Retired S-rank father becomes a teacher

The birds were quiet, perched on tree branches in the backyard of the old man’s mansion. The sun was just starting its rise but clouds already covered the light and cast a shadow on the property.

On the steps, sitting there, was Silas Vane. His violet eyes stared at the wet grass, unmoving. The air was heavy with moisture. It smelled of dirt and something else. Usually when he sat here, he would smell tobacco, and the smoke would hit him in the face, constantly, making him scrunch his nose.

Now nothing.

A bird landed in the middle of the backyard, pecking at the ground to find a worm. Shortly after it scurried away, the sounds of rotor blades in the distance getting closer. A helicopter with a red cross on it landed. Its sliding door opened and four people came out. First the S-rank healer, Ursula, then her assistant with a gurney.

Lucifer and Isaac stepped out last. Their black suits were neat and proper, the gold trim on the jackets bright. No dirt. Their eyes on him.

A sour taste in his mouth formed. His mana flared up, distorting space around the backyard and purple lightning flickered.

“Lucifer if Isaac takes one more step. You two die,” he said. His eyes were cold.

They stopped moving. Lucifer held her hand up to stop Isaac, the bald man glared at Silas.

Her white hair swayed with the wind.

“Go for a walk Isaac. I’ll call you if I need you,” Lucifer instructed.

With a reluctant nod, the Hand walked away. Ursula and her assistant continued with their mission, carrying the gurney with them up the steps into the mansion, passing by Silas who was still sitting on the bluestone steps.

Stepping closer, Lucifer stopped in front of him, her red eyes sharp. Her black oxford's were muddy at the welt.

Silas couldn’t take Lucifer’s bullshit right now. If she accused him of harming Berlin he would kill her right here and deal with the consequences later.

“My condolences,” she said. Her voice was neutral.

He glanced at her, waiting for the rest of her speech.

She continued, her eyes focused, on the door the two medics just went through, on the brown leather sofa in the living room.

“Once the autopsy is finished, the body will be released to the next of kin.”

The body.

His chest ached. It hurt to hear his best friend being called a body like he was an object. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His fists on his knees clenched tighter.

“Next of kin? Berlin had none.” His voice was quiet.

Lucifer shook her head. A small smile appeared on her lips.

“You.” She declared. Her tone as monotonous as always.

Feeling his muscle stiffened, he held his breath.

“He requested that I notarize his will a month ago. As such you inherit everything he left behind,” she said.

The soreness in his throat returned.

She crouched down to his sitting height and their eyes were on the same level. Violet against ruby. The sun was behind her, finally coming out from behind a cloud.

Her golden earrings swayed.

“It seems birds of a feather flock together even corrupt ones,” she said.

With those words she got up and climbed the steps, going passed him.

Silas stopped her with his mana. Air turned into a wall as she hit face first against it. Lucifer put her hand on her nose to see if it was bleeding before turning to face him.

“Why do you want to enter his house?” He asked and stood up too. Even from a lower step, his height was a difference of almost a foot, as he looked down on her with narrowed eyes.

Lucifer took out a black handkerchief and rubbed away the drop of blood.

“Berlin had made a decision on his replacement. Since he no longer has the capacity to deliver the file, I am retrieving it from his device. Official Hunter Association business,” she said bluntly.

It pissed him off but he followed her in, making sure she didn’t go anywhere she wasn’t supposed to. Like his bedroom. Berlin’s study was on the first floor, next to the living room, close to the stairs. It smelled just like the bedroom: smokey, the wooden desk in front of the window was messy with papers. A computer screen turned off.

She went to it and tapped the power button. It didn’t turn on.

Silas watched her put a flash drive in the computer and it finally booted up. His gaze drifted to the books next to the desk, on the floor.

Russian dictionaries.

A pang went through his heart and he walked over to the pile of books, picking them up. He wiped the dust away. The sound of keyboard clicking was heard but he didn’t care.

He flipped through the pages and found notes, small sentences and scribbles in the margins. Explanations. It was a mess. Like Berlin’s notes had always been.

The words didn’t make sense to him right now. Nothing did. All he saw was the handwriting and remembered all the times the old man would scribble in his hunter file—stupid things like his lack of respect for an old disbanded band, teleporting his cigarette to the moon. There were a lot of shit and fucks scribbled in his file too.

A beep came from the computer. Lucifer took her flash drive out and put it in the pocket of her suit.

“Russian dictionaries?” she asked. Her eyes focused on the book in his hand.

Silas didn’t answer instead he turned towards the door. The place didn’t feel right. It was too quiet and too cold.

Lucifer followed him out silently. From the stairs Ursula came down with her assistant and the gurney with a sheet. The white sheet was covering the entire gurney.

He stopped. He couldn’t walk past that—the lump that was there.

The gurney was rolled out, passing by them, behind the sofa, to the backyard.

Ursula nodded at him. He didn’t nod back. His eyes were focused on the lump like a magnet.

Finally he turned. Noticing Lucifer’s gaze on the picture frame on the staircase wall, Silas followed it and looked too. His younger self smiled back at him. Matilda looked happy like her usual self. Berlin looked...

His hand tightened into a fist.

“It’s a beautiful picture,” she commented, “It’s a shame two turned out to be rotten.”

She turned on her heel and began to walk away.

“You’re naive,” he said to her back.

Her steps lost just a bit of momentum before she continued and exited the mansion, entering the helicopter, sliding the door shut behind her with a thump.

Silas turned back to the picture. Unhooking the frame, carefully placing it under his arm, he walked outside too.

Lucifer’s helicopter took off.

The grass under it was blown in every direction. The clouds still hugging the sun and the scent of petrichor in his nose.

One. Two. His heartbeat increased with each step as he walked to the gate, opening it and closing before going home, his right foot in front of his left.