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It was finally over. After eight months of cram school, dozens of missions, and about a bajillion hours of studying, the Exorcist Exam was finally over.
The test had been taken in two parts: the written exam, which was pretty self-explanatory, and the practical exam, which involved a candidate going up against an actual demon. Each was scored out of 400 points. The practical exam also determined an exorcist’s rank, based on the level of demon they chose to take on (the level of demon was irrelevant to the final score, however). A combined score of at least 600 points was needed to pass.
The exam had been, in a word, a bitch. The written exam asked all kinds of questions, not just those pertaining to the Meister each was going for, and the less studios of the Exwires (read: Rin, and also kind of Shiemi, but mostly Rin) had wanted to yeet themselves out of the window by the end.
Luckily, they’d had the option to make the practical exam easier for themselves by choosing lower-level demons.
So, naturally, these complete disasters of human beings all attempted to take on very powerful demons on their own. The only exception was Koneko, who everyone thought was being strategic for not putting too much stress on himself, but actually was just full of self-doubt and anxiety about fighting demons. They'd all managed to take them down, but Izumo had needed to deal with Uke and Mike not cooperating at first, and Rin had accidentally set the exorcist overseeing the exam on fire, so that might cost them some points.
But hey, at least it was over.
Now all that was left for the hopefully-no-longer Exwires to do was to wait for their scores.
After the exam, the five of them had been crammed into a tiny waiting room. Koneko and Shiemi took the only available chairs, both practically exploding with apprehension. Rin paced around the small space to try to calm his nerves, the soles of his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood floor each time he changed direction. Ryuji had seated himself on the floor and started chanting, while Izumo stood in the corner, staring solemnly out of the room’s only window out into a silver winter sky.
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Each Exwire wanted to say something to lighten the atmosphere, but none of them could find the words. There was just so much at stake. If one of the more human of the Exwires failed, they’d all have to wait another year to become an exorcist, which was bad enough already. But if Rin failed… well, he wouldn’t have to wait a year for a retake, because he wouldn’t have another year. He’d be killed.
Kind of puts finals in perspective, huh?
After what felt like forever, the dark mahogany door to the room opened with a loud creak. An exorcist with long dark hair entered, holding five large manilla envelopes.
“Alright, I have your scores,” She announced, handing each kid their packet. “Best of luck,” she smiled before leaving the room, the door slamming ominously behind her.
The Exwires all gathered in a circle, clutching their packets with anxious hands.
“So, uh… Who wants to go first?” Rin asked tentatively.
“You should,” Koneko replied, adjusting his cat-eye glasses. “You’ve got the most riding on this. Besides, we can’t really celebrate passing if we’re worried about… you know.”
“O-okay!” Rin declared, holding up the envelope with shaking hands, ready to rip it open. But his hands didn’t move any further from that.
“Um… Uh…” Rin’s whole being seemed to be quivering now. It wasn’t like him to be this scared. “I’ve just gotta-”
“I’ll go first!” Ryuji interrupted, because man, he just could not keep watching this. He broke the wax seal on his envelope with the slight crack, and pulled out a sheet of paper. His eyes widened as they scanned the page, his mouth opening slightly.
“I- I did it!” He shouted. “I’m a lower first class!”
He could barely believe it. But there it was, right above a score of 769 points.
“That’s amazing, Suguro!” Shiemi cried.
“First class already? Bon, that’s incredible!” Koneko praised.
“Pfft, it’s just a test. Not that impressive,” Izumo scoffed, but even she couldn’t hide her smile.
“Oh yeah?” Ryuji challenged, but there wasn’t any real venom in it. “Let’s see how you did, then!”
“Fine,” Izumo said, opening her own envelope. Everyone watched her smug face falter a little.
“Hah!” Ryuji peeked over her shoulder to see her results. “Intermediate first class! You’re a whole rank lower than me!”
“Th-that’s only because I didn’t immediately rush to fight the highest possible demon like an idiot!” Izumo shot back, her face reddening. “Besides, I got a higher score than you! 778 points!”
“A-all right! I’m gonna open it!” Shiemi suddenly cut in, squeezing her eyes shut as she ripped open her own envelope. There was silence as she stood with her score sheet held in outstretched arms. Cautiously, she opened a single green eye to peek at her paper. There was a brief pause, before her entire face lit up, eyes shining and lips parting in an elated smile.
“I passed!” She shouted, any previous hesitation even more absent than her father.
“That’s great!” Koneko peered over. “What rank are you?”
“Lower first class, like Ryuji!” She exclaimed. “I only got 680 points, though. I guess I did pretty well on the practical!” She blushed.
“Pretty well?” said Ryuji, looking at her paper. “You got full points!”
“Oh man,” Koneko said. “You guys all did so well. If I don’t make it…”
Ryuji placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’ll be fine. With that big brain of yours, there’s no way you didn’t pass.”
“O-okay!” Koneko shouted, opening the envelope. He blinked at the paper, reading it over at lighting speed, before sighing in relief.
“I made it.” he looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. “I’m only an intermediate second class though…”
“That’s just because you were scared to take on a powerful demon,” Ryuji reassured. “We’ll keep training until you get more confident, and then next year you can retake it and get right up to the top!”
“Ugh, don’t even make me think about taking this again,” Koneko practically wilted.
Shiemi smiled softly. They’d passed. They were actually going to be exorcists! Everything was fi-
“No- no way,” Rin’s voice drifted over from near the window.
It was only then that the no-longer-Exwires noticed that Rin had been silent for far to long. His envelope lay discarded on the floor, the score paper held so tightly in his shaking hands that it looked like it was about to rip. His wide sapphire eyes were practically overflowing rage and fear.
“Oh no,” Izumo said. “No…”
“Wh-what does it say,” Koenko asked with a tremor.
“I- It’s not important!” Rin insisted.
“Not important?” Izumo said. “This is literally life and death, Okumura!”
“Rin,” Ryuji commanded. “Let me see the paper.”
“N- no!” Rin shouted, grappling for the paper that was suddenly yanked out of his hands. “Don’t look at it!” He shrieked, a blush starting to form on his cheeks.
But Ryuji had never listened to Rin before, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to start now. He eyed the paper, his left eyebrow shooting upward as he read Rin’s results.
“Rin.” he said deadpanned. “It says you passed. You’re a lower first class exorcist.”
Everyone let out a breath they were all quite aware they’d been holding.
“Oh thank fuck,” Koneko sighed.
Izumo’s tiny eyebrows raised a little at that. She hadn’t known Koneko could say fuck.
“That’s great, Rin! You’re the same rank as me!” said Shiemi, seemingly oblivious.
“Yeah. And even better; he’s not gonna die,” said Ryuji. “So why didn’t you want us to see…” his voice trailed off as he read further, cheeks puffing out as he quickly covered his mouth with a fist. But a second later he couldn’t hold it in any longer, dropping the paper as he doubled over with laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Izumo questioned.
“S-stop!” Rin cried desperately, his face the approximate shade of a tomato.
“Hi-his score!” Ryuji managed between laughs, face just as red but for completely different reasons. “Check is score!”
Koneko picked the paper off of the floor. “It looks like he got…” Koneko had to bring his own hand up to his mouth to keep from giggling. “He got 666 points!”
Izumo and Shiemi’s eyes widened as they slowly gazed over at Rin, who currently looked like he would rather have just been executed. Then, Izumo started full-on cackling.
“Holy shit,” she said, falling to the floor. “Oh my god.”
“Everyone, stop!” Shiemi cried, trying so, so hard to hold back her own giggles. “That’s- that’s mea-” she didn’t even make it to the end of the sentence before collapsing in a fit of laughter.
“I’m so sorry, Rin,” she managed. “It’s just so funny!”
“The son of Satan getting exactly 666 points on an exorcist exam! Oh my god!” Ryuji laughed, tears in his eyes.
“Guys, stop!” Rin screamed, his hands covering his face. Why him. Why did it have to be him.
“Oh man,” Izumo stood, trying to compose herself. “That’s good,” she said, opening the door to the room.
“Wait! Where are you going?” asked Koneko.
Izumo gave a Cheshire-cat grin, an evil gleam in her eyes. “To go tell Shura-sensei,” She declared before turning and running for her life down the hall.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Rin shrieked, tripping and falling over himself as he went to chase after her.