Teaser: Ryosei doing the laundry while listening to techno music, unaware that a white haired danger creeps up behind him...
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Ryosei's mind was going numb.
The lecture was dragging deep into the eve of passing period, but the ethics professor didn't want to let up, his motor mouth moving at incredibly fast speeds—making him wonder over whether or not he could've end up as a decent rapper if he had tried. Still could've if he wanted to.
Back when he was human, Ryosei had sat ramrod straight, his attention wholly and entirely focused on the lecture, his left hand furiously jotting down notes and his right calculating his budget for that weeks expenditures; he would've ran home, pouring over the notes and desperately trying to memorize the important bits for the upcoming test while munching on cheap ramen or macaroni.
Now?
He was bored, his mind wandering off into the clouds, jumping on the wispy cirrus clouds and waltzing around to where he wondered over how Eika was doing in the Demon Realm, a.k.a. Hell.
He gave a sigh as he thought of her—who would've thought that the fact that she'd always build stuff like the Eiffel Tower out of pencil lead actually kept his mind better focused than the lecturer?
Perhaps it was because of his reincarnation as a demon; Eika always managed to get perfect 100s on all of the tests despite the fact she was either doodling on her "notes" or building little replicas of famous architecture instead of actually taking notes or paying attention—though maybe that was just Eika, who knows.
The lady is frankly ridiculous when it comes to blowing expectations out of the water.
But now he was wondering if she'd been on to something. Nowadays, without Eika providing a full 24 hours of distraction for him, his mind seemed... bigger. Like he had more room to think, to understand, to realize, to contemplate. To be bored.
Listening to, memorizing, and understanding the lecturers words took up only the barest amount of space in his now too vast mind, and although he was all for improved cognitive functions, being bored was insufferable for him, let alone sitting at a desk all day—he was getting stir-crazy.
Before, when Eika was still here, because of the training he was left always being too tired, too nervous, and too preoccupied to even focus on thinking or exploring his now wider and larger mind.
The summer day was hot, and the windows were open to let the breeze into the suffocating classroom, but he felt perfectly fine.
For him, it was the perfect temperature, between the contrast of the heat and his naturally lowered body temperature; Eika said it was something about how ice was his main elemental attribute, and because of his natural affinity to it, he didn't experience heat like the others, his body naturally cooling down in the heat instead of boiling.
So summers were a cinch for him.
But winters?
Apparently, he'll be immune to the cold, but he'd still be incredibly bothered by it; like, he wouldn't be able to produce heat, so his body would get really cold, like ice. It's the opposite for Eika, since her main elemental attribute is fire—in the summers she's suffering from the heat because she can't cool herself down, but in winters, she'll be nice and toasty.
Now that he was on the ever mysterious and broadly enthralling subject of Eika, there was a lot he didn't know about her. He didn't know about her family, her rank in the demon realm, her influence, her past—heck, he didn't even know how strong she really was. He knew that her personality was pretty twisted and that she had a few friends, but her authority, her origin story?
Nothing.
He noticed how she said fire was her elemental attribute, not her main attribute, like there was a difference between the too. He also didn't fail to notice that she seemed to be extremely skilled in matters of the mind, whether manipulating other peoples perception of her or super imposing a dream world over the regular one for training.
Perhaps... dreams, were her main attribute? That, or something that deals with the mind. Come to think of it... he hadn't had that nightmare in a while since he met her—the one he'd had since he was a kid and his world fell apart.
Ryosei closed his blue eyes, running his fingers through his ash white hair roughly, his expression slightly tense at the memories that the thought he'd just had had awakened. Distraction, he needed a distraction... where was Eika when you needed her annoying butt, gosh...
He swiftly derailed his thoughts away from his past and too the last thing Eika said before she left, a warning.
"'Ryosei, you're at level 25 or so, right? You know that category that popped up; the [Class] thing? You're at the stage where you will earn a [Class] or job to work on and build your [Class] related repertoire and skills—but the price for getting a [Class] is difficult.'"
She'd leaned in close, her usually perpetually playful expression wiped from her face as she spoke in a soft yet serious tone, "'You have to be put under an extraordinarily stressful situation—a situation where all of your strength, all of your basic abilities, all your charm and more are unable to overcome the obstacle; a moment of despair.
"'In that moment, you will instinctively call upon a power that has been growing within you, dormant and sleeping. When you grasp that power, you are either overwhelmed and taken by it, or you conquer it. Conquer it; make it yours, subjugate it.
"'It will be hard, and rough, and painful; the more powerful you are, the faster your growth rate, the more horrifying the experience is. You must not bend, you hear me? You must overcome it, no matter what—never let it take you; if it takes you, it can eat your soul.'"
It was then, Ryosei asked her a question that had arose within him when she'd turned her back to leave.
"'Eika... how painful... was it for you...'"
She'd stopped, halted, pausing at what seemed like a memory of a time long past—a memory that seemed to have hurt her deeply; she had seemed troubled. Perhaps, even haunted by it, like he was haunted by his past.
Then came her reply, in a shaking, lonely, broken voice that caught Ryosei off guard.
"'... I nearly died. Without my father... I wouldn't be here right now.'"
She'd left then, her face never turning to meet his again; at that moment, to him, it seemed as if she seemed to be carrying a heavy, heavy weight on her back with the way her shoulders drooped and her usually proud head fell.
"I really shouldn't have said anything, crap..." he muttered, tearing his hands through his hair in frustration over his idiotic question, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Eika and his boredom, but surprisingly, he was simultaneously listening to the lecture, memorizing it still and even catching the professors annoyed voice.
"Mr. Mors, since you seem to prefer gazing out the window and running your hands through your new haircut than rather listen, can you tell me what are the three major types of ethics and what each pertain to?"
Without even missing a beat, Ryosei subconsciously replied, "The three major types of ethics are deontological, teleological and virtue-based. Teleological ethics, is the theory of morality that derives duty or moral obligation from what is good or desirable as an end to be achieved.
"Deontological ethics is ethical theories that place special emphasis on the relationship between duty and the morality of human actions. Lastly, virtue-based ethics. Virtue ethics is person rather than action based: it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of particular actions."
Ryosei turned to him, his expression as calm and undisturbed at a still, silent pond as he replied, "Am I correct sir, or do you want me to go into further detail on the concept of morality when the rest of the class—myself included—just want to leave at the bell properly, Mr. Leeman, sir?"
Everyone in the classroom froze, including Ryosei when he realized that attitude he'd shown to the professor.
It seemed as if Eika had rubbed off on him more than he realized—her attitude was leaking into and out of him without him even realizing it. Perhaps the break from her was needed; she was leaving behind too much of her spite fire attitude on him.
Mr. Leeman was left sputtering at all this, especially when Ryosei had snapped at him—the Ryosei who was always well-mannered, calm, and respectful. Perhaps it was that new Eika girl, the one who never listened but somehow always succeeded on his tests.
He then recalled, as the bell rang, that she was absent. Perhaps it was a good thing, her leaving—if she affected a typically nice student like Ryosei so negatively, what else could she do?!
It was then Mr. Leeman felt determined.
Calling Ryosei to him and telling him to meet with him after his classes were over, he knew what he had to do.
Don't let Eika corrupt poor Ryosei any more!
Keep her and her bad influence away from him at all costs!