Renji smelled faintly of dish soap and instant noodles, which was not the scent profile of a man winning at life.
Tokyo still buzzed past midnight, sirens sketched lines through the air, laughter spilled from alley bars, and the vending machines hummed like insects. Renji trudged up the stairs of his aging apartment block with a backpack hanging off one shoulder and the weight of two part-time jobs bending the other. He let himself into his 1K unit, a portable closet pretending to be a home, and dropped the bag with a thud.
The apartment smelled like stale laundry and microwave dinners. Home sweet home. His eyes drifted to the cardboard box shoved in the corner of his closet, the one wrapped in dusty tape he hadn't had the guts to open since the funeral.
Grandpa always said, "Nothing good waits in forgotten boxes." But rent was due, and Renji's wallet was as empty as his fridge. "Might as well dig for treasure," he muttered, dragging the box out with his foot. It thudded onto the floor, sending a puff of dust into the air that made him cough.
Kneeling on the cracked floor, he peeled back the tape with a fingernail. Inside was a jumble of yellowed newspapers, an old pocket watch that had stopped ticking, and a stack of receipts from bars Renji didn't know Grandpa had frequented. The man had more secrets than the government. Beneath it all, wrapped in a faded red cloth, was something solid.
Renji's fingers twitched. "Here we go." He unfolded the fabric, revealing a book bound in cracked leather, the title worn to illegibility, and a rusted amulet tangled in its own chain. The moment he touched the amulet, something fizzed under his skin, like static shock that didn't fade. He jerked his hand back.
The book fell open with a creak. Pages fluttered, ink swirling in jagged symbols that definitely weren't Japanese. Or any language.
"Alright, Grandpa," Renji muttered, squinting at the text. "What kinda shady hobby did you have?"
A draft slithered past his neck, even though the window was closed. The bulb flickered.
He dropped the book. It landed with a slap, pages splayed open, the symbols glowing faintly in the light.
"Nope. Not tonight." He scrambled back, shoving the box into the closet with his foot before slamming the door shut. The bulb steadied, but the air still hummed, like the apartment had swallowed a live wire.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. A text from his boss at the konbini: "Urgent shift, someone called in sick."
Renji exhaled. "Damn it." He grabbed his hoodie and bolted, the box already fading behind the weight of overdue bills and graveyard shifts.
The konbini's automatic doors slid shut behind Renji, sealing him into the fluorescent glow of the store. The night shift was a familiar slog: restocking bento boxes, wiping down coffee machines, and fending off drunk salarymen who thought they were hilarious. The manager, a perpetually exhausted woman with a voice like gravel, barely glanced at him before retreating to the back office.
Renji yawned, rubbing the dark circles under his eyes. "Just another few hours." His phone buzzed in his pocket, a rare occurrence since most people only contacted him for work. He flipped it open, expecting another gruff demand from his boss.
Instead, the screen flashed [The One That You Don't Like.]
He frowned, thumb hovering over the answer button.
"...Yeah?"
"Aozora." The landlord's voice came through, dry and irritated, like he'd been chewing on cigarettes. "What the hell's going on in there?"
Renji blinked. "Uh. Going on where?"
"Your apartment. People are calling me." A pause. "You keep animals in there? Throwing furniture around?"
Renji's stomach dropped. "I'm not even home."
"Then you better tell your guest to keep it down before I evict you." A click. The line went dead.
Silence, except for the hum of the refrigerators.
Renji stood frozen, the receiver still pressed to his ear. His apartment was empty. A few cockroaches, maybe, but nothing that could make noise loud enough to-
His fingers clenched around the phone.
"Shit."
He didn't even bother clocking out. Just ripped off his apron, tossed it onto the counter, and bolted for the door. The manager shouted something, but he was already outside, shoving through the late-night crowd. His lungs burned.
Had someone broken in?
Barely ten minutes later, a new personal record, he skidded into his apartment building's hallway. No cops, no kicked-in door. But from behind his own door?
Music.
Renji swallowed.
"Okay. Okay." He fumbled for his keys, heart hammering. "Just stay calm. Someone's squatting. That's all."
Keys in the lock. A twist.
His closet door was wide open. The box lay gutted on the floor, its contents scattered.
And sitting cross-legged on his bed, flipping idly through Grandpa's book like it was a magazine, was a woman who wasn't supposed to be here.
Renji's brain short-circuited.
His tiny TV blasted some anime love ballad he didn't recognize, and she had one knee propped up, her tail swaying in time to the beat. Her outfit consisted of straps and frills in places that made Renji whip his head away before his brain fully processed them. The glow from his bedside lamp bounced off lavender hair that looked neon under the cheap bulbs.
She snapped the book shut and grinned at him, fangs glinting. "Oh. Finally. You took forever."
Renji's mouth worked like a dying goldfish. "What."
"You summoned me! Congrats!" She slid off the bed, her bare feet landing with a soft thud. "I'm Lilim. Succubus-in-training. And technically your new-"
Renji didn't let her finish. He lunged for the amulet tangled on the closet door. "Nope. No. Nope. Return to sender!"
Lilim's tail stiffened straight behind her. "Wait-"
He grabbed the amulet, shaking it at her like it was a cross and she was a vampire. "Go back. Undo. I didn't summon anything-"
"Too late!" She snatched the book off the bed, flipping it open to a page crammed with blood-red sigils. "The contract's procedure has already started. Look!" A line of symbols pulsed faintly on her wrist, and then his forearm flared with matching heat. Renji yelped, rolling up his sleeve. A mark, raw and new, burned into his skin before fading to pale pink.
"Are you kidding me?" His voice cracked. "I was digging for rent money!"
Lilim huffed, crossing her arms. "Well, I didn't pick you." A stray curl flopped over one eye. "You think I wanna get stuck with some underpaid kid? This is supposed to be my debut assignment."
Renji's cheeks burned. "Listen, whatever this is? Not happening. I can barely feed myself."
"Too bad." She jabbed the book at a footnote. "Contract rules: I stick around until you complete your lustful destiny."
He blanked. "My what?"
"Don't play dumb." She leaned in, voice dropping to a stage whisper. "You summoned a succubus. What did you think I was here for?"
Renji sputtered.
Lilim's smirk faltered under his horrified stare. Her tail thumped nervously against the bedframe. "...Oh. Ohhh. You didn't know what you were summoning."
"I DON'T EVEN HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!"
Silence. The anime love song swelled in the background.
Then her face scrunched. A loud, undignified snort burst out of her. "Pfft—HA! Ohhh, this is gold." She doubled over, clutching her stomach. "They warned me about first-timers, but this-"
Renji wanted to melt into the floor. "I'm revoking the summon."
"Can't!" She wiped a tear, still giggling. "Not until you make a real wish. So!" She clapped. "What's your deepest, darkest-"
"I WISH YOU'D PUT ON A HOODIE."
Lilim froze mid-sentence. "…What."
Renji yanked his spare hoodie off the chair and tossed it at her. "Put. It. On."
She caught it, brow furrowed. "…This is not how this works."
"You said wish." He crossed his arms. "I lust for normalcy. Now cover up."
Lilim's mouth opened, closed. Her tail twitched, curling around her thigh like a self-conscious vine. Then: "FINE." She yanked the hoodie over her head in one dramatic motion, drowning half her body in cheap cotton. "Happy?"
Renji exhaled. "Marginally."
The TV cut to a commercial. The sudden silence stretched between them, heavy and awkward.
Lilim fidgeted with the sleeves. "…You're weird, you know that?"
Renji sighed. "Yeah. Figures I'd summon a demon before having a girlfriend."
Lilim tugged at the hoodie's sleeves, fiddling with the frayed cuffs. Her tail lashed once, curling tight around her leg before she forced it still. "Alright, human. You got your wish. Now it's my turn."
Renji's shoulders locked. "Your what?"
She rolled her eyes, though the motion looked more flustered than annoyed. "The contract, genius. You made a wish, I granted it. Now you help me with something."
"Hard pass." He backed up a step, hands raised like he was warding off a stray dog. "I didn't sign up for demonic side quests."
Lilim's jaw set. She dug into the pocket of her borrowed hoodie and yanked out a crumpled scroll, the edges singed. "It's standard protocol. Look!" She jabbed at a smudged line of Infernal script. "Reciprocal obligation, clause seven. You help me, or-" Her voice hitched. "-or I get recalled. And trust me, 'recalled' is just a fancy word for dead."
"Hold on—you mean just... like killed?"
Lilim's tail lashed once, thumping against the bed frame. She didn't meet his eyes. "The contract's sealed. My soul's anchored to yours. If you reject it, I-" She swallowed, fists balled at her sides. "I dissipate. Poof." A weak little gesture with her fingers. "So unless you want that on your conscience, human-"
Renji's stomach clenched. "That's guilt-baiting."
She bared her teeth, one fang snagging on her lower lip. "It's facts."
The silence stretched thin between them. Tokyo's murmur bled through the window: a drunkard's laughter, a scooter's sputtering engine, mundane noises that felt galaxies away now.
Renji exhaled, sharp. "Okay. Fine. Hypothetically. What's my role in all of this?"
Lilim perked up like she'd been waiting for the cue. "Right! So-" She leapt off the bed, nearly tripping on the discarded amulet chain. "Your world is infested with this sleeping darkness. And apparently-" She flopped the book open to a page with a grotesque illustration: something multi-eyed and limb-twisted. "-it's waking up. And now you've been chosen to fight it."
Renji stared. Then barked a laugh. "Me?" He jabbed a thumb at his own chest. "Lady, I barely passed PE. My Blessing's so weak it's practically a birth defect."
Lilim's brows furrowed. "Blessing?"
"Uh." Renji blinked. "You know. Blessings? Fireballs, super strength, hell, my neighbor can make plants grow faster. That's, like, basic world stuff."
Lilim's tail coiled tight around her thigh. Her eyes darted sideways. "...Obviously I knew that."
Renji squinted. "Wait. You didn't know?"
She swatted the air. "Irrelevant! Your job is to-"
"How do you not know about Blessings?!"
Lilim's cheeks flushed crimson. "I said irrelevant!" The lamplight flickered, a surge of something dark in her pupils, there and gone. She took a shaky breath. "Look. The point is, the ritual doesn't care about your so-called Blessing. You are now picked for this role. Which means..." She grimaced. "You've got potential… I think… it's supposed to work like that, at least."
The words hung in the air like a bad smell.
Renji snorted. "Right. 'Potential.'" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "This can't be real. I must've inhaled too much dish soap fumes."
Lilim grabbed his wrist, claws pricking his skin. "It's real," she hissed. "And whether you like it or not, I'm stuck with you. So either you help me, or-" Her voice cracked. "Or I'm dead by sunrise."
Her grip trembled. Renji looked down, really looked, and saw it: the faint shimmer of her edges, like static on an old TV. A slow unraveling.
He swallowed. Damn it.
"...Fine," he muttered, yanking his arm free. "But we're setting rules. No creepy soul-sucking."
Lilim's tail uncoiled. "Deal." She hesitated, then added, "But, uh... you might need this." She nudged the amulet toward him with her foot. It gleamed dully under the lamplight.
Renji eyed it like a live grenade. "What does it do?"
Lilim grinned, all teeth. "You need to put it on and go to sleep. Simple."
Perfect. Just perfect. He had learned nothing.
Renji picked up the amulet, its chain cold against his fingers. Dull scratches marred its surface, like something had clawed at it. He turned it over, half-expecting it to bite him.
"Are you serious?" He looked up at Lilim, who had propped herself against his rickety desk with all the grace of a drunk cat. "Just... put it on and sleep? That's it?"
She flicked her tail, the heart-shaped tip twitching. "Yes. Simple, right?"
Renji snorted. "Nothing about this is simple." He hesitated, weighing the metal in his palm. "How do I know you're not gonna, I dunno, rip my soul out the second I close my eyes?"
Lilim rolled her crimson eyes hard enough that he heard it. "If I wanted you dead, I could've just smothered you with a pillow five minutes ago." She crossed her arms, the hoodie slipping off one shoulder in a sulky slump. "I need you alive, dummy. The contract's airtight."
That wasn't comforting.
Renji frowned. "And the whole succubus thing—what's that mean for me? Because I've read enough 'stuff' to have... concerns."
Lilim's cheeks darkened. Her tail stiffened, smacking against the desk leg. "Irrelevant. That's advanced training stuff." She cleared her throat. "Right now? You sleep. I need to recharge inside the amulet, and for that, you need to be unconscious."
He narrowed his eyes. "That makes zero sense."
"And summoning a demon from a book did?" she shot back.
Fair point.
Renji exhaled through his nose. "I haven't agreed to anything yet."
Lilim grinned, suddenly sharp. "Uh-huh. Then why're you still holding the amulet?"
He glanced down—and felt his stomach drop.
The second his fingers had curled around it, the metal had warmed. Not a lot. Just enough to notice. Oh hell.
Before he could protest, Lilim flicked her wrist.
The air split, a soundless crack that punched through Renji's ribs like a skipped heartbeat. Lilim's form blurred, dissolving into ribbons of lavender smoke that coiled toward the amulet in his hand.
"No—wait—!" His fingers spasmed, but it was already happening. The smoke writhed, slipping between his grip, and the amulet pulled, weightless and sudden, looping itself around his neck.
The chain settled against his collarbones. Cold. Then a glow: faint, purple, unmistakable.
Renji slapped a hand over it. "What the hell?" He whirled, half-expecting Lilim to be smirking behind him, but-
Empty air.
The room was silent. No succubus. No smoke. Just him, the amulet, and the lingering scent of something vaguely floral, like jasmine left too long in the sun.
"Okay," Renji muttered, sagging onto the edge of the bed. "Right. Sure. This is fine."
His fingers brushed the amulet's surface. The glow pulsed once, lazy, then dimmed.
Exhaustion slammed into him like a bus.
His eyelids dragged down, sudden and heavy. Maybe this was a hallucination. Maybe he'd finally cracked from too many overnight shifts. Or maybe he'd wake up and find Lilim standing over him with a knife.
His last thought before the dark swallowed him:
Grandpa, you bastard.