Chapter Text
—— Kiria
MAY 2005 — Yokai Academy
Kiria was here for information. A quick in and out. He had been sent for the one reason; to observe Yokai Academy from the inside. To check whether the hell-king who had now retired to keeping Yokai Academy, a school which aims to promote “peace between humans and yokai”, held the same power he did all those years ago. And whether that power was a threat to the organisation. Safe to say he hadn’t seen such evidence of that so far.
He had enrolled at the school as a regular first-year student— he could pass as such with little effort. Though it was annoying to cramp his personal style with the likes of the boring school uniform, that made it so that the uniqueness he usually liked to parade and experiment with was completely suppressed. Though, he supposed, the uniform was convenient to make him stand out the least, if only for the sake of the mission.
So far, he had gone to lessons like a regular student, read lots of books as a pastime, and sat in trees observing the students. It was incredibly boring. Sure, it was a break from work, which he was pretty slack on keeping up with anyway, but it was really fucking boring.
And there was only so much leeway in what he was allowed to do to entertain himself. Usually, he’d revel in manipulating his victims while they knew his face, so that he could taunt them just by being in the same area as them, but that was a no-go when the entire mission revolved around him staying hidden. But he found his ways. He’d pretend to deliver information from one student to another, twisting their opinions of the other student, forcing them to develop a deep hatred over time, creating fights, creating rifts between entire groups and factions— all while staying faceless and unknown. Considering Yokai Academy was meant to be a school that promotes peace, they weren’t doing so great of a job at stopping complete discord from breaking out, especially not when Kiria was around.
As far as the action went, it ranged from completely boring to momentarily engaging. The best fights were ones he initiated with those he had been observing for a while, those who he felt completely matched each other in power, those who were hard to manipulate. It made it even more interesting when it took a while to crack them, when he had built up the rage for so long that the time they both finally snapped, the emotional break and the physical anger that struck from it was like it was from a movie. The best could last hours. The best would have layers of betrayal and friendships and romance and breakups. Playing with high school students was the best, because they had no regulation of emotions, they were all so petty.
Love triangles that break out in disaster. Long-lasting friendships that end in distaste. Sometimes he’d even snap a single man into complete mental anguish without even getting a second person involved. Oh, but the best ones to witness were when a couple that loved each other so much was forced to part ways under differing circumstances and morals that he would create.
But, of course, at some point you run out of people to make fight, and you get pulled from the action when you realise that this is essentially just teenage melodrama. No, he needed a lot more than that, especially if he were to survive at this school for the full school year he was designated to stay there for.
The plan was: make every single student of yokai academy completely miserable, without giving any signs that it was him that caused anything, and then leave at the end of the designated school year with no connections to it, and to never think of the school ever again. Make headmaster Mikogami come to terms with the fact that peace will never be the result of any efforts he could make.
The plan changed in just a month.
[1] —
He was sitting in a tree, as usual. Observing a fight, as usual. However, this isn’t one he had planned out at all; in fact, he didn’t even know it was happening until a small commotion had formed and he found himself right above the action. It was rare that a fight would break out that wasn’t his own doing, but not so rare that it had never happened; these were teenagers going through monster puberty; of course, they were bound to have natural conflicts. However, this one seemed different. It didn’t seem like the type of fight that could’ve come up from any relationship drama; it seemed personal, like the very existence of the tall, brown-haired man that was being very brutally attacked personally annoyed the huge, bulky troll that was doing the brutal attacking.
That’s where another layer of confusion lay. Despite the lower class of the troll species in the yokai world, the other man was being absolutely beaten down; no doubt the troll was more powerful. Why was this brown-haired man untransformed? Was he even trying? Sure, it was a rule at yokai that no monster must be transformed so as to promote equality and to coexist with the humans, but it was a well-known fact that none of the students ever abided by that rule. So, unless this brown-haired man was an extreme stickler for the rules, there was something strange about it all.
Kiria dropped to the floor, blending in with the moderately sized crowd. He could smell it pretty instantly. What he had suspected for a little while now was now made incredibly obvious by the distinct scent. This man was human. How a human got into Yokai Academy was one question, for sure. It was something he had never witnessed before. But even if he had, said human would’ve been dead by the first few weeks with the monster conflicts that break out here. He must’ve been heightened by something; surely some form of power had been transferred to him, or something to cover the smell of a more powerful monster to make him seem more docile. No, it really couldn’t be the case.
The fight, only lasting a few minutes more, seemed like it had been going on forever with the way that Kiria was analysing every movement the brown-haired man would make. The troll punched and kicked with force; his movements were uncalculated and based only on the fact that he was more powerful than the other, probably getting ahead of himself with excitement that for once he was stronger than another monster.
The human, however, didn’t back down. He would dodge and punch and kick with such calculation that it was more like watching a game of chess than a fight. It was beautiful, elegant. Even when the human would unsurprisingly get bested momentarily, since pure power would be bound to win over tactic, the bruises that would appear on the human’s face would seem strangely more attractive to him than he’d ever seen before— they were a sign that he had kept going. How this human was not dead was a miracle. Something Kiria found great excitement in. Despite being beaten to a pulp, he kept going. This human must’ve been through shit. He could practically feel him running on pure hatred and survival instinct. His movements something he must’ve built out of necessity. Fuck, he was interesting. So, so interesting.
Eventually, the troll had gotten bored; the human wasn’t backing down. But he had him beat enough to the point of deliriousness that he was satisfied with the point that he was clearly more powerful—everything in yokai was about power. Like a microcosm of both the human and the monster worlds, everything was about power. Kiria walked away with the rest of the crowd, before rushing to swiftly hide behind a nearby tree.
The human was left in a puddle of his own blood. He would lie back into it. Clearly physically exhausted. Kiria would take this moment to analyse the human’s appearance. He was wearing a standard, boring uniform, blending in like everyone else. It made sense. Everyone had to blend in here, especially a human. But he couldn’t help but think that this human deserved so much more; he deserved to stand out. The human was tall, almost inhumanly tall, and, despite being covered in bruises and, upon closer inspection of the small peak of his neck and wrists, scars, the human’s face appeared to be rather refined and handsome. Looks didn’t matter much to Kiria, although he felt that the human’s handsome face rather matched up to his elegant fighting skills. No matter the shit this human had gone through, it’s clear he still had enough character and dignity in himself to be refined in everything he did. And even as he was lying in his own blood, his eyes closed like he had tuned the world out entirely, he was outlined almost perfectly, the deep red complimenting his skin; looking like a butterfly with wings emerging from his blood.
Usually, he would’ve left by now; the aftermath of a fight means the fight is no longer happening, the show is over. But with this human, the fight was simply the backstory, the aftermath was the show.
After a few captivating minutes, the human would sigh, open his eyes, and sit up as if it was nothing. He would pull bandages from the inner pocket of his blazer and wrap them around every bleeding gash in his body, applying as much pressure on each injury as possible, only letting out a slight hiss at the pain. It was clear he had done this a million times before.
The human gets up before Kiria even has the chance to think about leaving. Before walking away, he stands in silence for a few seconds before twisting his head around to face Kiria so fast it looked like he was about to snap his neck due to force.
Kiria had never moved to hide so fast in his life. His heart was beating in his chest.
It didn’t seem like the human had seen anything, as the sounds of his walking echoed through the empty section of forest near the school. But the intensity of the human’s noticeably amber eyes as they searched with such vigour, the unreadable blank expression on his face, the fact that he had sensed Kiria from so far away— it was fucking exciting.
[2] —
Student Kaneshiro Hokuto, a second-year. Kiria had finally put a name to the face. It only took a little bit of digging, actually talking to a few people here and there. The name evoked pictures of a solitary castle upon a hill during the night time; it was a name that suited the human perfectly. And the fact that he was a second-year student… he must be incredibly intelligent for him to have survived this long, laying low for over a year now. Intelligence also suited him.
One thing he could gather from everything people were saying about him was his lack of monster features, and his solitary nature wasn't going completely unnoticed; he was the topic of speculation for a few people here and there who had encountered him. That’s not good for him; he is sure to be found out so long as one or two monsters lay their hands on him again. Kiria wasn't sure if he wanted to protect Hokuto so that he isn’t found out; to see how he continues to survive in this school for monsters, or whether he wants to let him be found out; beaten to the ground, using all of the skills he had been honing his whole life in one big performance before dying.
The people who he talked to couldn’t give him any more information than that, but that’s okay; he would be the one to figure Hokuto out.
[3] —
The altercation with the troll was, in fact, not the first fight Kaneshiro Hokuto had been in— at Yokai, at least.
Kiria would talk to more and more people about their interactions with Hokuto.
They seemed to all have been pure unluckiness; wrong place at the wrong time. Like he simply attracted suffering.
He would be beaten bloody, then left to take care of himself; sometimes they’d be repeated attacks, but there wasn’t anyone especially after his head. It was like typical petty high school fights, nowhere near as bloody as the ones Kiria would incite, but just brutal enough for a human to be way more affected by them than any monster would be.
But the pure weakness of him, mixed with his very human scent… it really wouldn’t be long before others caught on.
What a pitiful existence Hokuto has, yet he doesn’t seem to pity himself at all. He doesn’t cry or shout or scream.
[4] —
Kiria would begin observing Hokuto’s every day routine. It was the same as Kiria’s had been: classes, reading, observing, repeat.
He didn’t have any hobbies in particular, but even Kiria had stopped inciting chaos as of late, so they both had that in common.
He watched Hokuto do whatever it took to survive. He didn’t particularly put himself out there, and would avoid talking to anyone. But when they interacted with him first, he would give a bright smile. When girls would express interest, he would kindly turn them down, making up a pretty lie as to why he couldn’t be around them.
Fights would keep on coming. People would find any reason to attack him; like getting in the way of relationships due to girls having crushes on him, the fact that he would only smile in response to slight issues people had with him escalating because they assumed he was making fun of them, even to just ‘put him in his place’ for being so weak and acting like he was better than everyone else.
Hokuto’s face never changed when he was observing, it was just that. He would scan the school grounds with a blank face, sometimes lingering on groups of friends. Despite there not being a physical change on his face, Kiria always felt that his eyebrows would furrow just the slightest amount:
Tik… tik… tik…
3 seconds before they would revert back to normal.
In just that action, Kiria could tell Hokuto despised them. Who could blame him, huh? A human being constantly thrashed by scary, powerful monsters, of course you’d develop an intense hatred for such beings; humans and monsters were made to be polar opposites anyway, the two could never meet.
But what if he could make them meet?
This is the first time Kiria has ever wanted to give someone anything. To want to see someone succeed. No, not succeed. Just to see someone. He wanted to see Hokuto at his true potential; something like he was.
…
“… Miyabi?”
Kiria, you there?
Kiria fiddles with the cord of the telephone.
“Haha~ It’s been a while since I heard your voice, Miyabi~. Howzit goin’ over at the organisation?”
The usual. Lots of work. Listen, Kiria, it seems like you aren’t making much progress over there at Yokai, so may as well end the project early. The work we’re doing in the human world is a lot more important than what you’re doing there. We need all hands on deck.
“Hmmm…”
Kiria’s finger is now completely stuck inside the telephone cord.
“Nah. I’ve found something interesting here, so I’ll be staying here for a little while longer.”
… this is one of your whims, right? What is it this time? Find something powerful you want to break?
“Nah. I found something weak I want to break. Or make powerful. Or… I don’t know, he’s cute though.”
… Well, whatever. There's no arguing with you when you’re like this. Call me when you’re ready to leave. I’ll have sufficient transport sent over in less than a day.
“See ya, Miyabi~!”
Kiria is now trying to tug his finger from the cord with full force from his other hand.
[5] —
Kiria stands on the arm of a troll and the hand of a lizard man. There's a pile of five or so students bathed in blood scattered around Kiria’s feet. He hasn’t directly killed anyone this school year, but it was well worth breaking his streak for this. It may be a little trickier to cover up, but he could easily make it look like a missing person’s case, call in a favour with Miyabi.
He also never finds it particularly interesting to just straight up kill a person. The manipulation into driving themselves or each other into doing it is where the fun comes from. But these particular students were getting in the way— they were very close to exposing Hokuto for his humanity. He wouldn’t be able to have his fun with Hokuto if he was caught and driven out, or even executed, before his full potential could be reached.
Hah. He seems to be breaking every one of his personal rules for Hokuto.
…
[1] —
“Hey~”
A look of what seems to be a mix between disbelief and disgust crosses Hokuto’s face as his arm suddenly being grabbed and wrapped around by a unique-looking stranger. The much shorter, white-haired man was so close, in fact, that he could feel his chest pressing against his arm. The heterochromic eyes of the stranger bored into him as if he was so familiar with him.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Hokuto’s expression fades into one of a well-mannered smile, with a polite voice to match.
“No, not yet, but I’ve been observing you for a bit now. The name’s Yoshii Kiria, please treat me well~!”
“Would you mind getting off my arm… Yoshii.” Hokuto’s face remains polite, but his words are phrased more like a command than a suggestion, “and why exactly have you been… ‘observing’ me?”
Kiria giggles and removes his arm from Hokuto’s, “Oops, I’m getting too friendly too quickly when I haven’t even properly explained myself!”
…
Kiria fumbles around with his pockets before pulling out five Polaroid pictures and presenting them to Hokuto. He adjusted his glasses and the second he processed what the pictures contained, Kiria swiped them back and put them in his pocket.
“Dead… bodies…?” His actual shock is starting to break through his façade. As much as Kiria loved seeing Hokuto lie so beautifully, it was nice that he was starting to show his actual feelings around him.
Kiria leans into Hokuto's ear, to which Hokuto doesn’t even budge to get closer, leaving Kiria to rest all of his weight on his tiptoes trying to reach even approximately Hokuto’s height.
“Wanna know why I killed all those people?”
“…” Hokuto’s expression was unreadable at this point. It’s a miracle that a human could’ve just witnessed five rather mangled dead bodies and still be keeping his composure, but that’s Hokuto for you. Though, his expression was definitely at least a bit swayed, and he was starting to sweat.
“These people were onto the fact that you’re a human. I killed them before they got the chance to rat on you.” Kiria giggles into Hokuto’s ear, the hot air tickling it, before he drops to the floor normally and bows as if in the encore of a performance. “I know, I know, no need to thank me~”
“…” Hokuto’s eyebrow furrowed, this time longer than three seconds, at Kiria. He seemed utterly puzzled by the situation. Kiria loved seeing that dumb look on his victims’ faces as he confused them. But after 15 seconds or so, he sighs and closes his eyes, composing himself before resetting his face to neutrality, “okay… and how do I know that you won’t rat on me too?”
“Why would I want to rat on you? You’d be expelled or even killed if I did that, and I wouldn’t want you to leave so soon~”
“Should I even bother asking how you know that I’m human? … No, I assume you had just been watching me this long that you made that assumption, which must be how you knew that those five were on the border of figuring it out too. Am I right?”
Kiria smirks and then jumps to a full-on laugh, “hahaha~, bingo! You’re good at this, Hokuto.”
Hokuto nodded. An acknowledgement that he was right. “So what do you want?”
Straightforward. He had dropped all false niceties now; he was probably sure that Kiria already knew of his true nature.
“I want you… or more precisely, I want to offer you something.”
“I’m not…-”
“Oh, no. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a confession haha. I realise it was starting to come off that way. I have no interest in such a thing. I want to help you survive at Yokai— I can make you strong.”
“…why?”
“Let’s call it a whim.”
My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time, the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom
——
DECEMBER 2007 —— Hong Kong
“MOOOKAAA…!!”
Yeah. Seems like they made it right on time. Akua must’ve gotten to Moka first. Well, it’s too early to start conflict with other divisions quite yet anyway, so they have no qualms with letting Akua take her.
And there was something unusual, but not completely unexpected: Tohoufuhai. He is a relative of Fang-fang, of course, one of Tsukune’s new groupies. But to feel his aura so up close like this? Kiria was rather excited.
“… Waah, amazing.” The two emerged from the hole in the wall caused by Touhoufuhai. Kiria quickly took notice of his quick change in expression at the fact that they had been so close without Fuhai’s knowledge. “Such an extraordinarily fierce energy~, as expected of one of the three hell-kings.”
“Wh-who’s there?!”, Yukari shouts with a nervous stutter.
“But there’s no need to rush that much. We know where the airship is heading, and there’s really no threat to Moka’s well-being either.”
But Kiria was even more excited by this part;
“You… you’re…!”
Hokuto adjusts his glasses. Kiria likes how often he does this without thinking. “It’s been a while, Tsukune… you want to save Moka, right? Shall we lend you our strength?” He has a smirk on his face that couldn’t be deciphered between a taunting look or a knowing look.
Like every time, Tsukune seems to have that same faith in Hokuto he had in him the last time they encountered. He takes said look positively, or simply ignores it, and forms a dumb smile on his face. That's the type of person Tsukune is, Kiria thinks; ignorant.
Kiria places his hand on the back of Hokuto’s wheelchair. “For old times’ sake… right?” Kiria chuckled.
“Ho… Hokuto? No… no way. Who would’ve thought we’d meet in a place like this?!” Tsukune seems to be physically shaking, and possibly even tearing up. Wow, Hokuto really had a huge impact on this boy. “But I’m glad you’re okay!… I missed you, Hokuto~”
…
“You missed me?”, Hokuto tilts his head to the side. His face remains unchanged even at Tsukune’s sickeningly heartfelt statement. “It seems like you’re the only one.”
“Eh?”
Tsukune’s little groupies had formed a protective stance around Tsukune. It’s clear that they weren’t as trusting of Hokuto as Tsukune was, trying to assert their control of the situation. But it failed rather badly, Kurumu was beaten up and in rather rough condition, Yukari was clearly on edge and even a little pathetic-looking when she tried to make herself look bigger than she is, and Mizore’s nonchalant expression didn’t aid the front that she had any power in this situation.
Kurumu would speak first, “I don’t know why you’re here, but how dare you show yourself, Kaneshiro Hokuto.” That’s just like Kurumu, she’s much less trusting than Tsukune, much more stubborn and outwardly flawed than him — Kiria always preferred those types of people, he always had a strange interest in her.
“Kurumu…”, Tsukune’s eyebrows furrowed a little.
“No, Tsukune! He got close to you by manipulating you with sweet words, he didn’t mean a thing he said to you! He tried killing you for god’s sake!”
“— Ahaha,” Kiria giggled, “calm down, jeez. We’ve already told you why we’re here. The ‘Akua Shuzen’ who abducted Moka today took her on one of the Fairytale’s airships. We know where that airship is headed. That’s why we’re here, to simply talk~.”
“Yoshii Kiria…” Kiria enjoyed seeing Kurumu’s face go from annoyed to slightly scared, wavering in her words, “I wanted to see you even less than Hokuto, Kiria.”
“Ooh~, that’s so mean, Kurumu. It may not seem like it, I do quite like you, yanno?”
Before Kurumu gets a chance to respond, Tsukune chimes in from behind, “Wait, everyone, calm down!” Kiria thinks Tsukune is rather boring, always acting like a morally upright saint. At least Kurumu knows that she can be harsh and stubborn with her values; Tsukune, however, is just annoying. “Right now, the important thing is to save Moka! Now isn’t the time to be talking about the past. Our enemy is Fairytale! I know myself how terrifying they can be! That’s why it’s reassuring that Hokuto is willing to become our friend!”
“Tsukune…”, a low mumble from the groupies.
Pff-
Pfftt-
Ahahahah…
AhahAHAHAHAHA!!
Hokuto bursts into a long strain of hysterics, throwing his head forward and back like it was the funniest joke he’s ever heard.
“AHAHA-… AAahhh… … “friend”…?, “friend”, you say? As usual, you’re such a bright guy.” The monster blood injected into him allows Hokuto’s bones to freely move around inside his body.
The bones in his fingers break apart, making loud suction sounds when they click out of place. His skin detaches with it, ripping down the middle of every knuckle with a loud tear. The bones in his fingers separate, elongating the leftover skin to make a claw-like hand, before the skin re-morphs around the bones. A single cylindrical tendril of skin stretches from the base before breaking apart once again into six tentacle-like masses of flesh.
Kiria knew this was the part where the bones left inside of the rest of Hokuto’s body move into his arm to support the flesh, likely bones of all sorts are shifting inside of him right now and he makes no sound of discomfort or change in that sickeningly taunting grin.
The stretched skin hardly covers what’s under the tendrils; tangled veins weaving in and out of the raised bones creating bulbous discoloured lines.
The leftover skin creates some kind of grotesque foundation, stretching from the base of one tentacle to the next, layers of flimsy skin that don’t quite merge right, so are filled with small holes, but are just wrapping around the bones tight enough that they don’t collapse completely.
Bulges of mismatched buboids and tumours appear, assumedly the muscles and organs themselves becoming trapped within the cages of the bones and veins.
The final change is something less human; teeth-like growths appear on the inside of every tendril, like there is something living on the inside that only makes itself known when it forces evidence out during the transformation.
Tsukune can feel a tentacle wrapping around his neck, holding him stationary in the air. They weren’t tightened enough to suffocate, only tight enough to hold in place. The tentacle extends to wrap comfortably around his chest and once again around his lower back. It wasn’t just like he was being bound by something, no, it even felt human, but wrong. He could feel spongy growths he could only assume were Hokuto’s organs pressing against his body, the warmth of fingers caressing him but the cold stab of teeth, the blood pumping loudly and visibly through his veins every second, some kind of movement… something living under the flesh.
A shiver wasn’t enough to signify his discomfort, neither was his desperate clawing at the tentacle around his neck, neither was the desperate groans he was letting out.
“Wha- Tsukune!” Kurumu rushes forward, stumbling due to her injured state and her leaning on Mizore’s arm.
“Oops!” Kiria swoops in behind the two, a hand making contact with the back of their necks, causing them to freeze in place, “There’s no need for you to interfere. Could you just stay still for a little while?”
Kiria hadn’t assumed that this was how the encounter would go, but that’s what he likes about Hokuto, he’s unpredictable.
He could let the two attempt to fight back, and ultimately lose, but he finds great interest in seeing Hokuto knock Tsukune back down. He could watch it over and over again and never get bored of it.
“Listen carefully. Why do you think we know where that airship was heading?” Hokuto has a patronising tone, clearly very amused at Tsukune’s continued naivety. “Did you think it was a coincidence that we appeared at the same time as those Fairytale guys? Even a kid would get it if they gave it some thought.”
Tsukune’s face was the picture of despair. “Don’t tell me…”
The corner of Hokuto’s mouth strains by just how much he’s grinning. A little chuckle can’t help but come out as he speaks, “Yeah… we’re also part of Fairytale… Tsukune.”
Sweat drips from Tsukune’s face onto the tendrils. They begin to move around him like worms. He isn’t sure if it’s Hokuto’s own doing or if it’s something else…
“Although, Fairytale isn’t an organisation that works under one volition. Even though we all strive towards the gruelling task of overthrowing human society, the headquarters Akua falls under and ours are completely different. You could even say we’re opposing them. But there is one common thing. We both need Moka to achieve our target.”
Yukari gasps, her voice shaking a little, "Don't tell me… you want us to secretly… take Moka from the headquarters...?”
He adjusts his glasses and brings himself back to some form of stability, “as expected of Yukari… things go much quicker with you here. In other words, we aren’t ‘friends’ or crap like that. We’re just under a temporary ‘alliance pact’ with the common goal of taking Moka back.” He lowers Tsukune to his level, looking him directly in his eyes, “of course, you have no choice. If you refuse, I’ll just kill you.”
“… in that battle last year… when we risked everything, I thought I understood you…”
“Tsukune…”, Hokuto begins to lower Tsukune to the floor, before dropping him before he could reach the floor, a loud bang as he crashes down. “That naivety of yours is why you can’t even protect a single woman.”
Kiria smiles innocently and chucks the resources at the group, “Here’s the data you need for our future plans, and a disposable cellphone, don’t call too much~”. The two turn around and start to walk off, not even casting an eye at the group, “The airship’s destination is the ‘fairytale main HQ’, it’s a highly secured stronghold so you’ll need time to make preparations.”
“…! Wa… wait, hoku-… to…” Tsukune coughs out.
Kiria continues to talk without looking back, “Either way, you’ll be killed instantly by Akua as you are now. Think about what you are capable of during this time before we move out…”
The two move further and further away, hearing distant muffled sobbing noises. Kiria scoffs, “That guy really hasn’t changed a bit, huh?”
Hokuto’s face is back to being stoic within an instant of turning away from the group, “Right. Not one bit.”
“But you surprised me there, lashing out like that at Tsukune. Kiria places a hand on Hokuto’s shoulder, seems like there’s a place embedded into it especially for his hand at this point, “It was extraordinary to watch~”
“Mm… his view of me just makes me feel sick. I won’t live up to whatever version of me he has in his head.”
“Well, you succeeded in scaring him away, then. I could see the utter disgust in his face. He looked as if he was about to throw up when you had your tentacles around him, despite how hard he seemed to be trying not to.” Kiria hums and throws his head back, if only to add more variation to his walking, “even if he says he understands you, he can’t accept you as you are now.”
“Yes… well, strength seems to be the only thing I have going for me at this point, and even that is dwindling. He’s certainly right to be disgusted by what I’ve turned out to be.”
…