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Ever since Yoru showed up in Asa's life she had disrupted the meticulously up kept neatness of her flat.
Not that anyone aside from herself saw her place anyways, but she made sure that the place was as pristine as this simple, long in the tooth flat in the cheaper part of the suburbs could look.
There were now crumbs all over the counter, dirty dishes in the sink, stains in the sink and on the bathroom mirror, also she often found her bed unmade.
When she had tried to order Yoru to clean up after herself her reflection had only replied:
“You can possibly be serious about this, Asa. I'm a devil!” Yoru taunted “What's next? Will you ask me to make my contribution to world peace?”
Like so many other evenings the war devil had just yawned lavishly, before she dropped onto Asa's bed and fell asleep.
Asa, now in control of her body again, decided to clean at least some of the chaos.
She had started the laundry, did the dishes, wearing rubber gloves to avoid getting wrinkly fingers. She hated how it made her skin look all creased and bloated.
Even with the gloves she had to wash and lotion her hands afterwards, to calm her mind.
Then she picked a soft cloth and a bottle of detergent, filled the sink with hot water once more and started to clean all the surfaces in her kitchen.
The lavender smell was nice, the warmth of the water was soothing and she felt calm come over her, with each surface she wiped clean.
She had managed to clean the kitchen by the time the laundry machine was done.
The devil inside her head finally asleep she could go about things the way she used to, regain control over the chaos her life had become.
Between presenting the perfect image of “the mysterious beauty who fights devils” and keeping up with school, stuff like groceries, cooking and doing her laundry had fallen behind. Not that Asa had been very enthusiastic about cooking before, but now her fridge looked just really really sad, even for her standards.
And when she realized that most of her uniforms were smeared in various bodily fluids of devils, she had opted for one that was a little smelly, though mostly clean. She had made extra sure to stay away from people in class, while trying not to die of embarrassment.
Oh, how she envied Denji for being able to walk around in his wrinkled uniform, stupid fanboy t-shirts and still being taken serious by people.
For him getting by despite clearly not combing his hair in the morning.
Him leaving his flat in a state that was neither neat nor a total mess, but simply inhabitable, not seeming to feel ashamed even when having a date over...
Wait! Where had that come from? She'd never been to his place! He had stood her up...
So why did she recall the carpet of his living room, the rough texture under her hand, the slightly dusty scent of dog...?
Asa shook her head, hanging out the last piece of laundry. This was probably just her tired brain playing tricks on her. Time she headed to bed too.
Still she couldn't help but wonder if there was an in between state like that for her. Somewhere between chaos and neatness? A place where she wouldn't feel exhausted, yet also not disgusted with herself.
A place where she could just be and enjoy the scent of lavender detergent.