Kota woke with a start, immediately grimacing with pain from the injuries he had suffered earlier. He cast a quick glance up at the sky. Based on the movement of the sun, it seemed like a couple of hours had passed.

I can’t afford to doze off in the wild! Kota did a quick survey of his surroundings, paying special attention to the banks of the river. If any creatures were to approach, it was most likely for the water. Luckily, the dirt and ferns near the riverside appeared to be untouched.

A scuffling sound interrupted Kota’s thoughts. Several feet away from him, the little demon waged war against Kota’s cloak. Kota had torn the bottom half of his cloak off for bandages. The upper half of the cloak was still wearable, so Kota had dressed the demon, which definitely needed clothing beyond the torn rags it had previously worn. Apparently, the demon disagreed.

“Calm down!” said Kota, grabbing the cloak and pulling the hood off the demon’s head.

The demon hissed and lashed out with its good arm, gashing Kota’s wrist. Cursing, Kota stumbled backwards, trying to shake off the pain. Across from him, the demon had gotten over its fear of the cloak and began sniffing at the bandages wrapped around its leg and abdomen. Growling, the demon raised its arm to start clawing at the bandages.

“No!” said Kota, extending an arm. The demon turned its attention away from the bandages and faced Kota, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. After staring at him for several moments, Kota saw a flicker in the demon’s eyes. A moment later, the demon slumped onto the ground, curling up into a ball.

It needs food, water, and rest, thought Kota. He spared a glance at the sky. It seemed to be late afternoon, which meant that sunset would be coming in four or five hours. I should have enough time to reach the next village.

Kota took out the loaf of bread and tore it in half. Carefully, he dangled a piece of the bread over the demon’s head. The demon slowly uncurled and looked up at Kota. Kota wasn’t quite sure if it was a trick of the light, but the demon’s eyes no longer showed aggression. Instead, the eyes staring back at Kota showed nothing but fear and sadness.

“It’s for you,” said Kota, offering the piece of bread.

The demon reached a small hand out towards the bread. Right before it grabbed the bread, it yanked back its arm, hissing at Kota.

Someone must’ve done something bad to it before, thought Kota. He set the piece of bread on the ground and took several steps back. He sat and took out his half of the loaf, tearing into it with his teeth. Across from him, the little demon lunged and snatched the piece of bread off the ground. It pulled the bread to its chest and turned away from Kota, furtively taking large bites.

A while later, Kota felt eyes on him. The demon had finished its part of the bread and was now staring at the bread Kota held in his hands. Kota’s stomach growled, but somehow he felt that this was a small test of trust that the demon was giving him.

Ignoring the pangs of hunger in his stomach, Kota offered the piece of bread to the demon. Eyes lighting up, the demon hobbled over and snatched the piece of bread from his hand. It plopped down next to him and began munching away.

“Seems like I passed, eh?” said Kota, reaching a hand up to pat the demon on the head.

The demon hissed and ducked away from his hand but did not make any further movements to attack him. Progress, at least, thought Kota. He uncapped his water flask and took a few gulps to distract himself from the hunger.

A small, clawed hand reached up and swiped at the water flask. Kota glanced at the demon, which had already finished the other half of the bread. It was quite the messy eater – crumbs were scattered across the ground and on its chin.

Sighing, Kota handed the demon the water flask. It took the flask in its hands and peered at it intently.

“You open it like -”

Kota was interrupted by a hiss. The demon turned away from him and fumbled with the cap of the water flask, eventually managing to uncap it. The demon stared at the water flask for several moments. Then it turned the flask upside down, pouring water all over the ground.

“No!” said Kota, lunging to snatch the water flask from the demon’s hands.

The demon dropped the flask and covered its head, trembling with fear. Kota paused for a moment before picking up the water flask. He held it out to the demon.

Slowly, the demon lowered its arms and raised its head, wolf ears un-flattening. It gave Kota a quick glance before snatching the water flask out of his hand. Watching the demon empty the rest of his water on the ground, Kota couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

-

“I have to get going,” said Kota, brushing his knees off and standing. “You should get going too.”

The little demon glanced up from the inky mess it had drawn on a piece of paper. Kota, in an attempt to appease the demon, had sacrificed several sheets of paper, one pen, and one bottle of ink. After spending ten minutes convincing the demon that his writing supplies were not food, he had spent another hour trying to teach the little devil how to draw. The result was supplies wasted, time wasted, and Kota realizing he was a failure as a teacher.

Kota stood and slung his pack over his shoulder. The demon looked up at him from its drawing. From what Kota could tell, it had lost most of its aggression towards him and acted much like a cat – it lashed out at him whenever he tried to touch it.

“Uh…” said Kota, scratching his head. “Goodbye.”

With his majestic words of farewell said, Kota turned and began walking towards the exit of the forest. He hadn’t taken ten steps before he heard the desperate scuffling of the demon as it limped to follow him. He sighed and turned around, ready to berate the demon.

It was crying.

Tears streamed down the demon’s face as it stumbled over to him and latched onto his leg, wrapping its arms around him and holding tight. Its sniffles and whimpers sounded like those of a human child, twisting even Kota’s heart. It didn’t let me touch it a single time – and now it forces itself to hold onto a human. How lonely could it have been?

Kota sighed. “Well, I’d be the demon if I left you behind after this.”

He leaned down and put a hand on the demon’s head. It emitted a weak hiss and refused to let go of his leg. After struggling with the demons grip for several moments, Kota finally unlatched the demon’s arms. Before it could leap onto him again, Kota put a vice-like hand on its shoulder, keeping it from moving.

“We need to make it to the next village before dark, so you need to listen to me,” said Kota, not quite sure why he was speaking to a creature which obviously didn’t understand him. When the demon gave no indication that it understood, Kota took his pack and turned it so that it hung over his chest instead of his back. Then he knelt and turned his back towards the demon. Immediately, the demon leaped up onto his back and grabbed onto him, digging its claws into Kota’s torso.

Kota stood took several experimental steps. The weight of the demon and his pack didn’t seem to be too bad.

Getting to the next village should be a piece of cake!