Reaper's Crown

Ch. 103

Ronpi closed his eyes, following the sound of a strike. He breathed in and out, a few times, before daring to lift one eyelid, which met Atomu's hand striking the nearby pillar. "Haa..." he gulped. "Ha. Haaa..."

He slowly moved his fist back into place, shrunken eyes still staring Ronpi down. He let go of his hardened knuckle, letting it freely sway by his side, and the other hand left the demon's shoulder. In turn, Ronpi slid against the wall and sat on the ground, breathing as heavily as Atomu did.

Quickly enough, Chyuuichi almost pushed him out of the way and offered Ronpi a hand. The demon was surprised, glancing at Katha, who even if he couldn't see her face, shared the same emotion. With another gulp, he put his knees up to his chin, slowly shaking his head.

"Ah," Katha muttered. "Where can we hide that he won't know?"

"Hide?" Chyuuichi asked, blinking a few times, turning to her. "Who is chasing ya?"

"Some psycho!" she pointed down the hallway. "He said he wants our seed!"

"Yer... seed?" Chyuuichi tilted his head.

"Ww..." Ronpi's breath was shaky, as he made eye contact with Atomu, who simply stood still, with an unreadable expression on his face.

He didn't understand. What was the point of having all questions answered when the closest to you does something you never expected in the first place? He furrowed his eyebrows lightly at the thought, but Ronpi took it as some warning sign. Immediately, the demon got on all fours and crawled towards the Paladian.

Atomu looked down, sighing.

"W-We'll tell you everything, p-promise!" he closed his eyes as hard as he could, wrapping his own hands around Atomu's leg. "Just don't let him catch us." his voice turned into half-a-whimper, and at this point, the Paladian didn't know how and why he should do certain things.

He glimpsed at Chyuuichi, who helped Katha stand up, and once again wondered, ignoring all of Ronpi's earlier pleas.

Maybe it didn't hurt Atomu as bad as it did Chyuuichi back then, but why would he just up and forgive them so soon? It's not that he didn't know. He hesitated at first, just like he's hesitating now.

"What everything?" Atomu asked. "A reason to beg me for mercy?"

"EVERYTHING!" Ronpi raised his voice, banging the ground with his fist. "Just help us out, damn it!"

Atomu ground his teeth, sliding one row against another.

One last glance at Chyuuichi suggested the Mirillian wanted the Paladian to make the right choice, here and there.

Even if it pained him to try.

"Fine," Atomu muttered. "All of it." he snickered, clenching his fist.

"Thank you!" Ronpi bowed. "Thank you, thank you!" his head hit the ground, and Atomu pulled his leg away, staring down the hallway.

"Chyuuichi." Atomu turned. "You wandered the hallways last night. Where do we hide?"

"The bathroom!" he proposed.

"Too obvious!" Katha shook her head.

"The... kitchen?" Chyuuichi scratched his palm.

"I'm gonna get hungry," she said.

"You're the ones at our mercy here!" Atomu yelled out.

"Oi!" Chyuuichi raised his voice in turn. "Quick, let's just run and hope we stumble into something on our-"

"Yoohoo!" A high-pitched voice sounded from the other end of the hallway.

Ronpi turned pale. Atomu's heart skipped a beat, and Chyuuichi simply turned in confusion.