SPLASH.
No matter how many times you splashed your face with cool water, you couldn't quite calm down. Your face stung with the pinpricks of Kokkuri-san's — Shuuen's — nails. Like before, despite it being a dream, your injuries were very much real.
Down by your feet was Shiki, all bristled and pacing back and forth, his tail flicking in irritation.
"He shouldn't've been able to get past me," Shiki all but hissed. You weren't blaming him for this; the only person (well, demon) at fault was Shuuen.
Your face stung, and you were annoyed in the realization that this would be harder to hide than the bruises on your neck. You'd have to come up with some sort of cover story. Maybe say that you fell? You just hoped that you didn't have fingerprint-shaped bruises either, but considering he mostly just dug his nails in, you doubted it would bruise.
Didn't help with the open wounds, though.
"It doesn't matter," you sighed tiredly, running your fingers over your head. The scratches were small. Ideally, you could probably cover them up with makeup, but would that infect it since they were still open wounds? You weren't sure.
"It does," Shiki spat, his back arching slightly. "What if he kills ya?"
"I don't think he will," you countered. "I mean... Not in my dreams, anyways. Obviously he's trying to kill us all." You hoped he wouldn't kill you in your dreams. "You worried, Shiki?"
The cat shot you a venomous glare, his tail whipping back and forth now. He was really pissed about this. Even more upset than you were, and you were considerably shaken up, all things considered.
"You don't know 'im. Don't know how he operates." His irritation was disconcerting, and you carefully stepped around Shiki to make your way back to your bedroom. He was careful to not step under your feet, keeping as close as possible; and when you sat back down on your bed, he immediately hopped up and made himself comfortable in your lap.
Slumping against the wall, you gently scratched his head. Even if he couldn't keep Shuuen from your dreams, you felt significantly more comfortable with Shiki around. It felt weird with how close you grew to the demon cat.
Well, everything felt weird recently.
"I don't," you finally replied, mentally exhausted but too wired to actually fall back asleep. "But I have to hold onto something, Shiki."
He didn't respond, instead lightly kneading into the blanket on your lap. He was careful not to catch you with his claws after the first time he did it when you almost yeeted him across the room from the sharp pain. Even funnier was how he denied every doing it. Shiki was a bit more catlike than he'd like to admit.
The rest of the night was spent in silence. You didn't sleep, and neither of you talked about what had happened. And honestly? You were completely fine with that.
▰━▰━▰━▰━▰━▰━▰━▰
Even though you forwarded Hanami the details Isora sent, you were a bit frustrated that she wasn't on time. It wasn't a surprise; Hanami was always tardy, and she had at least given you notice that she would be there. Until then, though, it was you and Isora — and Shiki, of course, who was currently hiding a bit further back since he wasn't a fan of crowded places like this.
It was a small street festival your town was having to celebrate the upcoming holiday. Certainly nothing fancy, but there were enough people that made you want to shrink in on yourself.
YOU ARE READING
Demise Game
Romance(yandere! Reverse harem! Dandy's word x Fem! Reader) Ten years after a group of high-schoolers were brutally slaughtered, Tokiwadai Journalism Club sets out to uncover the truth. However, some things were not meant to be uncovered, and [Y/n] finds t...
