- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.
Ah, My Loki-sama!
written by Kurosu
- Chapter Twenty-One.
Sitting in class now, with only a few minutes before the school day would begin, Mayura stared at the clock with dark intentions because she was missing out on all the fun her immortal tenants were having, not that they considered jaki hunting fun but it totally beats being in school. She sighed, chin propped in her hand, as she flipped through her textbook, just wishing the school day was over, so she could join Loki on the hunt.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Koutaro waving for her attention, since her mind was too busy being distracted to actually hear him call her, "Yes, Koutaro-kun?"
"You look bored," he smiled.
"I am!" she groaned and dropped her head onto her books. Both were oblivious to Koutaro's fan girls glaring at the pink-haired one as annoying and noisy as they were in the background.
The young man leaned forward and asked her, "If you'd like, we can grab a snack after school."
She sat up again, "Oh, sorry, Koutaro-kun, but I already have plans with Loki."
He lost his handsome smile and frowned, "Loki? Which one?"
She looked upwards, scratching her head, forgetting that Koutaro knew Loki as two different persons, "Um, both?"
A gloomy Koutaro turned back in his seat, staring straight ahead with a gloomy cloud over his head, "I see... a family outing, huh."
The school bell rang, and their teacher walked in, accompanied by an unfamiliar face. Mayura tilted her head to the side and stared at the girl.
She appeared shy, almost hiding behind the teacher, and avoiding all the eyes on her, but she looked cute. Her long, thick hair fell in wavy cascades around her, and her large, adorable eyes of green, reminding Mayura of a certain blonde god with green eyes too. Her round glasses would slip down the bridge of her nose, and she would constantly push it back up, while holding the books to chest.
The teacher announced their new transfer student to the class and asked that they welcome her and assist her in any way. Her voice was so soft when she spoke, trying to say her name to the class, but no one could hear her, just Mayura, who had been watching the girl, able to read her lips.
Mayura raised her hand in the air and waved with a big smile on her face, "Welcome, Hel-chan!"
Hel-chan blushed a bright red and hung her head low at the very friendly greeting from a stranger.
The teacher sweatdropped, "Ah, thank you, Daidouji, for your enthusiasm." He turned to the new student, "Why don't you take the empty seat in the back. She nodded and made her way down the aisle, walking by Mayura's desk, and the cheerful girl continued to give her a warm smile. Hel-chan turned away, still blushing, and practically stumbled to the desk, because some of the females in class were bullies!
"Hmmm..."
It was lunchtime, and Mayura looked around for Hel-chan, but she had already disappeared from the classroom. She stood up, grabbing her lunch box, and made her way out of the room. She figured the girl might have gone to the restroom first, so she stopped by there to make sure and invite her to eat together, a part of welcoming her to the school, but as she neared the destination, she heard some voices threatening someone.
She pushed the door in to the girls' restroom to find a group of her classmates cornering poor Hel-chan, whose hair was soaked and part of her blouse too, "Hey, what's going on here?"
The apparent leader turned to Mayura, "Stay out of this, Daidouji, or you're next."
"This isn't right!" she declared, "Why can't we all be friends?"
She walked right up to them, only to be shoved against the wall by another girl, who sneered at her, "Friends? With you freaks?" The girl yanked on her pink hair, "Try fittin' into normal society, and maybe we'll consider it." She let Mayura go, and their leader motioned for her comrades to follow her out of the place, leaving the apparent outcasts behind.
Mayura hurried over to the other girl, "Are you all right, Hel-chan?" She took a handkerchief from her pocket and started to wipe the girl's face dry.
"Th-Thank you," she whispered shyly, a faint blush across her cheeks.
The pink-haired girl smiled, "Let's go have lunch, ok?"
Hel-chan nodded, but a ringtone interrupted them from leaving. Mayura gave her an apologetic look before pulling out of her new mobile phone and answered it, and this gave Hel-chan the opportunity to study the girl in front of her. She couldn't deny the genuine warmth she felt from her, like a safe, protective cocoon had formed over her body, promising to never leave her alone.
Mayura pouted, "Mou, Loki-sama! ... I'm fine! ... Don't treat me like a child!"
The girl practically stomped her foot on the floor in protest, not that the caller would know, and Hel-chan giggled at the sight. Mayura looked at her and smiled, glad that the new girl was now feeling better, and then resumed fuming at the god checking up on her, "You know what, Loki-sama... You don't need to pick me up today... I'll be going out with my friend... No, it's not Koutaro-kun! And why do you keep calling him that (as in lover boy)? ... Anyway you're cutting into my lunch... Goodbye, Loki-sama."
Hel-chan smiled, "Was that... your boyfriend?"
Mayura blushed, feeling the racing heartbeat against her chest, and shook her head in attempt to also shake the strange sensation in her heart away, "Whaa, no way! He's a friend. An overbearing, motherly friend... who enjoys bullying me." She waved a hand in the air as if to forget about the whole thing, "Let's go eat! I'm so hungry!"
"Okay," came Hel-chan's soft, content reply.
"Ah Daidouji-san," Hel-chan called out, flustered at the speed her bubbly classmate walked.
Mayura stopped and turned around, nearly causing the girl to run right in to her, but Hel-chan braked in time, carrying an arm full of books, her glasses drooped down to the tip of her nose. She pushed them back up again and looked at Mayura, whose finger was waving at her in a scolding manner, "Now Hel-chan, what did I tell you to call me?"
"Ah um, Ma-Mayura-san," she blushed, adjusting her glasses again.
She sighed, "Oh I guess that will have to do!" She pulled the girl's arm along, side by side, as they left the school compound, with an afternoon snack in her mind, and what a great way to get to spend time with her new friend too. That would at least show Loki that she could live without him, like she did before they met, but the thought of his return to Asgard made her realize the inevitable, that one day he would leave her side, even if she had wished to be together forever.
It had been a selfish, childish wish, but she couldn't help but feel sad at that lingering thought.
She felt a tug of her sleeve and looked over, seeing Hel-chan staring at her with worried eyes, "Mayura-san, are you all right? You look so sad."
Mayura tried to smile, but the sorrow in her eyes were visible, "Iya, I'm fine... just thinking about the future."
"The future," she blinked and smiled, "Does it concern this... Loki-sama?"
"Eh!" she gaped at the shorter girl, "How do you know, Hel-chan?! Are you a psychic?!"
She blushed and giggled, "I just guessed." She tightened her hold on the books in her arms, pressing them against her chest, as her gaze fell to the ground, "The way you spoke to him, I felt... you two had a good connection."
Mayura's cheeks turned a similar shade of pink too as she smiled, thinking of all the memories she had made with Loki, "I hope so. He's very important to me." She then looked at Hel-chan with great determination, "So are you, Hel-chan! Starting today, you're my good friend! We'll make many memories together too!" She threw an energetic fist in to the air, "And our first memory will be delicious pastries!
"We march to paradise!" she declared, pointing ahead, and began to march down the street, oblivious to the weird looks people were giving her. Hel-chan giggled and hurried after the girl.
Loki was sprawled out on the couch that evening, after a long day of jaki hunting, which earned his team another nine spirits to the container. He looked at the clock and then continued to brood, time was slipping away, and Mayura was still not home yet.
When he heard the front door open and close, he got up and went in to the hallway, only to receive a wave from Narugami and a glare from Freyr. Not the one person he was hoping to be, he returned to the couch that probably had an imprint of his body in it by now. He checked Yamino's phone in case she called or sent a message, but nothing.
Ever since the call he made that afternoon, he had been worrying and thinking about her all day, almost hurt himself in the process when a jaki attacked. His sons figured they had to retire for the day if they still wanted a father around, and of course, their outing wasn't the same without Mayura - nothing like the family-like closeness they had from the day before, bringing a smile to his face.
He closed his eyes, hoping the mortal girl would hurry home, because he was not only bored, but he missed her too. He heard the front door open again, but he didn't budge this time, thinking it was probably Freya and Heimdall returning too, and he didn't need to encourage Freya in her continuous pursuit of him.
Oh, how that all changed when he heard her melodious voice echo through the house at her final return. He quickly sat up but didn't rush out to her, wanting to appear aloof... though Freyr's voice changed that, sounding hurried from upstairs, so he quickened his pace into the hallway and was able to snatch a surprised Mayura out of harm's way, letting Freyr miss his chance one more and fly straight in to the wall, right next to the old impression he made before.
"Welcome home, Mayura," Loki smiled, letting the flustered girl back down on her feet again.
"Ah, thank you." She glanced over to the dazed Freyr, "Freyr-sama, are you okay?"
"Y-Yes, Yamato Nadeshiko... Freyr is peachy..." After telling her that, he fell over with a loud thud.
"Freyr-sama!"
"Leave him be," Loki said dryly, "He could use the rest."
"Oh, how nice of you, Loki-sama," she grinned, "You're becoming a softie!"
He looked at her as if she just grew another head and pinched her cheek, "What was that?"
Fenrir ran out of the kitchen, barking, with an eager Gullinbursti right behind him, 'You're back!' He pawed her leg for attention, which she obliged to, picking her up and cuddling him in her arms. Fenrir stuck his tongue out to the fuming piglet and then turned to the girl, 'Did you bring me anything yummy?'
"Oh yes," she walked back to the door and picked up a small box, "I bought everyone dessert tonight."
"Bwee bweee?"
"Yes, even you, Gullinbursti!" she giggled.
Loki grabbed the box of pastries from her and held it at arm's length, away from her reach, as he leaned down to her face, holding her chin with his other hand, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
She furrowed her brows in confusion, searching in his eyes as if he held the answer if she looked hard enough, and even Fenrir stared at his father, wondering if the god had lost a few marbles too. She suddenly jerked back, with a surprised puppy, "AH!" She pointed at him, "You're tricking me, aren't you?!" She hurried upstairs, leaving a blinking, ever puzzled Loki to watch her disappear to the second floor, and all he wanted from her was to hear how she had missed him too.
"Bwee?"
Loki looked down at the piglet and shrugged, "Beats me."
Freyr was finally coming to again, but unfortunately, he was sitting near the front door which suddenly flung open again and smacked him unconscious once more. A pair of pissed off immortals, covered in mud, stomped in to the foyer, and Loki and Gullinbursti tried not to laugh at the two's misfortune.
Seeing the blonde god, Freya turned on the waterworks and held out her arms towards him, "Looo~kii~!"
Loki took a giant step to one side while Gullinbursti rolled away to the other, letting Freya slip by and right into Narugami, who was just exiting the kitchen, and a pile of messy immortals filled the hallway. Kazumi shook his head and hopped over them, heading upstairs to clean up.
If this was a prelude for the rest of the night, then dinner was certainly going to be interesting, because Loki was going to start it all, "So Heimdall, how did the two of you end up covered in mud?"
All faces turned to Kazumi and Freya, both pair of eyes began twitching at the memory, but neither wanted to relate the embarrassing story of chasing the jaki through a zoo and in a goat pen showdown. "Hey, at least we caught seven jaki today!" Kazumi boasted.
"Yes!" Freya smiled, batting her lashes in Loki's direction, "Aren't you proud, Loki?!"
"A-Ah," he just nodded, her smile seemed to glow brighter now in response, and he quickly looked away to spare his eyes from blindness.
"That's nothing!" Narugami started, shaking his chopsticks at them, "We had three attack us! Right, Freyr?" The said god just nodded, holding an ice pack to his head, while the swordsman continued, "It's a good thing we used Gullinbursti as decoy and jumped them! I wonder if jaki love pork or something."
Poor Gullinbursti paled at the mention of pork, and Fenrir snickered evilly, 'I don't blame 'em! Heh, love me some pork right now!'
"Mou!" Mayura sighed, "You guys are having so much fun without me!"
Narugami swallowed a big bite of meat and told her, "It's not easy as it looks, Daidouji."
She pouted, "Why don't you try being a high school student then!"
"Does it pay well?"
She blinked, "Wait. Narugami, how much is papa paying you?"
"Uh, no idea."
"..."
Loki frowned, "Shouldn't Narugami be paying to stay here?"
She shrugged, "Are you, Loki-sama?"
"Of course, I've paid in advance for three months, to cover Yamino's and mine." No need to tell them that he had sold Odin's gold ring for a lot of yen that could last him for a few decades on Midgard - though with the way Yamino had been making mail-order purchases, it would drastically cut into the account. He smiled secretly to himself as he sipped his tea and looked at the other gods, who sweatdropped and felt guilty for freeloading now.
Great, adding to the 'to do' list, they now had to get jobs to pay their lodging fees. They all sighed, sharing one single thought: returning to Asgard was now such a far away goal.
Notes: There we go. Just an average chapter here, sorta explains the living expenses here, lol. Maybe I'll do another filler with the gods on their jobs and maybe their rooming situation because the Daidouji home doesn't have a gazillion rooms!
And as you can see, Hel-chan is introduced. She will start the last subplot, so not many chapters left, unless I decide to throw in some filler pieces, lol. Until next week! Have a good weekend! *smiles* -kuro.