The Princess and The Devil - Karma Akabane x OC

E L E V E N : DESPAIR

I can hear him stop a taxi as he continues his conversation with me. After a while, we stop talking but he refuses to hang up. So I hug my legs tighter as I listen to every breath he takes and every word he say to the taxi driver. I cry a little that he is willing to do this for me after saying all the horrible things I said to him earlier at school.  

"Alright I'm here." He said, appearing in front of me. He hangs up and shoves the phone in his sweatpants. In his other hand, he is holding a cup. The cup looks familiar when I realise it's from a café I used to visit with Gakushuu in his city block. He is wearing a short sleeved grey dress shirt and black pants. Beads of sweats roll of his forehead. I see that the first two buttons are unbuttoned. "Hey." He flashes me a smile. He hands me the cup and the aroma of hot strawberry tea from the café I love immediately warms me up. With the cup in hand, I quickly (and carefully) stand up and hug him.

"This might be part of your twisted plan to force me back, but destroying homes and beating my friends' families up with a bunch of high schoolers is a little bit too much." I hiccup. He tenses a little before wrapping his arm around my shoulder. All the while we were dating, we hugged once or twice so it's pretty awkward for him.

"What are you talking about? Those high schoolers have nothing to do with me. They beat our school's students, Hime. They hate elites like us." Hearing this from him makes my jaw drop. I immediately pull away and take a few steps away. His arms drop to his side and I observe his eyes. He frowns and sighs. He sits down and told me to take drink the tea he bought for me before he continues. Hesitating, I take a sip or two of the strawberry tea. The heavenly aroma and warmth immediately engulfs me as he continues to explain. "Families of students from A class, B class, C class, D class are beaten up every single day because of their hatred of this nations elites. The school didn't inform class E, did they?" He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Every day, a member of each class will come to class completely distracted and will always be sent away to meet the principle and sent back to their respective classes." I take another sip as I watch how his face changes due to exhaustion. "Listen, I had a message from Ren before you called. He was badly beaten up by those high schoolers too. Can we visit him now?" He asks and I nod.

He stands up and brush off invincible dust on his pants and we start walking away from the park. I feel someone's eyes plastered on my back but I do not dare find the source. I feel bad for suspecting him. "Who are those high schoolers, Gakushuu?" I bite my lower lip; immediately fearing them. He must've noticed so he offers his hand. I stare at it for a while before taking it.

"They are delinquents from a juvenile. The nation stops giving them money for they see no reason to keep giving them financial aids." Gakushuu said. "So they transfer all the money to our school. But don't worry, Hime. I'll never let them hurt you." He smiles, pulling me closer. I can feel the heat radiating from his skin. He lightly pokes my cheek and stops. "Why are you so cold?" I shrug and pull away. If he didn't speak at that moment, I'd have mistaken him for someone else. And he isn't that someone else, so somehow it feels wrong.

"The high schoolers beat my brother up, Gakushuu. Karma thought it was your doings and threw me out my own house for being irresponsible." I mumble.

"That bastard, Akabane. I should've just killed him the other day." He grunts.

Kill

I force myself to shut my eyes tightly. If only you know what's the meaning of that word, Gakushuu.

Nevertheless, I keep my mouth shut and let him direct me to Ren's hospital. When we get there, the rest of the 5 Virtuosos are already around and we all sit in a circle. My heart drop almost immediately and inwardly curse my own naivety. How could I be so blind?!

"I thought you got your ass kicked." I growl when I see Ren.

"Sakuragi-chan, calm down. When you're angry, you're not as beautiful as the sakura tree anymore and you're not as graceful as a princess. You're going against your name." Ren smiles at me.

"Well maybe my name is higanbana." Ren chuckles, flipping his hair as he makes his way to me. And that's when I see it. He's limping and his left leg is bandaged.

"A flower that signifies death? I like the name Hime instead, Sakuragi-chan." Ren smiles, twirling my hair. Gakushuu slaps his hand away and sits down in the middle and kick left leg. He scream in excruciating pain as Teppei Araki calls for a nurse. Turns out, Ren fell down the stairs trying to save a girl from class 3-C. It was honourable for him but I wish he broke his leg to the point where he had to use a prosthetic instead. 

After he was tended to, he finally came back with a twisted face. 

"You deserve that." I snicker.

He seated himself right next to Gakushuu, opposite of me and we began discussing a few things and compromise while having dinner together on one table as we had some time before I was transferred to 3-E. By the end of the meeting, I knew I was making a mistake but I should've seen this coming. But I never would've thought there would be a day where he would stoop this low. He's using my weakness against me and he knows that I am unable to refuse his offer. 

"Hime, it's not like I don't trust you, but.. Can you sign this?" Gakushuu asks, handing me a contract.

"What is this?" I ask, glaring at him.

"It is what it is, Hime. No hidden meaning, no nothing. It's all included there in black and white. It's everything that we agreed on."Gakushuu smiles.

I know by signing this, I no longer will dance in the tune the devil composes but rather dance with the devil himself.

As long as he keeps his word, I have no problem dancing with any devil.

***