Indignation (Detention Book 2) [Akashi X OC] [KnB]

Re:CASE #004

And then suddenly I feel a grip around my calf. If it were a hand, it is a very rough and cold, scaly hand. I stop in my tracks and hold my breath.

What was that?

Another cold hand grabs my other calf. Then another around my waist, my arms, my shoulders, my neck and finally, my face.

I am breathing heavily, panic rushing over as I imagine what these things are around me.

I scream but as soon as I open my mouth, a hand covers it. Then, when I try to breathe, nothing comes in. I desperately attempt to suck in air but there is still nothing. My anxiety doubles.

My lungs feel like they are being squeezed and crushed at the same time.

I know this is a dream. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!!!!

The hands begin clawing and I can feel my skin being ripped apart. It's a dream but it sure hurts like it's real.

It's probably just my mindset.

Come on, Heiwa, wake up!

'I am with you.'

A voice resonates. The hands disappear as quickly as they had appeared earlier. I can breathe again.

'Who are you?' I ask, my voice small and shaky.

'I believe we have met,' the voice says, a hint of amusement in his tone. 'It's sad that you have forgotten about me rather early.'

'You're the demon...' I say in realization. 'Why are you here?'

The demon laughs, 'To haunt you, is that not obvious enough?'

'Why? Because I fought you? And you do not like aggressive people like me?'

'No, of course not,' it replies assuringly. 'I am purely here because...'

I frown and wait... 'Because what?' I ask impatiently.

But there is no answer.

'Hey!' I call out.

'You cannot get rid of me,' as soon as the demon says that, I am pushed to the ground by a massive unknown force.

And when I open my eyes, a hideous face greets me. It has a black, cracked and rotten face as if burned, a glistening blood-red eyes and has the creepiest wide smile I have ever seen.

I scream and it feels like somebody had struck me on the chest with a hammer.

-

Heiwa woke up with a start and a loud gasp. But she was alone in the living room. The light and the TV were still on. She had been lying on the sofa with no Akashi by her side. She looked around and still saw nobody.

Panic kicked in and she stood up to find her husband, afraid of being alone with the dream she just had. She looked at the staircase and wondered if Akashi had gone up without her but decided against it since that had never happened. Ever.

'Ow!' There was a sharp pain on her hands and she looked at it.

They looked like 1st degree burns. But it felt like the 3rd degree instead.

She shook her hands in a desperate attempt to cool it off but it just became even more painful.

Akashi appeared from the kitchen and saw Heiwa standing up. He walked towards her, 'Did I wake you up? Sorry, I went to the k–' he saw her hands.

Heiwa looked at him worriedly.

'What the hell happened to your hands?' He grabbed them and examined the marks.

'I don't know but it hurts,' she replied and sounded like she was about to cry.

Akashi frowned, thinking. 'Demon essence...' he concluded. 'You touched the demon earlier, right?'

She nodded.

'Absit omen,' he muttered, her hands still in his. 'Bono malum superate.'

The pain subsided and Heiwa's mouth widened in surprise. 'Wow, thank you. I didn't know you could do that,' she said.

'It's the basics. I thought it should work even for demonic wounds,' he said with a smile.

Heiwa sighed in relief then looked at him with puppy eyes. 'Now can we please go to sleep? I'm so exhausted.'

Akashi kissed her forehead lovingly. 'Of course,' he said and they walked upstairs and went to sleep.

-

It was 3 in the morning and Mikage had just finished settling the last case file of the day. He had brought them back home to read. When done, he stretched his arms and leaned against his seat, sighing exhaustedly. He rubbed his eyes with one hand while the other hand reached for a case file he pushed aside earlier.

It was a case file of Minatogawa Sasara, a male fugitive that could see and talk to the dead. He had committed 29 crimes, as written in the document, including attacking Supernatural Division officers, sending souls to curse humans, attempting to summon dangerous supernatural creatures (such as Azure), poisoning humans using illegal concoctions (humans' hair, demon essence, etc) and...

Mikage frowned. 'Astral projection...?'

Astral Projection is an intentional out-of-body experience, where one can wander around leaving their physical body behind. He hasn't heard of the term in a long while, mainly because not everyone can do it and it is considered forbidden in the division.

And then for some reason, he remembered Towa, through the small gap of the office door, clothes and hair fluttering in an air-conditioned room, standing calmly by the window. Could he have been doing Astral Projection?

Another random, suspicious thought came across his mind.

He was never able to read Towa's mind. It was either blocked or limited. Towa challenged him to read his mind back then but Mikage never accepted it because it'd be disrespectful.

After a long contemplation over himself, he closed the case file and went to sleep.