A beet red bump swelled out of their head like a balloon. Not Akuma's head, but Wujing's as he had dodged her slap and fired his own punch.
Now she sat in a standard seiza position—a custom she learned from her travels in the Spirit Realm—wearing an oversized T-Shirt and shorts Akuma had on hand.
"You are stronger than I originally thought, human. I did not expect to be overpowered so easily."
Akuma rested on his side again, picking his ear with casual indifference.
"So you're not only a criminal and homeless, but you're also a cross dresser too? Don't you think that's a little greedy? C'mon man, pick a struggle."
"I–I am not a crossdresser!"
"Really now. Y'know what? I bet if I looked up the definition of crossdressing I'd see a picture of you right there."
"And that picture would be highly inaccurate. Crossdressing refers to an individual who dresses up to look like the opposite sex, correct?"
"Yep."
"Then I am no crossdresser. In the first place, there wouldn't be an 'opposite sex' in my case since beast folks do not have specified genders."
"…Come again?"
"I said that beast folks such as myself do not have specified genders. We are born with the ability to swap between genders as we wish. And as my parents died when I was very young, I don't even know what gender I was originally. Oh, and we can also transform into a complete version of our respected animal race." She seemed awfully full of herself while adding that last fun fact.
Akuma stole a glance at her horse tail that was swaying like a tube guy outside a dealership.
"So, you can turn into a horse?"
"An oni horse!" Wujing instantly corrected. "Oni horse! Do you see these horns? Regular horses do not have these, do they? Oni horse!"
"My apologies. How could I be so thoughtless."
"Hmph. That's what I want to know."
"That was sarcasm…" Akuma sighed. "By the way, I heard you mutter that you only have 1 more transformation. What's that about?"
"Y–You heard that?!"
"Sorry to say, but people often whisper around me, so I tend to pick up stuff like that."
"Hm? Why would they whisper around you?"
"…No reason. It's just a thing."
"Hm… Very well. To answer your questions, I don't technically have a limit to my transformations. I can swap between male, female and horse infinitely. The problem is that there is a seal on my powers."
"Seal…?"
"Yes. I already told you my power was sealed. Before coming to this realm, a powerful demon sealed most of my power. However, thanks to my Constellation Art, Antlia, I can summon a miracle 3 times a year. I used it once to come to this realm, and again just now. Which mean I'll unfortunately have to postpone my mission until after the Ceprun New Year."
"And when is that?"
"Um… On earth calendar it would be… No idea."
"...…"
"...."
Akuma sighed.
"You'd think one would be smart enough to at least learn something so important for their power. Not only that, but you wasted it on something like this? C'mon man, be better."
"S–Shut your mouth! You're the one who wouldn't believe me. Besides, I've been on this mission for the past decade. One more year isn't going to kill me."
"Is that right. Well, you have my prayers…" Akuma remarked as he got up to turn off the lights. "Alright. I'll admit that I'm convinced you aren't a government agent or an apparition. As such, I give you the right to sleep on my beautiful carpet floors."
"What? Where are you going?"
"To bed. It's late and I have school tomorrow. So, unless you wanna get thrown out, I suggest you go to bed too. I do hope the carpet floor feels better than a staple."
"F–For the last time, I am not a horse! I am an oni horse!"
Akuma flicked the lights off.
"Good night and things of that nature."
"Hey! Are you seriously just going to sleep right now? I haven't even explained my mission. Or anything for that matter."
"Then remind tomorrows me. It's his problem now."
Wujing couldn't see his face, but she knew Akuma was wearing that same casual expression. The one that made her feel as if she were just like a lunar beast—a mischievous entity from her home realm that finds pleasure in pulling pranks and spreading misfortune.
She had half a mind to wake him up and explain everything from start to finish, just to really convince him. But then she realized something…
"Hey, wait a sec. You speak as if you've never seen anything supernatural, yet earlier when I transformed you seemed more annoyed than surprised. And while you did ask about the transformation, you never questioned my Constellation Art. Even now you have yet to ask for an explanation of that power… Could it be… that you already know of the Constellation Arts?"
"…"
"Human? Have you already fallen to your slumber?"
"…"
Yes. That would be the answer to her question.
Not only was Akuma not asleep, but he had heard every single word. But for whatever reason, he chose not to say anything.