First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1186: Wake Up

Kanami wasn’t sure what she had been doing.

When her eyes refocused, she was staring at a stack of paperwork on her work desk.

Looking at the clock, it was well past midnight.

Periodic entrance examinations were underway once again. Other than when she was actually out putting down rogue pantheons on her brother’s behalf, this was the hardest she had ever had to work.

Usually, she and Abaddon spent the night working together on these evaluations, and it was a time where they got to engage in some sibling bonding.

But Abaddon had left her a short time ago to go and be with his wives for an anniversary dinner with Sif.

Kanami rubbed her eyes as she went back to flipping through the papers. Just because she didn’t technically need to sleep didn’t mean she didn’t want to.

She resigned herself to making a bit more headway in her work when there was suddenly a knock at her door, and the person entered without waiting to be invited in.

When Hakon shut the door behind him, Kanami felt herself relax a bit. She placed her elbows on her desk and leaned forward with her head in her hands.

“Don’t say it, don’t say it… I know it’s taking me too long.”

Hakon shrugged off his coat and hung it on a nearby rack. “I haven’t come to chastise you, wife. Only to see how you were faring.”

“Oh, you know… I’m not used to staying in one place for too long, and I have been stuck in a chair for the last few hours, so I feel like scooping my eyes out of their sockets, but I’m doing just fine.”

Hakon pulled up a chair and sat down beside his wife. “You’ve made decent progress.”

“Haven’t I? I could probably be done by now if that big red idiot didn’t run off to go play doting husband again.”

“Do try not to be so angry with him. It is the natural thing for one to do for their spouse. In the meantime, I will be the one to help you.”

Hakon picked up a pen and started going over the documents. A set of glasses appeared on his face, not because he needed them, but because he believed they might make it easier for him to focus.

At the same time, Kanami stared at her husband openly with he chin resting in her hand.

His words lingered in her mind for quite a bit after they left the air.

Hakon had made it seem like her brother’s behavior was the natural thing to do.

However, Kanami didn’t know if she would have made his same choice. She had canceled plans with her husband many times in favor of a work endeavor.

“…Am I a good wife to you?”

Hakon’s glasses cracked.

“W…W-What..?”

“Am I a good partner to you..?” Kanami repeated.

Hakon didn’t look any less scared of the question the second time she asked it.

“…You are quite exceptional. I would eat the head of anyone who dared to say otherwise.”

Kanami would have laughed if she didn’t actually feel bad.

She found herself looking towards their wedding photo on her desk.

“I am aware that sometimes my work calls me away. It’s important, and I like what I do, and I love you for understanding it. But sometimes I wonder if I haven’t taken advantage of your understanding.”

“Have you ever heard me complain to you about our marriage?”

This time, Kanami actually did laugh. “As if that means anything! You wouldn’t complain even if you woke up with a hole in your head.”

Hakon released a low grumble. Absalom was the most ’expressive’ of the demon triplets. He and Stheno were generally pretty hard nuts to crack.

Kanami suddenly took her husband’s hand in her own and held it close. She stared out the window, thinking about her parents, her sister, and especially her brother.

They were all very mushy types. Kanami, for some reason, never was. She and Hakon seldom participated in public displays of affection aside from some minor hand-holding and the occasional cheek kiss.

But for some reason, Kanami didn’t feel like she had gotten very close to her husband over the course of their marriage.

And perhaps it was because she saw how excited her brother was to go home to his wives that she had begun to question much of her behavior.

She had no idea that Hakon sometimes had the same brand of concerns. He often wondered if he was an exciting enough partner to have. He was well aware that passion may not have been his strong suit.

Their relationship was not necessarily in a bad place, but they were both looking for something to bring them closer together.

Kanami suddenly turned back to Hakon and offered him a nervous smile.

“I know we’ve never really talked about it much, but… what do you think about us having a child?”

–

Kanami woke up on the floor, groggy and nursing a nasty headache.

Through her blurred vision, she saw the silhouette of a tall man in black. For a brief moment, his figure was replaced by that of a two-year-old boy with hair so big that it covered his tear-soaked eyes.

In one fist, he carried a blanket that was stained with urine, and in the other, he held an action figure that bore a striking resemblance to his Uncle.

Kanami shook her head hard, and the illusion vanished.

When she looked again, the man in black was there again, holding her niece’s child as she babbled wantonly into his ear.

Nihil didn’t say anything after Kanami woke up.

He simply stared into his eyes with an indecipherable emotion. And this was perhaps the first time that Kanami realized how much her son must have been hurt by her.

It wasn’t as if she had forgotten him on purpose. Or that the situation was ever in her control.

Still, that didn’t make her feel any better.

How could a mother ever forget their own son?

Kanami leapt off the floor and practically knocked her son over when she put her arms around him.

“Easy, easy..! Little passenger aboard here!” Nihil shifted Yggdrasil into one arm.

Kanami buried her face into her son’s shirt. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…!”

Nihil felt his mouth become dry. Never in his life had he ever seen his mother cry. Nor had he ever thought that she was capable of it.

In his mind, Kanami was perpetually upbeat and tough as nails.

He vaguely recalled everything his cousins had told him earlier, and he started to become paranoid.

“B-Body snatching demon!” He pushed his mother away.

Kanami became visibly angry, even with tears still running down her face. “What are you talking about, dumbss!?”

“You don’t fool me, she-demon! I may not have been at home that first time one of you showed up, but now that I’m here, you won’t get anywhere close to snatching our family’s kids!”

“I’m not a demonic child snatcher, you little wimp! Stop running away and hug me!”

“Stop talking with my mom’s voice!”

“I am your mom, brat!”

Kanami kicked her son in the kneecap and knocked his body out from underneath him.

When he dropped to the ground, Kanami swooped in to wrap him in a fierce rear-naked chokehold (a neck hug) that he couldn’t get out of even if he tried.

Nihil gasped. “Christ… You really are my mom.”

Kanami made a happy noise as she rubbed her face into her son’s hair.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps beat down the hallway.

Hakon slid into view, his head swinging frantically searching for something.

“Hi… pops…” Nihil said weakly, his face gradually turning the same shade of purple as Yggdrasil’s skin.

Hakon bounded across the hallway and wrapped his arms around his wife and son.

Before he could start applying force, Nihil lifted Yggdrasil in an act of self-defense.

“I got a baby here, don’t crush me!!”

Luckily, this act of quick thinking seemed to work in some part, because Hakon did not embrace his son with as much vigor as he had initially planned to.

However, his grip was still plenty firm. And with Kanami already hugging him so tightly, Nihil’s bones and scales were groaning underneath the immense pressure they were under.

However, he didn’t completely hate it, as strange as it may have seemed.

“Glad to see you guys got your memories back… and I hope you know I’m planning to milk this for my next five birthdays.”

Hakon actually laughed. Everyone in the house would have been stunned to see him do so. “That’s fine. We’ll bite that bullet.”

“Hell yeah.”

“But I’m not giving you my sword.” Kanami pinched his ear. “You left it in a bar last time, you damn brat.”

“…Damn it.”

Nihil’s parents had their memories back. And he hadn’t realized until now just how beneficial it would have been if some of them had stayed missing.

–

“Thea… Thea…!”

Thea was gradually shaken awake by a small hand.

Opening her eyes slowly, she found a very small Gabbrielle sitting on top of her chest with a cute smile.

“Good, you’re up. Come with me, please.”