9 A welcome respite in an unwelcoming place, part 1

Since it was class time, the gym locker room was empty and locked. For Shin and Tetsu, this just meant "empty". And unlike the locker room, lockers themselves were full of people's possessions.

'I hope this one will fit,' Shin thought, quickly switching his stinky uniform with someone's clean one. Then he hurried to the gym shower before the class returned.

The shower was a much cleaner place than the school toilets, but Shin still didn't linger. And rightfully so—he was just walking away from the gym, with his hair still wet, when he heard the ring of a bell.

Soon after, voices of people filled the hallways. Shin was close to an unfortunate meeting.

But now he was clean, his new uniform was only a bit tight on him, and everything was well.

Shin's stomach reminded him about its existence with a sharp pang of hunger. He never ate that breakfast—he really didn't have an appetite after the fight with a skin-snatcher.

He sighed.

Tetsu raised her head in Shin's mind. After her last meal, she curled, sated and satisfied, somewhere almost out of Shin's reach. Now, though, he could feel her probing at his emotions and physical feelings.

'Huuuuuuh. So strange, my friend… Our last meal nourished us both, but you are still hungry… Is this because of your body? It's so… human.' She sounded sad about it.

'It is what it is,' Shin shrugged inwardly. 'Demons have their advantages, but you pay for them by being prisoners to your nature. You can't change, and thus, can't change your fates. Anyway, I will just grab myself lunch in the cafeteria. It seems to be a lunch break already, anyway.'

'Can't change our fates… If so, then I'm even more grateful that you saved me back then, partner! Now our fates are the same.' Tetsu sighed dreamily. 'It reminds me… things. Things that I forgot…'

She fell silent.

Shin wondered if the consumption of both a demon and a human soul at once let Tetsu regain another Verse of her true name. How much of her past self would she remember then? Would her personality change?

For once, Shin didn't know. His writing never explored this possibility in this much depth. He wished it did.

'I wonder if it's too late to add something to this story. It doesn't feel right, though. Like trying to unlock a box with a key that's inside of it…'

Shin decided to try it, anyway—but later.

The cafeteria was packed with people who didn't bring lunch from home. Shin didn't check if the skin-snatcher cared enough to make him a bento.

But as Shin walked up to the selection of food on sale, he realized one problem.

'I don't have any money…'

He scowled, frustrated and hungry, but quickly pushed the feeling away. Instead, he focused on the solution for the problem, which was obvious enough.

'Tetsu. Come up and listen, I need your help.'

She rose closer to Shin's consciousness immediately. 'Yes, boss?'

'Look at those eating and chatting teenagers. I'm going to walk past them, and you are going to use your power to steal the coins they carry with them together with their wallets. But you got to be stealthy and not show yourself to anyone. Understood?'

'Everything to the letter. You know you can rely on me, boss!'

Shin didn't know, and Tetsu's sudden enthusiasm only made him wary. But… Tetsu didn't fail him before.

'Alright, Tetsu. Be ready.'

He walked past the table where his chosen group sat. There were four people, and they all were too distracted by each other to pay attention to Shin.

He walked past them, looking around as if he was searching for something, although no one suspected him of anything, anyway. As Shin got closer to the teens, he felt Tetsu moving inside of him.

A moment later, he felt an extra weight in his pockets. When Shin put hands there, he felt two wallets inside.

He breathed with relief. 'This was really smooth… Great job, Tetsu.'

'Th-thank you, partner! This… this is the most heartfelt praise you've ever said to me yet, but I will do even better in the future! I don't even remember doing anything like this before… But I did well anyway and didn't disappoint you. I can't bear ever disappointing you, after all!'

'That's… Very admirable of you. This approach, I mean,' Shin said awkwardly. 'Loyalty is good.'

He wished he knew what to do with this demoness when she got this way… But angering her, after what she did to the toilet slime, certainly wasn't an option.

But right now, Tetsu flared with a burst of flustered adoration and, with one last bout of gratitudes, retreated to the back of his mind.

Shin went to buy himself a bento and retreated to eat it on the roof before anyone noticed their stolen wallets.

Alone near the fence this time, Shin opened the box and stared at its contents. Rice, some vegetables, a cut apple, and a mix of cooked seafood.

Well, he was too hungry to complain. Shin split his chopsticks and picked a cooked tiny octopus.

'Oh, what kind of animal is this? What are those tiny things at its tentacles?' Tetsu asked. Her hand protruded out of Shin's to poke at the octopus. 'Humans eat whole animals, too?'

'Don't touch this. This octopus is my food, and you didn't wash your hands.' Shin mentally glared at her.

He was sure that germs won't kill him, though—not with demonic regeneration. So, before Tetsu could do anything else, he ate the octopus whole and followed it with a mouthful of rice.

'It feels nice,' Tetsu hummed. 'I thought human food will be much more bland, since it's so processed. There's no life or soul in it anymore… And what is this?' She pointed her claw at the apple. 'Was it an animal, too? No, wait… smells like a plant!'

For the rest of the meal, Shin had to explain to Tetsu every food he ate. The less hungry he became, the less annoying the questions seemed to him.

By the time Shin finished his meal, he realized that this was the first school lunch he ever spent with someone he could kind of call a friend.