Hell.
It wasn't just hot. It was *vile.* The air itself reeked of sulfur, agony, and long-forgotten prayers that no one gave a shit about anymore. Blood rivers oozed beside scorched streets. Screams echoed from every corner like a symphony of eternal suffering, but it didn't even register to Kikidori anymore. It was just background noise. Like white noise… if white noise was made of pain and sins wrapped in barbed wire.
He walked slowly through the streets of the damned, boots clicking against cracked obsidian. Demons fought in alleys for fun. Fire-belching monsters hurled insults across rooftops. A writhing mass of damned souls dragged chains behind them like they were trying to crawl out of guilt that was already branded into their flesh.
And Kikidori? He just shoved his hands in his coat pockets and kept walking.
Bored as hell in hell.
Not a single thing caught his eye.
Not the three-headed dog tearing through a gang of lesser demons.
Not the preacher who once told humans God loved them as he now wept in a pit of mocking laughter from those he condemned.
Not even the damned soul who screamed, "HELP ME!" as she was pulled under by a swarm of horned insects gnawing on her sins.
Kikidori didn't blink. Didn't flinch.
His eyes were empty.
He was thinking.
And it was starting to piss him off.
He stopped in front of a building that was basically a collapsed tower made of skulls and bones fused together with hellfire. He stared at it like he didn't even know what he was doing there.
"Fuck this," he muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck and sighing.
Something was wrong with him.
He *knew* what it was.
And he *hated* it.
Meanwhile, far above him, in a different realm altogether—one where gold dripped like dew and music floated in the air like it was always sunrise—Haruna laid in her bed.
Heaven was quiet.
Too quiet.
Normally, that was peaceful.
Normally, she'd fall asleep to the hum of harps or the soft breathing of clouds drifting past her window.
But not tonight.
Haruna tossed in her bed, the silky gold sheets wrapping around her like vines. Her mind refused to rest. Her fingers gripped the pillow like it owed her an answer.
Her breath was fast.
Her eyes were wide.
Her thoughts… *not holy.*
Not one bit.
Because every time she closed her eyes, she didn't see Heaven.
She saw *him.*
That damn demon.
That arrogant, vulgar, chain-smoking bastard with the half-laugh smirk and eyes that looked like they'd burned through a thousand lifetimes of pain.
She saw the way he smirked at her when she blushed.
The way he said "go fuck yourself" like it was a compliment.
The way he looked at her when she *thought* he wasn't paying attention.
And then her face turned bright red.
"Ugh…" she groaned, rolling over and burying her face in her pillow. "Stop it. *Stop it.*"
But her body didn't stop.
Her heart was racing.
Her skin was flushed.
Her thighs squeezed together under the sheets, and she *hated* herself for it.
This wasn't right.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
She was an *angel.*
An angel.
And she was lying there in golden silk sheets, thinking about the goddamn *son of hell.*
She grabbed the pillow and screamed into it. "HMMMMMMMPH!!"
The sound was muffled, but loud enough that one of the angels outside knocked gently on her door. "Everything alright in there?"
"I'M PRAYING!" she shouted, even though that wasn't even kind of true.
The angel paused. "…Okay."
Footsteps faded.
And Haruna rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling, panting like she'd run a mile through divine fire.
"Why are you doing this to me, Kikidori?" she whispered.
Back in Hell, Kikidori sneezed.
He looked around. "The fuck?"
He sniffed, rubbed his nose, and muttered, "Someone better not be praying for me…"
He started walking again, past a demon ripping out his own intestines for the sixth time today.
But even as he walked, his feet took him nowhere new.
He didn't go to his castle.
Didn't go to a bar.
Didn't go to the pit fights or the bone market.
He just wandered. Aimlessly. Irritated. Restless.
He ended up standing on a cliff overlooking a lava chasm, watching a bridge collapse under the weight of sinners trying to crawl to forgiveness.
He sighed.
And muttered: "That damn angel."
His voice echoed softly in the sulfur wind.
"She's just a girl," he said. "A girl with wings and a stick up her ass."
He crossed his arms.
"…And a weird sense of humor."
He kicked a rock into the lava below.
"…And kinda cute when she yells."
He shut his eyes, clenched his fists.
"Fuck this."
He turned and flew off, hellfire wings spreading wide behind him, eyes burning with that flicker of confusion, rage, and something dangerously close to longing.
In Heaven, Haruna was still laying in bed, sweat dotting her forehead, and her pillow now practically strangled from how hard she'd held it.
She finally sat up.
Her hair was messy, her armor half off, her skin glowing unnaturally bright in the moonlight of paradise.
"I need to talk to someone," she whispered.
She stood, stumbling a little on her silky feet, wings twitching behind her.
"I need to go to Earth."
Then, realizing how bad that sounded, she added: "Not for *that.*"
But even she didn't believe herself.
The end of Chapter 28.