Chapter 17: Meisuke and Family
"Meisuke!" Mr. Magatsuchi said with a polite smile, "It's been a while since we last spoke, hasn't it? It's good to see that you're-"
"Tohru." Meisuke cut in, striding towards the man, "Get behind me. Right now."
The young woman in question blinked in surprise before ducking behind her butler, peeking out from behind Meisuke's shoulder with a confused furrow in her brow.
Nodding her approval at Tohru's compliance, Meisuke turned to the man at their table with a grimace. "Leave. Now." She growled with a terse nod towards the door.
Mr. Magatsuchi tutted before rising from the table, his smile growing worn as he said, "Now, Meisuke, you know very well that I cannot just leave without doing something about all the interference you've been up to."
Tohru leaned out further from behind Meisuke, her head tilted in confusion as she asked, "Interference? What d'you mean by th-"
It happened far too quickly for the young woman to consciously register. One moment, she was talking to the polite older man, and the next, the man's fingers were quivering centimeters from her face, clawing at her eyes and barely restrained by the grip Meisuke had on his wrist.
Magatsuchi's face had twisted into a mask of contempt and loathing, his eyes screwed nearly shut as though the very act of looking upon the human before him was too painful to bear, and his lips had twisted into a demented, inhuman smile, baring a maw full of jagged fangs. Meisuke looked no better, her expression screaming wrath and reproach.
"THE TRASH," the older man intoned, "WILL HOLD ITS TONGUE."
Tohru fell to her knees, curling up in terror at the sight before her as Meisuke pushed the man away. For a moment, the two seemed to size each other up before Magatsuchi relaxed, readjusting his tie as he said, "Meisuke, this world is not ours to trouble as we please, and it is not your right to live in it. You must come with me before some problem should arise that affects the delicate balance between our worlds and-" The man stopped short, considering his words for a moment before concluding, "-causing a rather regrettable situation. Surely you grasp that this is for the best."
"Go home." Meisuke replied, her face still tense as she threw her arms to her sides, interposing herself between the man and Tohru. "You're right in saying you have no business interfering with this world and nothing else, so leave."
The older man sighed, his face falling to a concerned frown as he said, "Meisuke, this is unimaginable for you. What binds you to this world? Why are you so damnably dogged about remaining? You cannot stay here, Meisuke, it cannot be allowed! This world is teeming with creatures who know not of dragons, and who must not know of dragons! Of anything beyond their borders!"
Beginning to relax her stance, Meisuke too adjusted her tie before replying, "Those are your rules, but mine are different: never go longer than I need to without a drink, never shake hands with someone wearing a cold mask, and-" She paused to push up her glasses before glaring at the old man as she concluded, "never do anything to make Miss Tohru cry. I will stand by my master for as long as I can, and that's way longer than my patience for your stupid rules will last."
For a split second Magatsuchi's whole form seemed to writhe in pure, barely restrained bile at the word 'master', but this spasm quickly passed. Instead, he said, "Meisuke... think about this for a moment. This..." he paused for another spasm before continuing, "human is a candle flickering in the wind. It will either be blown out or fall over and set everything you hold dear aflame. There's nothing redeeming about such creatures and the only thing keeping me from wiping the whole of this paltry village from the face of this miserably infested world is the regulations regarding what we can and cannot do here. Please come with me, Meisuke; I raised you to be better than... than this, whatever this pitiful display is."
Tohru blinked in surprise, glancing back and forth between the older man and Meisuke before repeating, "'Raised you'? Wait, so does that mean...?"
"Yep," Meisuke confirmed through gritted teeth, "This old man was that drake I mentioned back then. He was the one that raised me," She glared accusingly at Magatsuchi, adding, "and the one who taught me to hate humans."
With another wearied sigh, the man replied, "I wasn't teaching you to 'hate' humans, I was teaching you what irritating, worthless little bugs they are. I taught you is, not ought. It is your choice to hate them, and while I would applaud that decision, I will not make the choice for you."
"Oh, sorrry," Meisuke replied with a sardonic roll of her eyes, "I shouldn't have said you taught me to hate humans-I should have said you tried to control my opinions so my actions would just naturally ally with your personal beliefs!"
"Um," Tohru muttered, raising her hand a bit as she watched the pair's spat.
"Controlled your opinions!?" Magatsuchi repeated with an incredulous sneer. "I taught you facts drawn from observation! It's not my fault if those facts clash with your rose-tinted view of humanity, but it is my responsibility to restrain you when you act without some basic sense of prudence!"
"Sorry, but, um..." Tohru said, louder this time.
"Oh, riiight," Meisuke drawled, "because your biased view of the world is constructed from facts! And I guess that's why it consistently fails to produce a workable model of the world from which predictions and explanations can be drawn!? Y'know, like a worldview is supposed to!?"
Tohru began to pout, her irritation at being ignored coloring her cheeks as she shouted, "HEY! I JUST NEED TO ASK SOMETHING HERE!"
The warring monsters paused, giving their attention with identical expressions of surprise to the young woman. Tohru offered a small, sheepish smile before clearing her throat as she said, "Erm... Meisuke... you're only here for me, right?"
With a nod, the butler replied, "Yeah, that's right. Why?"
For a moment, she said nothing; she merely stood, frozen in place with a bitter look of dread on her face. She then began to cycle between nearly every emotion Meisuke had seen the young woman experience since her arrival-and a few she hadn't. Meisuke only knew that she didn't like this change.
Finally, as though weeks' worth of stress were placed upon Tohru all at once, she fell to her knees with a guilty sigh as she answered, "Because you're not supposed to be here! You're not supposed to fight with your family! It's all my fault that you're here, that you're fighting, and that you can't leave! Because I'm here, holding you back, I'm causing trouble for everyone... I'm causing trouble for you!"
Tears began to drip down Tohru's face as she continued, "You should go with this guy and forget about me. I'm not important anyway... I'm not someone worth hurting everybody for! If I asked you to stay here, it'd just be... it'd be selfish, right!?" She began to bawl, crying out, "So go home, Meisuke! It's not right for someone like me to keep you here! All I can do is hold you back! All I can do is make trouble!" She began to calm down, staring at the floor with a few quiet sobs as she concluded, "So go home... it's where you belong... it's where you're supposed to be... it's where someone useless like me isn't..."
"Tohru..." Meisuke muttered as she began to reach out to the young woman. However, she found her wrist caught in Magatsuchi's grasp, a victorious grin on the dragon's face.
"You heard the insect~!" He said in a sing-song tone. "You said you wouldn't do aaanything to make this bug beneath pity cry, and yet here she is, crying because you refuse to return! You really should know better, Meisuke!"
For a moment, Tohru directed a stare of barely contained malice at the old drake before, finally, she took a deep breath and rubbed her brow, saying, "I'll come with you... but only as long as Miss Tohru wishes it. I'll be back the instant she wants it, and no later-even if it means disintegrating your 'rules' and the coffee filters they're scrawled on."
Nodding as he continued to sneer, Magatsuchi pulled the apartment door open and stepped through it. "Coming, Meisuke?" He called.
"Yeah, yeah," the butler muttered as she begrudgingly began to follow him. As she stepped through the door, she took one glance back and asked, "Are you sure this is what you want, Miss Tohru?"
The young woman snorted loudly, wiping her eyes and putting on a falsely cheery smile as she answered, "O-of course! It's- it's the right thing to do, yeah?"
Meisuke said nothing as she took hold of the doorknob and, with an inscrutable look at her master, pulled the apartment door shut.
Leaving Tohru alone.
All alone.
...
Meisuke and Magatsuchi took to the air, Magatsuchi unfurling his full dragon form and glancing back with no small deal of irritation as he asked, "Must you insist on maintaining that shape?"
With a shrug of her still very human shoulders and putting her very human hands in her suit pants' pockets, Meisuke replied, "It wouldn't be worth it- I'll be changing too soon for it to matter anyway. Plus, I can fly in this form just fine, so why should you care?"
The old drake narrowed his eyes as he said, "You really have entirely too much confidence in that small human. She abandoned you, and you still have this much faith in her?"
Meisuke stroked her chin for a moment before answering, "Tohru is... well, she's not what you'd call 'confident' in herself. Or, maybe it's more like she's certain in her own lack of value? She's a good girl, really, so she doesn't want to trouble anyone... but I think she might just have a cute little needy streak that's just a bit... childish, I guess you'd call it? Eh, it'll make sense soon enough anyway. At least the results will." Then, with a flick of her hand she called forth a can of beer and began to sip at it pensively.
Magatsuchi offered a small, suspicious raise of his brow at this but otherwise said nothing. Then, with a flap of his mighty wings the dragon and the butler took off into the night.
...
Tohru was crying. Well, she had been crying. She wasn't sure how long it had been since she had started, and she wasn't sure how long it would be until she stopped. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She berated herself. How could you just send Meisuke away like that!? She probably thinks you hate her now!
Glancing up from the floor-had she really not moved from this one spot for hours on end?-she saw a small, wrapped package sitting on the kitchen table. The young woman rose with an awkward groan as she lumbered across the room, her surroundings barely registering as she moved to inspect the strange little box.
She picked it up and, finding her name written in a vaguely familiar hand, tore the box open.
"'Butleroma Part III'," Tohru read aloud, "'Our Love is Twice the Moon - Finale the Ist'? Wait..." Her expression turned to one of confusion and consternation as she said, "Gah! I forgot to grab this at Comiket! But... then... how...?"
With a glance at the couch-and the unassuming wicker basket beneath it-Tohru blushed a flaming crimson, muttering, "Meisuke..."
Steam seemed to waft from her head as she curled up again, covering her eyes with a small, "How embarrassing!"
For a moment she continued to sit there on the kitchen floor, the DVD in her lap. However, she soon looked up again and, tears streaming from her eyes as her mouth formed a determined line, she said, "I... need her here..." She considered these words before shaking her head. Standing up, she declared, "No... I want her here!"
This said, she ran towards the apartment door.
...
"I want to understand, really I do, Meisuke," Magatsuchi said as he floated through the portal to the other world. "It's always been my responsibility to watch over you, and I've always tried to be a good and supportive mentor, but I really don't understand why you-would you please stop glancing at that human device when I'm trying to talk to you!?"
The butler glanced up from her phone, her face stern but a twinkle of a smile in her eyes as she said, "Sorry, Mister Magatsuchi, but our time's up. I can't say I hate you-you're like some kind of family to me-but I can't really say I'm fine with your ideology either. It looks like we'll just have to part ways here for a bit. Oh, and since this world has laws against littering but that one doesn't..." With a cheeky grin, she flicked her now-empty beer can through the portal before gripping onto its edge like a curtain.
"Show's over, folks!" She cried with an uncharacteristically frivolous flourish as she yanked the portal closed. Magatsuchi stared at her with rage and confoundment, his expression entirely nonplussed at this turn on Meisuke's part.
As it slammed shut with another resounding thud, Meisuke mused to herself, "Y'know, I think there were still a few drops in that can... Ah well, there's plenty more at home."
...
Tohru stood on the outdoor walkway just outside her apartment door, her eyes tearing up as she leaned against the railing. After taking a long, deep breath, she leaned back and cupped her hounds around her mouth.
"MEISUKE!" She shouted into the night. "I... I KNOW YOU WERE ONLY HERE FOR ME! I KNOW THAT YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO STAY HERE! I KNOW THAT BEING HERE WILL MEAN YOU FIGHT WITH YOUR FAMILY!" She paused to take another deep breath before continuing, "IT'S MY FAULT THAT YOU WERE HERE AT ALL! IT'S MY FAULT YOU FOUGHT WITH MISTER MAGATSUCHI! IT'S ALL MY FAULT THAT YOU COULDN'T LEAVE!" She fell to her knees but continued to shout, saying, "I'M HERE! I WAS HOLDING YOU BACK! I JUST CAUSED TROUBLE FOR YOU! I KNOW YOU HAD TO GO WITH HIM!"
She paused for another deep breath, fully collapsing to the ground before pulling herself up with the railing to continue shouting, "I KNOW I'M NOT IMPORTANT! I KNOW THAT I DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO CAUSE TROUBLE FOR EVERYONE! I KNOW IT'S SELFISH OF ME!" The young woman let go of the railing and rubbed at her eyes, muttering, "I know all that... I know all that... but still... but still...!"
Craning her neck back as she sobbed to the heavens, Tohru cried out, "BUT I STILL WANT YOU HERE! I WANT YOU TO COME HOME, MEISUKE! IT'S NOT RIGHT FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME TO KEEP YOU HERE! I CAN ONLY HOLD YOU BACK! I CAN ONLY MAKE TROUBLE FOR YOU!"
"BUT I WANT YOU HERE!" She shouted. "I WANT YOU TO COME HOME! WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSSED TO BE! WITH ME! EVEN IF I'M USELESS... EVEN IF I'M TROUBLESOME... EVEN IF I DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE YOU HERE!"
"I STILL WANT YOU HERE! WHERE SOMEONE USELESS LIKE ME IS!"
Once again, she collapsed into the ground, burying her face into her arms as she sobbed.
"C'mon, Miss Tohru," a familiar voice said from above her, "please don't cry. I've already been responsible for enough of your tears tonight. I don't think I could carry any more."
Glancing up from the floor of the walkway outside her apartment, Tohru's face fell slack as though she couldn't comprehend what she saw.
"Meisuke...?" She finally managed to stutter out.
Cutting a dashing silhouette as she stood on the railing framed by the moon, Meisuke stood before the young woman with a calm, reassuring smile.
Before she could even properly register what it was she was doing, Tohru had launched herself at the butler with a crushing hug.
And bowling them both off the balcony, barreling towards the ground.
Meisuke chuckled to herself as they fell, marveling at the warmth pouring from Tohru as she clutched close to her.
Huh... Miss Tohru really is surprisingly warm. She mused. I guess dragons are still some kind of cold-blooded creature... but I want to be the sort of person that can return at least a little bit of that warmth.
As they plummeted, Meisuke nodded to herself, thinking, from now on, I'll always be more of a butler than a dragon... but I guess it's been like that for a while now, huh.
And then they flew.
...
With a sudden jolt accompanying the change in direction, Tohru cracked her eyes open and realized that Meisuke's arms were around her and pulling them both through the air, a bobbing, weaving dance that might have been appropriate for a ballroom if it weren't so... intimate.
"Did you like the reference? 'Carry your tears' and everything?" The butler whispered in her ear.
Nodding shyly as she buried her very red face in Meisuke's chest, the young woman replied, "I didn't even know you saw the first Butleroma..."
With a small chuckle she replied, "Well, I can't really say it's my cup of tea, but... if you like it, Miss Tohru, I can definitely get used to it."
Her blush glimmering in the moon night, Tohru asked, "Hey, Meisuke... why do you always call me 'miss' Tohru...?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Meisuke replied with a smile and blush of her own. "It's because you're my master!"
...
The pair sat on the couch back in their apartment, Tohru resting her head on her butler and friend's shoulder while the sounds of sparkles and classical music poured from the speakers of their television. For a moment, each was content to sit there in silence, small grins on their faces as they touched each other as if reconfirming the other's existence. Finally, however, Tohru's face bunched up just slightly as she asked, "So… will he be coming back?"
Pushing her glasses back up her nose as she considered the question, Meisuke answered at length, "I don't think so. I didn't just shut the portal, y'know; I left a... fun little enchantment at the 'gate point' that should keep him out for a while."
"Oh?" The young woman asked in interest. "What's that?"
With a sly smile, Meisuke replied, "Well, now he can only get in if he gets summoned here." Her smile widening by another few inches, she added, "By a human."
Furrowing her brow as she considered this, Tohru asked, "So does that mean we'll be safe? At least for a bit?"
"A bit more than a bit, Miss Tohru," she replied, "it should all be fine from now on. Smooth sailing, y'know?"
"That's nice..." Tohru muttered, curling closer to Meisuke as she added, "But I can't help but feel like we're forgetting something..."
"MISS TOHRUUUU!" The door swung upon with a slam and the pair on the couch jumped slightly as a familiar little voice filled the house. This time, however, that familiarity was welcome.
"BIG SIS MEISUKE'S MISSING! I LOOKED FOR HER EVERYWHERE!" Riko shouted, bursting into the living room. "I FELT HER MAGICAL PRESENSE ALL OVER TOWN, AND SHOUTA'S DAD'S MANA IS EVERYWHERE! SHE GOT CALLED BACK, WE GOTTA GO RESCUE HERE, C'MO-" The little dragoness's little voice quieted down, however, as she stared at the scene on the couch. "Oh." She muttered after a moment, her face reddening in surprise and embarrassment before she turned away, muttering, "Well... um..." Finally, she managed to whisper, "perverted adults..."
"Wait," Tohru said, blinking in surprise, "Mister Magatsuchi is Shouta's dad!?"
Raising an incredulous eyebrow, Meisuke said, "Well... I mean, he did say he was Magatsuchi Shouta."
"Oh. Right."
***End of Chapter 17***
A/N: Whoo! There we are; this is roughly where the anime stopped, so you'll probably start to see some things you didn't know about if you only watched that. Anyway, I guess you could call this the end of the first... act? Part? Cycle? Well, whatever you want to call it, this is the end of the first 'major segment' of the overall narrative. Due to... certain extenuating circumstances, I might be able to produce these chapters more quickly for a good while now! Regardless, I hope you all enjoy my work and will have a lot of fun reading it in the future!
Thank you, all of you!
...now I'm gonna go grab a cookie. Maybe we have some oreo's around...