Hirato was sitting on a bench somewhere in the city. He didn't actually know where because he simply ran somewhere without looking where. He had just stormed throughout the streets until the darkness came and then saw a bench underneath a street lamp were he sat down. He stared on his feet and felt pretty much miserable, close to crying but the tears wouldn't just come out. He just felt so empty inside right now. This emptiness was a lack of something missing... Hirato didn't want to feel the pain that the past few events would cause, but feeling empty was even more excruciating... He wasn't afraid of the pain but he simply didn't want to feel it at all because he knew, if he did, he would end up destroyed completely. Was this how it felt like to lose somebody? Loss wasn't just describing the fact of losing someone by death, but it was evident to all. He lost Shin, and it was just now when he realized that he never meant what he yelled into his face. It was true, Takashi was much more worried about him than Shin was, but Shin had always helped him doing his homework or some kind of presentations, he read them through to check them and gave him tips about what he could improve. He also listened to Hirato's worries about his best friend, Seiji, so Hirato knew it was unfair to say that Shin was a bad parent. That, in fact, wasn't true... He had always listened to him. He knew, under normal circumstances, Hirato would drown in a mountain of emotions and feelings and it would be a chore to go through them all... But somehow, everything got just sucked into the void dwelling inside him, and it got pulled down and away. Hirato knew that, somehow, he was angry. But he was also sad... being both at the same time was pretty awkward. He kept staring at his feet as a rain drop hit his head. He shrugged and looked up. The sky above him had turned even darker, clouding the stars above. It started raining. Pretty much fitting to his current mood, he thought. He didn't want to go back. Nothing would change at all. But what was with Takashi? He couldn't just leave him there, could he...? Somehow, he had absolutely no freaking idea what he should do... His eyes went back to the ground beneath, to the gray stones, where the water started to gather to puddles. He had that breaking feeling within his heart, he didn't feel like anything physically was wrong, but it was still there. Was this even worse than feeling everything pouring down on him?

He heard steps approaching. Shoes walking through the puddles. The sound was near as it muted. ".... Hirato?" Hirato didn't want to lift up his head to see who the fuck was talking to him, but he did it after all. He raised his head up and looked into another person's face. Somehow... this person seemed more or less familiar to him. This scarlet hair with the light blue strands within... Only the face seemed different... The skin was pale, the eyes red like his hair and some strange, black line was visible under his eye. "....Seiji...?" He carefully asked. The other person nodded slightly. "Yeah, it's been a while..." Hirato stared at him for some moment. His former best friend who he had thought to have disappeared, being probably even dead, was standing right here, in front of him, as if nothing happened?! "Seiji... you... you're still...?", "...Alive?" Seiji nodded. "Seems like it, huh?", "What happened to your face? What's with these black.... things?", "This?" He pointed at the black mark. Hirato nodded. "... it's nothing, really. But... what's with your face, Hirato? You're bruised." Hirato lowered his head, turning his eyes down again. "...I was beaten up...", "By who?", "Shin...", "Wasn't that one of these guys who adopted you?", "Yeah... he was drunk...", "Poor being..." Seiji knelt down in front of him and put three fingers under Hirato's chin to lift it up so their eyes met again. "... Your eyes..." Seiji mumbled nearly so quiet that Hirato was barely able to hear it through the rain. "What....? Seiji, don't act so creepy...", "..." Seiji carefully wiped over Hirato's left cheek, where the marks had appeared. "...Hey, Hirato... Do you believe in tales?" he then asked, taking his hand away. Hirato narrowed his eyes. "In tales...? What are you talking about, Seiji...? They are fantasy stories, there's no way I consider them real in any kind of manner." Seiji smiled slightly. "Yeah, they are hard to believe aren't they? But not everything inside them is a lie.", "Wait a sec... What?", "Some of the things mentioned in fairy tales do indeed exist... Such as magic.", "Against what kind of wall did you walk with full speed, Seiji...?" Hirato asked. Seiji smiled. "...Well, my name actually is Agurith now, but... you can keep calling me like that if you like.", "Agurith...? Why did you change your name?", "Because... my humanity's gone." He looked at the ground. "Break." A crack appeared in the asphalt of the street. Hirato stared at it. "What the...?", "That's my magic." Seiji explained. "I say things and then, they happen. It's Curse Magic, ultimately... And I'm not really happy with having it up to now." Hirato was unable to say anything. "Truth is..." Seiji straightened again. "...Satoru and Masato's deaths both are my fault because I wished them to die exactly like they did. I didn't intend to kill them, but I did and I cannot undo it again. Curses and taunts thrown at others are what gives rise to collective evils in a person." He looked at his hand. "Their taunt has driven me into a very ruin of myself, and now look at what I am... A demon. I became a demon through their acts of taking me down...", "A demon...?" Hirato stared at him. Seiji smiled sadly. "See these little horns on my head?" He pointed at them. "They show what I am now. I can make them disappear completely though... or enlarge them. And you, Hirato... are one too.", "You're kidding me.", "I'm not. Look into the puddles." He pointed at a puddle on the street. Hirato stood up and did so. He stared at his own face... but he looked into bloody red eyes and then, he noticed the marks underneath his eyes. "What the...?!", "You've endured this pretty long, didn't you? I guess you must've held all of your anger inside.", "Yeah, but... why...?", "Strong, negative emotions combined with suffering can turn a human into a demon if it's strong enough..." Seiji said. "In your case, it was strong enough.", "But... I've never asked for it...", "Neither did I." Seiji pulled up his overall and revealed some pale scars all over his torso. "Can you see this?", "What have you done?!" Hirato asked in shock. "... I used a razor blade to scratch myself... in order to numb the pain. Mental pain is way more painful than physical one and I tried to increase it to distract myself from the way my soul broke, but it didn't help. I decided not to do it on my arms because it would've been very obvious... But because it never stopped, I even considered about killing myself to end my misery." Hirato's jaw dropped. "...But... why did you never tell me...?", "I didn't want to make you concerned about me but I know it wasn't fair at all. Friends don't keep secrets from each other..." He pulled his overall down again. "...The scars are starting to fade already. And I think it's pretty good they do... Anyway, what do you want to do now, Hirato?", "This is all way too much for me.", "I can understand. As a demon, it's not save for you, especially when you don't yet know what kind of magic you have.", "Magic...?", "Every demon has a certain magic power. Mine is Curse Magic. So, as you are a demon now, you also have one. I cannot tell you what kind of magic that is, you have to figure that out by yourself. Anyway, I know a place where you're save until you did.", "What's with Takashi? I can't just leave without telling him!", "You have to decide that by yourself." Seiji said. "If you want to tell him the truth, do it. But give him and yourself a little bit of time. I'd suggest you come with me first... and you tell him when you feel like the time is right." Hirato looked down and said nothing. He just nodded after a while.