Prologue
By: AnimayWriteY0
In the dark shadows, a war took place between two worlds, the human world and the demon world. Humans and Demons were on the verge of clashing one another for freedom of their own lives and existence. The War took centuries, many lives lost and blood from both sides is spilled. The destruction and carnage was overwhelming, such casualty has put both worlds into no end until the recent year, a peace treaty has written and now both demons and humans live among each other and co-exist internationally. Others are tranquil and peaceful for the new beginning of understanding while others still hold deep hatred towards one another. That is until, a young man name Juinchi Tatagashi discovered a new anomaly that changed his life forever.
Chapter 1: Change
One morning Juinchi Tatagashi woke up in his room from his apartment. Once he got up and getting ready for his usual routine task from his daily chores while preparing for work as one of the cooks in Inshin Ramen Shop, serving delicious ramen for both humans and demons alike. There were good times, yet there are bad when it comes to customers especially the demons who happen to become co-existant with the human race. Juinchi of course saw through the hostility and treated them with sincere respect like a normal human. Things are looking up for Juinchi when he finishes his hourly cooking. When his shift slowly ends he began to wrap things up before he can go home. After he packed some food to eat at home. Ones that have been left over from today's service. Because his working place is only a block away from his home commute is pretty good. Juinchi took a long yawn signaling himself that he should put more time to sleep. The walk was definitely calm at night but it certainly doesn t feel the usual for some odd reason. Once Juinchi notices that the alleyway near Doichi Street between a drive in parking lot and a fancy two story house indicates he is close to his apartment home. So he takes his time walking through the alleyway while humming to stay completely in tuned of himself with a positive mindset.
That is until he came across a young girl sitting far at the corner of the alleyway with her arms wrapped around her legs. Juinchi barely took notice of the young lady but as soon as he got closer he soon notice that the young girl has bruises around her entire body, that also goes for what she's wearing, just a night gown that looked much worse for wear. The young girl is basically frightened, she just sat there in a state of depression. The lonesome girl was obviously distressed and seeing all of the bruises she sustained made Juinchi stop in his tracks to check if she's alright. But to his surprise it s actually a demon girl. At first he's hesitant to get involved knowing full well of the dangers of getting too involved with a demon but his morals outweigh his safety. So he decides to land a hand to someone in need.
Um...young lady are you okay? Juinchi asked as he looks directly down at the mysterious girl and tries to put his hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly the mysterious girl was a quarter feet away from lashing out at Juinchi, she swoop her hand right at him but only missed his face by an inch. She stood her ground with her instinctual eyes engulfed in tears in a vulnerable, scared, and aggravated manner. Startled Juinchi stepped back and tries to diffuse the situation with whatever he can think of to try calm the scared girl down just so she can speak. So Juinchi sat the other side of the alleyway wall and look at the girl hoping she ll relax with given time. The Young girl sat back on the corner and glared directly at Juinchi while quivering. To her eyes she couldn't tell if this human is even wasting his time on her? More importantly why does he even care, after all both of them are complete strangers.
Don't you dare hurt me human... Or I will harm you... j-just d-don't hurt me... The mysterious girl warned. Though her tone was definitely not threatening it was more of a plea to not try anything that could be harmful to her.
Hey Hey it's ok...I won't hurt you Juinchi made sure not to overstep this just so he can at least help her out, looking at her overall physique she must not have eaten anything for days. Juinchi proceeded to open his bag taking a glance on the portion of food he took with him, to his relief there's enough to feed at least two people tonight. With this he can at least help her out. And so the orange head chef stood up and smiles. He then ask the mysterious girl if she wants to have a nice warm supper. Hey, I have tons of food in this bag would you care to join me at my place for some grub, I ll make sure to add in more on your plate!
Wary of Juinchi's offer, the mysterious girl is still cautious to what this human is plotting. She couldn't help but feel starved as her stomach growled when food's involved. the young demon girl reluctantly accepts despite her better judgment, so she went along with the stranger still completely catious of this ploy walking with a human of all things. Though something like this is odd for the demon girl as her eyes took a glance to the side in obvious annoyance from this turn of events, she couldn t possibly see this as an act of kindness out of nowhere from a stranger, let alone a human. Though its better than what she endured before this strange human came about.
Once the two quietly and awkwardly walked their way down from Fuharo Street Ave, and turned to the cross street to Hitoyashi blvd street Juinchi and his mysterious guest arrived to the living quarters of Sugurai Apartment complex. Juinchi went inside a room where the landlord office is to talk about having guests in his room for tonight. His landlord Tomiya finally took his attention off his paperwork and onto his regular tenant Juinchi while noticing a dirty ragged girl behind him a demon one. He cleared his throat to try and find his wording about this.
Juinchi, you do realize that bringing someone without letting me know beforehand is basically a 10,000 yen penalty on your next payment. You should have notify me about this before you bring in someone. Besides what you brought in as a guest is seriously not a good idea for your neighboring tenants... He sighs in clear irritation but couldn t help but expect Juinchi to make an excuse.
Come on Tomiya! I mean you have to consider the fact that this young lady have had to deal with some sort of struggles, it couldn t hurt to have at least a guest to stay for a day right? Juinchi begged as he laughs nervously putting his arms behind his back to pose a formal bow. Please, sir! I can even serve you a free meal when you come to Ishinori Ramen Shop!
"Ohhh alright...but just for two nights okay? And if you decide to have her stay at your apartment I expect her to pay half of what you are currently paying okay? That is if she wanted to stay with you? " Tomiya fixed his glasses while sighing
Yes! That will be fine! Thank you so much Tomiya San! He bows three times to show his sincere gratitude from his landlords generosity. So Juinchi smiles and shows his new guest to his apartment quarters.
The girl stood there completely blank but also confused as to why this...human is doing everything he can to actually offer her a place to stay, his place. Though relieved, she can t lose her guard just because one human is doing this one act of kindness. She have to think of possible outcomes of this, so she continues to keep her intimidating facade up to not show any vulnerability towards this stranger.
Yeah, Yeah...just don t get any ideas that you ll be bringing in more people...now off you go you two its getting late... Tomiya rolled himself back to his work desk to keep track of the other tenants monthly payments on phone.
And so Juinchi shows the girl to his apartment, once he opens the door he allows the girl to go in first. Still on guard the glaring girl walks warningly looking to her sides to make sure the human isn t trying anything suspicious. Once she steps into the living quarters, she took in the interiors of the place from her observation the place is quite small but fitting for at least one person, judging from the size she believes that the area is about 500 square feet. The girl walks by and turns to her right and sees that this living quarters have its own proper restroom. Once she slowly scans around the other room, she can see the living room also has a kitchen with a functioning stove, fridge, and what seems to be a rice cooker at the far edge of the kitchens counter top. Overall this place isn t that bad but she can not lose her thought over this. Then she hears something from behind unsuspectingly leaving her to gasp and turn around only to see Juinchi preparing the bath tub full of bubbly water.
W-what do you think you are doing?! She raises her voice in utter dismay.
Getting your bath ready, that s what... He sighs and looks at her with a nonchalant smile. Not to be rude but I can smell you from 2 miles away Juinchi placed his thump and index finger to lock up his nose so he doesn't have to keep smelling the young girls stench.
E-ehhhhh?! She is left completely flustered and continues to rant at the young man. Why should I? I-I don t need one I smell fine! . She took a whiff on herself only to cough violently with owlish twitchy eyes covering her mouth from throwing up her own stench.
Heh see, I told ya Juinchi laughs nervously and continues to prepare her bath. Once he is done he then flops on his comfy couch which is set by the wall view-able by the entrance door area. I ll wait for you to be done so you can join me for supper okay? I even have fresh towels and clothes that may suit you, those clothes are the clothes left over from a good friend who used to hang out with me until she moved out. I believe they should fit you.
W-well I guess... She looks down and feeling so perturbed, but the cheerful young man is right, she needs to stay good on her personal hygiene. So she does exactly that and took her time in the restroom bath tub.
It has been 15 minutes for the girl to keep bathing, in a mean time Juinchi had already set up the counter top full of food, making sure to keep them nice and warm so it can be consumed when his new guest is ready. All he has do now is wait for his guest to be done with her bathing. Then he sees her with clothes that he left for her. Juinchi smiles seeing that the clothes fit perfectly. The girl is wearing a long white t-shirt with a grayish small torso vest overlapping the shirt, she also has a short knee covered jeans which fits pretty well with no signs of loosening and tightness. Her hair is obviously wet giving the idea that she didn t care about combing and prepping her hair. Annoyed at the boys facial expression she looks to her side not offering any words to speak to him.
Well since you re done, please help yourself to some food. He took a seat on the stool furthest away from her. The young lady narrowed her eyes trying to read what he is trying to do but then again she does feel quite starved so she took a seat on the stool opposite to Juinchi's.
Thanks... She grumbles still not giving eye contact to this person. There was obvious tension looming within the girls mind whether if this some horrible prank waiting to happen or it's just her own paranoia that's constantly driving her stay completely cautious with this human. This couldn't be just an act of kindness from such a total stranger, there has to be a catch. The wary demon girl took a slow and uneasy glance and notices the cheery young man staring at her, not with malicious intent but overall curiosity.
Watching intently but not over boarding her personal space and boundaries, he offers her to eat first. Hey um you can start eating, I don t mind having you eat first. Don t want the food to go cold.
The demon girl sheepishly widens her eyes. "Oh no, what am I doing?! Food! Can't let it go to waste!" She mutters in her mind as she shook her head from his remark and acknowledges on how extremely rude to just let the food go cold. The starved young lady then proceeded to chock up her own pride and began to do the ittekimasu prayer first and starts gorging down on the rice from the bowl and took a few bites from the other food spread ranging from tamago roll, teriyaki fried fish , and Korean BBQ marinated pork. Each bite she took makes her eyes overflown with tears. She is enjoying a nice warm meal for the first time in a long time. The taste of each bite are so rich and delicious the young girl couldn't help but eat almost all of the helpings not leaving much for the concerned Juinchi who clearly felt bad for her.
Having seen that reaction from Juinchi. The young demon girl decided to stop and place the bowl of rice back on the counter. "S-sorry I didn't mean to eat all of them..." He expresses his well placed worry for her and looks down thus drawing more of her attention to him. Finally having the courage the very question that had bugged him right after he saw her in the alleyway. What exactly happened to you young lady...Why were you even out there alone like that in the first place?
That question, a question alone was enough for her to scowl and glare directly at Juinchi seeing as how he's stepping on a land mine pushing his luck to get answers from her. Why would a human like you even care of what I have been through?" Hearing that, Juinchi is fully aware of how demons and humans interacted on a daily basis's. It never goes well unless both sides of the two different species are able to co-exist but that's rare in these times than back when humans and demons started to warm up from a few decades ago. Still steadfast at his question the demon girl growled as she began to recount the recent torment she had been through before this big oaf of a human decided to play nice guy on her. Let's see if he's truly as legit as he acted out to be. "If you wanted to know so badly human then here is the gist of what happened." The angry demon girl bared her fangs and begrudgingly said the excruciating detail of her latest encounter. " Some of your kind had took in that alley way about a demon child being stuck on a tree. Unfortunately it was all a trap, they used me as a punching bag. Beating me down when I was most vulnerable. Each hit hurt much more than the last! And when I was down they took off with what remained of the yen I saved to buy some food..." She turned to Juinchi with so much angst and anger she wished she could at least get back at them for the pain they put her through. But she couldn't bring herself to attack the orange haired young man to vent up her frustrations. Clearly showing her hate filled tears towards him. "Now do you see? Or is this story of mine entertained you?!"
After hearing what the young girl said Juinchi shook his head and felt deeply sorry and empathetic for the young girl and sets his hand on her head petting her gently. He can t feel that way since all he ever learn to do is be kind and compassionate for those who are in need of help. It was never his right to think of malice behavior for someone who have been beaten and stolen from. "No it never was in fact, that is the exact reason why I'd give everything I got to see demons just as happy as my own kind. At my line of work I put in the same effort to cook the best noodles for anyone especially the demon kind. I don't care what other people think of the demon kind. I see them as equal beings who deserve to live with us." The young woman blankly stares at him and slowly becomes hesitant to ask the next question. She's still not sure if he's actually genuine but deep down she wants to believe he's actually felt that way. "Why though...? Why are you being so nice to me?..." The young lady spoke with a hint of uncertainty.
Juinchi shrugs and simply answered. Simply put, it's just not right for a young girl to be treated so badly especially from a different world, I don't mind anyone as long as they don't cross the line of harming another for their own benefit or malicious intent. He really can t express his frustration, not at the girl, not from the event she told him, but more of the fact that his own kind devolving to the point that they are now preying on the weak for personal enjoyment. This is one of the reasons why Juinchi wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict from his job but its going to happen more often than he thinks but overall he hope his set morals would ease the vulnerable demon girl. Either way he insisted to know her name. "I almost forgot, I like to know what your name is miss?" Having been in deep thought the young demon girl snapped out of her trance like state and proceeds to do so. "My name is Hakune...Hakune Fujiko." Speaking in a low cautionary tone. Juinchi nodded and while he introduces himself despite his name being mentioned already. "Fujiko San it's nice to meet you! As you already know my name is Juinchi Tatagashi. Well..." And so Juinchi finally got up and turn to where the couch is. "Feel free to eat as much food as you like Miss Fujiko and you are allowed to sleep at my room I had it ready with different sheets and pillows." Hakune couldn't help but lower her eyes feeling a tad bit guilty at such hospitality. Then it hit her the moment Juinchi went into a deep slumber.
Hakune pauses for nearly 15 minute trying to figure out why she's feeling a tad bit warm inside. She never had any sort of kindness from a human before. In fact whenever she ever got any sort of help it always leads to her getting hurt, tricked, and used by the people who expected somethng in return. This was different, she wouldn't expect this much care for this human. "Could it be?..." Hakune worryingly thought. Suddenly her heart races finally realizes something. Something so important that she needs to do this. She puts her full attention to Juinchi. "Tatagashi San...I" Hakune slowly got up from the stool and quietly walk towards the sleeping young man with her doe shaped eyes brightening, her lips biting, and her whole body starting to turn to a more intensive burn, she knew this is the one. She lowers herself to Juinchi's face level and mentally ready herself to do this knowing full well it's her only chance, she then places her mouth on Juinchi s neck and nibbles on it closing her eyes shut while her cheeks are flushing bright. She does this as quietly and gently as possible to not wake Tatagashi San up.
Once she subsided, she backs away slowly to see anything happening, and then something came up. Around Juinchi is a light crimson flaming aura engulfing Juinchi s entire body, what comes next is an intense shining flare around him causing Hakune to look to her side putting her hands in front of her view to try and see this process. For a good 10 seconds the flaming glow fades gradually until there is nothing, leaving Juinchi completely unharmed. This in turn left Hakune entirely relieved, somewhat thankful.
"Tatagashi San She whispers quietly close to his ears and stood up to look at him. You'll be my guardian for the rest of your life. Please I hope you ll accept it My life is now in your hands... And so Hakune walked straight to Juinchi s room to rest for the night.
To Be Continued