CHAPTER 7: "Lay your Weary Head to rest."
We remembered.
"Well," Rika said flatly, "that explains that one day we lost track of her."
"And why Yusa went and said what she said," Kodaka grumbled.
"Yesterday, she told me to ignore the murder investigation," Yozora just stared outwards blankly.
I just frowned- "I had it easy, I guess? She just wanted me to keep daddy from finding out what was going on..."
Then the other detective, Rie Kaishou, came back in then with Yusa.
"So that went about as well as we could have hoped," she said to the first Detective, Yuuki, Shinjuurou. "So now that Yuuko's out in the wind..."
"Literally," the assistant, Inga, remarked.
"What do we do next?" Rie asked.
"Well, best I figure it, we get them somewhere safe and out of the way," Shinjuurou motioned towards all of us, and then added, "I've already called An. She's getting rooms set up at the safe house for them."
"Safe house?" Yusa asked. "What do we need a safe house for?"
"Yuuko...She's not the most stable of people right now," Shinjuurou said. "After blowing her cover like that, we can't risk her coming after any of you."
Well- considering that we'd all just seen Yukimura meddle with our memories, and then transform into this...other woman...
"Alright," I said, "you're the experts on this. I trust you know what you're doing."
Everyone looked at me oddly at that. Oh come on Yozora, don't give me that look...
Magic.
Magic was real.
Or at least, as real as it could get.
As we were escorted to an awaiting Limo, with even Kobato and Maria joining us for the trip once more, we were filled in on the details of just what was inside Yukimura by this Kazamori girl.
"Several hundred years ago, Japan sent Kamis out with its warriors for protection, and victory. If they survived, they returned victorious to become Gods," She explained. "Two such Kami, Bettenou and Inga, were lost in battle, and sealed away by the others presence. Both became Demons made up of beliefs, long forgotten. The Kami Inga, was a Demon of Truth. The Kami Bettenou was a Demon of Words. One day, they were resurrected by unknowing travelers. Bettenou gained a body of her own, while Inga required a host. A woman named Yuuko gave her life for that purpose."
We all couldn't help but look to the boy who sat next to her, nervous at the story being told.
"Shinjuurou partnered with Inga for some time, solving cases, finding the hidden Truths of the world...And then Bettenou returned. The two Kami turned Demons battled, with Inga being victorious, devouring Bettenou and preventing her corrupting influence from spreading to the world at large." Kazamori paused, and then said, "And then, through one impetus or another, Inga unintentionally separated himself from his powers, and those powers transformed the world."
"The wave that made machines come to live," I said with a heavy breath. All of those Machine-On-Machine stories once were fiction, now reality...thanks to this boy...? I had to calm myself as she continued on.
"In the end, it seems that whatever remained of Yuuko, as well as fragments of one of the Kami's memories, also escaped in the powers, settling down in Yukimura Kusunoki, creating the situation we're now in." Kazamori concluded. "A story once so long now compressed to but a few paragraphs..."
"Demons, magic...Kamis..." Kodaka shook his head, "it's hard to believe any of this is real."
"Tell me about it," Inga grumbled. "I had to live it."
Kodaka looked to me and asked, "What do you think, Rika?"
What did I think? What did "Rika" think?
"If Rika spilled every perverted thought, it'd come out like Rika wasn't taking this seriously at all!"
Rika said all of that out loud, yup. That I did...
Naturally, I then added after it...
"But in all seriousness, this whole situation is concerning...Yukimura's been possessed by a demon, or a fragment of one, apparently, that doesn't even have its full powers. I just want to see Yukimura back to normal..."
When I saw that there were a few frowns going around at the prospect of not being able to do that, I added...
"But after all this is over with! Rika would like to know more about Demons and Magic and stuff! She's also curious about how Law enforcement deals with them too!"
"I'll talk with Katawase," The Detective Shinjuurou said from the driver's seat. "See if she'll approve it."
I had the distinct feeling that something was wrong when Shinjuurou had called to set up a safe house again.
"Twice in three months, this is beginning to become a habit," I grumbled.
That feeling continued to grow and grow as the minutes passed on...And then they pulled up outside, and quickly headed towards the door.
I felt a pit start to form in my stomach as Shinjuurou and the others lead these kids into my house...but it wasn't because of them.
The hair on the back of my neck started to rise, and I looked over my shoulder just in time to see a faint flicker of purple slip through a vent.
"Shinjuu-" I didn't get a chance to warn them.
The moment the front door closed, Yuuko acted.
It seemed like a hurricane of wind filled the room, there was a crashing of glass from somewhere, and then she was suddenly standing there in the middle of the room.
Glaring, angry, snarling.
"GIVE! THEM! BACK!" Her voice was echoing so loudly that I just stared on as Yuuko...no...was this Yukimura?... stared down Shinjuurou and Inga...
"Just calm down, Yuuko..." Shunjuurou said.
"YOU WANT TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME!" The Deity yelled.
"If you're going to act like that, then why shouldn't we run away!?" The dark-haired girl, Yozora, yelled, and immediately regretted it as... whatever was in the center of the room flung a burst of energy at her, knocking her backwards into the blond haired girl, Sena.
"SHUT UP!" She yelled, clutching at her head. "JUST SHUT UP!"
I saw Kazamori trying to move towards the back of the room where I'd left a fire extinguisher after one of Inga's...less successful cooking attempts.
"Hey now!" I yelled- I had to distract Yuuko..Yukimura..whoever was in control now from Kazamri. "That's no way to treat your friends!"
"Friends!?" The echo waned just a bit. Maybe... "I...I don't HAVE MANY FRIENDS! AND HERE YOU ARE...TRYING TO TAKE THEM FROM ME!"
It was a simple phrase in Japanese, "Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukinai."
But in that single phrase, it was definitely Yukimura now that was speaking, her voice rose to levels so high that it felt like my eardrums were going to burst... And there was a loud ringing too...
And then Kazamori flung the fire extinguisher at the back of her head.
The ringing was overwhelmed for a brief moment with a "CLANG."
And then the Demon before us spun around and screeched at Kazamori, "YOU'LL DIE FOR THAT!"
There was a build up of purple light from her eyes and mouth and then...!
A swarm of butterflies shot out.
"NO!" Someone yelled...or perhaps everyone did...
But in the single second of travel time...
The butterflies failed to reach their intended target.
Inga had thrown himself in between Kazamori and Yuuko...or Yukimura... and...allowed himself to be hit with the butterfly swarm.
But the effect...instead of stopping, it just continued going and going and going... Butterfly after butterfly going into Inga's mouth and eyes...!
And then it did finally stop, and Inga grinned dangerously at the part of him that had been split off.
"Hey, Yuuko!" He said quietly, although giggling slightly "Guess what?"
The woman who had appeared before us took a step back in horror- and she let out a tiny squeak of a "No!"
"You can't steal your own soul!"
Then he shot the butterflies right back at her...
And the World went White.
Okay.
So...
That probably wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had.
"Now where am I?" I said aloud as...some mental representation of myself floated in this white void.
It was a mental landscape of some kind, I guess. "SHIN-JUU-ROU!" I called out, "YOU THERE?!"
Silence.
"KAZAMORI!?"
Nothing.
"RIE!?"
Nada.
"An...?"
Zip.
"Yuuko...?"
Zero Degrees!
Alone, I was truly alone...
"Huh?"
Or not.
There, in the distance, was a small, dark purple storm cloud that seemed to be flashing neon violet lightning.
"Well, I guess that's as good of a place as any..."
I started to move over towards it...and then I realized there wasn't any gravity where I was, so...I basically just started flipping end over end without really moving anywhere.
"Woah...! Okay! Note to self: Mental landscapes don't do gravity!"
After I managed to stabilize myself, I figured... "Okay, walking's out, so... Swimming, I guess?"
I... never really learned how to swim, I guess. BUT: enough TV watching had given me a rough idea of what to do...
So I swam through the air towards a storm cloud.
Then I started to swim through Yukimura's memories.
"I swear, if this is what heaven looks like, I'm gonna complain to the guy upstairs!" I then thought about it a bit more. "...If this is what hell is like,then I'm DEFINITELY taking it up with the guy upstairs... Who's Downstairs."
I don't know how long I was moving, or if I was even making any progress... Time seemed to have no meaning when you were darting from one memory to the next.
But then I saw the memory of that terrible night, and then the whole world faded to black as the storm cloud started getting bigger and bigger and...
Then, I entered the cloud, and suddenly felt the familiar pull of Gravity.
"Aw come on!"
At least it wasn't strong enough to suddenly pull me towards the ground in a split second like in a cartoon... So there's that. I guess.
I descended towards the ground...not that I could see any visible difference, and then walked through the cloud to the eye of the storm.
I pushed through that final barrier of a pressure difference, and then found...
"I'm not really sure what I was expecting," I grumbled.
In the exact center of this whirling storm was a small boy, looking all the world to be a gender flip of Yukimura Kusunoki, being held tighly by a...
Well...
It was Just half of a puzzle, with butterfly shaped pieces, barely held together with...It was an oil slick? I guess?
But as to who 'it' was...
It was Yukimura's female-self, except, not completely, almost like...
Wait, that's exactly what she was.
A shadow.
Yuuko was just a shadow of Yukimura, given form by the rampant energy of my old powers and some of my memories.
(The darkness held within each of us.)
This poor... Child.
I think understood now what had happened.
If...Yukimura's mental image was of himself, rather than herself, then the girl...
"Yuuko."
The shadow looked up at me- face half missing as it pulled away from Yukimura's own head- "YOU!" She snarled.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"What-?"
"Just let him go already. Can't you see that you're hurting him?" I asked.
"HIM!?" She snarled- "THEY FORCED HER TO BE A HIM! SHE IS NOT A HE!"
"Are you absolutely sure about that?" I don't know why I said that, but the words just kept coming. "So what if he was born a girl...isn't it what the soul inside feels that's important? Doesn't Yukimura, despite all that pain, still want to be a boy?"
She just stared at me in confused anger.
I sighed. Of course...I'm not even talking to a full soul here... She wouldn't understand something like that...
A personal desire of someone else conflicting with her own desires.
The Yuuko that I had once possessed taught me that, even if I hadn't realized it until now. This Yuuko...She wasn't that Yuuko.
People clash- souls conflict- And then the stronger will survives.
Even though, in the end, I had ended up with Yuuko's body, she was the one who's will had beaten me.
Rather than be possessed, she had been willing to die.
That Yuuko put me on the path to where I was right now.
Redemption.
The "Yuuko" before me was an echo of who I used to be in that moment.
But echoes don't hold any power unless you let them.
"I Don't know a polite way how to say this, Yuuko, but you're NOT REAL!"
The...Shade- I guess- hissed. "Liar! I AM A PART OF YOU MADE SEPARATE! DO NOT DENY ME!"
"You're MEMORIES..." Face, meet palm. "MY MEMORIES that got COPIED from me, and then scattered to the wind along with just about everything else I had!"
"AM NOT!"
"Are too!"
"AM NOT!"
"...Am I really doing this right now?"
"AM-!" The Shade moved to pull free...but then didn't. "Grrr...!"
"Just like I thought," I grinned slightly, "you can't attack me, can you?"
She scowled.
The boy whimpered.
"Hey," I called to him, "Yukimura! Are you alright?"
The Shade pulled him in and hissed at me.
"Look, I get that you don't want me here," I said, "but I don't think Yukimura wants you here either..."
More Hissing.
"I've got all day here, hiss all you want. But I'm not leaving til I can talk with him."
"Fffiiiine!" Another hiss, but she went silent, allowing Yukimura to look up.
"Who're you?" He asked.
"I'm Inga, I'm here to rescue you!" I grinned.
"I'm not...I shouldn't..." He frowned- "Am I dead?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"I...I really should be dead... I think...?" That was a really confused tone. "Didn't I jump off of the tower? I should be dead...Are you trying to rescue me from hell?"
"Nope, just a part of myself that got away from me," I glanced at the Shade, "really, really got away...It's caused you and your friends a whole lot of trouble, so I'm trying to fix that."
"I killed my parents." Yukimura said flatly.
"No, that was her that did that," I pointed at the Shade..."Not you."
"I saw my own hands...I took that sword..."
"That was her, not you! She made you watch..." And she sneered at me in victory.
"You accept me after all!"
"Oh shut up..." I groaned.
"You can't win!" She continued to sneer. "Nothing you say will break him out of this!"
"Yeah, sure, uh-huh," I brushed her off, and continued to focus on Yukimura. "Hey, Yukimura! I knew a girl who got possessed once. She tried to do what you did, and killed herself so that way she wouldn't have to live through being possessed."
"That was YOU!" The Shade yelled.
"Well, I'm not going to let that ever happen again, alright?" I asked for a response, and got a confused blink in return. "I'm going to pull you away from her and then you won't remember her ever touching you because we're going to leave all of that crappy emotional baggage behind WITH HER!"
"That will never work!" Woah- angry hissing! Are those fangs...? "Now that you've said your plan, I'll make sure I never let go!"
"Well, okay..." I guess I'll have to try something else then. "I'll just going to have to try it then..but, ah...before I do, can I ask you something?"
"What?" Wow, that was a sharp pitch of anger.
"Well...you're not really STUCK to Yukimura, are you?" She glared at me. Ah, got it in one. "You're actually stuck in this storm...Or rather, the whole storm IS you, isn't it?" Stronger death glare- wowza! Jackpot! "But there's something anchoring you here, isn't it...or rather, you're trying to anchor something INTO this storm...Am I getting close?"
Wow, I think I'm starting to sound a bit like Shinjuurou here...
"I thought you said you were going to try something bound to failure?" Yuuko asked.
"Yeah, in just a bit," I said, "but before that...Yukimura, did you know your friends saved you from falling to your death because they care about you?"
Let's see if I can do this... I closed my eyes and thought back to the car ride...
There was a flicker, and then Rika appeared standing there...Okay, she was sitting before but if I can just remember her facial movements...
"But in all seriousness, this whole situation is concerning...Yukimura's been possessed by a demon, or a fragment of one, apparently, that doesn't even have its full powers. I just want to see Yukimura back to normal..."
I gasped as she flickered out- Okay, That was way too much strain there. No way I'm doing that again...
But I think it got the point through... Yukimura was looking up in surprise, eyes widening, good, great...!
Yuuko's snarling!
Also Great!
The storm around us started to get stronger... Perfect! Now let's make it Even Greater!
"Well- see, they sent me in here to get you out!" I lied through my teeth. Hah. Ironic that. Former truth seeker lying to trick a Shadow of himself. "We figured out that the only way to split you two was to let me get soul-snatched so I could steal back the powers, split you two apart, and leave Yuuko to her own body while you get your own away from her!" Now that part I was just making up on the spot. How the hell would I even manage to pull something like that off? "Oh- and when I'm all done with that too, I'm gonna dismiss the powers properly this time! That way- something like this won't EVER HAPPEN AGAIN!"
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Oh- she's really mad now, isn't she? That last part might have been going too far...
Oh well- time to make like a banana and split!
I reached over and grabbed Yukimura's right arm and shoulder. "C'Mon! Let's get outta here!"
And I pulled him away.
Just like I thought, Yuuko couldn't fight back.
"NO!" She screamed- and with good reason too...
The way her very essence seemed to be stretching and tearing away from Yukimura like some sort of...of...Tar? I don't know exactly, but it was sticky looking!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" It was Yukimura yelling that one.
"I JUST SAID WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO, WEREN'T YOU LISTENING?!" And I kept pulling and pulling...!
The Shade that was Yuuko lost her features as she stretched and stretched...!
And then...!
SNAP!
Inga suddenly was falling backwards- holding a boy in his arms as Yuuko suddenly transformed into a ghastly mess of shadows and elemental powers.
"NO! NO NO NONONONONOOOOO!" it was yelling, somehow losing all semblances of humanity with whatever ties to the mortal realm it had being lost.
And I watched as it began swirling and swirling tighter and tighter into a singularity...
And then "Yuuko" exploded into a brilliant flash of light.
What came next, I wasn't sure how to process.
When the smoke cleared, I finally got a look at the boy that Inga had dragged out of Yuuko...and then I realized that it was Yukimura...
And at the same time, standing where Yuuko had been...
Was Yukimura.
Except Yuuko was still a girl...
Also, both were completely naked, which helped with the gender identifying part, but even so...
There were two of them? The boy was currently unconscious, and the girl...was looking around like she had no clue what had just happened...And then she fell to her knees, and then flopped down onto her side, joining her twin into the land of slumber.
"Inga," I breathed, "what did you do?"
Inga turned around to grin at me, "Well, Kazamori, I think I just pulled Yuuko and Yukimura apart."
"Well-" Shinuuurou coughed. "That was...something."
"Why are there two Yukimura's?" Yozora was asking as Sena helped her up.
"I think that's the million dollar question right now..." Kodaka said...
"Inga!" An came running over then, and scooped both him and me up into a hug. "That was simultaneously the bravest and dumbest thing I've ever seen anyone do!" And then with a deep breath she added, "I'm glad you're both alright...!"
"Agreed, Inga," I said, "don't ever do something stupid like that again."
"I'll do it as many times as I want to," Inga protested, "just so long as nobody ever gets hurt!"
"So what happened here?" Rie asked. "Inga pulled Yukimura out of Yuuko and...what?"
"Memories," Inga said as An let go of us, "I said I'd separate Yukimura's memories of the time Yuuko possessed him from everything before that."
"Him...?" Shinjuurou frowned- "But Yukimura was a girl before..."
"Raised as a boy," Rika said. "We all thought she was a he up until very recently."
"Yuuko settled in him a while before that," Inga said, "but until that moment, there wasn't enough of a desire for truth to wake her up."
"Of course," Shinjuurou sighed. "That animal-istic desire you showed when you first woke up..."
"Exactly," Inga nodded, "but since she had a portion of my recent memories, she did it like how we used to go about it. A Question for the Truth..."
"And the murders?" Rie asked.
"I got a glimpse into both of their memories," Inga said. "Yuuko was right about one thing. The moment Yukimura's parents spilled the truth, they got some murderous intent about them, like they were afraid of spilling the truth about something else..."
"Which of course couldn't even happen due to the rules," Shinjuurou said, sighing as he quoted: "One question. Just one question."
"Atsuhiko was a controlled feeding gone too far," Inga frowned, "she got carried away."
"And everything else?" Rie asked.
Inga looked over at the still silent Yusa, jaw wide open and eyes wide as she tried to process just what had happened. "Protection."
"Protection?" An asked in surprise.
"Yuuko wanted to protect what was precious to Yukimura. She was just a Shadow made up from fragments of two separate people, but...that was enough for me to use the last of mine and Bettenou's powers to put her in Yukimura's old body while I made Yukimura himself a new one."
"So...No more powers?" I asked.
Inga took a deep breath, and then exhaled a single butterfly. "That's the last of it," he smiled faintly.
And so we all watched as that tiny little butterfly flew up towards the roof and then...
It popped out of existence.
"So I guess the question now is," Shinjuurou began, "what do we tell Katawase?"
"The Demon is Slain," Inga said, "Hope is Triumphant."
"Poetic," An mused, then shook her head, "I"ll go find them some clothes..." And went off to another room.
"I'll get on that then," Shinjuurou said as he brought out his cellphone, and walked off to give Katawase a call.