Demons (part 2)
"Fuahh!! Wait, what happened?!"
He suddenly woke up on my shoulder, and I got startled easily. I lowered him from my back to let him stand on his own, and he looked so confused as to why he woke up on my back.
Looking at his pretty face when we are this close suddenly reminded me of what happened to him earlier. Immediately, I stuttered on my words.
"W-Well… You got hit by a demon…"
"Uh-huh… and how come I remembered being thrown by you into a wall?"
"… My bad."
I formed a grin as I apologized, and that successfully made Nico laugh. Seeing him laughing again suddenly reminded me of just how serious the situation we got into just now, and the smile I wore quickly disappeared.
"We should find you treatment."
"Oh, don't worry about that! Let's go to our bags."
Nico suggested before he started running, and I followed behind him. His left hand was holding his right upper arm as he ran, possibly because now, more than ever, he is finally feeling in pain. The adrenaline has died down since he fell asleep, so he is feeling the full extent of the pain right now. After all, that wound is not so simple.
He is… so strong at holding the pain. He was fighting the demons while holding that pain too, all while listening to my calls so perfectly. If it was me, I wouldn't be able to think straight and just let those demons gnaw at me.
"There's a first aid kit in the back compartment of my bag. Can you grab it?"
He said to me as soon as we arrived with the bags outside the building, and I quickly kneeled to look for the kit inside his bag. It didn't take long until I found it, since he pretty much told me where it was.
A-Actually, why does he even bring a first aid kit?? To school!?
I placed the first aid kit on the floor and looked through his bag even more. Immediately, Nico cannot handle seeing me searching his bag.
"W-Wait, stop looking--"
In an instant, I found a very interesting item, and I immediately took it out. I lifted it so that he could see, and he quickly looked away.
It's a gun.
A genuine… genuine… Glock.
"What is this?"
"I-It's just in case that the ghosts are actually dangerous, you know--"
"You brought this to school!?!?!"
"I don't know how dangerous the ghosts are going to be, okay!??"
Asfadfasdasdadfadfsdf
I have so many questions, but I decided to keep them for later because his hand was still bleeding. I placed the gun back into his bag and began opening the first aid kit. As I was preparing the bandage, my mind recalls how the short haired lady from earlier fought the demon boss.
She uses a sword to fight it. Not just that, she hacked the demon into pieces within a split second. Certainly, she is not a normal human. Maybe fighting that demon boss with real guns actually made sense, assuming the bullets can kill the demons, that is.
Speaking of guns…
"How did you know that holy water is going to work on demons?"
I asked Nico while I was putting the bandage on his upper arm. He chuckled as he thought about what to answer.
"The internet told me."
"… Seriously?"
"Yeah. The idea of using holy water to cleanse demons has a strong basis, though. Churches have been using them for centuries now. It has been an ancient method to kill demons, so it would make sense if it works."
That… might be true.
"But you knew that from the internet?"
"Hey, don't underestimate the power of geeks! Even a random seventeen year old who watches a lot of videos online can know more about planets than an actual Geo-Scientist!"
"… you mean a Geologist?"
"My point being! Any information that is shared for free is good information. Of course, it's up to us to believe that information or not. And if it has been proven and backed up by a powerful reasoning, I don't see why not trust it! Even if they came from some shut-in internet user that only plays twitter all day long."
Yikes… he actually dissed me, there.
While most information coming from the internet is untrustworthy, his source is actually legitimate. Not only is the location we found was truly haunted, the method to get rid of the demons was also true. Maybe this website that he found wasn't exactly a scam, after all.
"What I didn't understand was… why wasn't the worker the evil ghost?"
Nico asked out of the blue, and I hummed as I gave it a thought.
"This is only a theory of mine, but… after seeing what the true evil demon looked like, I know for certain that the worker was never a demon. He was only a spirit. A naughty spirit, to be exact."
"Oh, I heard that before. It's the type of spirit that does things out of their natural behavior, right?"
So he does know about Naughty Spirits... But, that's all the knowledge he had.
"Yes. They are the kind of spirits who didn't have control over their habits and ended up meddling with the realm of the living. Sometimes, it came from their obsession when they were still alive, or a strong wish that they kept when they died.
For example, the worker died possibly because he was killed by the demon in an accident. After his death, he wandered around the building to scare away all the other workers so they wouldn't go near the demon. And thanks to him, no workers were killed aside from him.
When he was right in your face, all he did was mutter words like 'Leave' or 'Dangerous'. He was telling us to get away from this place because the demon can kill us."
I described fully to Nico about my thoughts, and he understood them easily. He nodded and placed his left hand on his chin as he gave all this a thought.
"So, he wasn't a demon. But instead, a heroic spirit that warns any living human to stay away from the demon?"
"What a way to describe him."
"What other 'Naughty Spirits' have you encountered?"
He suddenly asked, and I came to a halt with my bandaging process. Nico noticed that I suddenly stopped, and he knew that something was going on inside my mind.
"What's wrong?"
He asked, but I was too busy thinking on my own.
Should I… tell him about the truth?
… Let's try it out.
"… There was one naughty spirit that has been annoying me since yesterday. It was playing around in my class. And thanks to it, my whole school life just became even more annoying."
I didn't explain too deeply into it, hoping that Nico would be able to see through the meaning of it. I mean, I didn't have high hopes about it, since I know boys are always so dense when it comes to realizing hidden meanings. But, I just did it… just in case.
Yeah… just in case.
"… The naughty spirit stole the wallet?"
And low and behold. Your most popular boy in school is just so perfect.
Not only did he guess that it was related to the wallet, he even guessed exactly what happened with the wallet. The spirit did steal the wallet, yes. How did you know? How can you be so smart?
I purposely kept my eyes away from him since I just don't want to see him right now. Because if I see his face, then I might've just lost my mind completely again. Not in a bad way, of course.
I must keep these feelings hidden. Being friends with him is okay, but being any closer than that is not.
After all… he and I are just… living in different worlds.
"Something like that."
I answered plainly again, and Nico suddenly laughed. He was laughing a little bit at first, but he then burst into laughter afterwards.
"It's not funny."
"S-Sorry, sorry! It's just… wow, you really like being shunned by everyone, huh?"
… As perfect as he is, his words can be hurtful, sometimes. But, he was not done explaining.
"Well, one thing for certain, I didn't laugh because it was funny. It's because I was happy. The naughty spirit was the one who stole it, but you took the blame because you're trying to return the wallet from the spirit. You didn't say anything, because it was simply impossible to explain, right?
Haha! In the end, you're not a bad person, after all!"
Now… I can't help but turn my eyes at him.
I couldn't stop myself. I just couldn't.
Seeing his grinning face as he stared back at me… made me remember exactly why this guy is the most popular guy from our year.
He is just so… perfect.
And I'm… me. I'm just me.
Hell, I'm the most hated student of the entire year, right now.
I am the polar opposite of him. And yet… his charm still reached me.
Just what exactly is this feeling…?
"Wait, what I said just now was correct, right?"
Nico suddenly second guessed himself, and I had to look away to hide my tears that were close to bursting. I didn't answer him and simply went for my bag. I stood up suddenly without even turning to face him, and I had to wipe the tears from my face before I was able to speak.
This feeling… hurts so much.
In the end… you and I are just impossible.
"Let's… keep what happened today a secret."
I suddenly said to him, but I continued before he was able to say anything.
"I'm sorry that you got badly wounded. That was… my fault. And I also threw you to the wall and made you faint. That one was… obviously my fault. Simply said, sorry for making you go through all of that."
Hearing my apologetic words, Nico couldn't listen anymore and suddenly cuts in.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm the one who dragged you into this. If anything, I think I deserved what I got."
"Haha! I think so too!"
I finally turned my face to him, and he couldn't look more surprised seeing the swollen eyes on my face. My cheeks were so red due to the embarrassment, plus the sun is also going down on the horizon. It just made my face even more red, but this is the one and only time I will be wearing this face, so let's not hold back.
In fact, let's go all out.
"Thank you for this experience, today. I… had a lot of fun."
I said to him, and he hummed as a response. But before he could say anything, I turned away.
"But, let's end it here."
Hearing that, Nico was widely surprised. It was very sudden, after all. And Nico is just not ready.
"What do you mean…?"
"Starting tomorrow, let's act as if we don't know one another. Let's just pretend that today never happened. That's all."
"But, why!? Why are you suddenly…"
Yeah… you know the answer.
I turned around again and showed him my most pitiful smile that I can wear. With a rather small grin and slanted eyes, I apologized.
"Sorry. But please, heed that command. Okay?"
Hearing the painful words coming from my mouth, Nico can only look so pained. I felt super sorry seeing him look so hurt, but this is the best for the both of us.
For the sake of our normal daily lives… let's stay away from each other.
After saying such words, I began walking away from him. I crawled under the thin metal walls and made my escape. Just… get myself as far…
Far… away from him.
After coming home, I headed straight for my bedroom and immediately jumped on the bed while facing the ceiling. I remembered all the things that happened today, but the one thing that stuck inside my head wasn't how scary the demons were or how I could've died today.
It was… his face.
Unnie… everything about him is just so perfect…
The guy who stood at the top of popularity. Versus the girl who is at the very lowest of the rankings.
How can we be so opposite of one another…?
Whatever… let's just hope he knows how to listen to me. No matter how perfect he is, the people around him will not accept someone like me. Never. I'm the type who never cares about what people think of me, but it's a different story when it's about someone I cared about.
I'd never want him to be affected by all those hatred that people have towards me. Which means, I should always keep my distance from him, for his sake.
He and I… are just impossible.
So, please… stop thinking about it.
I deepened my face deeper into the pillow, holding back this painful feeling inside my chest. At this moment, I'd rather just go back and fight more black slime demons with toy water guns than having these feelings. It felt so much more painful than the dread I felt that time.
Let's hope that I can forget these feelings by tomorrow…
.
.
.
.
.
The day has ended, and the morning of a brand new day finally comes.
Thankfully, the painful feeling on my chest has disappeared. I was able to go to school just fine, with no problems.
The only issue was…
"Yo!"
"Eh…?"
9.12 AM, during lunch break. I was eating my lunch when suddenly…
Yeah. His face appeared.
"Why are you here?"
I asked coldly, because he just nonchalantly walked into my classroom, sat on the empty seat in front of me, and just stared at me while I was staring at him blankly.
"Well, I wanted to see my fellow soldier who fought side by side with me!"
"Do you think that this is a joke…?"
"Whaaat~??? What is a joke, I don't understaaand~~."
Seeing him acting so childish like this made me pissed off even more. But, I know his reasoning for being here.
Because now that he is here… I don't feel as lonely anymore while eating my lunch. He came here, disobeying my request from yesterday, with the full intention of harassing me so that I don't push him away anymore. He did all this on purpose.
But, thanks to this…
Deep… Deep down within me, I felt like I'm truly…
Not alone.
But seriously, does he not eat lunch himself?