The Demon Queen

Behavioural Correction

I grinned. "You're going to stay with Douma for a few weeks!"

Gyutaro cocked his head to one side. "What do you mean?" he asked, slurring his words together.

"Oh?" Daki asked from the other side of the room. "Are we going to visit Douma-san?"

I looked to her. "Not you. Just your brother."

"Ah, so he needs some behavioural correction?"

"Something like that," I replied.

"I don't need no behavioural correction!"

Daki laughed. "Yeah you do, Onii-chan."

"Your sister's clever, you know," I said to Gyutaro.

"He's always needed some behavioural correction, Sakura-sama," Daki continued. "I never told him because I didn't want to hurt his feelings." She started to eat some dango from the basket.

Gyutaro growled under his breath. "Just remember who raised you, Ume --" His face turned to an expression as if he wanted to throw up. "I mean, Daki," he said reluctantly.

"Yeah, that didn't do much good," Daki said. "You taught me to take whatever I could and whatever was owed to me, and that didn't bring me so far, did it, Onii-chan ..."

Gyutaro looked as if he was punched in the stomach.

"It's not your fault," Daki said. "I'm not mad at you, but it's all true, you know. And in these past months I've told myself that I'm going to act sophisticated and with class. It got me much better clients at the new House I'm working at. Oh! I forgot!" She put the basket of sweets on the floor and got up to walk over to me. She slipped her hand under her obi and took out a small pouch filled with coins. She took a few generously-valued coins out and gave them to me. "Here's your cut."

"Oh. Thanks," I said.

"Cut ...?" Gyutaro asked in a weakened voice, still pained by what his sister had just told him.

Daki looked at him. "For our stay here," she said. "It shows more gratitude to give something to Sakura-sama and Muzan-sama for letting us live here and feeding us. That weird fish thing that lives in the pots gives them money, too."

"Oh, you mean Gyokko," I said. "Yeah, he makes pots. Douma sells them at the temple and Muzan and I sell them in the city."

"So then ... you ask for money ..." Gyutaro said flatly.

I turned to him. "No. I don't . But if someone can make money with a skill they have, it always helps."

"It's better form, Onii-chan," Daki said. "Maybe if you learn to present yourself better, you could make some money, too."

"An ugly shit like me doesn't stand a chance out there unless it's a job using fighting," Gyutaro said.

Daki sighed. "Onii-chan, you're not really ugly. You were poor. I see a lot of ugly rich clients and they're ugly but no one cares because they dress nice and present themselves well."

Gyutaro started to lightly scratch at his neck. "Maybe when I gain weight, I'll believe you."

"You're not gonna gain weight," Daki said. "I talked to Muzan-sama and he said that we don't gain weight and we don't age. So, you'll just have to find a way to deal with that. Now, I'm going back to that basket because I want to eat sweets without getting fat."

As Daki returned to the other side of the room, I watched Gyutaro as he stood there, slouching and sulking. He looked like his breath was punched out of him. His face was pale, expressionless, as if his last hope for himself was ripped away from him.

"Gyutaro." I put my hand on his shoulder.

He looked at me.

"You did the best you could," I said to him quietly. "What your sister means, is that now you can do better. It's not the same as it was anymore."

"I could live 900 years like you and still be a fucking skeleton ..." he said.

"And, so?" I pointed to the kimono he was wearing. "No one will really tell under that, if you wore it properly and didn't have it hanging open in the front."

Gyutaro was silent for a moment. He looked down towards my hand on his shoulder. "If they touched me, they'd know."

What he said was true. His shoulder was bony under my hand, even though he did have a lot of upper arm strength.

"It doesn't really matter," I said.

"Pfft. Easy for you to say." He pushed my hand off of him. He then looked at me. "When do I go to Douma?" he asked flatly.

"He's coming to get you tomorrow evening."

"Fine," Gyutaro said with a bit of a snarl in his voice. He stared at me. "Leave me alone," he said. "I don't wanna see you, Fucking Noble."

I studied him for a moment. "Fine," I said. "You won't see me until your few weeks with Douma are up."

Gyutaro's eyes looked pained. He regretted what he said, but wasn't going to apologise.

"Bye, Gyutaro. See you in a few weeks," I said and left the room.