•Black Sheep• || The Devil is a Part Timer || Urushihara / Lucifer

༺Chapter 23༻

Pale fingers combed through silver locks as a distressed sign broke the silence of the small apartment.

Aiko sat on a stool at the divider counter in between her kitchen and living room area, a few papers and torn envelopes spread out in front of her.

"This is crazy..." she whispers to herself, "I can't afford this..."

"Can't afford what?" Another voice sounds, startling the girl and causing her to jump slightly.

"O-Oh! I didn't know you woke up,"

"Yup," he says, standing behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder, looking down at the piece of paper in her hand.

"Whatchya doing?" He asks.

Quickly folding the bill she held in her hands and placing it off to the side, Aiko swivels on her stool to fully face her lover.

"Just going through some mail. Nothing you need to worry about," she smiles at him before leaning forward and planting a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Mhm, suuuuure," he responds, dropping the subject. Raising his arms up and stretching out his back as he yawns, the female chortles.

"Sleep well?" She asks him.

"I feel like I should be askin' you that," Hara comments before plopping down back first on the futon in her living room.

"Hm. Well..."

~

Wiping away the remainder of tears from her eyes, Aiko was led into her apartment by the concerned purple-haired boy beside her.

After the incident at the festival, Hara suggested that she be taken home early. To which Maou allowed him to do so. And here they were now.

"G-Guess you're happy we left early, huh?"

"Kinda. But if staying later meant you wouldn't be like this, then that's what I would've done," he counters, closing and locking the front door.

"...You would have?"

"Well yeah, duh. I don't like seeing you in pain. Physical or emotional."

Aiko said nothing. She hugged her plushie close to her chest as Urushihara unraveled and discarded the mummy bandages from his head.

"Hey," she heard his voice speak. Looking up she noticed how much closer he got to her.

"Uh, you wanna maybe, go flying?"

This made the girl's ears perk up and eyes sparkle.

"You...You really want to?"

Hara's cheeks blushed a bit as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. He only made the suggestion because he knew how much Aiko loves to fly. And he just wanted her to be happy again. To see that smile that always seemed to make his chest flare comfortingly.

"Well, you know, only if you wanna...That festival was chock full of fear, so I have a lot of magic stored-"

"I would love to!" She cut him off.

And there was that smile.

Without having time to respond, Aiko grabbed Hara's hand and pulled him over to the large window in her living room.

After throwing off her costume wings and setting the stuffed animal on her couch, the silver-haired girl pushed open the curtains.

"...Oh. Its, raining," she mumbled dejectedly.