Chapter Three: The Demon in the Room (Part 1)

God... I wanna... die...

No joking. That was the first thought I had when the speed of the airbike finally hit 200 mph, even the drone couldn't keep up with us any longer, eventually it overheated and crashed right into one of the many skyscrapers of NYC, leaving us with a bang, or rather... an explosion.

I swore to Father Almighty, I saw it with my very own eyes that the light was still on on that floor, which means some poor corporate slave in there might have gotten their ass flown across the room at this point.

"F*cking hell, I can't get away with that..." Leo muttered to himself as his airbike flew past the building. Somehow I got a feeling that this supreme law enforcer who had been controlling that drone already knew of its last fate and also the damage it caused, hence this mad lad figured out in an instance what kind of fate was there awaiting him at the end of the road.

Yeah, you better not get away with that...

"Hey, Adel! if she asks you what happened, just say you slept your ass off all the way there, OK?!"

"Uh-huh..." 'You know, we have social media and all the corporates have surveillance drones. You're toast, kitty boy...' While I was having that thought, my face was already back on his jacket's fur, if he wanted me to sleep, then I'd gladly do so. Falling asleep was one of my special abilities anyway.

However, talking about his fluffy fur, even though it felt so good to rub my face on it, I should refrain myself from doing it, shouldn't I? Since... his fur was stroking his neck and the sensation could drive this kitty boy 'hungry', again.

So I had decided to lift my head up, I wouldn't take the risk.

"Umm... Why did you stop doing that?"

"..."

But this boy didn't even hesitate to express his own discontentment after I had decided to save myself, nor hide the tone of disappointment in his voice. Such a question caught me utterly dumbfounded, I just had to glance at his face in the rear mirror to see what kind of expression he had at that moment he opened his mouth.

Thus, the sight of him blushing did catch me off guard, right then and there.

"I hate it when I can't feel you near me. Just... don't stop doing that."

"..."

Man, I didn't even know how to feel, hearing such a bold statement. Two hours ago, we were total strangers, now he talked like we had been in love for years.

How come?

"I'm sorry. I just don't feel safe, Leo." But if he decided to be bold, then I should be too, just once I think I should have some courage. As I replied to him, I also moved my body farther away from him, letting him know right away that... that he should take it slow? That I basically got kidnapped by him and him saying things like this made him sound like he's a deranged criminal?

"I would never hurt you... at least not so bad. I mean..."

"How would you know that? We've met for 2 hours, not 2 years."

Right after I had said that, Leo just went completely silent, like he started to get irritated and didn't want us to bicker over such a topic.

Still, that face of him in the rear mirror hinted at a different kind of emotion, his eyes, they were full of hurt.

I wondered why.

*****

"Hey, Adel."

When Leo called out to me after how long I couldn't even guess, waking me up from my shallow slumber, I didn't even know what to say when I find my face pressed on his shoulder again. Apparently, I dozed off while I was still pondering, and surely I had been sleeping like a log ever since.

As an adult, that was indeed embarrassing... Good thing the kitty boy didn't laugh at me for not being able to keep myself away from him...

Anyhow, I guess I shouldn't dwell on such a trivial matter. "Where are we now...?" I asked Leo as soon as I could fully regain my consciousness.

"Outside the City... Less than an hour and we'll be there at the HQ."

"Oh, I see..." 'Outside'? It had been that long, huh?

...

Outside...?

"What do you mean? Outside?" While I was asking that question, suddenly I could feel the air being cooler than usual, all around us there were no signs of buildings anywhere, only the grassland and the long roads, hence my eyes automatically darted to the sky, although it was hard to tell, I could sense that the dark sea full of stars didn't look as black as the other days. There was no... violet hue.

No sign of the gargantuan barrier on our heads.

"Leo...?"

At that moment, I couldn't help but call for the one who had flown us all the way here. S-Somehow I thought I'm starting to freak out--

"What is it?"

"W-What do you mean by outside? THAT Outside?"

"There's only one Outside?"

"Y-You can't be serious...?!"

I swore if my hands weren't cuffed like this, I would launch myself at this crackhead at that instance.

"The Outside where there're demons lurking everywhere, where we could die any minute?! Are you out of your mind?!" While I was shouting those words into his ears, my eyes also darted at his face in the mirror so freaking fast, this time the look of irritation in his eyes was as plain as day. T-This brat--?!

"B*tch, you could die any minute anywhere... Stop being so f*cking dramatic..."

"NO! YOU STOP BEING INSANE! EVERYONE DIES OUT HERE! WE'RE GONNA DIE OUT HERE!"

Couldn't this brat remember?! Five years ago, one-third of the population of the states got killed HERE outside of the barriers! Half the people of the state of New York and tens of thousands of people from the nearby smaller states had to evacuate into New York City, causing 80% of the whole city to become a stinky slum! AND THIS BRAT THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO VENTURE BEYOND THE BARRIER?! TO THE OUTSIDE?!

"LEO?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! TURN BACK NOW! WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!"

"GRRR?! YOU LOUSY MOTHERF*CKER?! YOU TELL ME WHY THE F*CK WOULD WE DIE?!"

"DEMONS, OF COURSE?!"

"THEN YOU TELL ME WHERE THE F*CK ARE THOSE DEMONS AT?! WHERE???!!!"

"WELL, THEY--!!!"

However, when I turned my head to look for those demons, once again I got dumbfounded.

"...?"

There was no demon, not even a single goblin.

Neither on the roads nor in the grassland. The only things standing were the broken holographic green road signs. Here in the sky, there's no harpy or dragon. Just us two.

Nothing that could be called danger.

"...???"

Such realization rid me of all speeches. I couldn't speak. I just froze at the sight.

"Shrimpy Adel, as expected, you don't know sh*t!"

Then my shoulders literally jumped when Leo shouted those words. The words 'Why?' and 'How?' kept swirling around in my head.

Why?

Why was there no demon?

"Here, the Outside, it's our playground; the Hunters' hunting ground. We hunt out here so that ya'll can sleep soundly in there!"

My eyes blinked rapidly at Leo's words. I-I still couldn't understand.

"Leo, p-please explain..." So I decided to ask him outright, he MUST clarify his own words, or else I-I--

"Stupid Adel! Have you never noticed that there's no Hunter showing off their superpowers everywhere in the City?! There's no news about demons killing people in the City! It's because most of us are out here! Hunting demons for ya'll f*cking weaklings!"

"...?!"

And although he had clarified it for me, it didn't help. I still found myself completely struck dumb.

"B-But why?"

At that second, Leo didn't even bother to scoff at me for asking and asking nonstop. His eyes in the mirror had the words 'You pathetic ass' written on them plain and clear.

"You really know nothing, do you? Well, guess I have to call you Stupid Adel instead!"

"..."

Amid the silence, I just had to reply 'Stop calling me names, you silly kitty.' but of course, in reality, I simply kept my mouth shut and accepted my title.

"Listen, the reason was nothing complicated. The nearest Abyss' portals - the portals where demons got summoned into our realm - lie between New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. They're in the interstate areas, so we decided to build our New York sector HQ far from the City - so that we can hunt them down before they got into the City. For you civilians don't have to live in fear and simply enjoy your peace!"

"But we already have that barrier...?"

"For f*ck's sake, Adel?! The barrier can't do sh*t! The military can't do sh*t! Their f*cking expensive bullets can't even pierce the demons' skin! The barriers all across the states are just big ass monkey shows for ya'll to feel at peace when you see them!"

"The truest truth is it's just us Hunters fighting our asses off for the gov and you idiots!!!"

...

W-What he had just said...

It means everything was all an enormous lie?

The moment I had reached that conclusion, I thought my walnut-sized brain did stop processing for a good whole minute. No kidding, my eyeballs froze in their track. But... there was no reason for me to not believe. This boy came from a supranational organization, and he was literally a god walking among us. Believing in him sounded much better than believing in the gov at this point...

"...I understand now."

"Good! Now, don't you dare whine about demons again! You've survived because of us and you will survive because of me!"

Well, I guess it has to be like that.

"OK, Leo. Guess you have to protect me from now on... But can I ask you one more question?"

"Fine! Ask all you want!" I was not so sure if it was just me but... I thought I hear Leo's voice shake as he said that. Was it because of the word 'protect'? Hmm...

Never mind. One thing that could be certain was we got all the time we need to figure that out.

So let us focus on this important question I had first.

"What about those wisps in the City? How did they get in there?"

"..."

This time, the kitty boy went all quiet. When I took a glance at the mirror, I saw that he had frowned. Before he opened his mouth again, he even took a deep breath. ...It seemed that this question was as important to him as it was important to me.

"We always try our best... But lately, the motherf*ckers started to go batsh*t crazy, they kept pouring into the City nonstop. And there are no Hunters of Rhode Island or Hunters of Connecticut. The nearest sector still standing on the Eastern side is the Chicago sector and they are already busy with their internal crisis. So it's just us, Hunters of New York, fighting the ever-increasing demons."

"We can't possibly hunt all of them down... not anymore."

When Leo had finished all of his words, he then took another deep breath. I must say that I could feel the uneasiness just from hearing him breathe.

"So you tried your best, but they still got into the City."

"..."

Therefore when our conversation had reached that point, it seemed that the boy no longer wanted to say anything.

Silence quickly filled in between us.

And I didn't think I should press him into saying anything more than that. I was fine just listening to the wind, gazing at the dazzling night sky full of so many stars I hadn't seen for so long, in the City, the sky was so dark under the violet hue. Even the smells out here were much better, one of them could be the smell of our planet full of green, I don't know, just like many other people in this era, I started to forget what grassland smells like, still what I was sure of was that... they help me feel the Earth.

Somehow it made me grateful that everything I had ever known was all a lie.

Guess I must thank Leo for bringing me out here... well, more like dragging my ass out here. But of course, I couldn't say that out loud, or else this boy might misinterpret my thanks and think that I enjoyed having him break into my office.

Anyway, thanks, Leo.

...

"There's always something you shouldn't know about, Adel."