Rosario + Vampire: Reclaimer Chapter 10: Choice

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Rosario + Vampire: Reclaimer
Chapter 10: Choice

I stood in front of the scarecrow sigh by the road coming from the tunnel. Behind the scarecrow was the edge of the cliffs that ran around the entire academy property, like an island, overlooking the red ocean beyond. It had been one month since I first came here. One month since I learned of monsters. One month since I discovered Crusader. And one month since I made friends… and one month to make a decision. The bus was finally due to come back, giving me the chance to go home. I’d made that decision the first day I came to Yokai Academy. I’d been nearly killed several times while I was here, and despite trying to go about the daily lessons as normal as possible, both to conceal my identity as a human, and to keep my own nerves from breaking down from being surrounded by monsters every day, the constant threat of my identity being exposed and my life coming to an end in a likely gruesome manner made it difficult to stay calm. Not only that, there were changes happening to my body. Most noticeable was the fact my hair was gradually turning silver with every transformation I undertook. But less obvious to others was my slowly improving fitness level. I wasn’t so weak now, and even though that seemed like a good thing, I worried what it meant. I didn’t know what was in store for me. If I went home now, the dangers of Yokai Academy and its monster attendees would no longer trouble me. I would no longer transform into Crusader, and the changes occurring to my body, within and without, might stop, perhaps even reverse. He may always be present, and the Hallmark, along with its gauntlets, would forever remain with me. That would be nice. But then I thought about the one thing that kept me sane, and safe: I had friends. If it weren’t for the Newspaper Club, I may have been killed by now. But not only that, I never had friends before. Sure, they weren’t human… but they were nicer to me than any other human I’d known besides family, and those rare people I could call friend. There was a grumbling noise coming from the tunnel, and I crossed to the other side of the road. The bus came out of the darkness, and eventually stopped beside the scarecrow sign, and myself on the other side. I closed my eyes. Am I really thinking this? I must be crazy. But then the sound of the bus doors hissing open filled my ears. I made a decision. I’m staying. I opened my eyes, and was met with a pretty face of a girl. My jaw went slack. I knew her.

She stared at me with equal shock.
“Jason?!” she blurted in disbelief.
“Aisha?!” I responded in kind. What the hell is she doing here?!
There didn’t appear to be anybody else on the bus, save for the bus driver. He said nothing, but from over Aisha’s shoulder I saw him tilt his head in my direction. He was damned creepy, since his face, mostly above his nose, was shrouded in shadow, and his eyes glowed brightly. He smirked, and then lit up a cigar. Then he gave me a short nod. I didn’t pay further attention though, because I needed to get Aisha back onto the bus. Her shock turned to panicked worry.
“What are you doing here?” she asked me curtly.
“Aisha, listen to me, you have to get back on that bus. Don’t ask questions, just go!” I ordered her. But the bus doors hissed closed, and the vehicle began backing up. I cried out for it to stop, but the driver turned the bus around, and drove back through the tunnel. Alarm bells began ringing in my head. Aisha couldn’t stay here, she was a human! If she was found out, she would be killed. Fortunately, the bus schedule would go back to being a daily thing, if what Moka told me was correct. Aisha didn’t seemed to calm down though, as if something was greatly worrying her. Perhaps it was the environment; it made me feel the same way. But suddenly, she grasped my shoulders, and looked at me with her piercing blue eyes. There was a deadly seriousness in her gaze, and that confused me. Why would she be the one to worry about me? She began to say something, but ugly laughter cut her off.
“Oh, first off the bus, and already making ‘friends’, newbie,” a male student mocked. I looked over Aisha’s shoulder, to see a tall, wiry student, a second year I figured.
“Eheheheh, perhaps he’s her boyfriend. Pretty stupid taste though, he’s scrawny,” another student, a short, pudgy and ugly.
“Come on, you’re too pretty to be wasting time with this twerp. Why don’t you come play with us instead?” the first snickered, grinning uglily.
“Yeah, we’re way more fun than that wimpy looking stick,” the fat one added. “We’ll do you a favour and get rid of him, yeah?”
I went to step out into view and intervene, but something suddenly coiled around my legs. I looked down, and stared with wide eyes at the shiny black, scaly tail wrapping loosely around my legs. I was given some bad déjà vu from that encounter with the maths teacher. And it made sense why. Aisha’s a Lamia!? She turned to face the two students in her true form.
“Get back, mates!” she hissed, her Australian accent becoming thick. “Leave him alone!”
“Aw, don’t be so nasty. You’re too hot for him,” the fat one cooed, though it was as smooth as the collective muck on the bottom of my shoe.
“If you don’t, we might have to get… nasty,” the tall one warned sinisterly. Okay, that’s it. Aisha kept her defensive posture around me, but I stepped out of her loosely clinging tail, and put myself in better view of the two males. As soon as they had a better look, their ugly mugs paled.
“I-It’s you,” the tall one said meekly. I activated the offensive gauntlet, and pointed my arm at them. The fat one winced and took several steps back.
“Oh, sorry Mr Knight! We didn’t know it was you, honest!” he apologised quickly. There was a waver in his voice.
“We’ll be on our way!” the tall one said. And with that, the two of them did a 180 and bolted back towards the academy. They were sweating. Aisha turned back to me with great confusion, her now yellow, slitted pupil eyes shifting between me and my gauntleted arm. As soon as I felt safe, I deactivated the gauntlet and the metal shifted back into a single band and coiled off my arm, returning to its slot on the underside of the Hallmark. I turned to Aisha, and looked at her knowingly.
“Well, this is a surprise,” I said.

After that commotion was over, I finally got a better examination of my childhood friend. I hadn’t seen Aisha in six years, since I was ten. She’d grown so much in that time… and so much prettier. She wore the usual green uniform with the short yellow checkered skirt for girls. Her eyes were now their human-blue, and her deep olive skin was as smooth and flawless as a model. Her breasts had grown considerably too, and they rivalled Moka’s for size. I did not just make that comparison. Idiot! Her chocolate hair hung to halfway down her back, smooth and shiny, and perfectly straight. Her legs were toned, and slim, like the rest of her body, her short skirt showed off a lot. Her lips glistened, but she wore no lipstick or balm, just a natural moistness. She was exceptionally beautiful, which made the reunion awkward when thinking about her like that since I remembered when she was just ten and was always trying to convince me to do crazy things involving stunts and other reckless behaviour.
“So… you know what I am…” she spoke up, sounding sad. “I hoped you’d never find out if I ever saw you again… but those guys, even if they were weak, they would’ve torn you apart if they knew you were human.”
“’I don’t resent you, Aisha,” I reassured. “I’m just surprised, that’s all.” Damn surprised. I never would’ve thought she was a monster.
“But, we monsters, to humans, we—“
“I know the deal. I’ve been here a month already,” I interrupted her. Her eyes widened slightly.
“You’ve already been going here?” she questioned.
“It was something my parents arranged. They thought it was a good idea to pick up an enrolment form from some ‘creepy priest guy’,” I answered.
“But how have you survived?! And, why did those guys panic when they saw you?” she demanded.
“First of all, I’m in a club. The Newspaper Club. They know what I am, and they’ve sworn to keep me safe and my identity secret, because there’s another human in the club. I can’t really explain the details though about how that happened, but they’ve kept their word, and I’ve made friends,” I explained. “Now, as for why those dropkicks turned tail after playing tough… that’s better explained back at the Newspaper Club.”
“Why? I don’t like the idea of you going near the school, let alone inside a building. What’s going on? And what’s with your medallion, what was that thing that came off your arm?” she demanded. Despite all the times she tried to get me to jump off her house’s roof into her backyard pool, Aisha was just as protective and concerned for me as ever. I turned to her.
“Aisha,” I said. “I may not be entirely human myself.”

I escorted Aisha through the school to the Club room. She seemed to be on constant alert, looking for threats to my safety. I admired her for that, and I was gladdened of her presence, despite how much she changed in her looks; deep down, she was the same old Aboriginal girl who always hugged me tight whenever we greeted each other. We came to the club room door, and as soon as I opened it, all eyes turned on me.
“Jason?! You’re staying?” Moka blurted out.
“I like you guys. I guess I’ve gone crazy,” I joked. Moka beamed, and the rest of the club was filled with similar relief.
“I guess you are crazy,” Yukari responded wryly.
“Glad to hear. Now I still have someone to throw at any more girls that come after Tsukune,” Mizore uttered nonchalantly, sitting under the centre table. I wasn’t certain whether she was joking. I chuckled nervously. It was then Kurumu’s turn, and she walked up to me and patted my shoulder firmly.
“You’ve grown up,” she praised. I smiled and nodded.
“Glad to hear it,” Tsukune added. His eyes then narrowed as he leaned back in his chair a bit. “But who’s that behind you?”
I winced. Damn, I forgot about Aisha! I cleared my throat and stepped aside.
“Everybody, meet Aisha Dunham,” I introduced. She stepped inside, and swept her gaze across the room with a bemused expression. I noticed Yukari, Mizore and Kurumu narrow their eyes suspiciously. They wore friendly smiles (sans Mizore), but I could tell they didn’t like another pretty girl being in their midst, what with them all vying for one guy’s affection. But then everyone’s expression changed to one of caution.
“Uh, well yes,” Tsukune began. “I see it’s your first day here. Just thought I’d let you know it’s against the rules to reveal your monster form to anybody, so, uh, we can’t tell you what we are.” The tone of his voice told me everyone thought she didn’t know what I and Tsukune really were, and he was trying to make it clear to be cautious. Aisha simply raised her hand and pointed to Tsukune.
“I know you’re human,” she confided softly. Everyone’s faces lit up in alarm, and Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari suddenly got up and entered into a defensive posture between Tsukune, Moka and Aisha.
“Jason, get back!” Kurumu ordered. “She’s dangerous.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, she already knows who I am,” I revealed, holding up my hands in a gesture of peace. The girls looked at me quizzically, but they already had elongated fingernails, claws of ice and a raised wand.
“What do you mean, she knows that?” Yukari asked.
“I’m his childhood friend,” Aisha retorted indignantly. “Of course I’d know!”
“Hey, keep it down,” I advised. She sighed to herself and closed the door behind her. “He told me you had another human here anyways.”
“Wait, so Jason told you?” Kurumu griped, glaring at me pointedly. I gulped.
“Well, she did try to protect me from a pair of jerks,” I said. “I think she has a pretty good view of humans. She’s not dangerous.”
“No I am not,” Aisha reinforced. “So could you kindly revert to your human forms?”
I could hear her Aboriginal accent coming through again, so I could tell she was getting agitated. She always got like that when her temper flared. Kurumu grumbled, but obliged and her nails shrunk back. Mizore’s claws melted away, fortunately (somehow) leaving no watery residue on the floor, and Yukari put away her wand.
“I suppose we can trust you. For now,” Kurumu said, smirking. Aisha only nodded, and took a seat at a central table.
“Thanks. Now then, perhaps you could tell me what the deal is with Jason. Why do monsters run from him? He tells me he’s not all human, but I don’t believe him,” Aisha demanded. Everyone glanced at each other nervously, and Moka and Tsukune sat down opposite.
“This is going to sound unbelievable,” Tsukune began.

Tsukune finished the recap of the past month’s events, and Aisha stared at him in disbelief.
“An alien,” Aisha said flatly.
“Basically,” I added.
“An alien,” she repeated, sounding incredulous. “No. That’s bull.”
“No, it’s not. I may be human, but I’m linked to a Forerunner, and we somehow share the same consciousness, or body, or something. Either way, if one of us dies, the other does,” I explained. She slapped the desk and stared at everyone present.
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” she barked. Everyone shook their head.
“Aisha, watch,” I said. She turned her attention to me. I held up both my arms to the Hallmark. The ‘Reclaimer’ glyph glowed, and the raised pieces of metal circling the front and back face slid off, the top coiling around my left wrist, and the bottom coiling around my right. They shifted, set into the place, and the blue hard light protective coverings glowed to life. Aisha stared dumbfounded.
“This isn’t magic, and this isn’t a monster creation. It’s Forerunner technology,” I informed. She stared quietly.
“… Y-You’re saying, the whole time I knew you, and you had the stupid medallion, it could do that?” she blurted.
“Well, no, not until I came here. The Hallmark could never be removed, and it was always dormant. It had to be removed to activate. Now I can do this sort of stuff,” I explained.
“But why would it suddenly decide to come off now?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” both Kurumu and I answered in unison. We looked at each other, and Aisha looked at the both of us with an annoyed look. I sighed, and returned my attention to Aisha.
“Kurumu here is the only one who can remove it. Don’t ask me why, it just is. Not even Crusader knows why,” I explained. My childhood friend gave me a quizzical look. She’d been giving me a lot.
“Who?” she asked. Then another voice spoke.
“They refer to me.” Aisha’s face seemed to pale, which rather surprised me considering her olive complexion. Her head turned slowly to the Hallmark, and stared at it with a stunned expression.
“Did… did that thing just talk?” she queried, referring to the Hallmark.
“Yep. He’s here, I can feel his presence in my brain,” I mentioned. Before she could say anything else, Crusader spoke again.
“I remember you well, Aisha Dunham,” Crusader said. This seemed to set her on edge, as she fidgeted nervously. Okay, maybe that I can understand, but seriously, why does everyone get so freaked out when he talks?
“Y-You do?” Aisha responded, unsure what to say.
“Affirmative. While the Hallmark has only been activated within the past thirty days, I have always been observing the Reclaimer’s actions. But with the Hallmark’s only operating function at the time being rudimentary visual optics, I could not make any analysis of you beyond self-observation. I was unaware you were a monster. But given your past and present interactions towards Jason Knight, I do not deem you a threat,” Crusader confided. Aisha seemed to be hanging on every word he spoke, but I could hear a sigh of relief when he mentioned she wasn’t considered a threat.
“Oh, but you had concerns about us after we kindly rescued the ‘Reclaimer’ from being tenderised when we first met,” Kurumu remarked sardonically.
“Oi, not helping,” I retorted. She rolled her eyes.
“Your behaviour towards the Reclaimer bordered on dangerous with the level of hostility you displayed until I confronted you. That is credence enough,” the Forerunner answered without missing a beat. Aisha turned to Kurumu and glared at her. Her eyes turned yellow.
“What, ‘behaviour’?” she asked dangerously. Oh no, she’s getting protective again.
“Oh, uh, it’s nothing,” Moka chuckled nervously, looking to Tsukune with a “help me out please” expression. He just glanced side to side uneasily. Is there something they notice I don’t?
“Yep, nothing, just Kurumu wanting to beat Jason up every time she saw him, and yelling at him too,” Mizore confided nonchalantly, suddenly much closer to Tsukune than before. The room went quiet.
“Oh no,” Yukari muttered, breaking the silence. I looked over to Aisha, and her yellow eyes were blazing with anger. I knew what was coming next. Even if I’ve never seen them yellow until today, I’d seen that fiery light in her eyes before. She was, at times, extremely protective of me, and even though we only had six months of school time together, in that time she’d protect me from bullies, be they guys or girls, spreading rumours or looking to beat me up. I found it annoying at times, how much she overreacted at times, but I liked her kindness and loyalty, and those six months were the best of my life. But right now, I knew she was a monster, and I knew she was angry at another monster. I saw what was coming.
“You wanted to beat him up!?” Aisha snarled, jumping to her feet. Her nails lengthened into vicious animalistic claws.
“You wanna play, huh?” Kurumu growled back haughtily, her own nails elongating into those familiar three foot blades.
“Go~ood morning everyone!” another, also familiar voice greeted cheerfully. Gin was standing at the door, smiling in his usual charming manner. His expression then turned to surprise as he noticed the two confused looking girls with claws and nails readied for battle looking at him. “Something I miss?”
Thank Pete for that.
Gin scratched his head for a bit, and then noticed for the first time Aisha standing in the room. A small smirk appeared. Oh foxtrot. Don’t you even try…
He did.
“Well, how are you, sweet thing?” he asked smoothly, sliding over to Aisha and draping an arm over her shoulder. I glanced over to Kurumu, and she was sneering. Not at Aisha. At Gin. Ah, a common enemy.
“Uh… fine?” Aisha answered unsure.
“That you are. Say, how about you and I get a coffee at the cafeteria and we can… get to know it each other,” Gin offered. Aisha’s claws returned to normal, and she glanced to me for help.
“Oh really, Gin?” Yukari interjected flatly, clearly not impressed. “Gonna take photos of her boobs when she’s not looking?”
“Hey now, what’s with the accusations?” Gin defended charmingly, casually raising his hands in defence. “Can’t a guy get to know a good looking girl?” Get to know my ass.
Yukari didn’t look convinced. Kurumu joined her too, equally unconvinced. I noticed something catch Kurumu’s attention, and her violet eyes were drawn to something in Gin’s pocket.
“What’s that in your pocket?” she asked sternly, motioning to his pocket with a small gesture of her head. Gin’s nice guy act faltered, and he let out a nervous chuckle. He untangled himself from a very confused Aisha, and back up. My childhood friend looked to me for answers, but I just gave a nod for her to stay quiet. Just watch my friend.
“Oh, uh, heh heh, that’s nothing, just stuff for the Newspaper Club!” he answered with uneasy cheerfulness, smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head.
“They look like photos,” Yukari surmised. I saw Gin gulp, and at that point I knew that he knew he was screwed. He still tried to stop the inevitable though.
“Well yeah! Photos for the news and stuff!” he chirped. “Just your ol’ club prez lendin’ a helping hand!”
“Then you wouldn’t mind us looking at them, right?” Kurumu guessed, taking a step towards him. He backed up, a hand going over his pocket.
“No! Uh, it’s a secret and stuff,” he lied unconvincingly. But when he groped around for the photos, a look of horror washed over his face as he realised they weren’t there.
“He has a picture of us in gym clothes,” Mizore flatly stated, flicking through at least a dozen photos of perverted content. She handed them to Yukari and Kurumu, and their eyes narrowed, first at the photos, and then more dangerously at Gin, who was busy frantically looking for an exit, now very panicked. Kurumu’s lips pursed into a thin, menacing smile.
“Gin? You can die now,” she said with a disturbing amount of calmness. The last look I saw on Gin’s face before he was subjected to another beating was one of abject terror.

Once Yukari and Kurumu had left a very bruised and battered Gin slumped over his desk, Aisha leaned over to me and asked, “This is what happens in this club?” She had a look of incredulity, and a little worry too.
“Pretty much. I’m surprised I’m more used to it than I used to be,” I answered. She frowned slightly.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t like it,” she responded, turning her body towards me. “You’re just a human, it’s dangerous here. You could be killed so many ways.”
“I know that pretty bloody well,” I replied with abject certainty. “It’s only happened to me, what, a dozen times? But I have friends here, and they protect me. And…” I looked at the Hallmark, the lights pulsating softly. “I want to find out more. The changes to my body, the Forerunners, me and Crusader. Something bigger than both monsters and humans. I don’t know why, but… I feel compelled to find out now.”
Aisha shook her head, but sighed resignedly.
“I wish you’d go home, but I don’t want you to hate me. I really don’t…” she trailed off. Something about her tone gave away more than just concern for my safety. More… worry of losing me, not to death, but an emotional gap forming. My cheeks felt a little hot. I suppressed a blush.
“I… see,” was my simple response. I shook my head, shaking off the thoughts in my head like they were pesky flies. “Come on Aisha, let’s go for a walk.”
I got up, and took Aisha by the hand. I almost missed the blush that spread across her cheeks, and looked away before the same happened to my face. I informed I was taking Aisha for a look around campus, and they acknowledged me amiably. With that, I walked out the door.

We strolled around the academy, and I explained the various things and locations around the campus.
“And that’s where Crusader emptied the pool,” I said, pointing to the fenced enclosure that was the pool. “If I remember correctly, I almost swamped Moka with tons of water, along with everyone else.”
“Why is Moka more important?” she asked.
“She’s a Vampire. I probably shouldn’t be saying that, but everyone bloody well knows,” I answered. Aisha turned to me wide eyed.
“A vampire?!” she blurted. “Her?!”
“Oi, keep your voice down. Yes, she is, but she’s sealed. You ain’t see her true form; silver hair, red eyes, and a real mean streak,” I confided.
“Oh. I see. That’s what the power I felt from that Rosary of hers was. It’s a bit like your Hallmark.”
I looked down at the medallion, and fiddled with it. “Yeah, a bit. But no magic.”
We passed by the pool. I noticed Tamao sitting on the edge of the pool. She noticed me. Her eyes went wide, and she scrambled into the water.
“That was weird,” Aisha mentioned.
“I did empty the pool. Well, Crusader at least. I’m like their Ivan Milat.”
“Wow. Well, I guess they’re mermaids. They probably caused problems.”
I went quiet and turned to her.
“It’s a little odd talking to you now. I mean, we’re older and well… no longer the same species. I was really surprised to find out you’re a monster.”
“You reckon?” she responded dryly. “I’m more surprised you didn’t run. But, you’ve been here a month. I thought you’d freak though, me having a snake tail.”
“Nah. Which reminds me, you don’t have a weird flower thing on the end of yours.”
“Where’d you get that from?”
“A teacher here is a Lamia. I had the misfortune of upsetting her, and she tried to… um… ‘pump me full of hot education’ by trying to attach this freaky flower thing to my head,” I explained.
“Ahhhh, I know what you mean. Not all Lamias have that. Few do. Me, I’m just your typical Red Belly Black.”
“I noticed. Now I know why you knew so much about snakes… unless that’s one of those coincidences.”
“Both, sorta. We have an affinity and curiosity for snakes, but to know as much as me, you have to choose to research.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” I mulled over what to say next. “It’s nice to see you after all these years.”
That caught her by surprise, and her expression sharpened to one of surprise and embarrassment.
“R-Really?” she asked in response. She blushed, almost unnoticeable with her olive complexion, but it was there.
“Well, yeah. You were practically my only true blue friend I’ve ever had in school until I met the Newspaper Club. I missed you.”
She blushed even more fiercely, and I was beginning to wonder if she had some chameleon monster in her. I’ve never seen someone with olive skin blush like that. And it was surprising too. She was always something of a tomboy, and pretty tough and lively. But now, she was acting really feminine in regards to me. I may’ve been autistic, but I wasn’t totally oblivious; she had a crush on me.
“Oh, well, yeah! Heh heh, I missed you too!” she chuckled nervously, and gave me a light punch on the shoulder, but it didn’t feel so light. I rubbed my shoulder, and mumbled. Yep, there’s the tomboy.
“So, what now?” she asked. I paused for a moment.
“I guess, keep going to school, hope I don’t die, or worse. And that those nightmares don’t come back,” I answered.
“Nightmares?”
“Oh, nothing. You know, you were really brave when you got off the bus. Those two idiots might’ve been tough monsters.
“No, they were definitely weaklings. But I still find it hard to believe they backed out because of you.”
“I’ll be honest, in a fight, I’d be screwed. But if Kurumu came along and pulled off the Hallmark,” I fiddled with the medallion again, “then they’d be screwed. But it’s not me, it’s Crusader.”
She suddenly frowned and looked at me worriedly.
“What you say about him… about these transformations… it scares me. Please, promise you won’t get yourself hurt. Please.”
I was taken aback by her plead. I looked at her uncertainly, and my lips moved as if to say something, but words never quite formed. She grasped my hands, and looked me deep in the eyes. Her own turned yellow with slitted snake pupils, but they were full of worry. No malice or threat or anything.
“Please,” she repeated.
“I, uh… sure. I promise. I cross my heart, but I don’t hope to die, because that goes against your wishes,” I joked, chuckling nervously. She cracked a smile, and hugged me tightly. The feeling was familiar; very tight, and warm. I now knew why her hugs were always so tight, because she was “constricting” me, like a snake. Although this time I could feel something different; her breasts were pushing against my chest. I blushed and tried to banish certain thoughts from my head. Then she pulled away and did something unexpected.
She gave me a kiss on the cheek. She smiled warmly and let go of me.
“I guess it’s good you’re here in a way,” she said. “I missed you a lot. The time I knew you really cemented my compassion for humans, and those six months I spent in school with you were the best. I know I beat up a few humans, but they deserved it, because I was protecting you.”
“I… I see…” I murmured, unsure of what to say. Is this a confession?
“And now, I can protect you again. I have a friend here.”
She hugged me again, a little more gently this time.
“Come on, show me the rest of Yokai, tough guy.” She winked, took me by the hand laughing happily, and began running towards the academy of buildings, dragging me along behind her.
This is getting better and better. I smiled sheepishly and tried to keep myself from being pulled down to the ground by the hyperactive snake girl.