"I won't go out of my way to look for grimoires."
Demeter's voice rang out in the room, carrying a hint of cautious testing.
She looked at Genichi. In those amber eyes flickered complicated light - understanding, worry, and a sliver of expectation she couldn't quite hide.
"But if, by some coincidence, an opportunity comes up… I'll still make a move."
She paused, as if choosing her words carefully.
"See? Would that be okay?"
Genichi lifted his head and met her gaze.
In his pitch-black eyes, a trace of thought passed by, so faint it was almost imperceptible.
Of course he understood what Demeter's suggestion meant.
She understood why he had to keep a low profile. She understood the risk grimoires could bring. She understood this wasn't the time to make a spectacle.
But she also wanted him to become stronger.
She wanted him to awaken more magic. She wanted him to have more ways to protect himself.
It was a careful kind of concern.
Afraid he'd be unhappy, so she started by saying she wouldn't go out of her way.
Afraid he'd refuse, so she used "coincidence" as a buffer.
"At least that way," Genichi said quietly, "there'll be a future."
Demeter listened in silence.
She understood the core of what he meant.
Survive.
Live first, and then there could be a future.
Get stronger first, and only then would he have the right to talk about pride.
That clarity, that cold, calm understanding of his own situation, stirred an emotion in her that she couldn't put into words.
It was heartache.
And it was pride.
Heartache that he was still just a boy, yet he had to carry pressure like this, living every day on alert, weighing every move.
Pride that even under that pressure, he stayed clearheaded, never letting a moment of impulse throw him into danger.
"I'm not against enjoyment," Genichi went on, his voice as calm as ever.
"But at the very least, it has to be after you're safe."
He turned to Demeter. There was no wavering in those dark eyes.
"If you're still in danger, but all you do is chase pleasure…"
"Then you really do deserve whatever gets you killed."
Demeter held his gaze.
In those eyes, she saw a lucidity so sharp it bordered on cruelty.
Something she couldn't name, but that made her heart tighten.
And all at once, she didn't want to hear him say things like that anymore.
Didn't want to hear him, in that even tone, talking about "deserving to die."
Didn't want to watch him analyze his own life and choices with that detached, almost indifferent air.
Didn't want to—
Demeter stepped forward.
Genichi froze for a split second. Before he could react, a pair of soft arms wrapped tightly around him.
His face was pressed into something warm and impossibly soft.
Demeter's embrace.
Carrying her faint, distinctive scent.
Soft, warm, enveloping - like the gentlest sunlight of spring, like the safest harbor in a storm.
Genichi's body went rigid in an instant.
His hands hovered in midair, not knowing where to put them.
His face was buried against that softness, Demeter's scent lingering at his nose, her breathing in his ear - hurried, yet forced steady.
He wanted to push her away.
He should push her away.
He—
Couldn't.
Demeter's arms circled his shoulders and back with a strength that didn't fit the Demeter who was usually so gentle and composed.
She held him locked in her arms, as if she meant to trap him there with her own body.
Genichi tried to struggle, and she only hugged him tighter.
"Just like this," Demeter murmured above his head, her voice trembling so slightly it was almost nothing.
"Just for a little while."
Genichi's movements froze.
He heard the emotion in her voice.
It wasn't teasing. It wasn't whimsy. It wasn't a sudden impulse at all.
It was…
Something he'd refused to think about, refused to face.
He stayed silent. His hands, still suspended in the air, slowly lowered.
He didn't push her away.
He didn't hug her back.
He simply stayed there, letting her hold him.
Letting his face remain buried in that warmth, letting her body heat seep through the fabric, letting her heartbeat tap against his eardrums, one beat after another.
Time seemed to stop.
Moonlight spilled quietly through the window, casting their shadows across the floor, blending them into a single outline with no clear boundary between them.
Demeter closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the boy in her arms.
She didn't know what she was doing.
Or maybe she did, and she just didn't want to think about it.
All she knew was that when she heard him, in that calm voice, say words like "deserve to die," she suddenly wanted to hold him.
Wanted him to know there was a place where he could, just for a moment, set down those heavy defenses.
Wanted him to know he wasn't alone.
Wanted him to know—
Genichi stayed quietly in that embrace.
He should've felt awkward.
He should've felt uneasy.
He should've pushed her away and, like always, kept his distance with that cool, indifferent attitude.
But…
He didn't.
He just stayed there, letting that warmth wrap around him.
He couldn't remember the last time someone had held him like this.
In the DxD world, he'd been a devil who licked his wounds alone.
In the arena, he'd been a lone wolf fighting another version of himself to the death.
Even here, in the Demeter Familia, he'd always kept a clear distance, never allowing himself to rely too much on anyone.
Because relying on someone meant weakness.
Because getting close meant the pain when you had to part.
He'd learned a long time ago not to let himself hope for too much.
But in this moment…
Held like this by Demeter, he realized he wasn't as resistant as he'd thought.
He even found himself craving the warmth.
Just a little.
Genichi closed his eyes and let that thought flicker past, then forced it back down under reason.
A moment later, Demeter finally loosened her arms.
She looked down at him. In her amber eyes there was still a trace of moisture, but her usual gentle warmth had returned.
"Much better," she said with a smile, as if nothing had happened.
Genichi looked at her. After a brief silence, he turned his gaze away.
"…Yeah."
That was all he gave her.
But Demeter saw it.
A faint softness that flashed across his face.
The corner of her mouth lifted, quietly.
"Alright, alright. I won't tease you anymore."
She turned and walked to the door, her tone light. "Get some rest. You're going to the Dungeon tomorrow."
"…Yeah."
Genichi answered just as briefly.
Demeter reached the doorway, her hand on the doorknob, then stopped.
She didn't turn back. She only spoke softly.
"Genichi."
"Yeah?"
"What you said earlier… about 'later,' about 'after you're safe.'"
She paused.
"I'll wait for you."
The door closed gently.
The room was left with only Genichi.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the closed door, unmoving for a long time.
(End of Chapter)
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