Disclaimer: I don't own Hololive, all rights to the owners.
Small problem with Calli's chapter being the second: there's no way I'm going to top it. Calli's chapter will be the best chapter of this collection without question, because Calli's chapter concept was just a stronger version of Ame's.
That said, I totally lied about this chapter being shorter than Calli's. There's no way this is going to be 5000 words.
Additionally, I can't match the tone of the first two chapters with Gura. I might be able to pull it off for Kiara and Ina, but Gura is difficult in the context of this collection because she's the one character I don't imagine having actually studied demon shit or chosen it as her profession. This chapter is probably going to be non-standard for this collection by necessity of it being Gura, but also because Ina as a demon is my one chance to do something really different with the demon as well.
Gura could cry looking at the monumental waste of time she's created on the floor of her one-room apartment. There's no way a pen-ink circle and glyphs, 'idols' made of scrap wood with pictures drawn on them, and candles colored purple with marker are actually going to succeed in summoning a demon.
Yet, with her stomach growling from its third day without food, Gura kneels in the protection circle and starts the rite anyway.
"Y-You who are beyond, heed my call…"
She's had the tome for a long time. It's the only thing she managed to scavenge from the ruins of her hometown after the waves stole everything else away. She found it in a collapsed building, sitting in the perfect center like it was waiting for her. The pages were undamaged, and the cover pristine. Gura never actually intended to use it. The book was merely a strange keepsake of her home.
"Appear before me in pleasing form…"
Using the tome was a decision she came to after she ran out of money a week ago and still couldn't find another job. It was a decision born of desperation. She looked up glyphs on Wikipedia and drew them on scrap pieces of paper for reference, she stole the markers and pens and shoplifted the candles, and now she's trying to summon a demon in the vague hope it can steal her enough food or money to last the winter.
That's assuming her dozen major fuckups doesn't get her killed outright if the ritual somehow succeeds. She doesn't know anything about demon summoning, but she has a feeling this tome isn't exactly intended for a beginner given it didn't bother to explain any of its terms.
"By my command, appear!" Gura rasps through a weak voice. "I order you, appear!"
The wind howls outside as Gura waits. The candles flicker, more likely from a draft than any magical force, and the floorboards creak under her anxiously shifting weight.
Ten long seconds stretch past, and Gura wilts. Tears threaten to spill out of her eyes. Did she really think she could call upon an otherworldly force with pens and markers and wood scraps? The ritual called for squid ink and idols of specific wood carved in the shape of tentacles and candles that burn purple, not whatever bad parody of those items she managed to scrounge up.
She's just about to step out of the circle when her candles abruptly snuff out and her lightbulb shuts off. Gura yelps as she's dunked into unnatural darkness. A few seconds later the candles relight with dark purple fire, revealing that the restraining circle across from her is now occupied.
The demon looks deceptively human. She looks like a thin, soft-featured girl with long purple hair that goes down to her knees, and an outfit that is half stripper half fantasy cultist with a short black dress that has orange and purple accents, a single thigh-high white stocking), a single shoulder-length white glove (on the same side of her body as the stocking), five centimeter platform shoes, a headband made of five orange diamonds, and a black choker with white fluff on the sides.
That's where her human traits end. The bangs next to the demon's face end as orange-tipped tentacles, and she has two little flaps on the top of her head that clearly aren't hair. She also has pointed ears like an elf, and just to top it all off, she has eight other tentacles as thick as Gura's torso sprouting out of her back that could probably reach across the whole room if fully extended.
The demon's eyes are closed. She's smiling serenely with her hands steepled in front of her. Gura would be less terrified to see a ten foot tall red-skinned archdemon with horns.
Gura stares for a few seconds, and then remembers that she's probably supposed to say or do something. A contract, right? Isn't she supposed to make a contract? She never thought about the wording. Uhh, isn't she supposed to make this super specific? Isn't she supposed to offer the demon something in return?
"A- uh- hey, I- wait no, I'm supposed-" she's supposed to be serious and in charge, focus Gura, "Erm, beware demon! For I am your mast- uh- summoner, and I request- no, demand a contract!"
If anything the demon seems to smile even more. Her voice is soft, barely a whisper, and has an echo like two or three versions of herself are talking at once. "You do, do you?"
"Yes!"
"I see." The demon steps forward, effortlessly crossing the border of the restraining circle that was supposed to keep her in place. Gura's lungs seize up, and she's glad she's kneeling because her legs would probably give out otherwise. "And what would you request of me?"
"Uh- uh-" Gura stammers in terror. She doesn't know a lot of things about demon summoning, but she knows the demon isn't supposed to leave it's circle like that. Her heart races and her hands have gone clammy and numb. What is she supposed to say? Does it even matter at this point? "I-I-"
The demon takes another step, stopping just in front of Gura's protection circle. To Gura's horror, the demon calmly leans over the border of the circle like it doesn't exist, planting her face maybe half a dozen centimeters away from Gura's.
Words aren't coming out of Gura's mouth. She just stares in wide-eyed fear as the demon watches her through closed eyes. Tentacles slowly curl and twist behind the demon like they have their own minds.
What is Gura supposed to say? "I summoned you because I was hungry"? That feels like a pathetic reason now that she's staring death in the face.
"Hmm…" The demon hums. Her hands reach forward, and slim, soft fingers slide along Gura's jaw and hold her head in place. The demon slowly opens her eyes, revealing two pits with slow-moving clouds of purple and pink and orange against a black backdrop. It's like staring into the void of space. The only thing that indicates Gura isn't actually looking into the stars are the two tiny white pinpricks she thinks might function as the demon's pupils. In a voice that's so soft yet commanding in the absolute sense, the demon whispers: "Now, tell me what you want."
"I'm hungry." Gura whimpers. The words are pulled out of her throat so naturally she almost doesn't realize she's being forced to speak. Her eyes remain locked on the stellar void in the demon's eyes, unable to look away. "I haven't eaten in three days, I don't have money for rent next week, I need help."
"I see." The demon whispers. Her thumb strokes Gura's cheek, and Gura's throat goes dry. She's so dead. The demon just casually walked through all the protective circles like they were nothing and touched her. She must have done something wrong. She must have done everything wrong. She's so fucking dead. "Such an unfortunate fate for such a cute girl…"
Gura swallows.
"You called the right demon." The demon murmurs. The entrancing eyes close, and Gura is released from the spell. She starts trembling in the demon's grasp. "No need to be afraid. You called me for help, didn't you?"
Yeah, but she was under the impression she'd be able to control the demon she summoned. Summoning a demon is already illegal unless you have a license, and you're directly responsible for any and all damage they inflict beyond that as well. Not knowing what sort of demon you were going to summon is no defense in the eyes of the law.
"Stay here." The demon whispers. She releases Gura's face, and the girl curls in on herself out of terror. "I'll be back."
The demon strides out of the room, not even flinching at the edge of the main summoning circle, and the door to the apartment snaps shut a second later. Gura stares at the closed door, wondering if everything that just happened was some weird fever dream.
The demon returns two hours later escorted by a man Gura has never seen who drops two boxes (which together are as tall as Gura) in the corner of the room, hands Gura five hundred pounds in bills, and leaves without saying a word.
Gura curls up in her bed and quietly has a panic attack while the demon casually uses her tentacles to pull food out of the boxes and put them away in Gura's cupboards.
###
Gura doesn't recall falling asleep, but she wakes up to the smell of bacon. She is not ready for the adrenaline spike that comes with seeing the demon standing at the stove making breakfast. Her stovetop has purplish flames coming out of it too, which is a bit concerning.
She was desperately hoping that summoning a demon was all a bad dream.
Her stomach disagrees. The successful summoning means she now has food. She also has a potential lifelong prison sentence if anyone figures out she summoned a demon, but stomachs don't tend to take those things into account.
As she stands up, Gura can see the summoning circle she made on the floor last night is totally gone. There is no sign of the candles or idols she used in the ritual, and the actual circles made in marker are scrubbed clean. In fact, most of the apartment looks scrubbed clean. The floor is shinier than it's ever been, as are the walls and counters and even the ceiling. Nothing else has been moved, but clearly the demon has had her fingers (or tentacles) on everything at some point in the last…
...twelve hours? Gura slept for that long? So much for getting an early start on handing out her resume today. Granted, she has bigger issues at the moment, like a demon.
"Breakfast will be ready in a minute." The demon whispers. Despite being across the room, Gura can hear her voice as if the demon is speaking directly into her ear.
"It's probably poisoned." Gura thinks immediately. "She's a demon with a summoner, she needs me dead to be free."
Yet, when the demon sets the food down in front of her, Gura is too hungry to turn it down. She desperately shovels the food into her mouth like someone who hasn't eaten in days (which, to be fair, she hasn't).
The demon also eats. She sits across the table and uses a fork and knife to eat bacon and eggs and toast while Gura uses her hands, and Gura feels a flush of embarrassment. She's never been bothered about using her fingers to eat in her own apartment before, but sitting across from someone as fancy and pretty as the demon makes her feel like she lacks basic manners.
Which is absurd, considering this is a demon Gura is thinking about. She shouldn't be worried about manners around a demon, right?
"Wait, no, I need to be polite to her." Gura realizes, and swallows a large chunk of egg. "Maybe she doesn't see me as a threat right now. I'm some random dumb human who summoned her with a half-assed ritual with no safety precautions. Maybe she thinks I'm useful. That sounds like something a demon would do. I'm her first pawn."
Assuming she doesn't keel over in the next ten minutes from poisoning that is.
(She doesn't.)
"I suppose-" The demon says, after the food is done. Her tentacles take away the plates and utensils even as she's talking. "-that an introduction is in order, yes? I am Ina'nis Ninomae, a priestess of the Ancient Ones. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Gura Gawr."
"U-Uh, yeah." Gura stammers. She extends her hand, then quickly retracts it upon remembering that she just used it to eat. Yep, she's doing a great job at not making a fool of herself. "N-Nice to meet you too." She says while desperately glancing around for a napkin.
To her mortification, one of Ina's tentacles hands her a napkin a moment later. Gura wipes her hands down and extends one towards Ina, which the demon takes. Ina's hands are soft and delicate, and Gura wonders how strong the demon actually is. Could Ina break Gura's hand right now if she wanted to? And what about those eyes? Does Ina have some sort of mind control, or was Gura actually not compelled to speak yesterday and it only felt like she was being compelled?
Gura is freaking herself out just thinking about the possibilities.
"Now, it is my understanding that we are in Britain, yes?" Ina murmurs, and steeples her hands on the table.
"Uh, yeah. The UK, England, west side." Gura stammers.
"I see…" Ina hums. "Much has changed since my last summoning it would seem. Humans were not using metal on their roofs last I remember, and your streets have strange machines on them now rather than horses."
Oh. Oh. Oh she's old. Holy shit Ina is old. "Those are called cars."
"Cars." Ina murmurs, testing out the word. "How fascinating. How do they work?"
"Gas and sometimes electricity." Gura says. "I don't actually know all that much about them."
"Humu humu, I see." Ina says. "I suppose I will need to do my own research then."
"I don't have a computer, so you'll have to find some other source."
Ina tilts her head. It might be cute if all Ina's tentacles didn't sway and twist in sync with Ina's head like the world's most disturbing peacock feathers. "What is a computer?"
"...I'm going to be explaining almost everything I know today, aren't I?" Gura realizes belatedly.
(Yes, yes she is.)
It's almost noon and Gura has been trying to explain electricity for ten minutes by the time Gura remembers she planned to hand out resumes today. Of course, when she says "uh, I have to do something" Ina replies with "can I come?" and Gura is too worried about leaving the demon alone to say no.
So that's why Gura is walking down the street holding a stack of papers while Ina walks primly beside her. Gura is bundled up for the cold of winter, but Ina hasn't changed and seems unbothered by the subzero temperatures despite her skimpy outfit.
At least the demon has put her tentacles away. They just sorta vanish as soon as Ina walks out of the apartment, though her head flaps and squishy-looking hair remain.
Ina stays one step behind Gura as they walk, and Gura's mind is racing. Is Ina trying to distract her by being at the edge of her vision? Is she waiting to stab Gura in the back when she's distracted? Is she trying to technically stay in vision to reassure her while doing something behind her back?
"What exactly is it you have to do?" Ina asks, and Gura stiffens in surprise. Somehow she didn't expect Ina to speak.
"I…" Can a demon take advantage of her giving our resumes? Is it a good idea to tell Ina that? Gura can't say nothing, she doesn't want to annoy her, but what if Ina messes with her resumes somehow? What if Ina has, uh… well… writing magic? Yeah, she looks like a squid or something, what if she can manipulate ink and makes Gura's resumes say "this girl is a big loser! Don't hire her!"? That might happen!
(Not that her resume is particularly impressive as-is, but still. Gura doesn't want her already slim chances squandered any further.)
"I'm looking for jobs." Gura says. That's the truth after all. She doesn't have to talk about her resume.
"Why?"
"Because I don't have one."
"Why?"
Gura grits her teeth and refuses to look at the demon. Ina has to be doing this intentionally. "I got laid off."
"Aaah." Ina murmurs, as if Gura just told her that she likes dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. "That is unfortunate."
Now Ina is just mocking her.
"To be clear, 'laid off' is a euphemism for being relieved from service, yes?"
Yep, Ina is definitely mocking her. "'Relieved from service' makes it sound polite and formal. I got an email the day of and no advance notice."
"I see." Ina murmurs.
Good, now she can stop-
"What is an email?"
Gura smacks her stack of papers into her face and groans.
After attempting and mostly failing to explain to Ina what email, and then electricity, is, Gura just gives up and brings her to the library so she can mess with a computer for herself. The demon joyfully plays with the mouse and keyboard, and watches the screen through closed eyes (she hasn't opened her eyes since she maybe forced Gura to speak and somehow she can still see) as a video plays.
The girl working at the front desk watches them with obvious curiosity, and raises an eyebrow at Gura when she happens to look her way. The look is a mix of 'where did you find a hot girl like that?' combined with 'is she some sort of hermit who has never seen a lightbulb?' and it really doesn't help that Gura sees this worker basically every day and she knows she'll have some questions directed her way the next time she comes back without Ina.
Or maybe not. She's never actually talked to the library worker beyond checking out books. Gura is the random dirty stranger that comes here daily because she can't afford her own computer or phone to check emails. The worker probably wouldn't want to talk to her anyways.
Gura is in the process of explaining Google to Ina when it occurs to her that giving a powerful demon access to unlimited information is just about the single most irresponsible thing she could possibly do.
But she can't just stop in the middle of her sentence, right? And Ina would have figured it out eventually, right? Besides, Ina looks very impressed and grateful, and she needs to stay in Ina's good graces.
"You can look up anything." Gura explains, and types 'cars' into the search bar (remembering how Ina didn't know what they were). She frowns when the film is the first result, and instead types 'how do cars work?' and gets much more helpful results. "Just keep in mind that everything on these sites was written by someone, and that 'someone' 'ain't always the most reliable source. Certain sites are more reliable than others. Wikipedia is great if you need a basic overview, but if you wanna go in-detail for anything you're probably gonna need other sources."
"I see." Ina murmurs. Her eyes flick over the screen, absorbing all the colored letters. "Is this Wikipedia?"
"No, this is the Google results page."
"How is that different from just Google?"
How is she supposed to explain Google and webpages to someone who didn't know what electricity was until an hour ago?
After almost an hour of trying and failing to convey what Google is to Ina, Gura eventually has them move on. She has resumes to give out. She has Ina wait outside a fast food place while she goes in to hand her resume over (despite the polite but annoyed smile the manager gives her, like he really doesn't want to deal with this shit right now), and then meekly orders two meals at the cash because it's noon and she's really hungry.
It's been a long time since she's been able to afford fast food honestly. Her budget is usually so tight she can only afford cheap groceries and nothing else. She tries not to let it show to Ina how much being able to buy this stupid cheap meal actually means for her. She doesn't need the demon thinking she's any more pathetic than she already looks.
(Also, Ina gave her a nice home-cooked meal for breakfast, and she's repaying Ina with fast food. Gura's parents would be so disappointed.)
That's the pattern for the rest of the day: go somewhere, spend an hour explaining something to Ina, give out a resume or two, repeat. Every small motion Ina makes out of the corner of Gura's eye has her on edge, and Gura nearly has a panic attack when she steps out of an office and Ina isn't there. The demon is only a dozen meters away looking through the window of a bookstore, but Gura is half convinced Ina killed someone and buried the body while she wasn't looking.
Gura almost has a second panic attack when they get stopped in the street by a tall, middle-aged man in a suit.
"Pardon me." The man says, addressing Ina. He has a peculiar accent where every syllable is heavily enunciated and distinct. "But are you Lady Ninomae?"
Ina nods her head. "I am."
Gura glances rapidly between the two of them. How does this man recognize Ina? Did Ina do something yesterday that Gura isn't aware of?
"It is an honor to meet you, Priestess." The man says, and bows. "My grandparents used to speak about their own grandparents who used to follow you most devoutly. I did not think the day would come in my lifetime when you would be seen again."
Gura silently comes to the realization that she is in way over her head. That feeling is only amplified when the man casually hands Ina a two thousand pound check 'for new foundations' and Gura thinks she's about to have a heart attack.
###
It takes a week. A week of walking around town with Ina, poking their heads into different stores and restaurants and attempting to (and mostly failing to) explain everything as the priestess asks question after question. A week of getting stopped in the street by random people who recognize Ina for no apparent reason and drop money and pledges of allegiance in her lap like candy.
A week of Ina buying random things and slowly renovating Gura's apartment with a second bed (that Ina doesn't seem to need because Gura has never seen the demon sleep), new blankets, a better stove, nice chairs, an actual bed frame for Gura's mattress, a new mattress for Gura's bed because the one she was using was twenty-five years old and used to belong to someone else, a carpet for the cold wood floor, a heater, a new fridge-
Look, Ina bought a lot of stuff in the one week it took Gura to finally get a job. Gura sometimes thought she had opened the door to the wrong apartment when coming back from a walk.
They never actually had a talk about Ina staying. Ina just sort of moved in, and Gura is too scared to suggest she not. Besides, it's probably better the demon stays somewhere Gura can find her (not that Gura can in any way control Ina, but it helps her feel a bit less paranoid if she can see that Ina isn't out secretly murdering people).
Anyhow, the job. Gura finally found a job. Or, well, more like the job found her. She didn't even give the guy a resume. She and Ina were looking around in a bookstore that Ina had heard about (from who or what Gura has no idea) and Gura was talking to the owner, Archie, trying to keep his attention off the totally-not-a-demon, those aren't tentacles in her hair, when Archie mentioned something Gura couldn't help but jump at.
"I've been thinking about hiring some help." Archie said calmly. It was a total non-sequitur to the conversation they just finished, and not something Gura would expect a person she just met ten minutes ago to mention, but she doesn't care. That's a job opportunity, and she's desperate. "This isn't a one-man job anymore."
"I could help." Gura said immediately, trying to be casual about it. She didn't want to look desperate. "I've been looking for a new job anyways."
"A fortunate coincidence." The man said neutrally. He stroked his white mustache with all the poise and grace of a noble. "I suppose that saves me the trouble of putting out an advertisement. Can you start Monday?"
"Yes." Gura said. She didn't care how weirdly convenient it was. She didn't care that they didn't discuss pay or benefits or how much time she'll need to put in. She didn't even care that he pronounced "advertisement" as "ad-ver-ties-ment" instead of "ad-vur-tiz-munt" like he was some American.
She barely paid attention to the glance he shot over her head at the demon behind her, or the small nod he gave. Gura was too busy celebrating internally. She didn't even think it was strange that Ina got a discount on the big book on politics she bought.
That brings her to today. Her first day at her new job. She bounces on the balls of her feet as Archie shows her how to run the cash. That's all she has to do for today, and even with her poor math skills this is something she can manage (and besides, there's a calculator on the computer).
That's cool, that's fine. Gura can do that. She sits at the cash, ready to help and remembering how Archie said this wasn't a one man job anymore so it's probably going to be busy.
She waits.
And waits.
And waits.
After two full hours of nothing, not a single customer, Gura gets the impression that maybe Archie was exaggerating just a bit.
"Mornings are always slow." Archie says when Gura asks. The man is sitting in a comfy-looking armchair near the window with a book in hand and a glass of wine on the side table next to him. "Afternoons tend to be the most busy. Both just after lunch when people are still on their break, or after work finishes. Weekends are the most busy. Consider the weekdays training, for Saturday will be a test."
Gura nods. Yeah, that makes sense. Training. Of course he wasn't going to start her on the busiest day (not like her other jobs, they threw her right into the thick of things).
That doesn't mean it isn't super boring though. Gura has to wait until one in the afternoon before they get a single customer, and that customer is Ina, not even a 'real' customer Gura has to be afraid of.
(Well, she's afraid of Ina, but for entirely different reasons than potentially giving her bad service.)
Still, she forces a smile and makes small talk like Archie instructed her to, and Ina plays along with an amused smile while Gura silently panics about why the demon is out and about on her own and what havoc she's wrecking now that Gura is stuck at work.
Ina buys yet another big book on politics, talks with Archie for nearly half an hour (while Gura watches with extreme suspicion) about what books he's going to be getting on Friday night and what she wants to purchase when that happens, and then gives them both a polite smile and leaves.
It's very normal, and Gura doesn't buy it for a single second.
There's not a whole lot to do in the shop during the weekdays. After the rush around lunch (if you can even call seven people a 'rush') Gura is left, once again, with nothing to do. She doesn't have a phone, and staring out the same window for five more hours doesn't sound like a good time to her.
(Actually, that's not true, she does have a phone now. Ina gave her one as a gift, and Gura has been too scared to actually use it out of fear that Ina installed something to track her activity.)
"You can read something." Archie suggests unprompted. He doesn't even look up from his own book. "Or use the computer. It is not just for the cash register. It is fully functional."
So Gura checks her email on habit. There's no real point now that she has a job, it's not like she keeps contact with friends or family (they're all dead), and she doesn't get updates from any services or anything.
For the first time in her life, Gura stares at a computer and realizes that she has no idea what to use it for. Sure, she knows a lot of things she could use it for, but she's never had a reason to. She uses it for emailing resumes and looking for new places to give resumes, and sometimes she googles something pertinent to a potential job.
She's never used a computer to look up news or read a story or play a game before. That never seemed appropriate to do on a public computer.
That's why Gura doesn't touch the computer and reads some fantasy story she can barely follow until the end of her shift. It's somehow less stressful than messing around on the computer.
However, books really aren't Gura's thing, so on the next day when she realizes it's going to be exactly like the prior day, she bucks up her courage and explores the capabilities of a computer.
After twenty minutes of looking up information about Archie's bookstore to stall for time, Gura finally types something not immediately relevant to a job into the search bar. She types in the word "news" and is instantly inundated with article upon article about this and that, so she narrows it down to "local news".
Google doesn't seem to understand that "local" doesn't mean "all of the UK", so Gura specifies further.
"Fakenham News"
That gets her better results. It also gets her worrying results, as the first non-government link she clicks on brings her to a news site, and right on the front page, smiling in a picture, is Ina'nis Ninomae.
You know. The demon. The person whose identity Gura needed to keep hidden so they both didn't get arrested. But there Ina is on the front page, smiling like nothing is wrong.
The article itself is fairly normal. It talks about some motion by a local politician that Gura doesn't care about and how they asked random people what they thought of it, and Ina was just one of many. They probably used her picture because she's the most photogenic (and outlandish, considering it's winter and she's dressed all skimpy).
Still, Gura did not want to start today with a heart attack. That article is dated for late yesterday, and considering Gura has been with Ina every day before, that means Ina spent yesterday out and about. Gura already knew that to an extent (Ina did drop by the shop), but the article is an unpleasant reminder that the demon is well and truly out of her control.
"Did Ina intentionally try to appear on the news?" Gura asks herself, staring pensively at the demon's smiling face. "Is she trying to get her image out there? Considering how many people recognize her at random, maybe this was a calculated move. But why? For money? Is she trying to find someone in particular? Vanity maybe?"
Gura closes the window. Her fingers drum on the keyboard, and she promptly types "Ina'nis Ninomae" into the search bar.
The first few results are the article Gura just read, the next page or two are about unrelated people or things, but halfway down page five Gura finds something interesting.
One of the links is purple rather than blue, signifying it's been pressed already. Archie has visited this site before.
The site's contents are… worrying. Terrifying maybe. It's some sort of cult website. They literally call themselves "The Cult of the Ancient Ones", they don't even try to pass themselves off as a religious denomination.
(Gura remembers Ina mentioning the Ancient Ones when she was introducing herself. She wishes she had paid more attention now.)
The site talks about demons mostly. It talks at length about welcoming "our otherworldly friends" with open arms and an open mind like the defining characteristic of demons isn't that they'll murder you at the first given opportunity and if they don't it's so they can manipulate you into helping them conquer a city or take over a government.
So yeah, Gura is fairly sure this cult is bat-shit crazy.
The worst part comes when Gura checks their page on their advocates and notable members, because right there at the top of the list with the title "High Priestess" is a certain Ina'nis Ninomae.
Her profile picture is that of an old painting rather than a proper photograph, and it's clear from the wording of the bio that she's an inspirational figure rather than a currently active member, but that doesn't make Gura feel any better.
So Gura didn't just summon any old demon. She accidentally summoned the head of a fucking cult who now suddenly has their leader back after nearly two centuries of her being absent.
Gura swiftly closes the tab, buries her face in her hands, and tries not to scream.
###
"Gura, do you have a plan for today?" Ina asks in her soft, gentle voice.
It's Gura's first day off, a week and a half after she started work. It's Thursday, and they're sitting around the table having breakfast. Gura is trying not to glance over her shoulder at the new locked filing cabinet that magically appeared in their apartment overnight, wondering what sorts of terrible secrets Ina is keeping in there. "Uh, no, I don't."
"Well," Ina clasps her hands and smiles. "I was thinking we could go see a movie."
It takes Gura a few seconds to put together the words "we" and "movie" and what that actually means. A pretty girl is inviting her to a movie. Those are two things she never thought would happen. She's never had the spare cash to go see a movie, and she sure as hell never expected a pretty girl to ever invite her to do anything.
Granted, said pretty girl is a demon who was probably "donated" money by her cultists, but Gura is so starved for fun that she barely cares. "Sure!"
Gura is excited right up until she remembers Ina is probably doing this to manipulate her for her still-unknown ends. That puts a bit of a damper on her mood, but Gura resolves to enjoy the movie regardless. A movie is a movie, regardless of who you watch it with.
Ina seems excited too. Well, as excited as she ever looks. Ina rarely expresses emotion in a big way. Her facial expression is either a light smile, neutral, or a slight frown. No in-between. The best way to tell what she's feeling is actually to look at the little flaps on her head. They're far more expressive than her actual face. They twitch when she's thinking, they wiggle when she's happy, they perk up when she's curious, and they curl up when she's angry. It's cute.
(Gura wants to touch the flaps, but there's no way she's going to risk laying a finger on Ina. That sounds like a great way to get a broken hand.)
"Shall we?" Ina asks, and offers Gura a gloved hand. Gura blinks in shock. Did Ina just read her mind? This is the first time Ina has offered physical contact (ignoring the night of her summoning of course) and it just happens to be after Gura thought about how she wasn't going to risk touching her?
Still, Gura doesn't want to offend, so she cautiously places her hand in Ina's and allows the demon to lead her out of the apartment.
Ina is wearing her skimpy dress like usual, but unlike that first week it doesn't seem to grab much attention. A few people nod to Ina, but no one stops her to talk. Even stranger, they also nod to Gura even though Gura has no idea who the hell they are.
Fakenham Cinema is a place Gura has passed many a time but never actually gone into. It's a fairly small establishment made of red brick with a stone… uh… bump around the top of the wall (look, she doesn't know architecture, cut her some slack), but they sell popcorn so it's a genuine movie theater as far as Gura is concerned.
The movie they see is a romance movie. Not what Gura would have picked, but Ina seems eager for it. Gura has to wonder why. Does a demon think it's funny to humans act as slaves to their impulses? Is she internally laughing at the stupidity of the plot or the characters?
Gura certainly is. The story is horribly contrived and the characters have maybe one braincell between the two of them. She's trying not to laugh for half the movie due to how bad it is. Ina's reactions are harder to gauge because the darkness of the theater means Gura can't see her flaps, but Gura can hear hums or gasps out of the demon on occasion.
When the movie ends and the lights come on, Gura can barely keep a straight face. It was awful, and therefore hilarious. Ina, on the other hand, is dabbing at her eyes with her gloved hand.
"Well?" Gura asks, schooling her expression. "Good?"
"It was beautiful." Ina sniffs.
"Don't laugh, oh gods don't laugh, don't be rude." Gura thinks. She bites her lip and says, "It was, wasn't it?"
"It was!" Ina says. She's more passionate than Gura has ever seen her before. "It was perfect!"
"Well I dunno about perfect…"
"They almost lost each other because they couldn't admit their feelings, but he gathered the courage at the last second!" Ina says. She's almost shouting, and her hands are clenched and her flaps are fluttering frantically. "It was romantic!"
"Uh-huh." Gura says. Ina is really making it hard not to laugh. The demon is oddly passionate about this. "It was pretty good. Want to get a popcorn refill?"
Ina visibly deflates, releasing her built-up passion. "Yes, let's."
Gura hands Ina the popcorn bag after the refill, and the demon snacks from it as they walk through the town in the vague direction of the apartment.
"Incidentally, erm, would you want to share a meal?" Ina asks as they keep walking. Her head turns towards a restaurant at the side of the street. "I will pay."
"Sure." Gura won't turn down good food.
And so Gura's day off turns into walking around town with Ina doing random activities while Ina attempts to explain why the movie was just that good while Gura doesn't have the heart to break it to her that the film was bottom barrel trash and she remembers watching better movies when she was five.
(Oh, that's an idea. She needs to show Ina Disney stuff.)
Gura pauses at that though. She and Ina are currently in a bowling alley, and Ina is yet to throw a ball that hasn't needed the bumpers to actually hit a pin. Why is she eager about showing a demon Disney movies? Why is she spending her day off with a demon?
Better yet, why is Ina spending time with her? What's Ina's motive? If Ina wanted to get on Gura's good side, she didn't have to spend all day with her.
"Unless that's what I'm supposed to think." Gura realizes. "She knows I'm onto her, so by spending more time with me than expected, she makes it look like she actually likes me, but that's also a trick!"
Of course, it all makes sense! But Gura won't be fooled, she knows better! She needs to be careful though. If Ina is onto her, Gura needs to do a better job about hiding what she knows.
"I won't let you fool me Ina. No matter how much time you spend with me, I won't be duped!"
###
Archie, Gura concludes, really doesn't need help.
Look, she's not ungrateful for the job. She's more than grateful! She's so grateful she doesn't care that this is the single most boring job she's ever had. But seriously, Archie doesn't need help. He cleans the shop on his own, he handles most of the shelf stocking and display setting, he helps customers find what they need and talks to them at length, and there's never too many customers for him to deal with. He's nothing if not efficient.
There hasn't been a single time where she's been necessary. Useful? Sure. She can help during rushes, but it's not like there's so many people Archie can't deal with them.
That begs the question of why Archie hired her in the first place. She's clearly unnecessary, but Archie gives her as many shifts as she wants and never asks much of her. He obviously doesn't need company seeing as he spends half the day reading by the window in a comfy armchair and barely talks to her. The other booklovers that walk into the store are enough company for him.
So what then? Is he just lazy? He really doesn't like manning the register? She's not good at reading people, so Gura honestly has no idea. Archie is too calm and composed, and unlike Ina he isn't blatantly evil and a cult leader.
"Or is he?" Gura frowns, staring at the back of the man's head. "The link to the cult website was already clicked. He's been to that page before. Why? Is the Cult of the Ancient Ones a known thing? Have they been in the news before?"
Gura groans and squeezes her eyes shut. This is too difficult for her to wrap her head around. Too many unknowns, too many questionable motivations. Demons, cults, weird employers, what has her life become? Was it not enough that her home got wiped away in a freak tsunami, now she has to deal with this?
She never should have summoned Ina. She should have let that tome stay as a doorstop and a memory of her home. Just something to take up space in case she ever bought a shelf.
"You are thinking quite hard, are you not?" Archie says. His calm, rumbling voice drags Gura out of her brooding. He's looked up from his reading and is looking over at Gura with a raised eyebrow. "Is there maybe something I can help with, Miss Gawr?"
"No, I'm fine." Gura waves an arm. "Just personal stuff."
"Alright." Archie says, and turns his eyes back to his book. "If you are still at a loss for what to do, might I suggest a copy of the book in the locked cupboard by your feet? You might find it informative. The key is in a groove on the underside of the desk."
Gura blinks twice, almost positive she didn't hear that right. Yet when she feels around under the desk, she does indeed find a groove with a key lodged into it.
"Well, I might as well…" Gura thinks. She gets off her chair and kneels on the floor so she can fit the key into the lock of the cupboard. When she opens it, she can see that the space inside is actually deeper than it looks from the outside because it extends into the floor. That extra space is necessary to house the thick, hardcover books within.
Gura extracts one and locks the cupboard back up. She's left with a heavy book with an intricate purple and pink cover with strange bending lines all over it and a stylized red eye on the center. It has no title and no words on the back or spine (only a continuation of the design).
She flips open the front page, and stares at the words on the back of the cover.
"Texts Concerning the Ancient Ones and Their Cult: An Introduction"
Gura slowly turns her gaze back to Archie. He's calmly reading his book, not paying her any mind as if he didn't just give her a cult manifesto which he keeps hidden in his shop.
"The same cult as the one Ina is in," Gura realizes. She grips the book tightly, "Am I being watched? Did Ina recruit Archie?"
A pause. Another thought.
"Did Archie hire me because of Ina?"
Gura sits down hard in her chair. Her hands are shaking. She swallows thickly while tracing words on the page with her eyes.
"How far into this mess am I? How much of the town is already under Ina's sway? How much did the cult control before, and how much has it expanded since?"
###
"So…" Ina says. Her flaps are low against her head, conveying nervousness that her steepled fingers and polite smile can't hide. "Did something happen today at work?"
"Not really." Gura says, picking at her food. "The usual."
"Oh?"
"Did you expect something else?" Gura asks in return, keeping her voice calm despite her racing heart.
"I heard that something happened at the shop." Ina says.
"Nope." Gura says flatly. "Guess your source is wrong."
"I suppose so."
"Who told you?" Gura asks as casually as she can.
"A friend."
"A friend?"
"Yes."
Neither of them say anything for a minute. Gura wants Ina to say more, but can't think of a way to ask without sounding suspicious.
She's very aware of the purple and pink book hiding in her backpack right now. Archie insisted she take it with her. Gura barely read any of it. She was too busy worrying about the implications of it existing and Archie having copies. She's scared to read the contents. She doesn't want to hear about human sacrifices or whatever backwards bullshit the book will try to shove down her throat.
"What…" Gura hesitates. Should she be asking this question? This feels like a dangerous question. It doesn't matter now, she's already started speaking. "What do you do all day, by the way? Do you have a job too?"
"I mostly work from home now." Ina says, and gestures to her laptop and the filing cabinet. "In the first few weeks I was making contacts, but right now I mostly have to do research."
"On what?"
"Politics, laws, policies, cultural attitudes, historical influences on all of those things, psychology, sociology." Ina murmurs. "A little of everything."
"Why? What's your actual job?"
Ina's flaps twitch anxiously. "I hope to be a… politician."
"A politician."
"Yes."
"For what party?"
"Not… that sort of politician." Ina says slowly. "At least, not at the moment. I don't plan to run for any office."
"What sort of politician then?"
"A speaker."
Gura raises an eyebrow.
"An advocate you might say." Ina rephrases.
"I see." Gura says. She pokes at her food, suddenly feeling intensely anxious. "I-I see."
The obvious next question is to ask what Ina is an advocate of, but Gura doesn't want confirmation. She doesn't want proof that Ina is trying to bring more demons into the mortal world. She realizes at this moment she likes the fantasy that Ina is just a friendly, pretty girl who takes her out on her days off and renovates the apartment and gives Gura gifts for no discernible reason.
She hasn't had company, hasn't had a friend, in years. Even if that friend is absolutely faking it, Gura just doesn't care anymore. She'll take her delusion.
"So hey." Gura says, changing the subject. "There's a few nature preserves not too far from here. We'll need a taxi, but how would you feel about going to check them out on my next day off?"
Ina's head tilts, and her flaps slowly perk up. "Nature preserves?"
"They're like parks. Sections of nature, though maybe without trails. Good for walking and hiking and watching." Gura says.
Ina's flaps are wiggling. Her polite smile sprouts on her face. "That sounds most pleasant. I will gladly accompany you."
"It's a date then."
"A date." Ina agrees.
Gura knows she's a coward who is probably responsible for the resurgence of a cult, but at least she can be a happy coward, just for a little bit longer.
###
Gura stares at the… thing… in the back room of Archie's shop. It looks like a purple octopus the size of a small cat. It has unusually short tentacles and is nestled on the top of a shelf and resting on some sort of cat bed. Its eyes are closed and its whole body rises and falls in time with its breathing.
She doesn't take her eyes off the thing while grabbing the customer's order from a lower shelf, and then she slowly backs out of the room.
She hands the customer their order and deals with the payment. Archie talks with them a while longer while Gura waits impatiently and casts sidelong glances at the closed back door, wondering when that octopus is going to wake up.
"It has to be a demon." Gura thinks nervously. "What else could it be? Octopi don't live on land."
Isn't the goal of the cult of the ancient ones to summon more demons into the world? Gura didn't think that just any old cultist could do that, but apparently so. Archie summoned a demon.
"How long ago did he summon it?" Gura wonders. "Is it recent? Did he do this a long time ago and I'm just seeing it now? Maybe it's been staying at his house and he brought it to work today for some reason? Am I the reason?"
What does that octopus thing want? Is it sentient? What does it do? How many people is it going to kill? Gura doesn't remember seeing anything about octopi during what little research she did on demons before summoning Ina. She learned about Imps and Succubi and all the basic demons, and octopus demons weren't on the list.
"Is Ina a Succubus?" Gura wonders. "The article didn't say anything about tentacles, but she might have mind-control eyes…"
Ina is certainly pretty enough to be a succubus, but somehow Gura doesn't think she is. Ina is something, but Gura doesn't know what and honestly it seems like one of those things better left unknown.
"It would be kinda hot if she was though." Gura thinks, followed by: "Oh gods what is wrong with me."
The customer leaves, and Archie takes his seat and grabs his book again. Gura opens her mouth, pauses, and then closes it.
Maybe it's better not to ask about the octopus. If she asks about it, Archie might tell Ina, and Gura doesn't want that.
So Gura tries not to constantly glance over her shoulder for the rest of the day. She doesn't want Archie to know she's worried, but she's also terrified of that octopus demon coming up behind her without her noticing and strangling her with its tentacles.
She's never been more relieved to be done with work. She hastily says goodbye and rushes back to the apartment as soon as her shift is over.
If Archie called Ina in the time between Gura leaving and getting back about Gura potentially seeing an octopus demon in his back room, Ina doesn't show any sign of it. She smiles and greets Gura like she always does, and Gura tries not to think about how she still has work tomorrow and that octopus thing is probably still going to be in the back room.
Day after day the octopus is there, dozing in the back room. It never moves from the bed when Gura is there, and always has its eyes closed. Archie never acknowledges that it exists, and Gura doesn't ask.
She can almost ignore it; she can pretend it's some strange plushie and not a living breathing demon. She ignores it right up until she and Ina visit a tea shop and Gura spots another purple octopus casually dozing behind the counter.
Ina doesn't acknowledge it, the store owner doesn't acknowledge it, but Gura can't ignore it. That's another demon, and it means the store owner (an old, small, silver-haired woman) is probably a cultist.
Just as they're about to leave, the small octopus demon wakes up. It yawns, revealing two little fangs on the top of its mouth, and lazily rises off its stool to float around the room. Even as Gura watches, it bumps into a wall and changes direction without a care like some sort of demonic flying roomba. It's eyes remain closed, and it's short tentacles stroke the air in time with its rhythmic bobbing.
Ina pats it on the head when it bumps into her shoulder and shoos it off towards the old woman who smiles and holds the demon in her arms like it's a cat or a child. She scratches it between its flaps, and the flaps- well- flap in obvious appreciation.
As they leave, Ina murmurs. "Takodachis are so cute, aren't they?"
Gura doesn't know what to say, so she nods.
"We could get one." Ina offers. "The ritual isn't difficult."
Gura speaks before she thinks. "Uh, no, no, I'm good. Totally fine without one."
"Really?" Ina tilts her head, and Gura remembers that she can't show panic. She has a facade to maintain. Smile, act like everything is fine, pretend you don't know anything.
She needs an excuse. "I… I like our apartment as it is, you know? Just us. No need for anything extra."
Ina smiles. Like, she smiles. Not her polite smile; an actual, wide, genuine smile. "I see."
Gura feels like a manipulative asshole the whole way back to the apartment.
###
Ina is happy. It's very obvious that she's happy, and that's good. Ina might be a demon, but Gura likes seeing her happy.
The problem is that Ina is happy because of a lie.
"I got you something." Ina says when Gura steps through the door. There's something shiny and new and electronic on the table, looking very much like Ina's own shiny and electronic thing.
It's a laptop. Ina got her a laptop, and Gura is caught between a smiling blush and the cold grip of fear. "Wow, uh, thanks Ina."
Gura isn't stupid. She knows the reason Ina is extra cheerful, why she stands closer when they go out on Gura's days off, why she keeps giving Gura random gifts. Ina likes her. Ina likes her because Gura said she wanted the apartment to be just the two of them. She likes Gura because Gura helps her and talks to her and goes on dates with her.
Gura likes Ina too, don't get her wrong, but that's very much secondary to the 'scared shitless' motivation. That doesn't mean she doesn't feel awful about it though. Again, she likes Ina, she really does, but there's no way she can trust her.
Cult leader, remember? Also demon. Also trying to summon other demons. Also possible mind control.
And… Gura can deal with that. Gura has been dealing with that. Not well, but she's been doing it. In objective terms her life is probably better than it's been since her home got washed away. She has money (or Ina does, and Ina pays for just about everything now), she has a nice apartment, she has a job she doesn't hate, she has actual free time, and she has a friend. That's good. That's all good. Gura could deal with all the terrifying things about Ina in exchange for all that. Gura is fine with manipulating a cult leader to keep all that.
She's less okay with manipulating a friend, and even less okay with manipulating someone she knows has a crush on her.
But she'll live with that. She does like Ina, and it's not like she doesn't somewhat reciprocate those feelings. There might be some lying involved, but she can make Ina smile and not feel like she's completely faking it. She feels awful, but she'll live with it. That's been her life for the last five years, so it's not really that much of a change at all. Different curtains, same room.
Work, despite the takodachi in the back room, is once again a refuge away from Ina, but for completely different reasons now. Cultist or not, she doesn't have to smile in Archie's face while pretending she's not scared because Archie barely interacts with her. She can fuck around on the computer and try and ignore what the rest of her life is like for a few hours. It's one of the few times where she doesn't have to think.
Until it's not.
Archie's customers mostly consist of regulars. Most of them come in on Friday around three, because Archie gets shipments of new books at around two thirty. Gura has come to recognize these people. She doesn't know them per say, because they spend most of their time in the shop talking to Archie or each other, but she recognizes them.
Today is the first time one of them actually talks to her beyond pleasantries, and Gura wishes they hadn't.
The person in question is a young guy; younger than Gura. He's maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Hard to tell. He's blonde and blue eyed and radiates friendliness like a puppy. He also has no subtly, at all.
"You're the Grand Summoner, right?" The boy- obviously a cultist based on that opening line- asks while stacking a few books onto the counter for Gura to scan. "You're Gura?"
"I'm at least one of those things, but I dunno about the first." Gura says flatly.
"It's an honor to meet you, Lady Summoner." The boy says with an eager nod, more of a bob, of his head. Apparently he's decided she's this 'Grand Summoner' person, and Gura also does not at all like the idea that cultists casually talk about her behind her back… or at all for that matter. Gura really hoped that most cultists had no idea who the fuck she is.
"Yeah, uh, nice to meet you too."
"Evan!" Archie barks abruptly.
The boy suddenly stands up straight. "Yes sir?"
"No cult talk with the Summoner." Archie says.
"I'm just saying hello!"
"No. Cult. Talk." Archie repeats firmly. "Priestess's orders."
The boy deflates. "Y-Yes sir."
The boy doesn't talk as Gura scans his books. He nods to her meekly while paying and shuffles out of the store immediately after.
None of the other customers talks much to Gura or even acknowledges the fact that yes, they're all cultists. Not until all the customers are gone does Archie speak up again.
"Do pardon Evan's enthusiasm." The man sighs. "He is new."
"It's fine." Gura says. She'd really prefer not to think about it.
But Archie keeps talking. "None of us quite understand why because she wished not to explain, but the priestess made it very clear you were to be left out of any and all cult activity. She additionally insisted we were not to show you excessive attention, even if it befits your station."
"That's…" Gura trails off. What is that? Fine? Worrying? Scary? She has a large group of people that think she's important and who are intentionally not interacting with her all that much because their demon priestess told them not to. "Something. That's something. Why are you telling me about this if I'm supposed to be left out of cult business?"
"It bears mentioning now that you've been exposed to it." Archie says simply. "And frankly, I respect the priestess's judgment, but I do believe she has a blind spot when it comes to you. It won't do to have someone so important be so incredibly unaware about basic facts of the cult, especially when you are aware that the cult exists. It would be a different case if you did not."
"So the book you gave me…"
"I saw what you searched, and it seemed prudent to give you an introduction so you did not get false ideas seeing as the priestess was going to do no such a thing." Archie explains. "After all, the word 'cult' has some negative connotations."
"Right." Gura mumbles. He saw what she searched? Well obviously he can do that, it's his computer, but he just confirmed that everything she does is monitored. Even her free time on the computer needs to be an act now. It's not really the free time she thought it was.
"I only want what's best for the priestess. We all do." Archie says. He walks back to his chair and picks up his book in a very familiar motion. "It's why I gave you that book, and it's why I agreed to give you this job when the priestess was trying to find you one."
Gura suspected of course, but she didn't count on how much it stings to have Archie confirm her being hired had nothing to do with her skills or even the need for a worker. She got hired because Ina made sure she got hired.
"The priestess is under much pressure and you bring her some measure of joy and relief, so please continue to entertain her." Archie says while flipping back to his page. "We all appreciate your contribution, Summoner."
Gura nods blankly and slumps back in her chair. She stares at the computer screen, eyes fixed on the empty search bar and the blinking text cursor prompting her to type something for Archie to see later and report to Ina.
"My job is to entertain Ina, is it?" Gura thinks. Her gut squeezes and twists, and her hands grip the edge of the desk to keep her stable. "I'm where I am because Ina wants me to be here. The cult leaves me alone because Ina wants them to leave me alone. Maybe Ina doesn't want me as a part of her cult."
But why? Why would Ina go through the trouble of helping her so much and not try to get Gura on her side? She makes Ina happy, sure, but that's no reason to keep her out of cult business…
Unless Ina knows Gura doesn't trust her, or Gura being outside of the cult is part of the appeal. Maybe Ina likes that Gura has nothing to do with the cult; a pure distraction with no threat of business intruding on her fun. A friend who doesn't judge or-
Gura swallows. A horrible feeling of understanding sweeps over her.
Someone who doesn't judge and provides a nice distraction, like a pet.
###
Ina doesn't go out very often, but she does go out, and Gura is counting on it. It's a rare time when Gura is alone in the apartment, so Gura doesn't waste her chance when it happens. As soon as Ina is out the door, Gura is packing. She shoves anything she actually cares about into her old ratty backpack and leaves everything else behind. She doesn't even touch the phone or computer Ina gifted her. Those things could probably be tracked.
She's about to step out the front door when a thought strikes her. She turns around and finds Ina's summoning tome on a top shelf. She wants to take it. Despite what it summoned, it's her last memory of her home. But it's also evidence of her involvement in summoning a demonic cult leader.
Gura leaves the tome behind. She does, however, take the book Archie gave her. She's never read it, but it might give her some insight on the cult so she can avoid them in the future. It's too valuable a resource to leave behind.
She waits about five minutes to give Ina time to leave, and then leaves the apartment and jogs to the train station. She sits there anxiously, head down and coat pulled up around her head, hoping no one here is a cultist who will try to stop her.
It takes a dozen minutes before the next train arrives. Gura steps on, and when the doors close she releases an overwhelming sigh of relief.
Her head almost instantly falls into her hands, and she can feel them shaking. She didn't realize she was shaking, but she is. A weight has come off her shoulders for the first time in months. Ina isn't looking over her shoulder, Archie isn't monitoring her, and she doesn't have to pretend anymore.
"I'm on my own again though." Gura reminds herself. "I've lost a second home in less than a decade."
It was barely a home for a while. She wouldn't consider a mattress and some random items a home. It became a home when Ina made it a home, both with furniture and with… well… Ina. Having someone waiting for her made it feel like home.
Gura squeezes her eyes shut. "Don't think about that. There were good things, but you lived in paranoia. That's not a life."
She's going to miss Ina.
The train clacks along in relative quiet. It's nearly midday, not close to the morning nor afternoon commutes, so Gura is the only person in her train car. It's peaceful, which is something she never would have thought to say a few months ago. A few months ago this would have been unbearably lonely; too much like her empty apartment.
"The grass is always greener I guess."
Gura's mind wanders to what she's going to do when she gets to King's Lynn. She's going to need to find a library with public computers, she's going to need a new apartment (and to cancel her arrangement with her old apartment now that she thinks of it), and to try and find a job and a grocery store and she's going to have to learn the layout of the city and a million other little things.
"I'll survive. I always have."
###
It's been two weeks.
Gura has not found a job, she has not found an apartment, and she is not any more happy than she was before.
No one wants to hire a high-school dropout with a shaky employment history who doesn't want you to contact their last employer, and no landlord wants to take a risk on a ratty-looking girl from a backwater village that no longer exists who can't even hold a job.
Gura has a solid chunk of money in her account thanks to Ina paying for almost everything while she was staying with Gura, and she can survive for a while without an apartment weighing on her bank account.
That does mean she's spending her nights sleeping behind a sign surrounded by bushes, but honestly, it's not that much worse than sleeping in a shitty apartment as long as it doesn't snow or rain. Gura isn't looking forward to either of those things.
Gura is miserable. She has no one looking over her, but no one looking out for her. She has no one trying to manipulate her, but no one to talk to. It doesn't feel like she improved anything in her life by leaving.
Add on top of all that the guilt that creeps up any time she thinks of Ina sitting alone in the apartment, and Gura is having a hard time convincing herself she made the right choice.
That's an absurd thing to say! She left a demon and her cult, and it feels like she made the wrong choice!
It doesn't help that Gura knows she has several emails from Ina sitting in her inbox. She hasn't opened them, but they're there, waiting.
She's afraid of what they might say. She's not sure she could resist a tearful "come back", and she's not sure she could survive a "good riddance". She doesn't know what she wants. Does she want Ina to like her so she can know she has someone who likes her, or does she want Ina to hate her to make leaving easier?
Much like the emails, the cult book sits heavy in her backpack, whispering the potential to give closure. Gura could read what the cult is all about from their opinion. She could see their messed-up thinking laid bare, and solidify her decision to flee.
Gura isn't sure she wants to muddy her already shaky image of Ina by reading about her cult.
But at this point, what else does she have to lose? This middle ground she's walking through is just as horrible in its own way. 'Ignorance is bliss' hasn't proven very true for Gura.
Gura is thinking too much, she knows she's thinking too much, and she hates thinking too much.
So Gura cracks open the cult book and starts to read.
The book isn't a story book or a manifesto or even a bible. It's more like a school textbook than anything. A philosophy textbook to be specific.
Gura hates philosophy. It tends to go over her head.
Thankfully, there are some less philosophical things she can actually wrap her hand around. Like the explicit statement of intent in the first few pages written in plain english rather than the strange made-up terms that philosophers seem to adore using.
"The Cult of the Ancient Ones' primary interest is the peaceful integration of demons into the modern world. It is our hope that with enough education on both human and demon sides, and a careful system of screening and limited monitoring to ensure demons willing to integrate have peaceful intent, that this long misunderstood and mistreated group of people can be embraced as equals as all sentient beings deserve to be."
Gura was expecting something a bit more sinister, but maybe it's misleading. After all, 'peaceful' can mean very different things to different people.
So she keeps reading. What does 'peaceful integration' mean? Taking over cities? Toppling governments? Indoctrination?
As she keeps reading, she quickly finds out that 'peaceful integration' mostly means lobbying to governments, holding events to raise awareness, and other relatively normal stuff. Heck, reading the statement of intent really makes the cult come off as a weird activist group rather than, you know, a cult.
It's only when the text mentions Ina that Gura can see the cult-ness come out. It talks about other prominent figures like you might any arbitrary public figure (Sir X and Miss Y), but when Ina is brought up the text swerves hard into "hail our great and wise priestess for she shall lead us into a new age!" with zero warning.
Gura could almost believe it's a weirdly-placed joke if she hadn't seen first-hand how devoted cultists actually are to Ina.
That wild tonal shift is limited strictly to Ina and the Ancient Ones. No other person mentioned, human or demon, gets any sort of that vaguely religious reverence. It's just Ina. It's like the writer briefly descends into madness when talking about her, similar to an obsessive fan talking about their favorite celebrity.
The statement of intent and brief introduction isn't actually that long. Maybe five pages. From then on the book is mostly philosophy texts and speeches and think-pieces that Gura in no way has the patience to read through right now. She skims a lot of it until she gets to the end of the book.
At the end of the book is something Gura didn't expect. It's a summoning ritual somehow short enough to be contained in one page. The creature to be summoned is titled "Lesser Eldritch Void Demon - 'Takodachi' (Named by our glorious priestess!)"
Gura can barely believe the audacity of including a full-on summoning ritual in the back of an introductory book. It's also dead simple, and as far as Gura can tell that's because they eschew basically all safety features. No restraining circle, no protection circle, just the main circle, a candle, and a few… uh… dog treats?
(No, Gura's not reading that wrong. Any food works, but it suggests dog treats. In fact, several of the notes about the demon compare takodachis to dogs too.)
She puts down the book feeling conflicted. She didn't read anything obviously evil. She was expecting to see something wrong, but aside from maybe being a bit reckless and strangely devoted to Ina, there isn't much for Gura to complain about at an initial glance.
"But they have to be evil." Gura tells herself. "Don't they? They're summoning demons."
After all, every demon she's come across so far has done unspeakable… uh… well Gura guesses they haven't actually done all that much that she can think of. The takodachis she's seen haven't done anything, and Gura has no idea what Ina gets up to, so Gura hasn't actually seen anything evil from any demons yet.
But she watches the news! She knows about that moth demon attack on the CN tower over in Canada, or how Russia has the highest rate of demon deaths in the world and has an estimated twenty thousand free-roaming hostile demons, and she's seen declassified videos of summonings gone wrong and knows that most demons will lunge at your face the instant they get the chance. Almost every source she's managed to find talks about how ninety five percent of demons will murder you on sight, no questions asked.
So why hasn't she seen any of that? Is literally everyone wrong, is it chance, or is it that Ina and the takodachis are specifically less hostile than most demons?
Gura doesn't know. She just doesn't know! She's not a genius! Who is she supposed to trust? Herself, or demonology websites? Ina, or the authorities? Her instincts, or her experience?
Those sound like obvious questions. You trust the authorities, the experts, not your own extremely narrow slice of experience and utter lack of education on the subject… except that's not always the case. If that was the case, then progress would never get made. Women would still be second-class citizens, the royal family would still have an absolute rule, we'd still think illness is caused by 'miasma', you get the idea.
"I can find other evidence, right?" Gura thinks to herself. "There has to be some evidence of good demons, or else that ninety five percent statistic would be one hundered."
Her fingers drum against the book.
"I need to do research. I probably should have done research a long time ago." Gura concedes. She didn't because she was scared of what she'd find, but that's not an excuse she can cling to at this point. "And maybe I should read those emails… and maybe figure out how I can become a summoner so having Ina around isn't illegal."
###
It took longer than Gura would have liked to get even slightly reliable information about 'good' demons. They're rare to begin with, and hardly ever recorded, though there is some acknowledgement that standard summoner practices aren't conducive to bringing out the best in demons, and that some 'good' demons might act like their brethren out of simple hatred for their summoner.
Takodachis specifically are known for being strangely well-behaved by demon standards. They're a favorite among cult leaders and anyone who wants to make a statement by having a room full of demons at their command without actually having to worry about those demons.
One quote about them reads: "If a class zero existed for demons, these so-called 'takodachis' would probably qualify. They're dangerous only in numbers, and on their own are about as threatening as a small dog."
So that's reassuring. It doesn't confirm that Ina can be trusted, but it does lend some credence to the idea that the Cult of the Ancient Ones might be exactly as innocuous as they claim to be.
They're still absolutely breaking the law by summoning takodachis, but as far as Gura can tell no one has ever actually been punished for that. Anytime it's revealed that someone owns a takodachi, they get a small fine and are told to get rid of it, but are never prosecuted because (by the police and Cover's own admission) it's really not worth clogging up the legal system punishing people for summoning what amounts to a flying puppy.
That alone was enough to convince Gura that maybe she should return, but Ina's emails absolutely sealed the deal.
Not once does Ina ask her to come back. Instead, Ina's emails are filled with details about what she researched that day. She writes about different prime ministers, policy changes, economic shifts and how they affect public opinion, and a whole bunch of stuff that is way over Gura's head.
Gura learns more about Ina's day-to-day activities from reading those emails than she ever did from actually talking to the girl, though that has something to do with how she avoided talking to Ina about work at all costs out of paranoia. All the stuff she was too scared to ask, like what's in the filing cabinet (files on cult members and people of potential importance, as well as records on cult finances), what Ina is doing when she goes out (buying books, being social with cult members so she doesn't seem distant, and networking), and her immediate goals (making it legal for her to exist as Gura's demon or without a summoner at all, because yes, Ina is aware that they could be in huge legal trouble at any moment), Ina explains freely through the emails.
It's clear to Gura that Ina is making an attempt to avoid putting pressure on her. The only reference Ina makes to Gura running away is an offer of money or other help at the end of each email.
You know, in case Gura didn't already feel like an ass for running away, Ina is still offering to help her.
Gura feels bad about wanting to come back, but she also feels bad about staying away, so in the end she makes the decision based on what would make Ina happy, and very reluctantly buys a ticket back to Fakenham.
###
Gura stands outside the door to her, their, apartment with flowers in her hands.
It occurred to her on the way back that Ina has showered her with gifts the whole time they lived together (even if Gura didn't use them out of paranoia) and Gura never gave Ina anything aside from some mediocre not-dates.
In a panic to find something that could count as a gift that she could actually afford, Gura defaulted to old reliable. Flowers. What girl doesn't like flowers?
(Do demon girls like flowers? Fuck, what if flowers are deeply offensive in demon culture? Do demons have their own culture?)
Too late now. She already bought them. They're purple and yellow because those seem to be the colors Ina uses for everything. The purple flowers are big, singular things and the yellow ones are clusters of a lot of small flowers.
Gura knocks on the door. She has a key, but it doesn't feel proper to use it at the moment.
Her heart jumps into her throat when the door opens.
Ina stares. Eyes closed, of course, but she stares. It's obvious from the way her flaps are up at attention and her eyebrows are raised.
"Uh…" Gura swallows. She thrusts the flowers forward for lack of another idea. "For you."
Ina silently takes the flowers. She steps out of the way to let Gura in the apartment, and Gura shuffles inside.
The apartment is mostly as she left it, except that Ina has clearly cleaned everything (ceiling and all) at least once since Gura left.
They both sit across the table from each other. Ina is holding the flowers up near her mouth, and Gura has nothing to hold except her own hands beneath the table. A computer sits between them facing away, holding on a screensaver of a picture of Gura sleeping at the counter at work - a picture that must have been taken by Archie at some point.
Gura swallows. Ina's flaps twitch.
"S-So… uh…" Gura says after a few minutes of agonizing silence. "Sorry."
"It's quite alright." Ina murmurs. Her fingers fidget around the flower stems. "I was not very forthcoming with you."
"I didn't ask."
Ina shakes her head. "You did, and I shut those questions down. I forfeited the chance to explain things in my own words in favor of keeping you distanced from cult affairs. That was my choice."
"And it was my choice to assume the worst and not press further." Gura argues.
"You were right to do so. We call ourselves a cult. That word does not have positive connotations."
"Yeah, but neither does 'uneducated orphan' and it's not right for me to be judged by that, so why should this be any different?"
They both stare at each other for a few seconds. Ina exhales and lowers her flowers away from her face. "Perhaps we should deem this an irrelevant point and move on? I, for one, am simply content that my companion has returned."
"That's probably a good idea." Gura agrees, a bit red-faced. "Uh, glad to be back with you…"
It's a simple exchange of words, but for the first time in a long time Gura feels calm.
Ina is easily the least demon-y of all the demons so far, and I like to think that's because she's been dealing positively with humans for a long time already and she's just more formal in general.
This fic went through one full re-write, several false starts, and was in the process of a third full re-write when I realized I could still make the second version work and didn't have to adhere fully to the 'depressed but competent summoner + works for an organization where everyone expects to die' setup which is why I was going to scrap this version. If I tried to do that again, it would just be Calli's chapter but worse because Calli is the perfect character for that setup.
I also realized, when writing this, that I didn't actually know what the themes of this collection are because I'd basically only written one chapter before this. Ame's chapter is just Calli's chapter but simpler, so they're basically one story pretending to be two. Ame was the trial run for Calli, because I could flesh out the Calli/Kiara dynamic much more than the simple and cozy Ame/Gura one.
Speaking of Gura being simple… that's the problem. Gura is the least complicated character of Myth (followed by Kiara), and Ina is potentially the most complicated (with a contender in Ame if you're taking time travel seriously for a given fic), so this fic was trying to figure out how the heck to balance dum shork with cthulhu-touched cult master. Gura is an amazing secondary character for me because her motivations and thought processes and vital backstory are dead simple. Ina? Not so much. As soon as Ina is a prominent character it feels like you have to deal with some interpretation of the Ancient Ones (unless you're going with some AU where magic isn't a thing) and I'm dreading Ame as a demon for the same reason. I have to decide if I'm including actual time-travel or not, and just what sort of attitude demon Ame has.
So yeah. Gura is hard as a main character because she's simple (especially when she's not an Atlantean).
I have to wonder what I would have done if Ina was someone else's demon. I like the idea of Ina being creepy and her cult is pretty intrusive on her summoner's life, but at the same time Ina is possessive and showers her summoner with random expensive gifts if they're nice to her (and she has no idea how scary she is). So, like, clingy demon girlfriend (sugar mamma?) who you're never sure if she's joking about murdering that guy who scoffed at your presentation at work. I might have been able to make that work if the summoner wasn't Gura, but because the summoner was Gura I leaned into making Ina less threatening because I knew the fic would go off the rails if I leaned the other way.
