Chapter Text
A cupid’s job was simple.
To spread love with their divine arrows, guided by the will of the heavens. Their aim had to be true, their judgment objective. They embodied the virtues of diligence and patience, following their targets until just the right moment.
Genya felt he embodied these traits nicely. His aim was impeccable, as was his judgment. As the youngest cupid in heaven, he also had among the best track records, with hundreds of successes under his belt, proving his diligence. And though the older cupids said he could do with more patience, Genya thought he had plenty. He clearly had the patience to follow this bumbling couple around the city, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Breathe. Aim. Fire.
He loosed his arrow just as the girl turned to look at the boy over her shoulder. Though blindfolded, he could still see its piercing light as it struck his target’s soul, just as their eyes met. Direct hit.
Kazumi’s heart pounded in his chest, staring down at where Satoko clutched his hand in hers. He buries his face into his scarf, desperate to hide the blush on his face. In his pocket, the little box he’d hurriedly stuffed inside practically burned against his thigh.
When they had been set up by their parents, Kazumi had been skeptical. She was pretty, sure, but there were tons of pretty girls in the world, and who said she would be the one for him? But he’d found himself pleasantly surprised by her at every turn.
Her personality just meshed so well with his; her cautious nature reeling in his impulsivity, her soft edges melding around his jagged temper, and intelligence to match his own, he found he was never bored when talking to her.
It only made sense that he should ask her to marry him and spend the rest of their lives in bliss. However, every time he tried to pull the ring out and propose, he found himself chickening out, terrified at the prospect of making a mistake. Did she love him? Did he love her?
His hand trembles in hers, and she pauses, turning to look at him over her shoulder, brows pinched in concern. But in that moment, something comes over him. He feels almost as if he’s been struck by a realization, staring at his own reflection in her wide, dazzling brown eyes.
He loved her.
Truly, deeply, madly.
“Satoko.”
Her head tilts, heart racing from the tone he used alone.
He suddenly drops to one knee, fumbling for the little box in his pocket with one hand, the other still clasped in hers.
“Kazumi?!”
“Satoko! I-I’m sorry I didn’t ask at dinner… but I’m sure now! Sure that I love you more than anything in this world. That I want to be with you forever! S-Satoko… Will you marry me?”
He brandished the ring with as much flourish as he could when his hand was shaking so badly.
Tears filled her eyes, and rather than verbally answer, she yanked the man to his feet and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Her hands cup his cheeks, fingers burying in his hair.
Unbeknownst to the couple, Genya hovers nearby, bow still poised in firing position. The cupid grimaces at the wet sound of their kisses, quickly fluttering away before they can get more… passionate. He’d heard enough to know his mission was a success.
He lands himself on an empty park bench, sitting under a flickering street light. Stretching his wings, he lounged back, not at all worried about being seen. Only the divine or demonic could see an angel walking the earth, after all.
The light above him flickered once, then twice, and a tall man, corded with muscle and with beautiful wings that shone like gems, appeared beside him. Even his blindfold, which he had pushed up onto his forehead to reveal piercing maroon eyes, was bejeweled. White hair sparkled with diamond dust as the man draped his arms across the back of the bench, golden bangles clinking against the wood.
“Another excellent shot, though not as flashy as it could have been. And really, what a drab proposal,” Tengen, the head cupid in heaven, drawls beside him.
Genya hummed and kicked his feet, tipping his head back to peer up at the large angel. “’S not like I control what they do after I shoot ‘em.”
“It’s a wonder what love will make you overlook,” Tengen sighs wistfully. Genya can’t quite tamp down on the surge of bitterness that rises in his chest at that statement. “Ah, but that’s not why I’m here. I actually have an extra special assignment for you, straight from on high. I hear it’s a difficult one, though.”
Genya scrunches his nose, ignoring the coo it elicits from the other angel. He couldn’t stand the way they babied him sometimes.
Dead at 10 years old, he looked the part of a stereotypical cupid with a cherubic face and tiny body. Everything about him, except for the jagged scar that stretched from his left ear and across his chubby cheek. Forever frozen as a child, he garners a lot of pity-filled glances from the other cupids, very few of them close to his age.
“Difficult? ‘S just shooting an arrow or two.”
“Ha! I forget you’re just a fledgling sometimes,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’ve still got tons to learn.”
“I’ve been doing this for ten years!”
“And I, thousands, kiddo. Consider this mission a learning experience. Your target is Shinazugawa Sanemi. He lives in the Kyobashi ward of Tokyo, Japan.”
Genya grimaced.
“It’ll be a trip home for you, huh?”
“And his fated?” Genya asks, pointedly ignoring that comment.
“Figuring that out is part of your assignment. Report to heaven for check-in, then depart for your new mission right away.”
And just like that, Tengen was gone. He had a way of brushing through like a whirlwind and leaving just as unannounced as he entered.
Genya sighed, wings drooping. From one assignment to another, just like that? What kind of mission had he just gotten himself into?
He wandered down the halls, passing various closed doors as he headed for the records room. He always found it odd that heaven could look so mundane. The other angels had explained that it was simply his perception, that heaven looked differently for everyone there. Their surroundings shifted in a way that made it so their once mortal minds could perceive them. The only angels capable of seeing past the illusion were the arch angels, primordial beings that transcended humanity.
Apparently, his heaven looked a lot like his old elementary school from when he was alive. It made sense, Genya mused. He always liked his school—a guaranteed meal, a place where the teachers were obligated to care about you, a place where he could just be a kid. This wasn’t the entirety of heaven, of course, just a corner of paradise reserved for the angels to come and go.
He stops at the end of the hallway, just in front of an unmarked door. Pushing it open, he stepped into what appeared to be an observatory of sorts. Stars surrounded him on all sides, floating above, below, and beside him, a room that gave the angels access to the infinite.
Standing in the middle, Genya closed his eyes and felt the new soul connection that was formed the moment the target was assigned to him. His wings spread, trembling with emotion as sensations flooded his mind, his body, his very center.
Sanemi Shinazugawa.
He felt like… wind. A once bright soul with a cloying darkness hovering around it like smoke obscuring the sky. Like a storm in the distant mountains, clouds swirling ominously around the peak, the taste of ozone settled on his tongue. And this was just the surface.
Genya prods deeper, curious. His eyes shone with a deep golden light. He has no close living relatives and no current partners, though he finds the scars of Cupid’s arrows. He’d loved before… loved and lost. A mother? A brother? Perhaps a lover?
He can’t… he can’t see. Golden tears drip from his chin, and Genya realizes he has been brought to his knees. He pulls back from the connection, suddenly fearful. Just who was this man?
He scrubs his arm across his face, mopping up the tears with his sleeve. The golden light of his eyes faded back to their normal lilac.
So, trying to find his fated the easy way was a bust. He would just have to scout out his target and find the most compatible soul for him.
He looked toward the earth, a distant ball of blues, greens, and white. His feet lifted, and he drifted closer, hand outstretched for the planet. This far, he felt like he could hold the planet in his palm, but as the stars blur past him, lightyears of distance passing in mere seconds, the earth begins to dwarf him. It’s beautiful, second only to Eden itself, temptation incarnate, a mother, a nurturer. His old home.
Tying on his blindfold, he reached out, hand pressing against the veil that separated the holy and the mortal worlds. He pushes, stepping through it as the smells and sounds and tastes washed over him, exhilarating in all the ways heaven wasn’t. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t gotten to experience the living world in its entirety, but there was something so alluring about it to Genya.
The sounds of idle conversation filled the air, which smelled of body odor and various cloying body sprays. His head tilted. With his blindfold blocking out the sight of the mortal realm, he could see the other world. Souls danced through the darkness, young and vibrant—children.
A school, then. On the cusp of adulthood, this could only be a high school. It wasn’t unheard of for children to be a target for Eros, though it was more likely to be one of the teachers.
He’s shaken from his musings by the sound of a hand slamming against wood and a deep, booming voice.
“Class started two minutes ago! Yet you’re all still babbling on like most of you didn’t fail your last exam! If you’ve got time to talk, then you’ve got time to explain why most of you can’t do basic fucking math!! SIT THE HELL DOWN!!”
“Ah,” Genya thought, “the target is an asshole.”
Hell. He was in hell. Hellfire surrounded him, burning him, flaying the flesh from his back. The world was collapsing around him, unbearably hot, yet all he felt was cold, like his soul had frozen over and was weighing his body down. The weight of it sat heavy in his chest, pressing down on his lungs, choking him.
A burned husk lay on the floor in front of him. It turned its melting face toward him and laughed.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” It croaked through charred vocal cords.
Banging. There was banging. A door, just behind him. He needed to… to let it out. He hears the door unlock, and he looks over his shoulder, seeing what looks like an ordinary door. The banging starts up again, the thing trying to escape. He had to help it.
He reaches for the handle, the metal surprisingly cool against his skin despite the raging fire all around them. He pulls open the door and-
Sanemi sat up with a choked gasp, sweat rolling down his forehead as his heart raced. His scarred chest heaved for breath, bloodshot eyes staring at the wall across from him.
Fucking same old nightmare. Again. Thankfully, this time, it ended before the worst part.
“Good morning, Sunshine! Did you sleep alright?” Kyogo bared his sharp teeth at him in a grin, hovering over him.
Sanemi grimaced. That would explain the nightmare, Sanemi thought as he stared up at his father’s scarred face. He checks the time, realizing he woke just before his alarm was set to go off.
“You were tossing and turning all night,” Kyogo feigned concern, devil’s tail wrapping around Sanemi’s wrist. Sanemi simply rolls out of bed, hand slipping through Kyogo’s body. It wasn’t enough to be tormented by the man when he was alive; now he’s come back after it all to keep making him miserable. At the very least, the demon was harmless, more of a nuisance than a threat.
Even taller than he was in life, the demon towered over him, tail flicking like a pissed-off cat’s. His blackened claws tap against his muscled forearms in irritation. Pitch-black horns sprout from his temples, curling over his ears and then up and back around to point at the back of his head. Deep, glowing purple cracks run up and along the sides of the horns, and tar-black eyes with purple irises follow Sanemi’s every move.
He's learned that the best way to deal with the demon was to simply not acknowledge him at all. Eventually, Kyogo would get bored and fuck off to God only knows where. At the very least, he knew the demon wouldn’t follow him into the shower. He grabs a towel from his cabinet and slams the bathroom door right in the demon’s wretched face, determined to enjoy his moments of peace.
He emerges a while later, towel wrapped firmly around his waist, water still trailing down his bare chest. Kyogo is waiting for him, lounging on his bed with a sour look.
“I know I taught you better than to ignore your father,” he grumbles, each word accompanied by the soft thump of his tail against the sheets. His purple and black kimono drapes around him as he lays his cheek against his palm.
Sanemi breezes past him and straight to his closet, closing the door behind him so he can drop his towel. He dresses himself in a tight, button-up shirt and a fitted waistcoat. He leaves the top unbuttoned, the idea of something around his neck making his skin prickle with anxiety. Pressed dress pants and loafers complete his everyday look as he finger-combs his hair, checking the mirror on the back of the door. He pointedly ignores the deep bags that shadow his bloodshot eyes, red-rimmed like he’d been crying.
Stepping out of the closet, he checks the time and decides to forego breakfast again. He’d taken longer than he thought he would in the shower. Grabbing his briefcase and keys, he heads straight for the door, exiting his apartment and locking it behind him. Kyogo emerges through the wall to follow, scowling in the way he used to do before he lost his temper.
It didn’t scare him anymore.
It didn’t.
He walks faster down the apartment hallway just to put more distance between them.
He unlocks the door to his shitty, grey car, slides into the driver’s seat, and starts it up with an awful, gear-grinding rumble. Kyogo sprawls across his backseats, the demon looking comically large in his tiny car. He has that same stormy expression on his face, and Sanemi immediately turns up the radio loud enough to drown out any grumbling from his unwanted passenger.
He just wanted to get through this day with minimal meltdowns or issues. A monumental feat when the ghost of your dead father constantly hovers over your shoulder.
Thankfully, the drive to work was short. Upon walking through the doors, he was immediately greeted by Giyuu, the language arts and gym teacher and the very last person he wanted to see at seven in the morning, though the man seemed to believe they were friends.
Giyuu waves at him with the smallest quirk of his lips, and Sanemi sneers right back. Fucker. He walks past him, but not without a rough shoulder check for good measure. Can’t have the guy thinking he’s warming up to him or something. Thankfully, the next person to greet him is a much more welcome sight.
Kanae Kocho.
She was the resident biology teacher and, along with her little sister, one of the school nurses. She was kind and cheerful and went out of her way to be nice to as many people as possible. The few times he landed in the nurse’s office, she always treated him so gently that it made it hard not to like the woman.
Her calming aura was so soothing, the warm brush of her hands familiar. Everything, down to the soft tilt of her violet eyes, reminded him so strongly of his own mother.
She calls out to him, and he stops in his tracks.
“Sanemi-kun! Good morning!” She sing-songs. “I heard your class had a test the other day. Some of the students were complaining about it outside. I hope you weren’t too hard on them!”
“All the material I use for my tests comes straight from the lessons. If they’re struggling with it, then it’s their own damn fault for not listening or asking questions,” he scoffs.
“It’s just not that easy for some kids. You know, you can be pretty intimidating when you teach.”
“Then consider it a lesson in growing the fuck up.”
She purses her lips, brows furrowing in consternation.
“Sanemi.”
He grunted in response, stepping around her, wholly uninterested in being lectured. At the end of the day, the kids would either pass or fail his class, but they had to earn it. He didn’t care about holding their hands and singing fucking kumbaya with them. Didn’t give a rat's ass if they liked him. His only job was to teach the shits the math they would need for the real world, and that was it. If they weren’t getting it, then it was up to them to actually say something. He wasn’t unreasonable, just firm.
She calls after him, but he ignores her, pulling open the door to his classroom and setting his briefcase on his desk. Today would be a review day. He had stayed up until one a.m. the night before finishing grading tests. A little over half of them had bombed it. So, he would spend today drilling equations into them until they were begging for mercy.
He started filling the board with the test questions the class struggled with the most. Normally, when someone failed his exam, he would make them stay behind for supplemental learning, but this time, most of the class had failed.
His homeroom students begin to file into the room, chatting amongst themselves. Some were at least discussing the exam, but most were just idly chit-chatting about nonsense. Sanemi could feel his temper rising as the bell rang, and yet they all continued their inane talking, gathered around each other’s desks. They knew his rules by now.
He slams his hand down on the desk, veins bulging along his arms.
“Class started two minutes ago! Yet you’re all still babbling on like most of you didn’t fail your last exam! If you’ve got time to talk, then you’ve got time to explain why most of you can’t do basic fucking math!! SIT THE HELL DOWN!!”
He watches with satisfaction as they all scramble for their seats, none of them daring to make another peep. Kyogo cackles at their obvious fear, leaning over Sanemi’s shoulder.
This would be a long day. He hated having to repeat himself, after all.
He was right. The day had dragged by. And with every shoddy excuse from his students, every jeering taunt from Kyogo, the ticking of the clock, the squeak of his own markers on the board, it all served to piss him off.
Not only that but the nagging feeling of eyes on the back of his neck. Of course, he knows the students are looking at him, but this feels different. Prickling at the back of his neck like something physical, he could never pinpoint the source. It made him perhaps testier than usual, even making one girl break into tears at one point.
When the final bell rang, he was eager to shoo the little monsters out of his classroom, laden with plenty of homework to hold them over the weekend. He starts to gather his papers, trying his best to ignore that damned feeling again. He sees a student sitting at their desk from the corner of his eye. He sighs.
“School is over. Get out already-” he cuts off abruptly as he looks up.
There was no one there, though he swore he saw someone. Maybe he was finally losing it after all, he thought as Kyogo’s grating laughter echoed in his ears.