"SLEEPY ASH!!"
Masaaki flinched from his place next to Kuro.
The servamp of pride was clearly very displeased, waving his scepter at Kuro and shouting so much he was spitting.
"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS?!"
"Ah..." Kuro muttered, rubbing the back of his neck barely fazed. "How troublesome..."
"HOW DARE YOU NOT TAKE ME SERIOUSLY SLEEPY ASH!!"
"It's not that I don't take you seriously you're just a bit of a pain-"
"HOW DARE YOU!! I AM THE GREAT SERVAMP OF PRIDE- I AM ALL THAT IS GREAT IN THE WORLD!!"
"Ah uh... here have some senbei," Izanami pacified shoving the basket at Old Child.
"Don't talk to me as if I were a child you fool!" Old Child snapped though he calmed as he ate the senbei. "This is an exquisite snack though!"
Masaaki sighed in relief. They'd gone to Izanami's house after escaping the vampire, and he and Izanami had made some calming tea and snacks for everyone.
Well everyone except Sakuya.
Masaaki still had so many questions for the new guy at school but Sakuya had left before he could ask, telling Tsubaki to stay and fill him in later. Masaaki wondered if Sakuya had left because of him or Kuro, who he'd glared and snapped at before leaving.
He... felt bad for Sakuya. At school Sakuya was always alone without friends, and he just... never seemed happy. The voice in his head seemed to agree giving him a headache by calling out to the vampire.
Sakuya!! SAKUYA CAN YOU HEAR ME?! WAIT FOR ME!! WAIT FOR ME I CAN HELP YOU JUST WAIT!!
SAKUYA!!
He'd taken some pills to shut it up.
"So..." Old Child asked in a huff. "Who did you tell before me?"
"All the servamps in Japan right now I think," Tsubaki answered. "That makes me, Envy Nii-san, Greed Nii-san and Lust Nii-san."
"Eh... tell is a strong word..." Kuro muttered. "Lawless and Doubt Doubt kinda just stumbled onto us..."
"I... see. So where's Lily?"
"He's at the mansion," Mitsuo explained. "Mino-kun has a tutoring session so he stayed."
"And Lawless?"
"He's-"
"Not in the mood to deal with you."
Kuro eyes were shadowed by his bangs as he spoke.
Old Child raised an eyebrow at Kuro. "Why not?" he questioned.
"Well... maybe you can shed some light on this Old Child," Mitsuo explained. "Since we're really quickly running out of tests."
"See a guy named Engel formed a contract with Greed. No one knows how he did it- there was no item or blood. The only requirement he kinda filled was a name- Hyde."
"...Hyde?"
"His contract also seems to be connected to the tag Licht Todoroki gave him. And so... Greed... well..."
"He started talking about reincarnation and that Licht Todoroki had come back. He's been moping ever since Engel cleared it up."
Old Child sighed. He muttered, "Of course... Lawless's head is always full of fairy tales like that. I just hope this doesn't kick him back even further. No matter how many times I warn him he never listens..."
Kuro gripped his teacup tighter.
"Old Child..."
"Am I wrong? We are immortals and they were mortal. It's... never a good idea to get attached to your eve."
Masaaki wasn't sure what direction that would've continued in if Kuro hadn't suddenly snapped, "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Stop holding your teacup like that!"
"...huh? Like what?"
"That's just how Masaaki holds his teacup Sloth," Izanami replied. "Is... something wrong?"
Kuro snarled and turned away.
"Sleepy Ash," Old Child asked warning in his voice. "Does this happen a lot?"
Kuro said nothing.
"A- ah- it's okay-"
"You've made no progress in 66 years. Even Lawless can hold himself back from snapping at people randomly and does things with his life. You just mope around like a lost cat all the time- and now this?"
"..."
"Pride Nii-san didn't you tell Lust Nii-san off for-"
"This is different Tsubaki it's effecting someone else," Old Child retorted. He asked Kuro, "How much longer do you plan to grieve for?"
"..."
"Are you not gonna be satisified until hundreds of years passed like with Lawless and Ophelia? You have a new eve now as does Lawless. You can't stay stuck in the past especially if it makes you treat your current eve this crudely. It's really unfair to-"
SLAM!
Kuro had stood up, glaring at Old Child. He snarled, "This is why I didn't wanna deal with you."
"U- uh-"
"You think I don't know it's not fair...?! I know and I'm fucking trying... how about you deal with being reminded of the eve who's dead because of you every damn day...?!"
Old Child jolted.
"Oh but I forgot... you don't care about him! Not as much as I cared for..."
Kuro trailed off gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.
"...Sloth?"
Kuro snarled and with a jolt Masaaki noticed tears in the servamp's eyes. He snapped at Old Child, "He was everything to me Pride. You know tht- even if you've never understood, even if you've always kept your distance from humans, even if you see them as lesser than you, you know how I feel. Everyone except Lawless is being a pain about this but... but that..."
"That was horribly insensitive."
Old Child was silent, stunned.
For a second Masaaki thought Kuro might attack the second servamp but the servamp just stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him.
"Uh... Kuro?! Don't... don't forget the distance limit?!"
"I'm not! An idiot!"
Masaaki sighed. He could feel his heart breaking for the servamp, grief crashing over him like a wave. He wanted to run after Kuro and hug him and tell him he was sorry- could Kuro please not stop living because of him-
...hold on.
What?
Masaaki flinched and stood up.
"...Masaaki-san?"
"I'm just... gonna grab some medication for my head..."
"Hey wait," Izanami asked grabbing Masaaki's wrist. "You're not hurt by what Sloth said right?"
Masaaki forced a smile and left, not processing her question at all.
By the time he reached the bedroom he could barely see for pain. He shut the door and slid to the floor. That voice... it was saying things again...
Kuro...
Kuro I'm so sorry...
Please believe me I'd have never left you if that was my choice to make...
I told you to be happy without me Kuro... was that too selfish?
I didn't know you cared that much...
I thought you'd move on with your life after a few years or something not... you have so much of it left you can't just get stuck grieving for me...!
Kuro please... I don't want you to suffer for hundreds of years because of me...!
Kuro I didn't die because of you you were never to blame for any of this...
Kuro I've come back for you can you hear me? Don't be sad...!
Kuro please... I want you to be happy...
I'm sorry for leaving you...
I'm sorry Kuro...
I'm sorry...!
"Hey. Here."
Masaaki looked up.
Kuro was kneeling over him holding a box of painkillers.
Masaaki wanted to ask so many questions but the first thing that came out was "I'm sorry".
"You're such a pain..." Kuro muttered with a sigh. "You have a headache don't you...? It's not your usual stuff but I'm pretty sure this is safe."
Wait hold on-
Trembling Masaaki took the painkillers. It didn't make the voice disappear like the stuff he carried... but it dulled the pain. Made him able to hear the voice without feeling the usual consequences of listening.
The cracks didn't go away!! Why- Kuro did you do something?! Can you hear me?! Kuro! Kuro say something!!
"Thanks."
Kuro said nothing.
"How did you get in?" Masaaki asked. "The door's... well... blocked."
"The window isn't. There's more than one way to get in," Kuro muttered nodding at the open window.
"I see."
A long silence.
Masaaki leaned in to look closer at Kuro. The servamp's face was still stained with tears, even if he was trying to hide them with his hood... trying to hide his pain...
Something about the sight made Masaaki want to cry too.
He hugged Kuro and even though he flinched, Kuro let him instead of pulling away as he usually did if Masaaki so much as touched his arm sympathetically.
"...you're in a lot of pain aren't you?"
Kuro shrugged him off.
As he let him go, Masaaki noticed Kuro didn't answer the question.
I'm sorry... Kuro-
"I'll leave you to yourself now."
"No wait!" Masaaki added as Kuro gave him a look, "I was gonna leave soon. All I came here for was my headache stuff I'm not staying."
"...you sure? I can find another room-"
"Yeah I'm sure," Masaaki replied. He stood up and added, "I'll fill you in on what we decide later okay?"
"Such a pain..."
As he left the room, Masaaki looked over his shoulder at the closed door. The single word came in 2 voices- his own and the one in his head.
Kuro...