Now, I know what you're thinking. A demon, having "feelings" for a human? That's unheard of, by golly.

Well, we have a name for those types of demons that are interested in humans. Sympathizers. They feel for the humans and this is their downfall. They can't be cruel and unforgiving if they have "feelings" for the subject. It just doesn't work.

Of course, as you know, I was labeled as one and exiled. One of the better punishments seeing as how death is an alternative. And no, I don't have feelings. It's just rare a human decides to interact with me. Don't believe me? Then we shall see.

The morning breeze was cool and refreshing as I stood up from my chair.

"Everyday is a new one... what will this one hold?"

The start is always the same. Wander the streets and attempt to look normal. Glamour helps the most.

I had lost the ability to use magic a while ago. You see, a demons magical affinity comes from Hell. When a demon is exiled or leaves, they don't strip you of the affinity. It just slowly drains away as you use it.

I had used mine wastefully. Summoning horrors and shades to watch the humans scream. It's dwindled to little to nothing and the only spell I can use without pain is glamours.

Demons can still cast spells without a "charge", it just inflicts pain. The more powerful, the more painful... or deadly in some instances. Regardless, I didn't really attempt anymore.

The streets were relatively empty today. It was strange. Usually there's large crowds winding their way through opposing crowds and streets to their respective areas. Today it was only a couple crowds though. Middle of a business week and there's almost no one around... makes sense right? It doesn't. Not even a little bit. It didn't matter.

I continued down the street in search of my next victim. It was all going smoothly until I spotted a group of men dragging a woman into an alleyway, her legs kicking out into the air. With a sigh, I made my way towards the alley and peered in from the street.

"Give us your money lady!", one of the thugs yelled at her.

She whimpered and threw her purse at him, nailing him in the jaw. The thug didn't look too happy about being hit with a purse. He tossed the purse behind him and stepped forward.

"That's it... you're gonna wish you didn't do that", he said as he reached down toward his belt buckle.

The lady struggled more now but the grip on the thug holding her was too tight. I thought this would be a good moment to intervene seeing as how just watching would be boring.

"So, what do we have here?", I asked as I sauntered over.

"Back off bub, this ain't your concern", the main thug said.

"Well it's certainly not yours either", I replied smoothly.

He snapped his fingers and his two buddies pulled knives out of their pockets.

"Take care of him", he said, "I have a whore to attend to."

The first idiot with the knife swung at me and I sidestepped away from him into the second idiot. The second guy wasn't expecting that, I guess, and he swung a bit too late. Like 5 seconds too late. I already had the first guy's arm incapacitated when the second one went for another swing.

I threw his buddy in front of him and he obviously miscalculated his swing. He made a nice cut down his friend's face and as his buddy cried out in pain, I rushed toward him. I threw him against the wall and turned to look at the main thug. His eyes were focused on me and he was mad.

"You two dumbasses really couldn't handle goody two shoes here?", he shouted at his comrades. "I'll just do it myself then..."

I wasn't expecting him to be skilled with a knife, but he was significantly better than his two lackeys. He swung and I barely had time to move before his second strike. I pinned his arm and kicked him away, giving me time to recover. He yelled and ran back at me. Now, just so everything is clear, the woman was slumped against the wall, thug boss was charging me, and his two lackeys were behind me. I had a genius idea.

As big baddie charged, I fell backwards and flipped him over me into his two buddies. He had a look of surprise on his face realizing I'd played him for a fool as he flew into them. I proceeded to the woman, as that was the main reason I was here.

"Are you okay?", I asked her cautiously.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and nodded her head. It wasn't even three seconds before her eyes widened in terror and I heard a loud bang ring out through the alley. The sound of screams and footsteps followed.

A shocking pain erupted through my back and into my chest. I grunted and coughed up a deep crimson blood onto the asphalt of the alley. The screams were the people on the sidewalk and the lady in front of me.

The bang was that coward who tried to rape her pulling a gun on me. And that pain was the bullet burrowing through me.

My vision was getting blurry as I stood up to walk away. I only made it about three steps before I hit the floor and blacked out. It was peaceful almost. Except for the excruciating pain. My body was like a thrown out newspaper in the wind, just going along with no concerns. I wasn't dead. At least I hope not. That would've been unfortunate. But seeing as how I'm a demon, it wasn't likely.

I don't know how long I was out for, but I awoke to a bright light. Too bright. I had to squint to make out my surroundings.

I appeared to be in a hospital. The room was bathed in a blinding white light. The window was open just a crack but I could tell it was late afternoon. Almost night. There was a side table next to me and a chair in the corner with a woman sitting in it.

I recognized her as the chick in the alley, although she wasn't crying this time. She seemed to be examining me closely as I awoke. My shirt had been stripped off my body so they could treat the bullet wound. I reached around my back feeling for the wound and eventually found what felt like a bandaged area. The woman stood up and approached me.

I eyed her.

"I-I just wanted to thank you... for the alley", she said softly.

She was pretty, in a elfin way. Small, elegant body with large eyes. Her brown hair haloed around the rest of her body to about her waist.

"My name is Serena", she said as she held out her hand with a smile, "What's yours?"

She was being unnaturally friendly. I guess she felt it obligatory after I saved her.

"It's not important", I replied as I sat up in my bed.

She looked at me and giggled quietly.

"Well of course it is. It's your name."

I never gave my name out. I always just threw it under "unnecessary information". People in this world didn't care. But she did... For some reason.

"It's Ryuji", I grunted.

She smiled and took my hand. "Well it's nice to meet you, Ryuji."

She informed me I'd been asleep for a day and the doctors would be back in about an hour for a routine check. I started to get out of bed and she placed her hands on my chest.

"What are you doing?", she asked, surprised.

"I'm leaving. Isn't it obvious. I don't need this", I responded as I pushed past her towards my shirt.

My shirt now had a small hole in the back and was partially stained with blood. I slipped it on anyway as it's better than roaming around shirtless. Serena looked at me, examining my movements. Finally she stepped towards me.

"It appears I can't stop you. So I might as well try to help", she said. "My apartment is close by, you can rest there."

I internally laughed. "It's fine. Really."

I tried to convince her but she wouldn't take no for an answer. I finally caved and we started our quest to sneak out of the hospital.