Archive of Our Own ^beta

Here's the thing: Higashiyama Kobeni knows full well that she is a coward. 

This is a fact she had acknowledged for most of her life. The definition of coward, after all, was someone who lacked courage. Who lacked the will to do unpleasant, dangerous, and rotten things. Kobeni knew that she had no courage to spare and therefore she was a coward. 

Yet, despite this fact, she was still in Public Safety. 

The first time Kobeni encountered a devil, she was ten years old. 

She has one older brother, his name is Masaki. She has one little brother, his name is Nobana. She has many little sisters—Miho is the youngest at one year. Another is already on the way. Her house is always crowded, the carpets are stained permanently rough instead of soft. Smoke clings to the walls and the lights are all a sickening yellow. 

A hot summer's day. What year was it again? 1987? 1986? 1987, it was 1987. One of them. It was hot, the sun bore down on her skin. She sat alone at a park bench as all the other kids in the neighborhood played tag. She wanted to join in, but something in her throat stopped her from speaking up—what was it again? Fear. That's right. Nobana told her that he was going to climb a tree with his friend—Nobana was six, he could take care of himself for the time being, right? 

Fear. Yes. Fear. That was the feeling. It circled around her stomach like a cat, until it eventually laid down in her organs like a bed. Its claws dug into her gut lining. The sun was hot. She had put on sunscreen like kaa-san had told her too, right? She couldn't remember. It was slightly windy. The sky was going gray—clouds? Kobeni liked to watch television with her father. He would always put on the weather channel in the mornings before he went to work. The weather channel had said it was going to be sunny all day, not a cloud in sight. So, why was it raining? 

"Nobana!" she called out. Her hair was getting wet—kaa-san would be mad at her, she knew. Kaa-san worked so hard getting everyones hair done in the mornings, and now Kobeni had ruined it by waiting in the rain too long. "Nobana! Come on! It's raining, we have to go inside now!"

There was no answer. 

"Nobana!?" she called again. 

He didn't answer. 

She considered leaving. If Nobana didn't want to come home even when it was raining, even when it was starting to pour, that was his fault. He was six. Six year olds are stupid, they have to learn the hard way sometimes—that's what all those parenting books said, right? Besides, Kobeni was getting soaked. She should go home and dry off, if kaa-san or otou-san asked, she would tell the truth and say that she left him, because Nobana was being stupid. 

But…what if he got sick? the back of Kobeni's mind wondered. What if he's lost? She had read somewhere that if you got too sick you could die. She didn't want that to happen to Nobana, that was her little brother. The cat that resided in her stomach growled at that—fear told her to go home, it was raining, it was cold, she shouldn't stay out too long. The park was now empty, there must've been a reason for that—a bad reason. A dreadful reason. Fear told her to go home, but her heart told her to go look for her brother. 

"You better just be hiding in a tree or something, Nakun."  she muttered, glaring through her wetted bangs that plastered against her face. "Or else I'm killing you myself before the cold can."

The rain was getting harsher. It obscured the surroundings, the grass was wet and when she looked down at her shoes they were stained brown. They weren't new, and they weren't white. They were runners' shoes—otou-san told her not to put on her nice ones if she was playing, so she didn't. There was a lump in her throat. The rain sounded far away. All you have to do is find Nobana, she told herself, and then you can go home. Imagine what Yukari will do if you don't come back with him—she's already sick enough, isn't she? 

Her shirt was soaked. She was cold. 

Kobeni looked throughout the entire park. She looks behind benches and by the ponds. She looked at the tree Nobana said he was going to climb. There was no sign of him. It was summer, kids don't go missing in summer, right? She wondered how Yukari would react if she returned home without Nobana—forget Yukari, what about the rest of her siblings? What about Masaki? What about Mio and Maho and Sachiko and Noa and Ikuyo—what about Miho? What if she returned home without Nobana and they never got to see Nobana again, what then? Would Miho just grow up without knowing her own brother? 

Fear once again struck its chord. Well now you have to find him, in case he never comes home again. You've seen the news, haven't you? Kids go missing all the time in Japan—everywhere.

"Nobana!" Kobeni called out once more, stretching her voice as loud as it could go. "Nobana! Where are you!?"

"Please, you have to come home, Nobana!" she continues, walking around the park. She had since left the more public area—she had passed the tree that Nobana had said he was going to climb. It was getting darker, the mud was getting more and more slippery. She was headed deeper and deeper into the park's forest with no way out. But she had to find Nobana, she just had to. "You're going to get cold if you stay out in the rain! And then Okaa-san will be mad at you! And Otou-san will side with her! And Yukari will punch you for getting sick! She hates it when others get sick!"

Kobeni stops yelling for a few seconds, struggling for breath. Her throat hurt. Her hands were numb. it was summer, it wasn't supposed to be this cold. 

She formed her hands into a mini megaphone. "Come on, Nobana! If this is a—if this is a prank or—or a joke then it's not a funny one! I'm getting sick of it!"

No one answers. 

Fear once more shifted inside of her. Maybe there's no point. It whispers, the voice traveling up from her stomach to her ears. Maybe you should just give up. You won't find him. Do you even know the way home from here? You're just as lost as Nobana-kun probably is…just give up. It's pointless, isn't it? 

The forest is cold and dark and Kobeni is alone. 

"N–Nobana?" she tries again, calling out to the darkest shadows. "...Where—where are you? Please just come back."

No one answers her. It has not stopped raining. Fear spirals down her spinal cord and climbs up to her ribcage, swirling around like an ugly mess of nothingness. She hadn't expected it to rain—the weatherman had said it would've been sweaty and hot all day. She was wearing a tank top and shorts and runners' shoes. It wasn't meant for the rain. 

Something insidious rattled in her brain, perched on her shoulders, enveloped her skin. Kobeni was covered in pins and needles and it was like someone had dropped the sky on her shoulders without warning. She had to get home, but she couldn't leave without Nobana. But Nobana was nowhere to be found, and Kobeni was probably just as lost—if not more, than he was. 

'Give up.' Whispers the thing on her shoulder. It had been there a while—how had Kobeni not noticed it before?

She tilts her head a little to get a better look. A skeleton. A small thing, a small shivering thing. ' You won't find him. Give up.'

"What—" she sniffs, unable to tell snot from raindrops. "What are you?"

'I am Despair.' the thing on her shoulder hisses, it's bony tail swiping against her chin. It reminded her of cats she found in alleys. ' And you are hopeless. So just give up.'

"But I don't wanna give up," Kobeni says. "I've gotta—I've gotta find Nobana and I gotta bring him home. I'm sorry, Despair-san, but I can't stay!"

The air around her tasted stale. It felt like dust whenever she breathed it in. The grass around her looked different, dead. Despair-san hopped off of her shoulder—it felt lighter. She felt less sad, less scared. She watched it mill around the clearing, rain falling through the empty gaps of its bone—cracked and a yellowish-white. She imagined flowers growing in between the holes of its skull. She imagined petting its spine and feeling the reverberations of its purr through her hands. She imagined it warm beneath her hand. 

'You won't find Nobana.' the thing says. ' I don't know where he is.'

It's wraithlike paw landed by a flower. Like those timelapse she would see on TV, the petals browned and curled inward on themselves. It died. 

"Oh." she says. "I should still look for him though, right—"

'No,' Despair-san hisses. 'Don't you get it? Give up. That's the only option now.'

"But I have to find Nobana! You don't understand!" Kobeni insists. "He's my brother, I can't leave without him!"

'Give up.' Despair-san demands.

"No!" Kobeni replies. This is the most amount of courage she has ever had in all ten years of her life—she needs to find Nobana.

' Give—'

Bang. 

'Up—' whispers Despair-san, head lolling. It bounds back over to Kobeni, taking its place on her shoulders. Suddenly, everything feels way more awful. What was that noise?

"Get away from her." says a new voice. From out of the shadows of a tree, comes a woman. She reminds Kobeni of kaa-san, in the sense that her tall, imposing figure is just like kaa-san when she's mad. "Devil."

' No.' hisses Despair-san. Its bony claws dig into Kobeni's shoulders, its tail runs against her throat. Dark smoke exhales from the corners of its mouth. 'This human is mine. You can't take her from me.'

"You're going to kill her," the woman retorts. She has a gun in her right hand. Her white dress shirt is dusty, but it's the most fancy thing Kobeni has ever seen. "That's all you devils do."

'I'm no devil,' hisses Despair-san, but Kobeni is sure that it's lying. 'I'm an evil spirit.'

"Evil spirit, devil? Same difference to me." The woman holds her gun out, the barrel pointing right at her. Suddenly, Kobeni is very, very scared. 

"Hey kid," the lady says. "Stay still."

Bang. 

Kobeni closes her eyes. 

She keeps them closed for a few seconds, but she feels nothing besides from her ringing ears, so she opens them. She feels…lighter. It stopped raining. She looks up at the sky, it's blue. But…she looks down. 

"Despair-san…?" she whispers.

There in the grass is Despair-san. It's not moving. A butterfly lands on the tip of its skull. It does not die. 

"Hey, kid, are you okay?" the lady asks, coming closer. "That sure was scary, wasn't it?"

Kobeni sniffs. Her eyes are hurting. She wants to cry. She does cry. She falls down to her knees and sobs. "It was! It was really scary! I—I never wanna see Despair-san ever again! All I wanted to do was find Nobana—"

" Hey, hey, calm down." the lady urges. She lands a hand on Kobeni's back and starts rubbing circles. It's somewhat comforting. "What's your name? You can call me Hisako."

"That's—that's a really pretty name, Hisako-san." Kobeni says. "I'm—I'm Kobeni…Higashiyama Kobeni…that's not as pretty as yours…"

"Nonsense," Hisako-san proclaims. "It's really pretty. You said you were looking for your brother, weren't you?"

"...Y—yeah."

"Let me help you," Hisako-san claps her hands together. "It's easy to get lost over here, so it's always better to be in pairs. Plus, I can protect the two of us from dealing with something like that again."

"No…You don't have too." Kobeni gets up, avoiding looking at the body of Despair-san. "I'm sorry for bothering you."

Hisako-san laughs. "You're not bothering me at all, Kobeni-chan. It's my job to help people, you know. Hey, I think I see some footprints over there, wanna follow them?"

"Sure."

And so, the two of them leave Despair-san behind them, instead searching for Nobana. Hisako-san asks for her brother's name, Kobeni tells her. Kobeni asks about Hisako-san's gun, Hisako-san says it's from her father. Kobeni, curious, asks what it's like having a gun. Hisako-san says it's reassuring, to know you always have a way to protect yourself. Kobeni thinks it would be nice to have a gun. Hisako-san tells her she has to wait till she's an adult to get one. 

"Hey, I think that's your brother—" Hisako-san says suddenly, pointing to a figure in the distance. "Higashiyama-kun!" she yells. "Is that you? Your sister's been looking for you!"

As they get closer, Kobeni can feel her hopes getting up. The figure was short, just like Nobana, and had black hair…The figure turned around at the noise.

"Nobana!" Kobeni exclaims in relief, breaking away from Hisako-san's side. "You're okay! Don't wander off like that next time, what if I can't find you again?"

She can't help herself as she shakes Nobana by his shoulders and holds him close. She was so worried that she'd never find him again, and here he is. She can feel Nobana's hands gripping into her shirt and he tries to pull away.

"Nē-san—I'm fine—" he mutters. "Leave me alone!"

"You worried me!" Kobeni wails. "Don't you dare do that again! Next time you're about to wander off you gotta tell me! What if I went home without you? Huh?"

"Okay—okay! I'm sorry!" Nobana huffs. "I guess I just forgot to tell you that I was gonna explore."

"Promise you'll tell me next time?"

"Promise."

The year after that, Kobeni was pulled from the rubble of their surroundings by Noa and Mio. Maho was nowhere to be found. Next to them was a tall man in a suit and a bleeding arm. 

On the news a week later, she saw the face of Hisako-san in the list of Heroic Casualties from the Gun Devil attack. She had shielded two children from falling rubble caused by bullets, and died for her troubles. 

The children, at least, survived.

The hotel is a dirty, run down one.

It reminds Kobeni of the first few months after the Gun Devil attack—their house, along with their entire block had been destroyed, and her family (all nine siblings with another on the way) had to temporarily relocate to a dirty motel with only two beds. They had shared the costs with other families in the same situation, but Kobeni was still the one going out and begging on the street for some spare yen, in the end.

She still felt sick from last week. The leech devils tentacles were still embedded in her mind. She tried not to think about it but instead thought about the relieved civilians she had saved. 

Morin Hotel, it reads. 

Arai-san stands stock still next to her. He's always been that type of person for as long as Kobeni has known him—six months. Strong, steady, and had a good head on his shoulders. He reminded her of Maho, who despite being 17, was probably the most stiff 17-year-old Kobeni had ever known. Even Kobeni had been reckless at that age, and Maho constantly worked to keep her grades up. She doesn't even accept party invitations. 

Something catches her eyes. It's Hayakawa-san holding up a mottled piece of flesh, watching as it shifts around. Right, she remembered. That's why we're here. They're hunting down gun devil flesh. She thought back to that dingy hotel her family had stayed in for all of three months—she had spent the first month crying over Hisako-san, who she had only ever met once. Noa had looked at her strangely and told her to move on. Kobeni cried even more.

"Yeah, there's definitely a flesh piece in there," Himeno-san says. She grins. "The devil in there is probably real powerful, doncha think?"

"Of course it is," mutters Hayakawa-san. "It probably ingested the flesh piece, so it's going to be more powerful than your average devil."

Judging by the way it's being pulled towards the place, Kobeni wonders if the Gun Devil itself is there. But, logically, she knows it isn't. The entire world would know if the Gun Devil were there, it was the Gun Devil. (A familiar feeling rests in her ribcage. Fear. Kobeni is more than familiar with fear.)

"Gimme!" yells the blond girl that Kobeni hadn't noticed until now—she had horns. So, not a girl. A fiend. "I want that!" The girl reaches over to grab the piece, but Hayakawa-san simply holds it over her head. 

"I thought I told you to speak respectfully." he groans, pinching his nose in between his fingers. 

"Huuuuh?" the girl drawls. "Arrogant human fool! I would never listen to you if you I didn't get anything for my trouble—"

Hayakawa-san pulls out gum and holds it out for her. The girl shuts up. Kobeni watches the entire (clearly practiced) interaction with wide eyes. Is this really who she's going to be working with? She only accepted Makima-san's offer to join the experimental Special Division Four because it paid better than the place she was currently in, and because she knew Arai-san was going to be there. 

"Thank you, sir." the girl sniffs, clearly not wanting to be polite. 

"Can…can we really trust her?" Arai-san calls out, and Kobeni can't help but feel inclined to agree. "She's a fiend, after all."

"We won't trust them with our backs," Hayakawa-san answers. "She's only here to be used as a tool. If she betrays or double crosses us, it's her head—"

"Hey, that's mean." the girl huffs. 

"Makima-san's words, not mine." Hayakawa-san responds. "Besides, you don't get human rights anyway." 

"Is it because of this morning? Huh? Is that why you're being so mean to me!? It was just a prank, Topknot!"

"That was way beyond a prank!" Hayakawa-san yells, and Kobeni's never seen him like that before. He's always seemed so…calm and collected. "If you do that again, I'll kill you!"

Kobeni's pretty sure she's said that to one of her siblings once—more than once. Mio was a troublemaker, after all.

"You can't be harsh on her all the time," Himeno-san points out. Despite the girl being a fiend, Kobeni can't help but agree. She's a lot like Sachiko, she thinks. And Sachiko is 14—Kobeni couldn't imagine treating her 14 year old little sister the same way Hayakawa-san treats the fiend. Then again, she was a fiend. She wasn't human in the same way Sachiko was, was she?

"Yeah! That nasty Bat Devil nearly killed Nyako! And now you want me to go right back to work? I deserve a reward!"

"Hmm…" Himeno-san hums. "I know!" she cheers, throwing up her arms. "Whoever defeats the devil inside that hotel gets a kiss on the cheek for yours truly! Or a hug, if you're not into that."

"Bah—" Arai-san sputters. "That's very unprofessional of you, Himeno-san!"

"What about this job is professional anyway? 90% of my clothes are stained with blood!" Himeno-san sighs. "Hey, Hirokazu-kun, if you win I'll change it to a kiss on the mouth!"

"That's even worse! You shouldn't have to give yourself away like that—!"

Kobeni thinks about how the only other option besides Public Safety was sex work. He's right, she thinks, but Himeno-san clearly isn't bothered, it's not like she's being pressured. An oof escaped Kobeni's lungs as Himeno-san throws her arms around her shoulders, locking her into a hug from the back. She doesn't say anything—she's dealt with worse when it comes to her little sisters. The only difference between them and Himeno-san is that Himeno-san is Kobeni's senior. 

"But having a reward is so much more motivating, isn't it!"

"I need not a kiss! I will not be swayed by mortal affections like a human!" 

Himeno-san lets go of her, instead going to put her hands on her hips and stare the fiend down. "Oh, oh, if you win I'll buy you KFC, huh? How does that sound? I know it's not Christmas but Aki told me you like food, don't you?"

The fiend gasps. "Then it shall be I, the great and all-mighty Power, to slay that devil!"

The fiend—Power, then turns back to Hayakawa-san. "Hey, Topknot! When are we gonna go in? I must kill! I must fight! I must collect my reward of meat!"

Hayakawa-san checks his wrist. "In a few minutes," he says. "We're waiting for someone."

"Oh, oh, who? Tell me! I deserve to know!" Power insists. 

"Someone Makima-san sent." Hayakawa-san says, entertaining her. "Since we're an experimental division and this is our first official mission—the Bat and Leech devil didn't count—she wants to make sure we do well. She's sending someone to supervise us and act as backup. They're one of the few devil hunters hand picked by Makima-san."

"Oooh, tell me about them! Tell me!" the fiend shouts, shaking Hayakawa-san by the shoulders. Hayakawa-san does not seem to be affected by this. "If Makima-san hand-picked this one, then they must be powerful! Right? Right? If so then I must challenge them to a battle of wits!"

"You will not be doing anything to them." Hayakawa-san chastises. "You will not fight them. You will not bother them. And you will not try and prank them."

"Awww, but what if I really want to—"

"May I remind you that if you step out of line then you can get your head cut off?"

Power shuts up. 

Kobeni watches the interaction, and thinks of Yuuhi and Nobana. They're like siblings—if siblings threats of murder held any merit. Power was a fiend, she wasn't human, and Hayakawa-san wasn't joking about Power getting her head cut off. 

Kobeni wonders…what would someone sent by Makima-san even be like? Hopefully nothing like her, because Makima-san was a bit scary. Strong, that's for sure. And experienced, as well. On the older side—maybe like Kishibe-san? The image of a gruff, old man with more scars than skin comes to mind. The image shifts a bit and a beard is added. The eye color changes, the amount of wrinkles do too. But someone like that. Someone responsible, so maybe less like Kishibe-san and more like Arai-san?

The only thing that broke her out of her thoughts was the sound of tires screeching and the arrival of a black car with the words Public Safety slapped onto its doors. For a few seconds, everyone went quiet. 

The door opened. 

Once more, the ever-changing image of a gruff, old man came to mind. And out steps—

"Aww, Aki!" Himeno-san suddenly exclaims, making Kobeni's head jerk to get a better look at her.  "You didn't tell me it was Kageyama-kun that was coming! If you did then I could've brought along something to give him. I could've brought take-out on the way! Get something for him to snack on! You know that his contract eats away at his calories like crazy—"

Hayakawa-san elbowed her. "Makima-san told me not to tell anyone."

Himeno-san groans. "Ugh, that's such bullsh—" 

Hayakawa-san gives her a look. The same kind of look that Kaa-san often gives Mio at the dinner table when she's about to curse.

" Nonsense," Himeno-san says instead. " Nonsense, it's such nonsense."

Kobeni finally manages to drag her eyes away from the two's interaction and instead focus on the new arrival. First, her eyes see black dress shoes. Then black slacks, the edges of a suit jacket and—

The face of a middle schooler. 

It's not a man, it's a boy. His dress shirt is a little too big, the suit jacket is even bigger—it looks like it belongs to someone much older than him. He reminds Kobeni of Nobana, except Nobana is older. He has the same face as all her little siblings: young. The only thing breaking the illusion is the thin scar running from the bridge of his nose to the edge of his jaw, and the fact he's in a Public Safety uniform. 

The boy holds his hand up. Waves. "Hi, Himeno-san, Aki-san. People I don't know."

Hayakawa-san waves back, so does Himeno-san.

How old is he? Kobeni wonders. There's no way he's older than Sachiko—in fact, he looks like he's the same age as her. An image of Sachiko—with her cooked smile and scraped knees and inability to do algebra—in a Public Safety uniform enters her mind. It's…wrong. 

"Hey, is that Makima-sans jacket?" Himeno-san asks suddenly. 

The boy's cheeks turn a bit pink, embarrassed. "I was in a rush. I accidentally grabbed one of hers instead of mine."

Himeno-san then starts to lament about having not been prepared for his arrival and that she swears that next time she'll bring him a whole load of candy and maybe a box of teriyaki. "That much candy is unhealthy," Kageyama-kun says. "And I couldn't eat that much candy anyway…besides, it's fine, I came prepared." And then from the pocket of Makima-sans jacket— Why does he have it anyway? How'd he even get a hold of it— he pulls out a packet of trail mix, a bag of gummy worms, and a box of Pocky. "...I forgot to bring my water bottle, though."

Just like Sachiko, Kobeni thinks. Sachiko forgets her water bottle all the time—she loses it often, as well, which tends to lead to more of Kobeni's paycheck going towards her family. 

Arai-san nudges her. "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right?" he murmurs. "Like. you're seeing that this is a middle schooler too?"

"Y—Yeah." Kobeni stutters. "There's no way he's over 14…"

Suddenly, the boy's eyes drift towards her. His stare…His stare is blank. It reminds her of Makima-san's stare, on the few times she had met the other woman. "I don't go to school," he says. Add that to the list of concerning things, Kobeni thinks. "I'm home schooled."

"You!" gasps a voice that had been uncharacteristically quiet for the past thirty-ish seconds. Kobeni watches as Power marches up to the boy—she's taller than him by at least a head, but seems to be about a mile more immature. She herself was a teenager—or, at least, teenager-shaped. "You who are trusted by Makima-san! Fight me!"

Kageyama-kun stares at the fiend with a dead stare. A kid shouldn't have such a stare, Kobeni thinks. A kid shouldn't be working for Public Safety at all. 

"No." he says. "I won't fight you. I'm not supposed to fight others. Makima will be upset with me if I do."

For a few moments, Kobeni is convinced that Power will ignore the boy's request and try to fight him anyway. She, after all, was the type. "Understandable." she sniffs. "Makima-san is not one to be angered."

Unexpected. But then again, so was a middle schooler working for Public Safety—especially a homeschooled middle schooler.

Suddenly, he blinks. "Oh." Kageyama-kun says. "I forgot, I should introduce myself to you guys," ( you guys clearly being Power, Arai-san, and herself). "I'm Kageyama Shigeo, and I'm a Public Safety devil hunter." he pauses. "And…I also have psychic powers, but I don't use them much. Makima tells me I should disclose that to people."

Ah, just like Sachiko then. 

(Kobeni thinks of that day four years ago. Kaa-san calling her, sobbing because Sachiko hadn't returned from school yet, and there was a devil attack on the news. They had already nearly lost Maho to the Gun Devil, they had already nearly lost Yukari to sickness, and they had nearly lost Nobana when he had wandered off. Kaa-san couldn't take another near-miss—let alone an actual loss of one of her children.

But Sachiko ended up being fine, and returned home within an hour. 

The same day, Sachiko bent a spoon at the dinner table.)

Public Safety is the type of job that lies to you. 

It tells you that you're a good person, but you aren't. Because like any government job, it's a job that's corrupt. 

And only people with a few screws loose can really be devil hunters anyway.

The yellowing hallways throw Kobeni right back into her childhood. She's eleven, it's 1988. It's November. She just arrived at the hotel. Next to her are Noa and Mio. The man's name is Hideki-san—he's a devil hunter. The three of them are in the lobby, desperately holding out hope that their family is okay—that everyone is fine. That, miraculously, none of them had fallen victim to the Gun Devil more than they already had. Noa is a year younger than Kobeni, she's the only one who quite understands being the oldest. Kobeni feels sick and awful and her skin is all dusty and there's scrapes and bruises all over from when she was caught in the crossfire. She's next in line to be treated by the medic, and all she wants is Kaa-san and Otou-san and her siblings. That's all she wants, really, but instead she gets the yellowing walls and nicotine-smoke smell of the shitty hotel that's one of the only buildings still standing in their prefecture.  

While this hotel was a far cry from that one—for one, there was no immediate aftermath of a devil attack to worry about, and for two, Kobeni had come here out of her own volition (ish) and not because of an international crisis event. But the walls are still yellow and it still has that nicotine-smoke smell clinging to the carpet. 

Hayakawa-san and Kageyama-kun are quiet as they walk through the halls. Himeno-san rambles about how fun teasing boys is. Power says she wants to drink blood, rushing up ahead of their little group. Kobeni just feels uncomfortable, and she can't help herself from mumbling under her breath—a bad habit she desperately needs to break.

Arai-san then bursts out from behind them, chasing after Power who had gained a considerable distance. "Acting alone is irresponsible! When fighting devils we should always stick together—"

"Leave me alone, feelings-yakuza!"

Hayakawa-san sighs. "Himeno, do your new hunters seem useful so far?"

"In a way," Himeno-san says. "Arai isn't very talented, but he sure makes up for it with his sense of justice and pure determination—and Kobeni—"

Kobeni can't help the eep that escapes her mouth at the mention of her name. "Kobeni's really anxious and timid, but she's super skilled." Himeno-san finishes. Her eyes drift to Hayakawa-san. "What about yours?"

Hayakawa-san stares forward at Power who has started to wrestle with Arai-san. "The blood fiend is strong…but she's a hothead. I wouldn't put it past her to betray us at the drop of a dime—she nearly sacrificed me to the Bat Devil last week."

"Think they'll survive?"

"I think they're strong." Hayakawa-san says. "Strong enough. Hunters that aren't strong enough…they usually end up dead or quit within the first year."

"That's one way to dodge the question…" Himeno-san sighs. "Don't you dare die on me, Aki."

Hayakawa-san doesn't answer.

Kobeni wonders where she'll be in a year. 

The conversation falls silent. The hotel hallways seem to go on forever. If she closes her eyes she can hear the sounds of children giggling and the muffled sobbing of parents in the next room. If she closes her eyes it's almost like she's eleven again—alone and scared with no-one but Mio and Noa with her. If she closes her eyes she can see the rundown tv in the hotel lobby listing off the death toll list of the Gun Devil, if she closes her eyes she can almost taste the saliva on her tongue as she reads that list, desperately trying to find one of her siblings names on the text scrolling by because surely that would be better than not knowing where they were at all. 

A door rattles. "Ah," says Himeno-san. "Here it comes."

And out from that door comes a head. A human head. With a pudgy face and a swollen shut eye. With graying, thin hair and dark eyebrows. The edges of its face are pulled and morphed into a hand and in place of a neck is a foot. It's terrifying in a way only a devil could be: it looks disgusting, but that's not the scary part about it. The scary part about it is that Kobeni knows it could be so much worse. 

The creature's mouth morphs into a smile, and Kobeni's body won't listen to her. It jumps up into the air and reasonably she knows that she should move, that she should get out her knife and move. Objectively, and in theory, she knows what she has to do. But, in practice, she freezes up and her heart starts beating wildly in her chest. In practice, the only thing that comes out of Kobeni's mouth is a strangled scream. 

It stops mid-air. "Caught you." Himeno-san smiles in a way only someone with a few screws loose could.

Beside her, Power grins and pushes past Kobeni like a truck. "Tis shall be a battle—"

She stops midair. 

"...Himeno-san?" Kobeni whispers. "Was that you?"

"Hm? Nah—"

"It was me," says the ever-startling young voice of Kageyama-kun. Kobeni still struggles to wrap her mind around him: when she was his age she was busy failing her algebra tests…and he's hunting devils. "Sorry. I don't like using my powers on others, but acting out of line like that could end in someone getting hurt…I don't want to see someone get hurt."

Power scrabbles at the air like a cat from where the back of her jacket is being held up by seemingly nothing. "I would've been fine! I'm Power! I'm the blood devil! Nothing can beat me!"

Kageyama-kun ignores her, instead walking past Kobeni and Himeno-san. His stance shifts, and he holds his arm out. His hand forms a finger gun. With one eye closed, he points it at the devil. 

"Bang," he whispers.

Kobeni had always been rather fascinated by guns, after meeting Hisako-san. 

Too bad that after the Gun Devil, they always made her feel sick.

All that's left is a deep purple stained splatter on the wall. Like blood. 

Kobeni forces herself back onto her feet, brushing herself off. "That was amazing!" She hears Power exclaim. "You who are almighty and powerful! Teach me your ways!"

Once again, Kageyama-kun doesn't seem to entertain her. Instead, he reaches into his pocket and brings out the bag of gummy worms from earlier. He rips it open with his teeth, and shoves two of them into his mouth. "Was that it, Aki-san?"

Hayakawa-san holds up his piece of Gun Devil flesh. It does not move. 

"No." he says. "Let's move onto the next floor."

Power—now released from her temporary prison—rushes up to walk alongside Kageyama-kun. "Hey, hey! How'd you do that?" she asks, and continues to ask when Kageyama-kun doesn't respond to her. "C'moooon, I wanna know! It was really cool, I'm already superrr strong, but so are you! And you looked cool doing it! I wanna look cool while beating things up! Tell me, tell me, what was that?"

"It was my contract." Kageyama-kun says. Kobeni wonders if she's imagining the strain in his voice. "I'm not supposed to share it with others—"

"But Eyepatch Lady knows it! She mentioned it in the parking lot!" Power wails. "How come she gets to know it but not me? That's so unfair!"

"Oi, Power," Himeno-san calls out. "If you want to hear about someone's skills so bad, I'll tell you about mine. Just stop pestering Kageyama-kun about this. I was the one that made the devil suspend itself in the air, after all."

Power falls back beside Himeno-san. "Nah, it froze in fear from the sight of me!"

"No, my ghost caught it."

"Ghost?"

"My contract with the Ghost Devil." Himeno-san explains. Kobeni had already heard of this spiel six months ago. "In exchange for feeding my right eye to it—" she gestures to her eyepatch. " I get to use Ghosts's right hand. It's invisible and pretty strong, isn't it?"

Kobeni doesn't know why Himeno-san seems so proud to have given her eye away. Kobeni is rather attached to all her body parts—it took a while to find a devil who would make a contract with her, since she was rather unwilling to give her flesh away. 

As they start to ascend the staircase, Power yawns. "Are you sure you should be babbling about your powers in front of me?" she grins. "You humans are here to keep an eye on me, right?"

"It's easier to work together in a team if we know each other's powers…" Himeno-san sighs. "Of course, some people just don't like sharing. Besides, I have a few cards up my sleeve, so it's fine."

Kobeni jerks up suddenly—since when was Power next to her? And since when did she have a… concerningly red knife pointed at her. 

"Is that true?" she near-laughs. "Then what if I said I'd kill this one! Huh? What'd you do then?"

Kobeni lets out an eek. 

Power is then blasted into the wall. If Kobeni looks hard enough, she can see distorted air in the shape of an arm. Kageyama-kun looks at it, then looks away, uninterested. "Put the weapon away," Himeno-san says. Despite everything, there is a small smile on her face. "If you misbehave, I can simply strangle you to death."

Power scrabbles in the air. "Hrk. Can't—touch…"

Himeno-san drops her. 

Power clutches her throat, coughing and hacking. 

"I don't wanna have to do that again," Himeno-san grins. "So let's move along, alright?"

Kobeni think's Himeno-san should've been a bit less harsh. Even if Kobeni was rather scared of the fiend, she was just…a kid. She acted like one, and she looked like one too. "I'll eat her, one of these days." Power mutters, and Kobeni looks at her from the corner of her eyes. Okay, maybe Himeno-san was a bit justified in being harsh—but the choking was a bit out of hand. But Kobeni knew she was biased—she was always a little bit too caring and a little bit too quick to empathize with things that couldn't be empathized with. 

"Ah…but she's gonna give me food! I can't eat her." Power then concludes, but still seems disappointed about the fact. 

Arai-san stops in the middle of the stairwell. 

"What's wrong, Arai?" Hayakawa-san asks. 

"Just now…" Arai-san trails off. "I could've sworn we were on the eighth floor when we started going up—"

"We were." Kageyama-kun said. "I remember, we were on the eighth floor. The door's were all in the eight-hundreds."

Kobeni's eye's drift to the plaque on the wall. Floor Eight…

"But—" Arai-san gasps. "This is the eighth floor!"

Here's the thing: Kobeni is a coward.

Here's another thing about Kobeni: she care's. She cares a lot. She cares about a lot of things. But she cares enough that sometimes her cowardly nature doesn't matter. Sometimes she cares so much it becomes overwhelming, sometimes she cares so much it hurts. 

Here's one more thing about Kobeni: she is very quick to jump to the worst case scenario.

"...Are you sure you didn't read it wrong?" Kageyama-kun says. "Sometimes things like that just slip our minds. Here, I'll go check." 

In a sudden burst of courage, Kobeni waves to get his attention. "I'll come too!" she says. "Just in case something happens."

"Alright." says Kageyama-kun. Nobody stops them, so they go down to check. Logically, that's probably it. Arai-san probably just misread—or, or… but, it wasn't just Arai-san. Kageyama-kun had noticed something wrong as well. Kobeni wants to say that it was just human error, that twice is just a coincidence…but her heart jackhammers in her chest anyway. 

Even though it doesn't take that long to descend back down the stairs, it still feels like hours. It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds, but her tongue is heavy in her throat and her hands are sweaty. Kageyama-kun walks in front of her, seemingly not caring at all. She takes the brief time alone to get a better look at him. 

Her initial impression of young was right. There was no way this boy was out of middle school yet, and here he was, stuck in a dingy hotel with a whole bunch of crazies and what's probably a mega-powerful devil. Then she thinks about that first devil: he had killed it with zero hesitation. Not even an ounce of fear. He seemed the farthest thing from a kid and yet…

When she looked at him she couldn't help but think of Sachiko. She couldn't help but think of Miho, of Yukari. Of Nobana, of Ikuyo. Of Noa and Mio and Maho and Yuuhi. Whenever she looked at him she was reminded of her own younger siblings. She could never imagine them in the same position that Kageyama-kun seemed to be in, so why was he here? What had led to this? What had led to a child working as a devil hunter?

Kobeni was not a brave person. She was not a righteous person, either. She was not determined or virtuous. She was just Kobeni—Kobeni, who has nine younger siblings and even she knows that children shouldn't be hunting devils. 

If there's one thing that Kobeni can be sure about, one thing she can be righteous and honorable about, it was this. 

"I like your hair." Kobeni says, trying to make conversation. "Did you cut it yourself?"

"No," says Kageyama-kun, a straightforward answer. "Makima-san cuts it."

Makima-san? Again? She had something to do with this, didn't she? Almost everything—no, everything Kobeni knew about Kageyama-kun had something to do with Makima-san. The jacket he was wearing belonged to Makima-san, his hair was cut by Makima-san, he was hand-picked by Makima-san. With every new thing she learned, Kobeni got a sick, sick feeling in her mouth when it came to her boss. 

"You seem to be fond of her," Kobeni notes. "D–does she—" Not now! Don't stutter now! Kobeni has always been better at talking to people younger than her, but sometimes she still gets nervous. "Does she hold any importance to you?"

Kageyama-kun hums. He doesn't say anything. "I suppose she does—"

He freezes.

They're at the top of the stairwell now, which should be empty. Should. Instead, they find the rest of their little group—Hayakawa-san and Himeno-san stare up at them. Arai-san looks more and more unnerved by the minute. 

"Didn't—Didn't you guys just—" Himeno-san forces out. "Didn't you guys just go down the stairs?"

They're all silent, for a bit. 

"Kobeni, Kageyama-kun." Himeno-san says. "Stay still—one of you make double peace-signs, I don't care which one of you, just do it." 

Kobeni's throat starts to block up a bit now that she and Kageyama-kun aren't alone anymore. A bit embarrassingly, a stream of huh's escaped her mouth. Beside her, Kageyama-kun also throws up two peace-signs. But the dull and uninterested look makes Kobeni slightly panicked blubbering transform into slightly-panicked giggling. (A family photo flashes into her mind. Everyone's smiling. Except Maho, who's the center of attention. She has a blank look on her face, but throws up two peace-signs anyway. She's wearing a headband that says SEVENTEEN on it, because it's her seventeenth birthday.)

Himeno-san then throws herself down the stairs in a flurry of movement. About ten seconds later, Himeno-san is back at the top of the stairs. "Ooooh boy…" Himeno-san drawls, her mouth twisted into a shaky smile. 

Kobeni can feel her face getting sweatier by the minute.

"Aki…what the hell is this?" Himeno-san asks, but in a way where it's clear she already knows the answer and just doesn't want to admit it.  

"Probably…probably a devil's power." Hayakawa-san responds.

"Kobeni, stay right there!" Hayakawa-san barks, and Kobeni wonders what she's done to deserve being the control aspect in these experiments. 

Kageyama-kun coughs. "Should I stay too?"

"If you want." Hayakawa-san says, before opening one of the room doors and walking into it. He closes the door behind him. 

Then, moments later, the sound of creaking makes its way to Kobeni's ears. She turns her head—and there Hayakawa-san is, his hand hanging on the edge of the door. "I was afraid of this," he mutters, and Kobeni can't stop the huh that escapes her mouth. 

"None of the windows lead outside," Hayakawa-san soon explains. "They're all connected to the room on the opposite side."

"We're stuck." Himeno-san says. "We're stuck on the eighth floor."

Ten minutes later finds all six of them crammed into a two bedded hotel room. It's not as cramped as it could be, Kobeni knows. Six people is a lot, but nothing compared to fourteen people. It's nothing compared to the cramped space she and her family had to share post-Gun Devil.

"No matter how many stairs we ascend or descend, we'll always end up on the eighth floor. Clearly, it's the work of a devil." Hayakawa-san starts, listing off all of their current problems—all of which can be linked back to the same thing: devils. 

"We can't use the elevators for some reason,

"We can't get outside through the rooms or windows,

"And we tried climbing up the ceiling, but the eighth floor was above that too." 

"Any movement from the flesh piece?" Himeno-san asks.

"It's completely stopped moving." 

Himeno-san sighs in that way she does. "So we walked straight into a trap. I bet that devil earlier was bait—"

Kageyama-kun seems to wince a bit at that. 

"Not your fault," Himeno-san adds. "Anyways, this is the first time I've had a devil try anything this tricky anyways. I doubt any of us could've guessed."

"Ah, when we don't come back…" Arai-san tries. "Won't the other devil hunters come to rescue us?"

"But they might get trapped too," Kageyama-kun points out, and Kobeni hates that he's right. She hates that he has to be trapped here too.

We're all going to die here, Kobeni thinks, because there's no other explanation. We're going to starve to death. She thinks. She wants to say it—she wants to say it so badly, she wants to cry, she wants to tell everyone that they're going to die here and there's nothing they can do about it. But then she looks at Kageyama-kun and imagines one of her siblings in his place—Sachiko, Ikuyo, one of them, and she knows she has to try to at least be someone strong.

She spent too much of her courage today, she doesn't know if she has anymore to give. 

But if there's one thing Kobeni can be brave about, it's this. Because Kageyama-kun is a kid, and Kobeni can always summon up more courage when it comes to kids. 

Kids deserve to be kids. Kids deserve to be kids. 

"You know, you're a lot more calm about this than I thought you'd be, Kobeni." Arai-san notes.

Kobeni doesn't want to tell him she's one spoon away from setting the ends of her hair on fire. 

I never wanted this job, she thinks. But the pay was so high…I had to take it. For Kaa-san and Otou-san. For Masaki. For Nobana. For everyone. (It was either Devil Hunting or sex work. Kobeni didn't want to do sex work.) It's to put Nobana through college, it's to help pay for Yukari's medical bills. It's to help pay for Maho's private school…

But…Kobeni wants things too. 

She wants to go to college too. 

Kobeni really, really wants to cry about this fact. She does not, because she has to stay strong. 

"Hahahaha!" Power starts laughing. "She doesn't look calm at all! Look at her face!"

"Hey!" Arai-san snaps. "Don't laugh!"

Carefully, Kobeni schools her face into something less panicked. Something more calm. The same face she would give to Nobana when he got scraped knees or to Sachiko when she would come home crying about things she saw on the streets that nobody else could. 

Fear is a devil's favourite food, the voice of Himeno-san sounds in her mind—the same thing she had said about five months ago on one of Kobeni's first jobs. If you act scared, you're just giving them what you want!

Kobeni is scared. She doesn't care if it's giving devils what they want. But she has to stay strong. 

"Hey, Aki," the real Himeno-san says. "Your face looks sour. What's wrong?"

Hayakawa-san's eyes flick to the side. "The clock in this room has been stuck on 8:18 for a while now, don't you think— "

"It's probably just a broken clock! Human devices always get broken 'cuz of stupid shit like that!" 

"All the clocks have been stuck at 8:18. Twice is a coincidence, any more than that and it's a pattern." Hayakawa-san mutters grimly. "It's possible that time itself has been stopped on the eighth floor by the devil. In which case, help may never come."

Oh, Kobeni really wants to cry now.

Miraculously, she doesn't. 

The pause elicited from Hayakawa-san's news is heavy and long. It feels like it'll never stop—

"...I'm tired." says Kageyama-kun suddenly. He stares out at the wall for a few seconds. "I'm going to take a nap."

"What—" Arai-san says, dumbfounded. Kobeni is too. "We could be trapped here forever, and you wanna take a nap?"

"Yeah. I'm tired. I need to recharge. I won't be any use to us if I'm tired and can't do anything." Kageyama-kun yawns. Kobeni thinks he just wants to sleep the worry away—he had barely done anything, after all, and she knows that if she were his age and in his situation, she'd try to do the same. "Wake me if anything interesting happens."

And then he pulls the blanket he's sitting on around himself and flops backward onto the mattress—so stiff and hard that Kobeni can hear a harsh thump. 

"Plus," he mumbles. "These beds are comfortable. It'd be stupid to put them to waste."

Kobeni wonders what kind of beds Makima-san has him sleeping on to where he thinks that is comfortable.

They wake Kageyama-kun not even an hour later. They make Kobeni do it, because Himeno-san says she needs practice with talking to people anyway (but Kobeni thinks it's because Himeno-san knows she has siblings and is probably better at waking kids up than Himeno-san herself is). Kobeni doesn't mind. She's worried for him, either way, and being the one to wake him up helps ease some of her worries—helps fulfill some moral need within her. It's a bit selfish,  she thinks. That I only care about him so much because he's a kid. 

I'm sort of using him to stay calm, anyway. A darker part of Kobeni's mind whispers into her ear. That's selfish, isn't it? 

She doesn't dwell on it—the more she thinks, the worse she'll get. And the worse Kobeni gets, the more embarrassing she gets. (She thinks of that one time in senior year where she was so panicked she had tried to stab someone with a kitchen knife. Maybe it was a good thing that she had found a reason to keep calm.)

"Kageyama-kun," she neer-whispers, gently jostling by the arm. "Kageyama-kun, wake up!"

A low keening noise escapes the boy's throat, and he shifts so that the blanket now goes up to his neck. He mutters something—Kobeni thinks it's something along the lines of five more minutes. It hits her in the stomach like a particularly awful gut-punch. "Come on," she tries again, trying her best not to have her voice come out shakey. "We found out something while you were sleeping."

That makes Kageyama-kun snap to attention, quickly leaving the comfort of the hotel bed with nothing more than a quick stretch. "Tell me."

"Ah…" What did Himeno-san say again? Ah, yes. "The water and electricity still work and we can use them. A—and as far as food goes, there was a bit left behind in guests luggage…"

To be honest, it wasn't that much. It was nowhere near enough. Everyone's down—all in their own ways. 

"How's everyone been doing?" Kageyama-kun asks, getting straight to the point. 

"Eh…" Kobeni says. "Hayakawa-san's been hunting for that devil non-stop…Arai-san was helping but then he started freaking out…and Himeno-san seems the most okay out of all of us—"

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes," Kageyama-kun confirms. "You. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing—" Not great. "Fine. H—Honestly I think it's a miracle I haven't snapped and done something crazy yet…Like, I don't know…try to drink toilet water or something. B—but anyways, I should be asking you the same. You're pretty young, right? How—how old are you?"

"Fourteen." says Kageyama-kun. Kobeni feels like her heart has been crushed by an anvil. 

" Fourteen? Yeah, yeah. Young, you're really young." She continues to ramble. "Most people your age wouldn't last as long as you, which is why I'm asking how you're doing."

"I'm doing…" Kageyama-kun trails off. "The same as always. I'm good at staying calm."

"Anyways…that's how everyone is doing—the—the fiend is an entirely different uh, area of…she seems okay but…"

"I'm bored, so I started thinking up a Nobel Prize Winning invention!" Power exclaims, propping her head up on her palm on the next bed over. Himeno-san has returned, and sighs. "If I win a Nobel Prize, humans shall grovel before me! And then I'll use it as a stepping stone to get people to vote for me as Prime Minister!"

Kobeni doesn't want to know what Power would do as Prime Minister. Kobeni also thinks that Power doesn't even know what a Nobel Prize even is. 

"I want to watch humans suffer, of course." The fiend shifts so now she's sitting on the bed instead of laying on it. "So my first act as Prime Minister would be to implement a 100% sales tax!"

"...She seems the same as always." Kageyama-san observes. 

"Oh, good." Himeno-san says. "'Cuz I wasn't so sure. And you're better at getting a sense for this kinda stuff than I am—it's an empathy thing, right?"

"I guess."

"Anyways, Kageyama-kun, Power, how about you go catch up to Aki? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, you know how he is." Himeno-san sighs. "Me and Kobeni over here will guard Arai. I can't even take a bathroom break if I'm the one doing it!"

Power grumbles about something or other. Kageyama-kun simply nods. The two leave. Himeno-san waits for a few moments, then sighs. 

She takes a drag of her cigarette. "It's great, having an addiction," she says, exhaling. "When you have a job like this you need something to take the edge off. "

Kobeni doesn't say anything—she doesn't know what to say to something like that. Himeno-san had been in this job longer than Kobeni, much, much longer, and she felt it was obvious when you put them side by side. 

Hm…where had she seen that brand before?

"What about you, Kobeni? What do you have?" Himeno-san leans forward on the windowsill. "Me 'n Aki have our cigarettes, Kishibe has his alcohol…the fiend is well, the fiend. And Kageyama-kun has good ol' emotional repression on his side. How do you deal with this typa job, Kobeni?"

"Uhm…" Kobeni trails off. Fear spiraled up her spine and around her ribcage. Despite the fact that the devil/evil-spirit from her childhood had long since been taken care of, she couldn't quite stop the association of fear to the feeling of cat claws digging into her shoulder and the sound of whispers in her ears. It felt nice, to personify such a feeling. But it didn't help her in any way. If anything, the only thing getting her through this job was her own selfishness. "The—the money, probably."

"The money?" Himeno-san repeats. "Says just about everyone that ends up quitting within the month. What actually gets you through it—"

"Himeno." 

The door opens. It's Hayakawa-san, with Power and Kageyama-kun trailing behind him. 

"D'you have any cigarettes left?" 

"Nope!" Himeno-san cheers, seemingly forgetting about her and Kobeni's ongoing conversation. Kobeni was extremely grateful for this fact. "This is my last one!"

Hayakawa-san walks up to Himeno-san. Suddenly, Kobeni feels very uncomfortable and like this is not something she's supposed to see. She pointedly looks away, her eyes meeting Kageyama-kun. He looks the most distressed he's been all day—otherwise known as the same flat expression he always has on, but a little bit tighter than usual. "Then let me have that one." 

"Seriously? You hopeless addict."

"Are those two like, dating or something?" Power asks suddenly. Kobeni has to ask herself the same question. 

Hayakawa-san moves back to the center of the room. And, in a similar way to Himeno-san, takes a drag of his newly acquired cigarette. "So, we've got bad news."

Kobeni snaps herself to attention. 

"Remember that devil we killed? Well—"

"It's a lot bigger now!" Power exclaims. "Like, a lot a lot!"

Kobeni feels like she might be sick. 

"Come on, Kobeni-chan! It won't be that bad!" Yutaka-kun insists, desperately trying to get her to set foot outside of the hotel doors. "It'll be fun!"

"No!" Kobeni resists, tugging against his hand. "I changed my mind! I don't wanna! I don't wanna go outside!"

"Awhh, but you wanted to just yesterday!" Tsutomu-kun, Yukata-kun's brother, whines. "Katsuhiko-kun and Sayako-chan are gonna be coming! Don't you wanna join?"

"But—but—" Kobeni's lips wobble and tears start to form in her eyes. "It's dangerous outside! What if something happens? What—what if a devil appears? Just like the Gun Devil! I don't wanna go outside!"

Yutaka-kun puts on a face that seems to be a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine! You have me to protect you!"

Kobeni feels sick. 

This is not a new experience. Kobeni is no stranger to feeling sick—for a variety of reasons. Masaki often said that her sudden bouts of nausea and illness were psychosomatic. Simply caused by her own stress or anxieties. Masaki was off getting a medical degree in Tokyo (which she helped payed for) so Kobeni could assume that she could at least trust him on that (but she couldn't trust him with financial decisions, despite Masaki growing up poor like the rest of his siblings, concepts like budgeting seem to escape him. Were it not for Kaa-san and Masaki's own girlfriend, he would surely be in debt by now—)

Kobeni does not feel sick because of her own stress however (or, well, that's not the whole reason why she feels sick. It'd be beyond stupid to ignore the fact that she has felt considerable stress for the past who-knows-how-many hours and therefor her stress must have something to do with the tight, rolling pain in her stomach), no, it's because anyone would feel sick when faced with the thing she had been faced with. 

It bursts out one of the room doors in a miasma of flesh and stretched out lips. Every movement it takes is accompanied with a revolting squelch or squish, and its multiple faces pull at each other in a truly picturesque example of suffering. 

She tries not to think about it, swallowing down the vomit in her throat. 

"...I thought I killed it…" says Power, completely ignoring the fact it was Kageyama-kun who killed the previous devil, not her. Now was not the time to point this out. 

"Trapping us in the hotel…" Himeno-san trails off. "I've never seen something like this form before…just what kind of devil is this?"

The lips of the devil twitch and move and the eyes dart from place to place. ' Humans, humans,' it whispers, its voice an echoing thing. ' Humans, humans,' it pleads, its voice a mixture of man, woman, and child. It looks like it's suffering. It looks like it should be put out of its misery. 

"A powerful one." Hayakawa-san says. 

'Foolish humans,' the devil grins a million separate smiles all pulling at each other's seams. 'I'll offer you a contract.'

"A contract?" Kageyama-kun mutters. "What kind of contract?"

'Sacrifice one of you for me to eat…'

Oh, Kobeni doesn't like where this is going. 

'And I'll let the rest of you go free!'

Looking back on it, Kobeni should've gone with her gut. She should've stood her ground. She shouldn't have let Yutaka-kun convince her to leave. However, hindsight was 20/20 wasn't it?

I must have the worst luck possible, she bitterly thinks to herself as she presses up against a crumbling cement foundation. That must be it. 

"Kobeni-chan?" calls something in the same voice of Sayako-chan, but Sayako-chan always calls her Kochan, not Kobeni-chan. Kobeni doesn't answer. "Kobeni-chan, where are you?"

Her breathing feels shallow. She's only eleven years old. Katsuhiko-kun shakes beside her like a wet, cold dog. 

She certainly feels like a cold and wet dog—like the ones used in dogfighting. Like a bait dog. That's what she feels like. She feels like a bait dog, hopelessly waiting in place waiting for something leagues above her to find her and tear her apart. 

Katsuhiko-kuns fingers find their way interlocked with hers. Shaking, but warm. There's a lump in her throat and she forces herself to look at him. His face is scrunched up in a pitiful attempt to not cry, but the tears are still there. Rusty coloured blood  is dried against his cheek. 

"Katsuhiko-kun," she whispers, shakey. " We need to… we need to run. Just—just follow me okay?"

Katsuhiko-kun nods. 

Kobeni strains her ears, listening out for the sound of pitter patter footsteps or creaky-cracking limbs. It's silent. She peers around the corner of the cement pillar. Nothing. Just the miniscule green of regrowing plants and dust swirling in the air. It's a straight shot across, and from there, back to the hotel. Back to safety. 

It's now or never, she thinks, swallowing down her fear and trying desperately to fish up some courage. Kaa-san said you would make a good track runner, that means you're fast. You'll be fine as long as you go now and not later. 

Katsuhiko-kun might weigh you down, whispers another part of her mind. If you leave him behind you'll be more likely to survive. That's how nature works, right?

Oh. But that's selfish. Kobeni doesn't want to be selfish. 

The air is stale and a sudden, putrid scent nearly makes her choke. 

"Come on," she snaps, forcing herself and Katsuhiko-kun up before she can have second thoughts. "Don't look behind you."

And they run.

There is nowhere to run. 

The hallway is a cramped and tight space, and no matter how you looked at it, all the roads led back to Rome. Going down the stairs would get you right back to the eighth floor hallway, trying to escape through the windows would get you right back to the eighth floor hallway. There was no escape. They were stuck. Panic starts to override Kobeni's rationality. 

She looks around. She—she barely knows anyone here. Arai-san is her friend, yes, but she could not tell you his favourite color. Himeno-san may have been her senior and teacher, but only for six months—six months wasn't enough to truly know someone. She had only met the fiend that day. 

She finds she wouldn't really care much if anyone here died. 

Maybe, maybe, she would care about Kageyama-kun. Because he was a kid and Kobeni may be selfish but she wasn't a monster. 

But even that was a maybe. 

Fear thunders in her chest. She knows that fear is what the devil wants. Devils feed off of fear. She does not care. Kobeni is a coward, and she knows it. She knows that if sacrificing one of her teammates meant that she could walk free another day, she would within a heartbeat. It was not a hard decision to make—because when she thought about dying, she imagined her siblings and how empty dying must feel. This is irrational thinking. Kobeni has never been rational. Irrational is her middle name. Middle names are a western thing. Kobeni doesn't have a middle name. 

"That's annoying," says Himeno-san. "Aki, can't you just have the fox swallow it? Then we won't have to deal with all this."

Yes, Kobeni thinks. Have the fox swallow it, then we won't have to deal with all this, and Kobeni will live long enough to quit. 

Ugh, Himeno-san was right. Money wasn't a good reason. 

"Kon," says Hayakawa-san, making a fox with his hand. 

Nothing comes. Kobeni considers if this is worth it—if they will ever get out. No one will sacrifice themself to the devil, maybe Kobeni could just hurry up and put herself out of her misery—

Hayakawa-san shakes his head. "Looks like the fox isn't coming. We're cut off from the outside, and since it's body is in Kyoto…"

Himeno-san chuckles and smiles like this is just any other Tuesday. It's not like any other Tuesday. She holds her hand out. "Well, guess we'll make due with Ghost." and she makes a fist and turns her hand and a screeching sound fills the hallways as the devil twists and Himeno-san just continues to smile. But then Himeno-san stops— "It's not working," she says, and Kobeni can see that the devil has only gotten larger. 

Kobeni can see everything in even higher detail now—every vein, every pull at the skin, every wrinkle and twisted facsimile of a mouth. Himeno-san's Ghost can't deal with the devil. Kobeni doubts her own contract will be of any use. 

"'t's useless!' the Devil sings. ' This isn't my real body! Dumb humans!'

'My heart is not here,' it continues, stretching and contorting like a blanket if a blanket were made of stitched together screaming souls. ' This is the inside of my stomach! You will not find my weak point here, as long as you are on the eighth floor! Unless you agree to my contract you will not leave alive.'

Kobeni swallows and tastes something sour— like stomach acid— in her throat.

Silence. 

Kobeni thinks about the trolley problem. From the way she sees it, this is a hopeless situation, a maze with no way out. But Devils have to abide by contracts, so what's one life in exchange for many? Whenever someone asked Kobeni about the trolley problem, she always answered that she would flip the switch. She'd rather be responsible for one death and save many then be responsible for many deaths by inactions. 

"Maybe—" Kobeni speaks up, but her voice is quiet. No one can hear her over the squelching, squelching, squelching sound of the Devil. "...maybe we should consider it's deal—"

No one except…

Kageyama-kun, who's standing next to her. Kageyama-kun, who is 14. "No," says Kageyama-kun. "We'll find a way. No one is going to die."

Kobeni gulps, her arms shaky. "It's—it's good to be optimistic, K-Kageyama-kun." she says. "But sometimes—you—you have to go with the last resort, you know?"

"I know." says Kageyama-kun. "But we aren't at the last resort yet."

"Yet," Kobeni repeats. "Kageyama-kun…"

But Kageyama-kun has already walked up to stand beside Himeno-san and Hayakawa-san. He says something to them—something about the Devil, and pain, and how they should let him try. Himeno-san reminds him that his contracts won't do anything to it, and Kageyama shrugs and says that this is a situation that calls for my powers. So I will use them. 

Kobeni isn't sure how psychic powers will help either. She's only ever seen Sachiko bend spoons. But Sachiko and Kageyama-kun weren't the same. (Sachiko was at home, doing homework and playing with friends and being 14 years old. Kageyama-kun is 14 and risking his life in a dingy hotel.)

"Are you sure?" asks Hayakawa-san. "Are you sure you can do it? I can always use the sword if you can't."

" No one's using the sword," says Himeno-san. 

"I can do it," confirms Kageyama-kun. "I've been practicing."

Kobeni watches and stands aside. Kobeni watches and doesn't do anything. Kobeni watches because she's a coward who can't do anything other than be a bystander. Kobeni watches as Kageyama-kun walks to the edge—closer and closer to the Devil with each step, and holds a hand out. 

Something fills the air. A feeling. A chill rises up her spine. Something that feels like static runs over her skin. Something heavy is in the air, weighing down, dark. She swears she hears whispers and creaking and things she really shouldn't. Kageyama-kuns hair is floating. 

Powerful, an inner instinct of hers screams. More powerful than you will ever be. 

Out of the three options when faced with a power more intense than anything she's ever felt, Kobeni chooses freeze. Arai does too. Even Power , whose name is Power, freezes as well. The only two who don't are Hayakawa-san and Himeno-san, but they still hang back. 

Everything gets inexplicably darker yet so bright at the same time. The Devil shrieks. Loud, and long and it makes her ears bleed. She can't close her eyes as she watches her squirm and writhe, yet stay in the same place. It body bulges like it's growing tumors under it's skin and—

And then it stops. 

The Devil is still alive.

Kageyama-kun has brought his hand down. He's stumbling away. His face is still blank but— "I'm sorry," she hears. "I couldn't do it. My emotions got in the way again."

The Devil pants. And pants. And pants. ' I'm changing the rules of this contract—' it says.

'Instead of any human…' various grins break across it. 'I'll take the small one. And then maybe I'll let you go.'

When Kobeni returns to the hotel by herself and blood staining her face, the adults do not blame her. 

No. They gather her up. They ask if they're okay and what happened. They tell her it's not her fault. They tell her that it was just bad luck. But here's the thing: Kobeni knows it wasn't a Devil that attacked them. And she knows that it's her selfishness that ended up with her being alone in the end. Kobeni has just turned 11.

But the Devil is weaker now—

"I'm using the sword." says Hayakawa-san, but Himeno-san is already ahead of him, already having stuck her right hand out once more. 

Except this time, it's easier. The Devil is weaker, from whatever Kageyama-kun did. And it screams and screams and screams. It squirms and it never stops but, eventually, Himeno pulls out a heart. 

And then everything starts to fall. The building shakes, and shakes, and shakes. Hayakawa-san yells about getting out of the building as fast as they can. Power makes a whooping noise. Kobeni struggles her way down the stairs. Kageyama-kun does the same behind her. 

They make it to the 3rd floor and the Devil's corpse is still falling—unfurling, unfurling. Kageyama-kuns eyes catch it through a window and he stumbles. Kobeni catches him on instinct and drags him the rest of the way. 

They're the last two out of the building. Kobeni nearly slips on purple blood on her way out. Himeno waves at them when they get out. 

"Oh, you're both okay!" She cheers. Then she turns at the carnage. "Cleanup for that's gonna be horrible…"

Kobeni looks at it, and groans. Yeah. She thinks she might be sick—actually this time. Himeno-san looks back at her to Kageyama-kun, whose slung over her shoulder and groaning. "Thanks for looking after him, by the way." Himeno-san says. "Not many people do."

Kobeni stares at her. "...I just did what anyone would do."

Himeno-san lets out a loud chuckle, and pulls out a cigarette from her pocket. Kobeni thought she had run out in the hotel…? She lights it. "Not everyone has your sense of morality."

Kobeni does not tell her how she had, very briefly, thought of stabbing someone in the hotel, and feeding them to the Devil herself. She especially does not tell her that Kageyama-kun was not excluded from the list of potential victims in this—as much as Kobeni wished he was. 

Ah… she thinks. I can already feel my screws coming loose…

"Anyways, I'll take him off your hands, yeah?" Himeno-san says, already bringing Kageyama-kun fully to his face. He doesn't look at anyone, just at the floor. Something purple stains his cheek. "I promised that I'd get him something to eat…"

And then—

"Ah! Eyepatch lady! There are you!" hisses Power from behind Himeno-san. "I demand you get me something to eat as well!"

"...And her too, I guess." Himeno-san sighs, even though Kobeni distinctly remembers her only agreeing to get Power food if Power killed the devil. Himeno-san and Kageyama-kun killed the devil, not power. "You and Arai report on what happened, alright Kobeni?"

"Y–yeah…" Kobeni says, and then watches the three walk off. Hayakawa-san joins them, then starts scolding Power for something. Arai-san comes up to stand next to her. 

"So…" says Arai-san. "I'm kind of thinking of quitting now…"

Kobeni thinks of quitting, but then she sees that there's a pay raise right around the corner, and stays. She goes to the welcoming party that Himeno-san throws. She wears her nicest dress and looks up the place that Himeno-san gives. She balks at the expensive prices, but Himeno-san says that she'll pay. 

There are more people than she expects. It's filled with mindless chatting and banter. Kobeni stays as quiet as she can manage and thinks about whatever comes to mind. Her mind wanders to Kageyama-kun. She turns it away and thinks about Sachiko instead, which makes her think of Kageyama-kun again. She thinks of food instead. 

They introduce themselves and their contracts and hobbies—Himeno-san makes a joke about how the Fox Devil prefers pretty men and Kobeni ends up admitting that she's wearing a hand-me-down from her mother. They talk about death and public safety and…

Then Makima-san appears. Kobeni, hypothetically, knew Makima-san was coming. 

She's only met Makima-san face to face a few times, and all the times have been horrifying. Makima-san arrives and then decides that she's going to pay for everything, something that Himeno-san had previously offered to do. Himeno-san has a bright smile across her face, both because now she gets to keep her hard earned money and—

"Oh! Heeey! It's Kageyama-kun!" Himeno-san cheers, and then Kobeni finally realizes—oh, Kageyama-kun really is here. At an expensive restaurant. Of drunk adults. He's 14. "Didn't know you were bringing him, Makima-san."

Kageyama-kun bows in greeting. "Hello. Higashiyama-san, Hayakawa-san, Himeno-san, Arai-san, Power-chan. Hello, people I do not know. I'm Kageyama Shigeo, Public Safety Devil Hunter. Nice to meet you."

"Is that a middle schooler!?" sputters someone from the back.

And then no one really has time to focus on Kageyama-kun who is wearing a slightly too big suit, because then Makima-san crushes everyone in a drinking contest. Kobeni does not drink. She watches the whole time, and then her eyes drift to Kageyama-kun. Too young, she thinks. This is something you report to the police, right?

Kobeni thinks about it…and yeah. The police wouldn't just let a 14 year old play Devil hunter, right? 

"Oh! Kobeni-chan," says Makima-san suddenly. "I've actually been wanting to chat with you. Mind meeting me out back?"

Kobeni straightens up, and stutters out a yes.

"You seem worried," says Makima-san. 

"Huh?" says Kobeni. "I—I mean of course I'm worried. I'm always worried. I'm worried about a lot of things, Maki—Makima-san."

"You kept eyeing my charge. You're worried about him, aren't you?"

"Oh, Kageyama-kun?" Kobeni perks up. "Yeah, I guess I'm a bit worried. He's 14 and fighting Devils… 14."

Makima smiles at her. "I assure you, Kageyama-kun is fine."

"It's just…" Kobeni bites her lip, squinting at the ground. Something…something tightens in her chest. Something hot. Something angry. "W–with all due respect, Makima-san. Uh, Kageyama-kun is—he's, for lack of a better word, a child. He is a middle schooler…he—he said he's homeschooled. Does he have any friends his age? Anyone he talks to outside of Public Safety? Have you—have you even thought about how this might affect him? Most people have PTSD by their 20's due to Devil attacks, but Kageyama is, I presume, going on regular missions to kill them…shouldn't he be, I—I don't know, doing his homework instead?"

The smile stays on Makima-san's face. "I assure you, Kobeni-chan." she says and Kobeni gulps. "Shigeo-kun is fine."

Higashiyama Kobeni is a coward. 

"...Alright," she says. "I'll take your word for it, Makima-san."