A Demon's Fate

Chapter 7: Politics...

She sounded tired. But what does she mean by 'woke up'?

"That fight took a lot out of both of us," the demon said suddenly, as if answering my question. "I just thought that your nearly getting yourself killed would be quite taxing."

"W-what do you know! You just swooped in and hijack--" My body fell limp on the floor as I was finishing my sentence. I no longer had control over it.

"Be quiet!" I heard in my head, "You sound like a crazy person!"

"What am I supposed to do?!" I though-shouted back at her.

"I'm in your head! We share the same mind."

"Right..." I guess Soma told me about sharing a body with a demon. Even so, my first conversation with mine wasn't going too well.

Kiryuin mentally sighed. "Look, I'm as clueless about Thralls as you. Until now, I've been fine on my own."

I stayed quiet as my body picked itself up from the floor. I felt myself change slightly as I stood, and soon noticed the longer red hair falling around my shoulders, free of its usual ponytail. "What's happening?" I asked warily.

"I'm stronger than you. I can possess you whenever I need to." She pulled the hair closer to examine it. "I have no idea what's with the hair though... As far as I know, it isn't anything useful to us."

Slowly, we walked into my room and took a seat on the bed. "Why me?" I asked after the silence.

"Every now and then, a pair of souls come along that are perfect for each other. We call it having a high resonance factor. I'd only heard about a perfect storm like that in stories... Akuretsu, the demon king, is afraid of that. Even so... Have you ever heard of the Blue Flame?" My silence, I figured was a good enough answer. "Fine. It's a paramilitary demon organization working against the current king of hell."

"Yeah, but I have a question. Why are you trying to overthrow the king of hell?"

"Let's just say we don't... Agree with what he's done with the place..."

"Oh. So I guess that means the stories..."

"...Are true, yes," she finished for me. "It really lives up to it's name now..."

Wow. I began thinking about what it was like, what it must be like for a demon, living in hell.

All along the way, Kiryuin tried to explain things to me. I mostly asked questions about this war we were now a part of.

Kiryuin in turn continued to question my ceaseless curiosity, but I simply told her I was just curious. I think in her eyes, it looked like I wanted to fight. The truth was though, that I was more scared than anything.

We were talking about the very people who tried to kill me. And would certainly try again.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it if you aren't on board. Even if I dragged you along by force."

"Well... I don't know what I'll do right now," I replied at length. With these things coming after me, I needed to keep my options open.

"Miyouko!" a voice called from downstairs. "Today is Friday, we have to get going soon."

Crap! I'd forgotten I'd stayed out all night!

"Uh, coming!" Kiryuin answered for me before letting my body collapse. The hair receded and returned to its original color and I once again had control of my body.

Scrambling, I packed my things and fixed my hair, sprinting downstairs. I barely managed to catch up to Soma as he reached the end of the driveway. "W-wait!" I shouted.

He turned around and just smiled at me. That little soft smile he had. To me, it was like... the kind of smile you get when you eat a delicious pancake. With strawberries.

Maybe I was a delicious pancake. Kiryuin mentally smacked me over the head, sending a very much real jolt of pain through my head. Against my will, I blushed and hoped Soma didn't see.

When we arrived at school, there was a huge crowd of people standing out front, trying to get a look at something going on. Curious as well, I tried to get in, to no avail.

The noise of the crowd drowned out anything coming from the center of the mob, but I managed to overhear a male voice. "You don't have any respect, do you? Maybe I ought to teach you."

I expected a fight to break out, but hoped desperately that Tamina-san wasn't on the receiving end.

"It's another male student," I heard Kiryuin saying in my ear. "His name is Cole Mathews. Here, I'll let you see what he looks like." An image projected in my mind. I was confused at first, but I soon shook off that feeling, determining that it was just another thing to add to the list of weird things...

Either way, once I finally got over the feeling, I got a clear picture of the two combatants: The guy threatening Cole was a big jock, a jackass at heart, and also on the football team of course. He was Mataro Noalda. Cole was dressed in a dress shirt and black slacks, and had a subtle pink hue in his pale skin. His hair was jet black, and his piercing green eyes stood out starkly underneath it. He remained remarkably calm during the verbal punishment, which only irked Mataro even more.

"You think because you're american it makes you better than any of us?! Say something maggot."

This time, he actually got a physical response out of him.

"What was that?"

The rest of us watched for Mataro's next move. "I said: Maggot!" As he shouted the word through gritted teeth, he raised his fist and punched Cole hard in the jaw, staggering him and nearly knocking him to the ground.

Still, he stood. Yet he didn't retaliate, he just stood up straight, and resumed leaning on the wall, in the same defiant stance as before.

The boy punched him again, and then in the stomach, eventually forcing a small gasp from him. "Maggot!"

The next blow missed. Cole suddenly ducked below the wide swing and under his arm. With seemingly one fluid motion, he and his attacker flew through the crowd, ending with Cole having Mataro captured in a perfect hold.

I gasped as the two of them crashed onto the pavement next to me. Mataro had a terrified look on his face as he tried and failed to get out of the hold, whereas Cole looked like he really wanted to kill him.

Slowly, he released his hold and rose to his feet, revealing a small throwing knife embedded in the pavement through Mataro's uniform. It also revealed a chunk of it missing, which happened to be in Cole's hand, wiping the blood from his nose.

He gave me a good look before actually smiling at me. "Sorry I put on such a boring show," he said, "I'll try harder next time!"