The creature lunged at Hanaki, holding her up by her collar, the other hand raised into the air. "If you dare to even touch him—!" It paused.

Hanaki was different from the humans it had encountered over the last years. She reminded it of where it actually belonged, and that it just wished not to. It could tell from her eyes; she simply didn't care. Didn't care about anything—anyone.

"Then what?!" she asked provocatively. "Will the allmighty Black Phoenix himself come to fetch me?" She laughed mockingly. "Come on... he's gonna die anyway..."

With a forceful movement, it let her go. "And I want him to have as much of his life as possible, so stay out of it! Otherwise, you used to have a brother!"

"Oh no, I'm so scared." She teased, until the creature gave her a mean look. Then she rolled her eyes. "As you wish… But don't say I didn't warn you..."

"Don't act like you care. He's much more of a sibling to me than you ever were or will be. So, bug off!"

An indiscernible expression crossed her face. Was she hurt by his words? Or was it just an act? After over a thousand years of being her brother, the creature still couldn't tell.

***

Sitting next to the sickbed, its head buried in its knees, it suddenly jumped up as the door swung open. Waddling into the room came Laureen.

"A-are you okay?" it asked, concerned.

"Weeds don't wither. I'd eat them before they do," she laughed amusedly, but there was a certain bitterness to it. "And, how's the little one?"

A shock ran through the creature at those words before it looked at Akira. "They said he'll be fine."

Laureen smiled. "Great! Then, what are you so sulky about?"

Its lips trembled. "If you hadn't been there, then…" it couldn't even make itself say it.

She patted her stomach. "Well, all that fat must be good for something."

In the moment of Akira's fall, Laureen had sprinted toward his destination, then slid across the ground and cushioned his fall with herself. She carried a long gash on her leg and a huge bruise on her stomach, but that's nothing for her best friend's life.

"Soo, what were you two talking about up there?" she asked carefully, looking between the both.

The creature winced. "Ah… Oh, nothing much…"

"Nothing much, huh?" Laureen's expression grew darker.

"Y-yea..." it stutterd, as suddenly, a long-suppressed feeling spread through it. With all its power, it tried to resist. But it slowly crept its way up through its body, manifesting in its hands, clenching into fists—ready to kill.

No… She's a friend… I can't…

"You were trying to kill him, weren't you?", asked Laureen.

The creature's eyes widened. What did she just say? How the hell did she know about this? Did Hanaki tell her as well?!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"She knows too much," whispered a voice in it.

"Kill her!"

Desperately, the creature reached for its wrist.

"That won't work on me," she said, grinningly. "After all, I'm not human either."

As it contemplated her words, a dark blade materialized on the back of its hand.

Suddenly, Laureen sprinted toward it.

"She's trying to kill you! Move! Now!", screamed the voice inside of it.

But it was already too late. Laureen's massive body enveloped it in a tight embrace.

"Wha—What…?!"

"It must've been hard carrying this around with you for all this time..." she whispered, her expression saddening.

The creature didn't know what was happening. But for the first time after all these years, it felt a huge burden lift from its shoulders, as heavy tears rolled down its cheeks. It began crying.

Laureen softly tapped its back. But she remained silent. There was no need for any words in this moment. She just listened to the unspoken pain breaking out of her friend. The grief from all the past years, perhaps even centuries, that it had been carrying with it. Now, all of that could finally be given space to exist. In her arms, the creature could, for the first time, just be itself.

After Laureen released the embrace, the creature looked embarrassedly at the ground. "How did you…" it began, then looked at her again from top to bottom.

Blonde hair… also there wasn't this familiar scent of death, which, she didn't even try to mask with deodorant in the first place. There's no way she was a Shinigami like itself. But then, what was she?!

Laureen, staring at it intently, noticed its confusion. "Are you staring at my tits or what?"

"What?!" it looked baffled. "No! That's not it…" Although they were quite big… especially for her age. Then it dawned on it. "You're a…"

"Yup! I'm a succubus, hehe!"

"I… I didn't know they'd go to normal schools as well."

"Well, they don't… But…" Laureen scratched her cheek, as she struggled to continue. It looked at her curiously, albeit not wanting to force her to keep talking. "…I've always dreamed of being a normal person…", she murmured with a hint of shame.

The creature, albeit hating itself for it, understood that wish. It had felt the same, but for a Shinigami, this wasn't acceptable. Shinigami who wanted to be human, were looked down upon in their society. And the Shinigami firmly believed it was only a matter of time before such an outcast ended up embracing human existence and abandoning being a Shinigami completely. High treason.

"Isn't it kind of dangerous, running around in public like this?" asked the creature hesitantly.

"Why...? Because of monster hunters?"

It nodded. "Yeah... It should be quite easy for a trained eye to recognize your true identity."

"Well, not even you did until now."

The creature paused. She's got a point but "I've got better things to do than looking out for some... love-demon. It'd be better if you submerged and lived in the sub-culture of magical creatures."

She shrugged. "Well, the safer option ain't always the best. If I stayed there, I wouldn't ever have met you two." She glanced at Akira, then smiling at the creature.

It nodded gently and seemed lost in thoughts about... everything.

But Laureen quickly snapped it out of its reverie with a concerned question: "How much time does he have left...?"

"Hm?" The creature followed her gaze, looking at Akira sleeping peacefully. It hesitated. Thinking about this wasn't exactly its favorite activity. "...About a year," it whispered.

Laureen swallowed.

That probably wasn't what she liked to hear. The two of them had become best friends over the last year. The creature felt guilty for being the one to rip them apart. But in the end that's all what Shinigami did. Ripping loved ones apart. And living on as if nothing ever happened.

But to its surprise, a smile appeared on Laureen's face. "Phew! I thought he was already on his deathbed! Hahahah!"

"What...?"

Wasn't she supposed to be sad... or perhaps angry at him? At the universe? Or at least at something?

"Then what are we waiting for?!", she asked.

"I—What do you mean?"

She stood up and clapped both her bulky hands together, making them wobble up and down. "Moping around won't get us anywhere!" she exclaimed energetically and laughed.

Laureen... you...

"Let's try our best instead!"

You don't have to act all strong...

"And make sure that the next year is the best of our lives!"

After all, you're the one crying...

Looking at Akira, she wiped a tear from her face. "Let's give him a good time…"

The creature looked at her in confusion, bewildered. She didn't seem care about the bad. She only saw the good. She simply forced herself to do so. Anything else would have felt like betraying her friend.

"The best time of his live."