The student council room's door closed behind her with a soft click.
Tsubaki Shinra held in her hands a neat stack of reports that had arrived that morning. Her long, straight black hair fell smoothly down her back, and the sunset's light highlighted each strand.
"I suppose that's normal…"
She sighed upon noticing the room was empty. Neither Sona nor any of the other members were there.
She let herself fall into one of the chairs beside the main table with a sigh. Her position as vice president required her to handle the paperwork, while the others were out patrolling the city.
These days, stray devils and wandering spirits had increased. And the student council, led by Sona, along with the Occult Research Club, led by Rias, were taking care of eliminating the threats.
Tsubaki placed the reports on the table and began to organize them.
"There should be at least some coffee or tea…" she murmured, leaning over the stack of papers.
And then…
"YAHOOO!"
Seconds before, there had been no one there except her. No one had knocked on the door. No one had opened it. Yet a sudden shout rang out in the room. Tsubaki jumped so high that the reports flew into the air.
"Eekk!"
If she hadn't been worried about the reports getting lost, she would have been mortified by such an embarrassing shriek. In an attempt to catch them, the sheets fluttered everywhere, falling in disorder onto the floor and table.
But Tsubaki did not lose her composure for long. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, a silver-framed mirror appeared floating at her side. It was her Sacred Gear: Alice Mirror.
She murmured calmly:
"There's no need to be frightened…"
Before her stood two unfamiliar figures.
The first was a girl with golden hair, loose in soft waves down her back. Her crimson eyes looked at Tsubaki with curiosity.
Beside her was a tall young man with snow-white hair. And his face…
"…Huh?"
Tsubaki blinked several times.
His golden eyes were perfectly aligned. The curve of his lips was dangerous. His jaw looked sculpted by some divine artist obsessed with symmetry.
He was handsome enough to charm anyone, and yet that carefree, soft smile he wore was criminal. There was no other way to describe it.
If this were a shoujo manga, there would've been sparkling lines, petals falling in slow motion, and a pink glow surrounding him.
No, no, NO.
'Wait!'
Tsubaki panicked.
She couldn't be swayed by the enemy's face!
They must have come to attack because they knew the academy was undefended! They took advantage of the patrol gap for a surprise strike! That made sense!
SHE MUST NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH THE ENEMY JUST BECAUSE HE'S HANDSOME!
Although…
"…"
'…Where have I seen him before?'
He seemed incredibly familiar. Though his white hair made him look completely new…
A thought flashed through her mind.
She wanted to blink to make sure, and when she did, the part in his hair—pure white, slightly tousled—overlapped in her mind with the image of…
"…Izumi-kun? Is that you?"
The petite girl looked at her with a blank expression, while the boy gave a small smile and tilted his head.
"Who else would it be if not me? Of course it's Yuu. Have you already forgotten me? That's cruel, you know?"
And without missing a beat, he added:
"Though it was amusing to see you go through like five different expressions in those last three seconds."
Tsubaki was left speechless. Was it really him? But his hair… did he dye it?
"Oh, and your scream was really cute."
Tsubaki felt a sudden heat on her cheeks and wanted to scream, covering her face and waddling to the corner of the room. That had been ridiculously embarrassing!
'Did he say… cute?'
A light blush spread across her always-serene face.
She, the student council vice president—known for her icy beauty and composed demeanor—now felt ridiculously mortified thanks to this boy!
She forced herself to take a breath. She couldn't lose her poise in front of him.
Tsubaki narrowed her eyes.
"…Izumi-kun. What are you doing here?"
Yuu tilted his head and turned to Yue, who was watching silently.
"First, allow me to introduce you to my companion."
He placed a hand on her soft golden hair.
"She is Yue. She is… well, let's just say she'll be with me from now on. Yue, this is Tsubaki Shinra, vice president of the student council—she may seem intimidating, but she's quite nice. She makes good tea."
"Mm. A pleasure," Yue said unemotionally, tilting her head slightly.
Tsubaki looked at Yuu, narrowing her eyes behind her glasses. What did he mean by "intimidating"? She wanted to challenge that important point, but she held back so as not to seem even more pathetic.
She regained some dignity and nodded.
"A pleasure…" Tsubaki replied cautiously. That girl was undeniably pretty, but her crimson eyes didn't seem normal. Still, her attitude wasn't hostile.
"Well, I came because I want to enroll Yue in the academy."
Tsubaki blinked.
"That's all?"
"Yes."
Tsubaki had a few complaints. Couldn't this boy have entered like a normal human through the door? Was it necessary for him to teleport here just to scare her, all to enroll someone in the academy?
Even so, after a few moments of consideration, she answered.
"It's not especially difficult. Sona-kaichou will surely agree. After all, she mentioned she'd like you to be closer to us."
"Where is she?"
"Patrolling the city. Kuoh is shared territory between Sona-kaichou and Rias Gremory. We're in charge of keeping it safe."
"Is that so? And who are the enemies?"
"Recently, several Stray Devils have appeared. Some of them are quite aggressive."
"Stray… Devils?" Yue turned her eyes to Yuu.
But Tsubaki answered instead.
"They're Reincarnated Devils who have lost their masters. Some because their master died. Others because they rebelled. There are many different cases. But the result is the same—without their masters to control their powers, they become a major threat. Those, we call Stray Devils."
Yue nodded slowly. Even though she didn't fully understand what a Reincarnated Devil was, she had a vague idea. From what she'd gathered, it seemed that devils in this world could turn others into servants or familiars. Something like contractual bonds.
Not too different from some dark pacts in her own world.
It was then that Yuu turned to her with a smile.
"Interested in hunting some?"
Yue lifted her chin. Her crimson eyes gleamed.
"Mm. I want to test my new power."
"I figured."
Yuu's smile widened. It was the expression of someone who already knew the answer before asking the question.
Tsubaki, however, was anything but calm.
"Hey…! You shouldn't face Stray Devils just like that. They're stronger than they seem. Even for high-ranking devils, they can cause real problems."
But Yuu simply raised his hand as if it were a trivial matter.
"Don't worry. Everything will be fine. After all… they're just devils."
"…"
'…Why did that feel like a direct jab at me…?'
Was that… a straight-up insult? But I'm also…!
She herself was a devil, after all.
She quickly shook her head. She wasn't going to argue about that.
But… there was something she couldn't hold in anymore. Her curiosity was about to explode.
"Hey… why did you dye your hair?"
Yuu was confused about what she meant by that.
"Dye my…?"
He raised an eyebrow, lifted a lock of his white hair, stared at it for a second, and plucked it out.
"…H-huh?" Yue made a small noise beside him.
"…I must be getting old," Yuu said in a regretful tone, looking at the hair in his hand with a tragic expression.
Tsubaki felt a sudden violent impulse.
Getting old!? Is he joking!? He looks even more handsome today than yesterday! How could he say something so irresponsible with that perfect face!?
Her expression tensed as she forced herself not to throw a file folder at him.
What Tsubaki didn't know… was that Yuu's natural hair color wasn't black, but white.
Even his face today was his original one.
For a long time, he had altered his appearance to avoid standing out. Yesterday, when he was summoned to the castle and returned to his real form, he simply forgot to change back.
"Well… oh well," he said with a shrug.
And right before their eyes—her and Yue's—his hair changed color.
First black. Then green. Then blond. Blue. Silver. Fiery red. And finally… it returned to white.
The two girls stared at him, wide-eyed.
"…"
"…"
"…Any preference?" Yuu asked them with a mischievous smile.
Yue, with a flat expression, murmured:
"Mm… white is better."
Meanwhile, Tsubaki had so many things to say.
How could he change his hair color like a filter? And the worst part was, she couldn't even sense any magic in his body. So he probably wasn't using conventional magic. Then how was he doing it?
But instead of opening her mouth to interrogate him like a responsible vice president, she stood there, arms crossed, staring at his head.
'Red, no. Blue, too flashy. Blond… cliché. White… also cliché, but with his golden eyes… hmm…'
"…White is better too."
She said it out loud without realizing.
Yuu winked at her.
"Noted, ma'am."
And just as Tsubaki began to regret opening her mouth, Yuu snapped his fingers.
A sheet of paper appeared floating over his palm, and he handed it directly to Tsubaki.
"Here's Yue's enrollment info. Name, age, background, all forged—I mean, perfectly verifiable."
Tsubaki took the paper with a sigh. She suspected this boy was doing something illegal. But she didn't even have the energy anymore to interrogate him and verify whether this background was actually fake or not.
As long as it doesn't hurt the academy or the city, it should be fine. Sona herself would agree to have this boy, who came out of nowhere, join them if it was possible.
"Anything else?" she asked flatly.
"Nope. That's all for now," Yuu replied, slipping his hands into his pockets.
And just as she was about to ask something more…
They disappeared.
Literally. Just as they had come.
"Uh…?"
Tsubaki spun on her heels, expecting to see a magic circle on the floor.
However… there was no characteristic circle of arcane symbols glowing on the floor.
"How…?"
Mages and devils typically used magic circles for all kinds of teleportation. Even the quickest required careful preparation. But he hadn't done any of that.
Tsubaki sighed, slowly returning to reality.
And then she remembered.
"…He didn't even help me pick this up."
She pursed her lips, visibly annoyed, bent down, and began gathering the reports scattered across the room.
"Hmph. What a terrible man…"
Murmuring this, she picked up the last sheet with a resigned expression.
"Next time… I will definitely scold him for skipping class."
As a responsible vice president, she wouldn't let herself be seduced by that wicked man—and she would do it. Probably. …Maybe.
×××
The sky was tinged with a soft orange, as if someone had delicately brushed it over a blue canvas.
The clouds, fluffy and serene, stretched across the horizon like the blush of an embarrassed maiden.
It was a quiet late afternoon—almost evening—in Kuoh City's shopping mall.
Most students had finished their classes by then, and the breeze carried the murmurs of the streets and the sounds of footsteps and voices.
Amid it all, two girls walked along the mall's main walkway. Both still wore their school uniforms, though one looked considerably more energetic than the other.
"Come on, Miko! You said you wanted to go out more! You can't back out now!"
"Yeah, but not so often, Hana… can't you go by yourself…?"
"It wouldn't be fun without you!"
The first was Miko Yotsuya, a teenage girl with jet-black hair that fell to her hips. Her eyes were a pale yellow, and her expression hovered between sleepiness and boredom.
It wasn't that she was in a bad mood with her lively friend—that was simply her default face. Finding a photo of her smiling naturally was nearly impossible.
The other girl, Hana Yurikawa, was energetically tugging her along by the hand. She wore a smile so radiant it made Miko's eyes sting just to look at it. It was outrageously bright!
"There! That store has discounts. Let's go!"
"Sto…!"
Miko barely managed a word before being swept away by her friend's force.
Then…
"…Do you see me?"
Miko froze and looked down.
A bony hand emerged from the pavement before her, followed by a grotesque face pushing up through the concrete.
A distorted, deformed visage with hollow eyes and a trembling mouth full of yellow teeth. It was a being of darkness.
"Do you see me?" the spirit insisted, bringing its face within inches of hers.
Miko did not flinch.
"…"
Her expression didn't change, nor did her steps falter. It was as if nothing had happened.
She pretended not to see it, as always. Because no one else could see them. Only she could—and she had no idea why.
The spirit followed her for a few seconds, clinging to her shoulder and gaping its grotesque maw.
"YOU SEE ME, RIGHT?! I KNOW! YOUR EYES CAN SEE ME!"
Miko forced her gaze onto the glowing storefront ahead. On Hana's warm hand still gripping hers. And on the handsome white-haired boy passing by.
Ignore it. Just keep walking. It doesn't exist. Don't look. Don't listen.
Her heart pounded faster, but her face betrayed nothing.
'…Please… let someone save me from this nightmare.'
She prayed silently. Not to any particular god. Just to the simple human wish to live in peace.
Beside her, Hana continued dragging her along, oblivious to the personal hell Miko endured each second.
A curse that no one else could see.