Unexpected Arrivals

Yang Ji Hye

Ji Hye walked like the living dead, feet dragging with every step as her senses fumbled around for a balancing weight that was no longer there. She did not know what had happened to that kitsune princess who had been her roommate, and did not think that she wanted to ever find out. The chain that had been formed between them was shattered now, hinting that the kitsune been spirited away through violent means. Rust would have been an indication of a gentle parting.

She hoped desperately that the violence had been for the other student's sake, not that she had been a victim of something awful. The two of them had not even been acquaintances but the princess's absence was still an almost unbearable itch. Spirits did not often have their chains broken. Spirits were not easily destroyed. Ji Hye prayed the kitsune had simply broken free with some of her strange, strange magic. The fact that nobody else seemed to remember that student only strengthened this argument in Ji Hye's mind. Even though there was a lingering aura of bitterness woven into the remnants of their still new bond.

A bit of golden whisker swept lightly across her cheek then, as she stumbled into a wall. "Allow me," Hitori said to her sternly in a voice like chimes as it smoothed its front hooves against the ground. The spirit supported her from one side, flanking her against the wall. Its tail squished behind them, in a movement that did not seem to be out of agitation so much as a desire to calm. It was not often that the qilin showed Ji Hye so much consideration, and even rarer that it took on such a physical form. It was surely obvious now to any normal human being.

"Shall I take over?" Hitori asked after a time, as she looked dazedly at the dorm numbers. That dangling, broken chain was distracting her, and the qilin knew it. Ji Hye hesitated for a moment, her mind foggily trying to come to a decision that she actually cared about. She just felt cold. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the feel of the qilin's scales seeping through her clothes to her skin.

The girl cleared her throat and found that it actually was quite sore, as if she had not spoken in days. Maybe she hadn't. There were no words she could say about the student who had vanished even from memory. Even if she were believed, there had been no familiarity between them. "Megumi..."

It hurt but she whispered, resting her head against the door for a moment and staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. "Megumi no Miya... Sayuri Naishinnou." That was all she knew about the girl. Just her name. That was all.

Hitori let her be and the minutes ticked by. Eventually, dry eyed, Ji Hye looked at it. "All right," she said quietly. It nodded at her unblinkingly, as if she were a young child reaching an obvious conclusion. The soul chains made a faint sound against each other, even though they were insubstantial.

As the qilin touched its chin to the crown of her head, warm and light went over her, trying to snatch Ji Hye out of control of her own body. It wasn't a struggle at all; her soul simply sank down and made room for Hitori's and then Ji Hye was conscious no longer.

The girl who pushed herself from the wall afterwards strode down the hallway in full confidence. Her eyes were an azure so deep that they were almost black. And unlike Ji Hye, there was no hesitation in finding the correct door.

Another being already stood in front of it, one that did not feel entirely human. Hitori looked at that being through Ji Hye's eyes and frowned. There was guilt and sin hanging heavily over the creature but the qilin refrained from acting on the instinctive desire to purge it clean with a judgment.

The girl, after all, might be hurt.

A roommate. A roommate.

He had hoped whoever worked in Administration had learned their lesson after the... 'incident' concerning his previous roommate-- bless his poor, tormented soul--, but it appeared he had put his hopes in the wrong fools.

A roommate.

One would think they knew better, handing him another victim-- er, unfortunate soul on a platter like this, and yet, earlier that day, he had been pulled aside and told-- warned— to offer a warm welcome to his new roommate, who would be arriving late in the day.

Hah. Him. Him, Solis Karma, greet anyone warmly?

They were delusional if they thought he would simply allow such nonsense.

Interestingly enough, however, he had been told a second time that he would be getting a roommate. This time, though, the name of his supposed new roommate was different. It was a female.

Regardless of whatever mistakes the imbeciles of Administration made, he had made sure to look up all of the necessary information on the two, spending the rest of the day going over what he knew and what he learned of one Calan Marshall and one Yang Ji Hye. It wouldn't do to be unprepared, of course. That would be a weakness, and he loathed showing weakness. No. Not anymore.

Shaking his head to clear his mind from his silent musings, he glanced at the iridescent red numbers on the digital alarm clock at his bedside table. He figured it was about time the two arrived, and took a few moments to double and triple check his plan.

If Administration insisted on making such foolish mistakes, well, he would clean them up his way. All he had to do was ensure the two agreed to play the game.

By the time he was done and fully confident in his plan, the sound of a tentative knock sounded throughout the room, puncturing the still air with its echoes.

With the faintest hint of a glare that was gone within seconds, he uncurled from his position on his immaculately made bed, shuffling towards the door and slowly opening it. A cursory glance of the hall showed him that it had been the male to reach the room first, but the female wasn't too far behind.

Since the male-- Calan, he reminded himself-- was directly in front of him, the first thing he noticed was the height difference. This, of course, did nothing to help his mood, despite having already known of it from the leech's enrollment files.

On the other hand, the female-- Ji Hye, his mind supplied-- was several inches shorter than he, but something about her eyes bothered him. Regardless, his gaze slid back to the male's, visibly sizing him up for several moments before murmuring, "Good evening."

Yang Ji Hye (possessed by Hitori)

Hitori turned Ji Hye's head from the human in the hallway to the human in the room, frowning deeply to itself. It was clear from the energies radiating off of these two people that they were far from harmless innocents, although the aura of the boy in the room, while dark and twisted, was far less tattered. It was hardly a person that the qilin would associate with, and the darkness barely hidden there brought on a nagging need to purify something. Not here, though. Too many people with powers were around, many of whom would not understand the purification process and were likely to try and intervene.

In any case, the aura of that one human paled in comparison to the other's. Hitori narrowed its eyes in suspicion, feeling the pure evil that this person contained. Every single sin, every single murder this boy had committed was immediately known to the qilin. It felt disgustingly oily just to be standing next to him. Vampire or not, the amount of blood on this boy's hands was despicable. The presence of one of his victims' ghosts did nothing for the qilin's internal judgment. It might be able to free the girl with a little effort but it seemed like she was staying now of her own will. A pity.

"Do not address me so familiarly, slaughterer," the qilin said, coldly moving away from the vampire. In doing so, it moved Ji Hye's body closer to the other boy but that was truly choosing the lesser of two evils. "That appellation is not a true name, and I am not obliged to share any information with you."

Then, looking directly at the ghost and her band of followers, Hitori warned her in the jumbled tongue that only spirits could hear and understand. I do not approve of your loyalties but I will tell you this. Do not antagonize the Corrupter. Do not seek it out. Do not follow the trails of its presence. For all of your power, I do not believe you will fare very long against a fallen god.

"As for you," the qilin turned its attention back to the boy in the room, studying him for a few moments. Hitori took out the dorm reassignment sheet that Ji Hye had taken with her, folded so that the only name on it was Solis Karma. "Good evening. If you are this person, perhaps an arrangement could be made."

Certainly, Hitori did not want its host to be acquainted with such a dark soul but it also saw the danger of allowing a dark soul to consort with an even darker one. It did not know what business the vampire had with this boy but surely it could be nothing good. If a buffer was going to be enacted between the two, the qilin was sure that its host would be sufficient enough of an obstacle. With so many powerful spirits tied to Ji Hye, it was hard to imagine that she would go down quickly. None of them would let her.

Just as he himself was doing, Calan appeared to be observing him rather closely, and while he had long since steeled himself towards such stand-offs of measuring gazes and calculating mindsets, something about the vampire's gaze sent shivers down his spine.

Certainly not the good kind, either. No, this particular gaze was much too thorough, cataloging his features, his body. It reminded Solis of him. The fucking pervert that dared to... to...

The corners of his mouth tugged down into a barely noticeable scowl-- the hatred and bitterness more burning in his charcoal black eyes--, though moments later he allowed a sneer to break through, his gaze cooling considerably as he regained his normally ironclad self-control. "Charmed, I'm sure." He drawled almost lazily, eyeing the offered hand as if it was coated with poison or guaranteed to transmit some deadly disease regardless of how genuine the male seemed to be.

As if they had rehearsed it beforehand-- unfortunate, considering he wanted absolutely nothing to do with anyone able to gaze at him in such a way--, he shifted to face Ji Hye just as Calan did. Unlike the other two, however, he missed the spiritual side of the confrontation, but still wasn't completely clueless. The female's school files had mentioned something to this end, and his genius intellect quickly deduced that something was happening between the vampire and the girl's spirits-- exactly what was still beyond him.

At least, until Calan referred to the female as 'Hitori'. There hadn't been much on the files about each individual spirit, but names indeed had been mentioned. Of course, it was also quite clear that Hitori was barely even tolerating Calan, which certainly didn't endear the vampire to him. His gaze switched between the two others throughout the whole exchange, quietly taking in as many details as he could-- one never knew when the smallest of things could come in handy.

Well then. It seemed that Hitori didn't really like him either, but who was he to care what a spirit thought of him? So as long as no one bothered him or got in his way-- or came across him on a particularly slow, boring day--, they would be able to hold onto their sanity. He took his own few moments to study Ji Hye, or at least, the way Hitori acted when in control, then nodded thoughtfully, appearing to ignore Calan for the time being; he was able to split his attention fairly well, refusing to turn his back fully to anyone. "Yes, I am he."

He had planned to have a little fun while he was at it, pitting his two supposed roommates to a fight to determine whole would get the room, but now that he had met both in person, he could safely say that, while it would indeed bring him amusement, he didn't want to risk the chance of Calan winning. He nearly shivered-- again, not the good kind-- at the thought, wary of what sort of interest the vampire would have in him and how it would affect him; already, his thoughts had turned to that day numerous times.

"Why don't you come inside, Yang Ji Hye, and we'll see what can be done." He offered, casting an almost poisonous glance at Calan and all but daring him to argue before holding the door open a tad bit wider, gesturing with a slender hand for the female to enter.

Yang Ji Hye (possessed by Hitori)

It really was awful, having to stand in this place between these two people. Hitori had walked by the side of the greatest kings and emperors, sat at the trials of some of the most wicked humans to have walked the earth. Yet neither extreme had completely desensitized it to what it was like to experience those situations anew. To become apathetic to them would have been a true disgrace for the sympathies of heaven.

I am a creature of divine judgment, created specifically to protect the pure and punish the wicked, Hitori told the deceased girl. He has destroyed enough lives. I should have struck him down at the very moment he came into my sight. You can see that I restrained myself. Perhaps there is the slightest hope for him. Perhaps. However, if he takes another life, he cannot escape the wrath of heaven. Do not fool yourself into thinking you can stop it. Your domain is of the dead. Heaven does not bend to your whims. Even if you seek to protect his life to preserve your own undeath, would you be willing to fall from the grace of heaven forever? There are things far worse than death in this world. Open your eyes to that. And yet, because humans could be so foolish, the qilin doubted that she would believe it. Too sure of herself and her own righteousness. In the eyes of the both human law and heaven's, this boy was guilty seven thousand times over. Hitori did not even think she fully understood its warning about the Corrupter. That she would at least try to avoid it would have to do for the time.

The qilin moved Ji Hye's body into the room, looking back at the vampire when he spoke again. Yes, he was hurt and yes he was tired. But that did not mean that Hitori would simply let him through the door, especially since the other boy now seemed so offset by his presence. Instead, the qilin took out the key to Ji Hye's old dorm room and slid it on the ground to him. "This child's previous room is two floors below here. The number is on that key. The roommate she once had no longer exists." As much as Ji Hye entertained hope, the qilin knew full well that the kitsune calling herself Megumi no Miya Sayuri Naishinnou was dead.