CHAPTER THREE

"What a bother." The man uttered as he stared at the writhing demon with such cold eyes.

Kyouko's eyes widened. It was the weird guy she met earlier! What is he doing in this place—

"You bastard! I'll kill you." A few steps behind her, the demon clutched at his face that was slowly turning molten and sizzling with burn. "I should've killed you right away."

"If you can." The man smiled at the demon, taunting it even more. The demon, clearly enraged, lunged at the man only to stop as a pair of shadow flashed as fast as lightning and landed in front of it.

"Kirihito-sama, please stay back." A pair of demons with fox mask covering their faces stood in front of the man, knives in hand as if to protect him. One of the demons wore traditional Japanese clothes with a pale blue color while the other one wore an orange body suit and a handkerchief wrapped around his neck.

"What—" The demon, upon realizing that he was out numbered, took a step back. "You think you can defeat me?" He stretched his hands in front and uttered something under his breath. Something dark and shaped like black smoke suddenly materialized out from his palms and covered the place in dark miasma.

Kyouko coughed at the sudden thickness in the air. The atmosphere became suddenly heavy as though something was pressed upon her shoulders. Not only that, her vision was starting to lose its focus and her breathing turning shallow.

What is this smoke?

"Kuku, you can plead for your life now, if you want." The voice of the demon echoed across the park in an eerie sound as though his voice was coming from all sides.

Where does it come from?

Kyouko continued to cough as she squinted her eyes to see through the thick dark fog.

I can't see! Ah!

There! There was a shape. She could barely see but she knew— she knew it was him.

"Me, plead for my life?" Kirihito snorted. "Do you think such petty tricks will work on me?" He raised his hand. "Kikuichi! Monjiro!"

A strong gust of whirlwind blew the miasma away until the park slowly became visible to Kyouko's eyes.

"Such a lowly demon like you dare to attack our master— what a nerve you have." The masked demon wearing a blue kimono stood in the middle of the fading whirlwind while the other one ran past the gap between him and the demon who spewed the miasma.

"Tch..." The demon raised his hand and threw something on the ground, a dark mist bursting from it, covering his body. When the mist faded, the demon was no where to be seen.

"What a coward!" Cursing, the masked demon halted in his tracks.

"Leave it."

"Yes, my lord." The demon bowed.

"Let's go."

"Umm…" Minami stared at them, dumbstruck. The three glanced at her.

What an odd group.

"Who's this girl?" The masked demon said, pointing at her. "Yeah, yeah who is she?" The other one said.

The man they called master glanced at her. He was the man she met a few hours ago. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from the dark?" He said to her.

Staring at those mysterious eyes. Those dark eyes— those nearly lifeless eyes. She knew right from the start that there was something about him.

Something sinister..

Something more dark..

More dangerous..

But she couldn't look away..

She couldn't—

"Kirihito-sama!"

She watched as he swayed before her, his body no longer holding itself upright was falling— falling to the ground.