Nanako sighed. “No one told me anything before I came here. They just sent me off without another thought.” She rubbed her temples, trying to process this entire day.

Morgan laughed. “Wow, you parents must really hate you,” She snickered.

“My parents are dead,” Nanako shot back quickly.

“Probably killed themselves,” Morgan countered.

Nanako smiled grimly. “You are just something, aren’t you?”

“Only the best,” Morgan declared, shrugging. “Want a tour of the house?” She asked, finishing her tea and then standing up.

“I would love that,” Nanako said, standing up and dusting off her skirt. “Mind if I change my clothes first?”

“Yep. Let’s go,” Morgan said, grabbing Nanako’s wrist and dragging her out of the room and into the hallway. “Right now, we’re in the student dorm hallway. If you weren’t an idiot, you might have seen all of the nameplates on the doors.”

At that mention, Nanako looked around. Morgan was right. Nameplates were stuck onto doors all around this hallway. There were about six doors. “Are all of them halflings, like me?” Nanako asked, looking at Morgan.

“No. You’re the only one.” Morgan had paused before saying ‘You’re the only one.’ As if there was something else that she had wanted to say instead of that.

“Are you sure? I mean, it has to be more common than-”

“Yeah! I’m pretty sure.” Morgan cut Nanako off very quickly, with a snappy tone.

Nanako didn’t reply, thinking. She couldn’t have been the only halfling in hell… it just couldn’t be possible. Could it?

Morgan led her a little further down the hall, and at the very end, there was a wide, open doorway that opened up into a lounge.

“Hey, losers,” Nanako heard Morgan say. She turned her attention to the direction that Morgan’s voice had come, as she’d realized that Morgan was not beside her anymore.

Morgan was approaching a small group of people, which slightly startled Nanako. “Hey, Halfling. Come meet the other students,” She called, half-heartedly waving her over.

Nanako shuffled over, holding her hands in front of her slightly ripped and dirty skirt. “Hello. I’m Nanako Tsukioka. Nice to meet you,” She said, beginning to analyze the four that were in front of her.

A boy with a sharp smirk, a pointed tooth poking out from under his top lip caught her eye first. He had short, maroon hair, and dark blue eyes. His skin was a light brown, making his eyes pop. He had a small scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, and his eyes were narrowed mischievously.

A girl sitting next to him wasn’t paying attention to either of them, but rather to the hand-held console in her hands. Her hair was a dusty rose color, pulled up into a small ponytail, which led Nanako to believe that her hair may have been about shoulder-length. Her determined eyes were light brown, and her skin was a nice peachy color. She was quite short, a bit chubby but not fat. She glanced up from the console, raised her eyebrows in a greeting, and then looked back down.

Nanako turned her head to look at the second girl. Her hair was also shoulder-length, a light brown that captured the light perfectly. Her eyes were a sparkling royal purple, contrasting her pale skin. She smiled at Nanako. “Hello,” She greeted in response, tilting her head.

Finally, Nanako drew her gaze to another boy, sitting at the end of the couch with a book in hand. His hair was a pastel blue, combed neatly. His eyes seemed to be light brown, though Nanako couldn’t be sure because his head was tilted downward. His skin was pale, appearing white in the light that was shining down from the lights above. He was scrawny, which instinctively made Nanako feel bad for him, even if there wasn’t anything to feel bad about.

Morgan nudged Nanako, pulling her out of her observation phase. “That’s Hideki,” She said, gesturing to the boy with the toothy smirk. She went through their names quickly. Hideki, May, Emma and Rei. Nanako gave them a slightly timid smile.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” She said, giving a small bow. Hideki snickered.

“What’s with the formality? This is Hell, sweetheart,” He pointed out.

Nanako blinked, not expecting that for some reason. “Apologies. I’m not used to being in such a… place,” She said, biting the inside of her cheek.

Emma smiled warmly. “That’s alright,” She said. “We forgive you.” The brunette patted the seat next to her, gesturing for Nanako to sit, which she did.

She suddenly remembered the bit about horns that her grandfather had mentioned, and looking at these demons, she realized that three of them had horns. Some were bigger than others, giving her the idea that the demon with the bigger horns had had them for longer. Morgan had the biggest horns (tinted a shade of deep red), though they were still slightly smaller than your average ‘Demon Horn’. May’s horns were barely poking out of her light pink hair, and were an aqua blue color. Hideki’s were bigger than May’s but smaller than Morgan’s, and looked razor sharp, being an amber color.

Hideki must have noticed Nanako staring, because he grinned. “My eyes are down here,” He said loudly, causing Nanako’s cheeks to go red.

“S-Sorry! I’ve just… never seen anyone with… horns. It’s odd to me,” She said sheepishly, quickly averting her gaze.

Morgan snickered. “Well, soon you’ll have some of your own. Say, how old are you?” She asked.

“I’ll be seventeen in January,” Nanako announced nervously.

“Ah. Well, looks like you’ve got a month before your powers come in. Enjoy the last remnants of your normal life, Nanako,” Morgan said, her voice suddenly becoming serious.

Nanako’s guts twisted painfully, and she averted her gaze quickly. She felt dizzy knowing that her life would never be the same. She missed her father, and, surprisingly, she missed her grandparents.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m going to my room,” She stated slowly, her voice frail and hushed as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.