Yoyogi Park felt wrong. It wasn't simply proximity to the Dark Realm, as it had been in the medical center, but something else as well. Park visitors glanced around the treetops and the branches swayed just a little too much.

Raidou parked his motorcycle, but stayed near the entrance closest to the train station. "What do you think?"

"I think this was a bad meeting location," Gouto responded, jumping off the bike before sniffing the air. His hackles rose.

"Should I call him to change it?"

"He's probably on the train already."

"Guess I should be ready then." Raidou pulled out one of his tubes and summoned Alp. Mind reading too often proved indispensable. He then moved to turn and look across the way for Souji, but couldn't quite turn his back on the park either, and so ended up in an awkward sideways position.

Fortunately, Souji didn't take long.

"Raidou?"

The devil summoner turned to regard his pupil. His height and silver hair made him extremely easy to spot. Raidou had to smile slightly at the younger man's rather standard attire though. The somewhat dumbfounded face helped too.

"You made it here quickly."

Souji blinked, pulled out of his stupefied trance. "Yeah, I was already out and about, so I wasn't actually that far." He attempted to look Raidou in the eyes but his own insisted on drifting towards his tutor's attire instead.

"Did I interrupt something?" Raidou asked. He wasn't quite sure if he was trying to give Souji a chance to save face or if he wanted the guy to actually have to admit to disapproval.

"I was out and about because I didn't know what to do with myself."

"I thought you'd be busy spending time with friends."

Souji titled his head away, causing his butterfly hair clip to shine in the light.

"You wear that even when not studying?" Raidou queried, stepping closer. He'd never paid it too much mind before. The fact Souji wore such an obvious hairpiece had surprised him, but the fact he wore it wasn't unusual.

Gently, Souji tapped it. It seemed to Raidou he gently stroked one of the wings as it seemed to gently flutter under his touch.

"I guess I study so much I've just gotten used to it."

"It suits you."

"Thanks. Your hat suits you too."

"It was my grandfather's," Raidou replied, gently tilting the brim down.

Souji seemed to fall back.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I guess we've never spoken informally, but you never mention your family."

"Neither do you."

"Maybe not, but you just don't seem the type."

"And why not?" Raidou had to admit, at this point he just wanted to back Souji in a corner. He understood politeness, but Souji tended to press even beyond that into shallow friendship. Or perhaps it was more that the young man tried too hard to form bonds.

"Maybe because you're almost my sensei."

Raidou crossed his arms, hearing Alp snicker. "He thinks you're old," she teased.

Souji jumped.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just thought my phone rang. It startled me."

"You can answer it."

"That would be rude. I'll just call them back when we're done."

Raidou sighed. Getting Souji to actually be rude was going to take some effort. "Shall we head into the park then?"

"Why the park?"

Raidou shrugged. "It's near a station."

"Is it near where you live?"

"He really wants that information," Alp warned, "but I can't quite tell why." She straightened out a bit, growing vastly more alert.

"I visit this area regularly."

"Why?" Alp asked, seeming sincere herself. Raidou did well not to look at her in surprise. She knew the answer, so why had she asked?

"Should we find a bench in the park?" he offered. Even if the park was dangerous it would be better to go in and just handle the problem. Having someone else along was unlikely to be an issue.

Souji nodded and they headed through the entrance, Gouto trailing cautiously behind them.

Actually walking into the park felt like belly flopping into a lake for Raidou. It wasn't any more viscous than water, but he distinctly felt like he had hit it wrong, that it coated him in something disgusting. Exactly what, he couldn't say, but it made him shudder.

"Is this park really humid?" Souji asked.

Raidou was about to respond when a familiar sensation rushed through his body, an adrenaline charging tingle he knew well. The people in the park seemed to haze. Without even a thought Raidou drew his sword.

Souji jumped away from him and took a defensive stance. He hadn't faded away at all.

"He's not panicking," Alp noted.

"I noticed," Raidou responded, looking at the other man suspiciously. "How did you follow me here?"

"We walked in together," Souji responded.

"He's confused, but not surprised," Alp noted.

"That's an odd set," Raidou mused. He turned back to Souji. "How can you not know what's going on and expect it?"

Souji didn't respond, but his eyes seemed to blaze with a yellow light for just a moment. A form appeared behind him. It seemed oddly solid in the hazy world. What appeared to be a long black coat blew about as if in a harsh wind.

"A demon?" Raidou queried. No, it felt distinctly different from the demons he had encountered before- even using the broad definition of demon. Its energy just didn't seem to fit that.

As if to verify his suspicions, the odd being behind Souji launched a lightning bolt. Raidou moved his sword to block, but the bolt went right past him and slammed into something else. He could feel his hair stand on end, but not in the way it did when a demon attacked him in a similar fashion. What was going on?

"Akira," Gouto warned, "behind you."

Raidou turned his head slightly, not wanting to let his guard down, but his body quickly followed when he recognized the threat.

Pixies hovered nervously above strange... gooey, creatures on the ground. They looked like a black ooze had decided to grow arms and take up wearing masks; and a plethora of masks it was. Souji slowly came up beside him.

"Sorry if I startled you," he remarked.

Raidou got into a proper battle stance, sword raised and a fresh tube ready. He'd been wrong about Souji, but he'd been right to be suspicious. His encounter on the bridge- and the even stranger one before that- were beginning to make some sense.

"Are you a friend of Igor's?"

Souji looked a little surprised, but Raidou could see things clicking in place for him too. The young man pulled out a pair of glasses. "Are you a friend of Doctor Victor's?" he asked as he put them on.

"Friend might be pushing it," Raidou replied, pulling on the tube. A green light engulfed the area, causing the strange monsters to recoil, and Alp was replaced with a small snowman in an old fashioned uniform and cap. The cap matched Raidou's own.

"Jack Frost?" Souji mouthed.

"Talk later," Raidou instructed, and with that he dove into the swarm of monsters. He didn't need to instruct Raiho on how to handle the situation, he just needed to get these strange things down quickly.

The first group he went for wore blue masks with a cross carved out which would have usually allowed a person to see through it. Raidou slashed down with his katana while Raiho went for the middle and launched a circle of ice. Both attacks clearly hurt them, but not enough and he hadn't struck a weakness either, at least, assuming they worked like normal demons.

One shook its arms in the air and made an odd gurgling noise. Raidou dove to the side and immediately felt grateful for the decision. A lightning bolt scarred the ground where he had been standing and once more his hair stood on end from the electricity.

A moment later his entire body seized. Taking a deep breath, Raidou staggered. He could smell his hair burning. It seemed that all of these particular ones were perfectly happy to cast ziodyne, and that the lightning came from the sky instead of from them. He had to move, fast and often.

Taking on a more mobile tactic also meant taking on a more acrobatic one. Raidou selected one from the crowd, noting that none appeared injured, and zigzagged his way towards it. Once he was close he leaped over it.

The creature waved its arms in the air, as did those near it. Raidou crouched down in a defensive position then, channeling his MAG throughout his body and sword so it would protect him, even from lightning.

He could feel Raiho beside him. His demonic companion would be safe though, shielded completely by his MAG. He braced.

Even fully braced and defensive, getting struck by five lightning bolts hurt.

"Mabufula," Raidou whispered through his pain. With that he released Raiho from his MAG.

The little guy leapt into action and, with a quick twirl, a circle of ice surrounded him. "Die, hee-ho!"

Raidou knew the enemy wasn't immune to ice, and that was all he needed. Without waiting to see if all of them had been caught in the blast, or any of them frozen, he released his MAG through his sword.

Physics always objected to the set of incredibly fast cuts and slashes this technique released. Raidou had learned to control it, but the attack still made his arms sore as his sword moved too fast for the eye to follow in a string of cuts and slashes. His primary may have been the opponent in front of him, but the whole mob surrounding him was devastated by the attack.

Raiho let off another attack, finishing off the survivors of this little mob. Recognizing that he had spent too much energy at once for such a fight Raidou took the moment to absorb his fallen opponents' MAG.

It felt wrong. He could feel the familiar energy, but it felt combined with something else. Something he didn't like. Something that made his head hurt. Instinctively, he reached for the pain and stumbled back.

"Akira!"

"Raidou!"

He focused his eyes on Souji then, and found the younger man irritatingly blurry. The electricity which surrounded him merely enhanced the effect. Raidou felt ground against his knees.

Another one of the strange monsters approached him, its mask resembling an inverted face. Raiho leaped between them, launching ice. The creature simply batted the poor little demon aside.

The taste of bile filled Raidou's mouth, but that seemed inconsequential compared to his headache. He was only vaguely aware of his loosening hand.

His entire vision blazed in white and blue. Instinctively he reached out and collected the MAG as the creature dispersed.

He wasn't sure if he screamed or not, but it felt as though his head split in two and he felt earth against his cheek.

He could hear Souji call out to him, and Gouto, and even Raiho.

"Little Raidou!"

"Raidou!"

Huh, they all referred to him differently.

"Akira!"

His eyes finished closing. It hurt so much, the headache, and the eerie familiarity of the scene.

Author's Note: I apologize for the sudden gap in updates. My time to write and my time to edit have both dropped considerably. This semester is a lot rougher than I had anticipated when I started this. It is still going (I actually have about two and a half chapters already written) but actually getting a segment ready to post takes some time.