Chapter Thirteen - You are too nice
Everything is warm and cozy, and he feels unusually safe and secure. But something is gnawing at his sluggish consciousness, a memory that nibbles at his cozy cocoon from the outside, disturbing his peace.
And then it flashes through him like lightning.
"You used your bloody voice against me!" Urushihara hastily retreats from Maou.
This is so surprising, Maou has no idea what to do. One moment his general was snuggling with him, and the next he was treating him like his worst foe.
"No kidding, bright boy," Emi comments amusedly from the background as she sets the table with Ashiya.
The delicious smell of rice, fish and vegetables fills the cabin.
Urushihara's purple eyes widen for a split second when he hears her voice. Hurriedly, he slides back a little, away from her voice. As he presses his back against the backrest, he pulls his knees protectively into his chest and wraps himself tighter in his blanket.
Maou watches this with concern, but he is not sure how he should react to this.
Chiho, on the other hand, has no such problems.
"Urushihara-san, I have cocoa for you."
Carefully, she touches Urushihara's hand, and when he hesitantly reaches out, she gently presses the cup into his hand. Slowly, Urushihara closes his fingers around the warm porcelain and breathes in the sweet smell, his heart slowly calming. Hesitantly, he takes a sip from the large cup.
Hot chocolate with cream and a hint of cinnamon, just the way he likes it.
And this is so wrong.
Disappointed, he lets the cup sink.
"This isn't real." His voice is harsh and breaks at the end.
"What?" Maou says in surprise.
"Not real. You don't exist," Urushihara repeats, who has to clear his throat before he can speak.
And because the Japanese language does not come back to him right away, he stumbles over the words again and again, using expressions in the language of angels:
"This is just a hallucination, you're too cara ... nice," he corrects. "None of you are ever so kind to me, apart from Alas and Chiho. But Alas es pueri ... is a child and Chiho is just naturally kind to everyone.
Chiho shows a small smile.
"Oh, thank you, but it was Ashiya-san who made you the cocoa."
"Of course he did," it comes back cynically. "That's not real."
He holds the cup out to her and she takes it quickly, just in time before he lets go and it all ends up on his lap or the couch.
His words are followed by a collective, affected silence, broken by Alas-Ramus.
"Lucifer, are you okay? " the little one asks, leaning carefully on his legs and caressing him comfortingly over his knee.
Suddenly, Urushihara frowned and felt for her wrist, then ran his fingers over it.
"Alas-chan? Ubi est Armilla? "
"Papa hung my bracelet outside so you could hear it and find us."
None of them are really surprised that she understands his language, after all, her origin is the Tree of Life in heaven. But sometimes they forget, and when they are reminded, as they are now, they are embarrassed.
"That was my idea," Alas-Ramus adds proudly, completely unimpressed by the embarrassed looks of the others around her.
From her hand, Urushihara moves her arm up to her head, gently stroking her hair. A thoughtful expression appears on his face.
He begins to doubt if this is really a hallucination.
"Lucifer..." Maou finally finds his voice. "This is no hallucination."
Carefully, he reaches out and touches Urushihara's shoulder, but to his great relief, Urushihara does not flinch.
"Alciel and I found you in the woods, you were completely cold, and you probably still are a bit. As for my voice," Maou continued quietly, "I am really sorry, but it was the only way, you were in great pain."
"Now you're back with us," Alas chirps.
"I hug you now," she warns him, "because I love you so much."
He also puts an arm around her and holds her until she lets go of him. But the only reason she does this is because she takes the cocoa from Chiho and then presses it into his hands.
"Can I have some of your cocoa? " she asks.
"Alas-Ramus! "snatches Emi from the background in horror, followed by a: "Urushihara, I warn you, if you give her your germs -"
"Emilia! "Ashiya's warning rumble cuts her off mid-word.
Chiho and Alas-Ramus giggle quietly and Maou also chuckles in amusement.
Urushihara still has a lot of trouble to understand all of this, in his head everything is somehow mixed up, but the cocoa does taste really good.
He patiently lets it pass over him as Maou takes his temperature. When Maou reads out the result, he registers it, but somehow it gets lost in the dull fog that has spread in his brain.
"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat? "
Only when Maou asks this, Urushihara realizes that he must have been long gone and not even noticed what was going on around him. In his hands, he is holding the empty and in the meantime cooled down cup.
All of a sudden, the sounds seem to get louder and louder: the clatter of sticks on porcelain, the soft gurgling of water in glasses, and the usual jumble of voices from at least four people gathered around a table. He clearly recognizes Alas' cheerful voice.
And above all, the tantalizing smell of home-cooked food. He has not eaten for at least twenty-four hours, but he is far from hungry.
"Non, gratias. Later. Perhaps. Where is the bathroom?"
He hates what will inevitably come now. He will have to overcome a thousand obstacles, behave like the proverbial elephant in the porcelain shop, stumble, bump into things, and in the worst case fall all two meters. And then he has to come up with some excuses. It will still be terribly embarrassing and he will once again be the laughing stock of everyone.
"I'll take you there," Maou suggests to his surprise and takes the cup first.
And then Urushihara feels his hands grabbed and pulled to his feet. He is so astonished that he lets it fall without protesting. He is still a bit shaky on his feet, so he doesn't think much of it when Maou takes him by the arm.
It takes a while until Urushihara, who is concentrating on counting the steps and orienting himself roughly in the direction, realizes that Maou is not only supporting him but also guiding him.
His suspicion is confirmed when Maou stops and quietly says to him:
"Directly in front of you is the door, and at the height of your head there is a sign made of wood. On your right is the door handle. The door is not a sliding door, it opens inwards.
Urushihara literally freezes, and for a moment he has the feeling that he's in a dream, or that he's in the wrong movie.
But then he swallows his rising panic - he is getting good at it - and feels with his free hand over the wood, searching for the said handle.
"Shall I come in and show you around?" Maou asks nervously next to him.
Urushihara takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment to collect himself. It doesn't matter that he doesn't see anything - there are habits that are ingrained.
His pride would like to give Maou a sharp "Leave me alone", but he feels tired and simply does not want to concentrate, so he reluctantly accepts the offer.