Author's Note: Happy belated birthday to our favorite local gangster, Kadota, AKA Dotachin. I wanted to get this up last night but 's servers bottomed out on us, my dear Wastelings. We were down for hours with no luck. But here we are. I'm happy to say that we here are. I have been sitting on this idea for quite some time. I got it from the Grey Rooms podcast. (God, I miss it so much. I hope it comes back soon.) It's short but I made it work. Next up is going to be Hirijibe Ruri's birthday and I have something planned then. For now, enjoy this belated bite.
Assistance
Two figures stood across from Russia Sushi. One of them, a man, pushed aside his gelled bangs from his eyes.
"Is this the place?" he asked. A dark-skinned woman with her hair up in a messy black ponytail nodded.
"Yeah," she said. The man stretched his neck from side to side.
"Good," he said. "Did you bring them with you?" The woman set down her black suitcase and opened it up. She pulled out two thin rods. They automatically started to glow. Okay, that was a good start.
"How long is this going to take?" the man asked.
"That will depend," the woman said. Her partner sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"That's not good," he said.
"It's the best we have," she said. The man bit his lip and frowned.
"Damn it," he muttered. However, something else caught his attention.
"Huh?" he asked. "Why is that guy staring at us from across the street?" The woman looked up. Kadota stood across from them, staring.
"That can't be right," the woman said. "Is he a human?"
"It seems like it," the man said. His companion stood up straight. She cocked her head to the side.
"He is staring at us," the man said.
"Maybe he can't see us," the woman said. Her companion shook his head.
"No…" he said, shaking his head. "No he can see us." Kadota started to cross the street to the pair.
"And now he's coming toward us," the man said. The pair huddled together.
"What do we do?" the woman asked.
"Pretend everything is smooth and cool," the man whispered. He turned to the Japanese man. He smiled and waved.
"Hi!" he said. "I'm Lggrligo—" he began to say. The woman jabbed him in the ribs.
"Use your human name!" she whispered through gritted teeth.
"Oh," the man said. "Sorry about that. That was just a joke. My name is Steve. And this is my associate, Zazie."
"Hi," the woman said. Kadota looked confused at first.
"What the hell?" he finally asked. Steve gave him a puzzled look.
"I'm curious about something," he said. "Are you human?"
"Yes?" Kadota asked. Okay, what the hell was this? Was this even real? Steve cocked his head to the side.
"So… how are you able to see us?" he asked.
"What are you talking?" Kadota asked. Zazie stepped forward.
"Humans can't normally see us," she said.
"Yeah," Steve said, nodding. But then, a thought crossed his mind.
"Wait… Did you get attacked by one of the sins?" he asked. Zazie turned her head. Kadota gave them an odd look.
"Where are you going with this?" Zazie whispered. Steve held up his hand.
"Please," he said. He turned back to Kadota.
"The only way you can see us is…" Steve said. He grabbed onto the man's shoulder and tried to slide off his jacket.
"Hey! What the fuck?!" Kadota shouted. He tried to smack him off but the other man wouldn't let go.
"Will you chill?" Steve asked. "I just want to see something." That didn't stop Kadota from fighting him off. The man still wouldn't quit. He managed to lower the man's shirt at the shoulder. There was a long deep black and blue scar on the skin.
"Ha! Thought so," Steve said. He let go of Kadota's shirt.
"Tell me, which sin was it?" he asked. The other man clicked his tongue.
"Taida," Kadota said through gritted teeth.
"Ah! Good old sloth," Steve said. The other man looked between him and Zazie.
"What the fuck is going on here? Who the hell are you?!" Kadota shouted. Steve was about to speak when Zazie held up her hand.
"He and I are lesser deities from the outside of the living world," she said. "And we want the same thing that all of you do."
"And what the hell would that be?" Kadota asked. He already had his hand toward his phone in his pocket.
"To bring an end to the apocalypse game," Zazie said simply. Kadota was about to ask when a small hint of memory came to his mind. He's heard this before. He knows that she is telling the truth.
"You starting to remember, aren't you?" Steve asked.
"Did she send you?" Kadota asked.
"Well, yes and no," Zazie said. "But you do know where you can find her." In that moment, the rods in her hands began to vibrate as they were glowing a hot white. Steve and Kadota turned their heads.
"Just as I thought," Steve said.
"Now what?" Kadota asked.
"We're going to have to take the next steps necessary," Zazie said. She pulled out her phone and made a call.
"It's me," she said. "We found one of them and it's really bad."
