Ryotaro Dojima blinked, then blinked again when the bright light proved to be too much to his tired, beleaguered eyes. Vaguely, he recalled something about a crazy fight- something out of some wacky late night anime one of the rookies had watched while they took a break from running through the thousands of tips that had been coming in on Seitou.
"Dojima-san!" Right, someone was calling his name. Wantanabe, the kid that had taken over Adachi's desk after...last year. "Dojima-san, there's been a call for you. They want you down in the shopping district. Someone's found a body."
That woke him up like a fresh pot of coffee. His feet hit the floor and he stood, catching his hand on the desk briefly as his body protested the movement. Funny , he felt… battered; bruised from more than falling asleep in his office chair.
Something felt off. Sure, he'd slept at the station before, but that was rare, after… his thoughts seemed elusive for the moment. Bad news for a detective, if he couldn't organize his thoughts on even a small amount of sleep. Maybe the sergeant was right; maybe he needed to take the promotion and stick to desk work, let the younger kids deal with the long nights and walking the beat.
Ryotaro grabbed his head. What the hell did that come from? That was the last thing he wanted. Something was definitely wrong, here. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until after he dealt with whatever was down at the shopping district.
That feeling of unease grew worse and worse as Dojima's cruiser pulled up to the tarps blocking the crime scene. His stomach felt like it was in knots; all of this felt… scarily familiar. He tried to ignore it, push it down and away as he nodded to the supervising officer who let him through the police tape. He walked forward to find the first on scene and forensics to learn what had happened.
This was wrong. Why didn't they tell him more at the station? He was already working a case, why did they pull him for another situation? He felt like he was forgetting something; something important….
A chill ran up his spine and his eyes kept scanning around the scene, even as he approached two patrol officers taking notes. It all felt eerily familiar. The cops climbing the roofline. The whispers of confusion. The body hanging from the….
No.
The officer next to him was going on about the victim. "...poor kid found the body after she left school early, in order to get to work…." That's not right, they didn't know until after her own disappearance that Konishi had skipped school…but that why was this bothering him now?
Dojima cut both his own thoughts and the officer off with raised hand. "Who's the victim?"
"Adachi Tohru."
Something in him wanted to react. Wanted him to break down and scream that it was happening again. A stronger presence in his mind told him to fight… fight what?
He looked at the patrolman straight in the face. Something about younger man's features made the detective want to look away, to focus on something else, but that presence told Dojima he needed to keep his eyes on him.
"Say it again." The officer looked at him, confused, and Dojima almost relented to letting his request drop. But he knew, something wasn't right. Something needed him to push back against this whole thing.
"Noburo Seitou." There, something shifted. Funny, he knew everyone in the district. Why couldn't he remember this officer's name?
"Say it again."
"Narukami Yu." He could feel the illusion slowly start to crumble. There was a heavy weight in his hands, comforting in its natural feel against his palms.
"Say. It. Again."
"Dojima Chiisato." He remembered. Remembered every crazy thing that had happened over the last few months; the tv world, the prison escape, the bombing, the kidnapping, the realization that the world was more than the boxes he'd been so willing to put it in.
"SAY. IT. AGAIN."
"Dojima Nanak-"
" WRONG. "
Dojima couldn't figure out if that was his own voice cutting off the illusion, Ryūjin's, or Hikohohodemi's. Maybe it was all three of them. Whatever the case, it was the final push to pull the blindness from his eyes and to be back in the awful room of one way mirrors. Back to being face to face with the monster that had taken over the form of Seitou Noburo. He slammed the kanabo up into the black slithering mass that had been trying to break his mind before it disposed of him like the others that had been eaten by their own shadows.
What might serve as the head of the creature snapped back unnaturally with the blow, but it quickly regrouped, sending a heavy gale blowing at the persistent detective.
'I was trying to be kind, giving you a painless death. You humans are always so...ungrateful.'
"Yeah, right. You just want us all to lay down at your feet, to just give up without a fight." There was no question that he was going to die now. The last of his energy had gone into blocking that last attack; Dojima knew his hits weren't doing anything to this creature. Still, he knew now the kids would figure it out; somehow they'd follow his trail and finish this. He was at peace with that outcome.
No regrets, Hikohohodemi smirked, exhaustion tinged at the edges of his presence.
Agreed, Ryūjin echoed, the older persona's presence faint in his mind.
Bullshit. He had plenty of regrets. He wanted to keep his promise to Nanako, to be able to come home to her; to see her grow up. However, if it was her life -and the worlds'- for his own, he could live, no, die with this. He held the kanabo high, knowing it would never be able to block the awful attack about to erupt from those writhing tentacles… but still at peace. No one would accuse him of not going down fighting.
"UNCLE!"
Ryotaro's eyes snapped open, half convinced this was another illusion, if not for the sudden feeling of a healing spell and the faint sheen of a shield surround him. The surging limbs of the creature bounced against it with a painful slap.
Ryotaro couldn't decide if he should laugh or cry at the sight of the ragtag group of teenagers and young adults charging into the battle, being led by his nephew. So he did neither and focused back on the creature that was once Seitou Noburo. "Took your sweet time, kid!"
Yu's small smirk was welcoming as the young man tossed his uncle a glittering golden item that energized him the moment it touched his fingers. "To be honest, I was worried we'd be too late." The confession was barely a whisper.
"Let's not think about that, okay? You got here, that's what counts."
"Head's up!" An unfamiliar feminine voice rang through his head, and his nephew quickly erected a defensive boosting spell. An explosion rocked the ground around them, and several of the teens were knocked to their feet. That boxer kid, Sanada, dodged the almighty attack and shocked the lower half of the monster's legs...limbs...whatever. Didn't do a ton of damage, but it stunned it well enough.
More kids recovered and attacked it with everything they had. One of the kids he didn't recognise, but reminded him a hell of a lot of Hanamura, sent a fire break sigil with his persona. Tatsumi then followed it up with a blow that seemed to do the same thing for electricity. The others, including his nephew, followed up with hits of their own; someone decided that the man of the hour shouldn't be left behind, and he could feel both of his personas ripple with power as they were filled with energy boosters. The ground shook again as the former Seitou Noburo crashed to his knees, glaring at the detective that had brought him such misery.
That unfamiliar voice rang in his head again. "Ah! Dojima-san, he's powering up for a massive blow! He's weak to fire, electricity, and neutral to wind. You've got to take him out!"
The girl didn't need to tell him twice. Hikohohodemi shifted power into his legs, letting Dojima jump high into the air, before shifting the power back up into his chest and arms as the man wound up for a swing of a lifetime. Fire and heat coursed through his grip, creating a flaming tornado around the length of the kanabo; the power coursing through him popped the last remaining seam on his shirt.
Lightning joined the roiling fire, and all three of them, the detective, the forgotten prince and the raging sea god all held the metal rod for dear life as it crashed into the thing that had caused them so much pain. They kept gripping as the force of the blow shattered that golden crown, and exploded through the inky blackness that poured out from it, down to the sniveling wannabe gangster at its core.
Light blinded everyone in the room, shattering ever little mirror left in a flurry of sparks and glitter. Only after blinking away the spots did the others see the detective bind the fugitive's hands, then haul the limp man onto a shoulder, treating the criminal with the same dignity one would offer a slab of meat. The fight was over. It took all of Dojima's effort to not say something pithy, other than a muttered, "You're under arrest." Anything else would make him feel like he enjoyed all of this, sinking him down to Seitou's level. He might have taken down something akin to an elder god, but he was a cop first. Real cops preferred if the violence never happened in the first place.
Everyone waited for someone else to say something, before they all tried to speak at once.
"There were a couple others… I think behind…."
"Pops, that was awesome!"
"Dojima-san, you should be careful, you've got a lot of bruises…."
"Holy fuck that was…."
"Impressive, sir."
"Seeing something like that…"
"...that's why I want to be a cop!"
"Oh, man, I gotta piss…"
"Guys, time to get out of there!"
Everyone stopped, and looked at each other, not quite sure who'd said what. Someone giggled. Another chuckled. Soon they were all letting their fears drain away, finally relaxing. Dojima couldn't help but let a smirk cross his lips.