Chapter Twenty-Two: Little Birds:

December 15th, 2010.

Hotaru went out with Hiroyuki this time. She decided to stay in tonight. The couple were watching TV in the living room. Hotaru turned and kissed Hiroyuki on the cheek. He pulled her into his arms. The loli demon smiled.

Earlier, she and her cop boyfriend went wine shopping. Hotaru glanced over at him form the bottles.

“Do you have any plans for Christmas?” she asked.

“Work,” Hiroyuki said. His date frowned.

“That’s no fun,” she said. The loli demon turned with a pouty look on her face. “You should come and hang out with us.” Hiroyuki eyed her as he a bottle of red.

“Us?” he asked.

“Ryo and I,” Hotaru said. “Is that a problem?” Hiroyuki shook his head.

“No,” he said. The loli demon hugged him from behind.

“Please don’t be jealous,” she whispered. “I love you too.”

“Do you mean that?” he asked.

“Yes,” Hotaru said. She couldn’t figure out this polyamory game yet. She didn’t have to lie. Hiroyuki and Ryo seemed okay with this. Plus, they all took it slow. But still…

Tonight, Hotaru looked at Hiroyuki.

“Hiro-kun,” she said. The cop kept his eyes to the screen.

“Hm?” he asked.

His girl shifted in his arms. “Are you really happy?”

He looked at her, puzzled. “What?”

Hotaru rubbed her forehead. “Forgive me. I’m still new to this myself.”

“New to what?”

“The whole polyamory thing. I mean… I don’t…” The loli demon shook her head. “I’m confused.

“You okay?”

“I don’t know. I already know that I’m not going to choose.”

“Yes, we know.”

“I wish I had a manual on how to do this. And sex… Oh, man!”

Hiroyuki patted her on the shoulder. “We’ll deal with it when we get there.”

Hotaru eyed him filled with hope. “You mean it?”

“Yes, my dear.”

“And Ryo-chan?”

The cops sighed and smiled. “Yes, yes. She’ll be in the picture too.”

Hotaru smiled as she put her head on his lap. “You are so good to me. Are all men like this?”

“I can’t tell you that, but I am.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“Come on! What do I have to do to prove myself?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“You are hard to please, you know that?”

“Mmm.”

The couple watched the movie on TV for the rest of the night. Hotaru fell asleep with her head on Hiroyuki’s lap. Still, there was one more thing she needed to tell them.

They don’t know I’m a demon. Oh… Damn. How will they handle this? Plus, Ryo was a miko too? Hotaru smiled in her sleep.

This won’t be easy, right? Somehow I don’t care right… This should fine, yes? Yes. I think it should be. Yeah…