( X. double promise )
denji felt poking on his cheek which dragged him out of his peaceful sleep, and slowly he recognized the person trying to wake him up by voice; himeno.
he yawned aloud and stretched his arms up towards the ceiling, taking notice that the spot that erity once occupied was empty. it felt cold too.
"nf... can we leave the eighth floor now?" he groggily asked the older woman, still half asleep.
"hate to disappoint, but it looks like we're still stuck." himeno began to say, "while you were sleeping, we learned we can use water and electricity. as far as food goes, there was a little bit in the luggage the hotel guests left behind when they ran.. to be honest with you, everybody's getting pretty worn down."
she took a pause before continuing the rest, clearing her throat before talking once more. "aki's been hunting for the devil nonstop. i've been trying to get him to take a break, but he won't listen. arai was helping aki at first... but now he's freaking out. he shut himself up in a room and won't come out. kobeni lost it and tried to drink from a toilet, so i knocked her out. and then there's the last two."
"power and erity? what about them?"
himeno led denji to the room where power and erity were, letting him enter first to see the two very different things that went on.
power, who laid on the bed with a wide smile on her face and mumbling to herself since she figured that erity wasn't listening.
and then erity.. the girl sat down on the opposite bed of power and just stared at the wall with a blank look on her face. denji could see that her lips were moving as if she were saying something, but he could hear nothing coming out, it was a strange sight to see from the girl.
the blood fiend noticed that the two had entered the room and were looking back and forth between the two girls. the smile never disappeared from her face.
"i'm bored and eri isn't saying anything, so i was thinking up a nobel prize winning invention! if i win a nobel prize, humans will grovel before me! and then i'll use my nobel prize as a stepping stone to become prime minister! i want to watch humans suffer... so my first act as prime minister will be to implement a 100% sales tax!" power continued to go on with her speech about being prime minster, waving her left arm in the air.
denji looked at himeno, "she seems the same as always to me." he gestured to power but turned his head to erity, "eri though... she's a different story."
"oh?" himeno's mouth gaped open slightly and watched denji walk over to the blue haired girl, taking a seat next to her.
"eri...?" he softly asked the girl and watched as she just sat still, not moving an inch. "erity? you there?" he hit his shoulder against hers this time to get her attention.
denji looked at the wall she seemed interested in during the moment. he didn't see anything different about it, it was a simple plain wall that lacked any type of decoration.
out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn towards him and he reciprocated the action, turning to face the girl.
he noticed that her eyes looked dull, duller than usual and almost lifeless. "are you okay?"
erity effortlessly shrugged at the male, "zan is speaking... but i just want to leave this floor..." she looked down at her lap, her head hanging as if she couldn't hold it up anymore. "can you get me out of here?"
denji looked away from the girl and cleared his throat and thought about what to say, since it was clear it wouldn't be easy to escape. "i'll do my best." he took a quick look at the wall, "is there any way i could see him?"
"he says not yet, it's not time for you to see him." eri fell back onto the bed as she did earlier next to denji and sighed softly. "you still want to see him that badly?"
denji nodded even though she couldn't see it, but she assumed that he did due to the bed shaking slightly. the blond looked down at the girl who laid on the bed and noticed how the color in her eyes was back and she seemed normal enough.
"i promised you when we were still out there that you could see him.. just give him the proper time, i guess. he chooses after all." she shortened the statement that the devil told her and tilted her head at him, a small smile on her lips. "as long as you get me out of here, i double that promise. maybe even including whatever you want.. since you're my savior after all!"
himeno gathered the trio and they all walked over to the room that held kobeni and arai next, though they took their place in the room next to it, not wanting to disturb the sleeping pair.
they all settled around the room, erity once again taking a seat on the bed.
"darn, down to my last cigarette!" himeno lit the cigarette and placed it between her lips, inhaling it before letting it back out. the smoke leaving her mouth slowly dissipating into the air.
power crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, "you three are too calm. it's no fun!" she whined with a sour look on her face.
"since aki's on the job right now, i can take it easy and relax. plus, it's the power of nicotine." she waved her cigarette container around, "it's so great having an addiction. in this life, you need something to take the edge off."
denji's eyes squinted at the pack of cigarettes in her hand, "hey, that's the same brand that jerk smokes."
the dark haired woman looked at him with a grin, "that's because i'm the one who taught aki to appreciate the taste of cigarettes."
and aki happened to open the door to the room and his eyes instantly landed on himeno, "himeno... do you have any cigarettes left?"
"sorry! this is my last one!" she gestured towards the cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
he walked over and stopped directly in front of her, "then let me have that one." he didn't wait for her to respond and grabbed the cigarette out of her mouth, turning it around and placing it inside his.
erity watched the exchange of the cigarette from the bed and with a tilted head, eyeing the cigarette that now sat in aki's mouth.
"how does a cigarette taste?" she questioned her caretaker with a curious expression. "could i try?"
aki looked at the girl and shook his head no, killing her curiosity and the conversation between them. also ignoring the loud mouth on denji calling out the indirect kiss, "i've got bad news. remember that devil we killed?"
power was quick to cut in, "you mean the one i killed!"
"yeah, well, it's gotten bigger... a lot bigger..." he led them outside the room and slightly down the hall, quickly running into the situation at hand.
the devil had, indeed, gotten bigger over the time that they were trapped there. it's big mass breaking out of a room and starting to pile into the hallway.
"that's an ugly devil.." erity pointed out, noticing the many eyes that were watching them. disgust becoming apparent on her face. "it's supposed to be dead."
power was confused when staring at the devil in front of her, "i thought i killed it..."
"trapping us in this hotel... a form like nothing i've seen before... what kind of devil is this thing?"
"human. humans. i'll offer you a contract. foolish humans." many of the heads spoke at the same time but the word contract seemed to surprise everyone.
"it spoke!"
"a contract...?" aki repeated, not taking his eyes off the devil.
"let me eat the humans named denji and erity... dead or alive... feed them to me...and i'll return all of you other devil hunters to the outside unharmed." everyone looked at the two that the devil wanted, noticing how erity seemed to inch closer to denji every second that went by.
the sound of a door creaking open quickly caught the attention of denji and erity, since they were paranoid at the moment. kobeni walked into the frame of the door with a knife in hand, staring at the two the devil spoke about. "let it eat you..."
the brunette suddenly ran at the duo with her knife pointed towards them, her eyes wide and the urge to stab them was running through her mine.
erity wrapped her arms around denji's arm and tried to get closer to his side, her heart beating faster and faster the closer that kobeni got.
once the girl was almost close enough to the two to stab them aki was quick enough to kick the knife out of her grasp, himeno taking the chance to elbow the girl in the stomach which knocked her to the ground.
the devil began to laugh at the scene playing in front of itself, finding it amusing.
erity shakily held onto denji's arm with a tight grip and stared at the devil that looked back at her. fear raising through her body every second that passed. she looked up at denji the same second he looked down at her, the boy giving her a reassuring smile even though nothing seemed to be okay.
even more droplets of blood splashed onto her face after himeno's attempt to harm it with her ghost, she raised an arm to try and wipe off the fresh droplets, but felt herself be pulled back by denji and away from the now growing devil.
"it is... useless... this is not my real body. my heart is not here. this is inside my stomach... my weak point is not on the 8th floor. unless you make a contract with me, you will not leave alive."
ꗃ ──────────── ❥
dec. 13th, 2022
dec. 14th, 2022 (published)
denji & erity my loves🫶🏼
(plus aki & power. ofc.)