5.) Patrol gone wrong
"How've you been Kobeni?" Asked Arai as the pair walked down the suburban street. "I heard you had to take Miss Himeno home." "It was alright, she got home safely." She conveniently left out the hurtles that had transpired and the morning after as any reasonable person would. "Can't say the same for Denji, poor guy. It was his first kiss too."
She shuddered as she remembered the horrid sight, sure a little alcohol was fine but she would never drink like Miss Himeno ever. Today she and her fellow rookie Arai would patrol the more quiet part of Tokyo where hopefully there would be little if any action for the day, she seriously needed a day where she wasn't running away from a devil in terror.
He was what she wished she was for while he despite having to live in a single parent house had grown a talent for poetry which she thought it was nice. He was also very confident, not the cocky type but the type that could reasonably say what was on his mind without stuttering or embarrassing himself in the process.
Kobeni on the other hand, wasn't someone that stood out and had regrettable spend most of her life either being afraid or helping someone else benefit often times at her expense. She had always wondered why she was this way but no amount of thinking or alone time could answer that question satisfactory.
The one and only Denji, the most recent hurtle in her humorously pathetic saga came into her thought. He was probably the most mysterious person to unravel in her unprofessional opinion. Minimalist yet always striving for more, unapologetic but sympathetic, a caricature of opposites.
Then there was the elephant in the room, he had slept with her in her own bed! The thought made butterflies go crazy in her stomach as she thought about the recent event. Never during high school had she had a boyfriend or even a kiss but lone and behold, he's just casual sleeping along her like it was nothing.
"Kobeni-" "EEP!" She jumped when her name was spoken. "Are you ok? Your face seems a little red." Then she felt the burning felling him her cheeks, causing them to burn more. "Oh I-I-I it's kinda warm outside." But Arai didn't buy it, "But it not that hot. But I could take to get Ice cream."
"I-Ice cream?!" Her face lit up at the prospect, free food was a treat, free delicious food was great, but free ice cream was a whole new ballgame. "Yeah, I've got some yen saved up." "Are you sure? You could need it." But he laughed it off. "No worries about it, devil-hunting is pretty dangerous so let's make the most out of it." It awoke a sort of giggly feeling she hadn't felt since she was a little girl.
But then just as the crossed the road, an old woman appeared in the left corner of her eye with a soft smile on her face walking towards them. Arai noticed her too and was the first to respond, of course with a big toothy smile that could disarm even the coldest of hearts.
"Hello ma'am." He greeted, "Is there anything I can help you with?" The old lady nodded. "Yes sweetheart. You see, I'm trying to find my way to Takedo's teahouse but I gotten my old self lost." "Oh, I know that place. Their tea is probably the best I've ever had!" The grandma chuchled a little, "What a energetic man you are! I'm sure she is quite lucky to have a man like you around."
They both turned red, "N-n-n-n-no you've g-gotten it all wrong!" She exclaimed as she frantically waved her hands around. "Yeah, w-we're co-workers." Added Arai who looked equally embarrassed as she was. They hadn't spoken much to each other during training and only become acquaintances before the hotel incident.
The old lady the said, "I'm just horsing around." Which had made them calm down a bit, but Kobeni was already sweat furiously. "Can you tell me the directions please?" "Of course!" Then out if his Public safety trench coat he pulled out a folded map of all things. "I keep on one he just in case." She didn't bother listening to the direction he gave the old lady, too busy listening to someone else who had decided to speak.
"Hmm? Embarrassed are we 'Beni?" Sarcastically asked Shihana who had stay quiet for the rookie party decided it was the best time to torture poor Kobeni. She obviously didn't speak as she was out in public but Shihana could care less as she enjoyed Kobeni's suffering too much.
She let out a laugh, "Lucky to have you around my ass you useless woman! Last time I checked you've been nothing but bad luck." 'Please just stop already...' But then something strange happened. "No I wont." She shot a quick glance at Shihana who was at the right, quickly thinking of another word. "Apples." The two for a moment looked to each other at amazement, "looks like we're telepathic now." 'Yeah.'
Kobeni however snapped back into reality as Arai waved goodbye to the grandma and the devil-hunters went on their merry way, not suspecting the imminent danger behind them. The grandmother's smile faded as he reached into handbag and pulled out a gun, before aiming at the tall man who had been so kind to her.
BANG! Kobeni flinched as the two devil-hunters heard a gun shot, the walnut-haired woman looking at Arai in horror as they both realized there was a small hole in his neck. Once again acting face Arai turned back to see the initially thought innocent elder holding a gun who then aimed straight at her.
It moved all too fast for her as her brain tried to process the information, while also staring down the business end of a handgun. 'I'm I gonna die?' She thought to herself but it seemed the reaper didn't want her today, but it would come at a price. Arai without hesitation clumsy threw his body in front of her's, acting like a shield.
BANG! She blinked instinctively as something warm could be felt on her face while time slowed. Her eyes moved down to see her colleague, her friend, drop to the ground. The brown eyes with white pupils then moved to her attacker who now had a clear line of sight at her, finally forcing Shihana to act.
With the devil in control, she sped forward and using Kobeni's family gift of running to her advantage got up close and personal with the old lady who looked into those calm eyes with terror. Without hesitation a knife was thrusted into the gut if the lady who screamed in pain, allowing her to get behind her. "Bad choice..." She said coldly before forcing the old lady to aim the gun at her oen head and pulling the trigger, blowing out her brains. Her attacker dropped forward to the ground dead instantly while Shihana without emotion watched.
Not even Kobeni regaining control could erase the blank stare on her face, observing the scene while her body was in shock. Finally she slid a finger on her cheek and looked to find that the warm liquid on her face was blood but it wasn't her's but rather Arai's who laid on the ground lifeless with a pool of blood forming underneath him.
"A-Arai?" It was the only think she could muster up as her brain failed to understand what had happened, she looked around but couldn't find anyone around to call for help if her throat hadn't chocked up. But slowly she came to the realization that Arai was truly dead, and would not come back. The usually skittish and prone to freaking out Kobeni remained disturbingly silent, looking down to the old woman's blood slowly making its way to her white sneakers.
"He's dead Kobeni." Stated Shihana, "Because of you, had it not been for you, he could still be kicking." She didn't respond or so any recognition that she hear the devil's smears. Instead she felt deathly numb and in place of her usual cowardice was calmness, which even so formed a pit in her stomach looking over the scene. Then a faint noise snapped her out of this comatose state but the lake of empathetic expression stayed.
Crouching down she located the origin and opened the handbag that belonged to Arai's killer and found a walkie-talkie that been letting out static and intelligible garble. Having received instructional training on walkie-talkies, she quickly moved through the channels and listened upon bits of conversations taking place.
"This is team C, queen is down, over." "What the?" She asked her self as she listened more. "This is Team E, got any status on Sawatari ?" "So this is the mastermind? Whoever they are they're not too shabby." Then another voice cane up. "Sawatari here." It was a woman's voice, "We ran into some trouble but we've got Chainsaw's heart. Report to 486 Nosihiru avenue to extract us." Chainsaw's heart? Then it hit her.
This attack led this Sawatari was after Denji, just as the Eternity devil was back at the hotel weeks before. She didn't know why they all wanted his heart but for whatever reason, she had to find a way to be useful for once. 'Shihana, we have to save Denji.' "How the hell are you going to get there?"
She said nothing as she walked over to Arai's body and pulled out his map. 'Thank you Arai, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help.' She scanned the map until she found the quickest path to Denji's location but she had to act fast. Kobeni then walked back to the old lady and ripped out the knife out of her guts. But then she felt a sharp and burning pain and looked down to see blood staining her uniform. "How did that happen?" The old lady must've shot her when she was possessed, thankfully it missed her heart but she was losing a good bit of blood. Her breathing became labored and her legs turned weak.
"Shit! Kobeni, considering our situation. Unless you want to die, then I suggest drinking some blood." As if on cue the brunette dropped to her knees before coughing a fit. She didn't have a cellphone and fearing that help wouldn't arrive in time, she had no other choice. With her knife she slashed one of the old woman's wrists and bit down with all her strength, the iron taste and smell was strong. Miraculously, the pain soon faded and the bleeding had stopped but no before ruining her uniform. 'Dang, I don't think that's coming off.'
But she had bigger worries to attend to then a bloodied uniform, she could skip a meal or two to get a new one. She mentally mapped her route, put away the map, and walki-talkie and knife in hand made her way to 486 Noshuhiru avenue. Turning back to the bodies she sighed, she shouldn't just leave the corpse of her co-worker but more would die if she stayed. But then the walkie-talkie buzzed with words once again.
"Sawatari, we're at the rendezvous point." There was a short pause before Sawatari answered. "Great work but be ready, we haven't heard word from Teams D and B, doesn't help that Nishikawa's low on blood so watch out for anymore Devil-hunters." "Affirmative, out." For a second time she was placed in shock after hearing a name she thought she would never hear again, terrible memories from that night perforated her mind.
But then a new emotion was felt. It was someone lit a fire in her chest that refused to be extinguished, threatening to consume her heart. While her gaze was as neutral as before her hand welding the knife shook horribly to such an extent you could've mistaken it for a seizure. It was fury, and pandora's box was unleashed.