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Honestly, Haruka was so tired of being a hunter..
Like - Sure, it was rewarding, she was making a good impact on the world by reducing the population of demons,
But is this the life she wants to live?
..
It doesn't matter, though, does it? She'll still come in and hunt all of these monsters down until there's none left.
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Today, she was assigned to hunt down another monster - a girl by the name of. . Shiraishi An? Huh. She feels like she knows that name before, where the hell was that from? It was on the tip of her tongue!
Meh, she shouldn't dwell too much time on it, 'lest she get scolded for taking too much time on this assignment. Haruka gets ready, making sure to keep in mind her checklist.
" And finally, my gun . . Should be all. "
Great, now it's time to take leave! Hopefully this time it'll be atleast a little interesting. .
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Haruka pulls up to the site, an abandoned warehouse, which seemingly was used for secret concerts or meet-ups upon entering. So this one must be a hippie thing, huh? She prays this demon will be atleast a little chill this time. She really doesn't need to wrestle today.
She searches the perimeters inside and out. The hunter successfully lock-picked her way into getting inside the back-stage,
But before she could enter. .
"BOO!" practically screamed behind her.
Of course, she turns around to find. . Wait isn't that her best friend? Well, not really her best friend, but her childhood friendly rival? Ah, so that's why the name seemed so familiar.
The demon seemed to recognize her too, albeit not that much, squinting her eyes slightly and visibly trying to figure out who this girl was.
Honestly, An looked really cute as a demon, with her spiky horns and whatnot. Not saying she wasn't cute before, of course! She was just way cuter now.
. . And she has to kill her. Curse this stupid fucking job.
She tries to find solutions in her head. And to An, the blue-haired looked like she was just.. staring into her soul! Real creepy.
"Helloo? Attention to Haruka?" An says somewhat hesitantly, incase she'd lunge at her or something, she doesn't know, okay? All that matters is that she seemed to snap out of her problem-solving state or whatever. "So I've got a couple questions since.. You know, I've missed ya, alright?"
An missed her? Wow. She honestly didn't expect that, especially since she acted so casual(?) just now.
"Oh? Well then, carry on."Haruka replies, ugh, she can't bring herself to kill this beautiful, amazing, definitely-not-the-smartest girl she has the utter pleasure to call one of her friends. .
An's eyes gleam with excitement, and she quickly takes out a notebook from behind her back, -even though the hunter swore she never saw said notebook behind her, maybe she can just.. manifest stuff? Some demons have powers and stuff - and quickly flips to a random page which 90% chance had nothing even written on it. "Okay. . Have you missed me?" She asks, looking at Haruka with a mix of slyness, a mix of genuine curiosity. The question made said hunter blush. .
Both of them knew Haruka's answer based on the blush, but An wants to hear it, she supposed.
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" She replies with an amount of nonchalant that was very obviously fake. The demon takes the answer, before continuing on to the next question. "Hm . . Why did you come here?"
Oh no.
That's the uncomfortable question. She can't just say she was tasked to kill her, now can she? Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to actually do it. Haruka's mouth opened and close like a fish out of water trying to find a suitable answer.
"You came to kill me, right?"
..
An was right, no? But, it hurts to even say that she was going to kill her. To murder probably an innocent woman.
"It's fine, it's part of your job. I can't put it against you."
Her heart ached, and yet the most she could mutter out was a "sorry. ."
Suddenly, the gun strapped to her waist felt too heavy. Suddenly, she couldn't move. An was strong, of course. But she seemed to just be waiting for her death. It's stupid. Haruka should just take the win, right? Haruka reaches for the gun.
..
But she just can't!
She hates this job so much. "I literally just can't, I hope you know that." Haruka takes a sharp breath, sitting down beside An, taking out the protein bar and handing it to her. "I can't eat, stupid.. " The little demon laughed softly. ".. Maybe, before ya kill me and all that, let's play one last game of basketball? Y'know, just to end all of our squabbles from when we were kids." continued the horned-creature.
Well, she wasn't opposed to that.
"You sure you won't immediately lose? " Teased the blue-haired.
"Ya sure you won't eat dirt?" An almost immediately retorted back.
And so they played, albeit it was a shorter game - maybe only three something rounds? - that was the most fun she's had in MONTHS. maybe even goddamn years. It was nice to finally get some exercise that wasn't strangling these creatures or cardio.
But like all good things,
It must come to an end, right?
After the game, the hunter tried to find every excuse in the book to try and find a way to spend more time with her.
"Aren't you gonna get scolded or something if you take too long on this?" Was always An's answer.
Which, again, the demon wasn't wrong! But, even if that does happen, does it really matter that much compared to a friend she hasn't seen in about a dozen years?
..
Haruka takes a real good look at An, trying to memorize her face one last time before pulling out her gun.
"I'm sorry. I promise to remember you."
"You better, 'else I'm gonna haunt you." She can't do that, but it's nice to go along with the joke one last time.
BANG! echoed through the abandoned warehouse, as her now dead body sparkled instead of bled. - Since, y'know, demons don't exactly have blood.- She should probably clean her up, right?
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Haruka walks out of the warehouse feeling more numb than ever, everything was a blur until she reached the headquarters again.
She doesn't want to do this anymore.