Lost had spent about a year training his new powers, and secretly ignoring the voice on his head until he basically stopped hearing it, before he was sent on a mission. The mission he got was quite simple: locate and kill Lizel Himekami.
Normally, anyone would have an aversion to killing someone else, but not Lost, not in this case. While Lizel herself can hardly be blamed for it, her family was just like most other nobles and made mixed-blood devils' lives a misery. Lost felt it was his duty to avenge those who couldn't protect themselves.
By now, he had basically mastered his powers. He could perfectly shapeshift into his old appearance. Though he did make himself look older to match his actual age.
So Lost arrived in the Human World through the Golgothas' Gate, and then he went to Japan. It seemed that Lizel was living in some humans' home, so Lost's first job was to scout and find an opportunity to kill Lizel without anyone noticing. This could take a very long time, but thanks to the Darkness Lost no longer had any need for things like food or sleep.
"I should find someplace to hide here."
To keep himself hidden, Lost was currently on a riverbed. The information he was given only told him the city Lizel was in. Obviously, the Himekamis wouldn't let just anyone know where their daughter is staying at.
Lost decided that he should first make some kind of base for himself, and then he'd carefully observe the entire city to find Lizel. Once he did find her, he'd have to wait for his chance to strike.
As Lost walked through the riverbed, he found something he could only describe as a small hut. It was made with crude materials.
This would work fine for Lost's base, but who had built it? Was it some homeless people's place? Lost was willing to kill Lizel without having even seen her once, but he didn't feel any need to kill someone who was already suffering so much, unless they begged him to take them out of that misery.
Lost opened the door to the small hut, but there was no one inside. All the better if it's abandoned, he thought. Lost decided to relax there for a while.
"It's tiresome keeping up another form."
Lost had made himself a random appearance to walk about. If a mixed-blood devil were seen in the Human World, no doubt someone would report him and then he'd have people coming after him.
But now that he was alone he went back to his usual looks, complete with his wolf-like ears out and everything. It was the form he felt best in.
He thought he'd just relax like that for a while, but then the door was opened again without him noticing.
"Huh? Who's there?"
Lost looked at the new arrival. It was a human boy who looked to be about Lost's age. His most distinguishing features were his brownish-red eyes.
The boy seemed surprised about Lost at first, but then he entered the hut and closed the door behind him.
"Hey, you're a mixed-blood devil, aren't you? I can tell by the ears. I'm Yuuto, this place is mine. What's your name?"
"… Lost. What do you mean yours?"
Lost seemed calm, but he was starting to panic on the inside. If this boy knew abouts devils, then he had some relation to them. Even if he was just the child of some grunt, this could make it to someone's ears and it would be bad.
But it's not like Lost could just kill him. If, by chance, this made it to the Himekamis ears, then Lost would never get his chance to kill Lizel.
"This used to be a secret base me and my friends would come to play in. But no one comes anymore, so it's just mine now. Oh, but you can use this place if you want. It's not like I stay here for a long time. I won't even say you're here."
Lost was thankful for Yuuto's understanding. Rather than doing anything he couldn't take back, Lost simply told Yuuto he had some trouble and needed to lay low for a while, so Yuuto agreed to not talk about him to anyone.
Yuuto and Lost spend some time together, simply talking. At first, Lost thought it was just annoying, but after a while he began to enjoy it.
But eventually it got late and Yuuto had to leave.
"I'll be going now. Oh, by the way, some of my old friends forgot some of their manga here, so feel free to look at them. If you like it, I can even bring my own next time."
"Thanks, I'll check them out when I have time."
Lost answered without thinking. He wouldn't really have free time after this, but he was also weirdly excited for the next time he'd get to talk with Yuuto. He decided he'd try his best to at least give some of it a read.
As the sun began setting, Yuuto returned home. He had made a new friend that day.
It was already night. Yuuto, his parents and Lizel had already eaten dinner.
As it had become their habit by now, Yuuto and Lizel were studying together.
Well, to be truthful, Lizel didn't really need to study. She learned more than enough just from watching classes. Yuuto, meanwhile, was just a normal human boy, he needed some help every now and then.
"This is wrong."
"Is it? Then how do you do it?"
So it was more like Lizel was teaching Yuuto. But she didn't mind.
She had been living in the Morioka house for over a year now. It's definitely the longest time she's spent in any home. If she had to give a reason for why she's stayed so long, this would be it.
Spending all this time with Yuuto made her realize the difference between how Yuuto looked at her and how everyone else looked at her. And she didn't just mean the ever-growing lust in Yuuto's gaze.
After all this time, Lizel realized people only looked at her as a genius. Be it devils or humans, even her own family. They didn't see Lizel as a person, but only as someone who can do anything, a young girl with a bright future who you want to get on the good side of.
That much wasn't anything too unusual. Unlike with humans, it's not uncommon for noble devils to have a mutual benefit relationship between parent and child. The parent would invest in the child, and the child would do as the parent said.
And then there's Yuuto, who couldn't care less if Lizel was or wasn't a genius. It's not like he's naïve, he knew her social position and status very well, but simply didn't care. He talked to Lizel as if they were equals.
After she realized this, Lizel became afraid to leave Yuuto's home. Once she did, it's basically impossible that they'd ever meet again. And, if she lost Yuuto, would she ever find someone who looked at her the same way again?
It's not as if Lizel has no friends beside Yuuto. There's Neith, who despite looking afraid of Lizel, seems like too purehearted of a person to approach her thinking of only benefits. There's also Stella, even if their relationship was built solely on interest at first, it seems that a true friendship began to sprout after Stella's family was killed.
But something didn't feel right to Lizel still. Sure, Neith and Stella were true friends like Yuuto, but there was something more. What told this to Lizel was not her head, but her heart.
"Finally! Now, let's get onto the actual good stuff."
"Hm? O-oh, yeah."
Yuuto seemed to have finished studying the subjects for his normal school. Now it was time for Lizel to teach him about magic.
Well, no matter how much Lizel taught him, in the end there was only so much Yuuto could do, being a human. So their lessons were more the general stuff taught at Ginsei Academy.
And, after a little while, that lesson also finished. Now it was time to go to sleep.
"I'm going to my room now."
"Alright. Good night."
Lizel walked out of Yuuto's room and headed for the guest room, which had also been her room for the last year. Years later, it would become Reina's room.
But there was a little problem Lizel noticed as soon as she opened the door. The light was turned off.
Normally, Lizel would come to her room before it got too dark and leave the light on for when it got darker. But she'd forgotten to do so today.
Lizel's fear of the dark was completely irrational, it didn't come from any trauma or anything. She simply felt as if the darkness itself was trying to kill her.
What could she do? Was there anything for her to do? Lizel could do nothing but stand still like a deer in headlights.
"I thought something was wrong. Here."
That's when Yuuto showed up. He simply entered the dark room and flipped a switch, turning the lights on. Lizel's fear disappeared just like the shadows.
It seems that Yuuto thought Lizel had forgotten to turn on her lights and came to check. As soon as Lizel entered the room, she turned on her lamp.
"T-thanks for that."
"It's kinda funny to think that this amazing and stupidly beautiful girl can't even look at a dark room without freezing on the spot."
Yuuto laughed to himself. If he had simply called Lizel amazing and beautiful, he would have gotten a blush and maybe even a thank you kiss on the cheek. But because he said too much he almost got his own death via magic.
But Lizel didn't feel like damaging the Morioka house, so that's why Yuuto got his life spared.
"Hmph, whatever."
Lizel closed the door, with Yuuto still inside the room. Then she began to undress to put on her pajamas. She didn't forget Yuuto was there. She simply thought this was good enough of a reward for a pervert like him.
But, halfway through, Lizel regretted her decision. She felt embarrassed about Yuuto seeing her, even in her underwear. But she couldn't just stop now.
"You don't have to force yourself, you know."
"!"
Yuuto got up to leave the room, but on his way out he slapped Lizel's ass. It wasn't a strong slap, yet Lizel could clearly feel it.
Discounting that ass slap part, Yuuto was surprisingly considerate, leaving her alone. Lizel fully expected him to wait the whole night if he had to in order to see her naked. Her evaluation of Yuuto rose a little.
Now alone, Lizel began to get completely undressed to put on her sleepwear. It was then…
"But if one day you ever feel like showing me, I'll be more than happy to see it. I already like it."
"Get out!"
It seemed that Yuuto's true plan was to wait outside the door to catch Lizel changing. Once again, Yuuto's life was only saved because Lizel didn't want to damage the house, but her evaluation of him went right back down.
But part of Lizel felt strangely happy with what she heard from Yuuto.
It had been months since Lost came to live on Yuuto's old childhood secret base. Slowly but surely, he was working towards finding Lizel.
But there was something slowing down his work, and that was Yuuto. Lost would stay in the base when Yuuto came over so they could talk, and sometimes he'd use his nights to read the manga Yuuto brought for him, rather than searching for his target.
But Lost figured that was fine. It's not like he had to hurry anyway, so he might as well enjoy his time while he could.
"Wow, this was… just good."
"I know right? It's not a revolutionary manga, but sometimes the basics is all you need."
Yuuto had just brought for Lost the last volume of a certain manga series. It was no great mainstream work, nor was it an underground gem. For all intents and purposes, it was just another manga. Yet, both Yuuto and Lost really liked it.
The boys then began to talk about what they liked about the series. Again, it's not like the story was any exceptional piece of work, it just did the basic stuff right.
Much like most other stories out there, in the end, the main character achieved his dream. That made Lost think of his own dream, and also get curious about Yuuto's.
"Yuuto, do you have a dream?"
"A dream? It's hard to answer that all the sudden. Does Lost have one?"
"Yeah. I want to be strong. Strong enough that my friends don't have to worry if they'll have something to eat tomorrow, or if someone is going to show up and throw us away from our homes. I told Yuuto before, didn't I? Once I'm done paying my debt, I'm going back to my village."
Lost had told Yuuto his story before. Of course, he hid some details, but the general story was there. Lost felt indebted to the Golgothas for giving him this power, so he didn't mind doing this job for them, but he planned to go back home after.
Before Lost came to the Human World, 2 more of his friends died. Lost didn't really understand what happened, but it seemed to be natural causes. Now, of the 5 mixed-blood devils, only Lost and another one was left. They wanted to bring the remains of their friends back to their home.
"Yeah, I remember. Then I guess my dream is similar. I want to bring comfort to my family and friends."
"It's not fair if you just repeat what I said."
"Alright. Let me think for a bit…"
"Don't think too much. Just imagine you have the power to do anything. What do you do?"
"I… I hate the way devils treat humans. Just become someone is born a human, it's like their life will never amount to anything. The best a human can hope for is that a devil takes a liking to them and makes them an honorary devil. I hate that. They can all kiss my ass."
"So Yuuto wants to rebel against devil society? I fully agree that human society is much better than devil society. These assholes can't even get along with themselves. Yuuto thinks humans should be in control?"
"No, like, can't devils and humans be friends? I know devils are much stronger than humans, but it's not like we're at war or something. Can't we all just get along? Go to the same school, study the same things. Maybe even… fall in love…"
"Ah, I get it now. I can already picture it. Yuuto went to your parent's work one day and saw the boss' daughter, or something along those lines. Now you got the hots for her, but you two live in completely different worlds."
"S-something along those lines."
Yuuto knew he couldn't speak of Lizel being in his home, that's why he let Lost's misunderstanding slide.
Lizel wasn't the only one enjoying her time with Yuuto. At first, he thought she was just some convenient pretty girl living under the same roof as him, allowing plenty of opportunities for any perverted acts. But as time passed Yuuto began to see her as just a girl, and it wasn't long until he started developing romantic feelings.
But, even if Yuuto confessed and Lizel took him seriously, they lived in completely different worlds. Would have made for a good setup in a romance story, but in reality it simply made Yuuto hopeless.
"I don't even know what to tell you. I'm sorry man, but I don't think there's any hope. If only you weren't born a human you could maybe have some chance."
"Wait, there might actually be a way. Isn't there a guy who's like the boss of all devils, even the nobles? The Devil King."
"The Devil King?! What about him?"
"What if it was like this: you know I'm good with magic, right? What if I become a really important researcher, so much that I can request a meeting with the Devil King. I plead my case to him and, because I'm such an important guy, he'll let me get the girl. And while I'm at it I might as well ask to marry a bunch of girls. There's some pretty girls in my class."
"Wait wait, I know Yuuto's a pervert and in your mind you've already had sex with every woman that's not your mother, but you just completely destroyed the romantic atmosphere."
Yuuto's perversion was also something Lost was well aware of. It started with Yuuto showing Lost an ecchi manga and by now Yuuto would even bring up full out porn. There was even a day Yuuto had spent a full afternoon preaching to Lost about harem anime. As a boy, Lost understood Yuuto, but he also felt he was a little over the top.
At the time, Yuuto didn't really know the difference between feelings of lust and romance. Though ultimately, a few years down the line, he would end up falling in love with multiple girls and having them fall for him.
"It's fine. In any case, I should probably get to work on some awesome spell even the Devil King can't ignore. The sooner I get it done, the better. Wait for me, my pretties!"
"Even I get embarrassed if you shout like that!"
Despite all his jokes, from that day forward, Yuuto did start thinking seriously about what he wanted from his future. The limitation of being human would be something that would be constantly holding him back, but he didn't let himself be held down so easily.
Little did he imagine what destiny had reserved for him. Even less of how the future would actually come to pass.
On some random night, there was a heavy storm outside. Thunder roared as if God himself was shouting at humanity.
However, it was so late that everyone was already asleep. If anything, the rain helped cool off the night, providing an even better sleep.
But then thunder struck again, and this time it made the power go out. Again, it was so late that no one would probably notice before the power was restored.
Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the thunder woke up Lizel. And, without power to keep her lamp on, she was left in complete darkness.
"W-what? Why?"
Lizel started breathing hard and sweating, as if she'd just ran a marathon.
She felt as if hands were coming out of the darkness to grab her. There's no way that was the case, but the mind is a powerful thing.
"Aa, aaah."
She couldn't move her body to get up, nor could she scream. Would Lizel simply have to endure until the power came back?
"You're awake? I figured something like this happened."
It was then that she noticed someone in the room. Normally, this would make anyone scared, but for some reason it didn't make Lizel more scared.
The person in the room was Yuuto. He'd been up late studying, working on what he'd talked about with Lost, so it hadn't been too long since he'd gone to sleep when the power went out. He immediately thought of Lizel and came to check on her.
Yuuto approached the bed where Lizel laid and, as soon as he was in reach, she hugged him. It's not like she thought to do that, her body simply did it on its own.
"I got it. I'll stay with you for the night, okay?"
"Un."
Yuuto laid down on the bed together with Lizel. She was still holding him so tight you'd think her life depended on it.
Yuuto did the same and held her close. Even though Yuuto is just a human and much weaker than her, Lizel never felt safer in her life.
Like that, it wasn't long before she fell asleep again. Peaceful as if this was any other night. Or maybe her sleep was particularly good.
When she woke up, everything was perfectly back to normal. It was as if that storm and power outage never happened. The only thing that proved it wasn't a dream was Yuuto sleeping right beside Lizel.
"Ah, now I get it."
With her chest pressed so close to Yuuto's, enough to feel his heartbeat, a sudden realization came over Lizel. Why was Yuuto different from Neith or Stella? The answer seemed obvious now.
Purely and simply, she had fallen in love. She didn't know how or why, but she was sure of it. Though she really had to question herself, even more so considering Yuuto was groping her ass as he slept.
But she had to accept the facts. Lizel had never really cared about anyone, but Yuuto was special in her eyes.
"What do I do about it?"
Lizel knew very well this love was better put in a romance story than in reality. The only realistic way she could see for them to stay together would be if she made him an honorary devil and constantly made up excuses to spend time with him.
But that wouldn't be nearly enough. Even just looking at his sleeping face, Lizel wanted to kiss him. And she knew Yuuto was a pervert, so they'd have lots of sex. Even thinking about it made Lizel a little excited.
She always planned to have children, after all she had to continue the Himekami bloodline, but she always imagined it would be little more than her opening her legs, waiting for her husband to finish, and then waiting 9 months to birth the child. But when she imagined Yuuto as her husband, that simple idea went out the window and something a lot more erotic took its place.
"It's your fault if I become a pervert."
Maybe hearing her, Yuuto started to wake up. Lizel quickly wiped off all embarrassing thoughts on her head.
"Oh, hey. You're better now?"
"Yeah, thanks for that."
"I see. That's good."
Yuuto said. It was a bit early, so it seems he planned to stay in bed a while longer. That itself was fine, but he still had his hands on Lizel's ass. And, if anything, he was groping her even more now.
"Are you not going to take your hand off?"
"It's a rare chance."
"I see, alright. We should have about 5 or 10 minutes before we have to get up, so make sure you're satisfied by then."
Yuuto fully expected to at least get a slap, but it seemed Lizel didn't mind. He wouldn't be the one to question it and had his fun touching her.
He didn't simply grope her ass. He also pressed their chests closer together so he could feel her breasts and even smelled her. If Lizel's heart had a mind of its own, Lizel would be questioning it right now.
Against all odds, Yuuto eventually let go of Lizel. He knew his parents would have a heart attack if they saw him in Lizel's room so early, and he wasn't ready to bury them, so he had to end his fun early.
As for Lizel, today marked the first day when her head was somewhere else for the entire day. She couldn't even remember anything she learned in Ginsei Academy. It seems that falling in love is quite troublesome.
