Day 19: Demon Crabs

Day 19: Demon Crabs

Since Flare had something to do, I guess it's alright to meet up with friends, Noel thought to herself as she walked into the karaoke bar. She pushed her glasses up with her fingers as she looked around for her friend.

"Noe-chan!" An excited voice called over to her. Noel turned to the source of a voice to see her friend, Suou Patra. Patra had long, silver hair with red streaks with cone-shaped horns and bat-shaped pins in front of the "horns". She wore her normal outfit, a bra with sleeves and a skirt. "Over here!"

"Patra!" Noel bounded over to her friend, pulling her into a hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright," Patra smiled as she returned the hug. She pulled away, looking Noel in the eyes. "I heard what happened in the overworld. I'm sorry I couldn't join."

"It's okay," Noel said, returning the smile. "We handled the whole MILF thing well enough. I know things are hard in the demon world as well. Have you gotten enough sleep?"

"Ehehe, let's not worry about that," Patra rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I've heard a lot of things about this new KFP here in the overworld. Multiple people from the demon world journeyed to the overworld just to go. I don't know why, but I can't help but be interested."

"Ah, Kiara has been busy, huh?" Noel rubbed her chin. "It seems Ryan has been attracting a lot of attention ever since people got their hands on footage of the war."

"Ryan? As in Ryan Shade?" Patra put a finger on her chin, tilting her head in a confused expression. Noel responded with a small nod. "He's a celebrity, isn't he? A KFP would be the last place I would expect a celebrity to be working at."

"I heard he doesn't like his celebrity status," Noel replied. "He just wants to live his life without attention from the press. Kiara told me about this one time a raging fangirl went to the restaurant…"

"I see," Patra didn't fail to notice Noel's shudder. "Maybe I'll check it out sometime soon."

"That would be nice," Noel replied. "Now, have you reserved a room yet?"

-

"This is getting a bit monotonous, isn't it?" Ryan asked himself as he got out of bed.

"Well, you do work at a fast food joint," Edhas offered. "I mean, what did you expect?"

'Fair enough,' Ryan said as he put on his hoodie. Honestly, 'I don't mind. My life has been pretty good since the war. I hope things don't change.'

"Well, if you want something, you have to fight for it," Edhas said.

'Whatever,' Ryan just chalked Edhas's words to his itch for a fight, which was probably not far from the truth. He opened the door, looking back. He smiled as he took in the sights of his bland apartment before closing the door.

-

Ryan heaved a sigh as he opened the doors to the KFP. He smiled as he saw Ina turn her head towards him. "Hey Ina," he smiled as he walked over to the other side of the counter. "Where's Tenchou?"

"She's making my Takoyaki," Ina replied. "How have you been?"

"Things have been alright," Ryan sighed. "I kind of like working here. Things are eventful, but not too eventful."

"Humu-humu," Ina nodded with a satisfied expression on her face.

"So, I heard you hooked up with Nene and Polka," Ryan said, wiggling his eyebrows. Marine might be constantly horny, but one thing she was good at was getting all the tea on everyone.

"I guess word travels fast," Ina heaved a sigh.

"Congrats, though," Ryan placed a hand on Ina's shoulder, not wanting to put his hand anywhere near the squishy parts of Ina's hair. "You're not a loner anymore."

"I guess that leaves you, huh?" Ina gave Ryan a playful smirk.

"It's not like I'm looking for a relationship or anything," Ryan shrugged. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"There are a lot of people that want you, though," Ina said as Ryan moved his arm away.

"I know, but I don't think I'm exactly the best man one would want for a relationship," Ryan replied. "Plus, I just don't feel those weird romantic things. Just having you all as my friends is good enough."

"That means a lot, my little egg," Kiara smiled as she walked out of the bag room with a plate of Takoyaki.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Ryan sighed as Kiara put the plate in front of Ina.

"You're going to be my little egg, no matter what," Kiara ruffled Ryan's hair.

Ryan turned as he sensed a magic presence to see a demon… crab girl(?) walking in, wearing a bra and sleeves paired with a skirt. Her long, silver hair swayed from side to side as she walked down the restaurant before taking a seat at the counter. "Welcome to KFP," Ryan said with his best customer service smile.

"She's hot," Edhas noted.

'Not the time,' Ryan said in his head, trying to shoo his counterpart off. 'I'm trying to work.'

"Hello!" The girl chirped with an excited tone. "My name is Suou Patra! Nice to meet you!"

"Ryan Shade, but I'm guessing you already know that," Ryan said, silently cursing Suisei for uploading footage of him during the war. How was she able to do that while creating large tornadoes of destruction and being a complete psychopath anyway? Ryan banished the thought, not wanting to get sidetracked from his job.

"Yes, you're quite popular in the demon world," Patra said. "Though the soldiers you've killed don't like you all too well. Then again, we don't like them either."

"That's fair enough," Ryan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. The war wasn't his best moment, considering he got shot in the head a second time. "What would you like to order?"

"I'll have some crab please!" Patra chirped.

"Alright," Ryan said, turning to Kiara. "Do you know how to handle crab?"

"Of course! I've been honing my culinary expertise for millennia!" Kiara responded excitedly.

"Then why do you run a fast food joint?" Ryan sighed, massaging his temples.

"It was easier to take over the world that way," Kiara answered without a second thought before walking to the back room to start cooking.

"Kiara's quite eccentric, huh?" Ryan turned his attention back to Patra as she asked her question.

"Tenchou has always been weird like that," Ryan responded. "It's kind of endearing, though."

"Noe-chan was right," Patra smiled. "You really don't act like a celebrity."

"I'm not sure any celebrity could cook the amount of Gyudon she can inhale," Ryan quipped.

"That's one thing," Patra replied with a small giggle. "I head Nee-chan tried to hook up with you."

"A lot of people have tried that recently," Ryan muttered under his breath before raising his voice to a normal speaking volume. "Who are you talking about?"

"Her name is Saionji Mary," Patra replied.

"Oh yeah," Ryan rubbed the back of his head, remembering the previous day. "She got into a fight with Choco-sensei yesterday."

"I see," Patra nodded her head. "You must have given her a lot to drink."

"Is she not allowed alcohol?" Ryan asked, slightly worried. He didn't want to be responsible for something bad, whatever it made be.

"No, she tends to drink a lot," Patra waved her hand dismissively. "She does swear a lot when she gets drunk, though. I'm kind of worried about her."

"She's not that bad," Ryan assured her. "A lot better than some of the people who've walked through these doors."

"That's good to hear," Patra replied with a small smile on her face.

"Order's ready!" Kiara exclaimed as she dashed out of the back room with a plate of crab already picked from the shell and set the plate down, offering Patra a pair of chopsticks.

"Thank you, Kiara," Patra smiled as she took the pair of chopsticks that Kiara offered and took a bite. "This is really good."

"I'm glad you liked it," Kiara smiled. "So, what have you two been talking about?"

"Yesterday," Ryan replied with a quick tone.

"Honestly I don't get it," Kiara shook her head. "Two ladies were at each other's throat for you and all you did was stop the fight. I honestly don't get you."

"I'm not constantly thirsty like you are for a certain reaper," Ryan gave Kiara a glare before sighing.

"Hey, that reaper is my wife! We can be thirsty for each other whenever we want!" Kiara pouted.

"Fair enough," Ryan sighed.

"Ryan?" Ryan paled and shuddered as a dark aura took over the room. He slowly and cautiously turned his head towards the entrance of the restaurant as a dark mist enveloped the room. He saw Rushia, her crimson eyes glowing with fury as they darted from Kiara to Patra. "Are you talking to other girls? Why are you talking to other girls? Why aren't you spending time with me?"

"Rushia, I'm at work. We can spend time with each other later," Ryan admittedly was terrified of Rushia when she went yandere, but he didn't like to show it. He saw Rushia as kind of a spoiled child who got what she wanted when she brought out the knife, so he took it upon himself to give the necromancer a bit of a reality check.

"That's not good enough," With a soft, green glow, a knife formed itself in Rushia's grip as she pointed it towards Ryan. "Spend time with me. Now."

"You're on your own for this one, buddy," Edhas said.

'Wait wha-' Ryan asked, shocked for a second before heaving a sigh. As badass as Edhas liked to portray himself, he always cowered before angry anime girls. He was completely justified in doing so, but he wasn't justified in leaving a homie alone like this.

"Whatever," Ryan sighed as he vaulted over the counted, cracking his neck. "I'll deal with this. It is my job, after all."

-

Ryan sighed as he weakly opened the door, cuts littering his body. 'You could have at least healed me, you know?'

"What can I say?" If Edhas had a body, he would have shrugged at Ryan. "No pain, no gain."

'Have I ever told you how much I hate you?' Ryan asked as he sat down on a chair. 'Whatever, I can heal myself.'

Ryan started to feel groggy as he started healing his wounds. What's going on?

"You're running out of mana," Edhas replied. "Get some rest. I'll heal you up."

'Oh, now you offer to heal me…' Ryan trailed off as he closed his eyes, letting his head rest on the table.

"Man, you can be a huge idiot sometimes," Edhas muttered as he started pumping magic into Ryan's body. "But you're my idiot, and nothing's going to change that."

-

Meanwhile in an abandoned alley, a scream could be heard. "Get out of my body!" A blond girl shrieked, channeling more magic into her own body.

'You're growing weak, A voice said in her head. Soon, there will be nothing left but Hacchamachama!'

"I said get out!" The girl thrusted her hands inside her stomach, but instead of impaling herself like one would expect, her hands went through her body and a purple glow shone through her stomach. She screamed in pain and effort as she yanked her hands out of her body, pulling out a girl that looked identical to her, only wearing a black dress instead of her school outfit. As the girl crashed to the floor, she turned around and limped away as fast as she could.

"Taking me out of your body might stall me for a while, Haato," The girl on the floor, Haachama said. "But Haachama with catch up with you. Haachama always catches up. Haachama always wins."

Haato paid Haachama's words no mind as she turned the corner. I need to find help, she thought to herself as she limped off. She just hoped the world had become more forgiving in the years she has been gone.