Chapter 34 - Why Explosion? WHY?
Tokyo, Japan, 2 May 1986
"I am so sorry for not being able to say my thanks to your pet Youkai, Jozuma-kun. If only I could wake up earlier," said the elder Kira from the front seat just as Youjiro-san drives us out of my neighborhood.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Kira-san. I'm sure Aqua already understood that you can't exactly meet her after the sunrise," I said while remembering that after helping cleaning the mess on the living room, Aqua just went into her room to get some sleep, and she said she will start working next night, as she really needs to sleep all day long.
Of course, spending days as a stone pillar might seem to be counted as being asleep, until you realize that she was practically blasted by ultraviolet searchlights for twenty-four days non-stop so much that her skin has a really bad burn.
"I'm sure you could still meet her next time, father, Aqua isn't going anywhere..." said Megumin trying to ensure her dad that it was alright.
"Well, it wasn't too surprising though silly me..." said the elder Kira as he softly chuckled. "Should've known that Youkai and Vampires shouldn't be all that different. Oh, wait... Hahaha..."
"You know a Vampire?" said Megumin while her father seems to fidget about something.
"Dracula, Nosferatu, Kyonshi... I meant why did all the Youkai sleep during the day and awaken at Night, I wonder..." said the old man as he laughed at himself while ruffling Megumin's hair.
...
I must admit the scenery leading to Megumin's hometown of Morioh-cho is rather beautiful, even if what we passed is technically a long hill road lies between plains of flowery grass. It has almost no notable landmarks until we passed an old transmission tower that lies just at the side of the road, as from that point on, we could see the view of a small town lies just underneath the gentle slope of the hills. From what I knew, it was a rural town that was only being developed very recently.
"Just follow the road going through the tunnel until you meet a large crossroad, turn right and follow the sign heading towards the Jozenji Temple. You can't miss the residential area there and drive to the first section. My house is an old Samurai Villa located further down at the Northeast," said the elder Kira, giving directions for Youjiro-san as soon as we see a tunnel that seems to be built across the hills.
"Well, there seems to be traffic congestion in front of us, sir..." said Youjiro-san after we passed the tunnel and see a commotion in front of us.
"It's only 11 AM, why did..." said Megumin's father as he opened the car window and we see that the crowd is apparently looking into something that lies on the side of the road. "Oh... Police? What happened?"
And as we take a better look at things, I do notice that there is a handful of Police being present at the scene.
"Anjuro Katagiri has been found dead several hours ago, his remains were apparently brutally mutilated, as if he was sliced and diced with a sword," said one of the man, as we slowly drive across the crowd.
"He is the worst murderer to ever live here at Morioh, he deserves to die like this!" said a woman, and I just look that apparently nobody is being too bothered with the death of the said man.
"Serial killers like him must die! Killing that beast is not a crime," said someone else who just apparently want to spat at the recently deceased man.
"I heard the killer might be someone from the Yakuza or other or other criminal organization, I heard Anjuro pissed off the wrong guy and they end up sending their own maniac against him!"
We could see the police just laid a plastic sheet over something located inside the bushes, and there are blood splatters visible from the street. I see the elder Kira shuddered as we move past the bloody scene and I didn't blame him, it was pretty much one way to brutally kill a man.
"Isn't that Anjuro Katagiri being the serial murderer mentioned in the news two weeks ago?" I said as I suddenly remember the news about Megumin's hometown that happened just after the news of Dino-Darkness rampaging around Tokyo.
"Well, just a dead serial killer... He deserves it anyway," said Megumin as our car finally moved past the crowd to see the words written by blood located on the wall of a nearby building, which also has some people looking at it, but not as many as the dead body.
It was unusual as the words being written in English, which is kind of unusual, but as I read the message, it definitely gave me a chill.
.
~'Have you seen a man with two right hands?'~
.
What the Fuck?
Why did something that I only have seen from the memory of an American Assassin end up being mentioned here in Japan? At Megumin's hometown, nonetheless?
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
Maybe that was just a freak coincidence then, it can't be, I said to myself while the car has now gone away from the scene and move toward the large crossroad signing the more inhabited part of the town.
...
We arrive at the Kira House in less than ten minutes later, and the first thing I could say about Megumin's House is definitely an old samurai-style villa. It is smaller than mine and more humble in its construction, but considering mine is a freaking Noble Family Manor...
"Onii-sama! I'm home!" said Megumin as she jumps out of the car toward Yoshikage-san, who only ruffled his little sister's hair before moving towards the car and opened the front door for their father to come out.
"Welcome home, father..." said Yoshikage-san as he helped the elder Kira to step out. "Drunk again?"
"Ah... How should I said it, Yoshikage..." said the elder Kira awkwardly while Yoshikage-san helped him to carry the luggage inside the house. "I'll explain to you... But..."
"Again?" I whispered to Megumin, who could only slowly shook her head. "Did your father..."
"He started to drink a lot after mother's death, it's not really affecting his work... yet... but he has been in the situations where onii-sama was forced to bail him out."
"Oh... I hope your father will get better than..." I could only say that as I did not want to delve deep into Kira family problems.
...
"Welcome to our home, Jozuma-kun. I hope you'll enjoy your stay here," said Yoshikage-san as I sat at the side of what I assume must be their dining table. "I already prepared for lunch, only need a little time cooking them. Feel free to read or watch from the TV."
I could only smile and politely nod as Yoshikage-san put four cups of hot tea on the table, before going to the veranda and give one to Youjiro-san, who was there looking at the car. Megumin and her father apparently already went to their respective rooms so...
"May I ask where the bathroom is?" I said as I remember about a certain business that I need to do now.
"Oh, the bathroom is there, just across the courtyard," said Yoshikage-san as he helpfully points out across the small open central courtyard visible here from the living room.
"Arigatou, Yoshikage-san," I said as I politely stand and walks toward the bathroom.
...
As I went out from the bathroom, I could see Megumin already seated near the dining table, and Youjiro-san being currently reading the newspaper on the veranda.
"Well, your home is surprisingly cozy Megumin, everything is meticulously clean and ordered, even I feel guilty for using your toilet over how clean it was."
"Of course it is, what else did you expect..."
"It's a complete opposite of what you have earlier, I mean, the first time I come to your home here, the atmosphere feels welcoming, unlike when I first come to your home back in the Crimson Demon Village, with the oppressive atmosphere and way too cluttered with useless items thrown at random..."
"Don't mention that here!" said Megumin as she pinched my side.
"Awwwkkk... Okay, okay... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I said while looking that Megumin's father just walked out of a room with Yoshikage-san behind him.
"Ah, sorry to keep you waiting, I mean..."
"Onii-sama, father already told you what actually happened last night at Jojo's house, right?" said Megumin while the old man apparently could only look guilty toward his children. "You almost died yesterday!"
It only took me to see that Yoshikage-san raised his eyebrows to deduce that this old man either did not told the whole story or did not talk at all about it.
"Uhm... About that..." said the elder Kira while scratching his bald head and grinned like he was caught doing something naughty. "Drunk accident, or..."
"You drunk and drive? Or..." said Yoshikage-san as he now looking toward his old man with suspicion in his face. "Megumi-chan, could you explain what our old man has done last night at Jozuma-kun's house?"
...
"Oh, so this is the antique arrow you mentioned to me earlier?" said Yoshikage-san as he carefully peeled the tinfoil around the dangerous object in question. "Well, this cost... Two million yen? But you said that you got it from your friend Enya?"
"Well, she is an antique trader, what more I could say..."
"Still, thank you for your wonderful gift, father..." said Yoshikage-san as he exchanged a look with the elder Kira. "I promise to treasure this forever... Father..."
"Just don't let him get near any kind of sharp objects when he's drunk! He almost died yesterday!" said Megumin as she pinched her father's cheek, apparently still furious about what happened last night.
"Ha ha ha... Don't worry too much about that, Megumi-chan. Of course, our father has learned his lesson... Is that right, Father?"
The old man could only wince as Megumin keep pinching his cheek.
*DING*
"Well, that means the Gyuran is done..." said Yoshikage-san as he stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "I hope you like my cooking, Jozuma-kun..."
...
Damn.
I come here expecting the lunch made by Yoshikage-san to be just a simple meal, but much to my surprise, it was closer to something that should be found in a middle-to-high class restaurant. The Roasted Beef tongue cooked in Miso is definitely the best thing I've eaten recently, despite my father ordered dinner from the top-class restaurant yesterday. The Yakimeshi is also good, and so does the seaweed-and-silk-tofu soup... If only we could get a good liquor to get along with...
Oh wait, yesterday's accident, and apparently, because of that, Yoshikage-san only serves hot tea. Not even a drop of beer or something faintly alcoholic in sight.
"You are truly amazing, Yoshikage-san. This... This beef tongue could only be described as... Perfect..."
"Well, I have a lot of time cooking for my family, that's all I can say," said Yoshikage-san with a faint smile on his face. "I copied that from a nearby restaurant that also served the very same Gyutan variant though, it is the specialty of Morioh-cho."
"You want to go sightseeing around Morioh-cho, right, Jozuma-kun?" said the elder Kira as he smiled politely. "It is not summer yet, but I think Megumi-chan could show you the beach. You could do anything there as soon as you return here soon after sunset..."
"REALLY? ANYTHING?!" said Megumin, apparently surprised by how easy her father gave her permission to go with me.
"Well, as long as you don't play with firecrackers again..." said the old man while Megumin stomps her feet in frustration.
"She really lives on being an Explosion maniac, isn't she?"
...
After just a short five minutes car ride from Megumin's house, we arrived at the beach that literally just a short way after the residential area.
"At least your family didn't end up locking us together inside your room like before, ehehe..." I said to Megumin as we walked away from the Parking Lot, where Youjiro-san stayed with the car.
"Oh, so you want for us to be locked together in my room?" said Megumin just before she balled up her fist and launch it toward my head in full force.
*SMACK*
"OUCH!"
"If you want to do perverted things, forget it!" said Megumin as she threatened to turn around and go back to the car.
"I am joking dammit, joking!" I said as I pulled Megumin back toward the path we previously heading to, and she glares at me for a while.
"I started to regret why I carried my swimsuit and change here..."
"Oh, so you want to... Uh... Skinny dipping since there is nothing to hide about?" I said while jokingly pointing towards her flat chest.
*SMACK*
"TRASHZUMA YOU PERVERT!" said Megumin as she hits me again on the head, and I could only run towards the beach to avoid her further wrath.
At least the beach is almost empty, so our little altercation did not get any kind of public attention.
"Hey! Stop it! Stop it! You know that was my kind of joke! Am I right?" I said as Megumin is now pulling my cheeks and kicking on my shin.
"Some things never change, right..." said Megumin with a naughty smile just after she finally think my shin had enough of her kicks. "Jojo, what was that?"
I looked toward the direction she pointed at, and we could see a tall man walking out of the dense tree carrying something at his hand. The first thing I noticed about him is his hairdo, his silver hair seems to be rising directly above his head in a style that reminds me of Paul Phoenix from Tekken. He is definitely taller than me, perhaps almost as tall as Jiji, and from his face, he is definitely not a Japanese. The silver-haired man bared his shoulders, as he only wears a black tube top with one strap over his left shoulder, showing his lean but muscled form for everyone. His trousers are white, and he wears a pair of black leather bracers.
"That looks like a gaijin tourist... Well, this beach is beautiful indeed, maybe he was drawn here for..."
"Not that... Look at what did he carry!" said Megumin as she tries to hide behind me, and what I saw is definitely almost as bad as what we saw earlier during the commotion.
That silver-haired man carried a severed human hand on his hand and almost at the same time, he ends up looking toward us, realizing that he is not alone at this secluded part of the beach...
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
"KYAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Megumin as I immediately picked her up and run away from the silver-haired man. We are going there for a swim, not looking forward to meeting a murderer who is willing to mutilate his victim.
"HEEEY! STOOOP! STOOOP!" said the silver-haired guy in thick-accented English, but I don't like our chances if he somehow managed to catch up with us, so I summoned Whitesnake to spit at the silver-haired guy to slow him down or even incapacitate him.
But much to my surprise, there is a silver blur forming in front of him and Whitesnake's hallucinogenic acid spit ends up not affecting him at all...
Especially not when I could see a silver, slender robotic humanoid clad in a medieval-style armor, yellow eyes with blue pupils looking at us, holding a cup-hilted sword on his hand before twirling it to form a sword salute position.
"RUN MEGUMIN! RUN!" I dropped Megumin and ordered her to start running toward the car. Well, this is bad... Looking at how the silver-armored stand is holding a sword, this guy must be the one who killed someone we see back then at the road.
"You are a stand user?" questioned the silver-haired man in French-accented English as his silver-armored stand twirled the sword back into the ready position. "What a surprise."
"Uh... So... So you are the one who killed the man near that tunnel before!" I said in a panic as the silver-haired man and his stand just walked calmly towards me.
"Aye, that was me... Do you happened to know a man with two right hands?" said the silver-haired man calmly without breaking his stride, and I suddenly noticed that the severed hand he carries is a right hand, after all.
Panicked at how calm this silver-haired man is despite holding a fricking severed right hand, and thinking that this maniac must be someone who cut right hands to fulfill whatever sadistic impulse he has, Whitesnake spat at this man several times, but every time, the silver-armored stand merely swat away the spit with slashes of his sword.
"Non non non non non... Why are you so hostile, monsieur... I just want to..." said the silver-haired man before the silver-armored stand suddenly move to intercept something blue and cat-sized with his sword. "What the..."
"EXPLOSION!" said Megumin so suddenly before that blue tracked thing suddenly clicked and explode with enough force to even thrown me away from the sudden blast.
"WHAT?" I just can't believe what I see when I see Megumin just stand there, apparently also confused as hell, all while at her side, I could see a pink cat-man standing there, wearing black leather gauntlets with humanoid cat skull being visible there, as does a short black leather pants with single, large round of bronze emblem in front of it, also emblazoned by a humanoid cat skull.
"BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA! JOJO! APPARENTLY, I ALSO GOT POWERS LIKE YOURS! YOUR STAND REALLY HAS TRASH AND SCUM WRITTEN ALL OVER HIM!"
I just stood there with Whitesnake as our jaws both dropped to the ground, staring at how the fuck Megumin got a stand at the first place, before realizing that... Well, at least she awakened her stand in time to save me from that silver-haired murderer.
"And your stand is a Cat-MAN! Look at his flat chest!" I just point out the obvious that her stand is apparently male-looking, with the torso being more like a male or an extremely flat girl who is also somewhat muscular at the same time.
"What? It can't be!" said Megumin as yes, she ends up recognized the very obvious point of the usual gender difference. "Why do you must point this little unnecessary fact of this thing, oh my ungrateful-to-be-saved comrade?! Haven't you see the beauty of mine Explosion has returned?!"
I just looking back toward the site of the explosion, and yes, I see a medium-sized crater formed in the sand, and it should be a very messy method to kill someone. But where is that silver-haired guy we saw earlier...?
"To think that I end up meeting two immediately hostile stand users today..." said the silver-haired guy as he stands up, showing his bloodied and singed body, but somehow he managed to stay still standing with the silver-armored stand floating in front of him.
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
"MY NAME IS JEAN-PIERRE POLNAREFF! MY STAND REPRESENTS THE CHARIOT CARD! SILVER CHARIOT! THE SWORDWORK OF MY STAND IS FAST ENOUGH TO CATCH BULLETS OUT OF THE AIR!" said the silver-haired man as he stood with his hand bent and raised upward in front of his chest as if he wants to explain what his stand power is in front of us, while his stand is posing with the sword placed at the salute position straight up in front of his armored face. "TO ATTACK SOMEONE WITHOUT INTRO..."
*PTOOEY*
At least this guy seem to be stupid enough to bother to introduce himself, so much that Whitesnake managed to land his acid spit square onto his eyes, before jumping in to grab his head, but somehow the silver-armored stand of him managed to stab at Whitesnake's arm that it stings even if I managed to partially dodge the incoming stab.
"YOU BASTARD!" said the silver-haired man as his stand tried to slice and stab Whitesnake, but I could notice that he is apparently distracted enough over the acid spit on his face, that Whitesnake managed to dodge most of his sword attacks (the stabs on the arms and sides are still extremely painful). But since his stand apparently has a close-range weapon and my stand is technically unarmed, I immediately realize that closing in to extract his stand in a grapple like usual might be suicide for me, so...
"MEGUMIN! GIVE HIM THE BEST EXPLOSION YOU GOT!" I said as I and Whitesnake run away from the angry silver-haired man and his armored stand.
"Crimson blood poured upon the water, frenzy rage pounding from the heart! The heart collapse in a Sheer Heart Attack! Summon before me the mightiest of my wrath! EXPLOSION!"
Instead of the expected magic circles and all the familiar signs of an Explosion Magic, however, Megumin's pink cat-man stand just formed a big-ass light blue half-ball with tank tracks underneath, and a grinning humanoid cat skull located in front of it.
Of course, due to Megumin also wasting her time by chanting that damned explosion chant, said the silver-haired man apparently recognizes the threat and standing at the ready with his silver-armored stand in front of him. And to his credit, he apparently still tried to stab toward the incoming meter-sized mini-tank that rammed at his armored stand and him with full speed, carrying him away from us and into the sea without even exploding.
That is until Megumin apparently notices her right hand and made a move as if to press a handheld detonation, and I swear that this is the most satisfying 'click' sound we've ever heard for so long.
*CLICK*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!*
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
"HOLY SHIT!" that is all that I could say as the detonation of said cat-skull headed mini-tank caused an explosion on par with Megumin's usual Explosion magic, so much that it caused a meter high tidal wave and sprayed water all around in a large direction.
The silver-haired murderer definitely can't survive an explosion this big...
And yes, before long, the shockwave of said explosion already turned on many car alarm, and from the direction of the town, I could hear the siren of police cars coming toward our position.
"I... Really... Missed... This... Sensation..." said Megumin weakly as she gave me the biggest grin she ever had here, which definitely reminds me of something that will soon happen.
Even worse, the cat-man just fall knee first on the ground before disappearing, and Megumin soon followed suit, but then I realized that I could only blame myself for Megumin expanding all her stand power like that, as I did explicitly give her order to use her 'best explosion'.
"OH SHIT!" I grabbed Megumin's limp body before running towards my car, that is thankfully far enough to be unharmed, even if Youjiro-san is now cowering while sitting on the driver's seat.
"GET BACK TO MEGUMIN'S HOUSE! NOW!"
...
At least we managed to quickly get into Megumin's house without anyone noticing us, even as Yoshikage-san is already going out of the house, as the explosion sound would be still obviously heard from there.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"
"Your sister turned out to awaken her stand, Yoshikage-san! I don't know about it but..."
And as I said that, I looked at the elder Kira, who looked at the limp body of Megumin carried by Whitesnake, and I realized that...
"Is that hers?" said the elder Kira as he points out towards Whitesnake.
"No! It's mine! She is unconscious after... Wait a minute, you could see Whitesnake?" I looked toward the two Kiras, and from both Yoshikage-san and his father, I could see that they are now obviously looking at Whitesnake because they did not mention about Megumin floating in the air or something...
"Stand?" said Yoshikage-san while I am now looking at how he has the very same pink cat-man standing behind him.
"B... Behind you!" I said as Yoshikage-san is now looking toward the identical pink cat-man that Megumin had, and I could see a surprise on his face as he raised his right hand and the pink cat-man do the same.
At least I immediately recognized that this pink cat-man is not Megumin's stand, because it has TWO humanoid cat skull emblems in front of his pants, instead of Megumin's that only have one.
"I... I think we better talk inside while waiting for my sister to wake up... Jozuma-kun," said Yoshikage-san as he quickly moves to close and lock the gate, before immediately went inside the house.
"Oh shit, how should I explain this all over again?"