It had been so long since Yukio had seen his brother with his shirt off, he'd forgotten why Rin didn't like to undress in front of anyone, even his brother.

The scars.

Two long, pale-white rigid lines that ran diagonally across his chest. The only scars that wouldn't heal. Rin had had those since the beginning of his career as an Exorcist.

Yukio felt slightly guilty. It was his fault Rin had those. Just like it was his fault Rin suffered so much in the first place. Because his younger twin brother was a coward and over-thought things too much to ever see his older twin brother over the Demon he could end up being.

Yukio examined his brother as he cleaned his wounds from the day. He was tanner and taller, and had gotten more muscled as the years wore on. He'd grown a lot since their first year of highschool. Yukio had stayed the same, so now, Rin was an inch taller than him and his features actually made him look like the older brother.

Rin's jet-black hair was long and spilled down his back and over his shoulders. The left side of his face was usually hidden by his bangs and the right side of his hair was braided along the side of his head. His ears had two piercings each and Yukio knew that he'd gotten a tongue piercing just to mess with Mephisto after the Demon King had said that tongue piercings disturbed him because "Who would want a hole in their tongue?!"

Overall, Rin looked so much more mature now compared to First Year. It was strange to see. Rin had always been strong, but now he actually looked the part too.

Rin raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you gonna stare at me all day, or are you gonna do your reports?" He asked, glaring slightly. Yukio quickly turned away and went back to writing mission reports, face burning.

§~•~§~•~§

"What do you wanna eat?" Rin asked. Yukio was almost surprised Rin even cared to be this considerate towards him at this point in their shattered relationship.

"Don't really care. You're cooking is still the best thing at this place." Yukio awkwardly gestured to the School out the window. Rin snorted and opened the fridge. "Damn right it is." He muttered.

Twenty minutes later and they were eating leftover udon. Rin didn't feel like making anything.

"So how is your progress with Shima?" Yukio wondered, just to make the silence less tense and awkward. Rin sighed. "He's annoying as hell and he's too fuckin lazy to train seriously unless I hit him with his own staff. Pisses me off." He answered. "Ugh, I know. His grades are just barely passing!" Yukio complained. "How did this guy even make it through school before now?" Rin wondered. Yukio shrugged.

"He seems a bit off though, don't you think?" Rin pointed out. "Yeah, he's too good at sneaking around. Caught him several times trying to look at the answer keys to tests." Yukio sighed.

Rin snickered. "He did come here with his friends, maybe he just wants to stay with Suguro and Konekomeru. Can't really fault him for that." Rin expression softened. He didn't have any childhood friends or any friends now. Shima trying to stay with his friends even if it meant suffering through highschool and trying to be an Exorcist was an understandable situation.

But Rin had learned to trust his gut and his gut said that there was more to Shima's suspicious behavior than him wanting to stick with his childhood friends.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin kept an eye on Shima, following him after lessons and watching him shamelessly flirt with Kamiki even after she shot him down every time. He really wanted to get close to her, but why? He either really liked her Tsundere personality or there was another reason for why he tried his best to get close to her all the time. Rin really would like to think it's just a teenager being a teenager, but his instincts said otherwise.

His solution: background checks. 

There wasn't much on Kamiki other than some info on her parents, her little sister, and what schools she'd gone to. Apparently her dad was a deadbeat and on top of that, already dead and her mom mysteriously disappeared around the time Izumo was nine. Izumo and her little sister Tsukumo had also disappeared for ten days before Izumo showed back up in school with no mother or sister. There was a name for an orphanage that apparently was her new home from then on–Sunnyside Orphanage.

Something about that name nagged at Rin. Honestly, Izumo's entire file was suspicious enough for him to want to keep an eye on her too.

Shima's file was a standard file, but some of it was blacked out. Suspicious. He'd ask Mephisto if the Demon King would tell him anything, but he'd probably just give Rin a riddle and gripe about his tongue piercing before sending him away.

Shima came from a family of eight, previously nine, before their oldest son died during the Blue Night saving baby Shima. His older sister Jun wasn't an Exorcist and his younger sister was too young to be one, so neither of them were involved directly with the Order. The Shima family served to protect the Suguro clan, of which there was oy one heir: Ryuji Suguro. Konekomeru, the only surviving heir of the Miwa Clan, also served to protect Ryuji Suguro and was raised by everyone in the Myōō Dharani.

Some parts were blacked out in the pages and Rin really wanted to know exactly why. There was definitely something fishy going on with that.

For now, he'd keep a close eye on both Shima and Izumo and see what he could find out.

§~•~§~•~§

"Shima, I swear to all that is holy, if you don't keep your guard up and fight me properly, I'm gonna beat you with that staff of yours!" Rin snarled. He lunged at the younger teen again and Shima barely managed to block and duck out of the way. He left his side completely open and Rin took the opportunity, slashing a cut along his flank. Shima winced, but surprisingly, didn't stop or even cry out.

Rin cocked his head curiously and lunged again. Shima blocked with his staff this time and actually held out against Rin before he disarmed the pink-haired boy and cut his forearm. He put his hands up in surrender and Rin sighed, lowering his sword. It was the Kurikara, but the blade had long since been vacated and now only held served as a simple weapon. Rin could fill it with his flames and then use it to make coordinated attacks with the blade. He could channel his flames through it, which made his job easier, thankfully.

"So I guess I'll just keep hurting you until you start learning how to fight back." Rin decided. Shima blanched. "I hope you're okay with scars. Those won't be going away anytime soon." He nodded to the long gash along the boy's ribcage.

"If you won't take this seriously willingly, I'll force you to. You have potential and you keep showing up for my lessons and training. So act like you actually wanna be an Exorcist, will you?" Rin's words cut cold and clear, straight to the point. There was no point in sugar coating anything if you chose to be an Exorcist of all things. The job sucked and Rin would never understand why people wanted it unless they had no choice, like Rin, Shiro, and Shura. Yukio had a choice, so he got what he deserved whenever life got difficult for him in this line of work.

"Ugh. Yes, Rin-senpai." Shima groaned.  "You're very refreshing, you know that? You never waste time. You say it like it is. It's kinda nice." The teen continued.

"Flattery won't help you, Shima." Rin deadpanned. "Not flattery. The truth." Shima corrected. "Something I need more than anything right now...." He muttered under his breath after. If he were human, Rin wouldn't have heard it, but his demon hearing was impeccable and he heard it perfectly. Rin acted like he heard nothing and stored the memory away for later.

He'd find out more over the next couple weeks and hopefully have something of a case put together so he could solve it on his own before it somehow blew up in everyone's face.