Kevin made his way to the school's roof. As he got there, he carefully opened the door, looked around, and wondered why she went to the roof of all places. He wasn't really sure what to expect, but he prepared himself for anything. He spotted her, standing there, staring at him in the doorway.
"What do you want?" Diana asked. She was standing in the center of the roof with her arms still crossed, looking right at him. She let out a soft growl, causing the silver hair on him to stand on end in a fight or flight reaction to her. He ground his teeth, which brought attention to his missing K9.
"I want to know what the hell your problem with me is," he returned, stifling his own growl. "Ever since we were in the office, you've had a giant chip on your shoulder."
“If you’re too stupid to remember…,” she started, before she let the sentence die on her lips.
Kevin's fist clenched for a moment. This girl was clearly different from any girl he'd interacted with in the past, and he was sure she had never even been to the Yokai realm. Still, maybe it was people like her; that his father wanted him to be aware of. After all, someday he Kevin hoped to be King in place of his father, even though the thought of his father dying seemed impossible.
“Remember what?!” he shouted back. This just caused her to get angrier. She started towards the door, but Kevin just put his arm out to stop her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she shouted at Kevin.
“You are going to answer me,” he commanded. “What are you talking about? Remember what?!”
She just took his arm suddenly and twisted it, tossing him through the air. He fell through the air, before landing on his feet a few meters away. He charged back at her, doing his best to pin her, without really striking her. This attack was met by another toss, and she redirected him with relative ease. He knew his problem was that with these darned beads around his neck he was not able to fight back and it infuriated him.
“Up yours! To think… GAH!” she cried out loudly. She charged at him and kicked him hard in the ribs. “Why’d you have to show up here?”
Before Kevin could make any sense of this, she got on the offensive and forced Kevin to start dodging. He struggled with each blow, realizing that with his energy sealed, everything about him was too slow and too weak to do much more than just hold her off. In a move of desperation, he jumped back and took a stance in an attempt to try powering up through the beads.
As Kevin’s shout turned to a pained cry, and something inside Diana’s heart began to ache. He grunted loudly, squeezed his fist, and began pulling at his energy internally. Diana stopped for a second to see what he might be planning and then felt a strange feeling that was coming off of Kevin. It came all at once, a massive uproar of power, but with it, came a sense of dread. She heard the first crack, loud and clear, and looked to see that a small fissure was running along one of Kevin’s beads.
He was trying as hard as he could to reverse his mistake. He had no idea that pulling his power would cause such a chain reaction.
Power seemed to be flowing out freely now, and he had no idea how to control it. Without focus, almost all of his power was flooding out. He looked up towards Diana and thought for a split-second that if he couldn't figure out how to control this, then the two of them might be the only things to survive within a twelve-mile radius. Each of the beads continued to cracking before the first one popped.
Kevin stared at Diana for a moment and his mind wandered back to a few hours ago. That moment he’d stepped out of the portal.
He surveyed his surroundings. On the closest building, he spotted the name ‘John Woods High”. This building was the one he was looking for; a school for humans. In his father's infinite wisdom, Kevin was going to learn how to focus and was ordered to attend this human school. He really didn't know how to feel about it all, but he figured till he had a better idea of what to do with his time, he'd play along like a good son.
As Kevin looked around and saw what the students were wearing, he suddenly wondered if maybe his clothes were a tad out of date. As he glanced down at himself, he saw the red robe set that he'd acquired from his mother just before her passing, with this on he stood out like a sore thumb. He pulled out his directions. At the top of the list was to make his way to the main office and sign in.
Nearby, a girl, dressed in a polka dot top and black skirt, was standing near the gate at the entrance of the school. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and showed off her kindly face; yet as she yelled out to the students let them know they were in danger of being late and locked out, it was clear that she was in charge. All the students that passed her greeted her with warm smiles. She took notice of Kevin and began making her way over to him. As she smiled at him, he did his best to smile back. For a moment, it almost seemed as though she recognized him.
“Hey,” she called out to him, wearing a huge smile on her face. She giggled as she saw him looking bewildered and she waved for him to come over to her. “Are you going to our school?”
“Yeah,” he responded. “First time.”
“Do you need any help finding your way around the school?” As she asked, the sense that she recognized him wouldn't go away. Kevin sniffed the air just before he answered her. As he took in her scent, he went from being defensive to slightly more open, despite noticing that she was part Yokai.
"I'm supposed to see someone in the main office," feeling a tad awkward as he stated this. "Could you show me how to get there?"
“Of course,” she said with a smile. She seemed slightly confused for just a second, though Kevin missed this. “Follow me...”
Before they started towards the school, she stopped a student and asked him to lock the gate. As the two walked into the building, Diana turned to Kevin for a moment.
“You’re a Yokai right?" she asked.
"Yeah and I noticed," he started casually, "You're a half-breed. Right?"
She nodded as he said this.
"Wow, you're good. Most can't tell that I'm anything but human when I'm in this form," she replied as she lifted a small set of beads from under her shirt collar. "These work wonders for keeping that hidden."
In response, Kevin revealed his own set of beads. Though they were much larger and bulkier, inside each bead there appeared to be an entire spiral arm galaxy; that even rotated as though it was real. Diana wondered, for a second, what sorts of powers were capable of making such an illusion.
“I hate them, but my father made me wear these. He said it was for everyone’s safety.”
“Everyone’s safety?” Diana asked.
“Yeah. The way he explained it was that till I learned to focus, the power that my body creates would arc off of me uncontrollably without them.”
“Wow, you must be very powerful.”
“I guess,” he shrugged. “though I always seem to lose. My father says it’s because I lack focus. But what is there to focus on?”
For a moment, she looked deep into his eyes as she tried to size him up.
"Your father, huh?" As she continued to look at him, Kevin couldn't help but notice how green her eyes were. "Well, who is your father?"
Before he could answer, they arrived at the main office and she realized her question would have to wait. Diana opened the door and led him inside to the principal’s door. She knocked and waited to enter until she heard him call out. As they entered, Kevin was hit with the similarities between Diana and the principal. The only difference was that his eyes were blue instead of green. Kevin walked up to the principal and bowed.
"Hello. My name is Kevin Long and my father has requested that I attend your school. He said that he had met with you, that you'd instruct me on what I need to do." As Kevin stood back up, he looked the two over and wondered if there might be a familial connection between them.
“Ah, Kevin, you’re the Dog King’s son right?” the principal asked. This question caused Diana to gasp quietly as she turned to look at Kevin. Her body language shifted from friendly to slightly hostile.
"You're the son of the King?" she asked. Kevin simply nodded in response. It seemed as though this casual acknowledgment only made her angry. "I see. Then you are..."
She grunted, as she tried to figure out something to say out, then threw her hands up and walked towards the door. She looked back one more time before leaving the room.
