I Can't Socialize—Part 2

The night was peaceful with the full moon up in the sky, partially hidden from view by a few clouds passing in front of it.

The evening had gone well, and not a single problem occurred during dinner.

Her sisters had all kept quiet while she was conversing with Okonogi, not making a huge fuss or caused any trouble.

He had asked her questions about herself, what it was like back when she was a servant of Beatrice, and how things were going now that she was with Ange. She had a little bit of trouble providing him with suitable answers since she was still very shy, but Ange and Asmodeus had helped her like the witch said they would.

Once, when she was trying to think of what Okonogi had meant by a question he had asked about her work, Amakusa spoke up, despite being told not to. However, when he did, it wasn't to tease her or make some stupid flirty comment; it was to make the question a little clearer for her to understand. Although they glared at him angrily, Ange and Asmodeus chose to let it slide.

Of course, when Okonogi did bring up her work, the one topic she was most comfortable speaking about, she didn't omit a single detail. It was all basic stuff actually, chores that anyone could do, but she had her own methods when toiling away at her duties. At one point when she was discussing one of the tasks she did well, Okonogi had taken out a small notepad and a pen so he could take some notes, explain that the servant of one of his relatives overseas could make good use of the tips.

Belphegor didn't mind at all when he did that, so long as she could be of some use to him. After all, she was Furniture, and it was her duty to serve others—specifically her master, but if other people could benefit from her deeds, then she did her job properly. After all, Ange was a White Witch, and the purpose of a White Witch was to help others in need, so her master's purpose was her purpose too.

And now that the dinner was over, Okonogi had to leave so he could return home to get some rest for the next day of work.

So as proper Furniture, Belphegor took it upon herself to see him and Amakusa off. Since the only reason he had for coming was to meet her, it was logical that she should be the one to show them to the door. After all, it was good manners and proper etiquette to do so.

"U-Um…" She said while giving a shy bow before them, stuttering some of her words. "Th-Thank you f-for, u-um, finding th-the, u-uh time to, u-um, visit."

Okonogi smiled warmly at her as he returned the bow. "It was my pleasure. I hope to be able to come again soon."

"Yeah, same here." Amakusa spoke up while flashing her one of the smiles he used when he was grateful for something. "I really appreciate that you'd let a guy like me attend such a prestigious dinner party."

"B-But i-it wasn't, u-um, like that a-at all, actually, since there weren't u-um, a-a lot of p-people here." Belphegor fiddled with her fingers as she made eye contact from under her bangs.

"Oh, then what was it like?" He playfully countered while coking his head to the side, using the same flirty tone he used on all the girls he met.

Belphegor's whole face turned bright red since she knew exactly what he was referring to. "N-No! I-It—I-I-I, u-um, u-uh, w-well, u-um—y-you s-see—"

"Whoa, take it easy." Amakusa innocently held his hands out with the palms facing her. "I'm only teasing you. There's no need to get so worked up over a simple joke."

Even though he had intended to reassure her that it wasn't his intention to make her feel embarrassed, Belphegor's blush became even brighter. It wasn't just because he had teased her by flirting with her; it was also because she had fallen for such a joke.

While she was the most serious out of all the Stakes, she was also in fact the most gullible of them. It was strange, really, how a shy, timid girl like her could be so naïve to the point where she believed anything other people said. No wonder why Mammon, Beelzebub, and Leviathan always took advantage of every opportunity to tease her by making her do and say stupid things.

"Well, she didn't think you were joking, Juza. You should apologize to her right now." Okonogi sternly said as he turned to glare at Amakusa.

"Alright, okay, I'm sorry." Amakusa grinned sheepishly while sticking his hands in his pockets. "I didn't mean to make you so embarrassed."

"I-Its f-fine; I-I understand." Belphegor said nervously as she averted her eyes to break eye contact. "U-Um, anyway, w-would you, uh, like m-me t-to tell everyone that you s-said good-bye?"

"Yes, please do." Okonogi said while nodding his head.

"Oh, and do you think you could take a message?" Amakusa then asked.

Belphegor nodded. "Y-Yes, wh-what shall I-I say?"

"That I'll see them soon, but don't tell all of them that, okay?"

Belphegor looked a little confused. "U-Um, o-okay…then who should I-I tell?"

"My favorite pair of pampered princesses."

And with that, Amakusa quickly turned around, threw open the door, and ran away out, forgetting to close the door behind him.

That made Belphegor even more confused, but she didn't even have time to say anything because she was nearly bowled over forwards by two strangely distinct blurs leaving dust clouds behind them.

Fortunately, Okonogi was there in time to catch her so she didn't fall. "Are you alright?" he asked as she shook her head to clear away the dizzy spell that had now befallen her.

"U-Um, I-I think so…" Belphegor whispered quietly, making sure she was still loud enough for him to hear her. "U-Uh, y-yeah…U-Um, th-thank you, M-Mr. Okonogi." To show her gratitude and her respect, she gave another shy bow as soon as she felt like the room wasn't spinning around her.

"You're quite welcome." Okonogi said before turning to go out the door, but he turned around when the doorknob was in his grasp. "It was a pleasure to finally be able to meet you, Belphegor. You should come by my office the next time you, your sisters, and Ange are in the area, so long as it's convenient of course."

"Y-Yes, of course." Belphegor bowed again, unsure if it was the proper way to express gratitude for an invitation like that. "I-I'm sure Miss Ange would like to."

Okonogi stood in the threshold of the door for a few moments, nodding as she smiled at her. "Anyway," he began to while starting to close the door behind him, "I'd better get going as soon as I clean up what's left of Juza."

"O-Okay, u-um, bye, M-Mr. Okonogi. W-We'll see you soon." Belphegor waved to him as he waved back before the door shut.

Turning around, she breathed a sigh of relief as she began to head back to her room. "Well I-I'm glad that turned out well; maybe I-I should go with Miss Ange the next time she brings my sisters when she visits him."

From how her meeting with him at dinner went, she felt sure that she could take him up on his offer. She had been a little curious about what went on in an office building, so perhaps this could give her an opportunity to learn about it—and how to socialize as well.

Okonogi sighed as he walked over to the oak tree in Ange's front yard. "You just had to push it, didn't you Juza."

When he had closed the door behind him, the two 'pampered princesses' were still furiously clawing at the tree Amakusa had climbed up in order to escape from them.

And when he got closer to the tree, he could see that the 'pampered princesses' had done quite a bit of damage to the poor, defenseless tree. The side they were clawing at was now barely recognizable; the surface of it looked more like sandpaper than it did before it was clawed.

Okonogi sighed again.

If there was one thing he knew about Amakusa, it was that the guy had a knack for saying the right words…

"You just had to push it."

…To piss off Ange and Asmodeus.

While on her way back to her bedroom so she could change into her nightgown, Belphegor had stopped right in Lucifer's room for just a minute. The door was open and her oldest sister wasn't around since she and the other six Stakes—actually it was five Stakes—were still cleaning up after dinner.

Belphegor didn't like entering other people's rooms without permission since it was rude to just go in unannounced without any form of authorization. However, there was a large mirror hanging up on the wall, and for whatever strange, she felt like admiring herself in it. The reflection of her wearing the clothes Ange had lent her was strangely…appeasing.

Blushing with a silly smile on her face, making sure that it wasn't too big, she struck a pose by turning to the side and lifting her left foot up so that her toes were the only part touching the floor. Bringing her hands together with the palms pressed up against each other while her fingers were pointing up, she continued to stare at herself in the mirror before she closed her eyes and giggled, thinking that maybe she could take a few breaks from work and do this more often—only when she was home alone of course.

For once in her life, she felt like she was a normal girl instead of the shy, timid, withdrawn introvert she came to be known as. It was an alien feeling to her, but was also a satisfying one since she came to like her current appearance. The idea of wearing fashionable clothes and going out in public to socialize with others was now starting to sound quite appealing to her.

Still giggling like a girl who had fallen for her first love—something that she actually expected from Asmodeus—she put her foot back on the floor and turned to head out the door but just as she was about to go down the hallway—

"Oooh, Belpheee…"

A small squeak escaped Belphegor's mouth as she jumped, chills going down her spine as dread crept up her skin.

What made this moment so scary was that she recognized those voices, those two voices that spoke in perfect sync, and became frightened that they had heard her. But what made it even more terrifying was that they both could have seen her in Lucifer's room, as well.

Slowly, Belphegor turned around as her whole body started trembling uncontrollably just as her complexion turned ashen.

There, standing just about seven inches away from…

were Ange and Asmodeus.

The former of the two was standing behind the latter with her arms wrapped around her and her head resting atop of hers, while the youngest Stake was holding a camera in her hands.

Amazingly, their fingers were still perfectly fine, unscathed from when they were furiously clawing at the tree a certain idiot had climbed up.

How Okonogi had managed to get them away from the tree and rescue that idiot was a complete mystery to only anyone who hadn't seen what went on.

"O-O-Oh, M-M-Miss A-A-Ange, A-A-Asmo…U-U-Um h-h-hello…U-U-Um" Belphegor stuttered her words fearfully, horrified that her master and her youngest sibling were going to take more pictures. "I-I-Is th-th-there s-s-something w-w-with wh-wh-which I-I-I m-m-may a-a-assist y-y-you?" She asked timidly, even though she already knew the answer to her question.

"Oh, nothing much really." Asmodeus replied while slightly cocking her head to the side, her eyes closed with a rather wide, silly smile on her face. "We just wanted to take more pictures of you, that's all."

Yep, Belphegor was right, given how it was so obvious.

"W-W-Well, I-I-I'm s-s-sorry t-t-to, u-u-uh, s-s-say, b-b-but, u-u-um, I-I-I h-h-have t-t-to b-b-be, u-u-uh, g-g-going n-n-now, s-s-so, u-u-uh—"

The wide, silly smile on Ange's face turned into a frown as she opened her eyes, looking rather disappointed that she and Asmodeus couldn't take pictures of Belphegor. "You mean you won't pose for us again?"

Almost instantaneously, Belphegor whirled around and ran down the hall as fast as she could, uttering a hasty "P-P-Please e-e-excuse m-m-me!" as she darted off at an amazing speed.

Ange and Asmodeus were left alone and were looking very disappointed.

"Aww, she ran away." The Stake spoke up after a brief moment of silence. "Now we can't take more photos."

"Don't worry, Asmo." Ange said while smiling down at her. "Let's just give her some space for a while. We'll get her next time."

Asmodeus smiled back as she looked up at Ange before they both closed their eyes and giggled.

Belphegor slammed her bedroom door shut behind her and pressed her back against it, almost on the verge of hyperventilating.

She just couldn't believe it!

They had seen her!

Slumping to the floor, Belphegor tried to calm herself, but it was no good after her encounter with Ange and Asmodeus just a minute ago. She was just too terrified that she was seen making a pose in Lucifer's mirror—and it was Ange and Asmodeus who saw her!

Oh, why did it have to be them?

They just might tell the other Stakes, and then they'd all laugh at her!

To hell with fashion and socialization! She'd rather be alone for the rest of her life!

Feeling that now was a perfect time to crawl into her shell, Belphegor got up and ran to her bed. Yanking up the covers, she immediately got under them and covered herself so that she was completely hidden from view.

If looks could kill, she'd have committed suicide by being her first victim.

I had actually thought of including this as part of the 'I Can't Socialize', but I decided not to because then it would be longer than I wanted to be, even though I did say that the one-shots could be of any length. However, I still wanted to put this in, so I decided to make another one-shot to continue the socialization one-shot.

Now this actually brings up a point that might be seen from some more one-shots. If I can't fit everything I want in a single one-shot, I'll just continue it in another one-shot, making it like the arcs Renahh Chen has made for her one-shot collection, Being Dysfunctional Has Never Been So Much Fun. I don't know if any of the other one-shots I have planned for my collection will be arcs or not, but so far this is the first one. It might be the only arc, it might not be, but in any case, I'll still try my best to include everything I'd like to put into these one-shots, regardless of have many parts they have.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this collection as much as I enjoy writing it.