"You monster...! How dare you use Kyousuke like that...!?"

Incubus narrowed his eyes as the brat of a girl looked at him with such defiance, struggling to get her words out despite the mental pressure he still had placed over her. Such boldness. This was no good. This was no good! This wasn't exciting at all — and more than that, it didn't do anything for his plans one bit. Even showing her the pictures he had taken probably wouldn't do well at this point, no, that would get her angrier at him. Anger wouldn't give way to despair, it would simply give her even more reason to avoid it.

On the bright side, she hadn't fallen to despair and fought it off — he was certain, once he got her to that point, it would be all over for the little girl. He didn't make mistakes like that. That was the kind of mistake that ended a Phantom's life, one way or another.

Releasing his mental hold on the girl — on his sweet little Sayaka — Incubus stepped backwards, offering her a toothy smile, a smile he knew didn't belong on the face he wore even for an instant — which only served to anger the girl even more. It was clear where he had failed. This old trick of his hadn't been enough for her.

And that was exciting.

He couldn't wait to meet the lovely Phantom inside of her that was certainly just bursting to escape.

Incubus liked her already.

"Now now, my sweet..." As the girl stumbled backwards, pressing herself against the wall behind her, Incubus returned to his true form. Looking more and more like what humans referred to as a "devil," the Phantom laughed, leaning forward to place a finger underneath the blue haired girl's chin. He tilted her face upwards, eyes sparkling in delight as she glared at him. "I can tell when I've lost."

For a brief moment, doubt flickered across the girl's face. Of course it did. He could be killing her right this second if he wanted to, after all. Instead, he had — from her perspective — dropped all pretenses of making her despair and had even abandoned his illusions.

If nothing else, if the girl wanted to live, she was going to listen.

"You... You have?" She frowned, clearly unsure of what he was saying — not to mention unsure of what his definition of "lost" might mean. For all she knew, that could mean he was just going to get a different monster to go after her... which, incidentally, wasn't a terrible idea, now that Incubus thought about it.

Laughing gleefully inside, Incubus nodded slowly, raising his hands up in a sort of "what can you do?" pose as he sighed dramatically.

"If I can't bring you to soul crushing despair, what can I really do to you?" Incubus scratched the back of his head, playing his part perfectly — acting as though now that Sayaka had "beaten" him, he was completely out of options and couldn't hurt her even if he wanted to. He was the picture of a defeat.

Just like he wanted, the boldness that had been present just moments ago continued to deflate. Certainly, she looked more confident — safe, even — but that was fine for now. If he couldn't do anything to her right now, would there even be any point in trying? It would just push his goal further and further away.

"You could probably snap my neck."

Okay, so even if she was feeling safer, the girl wasn't stupid. That was a bit annoying. Though that meant the wizard hadn't talked to her yet — she didn't know what he wanted. He could use that to his advantage, if he played his cards right.

"Then that would be my loss, darling..." Incubus crossed his arms and leaned against the wall across from the girl — from Sayaka — and sighed again, laying it on even more. The fact she hadn't taken off yet despite the fact that he was doing absolutely nothing to her meant quite a bit. He wasn't going to let this chance slip by. "I don't want to kill you. Don't you know? I would think someone as beautiful and charming as yourself would know this already — and that wizard must have told you."

The girl reacted just as he wanted her to. The gears in her pretty little head were turning just the way he had hoped. Things would be just fine.

"She... She didn't tell me anything. Should she have?" Though Sayaka clearly didn't trust him, that was more than enough. If he was going to be retreating here, then he needed to make sure she doubted the wizard until he could make his next move. That doubt would do his job for him. "If you're a monster, don't you want to kill me? Isn't that what you're doing all of this for...?!"

"No no no, Sayaka..." He made sure to use her name, as if he were being friendly — after all, he lost, why wouldn't he be? He raised a finger and shook it in front of her face, making it look as though she was missing out on some very obvious information. "You are a Gate. Killing you would be the last thing I want to do. There's something inside of you I want, after all... Someone."

He didn't give the girl time to process this. He knew he was on a timer now — the wizard would probably be here soon. He had to plant his seeds and water them so that they could grow in his absence.

"You must have caught on that I'm a Phantom before. Well, very, very special people like you — Gates — are hosts to Phantoms. That's how we're born, Sayaka..." Incubus smiled devilishly inside as he watched Sayaka's face twist into horror at this revelation. "That's why I want you so much. I want to bring her out — the Phantom inside of you. Do you think it's fair that we have to be trapped inside of you humans? I may be a 'monster,' but I'm clearly a sentient being, aren't I?"

"T-That's..." The poor girl didn't know how to handle this. How could she? This sort of thing was usually the breaking point for most — the fact she wasn't shattering right here just said to Incubus that the Phantom inside of her was truly going to be magnificent.

"I guess it's hopeless — if I can't make you despair, then that's that. You can live your life however you like and they'll die when you do. Too bad for them." Incubus shrugged, pretending like he had done his best but now he just couldn't do any more about it. For his part, it was acted perfectly — or at least he liked to think so. "I think I know why the wizard didn't tell you though. She's... different."

That got Sayaka's attention. Pulled back from the confusion swirling around in her mind, she stared at the monster — the 'Phantom' — and frowned. What could he mean?

She thought back to that first encounter.

Hadn't the red haired girl said something like how it wouldn't be terrible if Sayaka had turned into a monster? How it would just give her more to "eat"? Sayaka had known right away, as soon as she had said that, to be wary of the girl — could this be why?

"That wizard eats Phantoms. I've seen it with my own eyes. She needs to do it to survive... So if you think about it..."

In a flash, Incubus was leaning forward, whispering into Sayaka's ear. She could feel his icy breath on her skin, but she made no move to escape — too entranced by his words despite the fact that no kind of magic or hypnosis was cast on her in the slightest at this moment.

"It would be much better for her than it would be for me for the Phantom inside of you to be born."

Incubus knew in that moment, his job was done.

"Hey! Get away from her!"

Perfect timing too.

As she searched on, finding to her great annoyance that the Phantom had pulled the girl down even more alleys while she had been distracted, Kyouko realized that wasn't sure what she would find now.

Would she find nothing? A Phantom and a girl? A Phantom and a corpse? Or worst of all, would she find two Phantoms?

Truth be told, after looking at the blue haired schoolgirl earlier, she expected the worst. She was already down without the Phantom's interference — his holding her up with those Ghouls could have meant the difference between the girl's life and death. He could already be running away with his new Phantom comrade now.

That thought made her stomach churn.

"Shouldn't you be happy? That means more to eat — a longer life."

Chimera's tone made Kyouko scowl. The Phantom living in her, or her belt anyway (was there a difference anymore?), wasn't asking like some ignorant monster who didn't see anything wrong with consuming people. It wasn't mocking her either. The beast knew her thoughts, just as she did, and was commenting on them — prodding her, wanting to make her think. It was understood that he wanted to eat, it was understood that if she didn't feed him, they would both supposedly cease to be, but if it was dire enough, she would be feeling the effects of his hunger.

She didn't understand how this strange Phantom could exist, how it knowingly could feast upon monsters that had once been human — not to mention monsters that were its own kind — yet wasn't chomping at the bit or raving like a starved madman. She didn't understand!

What kind of crazy person would seal a Phantom in a belt anyway!?

To Kyouko's great annoyance, she heard laughter ringing out in her belly — in her head, really, but she knew that was where the source of it was.

"Hahaha! You can be such an entertaining child... Let us hope you keep me full long enough for this show to reach a satisfying ending."

Scowling, Kyouko shook her head. She would never understand Phantoms. She didn't want to understand them. Not that she really understood people all that well either.

Did she want to understand people?

Damn it, Chimera! Putting ideas in her head like this...!

Gritting her teeth and fighting back the urge to curse out loud, Kyouko turned a corner — and her eyes went wide. She saw two familiar figures. Her expression settling into a fierce glare, she raised her saber and began to run. She still had time! It wasn't too late!

"Hey! Get away from her!"

It wasn't too late for what?

The Phantom began to laugh, but before Kyouko could so much as slash at it, it was gone. His laughter echoed into the night, fading away as he had. This time, though, Kyouko didn't pursue him. It was the middle of the night, after all, and she knew now that he would be back.

Assuming he hadn't done so much damage to the girl's mind — her heart — that his goal was already as good as accomplished...

With that grim thought in mind, Kyouko finally gave the girl's existence some recognition and turned to her. Up until that point, she had barely looked at her — after all, her concern had been with the Phantom initially.

Kyouko didn't know what to expect from this. Part of her warned her that this could be a set up — if the girl had turned into a Phantom, this could actually be the Phantom in disguise.

For a brief moment, the two simply looked at each other. For some reason, it occurred to Kyouko that the girl seemed to be looking for something in her the same way that she was searching for any signs of Phantom-ness in the girl. It was kinda funny. And there was something distinctly human about her expression that Kyouko recognized. She was sure of it. The girl was definitely okay — at least for the time being, anyway.

Offering a fangy grin, Kyouko did the only thing she could for the girl, who was still pressed up against the wall that the monster had been forcing her against. They needed to break the ice. If she was falling to despair right now, awkward and brash as Kyouko could be around people at times, she knew that unless she wanted another monster running around terrorizing people, she had to deal with this in some way right now before things got worse.

So she held out an open box of pocky towards the blue haired Gate — a peace offering.

"Want some?"