Yukio Okumura POV

Upon opening my eyes I immediately recognized the room that I was in.

"Mr. Egin, this is my..."

"You teach the students here in this very classroom, don't you?"

I walk over to my desk and slid my hand over the familiar surface.

"Yeah, it's just, I mean why does it feel like it's been so long since I've been here. It's almost nostalgic. I guess you can say it's because I haven't felt like myself for what seems like the longest time." I said mostly to myself, realizing how distanced my mind was from everything and everyone lately.

Yuri jumps up to sit on top of the teachers desk, looks around the room slowly, and then back at me.

"For me it seems like it's been forever and a day since I've sat here, in this room full of my classmates and getting the teacher angry when I dozed off for half their lesson." She laughed as she told me. "I don't think I was a bad student, just bad at keeping track of time and seeping late, in my defense." She said as she held a hand up and placed it back on her lap.

"Oh right, you're an exorcist too?... What made you do it?"

Thinking for a second she hopped off the desk and up to the window to look at the campus grounds outside, looking over at the students hanging out in the courtyard.

"After my parents and the rest of my family had died. They told me it was a fire." She said, her voice seemed sad.

"I'm sorry if I'm making you remember anything bad. You don't have to tell me." I apologized quickly. She turned around and shook her head, looking up at me she continued.

"No, that's not it. You could say I had no choice but in all reality I never felt like that. Training to become an exorcist became one of the best decisions of my life, I'd never take that away. I don't remember my parents even if you asked me. Is it bad to say even though I love them that I don't exactly miss them?" She looked at me seemingly wanting my approval, wanting my answer to that.

Running my fingers through my hair I thought about my own situation. For a moment I didn't say anything, I didn't know what to say to that, but the face of dad smiling at me ran through my mind for a split second.

"...I can't tell you if it's right or wrong because it's the same for me... I never knew my parents, well my mother I'd rather say, but I'm glad I had a father to raise Rin and me... In a way, I'm happy somebody understands what it's like to be in my situation."

"O-Oh, I see. I'm so sorry." Yuri says, looking at the floor. Her sudden apology baffled me.

"What are you apologizing for?" I asked, curious.

"It's just-" She started but was cut off.

The familiar bell rings signaling the start of class. There was movement outside as students were walking through the hallway to get to their class, some eventually to this room.

We make our way to side of the classroom, near the back on the side with the windows.

"Ms. Egin, what were you going to tell me?"

"No, never mind. It's nothing important." She said quickly waving her hands in front of her. She closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head.

"Okay?" I said, knowing she was going to say something else but I didn't press for it. I noticed how her mood had changed, it must've been from thinking about her past I assume. "Look, don't be so down, if you do then I'd be even more taller." I jokingly commented which I knew would make her react.

Students walked in the class all at different times, unbeknownst to our presence the same as it has been since I met Yuri.

"Hey! Who are you calling a midget?!" It took her a second to realize what I just said.

"I never used the word midget, but if you prefer-" She cut me off.

She flicked the top of my forehead lightly. I rubbed my forehead and said nothing but raised an eyebrow with a small grin.

"I didn't take you to be such a comedian Yukio. Can a midget do what I just did? I think not!" She stated proudly, which was short lived of course.

As my reply to that, I put my arm over her head as an elbow rest and she moved my arm off rolling her eyes with a smile.

"I prefer seeing you smile Ms. Egin in all honesty." I simply said before she can say anything else and this seemed to work to cheer her up.

All the students in the class sat down and the teacher was one of my co-workers. Looking at the set up, it was really different from what I was used to. In the class, there were fewer students than what I usually have of course but even now they were sitting in all kinds of different seats I wasn't used to seeing. Bon, Shima, Takara, and even Yamada who was actually an exorcist already.

"What's going on, why is Yamada here? That's Shura, why would she still be here as a student? Me or my brother aren't here so she has no reason to be here either."

"She has another purpose, you'll see." Yuri vaguely explains. This made me think there was something else going on in the school that I will inevitably find out, and it didn't seem like it was going to be good news at all.

As the lesson went on I noticed that as I looked at Shima next to Bon he stayed focused on texting on his phone when the teacher was writing on the board. Was this really what he did all day? I expected Bon to say at least something to him but even when he knew that Shima was texting on the phone he said nothing. Shima seemed to have a sort of brightness to him and focused more on the clock over the teacher's head than paying attention to the actual lesson and taking notes.

Miwa wasn't sitting with them and it made me wonder why, these three were good friends but this seemed out of place for them already. The lesson continued as I watched the behavior of all three: Miwa, Bon, and Shima. They weren't acting as the friends I knew them to be. As the class went on, I was deep in thought about the changes in the classroom and also on what could've happened to them, it was a while before Yuri had eventually spoken up.

"You noticed it right? The way that they don't even look at each other. They couldn't care less about each other it seems." Yuri began. "It's because of where their lives are leading them that is making such a huge wedge in between them." She said as I listened on. "The fact that Ryuji is the top of his class, Renzou is too focused on where his life is going in the moment that he doesn't even attempt to find the time to spend with his friends anymore, and Konekomaru is feeling more and more distant from his friends due to his personal feelings getting the best of him."

"How can Konekomaru not talk to his friends about what's going on with him? He never seemed to have a problem with them before." I wondered aloud.

"You would rightly assume that someone who has people who cares for him would speak to them what's been troubling him. Think so?"

I paused for a second, thinking about it, before I spoke up again.

"You mean... Is this about Konekomaru or me?"

"I didn't say that exactly, but yeah. It's like you two have a lot more things in common in your personality than you think, and that's not always a good thing. If he were to just let his friends know how it feels and not keep it all to himself, then he wouldn't feel like he was suffocating under the weight of the world. He's already taken so much in now it will just take a small push to make him snap." Yuri explained.

I didn't know what to say and I just kept looking over at Miwa wondering what exactly was going through his head. The class continued and the day was almost over, it was a few minutes before the bell and Miwa was already putting things away for the day as if he was in a rush to get out of the class.

Before Miwa could leave as soon as the class bell rang, Bon had stood at the side of the desk in the back to prevent Miwa from walking past him. Other students were already on their way out including Shima and after the teacher had left it was just the two of them in a familiar scene that reminded of Rin and I on his first day enrolled as a True Cross student.

"Could you move over? You're standing in my way." Miwa said calmly to Bon without looking up at him.

"So I heard they were serving cake slices in the cafeteria as we're nearing the end-of-semester, as a treat you know. So, what do you think? My treat." Bon said with a smile. He earned no response and after a moment of awkward silence. Scratching the back of his head, Bon cleared is throat before he began again.

"Look, you've been acting weird with me lately and I want to know what's wrong." Bon asked, worried and right to the point.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Now can you move over, I need to study. We still have exorcist exams among normal class exams, remember? I'm not like you, I study a little harder. Leave me be." Miwa said, still not making any eye contact at all.

"Please... Is it something I said? Or did?" Bon said moving over to let Miwa gather his bag and move past him. "If that's the case, I'm sorry. Can we just go back to being, you know, normal? I liked how things were between us, we are okay... Aren't we?" Miwa ignored him and Bon became angry.

Grabbing his shirt suddenly made Miwa drop the books he was holding all over the floor. Miwa didn't expect this reaction from Bon and let out a scared gasp.

"HEY! I SAID SORR-" Bon suddenly realized what he was doing and Miwa was holding his arms up in defense noticeably shaking. He quickly let go and they both silently bent down to pick up the books and papers that fell on the ground.

"T- that was out of line I didn't mean to, just forget it. I just-... If you want, I can help you study? Like you said, we have extra stuff to cover than the other students. If you let me I'll help." Bon offered in another attempt to get Miwa to talk to him.

"No thank you." Miwa snatched the items from Bon's hand and stuffed everything hastily in his bag and put it on before he suddenly stood up. Bon once more stood in the doorway of the class before Miwa can leave to his room and walked back to his desk to place his bag back down. Now unable to keep his cool, Miwa snaps.

"Are you just going to keep standing in my way?!" Miwa yelled, which was unlike him. It seemed, that sentence meant more than just currently blocking the exit.

"To me it's like something's changed with you. You've put so much distance between us and I was just trying to-" Miwa cut Bon off.

"You just don't get it, you have everything and I don't: Parents, a family, a home. I can't understand why you need to bother with someone like me who has nothing..." Miwa started off, shook his head and with a sigh and slightly raising his voice, he continued on with a more hateful attitude.

"Can't you go and bother Shima instead because him and his new girlfriend puts a whole lot more of a distance if that's something you're really worried about. I want you to know that I DON'T need your help, you can leave me alone, and instead of irritating me... Go on and be the perfect example of a perfect student somewhere else and NOT in my face. Now move."

Surprised by this outburst, Bon looks at Konekomaru at a loss of words before taking in what he was told.

"Where is all of this coming from? Who said anything about me being a 'perfect' student? Why are you like this, what happened Konekomaru? Speak to me, please." Bon spoke sincerely which appeared to cool Miwa down somewhat, but not enough.

Realizing what he had just blurted out, he shook his head and tried to push past Bon but was held back when Bon placed his hands on his shoulders.

"If you want to tell me something, it's okay. Remember that I'm your old frien-"

As suddenly as he said the word 'friend' Miwa had punched Bon with such force that it made him stumble backwards a few steps and hold his jaw in shock. Miwa took a step back and realized what he just did and looked at the blood on his knuckles. Bon removed his hand from his mouth and saw he was slightly bleeding from that unexpected blow. It was almost like that very word was a trigger for Miwa and his negative feelings took over him before he knew it. Not knowing what else to do, Bon looked defeated and turned around to not face Miwa whom he feels he doesn't recognize anymore.

"Before you walk out that door and leave me behind!..." Bon cleared his throat before he continued in a lower tone, "Will you at least tell me this much: Were you ever happy, being my friend?"

Hearing this, Miwa paused and turned around as well. He didn't look back as he answered.

"I thought I was." He said in a low voice. This made Bon take a fast sharp intake of breath, shocked.

"W- we didn't have to be friends just because we grew up from the same place, I wanted to be friends, I thought we still were. If you forgive me, for whatever it is I've done wrong, and I take all responsibility, I promise to make it up to you!... I just want the three of us to stay as we always were. To be honest, I'm the happiest when I'm with you and Shima." Bon admitted with a small smile, wanting Miwa to understand.

I looked over at Miwa. He wasn't going to accept. He shook his head with a scowl and said nothing in return. Bon, hearing Miwa's footsteps walking away called out to his old friend without turning around, hoping some small part of Miwa will come back to him.

"Konekomaru?" His voice cracked.

"Goodbye." Miwa finally said.

As Miwa passed by Yuri and I, there was an atmosphere around him, a dark one that covered him like a blanket... Almost like the very same one that threatens to take over me. Miwa was falling, and he refused to accept the hand willingly reaching to pick him back up from over the edge.

Miwa walked away and neither of them had said anything else to each other. Soon, the building was empty and Bon was the only one left. Bon looked down and covered his face his his hand, breathed in, and walked out the opposite way from Miwa, eyes darkened by his emotions.

"With the pessimistic view of the world Konekomaru developed, there's no way he can defend himself, from being attacked." Yuri said as Bon disappeared in the distance.

I looked at her in worry.

"You mean he- No way. Konekomaru? He's one of my best students. That's not possible." I said shaking my head.

"In this world, he was never your student to begin with. You never filled in a part of his life most students need, a good teacher. Some instructors don't mean to, but many only focus on their good students and if anyone falls behind then they simply drop out than catch up. Miwa felt inferior. He hated the attention Bon solely received, and Shima lost all of his exorcist training interest to instead focus on his relationship. He felt like there was no point anymore."

"This can't be it. Where does he go from here?" I asked, needing to know.

Yuri held out her hand, implying for me to take it without saying a word, I hesitated at first not knowing what the future holds.

Observing my surroundings we ended up in the smaller courtyard on the other side of the campus. On my left I recognized that pink hair from behind with an unfamiliar girl, this must've been the girl Shima left his friends for. I didn't recognize her, then again I more avoided the girls of this school, the fan girls I didn't want mostly.

"The more time Renzou spends with her, the less time he focuses on the cram school." Yuri stated.

"You mean he lost the motivation to fight? Does she know about the existence of demons?" I asked, trying to make sense of the relationship.

With a simple nod, Yuri shook her head at the pair. He looks so happy, but I don't know much about that girl to know what changed Shima so drastically.

Behind us, not too far, the voices of people arguing caught my attention. Many students were gathering up in one spot, curious to see what was causing the commotion. Yuri and I were able to hear around to what seemed like a shouting match between Miwa and Bon.

"They still haven't cleared up their situation?" I figured, disappointed at how far this was going. The two were acting out like I've never seen before. Nearing them, I heard more clearly what they were disputing.

"What do you think you're doing?! Just like that?! I can't believe you Konekomaru!" Bon yelled in his anger.

"I've made up my mind and don't you dare try to stop me! This is the point where you can't hold me back ANYMORE!" You think you can just decide 'what's best for me' like I can't do anything on my own, is that it?!" As he said that, Miwa looked completely different, there definitely was something dark about him and it was undeniable to anyone who knew him.

"This, Yukio, is the day Miwa left everything behind." Yuri pointed out to me.

I took notice what she meant, Konekomaru wasn't wearing the school uniform. With his bags beside him, he dropped out as a student.

"You can't just quit! After ALL that we've been through you're just not going to look back?!" Bon demanded.

"I have my own path... It was YOUR choice to declare you wanted to defeat Satan, I'm not able to go through with that. I'm not LIKE you or Shima!" When he mentioned Satan, some of the surrounding students laughed, going unnoticed between the two former friends.

"What is he talking about?"

"Satan he says?"

"He must be joking."

"I think he's finally snapped."

"Are they going to keep talking or fight, that's what I wanna see."

"I bet on Ryuji, he can take that boy down."

"What did he mean by Satan?"

The talk amongst the students continued, some of them pulled out their cell phones. Either way this was going to end badly.

"You can't stop me Bon, and don't try." Konekomaru said determined to make his point.

"I get that you've been acting up, but LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND LIKE THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Bon charged over to Miwa, kicked his luggage away, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Some of the students closed in anticipating a fight, some cheered for it to go on, some tried to record the best angle on their cell phone. This scene wasn't something I wanted to watch, peering over to Yuri she was watching behind us as if waiting for something.

"I'M NOT FIT TO BE AN EXORCIST!" In reaction, Bon punched Konekomaru after saying that, clearly holding back as much as possible. The crowd of students enjoying the breaking of this bond, the point of no return on their past friendship.

In a rage, Miwa stood up and pushed Bon to the floor. Even as he repeatedly landed blows meant to hurt, Bon never raised another hand to his friend again or to defend himself from the onslaught knowing Miwa was too far gone and unable to find a reason within himself to retaliate.

"Why won't you hit back?! Why?! Why?! WHY?!" Bon didn't respond. "I hate that I could never catch up to you guys! I hate that I keep being compared to the school's top most perfect student! I hate you for all that I could never be!"

"I never realized this side of Konekomaru was deep inside of him." I said in my shock witnessing the scene unfolding before me.

Without expecting it, one of the students in the background had jumped in the middle of the two with a speed that caught off guard several of the people present. In a dark hoodie, this student got in between the two, punching Konekomaru in the face to separate them. Nobody knew how to react, they were all silent, I looked over to see who it was.

"Hey! What's the big idea?! Who was- Yamada?!" Miwa looked up and saw Yamada standing silently over him. Shura was still 'Yamada' to them, and she had broken up the fight from getting any further. Suddenly, the group of students started to disperse, an instructor had noticed the fight and came in to stop it. It was the same instructor who taught my course in the Cram School.

"I hope this isn't what it seems to be Ryuji." He said in disappointment only speaking to Bon.

Konekomaru took this chance to stand up, dust off the dirt in his clothes, and called out to the teacher.

"I started the fight." He began, out of breath. "There's no need for any disciplinary action here, from today on I don't consider myself a student here at True Cross. It definitely saves from making the paperwork from expelling me. I was just on my way out, good news is you don't have to bother with me anymore." Miwa said to the teacher.

Nobody said a word after that, everyone watched Miwa walk away with his bags in hand and left a very distraught Bon on the floor cursing at himself with tears falling from his eyes for not having the power within himself he needed to save Miwa from going over to the dark side alone.

"So he never becomes an exorcist? Why did it have to come to this?" I asked, needing to know.

"He was so exhausted from trying to please every one to the point that it hurt him and he finally gave up. Yukio, you of all people should understand what it's like to want to please everyone so endlessly and not feel to be up to everyone's drastically different standards, inducing those of strangers who only have a title or rank higher than you." Yuri's words made me realize in a deeper sense what Konekomaru was going through, what he must've been feeling, similar to myself. Yuri stopped and looked up at me.

"It must be so exhausting." I kept quiet not knowing how to respond but with a simple nod in acknowledgement.

"If you wanted to know if he ever became an exorcist after this fact... He can see demons. To defend himself, in a way yes, but only for so long." Yuri answered vaguely taking my hand in hers waiting only for a mere moment to close her eyes and her grip tightened slightly. Before I knew it, we were someplace else and very far in a different time.

When I opened my eyes, I was for sure at the Vatican and it seemed, to some extent, different to what I was used to but I knew for a fact where I was: St. Peter's Basilica. Yuri walked ahead of me and tilted her head slightly, beckoning me to follow her. She was looking all around the place, all the small details while deep in thought.

"Ms. Egin, you miss this place, don't you?" I wondered aloud.

Yuri turned back around and looked up at me.

"In all honesty, yes. I wished I had more time in general but I don't regret anything if that's what you think. Living with regret, it's painful isn't it?" Yuri questioned as we walked. I followed close behind to where she was leading me through he long hallways of the inside of the Vatican.

"... I suppose." I said to myself, not wanting to admit it.

"This is where Miwa ended up? Even if he wan't an Exorcist? Or Bon still became an exorcist?" I asked Yuri as we continued to walk on the deeper parts of the Church.

"Konekomaru felt like nobody could understand him, so he left to make his own path. He went on a journey to find himself without they judging eyes of others at every turn. He hoped to find the answer he'd been searching for out there in the world, he was afraid that if if he didn't find it in time there was no way he could ever go back to what he left behind all those years ago back at the school he attended."

"He never intended to hurt his friends then. He wanted to protect Bon and Shima the most and lost the two when he needed them." I shook my head in disbelief. I knew time has passed, but years later was kind of scary to consider how much everything can change after just one moment defined by your own emotions.

We walked in silence for some time until we reached an office where Yuri stopped at. She motioned for us to walk through the open door. It was simple, nothing too significant at first impression. This belongs to someone of a higher rank. I walked over to the desk to investigate who it belonged to, there was a single photo frame that caught my attention out of everything on the desk. There they were, all three as I knew them, the three friends from Kyoto smiling happily at the camera on the first day they enrolled at True Cross Academy. Another picture frame had an older picture, it was when the three were kids, it had Bon being hugged by a much smaller Miwa at the time wearing clothes much to big for them during what seemed like Christmas time and included a young Shima who stood behind the two standing on a pile of snow to seem taller than the two with a huge grin on all of their faces. These three have always been together, their friendship was something that isn't seen too often anymore.

My foot kicked something that was on the ground, I looked at the object: It was a name plate that fell over from the corner of the desk. The name it read explained it all.

"I swear my lunch break seems shorter and shorter these days." A familiar voice complained as he walked inside. Making his way over to his chair, with a loud yawn as he stretched, he placed his hand over his face and sighed. A moment passed in the quiet room and the telephone rang, picking it up Yuri and I could hear the voice on the other line.

"I'm just calling to let you know that you've been approved to go on leave."

"Wait, what? I never asked. There must be a mistake, right?"

"I am speaking to Ryuji Suguro?"

"Yes that's correct but... Why do they have me placed on leave? I didn't ask to use any of my vacation time."

"It says here, let me see, you've been placed under bereavement leave."

Bon's face paled when he heard this.

"W- what do you mean? I wasn't told of anything. What's going on?!" He stood up from his desk, phone in hand. The voice on the line seemed surprised.

"T-they haven't told you?"

"Told me what?!"

With a pause, he yelled the same question again, with more urgency.

"We've been informed that your family adopted by a person by the name of Konekomaru Miwa when you were children. I'm sorry to inform you, he's passed away recently."

"I haven't heard that name in years... Koneko is..." He said, barely in a whisper in this revelation.

Bon couldn't find the words to respond. I was shocked hearing this as well.

"Hello? Are you still there?... Hello?..."

Still, he couldn't react to the news.

"...Just tell me how. Demons?"

"He was discovered in his home town. It was determined to be a self inflicted wound. There wasn't anything they could do."

"T-that's not true. He wouldn't. This has to be a lie!"

"Sir, I understand this is a lot to take in so suddenly. I'm sending someone your way to check on you, so you don't go anywh-" The phone call was cut off when Bon slammed the phone back. He started to breathe faster and with a yell he slammed his fists on the desk and threw everything to the floor, Yuri stood behind me holding on to my arm as she watched with a sad expression.

"He's never healed from that day, not completely. A broken bond is not something that someone like Ryuji can just get over." After she said that, Bon started to cry at his loss.

"Ms. Egin, he didn't deserve to die. He deserved much better than this!" I said watching as Bon slipped on the floor with his hands covering his face.

"We all know he wasn't a bad person, but he pushed away everyone, he felt as though he didn't deserve anything good, he felt like nobody saw his true worth... Konekomaru was in a dark place and never was able to escape. The real reason why he targeted Ryuji was he thought to himself he only said what he needed to hear at the time because they were friends... You must've noticed by now of how pushing away the people closest to you causes others so much pain. Konekomaru should've spoken up if he ever felt alone, that's all that it would've taken to save him."

An exorcist walked in the room, a young woman with her black hair tied in a short ponytail wearing glasses.

"Mr. Suguro? I was asked to check up on you, are you okay?" She said, kneeling next to him on the ground with a hand on his shoulder.

"I should've reached out to him, he didn't need to die. It's all my fault! Any of this didn't need to happen!"

"I heard, I'm very sorry for your loss. If there's anything you need, we'll take care of it. My husband and I will take you home."

"Konekomaru, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." I said while watching as the husband helped carry a devastated Bon out of his office and his wife cleaned the mess on the ground.

I felt a warm hand on my back, comforting me.

"You mean a lot more to your students than you previously thought." Yuri looked up at me. "Konekomaru needed his friends help until one day he could stand up confidently on his own two legs, but he didn't allow it. It started off as not wanting to bother his friends with his emotions, which turned to anger at himself, then to target Bon, then to completely lose himself. That's not a fate I would wish on anyone."

"He has so much potential to be great, I know it. I won't let him repeat his mistakes here, that's a promise." I said more to myself. Yuri smiled at that, she nodded in agreement.

"Let's get a move on now, shall we Yukio?"

"Yes."

Thank you for reading! Sorry for the wait.