"Whoa!" Matenshi's eyes widened to the size of two miniature full moons as he took in the line outside the game store. He had never seen a line of humans this long!
A smirk spread across his chubby little face. He couldn't wait to mess it up!
He scanned the line and found a tall, burly guy in a college sweater who was caught up in checking something on his phone. Now THAT was a guy who could break down the door… and maybe break a few legs!
Matenshi wasn't interested in the game himself, but he was definitely eager to mess with such a wonderfully long line. Using his little wings to boost himself up, he leapt onto the big guy's shoulders and grabbed two fistfuls of his hair, inspiriting him with ease.
The guy dropped his phone, his eyes flashing with rage as he ground his teeth. "I'M SICK OF WAITING!" he shouted, muscling forward in the line much to the annoyance and protest of everyone in front of him.
Matenshi laughed uproariously as the man made his way to the front of the line, giving everyone who tried to stop him bumps and bruises, slamming one guy into a wall as he shoved him aside. This was the first time Matenshi ever got to inspirit someone this huge, and in such a long line, too! Matenshi usually had to go for kids waiting for their lunch or boring stuff like that.
"This is what I'm talkin' about!" Matenshi cackled aloud as his victim made his way to the game store's front doors.
There was another guy there, a guy huge in stature and weight, who looked alarmingly pissed. Matenshi's victim stopped in his tracks when he saw this guy, his eyes widening.
"Hey, hey! Come on, come on!" Matenshi punched at the guy's head, even though he knew he couldn't feel it. "Beat him up too!"
Before the guy Matenshi was inspiriting could even take a step forward, the other guy lifted up the trash can by the curb and slammed it against the glass doors, shattering them with a loud CRASH!
Matenshi's guy fell backwards in shock, sending Matenshi tumbling off his shoulders. Matenshi landed right on his butt and shouted in both frustration and pain. What the heck?! What had gotten into him?!
Blinking back tears, Matenshi looked behind him at the rest of the line… or what remained of it. Mostly everyone had run off and a few lingered behind, either agape with shock or filming what was going on with their phones.
Matenshi couldn't help feeling disappointed that he only had a small part to do with this chaos. Punching the ground, he staggered to his feet, letting a few tears roll down his cheeks. He looked back at the two men in front of the store, the guy he inspirited in a state of shocked, horrified confusion, and the man who had broken the door moved to rush into the store, not even caring about the broken glass.
As soon as the huge guy stepped aside, he revealed a smirking yokai behind him that was-
Wait.
Wait.
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT.
The yokai was tall and intimidating, but that wasn't what got Matenshi's attention. He was clearly an angel yokai, like Matenshi, with wings on his head as well as on his back. Even more alarmingly, his red curls bore a striking resemblance to Matenshi's blonde ones and their skin tones were the same light blue. He even had a halo stuck in his hair! Matenshi had never seen anything like that on another yokai before.
Something was weird. Matenshi took a step back, his brow furrowed and his tears gone.
The tall yokai finally noticed him just as police sirens started to wail in the distance. His smirk disappeared and his lips parted, his eyes widening with shock.
"You're…" He was obviously just as stunned as Matenshi was.
The sirens got closer and the yokai glared in the police car's direction. "UGH, I can't hear myself think! Come with me!"
Without hesitation, the yokai scooped Matenshi up in his arms and spread his wings, taking off into the sky.
"WAUGH! HEY, PUT ME DOWN, YOU WEIRDO!" Matenshi punched at the yokai's chest, but he didn't show any signs of slowing down. "I DON'T KNOW YOU! LET ME GO!"
The other angel yokai didn't even look down at him. Matenshi kept protesting, but everything he said fell on deaf ears. Before Matenshi knew it, the bigger yokai touched down on the roof of a house, putting Matenshi down surprisingly carefully before kneeling down next to him.
"What are you doing?! Who are you?! Why do you look so much like me?! Why'd you pick me up?!" Matenshi had way too many questions and he couldn't stop them from all coming out at once.
"Calm down, kid!" The yokai huffed in annoyance.
"I'm not calming down!" Matenshi kicked the bigger yokai in the knee. "Take me off this roof RIGHT NOW!"
"HEY!" The bigger yokai firmly grabbed Matenshi's arms and glared right into his eyes. Matenshi glared right back.
The older yokai's glare didn't last long, though. His expression softened and he let out another huge sigh. "Okay, I wasn't sure before, but now I'm completely sure. Wow."
"Sure of what?!" Matenshi puffed out his cheeks. He had just met this guy and he was already sick of him.
The older yokai let Matenshi go, shifting a bit. "God, I've never not known what to say before. This is weird. Uh…" He heaved yet another sigh and decided to cut right to the chase. "I'm your big brother."
Matenshi's jaw dropped. For once in his young life, he was completely at a loss for words.
"But I don't get it… you're supposed to be alive! Why are you a yokai?!" Matenshi may have been imagining it, but he could have sworn that the older yokai's voice sounded a little choked up.
"Hold on! What do you mean I'm supposed to be alive?!" Matenshi's brain felt like it was filled with TV static. "Who even ARE you?!"
"I SAID I'm your big brother!" The older yokai sighed again. "Ugh, I hate explaining crap like this. My name's Matenou, for starters. And you're…?"
"Matenshi," Matenshi's knees were wobbling, he sat down in hopes of curbing his anxiety just a little bit. "How can you be my big brother?! You're so old! And I never even heard of you before!"
"HEY, I'm not old!" Matenou folded his arms across his broad chest, giving Matenshi another petulant glare. "Look, I'm gonna cut to the chase, we met once. You were a baby and I had already been a yokai for a looooong time. But I don't understand why you're one too now- oh… wait."
Realization dawned on Matenou's face and he averted his gaze from Matenshi, clapping a hand over his mouth. "I think I do…" Matenou's muffled voice cracked a bit.
Matenshi didn't get it, and it was written all over his little face. That didn't escape Matenou, he scrubbed at his eyes and turned back to his baby brother. "I'll… tell you when you're older. But!" Matenou went from zero to a hundred very quickly, a confident smirk crossing his face. "Now we're back together! You have a lot to live up to, little man!" Matenou clapped Matenshi on the back a bit too hard, almost sending him careening off the roof.
"I-I dunno…" Matenshi scooted away from Matenou, eyeing him with suspicion. "I need some kinda proof!"
Matenou slammed a palm into his forehead and slid it down his face. "Are you serious? Just LOOK at us!" Matenou gestured wildly to his hair. "I've NEVER seen anyone else with curls like mine until today!"
"Mom always told me not to trust strangers… but I believe you," Matenshi messed with his own curls, averting his eyes. "A big brother, huh…?" A small, genuine smile crossed Matenshi's lips.
Matenou felt like someone punched him right in the heart. He quickly averted his eyes and covered his mouth. What the hell?! He thought frantically. That never happened before…! WAIT HOLD UP
"'Mom?'" Matenou turned back to his little brother, crooking an eyebrow.
"Did you think I was some kind of hobo kid?!" Matenshi's smile changed right back to his trademark frown. "I have a mom! She adopted me a while ago."
"Well, you don't need her anymore!" Matenou leaned over and gripped Matenshi's tiny shoulders. "I'm king of the Realm of Impatience, and you're a prince! My subjects are going to be THRILLED to hear about you!"
Matenshi's head was spinning. The only response he could muster was a very eloquent "Hah?"
"Come on, don't make me explain it again!" Matenou huffed.
"No, I heard you! I'm just confused!" Matenshi squirmed his shoulders out of Matenou's grip. "You're a king?! I never even heard of the Realm of Impatience before! It sounds like you made that up!"
"What? No way!" Matenou exclaimed in disbelief. "If you were inspiriting people in that line, you and I definitely have similar powers. And you never heard of my kingdom? That's impossible!"
"It's true!" Matenshi protested. "I'm only seven, and I, like, NEVER go to the Yokai World! I don't know about any of those places!"
"Well, you're gonna hear of it now!" Matenou picked Matenshi up again but, before he could take off, Matenshi slammed his foot right into Matenou's groin.
Matenou screeched a word that Matenshi wasn't allowed to say and dropped him, falling onto his side. Matenshi whirled his arms in an attempt to regain his balance, and barely succeeded. He folded his arms and loomed over his writhing elder brother, glaring down at him.
"I'm not going anywhere with you yet! Not without someone I know!" Matenshi insisted.
"Who…?" Matenou's voice was a pitiful squeak as he curled up into the fetal position.
Matenshi smirked, happy about already finding his big brother's weakness. "We're gonna pay a visit to a friend of my mom's. And if you complain, I'm gonna kick you there again."
Matenou groaned, but made a noise of compliance.
Matenshi nodded in approval, trying not to think about how hard his little heart was pounding. There was too much going on… but he wasn't going to lie. He liked the idea of being royalty.
