Author's Note: my writing output has been increased by a fuckton now that i have a chromebook i hope to put out my works much faster and much more comfortably aaaAAAAAAAAAAAA

Hanayo knew that if there was one thing she had to make sure of, was that Umi couldn't read her thoughts any longer. It turned out, Kotori's treatment hadn't quite worked (She used the term 'treatment' loosely), and she still felt rather horrible about Eli's entire situation.

She had gone back to her room and stayed there, not wanting anyone to try and talk to her in this state, much less anyone that wouldn't understand. But then, there was a knock on the door and as much as she wanted to tell them to go away, instead, she called out, "Who is it?"

"Rin, nya!"

Hanayo stood and went to open the door, as she knew that she couldn't tell Rin to go away. She might have told Maki to, Kotori to, or even Nico too (Perhaps not Umi), but Rin was different. Strangely enough, it felt like the two of them could maybe be considered friends.

Rin pounced on her in a hug as soon as she was allowed into the room, "Nya! How are you?"

"I'm fine," Hanayo lied, "What brings you here?"

"Rin just wanted to see how Kayo-chin was doing, is all!"

Hanayo had often found herself puzzled by that nickname, but she had accepted it without any qualms on her part, although it did seem like Rin was a tiny bit worried she wouldn't like it.

"How are things with Eli-chan coming along?" Hanayo asked carefully, wanting to get as much information as possible.

"It's going well, nya! Me and Maki-chan saw her earlier!"

Hanayo knew that the term 'going well' was subjective, but she was sure that it meant that Eli was slowly breaking and she stifled a bite of the lip, instead nodding, "I see… With Maki-chan?" Maki must not have liked that at all.

"Yep! She did throw a few things at me afterwards though, nya… But Rin heard you had to go and spend a night with Kotori-chan… So that's why Rin wanted to see how you were doing, nya!"

Hanayo didn't exactly dislike Kotori, or any of the Devils for that matter. Perhaps she was scared of them, however. But fear and dislike were two different things, she thought. She saw them all as a strange, albeit dysfunctional family. Clearly, she would see Nico and Umi as the pivotal older sisters, whilst she, Rin and Maki were the younger ones. Maybe in an odd way she did look up to Nico and Umi and possibly Kotori. That did leave out Honoka, but then again, she was sure she wouldn't be too offended if she regarded Honoka as not the best role model.

"Thank you, Rin-chan. But I'm fine."

Rin was about to open her mouth before Umi appeared closely behind her, startling the both of them.

"Hanayo."

"Y-yes?"

"You're feeling well?"

Hanayo swallowed and avoided eye contact. She knew that she couldn't let anything slip. "I'm okay, Umi-chan."

"And our little problem is sorted out?"

"Yes."

Umi eyed her suspiciously, but she nodded, Hanayo feeling the slight breeze through her mind, the tell-tale sign that Umi was having a quick look in there to put a rest to her suspicions. Hanayo kept her true emotions locked away and it seemed Umi hadn't picked up on it.

"Right. Good. I trust you're ready for this evening?"

Her stomach turned at the thought of the events of the evening, one wherein she would have to lull Eli into a false sense of security before the inevitable happened. Hanayo couldn't control that, but she nodded, "Of course, Umi-chan."

"Good." Umi glanced to Rin before turning on her heel and making her way back down through the corridor.

"She's kinda scary isn't she, nya?" Rin said when she was sure Umi was out of earshot.

"I-I think that's the whole idea…" Hanayo mumbled.

"Well! I should probably be heading off, nya! Good luck with tomorrow!"

"Th-thanks…" Hanayo replied meekly, honestly not wanting the good luck at all.

After Eli had gone through her checkup with Riko she had gotten the typical remedies that she offered, a bit of healing magic with a bit of bloodletting for good measure. With her humours supposedly balanced, she didn't really feel that much better.

But she supposed that was natural, seeing as her illness was far more than something healing magic could fix. Honestly, she thought that she would need several highly trained exorcists for this job rather than a former priestess, not that she was doubting Riko's abilities at all.

But that evening. was disturbingly quiet and Eli had come to mistrust the silence that was building up gradually, just about driving her mad with tension. She didn't even know who she could trust; whos word she could take. Kotori's? Rin's, Maki's? None of them seemed likely to be telling the truth, but at the very least one of them must be lying. And she was begging it was Kotori.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she was back in her grandmother's cabin with the fire burning warmly and her sat in a rickety old chair that creaked with the homely and humble nature of the place it was located within. But as much as Eli wanted to sit back and relax, she found it far too difficult. Which devil had brought her here…?

Two puffs of smoke appeared on the chairs in front of her, revealing the form of Hanayo and Kotori in dark green and grey in tandem. She looked between the two of them to see a rather worried looking Hanayo and a leisurely Kotori. In fact, so leisurely she had a hand on Hanayo's thigh.

She frowned and didn't quite know how to respond to the presence in front of her, but thankfully she wasn't the one who needed to do the talking at this point in time.

Kotori yawned, "My, my, I'm sorry this visit is late Eli-chan, but I'm afraid someone kept me up nearly all night…"

Hanayo glanced away embarrassedly at that and whilst Eli was curious, she was positive she didn't actually want to know the details. It wasn't like Kotori needed to sleep either.

"Plus the trial was just so stressful… Everyone around me was staring a-and really it was difficult to come forward with the truth…"

"... The truth…?" Eli was tempted to bite her tongue, but she didn't want to leave that statement be.

Kotori hummed and stroked Hanayo's thigh gently, as if trying to calm Hanayo rather than herself, "Of course it was the truth… You really think I'd tell a lie?"

"I don't think you should ask questions you don't want to know the answers to."

"That's why," Kotori shot back, "It was rhetorical."

Eli shook her head, but Kotori ignored that, as Eli glanced to Hanayo for a moment, seeing her head bowed, as if she were guarded.

"Well, I figured I owed you a visit, one where I could be myself. Yamashita Umeko, the poor little servant girl, doesn't exist here," She said with a cheerful grin, "And after the trial I wanted to see how you were doing. After all, Takahashi-san must've been a difficult one to convict, as sly as she was."

"Aren't you the sly one? Didn't you do it?"

"Didn't you just say you shouldn't ask questions you don't really want to know the answers to?"

Eli narrowed her eyes at her, sitting back with a huff, "Talking to you is like getting blood from a stone."

"Well, okay, fine," Kotori raised her hands in a defensive manner, "I'll be completely honest with you, no tricks, no lies, no nothing. I killed him. Yes, I know, it's difficult to believe, horrible even, to face the reality, but yes, I laced his drink with hemlock. And framed his wife for it! It was a terribly tricky business to hide in the house and not get caught doing so, but I pulled it off in the end."

Eli knew it was the truth, but she seriously didn't want to believe that the truth was coming out of Kotori's mouth at all.

"But y'know. Who are you going to tell? A devil invaded the mortal realm briefly just to murder a nobleman then disappear? Imagine the questions, the outrage and honestly, you'll probably get put in an asylum and deemed unfit to rule. That's the beauty of our existence. None of your mortal works speak of us at all!"

Eli knew that perhaps that situation of her being thrown in an asylum was a little extreme, but she couldn't doubt it as a possibility. And the fact that the Devils themselves seemed to be non-existent posed more than a problem for her. She couldn't even begin to think how many had been influenced before her.

"Does the truth feel better?"

Eli paused at that. No, it really didn't. Besides, it wasn't like she could just go and clear Takahashi's name now. Nothing could be done.

"Of course it doesn't," Kotori said before she could say a word, "I know it doesn't. A ruler having religious delusions is nothing new, but imagine if those were delusions were more based around the hellish side of things? People would surely take that the wrong way, no?"

Eli knew that and she wanted nothing more than to tell Kotori the same. But she held her tongue, shaking her head.

"Anyway, I have things to attend to, not murdering another noble, but things," She said, standing and stretching her arms above her head and Eli felt all the more powerless just to let her go, knowing she could do nothing to catch the self-admitted murderer as she leaned down to give Hanayo a kiss on the cheek, eliciting some discomfort from Hanayo, before she turned and left out the wooden cabin door, "See you!"

Hanayo let out a sigh as she left, deflating on her chair before looking towards Eli.

"Do I want to know?"

Hanayo shook her head, "Probably not…"

"Right… Fair enough…"

"Anyway, how are you?" Hanayo asked, tilting her head. That was usually a good place to start.

"I could be better," Eli sighed, "These days everything is overwhelming."

"Yeah… I can understand that. I… I actually watched the trial."

"Did the others watch too?"

"Umi-chan did and so did Nico-chan. The others didn't."

Eli almost felt like Hanayo was an informant, but she knew that she couldn't entirely put her trust in Hanayo. With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes. It was disturbing to find that she was even considering putting her trust in her, but for some reason, she felt like it was the right thing to do, to have someone who was in the situation with her and someone who she felt like was also being used in a similar way with the others Devils.

Not that she was exactly secure in the knowledge that she was being watched just about twenty-four seven. Then again, she probably knew about that, just in the back of her mind.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the show." Eli said bitterly.

Hanayo frowned but didn't make any further comments, "I'm sorry about Takahashi-san…"

"You don't need to be sorry. If anyone does, Kotori and I do."

"Why do you need to be sorry?"

"I sentenced an innocent woman to life in prison. I don't feel particularly good about that."

Hanayo knew she couldn't just let her out of prison and truly, she couldn't think to even suggest that she should try.

Suddenly, the fire to their right flared alarmingly, causing the both of them to pull away with a start. And Hanayo knew what it meant, sending a worried expression towards Eli, who didn't seem to pick up on it, "Was that… Was that you?"

She shook her head, "Nope… I-I don't really have the ability or the need to do that…"

Eli scrutinized her for a second "...Maki?"

"Well… Who else could it be?" Hanayo said, averting her gaze from the tired ruler and instead looking towards the fire that hadn't died down at all.

Eli realised that Hanayo wasn't being exactly straight with her for one reason or another, perhaps she didn't want to think too deeply about the details so she simply left it up to Eli's imagination.

But regardless, Eli felt a chill, rather ironically. And if there was anything she was worried about, was what Maki was planning, or really, what the rest of them were planning in addition. But she suddenly realised that it was probably something that Hanayo was a part of.

"Hanayo," Eli started, seeing Hanayo look up at her with that same worried expression, "What's happening here? I know that something is going on, Kotori told me, Rin and Maki denied it, please. You have to tell me."

"What is it…?"

"Is one of you coming to the mortal realm?"

Hanayo paused at that, "W-Well… We can all go to the mortal realm, but only for a brief period and at limited power…"

"Hanayo," Eli leaned forward, suddenly intimidatingly serious, something that didn't seem to work with the rest of the Devils, "I need the truth. This is driving me up the wall."

Whilst Hanayo didn't want to go against the rest of the Devil's plans, she figured it was too late now. She opened her mouth, before Eli felt a sudden heat behind her and the illusion twisted and left her feeling nauseous from the jarring change. Then, she felt a hand on the back of her chair and the heat moving around her side, seeing the glow over her shoulder.

"Well, Eli. Looks like I'm going to be here for a while."

Maki's journey to the mortal realm wasn't exactly smooth, but she had made her way through a portal and out of the fireplace, which she admitted was rather awkward, but she was thankful Eli hadn't seen that. It would probably make her arrival far less sudden and spectacular.

She detected the presence of magic in the room right away, not that she could pinpoint exactly what it was. She only hoped it wasn't any kind of sealing or prevention ritual that would impede their progress. Then again, no one had caught Eli in the act of even telling anyone else about what she was experiencing. If anything, Maki was amused by the amount of power they had over the supposed ruler of this powerful kingdom.

Now, Maki was free to roam and do as she pleased so long as she stuck to Eli when she deemed necessary. It did kind of feel like Umi was her handler of sorts, but she supposed it was for the best. If it was up to her, she probably wouldn't know what to do without anyone to tell her what to do. She was to keep an eye on Eli, but surveillance probably wouldn't cease on the other Devil's part.

So, she had decided to get a feel for the kingdom before she could put things into full swing whilst Eli was having a rather restless sleep. Thankfully, no one could see, as part of the magic keeping her anchored within the world. If she wished to appear, in whatever form she wanted, she could, not that she wanted to whilst she was exploring at this current state.

The first thing she noticed was how close the castle was to the church and how she thought it to be odd Eli didn't visit too often. Even since the start of their watching of Eli, she had only been there a handful of times. Perhaps she was too busy, or worse (for Eli), losing her faith.

But that didn't matter for now. She couldn't enter the church, so instead, she settled for going further into the kingdom.

The knew a little bit about the world around them, but it never hurt to explore what they didn't know. She had found that past the main city, there were individual towns, many with bustling markets and a few with seaside ports. Although she did have to retain a semblance of care around some of the temples and churches she came across, all seemed relatively normal, even amidst the problems their ruler was having. Then again, they were likely oblivious.

Whilst she was tempted to cause a bit of trouble, she knew that a low profile would be a good start. She would have plenty of time in this world to do as she wished when things had inevitably gone their way.

So, she had gradually made her way back to the castle, working her way past the doors, through the guards (selectively invisibility had its advantages), and back just in time for morning. But if there was one other person she was suspicious of, it was Eli's wife. She didn't quite know how to put her finger on it, but there was something about her that she thought might pose a problem, even if she didn't quite know what that problem would be.

In fact, when she had first entered the room, she saw her, Nozomi, the thought, suddenly wake up and she could have sworn she looked right at her. But then, it changed to looking straight through her and eventually, she had gone back to sleep. She couldn't think about it for too long though, she needed to be with Eli when she woke up. So, she slipped into the room and waited.

Nozomi had felt more than a subtle chill when she felt something enter the castle, something that she had no idea what it was, when she suddenly remembered what Yohane had said. She could only imagine that this wasn't anything holy, but rather than opposite. Judging it for herself, she thought that it was one of the Devils. It had to be, surely.

But now that one of them was here, what was she to do? What did they want?

She was having a restless night, one where she couldn't seem to fall asleep, far too disturbed by the presence she felt. The ability she seemed to have was proving to be more of a burden as of late.

Then, the door creaked open and she bolted upright, almost as though she expected Eli to be coming through those doors, but the aura around her was far more sinister.

And she could see her briefly, very briefly, catching sight of the glow in her chest and the red hair, but very little else. She had a few tell-tale signs about her that gave away her status, the tail, the horns; the wings.

But she seemed to disappear a few seconds after the laid eyes on her, but she realised how much she didn't want to give away that she knew something was amiss regarding something of a supernatural origin. She felt her presence move, before she decided it would be for the best for her to pretend like she hadn't seen a thing, settling back into her bed.

The next day, though, Nozomi greeted Eli in the way she had done so every morning, but she still felt that presence. In fact, she had seen another brief flash as the being had followed her in leaving the room, but she ignored it once again.

"Elichi, I'm going to be going out today, I want to browse one of the markets," She said, arms around her neck as Eli's arms slid around her waist, "I'll try not to take too long."

"Alright," Eli smiled a little bit tiredly, "I wish I could come with you."

"I understand that you can't," Nozomi said, nuzzling a kiss on her cheek, "Even I have to be careful, no?"

"Yeah… They had to arrange specific visits for me with extra security and everyone swarms me and, ah… You know how it goes."

Nozomi nodded, "I'll pick up something for you."

"You don't need to do that," Eli said, her expression softening, "I'm just happy you're doing what you want to do."

Nozomi chuckled, "Alright, alright. I'll be going out quite soon then."

Nozomi had shortly thrown on a cloak with a hood and she could only thank the weather that it was a little bit colder than any normal day she would have gone out.

So, she left the castle and went to the stables, retrieving her brown horse she had come to affectionately name Tarot. The name reminded her of her teenage years when she had struggled to make a living as an orphan. But she had had a talent for tarot readings, taking her mother's old pack that was left to her and learning quickly. She had always felt the presence of her mother when giving a reading and that was what had driven her to continue.

In fact, it was also how she had met Eli. The girl had been worrying about her future, her family and just about everything a young girl could struggle with. After reassurance from the cards, she had left, only to return with another question.

Did she have a claim to anything grand?

Even if it was something as miniscule as a connection to a little known of noble or anything like that, even if the question was vague or perhaps vain, Nozomi had received the question and the cards had revealed to her something surprising.

Eli did indeed have a claim to something larger than herself. Although the cards didn't reveal quite what it was, it was definitely something huge. If she was honest, she could have felt it the moment she met Eli.

The next step was figured out what it was. Then, one day, at the age of eighteen, Eli had had a knock on her door from the royal protectors, only to find that she was the oldest living connection to the crown. With her parents out the picture, Eli was somewhat forced to take the burden of royalty. Her sister helped alongside her, but she could only do so much to help with the responsibilities.

Eli still came to visit. She still asked her questions and spilled her doubts that she wasn't as good of a ruler as everyone would expect her to be and Nozomi was there to reassure her. Even if it was difficult to lift her worries, she'd do so even if she didn't use the cards.

Nozomi smiled at the thought of the young woman she had met and come to know so well over these years and someone she had eventually come to love. It had come as a surprise to everyone, including Nozomi herself, when Eli came to want the poor, orphaned fortune telling girl rather than some rich potential suitor to aid foreign diplomacy.

And so, they had come to live together in the castle until this whole business began. It had been sad to watch, more than sad, for Eli to become victim to something that was horribly unfair to her and now it was ten times worse. A literal devil was following her around and Nozomi didn't know what she could do.

She only hoped she could take her wife's mind off things, although that was seeming less and less possible by the day.

She took Tarot down the road and out of the city, heading towards one of the seaside market towns, being thankful that no one seemed to recognise her. Even if this was to partially get away from the malicious presence, she still couldn't tear her thoughts away from the struggle her wife was going through. She could just stand and leave, the assault wasn't aimed at her, but Eli couldn't.

But if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that there were other people in the world like her, people who were attuned to the otherworldly and had sensed the devil's arrival, there was no way they couldn't. This trip was to see if she could find anything out as she headed back to her old town and back to the temple she was raised in after her parents unfortunate disappearance.

After tying her horse up beside the building, she pat Tarot on the side and headed up the steps towards the open doors, pulling her hood down as she knew too much of a big deal wouldn't be made here about who she was.

"Hello?" Nozomi called, before a woman poked her head out from behind a sliding screen.

"Non-tan, whilst it's good to see you, I don't condone the loud usage of your voice in here," She said, shuffling out, "If you still lived here, you'd get a good slap on the wrist."

"Ueda-san," Nozomi said with a laugh, knowing it was all in jest, "It's good to see you too."

Uede smiled as she made her way over, enveloping Nozomi in a hug. Nozomi saw her as more of a grandmother than a parent, but that didn't stop her from loving the woman in front of her. She was quick to punish and perhaps a little harsh, but Nozomi wouldn't have had her any other way, knowing the meant well for her.

"I just thought I should come and drop by. I haven't seen you in a while after all."

"Yes, I should give you a slap on the wrist for that as well," She said, "Come through, come through. I have tea in the back room."

"Yeah? Do you have some other visitors?"

"I do indeed. One's an exorcist and I think the other is a friend perhaps. They're from the next kingdom over."

"Ah?" Nozomi said, raising an eyebrow, "What are they here for?"

"I'm not too sure if I'm honest. You can probably ask them yourselves, I'm sure they won't mind. Just don't be rude, eh? We are representatives of our kingdom."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Ueda-san."

Ueda led the way and soon Nozomi was face to face with two women, a bit younger than her, but she smiled to the both of them.

The first had dark blue hair and purple eyes, the second was blonde and with yellow eyes. They both stood and bowed their heads politely, and Nozomi could guess that the exorcist was the more well built out of the two of them, not to disparage the other.

"Nozomi-chan, this is Matsuura Kanan and Ohara Mari."

"Nice to meet you," Nozomi said, bowing her head, "I hope you're enjoying your time here."

"Of course," Kanan nodded, "But I am here for business."

"Unfortunately," Mari sighed, "Very little time for pleasure, eh Kanan?"

"Well, yes. But, I must say, neither of us were expecting to meet any royalty during our visit, really."

Mari shook her head, "Nope."

"Well, stranger things have happened I assume."

"Yes, definitely," Mari laughed as the group settled around the kotatsu.

"So, what does actually bring you here?" Kanan asked, tilting her head.

"Ah, well," Nozomi glanced to Ueda, "I grew up here."

Kanan nodded, not prying any deeper.

"What about you two? What brings you two here?"

"Well," Kanan leaned her elbows on the table with a quiet sigh, "There's just been trouble nearby, a girl is worried about her older sister and they used to know us. I won't say who they are, but she wanted a trustworthy exorcist to see if there truly was a problem. But…"

Mari glanced away for a second, "There was something rather worrying that I sensed last night upon our arrival by boat… It was very strong."

"Ah?" Nozomi quirked an eyebrow, "You can sense these things?"

"Yes, yes, ever since I was a young girl. It was a rather strange thing, my father was possessed when I was conceived."

Nozomi masked a startle at that, by extension were one of her parents possessed during the time of her conception? It wasn't something she could entirely rule out. But she couldn't think about that right now.

"That's convenient," Nozomi said, taking a sip of the tea Ueda had prepared, "I… Well, I can sense those kinds of things too. And I can tell you I sensed the same thing."

"Oh! Well, do you know what it is?"

"Well…" Nozomi paused and glanced between the two of them, "Have either of you heard of the Seven Devils?"

Kanan frowned, "I've heard of them, but they're so obscure knowledge is little to none. I don't even think there are any written works on them. They're only myths, really, but some things have been said here and there. Probably Chinese whispers by now though."

"So you're suggesting," Mari swallowed, perhaps a little bit nervously, "That there are literal devils behind this?"

"I'm afraid so."

"What can we do?" Kanan suddenly asked, all business.

"First, I'd like to know a little about them, if that's possible at all."

"Well… I don't know a huge amount, as I said. I've only been able to catch snippets here and there, but I'll be honest, I mostly dismissed it. According to my father whom I trained under, all witnesses of them are either dead, or their written accounts have been destroyed. By what, well… I can only imagine it would be the Devils themselves."

"Anything on their origins…?"

"Well… There are conflicting stories. But my father tells me they were human originally, but made a pact with Satan, although I can't really be sure," Kanan sighed, "I'm sorry… I really don't know much about them individually either."

"What about a red haired one?"

Kanan frowned, "Well, I couldn't name her… I can't put descriptions to name, even if there is only one of them with that characteristic. How do you know all this anyway?"

"I saw… Well, I saw her briefly. It was only a small flash, almost as if her guard only went up when I entered the room or someone other than Elichi looked at her…"

"Elichi… That's a cute nickname," Mari commented, "But you really can't mean-"

"I'm afraid I do."

Nozomi cut her off, maybe a little bit rudely, but no one was in any mood to call her out on it, other than Ueda who smacked her on the back of her hand, "Non-tan, I know this is a delicate issue, but that's no reason to interrupt. But ah," She stood up, "This isn't an issue an old lady like myself needs to hear of. I'd rather live the rest of my days in blissful ignorance. If any of you three need anything, feel free to ask, I'll only be in the other room."

With that, Ueda left the room, surprisingly light on her feet and the trio glanced at each other in turn.

"Well… She is an interesting woman."

"You're telling me," Nozomi chuckled, "The oldest people usually are the most interesting. People just don't tend to ask."

"That is true," Mari hummed.

"But I think we need to get back to the subject at hand." Kanan sighed, taking a sip of her tea.

"Yes," Nozomi nodded, "I'm afraid something's been happening to Elichi lately. And now there's a devil following her around, I'm afraid."

"Do you know anything else…?"

"No… It only happened last night after all. I couldn't tell you what they were doing to her before though, but… I think she's been suffering from nightmares. She's been waking up with nosebleeds too."

"Mm… Not a possession then."

"I think if they wanted to possess her, they would've done it by now, as much as it hurts to admit. They must have something bigger planned for her. But, well, the problem is I don't want to arouse any suspicion by bringing an exorcist to the castle. It might speed up whatever they're planning to do."

"Yes… I understand. But this is definitely a useful thing to know. At the end of the day though, we still have a job to do," Kanan said, "We're only staying here briefly."

"This news should be spread, but covertly," Nozomi said, finishing off her tea before continuing, "We shouldn't create a panic kingdom-wide and then world-wide. I'm worried what'll happen if this gets out to too many people or if the Devil's plans speed up."

"I'll probably go to my father with this and discuss this after I've finished with the job at hand."

"That sounds perfect. If anything goes wrong or whatever their plan is begins, where can I contact you?"

"Well… Over the next couple of days, we'll probably be at that job… We really shouldn't be disturbed. But I'll give you the address in the Chūgoku kingdom of where you can contact us."

Kanan then took a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink and scribbled down an address, handing it to Nozomi, "I know the message might not arrive in time, but… Never late than never, eh?"

Nozomi took it, skim reading the address before nodding and putting it in a pocket, "Ah well… Thank you. But I can't be staying here all day. I should probably be getting back to the castle soon."

"Of course, we can't expect the queen to stay with the commoners all day," Mari said with a laugh, "No offence intended of course."

"Of course not, but sometimes, staying with 'the commoners' is indeed nice from time to time. You go a little stir crazy if you're cooped within the castle walls." Nozomi stretched her arms above her head and stood up, moving into the next room to say her goodbyes to Ueda and head out into the market.

"Do you think that Maki-chan will be fine out there?"

"Yes. Why? Are you unsure?"

"Well," Nico aggressively bit at her thumbnail, avoiding looking directly at Umi, "I guess. She's not exactly stable."

"Well, we're not looking for stability. In fact, I suppose none of us are really stable."

"I know that," Nico groaned, pacing, "I'm talking, like… Do you think she'll be able to pull off what we want to do?"

Umi frowned and narrowed her eyes, but Nico shook her head and slapped herself on the cheek, "Hey, hey! I know that look! Get out my head and stay out!"

Umi shrugged, but her expression didn't change all that much. Nico was worried for a moment that she had caught onto what she was thinking and if she did, she appeared to hide it.

"Sometimes even we have to remain optimistic," Umi stated, "Doubts must be hidden and purged. If you are to succeed, you have to be sure of yourself and those you rely on."

"You mean… You rely on us?" Nico asked incredulously.

"No. Rely is too strong a word for my attitude towards the rest of you, you are only a means to an end."

Nico was a bit taken aback, "You're awfully blunt."

"Would you rather I lie to you? Would you rather I spout falsities at you and make you think I was someone I'm not?" Umi shook her head, "That behaviour would be disgusting."

"What do you think of Kotori then?" Nico asked, managing to plant herself back down on her chair with a leg that wouldn't stop jumping up and down.

"She is an exception to the rule, as… Deviant as she is. If you have no character of your own, then you cannot possibly falsify yourself. Everything you say about yourself, if you live up to it, is no lie. Kotori is clever enough to not say a lie she can't live up to, yet her own personality is borderline nonexistent. The very basis of her being is a lie."

"What," Nico remarked with a dry laugh, "You can psychoanalyse all of us now?"

"Well, do you want me to? I am rather bored and your reactions do amuse me."

"Alright. Try me."

Nico knew she wouldn't sugarcoat her words and she couldn't deny that she was curious as to what Umi thought of her and she watched as Umi huffed out of her nose and sat back on her chair, collecting her thoughts.

"You," She began, "Are like me in some ways, but we are so far apart. We have the same goals, all of us do, but the difference is, you care. For whatever reason, you care. At the end of the day, Nico, we could achieve our goals but have the other Devils fall in the process. You would be remorseful, I would not."

"I-I don't care that much!" She protested.

"I am speaking. Do try and not interrupt. You wanted this after all." Umi deadpanned, leaning forward and placing her hand underneath her chin slightly boredly, "The world above, to you, is a way to prove yourself. Validation, to you, is necessary, be it from yourself or the others around you. Even with what we are, there is still a part of you that is annoyingly, positively human. Not even Satan could change that about you. But humanity is not a blessing. It is the opposite among the world above and we will rid it of that, make no mistake."

Nico swallowed, not sure exactly what to say. Umi had spouted more than she knew about herself, which was deeply worrying, if she were to admit it. She felt a small breeze in her mind and Nico smacked the side of her head.

"I said, stay out! What don't you understand?!"

"You were taking too long to react so I believed that your thoughts would be more interesting than your words. In fact, thoughts are always more interesting that words."

"If I catch you in my head one more time-"

"Then I just have to make sure you don't catch me."

"Gh-! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Absolutely nothing. Just because I'm different from you, you think there's something wrong with me and that speaks volumes."

"Okay, now you're just twisting my words," Nico said, standing back up with a stomp, "You're way too much to deal with sometimes."

"I'll take that as a compliment, if anything."

Nico rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"But, regarding your doubts about Maki," Umi started, ignoring Nico's apparent protest, "She's there now and we'll be keeping her there. If she proves to not be up to the job, then we'll simply bring her back. There are seven of us, therefore, six more of us have the ability to take over, although that is a best case scenario…"

Nico was about to leave the room before she turned back around, "Umi… Why didn't you go? Surely you'd be the best candidate for this kind of thing."

"What," She said with a dry laugh, "And leave the rest of you to do your own thing? Honestly, Nico, you have to face the fact that without me down here you don't have a proper leader and planner. You're a second to me, but really, could you orchestrate this?"

If Nico was honest, she was more than a little bit offended. Then again, she couldn't exactly deny the trouble she might have if Umi wasn't here. She sighed and turned, leaving the room without another word.

"What exactly do you want from me then?" Eli said, locking the door to make sure no one wandered in during their conversation. If someone caught her talking to what was apparently thin air, then she could only imagine the reaction, especially with the royal physician being called in only a day prior.

"What, we finally have some one on one time and that's what you ask? You really can't really expect me to just spill everything."

"It's worth a shot…" Eli murmured, taking a sip of her tea.

"Isn't it customary to offer guests a drink?"

"You are not a guest," Eli said, eyeing her, "You haven't been let in here out of my free will, you forced your way in."

"True, true," Maki acquiesced, "I'm not bothered about a drink anyway." She waved her hand dismissively.

"What are you going to do here?"

"I dunno. Follow you around, freak you out a little maybe," Maki lightly jested, "But seriously. Why would I tell you?"

"I don't know. Maybe you feel sorry for me?"

Maki let out a laugh at that, a flame briefly billowing out of her mouth, "If I felt sorry for you, or if any of us felt sorry for you then we wouldn't be doing any of this."

Eli was about to open her mouth and ask what Hanayo's motivations were, before she decided it was better to not do that at all. If Hanayo truly was on her side and could potentially be trusted, then she didn't want to put any suspicion on her.

"Good point… But still, whatever you have planned… Know I won't go down without a fight and neither will this kingdom."

Maki sat back with a grin, "Wouldn't have it any other way."