Photograph | Mammon

Fifteen

She knew she'd die early. Since birth she had a terminal illness, since birth, she was forced to understand the value of life. Like a miracle, she was cured.

But the financial problems were not.

Years of medical bills put immense financial strain on her parents. They didn't go into debt due to very helpful charity organisations but they were full-time caretakers for her and were unable to work properly, thus unable to earn enough money for a family of 4. She was aware of the burden she put on the family. Since her parents never forgot to remind her.

She wasn't very strong in school either. She was good at art, but what good did that do? It wasn't going to put food on the table.

So she made the decision or rather was coerced, into dropping out early and doing labour to make extra money. And that had worked for years. Until one day she had suddenly collapsed. This was a symptom of the condition that she was allegedly cured of. They knew they couldn't support her again, or rather they didn't want to go through it all again.

Seeing that she was already 18. They ran away and abandoned their responsibilities. But she was not ill, yet. She was just overworked. Now she was 18 with a little brother she had to somehow look after. She always felt burdened to him. Knowing that he became an orphan because of her, she was determined to allow him to live the life she couldn't.

That was much easier said than done. He was still very limited in the average childhood experiences but she did the best she could and he wasn't a difficult kid. He may have never been able to go on school trips or travel with friends but she loved him, cared for him and most importantly... never made him feel like a burden.

She honestly expected to die when she was a child and now here she was in her mid-20s experiencing it all again. She thought she'd be numb to the fear of death but that was far from the truth.

She was still scared.

Even after meeting a literal demon that challenged her mindset of reality and mortality, the thought of not being physically present on earth, not being able to be there for Jonah... scared the shit out of her.

The current disdain towards sunlight that had once reminded her she lived to see another day. The food she loved eating now felt like tasteless warm mush in her mouth.

She dislikes opening her eyes, seeing the world that will continue without her. She doesn't want to see herself even by accident, the ugly shell of a mortal she had become. And she definitely doesn't want to see the pity in people's eyes as they looked at her.

Especially his.

Hearing the door open she audibly sighed. It was Stephen's bi-hourly check-up on her wellbeing. She knew she was being ungrateful for her attitude. She should appreciate her privileged and luck... but she couldn't.

"Steph... please..."

"W-who's Steph?" She was confused as she clearly recognised his voice. She rolled over on her bed to face the door and her eyes widened.

"I-I am... Yuchi a jujitsu sorcerer!" Stephen stood there in... bad cosplay?

"It's JUJUTSU!"

"I'M TRYING— I'm a jujutsu sorcerer!" Stephen awkwardly put his thumb up as he was trembling in shame. He stood there in a red hoodie and poorly made pink wig to resemble the character from one of her favourite shows.

Suddenly, forced anime laughter can be heard. "And I am his loveable teacher—GOCHO!" A figure dressed in black slams the door open before entering.

Mammon flashily spun around, he stood up with his middle finger crossed over his index as he held it up. He had a black cloth over his eyes that acted as a blindfold and his white hair was slicked up.

She blankly stared at them for a few seconds.

"PFFT--" she burst into hysterical laughter.

Stephen was about to complain about his idea until he saw Mammon's face. A soft smile of admiration on his face as he looked at her as if he was staring at an ethereal being. And to be clear she did not look... heavenly to say the least. She was laughing like a hyena, her hands clutching her hurting stomach as she smacked her thigh with the other.

And maybe, somehow, that was what he saw.

The asshole doctor just sighed with a smile. It had been days since he saw even the resemblance of a smile on her face. Mammon, the guy he hated... really understood her. He cleared his throat as he awkwardly removed the wig from his head.

"W-wait! Let me take a photo first!"

"FUCK NO!"

"Eh? Why not?"

"I know you, you bitch, you'd show everyone!"

"...am I not allowed to?"

"I'd rather die than let you have evidence of this embarrassment—no one will believe you if you say I did this"

"But there is evidence"

"Eh?"

She pointed to the camera in the corner of the room placed for safeguarding reasons. "You don't have access to that!"

"But Milo does~" she playfully stated in joy as she saw the growing fear on his face.

Stephen had his mouth agape, as his feet ran faster than his mind could process the situation he put himself into. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT MARK"

"How on earth did you convince him to do that? I've begged him to do cosplays with me for ages!" She had mentioned this before, which was exactly why he made Stephen do it in exchange for his help.

Because she wanted it.

"A world-class sorcerer has his ways~"

She gasped, "...did you use your powers?"

"Perhaps~"

She's unaware that Mammon's still playing the character of Gocho, "Fuck-- I wanted to see it myself!"

As she's laughing she suddenly stops. His gaze on her made her self-conscious about how she was physically presenting. "D-don't look at me"

"So you can point and laugh at me but I can't even look at you?"

"It's... different"

"How is it different, my dear?"

She audibly gasped as she sat back in her bed. "What is this sudden charisma?"

"Sudden? I was born with it~"

"The Gocho cosplay is too powerful, even gives losers like you charisma---"

He removed the blindfold, "HEY!"

He sat down beside her on the bed as he brushed imaginary dust off of his outfit. "Gotta admit, I pulled this off well-- minus my tanned skin"

"I mean, you are pretty like an anime character and you have a good body"

He cockily smirked in amusement at her words. "But... Gocho is not 5'9"

"I'M 5'10"

"Still below 6ft—and he's 6'3"

"I—you're still shorter than me"

"I'm tall for an Asian girl—aren't demons meant to be tall?"

"...I'm never doing anything nice for you again"