Bandages

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: No ownership of characters, all rights to Kinoshita Sakura-san and whatever publishing and licensing company currently owns Matantei Loki Ragnarok.

Author's note: I haven't written, read, or watched Matantei Loki in about a year. I'm trying to finish up this story to the best of my ability, but I want to apologize in advance for any quality and/or inaccuracies. Check my profile for more excuses.

Clothing and items were strewn across the floor as Mayura finally plugged her phone into the charger. A little melody played as energy flowed into the small electronic device and Mayura flipped it open to check her main screen.

Sure enough, the young boy with the green eyes stared back at her, completely relaxed and accepting of her affection. He had visited her at the hospital, more than once, and she had not recognized him. Was he someone she met in the past few months? She only lost the memories since summer, so he couldn't have been from before.

But, somehow, it didn't feel right. The happiness she showed in the photo was so foreign to Mayura that all she could do was let tears fill her eyes. She so desperately wanted to know. Her breathing became more erratic, her hands didn't know what to do, alternating between flexing in slow spasms and grasping at various things, including her hair, paper clips, and lotion bottles. Thoughts blurred together as Mayura started to pace, treading over the pieces of clothing she dumped out of her suitcase. All different things were tumbling through her mind, like how a washing machine tossed clothes in a whirling mess covered in opaque suds, so you could never get a clear look at what, exactly, was going on inside.

No matter what she tried to do, she couldn't figure out the next step. Without her memories, Mayura did not feel complete. She could have a life, go to school, to work, but it didn't feel like it was her life to live. When she thought of what she did remember, studying and working, it felt wrong. Like it was someone else doing it; like watching a play unfold and she had nothing to do with what happened.

"There must be something else. My life could not have been just this," Mayura lamented, finally slumping down at her desk, resting her body over the tabletop. Reaching for her phone, she saw that there were no messages of any kind. With a frown, she looked at the winter clothes on the floor, then back at her phone. "Where did I go? And with whom?"

If she had gone on a trip, why hadn't she gotten calls from her friends? Maybe they didn't know about her stay at the hospital, but there were no missed calls of any sort. Not very good friends if they went for more than a week without communicating. Then, why did she go on a trip with them? Maybe she saw the people she vacationed with, so that's why they didn't call. But then, why not tell her directly?

"Something fishy is going on here," Mayura went into her call history.

"Loki, ten pm. Loki, nine-forty am. Loki, one-fifteen pm. Loki, six pm."

Scrolling through her list, there were two names, "Papa" and "Loki". Over and over, sometimes multiple times a day. Often only a few minutes, but the late evening calls were longer, half an hour at the longest, and never crossing into the next day.

"Who is Loki?" Mayura looked again at the boy in the picture. "It must be you. But these calls; they're from before the summer. Long before."

Clutching the side of her head, Mayra felt like her mind was peeling apart like how she ripped orange segments apart to eat. Now sympathizing with oranges, Mayura squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that the darkness would relieve her pain.

"Mayura? I'm home," Misao's voice echoed down the hall.

When his daughter didn't answer him, Misao figured she was taking a nap. She was healing from a traumatic event, after all. He tapped on her door lightly before opening it enough to check in on her.

"Mayura!" Misao exclaimed as he took in the mess of the room, which was in a much worse situation than normal, then he saw the excruciating expression dominating his daughter's face. "Mayura, are you alright?"

Finally registering her father's presence, Mayura turned her ruby gaze on Misao, fear replacing pain in her body.

"Why can't I remember him, Papa?"

Misao swallowed back a mixture of emotions: fear, concern, annoyance, frustration. Even without him, the little detective was still hurting his daughter. If Mayura remembered Loki, Misao was not sure how she would feel towards her own father. She did not like it when he kept secrets from her. Keeping her away from someone she clearly cared about would not sit well with her. Misao just needed to decide how to approach everything with the smallest blowback.

"You suffered a severe head injury, my dear. The doctor said some temporary memory loss is normal. And you can still have a normal life, given the way things are now," Misao tried to reassure the now shaking girl. "You've pushed yourself enough today. I'll help clean this up and you can get some sleep. How does that sound?"

Too tired and confused to argue, Mayura nodded to her father's suggestion, but just stood, looking at her phone as her father pushed everything back into the open suitcase and laying out her futon.

"Try to get some rest," Misao patted Mayura on the shoulder softly before leaving her.

In her dazed state, Mayura changed into clean pajamas and climbed into bed. She flipped open her phone and scrolled through her pictures where most of them included the green eyed boy. She was getting sleepy, her eyes feeling like lead, but right as they slid shut, she saw Narugami-kun, his mouth full with food, taunting the boy with a chicken drumstick.

"Narugami-kun," Mayura whispered as she slipped into a dream filled with phantoms standing just beyond her reach.

Sunlight filled the room, a cold and weak light, but it was blinding enough when Mayura snapped awake. She barely had time to yawn before she was pushing on the buttons on her phone to see the picture of Narugami-kun and the boy; to make sure she wasn't making up fantasies.

"Hi, Narugami-kun?" Mayura was whispering in an attempt to go unnoticed by her sleeping father. "It's Daidouji Mayura."

"Daidouji? Why are you calling so early?" the thunder god sounded wide awake and there was a creaking wheel as he biked around delivering newspapers.

"I wanted to talk to you if you have some time available today," Mayura ran a hand through her hair and nearly yelped as she snagged a knot and pulled at her still healing injury. "I would have to inconvenience you and ask that you come to my house. I'm still stuck at home."

"Not a problem," Narugami said as he threw a newspaper onto a doorstep. "I'm working all day, though. I won't be able to stop by until evening."

"That's fine. I'll cook dinner," Mayura offered, hoping that by feeding him, it would somehow even out the inconvenience.

"Yum. I'll be done around seven. So I'll give you a call when I'm off to give you a head's up."

"Thank you, Narugami-kun! I'll talk to you later then."

Narugami sighed after hearing the line die in his ear. With a grumble, he threw another newspaper with more force than necessary, then punched in the number to call the detective agency. Loki might not be awake, but Yamino would already be buzzing around.

"Loki, now, Megane," Narugami tossed another newspaper, letting it sail sadly by his left-handed attempt. "I know he's still asleep, but I just got a call from Daidouji, so I'm pretty sure he's going to want this conversation."

Narugami ended the call; no use in wasting his precious paid minutes so Yamino could wake the sleepy god. There was no way Loki would pass up a conversation about Mayura. Ten minutes and a whole block of newspapers delivered later, a jingle emanated from his pocket and he picked up to a still sleepy, but bravely attempting to pay attention, Loki.

After a quick explanation of his conversation with Mayura, Narugami asked Loki, "So? What do I do?"

On the other end of the line, Loki sat, still garbed in his sleeping clothes, behind his desk. In one hand, he cradled the phone receiver while the other rubbed across his face; attempting to wipe both physical and mental fatigue away.

"Narukami-kun, I would not say this again, even if it restored all my powers and free will, but I trust you to do what you believe is best. If you can be honest and help her as you can, that is all I can ask of you. I hope you can help where I cannot." And before he could change his mind, Loki hung up the phone.

"Lo- he hung up," Narugami sighed. He didn't usually like to over think anything, but this seemed to be different than all the other things in his entire existence. It wasn't everyday your rival friend entrusts the sanity of their girlfriend to you, so Narugami tried to focus on keeping a level head.

It was a very difficult day.

By the time Narugami got to the top of the shrine stairs after a day of work, he had gained a headache that felt like Mjolnir was cracking lightning and thunder through his skull. Physically shaking himself to loosen his muscles, the boy braced himself for whatever may come.

"I am Thor, god of thunder. I fought in Ragnarok and survived. I fear no battle, no one, nothing," Narugami chanted to himself, took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

It didn't take long before he heard footfalls approaching. The door opened to a smiling Mayura who eagerly ushered him inside.

"Dinner is almost ready, so you can go ahead and have a seat," Mayura led the way to the dining room and kitchen.

"Is your father going to join us?" Narugami placed his wooden sword near the door, out of the way of the movement in the room.

"No, Papa is busy tonight. It was a real coincidence actually," Mayura checked on the simmering soup and started to collect some plates.

"And he left you alone? You're still recovering," Narugami took the dishes from her hands and laid the food on the table.

"You sound just like Papa, Narugami-kun," she laughed as she ladled hot soup into bowls. "I'm healthy, so that's okay. Besides, it's not like I'm running around after every mysterious thing I see."

"No, you're not," Narugami concurred. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're doing better. You had us worried for a while."

"Us?" Mayura looked up at her old classmate, confused.

"Uh, I mean, me. You had me worried."

"Narugami-kun," red eyes looked sadly into the god's, but after a moment, she blinked and sat down, releasing the tension. "Let's eat first. You worked hard all day, you should be able to enjoy dinner."

"Itadakimasu, it looks so good," Narugami complimented the girl before digging in. Mayura started eating too, at a dirge-like pace while keeping a close eye on the level of rice in her dinner partner's bowl.

"Uwah, that was delicious. I never knew you were such a good cook," Narugami leaned back and patted his belly, sighing in content.

"Thank you. I used to be really bad, but I'm better at it now," Mayura cleared the table, taking the spotless dishes to the kitchen. "I don't remember why or how I got better. But I think it has to do with this."

Mayura pulled out her phone and showed Narugami one of the many pictures of her and Loki. A muscle twitch at the god's brow set in, his breathing constricted and all he could say was, "Oh?"

"You're here too," Mayura had a grim and determined expression as she scrolled to the next picture; one that included Narugami as well. "Is this boy Loki?"

"Daidouji."

"No, Narugami-kun. I know what the doctor said. But not knowing is hurting me too much. I'm suffering now as it is; I don't want to keep suffering like this anymore. I need to know," her expression was one of pure resolve, one that Narugami did not, would not, test.

"Yes, that is Loki. And he is a very special boy."