Omggg it's been two months since I last updated I'm so sorry T_T I'll try to be quicker with the next update! Also this turned out to be a three parter so stay tuned-

Word Count: 2414 words

THIRD PERSON POV

The school bell struck a quarter till nine, signaling the end of the current class.

Mindless chatter immediately sprang out of the background students, talking about topics from homework to new shows they were watching.

"Hey, did you hear…"

"The rumor about…"

"The magical girls..?"

(Y/N) groaned at the stupid rumors floating about. How the rumors and ideas about magical girls had even started, she had no idea. She buried her head into her textbook.

The light buzz in her pocket made (Y/N) glance down at her phone, which was now lit up. A text notification. She grasped the red phone case and took the device out.

‘Meet me on the rooftop during lunch, I want to talk to you some more.’

Despite the sender being said as unknown, (Y/N) gave a light smile, knowing exactly who had thrown this to her during class.

There was only one more class until lunch. Normally she would sit in the classroom and eat, but this was better. Hell, anything was better than sitting next to those two gossipers.

A few hours later, the (E/C) eyed girl found herself among the rooftop, phone in one hand and a piece of bread in the other. It was on sale.

The only things there were two school chairs sitting in the middle of the floor, the metal legs nearly touching each other. Akira sat on the right, his lunch seemingly nowhere to be seen, but his schoolbag sat right in front of his feet. His hands were on his lap as a light grin graced his face once (Y/N) opened the door. 

"Good to see you again, (Y/N)."

"Yeah, same to you." She briskly said. "How'd you even get my number anyways?"

"Ah, that? I had to ask around some. Felt it would be too old school to just throw a piece of paper at you." 

(Y/N) took her seat by his side, choosing to open her fresh piece of bread and take a bite.

"Wouldn't have been as creepy if it was just a piece of paper."

"Haha… It wouldn't have, would it?" Akira laughed slightly at her words.

She didn't know what to say to that.

"If you wanted my number, you could've just asked…" Delicate hands dug through her pockets until she grabbed out her phone, handing it to the boy seated next to her. "Here. You can enter your number and message ID."

Akira instantly did so, quickly grasping the device out of her hand and opening the contacts app.

(Y/N) looked away. It was weird, she had never felt such a connection so someone before. Not romantic in the sense, just the fact that the two of them had shared a personal commitment to what some might call an ‘otherworldly’ power.

Pushing his black-framed glasses back with his middle finger, Akira slid back (Y/N)'s phone onto her chair.

"Be sure to text m-"

"So you finally met Akira, (Y/N)?"

In the blink of an eye, both a rapier and scythe were both pointed at the pink and white animal.

Kyubey simply set one paw down in response and wagged its tail side to side. "Took you long enough." 

"Don't give me that damn sass, Kyubey." The pink and red weapons dissipated from reality as the two magical beings took a deep breath and sat back down. 

Instead of high tailing it and leaving, Kyubey instead chose to lay down on (Y/N)'s lap, the golden hoops hovering around their ears clinking together as the white cat-like creature curled up into a small ball.

"I wasn't trying to sound rude," they insisted in their infamous monotone voice, "I'm just surprised you two didn't meet sooner, considering you go to the same school and all."

She glared down at the pale ball of fluff. It would be the wiser idea to just ignore them for the time being.

As awkward as it felt asking with Kyubey around, (Y/N) felt like this would be her only chance to ask. She took another bite of the now cold bread before she spoke. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go for it.” 

"Why’d you do it? M-making the deal, I mean.” 

"Ah, I think that's something I should keep private for now, seeing as we formally met today. I’ll tell you some other time." Akira looked towards the purring cat-like creature laying down on her.

She felt that familiar hint of red return across her face. "Right… That makes sense." She honestly didn't know if she was saying that more to him or herself.

Kyubey decided to interrupt them once more. "Are you two thinking of partnering up?"

"What?"

"The witches around here are getting stronger, you know. It would be best to team up with someone else for the time being."

"Although it doesn't matter to me if you two decide to partner up or not. Whatever feels right to you." (Y/N) shivered as she felt Kyubey's two beady little eyes stare her down. The white creature finally stood up, stretched, and jumped down to the floor and onto the railing on the short walls. They continued to gaze at the two, their eyes catching and lingering on the boy with black hair

"The choice is yours."

And with that, they were gone. 

Akira glared at the spot where Kyubey once stood, before taking a deep breath and standing up. He let his bag drop down to his side.

"They do make a good point…" He trailed off, a look of determination plastered on his face that the girl has never seen before.

After murmuring to himself for a moment, Akira held down his hand to her, as if coaxing her, enticing her to say yes and accept. "So what do you say? Partners?"

Although it had only been two days, she felt as if she could trust him. He was the only other magical person she knew. She would believe him. She could trust him. She knew she could.

(Y/N) smiled back and shook back, getting pulled up and standing alongside him. “Partners.”

And thus marked the day (Y/N) (L/N) unknowingly made a deal with the devil.

─────────────────────

"Akira, to your right!"

"On it!"

It had been three months since the two had partnered up, and what a time it has been since. It was honestly the best decision (Y/N) had even made, not regretting it for even a second. It felt nice to have some of the life-or-death pressure taken off of her, and it made it even easier to collect grief seeds.

While she did tend to sometimes question his eagerness to be beside her and keep a conversation, she simply blamed it on anxiety. (Y/N) wasn't annoyed, she could understand where he was coming from. Especially after everything he's seen in the past few months. Being forced to kill witches for the rest of your life would take a toll on anyone. 

Pink lips formed themselves into a malicious grin as the sound of a heavy cotton ball shaped head hit the ground, another minion down. She had to admit, Akira was good at what he did. Made her realize despite the years of fighting alone, it really was helpful to have someone by her side to help. She could expect him to stay by her side.

What (Y/N) wasn't expecting was a giant, adhesive tentacle to wrap around her torso and lift her up to the ceiling.

Trying to stop the extra appendage was to no avail, as the texture of the skin was too sticky to break free from. It also probably didn't help that it was shaking her body around. A lot.

All of the slimy residue from the tentacles made its way down to her arms and wrists. The translucent fluid creeped around the bracelet holding her soul gem, making it just loose enough to fall. 

"Ack-" (Y/N) struggled in her attempt to break free. "Akira! Look up!"

And so he did. His eyes immediately widened in terror.

They both knew the rule. Once your soul gem gets too far away from you, your body would cease to function. It wasn't called a soul gem for no good reason.

Thanks to many years of practice, (Y/N) immediately summoned another rapier, dropping it down to her feet and using the tip of her shoe to hold onto the attached handle. Her pink shoe kicked the thin weapon up into the air, stabbing the slimy tentacle.

Rushed but flawless, Akira managed to catch the falling soul gem with both of his gloved hands. (Y/N) immediately fell after, along with the witch's grief seed. The world around the two rippled back to normal, leaving them in their normal outfits outside of a closed cafe.

"That was too close." Akira's breathing was heavy, hoarse. "You need to stay behind next time." 

"What? They just caught me off guard, I was fine after-"

"No! If I was even a second late, you could've died! It's too dangerous out there for you!" He turned to face her. 

"Akira I've been doing this for three years now. I know what I'm doing, damn it! Why do you suddenly care about me fighting witches?!"

Akira ignored her question. "Stop asking questions, you wouldn't understand!"

"Clearly I won't until you tell me why!"

A sniffle caused Akira to momentarily break out of his anger. He looked up. And his heart broke into two.

Clear tears were beginning to prick at the girl's eyes, her face growing hot and red with complex emotions. She wouldn't let them fall.

"I'm not mad. I'm just…" another sniffle escaped her nose. Broken, sad words. "Why won't you tell me? You've always been on edge when you're around me in a labyrinth, why is that?"

A black handkerchief was moved towards her face, rubbing small circles around her eyes and cheeks to clear the redness away. 

"You really want to know why?" (Y/N) couldn't sense any dangerous undertones, but for some reason she still felt nervous. Regardless, she nodded.

"There's a park around a half mile away from here, let's go talk there."

And so she followed.

Just as he said, an empty yet gorgeous park was just past all of the buildings and busy streets. The two walked up to the area, before sitting down on an empty bench. (Y/N) clasped her hands together and schooched near the left armrest.

"Have you ever heard of a girl named Haru Okumura?"

The (E/C) eyed girl had to think about his question for a few moments. "She's the daughter of Kunikazu Okumura, the guy who owns that one burger chain... Right?"

Akira gave a small genuine smile at her response, but it quickly faded away.

"We were good friends, and even attended the same high school." His long fingers dug themselves into his black locks as he looked up at the gray sky. "She was the one who told me about the existence of magical girls."

"Haru tried convincing me to join her in becoming one. I said it was stupid, a waste of my time. That I had something much more important to worry about. Then she said something about the person I cared about and… Well, here we are now."

Despite knowing how insensitive her question was, (Y/N) felt like she had to know. Although she had a feeling she knew where they were.

"What happened to her?"

A slight breeze blew past the two. He let out a sigh, gritting his teeth at the awful memories that began to surface back. Pushing them back forcibly, though it was certainly no easy task, he compelled himself to focus on the present.

"She died on her second day. Mercilessly ripped in half and eaten by a witch."

She opened her mouth before closing it again. "... Oh."

“Do you ever wonder why I became a magical boy?”

"..."

No reply. Akira took (Y/N)’s silence as a signal to continue.

“It was because of you.”

"..."

"Haru told me that you were a magical girl. How she found out, I don't know. But I honestly don't care. I just couldn’t stand it, the idea of you going out and risking your life for others. It made me sick to my stomach. I just.. I had to protect you.”

The one-sided conversation came to a halt. The smile plastered on his face didn’t reach his eyes anymore, though Akira didn’t seem the least bit fazed. He blushed and grasped her hands in his. His grin that reminded her of beautiful flowers grew more on his peerlessly pretty face as he stared at (Y/N), as if he could see nothing else.

"I… I like, no, I love you (Y/N). Ever since I first saw you."

The wind continued to blow, colorful cherry blossom petals falling around the two. 

"Please, (Y/N)," black pupils shined brightly like diamonds, "please say yes. I'll do anything for you. I gave my life just for you. Please say you'll be mine."

"Akira…" (Y/N) chewed her lip. God, how was she going to break this to him? His face reminded her of a begging puppy the way it was now, despite having said his best friend just died less than a few minutes ago. (S/C) hands shook themselves out of his grasp.

"I'm sorry but," she turned away to avoid seeing his reaction, "I only think of you as a friend. You're the only other magical person I know, and I don't want to risk losing our friendship."

He stayed silent.

Akira looked down to the ground. He should've expected this. 

"Plus it's only been a few months since we formally met, you can't truly fall in love with someone in that amount of time."

As if that reasoning was enough to stop his ever-growing obsessive love.

"I see."

"I…" Akira chuckled to himself, pondering over what had gone wrong. "I have to go. I'll see you soon, goodbye."

She didn't try to stop him. Once more, (Y/N) was left alone for her thoughts to grow and consume her whole.

Tears had threatened to fall from her watery (F/C) eyes, and for once she had decided to let them fall. 

Drip drop. Drip drop. 

She never realized how soothing it could be to cry.