CHAPTER TWO
Reasons.
"My guardian? I have to choose?"
Four of the men lined up, each with their own unique smile, but my eyes fell on Shiki. He was still leaning against a car, yawning, having nothing to do with my deal with the devils.
"Then I guess I will choose Shiki."
All five men looked shocked.
"Don't wanna." Shiki said as he began to walk away.
"You have no choice, Sheeks, she wants you!" Haruhito said with a pleasant smile.
"Hassle. Nothing but a pain," Shiki mumbled.
"Why choose Shiki? I could show you a better time," Satoru grinned.
"Stop looking at me like that, and don't smile at me either, it's distracting. I chose Shiki because he looks familiar and he doesn't frighten me like the rest of you."
"You are an idiot. I told you we met this morning, moron," Shiki grumbled as he moved closer to me.
"No, not from this morning. I feel like I have seen you around, quite a lot, actually. I'm not completely sure where from, but maybe the bookstore last week, and I'm sure he was in the park when I had lunch with Lori. Oh, and I think the date I was on last week."
"Has she remembered the reconnaissance?" Meguru asked his brother.
"Hmm… no, there's no way. Shiki's ability is far too powerful, especially for an idiot human girl." Kakeru raised his eyebrow at me, but still looked troubled with my familiarity.
"Hey! I'm stood right here, you don't have to say mean things right in front of me,"
"I can say what I like to a toastee, you have no idiot opinions or concerns I want to hear, " Kakeru said, with the most intense glare he's ever given me.
"I'm sure the Angels would beg to differ. Should I call them here and find out?" I snarled and mirrored his pose.
As Kakeru and I were having a battle of wills, Shiki stepped in front of my face, breaking the deadlock between Kakeru and myself. "Look in to my eyes," Shiki commanded.
I looked directly into his eyes, and for the first time, I really noticed them. 'Wow,' I thought as I couldn't tear myself away from his intense gaze.
"You will forget all of this, everything that has happened tonight," Shiki's voice took on a monotone beat. "Tell me what you see,"
"Your eyes," I said, mesmerised with the violet colour of them, "your eyes are so pretty."
"What?!" Shiki gasped.
"They are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen before, are they coloured contacts?"
"Ha! Sheeks' power doesn't work on Sarah!" Haruhito laughed, "Poor Shiki, he's bright red!"
"Did you fail because you're not immune to a woman's charms?!" Satoru laughed.
"It's probably because he's so tired, but you are red, Shiki," Meguru added.
"Shut up. I'm tired." Shiki said. "Going to bed now." Shiki put his hands in his pockets and walked off.
"Shiki you can't leave yet, you forgot your charge," Kakeru called after him.
"Hassle."
As Shiki left, Kakeru came to me, "SInce we Shiki has to watch you, and your apartment blew up, of course, we will now go back to the Demon House,"
"Demon House? As in…" I pointed down to the ground.
"You really are stupid, aren't you. Our home is no different than any other. Now, hurry along, I told you before I don't like to be kept waiting."
Arriving in a quiet part of town, I stood outside a huge house, almost a mansion. "Woah, this is huge!"
"You haven't seen anything yet," Satoru leered at me and winked.
"I told you to stop doing that."
"Do I make you nervous?" Satoru smiled.
"And stop smiling at me, too."
"Haha! You're too easy to make blush. Come on in." Satoru opened the front door and lead me into a hallway.
Black ash furniture bordered the hallway, a coat rack loomed overhead, its hooks looked like twisted branches on a leafless tree. The floors were a polished pine wood, the shine was like a mirror.
"I bet I could eat my dinner off these floors," I exclaimed, not seeing one speck of dust, not one sweaty footprint.
"You eat your dinner off the floor? That's the grossest thing I have ever heard. Not even Cerby eats off the floor." Satoru scrunched his face in disgust.
"No, I don't. It's just an expression, meaning the floors are so clean." I was puzzled by his lack of understanding. 'Maybe it's just a Western expression,' I thought, and wondered what other cultural differences I would experience.
"Oh… Well, why didn't you just say the floors are clean, then? Forget it. Let's go into the living room."
Following Satoru into a huge, open living space, Kakeru, Meguru, and Haruhito sat on a long, black leather couch.
"Sit down, Winters." Kateru said, and pointed to a black reading chair. "I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I can't be bothered to answer them all, so you have three."
"Oh… okay. Um… So, heaven and Hell really exist?" I was never a believer in god and the devil, but having four demons sat opposite me, how could I argue?
"Of course. Who do you think keeps the cycle of life and death going?"
"Er… Darwin?"
The four demons laughed so hard, I thought they were going to throw up.
"Stupid human!" Satoru laughed through his tears. "Wait until I tell the Demon King that!"
"Okay, Winters, now that you have amused me more than I thought possible, I will give you an extra question. As long as it's an intelligent one." Kakeru, wiped a tear from his face and proceeded to wipe it on his little brother.
"Hey!" Magaru called. "There's a box of tissues right there."
"So, do you all have some sort of specific ability, or do you all do the same thing?" I asked, looking at each Demon in turn.
"I am the leader, I drain the life force from a toastee." Kakeru claimed proudly.
"Life force?" I asked, even though I had a feeling I didn't want an elaboration.
"Life force is what you call the soul. So, in your terms, I can remove a person's soul, or I can bolster what they already have," Kakeru looked at me as I nodded in understanding.
"I don't really have any good abilities," Meguru said sheepishly, a look of shame in his eyes.
"I take the soul up to heaven and hand it over to the Angels," Haruhito said, quite cheerfully.
"You want to know my special ability?" Satoru asked. "If you ever find yourself alone with me, I'll be more than happy to show you," he winked and smiled.
"Hey! I told you to stop doing that. In fact, I forbid you to talk to me anymore."
The four Demons laughed hard again.
"Ha! The silly human tried to forbid me!" Satoru let out another howl of laughter and fell off the arm of the chair.
Sulking, I looked at Satoru. "Seriously, do you actually do anything useful?"
"Oohh… I sense someone is going to have to be punished." Satoru looked sternly at me before he winked again. "I actually have premonitions when I touch someone. I can see their time, manner and place of death."
"Should have know it would have something to do with touching someone," I said under my breath. "What about Shiki? What does he do?"
"Shiki can control the mind. He can erase memories and make subconscious suggestions." Kakeru explained. "Although, it didn't work on you earlier. I guess there is some limit to his ability if he is tired. It's never happened before. Perhaps it's because you should have been toast already. You have two more questions, then I have one for you."
"Er… This is all too much to take in. I guess I should ask about becoming toast. How does that work?"
"In the Demon Realm, we have a Fate Database, on there is a list of toasting candidates. Shiki will follow the candidate around to make sure we have the right person, find out their interests, what kind of person they are, etcetera, so a suitable choice for reincarnation can be decided by the Angels. Satoru will then make contact with the candidate, to see where and when the toasting will take place. Shiki will erase the memories of those affected by our encounters. I will then be with, or near, the candidate when they expire. I extract their soul, then Haruhito takes the soul to Heaven and, at times, will help oversee the transition from life force to reincarnate."
"I see," I looked at Kakeru. His explanation seemed so precise and meticulous, but this is a person's death he is talking about, how could he be so… heartless about it? "I guess after hearing that, I want to know if you Demons have feelings? Do you get hungry, sad, happy, can you fall in love?"
"Of course we have feelings, Winters. We are not ghouls, for god's sake. We can do everything a human can, only much, much better. We are a superior species, after all." Kakeru straightened his tie, which I noticed he did when he felt smug.
"What about you Satoru, you have precognition, so how come you didn't see this coming?"
"I saw everything how it was supposed to be. You walked into your apartment, set your purse down and then you were toast. This should have not deviated in the slightest."
"No more questions from you Winters. I want to know why you asked for ten days." Kakeru leaned forward and waited for my explanation.
"I need to find my grandmother. We have never met, and I made a promise to my father I would find her. Last I heard, she had moved from Korea to Japan, so that's why I moved here and learned the language."
"That's really sweet, Sarah," Meguru smiled compassionately. "We hear all sorts of reasons for a person wanting more time, but to fulfill a promise like that, that's very rare."
"Well, it is the only thing that has given me a real purpose in life. No records exist of her death, no records of her address, nothing."
"Is that why you joined our agency?" Kakeru asked.
"Yes. I found a document stating my granny had moved to Kyoto, so I moved to Japan. By the the time I had gotten my work visa and cut through all the red tape, she had moved again, leaving no forwarding address. Working for an agency that tracks down inheritance claims seemed like the logical place to work."
"I see. I suppose that does make sense. Strange. You seem so stupid." Kakeru rubbed his chin. "Anyway, it has been a long day. I am going to bed." Kakeru stood, and one by one, the other Demons followed him up a black metal twisting staircase.
An hour later, after contemplating the idea of fate, my energy had all but left my body. 'Where do I sleep?'
Up the stairs, I was met with a long, wide corridor, the righthand side had six black doors. The left only had five.
"Hello?" I asked the thin air.
I heard a bang, then a door opened. "You," Shiki said, "give me your hand."
"What on earth for?"
"Don't be a pain, just give it to me," Shiki huffed.
I held my hand out, and Shiki took it tightly in his. The coldness of his hands reminded me of this morning when he placed the Prada shoes on my feety. 'Was it really only this morning?' So much had happened since then.
Looking down, Shiki had placed a ring on the middle finger of my left hand. "Wow, that's pretty." The silver band, with a red stone sparkled in the artificial light of the wall lamps.
Shiki walked towards his room but stopped and turned. "Don't try to take it off. I made it so it would tear your finger off if you try."
"You made this?" I asked, choosing to ignore what I hoped was a joke. "This is really pretty, Shiki. Do you make things like this all the time?"
"No." He said. He still hadn't smiled or changed expression at all.
"So you made this just for me?" I felt my heart rise and my spirit lift.
"Yes. It has a tracking device, so don't take it off. Your room is there." He pointed to the last door on the right.
"Tracking device?! Why the hell do I need one of those?" I tried to pull off the ring, but it didn't budge, it actually dug in to my finger the more I wiggled it. 'Shit, he really meant it may tear my finger off.'
"I don't trust you, you may run off," Shiki scowled, "So never take it off, I always want to know where you are." Shiki's voice softened, and his tone sounded quite sweet.
"Thank you, Shiki, I won't take it off, I promise. Can we talk for a minute?" I moved a few steps towards him, softly, as I didn't want to scare him off like a lost cat.
"Don't wanna."
"But I thought if we are spending ten days together, then it might be better if I got to know you." I smiled at him, but he looked back towards his room.
"No point. It'll be a pain." Shiki looked saddened, like he had just admitted his biggest concern, albeit, in his own monosyllabic way.
"It would be a pain to get to know you?" Shiki nodded at my question. "Well, I don't think getting to know you is pointless."
Shiki looked at me for the longest time he ever has, his eyes sparkled in the light by his head. They had to be contacts, right? 'oh my god,' I thought, as I felt my chest tighten.
"Hassle. Sleep now." He turned and walked back to his room.
"Well, goodnight, I guess." I hung my head down and began to walk down the corridor, when I heard a door open again.
"Look at me," Shiki said. He stepped forwards, his face only inches from mine. My breath hitched in my throat as I looked into the most hypnotic eyes I had ever seen.
"Shiki…" I breathed, 'is he going to kiss me?' My heart began to pound, my skin covered with tingles. 'What the hell am I thinking?' "Shiki…"
And with that, he headbutted me.
"OUCH! What was that for?" I rubbed my head and stinging tears gathered in the corner of my eyes.
"What do you see?" Shiki asked, a curious look on his face, like a monkey who had seen its own reflection for the first time.
"I see my fist in your face if you do that again!" A pain began to spread across my forehead.
"Huh. Why doesn't it work? You're… weird." And with that, Shiki disappeared into his room for the final time.
'I'm weird? At least I don't go around headbutting people.' I made my way into the room. The moonlight shone through the curtainless windows. I couldn't see much of the room, but I could make out the shape of a bed. I pulled back the covers and flopped onto the mattress.
I spent my first night in the Demon House crying.
