I saved the world and all I got were these glowing markings and black tattoos.

[withfocus]

Going back to high school. Getting his old world back rather than creating a new one. Those were both things Naoki had wanted with all his heart while he was in the Vortex World. He just hadn't realized how difficult it would be after what seemed like months of fighting for his life and dealing with demons. The first few nights he had ignored the feeling of demons nearby, thinking maybe he was just imagining it. When he looked in the mirror he didn't see his markings, on camera they didn't show up, only when he looked down at his hands.

That first moment going among people with his markings, and realizing they couldn't see anything, was nerve-wracking. Equally unsettling was the way his sense of nearby demons coming and going seemed to keep going off at weird times. It wasn't until he was attacked by some kind of hungry spirit looking for a snack that he realized yes, there really were demons and spirits and other beings in this world.

Even though he was weaker than he had been, Naoki still made short work of that creature, getting away with nothing more than a small bite that had healed up quickly enough. It was a sign of his demonic toughness, he was sure if he'd been human the thing's teeth would've taken a large chunk out of him. Quick, cautious tests revealed his physical strength was far beyond what it should be, but not as much as it had been.

Magic was still at his disposal as well. It wasn't until he sensed something unpleasant lurking around his school for a few too many days that Naoki decided to act. Waiting until his day off to search the area and deal with a sharp-toothed little being that he didn't recognize. After that he settled into an almost routine. Something would approach him or he would seek out whatever demon he sensed and clear them out, especially around the school. It was more difficult to hunt them down around his apartment, but anyone he encountered there was killed as well.

There was no room for making demon allies here; he had a human life to live. Nor could he just let them go knowing that humans and human spirits were a tasty snack for many of them. Slowly the encounters grew less frequent.

But for the past week he had sensed something. A new demon who had shown up in the area around his school just after his day off. The feeling came and went, sometimes further away, sometimes much closer. Never close enough for Naoki to get a good idea of what he was dealing with, but moving around enough to set him on edge and make him nervous.

It made him twitchy, prone to being rude to his classmates when they startled him. Miss Takao had asked if he was having any problems and he'd frequently reassured her and his friends that he was fine, he was just stressed about exams. Exams that meant extra cram classes, staying late at school, and no time to go deal with this new threat.

On the second to last day before the next day off he was particularly agitated, almost as badly as when he tried to go into a shrine. The horn at his neck was no longer physically there, but left phantom sensations. Something had his demon physiology upset.

The answer soon became obvious when Naoki left the front doors of the school with his classmates and felt an overwhelming but demonic power nearby. Dante. Naoki's eyes caught sight of the pale hair across the street immediately and he stopped, causing the student behind him to bump into him. He couldn't just stand there staring, so he kept slowly moving with the crowed of students out into the walkway.

That didn't look like Dante, but the man felt like Dante, just much stronger. Although that could've been because Naoki himself was much weaker than he had been the last time he'd been around the strange sword and gun-wielding demon. Maybe the same species as Dante? Or it could be Dante after a transformation.

Either way, Naoki wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. So far only Miss Takao remembered their time in the Vortex world, and he did not want to get into a fight with Dante or a whatever-Dante-was demon. Luckily there seemed to be some unspoken rule among demons to not pick a fight with him when he was around humans. It was only when the man looked up that Naoki realized he'd been moving too slowly and staring for too long.