Chapter Nine: Monday's Turmoil

Waking up early, Kazuya decided to explore the JP's building and then the area outside. He could never feel completely safe in a place that he didn't know well. This could be proven by the fact that he was unable to sleep much last night. Kazuya's senses were on high alert because of what happened the day before. After living in a war-like environment for several years, his body and mind were trained to protect his self in the smallest of dangers.

Hell and Heaven had no concept of time so even when he stayed there battling God for many, many years, it was only one year in the human world. He didn't age in the slightest. This fact concerned Kazuya. He understood the risks and consequences in becoming the King of Bel, but he still wished to grow old along with his friends. He wanted to experience the happy times, the times of grief, the moments of peace… Kazuya didn't want to stay the same age, while he watched everyone else age older. More specifically, he didn't want to watch all the people he cared about die while he was left all alone.

It was his biggest fear; to be alone. If not for them who stood by his side and supported him, Kazuya would have most probably given up and quit. He would have lost himself in fear and despair. Kazuya was strong for those that needed him and if they were all gone, what reason would he have to remain strong?

With this in mind, Kazuya had shared his thoughts with Naoya. Naoya was the only one that he would allow himself to look vulnerable. He was always by his side, and Kazuya had always confided with him; from his nervousness in entering school for the first time to his problems with his everyday life. Naoya knew every strength and weakness that he had.

"What you desire shouldn't be hard to achieve in a simple sense," Naoya had informed him.

"Even though I'm a demon, will I continue to age?"

"Kazuya, becoming a demon isn't the main thing that would stop your growth. You felt a surge of power when you became the King of Bel, didn't you? At the beginning, that power was still dormant and unused. If it had remained that way, you wouldn't have had to care about it. You would have lived as a human; as though nothing had changed. The more you use your newfound power as the demon overlord, the more you will become as a demon. This includes the reduction of your growth in age. Well, once you're able to use it skillfully, you'll be able to change your appearance to however you wish."

"I don't care about changing my appearance!" Kazuya said, becoming slightly agitated, "I just…"

"…Don't want to watch your friends and family grow old and die?" Naoya finished for him, "that is inevitable."

Kazuya flinched from the harshness of Naoya's words and the curtness of his voice.

Naoya sighed. No matter how many years Kazuya lived and how much darkness he faced, he would still remain the same; innocent and naïve. "I understand your fear of being alone, but you should understand that as the demon king, you can't just cease to exist like all humans do when the time comes. When you do die, you'll eventually be reborn in the demon world with all you memories intact."

"Like Loki?" Kazuya asked. The words 'like you' never left his tongue, but it was understood by both parties. Naoya was, after all, punished by God to continue living countless lives with all his memories.

Naoya frowned at the mention of the human-disguised demon that played a flitting role in the lockdown.

"Yes," Naoya answered, disdain clear in his voice, "no matter how many times you kill him, he will never completely disappear. He will continue to be reborn with all his memories."

A quick look of pain flashed on Kazuya's face before disappearing.

"Kazuya," Naoya warned him, "you can still pretend to live as a human, but you will eventually have to say goodbye. No matter how far away that time is, you should prepare yourself and decide what you are going to do afterwards."

Kazuya couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he had chosen another path; if he had chosen another way to end the lockdown without having to become the King of Bel. But it was foolish to think of such things, he would tell himself repeatedly. He could imagine all that he wanted to, but if he was given the choice to go back in time and relive those moments, he knew that he would still choose to follow Naoya and Kaido and their ambitions.

All that Kazuya could do now was live his remaining days with no regrets and with as much happiness as possible. He would have to brace himself for the grief that he was sure to feel in the future that he was dreading.


Hibiki slept very well despite the countless thoughts that ran through his mind and the impending dangers. The moment that he touched the bed, he was already fast asleep. He supposed that it was normal since the day before had been exhausting and he had used up a lot of energy.

The next morning, he had woken up rather late. Usually, his alarm clock would beep at the exact time as every other day, but then Hibiki remembered where he was. He wasn't in his room. In fact, he wasn't near his house at all.

With the thoughts of his home, his family and the damage that might've been caused, Hibiki quickly took a shower, dressed and got ready for the day. He wondered if it was fine to ask Makoto if she could drive him to his house. He would have to get Daichi too since his house was in the same neighbourhood.

Just when Hibiki was about the exit the room, the door opened and Makoto walked in. Thankfully, he was already prepared before Makoto arrived, but it was still a shock. He was surprised that Makoto would just enter a room that someone was occupying without warning. It would have been much more awkward if he was still in bed or getting dressed. He didn't want to imagine a situation as embarrassing as that.

After calming down a flustered Makoto, she informed him that Daichi was taken to his house with some JP's members. The news made Hibiki nervous and when Makoto left, he went directly to find Daichi. Of course, he had no idea where his best friend was wandering, but Hibiki thought that Daichi must have gone to a place where he could gather his thoughts.

As Hibiki kept walking, he recognized the familiar figure of Kazuya's best friend.

"Atsuro!"

The teen turned around, and smiled widely in recognition, "Yo!"

"Have you already been to your house?" Hibiki asked.

Atsuro looked confused for a second before his face cleared and he answered, "Nope. Neither has Kazuya. We're… uh… not really worried about our houses."

"Really?" Hibiki said, a little dubious. It wasn't hard to imagine Kazuya being so calm about the situation they were in. There was something that was different about him; it was as if he had complete control of his actions and the events around him. Still, Kazuya was a human too, and it was only human to worry about one's family. Atsuro's sentence didn't really convince him, especially with his odd pause.

Atsuro simply nodded in confirmation, "we're actually searching for two of our friends."

"Your friends?" Hibiki repeated.

"Yep! One of them is called Kaido. He has spiked-back, dark pink hair with matching eyes and he wears a black jumpsuit with blue lines on the side. He has sharp features, so he looks a little intimidating."

After a pause, Atsuro continued, "the other is Naoya. He's Kazuya's older cousin and my mentor in computer programming. He has shoulder-length grey hair and blood red eyes. He wears a blue shirt and black pants with getas, and a haori with a green matrix code design."

Hibiki pictured them in his mind and offered to help them out.

Atsuro smiled, "thanks a lot! If you happen to spot them, tell me or Kazuya."

Hibiki nodded before remembering his original objective, "Have you seen Daichi?"

"Huh? Yeah, he's in that direction," Atsuro pointed, "I didn't talk to him because he seemed to want some space by himself…"

Grateful, Hibiki said his goodbye and moved towards the indicated direction.


Despite his intentions of speaking to Daichi, Hibiki ended up consoling Io. She had already visited her home, only to find it devoid of her parents. She was worried about them, and her mind was jumping to the worst conclusions. Hibiki quickly helped her regain her hope by responding to the situation in a more positive light. Since her parents weren't found in her house, then her parents may still be alive.

Once Io was back to her usual self, Hibiki returned to his task of finding Daichi.

Although he was glad to be of help to Io, the talk of her family made him much more nervous than before. He was extremely worried about his parents. They were never there when he most needed them and they expected too much from him, but he always worked hard to impress them and gain their approval. Those small moments when his father would pat his head in praise or when his mother would congratulate him with a short hug always made him happy. He understood – although he didn't like it – that his parents were very busy with work, so he did all he could to lessen that burden for them.

They weren't the best parents he could ask for, but they were all he had and he loved them.

Spotting Daichi, Hibiki unknowingly sped up, eager for any information.

"Hibiki!" Daichi exclaimed, surprised at his appearance. He searched his friends face and it was all too clear at what he wanted. "Sorry, I didn't actually make to our neighbourhood. There was too much debris in our way and there was no other way to get there."

A look of disappointment immediately spread across Hibiki's face, matching the expression that Daichi had. Hibiki wanted to question his friend to make sure he was positive that there was no other way to reach their houses; they could find a way to cross over the debris or…

Looking back at Daichi, he reminded himself that his best friend was feeling just as bad as he was. Besides, it didn't mean that his family was dead or anything.

Hibiki sighed. Still, he would have preferred to have the hard, cruel truth rather than to have false hope in the unknown.

"No worries, Daichi," Hibiki smiled, feeling a little fake, "we'll reach our homes and find our families eventually."

He knew that Daichi knew that he was lying, but Daichi just smiled weakly in return.

"Besides," Hibiki said, an idea rolling around in his head, "I ran into Io on the way. She couldn't find her family either."

At the name of their school idol, Daichi perked up, "Io?"

Hibiki smiled again, this time for real. Leave it to Daichi to regain his energy from the mention of a cute girl. Hibiki wondered briefly if Daichi had a crush on her.

"Yeah. We have to believe that our families are safe."


Kazuya and Atsuro had been discussing the similarities of this world and theirs' as they walked from place to place when they encountered Makoto being surrounded by demons and their tamers.

She was surprised to see them, but relieved to a certain extent as well.

"Minegishi, Kihara! Don't let them escape! They're abusing the summoning app!"

The demon tamers immediately made a run for it when they realized that they had no chance. Kazuya moved at the same moment, easily overtaking them and blocking their escape while simultaneously summoning his demon.

Atsuro, on the other hand, assisted Makoto in destroying the demons that were summoned into the area.

With the three of them – experienced fighters – the battle ended quickly and the demon tamers were subdued. Makoto destroyed their phones and warned them once again before releasing them. The three of them left quickly, wanting to shout out words of revenge but decided not to in case they would be further punished.

Once they were gone from her sight, Makoto turned to the two boys, "you're both quite impressive. It takes skill to use demons efficiently."

"We encountered many demons yesterday," Kazuya responded without hesitation.

Makoto stared at the two of them before smiling, "I see. In truth, you two were the most suspicious. As an organization belonging to the government, we make sure to research on each individual to make sure that they're trustworthy. We had a hard time searching for you two in our database. Information was scarce so we've had our doubts."

Kazuya and Atsuro remained silent. There shouldn't have been any information on them, as they came from a different world. They shouldn't even exist in this world. This could only mean that someone hacked into JP's server to input their information. Since the person needed to be either skilled in technology or inhuman, there were only two possibilities; Naoya or the unknown identity from Nicaea.

"I won't question you," Makoto assured them, "I trust you both, and I believe that the Chief shares a similar opinion since you haven't been forced to leave yet."

Atsuro looked at Kazuya; it was his decision to make.

Kazuya gave a small sigh and smiled, "… it's complicated."

He wasn't joking when he said that. How could he explain the fact that they came from another world that experienced their own ordeal from God? Plus the fact that he became the King of Bel, which meant that he ruled over all demons as a demon himself? What about their reason for coming here: to find and kill God? Then there was the complicated past between Naoya and himself, all written down in the Holy Bible.

Kazuya would rather not explain anything without consulting Naoya. Naoya had always been better at explaining things, especially when he would have the opposite party at the palm of his hand while he manipulated them to do what he wanted. At that thought, Kazuya recalled the way Naoya stretched the deadline for the final option, obtaining more time for them to end to lockdown. He still felt a little bad for Commander Fushimi and Captain Izuna.

Makoto took that reasoning without a word and moved on to her next business.

"Well then," Makoto said, "I've been ordered to inform you both of two things. The first is that the Chief connected your phones to JP's, so you'll be able to contact the others who are also connected. Secondly, he requests your presence back at the Diet Building for a meeting. It's about time, so let's head over there now."

As they walked towards their destination, Makoto explained the operations of JP's and answered their questions as detailed as possible without revealing any confidential information.


A/N: I used two Japanese words in this chapter, so I'll be putting down their meanings. I'm not expecting to use anymore Japanese words in future chapters, though.

Geta: Traditional wooden sandals

Haori: A light-weight coat