The month is June and the weather is spotty with clouds and misting for Portland, it has been a month since August started working for Yuuko Ichihara. The jobs he has done most times were more often than not mundane. Cleaning, dusting, cooking; more often than not attending to her needs which often involves sake and a few other alcoholic beverages. The times that they have a customer come to the shop is both few and between, yet a lot of the time, quite often to August, curious. His first couple customers in his job where Yuuko involved him are simply the tip of the iceberg for August.
A few days after helping the Jumping Spider Charlie, one customer had come to the shop. At first confused about why she had come to the shop but then inquired to Yuuko about her pinky that she wasn't able to move. Yuuko had given her a ring to wear on her finger to help, her issues unfortunately only got worse as time went on. It became her wrist that she had trouble moving, then her lower arm; as soon as she took the ring off her finger as she was driving; her whole body became unable to move resulting in her driving into a red light. She was declared deceased on the scene amongst the few that were injured in the freak accident at the traffic light with many guessing what caused her to do so. The entire time, August and Yuuko saw the noxious smoke coming off of her finger. August had thought her an unassuming individual to have such smoke come off of her but he had seen plenty of it in his life and he found out soon enough when all three of her boyfriends, that did not know of her dating either of them, were notified was when he figured her out.
A full week after the traffic accident, another customer was brought to the shop by fate's hand. The customer had but a simple wish; to be famous, a name everyone remembers. His wish was of course granted but not in the way he had thought much less wanted. He was on tour for another concert that was going to be bigger than his normal café venue. Unfortunately for him, he was not only not used to the amount of attention he receives but also had been stalked by people he merely called his fans.
Even after the two customers, the shop is in a lot of ways still busy. In a lot of cases, Yuuko always manages to find August something to do, partially for the job and in other parts for her, Maru and Moro, and the Mokonas' entertainment. There were only a few occasions where the shop was truly peacefully silent and still, and those occasions don't for last very long.
Today, after a short drizzle of rain in the early hours of the morning, August has come into the shop with hangover medicine in hand. He strolls over to the room August had first set eyes on her and as soon as he opens the door he sees that Yuuko was sprawled on her couch throne with her long black hair disheveled and a mess with her still wearing her white sleeping robe with a look of pain on her face from the hangover. Maru and Moro were at Yuuko's side, comforting their mistress gently.
"There there Mistress." Moro said as she brought an ice pack to Yuuko's forehead.
"Be strong Mistress." Maru said as she brings a glass of ice water for Yuuko.
He comes closer to Yuuko on her couch. "I thought as much." August said softly. "Seeing you drink as much as you did last night, I'd be surprised if you weren't like this now. I told you to pace yourself."
Yuuko groans in pain with her head pounding and her stomach is aching. "You've any idea how long I was waiting for you to come over? This hurts so much." Yuuko weakly groaned. "I think I may be dying a slow painful death."
"Oh don't be dramatic, you'll live Yuuko." Said August. He holds out the hangover medicine to Yuuko. "Here. I'm not a mind reader but my gut told me to stop by at a Walgreens to pick this up for you."
Yuuko snatches the hangover medicine out of August's hand, opens the bottle and gulps down the medicine. She wanted that pain to go away. As soon as she took the medicine, she gagged a little from the bitter taste of the medicine. "That'll do the trick." Yuuko said happily.
"Here's your water Mistress." Maru said.
Yuuko took the glass of water and drinks it until it is empty, washing out the bitter taste in her mouth. "Much better."
August smiles. "Good to hear. Just don't do that again, Yuuko." He said with annoyed relief.
Yuuko stood up from her couch and stretches her arms upward. Seemingly, the hangover practically disappeared after taking the medicine. "I feel so much better now that I feel the need to go out." Said Yuuko as her red eyes glanced to August.
"Oh? Where to?" August asks.
"Outside, to play baseball." Said Yuuko with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Play ball! Play ball!" Maru and Moro sang cheerfully.
"So we're gonna have a day out of the shop then, eh?" August said as he scratches his head. "I'm good for that… except I suck at baseball. Who else is coming?"
"The Mokonas will be joining us." Yuuko says as the two Mokonas bounced over to August's shoulders.
"We're up for some games!" The White Mokona squeaks her cheer.
"Mokona's good at baseball!" The Black Mokona squeaks his declaration.
August learned in his job that the Mokonas do have names as well as knowing full well that they are a boy and a girl. The White Mokona's name is Soel. The Black Mokona's name is Larg. Despite having the names, they largely prefer to be referred to as Mokona.
August looks at the two of them; he was at first confused then also remembers that they have one-hundred-eight secret skills. Baseball may very well be one such thing they can do as part of it. "Right." August plainly said.
"Maru, Moro. Could you two help me get changed?" Yuuko said as she leaves August's sight for a brief moment as well as Maru and Moro following along to assist their mistress.
A brief moment later with August waiting for Yuuko to come out, she comes out all changed and freshened up for the day. She is dressed in a stylized red long sleeved belly shirt with purple clouds on one sleeve with dark grey pants that show off her long legs that has the purple smoke on the one leg on the same side as the sleeve. Her long black hair was worn in a loose ponytail. She also is wearing high heels making her just slightly taller than August.
August caught himself ogling Yuuko in her more revealing uniform that to him looks rather sporty compared to her more elegant dressing attire. He had seen her strong yet thin build before in other clothes many times before. But not quite with as much skin showing off with her belly and cleavage showing.
She chuckles. "You ready, August?" Yuuko asks as she leans on a wall looking at him with her red eyes and her smile.
Almost being mesmerized again by her beautiful reds, he nods quickly. "I'm ready to go." Said August as his face was turning red. He was handed a bag that contained a bat and baseball inside by Yuuko and wears it on his back. "We driving to where we're going or-"
August was cut off as the sliding door opens to reveal not the hallway but a tunnel of blackness that was making sounds that sent shivers down his spine.
"Or we're going through the magical tunnel of nightmares and eternal blackness to get to where we're going." August sarcastically finishes his sentence after looking at the black hole that now replaced the hallway. He gestures at the black hole both in irritation and fear as he looks at Yuuko. "What the hell is this!?"
"Oh it's nothing too special, just my Aurora pathway." Said Yuuko nonchalantly at first then finished her sentence with enthusiasm and excitement. "Was playing a game one day and came upon this thing of beauty. I knew it would come in handy again! So much quicker this way." The two Mokonas hopped in Yuuko's equally stylized bag excited to go on their trip with Yuuko and August.
"So what you're telling me is that we are walking into the Aurora Pathway to get to where we're going for a casual little baseball game?!" August shouted in confusion.
August immediately got his answer when Yuuko starts walking in through the tunnel, thus leaving August no choice but to come with her through the dark tunnel. He had kept close to Yuuko that entire time not wishing to get lost in the tunnel and for safety. Yuuko turns to Maru and Moro at the edge of the tunnel. "Keep an eye on the shop while we're gone, ok?"
"Bye bye!" Both Maru and Moro chirped as they waved their farewells to the four of them.
Minutes after walking through the Aurora Pathway, the four of them emerged out of the black hole tunnel. As soon as they stepped out, the black hole shrunk and vanished behind them in an instant.
"Winded are you?" Yuuko asks as she looks at August with an amused look on her face.
"I think I just saw the singularity when we were walking through that whole thing." Said August with his heart beating rapidly and pounding in his chest. His eyes were wide from feeling like he could have died in that tunnel.
"You're alive, are you not?" Yuuko asks August.
"I think a few years of my life just vanished walking in that tunnel." August said shakily, still pale as a ghost.
"And now you're being the dramatic one August." Yuuko said before chuckling. "You were holding on to my hand the whole way through wanting to stay by me. Even still, you're holding my hand."
August pauses for a moment and looks and notices that he was holding onto Yuuko's hand the whole time now ensuring that color returns to his face. He promptly lets go not wishing to make things awkward any further between him and her. "Sorry about that."
August looks around after the initial scare of the tunnel and realizes that they are in a park. They were at the outskirts of Portland near a neighborhood. August turns to Yuuko. "Is this where we play this game?" He asks.
"Why else?" Yuuko responded. She sits at a picnic table looking at August as she crosses her legs. The Mokonas hop out of her bag. "It's a nice place to play baseball. Besides, the weather is nice outside, we should enjoy it."
"Well, let's have some fun." August said. "Even though I'm probably gonna get my butt handed to me." August takes the bag off his back, unzips it and had pulls out the baseball mitts, the baseball itself, the last thing he pulled out his eyes widened with both amazement and mild terror. He was muttering to himself just looking at the red metal bat that he has pulled out of the bag. He read the Japanese kanji that was written on the side of it that reads Zan Tekken which in translation reads as either 'Steel Cutting Sword' or 'Executioner's Sword'.
"Oh, that old thing?" Yuuko commented to August regarding the red metal bat. "You recognize it, don't you?"
"I heard a story about this thing being used to slice a laptop in half in one of the reddit posts. I didn't think I would actually see this thing up close!" August responded with mild fear of the bat.
Yuuko laughs seeing August's reaction to the bat she had used long ago. "You don't need to be afraid of it; it's only as dangerous as the wielder intends it to be. Besides it's still in tip top shape to play ball. Anyway, let's get this game going!"
The four of them went to a baseball field near where they were. August opted to be in the pitching position as felt he had a very good throwing arm. The Black Mokona positions himself behind Yuuko as an umpire with Yuuko in the batting position. White Mokona has positioned herself as a catcher in the field.
August looks over to Yuuko in position as batter. He was admittedly still mildly distracted by her choice of clothes as she is in position but shook off his thoughts. "You ready for it?" August asks.
"I am ready, August. Now give it to me. Pitch boy!" Said Yuuko, almost sounding like a dare to August to throw the ball as hard as he can.
"Pitch!" The Black Mokona squeaked loudly.
"Swing batter batter batter! Swing batter!" White Mokona hollers her taunt.
August throws the baseball to Yuuko with all of his might. The ball flew towards the model of a batter with speed as August pitched a fast ball. Yuuko smiles devilishly and swings the bat, hitting the ball making a clang sound of her metal bat sending the ball flying beyond the fence and into the trees and getting stuck in one of them.
The four of them watched the ball go flying into the trees and an audible thunk can be heard as the ball got stuck in the tree. "Uh oh." The Black Mokona uttered.
August turns his head as if uncertain if they were going to continue on with the game. From what he sees, Yuuko and the Black Mokona were still looking in the direction of where the ball is until they looked at him with Yuuko smiling mischievously.
"Good luck with that." Yuuko said while smiling.
"So I'm climbing trees to retrieve balls now am I?" August sarcastically asks.
"Yup." Yuuko and both the Mokonas said in unison.
The four of them went over to the patch of trees that the ball was at. August was silently thanking himself that the trees were Oak trees that he had to climb up to get the ball. As soon as they got to the tree the ball is at, August looks to them after looking up at the height of the tree and seeing the white speck, that is the ball, lodged into the tree that stood rather tall for him.
"You serious?" Augsut asks with irritation in his voice. The response he got was all three of them nodding. August gulps looking back up the tree. He had always been good at climbing trees when he was younger and much less concerned about not getting into a tumble, he had confidence enough climbing trees unless the tree in question was over thirty feet high with smaller branches going further up the tree.
August begins climbing the tree, grasping branches for grip in climbing up the tree. At first it was easy for him as the branches were thick and strong and close to the trunk along with them being lower. As August climbs further up, the branches were getting skinnier and more flexible. He has every mind to watch his footing and grip with the branches on the tree as he has no way of knowing if one or the other can support his weight.
Yuuko and the Mokonas watch from bellow. "Impressive. Try to be careful August." Said Yuuko.
"You don't think I'm being careful?" Augsut shouts down to Yuuko from in the tree. "This tree's just bonkers big!"
"I think he's part monkey being able to climb that tree so good!" The White Mokona squeaked.
"Part squirrel! Look how agile he is!" Black Mokona squeaks back.
"Monkey!"
"Squirrel!"
"Monkey!"
"Squirrel!"
As the two Mokonas argued on what part animal he is, August continues to climb up the tree with what little footing and grip he has left. He reaches to where the ball is. He was amazed at how it was lodged into the bark of the tree. "How hard were you hitting that ball?!" August asks from near the top of the tree.
"Hard enough to have a home run!" Yuuko gives August her answer to him.
"Clearly, this ball looks stuck in the tree! I'm gonna try and pull it out!" August shouts and attempts to pull the ball loose with his free hand with his stomach practically doing somersaults every time the tree swayed in the high air. He keeps tugging and pulling on the ball until with one final tug the ball comes out.
"I got it!" August shouts triumphantly before turning into a scream of utter terror as he slips and tumbles down the tree's branches all the way down to the ground and momentarily blacks out.
Moments later, August slowly opens his eyes with his vision blurred and seeing double. He groaned in pain as he was slowly waking up. His head rests on the grass beneath him. Yuuko and the Mokonas were watching over August when he is waking up seeing their faces over him. "Ow…" August groans quietly.
"You're awake now." Yuuko said nonchalantly albeit hiding her worry and relief. She is smiling at him with her mesmerizing red eyes looking at his brown eyes that now opened up.
His vision slowly adjusts and is back to normal. August couldn't help but feel himself be momentarily hypnotized by Yuuko's beautiful red eyes that stare into his once again, making him smile. August felt more than a few bruises on his body and a few cuts when he fell, but at least he knows he's alright. He holds up the ball triumphantly in the air over himself, and then he weakly drops it on the ground. "Got… your ball." August said weakly.
Yuuko couldn't help but giggle to August's small moment of triumph of getting the ball after such a fall from the tree. Yuuko brushes August's blue bangs off his face looking to see if he has any more cuts. Instead of seeing any cuts, Yuuko sees a crescent shaped scar over his right eye brow. "Now, how did you get that scar?" Yuuko asks.
"Believe it or not… I tripped and fell onto the corner of a step on a stair case as a kid." August said. "It looks cooler than the real story behind it."
"That would explain it." Yuuko said before she chortles. "You alright?"
"Alive." August replies before laughing a little before wincing and holding his chest trying to sooth his pain. He sits up, aching and hurting from the fall but the pain slowly went away as he moved a little more. "No bones broken from all of that. Thank God. How long was I out?"
"Not long, just five minutes." Yuuko answered.
"You fell down like that ball in those machines in the arcade." The Black Mokona squeaks.
"That image must have been burnt into your heads." August said, still sitting up. He still moves his body ever so slightly to check and feel if anywhere else is hurting. His back and ribs hurt and his arms were bruised but he feels like he's ok. He stands up slowly with Yuuko standing up with him making sure he's able to stand on his two feet. He stood for a few seconds and smiles widely to Yuuko and the Mokonas. "Wanna continue our game of baseball?"
Yuuko nods, she's happy to start the game up again for the four of themselves. They've made their way back to the baseball field, with the baseball in hand, ready to have a little more fun on the field.
Unbeknownst to the four of them, they were being watched by someone from a car far enough away to not be taken notice from them. A middle aged man with dark but graying hair in sunglasses with an old style twirl mustache is looking at the group, more specifically Yuuko.
"Is that her?" The driver of the car asks. He has red mahogany hair and blue eyes with a goatee. He is looking at what his passenger is looking at. "Is that her, Silas?"
"That's her alright." Silas responds quietly in his deep voice. "It seems she's found herself a partner."
The driver watches with Silas, curios about her and what their next move is. They watched the baseball game the four of them were playing, casually now after getting the ball back taking the game less seriously.
"Do you want to take action, Silas?" The driver asks. He sees Yuuko strike the ball with the bat with the ball landing on the ground a good distance away. She had scored another homerun.
"No." Silas responded. "We don't want to piss her off. We observe and wait."
"Does she have what you want?" The driver asks.
Silas was silently watching Yuuko in the field playing baseball with August of all people, he recognizes him. "Seems her partner's my old high school student from a while back." He said, his expression hasn't changed but finds his interactions with her rather interesting. "How the hell did you find her?"
"The bluenette?" The driver asks Silas with a raised brow.
"Yes. Him and I had a history together." Silas responded. "We never really saw eye to eye."
The driver hummed processing the information. "Want to take action with him?"
Silas shook his head. "That won't be necessary. The Witch is all we are looking for."
"I see." The driver said. "You never really answered my question from before. Does she have what you want?"
"Yes she does. She most certainly does." Silas answers with a dark smile on his face before taking a sip from a large cup of Mountain Dew through a straw.
The car, the two men were in, drove off away from the baseball field to watch them another day.
The four of them sat at a bench near the baseball field, August was exhausted from the game. Yuuko was sweating a little from the game but kept her composure and looks at August. She lightly and playfully bumps his shoulder with her fist. "You underestimated yourself." Yuuko said as she smiles. "You actually faired alright with a bat."
"Thanks." August responded as he pants. "I still think you got the win for this one, you had most of the homeruns in the game. I managed to get a few homeruns along with a few scores."
"That's because Mistress is a master at baseball. She merely took it easy on you in this game." The Black Mokona squeaks then giggles.
"You don't say!?" August said sarcastically to the Black Mokona.
Yuuko leans her head and stretches her arms and hums. "This game has certainly worked up my appetite. What about you three?" Yuuko said, looking at the Mokonas and August.
"Yeah!" Both the Mokonas cheered as they bounced up and down.
"I'm cooking am I?" August asks Yuuko.
Yuuko shook her head. "Not this time. Today's a casual day for all of us." Yuuko said with a smile with her red eyes looking at August. "What's your feeling's on ice cream?"
August gives Yuuko a smile to the thought. "Nice change of pace." August responded.
"Woohoo! Ice cream!" The White Mokona cheered.
Later on, the four of them were at an ice cream parlor shop. Yuuko and the Mokonas waited patiently for their ice cream to be given to them whilst August was at the register ordering the cold delights.
"I'll take a medium red velvet ice cream, a medium chocolate ice cream, one small cookie's and cream ice cream, and a small mint chocolate chip ice cream." August places his order to the cashier.
"Alright, would that be your order?" A younger high school aged cashier asks.
"Yeah that would be it." August chirps his answer before giving him the card to pay.
"Damn dude!" A slightly older teenager, a couple years out of high school age bursts from behind the younger cashier. "Look at her!"
The two ice cream shop employees were clearly looking at Yuuko whom was paying no mind to the two teens that were ogling her. Yuuko's alluring and revealing appearance was more than they could resist looking at her.
August was at first caught off guard by the worker's shouting, and then he was glaring at the older of the two with a very visible blush on his face. "The hell's the matter with you, never seen a woman before in your life?" August barked.
"Woman?! She's a freaking super model, dude!" The older high school graduate responded excitedly. "She's hot as hell man!"
Yuuko could be heard trying to hold in her snickering. She had almost expected this to go on going out.
"How single are you?!" August barks. By the time the payment was made and his card back along with the four ice cream cones handed to him, he made his way towards Yuuko and the Mokonas. She was still giggling with the Mokonas doing their best stuffed animal impersonation practically passing off as such in her bag. The four of them exited the building, Yuuko still giggling at the scene that just happened that now turned into her laughing.
The younger of the two employees was glaring at the older one a little after they left.
Outside the ice cream shop at a bench, the four of them were enjoying their ice cream. August was still blushing from the interactions from earlier. His red velvet ice cream was all in his mind now as he enjoys it.
Later on, after the four of them went about in the area where they enjoyed the weather and it being night time now, they were back at the shop. Both the Mokonas hopped out of the bag.
"We're home!" Both the Mokonas squeak their cheer.
"Well, this was a fun day. Let's do this again some time when we're not busy doing the usual thing in the shop." August said, somewhat surprised that he enjoyed the day out with Yuuko.
"That'll be quite some time before that happens. But, yeah that was nice." Yuuko responded. "Of course, you have work tomorrow."
"No need to remind me." August said. "So, see you tomorrow then?"
Yuuko smiles at August. "See you tomorrow."
August sets off back to his apartment complex with a smile upon his face reflecting on the day. He wondered why his day was so bright. Then it hit him, the spirits didn't seem to bother him much today much less stalk him in the shadows. The only sour spot in his mind today were simply the people that were commenting on Yuuko acting as if they dated or if he was scoring with her. He'll never know human stupidity but it was outweighed by the baseball game that Yuuko had beaten him in.
He arrives to his apartment complex and enters his apartment. He was counting his lucky stars that none of the spirits that prowled the night take notice of him. But also wondered about why the spirits seem to regard Yuuko so differently. He had pondered a lot with the only conclusion that made sense to him was that she has such considerable power that most of the lower spirits would tremble before her, at least that's what he thought.
August could continue to be lost within his thoughts; his phone vibrated indicating a text message. He looks in his text and sees that it's from Markus. His brow raises when he sees a curious message on his phone.
'There's a dog outside my house.'
