Technically Matsuo was mission leader and with that title came certain responsibilities…

Responsibilities like making sure that everyone made it back from this mission alive. That spirit was dangerous, very dangerous, and there wasn't going to be a simple or safe way to exorcise it. He had done this before, undone possessions, but those had been a while ago and on hosts much closer to death than this girl was. When a spirit possessed a host normally it didn't have the intelligence to pace it's self, it ate and ate and ate until the host was left with just a withered old husk of a body. Most spirits, the kind of possessed people, didn't have the intelligence to realize that it made more sense to keep your host alive and use it to find new sources of food than to drain it dry.

This thing was too smart…scary smart.

Toshiki didn't fully get it. They controlled plants, not spirits, so they mostly just knew about plants. Apparently plants did have a will of their own and feelings too. Nothing on the level of spirits, of course, but he wasn't going to fight with them. Not about this, anyway. He had so many other reasons to fight with them…most of those reasons being on this mission with him right now. He still wasn't sure what this said about him, what President Suzuki thought of him, by being paired up with these guys…two guys who had actually gone after Shigeko…he wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out. This was going to end here. Get in, get the spirits, get out, and then they could all get on with their lives.

The three of them. The people officially appointed to this mission. Not…not the fourth, tagalong, member.

"Shouldn't we wait for Mob?" asked Shimazaki as he blew a massive cloud of what didn't smell like cigarette smoke right in Matsuo's face. Shimazaki must have done that on purpose. He was always such an asshole for no reason…it was almost over. Matsuo turned away from him. That was all that he could do.

"President Suzuki-" said Matsuo

"The President assigned us specifically to this mission, us, not her. I don't want to see what he'll do to us if his favorite daughter got hurt helping us on a mission that she has nothing to do with." Said Joseph, blowing his own cloud of what, thankfully, smelled like cigarette smoke in Matsuo's direction.

"That's…yeah, that's pretty much what I was going to say." Said Matsuo. He wanted to tell Joseph that it was weird thing for him to worry about, Shigeko's wellbeing, after he had done or tried to do what he did to her. He didn't want to start something, no, that would have been stupid. He just wanted this thing to be over with already so he could get back to Toshiki and they could spend what little time they had left together all alone together, or maybe with pleasant company, or even just complete strangers.

Anyone other than these guys.

"Well I say that we should wait for Mob. She wants in on this and this is kind of her friend and all…or maybe not. Actually I remember this kid as being a real bitch but then again this is Mob. She's a bottomless well of forgiveness." Said Shimazaki

"Please stop talking about her." said Matsuo

"What? I can't state the basic fact that Mob is a very forgiving person? Because she is. She takes a lot of crap and asks very little in return. She's great like that." Said Shimazaki

"Can you please shut your-" said Joseph

"We really don't need to hear you going on and on about how much you're into a thirteen year old girl, thank you very much." Said Matsuo with one hand on his spirit belt. He didn't really know if his pets would have any effect on Shimazaki, and he certainly didn't want to give away their position, but this was just…he was not going to listen to this. Every single word that came out of Shimazaki's mouth made his stomach turn in ways he had never felt it turn before. He had never been this disgusted by another person in his life, and he regularly came into contact with the sorts of espers that tried to eat spirits!

"She's really closer to fourteen than anything. Her birthday's in May and you had better get her something nice, both of you. She likes cats, Frozen, the color blue, things that smell like other things, soft socks-" said Shimazaki

"You're being too loud." Said Matsuo. They were on a rooftop, it was the only place to hide that wasn't a tree, and he didn't have to have some kind of people sense like Shimazaki did to know that the apartment building that they were standing on was occupied.

"-Hair things, strawberry milk, normal milk, sometimes chocolate milk, those Starbucks drinks they sell at the store even though it makes no sense to sell that shit at the store because those places are everywhere-" said Shimazaki

"We get it." Said Joseph

"-actually Mob's more into hot milk than coffee. Hot milk, cold milk, milk with vodka…which is not what a white Russian is, by the way, she just calls it that. A good bartender Mob is not. You know she actually mixes milk with brandy sometimes? That good shut that Suzuki keeps in his office even though he never drinks-" said Shimazaki

"Can you please shut up?" asked Joseph, the smoke on the end of his cigarette turning as pink as his aura. Shimazaki either didn't notice or didn't care. He just kept on smoking and kept on talking. At the very least he was purposely being annoying and at the very worst he was high as a kite and in no state to be working on this mission. He should have been kicked off a while ago, actually, but his placement had come from President Suzuki himself and Matsuo knew what happened to people who defied President Suzuki.

"Shimazaki." Said Matsuo. He tried to make aural contact but Shimazaki just shrugged him off. Matsuo had no clue if it was on purpose or not. He seemed…well obviously he was acting weird but weird for him was normal, normal was weird, and every single state of his being was exhausting.

"-which, you think that she would have expensive taste being the big boss's daughter but really she's more like a party girl. Not a bar girl, no, they're different. Mob actually really loves to go anywhere fun…anywhere with a party. God, those were the days. She loves mixed drinks, loud music, terrible bar food-" said Shimazaki

"Come on! Nobody wants to hear about this!" said Joseph. Shimazaki turned to face him, dropped what he was smoking, and crushed it under his shoe. The whole time making complete aural contact with Joseph.

"Dicks that work. She likes those best of all but, you know, you might want to get her something else for her birthday. Something that you can actually-" said Shimazaki. There was a burst of pink and then Matsuo couldn't see. He reached out in front of himself and there was this….this wall. A steel wall…

Joseph.

"I'll kill you!" said Joseph, his voice carrying through the steel….loud. Those two were being too loud. He'd had the camera taken out a while ago, right now they were supposedly showing a loop of an empty roof, but if the people living underneath this roof heard what was going on and decided to investigate…

Yeah. There was no hiding this from the normal people.

"You really think you can?" asked Shimazaki with enough teasing in his voice that an elementary schooler would have told him to tone it down. Matsuo didn't have time, or energy, to deal with this idiot acting like a kid. He reached down to his belt and felt around for the pet he was looking for.

There.

Rainbow sprinkles. Not his most powerful pet but one that obeyed him the best. They didn't always like to listen, especially as they got bigger and more powerful, much like kids really. Well, that was what Toshiki had said. They were the one with the actual experience taking care of kids…and he wasn't talking about he Suzuki kids. He had no idea how they had managed to stay with this guy for years and years when this was what he acted like. He didn't need a partner, he needed a parent.

Or a good mission leader.

Which Matsuo…had absolutely no experience acting as. If anything the person with the most leadership experience between them was Joseph but President Suzuki had been very clear, he was supposed to act as the body guard and nothing more. He wasn't supposed to have anything close to power on this mission. That seemed like a bit of a waste of his skills but Matsuo wasn't here to give his opinions. He was here to keep these idiots alive until they could complete the mission.

So that was what he did.

"Go on, Rainbow, eat." Said Joseph as he jumped onto the back of his pet. Rainbow Sprinkles Surprise was just that, a rainbow sprinkles surprise. It was like a giant toothy snake…or sand pit worm, yes, that was better. A giant sand pit worm with sprinkles for snakes and scales. It could eat through anything. He had caught this one as a tiny little baby larva type thing, a collection of rainbow sprinkles, eating through the foundation of the Seventh Division. It hadn't been born of a human soul, too small, so of course it had been worth picking up. Not a lot of animals souls or random energy bunches managed to last long around the Seventh Division. The dead Awakening Candidates usually conglomerated and ate anything small and vulnerable.

This thing was special.

It ate right through the steel like it was made of rice paper, the kind with the sugar pictures on it that you pressed onto your tongue. Did they still make that stuff? After this mission he was going to a candy store to check it out. He needed to decompress. They hadn't even started and already he could feel a headache coming on. He didn't really want this to end, he didn't really want to leave Toshiki, but this mission…these people…and being so near to Shigeko….

It was too much.

The steel, however, was not. Rainbow Sprinkles Surprise didn't complain once as he ate, and he worked quickly too. Matsuo was going to have to find him a big, nutritious, spirit to eat after this. That was important, rewarding the people who worked under you, the ones who deserved it anyway. You didn't have to be a seasoned leader to know who deserved to be rewarded and who didn't.

Pets who obeyed him, yes. Mission mates who fought like a couple of little kids over a girl that was sickening young? No.

"Just give up already!" said Shimazaki as he pinned Joseph down to the floor of the roof. There were walls upon walls upon walls all around them. He had no idea what Joseph had been planning on doing with all of that. Really. Shimazaki could teleport, it was his thing, what did he even think he could do?

Matsuo wasn't going to stay and find out.

"Knock it off!" said Matsuo as he pointed Rainbow towards the fight. It wasn't ready to devour a person yet, Matsuo usually got rid of them when they got strong enough that they could turn on him, but it could break up a fight. It was strong and…apparently terrifying. Joseph managed to get away. Shimazaki let him…

He had never heard anyone make a sound like that before.

"What the FUCK is that thing!" said Shimazaki before he teleported away. The walls around them turned to smoke as Joseph sat up. Shimazaki had teleported himself onto a higher part of the roof, some kind of air conditioning unit or something, and he looked…not good. Not good at all.

Matsuo knew that he should have felt bad for Shimazaki, and probably Joseph too, but he just couldn't find it in his heart to feel anything close to sympathy for those two.

"What the fuck are you? What in the ever loving fuck is the matter with you!?" shouted Joseph

"What's the matter with me? What's the matter with-" said Shimazaki

"Shut up, the both of you! You both just gave away our position and now we have to set up all over again and-and-and I can't believe you! I don't like this any more than you do but the President gave us a mission so unless you both want to end up rotting together in a traitor hole I'd suggest you learn to work together and do it quietly!" said Matsuo

"Fine, fine, whatever just get rid of whatever that thing is! It smells like old coffee ground and the time I left a sandwich under Hatori's bed for a month and a half! And it feels like swimming in a pool of old tapioca!" said Shimazaki as he drew his arms around himself. Matsuo reached out and touched his pet. It smelled like a candy shop and felt like a snake make of sprinkles…so that was what they felt like to other espers…interesting….

Something he would definitely have to think about later, not now. Now he had to be all business. Somebody had to be.

"Ok, but you both have to stop acting like a couple of little kids! I've had enough of this! I just want to get through this, ok?" said Matsuo as he called his pet back to it's home. His belt hung a little heavier as it came home, it had eaten a lot, though that wouldn't last. Spirits needed to eat other spirits and right now the only spirit that he wanted to worry about was the one that his livelihood depended on.

"You think I don't want to? I want to get through tonight and never see or hear from either of you ever again!" said Joseph

"Same." Said Shimazaki as he teleported back to Matsuo's side. He was pale, and shaking a little, but aside from that he was fine…Matsuo would file this one away for later. He was weak to spirits, or at least ones who snuck up on him…and he could be snuck up on.

Good to know….very good to know.

"Good, we're finally on the same page. Now come on, let's get the hell out of here before someone realizes that we're up….here…." said Matsuo as a gust of cold air surrounded them…or at least that was what it felt like to a normal person…or a non medium. Shimazaki and Joseph both pulled their coats shut around themselves. Matsuo didn't. He knew that it wasn't that kind of cold…not a natural kind of cold. This was the sort of cold that preceded something….something big….

Something that might have been too big for him to handle on his own.

"It's here!" shouted Matsuo, not caring if he got discovered by the normal people or not. This wasn't the time to be worried about things like that and, anyway, it wasn't like a normal person had even the slightest chance of living through this. Normally the spirit would have shown itself by now but this…this was different. It was surrounding them in it's energy but not showing it's form…and it must have had a form….

Something this strong and this smart must have had a full, probably human like, body.

"The fuck is going on here?" said Shimazaki as he tried to push the darkness away from them. It was a physical sort of darkness that surrounded them. It must have been something entirely different towards Shimazaki…maybe even Joseph, too. Neither of them were mediums, neither of them saw what he saw. There was a chill in the air followed by what looked like black, crystalline, sort of membrane. Something was trying to trap them…he acted fast. He uncapped as many of his pets as he could.

It didn't help.

"So now you want me to devour spirits and espers? What lowly creatures you are." He heard a voice say. A voice that was inhumanly deep, one that cut him right through to the core of his being. It was like someone had lumped together every time he had ever been screamed at, insulted, and belittled into one sentence. The words didn't matter, the effect did. He willed his pets to come to him but…but they didn't listen.

They disappeared.

Gone. Just like that. Just like…the only esper he knew who could exorcise a spirit that quickly was the President himself…and his pets hadn't been exorcised, they'd been devoured…devoured in an instant…like he would be if he didn't get the hell out of here. He needed to leave, to run, to…he needed to complete the mission but…but fuck the mission! He wanted to live!

He needed to live!

"Get me out of here!" shouted Matsuo as he grabbed onto Shimazaki. That seemed to break him out of whatever spell he'd been under. The floor beneath them, the world around them, fell away. Somewhere in the split second between being on that roof and feeling grass beneath his feet he realized that he'd left Joseph behind….but there was no time to get him and now way he was going back. He didn't even know where he was. It was pitch black, a natural darkness, one that he could only see but not feel. It smelled like….trees? Nature? A garden? Toshiki…it smelled like Toshiki. Comforting in a way….maybe that was why Shimazaki had brought him here…

If anyone needed comfort it was him.

"I'm here, I'm here, here comes the sun, I'm here, here comes the sun, I'm here." Muttered Shimazaki over and over again. Matsuo didn't know what all of that was about. He was still off kilter. He had left someone behind, a piece of shit but still. He had fucked that up like he'd fucked everything up…maybe he was just a fuck up. That was why he'd sold his soul, right? Because he had fucked everything else up and now…now this was all that he had left. Sitting here in the cold and the dark with one of the biggest pieces of shit in the world…maybe that was why President Suzuki had put him in charge…

He was a failure…he was a piece of shit…everything about him was wrong just like everyone else had said…had been telling him for his entire life.

Every insult that he'd ever been given ran through his mind. Freak. Loser. Crazy girl. All of it and more ran through his mind…he closed his eyes. It didn't help. He felt his belt. At least his pets loved him…his pets were gone. Everything was gone. Everything and everyone was gone and he was here. He was here alone in the dark…all alone…not even a spirit…just someone as fucked up as he was….

Forget the mission…it was just another fuck up….yet another fuck up.