When Chris woke up, he was standing on the sidewalk in front of a big wall. The house behind looked like a monastery or something like that. Next to this weird house decorated with papers, which should work as defensive magic, were multistory buildings. On the opposite were some little supermarkets as he has seen in some Japanese comics. They were little and just had the main stuff to buy. On the signboard stood “Supermarket” but in Japanese. Since when could Chris read the Japanese language? That was really weird.

He heard some noises from the monastery like building.

“Goodbye Rin.”

“We will miss you”

“Become a good exorcist”

A young boy came out of the building. He wasn’t older than 15 and wasn’t taller than 1,70 meters. He had black hair and blue eyes, a skinny face and his fangs were obviously longer than the other ones. His ears were more prick than normal ones. He wore a blue shirt and a white jacket over it. He had black gloves on and black pants. In his hands he held an item wrapped in white fabric and a backpack. Just now Chris was seeing his long tail.

The boy the voices called ‘Rin’ came towards Chris and smiled at him. Then he plant on the sidewalk and looked down the street. Chris looked confused at the boy. He had never seen someone with a long black tail.

The boy turned around, looking at Chris. “Is something wrong?” Chris shook his head. The boy raised an eyebrow and looked away again.

Ok, this boy is weird, but before I ask myself who that guy is, I should find out, where I am. And why the hell can I read Japanese?

Unobtrusive Chris moved in the boy’s direction, until he stood right behind him.

“Excuse me?”

The boy turned surprised around and fell down on the street. Sitting in the middle of the lane he was breathing hard and looked angrily at Chris.

“How can you dare to scare the shit out of me?”

“Ehmm… I’m sorry I guess…”

“You guess?!” The boy sighed and stood up still standing on the street. “You wanted to ask me something?”

Chris hesitated for a second, before he asked his question. “Where am I?”

“What?! You don’t know where you are? What kind of freak are you?!”

“Freak? I’m not a freak!”

“Then why the hell don’t you know, where you are?”

“If I would tell you, you would definitely see me as a freak. So please just answer my question.”

“Sure, you are in my hometown Nikkou.”

“And where is it?”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “… Japan?”

“Holy shit! How did I come to Japan… Five hours ago I was in Florida!”

“Florida? You mean America?”

“Yeah, surely America… and I want to come back to my lovely home.”

“If you love your home so much, then why did you come to Japan?”

“I never did!” Chris broke on the sidewalk not knowing what to do now.

“You are really weird… Anyways, where is Mephisto… He wanted to come five minutes ago and where is Yukio?”

“Mephisto? Yukio? Who is that?”

“I don’t know why I tell you, but Yukio is my younger twin brother and Mephisto is a good friend of my dad. He wanted to pick me up here.”

“And your name is Rin, right?”

“Where do you know my name?!”

“I heard some guys saying Goodbye to you. There they also named you.”

“Oh, then you stand here a little longer, don’t you?”

Chris sighed. “Yes, I would love to tell you the whole story, but you won’t believe me anyways.”

“Try to.” Rin smiled at Chris.

“Ok, my name is Chris Kirkpatrick, I guess that explains, who I am.”

Rin raised an eyebrow. “Are you famous or something?”

Confused Chris looked at Rin. “I’m a musician. I’m working in a pop group called *NSYNC. Typical, everyone just knows Justin…”

“Never heard of *NSYNC…”

Chris looked up. “Ehmm… ok… Shortly said, I am working with four other guys in a pop group in America, but I thought we were famous in Japan too. Anyways, I was sitting with the other members in our house in Orlando and we decided to go to the beach, when a giant black whole drew us inside of it. And when I woke up again, I was here.”

Rin started laughing. “Sure, and my mom was a firebird.”

Chris sighed. “I told you, you won’t believe me.”

“Wait… you are serious?”

“Yes, I am. I really don’t know what to do. And I don’t know where I am and I don’t know where to go.”

“Maybe you can come with me.”

Chris looked confused at Rin.

“Yes, I want to become an exorcist, maybe you can join me.”

“An exorcist? Do you believe that shit?”

Suddenly Rin got sad and looked down. “Unfortunately I have some experiences with demons.”

“So they really exist?”

Rin nodded.

“Oh my God… that’s so cool!”

“Cool?” Rin raised an eyebrow again. “You are really weird.”

When Rin looked down at the street again, he saw a big pink limousine coming closer really fast. Just now he realizes he was still standing on the street. He jumped on the sidewalk, when the car retarded hardly in front of them. Rin stood up and screamed angrily: “Can’t you watch out where you are driving?!”

Immediately the car door opened and a weird looking guy came out of it. He was about 2 meters tall and looked like he was around thirty something. He had a white top hat with purple and pink stripes at the bases, blue hair, green eyes and some weird teeth just as Rin had. He also had a blue goatee just as Chris had. He wore a white suit with a pink scarf and purple gloves. In his hands he held a walking stick.

He smiled at Rin ignoring the comment before and asked: “I love this sunny weather. Isn’t this a beautiful day? It’s the perfect weather for a new beginning, isn’t it?”

“What? That’s a weird car and where are we going to drive with it?”

“To the True Cross Academy.”

“The True Cross Academy?”

“Yes, it’s the school where you, my dear Rin, are starting to study. You still want to become an exorcist, don’t you?”

“Ehmm… sure.”

“And as destiny has a finger in the pie I am the principal of the True Cross Academy.”

“What?” Rin was starring stunned at the guy, who had to be this Mephisto.

Now Mephisto recognized Chris, who was still sitting on the sidewalk. “Who is your friend?”

“Ehmm… that’s Chris. He wants to become an exorcist too.”

Confused Chris looked up at Rin. “When did I say that?”

Mephisto ignored both and bend over double down to Chris. “You aren’t from here, are you?”

Chris just shook his head. “But you aren’t a demon either… what are you?”

“A human!” Chris said angrily.

Mephisto laughed and stood up again. “I guess you are from a different universe my friend.”

“A different universe?” Rin asked confused. “I thought there are just the universes Assiah and Gehenna.”

Mephisto laughed. “No. That are just the universes we know. We just talk about Assiah and Gehenna, because this both universes are the only ones, who can be connected in normal case.”

“And why am I here now in whatever universe?” Chris stood up too looking interested at Mephisto.

“Assiah. You are in Assiah. But I tell you everything later. We shouldn’t talk about such important things in public. But you should come with us. You have to tell me, how your universe is like.”

Chris swallowed but nodded. He had no plan what he could do next to following them. That’s why Chris agreed.

“Thanks for waiting” another voice said. All three were turning around and saw a young boy coming down the street.

He had the same stature as Rin and had some similarities, but some little things were different. He had brown hair, blue eyes and wore some plain glasses. He had two nevi on the left side of his face and was smiling. He wore something like a uniform in black and carried a blue bag.

“I am happy that I don’t have to say goodbye to my brother.”

“Yukio?”

“Thank you for that, principal Faust.”

“What? Faust? I thought your name was Mephisto” Rin said confused.

Mephisto grinned. “That’s my official name. You know, as disguise.”

“I don’t get it.”

Yukio chuckled and looked then curious at Chris. “Who is that?”

“Oh that’s Chris” Mephisto answered before Chris could do. “ I tell you everything later. Let’s go to the True Cross Academy…” He turned around and put on a kind of scary and weird smile. “…where all your wishes come true.”

Chris and Rin looked speechless at Mephisto and just nodded. Yukio laughed and entered the car right after Mephisto did.

They already drove half an hour, when Mephisto started to speak again. “So Chris… tell me something about you.”

“Ehmm… what do you want to know?”

“Where are you from? Tell me everything about your life! Is it exciting?”

Chris grinned. “Yeah pretty.”

“Oh I am so nervous about it… Tell me everything!”

“Ok…” Chris cleared his throat, before he started to relate everything. “My name is Chris Kirkpatrick and I’m from Orlando Florida.”

“Isn’t that in America?” Yukio asked.

Chris nodded. “I am part of a pop group called *NSYNC. We are touring through the whole world and see many different cities all over it. It is really exciting.”

When Chris looked at Mephisto again, he could see the disappointment in his face. “That’s everything?” He sighed.

“Everything?”

“Yeah, I thought you would start to tell me something about monsters and other stuff. Something dangerous and thrilling.”

“Ehmm… no, I’m sorry. In our world doesn’t exist something like monsters.”

Mephisto rolled his eyes. “Then your universe is boring.”

Yukio raised an eyebrow. “Your universe? Principal Faust, what are you talking about?”

Mephisto smiled again. “Our dear Chris came from a different universe in our world. You should’ve seen his face, when I came out of the car. It was fabulous.”

“Are you gay or something?”

Mephisto chuckled about Chris’ comment. “Not gay, just classy.”

“Sure.” Chris started to look out of the window. “And do you know how I can come back to my universe?”

Mephisto put on a thoughtful facial expression. Then he smiled again and took a deep breath for his answer. Eager Yukio, Rin and Chris were waiting for it. “I have no idea.”

All three groaned, when they heard that answer.

Then it was quiet for some like ten minutes again. Then Rin broke the silence.

“Yukio, where were you this morning? “

“I was at our dad’s grave. Have you been there too?”

“No, see…”

“You are just incorrigible.” Yukio said with a weak smile on his face.

It took another two hours, when Mephisto stopped whistling, as he did the whole journey after the conversation with Chris. “In a few minutes we arrive the central of the college town True Cross.”

Rin and Chris were looking out of the window and saw a hill built up with houses, bridges and streets. In between them, were a few trees. It all looked like a giant castle. Just when you took a second view, you saw the outlines of the particular buildings. A train was driving through the town.

It looked impressive to Rin and Chris. Yukio seemed like he knew it already and as the principal Mephisto knew it anyways. All the more ridiculous was it that he was as impressed as the other both guys. He had to be really proud of his school.

“Welcome to the True Cross Academy” Mephisto said full of glee.

“Really cool” Rin said.

“This is the college town with the most students in whole Japan. We have all kinds of courses here. Make use of the offer and study whatever you want to.”

The limousine drove into the city and stopped in front of a big building, where many students were standing.

“Now it’s time to put on your uniforms.” Mephisto told Chris and Rin.

“Couldn’t you tell us, before we arrived?” Rin asked annoyed. Mephisto ignored the comment and let Chris and Rin change their outfits.

The uniform consisted of a white shirt, a striped tie in black and red and a black suit.

Amused Mephisto looked at both guys. “Have fun at your first day at the True Cross Academy.”

Yukio, Rin and Chris left the car and watched Mephisto driving away. Without even waiting for the guys Yukio went towards the building. When Rin recognized that Yukio was about to go, he ran after him and shouted: “Wait for me.” Chris ran right behind Rin.

What am I doing here? I wanted to go home and now I am a student in a weird world, where demons and ghosts are existing? On the other hand I really don’t know where to go. Let’s see what this is about.