Naoki had seen his reflection in mirrors across the vortex world.
He still couldn't get used to seeing his own demonic reflection back at him. The cosplay-like flair of his demon markings he could look past, but the power they carry would always let sink the realization he was no longer human.
Rook, one of the demons summoned by Hikawa, had golden eyes. Though looking closer, hers were more human-like. Nothing like the empty golden orbs Naoki would see when he looks at his eye's reflection. The devils in this new world looked, for the lack of a better word, normal.
They were even hanging around a café a block from the Gremory Large building where they met up. It was a fairly normal looking place with a homely theme. It was a far cry from Nyx's bar, though to be fair it was the only bar Naoki had ever entered in his life.
"A fiend?" Rook asked again.
Forgetting where he was earlier, Naoki instinctively returned the formal greeting with the negotiation manners he learned from conversing with fellow demons in the vortex world. Now he was paying the price of that slip of the tongue. But even as they inquired him, there's no attempt at gaining authority, no silently gauging of each other's magatsuhi concentration, judging each other just in case the worst would happen. Frankly, it was a nice change of pace for Naoki.
But the question was something he wasn't comfortable in answering.
Naoki looked towards Hikawa, thinking he might steer the topic away. But the man was still typing away in his laptop he stored in his metal case. Apparently, he was gathering as much data as he can from the devils he summoned. Their hierarchy, abilities and limits to their power. Though what Rook told him seemed to be the most surface-level of information. She would always say it is 'beyond the terms of the contract' whenever Hikawa asked something worth asking. Regardless, the man was content with the information he was getting. It's either that or he was merely testing the limits of the contract itself.
Him being busy, though, meant Naoki was Rook's target.
"From what I've read. The four Fiends are collectively called 'the four evil creatures of the world'." Rook took his silence as confirmation. "Beings like Taotie are said to be harbingers of disaster."
That got a curious glace from Naoki. Taotie was a fiend? Unless the ones he talked with were collective liars, they would always call themselves part of the Vile race.
"You look like you know this Taotie, Kashima-san?" Bishop asked, always with her earnest tone.
"He does," Rook looked annoyed she wasn't getting anywhere with him. "Or he was openly admitting he was a public fiend. Something along the lines of a pervert."
Was she angry?
"I know a Taotie." He finally said, not quite sure he wanted to be dismissively labeled as a pervert just because he doesn't want to share that he was from a race of demons who are incarnations of death.
"What's he like?" Bishop cocked her head.
"He's fairly good." Naoki tried to remember. "He knows an almighty skill right off the bat so that's already a plus."
"Almighty skill?" Rook asked quizzically.
"Huh?" Did he say something off again?
"Interesting." Hikawa muttered.
"What is?" Naoki took the opportunity in steering away the conversation.
Hikawa turned his laptop towards him. It showed a satellite view of Tokyo, but there are red dots sprawled all over the map.
"There are over twenty messianic churches all around Tokyo and they all have the same overlay network used between each other. The church back then also did the same." Hikawa pointed at one of the dots. "This one, however, is additionally connected to a separate one."
"Overlay network?" Rook asked.
"Simply, a network on top of a network." That gave Hikawa confused glances thrown back at him. "All you need to know is this church in particular is using an overlay network doing online activities separate to the others."
"You make it sound like they're doing something illegal in there."
"Using an overlay network isn't that special." Hikawa admitted. "This one, however, is using the same overlay network being used by particular companies in this city. One of which is the Gremory Large."
Rook and Bishop perked at the mention of the name. Hikawa mentioned the company was a hub for the devils he summoned.
"What are you implying?" Rook said evenly.
"So, demons have their own version of the internet?" Naoki looked at Hikawa like he grew another head. "And you think this branch of the church is secretly hacking them or something?"
"Close enough." Hikawa looked at Rook. "What did you think I was implying?"
"No, nothing." Bishop leaned closer to Rook; Naoki noticed Rook relax slightly after.
"In our contract, you mentioned a give-and-take relationship." Hikawa began typing again. "During the duration of our contract I have only been asking you information. All that information and I have yet to give you anything in return."
"This information is your exchange?" Rook asked.
"And also, us investigating it." Hikawa added. "If it reveals the church's intentions, it would become a boon for your kind."
It looked like it was something that caught Rook's interest. The same couldn't be said with Naoki.
"What's the catch?" Hikawa looked at him evenly, it looked like he wanted Naoki to urge Rook for the deal and not the opposite. But what did he want him to do? He had no thing to do with this fight.
Instead, Naoki did what he wanted to do from the start. "How's that going to help me?"
"I am not doing it without something in return for myself, of course. And if Rook would take the deal my benefit would also become yours." The man, however, recollected himself rather quickly. Had Naoki been a thorn on his side for that long to Hikawa that he already counted on not being sided from the beginning?
"What are your terms?" Rook asked.
"I want an audience with the king of your peerage." Hikawa said simply. Naoki had no idea what the man meant by peerage, but it looked like it was something significant to both Rook and Bishop. They tensed up the moment Hikawa mentioned 'king'.
"How-"
"…did I learn about them?" Hikawa actually smiled slightly. "The church's surface network was easy enough to access, I had done so without trouble in the past already. Slightly tampering through their security wasn't an issue, as well. I, however, needed devils to verify if said information was genuine."
Bishop was trying her hardest in keeping up with the conversation. "So you only summoned us for-"
"That exact reason, yes," Hikawa nodded. "I also wanted to secure a steady stream of information. And someone like a king of a peerage would be a perfect candidate."
"And what's stopping us from taking this information from you directly?" Rook stood up, looking at Hikawa's laptop. The man felt his surroundings getting slightly heavier. "What's stopping us from taking you out right here and dealing with the church by ourselves?"
Hikawa looked at Naoki.
Naoki thought he would signal help. But surprisingly the man gestured him to stand down.
'Like I was planning on doing something.' Naoki snorted, impressed by Hikawa's audacity.
"I am offering my services in return." Hikawa crossed his arms. "If you think accessing the church's network or detecting future anomalies like the one I just shared with you could be done by anyone except me, be my guest. Kill me."
Rook eyed Hikawa and Naoki, trying to gauge them.
'She is doing a poor job in trying to threaten us.' Naoki couldn't help but notice. He'd seen Preta more intimidating than her right now. Or is it because she naturally looked more aloof than intimidating?
"If I am going to say anything about you to our king, we are going to need the information you gathered." Rook said firmly. "Until then, you-"
There was a loud thud, a sound of smashed glass and Bishop suddenly screamed.
Naoki felt his torso getting slightly colder. He looked down and found himself being stabbed through his white-and-blue stripped leather jacket. It looked like a large claw lodged through his sternum. Before he could do anything, Naoki was pulled from where he was sitting out into the streets. The claw's tip was tanged preventing him from being thrown away from whatever was whipping him around. Naoki, still remaining consciousness, looked for his company.
"And here I thought it was somebody worth hunting…" A voice was chatting away below Naoki.
Naoki saw Rook jump out into the sidewalk through a large hole in the café. Bishop was with Hikawa who was busy putting his laptop into his metal case.
"A human, a stray magician and two devils." Naoki stopped whipping around and found himself being raised. "That laptop, was it you who was snooping around our systems?"
Was the monster referring to Hikawa?
Naoki's body was being impaled upwards by a spider's claw, a large one. The spider-looking monster was trampling under a bus, two of its hairy gray legs slowly crushing the bus under its weight. Naoki tried turning his head to the side to see more of the culprit. The only thing he could see notable was the ugliest looking face he had ever seen, and it was the face of the one skewering him. It looked like a bull's head, and it was frowning as it stared at the direction of the café.
"I'll let you bleed to death, human. Just enjoy seeing your friends getting slaughtered in peace…" The monster's coarse voice roared as it looked at him.
Naoki couldn't hear the rest of its monologue; his head was feeling lighter.