Chereads / A Dance With Demons: When the Madness Consumes / Chapter 8 - "Are You Messing With Me?!" Part 2: Ryosei

Chapter 8 - "Are You Messing With Me?!" Part 2: Ryosei

Ryosei woke up with a headache- a clear indicator that he'd bawled his eyes out like a baby. He sighed, trying to get up for the day only to realize he was flipped upside down, his back resting on the back board of the queen sized bed, his body turned outward with his legs dangling out in front of him. That explained the crick in his neck, the sore shoulders, the asleep arms, the pins and needles situation, the-

"EEIIIIIKAAAAAA!!!! WHAT, THE ABSOLUTE, FRICK, YOU PIECE OF CRAP, WHY?!"

The only thing that greeted Ryosei's anger that morning was Eika's pissed off, sleepy face as she broke the door down. Her hair was a mess, with loops and tangles present, her two dual colored eyes at attention with dark circles as she glared at him profusely, her expression darn right murderous.

Clearly, she was NOT a morning person, let alone a 6:00 a.m. 'wake-up-for-the-day-happy' type of person. Ryosei began regretting his life choices as he knew he was about to die from a demon, a Royal High variety that liked pretty things and switched emotions so fast he was scared of getting whiplash. She opened her mouth to start to speak, and Ryosei flinched as he anticipated his impending doom.

"F^

She gave a sweet cherubs smile, the kind that's pretty to look at but terrifying to observe objectively due to the fact it didn't reach her eyes in the slightest. In comparison, they were colder than the concept of Absolute Zero, causing a dichotomy that told Ryosei clearly, 'pretty eyes or not, if you say anything more you'll be pushing daises.'

He immediately looked down in submission as she relaxed.

He sighed in relief when the smile turned back into her usual, thankful he got to live yet another day. Though what she did next made him wish he was dead. She took out a phone from thin air, staring at him with a mischievous grin that could only, in a fit irony, be called devilish instead of demonic. Ryosei's eyes widened at the threat she presented in front of him, something he feared more than death.

Humiliation.

He was willing to grovel and beg in the face of humiliation, something his usual, prideful self would never condone in the slightest. He opened his mouth to do that shameful act right now when she grinned wider, snapping a picture and bolting away with laughter at him. He started yelling her name and profanities, terror of death forgotten as with burning cheeks he was subjected to humiliation.

##^##

He cleaned and tidied himself, putting on some modest clothes he had spied in the closet that would be appropriate in school, combing his hair which needed a haircut, brushed his teeth as he then realized he had fangs which led to another existential crisis, and then walked downstairs, attempting to have pride.

He failed.

The minute he walked into what he assumed to be the dining room which he discovered after 10 minutes of walking through the 'house'(he was 500% sure it was a mansion at this point), he saw two framed pictures of when he first transformed and was curled up like a child and drooling, and the other of this morning where he was comically(and uncomfortably) turned upside down with an expression of panic.

He collapsed on the ground, shaking with a dark cloud of gloom hang over him as he spied Eika's triumphant expression in demeaning him. He didn't want to hear any of her crooning over him, but thankfully, she spared him that small mercy. He got up with as much dignity as a broken man could have, sitting down on the ornate, yet simple soft gray dining chair before he spied the meal in front of him.

For breakfast it was... an arm.

The white walls and the massive room seemed far too small for him to breath in suddenly, the black, ovular dining table spanning the room colossal and threatening. The red carpet beneath suddenly seemed like a river of blood under him, reminding him of the red blood on the checkered floor of the library. It only served to highlight the large, porcelain white plate and the silver utensils on the dark gray dining mat.

It was then he heard a soft crunching noise.

He slowly turned his head with a disturbed bead of sweat and expression on his face, turning to Eika. What he saw horrified him to no end. She was casually munching on a finger from her own breakfast, scrolling through her phone as if it was no big deal. It likely wasn't for her, but with Ryosei's still human-like mindset, it was incredibly disturbing for him to witness.

Sure, he'd eaten a corpse just yesterday, but even then, it's not like his mindset would change in just a day even if it had been somewhat accelerated by Eika's interference.

"What species?"

Eika stopped munching on the finger, sparing a glance at him before returning to her meal eating and scrolling. Silence hung in the air as Ryosei wasn't certain as to what do. Should he eat it? It smelled like the meal yesterday, so maybe it was of supernatural origin? But knowing of Eika's forwardness in removing his humanity, it could be a trick to eat human...

It was broken by Eika's soft voice sounded before the feasting resumed.

"It's a secret. Though I will tell you this; I seldom eat of humans despite the benefits they offer me, though I do dabble in it on occasion. Special ones of course, or when the situation is in need of it. Now, eat."

She accentuated her point by biting into the bone, causing a snapping sound that Ryosei flinched at. 'That.... that's gonna haunt me...' he though with an expression somewhat akin to being severely constipated and dead inside at the same time: Miserable.

With a shaking hand he reached for the food, cutting off the finger of the hand with a knife. It was cooked, and smelled delicious, a fact that nauseated him to no end. The worst thing about the situation was that he didn't know if it was human, as her reply was somewhat ambiguous.

His voice cracked and felt drier than a desert as he asked desperate, human question. "Um... is there perhaps... some human food or something like that so I can adjust-"

"Tokyo Ghoul."

Ryosei's eyebrow began to twitch at the interruption, a somewhat comical expression of dread on his face. "...Are you messing with me?!"

She looked up again, her gaze immediately catching and ensnaring his eyes.

She quirked her eyebrow as she responded, "No. Well... kind of- but that's not the point. I said Tokyo Ghoul because it's a somewhat excellent guide for Demons- especially in the case of an unwilling newbie like you- however to cut to the chase, you can't eat human food. Well... you technically can, however it cannot curb any hunger, nor is it sustainable or nutritious for you. It's like gum and humans. You can chew gum all day long, and it tastes great, however it doesn't sate your appetites in the slightest."

She put down her 'breakfast' arm, her expression serious and grave. He had the feeling he'd be seeing the scrunching of her brow, the furrow of her eyebrows, the slight pout of her bottom lip and the intensity of her visible dual colored gaze more and more.

"Ryosei, you need to get it into your thick skull: You, you are NOT human. This, this is NATURAL now, normal even. This is something you MUST get used to. It isn't a class you can skip, nor a test you can make up later. I already gave you a second chance on life, and I will try to protect and cultivate you to the very best of my abilities, however I CANNOT always be there to save you, nor will I always be there in your hour of need to coach, inspire, or even save you. Get used to it, and accept it now, or else you WILL die a second time. You WILL be a hunter, a killer, a murderer. You WILL be a monster to others, an anomaly and possible a freak. You WILL suffer, but in getting a head start now, you will have a better chance of survival."

Ryosei stared at her a bit before doing something rather peculiar. He punched himself in the jaw, making Eika sweat drop a little. He took a deep breath in, psyching himself up before turning to the food again and beginning to eat. In a matter of minutes it was all gone, the hunger having gotten him a little bit and prompting him to eat the arm faster.

Eika nodded at him, satisfied before remembering something she needed to tell him. Just as he started to drink of some morning coffee she had prepared, she dropped the bombshell, "By the way, I'm going to your college now. Just a heads up."

He spewed the coffee in shock, choking in the process as some had gone down the wrong pipe. He began coughing and sputtering while trying to make coherent words that didn't sound like an old man with one foot in the grave and the other on a bar of wet soap trying to give sage advice to someone as he was being hemorrhaged by a cat (don't question it).

It was in this state of confusion and stress that Eika left him, casually walking in contemplation while wondering and muttering out loud as to what she would wear, ignoring Ryosei's questionable mental and physical state as he reached to her like a dying man whose cat hemorrhaging had failed.

She didn't, and he collapsed on the floor again, despairing.