A/N: Bit later than expected, but still two from scratch chapters in a month so that's a record for me. Poll is still up (and will be for two more chapters). Currently in the lead is Raptor Harpy, followed by an 8 way tie for second between Zombina, Manako, Tio, Dopple, Polt, Shark Mermaid, Black Slime, and Other (though no suggestion was given for said other). So get to voting, cause your votes can and likely will matter for who will win as its a close race. Also thanks to Doctor Reid for pointing out I've been spelling Liminal wrong this entire time, and chapter idea is from Mr Beaver's suggestion. Also next chapter may be delayed as I am considering editing the first chapter as it never saw a beta reader (though it may not be delayed).
Disclaimer: Why do I still need to do this, its 4 chapters in, and I still don't own DLWMG.
It was a cold morning, the sun barely poking up on the horizon and the nearby mountains only dragged out how long it would take before the light bringing rays started to heat everything up. Unfortunately, that likely wouldn't help for too long as a stormfront was starting to roll in and a thick cloud layer was rapidly approaching.
Only unfortunate souls were out this early and in this weather, the few people unlucky enough to have jobs that required such an unpleasant morning hour. Too bad for Yamada, he found himself in that category. Normally he'd be asleep right now, for another few hours at least, but instead he was currently cradling a coffee while standing beside a sawhorse that was blocking access to the road behind him.
"Why did they have to do this so early?" Yamada muttered to himself as he took a sip from the cup, warding off the cold better than his jacket seemed to be doing. Apparently some monster girl, a Gigantes, was living in the mountains near here. Unfortunately there was a major development planned on the land she was living on, so they had picked out a new place for her to live.
At first glance, it seemed easy enough. Too bad said Gigantes stood at 34 feet tall, and there was few if any transports that were able to carry something that tall and moved faster than a snail. So they had to walk the Gigantes through the city to get her to her new home. Thus, why Yamada was currently standing out this early in the morning, blocking any traffic from getting in the moving route.
Even worse was that he was relatively far along the Giantes' planned path, so he couldn't even get off early like some of the others in his department, and due to the length of the route, they couldn't spare the manpower to post two people at each barrier. So he was stuck by himself, watching an empty road and just waiting for the morning traffic to ruin his day.
Yamada wasn't the only soul on the road though, in the distance he saw a figure on what looked like an early morning run. Really he had no idea how this figure could stand the weather in the outfit they were wearing. Judging by the cut of it, he figured they were probably female, but it looked impractically cold for the time of day.
With nothing better to do, he watched the runner approaching. He wondered if the girl was going to cut down a side street sooner or later, but instead she continued running toward him until he was able to make out just why she was able to get away with wearing that outfit.
It really didn't come as a surprise to Yamada that the runner was a liminal, what was a surprise though was how she seemed to be totally alone. The woman was covered in short fur, with two large ears that he really should have noticed earlier sticking out of her hair, a tail, and rather unusually large hands, regularly ran this route judging by how nonchalant she looked.
As the woman got closer, he put out a hand and stopped her. "Hey, this route's closed for the day. You can't get through."
"Well damn, this is the route I always run through." The woman said as she slowed to a standstill in front of him, though she didn't really stop, more just bounced from foot to foot as she tried to figure out what to do.
"Always?" Yamada said, raising an eyebrow as the liminal confirmed what he thought. "Should you not have a homestay with you?" He hoped that would be enough of a hint for the girl to bring out her papers.
"Ahh I don't live with a homestay." The woman said, digging into her shorts and pulling out a set of papers. Looking over the documentation, Yamada had to admit he had never seen this kind of form outside of training. She was indeed allowed to stay on her own temporarily, as she was apparently starting up a number of businesses in the area.
Yamada took a minute to make sure the document was all in good order and then handed it back to the liminal, whom the papers had revealed was a Kobold. Weren't they supposed to be little lizard creatures or something? "Well Ms. Polt." No last name, which really threw off Yamada. "As I said, this route is blocked for most of the day. The entire road is actually, so you are going to have to go down a few blocks to the underpass and cross there if you need to reach the other side."
Polt though, didn't seem to be listening, instead she was looking at Yamada's legs for whatever reason, and the bicycle parked nearby. "Ohh, you look like you know fitness! You should stop by my gym, it's going to be for humans and all different kinds of liminals. We're not open yet but we will be soon."
"Heh, I think I get enough exercise as it is. I bike around town all day after all." Yamada replied, somewhat awkwardly. It was hard not to be awkward when an attractive woman was eyeing you up, even if she wasn't human.
Yamada's embarrassment was not helped when, a moment later, Polt reached out and grabbed his arm, more specifically wrapping around his bicep. "Ya, your legs look in pretty good shape, but these arms? I could tell you were scrawny even through your jacket. Though they could be worse, you need to add weights or pushups to your routine."
"Hey, don't just go grabbing people like that!" Yamada exclaimed as he tried, and failed, to pull his arm out of the kobold's surprisingly strong grip. "And I'm plenty strong!" Yamada wasn't sure why he was defending himself to Polt. "My route is like, more than 50 kilometers a day, and I don't need my arms much for my work."
Polt paused for a moment at Yamada's words, though the cop wasn't exactly sure why. "50 kilometers? Well maybe you do get enough cardio in at least." Polt backed off, a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, before her energy came back. "Well regardless, take this coupon. My gym's opening up in a few weeks and that coupon will get you 50% off a six month membership. Now though, I've paused my run for long enough. See you around officer."
With a wave, Polt took off once again, the liminal heading down one of the side streets as she adapted to the closed roadway. Yamada on the other hand just stood there for a few minutes, it wasn't like he had anything better to do, though at the very least the sun had come over the horizon in full and was burning off the morning chill..
Unfortunately the dawn brought another problem with it, and barely an hour later the first of the morning commuters were starting to show up at his barrier. Most of them were reasonable, taking the detour in stride. Not all of them were though, and it was those commuters that were the problem.
"What do you mean the routes closed?!" A man with a well-tailored suit shouted at Yamada from his car window. "I need to go this way to get to work!"
"I'm sorry Sir, but the road is closed due to police business; If you would just head three blocks that way, you can use the underpass to get by."
"And deal with all that traffic? No, you'll let me by officer, or I'll see you fired from your petty excuse for job! The CEO of one of the largest companies in the country isn't going to be held up just because you plebs need to use the road for something."
"I'm sorry Sir, but there are no exceptions to passing through here." Yamada said flatly, unconcerned by the businessman's threats. "Please take the road to the left and go to the underpass."
"Dammit, your boss will be hearing about this!" The businessman said before taking the route he was supposed to. Eventually the traffic started to thin out, and by lunch he was back to standing there by himself.
At the very least he didn't have to wait much longer. Yamada felt the ground vibrate below him with long pauses in between, and, backing up to where the main road crossed the connecter he was blocking, he could see the massive woman slowly plodding her way over.
Around the Gigantes was a whole army of officers and support crew, and he was fairly sure there was a cement layer following behind the giant. He figured that was in case the woman put a hole in the road or something with her sheer weight.
It took another few minutes before the Gigantes finally passed where he was, with one giant stride she moved by and waited to pick a new spot to make her next step to. The officers that followed were going at an equally sedate pace, and Yamada quickly picked out the MON crew among them.
He also noticed a tall liminal out of the rest who was currently eating a sandwich that was well known to him. It took just a moment for Yamada to put together the pieces; This was the woman that had been robbing him of his lunch for nearly a week now! As the tall liminal passed he wasn't able to stop himself calling out. "You!"
The woman, an Oni, paused for a moment, and looked at Yamada. With an innocent look on her face, and still chewing on the sandwich, she pointed at herself and tilted her head. Yamada continued, though with less of a shout in his voice this time. "You're the one that has been buying all the sandwiches and leaving the rest of us without a lunch! You need to stop before the rest of us starve!"
He was exaggerating a bit, but he liked those sandwiches, and it wasn't fair that she kept taking them all. The oni finished her lunch and straightened her incredibly large set of armour. "Ahh, I'm sorry, it's just they're so good! I will leave some for others in the future."
"See that you do." Yamada replied with a nod, pleased with his small victory. A moment later Ms. Smith, whom he hadn't noticed before, cut sharply in. "Well, as much as I don't mind a bit of a distraction from this boring assignment, we need to get moving again Tio." The black haired agent didn't wait for an answer before she started to usher the Oni along.
Once Tio was moving again, Ms. Smith looked over at Yamada and continued. "And can you please not try to slow down this already slow moving job? I've got a whole ton of paperwork back at the office and it only gets worse the longer I'm out here shepherding this group."
"Heh, well I just have been looking to stop her for a while." Yamada said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "But ya, guess I can go home then. Hope the rest of your day isn't too dull,Smith."
His job was done now, he had been told that once the Gigantes had passed he could head off, and a team would come by to take down the barriers. Deciding to use that as a good escape from any potential scolding from the Agent, he quickly jumped on his bike and took off.