- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.

Ah, My Loki-sama!

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Twenty-Four.

Cue a montage of Mayura and her makeshift family spending some quality time together, doing some walking here and there throughout the mall, which Loki didn't seem to mind anymore, seeing his children enjoying it as much as he did in the company of one mortal girl.

"Ne Yamino-san!" Mayura called, pointing to what appeared to be a super-ultra-deluxe vacuum cleaner in the window display of an appliance store, "look at this!"

The demi-god pressed his face against the window, trembling with excitement, his heavy breathing fogged up the area of glass in front of him in an almost creepy way, as he gazed at the most beautiful piece of technology in existence. Mayura started to read the description of the equipment, "Oh! It's the new upgraded version. It'll even clean kitchen messes!"

At that lovely piece of information, the two shared a look of wonder between them and then glanced over to Fenrir, who was trying to get Loki to take him over to the cotton candy and snacks stand, but it was Hel-chan who picked him up, puffing some air out in annoyance, to get her bangs out of her face, "Geez aniki, will you chill for a second. Let's wait for Mayu-chan and Jormu-ani!" *

Loki smiled in agreement, "We have all day, Fenrir."

Yamino said excitedly, "Mayura-san, let me go place an order! I'll be right back."

He hurried away, while Mayura returned to the others, in time to hear Hel-chan suddenly gasp and blush. She raised a curious brow, "What's wrong, Hel-chan?"

"Aah..." She shrunk back, hanging her head so low that her shallow breaths brushed over Fenrir's fur. Loki stared at his daughter with such a soft and gentle expression that the nearby stalkers fainted to the ground, because he knew that Hel-chan had returned to normal.

Mayura bent over to the flustered girl, examining the rapid change of coloration of her skin, and placed a hand on her forehead, "You're very warm, Hel-chan! Are you all right?"

"Aah, Mayura-san!" her head snapped up, and her face flushed completely red, "I-I'm okay!" She squeezed her brother a bit too tightly in her arms, causing him to yelp in surprise, "I'm so sorry! I've... I've been such an embarrassment!" She couldn't believe what she did in the past twenty-four hours in her powerless state, which wasn't that powerless after all, considering how rough and tough she was with everyone.

And to think how aggressive she had become when it came to Mayura and her father, attempting to push them together, she wanted to shrivel up back to the Underworld... Well, not really because she was having a wonderful time with her family, even if she were to almost die of embarrassment! Hell... Hel - she was the goddess and ruler of the Underworld!

Hel-chan suddenly gasped and found herself being hugged by Mayura, and the girl said to her, "Good... I'm glad Hel-chan is all right." Mayura seemed to have figured out that Hel-chan had returned to normal, "Whether Hel-chan is quiet and shy or yelling and being cool, kicking butt and taking names, I still like Hel-chan! All of Hel-chan!" She pulled back and gave her a sweet smile, "So just smile and have fun!"

The bashful goddess nodded and smiled, all the while still flushed from all the warm feelings in her chest. Fenrir, after getting the air squeezed out of him, was happy to have his sister back too, even if he did like the more aggressive side kicking Freya's ass, and grinned, 'Now, Hel, why don't you get your awesome, big brother some snacks!'

"Yes, ani-ue!" she almost saluted to her brother's command.

Fenrir lifted his head proudly as his sister willingly brought him over to the snack stand, pleased that, being the oldest child, he was able to boss around his younger siblings so easily. Despite his current size and level of cuteness, he was still the older, badass one.

Mayura couldn't help but smile at the cute scene, but right after that, she felt the sudden weight of another person and said person's arms wrapped around her shoulders. His head rested on her right shoulder, and she pouted after giving him a glance, "Mou, Loki-sama, Fenrir really takes after you."

"How cute and charming he is?" he chuckled, his warm breath burned her ear, and she shuddered at their closeness.

She puffed her cheeks out, "No, he somehow gets his way."

Loki laughed and pressed his lips to her temple, and she blushed, feeling her heartbeat quickening, and found the floor rather interesting at this point, "Ne Loki-sama..."

"Hm?"

He found her shyness very charming and cute, a breath of fresh air from all the extremes - from Freya's aggressive, clingy pursuit to the many female mortals' distant stalking as if he was a celebrity they could only worship from afar - but this was who Mayura was, an honest and pure girl who was a bit clumsy and slow at times but ever observant and understanding when it came to one's feelings, though being mortal could bring some insecurities.

"Are you... happy?" she peered over to him, almost twisting herself in his embrace so she could see his eyes fully, searching for the truth in his enchanting, emerald orbs that had playfully captured her interest since their first encounter.

They had come such a long way from being mere strangers to something a little more than friends, but she knew Loki was important to her. So being someone in her heart, she wanted to make sure that he was happy with the life on Midgard, even if the haunting thought of him one day returning to his home world still lingered in the back of her mind. She never dwelled on the past nor wanted to think of a future that could change because living in the moment was the best feeling one could ever ask for.

"You silly girl," he chuckled, "Can't you tell by looking?"

She stared at him for a moment, having already found her answer before she even asked the question, and smiled, her eyes twinkling with joy and her sweet feelings for him. Her gaze was so beautiful, so ethereal - nothing he had ever seen before, not even the goddesses of Asgard possessed such a lovely soul - that he couldn't help himself, taking her face within his hands. He leaned down to her flawless, heart-shaped face with a captivated expression - mesmerizing, crimson eyes wide and inviting, pink lips parted in awe.

'Ah Hel! My chocolate-coconut candies!' Fenrir whined, followed by a loud crash of some heavy bags that came from a blushing Yamino, who finally rejoined his family after making a few purchases from the appliance store. He was stunned by the public display of affection - that no one dare questioned nor looked in disgust because it was squealingly cute and and sweet - to the point that he had accidentally dropped the bags. Yamino's bad habit of dropping things when in shock was evidently genetic since a completely red Hel-chan also dropped Fenrir's candies, and luckily, it was not the dog himself.

Unfortunately, Mayura had turned her face in Fenrir's and Hel-chan's direction, so Loki's lips ended up on her cheek instead.

"Ani-ue," she cried, thinking how her brother had such bad timing, ruining their father's precious moment that almost had her going in to her secret giddy fangirl mode.

'But, but my candies!'

Yamino and Hel-chan sweatdropped at their eldest brother's childish complaints.

While Mayura could hear Loki's groan of disappointment, her focus returned to him as his head dropped on her shoulder, leaning into the crook of her neck, his breath still warm upon hers, and she drew in a sharp breath at their intimacy. He smiled, taking in her intoxicating fragrance, his lips so close to her fair skin that he could just run his tongue over it, but he settled for a feathery kiss instead.

With a sigh, Loki finally lifted himself from her and stared at her blushing form, like a wide-eyed deer caught in headlights, as she held a hand to her neck, the spot where he had dared to kiss her so intimately, pushing the boundaries of their once platonic relationship.

Not sure what to say or how to respond, Mayura ducked her eyes away from him, still rubbing the warm spot on her neck, and hurried over to Hel-chan and her brothers. She felt a satisfied, smirking Loki falling right behind her footsteps as they approached his kids. She busied herself with reprimanding Fenrir about his sweet tooth as she took him into her arms, and the puppy barked at her, 'No! Even if you're daddy's girlfriend, you can't stop me!'

After a brief silence, Mayura pouted, "That's not funny, Fenrir."

The puppy tilted his head curiously at her while Loki laughed, tugging one of her cheeks, annoying her even further, "Kids are honest, aren't they?"

Yamino coughed in an attempt to hide his grin while Hel-chan shyly smiled, looking elsewhere, as she assisted her second brother with carrying his purchases.

In the distance, several more women fainted that afternoon, and one could hear the sounds of several emergency medic response units, in the background chaos, arriving at the mall. Hel-chan noticed the large crowds off to the side that had gathered around the unconscious women and tugged on Yamino's sleeve and pointed to the scene. Yamino sweatdropped at the familiar stalking women and shook his head, pressing his free hand at the small of his sister's back and guiding her after the others, who were completely oblivious to all that was around them.

With the family reunited, they continued forward with many other places in mind, enjoying their time together and ignoring everything around them...

Even oblivously walking by a busy Freyr, who was walking around with a bunch of flowers in his arms that covered his vision, so he was pretty much walking around blindly, trying to deliver said flowers, because he somehow managed to get a florist delivery boy gig - who in their right mind would hire this handsome, clumsy, nut job? Probably the sympathetic grandmother who owned the floral shop.

The ever faithful Gullinbursti was right by his master's side, directing the young man on where to walk, but the rain of loose petals and leaves was a sign of bad things to come. A leaf drifted down to the piglet's head, on to his snout, and he blessed the mall with a very loud sneeze, that grabbed everyone's attention and knocked him into Freyr's foot. The domino effect ended with the god falling down and the twenty-something bouquets flew straight in to the air and right down on them.

The mall janitorial crew, who had witness the incident, sighed and went to grab the cart to clean up the huge mess, but the day was far from over, and future chaos was set to send them resigning from their jobs soon.

The group of five were heading up the escalator to the third floor, but if one paid close attention to two floors below, where another interesting group of people were now the new focus of spectators. A mass of young, handsome men, who were mostly coworkers, surrounded a certain blonde-haired goddess, vying for her affections, but said goddess was just baiting them along and basking in all the attention she was receiving.

It almost reminded her of Asgard, though the many gods that courted her there would fall into a competition on who could conjure up the best gift in all of the Nine Worlds for her. Whichever gift she chose, that god would be the winner and marry the (in)famous goddess, though she accepted all of their lovely presents, continuously stringing them all along.

Who said she couldn't do the same in Midgard, but every time she looked in to her crowd of admirers, she always hoped to pick out a certain blonde god among them, but alas, he was not there. Curse that Loki, the one being in all the Nine Worlds that she could not seduce.

But she wouldn't allow that single oddity to ruin her day of adoration by others. Yes, she still had her many, many endless fish in the sea, who were willing to worship the dirt road she walked upon and the puppy crap that her heel stepped in...

Moving on, if one were to look further below the first floor, down to the next basement level of the food court, one could see a peculiar, giant cow roaming about, handing out free samples to the passersby. For those who just wanted to enjoy the afternoon with their significant other, it was quite difficult because of the very persistent cow, whose goal was to deliver the tasty cube of meat on a toothpick to every single customer in the area.

Yes, Narugami, with his new part-time job, did not take no for an answer, and all those who did, not only faced the wrathy smile of the god of thunder but was chased down by a crazy, smiling god in a big, fluffy cow suit, who, over a mere four hours, happened to have grown a fanclub whose adoration was of a cow costume donning, bokken-wielding bishounen.

He stuffed a hand full of meaty cubes into his mouth and threw the rest at the fanatic girls, in an attempt to escape, which he was amazingly able to do so even in the cow costume that would hinder a lot of people, but he was a god. A cow costume wearing god hopped over several tables, with the agility and grace of a gazelle, muttering, "I need a new job..."

Narugami ran by a content Kazumi, with Gjallar the falcon perched on his shoulder, eating takoyaki as a snack. The gust of air almost blew the two right in to the fountain, but the kid's flailing arms did not help and went kerplunk into the water. Gjallar flew out of a wet harm's way, leaving a very annoyed and not dry Kazumi to curse his terrible luck. He couldn't even get a peaceful afternoon to himself without trouble, but it was expected when the gods gathered in one place.

Thankfully, the corporation that owned the mall had very good insurance on it.

"Ah!" came Mayura's happy surprise. She smiled, delighted at her discovery, and tugged on Hel-chan's arm, for her to come along. The girls walked over to one of those popular purikura photo booths that were scattered across the mall, with cutesy advertisement of the small contraption plaster all over the outer shell to entice these types of young female customers to fall prey to the almighty existence of modern day consumerism. **

Loki and Yamino followed them, while Fenrir, still in Mayura's arms, sniffed at the booth suspiciously, 'Is this some mortal trap?'

"Silly Fenrir," the mortal giggled, "You get your pictures taken here." She lifted the small curtain, allowing a peek into the booth with a cleared area for a few people to stand and a large screen on the opposite side, "See, this is where you enter and pose for the camera.

"Let's get ours taken, Hel-chan!" she insisted with a big smile and pulled the hesitant Hel-chan into the booth, leaving the men to exchange curious glances.

Mayura inserted the required amount of coins and pressed a few selections on the screen. A few cute poses here and there with the two, and even Fenrir was getting in on the action, first appearing confused and then proudly puffed his chest out for a tougher look.

Suddenly, an inquisitive Loki poked his head inside and surprised the girls, earning a more hilarious snapshot of Mayura pouting in his direction while he grinned down at her. He fully entered the booth, making himself comfortable right behind the girls, making that the fourth snapshot. Hel-chan then called for Yamino to join them, and the young man poked his head inside and was dragged in the rest of the way by an ecstatic Mayura, "Okay, everyone smile!"

Right after the fifth one of everyone posing normally and smiling beautifully, Loki surprised all of them by mischievously grabbing Mayura's cheeks from behind and pulling them in opposite directions with her frowning in protest, and the others laughed. A few more snapshots captured Mayura lecturing a naughty Loki, who continued to smirk at the girl, while Hel-chan and Yamino just sweatdropped and Fenrir's eyes stared at one of the cameras suspiciously, wondering aloud if their souls would be taken. Hel-chan explained that it was not true, just being a myth from olden times.

Seeing that her words had no effect on him but maybe actions would, Mayura, blushed at remembering what happened between them moments ago, decided that this was the best time to get revenge. She smiled and leaned up to Loki, whose brows rose high, and gave him a soft peck on the cheek. Hel-chan flushed a faint red while Yamino, just as flustered as his sister, looked away with embarrassment, and Fenrir was too busy glaring down the camera.

And that snapshot ended their photo session.

* Aniki is an informal way of saying "older brother," used a lot among yakuza member towards a senior or older member as respect. Ani also means "older brother."

** Purikura is short for purinto kurabu meaning "print club," which are those photo booths in Japan that takes cute photos and prints them out on sticker sheets, lol.

Notes: Omg, I think I'm dying from overload of cuteness, lol. I honestly didn't think the MayuLoki scenes would take up most of the chapter. I had planned some mall action, but I guess that's shifting into the next one. Oh, but I did enjoy the photo booth session! I just thought it was so cute! It was the highlight of the chapter for me, lol.

And I just love writing Hel-chan! She's so adorable, and then she kicks ass as a sadist, lol. Okay, I'm weird... Thanks! -kuro.