A/N: kek. I have no idea what I'm doing anymore, tbh.
After slipping on my favorite pair of red skinny jeans and a gray long sleeved shirt, because, you know, even though it's summer in Japan and it's damn hot today, you're cousin was serious about the whole 80% thing, and... where was I? Oh. After tidying myself up, Naoya and I finally went out to confront that shitty demon.
We walked into the kitchen only to find him slumped in a chair, texting someone on his phone.
He glanced up and jumped in over exaggerated shock.
"Whoa, you two are way scary!" The laugh that followed that statement was obviously fake. I crossed my arms.
"Listen, shit head, mind telling us why you pulled that stunt?" I inquired, impatiently tapping my foot on the kitchen tile as I leered at that lavender fashion disaster.
He looked up at the ceiling, as if he really were giving deep though to my question. As if.
A comical grin stretched across his face as he closed his eyes and spoke. "Would you believe me if I said I wanted to get the romance part of the story over and done with quickly?" he asked, the grin starting to look more like an obnoxious smirk. This quickly earned him a kick to the face, proudly delivered by my companion. He whined, falling to the floor, saying he was dying. His irritating charade earned him another blow to the face, that time presented by me.
"Now," it was Naoya's turn to give the demon a menacing glower, "perhaps you can come up with a better excuse. Or, better yet, tell the truth before I bestow upon you another swift kick to the face. Which would you prefer?" He smiled, the hostility simply oozing from his very being, even making me feel a bit uncomfortable.
Loki's demeanor briskly changed from silly coward to high school bully. He stood and walked right in front of Naoya, trying to be intimidating as he loomed over him. I hadn't noticed until then that he was actually quite tall. "Oh, yeah? And what's a weak little human gonna do to me?" He looked abundantly cocky as he taunted my cousin. Naoya snapped. In the blink of an eye, Loki was doubled over in pain on the floor, courtesy of a swift knee to the crotch.
Regardless of the pain, he still managed a smirk, followed by a groan and a, "Well, at least... we got that part of the story... over with..." He then went limp. Had I not been so sympathetic, I would have kicked him again for his ongoing demolition of the fourth wall. This is going to be a long week.
I looked up at my cousin. He looked at me. And I looked at him. And he looked at me. And I looked at him. And he looked at me...
He blinked. "Wanna go shopping?" he asked. I nodded. With that, he stepped over the lifeless corpse, and went into his room.
I crouched down next to the demon, poked him, then decided, yes, he was most likely faking, and will probably be up by the time we leave. Naoya was already back by the time I stood up. I noticed he had his My Little Pony shoulder bag, which seemed to be filled to the brim with something. I looked him in the eye. "I thought we should pass these out to our friends," he explained, pulling out a COMP as I wondered how he was just so damn intuitive.
"Is that a good idea?" I asked. "Giving everyone the power to summon demons sounds a bit... unsafe. What if they get hurt? Then what? Or what if they don't believe us at all?" I wouldn't believe it either if I weren't the main character of this- dammit.
Naoya looked thoughtful, before he gave a simple shrug and said, "Dunno." I stared at him. Sometimes he was so cool, and other times he was plain dumb. I sighed, running my hand through my hair.
Loki, face still on the floor, stirred, lifted his right arm and pointed his index finger upward. I could almost see the lightbulb flicker on above his head. "Mwaybeh I cwould cwonvwince dem." I grabbed Naoya's hand before he could move forward to step on the demon's head. It seemed he was still angry. This is going to be a long week.
Naoya pulled away from my grasp, obviously irked. "Kazu, do you honestly think that would work?"
I could almost see the options appear above his head.
-Of course not.
-I think it would.
-I love you.
-...What do you think?
"...What do you think?" The ambiguous answer is always the best choice. Naoya sighed.
"The ambiguous answer is not always the best choice, Kazu. Think of it this way: if you weren't the protagonist, knew nothing of what was going on in the world, and your close friend suddenly walked up to you and summoned a demon out of a Nintendo 3DS, how would you react?"
...Oh, I get it now. I shifted under his gaze, slightly embarrassed at how I couldn't come to such an easy solution. "I would... totally lose my shit."
He nodded. "Exactly. This idiot's idea sucks, end of that. It would be best to just try to reason with everyone, wouldn't you agree? Besides, even if they don't believe us, they will if they just turn on the COMPs."
That made sense. I wonder...
"Hey, when will we turn our COMPs on? Y'know, to see if they actually worked?" I pondered.
He grinned. "It doesn't matter when, but it would be best if it were in an isolated location."
Loki poked his head up. "Or~! You could do it now and freak everyone out! That'd be fun!" He giggled. Naoya was already out for the kill. I stepped out of the room because, frankly, their 'Tom & Jerry' antics are super funny, but that's a bit too much for just under two hours.
I stepped into my room and shut the door, sighing as I tried to ignore the thumping and shouting. Before we leave, I should probably call Atsuro...
I slipped my phone out of my pocket and tapped the first contact on my list. It rang only once before he picked up.
"Oh hey, Kazu, what's up? Dude, it's been forever since we last talked. What's going on? What's shaking, man? Dude, you'll never guess what happened on the newest episode of Tokyo Ghoul. See, it turns out-!"
"Eheheh, um, yeah, hey, no spoilers please, I haven't watched it yet." More like, I haven't even started on the second season yet. The dress and the llamas and all kind of got me sidetracked... Ahh, memes...~
"Oh, shoot, well, that sucks. Shit goes down, dude. You should totally watch it whenever you get the chance. Anyway, why'd you call me? Something up?" Atsuro sounds so peppy right now, gosh I love him. No homo, bro. No bromo.
"Uh, yeah, 'bout that, you think you could meet Naoya and me at, hmm, say, three o'clock, in front of the 901 building? We need to give you something."
I could imagine his eyes sparkling at this point. "Ooh, what is it?" He was obviously intrigued. I have no idea how I should put this...
"Um, it's a... surprise?" Smooth.
Atsuro laughed. "Hah, exciting. Well, whatever it is, can't wait to see it. This is great timing, actually. I ran into some problems with my coding on that site I'm making."
"Oh, the social site for otakus?"
He was flustered. "Wha- hey, it's not just for 'otakus'! It's for anyone who simply enjoys anime and gaming and want's to talk about their passions with other people!"
I chuckled. "Same thing, isn't it?"
Atsuro was most definitely pouting right now. "Dammit, you've been spending too much time with Yoohoo." I full on laughed at that.
"Ahahah, jeez, sorry~! So, see you at three!" I hung up. It was right then that I noticed I hadn't heard anything from the kitchen for the past few minutes.
I probably shouldn't have left those two alone.
I quickly ran back out of my room. It was quiet, too quiet. I stepped into the eerie kitchen, only to find both the demon pimp and my cousin out cold n the floor. I flailed.
"Whap-wha-what the hell happened here?!" I screamed.
The figures turned their heads up at me in unison. I was terrified.
One of them crawled towards me and gripped my legs. I was fucking petrified.
The figure, turning out to be Naoya, glared up at me with a crazed look on his face as he spoke. "Dammit, Kazuya, are you positive we shouldn't send this ass hat right back to hell? It'd be easy. If I summoned him, I can just as easily send him back to where he came..."
I waved my arms and looked down at him. If he could smell fear, then he would notice that I reeked of it. "N-Naoya, I left for five minutes, at most! What the hell did you two do?!" I screeched.
He slowly rose to his feet, using me as an anchor. "Doesn't matter," he spoke in a quiet voice. "Let's go. I don't want this fucker coming with us." I have no idea what happened, but it's obvious I'll have to keep these two in check during the upcoming week. Naoya currently sounds like a tsundere, honestly. I need to make sure there isn't another romance chapter. Not again. Really, one would naturally assume the two of them had known each other for a long time.
Despite him looking like a crazy wreck, he grabbed his bag, we stepped over Loki, and we left. Right as I stepped out of the door, I bumped into someone.
"Ah, I'm sorry," they said. It was a young man, probably a little older than me, holding a few bags of groceries. He gave me a gentle smile, before a quizzical look grew onto his face. "...Hm? Oh, hey, you're Kazuya-san, right? Naoya-san's little cousin?"
Who is... Oh, yeah, this is...Taketora, isn't it? He lives right next door to Naoya. Even though Naoya's lived here for a while, he only just recently started to actually talk to his neighbors, now that I think about it.
I really wonder what brought upon that change of heart.
I grinned. "Ah, yes! That's me! Good morning, Taketora-san!" I noticed my cousin was now behind me. Normal people would think he's creepy. Thankfully, Taketora knows him well enough to not be surprised by his creepiness.
"Heh, mornin'!" He laughed. "Oh, good morning to you too, Naoya-san." He seemed to have ignored Naoya's ruffled appearance.
He tilted his head upward and replied with a simple, "Yo."
Taketora gave a small wave. "Well, you two look like you're busy, please excuse me! I was just planning to go bake some cupcakes, actually," he lifted the bags slightly, "so I'll bring some over later!" With a smile on his face, he turned and entered his own apartment. Naoya's eyes were ablaze. Cupcakes were his favorite desert.
As we walked out of the building, I told him we were to meet Atsuro in Shibuya at three. I didn't get a response, so I turned to see him staring up at the window of Taketora's place.
"Hey, Naoya." I stopped, causing him to run into me.
"Hmm, what?" Was the curt reply I got.
I placed my hands on my hips. "What's up?" He looked back up at the apartment building.
"I just sure hope I get some cupcakes..." he uttered under his breath, barely audible.
I tilted my head in curiosity. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"
He waved his hands in front of him in innocence. "Oh, nothing. Just me and my disturbed thoughts. You know how it is." Oh, that explains it. I shrugged, and we continued on our way.
We walked in silence. Naoya repeatedly opened his bag, took out a COMP, examined it, and put it back. It wasn't hard to tell that he was pretty eager to turn one on, judging by how pink his face was. We were almost at the 901 when we ran into Yuzu. Well, she ran into us. She was the first to notice us, scurrying up from behind and hugging me.
"Iyaaaa~! Hey, Kazuuuuuu~! I can't believe I ran into you! You barely go out at ALL. We really haven't talked much this summer, have we? Oh, it's just great to see you actually outside and not looking at memes on your phone! Oh, err, hello to you too, Naoya-san." Yuzu and I are really close childhood friends, if I hadn't mentioned that earlier. She doesn't exactly like Naoya, and I don't know why.
For some reason, Naoya looked almost happy to see her. As she continued to hug me, he quickly and uncharacteristically said, in a delighted tone, "Ah, Yuzu, great timing! You're going to see Atsuro, correct?" He pulled two COMPs out of his purse- I mean, bag. A pink one and a blue one. "Here, take these with you. You're going to need them, so don't let get of them!" He handed them to her with an unsettling grin on is face. Yuzu released me from her grasp and begrudgingly accepted the COMPs. She ignored Naoya and turned to face me.
"Hey, Kazu, what are these for?" she questioned, gesturing to the game systems she had just been given. Naoya was now glaring at her. Before I could even get my thoughts straight, my cousin had already grabbed my hand and began dragging me away.
"Ohohoh, they're just little gifts from us to you! Tell Atsuro something's come up, and we can't make it, would you? Have fun, and be cautious when turning those on!" He laughed as he continued pulling me along, his eyes shut as irritation spread across his face. Yuzu was confused, frozen in place as she simply watched us leave. I waved at her and gave her a weak smile as I yelled and told her I'd meet up with her and Atsuro later, she really should be careful, and that she and Atsuro might wanna be together when they turn the COMPs on.
I looked up at Naoya, whose grip loosened once we got some distance away. "Hey, the heck was that about? Where are we going?" He pouted.
"Nowhere in particular. I simply don't like her jumping all over you like that."
Seriously?
I jerked away. "Stop being so obsessive over me. I feel bad for not telling her more about what'll happen..." I really hope she doesn't get hurt.
That bastard that is my cousin smirked. It seemed like he had read my mind when he said, "Oh, she's pretty strong, no? She and Atsuro will me fine. More importantly..." a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes as he pulled a purple COMP covered in My Little Pony stickers out of his bag, "it's time to summon a fucking demon."
He's acting like he hadn't already summoned one.
Outside of the Electric Museum was surprisingly empty, so he simply sat down right where he was standing. He opened it up, only to find it was encrypted.
"Hmm? How are you gonna get past that?" I asked aloud.
He scoffed. "Don't underestimate me, Kazuya. I'm at the top of the, what do you call it, 1337 ladder. My haxor skillz are unbeatable." He cracked his knuckles and pulled his laptop out of his haori. I knew better than to question when and how he got that in there.
He plugged it up to the COMP and began typing furiously. In less than two minutes, the whole encryption had been annihilated. He sighed and fell to the side, obviously disappointed in how easy it was for him to get through that. What a drama queen.
"Too predictable. It's almost like I programmed that myself," he muttered. He lethargically pressed a button and rebooted the system. When the screen came back on, it showed several applications. I couldn't get a good look at it before the screen flashed and went dark, grabbing Naoya's attention as he briskly sat up.
"Decryption confirmed," it stated. "Booting program." A long list of letters and numbers zoomed upwards as the screen continued to flash.
"...Condition green."
"DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM ready to boot."
"Booting DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM." The screen went black.
Another paragraph of text ran by before it said, "Peaceful days died. Let's survive."
The screen flickered once more. Before I knew it, there was a monster in front of the two of us. A demon. It had large, black and purple wings, greenish skin, and wore a tight, matching violet suit. It also had long, blonde hair, that, to be honest, didn't exactly look very stylish. It really clashed. Regardless, the demon looked fucking powerful.
Eventually, it spoke.
"Surprise, bitches. I bet you thought you thought you'd seen the last of me."
