Declaration of War (part 1)

1.12 - Declaration of War

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School finally ends, and it's time to go do some exorcism.

The entire day, I was sticking close with Emil. No, more like she was sticking to me. We talked about so many things about ourselves, as if we were trying to get to know each other better.

I don't really mind it, but all these eyes watching over me felt really uncomfortable. Everyone was worried for Emil, since she was being way too close to a freak like me. Of course, I was worried for Emil too.

Nothing good ever comes from befriending someone like me. Even the most popular guy, Nico, got his pants glued after sitting on my chair. The same fate might befall on Emil if she continued to stick close to me.

However, I'm willing to give her a chance. Nico has told me many times to stop pushing others away from me, which was why I will try to not push Emil away. I want to see how things will unfold, to see whether or not Emil will get affected by my curse.

Of course, I'd rather if nothing goes wrong. After all, it's been way… way too long since I had any girl friends.

Oh, speaking of Nico.

School finally ended, and I was leaving the school building with Emil. We were talking about my exorcism job that I'm about to trial on, and she was very curious as to what things will happen during the process.

During the walk, I noticed that there was one particular crowd by the gate that was keeping an eye on me. I noticed them and found that guy, and it seemed like he was waiting for me outside of the gate with his friends.

Once me and Emil got quite close to the gate, I stopped before we exited.

"Oh, we'll part ways here. I have to go ahead and order an online cab. What about you?"

I said to Emil as I took out my phone, and Emil pointed her hand towards the east.

"Oh, my house is close by! No worries, I'll be walking."

"Oh? My house is also quite close by. But, the place I will do the exorcism at is quite far. See you tomorrow, then."

"See you!"

Emil waved her hand at me as she left the gate, and I waved back at her. I lifted my phone and began opening the application. And while I was doing that, a certain individual came up to me.

"I see that you are not alone anymore?"

Nico's voice could be heard as he got closer, and I shook my head at him.

"Nope. I'm always alone. Her existence was merely temporary."

"Wow, you really do like being hated by everyone."

"Are we still making jokes right now? Because that was just too real."

Nico giggled a little and noticed the screen on my hand. He saw that I was ordering an online cab and quickly got surprised.

"Y-You're going somewhere??"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you. I know that… I promised to be hunting demons with you after school. But Uncle Deve wants me to do some exorcism at his place. So…"

"Oh, is that so? Then, I don't mind."

Seeing how easy-going Nico was, I was rather surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

"Wow. I thought you'd sulk more."

"Hey, I'm not that clingy… I'm only worried if you have to spend your time at school or after school alone. But, looks like you got a friend now, so it looks like I was worried for nothing!"

Nico said rather happily, which makes me rather awkward. He always blurted out those sensitive things so casually, and I know people don't really say those things out loud.

Oh, and especially not when his friends are behind him.

"What's this? The clingy boyfriend is worried?"

The leader of the friend group, Jeremy, suddenly walked closer to us with his one liners. I noticed a certain pattern in his approach here, where he would always interrupt our talk by saying something. And right behind him are Nico's two other friends. Link, the tall glasses guy, and Randy, the tan bald guy.

The three must've overheard our conversation and interrupted. Nico turned to him a little too angry, and I know that their conversation is only going to delay me.

"Woi, Jeremy. That's--"

"My driver is nearby. I'll be leaving now."

I said immediately without waiting, and Nico quickly turned to me with wide eyes.

"O-Oh, okay. See you tomorrow."

I waved my hand at him as I kept my gaze forward, and I marched towards the road where the cab might stop to pick me up. Meanwhile, I can already hear the four of them argue behind me.

The clingy boyfriend… haha.

He does seem like that, doesn't he?

A few seconds after I arrived by the road, a car stopped right in front of me. The front window was opened, and I spoke with the driver to confirm that it was my ride. Beforelong, I'm already heading towards Uncle Deve's house.

The exorcism job that Uncle Deve prepared for me was actually quite easy. The person who requested the exorcism was staying at Uncle Deve's place with her family, since that person was a relative.

It was a woman in her early thirties, and she was Uncle Deve's youngest sister. She was staying over with her husband at Uncle Deve's place, with the hopes of getting rid of the supernatural problems that she was having.

As soon as I arrived at the house, I noticed the problem immediately. A tiny humanoid baby demon was literally glued on her back. The demon looked like it was formed out of burning green flames, which makes it seem like her entire back was on fire.

As soon as I saw it, I panicked and hurriedly requested holy water to Uncle Deve. The whole process didn't even take five seconds, as all I had to do was spray the back of the woman with holy water. I didn't even bother asking her to take off her clothes, because it looked like it was really bad.

I learned from experience that demons can genuinely harm you. Even demons that are made out of smoke can scratch your skin if you let them hurt you, which should've been impossible since smoke is a type of gas. Now, what would happen if the demon was made out of fire?

But, apparently, things were not as bad as I thought. Uncle Deve's sister explained to me afterwards that she only felt hot during certain times of the day and evening. It didn't burn, but it certainly made her body temperature rise to the point where it's stupid.

She mentioned that her body would sweat heavily even with the air conditioner, and that's when she realized that she might be glued on by some kind of demon. And she isn't wrong, it's just the case that seemed very different from how I imagined.

Uncle Deve then laughed after hearing what I saw, and he ended up lecturing me about spraying holy water on someone else's clothes. Uncle Deve's sister didn't mind, but her husband was freaking out when I did that so suddenly. Meanwhile, Aunt Linda can only laugh loudly from the invisible spirit realm.

Smoke demons can literally wound you, yet fire demons don't burn you?

As expected… I still have much to learn.

I stayed at Uncle Deve's house for not that long, since I have to start preparing for exams next week. I came home after about thirty minutes of talking with them, which really wasn't that long.

The entire evening, I just spent the rest of it studying. I really need to place high scores on the tests so that I can get into university with a scholarship, since I know those things only come for the people with high grades. As for which university and which major that I want to go to, I haven't really settled my mind yet.

I still have three years in high school. I can take my time making the decision.

The next day was the final weekday of the week, a Friday. School ends much earlier than usual at noon, which is three hours faster than the normal. Thanks to this, I bet Nico has massive plans for today.

I came to class rather early in the morning since I had some leftover homework to do. To my surprise, Emil arrived not long after me and immediately approached me. The two of us talked about the homework that I was doing, and Emil helped me point out my mistakes.

Not only was she sociable and pretty, but she also had to be smart. I'm really envious of you, Emil.

Of course, I can't say that straight to her face. At the very least, I can abuse this friendship of ours and continuously ask her about the subject. Nothing's wrong with doing that, right?

Wrong. Because everyone kept an eye on us.

It's widely known to the entire class that I was the one who stole Emil's wallet. And now, here she is, chatting happily and brightly with me. Me, who is a freak that can see ghosts.

Naturally, some of them wouldn't be able to hold back seeing us together. As such, some began approaching us.

"Wonderful morning to talk about homework, isn't it?"

As soon as Peach and one other girl approached us, Emil turned to them with worry.

"P-Peach, I--"

"I need to go to the bathroom."

All of a sudden, I excused myself and began walking away. I noticed neither Emil nor Peach was following me, so I just walked away from them without caring. I know Emil must've hated me for just leaving her like that, but I just can't stand looking at Peach. She's my mortal enemy in this school, and she just had to find problems so early in the morning.

For now, I'll just stay in the bathroom until the bell rang. It won't take five minutes, anyway. No one is going to be annoying me here.

Or… so I thought.

"Hey, are you Elizabeth from class D?"

I turned my attention towards the girl coming into the classroom, and I quickly recognized her beautiful face.

It's a short haired first year student from class A, the same class where Nico is. She was famous for being the prettiest girl in our year, and since she was in class A, she was pretty smart as well. Every guy who landed their eyes on her definitely had a crush on her. Her looks are just so pretty, it was on a whole different level than Emil or even Peach.

Seeing her recognizing me, I quickly became surprised.

"Y-Yes? You know me?"

"Of course! No one can forget the girl who Nick likes so much."

Ah… so it was about that.

It's already a widely known story in our year that the most handsome boy and the prettiest girl are in the same class together, and certainly it's everyone's dream to have them be together as a couple. This girl certainly has those kinds of ideas, and naturally, I will be her biggest opponent since Nico was sticking to me all the time.

Immediately, my understanding of her broadens.

"I see. Is there a problem?"

I asked with a much lower tone than before. I also used proper wording to make it so that I'm not interested in her, and she saw those signs immediately.

And as expected, she did not come here with good intentions.

"I just wanted to know. Exactly what did Nick see in you that ended up making him like you so much?"

That was definitely a taunt. In which case, I'll definitely bite it. She came looking for problems, then problems will come to her.

I turned to her again, but with a much colder gaze. As soon as she saw my expression, she giggled a little.

"Oh, no need to be so violent! I'm just curious, that's all."

"Sure, you are. In that case, I'll answer it straight for you.

It's none of your business."

I said without even looking at her, and that immediately ticked her off. I made the conversation turn towards the worst direction, and she immediately turned angry.

Looks like I'll be fighting again, today.