Chapter 2: Respite 

After we had escaped the park, we had ended up back at Yuuki Raza's apartment. She lived in the same complex I did, but on the ground floor. I had seen her around before, so I figured she lived here too, but I had no idea she lived alone until today. I couldn't exactly walk back into my own home with these injuries, I'd worry my mom too much.

She had brought out a first aid kit which seemed woefully under qualified to treat the wound in my abdomen, but it had already begun to heal somehow, and a few bandages was enough to close it up.

"Takeru-ch, I mean... kun," she had been quiet for a while now, but Raza began to speak up again, trying her best to look me in the eye. She didn't seem to be able to process the shock of realizing I was a girl, so she had obviously thought I was just a pretty boy.

"You don't have to try so hard, if it's easier ya can just call me Takeru." I sighed out a reply, checking to see if I could still move properly with the bandages on.

"Are they alright, did I tie them too tightly?!" she stammered out a response, looked back and forth between the wound and my face rapidly.

"Nah, they seem good." I answered, standing up and looking over my body in the standing mirror in the corner of her living room.

Since I had been wearing a sarashi and not a bra, and said sarashi was in bloody tatters in the trash, my female figure was currently quite exposed. I didn't feel much shame about it, since Raza was also a girl, but it seemed to be flustering her. To remedy that, I picked up my school jacket, or at least the jacket I wore to school and put it on. It was the right color and style as the school uniform, but it was modified to be longer than the male blazer normally was. I buttoned it closed with a couple so it stayed over my chest, then fell back onto the old sofa in the middle of the room, my eyes gazed over a nearby clock, and then widened.

"Oh shit, sorry, I need to make a call." I scrambled to find my smartphone, then quickly called the only number in the device's memory. The other line answered almost immediately

"T-Takeru! Where are you? You missed dinner, are you hurt, did you get into another fight?!" my mother's concerned voice blared in my ear, dammit, it's not like this is my fault… this time.

"I-I'm so sorry, mama! I got invited over to a friend's house to play games and forgot to call you…" I made up a lie on the spot. I would normally feel bad for lying to her, but it was only to protect her from the truth, so I didn't feel that bad. "I'll be home soon, we're almost done here."

"Well, as long as you're not out there getting into trouble… you never know what might happen these days… don't talk to any strangers!" she sighed and then gave me a warning about the string of murders, of which I had a strong suspicion I had just witnessed the newest one.

"Yeah, I'll be back soon, don't worry." I apologized and hung up, then noticed Raza was staring at me intensely.

"W-What?" I asked her, feeling awkward under her gaze, which didn't break.

"Nothing… you just… talk cuter to your mom, like a real girl." she replied, sitting down next to me.

"I am a real girl!" I shouted at her, and her expression darkened. "I… I wasn't trying to hide it or anything, this is just how I like to dress okay?"

"Mmm, I just… sorry, it's my problem and not yours." she laughed a bit, but stopped when her own wound pained her. "Not like a footsoldier like me could ever be with them…"

Awkwardly sitting there in silence, I regained my determination, my eyes locked onto hers and I finally asked what needed to be said out loud.

"What the hell is going on? That guy from our school turned into a monster, you turned into one too, and that girl…"

"You should know most of this somewhere, deep in your mind, but if it hasn't awakened in you yet I'll explain. To put it simply, you don't have a human soul." she stated bluntly, and I just stared at her. "At least, not completely. You know how many religions and mythology have an end times? The final battle between good and evil?"

"Vaguely aware of that, yeah." I answered her question, the vivid visions of my dreams creeping back into my thoughts.

"What if I told you... that it's already occurred. and the world now is the one where the light vanquished darkness?" she continued, taking a deep breath. She seemed shaken just bringing it up, like it was a personal tragedy to her. "The strongest citizen of the tribe of darkness, the demon lord Ahriman, was slain by the warriors of light four thousand years ago. Thanks to the surviving members of his tribe acting quickly and casting a powerful spell at the cost of their own lives, his soul was sent into the cycle of rebirth instead of being destroyed completely… but it was too powerful to be reborn as a single human being, so it broke apart into smaller pieces."

It was a lot to take in at once, but the words rang true, my soul knew they were true. A deep memory, like something repressed from childhood, flooded into my mind, and I nodded along with her story.

"I am Ahriman… or at least, part of him." I spoke, my body shuddering at the words I just said out loud. "Reincarnated as a human."

"You were Ahriman, but similar to a past life, you are still you." she responded, correcting me. "The shards of Ahriman's soul have gained new life, and that incarnation of the god of destruction will never rise again."

"That monster… he was one too wasn't he? Only the power of Ahriman took over, his human side couldn't control that energy." I asked even though I felt I knew the answer, as it helped recall the ancient memories within my soul. "Then you… the power you showed against that angel…"

"No, I was merely one of Ahriman's soldiers, a Daeva. The tribe of darkness has reincarnated along with the shards, and our instincts tell us to seek them out and protect them. That angel was one of His executioners, a soldier born to wipe us out."

"So there's no way she's gonna let us go, is there?" I asked, standing up from the sofa. "We got away, but for how long? She knows we're in this city."

It was absurd, I was being asked to become the devil. I understood from my soul's memory, those incomplete scraps of my past life. Fight against the creator of this world and His army, or be killed and erased forever.

I remembered how I felt when Raza almost died in front of me, I felt my blood boil with a rage I had never felt before. Those must be my memories of my past life, back when I was Ahriman.

"Well, looks like we have no choice, we have to fight." I slammed my left hand against my right palm, gritting my teeth in a strange grin.

"Are you serious? We barely escaped with our lives, we need to flee this city right away! You haven't even fully Awakened yet, you'll die!" Raza, who was rather quiet and nervous around me, raised her voice surprisingly strongly.

"Hell no, I don't run away from a fight. This is my city, I won't let them do as they please!" It was foolish, near suicidal, but I had to see this fight through to the end. I had to defend this city, but more importantly…

Maybe this was finally the strong opponent I was looking for.

It took some convincing, but Raza eventually agreed to the ridiculous idea of standing our ground. She seemed scared, her past life memories must be stronger than mine, able to recall the horrors of war from millennia ago. To me, it was barely more than a dream, and none of this felt real. If I had those memories, would I be trying to run as well?

To not involve anyone else, we returned to the empty city park. I had no idea how to wield Ahriman's power at all, but there wasn't any time to be taught it either, as the second we arrived at the public park a golden light surrounded us, and the Valkyrie descended from the sky.

"You managed to escape before, but this time His will shall smite your wicked souls to ash…" the angelic figure landed lightly on the ground before us, her sword appearing in her outstretched hand. There was no longer any turning back, the only path forward was to win.