Lord Devil to you

She had to admit that after that whole emotional climax, what ended up happening to her definitely did not live up to the build up. Collapsed on the ground with her gaze directed towards Kanbaru, everything should have been perfect to allow her to move on.

And she didn’t. Though it probably seemed that way to Kanbaru and when she tried to speak to her again, the girl never even seemed to see her.

So what was she supposed to do in this situation? It’s not like it was her fault, and when she was given an infinite amount of free time with no one to speak to.

Well perhaps calling it stalking was a little too much and she’s certainly not done anything so malicious to call it haunting. It was merely as if she was a passive spectator who occasionally spent entire days just watching Kanbaru.

Which is why she was now attending Kanbaru’s graduation. For even though she never attended her own, watching her so happy for the entire day infected even her with a sense of content happiness.

The smile never disappeared from her lips as she watched her bid goodbyes to her friends. In fact it only grew greater as each of them left until Kanbaru sat by herself.

Seeing her like that, with the melancholy oozing off her made Numachi’s heart race faster and faster. How bittersweet to see her by herself, so alone and...

It had been instinctual, a force greater than herself that compelled her to do so. Which is how she ended up with her face through her lap. She had tried going for a hug, and, as a ghost is wont to do, passed right through Kanbaru. The momentum carrying her forward, her body phased through next until she was lying prone on the bench.

How embarrassing. At least Kanbaru wasn’t able to see her make such a blunder, with such a comforting thought in mind, she turned to look up towards the girl she had fallen for and met her gaze.

NAME: Numachi Rouka ALIAS(ES): Lord Devil GENDER: Female. AGE: 17 DATE OF BIRTH: ----- PLACE OF BIRTH: ---- , Japan HOMETOWN: ---- , Japan SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Japanese, English ROMANTIC PREFERENCE: kanbaru-romantic. SEXUAL PREFERENCE: homo OCCUPATION: Ghost

APPEARANCE

EYE COLOUR: Brown HAIR COLOUR: Brown HEIGHT: 5′1″ SCARS: Leg, Arm, Back, Chest BURNS: None OVERWEIGHT: No UNDERWEIGHT: No

FAVORITE

COLOR: --- HAIR COLOR: Purple. EYE COLOR: Burgundy SONG: something sad, something depressing, something about love lost MOVIE: None MUSICAL: None FOOD: junk food would work,. DRINK: sports drink BOOK: -----

HAVE YOU

PASSED A LEVELS/APS: No PASSED UNIVERSITY: No HAD SEX: No HAD SEX IN PUBLIC: No GOTTEN PREGNANT: No KISSED A BOY: No KISSED A GIRL: No GOTTEN TATTOOS: No GOTTEN PIERCINGS: Yes HAD A BROKEN HEART: Yes BEEN IN LOVE: Yes STAYED UP FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS: Yes

ARE YOU

A VIRGIN: Yes A CUDDLER: Yes A KISSER: Yes JEALOUS EASILY: Yes TRUSTWORTHY: No DOMINANT: Yes SUBMISSIVE: Yes IN LOVE: Yes SINGLE: Y-no-yes-maybe?

RANDOM QUESTIONS

HAVE YOU HARMED YOURSELF: Yes THOUGHT OF SUICIDE: Yes ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: Yes and succeeded. WANTED TO KILL SOMEONE: Yes DROVE A CAR: No HAVE/HAD A JOB: Yes HAVE ANY FEARS: Yes

FAMILY

“Numachi…” Her empty gaze fell onto her bandaged hand, averted from the situation before her. In the moments that followed that apology, there was a lull in her sobbing, a silence that was heavy with an awareness of what she had just done. She closed her eyes for a brief time and taken in a deep breath, her lips still drawn into a frown. There was really nothing else for her to do now than to try to clear up such a grave misunderstanding – it was silly to let her think that this was all her fault. 

She started to draw her hand through the other’s hair again.

“What is it that you are apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not as if you chose to come to this place again…” She emitted a tiny chuckle. “Granted I am a little tired from being away the last couple of weeks, I’m actually doing a lot better than I have been!” That was probably the gentlest way she could have told her the truth. It was hard to pick exactly where she would have begun with all the things that happened to her in Numachi’s absence.

“But really, to think I haven’t seen you since shortly into the beginning of the year, was it…”

She didn’t want to ask how Numachi had been, since such a query would possibly have been futile. But, there was something else she could do.

“If anyone should apologize, it’s me. It wasn’t my intent to burden you so soon in your return here…”

The motion of her hand through her hair soothed her as her self-deprecation abated for a moment. It was hard for her to see Kanbaru so angered, but be as it may, the young girl laid silent.

“I left you alone.” Pausing to clear the lump in her throat, she turned her gaze outwards. “That’s one thing I did wrong.” The words had barely left her lips did she whimper out. “I--”

Moving her hand up to wipe away the tears, Numachi decided that enjoying the comforts of her lap was not something she would be continuing and made the motions of sitting back up. There was a part of her that felt undeserving, and yet halfway through the process she lay her head back down once more.

“I doubt it’s your fault.” As uncomfortable as she was now lying upon a pillow of flesh, she once more turned her sight upwards. “It would be hard. It must have been hard.”

More words would hardly be appropriate and she could only place one hand over Kanbaru’s free hand as if in reassurance. “I-- I am glad to see you again, after all this time, and I suppose if you are not angry with me.”

Kyoko had heard of the phenomenon where girls referred to their female friends as girlfriends before, but this was the first time she’d heard it first hand. It seemed so familiar and possible indecent. The fear of a misunderstanding also put her off. She didn’t know if she could ever introduce herself in the same way, but since Numachi-san had used the term herself, now seemed as good of a time as any for her try it out for herself.

“Kanbaru-san and I are also girlfriends,“ Kyoko told her with as much confidence as she could muster while her cheeks burned red from embarrassment. Kyoko quickly moved on, hoping to lessen her discomfort. "I’m actually unaware how long she had this house. I’ve only been back a few months myself.”

The expression upon her face soured in a flash as the smile she had held quite suddenly clenched tightly into a frown. It almost seemed as if she would snarl at her. It flashed there for barely a second and disappeared forthwith. Numachi seemed to have found her good nature again as her smile once more returned to tug the ends of her lips upwards.

Yet, it hardly seemed as proper as it had before, and though her face was clearly sporting an amiable expression, her eyes certainly did not follow the trend. There was a bevy of negative emotions waiting to escape, anger, hate, envy, disgust, all swirled in her mind.

It was honestly fine for Numachi to have seated herself close to Suruga; that was the expectation she set when she beckoned the other over to her. But, as it stood, she decided that using Suruga as a pillow was a better idea. Well, Suruga hadn’t any idea why she would have expected any differently from her former rival, but nonetheless there was a hint of surprise inflected on her features.

She drew her left hand to the side of Numachi’s head and idly started running her hand through her hair.

“You’re right – you have been gone for a long time. Too long, I dare think…” The light smile she donned previously fell, a frown weighing on the corners of her lips. How painful it was, how angry she was with herself to have that span of time and all the problems she caused for others called to her attention once again.

Anger kept bubbling in her, almost overflowing, and the motion of her hand soon ceased. Like a levee in the wake of a great storm, she cracked, she broke, and no sooner did the warmth of tears burst from her eyes and down her cheeks. It wasn’t as if she wanted the other to know to begin with, but at this point it was practically unavoidable. “Fine! I’ve been f-fine…” It was not a very graceful dodge, by any means.

Staring up at her visage was enough to make her feel wanted, and Numachi trailed her eyes over every feature to let the sight of her former girlfriend soak in. Unfortunately, she discovered pretty soon that her arrival was not quite so welcome.

As droplets fell upon her face, Numachi’s expression grew pained. She disliked that impression. Upon the girl’s face, reflected there, there was regret, anger, and yet as she flew through the darker sides of the emotional spectrum, one dominated: self-deprecation.

The way her brow scrunched made her feel stomach drop. The way the tears fell upon her cheeks. The way her hand stopped so abruptly as if caught in her hair.

Anguished, Numachi turned her face away to hide from her. It. She. Numachi could not help the bitter feelings that gripped her heart.

I was born with glass bones and paper skin. Every morning, I break my legs and every afternoon, I break my arms. At night, I lie awake in agony until my heart attacks put me to sleep.

Please save me.

Kyoko was getting ready to do a load of laundry. It had been more than a week since she had last did a load and it was piling up. She had been working on getting the theater up and running and it had been taking up most of her time, but she refused to allow herself to use that as an excuse. Household chores were too important.

Kyoko felt her presence before she actually saw her. It was her grudges who felt her presence to be exact. She could hear them cooing with delight before she turned the corner and saw a half naked girl in the hallway. Immediately her grudges flew towards the half naked girl and basked in her aura.

“Hello miss, you must be a friend of Kanbaru-san’s,” Kyoko greeted her carefully. It was best to treat anyone with caution whom her grudges enjoyed being around. “My name is Kyoko Mogami. It’s nice to meet you.”

Well if she already saw her wearing nothing and really did not care for it, then Numachi was certainly not going to let herself get embarrassed either. A nod was sent in return, and she gave a gentle smile.

“I’m Numachi Rouka. Kanbaru’s girlfriend. Pleasure to meet you.” Or rather ex. In fact, Numachi still wasn’t sure exactly how long she had left her by herself but they had parted on good terms.

Parted. Well, parted was probably not the right word for it. It was more like, the last thing she remembered was being invited to spend the night at her girlfriend’s room, and then somehow appearing in a room that looked exactly like her old one, except in a house.

“Or maybe not. I think I may have been gone longer than I thought.” Pausing as Numachi’s brow scrunched up as if some matter had suddenly held her thoughts, it was not for a while before she lifted her head back up again.

“Hey doctor, I’ve got a little problem.”

“Hey!” The outburst was a tad loud seeing how the brunette had strolled into a library, but the looks of disdain the other patrons sent her way seemed to not faze her in the least. In fact, as she pulled out the seat next to him it almost seemed as if she meant for it to make the longest and most annoying scratching sound as she dragged it across the floor.

Admittedly, this had to be the longest hour she spent asleep. Why? Because she hadn’t actually slept. She couldn’t, anyway – not with Numachi actually in the living room. This had to be some sort of mistake at best. After all, Numachi’s existence defied any logic and possibility, and consequently no amount of thinking nor convincing would be able to explain the why and how behind her sitting in the living room just now.

Really, she just wasn’t someone she was ever prepared to face again.

With her face stuffed firmly in the corner of the couch, she lay prone on the cushions, motionless, and attempted to collect her thoughts. Her mind was a muddled assortment of feelings and questions, and frankly she understood that the longer she waited to face Numachi, the less capable she feared she’d be at confronting her without hurting her. It was yet another matter in her life from which she couldn’t run.

After pushing herself upright into a sitting position, she took in a deep breath and, in keeping with her act, rubbed her eyes.

“Good morning, Numachi,” said she, barely audibly, as she motioned toward the couch. In that pause, her lips curved into a light smile, and she directed her gaze to face away from Numachi. “I… It was rude of me to keep you waiting. I mean, it’s not as if you should sit on the floor, so please, take a seat over here.”

“Good morning.” The brunette was quick to reply as she watched her go through the charade. Perhaps Numachi had noticed how obvious her acting was, but regardless of the matter, she did not show it.

She stood up quickly enough and then instead of taking her seat besides Kanbaru, the girl laid her head on her lap. Shifting her head slightly so that she could get a better position, Numachi looked back up.

“I accept your apology. It certainly isn’t Kanbaru-senshu’s fault that she isn’t used to being awake so early, so I really don’t see why you would be apologizing.”

She had thought that this house would be hers and Kanbaru’s alone. So when she wandered around the house in just her underwear, she definitely did not expect to meet a stranger.

Whistling innocently, she strolled through the shop until she stood before the counter. Fingers tapping against the wood, she gave him a sweet smile.

The older woman looked quite sad sitting by herself. There was a certain forlorn quality to her that Numachi could not quite shake, the brown eyes which stared ahead at nothing held within them a certain familiarity.

Suruga rubbed her temples, trying to force the vestiges of sleep from her. Granted she generally rose early to complete her run before the streets were too busy, even this time was too early. The scuffling noise on its own wasn’t enough to have woken her normally, but it persisted, enough to the point where Suruga was genuinely concerned whether a rat had sneaked into the house and made itself at home.

But, not even after two steps taken out of the room she’d found the source of the commotion, which had taken up residence in her kitchen.

Much to her dismay, it wasn’t a rat, but rather something far more obnoxious.

How could someone be so chipper so early in the morning, anyway?!

“N-Numachi…”

She huffed. It would have been easier to believe had it been anyone else but her. Sluggishly she made her way toward the couch and fell onto it with great force, nearly breaking it in the process.

“Do whatever you want, but don’t wake me up for another hour.” Facing away from the other, she advised in a muffled voice. This was definitely one of those strange dreams she had on occasion – how else could she explain her presence in this house, let alone this city again?

Numachi had expected more of a reaction, but then again, she imagined that Kanbaru could hardly be called a morning person. Still, just because her girlfriend was not awake enough to deal with her shit did not mean that she would not continue. The orange juice was placed, without a second thought, upon the counter and Numachi made her way towards the couch.

Of course, the thought of lying in that small space besides her by draping her arm over the sleeping girl. Though in the end, she decided against it. The girl took her seat on the floor in front of the couch to just stare at Kanbaru’s sleeping back.

It was nice to see her again. Really. Truly. Numachi had wanted nothing more to wrap her arms around her in a hug, but just staring at her sleep... Well that was also good.