6th Night: Shibuya
That afternoon, Tetsuo Asakura had been instructed about the workings of the club he had entered. He and his colleagues, Kojiro Soma and Takehiko Kuki, already had the topic for a new article. In the middle of the night, gaping holes and other kinds of damage were found in the walls of some buildings, and the cause of it is unknown, which left room for speculation.
"Well, that's just your song and dance, isn't it?" Yousuke commented, smiling at the three occult writers.
"Indeed it is." Kojiro smiled back.
"Now it's your time to shine, rookie." Takehiko said, patting his new colleague's shoulder and prompting him to blush slightly.
"Very well." the head of the club concluded, with a grin "We'll see some action next week!"
"I won't let you down." Tetsuo said, determinedly, yet with a hint of anxiety in his voice, to which his fellow members of the Newspaper Club smiled.
"I know you won't." Yousuke replied, with a reassuring and trusting tone.
"If you're uncertain about anything, you can always ask us." Kojiro added, before sheepishly scratching the back of his head "Just, don't rely on me too much for tech-related issues..." The statement elicited laughter from everyone else in the room.
"Don't worry about that, Kojiro." the amber-eyed youth replied "I'm good."
Eventually, the meeting reached its end. The club members called it a day and settled to head back to their homes. Tetsuo went down the stairs and headed to the gates of the school, where his friends were waiting for him.
"Hey there, Tetsuo!" Ayumu cheerily called.
"So, how did it go?" Hideaki asked.
"Rather well." Tetsuo eagerly replied "The staff was really welcoming, and we already have a job."
"What are you going to write about?" Ayumu probed, with rising excitement in his voice.
"Mysterious holes made in the walls during the night." the amber-eyed youth.
"I've heard about that case." the head of the Occult Club remarked. "We're actually planning to talk about it during one of our meetings.
"That's amazing for a first work, Asakura-kun!" Izumi exclaimed.
"I just hope it turns out well." Tetsuo replied, scratching the back of his head.
"You have the contacts of your colleagues, right?" Hideaki asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Of course!" the amber-eyed writer replied "Why is that?"
"Well, if you're uncertain about information collecting or other issues, you'll still be able to contact them." Hideaki smiled.
"See?" Izumi added, smiling brightly as well "You're pretty much set!"
"And I would say you're pretty much ready to rock the club now!" Ayumu added, with a huge grin, patting his friend's shoulder and making him blush.
"Thank you, guys." Tetsuo said, gratefully, a smile gracing his own features.
"Hey, that's what friends are for, isn't it?" his neighbor and friend replied.
"Well then, see you tomorrow." Hideaki said, ready to accompany Izumi home before heading to his own house.
"See you!" Tetsuo replied, before heading back to his neighborhood with Ayumu. The two hopped on the bus, chatted along their way until they reached their stop, and finally walked to their houses, waving each other goodbye with the promise of seeing each other the next day.
"Mom? Dad? I'm back!" Tetsuo called upon entering his home, in which he knew both of his parents were waiting for him.
"Tetsuo!" the youth's mother immediately greeted her son "Welcome home!"
"How was your day?" his father asked.
"Be patient, darling." she said "Dinner will be ready soon, and then he'll have all the time to tell us!"
"Well, it's been an important day for him, if I remember..." Soichiro remarked, looking at his son with a smirk.
"Yes." Tetsuo nodded "Today's been my first day in the Newspaper Club!" The statement elicited laughter in everyone.
After that pleasant exchange, the amber-eyed youth went up the stairs and entered his room, then sat on his bed and opened up his portable computer, booting up his Demon Summoning Program. He noticed that he already had some unread messages. Firstly, he read the ones sent from his demon.
"Your friends are nice, as well." Angel had said "I am also impressed to see that some people seem to believe in demons as well…"
"Well, such things can always fascinate..." Tetsuo typed back, with a smile.
"I cannot help but find it amusing, for humans to be fascinated by demons..." he then read, as a reply from the winged woman.
"I think I understand what you're trying to get to..." he replied "Such fascination could lead to danger, especially in the world I'm living in now..." It was then that an important question surfaced in his mind "Speaking of which, have you noticed anything strange while I carried you in my computer?"
"I have seen something in one of your friends." Angel said "Shibusawa Kyoko. She appears to be uncommon."
"What kind of uncommon are you talking about?" Tetsuo asked, with worry beginning to seep inside him "Is it my kind of uncommon?"
"Yes, it is." the winged woman replied. The words weighed like stone pillars as the amber-eyed hunter read them.
"I was right!" he thought "She can see demons, too!" His feelings over the matter were conflicting. On one side, he felt relieved to have found someone else that shared his peculiar situation. However, there was still one problem: What if her intentions were foul? The mysterious girl who was mentoring him had warned him about the chance to encounter ill-willed hunters.
"How do you think I should act around her, for now?" he asked to his demon.
"I am sorry, Tetsuo. I do not have enough information to answer." Angel replied "For the time being, the best course of action would be to refer this to your fellow and listen to what she says."
"Agreed." Tetsuo typed back "Thank you, Angel-san."
"It is merely my duty, my dear human." the winged woman replied. The amber-eyed youth smiled and, with that matter settled, decided to check the other chatrooms in which he had unread messages. First, he looked at Rinne Enomoto's chat log.
"Have you gotten used to your new life, yet?" the most recent message said "I'll try to help you to the best of my abilities whenever you'll need it. If you notice something unusual, tell me. Don't forget to meet me in Inokashira Park tonight, and know that our hunt will lead us deeper in Tokyo this time."
"Understood." Tetsuo replied to the message "I haven't forgotten about that. Thank you for helping me out. I don't know how many times I'm gonna say it, but I don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for you… I actually have something to tell you, when we'll meet." Then, he checked his last chatroom. There was a reply from S to the question he had asked him the previous night.
"Hello, Tetsuo. Thank you for your message. To answer your question, I have found voices about a program that allowed to summon demons. Usually such voices are hardly reliable, but I still decided to follow that lead, and that's how I found the program. Then, I developed a port for your device and began distributing it. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed to the company which manufactures the portable computers, so I'm currently in the business of explaining the situation to them. I hope this answers your question. Best of luck on your future endeavors."
The content of that message made Tetsuo's mind work and recall the words of his father about a man who was speaking about applications for portable computers, ultimately leading him to a shocking realization.
"Does that mean that S-san is the man who is currently speaking with my father?" he thought, with eyes wide in stupor. He gave it some thought, and then decided to reply to S, and then discreetly ask his father about the identity of his mysterious client.
"Greetings, S-san. Thank you for your reply. Yes, this does answer my question. I'll write to you again when I'll have another important issue to bring up."
"Tetsuo? Dinner's ready!" Just as he had finished typing, his mother called from downstairs.
"Coming, mom!" the youth immediately replied, closed his portable computer and headed out of his room and down the stairs to join his parents for dinner.
"So, how was your first day in the Newspaper Club?" Soichiro asked his son.
"It was really nice." Tetsuo replied "The staff gave me such a warm welcome!"
"That's lovely to hear!" the youth's mother exclaimed, before asking a question of her own "Did they give you any assignments?"
"Well, yes." he replied "We have an article to work on."
"We?" his father couldn't help but ask.
"Yes." the amber-eyed youth explained "I work with two fellow myth lovers."
"Oh, well, isn't that the perfect place for you!" Soichiro remarked, eliciting laughter in everyone sitting at the table.
"And what about you, honey?" his wife asked, once the laughter quieted down.
"Work has been fine today." the man replied.
"Are you still discussing with that application producer you mentioned yesterday?" Tetsuo asked.
"Yes, I am." his father replied "Why do you ask?"
"Just had to ask." the amber-eyed youth said, his words hiding the question that was truly lurking in his mind.
"That producer might very well be S-san." he thought "Covered by a disguise, or not..." He decided not to probe in further, in order not to raise suspicions and worries in his parents.
Eventually, the dinner came to an end, and, after retrieving his portable computer, Tetsuo headed towards the door of his house.
"Are you going to meet your new friend?" Soichiro asked.
"Yes, I am." his son replied, with a nod.
"Please, be careful..." the youth's mother said, her voice filled with worry.
"Don't worry, mom." Tetsuo smiled reassuringly at her "I will." He then stepped out of the house "I'm off."
"Take care!" both of his parents said while he walked away, heading to Inokashira Park, where he was set to meet Rinne Enomoto.
He had already walked a stretch, and was already out of his neighborhood, when something strange caught his eye. It was a slim, agile-looking blue cat, wearing a typical Japanese Kasa.
"That cat..." he couldn't help but think "Something doesn't feel normal about it..." Upon a more careful hearing, the youth could notice that the cat was humming, much like a human, as it was walking.
"Yep, it's a demon." he concluded. He then decided to call its attention.
"Hey there!" he called, prompting the cat demon to turn its gaze towards the human.
"You can see me!" it exclaimed, to which the young hunter merely chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"But..." the cat said, prompting Tetsuo to look at it, and notice that it was winking "Can you catch me?" It then began running away from him. Immediately, the youth sprinted and caught up to him in a short amount of time. As soon as they reached a tree, Tetsuo put a hand in front of the cat, impeding it from climbing up.
"Aww, you caught me!" the cat whined.
"Hey, you wanted to play." the amber-eyed hunter retorted, putting his hands on his hips as he panted. Then, he put a hand in his pocket. "Speaking of play..."
"Huh?" the cat looked at him with an interested gaze. Then, its eyes began sparkling as the youth plucked a Life Stone from his pocket.
"Do you want to play with this?" he asked, to which the cat nodded, before pouncing on the stone. However, Tetsuo was quick enough to move it away from its grasp, and kept playing around with the cat demon for some seconds, before tossing away the stone, so that it could easily grab it. "Here, take it!"
"Yay!" the cat immediately lunged towards the stone and grabbed it right before it could touch the ground, and then began playing with it.
"Liking it?" Tetsuo asked, crouching to the happy demon's level.
"I love it!" the cat immediately replied "You're the funniest human I've ever met! What's your name?"
"Name's Asakura Tetsuo." the youth smiled.
"I'm Kabuso." the cat replied, with a smile of its own "It's nice to bump into you!" The youth chuckled in response, and then used his Demon Summoning Program to call Angel out of his portable computer. "Angel-san, here's your new friend, Kabuso."
"It is nice to meet you, little one!" the winged woman warmly greeted the cat demon.
"Nice to meet you, bird lady!" it replied, grinning. The amber-eyed youth looked at his demon, worried about her reaction to that name. However, Angel's warm smile did not change. He inwardly sighed in relief, and decided to let it slide.
"So, shall we go?" he asked.
"Sure." Angel replied.
"If there are any nice thingies around, I'll catch them for you!" Kabuso said "Gotta make myself useful."
"Thank you, Kabuso." the young hunter smiled "It's much appreciated." The cat grinned in response. Then, Tetsuo took out his sheathed katana from his inventory and began heading to the park. Along the way, Kabuso found various objects for him, which were added to the young hunter's inventory.
Eventually, the amber-eyed youth reached Inokashira Park, where he found Rinne Enomoto waiting for him, under the leaves of a tree.
"Sorry I'm late, Enomoto-san." he said as he walked to her, with his demons by his side "As you can see, I've gained another demon."
"A Kabuso..." the girl looked at the demon, then at its master "Good job. Has it helped you?"
"Well, I can't do much when it comes to fighting..." Kabuso said "But I can find nice thingies!"
"It helped me finding many items on my way here, and they look pretty useful..." Tetsuo added.
"Excellent." Rinne replied, before walking away from the tree "Let's get going, then."
"Where are we going?" the amber-eyed youth asked as he followed her.
"In Shibuya." the girl replied "There's a demon who likes to play with the screens of the city, making them go static."
"Static screens?" Tetsuo exclaimed "I had heard about the screens of Tokyo going static at a given hour in the night..."
"You did?" Rinne asked, inquisitively raising a brow.
"Yes, we tackled the issue in the Occult Club of my school, of which I'm a member." he explained "So it was a demon's doing..."
"Exactly." the mysterious girl replied "And we're going to hunt down that demon tonight." She then opened up her portable computer and summoned her own demons. This time, besides the well known Karasu Tengu, two more demons appeared by her side: A being with the body of a lion, and with the head, front legs and wings of an eagle, and a great, fiery, bright red peacock. "Asakura-kun, you already know Karasu Tengu. Now, let me introduce you to Gryphon and Suzaku."
"Gryphon, Suzaku, this is Asakura Tetsuo, a fellow hunter of Rinne's." Karasu Tengu added "He's a rookie, but he's got guts." In response, both the demons cried out, greeting him. "It's just their way to say "hi"." the black winged demon added.
"Well, nice to meet both of you." the impressed youth replied.
"It's essential to have more than one demon with you." Rinne said "You might find even more demons in Shibuya, so stay alert." Tetsuo nodded in response. It was then that he recalled something that he had to ask.
"Enomoto-san..." he asked "Last night, you mentioned something called "magnetite". What is it, exactly?"
"Magnetite is a substance to which demons owe their sustainment in our world." the girl explained "Human bodies are the richest source of this mineral, since they produce it. The rate of production is influenced by the human's state of mind and beliefs. Long story short, it's our life force." The amber-eyed youth's eyes widened in shock as he heard his fellow hunter's words.
"Does that mean I've used my own life force to fuse Centaur and Pixie into Angel-san, last night?" he asked. All the demons laughed upon hearing that statement, as Rinne shook her head.
"Not at all." she said "It's true, we need magnetite to summon and fuse demons, but we retrieve it from the decaying corpses of the demons we slay." At those words, the youth couldn't help but recall the flying, glowing little stones that came out of the corpses of that Oni, and of the Slimes.
"So that was Magnetite..." he thought.
"Not only that." Kabuso added "It's because of magnetite that you can see us! You produce fantastic amounts of magnetite!"
"So that's how you were able to see that Shibusawa-san was able to see demons..." Tetsuo realized.
"Yes." Angel confirmed "I saw the shifts of her magnetite production rate."
"Come again?" Rinne asked, wanting to hear about the person that the young man under her wing had mentioned.
"Oh, right!" the rookie hunter exclaimed, before explaining the situation to the girl "A schoolmate of mine, Shibusawa Kyoko-san, can see demons as well, according to Angel-san. However, I'm still in the dark about what she wants to do about that ability..."
"Then keep an eye on her, and figure it out." Rinne immediately replied "Until you're sure of her intentions, don't say a word about your ability." In response, Tetsuo nodded, showing his understanding. With the matter settled, the two hunters and their demons discreetly continued their journey to Shibuya. Suddenly, Kabuso jumped on the shoulder of his master as he walked, making him yelp slightly.
"Your fellow..." it whispered in his ear "She's cute, isn't she?" The bold question instantly made Tetsuo blush brightly, as Angel let out a giggle at the scene.
Eventually, the two youths found the area they were looking for. The screens were still operational, projecting captivating images which were meant to catch the passer-by's eye and advertise a great variety of products. They also found some more fairy-type demons, hovering around the area, and noticed that they were eagerly looking at the screens. Tetsuo decided to get closer to one of them, and noticed that her body was filled with colors.
"Ah!" the fairy immediately turned to him, upon realizing that he was looking at her "A human? What are you doing here?" she asked, showing surprise at the sight of a human in Shibuya in that nightly hour. Eventually, a smile sprung on her face as she came to a realization of her own "Ahhh, you like to look at these shining screens, too?"
"You could say that." the youth replied, with a smile of his own "Everyone likes to look at them."
"Can see why!" the fairy replied "They're filled with such beautiful colors!"
"Well..." the young hunter replied, wanting to add a piece of information of his own "There's also the fact that they advertise products that we humans love."
"No way, really?" the fairy asked, looking at him with wide eyes. Rinne and her demons were a few steps away from them, watching them.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to wait here?" Karasu Tengu asked his mistress.
"Yes. We have to wait for the demon to come out." the girl replied "In the meantime, he's free to… No, he has to try and negotiate with some more demons."
"See that screen, for example?" Tetsuo explained, pointing at one of the many screens in the area, which advertised Coca-Cola "It advertises a beverage that is well loved among humans."
"Wow..." she looked at the screen with sparkling eyes "Now I'm wanting to drink it..."
"Ummm..." the youth uncertainly turned to the fairy once more "You sure you can drink it? It's a fizzy drink, you know?" To that, the fairy giggled.
"Sure I can drink it, silly!" she replied "I can drink whatever I want! Well, except for beer, I hate that one..."
"I saw a demon that sucked a whole bottle of beer dry after snatching it from a human..." Tetsuo said, recalling his first episode involving a demonic presence "But it was bigger and burlier than you, so..."
"Well, let the big ones drink that stuff! I'm fine with my own!" the fairy's statement elicited laughter in both of the talkers. Eventually, the fairy smiled warmly at him.
"You're funny, for a human, you know that?" she observed "So much that I would gladly come with you~" Then, she gave a nostalgic gaze to the screens she knew and loved "But… I won't be able to see these beautiful colors anymore if I come with you..." Tetsuo heard her words, and immediately had an idea.
"I have just the right thing for you." he exclaimed "Something that'll make you see many colors!"
"Wow, really?" the fairy asked, surprised and excited.
"Yes!" the youth replied "Your own colors! You're filled with colors, after all…" His words made the fairy giggle sweetly.
"Why, you charmer~" she replied.
"Are you planning to give her that mirror I've found?" Kabuso asked, guessing the object his master planned to give away.
"Exactly." Tetsuo replied, before taking a small, magical mirror from his cyber-inventory and giving it to the fairy as a gift.
"Wow..." she held the mirror in her hands, looking at herself with stupor, then she looked at the human with sparkling eyes, put the mirror away and lunged at his face, hugging it "Thank you so much!"
"Hehe, y-you're welcome..." Tetsuo replied, a bright blush sitting on his features, while Angel failed to hold back a giggle.
"What's your name, human?" the fairy asked, after pulling away from the embrace.
"My name's Asakura Tetsuo." the amber-eyed youth replied.
"Well, my name's Napaea, and I'm coming with you!" the fairy demon exclaimed, cheerfully, before winking at him "Don't underestimate me just because I'm little! I'm actually pretty strong, y'know?"
"Thank you, Napaea-san." Tetsuo smiled at his new demon "I'll be counting on you, from now on." Napaea nodded excitedly.
"Excellent job, Asakura-kun." Rinne remarked, with her ghost of a smile sitting on her features.
"I know that little critter." Karasu Tengu added "She may look like she wouldn't hurt a fly, but let me tell you, she can be a real thug."
"Mhm! Yep yep yep!" Napaea confirmed, nodding repeatedly once more "So, where are we going now?"
It was then that, suddenly, all the screens in the area turned static, in an eerie twist, of which the meaning was well known to the two hunters.
It was time to act.