A/N: This'll probably be the last update for some time. I'm enjoying writing this, but I've got other things I really need to work on.
None the less, enjoy the chapter.
"Welcome to Bookworm Bookstore. How many guests? Smoking or non smoking?"
"Umm".
One Fuuka Yamagishi stood just within the entrance to the small bookstore located on the ground floor of the Iwatodai Strip Mall. She'd visited on more than one occasion in the past, but it seemed that no amount of time could smooth out the sheer awkwardness she felt whenever Bunkichi, the male half of the couple that owned the store, 'forgot' he ran a bookstore.
"Fuuka-chan" Mitsuko, the female and more grounded half of the couple, gave her a warm smile, "it's lovely to see you again. You can ignore my husband's teasing".
Bunkichi laughed heartily, "That's right, Fuuka-chan, I simply jest. Uh… What was your name again?"
Mitsuko poked her husband in the side, "It's Fuuka-chan". Turning back to the green-haired girl, who was now looking a bit out of place among the banter, she addressed her, "What can we do for you today?"
"I-I… I was wondering if you had that cookbook in yet…" Fuuka responded meekly. She'd been trying to get better at the art of cooking, to little success. The cookbook in question was one especially for beginners.
Fuuka nearly jumped out of her socks when said cookbook appeared seemingly from thin air in front of her.
"And there it is, thanks Makoto-chan" Bunkichi chuckled, "Be careful of that one, Fuuka-chan, I've heard it's a real knockout".
Taking the book with a small amount of apprehension, Fuuka skimmed through the pages, taking in the long notes that covered the majority of the margins. Nodding in approval, she suddenly realized where she got the book but couldn't find a sign of the blunet when she checked where she though he'd be.
"He's like a storm, that one" Bunkichi spoke in a wistful tone, "Just what I'd want in a grandson".
Fuuka looked at the store owners in confusion, "Does Yuki-kun work here?"
Mitsuko smiled sadly before responding, "Yes, he's been a great help to us. He works hard, but he always seems to be listening to his music".
As if on cue, the teen briskly exited from the back of the bookstore and went back to attempting to organize the piles upon piles of books on the other side of the room.
"Thank you for your hard work today, Makoto-chan" Mitsuko warmly said to the blunet, who silently bowed in response.
Bunkichi walked up to the teen with a small envelope, shoving the object into his hands, "Here's your pay for the day. I almost feel like I'm giving my grandson some spending money".
Makoto pocketed his pay and, after one final bow, left the bookstore, out where the sun was just barely beginning to set.
…
"You noticed it too, right Mitsuko?"
The lady nodded her head in agreement, worry plastered across her face, "He looked pale; a bit thin too. Do you think he's eating right?"
"I…" Bunkichi removed his glasses and wiped them clean with his handkerchief, "I think he's got something on his mind. Today's the fourth day in a row that he's worked; we're lucky if we see him twice a week normally. No, one only works themselves that hard if they want to keep their mind off of something".
He was in his room, again.
Green moonlight, courtesy of the full moon, poured in through the window with even more vigor than the previous four nights Makoto had spent deathly still; watching to make sure something like that monster didn't appear.
He sighed. Or rather, he tried to sigh. He's ruined voice box made a weird noise that the teen immediately stopped before he ended up coughing up blood.
Still, the sentiment remained the same; Makoto gripped his hatchet in one hand and left his room. The only difference from the first night was a single coffin in the hallway with him. One of the children must have awoken to go to the bathroom.
After leaving the orphanage, the blunet stopped to stare at the moon. It looked massive in the sky while the amount of moonlight it was giving off was immense enough that he had a hard time focusing on it. The smell of blood still hung through the air, low and stagnant. Deciding on a walk, Makoto made his way down the cobblestone alleys, careful to avoid the scattered pools of blood.
The rattling of a nearby chain link fence sent the teen's blood pressure skyrocketing as he spun around, axe ready.
Nothing, there was nothing, or no one, anywhere near where he hear the sound coming from.
Turning back around to continue his walk, Makoto was completely unable to react to the black hand that covered his mouth and nose.
…
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…
The return to consciousness was a slow trip for Makoto, though his view didn't change much. It was still completely dark in the shadows cast by the full moon.
However, he did quickly realize he was being dragged by his ankles.
By some miracle, the blunet manage to retain his grip on his fire axe despite his lack of a conscious choice to do so.
He'd planned to figure out where exactly he was, but the change of ground from cobblestone to concrete and gravel, along with the shadowy outline of the structure, told him he was in a construction site of sorts.
Makoto twisted to try to get a better view of what was abducting him, and immediately regretted it.
A man lay, face down, just barely outside of the structure. His death had been far from quick, the massive pool of blood he was lying in suggested he'd bled out.
Heavily resisting the urge to vomit, a skill he was getting better and better at as he'd hardly been able to stomach any food the past few days, Makoto forced himself to remain still as he was dragged right past the body.
Twisting himself the other way, the blunet got his first look at his captor. Its entire body was composed of the same disgusting ichor that had covered the body of the Praying Mantis, only it seemed to slide across the ground rather than have any physically limbs. Both of the teen's legs were stuck to its backside.
The monster turned and began to move up a flight of stairs, an action that had Makoto silently cursing the Shadow as he kept his head from slamming against the concrete steps.
After three more flights, they'd finally managed to reach where the workers had finished for the day. The structure clearly had more stories to be put in, as shown by several steel beams jutting upwards. Scattered around the roof were more steel beams, most of them a part of bundles held together by tarp and cable, but that wasn't what had the blunet's attention.
It was the bodies.
Nearly half a dozen corpses littered the ground around him. Some looked fresher than others.
"GAH!"
A man stumbled away from another pair of monsters, a hole in his throat slowly draining away his life. He fell face down after a black hand firmly grabbed his ankle and yanked. Another monster, wearing a purple mask, slid over to man and decapitated him.
Two more monsters appeared from the shadows, dragging a woman who was vainly struggling against their grip. The one that seemed to be in charge of the executions motioned to bring her over.
Makoto acted.
Before the one holding him by his ankles could reacted, the teen had already coiled and uncoiled his body; the edge of his fireaxe coming down like a steel trap and crushing it instantly.
The other monsters quickly turned to face this new threat as Makoto sprang to his feet and rushed them. The executor reached out with claws made of the shadows themselves and swiped at the blunet. Ducking under the first, the teen shoved the second hand away before cleaving apart the Shadow with his hatchet.
Not wasting momentum, Makoto spun on his heel and charged the two holding the woman. Neither monster seemed keen on relinquishing their position, so he tossed the fireaxe to the side and grabbed the Shadow holding her legs.
One solid tug was all it took to rip the monster's grip from the woman; the blunet throwing the remains over his shoulder without bothering to finish it off. Looping one arm around her waist, Makoto pulled the woman to her feet while removing the Shadow holding her hands behind her back. The purple mask it was wear crumbled beneath his foot.
"Who are, where are, what?" The woman was seconds away from panicking when the teen roughly shoved her towards the stairs.
More monsters were crawling down the framework of the building as Makoto picked back up his hatchet. Slowly, as to not cause any drastic reactions, the two survivors inched their way to the stairs.
One monster let out a shriek and all present ran in pursuit.
After another hard shove, the woman sprinted down the flight of stairs with Makoto hot on her heels. The monsters followed, practically falling over themselves as they moved into the tighter corridor of the staircase.
"N-No! Get away!"
Arriving at the second floor, Makoto grabbed the woman by the collar and threw her to the side as three monsters – they crawled down the side of the building – approached.
The teen threw himself into the fray, the knowledge of the horde approaching from above spurring him knock aside the three rather than kill them. Tightly gripping the woman's hand, the two ran down the final flight of stairs.
Their grip failed when one last black blob threw itself at Makoto. Stumbling backwards, with the hatchet being the only thing between the two, the woman faltered; caught between escaping and helping the teen that saved her life.
The blunet grit his teeth as he got one hand free to quickly gesture towards the exit. The message was clear: don't be stupid, run for your life.
The woman fled as Makoto managed to gain proper leverage to remove the Shadow from himself. He finished it off just as the remainder of the monsters caught up to him.
They spread out now that they were on the more open ground floor, ten monsters total slowly crawling towards the blunet.
"AHH!"
He twister around and almost puked at what he saw; the woman hanging helplessly off the floor with an arm, more thin and long than its fellow Shadows, and a dagger of similar characteristics through her chest.
"I-I'm sorry… Suki-chan" She coughed up blood, "Looks like mommy won't be home tonight… either…"
The dagger and arm were suddenly pulled out of the woman, her corpse falling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
It showed itself.
Unlatching itself from the ceiling where it had been hiding, a monster with far too many arms and far too many legs landed on the floor directly on top of the woman's dead body. One hand held a blue mask with the Roman number for one on it while the rest suddenly were armed with more daggers.
It let out a bellowing roar, one that sent all the monsters behind Makoto running away and into the shadows. The teen stood stock still, unable to react to what had just happened. His mind was still thawing when the Magician threw one of its daggers at him.
He just barely reacted fast enough to not lose his head, but the blunet still felt the pain of the blade ripping a tear into his shoulder.
Makoto had no idea what he was doing when he sprinted back to the staircase, ducking as more daggers filled the air. A concrete pillar next to him exploded from the impact.
Taking the stairs two at a time, the teen desperately tried to get his mind back in order. Reaching the second floor, the path to the next stairway was blocked by the Magician bodily throwing itself at it, forcing him to retreat further back onto his current floor. Ducking behind several concrete pillars, Makoto thought for a moment that the Shadow's large size would inhibit it greatly.
Then it just charged through the first row of pillars, its long arms with their deadly armaments flowing towards the startled teen.
A few of the blades, the ones Makoto thought looked like they would hit vital spots if he didn't, were deflected by the handle of the fireaxe while the rest ripped more tears into his jacket. Grabbing two that buried themselves into a plaster wall, the blunet chopped them off the main body with his hatchet.
The Magician screeched in pain, tensing itself before throwing itself forward again. Makoto flung himself to the side as the Shadow barreled past, getting to his feet and sprinting for the stairs leading upwards once more.
The monster didn't confront him on the third floor, but the blunet saw it climbing up to the top floor.
It was waiting for him when the teen arrived on the temporary roof top, its body tense and prepared for battle. Once again, it sent most of its arms against Makoto. Instead of running away, he ran forward and slid behind a palate of plywood. Most of the arms planted themselves into the roof and he deflected one that would have taken off his head. The two the blunet couldn't block left long, shallow wounds along his sides.
Hissing from the pain, Makoto shakily got back to his feet before running towards the side of the building facing the entrance. The Magician lashed out and caught the teen with an arm, sending him flying into one of the bundles of steel beams. Said bundle slid and teetered dangerously on the edge of the roof.
He could barely keep himself standing now, his torso feeling like it had been hit by a truck.
The Shadow screeched one final time, tensing itself as Makoto steadied himself with his hatchet. It flung itself forward, the teen collapsing into the ground to avoid having his head taken off. Sweeping low, it ripped two long cuts along the blunet's back. The Magician landed on some scaffolding that was on the side of the building, one of its feet having broken through the woodwork during its landing.
Seizing his chance, he staggered over and smashed the side of the wooden plank holding the scaffolding in place.
The effect was almost instantaneous as the structure collapsed, the effect of each level of the scaffolding slamming into the one below it dragged the Magician down with it. It flailed futilely as it fellow four stories onto the ground below. The impact of hitting the ground clearly stunned it, but didn't finish it off.
Adrenaline pumping, Makoto dropped his shoulder against the bundle of steel beams and began shoving it as hard as he could. His sneakers struggled to maintain their grip from the amount of force being placed on his body to attempt to move the object. The bundle barely budged and the teen gave it another hard shove, his back flaring in pain. The bundle balanced momentarily on the edge of the roof before gravity took its toll.
On the ground, the Magician groggily looked up as a dozen steel beams rained down on its body.
After limping down four flights of stairs, Makoto was prepared to never walk up or down another for the rest of his life, even if it meant missing all his classes.
Continuing his slowly, unsteady gait, the teen gave the monster a wide berth to examine it. Despite falling four stories and being impaled numerous times by solid steel beams, it was still struggling, making a pitiful noise that disgusted Makoto; it sounded like it was crying.
Making sure that all of its hands were pinned, the blunet gripped his hatchet with the intention of finishing the beast off.
"Shh, shh, it's going to be okay".
He froze. Materializing out of the shadows was what looked like a young boy with black hair wearing what looked like pinstriped pajamas. He bent down and lovingly patted the Magician's mask, said monster ceasing its struggles to lean into the boy's hand.
"That's right, don't struggle. You'll be alright".
He had to bite back bile as it burned the back of his throat. Walking with as much force as he could still muster, Makoto pushed the boy aside and slammed his fireaxe against the Magician's mask.
When that didn't break it, he swung again.
When that didn't fully break it, he swung again.
When that didn't fully break it, he swung again.
It took four swings before the mask completely shattered and, like he'd thought, the monster quickly dissolved after it was gone.
"That wasn't very nice of you to do" Makoto turned back to where the boy was looking at him with a chastising look; he grit his teeth in response.
"That was my friend you just killed, you know?"
When all the boy received was a glare in response, the boy chuckled.
"Well, I guess that wasn't exactly my friend, more like a family member".
He had enough of the boy's sick humor. Without hesitation, Makoto swung and took the boy's head off.
Black ichor splattered as his body limply fell to the ground. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the teen moved to leave the construction site.
"Are you a barbarian of sorts who can't speak properly?"
The boy was back again, head on his shoulders, sitting on top of one of the steel beams that had impaled his 'family'. There was no trace of his corpse on the ground next to Makoto.
The boy chuckled when he received no response, "Seems like so. Oh well, we'll have to have a nice chat some other time". He tilted his head in what could have been a thoughtful pose, "Actually, now that I get a better look at you, let's have a small chat now".
Makoto expected the mysterious boy to jump down next to him, never expecting him to simply appear next to him. It wasn't like he was moving faster than the blunet could track; he existed in one place for a moment, then another in the next.
The teen watched as the youngster poked and prodded, peering deeply into his eyes, "Hmmm... More than enough Death, in good shape, and..."
Makoto swatted his arm away causing the pinstriped kid to chuckle, "...just the right amount of spunk".
Backing away, he nodded to himself, "Yep, I've decided". Pointing straight at the blunet, he continued, "You're the one I've chosen".
Without warning, the child vanished from view. Makoto had enough time to blink before a searing pain exploded from his left shoulder blade. Blood flew out of his mouth as he gasped, hatchet falling to the ground from the shock. Gritting his teeth, the blunet barely kept himself from screaming out in agony.
And, just as quickly as it began, the pain subsided, leaving only a dull ache that permeated every bone in Makoto's body. Collapsing onto his knees, the teen desperately forced air back into his lungs.
"And we're done here". The boy reappeared, wiping invisible dust off his hands, "Oh, looks like you've lost more blood that I thought you would have. Oops, my bad".
With that statement, the adrenaline rush keeping Makoto on his feet wore off and he almost collapsed from the pain he was feeling. There were several long cuts on his body that were draining away precious lifeblood.
"This would be the part where I'd tell you 'to try to stay alive'". The boy vanished mid-sentence, "But I don't think that'll be happening..."
...
"... This time".
Right as midnight struck, they heard it; the sound of something collapsing from the harbor side part of Port Island.
They sprinted out into the alley way only to nearly scream at what they saw.
Hamuko nearly broke her flip phone as she mashed '119'. Yukari ran over to check if Makoto, seemingly drowning in a pool of blood from numerous wounds on his upper body and back, was still alive.
A/N: So that's that. Let me know how this chapter was, as its more in line with how the first chapter was compared to the second.
Edit: So the end of this chapter got changed a bit. The change will be fully realized in the next chapter.