After the AST lesson ended, the four of us hanged out for a small time and went our separate ways.
Though, after a while, Kuro returned.
'I thought you'd go with Erika since she was going to the dorms too.'
I said to her, since both Emika and Kuro were female, they would live on the girls' floor of the dorms.
Kuro looked up at me with a nonchalant expression. It made me slightly nervous.
'You don't know?'
I put on a quizzical look.
'Know what?'
'We're living on the neutral floor. The 4th floor.'
'Huh?'
In this school, they had four different dorm buildings. Not separated by gender or anything, but by status like students and teachers.
The closest to the school was the staff dormitory, followed by the 3rd year one, then 2nd year one and finally the 1st year dorms.
In each dorm, there would be different floors. 1st floor and ground floor is for lounging and the dorm cafeteria. The 2nd floor is for the girls' use and the 3rd floor is for the boys. The 4th floor is for unused and for "special" cases.
Or so Kuro says.
We both went into the 1st year dormitory and took the lift up to the 4th floor. Once we reached it, I looked around.
Just like the ground floor, the halls looked similar but what was different was that I couldn't really hear anything. Even on the ground floor, I could hear people on the upper floors.
'What room am I staying in?'
'Room 362.'
'Wait, hold up, who told you about all of this?'
I asked.
'On my way back to class from lunch, I saw one of the maids, she told me about it apparently since her master, the principal, forgot.'
I guess that makes sense.
I looked to the left and saw that the room numbers went down, so I decided to go right. Kuro seemed to follow me.
I reached the room. Attempting to open the door, it only shook a little.
It was locked.
'What do I do? I don't have a key.'
I turned to Kuro. She seemed slightly annoyed.
'Why say that after you try to open the door?'
True enough.
'Use your student ID. It should let you in. Ah, also, using your ID will notify the school where you are, what you were doing and at what time.'
So, it's kind of like browsing history. That's dangerous.
I got out my card and scanned it against the box scanner thing on the handle. It beeped and glowed green before unlocking the door.
We both went it.
The dorm room was spacious. It was definitely larger and cleaner than my own room. It had a toilet, kitchen and a place where we could watch TV.
Should a school dorm room be this nice?
When I went to the bedroom, I noticed something strange.
There were two beds.
Maybe I'm getting a roommate?
Once I unpacked my stuff, I changed into a tracksuit and went into the living room.
'Eh?'
Only to see my partner, Kuro, in cat form, watching videos of cats fighting each other.
'Nya! Yeah, get him! Oooooooo-ahhhhh!'
'What are you doing, Kuro? Shouldn't you be going to your dorm room?'
Kuro was dressed irregularly. She took her blazer off and undid her top three buttons of her shirt. Her tie was hanging from her collar and her skirt was off slightly, in which I could catch glance of her pants.
She's settling in...
I looked away, blushing.
'Ah, I forgot to tell you. I'll also be staying here. The maid told me so.'
Hah?
'No way. There's no way they'd allow a boy and girl to stay together.'
'When she mentioned it, I said that my master wouldn't like it, but she said it's like a master and a slave staying together, so there's no problem.'
No, no, there's a massive problem! And...
'When did you start to call me, Master?'
'Ooh, yeah! Get him with your claws!'
Kuro continued watching TV and carried on cheering for the cat that was winning. Seriously, though...
'Could you at least answer me?!'
□■□■□■□■□
'Your ability?'
Kuro asked, while she sat down on the sofa, drinking cold water.
'Yeah, I thought you may know more.'
I told Kuro.
'I don't know, so, tell me some more about it.'
Well, I was hoping she'd actually know...
'The first time I used it was against that one Elude guy. I think, anyway. I put my hand out and the next thing I knew, the flames were around us.'
'Anything else?'
I don't think I should tell her about that girl yet.
'That guy called me something before you killed him. He said "Bla-" something.'
'Black Emperor.'
'Sorry?'
'He must've called you the Black Emperor.'
Why would he call me that?
Kuro looked like she had a complete breakthrough.
'Judging from all of this, I think I know what your ability is.'
She said, looking up at me as she took another sip of water.
'What is it?'
'Long ago-'
We're going into a story now?
'-there were nine supreme rulers. All are known to this day as the Supreme Nine. The most formidable out of them was feared and killed by the others. That was the Black Emperor.'
'There's no way that guy could mistake me for a powerful guy like him.'
'Oh, but there is a way.'
The black-haired girl started to smile creepily.
'The other eight emperors had great powers, but that was different for the Black Emperor. He only has one ability, and that ability alone made him stronger than the rest of his companions.'
I listened intently.
'Since the death of the Black Emperor, he has been reincarnated many times and has been put down by one of the other emperors. They all fear his Singularity.'
'God, just tell me what it is instead of giving me a roundabout story!'
'His Singularity... The ability to negate all abilities; Black Exodia, the power of the Black Emperor.'