Author Notes: I seem to always end chapters with dialogue. =0= Huge thanks to Someya once again because she is such a star! :D I managed to fit some hinted NeuroYako in last chapter. And some actual solid NeuroYako this chapter; cookies for me! And the jazz song that plays in the background towards the end is L-O-V-E by Nat 'King' Cole. (L is for the way you look at me; O is for the only one I see; V is very very extraordinary; E is even more than anyone that you adore can~) That song is awesomely addictive! And yes, all Neuro does there is just trip her over and over again; but I know you all like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro or anything related to it.
Picking up his cup and sipping from it again, Keane narrowed his eyes and let them wander elsewhere, watching a pigeon launch itself from the roof of a building and fly off with several flaps of its grey wings as a cloud drifted across the sun, casting a large shadow across the city. The warm glow that danced in his eyes before were now extinguished by heavy storm clouds that dulled his eyes into a heartless icy hue.
"I see. Do tell me more about this special person, Yako, he must be quite a mystery too, judging from how you describe him."
..::ЯR::..
Sprinting up the stairs of the building and skipping steps even in her heels, Yako raced up one set of staircase after another. For the first time, she wished that these stairs would end soon unlike all the other times when she dreaded taking each step in the morning to face the demon lurking in the office above. Nearly tripping on the last step, the detective quickly resumed her running until she arrived at the door of the agency which had been thrown open, much unlike the usual when it was shut. The state of the office was a sight to behold – the book shelves that held folders of information and records had been attacked like a bookworm leapt at the books in a library, half the folders ripped out of their places in the shelves and cast onto the floor. A few of the windows at the back had been shattered into intricate webs of cracks with several bullet holes piercing the glass, the blinds obviously also broken. Papers were scattered messily over Troy, the table miraculously surviving the explosion of violence in the office unscathed. Caring less about the current state that the office was in, Yako made her way around the debris left over from whatever had happened in the room. She called out to Neuro hesitantly but with a clear hint of worry in her voice.
Spotting a braid of black hair waving around frantically from the hidden nook of the wall, she inquired, "Where is Neuro?"
Akane gestured towards the space behind Troy which was decorated by a large splotch of crimson. It was spread out in such a way that it almost resembled a scarlet red flower blooming, the colour flowing into the tile gaps making it seem that the flower was still unfurling its wrinkled petals that were restricted in a bud previously. At the core of the flower was a single hunched figure clad in ocean blue. Leaving her handbag on Troy, Yako ignored staining her clothes and crouched down by the demon, resting an uncertain hand on his shoulder. She shook him lightly. He coughed and more blood splashed onto the ground, dripping from his mouth.
"Neuro, what happened?" Yako's eyebrows were curved in anxiety. Were his demonic powers depleting faster than he expected? Was the opponent too strong for him? Was he lacking in miasma? Would he recover? Fear gripped her, as if trying to suffocate her. Kneeling down on her knees, she bent down further to peer at Neuro's hung head.
And there she found a grinning face staring back at her.
Then it all came together in her mind; Neuro and his stupid games from Hell. To say the least she was furious.
"An opportune moment to test your dedication to your master," the demon declared as the chaos in the room returned to normal, the debris dissolving in thin air and the bookshelves lined with folders again, "I'll pass you this time, slave. I expect better results next time."
Deciding to remain silent before she said something stupid to get herself stuck deeper in the quicksand of sadistic tortures, Yako sucked in a breath, letting the cool air fill her lungs. When she was sure she had her temper under control, she opened her mouth to complain about messing with her emotions but then she clamped her jaws shut again. Everything had returned to normal except the stream of blood trickling from the corner of Neuro's lips. She frowned and demanded an explanation.
"Oh, this? I had the honour of swallowing one of these in your place, teacher; remember the time that terrorist attacked you?" The multi hair coloured demon blinked innocently and raised his hand, showing Yako a glinting bullet between his fingers. His face turned dark, "Putting that aside, I'm disappointed to find that you failed to figure something out about the situation even though I had gone to the trouble of leaving an obvious clue." Neuro slammed a hand down on Troy.
"Well, given the situation, of course I didn't really care about the surroundings that much…"
"Exactly."
"Huh?"
"Humans always make the direst and stupidest mistakes when they're desperate."Neuro wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve, "Right about now, Keane Schwartz would have probably figured out who he's up against and that he'll have to work harder if he wants to win the prize."
Yako blinked, "Prize? What prize?"
With a middle finger pointed at her Neuro said, "You."
"Right, me!" The blonde laughed, "Wait, what?"
Settling in his seat behind Troy, the mystery eating demon crossed his legs and reclined in the chair leisurely, "From the moment he met you, Keane Schwartz was interested in you even though Violette is his girlfriend. I've been gathering information and it seems that their relationship is rather one sided. That's why I sent you to see him today; to give him the bait. Two days later, I'll feed him some more."
"So I'm the bait?" Yako pointed to herself as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Neuro's blank smile was all she needed. "But what do you mean by 'two days later'?"
"We've been invited to their formal."
..::ЯR::..
Cutting through the crowds of people was Violette who looked refined and stunning as usual in whatever she wore – a short strapless silk black dress in this case – was making a beeline towards a figure dressed in a tailored black suit with matching deep blue waistcoat and tie, a light blonde haired man enjoying the light conversation he was making with a friend. She had been greatly saddened by the news of her little brother's death and had been in a state of absolute misery for the past days. Perhaps to compensate for the loss, Violette attended classes everyday and worked twice as hard as anyone else in hopes of burying herself in her work to forget the sorrow. She acted cheerful to show that she was dealing with Klavieres' death just fine. Everyone had expressed their condolences for her loss and she was grateful. However, the person whom she wanted comfort from the most hadn't said a word to her since the incident.
"Ah, Violette's here; I'll excuse myself then," The blonde man's friend waved a small hello to the approaching violinist and walked off, "See you around, Keane."
Wordlessly, Violette dragged the German behind her, weaving through the crowds again to escape the hum of chatter. Once outside, the violinist didn't stop but continued to lead the way to the more isolated branches of the hotel where no one could be seen. Finally, she settled with the emergency fire escape route with the unending stairs spiralling upwards in geometric lines. Violette planted her hands on her hips in an authoritative manner, her gloss painted lips drawn in a tight line. Keane stood with his back against the wall, his expression equally unamused.
"I need to have a word with you, Keane."
"Well spit it out, I don't have all day to dawdle around with your silly love games."
From the very start, she had been aware that even though they were going out, she was only furniture to Keane Schwartz. She knew it was an unrequited love. She knew that Keane only agreed to make her his girlfriend to take advantage of her. She knew about his double personality of acting all lover-like in front of others and cold hearted when they're alone. His words constantly cut her, but she swallowed the pain. Violette knew all this and yet, she couldn't help but be jealous of those whom the German pianist was interested in.
"Do you like Yako?" Her deep burgundy eyes locked onto Keane's uninterested gaze, trying to peer over the high walls the man had built to shield his thoughts from her.
He glanced at his watch, and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the watch face, "So what if I do?"
Tears welled up in Violette's eyes and she began to shake, her voice hoarse, "Even after all this time, you still don't love me?"
Keane easily reversed their positions, trapping the violinist between him and the wall. Burying his face in the curve of her neck, his lips curved into a smirk against her sensitive skin, making her flinch. The pianist's hand danced from her arm as if he was playing the piano, all the way up to her shoulder. There his fingers traced her collar bone slowly. Pausing where the bone ended, he lifted his head and without warning, his hands wrapped themselves around her neck, constricting her airway instantly. Violette coughed and tried to suck in gulps of air but none of these worked. Tears streamed down the dark haired girl's cheeks as she struggled and attempted to undo his tight grip of her neck but to no avail; Keane's hands only tightened. Within a minute, she could no longer bear the lack of air and Violette went limp. Releasing her, the German watched as the girl's body fell into a heap on the floor.
Leaning down, he whispered, "Love? I'll give you as much of it as you want."
Dusting his hands off as if he had touched something foul, Keane stepped over the body and casually made his way back to the function room as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
..::ЯR::..
A large group where people had gathered in a circle. There was a moment's silence from the group and then a huge roar of laughter. In the ring of spectators there were two couples surrounding a table filled with glasses of wine of different sorts; the ladies were seated at the table with their partners standing beside them like faithful servants. One of these couples was Katsuragi Yako and her assistant. The detective adorned a simplistic white dress that reached her knees which was devoid of any decorations apart from the rich claret strip of silky fabric that snaked around her waist like a belt and was fastened with a brooch lined with sparkling rhinestones. Her slightly curled hair was held up in a ponytail that layered and cascaded her tresses nicely with a few loose strands framing her face and her trademark red grinning hairclip holding back a few rebellious locks of her golden hair. The peculiar assistant had changed out of his eccentric blue suit into formal wear much like the attire of other men although his black necktie still gave away his odd tastes as it was much like a cross between a tie and a cravat.
The dichromatic haired man placed a finger on his lips with a look of worry and asked the detective if she felt all right.
"I lost fair and square so I'll drink it." Yako declared as she directed another sceptical look at the glass of chilled white wine presented to her on the table and gulped. This was the fourth time she had lost and drinking wasn't her strength although she had a stomach made of iron. The tall man beside her bent down, his innocent expression replaced with a dark smirk as he swiftly punched her in the stomach. The blonde girl gawked at him incredulously as she clutched her stomach and doubled over in pain.
Neuro straightened himself and apologized, "It seems teacher isn't feeling too well, I'm sorry but you'll have to excuse us for a while." Plucking the blonde from her seat and tucking her under his arm like she was a parcel, Neuro marched out of the room and dropped Yako on the thick carpet, watching as she supported herself on all fours, a hand held over her stomach. Rather than helping her, the demon commented offhandedly, "And I was looking forward to see if you would stay curled up like a millipede when disturbed."
Biting her bottom lip to suppress a whimper of agony that would no doubt just make Neuro more chipper, the detective picked herself up from the ground with a hand rubbing her abdomen. She glared unsuccessfully at the man as he returned it easily with a stare. Neuro surprised her when he took off his suit jacket and threw it at her. The demon didn't say anything, only pointing towards a door tucked away in a hidden corner with his middle finger. Following his instructions, Yako made her way to the door and stepped through. A blast of cold air enclosed around her small frame and she quickly understood the purpose of Neuro giving her his jacket and slipped it on although it was extremely oversized, the jacket always somehow lopsided and the sleeves several inches too long. Perhaps the area was not meant to be open to public, but the roof top had no railings bordering the area. In the background, she could hear the unmistakable flare of brass instruments supported by streaks of soft violins, the hypnotizing beat of the drum and eventually, the low soothing voice of a vocalist. Standing at the edge of the open space with the breeze ruffling her curls, Yako was attracted by the breathtaking cityscape of Tokyo as it unfolded itself before her, the glittering lights of traffic and buildings lighting up the night sky like all the stars had fallen down from the sky and settled upon the city.
Suddenly, the lights swirled as her legs gave out under her and she was starting to dive down towards the zipping highway below but was caught just in time by Neuro who nonchalantly held her hand with one hand as if it didn't really matter if she fell or not in all honesty. He eventually pulled her back up and overcome with shock of nearly falling off the top floor of a sixty floored hotel onto a highway at peak hour, Yako let herself cling to the safety of Neuro for a while before she snapped out of it and was about to shout something at him but was silenced when his face was so close that their noses were practically touching and he shushed her with a shadowy whisper. Swinging back into motion, the demon guided her away from the edge of the building before tripping her for the second time within a minute, making her stumble and crash into the tall man's chest.
Neuro's green eyes reflected the moon's silvery glow for an instant as it momentarily revealed itself. He didn't say anything but the smirk plastered on his face wasn't very reassuring. Using pure force, he pulled and jerked her to and fro like a puppeteer does his puppet then he deliberately spun her in the wrong direction just to twist her arm at an impossible angle and hear that pleasant cracking noise from her bones. If that didn't certify that she had dislocated her shoulder, he would give another forceful yank. Halfway through this, Neuro had joined in with the singer, humming along to the melody sinisterly in a way that everything beautiful about the song had been replaced by everything twisted and evil. At this point, Yako had already given up and just let the demon play 'trip and catch' as he pleased. When it seemed the song was finally coming to an end, he twirled her then followed that up with a perfectly positioned foot to trip her and let her fall until her back was about to touch the ground when he caught her again. Here he collided his forehead against Yako's, making all the sounds ring and vibrate in her head, his lips hovering just above her's, a breath away. Yako froze and her honey coloured eyes could only keep flickering from Neuro's emerald orbs to their barely touching lips, a light shade of rose pink floating to her cheeks as the situation sunk in.
Fleeing from his hiding place in the shadows where he had been watching the detective and her assistant on the roof top, Keane Schwartz balled his hands into fists, clenching them so tightly his knuckles went white and his arm shook with anger. Violent rage filled his entire being as jealousy and resentment took over all logic in his mind. Before rejoining the majority of the college students in the function room, he seethed, "Now let it be war upon you both."
And then a scream tore the night apart with its dread and stripped the celebrations of its contentment; only one being rejoiced in hearing that shriek echo down the hotel corridors and he couldn't help but grin at the thought of the steady growth of his upcoming meal.
