Threats and Deals
"If you don't want your body to stay cripples then get off her!" Grabbing me by the shoulders, Mizuki tried to pull me away, however, with my eyes set for the girl's death, I could not be moved nor dissuaded.
"Fuck off…" The sound of the girl's crumbling throat had me too entranced to care for whatever anyone had to say.
"Keep a secret Mizu, will you?" The moment Ifrit's voice trailed into my ears, I glanced up as he tried to grab me by the head.
"Ughhhh! Fuck!" Knowing well enough that I couldn't match his strength, I finally let go of the girl and crawled a few steps away from her even. Glancing between Mizuki and him, I noticed a sense of acknowledgment between the two about the flaming monster laying his hand on me. "Can help? My fucking ass!"
Witnessing how willing he was to help his master when Mizuki told me both of them couldn't lay a finger on us humans, I felt a smoldering rage burst up in my heart.
"Give me a second…" Ignoring my complaints, Ifrit held his hand in my direction. "Consider this a trade neither of us has to repeat."
Following his words, the flames on my body drifted away from my skin. Trailing into his hands, the fire quickly extinguished themselves yet the scars on my entirety were still as fresh as they could've been. With the flames lifted and my final dose of adrenaline drifting away, my mind surged with hurt while my body shriveled up and fell.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing?" I asked, glaring at Mizuki as my mind slowly slipped away from the pain.
Getting to her knees, she gently caressed my burned skin and whispered.
"Us demons have our ways of breaking peace, and as for today, your lives being spared is gonna be today's peace offering," waving her hand over my eyelids, she must've ran some kind of spell for I'd never felt so calm despite my dire physical condition.
As if it's become my preferred way to sleep, I fell unconscious once again. However, being partly awake, I could feel myself being carried off on someone's shoulders. After a while, I was led down on something so cold it froze my spine, forcing me to finally submit every bit of consciousness.
"Hello? Akira? Are you in there?" Waking up to sudden knocks on my apartment door, I got off my bed to check who it was.
Half-asleep half-awake, I was still rubbing my eyes as I cracked the door. Peering out, it was Saki standing in the corridor with a pair of packed lunch boxes in her hand. Her eyes squinted at the sight of me for some reason, but being in a fussy state of mind I didn't think of it much. As I tried to open the door completely to talk to her, Saki's eyes widened further and she held the door half shut to prevent me from opening it altogether.
"Uhm…Akira, I think you're naked," the moment she pointed that point, I took a glance down at my body and was left in an utterly embarrassed state. "Come talk to me once you're done getting ready for school, I'll leave you alone for now."
"Crap, wait!" Giving an awkward smile, Saki pulled the door in her direction to shut it for me completely.
'Dammit, what the hell was I thinking? Or was I not thinking at all?' Thankfully it seemed that since I was only peeking out the door, she hadn't seen anything below the waist.
Locking the door, I turned around and was just about to head for the shower, but then something quite striking hit me. Turning to the door again, I remembered it being torn up after the attack on me last night. Not to mention the state of my body was in shambles, yet everything seemed fine at a quick glance.
"Where's Mizuki?" Surveying the room as quickly as possible, I couldn't find her anywhere.
At the end of the search, as I was standing in the bathroom, I took a long glance at my reflection and pondered how my burned hair could've recovered to perfection overnight. There was, of course, no answer. That is until I heard the front door to my apartment open.
"Ten thousand Malice…" The voice of a familiar demon made its way to my ears. "Mikato should've given me a discount or at least handed my sweet sweet baby back, s'yah!"
Moving out of the restroom, I made my way right over to her. There were plenty of questions for her to answer, but first.
"Give me one fucking reason I should trust you anymore after what you pulled last night!" Fuming from the memories alone, I really wanted, at least for once to be able to just choke her out.
"Calm down you idiot," throwing herself face first on the bed, she pulled the blankets on top of her and nuzzled up underneath. "I made a deal with that girl and her demon to extort enough Malice from them to restore your body in exchange for you sparing her life. I even managed to squeeze out some human currency outta the girl"
"And what stops her from busting in late at night and trying that shit again?!" Towering over her body, I howled right by her ears.
Moving around on the mattress, she let out a yawn before responding.
"She's outmatched, and now she knows it. Hell, she might even piss herself the next time we meet," grabbing the other pillow, she placed it over her head to plug her ears.
Snatching the pillow off of her hand, I tried to grab her by the arm, but my hand phased through her again.
"Fine…" Snatching my hand instead, Mizuki pulled me beside her on the mattress. "Ask, and I'll tell you everything you wanna know, you've proven yourself enough for now."
Laying opposite each other, our eyes were fixed on each other's faces. Moving closer to my body, I felt her hands being pressed against my naked chest.
"Go on, ask away…" She whispered, her fingers trailing down my stomach while her pale lips grew closer and closer.
"I-I thought you didn't like to be touched?" With my heart racing faster than ever, I tried to take hold of the situation.
"Only by the unworthy, they disgust me," caressing my face with one hand while the other finally made its way to my groin, Mizuki pressed her cold lips against me.
'She's using me again…' I could taste it on her lips. This was nothing more than her way to blow off some steam about whatever she was complaining about before I came out.
"Then tell me, what the hell are you planning?" Pulling away from the kiss, I grabbed her hands and distanced themselves from my body. "Why was that girl stalking me? And how did you manage to heal me overnight?"
Although visibly shaken at first, a smile crept up Mizuki's lips.
"Resisted my temptations, huh? You keep impressing me more minute by minute," finally, I could see it in her gaze, her willingness to help by shedding some light on this shitshow.