Chapter 22: Oni Tomodachi

I woke up to the sounds of birds and a light breeze blowing on my face. I slowly opened my eyes to a white, yet dull room. Memories of the last few days came back to me in an instant, and I groaned in annoyance.

Vanitas bursted into my room with Jay and Zane. "Wake up! The sun has risen!"

I glared at him. "And what do you want me to do? Photosynthesis? Let me sleep."

"You're getting discharged today, Oni." Jay said eagerly. "We can go back to the hotel we were supposed to go to!"

"To make this better, he's letting us explore the place for a few days." Zane added.

"Come on, I got your uniform. Hurry up and get changed, I need to check up on Nico too." Vanitas threw my clothes on the bed and waited outside with the others. I quickly got out of the hospital clothes and joined them.

Zane was helping Jay and I in understanding what exactly happened, including the incident with Yuuto and Vanitas. "So now we have to wait for Nico to get out of here before we get jobs."

"Will we get paid?" Jay said excitedly.

"As long as you do them properly, yes." Zane smiled softly at him. He reminded me of an older brother, in a way.

"Alright, let's go." Vanitas said, dragging the three of us out of the building after the doctor checked on us one more time. I was reminded to keep my left wrist secure, since it was still fractured. We passed tons of stores and shops, many of them I didn't seem to recognize. After many minutes of walking, we reached our room, exhausted from the walk. Jay collapsed on his bed, and laid down for a while.

"Welcome back, Oni." Sholto greeted me. "I was hoping Nico would accompany the rest of you."

"He still needs a check up." Vanitas threw his jacket and looked through the closet. "You two can visit the city if you want to right now. Just take someone with you when you go."

"I'll go after I get something to eat." Jay said, his voice muffled by the bedsheets.

"Good luck with that," Sholto suggested. "Eli and Ash are having a food eating competition downstairs. I'd be surprised if you found enough food for lunch."

"Maybe I can get some takeout from a nearby restaurant for the eight of us, including the girls." Zane switched his jacket with a mint green hoodie.

"I'll join you!" I blurted out. Zane didn't mind, so I followed him.

"Just be back before curfew!" Vanitas reminded us.

"So," Zane asked me when we left. "What do you think the others will eat?"

"Um, well, Jay will eat anything really, as long as it's fresh. Mune and Lina won't eat anything too greasy. I don't usually eat anything that holds a lot of calories."

"So, that cuts this list down to a lot," Zane pondered. "I think everyone would enjoy eating from this place." He said, pointing at a fairly crowded restaurant. A spicy, flavourful smell was coming out of there.

"'Quesada Burritos & Tacos,'" He read the sign. "I heard about it from a few people here. It's supposed to be really good."

I glanced at the store beside it. It looked like a bookstore to me. "Is it okay if I go there for a while?"

He shrugged, and nodded. "Just don't go anywhere else, okay?"

I nodded, and quickly rushed to the store. "Wow." I whispered. There were rows and rows of books as far as my eyes could see. I went up to the first row and like a little kid, I looked through every section, looking at which books were interesting, which were useful, which looked in good shape; just having my own kind of fun.

I found the english section after looking through many piles and asking one of the workers there. I decided to look through the history section, not because I missed school, but because of the visions I had gotten.

What was strange was that ever since that dream with the heterochromatic-eyed boy, I haven't been getting any other visions. Like they all disappeared. Maybe it was because I was using my ice powers now? I was too confused to understand anymore.

"Let's see," I looked through the isles. I skimmed past the tales about wars and exploration. "Dance and poetry weren't in my visions as well . . ." I continued my search. "Hmm, no, I don't think the dark ages was a part of my vision either," I was about to give up, when I saw a strange book in the corner.

It showed two glowing eyes, their scleras black like the boy I saw. The spine was thick, and the bright colors, even though they were faded, seemed to intrigue me the most. I took it off the shelf and tried to look at the title, but it was hidden under a layer of dust. I blew it away, and coughed for a bit.

I looked at the cover more carefully, and was amazed at the sight. It showed a person with the same eyes, but they had horns and sharp teeth, with large wings and a long tail. The figure seemed to be in a fighting position, but I could've easily mistaken it as dancing too.

The title of the book intrigued me a lot though. "Factorem Malum." I read aloud. Was that what these creatures were called? If so, why did I only see the eyes? I looked at the back and found a price sticker attached to it. "You can buy it?" I asked no one.

"Yeah, didn't you read the sign?" A familiar voice informed me. I yelped. Zane was staring at me confusedly, before he replaced it with a soft smile. He raised his hand that had a bag in it. "I got us the food. Do you want to buy that?"

I stared at the mesmerizing cover again. "Sure." I subconsciously said.

He looked at me for a few minutes. "Are you going to give it to me so I can pay for it?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah." I babbled and handed him the book.

He glanced at the title. "'Factorem Malum', huh?" He asked me. "That sounds like Latin to me." He looked at the creature on the cover. "Never seen that thing before. Probably just to look scary. You sure you want this?"

I nodded. "I saw someone like them in my visions. I thought I might get some answers about them in this book." Zane nodded, but I knew he didn't care about what I took.

We paid for my book and hurried back to our room, where everyone but Ash and Eli were sitting and having fun. I was surprised when I saw Nico sitting on one of the beds. He was laughing with the others about something.

Jay noticed us by the smell of the food. "Hey, look! They're back!" He ran up towards us and tried to grab the bag from Zane. Zane, however, played with him and kept the bag from his reach.

"Hey! I wanna eat!" He yelled.

"Sit down like everyone else and you'll get your food." Zane suggested. At this point, he had his hand on Jay's face. He freed himself, however, and sat with the others. Nico laughed at this even more.

"Okay, so, I got us some 'Quesada Burritos & Tacos' for anyone who's hungry," Jay looked like he was going to lose it if he didn't get food anytime soon. "I expect you all to share and leave some left for those who aren't going to eat."

After his tiny speech, he gave me the bag and jumped on his bed. Jay jumped on me and snatched the bag from me and ran away. He looked through it for anything tasty, and hissed like a cat whenever someone tried to take the bag away from him.

"Jay," Vanitas warned. Jay looked at him and stuck his tongue out. Vanitas glared at him, and Jay yelped, dropping the food. Crimson grabbed it and divided it for everyone to eat. "Thank you," Vanitas tore his gaze from him and accepted the food. Jay took his food and sat far from him.

"Did you really have to scare him like that?" Crimson asked him.

"I didn't scare him. If I showed him what's in your head, then he would have been scared." Vanitas took a bite out of his burrito.

"You scared him by talking to him."

"But he only said his name." I pointed out.

"She means mentally," Zane assisted me. "Vanitas's power originates from the brain, so he can see memories and feel your emotions. But the best part of his power is that he can read and respond to thoughts. At least, that's what he said."

"It's not the best when you hear a voice in your head from nowhere." Jay squeaked from the corner.

"Calm down, Jay," Nico comforted him. "Here, take this. You'll feel better." He gave him his taco. Jay took it without a second thought and scarfed it down his down throat.

He smiled and thanked him. Ash and Eli walked in on the scene. "Hey, you didn't tell us you got food!" Eli complained.

"We weren't planning on it, either." Vanitas remarked. "Don't touch any of the food here until you've paid for the food downstairs."

"Aw, come on Van," Ash whined. "We were only joking around. Let us have some food."

"You guys hearing anything? 'Cause I don't." He went to the desk and opened the laptop on it. I got bored too, and decided to start reading my new book. I climbed into one of the beds and began to read. At least, read what I could. Most of the words were either in another language or faded from time.

"Oh yeah, by the way, you guys have to choose your own bed today. I don't want people to be sleeping on different beds throughout this trip." Vanitas reminded us.

"Germophobic much?" Eli asked, chuckling. He ate what was left of Zane's food. Ash tried to get some, and miraculously failed every time.

He swung his chair to face him."The average human body can sweat up to 2-4 litres everyday. There are at least seven of you in this room. We'll be on this trip for at least two weeks. You do the math." He swung his chair back and continued to work on whatever he was doing.

Lina shivered at that. "I already know that's going to be really disgusting."

"That's about 98-392 litres in total." Mune stated. Everyone was disgusted.

"Eww, Mune. Why the hell would you actually calculate it?" Jay immediately put his food down and looked revolted. "Now I can't finish my food thanks to you."

"Mine now." Ash snatched it and swallowed it quickly.

"I swear, you and Eli are food thiefs." Vanitas said without looking. They ignored him. "And some of the fattest people on earth."

"Um, excuse me?" Eli sassily asked. "Have you seen how strong I am compared to you?"

"Yeah, I noticed. Noticed you're not strong enough." He smirked at the computer. Jay watched in amazement as these two argued about strength.

"What are you talking about? I am clearly stronger than you. I can beat you in an arm wrestle like this!" He snapped his fingers. Zane looked like he was dying.

"I doubt. Your strength is no better than Mune back there." He swiveled his chair to face him properly. Nico joined Zane, his face red from stifling his laughter.

"Don't involve me in your pointless fights." Mune recommended them. Lina followed in pursuit, giggling like crazy.

"His strength is nothing compared to mine." Eli argued. "You're still weaker than me, Vanitas." Now I was trying to restrain myself from laughing too.

"You guys do know that me and Nico are way stronger than both of your strengths combined, right?" Ash pointed out, eyeing them both. We all burst into laughter. Vanitas and Eli were shocked, but embarrassed nonetheless.

"First of all, it's 'Nico and I', second-" Vanitas was interrupted by more laughter. He gave up and grinned at us. "Forget that. Anyhow, I have found jobs for all of you!"

"Yes! I can finally get money!" Jay's eyes shined with excitement. Zane snorted in laughter.

"Yep, but I am a lazy leader and don't plan on taking you to your jobs until tomorrow. Like I said earlier, you can explore the city when you want to. Just be back by 7:00." No one seemed to want to go outside, so we all went back to what we were doing before. I tried to read my book, but eventually gave up on trying and chose to take a nap.

As if by magic, I was thrown back into someone's body once again. However, this time it was the same boy I was last time. I felt younger though, and more happy than before.

Someone pulled on my sleeve. I looked down to see a boy similar to my features, and seemed agitated by something. "Come on, Ikama, we're gonna be late for the festival!" He whined.

"All right, all right, we'll go now." I chuckled at his behaviour. He cheered, and ran down the hill. "H-hey! Not so fast! I don't want you to get hurt, you know." I yelled after him.

He didn't listen, however, and ran faster than before. Without realizing, he bumped into someone. I caught up with him and pulled out a string of apologies. "I'm really sorry, Keiko, I didn't realize you were going to join the festival. Please don't get mad at my brother, he was only acting like a child. I'm really, really sorry for what he did. If you want to get mad at someone, you can get mad at me, not him-" The person chuckled.

"It's alright, Ikama." The boy smiled at me. "I understand, and it's all right. Besides, he's a kid. Kids make mistakes all the time."

My brother didn't seem to care and hugged Keiko's leg. "Hi Aniki!" I was confused. Is that supposed to be his nickname?

"Hello there, Tehriko. How are you today?" Keiko didn't seem puzzled by the name, so I guess it was his nickname after all.

He smiled widely. "Great! I'm going to the festival today. Are you coming too?" He nodded, and smiled at him.

"You can go ahead and lead us there, okay?" He allowed him. "Just don't run into other people." Tehriko let go of his leg and continued his run down the hill.

"So, how have you been?" I asked Keiko. "I mean, now that you're taking your brother's place and all."

"I've been better," We both chuckled. "But it's fun. I finally have something to do nowadays. It's like I'm no longer bored."

"Just really distant." A voice yelled behind us. I turned to see who it was, only to get tackled by someone.

"Luca, get off of Ikama," Keiko calmly asked. "I don't need you going to the healer in the morning." I laughed at that. At least, in my mind I did.

Luca obeyed and I got a good look at him. What surprised me was that he looked exactly like Jay, only that he had long, sharp horns on his head. "I have finally convinced my parents to let me go to the festival!"

I glared at him. "So why throw me to the ground?"

"For fun!" He foolishly smiled.

"I think Luca's going to the infirmary again-" I growled, jumping up and running towards him. Keiko sighed, and hit me really hard in the chest. I groaned, and stumbled back.

"Please, stop." He asked. "None of us will attack each other. Instead, we will head down and enjoy this day like everyone else. Alright?"

Luca stuck his tongue at me while I scoffed at the idea. He smiled at the both of us. "Someday, when we're older, we'll look back at these memories and think just how amazing our childhoods were."

I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a dark ceiling. I look at the clock on the nightstand. Nine fifty - eight pm. I slept for that long? I thought. I sat up on my bed. I can't go to bed like this, I thought, putting on a jacket and tying my shoelaces. "I guess I could go for a walk right now." I quietly opened the door and left the room.