Opinions

The General

(Welcome to my second one-shot collection~! This one will cover (my ideas for) the opinions each character in the main cast of the anime has of Hanzo Urushihara, how they view him and their relationship with him~ As I've said, this will be much shorter than Heaven is a Place on Earth, but at least it's a nice side project while I'm doing Misfit Together. Each chapter's title will basically sum up who/what Urushihara is to the person it'll be about. I'll be trying to update this every Thursday/Friday (depending on when I can write) and Misfit Together will keep updating on Sundays)

He had to admit, he had once admired him.

Long ago, when the young Satan had first met the fallen angel Lucifer, he looked up to him. He was worth looking up to. His skills, his strategies, his way of looking at things and his entire demeanour. Lucifer knew what he wanted and he didn't care what he had to do to get it. He was strong and powerful. He was fearless. He was a demon.

It didn't matter to King Satan that this man came from Heaven. All that mattered was the fact that he joined the side of the demons. He was one of them, now. What was that phrases he had heard the humans use?

How the mighty have fallen.

Surely, there was no better match for such a thought than Lucifer? But it was a long time before King Satan learned what the humans had really meant when they uttered that phrase.

The young king grew into a great leader, a conqueror, with his generals at his command. Lucifer in particular was an asset to them; his understanding of the Heavenly realm was ever useful in their quest to take over the land of Ente Isla. And the hatred and disgust he held for his former brethren filled Satan with pride, with inspiration... with arrogance. He came to rely on General Lucifer without realising it. He grew cocky. He never expected to fail. But Lucifer fell, once again, at the hands of the great Hero Emilia. But this fall wasn't like his first. He didn't simply leave. He was gone. Well and truly gone. Or so it seemed. And he hadn't even taken the time to look for his body. If only he had, maybe things would have worked out differently. But as it happened, the Great Demon General Lucifer was dead. Satan could do nothing about that, so what was the point in trying? His motionless body would be of no use to them, either. All the respect, all the admiration, all the sheer awe he had once felt dissolved into nothingness.

He made a mistake in leaving Lucifer like that.

His unexpected return was a shock to say the least but Maou, as he now called himself, refused to back down. He felt betrayed, of course, but somewhere in the back of his mind, perhaps in the same place his new human perspective was coming from, he could also feel that glowing ember of respect reignite.

Lucifer had not changed one bit. He had turned on him, he had switched sides and was even trying to go back to Heaven. Even so, his strategies remained the same. His personality remained the same. And Maou found himself regretting ever abandoning him. But this train of thought was cut short as his body exploded in pain.

Lucifer had shot him. In his short moment of consciousness before he fell, Maou couldn't help but silently praise the fallen angel for taking such a chance without the briefest second of hesitation. He still knew just what he wanted, and he still took it.

He survived it, though. He regained his magic and fought. He beat Lucifer. And when he saw the way his wings snapped shut and his body shook, the way his eyes widened, the tears that formed in them... A strange combination of disappointment and sympathy rose in his heart. Once again, he was losing his respect for someone he once saw as worthy. Yet there was compassion. There was a need to protect his old friend.

... Was this his fault? Over the next few days, Maou bore witness to the seamless transition of Lucifer into Hanzo Urushihara, the whiny, immature and spoiled teenaged shut-in. Somehow, he felt at fault. Could this... weakness have infected him after he had been abandoned, forgotten and left for dead? He had grown dependent and childish. It was infuriating... and... Maou felt guilty. Urushihara seemed so much more vulnerable now. So much more defensive, like he needed to protect himself. Like he feared being hurt and tossed aside yet again. (How the mighty have fallen... So that's what the humans meant...!) Maou tried not to think about it.

Still, he did start to notice something. Urushihara hadn't lost his sense of initiative. He may be lazy and unhelpful around the apartment but he was still a hard-worker where it mattered - when Maou needed information, he never had to ask. Urushihara already had a webpage open. When Maou urgently needed magic, he was saved in an instant. Urushihara had formed the perfect plan, and got his revenge against Olba while he was at it.

He did fail occasionally, like that scam incident, but he had good intentions. He was trying to help.

If nothing else, at least Urushihara was loyal. Maou would always appreciate that.

... He just wished he could, like, maybe take the trash out once in a while or something. That wasn't too much to ask, right?