Homecoming, Part 9

"You're late, Takanome," the professor grumbles as Austin walks into his first class of the day, Tech 102, the lab course, and takes a seat.

"Sorry, but this place is huge," Austin admits.

"That is no excuse," the professor replies. "I hate young students…" they then sigh as they pinch the bridge of their nose and shake their head. "Always so cocky…". The professor then peers back up at Austin. "Now, Takanome, since you're late on your first day, give me one reason not to fail you.

A devious smirk spreads across Austin's lips. "Oh, how I've been waiting for this…" he says to himself. "My debut."

Without another word, Austin stands up and reaches his left hand to his right, ripping off the bandages covering his right arm and exposing his mechanical arm.

The professor's eyes widen and the entire class marvels.

"Gunsmith!" Austin begins to say as his mechanical arm begins crackling with orange Cursed Power. "Gadgets and Gizmos!" Austin's mechanical arm then begins to rearrange itself and take shape, before morphing into a cannon, which Austin aims at his professor.

"And this is why you shouldn't fail me," Austin smirks.

***

"H-hey, Ella…" I stammer as I fake a smile and awkwardly rub the back of my neck.

Ella doesn't reply. She just stares at me, panting heavily, as if she had just run all the way here.

God…this is so awkward, I don't know what to say! With the others, it was awkward enough popping back into their lives unannounced, after dipping from it for over a year. But with Ella…it's about a thousand times worse! Is it 'cause she's a pretty girl? Yeah, that's part of it, and I feel bad. But mostly because of the whole eye thing. She lost it protecting me, there's no way around it.

I stare back at Ella…'s feet. I can't bear to look at her. Maybe I need to kill Ace first, before I have the rights to face Ella again.

I soon realize that Ella's entire body is quivering. Her hands are balled up tightly into fists and from what I can see of her one visible eye, tears are forming at its corners.

"Why…" Ella eventually whimpers, causing me to perk up. But when I notice Ella tilt her head to the ground, with tears slowly dribbling out of her singular eye. "Why didn't you tell me you were back?!" Ella cries as she turns and looks me in the eyes. This time, I'm forced to stare back at her. "WHY CAN'T YOU LOOK ME IN THE EYES?!"

I flinch and recoil, my words instantly catching in my throat. That's right. I've been an asshole lately. No…not just an asshole, a shity person and a shitty friend. And a murderer, at that. I killed Nick, a man near and dear to the hearts of everyone here, then fled, leaving nothing behind by a shitty explanation and a single promise. Not a way to contact me, not a thing to remember me by. I'm just some "agent of justice" who came back home after a year a half with newfangled powers and ways to protect everyone, and by refusing to face Ella I'm not helping her, I'm just making her feel even worse. Like I'm disgusted to face her, when in reality I'm too ashamed to face my actions.

Hell, with all of the promises I've already made, what's one more?

I can't keep going on like this.

I take a deep breath in…then out, and without another word, I slowly begin approaching Ella. I pause once I'm standing directly in front of Ella. She peers up at me as her face flushes red, as I stare down at Ella's eyepatch. And thus, without another warning, I pull Ella's eyepatch up, just so that only I can see.

"EEEP?!?!" Ella shrieks as she slaps me across the cheek, but I still remain holding onto her eyepatch. I stare deep into her closed-off right eye and disgusting stitch-sealed scar. "L-Luis, what are you doing?!" Ella cries.

"Yup…that's me. I did that," I sigh. I then let go of Ella's eyepatch and take a step backwards.

Ella stares up at me and blushes while readjusting her eyepatch.

"You…sure got taller…" Ella says to me.

"Yeah, and you've grown up too," I reply as I peer down at Ella, who blushes and covers her body.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" I snap.

But still, in the nurse outfit she's wearing that I'm assuming is her uniform as a Medical Slayer, Ella looks sooo damn cute.

"So…how've you be-" I start to ask, but I'm interrupted when Ella tackles me in the stomach and buries her face on my chest, causing me to let out an "OOF!" Well it wasn't really a tackle, it's more so that Ella's tight, tight hug catches me off guard.

"I've missed you…" Ella says, her face muffled from pressing it into my chest.

"I've missed you too…" I reply with a sad smile as I pat Ella's head.

"You've gotten buffer…" Ella continues, causing me to blush,

"I'd hope so! That's why I left!" I laugh. "What have you been up to?" I ask as Ella pulls her face out of my chest and stares up at me. This time, the tears have faded while the blush remains, and Ella's smiling widely.

"Studying non-stop, I had to pass a Medical Exam just to get promoted to a Pro Slayer, only to have to take college medical classes to become a Medical Slayer," Ella laughs. "I take classes during the day and then I have to work night shifts for credit and experience too! I never sleep!"

"Don't worry, I didn't sleep at all during my training!" I laugh as well.

***

"Those are the demons I'll be fighting?!" I cry as I peer down at the nest of demons below.

My dad has brought me to a sprawling, cavernous indent in the sides of one of the mountains making up the Hell's Jaw Mountain Range, and within it, resides a nest consisting of dozens of demons, all of which are three times larger than the demons back home, at the very least.

"You can sense it, don't you?" My dad asks. "Normal low-intellect demons such as the ones back home, you can't sense their Cursed Power because it's so savage yet so unrefined that it blends into the Cursed Power in the atmosphere. Only when one learns to control their Cursed Power and limit the bloodlust oozing from it, that's when one's Cursed Power becomes distinct from the rest, abling others the ability to pick it out from a crowd. These demons, however, despite being of the monstrous, low-intellect branch, though still unrefined, their Cursed Power is strong enough to sense each individual demon, even in a high-density Cursed Power field such as this one."

"So you want me to go slay 'em?" I ask.

"Yes, just try to leave at least a couple alive so they can reproduce. If you don't, it's not a huge deal, it's just that this nest is the closest one to us," my dad answers. "And I think the demon that you should start off with-" my dad then continues as he begins scanning the crowd. "That one," my dad finally orders as he points to a specific demon.

"Starting me off with the strongest one, eh?" I ask.

My dad peers back to me and smirks. "You're good," he compliments. "Now go get 'em!"

Without another word, I draw my katana and leap into the frey of demons, landing at the bottom of the cavern before the strongest demon -the one that my dad had pointed out- and kicking up a cloud of smoke in the process.

This alerts the entire nest of demons, who all turn their bulging eyes to face me, let out a mesh of feral roars, and charge. Despite being stronger than average, these demons' intelligence remains stagnant and underdeveloped.

"Alright, let's go!" I exclaim as I reinforce my katana with dark blue Cursed Power and charge. I slash my katana towards the strongest demon, who swings a claw towards me in response. But rather than slicing clean through the demon as I thought I would, my katana uselessly clangs off of the demon's thick hide.

"What the…I can't slash it?!" I cry.

"Try a weaker demon!" My dad calls to me.

I parry the strongest demon's swinging claws then acrobatically weave through the mass of demons until I find a weaker one, who swings its tail towards me. Again, I attempt to slash clean through the demon's limb, but instead, my katana simply lodges into the demon's flesh, which lets out a howl of pain as its wound squirts blood. The demon then knocks its tail into me, sending me flying backwards. My back slams into the rocky wall behind me, and even with using Cursed Power Barrier to protect my entire body, the wind still gets knocked out of me. Ironic.