Beelzebub adventures chapter 19

So much steam was inundating the tent, coming out of Kunieda's head that she wondered how much water the body of a human, even a meta human like her could store. She also wondered how an easy time some people had when managing to sleep in extreme circumstances, and why she wasn't one of them, like Oga, at her side. She had known it since childhood. Whenever she didn't train enough one day, or even when she had trained hard but was concerned about something, she would not be able to fade into Morpheus' embrace until half an hour or even more time had passed. Her grandfather always told her it was a family issue, him inheriting it from his own father and passing it to his daughter Shinobu, and to Kunieda in turn.

''I guess that's one of the reasons dad would not manage to sleep well either. I mean, he was not her sibling, but with sharing a bed with a woman that wouldn't snooze at all and instead prefer to have fun with him….WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING!''

Kunieda managed to contain her squeal, but could not avoid letting out more vapor through her scalp. Oga, who's a foot away from her, didn't react and continued snoring, to her relief. The cramped space inside the tent, however, didn't help much to ease the tension.

…

The rest of the day after the hike had passed without novelties nor any more crazy moments. It was a calm afternoon for all of them, even the kids, who after the intense climb also wanted to rest.

A general nap took place in the camp, Oga sleeping under the bus this time, along with Beel, to Kunieda's relief. After chatting with her fellow Red Tails a bit, she decided to doze a bit too. After everyone woke up, Tojo had already prepared an afternoon snack for everyone, which the gang enjoyed, followed by their favorite slacking method of any millennial: texting and browsing on their cellphones. Oga would watch, Dragon Ball highlights with Linkin Park background music to everyone's annoyance. The kids would play with building blocks Kunieda had brought for Kouta while Natsume, Himekawa and Yuka shared the most disgusting videos they could find on their Whatsapp group.

Three more hours passed blitzing when finally Tojo asked for help to gather wood for the fire. This time, he made it clear he didn't want the gathering to become a contest that implied bringing a truckload of timber into the camp. He only wanted fallen branches. Before Kunieda realized, two truck loads of fallen branches and dry bushes would lie on the camp border. There was no clear winner. After Oga's impatience made him order Beel to light the fire with an electric bolt, the youngsters spent the rest of the evening eating a cold dinner with roasted marshmallows and chocolate bars as desert. Except for Kouta getting his tongue burnt for trying to show Futaba how tough he was after seeing Beel eating a burning marshmallow, the youngsters had a comfortable evening, talking about their personal stories.

Among other things, Kunieda would find out for the first time that Shiroyama's father was an NBA basketball player, one of the few Japanese in history to ever compete in the United States, although he had a short lived and average career. The boys would find out that Nene's father was a high ranking executive in a tech enterprise in Tokyo, and that she lived in a huge, fancy house in the suburbs. Nene would shut her down before she commented on her daddy issues, and refuse to talk any further about it. Futaba would tell everyone about Kanzaki's habit of farting while sleeping on the family couch, and going to sleep with a full suit and shoes when drunk after parties. Yuka would reveal that she was raised by her uncle and aunt, and that she had met the other girls when starting training karate at Ittosai's dojo, when all of them were starting middle school. Nene would add, smirking, that the orange haired was the chubbiest girl of the class.

"She was hard to take down only because she was so round she would roll with every swing. Fortunately, she would slim out by the end of the summer." Nene stated.

Everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves for hours, until the rhythm of the conversations slowed down and everyone started to spend more time on their cellphone. Beel, Futaba and Kouta lied on the grass, dozing, when everyone decided they had enough for a day.

…

Since he hated sleeping bags, Oga brought and put an old eiderdown with Digimon motifs on it under him, and used a simple blue blanket to cover himself, but only from the waist down due to heat. Since it was a hot summer night, they had let the tent's curtains open. Outside, the night sky offered a beautiful sight of thousands of stars, many more than could be seen from the city. A crescent moon lent it's white light to illuminate the forest and camp, it's rays getting inside the tent and illuminating Oga's body.

'"As it couldn't be any more convenient, the gods offer us such a…mesmerizing sight. Isn't it, sister?". Her inner presence used an oddly calm voice to say something she would normally voice out in a way more sexual way. Kunieda, however, could only agree.

Oga had chosen a white tank top and soccer shorts to sleep. His well-defined deltoids, traps and neck were followed by his noticeably bulging pecs, flexed due to his posture. His forearms, bent upwards under his head and in front of his torso, despite being relaxed, still featured bulging veins and hard lines that made the temperature of her nether parts rise significantly.

His scent never failed to disappoint her. Despite not being particularly hygienic, one of the few habits she knew his mother instilled on him was on showering daily and using good deodorants. In their sporadic, yet lengthy and amusing talks they had whenever they met, she knew he rarely soaped (with plain coconut soap) any part of him beyond armpits, groin and ass, and only used shampoo every few days. His stereotypical macho antics and customs sometimes annoyed her, sometimes made her laugh, and sometimes made her angry.

She chuckled nervously at how much she finally agreed to enjoy the moment with her inner presence, who was finally starting to take a recognizable human shape in the last days, being only visible to her. This time she used the steam to materialize, slowly forming the contours of her body with the white gas. In a few seconds, what looked like a chibi version of herself, around a foot tall, was walking towards Oga, swinging her hips and arms as if she was parading in a Chanel show. Her hair was as long as in her high school days, with the lower end reaching below her buttocks. Turning her head around, she stick out her tongue to her, sporting a pair of glasses identical to hers, but with a red frame. Her clothing usually varied, this time consisting in the same attire she wore (forced to wear by a demon, better said) on the Gohan Kun play for children at the city fair. Red lipstick adorned her mouth, shades under her eyes and red on her cheeks complementing it. She carelessly flailed her wooden sword on her left hand as she approached the comparatively gigantic, sleeping Ogre.

Using her right hand, she started to play with the veins on his forearms.

''Stop that you…''

''Don't worry, she can't feel me either.'' she said as her hands traveled all he way to his wrists. She then passed to his rugged, strong hand, where small scars revealed the open bleeding knuckles the boy had to endure in past battles. She jumped over his wrist and starting to touch his face.

''Of course I'm a kitten, babe. I'm a little pussy cat who wants love from her owner.''

''My goodness, couldn't you be any more gimmicky and… cheesy?''

''What's wrong with that? Acting all romantic like a soap opera actress is not my style, specially when the lead actor is sleeping…defenseless….''

''No…''

''Excuse me?''

''You won't dare…''

''How are you so sure about that, hmmm?'' The presence leaned over Oga's cheek as if she was a playgirl posing over a mattress.

''You…how can you even think about that?''

''He's a man.''

''So what?! For all we know he could perfectly be one of those Christian priests... This is wron…''

''Ohhh, pay attention to that: ''for all we know''. And by what happened today at the hill, it seems our beloved Oga is a very good actor…but even the best have bad performances.'' Inner Kunieda grabbed a strand of Oga's hair, playing with it before smelling it. ''And by the way, this was not the first time I caught him doing this. Shall I refresh your memory?''

In a split second, a carrousel of images started to display inside her mind. Occasions when Oga Tatsumi threw looks at her (and her fellow Red Tail sisters), timing and disguising them so well no one ever caught him. The first memories were set in the Demon World hospital, the last ones (and earliest ones) a few days after Oga had defeated her in their first face off. A significant one took place when Yuka hugged him after defeating Fuji.

''That was… just my imagination overplaying things! That was just you! He may have perfectly just looked out due to surprise but wouldn't tell me because guys normally get embarrassed to say those things.''

''Or…he might have perfectly enjoyed the beautiful look in your eyes when he caught you from falling."

''Shut up!''

''Haha, so you ran out of arguments. Come on honey, you have no reasons to repress yourself, neither does him. You two have so much energy inside of yourselves…you'll be much better off after releasing it.''

''No…''

''Yes.''

'Stop. I'm not going to do it.''

''It's only a little kiss…and he DOES want it BADLY. I proved it to you, he's just waiting for you to perform the first move. I'll leave this here, the rest is up to you.'' Winking her eye to her, Chibi Kunieda kissed Oga on the cheek and vanished in front of her eyes.

The damage was already done. Kunieda's moral principles clashed against her resentment at her beloved Oga for being selfish and playing dumb for so long. Her curiosity burned her from the inside. Why, why would an alpha male like Oga deprive himself from love and intimacy, especially when he had girls who dearly loved him and fight to the end of the world to be at his side? She knew he was not the romantic nor needy guy, but still…

Her reason and priestess honor finally prevailed. She knew she was not going to lose control, but she didn't know how if she was going to be able to handle Chibi Kunieda in the nights to come. Talking to her mentally was not enough, at some point she needed to empty her lungs of air, and only the gods knew how Nene (or by consequence, her grandfather) would react if she started to scream in the middle of the night.

Turning around facing the wall of the tent, she tried to get the farther away from Oga she could and clenched her arms against her chest. Keeping her eyes open the longest she could (a trick she normally used to beat insomnia), the world around her started to blur and fade as she slowly fell into unconsciousness.

The world of dreams, was not friendly to her…or was it? She wouldn't remember half of them the next morning. The ones she could recall, had so much impact she didn't know how she would have reacted if recalling all. The first one was a near hallucination in which she crawled towards Oga, hugging him. He would slowly react and embrace her, but before their lips met, her eyes would black out and she would wake up sweating cold. The second dream involved half beast, half demon dog men with silver hair and schoolgirls who also happened to be the reincarnation of legendary priestesses.

….

"Are we there yet, Tojo?" Oga could not manage to hide the anxiety in his voice.

"We'll be there in five minutes. Dude, is something wrong with you?" Tojo asked.

"You sound really impatient today." Furuichi said.

Oga didn't answer and tried, for the millionth time, to distract himself with the surrounding countryside, failing again. Beel, on his side, seemed to share his tension due to their link, and would constantly drift forward and backwards along the bus, trying to find something to do.

The gang was heading to a big organic plantation of fruits, one of the largest in Japan, located ten miles away from the campsite. As always, Tojo would confirm that he had worked a couple seasons there. As any middle to low class Japanese could tell, fruit was a delicatessen reserved for those who could afford them. In this place however, there was an annual picking competition in which every contestant, even those who wouldn't make it to the podium, would be allowed to keep all the fruit they could gather.

The podium winners, on the other side, would also be rewarded with awards that ranged from cash, to a lifetime ration of fruit juice of the brand that owned the plantation, among other prices. The facilities also included a bar where clients could taste any kind of fruit smoothie, cocktail or dessert they could imagine.

It had all the potential to be a great trip. Oga, couldn't manage to ease down the storm that was taking place inside his head, and couldn't wait to arrive to the plantation in order to put his muscles in action, even if it was only to blow off steam.

"Kiwi smoothie, nee san, kiwi smoothie! Hope they're are not as expensive as in a real smoothie shop. And they will be fresh!" Yuka exclaimed while drooling.

"Agreed." Chiaki added

"Hey, behave yourself, Potato Girl! And try not to get too excited." Kanzaki said.

"Oh, don't ruin my party!" Yuka exclaimed.

"I would be more than content with a papaya smoothie." Himekawa said.

"BORING!" Yuka exclaimed.

-Shut up! Hope you don't make a scene like last time we went to get smoothies." Himekawa said.

"When you saw some really good looking guy, you drooled all of our smoothie that you made the guy throw up." Kanzaki reminded.

"I just like to have fun." Yuka replied smiling.

"It's not funny for the rest of us." Nene said.

"Really, I didn't remember that." Natsume said, amused.

"I'm not the only crazy here if you put it that way, Mrs Prims and Propers. Don't forget the time when Ryoko drooled when he saw a really hot guy that her cough mask was filled wilt saliva." Yuka reminded.

Himekawa and Furuichi could barely contain their laughter.

"Did that really happen that way?" Chiaki inquired.

"Aoi neesan! You were by me side at that moment!" Nene reminded.

"Wh…what?" Kunieda seemed to finally break the trance she was immersed in since the trip started.

"Were you even listening?" Nene asked.

"Ohh, emm…yeah, that time…well, I don't really remember. I was…ehm…a bit off." Kunieda laughed nervously.

"What?" Nene wondered.

"Haha, well, seems that time I got carried on..." Kunieda said.

Being annoyed by the loud chat, Oga applied another of his superhuman abilities, one that would make him look like a disconnected idiot, but also one that allowed him to keep his cool and inner peace better than most people. Fixing his eyes on a single point in front of him, everything around him started to blur until the world became nothing to him.

…

"Ok guys, we're here! Don't forget to close the bus windows unless you want bugs or something worse to get in." Tojo announced.

"We arrived, dad, wake up!" Beel said, playing around with Oga's arm.

Oga suddenly snapped from his trance and jumped outside through one of the windows, to the amusement of everyone.

The gang came down on the parking lot of the farm central facilities, nearly a mile inside the fruit plantations. A short but stocky, middle aged man with gray hair, dressed in blue overalls came to greet them and the other group of tourists who had come, around thirty five people as far as Oga could see.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Yamada Gikin, and I want to welcome you to the Katsugen Emporium central farm. I'll be your guide and host in this tour. You are some of our luckiest visitors, since you came in time for our annual fruit picking contest. For those of you who don't know about it, let me tell you that…"

Knowing already about the competition, Oga drifted away to distract himself. He walked between Tojo and Furuichi towards the back part of the grass lot, looking at the surrounding banana trees. Focusing his energies, he scanned his surroundings. The uneasiness that had got inside of him since he had woken up wouldn't let him in peace. Needing to do something to make it go, he saw no better option at the moment that ensuring no more evil presences were tracking him.

Finding nothing strange on the area. Partly disappointed and relieved, he walked back to the group.

"Those who want to sign for it can follow me to the front desk of the farm's store. Those who are not interested can already start following my assistants to the areas where you are allowed to gather fruit. All said, have a nice day!" Yamada said.

The same gang members who had participated on the trail race the day before stepped forward and overtook the rest of the tourists chatting animatedly, followed by the rest of the gang.

"So what's this all about?" Oga wondered.

"As always, you wouldn't just pay attention, moron. Let me summarize it: Prizes for podium winners. First place: 25000 yen and five tickets to the next movie premiere Black Sun. Second place: 12500 yen and two tickets to Ishiyama Land. Third place 6000 yen and one ticket for the next Baby Metal concert. Each podium winner will also earn 5, three and two free smoothies. As a final touch, you'll also get the chance to buy the fruit you picked at half the cost price." Furuichi said.

"Anyone not interested in the contest can just tour around the farm or pick normally, getting the chance to buy the fruit much cheaper than in supermarkets, since they will skip the transport and picking costs." Tojo said.

"Simple 'nuff for ya?" Furuichi wondered.

"Five tickets and all that cash…sounds good." Oga said.

"Why are you even talking about a prize you'll not win? Seem I'll have to humble you a bit." Tojo remarked.

"Hey, kitty, better calm down unless you want to eat dust again." Oga said, smirking.

"You didn't beat me last time we fought in those stupid costumes. Let's see if you were not just fucking around that time." Tojo said, smirking.

"Hey yogurty monster, if I end up in the podium or just ahead of you, you'll have to take a photo of you groveling down before me with a shirt saying, "Himekawa is the best."" Himekawa said while looking at Kanzaki with amusement.

"Same for you, but you'll have to ask help from the girls, cuz you'll have to wear lipstick while you're groveling down to me, Duck butt." Kanzaki said.

"Hajime, I don't feel like I want to do this. I want to play with something." Futaba said.

"There's a kid's playground for you, Little Bunny. Take care of Beel and Kouta." Tojo said, pointing at the playground.

"Little bunny? Dude, we don't need a second lolicon in the group." Kanzaki said, disgusted.

"Oh, come on studs, save the fighting for the contest, no need for so much beef." Yuka added while separating both men.

"Have fun guys!" Nene said to everyone.

After following Yamada to the front desk and signing up for the contest, the group headed to the fields. Next to the main road that entered the plantation line, hundreds of picnic baskets lied. The contest would be over once the contestants ran out of baskets. In case of a draw. A further knockout round would take place. Thirteen contestants stepped in and grabbed their first baskets. The Gangsters among them grabbed at least three each, with Tojo and Oga carrying five. A couple of alleged meta humans among the rest of the participants stepped in with three each too.

"Well, more fun for us." Natsume said.

"Hey Kanzaki sama, what about me? How about a bet between us too?" Yuka asked.

"I have nothing against you Paa-ko." Kanzaki said.

"Ok, how about a deal then. I'll invite you with one of my spare tickets if I win a podium place." Yuka suggested.

"As long as you don't try another chiropraxy session on me, it'll be fine." Kanzaki said

….

"And that, kids, is how Oga Tatsumi bit the dust the Tiger Tojo left." Tojo tells the results to the kids.

"Amazing!" Kouta and Futaba exclaimed. Beel, on the other side, gifted Tojo with a death stare.

"More like slipping due to stepping on that fucking mashed." Oga replied after savoring his lemon smoothie.

"It fell from my hands, stop bitching, even you had some fall from you. I admit I was lucky though, but reacting to unexpected dangers is the way of the warrior." Tojo said.

"Whatever. Good fight. But if I hadn't distracted I would have whooped your ass." Oga said.

"Distracted? Really? You're not that kind of guy when you fight." Tojo said.

"May it be that our general didn't adhere to the principle of abstinence the night before a battle? I can't blame him, though." Natsume added, smirking.

The entire table, except Oga, Kunieda and Nene erupted in laughter.

"Well, to be fair, I heard nothing last night, and I got up several times during the night to check out." Nene said.

"Haha, didn't know that voyeur side of you, Nene-chan." Himekawa added smiling.

"Spare your comments, Duck-butt." Nene said.

"Nothing happened guys, Oga just had a bad day, that's all. We all lose somedays. Besides, Oga still defeats Tojo most of the time." Kunieda said very serious.

The entire gang remained silent for several seconds. Futaba broke the silence."Hey, mom in law, it's the first time I don't see you blushing around Father."

"Mother in law!?" Everyone screamed

"Ok, I get it, second mother in law, technically speaking. I almost forgot about Hilda." Futaba added, rolling her eyes.

"It's sad Oga only got two tickets, considering he's inside a triangle." Himekawa remarked.

"Hey, it's not too bad, he pays one for himself then hands the other to Kunieda and Hilda." Natsume said.

"But what about Hebiko?" Shiroyama added to everyone's surprise.

The boisterous group of youngsters kept attracting the looks of everyone else in the bar restaurant of the farm with their laughter.

After a long war of attrition, Oga was ahead of Tojo by two baskets in the general count. Kanzaki and Himekawa had been disqualified due to attacking each other in the middle of the contest, being completely surpassed by Yuka. Oga was in the final run to the finish line when he slipped on a mashed banana someone had stepped on earlier. Being unable to correct on time, Tojo took the advantage and surpassed him, arriving first on the finish line. Oga and Yuka would follow respectively both in the finish line and the weigh in. Tojo bought half of the 1000 pounds of fruit he had gathered in order to supply the camp. Oga and Yuka would only buy one small basket each. The two other mysterious meta humans, a man and a woman both wearing sun glasses and hats, ought a ridiculous amount each.

In the aftermath, everyone headed to the bar, where they proceeded to enjoy the smoothie cocktails they had waited for so long.

"Well Yuka, I'm happy to admit I was wrong, this smoothie with brandy tastes great." Nene remarked.

"Nothing compares to my coconut, yogurty smoothie. "Kanzaki said.

"By the way, Kanzaki sama, if you want, that Baby Metal concert awaits us." Yuka suggested.

"Not too much into those." Kanzaki admitted.

"Come on, I'll use my ticket and pay for you." Yuka suggested.

"What if you give me the ticket, I sell it to someone else, then buy myself a ticket for Asian Kung Fu Generation next month." Kanzaki suggested.

"Oh, come on…" Yuka sadly said.

While the youngsters enjoyed themselves on their table, the mysterious couple had drinks in the tables in front of the bar.

"The Inner Presence is unfolding inside Alice. The Cheshire cat seems not to be aware of it yet." The man said.

"Should we notify Apollion yet?"

"It's still too early. Give it one or too more nights. Then we might notice some progression."

"What if it doesn't happen here?"

"Then we'll have to wait. This might take up to a year or a bit more. But it WILL HAPPEN."

For a split second, Kunieda thought she heard someone speaking her from behind. Noticing no one, she tried not to think about it, trying to make the best time out of the occasion.