Kurai stirred awake at the devil's hour, with no clear reason why.
She had spent her night texting Gengyo about her spiritual experiences and it warmed her heart that he joked about the stuff with her to ease her mind.
Kurai wasn't a morning person, it reminded her of all the time she was wasting when she had a maths exam to prepare for next year which was bringing up her past sorrow.
I'll try to go back to sleep.
She scrolled through her phone, searching for anything that could help her fall asleep like one of those comforting story videos, but nothing worked.
Stupid omen.
That's when she got a funny idea.
Or…what she thought was funny?
She lay still on her bed, no blinking, no breathing, just eyes wide open staring into her dim lit room.
To her absolute horror, right beside her, there came voices on top of voices like they were basically overlapped into words her mind couldn't comprehend!
Poor Kurai stopped herself from her silly little game and jumped up from her bed, and looked around, confused.
She didn't even cry out to God when that happened; she just went back to sleep.
Because to her, demons were like grizzly bears, playing dead would make them no longer see her as a threat and they would flee.
--
Roosters crowed, some dogs howled, a lovely start for the morning.
Mr. Tsukikage gently tapped Teruna on her shoulder to wake her up.
"Five more minutes," Teruna pleaded.
"You have school, go on the couch to cool off, then bathe," Mr. Tsukikage said.
Teruna sleepily pulled her bedsheet and quilt off of her body and trudged and began to cuddle up on the grey couch, her eyes half awake that she didn't notice when Kurai exited her room, clearly in distress.
"Good morning," Kurai said, greeting her family.
"Good morning," her family replied.
Kurai poured water into the kettle and turned it on so the water could heat up, the water overflowing.
Mrs. Tsukikage finished ironing her waitress clothes and put it on, and came outside just in time to see the overflowing kettle.
"Kurai!" Mrs. Tsukikage hollered.
"Huh?" Kurai asked, confused.
Her eyes met the overflowing kettle and she emptied the excess water into the sink and rested the kettle down, and turned it on so it could warm up.
"Why are you so careless? Pay attention to what you're doing," Mrs. Tsukikage lectured Kurai.
Kurai remained quiet, her mind repeating the overlapping that occurred over and over again.
"Teruna, go bathe," Mr. Tsukikage said.
Teruna slowly got up from the couch, grabbed her towel, and headed to the shower, completely forgetting to inform Kurai about what went on with her last night.
"Bye, I'm going to work," Mrs. Tsukikage said, slipping her handbag onto her arm and waving her husband and Kurai goodbye.
Mr. Tsukikage sat on the stool that was in the living room, he was already dressed in his standard patrol uniform: a navy blue shirt, neatly pressed, with silver buttons running down the front.
He was a man in his late fifties, his face serious from all the years he spent as a police officer.
"Alright, Teruna, time to come out, you're wasting the water," Mr. Tsukikage called.
"Okay," Teruna replied, turning off the water tap.
Teruna opened the bathroom door, the cold floor sending shivers up her legs.
Her school uniform lay neatly on her bed.
She quickly dressed herself and adjusted the collar, her mind still foggy from sleep.
Meanwhile, Kurai was preparing the hot chocolate milk for her and placed it next to Teruna's breakfast.
Kurai sat by the table and slowly munched on her tamagoyaki.
Today sure is weird
The soft, tender, and slightly bouncy texture of the tamagoyaki was enough to calm her down.
Food was her source of therapy.
I don't need that stupid Mrs. Endo, Yua or whatever she wants to call herself, once I'm eating I'm fine
She held onto that motto firmly but deep down she knew she was gaining more weight from the excessive calories, and every time she looked at herself in the mirror, all she felt was hatred towards her own body.
When Teruna finished her breakfast, Mr. Tsukikage and Teruna walked downstairs to head to his white van.
Kurai looked out from the gallery and watched as their automatic gate slid open, and Teruna smiled and waved Kurai goodbye. Kurai waved back, and they drove off.
Inside the house, she was met with silence, completely alone.
She closed the gallery door and locked the door downstairs for safety purposes and plopped down on the couch, letting the television drown out the bubbling temptation for her to satisfy the overwhelming lust scratching in the depths of her skin.
But she ignored it and curled up on the couch and let out a long sigh, the tension in her shoulders finally starting to ease.
Now I can finally relax
An unspoken desire spread through her chest.
She shook her head and got off the couch and went into her room, tugging at her hair, trying to convince herself to stop feeling that way.
She tried to think of ordinary things like the topics she should be studying for maths, the dishes that were piling up in the sink, and the stack of smelly laundry that desperately needed to be washed.
She stopped by her window, staring out at an exercise park and other houses from her neighborhood that were being hidden by the set of long grass.
Nostalgia lightly kissed her on her lips, tasting like buttery milk when she remembered the times she would run around in the yard, make those silly little potions out of dirt, water, and petals from the flowers her parents told her not to pick from and have the sun heat it up as though it was its oven.
Time sure does fly fast
But the fluttering, undying temptation remained in her chest.
Her face reddened as she closed her windows and curtains on both sides of her room and picked up her phone, then placed it back on her piano keyboard.
No I shouldn't
She bit her lip.
It's not like I'm actually watching it though…so it's fine if I use it…right?
Yessssssss
Kurai's head snapped to face her bookshelf where she heard something audibly answer her thoughts, but maintaining its hissing sound.
A demon was right in her very room, and she couldn't see it, but she knew now it was by the bookshelf.
And she didn't know how to get rid of it, so she exited her room, then came back a few minutes later and heard it faintly tapping by her bookshelf.
I think I'll just stick to doing some chores…
The faucet gurgled as she finished rinsing the last plate, and soap bubbles clung stubbornly to her fingers.
She stacked the dishes neatly, wiping the counter with a damp cloth.
Then she dragged the smelly laundry basket that she had neglected earlier downstairs to wash and tossed it into the washing machine.
Now that those were taken care of, she grabbed her notebook and sat at the kitchen table, her pencil poised.
She scribbled the solutions carefully, erasing mistakes, and kept looking back at videos to help guide her along.
She was beginning to get the hang of it, so her pencil moved faster now.
This is so much better than wasting my time doing…weird stuff
She paused occasionally to check up on the laundry and placed them into the drier so they wouldn't be so wet.
Raising her fist into the air, claiming victory over having succeeded all her tasks, Lenieve just stood by her bedroom door, looking at her like, wondering what was the meaning of that silly pose.
A smile tugged at his lips.
So…you're still choosing to defy me? Very well. We'll see what my little puppet thinks about this.