Kikidori stormed across a rooftop in the middle of Earth's busiest city, stomping with such furious intent that the stone beneath his boots cracked and flared with infernal heat. His fists were clenched. His teeth were grinding. His jaw looked like it wanted to leap off his face and punch a cupid in the throat.
Haruna floated beside him, arms crossed, lips pressed together in a very uncomfortable, very awkward silence.
Neither of them said anything for the first five minutes. Not because they didn't want to—but because they were scared that *if* they opened their mouths again, another spell-triggered "love note" would slip out.
Kikidori glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She was biting her bottom lip, face pink, clearly uncomfortable.
Good. She should be. They both should be.
"Alright," he finally growled, breaking the tension like a hammer through glass. "Let's talk about the glittery fucking elephant in the room."
Haruna looked at him, cautious. "…Okay."
"We got shot with love arrows," he said, voice low, almost snarling. "And they're *working*."
"Yes," Haruna agreed, cautiously stepping around a broken satellite dish. "They are."
"I feel like singing about your eyes and murdering someone in your name, and I hate that feeling," he hissed.
"I feel like… holding your hand," she admitted with a whisper of shame. "And that's not something I want. I'm *an angel*."
Kikidori turned to face her, then said the one sentence that wasn't supposed to come out of his mouth. The words felt like they were pulled from the back of his skull with a golden hook wrapped in glitter and sin.
**"So… you tryna have sex or…?"**
A beat of silence.
Haruna's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"
"NO—WAIT—SHIT!" Kikidori grabbed his own mouth. "That wasn't me! That was *magic*! The fuckin' spell made me say it!"
Haruna stared at him like he'd just committed theological blasphemy in twelve languages. "Why would—how could you say something like that?!"
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO! You think I'd just say that?! What the *fuck* do I look like—one of those gross-ass incubi?"
"You look like a demon who just propositioned a *divine being*."
Kikidori's face burned with something halfway between rage and humiliation. He turned around and kicked a brick off the side of the building. "Fucking cherub bastards… This is why I hate magic."
Haruna looked down, cheeks still flushed. "Well… the spell is strong. It's affecting our thoughts. Our speech. Our *impulses*. We have to fight it."
"I'm trying! Believe me, I'm trying not to throw you on this rooftop and—"
Kikidori cut himself off, slapped a hand over his mouth, and growled like a caged wolf. "*Son of a bitch.*"
Haruna quickly looked away, trembling. "Don't finish that sentence."
"I wasn't gonna!" he snapped. "I'm not that kind of demon. I mean, I am—but not with you! Damn it!"
They stood again in silence. Somewhere below, a car alarm went off. A dog barked. Someone yelled about losing their DoorDash order.
Normal Earth things.
Kikidori inhaled deeply, then exhaled fire into the sky. "We gotta break this spell."
"Agreed," Haruna said quickly. "Before something *really* inappropriate happens."
"…What, more than what I already said?"
Haruna looked at him with the most deadpan angelic expression. "*Yes.*"
Kikidori rolled his eyes and flicked off the sky. "Alright. Fine. Let's find a Cupid, rip his wings off, and beat him with his own bow."
"That's… actually not how you break the spell," Haruna said, pulling out a scroll of golden parchment.
He looked over her shoulder. "What's that?"
"Standard procedure for Cupid magic," she muttered. "Step one: Acknowledge the feelings are fake. Step two: Perform an act of pure honesty to repel the spell. Step three: Punch a Cupid in the face. That one is optional, I think."
Kikidori grinned. "I'm *definitely* doing step three."
They stood again in the golden light of sunset, awkward but united by a single goal:
*Get rid of the horny magic.*
Until then…
Haruna stayed five feet away.
Kikidori kept muttering threats at cupids under his breath.
And the tension?
Well, it wasn't going anywhere yet.
The end of Chapter 22.