The Divil King Lucifer froze as he walked out of his chambers.
"Toruuuu~," he sang as the door clicked shut behind him, "where are you?" His smile got bigger as he heard the soft beat of wings from the hall seconds away as the young demoness dashed away in retreat. "Hahaha! Toru, stop being so shy, I know you wanted to see the amazing me concentrating on my work. Who wouldn't!?" He hummed to himself as he trotted after Toru who, by now, was hiding under a potted plant in clear sight. He snuck up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder with a subtle "Boo," and she flew to the ceiling with a yip mixed between excitement and genuine fear.
"Dammit Demon King! How did you know where I was!?" She landed on the floor with a soft THUD before dusting off her black pleated skirt and button up blouse, "I thought that you would defiantly miss me this time! I was even invisible and you saw me!"
Lucifer just looked at the demoness as she babbled on about how much interest she had in him, and how amazing he was (things he already fawned over anyways).
"Where's Gilbert? Isn't he trying to teach you about anything anymore?"
Toru was about to talk but, she froze with her mouth wide open when she heard the steady, cool, pace of the Demon King's butler. She lunged forward at Lucifer, clamped her hands down on his mouth, and flew down the hall—literally flew down the halls. She stopped when she couldn't hear Gilbert's foot fall and landed with a huff.
"Hot hee hew mewhin!?" Lucifer was struggling with her death grip before she realized what she was doing and let go.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I just…" she trailed off as she looked up at the Demon King with crocodile tears in her eyes before informing, "Gilbert was trying to teach me how to cut ingredients for things and he said I couldn't see you, so I told him to fuc* off. I only told him that and then he got angry and threw the knife at me and started yelling and chasing after me, so I decided I was going to play hide and seek, but when I went to hide I realized that you were in your study and I wanted to see you working and then…"
Lucifer, by now, was used to the 'normal' status of the new maid constantly picking fights with Gilbert; after all, she was only 20 years old: practically a baby in this world. He liked to think of it as both Gilbert and Toru fighting for his love, but even he knew that he couldn't grant them their wish. Vivi would be the only one that he would share his undivided attention with.
Toru froze from her story when she noticed that the Demon King had stars in his eyes and was beginning to giggle like a school girl who had found out that their first love knew their name. As she cocked her head in curiosity and amusement she didn't notice the dark shadow approaching from behind.
"There you are." The voice whispered into her ear and sent goosbumps down to her toes.
She screamed before trying to flee, but Gilbert had a firm grip on her shoulders. As he turned her to face him she could feel his grip tightening.
"What the hell do you think this is? Do you think you're here for a game, or what? You're here to learn, to learn! You're supposed to know every potion throughout the depths of burning hell by tomorrow, and you can't even memorize the ones in the cellar."
"But I already know them thought!"
"Bull shit you good for nothing liar!" He continued to spout off impossible rants about how she was a failure as a demon, maid, and chemist as he shook her.
While Toru cried and Gilbert shook her back and forth Lucifer watched in awe as he mentally imagined them fighting for his love.
"Stop it you two!" they froze in confusion, "Vivi is the only one that will ever receive my attention to its maximum capacity!"
There was a moment of silence as Toru and Gilbert exchanged looks of exhaustion.
"We're leaving. Go do something that will actually help for once." Gilbert turned his back on the King and dragged Toru with him into the cellar before tossing her down the stairs and yelling, "memorize it all or I'll tear off your wings and force you to watch as I sew them to the drapes." The cellar door slammed shut and Toru was left in the damp darkness that suffocated her from the inside out.
She closed her eyes and hugged her arms and she whispered into the air, "I already know them all, though…" as she crumpled onto the floor in a heap.
"What a stupid girl," Yamabuki mumbled to himself and he sat in his chambers reading the story of a human girl who had fallen into a hole in a desperate attempt to catch a rabbit with a pocket watch. "How do you say, curiosity killed the cat?" He chuckled at his own joke as he read on.
He had always fancied reading, ever since he was a child, and not once had he ever gotten bored of it. It, in a way, made him feel like he could release himself for the real world that suffocated him. Within his lifetime he had read over five hundred fifty-five books, all unique in their own ways: some about the scientific anomalies that manifested into living forces, animal science, human philosophies, demon philosophies, scientific engineering, and many more, but what fascinated him more than anything was the fact that only 26 letters could make up so many texts. It infatuated him that words could save the lives of millions, but society was just too blind to see it.
As Yamabuki read further into his novel he began to feel his lungs clamp up and he froze. Shit, he thought to himself, this is the third time this week. He dropped the book as he fought for air. The burning started to spread through his chest and into his throat, but he couldn't cough; he couldn't cough no matter what—the house would hear him, and demons don't get diseases like this. The tingling in his throat began burning and stabbing, spreading pain through his mind and body. He fell to his knees as the tears began leaking from his eyes, and he crawled to his bed stand, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out the small vile that contained a little more than a drop of shinning yellow liquid. He popped the cap and pressed the cool glass to his lips. Then, the stabbing faded and he exhaled once more.
Running his fingers through his hair and propping himself up against the side of his wall, Yamabuki pulled his legs to his chest and stared at the empty vile.
"It's getting worse," he whispered to himself, "I don't know how to solve this puzzle anymore." He rolled the vile in his hands as he watched the colors in the sky shift from blue to orange to red to black, the whole time, thinking, about the next expedition to the Demon World in search of the potion that would save him next. "What the hell is happening to me?" He placed the bottle back into the night stand and walked out of his room, clicking the door shut, and leaving his secret in the dark of his chambers. The only witness to his crimes: the roses that sat still, and holy on his night stand, his secret buried in their fragile petals.
Yamabuki walked into his father's study first. Vivi was sitting at his desk writing on some sort of file that meant nothing to Yamabuki.
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
Vivi glanced up at his son who stood in front of him with an emotionless face.
"What for," he placed his pen on the desk and leaned back in his chair.
"I'm getting tired of this stuffy place," he glanced out the window behind Vivi, "I want to go places and figure out something else to do other than sitting in this place or going to school all the time. It's annoying."
"You were gone for the entire summer break just a few weeks ago, and you said the exact same thing." Vivi questioned his son.
Shit. "Whatever, the thing is, I don't want to stay here, so have fun with Anzu and everyone. I'll be back when I get back."
"Yamabuki," Vivi called after the boy who was walking out the door, "don't forget to pack clean underwear."
Yamabuki smiled to himself, "tell mom I love her for me," as he shut the door and went to his room to pack for his next adventure.
