- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.

Ah, My Loki-sama!

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Thirty-Seven.

Hel-chan was standing outside the library, with Fenrir in her arms again, waiting for her father and Mayura to exit the now closed place, but only unfamiliar faces came out, some sparing her glances, walking by her to head to the warmth of their homes. She stared at the dimly lit building, still with leftover employees to finish their jobs and return home too, and wondered if the two were seriously hiding out for the ghost.

She sweatdropped and deadpanned, "Ani-ue, do you believe in ghosts?"

'Uh,' he glanced up to her face, 'are you really asking me that, Hel? You're the goddess of the Underworld.'

"I know," she sighed, "I guess we should head inside too."

'Hm, should we give them a few more minutes?'

She arched her brows high on her forehead, and his words finally hit her, causing her to blush.

Mayura had turned around just to bump right in to him, her nose buried in the silkiness of his shirt, a bit of ticklishness from his tie too. She felt his hands pressed against her shoulders, as she lifted her head to meet his eyes, pushing her gently to the wall, and his body meld with hers. His green eyes bored in to hers, his left arm resting on the wall next to her head, as he brought his right hand to her cheek, holding her still, and before she could protest, his lips descended upon her and claimed her.

A sweet and gentle kiss - longer than the innocent one he gave her from the delivery race yet much shorter and less playful than the one from the school festival - that had her yearning for more, and he smiled faintly at her response to him and pulled back to see her half-lidded eyes lost in the moment. The digits of his right hand brushed along her jaw and chin, finally his thumb brushed over her delicious, bottom lip, and he made a hushed tone, his breath intermingling with hers.

She could hear the faintness of footsteps coming their way and snapped out of the trance, blushing and realizing that he had just silenced her with a kiss. She held her breath and watched over his shoulder, every muscle in her body tense at the fear of being caught and probably turned in to the authorities, her father also being involved and notified of her inappropriate acts...

Oh my god! She totally forgot about her father finding out about her after school hobbies, not that she had really been lying to him about her studies. She really did do her homework at Loki's place, and the god was probably more overbearing than her own teachers.

Okay, she could think about that later, but right now, they couldn't be caught!

He seriously couldn't get enough of this mortal girl, watching the various emotions that fluttered across her cute face, and he knew she was worried about getting caught, but he had already handled that. He had casted a cloaking spell over them, and while his eyes were on her, he listened carefully to their surroundings, the sound of footsteps approaching their aisle. As briefly as they came, drifting by their invisible presences, they soon echoed in the other direction.

Her body slackened in relief that the danger - if it could really be called that - had passed by. Now, they just had to wait out for a bit longer, until the building was vacant of all personnel, so that allowed him some more quality time with his favorite mortal.

He rested his chin on the top of her head, the reminder that he still had her within his clutches. Her hands gripped the fabric of his coat tightly, and she tensed up once more and unable to move or make a noise for fear of still being discovered. Neither said a word, not that she could anyway, her mind racking with all sorts of thoughts and feelings, her heart beating like crazy, threatening to jump out of her chest. She immediately shut her eyes, trying to slow her heart rate down, afraid that he could hear it in the awkward silence, but it was completely useless.

Her head subconsciously leaned towards him, resting against his chest, and he pulled her off the wall and to him, securing his arms around her body, cherishing the warmth she offered him. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but she suddenly felt at peace, the way he held her protectively, his hand rubbing the length of her back in comfort, and how she wanted to stay like that forever.

But wasn't that selfish of her?

Having already wished for him to be with her forever, then again, wanting to be by his side forever, and now this wonderful feeling that she had just discovered that went beyond their boundary of just good friends.

As if you emphasize the significance of her epiphany, the lights began to shut off, section by section, leaving them in the darkness with only the opalescent moon through the distant windows as their only source of light. After a few more minutes when the sounds of doors somewhere on the floor closed and locks twisted shut, she finally pushed herself from him, whispering, "Loki-sama is a god..."

"Yes...?"

He wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer, much less give her the obvious agreement that he was a god. She looked up at him, somehow able to discern his green eyes in the darkness, and shook her head, attempting to smile, "Um, we have to find that ghost!"

She brushed his hands from her and started moving to the side, but he was quick to hold her back, demanding in a low, authoritative voice, "Mayura, I at least deserve some explanation for your strange behaviors towards me. I don't understand what's going on... did I do something wrong..." he turned her around to him, motioning with a hand the space between them, "with us?"

Mayura, had been staring at he ground, lifted her face up to him, lips pursed in a thin line, not wanting to tell him, but they had reached this point. "Because Loki-sama is a god," she huffed out, very discouraged, "I can't have these feelings for you! I can't like you!"

Loki froze, his hand still gripping her arm, and stared, speechless at her confession, gradually processing her declaration in his head. He appeared to have understood and smiled, "Why not? I like you too, Mayura."

Okay, as much as the words were pleasant to her ears, it didn't seem like he fully understand the extent of her feelings, and that was probably why it bothered her so much, because she knew he was a tease and enjoyed embarrassing her with hugs and kisses and a touch here and there. That was just how he was with her - and not once with anyone else - and she knew this was the risk of her one-sided affections.

She pulled her arm away from him, sighing, "Nevermind, Loki-sama..."

So she was no longer being all emotional but why did she suddenly turn sour and cold, brushing off his touch like it burned her. She had just confessed her feelings of adoration of him, and he, in turn, felt the same way, so why did it just feel like she just rejected him instead?

Not only was he even more confused, but she was the only female to ever turn him away.

Mayura quickened her steps, wanting to hurry and solve the case so she could just go home, away from Loki and her restless emotions, but it was so dark that all the shelves were practically clones of each other. She made a left and listened carefully for any unusual sounds as she tiptoed along the outer aisle, and nothing appeared strange, but it was eerily quiet.

She jumped, clamping both hands over her mouth, when she heard something fall to the ground a few aisles ahead of her. She took a few seconds before hurrying to the noise and found a pile of books on the ground. She walked up to them and knelt down to pick them up, but she suddenly felt that cold chill and stopped. There was a heavy presence behind her, and with the book tightly gripped in her hands, she spun around and aimed it at the supposed assailant, nearly knocking Loki to the ground instead.

The god stumbled back in surprise, "I know you're upset with me, but did I really deserve that?"

"Loki-sama!" she cried, pointing behind him, where an ominous figure stood, the edges of silhouette blurred with the darkness.

He glanced over his shoulder, not even fazed from the fuzzy apparition, if it was even that because out of impulse, Mayura threw the book in her hand at the being, who got smacked right in the face with it and fell back with a deep, painful groan. She blinked and looked at Loki, "Um, so that wasn't a ghost?"

Loki walked over to the fallen person, just as Hel-chan and Fenrir arrived on the scene, worried and out of breath, explaining, "We heard Mayura-san scream! Are you all right, chichi-ue?"

"Ah," the god replied and motioned a hand towards their supposed ghost, "But I don't think Hodur is."

"Hodur?" Hel-chan knelt down next to the unconscious form and immediately recognized him as the infamous blind god of depression and all things sorrowful, or the little, introvert brother of Baldur. "What is he doing on Midgard?" she wondered aloud, having not seen him for quite a while now.

'Great,' Fenrir sighed, 'We lose Baldur and gain Hodur.'

Mayura walked up to them, asking, "Who is this Hodur? A friend, Hel-chan?"

She nodded, but no one was sure what to do with this god, but it was probably best to get out of the library first before they trigger some sort of alarm.

Minutes later, the group was outside, staring down at the bench that had a sleeping Hodur stretched on it, and discussed what to do with him, since dragging him back to the agency was such a hassle. Mayura was adamant on taking the bus back, which would earn them a lot of questioning looks and a sick Loki in the process, but they couldn't leave Hodur in the streets, on a cold night.

Hel-chan sweatdropped at the bickering between her father and Mayura and felt a certain dread in her stomach at the heated arguments they threw back and forth.

Fenrir rolled his eyes and figured they couldn't stand out there all night, so he hopped on to the bench and smacked the unconscious god's head, giving him another headache, but hell, it worked!

Hodur returned to the living, since he wasn't quite dead (yet?), and having sensed Hel-chan nearby, he threw himself in that direction, intending to glomp her, but caught a surprised Mayura instead, since she was standing right next to the goddess. He tackled her to the ground, and a very angry Loki loomed over him and pulled him off his mortal, growling out, "Hodur, you better have a good explanation for this."

It was terrible to be blind, and even worse to be Hodur.

"Ah! L-Loki-sama!" he trembled, being dropped on the ground again, "I'm so sorry!"

Hel-chan squatted down next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Hodur-sama, why are you on Midgard?"

"Hel-sama!" he cried, "I went to Helheim, and you weren't there! Garmr told me you came here, so I've been looking all over for you! It's been so depressing ever since Baldur-nii-sama returned." So... haunting the library was his way of searching for Hel-chan? Sure, she loved books, but she didn't live in a library!

He hung his head so low and his voice was so racked with agony, that he even brought the whole atmosphere down, "They've been throwing parties to celebrate his return! Everyone comes to see him, talk to him! And I'm, once again, forgotten! Oh! I feel soooo saaaaaaaad!

"Hel-sama! You're my only friend!" he wailed, so loudly that it sent Fenrir, Mayura and Loki away towards the bus stop, and that left Hel-chan to take care of her emotionally distraught and forgotten friend.

She sighed and patted his back, having been used to all his crying and many periods of depression. The poor guy just had low self-esteem issues, and who wouldn't when one lived in the shadows of the ever great and popular mama's boy and papa's favorite that was Baldur - that family sure had a lot of... problems.

"Hodur-sama, why don't you calm down and... treat this trip to Midgard as a vacation."

Hel-chan smiled and helped him to stand up, guiding him towards the others at the bus stop, now that he was just down to sniffling. She was surprised that her father was willing to ride the public transportation despite his weakness. It was getting late, so Loki didn't want to take another two hours to get home by feet. He apparently was avoiding Mayura and her smugness at winning their fight over the method to get home, and Hel-chan had a bad feeling about this...

After observing Mayura and Loki over the next few days, Hel-chan had declared an emergency meeting in Hodur's temporary room at the agency, where said guest was moping by the window while the goddess and her brothers were seated on the floor. She was very worried about their relationship, having once been so close, now distant like a divorced couple, but she didn't know where to start or how to mend this suddenly disconnected bond.

"It must've happened that day at the library," she started. "Chichi-ue and Mayura-san have become distant from each other, but she won't talk to me about it. She's been making excuses not to stop by."

'Daddy's been moping in his office too,' Fenrir groaned, covering his head with his paws, 'He's refused all of the cases at our doorstep! We're gonna be broke soon!'

"Nii-san, you're being overly dramatic," Yamino sweatdropped, even all his mail ordering hadn't even made a dent in Loki's coffer, that was not mentioning his secret stash - how did everyone think the god could afford such a huge, lavish mansion and estate!

Their sister shook her head, "This isn't good. If this continues, there's a chance the wish could nullify itself."

"What?!"

Hodur sighed, heartbrokenly, "If the wills of the people involved are strong enough, it can diminish the bond between them, eventually erasing it from existence, and can never be reversed." He further explained, "It won't be like rebooting the Yggdrasil System either, where a wish could be regranted to the mortal. This would be permanent."

"Oh no," Yamino gasped, "They'll be miserable!"

Fenrir slammed his paws to the ground, 'We have to do something! We need to be a happy family again!'

"Yes, ani-ue! We need a plan!"

Hodur sighed again...

'Daddy, daddy!' Fenrir shouted, a few days later, running in to the gloomy study, 'I wanna go for a walk!' He stood by his father's desk, happily wagging his tail, staring at the god in his chair with a book in his hands, but he doubted the blonde god was actually reading anything. He stood there for another five minutes, deadpanned expression, at his father for staring at the same page, same spot.

'Daddy!' he barked again.

Loki finally looked over to his eldest child, "Fenrir? What is it?"

'It's a nice day for a walk,' the puppy put on his best, cutest eyes ever, and it worked, because fifteen minutes later, he was trotting along the sidewalk, sweatdropping and leading his sullen father to the planned location. Seriously, this plan better work because seeing his father this unhappy bothered him immensely and no one in the Nine Worlds deserved happiness as much as his father did.

He wasn't sure what happened between the god and his mortal, but he knew that only the pink-haired girl could make his father feel all sorts of emotions, and he couldn't let them idiotically throw away what a precious thing they had together.

Ugh, he was glad no one could read his thoughts right now, to hear how sappy and sentimental he was. He was disgusted with himself, but he would do that and drown his revulsion and hopefully happiness with food, after he hooked his father and his girlfriend back up.

"Hel-chan, I'm kind of tired today," Mayura sighed, being pulled down the street by a smiling goddess, unwilling to give up on the girl.

"It's just a quick stop," she spoke softly, trying not to feel hurt, "We haven't been able to spend some time outside of school lately."

Surprise fluttered across the girl's face, and she turned to her friend apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Hel-chan! I didn't realize... Ah, I've been a terrible friend!" She shook her head, upset with herself for being so absorbed in her own problems that she forgot those around her. "Let's go try that new cake!" she shouted and linked their hands together, running down the walkway.

Yamino was pacing back and forth outside the cafe, searching in both directions for any signs of either parties involved, but then he shouldn't be out in the open in the first place since this was a secret plan devised by Loki's three children. He sweatdropped, wondering what sort of punishment they would receive if their father found out about it, but... this was for his sake! Loki's future happiness rested on this encounter.

"Oi Megane!" Narugami poked his head out of the door of the cafe, "You're gonna wear out the welcome mat!"

"Ah Narugami-kun, sorry!" he bowed.

"Don't worry so much. I got things ready here. You said a couple's table in the back for Loki and Daidouji. The best cake and tea and no disturbance!"

So, they got Narugami in on the plan too - what were the odds of his part-time job being at this nice cafe? (Damn, plot convenience.)

"Huh, what's Hodur doing here?" Narugami squinted his eyes across the street at the blind god bumping in to everyone and everything and then apologizing to a mailbox and a lamp post for being a klutz.

Yamino refrained from slapping his forehead, having forgotten the handicapped god was left home alone, and jogged over to Hodur to at least hide him from Loki's and Mayura's eyes and suspicions. It was a good thing there was a bookstore right there, so Yamino dragged the sighing and submissive god in to the shop. He grabbed the nearest magazine about modern homes, even grabbing some random papers for Hodur despite not being able to read it, but they had to pretend that they were reading while keeping an eye across the road.

He finally saw Hel-chan and Mayura, coming from the west, making their way towards the cafe and sighed with relief that things were going smoothly... that was before he saw who was coming from the other direction.

Yamino totally slapped his forehead, because they had forgotten to factor in...

"Yamato Nadeshiko~!" Freyr sang, after skipping happily down the sidewalk, from the east, for no reason at all besides thinking about his pink-haired perfection.

Mayura smiled nervously, "Ah hello, Freyr-sama."

"It must be destiny! For us to meet like this!"

Hel-chan glared and frowned, not that the brunette even bothered to acknowledge her, but she couldn't let this idiot god interrupt their plans, "Excuse us, Freyr-san, but we must be going."

"Oh! Is Yamato Nadeshiko eating here?!" he asked excitedly, and Mayura dumbly nodded, a very bad move, but she wasn't thinking anything of it, "That's great! Freyr wants to eat here too! Let us dine together, Yamato Nadeshiko!"

"Ah... okay...?" Mayura replied with a shrug, really having no problems of another friend joining them.

"NO!" Hel-chan cried then blushed when the two stared at her outburst, "I mean- no way, we better hurry and grab a good table!"

"Right right!" Freyr opened the door like a gentlman and allowed the ladies in first, and Hel-chan had no choice but to enter, every single part of their plan would be thrown out the window now. They bumped in to Narugami, who gave Hel-chan a look of confusion because he saw Mayura with Freyr and not Loki. She just shook her head with a defeated sigh as Freyr bounded over to a booth by the window.

"Ah, Jormungand-sama!" Hodur stiffened, "You seem ill..."

"Just a bit... under the weather."

Anyone would be more than sick at seeing one's father's unofficial girlfriend being seated at a table with an idiot god not worthy of being called a rival.

The god nodded, fanning himself, "It's very hot here in Midgard. I don't know how these mortals deal with it..." He sighed, "I like Niflheim much better... but if Hel-sama thinks I need a vacation, then I'll take it... And besides, she is here too. I'm so lucky to have a best friend like her..."

Yamino didn't mean to be rude, but he had to tune him out to fix this little mishap in their plan. He had to do was call Hel-chan and tell her to lure Freyr away with some excuse, which would get her and the idiot out of the way, and they would have to execute it immediately though. Luckily he had borrowed Loki's phone - that originally was his anyway, but Loki kept it to bug his mortal - without his knowledge, but it wasn't like the blonde god would realize it was missing during his listless days.

Before he could even press a single button on the phone, he was stopped by the sight of Loki and Fenrir coming down the sidewalk, from the east, and in the other direction was... Freya!

Oh gods, how the hell did this happen?!

Notes: Lol, okay I lied... so things aren't going so well between Mayura & Loki, but next chapter will be better? Yes yes! And welcome, Hodur... to hot Midgard! It's the place to be these days! All the cool gods are here! Lol...

Bah, this chapter didn't hit my 4k word goal, but this was a good stopping point. I keep adding and adding to these chapters, pushing the story farther in to more chapters, lol. Anyway, enjoy! My day to write more and more! Spica is coming up soon! *grins* -kuro.