Epilogue : Just as one storm passes, another is in its wake

Koji could not believe he had just been bullied by a woman. And not just any woman, a weak, annoying, ditzy, loud brained human woman. Yes, it was Myra. The bane of his existence, the thorn in his side, the—well, at least she was a decent kisser—Ugh! He mentally slapped himself to rid his thoughts of that vile memory. It doesn’t matter anyway because she is married now. And it’s a good thing too. Got her out of my hair and torturing some other poor sap for the rest of his (sane) existence.

Unfortunately for Koji however, that is not how life ended up. Not long after her marriage, Myra happened to inadvertently (meaning: through a rather embarrassing situation that both she and Koji would prefer to never mention) discover a juicy bit of information about the stoic demon. Myra, who experienced an uncommon moment of intuition, saw the opportunity for what it was, and almost immediately began to use the information as blackmail material. And that (in a very broad sense) is how he ended up in this extremely inconvenient situation; sent to fetch Myra’s visiting cousin, who had gone on a walk a few hours earlier, and bring her back to Kagehoshi and Myra’s house so they could “all enjoy dinner together.”

It was not long before Koji saw a girl who matched the description Myra had given him. She was laying down facing the sky in the middle of a field of small wildflowers and looking quite peaceful.

While he steadily approached her lounging form, he developed a plan on how he would approach the task at hand so that the end result would cost him the least amount of annoyance.

For Koji, annoyance equals talking, in particular, conversation. It isn’t just because he has exceptionally sensitive ears (even for a demon). Koji puts high value in simplicity and honesty. Conversation is by definition excessive and in reality almost always empty of true opinions. Simply put, for Koji, conversation is nothing more than a complete waste of time and breath. Of course, those who engage in meaningless conversation are generally wastes of air themselves.

Crossing his legs, he sat down about a foot away from the right side of the girl’s head and stared piercingly at her eyes. A few moments later, as if just realizing that she had company, her head and eyes lazily rolled to Koji’s location. Slowly, she blinked, and through half closed lids stared at him for what seemed like several minutes.

Finally, seeing no other alternative, Koji spoke. “It is time for you to return to your cousin’s home.”

“No thanks. I’m fine here.” She said, turning back toward the pink tinted clouds.

Koji was taken aback in surprise. Did she just defy him? Didn’t she know who he was? They may have not yet officially met, but Myra said that she had taken the girl on a tour of the main house earlier that day. There was no way she could have missed the many large paintings of him in the hallways. She had to know who he was. And yet she had the audacity to refuse his request. Perhaps she misunderstood him. Perhaps she was slow in the head. Being related to Myra made that a definite possibility.

So, in a very slow and poignant manner he said, “You must return now. Your presence has been requested.”

“Requested? By who?” she asked with a sneer.

Outside, Koji’s demeanor was still as cold as ever. But inside his head, chibi (little) Koji was running around in circles, with his arms flailing about, screaming “Ack! What do I do? What do I do? If I say it was Myra then she’ll know that Myra has something on me! But if I say it was me who is requesting her, then she might think that I am somehow interested in her!” Shudder at the thought.

Suddenly chibi Koji tripped and fell flat on his face. “It was I.” Koji blurted out. Where did that come from? Chibi Koji got up and dusted himself off “Sorry” he squeaked.

“Oh” she said with a bored look on her face, and shifted into a more comfortable position.

Koji’s eyes narrowed. “Would it have made any difference if it was someone else who requested you?”

She shrugged, “No, not really.”

Now, at this point, most people would probably be relieved and consider that the speaker of such a comment was not singling them out, but was rude to everyone. Koji however, being a proud and high ranking demon, was quite offended that he had just been grouped with the rest of the “general” population.

“I realize that you have never visited this land before, and because of that, are unaccustomed with our system of ranking. But you should learn now that there are some individuals who demand higher respect.”

“What? Like you?” She laughed. “Listen, the crybaby and the man-whore may think that you’re descended from heaven, but that doesn’t mean that I have to as well.”

If he wasn’t so offended by her statement, Koji might have at least smirked at the witty comment. As it was, chibi Koji was already rolling around on the ground, hyperventilating from laughter. Apparently she had already met Raku and Sora.

Seeing that this cringe conversation was going absolutely nowhere. No surprise there. Koji decided to give up on talking and move strait to action. He bopped her on the head, flung her limp body over his shoulder, and carried her back to the house.

After all, Myra didn’t say that the girl had to be conscious when he brought her back.