The Principle of Principals

We’re blown onto our backs as a wave of pressure flies from the doors. My head buzzes, my ears ring, my eyes are on fire, and I can barely feel anything over the tingling that covers my entire body. I can still feel a faint heat licking at my feet, and I try to blink the white spots out of my eyes as I sit up.

On either side of me is Reiko and Eri, both still reeling on the ground from the blast. Turning my gaze to the doors to the school, I see that the overhead patio has been reduced to rubble. The pillars that held it still stand, but the sides facing the school are scorched black. The entrance itself looks like a black crater; ground zero for the center of an explosion. Just past the smokey remains of the doors, I can see the mangled shoe lockers, many of which had been blasted open or otherwise obliterated.

At the edge of the rubble is the shape of Ryoka on the ground. In morbid fascination, I watch as he still manages to shakily get up on his hands and knees. Blood is running down his head, and I can see him grimacing from here. His bokken lies near the fountain of the school, too far for him to reach from one spot.

Movement from within the smoke catches my eye, and I see someone waving at the smoke and making a coughing motion. They stumble out from the shadows, and I see Gabrielle staring at the destruction around her. She stares at the rubble and grits her teeth. Falling over to a standing pillar, she rests her hand on it’s black surface and bows her head.

A fiery light engulfs her hand, and the damage starts receding on the pillar, though the burns and soot remain. Rock dust starts to fly toward the pillar, before larger and larger pieces slam their way into the pillar. Just as the pillar finishes restoring itself and some of the overhang comes back, she collapses and shudders, and the repairing overhang crumbles under its own weight. I try to stand up, to move, reaching my hand out to try and help her—

“—ki! Yuki!”

“H-huh?” I ask, twisting my head to the left, and my hearing returns to normal with a sharp ring. I wince as I can hear the distant shouts of students within the school, and the sounds of patches of grass and rubble on fire. Eri stumbles over to me, falling to her knees.

“Are you alright?” Eri questions, looking me over. I can only nod dumbly as I look at a cut on her head.

“I’m fine, Eri,” I say. Turning to Reiko, Eri helps me up and we walk over to her. I can only sigh as I look at Reiko’s swirling eyes and smiling face. “It looks like Reiko’s fine too.”

“I wonder what it’s like to be able to daydream in a situation like this,” Eri grumbles. “And now we have this to deal with.”

“It could be worse?” I say shakily. “The whole school could have been—“

Eri holds a hand up to me, shaking her head with her eyes closed. “Don’t… Just don’t finish that sentence.” We go to either side of Reiko and lift her up. I’m quietly surprised at how light she is, but I’m reassured by her giggles as she rests her head on my shoulder.

“Ahhhh, Yukin,” she mutters happily. “You’re always there to save me.”

“I didn’t do much saving this time, unfortunately,” I say sheepishly. Eri snorts. I turn back to the school as I hear more voices emanating from the entrance, and I see three other demons (if the horns, some pointy ears, and a tail didn’t give them away) helping Gabrielle to her feet. She motions around her and I can see her clutch her chest in pain. The three demons nod and look at each other before helping Gabrielle just past the rubble and setting her down.

Curious, I watch them spread themselves out in a triangular formation around the entrance, and they bring their hands up. Faintly, I can hear them chanting something, and each of their hands suddenly blaze in the same light that enveloped Gabrielle’s hands. Suddenly, the damage starts fixing itself even faster than before. Fires were snuffed as those pieces of stone reconnected with the whole. The metal lockers and the frame of the entrance unmelted, the tiles de-shattered, and the glass came back together in a huge flourish, and just like that, the entrance was fixed.

“It still looks terrible,” Eri deadpans.

I sigh as I think the same thing. “Yeah, it still looks like a bomb went off. The only difference is that it all looks superficial.

Eri hums in agreement, and we stare at the streaks of smoke and ash that still litter the pavilion and within the entrance itself. Burnt and melted shoes littered the ground still, and some were even stuck to the side of the restored lockers, the lockers themselves having lost a lot of their paint, or having been charred black.

I can hear the distinct shouts of Gabrielle at her demon friends as she clearly motions to the damage left. The other demons shrug their shoulders and sag in defeat as Gabrielle tears into them, though I can tell she’s just as embarrassed as they are.

A grunt nearby breaks me from my thoughts. Eri and I turn to look at the struggling form of Ryoka, who’s leaning against the fountain with his bokken. “Huh?” Reiko says smartly beside us, and she snaps to attention.

We release her and I motion to the scorched entrance to our school. “Well,” I begin, “The school blew up.”

She turns toward the restored disaster and takes on a thoughtful look. “Huh.”

“…your fault…”

I blink, not sure if I heard Ryoka right. Turning my attention away from Reiko, I place my hands on my hips and raise an eyebrow at him. “What was that?”

“It’s all… your fault…” He breathes. “You… brought them here…” I falter with my glare as I hear him say those words, and wince as he continues. “…know what you are…” he says, and brings his wooden sword up again, though this time, he can barely hold it. “I will… bring you down…”

His voice trails off, his eyes close shut and he pitches into the water fountain. I yelp and rush forward to pull him out. With his clothes drenched and still out cold, he weighs a ton. He also smells like wet smoke, which makes me turn my head in disgust. Grunting with effort, I gently place him on the ground. Taking his bokken, I contemplate taking it with me, but I shake my head and place it in his hands. I wouldn’t know what to do with a wooden sword anyway.

“Woah,” Eri says. “That was intense.”

“He really believes you’re responsible for everything, doesn’t he?” Reiko questions. “He’s going to get in trouble with that attitude. Pushing all his problems on one person is not healthy.”

Eri shrugs. “We could say the same about Yuki, except she does it unconsciously.”

I nod my head in agreement before I realize what they said. “Huh?!”

With a skip to her step, Reiko grins. “Well, at least those problems are pushed onto us. Anyone else and they might turn into another Yuki!”

Eri shivers as the thought crosses her mind. “It’s better this way,” she mutters, and I pout at the two of them.

“That’s not fair,” I complain. “And hey, weren’t we trying to run away? We’re still going to end up in trouble!”

“It’s not like we can escape now,” Eri says, motioning to the windows of the school. “Everyone knows we were out here talking with the instigators now. They won’t let us go that easily.” She motions to Ryoka’s peaceful form. “And our problem has dealt with itself for the time being, so we’re fine.”

“I don’t know about that one…” a third voice wheezes. We turn to see Gabrielle who seems to be wincing with every step and breath. “He was a catalyst for this event, but he wasn’t the reason why it happened.”

“He… wasn’t the reason?” I ask uncertainly. “But he attacked you first, didn’t he?”

Gabrielle flinches and starts to rub the back of her head. “Well, I may have started yelling at him.”

“But you weren’t the first one to strike, right?” Reiko asks. “That means you have plausible deniability!”

The fox-demon blinks and smiles nervously at Reiko. “Yeah, I suppose so. And you must be…” She glances at me and Eri, and correctly asks, “Reiko?”

“The one and only!” Reiko chirps. “Though I wouldn’t be opposed to there being two of me.” She smiles and grabs her hand, shaking it rapidly.. “And who might you be?”

“G-G-Gabrielle!” She yells, her voice stuttering with each shake. “J-j-j-just Gabrielle!”

“Great!” Reiko exclaims, sounding genuinely happy. “Gabrielle is a fantastic name! Can I call you Gabi? I want to be your best friend, because you’re best friends with my best friends. Is that alright?” She releases Gabrielle who starts to spin and stumble from her world being upended, and grabs me in a hug where I can almost hear my ribs creaking. “Just like how I call Yukin, Yukin, because she’s just so cool!”

“Hah, that’s, hah, great!” I wheeze. “Oxygen, oxygen!”

With an audible pop, Reiko releases me and grins at the thusly-dubbed Gabi. She then poses victoriously. “Plus!” She points at Gabi. “You helped us out in a tough spot. That practically makes us family!”

“Okay,” Gabi says. I can almost hear the dismissal in her voice, but when I turn my focus to her, I am shocked to see her eyes shining, and a tear running down her face. “I really appreciate that.”

“Why are you crying about something like that?!” I yell, waving my arms around. “It’s just a turn of phrase!”

“But she said we’re family,” Gabi sniffles. “Even after destroying the entrance to your school, I’m still accepted.” She wipes her tears away. “I’m glad.”

I stare at her and Reiko, who has decided to pat Gabi on head and hug her.

Beside me, Eri facepalms. “Of course everything is literal with a demon. Ugh.”

I nod and purse my lips as Gabi thanks Reiko and turns back to me. “So?” I ask her. “Why did you start yelling at Ryoka? I thought you knew antagonizing him was a really bad idea.”

Gabi shakes her head. “It wasn’t like that.” She squirms as she feels the force of our gazes on her. “When I saw him running after me, I tried to ask him for help.”

“You asked him for help?” Eri asks. “About what? And how did it go from that to shouting?”

WIth a huff, Gabi turns her head. “He said that to accept a plea of help from a demon would go against his code, and that he should tell me where you were so he could finish his job.”

I shiver as I feel the malice pouring from my two best friends on Earth. Waving my hands at them, I say, “I’m sure he meant something else! He probably just wanted to make sure I was really safe you know? Or—“

“Considering the fact that he pulled his bokken out at that moment, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance he meant—“

I mash my finger against Gabi’s lips and she frowns down at her mouth. I hiss at her, “Stop! He’s already unconscious; You’re going to make them keep him that way!”

“Mmhmm!”

Nodding my head appreciatively, I wince as I hear two kicks behind me, and I choose not to look at who was the kicker and what was being kicked. Stepping back, I see Eri and Reiko in much higher moods.

“I-in any case,” Gabi begins, “That’s when I yelled at him for being an incompetent fool, and he swung his sword at me.” She glances at her demon friends still trying to scour the stains left by her explosion, and she sighs. “The rest, as you would say, is history.”

Wringing her hands, she closes her eyes and thinks. “As for what I asked help for…” She pulls something out of her pockets and shows it to us. “I was able to get a resonite for the signature of our culprit.”

It’s a crystal that glows from within. It looks raw and erratic, odd jagged edges and sharp curves adorning its surface, and the sick acid light within pulses slowly with an unseen heartbeat.

“Resonite is someone’s magical signature,” Gabi says, pocketing the crystal. “The more traces of it there are after a spell is cast, the easier it is to locate the being with said signature.” Nodding, she continues, “Obviously, the longer it is since the spell is cast, the harder it is to get a solid reading.” Glancing at the sky, she finishes, “For a spell this large, however, it was simpler than I thought to get the resonite for the Rogue.”

“Is that what we’re calling her now?” Eri asks. “The person responsible for tweaking your spell?”

“Among other things,” Gabi says dismissively. I have a sinking feeling that there’s more to this than she’s telling us, but it’s not my place to ask… for now. “For now, let’s focus on finding this monster, because I can’t stand not knowing things.”

“I have the same problem, Miss Gabrielle,” A voice says. We all gulp as Gabi turns around, and we stare at the disapproving face of Miss Maki, the principal of our school. “I would like to know what exactly happened here, that we have the three other transfers cleaning up what looks like a smoke bomb going off in my school, why everyone is saying there was a fight in the halls with flashing lights, and why my top student is lying on the ground passed out like a fish out of water!”

“We… can explain?” I ask more than say, and everyone around me sighs and facepalms.

“There’s a time and a place, Yuki,” Eri says.

“As much as I love you, Yukin, I have to agree with Eri,” Reiko murmurs.

“No comment,” Gabi says.

“H-hey, Gabi,” I say nervously, “You said we’re like family right?”

“Keyword is ‘like.’”

I sigh. I look up at Miss Maki and splay my hands out in defeat. “Well, you heard them.”

She nods. “Now, will two of you please help Mister Ryoka to the nurse’s office? We have a lot to talk about.”

As she turns around and starts walking to the school, she stops for just a moment.

“And we can also talk about this… Rogue of yours.” She turns her head to the side, watching our shocked faces. “You didn’t think you were the only ones who were in on this, were you?”

She disappears through the entrance, leaving four of us and three other demons in shock.

“What just happened?” I ask. Everyone sighs once more. I look at them all incredulously, before sighing myself.

“Let’s just go.”