Chapter 15A: Peace Is Always Short – Punishment For Perversion

"Why the hell do I have to help you out!?" I ask the demon in the form of a girl in front of me.

"It's your punishment for trying to peek on the girls changing!" Demon Mizuno replies.

I wanted to give my kouhai some affection, Yuichi Shiro style. However, this demon somehow thwarted my good intentions. And now she thinks that she has the right to order me around.

"Just hurry it up!"

After being urged I continue to place the boxes on the shelves. I can't win an argument with a demon. As punishment I am rearranging all this crap in the storage. I've been doing it for an hour already. School ended long ago.

"Well it's really a life saver that you're helping me out," Demon Mizuno states. "Sensei asked me to do this, but it would have taken forever on my own."

"You should have just refused then," I reply in a tone advertising my annoyance. Helping you out? Aren't I the only one doing anything?

"There's no way I can do that! I refuse to ignore someone who has asked for my help."

"Then will you help me out by cleaning this place by yourself so I can go home?"

"No! Now keep your arms moving," She coldly demands.

"You liar! You said you couldn't ignore someone who asked for your help!"

"This is punishment. It's a different matter altogether." This demon has an answer for everything. "Do you hate being with me that much?" I hear the demon whisper something. Is she trying to lay a curse on me!?

"Did you say something, Demon Mizuno?" I ask in fear.

"Don't call me Demon Mizuno!" She shouts as she shakes the stool I'm standing on.

"Oi stop it!" I shout as the contents of the box jiggles about. "Whoa! Crap!" I lose my footing, drop the box and fall backwards, towards Demon Mizuno.

Bang!

"Ow, damn it hurts. Huh?" What's this soft sensation I feel in my hand? I slowly look where my hand is. Oh shit! Lying under me is Demon Mizuno, her face is dyed red. My hand somehow managed to find its way to her bosom. She is so going to kill me.

I prepare myself for my impending death. Ren, I leave you my porno collection. Alicia, I leave to you my pride and joy, my photo album, that contains pictures of my almighty beautiful self in its rawest form. Use it to cleanse your tears of losing the beautiful man you love the most. I start to write my last will inside my head.

Wait a second. Whilst I was immersed in my thoughts many seconds passed. Why am I still alive?

I look down at Demon Mizuno who is still under me. Her face is even redder than it was before. She isn't going to attack me? Does that mean that there's a method to resolve this in a way that doesn't leave Alicia a widow?

I slowly get up and distance myself from her.

"Sorry." I give a single word apology to Demon Mizuno who is acting uncharacteristically shy.

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"You touched my breast." That single sentence was full of emotion. It looks like I won't get away from this situation unscathed. The demon's mercy is non-existent.

"I'm sorry! But you were the one who started shaking the stool, Demon Mizuno!" There's no way I'm taking all the blame, when she was the cause in the first place.

"Call me Akane."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear me, Yuichi!? I hate it when you call me Demon Mizuno. So call me "Akane"." Her eyes start to moist. This is the first time in a long time that I actually took notice of a very simple fact, Akane Mizuno is indeed a girl. No wait, don't be fooled Yuichi Shiro. This is the demon's deceit.

"Demon Mizuno is Demon Mizuno," I state with pride, my chest held out high. There is no way I'm calling you in such an intimate way, know your place. A demon has no right to be close to someone as great and beautiful as me. This is one point I refuse to change.

"Call me "Akane", otherwise your so called beautiful face will be needing intensive plastic surgery."

"As you wish, Akane." I quickly change my view under Dem...No, Akane's threat. My previous pride shatters like glass. My face must remain intact, my pride is nowhere near as valuable as my glorious face. Damn, for Dem...Akane to pick up on this and use it against me.

"Now Yuichi, we need to tidy up all this mess now don't we?" Akane says as she smiles at me. Her smile looks angelic, but sweat is running down my neck just by looking at it.

Taking her words as a command, I hurriedly collect the things that fell out of the box back together.

I decided to not ask why she was also now referring to me as Yuichi, as they say let sleeping demons lie.

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Chapter 15B: Peace Is Always Short – Father's Request (Perspective: Alicia)

"So can you and Yuichi-kun participate then?" My father asks over the phone.

"I'll ask him, I doubt Yuichi would refuse though," I reply. Yes, Yuichi's the type of person who would jump up and down on the prospect of being able to take part.

"That's great, I know the three of you together will win easily," My father says cheerfully.

"The most serious opponent in the competition is still missing after all," I state solemnly.

"Alicia, there's nothing we can do about that. The Thanatos family is still searching for her. She was their heir after all."

"Are there still absolutely no clues to her whereabouts?" I ask, hoping for a positive reply.

"No more news has come to light since you asked last," Father shoots down my hopes instantly.

That one, as Reapers go, she was a prodigy among prodigies. The oldest daughter among the family of Thanatos. Among my generation of Reapers, she stood at the very top. She was my ideal self. However, she disappeared without a trace a few years ago. The Underworld has searched high and low for her to no avail.

"Anyway, can I count on you, Alicia?" Father asks.

"Yes, we will definitely win."

"That's the spirit. I'll see you then. Give Yuichi-kun my regards."

Click, beep, beep! - The phone hangs up.

I slowly take the phone away from my ear. If she was still around, the best we could hope for in that competition, would be second place.

"Where are you?" I ask rhetorically as I gaze out the window.

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Chapter 15C: Peace Is Always Short – Meeting An Old Acquaintance

We finally finished cleaning up that store room. I'm walking home with Akane. Every joint in my body is aching.

"I'm sweating like a jock, although a very handsome one. I want to get home and have a shower," I voice my thoughts out loud.

"If you stopped your perverted ways, you wouldn't have been held back in the first place."

"If you didn't force me, I wouldn't have had to do it full stop," I complain. Today has been a roller coaster of a ride.

"Say Yuichi, isn't that?" I look where Akane is pointing her finger. I recognise her right away. That long crimson hair, her dark eyes, her stylish proportions, there's no doubt. But she moved away, did she come back? The girl in question walks over to us with a swift walk.

"It has been a while, Yuichi-kun, Akane-chan," She says with a smile on her face.

"Shiori-sempai?" Akane asks in disbelief. Yes, no doubt about it, it's Shiori Azusa. She was a second year during my freshman year. She suddenly moved away in the middle of the school term. She was previously a member of the disciplinary committee, that's why she knows Akane.

She's also the only girl who I believe has ever had a logical reason for bearing a grudge against me. When she lost a relative, she bottled up all her tears. So I released her bottled up emotions in the form of anger, by insulting her deceased relative.

However, we patched things up before she left town. Today has been one surprise after another. I didn't think I would see Shiori-sempai again.

"Yuichi-kun, you've become a Human Anomaly haven't you?" Hearing this, my body instantly tenses. Akane also looks on in shock.

How does Shiori-sempai know about that?