Chapter 114 – The Contradictory Emotions.

Chapter 114 – The Contradictory Emotions.

The four girls headed into the kitchen one by one. Mika's dad was sitting drinking tea, while her mother was in the adjacent kitchenette preparing more. Akagi was strangely nervous as she entered the room, fearing that Mika's parents would freak out.

{Why am I so nervous? Why do I care so much about what they'll think of me?!?} (Akagi)

She'd been having these contradictory feelings since she'd been released, and was struggling to understand them. For some reason, she felt great sadness at the idea of Mika's parents being afraid of her, and was worried that such a reaction might cause Mika to distance herself.

{She's definitely freaking out on the inside.} Mika caught on to Akagi's internal struggle. {Akagi really can be kooky sometimes. But I guess it's understandable. I can't even imagine what's going through that mind of hers, but hopefully this will ease her worries just a bit.} She'd actually informed her parents of their arrival previously, and told them not to freak out about Akagi.

"Please have a seat. Mika's mother is making some tea for you all, and will done shortly." Mika's dad smiled.

The four of them took a seat, and Akagi sat across from Mika's father and next to Kana. Neither parent had made any comments yet, which was a good sign. After a few minutes, Mika's mother finished the tea and brought it over, pouring the girls a cup before taking a seat next to her husband.

"You must be Akagi." Her mother smiled. "It's nice to finally meet you. Mika's told us all about you over these past few months. My name is Shinobu Yuminaka, and this is my husband, Ken."

"It's nice to meet you." Ken smiled as he sipped his tea.

Akagi was a bit surprised by this normal greeting. "My name is Akagi Dumetor. I suppose you know very well what I am." Akagi pointed to her eyes. “But it's nice to meet the two of you, sorry it's taken me so long...” She was still nervous.

{Why am I acting so shy?!?} (Akagi)

{Man, she really is acting funny. But then again, this was kind of how she used to be, now that I think of it. It's kinda cute to see her all flustered.} (Kana)

"Indeed, we're very well aware of who you are." Shinobu chuckled. "I never imagined our daughter would be friends with a Demon or have two Yuki-Onna as girlfriends."

"Much better than those boys she used to bring around." Her father commented about a past boyfriend, which caused Mika to blush. “They we're always nothing but trouble.”

“Dad!” Mika cried out.

Akagi was taken aback by this normal interaction between her and Mika's family. She knew they were laid back, but they were sitting across from the Demon Lord and chatting like she was a normal person.

{H-how can they just be cool with me?!? I'm literally a monster!} (Akagi)

"Akagi." Ken calling our her name shocked Akagi out of her stupor. "Thank you for saving our daughter, truly." He and Shinobu bowed their heads which surprised Akagi.

{Oh?} (Kana)

"Yes, thank you." Shinobu thanked her as well. "If not for you, we would have lost her twice now. She told us how you rescued her from the military and how your ability protected her from the attack at the mall. So thank you for ensuring our daughter came home to us. We will be forever in your debt."

{EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?} Akagi started freaking out inside and it took her a moment to collect herself.

"I-uh, there's no need to t-thank me." Akagi scratched her cheek. "Mika's my friend, so it's only natural to help her. There's no need to bow your heads or say you have some kind of debt to me." She was not expecting to be thanked and was caught off guard, stumbling a bit.

{She really is awful at this kind of thing isn't she?} (Naomi)

"Even so, thank you." Ken smiled. "We lost our son in the same game that trapped you, and so the thought of losing Mika as well is just..." His eyes grew sad.

"I don't even want to imagine that." Shinobu bit her lip.

{Definitely don't tell them I killed their son.} Akagi made a mental note.

{I feel awful inside that we're hiding the truth...} (Kana)

"I can imagine." Akagi nodded. "I've got people I'd be lost without too. Mika is one of them, she means a lot to me. Especially since I've never really had friends, and its nice to have someone willing to deal with a freak like me.”

{There she goes again, taking shots at herself.} (Naomi x Mika x Kana)

“Mika and Naomi are right.” Kana let her go. “Do you feel better now? Have you calmed down a bit? I'm sorry we pushed you so hard, but you're quite the stubborn person.”

"Yeah-Yeah, I'm good." She'd intentionally removed her tear ducts to prevent herself from crying. "I'm really glad to hear that, all of that. Thank you" Akagi smiled. Hearing Mika's parents accept her was cathartic as she never even got something close to that from her own. She might enjoy the terrified reactions of most people, but for some, she just wanted to be their friend.

This contradictory and confusing mindset was likely a consequence of a Demon Lord being raised human and retaining a rational mind. She should never have even had the capacity to feel such emotions, so they would easily clash with her instincts and nature as a Demon. Even after banishing her humanity, Akagi was still a person with feelings, and sometimes she wanted to turn off all the scary parts and just be Akagi, at least with some people. Over the days since her release, these two ideals clashed within her mind and she thought herself crazy for holding both simultaneously. She figured it would be impossible to be the Demon Lord and crave friendship and acceptance from normal people. In her fractured mind, such a thing was impossible, and anyone who said otherwise was lying to her. However, Mika's parents helped to calm the storm within her heart. They knew just who and what she was, but accepted her anyway, Demon Lord or not. Akagi thought such a thing was impossible outside of her family, but sitting across from these two adults and hearing it from their mouths showed her that she was wrong. Just because she was a Demon, didn't meant people couldn't care for her, and she didn't need to push people away out of some sense of pride. There was nothing wrong with the Demon Lord wanting some friends in her life.

"Thank you, both of you, for saying that." Akagi looked at Mika's parents. “And thank you for showing me just how stupid I've been.” She smiled at her friends. “I really am stubborn, aren't I?”

“Yup!” (Kana x Mika x Naomi.)

“Its funny, I've pushed people away my entire life. I never had friends and effectively had no family. It was normal to be alone, and somewhere along the way... I guess I thought that I wasn't worthy of anyone's feelings, that no one should like me because of who or what I am. When I was finally released and became the Demon Lord, that only made things worse. I began to think, what kind of Demon Lord has friends? While also wanting them from the bottom of my heart...” Akagi smiled. “These strange and contradicting feelings and thoughts clashed in my mind ever since I was released, and it felt like a battle was raging within my mind, but now... now I see things differently.”

“Different how?” Kana motioned for her sister to continue

“Now... now I see the truth.” Akagi giggled. “I'm already a strange existence. A Demon Lord that doesn't want to destroy the world is a already off the rails enough. So, why not go further have friends and accept that some people might actually care about me despite what I am? Who cares what a Demon Lord is supposed to be. Even if I act much differently than I'm supposed to, that doesn't make me any less of a Demon Lord, it just makes me... me!” She'd finally understood the truth.

“I'd say we all agree." Kana said and Mika and Naomi nodded in agreement. “You might be the Demon Lord and an assassin, but more than that, you're my sister and our friend!" Kana smiled. "It's ok to want people to like you, and there's nothing wrong with wanting people to accept you. You said it yourself, you're selective, and there's nothing wrong with that. So it might seem contradictory to be a Demon Lord with friends. But well, I'd bet that just like Humans, Demons are also walking contradictions. It's normal to have such opposing feelings. It just goes to show that you're a person rather than a mindless monster, and it doesn't make you any less of a person to have them."

Akagi turned to Mika and Naomi who smiled.

"You might be the Demon Lord, but you're our friend first and foremost." Mika laughed.

"Mika's right. I'm sorry if we get a bit inconsistent with how we treat you. From now on, we'll try to be better at that." Naomi smiled.

{I'm glad to see she's come to realize that we do see her as friends and I hope from now on, we can start to tackle some of the other problems she has. Her entire life she was basically alone, left to deal with her inner Demons by herself, and from the looks of things, she lost many of those battles. It might take a long time, but hopefully we can get her on the road to recovery. I know not everything can be fixed, but she deserves just a small bit of piece of mind. This will be how I repay her kindness to me, but giving her what she always wanted. A friend.} (Naomi)

"Heh-heh." Akagi laughed. "I just hope you can put up with me and my eccentricities. I know I can be a bit strange to be around, but if you're still willing to be my friends regardless, that would be great." She smiled. Akagi enjoyed spending time with the two of them as friends, even if she sometimes struggled to keep one mind on how to act around them. But she felt that it would be a bit easier now.

"It's too late to back out now." Naomi shrugged.

"Yeah, we're already in this deep. Nowhere to go but down!" Mika laughed. "Being a bit goofy or strange is par for the course at this point, and you've never done anything that bad, honestly."

{Besides, you're pretty fun to be around with all your goofiness.} (Mika)

"Exactly!" Kana smiled. "You can just keep being your usually goofy self. Just being a bit messed up in the head isn't enough to scare us off." She laughed. "If it was, these two would have run away from me long ago."

"Yeah. Scary Kana might even be scarier than the Demon Lord." Naomi laughed. “Unlike you, she's put us through boot-camp!”

"At least now we know where Kana got it from!" Mika chuckled.

"As the Demon Princess, I have a reputation to uphold." Kana puffed out her chest. "I have to make sure I don't make Onee-chan look bad!"

Her statement caused everyone to bust out laughing.

After chatting a bit more, the girls went into the living room to watch a movie that Mika recommended. It was a fantasy flick, and they enjoyed Akagi making comments about how poorly the villain acted in stopping the hero before he defeated him.

Akagi found that the strange feelings that had been swirling in her mind for these last weeks had disappeared. While there were still many mental hurdles to overcome, for the first time in her life, part of Akagi's mind had healed.

Spoiler

Mika's Mom!

Mika's Dad!

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