A/N:
Ahahaha. So I'm not dead. Yay?
Sorry I've not been posting. It was totally not on purpose, really. I just sorta fell out of the Mondaiji fandom for a while, and there was school, and exams, and CCA, and I didn't wanna post crappy work, so I took longer to write this chappie. Sorry. I'm back now, though, and I'm hoping - no promises - that I'll be able to post chapter five this June. No promises.
Thank you all you amazing, wonderful people who reviewed and followed and favourited and reminded me that I still had this story and I wasn't allowed to forget that.
Terrorist
The Igauzu Falls plunge pool was cool and white, frothing with rapid currents, and for any normal human, jumping in would've definitely been deadly.
Grinning a feral, excited grin, Izayoi gave thanks once again that he was no normal human, and threw himself into the pool.
It was amazing.
It was so beautiful, unlike anything Izayoi had ever seen in his life. Light filtered through the water, casting emerald shadows that danced on the aquamarine riverbank. Water roared as it slammed into the pool nearby, throwing the light around so that the shadows flitted around, like the fish that darted by Izayoi's head. Water plants, lush and green, swayed in the current below him, and Izayoi caught sight of an eel poking its head from behind one of the fronds.
It was magnificent, and so mysterious. Surely, surely, in a place like this, he'd be able to find the demon? He grinned, excited, and swam deeper, until the light had dimmed and pressure was building in his ears, until the shadows were no longer emerald but a murky, ominous darkness.
But no matter how he searched, nothing remotely resembled a demon.
Izayoi felt his hopes shatter, leaving him horribly, awfully disappointed, an empty, cold feeling building in the ruins of his excitement, and he frowned, swimming back to the surface. He stared at his hand in the refracted light of the pool - sunbeams danced across his small palm, and he wondered, distantly, if he'd ever find anything that'd be able to fight on par with him.
The world was so boring, he thought, allowing himself to surface. The current carried him down the river, slow and relaxing and somewhat soothing.
Oh. The hag was sitting on a blue cloth by the riverbank, and Izayoi drifted past her after - an hour? Ten minutes? A moment? - of drifting on his back, and he flipped over, wading back to shore with his face still set in a scowl.
Canaria smiled, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a towel, which was a matching blue - was that her favourite colour or something? - before proceeding to fight a losing battle: attempting to dry Izayoi's hair.
Her hands were gentle as she worked, fingers in the towel treading through his soaked hair and rubbing carefully at his scalp - Izayoi wondered vaguely if most parents were supposed to do this.
"How was it? Have you met the 'Igauzu Devil'?" She asked cheerfully.
"Ah… The truth is really boring…" Izayoi complained, tipping his head back to sigh up at the sky. Canaria laughed, her voice lifting in a teasing, singsong tone.
"So it's as I thought - how could the devil or something similar exist there, right?"
Smelly hag - rubbing salt in his wounds. He frowned, disappointed again, and turned from the river.
(There was no reason for him to be at the Falls, after all.)
They'd wasted their time walking over the first time, finding the dumb bat, walking back to the town for a shelter, then walking over to the falls again to look for the stupid non-existent demon.
"Then let's go see the real mystery," Canaria said, and Izayoi let out a startled noise.
There was something here other than the Igauzu Devil?
Canaria shoved the soaked towel into a plastic bag and pulled at Izayoi's hand, tugging him up and holding tight as they began to walk down the path again.
(He didn't pull away.)
"What sort of bird is that?" Izayoi asked, pointing at a large, brightly-coloured bird, which sat on a railing, illuminated by the glow of a streetlamp.
"No idea, Izayoi-chan. But it's beautiful, isn't it?" Canaria replied, smiling.
"Nn. Quite majestic."
"Isn't it? The feathers have a nice sheen to them, and the colours look really bright." The bird preened, as if it understood their speech, and Izayoi snorted.
"Arrogant featherbrain." The bird continued preening, and Canaria laughed.
"Must you come up with insulting names for everything?"
"It's my favourite hobby," Izayoi replied promptly.
"Oho, so it's not personal when you call me a stupid smelly hag?"
"That's not personal. It's the truth."
"You have a truly despicable character."
"That's the only thing I have in common with you - oh! What an interesting plant. What's it called?"
"No clue."
"Stupid hag." Canaria laughed, swinging their still-joined hands.
"How rude! Anyway, Izayoi-chan, we'll be reaching soon."
"Hn. Where are we going?"
"If I tell you now, it'll spoil the surprise! Ah, but since it's almost time - Izayoi-chan, what do you think about those lights?"
(What?)
"At first, I've disliked those very lights you know? These lights have hidden the atmosphere of the night time and blocked out the radiance of the stars. It has also defeated the fundamental unease that is supposed to come with the darkness. It's almost like a proclamation to all that colors only exist in the human communities," Canaria continued, noticing Izayoi's silence. He nodded - the world was filled with artificial light, there was no debating that - and Canaria laughed softly. "But that seems to be my shallow perspective. Even though I had intended to accumulate various experiences, but my thoughts are still too shallow. …Mhm. Humans sure are great."
Izayoi blinked, but Canaria was busy striding forward, nodding her head cheerfully.
"Come on, Izayoi-chan!" She tugged on his hand, and he allowed himself to be towed along until they looked over a hydroelectric dam.
"Wuah! It's really big and wide! Izayoi-chan, the top of this power station is a gargantuan wall that can't be seen!" Canaria said, pointing excitedly at the wall. Izayoi stared at it, wide-eyed, lips twitching into a smile as Canaria continued her lecture.. This was man-made?
No individual could have built this. It was combined effort from humans, an advancement as a species rather than of a single person. It was amazing and huge and powerful, something that he almost couldn't believe existed. He stared at his own hands - tiny, really, so small compared to the huge wall. Humans had built this. Humans had created such a wall, made something that Izayoi would never have been able to imagine.
Humans had harnessed the energy of tons and tons of water, using it to light up their city - hope welled in him. Maybe this race wasn't so pathetic after all.
He laughed. "Oi, stupid hag, I'm going for a closer look." Canaria smiled.
"Don't be too long," she said. "We can come back tomorrow if you want."
He turned to leave, sneakers pounding into the hard ground, and it wasn't till later that he wondered: Since when had there been a person who'd bothered to wait while he explored? Since when had anyone told him not to be too long?
Strange: Warmth was welling in his chest, and a strange smile was spreading on his face.
Stranger: He didn't feel hollow anymore.
The dam was huge.
That was the only way to describe it - the wall loomed dark and strong before him, a fortress built of obsidian stone, stretching upwards for miles towards the dark, star-spotted sky.
Izayoi reached out with one small hand, placing his palm flat against the cool stone, amazed. This was something powerful; the rocks hummed under his fingers, thrumming with the force of the water it held back. Whispering of power, of unimaginable strength - a challenge, almost, and Izayoi wasn't one to back down.
He drew back his arm, smashing his fist into the rocks with one smooth, lightning-fast motion, and the jet black wall broke with a crunch like bones breaking. Water poured from the football-sized hole in the wall, gushing out with surprising force, and the cracks in the rock spread, the dam rumbling as the gargantuan amount of water pressed against the breach. With a roar like a monster thirsting for blood, the liquid burst from the confines of the wall and the fortress crumbled, debris taller than Izayoi was slamming to the ground around him.
He jumped, pushing off the ground in a powerful move. for a moment that lasted an eternity, he was airborne, and he looked down to see the crumbling dam. Water was pouring in gallons through the breach, and the dam was collapsing inwards like a dying creature. The lights in the city flickered out, like candles blown out by a gust of wind, and Izayoi breathed in a breath of chilling night air, feeling amazed and suddenly very small. He was just a small part of a wide world - he smiled.
Some things couldn't be done alone. The creation of the dam was one thing; the usage of the water power the city was probably another. It was refreshing, to know that such great things still existed in the world.
His feet slammed into the hard ground. He tucked his hands into his pockets and watched as the dam collapsed, then he heard the click of heels behind him and turned to see the hag hurrying over, her coat swishing around her heels.
"Izayoi-chan!" She cried, sounding annoyed. Izayoi cocked his head and stared up at her curiously. "Look what you've done."
Izayoi turned back to watching the dam crumble. "That's what I was doing."
"I-za-yoi-chan! This was such a magnificent work that took years to build and supported thousands of lives!"
"Oh." Izayoi responded blankly. What a pity, some distant part of him thought. The rest of him didn't mind too much.
"Izayoi! Wasn't this place magnificent?"
"Yep."
"Did you like it."
"Yeah," he replied, honestly.
"So why did you destroy it?"
"Don't know. It was on a whim." He stopped for a moment; thought about what he'd done. The regret that he'd destroyed such a magnificent thing ht him in full force, and he blinked.
What a waste.
"Sorry," he muttered, sincere. It surprised him - he'd changed enough to bother?
Canaria crossed her arms and stared at him; Izayoi fisted his hands, staring down at the dark ground. If she tried anything he was going to hit her.
"…Ahh whatever," Canaria said, and she laughed, the sound bright and tinkling. "Did you get too excited, Izayoi-chan? There are better ways to express your excitement than fighting."
"Shut up, stupid hag."
"Nuh-uh! That was really childish of you, Izayoi-chan!" Canaria grinned. "You're still a child, after all." Izayoi snapped his eyes up to meet hers - "I'm not," he snarled. He fisted his hands tighter, glaring at her as he shifted into a defensive position. "I'm not a child."
Canaria just smiled down at him with her usual, patient smile. "You are," she said, reaching for him. Izayoi slapped her hand away, scowling furiously at her.
"I am not. Not anymore." He wasn't that stupid, foolish little brat he'd been years ago. He was better now. He was older and smarter and he wasn't a child, because children were naive and foolish and gullible and all the things he refused to be.
Children were innocent and easily tricked and powerless a lot of the time, and that was why Izayoi was never going to let himself be treated like a child - because children always got tricked.
"You are a child, Izayoi-chan," Canaria replied, still smiling. "But that's okay. Children are sweet, and kind, and you're a child so I'll protect you." Izayoi snorted.
"Since when was I sweet or kind? I'm not a child and I don't need your protection, hag."
"Hm. That's true. You're sharp-tongued and rude and foul-mouthed. And you probably don't need protection, but you'll be lonely without me. Plus, Izayoi-chan, you'll probably die of boredom if I leave you alone. There's a lot of stuff people won't let a kid like you do without an adult." Izayoi bristled.
"And I keep telling you that I'm not a damn child! I'm not dependent on you, you smelly hag. You can go and die for all I care. I don't need you." Lies. He didn't want Canaria dead. But he didn't want to be reliant on her, either. He wasn't reliant on her.
"People won't see it that way, Izayoi-chan. Everyone will see you as a child-"
"No one sees me as a child. No one except you, you dumb hag. Are you blind as well as stupid?" He bit out, staring at her with fury burning in his eyes. No one ever saw him as a child, and it would be a really bad time for them to start seeing him as one now, when he'd already learnt a long time ago to stop being one. He'd learnt how to be a monster, a demon child, a freak. At the very least, he'd learnt how to be as cruel and selfish and ugly as humans all were, how to manipulate people and crush them if they posed a threat to him.
"I'm the only one who sees the truth," Canaria said, looking almost sad. Izayoi pulled his lips back in a snarl, mouth twisting in an ugly, cold grin.
"Spoken like a delusional person," he said. "Maybe everyone else is right and you're the only one who's wrong. Maybe I'm just what they made me." A naked blade, a drawn sword, a violent, non-human freak. Not a child - he can't be a child, people said. He's a demon-
-a monster. Not a child. Never a child.
He didn't want to be one anyway. He couldn't afford it, not in that ugly world.
"You don't have to be," Canaria said. "You don't have to be what they made you." Izayoi looked at her - "Don't I?" He snapped. "There's no evidence that I'm not what they say I am."
No birth records. No parents. No damn evidence that he could possibly be human.
"You looked after bat-san," Canaria said.
"You forced me. That doesn't mean a damn thing-"
"As if I could force you to do something you don't want to do," Canaria shot back. "You took the first-aid kit - you didn't need to. You dragged me back to the hotel after I was drugged. You watched out for me in the fight." She knelt in front of Izayoi, reaching out and resting a hand on his chest. He could feel his pulse slamming against her fingers.
"They don't matter," Izayoi bit out. "They don't mean a thing-"
"Don't they?" Canaria asked. Izayoi blinked, found that he didn't know what to say. "You feel, don't you? Right here." She tapped the region over his heart with a finger. "You feel pain, you can be happy, you get excited and destroy stuff. You feel lonely sometimes, angry at others, and sometimes you want to break the whole world because you are angry and you think you'll never find a place in it. You shouldn't have to feel that way, but you do, and that's 'cause you can still feel emotions. If you feel that much, it means that you're human, or at least something close enough that should matter. And you still don't know as much as you could - you're an adult in a lot of ways, but you're still a kid."
"How?" Izayoi asked. "In what ways am I still a kid?" Canaria smiled.
"You're still not mature enough. You shouldn't go breaking things just because you're excited, or destroying the world just because you're angry. That's childish. No matter how old you are, you're just a stupid kid if you choose to run around breaking stuff without concern for others."
"Then the whole world is filled with stupid children," Izayoi said angrily. "The whole damn world is filled with idiotic little brats who run about doing as they please-"
"Not the whole world, Izayoi-chan. It's just that you've only met the nasty things in our world. I'll show you everything good - I'm going to make you love this stupid world."
Izayoi blinked, then laughed - "Just try it, then, stupid hag."
Canaria smiled. "Of course. I'm not going to lose to a brat like you."
(Somehow he didn't really mind when she called him a child.)
There were sirens in the distance - "Uh-oh. Izayoi-chan, I think we've been pegged as terrorists."
"Nn. What do you want to do?"
"We'd better flee the country. Where do you want to go?"
"Your turn to choose," he said. "I don't care either way." She'd proven more than capable of choosing fun places to go.
Idly, he noted that there were flashing lights in the distance.
"Izayoi-chan, we'd better run. Let's decide later."
"Mm."
A/N:
Sorry, this chapter is a little short. I'm gonna put this out there: do you guys prefer longer chapters and slower updates, or shorter chapters but more frequent updates? Lemme know?
Please drop me a review if you've got time! I love every single review! And I'm still a pretty amateur writer - I know my writing needs to improve. So please drop me constructive criticism to let me know if my characters are OOC or my story sucks or my writing style needs immediate first aid?
Thank you so much for sticking with me!
God bless!