CHAPTER FIFTEEN - LOVE IN SCARLET ARC - LUST

There was nothing but red.

Harsh red.

Violent red.

A powerful, overwhelming crimson.

...

And yet, faintly visible through the all-consuming scarlet, Riru finds herself here.

The room was spacious, unnecessarily so, considering it was just meant for two. The walls stretch far into the distance, eventually melding into a murky haze. Brightly colored dots of light are scattered across the edges of the ceiling, their harsh glow burning their visage into Riru's eyes whenever she happened to look their way. In the center of the room, curtains shimmering with a transparent sheen conceal a bed fit for royalty.

 Riru tightly grasps onto the satin bedsheets, and her sharp pointed nails tear against the top layer of the fabric. The texture is familiar.

She feels a slight pain in her chest.

Is this really okay?

On the other end of the bed, Des sits on his knees, awkwardly positioning himself until he's directly looming over her body.

She leans back, sinking into an endless sea of fluff as her head plops against the pile of extravagant pillows.

Do I want him to see everything?

"Agh! Cold!"

She shivers at the touch of Des's fingers against her waist.

"UH. SORRY."

She grabs onto a pillow from the pile behind, hugging it tightly to obscure her bare chest. Leaning down, Des gets closer, wrapping his hulking arms around her body.

This time, a subtle warmth spreads across her skin.

Still, she couldn't silence the thoughts.

This is like, crazy embarrassing, isn't it?

It totally is, right?!

...

Her grip on the bedsheets loosens. She takes a deep breath, steeling her resolve. 

And once again, everything fades to scarlet.

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SPLAT!

A mound of flesh and viscera splatters beneath Riru's shoe.

Most likely, a remnant of the colossal snake-like devil whose innards were now strewn across Kyoto. There was another possibility, but it wasn't one she had the strength to consider right now.

Meekly following behind her is Des, who stares in awe at the utter decimation on either side of their path.

"SO UH."

He scratches the side of his cheek, clearly embarrassed.

"ARE WE GONNA HAVE SEX LIKE. TODAY."

...

The question generates no response from Riru, who continues trudging ahead.

...

"DID YOU HEAR ME."

"Yes, Des," she sighs. "We're gonna have sex today."

"OK."

The two continue to walk in silence.

...

"HAVE YOU EVER DONE IT BEFORE."

"Yes! Obviously!" Riru blushes, the speed of her strides increasing.

"LIKE A LOT OR JUST A LITTLE BIT."

"Why do you even care!?"

Des looks down, hesitating for a moment.

"I DUNNO."

...

Quietly breaking through the oppressive chorus of car alarms she'd become accustomed to, Riru hears the sound of a police siren in the distance. 

She scans her eyes across the endless sea of wreckage. 

Surely, there had to be some survivors. But even if there were, there was no telling their general location, what pile of rubble they were buried under, or how many layers deep one would have to dig. Soon, they would inevitably die. Slowly and painfully.

She looks down, tightly shutting her eyes.

"SO WHERE ARE WE GOING."

Riru stops in her tracks, nearly colliding with the side of a collapsed building blocking the street ahead. She tightly grabs the hem of her torn skirt.

"I don't know," she spits. "I don't know, okay?! Just stop asking questions!"

She picks up a rock, chucking it at the side of the building.

"Aaaagh!", she shouts in fury, collapsing onto the road.

...

Des quietly makes his way over to the obstruction, trying his best to clear the way with his superhuman strength. Riru continues to sit, hugging her knees.

"Sorry," she mutters.

"ITS OKAY."

...

Soon enough, the path is clear.

 "COME ON. LETS JUST GET SOMEWHERE SAFE."

"...Yeah."

Passing through the desolate streets, and occasionally stopping to clear more wreckage in their way, the two eventually find themselves in an area that seems to have avoided destruction entirely.

“It’s quiet…”

Riru’s voice reverberates across the barren structures. Though the surrounding buildings are completely unscathed, an oppressive silence fills the air. Most likely, the district had been successfully evacuated, its residents lucky enough to escape the rain of destruction from above.

It was as if the the disaster of today had been avoided; moreover, it was as if not a single breath had ever disturbed the serenity of this place. 

As if, quite literally, nothing had ever happened.

The two slow their pace as they continue forward, carefully examining their surroundings for any sign of life. 

…

Riru fidgets uncomfortably.

"...Thanks."

"HUH?"

She looks away, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"For rescuing me. I forgot to tell you earlier. I dunno what I would've done if you weren't there..."

She quietly looks down, digging her heel into the asphalt below.

"...I couldn't do anything myself."

Hesitating for a moment, Des quietly smiles.

...

"UM... EVERYONE IS PROBABLY OK. YOUR FRIENDS, AND THAT DEVIL EXTERMINATOR DUDE. HE PISSES ME OFF, BUT..."

He crosses his arms, stubbornly turning his head.

"HE'S PRETTY STRONG, YOU KNOW."

Riru doesn't respond.

"I'M STILL STRONGER THAN HIM THOUGH."

"Let's just... Let's not talk about that right now, okay."

Des's shoulders loosen.

"...YEAH. SORRY."

The two continue moving forward, unable to bring themselves to do anything else.

The sun continues to sink as its rays grow in intensity, piercing through the empty cityscape with one last burst of energy before inevitably being swallowed up by the horizon.

"It's late. We should find somewhere to sleep," Riru suggests.

"RIGHT."

Des's eyes suddenly widen.

"WHAT ABOUT OVER THERE," he points.

Riru’s attention is drawn towards the other side of the street.

A lone building with playful decor, the pale pinks and whites of its walls unnaturally stick out amidst the surrounding mass of grey. A bright pink strip of neon lights neatly outlines a sign hanging above the rotating glass doors, dotted with a frenzy of tiny pink hearts.

It reads 'HEARTBEAT HOTEL: AMAI-MON'.

Riru's face wrinkles.

"Gross."

“MAYBE THERE’S STILL PEOPLE THERE.”

“That’d be a bad thing, stupid!”  

Riru grabs the tip of her horn, using what little strength remains in her body to force it back down into her skull. Thankfully, since coming back to her senses, her skin tone has reverted back from its devilish red hue.

“I’ll go in alone, just in case."

Riru begins making her way towards the hotel.

"Just... Wait out here, or something," she turns to look back at Des.

"OK."

He crosses his arms.

…

Scanning across the surrounding buildings, his eyes lock into a black tarp wrapping around the patio of a nearby cafe.

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“I thought I told you to wait!” 

Riru tries her best to keep her voice low in the cramped entryway to the hotel, the contours of her body highlighted with a harsh fluorescent light. 

Barely fitting through the doorway, Des’s massive frame is almost completely obscured by a giant curtain of black. Despite its size, the tarp can't quite reach down to his feet, somehow drawing even more attention to the massive clawed toenails sticking out from below.

His ridiculously oversized axe-shaped horns poke at the top of the tarp, their shaped clearly defined in his black silhouette.

Riru squeezes her eyes shut in fear, flailing around her arms in a desperate attempt to block Des from the sights of reception desk.

“U-um, sorry! We just…”

…

She slowly opens her eyes.

Nobody stands behind the desk to greet them. Like the rest of the area, the hotel had likely been abandoned entirely. 

Instead, a giant glowing screen is propped up on top of the counter. Rows upon rows of photos are displayed, showcasing the vibrant interiors of hundreds of thoughtfully decorated rooms.

“THEY CAN’T SEE ME RIGHT.”

"It's fine! Just take that thing off!"

Riru grabs the edges of the tarp, ripping it off of Des’s body and causing his horns to tear through the top. 

His eyes are immediately drawn to the screen. Riru continues to scroll through the seemingly never-ending list of rooms.

 Finally, the overwhelming red of the decor catching her eye, Riru taps on one of the images. Two different prices are displayed on the next pop-up, one for ‘STAY’ and ‘REST’ respectively.

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.”

“I don’t know! It's too confusing!”

Frustrated, Riru impulsively slams her fist into the screen, causing tiny cracks to ripple across the surface.

“We don't have money anyways. You can knock down a door, can’t you?”

Des turns his head, looking behind at the empty doorway he’d just barely managed to squeeze himself through.

Half bent with the glass panes shattered, he holds the entire door in his left hand.

Riru stares.

…

“Forget I asked. Let’s just go.”

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From that point on, everything was a blur.

Somehow or other, after aimlessly wandering the labyrinthine maze of identical doors and halls, they managed to find the correct room. 

Unable to pay for a key at the front, Des had used simple brute force to push open the door. A long flight of stairs was likely involved at some point. 

Aside from this, Riru can't remember much else.

Warm water cascades down the ridges of her back. She looks out at the surrounding sea of endless red, obscured by the thin layer of moisture clinging to the glass walls.

A shower?

Surely, Des was in there with her, fumbling to prevent his giant hands from slipping off the temperature knobs. He was nervous; after all, it was the first time he'd seen her naked.

Or maybe he'd merely waited outside until she was done. 

Regardless, she now doesn't have any clothes.

Now spread across the mattress, she bashfully tugs at the luxurious satin bedsheets, attempting to cover her exposed body. Des sits on the other side of the bed, a similar shyness preventing him from doing so much as looking her way.

How did they already get to this point?

She couldn't remember.

Because above all else, only a single thought occupied her brain.

Am I really gonna have sex?!

...

"IS EVERYTHING OKAY."

For just a moment, she's able to refocus her mind.

"Y-yeah. Sorry." she nervously mutters, peering up towards Des.

"You?"

"...YEAH."

Finally turning his head to face her, Des widens his eyes.

"YOU. UH."

Immediately, regret washes over his face, and his eyes dart towards the floor once more.

"YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL, BLOODSPLATTER MOON."

Riru instinctually winces upon hearing the words.

"T-thanks..."

...

Amid the following silence, she can faintly make out another voice penetrating the room from the wall behind her. A woman, most likely. Was it possible there were still people remaining in the hotel?

She was making noises. It almost sounded like-

"Agh... Mnnff..."

Blood rushes to Riru's face. In a moment, everything clicks. 

She'd heard about this type of hotel before. A passing conversation at school, most likely.

Able to identify the sound himself, Des blushes as well.

Riru shakes her head, trying her best to purge it of any unnecessary thoughts. 

"Mmh.. Aahh..."

...

Still, no matter how hard she tries to ignore it, she can't stop from listening.

She has too many questions. 

How does it feel? 

What type of look does she have on her face?

Is she pretty? 

...

Is she happy right now?

"SO. UH. ARE YOU READY."

Des peeks at her from the corner of his eye.

"You'll just make it more awkward, asking stuff like that..." Riru quietly smiles, leaning back onto the bed.

"Just come on already."

...

If she's happy, I think I might just die.

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Riru takes a deep breath, steeling her resolve. Des's massive arms wrap around her waist as a subtle warmth spreads across her entire body.

He leans forward while on top of her, embracing her in what seems to be an awkward attempt at a hug. Despite her nerves, his sturdy arms pressing against her skin brings her a certain level of comfort.

His thick fingers run through her chaotic, matted strands of hair. Upon losing control of herself on the train, Riru's untamed mass of tangles returned once again, bursting forth from her scalp in an instant and eliminating any trace of Fukuzaki's botched haircut. 

She wraps her arms around Des's broad shoulders, pulling him closer.

"UM..."

Des shifts his arms around, pulling one out from behind her back and resting its heavy weight on her chest. 

Despite him being a devil, his cheeks were visibly flushed.

"IS IT OKAY IF I TOUCH YOU HERE."

He softly rests his hand on top of her right breast. 

His request immediately causes Riru's heart to start beating out of her chest. Somehow, being aware of how he'd likely be able to feel it at this distance made it beat even faster.

"Y-Yeah, go ahead."

...

Trying his best to hold back his immense strength, Des gives it a soft squeeze.

"Mm..."

Riru can't help but let out a quiet sound.

"Mnh.. Mm..! Hey! Hey, that's too much!"

Without realizing it, Des had tightened his grip. 

However, he doesn't seem to hear Riru's cry. As if locked in a deep trance, his face drips with sweat and his gaze is fixed unflinchingly on her breast.

"WOAH..."

Suddenly coming to his senses, he looks back up with an astonished stare, immediately pulling his hand away.

"S-SORRY..." he sheepishly mutters.

...

"Pft."

Riru cracks a smile.

"Bwahahaha! What was that look for?!"

"THERE WASN'T A LOOK I DIDN'T MAKE A LOOK."

"You totally did!"

"WAS IT A SEXY LOOK. IF IT WAS THEN I DID."

"Nope! Not Sexy!"

As the two giggle together, Riru relaxes her posture, sinking back down into the pillows.

Des sits up, lifting his other arm from under Riru and resting both his hands against her waist.

"UM... S-SO HOW DO I..." he stutters, his tongue unable to even grasp the words necessary to complete his sentence.

"Um... I don't really know," a hint of embarrassment hides beneath Riru's voice.

"YOU HAD SEX BEFORE DIDN'T YOU."

"I..." she turns away, refusing to expose her lie. 

"That was different, okay?! Not the same thing!"

"IS THERE LIKE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SEX OR SOMETHING."

"Doesn't matter! Just try it!"

Riru grips the bedsheets once more, tightly closing her eyes and preparing for whatever might come next.

...

...

"Hey, what are you-"

..!!!!!!!!!!

A sharp pain instantly shoots through her abdomen.

"Agh! Too painful! Stop!"

She violently flails her legs around, slamming her feet into Des's back.

"HEY STOP FOR A SECOND I CANT-"

The two both attempt to slow down their breathing, nothing separating their hot breath but a brief and heavy silence. 

...

Attempting to not hurt Riru any further, Des remains completely still.

"ARE YOU HURT."

"...I'm fine. Thanks."

He leans closer, pulling her body into his grasp once more. Riru winces.

"Mm..."

The pain, while still present, is much less intense than before. At some point, as he continues moving closer....

"It... it feels good," Riru murmurs in quiet disbelief.

"Y-YEAH," Des can barely force out a response between his heavy breaths.

Wait...

In just a moment, the thought plaguing Riru's mind from before returns with a vengeance.

Am I really gonna have sex?!?!?!?!

At this point, it was too late. She was already well past the point of no return. 

Another swarm of questions suddenly begins buzzing around her brain.

How would her past self feel, seeing her in this situation? The Riru from years ago, or even just the Riru from just a few days ago? How must the two of them look to her?

...

 Do they suit each other? 

Do they look good together?

...

Do I look cute?

"There's somebody else in this room."

"WHAT?"

Des stops moving for a moment, looking down at Riru confused.

...

"H-huh?"

There was no mistake.

Though the thought to speak hadn't even consciously reached her mind, the words forced their way out of her lips nonetheless.

"IS EVERYTHING OKAY."

Des quietly awaits a response.

"I-It's nothing. Sorry," Riru looks down. 

Surely, just a result of the intense stress from today. There was no logical reason to think it could be anything more. 

"WE CAN STOP IF YOU WA-"

"There's nothing to worry about, I promise. Everything's fine."

Upon hearing those words, a weight is lifted off of Des's expression.

"...IF YOU SAY SO."

He readjusts his position once more, and a soft tingling sensation crawls across Riru's lower body.

"AH..."

Even Des can't resist as an uncharacteristically quiet moan escapes from his lips.

Riru pulls him closer in a hug, softly brushing her fingertips across his the length of back.

His skin feels rough and scarred, still likely in a state of regrowth from the power of his Curse. Time and time again, he reached the point of near certain death, and yet every time, this power served to just barely pull him back together.

Thanks to her Curse of sigils, it was now something Riru shared with him. A power just for the two of them, inextricably linking their very blood for the rest of their lives.

Thinking about it sends a wave of powerful and nostalgic emotions crashing into Riru's heart. Forgotten vestiges of the past desperately compete to make their presence known to her in sudden and fragmented portraits of discarded memory.

The time the two spent together in the upper circles, the countless battles they fought, and the blossoming feelings that had long since been buried under a crushing and inevitable fate.

"I think..."

Without even realizing it, Riru was already fighting to push back against a welling pool of incoming tears.

"I think this is the way things were always meant to be."

Though his expression shows he can't quite understand it, a powerful emotion is dragged out from deep inside Des.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

Riru stops moving her hands, unable to maintain her gentle touch.

"We're both devils, right? It's just... maybe it was pointless, doing all this annoying human stuff."

She tightly grasps onto his arms.

What was so wrong with being a devil? For choosing what she's really wanted all this time? 

Thanatos. Humans. The Princes of Hell. All of it was ultimately meaningless. Distractions, creating a growing distortion inside Riru that would soon quietly twist her into something unrecognizable.

Was it really so wrong to be selfish?

"I've always wanted to be with you."

A tight, crushing feeling grabs onto Des's heart, dragging it down into the depths of his stomach. His muscles relax, and his movement slowly comes to a stop.

He felt as if any further thought would cause every feeling bubbling inside him for the past year to explode out of his body at once.

And yet, something was preventing it.

Whatever he was meaning to grasp remained slightly out of reach.

"ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY, BLOODSPLATTER MOON?"

...

"Yeah? What's the problem?" an apprehension hangs in her tone.

"IT'S JUST... SOMETHING FEELS DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU."

Des looks her in the eyes.

"YOU'VE CHANGED."

Though it was the last thing she possibly could've expected, an undeniably somber look hangs on his face.

...

"I don't know what you mean..."

Riru's muscles grow tense, and a nervous energy continues to gather inside her.

"Aren't you supposed to be happy?"

Des looks surprised.

"I AM HAPPY."

He struggles with his words, aimlessly reaching for a firm understanding of his own feelings.

"...AT LEAST, I THINK I AM. BUT I-"

"What does that mean?" an inexplicable frustration builds in her tone. 

"Shouldn't you realize how lucky you are, or something?! A beautiful girl like me, giving a Nameless devil like you a chance to have sex with me! You'd be willing to kill for this, wouldn't you?!"

"YEAH. YOU-"

Finally resolute, Des draws upon the strength to respond.

"YOU'RE RIGHT. I WOULD," he looks down.

He holds Riru's body tightly. After taking a few deep breaths, a certain level of comfort returns to her once more. 

"I THINK THIS IS HOW THINGS WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE TOO."

...

"Do you..." Riru blushes, covering her lower face with her elbow. "Do you feel good?"

"YEAH. I FEEL GREAT."

Riru lets down her arm, revealing a pained smile.

"Me too."

Moving her hands up from his back, she softly caresses the side of his face, narrowly avoiding the giant tusks that jut out from his lower jaw.

"Have you ever kissed someone before?"

Des breaks eye contact for only a moment.

"I ONLY EVER WANTED TO KISS YOU." 

...

"HAVE YOU?"

"Not a chance."

She pulls Des's face closer to her own, softly pressing their lips together.

There was no longer any need to hide the truth from him.

Finally, this devil had found her place in this incomprehensible world.

Surely it was fate, for the two to find themselves here in his moment.

After pulling her lips away to draw a single breath, she's barely given a single second before Des uses his overwhelming strength to pull her back in. He has rougher grasp of her body now, though it doesn't necessary seem to bother her.

After all, if he didn't keep a firm grip, she might end up falling somewhere far, far away.

The two continue passionately kissing, pushing closer and closer with each breath. Each time, Des's monstrous jaws seem to be on the cusp of devouring her, and the sensation of his very being continues to grow inside of her.

If this kept up, she felt he may completely take her over.

Soon enough, her entire identity would collapse beneath his maw.

It smells good.

Being this close to someone, her fangs just about ready to tear him apart, brought back quiet, fleeting memories if only for a second. 

Riru couldn't tell exactly what they were. 

She forcefully moves her arms across Des's torso, wrapping her fingers around his soft and skinny wrists. Compared to before, he felt almost weightless, and his grip could no longer overpower her.

His lips had a smooth texture, as if his tusks had shrunk all the way back down into his skin. The feeling of him inside of her retreats away as her attention focuses on nothing but the intoxicating sensation of their kiss. 

She moves a hand down to his breast, squeezing it tightly. 

His chaotic, matted strands of hair ensnare their bodies together like a living web of countless black tendrils.

She was utterly infatuated; addicted to the sensation of his delicate body.

Do we suit each other? How do we look together?

She could no longer separate her lips from her own lips. The grasp of her hand from the grasp of her hand.

How would that even be possible, anyways?

/There is

no separation/

/between/

/the/

///////two////////

"STOP!!!!!"

...

Finally, it comes undone.

Their lips no longer touch.

Riru stares at a flawless reflection of her own face, who stares back with a gleeful smile.

What was I so in love with, just now?

She immediately sends her foot forcefully slamming into the doppelganger's stomach, sending it tumbling across the mattress before collapsing on the floor.

It violently raises its head, springing into the air immediately dodging the luxurious bedside lamp lobbed towards it at maximum speed.

Riru rips her horn straight from her skull, the intense explosion of scarlet invisible amidst the oppressive red of the surrounding room. 

The other Riru digs its claws into the next surface it collides with, suspending its body against the back wall and lifting its head to face her. 

Like a decomposing layer of ooze, the imposter's skin begins melting off its body, splatting onto the floor in thick and clotted piles. All organs, muscle and bone are visible underneath before these, too, begin to morph into an unrecognizable shape.

Endlessly twisting, contorting, and snapping itself into place, Riru can't bring herself to do anything but watch in horror.

Endlessly watching until, unmistakably, the silhouette resembles a devil.

On first glance, the entity has no face. Two pulsating, tumor-like protrusions sag from what should be its head as two long horns stick out horizontally from each side. It holds its arms in what resembles a position of prayer, floating in midair with six long phallic tentacles drooping from its waist. 

Most noticeably, on its lower abdomen, a humanlike face with eyes held shut is nestled between massive, folded flaps of flesh. 

Before Riru can comprehend its physical form any further, it vanishes from the room entirely. 

...

The first thought that breaches her mind is one of intense fear.

What happened to Des?

She bolts out of the bed, darting across the room and throwing open the door with incredible force.

SLAM!

"Des!"

"BLOODSPLATTER MOON!"

Huh?

On the opposite end of the hallway, timed almost exactly to match her own movement, the door of the room directly parallel to Riru's was thrown open.

Des stands in the doorframe, dripping pools of sweat with a look of unbridled terror on his face.

"DID YOU-"

At once, the two instantly come to what seems to be the only inevitable conclusion.

...

"The same thing happened to you, huh?"

Des doesn't respond.

He drops his head, unable to bear the intense shame suddenly washing over him.

"THAT DEVIL... DO YOU THINK IT-"

"Why hello there."

A soothing, mature voice deflates Des and Riru's expressions and immediately breaks through the building tension.

...

Riru turns her head to the side, unable to process the absurd sight that stands before her.

At the other end of the hallway, four identical muscular men, wearing absolutely nothing but white collars and tiny black bowties around their necks, stand in perfect horizontal formation.

The first man makes a heart shape with his hands.

"Heart..!"

The second man claps his hands together.

"Beat..!"

The third man strikes a pose.

"Hotel..!"

The fourth man puts his hands on his thighs.

"Amaaiiiiii...."

His legs thrust open with incredible force.

"MON!!"

A blinding light emanates from between his legs.

...

Riru and Des continue to blankly stare.

All four men speak together in perfect harmony.

"Welcome. Chizuki-sama would like to meet you."