A Demon's Tale

Shiro: [Ha…!]

Every night, it was the same for the girl.

Every night, she had woken up once and once only in the middle of the night, after seeing that vision.

She found it fortunate that this vision had less of an outburst from her after it was done. Since if she were to wake up screaming after her seeing it, anyone who would share a room with her while she attended school would likely want to either move out of that room, or find some way to get Shiro out of there.

She believed it was due to her age that this vision had less of an effect. After all, when she was a child, she would wake up screaming and crying after seeing it.

Her mother would make an immediate dash to Shiro’s room, and hold her until she fully calmed down. After that, she would stay there until a few moments after she fell asleep.

Even now, Airi was extremely cautious of Shiro’s condition. While the noise was greatly reduced from before, Airi still had an excellent ability to sense, along with her hearing being incredible as well. As a result, she would wake up not long after Shiro did, and wait in her room to see if Shiro would go back to bed, or if something had gone wrong. If the latter occurred, much like she did when Shiro was a child, she would head to her room to make sure she was alright.

Shiro truly believed that the sight of the vision was better since she was a child, and would often tell her mother this.

But she was lying. She was lying to her mother. She was lying to herself.

She wanted to believe that this was the case.

Even if it had not gained as much of an outburst from her as it had before, it still terrified her.

Who was that person?

Why did their eyes look at her like that?

Why were they so interested in Shiro?

Perhaps they were disgusted?

Perhaps they hated her?

Perhaps they were overjoyed to see her?

Perhaps they loved her?

She could not tell.

Nothing had been clear from these visions.

All she could see were their eyes and hair.

The blood red-like color to them.

Why did Shiro matter to them?

Why did any of these visions need to happen?

She truly could not understand.

None of it made sense.

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After a decent rest, and quick change into her proper clothes, Shiro grabbed her things and headed out the door.

In a way, she had felt bad not saying goodbye to her mother before heading out. But thanks to the night before, where she had said goodbye preemptively, this worry had quickly disappeared from her mind.

And now, here she sat, on a large boat headed towards where she’d be staying for the next long while, or maybe not. After all, her mother told her that if she didn’t enjoy what she was doing after a while, that she was free to come right back home if she felt like it.

Shiro had sat alone on the boat. Not to say that she wasn’t good with talking to people or being friendly, she excelled in both quite well. However, she wasn’t the type to go out of her way to speak to others. Usually if someone wanted to speak to her during events with family, or even at her elementary school when she was younger, they’d usually come to her instead of the other way around.

Besides, thanks to her being alone at this moment, she could admire the world like she had always loved to do. She could take in the sky, the ocean, the land as it passed. It was truly beautiful in her eyes. Watching these things from the perspective she had at this moment was far more grand than when she had viewed it all on her front lawn.

There was a hint of worry in her heart though. She wondered if she would really enjoy this school. Enjoy the idea of being a god. But most of all…

Shiro: [...I wonder if I’ll make any friends here. The long term type…]

Shiro had made friends before, but usually, they were friends she had made in elementary or during a visit to different locations, and after that point, she hadn’t spoken to them again.

She wondered if it was mainly due to her. After all, she was a teen with no way to contact them. She didn’t call people, send letters, or anything of the sort. She had heard people often used phones to send messages to each other, but that seemed ridiculous in her mind. Why would anyone talk to each other over voicemails? At that point, you might as well pick up the phone when you get a call.

But maybe it had been them. She liked to believe the best in people, that nobody would do any wrong. But there was always a persisting thought in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe, they didn’t like speaking to her at all. Perhaps once school was over, or she had left the place her and her mother were visiting, perhaps those people had completely cut her out of their life.

She did not enjoy thinking about that idea at all, so she instead chose to believe it was her.

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After a long boat ride, Shiro and the many other students on the boat had finally arrived at the Academic School for Apprenticeship in Godhood.

Their boat wasn’t the first to arrive at the school though. In fact, it had been the last, which as such, led to…

School Guide: [Alright everyone! I hope you all had a nice time chatting with friends on the boat! However, sadly due to how late it is, we won’t be able to bring you all on a tour around the school for today. As such, we kindly ask that you follow these next instructions closely! Behind me are the dorms in which you will be staying. Some of them are empty and as a result you’ll be able to have your own place to stay with your friends, or even just yourself for the time being. Albeit we do recommend that you are grouped up with someone. Other dorms however might only have 1 or 2 people in them. You might be able to get yourself a place to stay with one of them and hey, you’ll even be able to make some new friends that way! Anyways that’s all for now students, I hope you all have a wonderful time here at the Academic School for Apprenticeship in Godhood!]

To most people, this probably sounded fantastic. They’d get to stay with their friends in a room, or be in complete solitude for most of their time here. Some would even be able to meet new people.

This scenario though, couldn’t have been worse for Shiro.

Her greatest element for speaking to someone was when they came to her, so now, in an environment where she must ask others if she could stay in their dorms, it had been a nightmare come true.

After a few minutes of standing in place, completely nervous of what to do, Shiro mustered up the courage she needed.

She had begun knocking on doors and…

Slime Girl: [Oh I’m sorry…but I feel like I wouldn’t be a very good roommate. I’d probably leave a mess around certain things and-]

Shiro: [Oh, no worries, no worries! I have plenty of people I can ask so it’s alright. You have a good night, okay?]

After that, she had continued her quest to-

Dragon Girl: [Oh sorry, but our room is kinda already full.]

Shiro: [Ah…I see. No worries then. I can just keep looking.]

She had once again started her journey of-

Harpy Girl: [No.]

Shiro: [..Oh uh I-]

Before she could even finish her sentence, the door had been slammed on her.

Shiro: [How the hell am I supposed to even get somewhere to stay tonight. I haven’t found any of the empty ones which honestly, I assume are completely gone by now, and there’s not a single person who is willing to let me stay with them.]

It was starting to get dark, and Shiro was unsure of what to do in this scenario.

Shiro: [Maybe there’s somewhere outside I can just stay for the night.]

???: [HEY!]

Shiro: [AH!]

Shiro had gotten scared by someone yelling, only to turn around to see that the person was yelling at her from their dorm window.

Kitsune Girl: [Ya got nowhere to stay or somethin’?]

Shiro: [Oh uh…well yeah I guess I don’t.]

Kitsune Girl: [Heh, alright. Tell ya what, I’ll let ya stay at my dorm for the night, and after that, ya can continue to figure out where yer gonna go.]

Shiro: [Oh uhhh….Are you sure? I mean I don’t wanna cause you any trouble…]

Kitsune Girl: [Geez, what’s with ya? I’m offerin’ my place to stay. Ya either take it or leave it. ‘S that simple really. So ya in or ya out?]

Shiro: [Uhhh…sorry yes! I’m in!]

Kitsune Girl: [See? Much better. I’ll unlock the door for ya, gimme 2.]

Before Shiro could ask what she meant by 2, the girl had run away from the window, and the door was unlocked.

Kitsune Girl: [Come on in. And make sure ya lock the door once ya do.]

Shiro:[Uh…Yes!]

Shiro immediately stood straight as if she was given an order in the military.

The Kitsune Girl had been an odd character in her mind upon seeing her. She had long orange hair with 2 large orange ears pointing up at the top of her head. Despite the more formal and standard clothing everyone had worn, this girl was different. She had worn a white and blue kimono, which wasn’t uncommon for kitsune. But in a setting like this, where not only were they in school, but also when everyone had just been in their dorms for the rest of the night, Shiro couldn’t help but find it odd. What was even more odd and inappropriate about it, was the top part of the kimono had been completely open. Exposing the top side of the girl’s chest the whole time. The Kitsune Girl also seemed both polite but also slightly aggressive to Shiro. Perhaps it was due to her accent that she also seemed slightly rude. Or perhaps she just was rude. Either way however, she was kind enough to lend Shiro her dorm for the night and thus she felt it was forgiven.

After stepping into the dorm, taking her shoes off and closing the door, Shiro had noticed a set of stairs leading up to a second floor.

Come to think of it, when Shiro had spoken to the girl, she wasn’t using a window on the first floor that existed, but the second.

She began to walk up the stairs to the second floor, and opened up the sliding door, to find the Kitsune Girl making a second bed.

Kitsune Girl: [Ya’ll sleep on this one alright? I mean, that should be obvious of course, given how large mine is.]

What she had said had been quite true. In comparison to the bed that the Kitsune Girl had, Shiro’s almost looked rather small.

However, regardless of the size, Shiro was grateful.

Shiro: [Um…]

Kitsune Girl: [Hm?]

Shiro: [Thank you for all of your help with this. It really does mean a lot to me.]

Kitsune Girl: [Bah. Don’t worry ‘bout it. ’S no big deal for me. ‘Sides, 's only for tonight. After that it’s just back to me on my own.]

Shiro: [Um…you’re sure you don’t want me to stay? Not that I don’t already appreciate the offer you’ve given me, but it sounds like maybe you could use a friend or something of the sort. Not to say you don’t have any of course.]

Kitsune Girl: [I’m fine. I’m a solo act anyways. I get to stay here for free and do as I please pretty much.]

Shiro: [Well I’m sure that’s not entirely true. I mean there’s school after all, right?]

Kitsune Girl: [Hah! School? For me? Nah, I’m talented and strong enough that they keep me here JUST in case I want to actually participate. Plus, I have that divine chi stuff, so I’m sure to ‘em I’m this massive big shot.]

Shiro: [Oh wow! I didn’t expect I’d meet someone else with divine chi this quickly!]

Kitsune Girl: [Ho? So ya have it too? I definitely felt somethin' different 'bout ya when ya walked in. Guess that’s what it was. Well who knows, maybe ya’ll get the same treatment as me.]

To Shiro, this sort of treatment didn’t sound the worst. She enjoyed just taking in everything day by day after all. So to imagine a scenario where she could do that here felt great.

But she desired to do things with her life, and thus, this was merely a small reality of a dream in her mind.

As the girl continued to make the beds, Shiro looked around the room out of curiosity and noticed some peculiar things.

Shiro: [Katanas…?]

Kitsune Girl: [Oh, these? Heh, yeah. They’re mine. Made ‘em myself. I’m quite proud of ‘em. Easily the best work I’ve done. I call ‘em Seikatsu and Shi.]

Shiro had noticed 2 katanas in the room. One with a light blue tsuka, and the other with a dark blue one. They had been the girl’s blades, and while it wasn’t odd to bring a weapon here, since part of the tests did involve some training in that field, it felt odd to leave them out in the open like the girl had done.

However the katanas paled in comparison to what truly threw Shiro off. Since shortly after speaking about the weapons, the girl had-

Shiro: [..Ah?! Wh-why do you have a gourd like that?! You almost made me think you were drinking…no wait…you are! Why are you drinking sake here?!]

Kitsune Girl: [Ha? Listen, missy, I do whatever I please. If I wanna drink my booze, I’ll drink my booze. I don’t need ya to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. I gave ya half this room to enjoy for the night. If ya don’t want to stay, yer free to leave.]

Shiro: [I appreciate your kindness for the room but to drink sake here, and with how young we all are…]

Kitsune Girl: [Onis and dragons often drink booze when they’re kids, but yer gonna draw the line on me?]

Shiro: [Oh…ummm…well]

What the girl had said was quite true. Onis and dragons had consumed alcohol a fair bit as children. Even kitsune, while not to the same degree, were allowed once they passed childhood and had become a teen.

Shiro: [It’s just…it’s kinda odd while we’re in school…I get that it’s night time but…oh!]

While nervously avoiding eye contact, Shiro had begun to look around the room, only for something to catch her eye.

Kitsune Girl: [Hey! Don’t go touchin' my manga without askin'!]

Shiro: [Detergent, huh?]

Kitsune Girl: [I enjoyed readin' the series when I was a kid…hell even now I enjoy lookin' back on it. Not that ya’d know 'bout the series, of course.]

Shiro: [It’s a shame the ending got rushed due to health issues from the author…oh, but at least the anime was good! They even got the author on board to help!]

Kitsune Girl: [Hehe, yeah, that was pretty nice…hey wait, y’ve seen it?]

Shiro: [My mom likes to buy me books sometimes, but there was one time where she bought me it as a birthday gift. From that point onward I just kept reading till the end.]

Kitsune Girl: [Heh, maybe yer not half bad after all. Come to think of it, I noticed the circle around yer eyes. Yer some high rankin' succubi, aren’t ya?]

Shiro: [Oh well, yes, I’m considered a high ranking succubus. I don’t really care about the ranking thing for myself, but I guess it’s kinda neat.]

Kitsune Girl: [Ho? Guess we’re not very different. Ya and I.]

After saying this, the large puffy tails from behind the Kitsune Girl had begun to move up.

Shiro: [Oh, I remember reading that kitsunes are higher ranked or lower ranked depending on the amount of tails they have. 9 being the highest, and 1 being the lowest.]

Kitsune Girl: [Why not count mine then?]

With a large grin on her face, the girl had asked Shiro to count all of the tails behind her.

Shiro: [Well, if you insist. Let’s see…there’s one, two, three, four, five, six, seven….eight…nine?!]

Kitsune Girl: [YAHAHAHAHA! Oh that reaction was priceless! Yahahahahaha!]

Shiro: [You’re a high ranking kitsune?! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given what you said earlier…but…still.]

Kōkatsu: [Heh, yep. The name’s Kōkatsu by the way. I’m sure I didn’t say that yet…at least I don’t think, unless all this booze got to my head. Yahahahaha!]

Shiro: [Kōkatsu? Like the word for sly? Your parents must have felt smart for using that. Given the fact you’re a kitsune and all.]

Kōkatsu: [Heh, well, I’m not sure they gave that much of a shit 'bout me. But hey, maybe they had an ounce of respect just for that moment.]

Shiro: [Oh and uh…my name is Shiro! It’s nice to meet you, Kōkatsu!]

Kōkatsu: [Shiro, huh? Guess I’m not the only one with some creative people behind the name, eh? Yer even dressed in all white.]

Shiro: [Yes, I believe it reflects my spirit for who I really am!]

Kōkatsu: [WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! YAHAHAHAHAHA! YER A FUNNY ONE, SHIRO!]

Shiro: [Heh…yeah…I’m not too sure myself what it means…I kinda just liked saying it….]

Kōkatsu: [Yahahahaha! Tell ya what, I’ve changed my mind.]

Shiro: [Oh?]

Kōkatsu: [I’m beginnin’ to like ya a decent bit. Ya can stay. Not just for the night. For however long ya need to. ‘S my deluxe offer just for ya.]

Shiro: [Y-you’re sure?! I don’t wanna ruin your time here or anything-]

Kōkatsu: [’S fine, I don’t give that much of a shit if someone stays in a room with me. I do have one question though if ya don’t mind me askin'.]

Shiro: [Hm?]

Kōkatsu: [Let’s say ya do become a God, what would ya do from there?]

Shiro: [Well, I’d strive to make the world a better place!]

Kōkatsu: [Nah nah, not that, everyone wants to do that. I mean what else. What else would ya want to gain from the position?]

Shiro: [Oh, well…it might sound odd…but in a way I’d like to have a family with it…you know? Not a proper family or something. Obviously that’s unrelated. But I mean like…retainers…or something of the sort…that I would just consider my family you know?]

Kōkatsu: [Hmmmmmmmmm.]

Shiro: [Sorry! That was probably long and really complicated and likely didn’t make sense but-]

Kōkatsu: [No, it made sense. You said somethin' that I liked.]

Shiro: [Huh?]

Kōkatsu: [Don’t worry 'bout it. Tell ya what, ya should probably take a shower and then hit the hay for the night. Luckily, there’s 2 in this room, but because I’m a kitsune, they assumed the other person stayin’ here would be. So don’t get frightened by the size of the shower. ‘S just cause we have a lot of fur to clean.]

Shiro: [I see. Well thank you, I’ll be sure to do that right away! And I’ll also try to not be too scared by a shower!]

Kōkatsu: [Hehe, alright. You do you then.]

With that, their conversation for the time had ended, Shiro had made a new friend, and-

Shiro: [HOLY SHIT THIS SHOWER IS MASSIVE!]

She had noticed a shower that was twice, almost triple in width as the regular showers she was used to.

Kōkatsu: [Heh, warned ya.]

Kōkatsu had said, smiling while looking up at her ceiling, before thinking about something else.

Kōkatsu: [A family, huh.]

That night, a long bond between a high ranking succubus, and a high ranking kitsune, had only just begun to form.

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