- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.
Ah, My Loki-sama!
written by Kurosu
- Chapter Thirty-One.
"Mou, this is tough!" she mumbled to herself, eyes focused on her textbook.
Mayura, attempting to concentrate on the rest of her math homework, couldn't understand why Masamichi could only carry seven apples in his crate and only two crates could be fitted on the back of his bicycle, and he had to deliver 371 apples to the local fruit stand within two hours, and the total route would take him at least fifteen minutes, so how many could he deliver within that time frame and how much would the leftover apples cost him if five apples were priced at 200 yen?
After five minutes of rereading the paragraph, she threw up her papers and pencil into the air, giving up on frying any more of her brain cells that beautiful afternoon.
Loki, at his desk, peered up from his book to the little scene and chuckled. He placed his book down and rested his elbows on the armrests, clasping his hands together over his lap. "Mayu-chan, would you like some help?" he inquired with an innocent smile.
She looked up at him and sweatdropped, recalling the last time he did help, he found her most ticklish spots, and right now, she didn't need any distractions, especially from him, but she just couldn't avoid the burning gaze he was giving her, as if hypnotized by those sexy pools of green.
PIN-POO~N~!
Mayura praised the doorbell, standing up, shouting with glee, "It must be a client!"
While Loki quietly cursed the bad timing, they were both silent, listening to any movements from the first floor to indicate any visitors, from Yamino's greeting to footsteps climbing the staircase. They watched the door like hawks, eyeing the turning of the knob and the opening of the wooden panel, and Yamino sweatdropped at the intense eyes from the detective and his assistant burning holes in to him.
The girl blinked, not seeing anyone with Yamino, but she thought she heard voices. She opened her mouth to ask, but her answer came in the form of a shy, little boy peeking from behind Yamino. He appeared about eleven or twelve years old, around the same age of Loki's child form. She hopped out of her seat on the couch and greeted the child, "Hello there!"
Yamino introduced the boy, "This is Kitagawa Shirou. He wanted to see you, Loki-sama. Mayura-san."
"H-Hello," Shirou bowed, bashfully.
Mayura took the boy's hand, "Have a seat, Shirou-chan!" She had him sit on the couch and joined him, while Loki stood up from his chair and walked around his desk to join Mayura and Shirou, on the opposite couch. Yamino gave a curt bow, before excusing himself to bring the refreshments.
Loki looked at the child for a bit, making him uncomfortable, because he was sitting next to Mayura, maybe a little too close, but there was no way the god would be jealous of a little boy. But the more he eyed the pair, he noticed that Mayura had unexpectedly gotten attached to the youngster, giving him little compliments and gushing at his cuteness, which puzzled the god.
He coughed for their attention, "What can we help you with, Shirou?"
"Ah, yes," he was still blushing from being next to a pretty, older girl, "I would like to hire you."
"Is your puppy possessed by an angry ghost?!"
"Um no, nee-san," he sweatdropped, "You see, there's a game at the local arcade that's gotten people sick."
"Sick?"
"People have fainted after playing," he said quietly and looked at the floor, "My two best friends are in the hospital after passing out yesterday."
"That's so mysterious!" Mayura exclaimed.
The boy nodded, "That's why I would like you to look into it. Um, I can't really pay for your help," he dug in to his pocket and pulled out a few coins, "but I still have my snack money." He offered them the money, looking worried and shy.
The girl stared at him, starry-eyed, and hugged him, "There's no way we're taking your money! We'll do it for free! You're just so cute!" Still cuddling the boy to her bosom, she looked over to a stiff, simmering Loki who tried his best to smile, "Right, Loki-sama!"
"Of course," the corner of his lips twitching slightly, he expected this of Mayura's kindness and had no complaints, but the sooner they solve this, the faster the boy would disappear from her arms and leave his Mayura for himself. Yep, no way, no how, was he envious of the child pressed against her chest. He was in control, his emotions and twitchy hands were in control...
"Eheheheh..."
A proud Hilin stood at the entrance of the arcade center, arms over her chest, as she mentally patted herself on the back at the ingenious plan. The crowd of people excused themselves and pushed by her and a morose Gina, wondering why the pretty women were blocking everyone's way into the game place if they didn't plan on entering.
"This operation will succeed!" she laughed, "Baldur-sama loves a good game!"
"Hilin-san," Gina started, "is this the type of game Baldur-sama would play?"
"How could he not?" she stared unbelievably at her ally, pointing at a random customer, "Everyone is having a lot of fun, so why shouldn't this attract Baldur-sama!"
"I don't know," she began twiddling her thumbs, "I don't know what Baldur-sama likes... but Frigg-sama..." her eyes glazed over as she began to rattle off the queen's hobbies, "She loves gardening... and painting... singing... she has such a lovely voice... then there's needlepoint," she became so excited at this point, hyperventilating a bit, "she even has a stack of needlepoint magazines in the bathroom..."
Hilin made a weird, disgusted expression, "That's a bit creepy to know about Frigg-sama, even if it's coming from you, Gina..."
She tried to forget the overjoyed look in the woman's large eyes as she scanned the area, searching for their missing comrade. After finding the familiar blonde head, she slapped her forehead since Fullia was now the center of attention, at one of the driving simulation games, just hitting an all-time highest record.
And the crowd erupted in cheers.
Later that afternoon, Shirou took Loki and Mayura to the game center, leaving Fenrir at home since the group had left in a hurry and didn't partake of the refreshments so said puppy had a cookie binge, putting him out of commission for the next few hours. They arrived at the specific game center that had caused the fainting spells, but they were surprised that the bad health issue had not deterred people from it.
Shirou believed the number of people had increased from the day before, if not triple, gathering around a corner of the center, though the entrance was filled with so many teenagers and even adults of the male variety, shoving about like animals fighting for a spot to see all the action. It was so packed that the three couldn't even get their foot through the door.
Mayura sighed and asked Shirou, "Is this normal?"
He shook his head, "I think this is the first time it's packed."
"We can't do anything right now," Loki shrugged, "Let's take a break till it dies down."
They all agreed and made their way down the street and crossed to the other side where a few street vendors were, having ignored the real reason the place was packed.
A new rise to the ever popular and skilled gamer, Fullia was making her debut in the mortal realm, hitting all the top scores of every single game at the arcade, earning her a groupie of fanboys and also another slap to Hilin's own forehead at the discovery, "I cannot believe the ridiculousness of that fool!"
"But Hilin-san," Gina pointed out to the males surrounding their blonde ditz, "she's drawing in a lot of people. Maybe Baldur-sama will be among them."
"You have a good point!" she cracked her knuckles, "Let's flush these pigs out and find our beloved Baldur-sama!"
A few blocks away from all the action, Narugami was bicycling down the street for another delivery run, almost running over several people in the process and passing by a random game center that a familiar face was just exiting. With both gloved hands stuffed into his pockets, he dragged himself out of the arcade and in to the day light. He looked up to the bright skies, shielding his one eye from the sun beaming down upon him.
Heimdall couldn't believe he was back on Midgard again and in the pathetic body of a child too, like some cruel god was playing a joke on him, another god! He felt like he could only blame that accursed Loki for his terrible misfortunes, and somehow, he was sure that trickster had something to do with it!
Loki sneezed, wondering if someone was just cursing him just now.
"Loki-sama, are you okay?" Mayura asked, looking at him worriedly.
He smiled and reassured her that his health was perfect because he was just that awesome and great, to which she just rolled her eyes and looked down to her lap. His arm was rested on the stretch of the bench behind her, and she was oblivious of that hand falling onto her shoulder as she was in the middle of deciding which mochi flavor cake to try next, the box of cakes sitting in her lap. She sat between Loki and Shirou on the bench, across the street from their targeted arcade center.
Shirou was still nibbling his red-bean mochi, eyes focused on the game center, so she picked up the strawberry-filled jelly mochi and brought it towards her mouth, only to have Loki grab her hand and moved it towards his mouth while the arm around her shoulder pushed her closer to him. He took a bite of her mochi, leaving half of it in her hand, and her jaw dropped at his bold action, though nothing like this should surprise her anymore.
"Loki-sama," she grumbled, glaring at him.
He feigned innocence, his hand still holding hers, "What? You're not going to finish it?"
And with a huff, she plopped the half eaten mochi into her mouth, but he still didn't remove his hand from hers and brought it again to his mouth, pressing the powdered pads of her fingers against his lips. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she suddenly shoved her other hand against his cheek, pushing his face away before he could lick her fingers, because it was just too embarrassing in public, and so many eyes were watching them - the majority of them were his stalkers, though half had fainted by now at the intimacy.
She retreated both hands back to her lap, quickly glancing over to Shirou to make sure he didn't see what had almost transpired, and thank goodness kids were more interested in games and food. She suddenly tensed at Loki's spiked aura of annoyance and nervously smiled when she found his hand pinching her cheek, having felt unsatisfied by her abandonment.
"Mou Loki-sama!" she whined for him to release her face, "We're in public!"
"Oh? You'll have no qualms about it at home?"
"Whose home?!"
He laughed, because she wasn't objecting the playful idea at all but worried over which house he was going to tease her at, and the thought of Mayura-papa catching them in a compromising position brought out the mischievous god in him. But when little things like this went too well, something bad was bound to happen to counteract the balance of the world.
"Ah!" Shirou stood up and pointed across the street, "Something's happening!"
They sweatdropped as they watched young men being thrown airborne out of the arcade center, like puny, undersized fish being discarded from a fishing boat - funny, how, after landing on the sidewalk, they started flopping around like helpless, little creatures.
Loki stood up as did the other two, but Mayura handed the box of mochi cakes to Shirou and told him, "Shirou-chan, please stay here and wait for us. We'll solve this mystery for you!"
The god turned to her too, looking very serious, "Mayura, you stay here too."
She pouted, "Loki-sama-"
He cupped her face, giving her a warning look that told her that he wasn't going to have any arguments, "There're too many people, and I don't want you getting hurt." That, and who knew what sort of pervert was going to be all touchy-feely when a cute, defenseless girl was in the vicinity. He knew from his own fortunate experiences, but call him a 'pervert' and one might be cursed to be female repellent for the rest of one's lifetime and the next.
"If you behave," he grinned, "I'll give you a nice reward tonight."
After seeing her flushed reaction, he chuckled and hurried across the street, leaving an irritated, embarrassed Mayura shouting after him, "NO THANKS!"
Shirou remarked, "Nee-san, you and tantei-san have a good relationship."
Mayura's left eye twitched, but her face was still red, "Please Shirou-chan."
She didn't deny the boy's words, his innocent observation of their friendship and closeness, but she didn't need to actually hear it from people because it was just too embarrassing when she felt like he enjoyed bullying her more than anything - that sadist! And maybe, just maybe she liked it... a tiny bit. So, did that make her a masochist?!
At that thought and realization, Mayura sat back down on the bench, dropping her head in to both hands, groaning loudly, and Shirou blinked, puzzled, "Nee-san, are you okay?"
She waved a hand casually at him, "Y-Yes, just a small headache..."
Loki, being such a gentleman, was about to lose his patience with this crowd of ill-mannered mortals, but the commotion in the middle of the game center caught his attention immediately, and he shoved his way in, not caring for the protests and complaints at his boorish behavior. He made it to the front of the crowd to witness a battle unto death, or whoever captured the most prizes from the UFO claw machine within the thirty minute time frame, to ultimately win the grand prize of them all: the mysterious and all-powerful Eye of God.
That would explain why Heimdall was back on Midgard, but to see him in his child form dueling against a cute blonde in a childish game was very amusing. If only Yamino had been there to record the opportunistic black mail bit with his mail ordered camcorder, but he guessed as long as he was there to witness it, it was just as good.
Heimdall glared at his competition, "I've warned you to back off! The grand prize is mine!"
The blonde airhead pouted, ready to start the game, "Fullia wants the prizey-wizey too!" She pointed to her forehead, with a toothy grin, "I want a third eye! So I can be all psychic-like!"
He ground his teeth, his patience wearing very thin, and he couldn't cause a scene on Midgard, much less kill this woman and the many witnesses present. He was about to face-palm when he caught a glimpse of someone laughing, and god, how could the day get any worse. The one person he didn't want to run in to was already there, watching him make a fool of himself.
"Loki," he growled
"Heimdall," he returned amicably as possible without throwing out a fireball at the sore eye that was Heimdall's twitchy one eye, "Perhaps I should wish you a 'good luck'?"
He grumbled something inaudible as the manager counted the two contestants off in the race for the Eye of God!
Cue fancy, pop-like, hyper, spazzed out music as the competition was under way! Oh no need, the groups over by the Dance Dance Revolution game were happy to provide the intense, background music to a wonderful showdown. One pop song after another, sugary-filled, seizure-inducing to the point of cavities that dentists and doctors were overjoyed to deal with, raking in a ton of money.
The battle was fierce - captivating and flashy, with splits screens of determined faces, including dramatic lightning bolts in the background, and eyes that were focused on the task at hand. Heimdall gritted his teeth, the sweat pouring down the side of his face, his hands skillfully operating the buttons and joystick, while Fullia was all smiles, humming to herself, as she navigated the stick like stirring a pot of okayu, and a few bowls of rice porridge sure sounded good right now.
Five minutes later, Heimdall was cursing at the penguin slipping off of the claws again, setting the score at three to seven. He glared over to the chirpy blonde, whose tongue now poked between her lips as she put some effort in to concentrating, which was amazing to begin with since her attention span was as long as a sneeze. But at this rate, Heimdall would totally lose, so he had to think of something, quickly.
Loki was soon bored with watching the morons fight over the mysterious Eye of God, so he wandered off, searching for the arcade game that caused health problems, from one corner to the next. He found nothing out of the ordinary besides the many expressionless faces of youth being hypnotized by the mindless box of colorful graphics and violence. His eyes darted over to the DDR section, and he sweatdropped at the quick movements of feet to the music, thinking how he was not an idiot to make a fool of himself with such silly games.
He continued on, heading to a more darker area of the arcade, but the bright flashing from the monitors provided a source of light, almost giving a headache for even looking too long. He sighed and watched a kid rub his eyes for a few seconds and continue to play his game, his eyes droopy and dreary like two lifeless orbs in his skull.
He was just glad his kids were all grown-up and not have to deal with this type of unhealthy hobby, but then again Yamino had been ordering too many things by mail lately, and if Fenrir didn't stop eating so much, he might need to go on a diet. However old his children were, they would always still be kids at heart, and he smiled at the thought.
Well, at least he could tell Shirou that the game didn't drain his friends of their life force, or something so cheesy and lame, and just advise them and all these gamers that they just need to quit playing so much, to limit the chance of falling ill. They just need to play outside, under the refreshing sun, more often!
With the case closed, he started to head back out, only to stop by the contest to see how Heimdall was faring, and he was surprised that the one-eyed god had caught up, at a score of 17 to 18, and only three minutes left in the game.
That last few minutes had become frenzied and a bit scary as the two participants' expressions had turned into raging, psychotic spasms in their facial muscles. Back and forth, a prized was earned for each side, until the final bell buzzed, temporarily deafening everyone's ears, and the score ended up with Fullia as champion by one point, and this was with Heimdall's little cheating in using the bit of shadow in the box to up his chances of grabbing the objects.
Angry at losing, Heimdall kicked the machine over, scaring the crowds who quickly scattered away, but Fullia was too oblivious, excited with all the small prizes she had collected, including the grand prize which the manager was about to hand out.
Heimdall pointed his finger at them, demanding the grand prize, "I should've done this from the start! NOW GIVE THE EYE TO ME! IT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE!"
The manager and Fullia, in the middle of handing a paper ticket to the winner, blinked at the upset child that was Heimdall, as he sweatdropped. Loki laughed and patted his head, "Heimdall, I had no idea you wanted to see a magical show so badly." He tapped his chin in thought, "Though the mysterious Eye of God is a very catchy title for mortal's stage name."
"Shut up, Loki."
"Fullia!" came Hilin's yell over the crowds, "Did you find Baldur-sama?!"
She shoved her way through the people, not caring if she had injured them, with Gina right at her heels. She did a double take when she saw Loki and Heimdall standing there and pointed a shaky finger at them, "YOU! You evil god!"
"Ah, fancy meeting you here," Loki grinned, and with a flash, Laevateinn appeared in his hands.
Heimdall folded his arms over his chest, asking, "Old friends of yours, Loki?"
"Not quite. But I wouldn't mind sitting down for a cup of tea as we discuss things peacefully."
"Fat chance!" Hilin cried, readying her mop for a fight, while Gina searched her sleeves for her weapon and Fullia tucked her grand prize ticket to the Eye of God show down in her bra and pulled out two feather dusters, one for each hand. "We will die before revealing any of Frigg-sama's secrets! Like turning Midgard upside-down to search for Baldur-sama!"
The two gods sweatdropped and exchanged tiresome glances, and Loki just waved Laevateinn at them, and a blast of fire toasted their weapons and the women themselves, scorching their bodies, clothes and pride. Yes, Loki was just too powerful for the three of them, and of course, they resorted to their escape plan a la smoke bomb again - well, three smoke bombs this time - which created a huge smoke hazard and set off the center's sprinklers and alarms.
Mass chaos ensued as everyone pushed their way out of the game center, leaving a very unhappy and wet god named Loki, with his equally unhappy and wet god sidekick named Heimdall.
Mayura and Shirou hurried to the arcade entrance, standing off to the side, so they wouldn't get trampled, to try and see what had caused the hysteria, but they couldn't see anything through the smoke and water. They try to stop a few people running by them, but no one would tell her what happened in there, scared for their own lives. Worried and panicking, Mayura didn't care for her safety and rushed inside, with a frightened Shirou calling after her.
"Loki-sama!" she called out to him, in between the fits of coughing, "Loki-sama! Where are you?!"
She could see outlines of objects and did her best to avoid them, feeling her way through the thick smoke, eventually getting herself wet in the process since the sprinkler system was still on. Drenched and cold, she wasn't giving up until she found Loki, until she felt his warmth with her touch and know that he was still real and alive. She brushed a hand through her wet hair, calling out his name frantically, the fear of losing him beating in her chest.
"Loki-sama!" she cried, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, "Hngh... Loki-sama..."
She coughed, leaning against a machine, and wiped the water from her eyes, oblivious of the pair of hands reaching out from the haze, behind her. The arms encircled her waist, and she gasped as they pulled her back, against a firm chest. She almost resisted until his soothing voice burned against her ear, "Mayura..."
"Loki-sama!" she shouted happily, turning to face him within his embrace. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her head against his chest, repeatedly thanking god (which one?) that he was all right. He smiled, content with the warmth of her body and her apparent feelings for him, and basked in the attention the mortal girl was giving him.
So about fifteen minutes later, when an unwilling Loki had to part from hugging Mayura and any chance of groping her, they were bidding farewell to a grateful Shirou, who waved them in the distance and made his way home. Both were still soaked from head to toe, but the fresh air had helped, just not enough in the short amount of time because Mayura's school top was uh, a wet, see through white, so after a few seconds of taking in her sexy image, Loki dropped his coat on to her shoulders and pulled the front together.
"Loki-sama?" she questioned his actions, feeling a little warmer now with the protection.
He looked away and sighed, "Can't have you walking home like that."
She blinked, not understanding what he meant, but it was Heimdall's voice that interrupted their cute moment, scoffing at the pair, "This is why you returned?"
She turned around and gasped, "Kazumi-kun! You're back too?!"
He closed his eye and rubbed his temple, "Not that I wanted to..."
Loki chuckled, having figured out the reason Heimdall was on Midgard, "He lost his eye again."
"Again?!" Mayura stared at the small god, brows shot right up to her hairline, and sighed, "Kazumi-kun is very clumsy. You can't keep losing your eye like that. It's very important to have all your body parts together..."
Having to listen to the mortal girl reprimand and lecture him and Loki laughing at him, Heimdall regretted returning to Midgard, but this was for the sake of his right eye! So he would have to suck it in and deal with it, and maybe kill them all after he got his eye back.
Notes: Lol, I originally had a different ending where Mayura was playing DDR and her dancing *coughs* becomes way too distracting for Loki. It would've been hilarious, but I kinda like the touching reunion better.
But seriously, Heimdall needs to get his things together... losing his eye again! At least it wasn't Loki's fault this time, but the future black mail material is unforgivable! Lol.
And kudos to those who recognize the El Hazard series reference!
I'll be having oodles of fun with the next chapter. *grins* -kuro.