Day 9: Sweet as Sin

"Do you think it's finally time to go to that KFP?" Mary asked Patra. She was laying upside down, playing on a Nintendo switch. "I wonder what kind of alcohol it has."

"Nee-san, you need to keep an eye on your alcohol intake," Patra was cleaning her KU100 microphone which was a plastic egg with ears. "Plus, it's a fast food joint. How much alcohol could it really have?"

"I wonder if they cook souls," Mico droned as she typed away on her keyboard. "That's another win for me."

"Darn it!" Charlotte heaved a sigh as she wheeled away from her computer. "Eating souls isn't good, Mico. Think about how they feel."

"Whatever you say, Tenshi," Mico replied, emphasizing the last word.

"I'm not an angel!" Charlotte stood up to stomp on the floor, puffing her cheeks out in a puff.

"I'm bored~," Patra whined. "Can we go now?"

"Sure," Mary stood up, a smile on her face. "Let's go out to eat."

-

"You know, you're really good at this," Suisei said as she sipped on her tea.

"Good at what?" Ryan tilted his head. They hadn't been doing anything other than talk about whether you should stack your Tetris pieces to the left or the right.

"I've known you for about a week, yet I barely know anything of value about you," Suisei replied, putting a finger to her lips as she stared at Ryan intensely. "It's not that I'm not enjoying these tea times, but I came here to get info on you."

"What can I say?" Ryan shrugged. "I'll tell you what you want to know when I'm comfortable saying it."

"I guess we're going to be having more of these sessions," Suisei concluded.

"You're taking this a lot better than I thought," Ryan said, taking a sip of his hot cocoa. Ryan was never one for tea, but always kept a stash in case anyone came to visit. "I thought you would get mad at me or something."

"I'm not that kind of person," Suisei said, her normal smile returning to her face. "I don't torture people who haven't done anything."

"I guess that puts you above MILF, at least," Ryan rubbed his temples. "You don't seem like a bad person. I hope we can actually become friends at some point."

"Friends…" Suisei rubbed her chin, pondering the word. "That would sound nice."

"Well, I'll be here when you're ready to give it a shot," Ryan said as he looked at his phone. "Well, it looks like I have to get ready for work."

"I guess I'll see you around, then," Suisei said, standing up. She walked out of the apartment and jumped out of the balcony.

"I'll see you around," Ryan echoed as he put on his hoodie, a small smile on his face.

-

Ryan smiled as he walked into the KFP. "Morning Tenchou," he said his usual greeting as he walked around the counter.

"Morning Ryan!" Kiara chirped as she poked her head from the back room. "Can you help me out over here?"

"What's up?" Ryan asked as he walked into the back room, only to connect his face with his palm as he saw a heap of ashes on the floor. "I'll get the broom."

"Wait!" Kiara grabbed onto Ryan's leg, crocodile tears pouring from her eyes. "That's my baby! My gaming console!"

"No Tenchou, that's a pile of ashes," Ryan said sternly, pointing at the ashen soul of what could have been a gaming console. "Let me do my job and clean it up."

"Fine…" Kiara sat on her knees as Ryan got the broom and swept the mess up, throwing it in the trash. "My poor baby…"

"It's okay," Ryan put a hand on his manager's head. "You can always try again."

"I guess you're right…" Kiara said with a depressed tone as she stood up, slumping her shoulders.

"Excuse me?" A woman's voice called over from the main room. "Is anyone here?"

Both Ryan and Kiara walked out to see four women sitting at the counter. Ryan recognized two of them to be Patra and Mary, but the two other women were unrecognizable to him. The one to Patra's left had navy blue hair, amber eyes, and what Ryan dubbed a 'crown of thorns', which was a crown of demon horns. She wore a similar outfit to Patra, but the pink was replaced with navy blue. The woman to Mary's right had a deadpan expression on her face. Her right eye was covered by an eyepatch and she had green hair and a pair of horns. She wore a vest and a skirt, not leaving much for the imagination.

"Sorry for making you wait," Ryan said politely as he walked up to the counter. "My name is Ryan Shade. May I take your orders?"

"Ooh, you're a nice one~," Mary smiled seductively as she leaned forward onto the counter. "What can a lady do to get a drink around here?"

"Nee-san, not now," Patra sighed, shaking her head. "I heard you made fried chicken?"

"We do, but we also sell pretty much anything you can want!" Kiara said, back to her cheery self. "Onigiri? Gyudon? Souls? We have it all!"

"Ooh," The green-haired demon hit her palm with her fist, her mouth taking the shape of Mt. Fuji. "Can I have some souls?"

"Sure!" Kiara chirped, her smile growing. "How would you like it cooked?"

"You can cook souls?" The demon asked.

"Of course!" Kiara cheered.

"I'll have mine medium rare," She replied. "Eat your souls like you eat your steak."

"Before we continue, can I get your names?" Ryan asked.

"My name is Suou Patra," Patra introduced herself with a small not, placing her hand to her upper chest as a gesture towards herself.

"I'm Saionji Mary," Mary introduced herself, offering Ryan a wink.

"Sekishiro Mico," The green-haired demon introduced herself.

"I'm Shimamura Charlotte!" The navy demon exclaimed, a huge, innocent smile on her face. "Nice to meet 'cha!"

"Thank you," Ryan said, a soft smile growing on his face. "Now, may we continue to take your order?"

"I'll have some onigiri," Patra said.

"Do you have umeshu back there?" Mary tilted her head.

"Of course," Ryan said. "We have all kinds of alcohol here."

"I told you!" Mary looked at Patra.

"Nee-san, your alcohol intake," Patra reminded her.

"I'll pipe down on the alcohol once you get more sleep," Mary shot back with a smug grim.

"Ehh…" Patra shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'll just have some of the chicken!" Charlotte said excitedly. "I heard this place has some very good chicken."

"Would you like it mild or spicy?" Ryan asked.

"I'll have mild," Charlotte replied.

"Alright, I'll come back with your orders," Kiara said. "Ryan here is a human, so he can't exactly cook souls."

"You're a human?" Mico tilted her head. "Now that's unexpected."

"So that's what the pamphlet said by tormenting humans," Mary said as if a lightbulb went off in her head. "Honestly, I kinda like it."

"Tormenting humans isn't nice," Charlotte said. "Why can't we just play video games with them? We do it all the time."

"That sounds fun," Ryan said. "As much as I want to play, I just don't have the time anymore."

"That sucks," Charlotte said, her shoulders slumping.

"Don't worry about it," Ryan smiled. "I like life here."

"I see," Charlotte nodded, a satisfied expression on her face.

"You know, you remind me of someone," Ryan narrowed his eyes. "She always claimed to be a devil but always did good things. Everyone called her an angel."

"T-that's nothing like me!" Charlotte's face turned beet red. "I'm a demon! Not an angel!"

"Yep, exactly like her," Ryan chuckled.

"I'm back!" Kiara cheered as she bounded over to the counter. She placed a plate of rice balls in front of Patra, a tub of Birb Mild Wings in front of Charlotte, a bottle of alcohol and a glass with a big chunk of ice in front of Mary, and placed an empty plate in front of Mico before three white flames drifted over to the plate.

"Oh, I don't think I've seen someone cook souls this nicely," Mico clasped her hands together, making the shape of Mt. Fuji with her mouth again.

"Thank you for the food!" Charlotte and Patra clasped their hands together, their eyes closed before digging in.

"Wow, this is some high-quality stuff," Mary examined the limited-edition Usada Pekora plum wine bottle before pouring herself a glass. "I'm surprised you got your hands on this bottle."

"Pekora probably saved Tenchou a bottle because she would have cried too loudly if she didn't get one," Ryan said, knowing for a fact that everything he said actually happened.

"Don't expose me like that, you traitor!" Kiara playfully hammered Ryan's arm.

"Whatever you say Tenchou," Ryan rubbed the back of his head, a smile growing on his face. "Whatever you say."

-

"You know, when I decided to hire a human, I wasn't expecting someone like you," Kiara said as Ryan wiped down the counter.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ryan said, throwing the dirty wipe in the trash.

"I think it's a good thing," Kiara put a finger on her chin, looking upwards. "I don't like not knowing about my employees, but you seem to be a really nice person."

"Of course," Ryan said, smiling at Kiara. "I'm always nice to my friends."

"You consider us friends already?!" Kiara exclaimed, tackling Ryan in a hug, nuzzling his cheek with his. "I'm so moved!"

"Tenchou…" Ryan said uncomfortably as black mist started to cover the floor. "I think you should let go…"

"Oh!" Kiara instantly separated herself from Ryan to look Calli in the eye. "Hi Calli!"

"I can explain," Ryan said, his eyes wildly searching for an escape as sweat beat down his forehead.

"You can explain when I take your soul to the afterlife," Calli growled, gripping her scythe with both of her hands.

"Ah, shit."

-

Ryan heaved a sigh as he walked down the alley, his clothes torn and tattered. Fortunately, he narrowly avoided getting slashed by the deadly scythe. Sure, he's cheated death before, but he doesn't want to take any risks.

"You can come out," Ryan said. If he would go down in history for having a particular talent, Ryan would go down for knowing when he was being stalked. With a gust of wind, Sabrina appeared a few feet behind Ryan with her mask on.

"You know, it wouldn't have hurt you to call this past year," Ryan turned to confront his friend.

"I guess I should have expected that," Sabrina sighed, taking her mask off. "I'm sorry for not calling you. I guess I'm just not over Edhas being gone."

"You and me both," Ryan sighed, looking upwards.

"You met him?" Sabrina asked, tilting her head.

"He's the whole reason I'm back," Ryan said. "He was a huge prick, ya know?"

"He was," Sabrina sighed. "I dated him after all."

"Yeah, he told me about that," Ryan chuckled. "You know, it feels pretty good to talk about this. I didn't expect to spill the beans this early."

"It's healthy to let your feelings out," Sabrina said, walking up to Ryan. She looked up and him with a smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around him. "Things must have been hard, huh?"

"Yeah," Ryan hugged his friend back, burying his head in her shoulder. "It has been."