Chapter 5: Demi What?

Finding himself in a normal elevator, Naoki clicked his tongue. That place was dangerous; they didn't have to tell him that. But it belonged to the old man in the wheelchair. He and the veiled woman there must have kept that little passage safe for him, for their purposes. They wanted him to get used to fighting. Was that generous? Even when he'd gone off the path, he got rewarded. Although, he wasn't sure what these small red stones could do. They were like the glass stones people put in aquariums, but he could sense the power of fire within them.

But that old man reminded him of the creepy child who had given him Marogareh. The frail form was a mask for someone far more powerful. In that talk, he had said nothing; he'd done little more than fiddle with the wooden cane in his hands. But the way he watched him reminded Naoki of being a child fascinated by beetles fighting each other. The old man was rooting for him. And there was an unspoken offer to work with them. No agreement or refusal was asked for yet; the offer was simply an option for the future. But an offer for what?

Don't worry, that's for the future.

"Guess you're right," Naoki mumbled, then pressed the button for the first floor.

When he stepped out of the elevator, he closed his eyes and braced himself for the onslaught of information. His horn informed him of things he'd noticed before: the rows of chairs, the large painting overhead (which was an abstract depiction of the Abyss, not something you'd expect in a hospital), the nearby offices. There were a pair of ghosts hanging around, no demons other than himself yet. While there was a door to the annex lobby, it was broken. And there was a huge pile of debris blocking the entryway; there was no exiting the hospital here.

Naoki opened his eyes and saw that it was right. Sometime when… the world curled up, a bunch of dirt and junk had broken through the glass doors and left no hole behind. Not even light could get through that. Maybe he could get the annex doors to open from inside? Isamu might have left the passageway open. Actually, were his friends still alive? They'd been in the hospital too and Yuko suggested it was a safe place.

Deciding to search for them too, he checked on the offices in case someone was hiding there. Then he headed to the stairs, and all the patient rooms on the second floor… a nice thing was that his horn informed him if there would be someone inside a room or not. Behind one door, he sensed a group of demons who were babbling about magatsuhi. When he put his hands and forehead on the locked door, he could even tell that they were pretas, three of them.

With nowhere else to go, Naoki headed for the second floor hall to the annex. It would be a nice spot in the old world; the walls made up an archway of glass that would reveal the sky, hospital gardens, and city landscape. As it was, land filled the sky up until Kagutsuchi's light made it hard to see. It was unsettling, so he focused on what was in here: planters with vibrant green plants, a door with a security stand, and a tiny girl with white butterfly wings. Fairy pixie, nulls electricity, has two spells, one for healing, one for electric.

"Hey there, are you looking for a way out too?" the pixie said in a friendly manner.

The smell of her reminded him of a storm, air bristling and ready to shoot lightning. Or was this more of a gentle shower? "That's locked."

The pixie nodded. "Yeah, some gunky pretas got hold of a pass thingy and somehow locked us all in here. Don't ask me how, they're all idiots. I need to get back to my friends at Yoyogi Park. You seem kinda flabby but, hey, wanna team up and get out of here?"

In the organic space, he'd run into some pretas along with the will o'wisps. They were weak to magic like the wisps, but he had no way to take advantage of that. And having an ally who could heal was surely an advantage. "Sure," he said, ignoring her ill-fitting statement of being flabby.

She laughed at that. "Great, call it a contract until we get to Yoyogi Park! I'm Pixie of the Fairy clan, let's have fun together!"

"Uh..." he had a feeling he should do something. Hijiri had talked about contracts, albeit between humans and demons.

"Aw come on, are you a newbie?" the pixie asked, flitting up to him and pouting.

"Sorry," he said. He licked his lips; it seemed to calm him by clearing out distracting scents or tastes. "I was human until the Conception. Then, I woke up here, about an hour ago."

"Wow, you really are new," she said, having started to fly around and examine him. Naoki held still. "I was thinking I never saw a demon like you before, but I never saw a human like you either. Hmm. Oh hey, are you Demi?"

"I don't know?" But something about it seemed right. "My name is Kashima Naoki."

"Nah, that's your human name, it's no demon name," the pixie said. "Did you wake up in the basement?" When he nodded, she twirled around. "Ah-ha, then you are Demi! Cause I tried to go in the basement a while ago, but something was going on down there and I left. I just heard someone call for Demi. So, you must be Demi."

"It's an English prefix, I think," Naoki said, trying to recall his English classes. "But demi-what? it's never by itself."

"Demihuman?" she suggested.

"Or demidemon," he said.

"Whatever, it's a name so it can be by itself. Let's do this thing right." She flew up to face him and put her hands on her hips. "You gotta say your demon name, your demon clan, and some kinda greeting that suits your type. That's how contracts work. So then, I'm Pixie of the Fairy clan, treat me nicely, okay?"

He nodded. The idea of a demon name didn't sit well with him, but it could be like a nickname. "I'm Demi..." once he wanted the information, it was there, "of the Fiend clan. Let's be friends."

"Ooo, a fiend," she said in delight. "Hee hee, that was cute, never heard that one before. But I think we'll get along. Now let's go get that pass thingy from the pretas!"

He was going to beat someone else up over a thing they had. It wasn't right. But, it was supposed to be normal and the pretas attacked because the pixie lied about having magatsuhi to give them. And he wasn't going to get anywhere without a pass to open that door. Maybe there'd be one in the offices or a patient room; Isamu had to have picked up one and the basement card somewhere. Before he knew it, the fight was over and they had the passcard.

"All right, let's bust on outta here!" Pixie said excitedly.

"Are they just, gone into bits of magatsuhi?" Naoko asked, reaching towards where they were.

"Pretty much," she said. "But they'll come back before long. If they're really lucky, it won't be as pretas again. That's like the lowest of the low, Demi. Except maybe slimes, those could be worse but are mostly mistakes."

They'd killed the pretas, but the pretas would come back. Was that any better? If he thought like a demon, this would be perfectly fine and he was being too sensitive. But he'd not asked to be a demon, even half of one.

Just press on, don't worry.

As much as it bothered him, the magatama was making sense in its own way. "All right, I… I'm just not used to being a demon."

"Hmm, guess so," she said. Then Pixie made a flirty blowing of a kiss. "At least you got me with you! I like tricks, but it's hardly fun to trick newbies. They don't know any better so it's not as fun to see them fooled. Other demons would have way too much fun messing with you."

"Thanks, I guess," he said. If that was true, then he needed to change his way of thinking even if it didn't feel right yet.

"Actually, you are pretty good, better than I expected," she said. "It could be fun to get a bunch of followers and become stronger than anyone else. They might not be as great as fairies, but you can talk with demons and convince them to join your side."

"Even if they ambush us?" Naoki asked.

She nodded. "Most would pause to talk if you started talking first, it's just common courtesy. And you'll have to butter them up with compliments or gifts. But once a demon makes a contract to help you, they won't go back on their word unless you both formally break it." She frowned. "Rude contract breakers are the worst! Keep that in mind and don't do it. You can fuse your partners or even dismiss them, but don't break the contract rudely."

"Fusing them?"

"There's a lot you need to learn about being a demon," she said, pitying him. "And it's best to learn while doing, so let's go get some friends and bust out!"

The annex of the hospital looked exactly like the other part. More doors were barricaded here, including one emergency exit blocked off by a stack of couches and chairs. There were more demons as well, wandering the halls and ready for a fight. The blue light of Kagutsuchi was coming in strongly now; Naoki could feel it through his horn, stimulating like caffeine. In these conditions, it was getting fun to fight.

The first few times he tried talking to the other demons, it didn't go well. Another one would interrupt, or they'd get annoyed when he found himself stuck for something to say. He usually didn't have trouble speaking, but then he usually didn't have to deal with so much new information trying to be learned at once. Then he finally got a paper doll kodoma to listen to him. "Would you join us?"

"Hmm, you wanna pway wif me?" the kodoma asked, reminding him of a toddler who'd just learned to string sentences together. It even bent itself up with its hands on its knees. "Umm, not gonna kidnap me?"

Behind him, Pixie giggled. "No," Naoki said gently, like he'd talk to his cousins. "I'm asking you to come along, not forcing you."

"Um, you seem nice." the kodoma uncurled, fluttering closer. "Mm, I know! Pway tag, you it!" It swatted him playfully, then flew off.

Smiling, Naoki chased after it. The kodoma giggled as it realized the game was on. But no matter how nimble it was for a spirit in the form of paper, it wasn't quick enough to get away from him. "Got you," he said.

"Good!"

The movement of large fins caught his attention then. He was in a hall with windows down into the lobby, just like the main building. As soon as he visually recognized it as a manta ray, he learned more about it. Of the Fallen clan, stronger than anything else here… in fact, he was strong enough that Naoki couldn't identify much about him.

Wadatsumi.

… save that this demon held onto a magatama. An intense craving came over Naoki even as he had a horrifying flashback to Marogareh in his eye. "Forneus," he barely said.

"Huh, oh yeah," the kodama said, flipping around. It then fluttered back behind him. "Big bully, wules this place. Stay away."

"That guy?" Pixie showed up and hovered near the window. "I saw him a while ago and he's completely batty. He is pretty strong, though, with quite a reputation."

"I'll beat him." It took a moment for Naoki to realize that he'd said it. Forneus had Wadatsumi, that was all that mattered. Well, he was also guarding the only apparent exit to this hospital. That counted.

"Reawwy?" the kodama babbled, shyly coming around his side.

"Of course," he said.

"That's what I like to hear," Pixie said, clapping her hands.

"Uh, wait, maybe I can help?" the kodama said. "Or not. But big bwo 'gami would help! I help get big bwo's help."

The kodama had a wind spell and a healing spell. It could help too. "All right, so will you join us?"

"Sure," it said, waving its whole body. "I'm Kodama the Jirae, I follow you."

Naoki nodded. "Good. I'm Demi of the Fiend clan, glad to have you along."

"Whoa, fiend? Scawwy." But it had agreed to the contract, so it kept close to him.

"I'll try not to be too scary," Naoki said.

They had to go to the annex basement to find Kodama's friend as well as get access to Forneus. There were several large shikigami demons down there, something that fascinated Naoki. Sometimes, he had folded little origami guardians for his cousins or their friends if the kids were scared about something. It was something his father had done for him. These shikigami had heads larger than his torso, with long crinkled tails behind them.

"Big bwo!" Kodama fluttered over to one of them; it had a patch of black text near its ear. "I find new fwiend! Demi's gonna whoop big bully!"

The shikigami parted from the others to check them out. "Is that so? You mean to challenge Forneus?"

While they weren't involved yet, the other shikigami paid attention. Naoki nodded. "Yes."

It chuckled. "You have guts; he uses ice and hates electricity, but none of us have managed to defeat him for control of this place."

Did they try alone or as a group? Because there were five of them just in this hall. They should be able to overwhelm one demon. "I'll still beat him."

The shikigami nodded. "Well then. Punch me. I want to see if you have the power to protect this little kodama."

"All right," Naoki said, readying himself. Marogareh released a burst of energy as his fist met its mark, giving a satisfying crumple of thick paper. He'd put a fist-sized hole through the origami demon.

"Who, big bwo, you okay?" Kodama asked, twirling around in worry.

"Heal him," Naoki said. The kodama warbled and sent shimmering magic over the shikigami. The tear got patched up as good as new.

The shikigami laughed. "You are more than you appear to be. Demi, was it? I would like to assist you as well. I am the Brute Shikigami, I will serve you for now."

So it wasn't a set formula, it just needed the relevant information. "Thank you, I am Demi of the Fiend clan. I'm glad you'll help us."

With Forneus being vulnerable to electricity, Naoko thought they could challenge him soon. Both Shikigami and Pixie could take advantage of that. He wanted to make sure this group would fight well with him, so he challenged the other shikigami. They were happy with that even if he and his demons kept defeating them. Seeing that, he realized that he could let himself have fun.

The trouble came when they got to the small hallway outside of the annex lobby. Another tiny winged girl was here, but he sensed she wasn't of the Fairy clan. She was a Jirae like Kodama, specifically a hua po. She specialized in fire, which made both of his paper demons vulnerable. However, she was vulnerable to ice. She might be stuck here due to Forneus.

When she giggled and started to cast something, Naoki held a hand up and interrupted. "Could we talk first?"

The hua po stopped her spell and tilted her head. "Huh? But the light of Kagutsuchi is getting so strong. Give it a couple minutes, I wanna have fun!"

She was right; the blue light that came in through the windows was brighter than it had been before. Marogareh seemed to be anticipating it. "Well then I'm going to challenge Forneus at its full strength," he said. He was getting bold in this, but right now, it felt right. "So while this would be fun, I'll have to pass for now."

"Are you crazy?" the hua po asked, impressed at his declaration.

"No, he strong!" Kodama cheered.

"He's not any crazier than a normal person," Pixie said.

The hua po sniffed. "Well you fairies are all mad, all of you! Then again, mad people are entertaining." She turned and flew off towards a ghost in the hallway. "Hey, hey, you! This guy here says he's gonna smack down Forneus."

Briefly, the ghost appeared as a man. "Seriously? There's no way; you'll get frozen up and shattered before you know it. Hah, I'll give all my money to a person who could really beat Forneus."

"I'll hold you to that," Naoki said.

The hua po laughed. "All right, I gotta see this match! Go on, go fight him under the full light of Kagatsuchi! It should be fun either way."

"You shall see," Shikigami said confidently.

While that got rid of the momentary issue of fighting the hua po, it put more pressure on him to fulfill his words. But as Naoki glanced at Kagutsuchi watching the world, he felt completely confidant. Forneus was strong, but Naoki was stronger than he'd ever been. Following his horn's guidance, he found the ghost of a female doctor in a nearby room. She agreed to heal him and his three demons, having overheard his intentions. A few other hua po had gathered by the time he, Pixie, Kodama, and Shikigami all entered the annex lobby. Kagutsuchi was at its brightest and he felt a faint calling from Wadatsumi. He had to win here.

"What's this, who are you?" Forneus asked, changing his course to face him in the middle of the room. "Have you come to pay your respects to me?"

"No," he replied. He was about to say that he was going to leave.

"Then you must be after the magatsuhi too!" Forneus yelled, beating his fins in rage. "I won't let you take it, this hospital is mine! I will crush you for thinking you could challenge me!" It blasted him with ice, cold with anger.

He'd told the others how to handle this. Kodama was to hang back to heal, attacking if everyone was okay. While Pixie could heal too, he wanted her and Shikigami to focus mostly on their Zio spells. His only weapons were his fists, so he was best off as close to Forneus as he could get. But the ray hovered in the air, at a height that was awkward to punch up to. His fist was not having the impact it should.

Frowning, he took a step back while two magical bolts struck Forneus. The way he floundered in pain was more how things should go. The spells stunned him, leaving him wide open to any attack. But he was still up there. Naoki grabbed a nearby chair and flung it at Forneus' face. That brought him down towards the floor, leaving him in a perfect range…

...there was a little white worm-like insect crawling inside the crown, or maybe it was like a scorpion, but what it was like didn't matter when it sprang up and crawled in through his nose…

They called Forneus a big bully, so it was okay to smash up his stupid face completely, right?

"It's unwise to get unnecessarily angry," his grandfather said. Naoki's cheek hurt and embers from an argument at school tried to burn within him. "But humans are not innately wise, you must learn it. Put yourself in another's shoes and try to know why this occurred."

Maybe Forneus didn't know he had Wadatsumi. Maybe he had orders not to let anyone leave. More likely, he was paranoid about losing what was his. Or what he saw as his. He was the strongest demon in the hospital on his own, but he couldn't pass through the halls. He probably couldn't do anything about the pretas that had locked off the main building. As such, he only ruled the annex lobby. How dumb is that?

He was the strongest demon around, so it was his right to claim ownership. But you led the effort to defeat him. You crushed him. Therefore, you are the strongest demon in the hospital and it is your right to claim ownership here.

His grandfather chuckled as he heard about what had happened. "A clever move can destroy brute force."

Is this really right? Shikigami asked me to punch him; Forneus was in pain, I heard him through the pain of Wadatsumi seeking out Marogareh within, urgh, and his blood and my hands. And the bright light of Kagutsuchi filled my mind… who was that? Was that really me? Oh god, what's happening to me?

Don't worry. It's normal, we will be one with you and bring you more strength than you could ever dream of. We will be united; it will be amazing.

Naoki's face felt warm and he wanted to clench his fists up and fight. But no, he didn't want to get in trouble at school. He didn't want to bring the shame of having a troublesome kid to his parents. As much as their words hurt, it wasn't worth it to return with brute force. He had to find some clever move to undo them. What would his grandfather do here?

"You should leave the hospital and travel on your own. That would teach you better than I could." And he set out to do so by beating up a sea spirit over a bug he wasn't aware of.

"Why did I do that?" Naoki mumbled, his mind starting to clear out. The strength of Kagutsuchi's light was waning, he could feel that. As memories of the battle came back to mind, he didn't recognize himself even though he knew he'd been that brutal. Horrifying and thrilling, overripe fruit and spicy sweet; this was wrong, this was who he was now. But he shouldn't be.

Don't worry, you're only causing yourself more agony by worrying.

"Hey, are you finally getting up?" Pixie asked.

He opened his eyes and saw her kneeling on the arm rest of the couch he was lying in. "Need rest," Naoki mumbled.

Her wings hummed slightly as she beat them. "Okay, if you want. Man, you were super cool there, at least until you fainted on nothing after you won. You wailed on him with that chair and made him regret being against you!"

Licking his lips to clear his senses, he focused for a moment on what he should tell her. He wanted to say something about not making it sound cool, but she wouldn't see it the way he did. "He had… my magatama, Wadatsumi. Need to recover… from magatama."

"Uh, sure," she said, puzzled but taking his word for it. "Is that why you seem a bit stronger? Like icy, you took like no damage from his last desperation spell even though it made it snow in here for a couple minutes."

How long had he been out this time? "Yeah. Magatama is my power. It's scattered across the world now."

"Well that stinks." Pixie hovered over and patted his forehead. "If you get more power off it, you deserve a rest. I won't let the others disturb you."

The magatama were changing him even if he had a better grip on himself now. Did he really want to search them out?

Word spread through the hospital quickly: Forneus was dead. The new ruler was Demi, but he was asleep now and wasn't to be disturbed. While some weren't sure if this would be good or not, Shikigami felt it would be good for those here. After all, Demi intended to leave and the rest would be free to do as they liked.

By the time Demi woke back up, a full cycle of Kagutsuchi had passed. "We should move on to Yoyogi Park," he said.

Now to see if he would remain as kind as he seemed; Shikigami was worried about this. Demi was a young fiend, but no sane demon wanted to make any fiend mad. They could make one suffer beyond death. "Pardon us for asking, but little Kodama and I would like to break the contract since we helped each other defeat Forneus."

He didn't get angry, which was a good sign. "You want to stay here?"

"Yes, sowwy," Kodama said, curling its knees up into its arms. "Planters!"

"The kodamas have lost the trees they are meant to protect," Shikigami explained. "But there is a garden here, and planters in the annex hallway. This one takes care of the latter. As for me, I have a contract with Kodama myself, to help protect it. There are many powerful demons out there, so it's safest for Kodama to stay here under my watch."

"Ah." He closed his eyes and his pixie friend came to whisper something to him. "Yes. I release you both, Kodama and Shikigami, from our contract. Thank you for your assistance."

"I release you, Demi, from our contract, as it was completed," Shikigami said.

"Contact gone, Demi, it was fun!" Kodama said, which worked due to its personality. "Fwiends come back sometime, pwease?"

"We might," Demi said, smiling slightly and tickling the kodama.

"Oh hey!" One of the hua po came into the lobby, pulling along a ghost. "Before you go, don't forget this guy!"

"I'm not going with them," the man said. "I'll leave on my own."

"You bet we couldn't," Demi said. He didn't seem malicious or vain; he was definitely a lot calmer now than in battle.

The man tried to keep silent, but the hua po snickered at him. "Fine, I'll keep my word," he said, producing a coin bag and passing it over. "Man, I gotta escape poverty before I escape this place."

While Demi didn't respond, he did stare at his hand a moment when he shifted the coins and bag into storage. Maybe his peculiar traits were part of having once been human. Shikigami still felt Demi was admirable for a demon.

The hua po flew closer to Demi. "Whaddya say, aren't I cuter and cleverer than her?"

The pixie fumed. "Ooo, don't you try that, Jirae!"

"But I bet he'd rather be traveling with me now, right?" the hua po said, waving to Demi.

Demi took a deep breath while the pixie snorted at her. "You'd both be helpful in different ways," he said, deliberate with his words. Even the markings on his face shimmered more energetically as he tried to not annoy either. "What say… you come along at least to Yoyogi Park and show your strengths? Are you both okay with that?"

"It shouldn't be that far off," Shikigami said. Personally, he was glad that the hua po seemed more interested in leaving the hospital than sticking around. They liked to scare the kodamas too much.

"Sure, it'll be no contest," the hua po said.

"Yeah, because I'll certainly be better," the pixie said, turning her nose up at her.

Once they confirmed that new contract, Demi and his two winged companions left the hospital. "Is he gonna be in twouble with them?" Kodama asked.

"Probably," Shikigami said.