The young producer of South Star Entertainment sat back and lit a cigarette. He wasn’t supposed to smoke in his office, but hey, at least he’d opened a window this time.

He was tired of listening to tapes submitted by would-be rock stars. He hadn’t gotten to the point where he ignored any of them yet — no, he listened to every blessed one, and he even responded to every band in a semi-timely fashion — but he was close.

South Star hadn’t found any new talent lately, and he was getting desperate.

Not desperate enough to sign any of the crap he had listened to today, but if he didn’t find someone soon, his position would be in peril. He hadn’t come all the way from Tokyo to Osaka just to give up, though. He would just have to try harder. Rather than sit and wait for talent to find him, he was going to have to go out and find talent.

That was when he kicked his feet up onto his desk, flipped on the television...

And saw Misao’s broadcast.

A band was surrounded by hundreds of people, singing and swaying along with the music. It was infectious, and even through the television medium he could feel the strength of it... especially the strength of the lead singer. God, she was cute.

“BLIZZARD” was what the reporter called the band.
He’d heard of them before. They had been linked to some kind of scandal; fresh band out of Tokyo. Hot damn, they were great.

He knew a good thing when he heard it.
Yes, Takurou Tochi would be on the next plane to Tokyo.
Mama didn’t raise no fools!
 

They could each miss a total of nine school days this semester. So far they’d missed eight, and that meant they had one day left to rest now. Chiaki, Uta, and Shigeki gladly took it. They all collapsed in Chiaki’s dorm room and thought about how nice some sleep would be.

Poor Toshi didn’t have that option. He’d made himself sick early in the semester by eating too much ice cream one day, so she had to go now or she’d be dropped.

“But... you’re not exactly Toshi anymore,” Uta tried to reason with her. “You can’t finish the semester anyway! You’ll have to take the entrance exams all over again, pass them again,  register as a new student again, be a freshman again, retake all your classes again...”

“NO WAY! I’m gonna go talk to my teachers,” she said. “I’ll make them understand, ’cause there is no way I’m falling behind you idiots!”

Chiaki waved good-bye as Toshi flew out the door to her first class.
“Good luck,” she said, after Toshi’d already gone.

“No kidding,” Uta muttered.
 

Toshi failed to do her gorgeous new female body justice. She actually looked a bit peculiar, wearing Chiaki’s stylish clothing and walking towards class with a masculine gait. But that didn’t stop students from staring — she was the most beautiful girl they’d ever seen... quicksilver hair, golden eyes, porcelain skin, a figure to die for.

Boys wanted her, and girls wanted to be her.

And it was creepin’ the HELL outta Toshi.
Maybe sticking around in a body that wasn’t his own was a bad idea.

That thought in mind, she entered her Tuesday morning class. It seemed that all eyes instantly fell on her. The students already in their seats, the students pouring in — time froze momentarily so they could all gaze upon her.

The teacher stopped her. “Excuse me, young lady, are you looking for someone?”

“No. I’m here to sit through class, as usual.”

“Then perhaps you are in the wrong room this morning.”

Toshi thought about it. “Um... Engineering 15A, Applied Mechanics — Statics, Section 8253? Last week we were starting composition and resolution of co-planar and non-planar force systems? I’ve been out for about a week, but I think we were supposed to start forces in trusses today...?”

The Professor blinked. “That... That is correct. I must apologize, I don’t recall seeing you in class before, though. Your name, please?”

“Yamatsuri Toshi.”

Toshi waited patiently as the Professor checked his student list, and she waited for his eyes to come alight with recognition... for him to ask how it was possible that his favorite student, Yamatsuri Toshi, had been a boy last week but was a girl this week.

It was a good thing Toshi didn’t hold her breath.

“I see now,” the Professor finally said.

“You do...?”

“Yes, do forgive me for not recognizing you. It seems that it has been a long week. Please have a seat, Miss Yamatsuri.”
 

Uta took one look at Toshi and said, “Horse walks into a bar... Bartender says?”

Chiaki picked up on the joke. “Why the long face?” she asked. “It didn’t work out?”

“Yah... it worked out...” Toshi sounded thoroughly defeated. She dropped her backpack in the middle of the floor and crashed right there.

“That’s not really convincing,” Uta said from his chair.

“What went wrong?” inquired Shigeki. He’d found a first aid kit and was applying bandages to the blemishes on the Cross of the Staff.

“There were no problems... None whatsoever! They all assumed I was really Yamatsuri Toshi because they couldn’t remember who Yamatsuri Toshi was!! They checked their student lists and didn’t even ask questions about the kanji for my name being male!!! Why?? Why is it always like this?!”

Uta knew immediately where this was going. He rose silently from his seat and inched towards the door.

“In BLIZZARD, no one ever knows who that guy on the drums is! No one knows my pain!!”

Shigeki got up as well, and protectively carried the bandage-wrapped Staff with him towards the door. Uta stopped to take Chiaki by the wrist and guide her out before Toshi finally burst...

“WHY????!!!!!! WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE MEEEEEEE????!!!!!!!!!!!??????!!!??????”

The door closed quietly behind them.

“My life... has never been easy for me. Never have I had an easy break. I will now tell you the story of a boy-turned-girl named Yamatsuri Toshi...”
 

“Goki… Ne, Goki, where are you, I need to—”
 

The balcony was occupied when she opened the screen door… but not by the person she was looking for.

… Hrm.
Well, it was too late now to turn around and pretend she never came in. Might as well…
 

“Ne, have you seen Gok—”

“He went back to his hotel.”
 

He had his back to her, apparently very engaged in contemplating the sky. So engaged that he had to cut her off as if she was some huge distraction, and did so without even
bothering to turn around.
 

She scowled.
Fine. Be that way.
 

“You want to come in? Apartment 2-D just phoned me to ask if I noticed that a man in tank top and shorts had been standing out on my balcony for almost three hours.”

“Hn.”

“‘Hn’? What’s ‘Hn’ supposed to mean?”

“Means I might consider it if you can get that evil lump of hair to stop grating his damned claws down my legs.”

“… You’ve really been working hard at getting your sentences as short and concise as possible, haven’t you?”

“Hn.”
 

Chiaki sighed. It came out sounding more like a growl of frustration. Never was much of a conversationalist — that one, but…
 

“Is it just me or have you been ignoring me to death as of late?”

“If that’s the case it’s obviously not working since you’re still here.”

“…….……… If I weren’t such a grateful being and if you hadn’t just saved my hind so recently, I would be very tempted to push you over the railing just about now.”
 

She strode firmly up to him, threw her arms over the railing, and leaned forward so that she at least had a clear view of his profile. There was quite a bit of ‘unfinished business’ to discuss, and she wasn’t about to let him worm his way out of it.
 

“Hey.”

“What.”

“… Thank you.”
 

She almost had to smile. The best way to get Zenki’s attention was to catch him off guard. His brows lifted and the corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly.
 

He hadn’t changed a bit.
 

“You know, when Grandma phoned me to say that you were coming, I really didn’t think you’d show.…”
 

It was true.
After what happened and then spending all this time apart, she would have thought that he wouldn’t give a damn what was happening to her in Tokyo, less likely risk his life for her again.

She could read him like a book, and yet sometimes she just has no clue.
 

“….. I’m really glad you did, though. And now I’m back to owing you. Phooey. I thought we settled the score a long time ago.”
 

As silence slowly took over, she realized that she had played this scene over and over in her mind before. What she would say to him when they’d reunited after a whole year apart. But she couldn’t remember any of the lines she had thought up for herself.
 

“You know…” She scratched the side of her head. “… We never said good-bye when I left, huh.”
 

Wow.
That was… beyond lame.
Good one, Chiaki! Way to scratch open that old scab!
 

She was too busy mentally clobbering herself to note the slight change of expression on his face and the opening of his mouth.
 
 

“…… You left because of me, didn’t you?”
 
 

She wasn’t sure if he sounded so accusing because he was eager to know the answer or because he wanted her to feel bad about it.

“I…”

She looked up and focused her gaze on the farthest, smallest glint of star in the sky.
Well. It’s been a year. Guess it’s safe to talk about it now.
 

“… I tried, Zenki.”

The softness in her voice matched the gentle breeze that was caressing them both.

“I tried all I could to catch up to you. But I couldn’t. No matter how hard I ran… you were always miles ahead. No matter how far I reached out my hand, all I ever grasped was air. The distance between us kept growing and growing…”

She brought her head down, her fingers slowly laced around each other into a knot.

“…. You didn’t slow down…. You didn’t wait for me… You didn’t even turn around. I got tired. I couldn’t run anymore. And so I asked you. I asked you if I should keep running.”

She turned to look at him. He was still staring at the sky like it was the most interesting thing in the world, and she knew then he probably was not going to turn to face her.
 

“… And you gave me your answer.”
 

He didn’t turn around. Her fingers unknowingly tightened more and more until she felt her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.

She turned swiftly to head back in.

It was true… she did leave because of him.
Because of what was said.
Or rather…… what wasn’t said.
 

… Because… she didn’t have the strength left to continue on the seemingly endless chase.
 
 

… Funny, Zenki thought. I always thought you were the one ahead.

He decided he would spend the rest of his nights in Tokyo at Goki’s hotel apartment or... wherever. He left without saying good-bye, and only realized later how fitting that seemed.
 

The moon had a blue hue to it that night.
 

Inugami idly drew his fingers in a slow trail from the base of Kokutei’s ears down along his spine, then back up again. The wolf’s eyes were closed in small slits, his head resting in his master’s lap, releasing an occasional soft growl of pleasure.

The battle was finished, but the war was raging on.
He knew it would not be long before he had to fight again.
 

Fight for what?
 

Justice?

Life?

…… Fate?
 

He had been fighting all his life, yet he never stopped to think where all this fighting was eventually leading him. He had once thought that he was fighting to prove himself. Then he believed he was fighting to control his own destiny.
 

… And now?

…… Where was he at now?
 
 

“You know, you really ought to do less of this ‘looking into the dark abyss of nothingness, pondering the meaning of life’ business.”
 

… Tokyaya.
Leave it up to him and his perpetual chattering to interrupt deep meaningful musings.
 

“And you really ought to try being quiet for a change,” Inugami replied, scowling somewhat. “You will discover a lot more about the world around you when your brain is not busy pumping out verbal nonsense.”
 

“Naw.” Toshi folded her arms over her head and flopped down next to her brother with a loud ‘thump.’ Sure, he was in a female body, but he wasn’t about to start acting like it.
 

“I hate the silence. It’s deafening.”
 

Inugami turned to look at her, and it was too late to stop the small smile that had somehow crept past his defenses and found its way to his face.
 

… Only Tok would say something like that.
 

It was hard to believe that one as childish as Tokyaya-Zoshi actually had a serious side to his personality. But it was at that very moment when Inugami realized that Tokyaya had been through the exact same struggles he had. It was impossible that Tokyaya did not feel the same feelings of rejection, isolation, and hatred that he felt. He had been much too young and much too ignorant back then to see that his brother was suffering just as he was.

And now he wondered how he had managed to miss it.

Tokyaya only chose to handle the pain a different way. Instead of letting the world know of his anger… he simply hid it all behind a smiling face.

Inugami had always wondered why his brother would choose to wear that jester mask day after day, and practically patronize himself to no end. It was how he had always been, and he was so good at it that most times even Inugami would be fooled into completely forgetting the truth.

And the truth was that……… at heart, Tokyaya-Zoshi was no child, no fool.
 

He was hurting.
… Just like Inugami was.
 

They were so different…… but they were the same in so many ways.
 

It was amazing, really.
He hadn’t been expecting to meet with Tokyaya.

He had left, determined to make the world listen to him. He had decided that he would leave, and he would never look back. He would lock every last ugly memory into a box and throw it into the sea.

If loneliness was the price, he would gladly pay it.

Tokyaya hadn’t stopped him when he told him he was leaving.
His boyish half-brother simply smiled.

… And Inugami remembered exactly what Tokyaya had said the day they parted ways.
 
 

…… Had he found it yet?
Or had he long since lost track of what he was searching for in the first place?
 

For once, Tokyaya seemed to be taking his advice, and was gazing up at the stars in peaceful silence.

… He never realized exactly how much he had missed Tokyaya until he was about to lose him.
 
 

“… Tokyaya...”

“Yah?”

“…. What are you going to do?”

Toshi sighed and shrugged half-heartedly. “I’m not sure. But I know I can’t stay like this. I can’t and I won’t do this to Kakou.”
 

Kokutei slowly opened one of his eyes.
 

She saved you willingly, Tokyaya.
 

“I know,” Toshi snapped, her voice sounding uncharacteristically harsh. “… That’s why I’m so pissed off. I won’t have her giving up her life for me. If there’s one thing she hates in the whole world it’s not having freedom; believe me, I know. She can’t stand being locked up or restrained in any way. I know she’s here, I can feel her, and……. Shit, this is so like her!! Just going around giving things up for me, and putting all her needs second! Putting her life second! I’m not gonna let her do it anymore. You hear me, Kakou?! You are in big trouble, girl!!”
 

Both Inugami and Toshi could have sworn they almost saw Kokutei smile.
 

This time Inugami was much more prepared, and the surfacing smirk of realization remained as a warm glow inside his chest.

So that’s what he’s so upset about…
Not the fact that he is in a female body…… But because Kakou has given it up…

…… For him.
 

“Okibi’s probably my last hope,” Toshi sighed, relaxed again. “She’s a God, she should know what happens when a God’s body crumbles, right? I know I’m not a full God, but heck, there’s gotta be something I could learn.”
 

“Let us hope,” Inugami replied quietly. “…. Let us hope.”
 
 

Silence.
 
 

“Hey, Rou.”

“Yes, Tokyaya?”
 

Toshi threw herself backwards and was now lying down upon the wooden floor of her balcony; arms propped behind her head.
 

“…… It’s not your fault, you know.”

“What is, Tokyaya?”
 

Toshi’s voice was so soft even Kokutei had to strain to hear it.
 
 

“… Mother.”
 
 

Inugami’s breathing stopped.

Toshi closed her eyes and drew in a slow breath, as if reminding her brother to breathe.
 

“She came to me before she left to find you. She said that you were lost.”
 

No words, no thoughts would come.
Inugami simply stared down at the ground before him.
 

“She said that she had to help you find your way again.”
 

Inugami opened and closed his mouth wordlessly several times before he finally found his voice again.
 

“………… I couldn’t save her, Tokyaya……”
 

“I told you, it wasn’t your fault.” Toshi’s eyes were closed, her expression calm.
 

“She was right in front of me… and I couldn’t save her….”
 

“… She was going to die anyway, Rou. She came to say goodbye to me.”
 

“……….. I couldn’t save her………..”
 

At that, Toshi sat up and threw an arm around her brother.
 
 

“…… I’m sorry, Tok… I’m sorry.”
 

Days passed with blessed uneventfulness.

Okibi watched from the shadows as Shigeki helped Chiaki, Uta, and Toshi to study for their finals. He seemed to know more about every subject than the professors did.

Her little bother, Shinji, was being looked after by Susan. Okibi didn’t have any place to stay, and she didn’t want to turn her little brother into a vagabond, so through a deal whereby Susan was allowed to experiment on the boy (just a little bit), Shinji gained a roof over his head and a consistent supply of nutrition from someone who seemed to know what she was doing...

Okibi, apparently, had not heard about Toshi’s poo.

She watched over them from a distance, determined to protect Toshi — especially now that Kakou no longer could — until the day came when she was needed...
 

“Chiaki?” Toshi called outside the door to her room, her voice quivering slightly. “Hey, Chiaki, are you home? I need some... um... help! OH, GOD, HELP ME!!”

Okibi to the rescue. “Hi, Tok!”

Toshi nearly jumped a mile when she descended.

“Chiaki’s studying with Shigeki at his place,” Okibi explained. “What’s wrong? You look really spooked.”

“D- Don’t do that!” Toshi said, her heart pounding.

“... You’re really jumpy... What happened?”

“I... um... well... Okibi — you’re a woman, right?”

“If you have to ask,” she fumed, “then I’m not going to help you.”

“Okay, okay, you are, you’re a woman! You’re a beautiful, kind, generous, always-helps-those-in-need woman!”

“And just let me guess... You’re in need.”

“............”

“Just say it, Toshi, what!”

Toshi fidgeted and looked at the floor. “Well, y’see... I already knew about ‘that time of the month’ and stuff, and I was totally not shocked when it happened to me, but, um... I wasn’t sure how to... y’know... handle it, so I asked Chiaki. And Chiaki... she gave me something that, uh, well.........”

“What did she give you?”

“I, um, I have it with me. I can show you...”

Okibi wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to see. “Er...”

“Here, this is what she gave me...”
Toshi dug around in her pocket and pulled out...
 

A tampon.
 

“—HAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA!!!!!”

“STOP LAUGHING! IT’S NOT FUNNY!!”
 

The She-Wolf observed from the Immortal Plane. Adonai had no grudge against her, and so she was allowed to leave the Realm of the Gods and go to an outer Den she inhabited many years ago.

She wondered if, perhaps, she was not as wise as she once believed herself to be.

When she had predicted that Okibi would teach Tokyaya-zoshi how to use his power...
 

“Just hold still!” Okibi said. “Look, it fits right up in—”

“NO! NO!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!”
 

... This hadn’t been quite what the She-Wolf anticipated.
 

Verbyn came to visit. He was a little disappointed when the only one he could find was Inugami.

“Tok was easier to get a hold of when he was battling the forces of evil,” Verbyn lamented.

“Yes,” Inugami agreed. “School keeps them all rather inaccessible. But I can’t say you’ve been easy to get a hold of either...”

“True,” admitted Verbyn. “In fact, that’s why I’m here. Wanted to say a little good-bye and let Toshi know this was his last chance to pay me back my ¥200 for a while. The Verbyn is going to war!”

“War? Wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the war between the Angels and the Gods, would it?”

“Oh!” Verbyn threw his hands in the air with a girly excitement. “Why, it has everything to do with the war between the Angels and the Gods! Hunters of the Night face Divine Wrath for aiding the Gods, and the Fire Dragons are gonna be right there to help bring them down! Led by yours truly. I’m going to rip Elder Saoirse’s head off and shit down his throat — and you can tell Uta I said that.”

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to relay the message,” Inugami replied with insincere regret.

“Aw... gonna make yourself inaccessible, too, eh?”

“I’m afraid it is my nature.”

“Well, then,” Verbyn said, rising and preparing to leave, “I suppose I’ll have to settle for seeing just one of you dirty bastards. Oh, by the way, how’s Zenki’s Vampyre bitch? Did all that work out okay without me?”

“It did.”

“Shame...” Verbyn sighed. “I did so want to be the hero...”
 

Verbyn returned to the Dimensional Crossroads and made his way back into the Fourth Dimension to wage war.

Inugami and Kokutei, true to their nature, left in a mysterious way toward a mysterious purpose.
 

The band followed Chiaki with a strong instrumental finish, halting together cleanly on one final note. Chiaki brought down her guitar and looked up with a sweet “Thank you!” The crowd immediately broke out into a tsunami of applause, cheers, and long whistles.

The stage went black as the lights flicked off, signaling the end of their first return live concert. BLIZZARD stepped backstage, and Shiho took center stage, commanding the microphone and a spotlight.

“Thank you, BLIZZARD!” Shiho said towards the audience. “That was Enno Chiaki on guitar and vocals, Matsushita Shigeki on guitar and vocals, Reisu Uta on bass guitar, and...” She didn’t have time to try and recall the name in the middle of her speech, so Shiho improvised, “And a really cute new girl, ten times as talented as the guy she replaced, on drums!”

Toshi had to be physically stopped by Shigeki from going back on stage and beating the crap out of Shiho.

 “I have to apologize,” she continued, “to everyone who came a couple weeks ago to see them, but they were certainly worth the wait, weren’t they?!”

Another roar from the most-definitely pleased crowd.

Having seen what he’d come to see, Zenki left the small live house just as quietly as he’d entered.
 

Backstage, Uta handed Chiaki a towel to wipe away her sweat.

Toshi took her revenge upon Shigeki by poking the new headstock of his guitar — the Cross of the Staff.

“Do not poke me,” Shigeki requested calmly.

“I’m not poking you. I’m poking your guitar,” Toshi replied vengefully. She knew perfectly well that Shigeki felt what she did to the Cross.
 
 

Araguel looked up. “Welcome home, Saphael.”

Shigeki shook his head. “I’m returning to the Mortal Plane soon,” he explained. The words themselves were not warm, but Shigeki’s voice spoke them with soft sincerity. In them was the sound of Saphael in his youth, before he had been banished.

It made Araguel smile. “I understand,” he said, and truly he did. Though the loyal among Adonai’s Angels were at war in the Realm of the Gods, someone would have to protect Chiaki until she was called upon. Who better than Saphael?

Araguel could see also that Adonai would not send his warrior to Earth unarmed. In Saphael’s hand was a glorious new Staff. Adonai had not created such a weapon since Araguel’s own.

In a way, it worried Araguel. Would there really be such peril on Earth one day...?

Shigeki saw his concern, but would say nothing to confirm or assuage it. He held out the Staff in both hands and stepped forward. “I was told,” Shigeki said, “to give you this.”

Araguel arched a questioning brow.

“And I was asked to take that,” Shigeki said, motioning to the old Staff, “off your hands.”

Is that how it was to be, then...?

Toshi continued to poke the Cross which crowned the guitar until Shigeki growled threateningly at her.

“It’s your own fault,” Uta told Shigeki. “You should have known better than to put that thing any place where Toshi could reach it.”

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!” Toshi squawked.

Chiaki laughed.

“It needs to be somewhere I can keep an eye on it...” explained Shigeki. “It’s too large to conceal as an accessory, and carrying that ridiculously conspicuous Staff everywhere I go is not an option.”

“I know, I know...” Uta admitted. “Quit being so serious!”

An unfamiliar voice spoke next:
“Oh, I don’t know that there’s anything so wrong with taking your music seriously.”

The four members of BLIZZARD turned and saw a young man in a very professional suit. He didn’t look like a salaryman; he looked more important.

He bowed to Chiaki and offered her his business card.

“My name is Takurou. Takurou Tochi. I’ve been searching all over Tokyo for you. I represent South Star Entertainment, and I’d love it if you could spare a moment to talk with me.”
 

Zenki had lost count of the days that had passed now.

Things were peaceful. Boring, but peaceful. Saki had insisted that he and Goki stay a while longer, just to be certain everything was okay.

Honestly, Zenki had no complaints about sticking around.

He was in no rush to return to Shikigami-cho as a human. All the lesser demons in the area would have a field day with that. It wasn’t as though they respected him in his child form, but a human form was just pushing things a little too far.

But that wasn’t entirely the reason...

Truth was, there was something about Tokyo that made him want to be there.
 

Chiaki.
 

And though he’d despised it at first, Zenki learned that being human made... a lot of things a lot easier. The concert he’d just attended, for example. That would have been difficult as a Demon or a child, but no one gave him a second glance as a human.

It made it easier for him to be closer to her.

He flinched. Chiaki had said they were far apart. The both of them had felt like they’d run so far to keep up with the other.

But Zenki finally felt like... they were close.
So close that he’d found himself trying to run away.

His mind kept going back to his time as Adonai’s servant. Specifically, when he kissed Chiaki. It hadn’t been necessary to kiss her, but he had done it anyway. Before, he simply wrote it off as Adonai’s doing, but now he wondered if he hadn’t done it himself...

Because he felt himself wanting to do it again.

As a human, as her equal, while they were so fucking close that it scared him to think about it — he’d wanted it for days. Perhaps even weeks now.

How many days had gone by?
It seemed important to know, because he had a time limit.
His human form was made to last just one month.

So it was important that he decide now...

... Before being a Demon set them apart again...
 
 

Hell! What was he afraid of?!
 
 

Zenki knew what he wanted, so he would just go get it.
It was that simple.

He went to Chiaki’s dorm and waited there for her.
 

Chiaki didn’t come home until nearly midnight. She entered her dorm humming and whistling, and looking much happier than she had before. Finals may have been right around the corner, but Chiaki’s mind wasn’t on that. BLIZZARD had just been offered a record contract.

It gave Zenki hope to see her happy.
Perhaps she would receive him well.

“You’re late,” his gravel voice said into the darkness.

Chiaki paused and stopped humming, her finger inches from the light switch.
“... Zenki?” she asked, squinting into the blackness.

“Mm-hmm,” he confirmed in a tone that almost sounded feral to Chiaki. It sent a chill up her spine.

“I may be late,” she replied coolly, “but you’re not even supposed to be here.” Her hand continued on it’s course for the light switch —

— When something grabbed it in the dark.
Zenki’s warm hand.

Chiaki’s heart skipped a beat. Something was... not normal... about this situation. It was dark, Zenki was holding her hand, and he was sounding strange. Chiaki wasn’t the little girl who had left Shikigami-cho anymore; she’d had to deal with men coming on to her ever since she joined BLIZZARD, and she recognized their same licentious intentions in Zenki.

She hadn’t seen him since that night he was on her balcony. What had he been doing in all this time that led him to this? She tried to remember what she’d said that night that could have possibly brought him here now, but her mind was blank.

She couldn’t see him in the dark, but she could feel him lace his fingers between hers. His other hand took the curve of her waist. The only way Chiaki could think to handle this and get to the bottom of it was to treat it as a joke. “I’ve never tangoed before, Zenki, but I’d be willing to bet you’re an awful partner.”

God, her cheeks felt hot. It was getting difficult to control her voice.

“I’m the best partner you’ve got.”

What an ego. She hoped he could see her rolling her eyes through the darkness.
“If you’re the best I’ve got, then I think I’ll sit this one out,” she said, pulling away from him. She hadn’t been thinking quite as fondly of Zenki lately as he’d apparently been thinking of her.

He didn’t let go.

He was making her angry. With her free hand, she twisted a little in trying to reach for the light switch.

The hand on her waist intercepted, and now both her hands were being held. They were raised above her head and held against the wall.

“Damnit, Zenki, let me go!”

“No.”

The Bracelet of Protection hung lifelessly on her wrist. If she was in any danger, it would have reacted by now.

It was up to her to stop this.
“LET ME GO!”

“I won’t.”

Before long, she could feel the warm air from his nostrils on her lips. He was close; she wasn’t ready for this — not from him. She’d spent a full year distancing herself from him, and she couldn’t handle how close he was. “You were quick enough to let me go from Shikigami-cho!” she snapped.

The warm air retreated slightly.
After a time, his answer came: “I followed you, didn’t I.”

“You didn’t have any choice!”

“I didn’t have any choice when you asked me if you should stay, either. You forget, Master, that the choice is never mine.”

‘Master’...? He had never used that word to address her before. Not in jest, not in spite, not for anything.

“Then the choice isn’t yours now, either,” she spat, “and I’m telling you to let me go.”

“In this matter, Master, neither of us has a choice. There’s nowhere left to run.”

With those words, his lips met hers. Chiaki’s eyes went wide, and she caught her breath. His tongue parted her lips and slid into her mouth.

That was when a light flashed, and Chiaki felt Zenki slip away from her. With her hands released, she shielded her eyes from the intense glare. When she could again see, she fumbled to flick the light switch, then looked around, confused.

When she looked down, she saw Zenki...

... In the form of a child.

His month was up. The spell was undone.
 

“.........?”

“............”
 

She couldn’t help it — Chiaki laughed out loud. She laughed until tears formed in her eyes and her stomach hurt.
 
 

The miniature demon god sat there and took it

She could laugh all she wanted; Zenki didn’t mind. He’d caught her. He’d finally caught up to her. This wouldn’t set him back enough to stop him from chasing her now.

Chiaki was finally his.