Son of the Dawn (2)

Senjoji Chiyo stared blankly at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

The cause of it was an old coffin her older sister, Chihaya, had sent over with a request that she look after it for a while. The lid was supposed to be sealed tight — and yet that lid had opened, and a blonde woman had come bursting out from inside.

One glance was enough to say she was no human. Curving horns, wings that called bats to mind, and a glossy tail whose tip resolved into the shape of a spade, or perhaps a heart. It was the stereotypical she-demon, the sort that turned up in every piece of media under the sun.

The only thing even slightly unusual was the outfit: overalls. Whether overalls suited a demon was already doubtful enough, and stranger still, the straps had been shoved off to either side, apparently on account of her chest.

"Sis — yeah. I think I need to get the Church people over here right now, this is..."

She was, it had to be said, quite attractive. Attractive enough that if the two of them had ever happened to fall into conversation, Chiyo might well have thrown a flirt her way. But not a single tempting thought stirred in her now. All she felt was the prickle of danger, and all she did was report to her sister on the far end of the line, in a voice that trembled just a little.

"I'm telling you, she came out of the coffin...!"

For her, there was nothing to do but panic. This was no ordinary seal. Professor Senjoji herself had stated flatly that it could not be opened from the inside unless whatever lay within was an aberration of Scenario class — and this demon had gone and forced it open anyway.

Within the Church, a Scenario meant an incident that, left unchecked, threatened to overturn the entire world. The measure they held it against was Scenario Z — Zechariah — a state of mutually assured destruction brought about by asymmetric force. In other words, anything designated a Scenario was treated, as a baseline, as a danger on par with global nuclear war. Put differently, the situation before her was no different from a nuclear weapon that had lost its control systems popping out of a delivery box.

Grin like a fool at a bomb that might go off at any moment, just because it happened to be pretty, and you would no longer be a lecher. You would be a lunatic who had left lechery behind.

"Report this to the Church? That would be inconvenient."

"...!"

In that instant, her eyes met the demon's. Blue irises — glossy, and shot through now and again with a grazing flicker of purple — turned toward her.

That alone was enough. Chiyo swallowed a breath that wasn't there.

What flashed through her mind was Han Seoyeon. Objectively speaking, Seoyeon was an intensely captivating beauty, and yet the terror surging up now from the depths of Chiyo's soul was so precisely like the first time they had met that the two blurred together.

The strength went out of her legs of its own accord. That she didn't collapse to the floor had nothing to do with any firmness of will. It was only that this was the narrow hallway just inside the entrance, and there happened to be a wall directly at her back to lean against.

The demon closed the distance on her slowly, and then took Chiyo's throat lightly in one hand.

The fingers were slender and soft. Even so, there was a strength in them that no amount of force seemed likely to pry loose, and a faint, lingering chill.

"You there. The young lady on the phone. If you were planning to inform the Church about this Lucifer, you'd do well to drop that idea at once."

With that, the demon tilted in and brought her face right up to Chiyo's. More precisely, her target was the phone Chiyo held to her ear.

Toward Chihaya, on the other side of it, the demon spoke in a voice thick with allure.

"You called her 'Sis,' didn't you? Then this one would be the little sister. If you'd like your little sister to stay in one piece, you'd do well not to entertain any foolish ideas."

The pitch itself sat high. And yet, somehow, it was a voice that felt as though it lay low, pressed down against the ground.

Chihaya, silent all this while, answered only after a little more time had passed.

Even in a situation like this, she went on in a perfectly level voice.

"What? You — what kind of nonsense are you even..."

"Wait, Sis?!"

And she hung up, leaving both the demon and the human equally thrown.

Chiyo could only stare, eyes wide, in horror. Never mind failing to help while a life hung in the balance — provoking the other party and then simply leaving? What kind of thing was that to do?

"Th-that damned woman... Fine. You think this ends neatly?"

Oh, so you're coming here tomorrow? Then I'll crush that little sister and lay her out in front of you. So the demon muttered, eyes burning.

She looked at Chiyo, who hadn't even managed to think of resisting, lifted the corner of her mouth, and put still more strength into the hand around her throat—

"—Ghk?! Nnghaaah?!"

"...Huh?"

The very next moment the demon let out a shriek — if the noise qualified as one — rolled her eyes back, and began convulsing wildly. Before long she went rigid from head to toe, toppled backward, and drove her head into the floor hard enough to thud.

Unable to keep up with the sudden reversal, Chiyo watched in a daze. Then a damp sensation registered against her foot, and when she looked down, a lukewarm puddle had already spread across the floor. She followed the trickle back to its source and found the denim overalls soaked through, darkened to a deeper shade...

"No, seriously, what even is this."

And with that, Chiyo's mind gave out entirely.

"So, to sum it up..."

Chiyo rubbed at her forehead, then let out a short sigh.

"You were locked up, you barely managed to escape, you had cosmetic work done as a way of hiding — and the condition the demon who performed the procedure set was that you don't lay a hand on anyone from our company?"

"Ah, yes. That's right. Honestly, if you'd told me you were acquainted with Lady Ninomae Hitomi, I would have said something beforehand..."

The demon bowed and scraped as she spoke, as if the attitude of a few minutes ago had been a complete lie. She called herself Lucifer, for a start, and while a demon might conceal its name or twist it slightly, one almost never assumed a name outright — so it probably wasn't a lie.

"More to the point, why make Hitomi-chan's acquaintances the condition?"

"R-right? From what I heard, she was a contractor who'd taken a liking to her... um, rampaging was fine, but I wasn't to lay a hand on anyone around her... Seriously, for someone who lives by stealing other people's names, they want a hell of a lot..."

"Hm? What did you just say?"

"A-ah, no! It was nothing at all!"

She broke off her muttering, folded at the waist, and rubbed both hands together at Chiyo's question. At that thoroughly floor-crawling attitude, Tsunashi Tenka, watching from the side, gave a wry smile.

Lucifer's appearance had brought things to an end earlier than planned, but Tenka had come prepared to sleep over at Chiyo's, since the original intention had been to keep streaming late into the night. She'd gone to the trouble of packing a bag, and it wasn't even late enough yet for the last train to have stopped running — sending her home would have been too cold. So Chiyo had simply told her to stay the night.

"Anyway, I'm in the middle of running from a crazy woman, so the report, at least — I beg you to hold off..."

"I mean, even if you say that..."

Chiyo scratched her cheek, looking troubled.

There was no way for her to know whether Lucifer truly was a one-sided victim, on the run for that reason alone. Only a little while ago, if a contract laid down in advance hadn't activated, she would have attacked Chiyo right then and there. Whether she'd truly meant to kill was unclear. The intent to do harm, at least, was certain.

"I think we should at least confirm things with Shion-san."

"You think so too, don't you, Tenka-chan?"

"Ugh... th-that, that really won't do...!"

At the two of them talking, Lucifer went sheet-white and recoiled.

"If word reaches the Church, they'll sell me off to that bitch, no question!"

There was no telling who this "crazy woman," this "bitch," that Lucifer kept invoking actually was, nor whether she was good or wicked. But the reaction made one thing plain enough: Lucifer had been put through a tremendous ordeal.

If Shion-san looked the situation over and judged that handing her over was the right call, then wouldn't that be the correct one? Where a matter didn't involve Hitomi or the people close to her, Shion was someone who worked toward the common good. If a person like that said that handing her over was right, then surely that was the direction that helped the world. The thought crossed Tsunashi Tenka's mind, briefly.

"If you'll just protect me here, I'll do anything!"

"Oho. Did I just hear 'anything'?"

"N-nueh?"

"Nothing. It was just a line I've always wanted to say at least once."

Having updated her list of lines she'd been meaning to try someday, Chiyo let her gaze travel slowly down Lucifer's body and back up.

The remark just now had been a joke, but taken purely as a matter of looks, she really was a strikingly attractive beauty — enough so that Chiyo, just watching, slipped without meaning to into some thoroughly bad ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thoughts. What drew her even more than the looks, though, was that sultry voice. The sort of voice that seemed liable, if one kept listening, to talk a person clean over into temptation.

If she truly was that Lucifer of Christian tradition, the very one who had tempted mankind into eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, then it was, in a sense, only a natural gift.

"How about using that talented voice of yours to record one erotic track with me?"

"H-huh? What? Excuse me?"

"Hey, hold on. Senjoji-chan, what's that supposed to mean...?"

"No, I mean it completely literally. I've got a project where the script is already finished, and I still haven't found a partner to record it with."

Senjoji Chiyo was the sort of streamer who kept a separate main occupation. Granted, the VTuber income was the larger of the two, so main job and side job had more or less traded places...

At any rate, apart from being a VTuber, she was a freelance voice actress — one who specialized in the erotic end of doujin audio. She was often cast in other circles' works, and every so often she wrote the script herself and released something as a one-person circle. The project she'd just brought up was one of those.

"If pride or shame means you can't do it, I won't force you."

"And if I agree to record..."

"From this moment until the moment I die, I won't tell another soul where you are. You said you were a demon, so if it comes to that, I'm happy to make a contract."

"I'll do it! Please, let me!"

"Good. Then shall we get right to recording~ Ufufu."

Lucifer snatched the offer up at once.

It was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sort of thing that inspired a wash of self-loathing just to imagine, but she had lived her whole existence tempting human beings and leading them to ruin. She could rationalize this, somehow, as not being so very different.

"Um, Chiyo-chan? Are you really sure this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is all right? For all we know, she did something awful and she's on the run from it."

"Oh, come on, there's no need to worry that much, is there? It'll work out somehow. We'll be recording for a while, so try not to come into this room if you can help it. You're welcome to join in, though, if you want?"

"Mmm, I'll pass."

"What a shame. I did so want to hear your erotic voice at least once, Tenka-chan."

"Ahaha..."

This is fine, isn't it? I really ought to report this, shouldn't I? Tsunashi Tenka turned the question over, and in the end all that came of it was a sigh.

"I was told Lucifer was here, so I came."

"Ah, Shion-chan! Come on in~"

"W-wait?! Why is Margarita here?! You said if I recorded, you wouldn't report me — no, more than that, we made a contract, so how..."

"Hm? But when we made the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contract, I definitely said 'from this moment,' didn't I? I'd already reported you before that, so it can't be helped, can it? Fufufu..."

"Don't tell me, while I was out cold you'd already— Damn it, you tricked me?! You demon of a woman...!"

"When a demon says it, is that an insult or a compliment...?"

"Now then. You'll come along quietly, if you please."

"Hah! You stabbed this Lucifer in the back, and you thought I'd follow obediently? Apostle or not, you'll regret swaggering in here alone without a scrap of fear— nngkiiiiiht?!"

"Aaaah?! Wait, wait?! You're getting water in the computer!!"

"......Wh-what, exactly, is this situation?"