Chapter 3: Early Motions of the Vortex World
Standing in the openings of the top of the Obelisk, Hikawa could see much of the world around him. Telling landmarks were visible from here, such as Tokyo Tower and the Diet Building. An unusual structure by the latter was very likely the Amala Temple; that could be ignored for now. From the distances between landmarks, he mentally calculated the total layout of the Vortex World. They had called on Kagutsuchi from Shinjuku Medical Center. While it was of little importance now, it had been the center of creating this transient world.
"Excellent," he mumbled to himself on reviewing the numbers. All the properties that he had bought up and prepared for the Conception should be within the Vortex World now. In the state this world was in, the buildings should still be acknowledged as his property even if the government that made it so was gone.
"Commander Hikawa," Atropos said respectfully. "We've completed a survey of the Obelisk as you requested."
"And what did you find?" he asked, barely turning his head towards her.
"None of the vital pieces are here, as you thought," she replied. "There are a few useful items around: gems, beads, basic traditional remedies."
"There was also this spyglass," Clotho said, offering a small telescope. The design and size were like an opera looking glass, something that wouldn't have great visual range. "It's enchanted to reveal the capabilities of demons seen through it."
"It's useless for me, but keep it hidden," Hikawa said. "There are those who would benefit greatly from such a basic utility."
"We had some ideas of what traps to place here," Atropos said.
After discussing what could be done, he left them to reworking the tower. Yuko was sitting by the pillar in the center, seemingly asleep. She wouldn't be waking up until he let her. When she'd gone into her trance, it took no time for the red particles of magatsuhi to get drawn right to her. The Maiden would naturally have the highest magnetism for that vital energy. While his role allowed him greater control, he still needed to find other ways to draw it to him.
"Tell me now, where are the pieces we are looking for?" Hikawa ordered as he stood over her.
Yuko's head shifted; her eyes remained closed. "The stone keys are within Kagutsuchi's possession, for it to grant to Reasons that successfully manifest. The key to the Amala Temple lies within the Amala Network. Only one who is willing to risk total engulfment of the Network can retrieve it."
"Something to lure one of the children into doing," he said. He knew how the Amala drums worked and some about the Network. Of what he did know, he could tell that trying to learn more was dangerous to the human mind. It would be akin to reading the thoughts of an omniscient god.
"The Yahirono Himorogi lies within the communications tower of Yoyogi Park. It has not yet been found, but there is already a battle to claim what remains of the park. It is only a matter of time before it is discovered; it will then be a gift for whichever clan of demons claims the area."
"As long as we know it's there, that can wait until things settle down," Hikawa said. The Himorogi was what would trigger the final rituals of the Vortex World. The main advantage in having possession of it would be the ability to begin the end.
"The Divine Messenger is an angel bearing a trumpet," Yuko said. "Two such angels have come to this Vortex World. Choose not the one of deathly revelation; choose the one of living revelation."
"I didn't ask for riddles," he said.
"That is all Kagutsuchi will reveal on the matter of the Divine Messenger," she said.
Hikawa tapped his foot. That was worrisome. Like the Himorogi was key to the final rituals, the Messenger was key to the middle rituals. Until the Divine Messenger was found and asked to begin, the gods could not be called upon to approve of a Reason and protect its Bearer. Finding one particular spirit even in this miniature world would take time and effort. And now there were two trumpeter angels out there, only one of which was the correct Messenger. There would surely be consequences for asking the wrong one.
"The existence of Lord Maskado's sword within the Vortex World can be confirmed," Yuko went on. "It has several caretakers who are keeping it hidden, awaiting one of certain qualities to become the next protector of Tokyo."
"I see." In his world, national and local distinctions would no longer matter. Differences would be negated so that all could exist in eternal serenity. Becoming a protector of Tokyo would mean nothing to him. But, it might mean something to the others. "Look into those requirements more closely."
"That will take much time," she said.
"That's fine. Also, tell me who you called into the hospital."
And she obediently told him. It was a rich girl with top tier grades, a lazy boy that was more interested in romance than education, and an average boy who had yet to exhibit any special talents. None of them seemed like a threat to his efforts for now. Chiaki might be intelligent, or she might simply be good at gaming the education system. Whichever it was, Yuko admitted under trance that she was vain and had difficulty getting along with others. Isamu might gather a good force of demons to back him if he came up with a Reason appealing to them, but he wasn't going to put much effort into his work even with the world at stake.
Naoki was the one who barged in on him, the potential wild card of the three. He'd not yet stood out in life, so it was unknown what his true capacities were. With the immense pressures and stakes of the Vortex World, he might come up with something incredible. However, he would know nothing of what he was getting into. Naoki would have to be watched, but he had Hikawa's preparations to overcome.
"Where are these three now?" Hikawa asked.
"Still within the hospital," she answered.
Good, they could stay there for now. "Very well. Continue looking into Masakado's sword and the trumpeter angels. I will return when my work elsewhere is done."
Leaving her to that, Hikawa brought out a small metal device from his pocket. He spun the top portion to summon an Amala drum from it. Spin the middle drum, trigger the transport function on the bottom, choose location from top… Ginza. There were two drums labeled Ginza; he chose the one that was left within the facility he had prepared. It was one of a pair of stores that he'd shut down temporarily for repair and redesign. However, the true redesign would occur now.
He left the terminal room immediately and flicked his charm to call Baphomet back out. "You were slow."
"I aaaplogize," they replied in a cheeky manner.
"What made you hesitate in attacking that boy?" Hikawa said, warning him in tone that punishment for that could be severe.
Baphomet was not intimidated; the flame on their horn flared up. "He was already chosen as a potential Reason bearer. Directly attacking a Reason bearer before the final rituals is strongly dissuaded."
Shaking his head, he realized that Yuko had been right. Nature favored competition and it had used her to bring in other candidates. It seemed Nature was as poor of a judge as Kagatsuchi; he would have never picked those children, save maybe for Naoki and his unknown potential. "Very well, we'll have to accept the presence of those children. Hmph, not that it matters. Carry out reconstruction of this facility and its twin as we planned. There is already a tunnel connecting them to the Obelisk's area."
"Excellent, that shaaall make things easier," Baphomet said. They clapped their hands, calling up their own followers to begin the project.
He exited the facility for his next step, calling up on Berith, Eligor, and Kaiwan. These three were invaluable allies, with the capacity to create armies of themselves in an instant. Only he as their summoner would be able to know which were the copies and which were the originals. While Baphomet had a similar capacity, the original was far more powerful and capricious than any of their shades. Berith, Eligor, and Kaiwan, even in their copies, were obedient to those who they respected.
"With you three as my generals, I hereby bring the Assembly of Nihilo into action," Hikawa said. The two horsemen respectfully bowed to that while Kaiwan twirled his star body. "I will be working here on vital projects. Kaiwan, you are to spread rumors about us so that information is mixed. It should definitely be known that we aim to build a world of stillness and serenity, and that we hold the Maiden of Creation. Any other plans may be distorted or lied about."
"It will be fun to do so," Kaiwain said, making its own bow.
"There is one priority order that I need you to carry out," he said, thinking back over things. "Locate a demon of moderate power, one who might intimate a normal human. Get them to claim Shinjuku Medical Center for their own, warning them to beware of letting humans claim the magatsuhi there."
"Hmm, I'm interested to see what such a thing will lead to," it said, smiling wickedly.
"Berith and Eligor, I want you to scout out the Vortex World. Gather information on what other groups are gathering, especially any individual demons that are of great power. You should also keep an eye out for an angel bearing a trumpet. That is supposed to be the Divine Messenger, but there is a false messenger as well."
"Yes, Commander," the both of them said.
"I will call you back when I am ready to give you your next orders," Hikawa said, waving them off. "Now go."
Kaiwan transformed into a shining spot and flew away, while the two horsemen rode off in separate directions. The next demon he called on was Ose. The leopard man nodded to him. "Yes, Commander?"
"You're to stick with me as my guardian," he said. "I was lucky that Kagutsuchi decided I had sufficient assistance and I do not want to give it any space to decide on sending one of its servants to watch over me."
"As you wish," Ose said. He was an excellent choice as he knew it wasn't his job to think; his job was to obey and protect. He was far better than any human bodyguard in that regards, although it had been too costly to use him as an actual bodyguard in the former world. In the Vortex World, demons could sustain themselves.
Nihilo might start slow, with only his demons serving him (and he might dismiss Baphomet for their cheekiness, once the reconstruction projects were done). But once it got going, it would be impossible to stop. Not even the potential Demifiend was a threat.
Of the once pleasant and beautiful Yoyogi Park, only a handful of suffering trees had survived the Conception. Most of the park was now the partially built communication tower, not even at an impressive height. However, there were a number of advantages to this location. The construction company had left behind many freestanding walls, sliding doors, barricades, raised platforms, unattached catwalks, and tools. It was the perfect material for creating a fun modern maze.
There was boisterous cheering and dancing now. Magical sparkles filled the air and musicians were already competing for a celebratory song. For a few moments, a small figure with regal butterfly wings basked in that joy. It was a difficult time and many had died on both sides. But they should be safe now, finding what enjoyment they could in this chaotic world. And if there was a human who matched their ideals and would let them thrive in the new world, there was a good amount of magatsuhi here to bargain with.
Although the chaos here was fun, it would be better made official. Oberan flew upward, accompanied by the sound of trumpets that weren't there. It quieted the crowd of fairies for a moment. "My people, listen for a while! It has been a true struggle to obtain this new homeland, what with the Foul and Vile clans making an unlikely alliance against us. But we have proven victorious! I now declare Yoyogi Park to be exclusive to the Fairy clan!"
Everyone cheered to that, bouncing and twirling. Some shouts came already with suggestions for celebration: a feast, a pageant, a dance. No yet, there were some more things to say.
"Of course we will celebrate, but hold still," Oberan said, holding a hand up. "With all demons free to run around in this world, we must take some cautions. Guards will be assigned to the doors so that only fairies may enter. A maze will be constructed to confound any that try sneaking by. Of course, you all are free to leave the park and will be welcomed back warmly at any time. In fact, I would like a few scouts, pixies or otherwise, to check into other places in this Vortex World and see how things are like.
"But that is for later. For now, we shall hold a grand celebration to make all the other clans jealous!"
This world wasn't welcoming to fairies. No forests to turn magical, all the mystical places seemed man-made or otherwise unnatural. But they'd stick together and make the best of what they had.
Billions had died for the Conception. Most of their souls faded away into magatsuhi, mindlessly drifting through the Vortex World searching for something. But even with the instantaneous obliteration, many were unsettled enough to keep themselves together with questions and memories. Those who were closest to the arrival of Kagutsuchi remained most collected, even aware of the new world around them. Other fragments drifted with more purpose, joining each other and moving together, drawn somewhere in particular.
Mifunashiro.
A question, a look, a compulsion… they were hazy as his awareness shifted. Spirit to mud, gone to here… ah, this was a new birth. Others were rising around him, uncertain. What they were before was dropped for what they are now. Corpus Manikin, a doll's body with a fragmentary soul. Fragments? But they were here, they were alive. They were beings.
And someday, demons would overtake them. Powerful oni, one without a face, one with a stone body, and others… a god of gleaming armor and a massive war hammer, a dark god only manifesting as a terrifying statue. They would crush the manikins and take everything away. No, not everything, hope could survive if they had someone to look up to.
And someday, they'd have a town of their own. A giant red lantern hanging from a stone gate, dusty streets and much work to be done, but it was home and a peaceful refuge. While demons might not think much of them, manikins could make their own town and even thrive, if given the chance. They might win the right of a new world if they worked hard enough.
And there was a demon of great potential in the world between they lived in now. Marked by glowing wings when he had none, he could pass the keys of creation to the manikins. He could crush them down more ruthlessly than the rest, leaving them to be forgotten forever. A few words and actions, kind or thoughtless, could sway this demon either way. His name was… was…
Just out of reach. He sat up and opened his eyes for the first time. Others had risen and were still rising, murmuring in confusion. Who were they? What did they do? What was… everything? There was knowledge from past lives, fragmented too. But it should be enough to get started. He rose to his feet, thinking of stepping up to guide them.
He quickly realized he was different. His eyes moved to where he was looking rather than drifting aimlessly. Even so, they could see him. When he met one of the others eye to eye, he knew this one was different too. He felt uneasy and when his eyes closed…
That manikin brutally attacked his kin, slicing off their flesh while they lay dying.
"What're you looking at?" the other asked harshly.
"You are dangerous," he said, looking back at him.
"Don't talk down at me!" He sneered and produced a long knife from nowhere. Something seemed familiar about this.
While other manikins stumbled or hurried away, he stood his ground as the dangerous one rushed at him and brought the knife to bear. Motions came to him; strike his arm to stop that attack, punch him in the gut to make him double over. Their bodies weren't the same and the latter strike only made him fumble a bit.
But the dangerous one did back off. "Damn you!"
"Leave the rest of us be," he warned.
"Hmph, I'll get you someday, jerk." He jumped back, his whole body shaking when he landed. "Don't forget it, my name is Sakahagi and I will cut down any of you who gets in my way." He ran out. Thankfully, the others moved aside so he wouldn't try attacking them too.
"Don't be afraid of him," he said to calm the others. They all looked to him immediately as someone who seemed to have control of the situation. He didn't understand it entirely either, but it seemed he understood more than the rest. "I don't believe he'll attack a group, so we simply need to stick together."
"What do we do?" one of the children asked. "Who are we?"
"We are the manikins," he said. "I am Futomimi. If you have names, you should know them. If not, don't mind it, names can be found. As for what we should do," images came to his mind, he put his right hand to his ear to brace himself to keep speaking, "there is a town at the end of this cave. This place, Mifunashiro, is a holy place; we should treat it as such. We can live in the town.
"But I must warn you: we live in a dangerous world. There are demons out there who would like to capture and enslave us. I know not why or how yet; I must..." the knowledge was there, "meditate on what is to be, to know how to advise you. Still, be careful; let's stick together and work as one people, for that is what we manikins are. There may be bad times ahead, but keep hope in your hearts and we will find a way to thrive even here."
And with nothing more, Futomimi was the leader of the manikins. They walked with him out of the cave that birthed them in order to find their new lives.
His words reached deeper into the Amala universe. Old gods, forgotten gods, beings that might be gods, they saw each new arrival as a new chance for vindication. Keep hope in your hearts… there was a people who would struggle with little more than hope at their side. One being clasped those words and sought harder to reach the one who spoke them. Or another in that world, all that was needed was someone to listen.
Chiaki stayed in the hospital… it couldn't be said how many days. There were no days now. Instead, there was the star Kagutsuchi hanging overhead, fading in and out like a rapid moon. It felt far too fast for a day. She slept when she felt like it and ate the same way; Persephone somehow got her food and drinks, being capable of producing anything she liked.
Still, it might have been better if she had to worry about getting things to eat or drink. It would be something to take her mind off of what was going on. She'd cried a lot, gotten angry but wasn't sure who to get angry with. One time, she had tried fighting one of the demons there out of frustration. The shikigami should have torn like the paper it was, but she couldn't even dent it. It had given her a nasty shock and Persephone had to bail her out before she died.
"I want out of this hospital," she said. Sleeping in these patient beds, staring at the sterile neutral walls, reading those posted papers over and over… it was driving her nuts.
"We can go any time you like," Persephone said. "Just have to walk out the door. There are stronger demons out there, but I will protect you."
Technically, she didn't need anyone's permission to do so. It was a liberating feeling, one that Chiaki was trying to bat down as it wasn't right. Realizing that, she got up and shrugged. "Right, it just feels better to declare it. I'd better tell Isamu at least. It's strange that we can't find Naoki; I know he was here."
She had a good idea of where Isamu would be and she was right. After a few days (meaning the times between when they slept), he'd started hanging out in the basement with a weird object. Chiaki assumed it was some part of a computer, strangely designed like a barrel with three spinning sections. Glowing characters were all over it, some recognizable but most not. Apparently, the characters could change as well.
Isamu was there with Pascal, reading one of the laptops connected to the thing. "Oh hey, wanna hear what I've found out about the drum now?"
"You mean this thing?" Chiaki asked. She nearly said 'not really'.
But he jumped in first. "It goes by several names, including Amala drum and terminal. If you know how to use it properly, you can find out anything in the universe, and I mean anything. But the guy who was last making notes on this didn't crack it that far. I've got a good headway into it, trying to figure out how to summon one anywhere because that's a major part in making them more usable. I did figure out how to get the terminal to send a user to another terminal, like zappo, instant!"
"This thing can transport people?" Chiaki asked. That was a good thing to know.
"Of course," Persephone said. "The terminals could be vital in moving around."
Isamu swung the chair around to touch the terminal. "Yeah, and it's pretty simple too. You got to find the sort of menu down here," he moved the bottom ring, finding a kanji for movement. "That's the symbol. Get the middle ring spinning good, touch this to let it know you want to go somewhere, and then find your target location on the top ring." While Isamu swung the middle ring a little, he didn't fully transport.
"And we could get out of here? Good, because I want to leave." But where to? She had seen distant buildings on the rise of the land, but wasn't sure what places those were.
"Well, there's a problem with that," Isamu said, turning the top ring until he found a circle. "See, these characters are separate because it represents this location, Shinjuku Medical Center. Some of these characters seem familiar, like this looks kind of like Yoyogi Park. But I'm not sure it's right." Oddly enough, he grinned at that. "The terminals connect through the Amala Network, which itself is an internal structure of the Amala Universe. You could potentially go to an entirely different world with these things! Until we figure out what marks a location as being in this world or out of it, it's a risk picking blindly. But if you know this character for this location, you should be able to return here any time."
"I can't imagine why I would return," she said. "Seems like you'd need to head out too to find another terminal and know two destination characters."
"Maybe, but I'm still working my way through these notes," he said, turning back to the laptop. "Man, but there's some scary stuff in here. The plans for this event, the Conception creating the embryonic Vortex World within the Amala Universe, to make a new world, it's all in such incredible detail. Like, you need a specific amount of magatsuhi energy from living human sacrifices just to start the whole process."
"So someone did this intentionally?" Chiaki asked, her anger returning. "Who was it?! I'd like to punch them in the face or something."
"Wow, you're getting riled up about this," he said jokingly.
"And you aren't?" she retorted. "That person killed off the whole world! They have no right to do that."
"Yeah, that's true," Isamu said. "It seems like it's that missing executive of Cyber Communications, Hikawa. If it's not him, then whoever triggered it has to be here in the Vortex World with us. If he hated the world that much, I don't see why he didn't just use the Amala Network to go to another world. Some more work translating this and he might've been able to pick out one more suitable."
Those were some useless thoughts. Chiaki crossed her arms over her chest. "I suppose. It's strange to me that you're so into studying this. You hardly studied for school."
He paused what he was doing. "Well that's because hardly any of that stuff was relevant. All that ancient history, and the biology, and advanced math, what the hell was I going to use all that stuff for in normal life? I could've quit around middle school and got along just fine. But this Amala stuff, that's going to be useful right now. The network can tell me exactly what I need to know without any of the useless fluff, I just have to know how to speak its language."
"Sure, you could've dropped out if you were fine with working low-end jobs and struggling to get by the rest of your life. Why don't you ever think about your future? You'll never improve if you don't try, and sometimes you'll never maintain where you are if you don't put in a lot of effort." She realized that she was sounding like her mother in this. His parents really should have given him this lecture. "I wouldn't want to live in a world based off your ideas, it'd all fall apart into useless anarchy."
He turned around enough to glare at her. "Well I wouldn't want to live in a world based off your ideas either, it'd probably be the same old hierarchy but even worse. What does that future mean anyhow? That world is dead! It… it really is dead." His anger died out, leaving him looking lost.
It was an aching emptiness in her heart. But she wasn't about to share that pain with a jerk like Isamu. How did Naoki ever stand him? "Right, we should be looking to the future we have now; I'm sure your laziness will really come around to bite you soon." She turned and wanted to slam the door behind her, but these weren't the sort of doors that could be slammed. So she just hurried to the elevator and headed out.
When she got into the annex lobby, a large shadow sweeping across the floor stopped her. What was that? This lobby was two stories high, a fairly large space. And, something was flying around in it? Chiaki carefully edged up near the wall to see what it was. Close by, Persephone braced herself for a fight.
"Woooooo!" the demon bellowed excitedly. It had a white underbelly, a long black tail with a barbed end, and vast wings… no, those were fins. This was a massive manta ray, far larger than ones she'd seen in the aquarium. On its head, she caught a glimpse of a silver crown. "That guy was so dumb to not claim this place for himself! Now it's all mine, all the magatsuhi here is mine!"
She'd failed to do anything to a demon made of paper, so Chiaki knew she couldn't do anything to a demon manta ray. Well, Persephone might be able to win a fight with it. But Chiaki just wanted out of this place. The ray was busy flying and celebrating its conquest, so it didn't seem to be paying attention. She waited for it to make another high pass close to the corner she was in, then hurriedly walked for the doors. Running might make too much noise. Without being told, Persephone followed along silently.
"I will become more powerful and then even Decarabia will be in awe!" the manta ray rambled on. "This place is mine, I have a place all mine and I don't have to share because the other demons are too puny and weak..." it slowed to a stop, looking right at her. Chiaki froze, barely in reach of the glass doors. "What are you trying to do, human? This place belongs to me, Forneus, and that means everyone..."
"Go," Persephone urged her. Chiaki nodded and lunged for the door's handicap button. It opened immediately.
"…here also belongs to me, especially you humans!" Forneus ranted on. The air by her got colder. "Hey, stop you! I order you to stop!"
A spear of ice crashed into the wall as Chiaki and Persephone rushed through the doors. They kept running down the sandy street until it broke apart. In front of them, a vast stretch of dull sand went out and up before them. But the land was cracked, leaving black masses of nothing separating the portions of Tokyo left behind.
The manta ray had not pursued them outside. "Well, that one was an idiot," Chiaki said, assuring herself that she was in control of the situation. "He's too big to be going through the halls; I can't even imagine how he crammed himself through those doors. And he could barely swim around that lobby as it was. There's no way he owns the hospital."
"There was a large hole in the ceiling," Persephone said. "But you're right, he would have difficulty getting anywhere else in the hospital."
"If he's not going to chase us, we can forget about him," Chiaki said. She looked out to the desert. There was an area that looked like Yoyogi Park in the distance; large voids held it in a pincer, but she should be able to reach one entrance. And there was another cluster of buildings not far beyond that. "Let's go; I just hope we aren't leaving behind the only shelter with decent beds."
"Kagutsuchi would have provided something," the maid said, following close behind her.
You could feel the characters on the terminal change, movements on a smooth and solid surface. It had been creepy at first, but Isamu found it magical now. This was a lot better than studying out of some old book, or even from the computer. When you could find facts and answers to anything at all, anything in the universe (or even multiple universes, since worlds moved here as a planetary afterlife), and it came to you in an instant as long as you knew the codes, then you would know practically anything since you could find it right here.
Unfortunately, he was not at that level. But he was making breakthroughs. "That's the right street name, and number, and the office? Lots of companies… ah-ha, there it is!" He tapped on the telltale word in triumph. "That's where my old man works! Hah, I can even pull up his name and employment records, awesome. And he was holding back on us if that's his salary, the scum. So then this," he touched another character, "is definitely Ikebukuro. So if I can search out other addresses, I can figure out the names of destination terminals..."
"Good!" Pascal barked, wagging his tail. "Master Isamu is clever!"
"Hah, you'd be one of the few to acknowledge that," he said. Then something occurred to him. "Wait a sec. If I can figure out places, then I can surely figure out people. Amala drum, I want to find Ms. Takao… Takao Yuko, I mean."
The answers came immediately. However, they were glowing red this time instead of blue. Isamu wasn't sure what it all meant, but one word was clear: forbidden.
"Aw, what do you mean forbidden?" he asked. It changed, but again he didn't know all the characters. "That sucks, but I'll figure it out. Okay, let's try someone else. Amala drum, I want to find Kashima Naoki."
The characters were blue this time, and mostly ones he understood. According to the drum, Naoki was in the hospital with him. There was even a room number.
"Huh, but that's right here in the basement," Isamu murmured. Then he bolted from the chair and headed out of the terminal room, Pascal bounding after him. The numbers were right by the doors; the one Naoki was in was actually close by.
Right across the hall, or very nearly so. The door obediently slid aside and he went into… wasn't this a morgue? There were two walls of drawers that looked the right size to hold bodies for later examinations. Two beds were sitting in here, but he hadn't dared sleep in this morgue. Not just the idea of the place, but there were large bloodstains on one bed and the floor. No matter how he looked at it, there was no one alive in here aside from himself and his dog.
Isamu took off his hat for a moment. "Dammit, that means I'm stuck here with Miss Blueblood Chiaki, whatever nut killed the world, and Ms. Takao… but I didn't see him that long before the earthquake. Who the hell had the time to kill Naoki and put his body away?" He shook his head and put his hat back on. "Aw, whatever, I know everyone else is gone too. Hey man, you… you just be at peace. Um. I'll get to Ms. Takao and rescue her from the nutcase, yeah. You can trust me on that."
After giving a respectful bow, Isamu left. He could detach the laptop he had been using from the terminal, then take it when he made a test transport to Ikebukuro. He'd keep decrypting it until he could understand that forbidden message and get around it. While there was so much lost, he felt like he had gained something invaluable that could be his alone.
When the morgue's door shut, the red glow of magatsuhi filled the room.
"Magatsuhi?" A bony violet hand knocked on the door. "Open, me open?"
The door remained firmly shut. The preta dropped his head to his chest, making his earrings clatter. Such tasty magatsuhi was behind this door, he could smell it! And so much… it would be an incredible feast even if he invited other pretas to join him. But if the door was locked, the door was locked. He scuttled off across the basement floor, sniffing out where else magatsuhi could be.
There was a scent here of a human; there had been some humans here, more than one but he couldn't count. But the humans had strong demons at their sides, keeping the preta from getting magatsuhi straight from the humans. Fresh magatsuhi would be amazing, preta never got fresh. With the idea tempting, he reached up to knock at another door.
Happily, it moved aside for him. But there was no human here (nor a stronger demon, thank goodness). The terminal thing was spinning, its glow fading. There was a bit of magatsuhi here at the floor, pretty fresh at that. When the preta clasped that tasty energy, he found he also clasped something physical: a little plastic square. The magatsuhi was attached to that. Was it important? He didn't know what it was.
And then something dark whispered to him. Something so powerful that he knew from deep within his gut that this being could crush him with just a pinky finger. "Little preta, you have found a key. You know that big bully of this place? You can lock him out securely with that key so that you and your preta friends can have all the magatsuhi of this part to yourselves."
"Ma-magatsuhi, mine?" He looked at the plastic key in wonder.
"That's right." And there was information suddenly in mind, how to use the key. "It's very important, you know. And since it is so important, I'll give you a little warning." The previously kindly voice turned stern. "Stay out of this basement." Otherwise, many deaths were waiting.
The preta froze at the warning. But, but all that tasty magatsuhi in the other room! But then, he would rather taunt the big fish bully than face whatever was talking to him. "Yes, yes, no basement. Go up. Lock door. Good, thank person."
"You're welcome," it said, kind enough to chuckle, maybe even pat his head.
"Oh no, what am I supposed to do now?" Her white wings were a blur as she searched the halls. "Those, those stupid pretas! How did they lock that door? They can barely speak, there's no way."
But somehow, there was a way because the door in the glass hallway was locked now and the preta had the pass card thingy. And the only ways out of this bland building were in the other part! Not that a pixie needed doors. She could get herself out through any hole, even a crack if she could get her body through it without hurting her wings. But she'd not seen any holes in this part. No way out…
The pixie knew she could take out one preta on her own. A bit of magic and zap, they were in trouble! But the preta with the pass was hanging out with a group of his buddies. Maybe she could pester one of the other demons to help her out? The others seemed contented to stay, for some reason. She might be able to convince a hua po to have some fun with her, but she'd only seen them in the other part playing with each other's hair. And they'd made fun of her own short hair, the stupid Jirae.
Maybe through the basement? Because she'd gotten in from a little garden place that held a ladder inside. If other pixies had come scouting with her to this location, they could have made a nice little home for themselves in that still-green garden. But no, she'd come here alone and now she was cut off from the rest. The pixie went into the elevator and pushed the basement button with both hands.
The door opened and a pervasive feeling sunk deep into her soul: she'd made a mistake coming down here. Someone extremely powerful, way more than the silly Forneus in the other lobby, was down here doing something. And that person wanted to be left alone. Immediately, the pixie rammed into the second floor button instead.
Her body trembled as the elevator hesitated from taking off. She hoped she wasn't noticed, she hoped she wasn't noticed… she could barely hear someone. "Come… Demi..."
Even as the doors shut, she was still petrified. It was only when they opened again at the second floor that she let out a sigh of relief. "Eek, that was horrifying. But who's Demi? I hope they're not crazy."
Well, it seemed she was stuck here. She couldn't get to the other side of the building and she couldn't go in the basement. Maybe there was a way to trick the pretas into coming at her alone? That could be fun, but her nerves were still frazzled. Maybe it was better to find a stronger demon at get them to fight the pretas for her. She'd seen some shikigami around, they were usually easy to flatter into helping out.
Even if it was best that she not be concerned, she still wondered who was in the basement doing what.