- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.
Ah, My Loki-sama!
written by Kurosu
- Chapter Five.
After a rather crazy and confusing weekend, Mayura was now stuck at school, in the most boring class ever that she deemed as her lifetime nemesis: math class. She tried very hard to pay attention, but all she could really think about, worry about was the three gods at her home with the only company available, her father. The man may have had a sixth sense and was blessed with decent spirit capabilities, which his daughter completely lacked, but to deal with three gods was another matter.
She sighed, wishing she could join Loki and the others on their adventures, would beat the confusing number dancing around her eyes. "Mou, I bet they're all having fun without me," she pouted.
"Eh... Yamino?"
Little Loki walked into the common room to find his son staring in awe at the box of images that mortals called a television. No verbal response came, so he waved a hand in front of the young man to attempt to break some sort of hypnotic spell, and when he finally blinked, Loki let out a sigh of relief.
"Loki-sama!" he smiled, "Have you seen this?!" He pointed to the television as if it had been the greatest invention in existence.
The god was a bit confused, though he knew what it was having been around for quite a long time, "Yes, of course, it's a television..."
"No, not that, Loki-sama."
Smiling widely, he tried to tell him by gesturing both hands at the screen, without a word as if revealing the obvious in a grand fashion would explain it all, but all Loki could see was a man and a woman standing behind a table display of all sorts of appliances and tools, and some sort of painting with the illusion of flowing water. They were discussing each item - a description, followed by usage and any complimentary remarks - and attempting to sell said items to the public by having them call in and order.
Loki still didn't understand why Yamino had a sudden interest in this particular show, but he sat down anyway and figured he had all day, and all the time in the world, to figure this out, since Mayura was at school and wouldn't be home for a few hours. Speaking of the girl, ever since she left that morning, he had been bored out of his mind. He was going to tag along with her to this school of hers, but Mayura-papa had told him not to distract her and that he planned to speak to Loki's parents about putting him to school, which did not make the small god happy.
He didn't think being in a younger form would be a problem, he couldn't change that now, and there was no way to let other mortals know of his and the other two's existences as gods or there would be a lot more problems on Midgard. As he thought about it, a plan was slowly forming in his head, and he grinned. It was a grin that all on Midgard and Asgard should fear, for when Loki the god of fire and trickery wore that devious smile, it was never good (for the victims) but highly entertaining (for Loki).
"Oh my!"
Loki heard his son exclaimed amazingly and looked at the television screen. The hosts were different now, being both females, with an array of food displayed. "Loki-sama," Yamino started, eyes glimmering at the set of English tea, "they're selling your favorite tea! Straight from London!"
"Ah, so they are," he nodded, still not sure what was so amazing about it, until he noted from the corner of his eye that Yamino was pressing buttons on the telephone receiver. "Uh Yamino, what are you doing?" he asked.
He answered excitedly, "I'm placing an order now, so we don't miss out on it!"
"..."
Daidouji had no idea what he had gotten himself into when he requested that Narugami start on the yard work, sweeping the front of the shrine. He had been in the main shrine building cleaning when he suddenly heard something crash outside, and immediately dropped the books in his hand and ran outside.
He found the yard had been swept away of leaves, debris, gravel, grass... and the stone pathway!
His jaw practically hit the ground, catching a glimpse of Narugami off to the right. The boy, with broom still in hand, was rubbing the back of his head and staring at the fallen tree.
The Shinto priest stomped over to it, "What happened here?!"
"Ah, sensei, sorry. I guess I wasn't paying attention and knocked it over."
"K-knocked it over?!"
"Yeah," he nodded and demonstrated by sweeping again.
Okay, Narugami started off all right, sweeping the ground like any normal person, but being a not normal person but god instead, his regular speed was lost to Daidouji's vision, when the two of them were engulfed in the severe dirt storm, practically creating a mini-tornado that sucked the man into its center and ripped through another tree.
The loud crash alerted Narugami to his unintentional destruction again, and when the air cleared, the funnel of wind dissipated, Daidouji, was in midair, fell to the ground with a thud.
"Sorry, sensei, forgot my own strength," Narugami helped the man up, chuckling nervously, having forgotten that he was still a god with crazy strength.
"Eh, le-let's work on something else," Daidouji, still a bit dazed from what just happened, tried not to think too much on it because it was just a weird fluke of something! Yes, everything was normal. These things happened every now and then, because well, he was a Shinto priest who dealt with crazy spirits all the time, so why was this little mishap anything at all.
He watched, with a flat expression, Narugami putting each large tree back in to the ground as if it was no trouble at all. So the kid had amazing strength, some potential in him to do great things, and he wondered if Narugami was fed ox milk when he was a baby, or he was a Kintarou of (Japanese) folklore incarnate, which would really explain it.
"Great!" Narugami was pumped, "Are we gonna exorcise spirits?!"
"Ah Narugami, be careful with that," Daidouji tried to warn, but alas, it came too late, when the shelves broke and all came tumbling down on the poor boy, "It's fragile..."
He wondered if he could ever get the boy to not break something, and to think, it was only the first day on the job. He feared he might not have a shrine to take care of by the end of the week, but still, he couldn't give up so easily. This young man was honest and hard working, if a little clumsy, but he had made a promise to his daughter and to himself, to take care of these boys living under his roof.
Strange as it was that these three appeared out of the blue, with (obvious) no ties to one another, but they got along well, and thrown into the world without anyone to rely on, he felt sorry for them. No child should be without their parents, and a part of him didn't mind being responsible for them. It sure did make the house more livelier, and he had never seen Mayura smile and laugh so much during the past two days.
Another crash brought him out of his reverie, finding Narugami had tumbled right into the wall. He had thought one last attempt at the easiest chore wouldn't be a problem, but when Narugami was involved, everything would be a problem. He sighed and slapped his hand to his face, after seeing the boy, trying to wipe the wooden floor with the wet rag, had skidded forward at high speed from one end to the other, only to be stopped by crashing into the wall.
By the time, Daidouji and Narugami finished patching up the wall, the former was ready for lunch and wondered what Yamino had made for them. He told Narugami to clean up first and then went to the kitchen. Finding no one was in there, he went to the common room to find Yamino on the phone and Loki just staring off into space. One of the popular shopping channels played in the background.
"Yamino-kun, what's going on here? Is lunch already done?"
Loki looked over to the nervously twitching man and smiled, "Yamino-san is a bit busy. He's been ordering things all morning!"
"What?! Ordering what?" he pointed to the television, questioningly, "From that show?!"
He nodded.
"With what money?!"
Yamino paused from talking with the nice customer service woman at the other end to give Daidouji a sweet smile, "Please don't worry, Daidouji-san. It's a small thanks for all that you've done for us." With that said, he returned to speaking on the phone, leaving Daidouji to gape at the scene.
Loki, chuckling, stood up and said to him, "It's going to be a while. Let's make lunch, Mayura-papa!" He pushed the man out of the room and in to the kitchen, both lost in their thoughts. While Loki was wondering what the easiest thing to make was, Daidouji really wondered what he had gotten himself in to, because weren't these people strangers and he should've done a background check on them before allowing them to stay, but when he thought about Mayura's smiles, he resigned himself with the present state.
One would think a few minutes with one's thoughts was just that, not enough for the kitchen to look like a tsunami had hit it, or a Narugami trying to clean again, but somehow, some way, Loki had managed to have made a huge mess of food across the counter and floor, and even got peanut butter and ketchup all over his face. And was that frosting on his nose?
"Here you go, Mayura-papa!" he grinned, placing the plate in front of him. On it sat a six-inch sandwich with questionable layers of... The man squinted, trying to make out what each layer was. Was that strawberry yogurt? With a piece of leftover steak on it? His eyes moved over a layer of red jello, and to top it off, there was a small octopus sitting on a toothpick that seemed to eye him with the challenge: I dare you to eat this concoction!
He then looked at Loki, who was still grinning, waiting expectantly for him to taste the master piece of a god.
Loki was smiling proudly to himself, at his accomplishment. Who knew he had it in him to be an awesome chef, a genius at creating a good-looking meal out of a bunch of things in the fridge, but he was a god after all, and gods could practically do anything.
Daidouji faced the sandwich again, sweatdropping and praying that he wouldn't die from it. He nervously reached for it, his hands trembling slightly, and mumbled, "Itadakimasu..." His voice sounded like the echoes of his last words before accepting his doomed fate, and he took the big ass sandwich into his hands, moving it to his mouth, hesitation on opening. Maybe if he could distract Loki, he could then stuff the thing called food down his shirt or something drastic.
Ew, what was that green stuff oozing out below the jello?!
He stole a quick glance at Loki's large eyes, who were still glued on him, and with a final sigh, he took a bite. He chewed slowly, trying to make out all the weird tastes mixing together. It wasn't half bad... until he hit the mother of all tastes.
OH MY GOD!
Wasabi!
"Mayura-papa!"
Yeah, a hand full of wasabi would knock out any normal person like Daidouji.
Mayura, overly ecstatic now, almost ran out of the school with her indoor shoes, until her handsome classmate, Kakinouchi Koutaro, stopped her. No one had ever associated with her because of her odd pink hair and crimson eyes, believing that she was a cursed child, but she never let that bothered her, but lately, people have been giving her a lot more stares than normal. And now Koutaro, the most popular guy in school, spoke to her again.
"Daidouji-san," he started, giving her a look over thoughtfully, "are you all right?"
"O-Of course!" she replied nervously, not noticing the group of his fangirls in the background giving her the evil eye. She tried to move back, away from him, but he only stepped towards her. She retreated again, but her back met the lockers.
He looked at her and frowned. It hurt her a bit that he was giving her that sort of disgusted and loathsome expression, but she couldn't blame him for believing the rumors that floated around. He was at least nice enough to ask how she was, totally not expecting to lean down to her, staring right into her eyes and asking her in an almost pained voice, "Are you... afraid of me?"
"Eh? No, I'm not!" she blurted out, "I was just surprised!" She looked down with a slight tinge of pink to her cheeks, "Kakinouchi-kun is nice and popular, and for you to be speaking to a no body like me," when she looked up to him again, she smiled, "it made me happy."
And he blushed, a deeper pink color than hers, because she looked so adorable when she peered up at him with that expression, like a shy bunny peeking from beneath some leaves on a beautiful day in the woods. After seeing her like that, he realized how inappropriate he was positioned with her and moved back, attempting to hide his face behind his hand. With a steady voice, he told her, "Ah th-that's good. You were really out of it today."
"I was?" she blinked.
"Y-Yeah," he breathed, and the blush refused to leave his cheeks as he spoke, "You looked really happy about something, staring off... like you were thinking of something, something really nice and warm."
"Ohh," she giggled, thinking about Loki and the others all day long, and then she remembered she was hurrying home to see them. "Ah I forgot I need to hurry home!" She went to her locker to get her shoes and slipped them on before securing her school bag.
"Sorry, Kakinouchi-kun, I'll see you tomorrow," she gave him a quick bow before ducking away.
"Daidouji-san!" he called to her.
"Yes?"
"Koutaro," he smiled, "Call me Koutaro."
She blushed, "Okay, Koutaro-kun. Then you can call me Mayura! See you, Koutaro-kun!" She waved to him with a bright smile and ran out the door.
Notes: Bwaha, I've been inspired lately... well more like been thinking about how to make Mayura-papa miserable being stuck with three gods, and no Mayura around to save him, or add to the insanity. I sorta have the next plot coming, then boom, another god in the fray! Ugh, I wonder where Mayura would put all these gods! Her house isn't all that big, ya know! -kuro.