Chapter 4: Take Notice Not
Satan thinks demons are as annoying as school. Other demons, not him. Because he's better than them.
School was a drag. It was nothing but hours of Satan's day involving being talked down to by some idiot teacher and forced to listen to lessons about basic shit he already knew. Sure, he couldn't expect much out of his first years of "education" (a word he used very lightly), but he just wished that the moron heading the class would leave him alone since he clearly knew everything she wanted to teach. He'd participate whenever he damn well pleased, he'd talk whenever the hell he wanted, and he'd use whatever fucking shitty words he wanted, capiche bitch?
Apparently not, since that got him sent to the office, and, when that did nothing, calls to the shitty priest. Which did even less, but it seemed to broadcast to the other kids that he was fair game to pick on since the teacher hated him. Not that Satan was ever "picked on" by anyone, no, or more amounted to dumb words said by dumb children who eventually got sick of and punched in the face. It was something Yukio didn't like, tried to stop, and often got caught in the crossfire, being the easier target who'd actually cry when teased.
Satan just beat those brats even harder.
Of course, he'd found a more…permanent solution was needed. So, with a tiny flicker of his pretty blue flames, he burned a Temptaint into a few of the kids and let them deal with the trauma of suddenly seeing demons everywhere. It helped that Satan could attract lesser demons at will, letting them mindlessly swarm him and terrifying the brats until one literally pissed themselves. Suddenly their class was a whole lot smaller, several children out "sick" as the teacher phrased it when asked. She sure had a strange way of phrasing a sudden case of what the rest of the world would perceive as insanity, but whatever helped her sleep at night. And when the shitty priest asked about it, Satan played dumb, pretending he'd simple fought them like normal and they'd suddenly started screaming. For no reason at all, as far as he could tell.
It was kind of funny that the idiot thought it was all unintentional. Of course, the best, the strongest, lies were the ones someone said to themselves.
Suddenly, Yukio had stopped mid-step, and stared at a car. No, not at it, but under it, where Satan saw the edge of something scaly disappear, practically merging with the shadows. A minor taint filled the air, and Satan sighed, annoyed that a demon, however minor, had gotten close. He'd have pretended it never happened, expect he saw the way Yukio's eyes filled with nervous fear, refusing to leave the spot.
"Annoying, aren't they?" Satan said casually, as if it were simple the weather and not beings from a whole different world. Which to him, it might as well be. "Just ignore them and they'll go away."
Yukio nodded, slowly, "I…know that."
"Yukio, we've talked about this before." Years ago, when the boy was barely three, and had first spotted one outside the church and screamed. The coal tars had never really bothered him, simple a fact of life, so Satan had been surprised and forced to literally drag Yukio to the side and have a nice long talk and establish ground rules for demons.
"You can see it…?
"Of course. Everyone else is just too dumb to see them. But not us."
It'd been obvious that he'd gotten to talk to Yukio about it all before Shiro, and that filled him with vindictive pride. There was no way the shitty priest didn't know at least Yukio could see demons, but with how much of a non-issue such minor demons were to himself, the ruler of Gehenna was wondering how long he could keep the Paladin from guessing he could see as well. It was funny to see him tip-toe around the issue with his two so-called sons (the deluded fool), probably wanting to "maintain their innocence" or some other crap for so long as it wasn't an issue. All thanks to Satan actually telling Yukio what was going on
"But…"
Yukio was still unsure, so Satan decided to remind him of the basic rules, "They won't bother you if you ignore them, Yukio. It's only when they see you scared and know that you can see them that they'll do anything at all." Not that he'd ever let that happen. They could try, and he'd destroy them.
Yukio nodded, repeating those words to himself as Satan gently led him away by the hand. "I just wish dad could…"
Ah, one of Satan's finer achievements in his new life: convincing Yukio the goddamn Paladin couldn't see demons. It was hilariously ironic and meant his child would come only to him whenever demons gave him any issues. Good. "Well, he can't, so we shouldn't bother him about it. Wouldn't want him to think we're like those other kids, right?"
Even if it'd never been his intent to use those brats as examples, he'd gladly take the chance he'd made. Yukio nodded furiously and Satan, unseen, smiled happily, and tightened his grip on Yukio's tiny hand.
Yukio squeezed back, and looked up at Satan with gratitude.