"Maki?"
The devil in question turned and Umi was pleased to see that the glow in her chest was steady and rather toned down compared to other days. She grunted in acknowledgment of Umi's presence, and she couldn't help but notice the wisp of smoke that left the corner of her mouth.
"I'm here to run an idea by you regarding our dear Eli."
Maki's chest flared a bit, "What is it?"
"I was thinking. We send one of us into the mortal realm and use our power to keep them there and basically, drive our dear ruler over the edge."
"And you want my input?" She said, folding her arms.
"No, I know this'll go past everyone else. I want you to be the one that goes."
Maki suddenly grinned and the furnace in her chest burned even hotter, for once out of excitement rather than anger, before she soon enough collected herself and the grin faded, letting out a long sigh, smoke pouring out from her lips.
"You think everyone else will agree?"
"Are you doubting me?" Umi asked, quirking an eyebrow, "They won't dare argue."
"Mm… I suppose they won't. I'll go," Maki's grin returned, "I won't let you down."
Eli had noticed something. The devils were quieter than normal. More subdued. They hadn't even appeared out of the corner of her eye. Whilst she was thankful, dread washed over her; what if they were planning something?
But right now, she had a chance to take, to make a decision regarding her generals without her judgement being clouded, or at least, less clouded than normal.
She sent for a servant to gather the generals, before she trudged into the room with as powerful a footstep as she could muster. The generals quieted immediately.
"I've come to a decision," She stared down at the map, "We'll defend our kingdom and our people. We cannot afford not to. In my opinion, attacking is too high a risk."
Her generals bowed to her and she was about to turn to leave when the room suddenly shifted and a wave of calm washed over her.
The cold tile of the war room floor had been replaced with a homely wood and various humble pieces of furniture dotted around it. She glanced out the window and saw flecks of snow falling, as well as icicles collecting above the frame.
She recognised this place. Her grandmother's home. Eli fondly remembered that the hardened woman had refused to move into a large castle when the bloodline was traced to find that she was related to royalty. She stayed there in her little cabin and Eli loved to come and visit… Until she had unfortunately passed away.
She wondered which one had brought her here and why.
"H-how are you feeling…?"
That answered her question. The timid tone, the quiet voice, simply what she was saying. If Eli had been handed something to read the line off and guess which devil had said it, she would most certainly say Hanayo with confidence.
As polite as Hanayo was though, Eli wasn't in a mood to be particularly friendly. She grunted in response and firmly sat down on one of the old, creaky chairs and squeezed her eyes shut. She knew that Hanayo was sat next to the fireplace, currently emitting a welcoming and warm glow.
It only served to make her question as to why Hanayo was the only devil so kind to her. Well, Rin was too, but Eli seemed more inclined to trust Hanayo than Rin. Not that she could really trust any of them. But she couldn't help but feel that it wasn't an act or a trick, then again, that was probably what they wanted her to think.
Hanayo had never pushed her to do anything. Never tried to persuade her, never tried to intimidate or get her to consider anything important. It was almost a reprieve to her. Sometimes they just talked about little things.
She was a meek thing, Hanayo was. It made Eli question what even qualified her to be a devil. She had horns, but they were short and blunt and stubby. She never showed her wings and her tail was hidden too. In fact, Eli wondered if she had either of those things.
"How is Nozomi-chan doing?"
Eli opened her eyes to scrutinise her expression quickly, but she decided to answer honestly.
"I worry that she's not taking to the intimacy change well… I want to make her happy, but…"
Hanayo sighed and fiddled with her hands in her lap, "I'm sorry…"
Eli shook her head and didn't say a word, biting back saying anything nasty.
"So… Why bring me here?"
"O-oh well… You had good memories here, right?" Her expression was a worried one, as though she was thinking that she had gotten something wrong.
"Yes, I do."
She slumped back in the chair, hearing its subtle creak as she gazed into the fire. She thought about the direct contrast to Maki's fierce furnace.
But that thought was cut unfortunately short when, in a puff of orange smoke, Honoka appeared, sprawled out on, somehow, the table that Eli was worried wouldn't stand the weight.
But the initial shock was dampened when they noticed that she was fast asleep and just about to roll off the -
Honoka hit the floor with a thud, which took a surprising amount of time to draw a reaction. She groggily raised her head and glanced at the two in front of her, before rolling onto her back and laying her hands across her stomach, deciding that getting up was too much of a hassle. Eli and Hanayo stood up.
"So uh… This place is kinda boring. Then again the big black rooms with, ooh, looming darkness and basically nothing else are too… Umi-chan really seems to like those."
Hanayo sighed and went to go and help Honoka up, which seemed to be the only way she would actually be getting up at all. Eli was busy trying to not let herself get too agitated by any comments Honoka made. After a bit of trial and error on both of their parts, Honoka was finally stood up, but propped up on the table.
"Oh! I just remembered. Umi-chan told me to tell you… Something. To go and see her, I think. That sounds right! She told Kotori-chan to tell you too, but she was 'busy', so she kinda had to tell me. She doubted I would tell you though."
Why Honoka thought they needed to know the extra bits, Eli didn't know, but Hanayo sighed and gave a quick glance to the obviously tired ruler, but she knew she couldn't say anything comforting at all as she vanished in green smoke.
Eli gave Honoka a cautious glance, who only yawned and waved her hand dismissively, "Hey, I'm not gonna do anything… Maybe tomorrow, I haven't decided yet."
When Honoka shrugged, another devil pushed the door of the cabin open and Eli was a little bit confused as to why she didn't just appear in a puff of smoke, but she couldn't help but admit that she was quite pretty, snowflakes peppering her ashen hair and a slightly reddened nose. But Eli knew that it was merely a facade. It would all only be an illusion to make her appear more natural and, quite possibly, attractive.
"Kotori-chan! Perfect, take over for me."
"Oh, Honoka-chan…" She sighed languidly, "You have to do your part too."
She shook her head, but Eli knew that she was likely putting on an act. Eli had learnt that she was very good at doing that and she loved to see how much she could confuse or toy with her. It was immensely wearing.
"Ehh, I know, but…" Honoka put on a puppy-dog expression, which Kotori chuckled at with a practised grin.
"Alright, alright. You run along now."
"Thanks Kotori-chan!" With that, Honoka disappeared in an obnoxious puff of orange smoke.
Kotori ran a hand through her hair, half-circling Eli and giving her a rather uncomfortable touch on the shoulder before she went to go and sit opposite her.
When she saw Eli's tensed shoulders, she only chuckled, "Relax. Why don't you sit down? You'll feel better."
There was a low purr in her voice, but Eli reluctantly sat back down, the creak in the wood rather comforting as she faced the flirtatious devil across from her.
After a small pause, Kotori leant forward and Eli jolted when she felt her mind being probed, uncomfortable and unrelenting, her nails digging into and scratching the old wood of the arm rest. Kotori had the choice to do it covertly, but she had purposely done it that way. Umi could breeze through her mind without her noticing and Eli knew it was a way to break her down further. But it faded and Eli let out a sigh of relief as Kotori leant back with an amused smirk.
"Intimacy problems, hm? Lucky for you, I'm an expert in those."
The confidence Kotori displayed was remarkable to Eli, but she couldn't exactly dwell on that.
"I don't want your advice."
"I offer more than advice, Eli-chan."
Eli shivered at that. It seemed Kotori was an expert in discomfort as well, her voice dripping with poison laced honey.
She shook her head, "I don't want anything you have to offer."
"Mm… Shame. Ah well, you're stuck with me until I decide to let you go."
Kotori inspected her nails before she spoke again, "You know… I don't really like to spoil surprises, but I feel like you could use a bit of warning…"
Eli raised an eyebrow, which she hadn't really wanted to do. In demonstrating her curiosity, Kotori knew she had her caught.
"A little bird told me," She laughed at the small pun for a second, "That one of us is coming to live with you."
And with that little statement, Eli's blood ran cold. Even the very thought of it was horrifying enough, but if Kotori was telling the truth, she didn't know how long she could last.
"Hmm…" Kotori stood and made her way leisurely over, ignoring Eli's obvious discomfort.
"Who d'you think it'll be? It could be me, couldn't it?" She said, slowly running her nail down Eli's arm, despite her twitch and tensed muscles, "I could be close to you for real. This is only a little illusion and this is only you being made to react to whatever we put in front of you. That would be interesting, right?"
"Maybe it could be Honoka-chan…? She'd probably just annoy you more than anything to be honest. Then again, maybe you haven't seen enough of her yet?"
"What about Umi-chan? Someone like that with you all the time… I wonder how quickly she'd break you?"
"Nico-chan maybe? She's bad enough in one of these scenarios isn't she? I think it would be hell on earth for you."
"Rin-chan?" Kotori clicked her tongue in thought, "Maybe. You never know what's under the exterior of those types."
"Ah, maybe Maki-chan… I don't think a lot needs to be said about that one, other than 'good luck'."
"Hanayo-chan… Well, I doubt it. You know what's interesting about her though? Her mind is really quite well guarded. Sometimes not even Umi-chan can get in there. Just thought I'd share that."
With a drawn out and exaggerated sigh, Kotori stood and shrugged, "Or maybe I'm just bluffing about the entire thing! Ah… I have to be going anyway. Places to go, mortals to mess with."
Kotori snapped her fingers and her clothing changed in a puff of smoke to something much more casual and distinctly more human like. Eli couldn't stifle her frown as Kotori stepped towards the door.
"Does the name Takahashi mean anything to you?"
Eli was reluctant to answer, but Kotori had already probed the thought from her head.
"He isn't very faithful, is he?"
The statement was vague; a question not asked to be answered, as Kotori opened the door and left amidst a flurry of snow.
And soon enough, the illusion melted away.
Takahashi was a nobleman of respectable capabilities, Eli had remembered. He was a generous donor to the church and had even taken in a few homeless people in his lifetime. Married, but with no children. Eli wondered what the devil meant by that, but she had to put that aside in favour of spending the rest of the day trying to put some rather horrifying thoughts out of her mind.
Hanayo was a little bit nervous. She had appeared in the room and was waiting for Umi to come back from wherever she was and from whatever she was doing.
She fiddled with her hands as she glanced around the room. It was surprisingly humble for someone like Umi, she thought. Even if the rooms could shift and change at the owner's will, Umi kept hers mostly the same. A stone floor, a desk, a crackling fireplace, and wood padding and furnishing the walls.
She had little time to dwell on the homely decor as a dark blue mist swirled up on the chair and dissipated until Umi's figure appeared, sat there with her arms crossed over the desk.
"Glad to see you're punctual unlike a certain someone… Do you know why you're here?"
"No…"
Her expression turned to more of a stern one, "You're here to be reminded of your place in the grand scheme of things."
Hanayo flinched at the very tone she was using on her and she didn't dare look her in the eye. One thing Hanayo had learnt through talking to Umi was that she could keep her thoughts hidden from her if she kept them locked away, and it was difficult to do that if she was staring her in the face.
"Tell me, what do you think you're here to do? Regarding Eli?"
She had been told this; countless times, just to hammer the point into her mind. She sniffled.
"I'm… I'm the mediator."
"That's right. You're there to keep Eli sane. To give her hope. Without you, she might give up. You are the doubt in her mind and the moment's reprieve from the rest of us.
Hanayo nodded, taking in those words again. She made the mistake of looking Umi in the eye and all those thoughts were forcefully unlocked.
"You're having doubts."
Umi raised herself from the chair and she circled round it to sit in front of her, perched on the desk, her expression cold and unreadable.
"You know your part in this. Why don't you want to play it?"
She narrowed her eyes when Hanayo stayed silent, but now that their gazes were locked, Umi could get more information.
"You're forming an emotional attachment," She said, with a hint of disgust to her voice, "You know what happens in this event. You're to spend a night with Kotori. And I'm going to ask you one question."
Hanayo was already scared at the very prospect of having Kotori do something to her, but she didn't like what the next question was to be.
"Are you sure you want to continue with this? It'll only be six devils and it would feel rather incomplete without you, but…" She gazed at her with a scrying expression, "Eli may be strong willed enough without a mediator. And it would be for the better to achieve our goals. Demons and fiends won't do well either so I can't draft one of those in."
Hanayo couldn't help but feel as though she was being guilt tripped, but being far too meek to point it out, she shook her head, "I want to continue… It won't happen again Umi-chan…"
She didn't know why she was the only one to suffer about emotional attachment. She was attached to the rest of the devils, even Maki, whose words were unkind and her skinship was cruel. Perhaps the others were better at hiding any attachments considering their role in this grand scheme? Or maybe it didn't matter if they did, seeing as Hanayo was the only one who had to truly be kind, or well, act kind.
She couldn't help but feel it was somewhat unfair.