It all started when I was born.
I was the third son of an aristocratic family, or at least, that was the term I used to describe them.
My mother was a fashion designer, and my father was a lawyer.
My siblings were always studying, until my older brother decided to leave home once he finished university. The reason? I never knew, however…
My father seemed disappointed in him for something I didn't understand.
My family's powerful surname was Archibald. My mother lost hers to adopt my father's. And it seems she regretted that.
"Mama? Why are you crying?" It didn't matter how many times I asked her; how many times I saw her crying in her room.
"It's nothing, love."
But I didn't know how to ask her.
She thought I was just a simple five-year-old boy who knew absolutely nothing about what was going on in my own life. But of course that's not the case, and that's why I'm explaining this in detail.
My name is Ori Archibald, when I turned three I was sure that I was the youngest son in the family. But it was two years later that I discovered my father had an affair with a woman, and a girl was born from that woman. And my mother eventually found out when this woman, among the expense reports, sent her a letter detailing the affair with my father.
She didn't get angry. She just got depressed.
She stopped eating, she stopped seeing my father, they stopped sleeping together, and soon afterwards she fell ill. Especially when we found out that he had another child with that same woman.
My father was not a bad man; he had impeccable judgment when defending his clients, but not when defending himself.
And when my mother died of sadness, he couldn't cry, but I could see that he felt deeply sorry for his actions; and for never having given my mother the importance she deserved.
"…" But I was only a ten-year-old boy when that happened, and I wasn't supposed to understand it, just as my thirteen-year-old older brother didn't understand it. "Papa, are you crying?"
"…A man doesn't cry, Ori." But he was doing it; or at least, he did it during the nights that my mother refused to see him, to speak to him, to sleep with him, to listen to him. "I'm only thinking about your mother."
Yes, of course, I already knew that. No one would have that guilty look on their face thinking about the love of their life, except for a man who killed his own wife.
And I know that feeling so well.
Because I lived that same guilt just a few lives ago.
And it's really a coincidence, that in this life, I have that same surname from my last life. Such a…bitter, coincidence.
"…" So yes, from a young age I was aware that I had been reincarnated. With a new family, a new identity, but still human. "I see. I'm sad too, papa. Just like my dear brother Joy is."
But really, all I felt was pity for that man.
"…I know that, Ori."
And because of the subsequent bad decisions he made during his journey in trying to raise us on his own, along with his new family.
He brought that woman home. My older brother hated him for it, and so when he finished college, he followed in my other older brother's footsteps and left home, leaving me alone with our father.
I turned fifteen, and I watched as that woman consumed my father's vital energy. He no longer went drinking with his friends every Saturday, and he eliminated family tea time because his new children demanded his attention.
Work was killing him, and when he got home, it felt like watching a man endure torture, one of the most aggressive and violent kinds possible.
"Where the hell is the money for this week, Archie?" She didn't even call him by his first name, only by his last name and a lame nickname.
"I had to spend money for Ori's high school, Erika…"
"And what about your children?! You have more children with me! It's not just that little annoyance of yours!"
My father slammed his fist on the table. He hated fighting. Especially when their children were present.
"…"
Silence reigned throughout the dining room.
Suddenly the dessert tasted rotten.
"Ori should follow in his brothers' footsteps and leave home."
"He is only fifteen years old."
"But he has older brothers! They can take responsibility for him! Not you, you no longer have any responsibility for him!" Harsh words, which even my half-siblings could feel, and they just looked at me. "His mother died, and with her your marriage; you already did so much by paying for Joy's college education, and this little nuisance doesn't even respect you! He doesn't even seem like your son! He's just a stranger!"
"…"
She was right. My father and I stopped speaking a long time ago.
He knows nothing about me, while I can only deduce what he thinks, and hopefully, know if that's what he really feels.
"Stop that. Erika. Please." His voice sounded broken, almost on the verge of tears. It's ironic. Coming from the man who told me a few years ago that a man doesn't cry. "…The children are listening to us; Ori is here."
Yeah.
Unfortunately, I'm here.
A father must be difficult.
Choosing between the love of his life and his children; what a shame.
If I felt human, I would have been sad. But right now, I couldn't care less. However, it's not a face I can show here.
"Ma'am. My little siblings are very scared." That's all I could add.
"My children are not your siblings!"
And that was the last straw.
My father threw his glass to the floor, the lemonade spilling all over the floor, and then he got up from the table. "Excuse me." And he left.
"Where the hell do you think you're going, you idiot?!" And she got up and followed him; the screams remained and echoed through all the corridors.
My younger brother looked at my sister, and with a terrified face, he began to cry. "Papa…mama…"
"Stop it now, Ibrahim," She spat. "It's our fault they're fighting again..."
And it was sad that she tried to act strong; she was only twelve years old, and she was fighting to protect my four-year-old little brother.
A responsibility that doesn't belong to a girl as broken as she is.
"It's not your fault," I assured them, and seeing the faces of both of them… "It's my fault; my father and I are no longer family." The connection was lost since my mother died, or perhaps long before. "You are innocent of all this. So...cry all you need to, I'm your older brother," I smiled sweetly; this time, I would do what I wished my older brothers had done. "I'll fix this."
They both cried.
And I hugged them both.
Perhaps my older brothers hate me for showing mercy to the little bastards, but they're just children, and a child will always be a child.
So, once they had both cried their hearts out, I took them to their rooms. My father was still arguing with the woman, so I simply went to my room, packed a briefcase with all my important documents, grabbed a waterproof coat, and left the house.
If I was the problem, that was fine. Then I'd just go with my older brothers; they'd surely be better off now.
I took a bus to my older brother's house, the older of the two of us; Leonhart. He moved to a residence somewhat far from our house; now, at least, he would have two children.
Once I stood outside his door, I knocked; "It's Ori Archibald."
«…»
But there was no immediate response.
Until I heard footsteps, and then someone opened the door; it was an old woman. "Young man, what can I do for you?"
At first I thought she was my brother's mother-in-law, so I smiled politely. "I am looking for Leonhart Archibald, I am his younger brother."
"Oh," The old woman remained silent for a few seconds, trying to decipher something. "I'm sorry. But that person has been dead for three years. Didn't your mother tell you that?"
"…What?" My brother was young, healthy...how could he have died? "How did he die?"
"He hung up himself," Oh. "Thank God, this house is free from the bad energies that such actions attract to the earthly world..."
But I didn't let her finish, and I left.
I knew our life wasn't the best...but suicide? Isn't that a bit much? Did Joy already know?
I needed to find my other brother.
Perhaps this old woman was just joking with me.
I took the transport again, this time to a more distant place; I was able to get its address after a vast search among his friends. And it was then that I managed to get outside of his apartment.
Again, knock on the door. "I am Ori Archibald."
Nobody answered, nothing was heard, not even an old woman to give me bad news. Gulp.
And if perhaps...my brother wanted—?
From my briefcase I took out a hair clip that I had taken from my sister in case of emergency, and immediately, I tried to open the locked door with it, and miraculously I was able to do it on the first try—a relief considering I only had one lock with me—and I went inside.
It was dark.
I turned on the light.
"…" Traces of blood on the ground. "Joy?"
I walked, following the bloodstain; it looked as if someone had dragged something, and when I say 'something' I mean a body.
I could smell a putrid odor.
My heart started beating rapidly.
I was already preparing for the unexpected, and upon entering the bathroom; I could see that the blood was pooling in the tub, accompanied by dirt that had already been mixed with blood.
I approached, while covering my nose with my back hand.
I opened the curtain; flies flew out, and there he was; my dear older brother, dead.
"…N-No…" Someone had put dirt on top of it to try to cover up the smell, but it was still strong, even after going to the trouble of planting mushrooms. "B-Brother!"
Remove the dirt from the body, and seeing the stab wounds in his chest, the scratches on his face…
Someone murdered him.
They were still fresh; perhaps he was murdered yesterday.
"Hands up!" Tears welled in my eyes as I heard a voice behind me. I immediately turned around; it was a policeman. How convenient. "Get up and move away from the body or I'll shoot!"
I obeyed. I'm not immortal enough to mock an officer, much less with my brother's corpse present.
Paramedics and forensic investigators soon entered the scene, and me? I was arrested.
And I can consider that occasion as my first crime, and for which I would simply become the focus of the killer soon.
***
"…"
All this time I sat in chairs in the hallways, outside the interrogation room; apparently, there was very little evidence to convict me, and I was in such shock that I could barely answer. Even when I took the pen test, I was found to be innocent.
Even so, I couldn't stop thinking about who that killer was, why he killed my brothers...or why nobody knew about their deaths?
Perhaps my brother Leonhart's death was also a murder? Or perhaps the murderer drove my brother to suicide?
I don't even know where my brother is buried to know, and I doubt they'll let me see my brother Joy's body again.
"Ori!" I heard my father's voice, turned to my side and there he was; apparently, he too had just learned of my brothers' deaths. "…" I knew he saw the blood on my clothes, the dirt under my fingernails, and most likely the traumatized look on my face right now. He ran towards me, and knelt in front of me. "I swear we will investigate and find Joy's killer."
Liar, he couldn't even save himself now.
Behind him came the woman. His lover. And? I would never call her a stepmother, she's just a woman.
Not seeing my brothers with her, I knew that they most likely stayed at home, and I say, it's for the best, I would have hated for them to have seen me in this state.
"…Did you know that my brother committed suicide?" I asked my father, and his silence was enough for me to understand that he already knew. And the sadness that I assumed was because of his guilt, was actually because he knew about my brother's death "…Why didn't you ever take me to the funeral?"
He was my brother.
"You were going through a difficult time, especially when Joy left home...I couldn't find the words to tell you or him."
Stupid man.
"…" However... perhaps when Joy left home, he didn't also look for Leonhart? And what if he found out about his suicide?
What if…
"…!"
What if the killer knew Joy was alone after searching for Leonhart?
Gulp.
And I went looking for Leonhart, and I came face to face with the crime scene of my brother Joy…
That won't mean that I…?
«I'm next.»
I'm definitely next to die.
Who could the murderer be? I doubt my brothers had any enemies; none of them could hurt a fly.
Who? Who was it?
"…I need to get some air."
I had to find some clue, some clue that would tell me; 'he's the killer, run, Ori.'
I grabbed my briefcase and left the police station; I knew how suspicious I must look with blood on my clothes, but it didn't really matter; I needed to get there before the forensics team finished their work.
"HEL—!"
And just as I was about to turn into an alley, I heard that muffled cry for help. "…" I turned around, and then I went into the alley.
Thump.
I heard a thud of something hitting the ground, and immediately I hid behind a trash can. When I no longer heard any noises, I looked out.
I felt my heart stop; a shadowy black mass was swallowing a man, entering through his mouth and eye sockets, while he kicked and screamed into deaf ears.
I must be dreaming, hallucinating! They said my trauma was so strong that I might hallucinate, but...this looked so real…
And then the shadow disappeared, and the man remained motionless. "…" I immediately ran to the man, checked his pulse; nothing, and his body temperature dropped drastically, as cold as a stone. "Sir, are you alright? Wake up, wake up…"
I practically begged him to get up, but it didn't happen.
Then suddenly, his eyes opened; blue, and bright, not at all of this world. "…!" Immediately, my mind started racing, the memory of a past life came flooding back; those eyes belonged to a demon.
I immediately stepped back, hugged my briefcase, and ran out of the alley. That demon was going to kill me.
I returned to the police station; I preferred to lose evidence than to be killed. "H-Help! Help me!" I know no one could face a demon, but at least...I tried.
And it was when I went back into the station that I saw all the police officers forming a circle; a man was on the ground, under arrest, but some medics were surrounding—my father.
"…" I froze. "Father?" I immediately looked for the woman, and when I saw her crying, being held back by police officers to keep her away, I was sure it was her. That was my father.
And the man arrested...had murdered him.
"…"
Everything happened so fast, I had barely left and...
"Don't move unless you want to accompany your beloved family." I trembled, slowly, I turned around; it wasn't that demon, it was a hooded man, and I could feel a gun against my back.
"Who…" I murmured, and I could hear the man laugh.
"I am the one who will end the Archibalds." I trembled, and then I frowned; this man was the real killer! "Let's get out of here. If you make a sound, I'll blow your chest out."
I nodded, and followed him outside.
He forced me into a black car, and then we left. "…" Was he going to kill me? No. He was probably going to kidnap me, demand money, and then kill me. "…Why did you kill them?"
My question remained unanswered for a few seconds. Until finally the man deigned to reply.
"Your father unjustly condemned my mother," Revenge? "My father abused her, she only defended us. Is there anything wrong with a woman defending herself?"
A woman who does not defend herself suffers more than a woman who manages to free herself. However, most likely my father was just following his client's orders and didn't care about that.
"He is a lawyer, not a judge."
"But it was because of him that my mother lost, and had to go to prison!" He made an aggressive turn, almost making me fall out of the back seats, holding on tighter to my briefcase. "I killed my father's family; that damned plague...the judge...and all I had left was...the lawyer, and how to make him suffer the same as my mother and I suffered...but worse."
My eyes widened. Could this man have had something to do with my mother's death? No, it was impossible…
My mother died of sadness; a death more painful than any other torture.
"It was enough for me to follow him, learn about his affair, and send a letter to his wife..." Forget it, this guy definitely had something to do with it! "I caused suffering to his entire family, I broke him, so much so that even when my partner murdered him; he seemed to tremble with fear…"
"You didn't," This would be a master plan, but he didn't make everyone suffer. "My father was surely happy to be dead and reunited with my family. You only did him a favor."
Bang!
My shoulder hurt; he shot me in the arm.
"Shut your mouth! What do you know?!"
I grunted, then frowned. "I lived fifteen years seeing all that; and I knew that, simply, death is much better than living. If you wanted me to suffer, you could have killed us all, but you simply let yourself be carried away by what you feel, not because of what he really felt…"
The mistake someone can make is believing that all humans feel the same way they do in the same situations.
So this killer? He's an idiot.
He pointed his gun at my head again, taking his eyes off the front of me, and pointed it at my forehead. "I'll shut your damn mouth once and for all, you bastard son of a bitch!"
He fired; and as a last resort, I put my briefcase in front of me.
"AGGHH!"
But the groan wasn't mine.
The car wobbled, apparently, my briefcase returned the bullet, firing itself, and now he was losing control of the vehicle.
I quickly kicked the door, trying to free myself before we crashed.
Once the door opened slightly, I kicked it again, and left immediately. I circled around on the ground, and once I got out, the car crashed into a pole.
I gasped, holding my injured shoulder, and then I got up from the ground.
"…What was that?"
My briefcase was leather! At least it could have gone through it, but it deflected it! It deflected a damn bullet!
It was then that I saw a shadow dragging my briefcase; it was the same shadow that consumed that man before.
How did he get in there? When did he do it?
However, if it comes out of my briefcase again...it might do even worse things...just being with that briefcase and that demon almost made me die!
Quickly, I looked around; I found a candy wrapper on the floor, picked it up, and with a red marker, I started writing on it. The briefcase was getting closer and closer to me; I knew it would try to possess my body, but I'd been through that before!
"Stay there, demon!" I went to the briefcase and placed the makeshift seal on it; a white glow lit up between us; I thought this body had no pure energy, but it seems I was wrong, and it has quite a lot.
Once the glow faded, I could see that I had managed to seal it.
"Hah…" I picked up my briefcase, and as I opened it, a giant shadow appeared like a plague, making me drop the briefcase and fall to the ground.
It was supposed to stay inside the briefcase! Not shoot out of it!
[You thought sealing a demon was that easy, human?!] His voice resonated, not only for me, but people began to flee, seeing the giant shadow surround an entire building. [You'll have to try harder to stop me, human!]
However, his body still hadn't fully emerged from the briefcase; as if something was preventing it. That's when I understood that the seal really did work, it's just...the demon was stubborn about obeying.
I frowned, mustered my courage, adjusted my glasses, and ran towards the briefcase; however, the demon began to move the building, bringing it towards me, so I couldn't take the briefcase.
And I just did it faster.
I took the briefcase, and put my hands inside his shadowy body.
[GAAAAAH!] The demon screamed, and then I pulled his body.
However, it was impossible, since he was a shadow.
"Free yourself, free yourself..." If only I could release my pure energy—no, the pure energy of this body—it would be easier...
But perhaps this was the first time this body obeyed me.
A glow emanated from my hands, illuminating his body; I took advantage of the moment and immediately pulled him inside the briefcase, while with my other hand, I closed slowly the briefcase.
The building was about to collapse, and when they finished putting the demon inside, the building inevitably collapsed as it lost its only support.
"Ack!" It was difficult for me to escape; the rubble would bury me alive. "Eh?" But if this demon deflected the bullet when it was in my briefcase...then...
I put the briefcase on my head; I knew this idea of mine wasn't safe, I would surely die.
Die. Die…
And then I heard the building fall on top of me...I opened my eyes.
The place where I was was free of rubble. "…" I smiled. At least I was right! "Oh…"
And when I took the briefcase off my head, a rock fell on my head; it wasn't gigantic like the one in those rubble, but big enough to knock me out. "O-Oh…"
And from that moment on, I barely woke up today.
I thought it was all a dream.
But when I woke up here in the hospital, burdened with debts from the damages, and on top of that, my beloved father left all his possessions to my younger siblings...
"You're a stupid human," And worse still, with this demon talking to me from my briefcase that seemed to never leave me. "There are more numbers than letters in the alphabet."
Of course, he also had to pay for the damage that this devil's little joke caused, including life insurance for people present at the accident.
"…"
I must be crazy, right? To still keep this demon close for the sake of...humanity?
Honestly, I would have preferred that this demon had wiped out all of humanity, rather than have me take responsibility for his chaos.
"…What did you say your name was?" I asked the demon, maintaining a friendly smile, although in reality...I would use his name to put it on the damages paper so that this stupid demon would have to pay and I wouldn't!
"Doepul-i." Huh? Honestly, I didn't think he would answer me. "I know what you're trying to do; do it, anyway I'm not the devil of fortune to pay your debts, human."
How awful…
"A poor demon…"
"Do you want to have more numbers in that account?"
"Doepul-i is a cool demon." Even so, I don't know why this demon wanted to come to this world. "And...what are you doing in this world, Doepul-i?"
The demon snorted; perhaps he would have rolled his eyes, but he had no physical form now. "I've come to collect a debt."
"A debt? From who?"
"I guess I've already found it."
What does he mean by 'I already found it'?
"…" Don't tell me, you're referring to me? "…Me?" And his silence confirmed for me that it was true. I was the one who owed him something, but what? I don't remember ever being involved with a demon before. "I haven't seen you before."
"You did it, it's just that in this life you're an idiot."
"…I didn't do it." If that were the case, I would have known! And I would have been more careful to avoid running into him, but it wasn't like that! "So, you'll kill me, Doepul-i?"
The demon remained silent, and then spoke again. "I don't need a soul like yours in the Underworld; I just want your pure energy."
So...this demon also knew that this body has a vast amount of pure energy. "…And for how long?"
"Until your next reincarnation."
So, he'd still be staying with me for a few days, huh?
"…Just stop destroying things, please..."
"As if I were listening to a human like you, again."