Episode 1: Scene 7- A Stranger at the Gates
A single drop of water lands on the auburn bangs of the girl walking away from the shadows of her school. Chiho glances up, eyeing the grey clouds that have gathered above her and the rest of the students heading out for the day. The skies had been clear that morning; but as she had sat through afternoon classes unable to take in the teachers' lectures, the approaching storm had pushed away the blue skies just outside of the classroom window.
Now, the thick scent of the coming rain weighs down the air around her.
It's weird. Yesterday's forecast had predicted a sunny and hot afternoon, but the skies above show otherwise. Last night's weather had been a little strange as well. When she had slowly stumbled home, the air had been cold and the wind had occasionally tugged harshly at her clothes.
Chiho glances up at the sky again and, for a moment, she can see the afterimage of the Gate that had opened to the moon looking down upon the city. It had gotten colder right after the sky had peeled open and the moonlight had struck the top of the building that she was on with a sickly green glow.
Stained by the unnatural light, the once white wings of her kidnapper had stretched out, growing larger with the power that he had bragged traveled through the portal that brought the lunar surface "closer" to the Earth. With this swell of magic, he had used it to tear apart chunks of the roof then, encasing Maou in a tomb of floating rumble that would have crushed him if it hadn't been for the red, black pulsating magic that had torn through the concrete and clawed up into the sky in a pillar of suffocating demonic energy.
Chiho stops, blinks, and then smacks the side of her head with her own palm. She's not getting lost in her memories. She can't, not when there's still danger lurking and definitely not when Maou's probably waiting for her outside the school fence somewhere.
"Chi?"
Chiho flinches, a soft "eep" escaping her as her eyes that had closed because of the impact of her palm fly open and she takes in the sight of Maou standing right there in front of her. Distantly, the presence of the school gates behind her signify that she walked right out of them without even noticing. But up close and personal, Maou is barely a few feet away and drawing every single ounce of her focus.
His hair's ruffled like he crawled out of bed. The t-shirt he's wearing is mostly white with yellow bands decorating the collar and sleeves that are almost too frayed to be seen in public. He's staring at her with open concern even though tiredness wrinkles the corners of his eyes.
She's close enough to see the exhaustion wrinkles.
Chiho's cheeks warm, but just like the images in her head she stomps down on that feeling because now is not the time. Maybe when her friends are not being probably kidnaped, but she can't fawn over Maou being so close to her now, which would be easier if he would back up instead of stepping closer.
"Are you okay? You look a little—"
"I'm fine!" Chiho cuts in before he can do anything weird like checking her temperature by putting his hand against her—Stop.
"You just startled me that's all." Her voice only cracks a little bit, so go her!
"Um, okay." Maou stares at her, obviously not quite buying it. He doesn't push the issue though.
"Where you able to get a hold of your friends?" A tinge of pessimism taints his tone, so Chiho simply shakes her head.
"I called Emi, though. Her and Suzano are both watching my parents right now." Chiho admits. Maou and Emi aren't exactly friends, but she doesn't think that he'll react too badly to her turning to his nemesis for help. Especially when he saved said nemesis last night, even if it was just incidental because the creepy kidnapper was stupid enough to target both Chiho and Emi at the same time.
Maou grimaces at Emi's name. "Yeah, I figured as much. Urushihara said that they were hanging out by your place."
The contents of that sentence take a moment to truly register for Chiho.
"Wait. How does Urushihara know that they're there? Did you send Ashiya and him to watch my parents?" That's...A warmth blossoms in Chiho's chest that Maou cared enough to think about her family.
"Uh," Maou sheepishly glances off to the side before meeting her eyes again. "not really. He snuck a couple of trackers on the two of them about a week ago."
"What?!" Chiho clenches her fists as she steps towards Maou. The budding warmth flickers out. "Why?!"
Maou scampers back, raising his hands into the air as if to ward off her advance. "Suzano was literally poisoning us! Of course we're going to put a tracker on the assassin that had been sent to kill us!"
"But she's our friend!"
"She wasn't a week ago!"
Silently Chiho concedes that point to Maou, but—
"Why did he put a tracker on Emi?! She's not an assassin sent to kill you!"
"Are you kidding me?! She's the Hero, that's enough of a reason."
"Mr. Maou, that is not a good enough reason to put a tracker on a woman!"
"Well, I...Urushihara did it without telling me." Maou admits while tossing his demon general under the short and growling bus before him.
Unease prickles across Chiho's skin. "Why would he do that? That's creepy." She says quieter than her sharper tone of before.
Maou shrugs as he slowly comes out of his defensive position. "I don't know. I mean, Emi and him did nearly fight to the death last month, so maybe he's kind of paranoid."
"That doesn't make any sense. Emi's going to be more likely to kill him when she finds out." The tension in Chiho's shoulders loosen as their conversation winds down.
"You're going to tell her, aren't you?" Maou deflates under the scathing glare Chiho throws him as she stomps past him and his stupid question.
"Of course I am!"
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