Mahou Shonen Just Say No Chapter Five

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Yuuri stood at the train station, even though it was much too late at night for any trains to be running anymore.  It was raining; downpouring, which was odd for this time of year.  In late December it would be snowing, but the weather didn't always elect to make sense.  It had been a few weeks now, since Yuuri had threatened the director but failed to get Kanoshi's job back to him.  Horace was still fighting the level 8 monster in Kyoto; Oh One said that it was under control, but the monster was the sort which took a very long time to kill.  All of the magica in the area were taking shifts beating on it over the weeks.  As long as somebody continued to engage with the beast, it wouldn't cause any property damage.  Yuuri thought that an endurance test like that sounded miserable.

He was glad to have gotten Kanoshi moved into an apartment in the same building as himself.  Not out of some strange desire to be closer in proximity to a teacher who had gone on to become his friend, but because he knew that Kanoshi likely would have become depressed if he didn't have a solution to the eviction problem as soon as possible, and Yuuri didn't want to see him like that.  Now, as he stood and shivered in this December rain, he was just worrying what would happen if a monster like the one that Horace was away fighting right now came to his own city.  Who were even all the magica here?  He doubted that Ribbon Red had stuck around after killing her target.  Infernal, who had more formally introduced himself as Tsukune Madara, was promising in talent but lacked drive.  Kanoshi was a powerful healer, but that didn't mean much without DPS to heal.

There was Lullabye to consider, but Yuuri had never met the man himself, just hearing secondhand stories from Blem about the magica that distributor had contracted.  With Horace in Kyoto and Oh One following that prince anywhere, most communication with the distributors was over phone now.  The rest of Oh One's posse had scattered to check on their different magica around the world while their leader was preoccupied.  Yuuri still had no clue how the distributors texted so well, given their method seemed to be 'hack up a cell phone like a hairball then hit it with their faces', but he was glad that they did.  It would have been a pain, not to be able to keep in touch over a long distance.

"Hey," A voice snapped Yuuri out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see a young girl had just sauntered up to stand next to him.  She looked like a child, but moved like somebody with a lot of experience, "Your mark is showing," Yuuri was startled by her statement, and checked his arms.  In his preoccupation today, he'd rolled up the wrong sleeve fashionably when he got out of work.  He decided he was cold enough to leave them both rolled down, and flushed with embarrassment as he looked away.

"Sorry you had to see that," He apologized.

"That's fine.  You're Smokescreen, right?' She steps closer to him, staring right through his eyes from her diminutive height.

"...How could you possibly figure that out?" He asked, looking away with a frown.  Had he forgotten to put a glamour on while fighting a small fry monster in the past few weeks?

"Don't worry, you didn't forget your glamours.  I can just tell it's you because of what you did.  Yeah, I heard about it.  That director?  So soon after Moron-sensei became a magical boy... And you're the only other person he ever talks to.  It's not too hard to figure out you must be the one who did that," She explained, then crossed her arms in front of herself, "That impotence smoke, though?  That's personal.  He another one of the men who paid to have you blow 'em?"

"What are you-" Yuuri snapped, taking a step backwards to keep himself from hitting a child.  She doesn't falter at all, though, and just unbuttons her shirt with a blank expression.  Nestled perfectly between yakuza tattoos on her chest is a question mark, and moments later she's transformed, forgoing a glamour for the first time ever.  Yuuri just stared at her for a moment, then chuckled, "Red, huh?  Could've told me that before you demonstrated a freakish knowledge of my past."

Pretty Fighter Ribbon Red

"If you're going to open up about that past to a magica who's using a glamour, you should be prepared for any stranger to know," She lodged her weapon in the concrete, leaving it there as she stepped up to the platform and sat down, dangling her feet out over the tracks.  She gestured for Yuuri to join her there, and he did, "Hopefully, I'm the last mystery, though.  I can't imagine you blab about that to just anybody.  I'm ~special~, right Rukkun?"

He put his chin in his hands, glanced at her, then transformed as well.  It was weird to be sitting there in casual clothing when she was definitely not, "I told you because I was scared of you.  I didn't know your gig except that you targeted sexual deviants.  Kinda had to say that I'd been a victim if I thought you were gonna kill me for selling my services."

"I only kill those who truly deserve to die.  I was there to kill your client, though, so at least you have bad taste," She waved a finger in the air, "I forgot to say it sooner, but that's clever.  Using transformed glamour to keep your sex work separate from the rest of your life.  Innovative use of this curse we got.  So, we're friends, right?  Tell me about this director guy.  You never answered my question, if he was one of the guys your mom got paid to let fuck you up?"

Yuuri hesitated to answer, but he knew one thing for certain.  Red, whatever her real name was, had to have a reason for her victimology.  That reason was probably not unlike Yuuri's own purpose when it came to causing others harm.  With that in mind, he groaned and answered, "Yeah, he was.  One of the first that she let pay extra to go beyond blowjobs and heavy petting..."

"I can see why you'd want him to suffer," Red nodded, her pigtails bouncing on either side of her face, "Disgusting.  How long do those pellets last again?"

"The impotence one's a month, it's getting close to running out..." Realizing the amount of time that had passed was unsettling.  One monster could really take this long?  How would he handle it if something like that ever came to this city?  Well, "Red, what are you doing still in Tokyo?"

She blinked a bit at the conversational whiplash before answering, "A month, huh?  Well, I've been hanging around since I came by in October.  Tokyo's rife with crime.  Some of my Onii-sans have got monsters in Kobe covered without me... And the sweet shops in Tokyo are sooo good!" She giggles a bit and kicks her feet in top speed at that statement, "Mm, now I want some manju, but it's too late at night, ugh.  Maybe that cheesecake place is still open, though..."

"That's a respectable enough reason,"Yuuri chuckled, "You're pretty strong, so I'd be glad if you stuck around longer.  You've heard about the monster in Kyoto, right?"

She looks up at the sky with a sigh as she nods, "Yeah, I heard about it.  It's been almost a month, and I hear it's only half-beaten.  Blade's really mad that none of its current magica can go participate, since the thing's only weak to ranged weapons."

"Who else has Blade got, besides you?" Yuuri wondered.  He didn't know who any of Sugarcanesugarcane's other magica were, but it sounded like Red was aware of her comrades.

"There's pretty fighter ribbon stripe, who uses a shiv... and a few other ribbons, I think?  All I know is that we're all close-combat.  Brown had guns, but he's dead now," Red stood back up and looked around the landscape, "Blade should have another charge real soon, though, so maybe it can get ahold of somebody else with a ranged attack somewhere in the world.  It's been almost two months, that's about how long it takes to charge for most of 'em."

"Yeah, unless their ability's to charge extra fast.  Hey, Red?" Yuuri questioned, "What's Blade's ability?"

"Call me Sayaka, that's my real name," She tossed her hair back over her shoulder, "Blade's ability?  Its magica experience less-drastic loss of ranking.  That's how I can kill humans and still hover around rank twenty-eight.  Chikd's human-killers, for example, are all the way down around rank one-hundred, even though we target the same sort of people, and just about as often."

Yuuri stood up as well, "Sayaka-chan.  That's a cute name," He chuckled, messing around with his revolver, "Everything about you's pretty cute, except for the brutal murders of course."

She stared off down the train tracks, "I like to think even my brutality is endearing," She mumbled, then took a step backwards and pulled her gigantic axe from the concrete, grabbed Yuuri's wrist, and swung it out over the tracks.  Before Yuuri could even process what had happened, they were moving.  Fast... Too fast.  Sayaka's axe was embedded in the side of a train, and she was holding onto the handle with just one hand as she kept Yuuri with the other one.  He had no idea what was happening.  It hadn't looked to him as if a train was arriving, and at this time of night, there shouldn't have been one.  He was about to yell at Sayaka when she explained without even raising her voice, "This train's going straight to the level five monster which just appeared in Shinjuku."

"Wh- How do you know that!?" Yuuri questioned, trying to adjust his position so his body wasn't flapping around in the wind quite as much.

"Sugar must have explained it to you when you contracted," Sayaka answered. "The longer you're a magica, the more abilities like the ones the distributors have you acquire.  Two months, and you know when a new magica's been created. Five months, and you know when a monster spawns without being told by a distributor.  Nine and you can tell when magic's being used, and a year lets you know if somebody would be willing or not to become a magica.  Horace is the only one with that ability so far, but I'm getting close at eleven months.  We've got a working theory that two years allows Distributor-level teleportation, but that might not be the case since some magica have teleportation magic as their skill."

"I knew about those skills, but that doesn't exactly answer my question!" Yuuri was coming up on his five month marker himself, so he'd soon be getting that power-up, "And holy shit, Sayaka-chan!  Eleven months!?"

Sayaka Yamaguchi

She glanced back at him, then tossed him through a window into the train and followed after, as she was getting sick of speaking over high speed winds, "Yes, eleven months.  I was the first magica to contract in Japan, when Blade got here.  Of course I seized upon the opportunity to grow stronger, and be of even more use to my family...  Anyway, this train's going towards Shinjuku, and I can tell it's being controlled by magic, so I have to assume whoever's moving it wants to fight the monster."

"Your family," Yuuri thought it over for a moment, "Those tattoos, and you mentioned Kobe.  They're the Yamaguchi-gumi, right?"

She smirked at him as he got to his feet from being tossed, "Clever, Rukkun!  That's right, and I'm proud of it.  I was already a stellar enforcer and assassin, but now I have power beyond the limits of humanity, as do a few of my Onii-sans back home.  The yakuza may be old-fashioned, but we didn't keep selling heroin when we started getting shipments of oxy.  We stick to tradition, but you have to be on the cutting edge when it comes to illicit activities," She reached back out of the window and pulled her axe into the traincar as she explained.

"...Welcome aboard," Another voice spoke, and the two magica turned to see a third one there.  His emerald eyes had a faint glow to them, and a quiet song seemed to be emanating from the question mark on his neck, "Ribbon Red.  Smokescreen.  It's lovely to finally make your acquaintance.  I am Lullabye."

"Lullabye?  You're the one controlling this train?" Sayaka questioned, leaning against the handle of her weapon with eyebrows raised, "The one, the only, number nine?"

"Please, no need to act as if that's an impressive feat.  I only climbed that high because I'm trying to build up enough power to create a magica myself," Lullabye chuckled, raising a hand to his mouth, "I only fight higher level monsters like this one because otherwise, I don't make a profit on magic.  I really rely on using power to win, which makes it difficult to save up unless I'm careful about it.  I'm sure that once I've brought her back, I'll fall much further down the rankings."

"So, do you want some help on that level five?" Yuuri asked, stepping forward, "I've been working with Infernal on some small fry, and it seems like every participant in a battle gets the same rewards as if they'd done it solo as long as the number of fighters doesn't exceed double the monster's level."

"That would be appreciated," Lullabye nodded, then sat down in one of the train's seats, "I would have thought you'd prefer not to work with me, since I only go after the big catches..."

Lullabye

Yuuri sat down as well, but Sayaka stayed standing with her weapon, and he addressed Lullabye, "Nah dude, your reason for doing that makes sense.  I'm not about to hold it against you.  I waste magic on dumb things all the time, but I don't need to use it to win, so if we teamed up we could fight lower levels without needing any magic at all.  Sayaka-chan?" He turned to her.

"Just because we're friends doesn't mean I'll be joining any teams," She pouted, looking away from him, "I'll help defend Tokyo, obviously, but it'd look real bad for me to be the only magical girl among a bunch of grown men!  There's just no way I could ever agree to any official alliance."

Despite what she said, though, Yuuri had faith that Sayaka would be there if they ever needed her.  She was a powerful magica, very high up in the rankings.  She'd be higher if she wasn't a murderer; and she was much higher than Yuuri.  He knew there were two reasons for that.  She had a better magical ability than he did, and he didn't have the buffer against reductions that she did.  That was just the problem with being a violent person.

He didn't worry too much, though.  Sugarcanesugarcane didn't mind that he kept falling down the rankings, since it was actually in possession of the number three magica.  Oh One's posse would have had a monopoly on the top ten spots if not for Fizzy Pop, one of Chikd's duos who seemed to embody everything that magical girls should be, and had impressive power to boot, pulling the second place spot.

"Brace for impact," Lullabye warned the two of them.  Yuuri grabbed onto a support pole, and Sayaka positioned herself between the wall and her weapon.  Moments later, the train crashed directly into the monster, the back few cars completely collapsing against it.  Lullabye nodded to the others and flew out of the smashed window, the music from his mark cutting out and his eyes closing as he dropped control of the train.  Yuuri and Sayaka leapt out as well, getting onto the roof of the train which was embedded in the monster and taking up a battle stance.

The beast was tall, so the train ramming had only disabled one foot, but at least that meant the creature wouldn't be able to run too far, and the battle would be restrained to a single location.  Sayaka launched herself into the air immediately, swinging her axe around to come down on the left eye of the monster.  This one seemed to resemble a towering golem, but it shrieked in pain when she hurt its eye.  Piggybacking on that idea, Yuuri shot smoke pellets in Sayaka's direction to cloak her before the monster regained its sight on that side.

Lullabye, meanwhile, was playing another song, this time one which turned the asphalt below the monster's feet into quicksand, further securing it in place.  He started throwing out his weaponry then, little letter zeds which seemed to behave as throwing knives with sharp edges the whole way around.  Against a monster, something like those were just distractions, even more than bullets.  At least Yuuri did damage, but the 'health bar' which seemed to show the monster's endurance didn't decrease at all until Lullabye emptied his entire clip into its skin, and even then, just a small bit.  Yuuri could see how Lullabye needed to rely on his magic.

"Lullabye!" Yuuri shouted towards him, "Save your magic, right?  You've already done plenty, Red and I can do the rest!" As he said that, Sayaka landed on top of the thing's head and started hacking away with quick but heavy swings of her battleaxe, spraying the monster's clay-colored blood in every direction.  Even so, Yuuri noted that the bar above its head wasn't going down nearly enough.  Another one with a large health pool, or was it just high defense?

When he was about to yell to Sayaka to help him figure the thing out before they wasted their energy on potentially inefficient attacks, he was smacked to the ground.  He was so preoccupied that he forgot it could attack back.  He slid across the gravel when he hit the ground, scraping against the outsides of his arms.  He kept his marking safe and away from harm.  He didn't know what would happen if it was to suffer injury, but he'd been warned against it.

The golem raised its hand again in a fist, moving to bring it down on Yuuri before he could get back up, but before that could happen there was a loud, explosive noise, and the monster's fist was blown clean off, smashing into a building three blocks away as the wrist sprayed that liquid clay blood over the entire area.  Yuuri knew that noise by now; he got to his feet and saw, as he expected, Tsukune standing there.  As Infernal, he had a very interesting skillset; his weaponry was heavy-duty artillery weapons, such as rocket launchers on tripods, but they lacked triggers.  He could only ignite the gunpowder to fire them by utilizing his flame magic, which did make it hard for any other magica he was fighting against to commandeer them.  His ranking game in at 50, 12 ranks higher than Yuuri.  He thought that Tsukune would rank even higher if he actually cared about anything, but he always looked bored in battle and didn't have a cause he was fighting for.

The golem reeled back in pain, and Yuuri noted that having its hand blown off had put a huge dent in its health bar.  So it was weak to that sort of attack.  As it was recoiling from its injury, Sayaka couldn't keep her purchase on its head anymore, the chunk of rock that she'd lodged her axe into crumbling and sending her hurtling toward the ground.  Lullabye hurtled towards her, seeming to be a floating type magica, and caught her in the pillow that he carried as part of his costume.  After setting her down gently, he looked to the blast's origin and a grin split his face when he called out, "Tsukkun!"

"Hey, Zhou," Tsukune gave a halfhearted wave back, then moved on to aiming his next weapon at the monster's chest.  He doubted his ability to hit its head with something that had enough firepower to do huge damage, since the head was disproportionately small compared to the rest of the creature.  As he was distracted with aiming, the golem grew spikes out of its back, shards which it began to fire wildly.  Tsukune didn't even blink.  The rest of the magica present covered their faces as best they could, some of the rock shards grazing them.  Sayaka got one embedded in her wrist, which she didn't bother plucking out because bleeding would be more distracting than having a rock shard stuck in her wrist.

Tsukune didn't get hit with any shards, though, Yuuri noted when he looked back in that direction.  Kanoshi had arrived as well, and blocked all the shards which had gone in that direction.  He looked to the three magica on the ground, and Yuuri told Sayaka that she'd have to remove the shard if she wanted her injuries healed.  Kanoshi had blocked more shards with his shield than had even gone in the general direction of those three, so he had more than enough magic to patch them up before he returned to the sidelines to keep out of targeting range until he was needed once more.

Or that would be the case, if Tsukune didn't immediately fire off another blast as soon as Kanoshi was out of the way, blowing a hole clean through the golem's chest.  It investigated its own injury for a moment, looking down at the hole in its chest, then fell over, collapsing down onto the ground.  Due to its feet being mired in the road beneath it, its ankles cracked and broke, and that was the last straw for the rest of the beast's endurance bar.  It was defeated.  It dissipated into magic power which was given to each participant in its full amount, and left behind five orbs.  One for each magica belonging to a different distributor.

When Kanoshi had first seen that happen, he'd wondered how it could be that the creatures cared about the number of people who had fought against it.  He'd messaged Oh One asking about it, though, and received an answer.  The monsters were the only food source for distributors, and that was the core of what they were; the only problem was that Distributors couldn't fight them on their own, needing to imbue others with the ability to use the planet's magic to battle against them.

It was still a matter of feeding, however, and it only made sense that if the distributors' tools to that end worked to become more efficient, they would be rewarded with a greater yield.  With the golem defeated, the group of magica watched as the damage to the city undid itself, and life went on as usual.  It seemed that monster battles occurred in a similar way to Lionhardt's magic, only on a much greater scale.  A pocket dimension, which if not dispelled by destroying the monster, would impact the real world.

There was the issue of magica who believed they were stronger than they actually were.  If one of them initiated a fight and was defeated before anybody else arrived, then the monster would have a free pass to cause as much destruction as it wanted.  Since becoming a magical boy himself, Kanoshi finally understood.  It would be easier to fight monsters far from society, and there were plenty of those.  City centers could always use more magica, because there were far worse consequences if all of them were defeated.

Even Zhou, who had already gone back to his human form, preferred offering protection even when he was trying to collect power for a reason.  A monster buffet out in the hinterlands would get him there a lot faster, but he thought that if he was going to be a magical boy for such a selfish reason as bringing back a person he wanted to see again, the least he could do was use his position to help people.

"...Pretty Fighter Ribbon Red?" Kanoshi asked as he flew down to land in front of her, eyebrows raised, "You're that Korekara student who called me Moron-sensei?"

"Yeah, I dropped the glamour," Sayaka nodded, twirling her axe behind herself before she stuck it into the ground again, "I figure it's not necessary anymore, since most of us here in Tokyo already knew who was who.  It's better to be transparent with this sort of thing after a certain point."

"Well, I hope that we can work together to protect the city!" Kanoshi nodded, giving a short bow to her out of respect.  Her power really was impressive, since she was pulling rank 28 even as a killer of humans.  Kanoshi himself sat at rank 4, which he honestly found very strange.  Some said that it was a result of him being so new, it was calculated based on his power level and the fact that he'd given that level of power over to becoming a support.  That alone was a show of his willingness to help others, which stood out to the universal forces which seemed to decide rankings that nobody much understood.

Kanoshi had to work hard if he wanted to keep his spot, because if he made a mistake, that could easily plummet.  Given his lack of combat abilities, it did seem that maintaining a high ranking would be the only way to build up magical power.  Sayaka didn't need her ranking to stand on, since she had such brutality she could defeat monsters up to level three on her own without utilizing any magic, though anyone in the top 100 did get a bonus to the rate at which it built up.

"I'm sure as Hell not keen on working with lolicons, but I guess you've all proven yourselves to be better men than that.  Well, except for you, Lullabye," She turned to look at him, narrowing her eyes, "I don't know a thing about you yet."

"The name's Zhou Wang," He introduced himself with a wave, now feeling awkward that he was the only one to have transformed back yet, "I'm not a lolicon either.  I always liked people my own age.  Actually, I don't even know if I have any preferences anymore.  I've been kind of distracted from everything since I became a magical boy in October, trying to collect magic.  I want to bring back my little sister who was killed in the Korekara Massacre."

"...Mayu, right?" Sayaka questioned, tilting her head to the side as she dropped her transformation as well, axe disappearing behind her to leave only its gouge in the pavement, "A second year.  We never really spoke to each other, but I know that she was kind and sweet.I hope you succeed in your goal.  I'd really like to get to know her."

"I'm going to do it," Zhou held his hands in close to himself, balling them up into fists in his determination, "I can't just let her life end the way it did.  She had so much more time, and she never got to experience life for real.  It was always through a screen, because she thought she couldn't belong with other people who would judge her for her... uselessness."

"That's why we had that chatroom," Tsukune stepped in, also having discarded his magical form now, his voice sounding just as bored as ever, "Mayu-chan sought out NEETs and Otaku like her, because if we all felt that we ourselves had some degree of worthlessness, then she didn't have to be afraid.  We were all just the same.  Sometimes, the only way to live as somebody with little self worth is to find others with just as little."

"Zhou-kun," Kanoshi held his hands to his chest, "I know that you'll succeed.  You'll bring Mayu back, and then we can all work together.  Even if she's scared at first, all of us will be there to help her.  I guess that she's kind of a common threat between all of us, if we look at it that way."

"I've almost gathered enough magical power.  At this rate, it might just be a few more months until I have enough that I could bring her back... but once I do, I still have to find where they're keeping her," Zhou explained his goal, "I know that her body's being preserved somewhere as evidence for the Korekara Massacre, I just need to find where that is."

"That could take years," Sayaka mumbled, leaning back against a wall as she rebuttoned her shirt, glad that with the hour of the day there were no civilians to see the gathering of so many magica in one place.  That would be cause for alarm, "Korekara's board are infamous for their abilities to cover up anything and everything.  They convinced the entire country to barely bat an eyelash over the slow elimination of the entire graduating class of 2015, acted as if a pair of students who were murdered off-campus had never existed in the first place, and there's still nobody who really knows who Headmistress Kira is.  If they don't want anybody to know where their morgue is, then nobody will."

"I know.  But... If I can't use magic to at least discover that much, then what's the point?  Even if it does take years for me to do it, I'll find where they're keeping her body, and I'll bring her back," Zhou insisted, then dropped his arms to his sides, "...What are all of us doing awake at this hour anyway?  I'm basically nocturnal these days, but the rest of you..."

"I was up late playing video games," Kanoshi explained, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, "Ruka-san sent Tsukki and I your coordinates, so we met up and came here to help.  Er, I mean, Madara-san!" Kanoshi looked to Tsukune, flushing in embarrassment, "I'm so used to using your online nickname, I'm sorry!"

"I don't care what you call me.  For all I give a shit, you could call me Doraemon and I'd still answer to it," He responded, then turned to everyone else to give his own explanation, "I'm nocturnal, too.  I sleep during the day, while my... Roommate, is at work, and I do freelance programming online to make cash myself.  Boring code monkey stuff.  Monsters appear more often at night anyway, so it makes sense for magica to adjust their schedules to match that, right?"

"Rukkun and I were hanging out at a train station, chatting," Sayaka jumped in, pointing her thumb back towards Yuuri, "I dunno why he was there, but I saw him and decided to have a little chat about how I managed to deduce who he was through the glamour.  Let that be a lesson not to rely on it too much, okay?  Magica, and humans who know a lot about us, still have ways to determine who might be a certain magica based on context clues."

"I was just there being introspective and shit.  I like the aesthetic of stations when the trains aren't running," Yuuri added in, then pulled his sleeve down to cover up his mark.  Zhou had already pulled the collar on his turtleneck back up, and Tsukune had unpinned his bangs.  Kanoshi was the last one to hide his, slipping the eyepatch back on.  Sayaka took a deep breath, then looked up at the sky as she shivered.  All of them had gotten thoroughly soaked by the heavy rain, and the temperature was dropping, too.  

The rain was changing to snow as they watched, staring as it left a light coat over the city which they protected.

Next Chapter ->

Evil Meet Justice Chapter 5

<-Previous Chapter

<-----First Chapter

Marc approaches his house, opening the door as soon as he reaches it.  He's agreed to go to the beach with his friends, of course, but he was having second thoughts at needing to stop at home to get his swimsuit.  Despite what he'd said to Mallory, he really isn't keen on stopping in.  He spends time with friends to get away from his family.

Well, his mother's fine, if a bit overwhelming in her compassion.  His father's the one who he tries to stay away from, when he can.  Aside from the occasional business trip, it's difficult, since Joe Fitson will take any excuse he can find to take a day off; it's a polarizing effect, for the most part.  A few days staying well into overtime at the office, then a few days where he finds some excuse to work from home or take more PTO than he was probably meant to have.

Were Marc his own father's boss, he'd fire him, but he unfortunately isn't.  Instead, the higher-ups all agree that they can let Joe's behavior slide on the simple fact that he's been working so long, and anytime they've even tried to get somebody trained to assist with his workload it hasn't worked out.  Marc wonders if that's because the trainees couldn't stand his father's absurd organization methods on the data he's responsible for, or if they just couldn't stand his personality.  'Both' seems to be the answer which makes the most sense.

Lucky enough for Marc, his father isn't in the dining room when he opens the front door.  With that potential off the table, he sighs in relief and makes his way upstairs to his room, to get his swimwear.  Swimming at Myna Beach was never warm, but he hadn't gone hypothermic yet either.  Still, it was generally agreed that it was safer to swim in that water with a bit more fabric on, so most people use rash-guards.  He's never seen anyone but tourists attempting to wear bikinis to that beach.

With the swimwear retrieved, Marc gets changed into it and stuffs his dry clothing into a tote bag so that he can change back when they're done, since he's planning to continue hanging out with Chris for as long as he's able to.  He doubts he'll be able to stay over tonight, what with Chris's cousins visiting, but at least he can eat dinner at the Gonzalez house.

On the matter of Chris's cousins, he's already decided that he's not especially fond of the orange-haired one.  It's got nothing to do with the fact that he doesn't shower enough, either; rather, that guy's been acting weird towards Mallory.  Marc may not be able to pinpoint the reason why he feels protective of her, but that doesn't change the fact that he is. Something about that guy just makes him feel... Uneasy.

That's the best way he can describe it.  Unease is the way that Dawson Packard makes him feel.  It isn't a matter of feeling possessive over Mallory, because of anyone in the world, she's the most impossible to possess.  And if it were Marc who Dawson was fixating on, he thinks he'd be equally as put off by it.  He doesn't want to go thinking the worst of his best friend's cousin, but he also isn't about to turn a blind eye to it.  Just because somebody is someone's relative doesn't excuse them from being suspicious.

Once Marc's changed and has everything he needs to bring with him, he moves to duck right back out of the house without being noticed, but his mother's walked into the kitchen.  She smiles at him, and he freezes as he waves, then gives in and walks into the room, keeping his voice low, "Hey, Mom.  Is Dad home?"

"Not right now," Marc's mother, Deborah, shakes her head as she answers, "He went out to get a few small things for his woodworking, that's why his car's still here.  He should be back soon, if you need something from him?"

Marc taps the counter, frowning, "The opposite, actually.  I was hoping to miss him altogether."

"Well, you should if you get going soon.  What were you up to?" Deborah asks, tapping her fingers on the counter in front of herself.  She doesn't even question why her son wants to avoid his father; she would avoid him too, if she had the opportunity.  It wasn't that she saw him as an absolutely awful husband, or even a bad person necessarily, but she had been young and too starry-eyed.  Joe Fitson was fine, she thought to herself, but he was not worth giving up on her dreams for.

She had truly been a fool, but that was all in the past now.  There was nothing she could have done about it, because she didn't have anything that really compelled her as grounds for a divorce.  It wasn't like she needed a sturdy reason, but it would help her to avoid losing anything.  Were she to divorce Joe, she didn't want to take anything from him, but she didn't want to lose a thing to him either.  Most especially not her son.  Deborah seemed to many like the model of a housewife, not worth much more than the meals she cooked, but she did have a college degree.  She had passed the Bar Test, too.

It is weird, she thinks, being a lawyer who'd never had the chance to tackle a single case.  Joe couldn't technically stop her, she knew, but there was something about being with him which kept her from finding any opportunities.  Maybe it was pathetic that she let an idea like that; Just the idea, control her, but she never claimed to be a person of strong character.

"I was hanging out with Chris and the others," Marc answers, "I just stopped by to get my swimsuit, since Chris decided he wants to go by Myna Beach.  The others are going to meet me along the way if I just walk a little bit faster.  They are slow as a group."

"Friends do tend to be," Deborah chuckles, lifting her hand up to pick at her nails, "I won't keep you longer, okay?  You should get going.  Enjoy the day with your friends, sweetie.  If you happen to run into Jacob, could you tell me how he's doing?  I lost his number again."

"Mom," Marc rolls his eyes as he wanders toward the door, "Sure, if we somehow end up either getting arrested or going to John and Mallory's house, I'll let Jacob know you said hi, and that you need his number again.  Or you could just call the town's non-emergency crime reporting number and hope he picks up."

"He's the father of my son's new friends, can you blame me for wanting to be on good terms with him?  You never know when you might need a favor from somebody.  Now shoo!" As Deborah tells him to shoo, he's already got the door open and one foot out.  As expected, he catches up with his friends without a problem.  When he arrives back to the group, they're discussing school lunch.

That's a nice, generic subject that everybody has some thoughts on, an easy way to break the ice in a group.

Marc joins in seamlessly, "So is it a universal thing that absolutely no potatoes served at a school can ever actually have anything resembling the texture of potatoes?"

"Good point," Mallory says, pushing her glasses up, "I do not see school potato as potato, but as gouache.  That's what it is, really."

"What the Hell is gouache?" Dawson questions, ever the uncultured one.

"It's a type of paint," Mallory explains, "And a style of painting, at the same time.  It's extra-thick, so it gives the painting a bit more of a three-dimensional feel.  Anyway, I don't have to worry about school lunches anymore.  John makes bagged lunches for both of us!"

"I hate to toot my own horn, but they are pretty good," John says, pressing his fingertips together, "I make a mean sandwich.  I use a lot of fresh produce from my garden too, when it's in season."

"You'll have to let me try one sometime," Tina gives John a smile, "Just the facts that they're sandwiches made with fresh produce makes them sound great.  And I trust Mallory's judgment, too."

"Don't trust my judgment," Mallory holds her hand up, "I mean, I can tell when a food's good, for sure.  But I also like a lot of food's that are definitely not good for real.  Like peanut butter and banana sandwiches-"

"Those are good, though," Dawson interrupts.

"With mayonnaise," Mallory finishes.

"Oh," Dawson doesn't know what to say.

"Mallory," Marc shakes his head in disbelief, "I like mayonnaise as much as the next guy, but that is a bad mayo."

"Huh, well," Mallory holds a finger to her chin, looking up at the sky, "I think it's good, yeah, but it is a bad mayo for sure.  That's the kind of thing I really love.  Plus, if all the food I eat is disgusting to other people, then I never have to worry about my lunch getting stolen when I one day work in a soul-sucking office job."

"Remind me never to let you cook for me," Chris mutters.

"Come on, Christopher," Mallory scoffs, "Like I'd ever cook for you anyway.  I can barely cook for myself.  Cereal is too much cooking for me most mornings, and that doesn't even involve heating anything up.  Just putting it together."

"You can cook pancakes," John adds in, unhelpful.

"Just because I can doesn't mean I want to," Mallory answers, putting her hands back behind her head, "It's not like food is even all that great, really.  I just eat to sustain myself, or just because the food happens to be there... Unlike you and Dad, John.  You gluttons."

"I eat fruit," Marc adds in his two cents, useless as they are, "That's about all that I eat for the sake of eating, otherwise, yeah, food's not like an amazing experience or anything weird like that."

"I can't even believe I'm friends with you right now," John shakes his head, holding two fingers up to his own temple as he sighs, "I mean, honestly.  Food is an art form, people!  It's tied in with culture, climate, and all sorts of things like that.  You really should enjoy food!  It has so much personality!"

"I do enjoy it," Mallory shrugs, "But I wouldn't be crying myself to sleep if I had to go a month eating nothing but ration-bars, or cardboard."

"Mallory..." Tina starts, raising her eyebrows with a coy smirk, "You like the taste of ration-bars, don't you?"

Mallory turns red at this statement, whirling on Tina with her cheeks puffed out, "No, of course not!  Nobody likes the chalky texture and near-tastelessness of ration bars!"

"Sounds to me like you're praising them for those facts," Tina waved a finger in front of herself, "Come on, you need to be honest with me, and with yourself.  Embrace your love of the blandest food mankind has ever created and admit that the only reason you'd be okay with spending a month on them is because you secretly love them."

"I dug this grave for myself by saying how much I like terrible foods," Mallory groans, backing off with a slump of her shoulders, "Yes, you're right.  Unfortunately, I do enjoy the lack of flavor that ration-bars offer.  That doesn't change my statement, though.  I don't think delicious food is a necessity to enjoy life."

"Yeah, me neither," Dawson agrees with her, and Tina resists the urge to kick his shin with the lies he's telling, "In fact, I'll even eat foods that I hate.  It's just to stay alive anyway, so why does taste exist?"

"Well, on second thought," Mallory notes, "Food is actually pretty cool.  The fact that different people can taste things differently and appreciate or hate them is kind of fascinating, even if I don't think that tasting good things is all that important to happiness...  I still don't want to eat foods that are disgusting, like strawberries."

"Who doesn't like strawberries?" Dawson questions.

"Me," Mallory gives her answer in a matter-of-fact way, without any hesitation, "I like other fruit, but strawberries and strawberry flavored things just make me gag.  I won't ever eat another strawberry if I can help it."

"Hey," Chris butts into the conversation, pointing behind himself, "Yo, everybody.  Come on.  Let's turn right here."

"But that's not the way to Myna Beach..." John says, looking around and trying to figure out why Chris is acting so strange.  Unfortunately, they aren't able to react in time due to confusion, and a voice that the majority of them aren't fond of hearing speaks up behind them.

"Ah, Marc.  Where are you and your friends off to dressed like that?" Joe Fitson had been walking back from the store on the opposite side of the street, and crossed to speak with the group, "Isn't the weather a bit off for swimming?"

"The temperature's fine, even if it's a little cloudy.  It doesn't look like it will rain today," Marc answers, looking up at the sky, "So we're going to Myna Beach for a bit.  Oh, these are Chris's cousins, by the way."

"...Charmed," Joe notes, keeping his attention on his son, "And you're sure that swimming is all you're doing?"

"What else would we be doing, going on an expedition to find some hotsprings to take a dip in?" Mallory involves herself, hands on her hips, "We're wearing swimsuits.  What could possibly be suspicious about that?"

"You could be going to a party," Joe answers, waving his hand in the air next to himself, "A degnerate party with somebody who owns a hot tub... Like, say, Evan Temmer?"

John freezes up at the mention of that name and steps forward, almost protective of Marc, "We don't talk to Evan anymore and you know it, Joe."

"I don't know anything," Joe responds, clenching his fists, "And you should watch your tone, John Shingle.  My son has kept secrets from me before and I'm right to worry that he'll do it again, so forgive me if I don't believe that a gaggle of teenagers aren't up to no good."

"Dad," Marc glares at him, "We really are just going swimming.  Chris is on the swim team, remember?  Swimming is too important to him for it to be used as an excuse."

"I guess there's nothing I can do based on suspicion," Joe sighs, and throws his hands up as he turns back around, "Whatever.  Don't say I didn't warn you if you do something stupid. and face the consequences for it."

With that, Joe Fitson leaves the group behind.  There's silence for a while before Tina speaks up, "Who's Evan Temmer?"

"Evan's a kid in my grade, likes acting as if he's older than he is.  He's pretty rich, so he's pretty popular," John answers, folding his arms over his chest, "We used to hang out with him a lot, but he... Well, he turned out to be a little bit of an asshole.  I guess rich guys sometimes are, right?"

Marc hesitates, but does add in an explanation of his own, "I dunno if he was really trying to be an asshole, though.  He just didn't know how to take no for an answer, in certain situations.  Truth is, when he asked me out I might have said sure, let's give it a shot, if not for my dad."

"Of course," Mallory steps in, "Word travels fast in a small town like this one, you know?  Even though Marc turned him down, Evan spread a rumor that they were dating.  Joe freaked out, and we had to come up with some story about us all hating Evan now just to get him to lay off Marc a little bit.  You can probably tell he didn't lay off much."

"Goddamn," Dawson shakes his head in a dismissive fashion, "What the Hell was that about?  Gay people just don't have any sense of boundaries, huh?"

"We're still friends with Evan.  We just don't hang out outside of school anymore, because he pulled that one dick move, and now Joe'll be up all our asses if he sees us in the same place," Marc wrinkles his nose at Dawson, "It has nothing to do with his sexuality, and that was just one boundary that he admits he fucked up on."

"It's straight guys who don't know what boundaries are," Chris jokes, "So I've heard, anyway.  I guess anyone can cross the line, but every rumor has a reason."

"If some guy did that to me, I'd beat his ass," Dawson puts his hands behind his head, "You can do what you want, I guess, but don't expect me to meet this Evan guy.  As far as I'm concerned, anyone who'd pull that is a huge tool.  Telling someone you're dating a person when you're not?  Who would do that?"

"Dawson," Tina mutters, trying to communicate that he ought to stop talking without making it seem as if she's outright defying him.

"Look, Dawson," Chris stops walking as his feet touch the pebbles of Myna Beach, "I dunno what you're hearing from anyone, but if you're going to hang out with me and my friends, you have to be a little bit nicer than that.  Evan's a good guy, and I hear enough trash talk about him from Joe.  I don't need to hear you ragging on my friend, too."

"Even assholes deserve a second chance," John doesn't seem quite as forgiving as the others, but he's got a light tone as he says this, "Really, as long as they're trying to get better, assholes need friends to encourage them to change."

Dawson looks between everyone, then huffs through his nose as he walks away down the beach, leaving the rest of the group behind.  Nobody bothers to try going after him, or even calling out for him to calm down.  Eventually, Mallory turns to Tina, "Your brother is kind of a dick, no offense."

"None taken," Tina shrugs, "He is."

"Though... Even assholes deserve a second chance?" Mallory questions, looking to John.  He shakes his head at her, but she puts both hands on her hips and separates her legs in a determined stance, "There's gotta be something worth somebody's time in that guy, and I'll find it.  Well, not like I think he'll be worth my time, but somebody's, you know?"

"I wouldn't recommend that," Tina says, and everyone else agrees with her.  Chris, too, isn't especially fond of his emotionally maladjusted cousin.  It's beginning to seem like nobody does, but that can't be true.  Dawson has plenty of friends at school.  Maybe somehow, some types of people are drawn to someone as absurdly crude as Dawson Packard.

"Come on.  What's the worst that could happen?" Mallory asks, then wanders down the beach towards the water, "Anyway, Chris.  I'll race you.  Ready to stomp me?"

"Always," Chris jokes back, dashing down to stand next to her, waves lapping up at their toes.  John runs forward as well to cheer his sister on, leaving Marc and Tina standing at the head of the beach, looking down.

Marc looks to Tina, then speaks up, quiet, "You should stay here."

"What?" Tina questions, eyes wide as she turns to look back at him, "I don't- Why?"

Marc shrugs, "Because you're fitting in with us?  I feel like you'd be better off here than back in New Mexico."

"Huh," Tina hesitates, bringing her arms up around herself, "Well, maybe you're right, but... I wouldn't make you deal with Dawson any longer than you need to.  Seems like nobody's getting along great with him."

"I'm not saying Dawson should stay here.  I'm saying you should," Marc steps closer to Tina and reaches out, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm pretty sure that Chris's family would let you stay with them.  If they wouldn't, then I know for a fact that Jacob; I mean, Mr. Shingle, would."

Tina chuckles a bit, "You know John and Mallory's Dad well enough that you call him by his first name?"

"Nah, he's just one of those types of dads who says you should call him by his first name.  Everyone calls my dad Joe because they hate him and it's disrespectful, but Jacob's always just trying to be the cool dad," Marc explains, "I guess it kind of works?  As much as a police officer can be the cool dad, anyway.  He's trying his best."

TIna nods before she speaks again, "He sounds nice.  Well, that explains why John and Mallory are such sweethearts..."

"Yeah, they were actually raised well," Marc agrees with a small laugh, "I mean, if you ignore all the snark, those two are some of the nicest people I've ever met.  Mallory's even saying she'd give Dawson a chance to prove he's not as obnoxious as his first impression?  That takes a certain type of person for sure."

"Heh.  Yeah, that's saying something," Tina admits, "Maybe it's shitty for me to say this about my own brother, but I don't think that there's anything there for Mallory to find.  He's... Well, he's probably a walking trash bag.  I don't mean that as an insult, I mean it as, there's not any good there.  And a trash bag could have been filled up with something to donate to charity or something, but he just got garbage."

"You think that he could have been better?" Marc asks, not seeming at all put-off by Tina's terminology.  Despite it being rude and a bit cruel, he just finds himself agreeing with what she says.

"I dunno.  Maybe.  I guess there's still time, he could mature some more," Tina says, "He could end up being a better person.  And he probably could have been better from the start if we weren't left alone all of the time... Well, I'm just thinking about things which aren't true right now.  It's pretty pointless to think about what-ifs like that.  And Hell, maybe he really isn't as bad as I think."

"You're defending him now?" Marc asks, and Tina just shrugs in response.  He scoffs, "Don't.  Just... Don't bother, okay?  I didn't like the guy from the moment I met him, so obviously, there's something about him that's really unlikable.  You don't need to stand up for a guy like that just to try and sound like you're a better person for not hating him.  You're allowed to dislike people.  Even if they are related to you..." He hisses, scratching the back of his neck as he looks away.

Tina leans to look at his face, "So you don't get along with your father too well, huh?  I mean, he really seems like kind of a dick."

"He is," Marc groans, dropping his arm to his side, "My dad's... Well, he's just the kind of guy who's way too proud of having a son?  You know, he's always encouraging me to be more masculine and shit like that.  It's pretty goddamn lame."

"I know someone like that," TIna suddenly recalls, "Back in New Mexico.  Her name's Anna, and she's really obsessive over having a daughter.  She makes her dress up all the time, makes her act especially girly.  And in a way my friend appreciates that, but it can also be annoying to have somebody putting such specific expectations on you..." Tina thinks for a moment, "I guess, even I've experienced having expectations put on me, but I can handle them.  I like having an idealized version of myself to strive for."

"I don't," Marc says, "I don't like having people expect anything of me.  Makes me feel like I don't have room to grow or change... Like I just gotta stick to a mold, you feel?"

"I get it," Tina agrees, and she does.  She can see it in him, the effects of growing up like that.  The entire group is at the age when they begin to develop a real sense of self-questioning and identity, and it can be suffocating to start having those thoughts in a situation where one has always been willing and ready to let their identity be shaped by someone else.

---

Jacob Shingle likes to think of himself as a good man.  At least, that's what he tries to be.  It's not like he has any scale to measure himself against, and he's certainly made his own fair share of mistakes in his lifetime, but he still holds onto the idea that he's a good person.  He is a good person.

Jacob has two children, and he lives with the two of them in a somewhat nice two-story house.  He's never left his hometown of Mesteri because he has a stable job and the real estate market here is absolute garbage, which for anyone looking to afford a home, is great news.  The island's inconvenient and lacking in jobs, has been since shortly after the conclusion of World War II.  It's a dying town, but he calls it home, and he doubts he'll ever leave.  This is where he'd hoped to build a future with his wife.

Even with her gone, he doesn't want to leave that idea behind.

John, the elder of his two children, is fifteen now.  He seems to keep to himself for the most part, and unlike most parents, Jacob is glad for that.  Fifteen was how hold he himself was when John was born, and though he doesn't regret the outcome of that ordeal, he wouldn't wish the experience on anyone but his worst enemy.  It was hard to deal with all the guilt and scorn at the time, but he and Adelaide had worked through it enough that she was already pregnant with Mallory by the time the pair was graduating.

There was just that much love between them.  It's been eleven years now since she died, not soon after Mallory was born.  At least John has a few fond memories.  It's been over a decade, and Jacob knows that he'll never truly be over her.  Nonetheless, he keeps moving forward.  It's a very important thing to do, he's well aware.  Jacob has to be there for his children, and even when he was still in active mourning, he's always made sure to put them first.

His career choice is even linked to his children, in a way.  He became a police officer because there's a shortage of them in Mesteri, and an abundance of crimes that go utterly unnoticed.  Having been a teen himself not too terribly long ago, Jacob's work with the police sometimes makes it seem like he's the only one who's really trying to keep the kids safe.  There's juvenile crime all over, and in a town such that everyone knows everyone, anyone who knows their neighbor's doing something illegal will probably keep quiet out of fear for their own secrets being revealed.

Jacob doesn't have those qualms, though.  He doesn't have secrets at all; It isn't that only his nearby neighbors have a grasp on the more unsavory aspects of his life, but his secrets were already all up on display in the past.  Perhaps now that his kids are reaching the point where they're transitioning from children to adults, he'll have to be a little more concerned, but for the time being he's happy to keep tabs on everyone and act on anything which is truly unsavory.

At least, as much as he's able to learn about.  People are more careful with their gossip around a police officer, so he doesn't hear as much as other people might.  He knows enough, though, and he's busted several people with this tactic in his career.  He has a deep-seated desire to bring due legal process to anyone who needs it, especially the worst type of people in the world who always seem to fly under the radar in towns like this one.

There's still a shortage of police, even compared to the town's population, but Jacob likes to feel that he's making some small difference to that situation.  Obviously, he's not about to single-handedly stop all crime in Mesteri, but he can certainly work to make sure that he stops everything he can.

A comfort to him is that recently, his children have made another friend.  They're both very kind kids, but they have sarcastic streaks and introverted hobbies that keep them from being too sociable.  Their friend Chris introduced them to his own childhood friend, and Jacob's glad for that.  Deborah Fitson is a lovely, compassionate woman.  She's a bit flighty and forgetful, but she has her own fair share of talents.

Joe, meanwhile... Jacob can't say that he's fond of Joe Fitson, the few times that they've met.  It could be that it's only a reflection of his offense at meeting such a brazen homophobe with his own bisexuality in mind, but that man definitely rubs him the wrong way.  It's a wonder that somebody as kindhearted as Deborah wound up with a guy like that, but Jacob can't presume to know how they got together.

It's a strange family, he thinks.  Not that they're especially odd in any measurable way, but he just can't understand what they're doing in Mesteri.  He knows that they moved to town before Marc was born, but they bought quite a nice house, and a nice car, and Joe's income is certainly enough that they could have settled down to start a family in someplace nicer than this.

Especially considering that they moved here from Kansas.  It would be one thing to want to get out of Seattle, away from the city to have a child in a quiet town, and there's a variety of options for housing here that would give them the benefit of picking and choosing for individual features in a home... But it wasn't like most of the midwest wasn't in the same position.  There were plenty of great homes for raising a family in those states.  Really, it doesn't make sense for anybody to move here from that far away.

As far as he knows, they don't even have any family in this area.  That's the most confusing part.  Well, he doesn't have time to dwell on that sort of thing today.  He's visiting his mother to help her with some housework projects; Hanging some framed puzzles that she's recently finished putting together, fixing a leak in the roof.  Jacob always spends his days off in one of two ways; Doing something fun with his children, or finding something else to busy himself with.

He doesn't like to be bored, and there aren't a ton of televisions shows which interest him in a particular amount, so he finds himself with strange hobbies.  When he's not messing around his own home or helping his mother at hers, he enjoys baking and putting together model vehicles.  Planes, boats, whatever kits he can buy for cheap that he thinks will look good on shelves around the house.  He finds it funny that he's ended up with such a stereotypical dad hobby, but it does help give the house some life that it wouldn't have otherwise.

He's still a single dad after all, and though he makes good enough money, it's not so much that he can splurge on real decor for the house.  Any extra money he ends up with goes toward his children, because he had a great childhood right up until he screwed it all up for himself.  He wants to give his kids the world, or at least their own pleasant childhood where he can.

Akuma No Imouto Chapter Five

<-Previous Chapter

<-----First Chapter

Your name is Nagito Masaomi, and you’re currently standing in an Izakaya in the middle of Tokyo, watching a fallen angel draw her sword and wondering what threat could possibly warrant such a drastic measure, as such a thing is a drastic measure.  Fallen angels are quite capable without a weapon, after all.  So of course, you ask in a panic, “G-Gabrielle, right??  What’s going on here?”

“Annie can explain,” Gabrielle answers, holding her sword out to her side as she approaches the old men eating in the corner of the restaurant who’d looked over at you earlier.  You glance at the rest of the customers, but they don’t seem to notice the sword-wielding angel, so you just turn to Annie, eyebrows raised.

“Huh?  Oh, yeah!”  Annie nods, standing up then stepping to hide behind you, “I sort of have a problem with Furies chasing me everywhere I go…”

“What the Hell is a Fury?” You question, as it doesn’t sound like any type of demon you’ve heard of.

“Furies are from Hell!” Annie laughs a bit as she explains, “Anyway, I’m an occultist, so I know about all sorts of things.  I’d say that the likelihood of any given person knowing about beings, excluding normal animals and such… Would go humans, humans with exceptional abilities, demons, ghosts, then furies.  So they’re super uncommon.”

“That doesn’t explain what they are!” You hiss to her, keeping your eyes on Gabrielle’s slow approach to the table, “And why is she just… walking?”

“Oh, right.  Furies are kind of mindless creatures which have unmatchable power, disguise themselves to blend in with normal people, and decide on targets at random to drag down to Hell.  Most of the time, these targets don’t stand a chance, but I have Gabrielle on my side so I can fend them off.  I mean, they’ll follow me around the rest of my life, but… I guess it’s fine.”

“That’s the opposite of fine!  Unmatchable power??” You question, turning to look at her and unable to avoid grabbing her shoulders, “If it’s unmatchable, how can we beat them?  And if you’re dealing with these things all the time, then why bother getting involved in petty drama?  This is clearly much more important!”

“Their power is unmatchable, but they’re not smart.  So somebody strong and smart can beat them with strategy…”  Annie explains, rolling her eyes, “I don’t have to deal with them all the time.  It’s just occasionally that enough of them end up together to launch an attack, and the thing is that this technically isn’t even a big enough group by their standards at this point… Which is why if Gabrielle approaches super slowly, she can beat one of them and get a pick before they go into assault mode.  They’re still hoping to get a couple more furies before the next attack.  They’re just smart enough to grasp the concept of power in numbers when it comes to a tough opponent.”

“There’s like ten old men there!” You insist, pointing in their direction, “If they’re unmatchable, shouldn’t that be more than enough?”

“Two is more than enough… When they’re up against normal people,” She sighs and reaches down onto the table, grabbing some of the sake that Jasper left behind on the table, “Oh, my dear Jasper left some alcohol behind for me.  How kind,” She sips it, then giggles, “But they’ve learned at least a little bit.  A fallen angel, an occultist, and I usually travel with a professional demon hunter, after all.  That’s quite the combination.”

“So uh…” You look around the restaurant again, “What about the patrons?”

“They’ll be unbothered,” She takes another sip, eyes closed, “In fact, any property damage sustained during this battle will simply be remedied as soon as it’s over.  It’s almost as if Furies exist in this world to be battled, but whoever was supposed to do battle with them has forsaken us to this fate of defending ourselves.”

“You seem pretty damn unbothered yourself…” You note, grimacing as Gabrielle finally reaches the old men and cleaves one of them in half horizontally.  The others immediately become alert, and morph from the humanoid disguises into abominations which defy description.

“It’s just another Tuesday,” Annie shrugs, then puts the sake cup back down and reaches behind herself, pulling out a long, probably illegal knife she had strapped to her back so well that it was impossible to tell it was under her clothing.  It’s much too long to be allowed for carrying in public.  She holds it in front of herself, taking up a fighting stance, then looks to you and shouts, “Well, don’t just stand there!  You talked to me, so they’ll try to get you too during this encounter.  Either run or get ready to fight!”

“Fuck!” You can’t think of anything more intelligent to say than that.  You could ask if Jasper could have known that these creatures were here when he summoned her to this place, or you could ask another question on their nature, but you just don’t.  You swear instead, then pull out your phone and dial your sister, “Ryo!  Close the bar and get out to Kokoro Izakaya as quick as possible!”

“Good grief, I can’t do that,” She groans, “Did you get in a fight with that Annie girl?  Just don’t kill the angel, she’s cute.  I mean, you’re capable of that, right?  It is the new moon…”

“That’s not who I got in a fight with!” You explain, panicked, “Apparently there’s these things called Furies, which have unmatchable power and can kill most things easily!  And there’s nine of them!  Come on, I need some help here!”

“Good grief, and after I hired Vicente on such short notice to cover for you… Well, nobody else can run the bar here with the same level of quality as me, and I guess it’s a slow day, so I can close up… I’ll bring Vicente and Koren along too.  If these things are really strong enough that you’re scared, I guess we might need their help.  Even with Gabrielle there.”

She hangs up the phone, and you’re relieved that she’s coming to help.  You look to Annie, then shout out at Gabrielle, “I can help if you can get them outside!”

“I just told you the property damage is unimportant, why would you have to be outside?” Annie questions, but Gabrielle meets your eyes and gives a nod of understanding, using a table as a springboard to reach Annie quickly, grab her, and pull her outside.  You follow as the Furies chase after her, and once outside, go ahead and take on your truest form.  When the moon is shining, you’re restricted to human size, but on nights like this, you take on several stories.

A Gashadokuro; A gigantic skeleton which preys on nights when the moon doesn’t shine, searching for humans to harvest the bones from.  They say that if one hears a sharp ringing in their ears on such a night, they should go indoors immediately, and under no circumstances look behind.  Admittedly, you’re not quite the thing of terror, given that you’re not great at the whole preying on people thing and often weren’t able to eat before moving in with Ryo.  Lucky for you, she feeds on everything but the bones, so it’s a symbiotic relationship.

Your failures at finding people to eat, however, hinge on today’s society of nobody walking alone at night for long stretches of time, and thus failing to fulfill the requirements; it isn’t like you’re unskilled as a demon in general, and Ryo’s right to think you can hold your own.  Maybe not to think you could beat a fallen angel, but for all her teasing and all your failure, she still seems to look up to you when it comes to combat.

Though, perhaps that’s because she can use you as a tool to become even more terrifying on those occasions when you can grow to full size.  A ribcage is a great base of operations for a spider queen, after all.  It’s kind of weird to have bugs inside your chest, but you got used to it quite some time ago, since she first came up with this strategy while you were teenagers.  Well, back then you were stronger than her; all the strategy in the world couldn’t help when she was too timid to seize control of any of the others’ spider armies, and had about fifteen spiders to her name.

As the furies emerge from the restaurant, you turn and bend down to swipe at one, throwing it into a building.  Gabrielle launches after it, and while it’s still pressed to the wall, skewers it through, then looks up and gives you a thumbs-up and a grin.  With the number already down to eight, you have to wonder if these things are really as terrifying as described-

Then, you feel it.  It’s a burning pain which goes all the way through you, stinging through all of your bones with a peculiar intensity.  You can’t help but cry out at the pain, and Gabrielle’s grin turns to a look of horror.  She removes her sword from the current beast and flies toward the hand you’d used to slap it, and sticks her sword next to the bone.  You look and see that there’s a hardened black tar stuck to your metacarpals, but she pries it off, then dashes up the rest of your arm to speak in your ear, “Careful!  If they leave this stuff behind on you, it will attempt to cause you so much pain that you die from the shock.  This is the method through which Furies kill.  You can’t let it stay caked on for too long.”

“Would’ve been nice to know that ahead of time!” You complain, “But thanks for getting it off of me.  I’ll keep that in mind.  Does it happen anytime you touch them?”

“No, only if they predict your attack well enough to apply it while you’re hitting.  Try not to telegraph your attacks as much as possible, okay?  With your size, I’d say make a show of targeting one of them only to hit another nearby.  That was a real good hit, though, so please keep it up!” With this, she takes off again, flying back to ground level and taking her own advice, divebombing one only to turn at the last minute to attack another.

So with this knowledge, you realize that you need to make sure none of them are able to sneak up on you, but it’s still confusing to hear their power is unmatched.  Maybe it’s just because of how good at combat Gabrielle is, though, seeing as she’s already killed two herself.  Annie seems to be holding up okay too, though her knife seems to only subdue them for a few moments; the creatures are durable.  They’re clearly targeting her more than you or Gabrielle, but aren’t ignoring you either.  Of course a force of destruction, even with a specific mission, would want to spread its influence further.

Even with the danger of the painful slime, you get the impression that Annie overexaggerated the danger.  Still, Gabrielle isn’t smiling, doesn’t look confident even as she destroys another one.  That’s what remains concerning to you.  A fallen angel should be able to handle this just fine, should have absolutely nothing to worry about; but you can’t deny the worried grimace on her face.  Annie seems unbothered, though.  You realize, suddenly, and shout to Gabrielle, “You know something we don’t!”

“What possible reason could I have to hide information from you!?” Gabrielle yells back to you, and she has a point, though she does continue on, “I just have a bad feeling about this, is all!  I don’t know what it means and it’s probably unimportant, now focus on the fight or something will go wrong!”

“Gabbie’s right, dipshit!” Annie calls to you too, then hits the Fury directly in front of her with another swipe from her very illegal knife.  You return to the fight yourself, landing another good hit only to find that the creatures aren’t focusing Annie anymore.  You look around, but can’t see anyone else that they could now be targeting.  When you return your gaze to the Furies, it seems that they’ve actually converged on each other.

Before your eyes, the remaining beasts combine into a singular mass.  Gabrielle rushes toward it and plunges her sword into it, only to find herself stuck as it continues to grow, taking on the form of an entirely different creature.  It seems to resemble a hydra in some ways, but it still has the idea of its previous, separate forms, its skin seeming to be unstable.  You’re barely finished witnessing the formation of a being which rivals your own size when all of its six heads let out an ear-splitting screech.  You can’t stand your ground and find yourself hurled backwards, shrinking in size with the force of the soundwave.  You’re back to human size when you land on the pavement, ears ringing.  There’s a very distant sounding crack that you know to be your arm from the pain that you feel, and the fact that you look down to see half your arm detached.

That’s what happens when a skeleton breaks a bone, after all.  You kind of fall apart.  You can fix it, but there’s one other thing which catches your attention.  A small creature sits by your head, clicking its toungue.  It takes care to talk loud enough that you can hear even with the aftermath of that sound the monster made, “Oh my.  This is a problem.”

“What… Are you?” You question, and the thing looks down at you, empty eyes glinting.

Oh One (Distributor)

“I’m what’s known as a Distributor.  We feed on Furies, especially when they turn into monsters like these,” It shakes its head, “But we can’t fight on our own.  We have to mark other beings to become half-distributor and use their own abilities to destroy these for us.”

“If you marked one of us… Could we defeat that thing?” You instinctively wonder aloud.

“No,” It gives a matter-of-fact response, but then continues, rubbing its cheek with a paw, “I mean yes, technically, but… That would be a waste of energy.  Usually when the Furies get strong enough to form monsters, the world experiences some sort of magical leak.  It becomes so saturated with magic that marked humans learn to harness it.  When it’s just a small population of natural magic-users who can see these things, why bother?”

“So you know more about the Furies?  If you’re not going to help, can you at least explain?” You sit up and grab your detached arm with your functioning one and hold it together at the fracture point, where your magic gets to work repairing it.

“Sure thing!” It hops over to sit in front of you and look up at your face, “Those things… If you lose in a fight against them, all damage done to the surroundings during the fight will be permanent.  Civilians will be seriously hurt or even killed!  The military can’t do anything though, because battles can only be engaged in by magical beings.  It really is tragic that your planet hasn’t evolved to give its inhabitants an effective way to combat these things.  Even your most powerful natural magic users can’t take one of these on alone!”

“And there’s nothing you can do?” You question, a panic setting in to your chest.  Not only does such a horrifying thing exist, but there’s nothing on this planet which can take one on?  Is the demon world in danger too, or is it just the human world?  You’d have to assume it’s demonkind too, since Furies are considered ‘more supernatural’ than your species by Annie’s classification.

“There isn’t!  But you’ve never encountered a Fury before, right?  Chances are, if you continue living a normal life, you never will again.  If I were you, I’d just run away and let the battle end now before anything else happens,” It gives a slow blink.  This creature, this… “Distributor”, it looks like a mangy stray cat which had already lost all nine lives drowning in sewer pipes.  The quadruped interpretation of ‘least wanting to meet in a dark alley’.  Still, you’re inclined to take its advice.  What do you care if a section of Tokyo gets leveled?  Hell, that’s just more of Akuma’s competition taken out of the equation.  And with the population of humans on the planet, their lives really don’t hold much value to you as a member of a species which eats them.

Vicente Romão

“Yeah, you could do that,” A voice snaps you out of your thoughts alongside a light kick to the ribs, “But it’s not like that thing can kill you, Onii-chan.  Are you really gonna just give up again?  For once in our goddamn lives, why don’t we lose fair and square?”

“Ryo?” You question, looking up at her, “Look, aren’t I allowed to be scared of the giant hydra which just knocked me eight blocks?”

“Nah, that’s bullshit,” Ryo shakes her head, then reaches down and pulls you to your feet against your will, “We promised, didn’t we, when we got to the mortal world?  We’d leave behind the past versions of ourselves.  We’d become strong, and never be afraid again.  I intend on keeping that promise.  Don’t you?”

“Pretty sure I already broke it like two days after we got here.  I’m kind of a coward,” You protest, but Ryo’s already giving you a shit-eating grin that makes it quite clear you won’t be able to get out of this.  You groan, then look behind her to see Koren and a couple of people you’ve never met, “Vicente, I presume?  And…”

Lulu Randoseru

“That’s right,” Vicente nods, then pats the head of the much smaller girl standing beside him, “And this is Lulu.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Lulu smiles and bows in her introduction, then stands up straight again and steps forward slowly, smirking at the Distributor which still sits on the ground, “Hello, kitty.  You and I are both strange beings, right?” She turns back to look at you, “Hey, Nagi-kun, right?  I’m a type of demon you’ve never heard of before.  Maybe I’ll explain it to you sometime!  Anyway, let’s defeat this monster.  Just to prove we can.”

“I agree,” Vicente grins, stepping forward as well, “As an incubus, my combat skills are sorely lacking, but that’s not to say I have none.  I’m strong for one of my kind, and I do have a bit of fire magic.”

“Come on, Koren, you’ll be on my side… Right?” You look to your last vestige of hope, and she gives a lazy shrug.

“Normally, sir, I absolutely would be!  But honeypie, I’m itching for a good fight as much as the next demon!  It has been a very long time, and seeing as I’m centuries old, I should be able to handle myself by now.  In fact, I’m so old that I can remember the days before contracts were regulated, before there was even such a thing as government for demons,” She slithers forward, baring her fangs, “I remember anarchy, sweetheart, and if you did too then you’d know why I miss the feeling from time to time!”

“Ugh, fine, I guess,” You roll your eyes, and since there’s no way you’ll be escaping the fate of battling this thing, return to full size once again.  Ryo shoots out a web and swings up into your ribcage and calls all the spiders in the area.

“What in the…” Annie’s still on the ground and speaks with terror as she notices the spiders pouring out of every crack and crevice, grimacing, “A-Are there really this many spiders around you at any given point in time??”

“Of course!” Ryo responds, leaning out to wave, “Gabbie~!  We’ve got this under control, so could you go ahead and get your human to safety?”

“Yes, of course, Ryo-chan!” Gabrielle nods, then picks Annie up bridal style and flies off with her out of range of the monster.  You envy them, being able to just run away like that, but you do keep moving forward.  Ryo smirks, not that you can see it, but you know she is as her spiders surge toward the thing.  They’re only there for a moment, and when they’re finished there’s a layer of spider silk over the monster.  When it tries to secrete the pain slime again, it all gets trapped under the silk.  The creature is unaffected by its own pain slime, but at least it can’t try to fling it or anything.  Though its parts seemed too unintelligent to do such a thing, you don’t know what to expect from it now that it’s formed into a monster.

“Me next!  Vicente, darling, can you back me up in case this thing works like a real hydra?” Koren slithers forward, gesturing for the incubus to follow up.  You do know that his variety of demon occasionally has fire magic, so you assume that’s what Koren is referring to.  She approaches the creature despite it letting out another wail which you’ve now braced yourself against, as if the sound doesn’t even affect her.  Vicente, too, stands his ground and even continues pressing forward against the shockwave.  Are you really just that much of a wimp?  No, you realize, there’s two factors at play.  Preparation, and the fact that the scream is weaker this time.  There’s even spider silk in its mouth.  Smart Ryo.

Koren lunges forward and slices with her claws, but seems to miss; her nails don’t connect with the creature at all.  Still, moments later, the three heads are sliding away from their necks.  She shouts out, “Vicente, before it grows back!”

“Of course~” He leaps up and just as you thought he would, burns the neck stumps so that new heads can’t sprout from them if that’s something which the monster would do.  Despite now being totally headless, the monster doesn’t fall or stop moving.  Vicente and Koren fall back, staring at the creature which is now chasing after them.

“I told you!” The distributor speaks up, and somehow you can hear it even though it’s not shouting, and it’s nowhere near you, “It really is a tragedy, but there’s just no way that anyone on this whole planet, no, in your entire universe… Could possibly defeat a monster!  It just can’t be helped.”

“It’s my turn,” Lulu steps forward slowly, a sweet and unbothered smile on her face, “I was hoping this would be unnecessary, but I suppose… I need to do this if we want to destroy that thing.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?  It’s completely impossible.  There’s hardly any additional magic in this world; I could mark maybe one naturally magical being.  That is insufficient, I can’t help you, and nothing which hasn’t been marked stands a chance against this thing,” The distributor speaks to her, “Only the marked are immune to its slime!”

“You keep saying that, but you haven’t seen what I’m capable of yet,” Lulu chuckles, then jumps into the air and seems to somehow pull a ton of daggers out of thin air, then sends them flying towards the creature.  WIthout a mouth, it somehow cries out in pain when the weapons connect, then she pulls two full-length swords to hold in each hand and dives toward it.

She digs into the creature with both swords, then pulls them to opposite sides, tearing open the ever-inconsistent flesh of the monster.  She reaches in, then pulls out a glowing orb.  The creature falls still, and she gives a cocky smirk as she approaches the distributor, “You’ll be wanting this, won’t you?”

 

“What the…” The distributor stares up at her and takes the orb, shoving it into its mouth.  Once the orb’s been eaten, the monster’s corpse disappears, and the distributor continues speaking, “How is this possible?  How are you a magical girl without a mark?  Only the marked can touch these orbs without dropping dead!”

“The thing is,” Lulu puts her hands on her hips, “You can’t underestimate humans.  Sure, they can’t use magic, but they can use science, and they created me.  I’m part of a project to create people based on public consciousness.  You probably know it as the internet… So I’m born of a lot of traits of public perception.  There’s a lot of us, me in particular, I’m based on perception of lolis and magical girls, so I figured… I had to have some connection to real magical girls.”

“You’re smart!” The distributor notes, “How did you figure all of this out?  How did you know I was connected to magical girls?”

“Of course I’m smart, I’m a teacher.  Well, I was, I’m out of work right now,” Lulu shrugs, “Anyway, it was pretty obvious to me.  Magical girls always have a small sidekick guide of some sort.  Though normally they’re a lot cuter, and way less openly sinister…”

“I’m not sinister at all!  I expressed many times how sad I was that your universe was doomed,” The distributor shakes its head, “It’s super, duper depressing!  I want to help but I really can’t!”

“Well, it looks like I can keep this under control,” Lulu offers, taking a step closer to the distributor, “And if I can’t, well, I guess our universe is out of luck.  So why don’t you go somewhere that you can actually do something?”

“Good idea!  I’m kind of wasting my time, sticking around here,” The distributor laughs, “Maybe in another timeline, I could have saved your world… But all I can say now is good luck,” With that, it turned and walked away, fading out as it went.

“God, that was weird…” You mumble as you return to your normal size and your disguise, noting that the destruction is rewinding itself and assuming that the world will soon resume as usual, as if nothing had even happened.

“I’d never seen that happen before…” Annie added in as Gabrielle landed once more, carrying her, back on the scene now that the battle was finished, “But, didn’t that disgusting cat say that the Furies were getting smarter or something?”

“Yes…” Gabrielle nodded, then mumbled her next words, “It seems that they have a unique evolutionary curve, in which they’ll stay the same way for many centuries before suddenly developing greater abilities when they sense a challenge…”

“So is it because of us that Furies can become Monsters now?” Annie asks, furrowing her brow, “Is it our fault that Miss Lulu has to fight?”

“The long and short of it is yes, it’s your fault,” Lulu notes as she approaches the two of them, tapping her own cheek, “However, it’s my own choice to stand against them, and I think the Monsters are more intent on widespread destruction, so I’m going to assume that those things won’t be following you around.  For the most part, it will just seem like natural disasters, won’t it?  The world can handle a few more of those than usual.  There’s plenty of humans.  I’ll just fight the ones that I happen across, or if it turns out they’re threatening a nuclear plant or something.”

“Oh, in that case, I guess it’s fine!” Annie shrugs, then looks up to Gabrielle again, “Gabbie~?  Do you think that you could get me to a hospital, please?”

“That does seem important,” You note, realizing that the fragile human girl must have been terribly hurt in that soundwave.  After all, the bones you eat serve to strengthen your own, an effect that could only truly be achieved by a mortal by drinking a hundred gallons of milk to every one bone you’ve eaten, and you still broke one of them.  She’s surprisingly calm for the amount of injuries she must have suffered… “Aren’t you in pain?”

“No, dummy, I’m in shock,” She explained, then looked back to Gabrielle.

“Of course.  We’ll get you medical attention before the shock wears out,” Gabrielle nods, then turns and takes off at top speed for the nearest hospital.  Luckily, it’s Tokyo, so it won’t be too tough to find one.

You heave a deep sigh, then cross your arms over your chest and turn to the others.  Ryo looks like she’s about to burst out laughing, so you relent, “Okay, yes.  That did pretty much all happen because I decided to go on a date with some famous dude who left his number with the tip without saying a word to me his entire meal.”

“I told you, Vicente!  His type’s bad people!” Ryo gets out between guffaws, and Vicente starts chuckling along with her.  So she mentioned to him that Nagi was unlikely to end up with a crush on him… He groaned.

“Forty-three!  This guy was fourty-three.  That’s less than two full decades, and he sure didn’t look it, so there.  I don’t have a type.  Not at all.  Not in the least,” You shake your head.

“Sure you say that, but you know, the day that you actually have a crush on someone your own age, Onii-chan, I’ll eat my favorite pair of socks,” Her laughter fades to a giggle, “See, that isn’t the worst bet in the world, because even though I’ll be losing my favorite socks, I’ll get silk material.  Just a little bit of a bumper there in case you defy all expectations, and so that I’m not trying to sabotage you if it does seem like you’re falling for someone under forty.”

“That’s quite the complicated bet, dearie,” Koren smirks as she slithers back to Ryo’s side, “Why, it almost sounds like you’re rooting for him to actually have a healthy relationship for once in his life~!”

“Are you kidding me?  Of course I’m not.  My extent of caring about my big brother is just enough to let him stay in my home, no more, no less,” She turns her nose up, frowning, but then loses her composure and starts laughing again, “Kidding, of course!  Onii-chan, you don’t even know all that I’ve done for you!  I wouldn’t do all that if I didn’t care about your well-being, anyway…”

“Wow, I’m finally getting to see the dere aspect of my so-called tsundere little sister!” You start laughing as well, and it’s genuine happiness.  You’re not living as a miserable disaster now.  You have Ryo, and all her friends are ready to befriend you too.  All you have to do is let them.

Next Chapter ->