A/N: angst and even more shit
Oh, PKBlackTornado, please, go ahead! ^^ dememe-fiend omg that is gr8
The demon spoke. I was stunned. Naoya was pissed.
Naoya stood, growled, and uttered, "You think this is a fucking game you literal piece of trash? We ditched you for a reason, you hideous mess of purple. I turned this thing on in hopes of meeting a more tolerable demon. Get lost." The demon was quite tall, but it still seemed as if Naoya loomed far above him.
"Mmm, do you really dislike me that much? I've done nothing wrong. I just want to help. Oh, and don't act like you don't love me, especially in my true form. Remember, this morning?" The demon poked his tongue out and winked. He leaned back midair, as if he were sitting on a chair, and folded his arms up above his head and behind his back. Naoya was blushing, as expected of the furry.
I was still utterly confused. Then it hit me.
The violet, the trashy attitude, my beloved cousin's rage and flushed cheeks...
I blanched and raised my index finger in an attorney-like manner, pointing at the demon. "L-L-Loki?!"
He looked at me and did a sassy hair flip. "Oh, Kazuya-ku~n!" The demon, revealed to have been Loki, lunged at me, far to fast for me to react. In a puff of gray smoke, the large form of the demon had disappeared into thin air, and was replaced by the not-so-menacing form of
Oa man with dark brown hair clad in purple with arms wrapped tightly around my waist. He rubbed his cheek against mine. "Oh, how I've missed you, my soon to be Memelord! I can't believe you let your mean ol' older br- cousin leave me all alone in that apartment all by myself! So rude!" Loki paused, looking over at Naoya, who was very steamed, with a snarky grin. "Naturally, I knew you'd be turning a COMP on very soon, so I decided to- mweehee- POP in!"
Naoya clicked his tongue, forcefully pulling Loki off of me, then putting himself in between myself and the pimp.
"You can just leave, you know. With these COMPs, and the information you've given us, I think we can do this ourselves." Naoya gestured to his COMP, which was still laying on the ground. "I would greatly prefer you not tagging along."
Loki waved a hand. "Oh, I couldn't just leave. Standing on the sidelines is fun and all, but, for once, I want to get in on some of the action. Besides," he stopped and quickly glanced over in my direction, "I think things will be very entertaining this time." He walked a few paces away before continuing. "Besides, I mentioned it before, didn't I? I basically promised someone that I would do this, of course, for a price." He happily sighed, placing his hands on his cheeks.
Naoya scoffed. "Oh, and who might that someone be, anyway? They must be real stupid if they trusted you."
I decided to pitch in. "Don't say that, Naoya. It sounded like you were apparently pretty exited this morning after you summoned Loki. You seemed to trust every word he spewed, about all the King of Bel and overthrowing God and such."
Naoya flinched. He turned to glare at me, although his pink face ruined the effect. "I was just excited about summoning a demon, is all. It means I'm one step closer to summoning my one true goddess, Princess Luna. I wasn't thinking straight." Yeesh, he pulled the "it's because I'm a brony!" card again. Seriously, it's amazing how a child's cartoon about ponies is enough to turn an angsty, nihilistic man into a chipper, devout follower of... well, ponies. Really, one morning about eight months ago, he noticed My Little Pony was on the TV, and automatically became attached. He actually used to hate animals, especially farm animals.
I shook myself out of my thoughts and clapped my hands together. "No excuses. You and I both know you were just super hyped about summoning a demon. Stop being so problematic and just admit that you believed every word this shitty demon said because you were as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning."
He opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Naoya sank to his knees, defeated, slipped his fedora out of his bag, placed it on his head, and began to cry. Loki and I fist-bumped.
Loki noticed the time displayed on his wristwatch, and his eyes widen. "Whoa, yikes, it's already..." He walked over and picked up the COMP that was still on the ground in front of Naoya, who was too distracted to notice. He handed it to me. An ambulance ran by.
"That guy's pretty much broken for the time being. Here, there should be an email or two that you may want to read."
There were only a few applications displayed on the screen: configuration, profile, data, and email. Emails were separated into three different tabs: Main Folder, Laplace Mail, and System Mail. I clicked on the first email I saw. I read it aloud.
"From, The Observer. Subject, Laplace Mail. Good morning. Here is today's news.
One: At around 16:00, a man will be..." I gulped,"...killed in a Shibuya-ku Aoyama apartment. The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast." I looked at the time in the righthand corner of the screen. The time was 16:30. I could still hear the siren of the ambulance in the distance. Naoya was looking directly at me, eyes still puffy from his inane sobbing from just a few moments ago. I looked at Loki.
"Hey... w-what is this? This isn't real, right? Don't tell me this thing...?" Can foresee the...?
He answered without hesitation. "It is, and it does."
An email that predicts the future? That just can't be real. And yet, it doesn't seem like this email was just recently sent. And that ambulance was headed straight for Aoyama...
I looked back at my cousin. "N-Naoya... who..." I stammered. He looked to the side.
"It obviously isn't... wasn't, us. There are only a few people it could have been. However, I think it..." he stopped, then he shook his head. "It isn't like there's anything we can do now. Continue reading. We'll go check after you're done."
I nodded. Shit, just gotta keep calm and read on...
"Alright... Two: Two people will be killed by demons in front of the Electric Museum in Shibuya at 17:30. Their names are..." I felt cold. My legs were shaking. "...Yuzu Tanikawa... and Atsuro Kihara...?" I was gonna be sick. My two best friends in the whole wide world were going to die? I dropped the COMP. Loki caught it before it hit the ground with a catlike reflex. He gave it to Naoya, who was suddenly behind me with an arm around my shoulder. The transition from crybaby furry to caring cousin was swift and flawless. He quickly skimmed through the rest of the email.
I had to think happy thoughts. Rickroll, Philosoraptor, Nyan Cat, Numa Numa, Epic Face, Weegee... Come on, oh exalted meme gods, please, please, please don't let my friends die...
I silently whimpered. And here I thought we were just gonna have a wacky little journey to become Meme Overlord and kill God, but I guess it's not going to be that easy.
Naoya shut the COMP and was once again pulling me somewhere. Loki wordlessly followed.
"W-where are we going?"
"My place. I think I know who was killed, but I would like a confirmation."
I stopped dead in my tracks and held Naoya back. "No, I'm going to stay here. Yuzu and Atsuro are gonna be...!" I bit my lip. "I don't care what that damn email said, they aren't going to die!" I yelled. "I'm staying, and I won't let them be killed." My breathing was uneven.
Naoya stared back at me. He eventually said, "How noble. Regardless, it said the events would unfold at 17:30. It's only 16:30. It would be a waste of time waiting here for an hour. We don't even know where those two are right now, or what will kill them. However, I have my suspicions."
"But what if-!"
Loki stopped me. "He's rights, you know. Waiting here will only waste your time. Unless something drastic happened, everything in the email will occur at that the time stated."
My shoulders fell. Good, so we do have time...
Hesitantly, I said, "Fine. Let's go. No detours." I tightened my grip on my cousin's hand. Suddenly being thrust into a situation like this sucks major dong. I just came out to have a good time, but, honestly, I'm feeling so attacked right now. This is totally not how I planned on spending the rest of my summer.
...But do I even really have to do this...? Maybe we could just...
We walked in silence, for the most part. Loki made attempts to lighten the mood by telling inappropriate jokes. Naoya 'accidentally' tripped the demon numerous time, causing him to constantly fall flat on his face.
I also noticed that Naoya frequently glanced above my head for some reason. I could not find a suitable reason as to why.
As we got closer and closer to Aoyama, my uneasiness grew. What if something happens? What if we don't get back in time? What if Atsuro and Yuzu are... It's 16:53...
Naoya seemed to notice my growing worry, and made a lame attempt to break the ice. "So. This weather is really... cool. I mean, hot. In a good way. Warm. It's really comfortable out here right now." At least he tried, and that was enough to make me crack a tiny smile.
"I suppose it is."
"Anything you'd like to talk about?"
"Nothing in particular."
"Ooh!" Loki perked up, jumped in front of us, and began waving his arms haphazardly above his head as he walked backwards. "How about you two talk about me? I haven't received a compliment all day! You can discuss how gorgeous I am, how amazingly awesome I am, how-!"
"How absolutely pretentious you are?" Naoya supplied.
Loki pouted. "So mean, Naoya-kun!"
I chuckled. "How about the fact you totally ditched your pimp persona after chapter one and became some cute girl from a shoujo manga? What's with the way you're talking now?"
He looked at me in shock, his frown deepening. "Kazu-tan, you too?! And you even broke the fourth wall! I thought we stopped doing that?!"
Naoya and I laughed in unison. I felt a lot better all of a sudden. Was Loki purposefully trying to cheer me up? I somewhat doubt it, but who know. Maybe the trickster pulled a trick by not pulling a trick at all. How meta.
When we finally arrived back in Aoyama, police and civilians were gathered around the entrance of the apartment building. A short woman came over and spoke with Naoya. She lived on the floor above his.
"O-Oh! Minegishi-san! It's horrible! Taketora-san, he lived next door to you right? He was killed by-by a-a monster!" she screeched.
The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast.
Naoya placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Please, do you have any more information?"
She wiped away the tears that poked the edge of her eyes. "N-Not much... Only what I've h-heard from the police. The, his body, was drained of all blood, s-similar to those b-bloodless murders that have been going on. I don't know anything o-other than that."
Bloodless murders?
Naoya gave her a gentle, reassuring smile. "I appreciate the time you've given us. Please, don't worry. I'll do everything possible to prevent anything like this from happening again."
She sniffled, and only replied with a short hum.
We walked a short distance away and began to discuss the information amongst ourselves. I was the first to say something.
"What are the Bloodless murders?"
Naoya responded with, "I don't know too much about it myself, but I have heard that every corpse they find is entirely drained of blood, thus the name. It all started approximately six months ago."
I turned to Loki, who seemed to read my mind. He raised his hands in innocence. "I assure you, I did not do it, nor have ever met the demon doing it."
I raised a brow at that. "Does that mean you know of the demon who's behind them?"
He tugged at the collar of his suit. "O-Oh, well, I'm sure I could name a few names, but... Ah, look at the time!" He shoved his watch into my face. "17:05! We should skedaddle!" He skipped away.
I hissed, grabbed Naoya's arm, and ran after the demon. I turned to look directly at Naoya "We'll talk more about this later," I huffed. "Gimme a COMP. I'll turn it on when we get there. I think we're gonna need it."
He looked at me, well, above me, with a partially stunned expression, but easily regained his composure and did as I asked.
Again, we went along in silence. Loki turned a corner, and as we followed, we ran into someone. I fell back onto Naoya, whose bag seemed to have popped open, releasing all of the remaining COMPs. In front of me was a boy around my age with short brown hair and glasses. He wore a simple yellow T-shirt and jeans. He opened his eyes, revealing dark irises that darted all around, talking in his surroundings.
"Gah, ow, that- Ah! Oh no, I'm sorry," he stood and offered me a hand. I took it and quickly apologized myself before I turned to help Naoya collect the COMPs.
The boy sounded troubled. "Um, please, let me help!" He crouched down beside me, picked up a COMP, and placed it delicately into the satchel.
Loki poked his head around the corner, tapping on the face of his watch. "Kazu-tan, we have fifteen minutes left! You might want to hurry~!" He spoke with a singsong voice.
Dammit! I grabbed the last COMP and threw the bag over my shoulder as I helped Naoya up. I ran ahead.
"Thanks," I heard Naoya curtly say to the boy before he started running after me.
"But, hey, wait, you forgot-!"
"Kazu-tan! Hurry up! Don't want your friends to die, now do you?"
"Stop your fucking taunting, shitty demon!"
"Kazuya, stay calm."
That damn demon, choosing the worst times to be annoying. I take back what I said earlier. I bet he was just trying to lull me into a false sense of security.
I ran as fast as I possible could, and yet I never caught to Loki. At some point along the way, Naoya tripped, but I couldn't afford to go back and retrieve him. Survival of the fittest. It was his fault for wearing that outfit, anyway. He'll catch up. I think... Yeah.
I kept running until the moment I saw two blurry figures in the distance. I finally made it back to the Electric Museum. My body automatically stopped on it's own when I saw two other figures suddenly appear in a flash of light.
No.
Atsuro and Yuzu were caught pff guard. I began to run again. They screamed. I was panicking.
No.
The demons were attacking. They didn't know they could fight back. I was panicking.
NO.
I jumped in front of the two, blocking them from the magic the demons had cast at the same time. I lurched forward and fell. I opened my eyes and saw Loki across the lot, laughing to himself. Honestly, I was just surprised I was still alive after that. I know about the Harmonizer and all, but that still hurt as hell. At least I got to have my superhero moment. That's enough for one day...
"Kazu! Are you alright?"
"Hey, Kazuya! Get up, man!"
My friends towered above me, their faces full of horror. I put a thumb up.
"I... am AIGHT. You can... beat those demons. There's a... thing. The Harmonizer. In the COMPs. You can... fight them. C'mon guys, fisticuffs." My voice was hoarse.
"Kazuya!" It was Naoya that time. I looked up. He was running towards us. The demons were preparing to attack again. "Loki, go kill them, or, whatever!"
Loki yawned and did not move an inch. Atsuro and Yuzu tried to fight, but the smaller demon seemed to know healing spells, making it harder to knock them out.
"LOKI!"
"Yeesh, alright, alright. This is cheating, don't you think?"
He snapped his fingers and bolts of light rained down on the demons, utterly obliterating them.
It was quiet. Loki walked up to where the four of us stood, cracking his knuckles. "Phew, been a while since I did that." He crouched down beside me. "Kazu-tan, you're okay now, right?"
I slowly sat up. I felt good as new, as if nothing at all happened.
"Y-yeah."
He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Good!" I grimaced. His mood swings are going to be a pain in the behind. Is he our friend, or not? Naoya proceeded to put his foot on the demon's head and pressed down, knocking him over from his crouched position.
Atsuro and Yuzu threw themselves upon me, enveloping me in warm hug.
"Dammit, Kazuya, what the hell was that! We thought you were dead! What is going on, anyway? What was all that? Who's the purple dude?"
"Kazu, oh my gosh, don't ever scare us like that again! Now, we better get some answers. I would like to know what exactly those things were!"
I smiled. I'm was just glad they were okay. I needed to stop loosing my composure.
"Okay, guys. I'm fine. I was just really worried about you, is all. Um, and about your questions, uh... well..." I looked up at Naoya, who was busy looking above me. I looked back at my friends, who were waiting for a reply. "Er, to start off... The purple guy's name is Loki. And he... is a demon, just like those things that you just fought." Their eyes widened in what seemed to be disbelief. This is going to be a long explanation.
I just want to go home and enjoy some dank memes. This is too much for me.