A tall, masked figure of pure white individual stared down at the young demoness and her charge as she helped the half-asleep, half-awake boy stumble back to her—or perhaps rather their—home.
The blank surface of the mask that covered its face did not reveal anything in regards to the white figure's emotions, but a sense of tension could be seen in its stance, the wind that was present tugging at its white trench coat and revealing the body of a tall, thin, yet extremely muscular man donning a white formal suit jacket, tie, waistcoat, dress shirt and slacks.
Even his leather dress shoes were a pure and pristine white, an odd observation considering the rooftop he was standing on was likely highly unsanitary, must to his masked chagrin. The man also had white hair and skin that was so pale, it put even Eika's to shame, with the skin of his body peeking out only from his pure white gloves at his wrists and at his neck, as well as his peculiarly pointed ears that weren't unlike Eika's.
The white haired man who continued to gaze after Eika and Ryosei took out a pocket watch from his white patterned waistcoats coat pocket. Surprisingly, the pocket watch wasn't also white, with it instead being a platinum-like metal; intricate designs that depicted gears of all shapes and sizes adorned the metal covering of the watch, the inward clock peeking out through the lid's design.
Clicking the button at the top of the pocket watch, the clock was fully revealed, but it was strange—the outside of the watch was so pristine and clean, that it seemed either brand new or hardly used, but the inside part, where the clock itself was, was marred by a large crack across the glass covering of the clock.
Thankfully for the man, the clock continued to tick fine, its movement unhindered as it hurried along with the passage of time. The masked man in all white—or perhaps just simply describing him as being the embodiment of white itself was more accurate—looked back at the struggling pair of demons, his hidden eyes keenly noting the smile on Eika's face that she attempted to smother by yelling at her semiconscious charge.
A strange relief seemed to come from the man, his tense shoulders loosening just a tad as he gazed at the pair that defied fate. It had worked, the interference of destiny had worked; the impossible partnership that was staggering and gaining ground against fate was proof of that.
The hidden gaze of the man lingered on Eika's laughing face, a hint of melancholy surrounding him as if he knew something that even the World, Satan, and Eika didn't know; as if he knew something only Father in Heaven knew.
Something only fate and the far stretching past knew.
The man turned his attention back to the wreck of the city that Eika's play fight with Ryosei had left behind, a sigh bursting from his lips, accompanied with a nigh-inaudible murmur.
"Same as always... "
After scanning for any people who could see what he was about to do and for people who could possibly warp the time stream even further by seeing him, the man disappeared from the buildings rooftop. The incredible thing about the situation was that nobody noticed the beacon of white on top of the Empire Stake Building, least of all Eika who was thrown away in that direction by Ryosei.
Perhaps even more incredible was the mans eyesight in being able to witness the battle, as well as his ability in simultaneously using the World's influence to hide the play fight from the humans.
Perhaps the fact that he considered the fight which Ryosei had felt to be to the death was merely a play fight for Eika, was actually the most ridiculous thing about this situation, as he had no discernable connection with the willful and young demoness.
The fact that he considered a 1000+ year old demoness to be young was also equally insane.
But maybe the most ludicrous thing about this entire situation, was while his oddness was being extoled in excruciating detail, the damage to the entire city had been reversed, and the people who had been frozen by Ryosei were walking around like they didn't have hypothermia.
In fact, the market place looked the exact same as it had before, with the people who were affected walking around the same as before, as if it had all been an illusion.
And the man, the mysterious, masked man who was clothed in all white, was gone like a dream.
All that was left behind, was the incessant ticking of a clock whose time was running out.
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When Ryosei had come to properly, it was night time, and he was laying down in a place that he'd never seen before.
'I got kidnapped, didn't I.'
To be fair, Ryosei had never been in this room in the house and was conditioned by Eika to always be hyper aware of his surroundings, so him thinking that he'd been kidnapped by someone unknown wasn't too much of a stretch—the trees that surrounded him also weren't particularly helpful in convincing him otherwise.
Plus, it was also snowing and cold, with a large, blue moon hanging in the starry night sky, so the idea that this place was, in fact, a room in Eika's house would understandably not cross his mind.
As he stared up at the desolate night sky that the skeletal limbs of the surrounding white trees tore into, an odd nostalgia overcame him; he'd been here before, he was sure of it, but he just couldn't seem to recall when.
Was he back in Japan?
Questions raced through his head as he tried to to sit up, only to find that a bone deep sense of exhaustion lay nestled within his body, a heaviness pressing down on him as he contemplating panicking.
He was in a nostalgic and unknown place with no one in sight, and he couldn't move his body—yeah, the situation wasn't looking all that bright for the poor guy.
"So sleeping beauty has finally awakened; that's good, I was worried my frankly incredible speech in concerning your idiocy wasn't convincing enough to rouse you from your rest. Good to see that my charm is still prevelant."
Ryosei's now ice blue eyes swerved to where the familiarly arrogant and teasing voice came from, his neck too sore to move his head properly.
Coming out of a door shaped hole in the treeline was a short woman with chin length, bone white hair and a glittering red eye that was visible, the other one hidden by her hair; two short black horns peeked out from her shiny white locks, a smirk on her pretty face.
For a second, he didn't recognize her, the image of the woman in his dream stubbornly staying in his mind as he blankly stared at her.
She was pretty, but compared to that woman...
The woman's smile faded, her pretty face twisting into a curious expression as she muttered to herself, "Ryosei? That's odd, I made sure not to mess with your mind anymore than I had to, so memory loss shouldn't be prevelant..."
A look of realization crossed her face as she gave an adorably crooked smile and laughed an amused laugh.
"Ooooh, I see—you saw what my real body was like when you saw my soul, didn't you? No wonder you're confused, hah! See, I told you that my real body was more beautiful than the one Ruri made for me, and you didn't believe me, hahaha!"
Ryosei blinked, the image finally clicking as he blinked and murmured, "Eika... right, you're Eika... sorry, I just..."
Eika just laughed, a charming crooked smile on her face that reminded him of the smile in his dream—the smile of that too perfect woman that left him feeling starstruck and uncomfortable.
Ryosei swiveled his eyes back to the sky in an attempt to quell the embarrassed heat that overtook his face and neck, his icy eyes fixed at the spotted and speckled, glowing curtain of darkness above.
"Where are we? I feel like I've been here before, though I don't know when or where..."
Eika skipped to where he was, her bare feet sinking into the cold snow in an unbothered fashion before she plopped down beside him, her feet out in front of her, her expression amused.
"Of course you've seen this place; you're making it as we speak, and the house is just projecting it for you."
"... huh?"
Eika laughed at Ryosei's incredulous and uncomprehending face before calming down to explain, "We're in the Room of Reflection. It's based off of the Room of Solace that I visited when I was back in Hell's Palace, after I was finally done pushing paperwork."
She seemed to wrinkle her nose at the thought if paperwork, her tone belying her hatred for it.
"Of course, I'm still not as good as my father is at making a room that reflects and rejuvenates the soul, so I can't exactly call it the Room of Solace, cause then dad would get on my case for false advertisement, y'know?"
She stretched, her back arching with her raised arms before she joined laying down onto the cold snow with Ryosei, her expression content.
"Don't worry; soon I'll be able to strengthen the rejuvenation aspect of it all, and then you'll be able to experience what a real Room of Solace is like, okay?"
Ryosei's eyes turned to look at her again, this time his neck following the movement as some of the soreness had left enough for him to move for a bit.
He wasn't certain how to feel about this situation, especially when right now more than anytime he was extremely vulnerable.
Of course, he understood that in the face of Eika's power and experience even when she was basically debuffed to the extreme, technically he was always vulnerable. It was an unsettling thought that he disliked pondering about for long periods of time, but he was nonetheless thinking about it.
It continued to push into the forefront of his mind, making him feel unsettled to the point that he asked a very out if place question to attempt to alleviate that anxiety that dwelled within his mind.
"Why me?"
Eika, who had been talking in an animated fashion in concerning how she was able to create this room despite spending limited time in the original halted.
He knew that she knew what he meant; he'd been living with her for four months now, and while that was hardly enough to know everything about her when considering their somewhat opposite personalities, he still knew that she wasn't vain nor reckless enough to kill a human who'd been passing by just because of an attractive body feature.
So the question was why; why did she kill him?
With her ability to manipulate the mind, she could've probably been able to erase his mind of the hunting incident, and considering her skill with weapons with how she'd carved up the demons and devils in the alley with a nodachi of all things, there was no way she'd accidently kill a human; her pride would've allow such a mistake.
And lastly, he'd been human. He had been a human, and she was fuxxing demon—why on earth would she do something like offer to turn him when she could've instead had a rare snack?
It was no secret that she enjoyed the taste if human—so why not just eat him when she clearly couldn't be bothered to erase his memory or even "raise" him?
"... What are you talking about—"
"Why me? Eika, you can literally manipulate peoples minds—erasing a witnesses memory is child's play for you. I mean, that's the reason as to why the police haven't locked you up for murder and cannibalism, right? Not only that, but you're proficient enough with weapons to easily kill other supernaturals in an enclosed area, so there's no reason as to mess up and fatally injure one human. So why, Eika; why did you turn me when you could've just had a snack?"
Eika stared up at the stars, her expression a perfect pokerface, an unreadable but undeniably false small smile on her lips, her gaze opaque.
Agitation grew within Ryosei, his questions more imploring and desperate as he repeated the question again.
"Why me? I was just an ordinary guy, so why the fuxx was I of all people offered to be turned, by a demon with a high enough rank to enter Hell's palace, and do fuxxing administrative work and to enter such a unique room that few seem to have access to?"
Eika twitched, somewhat annoyed and impressed that he was able to glean the information that she was an official with a few passing comments on her part. Of course, she wasn't really trying to hide it, but still, it nice to see that he listened intently to her, but also annoying, because she didn't want to reveal why she had chosen to turn him that night.
So, she settled for a half-answer that would alleviate some of the tension that she sensed within him due to the turning bond.
"Your potential."
Ryosei fell silent at her words, his head turning to face hers as she did the same, her red eye intense, and her once again hidden "purple" eyes swiveling to stare at his regrettably ice blue eyes; she missed his pretty ocean eyes, but his ice blue eyes did still look pretty in her eyes.
A crafty smile spread across her face as she repeated, "Your potential; I noticed it, and I need it for something personal in the future. That's why I changed you, pretty boy."
She held his desperate gaze a little longer before she broke the intrusive contact, looking forward yet again before springing to her feet by pushing herself back to her feet via her arms.
"Well," she remarked, a wide, carefully enthusiastic smile on her face as she spun on her heels to face the distraught demon boy, "that was depressing! Anyhow, I'll leave you to rest now, so see ya! Training continues tomorrow as well as college, so get well soon~"
Ryosei sighed, his expression annoyed as he muttered, "Gee, thanks for giving me so much time to recover. I sure hope that tomorrow I'll feel okay... that way I can get back to my personal Hell..."
Eika just laughed at his enthusiasm before singing a, "Get well soon you big baby~" and marching out of the door shaped hole in the forest.
Ryosei sighed again, his expression serious. She was so cagey...
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Eika stopped outside of the closed door, her expression haunted, and a small, sad smile on her face. Her eyes were empty, and her hearts ached as she rested her head against the door before slowly sliding down it and curling up in a ball—a coping mechanism she'd displayed since childhood when she'd been locked up in the dark cell, huddling in the corner as she attempted to make her small existence even smaller, in the hopes that she would'nt get hurt anymore by that damned mans hands.
"I'm sorry, Ryosei."
Her expression was that of a dead woman walking; she had long since already given up on life.
"I need you for my permanent death. So please, please, for the sake of my death—rest well, and when you're strong enough, please—destroy me."