Satan

How did it happen? How did that fucking Yuri Egin walk away with my number?! Not wanting to blame my own shortsightedness, I decided to blame Shura. She caused a lot of my problems anyway. For instance, she was usually the reason I was out of alcohol when I really wanted it. And so I thought that maybe if I forgot about Yuri Egin's existence- she would actually disappear from my life. I was wrong. After she had so kindly- note the sarcasm dripping from my voice- spoiled all three of my kids she was all they would talk about. As if it wasn't bad enough before.

So there I was, sitting on my couch and blocking out Mephisto's neverending ramblings when the phone rang. I sighed and stood up, stretching. I strode over to the phone and picked it up. "You've reached 666-666-6666. How can I help you?" I said in a monotone.

"H-hi!" squeaked a familiar voice from the other line.

Oh no.

I groaned and rubbed my temple with my free hand. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"I was just calling to check in on you and say hi!" she said.

I could almost see her blushing. That brought a cynical smirk to my face. "I'm fine and so are my kids. If that's all then I'll just-,"

"WAIT!" she exclaimed, trying to keep me from hanging up.

"What?"

"C-can't we try and be friends? I know we got off on the wrong foot but… I don't think you're a bad guy! Your kids are really sweet and they have to get it from somewhere, right? And for some reason- I don't think it's from their moms. But anyway! We should try to be friends!"

I had prepared a sarcastic response but it died somewhere between my brain and my mouth. I stood, frozen with my phone against my ear. This girl wanted to be my friend. I didn't really have any friends. Unless you counted Shura but I wouldn't. "Why? Unless you're going to keep stopping unexpectedly by my house then I don't see any reason, too," I said coolly before punching the hang up button.

"Who was that?" Mephisto asked, looking up from his board game.

"Telemarketer," I muttered, trying to push away the gut-wrenching guilt I now felt. She had only wanted to help and I'd been an ass to her. I shook my head and sank back down into my couch. I needed to get out of the house. I picked up my phone again and dialed Shura's number. She picked up on the second ring.

"Yoohoo! This is Shura Kirigakure!"

"Hey, Shura. Can I get you to watch my kids for like an hour or so?"

"Satan! Hey! And, sure! I'm just at home watching Friends re-runs! I'll be right over!"

I hung up and slipped my phone into my pocket. I turned to my kids and smiled. "I've got to go out for a while. Shura's going to come over and watch you."

Amaimon got up and hugged my legs. "Bye, Daddy," he said quietly. I got hugged by the other two as well.

The door opened several minutes later and Shura stepped inside. I had given her a key to my house a while ago. She waved and took off her white scarf and black overcoat. Her face was bright red from the cold and she was smiling brightly. "Hi, Satan! Hi, kids!" she said.

I put on my navy coat and handed Shura a fifteen-dollar bill. "Thanks for coming over on such short notice."

"No problem!" she told me, lifting up Amaimon with one arm and putting away the bill with the other.

I gave them a final wave before starting out into the cold. I closed the door behind me and trudged through the snowy streets in the dark of night. It was only about six but the sun went down so early this time of year it was seriously dark. I passed in and out of the pools of light cast by street lamps.

"W-why is he so mean to me, Shiro?" asked Yuri Egin.

I whirled around, trying to find the source of her voice. I spotted her on a park bench, with her head resting on the shoulder of none other than Shiro Fujimoto. I knew him because he had attended school with Shura. The two of us had never gotten along and there was more than one occasion when I wanted to stab him. But seeing him with his arm around Yuri's shoulders like that- that made me angrier at him than I'd ever been before.

No, I thought, I'm not angry. I'm jealous.

Yuri

I walked into school the next day, feeling more than a little down in the dumps. I had really thought that Satan and I could be friends. We didn't have to be the way Shiro and I were but we didn't have to hate each other. So I trudged into my first hour with my hands in the pockets of my oversized blue hoodie.

"Hey, Egin! Where's your scarlet letter?" shouted a voice from across my math classroom.

I turned around slowly and put my hands on my hips. "Michelle, I am not in the mood for you or your crap today," I said sharply.

Michelle. How I loathed her. She was smart, pretty, and good at everything. Except for the fact that she was mean to everyone and she considered other people to be nothing more than ants.

"It's not crap. Everyone knows how you're stringing three boys along now. I saw you getting cozy with the chem lab assistant yesterday. And if you didn't notice, there was some hot older guy glaring jealously at the two of you."

Chem lab assistant? Does she mean SHIRO? Oh hell no.

I took a threatening step towards Michelle. "Shiro's just my friend. And I don't even know what 'hot older guy' you're talking about."

Her lips parted in a smirk. "Oh reeeeeally? Long, silver hair, blue eyes, tall, dressed in black? That doesn't ring a bell?"

I blanched. I knew whom she was talking about. But why had Satan been staring jealously at Shiro and I yesterday? Satan hated my guts! However, that wasn't my current problem.

"You little liar!" she sneered, "You do know who I'm talking about."

"Wait," said one of our other classmates, "You said Yuri was stringing along three boys. Who's the third?"

"That blonde guy that walks you home every so often. He's always making speeches about chivalry and protecting you," Michelle told the other.

"I only have one boyfriend. His name is Arthur Auguste Angel. He's the blonde guy. Shiro Fujimoto is my best friend. And the other guy… he hates me. We are not in a relationship," I said, fighting back tears of rage.

Michelle laughed like a hyena and slapped a piece of paper onto the front of my hoodie. On it, she had written a capital letter A in a red pen. There was a chorusing 'oooh' from the class.

"There. Now you can't lead any more innocent boys astray. You know what, Egin? I didn't expect the daughter of a priest to act like a slut! But maybe, I should have. Maybe you want to be rebellious and different from your strict father. Is that why you're such a COMMON WHORE? And you're not even pretty! You're just an ugly brunette with a spotted face and no figure at all. But maybe you've got so many guys because you're so easy! Is that it, Egin?! Or should I say, HESTER PRYNNE?"

I felt my face getting hot and the tears bubbling up around my eyes. I tore the paper from my chest and thrust it to the ground before sprinting out of the room with my eyes burning. The laughter of my classmates followed me out of the class like a disease. I tore through the crowds of people and dashed into the girl's bathroom. I ran into the last stall and slammed the door behind me. I latched it tightly and sank down onto the toilet seat before breaking down.

The tears wouldn't stop coming. I sobbed and sobbed into my hands without ceasing. And somewhere in there, I threw up into the toilet. It was like my body was trying to get rid of the day's events. All throughout my life, I'd kept a clean reputation and had been generally well-liked by my peers. And now, everything I'd worked for was crashing down around my head. I knew my father would hear about this. He always did. Besides, Michelle's family went to his church. There would be no escaping retribution.

After what seemed like hours, the tears ceased. I sniffled and wiped my eyes. I pulled my knees to my chest and pressed my head against my legs.

"Yuri? Please come out. I know you're in there," said my favorite voice.

"Sh-Shiro?! You shouldn't be in here! This is a GIRLS' bathroom!" I said, trying to hide the despair.

"Don't care. I'm here to take you home."

I stood up and leaned against the wall of the stall. "I don't wanna go home. Dad's gonna lose his shit."

He sighed. "I heard about what happened. I told your chemistry teacher that you'd thrown up in first hour and had been hiding out in the girls' bathroom ever since. He told me to take you to the office and have your dad pick you up."

"No way. I don't want to see Dad."

"I know you don't. Which is why I'm going to take you out of here to wherever you want to go. Your hour is the only hour I work here, anyway."

I opened the door and peered shyly out. "But what about your college classes?"

He pulled me out of the stall and wrapped me up in a huge bear hug. "I can skip a couple classes to help out my best friend."

I smiled up at him. "Have I ever told you how absolutely wonderful you are?"

He grinned. "You could stand to mention it more often."

"You don't believe any of those horrible things Michelle said about me, do you?" I asked quietly.

"Of course not," he said, kissing the top of my head.

I nodded and pulled back. "Good."

And in that moment, I couldn't help but wonder what Satan would say if he found out about all the awful things Michelle said.