❝ curses can be blessings. it's what you make of it. ❞
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tsushima yoshiko lives alone with her mother in a small apartment in uchiura, and is more or less the ordinary girl anyone will pictu re. however, one day, she discovers an odd side to he...
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chapter twelve — walking the wire.
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"WHY YES, AYASE." Shī flashes a grin full of large, interlocking, blood-stained fangs. The beast steps forward, sparking alarm in Eli's being, and her gaze flits over to a groaning Kanan draped over the fountain, looking unharmed for the most part. "The Reaper is meant to take the souls that shouldn't be here on Earth. Yours, for instance."
Eli shrinks back, feeling her anger ebb away, being replaced by overwhelming fear. She wasn't ready. She'd never be ready to face him. Her entire body starts trembling, and she starts backing away, knowing that even with Kori's help, she was no match for him five years ago. She remembered the pain, the agony, the torture. She'd give anything to prevent it all from happening again.
"Even," Shī's grin grew bigger, as if it were humanely possible, and Eli feels the dread crawling through her veins as he draws closer. Craftiness plays in his gaze as a large, rough tongue emerges and licks the entirety of his bloody chops slowly, teasingly. "Your beloved wife?"
Eli froze. And then she got angry. Blindingly angry. She throws herself forward, feeling all her fear vanish, and she grabs handfuls of the beast's fur, planning to wrestle him to death, only to realise that it was just smoke, so thinking quickly, she jumps back before Shī could swipe at her with his nasty-looking claws.
He just laughs. "Are you, perhaps, angry because you actually considered it? Well, don't take it out on me, pesky human."
Did she? Eli bit her lip, praying that that wasn't the case. She wouldn't possibly think of sacrificing her wife to keep him away, would she? She notices that Shī had stopped pacing around, and that he had sat back tamely onto his haunches.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in her, just you," he begins, and Eli glares at him as he holds eye contact with her. "I can offer you a deal. Bring me Jīkan, and I'll spare you and your wife."
"Why me?" Eli spits out. "You're more than capable of doing it yourself."
"Why else?" Shī was beginning to sound even more impatient, his smoky tail thumping heavily on the ground. "She'll recognise me, make a huge racket, and then we'd be found out by other humans. It's actually quite troublesome to have to keep a low profile."
Eli contemplates it as she notices a girl with blue hair run silently out of the hotel doors, and she keeps her eyes on Shī with bated breath, praying that the Guardian of Death wouldn't notice the girl dragging the injured brunette into the hotel.
