A/N: Hi guys if you read my other stories you probably already know this, but I just finished my two exam weeks YAY. That means more fanfiction :D Anyways, I still have a few quizzes next week, but no biggie :D So sorry for the long period of no updating!
And also FFN keeps making me agree to the Content Guidelines, I wonder why it won't remember it despite how I previously agreed (only like 10 times psh)….
Changing up the teaser for this chapter because I changed laptops and don't currently feel like pulling up my previous chapter. Also, because it's the 7th post (6th chapter, since one was a prologue) and I like the number 7, I'll do a quick recap of everything that's happened up to this point :)
Warning: Will be a short chapter because it's getting late and I can barely keep my eyes open -.-
Previously, on Devils and Demons
Echizen Riko is a freshman who is attending Seisen Academy
She meets her childhood friend Marui Bunta, and ends up rooming with Kirihara Akaya (a fellow freshman)
She gets sorted into the Rikkai Dai house
She manages to impress Yukimura and earn a spot on the Rikkai male tennis team despite being a girl
She pisses off a bunch of people (i.e. jealous girls + Arai)
She defeats Kaidoh from Seigaku house
She drinks Inui juice with Akaya and they both pass out
CH 6: The Note and the Letter
When Riko woke up again, her head was pounding and her limbs felt oddly heavy. The whiteness of the room momentarily blinded her, as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden lighting changes.
"Uh… Where am I?" She asked as she sat up slowly.
"Ah Echizen-san, I'm afraid you passed out during tennis practice. Yukimura-san brought you here, while Sanada-san brought your roommate over there."
Ignoring the throbbing ache, Riko turned her head to see Akaya sitting up and drinking a glass of water. "I…. I passed out… during tennis?" She muttered.
"Yes, I'm afraid another student hit you in the head with a ball."
Riko was confused. "No they didn't-"
"Yes yes, of course they did. Sorry nurse, she's just confused," Akaya suddenly interrupted, speaking loudly. "She's kind of disorientated. You would be too if you just get hit really hard in the head."
"But I remember, we were drinking-"
"Water! We were drinking water. Someone hit us from behind," Akaya interrupted again.
Riko was beginning to get irritated.
"Why are you lying? I clearly remember-"
"Getting hit in the head. I know." Damn, why won't she catch on? Akaya wondered. "A-anyways, now that she's awake, I think we should head back to our dorms and rest. After all, you'll probably need these beds for other patients. The… um… the… the… Rugby! Yes, that's it. The Rugby team is practicing today. We'll just be heading back."
With that, Akaya hopped down from the bed where he was sitting, grabbed Riko's wrist, and pulled them out of the room as fast as he could.
"Dammit Echizen, you're not very smart," he complained. "OW!" he shrieked as Riko karate chopped him hard on the head. "I mean, I was trying to hid the fact that Inui-senpai and Yanagi-senpai made such dangerous concoctions. What if they get expelled?"
"…"
"Anyways, let's just go."
"Why are we going this way?" Riko wondered.
"…What do you mean?"
"Aren't you going back to practice?"
"…And get assigned laps by fukubuchou? No way," Akaya wailed.
"If he finds out we skipped we'll just get more…"
But in the end Akaya pulled the puppy-eyes and they wound up heading back to the dorm to play xbox. As they reached their room, Riko noticed the sticky-note stuck on the door.
"Due to low academic performance and high involvement in extracurricular activities, both Kirihara-san and Echizen-san will be required to attend mandatory study sessions ever week, starting today, unless further arrangements with your professors are arranged," Riko read out loud.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Kirihara yelled.
"I DON'T KNOW! WHAT DO WE DO?" Riko yelled back.
"I DON'T KNOW EITHER! UM…"
"QUICK, HIDE THE NOTE BEFORE ANYONE ELSE SEES IT!" Riko yelled.
"RIGHT, WHERE DO WE HIDE IT- OH I GOT IT, STICK IT UNDER THE DRAWERS IN THE CLOSET!"
Riko did so immediately, as if the paper was something hot that was going to burn her if she held onto it for too long.
"…Wait if we don't want others to know, why are we yelling?" She wondered.
"Hm… I don't know," Kirihara blinked.
A soft silence ensued.
"Oh well, let's just get started on the new game," Riko muttered.
They both sat down on the couch as the yellow paper under the cabinet drawers was forgotten, and the idea of tennis practice completely slipped their minds.
Unfortunately, Yanagi-senpai and his research abilities were also forgotten.
"Yukimura, according to my calculations, both Akaya and Riko should have woken up by now," Yanagi muttered, studying a few pieces of paper carefully.
"What do you have there?" Sanada asked, panting slightly as he finished his 105th lap.
"The physical examination papers of our two freshman members. They seem to have forgotten to return to practice. Shall I go find them?"
"No, Genichirou can take care of it, Renji." Yukimura smiled scarily. "They'll soon regret having forgotten. Right, Sanada?"
"Of course, Yukimura."
Yukimura's eyes glinted.
"Ne, I think someone's excessively mad at me," Akaya said as he jammed buttons on his controller.
"Yeah, me too. I keep getting the shivers," Riko agreed as she made her 50th combo kill.
"Someone must be thinking about us in a negative way."
And then, all the way out on the Rikkai tennis courts, Yukimura sneezed.
Suddenly, there was an insistent knocking at the door.
"Go get it, Kirihara."
"No, you get it," he whined.
"You get it." Riko didn't even look at Akaya and she focused her attention on the screen.
"No, you." Akaya too turned his entire attention towards how his character was moving.
"You."
"You."
"You."
"You."
"Me."
"Me."
"Ha!"
"Hey no fair, that was the trick that Niou-senpai used!" Kirihara wailed. Finally, he paused his side of the game and stood up, prepared to open the door. But before he had even moved more than 3 steps from the couch, the door burst open with a slam, to reveal…
"S-S-SANADA FUKUBUCHOU!?"
Despite their claims of becoming dizzy, experiencing nausea, and generally feeling sick overall, Riko and Akaya found themselves running 200 laps around the tennis courts as the rest of the members all went home.
When they finished and parted ways to change, Riko noticed that her shoe locker was suspiciously closed, despite the fact that she almost always left it open. Immediately on alert, she carefully shifted to the side, reached out, and tentatively pulled open the locker with a swift motion. Immediately a barrage of junk flooded out. It would have hit her in the face if she hadn't been as careful and observant as she was.
She quickly cleaned the stuff up and tossed it into a nearby trashcan. Because there weren't any cameras in the locker room, she wouldn't be able to figure out who did it that easily. But it didn't really matter anyways, because she was an Echizen, and she didn't care for such underhanded moves.
At first, she thought it was Arai, until she remembered that there was almost no way he would have gotten into the girl's locker room. She changed quickly, and hesitated a moment, before deciding to bring her shoes back to the dorm. She didn't trust the people around her enough to just leave them there.
As she exited the girl's locker room, she ran into Kirihara again who seemed to have been waiting for her. They fell into a comfortable synchronized walking pace back towards their dorm.
"Man, that sucked!"
"Whose fault was it for deciding to skip practice? I told you it was stupid," Riko snapped angrily.
"Well I didn't make you listen to me!" Akaya defended himself.
"Yes you did."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Too."
"Not."
"Too."
"Not."
"Not."
"Too- hey, not again!"
As they entered their room, Riko decided to put her clothes away, so she approached the closet. Distracted, she remained oblivious to the letter that fluttered out of her messy bundle of sports clothes. Because she was talking to Kirihara, she didn't notice as the white sheet of paper carefully placed within an envelope fluttered to the ground and was kicked carelessly under the cabinet drawers, landing next to a certain yellow note.
A/N: Really short chapter, 1.5k words only, I'm sorry.. But good news is that I'll probably be updating tomorrow or sometime within the next 48 hours, so you guys will get another one soon.
Random fact, I finished an anime called Eyeshield 21, and it's so good that I just have to write fanfiction for it. Seriously deserves more love guys. So if you're looking for a long sports anime series, I would totally recommend it. I could write a whole review for it over here to add another 1k words to my story, but I'll spare you guys :D You can visit my profile if you want some anime recommendations :)
If you read any of my other fanfictions, you'll be happy to know that I've updated almost all of them too :)
Ciao!
~Vieux