Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 7: The Girl with Stained Hands

"Shall I see you out?" Lyu asked the three as they were preparing to leave the shop.

"Lyu!" Megumi called out hurriedly behind the cash register, there was a peculiar expression on her face that intrigued Rade. "Would you help me to close the shop first? Maybe you can see them out next time."

Lyu stopped putting on a pair of rubber shoes and nodded at his older sister, his curly dark hair bounced on top of his head. He smiled and ran to the cash register, he then started to wave to the three departing students goodbye.

"I'll see you out next time then," Lyu said enthusiastically before turning to his older sister. "Nee-san, shall I grab the books over there?"

Megumi nodded solemnly and returned the smile from her younger brother. She patted his shoulder and went out behind the cash register, her eyes were already at the three. When Lyu wasn't at earshot's vicinity and was a good distance away from the four of them did she spoke.

"I don't like Lyu hearing bad news, I apologize for that." Megumi proceeded on bowing that was stopped by New York who held out his arm towards the older girl, placing it on top of her hand.

"You don't have to, Megumi," New York said, "I think all of us understand your protectiveness of Lyu. If it doesn't show now, I don't know what to say."

"Thank you, New York," Megumi muttered with her gentle voice. Her pair of peach blossom eyes was a brilliant shade of brown, quite the hazel shade of it, and the pair held worry and anxiety. "The Shadow Fantasm is the first of the five demons of humanity. It would make all demons savage and brutal. Kalleid—" Megumi turned towards Kalleid whose expression also held the hint of anxiety "—be careful. Out of all of you, you might be the only one that could get affected the most even when you don't instigate any provocation. The Fantasm has great powers as your father said. And New York, Rade—" Megumi held her right hand to New York while the other to Rade who was caught off her guard "—do not do anything that will provoke the Fantasm. Or you will regret it."

Megumi's hazel eyes turned to Rade, the same emotion of anxiety was still within those that Rade found it harder to believe that Megumi was indeed a demon.

"You worry about Lyu and yourself, Megumi," New York, however, said lightly. "Thank you. As always," he scoffed while he rolled his eyes at Megumi who only chuckled.

"T-thank... thank you also," Rade added awkwardly, unsure whether she should follow New York's suit.

"Now you all go." Megumi waved at the door, it opened on its own accord, the chimes ringing as it did so. "Don't stray too far in the streets so late."

"Yes, mom. Seriously, Megumi," New York derided jokingly before shouting his goodbye to Lyu. "Gotta go, Lyu!"

Lyu sensing his name emerged back from the shelves of the shop and smiled enthusiastically.

"See you soon, New York!" he returned to New York. On his hands were a dozen or so books, and with effort, he quickly bent down to put all of those down. "It's nice doing business with you, Rade," he said and held out his hand. "Remember what I told you, right?"

Rade nodded and firmly shook the outstretched hand.

"It's also nice having this deal with you," Rade agreed.

Lyu waved them goodbye and the three of them walked out of the shop, the chimes were also ringing behind them as the door shut. The cars passed across the intersecting roads that the three student were all forced to wait in the front of the traffic sign before proceeding on crossing. Since the cars were too loud, New York complained and they all ended up in a nearby convenience store where they sighed a relieved breath of the air-conditioner.

After purchasing ice creams, Kalleid then suggested they wait in front of the intersecting road again where they missed the green light yet again.

As Rade has walked a good distance from the shop and towards other end of the intersecting roads when theh traffic sign finlly turned green, she finally realized the numerous and great boundary of the shop, probably made by either Lyu or Megumi (more probably by Megumi than Lyu really). It was quite invisible to ordinary human beings, but to hunters like her, there was a thin veil part of the sky where the boundary was quite evident.

"Miss Megumi specialized in creating boundaries," Kalleid shared to her after she saw her marvelling at the great boundary. "Aside from the Aldeia clan and some other handful hunters, Miss Megumi is the only one who could create strong boundaries like that."

"That's really amazing," Rade muttered absentmindedly. "I can never do a single boundary."

"What do you expect of a great half demon immortal like her?" New York asked sarcastically. "Not some half assed immortal here." At this, Kalleid only smiled instead of being offended. "Maybe that's why you can't find the shop, the boundary has a higher aptitude than yours."

Rade only nodded, a wistful sheen could be glimpsed from her eyes as shhe thought of the lady earlier in an elegant hanfu dress with beautiful beyond compare peach blossom eyes.

"Drool." New York pointed out to Rade's chin.

Rade slurped any saliva drooling down her chin, but found none. She glared at the Aldeia scion, her arm that was wrapped with the sleeve of her cardigan was still consciously wiping at her mouth just in case drool did flow down.

"But if she's a half demon immortal, how did Lyu became her little brother—?"

A glare from New York stopped Rade from speaking.

"It's okay, New York," Kalleid interrupted gently at them. He was standing at the middle of the two so he acted as the mediator between New York and Rade. "Miss Megumi and Lyu actually came from a single manifestation. Before turning into their forms today, Lyu inexplicably broke away from Miss Megumi and incubated for years while Miss Megumi transitioned into a her current form. There are only a handful of immortals so we aren't really certain ourselves."

"From a single manifestation," Rade muttered absentmindedly yet again.

On her far most left, Rade heard a scoff and New York started to explain clearly.

"Be ashamed of yourself for being so uneducated," he poked fun at her with a dismissal. "Manifestation consciousness are formed from humanity's purest emotions and feeling. That might mean that half demon immortals came from manifestations rather than being born a demons or in a human-like bodies."

"Purest?" Rade asked cluelessly. There was a sheepish smile on her lips that made New York walked over to her side and pinched her cheeks.

"New York doesn't want to say it, but what he meant by purest was happiness, sadness, and love," Kalleid explained then.

"Not that I didn't want to say it," New York contradicted, "but anybody with a brain could understand that. This child is just too dumb to realize."

"Hey!" Rade said, sounding hurt though she really wasn't. "You're a child too!"

"Anyways," New York said, changing the topic of conversation and ignoring Rade's recent comment, "demons are formed from negative emotions. They're the opposite of manifestations someone might tell you, but, in reality, it all fell into the cycle of how a manifestation would inevitably turned into a demon and the purity in which they come from would be tainted with negativity."

Rade nodded.

It wasn't that she was clueless, but she had been raised on a black and white household wherein demons and manifestations were all of the same kind with differing powers and abilities. She never had to deal with half demon immortals that have human intelligence like Lyu and Megumi, and a half demon immortals like Kalleid who have conscience and actually act more like a human than an actual and whole human being.

It was shaking her whole perception of the world.

"No one has ever seen a manifestation on its earliest transformations," Kalleid said. "Not even my dad when I was born. They typically don't have physical form unlike many demons."

"That's why the Fantasm is so special," New York interrupted, biting his popsicle. "A demon manifestation. Demon on its nature, but manifestation on its form. Created from the innermost bullshit of humanity, both good and bad. But now, it has a vessel now. Laurinette Haeven, I'm afraid of how this will all turn out if it's provoked."

Rade's hand clenched yet again, forgetting that she was holding an ice cream cone. It cracked and the sticky cream fell and started to melt on her hand.

"What the heck, Rade!" New York scolded at her. He immediately went to his slacks' pocket and procured a clean black handkerchief. "Why aren't you—?"

He didn't continue and just made a face at Rade who also panicked and shook her hand that was still with crush cone and melted ice cream.

"Rade!" Both New York and Kalleid said after Rade shook her hands, spraying droplets of ice cream and cone dust everywhere. Since she was now standing between the two she access to each of their sides and mischievously wiped her hands on their arms.

"Op—" she sputtered yet again and held out her forefinger and middle finger. "Sorry!"

Even though they were nearing another intersecting roas again, Rade suddenly ran and gaining momentum, she jumped over the cars that were moving around with her lithe figure. Rade's long hair was exploding around her and when she swept it away from her face, she saw New York has already jumped too and on his back, holding on for dear life, was Kalleid who has his eyes closed.

She has never felt so happy and excited.

For a person that came from a cursed bloodline and whose hands have been dirtied, the feeling of happiness has somehow became a foreign and distant memory for Rade. It made her feel itchy and also nervous.

"Don't get sad on me now," New York said, foretelling what Rade was about to say based on her anxious expression despite having favourable outcomes. They were now walking on the way to a train station where Rade and Kalleid would take the train to get to their respective homes. "What?" he demanded when Rade only looked at him.

"I'm just going to..." Rade looked down at her clasped hands, they have all washed on a public bathroom so they weren't as sticky before. She felt down, and it was supposed to be a memory she could cherish where no worries await her. "I'm just going to ask if you want to have a dinner? For my first paycheck, you two helped me and I'd like to return the gratitude."

"What century you're born in?" New York barked at Rade. "You talk like an old person, yikes!"

"It's fine, Rade," Kalleid amended New York's words and nudged at the other. "But we can have dinner together still. Right, New York?"

Kalleid nudged New York again who gave a little humph in contempt and turned the other cheek. Kalleid's lips puckered automatically at the crude behavior and nudged him again and again, but New York glared at him that made him stopped.

"I can't tonight," New York reasoned, "unlike you two orphans, my family is demanding me to join them to welcome a guest. So ciao!"

Just as New York said that, a cab passed by and was hailed by him. Before the cab drove away, New York rolled down the window and pointed at Rade that made Rade point at herself in return to confirm it was she who New York was pointing out.

"If you have any problems," New York started, his eyes were still glaring at her as though he was threatening her against having any problems. "Tss, if you have problems," he repeated, "knock on the clubroom's door. I gather you know where that is."

Like that, New York went home, leaving both Kalleid and Rade wondering what just happened. Kalleid was smiling when he turned towards Rade, it was a rather peaceful smile. There was no hidden meaning, not even a speck of malice on the curve of his lips.

"It seems like New York is ready to welcome you!" he said victoriously and smiled wider at Rade.

While Rade was looking at Kalleid's triumphant face, there was a rotten feeling creeping up to her chest. It was choking her and making her feel as if every single thing would be okay.

"When you smile like that, Kalleid," Rade started, her eyes closed partially as the wind blew, "I can feel hope again."

He wasn't looking, Rade thought to herself and so, Kalleid never saw the distraught on Rade's face and the guilt lingering on her eyes. He was still happy over New York's simple statement, and it was suppose to make Rade happy too, but she can't bring herself to be like that.

"Where do you want to eat, Rade?" Kalleid asked her.

Not paying any mind to anything, Rade stuttered and sputtered, making a fool of herself all over again, and, in the end, it was Kalleid who decided where they would eat.

On the way to the station, Rade and Kalleid were walking together still. A slight movement from Kalleid's fingers indicated that a small boundary have been established as soon as the milky and still smoking broth was brought over to their table.

"You know how to use spiritual energy?" Rade asked in astonishment.

"Just little tricks like those," Kalleid responded, his ears were quite red. Rade wasn't sure if it was because if the coldness of the night or something else. "So no one would bother us or think we're crazy with how our conversation goes."

"Ah, yeah," Rade agreed, still in the back of her mind was the weird look that was given to them by the waitress when they first ate together. There were many passersby that was going to and fro but Rade doubted if there was someone who was interested enough to listen to their conversation.

"To be honest, when I'm not in my demon form, my healing is the only unique thing to me. I barely have any spiritual energy and I'm not very good with weapons. It must've been the reason HODE let the Aldeia clan took custody of me. Because I'm too useless."

"That guy." Rade stopped from blowing her hands that have gone cold. "That guy that made those guiding wisps is from the Aldeia clan."

"Yes," Kalleid answered solemnly, his lips puckered to also blow on his shivering hands. "He is from the Aldeia clan. He is, in fact, the youngest of the main branch of Aldeia clan."

"And he's also your companion." Rade drew quotation marks on the air.

Again, Kalleid confirmed it through a nod.

"I was..." Kalleid chuckled, it made Rade looked at him. His eyes were still the most delicate, but sadness was evident on it. "I was being monitored by him, in case I slip accidentally to my demonic form."

"Accidentally?"

Rade knew what it implied, but her mind simply refused to understand the implications behind the words that haven't been said by Kalleid himself. She looked down on her hands which have been holding a lot of money earlier.

"It'll be a betrayal if I intentionally turn to my demonic form," Kalleid finally said since Rade wasn't looking at him and seemed to be conflicted. "I am content even with that. New York is really good to me, and I get to meet Sis Nina and the others since coming here. To be honest, I barely remember my life before this."

Trembling hands, Rade reached for her pockets so she could warm her hands. She was still trembling and she doesn't want to but her senses and nerves weren't allowing her to calm down.

"Kalleid," she finally called to him.

Caught in the act of also warming his own hands, Kalleid's eyes directed at Rade unsuspectingly. He raised his brows to Rade and asked her why she would calle him.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," Rade responded, her eyes were still at the ground where her eyes have been fixed. Her eyes casted down and the eerie quiet tone of her voice, Kalleid put his own hands aside and straightened his back more properly. "And also New York Aldeia for your help with the appraisal, but I don't think that it's right for all of you to associate with me."

Rade reached on her backpack that was hanging on her back. In it was the lunchbox that Kalleid gave to her earlier as lunch, cleaned and immaculate, without even any stain.

"Rade, what do you mean?" Kalleid asked gently, there was a serious regard on his tone that told Rade he doesn't want to push her too hard, but also that he doesn't want to give up too easily. "We may have only met with each other recently, but you're new and I know you have trouble adjusting to life here. But even New York wants to help. Please, let us help you, Rade."

Kalleid pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and his eyes held a certain kind of emotion; determination and sincerity, Rade would say but was too coward to acknowledge them.

Determination was what brought her to this place, Rade thought as she watched the murky broth on the bowl. It was sincerity that she hasn't seen for a while. What was more surprising was that it was directed to herself.

A person, whom she initially attempted to kill, was actually sincere on giving her help because he thought he understood her.

"Kalleid, you think me as a human being but when I was running after you holding my scimitar Aíma, I still saw fear in your eyes. That was even having a body like yours that heals faster than average. I saw your fear of having to face me."

Rade gritted her teeth, her appetite was now reduced into nothingness since eating a hearty meal and was replaced by guilt and anger. Guilt towards those she killed so ruthlessly, and anger towards herself for having the ability to do so.

"It's not new to me, you should know that," she continued with Kalleid still being speechless of the sudden litany. "I'm seen not just only as a bad luck, but also a monster. The markings I have of my weapon has been with my family even before I was born."

"But that was before—" Kalleid tried to protest.

"Do you think those who see me as a monster can have an 'after'?" Again, Rade drew quotation marks on the air. "They only see what they want to see, and you do too. I've heard what New York said earlier after you gave that to me." She gestured at the lunchbox. "And he's right, I agree with him."

"Why?" Kalleid pursed his lips and leaned closer to the table to get a better look of Rade's face behind the curtain of her dark hair.

"Just don't get involved with me, Kalleid," Rade said without any expression. It was like all the vibrancy of life was sucked out from her, leaving only a shell of a human being.

"Rade, what people thought of you will not define you," Kalleid said gently. Rade was surprised not to see any pity on his expression, but actually symphaty and it hurt her more.

"You are different from me, Kalleid," Rade said, "I cannot live like you and even how Lyu or New York do because I don't wish to. I'm not deserving of having a normal life where I could laugh like earlier."

Kalleid doesn't want to ask the last question, Rade could feel. It seemed that even how much he pulled and pushed at her, Rade would only walked farther away in an ever faster speed. It seemed ruthless, to be honest, that Rade with her small shoulders and bloody hands have to think that way but she was already decided.

"Rade—"

"Because my hands have sinned and killed people," Rade said quietly, cutting Kalleid's certain protest. "I have sinned and killed."

Rade looked her trembling hands and, for a moment, she saw that they were still tainted with blood and dirt in her mind.