Kalawarna's
Kalawarna sat alone in the dim light of Issei's bedroom, a place too small for her wings yet oddly warm with his scent.
The curtains fluttered gently with the breeze from the cracked window.
Her long, dark-purple hair pooled around her as she sat cross-legged on his bed, her tight outfit partially unzipped just as it had been when she arrived—more out of habit than seduction.
He wasn't home.
She'd been waiting for hours.
Her eyes drifted to his cluttered desk again. A couple of erasers, a broken mechanical pencil, and a manga volume opened to a page that featured a busty girl with barely enough clothing to be called clothing. Kalawarna smirked faintly. So typical of him…
"When will he come back from school?" she murmured to herself, laying back against his pillow and inhaling his scent deeply before catching herself and sitting up straight, flustered by her own reflex.
She looked around again. No traps. No magic circles. No signs of a hidden peerage member watching the room.
Yet she knew she was playing with fire. Being here—sitting on the bed of a reincarnated devil—was the dumbest thing I've done since Raynare roped me into her lunatic scheme, she thought.
Kalawarna sighed and laid back again, this time staring up at the ceiling.
Issei's a devil now, she thought. A low-class one, technically. Still fresh, still unrefined. But he has a peerage master—Rias Gremory. The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess.
Her brow furrowed.
If I'm caught here… it won't just be my feathers on the line. He'll be in danger too.
That thought twisted something strange in her chest. The old Kalawarna—the one that used to seduce and kill without a second thought—would've never cared. She would've used him, drained him, and left his corpse behind like so many others. But now…
Now she was lying in his bed, smelling his sheets like some lovesick girl, worrying about the consequences *he* might face.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
"Look at you," she muttered to herself. "When did you start thinking about someone else?"
The words stung more than she expected.
Was it that night? she wondered. That bizarre, intoxicating night when she followed the scent of his cursed yet delicious blood… and instead of ripping out his heart, she gave him her body.
No… It started earlier. She just hadn't realized it.
Maybe it was the moment he stared at her with confusion and wonder instead of fear. Maybe it was the awkward, horny way he looked at her without a shred of guilt. Maybe it was just the way his hand reached for hers during that first encounter—not to destroy her, but to understand her.
A Fallen Angel. A woman who killed on command. A murderer.
And yet… he let her live.
He let her in.
She turned her head toward the window, gazing out at the moon. Her wings flickered into existence behind her for a brief moment before vanishing again. She couldn't afford to be seen. Not here. Not in this territory.
If one of the Gremory servants senses me, it's over. If Rias herself comes, I'll be ashes. And if Issei tries to protect me… he'll get dragged down too.
Her fingers curled against the bedsheets.
*Why does that bother me so much?*
She remembered the way he looked at her earlier—the way his face had flushed, the awkward tension, the honest confusion. He was still a boy. Still a mess. But there was no hatred in his gaze.
Just… warmth.
That was rare. Almost nonexistent.
Kalawarna had spent decades watching others worship her beauty while loathing her race. She'd seen lust, obsession, and desire. But kindness? That was a myth. A fantasy.
And yet here she was, waiting in a boy's bedroom like a fool. Hiding from the world, hoping for a few moments more.
She closed her eyes.
*I should leave.*
*I should vanish before he comes back.*
*I should protect him—if not for his sake, then for mine.*
But she didn't move.
Not yet.
Instead, she turned on her side, curling slightly as if the blankets offered some kind of fragile protection. Her fingers brushed the edge of his pillow, and she let out another laugh—quieter this time, tinged with self-loathing.
"I'm pathetic," she whispered.
A Fallen Angel hiding in a devil's bed. A murderer worried about hurting someone else's feelings. A woman with nowhere to go, clinging to the first warmth she'd felt in years.
She could still feel the ghost of his touch from before—awkward, sudden, honest. No manipulation. No pretense.
Just a boy reaching for her.
Kalawarna bit her lip.
"Damn you, Issei."
The silence of the room returned, wrapping around her like a blanket as she closed her eyes once more.
She'd wait a little longer.
Just a little.
Then she should leave.
~~~
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