Chapter 85: Tears
"Yo~!" A cheerful expression and a tune to his voice that spoke of the sweetest stories accompanied Izaya as he stepped into the chamber that was hiding Leo.
Almost immediately his expression fell and his face paled.
"Oh my god, did someone die?" Laying down straight on a bed made of wood and straw he pushed himself up into a sitting position as Izaya snorted at the retort.
"You think I would smile if someone did?"
Moving much quicker than expected Leo rolled his eyes for a second of relief before moving his injured leg surprisingly quickly off the bed. "I think you have really weird ways to handle people sometimes."
To Izaya's surprise he didn't even flinch despite the pain he should be feeling from his wound.
Namie seemed to hold a similar concern as she approached the boy.
"How is your leg?" and Leo smiled, albeit a bit bitter.
"I'm perfectly fine," he answered, but sounded like he didn't want to.
Looking at the wound then back at Leo's genuine expression Izaya blinked for a moment as he counted two and two together.
High speed regeneration. The kind he had seen in Shizuo when he fought Vincent and the police, Leo seemed to have it too.
It was a relief to be honest, because if there was one thing he didn't exactly want to show to his sisters, then it was a kid their age slowly rotting away in a medieval setting of no medicine and help.
"What? Did you look forward to more pain?" Izaya asked and Leo quickly shook his head. "No, but I feel like a monster," a quick glance was cast towards Shizuo's and his words quickly adjusted in a rush. "Not that healing fast is a bad thing-"
Izaya still thought it to be funny just how intimidated Leo seemed to be by Shizuo.
And there he was behaving his most docile.
A simple shrug was all he offered, along with words of agreement. "No, I get what you mean."
Having looked at the wound and come to the same conclusion Leo had, Namie rose from the ground with a light frown on her face. "Did sister Monica already catch up on this?"
Leo shook his head, "Not yet, but I'm switching my own bandaids so I'm thinking of just limping around whenever they see me."
An approving smile sneaked across Izaya's lips and he brought a hand forth to ruffle through Leo's strands. "We actually brought a smart one," he announced and Leo quickly complained.
"Hey, stop that-"
A glance was cast to the side and Izaya looked towards his sister.
"And? Anything?" Having watched the conversion in front of them unfold, Izaya had hoped for her to pick up anything. A thought here or a contemplation there. Even some comments on Izaya's behavior would have been appreciated.
But shaking her head all Mairu had to offer was nothing.
A little confused Leo looked back and forth between the siblings, having been left in the dark.
"Maybe she needs to search for specific information?" Izaya speculated and Namie hummed, "Or it's on cooldown?"
Izaya snorted, "What is this to you a video game?"
Annoyance spread across namie's expression and she rolled her eyes, "Excuse me for not knowing how to treat your species."
"What is on cooldown?" Leo tried, but was heavily ignored by everyone present, including Shizuo. "Or maybe it's because we know everything we want to know about Leo," he concluded and Namie crossed her arms and tilted her head towards the ceiling as she tried to deflect an upcoming headache.
"That could be the issue, but it could also be an entirely different problem," she sighed.
"Hello? Do you hear me?" Leo tried again, but no answer followed.
Expression's tensed and brains were wrecked as the group tried to come up with a solution.
It wasn't often that Izaya was left with such little options.
As long as the entirety of people present viewed them as outsiders there was no way they were going to attain crucial information. Not even from the kids. And the elders had no idea what had truly been going down, it was only gossip and rumors they had to offer.
Looking at her sister Mairu tried to think of a way to exploit her ability as well. The garden and the way she had read Aldith's thoughts.
Why had it only been hers? There had been a lot of kids moving around, but she only heard her twice.
Was it because she was so quiet? Did they need silence in order to hear?
No. Ketil and Kars weren't quiet at any point in time and she still heard her.
But then why?
Tipping her lips Mairu looked around the room, trying to find some hint at what to do.
It was when she looked into Leo's direction, that she noticed his gaze.
Evenly distributed he set his eyes on everyone present. On Namie. On Shizuo. Izaya. But most importantly, on Kururi.
It was just a few additional seconds that his gaze held, but it was enough to spark an idea in Mairu's head.
An idea and an interest.
"Say, Kururi," she said and leaned into her sister's ear. Quick whispers left her lips and Kururi's expression didn't change much except for the single nod she gave in silent approval.
A step was taken towards Leo, and before he knew it Kururi faced him, closer than he had imagined. "What-" backing off on instinct his back hit the wall, but Kururi followed to the point that their noses almost brushed.
Flustered beyond belief Leo's libs froze as he tried to make sense of the action.
And suddenly Mairu laughed.
Turning slightly Kururi looked past her shoulder with an expression too innocent for what she did. "Good?"
And Mairu grinned before showing a thumbs up. "Perfect!" Confused as to what exactly it was that she had tried, Izaya looked at his younger sister as she beamed at him with a confident expression. "I think I know how it works."
Even more confused than before Leo cleared his voice before addressing the sister that was still half sitting on his body. "Can you please get off me?" he begged, and Kururi blinked before doing as he wished and moved back to her sister's side.
"What do you mean you think you know?" Namie asked doubtfully, but Izaya seemed to have understood without having to be told. "Ah, so that's why."
Perplexed and left with no explanation whatsoever, Namie leaned over to Shizuo as the last torch of hope.
"Do you have any idea what they are talking about?" but he was just as lost as her.
"Not a clue."
Clasping his hands as if ending an act of a show, Izaya bowed jokingly before grinning at their youngest member.
"Thank you for your cooperation Leo, I look forward to seeing you limp around!" he announced and with that he steered back to the door.
"Huh?" And Leo- Leo was just left stupefied.
And left alone.
Because along with Mairu and Kururi following close behind even Shizuo and Namie followed as no one bothered to file him in.
But there were more important matters to be addressed right now and Izaya quickly moved into the direction of the hall.
"I can't really accompany you for the next one I want you to look into," he announced and Mairu nodded.
"Sister Monica?" she tried to guess, but Izaya shook his head.
"No," and the door at the end of the corridor opened as he revealed the hall. A certain man he had done well to avoid so far was leaning against the wall next to the front door. Almost as if he had been forgotten there and was waiting to be picked up.
"Balthasar," Izaya whispered and Mairu's gaze trailed to the man in question. Stance straight and expression anything but inviting he looked at the various people inside the church as though he was looking for something crucial as well.
"As far as I am concerned he is the demon the priest made a contract with," Izaya explained and Mairu's eyes widened in short surprise.
The demon-
She had never seen a real one.
Arguably her brother and sister were demons as well if their incubi cursed made them count as such, but to meet a true one, the one that actually started all this was tremendously exciting.
And that reaction was exactly what Izaya wanted to trigger.
"Got it," she whispered and moved forward while dragging Kururi along with her.
Moving closer to Izaya, Shizuo whispered into his ear.
"He is the one?" he asked, but all Izaya had to offer was a snort. "Probably not. But what would get you more hyped than the idea of talking to a demon?"
Shizuo wasn't sure about that. Hyped? To meet a demon?
If he were a small girl like these two were then he would probably be afraid to face one. Like any sane child.
But these were Izaya's sisters and having interacted with them longer than he liked to be found himself oddly agreeing with Izaya's words.
Truly.
These two would probably look forward to interacting with a spawn of satan.
Gaze set straight and undistracted Balthasar looked around the hall. It wasn't quite clear what he was searching for, but Mairu and Kururi certainly were not part of it.
Appearing next to him like a couple flowers on the first days of spring Balthasar found himself looking at two very expectant faces.
"... do you need something?" he voiced after what must have been an awkward eternity of trying to ignore the girl's presence.
Especially the one on the right holding a smile seemed particularly invested into his presence.
"We have been wondering, do demons really exist?" Mairu quickly asked, and even Kururi joined her in her quick interrogation.
"Seen?" she whispered and Mairu nodded eagerly as she faced the guy of gaunt stature. Izaya was right, he really did look like a demon. This man's face was pale, sunken in too. She could see his cheekbones and the way he hid his hands inside his cloak to retain some warmth to his cold body.
He was practically screaming, demon, on his forehead, especially with that stern expression. "Yeah, have you seen one? You are traveling trying to find them, right?"
Listening closely Mairu tried to make out any words that were not spoken by his mouth.
But none followed.
Only a frown grazed his forehead and he sighed deeply, "These are not topics you should concern yourself with," he scolded the two of them and for most it would have sufficed to drive them away but not those two.
Pretending to not understand the hidden animosity hidden in his voice Mairu continued without paying him any mind. "So you did see some! Do you possess a holy power to defeat them? What do they look like?" and Balthasar groaned "Listen here, kid-"
"Did you kill one?"
And suddenly Balthasar stilled.
Gaze far off his expression turned even colder than stone. And not only Balthasar's expression changed.
"Look, don't you have to help in the kitchen? Or play with the other kids? I don't think talking to a guy like me is fun, or is it?" Balthasar sighed, and for a moment he was rewarded with the sweet taste of peace. That is until the quiet sibling spoke.
"Mairu?" she whispered, and Balthasar looked at the girl and an expression he hadn't meant to trigger.
Tears.
Wide eyes were looking at him with awfully little emotions and a salty droplet trailed down her cheek.
"Young girl?" Balthasar spoke, awkwardly confused, but the girl quickly wiped at her eyes.
Quick, forced laughter bubbled from her throat and she shook her head. "Ah, it's nothing, just something that got into my eye."
It was then that quick strides approached the two from the sides and Izaya's body moved between Balthasar and Mairu.
"There you two are! Sister Monica is looking for you, the laundry you hung in the back actually became loose!" he announced with fake outrage, but his hand gently moved to Mairu's shoulder in order to provide some comfort.
And Kururi was quick to act as well. "Again?" She added some credibility to Izaya's words and he nodded. Shizuo had approached as well and his expression spoke of chaos that Izaya wouldn't like to unleash inside the hall.
They had seen her start to cry. But the reason seemed to be no physically perceivable one.
"Will you help me hang it back up?" he asked quietly, and looked at Mairu. She seemed a little distraught- more than Izaya liked her too. But she was Izaya's sister and steadier than most girls her age.
"Ah, yes, sure!" she smiled quickly and wiped the last of her tears from her lashes.
Not a glance was spared towards Balthasar as Izaya moved. This interaction was none that Izaya was part off as far as the royal judge was concerned, and he would like for that to remain as such.
Moving over to the corridor leading back to the garden Namie was the first to face Izaya with a soft frown.
"What happened?" But Izaya quickly shot her down. "Not here."
There were too many people around and no matter what it was that Mairu had seen, Izaya doubted it would be wise to let anyone listen in.
Doors were opened, but the corridor was for once not empty. The monks that were usually guarding the front of the church were walking down the aisle and with quick strides Izaya made his way over to the actual garden.
The sunlight was quick to grace them again with its pleasant rays and Izaya quickly looked around for any possible witnesses.
But no one was there. The laundry was still hanging high, almost dry from what he suspected and there was no sound to be heard except for the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves.
Closing the door Izaya finally turned, and faced his sister with the concern he had hidden earlier.
"What did you hear?"
to be continued~
Hehehe the plot is plotting xD
Next chapter will reveal some schemes haha Happy Valentine's day everyone! And for those who are alone- happy tomorrowtine when Valentine's chocolate will be 50% off again xDDD
See you next friday~!