Devils don’t fall in love, Ch 1-2

Chapter 1 — Do You Believe in Devils?

"Do you believe in devils?"

The sudden question echoed softly through the midday classroom, shattering the quiet stillness that had lingered only moments before.

It was an ordinary classroom, stripped bare—no equipment, desks and chairs pushed aside to make space at the center.

There, facing each other across the empty room, sat a boy and a girl.

The girl had an elegant face and finely shaped features. Her skin was so pale it seemed translucent, her black hair falling past her shoulders like silk. She was, quite frankly, illegally beautiful—so much so that her cold perfection made people hesitate to even approach her.
She carried an air of mystery, an untouchable presence.

Her black uniform, white blouse, and crimson ribbon marked her as a student of Sōbu High. The plaid skirt and black thigh-highs with white trim made the ensemble both modest and striking. Red ribbons tied at either side of her hair added a splash of color to the monochrome, making her stand out effortlessly even in standard attire.

At that moment, the beautiful girl sat with a book resting on her knees, turning a page—while fixing the boy before her with the kind of look one might give an idiot.

The boy, however, was hardly ordinary himself. Handsome and sharp-eyed, wearing the same uniform, his tall, lean frame relaxed naturally in his seat. The faint glimpse of collarbone and muscle beneath his shirt gave off an effortless masculinity—one that could make a less composed girl unconsciously swallow.

Yet this very boy—the kind who could easily make hearts flutter—had just uttered words that made the girl instantly think he was mocking her.

"Are you kidding me, Leo-senpai?"

Her tone was direct, even rude, despite the honorific.

Leo didn't seem offended.

"So, the fact that you said that means you don't believe devils exist, right?"

He spoke as though savoring the conversation itself, a playful gleam lighting his eyes.

"Can I ask why, Yukinoshita Yukino?"

The moment he said her name, Yukino's expression cooled further. She was now completely certain he was toying with her.

"I have no interest in meaningless discussions," she said curtly. "If you came to the Service Club just to talk about unrealistic nonsense like that, please don't waste my time."

Her words were sharp enough to cut, but Leo only smiled faintly.

"Meaningless? Unrealistic? A waste of time?"
He chuckled softly. "Just as the rumors say—Yukinoshita-san really is arrogant."

Her face hardened; this was no longer mere disinterest, but true irritation.

"Should I take that as a personal insult?"

Her voice was cold, precise, and completely unbothered by the fact that she was speaking to an upperclassman.

"I'm only stating a fact." Leo crossed his arms and one leg over the other, regarding her leisurely. "When you declare a topic meaningless and unrealistic, what you're really saying is that it's beneath even your consideration. Even without saying it outright, your attitude makes it clear—you've dismissed the idea without thinking about it. Isn't that arrogance?"

He smiled faintly.
"When you instinctively reject, deny, and dismiss something outright… that is arrogance, isn't it?"

Yukino's brow creased. "That's sophistry," she said coolly. "Anyone hearing what you just said would respond the same way I did."

"See? That's arrogance again."
Leo's smile sharpened. "You're not everyone else, Yukinoshita. Why assume everyone would think like you? Did you ask anyone else? Hear their opinions? See anyone else react like this?"

He leaned forward slightly.
"No? Then what gives you the right to speak for them? Isn't it because you believe you're always the one who's right?"

"From the start, you've already placed yourself on the side of correctness. Honestly, you're even more arrogant than I thought."

Yukino's grip on her book tightened. Finally, unable to contain herself, she snapped it shut and mirrored his posture—arms crossed, legs folded.

"If this is your way of getting my attention," she said icily, "then congratulations. You've succeeded. This is the Service Club, a club founded to help those in need. If you came here because no one else would listen to you talk about… this sort of thing, fine. I'll hear you out."

Her tone turned razor-sharp.
"But let me warn you first, Leo Eligos-senpai. The Service Club may take requests to solve people's problems, but if someone tries to use that as an excuse to approach me with ulterior motives, I won't tolerate it. Keep that in mind."

Leo looked at her strangely for a moment—then laughed.

It was a quiet, meaningful laugh.

"Wait… Yukinoshita, you don't actually think I'm trying to pursue you, do you? That I brought up devils just to get your attention?"

That smile—bright, dazzling, the kind that would make most girls swoon—only struck Yukino as painfully irritating.

"So you're saying I'm being conceited?" she snapped. "Because your actions could only be interpreted that way."

Leo shook his head, sighing with amusement.
"Well, I suppose that's fair. When someone's convinced they're always right—when they dismiss others out of sheer arrogance—it's only natural they'd think that way. Especially if that person happens to have the looks and the brains to justify it."

He rose to his feet.
"Looks like there's no point continuing this. Sorry for wasting your time, Yukinoshita-san."

With that, he turned and started toward the door.

"Wait!" Yukino stood abruptly, anger flashing in her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me an idiot?"

"You're getting emotional, Yukinoshita."
Leo stopped, glanced back at her furious expression, and smiled faintly.
"Don't misunderstand. I only meant it literally."

He met her gaze evenly.
"As long as you've never seen the truth of this world—so long as you cling to the values your seventeen years of schooling have taught you—talking any further would be pointless."

"So I'll wait. I'll wait until something happens that shatters everything you believe in. Then we can talk again."

With that calm declaration, Leo drew a small piece of parchment from his pocket and placed it on the desk beside her.

"Consider this payment for today's conversation. Keep it with you—it might be useful. Of course, you can throw it away. Do that, and our connection ends completely. You'll never have to deal with someone as suspicious as me again."

Then, for the first time, Leo looked at her with genuine depth in his eyes.

"One last thing, Yukinoshita-san."

"When a devil sets his sights on you, it's never because he wants to fall in love."
His voice dropped, quiet but certain.
"It's because he wants your soul."

"Remember that."

Turning her earlier warning back at her word for word, Leo opened the door and walked out of the Service Club room without a backward glance.

"What… was that guy's problem?"

Watching him leave, Yukinoshita Yukino trembled with barely contained fury.
Whether she remembered his words or not didn't matter—what mattered was that he had definitely been provoking her.

If not for her family's strict upbringing forbidding unladylike behavior, she might have stormed after him and shredded him with her tongue until he regretted ever speaking.

It took several deep breaths before she managed to calm herself. Then she stepped forward and picked up the sheet of paper he'd left behind.

It wasn't ordinary paper.
It was aged parchment—old, yellowed—and upon it was drawn a crimson magic circle that pulsed faintly under the light.

Seeing it only solidified her conclusion.

Leo Eligos, the third-year senior from Sōbu High—if he wasn't mocking her just to get close, then he was hopelessly delusional, trapped in some fantasy he couldn't escape.

A devil's purpose isn't to fall in love?

As if. Even if she went blind and jumped straight out that window, she'd never fall in love with a guy who calls himself a devil.

Meanwhile, the senior who had just provoked the proud Yukinoshita Yukino into swearing such an oath was climbing the stairs to the rooftop.

Along the way, students greeted him warmly, and he returned each greeting with a gentle smile—looking nothing like the defiant, sharp-tongued boy from before.

When he reached the rooftop and confirmed that no one else was around, he stretched lazily.

Snap.

In the next instant, a pair of jet-black wings—like those of a bat—unfurled from his back.

With a single flap, Leo Eligos rose into the air.

He had no horns, no tail—and yet, at that moment, he was every inch a devil.

Chapter 2 — What Kind of Choice Will You Make?

Under the clear blue sky, a boy with devilish wings spread wide hovered high above, gazing down at the school below. In his dark eyes flickered an ember-like glow—black flame glinting faintly—while a faint, confident smile lingered on his lips.

"The school really does look better from up here."

Leo murmured to himself, relaxed and amused.

Sobu High had an oddly shaped campus. From above, the buildings formed a neat square enclosing a courtyard, with an additional wing jutting out from the southern side.

Below, under the afternoon sun, students in matching uniforms filled the courtyard. Some sat on the grass or benches chatting animatedly, others chased each other around in play. The scene was peaceful, vibrant—an image of ordinary daily life.

And yet, Leo was the one element that didn't belong in that tranquil picture.

"Do you believe in devils?"

The very question he'd asked the school's famed beauty—Yukinoshita Yukino—not long ago was now being answered in the most direct way possible.

Leo Eligos, third-year student at Sōbu High, was a devil.

Once, he had been perfectly ordinary, just one among countless humans. But ever since he came into this world eighteen years ago, his life had been anything but ordinary.

He learned the truth at age three: his father was an exorcist, his mother—a devil. Nineteen years ago, in the city of Chiba, the two met by fate… and, in the most cliché yet tragic way possible, fell in love—an unblessed, forbidden romance between mortal enemies.

It was doomed from the start. They had once fought on opposite sides of a holy war; love could not erase the wounds of that history. And so, when Leo was three, both his parents—each grievously injured—passed away one after another, leaving him an orphan.

Even if he carried devil's blood, what could a three-year-old half-devil possibly do? Fifteen years ago, Leo had honestly thought he would die on the streets.

Until he met another devil.

"A long, long time ago, devils, angels, and fallen angels were locked in endless war," that devil had told him. "It lasted for thousands of years, leaving all three sides on the brink of extinction. Even now, they still bear hatred for one another, but none can survive without humanity anymore. Angels rely on human churches to wage their crusades; fallen angels manipulate humans to oppose both angels and devils; and we, devils, gain power through contracts—trading human desires for our strength. That is the state of the world today."

"But even now, we haven't given up searching for our lost kin."

He explained that in ancient times, there were Four Maou—the Great Devil Kings—and Seventy-Two Pillar Houses, the noble families of devils known in legend as the Seventy-Two Demons of the Ars Goetia. Each had once commanded dozens of devil armies—pureblood nobles of the Underworld. Yet after millennia of war, many houses had fallen into ruin.

Some descendants, however, had survived—scattered across the human world, living in secret. Because of that, the Underworld had long sought these lost lineages, assigning High-Class devils living among humans to find, protect, and nurture them.

Whether fortunate or not, Leo was one such survivor— a descendant of a pureblood devil house thought long extinct.

"Eligos—fifteenth among the Seventy-Two Pillars. A ducal family once commanding sixty legions of devils."

"Your mother was one of the few remaining Eligos bloodlines in the human world, the very last, in fact. She is gone now… but you, her son, though half human, still bear the right to inherit the name 'Eligos.'"

"If you one day ascend to High-Class Devil, the Underworld will restore your house's title, rank, and territory."

And so, Leo was taken under the protection of the Underworld. With the help of pureblood devils assigned to guide him, he learned to control his power. Fully aware of the world he now belonged to, Leo devoted himself to training.

After fifteen years of relentless effort, he finally ascended—becoming a High-Class Devil, and was granted his first treasure: a set of Evil Pieces, the tools used to form a devil's peerage.

Which brought him to his next goal— Yukinoshita Yukino, the most brilliant girl at his school.

"I wonder… what kind of choice will you make?"

Gazing down from the sky, Leo toyed with a blood-red chess piece between his fingers, the smile on his face deepening.

"Let's hope you don't disappoint me."

As a newly ascended, half-blood High-Class Devil, Leo couldn't help but look forward to his first servant. It wasn't just about beauty or talent—it would decide his future in the Underworld.

Thinking of the peculiar traits that set him apart from ordinary devils, Leo chuckled, pocketed the piece, and spread his wings. A beat later, he darted off toward another wing of the campus, wings slicing the air with a whisper.

Chiba Prefecture—surrounded on three sides by the sea, mild in winter and cool in summer. Nestled against the vast Pacific, blessed with lush greenery and fertile land, conveniently close to Tokyo—it was one of Japan's most prosperous regions.

Leo's home stood in a quiet corner of Chiba City's central ward: a small manor, old-fashioned in design, like a miniature castle.

It wasn't enormous, but it had an elegant Western-style mansion and a carefully tended garden, filled with blooming flowers and trimmed hedges. Men and women in servant uniforms moved about the grounds, pruning and watering, giving the place an air of aristocratic luxury.

With a soft thump, Leo descended straight into the garden, folding his black wings as his feet touched the ground. The servants immediately turned, bowing low.

He didn't bother to return the greetings and strode straight into the mansion.

His destination was the dining hall—extravagant for one person, but he was long used to it. Compared to school lunches or cafeteria food, he vastly preferred the meals prepared by his household chef. At least there were no strange seasonings or ingredients he disliked.

"Chinese food today. Same as the day before yesterday."

Sitting down, Leo spoke casually. A chef appeared silently, bowed, and left to prepare the meal.

A maid with soft steps wheeled in a tea cart, poured his tea, washed his hands, and wiped them with a towel—efficient, quiet, almost mechanical.

That was because, in truth, none of them were human. Not the chef, not the maid, not even the gardeners outside. Every servant in the estate was a familiar, gifted to Leo along with the manor itself.

Their sole duty was to maintain the household and attend to his needs. They had no personalities, no idle chatter—only obedience, until the day they faded away.

There was even a chauffeur assigned to drive him to and from school, though Leo rarely used the car. He preferred flying.

Naturally, a manor of this scale wasn't something he'd bought himself. It wasn't that he couldn't—it was simply that he'd spent every ounce of effort on becoming a High-Class Devil, not earning money. Until his promotion, he'd lived in an ordinary house. Only after ascending was this estate gifted to him by the Underworld's administrators.

And just as he thought of them—

A glowing magic circle, the size of his palm, appeared beside his hand.

"Good afternoon, Leo."

A girl's voice, clear and cool, came from the circle as her image flickered into view.

Leo smiled warmly. "Good afternoon, Sona."

Sona Shitori—real name Sona Sitri—heir to the Sitri House, ranked twelfth among the Seventy-Two Pillars, and the younger sister of the current Maou Leviathan.

Yes— The devil who had taken responsibility for Leo all these years was none other than a member of the Sitri Clan.

Though young, Sona Sitri had been stationed in the human world for some time, managing a portion of her family's duties there. Among them was the task of overseeing and protecting the last surviving descendant of the fallen Eligos House.

It was she who had escorted Leo to the Underworld for his promotion and presented him with this manor as a gift upon his return.

For once, Leo's smile held no trace of mockery—only genuine warmth.
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