Day 1: Sunday's Melancholy Part 5
Chiyoda, Diet Building
They end up going back to where Kagome and Souta came from, although in a different room that was beside the room the two had stayed.
"That should do it. It'll hurt for a while but you should be able to walk." Makoto told Io who was sitting on the only chair, after finishing treating the girl's ankle.
Io carefully moved her bandage foot to test it out, "Oh...It actually doesn't hurt at all. Thank you very much." She smiles gratefully at the older woman squatting in front of her to treat her knee.
"It's nothing." Makoto kept away the medical supply back into the first-aid kit before standing up and turn toward the only bed, "Kuze, I will go ask for someone to check on you so stay still before then." She then leaves the room with the first-aid kit after that.
"Oh! I forget to ask her about that high and mighty guy from earlier!" Daichi suddenly remembered after Makoto had step out of the room.
"He is Hotsuin Yamato, chief of JP's." Kagome told the three from beside Hibiki on the bed while Souta sat on her other side, leaving Daichi the only one standing up.
"What? But he look so young…he can't be older than us!" Daichi widen his eyes in surprise and disbelief before adding, "Oh, except Kagome and Souta of course."
"How did you know he is the chief, Kagome?" Io turned to asked out of curiosity, seeing the so call 'chief' was rather cold to talk about himself.
"I had asked the JP's people earlier." Kagome turned to answer Io before turning back to the others, "I didn't really trust them but they seem to have the answers regarding our Summoning App and the demons appearing around."
"She did say that JP's is a special division focusing on demons…" Hibiki instantly recalled the short introduction from Makoto back at the Sensouji.
"Oh, right…But wait! Why do they want intel from us regarding the Summoning App then?" Daichi suddenly recalled the conversation Makoto had with Yamato and was somewhat confused by that.
"Who knows?" Kagome shrugged, not really knowing the answers to that before saying, "They had confiscated my phone when they came to get me back in the shrine so maybe they had found something different about our Summoning App?"
"Oh, this is all so confusing…!" Daichi groaned out in confusion and annoyances at everything that had happened so far.
"By the way, Kagome. Why did JP's especially go to get you here?" Hibiki turned to his female cousin to ask in wonder to her earlier statement.
"...I think it was because of the fight I had with the demons back at the shrine." Kagome only told them half the answer she knew about the reason she was in JP's.
"Huh? You fight with demons!?" Daichi screams out in surprise, the other two were shocked at the revelation too.
"Sis, it's so cool fighting those demons!" Souta had stars over his eyes as he recalled the fight, completely ignoring the danger.
"Well, I've helped." Kagome quickly said before the others could ask farther as she took out her phone to show them her Summoning App, "Kushinada-hime had appeared to help me when I needed it."
Daichi immediately went over to have a closer look, "Whao, your demon is stronger than mine and Io's demons!" He was amazed to find out Kagome's demon was stronger.
"You two also have demons?" Souta immediately asked with interest.
"Yeah, although much weaker than Kagome's one." Daichi nodded and took out his phone to show the younger boy.
"Your demon is really weak…" Souta had to agree as he saw the ghost demon on Daichi's phone before asking, "Why though?"
"Huh? What do you mean by why?" Daichi asked back in confusion.
"You must have not played video games before." Souta rolled his eyes at the stupid question.
"Of course I have…Oh, I know what you're talking about." Daichi just counterback before he finally realised what the younger boy was talking about.
"Huh?" Io still looked completely confused though.
"The beginner in the game always starts with the same lowest strength." Hibiki explained to Io.
"And Kushinada-hime was not." Kagome added before deciding to tell them about her thought earlier, "I really wonder how the Summoning App chose the demons we are summoning. Does it have something to do with our own strength? Or something else?"
"...Maybe we can ask Makoto-san about it?" Io had suggested after a moment of silence as they went into thought.
"I'll ask her then, since I also have some other stuff to ask JP's." Kagome took the initiative to volunteer herself as she recalled the reason she had left the room earlier.
Before the other could say more, the door opened to reveal Makoto and another woman as the two entered the room.
"I have brought someone to check on Kuze." Makoto told the five before moving away to let the person step closer toward the group while Kagome and Daichi immediately put away their phones.
"Who is the one injured?" The woman asked as she looked around before landing on Io.
"It's not me." Io quickly shook her head as she was not the one that needed help.
"It's him." Daichi points toward his best friend.
"I think Io, Souta and I should leave." Kagome stood up from the bed, pulling Souta along with her at the same time as she turned to the other girl.
"Why?" Daichi was the one to ask even though the other was also confused too.
"Hibiki will need to check for any injuries he had under his clothes." Kagome almost rolled her eyes at the question before adding, "And Souta will get in the way."
"Oh…" Io blushed slightly at that.
"We can wait for them in the room next door." Kagome told Io who just nodded and carefully stood up to leave.
"I'll leave him to you then, I'll be back in another few minutes." Makoto told the woman before she turned around to leave too.
"Wait, Makoto-san. I'd like to ask you about something." Kagome quickly stop the older woman from leaving.
"We can talk outside." Makoto just took a look at the bluenette and nodded before continuing her way out followed by the three that were leaving.
"Io, you can go to the room first with Souta while I talk to Makoto-san." Kagome told Io right right when they stepped out.
The two just nodded before leaving Kagome and Makoto to go to the room next door.
"What do you want to ask?" Makoto asked as she stood aside.
"I want to ask you about the Summoning App. I was wondering if anyone can use the app and how the app chose the demon we are summoning." Kagome straight out asked the two questions she had been wondering.
"No, not everyone can use the app." Makoto was a bit surprised by the questions but still replied before adding, "As for your second question, I can't really tell you since the Summoning App you use is different from us."
"What's the difference?" Kagome was not surprised at that though since she had already guessed so but still asked.
"Still unsure." Makoto answered before she decided to asked, "Can I know how you get the Summoning App?"
"We just signed up in Nicaea and chose to live when in really dire situation." Kagome told the older woman without hiding, although the latter only applied to the others.
"So, Nicaea is the origin of the Summoning App of yours." Makoto had taken the information rather seriously.
"What about the one JP's used?" Kagome decided to ask even though she really doubted she would get any answers.
"Sorry, I can't tell you without Chief Hotsuin permission." Makoto just said without really answering the question.
"...Does it have something to do with spiritual power?" Kagome hesitant a bit before asking out her own guess, it was the reason she was brought to JP's after all.
"How…?" Makoto slightly widened her eyes in surprise.
"That's the reason I was here after all." Kagome simply answered.
"...Right." Makoto didn't know what to say about that so she just nodded and said, "Anyway, Chief Hotsuin will most likely speak to you soon so you can ask him directly."
Kagome just nodded even though she really doubted the chief was the type to explain things, especially a civilian like her as he seem to be the type to dismiss someone below of him like Sesshoumaru.
"I still have some things to do so I'll be leaving." Makoto told the younger girl before she walked away.
Kagome went to the room next door after that, she was immediately met with the scene of a really curious Souta asking a bunch of questions and a troubled looking Io trying to answer.
"Souta, stop bothering Io." Kagome quickly steps in to stop Souta from troubling Io further.
"I was just curious about the summoning app and demons…" Souta had stopped to turn to Kagome to say.
"I should have not told you about it." Kagome let out a sigh before saying, "I know you are curious so I'll tell you about them when I gather more information so don't bother the others or even try to look for answers yourself because demons are dangerous and the app might be a danger to you too." She had to warn her younger brother, knowing he was too curious for his own good.
"...Alright." Souta reluctantly nodded.
Kagome was at least relieved that her brother would listen to her even if he was reluctant about it, before she told the two what little things she learned from Makoto minus the spiritual power part which still left them with more questions than answers.
After Kagome and the others had left, the woman began checking and treating Hibiki's injuries which were not that serious, just bruising that would need weeks to heal.
"Your injuries certainly suck." Daichi said after the woman had stepped out of the room.
Hibiki nodded in agreement as he pulled back down his shirt that was lifted up for the checking and treatment, it seemed that he would have to avoid rough movement for at least a few days or just get used to all the pain.
"We should go meet up with the others." Hibiki said as he stood up from the bed to left the room to go to the room next door.
"Yeah…Wait a second…!" Daichi was standing up from the chair when he suddenly made funny faces, "Where's the bathroom?"
"Let's go look for one." Hibiki change their destination upon seeing Daichi's urgent face.
"Yes! Alright, let's head out!" Daichi was more than ready to go look for the bathroom first.
The two walk out and the room and search around the rather large place, there's no one around to ask for directions until they reach the hallway behind the clock.
"Hurry, Hibiki! I can't…hold it any longer…" Daichi stated as he started jumping up and down.
Hibiki wasn't playing attention though, he was more interest of the conversation down the hall and around the corner, "Shhh, listen."
"Agh! Not so loud! I'm at my limit here!" Daichi immediately complained, although he did lower down his voice a bit.
Hibiki just pulled Daichi along with him to stood a side as he carefully look around the corner to saw Makoto and Yamato standing in the middle of the hallway as they seemed to have an argument.
"...But they're just civilians, sir." Makoto said.
"How can you be positive that they won't abuse the summoning app?" Yamato just asked.
"They cooperated with me and helped reseal Coordinate K. I don't think they'd abuse it." Makoto answered logically.
Yamato crossed his arms and said, "When man grows accustomed to power, he tends to abuse it. Wouldn't you agree, Sako?"
"..." Makoto went silent as she had to agree with the chief.
"We're finished here. Take them to the cell." Yamato closed the topic at that before saying another matter, "As for the older Higurashi, we'll see how her power is used before deciding if she is worthy for JP's." He walked away right after that, soon followed by Makoto.
"D-Did he just say what I think he said?" Daichi asked in panic.
"A cell..." Hibiki replied with a frown.
"So I heard right...!? This is so bad! They're gonna lock us up!" Daichi was fully panicking now, "Let's get out of here, man! We've got to get the others and scrambled!"
They both quickly ran back to the room the others were in as Daichi completely forgot the reason he was out in the hallway.
"Bad news! We have to get out of here, fast!" Daichi slammed the door open as he reached the room, startling the three inside.
"Huh…? Whoa, wait a second. What happened?" Io was completely confused.
"We're invited to a cell." Hibiki answered while trying to lighten the mood a little.
"It's not an invitation! These guys are going to haul us in and throw us in prison!" Daichi was too panicking to realise what Hibiki was trying to do as he just counter back.
"Not Kagome." Hibiki just added, not forgetting Yamato's last statement even though he didn't fully understand.
"Not me?" Kagome asked in confusion, she could fully understand their situation but not why she was not included.
"It seems that they are trying to see if you are worthy of JP's or not." Hibiki explained.
"Anyway!" Daichi cut in before the conversation could go further, "We really need to run! Let's hurry and get out of here!"
They quickly help the two Higurashi to put things back to their backpack, which was not much before they quickly left using the same route they had entered.
Shimbashi SL Plaza
Once they safely escaped JP's without being noticed by anyone, they decided to first check on Higurashi's sibling family in the hospital first before continuing their way to Ariake, although they were not going east due to Kagome stopping them from choosing that route as she could sense multiple demons in that directions.
"...Why does he treat Kagome differently though?" Io asked as they continued forward.
"Who?" Daichi asked back in confusion.
"The chief." Io answered before adding, "He didn't include putting Kagome into the cell."
"And he wants to test Kagome worth to JP's." Hibiki added.
"Yeah, that's really weird…" Daichi nodded, agreeing to the two.
Kagome could already guess the real reason she was brought to JP's, it seems the chief wanted to know if her spiritual power would be useful to them or not. She had a feeling she would be in the cell too if she wasn't useful to them.
Kagome didn't join in though, even when she had guessed the reason but decided to ask instead, "Hibiki, Io, do you all want to rest a bit?" Her question was mainly because they had been walking for a while which was not good for the two injured people in the group.
"It's alright…" Io turned to answer Kagome before she suddenly grimaced and paused.
"You are not." Kagome could see the girl was in pain.
"Maybe we should find some place to rest…" Daichi began to look around, soon spotting something around the corner, "Ah, that should be useful…!" he just walked off with a smile, leaving behind the others in confusion.
Kagome was about to question when suddenly she sensed something from above and looked up, instantly spotting the dangerous creature in the middle of the moon.
"We have to leave, now!" Kagome quickly told the three with her as she grabbed onto Souta's hand.
"Huh? What…" Souta was startled by Kagome's sudden action.
"Why…Oh, no! It's that monster from before!" Io confusion soon turned into fear as she finally saw the strange ice cream cone demon, Dubhe falling down toward them.
"Move!" Hibiki quickly took Io's hand and pulled her away along with him as Kagome did the same thing to Souta just before Dubhe landed heavily on where they were previously standing.
"...What was that?" Souta asked as he stared at the strange creature with wide eyes when they stopped a few steps away.
"...Dubhe, a septentrion?" Kagome had pulled out her phone in preparation for a fight when the app suddenly showed her the details of Dubhe just as the camera faced it, she then remembered Io doing something similar before.
They didn't have much time to talk more though as Dubhe's pink mass top started glowing in an orange light and growed, indicating it was about to explode so they had to quickly back away just in time to get out of range of the explosion but the force of the explosion still sent them flying back and land on the ground.
"Agh…" Io hissed in pain as she ended up twisting her knee again from the landing.
Kagome didn't have time to check on the other girl though as she just said, "Stay still!" She lightly pushed Souta toward the other two before standing in front of them, "Kushinada-hime!" She summoned her demon and put up her barrier just as Dubhe started shooting explosive missiles.
Panic scream could be heard behind Kagome as the missile landed on the barrier, Kushinada-hime also had put up a barrier herself to block the attack before she sent out her attack on Dubhe. In a second glowing paper charms appeared circling Dubhe before a beam of light surrounded it, although that didn't seem to affect the demon at all as it was still there when the light faded away.
"...It was useless?" Kagome widen her eyes in shock, she had saw Kushinada-hime killing multiple demons in an instant with Mahamaon before.
Hibiki stayed behind his cousin, feeling really useless as he held tightly on his phone that he had taken out to try to do something, although all he could do with the Summoning App was currently checking Dubhe's stats.
"What should we do now?" Io asked in concern as she saw Kushinada-hime could do nothing but dodging around or putting up some sort of barrier to block the explosive missile attack.
"Sis, can't you do something about it?" Souta had asked because she knew his sister could do more than just defence.
Kagome would have tried to purify Dubhe if she had her bow with her, the JP's still haven't returned them to her and she had no time to go get it back herself earlier as they had to quickly escape the place. She could send out a wide area purifying attack but the barrier around them would instantly drop so she had to make sure the others could escape if her attack didn't defeat Dubhe.
Seeing there was no other way, Kagome came to a decision and turned back to the others, "Io, can you still walk?" She had asked to make sure, seeing the girl still on the floor.
"I don't think so…" Io said as she touched her painful ankle.
"...It can't be helped then." Kagome went to squat down in front of Io, knowing it was not the time to hide whatever power she had in the situation, "I'll do something about it but please stay calm and don't ask any question until later." She then placed a hand over the girl's injured ankle to heal the injuries with her power.
"It was less painful…?" Io widened her eyes as she stared at the pink glow under Kagome's hand, she was surprised to feel the pain had lessen.
"Hibiki, you should be fine right?" Kagome had turned to her cousin, not forgetting he was also injured too.
Hibiki had snapped out of his surprise and nodded, "I will be able to move around." He could tell Kagome had some sort of plan so he asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'll try something to deal with that demon but I'm not really sure it will work so you all will have to run if the demon attacks again right after that." Kagome simply told the three, hoping they wouldn't ask further questions as she had no idea how long her barrier would hold.
Hibiki actually had a lot of questions but after seeing all those strange stuffs, he was not too surprised about Kagome having some sort of strange power so he said instead, "I'll look after the others." He could at least bring the other away from danger.
Kagome nodded and got up to turn back to the fight scene, it seemed that Kushinada-hime could do nothing but defence so it would be useless for her demon to continue fighting,
"Kushinada-hime, leave it to me for the time being." She had told her demons, knowing Kushinada-hime could understand.
Kushinada-hime just nodded and moved out of the way and disappeared right after that which caused Dubhe's attention to focus back on them, Kagome just ignored it to concentrate on putting her purifying power into the barrier before releasing it outwards. Lilac light barrier glows brighter before expanding outwards, repelling the explosive missile coming toward the four as it extends toward Dubhe who was only being pushed back instead of purified.
'My purifying power had no effect either?' Kagome frowned at that, she had thought she could at the very least do some harm to Dubhe and it was the first time she encountered a demon that was completely unaffected, she had even harmed a much stronger demon, Sesshoumaru a little with her purifying arrow!
"Sis!" Souta called out to his sister as he saw the demon had shot explosive missiles toward them again just as the lilac light was gone.
"Run!" Kagome exclaimed as she grabbed onto Souta's hand again to dodge a missile, "Kushinada-hime!" She also summoned her demon again to put up a barrier around them to block the next missile.
The other two had also quickly moved away to dodge the missile, although Hibiki was having a bit of a hard time because of the bruise pain but they still managed to stay unharmed so far.
Dubhe didn't seem to want them to escape though as it had stopped the shooting attack to send out a wind wave to knock them away, causing Hibiki and Io to be knocked to the ground while the sibling was lucky enough to be protected by Kushinada-hime's barrier.
"Nitta-san, the Summoning App." Hibiki said from not far away beside the girl as he saw the demon was yet again shooting missiles.
"Yeah…" Io took out her phone and was about to summon her demon when the phone just rang.
Hibiki's phone was ringing too, he quickly checked on his phone to see it was a mail from Nicaea, stating a new death clip was added so he hesitatingly opened the video to see it was another death clip of Daichi which show the guy death in the driver seat of a burning van.
"Where is Daichi?" Hibiki immediately looked for his best friend, he had not seen Daichi since the guy had run off earlier.
Kagome had no time to check on her phone though, she had sent Kushinada-hime to go protect the other two while she continued to drag Souta away to dodged the missiles before she finally got a chance to put up another barrier around themselves.
Just as Hibiki and Io found a missile coming toward them, Kushinada-hime came to shield them with a barrier, blocking the missiles without much problem which caused the two to be relieved until they saw Dubhe had stopped attacking to grow it's pink mass.
"It's gonna explode again!" Hibiki quickly stood up, causing him to grimace at the pain which he ignored to go help Io up, although he was stopped halfway by the sound of the engine and Daichi's yell.
"I'll save you all!" Daichi drove the white van past the two toward Dubhe in determination.
"Shijima-kun!?" exclaimed Io.
"Daichi!" Hibiki called out to his best friend as he took a few steps toward the running van that was soon passing the other two.
"What…!" Souta was startled when the van ran past them from the side.
Kagome had widened her eyes as she saw the driver seat was Daichi, "...Wait! Daichi!" She called out in realisation of what dangerous thing Daichi was going to do.
Everything happened in a second, the white van went crashing against Dubhe that triggered an explosion before the demon could have even exploded itself, and all the other could see next was the bright flame as a result of the explosion.
"DAICHI!" Hibiki screamed out in despair and anger, staring at Dubhe's shadow coming out of the smoke with hatred as the phone he was holding glowed in blue light just when the Demon Summoning App downloading was complete.
A flash of blue light appeared upward in front of Hibiki in the next second, there was also cracking blue energy covering Hibiki's arm, holding onto the phone for a moment before a white tiger appeared in the beam of light.
On top of a nearby building, a few of the JP's members stood there in standby with Makoto standing in front, watching the scene below with a telescope.
"...It's an Avatar: Byakko!" Reported a man back in JP's headquarters through Makoto's earphone.
"What? Byakko?!" Makoto was really surprised to find someone summoning a high level demon, "Who exactly are they?" She then moved her telescope toward the other girl in the lilac barrier, wondering about the two cousin's ability to do things most people couldn't except their Chief.
The JP's had of course done some research on the people with the Summoning App and easily found that the Higurashi's siblings and Hibiki were maternal cousins, although they had not found anything special about their family…Well, except the Higurashi family, they had owned the Higurashi Shrine since the Feudal Era and their family used to had children born with spiritual power before the Modern Era began. It was not known that the two oldest cousins would be quite similar, being stronger than most people spiritually with Kagome being able to use her spiritual power, and at the same time summoning strong demons just as Hibiki did.
"Bring them back after Dubhe is defeated." Yamato was smirking as he watched the big scene showing the fight back in JP's command room.
"Yes, sir." Makoto said before going back to watch the fight scene below through the telescope.
Kagome was a bit surprised to see Hibiki summoning a strong demon, it made her wonder if the Summoning App had reacted to their emotion while Souta was now staring at his cousin with amazement.
"Byakko, defeat it!" Hibiki commands, raising his phone hand toward Dubhe's direction before Byakko rush toward Dubhe with a roar.
Dubhe intercept by shooting explosive missiles toward Byakko who easily dodged the missiles and continued forward to attack with its claw, causing Dubhe to move away before changing the direction of its shoot to aim at Byakko.
Byakko had stop not far away when its attack had miss, it just ignored the attack and jump toward Dubhe who sent out multiple wind waves to counter, knocking Byakko further and further away and also stopping it from attacking.
"Kushinada-hime, go help out!" Kagome commanded her demon that was still around with a scowled as she watched Hibiki's demon was back to a corner.
Kushinada-hime closed in toward Dubhe who was focusing on Byakko, swinging her right arm from left to right to try knocking it off balance with her long kimono sleeve, although that only distracted Dubhe from the explosive missile attack toward Byakko for a moments.
Dubhe change to shoot it explosive missile in a wide area, causing Byakko to dodged by running up the building just beside and Kushinada-hime simply moved put it the way before putting up a barrier that gave Dubhe some time and space to grow its pink mass for an explosion attack.
Byakko ran to the top of the building before jumping off right toward Dubhe who shoot out explosive missiles toward it while preparing the exploded, although Byakko was still able to dodged the missiles with a few flip in mid-air before coming down slashing Dubhe's pink mass top with it sharp claw and than land and turn around to claw a second time, knocking Dubhe slightly off balance as the result.
"Byakko, destroy it!" Hibiki said with hatred as his arm holding the phone was covered with cracking blue energy light.
Blue electric spark gathered around Byakko before it let out an almighty roar, gathering the electricity spark in mid-air before thunder struck right down at Dubhe who was blown apart and soon disappeared in a blast of blue light.
"We did it?" Hibiki asked with gritted teeth as Byakko disappeared alongside Kushinada-hime in a blue light.
"Dubhe is completely gone." Kagome goes near to Hibiki with Souta, answering the question with what she had sense.
"Good…" Hibiki let out a slight sigh before he remembered, "Daichi!" He ran toward the still burning van.
"Wait! Daichi is fine!" Kagome immediately told Hibiki what she had already found out, she had sense Pixie's presence near to the van that was about to hit Dubhe earlier before moving slowly upward away but still there even now.
"What do you…" Hibiki's confusion was soon interrupted by a familiar voice from above.
"Hey!" Daichi called up from above the smoking area, he was hanging in mid-air with Pixie trying very hard to hold onto the back of his shirt while maintaining her flight.
"Thank goodness…" Io let out a relieved sigh at seeing Daichi's alive as she had not noticed her Pixie appearance at all due to everything that had happened.
The four quickly went near to the spot where Pixie's had slowly brought Daichi down, they were about to say something when a familiar female voice interrupted their happy reunions.
"Sorry to interrupt but you are coming back to JP's with us." Makoto said as she stepped out from around a corner with the rest of her teammate.
Too tired to really run and escape, the five end up following Makoto back to JP's and luckily for them, they were not sent straight to the cell but the resting room instead.
This is the end of the chapter, I hope everyone likes the story so far. I end up revealing Kagome's ability to the others in this chapter because she was not the type to hide her power when needed. It also shows that her purifying power was useless against Dubhe, that was because I consider her purifying power to be close to an Almighty attack due to being Demon weakness (minus a few) and Dubhe was null to it in the game. I have also added some history to the Higurashi Shrine and Kagome's family, can you guess who are the ancestors that built the shrine back in the Feudal Era? I might answer that in the later chapter or the sequel of this story.
Demons Tamer Current Team
Kagome: Kushinada-Hime (Kunitsu)
Hibiki: Byakko (Avatar)
Daichi: Poltergeist (Ghost)
Io: Pixie (Fairy)
Yamato: Cerberus (Beast)
Makoto: Power (Divine)
Joe: ?
