Chapter Text
"Let's get this over with…" Zeta muttered to herself as she followed slowly behind her chattering classmates, fiddling with the rim of her witch's hat and pulling it slightly lower over her eyes. She caught a glimpse of a particularly loud group of classmates just in front of her throwing multiple glances and smirks over their shoulders in her direction before barking out in laughter, snickering behind their palms as they brought their heads together.
Rolling her eyes, Zeta directed her attention towards the many large and towering windows instead, tracing along the ancient brick stones layered around them as the glass exposed the evening sky, flocks of birds and other winged creatures fluttering amongst the clouds. It soothed her nervously pulsing heart a small bit, though her anxiety still gnawed at her through her stomach, dozens of butterflies bursting in her chest as she grew ever closer towards the courtyard.
Sunlight fell over her figure as she stepped out onto the smoothly paved turf, her gaze latching on to the large table covered with a deep velvet cloth. Her classmates stood before it in single file, their excited murmurs increasing tenfold as they each eagerly awaited for their professors to appear. Zeta joined the end of the line, fingers now tugging at the long black sleeves of her robes while a soft evening wind breezed by.
“Students!” A sudden voice rang out, deep but soft, enough to silence the class with just a single word. The young pupils watched with heavy anticipation as their headmaster, Professor Dekapan, waddled up to stand behind the covered table with his hands placed behind his back whilst he smiled serenely. As perusal, he wore his signature large mint green and white striped boxers, a white robe covering his shoulders and arms whilst leaving his stomach exposed. “Good morning to you all! Hweh , I can tell you are all quite eager to begin, hm?”
He chuckled as the class broke out into an uproar, all of them clamouring for the table cloth to finally be removed, some taking a few steps forward to ensure that they could reach it first. Zeta was jostled by the larger classmen to her left, leaving her to take a large step away from the boisterous group with a grumble and a glare.
“Now, now, settle down. We shall soon begin, don’t worry, students,” Dekapan called, patiently waiting for silence before he continued. “As you are now all in your final year of Akatsuka Magic School, there is only one more obstacle you must face before you can take your magical skills to the outside world: The Final Exam.”
“Professor Dekapan, we already know all of this!” a voice cut in from the crowd, all eyes now turning towards a brunette girl with her short hair in pigtails and a hot pink headband resting on her crown. She stepped in front of the group with a hand on her hip, bringing everyone’s attention to her robes which had been purposely cut short to show off her thighs. “In the final year, everyone takes part in an exam which leads up to a final tournament, and the last person standing gets to become a new member of the F6 magical knights,” she paused as she heard a series of high-pitched squeals behind her, “What more is there to understand?”
“I guess you are correct, Miss Totoko,” Dekapan chuckled, “You must all know by now what awaits you in this final year seeing as your professors have been drilling it into your minds over and over again. Thus, I’ll spare you the extra information and I’ll skip to the good part, yes?”
A collective sigh of relief came from the class upon hearing this. Zeta, however, felt quite the opposite. The anticipation was killing her, and she couldn’t stop fidgeting where she stood, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as her headmaster grasped the red cloth between his fingers.
“First things first - you must all choose something to aid you in your exam. This can vary between a weapon, spellbooks, or even one of the three familiars scattered across this table. You all know the rules, but I must reiterate them once more: once you pick something up, you cannot exchange it, so choose wisely .” His words hung heavy in the air as all eyes stuck to the table and, after what felt like an eternity, he pulled the cloth away to reveal what lay beneath it.
There lay an assortment of bejewelled swords of silver and thick weather-worn books, greatswords covered in veins of green magic and bows with intricate designs carved into their risers. There were cases opened up to reveal thin and decorated wands, and long branches that were actually broomsticks covered in gold dust. But the most eye-catching items of all stood right in the centre of the table.
“THAT’S MINE! HANDS OFF!” Totoko screeched, pouncing onto one of two large eggs that stood tall in the centre of the table, its white shell covered in scarlet swirls. She picked it up with no effort, hugging the egg that was almost the same size and height as her close to her chest. Not soon after, another student came close and placed a white gloved hand firmly onto the remaining egg, this one covered in black splotches.
“And I will be taking this one,” he smirked, taking out a deep blue wand from his pocket and aiming it towards the egg, his magic pulling it up from the table and carrying it with him to stand over to the side to admire his new prized possession.
“Good choice, Mr Atsushi,” Dekapan nodded, seemingly snapping everyone out of their stunned gazes. Zeta, who was attempting to find the third familiar before touching anything else, was violently pushed out of the way by her class as they all rushed forward, elbowing each other out of the way as they all fought tooth and nail for the item they desired. Hissing as her hip collided with the stone floor, Zeta stood back up, staring in despair as she knew she was much too late to the offering, now.
She watched as her classmates finally broke away, each of them grinning widely at whatever chosen item they had in their hands whilst on the table, there was nothing left but a single item: a necklace with a pitch black cord, a large orb hanging from the centre, glowing with multiple hues of colour.
“Look at what she’s got,” she heard someone cackling from behind her, “a Christmas bauble for a necklace! What’s she gonna do with that?”
“ Lose , that’s what.” Zeta grit her teeth, doing her best to block out the noises now echoing all around her as she stomped forward and grabbed the lightweight necklace, stuffing it into the large pocket of her robe before going back inside the academy building, her frustration growing as the laughter grew louder. She briefly heard the sound of someone yelling at the top of their lungs, followed by silence and a pair of heeled footsteps beginning to follow behind her.
“You don’t need to follow me, Totoko,” Zeta shook her head as she turned right towards another set of wide marble stairs. “I wouldn’t want your reputation ruined because of me.”
“If I didn’t want that, then I wouldn’t have spoken to you back in our first year. I’d rather walk beside you than those uggos outside,” Totoko stated, catching up quite quickly despite carrying the huge egg in her arms. Zeta couldn’t help but to eye the oddly patterned egg with disdain whilst feeling the thump of the large orb she had shoved into her pocket against her left thigh. She looked away, forcing herself to contain her envy.
Continuing to walk down the tall and barren corridors in silence, Zeta watched as the empty lamps hanging on the walls suddenly began to flicker to life by themselves as the night drew closer, their freshly lit flames casting an amber glow throughout the darkening hallways as they entered the dorm common room, a pine tree symbol made of gold glinting above the door.
The room was circular in shape and vast in size to accommodate for the one hundred students in their fifth year, with many long couches and plump cushions and beanbags spread across the room so that everyone had a place to sit. There was a fireplace on the far right wall, its mantle covered with decorative ornaments that had been replaced numerous times over the years after some had been broken by reckless students. Paintings of old but famous and iconic witches and wizards were hung on the walls in gold frames, the biggest one being of a wizard named ‘Fujio Akatsuka ,’ and it was the only one to be decorated with flower garlands.
“‘Sup, Fujio,” Totoko waved her fingers boredly over to the painting as she sauntered past, finally placing the egg down onto a cushion with a breath of relief, collapsing next to it. Zeta tentatively stepped closer towards Totoko’s prize, pushing the rim of her hat higher up her head so it didn’t obscure her vision.
“It’s a dragon, isn’t it?” Zeta asked, though it sounded like more of a statement. Nonetheless, Totoko chuckled darkly, stroking a hand down the side of the shell.
“Only the best for Totoko! I’m going to rip everyone apart with this beauty!”
Zeta’s hand wandered over to her pocket, tracing over the bump of the orb with a frown. She will get ripped apart, she thought to herself. Anyone would be able to do so, seeing as they all had much more powerful and useful items in their cavalry. She was going to be the first one to fail at this rate.
The worry and silent despair written on Zeta’s face was clear to see, and Totoko’s smirk slowly began to melt away from her lips as she watched her friend fall deeper into her thoughts. A heavy sigh escaped the brunette and after a moment, she held out a hand with her palm facing upward, the hot pink paint on her nails catching Zeta’s eye. Tilting her head curiously, her expression now showing that she didn’t understand what Totoko wanted, and Totoko sighed again in mild annoyance.
“The necklace . Give it to me, I wanna see it.”
“Oh, right…” Zeta fumbled to get it out, holding the glowing necklace in her palm and feeling it pulse gently against her skin like a heartbeat as if it were alive, the colours within - a vibrant crimson, ocean blue, toxic green, royal purple, sun yellow, and hot pink - swirling in all sorts of directions, before transferring it over to Totoko’s awaiting hand.
Once it fell into her palm, however, the light inside began to dwindle much to the girls’ surprise, suddenly fading out completely like a smouldering flame. It left the orb looking dull and lifeless and cold to touch. Raising a brow at this, Totoko squinted her eyes towards the glass ball as she slowly handed it back to Zeta. Upon being back in her hands, the orb lit up again just as brightly as before, the lights orbiting at their regular pace.
“Don’t tell me that thing is alive… ” Totoko groaned, then suddenly gasped whilst snapping her fingers. “ Wait , maybe you have the third familiar!” It was Zeta’s turn to groan with a shake of her head.
“ Yeah , right . As if a familiar is going to be a ball full of lights. Familiars are living things , Totoko, not inanimate objects.”
“And that is alive! Didn’t you see what it was doing just then?”
“That…” Zeta paused to mull it over, shrugging her shoulders as she was still adamant that it wasn’t what Totoko was claiming it to be. “That doesn’t mean anything special. As if I would get lucky, anyway, to get a familiar…”
Not wanting to continue the conversation any longer, Zeta bid Totoko a good night and went off to her room, immediately removing herself from her black robes and hat and replacing them with her pyjamas. Sitting on the right side of her bed, she cupped the orb in her hands, the black cord that seemed to darken under the dim lighting of her bedside candle trailing over her fingers and hanging loosely in the air.
“... Please… ” she whispered desperately, and if she wasn’t in such denial, then maybe she would have noticed how the lights seemed to shine a small bit brighter at the sound of her voice. “You were put on that table for a reason. So, please, show me that you have some kind of power… anything… ”
She stared long and hard at the orb for some kind of sign, but there was no response. With her mood thoroughly dampened, she lowered the necklace and went to place it on her bedside table, until she paused. There, on the cord that would wrap around her neck, were the faint markings of runes, barely visible in her darkened room.
Zeta quickly brought the cord closer towards her candlelight, careful not to bring it too close lest it catch on fire, and moved her face closer to the cord to try and make out what it was saying. Her study of ancient languages was beginning to pay off as she could just about make out a word imprinted onto the cord.
“ ‘Summon’ ...” she muttered under her breath, repositioning the cord in order to attempt to read the rest, but she soon found that it was much too dark in her room for her to make out much more. A spark of passion began to burn within her as she leapt out of bed, grabbing spare candles and placing them on the desk on the far wall of her room, setting them alight whilst rummaging through her bag for thick textbooks and a tattered notebook.
She heaved the textbooks onto the table, laying the necklace down next to her as she hurriedly took a seat and began flipping through her well-used books for the same runes seen on the cord. It was difficult to pinpoint what ancient language the markings belonged to exactly, but once she figured it out, Zeta stuck her nose deep into the book’s pages, grasping her pen between her fingers and jotting down notes on some lined paper, getting lost in her work that lasted late into the night.
She eventually fell asleep with her cheek flush against her notebook, the wax of her candles half melted and with the moon beginning to set beneath the horizon.
-----------------
As soon as Zeta awoke, she was back to translating, mumbling broken syllables under her breath until she got a coherent word. She would have gladly continued to do this for the rest of the day, however it wasn’t long before Totoko was banging on her door and demanding that they get breakfast together.
“You know I can’t eat on my own!” Totoko whined as the two walked up to a free table in the dining hall, ignoring the stares and snickers from various other classmen around them. “If I do, all these creeps and uggos will start trying to talk to me!”
“I know, and I’m sorry. You know I wasn’t just going to leave you to eat on your own, though, right?” Zeta reminded her as she took a bite of her breakfast, removing the necklace that she had now decided to wear from around her neck and peering closely at the runes again with concentration, her notebook laying open beside her. She was so deep in her studies, she failed to notice the voices taunting her from a few tables away until a loud bout of laughter startled her from her thoughts.
“You should’ve seen her, she was just on the floor!” One girl laughed harshly. “She’s so weak, magically and physically, she might as well forfeit before the exam even starts.”
“What did she even get? A necklace, right? Ew , look at it!” Another pointed, pretending to gag at the sight of the necklace in Zeta’s hand, which was now being held so tightly in her palm, her knuckles had turned white. The orb itself seemed to brighten in colour, a red mist beginning to fill the orb, contorting and swirling like storm clouds.
“Does she really think she can do anything with that?” Someone mocked. “What, is she gonna smack my face with it?”
“Want her to try it?” Totoko suddenly stood up, her hands balled into fists as fury raged across her face, sparks flying from the tip of the wand tucked into her front pocket as she stared down at the now silent group of hagglers. Zeta stood next, placing a hand on Totoko’s shoulder.
“Forget it, Totoko.”
“But--”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go.” Not wasting another moment, Zeta left the dining hall, shoving the necklace into her bag without a second thought. Totoko sent one last scalding glare towards everyone in the dining hall before running after her friend, breakfast now forgotten.
Noticing how Zeta was making her way back towards her dorm room, Totoko asked:
“Don’t you want to come and see my dragon egg?” Totoko came into Zeta’s line of sight, her large eyes pleading. “I felt it shake last night! If it hatches today, then you’ll miss it!”
“Sorry, Totoko, but I’m so close to deciphering these runes,” she gave a small apologetic smile, “I think I’d rather study that for today. I promise I’ll come check it out once I’m done, though.”
Totoko pouted, but said nothing more on the matter. She accompanied her friend to the dorms, glancing every now and then at the bag where the necklace was tucked away in before her curiosity grew too much. “So, there’s some kind of spell attached to it?”
“I’m not sure what it actually is yet since I haven’t entirely translated it, but yes, it’s most likely some kind of spell. Though, it’s very ancient. These runes haven’t been used in spells or any kind of literature for centuries!” Zeta passionately explained, a familiar twinkle in her eyes as her mind began to race with explanations for her own questions. “That’s why I need to figure out what it says. I mean, if there’s a possibility that there’s ancient and powerful magic locked away in this thing,” she gestured to her bag, “then maybe I’ll actually have a chance in the exam if I can harness it!”
“This is certainly a big change in attitude from last night,” Totoko observed. Zeta paused, shrugging slightly as a sheepish expression came over her.
“I will admit, this discovery does have me a little excited, but I still don’t think I’ll get extremely lucky. It’ll probably just boost my magic output, since those were the most common kinds of spells during the era these runes originate from, and that’s about it.”
Totoko hummed, the conversation trailing off as they came to a stop outside the dorm entrance. The brunette made Zeta promise not to forget to stop by sometime, to which the girl laughed and reassured her friend before giving a quick goodbye, one disappearing behind the doorway and the other skipping off down the hallway.
True to her word, Zeta buried herself in textbooks and papers, and soon the clean space around her turned into a mess of crumpled papers that had been carelessly tossed around the room. Letters and words were written down and crossed out repeatedly, huffs and sighs of disappointment filling the silence between the scratching of pen against paper.
The sun moved through the sky and day turned to night, and still Zeta worked away at trying to understand the spell and its meaning, eventually running out of textbooks and finally leaving her room to grab more from the library as well as a quick snack, saying a brief hello and goodnight to Totoko who sat boredly in the common room before locking herself away in her room again. Just like the previous night, she fell asleep at her desk through the early hours of Sunday morning and woke up with a sore neck and back, but this did not deter her from picking her pen back up and continuing to write and theorise and crumple up the paper to start again.
Meanwhile, Totoko sat in the common room with her egg by her side, ignoring any questions or conversation starters her classmates attempted to give. She instead preoccupied herself with a book she had found in the library titled ‘Dragon Care 101’ . She figured she may as well learn the basics if she were to care for her familiar, however she was only two pages in and she was starting to become bored, the words flying over her head and leaving her to stare at the same page for minutes on end.
The urge to get up and go to Zeta - who had been holed up in her room all day - was strong for Totoko, but she also knew it would be equally as boring for her whilst Zeta was in her ‘ultimate bookworm phase’ , as Totoko had so kindly dubbed it many years ago. So, she sat on her seat, aimlessly flipping through the pages of the book she had borrowed without bothering to read its contents if only to give her something to do, when her name was called for what felt like the hundredth time, causing her to snap in frustration.
“WHAT?!” Looking up, she spotted a startled but sheepish looking Zeta, her face tired and clear evidence that had barely slept the night before.
“Uh, sorry, Totoko… Is it ok if I borrow you for a sec?” Zeta smiled awkwardly, hoping it would be enough to placate Totoko’s sudden burst of anger. The brunette stared at her blankly for a moment, as if she were registering what exactly was happening, before nodding and tossing the book onto the seat beside her, walking closer to Zeta.
“Sorry, again,” Zeta continued as they moved into a more private space, that being the common room’s rarely used study area, “I know it’s kind of out of the blue, but you’re the only person I could think of who could help me.”
“Nah, I was starting to get bored, anyway. Do you have any idea how annoying those idiots are?” Totoko complained about her classmates, causing Zeta to chuckle quietly. “So, what’s up? Have you figured out that spell yet?”
“Basically, yeah,” Zeta shrugged, and Totoko’s mouth fell open. It had only been two days since she had looked at the runes, and she had already figured it out?
“Oh…”
“Yeah, so there’s one last bit I need your help with,” Zeta, oblivious to Totoko’s surprise, pointed to the girl’s wand. “You know I’m terrible at conjuring up items, so do you think you could cast up a single strand of black goat hair?”
“‘Black goat hair’? Well, yeah, that’s easy enough, but why so specific?” Totoko grasped her wand from her pocket with a frown, poising her wand perfectly in front of her.
“For the spell, of course. It seems that this spell relies heavily on some kind of sacrifice, and goat hair was actually quite commonly used back then.” Totoko nodded as she began to concentrate on her casting whilst Zeta continued, cupping her chin as she recalled her notes. “I’ve already tried a number of items that I have in my room but none of them worked. Then, after some more research, I found that I should be using black goat hair specifically because of its connections to dark magic rituals. I’m not sure on how much I’m supposed to be using but seeing as the necklace itself is small, I figured I could offer a single strand to start with, and if I need more, then I’ll get my hands on it.”
By the time Zeta’s speech was over, Totoko was already holding the strand between her forefinger and thumb with a mild look of disgust and wariness. Zeta’s face lit up with a smile, giving an enthusiastic ‘thank you’ whilst taking the strand from her.
“Well, whatever it is you’re doing, you better be careful. I don’t want to drag your unconscious body to the hospital ward for the hundredth time because you’ve over-exerted yourself.” Totoko wasn’t one to normally be concerned with anyone who wasn’t her, but this was her friend of five years now. Her only friend. The thought of something happening to her because of her own recklessness caused her heart to clench uncomfortably. To her dismay, Zeta only smiled, repeating the same promise she had heard countless times before:
“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
She was then off to her room again before Totoko could stop her, and with the supposed final piece of the puzzle in her hands, she got to work. She used the heel of her palm to push along the spine of her notebook to keep it open, the left side filled with a list of crossed out items such as crow feathers and crushed goblin teeth, and the right side with a single short paragraph.
Zeta cleared her throat, holding the orb in one hand and the goat’s hair in the other, stretching her arms far out in front of her with a look of concentration, brows furrowed and lips pressed tightly together.
“Let’s try this again…” she told herself whilst adjusting her stance, squaring her shoulders and firming her body. With one quick glance at her notebook, she began to read the words written on the paper aloud with all the confidence she could muster.
“‘Six fell stars, come to my aid, through day and through night, my heart bound to you till my final breath. Servants to my every command - I summon thee to do my bidding.’”
The air froze, a cold chill running through Zeta’s body once she had finished uttering the spell. She waited in tense silence, eyes stuck to the orb as it throbbed in her palm. Worrying her lower lip between her teeth, she waited for a moment longer for anything to happen, but to her disappointment, nothing occurred.
“Another failed summoning…” she sighed, lowering her arms, knowing she would have to cross it off the list to mark another one of her failures. She stared at the wall opposite her sullenly. She was so sure that this would be the one, that she would actually get it right this time and get a result, but that didn’t seem to be the case. As she stood there allowing her failure to eat away at her, she sniffled and instantly her nose scrunched up as the tinge of something burning travelled through her nostrils.
“Huh…?” Looking around her room, she saw nothing set alight other than candles. Suddenly she yelped, hissing as she felt the skin of her fingers sting and dropping the goat’s hair that was forgotten in her hold onto the floor, and she stared in bewilderment.
It was the goat’s hair that was on fire, the strong scent of burning hair filling the room as a single flame travelled from one end of the thin strand to the other before going out. The strand, having turned to ash, began to gather itself up and lift from the ground, hovering in a small mass in the air.
A gasp escaped Zeta as the orb in her hand began to throb, the light now so bright she couldn’t look at it anymore without becoming blinded, a sudden flash of white making her jolt and drop the necklace, but it never hit the ground. It was now hovering in the air, too, shivering violently as the ash was absorbed into the crystal. The room was then enveloped in an intense light followed by rich coloured mist that began leaking out of the orb, causing Zeta to stumble away from it, the backs of her knees bumping into the foot of her bed and collapsing on top of it.
Wide eyed with fascination and pure horror, she watched as the mist began weaving itself around the room, pigments of colour flooding the floor. She paled, a shiver running up her spine as wicked laughter from voices she had never heard before reverberated against her bedroom walls, filling her with a sense of dread. Her breath hitched as she felt a pull from her hands, looking down to see waves of her own magic being sucked from her body by force, the silver threads entwining around the orb.
“N-No, wait --!” she pleaded to the air, struggling to contain her magic as she felt her chest tighten, making it difficult to breathe as her panic rose higher and higher up her throat. What had she done?
Zeta’s answer came swiftly. The mist began to take shape, each colour molding into six individual figures of similar stature, shifting and writhing behind the smog. She couldn’t move, her limbs paralysed and trembling, flinching heavily when the figure in the centre of the obscured group stepped forward and broke through the veil surrounding them, her eyes connecting with a glowing crimson pair.
“After centuries of waiting…” The man now standing before her chuckled darkly, his hand raising to fiddle with the large chain trailing from his neck as a pair of russet, bat-like wings flared out behind him, “It looks like we finally have ourselves a new master, boys.” His smirk widened at the look upon Zeta’s pale face, showing off his fangs that glinted under the candlelight beside her bed. A pair of blood red horns poking out from underneath his dark and slicked back tresses - almost as dark as the black pointed tail swaying behind him.
The ‘boys’ he had referred to began to step forward, too, revealing themselves to be just as demonic as the first with pairs of brightly coloured horns protruding proudly from their scalps and uniquely shaped wings stretching out wide before settling against their backs. Their piercing gazes shifted around the small space to Zeta, still trembling on her bed, her hands fisting the sheets beneath her in a vice grip, her knuckles white.
Her mouth ran dry, unable to voice the many questions and extreme concerns that were running rampant in her mind. She hadn’t anticipated that the spell would actually work, nor produce the results she was currently witnessing. Her heart thumped against her ribcage, increasing in speed as she watched a demon dressed in bedazzled azure garments and a thin, dazzling gold crown resting on his head approach the necklace that was still floating in midair, gently cusping it in his partially gloved hand.
“My dear, I believe this precious item belongs to you.” His voice was deep and sultry, capturing her attention as he stepped towards the foot of her bed and knelt down on one knee, holding the piece of jewelry towards her with a pleased smile, his dark eyes regarding her with nothing but adoration.
It took her a moment to register his words, his gesture being enough to temporarily snap her out of her stupefaction, her arm hesitantly stretching out to pluck the item from his grasp, slowly pressing it against her chest as she swallowed dryly.
“...Holy shit…” Zeta croaked, the first words she could think of tumbling clumsily out of her mouth. The demons burst into sudden laughter at her verbal reaction, the one dressed in red shaking his head.
“There’s nothing ‘holy’ about us, sweetcheeks,” he snickered, his wings fluttering lightly and tail waving as if to further prove his point. The comment did nothing to soothe her nerves, adding a heavier weight on her mind. This was a mistake. A very big, serious, dangerous mistake. What was she thinking , casting that spell?
“Clearly I wasn’t thinking, or else this wouldn’t have happened…” She scolded herself weakly, not realising she had finally spoken her thoughts out loud until she noticed all six men regarding her with odd expressions, her cheeks blooming with colour as a cold sweat collected on her temple. “Uhm, I-I mean--”
“Zeta!?” Her bedroom door burst open with a bang as it smashed against the wall beside it, Zeta’s whole body jumping an inch off of her bed as all heads whipped towards the newcomer, Totoko. “What happened?! I heard you yell--” She wore a worried frown, which quickly melted into a chilling scowl when she spotted the six unknown demons standing in the middle of the room. “Who the fuck are you , huh?”
Zeta, practically able to see Totoko’s fury rolling off of her, scrambled off of the bed, her legs wobbling dangerously beneath her as she hurried to Totoko’s side. “Wait, wait , don’t do anything!” She frantically put her hands up in front of her friend in an attempt to keep her in place.
“ They did something to you, didn’t they?” Totoko spat, her hands curling into fists. “I swear, if you’ve lain one of your crusty nails on her, I’ll--”
“ Please , don’t do anything!” Zeta tried again, now placing her hands firmly on Totoko’s shoulders before she could take another step through the door. “I promise, I’ll try to explain what’s going on, okay? Just--”
“What’s going on in here, zansu?!” Another voice and another problem for Zeta. She withheld the urge to groan as she caught sight of her professor, Iyami, garbed in his horrendously bright purple robe, stalking towards her. “I felt a strong surge of magic from here just now! Which one of you is messing around?” Upon reaching the two girl’s still caught in the doorway, he peered over their heads and caught sight of the demons still standing dumbfounded in the centre of the room, and he screeched.
“SHEEEEH?!” His body jumped into an odd pose, and this time Zeta couldn’t control the sour expression from creeping onto her face. “ Demons?! Don’t tell me you summoned them, Miss Zeta?!”
“It was an accident --”
“Come with me to the headmaster’s office this instant , zansu!” He demanded, jabbing his finger to all seven of them, Totoko being forgotten. “And bring them with you!”
“B-But-- I--” Zeta stammered as her professor beckoned for her to follow after him. She gulped, staring at the man in red as he shrugged his shoulders.
“We go wherever you’re going, babe.” She visibly shuddered at the nickname, forcing herself to move her shaky legs towards the door, glancing over her shoulder to find the six demons beginning to walk behind her without a care in the world, a couple even stretching their wings out before lifting off the floor a few inches to flutter along.
‘This… This is horrible,’ Zeta thought to herself with a troubled face, continuing behind professor Iyami whilst mentally preparing herself for whatever punishment was awaiting for her in headmaster Dekapan’s office.