Day 20: To Conquer Oneself

Day 20: To Conquer Oneself

"Hey Ryan, do you feel that?" Edhas's words woke Ryan up. Ryan sat up; his eyes bleary as he looked around. It took a couple seconds, but he was quickly able to sense the dense demonic aura in the air.

'Yeah, I feel it,' Ryan thought back. Usually, most demons and residents of the demon world tried to hide their aura, but it seemed that whatever was emanating the aura was pushing it out as much as possible. 'I'll be sure to be careful today.'

As he said that in his head, his phone started to ring. Ryan picked it up to see that Kiara was the one calling him. "Morning Tenchou," Ryan said. "What's up?"

"YAGOO called me in for something important so can you run the restaurant for today?" Kiara asked. "It's an emergency."

"If that's the case, why don't you just close down for today?" Ryan asked. He wasn't necessarily mad at the fire bird or anything, he was just curious.

"Well, I won't always be there, so I thought it would be good experience for you to run the joint on your own," Kiara said.

"You say that as if you're going to die or something," Ryan said. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying that I might take days off to make out with Calli since you don't want us ground pounding in the break room," Ryan sighed as Kiara ended her sentence with a pout.

"Fine, fine, I get your point," Ryan waved his hand dismissively when he in fact, did not get her point.

"Thanks Ryan! You're the best!" Kiara chirped before hanging up the phone.

"Whatever," Ryan muttered to himself. Since he still didn't have a key, he had to teleport. With a bit of magic and a huge sigh, he was gone.

-

Haato clenched her stomach in pain as she turned the corner into an alley. She could sense the demonic aura coming from Haachama slowly approaching her. She couldn't stop now. Every second she paused was a second Haachama gained. She continued to walk down the alley until she crossed a barrier.

"A barrier?" She wondered to herself. She turned around to see the alley. She didn't notice anything odd about it. "Maybe I imagined it."

Haato sighed as she continued to walk down the alley. Every step she took, the pain intensified. Things started to blur as she saw a light at the end of the alley. "Help…?" She muttered to herself as she continued towards the light, forcing herself to stay conscious. As she crossed the threshold, she saw a weird orange building, or that's what she thought she saw. All she saw was a bunch of blurry colors. As she heard footsteps approaching, she looked up to see a black blur approaching her. Since the demonic aura wasn't approaching, she could reasonably assume that it wasn't Haachama.

"H-help…" Was all she managed before the darkness enveloped her world.

-

Ryan scratched his head as he looked at the unconscious girl before her. She looked suspiciously like Haachama, but her hair was styled differently and she wore a school uniform. A white dress shirt with a blue skirt. 'What should I do, Edhas?'

"She asked for help, didn't she?" Edhas sounded slightly annoyed at Ryan's lack of common sense. "Go help her!"

Ryan sighed, resisting the urge for bonking himself on the head as he picked the girl up and briskly walked over to the counter, placing the girl on top of her. "She's suffering from mana exhaustion. Either she's a mage, or whatever demon we're dealing with has been sapping magic from others."

'That doesn't sound good,' Ryan placed both of his hands on one of the girl's hands and started pumping magic into her body. A bead of sweat formed on his brow as he spent two whole minutes pumping a consistent amount of mana into her body. Slowly, the girl started to open her eyes. Her eyes drifted over to Ryan before shooting open.

"Hentai!" The girl screeched, slapping Ryan across the face, causing him to stagger backwards. "What the hell were you doing to me?!"

"I was transferring magic energy into your body," Ryan answered calmly. He wanted to slap her back, but he thought about her situation and refrained. He probably would have done the same thing if he woke up to someone holding his hand. "I'm not your enemy."

"Oh," The girl sat up on the counter, giving Ryan a confused expression. "My name is Akai Haato."

"Ryan Shade," Ryan replied. "You seemed quite distressed. Is everything alright?"

"Haachama… she's after me…" Haato shrunk back with a fearful expression on her face. Ryan shuddered, imagining the blonde on a giant tarantula burning down countless soldiers during the war. "Please… I need help…"

"I can imagine why you're afraid of her," Ryan put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I won't let anyone hurt you here."

"Thank you," Haato looked at Ryan, her eyes still wild with fear. Ryan didn't know why Haato was so scared of Haachama, but from what he's heard about her food, Haachama wouldn't be hurting anyone in here. "What is this place?"

"Oh, this is a KFP," Ryan said.

"What's a KFP?" Haato tilted her head with a confused expression.

"You don't know?" Ryan asked, slightly shocked. "KFP is an international fast food chain run by Takanashi Kiara, one of the richest people on earth."

"I can't say I've heard of her…" Haato rubbed her chin. "Speaking of fast food, how is Fox Burger King going along? I remember that Fubuki was just starting last time I remember."

"Fox Burger King has been one of the top burger joints in the world for over a year and a half," Ryan said, remembering his NEET year. "It was founded five years ago. Do you have a gap in your memory or something?"

"Well…" Haato shuffled uncomfortably. "I only have glimpses of the past few years…"

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," Ryan offered a kind smile. "I know what it feels like to be kept in the dark."

"Thank you," Haato smiled, but the smile instantly turned into a scared expression as the sound of glass shattering permeated throughout the restaurant.

"Shit, the barrier!" Ryan turned around. "You should probably hide, Haato. I got this."

-

"Alright, so I've gathered the strongest people in the Hololive Production here," YAGOO said. He looked up to see Calli, Ina, Kiara, A-Chan, Matsuri, Coco, Suisei, and Fubuki. "Somehow, Haachama and Haato were able to separate bodies. You all know that Haachama has a Threat Level of SS. If we don't take action, she very well might destroy the world."

"Do you know where Haachama is?" A-Chan asked.

"I don't, but-," YAGOO was cut off as his eyes widened in shock. "The KFP barrier was broken!"

"Shit!" Kiara instantly flew off, her burning wings flapping as she broke through the wall. YAGOO tried to teleport but was unable to.

"It seems Haachama has blocked entrance through magical means," YAGOO said. "We must go on foot."

-

"What are you going to do?!" Haato asked as Ryan turned to the entrance. "It's Haachama!"

"I'll figure it out," Ryan said, heaving a sigh. "Things have been too peaceful here lately, anyways. I was bound for a bit of bad luck right about now."

"Don't!" Haato called. "I don't know you too well, but you don't seem too bad, I guess. I don't want you to die."

"I won't die," Ryan assured her. He tensed up as he saw the familiar psychopath walk through the alleyway.

"Haato~," Haachama said with a creepy voice. "I found you~."

"Haachama, what have I said about killing people in my KFP?" Ryan said as he walked out of the restaurant, his hands in his pocket. "I can't let you do that."

"Jack likes you, but it's not my fault if you get in my way," Haachama tilted her head, a creepy smile growing on her face. "Haato is mine."

"Doesn't matter," Ryan held out his hands on either side of him as his magic pistols appeared in his hand, the white pistol in his left hand and his black pistol in his right. "Rules are rules."

"Maybe I'll just take your body instead!" Haato shouted as she dashed over to Ryan, her hands catching ablaze. Ryan sidestepped as Haachama tried to grab Ryan's face. Ryan pointed a pistol to her head and shot her point blank. Ryan scoffed as the hole left in Haachama's head was made of fire instead of brain matter.

"Haachamachama!" Haachama shouted as she swung her arm at Ryan. Ryan dashed backwards, barely outpacing the wave of fire coming at him. He concentrated on his guns and pulled the triggers. The guns shot out a stream of water that put the fire directly in front of him out.

'You want in?' Ryan asked his counterpart.

"I want to see you fight first," Edhas said.

'Suit yourself,' Ryan tensed up as Haachama summoned her giant tarantula with a burst of fire.

"I've always hated that thing," Ryan muttered to himself as he spun his pistols in his hand. He dashed towards the spider that was twice his size, strafing to the side as the spider tried to impale him with its leg. He jumped up, shooting the spider's head with highly pressurized shots of waters. The shots pieced the spider, causing the spider to evaporate slowly.

"Haaton Prime!" Haachama called out as the spider completely evaporated. "Hacchama'll kill you!"

Ryan gulped as a cyclone of fire engulfed the area, leaving the two combatants inside the cyclone. Jets of flame jutted from the inside of the cyclone, launching themselves towards Ryan. Ryan dashed to the side, dodging one and jumped over another one. His eyes widened as he realized a third was heading towards him. He crossed his arms as the pillar of flame slammed him into the ground, causing the earth to crack.

"Want to phone a friend?" Edhas asked as Ryan struggled through the flames.

'That would be nice!' Ryan managed as he started pushing the torrent of flames back as he coated his arms with magic energy.

"Finally," Ryan's eyes turned purple as Edhas tool over. With just a blast of pressurized wind, the pillar of flames dispersed.

"What's this?" Haachama looked at Edhas with a look of rage and a hint of intrigue. "Are you Ryan's demon, then?"

"I'm not a demon," Edhas's gaze softened when he saw Haachama. He saw someone not unlike him. Someone who was trapped in someone else's body and was just taking her anger out on the world. "You don't have to be either."

"That's what everyone calls me," Haachama replied. "Demon, Psycho, Eldritch Baby."

"Do you want to be those things?" Edhas asked, a white sword forming in his right hand as he cut another pillar of flame with ease.

"Haachama is all of those things and worse!" Haachama yelled as the cyclone collapsed itself onto Edhas.

"Why don't you do both of us a favor and stop lying to yourself?" Edhas said calmly as he dispelled the burning mass of blades with a few slashes of his sword. "What do you really want?"

"I…" Haachama's voice trailed off as her knees started to shake. "What do I want…?"

Edhas walked over to Haachama, dispelling his sword with a small flash of light. "You should talk it over with your other half. Sure, things may not be ideal now, but you two can't live with each other. Trust me, I know from experience."

-

Haato poked her head up from behind the counter as she heard the doors open. She didn't want to see her new acquaintance get roasted alive by her psychotic counterpart. Her face paled when she noticed Ryan walking in with Haachama, his eyes a deep purple. She was surprised to see that Haachama wasn't shouting or even smiling, having a sort of guilty look as she looked at the floor.

"Haato, please take a seat with us," Ryan said as he pulled a chair for Haachama, which she just sat down without a word. Haato tentatively sat down on the opposite side of Haachama. "I'm not sure if you know, but I'm not Ryan. I'm sharing this body with him. My name is Edhas."

"So, you're trapped in in a body you can't control as well?" Haato looked at Edhas with pity.

"It's honestly not that bad," Edhas smiled softly at Haato. "Tell me. Have you ever tried to talk things out with each other?"

"I-," Haato gave Edhas a confused look before looking down as she realized she never had. As soon as Haachama entered her body, Haato was instantly terrified. She had treated Haachama as a monster and a devil without actually hearing out what she had to say.

"What is it that you wanted Haachama?" Edhas turned to the other girl.

"I… I wanted to make friends…" Haachama said quietly. "I wasn't able to stay in the human world without a body… I can't even stay that long now… so I found a body… my magic and personality are shaped by how I am perceived so when you screamed and called me a devil…"

"It's okay," Edhas put a hand on Haachama's shoulder, coating his hand with magic as Haachama's body was made of pure fire. "We can still fix this."

"I'm sorry, Haachama," Haato said, looking up at her counterpart. "I hope we can start over. I didn't know…"

"It's okay…" Haachama looked up at Haato. "Can we still be friends…?"

"Of course," Haato offered Haachama a smile, offering her hand.

"C-can I really…?" Haachama asked, a burning tear forming in her eye.

"Of course," Haato said. "I hope we can coexist this time."

"I would like that," Haachama said as she grabbed Haato's hand before turning into fire. The fire absorbed itself before vanishing. "Thank you, Edhas. Thank you for showing me the right way."

"Well, it takes one to know one, right?" Edhas said. "Let's go somewhere else so you can get used to this."

-

As Edhas and Haato walked out, there was a large thud in front of them as Kiara revealed herself. "WHERE'S HAACHAMA?!"

"Relax, Kiara," Edhas said. "We managed to deal with it."

At that moment, there was a bright flash of light appeared, revealing YAGOO, Suisei, Calli, Ina, Fubuki, Matsuri, Coco, and A-Chan. "The jammer disappeared," YAGOO said, looking at Edhas and Haato. "Where did Haachama go?"

"They just needed to sort out their differences," Edhas said. "Everything's okay now."

"Really?" YAGOO asked. He closed his eyes, sensing for something before opening them after a short moment. "It seems so. Thank you, Edhas."

"Just wanted to help out my kind," Edhas said with a smile.

"It's been a while, YAGOO," Haato offered YAGOO a smile. "Am I still employed?"

"Of course," YAGOO smiled back. "Come, let's go. We need to get you two situated."

-

"Well, that was eventful," Ryan said as he regained control of his body. YAGOO and everyone had just left, leaving Kiara and Ryan alone. Kiara looked at Ryan for a couple of seconds before pounding his head.

"You idiot!" Kiara yelled as Ryan rubbed his head. "You could have died!"

"Eh, that's nothing new," Ryan shrugged it off. "I may not be the best person on this planet, but if I can help someone, I would like to."

"That may be true," Kiara ruffled his hair. "But you are my little egg. And some things never change."

"You're right," Ryan said with a smile. "Some things never do."