3 Interference

His scowling face looked back at him in the reflection, and he had to look away in shameful anger.

For now, his objective was to get back home and to that mirror. If he looked in it again, would he turn back into a human? It was worth a shot, even if he hadn't turned back into a human when he looked in it this morning. What other options did he have?

He got up from his seat, gritting his teeth in frustration. It was unthinkable to him that he would ever be in such a helpless situation like this. His only saving grace was that everything was essentially similar to the normal world. Since he had stayed up late doing research on the world, he was fairly sure he had been able to understand everything well enough.

He started walked out of the classroom door, intending to leave the school and get home to that mirror as soon as possible. But before he could go anywhere, he was stopped. A girl with a school president badge on her uniform stood in front of him.

She looked completely different in this world.

Blank, white hair covered one of her disturbingly lifeless eyes. They looked like they had been filled with black ink. She looked unnatural, otherworldly even.

Which made sense.

She looked like the first real, creepy demon he had seen so far. Everyone else was recognisable to his or her human counter part, but she looked completely different.

"A-Ah! Xena..."

She glared at at him. "You better not be trying to bunk school again, Lucine."

This version of Xena was a fiercer than the one he was used to. The normal Xena was quiet, soft-spoken and rarely ever said anything that was remotely rude.

She had managed to become the class president because of her surprising leadership skills and her resourcefulness. She was quite popular and was one of the only people Lucine respected; she had helped him out a lot

He looked away from her, trying to erase his frustration in front of her. Her appearance and the difference in attitude to the human Xena set off the alarm bells in his head. "I'm not trying to bunk class, so move out of the way, or else I might not be able to do the super important thing I wanted to do."

"Knowing you your definition of important would be stealing food from the corner shop because you forgot to eat breakfast."

Although Lucine thought this was a perfectly good reason, it seemed Xena didn't share his opinion.

"Make fun of me as much as you want, but it's my job to make sure you guys don't do anything stupid." She sighed "That other idiot got suspended as well. You don't wanna join him, do you?"

"Guess, not."

Reluctantly, he stepped back and walked back to his seat, feeling exasperated. But it was fine really. It's not as if the mirror had legs and could walk off. He'd just get it after school.He sneaked a glance at her while he standing at his seat.

Xena was sitting down as well, her long tail wrapped around her waist so that it didn't get in the way. She started reading a book, on a table of her own. He wasn't the only one looking at her. Others were glaring at her in disgust, others giving her a wide berth when they walked by her. People started whispering, some not even bothering to keep their voices down. She looked indifferent to all of this, as if it was something she was used to. Guess his hunch was right.

Instead of sitting down in his own seat, he grabbed his bag and abruptly lobbed it across the room, to the empty seat next to her. Everyone was staring at him now. This was understandable, as the bag did just miss hitting about four people.

Xena jumped up in surprise, switching from a look of confusion to a look of indignation.

"The heaven are you doing? Did you mean to hit someone with that or something?"

"What?" Lucine slumped down in the empty seat. "I don't know what the heaven you're talking about. I just dropped my bag,"

"Ah, I'm too tired to get out of this seat" He looked at her meaningfully. "I guess I'm sitting here from now on."

They locked eyes for a second, and understanding dawned on her face. She moved over, giving Lucine more space.

She returned to her book. She smiled, whispering something under her breath.

"Idiot."

Lucine glanced at her, not saying anything.

Xena had white hair, just like him.

Everyone seemed to want to avoid her, as if she was something undesirable, nothing like the Xena from the human world.

Of course, this was hardly anything surprising, seeing how much demons loathed those who deemed to be below them.

After all, she was a Servum.

Her white hair and black eyes was the sign of her slave heritage.

He had found information on the Servum online. There was no sign of any obvious racism in the websites he went on as it was likely there was some sort of law against racism in place. But its inevitable for people not to have prejudices against the "slave race"

Her rightful place was at the feet of nearly everyone in the room, and yet she had somehow become the school president.

It wasn't surprising at all that they'd hate her.

It wasn't surprising that she'd be different to the other Xena.

And, he thought to himself, it shouldn't be surprising that he'd sit next to her. His own white hair was a mark that he was a child of slaves.

And even if he didn't have white hair, the human Xena was one of the few people he respected. She'd helped him a lot. He had to repay the debt somehow.

"Wait, Xena, how did you get votes for school president if everyone hates you?"

Xena stared at him blankly.

"Not hate! You just don't seem very popular, that's-"

"Lucine, I'd ask you the same question." She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "Every time I bring it up, you and Dante always change the subject." She scowled at him. "You two definitely did something behind my back."

"Uh, sure..."

Xena went back to reading, leaving Lucine to wonder who Dante was, and what exactly the both of them had done. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. What sort of guy was the demon Lucine? ***

"Why do you want to talk about the Servum so suddenly? You've never really cared about that sort of stuff before."

Lucine was sprawled out under the cooling shade of a tree, sinking into the grass. Fugo sat at the trunk of the tree, absent-mindedly tearing the grass out of the ground.

It was lunch break, and Lucine had just snatched Fugo away from Lucina under the pretence that he had something "really important" to talk to Fugo about.

Lucina had been really hoping for Fugo to try the lunch she had prepared for him. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy about Fugo leaving the second she got out the food.

"Well, I've had a change of heart. And it's not just about the Servum anyway. I want to talk about all sorts of races and racism and stuff. What's up with everyone hating white hair and black eyes?"

Fugo looked back at the ground.

"White hair and black eyes were the characteristic features of the Servum who terrorized the world centuries ago with their superior technology and firepower. This went up until the day an unnamed hero came and assassinated the leader of the Servum, when the world was taken back from the hands of tyranny. The Servum were forced into slavery and without their technology there was nothing they could do about it" Fugo said, without missing a beat.

Lucine scrambled up to his feet, his wide eyes staring at Fugo in disbelief. "What? You're joking! That's something out of some futuristic dystopian shit!"

Fugo slowly rose to his feet, not looking at Lucine in the eyes.

"Yeah, it is. That was the plot of the book we were studying last week. The one argued with the teacher about until you got an after-school. But you still believed me when I said it was reality."

Lucine stopped dead, paralyzed. Fuck

Fugo's eyes drifted up at Lucine, his crimson eyes alight with malice, his wings slowly unfolding menacingly.

"You know, you've been acting pretty off lately. Sure, you're usually pretty goofy and idiotic, but your memory is still normal. You would remember something we were learning a week back. Especially knowing why your own race is hated against. "

Lucine stood still, blue-screening. He got baited. His heart thumped In his head. But it was okay right? No one would be able to find out what happened anyway, and it's not like he was in fault even if he did. He just had to act calm and not fumble it even harder

"Who-Who're you calling idiotic?" The words stumbled out of his mouth, ruining his attempt at showing bravado . He gritted his teeth. This was humiliating. What could he say to get out of this situation? "A-Anyway, how're things going with Lucina?"

Fugo's eyes bore into him, like two red beams aimed directly at his soul.

"What's wrong with you, Lucine Fastus."

Lucine swallowed.

"Nothing's wrong with me. What're you getting so angry for, Fugo Libent?"

Rage rippled across Fugo's face, quickly quelled by a look of indifference. He looked away. He forced his wings shut, but his eyes still kept their hateful gleam.

"The fuck would you say that for..." he muttered, scowling.

Huh? Did he say something offensive?

"White hair and black eyes are hated because of the Servum, the majority of the population that were in slavery. The Servum belong in the dirt, along with their filthy descendants and all who dared to have children with them, or so they say."

He gave a short sigh.

"You and Lucina have white hair and yellow eyes, meaning you're half Servum. Your father was a "normal" person, while your mother was a Servum. You're still both hated just as much, especially you for being such an asshole."

This insult stung, but he decided to ignore it.

"You said that the majority of the population was Servum, but I've only seen a few people with white hair or black eyes."

"That's because most Servum didn't want to stay in this country. They left to their own hell. There aren't many left here."

There was a tense silence between the two. The din from everyone else was a far away story, unimportant and irrelevant.

"Fugo…"

Fugo turned his back on Lucine.

"I don't know what you're playing at, but I'll play along for now."

He turned his head back, glaring at Lucine with revulsion in his eyes.

"And my name is Fugo Alsam, not Libent." he spat.

Lucine was left, holding in his breath, watching Fugo walk away.

Well, that was a major fuck up. What the hell was he even getting mad about?

But, it was still good that he'd left. Lucine let out of a sigh of relief, slumping back down onto the grass, staring at the blue sky. He needed time to sort this all out. None of these people were his problem. He just needed to get home

***

The bell signaling the end of class rang, a melody of freedom telling him that he was free to go. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he had no hesitation leaving the classroom.

This Servum shit was really pissing him off. Everyone kept on looking at him weirdly, acting so damn scared when they talked to him, stuttering and stumbling and unsubtly implying that they would rather not have anything to do with him. One idiot even gave him money to "not hurt him or any of his friends." What the fuck was even going on

He exited the school building, glowering like a red-hot coal. Regardless, none of this would matter. Once he got home, he'd just look back in the mirror and go back home. Easy. These were the demon Lucine's problems, not his own.

Students streamed out of the school, everyone looking away from Lucine, which did nothing to boost his mood. Why couldn't someone say that they hated him to his face? All these cowards did was look at him weirdly. He felt more violent than usual.

It was a disgusting feeling; violence was neither elegant nor refined, two things which he strived to be.

And being this angry meant that soon he was going to lose control and do something he was going to regret. He clenched his fists. With this body, his anger would result in a loss of control quickly.

He closed his eyes, counting to 10 in his head, he breathed in deeply. He opened his eyes.

A seven-foot tall titan stood in front of him, with his wings blocking the sun from view, casting a wide shadow over Lucine.

Two curved horns protruded from his forehead, his read hair billowing behind him like fire.

His musculature was even more terrifying in this godforsaken world.

Worst of all, his face was contorted in an animalistic fury of someone with wounded pride.

If Xena was the creepy sort of demon, this idiot was the scary sort of demon. You knew exactly what he going to do to you, but you were powerless to stop it.

Lucine stared up at the devil towering over him, grimacing. He couldn't complain. He had asked for someone to do more than look

"W-weren't you satisfied with yesterday?"

The demon stared down at him with spiteful, golden eyes.

Well, Lucine thought, I guess that's a no.

The tyrant was still was ruthless as before.