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Feng Ping Lan held the plastic rack carefully as he headed to the sick bay. Igor walked next to him, Byriel and Ivan following from the back like a pair of bodyguards, the group of people escorting the samples over as if they were about to go to war.
Ivan kept on staring at Byriel, making sure he wouldn’t mess with anything again; Byriel walked leisurely, randomly greeting any girls they passed by; as for Igor, he accompanied Feng Ping Lan silently by his side, not saying a single word on the entire trip.
Feng Ping Lan stared at the samples in his hands, his entire body rigid.
He hadn’t slept well yesterday, and he worried that he’d accidentally flip the plastic rack over and destroy the entire class’ samples, accidentally spilling them on himself…
The hands gripping the rack hurt due to over-stiffening, and his arm started to tremble slightly.
Igor glanced at Feng Ping Lan. Without saying anything, his hands reached out to take the plastic rack.
Feng Ping Lan grinned, thanking him bluntly, “Oh, thanks!”
Igor did not answer, only nodding his head.
“Igor, you’re really quiet.” Feng Ping Lan looked at Igor, smiling, “You’re so cool! Like a gentle tough guy!” With that said, he clapped him on his back twice.
Igor’s arms shook with those two claps, but steadied himself at once. He returned a look at Feng Ping Lan, quietly reminding, “Be careful…”
“Oh oh! Sorry!”
Igor nodded once again, “Mm.”
“Igor’s really calm and collected, like a mature adult! There should be lots of aunties who want to introduce you to their daughters, am I right! Hahahaha!”
“Hey! Don’t tease our Igor!” Ivan stepped forth, hooking an arm around Igor’s and removing him from Feng Ping Lan’s side.
Arms shaking once again, Igor halted his footsteps. He turned to Ivan, again reminding. “Be careful…”
Looking at Ivan and Igor’s interaction, Feng Ping Lan said enviously, “You two brothers sure have a great relationship.”
Ivan, Igor and Byriel halted, staring at Feng Ping Lan.
“Did you use your head to hit the bus button this morning?” Byriel asked snidely.
“Ah? Nope, Conglong’s the one that presses the button. He pressed the button for every stop, almost caused us to be chased out of the bus, hahaha. Why do you ask?”
“We’re not brothers.” Ivan said exasperatedly, “It’s been two days since school started, did you really not notice that I’m his Contract?”
“You’re a Contract?” Feng Ping Lan was astonished, gaze swerving back and forth their faces for a while, “The both of you look really alike! What a coincidence!”
“I changed my appearance to look like this on purpose.” Ivan looked at Byriel, “Your Summoner is pretty stupid.”
“Just the opposite of the relationship between you and your Summoner,” Byriel replied with a smile.
“But, you really act like brothers!” Although the one that acted as the younger one seemed to be ten times older.
“It’s because Igor is a good guy.” Ivan smiled innocently, “He’s good to everyone.”
Igor’s gaze turned on Ivan, looking disapproving of those words.
“What?” Ivan asked.
Igor shook his head and continued walking.
Feng Ping Lan looked at Ivan and Igor, releasing a sigh without realizing it. He turned his head, glancing at the blue sky out by one side of the walkway.
On the other side of the sky, he wondered, what kind of weather was he having?
He wondered, what Jing Lan-gē was doing at this moment…
He wondered, if Jing Lan-gē knew of the wonderful things occurring to him right now, would he care a little about his situation? Would he have a little acknowledgment and even praise for him?
*
The group of people with Feng Ping Lan arrived at the building of the sick bay with the use of directives. As they walked along, Feng Ping Lan realized the path they followed looked pretty familiar. When the plaque stating ‘Second Sample Collection Area’ appeared before his eyes, he wondered if he had seen wrongly.
Wasn’t this room…
Byriel seemed like he had seen this coming, stepping quickly through and pushing the door open.
The tall and long shadow was situated in the middle of the office, chilly features seemingly colder than usual, more so gaining a hot-temperedness that was not usually present.
“Quetzal?” Feng Ping Lan widened his eyes, unbelieving. He was about to enter the room to ask, “Why are—”
“Stand there, don’t move,” Quetzal warned chillingly.
Feng Ping Lan was thinking of stepping out, when he lowered his head to discover the floor filled full of plastic racks.
“Do I put this on the floor?” Igor asked.
“Yes.” Quetzal replied apathetically, “Put it in the corner.”
“Why not put it on the desk?” Ivan stepped past the rack-filled floor to enter and complained.
Quetzal glared at Ivan and he obediently shut his mouth, suddenly gaining an interest in the medicine placed on the shelves.
“Why are you… in charge of this?” After freezing for a while, Feng Ping Lan finally verified that the person before his eyes wasn’t an illusion created by his sleepiness.
“Because this is the job of a school doctor.” Quetzal replied coldly, “Ones that pretend to be students have to follow the rules as a student should, ones that pretend to be school doctors have to take up the duties as a school doctor should…”
This was what Gemi graced him with her presence to remind him for, this very morning.
Although he abhorred this very much, shirking was not his style, and although he was extremely reluctant, he could only compromise in the end and face it with gritted teeth.
“I see…” Feng Ping Lan glanced at the sample bottles on the floor, “Uh, so you’ll need to open those bottles one by one later?” Goodness, he didn’t dare visualize that!
“I am only tasked with making an inventory count. Someone will come to collect them later.” Quetzal picked up the document on his desk, “Report your class.”
“Year 1 Class A… Wait, no, it’s Year 1 Class 2.” Feng Ping Lan replied.
Quetzal looked at the form, glanced at the rack in the corner, then ticked the column.
“Puhahahahaha!” Byriel, who had been spectating all this while, couldn’t stand it anymore and burst out laughing, unrepentantly holding his stomach as he bent over.
Quetzal cast a cool glance at Byriel. After forcefully curbing his laughter, he ended up having laughter escape him once again.
“Is it interesting?” Quetzal asked quietly. That ruthless voice sounded out like a beast from hell.
“Oh no, of course it isn’t.” Byriel wiped off the tears from his eyes, replying using a normal voice, “It’s not interesting, with this kind of level. It’ll be most interesting when tomorrow comes.”
“Tomorrow?” Quetzal furrowed his brows.
“I heard that there’s an excrement inspection tomorrow. Apparently, the students will have to hand in a sample of thirty grams.” Byriel gave a brilliant smile, “When tomorrow arrives, this floor will be utterly crammed with little circular cases, hehehe…”
Quetzal’s expression became instantaneously rigid.
“Is there? Why didn’t I hear of it?” Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head suspiciously.
Quetzal released a sigh of relief. At the same time, Byriel’s laughter rang out once again. He glared angrily at Byriel, but the crafty figure had already long escaped far away.
Igor and Ivan exited the room, leaving Feng Ping Lan behind. Quetzal did not bother with him, leaving him to stay behind in the room, and himself to carry on with his job.
Feng Ping Lan stood quietly by the corner, scrutinizing Quetzal’s each and every move, looking on as the other students that came to hand in the samples were scared silly by Quetzal’s ugly expression, scurrying out as soon as they placed the samples down as if they were fleeing for their lives.
He looked at Quetzal gripping his pen, brows furrowed, staring at the documents as he marked them one by one.
He couldn’t help but let out a stupid laugh.
Quetzal cast Feng Ping Lan a cold glance. He didn’t ask, because he knew of Feng Ping Lan’s clamorous personality, and that he’d give his answers on his own.
“Quetzal, you’re like a CEO.” Feng Ping Lan’s stupid laugh was followed by stupid words, “How many mergers are you undertaking today, boss? Is the plan for the collaboration of American companies going well, boss? How are you going to deal with that business competitor’s daughter who got drunk during the auction’s dinner party and had a one-night stand with you in a fit of passion then got pregnant and suddenly realized that she’s fallen in love with you, boss?”
Quetzal took in a deep breath.
He’d already anticipated the harassment of brainless words that were bound to come, had already planned to completely ignore them, but couldn’t help but say something at last. “Aren’t you going?”
“It’s not time for class yet, never mind.” Feng Ping Lan sat on an empty bed, legs carelessly swinging back and forth. “I want to look at you more.”
“Why?”
“Because you guys will be gone, sooner or later.” Feng Ping Lan smiled.
Quetzal sorted out the documents, speaking without even lifting his head, “…You look forward to us leaving?”
Indeed. Feng Ping Lan was just a normal human, suddenly thrust into this warfield of demons. He was now also expected to face the Shadow Academy, the Summoners’ Association and their many rules and regulations, as well as new challengers.
This was too different from the normalcy he was used to having, too distant from a peaceful life. For an ordinary human, this was far exceeding the levels of interesting, and ventured more into the territory of terrifying…
“Aiyo! Of course not! The heavens are a witness to this, boss!” Feng Ping Lan denied frantically.
“Be quiet.” That instance of a cry grated his ears.
Feng Ping Lan shut his mouth. After being silent for a moment, he suddenly spoke. “…It’s so that I’ll be prepared.”
Quetzal frowned, contemplating for a second before understanding that Feng Ping Lan was answering his question earlier. But he didn’t reply to that answer.
The voice in the corner said lightly, “If I get used to separation, it probably won’t hurt as much when it’s actually time for you to go. Hehehe.”
Quetzal paused for a second, lifting his head, only to see Feng Ping Lan watching him with a smile.
In an instant, those smiling features made him feel like something was prickling deep into his chest.
The bell rang.
“You should go now.” Quetzal reminded him coldly.
“Oh oh, alright.” Feng Ping Lan jumped down the bed, walking out the door, “See you tonight! Boss!”
*
With the last phase of summer, the bright rays of sunlight were broiling and harsh. At eight, rush hour of the working class, the streets were packed full of vehicles.
The purple-haired man moved on the streets, his form transforming unceasingly.
He transformed into a human to traverse through the crowds; morphed into a stray dog to slip through the narrow alleys between tall buildings; turned into a bird to fly through the skies.
This was his ability, to mimic any kind of species he saw, mixing in, in order to pursue a trail and investigate.
From the first glimmer of dawn till the sun rose from the east, he had already swept through half the city, yet there was still no clue to be found.
“Absolutely nothing…”
“Not a single trace, and there isn’t even a remainder of a corpse.”
The purple-feathered bird muttered by himself.
“Is it really a Demon Slayer?”
“Did they really find a clue to Prince Shuekan’s whereabouts?”
“There isn’t even a single trace, why can’t I just report and say they escaped for fear of punishment?”
At this moment, his tracks came across near the compound of Zephaniah Academy, and he, transformed into a bird, followed a flock of sparrows through the sky.
“So many people.”
“Is this a prison? Why are there so many people wearing the same uniform?”
“Oh, no, this is called a school.”
“I can’t say if this is called an interesting or lamentable place.”
As the bird passed through the school compound, a figure behind the window of a certain sick bay caught his attention.
“That shadow, it looks a little familiar…”
The bird left the flock, flying toward the window of the sickbay, halting.
The person inside the room had its back turned, placing the rows of plastic racks onto a three-floor trolley, then pushed it into the hallway.
Hastily glancing at him, and although he couldn’t see the features, that temperament reminded him of one person.
“Quetzal?”
“Is he the huge target that Ci Mu mentioned? If that is so, this will be a big catch for me!”
“But, what is Quetzal doing in a human school?”
The bird peeked into the room, and he saw the words written on a piece of document: Urination Sample Records.
“Ugh!”
He backed out in disgust, once again flapping his wings to fly out of the room.
“I thought I found a huge target, but I got it wrong in the end.”
“The underworld’s terror-inducing War Ghost Quetzal, doing something like this in a human school. No way.”
Just when the bird was about to leave the school grounds, a weak little fluctuation caused a tiny ripple in the air.
He felt that faint ripple.
“This is… A fluctuation from a human spell.”
“In the end, it was a Demon Slayer after all…”
“I won’t have the excuse to slack off now…”
The silhouette of the bird turned around, trying its best to chase after that little ripple caused by the fluctuation.
*
At the same time, general studies Year 1 Class 2.
A kind of medicinal smell permeated the classroom. Yin Su Shuang stood on the teacher’s podium as he wrote on the blackboard, the students quietly sitting in their seats as they focused on listening, as well as pretending that they listened.
Abruptly, a little insect with black and white vein lines flew in, sneakily passing through the walls to get in.
But several students noticed the existence of this insect, including Su Li Wan, Zong Yu, Igor and Liu Yi Chen.
The Summoner apprentices’ gazes were fixed on that insect.
That was a spell, a spell Summoners used to send messages.
According to the school rules, they weren’t allowed to use any kind of spell-casting during the day. Who was brazen enough to do so?
The moth-like insect descended slowly by Feng Ping Lan’s seat, hovering up and down.
The little insect fluttered before Feng Ping Lan, but he was so mentally exhausted that he failed to notice the peculiarities occurring before him.
Simo who was sitting beside him coughed lightly, reminding quietly, “…Ping Lan… Um…”
Feng Ping Lan snapped out of it. Seeing the hovering insect before him, he smiled blankly, “Wow… It’s a butterfly… Hehehe… Butterflies are really pretty…” Feeling overly drained, he didn’t feel like moving his hands, and was too lazy to shoo the insect away.
Yin Su Shuang finished writing the blackboard, turning his head. He realized that it was a messenger spell with just one glance, as well as the stupidly blank Feng Ping Lan. He frowned, putting a full-stop with the chalk in his hands without turning a hair, then, taking advantage of the fact that nobody was watching, flicked the chalk out with precise timing.
Pa!
The chalk flitted through the classroom with extreme speeds, pinning the insect, and finally hit right on Feng Ping Lan’s forehead.
“Ah!” Feng Ping Lan jumped, rubbing his face. “What happened?”
“Attention to the class.” Yin Su Shuang warned coldly, turning back to continue writing on the blackboard.
He turned his back to the students to open his palm, the message that had been sent with the insect now appearing on his hand.
Gym’s rooftops at lunch break. Be there. —Kaido
The black lines inked at the center of his palm vanished instantaneously.
Yin Su Shuang cursed silently.
That disregarding, troublesome little brat…
Liu Yi Chen and the other few students that had guessed the situation secretly cheered in their hearts.
Served him right.
*
Overhead the school building. The investigating bird suddenly realized that the waves of the spell had already vanished into nothing.
“Ah, damn it… It’s gone…”
“And I finally found a lead too.”
“But the place the spell vanished at is near here. Is the Summoner one of the people in this school? Is it a teacher? Or a student?”
The bird gazed at the rows and floors of classrooms, every room filled with students.
“How do I find it with these many people…”
He circled the windows of school dormitories, and after flying a few rounds, there was still nothing.
“Besides… Even if it was a spell, it could have been sent from the outside.”
“I’ll come again tomorrow.”
*
At night, Shadow Academy.
The first period was slated for magic ability. Kaido was pretty well-behaved, not even causing trouble when it was time for the sparring session. Just when Feng Ping Lan thought that Kaido had already given up on challenging him, even mentally rejoicing because of it, Kaido came over on second period’s spell-casting class.
Kaido walked over before Feng Ping Lan, features ugly, like a vengeful person on a punitive expedition.
“Hi! Kaido! Wanna practice together?” Feng Ping Lan called out first.
“What do you mean by that?” Kaido demanded with gritted teeth.
“Ah?” What was it this time?
“You handed my message over to the teacher. You even told them I broke the rules!”
He had been called over to the teacher’s office by Yin Su Shuang the moment class ended, had been reprimanded for quite a while, and in the afternoon his class advisor had even summoned him to stand by the door as punishment— he had never experienced such humiliation!
“You scumbag!”
“Ping Lan didn’t tell the teacher, it was Class Advisor that found out on his own…” Su Li Wan opened her mouth to defend him.
“I’m not asking you! Shut up, weakling!” Kaido bellowed in frustration, then looked at Feng Ping Lan. “Don’t think that it’s over just like this!”
“What message? I didn’t know?” Feng Ping Lan felt wronged, “If you wanted to find me for something, why didn’t you use your phone to send me a message? Wouldn’t that be simpler?”
“I don’t have your phone number!” Kaido roared.
The crowd surrounding them fell silent for half-a-second, then resumed its chatter.
“…Is that considered flirting?” A student near them whispered.
Kaido glared at them angrily, watching as the students dispersed far away in succession.
“Oh, sorry.” Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head, taking out his phone, “Then, do you want to add mine?”
Kaido shot out a command, a pure-white seal paper slicing past the edge of Feng Ping Lan’s ear, shaving off a few hairs.
“You can continue acting stupid, I can destroy you slowly.” Kaido smiled sardonically, “Even if it breaks the school rules, I can make you suffer, very painfully.”
Feng Ping Lan stared at Kaido, looking at the intent in his eyes. He was assured that this was spoken seriously, and he would do as he said.
“Why do we have to compare with each other? Isn’t it better for all of us to be friends?”
“I said that I want your Contracts!”
“Is that really all you want?”
“What?”
“If it’s really just to get Quetzal and the others, there should be more effective ways to do that.”
Kaido glared at Feng Ping Lan, not foreseen him on saying this.
“You can lie, steal, buy, snatch… You can obtain what you want with many different methods, but you chose the most painstaking way of doing so. Kaido, you’re quite naive sometimes, hahaha.” Feng Ping Lan smiled, the smile gaining a bit of helplessness and sympathy in it, “Could you possibly be doing this to prove yourself to someone?”
These words pierced Kaido’s sore spot, and he yelled angrily, “Shut up!” Then, he pointed his long blade at Feng Ping Lan, “Someone wins, or else I won’t call off this battle. You won’t be able to run away from me forever!”
“Humph humph, don’t look down on my willpower.” Feng Ping Lan said with satisfaction. “It won’t need forever, I’ll just have to persevere for three years till graduation.”
Besides, it could even be before graduation that Quetzal and the others would leave. With the target gone, Kaido wouldn’t be interested in him anymore.
“I think not.” Kaido flicked his finger, seals flying through and sweeping across Feng Ping Lan’s neck.
Feng Ping Lan felt something cool on his neck. He reached out a hand to realize that there wasn’t a wound on it.
Instead, the crystal Quetzal had given him, turned into a necklace, was gone.
Kaido opened his palm, pleased with himself, the black crystal necklace hanging from one finger.
He had seen Feng Ping Lan transform the necklace into a sword in last class, then showing it to his Contracts. It’d been very obvious that the necklace was very precious to him.
Feng Ping Lan’s expression changed, “Give it back.”
“Want it? Use your own ability to take it back.”
“Seriously? Are you Gian1 now?”
“Accept my challenge if you want it back, you’ll get it if you win.” Kaido was very pleased to see the anxiety on his face, “You can ask your Contracts to help you!”
“No need!” Feng Ping Lan declared without thinking.
“Then fight me!”
Feng Ping Lan looked at Kaido, mute, and after being thinking deeply for a moment, he sighed slightly.
“I’ll agree to your challenge—”
Kaido gave a victorious smile.
“But I have a few conditions.” Feng Ping Lan’s words followed immediately after.
“Firstly, I don’t want usage of any kind of spells or magic gained from our demons. We’ll rely on our own abilities.” Feng Ping Lan paused for a second, “I want this to be a simple human versus human fight.”
“Okay.” Even if they used only martial arts, he’d win.
“Secondly, we can’t tell anyone about this fight. We can’t tell our Contracts either.”
He wanted to resolve this by himself. He would not cause any more trouble for the others.
“That’s fine.” Although he couldn’t understand why Feng Ping Lan would put out this request, he didn’t want anyone interfering in their battle either. Besides, Tan Hua was too soft-hearted, and could possibly hold him back when the time came.
“Thirdly, as long as one of us is unable to continue fighting, it’ll be considered a win for the other party.”
“Fine.” This one was quite reasonable.
“Fourthly, no matter how it ends for this battle, nobody is allowed to request a rematch.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not convenient to do it in the school compound, so I want us to do it outside. We’ll meet tomorrow after school, at the open-air arena in the third public park.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” The school compound was the teachers’ territory, and it could limit them a lot. Kaido smiled in satisfaction, “Your Contracts are mine now!”
“Another thing…” Feng Ping Lan paused for a while, then continued, “If it really is you that wins at the end, other than Quetzal and the others, you’ll get another gift.”
“Oh?” Kaido raised his eyebrows, “What is it?”
“That’s a secret.” Feng Ping Lan laughed, “This gift will represent my regards, so if you win, you’ll have to receive it. No take backs, no throwing it away.”
“…I refuse to accept anything that threatens my life in any way.” If Feng Ping Lan’s gift was a destruction-type curse, he wasn’t stupid enough to receive it.
“Don’t worry, it’s definitely super harmless.” Feng Ping Lan split into a smile, the smile becoming near incandescent. “Is that alright?”
“…I accept.” Kaido spoke.
Although he felt slightly uneasy, he believed that he could handle it.
The bell rang.
“Say farewell to your Contracts tonight.” Kaido left a savage smile before walking away.
“…Is it really alright?” After Kaido left, Su Li Wan said worriedly. “Why can’t you tell your Contracts? You’re a normal human. If you don’t rely on your Contracts, it’ll be hard to beat Kaido…”
“There will definitely be a way.” Feng Ping Lan assured her with a smile, “Besides, I can’t keep on relying on others to help me.”
That was exactly why he had requested as such, because he didn’t want to trouble the others anymore…
He didn’t want to become a useless Nobita, that could only run home crying to Doraemon for help.
There was finally someone waiting for him at home, and he didn’t want to grow into a good-for-nothing.
Moreover…
Even if he really didn’t know anything, and was a simple human with absolutely no capabilities at all, it wasn’t that hard to deal with.
Thinking about the battle tomorrow, Feng Ping Lan subconsciously curled his lips into an anticipating smile.
“Ping Lan…”
“Shh, keep this a secret, don’t tell the others.” Feng Ping Lan requested.
But unbeknownst to himself, in the classroom, there several pairs of extra ears that had sneakily eavesdropped on his conversation with Kaido, having overheard every single one of their plans.
TL Notes
Gian as in that kid in Doraemon that keeps trying to steal stuff from other kids.