We ended up being late because of Tsuki – of course. Go figure. It took awhile to get to the kingdom, though it was relatively easy to find the castle once we were near enough to see the palace in all its golden glory. Even the gate was painted gold.
…It irritated me.
Well, at least we weren't the only ones late. There was a guy also waiting to be let inside the gate, too. His eyes were red like ours were, and he must have been based upon Izaya's existence because he had the same face as me and our creator… Same as Psyche and Hibiya. I thought I might have remembered him vaguely from the prologue to our existence, but I couldn't remember who he was. He was wearing a dress shirt with sleeves that only went down to his elbows, plus a black vest with a red bow that was only half-tied. Red headphones adorned his head, and his socks were red-striped. So far, he just seemed abnormal to me. Something was definitely off about his eyes.
"U-um…h-hello…," Tsuki greeted awkwardly, shifting on his feet. At least I could see why he was uncomfortable; this guy was peering at us curiously, without blinking, without so much as saying a word. Of course, I wasn't really fazed.
Upon Tsuki's words, the stranger grinned, revealing a line of sharply-pointed teeth. "Hello," he returned. "Shizuo Tsukishima and Izaya Hachimenroppi?" he inquired, tilting his head.
Tsuki straightened at that, unable to respond.
I furrowed my brow. So he knew our names already? "Yeah…that's right," I confirmed, and he straightened up and clapped his gloved hands. Weird and annoying, but knowledgeable. Possibly dangerous. Great.
"Ha!" he barked out a laugh and seemed to glitch, like he didn't actually belong in existence. It came to me who he must be, then. "I, then, am Virus-138, pleased to meetchya!" Virus beamed. "I wonder who else came – maybe everyone did and it'll be like a happy, homey family reunion!" He burst into laughter again. His speech was odd; every s sound seemed to be stressed. "It's funny because I hate all of you," he seemed to giggle, and Tsuki glanced at me nervously. I was just gazing at Virus with a cold stare. Well, fuck you too, Virus. I hate pretty much everyone here, right along with you.
The gate opened, then, and we all looked to see a blond man with the same hairstyle as Tsuki – just with a part of his hair pulled back to the side – dressed as a butler. That would be Shitsuo. He bowed in greeting, and Tsuki awkwardly bowed in turn. "Welcome," he said, and my friend stuttered a thank you. Virus and I didn't bother to do anything.
"So we're taking that carriage to the castle?" Virus inquired, peering past the now-open gate to see a carriage waiting for us. I wished he'd stop speaking with any s sounds. His accent or whatever was really pissing me off, even if it was for no reason. Whatever.
I looked to the carriage; Shitsuo told us that was where we were to go, and so he led us to step in the carriage in order to ride to the actual castle. I was honestly annoyed with all this. No wonder Hibiya was such a prissy asshole. I watched the castle yard pass by slowly as Shitsuo acted as the carriage driver and we the three visitors sat in the actual carriage. The horses leading us were both white, and judging by the conversation Tsuki was trying to have with Shitsuo, their names were Arthur and Alfred. As if I cared. Eventually the conversation petered out (it couldn't really be spurred in the first place) and Tsuki got quiet. I was personally annoyed with Virus, who was kneeling on the front seat backwards in order to stare with his off eyes to exactly where we were headed. I swear, that guy was like a kid… Unpredictable. How annoying.
Eventually we got out of the carriage and followed Shitsuo up the stairs to the actual castle, where we had to follow him to the room designated for our meeting… I swear to god, Tsuki wouldn't be able to walk a few steps in this place alone without being lost… I frowned. At this rate, if I wanted to leave early, even I wouldn't be able to easily find my way out. What the fuck… This was just getting really irritating. This better be for something good.
We reached the room, and Shitsuo closed the large doors behind us. Who needs that large of doors anyway? Why were they so big? There's no point! God damn it, maybe I should leave now…
"Heyyy, Roppi! Long time no see~" came a low, 'charming' voice coming from another blond Tsuki look-alike. This one was clad in all white with a black tie, pink shirt, and pink headphones. My face scrunched in disgust at his voice.
"Shut up, Delic…," was my none-too-thrilled response.
"Roppi!" Psyche cried in delight, already on his feet and running over to me. He had my features, true, but an extreme contrast in personality. He, too, wore all white, though his jacket had white trim and pink buttons, not to mention his also-pink headphones. These two really liked pink, and I could never understand why. "You came after all!" Psyche beamed and pounced on me in a hug, much to my horror. "Tsu said you wouldn't come, but I knew you would! I'm so glad you're here!" He started going on and on and he wouldn't shut up…
I eventually ignored him and looked over to the table everyone was sitting at. Of course Hibiya was at the head; Shitsuo was standing just behind him. The bastard was of course clad in his fancy clothes, golden cape draped over his shoulders and his crown sitting atop his head. Our eyes met, and he smirked at me. "Oh, so you came after all, Scum," he greeted, his voice carrying through the room. Psyche quieted, but I only glared at the prince.
"U-uh—um—" Tsuki's eyes flicked back and forth between us; he didn't know what to do.
"Plus…" Virus said, poking his head out from behind Tsuki and I to show his face, "I came!" he beamed.
Another blond man immediately jumped to his feet; his chair fell with a clatter to the floor. He had a neon green tie and the same color of shades over his eyes, as well as neon green headphones. "It's you!" he exclaimed, and whipped out a gun. "I KNEW YOU'D COME!"
"Uh-oh!" Virus pranced away from us and turned to pull out his own gun. Both were staring each other down, each with their gun pointed at the other. The blond man's face was twisted in rage, and Virus was merely grinning his sharp-teethed smile, an insane glint in his eyes. I could only stare; it happened pretty quickly… Tsuki was completely overwhelmed, I'm sure. "Psy is angry~"
"Wahhh!" Psyche cried, jumping between the two. "No, don't hurt each oth—"
"Get out of the way!" Psy snapped, jerking his arm and shooting the ceiling. Psyche jumped, looking terrified.
"Well, this is starting out great…," I muttered.
"If either of you shoot your guns, you will be arrested!" Hibiya interjected upon their argument, but they didn't seem to care. "Shitsuo, stop them."
Shitsuo bowed, but two people had already jumped for both Psy and Virus, one in a blue and white kimono, and the other in a pink and white kimono. The blond in the blue, Tsugaru, kicked the gun from Psy's hand, much to Psy's chagrin. The black-haired one in the pink and white, presumably Sakuraya, grabbed at Virus's wrist and put his other hand over the barrel of the gun. He smiled gently and told Virus to stop, and Virus snatched his gun back to put it away.
"What the hell?!" Psy snapped, ready to stalk over to Virus and destroy him with his bare hands. Tsugaru, however, stopped him.
"Sit," Tsugaru commanded lowly, and placed Psy firmly in his seat.
Psy proceeded to give Virus a very dirty look as he pranced to an empty seat, glitching. He curled up on said seat to wait.
I looked at Tsuki, and he looked nervously back at me. I shrugged and brushed past him to sit in the nearest empty seat, next to Tsugaru just as the traditionally-dressed man sat beside Psy, keeping an eye on him to probably make sure he wouldn't get violent again. The seat to my left was still open, but much to my annoyance, Psyche sat beside me happily. Eyes irate and dull, I leaned my elbow on the table and rested my chin on my hand. Poor Tsuki faltered and backpedaled to head to the other side of the table, having thought he'd sit next to me. My friend ended up stuck between Delic and Sakuraya, both pink-wearers. I almost held sympathy that he was next to Delic, but I was too preoccupied with my annoyance of Psyche's presence.
"I'm glad you came, Hachimenroppi-san," Tsugaru spoke calmly as he pulled his pipe from his kimono to smoke.
"Whatever…" I responded. I digressed. I really didn't want to be here.
"It looks like everyone came after all," Hibiya said, his mouth twitching as he looked around at all of us with disdain.
"All ten of us are here!" Psyche piped up excitedly. "I'm so glad all of you came!"
I looked around at the people at the table. Well, there were, in fact, ten of us here. I was actually mildly surprised about it. Then I remembered I didn't care.
As I looked around I noticed that Sakuraya had also sat back down, smiling with a pure, innocent smile I didn't see too often on humans. I could only think that it would have to be tainted someday. The kid was probably naïve and annoyingly ignorant… Delic was leaning in towards Tsuki with his hand cupping the side of his mouth, as if he were muttering a secret. I watched with disinterest as Tsuki went redder and redder in the face before abruptly turning to Delic and shaking his head quickly. Delic laughed quietly.
"Delic," Hibiya hissed, and he tried to stop snickering. "You ill-bred lout, shut up."
"Can someone just explain what we're here for?" Psy asked bitterly, ever glaring at Virus.
"It has to do with Izaya, I think," said Virus, ever grinning in return.
I watched the scene unfold dully.
"Does it? Someone, do please enlighten us." Hibiya gestured for someone to speak.
Tsugaru, beside me, stood. "The flow of this world has been disrupted," he spoke, projecting his low and calm voice. "Something is very wrong."
"Like what?" asked Delic blankly.
"You should be what's wrong here, Delic; be quiet, will you?" Hibiya snapped.
"I can talk if I want, 'Prince Charming,'" Delic grinned, and Hibiya stared him in awed disgust. I just raised my eyebrows.
"I am Prince Hibiya; say my name right or don't say it at all, hopeless git."
"Well, I can always be Prince Charming, and you could be my princess~"
"No!"
"Ah, bu—" the charmer was cut off as his face was shoved in the table, his arm twisted behind him at the same time by Shitsuo.
"Please continue, Tsugaru-san," Shitsuo spoke calmly, ignoring Delic's clipped noises of pain. Shitsuo was smiling pleasantly.
"H—hey—" Delic tried to protest, but Shitsuo twisted his arm further, shoving his face harder into the table. His features were squashed to the point he looked ridiculous and idiotic, with pursed, fish-like lips and one eye shut. Tsuki was looking at him with blank eyes, blinking. Then he looked back to Tsugaru as the speaker cleared his throat.
"This is the first time since the beginning of our existence in which we have all come together in meeting," Tsugaru said, and I looked at him uninterestedly. "I'm sure every one of you has begun to remember our time before our world was made…" I could see Tsuki looking at me out of the corner of my eye; we had just begun to remember that; Tsugaru was right. I noticed Shitsuo giving a small nod, and I thought I heard Psy muttering something along the lines of realization or agreement. Looking around, Tsugaru seemed to determine that his assumption was correct judging by the reactions to his words.
"As I said," he continued, "something is off. I did sense something, but it didn't really come to light until the river that flows nearby the residences of Sakuraya and I simply stopped flowing. I understand how little change it may seem to you, who all live either in royal castles or in cities, but it is an abnormality that should not naturally occur."
"Maybe someone built a dam?" suggested Psyche blankly, but Tsugaru shook his head.
"No dam construction has been going on along that river. Tell me, has anyone else here experienced any abnormalities in their daily lives?"
There was a pause, and I saw a few people looking around at everyone. Then, "…Traffic," Psy spoke up in an irate tone. "The traffic's been terrible lately, and machinery in general has been acting up. Communication devices going dead, computers freezing up constantly…"
"Ohh, yeah, the recording studio has been messing up too!" Psyche exclaimed in realization. "And our manager has been acting kinda funny…"
"Yer," came Delic's distorted add-on to Psyche's statement. "He's bern shnapping fer no reashon."
"It makes him kinda mean," Psyche frowned, furrowing his brow and almost pouting, looking like some kind of kid. Then, again, he always looks like a kid. And acts like it. Annoyingly so.
"Hmm, electronics are definitely acting up," Virus spoke up with a glitch.
Do you count as an electronic? I thought dully. You're pretty screwed up too…
"And everything's becoming stagnant, people-wise," he added, and I got slightly more irritated with every s. "Information is less protected and less hidden, even the juicy stuff—plus there are less and less interesting things going on."
Psy was growling in irritation.
"U-um…text messages and—and letters," Tsuki came in. "I know that I—I've sent letters and they—they won't reach where they should go or—or text messages won't send right…o-or even j-just parts of the message will, um, go through…"
"Wow," Psyche yelped, "I'm glad my invitations sent, then. Good thing they did!"
"Also, Prince Hibiya…," Sakuraya's voice was soft. Hibiya looked at him. "I'm not completely sure you know of my occupation, but I often help in the castle gardens along with Tsugaru…"
"Of course," Hibiya sniffed. "I know the names of every employee in this palace."
Sakuraya smiled. "I don't doubt it. Well, the people who work for you have been uneasy lately…"
Tsugaru nodded. "Thank you, Sakuraya." He turned to address the prissy, prideful prince I so loathed. "I've noticed your workers have been becoming restless lately, and I thought it best you know of their dissatisfaction. That, too, is unusual, but…"
"Are you suggesting they may plan for some form of rebellion against me?" the prince returned, eyes narrowing and mouth curling slightly. He wasn't happy with the suggestion. "If so, let them try. I am superior to them, and they will end drowning in pitiful defeat. If they do rebel, it will be stamped out." His tone was firm. I couldn't help but glare hatefully at him in his smug overconfidence.
"I mean no disrespect," Tsugaru said with a small bow. "I mean only to inform you of this and point out this as another disturbance in our lives. Something unnatural is going on, and it is affecting all of us."
"What does that have to do with remembering being made?" I inquired dully. I hadn't been talking much, but then, I didn't want to.
Tsugaru smiled. "That is exactly the connection we need to make."
"I bet I have an idea of what happened," Virus grinned.
"And what's that?" Hibiya asked him flatly, obviously disbelieving and unimpressed with Virus in general.
"Well, something bad is happening with Izaya, I bet, I bet!" He grinned wider, showing off those inhumanly sharp teeth.
"Wahhh?!" Psyche cried, taken aback. I grimaced at his sudden loud outcry, right next to me. "You mean something bad might have happened to Izaya-san? Really? That's terrible!" he wailed.
Delic worked to lift his head slightly. "Something happened to Izaya? You think so?"
"Our creator; huh…," came Psy's low voice.
"I hope he's dead," I said in a toneless undertone, not meaning anyone to hear. Figured that Psyche had to hear me anyway, responding with an immediate gasp and an incredulous stare.
"Roppi-san, why would you say something like that?!" Psyche cried, obviously distressed. "Izaya-san is the best person ever, right along with Tsu and Deli!"
I rolled my eyes. "Not really."
Virus cackled. "He's better off dead!"
"I liked Izaya…," Sakuraya's soft-spoken voice came through, seeming confused that anyone would dislike Izaya in the first place.
"It is true that Izaya-san has given us our lives to live…," Tsugaru conceded.
As if I ever wanted to exist anyway, I thought bitterly. What a life he gave me.
"I must also admit I do not agree with many of his ideas or actions," Tsugaru added, frowning ever so slightly. "I am neither for nor against him, but no matter the case, we should care for his existence not only as a fellow human being or as our creator, but also because his wellbeing or lack thereof can and will affect us and our daily lives."
Sakuraya nodded silently.
"So you're saying if our creator doesn't get his shit together we're doomed?" asked Psy, voice harsh. "Is that what you're saying?"
"Well, essentially, that is possible…," Tsugaru agreed with a slight frown.
So something negative was going on with Izaya… I closed my eyes, tuning out of everyone's conversation. I could only think that it was karma finally getting him back for the disgusting deeds he'd dealt. A manipulator and a man who laughed even as he watched one of his oh-so-beloved humans commit suicide… He was disgusting, just like every other human on the planet. I hated him to his very core, no matter what may have laid beneath his outer masks. He knew what he did was terrible, and yet he didn't stop; therefore, he deserved no sympathy even if there was something that may have called for it.
Honestly, I didn't care if it meant every one of our existences winking out, so long as it meant Izaya was dead. I wouldn't mind making everyone here suffer inconveniences or any other bad thing so long as it meant Izaya was suffering. Hell, I didn't care if it only took my own life – it's not like I cared to be alive anyway… To be completely honest, I was hoping something had gone terribly wrong with Izaya Orihara. I was hoping for it. Maybe it was hypocritical or cruel of me, but I didn't care…
"Tell me, has anyone here seen Izaya in the past few months?" Tsugaru inquired of all of us as I tuned back in. There was silence. Well, no, I hadn't seen him. And I was glad. Couldn't we just leave it at that?
"…Well, sometimes he leaves for a long time, but he always comes back," Psyche persisted, not wanting to believe something had happened to his 'father.'
"Not away from every one of us, and not for this long," Tsugaru responded.
"And how are we supposed to do anything about such a predicament?" Hibiya demanded of him. "We're not even a part of the same reality; Izaya comes when he comes, and leaves when he leaves. There is absolutely no way we could influence the situation." He crossed his arms.
"We cannot stop the situation from happening," Tsugaru admitted. "However, I believe we should all keep in touch with one another, in such a way that every one of us could contact any other of this group."
I frowned. Contact with humans? No thank you…
"Hey, that sounds pretty fun!" Psyche said brightly, and I winced. This was exactly why I didn't see them that often…
"So, I get all of your numbers?" Delic, who had been released by Shitsuo, asked everyone with a teasing kind of hopefulness. "Hey, Hibiya—" His chair tipped beneath him due to a kick from Shitsuo, and he toppled to the floor. Tsuki jumped in surprise. I noticed Hibiya smirking and hiding laughter at Delic's fall. "What the hell?! Shitsuo, will you stop?!"
"Not unless my master commands me," Shitsuo smiled with cold sweetness. Delic was grumbling something under his breath as he put his chair back up to sit again.
I looked up at the high ceiling, eyes deadpan. Why was everyone here so irritating… Wait…everyone irritates me. That must be why. Ha…
"So what are we doing to keep in touch?" asked Psy, annoyed.
"Oh!" Psyche explained, jumping to his feet. "I made cards with everyone's number on them! Tsu and Sakuraya helped," he grinned, taking cards out from the pocket of his white jacket. "Umm, here; have one, Hibi," he said, handing one to him and then handing the rest to me. Frowning, I took one and slid the rest of the small squares to Tsugaru.
"Psyche, don't call me Hibi," Hibiya warned, tone dark but polite.
"Oh, right. Is Hibi-chan okay?" Psyche asked him brightly.
"No! Call me Hibiya-sama, if you're using suffixes like that!"
"How about using chama?" Psyche was so happy about it.
"What the hell kind of fool's honorific is that?" Hibiya spat.
"It's a mix between chan and sama!"
Hibiya glowered at him.
I couldn't help but smile slightly at Hibiya's irritation. That moment right there was the best part of the meeting for me. Maybe Psyche wasn't so bad after all, so long as he could piss off Hibiya.
This shall be updated on Wednesdays from here on. uvu
Reviews are appreciated~
