"I was wondering when you would come," the man said as he approached them.
Lucifer relaxed when Kaminari did. "Hey, Dad," she greeted.
"When you didn't come home, I thought you might have come here," he smiled at Lucifer. "Thank you for keeping an eye on my daughter." He put out his hand, "I'm Senichi Sasaki, Kami's father."
Lucifer skeptically shook the man's hand, "I'm Hanzo Urushihara, Maou's roommate."
Kaminari's father smiled at him before directing his attention back to his daughter, "Don't worry. Chiho doesn't know you're here. Try to keep an eye on the clock, though. You still have a curfew. I'll tell your mother that you're safe."
She hugged him, "Thanks, Dad. I'll be home soon." Once her father was in his car again, she waved him off, Lucifer standing awkwardly behind her. "Well, that's going to be hard to explain."
"C'mon," Lucifer said as he grabbed her wrist and tugged her along. "I know you haven't eaten, so don't bother arguing."
"How long were you there?" She asked as she fell in stride by him.
"The whole time," he replied truthfully.
She chuckled some, "Jaden sent you home?"
"Why do you know that?"
"That's just how Jaden is," Kaminari replied. "Have you thought about finding another job?"
"I'm going to have to," Lucifer replied. "Otherwise, I won't be working at all, but I can get so much magic there."
"Find a way to make yourself irreplaceable, and he won't be able to fire you," she told him.
"He hasn't realized the theatre won't be able to function without me," Lucifer replied.
Lucifer opened the door to a small corner restaurant that specialized in egg rolls and spring rolls. With a sharp tug, he got Kaminari inside before she walked into the door. "I'm fine," Kaminari insisted as she tried to step out of the restaurant. "Let's go home."
"You haven't eaten since breakfast, and you threw that up," he told her as he pulled her to a table in the corner. "You're going to eat something."
She sighed as she rubbed her eyes. They ached from crying. Once they were seated, she noticed three familiar faces trying to hide behind menus, and another far in the corner. Before she could make mention, Lucifer placed his hand on hers. "Whatever you tell them, I will agree with you. Tell them the truth when you're ready. Until then," he awkwardly lifted her hand to his lips before holding his hand between hers.
Her face was burning as he stared at her. Though it meant nothing, she couldn't understand why he would willingly go so far to cover up what she was dealing with. Finally, she managed a shaky smile, "You're a wonderful person."
Lucifer glanced again at Maou, Chiho, and Ashiya as they sat on the other side of the room. While Chiho fumed, Maou couldn't have been less interested while Ashiya was just confused by the whole thing. Even Emi was there, and that made things more annoying. He wasn't going to let them distract him from focusing on how to keep Kaminari from getting depressed again.
Lucifer smiled as he watched Kaminari munch on an egg roll that clearly tasted very weird. She scrunched her nose then handed it to him, "You try it."
His smile immediately faded when he looked inside the strange pork egg roll. There wasn't cabbage inside, but some other strange green goo with small crunchies in there. He took a skeptical bite and immediately put it to the side, unable to eat it. They tried different ones, chicken curry, veggies with rice, grape salad, strawberry shortcake, each one almost as bad as the last. By the end of their "date" neither of them wanted to eat an egg roll ever again.
Kaminari sighed when she saw the time on her phone, "Alright, it's almost midnight. Chiho and I need to get home."
Lucifer got up then walked to her side of the table, a smirk on his lips as he offered her his hand. She smiled as she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He didn't let go of her hand as they left the restaurant. Knowing the others were behind them, he put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him as they walked. Every once in a while he would slow his pace, resting his head on hers.
When they got back to her home, she almost didn't want it to stop. She smiled at the kind Demon, "Thank you for today. You've been the best."
"Is that how dates end?" He asked. "I don't think that's how dates end."
She smiled slightly, though it never reached her eyes, "I don't need any sort of closure for the night. I'm tutoring Maou tomorrow, so I'll see you then." She hugged him, holding him tight to her. "Thank you for helping me."
Lucifer wrapped his arms around the girl and jumped into the air, his wings sending them up a little higher as Emi suddenly appeared. Lucifer glared down at the Hero while keeping the very scared Kaminari close to him.
"Coward! How dare you hide behind her!" Emi exclaimed while pointing her sword at the fallen angel.
"Are you insane? You could have killed her!" Lucifer argued as he held the slightly traumatized girl closer to him.
Her knuckles were turning white as she held onto Lucifer as tightly as she could. "Please don't drop me," she whispered as she stared down at Emi.
"Put that sword away so I can put her down," Lucifer demanded. "The longer she's up here, the more powerful I become."
"You can come down," Maou said as he approached the chaos. "She won't do anything."
Lucifer got lower to the ground, but never touched it as he placed Kaminari down. "You need to get over yourself," Lucifer told the Hero. "We're staying in this world, Emilia. We don't try to ruin your life, so stop ruining ours."
Before she could even scream, Lucifer had Kaminari at the top of the building she lived in. "I don't think I like flying," she muttered into Lucifer's chest.
"I can tell," he chuckled. "But," he moved some hair from her face, "I had fun. I wouldn't mind doing it again with fewer tears, yeah?"
She closed her eyes. All the concern was gone. She didn't care he would live beyond her. He was there, for now at least, though teenage romances rarely last.
"Yeah," she agreed quietly.
"Alright, it's time for me to go home. Jaden has me working all day since we have a midnight premiere tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you for taking care of me today." She rubbed her arm, as she looked at the ground. "I...I don't know if I would have made it without you."
"Hey, no more dark thoughts," he told her with a smile. "I'll see you soon."
He gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek, a spark of purple magic moving through her body. She felt warm, like he was still holding her. Her body tingled causing bumps to form on her arms.
He chuckled as she touched her cheek, "Goodnight, Kami."
"G'night, Lucifer," she replied dreamily.
When he jumped off, she walked to the edge, watching him fall until his wings appeared, letting him hover to the ground. What had he done to her? When she got back to the apartment, she managed to make it into her room without playing 20 questions with Chiho, or so she thought.
Chiho and Emi were sitting in her room, both furious beyond reason. "Just what happened on the roof?!" Emi asked, rage fueling the question.
"Nothing," Kaminari replied.
"That magic on your cheek says otherwise," Emi spat as she pointed at the spot where Lucifer had kissed her.
"You let Lucifer kiss you?!" Chiho screeched.
"You're going to wake Mom," Kaminari hissed, trying to calm the girl to a decent talking volume. "What's the magic going to do to me?"
"I don't know," Emi replied solemnly. "It might keep you safe. It might turn you into an angel, maybe a Demon. I've never heard of it."
"I'm not pregnant, am I?" Kaminari asked with fear.
"No, there's still only one way to do that," Emi laughed awkwardly. "I'll ask him tomorrow."
"No, please don't," Kaminari almost begged. "My ex works there, and he's trying to find any reason to fire him. Wait until he has another job before bothering him there, okay?"
Emi had seen the same look in Chiho's eyes many times. It was hard for her to comprehend it, but she understood the concern. The group of demons was becoming less of a pain every day. She hardly stalked them anymore now that they had a specific routine. The only reason she really stayed around was because of Chiho's constant concern over Maou never loving her. Whether or not that was true, wasn't her choice to decide or explain, but she still kept in contact to reassure the girl everything was fine and that Maou wouldn't be returning to Ente Isla.
Kaminari was less concerned over their return. She was more concerned over their happiness in this life.
Kaminari smiled some, "Emi, you need to move on from what happened in Ente Isla. Let me show you why."
Chiho and Emi watched as the girl turned on her laptop and switched to the Iishi user.
"Who is Iishi?" Emi asked.
"That was my name. Kaminari Iishi," Kaminari said as she pointed at the little girl who was in mid air. "That's me when I was four."
"Who are those people?" Emi asked.
"They're my family," Kaminari replied. "This was the last picture that was taken when they were alive."
"A-all of them died?"
Kaminari sighed as she clicked on the file labeled Bad Idea. She repeated her story as she clicked through the pictures, explaining exactly what happened to all of them. By the end of it, the two had been crying with her, sometimes asking her to stop, but she refused, continuing the story until the end.
She deleted the photos and looked at Emi, "Emi, humans did this. Have you heard of Maou torturing people like this? Or has he been mostly merciful by destroying everyone in the village, ultimately killing them all? Now, if you'll please leave, I need to go to bed. I open tomorrow."
Maou yawned as he opened the door, stepping out of the way for Emi to enter. She had called ahead saying she wanted to talk to him about something important. "If this is about Lucifer, I don't want to hear it."
"It's about me," she replied quietly. She sighed shakily, "I'm going to be more civil with you."
"You talked with Kaminari, didn't you?" Ashiya asked. "Did she show you the scars?"
"No," Emi replied. "But, I realized the humans of this world are more evil than the demons from ours. What they did to her family..."
"Yeah, Lucifer showed us the pictures," Maou told her. "I accept your truce. In this world, we will protect the humans. They obviously can't fend for themselves against themselves."
"Okay, I have a question. What would happen if you...kissed someone?" Emi asked him.
He narrowed his eyes, "Why?"
"Lucifer kissed Kaminari," Emi replied. "Is she going to die?"
"Where did he kiss her?" Maou asked.
"I could see the magic on her cheek, so I think that's the only place."
"Are you sure it was magic and not celestial?"
"Sire, he wouldn't do something so brash," Ashiya commented.
"I'm certain it was magic," she replied as she looked at Ashiya. "What are you talking about?"
"An angel's kiss can do many things," Maou said. "I'm surprised the church didn't tell you."
"Get to the point," Emi growled.
"Well, a celestial force kiss can do many things to a human. Depending on the source, it might be able to turn a human into an angel. Though, it could do other things as well. It can show other angels that the human is protected by another angel, it can keep demons from approaching them, but there's also a darker side where it could take the life of the human to give an angel more power, or simply mark a target for other angels to destroy later on."
"Do you really think Lucifer would turn her into an angel?" Emi asked.
"He has the power and the authority if any lesser angel ever questioned it," Maou replied. "But, since it was magic, there are similar things. He could be trying to turn her into a Demon, though that's not likely. She would turn into one of the lesser demons that are mindless and can't be controlled. No one wants that. It could be a warning for people to leave her alone. A demon's kiss is much darker than an angel's kiss simply by the fact it can be noticed by humans, or they can sense the energy coming from the kiss, which is probably what Lucifer did."
"So, no one will mess with her anymore?" Emi asked with a smile. "I didn't think he could actually have good ideas."
"What are you talking about?" Maou asked.
"They didn't arrest everyone involved in what happened to her. The man that tortured her is still out there. He said he was going to come after her again. If she's been kissed by him, then he won't bother her."
"Well, he might want to choose somewhere else to kiss her then, because I don't know how long it will last," Maou said.
"The spell can wear off?" Emi asked.
"Well, yeah," Maou replied. "If he had actually kissed her, chances are she would never be in another relationship. She's not even a relationship right now."
"They're not dating?"
"He didn't say they were."
"She didn't say they weren't," Emi said with a smirk. It immediately disappeared, "How did he manage to get a girlfriend before I even got a boyfriend?!"
"Well, if you didn't stalk me, you probably would have gotten a boyfriend."
Emi sighed, "Well, I've got work."
Kaminari stretched as she waited for the park to open. Even after Emi left, Chiho wouldn't let it go until she finally told her what had happened that day. She changed her visit to the graveyard to just roaming the city, which Kaminari was known to do when she got upset. She had to be at work by 7:00 and she didn't go to bed until 3:45.
She had never been more grateful to Lucifer than she had been as she drank some coffee from her travel mug. Brazilian coffee had been a thing Kaminari had tried once while in Portugal, and she thought the delicious caffeine bean would be gone from her life forever, but to her luck, Maou's strange landlady passed it to them. People that worked around the park started dropping by for their morning cup of coffee and biscuit to help them start off their day. Slowly the breakfast crowd began to disappear as customers of the park began to flood in. Customers would be far and few between making it hard to keep the staff busy, but Kaminari was a decent shift manager, taking time during the down time to give helpful tips to those working on how to do their job better.
The place seemed to flood when lunch came. Even with the two registers open, she struggled to keep up with the growing crowd and making sure her delivery employees were able to go where they were needed. Things were suddenly stopped when a register broke, so she had another employee packing bags to hand out to customers.
Many complaints and screams later, the rush had ended. Despite her polite professionalism, a woman threw icy water on her, almost damaging the only working register. While the crowds were down, she started messing with the broken register while another employee handled the register.
She sighed as she took off her MgRonalds polo revealing a MgRonalds long sleeved shirt that was worn mostly in the winter, but she wore year-round. She draped her shirt over a chair outside and went back to working on the register.
"I'm sorry sir, but this register is closed until further notice," Kaminari said, not giving the man any sort of actual notice.
"Do you normally strip at work? You're more than welcome to work for me."
She sighed as she smacked the register on the side, "Sir, if you're not going to buy anything, I must ask you to leave."
She held down the power button of the register and noticed it wasn't reacting at all. She followed the power cord and groaned. They would be running on one register until she got permission from corporate to open the counter. The troublesome man grabbed her wrist which immediately set her skin on fire forcing the man to let her go.
"Where's the manager?!"
"Sir, I'm the manager until 3:00. If you wish to file a formal complaint, I can pull the paperwork for you."
"I'll be back," he spat and stormed off.
She absentmindedly rubbed her wrist before placing her hand on her cheek. What sort of magic had Lucifer used on her?
With a shudder, she went back to working the only functioning register while sending the other employees out on their business. When 3:00 rolled around, Tai walked in with the man from earlier.
"This man said you attacked him, Kaminari," Tai said with a frown.
"I'll go pull up the security footage," she replied with a sigh.
Tai followed her to the back where she pulled up the video. She was working on the register, the man grabbed her, then immediately let go.
"Alright," Tai said with a sigh. "Why haven't you fixed the register yet?"
"Because I haven't had time to call corporate to ask permission to take the counter apart," she replied.
Tai immediately groaned, "It got unplugged?"
"I've tried everything else," she replied. "All we can do is wait."
"Alright, go home," he told her.
She grabbed her dried out polo and hung it up in her locker as well as her long sleeved MgRonalds shirt. She straightened out her tank top then pulled her long sleeved black shirt she had worn to work that day. After adjusting her messenger bag to a comfortable position, she left the place, happy to be gone.
She couldn't remember the last time she had had such a hard time. Whatever happened with that man was bothering her, as well. Was that the magic behind Lucifer's kiss?
After accidentally bumping into some people and realizing they weren't getting burned like the man, she started to think it was for anyone that wanted to harm her in any way. She smiled slightly as she touched where he had kissed her. That was sweet of him to think of her in such a way.
When she got home, Chiho was practically dancing around the living room. "What are you so excited about?"
"I'm going to the movies with Mr. Maou!"
"Wait, when?"
"We're going to the midnight premiere at Jaden's theatre. We prepaid for the tickets so he can't up the charge at the window."
"Alright," she said as she grabbed her backpack, "I'm heading over there to start tutoring him. You spend the next nine hours getting ready."
Chiho giggled and squealed as she spun around again. "You would be the same way if Urushihara asked you out."
Kaminari smiled slightly as she touched her cheek again, "Maybe."
She left the apartment, heading toward the bus stop that would take her to Maou's. She rocked on her heels as she waited. When it finally showed up, Ashiya started to step off, but stopped when he saw Kaminari waiting.
"What's up?" Kaminari asked as the two took a seat in the front.
"We were wondering where you were," he told her. "You were supposed to be at the apartment an hour ago."
"I didn't get off until 3:00. I'm sorry."
"It's quite alright," he muttered under his breath, still agitated. "What will you be teaching him?"
"I thought I would start off with something interesting, so he's taking history today."
"That hardly sounds interesting," Ashiya muttered.
"Don't you want to know if magic exists in this world or not?" She asked him with a smile. "I know it's not the goal anymore, but having magic in case Ente Isla decides to come back would be nice."
"If that's the case, then I will participate in this class as well."
Kaminari pulled out the history book she was planning on using. Ashiya stared in horror at the monstrous book, "You cannot expect him to learn all of that!"
"If I can, he can," she told him as she put it back. "And that's only everything before the 1400s. The other book wouldn't fit."
When the two got off the bus, Kaminari frowned at the stairs. She didn't want to carry that heavy book all the way to the second floor, but she had to. With a sigh, she followed the Demon general up the stairs and into the apartment. "Sire, Kaminari is here."
"What sort of teacher shows up-"
He groaned when the heavy backpack landed on his stomach. "One that works at the amusement park MgRonalds and doesn't get off until 3:00. Also a very generous one that is willing to teach the great and mighty Satan without charging a fee." She sat by him as he pulled the large book out. "This class is going to be a test run to see the best way you learn."
"Repetition," he told her with a smile.
"Wrong answer," she told him as she moved to Lucifer's laptop and brought it to the table. "This is actually learning things, not how to do them. Repetition is for math, not history."
She sat by him and started off with the book, pulling up various pictures on the internet to see if seeing the things would help. He took notes as well, so they were off to a good start as far as history went. Maou steadily grew more bored with the subject, but occasionally would hear something interesting and want to know more about that subject. After three hours, Kaminari called it quits.
"Wait, why are we stopping?" Maou asked.
"Because you have a date with Chi in a few hours, and I only brought history with me. Something weird happened at work and I can't focus."
"What happened?"
"This guy grabbed me, and he got a weird burn on his hand from touching me."
"That's good," Maou replied. "We thought Lucifer had placed a serious spell on you."
"What would you consider serious?"
"Well, he didn't die," Maou said with a smile. "I would remove the spell, but that's up to Lucifer. You let it happen." He smiled, "He thinks dates are stupid."
"Like the one you have with Chi?" She smirked. "Dates for the sole purpose of a romantic relationship are doomed to fail. There has to be a friendship there first, or someone will get hurt."
"I've been here long enough to know friends don't kiss each other," Maou argued.
"I don't think Lucifer and I will become a thing," she told him. "If it's a spell of protection, that's fine. I guess it's a one time thing, and I'm alright with that."
"Why cant Chiho be as calm as you are about these things?" Ashiya groaned. "She can become such a nightmare."
Kaminari's phone buzzed. She raised an eyebrow, "Hey Urushihara."
"Are you coming to the premiere tonight?"
"I wasn't planning on it, why?"
"Well, Jaden's father came by and he's letting everyone watch the movie."
"Yeah, I'll come."
"I'll, uh, see you then."
Kaminari sighed, "Well, Ashiya, are you coming to the movie?"
"I don't like theaters," he replied.
"You're coming?" Maou asked.
"Yeah, Lucifer just invited me. The employees are getting to see the movie, too. You should come. I heard it's scary."
"No, it's quite alright," Ashiya's said with a smile. "If I go, I will be in someone's company and either Lucifer or Chiho will be upset."
"Whatever," she said with a shrug. "I'm going home and I'm going to sleep for the next four hours."
She left the house, a little happier than she thought she needed to be. She shook her head at how idiotic she felt. She was all giddy because she had been asked to the movies by a guy not long ago she never wanted to see again. As she got on the bus, she started thinking about what she should wear, which made her frown. She didn't want to try to impress him. She just wanted to be next to him, enjoy his company, just be happy for a little while. On the surface, that seemed like a small request for the evening, but she knew it would turn out much worse.
She yawned as she stepped in her home. The moment she saw Chiho, she lifted her hand, "I'm taking a shower and taking a nap. I'll be ready on time."
Kaminari threw her backpack to the wall, and headed to the bathroom to get a quick shower before her nap. She woke up to Chiho banging on the door, "Kami, its 10:30!"
Knowing she wouldn't be going back to sleep, Kaminari wandered to her closet and pulled some stuff from the hangers then tossed it onto her bed. After getting dressed, she headed to the bathroom and stared at the contacts holder on the sink. She knew her sister would blow it way out of proportion, but to watch movies, she needed her contacts.
When she stepped out of her room, her sister squeaked, "You look so cute! I've never seen your makeup look better!"
Kaminari rolled her eyes, "Just because I wear glasses doesn't mean I don't wear makeup."
The two girls bid their parents goodnight and headed out the door. Chiho was practically shaking with excitement as Maou walked up. He wasn't dressed in his normal attire, but was wearing some nice jeans, that could have been considered new, and a black shirt under a black jacket.
"Someone cleans up nice," Kaminari commented as she circled Maou.
"Lucifer won't know how to react when he sees you," Maou commented.
"Look, I can't watch movies with my glasses," she explained, annoyed with the situation.
"Sure," Maou replied with a smirk. "Cmon, we're going to be late."