Asylum

- What are you waiting for? Come on, sit down with me~

Tadomeki looked at Akari with disbelief. Even though he saw her not too long ago, he couldn't believe his eyes.

- I don't understand... Wh-Where are we? Is this even real? What... - he paused as Akari stood up and approached him. After a few seconds of silently looking at each other, she wrapped her hands around his body.

- I missed you... - she muttered with tears in her eyes. Tadomeki hugged her back tearing up as well.

- Me too... I thought I lost you forever... No matter what I did I always ended up dead... 

I even lost track of how many times I tried to save you... W-why is this even happening?

Akari squeezed him even harder.

- P-please sit down... I will try to explain everything, okay?

Tadomeki did as she asked. Once more he looked around the environment they found themselves in. Pure whiteness emanated from every side, but it didn't feel like the room was bright. He didn't know how to describe the feeling of being in this weird place, but it certainly wasn't a bad one. 

- Where are we? Is this... real?

- This place is your Asylum. It's a fabricated space in mind created by demon powers. It's something like a safe space they can enter when they are unconscious, like while sleeping for example. As for you, you entered it in the exact moment you died. 

Time flows slower here, but...

- Wait, demon... powers? What are you even talking about?! Is this some kind of a stupid dream?

- I'm sorry, I'm only doing this to make you believe... - Akari pressed her hand against Tadomeki's chest.

Suddenly, a surge of pain filled his entire body as if someone stabbed him with a knife in various places at the same time. He screamed at the top of his lungs.

- I'm sorry! Was that too much? I'm truly sorry, I didn't... - she quickly jumped to him, helping him get back on his chair.

In her embrace, Tadomeki started to feel a little better, but he couldn't just forget this feeling. "They say you can't feel pain in dreams..." he thought in his head. He looked over to crying Akari holding onto him.

- I'm okay now... Don't cry... - he said, struggling to smile.

- I'm sorry... I used too much power...

- It's okay, you didn't mean to. Now I know this isn't a dream... 

Even though it felt unreal, he didn't have any other choice than to believe in the reality of this situation.

- Soo... Have I become a demon? Is this the reason for my countless reincarnations?

Akari looked at him with sadness.

- Yes and no... I feel so bad, I don't know if I can even look you straight in the eyes anymore...

- Why? Of course you can, you did that earlier with no problems, didn't you? Just calm down and explain everything slowly, okay? 

Tadomeki helped her sit back on her chair. He couldn't help but notice that sorrow look on her face also mixed with anger for a split second after his comment. "It must have been my imagination...".

- The truth is... I've been a demon since my birth... 

- What...?

Just a moment ago he thought demons weren't even real and now he discovered that the person he loved and trusted more than anyone was actually one of them? Now, he was hoping that he wakes up in a moment, feeling relieved that all of this was just a nightmare. But it wasn't.

...

They were sitting there in silence occasionally broken by Akari sobbing. Finally, Tadomeki spoke up.

- I get it... You couldn't tell me because you must have had a reason, right? You wanted to protect me, right? Please... Answer yes... I won't be mad, please...

Akari looked at his face. It was her first time to see Tadomeki so broken. He looked as if his whole world had crumbled to pieces. 

- It's really complicated... I didn't want to tell you because I felt like you would take it as a joke or even think I'm crazy. Ask yourself, would you even consider this to be true if I told you this?

- I don't know! Maybe? You could've at least tried to explain this to me!

- Of course I could show you my powers, but I thought it wasn't necessary...

- So explain to me, if you're a demon then why are you living as a human?

- My real father let me out when I was eight years old to live free as a human. He found a fake family to rise me. He... He tossed me away, as if I wasn't anyone special to him...

- Why? - Tadomeki asked, trying to stay calm - Why did he do that?

- Because I was a failure... - Akari faltered and looked down. He could see her teardrops falling on the table.

- He wanted a strong child with strong powers but mine weren't good enough for him... He chose my brother to be his successor and left me behind. I-I wanted to reject my past life and start over, now as a human... Then, you appeared and stole my heart... I was so happy, I thought I could finally abandon everything linked to them...

Akari smiled through tears, but her expression quickly changed again as she continued to speak.

- And now suddenly they want to take everything away from me again... 

Tadomeki collected thoughts inside his head. He felt bad for her, at the end of the day she wanted to abandon everything that was connected to demons, so it made sense why she didn't tell him about this. He came up to her and hugged her as hard as he could.

- It's okay, don't worry... I'm here with you and I will do everything in my power to save us.

Akari pushed him away. He looked at her, shocked by her actions. With remorse in her eyes, she screamed:

- I don't deserve it... I don't deserve you!

- What do you mean?

- When the accident happened for the very first time, I regenerated thanks to my powers, but you... 

Tadomeki started to connect the dots. 

"Please, don't tell me that..."

- You're only a human... You were almost dead when I saw you. And then I... I decided...

"Please..."

- I decided to give you all of my remaining power... 

Everything he learnt in this place started to overwhelm him more and more each passing second. Akari, not acknowledging the state he was in, continued with her explanation.

- Regenerative power for a demon is decided when he becomes one. I thought, since it was you, you could regenerate in an instant... So, I gave you my power and you became a demon, but... Your regenerative power was really weak. It kept you alive for a while but that's it... Before I could help you, I was captured by one of my father servants.

- Stop... - he whispered so quietly, Akari didn't even hear it.

Tadomeki had to set a new mindset for himself. One in which he believed in the existence of demons. If any of his co-workers was asked about something he was good at, everyone would say: "The way he can accept reality as it is and adjust himself to any difficult situations". He gradually began to calm himself down.

- After you died, I appeared here. I believe I'm not truly Akari and I'm only her soul. Well, not really a soul, but more of a personification of her powers and memories. I'm just as confused about it as you are, sorry...

- It's okay, I get it more or less - he said as he finally stood up from the floor after she had pushed him. What felt weird to Akari was the fact that he was slightly smiling.

- Can I ask you some more questions? I just need to know everything so I can prepare myself for saving us.

She looked at him, shocked that he accepted everything so quickly.

- A... Aren't you angry? Aren't you scared?! Why are you acting so casually?! - Akari shouted loudly with a shaken tone.

Tadomeki pressed his finger against her lips to silence her. He then corrected his hair and said.

- You know, I always tried to act calm and collected around you because of two reasons. Reason number one! I wanted to look cool in your eyes. 

- Huh?

- Reason number two! I didn't want you to worry about me. You asked me, if I'm angry. Of course I am! I'm angry at people, or should I say demons, that forced you to make those hard decisions on your own.

Tadomeki wrapped his hands around her once again. This time, she didn't push him away.

- I am scared. You don't even know how much. But I'm not going to show it to you. So, stop worrying about me and cheer up, Darling! I'll be the one to fix everything.

- Idiot... - Akari mumbled while pouting.