There are moments in this world when the amount of sleep you’re getting feels almost too good to be true. You find yourself questioning, “Has my alarm gone off yet? Could I have overslept?!”
It was this exact predicament that greeted Akuma at the start of his day.
For the past ten minutes he’s been caught in a mental tug-of-war, contemplating whether to finally rise from his slumber or to just forget about school entirely.
Then he heard a buzz. It was his phone. His alarm hadn’t gone off or anything, but he did receive a text message.
“I finally got over that cold! I’m so going to school today!!”
The message brought a bright flush to his cheeks and suddenly, he found the drive to spring out of bed. Alright perhaps “spring” out of bed is bit inaccurate. In truth, he rolled off the bed and landed unceremoniously on the carpet-floor below. It was a tried-and-true method that worked every time. I mean think about it, if you can’t get out of your bed then just get off the floor instead.
After picking himself up from the floor, he was immediately greeted by an unwelcoming sight. The sight of a child angel.
“Don’t you ever go to sleep or anything? …Please don’t tell me you just stay up and watch me sleep…”
“…”
“You do, don’t you? I can see it in that damn smile… How about you make yourself useful and carry me to the bathroom.”
As if mocking him in some way, the apparition-like angel tried grabbing Akuma’s shirt only for his hand to phase right through him.
“Ugh! You’re useless! And the worst part is that I know you can touch things. You drink literally every drink I have before I get a chance to taste it!”
Realizing he had no choice but to expend effort, Akuma limped his way to the bathroom. There he saw his older brother finishing up.
“Good morning-!”
“Holy shit dude, you look like crap.” Tenshi interrupted. “What time did you go to bed last night?”
The silence that followed was thick with unspoken words.
This Neanderthal of a man is Tenshi Tiryns, Akuma's older brother, and despite their shared blood, they were worlds apart. While Akuma was a 17-year-old high school junior, brimming with youthful energy, Tenshi was 24, and spent most of his days training with their father instead of pursuing an education.
If you're curious about such details, then I suppose I should tell you that Tenshi had short brown locks with a wilder appearance, as well as two striking golden locks that reached down to his chest. Strangely, that color was his natural one.
“My, I’m as dazzling today as any other.” Akuma boasted, choosing to overlook his brother's rude remark.
His gaze shifted to the bathroom mirror, primarily to avoid the sight of his brother's barbaric appearance. Unfortunately for him, the reflection of an angel child was all he could see. For whatever reason, he insisted on floating right in front of Akuma.
“Hey, just to make sure. You can’t see this thing, can you?”
“Hm? What thing?
“Figured… Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
“You’ve final gone crazy, huh? It’s probably from that horrible sleep schedule. Y’know, it's a wonder how you even wake up in the morning… One day you're gonna end up dead.”
With that harsh and utterly untrue remark, Tenshi made his way toward the door leading to his room.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Jokes this early in the morning, huh?”
“Who said anything about joking?”
As he slipped into his dimly lit room, Akuma felt an urge to call out to him just before the bathroom door clicked shut.
“Wait!” he shouted.
"Hm?" Tenshi replied, pausing to let his brother's voice reach him through the small creak of the door.
“Fu-fu. Did you know your chances of dying to a wild serial killer is lower than your chances of dying to me?”
"…..........."
“Go to school man.”
SLAM!
“Tuh! Look who’s talking. Damn bum. I hope that door breaks.”
*****************
The school uniform was a requirement for every student, leaving no room for debate about what to wear each day. But you’d never hear any complaints from this teenage boy. In fact, he found the uniform quite flattering on Alice, and if you were to ask her, she would likely claim to like how it suited him as well…
She wouldn’t.
Akuma braced himself for the inevitable showdown.
"Ah, we meet again, Lucifer. Today is not your day. My wife has finally recovered from that cold, and I can almost sense her eagerness to see me from here!"
This was the second foe he faced daily, the first being the ever-tempting embrace of his pillow.
The scene before him was so grotesque that even the most resilient stomach would quiver at the sight. He took a deep breath, mustering every ounce of bravery to confront this monstrous challenge.
"Wooden floor!" he shouted, poised to leap into action.
His father, stubbornly stuck in his old-fashioned beliefs, occupied the lower floor of their home, and refused to cover the floor with carpet, as if enchanted by some unseen force.
As for why Akuma is so scared of wood, well… Even he doesn’t know the answer to that question. It’s like one of those things he just felt in his soul.
He tried to step onto the wooden floor carefully, hoping that it wouldn’t feel so disgusting if he went at it slowly, but was pushed off the stairs by the apparition haunting him.
A shiver crept up his spine as he landed. Then came the anger.
“See, you can touch me! Why the hell did you pretend you couldn’t when I asked you to drag me to the bathroom?”
“…”
“Ugh! I hate you! I hate you so damn much that I could kill a pig!”
Apart from his daily struggles with a boy straight out of a supernatural horror comedy, he embraced a rather refreshing morning routine. For the most part…
“We interrupt your regular programming with breaking news."
“Can’t even turn on some tv and watch some anime in peace. Life man. Always kicking my ass.”
“Authorities have confirmed multiple bombings in the area, with reports coming in of significant damage and casualties. The attacks began just after 3 PM yesterday evening, when several explosions were heard throughout the city. We’re getting word that at least three locations have been affected, with a fourth suspected site still under investigation. The authorities are calling it a coordinated attack. Possibly even a terrorist group."
“Y’know… Something’s telling me this is all you.”
The apparition shook its head, indicating, “No.”
“Yeah right. That’s what they all say… Oh well, ain’t gonna ruin my day.”
A few minutes later he finally left home and began approaching his bus stop. As he did, a grin spread across his cheeks, the excitement bubbling within him at the thought of her. The happiness she brought him was undeniable.
While their bus stop used to have a lot of students, most chose to have their parents drive them to school a bit later, leaving just him and her in their own little universe.
That "her" is his beloved girlfriend, Alice…
Okay so that was a bit of a lie. And by a bit, I mean light years from the truth.
If you want the honest truth and nothing but it, Akuma was just another head in the bustling crowd, desperately seeking her gaze -an npc if you will. You know the kind.
But he was determined to make her look his way.
And there she was, already seated at the bus stop bench.
She was reading a novel to pass the time, but for Akuma, he saw a princess lost in her royal studies.
His footsteps must have startled her, seeing as she quickly glanced his way. In that instant, he’d fallen in love all over again. Time seemed to stand still as he took in her beauty.
Her short pink hair bounced softly with her sudden movement, and her captivating pink eyes shimmered with kindness and compassion. Even from afar, he could see the gentle curve of her lips, and her school uniform highlighted her perfect figure. He was not one to dwell on the imperfections of others, but even he was entranced by her porcelain skin.
“Good morning, Akuma.” She greeted, her voice as soothing as a fresh field of flowers.
“Good… morning-”
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through, not fierce enough to knock anyone over, but strong enough to send dust particles flying. Unfortunately for Akuma, it also nudged a bottle right under his foot, leading to an embarrassing stumble that sent him crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
Actually, it was the apparition that had moved the bottle under his foot. And although Akuma hadn’t seen him do it, he just knew it was.
He couldn’t see Alice, but he could feel her awkward gaze upon him, and to his dismay, he realized he hadn’t even fallen gracefully -his clumsy landing was punctuated by a ridiculous “EEK” sound.
“Umm… Are you okay, Akuma?”
(Please just let me die right now...)
“…Yep. Juuust fine.”
“Y’know... You made this weird sound when you fell. To be honest, it was hard to hold in my laugh.”
(Please! Just kill me now!!)