Hey, so I've discovered something slightly odd… I write better when I am tired… Which is super weird considering it's 4 am. Whatever.
Also would anybody be willing to beta read for me or know someone who will? I'd be willing to repay the favor. I'm a pretty good reader and I'm planning to go to school for editing. Just for some reason I can not edit my own work.
Anyways here is the third chapter of Doumeki's Thoughts on the Matter.
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It was a friday afternoon and, like I usually did in my free time, I was in my grandfather's storehouse reading. This time I was reading about a not very well known spirit, one which my grandfather claims to have seen, it was called an Abura-Akago, which means "oil baby." It takes the form of a fireball until it enters a house, it then takes the form of an infant and licks up the oil from lamps.*
It was a very interesting tale and considering my family and I still use oil, it was one to keep in mind. I was looking for any more information on it, when I heard my mother's voice. "Shizuka? Are you in there?" Before my mother could completely enter the storehouse I rose to meet her. "What is it?" She handed me a folded up piece of paper as response. "I was walking back from the store when I saw this in the mailbox, it's addressed to you." After saying this she walked back to the main house, I went to go sit back down. I turned the paper over to the other side to see if there was name, not seeing one I opened it.
"Watanuki?" I was so surprised I spoke aloud. Looking at the note again, I read it more carefully this time. It read like so,
Dear Doumeki,
I am Watanuki's employer and I have heard quite a few things about you, courtesy of our Watanuki. Anyways, if you would be so kind as to accompany him tonight, he and I would greatly appreciate it. Meet him tonight in front of X Highschool at 11…*
"Weird," I thought, turning the paper over again. When I looked back to the writing I noticed a butterfly, one which I swear wasn't there a minute ago. Reading the note once again, I thought about what it said. "So Watanuki talks about me all the time does he?" I smiled at this then placed the note down. Knowing that no matter the strangeness of all this, Watanuki needed my help and I would give it to him. I walked back into the main house to tell my mother what was going on.
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It was now past the designated time and I was beginning to think that, that note had been a joke. I was growing tired and got up to leave when I heard footsteps, I turned around to see who it was, as the figure grew closer I saw it was Watanuki. "Where ya' been?" Not hearing a response, I looked closer at Watanuki only to see the cutest blush on his face and a pair or odd yet cute ears on him. I looked away before I did anything drastic.
"Let's go." I said. Watanuki started flailing like a wild animal, "What's your problem? Go ahead and make fun of me! I wanna get all the wisecracks outta the way right now!" He said now pointing at me. "Hey, if that's your style, it's not really my place to comment," I replied. That and I thought it was absolutely adorable. He pointed at the ears and yelled, "You think I actually chose to wear these things? Yuuko told me that these were the only headphones she had," He mumbled the next part, "and she said they were funny."
"She's right. They are pretty funny looking." I looked back at the gate making sure Watanuki couldn't see my face. I may have been a good liar, but I didn't want to take any chances. "You don't think I don't know that?" Watanuki growled. I heard him start muttering to himself and listened closely, "Really? What do you want to talk to that jerk for?" "That jerk must have been me," I thought. "Yuuko wants me to give you a message," Watanuki spoke this part louder so I turned to him. "Hi Doumeki, how are you doing?" He spoke this in a bored way.
"I'm fine, thank you." I bowed politely, they couldn't see me. "That's good. My name is Yuuko, and I'm Watanuki's employer." Watanuki still hadn't looked at me, and his fists were clenched. "Pleased to meet you," and I really was. She seemed nice and obviously Watanuki liked her at least somewhat, or he would be doing that fake smile. "Please take care of Watanuki for me tonight." "Of course," Not that she needed to ask. "Watanuki said that he thinks about you all the time, and that he would die without you.." Watanuki trailed off looking shocked. He stomped the ground, "I never said that, Yuuko! Rahh!" He started flailing then stomped towards the school gate, "I know, I'm going ok?"
He jumped up and caught the edge of the gate, he then hung for a second struggling to get anywhere. For being so athletic at school he didn't have very much arm strength it seemed. He groaned for a second then turned and yelled at me, "What are you waiting for? Come on, let's get this over with!" "You're the one who isn't going anywhere," I replied before moving forward, intent on helping him, when I noticed he stopped moving. "What is it?" I looked towards the school to see nothing. Watanuki spoke aloud, half to himself, "There's something dark hovering over the building. A spirit maybe?" I looked again, still seeing nothing I looked back to Watanuki.
"I know you don't see anything! I'm the only one who can. There's something very wrong in there. This is unbelievable! That spirit is bigger than anything I've ever seen… and more powerful," Watanuki seemed frozen. "Do you think it has something to do with all the strange things that have been happening in the school?" I asked. "Yeah," he mumbled, he then jumped down from the gate into the school grounds.
I started climbing the fence when I heard Watanuki talking, probably to Yuuko again. "Yeah… Oh yeah… It's black and moving in circles," I joined him on the other side of the gate, "LIke it's trying to wrap itself around the school or something," Then he got sarcastic which never meant something good," Ah that's great. I knew that, Thank you!" I just watched him the whole time. I would have started to the school already to put myself in danger first, but I don't know where to go from here, not having a spiritual sense myself. Watanuki spoke louder again, "You know, I'm starting to think she's enjoying this a little too much," Before walking forward, seemingly following something.
I walked a little ways behind him enjoying the view. When he started looking into the windows at something I did the same, still not seeing anything however. Watanuki suddenly froze, I looked to see what it was and saw an open window. "Maybe he saw something go inside?" I thought. He moved forward and opened the window all the way, immediately after hopping inside I saw him cover his nose, like he smelled something vile. I came inside and discreetly sniffed, not detecting any smells I continued following Watanuki.
"It's a disaster. They're spirits everywhere and there's a really disgusting smell," He looked back at me still covering his nose, so his voice was a little nasally, " Do you smell that?" "Nope," I replied, still looking at Watanuki. He turned away from me speaking quietly, "He can't smell it." Watanuki walked down the hallway and continued on for a bit before reaching the stairs. We walked up a flight before I heard him speak quietly again, "It gets worse the further up we go," Watanuki paused and seemed to have a bit of trouble breathing, "Ok." He stopped on the stairs, slightly catching his breath.
Worried but not letting it show, "What's the matter? You sick?" I said not stopping. "Well, I'll be fine. What I can't understand is how you could look so relaxed." Well at least he still has enough energy to be sarcastic. "Probably because I don't feel anything weird going on," I replied not nearly as worried now, before following, the now continuing, Watanuki. "Usually when there are so many spirits in one place they'll start zeroing in on me right away," He was talking to himself again, " Why not now," He got a little louder, "Thank him?" Watanuki stomped his foot down and paused in the middle of the stairs.
"What is it," I asked, he turned around to face me but looked straight down. "She wants me to thank him, but I can't even look at his face without.." I barely could hear what he was saying. He started getting angry and clenching his fists. "Without…" He finally looked up at me but not to talk. He put his face on my level and pulled down he left eyelid and stuck out his tongue at me.
More than a little confused I asked, "Did she tell you to do that?" "SHUT UP!" He yelled then turned back around and continued up the stairs, I sighed and then followed him. Watanuki stopped again and when I looked around him I saw the door to the roof, "Is this where the smell is strongest?" I asked. "Uh-huh, yeah, over there." As I suspected, he pointed to the door, before I could make a move to the door, Watanuki walked forward. I noticed that he was very wary, he paused before grabbing the door handle, and even then he opened it very slowly. As soon as I heard the latch click, the door slammed open and Watanuki braced his face with his arms, his hair and clothes looking like they were being hit with a gust of wind.
He seemed to get dragged onto the roof and then stretched in opposite directions and then he laid down on the ground like he was being squished, masking my worry I said, "You know you look like an idiot, right?" I started walking towards intent on helping him. "Would you please shut up." He sounded tired, and before I could reach him he looked towards the other side of the roof, "Did you hear that? Someone's crying." He got up and started walking, I listened and didn't hear anything, but I still followed. We got to the spot he was looking at and all I saw was an empty roof, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary and yet Watanuki started speaking softly to someone, "Uh hello. What are you girls doing here?" "Girls? As I can't see them, I'm guessing they're spirits. Yet, from the sound of it, Watanuki doesn't. He's acting like he is speaking to normal people." I thought. More than a little suspicious, I stood behind him a little ways and crossed my arms. I was tense and ready to act at a moments notice, from what I could understand spirits were vicious towards Watanuki.
Looking shocked at something, Watanuki spoke again, "Frightening how? But why not let go?" I heard him say something but I didn't catch what, before he spoke louder again, "No, no. That's not it. Uhm, no you can't no." From what I could tell he was struggling with something, and holding onto his headphones like something was trying to take them. "Really I'm sorry! I-I-I… Why don't you just let go?!" He looked quickly towards the empty roof and then ran to a spot. He grabbed the air with both his hands and acted like he was trying to pull something apart. " We'll deal with that later!" His hands flew apart and then a second later he was running to the rooftop and blocking it, " Just calm down!" He looked towards me and yelled, "I could use a little help here, Doumeki!" I put my hands on my hips, seemingly relaxed, "With what? You've been talking to yourself over the past five minutes."
With that said, Watanuki looked straight ahead. He seemed scared of something, and that was my cue to start running towards him. It was a good thing I did, because in the next couple of seconds he was falling backwards of the railing. I barely reached him in time, and caught his left hand with my right. He seemed to be unconscious, More than a little worried I raised my voice trying to catch his attention, "Hello? Watanuki? You might wanna wake up now!" I heard him groan a little and then look completely down, he started flailing and trying to reach up with his other hand, " Hurry! Climb up!" I was getting more urgent because I was starting to feel a malevolent presence getting closer.
"TRUST ME! I'M TRYING!" He froze looking off my shoulder. I knew it, "I take it there's something behind me.." He nodded, "There is! Whatever spirits that the angel game is channeling have apparently all gathered into one spot!" I felt a growing pressure start to wrap around the arm holding Watanuki up, looking at it I couldn't see anything. "Doumeki," I hear him shout and then point behind me, "Look!" I didn't need to look, I knew it was trying to make me let go of Watanuki. "Quit struggling," I said the next part quietly as the pressure grew intense around my arm. I was sure I was bleeding, "and please shut up!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" He yelled and then said more quietly, in shock, "That's blood…" It seems I am bleeding. "Damn! That's just what I need." I thought trying to concentrate through my foggy head. He was saying something again, but if it was to me I wasn't paying attention. He started struggling harder and yelled in a panicked voice, "That dark spirit from before is underneath me now!" "Shit," I thought gritting my teeth, Watanuki suddenly looked up behind and starting whimpering. "WATCH OUT DOUMEKI!" A sudden gust of wind came from behind me, but what I wasn't expecting was the pressure was off my arm. If I was gonna bring, Watanuki up… It was now or never. Using all the adrenaline fueled strength I had, and saying a quick prayer to my grandfather, I lifted as hard as I could with my injured arm. Watanuki flew up and landed somewhere behind me, now that he was safe I could tend to my arm.
I felt for the injury with my other arm and, when I found the wound, I put as much pressure as I could to stem the blood flow. I looked to Watanuki as soon as I took care of that, he was rubbing his head. He looked up in front of him and started flailing. "IT'S A GIANT SNAKE!" He was freaking out looking at something above us. "Where?!" I said looking at the ground half expecting a live snake. Watanuki seemed soundly calm and looked to me, "Oh yeah. I forgot that you can't see it." "That means it's a spirit. Damn. I can't do anything about it then." I thought before speaking aloud, "Tell me… What are we supposed to do with a big snake." I looked him in the eyes, also noticing his headphones were missing.
"Yeah.. That's what I'd like to know." He got up and started running to a spot a little ways off, the missing headphones I noted. Too surprised to do anything besides stand, Watanuki yelled, "YUUKO!" Suddenly Watanuki started leaping backwards, back to me, then running towards the other corner of the roof. I followed him until he turned around and froze, I copied. "Let's just stay very still," He muttered.
I followed his gaze and looked upwards, "Since we're looking up at this, I'm guessing it's a very tall snake. I do feel a chill from that direction." It wasn't malevolent, however, but I'm guessing Watanuki couldn't tell. "How are you being so composed right now?! IT'S GONNA EAT US!" He yelled at me. A female voice rang out from the middle of the roof, "Please calm your anger and be still!" A moment passed and the chill lessened, "I offer myself as a sacrifice to you great spirit!" What I couldn't tell at this moment, and would be disappointed later when I learned, was that those adorable headphones had been swallowed up by the snake.
The chill dissipated entirely and Watanuki heaved a sigh of relief. I asked, "Is it gone?' "Yeah, the snake went back to wherever it came from," Watanuki waved his hand up and down, "Maybe it just needed a snack." "A snack?" I thought, "What did it eat?" I was confused but at least it was over. "It doesn't matter," Watanuki said, he sounded sad yet resigned, "If you don't wanna believe me, then don't." He turned to walk back to the access door. "Who said anything about not believing you?" I said, honestly confused, " I don't define reality as only that which I'm able to see, hear, and touch. Even though I may not be able to see them, you say spirits have been drawn to you and followed you, your whole life. If you say that there are spirits, I believe that there are." I said looking back to the spot I felt the presence.
Watanuki was looking at me with a look of surprise, "Okay…" He said, as if this was the first time anybody had believed him. What with having a grandfather who could see spirits, and having documented them himself, I trusted every word Watanuki was saying. With the spiritual power my grandfather told me I had, it's a shame I couldn't help him more, I don't have enough training to be able to harness my ability yet.
I wanted to wipe the sadness completely out of his eyes so I said, "But it is a little pathetic that you start crying like a little girl whenever you see one." Watanuki starI have to say, I am a sorry you lost those headphones. I'm gonna miss them." I truly was gonna miss them. "Seriously?" Watanuki sounded surprised. I looked at him but not in the eyes, "Of course! They made you look so funny!" Even though that was a lie. Watanuki started overreacting again, "All right! That's it! I'm gonna beat you up, Doumeki!"
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I barely remember what happened next, I do know that Watanuki ordered me to go to the local park tomorrow at 1 pm for something. I refused his offer to walk with me, I didn't need my mother asking a bunch of questions. I did tell her the truth, however. She told me how proud she was that I was helping people in need, and then she rushed me to the hospital. I don't remember what she told them, but they patched me up, gave me instructions, then sent me home. I got to my room and crashed.
When I woke up, admittedly I was confused for a moment when I saw my arm in a sling. I remembered everything and quickly looked at the clock, "Phew, thank god, it's only 11." I thought before laying back down and turning my head to look at the painting I bought. Thinking back to last night, I was glad to have met Watanuki last night. If it wasn't for my being there, he could have died, with that thought in mind I sat back up and went to shower. After my shower I got dressed and hurried to the park.
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When I got there, Watanuki was wearing an apron and cooking what looked like takoyaki on a table, Himawari was there and so was some other woman. There was also some black thing that kept bouncing around everywhere, Watanuki saw me first and pointed at a spot on a blanket. Figuring he wanted me to sit there, I did. Seconds later, he basically slammed a plate full of dumplings down in front of me. "So you must be Doumeki!" A chipper voice came from the woman next to me, "I've hear so much about you!" She clapped her hands together, Watanuki started grumbling from the table.
"You must be Yuuko, right?" I nodded towards her. She gave a grin, "Correct! And this," She gestured to the black thing, "is Mokona!" It bounced up and handed me a glass. "Now Doumeki, I insist, you've had such a hard day…" Yuuko said as Mokona hopped over to me with a bottle. "You deserve some refreshments," she finished. "How kind of you, I'd love some." I said being polite, while holding out my glass for Mokona to fill up. "Drink up!" the thing called Mokona said. I nodded my head to him and took a drink.
I grabbed one of the dumplings and brought it to my nose to sniff. Something not well known about me was that I didn't trust many cooks, but I was willing to try for Watanuki's cooking. It smelled ok, but I hesitantly took a small bite. "Mmm. This is excellent." I thought. With how good this tastes, I could probably eat anything Watanuki cooked. Himawari started talking as I went for a second dumpling, "I really wanna thank you guys, because of you I hear that everything's gone back to normal at my friend's school. You're amazing."
"Hahaha no." Watanuki laughed shyly, I don't think he got much praise. "I hate to ask Doumeki, how's your are doing?" Himawari asked me, and when I looked up to answer I saw Mokona had settled on her lap, "Fine," I said. "Are you sure? It looks painful!" She said looking in closer to the wound. "Nah, it's not too bad," I assured her. I looked up to see what Watanuki was doing when we made eye contact. He looked away quickly and started speaking, "So, about the snake. It looked like it was protecting the rooftop from those other spirits, right? So it couldn't have really been something evil, could it?" He must have been speaking to Yuuko, so I continued to eat the food.
"Well it's presence certainly did come in handy for you. Malicious content is something only humans define, to a spirit like the snake, intentions don't really matter." At this I listened more closely, but didn't stop eating. "It was simply protecting what it perceived as it's territory by removing the threat of the other spirits." Yuuko spoke.
"So basically you're telling me, the snake would have taken care of everything? Even if we weren't there?" Watanuki slumped but continued what he was doing. "No. You've got it all wrong," Watanuki looked to Yuuko, "It only came because it was attracted by you, Watanuki. LIke all spirits, the snake found your presence irresistibly attractive. You look so delicious to them, they hunger for you," She stood up and walked over to Watanuki, "and that's why," She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled, " I insisted you take Doumeki with you!"
Watanuki angrily yelled, "But I don't like him! I don't want him coming with me everywhere!" "Ouch." I thought, but at least I have an excuse to go with him everywhere. "His presence acts as a counterbalance with yours. He wards off evil spirits," Yuuko said gesturing to me. "But I wasn't even doing anything," I spoke what I was thinking. "Just because you weren't aware of it doesn't mean you didn't do anything. You helped a lot. Watanuki wouldn't have been able to make it through such a heavy concentration of spirits by himself. Because you were there with him Doumeki, he was able to make it through the spirits and then up to the roof." This next part she started sounding more teasing, "Besides, didn't you hurt your arm saving him up there?"
I looked up to Watanuki, telling me head that he was still there. I noticed the guilty look he was giving me so I attempted to snap him out of it by gesturing to the almost empty plate with my good arm. "Sorry, did you want some?" I asked. Watanuki stomped his foot, "No I don't want some! I don't need your leftovers!" I heard Himawari start laughing, "You guys are so funny when you argue." Watanuki seemed to deflate, he then walked over to her and held his hands to Mokona, "Himawari," he said her name high pitched, and fake, " Would you like me to get Mokona off your lap for you? I know it can be annoying sometimes."
"What's that?!" Mokona started hopping in place, "That's not a very nice thing to say Watanuki!" He calmed when Himawari picked it up with her hands, "No. Please leave it. It's so adorable, I may wanna take it home with me." She then nuzzled him with her cheeks and they both giggled. Watanuki seemed like he didn't know what to do with his hands anymore, so once again, I gave him a distraction. "Hey," I said picking up the empty plate.
"What do you want?!" Watanuki whirled around to face me. "Seconds," I said monotony. "You're already finished?" He yelled, "I haven't even gotten to eat anything yet." I saw his jaw clench, "GAH! Fine! Wait there, I'll make you some more." He stomped over to the table and continued what he was doing earlier. "Could you hurry?" I said, it's not like I was starving or anything, but the sooner he finished the sooner he could relax.
"Don't rush me," Watanuki grumbled. I picked up my drink to sip at it when I heard Yuuko say something to herself. Something about entertaining? "I wonder what she was talking about?" I thought. I didn't think too much on it however, I had to think of ways to utilize my power. From the sounds of it, Yuuko will want me with Watanuki a lot more.
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Surprised at the long chapter? That just shows to prove how much Doumeki is getting into Watanuki's life. Also am I staying on track with the character personalities? I am watching episode and then typing, however, I know the way I could write, could make the personalities seem different.
*As for the oil baby thing? I got that from a site called . I didn't drop it from a hat, nor do I claim ownership of the knowledge.
*X Highschool, I don't know the name of the school nor did I catch it in either the anime, or the manga. If anyone knows it just let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I'm able too.
Till next time!