“Good evening. Take a seat.”

Yushia’s leg bounced as he sat anxiously in wait across from Master Cliff. Suzaku sat in his pocket in her coined form just as on edge as her wielder. When she asked if he knew his master was a demon, he answered no. The revelation was just as shocking to him as it was to her.

“Be wary,” Suzaku advised.

Yushia nodded.

“My greatness shall remain silent. Focus on speaking to that man while my greatness searches the room for the whereabouts of your contract.”

Master Cliff cleared his throat. “You must be wondering why I’ve brought you here.”

Yushia nodded awkwardly again.

“Kran told me that you died, and no dead man can be sitting in front of me.” Master Cliff leaned forward and whispered. “How did you live?”

Sweat rode down the side of Yushia’s face. “I got lucky. I landed inside a cavern and was able to find a tunnel leading out.”

“Another cavern? A stroke of luck on your part then, it would seem. Moving on, do you know what caused the cave-in?”

“It was Kran. Kran had planted explosives in a cavern I was in, causing it to collapse. I think it was because of the fight we had the other day, and he wanted to get back at me.”

“That’s quite extreme. The things that boy would do over something so petty...”

To her wielder’s right, in a corner beside a bookshelf, a metal safe perched. The safe would have brought no attention, but Suzaku was able to spot the corner piece of parchment paper stained partly with what looked to be blood. Found you.

Master Cliff let out a deep sigh and took a quill from the cup on his desk. He dipped the quill and began writing down on a small note before folding it and sliding it to Yuhsia.

“What’s this?” he asked, taking the note with caution.

“Stop by Kran’s tent and hand it to him. Don’t you dare think to read the contents within the paper either. I’ll know.”

Yushia gulped and put the note in one of his many pockets. Was their meeting already over?

Bloodlust flooded the room. “A slave who can’t even do their job properly deserves death,” Master Cliff said. “Don’t you think?”

“I-I don’t think I’m fit to answer that question,” Yushia answered. He felt his body tense up, his throat tightening.

Master Cliff smiled suddenly and the bloodlust disappeared with it. “My apologies. I should keep those thoughts to myself.”

Yushia smiled back awkwardly, desperate to leave the office. His back had become sticky with sweat, sticking to the chair’s wooden back.

“You've missed a day of work,” Master Cliff stated. “Leave now and expect to work double tomorrow.”

With a bow, Yushia rose and left the office in a hurry, but not without slowly closing the door behind him. His body loosened as he headed toward his tent. How had he not seen it earlier? No person could emit such a dangerous aura like that. It made more sense that a demon could! In a panic, he’d forgotten about the note and passed Kran’s tent.

“You’re an awkward wreck,” Suzaku pointed out. Her voice had become soft from being in her cramped coined form for so long. “My greatness wonders what your social skills are like to your friends here.”

“I have no friends,” Yushia corrected, peeking over his shoulder to make sure Master Cliff wasn’t right behind him. Relief washed over him when he realized he wasn’t. “You felt that back there as well though, didn’t you? It's impossible to be calm knowing I was speaking to a demon.”

If Suzaku could shrug, she would.

The two eventually made it to the tent. As Yushia went inside and zipped back up the entrance, Suzaku transfigured back into her human form. “Ahhh! Being in a compact state makes my greatness’ body and joints all stiff!” She stretched her arms in the air and yawned before seating herself on her wielder’s makeshift bed. She hugged her knees as she sat.

Suzaku was still naked during all this time. Like the considerate Cerulean he was, Yushia grabbed an extra pair of folded overalls he had neatly folded and handed it to her. “Wear these. It’ll be a problem if you’re seen the way you are now.”

“Surely you do not expect my greatness to wear something as lowly as this, right...?” she took the overalls and held them up.

“People will get the wrong idea of you. They might think you’re some kind of pervert.”

“What?”

Suddenly, Suzaku pounced on Yushia, pinning him down as she sat atop his waist. She brought her arm forward and activated her Ghost mansion, pointing the tip of her blade at her wielder's face. “This will be your only warning!” she said angrily, suppressing her volume. “Let those words fly out of your mouth again if you wish for a timely death!”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Yushia took a mental note and quickly shook his head in agreement, prompting Suzaku to undo her Ghost Mansion and get off of him. She gave a mean look before putting on the set of overalls. Yushia’s clothing was a bit baggy on her, but they still fit despite her petite frame.

“You do not have anything with a softer material?” Suzaku asked.

“I’m a slave,” Yushia reminded. “Of course I don’t. This is all I have.”

“That is more reason for us to find that contract of yours and burn it then. A change of clothing is much needed.”

“Did you find anything back in the office?”

“My greatness supposes she has found where the contracts are being stored.

Yushia’s eyes brightened. “Great! Where?”

“There is a safe in the corner of that demon’s office, the one beside the bookshelves. Parchment gave it away and my greatness suspects it is where your contract and many others are kept.”

There was a safe? Yushia thought. In all the five years he’d stayed in CM-22, he never knew of the safe’s existence. But Master Cliff was a strict man. One wrong glance at his belongings could give you a hundred lashings, so he’d likely trained himself to keep his eyes out of places they shouldn’t be in. “Do you have a plan then?”

Suzaku looked up to think. “My greatness shall sneak inside the demon’s office tonight. She will melt the safe with her fire, sift through the contracts to find her wielder’s, and burn it.”

The plan was easier said than done. “Master Cliff will catch us. That plan is too risky.”

“What do you propose then?”

Yushia wasn’t sure either. Master Cliff had eyes in many parts of CM-22 and knew where every slave was at all times because of the contracts. If they were to infiltrate the office, it would have to be when he was furthest away from his office.

“Tomorrow might work. Master Cliff is usually near the mines and quite far from his office, so that’s when we’ll—”

Out of nowhere, the silhouette of a stout man appeared outside the tent. His round belly was oddly familiar—iconic even. Suzaku hastily took her wielder’s hand and entered her Ghost Mansion, transfiguring herself into a coin.

The silhouetted figure from outside began unzipping Yushia’s tent, causing him to panic and clench hard on Suzaku’s coin.

“Yushia!” Arnie shouted, peeking his head through. “My good friend!” He looked around his tent before setting his focus on the boy. “You up for some gambling tonight? We have Xander and a few others risking big. You can bring your meat sticks and try to win something. Someone’s even betting away their Sky Eel blanket!”

His voice stuck itself to his throat. “I’m fine for tonight... I have to work double tomorrow, so I have to rest early.”

Arnie was no quitter. “You’ll sleep better with Sky Eel wrapped around yourself!”

“I might lose all my meat sticks. If We have another food shortage, I’ll starve.”

“Really? But it’s made out of Sky Eel pelt. Sky Eel pelt!”

“I’ll starve!” Yushia reaffirmed the statement and crawled toward the tent’s entrance to zip it back up. “Go away!”

Arnie grumbled as he walked away from the tent. He would have cheated for those meat sticks anyway.

Suzaku left her Ghost Mansion and sat back down on her wielder’s bed, placing her hand over her mouth to muffle a laugh. “My greatness is glad.”

“Glad about what?” Yushia asked.

“Glad that her wielder has some sense of responsibility.”

His face turned beet red. “I've lost more than I’ve ever made.”

Suzaku slid into her wielder’s makeshift bed and stared up at the ceiling. She could feel the cold, flat ground below her—it was quite uncomfortable for her greatness—but what did she expect out of a slave camp? “My greatness believes we should head to bed now so we can have a fresh start to the morning.”

Hearing that made Yushia nervous. “But we still have to plan out how we’ll get the contract.”

“You must not deflect my greatness’ wisdom with your foolish words, idiot!” Suzaku said. She made room for her wielder to rest beside her, but she still took up a majority of the sleeping space. “A good night's rest is what we need to take on that demon. You understand that much, do you not?”

He supposed it made sense to be well rested, but would it be cheating to sleep beside another woman that wasn’t his wife? “I’ll sleep beside you if you’re in your Ghost Mansion.”

“If my greatness sleeps in either of those forms, she’ll be as stiff as a rock the next morning.” She patted the bed. “There’s more than enough room for two. Get in, now.”

He reluctantly got in bed with Suzaku. It felt morally wrong falling asleep beside a woman when he already had a wife, but there wasn’t another option. The two faced their back against each other, listening to the active crickets.

“What should we do if someone comes in, like how Arnie did?” Yushia asked.

Suzaku groaned and turned herself over to face her wielder’s back. “Turn this way.”

Yushia did as he was told. He stared at Suzaku’s plain expression as she offered her hand.

“Take it. My greatness’ senses are still as keen as they were back then. If someone dares intrude, my greatness shall enter her Ghost Mansion.”

He took her hand. It felt even more wrong to sleep beside her while holding hands.

***

Rain tapped on the tent as thunder boomed.

Yushia woke up, his body sweating a river. He sat up and rubbed his eyes while letting out a yawn, then glanced to his side. “Suzaku?”

She wasn’t there. He wiped his eyes again to make sure, and sure enough, she wasn’t lying in bed. He checked his hands and pockets in case she activated her Ghost Mansion, but he still couldn’t find her.

A gust of wind entered the tent, carrying droplets of water with it.

“No...”

The zipper to the tent was open. A puddle of water seeped inside.

Yushia thought back to the conversation they had last night. Could it have been possible that she went off on her own?

His teeth clenched. Without a second to think, he left his tent and sprinted toward Master Cliff’s office. Thoughts began pouring into his head. Am I too late? Is she dead already? No, this is the Vermillion Bird. She wouldn’t die so easily.

Still, the thought of her dying lingered. She was in a weakened state, after all. As he made several sharp turns, nearly slipping on each, the storm roared as lightning lit the night sky, briefly illuminating the office.

The door was already open.