Demon Stories

Cheol: Gorgeous Contentment, 1999, Japan

Cheol

Gorgeous Contentment

1999, Japan

"Hey, lady! Hey!"

"You wanna come party with us?"

"Hey, where you going?!"

Josephine was walking along the alley taking a shortcut, which I keep telling her not to do but she is very independent as always. And now with my love, she was becoming as independent as a rebel. I love that about her, so happy to see my nurturing growing this new found confidence in her. But sometimes it could get her into trouble, like tonight.

"I bet you she don't speak no Japanese."

"Hey, lady! You speak Japanese? Hey wait up!"

Josephine was starting to hurry up, her tall stilettos clicking along the pavement like her quick heartbeat in her chest. Was it fear? Upon further investigation, I decided it wasn't. I walked along the roof top parallel to her down in the open alley, her completely unaware that we were so close. She never knew I watched over her.

I watched her pull her white leather coat collar around her ears as if cold. I knew what she was really doing. Though not scared of these men, she was scared of being discovered as transgender. This was her biggest fear of all, just this act of recognition and the embarrassment it caused her. How I wished she could look at them brazenly in the face and own herself like me. But she wasn't there yet in her mentality. So therefore here I was, watching over her.

As Josephine began to walk a little more quick and the boys began to close in on her, jeering at her and making fun of her for being a gaijin woman, I began to drag my blade along the roof top. Next to me, a certain little girl demon began to have a hop skip in her step. She wiggled her upper body in excitement, and I put my finger over my mouth to signal her to keep quiet. One word out of her mouth would alert Josephine to our presence. 

The sound of my cutlass dragging made Josephine look around, but she did not look up. She didn't recognize the sound, but if those boys made any more moves she would forever recognize it.

One of them swung around in front of her and the other closed her in with the wall, but they were still moving as a little group. She was cornered now.

"You listening? Do you speaking Japan?" The one in front of her asked aggressively and saying the second sentence in broken English to mock her.

She couldn't ignore them now and as they stopped moving forward I stopped as well. Violette beside me started to grin and I just shook my head slowly at her and resumed watching below. Violette crouched on the roof and put her chin on the edge cutely to watch, too.

"Nihongo wo hanasemasu ka," the first one purred and got close to her face, clearly showing me his aggression towards her was a sexual one. I tightened my grip on my cutlass' hilt.

Josephine's breathing slowed as she tried to steady it, her fear becoming present and flashing in her eyes.