- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.

Ah, My Loki-sama!

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Fifteen.

If one had passed by the common room, one would think there was a showdown that was about to commence between all the persons involved, mainly between the child and the woman, while the rest were just staring at one and then the next. There was a pained expression etched on Freya's lovely face at the harshness of his voice, even Mayura could sympathize, and it was the touch from the mortal girl, her hand gentle on his arm, that made Loki realize he had almost lost control of himself because of his emotions.

He sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing the side of his face, feeling so exhausted from the bit of drama, and when he finally gathered his thoughts together, he opened his eyes, staring at the blonde goddess in an almost indifferent manner, "It's best if you return to Asgard, Freya."

"But Loki-"

She wanted to object so much, that he would prefer a mortal at his side rather than a wonderful goddess like her, but she could tell he was at his limit, the strain in his voice to keep his emotions in control, as he spoke, "There are too many gods here already, and we can't impose upon the Daidoujis any further."

His words seemed to be final as he stood up, "I'm going to my room."

He made his exit with a worried Fenrir in tow, and Yamino stood up too, announcing that he would start on dinner immediately. After giving the woman a quick worried glance, Mayura volunteered to help him, which he was grateful for, because they needed to leave Freya alone, to her own thoughts and humiliation.

Narugami was removing the last few boxes from the storage room in to the study, where all the books and scrolls belonging to the shrine were archived. They had made a pile of boxes in one of the corners, and soon, it became a tight fit in the space, leaving enough room for one person to move down the aisle, not that the room was used much by anyone. It was more of a place to keep the shrine records, its history and its patrons over the years.

The young man watched his master straighten the area a bit and asked him, "Sensei, you're pretty calm about all of this."

"Hm, what do you mean?" he continued to busy himself with the task at hand.

"Well you know, all of us staying here. Most people would go nuts by now."

Daidouji laughed, "You guys are good kids."

Narugami couldn't help but smile at his words, never imagining that he would build such a nice relationship with mortals, and it felt nice that, despite being kicked out of his home world by his own father, he found a home on Midgard.

"Thanks, sensei."

His master paused and looked at the youngster, "Besides, I trust Mayura. If she believes in all of you, then I do too."

"Yeah, she's something," Narugami appeared thoughtful, but the smile on the boy's face made Daidouji suspicious.

"Oi, you're not allow to date her!"

"Eh! No way, sensei!" he waved his hands and shook his head fervently, "I don't like her like that! Not like Loki anyway!"

"What? What do you mean 'not like Loki'?!" The man's eyes narrowed, carefully scrutinizing his apprentice's reaction. He didn't like to be kept in the dark, especially if this concerned Mayura under his roof, and it appeared that there was a secret being hidden from him.

If his master wasn't going to kill him yet, then Loki would eventually, for revealing unnecessary information that the god, himself, had yet to process and acknowledge of his affections for the mortal girl. Yes, either way, Narugami was totally screwed, but still, he had to think of something fast. He was willing to admit that thinking was not his forte, "Ah, oh... you know, sensei... she's like uh, the mother he never had..."

All anger and suspicions faded away, leaving pure surprise, "What?"

Great, now Narugami was stuck in a half lie - keep digging his own grave, and eventually Loki would add a bomb to it and watch him explode to thousand pieces, scattered across the nine worlds.

"Hmm..."

Mayura looked about the kitchen as Yamino had grabbed all the needed ingredients for the evening's dinner and organized everything them on the counter like the overly compulsive person that he was. The girl watched curiously, wondering what he was planning to make, because those steaks looked delicious, as she pulled her long hair into a ponytail to be less of a hindrance.

"What can I help with, Yamino-san?" she inquired, slipping on the extra apron, and stood next to him.

"Um, you really don't need to help, Mayura-san."

"No no! I want to! For all the times you've cooked for us!" she smiled, believing that if she kept herself busy with dinner preparation, she wouldn't think so much about Loki and his relationship with Freya, which had been bothering her all evening. "Besides it's so much fun cooking together!" she sounded cheerful enough that Yamino wouldn't know that anything was bothering the girl.

He returned the same warm smile, appreciative at her kindness and sincerity because no one had treated him like he existed, besides his father and sometimes his brother who enjoyed bullying him instead. He looked around and picked up the carrots, "All right, you can start cleaning and cutting these. We'll be having steak tonight! They were delivered fresh this morning! I was able to get them at a great price, and I couldn't believe my luck, getting to be the forty-ninth caller! Only the first fifty callers were able to get the discount."

He was getting so excited, that all his heated talking fogged up his glasses, and he accidently cut himself during his slicing of the onions. Mayura grabbed his hand and put the bleeding finger under the running faucet, then proceeded to properly care for the wound with the first aid kit.

He patiently sat at the table while Mayura concentrated deeply - the little pink tongue stuck out between her lips and furrowed eyebrows - on disinfecting his injury and putting the bandaid perfectly around his finger. "There we go!" she smiled proudly at the pink bandaid of yellow stars and moons, which earned a huge sweatdrop from Yamino, "Let me do the cutting, and you can do the rest!"

He blushed, "Thank you, Mayura-san."

Loki, sitting at the desk by the window, was lost in his thoughts. He needed time alone to think about what had just happened, letting his anger get the best of him was not like him at all, but when Freya had insulted Mayura, he just couldn't take it anymore and practically snapped. What surprised him even more was the fact that the girl, herself, was able to calm him down, so easily, with just a touch of her hand.

He didn't understand why it had bothered him so much, but shouldn't he be upset that he was forced to remain on Midgard? Honestly, he hadn't thought about his predicament in weeks, having adjusted rather smoothly to his new life, as strange as it would seem to any of the other gods. Even now, for a god to be away from Asgard for so long, he didn't even feel the slightest bit of homesickness.

He leaned his head against the back of the chair, while his hand ran down Fenrir's back - the puppy having been in his lap the whole time - in a soothing manner that helped ease the god's mental state.

Loki let out a long, exhausting sigh and stared at the ceiling.

Fenrir had been quiet the whole time because he knew his father needed to think things through, but it was beginning to worry him greatly that a great god like him had fallen in to depression, 'Daddy?'

"What's... happening to me, Fenrir?"

Mayura had just finished cutting the onions when Freya's voice boomed through the kitchen, "We need to talk!"

The goddess, appeared in the entrance way, was staring right at the girl, ignoring the presence of a nervous Yamino who prayed that a conflict did not break out, and he absentmindedly scooted over to Mayura, having grown accustomed to be a sort of bodyguard for her when his father wasn't there.

The girl blinked and answered, "Okay."

"Woman to woman."

Mayura nodded, "We can go to outside." She made her way to the back door, which lead straight out to the backyard, before Yamino could advise against it, being alone with a jealous goddess was not a good idea. She held the door open for Freya to go through first and gave Yamino a dazzling smile of reassurance before following after the goddess.

He trusted Mayura, but he didn't trust Mayura's safety with Freya, so he hurried to get his father.

Freya immediately demanded to know why Loki was living in Midgard with mortals, and Mayura explained how it was her fault that he was dragged from his home to be by her side. It explained a lot of things, but she couldn't accept that Loki wasn't even pissed over the problem the mortal had brought upon him. As she thought more about Loki's behavior and reaction to the girl, she realized that he was even enjoying himself.

She wanted to lash out at her, berate her for such a selfish wish, so typical of all mortals. She was glaring at the girl so hard that Mayura couldn't even meet her eyes, the obvious guilt and shame evident in them. A part of Freya eased a bit, knowing that the mortal felt responsible for humiliating a god.

"I know it was selfish of me..."

Freya heard the softness of the girl's voice and turned to her, their eyes meeting once more, as she spoke, her voice gaining firmness with each word, "And I would take the wish back if it would make Loki-sama happy!"

"How unlike you," the two women turned to the speaker, Loki, who stepped out from the shadows of the house, and stood in front of them, waving a scolding finger to the pink-haired girl, with a grin, "to be presumptuous, Mayura."

She pouted, puffing her cheeks at the haughty boy, "I am not!" She looked away, with her face in a pink tint, a mixture of embarrassment and irritation, "I just didn't want Freya-sama to get the wrong idea."

His grin seemed to stretch wider, as he walked over to her, gazing up at her with the air of superiority, completely ignoring the blonde goddess just a few feet away from them, "And what idea is that?"

"That... this isn't Loki-sama's fault!"

"Of course it isn't," he scoffed, a hand on his waist, and he knew his reply would annoy her further, and for a few seconds, he let her face drop a bit, believing that he had also blamed her. It had been a fact that, all this time, Mayura had blamed herself for the silly, innocent wish she made, but he never held it against, because it was just how the system worked, or at least what he kept telling himself.

He waved it away casually, "I never said it was your fault, did I?"

"No, you didn't, but-"

"So just drop it," he ordered and then faced Freya, "I don't dwell on the past, which is where this topic will remain."

"Loki..."

"I appreciate your concern for me, but it's unnecessary," he was speaking with such a polite, business-like manner that made Freya feel like she had become more distant to him than ever before, "And I would like you to leave Mayura alone."

"Loki-sama! We were just talking!" the girl pouted and stomped her foot down, "And stop treating me like a child!"

He glanced at her slyly, "Oh? I'm not the one calling 'papa' around here."

She crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her head away from him, "That was low, Loki-sama!"

He chuckled at her expectant reaction, but the rustling sounds brought their undivided attention back to Freya, who had turned her back to them, wearing her cloak of feathers. She hated seeing the two so happily bickering with each other, reminding her of a close relationship that she would never have with Loki, at least not right now.

"I haven't given up!" she threw the words over her shoulder, directing them to Mayura, "But I'm going home for now. I need a long, hot bath! To get this stench of Midgard off me!"

"Have a safe trip," Loki waved.

Freya flinched, hurt that he wouldn't miss her at all, but she just had to focus on getting home. She summoned her powers and began to glow. A bright, golden light shined and engulfed her within in, and Mayura and Loki had to shield their eyes. When the light started to fade away again, they both look at the spot where Freya had stood and fell over, because the goddess was still standing there, completely befuddled that she was still in Midgard.

"What the hell?! I'm still here?"

"Is it broken?" Mayura pondered.

"N-No! Of course not!" she shouted, mildly offended.

"Strange," Loki rubbed his chin, thinking, "We should give Urd a call."

And so the three returned to the house, and Freya made a long distance call to Asgard, reaching the office of one goddess of the past. When she heard Urd's voice, she demanded to know why she couldn't return to the realm of the gods. Loki and Mayura watched intently at the sudden rage that marred her beautiful features, matching her ridiculously high-pitched tone blaring in to the receiver, "What do you mean the gateway to and from Asgard has been temporarily closed?!"

The mortal and the god shared a look of bewilderment.

"I'M STUCK HERE?!"

The pair sweatdropped and sighed.

Elsewhere in the city, in a more quiet and Freya-less environment, Kazumi was enjoying his dinner of burger and fries at a generic fast food eatery. He sat by the window, munching on some fries, as he watched the television. The news was on, reporting about some strange event from a few hours earlier that day, something about a weird chase through the neighborhood by a group of beautiful people. It showed a clip of Mayura and company running down the street, being pursued by what appeared to be a mannequin.

Kazumi sweatdropped, as the reporter questioned whether this was a part of a movie filming or just some hoax by a group of bored teenagers.

He shook his head at the hilarious reality of one mortal and a group of gods, though he did pondered the appearance of one goddess, wondering why she had come to Midgard, not that it was a problem for him. "Just as long as the idiot twin of hers isn't here," he mumbled and took a sip of his soda.

He suddenly heard something slam in to the window next to him, and slowly, he turned his head in that direction, a terrible feeling found its way in to his stomach.

A short pause.

And soda shot out of his nose, at the sight of the one person he didn't want to see, the face pressed against the glass pane like he was a starving zombie.

"Dammit, Freyr..."

Notes: I honestly didn't know what to write for this chapter besides wanting Freya to try to return home but ends up not being able to, and the scene with Kazumi and Freyr... It got rather serious, huh? I hope I lightened up the mood a bit while these kids figure out their feelings!

And welcome, Freyr! Now to figure out what to do with him, lol... Thanks! -kuro.