Chapter Fourteen: Elephants in the Room

(Ryoutarou)

It feels like waking up from a dream. A freaking painful dream where I was drowning and being shot over and over again. My hands are grasping at my chest, and I'm sucking in huge, wheezy gulps of air, hyperventilating and spitting up—I don't want to know what all that is.

I see Tohru looming over me, with Teddie, the red monster, and the black snowman all nearby. When I realize my hands are clutching my chest, I pull them away and they're covered in partially-dried blood.

The first time I try to talk, nothing comes out. My throat feels completely raw and I can taste bitter metal in my mouth. I clear my throat and cough until I think I'm going to pass out, but then rasp out a meager "what the crap".

Tohru and Teddie move closer, the small boy looking like he's going to hug me, until Tohru hurls him backwards on his ass. I laugh faintly and cough some more. "Shit."

I'm handed a glass of water.

"Are... Are you okay?" Tohru asks, sounding and looking sincerely concerned.

I nod, then pull up my shirt to check the damage. More closed wounds. Don't know what I expected.

Three gashes cut down my chest and stomach, already almost healed. They look like evidence from a knifing that happened at least six months ago. I can't say anything, only stare dumbly at the fact that all of this happened—in what I'm assuming has been less than a day—and that I'm mostly fine.

God.

This is what those kids have been up to?

This is what so many of Adachi's vicious-looking scars came from? Encounters with monsters?

He called them demons!

And there are two in my living room!

"D-d-dojima-san!" Teddie squeaks, completely unfazed by their presence. "I'm so sorry!" he blubbers and elbows through Tohru to wrap his tiny arms around me this time. I roll my eyes while Tohru looks on angrily.

"Leave him alone! He just got stabbed," Tohru censures.

Teddie is crying, though, so I put an arm around him, shooting the other man a helpless look. Tohru rolls his eyes and says he's going to fetch the others.

Nanako and Kanji rush down the stairs, but my daughter stops dead when she sees the gruesome state of the room and I. Not to mention the beaten, passed-out man crumpled on the floor. Who is he?

"D-dad!" she yips. "What happened?!"

"Ah," I falter. "I don't... Quite know." I glance down at my ruined shirt and all the blood.

"But I'm okay!" I try to reassure her. That's what a parent's supposed to do, though I get the feeling she knows more than me.

"Somebody better friggin' tell me!" Kanji roars, stomping past her to roll over the figure on the floor. Nanako sits on the bottom step, looking unsure.

"Yah!" Kanji screams. "Ho shit you guys! He looks familiar!"

We all peer at the casually-dressed, nondescript man. Nothing about him rings a bell for me.

Tohru steps over and points at his face. "Mole. Left eye," he tells us. "Bratty kid I threw in the TV."

"Huh?" Kanji gasps.

Teddie leans in closer to the man and sniffs the air. "Yeaaaah! How'd you remember?"

"How did you forget?" Tohru snubs the younger boy. "You idiots saved him."

"Yes, we did." Kanji balls his fists, glaring at Tohru. "And you're the one who put him in there. Or did you happily forget that loads of people here hate you?"

"Fuh!" Tohru snorts, folding his arms. "I haven't left the house. Who would know I'm here? It's not like anyone saw me—" His eyes grow wide as he twists to look at the black demon. "Have you seen him before?" Tohru interrogates, narrowing his eyes.

"Hooo?" it replies.

"Time out!" Kanji crosses his arms in an 'X' and stands back up. "Can everybody here see them right now?"

The demon floats over to him. "Hee ho! Anyone can see me right now!"

"You sure leave a lot," Tohru accuses. "Did you show yourself to him?"

It floats back to the kitchen, shimmering out of view. "You needed to reawaken Izanagi, hoo!"

"Jackass!" Tohru screams, thumping the wall.

Kanji finally continues his train of thought, his eyes searching Tohru. "Why is your Izanagi here? And why are there shadows outside the TV?!"

"That can happen," Teddie tells him. "Things are changing."

"He said he couldn't summon him anymore!" Kanji protests, jabbing a finger at Tohru.

Teddie anxiously shoots a look at Tohru, who looks bored at the topic of conversation. "He couldn't before. I don't know what happened."

"I didn't lie~" Tohru jeers.

"You freaking son of a bitch!" Kanji stomps towards him, and I see the tall red one shoot across the room, landing between the two.

"Ooh I wouldn't do that. You can't call yours here, can you, Kanji-kun?" Goddammit—Tohru looks terrifying as he taunts the other man, jaunting around the demon and poking him in the chest.

Kanji gives him a dirty look and walks over to sit at the table. "What now?" he changes the subject.

"We could—" Tohru flicks his eyes to me and mimes something I don't understand.

Apparently the others don't get it either, because they just stare at him.

"Never mind," Tohru grumbles, folding his arms.

The fact that not one of them seems even slightly concerned that that there are demons in the living room, or that I was just stabbed, is making my body numb with shock. I don't trust myself to speak—I don't even think I could yell at them right now. It's just too much.

I look around at each face, stopping with Nanako because she's watching me back. I know that look—It's one of my looks. She's clearly assessing my mental state.

"Dad, why don't you go take a shower and put on some clean clothes?" she carefully asks me.

And for the first time in many, many years, I feel like the child bring sent away from the adult conversation.

Note: Sorry for posting so late today! I had to visit my uncle in the hospital and couldn't edit beforehand : He'll be fine, but it took a long time.

I have been going back and re-editing the old Oretachi chapters, by the way. I've gotten through number seven, and will continue to fix any errors this weekend!

Re-Edited 6/14/17