Kuoh Town

"Iia," was his response to her thanks. If anything, Shouki felt this was the least he could say. Being motioned to join the woman, he did so by sitting closely beside her on the bed. What she told him was a tale of her recent excursion to the Underworld, which was simultaneously an explanation for why she appeared before him dressed in such a way. The knowledge of how devils functioned so similarly to humans was interesting, and yet much more underwhelming than he imagined from Eir's other stories over the years. It seemed the life of a devil was better when dealing with phenomenal occurrences here in the human world, but that was an aside. At the end of Eir's story, Shouki appeared quite confused. "Is that what you wanted to tell me? I didn't expect it to be a story."

Eir listened to the boy's response to her tale and it made a small smile come to her face. Since he was sitting beside her she slid an arm around him and pulled him closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. These moments of closeness with the lad, she very much enjoyed as she seemed to with anyone she considered a proper friend to her. Even so, at this very moment she could feel it slipping away from her, and though she didn't want to admit it, she felt strangely as if she didn't want to, but she needed to, for this boy's own good. "Gomennasai, Shouki, that isn't really what I had to say..." she mused choosing to be honest with the lad, as she'd always been that. "I just started the story because I was working up the strength to tell you about my orders," she stated. "Tomorrow, I have to leave this place and I don't know for how long. I have to do what I am supposed to do as a member of my Clan, or rather as the next head of it," she said, such a statement was still bitter to her, but there was nothing to be done about it presently. "So for the foreseeable future... I won't be able to come and see you anymore," she said squeezing him a little tighter. "I'm sorry, really I am." she added, she didn't know expressing this news would be so hard for her, she hadn't imagined it feeling so much like she was severing part of herself. It was as if her very heart throbbed at the idea of leaving this boy behind.

There was more than the simple story for Eir to say, but the story itself was directly connected to the topic she needed to address. Over the course of this tale, Shouki became excited to hear what was next, only to then become fearful of what she meant. One final statement clarified everything. She couldn't return, and she had no clue when a return would even be possible. Shouki's grip on the box he held tightened enough to shake the box itself. The tightening grip she had on him was lost, however; he couldn't feel a thing. His eyes had blanked at the realization of losing the only thing that mattered to him these two years. "But that's..." he said, taking a long pause thereafter. He couldn't fathom why she would give him such news, and now of all times. She was a week late, and his intentions of seeing her at the time he first expected were for naught, but that was fine. This, however... was far from it. Suddenly, Shouki broke away from the devil, moving to stand in the middle of his room and turn to face her with his box still in hand. "Take me with you!"

Eir relayed her statements and waited. She knew the lad she was with wouldn't like this either. No the child who'd prayed to Satan for a friend likely wouldn't enjoy the idea of that very friend being taken away for any reason. When he finally spoke she awaited his outburst, his backlash, his anger. She expected a full fit of hatred or maybe she didn't expect it, but thought she definitely deserved it. As such when Shouki pulled away from her, she fought the tears welling up in her eyes but much to her surprise, this boy gripping the box in front of her, didn't want to spew hatred in her face, he didn't want to scream at her about how he never wanted to see her again. He wanted her to take him with her. Her eyes reached their maximum and the unshed tears she held back rolled down her cheeks as she managed to look nothing but absolutely shocked. "You...." the words were stuck in her throat but she had to clear them, she had to be sure she wasn't mishearing him. Though even if she wasn't she couldn't rationalize bringing a child along for what she was going to do, she could feel that warmth still if it was true. "You want to come with me? Do you have any idea what you're saying?!" she couldn't even call that statement asking he'd demanded it and it was if she could feel this demand all the way in the depth of her soul.

Eir wanted to know if he understood what he was saying. In fact, he did. He'd seen it in her eyes, heard it in her words, and felt it in things unmentioned. Though her stories were always exciting and with ideal endings, he knew well the sorts of terrors devils had to be going through - the things Eir either didn't mention, or didn't experience herself as one more capable than many others. Even knowing this, he didn't care one bit. "I do! Take me with you!" he yelled again. If Eira expected anger from the lad, she would be seeing no such thing. All he had within his being was fear; fear of loss, of returning to a life he'd convinced himself was over. As he looked to the devil with tears streaming down his face, his grip on the box tightened to such an extent that he almost seemed ready to break it accidentally. "I used all the allowance I never spent! This isn't how it's supposed to go... You're not supposed to leave me alone again!"

This boy claimed understanding with so much conviction, Eir could almost believe him. But surely this didn't come from any place in his heart rooted in sanity, surely he had to know the life she was leaving to enter into, would be very different from all others he could ever possibly have. How could she act so selfishly and take such a thing away from a boy so young, even one who was as lonely as this one, had a better shot at something other than death if he stayed far away from her. She was speechless, and when she met his eyes again she saw tears streaming down his face as well. 'I want you to come with me too...' her heart beat thumped again as this boy claimed he'd spent all his money on something and that she was never supposed to leave again. Her expression softened immensely as she had no idea what this could mean coming from him. He wanted to go with her, but what could he have done. Her own curiosity and her desire to comfort this boy and help him see reason gave her the strength to ask the important questions. "Na-ni? What... did you spend your allowance on, Shouki?" she asked of him. Perhaps he could calm down and explain... perhaps this didn't have to end a mess of tears and hurt feelings for both of them.

Of all the things to say, she questioned what he spent his allowance on. More and more, he firmed his hold on the box. It didn't matter in the end. If the end result of this conversation was what he felt within himself it would be, where he felt Eir was taking it in a roundabout way... it didn't matter at all. "... You're not taking me..." he said at last. Since the moment he first made the request, his mind had been screaming these very words at him. He couldn't pose this as a question, as he knew it was more of a revelation than anything. "You said..." he started. If nothing else, he could place the last ounce of his faith in one thing. Hardly more than two years prior to this moment, she had told him of a wish the summoners of devils were granted when contracts were fulfilled. A friend had been what Shouki wanted, but she offered him that without treating it as the wish. "You said I had a wish! Well... I wish you wouldn't leave me alone... that you'd let me stay with you forever, no matter what..."

"I can't take you where I'm going, its a war zone. I can't risk you for something like that..." she said her words were soft, she almost didn't mean them. She wanted to take him with her in spite of that. Deep down, she respected this young man. This boy who'd only wanted a friend and prayed to every available deity to find them. A boy who was kind even when he felt like he was absolutely nothing, making him worth more than his weight in gold. The boy whose smiles warmed her heart as they explored Kuoh together, because they always came from such a genuine place. But he was so young, she couldn't let him throw his life away, or worse yet, she didn't know if she'd be able to handle what would happen if this lad settled in with her and changed his mind. With the kind of Devil she fought against being, she wouldn't want to become the sort of person he could hate. While she thought over all these things the boy brought up the one out, the one potential loophole to her leave of him that she hadn't expected him to remember. "That?! That's your wish, bakana!? Shouki..." the wording of this wish was just vague enough that she could use it to continue to protect him and he would likely hate her for it. Was it worth it to her, to know this boy would be safe? Could she talk herself into being this sort of exploitative because in the end it would be better for this boy to be separate from her?

A magic circle appeared on the floor of this bedroom, and Eir moved inside of it, opening her arms to Shouki just this one time. Still there was a bright smile on her face, as if she'd seen something she'd always hoped for. If the boy accepted this physical contact, she'd do something she wasn't really known for, sharing with the lad a power which would make him more approachable to young women of his own age, by allowing them to see, the jewels of this lad's personality. And strangely enough she'd apply this by giving him a kiss on his lips. If this action saw completion she'd explain it. "I enchanted you so when I leave you won't have to be alone anymore. You'll be able to make friends, they'll be able to see in you, what I do," she said very carefully. "And if your will is strong, you'll find me again and I'll let you stay with me forever... no matter what it takes," she said. These words would unwittingly tie Eir into this lad's future. Making it so that no matter what the cost she would eventually have to fulfill his wish, while still allowing her to leave him the time he needed to grow up and make sure that staying with her forever was truly what he wanted. 'Leave it to you, Shouki, to make me into a proper Devil,' she thought.

This final effort of Shouki's was put forth, and Eir seemed surprised by the notion of the wish he presented. The magic circle beneath Eir returned Shouki's hope in this situation. A smile even stretched across his face as he rushed into her open arms, believing his wish would be granted right away and he would be able to follow when she left. Enveloped in her magic as much as her person, Shouki was also subjected to the most unexpected moment of his life thus far: a kiss upon his lips. The wide-eyed teen immediately believed his life would never be the same from this moment onward. But then...

The next words from the devil's mouth were very much not what he wanted to hear. He was somehow enchanted in a way that would ease his loneliness? That was not his wish. Moreover, this nonsense about his will being something that could bring him back to the woman and have her never abandon him again seemed totally unrelated. He didn't want this at all. "But..." he said as he backed away. "That's... no. That's not what it's supposed to be." Eventually, Shouki found his way to the bed and dropped into a seated position atop it. He couldn't believe this was how it happened. Two years and one week had passed since his life changed, and in that time, the boy himself had changed. He didn't care if he made another friend. He didn't care if everything else in his already meaningless life fell apart, if he could hang on to the one thing that changed it all in the first place. 'Why does my will have to be what brings you back? Why won't you just take me with you? I...'

"I can't."

She did everything she could to make it so this lad had a fair shot at his life before he tried to turn it over to her. Even so, he seemed crushed by what she'd done but to be honest, such was supposed to be her nature. She went against it more often than not, but, in this one instance she needed to save this boy from his untimely demise. "Gomennasai, Shouki..." this was the last sentence Eir spoke to this lad. Her eyes welled up and her dream state began to fade away around her. Her last thoughts about this situation were ones which led one to believe that she always knew this lad would change his mind about her. 'I know you can't... it's way too much to ask. I can't ask a life so bright to end for my sake,' she thought and that was it. Whatever else happened that day, she didn't know it. She couldn't remember but figured she'd fled that boy's room that night only pausing to think about him ever so often. He shaped her life though, and the rest of her peerage. Though she already favored some strange individuals, the rest of the outcasts, the people with hearts of gold overlooked by society, those were the people she'd fill her life with, all while waiting and hoping for the first one who made her believe in the truth of humanity.

But this was just a dream, and like all dreams it ended. Reia the kitten woke up on the chest of Takumi and found herself staring into the lad's face. She pieced together this dream and this boy, along with that picture she hadn't really recognized and she couldn't believe it. 'No matter what it takes...' did she really enchant herself as part of this boy's wish? Did she actually make Takumi not on a whim but instead on her own previously established pact? Was it simply the case that she didn't recognize the lad? Why was his name different? there were so many questions her little kitten body couldn't handle them all, still she could do nothing but purr her content atop this boy reaching out with a single paw to pet his face and start his morning. 'I still... can't believe... I did that...' she thought to herself.