(Y/N)'s eyes transfixed on the bloodied limb, she could only watch in horror as Tamayo washed away all remnants of her wound and covered her arm. "Is that evidence enough?"
She didn't listen, however. She only dealt with one of those fucking demons before, but she wouldn't run the risk of it happening to her cousin. "Yushiro. We are leaving, we are leaving right now..."
"What?!" He gripped the mat he sat on, refusing to move. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"(Y/N). I understand you must be alarmed, but I won't cause you or Yushiro any harm." She bowed deeply, but no one wanted it. "But for the sake of Yushiro, you cannot take him away from here."
"What, are you going to track us down or something? I don't want to hear it from a monster like you!" The eyes of that man, the animalistic growls of a crazed person, she isn't going to risk it. Yushiro was obviously shocked at her statement. He was expecting her to react much more positively to all this, after everyone labored for so long to find a cure for him. But, if she's already encountered one... Is that why she didn't come back the first night? It makes sense, but then this plan all backfired.
"(Y/N)! Think about this logically, how am I even going to get out of here? The entire mountain is surrounded by wisteria, and I can barely stand the sun! If anything goes wrong even a little, I'll relapse!" He gripped her arm, trying desperately to calm her down before she did something rash. Irritability and reckless behaviors ran in their family, you see. "She's not like those other ones, okay?? I promise, just trust me!"
"Other ones...?" Tamayo's eyes widened, her quivering lips covered by trembling hands. This was a mistake, they went about this the wrong way. "You ran into one of the demons?"
"Yea, no fucking shit! And I'm not about to just get cozy with one of them, especially after they essentially trapped you in here, dammit!" Her anger unparalleled, Yushiro shivered. It was almost like looking at his mother. Recognizing that face, she quickly reeled herself back, but the boiling heat still circulated through her whole body. "Fine. Fine. I'm not mad, okay? I'm not mad at you."
"Ms. (L/N)... I'm terribly sorry. I can't apologize enough." Tamayo fell too the floor, her forehead low enough to touch the ground. Locks of hair swept across the floor as Tamayo lowered her head farther, flush with the cold tile. Yet even then, the chill heat of (Y/N)'s glare felt colder than dry ice. It was impossible to hide the entire truth from someone who would be living in their own home, but they had hoped to feed her the news gently and slowly so she wouldn't get as mad, but if she was already attacked, wasn't that a useless endeavor? They were just blatantly lying to her while expecting her to not know any better, was there anything more insulting?
"You better fucking be. I don't care who you are, or who you claim you are." She stood in front of Yushiro, despite the miniscule chance that she would win a fight against a demon, she just couldn't accept what had become of her only cousin. "We let Yushiro come here because we thought he was getting cured, but if you're just going to use him for your fucking experiments-"
"I promise you, I only wanted to help him. If he hadn't gotten a sample when he did, he would have died. I'm sure you realize that." She will admit her fault, but Yushiro was not just an experiment.
"Oh really? Then where's the actual cure?" (Y/N) held out her hand, waiting for her to respond. Of course there was no cure, she's sure Tamayo didn't even think of a way to cure him. She must have thought that saving him was all they needed. What a fucking joke. "What will help my cousin instead of just managing him? If he's fine like this, then you must have had the time to find a way to save him so he can live out whatever life he wants away from here."
"I haven't..."
"Yea? Well start finding it." Anger was not her favorite feeling. She hated confrontation, but she hated being tricked even more. Tamayo wasn't allowed another word, because the door had ended the conversation without any waste. Her temper red hot, she needed some outlet. No way was she just stagnating in the house of a demon. Sure, if later in the future she were to think back on this, Yushiro would look happy to be here. He had no issues, but it still was just wrong. Even despite being in her empty room populated by nothing but a few boxes and some clothes strewn around, her anger would not fade. The silence deafening, it dragged her to the window to climb out and fetch her bag for a nighttime walk.
Perching her legs over the edge of the window, (Y/N) began to slowly reach out and lower herself on the roof of the little back shed. Once her toes found a proper foothold, she began to shimmy her way down the roofing and jump off the jutted edge, landing with a graceless stumble. Nothing seemed broken, and her bag was still there untouched, wisteria bloom and everything.
With a quick tug, the bag landed on her shoulder. Once again, she was ready to face the world. It was kinda dark out now, but fuck if it matters. Demons? How bad could it even be? She had some Wisteria on her. It'll be fine. The windows illuminated her path in soft blocks of light as she entered the street and began a brisk pace down the street. Most homes had a few lights on, coating the quiet hill in sparse glows. Despite it being spring, the weather had dropped significantly at night, falling to a crisp, nippy weather that bridged on chilly when a breeze passed by.
Feeling herself cool with the weather, she slowed her pace to enjoy the atmosphere. At her old job, nightshifts usually granted a small break just long enough to take a lap around the hospital, and she had come to enjoy the refreshing midnight chill. Crossing a familiar street, someone's voice echoed into the open air, a boisterous laugh followed by some struggle emanating from a familiar dojo. He was around forty years of age, hair still a violently bright shade of yellow and red with not a single gray strand. In his hands was a flask of whiskey, which he joyously swung in the air. "Father please, you'll bother the neighbors again."
A young boy in his first year of middle school pleaded, joined with his mother whom the drunk man continued to blindly profess his love to. Beside them was Kyojuro, who was failing to wrestle the bottle of alcohol out of his father's hands. Their eyes met after a moment, and she awkwardly waved, unsure of what else to do. The rest of the family didn't really acknowledge her, nor the disappearance of their eldest son. "(Y/N), what are you doing out so late?"
"Just a nighttime walk." Her reply was halfbaked at best in terms of her real reasoning, but there was something much more interesting in front of her, and it wasn't like her words were a lie. "Is that your dad?"
Reacting like he got caught, Kyojuro slipped a guilty nod. He must've walked over to try and get her eyes away from the scene. "Yes... He doesn't drink often, but he went out to celebrate a friend's recent birthday and..."
"Kyoojuro!! Finally bring home a woman? I want a granddaughter! A cute one with those chubby baby cheeks like Senjuro!" The loud man disregarded the poor middle schooler's weak attempts to slow him down, who's hands clung to their father's broader frame as if to try and hold him back. Dragged to join the conversation, Shinjuro roughly smacked his eldest's back with a hefty thud. The boy still clinging to his father's back shot Kyojuro an apologetic stare, and he quickly deflected the look to the woman still standing at the doorframe, who looked a little too pleased to be annoyed.
"Dear, come back inside. It's freezing out there." Her voice was soft, as if her throat couldn't take being any louder, but her husband bounded over nonetheless, following her at her heels as giggles and sweet words floated on after them. The young mini sighed, mentioning something about school and dismissing himself to go to bed. With a respectful bow to the school nurse, he ventured back inside, relieved to have the whole ordeal done and over with.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Kyo's embarrassment was genuine, but the wry smile he had to hide it was still as sweet as usual. "Do you need me to walk you home? You look on edge. Hopefully not because of my father-"
"Oh no not at all!" Really, her shoulders already felt much lighter, a great relief from all that has happened just minutes prior. He didn't seem all that convinced, eye's creasing just the slightest from his own guilty verdict. "Really, I promise. I just... Haven't ate yet. I'll do it when I get back"
"Is that so? Then you should hurry. It's late at night, I'll take you home. Don't want you getting attacked."
"Is that a common occurrence here?" Her voice rose, obviously stirred by his throwaway comment. But could you blame her for her sudden interest? "I mean, if it happened so often, wouldn't the police stop it?"
"Hm? I'm... I'm not sure. That's not exactly my expertise, but I think you could ask Sanemi about that, he planned to be a police officer beforehand."
"Oh." There was silence for a moment, nothing more than the tap of her shoes against the old pavement. "Then, do you know any stories about demons?"
-+-
Lmao ya girl got covid, which means I have time to write while hopped up on meds
Also quick note: don't take AP tests when you're still fucked over with cold medicine unless you just wanna get it over with cause shit, that bitch was three hours and felt like ten minutes and I think I spoke Russian despite the fact that I can't even speak English rn