Author's Note: School caused my delay. Here's an update in which we spend some time talking about the other Devil Bats!
The Story So Far: Hiruma knows what he is. He knows who his stalkers are. And he has no idea of just how much shit he's in.
Hidden
By: Bar-Ohki
Chapter 17: Revealed By Animals
Football practice had ended and Sena and Raimon found themselves walking home. As usual, the two were having an animated conversation about football, classes, and that creepy music teacher that no one liked. Their banter was suddenly silenced by the two of them seeing Yukimitsu Manabu, a receiver for the Devil Bats, waiting for them at the end of the block. It was unusual for Yukimitsu to be there because his home was in the other direction.
"Yuki-san?" Sena asked once he was within speaking range of his friend. Yukimitsu had a bird on his shoulder that he was looking at very intently. With a small chirp, the bird flapped its wings and few off.
"Sena-kun, Monta-kun." Yukimitsu acknowledged his friends.
"Why are you out here, Yuki-san?" Raimon asked, a bit confused, "isn't your house in the other direction?"
"I wanted to ask you two for help," Yukimitsu began, "you see, Hiruma-san's had some pretty weird stalkers recently and earlier today he got attacked by them."
"Stalkers!?" Both boys were shocked.
"That's how his shoulder got hurt?" Sena asked after he recovered from the initial shock. Yukimitsu nodded.
"Who would be after Hiruma-sempai?" Raimon wondered, clearly perturbed by the situation.
"…Hunters." Yukimitsu answered after he finished gathering his courage.
"Hunters!?" Sena gasped, frozen in horror.
"What?" Raimon blinked, confused by all of this.
"Are you a Sensitive too, Sena-kun?" Yukimitsu asked upon seeing Sena's reaction.
"You're a Sensitive!?" Sena looked like he was about to pass out from shock.
"…Yeah, I can kind of talk to animals…." Yukimitsu admitted.
"What the hell are you talking about, Yuki-sempai?" Raimon gave both of his friends a weary look.
"I have Golden Legs." Sena explained quickly.
"This may seem a little strange, Monta-kun, but let me explain…." Yukimitsu began to carefully explain the magical world and its workings to Raimon. Sena occasionally added in a little information here and there, which kept Yukimitsu from getting too carried away with his lecture. After the explanation Raimon looked like he had a headache.
"Confusing Max…." Raimon muttered.
"The part that matters is that foreign governments are after Hiruma-san." Yukimitsu quickly restated the part that everyone cared about.
"Oh! So you need our help to protect Hiruma-sempai!" Raimon realized.
"Mmm!" Yukimitsu nodded. "We can't have anything happen to him."
"…What are we going to do?" Sena asked after a minute.
"Well," Yukimitsu began, "I've got all the animals in the area to be keeping an eye out for the Hunters right now. If they find one, I'll text you two to meet up somewhere to take them out."
"That's the plan?" Raimon blinked, it seemed pretty simple.
"All we have to do to neutralize a Mage is knock them out and the best way to do that is to catch them by surprise with speed," Yukimitsu smiled, "and I've also asked the brothers and Komusubi-kun to help."
"Alright! Protection Max!" Raimon jumped into the air enthusiastically, having decided Yukimitsu's plan was without flaw and should be implemented right away. The other two boys proceeded to ignore Raimon's posing and dramatic exclamations about how good a job he planned to do.
"Yuki-san, shouldn't we ask Kurita and Musashi if they can help?" Sena asked Yukimitsu after a while. It would make sense to involve Hiruma's two best friends.
"They are already helping him in their own way." Yukimitsu answered. "I just want to put a little buffer on the situation, especially this close to a match."
"Ah," Sena nodded, "that makes sense."
"I don't think Hiruma-san wants us to know about his stalkers, he hasn't been talking about it." Yukimitsu added.
"That's because Hiruma-sempai wants us to focus on the match and not worry; he's a proud man." Raimon had stopped his antics and returned to the conversation, surprising his friends with his insight.
"You're probably right." Yukimitsu consented.
"We're not involving Taki-kun, are we?" Sena asked, a bit of concern in his voice.
"No, I don't think he's smart enough to be discrete about this." Yukimitsu quickly answered. All boys sweatdropped as they imagined Taki spinning on one leg while telling Hiruma all about the plan. "You two should be heading home about now."
"Ah, okay." Sena nodded.
"See you later!" Raimon waved and ran ahead. Sena bowed and ran off after his friend. Yukimitsu waved once then turned back towards his home, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He spent his walk home musing to himself.
Yukimitsu was a minor Sensitive. He could only communicate with animals if he was in physical contact with them and even then he had trouble understanding them. Ever since he had joined the football team, Yukimitsu had managed to convince the local animals to keep an eye out for his teammates. Because of this, Yukimitsu had been aware of the confrontation the three brothers had had with the Taiyo Sphinx linemen and he had been aware of where Hiruma procured his guns; both of those nuggets of knowledge Yukimitsu had chosen not to reveal to anyone. He was also aware that Hiruma Youichi was not entirely human. The animals did not recognize what the other part of Hiruma's heritage was, but it scared them. His powers as a Sensitive allowed Yukimitsu to know many other secrets, like the truth about Cerberus.
Cerberus, Hiruma's dog, was actually a familiar, Yukimitsu had discovered not long after encountering the creature for the first time. Familiars are sprits that have been bound magically into the form of an animal. Most of the time familiars are either minor Mages or Sensitives of some sort. Rarely do familiars have no powers, Cerberus was one of those rare few. The dog-familiar made up for its lack of magical powers in its teeth, intelligence, and raw strength.
Cerberus had been sent by Hiruma's mother to watch over him and the dog made it clear time and time again that he would kill anything that tried to prevent him from his duty.
Upon his first encounter with Cerberus, Yukimitsu had held out his hand and waited for the dog to sniff it. When Cerberus had touched his nose to Yukimitsu's hand, Yukimitsu told it that he was going to be a quiet student here at this school and didn't plan to cause any trouble. To Yukimitsu's surprise, Cerberus responded with a 'I'll kill you if you don't hold yourself to that'. Their conversation then ended and Yukimitsu didn't see the dog-familiar for the rest of the school year. They had another 'talk' after Yukimitsu joined the football team.
Yukimitsu had assured the animal that all he wanted to do was play football and by doing so help Hiruma achieve his goals. Cerberus quickly decided Yukimitsu was not a threat and recruited Yukimitsu as an informant to help with his duty. Yukimitsu had learned about the Hunters from Cerberus first (the local squirrels told him about it two days later). Yukimitsu had formed his plan to protect Hiruma with Cerberus. The dog-familiar forbade Yukimitsu from involving Musashi, Kurita, and Mamori as those three were already independently working to protect Hiruma.
Like most Hiruma-related secrets Yukimitsu knew, he purposely withheld that information from anyone else he knew.
A low growl from behind Yukimitsu made the teen stop and glance over his shoulder to see Cerberus sitting there. Yukimitsu let out a small sigh of relief and walked over to the dog and held out his hand. Cerberus walked up and touched his nose to Yukimitsu's hand.
::You told them?:: The dog asked him.
::Yes, I did. Now all we have to do is wait for the animals around here to find the Hunters.:: Yukimitsu answered.
::Good, come this way, there's someone you need to meet.:: Cerberus broke off contact and started walking down the street. Yukimitsu grabbed his bag and followed the dog. After a while the two reached a deserted park where one boy sat on one of the swings.
"Him?" Yukimitsu asked, eyeing the boy from afar. The child was about ten, with black hair and pale, pointy ears. It was impossible to make out much more of the child in the poor light. Cerberus let out a gruff, confirming bark and trotted forward to sit by the child's side. Yukimitsu adjusted his bag and walked into the park to sit on the swing next to the child.
"Hello there, I'm Yukimitsu Manabu." Yukimitsu extended his hand to the child.
"I'm Zork [1]." The boy introduced himself in a small voice. "Nice to meet you."
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[1] Named after one of the most awesome video game series in the world. Game titles include: Zork, Return to Zork, Zork: The Grand Inquisitor, etc.
Here's a small contest: who/what is Zork? If you get it right, you'll have a cameo appearance in one of my chapters.