- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.

Ah, My Loki-sama!

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Twenty.

"Thank you," Yamino made a slight bow, on instinct, to the person at the other end of the phone line before hanging up and placing the receiver in its place. He entered the common room again, where all residents of the Daidouji home - excluding the man of the house who had left to Fukuoka - were present for a very important meeting concerning all of their fates.

"I've placed the order for dinner, Loki-sama," his youngest son notified, since everyone had just recently returned to their regular forms, he didn't have time to prepare dinner so delivery was the ideal choice, "The food shall arrive in forty-five minutes."

Loki nodded, seated at one side of the table with Mayura who had Fenrir in her lap, "Thank you, Yamino. This discussion shouldn't take long." He clasped his hands together on the table and leaned forward, looking very serious, as his son took the empty spot to his left. He eyed each god carefully (and for dramatic purposes) from Narugami at Mayura's right to Kazumi and finally the siblings, with tiny Gullinbursti wedged between them, across from him.

"I spoke to Odin tonight," he announced and gauge each person's reaction. The majority of them were surprised, but Freyr shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Overall, they were eager to know more, because each one of them wanted to return to Asgard.

"There seems to be an uproar in Asgard, concerning our disappearances," he paused and looked thoughtful, "I guess it started with mine."

Everyone looked at Mayura, because they knew she was the reason Loki was on Midgard, and she sweatdropped. Loki waved his hand at them, signaling that it wasn't the problem, "But Odin had approved of it, however of a jerk he might be."

Narugami snorted and rolled his eyes.

"I supposed he didn't expect Jormungand and Fenrir to come after me."

Yamino ducked his head, trying to avoid the gazes on him, embarrassed at being mentioned, but his older brother just put his paws on the table proudly as if what he did was the right thing and if anyone had a problem with it, they could just kiss his behind or say hello to his paws a few times, 'What're ya lookin' at?!'

"Geez Fenrir, you're such a cute, li'l bossman," Mayura giggled and rubbed his head, and he barked to show how tough he was, but the happy wagging tail told them otherwise.

Narugami, resting Mjollnir against his shoulder, cut in, "So us being down here is a big deal? Then he shouldn't have kicked me out."

Loki shook his head, "It wasn't a problem at first, but now that all of Asgard know about us being down here, Odin was forced to close the gateway to prevent the other idiots from joining us."

"Joining us willingly?" Kazumi snorted. "It wasn't like I had a choice."

"Me neither!" Narugami sighed.

"Hmm?" Mayura fell into her thinking pose, a finger to her chin, "I thought Kazumi-kun came down to play with Loki-sama."

Both gods turned to her, eyes twitching, as the one-eyed god huffed out, "I came to find my right eye. I was told it had disappeared from Asgard, shortly after Loki left."

Loki scoffed, "So you just assumed that I stole it?!" After a moment, he smirked, "I thought you were smarter than that, Heimdall."

"Why you-"

Narugami held the boy back as he spoke, bringing them all back to the topic at hand, "So what exactly did father say?"

"It's about the jaki," Loki eyed Freyr, who suddenly found his hands more interesting than anything else, "Because the gateway was close, someone found a way around it."

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm, how should I say this...?"

"..."

"OKAY!" Freyr slammed his fists down on the table, waking up everyone if they hadn't been dozing off by now, "It's Freyr's fault! Freyr missed Freyr's beloved sister, but Freyr couldn't come to Midgard to find her... so Freyr knocked over a jaki jar..."

"On purpose?" Narugami's brows rose straight up to his hairline.

"On purpose," the guilty god stated aid in a small voice, twiddling with his fingers. The punishment for a serious crime, such as releasing the jaki - whether intentional or not - was banishment to Midgard, and that was all Freyr wanted, so he could find his dear sister. No one was surprised that the idiot didn't even think about the repercussion of his actions.

Loki resumed the explanation, "The jar spilled into Midgard, releasing all the jaki that Tyr had acquired."

"Ouch," Narugami winced, "I bet the muscle-head is pissed. He spent about 102 years collecting them."

"So that's why the jaki have appeared," Yamino said.

Freya frowned, "Well that explains the jaki problem, but that doesn't help us with our problems."

Mayura smiled, "Don't worry, Freya-sama, I'm sure Odin-sama has a solution. He just wouldn't call Loki-sama out of the blue, right?" She turned to the god next to her with her optimistic smile, which he couldn't help but return with his own, because she was right on her guess.

Loki nodded, looking at the others, "Mayura's right. Odin has ordered us to recapture the loose jaki, and as a reward upon completion, he will allow us to return to Asgard."

"I don't have a problem with that," Kazumi started, "but what about my eye?"

The blonde god shook his head, "You might want to speak to Odin about it. He didn't give me any further information."

Fenrir growled, 'How convenient for Odin! To hand this mess to us!' Then he glared in Freyr's direction, 'And it's your fault!'

Freyr stared at his hands, feeling ashamed, "Freyr is sorry."

"Hey! It's not a problem, guys!" Mayura waved the tension away, "What's done is done, right? We can only move forward now! This is a chance you were given so you can return home!"

"Hm, I have to admit," Freya appeared to be smiling a bit, "she is right about that."

"All right!" Narugami was pumped and ready to proceed with their new goal, "Operation: Amass the Jaki Escapees, commencing..." His stomach growled loudly, "Erm, tomorrow!"

Meanwhile in Asgard, Odin was satisfied with the results of his phone call to Loki. As far as he was concerned, the bunch of misfit gods could remain stranded on Midgard, but the renegade jaki were another matter that had to be dealt with immediately. It was a brilliant plan to have them do the work for him, instead of sending some idiot god, or Tyr again, to fetch the annoying spirits. He knew tempting them with the chance to return to Asgard would seal the deal, and he didn't care if most of them did return, as long as his blood brother never did.

Even if he did offer returning to Asgard to Loki too, there was no way it could happen because the Yggdrasil Wish System was absolute, and he had never once override such a program and even feared the consequences, which had the possibility of throwing all nine worlds into chaos.

"Father!"

Odin lifted his head from his thoughts and stared down from his throne to the floor below, where his favorite son stood, in the shadows of anonymity for dramatic effects, but it was just bad lighting in the throne room, "What is it, Baldur?"

"Do you think it's wise to leave the situation in their hands? Especially those of Loki's?"

"Are you questioning my decision?"

"Should I?"

"Hmf, very impertinent of you."

"It's in my blood."

"Heh, you're truly my son."

"You will find no objection there, father."

"This conversation is getting no where."

"I believe so."

"What was your question again?"

"..."

So a new week on Midgard began, and each god stranded in the mortal realm now had a goal at hand, to capture all the jaki once more as it was their duty to protect humanity, written in fine print in their job description that no one bothered to read when becoming a full-fledged god. It had been decided that they would split into groups to make the operation more efficient, and all linked by the brand new phones that Daidouji had bought for the 'family', which Narugami was happy to show off.

There was a bargain on five phones with a family plan, so that was what they had, giving one to Mayura, Narugami, Yamino and Freya, where the fifth one had already left with the man of the house. Because of this, the groups had been divided appropriately with a few requests here and there that Loki attempted to keep in mind - as long as it didn't affect him, he was fine with it.

Unfortunately, no one wanted to be paired up with Freyr, even his own sister. Feeling sorry for the god, Mayura was about to raise her hand to volunteer in accompanying the god - bless her heart - but Loki had caught her hand within his before anyone had noticed and gave her a warning look with a shake of his head. She frowned and sent back a bit of scolding with her eyes, and he only smiled, raising his brows in a sort of 'you don't want to be with me' look. She pouted, puffing her cheeks, returning a 'that's not what I meant' look.

He ended their silent communication with a 'then it's fine' wink, only to receive an adorable blush in response. At least that matter was fixed, and he proceeded out the door with her right behind him, along with his two sons, leaving the rest of the gods to determine their own partners.

"Thor Thor Thor! Let's go in there!"

"No! We're going in here!"

"But Freyr wants to buy Yamato Nadeshiko a gift!"

"Well I'm hungry!"

"This is more important!"

"Food is a basic necessity for survival!"

"Freyr doesn't need food! Freyr needs love! The love of Freyr's precious Yamato Nadeshiko!"

"Okay, let's solve this by... jan-ken-pon!"

"Bwee..." (My sympathies, Gulli-chan.)

"Heimdall! I must get that!"

"Freya! This is the seventh store we stopped at!"

"But the dress is so beautiful! I must have it!"

"You can just conjure up one!"

"It's not the same!"

"No one would know the difference!"

"I would!"

"I don't see-"

"It'll only be a minute!"

"That's what you said three hours ago!"

Well, those two groups had to get their priorities straight, which left Loki and the others to pull most of the weight, right? Or maybe not, when it seemed that a brunch was in order, according to Mayura and Fenrir - who could really say no to a cute girl and a cute puppy?

The pair poured over the extensive menu of the cafe, discussing among themselves to what they were going to try, while Loki and Yamino had already ordered their drinks. The group, being very oblivious to the audience around them, had attracted quite the attention every since they hit the streets of Tokyo. A pretty girl in the company of two handsome, young men on either side of her was definitely a sight not to overlook.

Loki had placed the jaki container in the middle of the table, giving it a look over. They had captured three spirits after leaving the house, and he was certain that they doing quite well compared to the other groups, the accomplishment adding to his ever growing ego and confidence - one could almost see how similar he and Odin were but also how antagonistic they could be with who had the bigger ego.

"Don't worry, Loki-sama," his younger son smiled, "we'll get through this."

"I know," he grinned, "It's just very convenient that most of the jaki fell in to Tokyo."

Yamino sweatdropped, "Do you think because we are here, they were attracted here too?"

"It's quite possible."

By this time, their happy waitress - who had won the jan-ken-pon game between the other waitresses - appeared to get their order, which was pretty much one-third of the brunch menu, earning surprised looks from Loki and Yamino, who had normal appetites. Even the waitress sweatdropped, wondering how these two handsome men could put up with such a gluttonous girl, but most of the dishes that were chosen belonged to Fenrir, whose appetite rivaled that of Narugami's black hole stomach.

Within minutes, their food came out one by one, and Fenrir dug right in, 'Itadakimasu~!'

His father and brother had just barely lifted their spoonful of food, brows arching high on their foreheads, when the puppy finished one plate. He then eyed Mayura's delicious omelet coated in all sorts of veggies and meat, and the girl grinned, tearing off a piece and held the fork to Fenrir's mouth. He happily obliged, snapping his mouth quickly over the delicious morsel, 'Mmmmm, I love this!'

"Ano," Mayura stared at him thoughtfully, "I wonder who eats more: Fenrir or Narugami?"

Yamino chuckled nervously, "Let's not find out."

Fenrir eyed his little brother and barked, 'Oi Jormungand, are you tryin' to say somethin'? I can beat Mister Flashy Pants easily!'

"But, nii-san, that would mean eating us out of house and home, and it's not even our home!"

Yes, getting in to an eating debate between immortals with huge appetites wasn't quite the scene that Loki had imagine, but if it made his family happy, who could deny them the discussion.

But one couldn't quite compare the two appetites of Fenrir and Narugami, because each had different approaches on how they used their energy, which always acquired more consumption than the normal person or god. Fenrir's circumstance was quite understandable, considering that he was really a giant wolf, and on the other hand, silly Narugami always threw around his strength and powers like breathing air, which accounted for the seventy percent of his wasted energy... and probably explained why he would sleep, in his powerless state, through an earthquake.

Loki smiled, thinking how some things do make sense in the world.

"Ne Loki-sama, try this!" Mayura held her fork with a piece of her omelet on the end out to him, and he sweatdropped. She jiggled the fork a few times for his mouth to open, and he eventually complied, rather embarrassed of being fed like a child.

He chewed and smiled, "It's very good."

"Yep!" She gave him a toothy smile and then grabbed a piece of food off his plate and ate it. His mouth dropped open at her bold gesture, because she had only fed him her dish so she could sneak a bite from his - how cunning, wonder where she picked that up from. Nevermind that they even shared her fork, which she appeared to have overlooked, happily returning to her own plate.

"Hm, I guess you won't mind if I try this," he grabbed her sweet raspberry tea drink and took a sip from it, his lips over her straw.

Eyes wide, Yamino dropped his fork onto the plate, while Fenrir's mouth dropped to the table, remnants of food spluttered out, as their father had the nerve to drink the girl's tea, initiating an indirect kiss between them. Loki placed the glassware back down and met Mayura's eyes with a challenge, and she pouted, being just as competitive, and took her glass and sipped the liquid.

Several sounds of 'thud' echoed in the background, where a few women who had been watching the group fainted from the intimacy of the handsome blonde with the 'plain, unattractive' girl.

The tension never left between them, eyes still locked on one another, but Loki made the first move, taking his napkin and wiping the side of her mouth with it. She blushed and quickly took the napkin from his hand to finish wiping her own mouth, with a sweatdropping Yamino returning to his plate of food and a chewing Fenrir, mumbling something about calling the girl 'daddy's girlfriend' from now on.

When the day came to a close, and after a few phone calls or texts, everyone returned home and reported on each group's success, having gathered a total of twenty-nine jaki, locked in various containers the gods had. Not a bad number, considering they had just started taking the situation seriously, but it really was a small start if they knew how many jaki were originally caught.

"Say," Narugami started during dinner, and they all managed not to use up their powers during the operation, not wanting to be in their alternate forms. Before he could even say another word, the house phone rang, and Mayura excused herself to answer it, leaving the god of thunder to speak again, directing it towards Freyr, "Just how many jaki were in that jar?"

"Freyr doesn't know."

"It's the one that Tyr used, right?" Kazumi inquired hesitantly, having a faint idea of where this was headed.

"Freyr thinks so."

Freya's eyes enlarged, "Which means..."

"There could be..." Yamino was getting a bad habit of dropping utensils when in shock.

'Thousands of them!' Fenrir howled.

"..."

Loki was not happy.

A happy Mayura, humming, returned to the room, to find it in a scary, brooding silence. She blinked as she took her seat again, "What's wrong with everyone?"

"You don't want to know," Loki insisted and changed the topic, "Who was on the phone?"

"Papa."

Everyone released their held breaths, having prayed that it wasn't Odin again with bad news, which the girl was oblivious to as she continued to speak, "He said he won't be back till next weekend. Kanda-san is still sick, but he's doing better. There's a big ceremony at the end of the week, so papa wants to stay and help with that."

Fair enough, at least the gods wouldn't have to explain their absence from the house, nor the chaos that would soon ensue in the next few days.

Notes: Ugh had to write this... get my mind off my car accident. *sighs* Just put a damper on my mood today. I'm okay, my car is okay - just my baby's bumper is a bit damaged, still drivable. I'm actually working straight in to the next chapter too, so it may or may not be uploaded tonight. If not tonight, for sure tomorrow. *gives cheesy smile* Thanks! -kuro.