Yuzu's steps echoed through the corridors, thanks to the stupid ceramic tiles that the servants placed to make the meeting look more important than it was. She hurried as much as she could without actually running, forcing herself to keep her expression impassive as she traversed the labyrinthic space that had been twisted so none of the members of each faction could follow the other.

She didn't doubt the most powerful of the Three Factions, a.k.a. the ones that arrived to talk, could outright ignore such magic precautions. But it at least gave her a small feeling of protection while everyone took some time to cool off.

When she came back to Kuoh Town, she didn't expect that the little rulers of the town were talking to the guys above for a meeting. Much less that her particular little ruler had taken enough damage that the heiress of the Sitri actually looked concerned over it.

She had been promised peace in a year's time. And although Yuzu wouldn't have complained in any other circumstance, the truth was that all of this had happened too quickly, in a way that she couldn't piece together, and for the wrong reasons.

That the leaders of the Three Factions agreed to meet in a civilized manner gave her hope, and she chose to participate to make sure that the talks headed in the right direction. That her little ruler's prediction would become true, if a little earlier than expected.

That hope broke to pieces when she actually participated, being summoned without anyone from Kuoh Town while the leaders made questions and talked among each other. Then, Heaven's turn came and by the time they took a break, Yuzu's heart had broken down to very fine dust-like pieces.

They didn't care. Not Heaven, or the Underworld. Not even the Fallen.

Yuzu saw them discuss and make excuses for their respective children. Saw them ask for clarifications in places where interpretation had no room whatsoever.

That the Miracle Children could speak and interrupt to their heart's content hadn't sat well with her. But as time went by, Yuzu realized that all of these small details were adding up. And the picture that formed made her so sick that she couldn't bear to be in that accursed place any longer.

None of them cared. She had feared that they'd recognize her, so she donned her usual disguise. But not only did no one ask or wonder where she had come from, or noticed anything out of the ordinary with her presence. But instead, another half-devil stood proudly in the meeting. No questions asked as she didn't hide the fact that she descended from Lucifer himself. No one threw insults at her, no one pursued or tried to hunt her down.

Yuzu wanted to scream, to rage at them. It'd have been a death sentence, she knew. So she kept her emotions in check. But by the time she found herself moving away from the meeting, her vision had turned so red she couldn't distinguish a lot of detail in her surroundings.

Why?

She had lived in fear all of her life. She had been hunted down, separated from her parents, and saw them die because of her. Because the Underworld and Heaven weren't meant to interact. Because it went against the natural order of things… So how come all of these people didn't care about Bel Lucifer? Why could the Miracle Children live and do as they pleased when Yuzu had survived through grit and blood?

Why couldn't she have her mom present? Why them and not her?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

The room she looked for unraveled itself as she turned another corner, the magic that held this place together finally reacting to her intentions. Showing a perfectly average door with a 'do not disturb' sign on it.

Yuzu crossed the threshold and entered, seeing a pure-white bed in the middle with a lot of medical equipment discarded all over the place. Some connected, some turned off and packed. With only Gen sitting by the bed staring at the imobile form of his master.

"Yuzu-san…?" Gen turned to her slowly, almost absentmindedly. But got back to his full senses when he saw Yuzu's face.

She gritted her teeth, cleaning her face off with her hands as she looked down and took the seat on the opposite side of the bed to gather her thoughts.

Diodora Astaroth's face had been hidden with a white towel, arms above the white blanket and connected to a plethora of equipment which made a strange liquid move. Connected straight to his veins and in some parts that couldn't have anything but bones, if Yuzu's knowledge of the body was right.

The dead skin had mostly been removed, but what could be seen through the equipment and liquids didn't look like any tone a living person should have. The opaque fissures looked red and a bit bloated, as if liquid had congregated there and made the openings in the skin more prominent.

It centered, if only a bit. Seeing that and getting her brain rattled into being glad she wasn't the one lying on that bed… She hated herself a little for it, but she couldn't form a single coherent thought in the current circumstances. She needed to stay calm, to keep herself from doing that would endanger her or her friends.

She took a lungful of air and didn't let it out until she started feeling dizzy.

"Yuzu-san." At some point, Gen walked to the other side of the room and crouched to get to eye level with Yuzu.

The girl cradled her face, not wanting to see Gen at the moment, and slowly took in and released air to avoid sobbing and breaking down in that place.

She didn't feel safe. She didn't want to do this there, and she surely didn't want Gen to see her like that. She had grown fond of the way the blond saw her, for as little time as they had met, with that innocent look of thinking someone's so much better than they are. It boosted Yuzu's confidence in a way that not a lot did. And she'd hate to lose that now.

"Sorry." He said once Yuzu shrugged his touch off "I… Should I leave?"

She wanted to say yes. But Gen had his own reasons to be there.

"No…" She sniffed, hard. And she almost choked on the knot that formed from that word alone.

"Okay." Gen gave her space and walked to the other side of the room, making himself scarce and making little to no noise beside his breathing.

Yuzu still felt a small contact on her shoulder, on the side of the bed. Which made her look up in confusion.

A small cat with golden eyes had placed her paw on her shoulder.

"Not too hot, huh? Meow." The stray devil, Kuroka, spoke in a very solemn tone. In spite of her cat appearance, Yuzu could feel the emotions conveyed through her voice alone "Sucks that we can't be any of them."

"What?" Yuzu sniffed again, feeling his face burning but her eyesight getting better… Was this the nekomata's senjutsu?

"Meow. Some people are born lucky. They just have to be present, and things go their way… It's the rest of us that have to put back the broken plates after they're done, meow." Kuroka turned to face the unconscious devil, moving her little body so she sat facing him instead of Yuzu "Make a mistake, and you're persecuted forever. See one of the lucky ones make a mistake, and watch how everything is swept under a rug. It's sickening, meow."

Yuzu straightened her back, and watched as the nekomata placed a paw on the sleeping devil's own. A small part of vitality got transferred, and the devil lord's hand twitched while he mumbled something in pain: The first sign of life in a few days.

Yuzu looked up, expecting a nurse to notice. But no one was there. No one had come into the room as far as Yuzu was concerned, and seemingly no one monitored him after the emergency treatment he received.

It didn't help improve her mood, but her anger had cooled down to a point where Yuzu felt more hollow than anything else. Like her power had been drained by Gen again.

"That's more like it, meow." The nekomata didn't turn to Yuzu, but she had the distinctive feeling that those words were for her "Don't give them anything, meow. No sadness, or rage, or anything. They don't deserve it, meow."

"I think Yuzu-san should be able to cry…" Gen interrupted, looking a bit angry at the nekomata "If she wants."

Yuzu gave him a small smile with no emotion behind it.

"Thanks."

"Been there, meow." The nekomata replied without much interest "And I'd hate to see you picked out so easily."

"I didn't think you'd care." Yuzu sniffed again.

"Been there." Kuroka didn't offer anything else.

"She's actually quite nice." Gen added when he noticed Yuzu's stare "She's been keeping Diodora-san company all this time."

"I'm keeping you company, meow." Kuroka interjected, a bit angry now "I'd hate to lose a pupil right when I get the first one!"

"Yes, thank you for looking out for me." Gen bowed quickly, not looking like he bought Kuroka's words.

"This annoying guy…" The nekomata meowed before using more of her power on the lying devil. She took her time doing quick taps, not making too much contact and not giving out too much power "Treating a girl like this, forcing her to work, and then going out to die. Who do you think you are, meow?"

Yuzu released some air from her nostrils.

"You think they'll leave the Miracle Children off the hook?" Gen asked, finally giving in on talking about this sensitive issue.

"Yes."

"Yes, meow."

Yuzu and Gen looked at the nekomata, who, for all intents and purposes, had snuck into the meeting and hadn't witnessed any at all.

"It's how power works, meow." She explained, still busy patting the devil's hands with her senjutsu "Best case scenario is for them to stop playing games and give the slaps on the wrist, meow."

Yuzu frowned at that.

The nekomata turned to face her, seemingly having detected Yuzu's animosity somehow.

"This guy's power won't fly under the radar, meow." The nekomata stated, turning back to her task as Yuzu's emotions twisted into confusion "I doubt he'll wake up to see the meeting, but if it takes too long that lowers the chances to be called out. Which means that we don't get in trouble, meow."

Yuzu opened her mouth, but the nekomata interrupted.

"Don't misunderstand. The fact that the Miracle Children aren't getting in trouble does not equate that anyone else involved will get the same treatment." Kuroka seemingly started speaking normally, with even her tone becoming more mature and not as high pitched as usual "This might set good precedence for cooperation, but there are personal feelings involved. This place is bloated with them. Someone like this guy, or me or Genshirou, however, are not connected to those feelings."

The nekomata frowned, even with her cat face. Even though her animal form shouldn't be able to display emotion.

"So what? We have to keep our head down?" Yuzu gritted her teeth again. Her feelings ignited once more "To hell with that. Why?!"

"Because we're not the chosen ones." Kuroka stated "Because we weren't born lucky. Because that's not how the world works."

Yuzu balled her fists, gazing back to the floor. She wanted to vaporize something, but Kuroka was right. She had lived through this enough times to know. She understood the fact that no one present would protect her, no one would care to hear her side of things if she revealed her heritage.

She was only a half-devil. She wasn't the daughter of an archangel, or a Demon Lord. She was only… Miyuzuin.

"I'd suggest hiding, if I were in your shoes. Meow." Kuroka added.

"You're leaving?" Gen asked immediately. More surprised than heartbroken.

"I'm not leaving Shirone again, meow." Kuroka hissed "But you guys might have better luck away from prying eyes."

"Gen's stuck with this guy." Yuzu mused "I…"

"Yuzu-san's part of our peerage too." Gen interrupted.

Yuzu scoffed.

"I'm not." She corrected him "I haven't been reincarnated, and I don't want to be. Especially not now, with holy weapons all around us. It'd be like cutting myself everywhere and dropping to the open ocean."

"I… Well, Yuzu-san's still like… An honorary member… Or something…" Gen looked down, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

It made Yuzu smile a bit.

"Thanks. It's always nice to have somewhere where I'm welcome."

"If you're sure, meow." Kuroka leaped to the ground, walking farther from the bed and into one of the corners of the room. Where both people could see it "Alright. We're done mopping and being sorry for ourselves, meow? Let's do something to make our situation better, meow."

"More training?" Gen mused.

"Me too?" Yuzu added.

"Correct, meow." Kuroka lifted a paw, and a strange bluish aura started leaking from it "If we're all staying, then we should get ready for people to come snooping our way. And if our little devil lord goes down, we go down with him. So our best bet is to get our story straight, and get him back on our terms."

She didn't go back to her human appearance, but Yuzu had the impression that the nekomata wanted to stretch her arms to either side.

"I'll teach you to hide your powers. With some luck, we can disguise our beauty here as a very proficient exorcist with some ancestral technique or another, and if there's three senjutsu masters instead of just the one, then we might be able to do something about this guy's condition."

Yuzu frowned.

"I don't think we'll become masters so quickly."

"We might have years to try." Kuroka pointed out, which made Yuzu feel a little cold inside. She stole a glance to the sleeping devil before paying attention again "But if that's the case, we'll need to pull another trick up our sleeves. So let's do our best and be quick, meow."

Yuzu sighed.

"Fine, whatever. Once he wakes up, I'll charge for this anyway."

"That's the attitude, meow." Kuroka's tone became dark "I gotta get my payback for having my sister dragged into this mess. And this guy's gonna answer for it."

"Should… Should I be concerned?" Gen looked a bit troubled, but not scared.

His gaze had lost some light, his mind had become sharper. No. A bit more scarred. A lot of people often confused the two.

"Only for yourself, meow." Kuroka replied "As I said, it's us unlucky ones who ought to carry the blame when it's all said and done."

"But… Once he wakes up…"

"We got a shield." Yuzu stated "We still have to move out of the way of fire."

"I talked to Serafall-sama the other day. I… Do you really think they'd hurt us?" Gen's words made Yuzu smile again. He still held so much innocence within him…

"Yes." Kuroka sentenced.

"Without a hint of hesitation." Yuzu agreed.