion, less annoying. She nearly gasped when it dawned on her that…
“Are…you afraid of me?” Her answer was a mumbled reply and a pair of dark blue eyes glaring at a wall.
“A little…” he finally admitted, “I do have enough power to stop you should you try to kill me, but I would have to defeat you so it wouldn’t happen again. …Of course it would take me a while to kill you because your spiritual energy is pretty strong and I have been trying to lock away my desire to kill for a long time.”
There it was, standing before her; living proof that Destroyers could be reformed. This meant Vella wouldn’t have to drag him out to Agathangelos, but it also meant that if Ryuu ever did kill anyone, then she would have to execute him herself because the correctional facility wouldn’t be able to help him since he had already tried to stop on his own.
“Here’s the deal Yukio…As long as you don’t even try to murder anyone I won’t be forced destroy you, okay?”
“I can deal with that....As long as it’s you who takes my life,” he said, some of his confidence returning.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Now let’s go back before a teacher comes,” Vella suggested as she walked past him.
Vella knew that once Ryuu was safe within the company of other people, he would start being his arrogant self and continue teasing her. She decided to enjoy what little peace she had right now until she felt his arm around her shoulder.
“HENTAI!” Vella screamed as she slapped him hard in the face.
“What? It wasn’t like I was trying to grope you or anything…” he whined defensively.
It was going to be a long day.
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Character Bios
Tanjiro
Age: 19
Hair: Silver, extends to the shoulders
Eyes: Cerulean blue
Type: Seeker
A zealous Seeker who protects Vella.
Sakura Yamane
Age: 14
Hair: Reddish brown with blonde highlights, short
Eyes: Brown
Type: Human
A Freshman seeking popularity over Yumi.
Hikari Mochizuki
Age: 15
Hair: Dark reddish brown, very long
Eyes: Jade green
Type: Human
A girl who worships Vella and is Sakura’sbest friend.
Duke Nakamura
Age: 18
Hair: Brown, short and neatly trimmed
Eyes: Emerald green
Type: Human
Vella’s self appointed older brother and Yumi’s ex-boyfriend.
Small Dictionary
Oniisan: Older brother
Hentai: Pervert
