Chapter 4

Initially, kissing Verkin felt like biting into a banana popsicle. Sure, the flavor on her tongue was nice; the shock from the cold and subsequent numbness, however, was not. The longer Hikari's lips were captured by his, the more she felt icy tendrils creep through her mouth and into the rest of her body. It didn't matter that the hands cupping her face were warm to the touch. She would freeze if this farce of a kiss went on any longer.

Hikari grabbed Verkin's shoulders and shoved him back. She ignored the fact that he let her do so; it was obvious that if he were against her pushing him, he wouldn't have moved. Verkin licked his lips as he pondered on her taste.

"Well, he finally decided, "your soul didn't taste as I expected. I thought a high school girl would be relatively sweet. You're a bit bitter but generally blander than I thought you would be." Satisfied with his analysis, Verkin wandered towards her window and peeked outside through the curtains. He was curious if anything changed since his last summoning, but there seemed to be no significant advancements like flying cars or hover shoes—a pity.

Hikari, who up to this point was busy rubbing her closed hand against her lips to force warmth back into them, startled by his statement and whipped her head around to look at him.

"What do you mean my soul didn't taste as you expected," she asked, torn between panic and frustration. She never expected Verkin to kiss her so suddenly moments before. Who cares that he tasted like her favorite treat? Hikari didn't say he could kiss her, and he never asked in the first place. Also, souls weren't a part of the deal she agreed to. Did he just eat a piece for the fun of it, or was there some unmentioned clause built-in as a natural part of the contract?

Verkin was pretty sure he didn't want the irritation associated with ignoring her questions yet, so he turned away from his view to give her his attention once more.

"Relax, dear," he explained, "I did not devour your soul if that is what has you upset. I simply got to taste it because of the nature of this deal. I may not be a demon of Lust, but I am aware of how their contracts are sealed. Summoning me for my usual type of job would require you to give me a sacrifice to eat to whet my appetite or something along those lines."

Hikari's stomach rolled at the idea of killing anything with her own hands, whether it be for a demon deal or not. Even so, his answer did give her more things to think about. For starters, she prioritized hashing out more of the details of their deal in the morning. Things like background and what he did and didn't have permission to do, so their story would be straight and he couldn't do whatever he pleased with her. The time for long talks already passed; if it got any later, Hikari wasn't sure she'd wake for school in the morning. Mind made up, she decided enough was enough for one night.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. First of all, maybe let's not talk about sacrificing animals before bedtime, okay," Hikari asked rhetorically. She climbed under the sheets, ready to try and unwind the best she could. It occurred to her she had no idea where this Verkin character was supposed to sleep, so once she was comfortable, she mumbled from beneath her bedding, "What do you do at night anyway? Are you going to sleep or find something else to do for the rest of the night?"

Verkin turned her question in his head as he tried to determine why she bothered to ask in the first place.

"Well," he inquired in return, "let me ask you this: what do you expect me to eat while I reside here? I see you don't enjoy speaking of gruesome topics before bed, so you should treat that question like it's rhetorical."

With that said, Verkin opened the window and slithered out into the dark. Hikari sat up as fast as she could to try and see where he went, but shifting curtains left in his wake made it too difficult. She debated getting out of bed to stop the draft but considered it a lost cause. She didn't need him breaking her window trying to get back in.

Trying to ignore her growing sense of unease, she forced herself back to her previous position and shoved her head under the pillow. She didn't want to know what Gluttony demons got up to. Ignorance is bliss, and she didn't feel like having nightmares dreaming about his nightly activities. In the end, it was no use.

That night, Hikari's dreams were filled with whispers and laughter and jeers. She dreamed of drowning in a pit of gore so slick she couldn't pull herself out. The ever-flowing blood kept her from getting any kind of grip on the walls. Somehow, the pit walls grew higher and higher until they were entirely out of her reach. Her legs kicked as long as she could, but despite her desperation, she felt herself falter. The last thing she saw was Verkin grinning down at her as she drowned.

She dreamed that she was eating lunch with her friends. Hikari was the only one without lunch, but that was okay. Everyone offered to let her eat as much as she desired and offered up what they had. She ate Sakura's panda-themed bento and Ren's private bag of snacks. Nanami's school provided lunch and Miro's curry buns followed right after, but she was still hungry. They assured her there was no problem; she was free to keep eating because what else were friends for? She started with Ren. He and Sakura were her closest friends, so of course, they wouldn't mind losing a finger or two. Nanami was next on the menu; her glasses ended up being the only piece of her left. Her appetite made her eat and eat and eat, covering their desks with black ichor until only Miro was left. Miro watched her with a bemused smile the entire time, and when Hikari turned to her at last, Miro's smile changed into a face-splitting grin.

"Who else," the shorter, grinning girl wondered aloud as her body began to break apart, "do you need to ruin to feel satisfied?"

Miro's parting words echoed in Hikari's head as she snapped awake with a gasp. Haunted by the girl's question and the sensation of blood covering her hands, Hikari sat up and drew up her knees to her chest. She hugged her legs and hid her face behind her legs, unwilling to face the day after those all too vivid night terrors. Shifting slightly so she could peek at her alarm clock from the corner of her eye, she saw she was up far too early. Her alarm wasn't set to go off for another hour at least.

Sleep never felt so unappealing. Instead of facing the possibility of more nightmares, Hikari sat in her bed and forced herself to relax one breath at a time. Focusing on breathing felt easier than allowing last-minute regrets to flood her mind so early in the day. Who knew vivid nightmares were a side effect of making demon deals?