35 I didn't know that you were her owner

She's pale and cold. He puts his coat over her body and wraps the muffler around her neck. He lifts her wrist again. Just to be sure, he places his palm over the scar and sends the energy to heal. She will live, but she's weak because of the blood loss. The worse has been prevented.

He cups her face. "I am sorry. I am bound to the laws. If I break a single one, I won't be able to protect you anymore."

She can't hear him. Still, he can't stop warning her. He has blocked another death, but how long can he do it if she keeps running after it? Her fate is entwined with death. This girl doesn't need that kind of life.

"Don't seek what you cannot belong to you. Don't try to protect that can put you in danger. Don't love who is meant to crush your heart, Wakana. I will always protect you from the shadows. Live a quiet and content life. Find someone who will believe in you even if you say that the sky is breaking."

Hearing that voice, she peers at the man who has been calling her name. In her vague vision, the man's lips are moving. The light in his eyes is brighter than the moon.

Who is he? What is he saying? She blinks her eyes several times. The man notices it and covers her eyes. He feels familiar.

He smiles at her.

His hand is warm.

She knows him. She grabs his sleeve with her trembling hand. "You are that ghost."

He chuckles. "For you, I don't mind being a ghost."

"What are you?" Wakana nudges his hand. "Tell me your name."

He can't tell that to her. There are laws preventing him from doing so. He has loved her from the moment he saw her. She doesn't know it. He hopes that there never comes a time when that vision comes true. If the price for her to live a life without bearing someone else's sin is never ever knowing him, he will pay that price with a smile.

"The person you want to see will come to see you soon." He plants a kiss on her forehead.

Who is he talking about? She wants to see him. "You... don't go."

"Sleep well." His voice is growing faint. "You don't have to be afraid. No demon will come for you."

As soon as she hears those words, she falls into a slumber. He glances at her one last time before he walks back into the building. She won't remember him. It's better this way.

He has to catch a demon.

Minami Sei kicks open the door. This apartment is also empty. He has been looking for her for an hour now. There are no traces of her. Frustrated, he shouts her name. "Wakana, where are you?"

Just then, he hears the sound of footsteps. He runs in the direction of the sound and reaches the end of the corridor. The window snaps open on its own. Frowning, he looks out of the window that gives him the view of the back area of the building. Someone grabs the back of his head and bends it down. His gaze falls on the figure lying beneath the tree. Wakana?

When he turns around, there's no one.

What just happened? Sei turns to look at Wakana. Why is she lying there like that? He runs down the stairs in a hurry.

"Wakana." He takes her in his arms. "Why are you like this?"

She's wearing a man's black coat and a brown muffler only. Her body is cold. What happened to her? He pushes away all thoughts. He has to take her to the hospital first. He carries her to his car and lays her down in the back seat. He takes the driver seat. When he closes the door, he sees a shadow in the rearview.

Rather...

It's a tall man.

He looks back. There's no one.

Strange things keep happening, but there's no time to think about that. He glances at Wakana. He will come back here later. He twists the key and presses the accelerator hard. Wakana's life comes before anything else in the world.

The man crushes the cigarette under his foot. He looks toward the fifth floor's window. The demon is still there. The card is completely white now. The life-changing moments have passed by. He inserts the card in his pocket and walks into the apartment building for the third time tonight.

The demon is thrashing the walls of the dimension in desperate attempts to get out. He doesn't understand why he's still locked inside when the witch is dead. The human female is gone too. He uses all of his strength to tear open the dimension. It is not working.

"Why!" He hollers inside the apartment. He has been trapped inside this dimension for 18 long years. When the time is finally here, he can't leave. Did someone else trap him here? He looks at the bloody floor. Some of the blood belongs to the witch. Other belongs to the human female. Did that woman trap him and run away just like the witch did 18 years ago? That's impossible. She doesn't have a speckle of magic inside her. She can't use her abilities when she's half-asleep.

The door opens and a man with ash grey hair enters the room with a casual look in his eyes. The demon scans the man with a careful gaze. The man is tall and lean, wearing fit dark trousers and a simple white shirt which has the top two buttons undone. His dark eyes contain a glow that doesn't belong to the mortal men.

Why is someone like him here? The demon can't believe his bad luck. He bows down to the man and waits for him to speak. He has always been smarter than the demons of his rank. Picking up a fight with a creature of high rank is never wise.

The demon is the lowest of the low that comes from the trashbin of hell. It's as weak as the mosquito, but it grows to be annoying if someone leaves it be.

The man steps on the demon's finger, crushing them in the same way he crushes the cigarette butts. "For creatures like you to be able to hang out in the mortal realm for so long, I guess this country doesn't many demon hunters around."

Clenching his teeth, the demon raises his arm and swings toward the man's head. He stops it with his index finger. "Usually, I don't bother with creatures like you. But, you dare to touch what is precious to me."

He snaps the demon's wrist like a twig. His voice is light and amused when the demon's screams enter his ears. He twists his arm until it is broken off from the demon's shoulder and disintegrates into nothing.

"Lord, mercy!" The demon wails. "I didn't know that you were her owner."

Owner? The man gives him a foxy smile. Though he likes the sound of it, he isn't her owner. She is his owner. "That's how those women felt when you tortured them, buddy. Don't hold yourself back. You can scream as much as you want. My ears won't bleed. I won't hate it either. I have heard worse."

He's going to make this demon regret touching her and making her cry before he erases this demon's existence.