[He hesitates there for a second, not sure if he should tell Kid the real reason or not.]
...You're right, I'm not much of a religious person. It's fortunate that the Order is willing to be lax about that, if an exorcist is talented.
[Except that doesn't answer the question, does it?
After a long pause, Shiro finally gives an abridged version of what happened.]
Just before I started high school, my father was killed by a demon. It tried to kill me too, but I got away with only an injured arm. But this demon, it was a nasty one. It chased me for over a month, trying at every turn to kill me.
In my world, only humans who have been injured by demons can see demons. So when I tried to tell people about it, they thought I was going crazy. Hell, I thought I was going crazy for a while. It scared off pretty much anyone I could have counted on to help me, and by the end of that month I was left alone with nothing to protect myself. But eventually an exorcist came and killed the demon.
I had no family, no friends, and no prospects for my future. Who was going to help a kid with a record of 'psychotic episodes' and 'destructive behavior'? So I begged that exorcist to take me with him, to teach me how to do what he did, so I would never be so helpless again. The actual religious part was more of an afterthought.
[Damn. Thirty-five years later, and it still brings up bad memories and horrible feelings within him. He's really itching for a cigarette, and he has to fight to keep the urge down.]
no subject
...You're right, I'm not much of a religious person. It's fortunate that the Order is willing to be lax about that, if an exorcist is talented.
[Except that doesn't answer the question, does it?
After a long pause, Shiro finally gives an abridged version of what happened.]
Just before I started high school, my father was killed by a demon. It tried to kill me too, but I got away with only an injured arm. But this demon, it was a nasty one. It chased me for over a month, trying at every turn to kill me.
In my world, only humans who have been injured by demons can see demons. So when I tried to tell people about it, they thought I was going crazy. Hell, I thought I was going crazy for a while. It scared off pretty much anyone I could have counted on to help me, and by the end of that month I was left alone with nothing to protect myself. But eventually an exorcist came and killed the demon.
I had no family, no friends, and no prospects for my future. Who was going to help a kid with a record of 'psychotic episodes' and 'destructive behavior'? So I begged that exorcist to take me with him, to teach me how to do what he did, so I would never be so helpless again. The actual religious part was more of an afterthought.
[Damn. Thirty-five years later, and it still brings up bad memories and horrible feelings within him. He's really itching for a cigarette, and he has to fight to keep the urge down.]