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She was a shooting star.
She came to him one unsuspecting night when he witnessed the first shooting star he’d seen since being tossed into Hell with his sins on his back. It was a sight that left him conflicted. A part of him yearned to see more. Another part scoffed at his nostalgia. But that was the least of his concerns when he realized the star was coming straight at him.
Hanako retreated to his small cottage as the meteorite landed meters away in his yard. Sooner or later someone would be sent to his place to investigate. He didn’t mind, it was just some dumb space rock (like the ones he and his brother used to toss at unsuspecting mortals when they were bored) and they could take it away if they wanted. The crater wasn’t smoking. It glowed. That was enough to make him cave and check for himself what had so rudely embedded itself into his property.
He found…
He found an angel. No, she wasn’t a blindingly beautiful soul. She had thick ankles and weirdly colored hair with clothes so thoroughly hiding her skin that she reeked of purity. Hanako wrinkled his nose at her collapsed form in the center of the hole. Her wings and her halo, signs of her divinity, were scorched and chipped respectively. What was she doing here?
It didn’t matter, he tried to reason with himself. Why should he care? Sooner or later another group of demons would come over to take her away and do whatever they wanted with her. Hanako didn’t mind. It was what demons like him did, that was just their way of doing things. A traitorous part of his mind told him to save her.
Hide her until the others leave you alone. Throw something else in there to throw them off.
Hanako wanted to refuse. But demons were known to give in to temptation all too easily and he’d taken her inside before he knew it.
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“Who are you ?” He asked back.
“I-I don’t know…” Aw, were those tears in the corner of her eyes? “Um, can I stay here until I figure things out?”
“I wasn’t going to let you go anyway.” With a confident stride and sly gaze, he bent down to lift her chin up and said, “Do your best to entertain me in the meantime.”
She gulped.
She was a bad liar.
She had to be up to something. No angel would willingly lie, not when their honesty and pride was what made them insufferable in the first place. Yet here she was, feigning memory loss and trying to stay in his cozy one-resident abode for longer than she was allowed to.
What was her goal?
He’d keep an eye on her for now. She was interesting enough, all stutters and trembles, keeping her around for a while longer to assess her threat level wouldn’t be too hard. If she really was a threat, he’d take care of her easily enough anyway.
If he didn’t get her, the miasma surely would. Which would take her out first? He couldn’t wait to find out.
“It’s so gloomy here.” She drew the curtains closed and sighed.
“This is Hell, after all,” he responded with his back turned towards her.
“Your place is kind of bland too.”
“Well, I was never one for interior decorating.”
“How can you put up with living here!?”
“If you hate it that much, you’re free to leave and find someplace else to live.” He slammed the book he’d been reading shut and smiled, thrusting the door open invitingly. She squeaked.
“Well?” The bland beige of his walls and white of his furniture, or the hellish reds and harsh browns of the landscape outside? One demon who decided to tolerate her and leave her to her own devices for the most part, or a pack of demons waiting for any unfortunate prey to stumble into their den? The angel made an insufferable moan as she sat back down to watch the wall with her arms crossed and her lips jutted out in a pout. How childish.
“When will they stop checking your place? I hate having to hide under the bed every day.”
“Because your fat ankles make it hard to go under and out?”
“You—“ She stomped her feet.
Hanako snickered. Always falling for the same jabs, how wonderful. He placed the book back onto the bookshelf and asked, “What do you want for lunch today? I have some spare angel wings if you ever want something nutritious for once.”
She blanched as he howled in laughter. As if he had any angel wings to give. This was the first one he’d seen since being dropped here. He’d never eaten them, never would, but even if they were nutritious, he wouldn’t give it to some girl just to see if it made her sick. Hanako waved her off with a scoff. “Go find some of those weeds outside if you want them, since you hate our food so much.”
“It’s not so much Hell’s food than it is your cooking,” he heard her mumble.
“What was that about my cooking?” He flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles, long fingernails caked with grime digging deep enough into his palms to draw blood. Her eyes slid to his hands and she… smirked???
“You heard me,” she said, “I bet I can make a better meal than you even with unfamiliar ingredients.”
“You couldn’t.”
“And how would you know if we haven’t tried?” She goaded him further and he couldn’t tell if she was braver than he gave her credit for or if she was plain stupid. “Sounds to me like you’re too scared to lose.”
If there was one thing about demons that Hanako loathed to admit he was a victim of himself, it was that their pride knew no bounds and the slightest threat against it was enough to make them irrational. He slammed his hands on the table between them. She jumped as the table rattled. “You…” He looked up at her challengingly. “You’re going down.” Her smile grew smugger by the second.
“Bring it on.”
He lost, and no, he definitely wasn’t bitter days after the competition.
She was a trial sent by god to test him.
She was testing his patience, his generosity, his very self.
She was insulting him! The other day she’d tried kicking him out of his own home because his slovenly behavior was too much for her to stand.
“Then sit,” he said. Wrong answer.
So Hanako found himself sitting against the wall outside his house as the angel cleaned up after him. She sounded peeved but he hadn’t forced her to clean up after him so it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t been bothered by the apparent mess and it was his house.
Though he had to admit, having all that space to walk around again was nice.
But that wasn’t to say he enjoyed her persistence in making things difficult for him. She had the audacity to complain about eating roots and berries every day even when he offered more food.
“Take it or leave it,” he told her. Hopefully she would take it and shut up. That didn’t happen when she was so suspicious of any food poisoning if she wasn’t careful and her host was supposedly out to get her.
She had the gall to test his limits, pushing him and pulling back immediately. At one point she’d somehow tricked him into buying food mortals consumed and the demons who once respected him for sticking true to demon-kind and their lifestyle now looked at him with gossipy interest. They tagged along with him on his way home and had him stay for conversations that went for hours. That angel looked annoyed and only a little guilty whenever she had to dive under the bed when Hanako couldn’t shake off his company. That was her fault.
“That’s your fault,” he groused one day. She punched him in retaliation. And Hanako, too shocked at what had transpired, let her slink away before he could form a comeback.
Today marked a full month since the angel came hurtling from the sky. Hanako was impressed. Yeah, her adaptability and will was admirable, but what he was truly in awe of was himself. Surely, no other demon but himself could have let an angel roam free without thinking of consuming her later. That was a feat worth celebrating over!
“No, you are not making me cook you something because I’ve had to deal with you for a month.” The angel slapped his hand away from the pot she’d been stirring.
“You’ve had to deal with me? I was the one who had to deal with you !”
“Nuh-uh! You’re the obnoxious guy who just yesterday dumped all of his books on the ground just as I was passing by and made me trip!”
“The table was running out of space and the ground next to me was free and this is my house and it’s not my fault you didn’t look where you were walking and have slow reflexes.” Hanako shrugged. The angel growled and tried to step on his feet.
“It’s bad enough that I’m stuck here in Hell with some guy who can’t clean up after himself, why can’t you be a little more considerate?”
“A demon? Considerate? My generosity isn’t being appreciated at all.” Hanako wanted to toss her into the wild. He really wanted to. He was giving her shelter and she was trying to make his house her own. She thought she was trapped when he’d openly given her the chance to walk out the door. How much more considerate did she expect him to be?! “Angels and their double standards… Why don’t you just leave if you hate being here so much?”
“When I don’t remember anything?” She said too quickly. Hanako narrowed his eyes.
“Well if you ever do, you’re all the more welcome to leave and never come back.”
She did not respond.
When was the miasma going to get her?
Seriously, why hadn’t she begun developing symptoms of corruption? Even he could grow ill and stifled if he wasn’t careful yet here she was three months after dropping in looking no worse for wear. What was her secret?
Whatever it was, he had to find out quickly. This girl was going to drive him insane with her virtues and lectures soon and he didn’t want that to be the way he went out. To have been bored or nagged to death by a naive angel was as insulting as needing help from others. Hanako needed to turn the tables fast.
So he got in a fight with a gang of demons, big deal! It was normal, occurring almost every time he went out to buy some more books. That angel always wore a disapproving look on her silly face whenever he came back with a new book and smug tale on the tip of his tongue. Getting hurt was rare, but it was possible. Sure, Hanako could hold his ground and emerge victorious most of the time. Sure, whenever he did get hurt, it was something minor. But he’d never been fussed over so thoroughly by an angel since his time in the sky. It was… odd.
“How many times have I told you not to pick a fight with others. Someone’s bound to get hurt!”
“And most of the time it’s not me.” Hanako shrugged as he raised an arm for the angel to bandage.
“Well, this time it is. Why can’t you just go your own way and do your own thing whenever someone provokes you?”
“You don’t get it, do you? Angels might try to think the best in someone and avoid confrontation as much as possible, but for a demon to back down from a fight would seem cowardly. And in case you haven’t noticed, us demons have a huge ego to stroke.” Ignoring her disgruntlement, he waved his arms and gestured with his hands in exaggeration to get his point across.
“Clearly yours has been stroked to the extreme,” she grumbled as she pulled his arm back to place and bandaged it up. With a harsh slap on the covered wound, she said, “Now, be careful next time. I don’t want to heal you every other week.”
“You’re right.” He nodded with his head bowed. She looked at him in surprise. Hands raised to her mouth, touched, she almost praised him when Hanako raised his head and grinned. “I’ll get hurt every week instead.”
“You—“ She took a deep breath. “Be my guest.”
And be her guest he would.
How was she so patient? Why did she always heal his wounds despite clearly being annoyed? Hanako frowned at his freshly healed wound on his side. What did she have to gain from healing him every day? Was it really because it was out of the kindness of her heart and all that icky stuff? Hanako liked to tease her and get under her skin and that was why he went out of his way to take a scratch or two for her to heal. It was entertainment. Where was the fun in healing some spiteful demon?
“Even if you come back with bigger and graver injuries, I’ll heal you no matter what.”
Heal the enemy? Her thorn on the side? What was she plotting? What were her goals?
“I think everyone and everything deserves the chance to live out their lives the way they want to to the fullest. I’ll make sure they do.” Her conviction, her stubbornness, it was all too… annoying. It peeved him much worse than expected. Why? She was just some stubborn and naive angel, two things he hated about angels. But something about her stubbornness called to him.
Hanako saw flashes of red and a boy too excited for the world to handle, slipping through his hands.
If only he’d been able to close those wounds. If only he’d been strong enough to protect him.
He would get revenge. The winds howled at him to turn back and the rivers tried to stop him with their floods. Amane was nothing but persistent. He would see to it. He would kill God the way God had tossed his brother aside.
Amane remembered his feathers absorbing the miasma as he fell. They twisted and deformed and had shed all their feathers by the time he reached Hell. His body ached and burned. He could smell his own cooked flesh as he was thrown back onto land. He’d fallen deeper into the earth than expected. It’d hurt back then. But he’d been a stubborn fool. He was still one now. Amane lived on out of spite. Hanako lived on out of necessity for that goal.
Stubbornness like this could be admirable. Yet Hanako hadn’t noticed how much it scared him until now.
She was a terrifying force to behold.
She was trying to fix him and he wouldn’t allow it. That was the plan. That had been his mindset when she first started pestering him about his lifestyle. He’d purposefully remain the same and break her will and insistence on changing him. That was what he’d meant to do. So why was he starting to change?
Did his own obstinance terrify him that much?
Why was he picking up after himself now? Why was he purposely avoiding an argument when he used to revel in provoking others? Why was he cooking his own meals? The angel tried his cooking once and nearly died then, he hadn’t meant to end her life this way but honestly, what was the big deal? His cooking wasn’t that bad. Angels and their extremely high standards, he shook his head.
This angel had to go. She was starting to soften him, and soft demons made for easy pickings. After all he’d done to survive in this world as an outsider and blending in, he couldn’t have her unravel all that progress just because of some inexplicable kindness he didn’t know how to reciprocate.
“Can you buy me some carrots, I want to try a new dish today.”
“Sure.” Wait. He turned to her immediately. The angel had a look of awe and pride with her hands to her mouth and watery eyes. “Don’t get used to this.”
“Of course.” She straightened her back and faked a cough into her hand.
He made sure to choose subpar quality ingredients, just because.
“Can you bring in the laundry? I’m busy making us dinner.”
“Okay.” Sure. Why not?
He was careful to take his sweet time, of course.
“Did you clean the space all by yourself?”
“Who else could have if not you?”
“Good job!” She petted his head. And he… he was not leaning into her touch! He wasn’t craving for more praise and he definitely wasn’t enjoying this! Here he was becoming a pet yet he was a proud demon.
“This… can’t continue…” He was not going to cry over his ego being bruised of all things. He wouldn’t!
“What can’t continue?”
“You! In this house! Taking over it!” He froze. The angel tapped her lips and hummed.
“Being the boss of this house doesn’t seem like a bad idea…”
“No way, nuh-uh, not happening!”
“Would you be a dear and bring me some snacks?”
“Sure thin—“ Hanako paled. “N-no. You do that yourself.”
“I’ll pet your head.” There it was! But…
“Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m a fearsome demon, I’ll have you know.”
“Please?” Oh no. Oh no no no. Large eyes? Check. Innocent gleam? Affirmative. Pouty lips and expectant gaze? This was a blast from the past. She was like Tsukasa. And whatever Tsukasa wanted… Tsukasa got.
“Fine,” he groaned.
“Alright!”
That was no angel. The wolf in sheep’s clothing had gotten him wrapped around her little finger and had got to go. “Mark my words…”
He was going to get back at her.
She was an honest to God idiot. She left her diary right there! On the dining room table! Where it was fair game!
“Don’t mind if I do.” He rifled through a few pages. “‘He’s a jerk,’ ‘He’s the worst,’ ‘I’m locked in a cage with rotting junk’…” Well excuuuse him, Princess. He’d improved since then!
He turned a few more pages until something caught his eye.
I know that they know that I’m still alive.
He flipped back a few pages to find context for this sentence. Was this a clue as to why she was faking memory loss?
God chose me as a sacrifice this century in order to please the mortals. It’s so strange, why does one of us have to die in order to let humans write a tragic tale filled with symbolism about something plotted by God?
Sacrifice… Ah, just like…
The mortals are in an uproar, I’m sure. And everyone will try to find me to try and quell the humans’ concerns. It’s not nice of me to say, but I hope they give up and choose someone else. Even better, I wish they stopped this whole act.
Even after all this time, God and those pesky angels held that tradition. It made Amane sick in the stomach and infuriated him to the core.
I just want to go home. I miss my family and friends. I want to live to see them again, once everything’s died down.
He missed his family too.
But I know they’ll stop at nothing to get me back. Not when a precious ‘Kannagi’ is out on the loose, whatever that is.
Hanako closed the diary shut gingerly and returned it to its place, sliding against the wall with a thud.
Kannagi, huh? Angels with high spiritual capacity were often made to be the most tragic ones of them all. With their special powers and supposedly angelically kind disposition, Kannagi made the best sacrifices for a sappy story. No wonder the miasma didn’t affect her.
She should have died months ago, but here the stubborn fool was, hiding in Hell. Well, he could respect that. She wanted to live? He’ll make sure she will.
He treated everything with skepticism now. The walls had ears. His neighbors were always watching. The housewives in the market gossiped about the strange activity at his place. He couldn’t be too defensive about it. He couldn’t be too offensive about it either. What a delicate balance. What a fragile peace. How bothersome. How tiresome.
But if it was to keep her safe until she could one day reunite with her friends or family, then so be it. Hanako was a demon. Demons would find a way to get what they want one way or another. Hanako wanted to see his family again. It wasn’t possible. So he’ll live that dream through her. And to do that, she had to live.
“You’re being strange.”
“Pardon?”
“That! That’s an example!” The angel backed away and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” He averted his eyes.
“It’s definitely something…” She leaned in suspiciously. Hanako shoved her face away. “Okay, maybe not.”
“Do you remember anything from your past?”
“That’s out of the blue.” Fidgeting, she responded, “Not really.”
“I want you to be honest.”
“Honest?” Why? What’s going on? What is he planning? He could read those questions from her expression alone. He wondered if she never thought he could have noticed she wasn’t being truthful.
In all honesty, he was growing tired. He was growing paranoid for something and someone he never should have grown attached to. He was tired of trying to convince himself he was someone he wasn’t all for the sake of survival. He wanted to sleep now without the anxiety of two parties waiting to ambush him outside. He didn’t want to wake up to demons tormenting him for hiding such a delicacy from them and he didn’t want the angels to assume he’d kidnapped their sacrifice. He didn’t want to keep telling himself he was a vengeful demon anymore. Hanako was just Amane. Amane was just a fallen Angel who missed his family. He craved intimacy. He craved some rest.
The angel took in his figure, slouched and defeated, with a face of dark circles under his eyes and chapped lips from constant vigilance. He looked disheveled yet he was trying to improve himself at the same time, cleaning and cooking, doing the laundry out in the open in her stead. She… pitied him. Unflattering pity, something demons would scoff at and angels would disapprove. So she swallowed her fear and told him, “I never had amnesia.”
“I know,” Hanako said immediately, much to her shock. He laughed. “Did you really think you could fool me?”
“Why are you asking me, then?”
“I read your diary.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” She should have known better than to leave it out in the open! Even if he was growing more courteous, anyone would be curious about it! “Do you really want to go home that bad?”
“I mean, you read it, didn’t you? I miss my friends and family too.” She waited with bated breath for his response.
“Stay.” Her breath got caught in her throat.
“What?”
“You heard me.” Hanako sighed. “I’m a demon, you know. I can’t help but be selfish. I want you to stay with me forever.”
Oh how her heart ached. She saw genuine loneliness, real pain behind his words. She wanted to fix that. But she couldn’t give up on her own dreams either. Still… “I can stay for a while longer.” He looked up. “Just for a while. Is that okay?”
“That’s more than okay,” he said. His body slumped with relief. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said as she pet his head. She could have sworn he melted in her touch. What was he, a cat? She lifted her hands to cough and disguise her giggle.
Hanako frowned and turned around to say, “Don’t stop.”
Ah, yes. He was indeed a cat.
A while longer became months, which became years, and then, almost a century. They grew closer, but remained distant all the same. There was no point in learning more than necessary about someone you’ll never deal with again when the time came. That was what they believed. They were an arm’s length away and that was comfortable and preferred.
Sometimes, though, Amane wanted to ask for more. Would you like to stay forever? He often found himself asking this in his head and imagining what her response would be. Would she outright reject him? Try and refuse without hurting his feelings? Would she say yes? He would never know, because he never had the courage to ask.
But during this time they grew too relaxed. It had been nearly a century since they met. Maybe a part of them hoped she would be forgotten by then and another angel would be slain in the altar. But if there was one thing Hanako laughed about angels, it was their tendency to never forgive and never forget. The angel living with him now had forsaken her duty too long. It was time for punishment.
They were surprised by loud rumbling one morning. Hanako peeked outside his window to find a large group of angels waiting outside with weapons poised for attack. He’d shaken his angel awake and tried to sneak her outside. “You just need to fly in this direction and eventually you’ll be able to leave Hell. It’s not as dangerous once you leave these plains. The forest ahead will help hide you.”
“But what about you?” She whispered. Hanako grinned.
“I have some guests to welcome. I hope they’ll stay for some tea.”
She laid low and snuck out through the back door as he prepared to greet them at the front. It looked to be going well. Everyone tried snooping around for clues they’d never be able to find in the building. If there was one thing they stayed vigilant with, it was making it appear as if she never lived here, let alone visited. Only one set of tableware on the table, only his clothes strewn about. She’d always borrowed his clothes or worn the ones on her back when she first came. At first it’d been because Hanako was too lazy to go out and buy her new ones. The idea of explaining why he needed female clothing was too bothersome at the time. Now, though, he had to congratulate himself for his laziness. The angels searched high and low for anything and yet they came out with nothing.
That had been the plan.
There was one crucial thing Hanako neglected to hide. The diary of a certain angel was found under his bed, hidden away unsuccessfully. He tried to play it off as if he’d taken it as a trophy. It didn’t work. There was a scream outside that made his blood run cold and he bolted out through the window to figure out what was going on.
There she was, wrestling her way out of an angel’s hold. How—?! Hanako barreled into the offending angel. He took the hand of his angel and tried to speed their way into the forest only to have their path blocked.
“Change of plans,” he muttered under his breath. “There’ll be a demon nearby in the forest called Tsuchigomori. Seek him out, he’ll definitely hide you. All we have to do is get past them…”
He had an idea. A dumb one but one true to demon nature. He flew straight into an angel and punched him squarely in the face. The angel howled in pain, dropping his weapon. Hanako swooped in to catch it.
“Go!” She didn’t need to be told twice. Hanako thrusted the polearm, blunt side forward, into another angel’s gut and swept his weapon in a large arc, pushing the other angels back. Once she was out of sight and safely in the forest, Hanako stopped holding back. He stabbed and sliced his way through, using the blade to fell the angels that dared come in too close. Meanwhile, he tried to keep them away from the forest as long as possible. Pain rippled from his side and he chanced a glance at it. A wound from a dagger, but it was just a graze. He could keep going.
He certainly tried to. But numbers could overwhelm skill and his adrenaline rush had long since subsided. Hanako found himself receiving more injuries than giving them and his frustration led to an opening that proved near fatal. He wanted to plummet into the earth and rest.
He couldn’t. He had to keep going. She was depending on him. Recognizing his anticipation at reuniting with her, he let out a self-deprecating scoff.
She’d changed him. She’d broken down everything he’d worked hard to build, making him a softie. Who’d have thought he’d one day be willing to lay down his life for an angel who initially overstayed her welcome? Demons were prideful and took everything they wanted. They were greedy creatures. Yet here he was, a tamed beast who gave away all that he had for a chance to keep company a little longer. He laughed.
Ah, come to think of it, they never once exchanged introductions, had they? Once they reunited, he’ll be sure to ask her for her name.
As he was surrounded by angels once more with his arms fatigued and his vision blurring, Amane roared and charged ahead. The angels reciprocated his battle cry and came at him in return.