(November 5th, 2006)
Occult Research Club
The room was dark. Even with moonlight cutting in through the open windows, candles illuminated as much as they possibly could.
Behind the front desk sat the club president, crimson hair spilling over her shoulders. A manga rested open in her hands. She tried to keep her face calm, but her eyes burned anyway.
*FLIP*
She flipped the page, then read aloud. "Trunks, Bulma. I do this for you. And yes, even for you, *hic*... Wukong."
She tried to breathe past it.
It didn't work.
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she lowered the book. She grabbed a tissue, dabbed her face, and stared at the last panel.
"Oh, Vegeta…" she whispered.
a soft creak came from the hallway.
the door began to open.
Panic set in.
She snatched the manga and threw it out the window. she sat up straight, opened a textbook, and put pencil to paper, acting like she'd been studying the whole time.
the door opened fully.
A blonde-haired boy stepped in and exhaled. She looked up at him completely "composed".
"Done with contracts for the day?" she asked.
He blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. Fortunately."
Her pencil moved across the page in useless strokes. "Late-night studying?"
"You could say that." she said
Kiba's eyes flashed as if remembering something. "I should've given you this earlier. I kinda forgot."
As he said that, she raised an eyebrow.
Kiba reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to her.
She took the note from him and looked at it.
"Dear President, Big Boss, Group Leader, Rias,
Sup, it's your boy Gasper back at it with another note. Now I know you're busy, and I don't want to bother you, but it'd be pretty cool. Awesome even. If you could just slide me some biology books on devils.
But if you can't do that, then don't worry at all. You're all good, big dog.
With love,
your boy Gasper Vladi. 😙"
As she read the note, she suddenly got the urge to kick someone's ass.
'It's like that formal training we did was for nothing! I really thought that letter from earlier asking for weights and equipment might have been a prank, but now seeing this…' She gained a thoughtful look on her face. 'Is he losing his mind?'
Then, out of nowhere, Kiba broke her train of thought. "Have you seen Shiro anywhere?"
She looked up at him. "No, I haven't…. And now that you mention it, I haven't seen him around as much lately. Why do you ask?"
Kiba lifted his hand, showing a bag of cookies. "Well, Koneko told me to bring these back for him. You know, his favorite."
He put on a thoughtful look and said, "Wonder where he's at."
She shrugged. "Probably napping somewhere quiet again. He comes and goes as he pleases."
"Yeah," he said while putting the bag down on the desk in the middle of the room. "You're probably right."
*****
WHOOSH!
Gasper sat cross-legged in just his boxers as the wind tore through his hair. He was drenched, water still clinging to his skin, and he held his entire body up on nothing but his index fingers.
But something was off.
His hair lifted like gravity had switched directions and started pulling it toward the sky.
Then a sound rose from below.
MEOW!
At Shirou's call, Gasper opened his eyes and exhaled. The Hamon mask muffled the breath, turning it into a low, controlled hiss.
He lifted one fingertip off the edge and flipped, keeping the other fingertip planted like a pivot. What had looked like solid ground wasn't ground at all. It was the edge of a cliff, and his body swung out over open air.
He caught himself with all his fingertips, then set his feet against the rock. He climbed up like a spider.
At the top, he pulled himself up hard enough to launch into the air. He did a front flip, landed clean on his feet, and grinned.
Shirou, sitting right in front of him, casually pulled out a sign with "10/10" written on it.
Gasper saw it,
And took a bow.
After the bow, he pulled off his mask and let out a deep breath.
"Haaa~"
It felt euphoric. The cold breeze hit his face like soft frost. He glanced to the side, grabbed his pants, and pulled them on.
Shirou walked closer to the edge, and Gasper followed him. They both sat down at the snowy ledge and looked out at the distant horizon, everything out there buried in white, like the world had been covered with a soft cloud.
As he stared out into the distance, Gasper raised his hand in front of him, like he was reaching for the moon.
And on instinct, his mind filled in the rest, a clean, perfect rectangle overlaying his hand.
He shut his eyes, turned to the side, and thought, 'Damn. I've seen that damn perfect ratio so many times I'm starting to see it in the real world.'
'Am I cooked?'
He opened his eyes again and looked back out into the distance.
'Well, whatever.' He exhaled through his nose, shoulders loosening. 'Honestly, I'm just glad I'm out of that room… hell, not just the room, the school in general.'
His gaze stayed on the horizon.
'Even if I'm seeing the Golden Ratio everywhere, I'd still rather be out here in nature, on this mountain, than stuck inside that stuffy school.'
He stopped propping himself up and laid fully back into the snow.
'Plus, this mountain has way better training options than the school. There's a whole river I can swim in; also, fighting the current is pretty good training.' He stared up at the sky, letting the cold sink in. 'And being this high up already makes breathing harder, so it's perfect for training Hamon too… especially when I use the mask.'
He shifted slightly, feeling the snow crunch under him.
'Not to mention the ledges. I can grind control nonstop.' A small, satisfied pause. 'It's basically training heaven.'
He lay there and rested for about ten minutes, letting the cold sink in and his breathing settle.
he sat up and said, "Alright, Shirou. Let's head back."
As soon as the words left his mouth, his clothes snapped into place like they'd been there the whole time, shirt, pants, everything, right down to the hat with Dio on it.
Shirou's ears flicked at the movement. The moment Gasper started walking, Shirou got up too and got after him.
Gasper slowed and looked around, scanning the snowy ridgeline like, 'Okay… which way is Kuoh again?' The wind kept trying to shove him off balance, but he kept turning until something in his gut finally clicked.
Shirou caught up.
Before Shirou could even react, Gasper scooped him up against his chest. His devil wings popped out, and with one strong push, he took off into the cold air.
*****
(KuohTown, time: 20:00 / 8:00 pm)
Gasper walked the streets of Kuoh with Shirou perched on his shoulder. Instead of flying straight back to the academy, he decided to walk around a bit instead, enjoying the night air.
He walked with his eyes closed for a few seconds at a time, letting the night air wash over him.
'Damn… this feels nice.'
The wind slipped through his long blond hair, which trailed nearly down to his waist.
he opened his eyes and stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green.
And then he heard it.
HONK!
HONK!
His stomach dropped. For a second, it genuinely felt like he was about to have a panic attack.
He slowly turned to the side and braced himself for the worst, he was ready to face his greatest mortal enemy, TRUK-KUN!
WHOOOSHHH!
Only for a truck to speed past him, blasting wind and exhaust right into his face.
Gasper just stood there, blinking.
'...I hate my life.'
Shirou flicked his tail as if telling him to get home already.
Gasper exhaled through his nose and looked back at the crosswalk light.
His nostrils flared to life.
He froze.
Blood.
Fresh blood.
Gasper's eyes sharpened, and a faint red glow bled into his irises. 'That's close.'
Gasper quietly contemplated what to do but went against his better judgment and started walking to where the scent was coming from.
Standing in front of an abandoned warehouse, he slowly opened the door.
CrUNCH!
MUNCH!
MUNCH!
GULP!
The sound was thick and wet, it bounced off the walls and concrete, making the sounds reverberate around the building.
Gasper froze with one hand still on the door, listening.
Slowly, he creaked open the door.
He slowly walked in, and in the darkness he saw something. It looked human, but it just couldn't be.
Its limbs stretched wrong, its skin was sliding loose, and its face was blank. Its eyes, like slits, blinked out of order.
And with its right arm it brought up something
Seeing it Gasper's eyes widened in horror
It was the head of a kid.
The boy's face hung limp, eyes glassy and mouth slack, still fresh enough for blood to drip slowly from the ragged neck stump.
the devil spoke with the distorted voice of a woman, "Oh, HiDeShI!" and with swiftness its mouth opened wide and shut-
SPLAT
Biting the head in half, sending blood splattering everywhere, some drops even landing on Gasper's face.
Feeling the blood hit his face, his breathing hitched a bit.
Big mistake.
It heard him.
The devil stood up, showing its true height of at least 12 feet, and its head turned to look at where the sound came from. Seeing Gasper, it gained a grin that literally reached its ears.
with that same distorted voice it said "WeLl Hello there, how would you like t-O-O-O come closer?" After saying that, it reached out a clawed hand as if he would take it.
Seeing this Gasper could only think of one thing
'I should have just flown home.'