A gentle breeze flows through the wind. The sway of trees and leaves cast dancing shadows upon the grass. A pleasant silence full of little cracks of nature fills the air. A bird or two singing, the constant flow of water down bumpy, tiny streams in the hills, and the footsteps of people down narrow dirt paths.
Yet all the sounds in the air, were all gradually deafened and drowned out by a booming, strange voice in the distance. Growing closer and closer, slowly, but surely. It seemed to be singing, yet the rhythm and lyrics it cried out were of a foreign tongue. It was only one singer, without a doubt, yet the way they flexed and riled their tongue could make one swear they wielded more than one tongue, a choir of tongues even, a choir of mouths within a single throat. Mesmerizing with its song, yet brash and crude, if not flat out repulsive with its excessive volume.
Slow, but surely, the source was dragging itself closer and closer. The shadow of what looked to be a roundish mass climbing up the hazy horizon. A farmer drops the tools they were carrying, covering their ears as they clenched their teeth in pain. They then dashed in the opposite direction of the singing, fleeing as swiftly as possible.
Sandals clack away down a dirt road, fleeing away from the booming voice. Yet within the deafening drown of the singing emerged a much quieter choir of sounds. Footsteps of different kinds, different shoes and sizes, clattering and cluttering in an unrhythmic horde approaching. Boots, sandals, loafers, heels, sneakers, flats, wedges and even moccasins stomp and scatter across the dirt road. A vicious, rumbling, ever changing shadow casting itself over the nearby fields.
_(1)_
A pile of dark hair surrounds the pegs to a stool seated in the middle of a little plastic pool. The repetitive sound of scissors snipping here and there echoes softly through the room as more clumps of hair fall onto the plastic floor. Sunlight shining in from short windows that press right against the roof, reflections bouncing off the tiled floor gently. Showers nozzles, mirrors, and little plastic stools line up against the wall right below the windows, stagnant and still they were, for yet had come the hour of their purpose.
"So tell me something. You're a devil, aren't you?" Wei-Ting asked, seated upon the tall, wooden, stool as he stared off toward the door of the shower room.
"Technically! I'm what you would consider a "fiend". Simply put: a devil that's possessing a human corpse." The tall, pale man stated as he paused to squint at a portion of hair, before carefully snipping it off with a pair of scissors.
"Possessing a human corpse is usually a last ditch effort, thus we're much less capable and powerful than we were as devils." The pale man continued as he snipped and shaved at the thinning mane that was the young man's hair. His suit was neatly hung on a nearby, partially ajar locker, the sleeves to his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows, his combed back hair was tucked and stashed beneath a bandana, and he was sporting a flimsy gray apron.
"So what's a devil doing, working for the department that specifically hunts devils?" The young man asked, his tone unclear, yet viably nothing too uplifting or cheerful. A mix of sharp questioning and a possible urge to simply keep himself distracted and occupied while his pride was being sheared away.
"As I said before, I went through the same processes as you. They told me: "Work as a Public Devil Hunter, or be exterminated as a Devil"." The pale man said as his head darted around the young man, observing each possible angle as he progressively worked the scissors.
"Huh…" Wei-Ting replied, his jaw hanging down in a bored fashion as his gaze veered off to a random corner.
"Am I perhaps the first devil you've ever spoken with?" The pale man asked, snipping off another chunk of hair.
"No. My best friend was a devil. Though that would only make you the second devil I've talked to. What are you the devil of anyway?" Wei-Ting asked, his eyes wandering to the side as he watched a chuck of hair sway off his head.
"Torture." The pale man said casually, with a little oomph to his tone.
"I'm the Torture Devil." The pale man restated, once again, very casually.
"Huh?! The Torture Devil?!" Wei-Ting responded, spinning his head around mid-snip to stare at the towering fiend. His face had instantly grown a mix of fear and alarm, shocked at such a casual revelation.
"It's bad to move during a haircut! I could've cut you! Please. Face toward the door again." The pale man scolded in a somewhat gentle, passive tone, lightly shaking his fist as the entire expression only held the bare minimum of actual anger.
Wei-Ting paused for a second or two, then hesitantly obliged, turning his face back towards the door. A second or two later, the sound of snipping could be heard again.
A sound of metal bending and creaking unnaturally sounded from behind Wei-Ting's head as the pale man picked his head up, holding up a seemingly broken pair of scissors with a baffled, slightly annoyed expression.
"Strange. There's these few strands of hair at the back I can't seem to cut off." The pale man mumbled to himself as he inspected the young man's hair carefully once again. At this point, he had cut a majority of Wei-Ting's hair off. It was now styled like that of a French crop, yet still having a rather wealthy balance of hair to the top. Right at the lower back of his head, a clump of long strands of hair dangled all the way down to around his hip. This rope of hair seemed to flow smoothly and straight, unlike the rest of his hair, which was rather wavy.
"You can probably braid it." A feminine, quiet, yet subtle voice commented. The voice coming from the short, green haired woman, who was currently sitting on the tiled floor, not far from the two. Their back was against the wall as their knees bent towards the sky, holding her legs close, yet loosely within the embrace of her arms. There was an expression of listlessness or perhaps tiredness upon her face as she simply watched.
"Ah! That'd be perfect! Excellent job, as always, Noriko!" The pale man responded with a sudden, bright smile, before instantly going to work. Wei-Ting's face beginning to make silent gripes of agony on his hair was braided and pulled.
A few more minutes passed, Wei-Ting's feet, seated upon the lower horizontal parts of the stool, squirmed and wriggled around in what little space they could occupy.
"And there! Done!" The pale man announced as he stepped back, pulling a towel off of Wei-Ting's neck. His smile holding a powerful pride and excitement.
Wei-Ting stood up from the stool, stepping over the plastic pool and walking over to one of the mirrors against the walls. He then dropped down, squatting to observe his reflection.
"Well? What do you think? Not bad, is it?" The pale man asked proudly, planting his hands against his waist as he watched the young man.
Wei-Ting then gave his head a quick little shake. The top portions of his head puffed out in an instant, twirling and undoing several combs. The bangs seemingly extended and covered his eyes once again.
The tall fiend's proud expression silently crumbled as the facets of his work sprung undone in an instant. His jaw dropping and his planted hands slipping to his sides.
"Yeah. It's not bad. Pretty alright I guess." The young man replied as he stood back up, walking away from the mirror with a little whistling hum.
The short woman walked up to the pale man silently, giving him a gentle pat on the back as they both watched the young man walk out of sight. The pale man loosely raised an arm up, holding the broken pair of scissors, before tossing it into a nearby tray of other various hair tending tools.
_(2)_
"So isn't torture suppose to be a pretty bad thing?" Wei-Ting's voice perked up as a line of hanging black suits of various sizes were shuffled around by gloved hands.
"Like. The practice meant to inflict pain till someone breaks down crying and confesses all their secrets? You seem rather…" The young man continued his words, sloppily buttoning up a white shirt as he watched the fiend inspect the black suits. The pale man seemingly too focused on finding a correct fitting as he flipped the sides of one jacket, before moving onto another. His mouth slowly moving as he was seemingly mumbling numbers to himself.
"Too polite to fit the bill." The young man finished his statement with hesitation, squinting with a pinch of worry in his voice. He looked down at his white shirt, seeing several gaps and a few buttons dangling out of their sockets.
"Well. Like war, human society eventually realized there are much more peaceful, less violent methods to solve their problems over time, or at least I like to believe so." The fiend replied, pulling a suit out the cabinet before turning to look at the young man. After a quick glance, he immediately looked back, noticing the poorly buttoned shirt.
"I told you to start from the bottom and work your way up! Not the top! Unbutton it and try it again." The pale man scolded, pointing a finger at the young man to express his dissatisfaction before inspecting the suit currently in his hands.
"The modern person states: "work is torture", then they start saying: "doing this and that is torture", until eventually they start flat out saying: "life is torture". And that is, strangely, fulfilling enough for me. By that logic, humans already torture themselves and each other by the daily." The pale man stated, a calm, peaceful smile growing upon his face as he spoke. While his eyes were checking and inspecting the suit in his hands, it almost seemed like he was staring into space, reminiscing about something for only a few moments.
Wei-Ting simply raised an eyebrow and tilted his head while he began unbuttoning the shirt. His expression told that he didn't quite understand what the fiend meant, yet didn't seem too interested on finding out more.
_(3)_
The front doors of the building lobby swings open as an individual parades through, a casual, lightly cheerful smile upon their face as they halt within the first few steps. Every person currently in the lobby turns towards them, officers, coworkers, and civilian bystanders, stopping what they were currently doing and falling silent. The person was a tall and lanky, seemingly older man with hairs just beginning to gray, fancying a black, sleek trench coat over their slacks and white collar shirt. Despite their older appearance, their posture and movements seemed rather energetic and carefree, more akin to that of a much younger individual.
"Good day! Everyone!" They exclaimed, greeting everyone in the room by suddenly raising their arms high in the air like a performer on a stage. Slowly panning their upper body from the right side of the room to the left, making sure to make eye contact with everyone present.
"What did I miss?" He then asked while glancing around with much less showmanship, his tone indicating a sudden realization that something was amiss. Lowering his arms awkwardly yet keeping remnants of a smile upon his face.
Employees in black suits and slacks pass by a window in a busy hallway. Within the window is a tiny break room with a sink and coffee maker installed upon a small countertop against the right wall. On the other side of the room were two vending machines pressed against the wall, both covered in advertisements and colorful paneling, one for drinks, another for cheap meals. Next to the vending machines, closer to the middle was a small round table with three chairs, two of which were already occupied.
One face was already familiar, the Captain of First Division, who was hunched over, staring blankly down at the laminate of the table. He was seated to the left, facing the wall housing the vending machines.
Seated next to the First Division Captain, seated facing the window, was a more stockier individual. He had his hands clasped idly upon the tabletop, fidgeting his stubby fingers around or adjusting his jacket cuffs every few seconds. This particular individual held a black hairstyle similar to a fading chonmage, yet styled like that of a pompadour, with notable, distinct sideburns upon the sides of his face. As strange and unorthodox as their hairstyle was, it was surprisingly fitting, if not natural looking to this man's stocky, square build and shape. His face was cleanly shaved, if not hairless, appearing much more organized and well dressed than the unkempt Captain next to him.
"Of course he'd be nowhere near here when a terrorist attack occurs." The First Division Captain mumbled, a hint of annoyance reeking from his voice as he continued to stare down at the laminate.
"Meruki? Of course. Why do you think he's so old? He listens to the shake of his spine more than he thinks!" The stocky man replied as his eyes turned to the captain, leaning forward as he gave a small smile.
"Shame that devil he's contracted to escaped so long ago. It's damn useful." The Captain replied.
The two men's attention was then instantly drawn to the window as two gloved hands audibly slammed and squeaked against the glass. The two arms playfully reeling in the smiling face of the older man from the lobby.
"Speak of the devil." The two men said in sync as the older man began chuckling to himself, entering the room and jogging over to their little table.
"Captain Barusa!" The old man said, looking towards the First Division Captain, acknowledge the unkempt man by name or perhaps title.
"And Captain Kasupa!" The old man followed up as he turned his smiling, open mouth gaze to the stocky man to acknowledge them as the Second Division Captain.
"And where have you been, Meruki?" Captain Barusa asked bluntly as he watched the older man take a seat across from him. His tone of voice lacked that of a scold, yet his words carried the similar disposition of one.
"Yoga! Gotta keep this old body of mine in shape don't I? And what's with the old man being the only one using honorifics and titles?" Meruki replied with a joking tone as he kept his smile bright, taking a seat in the chair facing the countertop while glancing between the two other captains.
"As far as I'm concerned, you probably lost your honorifics ages ago while running with your tail between your legs." Barusa replied as he kept his expression calm and still, not a visible twitch or wrinkle of anger upon his face while staring directly into the older man's eyes.
"Probably so! But look at you! Next in command with the mysterious abduction of our Chief, youngest of us three captains! But you fit the bill of a grizzled war veteran already. You look a bit like a young Kishibe!" Meruki responded as he leaned forward onto the table, still keeping his smile and cheeky grin, yet his tone more notably carrying mocks and stings rather than jokes.
"That's right, he's your idol! Right?" The older man then pressed on, tilting his head as he raised an eyebrow, a smirk growing upon his face.
"And you're probably the same age as him, just everyone forgot about you." Barusa replied, as he began reaching for something in his jacket.
"Oh ho!" Meruki lets out an audible noise as he throws himself far back in his chair.
"Yeah. You're probably right about that." The old man then follows up as he slowly nods his head, his upper eyelids lowering to give a smug expression.
"Gentlemen! Let's get to the topic at hand and handle this like we're actual professionals, ok?" Kasupa piped up, lifting his hands up as he tried to ease the tension in the room.
"Let's get right to it then." Barusa states as he then takes out a folded up map out of his coat, tossing it onto the center of the table.
"Hold on now! What about Aishi? Shouldn't our little Fourth Division Captain be here too? Where is he?" Meruki then interrupts, scanning around the room while Barusa began unfolding the map.
"You know Fourth Division isn't official." Kasupa commented in a light mumble, giving Meruki a sarcastic curl of his cheek.
"I'll inform him after, it's already decided he'll hold the fort while we're out. And he's busy getting his newest member settled in as we speak." Barusa explained, unveiling the folded up map to show a layout of the city.
"Oh? He's got a new member? Another fiend?" Meruki asked, a casual smile still shining on his face while he adjusted his posture, crossing his legs.
"Not important." Barusa bluntly states, looking down at the map as he presses a wooden finger against its surface.
"That devil really is pulling you apart, isn't it?" Meruki mumbles to himself, looking towards the wooden finger as he still kept a casual smile.
Barusa stared up at the older man for a few seconds blankly, seemingly waiting for any other further comments. After a few moments of silence, the younger captain opened his mouth to speak.
"We're running a full search of the city alongside the police. This is an immediate joint operation. Each division will be in charge of sweeping a section of the city. Kasupa, your Second Division will be in charge of central and giving details to the local news station. Meruki, your Third Division will be in charge of the north. And First Division will be in charge of the south. Gather as much information as possible, keep your coms open. Find anything suspicious? Write it down. Write. It. Down. We have until nightfall. Tomorrow morning, we'll have another meeting to discuss the data we collect today. Any questions?" Barusa placed his wooden finger against the mentioned areas as he explained the plan thoroughly. He then looked back up toward the other two upon his final statement. Kasupa shook his head side to side silently with a logically satisfied expression. The two captains then looked toward where Meruki was sitting, only to find the old man missing.
The sound of a vending machine dispensing a drink sounds behind them, followed by Meriku popping up behind Kasupa.
"Nope! No questions at all! Third Division will get right to it!" Meruki stated proudly as he unscrewed the lid to his newly acquired drink and took a swig. Letting a little "woo!" as he savored the taste of the beverage with a playful shiver of his entire body.
_(4)_
A clean pair of navy blue and white, high top Chuck Taylors steps out into the narrow hallways of the buildings. The edges of a pair of black slacks hiding away the tops and socks underneath as a green and silver box buckle belt kept the slacks fastened around the waist. A tucked in, white, button up shirt, stashed under an open black suit. The only thing seemingly out of place was an untied tie loosely hanging around the neck. A familiar set of dark colored bangs hiding at least one the wearer's eyes. A long braid of hair swinging down to around his hips. This was the newly transformed Wei-Ting, cleaned of grime, dirt, and excessive hair, with a fresh new uniform.
"Now you look like a proper servant of Public Safety!" The pale man stated as he stood in front of the young man with a big smile, silently proud of himself. He then glanced down at the untied tie before looking back up at the young man, who was staring back at him blankly. The pale man's smile then dropped as he glanced back down at the untied tie, quickly checking behind himself to make sure he wasn't standing in anyone's way before reaching his hands out to tie the tie.
"I'll teach you how to tie a tie later." The pale man commented quietly, Wei-Ting simply standing there, unfazed.
"There we are!" The pale man then quietly exclaimed with a light clap of his hands upon finishing tying the tie. The proud smile returning to his face as he took a step back to double check the young man's uniform.
"Anyway! I need to meet up with the Captain of First Division. Noriko, can you please show Wei-Ting where our office is located?" The pale man explained with his hands clasped together, turning his eyes to the short woman standing next to Wei-Ting, who still held a tired expression.
"Thank you!" Without even waiting for an answer, the Torture Fiend bowed to give thanks and took off, turning around and jogging away with a hurried, fast paced power walk. Taking a left as he passed by a window at the end of the hallway.
A few seconds of silence passed as the young man and short woman watched the pale man hurry off. Wei-Ting then slowly turned his head to look down at the short woman standing next to him. An air of awkwardness welling up as fellow employees passed by on the other side of the hall.
"Take a right, keep going straight till you reach the end, then take another right, fourth door on the left. Should say "Reserve Office 2-4". I'm going to go take a smoke break." The short woman simply stated, not even glancing towards her new team member before walking off in the same direction as the fiend.
Wei-Ting watched her casually walk off silently, while he simply stood in place. After she was out of sight, the young man continued to stay in place for several more seconds. Breaking his stillness with a sudden glance around, looking towards the other black suited employees who were walking off to attend to their own duties. He then once again turned towards the front, giving a mild blink of a silent confusion, a bit lost on his current predicament.
Walking down the halls, Wei-Ting glanced towards placards placed next to doors, trying to figure out what they said, yet not stopping long enough in his tracks to properly do so.
"Left! Right! Left! Right! Come on!" A muffled, yet uplifting voice like that of a workout instructor cheered out of one of the passing rooms. Peaking his interest, Wei-Ting slowed down his pace to peek through the window of the door.
"Come on, Third Division! Stretch and loosen those muscles! Left! Right! Left! Right!" The voice sang again cheerfully, coming from a Captain Meruki. He was currently standing at the very front of the room, his arms high in the air as they swayed from right to left in an overly expressive fashion, swinging violently, yet swaying gracefully between swings, like the upset waves of an ocean clashing against the hull of a boat. His face had an overly enthusiastic expression, as if he was having the time of his life. Before him was a room full of black suited employees, stretching their bodies in time with the sway of Meruki's arms.
Wei-Ting simply watched in silence for several seconds, his jaw hanging loosely as his mind was still seemingly trying to figure out what was currently happening. His eyes wandered toward the Third Division Captain, watching the tall, lanky, gray haired man move so fluidly.
Meruki's head then instantly snapped directly towards Wei-Ting with a great grin, like something straight out of a horror movie. Wei-Ting instinctively jerked his head and body back, startled by the sudden and precise movement made by the old man. Meruki then pointed towards him with a smile, letting out a short, mocking laugh for getting a reaction out of the peeping observer. The captain then swiftly turned his attention back toward the rest of the division to continue cheering out instructions.
With that, Wei-Ting continued his way down the hall, sticking his thumbs into the pockets of his slacks, visibly annoyed that he was frightened by some old man.
"Starlight!" Meruki's muffled voice sang out, calling out a single word in English. His phrasing and accent making the word sound a bit funny.
"It's alright!" The rest of the room responded, also in English.
Eventually, Wei-Ting found his way to a door with a placard labeled: "2-4". Standing in front of it, he gazed down at the characters below the numbers, before peeking into the window. The office seemed a bit smaller than the Third Division office, only a few cubicles here and there, yet not all of the room was visible from the window's view.
Wei-Ting looked down the hallway, first from where he came from, seeing nobody, then towards the other side. He froze in place as he saw a lone employee standing at the very end of the hallway. A man holding what appeared to be a potted cactus, his face obscured by the branches of the cactus. Despite his face being hidden, Wei-Ting couldn't help but feel as if the man was staring directly at him.
Keeping his eyes on the cactus man, Wei-Ting slowly wrapped his finger around the door handle and turned it down, beginning to open the door.
The cactus man began side stepping to the right, inching his way out of view. Wei-Ting simply watched him in silence. Once the cactus man was out of sight, Wei-Ting would simply watch the end of the hallway as he opened the door wide enough for him to slip in. The young man then entered inside the office, sighing as he brushed the cactus man encounter out of his mind with a mild shake of his head.
The office was a rather narrow room with cubicles on each side, around six or eight in total as a single path in the middle allowed access to each. There was a large, open desk at the very back, seated in front of a singular window. Surrounding the large desk was a few scattered, flimsy office chairs, as well as a couch pressed against the wall. There was also a door at the very back, to the right, past all the cubicles.
The sound of squeaky wheels then sounds from one of the cubicles. An office chair slides out the cubicle opening, and glides across the room. Its back facing Wei-Ting as he caught a glimpse of a pair of legs guiding the chair along, before it went into the neighboring cubicle across the room. Once again, squeaks sounded out from the cubicle, and the office chair rolled out, skidding to a stop in the middle of the room.
"Ah! I haven't seen you here before. Are you perhaps lost?" A rather androgynous, yet slightly charming voice asked in a polite, yet straightforward tone. Anchoring their heels onto the floor as they wiggled the office chair around in place with the idle movement of their hips.
The individual seated upon the office chair was a rather short, thin individual, not as short as the woman Wei-Ting had met earlier, but still considerably short. It was hard to tell if they were a boy or girl, having a rather androgynous figure, and a number of other things that contributed to the confusion. Blond hair, swept mostly to the right side of their face, almost covering their right eye, yet not quite there. The back of their hair was tied into a really short ponytail. They were wearing the standard slacks and black suit, but their suit was much shorter than the standard, only reaching to around the midsection of their abdomen and left wide open, while their slacks were waist high. On their face was a big, slightly goofy, bright eyed smile.
"Is this not the Fourth Division office?" Wei-Ting asked, furrowing his brow with a hesitant, uncertain look. He then glanced around for a few seconds, looking for any indications as to which office this might be. Now wondered if perhaps this was the wrong room.
"Oh!" The individual perked up with an excited expression, sitting up from the chair. They hoisted one of their legs up, before throwing it back down to the floor to give their body just enough momentum to stand up from the office chair.
"Why yes! This is the Fourth Division Office! Are you perhaps a new member?" The androgynous individual asked, sticking their thumbs into their coat pockets and walking right up to Wei-Ting. They had to tilt their head just a tad upwards just to keep eye contact with him. Upon standing so close, it was much easier to see that their irises held a gold, orange coloration akin to copper. Yet where their pupils should be, their eyes instead, had two horizontally parallel lines that ran across the irises. The two lines slightly remind one of two vaguely similar lines found on the symbol commonly used for yen.
Wei-Ting reared his head back slightly as he kept eye contact with the individual, his demeanor still holding a bit of uncertainty.
"I think so?" Wei-Ting simply responded, giving a light shrug.
The individual's smile curled slightly more as they heard Wei-Ting's uncertain response. They took a quick breath before opening their mouth to speak again.
"Then that means we'll be working together! The name's Kazeek Plyn MacPlyn! But you can just call me, Plyn!" The individual introduced themselves enthusiastically, before extending and offering their gloved hand out for a handshake.
Wei-Ting glanced down at the extended hand for a moment, before looking back into the individual's eyes. He raised his chin up as a newfound confidence suddenly blossomed upon his face. A proud smile overtaking his expression as he gladly grabbed Plyn's hand.
"I'm Buzzsaw Man!" He proudly proclaimed, using his other hand to point his thumb towards himself. Him and Plyn's hands shaking up and down several times.
"It's nice to meet you, Buzzsaw Man! Can I call you Buzz for short?" Plyn responded, not furrowing or curling their brow, their voice not even faulting, still carrying the full weight of the enthusiasm their voice already brimmed with. This made Wei-Ting very visibly happy, his proud smile growing even bigger with his ego, like a child being praised. Their hands continued to bob up and down, clasped together in a firm, yet unusually long lasting handshake.
"Say, just to make sure, Buzz. You did pay the entry fee already, right?" Plyn's big smile dropped to a concerned look as they leaned in to ask their question in an audible whisper. Placing their other hand over their interlocked hands, which were still bobbing up and down in their continuous handshake.
"Entry fee?" Wei-Ting's proud expression dropped with a baffled blink. His hubris instantly folding away as confusion once again took again. The handshake slowing down significantly, yet still moving and persisting.
"Yeah! Didn't they tell you about the entry fee?" Plyn asked, his tone of concern growing.
"No! No one told me anything about an entry fee! How much is it?!" Wei-Ting's concern grew as he leaned forward, ducking his head down to be more level with Plyn.
"They usually calculate it by the wages of your previous jobs and include a bunch of other factors, like what kind of property you reside in, if you own a car, it's a lot of stuff!" Plyn explained, bobbing their head in a light nod as they began patting Wei-Ting's hand supportively with their free hand.
"I'm from Taiwan! I don't even have any yen!" Wei-Ting cried out, his confused expression descending into panic. Were they really going to dispose of him if he couldn't pay a stupid fee? That's ridiculous! Right?
"Ssss- That's not good! They take the fee very seriously!" Plyn clenched their teeth as they made a distinct inhaling noise like that of hiss, expressing the tension of the situation.
"I gotta get out of here! Maybe there's still time-" Wei-Ting instantly began darting his widened eyes around the room. His eyes then planted on the window on the other side of the room, beginning to take a step towards it.
"Woah! Now hold on! I'm sure there's a way we can resolve this!" Plyn assured the panicked young man as they gripped his hand tightly and side stepped to block their advance.
"Do you have anything of value? I know a few people around here who'd pay a good price for practically anything." Plyn suggested as they leaned in even closer, patting the distraught young man's hand, attempting to calm him down.
Wei-Ting's eyes darted to the floor, scanning around as he shuffled through his thoughts. He had left most of his stuff in his backpack, where had he even left it? He couldn't remember if they gave it back to him or not. He then patted his thigh a few times, feeling a squarish object pressed against his leg. He reached into the pocket of his slacks and pulled the object out. It was a cassette player tied up by the wire of a pair of flimsy orange headphones, his grip tightening on it as he stared down at it. It was evident he didn't want to part with it, but what other choice did he have? He took a deep breath before holding the cassette player out.
"You think this will be enough?" Wei-Ting reluctantly asked, pursing his lips with strain and tension.
Plyn finally breaks the long winded handshake as they look towards the cassette player, taking it into their gloved hands. They thoroughly inspected the electronic with squinting eyes as an uncertain hum rang through their pursed lips. They were rotating the device around in various directions carefully with a light, yet firm placement of their fingers. Wei-Ting simply watched with anticipation as they waited for an answer.
"It might not be quite enough- But! I'll pay for whatever the rest might be! Just pay me back later! Ok?" Plyn replied with a big, supportive smile as they looked back towards the young man, lowering their hands and gripping the cassette more firmly.
"Ah. Thanks, Plyn." Wei-Ting replied with an audible exhale as he stared down at the cassette. His mind reminiscing about some far off memories and what might the rest of his life be like without the flimsy electronic. The songs he regularly listened to humming in his mind.
"Not a problem! It's the least I could do. We're going to be working together after all, and good coworkers support each other!" The androgynous individual stated as they winked and gave a thumbs up.
"In plus, us humans got to stick together! You know?" Plyn then whispered while leaning in, glancing around the room, as if being cautious of possibly anyone listening.
Wei-Ting stared at them blankly with his mouth slightly ajar, giving a single blink as he processed what they just said. His eyes then narrowed to a squint, staring at the short, blond individual before him intently. He gave a quick sniff of the air with a flex of the nostril, his face gradually growing into a scowl. He then shoved his hand into their face, forcing his thumb into their mouth to pull up the flap of meat that was their upper lips.
"Huh?! What are you doing?!" The blond individual cried out in a funny voice as they tried speaking with their mouth forced open. Their eyes widening in fright as their pupils shrank to trembling dots. Reaching an arm up to grab Wei-Ting's wrist, they tugged and tried pulling the young man's arm away, but evidently didn't have enough strength to do so. Their other hand holding the cassette tightly against their body.
"My! Oh my! What pointy canines you have, my fellow human!" Wei-Ting stated sarcastically with an obvious newfound gripe in his voice as he stared at the now exposed upper teeth of his supposed coworker. Two shiny white pointed fangs, like that of a vampire, shining brightly under the wake of flickering office lights. He raised his hand higher, causing Plyn to have to prop themselves up on their tippy toes as they continued to struggle.
"Wait! Wait! I can explain! This is all just a big misunderstanding! Ok?!" Plyn tried justifying themself with a sudden sputter of stuttering, rapidly flying words. Beads of sweat began to roll down their skin while they tried to regain a smile upon their stretched out face.
"As if I'll believe that! Now give me back my thing, you scummy devil!" Wei-Ting roared out as he then tried prying the cassette player out of their grasp with his free hand.
"Come on now! Let's not be so sudden!" Plyn cried out with a nervous laugh, their arms wrapping around the cassette player defensively, evidently not wishing to return it to their proper owner.
"Let go!" Wei-Ting barked, letting go of the blondie's mouth so he could use both hands to wrench his prized possession from their grasp. They were wrestling and tugging aggressively, like kids on a playground fighting over a toy. Their recklessness caused Plyn to trip and fall backwards, dragging their quarrel onto the floor, yet this did not hinder them in the slightest as they continued to tug and pull at each other for the cassette player.
"We can settle this like reasonable adults!" Plyn cried out in a struggling voice. They were shoving and kicking at the person on top of them like a wild, cornered animal, yet their voice was ironically still trying to sound negotiable and cooperative.
"Give me back my walker first!" Wei-Ting yelled in an equally strained voice, tugging and pulling. Eventually squeezing one of the blondies hands and began trying to forcefully pry the hands open, one finger at a time.
"No!" Plyn hissed, their strained voice finally revealing their true colors as they rolled their body weight over to throw Wei-Ting off. The two were now rolling around the office together as a human tumbleweed, rolling from cubicle to cubicle as they continued their childish banter, hissing and yelling at each other in barely understandable mumbles and gripes.
The office door creaked open, a familiar face entering and turning towards the two intertwined bodies rolling around the middle of the floor. A short, seemingly tired woman with greenish hair. She simply stood there for a few seconds, staring down at the two as their rolling came to a halt in the middle pathway of the cubicles. Wei-Ting landing on top, immediately trying to wrestle and wedge his fingers into Plyn's considerably smaller grasp.
"Ah! Noriko! Please help me! This guy just wandered in and is now trying to rob me of my precious possessions!" Plyn cried out desperately with a panicked smile, still tucking and turning their arms out of Wei-Ting's grasp like a squirming animal.
"You lying devil!" Wei-Ting yelled directly in Plyn's face before he resumed trying to force Plyn's hands open.
Noriko simply continued to stare down at the two, her tired expression seemingly growing even more tired and annoyed. A deep, slow exhale emitting from her nose.
"You see Noriko?! He thinks he can take advantage of me because I'm a fiend! This isn't right! You know it isn't right! Please follow your heart, Noriko!" Plyn continued to vainly spat more lies and deceit as the wrestling and struggling continued.
"Plyn. Give whatever you took back." Noriko simply said, her voice as gravely and tired sounding as the bags under her eyes.
"Huh?!" Plyn then froze as he stared at Noriko with a shocked expression, right as Wei-Ting made a significant tug. The sudden looseness caused the young man to fling himself backward, losing his balance and crashing into the desk of a nearby cubicle, the cassette player in hand.
After some significant time, Wei-Ting and Plyn were now sitting side by side with a noticeable gap between their office chairs. Across from them was the torture fiend, now seated behind the large desk at the very back of the narrow office space, the light from the window directly behind him beaming upon his back. Noriko was leaning against the wall next to the window, watching the two over the pale man's shoulder. There was a significant amount of paperwork upon the desk, stacks organized and divided evenly, yet still rather cluttered.
The pale man took a deep breath as he was seemingly trying to calm himself, making a worried little smile as he shut his eyes closed. Once he released the breath, he looked up towards Wei-Ting with his hands clasped together atop the desk.
"Ok. Let's start from the top." The torture fiend began. The young man and the androgynous blond slowly blinking almost in sync as they watched him in silence.
"Wei-Ting. There is no entry fee, half of this division does not even technically have human rights. Much less accumulated, personal funds." The pale man started his explanation, stating his words very slowly and articulating each part, making sure every word is clear and understandable to everyone in the room.
"My name is Aishi. I am the Torture Fiend, and I am the captain of this unofficial division." They then stated, pressing their gloved fingers against their chest.
"This is Noriko. She is the only human in our division. I suppose technically, until today." Aishi's hand directed itself back, palm upward as he gestured to refer to the woman standing behind him.
"And this, is Plyn. They are the Scam Fiend. And yes, they were trying to scam you, which we apologize for. They have a tendency and even a record of trying to scam a majority of people they come across. And that includes fellow Public Safety Devil Hunters." Aishi's other arm then directed itself to the blond individual sitting next to Wei-Ting, giving a small bow of his head upon stating the apology.
"And Plyn, this is Wei-Ting… He's, well." Aishi then directed their arm at Wei-Ting as they turned their head towards the blond. Aishi then paused and clenched his hand to a fist lightly as he seemed to lose track of his wording, turning his head back to the young man as he furrowed his brow for just a moment.
"I'm Buzzsaw Man." Wei-Ting said in a casual volume as he sat up in his chair, everyone in the room turning to look towards him. An awkward silence falling over the office, only filled by the subtle hum of electric lights overhead. He looked toward Plyn, who simply responded with a silent blink. He then looked back toward Aishi, giving an affirmative, yet ironically modest nod towards the pale fiend.
An audible, nasally exhale sounds from the Torture Fiend as he lowers his head slightly.
_(5)_
A mass of deformed human legs march and drag a greater mass of flesh behind it slowly, but surely down a pavement road. Bending and twisting their knees forward and back in a tediously, constant cycle. From behind the stomp and slides of the various pairs of bare feet was a great, booming voice, singing to the winds freely. It was a singing comprised of very few lyrics, seemingly focusing more upon the alternation between pitches and registers, making a distinct high pitched echo with a strong push behind each bellow.
"Don't you think it'd be a good idea to close the shop?! There is a devil out there after all!" A woman yelled to a much older, near elderly woman behind a store counter, trying to talk to her over the excessive volume of the singing. The younger woman was pressing her palms against her ears, yet she didn't seem too overly worried about their current situation.
"Should be fine! It's just singing after all!" The older woman dismissed while yelling back, the strain in her voice clearly audible. The shadow of a massive, irregularly shaped mass gradually crept upon the buildings across the road as the singing got closer and closer to the small, traditionally decorated shop the two women were currently in. The front doors were wide open, allowing customers entry and to indicate that it was open for business.
Just then, several figures quickly lunged into the store, their pace slowing down upon passing the doors. Their heads immediately gazing and surveying around the store as more human shaped figures wandered in behind them.
"Ah! Welcome! If you need a place to keep shelter while the devil passes, feel free to stay!" The younger woman called out with a quick bow of her head as she turned towards the front door with a smile. It was apparent her tone was trying to keep herself as polite as possible while trying to talk over the singing.
A few of the figures wandered further in and scooted throughout the aisles seemingly aimlessly, while others remained idly near the entrance, slowly pacing around. The way they walked was much like a wobble, oddly leaning towards the direction they were heading towards. The way they moved was much like a constant, dizzy clumsiness, slowly swaying their bodies around loosely, even when standing in place.
It had only been a few seconds upon the entry of these moving human shapes, yet the younger woman's smile was already fading as she took a step back towards the counter. Every figure in the store, regardless of action, position, or location, then simultaneously rotated their heads towards the two women in a perfect, silent sync.
_(6)_
The lights to the office of Fourth Division were found to be off, the window blinds closed shut. A projector set at the very edge of the large desk at the back of the room was shining a light onto a projector curtain stilted between two cubicles.
"There are many dangers to working in Public Safety, especially when protecting the citizens of Japan from the ever present threat of devils!" A woman dressed in the standard Public Safety Devil Hunter uniform appeared on the projector as she spoke in a clear, toneless voice while holding a bright, professional smile. The woman clearly didn't work for Public Safety, judging by the shine in her eye that told she had the rest of her life to look forward to. It wouldn't take a genius to point out that she was simply a paid actor for the video.
Next to the projector sat Wei-Ting and Plyn, seated loosely in their office chairs as they stared blankly at the projector curtain.
Wei-Ting was seemingly struggling to keep his eyes open, the eyelids flopping up and down heavily as he tried to keep his gaze centered. His jaw was dangling slightly ajar, a trail of drool slowly running down the side of his face.
"The government of Japan has commissioned this safety education video, to help you overcome the adversities and dangers of protecting the people of our wonderful country!" The woman on the screen continued, lines of characters slowly appearing on the screen to display messages and pictures.
Plyn, on the other hand, seemed more focused and awake. Yet it was clear they were not paying attention to the presentation. Their eyes were looking just above the screen blankly, staring off into space. Their posture more leaned forward, yet their mouth was similarly ajar, lacking a trail of drool. Their legs curled up upon the seat.
"First, we must discuss the topic of: "What is a devil?"." The woman continued, her voice and tone almost machine like as it lacked any emotion and was easy to lose focus on.
Noriko was seated with a proper posture in an office chair behind the desk. She was staring at the screen and watching, unlike the others. She didn't seem interested in it in the slightest, yet she continued to pay attention despite the lack of engrossment. Her eyes then glanced down toward Wei-Ting, whose head was leaning to the side as his eyes were slowly closing shut. She stood up, reaching over the desk and snapping her finger next to his ear. His head immediately shook alert as he turned to look at Noriko. She simply pointed towards the screen before sitting back down, silently scolding him into paying attention.
"A devil, is a supernatural creature of our world that does not follow the same rules as normal biological life, such as plants, animals and humans." More robotic, toneless words sounding out from a small speaker as the projector displayed pictures of various devils. Each devil varying and unique in their own ways, yet all sharing a tone or degree of horror and uncanniness to it, creatures solely meant to instill fear within humans.
Two blood red eyes gazed brightly with interest towards the screen before they looked down. Quickly scribbling characters across a paper with a well written handwriting, gloved hands moved the paper off to a stack to the side before placing another sheet of paper in front of them. The crimson eyes glancing back up to the screen brightly. Out of everyone in the room, Aishi seemed to be the most invested in the video playing upon the curtain, his eyes lighting up every time he looked up. Yet, he was also occupied with filling the various paper work scattered across the large desk.
"Each devil is unique and different from one another, some possess abilities that can defy current scientific laws and logic, they sustain themselves primarily off of flesh and blood, and their threat escalates with the amount of fear their portrayed concept produces." The video continued. The woman was staring directly at the viewers, before she gave them another professional smile. A smile that lacked any genuine emotion, like a pet performing a simple trick.
"Aishi, can you take care of this paperwork? It's for Third Division." The door at the far end of the office opens, an employee sticking their upper body inside the room as they hold out a stack of papers.
"Yes! Of course! Just set it on the desk over there for now, I'll take care of it after getting the papers from Second Division settled!" Aishi replied, standing up from his chair to point towards the desk near the door.
"Alright, thank you for your hard work." The man thanked rather unenthusiastically, placing the stack of papers onto the desk before leaving.
Aishi then sank back into his chair, leaning his head closer to the papers before beginning to write more quickly than previously.
"As a Public or Private Devil Hunter, you are legally allowed to create a contract with a devil. These contracts will allow you to utilize a devil's abilities to assist you when eliminating unregistered devils, in exchange for most commonly the loss of one or more body parts or functions." The woman on the screen explained as she moved her hand to the right. A picture of a legal document then faded into the video, floating right above her upturned palm.
"We have just received reports of a Yodel Devil entering at the southeast corner, any available divisions please respond." A nearby radio on the desk chirped out.
"Yodel Devil?" Aishi then perked up, his eyes wide as his expression glowed for a moment.
"First Division is currently at the far southwest side, but we can send a team if-" Another voice began speaking through the radio, responding in a very hesitant tone.
Aishi immediately fumbled his hands around, scrambling for the microphone of the radio. The other three members of the division turning to watch him as he produced a notable commotion.
"This is Fourth Division reporting in! We are available to head right over, straight away!" Aishi stated into the mic as he stood up, his body language and tone of voice hinting with excitement as he tried to sound as professional and firm as possible.
A long pause of radio silence filled the room, Aishi pursed his lips as he waited for an answer, the nervousness in his expression obvious. Plyn and Noriko looked towards each other, giving each other puzzled, confused expressions before looking back towards their captain.
"Be careful out there, Aishi." A familiar voice sounded through the radio. Captain Barusa's voice. The anxiety on Aishi's face seemingly spiked up in an instant upon hearing Barusa.
"Yes sir! I won't let you down!" Aishi then replied, his voice slightly cracking as he spoke. He then set the microphone back on the desk, taking a moment to seemingly process what just happened.
"Welp! Let's get going!" Aishi then exclaimed, clapping his heads together as he excitedly began gathering things scattered across his desk.
"What about the safety training video?" Noriko asked, standing up from her chair and fastening her suit.
"Sometimes first hand experience is the best teacher!" Aishi replied, seemingly blurting out an excuse.
"Ok? Want me to do the thing?" Noriko then asked as she rolled her chair over to the side, out of the way.
"Not this time! I actually thought it might be nice to attempt driving again. I think I was finally getting the hang of it last time!" Aishi replied, grabbing a bag and slinging it over his shoulder before squeezing himself past the desk and a nearby cubicle, bumping Plyn's chair accidentally.
Noriko simply let out a sigh before following after him, turning towards Plyn and Wei-Ting and gesturing to them to follow along.
_(7)_
The group made their way to a black car out in a mostly empty parking lot. Aishi jogged toward the car while pointing a clicker towards it. The lights of the car flashed as the fiend clicked the unlock button several times, making sure it was unlocked before getting in. The rest of the division took their time to walk towards the car.
"So what made you wish to take care of this devil?" Noriko asked, currently sitting in the passenger seat at the front.
Plyn and Wei-Ting were sitting at the back, seemingly bickering with each other about some unknown topic. Wei-Ting was throwing scowls and annoyance upon his face while leaning toward the blonde next to him insistently. Plyn, on the other hand, weaved and waved their hands around in various gestures and expressions while keeping a bright, devilishly smug attitude.
"So. I've actually met the Yodel Devil before, a long time ago! It's incredibly docile! Causes ears to bleed and can lead to permanent hearing loss, but besides that, it's practically harmless! It should be an easy devil to eliminate. Though, I will admit my main reason for wishing to see it is because I really admire its singing, very pleasant and fluent, at least to my own ears." Aishi excitedly rambled to Noriko, his face bright with anticipation and joy. He was currently darting his head around the car windows as they were waiting for a stop light to turn green.
"I see. It's just really surprising for you to accept a call." Noriko simply replied, looking down from the car window to write inside a notepad seated on her lap. The pen she was writing with was fancy and colorful, unlike the standard office pens.
"Listen! We're coworkers! We should be able to move past this little mishap!" Plyn said, seemingly trying to make amends with their new coworker.
"Like hell! I'll never refer to a scummy con like you as a buddy of mine! You kind of people are the worst! And to top it off, your the devil of all them scumbags!" Wei-Ting retaliated, immediately denying the fiend's attempt with an onslaught of insults. With each spout of distaste, they lunged closer to the fiend, only restrained and held back by their seatbelt.
"Ah. Then should I just refer to you as Wei-Ting instead of Buzz from now on? Since we can't be buddies?" Plyn's eyes looked away, gazing toward the floor as they conjured up an obvious heartbroken ruse. Clasping their hands together as they looked back up at Wei-Ting with puppy dog eyes.
Wei-Ting, with his arms crossed, stared at the fiend. His lips began to purse as his eyes then looked away, anger slowly shifting to another expression. The fiend's obvious ruse had hit a cord with him.
"Fine. I'll overlook it this one time." Wei-Ting pouted quietly, leaning into his chair to face the front as he conceded.
"Keep calling me Buzz." Wei-Ting requested bluntly. Plyn's expression curled into a smug, mischievous grin upon earning their victory.
"Oh dear. That's unusual." Aishi then mumbled, squinting ahead as they drove closer to their destination. The other passengers of the car looked up to see what he was referring to.
Singing in the air could be heard further ahead, behind a few buildings, but a large crowd of people seemed to be blocking the road ahead of them. A sneeze then sounds from Wei-Ting. He wipes his nose on his sleeve as his face scrunches up.
"Something's making my nose act up. I can't smell correctly." Wei-Ting complained as he shook his head around a little, stretching his sinuses out with funny faces and expressions.
The people at the very edge of the crowd then turned towards the car, progressively moving out of the way to let the car through. Aishi began carefully driving further forward, trying his best not to run anyone over. The wheels rolling steadily across the pavement at a leisure pace.
"Does the Yodel Devil happen to hypnotize or lure humans?" Noriko asked, observing some of the passing people.
"Not from what I can remember. If anything, it just deters people away from it. A crowd showing up is quite strange though, why is no one evacuating?" Aishi responded, his upper body leaning forward over the steering wheel as his foot hovered over the brake.
Noriko's eyes glanced from one person to the other, a bit of curiosity flaring within her demeanor by the way her eyes flickered across the crowd. Their attires and features were vastly different from one another, no two people appearing the same as each other. Some were wearing fairly ordinary, casual clothes, while others were wearing unusual attire, such as: nightgowns, kimonos, overalls, swimsuits, fancy dresses, and even what appeared to be Halloween costumes. Judging by their variety of ethnic features as well, it seemed most of the people within this crowd weren't from around this part of Japan.
"Ooo! Most of these people look like foreigners, possibly tourists! I wonder how gullible they are?" Plyn states to themself as they presses their grinning face and gloved palms against the window, like a child staring into a candy store.
"Plyn. Don't." Noriko simply said, already assuming their intentions.
"Hey! I didn't say I was going to do anything!" The Scam Fiend responded with a chuckle in their voice as they turned their head to the seat in front of them before looking back out the window. Wei-Ting, who was sitting next to them, was shaking his head side to side as he continued to flex his nose around. He was not paying any attention to the crowd, too distracted by his current nasally predicament.
Eventually, they made their way down the road, through the crowd. Making a turn to the left, they witness a gargantuan mass blocking up the entire street, its lower portions obscured by the ever present crowd. The singing in the air was becoming louder and louder as the car rolled them closer and closer.
A smile began to sprout on Aishi's face as he bobbed his head side to side in rhythm to the vigorous singing. His gloved fingers on top of the steering wheel fiddling and drumming.
Noriko clenched her teeth and let out a groan, planting a hand over the singular ear not covered by her hair. The ever growing volume was starting to reach the point of aggravation towards her senses. Yet oddly enough, she did not cover the other side of her head.
Wei-Ting stopped fiddling with his nose as his ears began to ache as well. He peeked his head between the two front seats to get a clear view of what was ahead of them.
A bulbous mass of what looked like human flesh and organs, slugging forward like a tremendous snail. The mass was composed of several gigantic pairs of teeth, mouths of various sizes, all grinning, singing, and laughing together as a singular, united voice. Limbs dangled above loosely on top the mass as elongated arms, legs, and some other, unidentifiable parts. It was simply a conglomerate, an unrefined, asymmetrical mess of irregularity. Yet its voice, despite its excess volume, was crisp and clean. This seemingly mindless mass could register and transfer between its chest and head voice seamlessly, it was a master over its own tune, able to break and steady itself on a whim. High and low registers bouncing back and forth, to and fro, creating what sounded like an amalgamated choir of voices strung and led by a single tongue, wielded like the baton of a seasoned conductor. Mouths singing within mouths, lungs inflating and deflating like a great instrument or contraption.
This beast, this devil, with no doubt, carried a very masterful sense of showmanship. People would no doubt, woo and flock to it, proclaiming its internal beauty over the horrid mass that was its accursed exterior. That is, if only its volume wasn't so damaging, agonizing, uncomfortable, annoying and excruciating to the ears.
"Don't worry! Yodeling is all it does! Doesn't even respond to attackers, well, often at least!" Aishi yelled with an excited smile as he turned towards Plyn and Wei-Ting, trying to communicate over the yodeling. Aishi then opened the console between the two front seats, pulling out what looked to be a polished machete of some sort, before handing the blade over to Wei-Ting.
"We should be close enough! Wei-Ting, Plyn, you two can get down now if you wish!" Aishi stated as he turned back towards the front, placing his hands back on the steering wheel as he eased the brake down to stop the car. The car was noticeable vibrating in rhythm, the excessive yodeling reverberating off of it.
"Noriko! Let me borrow a pen!" Plyn exclaimed as they lunged onto Noriko's seat in front of them, pointing towards the colorful pen in her free hand. She turned her head towards the direction of the fiend, then reached over to one of the car's cup holders to grab a regular pen. She folded the colorful pen beneath her fingers, while holding the regular ink pen out with her thumb and index. Reeling her arm back, she presented the regular pen to Plyn.
Plyn reached over her fingers and snagged the colorful pen out of her hands before immediately slipping out of the car.
"Plyn! Give that back!" Noriko's usual toneless and expressionless demeanor faded in an instant as she tried to grab the fiend. Her face scrunching up with the sudden moment, almost as if she anticipated this. Much to her dismay, the fiend was too quick, and she could only watch with an annoyed expression as the fiend danced and skipped to the front of the car.
"What?" Plyn mockingly replied with a big mischievous smile, pulling their hand next to their ear, as if pretending they couldn't hear the human from where they stood.
"That's my grandmother's pen!" Noriko yelled out, her voice muffled from within the car. Wei-Ting walked to the front of the car, standing next to Plyn as he watched the two bicker, the dull side of the machete leaned onto his shoulder.
"I'm sorry! I can't hear you! Thank you for the pen!" Plyn responded, playing dumb as their face indicated they knew exactly what Noriko was saying. They waddled the pen high in the air before spinning around. Wei-Ting and the fiend beginning to make their way through the crowd.
Noriko groaned as she leaned back into her chair, seemingly giving up on getting her pen back. Just as she was exhaling to relax, she immediately clenched her teeth, pressing her hand against her ear harder. Wincing as her ears were ringing from the noise. Aishi turned toward her with a concerned look in his expression, seeing that being this close to the devil was agonizing for her.
"We should probably back up a little." Aishi said to himself as he kept his eyes on the woman, putting the car in reverse before turning around. Immediately, a noticeable amount of thuds and bumps changed the tone of the situation. Aishi's face shriveled with horror, his jaw dropping as he stared out the back window, seeing several people roll across the car's trunk or flop onto the street behind them. The crowd had apparently reformed behind them, closing off their path.
"Aishi! You need to watch behind you before you back up!" Noriko scolded as she was now also alarmed, looking out the back window. She then turned towards the torture fiend, her palm still firmly pressing against her exposed ear.
"Oh dear! I didn't mean to! Oh no, oh no! This can't be happening!" Aishi began panicking, his face beginning to sweat as his head darted around wildly. Noriko kept yelling out to him, regarding driving procedures as he fumbled around the driver's seat, trying to quickly think of what he could do.
Aishi then froze as he looked out the back window again. A different shade of horror now reeking his pale face. The people who were ran over carefully stood up, the expressions on their faces, wide eyed and smiling. Freakishly wide eyed, pupils shrunken to that of dots. The way the little dots rotated and swayed around the whites of their eyes aimlessly. Smiles stretch from cheek to cheek, to the point of deforming the face. His eyes glanced towards another one, a busted, bruised face shifting back to a regular form.
His mind deafened out Noriko's words as he began darting his head around, intently observing the people of the crowd. A person with one eye larger than the other, misaligned with the other. He turned his head again. An unnatural amount of teeth upon a person's mouth, to the point where they couldn't even close their mouth properly. Another spin of his head. A person with three legs and only one arm. He veered his head past Noriko. A group of nine, marching through the crowd, their heads all turned completely backwards, wearing wicked, demented grins upon their faces. Each sight made the fiend's expression sink deeper and deeper into terror as he started to fully realize the situation at this moment of panic.
The yodeling kept booming through the air with great jolly and enthusiasm flowing through each and every chord. Beads of sweat running faster down the fiend's face as his hands tightly clenched the steering wheel.
Aishi gazed past the group of backwards headed people as they finished passing, seeing two brightly smiling women wobbling out a store with several other individuals. By the way his eyes trembled, he recognized these two women. The older woman was standing tall, chin high up to the clouds as her head and torso were abnormally elongated, swaying her shrunken arms around aimlessly. The younger woman was swaying and wobbling around clumsily, her arms wiggling as if all the bones in them had been removed. Her jaw was swinging around and hanging down to her chest, as if the lower jaw had been detached from the rest of her skull, while her mouth unnaturally stretched and expanded.
Yet these deformities were the least frightening thing about them. Riddling their bodies were countless knives, still lodged deep within their bodies. Blood seeped steadily from these stab wounds, which other members of the nearby crowd would press their tongues against. The crowd members would scrunch and deform into inhuman positions to reach these stab wounds, positions that would break the bones of regular people. The horrific scene was akin to watching calves drink milk from their mother's utters.
"Aishi?! What are you doing?! What's gotten into you?! You just ran over some civilians over!" Noriko tried calling out over the yodeling, realizing he wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. Her head was throbbing painfully from the noise as she tried to maintain her composure. Worry and unease started to curl upon her expression as she stared at his terror filled face. She tried pressing her palm harder against her ear, the increasing volume of the yodeling still leaking in and causing agony and discomfort within her human ear. It was beginning to feel as if her ear would burst if she continued to stay this close to the devil.
Aishi's terror-filled expression turned to face the front once again, watching Plyn and Wei-Ting move further into the crowd, carefree and oblivious to the looming horror of their situation. Behind them, several members of the crowd began to raise up blades and steely knives clutched in their steady hands. The knives like teeth, claws, and stingers from a pack of predators preparing to ambush their next meal.
"There's another devil here." Aishi mumbled to himself, his words drowned out to obscurity by the constant parade of graceful yodels bellowing in the air.
People say to always expect the unexpected, but what even is the unexpected? Should you not trust your own lungs to breathe? Should you worry that your blood may not flow properly at any second? There is never an easy answer for things. Things are not always black and white, and there will be times when a correct answer is absent from the problem. Sometimes a plunge into the dark is needed, but the dark does not guarantee reward.