sᴀʏ ʏᴇs ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ || ᴛᴏᴋɪᴛᴏ ᴍᴜɪᴄʜɪʀᴏ ||

002 - dark moon

MONTHS PASSED and both Kokushibo and Kaori became pretty close to each other. They would meet every night at that same spot in the forest. Kokushibo would make excuses to the demon lord so he could meet up with the little girl.

On the other hand, Kaori would sneak out of the house at night secretly. There would be some times when her father figured about her sneaking out, ending up in another sickening and painful beating session before getting locked in her room. 

Even after that, Kaori would insist on sneaking out during the night so she could meet up with uppermoon in secret. Kokushibo too would never miss a night to meet Kaori. If the girl got held back, he would visit the little girl instead.

He would appear inside her room and accompany her for the rest of the night, sometimes watching her sleep peacefully. He once questioned his feelings for the human girl, but he surely cared for the little girl.

At some point, Kaori stopped calling Kenji her dad and started calling Kokushibo 'papa' instead. When the demon asked her why she was calling him that, she said cheerfully that he showed her how much a true father would care for her, unlike her biological one.

Kaori would tell stories about her life at the moment while Kokushibo would tell her short stories about his missions and his other uppermoon partners, although skipping the gruesome and brutal part of his story.

"Wow!!" Kaori exclaimed with sparkling eyes, leaning closer to the demon who sat next to her. "I want to meet uppermoon 3! I think that it's sweet how he won't attack girls. I wanna meet him, can I??"

Kokushibo shook his head in disagreement as he glanced shortly at the little girl beside him, "You can't meet him, Kaori... He is still dangerous. You can't meet any of them."

"Why though?" Kaori questioned, tilting her head in confusion. "Why can't I meet up with them but can with you, papa?"

"They're dangerous. They can't hold themselves back. I won't allow you to meet any of them." He stated firmly, "If you do come across them, remember-"

"To check if their eyes have the kanjis and if they do, run away as fast as you can and don't look back. Yes, yes, I remember papa." Kaori sighed in disappointment, crossing her arms as the demon caressed her head.

"Good and-"

"Don't be curious and face them. I remember all of that papa! You repeat that on every one of our meets!!" Kaori giggled as the demon smiled, "That's correct."

Just as the atmosphere turned back silent, the tall demon hummed while he continued to caress the girl's head. Kaori started leaning closer to Kokushibo, ending up placing her head on his lap while he continued to caress her. 

"When will you escape this house? I don't want you getting hurt because of that disgusting mortal." Kokushibo questioned.

"I don't have a place to live..." Kaori replied, pouting slightly as she too wished that she could escape away from her abusive household. "I can't possibly live with you either-"

"Hm, that's right. You can't live with me. It's too risky." Kokushibo quickly cuts in, interrupting the white-haired girl's sentence before she could have any weird thoughts. Kaori puffed her cheeks while she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hmm, you've mentioned." She voiced, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "But I think it would be cool if I could live in an infinite dimension like where you live papa!! What if I-"

"No."

"Hey! Stop cutting me, papa!!" Kaori pouted in frustration as the demon gave her a firm no before she even went to the persuading part. She frowned, the atmosphere around her turning gloomier.