Little Pink Starfish

“How did it feel, seeing Dad’s face?”

Vanessa asked as she opened the rear door of the luxury sedan.

“He still seems bad at holding back his anger.”

Ignoring Vanessa’s smile, the Demon God sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“It didn’t bother me at all.”

The Demon God murmured in a soft voice. His words were drowned out by the engine’s roar, failing to reach Vanessa. With an expressionless face, he gripped the steering wheel and drove the car out into the dazzling cityscape. Truly, it meant nothing. To feel sadness or anger upon seeing the face of someone already dead was merely a cultural trait born from the mortality of humans.

The Demon God scanned the scenery outside the window. Narrow sidewalks lined the towering edges of endless skyscrapers. Countless people were trapped there, moving like insects. Their gaunt bodies were clothed in shabby rags, and the peaceful expressions on their faces sparked in him an impulse to whisper gently:

“The Demon God is here.”

“Well…”

Vanessa’s voice came suddenly.

“No one would believe you even if you said that.”

“Tch.”

The Demon God clicked his tongue.

The sensation of having his thoughts scrutinized was utterly unpleasant. He had heard that Stars discern the inner minds of those bound to them in this way. Creatures cannot guess the intentions of Stars, but Stars leave no trace of thought unobserved.

The Demon God glanced at Vanessa in the rearview mirror. She rested her chin, gazing out the window. This woman adorned with lush golden hair and beautiful clothing was no different from a Star to him. She could pierce his thoughts entirely, and his existence in this world was only possible through hers. He disliked his current state of being little more than a human’s pet.

“…How unsightly.”

Meanwhile, Vanessa looked out the window and thought the same.

She hated the city. It was nothing more than a densely woven insect’s nest.

And so, the countless crowds scuttling about the city seemed like bugs crawling through their nest.

Not that she hated bugs themselves. She hated humans more. Bugs did not display hostility toward humans, but humans killed bugs whenever they appeared. Wasn’t that proof that humans were the inferior ones? Smiling faintly, Vanessa shrugged.

What kind of man was Mateo Bernstein, the father who saved all those humans?

Questions delivered lightly, as if commenting on the weather.

Vanessa disliked those questions. The questioner had already decided on the answer he wanted to hear. He simply wished Vanessa would show some respect, or perhaps reveal some trivial humanity about Mateo Bernstein like a wildcard drawn from a pocket. So she had no choice but to comply.

“My father was a remarkable man.”

After answering, she paused a moment.

“But after all, he was human. When he caught a cold, he would sniffle all day long.”

The gate that once polluted the world had been closed for many years, yet humanity remained intoxicated by their victory, firmly believing a peaceful era had come. Documentaries and books spotlighting the everyday life of Mateo Bernstein were little more than propaganda reinforcing that belief.

The gentle smile, the deep gaze—she had never seen her father that way.

“I’m trying to save you.”

He said that.

“Do you understand, Vanessa? This world is far too dangerous.”

He whispered with a gaunt face.

“…Surely, the gate will open again soon.”

That face belonged to her father.

In his later years, Mateo Bernstein quietly retired to a fortress where he once fought the Demon God. He refused all interviews, living behind tight security funded by his amassed wealth. When he needed to communicate with the outside, he used letters. Only after his death did people finally see his aging face.

The public knew Mateo Bernstein had a wife who died young. It was unknown he had a child. Vanessa’s existence was revealed only after Mateo’s death.

“It had to be that way.”

Vanessa understood later that her father had remained in the underground bunker of the fortress until his last breath. She was born there, watched her mother’s death there, and grew up unable to speak to anyone but her father. Mateo considered this proper protection. He believed the gate could reopen at any time, and he was certain that the final prey he had hunted was not the true Demon God.

“…That one was a fake.”

Mateo murmured this whenever he was drunk.

In the heavy facility designed to withstand even nuclear war, the hero who saved humanity was trapped by fear, confined to his own world.

“No weak demon could be the true Demon God. That thing dying without a proper farewell is what put humanity in danger? Ridiculous.”

He refilled his glass while saying so.

Vanessa grew up hearing those stories.

The horrors of the gate, the countless human deaths, the grotesque monsters.

“Then, Father,”

she once asked,

“Are we the only ones left in this world?”

Is that why we’re here? she questioned him.

“Yes.”

Mateo answered bluntly.

“Your mother died, so now only the two of us remain in this world.”

“Is there no one left outside?”

“No.”

Mateo truly believed no humans survived outside.

To him, the peaceful humans living their daily lives were no true humans. Like victims of a demon’s illusion. That was why he built such a strong bunker. Vanessa only came to understand that context years later.

Mateo prepared the bunker as a safe place to raise his daughter. He intended for their family to be confined there, living out their fearful lives in isolation. Luckily, he had a daughter in his old age and died earlier than expected, allowing Vanessa to escape the bunker.

“…It was all because of that child.”

Narrowing her eyes, Vanessa looked at the Demon God.

He was truly a weak demon.

Disguised as her manager holding the steering wheel, he could kill her by strangling her without any special tools. He was smaller and physically weaker than Vanessa. Nor was he skilled in scheming—just a being who got angry normally, acted sly to hide his feelings normally, and got found out normally. In many ways, he was as close to human as one could get.

Except for the ability to spread his wings at will and the red eyes he had to hide behind sunglasses or lenses.

“Maybe that’s why.”

Vanessa thought.

Precisely because of that weakness, he became the Demon God. The ironic reason he united the demons.

Demons were inherently evil, incapable of true cohesion. For them to form a group, set rules, and raid the human world was a war pattern familiar throughout history. War was a disaster born from humans. So the Demon God must have been a being very close to humanity.

Mateo did not understand this, but Vanessa easily inferred the context of the invasion.

“Hey.”

Leaning forward, she addressed the Demon God.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Not at all.”

The Demon God answered bluntly.

“What a pity. It’s better to stuff food down your throat when you’re even a little hungry, so you can savor fullness. You hate human food for being dirty, too.”

“So what you’re saying is…”

The Demon God sighed.

“Regardless of my appetite, you’re hungry and want to stop somewhere to eat?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t understand your situation.”

The Demon God’s gaze shifted toward Vanessa.

“You’re one of the most famous people in this country, no—the world. Your father’s influence is huge, and you’re expected to be the top contender to win the CYB championship in the Stars’ arena.”

“So?”

Vanessa raised an eyebrow.

She was Mateo Bernstein’s only blood relative and a solo artist tipped to win the CYB world tournament. If she showed herself somewhere in the crowded city, a crowd would surely flock. She knew that well, but wanted to tease the Demon God a little.

“You can’t just show your face anywhere.”

The Demon God grumbled irritably.

“Afraid of crowds?”

“I’m not.”

“Then that’s no problem.”

Vanessa smiled, listing names of food she could eat—sandwiches or something more upscale. Nothing was more decadent than satisfying appetite. In this era where the demon invasion was canceled, all the Demon God could enjoy was laziness. Having the enemy’s daughter nearby, there was nothing he could do, and if he tried to harm Vanessa, the Savior Who Is One and All would surely intervene.

“Why did it come to this?”

Biting his lower lip, the Demon God thought.

He should have died submerged in the holy water suffused with the power of the Savior Who Is One and All.

Like all low demons, he should have melted away before the sacred power.

So why was he forced to serve as a hated human’s pet?

It was a humiliating punishment, yet the Savior Who Is One and All had been far too generous to one who committed the unprecedented sin of invading the human world.

“Or maybe…”

Was he meant to savor this helpless state until his lifespan ended?

“…Maybe.”

Brushing his hair back, the Demon God thought.

“Set the navigation.”

He said bluntly, and Vanessa laughed as she leaned forward over the front seat.

Watching her contracted partner operate the navigation with an innocent expression, Vanessa thought,

“…I want to die.”

The Demon God, drained of energy, thought.

“You probably won’t be able to.”

Vanessa whispered, seeing into his thoughts.

“Yes, that’s true.”

She knew well. She had no intention of killing him.

The Demon God sighed, blankly thinking.

“I wish someone would come to kill me already.”

He never imagined a being from hell was pursuing him.