Chapter 1: Rickter Clive

Chapter 1: Rickter Clive

PLEASE DO NOT USE CHARACTERS WITHOUT PERMISSION!!

In the busy city of Tokyo, Japan, it was your typical Thursday afternoon. The sun was shining brightly from behind the few clouds that dared to challenge its' radiant glow. The wind was blowing ever so softly to create a breeze that rustled the leaves in the trees. Above the city, the birds chirped and sang merrily as they watched the creatures known as "humans" below them go about their business. The streets of the city were crowded with pedestrians, some on their way to various stores, some leaving various stores, and then there were those were either walking aimlessly or headed elsewhere. The sound of automobiles could also be heard, and the many horns that were honking eventually began to drown out the sound of the bird's lovely song. Flustered at this rebuff, the birds flew off to sing elsewhere as the humans below them continued their pushing and rushing about.

At Orange Star High School, which was located in the eastern side of Tokyo, it would very soon be a similar scene. The classes were just finishing up for the day, and even though the doors of the individual classrooms were closed, you could feel the anxiety leaking out of the students on the other side; for tomorrow was an important exam, the mid-term exam to be more exact, and nobody really looks forward to exams.

In one classroom, the atmosphere was quite different than from the rest of the school. The size of the class was your typical class size: roughly thirty kids in number. But instead of dreading the upcoming exam, these students were looking forward to it, and were paying close attention to what their teacher was saying. At least, all but one of them was. One particular young girl was staring out of the classroom window, all but oblivious to what was being said.

She looked to be about seventeen years of age, with long, thick auburn hair that draped gracefully down her well-rounded shoulders. Her eyes were a soft-brown color, and radiated with kindness. Her face was fine, and her complexion was fair. She was dressed in the official Orange Star High School uniform, which consisted of a khaki blouse and dark brown skirt. On her left breast was the school's emblem: an orange Dahlia flower.

This same girl was at this moment looking out of the classroom window, barely hearing what the teacher was saying. Her soft-brown eyes wandered aimlessly across the street until they stopped at a well-dressed young man who was sitting on a bench. This girl had seen him before, since everyday for the past two weeks she had seen him sitting on that bench. Several of the girls in that class often joked that he was glued to the bench, since it seemed that he didn't even get up to get food.

"Miss Migawa." The teacher's soft voice broke through the girl's train of thought, and with a quick turn of her head she snapped back into reality.

"I…I'm sorry, Mrs. Foster!" She quickly apologized, her face as red as a bright cherry. Her voice was soft and kind, and was pleasant to hear. The rest of the class laughed as the teacher smiled.

"That's all right." She said with a smile on her face. "However, if you would like to stare out of the window, perhaps it would be best to wait to do it until class is over?" There was a hint of playfulness in the teacher's voice, which was one of the reasons why she was a popular teacher in the school: she never got angry with her students.

"Yes ma'am."

"Now then," the teacher, whose name was Henrietta Foster, continued. "As all of you know, the mid-term exam is tomorrow. I am expecting all of you to try your hardest to succeed." She looked at her class, which all nodded in unison. Just then, the sound of a bell ringing was heard. "Remember," Mrs. Foster said as the students started to stand up. "Whether you pass or not does not matter, all that matters is if you try your hardest." She smiled as the students started to file by her. "Class is dismissed!"

The students had all stood up, grabbed their books, bags, and other items, and when class was dismissed they all walked out into the hallway, where a bunch of other students had already gathered. As usual at this time of day, the hallway was rather crowded, with students walking this way and that way, putting things inside of their lockers, or chatting with their friends on the way out. The young girl that we saw earlier was among the second group, and was busy putting a few things away inside of her locker.

"Hey, didn't you hear?" A younger girl with hot-pink hair was saying to a couple of other girls. "They were seen again in Hatso."

"You mean the Demon Slayers, Lucy?" Another girl with blonde hair asked curiously.

The girl named Lucy nodded. "Uh-huh."

Now, so you all are not confused, please allow me to quickly explain. You see, many years ago, fifty-five years to be exact, the earth was in danger of being taken over by a demon army led by the King of Demons, Hakai Itami. The humans fought bravely, and a fierce and brutal war eventually ensued. The demons had the advantage, however, and the humans were beaten back. However, before the Demon King could conquer our world, five brave men sealed him into a never-ending pit that was known as "the Void." This officially ended the war between humans and demons, and without their leader to guide them, the demons were forced to retreat. However, despite their leader's defeat, many demons continued to terrorize the human face, killing at will. To counter the demonic attacks, a group of warriors with superhuman powers got together, and with their powers they killed demons all across the globe. Because of their incredible power which could slay demons, the world called them the "Demon Slayers." The war ended thirty-four years ago, but the demons still continued to terrorize the earth to this day.

"Hatso…" A brown-haired girl said quietly. "That's around two hours north, right?"

The pink-haired girl nodded, and pulled her cell-phone out of her pocket and pulled up a picture. "Here," she said, showing the picture to her friends. "My cousin was in the middle of the attack, and was able to take this picture of one of the Demon Slayers to send it to me."

The girls all crowded around the picture, which was of a young man with blue eyes and spiky, sandy-blonde hair who was killing a demon, and instantly began talking at the same time.

"Oh my gosh! He's so cute!"

"He looks like a true warrior!"

"What I wouldn't give to be able to meet him in real life!"

As the girls obsessed over the picture, the young girl that we saw earlier closed her locker, and began to walk towards the exit of the school, shaking her head with disapproval. I don't understand why they are so obsessed with those guys. She thought to herself. While she herself thought that the Demon Slayers were cool, she also thought that those girls took it just a bit too far. She was so deep in thought that she didn't see where she was going, and walked right into a tall girl with jet-black hair, who glared at her.

"Oops!" She exclaimed. "I'm sorry!"

The black-haired girl crossed her arms. "Well well," she teased as two other girls walked up to them. "Look who we got here. Haven't seen you in awhile Heiwa."

"I've been busy." Heiwa said, getting slightly nervous as the three girls started to corner her against the wall. "Mom hasn't been doing too well lately, so I haven't really had the time to hang out in town."

The black-haired girl laughed. "Is that really your excuse?" She asked as the other girls grabbed Heiwa's arms. Heiwa's eyes flashed with alarm as the black-haired girl grinned. "You've been gone for so long that we've started to miss having fun with you."

"That's enough, Kyoka!" A voice said from behind her. The girl named Kyoka angrily turned around and saw a pink-haired girl standing behind her.

"And what're you going to do if we don't stop?" Kyoka asked in a rather threatening tone.

As if to give her an answer, the pink-haired girl stepped right up to her and looked her straight in the eye. "We could do this here or outside." She said firmly. "Either way, remember what happened last time."

Kyoka gritted her teeth in frustration, and motioned to the other girls, who let go of Heiwa. "Fine." She muttered under her breath as she pushed the pink-haired girl out of her way.

The girl shrugged as she watched Kyoka angrily storm out of the room, and then turned to Heiwa. "You know, you really should start standing up for yourself." She said, her voice full of concern.

"I'm sorry, Rose." Heiwa apologized. "I'm just…not really used to."

Rose sighed, and then smiled. She and Heiwa had been best friends for forever. Well…ever since the sixth grade, where Rose had stood up for Heiwa during recess. She made a quick friend, and they've been best friends ever since then. "Anyway," she said with a big smile on her face. "I'm headed out for ice cream. You wanna come?"

Heiwa smiled. "Sure!"

The two girls walked out of the school, hand in hand. By this time, the streets were at their busiest, and the rush hour traffic had already kicked in. Cars were backed up, horns were honking, and Heiwa and Rose walked on the sidewalk, where the traffic was much more desirable.

Now, two blocks down from the school was Shin's Ice Cream Parlor and Bakery, and that was the two girl's destination. It was a favorite place for the students of Orange Star High, since the price was good, and the food was even better. The parlor was not very busy; only around ten customers were in there eating and drinking. The two girls walked up to the counter, where they were greeted by a smiling man in a white apron.

"Good afternoon ladies." He said as they walked up. "What can I get for you today?"

Rose ordered strawberry ice cream, and Heiwa ordered mint chocolate-chip. The man gave them their order and waved. "Have a good day!" He said cheerfully.

The two girls walked over to a table and sat down with their ice creams.

"So, tomorrow is the mid-term exam." Rose said as she licked her ice cream. "Are you ready for it?"

Heiwa nodded as she licked her ice cream, which tasted wonderful. She had been preparing for the exam for the past several weeks, unlike many of the other students, who had waited until the last minute, and were now frantically trying to get caught up.

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, looking up. "Isn't that…it is!" She smiled and waved as a young man walked towards their table with a brown bag in one hand, and an ice cream cone in the other. "Hey Rickter!"

The man looked at Rose and smiled as he walked up to their table. Heiwa started slightly as she recognized him as the man who she saw sitting on the bench earlier that day. "Hello, Miss Rose." He said. "It's a nice day, isn't it?" His voice was slightly deep, but soothing, and was rather pleasant to hear. His eyes were slightly slanted, and were an aqua-blue color. He wore a black shirt and pants. His sleek-black hair was combed neatly back, giving him a very clean appearance.

"Indeed it is." Rose nodded. "Oh!" She gasped. "I almost forgot to introduce you to my friend." She motioned towards Heiwa. "Heiwa, this is Rickter. Rickter, this is my friend Heiwa."

The man known as Rickter nodded slightly at Heiwa. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He said, extending his hand to her.

Heiwa nodded back and shook his hand, but didn't say anything.

"Heiwa here is one of my classmates, and my best friend." Rose said. "We do almost everything together!"

Rickter smiled. "Including eating ice cream, I see." He observed with a playful look in his eyes. Rose laughed as Rickter nodded. "Well, it was nice to see you Rose." He turned to Heiwa and bowed slightly. "Miss Heiwa." He nodded as he walked off to his table.

"Who is he?" Heiwa asked, watching him walk away. She had finally remembered how to talk.

"He works off and on with the street cleaners." Rose told her. "Kind of a dirty profession, but he likes it. We met around six months ago. He is really nice, although sometimes he's a bit off."

Heiwa nodded, and without another word she continued eating her ice cream. Rose followed suit, and not a word was uttered until after they finished.

"Aww, rats!" Rose exclaimed, looking in her bag. "I forgot to grab my notebook from the classroom!"

Heiwa laughed. "Well, it's no good if it's there when you want to prepare for the exam. Let's go back and get it."

Rose nodded, and the two girls walked towards the door. As they did, Heiwa took a glance backwards to see if she could find Rickter, but he had apparently finished already and had left.

By that time, it was later in the afternoon, so a lot of the rush-hour traffic had died down. The sidewalk was even less crowded, so Heiwa and Rose were able to get back to their school in no time at all. The two were walking and laughing when they were interrupted by the sound of a loud roar.

"What was that!?" Rose asked, jumping at the sound. Such a sound was one that she never heard before, and to be quite honest, she was slightly worried.

Heiwa quickly scanned their surroundings, but she didn't see anything suspicious. She saw Billy, the school's janitor, leaving the building, and a couple of kids walking down the street, but nothing was out of the ordinary. "I don't know." She said. She continued walking, but as she walked, she felt a strange urge to look above her. She looked up, and then quickly grabbed Rose's hand.

"Quick! Inside the school!" She yelled, dragging Rose behind her. The two got through the doors just in time, for the second that they got through a huge creature landed on the pavement outside.

It was roughly ten feet tall, and was a dusty-reddish-brown color. On its head were two horns, and on its hand were long, sharp, threatening claws. The force of its landing was so hard that the resulting shockwave shattered many of the school's lower level windows.

"Wh…what in the world IS that thing!?" Rose gasped as she looked with horror at the creature.

"Who cares!?" Heiwa asked as she grabbed Rose's arm and started running down the dimly lit hallway. "Let's get away from it!" Although Heiwa didn't say out loud what she thought it was, she had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she knew what the creature was: a demon.

The creature gave another loud roar as it plunged into the school after the two girls and gave chase. The two girls ran into their classroom and quickly shut the door behind them.

"Got it!" Rose exclaimed, as she ran to the item that they had returned for. "Imagine, all this for my notebook!" Just then, the door broke down with a crash as the creature entered. Its claws were itching for a kill, and the look of an evil predator was in its dark eyes. Rose screamed as the creature lunged at her, but the sound of a gun firing stopped it in its tracks. The creature screamed in pain as a bullet pierced its side, and Rose quickly grabbed her notebook and backed away from it.

Heiwa turned around at the sound of the gun and saw Mrs. Foster standing behind them with a smoking rifle in her hand, which apparently was were the bullet that had hit the creature had come from. "Mrs. Foster!" She exclaimed.

"Get out!" The teacher shouted, motioning towards a door behind her. "Use the emergency exit!"

"But…what about you?" Heiwa asked as Rose ran up to her side. Heiwa was torn. Part of her wanted to run, but the other part didn't want to leave Mrs. Foster behind.

Mrs. Foster quickly fired the gun again as the creature attempted to claw her, and the creature recoiled from the fire. "Go! I'll be right behind you!"

Rose grabbed Heiwa's hand and ran through the door as the demon lunged again. The sound of the gun firing was heard once again as the two girls ran. They had just made it outside when they heard the sound of a woman screaming in pain. At the sound of it, Heiwa froze in her tracks. A million thoughts immediately ran through her head, and she lost the will to run.

"Come on!" Rose pleaded as she tugged at her arm. "We have to get out while we can!" She saw Heiwa wipe a couple of tears from her eyes. "We couldn't help her even if we wanted to." She said.

Just then, they heard the sound of a door crashing to the ground, and the two turned around and saw the demon glaring hungrily at them.

"Come on!" Rose pleaded.

Heiwa wiped tears from her eyes as the creature started after them once again. "All right." She said, her voice trembling with strong emotion. "Let's go." The two girls started running from the creature, but by the time they made it into the street it had caught up to them. "Get down!" Heiwa shouted as she pushed Rose to the ground. As she did, Heiwa felt a brush of air above her head, from where the demon's claw had very nearly got her, missing by inches. Heiwa quickly attempted to get up, but before she could, the demon laid its large foot upon her arm, pinning her to the ground.

"Heiwa!" Rose screamed, standing up and running towards her friend.

"No!" Heiwa shouted, motioning with her free hand. "Get out of here Rose! I'll be fine!" When Rose hesitated, Heiwa shouted even louder. "Go!"

Rose stood still, her tears streaming down her face. At Heiwa's command she slowly nodded as she backed up. "All right." She said quietly. "I'll go get help!" She turned around and ran in the opposite direction, all the while trying her hardest to unsuccessfully hold back her tears.

Good. Heiwa thought to herself as she saw her friend run. At least she will survive. Heiwa had no anticipation on living, and had resigned herself to death. Just then, the creature's sharp claws dug into her arm, making her scream as excruciating pain shot through her body. So…this really is the end. She closed her eyes as the creature swung its ugly arm to deal the final blow.

One…two…three…four…five seconds passed before Heiwa dared to open her eyes, wondering why she hadn't felt the agonizing pain of getting stabbed. What she saw startled her greatly. "Rickter!?"

By a very lucky chance, Rickter had seen the demon attacking Heiwa, and had run to her aid. He had caught the demon's arm halfway down, and was slowly raising it back up. He grunted as he pushed the demon off of Heiwa, and then put himself between the demon and her. Heiwa slowly sat up and gingerly touched her arm, wincing in pain as pain shot through her body once again. She grit her teeth tightly as she applied pressure on it, on order to stop the bleeding. As she did, she looked up at Rickter, who was standing between her and the demon. "Rickter!" She screamed. "Get out of here! You'll only get yourself killed!"

The young man paid her no heed, but instead glared at the demon with an indescribable expression. "Bring it." He muttered under his breath. The demon roared as it swung its large arm at Rickter, but before it could hit its mark, Rickter side-stepped it. Before the demon could recover, Rickter jabbed his fist into its stomach, making it howl in pain. Heiwa watched in amazement as Rickter and the demon fought.

No…no way…

Suddenly, the demon's arm hit its mark, striking Rickter squarely in the face. "Rickter!" Heiwa screamed in horror, fearing that her savior wouldn't survive the attack. The demon gave off an ugly smirk, but it swiftly vanished when Rickter grabbed its arm.

"Really?" He said as he pulled the demon's arm away from his face, and then let go of it. "Is that really all you've got?" His tone was calm, but at the same time, it brimmed with authority and power. Heiwa's eyes became wide as she looked at Rickter's face.

No way… She thought to herself. He's…he's not even bleeding!

The demon roared angrily as it swung its arm at Rickter again. But instead of dodging it, he grabbed it. When he did, Heiwa saw something that she would never have thought she would see in a demon: fear.

Rickter closed his eyes as his grip on the demon's arm tightened like a vice. "Aku ni wa shōri wa ari emasen. Yuiitsu no shi." He spoke these words slowly as an eerie blue flame began to envelop his hand. "There can be no victory for evil." He opened his eyes and glared at the demon, which recoiled in hear. "Only death!" As he finished speaking, a wave of blue flames shot from his hand into the demon, completely engulfing it. The demon screamed and howled in pain as the flames ate at its body. Rickter kept his tight grip on its arm, so that it could not escape. After struggling for twenty seconds, the demon slowly disintegrated, all the while screaming and howling in pain.

Heiwa watched the whole spectacle in horror as the demon was killed, and after it disintegrated she looked at Rickter. He was staring at the ashes left by the demon. He himself was completely unharmed by the flames, which had mysteriously vanished. She visibly started when Rickter turned to her, and a chill went down her spine as she saw a big change in his appearance: His once-blue eyes had now turned into a dark-red!

She sat there, completely stunned, as Rickter stared at her. Seconds felt like hours as the two stared at each other. After what seemed like an eternity, Rickter turned and walked off without a word.

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To be continued...