Author's Note: So we finally see who is stalking the tadpoles. She was going to be a catgirl until I saw a tiger girl on Pinterest and thus the character was born. Plus, we get to see the beginning of the end for Izaya. I'm also an idiot. I nearly forgot the new season of American Horror Story was airing. Don't worry, I managed to catch it on time. That being said, I have more inspiration for this season. It's time to take the kiddie gloves off and get serious. (I know I say that every season. But I really mean it this time.) In any case, I have the next couple of weeks plotted out. I also need to get started on what I'm going to do for Halloween. For now, enjoy this week's halo.
Halo Seven: Byakko:
-Her-
I have been watching them since Halloween. Those tadpoles really do stand out. Thirty-eight of them are around in Tokyo alone. Two of them will join them soon. We know where the rest of them are. They will all soon come together. Such beautiful abominations stand among the humans. This will not do.
My mistress has sent me out on a mission. She wants them dead. She wants them all dead. They upset the natural order of things. This game goes against the natural order. The tadpoles just make it worse. They will survive the End of Days. My mistress cannot have this. Lately, it's gotten worse. They are starting to reproduce. Two of them not born yet. One of them will be born to a human girl. This cannot pass. More abominations will walk among the humans. The tadpoles must be annihilated.
I was told to stand down in the beginning. But now I am free to act. I have been waiting for this for a long time. I have so much that I want to do. I am allowed to go scorched earth on them. I am allowed to hurt those close and dear to the tadpoles and make them suffer. And suffer they will. Suffer and die. Three of them are already dead but this isn't enough. They all have to die. They are all abominations. They should not exist.
I'm not the only one who thinks that. There will be others to hunt for the beautiful abominations. They are doing the good work of my mistress. But there are those who will go to great lengths to protect those damned abominations. They have their own motives that I don't understand. The tadpoles must have them fooled to have them on their side. This will not do.
The damned creatures will have to die! I am not only one who is on the mission.
Itori ran to the hospital late in spring. She got the call hours before. The tadpole looked around the people rushing in the lobby. Her hands rested on her big belly. Itori tried to flag someone down.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" she shouted. She finally got the attention of one of the nurses.
"Hey!" the tadpole shouted. "Do you know where my fiancé is?" The nurse tilted her head to the side.
"Fiancé?" she asked.
"Yes, Miwa Yukio," Itori said. "He's my baby's father." The nurse froze for a moment.
"Where is he?! Where is he?!" the tadpole pleaded. She grabbed the nurse by the shoulders. The poor nurse pulled away from her.
"I'll go look for him," she said.
"Thank you," Itori said, bowing her head. The nurse turned and walked down the hall. The tadpole held her hand to her chest. She already knew the truth. They didn't have to tell her. Itori waited for dreadful news. That didn't take long, however. The nurse came back with two doctors and another nurse. The doctor broke the news to her. Itori sank to her knees in tears.
"No!" she wailed. "No! No! No!"
Itori woke up in tears.
She's had this dream how many nights now. So many that she's started to lose count. It's always the same. Itori would make it to the hospital only to learn that Yukio was dead. She would have to raise their baby alone. Itori turned over into the futon.
This wasn't the only one she's had. Itori drew her knees to her chest.
"Are you okay?" Naomi asked last night. Itori shook her head. The older tadpole frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Itori kept her head down.
"I don't want him to die," she whispered. Tears ran down her cheeks. Naomi pushed her bangs from her forehead.
"You won't lose him," she whispered. Itori looked up at her. The other woman gave her a sympathetic look. Itori turned her head away.
"Don't," she said.
"Is it your sister?" Naomi asked. Itori didn't move.
"Aw, Itori-chan," the other tadpole said. She reached out to brush away her hair. Itori moved away from her.
"Don't!" she shouted. Naomi leaned down to Itori's back.
"We're not going to let Yukio die," she whispered. "Your baby won't have to group without a father." Itori froze before she turned her head. Naomi gave her a little smile. The younger tadpole opened her mouth. Naomi shook her head as she held up her hand.
"No, Megumi didn't tell me anything," she said. Itori looked confused.
"Then… how did…?" she began to ask.
"Honestly, I can't really explain it," Naomi said. "Maybe I could smell that you were pregnant?" Itori didn't know where to go with this. Instead, she remembered something else.
"Naomi," Itori spoke up.
"Hm?" she asked. The other woman sat up in her futon.
"I have been having many dreams lately," she confessed. She felt herself shrinking into herself. She tried to push those images out of her head but it only made it worse.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Naomi asked Itori looked up at her.
"Do we have time?" she asked. The other woman smiled as she leaned in.
"We've got all night," she said. "So go on. Talk to me. What are you dreaming about?" Itori pressed her lips together as she looked down at her stomach. As much as she wanted to believe her sister, they both knew that the time part wasn't really true. Itori took a breath as she put her hand on her stomach. She gave herself a before she began to talk.
It all started with the phone calls. They all happened late at night. Close to three in the morning to be exact. They lasted about ten seconds. Taishi was the first to experience it.
He was in the middle of a deep sleep when his phone buzzed on the floor. (Yeah, tadpoles don't need to sleep but they still do it anyway.) Taishi reached for his phone.
"Hello?" he asked in a half-asleep voice. There were no words on the other line. Instead, there was a death rattle noise that lasted for ten seconds. And then it hung up. Taishi stared at his phone with a confused look on his face.
"Huh?" he asked. "What the hell?" It wasn't just him either.
You get a weird call too?
Yeah.
What the hell was that about?
Shit if I know.
I don't have a good feeling about this.
Neither do I.
What do we do?
Keep an eye out and try not to die.
That's not funny.
I'm being serious. That's all we can do. Unless any of you have any better ideas. No? Okay then.
Megumi!
What? It's true! I'm not trying to die. I don't know about you guys, but I want to live.
I know how you feel.
Same.
Okay, that settles it. We are going to be on our guard and try to stay alive.
Are we done here? I want to go back to bed.
Fine. We're done here. Good night, Megumi.
Night.
Since the tadpoles are taking the "I want to live" route, that's going to be made into a challenge. Still, the will to live is a powerful thing. It brings out so much fight in a person. Those who want the tadpoles dead are going to learn that really quick.
Speaking of living and dying…
Halloween
Izaya couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Namie's ghost saw to that after her little visit. Kururi wasn't going to be home for hours either. Oh well. Might as well get some beer to try to get back to sleep. He already drunk the last one before he went to bed. So it would be out for a late-night trip.
However, that got interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Huh?" Izaya asked. He wasn't giving out candy tonight and he hadn't expected anyone else to visit him. He doubted that Kururi was back yet. Maybe he could ignore them and wait it out. The knocking grew harder.
"Who is it?" Izaya asked. He turned and walked over to his computer in the living room. Good thing he had a camera installed at the front door last month. He booted up the computer. What he saw confused him. A girl about seventeen shifted on her feet as she kept her head down. She looked disheveled with her baggy hoodie and black stockings. (Was she wearing anything underneath?)
"Can I help you?" Izaya asked. She kept her head down as she mumbled something to herself.
"What did you say?" the information broker asked. He couldn't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu. Not this girl, but this very situation.
"I'm looking for my friend."
"Huh?" Izaya asked. The girl didn't lift her head. She kept staring at the ground.
"I'm looking for my friend," she said again.
"Well they're not here," he said. "You can leave now. Good night." The girl didn't move. She didn't even look up.
"I'm looking for my friend," she said again.
"Look, your friend is not here. It's just me. Now go away," Izaya said. But the girl still didn't move. She didn't even look up. The information broker wrinkled his nose. Was this a Halloween prank? It didn't feel like it. Maybe she was a decoy to get him to open the door. He wasn't going to fall for that.
"I'm looking for my friend," the girl said again.
"Your friend is not here. Go away before I call the police," Izaya said. It was then he got another look at his unwanted guest. She didn't look like she was standing on the floor. He blinked for a second but the image didn't change. Who was haunting him now? Izaya was about to turn off the monitor when some movement caught his attention.
This time, the girl was looking up at the camera. Her eyes were nothing but empty black pits. It looked like her face was rotting away. Holes opened up all over her skin. He could see the bone through the decaying skin. Her mouth looked like she was grinning with blackened teeth.
"I'm looking for my friend!" the girl said again. This time, she was growling in a distorted voice. Izaya turned off the monitor so fast. What the hell was that? Normally, he would think that this was a Halloween prank at his expense. However, he started to have strange memories from that encounter. Something told him that this was the beginning. The beginning of the end for him. He began to think back to Hisan's words all those months ago.
"That may be so, but I'm not the one who has their days numbered, am I? You can put down others and make them miserable all you want, but you won't have long to live. You should really listen to your little girlfriend. Why she's trying to save your sorry ass, I have no idea. But, it's going to be all in vain again. You're just going to end up dead and the best is that no one is even going to notice this. You have a good night Information Broker-san."
Izaya shook his head. He swore to himself that he wouldn't go out like that this time. He was really going to fight this time. Orihara Izaya swore to himself that things were going to be different. However, things were going to be different indeed, for both sides.
-Her-
The calls are starting to get to them. I'm only getting started. I'm going to have so much fun with them. Blood, blood, blood! This is going to be so much fun! So much fun! So much fun!
I frowned.
But they have friends. This will not do. They will have to go bye-bye. It's going to be so much fun!
My phone rang in my pocket.
"Hello?" I asked. It's my mistress. The call didn't last long. I couldn't help but smile.
"Oh?" I asked. "Where? Okay! I'm on the way right now! I will make you proud. Bye-bye!" I hung up, grinning to myself. Looks like they found two more. They are coming together. Let's see. There's only… ten more left to find. This just keeps getting better. Now the only question I have left is do I want to chase down each one and kill them or do I want to gather them together and kill them all at once? I couldn't help but squeal to myself aloud.
I can't wait! This is going to be so much fun!
A can of coffee dropped into the tray of the vending machine. A girl reached in and picked it up. She pushed her long black hair back.
"Here," she said as she handed it to a boy sitting on the ground outside of a 7-11. He looked up at her. She gave him a gentle smile. He took it without saying a word. The boy held the coffee in front of him. The girl sat down next to him and pulled out her phone.
"When are they showing up?" she asked. The boy shrugged and shook his head. They both got the same text from Ryugamine Mikado and Niwa Yukio this morning. The tadpoles said they wanted to meet up and talk. She wasn't too certain about all of this. He held squeezed her hand. The girl turned her head. His eyes had a calming look in them. The girl took a breath.
"You're right, you're right," she said. "We could use help. I'm getting tired of running away and lying to my mom. Have you talked to your family?" The boy shook his head.
"Figures," she said. She leaned back and sighed. They were supposed to sense when they were near, right? And then what?
Suddenly, both went stiff with that old shock to the spine.
"It's them," she said. The pair looked up to see two men staring at them. The man with the black spiky hair and blue eyes held his phone in his hand.
"Are you Ritsu and Kenta?" he asked. The girl stood up.
"Yes," she said. She pointed to her nose.
"I'm Ritsu," she said. "That's Kenta." She pointed to the boy behind her. Kenta gave them a small wave.
"I'm Mikado," Mikado said.
"Yukio," Yukio said beside him with a wave. "Yo."
"What do you want from us?" Ritsu asked.
"We're here to help you," Yukio said. She gave him an odd look.
"Help us?" she asked.
"Yeah," Yukio said. "How long have you been on the run from home?" Ritsu froze.
"It must not be easy being on the run all of the time," he said. "Not knowing who to trust. Standing out in crowds when you don't want to. Trying to hide your powers." The girl cut him a cold glare. Yukio held up his hands.
"We just want to help you," Mikado said. "Please." Ritsu stared at the men. She took a small step back. She looked down when someone grabbed her hand. The girl looked down to see Kenta looking up at her. He had a desperate look in his eyes. He was tired of being on the run with uncertainty. Maybe this was what they needed. Ritsu sighed and dropped her shoulders.
"Fine," she said. "But you better not double-cross us!" Kenta stood up next to her. He squeezed her hand.
"Right," Yukio said. There were ten more tadpoles left to find. They all had to work fast to find them. Otherwise…
The Master got a good look at her.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked. A figure walked out into the streetlight. Her black coat came down to her matching boots. She held her black and pink parasol open and above her head. She glanced up with a smirk on her feet. She giggled.
"I'm Byakko!" the girl said. She seemed to bounce as she spoke. Her orange and white tail moved in a lazy way. The Master frowned.
"Who sent you?" he asked. She lifted her head. This was a tiger girl looking up at him, smiling. Her bright green eyes lit up in the evening. The Master had to try and pull his attention away from her tail. Her whiskers and the stripes on her face added to the disturbing cute look.
"My mistress," she said. Byakko twirled around as she giggled. The Master raised his eyebrow.
"And who would that be?" he asked.
"My mistress," she said again. The Master had the feeling that she wasn't going to tell him jack. Still, he already knew why she was here.
"I'm not going to let you kill them," the Master said. Byakko started grinning.
"And why is that?" she asked.
"I don't want you to kill my toys," he said.
"Your toys?" the tiger girl asked. "Your toys?"
"Yes," the Master said. "I like the things that they do and I want to see everything that they can do." Byakko raised her eyebrow.
"You want to play with the abominations?" she asked.
"They aren't abominations, my dear," the Master said, waving his pipe around.
"Yes, they are!" she said in a sing-songy voice. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.
"What has this mistress of yours been telling you?" the Master asked. Byakko smiled as she looked up at him.
"They are an abomination and they need to die!" she said. Oh. She's one of those anti-tadpole fanatics. This wasn't going to do for his games.
"Well, looks like you and I are at an impasse," the Master said. "I just can't let you kill my toys. I might not care about all of them but I won't stand back and do nothing either." Byakko gave him a little pout.
"Aw, that's too bad," she said. "Looks like I'm going to have to kill you too!" She reached into her bag at her side and pulled out a big gun. The Master forced himself to smile as he shook his head.
"Oh shit," he said to himself. He vanished into thin air before Byakko could pull the trigger. The shots landed harmlessly on the ground. The tiger girl clicked her tongue as she frowned.
"Damn it," she muttered. Byakko would have to try and get him some other time. For now, duty called. The tiger girl vanished into thin air to track the next tadpole.
Sawako was stumped on this latest kill. Simony. Japan wasn't exactly a Christian country. Only about one percent were Christian. It looked like she was going to have to go the modern route for this. Her phone buzzed on the side table next to her. Oh, another message from that chat app she was getting used to. Who was it this time? Sawako picked up her phone and took a look.
"Are you having trouble with the simony kill?"
The DK rolled her eyes. Her nostrils flared as she started typing.
"What gave that away?"
"We live in Japan in modern times."
"I know that. I just might have to get creative."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm working on it."
"Want me to give you a hint?"
"Why?"
"Just feel like it. I'm in a good mood today. Plus, I really like you. Here you go." A link popped up on the screen. Sawako narrowed her eyes. This seemed easy. Almost too easy. Still.. Quantum had been good with his information so far. And who was she to lick a gift horse in the mouth.
Sawako tapped on the link.
-Byakko-
The Master is here. This will not do. He's going to have to go. But how? How do I make him go bye-bye?" I frowned as I thought really hard.
I looked up when I heard the fluttering wings. I smirked as I held out a finger for my little black and red moth. Her little whispers told me everything that I needed to know. I felt like I was going to fly away in the snow.
"Well okay," I said. "I will get right on it." I stuck up my hand in the air and vanished to my next destination.
In a weird way, Kitano knew this was where they would meet. He looked at his watch in Ikebukuro West Gate Park. He didn't know why. He came whenever he wanted. The therapist was used to this by now. Why shouldn't he be? Kitano's done this part before in the previous timelines.
Kitano looked up when he felt a whoosh of air by his head. He turned to see the Master himself. He took a drag of his pipe.
"You called me?" the Master asked. Kitano looked him up and down.
"You really do look like him," he said. The Master's right eye started to twitch.
"Why does everyone keep saying I look like this Izaya guy?" he asked. "I'm not him, okay?"
"Didn't say you were," Kitano said. The Master waved him off.
"Anyway, what did you want?" he asked. The therapist turned to him with a stern look on his face.
"I heard that you have been interacting with some of my tadpoles," he said. "I have noticed that you seem to have quite the effect on them." The Master raised his eyebrow.
"Are you going to stop me?" he asked. Kitano held up his hand.
"On the contrary," he said. "I'm just here to say, keep up the good work." The Master gave him a cold, catlike smirk.
"Thank you," he said. This man. He could potentially be the key to making this game more interesting.