*gasp* So many updates in a row?! (cough cough)
Thanks to oddeyesight again. You're awesome. Thanks for putting up with me *cries*
This project has been lying around for a while. It should be okay for Anime-only fans to read, though I fear some of the references/timelines would seem strange, since it's mainly going to follow the manga's plot... in the beginning. It is going to diverge pretty quickly, because surprise, this actually has some planning ahead! *re-gasp*
I wanted this chapter to cover the whole first chapter of the manga, but I thought it was better to end it the way it did. You'll see.
Whoever you are, I hope you enjoy. Don't hesitate to leave a word and tell me what to think, hehehe~
Up until where and when this story starts, everything is pretty much identical to the manga, so I didn't rewrite it. Have a short summary instead so we can get to the good stuff. This being an AU, however, be prepared for quite a few unexpected surprises along the way...
Short summary of the first twenty pages of the manga:
Ryougo Nagitsuji and Zenkichi Otomi exorcise an Impurity (Kegare) who was possessing a child. Just as it's defeated, Ryougo remembers Rokuro had promised to come, but didn't. The grandpa notes that he's probably confessing to a girl right about now, and... he is, but she rejects him and honestly asks if there's anything good about him.
Back to Seika, Rokuro bursts in and tearfully asks what's good about him. He's stumped by his dorm-mates' lame answers before getting yelled at by Ryougo for skipping exorcism. He answers that his dream is to become an idol instead, but it turns out his "big dreams" change periodically because he can't achieve them. Ryougo ends up saying he can always become an exorcist, and it wouldn't matter if he failed, anyway. Rokuro runs away, saying he won't come back, and Ryougo anticlimactically asks him to buy soy sauce while he's out.
The other exorcists of the dorm note that they can't imagine Rokuro being an exorcist, but Ryougo reveals he used to be an amazing one until two years ago- until the Tragedy of Hiinastuki...
That day was the day their fates diverged.
Rokuro thought holidays were a nice change of pace, usually, but not today.
Today Ryougo had tried to bait him back to exorcism, again. He had gotten rejected, again. His (newest) dream went down with a flop, again. His dorm mates had no qualms against opening his mail, making fun of him, and telling him he had nothing for him. No really, what an awesome day.
I'm sick of Ryougo's I-wanna-make-you-an-exorcist-disease.
The plastic bag where the young boy had put the soy sauce hanged in his left hand. His other hand was hidden in the pocket of his jacket. He half wanted to ruffles his unruly black hair, but it he held off, knowing it was messy enough as it was.
No, no. He shouldn't let himself down. Everything was fine today. They were all alive, weren't they? But then, exorcism…
He wasn't seeing the few gray clouds lounging around in the sky. He wasn't seeing the gray concrete of the bridge as he walked along the sidewalk. Everything was gray today, but all Rokuro could see, right then, was the dusty old memory of a more colorful life.
Cheers of his companions as he sliced through the repugnant head of the Impurity. Smiling faces praising his skill and young age. The proud expression of Ryougo.
"Come on, bring it! I don't care if it's a sin or an impurity, I'll cleanse them all!"
These words. Words he'd spoken and never would again. They evoked nothing but bitterness, at the very best.
Why can't Ryougo understand?
He still recalled the conversation they had afterwards. A short one. So carefree. How could he have been so carefree once..?
"I'll become the strongest exorcist ever. Then I'll cleanse a~ll the bad Impurities!"
"Ahahaha, what do you mean all the Impurities~?!"
"All means all! Don't laugh~!"
He couldn't control his expression, and let a grimace show.
An exorcist… What's the point if you're dead?!
…
But it would probably be impossible to become an idol. Should I just go on a soul-searching journey or something…
Rokuro sighed. It was such a day…
He raised his eyes, wishing to seek an answer in the endless possibilities of the cloud-speckled azure…
… and his view was blocked by the slightly green face of a red-haired boy. In the middle of the sky. Falling.
"EEEEH WHY IS THERE A PERSON FALLING FROM THE SKY?!"
He heard a splash and hurried to the guardrails, but all he could see were bubbles below.
What?! Where had he come from?! Where had he fallen from?! Why did he look about to puke?! But more importantly…
He fell. Into the river. Right. The boy was going to drown! He looked around his age, maybe a bit older. And really pale. Had he fallen from a plane? But there was no plane to be seen…!
Ignoring the mess his thoughts were threatening to become, Rokuro courageously dived into the river with a brave "HOLD ON!" before the cold water overtook him.
For a brief moment, he was disoriented. He found himself unable to tell in which direction he should reach out for the surface, and panic almost overwhelmed him.
No, no. He opened his eyes, wincing a bit, and spotted light above him. Well that had to be above. He saw a plastic bag floating by. Ah, the current! He needed air. He needed air right now.
Rokuro steeled himself desperately paddled upward. That was nothing. A few more movements and he'd be there-
Splash!
"Wh, Where are you-?" he managed to cough out, having finally reached and breached the surface.
The water was cold for this time of year. He refrained a shiver when the cool air hit his damp hair… Where was the person in danger..?
He easily spotted the bright red hair of the guy. That was all he had time to see properly when he fell, really. The guy was staring at him from the riverside. Safe.
Wait...
"WHA?! YOU'RE TOTALLY FINE?!"
Well, that was a relief.
Then Rokuro remembered he didn't know how to swim. The water seemed to drag him down, tearing at his clothes, making his body heavier.
How did he always get into these situations?!
"I thought I was gonna die..!" were the first words Rokuro pronounced after the redhead managed to drag him out of the water.
More importantly, why did he fall out of nowhere..?
Now that he was getting a good look at his savee-turned-savior, the guy definitely seemed... odd. Bright red hair was already uncommon, but his eyes were such a pale blue that he'd almost think he was blind or something. But that wasn't the case; he was obviously glaring at Rokuro while wringing his scarf dry.
Why was he wearing a scarf? They were in May!
"Idiot."
...heh?
Did the boy say something?
Did he just-
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOOOT?!"
"You."
Rokuro choked on his words. That little- Well he was taller than him but- That infuriating-
"Don't try to save people if you don't have power. You'll only end up hurting yourself."
"…"
The boy's thoughts went silent, his mind blank.
Rokuro shifted his center of gravity backwards to kneel on the ground, tight fists on his forelegs. He raised his eyes to meet the boy's.
His knuckles were white.
"I know," the damp boy said, voice so low, it was almost a whisper, "I know I can't save anybody…" His expression morphed into something not quite like anger, and he laughed.
He laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. Shimon had heard such laughs before. His uncle, when he lost his wife on the battlefield, had laughed so, before bursting into tears.
Shimon was utterly confused. That... made no sense. Why was he laughing? Was it something Shimon said?
The redhead opened his mouth to backtrack, but the younger boy interrupted him before he could get a word out.
"I KNOW! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME!"
Shimon stayed still, wide-eyed, and started thinking.
He had only meant to advise the civilian shrimp to not bite more than he can chew, no more, no less. To calm his game and stop playing hero. But these eyes…
This look the boy was giving him...
This boy had seen things.
These were not the eyes of a lambda kid from the mainland. They were haunted. What had this brat seen? He was no stranger to these kind of looks. He had witnessed comrades die, he had seen friends losing friends and family losing family…
So there were this kind of people on the mainland too? That was… unexpected.
The boy blinked and uncomfortably looked at his knees. Seems like his own outburst had taken him off guard as well.
Shimon fiddled with the edge of his scarf, averting his eyes to examine the small pool of water forming around his feet. Maybe he should apologize. But he hadn't really done anything wrong, either. What was there to apologize for? Urgh. He had just arrived in this city and he was already facing trouble.
Stupid air sickness. He wouldn't have lost control, wouldn't have fallen without it- Dammit. Now what could he say to that guy who tried to save him at the risk of his own life? He'd bashed him already, and with his luck he'd fallen on a traumatized kid. He was such an idiot. No, the kid was. Oh, screw this, he should've just said-
"Thank you."
The awkward silence lasted a few seconds. The redhead twitched, but said nothing. And then the silence lasted a few more. Shimon wanted to curl up on the ground and disappear, but he resisted the urge.
"...what did you say?" asked the younger, messy-haired boy after an eternity or two, anger visibly blown out of him.
What he said… Shimon readjusted his damp scarf to cover his cheeks better.
"...Nothing. You must be hearing things."
"HEY!"
Shimon sighed. The tension was gone, at least.
"Do you live around here?"
"...sorry?"
"...Are you deaf?"
The kid jumped to his feet before angrily shouting at him again- Shimon just put his hands on his ears. Good thing he had left his earplugs in his (waterproof) bag. The river would've killed them.
After a few (noisy) seconds, Shimon raised his hand to stop his rant.
"I was looking for some place. If you're from around here, you could give me directions."
"WHY SHOULD I GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS AFTER YOU CALLED ME AN IDIOT?!"shouted the idiot.
"So loud," Shimon sighed.
"OYYYY!"
"Fine. Let's start over."
The boy looked at him with an expression Shimon could only describe as "I'm all confuzzled," and raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"My name is Ikaruga Shimon," he began, resuming his attempts to wipe his wet hair. "I am sixteen years old. Nice to meet you. What's your name?"
Shimon felt pretty silly but they were getting nowhere with shouting at each other. Maybe this would work better. He didn't feel like walking away would be any less awkward, and it would leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
The boy stared at him some more before sighing, defeated. "Fine, let's start over."
Now that Shimon could get a good look at him, the boy looked pretty ordinary, if one looked past the idiot hair sticking out despite the water, the blazing red eyes, and- were his teeth crooked or did they look like fangs? Creepy.
...maybe not so ordinary.
The boy whom he'd soon get the name of took a deep inhalation.
"My name is Enmado Rokuro…" he finished his sentence in a sigh. "I'm fourteen years old, and yes, I live around here."
Shimon let a smile show a split second and brought out a damp paper from his pocket. "Now that the presentations are done… Would you mind giving me directions?"
Rokuro examined the "map" with some level of consternation. It was a labyrinth of squiggly, half erased lines. The river had done it no good. He was already pretty bad with maps...
"I drew the plan from satellite photos."
Satellite? Ooooh it made more sense. Let's see, that should be the river, then. Since it looped like that, then the north should be this way, and…
"Follow me~ I shall be your guide~" He could read that guy's sucky map! Take that Ryougo, he did have skills!
"Ah, you don't have to come with me, Enmado… Directions will be enough…" Ikaruga's tone wasn't annoyed, so Rokuro paid it no mind. It didn't bother him, and that would let him repay the guy who saved him from the river.
"I'm going in the same direction anyway. We'll just have to stop to buy soy sauce… I think I dropped the one I bought earlier in the river…"
Rokuro not-so-quietly mourned his soy sauce. It just wasn't fair he lost it after coming all the way here… Why was he being punished for (attempting) a good action?
He waved toward a flight of stairs that would get them off the riverbank.
"Well, in any case, it's this way."
"CAN'T YOU STOP TAKING PHOTOS A SINGLE MINUTE?!"
Rokuro was already regretting his offer, but it was way too late now. He had hoped the redhead would keep on his "nice" (cough) streak, but he had gone back to silent and grouchy pretty quickly. Urgh.
"No, I'd rather not."
Rokuro grit his teeth. That bastard categorically refused to take the bus, so they had to walk to the place Shimon wanted to go to.
It wouldn't have been so infuriating if not for the amount of pictures the red-haired guy stopped to take.
"Seriously! We'll never get anywhere at this rate! Unless you have chronic amnesia you won't forget everything even if you don't take pictures!" He sighed… And stopped walking. The taller boy almost bumped into him. Hah!
Rokuro turned around and looked straight into the redhead's eyes.
"There's no way it's for yourself… right? Who're you taking photos for?"
Ikaruga blinked. He looked down to the camera, then at Rokuro, back to the camera.
He seemed to hesitate a second, but ended up speaking his mind.
"My sister is… sick… She cannot leave our home. When she heard I was coming to this city, she asked me to take pictures of everything. I'm doing that. Leave, if it annoys you."
...so that was how it was?
How bad was her condition, if she couldn't even leave their house? Could she even go to school? Why would Ikaruga come to this city in the first place, if she was ill?
If it was Rokuro, he would be worried sick and call every hour of the day. But then maybe she had been for a while. He had no idea and- ah, it wasn't his business.
"You know, I'm really not in a hurry. The later I come home, the better..." Rokuro was trying not to show his grin. Ikaruga Shimon wasn't nearly as cold as he pretended to be, uh? Siscon? How cute.
"What about I give you a tour? I've always lived in this city, I know amazing places~" he challenged.
Ikaruga stayed still for about a couple of seconds. Then, lightning quick, he brought his camera up again and blinded Rokuro with the flash.
Rokuro was about to demand he delete the photo right then, but decided against it when he saw the redhead's expression.
He was grinning.
Oh, not much. It was only a slight upward curve, lower eyelids lightly lifted upward. If it was just about anyone else, it wouldn't even be a "smile".
Was he… amused? Grateful? Happy? Rokuro had no idea, but well, if a photo was all the grouchy boy needed to smile, he could keep it. It wasn't like he'd ever meet that sister of his, right?
Ikaruga seemed to have a lot on his mind. He should relax more often, Rokuro decided.
He was surprised when the red-haired teen answered his already-forgotten question.
"Yes, a tour would be much appreciated, if you're willing. I'm… not in a hurry, either."
"Ah, I'm hungry. How long have we been walking, Ikaruga Shimon?"
"...two hours… I apologize. I didn't keep track of time…"
"It's fine, it's fine! I told you I'm not in a hurry!"
"Let's stop and eat something. My treat. You are lending me your time, it's the least I can do."
"You're actually pretty nice."
"...I am merely thanking you for the sacrifice of half your afternoon."
"Right."
"..."
"Do you want me to lead you to your destination afterwards? It's getting late. Don't talk about directions, I told you, I live around there. I'll drop you off."
"...I would appreciate that, Enmado."
They were finally heading back he noticed them.
"Nii-sama, wait!"
The little girl's voice was so familiar… he couldn't help but jolt and turn around.
Two children: a girl following her older brother, both of them riding small bikes.
How are you, Chiiko? Miss me already? I'll send you the photos soon.
He had only been gone a day and he missed his little sister- cousin- already.
He made sure Enmado wasn't looking and let himself smile under his scarf.
The afternoon had begun badly, and despite a beginning of soreness stinging his feet after all this walking, he realized he was… relaxed.
How long had it been since he had felt so peaceful?
Maybe Arima was right, he needed a holiday.
Rokuro Enmado, despite being younger, turned out to be agreeable company. Quick to anger, apparently pretty useless, hilarious to poke fun at, and indeed knowledgeable about the town. After half an hour, he had started talking- mostly commenting on their surroundings.
"We came to the amusement park for my birthday. I said I wanted to try the roller coasters, but I was terrified, hahaha… Ami didn't want to go, either."
"I fell from that tree once. I was chasing… Yuuto… and saw a kitten stuck in the tree…"
"Oh, I remember this place! They use to sell ice-cream here, but they closed down last year. We had an epic fight once- They only had one cone left, and Tetsuji-"
Little bits of carefree lives slowly assembling into the puzzle that was Enmado Rokuro.
Shimon liked analyzing. He was good at it.
There was sadness in the words of the younger boy.
He wondered why. It bugged him. Did it have a link with his earlier outburst..?
"Ah, by the way," Enmado started to say, "I completely forgot, but why were you falling from the-"
Rokuro didn't get to finish his sentence, however.
He was cut off when a creepy giggle resounded in the area, stopping the boys dead in their tracks. Shimon and Rokuro whipped their heads toward the kids.
All they saw was a couple of fallen bicycles.
Shimon immediately understood what happened. While Rokuro was calling out in confusion, the redhead whipped around and coolly stated "Stay right where you are," before fishing out a paper charm from his pocket. It was a little crumpled, the ink was a bit smudged, but he could still feel the enchanted power pulsing within through the tip of his fingers.
"Wait-"
Shimon ignored the rest and dived into the alien rotting world, his quickening heartbeat deafening him. These children had just been dragged... this was the mainland. They were going to be fine. There was no reason he wouldn't be able to save them, even alone.
Shimon found himself standing on a small cliff, towering over a small pack of Impurities. They were about to attack the little girl from before... who was holding her wounded brother.
Too late! Dammit. Shimon gritted his teeth. He hadn't reacted quickly enough. Shimon leaped on autopilot, not bothering to wait for his enchanted gear to completely form before soaring in the putrid air.
Rokuro was quickly regretting following Shimon through the portal. He had to pause to take in the impossible sight in front of him.
Broken, collapsed buildings. A polluted red sky and dust-filled air smelling like rotten eggs. A distant background noise of giggles…
This place was like a bad parody of his hometown. A broken, shattered parody littered around in hazardous piles by a careless child.
"What's this place…?"
Ikaruga wasn't with him to answer, however. The other boy had started running as soon as he had stepped into the portal. In fact, Rokuro saw that the other boy had already taken out his weapon -a huge sword- and attacked the Impurities in front of the two kids he saw before.
...so Ikaruga was an exorcist.
The boy was obviously good, making quick work of the monsters. It was practically over before it even began.
He carefully climbed down the cliff, unwilling to slip on a pebble and break his neck, before a horrible thought struck him- what if the boy's sister had been hurt by Impurities? Was that his reason to fight?
..also, his sword was gigantic. Was the redhead compensating for something or what? Rokuro had never seen this enchanted gear before. Maybe because he was from another city? Too bad he hadn't heard its name.
Either way, when Rokuro reached the two children and Ikaruga, everything was over. Just as the redhead brought out the charms Rokuro presumed would let the four of them to return to Earth-
"IKARUGA SHIMON! WHAT'S THIS PLACE?"
-Ikaruga turned to Rokuro, absolutely not startled (too bad) by the violent yell from behind his back, obviously annoyed by the shouting.
"Why are you here? I don't remember asking you to come…"
"Like hell I won't go after you if you disappear like this!"
"You should have held your place until stated otherwise," he grumbled, but relented and answered Rokuro's question. "We're in a place called Magano. It's..."
Ikaruga hesitated, probably musing on how much he had to explain and how much information to hold back. Before he actually explained, though, the girl called for attention to her brother's wounds, and while Ikaruga used his healing charms on the little boy, Rokuro whispered, "I knew it… this is Magano…"
Shimon heard him. "Ah, could you be-"
"NO! I'M NOT AN EXORCIST!"
Shimon didn't even need to complete his question. The loud, suspiciously specific denial spoke volumes. Too much volume, in fact. Did Enmado really need to be so loud?
Even if Rokuro wasn't an exorcist, he was obviously acquainted with exorcists enough to know a few important things.
The little boy was healed, and his sister was thankful. Shimon started chanting to open the portal, ready to send everyone home-
-Only for him to be interrupted again, this time by a giant, spider-shaped Impurity.
Urgh. And Arima had insisted he takes this assignment as (forced) vacation.
"GET AWAY FROM HERE!"
This time, the speaker -shouter- wasn't Rokuro Enmado, but Shimon…. Though Rokuro held onto the children, visibly torn between running and wanting to protect them.
Shimon let out an irritated sigh. Following the Heavenly Commander into Magano was one thing. He had used the portal in front of the idiot and of course anyone would be curious (certainly not everyone would be stupid enough to follow him through, but Enmado apparently shined with his recklessness, if his stories were anything to go by). When Shimon resorted to barking orders, though, it usually meant that he had a reason to do so.
It was a good thing Enmado wasn't an exorcist. He seemed like the type he'd have to tackle to restrain from running after willingly-running-away Basara.
He considered taking out his wings, sizing up the Impurity. It seemed to be a strong D-class, nothing to be afraid of, but it could potentially do a lot of damage to unprotected humans such as the three with him. Or even ordinary mainland exorcists.
The little girl started to cry.
...not to mention it probably looked frightening.
"Enmado."
"...yes? Do we run or something?"
"I'm going to open a gate and you're going to lead the children out of here. It's too dangerous."
"WHAT?! But! I'm not leaving you here alone! Even if you're strong!"
"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I am perfectly capable of defeating an Impurity of this level. I'd rather do so without worrying about the safety of ill-lucked civilians while exorcising it."
As much of a good plan it was, it turned out that Enmado was unable to follow suggestions directed for his own safety.
When had that brat grabbed a gate-opening charm to come back?!
He had arrived at the moment everything was over, though, and the giant spider… thing… was turned to dust.
"Phew. You didn't need help."
"Of course I didn't. Where are the kids? I told you to get them to-"
The insubordinate brat had the nerve to grin and interrupt him.
"Don't worry, I dropped them off on the main street and came back. Couldn't leave you behind, see?"
In that instant Shimon gave up and sighed.
If this person was too stubborn to even see he could've gotten himself killed, it wasn't the redhead's problem.
"Let's just go back to reality."
"Good to be back" was the first thing Rokuro thought, stepping out of Magano. He took a deep breath in as he looked around to situate himself- they were in a narrow street. The darkening sky and the buzzing noise nearby told him they had ended up near the market street. He thought it over a second- the way they had ran around and where they had come from, the time they had spent- and concluded they would have covered about the same distance in the real world, in both space and time, anyway.
Which was good to know, because he didn't want to hear he had just spent a hundred years in Magano instead of a few minutes. Or find himself on top of the Eiffel Tower for some reason.
"Does this happen often?"
Rokuro perked up. "What happens often?"
"People getting dragged in Magano in the middle of the street."
Ikaruga was dusting off his clothes absent-mindedly, but his expression was serious. Rokuro supposed this was his "work" mode.
"...not that I know of. Good thing we… you were there. I hope the kids made it home safe."
"I hope they don't get yelled at for being late."
"...we should probably head back, right?"
"I believe so. I wasn't set a particular time to arrive, but I'd rather it'd be today." Shimon paused a second and turned to the younger boy, adding "Thank you for for your company, Enmado."
"No need to be so formal."
That led them to an awkward silence; an awkward silence that made Rokuro return to the map, realizing that they were getting close to Shimon's destination…
...and then he was in front of Seika.
Rokuro blinked. He looked at the map, then at Seika. Yep, it was the place.
...Ikaruga Shimon was asking about Seika all along?! Why?! Was he going to stay there?!
Speaking of Seika, hadn't he left early this afternoon to buy some soy sauce…?
Shimon saw Rokuro's eyes widen. He saw his mouth drop. He saw the look of utter despair and wondered what unseen calamity was just about to be unleashed.
He was about to voice his concern when, very loudly, Rokuro wailed.
"I FORGOT THE SOY SAAAAAUCE…!"
To be continued~
Now, dear reader, you must have a lot of questions. Why Shimon and not Benio? (I'm afraid the main ship isn't Rokuro/Shimon, no matter what this chapter got you thinking. More characters will appear next chapter, I promise.)
This question will be answered as soon as the next chapter, so stay tuned~
There actually is a logic behind the names used- why it switches from last to first name. Though this is written at third person, there are several point of views. Depending on the "narrator", the names will change, because they don't refer to each other and themselves the same ways. The narrators always refer to themselves by their first name. Just wanted to clear that up and hoping it wasn't confusing.
Until next time, then~
