AN: Hi, sorry for the waiting, but here is the Chapter 2 of the story, I hope you'll be happy with that, but smut are coming in next chapter !
Chapter 2: A Red Dream
Blinking a few times in hope of figuring out where he was, Ataru rubbed his eyes to make sure he was awake. He found himself in a strange room that was practically completely red. The walls and the sofa which he was lying on were all red, the floor being the only thing that was not entirely red, as it was made of red and black tiles. How did he end up here? Was this Mendou's idea of a joke? Or his sister's idea of a joke?
With bare feet on the cool ground, he tried to look around to find an exit, but found that the room was separated by a red curtain. It was quite disturbing to be in a room that had so much of one color, especially when he was wearing his green pajamas, which made him stand out a lot.
Pulling aside the curtain, he went to the other side of the room. He noticed that the room was almost identical as where he had been before, however, there was a door in front of him. That surely had to be the exit. He headed for the door, but was interrupted by a noise. To his right he saw a large wooden desk, the kind of desk you could only have if you were as rich as Mendou.
At the desk sat a boy with dark red hair and a ponytail, who looked like he could be one or two years older than him, at most. He also noticed little horns on his head, which were not like Lum's, but horns like a goat had. He was tapping his fingers against the desk, while looking at him with a blank expression. At first somewhat hesitant, Ataru still approached him in hopes of finding an answer to what was going on and where he was. But before he got the chance to speak, the boy stood up.
"Moroboshi Ataru?" he asked with a voice that made him feel so much older than he looked. "I was waiting for you."
The young teenager slowly opened his mouth as he looked at him, quite surprised by what he had just said.
"Please," he gestured to the other chair across from the desk. "Sit down."
Hesitating for a moment, he finally sat down. He did not understand the situation and the boy in front of him clearly noticed it. He offered him a comforting smile.
"Here's my card." he held out his hand, a small piece of paper there.
The card was black and at the top the writing consisted of blood red letters that he could read.
"Mephisto Pheles," Ataru said. "Head of the Archdemons and Master of the Six Princes."
He looked up at the boy, then at the card and then at him again. He ended up putting the card down and sighed in annoyance. "It's about demons again…"
"You don't seem to like demons." the other boy replied sympathetically.
"I live with two Onis at home. Most of the time, supernatural things happen to me and around me, even if I'm not going to lie that it involves rather sexy girls. But I already made a pact with a demon just because I took a different path than usual!" he was almost angry when he mentioned the other demon.
The boy laughed softly.
"He must have been a low ranking demon!" he announced cheerfully. "They should not be taken seriously, as they are often poor and do the best they can to achieve their missions."
It did not change the way Ataru looked at him. The boy gently changed his mood and tried to appear serious while remaining gentle towards the other teenager.
"Ataru, I can call you Ataru, right?" he asked politely, Ataru simply nodding in response to the question. "That's good."
He linked his two hands on the table and continued to look at the boy in front of him. Ataru almost thought he was at a job interview.
"Ataru, you've had our attention for quite a while," Mephisto explained. "What you did and what you want. All of that captivated us."
Ataru blinked, still confused.
"You see, we don't randomly choose people who absolutely want something from us."
Mephisto's words made Ataru recoil in his chair.
"But I don't want anything from you..." he replied softly.
"Really?" the red haired, horned boy's voice had suddenly grown darker. It made him shiver.
Ataru looked down, his hands clinging to his pants. He tried to find the meaning of all this, but then he suddenly felt like he understood.
"Are you talking about my…project?" he asked, lowering his voice at the last word.
The boy in front of him nodded.
"We can help you make it happen." Mephisto seemed more mature than he actually looked, his voice almost having become bewitching.
Even if he could be persuaded, Ataru still frowned, not being fooled so easily.
"Yeah, but it probably comes with a price," he crossed his arms. "You want my soul, right?"
Mephisto pulled his hands apart and raised one in a gesture of sympathy.
"Oh my. No, I do not want your soul. At least..." he noticed the teenager raising an eyebrow. "For you, Ataru, the offer will be different."
That did get his interest, but he tried to not show it, keeping his arms crossed and looking to the side, before looking at Mephisto. "I'm listening."
The red haired boy placed his elbows on the desk and once again offered a smile that was starting to make Ataru uncomfortable.
"For a harem, with all the girls from Tomobiki, the price will be something you own and that is precious to you."
In the end, he winced at the statement.
"My soul, then." he said, coming to the conclusion himself.
Mephisto laughed, but shook his head slightly to make him understand that he was not after his soul.
"Let's just say it's a precious thing that you don't use." he explained.
Suddenly, Ataru stopped frowning and looking grumpy.
"Do you want…my vinyl collection?" he wondered innocently.
Again, the demon in front of him laughed.
"Ah Ataru, you're fooling around, but don't worry, you'll notice what it is later. And by that time, it will have become useless to you."
He thought for a moment, but did not give an answer. He thought about the conversation from earlier and how this could have happened. It had to just be a coincidence, right?
Noticing that he did not answer immediately, Mephisto took out a small wooden chest painted and decorated with gold. Ataru looked at the box and when Mephisto opened it, he noticed a red apple inside. He raised an eyebrow and waited for another explanation.
"If you feel ready to close our deal, all you have to do is eat a piece of this apple."
Ataru looked at the apple, which was so red that he could almost see himself on it. He looked at the boy in front of him, quite hesitant. It was rare for him to hesitate, he who never acted with thinking about the consequences. Then he thought of the offer again.
"The girls of Tomobiki? Only them?"
Mephisto showed him another smile, but it seemed a little more perverse. "Don't worry, we'll see later if you want more."
He took the apple and examined it. "Well, for the girls of Tomobiki!"
Ataru finally took a bite of the apple and swallowed. He looked at the demon, not knowing if he should continuing eating or not, so he put down the apple and waited for something to happen. Suddenly, he noticed that a strange light came out of his chest, which was sucked into where the apple had ended up. With surprise and fear, he watched the light being sucked out of him, until it disappeared and then there was nothing.
"What…"
"It was love."
He looked at the demon with wide eyes at the realization.
"You don't need that, do you?"
The brown haired boy was at a loss for words, looking for a why and a how.
"Ataru, trust me, you don't need that in a harem. It's not the same type of love you have for these girls, so don't worry about it!"
He placed a hand on his chest, shocked to have a feeling like this removed. If he could not love anymore, would he be nice then? Or was there an alternative to this?
Ataru's eyes widened at a realization he had. His heart had stopped beating. He placed his other hand on the same spot to make sure it was not just his imagination, but no, no matter how hard he pressed his hands to where his hearty should, he felt nothing. He looked up at the demon, a feeling of anger emanating from him.
"What did you do to me?"
"Come now, don't be afraid Ataru. I took away your love, a feeling you only have for one person. Now, in your harem, you'll have no real preference. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Ataru blinked, trying to calm down after what he had just heard. He sighed bitterly. The demon rose from his chair, all smiles.
"Well, we're almost done, so I'm going to show you around."
He nodded and followed him to the only door in the room. When he opened it, Ataru thought he was in heaven. A long corridor led to a cabaret hall, which was entirely red, filled with beautiful young girls dressed mostly in bikinis or they were wearing cabaret outfits, but nothing over conspicuous at the moment. Although they were all happy and seeming to have fun, they did not move at all. He did not understand what was going on with them. He walked over to one of them, then to another, while laughing loudly. Among all these girls, he recognized some of them
"Shinobu! Ryuu-chan!"
They were there, but seemed embarrassed to be there. Ataru looked at both of them, hands behind his back, while continuing to laugh loudly. He turned to the other girls and finally noticed where he was. It was indeed a huge hall, almost as if it were in a mansion, and he could see a fountain on one side. There were small stairs between the rooms and he saw a huge throne in the middle. He looked at it while tilting his head in confusion. Mephisto slowly approached him and explained to him without him turning around.
"The Master's throne."
Ataru turned to him, speechless, staring at the demon and his sweet, but mysterious smile. He raised his hand, pointing to himself. "So it's…"
"Yes, this is yours."
Hearing those words, he sat on it and noticed how tall it was or maybe that he simply was too short. He was usually able to sit in otherwise tall chairs, but not in this one. When he had finished testing all the possible positions, Ataru rose from the throne and joined the other boy. They went into another room, a room which he discovered was his own bedroom, with a large bed, it being a dark red color like everything else so far. In front of his bed was a mirror. Mephisto showed him a satin robe, meant for him when he was here. He offered to change his clothes for him as well, but Ataru did it himself, Mephisto leaving him alone.
A few minutes later, Ataru left his room. It felt like home. However, he looked at the girls in the great hall again, trying to spot another familiar face, especially one of them.
"Isn't Lum here?" he asked innocently to the demon, who had his back turned to him.
He could hear him laughing slightly and he turned around with a bigger and crazier smile on his face. "Oh, did you just notice?"
Ataru raised an eyebrow. "Lum is the one who I spent most of my time around, so obviously I'll notice if she's not here."
In front of him, the demon crossed his arms.
"I thought you might be happy with that," he closed his eyes and stepped aside. "Yes, she's not here."
Before asking why, he tried to be logical about it, but he was unable to figure it out. He had seen Benten and Ran here, so why was Lum not here? She was an alien too, after all.
"When is she coming?" he asked in attempt to reassure himself.
"To tell you the truth, never."
Ataru tensed and for a moment he thought he was going to laugh, but no. Looking into the white eyes of the boy in front of him, he thought he was joking, but he was not. The serious look made it clear that he was not joking with him. He started to get angry and wanted to make Mephisto understand that he was not satisfied, but he was cut off by the demon.
"You thought she would be here. Before you say anything else, you should know that you paid for your harem with that."
"Wait, you said that..."
The demon stood next to him and put his arm around, placing a hand on his shoulder, as if they were both good friends.
"Look Ataru...You just paid with something you own, but you reject it!"
He placed a hand on his chest.
"It's something that has value, but you reject it. I thought you didn't really need it and it's unfortunate, because it's partly what makes it stick with you..." he spoke with a malicious smile, looking somewhat like a snake, with his face very close to him.
Ataru felt pretty bad. His teeth were clenched, but he knew there was some truth in what Mephisto said to him. He watched as Mephisto's hand withdrew and finally he walked away from him. He let out a bitter sound. He wanted Lum, especially if he had a harem, but having it without her was just unimaginable. It was the third time he had been surprised. He closed his eyes, still frowning. He sighed. He wanted to have this harem and this was a golden opportunity. That is what that inner voice told him…
Forget Lum for once! You've got your harem! It's here!
He looked at the demon and offered his hand to him, waiting for them to shake hands. The demon shook his hand and like a good businessman gave him a polite response.
"Well, I should also add that if you really want Lum to be in your harem, you'll have to go and search for her outside."
He released his hand, noticing the teen's open mouth.
"Oh, but not immediately! When you feel ready, you can go and get it!"
Ataru ended up nodding. Maybe it was not as bad as he thought. He watched the demon pose and snap his fingers. "Okay now, let's dance!"
The snap was heard clearly by Ataru and he noticed the demon disappear, but all around him everyone came to life. He then felt two girls who were suddenly clinging to him and laughing. At first he was embarrassed, but then he laughed too. It was a new life of perfection that had just began.
Maybe…?
