It had been the same for years—wake up, work, come home, repeat. Nothing ever really changed, just the same gray cycle looping like a broken record.

People talked, judged, laughed, pointed fingers. It always felt like they were speaking at you, never to you. And somehow, no matter how hard you tried, it was never enough for anyone.

The apartment was messy again. It didn’t matter how many times you cleaned it—chaos always crept back in like it belonged there more than you did.

You stood in the bathroom mirror for a long time, staring at yourself like you were trying to recognize something familiar that never fully showed up. Then you left without saying a word, passing your sister like she wasn’t even there. No one really seemed to notice anyway.

Later, you got ready for work—Devil Hunter duty. Another day pretending to be just human enough to function. Only Aki knew what you really were… or at least part of it. A half-devil, a vessel for something else that lived quietly beneath your skin.

In the elevator, the silence pressed in tightly as you both stood there, not quite looking away but not fully looking either. After a moment, he broke it. “So… how is it going?”