Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist or its related characters. Such is the property of Kato Kazue, Shonnen Jump, and Funimation. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.
Shadow of Maybe
Chapter Two: Clean-Up
With a muted growl of frustration, Shura crumpled the newspaper she was reading and threw it at the trashcan to join its brethren.
Most of the big papers like the Sankei Shinbun (Nationalist Daily), Los Angeles Times, the Moscow Times, the Chosun Ilbo, and Korean Herald were calling it a 'mass hallucination'. Sure. Right. Everyone all over Japan, and from China to Midway, Russia to the Philippines, all imagined they were attacked by demons. Shura gave up on the big name and 'reputable' newspapers. None of them would ever publish anything that came close to admitting what really happened that night -that Satan used a massive Gehenna Gate to try and take over the world.
She reached for another can of beer and hopped on her computer to pull up some small, more localized periodicals. A psychiatrist in Beijing had been treating a man for several years for attacking people he claimed were 'possessed'. After the incident, the psychiatrist began to see the very same people his patient saw as possessed and committed himself to his own psych-ward. A German family vacationing in Hiroshima returned home after the incident to discover that the woods surrounding their town were infested with villies. A boy in the Philippines claimed to now be able to see ships that weren't really there. And at Midway, people were panicked when they started seeing the ghosts of long dead soldiers from the second World War.
Almost a quarter of the globe now carried a Temptaint. Almost a quarter of the world's population could see demons and spirits. …And they were calling it a mass hallucination.
'Idiots! They're all idiots.' She thought as she sipped her beer.
Leaning back in her chair, her eyes caught the clock on the wall. Its time not quite registering in her mind. She continued to sip from the can in her hand while she looked at the placement of the hands on its face and counted the ticks. Then, light a bolt of lightning, the actual time hit her like a slap on the face.
"Shit! I'm late!"
…
After the incident, business seemed to have resumed as usual. Yukio resumed his normal rank and position as an Intermediate Exorcist First Class as well as instructor of Demon Pharmaceuticals in the Cram School. Rin and all the Exwires returned to class as if nothing had ever happened. From all outward appearances, it seemed as if nothing had changed at True Cross Academy -nothing except for the giant elephant in the room.
No one made eye-contact with Okumura-sensei as he passed out an assignment. It appeared to be a map of the city with a list of tasks.
"Okay," he began, "ever since the incident, the Knights of the True Cross have been a little overloaded. Now that almost everyone can see demons, they're being swapped with calls about demons and spirits that have always been around and never harmed anyone. All this extra traffic is making it harder for us to weed out the serious cases that need real attention. So, starting today, and over the next few weeks, your will be going out on 'cases' of your own."
This announcement elicited a low rumble of comments from the Exwires.
Rin raised his hand. "Cases of our own. You mean like, real exorcist missions?"
Before Yukio could answer, however, Izumo cut in, "Pff, get real. We're still just Exwires. There's no way they'd hand over real work to us. We'll probably just be holding some old lady's hand while she cries at her dead husband's ghost."
"Ms. Kamiki is not far off." Yukio took back control over the classroom. "Because we don't have the manpower to spend on cases where there is no real danger to human life or safety, those calls will be delegated to you. While you're handling all the little old ladies with dead husbands, it will free up the more advanced Exorcists for more dangerous and pressing missions. This will also give you some hands-on real-world experience as Exorcists."
"T'ch. As if we didn't get enough experience with Satan and the Gate." Rin scoffed.
Right then, the whole atmosphere in the room changed. Everyone's excitement about going on real missions for the Knights deflated and was replaced by an awkward silence. Rin had mentioned the elephant in the room and now it was all anyone was thinking about. Yukio pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down behind his desk to sulk. The Exwires looked down at their hands or suddenly found random spots on the walls very fascinating. Rin glanced around at everyone, suddenly realizing his mistake.
Things might have returned to business as usual, but it was only on the surface. Underneath all the appearances and pretense of normalcy, there was a tension that no one spoke about.
"Have… have you guys been watching the news?" Shima asked after a prolonged pause.
"My mother has the radio on while she watches the shop." Shiemi replied. "I heard it reached halfway across the Pacific."
"Yeah, and all of China, too." Konekomaru added. "That's a lot of people to carry Temptaints."
"They're calling it a mass hallucination." Bon crossed his arms over his chest. "That excuse won't hold up for long."
"This morning there was talk of the Red Cross sending people to check the air and groundwater for toxins that might cause hallucinations or hysteria." Izumo's hands fisted over her skirt.
There was another pause.
Then Rin lifted his head and asked Yukio, "With so many people who can now see demons, what's the Vatican gonna do?"
That was a question that nobody could answer. The Vatican and the Gregori still hadn't made up their minds on what to do about him and his brother. On the one hand, Yukio was possessed by Satan and was used in a plan to fuse the two worlds. Both he and Rin were dangerous to keep around if for no other reason than they were perfect hosts for the King of Gehenna to possess. On the other hand, it was the brothers' combined blue flame that destroyed the gate and saved the world. As Satan was the only one that could open a Gahenna Gate, Rin and Yukio were the only ones that could close one. They needed to keep them around in case Satan tried again.
The classroom was silent. All eyes were on Yukio now, waiting for an answer to Rin's question.
"They are still deliberating." He said, finally. "The situation is very complicated. There's never been a precedent like this before."
…
Kirigakure Shura stumbled through the door to the Central Vatican Headquarters, late and stinking of alcohol.
She was supposed to speak at a private session held for the Gregori to gain a more complete picture of what happened the night of the incident. After Ernst Egin's coup, they were locked in the bowls of the Headquarters under St. Pier Paolo's Basilica and had no idea what went on beyond the walls of their cells. After the threat was already dealt with, they were released into a world turned on its head. Egin was gone, not dead -there was no body- just gone. It was said he fell into the Gate. For a brief time Satan walked the world. Half of Asia and the Pacific now carried Temptaints. The second Okumura twin awakened his demon powers. And no one really knew what to do -about anything.
Arthur stepped down from the podium when she entered, having -apparently- just finished his own narrative of the events of that night. She wondered what he'd told them. If he was completely truthful, or if he had altered some details due to his preconceived bias against all things demonic and satanic. Did he at least give Yukio and Rin their due credit for closing the Gate and saving the world?
Their eyes met as he relinquished the podium to her and she knew, whatever he said, it did not go well for at least one of the Okumura brothers. Yukio might have helped Rin close the Gate after it was opened, but he was also the one who caused it to open in the first place. Offering to take his brother's place and willingly adding his own blood to the circle. Then going and getting himself possessed.
'Damn you, you stupid-stupid four-eyed idiot!' She thought.
"State your name and rank for the record."
She tried to push irrelevant thoughts of Yukio's stupidity aside for the moment and focus on what was important. Making sure that the Gregori knew that is was because of the brothers that they were back in power and still had a world to live in. "Kirigakure Shura, Senior Exorcist, First Class."
"You were on the roof of True Cross Academy the night a massive Gehenna Gate was opened and Satan allowed to walk in the world -hence forth referred to as 'the Incident'."
"I was." She nodded.
"Please recount for this council the events you witness that night and any per tenant details leading up to it."
So she did. Shura told the Gregori how the events leading up to the Incident were orchestrated by Egin. How he separates Yukio from everyone else and manipulated and tricked him into over-throwing the established Papal powers and setting himself up as Pope. How it was Egin who distributed blood absorbing weapons to all the Exorcists and Exwires -to Exwires! children still in training!- and sent them on mission of murder and mass genocide against all demons of any variety. She recounted how Egin then used the blood those weapons had absorbed to create his own Gehenna Gate on the roof of True Cross Academy.
Here she paused in her narrative. Here was where things started to not look so good for Yukio. Shure tried to make it very clear to the council that Yukio was the victim. That he would not have added his own blood to the circle if Egin -a much older and more cunning man than he- hadn't played on his love for his brother and manipulated him into doing it.
She then glanced over the part where he was possessed by Satan. She couldn't skip it all together. But she did try to downplay how easy it was for the Demon King to take him over. And she put a much greater emphasis on the fact that it was the brothers' combined effort that closed and destroyed the Gate in the end. If it wasn't for both of them then they would be living side-by-side with demons right now -or worse. Rin could not have closed it on his own. They needed both brothers alive and well in case something like this ever happened again.
"Will something like this happen again?" One of the Gregori asked.
"What?" Shura blinked.
"Prior to this Incident, the only one capable of opening a Gehenna Gate was Satan himself, and he did this vary rarely." The Gregori explained, expression hidden behind his low draping hood. "Now we are told that the Okumura brothers can open a Gate using their combined blood. So, how likely is it that an Incident like this will happen again?"
Yukio might be an idiot and a bit of a chicken. But he wasn't a fool. He wouldn't be opening another Gate again, ever. And Rin had no reason to open one either. So, Shure answered with conference, "Nah. They're loyal to Assiah, the world they were raised in."
"If there is no likelihood of another Gate opening again, then there is no need of the brothers." The Gregori replied. "And since we now know that both of them carry Satan's flame and are durable hosts for his possession, it would be in the better interest of the Order and the world if they were dispatched."
She gapped up at them, flabbergasted. "Now wait just a damn minute! They saved us! They saved everyone! Is that how ya repay your heroes!?"
"For stopping Satan and closing the Gate, they will be anointed as Saints. But they are to dangerous to be allowed to remain here in Assiah."
"So, ya've already decided." She shook her head, starring down at her feet. "And they don't even get a chance to defend themselves…"
"There are still a few more witnesses who must speak before we can come to a final decision." They said. "Your feelings are noted, Senior Exorcist Kirigakure. But this council must decide based on what is the greatest benefit to all, not just the benefit of two lost boys."
"Those boys saved everyone!" She shouted back. "Ya can't just-"
"Tag out!"
Shura was cut off abruptly when someone placed a hand on her arm. She looked down to see Mephisto standing next to the podium. "Huh?"
"I said, 'tag out'." He smiled a toothy grin up at her. "What? You didn't think you and Angel were the only ones they planned on questioning, did you? I saw the whole thing from the best seat in the house! You can't beat an eye witness like that." He gently pulled her down off the podium and whispered for her ears only, "The Vatican isn't the only power in Assiah. Why don't you go ask the rest of the world how they want to repay their heroes before you start arguing circles with these old fossils." He muttered as if he weren't older than everyone else in the room combined.
"How? No one who wasn't there knows who they are." She hissed back.
"It was a big fight over a well-populated city center. You figure it out."
…
The paper Okumura-sensei handed out in class featured a map of the city with various arias highlighted in different colors. The city was divided up, not by district as on normal tourist maps, but rather by what areas sustained the most damage from the demon attacks during the Incident. Needless to say, almost everything around True Cross Academy was shaded in red. The surrounding areas were in orange. The areas around those were pink. Then yellow. Not a single bit of the map was white or green, the colors they imagined would be used to signify areas that were okay. The whole city was effected.
Of course it would be. The battle took place right over the Academy, which was right smack dab in the middle of the city. There was no way for it to not be effected. Every single resident now carried a Temptaint. Every single person who called the city home could now see demons and spirits.
In addition to the map, was a list of tasks by order of priority.
1.) Round up the excess coal tars and trolls that entered through the Gate and dispose of them before they can do any more harm.
2.) Help with the damages and repairs of the town as best as you can. Many buildings that were damaged in the Incident were very old and old buildings often become the homes for many various types of spirits. Usually these spirits are ambivalent, neither harming nor helping humans. But with all the construction going on after the Incident, they might become violent.
3.) Respond to calls and mission assignments as they are assigned to you. Keep you cell phones turned on at all times. You will be contacted via cell phone with your assignments. If you do not receive a call, continue with either tasks 1 or 2.
The Exwires paired off with Izumo and Shiemi going to help clean up coal tars in the financial district, Suguro and Shima heading down town for construction (yet, somehow ending up in the Red Light district instead), and Konekomaru and Rin taking the South district.
"Hey, isn't this where you used to live?" Konekomaru asked as they walked through the unusually quiet and broken streets.
"Yeah." Rin nodded. "The Southern Cross Boys' Monastery is two blocks down that way and around the corner." He pointed.
"Did you want to stop in and say 'hi'?" He offered.
A stray coal tar separated from its swarm drifted in front of Rin's face. He snatched it out of the air with his hand and was about to crush it into nothingness when he paused, changing his mind. He let the coal tar go and watched it surreptitiously float down into an open sewer gutter instead. They were demons of rot and lived in fungus and mold, but they weren't evil. Not like some other demons were truly evil.
"Maybe later." He answered.
Konekomaru followed the coal tar Rin let go with his eyes. "We're supposed to be exterminating those things, ya know."
"It wasn't hurting anyone." Rin informed him, as if that should have been obvious. "If we start exterminating demons indiscriminately like they had us doing before, then we're no better than Egin."
Reluctant though he was to admit it, Konekomaru begrudgingly had to agree. They all got a nasty knot in their stomachs back when the Knights gave them all weapons and told them to kill as many demons as they could. Any demons and all demons. Koneko's motives for becoming an exorcist were much the same as Shima's and Bon's. To defeat Satan and restore the honor of their temple, but also the help those suffering from possession or other demonic influence. No part of that included going after demons and spirits that were just minding their own business.
"I don't disagree…" Koneko admitted. "But there are a lot more coal tars now than there used to be. By themselves they're not worth getting worked up over, but in large swarms they can be deadly."
"Then in large swarms I'll take care of them." He continued walking.
Koneko stared at his back. Before, Okumora would have been super-psyched to be on a mission. He would have been loud and obnoxious. Proudly proclaiming that he was going to do his best and become a great exorcist. Today, he wasn't doing any of that. "Okumora, are you okay? You're not your usual self."
Rin paused, a denial on the edge of his lips. But he paused. Nodded. "I guess I'm not. I've just been thinking a lot. About demons… and exorcists."
…
"Inari, I humbly beseech thee to grant my request." Izumi summoned her twin foxes to dispatch the coal tars that were swarming over what used to be the financial district. The fungus demons disappeared in a cloud of black dust and here no more.
With that taken care of, Shiemi with Nee's help, treated the wounds of any people that were out and about that could have been affected by the rot spores.
"Kyaa! They have more monsters with them!" A woman screamed as Shiemi knelt down next to her with Nee.
The blond Exwire blinked at her in confusion. "What? More monsters? Don't worry, Kamiki and I will take care of them!" She stood up, ready to defend the people from the new threat. But there are no other demons or spirits that she could see. There was just the broken street. The sooty buildings with their cracked windows, Izumo and her foxes, and the terrified looking people. "Where do you see more monsters?"
"She means us." Izumo supplied, stroking one of her foxes under the chin. "They've never seen a familiar before. They don't understand we summoned them to help."
"Wh-what?" Shiemi looked back at the woman she was attempting to treat. "Oh, no. Nee's not evil and neither are Izumo's foxes. We're exorcists and these are our familiars. We're here to help. Now, let me treat your wound."
The woman still shied away from her, continuing to look scared and glare skeptically at her. The others sported similar expressions on their faces. It seemed none of them were convinced that the two teenage girls with the monster partners were here to help. Shiemi couldn't really blame them. Just a few short days ago a giant Gate had opened up over the city and flooded the streets with monsters. People would need time to recover from the event alone. But they didn't get that time because, as a result of that Incident, now they could all see the monsters and spirits that had always been living around them.
They didn't understand what was going on and they were scared.
"Stay away from me!" The woman screamed and crawled away from Shiemi to cower next to a large man in a torn suit.
"How do we know your monsters won't hurt us?" He asked. "You're just kids, you couldn't possibly control them. All we see are monsters and two little girls who are two stupid to know how dangerous they are!"
"That's not true!" Shiemi argued back. She did not take to confrontation well. But every now and again, when she felt very strongly about something, she could be a firecracker. "You can't assume they're bad just because they're demons! That's not fair! Its no different than thinking someone's a criminal just because they're black! Its wrong! I know plenty of nice demons! In fact, two of my closest friends are half-demons!"
Izumo placed her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Leave them be, Moriyama. Lets go. The coal tars are gone and they don't want our help anymore. There's no need to waste our time on morons who don't want us."
…
Shima and Bon both lifted the heavy jizo statue and set it standing properly again. Jizo statues guarded the souls of dead children and helped prevent them from becoming vengeful ghosts. Several jizo statues were knocked over, or even destroyed, during the Incident and now those spirits were riled and angry.
Waving to the foreman, Shima said, "Tell your crews to try and work around these statues if you can. And if you find any more that are knocked over or broken, come and get us. We'll take care of them." Then, as an aside to Bon, "Hey, I wonder why there are so many Mizuko Jizo statues in the Red Light district anyway."
Bon just looked at him. "Is that a serious question?" This was the Red Light district and Mizuko Jizo guarded the souls of aborted fetuses. "C'mon. Lets get some water from the volunteers' booth."
There was a reporter from the TCN at the volunteer's table when they arrived, interviewing the volunteers and construction workers that came for water and sandwiches. "Sources have tracked the epicenter of the phenomenon to this town." She was saying. "And it looks like some kind of big battle happened here. Care to comment?"
"It was so scary!" Said one of the volunteers, a girl wearing the True Cross school uniform. "There was the small of wet mold in the air and then I began to see all these black bugs, except they didn't look like normal bugs. More like… more like the dust-bunnies from Totoro, only they weren't nice. Another girl in my class, Paku Noriko told us not to breath them in or else they'd rot our lungs and to stay calm she had friends that would help us. I was so scared!"
"But Paku's friends came, just like she promised!" Said another volunteer, this on a boy, also wearing the True Cross uniform. "They were kids just like us and were wearing our school's uniforms only one of them was carrying one of those old priest staff, ya know, the kind with all the rings that jingle. They took us to this weird place place full of all these old stone tunnels and used light from the other side of the world to kill all the monsters!"
On second thought, perhaps it was not the best idea to get water from the volunteer's table at this exact moment. Not when there was a reporter there to bother them and classmates that could identify them.
"Well, that sure is some exciting story, kids." Replied the reporter. She then tuned back to her camera man and continued, "As you can see, while experts maintain that these events have been caused by mass hallucinations and hysteria, the locals are still convinced that what they saw actually happened. We're still waiting for the authorities to finish their air and water quality reports. Maybe we'll have a better understanding of the situation once the guilty toxins have been identified. This is Kisaragi Ami reporting for TCN."
…
Yukio turned off the TV.
All that they ever seemed to report on these past few days was the Incident and frankly, he was tired of hearing about it. He just wanted to know what the Gregori's decision about him and Rin was and be done with it.
"They're a good group of kids, ya know." Shura commented from the doorway.
She hadn't made a sound when she entered, but Yukio sensed her the moment her absurdly huge boobs passed through the door. A faint prickling on the back of his neck telling him he was being watched, the scent of perspiration and Ladies Sport Stick, and -just recently since his demon powers awoke- the sound of skin bouncing against skin. He supposed these pointed ears were good for something after all.
"While Rin and I were busy trying to take down the Gate, they were running 'round protecting the people."
"I heard." He nodded to the TV. He was proud of his students. But there was something else on his mind that was more pressing. "Have the Gregori come to a decision yet? Is that why you're here?"
She shook her head slowly. "No. They're still dragging their asses." She crossed the room stare directly into his eyes. "But its not lookin' good for ya. Chicken, I'm worried. Ya saved the world, and they want to make ya Saints. But the thing about Saints is…"
"They have to be martyred. They're planning to kill us."
"They haven't made a final decision yet, but its lookin' that way." She nodded.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Yukio sighed. "Is there anyway I could convince them to just kill me and leave Niisan alone?"
"I don't want you to die either!" She snapped. "Listen you four-eyed idiot, I don't know what you're deal is, but acting all selfless and shit isn't going to make this situation any better. If you recall, it was acting selfless and offering to take over for your brother as sacrifice that lead to this mess in the first place! So cut it out! Got me?" She took a breath and began massaging her the sides of her forehead. "Jeez, all this worrying… you're gonna give me stress-lines. And I'm only eighteen…"
"You're twenty-six!" He reminded her.
"Nuance." She brushed his comment aside. She had a young looking face and so would continue to claim she was a teenager until she couldn't pass for one anymore. "My point is, don't be so afraid of the Gregori that you go making more rash decisions and getting yourself and everyone else in deeper shit than they were before. As Mephisto reminded me just today, the Vatican isn't the only power in Assiah. Don't go signing your life away just because they think you'd make a better Saint than an Exorcist."
Yukio paused. "What other powers are there in Assiah?"
"I'm still trying to figure that one out…" She confessed, crossing her arms over her chest, making the swell of her oversized breasts all the more pronounced.
Averting his eyes and hoping the blush didn't show on his face, Yukio thought aloud. "Powers in Assiah… Well, there's religion, that would be the Vatican."
"Politics." Shura suggested. "Two things you don't discuss in polite conversation are religion and politics. So, politics have got to be another power. The government. You and Rin are both citizens of Japan and your minors. Killing you would be murder. People wouldn't like it."
"People!" Yukio realized. "The third power in Assiah is people. Popular opinion. The mob."
Shura nodded. "Yeah. That too, I guess. So we got politics and popular opinion. Two things that have managed to challenge the Vatican rather well in the last two hundred years, I think." She smiled at him, suddenly hopeful. "Don't go throwing in the towel just yet, Chicken. I'm gonna see if I can get ya to hang around for a while longer. So don't go doing anything stupid, 'kay?" She turned to leave. "By the way, I like the new ears. They're cute and they distract from your moles."
…
