Hope you are all enjoying the Holidays season, and I also hope 2022 gets to be better for all of us. Slowly but steadily, the world is recovering.
The following chapter drops by name a lot of bands and songs. All credits go to them, of course.
Beasts that Shout Love, Part 5 - You've Already Won Me Over, In Spite of Me
As he walked through the fiery corridors, incongruent buildings and narrow streets of Tartarus, seeing more people tortured for their troubles in life, Astar couldn't help but find himself lost in thought at how different the place it was since the last time he was there.
"Something wrong?" Adamas asked.
"Well, I haven't seen any of the other incubi or succubi that usually lounged around Tartarus."
"The Fallen Angel's plan is going ahead, I'm afraid. And those were the first to invade the surface, since those can walk around the surface inconspicuously. Thus, it is important to close the fractures created on Earth as soon as possible."
They eventually reached a dark corridor, whose only visible structure was the grey cobblestone pavement they walked on.
"Don't tell me you didn't know about the Wailing Way," Adamas asked as he and Astar reached a place cluttered with what seemed to be giant statues.
"Only heard of it, but never seen it myself," Astar answered.
"Now you see it. It is where the ancient Gods lie dormant in eternal slumber. They came here before the Lord of Light took over the Hades. Speaking of which, there he is, the original namesake. Together with his wife Persephone."
Two dark figures stood side by side, their eyes closed and breathing as if they were merely sleeping. Their breathing pattern was so silent, it really confounded the incubus as if those were mere statues.
"This is odd," Adamas affirmed. "I do not see Morpheus anywhere among the dormant gods."
"You will not find Morpheus here," a strong voice boomed all across the hall, echoing and reverbering all throughout the place.
"Who said that!?" Astar queried.
They looked up, and saw a tall, bearded figure with his arms crossed on his chest, placed inside what seemed like a niche carved on the wall. "It was I. Once I ruled upon the Universe, and now I am trapped in the Hades. Many are my names, but you may refer to me as Aveh, the Creator. All the Gods of yore perished during the Second Cataclysm, all murdered by the Angels."
Murdered? Thought Astar. Did he also have a hand on this?
"But we will not be here for long," the mighty voice of Aveh once more resounded. "Our stasis in the Underworld is but a temporary rest. The one called Dis Pater and the Lord of Light himself will give us vengeance against the Warrior Princesses, the last scions of the treacherous Angels. And I shall begin our crusade by crushing you, Angel Grammaton, beneath my heel right now!"
The mention of this information startled Astar, so much that he did not react in time when he saw Aveh breaking out of his niche to crush him and Adamas. But before they were trampled under Aveh' foot, some invisible force pushed both of them to safety.
"Thank goodness you are safe," answered the unlikely helper. A humanoid creature with the body and proportions of a woman, but the head of a cat.
"Ah, you must be Bast, the Cat Goddess," Astar stated.
"Indeed I am, dear Angel," Bast answered as a smile was drawn on her muzzle. "Tell me, what were you two doing in the Wailing Way?"
"We came here for Morpheus," Adamas answered. "But it appears he's not here."
"And indeed, he's not," Bast said. "He is in the Suicide Valley, eaten by the cormoraxes. In fact, he is the only one of the ancient Gods that killed himself. Would you care to tell me why do you seek for him?"
Adamas was the one who took the initiative: "As you must have heard, the Fallen Angel and the dormant Gods want to take over all planes of Existence. The only ones who can stop this are the Sailor Guardians. And Astar here... He is of utmost importance to them."
"Ah, of course. I know of your link between you and the Sailor Guardians," the Cat Goddess gladly spoke. "I will help you two. Come with me now, and I will refresh your memory about your true self, Astar. Or should I say Grammaton?"
"Call me what you will," Astar answered. "I do wish to know if Aveh spoke the truth about Angels and about the Sailor Guardians."
As they escaped the Wailing Way and made haste to the Suicide Valley, Bast agreed to explain everything she knows.
(xx)
Jadeite knew well about Rei's residence in the Hikawa Shrine, but as soon as he approached the sacred place, he felt some kind of force pushing him on the ground and cutting his breath short.
"Ah, crud... I forgot I'm an unholy being now," Jadeite lamented. "But how the hell am I supposed to check on her? If only to see if she has someone she deems worthy of her love and intimate thoughts..."
From afar, all the King saw were a few men of ragged features and clothes, climbing the staircase for some kind of rendezvous.
"There's no other way. I will have to speak to the Young Lord about this."
(xx)
Just outside the Hikawa Shrine, Rei saw a fairly numerous congregation of men merrily sharing drinks and stories. The vagrants from Arisugawa Park, plus Grandpa Hino and even her uncle Toshirou, who came from Kyoto to visit them for a couple of weeks. All of them were drinking and laughing out loud, sharing stories and generally having a good, alcohol-fueled time.
"Ah hah! That's my dear old dad right there!" Toshirou bellowed out as he hugged Grandpa Hino beneath his right arm.
"Oh, hello there," Rei greeted the men. "These are still the..." She did not want to undignify them by calling them "homeless" or "bums," but couldn't find a proper word to define them.
Her grandfather then said: "The boys from the Astar Congregation, of course."
The name amazed Rei. "Astar Congregation?"
"Yessir, we named ourselves after the guy who changed our lives for the better," Mr. Kamina answered while sipping from a can of beer. "Wherever he is, I hope he is having a blast, alright!"
The remembrance of Astar made Rei become pensive. He was the one who helped her and the other Sailor Guardians to the point of death, even after he invaded their dreams. There is redemption, even for creatures from Hell, after all.
"Say, Akira, now that you got a proper job at that fancy restaurant, ya think they can let us watch the Japan match on Sunday?" Mr. Kamina asked.
"I'd need to talk to them first," the youngster answered. "But I don't see why they wouldn't let you in. Just as long as you bathe and put on some decent clothes, that is."
"Excellent," the old man blustered. "Our hosts are invited to see the Samurai Blues book their flight to France!" Toushirou and his father smiled at each other at the news.
Since Rei wasn't much into soccer, she had no idea of what they were talking about. The men were too lost in their tales to pay her any more attention, and the Guardian herself had become too distracted as well, so she retreated back to her room.
The mention of the late incubus had awakened an array of emotions in Rei. She remembered the conversation Astar had with her, and how it helped out in her overcoming her issues with her father, her brashness with Usagi and her grandfather, and the loneliness in not having her mother around. But only one issue was still in need to be addressed, and given the circumstances, she could no longer skip it.
Upon Ryo's death, and the incidents involving Makoto and Minako, Rei felt cautious about telling anyone about the one she loved. For all most people cared, she had no one in her mind, but she knew it was not true. She resolved not to lie to herself any longer: It was Yuuichirou whom she wanted by her side. But if she said it right away, she risked putting him in danger. Rather than mulling any longer, she decided to use her fire divination powers to see how he was doing. How did I never think of doing this before? She thought as she went to the fireplace room.
Problem is, for quite some time there was nothing she could see. No image, nothing. No matter how much she concentrated or put her heart into it.
"Why can't I see anything about Yuuichirou?" Rei asked herself.
"There is only so much you can know about the man you love," three female voices spoke in unison.
"Huh!? Who said that?" She asked startled. Only upon saying this did an image appear on the flames. It was Yuuichirou, kneeling in prayer. Alongside him, three other men of distinct traces appeared. Then the scene turned around... And she saw the Heavenly Kings standing ahead of them and helping them rise to their feet. Yuuichirou was helped by Jadeite, of all men. They then formed some kind of circle around a pit, and then... Nothing more.
"Uhh... What is the meaning of this vision?" She once again asked, even more puzzled than before.
Her concentration was broken with a couple of knocks on the shoji door. "Come in," she quickly said. In came a familiar, rugged-looking man in his late forties wearing a powder-blue yukata.
"Oh, hello there, uncle Toshirou," Rei greeted with a smile.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting your session, my dear," her uncle answered tipsily. "A package and a letter arrived for you just now. I'll just leave them here and be on my way, alright?"
"Oh, thank you! But wait, before you go, could you tell me how cousin Kengo is doing?"
"Ah, fine and dandy, as always!" Toshirou answered warmly. "You know him, as long as he gets to keep it to himself and has his tools together, he's fine. Ooh yes, speaking of which..." The man took off a couple of shiny ceramic necklaces off his sleeve. "He made these for you."
Rei's purple eyes shined with delight with her cousin's latest gift. Two necklaces whose red pendants formed a heart when linked together. "Wow... Amazing!"
"He said that you should give one for the boy you like. Assuming you do have someone in mind, that is."
"Not for now," she ended up lying.
"Oh well, you still got time. Alright, gotta go now. If you need anything, I'll be on the front porch with your grandpa and the boys. See you!" Toshirou left and closed the shoji door softly.
Rei got up to pick up the package by the small table. Her eyes widened when she saw the sender: Yuuichirou Kumada. It seemed like everything conspired to make her think of the former helper of the Shrine, something unthinkable to her until very recently. Not to mention that after all this time, it was the first time she received some sign of life of him since he left for college in Switzerland. Before opening the package, the Guardian saw a letter attached to one side of the box.
(~~)
Miss Rei,
Sorry for not having spoken to you earlier. The schedule in the Zurich Insitute is a total killer, and to be quite honest, I have been struggling to find the words to properly address you. I spent almost a month drafting and writing this, and only now did I have confidence and the time to send you all of this.
You see, I have to confess one of the reasons I left was to finally clear my mind off of you. Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but as you know, I have been head over heels about you since I first met you, but did nothing to truly deserve your love all this time. All I have done was being overly-attached, jealous, clingy and stubborn. I even picked up fights with Haruka and Mamoru over this. When I realized this was hopeless, I concluded that if we can't be in each other's arms, I could at least be useful to the Hikawa Shrine, and the only way I found was to be as far away as possible. My father suggested trying to enroll on a college in Switzerland, near his company's European headquarters in Zurich. With the skills I am acquiring, I intend to carry on the Shrine's duties, so you can be free to carry on your duty and follow your own dreams.
Please don't feel like I didn't appreciate the moments I spent with you, though. Much on the contrary; If it wasn't for your help and that of your grandfather, I'd still be lost in life like I was before I decided to take a nap at the steps of the Hikawa Shrine. None of this is your fault at all.
How could I ever repay the kindness and the hospitality you gave me? Well, I'm beginning with this small gift. I'm sending you these mixtapes with the kind of songs that I know you enjoy. Maybe those could help out with your compositions later on? The first one has several songs that play on the local radios. The second one is entirely dedicated to women singing. I left out a lot of stuff, mostly due to time constraints since there are only so many songs I can fit on a cassette tape. Still, I hope you appreciate it. I was intending to send you for White Day, but it would seem inappropriate.
I do look forward to seeing you once more. Hopefully, I will no longer be that clumsy oaf that got on your way to your personal happiness.
Stay well now, and give my best regards to your grandfather.
Yuuichirou
(~~)
Rei was at a loss of words upon reading the letter. So, it was because of me, after all... Her mind raced around, trying to come to terms with what the letter spelled. As much as Yuuichirou didn't pin the blame on her, she couldn't help but think she had a hand in breaking his heart. "A broken heart is a dangerous thing to have," the raven-haired girl remembered Astar telling her when talking about him.
This reminded her of the week after Yuuichirou left. Rei felt incredibly despondent, not even being able to do the most basic chores around the Shrine. She was furious at him as well, though she couldn't tell why, since she had tried to convince herself the ultimate decision was upon him. It was around that she realized how important he truly was to her in the long run, and while she did recover her resolve, the image of the messy but reliable young man had become a permanent etch on her mind.
But then, she noticed four phrases in cursive writing in the back of the letter:
Ich liebe dich, Rei. Immer haben, immer werden.
Ti amo, Rei. Avere sempre, sempre sarà.
Je t'aime, Rei. Je l'ai toujours fait, je le ferai toujours.
I love you, Rei. Always have, always will.
She didn't know a lick of either German, Italian or French, but she did study her English. And upon reading the last phrase, Rei opened a goofy grin not unlike the ones Yuuichirou usually had on his face. She felt warm inside, and even her legs were trembling and on the verge of giving in - The proverbial sweep on her feet. He still loves me... The Guardian was now at the same position Yuuichirou was back when he lived there: Yearning for his company while he's distant. He did play with her emotions like a fiddle, despite being six thousand miles away from her.
"Stupid Yuuichirou... You're really making me fall for you after all," she told herself while trying to subside the grin that didn't leave her lips.
She sat down on her bed once more and saw the two cases with cassette tapes. One simply said "Soft Rock". The other said "Girl Power". Rei decided to give the latter a try first, listening to it at bathtime in her trusty small boombox. Before she got ready to enter the ofuro bathtub, she turned on the cassette player beside it, and put on the tape in the reader. Before pushing the Play button, she read the playlist on the back of the case.
SIDE A
My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Fiona Apple - Criminal
Alanis Morisette - Head Over Feet
10000 Maniacs - Because the Night
Cocteau Twins - Crushed
Lush - De-Luxe
Björk - Big Time Sensuality
SIDE B
Tori Amos - Precious Things
PJ Harvey - Down By The Water
No Doubt - Just a Girl
Hole - Violet
TLC - Creep
Eurythmics - There Must Be an Angel
Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
At most, she knew of Alanis Morisette and of Eurythmics, but only from that one "Sweet Dreams" song. She gave him the benefit of doubt - After all, despite looking and acting like a klutz, he was pretty observational and knew well of her personal tastes without even asking.
The first tracks seemed to put her off at first, but the noise gave way to pleasant rhythms that got to her. Afterwards, each and every single track was amazing in their own way. Soft pop, crunchy rock. In the little English she could understand, she could hear tales of love and rebellion. Cries of freedom and of broken hearts. Celebrations of life and of independence. And even those songs where she couldn't understand a thing that was being sung created sound landscapes that made her travel and fly across the world without leaving her place. The kind of songs that she would definitely enjoy, indeed.
Despite his words in the letter, Rei's feelings for Yuuichirou only grew stronger upon listening to the first tape she gifted her. He cares... At the very least, he cares. I can't give up so easily now. I wonder how he is doing, though?
(xx)
Run. As fast as you can, as far as you can.
Yuuichirou's daily exercise routines were a thing of legend already at the Federal Institute of Zurich. Every day, he ran somewhere between five and ten miles in the city, and then he performed a nigh-superhuman workout, which included one-handed pushups, handstand pushups, one-legged pistol squats, neck bridges and one-armed chin-ups. And whenever his shirt got covered in sweat, he took it off and showed off a chiseled, quasi-Herculean physique. Simply put, there was no one in the entire campus who had the mental or physical prowess as the Japanese guy with the long brown mane of hair from the Business Administration course.
Every muscle in your body must be tight and ready.
This was his way to get away from the mounting stresses of day-to-day life, and from the traumas he accumulated in his years. Traumas that he never bothered telling anyone, since he always felt a man of privilege like him should not be bothered by such things. He instead chose to fill his time being as productive and useful as he could, crafting the only possessions he considered as his most precious ones: His mind and his body.
Life is great. Life is finally great.
As he passed by a fair, dark-haired girl in a flowery dress, he addressed her quickly. "Guten tag, Frau Stankovic!"
"Mister, can you tell me where my love is gone? He's a Japanese boy," the girl sang to him as he passed by. He turned around to face her, and without stopping his jogging, he pointed at her and winked in a provocative manner, making the girl blush and grin. He turned around once more to see ahead of him.
Charming women was an easy feat for Yuuichirou. If he could, he could lay with just about every female student on the campus. No woman he found attractive was beyond his reach. Except for one... And the thought of her made him lose his focus, trip on his feet and fall on his face. Thankfully, no one was around to see and laugh at it.
As he reached his dorm room, he could hear a familiar rock tune. "Ah, I don't believe it, he's playing my Kyuss CD."
His roommate had the terrible habit to play his tapes and his CDs without permission. To make matters worse, just outside the dorm's door, a gaunt blond youngster with a distasteful look on his face was just outside his dorm's door, arms akimbo in clear disapproval. The young man was Giovanni Imbrotta, the next-door resident. A total egghead who spent most of his free time studying and not particularly being sociable or likable.
"Uh, is something the matter, Giovanni?" Yuuichirou asked concernedly.
"Tell your weird friend inside to lower that noise down there," he answered in his usual whiny and grating voice, louder than usual. "I can't study with this sound pollution ringing in my ears!"
"Sorry, Giovanni. I'll tell him to stop right now."
The other young man simply frowned, nodded and entered his room. He may have grown in muscle composition, but deep inside, Yuuichirou was still a soft muffin, eager to please whoever he felt had been wronged by him.
"Oi, Griezmann! It's me. Open up."
There came his roommate, Simon Griezmann. A tall, lanky guy with a Jheri curl hairdo even shaggier than Yuuichirou's, complemented with a bushy goatee beneath his chin, and always smoking his marijuana blunt. Despite his drug inclinations, he still scored good grades, sometimes even better than Yuuichirou's.
"Hey, Griezmann," Yuuichirou addressed him while picking up a towel from a drawer. "Giovanni asked to pipe it down."
"Giovanni is a joyless fuck, is what he is," his roommate complained as he lowered the volume of the boombox to a minimum.
"Anyway, why the hell are you playing my Kyuss album? Don't you know how hard it was to find it?"
"Records are made to be played, man," he simply answered.
"Uh, I think we had this conversation before. I hope you at least didn't mess with the mixtapes I sent to Miss Rei," Yuuichirou said as he went straight to the bathroom for a much-needed shower.
"You know I don't listen to that pansy crap." Griezmann took another puff off his joint. "Either way, don't you think you should be more grateful that your roommate here is a rockhead like you? Imagine if you had someone like Giovanni sharing the load. You'd die of boredom in no time."
Yuuichirou sighed and nodded as he opened the shower's faucet. "It may as well be a curse..."
"Anyway, you got a small package just now."
The information made Yuuichirou hurry up in his shower. After drying himself and putting on a pair of boxers and a sleeveless shirt, he finally addressed Griezmann. "Package? Where?"
"Over your bed, there."
Once he opened the small package, Yuuichirou saw two jewels, one green and one red, and a golden coin of a model he's never seen before. Touching the green jewel made him have some kind of vision. He saw himself on what looked like a gladiator arena with people filling the stands. He wore a crude breastplate, a pair of sandals and some shorts made of thin leather. Another gladiator laid dead ahead of him, and he could hear the crowds around him cheer for the name "Herakles". And he pointed his sword toward the ornamented gallery ahead of him, where a raven-haired girl wearing a white regal gown sat down with a stunned look on her face. The girl looked almost exactly like Rei... He blinked, and he saw himself fending off against bandits, with Rei in tow wearing some kind of white tank top with a red skirt.
"Ground control to Major Yuu!" Griezmann called. Only then did Yuuichirou snap out of his reverie. "Come on, dude, what did just happen to you?"
"I don't know... I think I had some kind of epiphany."
"Oh, I have those all the time. Usually after a bottle of wine and a couple of joints."
"No, you dolt! I mean, an actual epiphany!"
"Just by touching those stones there? Let me check." He picked them up, spun them on his fingers then handed them back to Yuuichirou. "Didn't do squat to me. What the hell..."
Yuuichirou ignored his roommate's complaint and focused on what that vision entailed. "So... Just when I was starting to move on, you drag me back in. Miss Rei..."
(xx)
Before going to sleep, Rei decided to play the second cassette tape, putting the boombox right beside her bed. He once more checked the case's back for its tracks.
SIDE A
Sunny Day Real Estate - Seven
Echo & the Bunnymen - Nocturnal Me
Toad the Wet Sprocket - All I Want
Weezer - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
Blind Melon - No Rain
Radiohead - Black Star
The La's - There She Goes
The Stone Roses - Waterfall
SIDE B
INXS - By My Side
Depeche Mode - Strangelove
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
The Smiths - The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
Pearl Jam - Oceans
Slowdive - Sleep
Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should've Come Over
Elliott Smith - Say Yes
At most, she knew about INXS, Depeche Mode, Pearl Jam and The Smiths, though she never bothered to seek much about them beyond what played in the local radios. Plus, that one "Creep" song from Radiohead that also played on the radio almost every day a few years ago. Everything else was a mystery, but she trusted Yuuichirou's taste in music to entertain her, just as the other tape had done.
And entertain it did. There was a bit of everything - Crunch, jangle, grooving, mystery, softness, heaviness... By the time the first side was over, she was grooving and smiling widely. When the next-to-last track was over, she was driven to tears, and by the time she ended it, her heart warmed once again.
Mental note, to look for these bands at the record stores.
She wished he could call him, or send him a letter thanking him for his service and asking - or perhaps demanding - for him to come back and make up for those years she treated him like dirt, but all of that could possibly mean his doom, like it meant to Ami's lover. The heat she felt in her heart went all the way down between her legs, making her feel giddy like a child. I hope you're doing fine.
(xx)
"You told her you loved her!?" Griezmann affirmed while facepalming. Yuuichirou nodded to confirm it while he put on some jeans.
His roommate was still aghast as to why he would add that detail to his letter, and went on a tirade on him. "Come on man, why are you so hung up on this Rei girl anyways? By the way you described her, she did not care one iota about you, and only wanted either an emotional crutch, or a beast of burden, but not a lover. Besides... Come on, you literally have the looks and the moves to charm the pants off any girl you damn well please. And damn, do you charm them. I mean, Steffi Chapuisat, from Accountability? She's a 10 outta 10 blond bombshell, and she's head over heels for you. Bianka Strupar from Architecture? She pretty much melts whenever you're around, and she has the rare combination of green eyes, natural red hair and freckles. And remember the Walpurgisnacht party? You did it with not one, not two, but three girls at the same time! One was even that tanned Brazilian girl with the big tits! How many guys in the world get to do that for free?"
"No need to remind me, okay?" Yuuichirou said while flustering heavily. Somehow, he felt like he was cheating on Rei this way, even though they never had anything going on, and he desperately wanted to move on from her. Problem is, not only was he not able to get over her, his own conquests felt empty after a while.
A knock on the door, and he saw a blond man with Asian traces wearing a Joy Division sweatshirt and a pair of faded jeans. Yuuichirou felt something strange about this man. "Guten tag, Herr Kumada."
"Uhh... Was is das!?"
"My name is Jadeite," he then spoke in Japanese. "You and I have something important to talk about. Come with me to the college grounds."
Yuuichirou felt he couldn't leave the man hanging, so he turned around to his roommate. "Oi, Griezmann! I need to go out for a while."
"Alright. Can I play the Kyuss album now?"
"Uh, okay, just keep it low. None of us want that party-pooper Giovanni nagging us again."
After putting on a pair of sandals and a jacket, Yuuichirou walked down the corridor in silence, climbed down the stairs and went to the residency's main patio, accompanied by the strange visitor.
Once outside, the man spoke: "It's about Rei. I know you've been trying to win her heart over for the better part of the last three years or so..."
"Uhh, what?" Yuuichirou interrupted nervously. "Whoa man, time out. Are you, like, her boyfriend or something?"
"Hmm... Let's say our story goes back to long ago. The matter at hand is more important, however."
"Dude, I have nothing going on with her, okay?"
"Listen, let me finish and you will understand. Forces of evil are slowly taking over the world, and you are an important part of it all. Long story short, you have to die by my hand."
Hearing that startled Yuuichirou to the point he dry-gulped and he fidgeted in nervousness. "I-I-I have to... To... To what!?"
"You heard me, big guy," Jadeite resumed nonchalantly. "You have an important liaison with Rei, and your death will trigger her power to the maximum level, which will help save the world. Anyway, my name is Uemon Akumetsu, but my close circle of friends calls me Jadeite. You may call me Jadeite as well."
The power Rei held... After the visions he had earlier on, he knew what Jadeite talked about, but still doubted his intentions. "Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Jadeite, but this story is way out of hand. All this crap about Rei, about death and such... I just can't believe it."
"It's not a matter of believing, Herr Kumada. It's a matter of accepting." Jadeite then snapped his fingers, and an organic mass of dark jelly appeared. The sight frightened everybody else, as they all ran away pell-mell across the campus' grounds. The only ones who didn't seem affected by that creature's presence, for some reason, were Yuuichirou and the other guy.
"A MONSTER!" Yuuichirou shouted, but as he turned around to flee, Jadeite materialized right in front of him. The creature grabbed Yuuichirou by the legs and was ready to swallow the young man whole when some kind of projectile hit the appendage that held him, making him fall to the ground face-first.
"Well, damn," Jadeite commented while teleporting away. It was a tall, dark and handsome man whose appearance Yuuichirou seemed to recognize.
"Chiba!? What are you doing here?" He asked concernedly while running to his side. "Listen, man... I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you back at the Hikawa Temple. I was being a jealous freak there."
Fengari had no idea what Yuuichirou was talking about, but he did not want to say he was not 'Chiba' either so he went along with it. "Eh, well... Listen, no hard feelings, okay? Now come on, we have a beast to slay."
"We!? What do you mean, we?"
Without saying anything, Fengari transformed into Tuxedo Mask and then materialized a short sword, tossing it towards the long-haired man, who managed to grab its hilt despite his jaw dropping and his eyes widening at the man's transformation. "You know how to handle this. Try it out."
Somehow, the man's words made sense to Yuuichirou. Handling that blade felt like something familiar to him, even though he never practiced swordsmanship in his life. He wasted no time in running toward the shoggoth while shouting, and with impeccable technique, he managed to lop off one of its appendages.
"Groovy!" Yuuichirou exclaimed with amazement. "I didn't even know I could do that!"
"Excellent. This means the Light Gem is working."
"The what!?"
"Watch out!" Tuxedo Mask shouted as he took Yuuichirou down before he got hit by another one of the Shoggoth's tentacles.
"Now you'll get it. Smoking Bomber!" A flash of light later, and the Shoggoth exploded, sullying its immediate surroundings with its gelatinous remains. The unholy orb that kept it together floated, and Fengari quickly ordered: "Stab at it, quickly!"
He obeyed and thrust the sword at the orb. It cracked, turned red, then exploded into gallons of blood that covered Yuuichirou and Tuxedo Mask entirely, stained the campus' grassy grounds, as well as mixing itself with what was left of the Shoggoth's body.
"Well, well, well... It seems the big guy hasn't lost the abilities that earned him his name." Jadeite materialized once more to gloat at the disheveled young man. "You've done well in properly disposing of the Shoggoth, but now comes the real test. I will give you three days to come back to Japan and accept your fate. If you don't come... Then I will destroy your family, and all the inhabitants of the Hikawa Shrine, leaving Rei for last. Either way, somebody will die."
"Why, you bastard!" He knew this man was not lying or telling outlandish things anymore. "Fine, I'll go."
"Excellent! Our battle will be legendary! The ultimate male fantasy, a duel for the love of a beautiful woman! See you there, ha ha ha ha!" Jadeite once more cackled as he teleported away.
It was then that Yuuichirou realized he fell into Jadeite's game, working himself into a frenzy that made him take a jumpy decision. "Aw, crud! What have I done? I can't just leave college like that, and..."
"Leave it to me," Tuxedo Mask told him while patting his back. "I will arrange a way for you to return to Tokyo. It is important you see Rei and help her out, you know..."
"She's going to skin my ass raw when she finds out I slept with half the class..."
"It doesn't matter," the masked hero reassured him. "You love each other, and you are willing to protect her. Nevertheless, you have nothing going on at the moment. She should understand that, if you actually talk about it with her."
"Umm, I hope so..." he answered with a sigh. "Guess I have no choice. I will have to return."
"Just remember... You may end up dying."
"I don't mind," Yuuichirou incisively affirmed. "It's not like I have any other reason to live for. Now come on, how about we take a shower up in my dorm room, Chiba? I could also treat you to some snacks while there. I hope you enjoy some heavy rock music, though."
"Eh, sure, why not," Fengari accepted as he detransformed.
Both left to Yuuichirou's dorm room for a much-needed bath, change of clothes, and a discussion of the mission that the young man would have to face. From afar, hidden behind one of the buildings, Jadeite checked on the conversation.
"Why would Princess Agnys fall for such a lug?" The Heavenly King muttered while he shook his head. "Oh well, no accounting for taste. This part of the plan is complete. Now, back to Japan."
Not even pretending my musical taste is any good ;P
litakino1987: Que más podría decirte yo? Mil gracias por los aportes y las charlas, una vez más! A ver si este aquí también te gusta.
And of course, my most sincere gratitude to all the readers who are still following the story so far. Reach out for me and I'll be there!
Next chapter: The Outers realize an inconvenient truth about the strange happenings, and the real Tuxedo Mask finally appears.
Best regards from The Hospitaller Knight