~ Chapter 10: The Demoness’ Lair ~

[Michael’s point of view]

Syliar led me through the alleys of that part of Tokyo, and I followed her quietly. Once more, I found myself in the position of being unable to say a single word. The only thing I could do was watch her back and swaying hips. I found it hard to believe it myself, but with each moment I spent in her presence, the more I felt entranced by her very existence. I began to feel my heart swaying in her direction, beating fast every time she spoke to me, but not out of fear. No, I wasn’t afraid of her, I was captivated.

Eventually, we reached a rather tough looking neighborhood filled with a lot of garbage, graffiti, and tattooed mean-looking individuals. I tried my best not to make eye contact with any of them. If I did and considering my incredibly good luck with those sorts of things, I was sure to get picked on by them. Then again, another thought popped into my mind in that moment. Syliar was there with me.

Looking up at her back covered by her long, red hair, I felt a strange feeling pulsing in my chest. It was confidence that around her I was safe. Still, I could not understand why I felt like this towards her. Normally, I should have felt frightened, maybe even horrified by her actions and combat prowess. She was a woman holding no remorse from killing a fellow human being. But then again, was she even human?

In that moment, the image of her winged self popped up in my mind. I looked up and saw through the threads of her red hair the bare spot on her back from where those wings had sprouted. She was not a human, that much I could tell, but if she wasn’t one, then what was she?

As I tried to pester my mind into finding some sort of answer to these questions, we finally reached our final destination. It was an old abandoned building built sometime around the late Showa Period (before 1989) and abandoned as early as the first years of the Heisei Period (after 1989). Some parts of the building looked as though they were ready to crumble down any time now. Cracks and mold were present everywhere. The graffiti on its sides were the only things giving the building some color, but all of them wrote down the words: oni, bakemono, youkai. There was even a painting of a classical oni eating a child on the left wall. From the first floor all the way to the last one, all the windows were broken and replaced with wooden planks. The front entrance had it worse. Locks, chains, and planks kept the doors closed like somebody feared some sort of monster escaping from the depths of that creepy building.

“We’re here.” said Syliar.

I blinked surprised and looked at her to see if she was actually saying the truth or just messing around with me.

She stepped forward and raised her hand in front of the door. Immediately the chains fell off, the locks clicked open, and the planks fell on the ground. With an eerie squeak, the doors opened and welcomed us inside the darkness. The clouded sky and late hour only worsened the creepy feeling it gave off.

“Ah! Nothing like dust and rust to make you feel like you are back home! Add blood and guts, and it will be just perfect!” she said after taking in a deep breath.

For a moment there, I thought she was kidding. The air was far from anything welcoming. It smelled of dust and rust mixed with the putrid scent of old garbage and cadaver. I feared the building might have been the location of a recent murder, but considering who I was with, it was highly likely to be so.

“Are we actually going to go in there?” I asked cautiously.

“Of course! Come on!” she said.

Syliar stepped into the darkness. With a gulp in my throat, I followed her. It was so dark, I couldn’t see a single thing. I had no idea how she was able to see where she was stepping, but I tried my best to stand right behind her.

“Ugh! Sorry!” I said when I accidentally bumped into her.

I almost got knocked back on my behind.

“Oh? You can’t see... Alright, let me turn on the lights.” she said.

A moment later, the entire place was illuminated by a weird light. It shined so brightly I was forced to close my eyes. It took me a few seconds to adjust, but when I could finally look around, I noticed something rather strange. All around me there was light, yet there was not even a single candle or functioning light bulb to be seen in sight. It was very weird.

“This way, I think.” she said and then pulled my hand, escorting me through those eerie corridors.

I don’t know which was scarier: to stumble around in pitch darkness or to clearly see the inside ‘decorations’ of the building. Everything around us looked as though it had been turned upside down by a hurricane. There were even bullet holes in some of the walls. A bed with a rusted katana stabbed in the middle was left in the hallway, near the entrance, and a broken table could be seen not that far away from it. Rusty and broken chair frames were scattered all over the place, and the doors to the rooms were either shut tight or half broken as if someone grabbed an axe and decided to unleash his inner psychopath upon them.

As we traveled through the hallway, I tried my best not to peek inside the possible hunted rooms. Eventually, she decided to take a left turn and to my surprise, we went down on some stairs. Considering the fact that we were at the first floor what was left below us could only be the basement or some sort of jail.

I gulped, but I continued to follow Syliar in complete and absolute silence.

At the lower level, we walked to the left, and to my surprise, we were met with a huge metal door. I looked at Syliar. If that was her hiding place, it was certainly well hidden. Just like before, she lifted her hand up and the lock on the door clicked.

“Sensors?” I asked.

“Magic!” she replied with a smile.

Her answer confused me, but I decided not to poke around any further. If she wanted to, she could have killed me whenever she pleased. I was of no threat to her.

“Welcome to my humble crib!” she stated as she pushed the door and opened it.

What welcomed us was a putrid scent of garbage and dust as well as a couple of rats. The moment they sensed our presence, they squeaked and dashed out of sight. Confused and surprised at the same time, I looked up at her and wondered if she was actually serious about living there?

Syliar stepped in and disarmed herself off her two katanas. She threw them on the bed and then stretched her arms.

Walking right behind her, I looked around and placed a hand over my mouth and nose. I almost hurled because of the rancid smell. Meanwhile, she picked up the remote from a degrading couch and turned on the old TV. It was so old it had a tube. Looking to the left, I saw a pile of trash reaching up to the ceiling like a mountain trying to scratch the skies with its peak. To the left was a stack of smelly unwashed clothes. Cockroaches swarmed all over the two piles.

While Syliar browsed through the channels for something interesting to watch, I took a look around the room in search of some cleaning tools. I did find some, but they looked as though someone had cast a dome around them, besides dust, no other sort of filth or dirty critter would dare to approach them. I knelt on one knee and looked at the labels. They had been bought years ago, but for what reason? Anyone could easily tell that it certainly was not to clean up this dump.

“Is there a vacuum cleaner around here?” I asked.

“Somewhere over there. Oh! This guy killed a kitten with his bare hands! I like him!” she said with a giggle.

A lot of questions regarding her sanity went through my mind in that moment, but none of them dared to make themselves heard in front of her. For what I knew, she could have been aiming for my life next. So, I let my cleaning desire take hold of me and searched for the vacuum cleaner.

She wasn’t kidding though; it was placed under a pile of old pizza boxes and some used underwear. While carefully holding onto the cardboard boxes, out of which some were half melted by filth and age, I managed to push aside the underwear and the rest of the junk. The vacuum cleaner was an old piece, but it appeared to be still functional. Looking back at the state of the apartment, I wondered whether or not it was actually brand new. At least, someone still paid the power bill around here.

“You mind if I clean this place?” I asked as I turned around.

In that moment, my jaw dropped to the ground, and I blushed as hard as I could. In front of me stood a topless Syliar. She was in the middle of taking off that tight leather suit of hers. She did not even mind that I, a healthy teenage boy, was in the same room as her. Then again, it should not have mattered that much, especially when considering the way people usually acted around me.

“Oh? Sure, go ahead! I’m going to take a shower.” she said as she pulled down her pants and threw her panties aside.

I gulped. She was a real beauty and treat for the eyes. That was a fact that could not be denied no matter what sort of psychopathic lunatic she actually was. As for me, there was nothing I could do but stare at her while she made her way to the bathroom.

“Don’t peek, ecchi!” she said with a cute voice right before she entered.

If she did not show me that shy gaze in her eyes and then winked at me, maybe her words wouldn’t have had such an effect on me, but like this, I could only find myself gulping on air and nodding like an idiot.

Once she was gone from my sight, and I heard the door close, I shook my head.

“That was... dangerous!”

Looking down, I found myself smiling. What just happened was a first to me. It was strange. Up until then, maybe that strange and dangerous woman was the only one who acted normal around me, or at least close to normal. Nonetheless, it was an emotion, a feeling, which I truly enjoyed.

Without further ado, I picked up the vacuum cleaner and walked over to the cleaning tools. I picked up a small box with surgical gloves inside and covered my hands with them. I had no idea what sort of garbage laid in wait around there. I had to be prepared!

The next thing I did was to take the trash bags and start filling them up. There was no telling how long Syliar was going to stay inside the bathroom, so I hurried up a little. It was during those moments when my mind went back to the events of that day.

I went to school early in the morning. I missed the buss and got there late as usual. The teacher scolded me for an innumerable number of reasons. The school bullies picked on me again. The teacher joined them. The girls laughed at me and then the classes were over. Various unfortunate accidents happened along the way until I reached home. I got chased by the yakuza and JSDF. I met Syliar and then... things ended up with me cleaning her room.

Thinking about it, I realized that during those moments, I changed little by little. Right now, I wasn’t holding any fear inside my heart. Being around Syliar felt normal. When I remembered her smile and the way she looked at me, I felt my heart beating faster.

Was I falling in love with her? Or better yet, was I already in love with her?

I asked myself these questions countless times as I continued with my perseverant cleaning. I bagged all the trash, scrubbed the floor, removed the decomposing food remains from the couch, and vacuumed the room. Basically, I did an entire sweep of the place in a manner of just twenty or thirty minutes. I worked faster than usual.

There was still a lot more to do, but for now, it was enough. However, as I was placing the cleaning tools back where I found them, I stopped for a moment and looked back at the room.

A single question popped in my mind: Why did I clean this place?

I could have simply let it stay as it was, no one ordered me to do anything, yet I acted on my own. Maybe she liked it dirty, and thanks to my meddling, I was going to make her angry.

I shook my head and clenched my fists. My mind was in a blur. Thoughts clashed, and I had no idea how to survive their ripples. In the end, what woke me from that moment of panic was her voice.

“Ah! That felt good!” said Syliar as she walked out of the bathroom with only a towel sticking to her hot naked wet body.

Turning my head, I got caught in her gaze. She smirked and narrowed her eyes at me. I blushed.