The 69th Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Why was this happening?

How was this happening?

Those were two questions always on his mind, nowadays.

-

The sunlight filtering through the church windows was tinted a blue color that he could best describe as some shade of azure, but blue was a color that reminded him of his brother. If he let his mind linger on that thought, his eyes were going to start to water and sting from the grief. In that case, it made his current actions seem like a sick disgrace to his brother and everything he believed in - something unforgivable, and yet he was doing it. He still wore his late brother's scarf around his neck, tucked neatly under the comically large collar of his shirt.

So instead of reaching up to hold onto the soft silk of the scarf, his fingers gingerly touched his shirt collar, feeling the ornate fabric against his skin. This too, was made from the same silk that the scarf was. Though it wasn't made at the same time. It was made later, and he was about to talk to the person who weaved it from her fingertips. His heart was pounding in his head at the thought of seeing that person again. The last time they had met...

And that thought brought him back to Hugo. Natsume. If he thought about Natsume Kengo, and them running around on the fields back on Earth, his heart started beating a bit too fast, and his stomach fluttered a bit. But Hugo... Hugo was different.

So whatever that had been didn't matter. Right?

As a slight wave of pain pulsed in his head, it suddenly occurred to him that all of his worrying was giving him a headache. It wouldn't be the first syndrome of built up stress that had plagued him in the last few weeks. He had been getting less sleep in the last week and it was causing his friends to worry about him. And all he had to do to get rid of his suffering here was enter the fourth door on the left. Then the church pews wouldn't be empty anymore.

Then he would be walking down the aisle with Katia dressed in pink as his flower girl and Hyrince dressed in black as the ring bearer. He still had his best friend with him, so despite the changes, he still had that, right? Maybe it should go without say why Sue had refused to attend. And least, she had calmed down enough to stop attempting to shoot his to-be-wife's head with ice magic, only because she had sworn off using light magic due to... personal reasons. Even being a responsible big brother and trying to calm her down was easier than this.

But, for now, he had to enter that room, for the sake of humanity. If he could get the people to listen to him, then maybe he could do something about...

He wasn't religious. So it wasn't in his nature to pray to the statute at the back of the church - who looked like someone he had dreamed of. Painted marble that created white hair and blue-grey eyes, vibrant blue and orange that all seemed familiar. But... now that he was in the demon territory church, here. The Hero was in enemy lands.

His heart was pounding. His head was pounding. He took a deep breath.

Please watch over me.

He bowed and left.

-

"Oi, Yamada-kun."

The current demon lord's, Ariel, greeting was light enough, and the young girl - woman - gave him a warm enough smile. Though it didn't really relax him at all. He was only looking at her, not the other girl with here - which was hard to do, because she was cuddled up next to her. It was very clear that these two were very close, he noted, when Ariel placed a feather-light chaste kiss on the other girl's forehead. His face flushed pink despite the anxiety gnawing at his stomach even now, as if he had walked in on something he shouldn't have. He didn't know either of them too well, so he still felt out of place around them. If the woman noticed, she didn't give much sign of it and simply gestured to the couch across from her on the other side of the coffee table.