Teaser: Eika thinking up water torture methods during a math lesson, while Ryosei shivers, a feeling of foreboding coming over him.
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The world was ending, of that there could be no doubt.
However, it did not end with a bang.
No hellfire scorched the Earth, no great tide overcame the land, no perilous drought sucked the life out of all; no lightning rained from the heavens, nor was there a mighty quaking of the land; it was not plague, or pestilence, neither was it the collapse of modern society or an invasion of other races.
No.
The world collapsed quietly, on the insignificant, individual level; it shattered when Eika said those four, heartless words over a breakfast of organs and limbs.
"I have to leave."
Ryosei stopped nibbling on his breakfast (a kidney... probably?), freezing in his seat before he dropped it onto his plate, his hands trembling and his blue eyes wide.
Three months. It had been three months since he'd died and been reborn, since he gave up humanity to become a demon; one month since he finally got used to the torture, since he had started to grow dependent on Eika as his only company; a week since he finally made amends with his existence and his somewhat(?) twisted mentor.
A day since he'd finally become completely comfortable with her.
And now, she was leaving?
His sense of comfort was just thrown out the window.
"Wait... what?"
His reply was tremulous, shocked—perhaps even scarred. Eika wasn't the best company by a long shot—c'mon, she woke him up by setting him on fire every morning—but she was the only real supernatural and constant company he had; he relied on that crucial fact.
Now, the reader of this tale may be exceptionally confused as to why Ryosei is panicking so much when he was last seen being displeased with Eika. However, three months is an exceptionally long time, and between humans and demons, both are relatively social creatures, aside from a few exceptions of course.
The only close, trustworthy companion that he has in this new and dangerous world, is Eika; sure, he knows Rurielles and Lorleilorn, and he has a human best friend in Ray and a younger sibling—but the two supernaturals are acquaintances, he doesn't know how to get to them, and he can hardly expect or ask Ray to assist him in training or protection.
Eika, is his beacon, his pillar, his... guardian. She is responsible for him, and genuinely cares about him despite her clear difficulty in expressing regular emotions. She is his provider, his mentor, and most of all, at this point he considered her to be his friend.
He is still a newborn—a demon in his infancy, and with Eika acting as his guardian, he has grown heavily reliant on the protection she offers. Sure, she does set him aflame and even force him through torturous, grueling training—but she does not allow any real harm to come to him. Whether supernatural or otherwise, she protects him, an ever steadfast shield that is always there.
Protection, a home, clothes, food, water, tutoring, teaching, emotional investment, conversation, smiles, training, but most importantly of all—companionship; Eika has provided all of these for Ryosei during these long, long months, and he had grown accustomed to her steadfast, reliable presence and the safety net she cast around him.
But now she—his pillar, his protection, his safety net—was leaving.
And the world was ending.
Right when he had reached hysteria levels of anxiety and fear, she answered his query.
"Yes, I'm leaving but not permanently, no—you'd die without me around, and even I'm not curious enough as to desire to see your cold dead corpse again. Besides, I have some business to attend to in my absence; reports to write, politicians to pacify, and a rare stress free, night of sleep where I don't have to worry about my body collapsing into a billion pieces of nothingness.
"Besides, my body needs a little tune-up so the aforementioned collapsing doesn't happen, so I'll be leaving it in shop with Ruri, okay? Don't worry, I'll be back soon—who else will torment you while setting you on fire properly?"
Hearing this, Ryosei instinctively reacted to her statement sarcastically, his panic and fear subdued knowing that she would still come back.
"Really now, what a shame—I guess I'll have to warm my soul by other means without your wonderful flames."
She just laughed, a fake smile on her face as she snarked, "You think you're sooo funny—"
"I am funny—my humor is simply better than yours, to the the point that you're left floundering—ow! See, aggression, because you can't handle it."
She kicked him in the thigh, but when she heard the end of his sentence, she gave huff, a disgruntled look on her face as she snapped, "C'mon, aren't you gonna miss me at least a li~ttle bit? At this point I thought we were okay, maybe even buddies or some sh!t like that..."
Ryosei blinked at that, his blue eyes showing his surprise clearly at her bluntness; even now, he still wasn't used to her habit of conveying her feelings and emotions so... abruptly. He would call it charming even, but she had a surprisingly dirty mouth in spite of her relatively saint-like appearance.
"Ryosei? Love, what's wrong? Your system lagging or something?"
Then there was that.
Her habit of putting endearments that could be misconstrued in social situations—a habit that had gotten him in trouble at school several times as people mistook them as a couple or all things, as ridiculous at that sounds.
"I see... tough question, huh? Yeah, makes sense; I'm too unique for most people anyway, heh~"
And she was surprisingly self-deprecating at times, with a concerning habit of laughing off any sense of pain or harm, whether, physical, emotional, or mental, she always smiled it off. Sometimes... it worried him.
Seeing how she had already activated her coping mechanism, he knew he had to say something quick, but what? What...?
"You enjoy my presence enough to find me as a friend? I find that rather surprising... since all you do is purposefully annoy me and you don't seem to care much about what I seem to think..."
Her bright red eye widened, a smile frozen on her face while Ryosei began panicking a bit, realizing he made the situation worse. This is why he didn't have a lot of friends; he was shockingly terrible in social situations that aren't business oriented...
It was then, she did the unexpected.
She smiled a soft, gentle smile, the curve of it looking absolutely angelic before she replied, "Like you? Yeah I like you—in fact, I DO enjoy your company, especially when I provoke a funny reaction from you, hehe~"
He stilled, shocked at her expression.
It was a rare thing, seeing a true smile from her; usually, she had a very calm, almost poker-like smile on her pretty face, with it only shifting minutely to showcase amusement and at time traces of sadism.
But a real smile, the type that lights up her entire face and makes you believe that God really does exist to have made an angel?
Once in a blue moon, and here he was, being blessed with it.
Ryosei was awkward by nature despite being highly empathetic; he found it difficult to react to emotional stimuli, and when he did, it seemed to typically be the wrong response from him at the moment. When faced with his own emotions, he had an even harder time when dealing with them.
So when he sensed his hearts inadvertently skip a beat, he diverted his and the situations attention.
He sighed, a rueful smile on his lips as he lamented, "So I'm just a clown to you, huh?"
He had to hide his smile when he saw the panic in her eye, finding it amusing that he was finally able to tease her properly and get back at her for teasing him so often. Her response made him smile a smile he couldn't hide though.
"No, I just... I like you, okay? You're fun..."
He laughed, a rare, broad smile on his face as he replied, "I like you too Eika; you're pretty cool—arson and kidnapping and torture and sadism aside of course."
"You're never letting that go, are you?"
"Nope~! Never."
"Haaah, no fuuuun~"
"But you just said I was—"
"Yeah, but right now you're not being fun at all!"
"So fun is subjective? That's not fair—"
"Pffft, is it fair that you constantly bring that up?"
"Yes actually, I'm justified—"
"Oh, whatever, eat your breakfast you dimwit!"
Silence descended on the table as the two demons ate. In a break in her munching on an arm, Ryosei spoke up.
"I'm... I'm gonna miss you Eika. A little bit, of course, since I hate being set on fire but... I'll miss you. You're pretty fun, never a dull moment with you..."
Eika looked up, a shocked look on her face as she didn't expect him to really miss her; she knew how insufferable her personality tended to be. In seeing how he avoided eye contact and looked a little shy, she had to smile; he was cute...
"I'll miss you too, Ryosei. Of course, only a little bit—your whining's annoying but you can be cool otherwise~"
This comment led to a whole round of friendly banter between the Mentor and Protégée, a smile never leaving their lips as they went their separate ways.
It was so friendly, that you would've never guessed that as soon as she left, everything went straight onto an express ticket to Hell from then on.