Chapter 10 - Home
[Sunday| September 2, 2012| 3:30 AM]
[Eyes of Zetsumu Tenha]
Everything was bathed in a red light; it's as if we haven't left the Underworld. "All buildings are still standing but… did we really leave this place?" I can only stare as we stand on the tallest building which overlooks the entire town. "We are back and I can confirm this, Zetsumu-kun. However it seems someone has this entire area locked in a barrier. For now let's get a grasp of the situation." She points to a familiar person we met one night, the one who tried to shoot her.
As we make our way down the building's walls towards the gunman we eliminate the monsters along our path. "They're everywhere… any idea what could have caused this, Amagawa-san?" "I have no idea. Perhaps it would be the time." I look at a clock on a nearby building reading 3:30 in the morning. "Zetsumu-kun, whatever you do, do not make any sudden movements." I immediately stop and look around but there doesn't seem to be any enemies nearby, until I heard two gunshots.
We both look at the roof of the building ahead us and on the roof was the same gunman from before. "Tenha good to see you're both still alive." He jumps down to the street and called me by my name and removes his mask. "I do not have much time right now but I'll explain later. For now help us deal with these guys."
"Genhou?! You're… look at you… I mean…" I could not believe my eyes, Fukuki Genhou, the transfer student from Italy who was assigned next to my seat in class is this gun trotting marksman who almost got killed by Amagawa Rinko. "Yes I know this surprises you but what comes next will probably leave you both speechless." A shadow appears above followed by a bright flash behind us and as my eyes begin to adjust to the light I see another familiar person.
"Kensai?! Don't tell me even the president is involved with this?" Ryuu Kensai, vice president of the student council now wears something that resembles a feudal age ninja. "Yes. Ensui-dono is also involved and is trying to stop this as we speak. I have come to deliver your orders, Tenha-dono, Rinko-dono." He gives us letter envelopes with the seal of the student council, as we opened our envelopes the message was handwritten in a large font. 'Go wild.'
Our gaze was the directed to Kensai in confusion, then returned to the letter, and then back to Kensai. "He means what the letter says. The four of us will take these monsters down while he stops the source of these things." After his explanation we look at each other and nod. "I'll go east as planned and Kensai-san will go west and block those who try to flee." Genhou says as he makes a run towards the eastern side of the business district and Kensai goes the opposite way without a word.
"Then I'll take the north side, with an open area like that I'd have no problems fighting all out. What about you Amagawa-san?" with the both of us left I ask her before leaving. "I'll go back at the tower. I can support you three from there." "Okay, make sure not to overdo it. Take care, Hime-san." She nods as we exchange farewells and move towards our planned locations.
[Eyes of Jihyou Ensui]
"Now then time to get started… Genhou was more cooperative than I thought. Thanks to him and Kensai we can control the damage that were caused by Those who dwell in darkness." I stand in front of a large passageway linking the world of the living back to my home, the Underworld. "Zetsumu Tenha and Amagawa Rinko both made good decisions by not killing each other and saving me some time by killing off the other progenitors." I reach out my hand and focus my energy towards the passage. "They did everything well except the last one. Well I can't blame them since they're new to these kinds of things." I intend to close the passage but is going to take some time as Tenha made it too large just for the two of them. "I guess I'll explain everything once all of this is over…" I put all of my willpower and concentration into closing the passage as time drags on more of these monsters appear and it will only be a matter of time until the four of them are overwhelmed…
[Eyes of Zetsumu Tenha]
"These guys are so easy…" I run along the streets with probably a hundred or more corrupted souls in tow. [Good thing they're extremely violent towards me. Now I can clean up pretty fast.] I stop at an open field and summon multiple swords from the sky and rain them down on the dark monsters but not even that was enough to clear them out.
As I prepare the next 'rain' something bright appears above me, realizing the heat I quickly surround myself with swords forming a dome around me as the entire place is caught in a firestorm. [She always had to take the last bits of enemies… always.] I pull out a short sword and engrave a message before letting it fly towards the highest building where Amagawa-san is.
[Eyes of Amagawa Rinko]
It has probably been an hour since the four of us split up and with me supporting them from up here things should end quickly but, "There's no end to them… you take out one, five, ten, and twenty more appear. I hope that the student council knows what he's doing…" as I send another torrent of flame towards the east side a short sword flies into the cement right next to my foot.
I take it out of the ground and the blade seems to be engraved with something, 'Take it easy on the flames are you trying to burn me alive or what?' and so the message reads. [He never changes despite the gravity of the situation does he?]
I send another fire storm towards Zetsumu-kun's location as I see him heavily outnumbered, then, another sword lands on the same spot as the other one. 'That one was really too close. One wrong step and I'd say goodbye to a limb.'
I shift my attention towards the council's vice president who was also starting to get overwhelmed and send torrents of fire towards the ones in front of him. As I prepare my second wave of attack I notice the red light covering the business district is fading followed by the light of the sunrise from the east.
The endless monsters we've been fighting up until now are falling back into the shadows and the barrier around us is lifted. "It's finally over…" I fall on my knees and breathe a sigh of relief while looking around I can see the transfer student waving at the vice president who points at the northern part and quickly moves towards the park. Following him I realize why he was in such a rush. Zetsumu-kun passed out at the baseball stadium.
[Eyes of Zetsumu Tenha]
"Ugh…" I open my eyes to a sight I am familiar of for so many years. [I'm in my room? I remember fighting and Amagawa-san, and Kensai, and Genhou… was all of that just a dream?] I rub the sleep off my eyes and stretch my arms, [It's dark out I may have fallen asleep earlier than expected.] I reach out toward my alarm clock to check for the time. [It's that late already! I have to get diner ready.] Reading 19:30 it really has become late for diner preparations but with my body aching badly I can't even leave my house.
"I'm probably just overworked… it'll get better once I sleep it off." I slowly walk towards my door and using the wall as a support I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. However, [I may have not notice it but just to make sure…] I passed the living room earlier and I thought I saw people, thus I went back, and there they were, leisurely having tea by the dining table.
"What are you all doing in my house?! Ow… my back it hurts…" I ask the people who somehow managed to get in without a key while holding my lower back. "Zetsumu-kun, you looked like an old man a while ago…" Amagawa Rinko comments as she sips from her cup. "Tenha-dono are you alright you should not push yourself too hard as you just woke up." Ryuu Kensai quickly stands up and assists me in standing.
"We let ourselves in because you were asleep, Tenha. We kind of 'borrowed' your key you see…" Jihyou Ensui the student council president, probably everyone's role model holds out my keys he used to break in my house. "Well borrowed isn't quite the right term for that but for the sake of kind language yeah we borrowed your keys." Fukuki Genhou the foreign transfer student says as he pours me a cup of tea.
"I remember now… I wasn't dreaming about what happened…" I sigh and sit down by the dinner table. "So mind explaining now why everyone's here and how you guys are involved in this?" Genhou looks around and stops at me probably expecting me to explain first.
[Why does it have to be me…] I point at the vice president seated beside Genhou and everyone's eyes follow. However Kensai shakes his head and shifts his gaze towards Amagawa-san beside me who heaves a sigh and looks at the council president who, seated at the head of the table simply smiles and directs everyone's attention towards Genhou who again looks at me.
[This is getting nowhere…] with a cycle going on like this I decide to break it and give them time for their own explanations. "I'll get dinner ready for us five. No one has any food allergies or anything?" they all shake their heads in silence as I wear my apron and prepare our dinner.
After half an hour or so our dinner is finally cooked and placed at the table. With limited time and the number of people eating I decided to make something easy to prepare, pork cutlets with miso soup and fried vegetable rice. But even with the food laid on the table no one even bothers to start eating as they awkwardly stare at each other while avoiding my gaze.
"What is the problem with you guys?! Are you not going to eat? The food's getting cold you know." As the silence starts to annoy me I take my share of the food and start with my soup. "Well… how should I say this…" Genhou seated opposite of me reluctantly speaks as he starts to get his share of the food. "Yeah… you see Tenha… it's a bit hard to actually say it but… Kensai would you like to say something?" "I… have nothing to say." the student council duo is also acting strange as they too take their share.
"Zetsumu-kun." Amagawa Rinko who was silent all this time beside me finally speaks. "I take back what I said on the roof back then. You really WILL become an excellent wife someday. I am proud to have you as my friend and I look forward to seeing you wear a white dress alongside your groom." I nearly choke with the soup as the image of her comment flashes in my head, and to top it off she's calmly eating like it's nothing. "I do not know what kind of thoughts you guys are having but please keep them to yourselves."
Things were quiet after that followed by glances in my direction but as soon as everyone finished eating Kensai offered to do the dishes and Ensui brewed us some after meal tea. "Now then mind starting the explanation, mister student council president?" everyone's gaze focuses on him save Kensai who was still doing the dishes. He takes in a deep breath and sips some of his tea before starting his story
It all started a year ago when he first came to this town. "You see I am the rightful king or rather successor of the Underworld. When my predecessor disappeared I took charge and made a lot of improvements along with twelve of my subordinates. It wasn't easy as we had to conquer probably every single corner of the Underworld just so we could start over." He doesn't name all the twelve but he did mention Darokan, and Vechkra.
"As for improvements, the Underworld now isn't all a dark place where a sea of souls are being tormented and all. It's somehow like this world where everyone has to work to get what they deserve. A second chance in life." He explains the hierarchy of everyone and the cycle of birth and rebirth. As souls cannot lie they honestly say what wrongs they have done in their life and try to work for a second chance in the Underworld.
"Then after everything was stable seven of the twelve progenitors revolted against my rule. Though we were almost evenly matched me and five of my loyal subordinates escaped to this world." However since everything was rushed the six of them were separated thus comes the time when we first met in in our first year.
"I then met Kensai when I moved in, using my powers I removed the things that shackle him in this world but as you can see now he's always addressing me as his lord or master." And it turns out that Kensai was an assassin from the past who was bound to that land where they met.
"I am in no rush to find the five of them as the seven who opposed me are gone I can make amends around the Underworld soon. Now then it's getting quite late and since we have school tomorrow we might as well go home now while it's not too late. I'll be in my office tomorrow and Fujimura doesn't know anything so keep this a secret. And as for Tenha, your survival is because you absorbed Darokan I will explain this to you tomorrow." He says as he gets up from his seat and the four of them leave giving me some peace for the night.
Or so I thought… fifteen minutes later I get a message from Genhou asking if he and Amagawa-san can stay over for the night because the trains are no longer running this late today due maintenance. "Well at least we wrapped up everything. The Underworld back to Ensui's rule, Amagawa-san is alive, and I'm still alive thanks what we did back there." Genhou and I talk in front of the TV while we wait for the 'princess' to finish bathing.
"I think I should also explain myself to the both of you…" I turn off the TV while Amagawa-san dries her hair with a towel. "While it is true I am from Italy my purpose for being here isn't really for studies. I am part of a religious group that handles supernatural occurrences. Spirits, ghosts, demons, monsters, you name it we 'exorcise' it." His story continues on with him being trained at a young age due to his parents' disappearance while on a dangerous assignment.
"If you are wondering about my hair color, I got it from my mum. My dad is a local monk or shrine priest I am not familiar with this place's religion but anyway he is also part of the organization I'm in right now. They met when my mother was in training; it was love at first sight they said." And over more glasses of tea the stories continue. "Well now that everything is over I may actually have to leave soon for a new assignment."
"Genhou before you leave you absolutely have to tell us got it? Because I mean we're not friends over nothing right? We almost got killed, well I'm already dead, but you know we have to send you off properly." He nods with a smile as the both of us stand up and stretch our arms. "I'll do the dishes, you can use the bath first." I take the cups we used and bring them to the sink.
"Hey, um… Amagawa-san, it's over right? No more fighting and trying to kill each other?" I call to her as I open the faucet, "Yes it's over, we now live our peaceful days from now on." She says as she stares out the night sky through the window. [She's smiling… again!] Like that time on the roof time seems to stop whenever I see her smiling like this. "By the way Zetsumu-kun, would you mind if I stay at the rooftop during lunch break?"
"Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?" I tilt my head at her question as she makes a rather unique expression since we met. With her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pouting she becomes rather cute in a situation like this. With her wearing my loose clothes and slightly damp hair… well here I am asking myself; 'What do we look like?'
"Well you see… you seem to be the only one at the rooftop during lunch so I thought you were some kind of territorial beast." She covers her face with the towel she was using to dry her hair and turns around. [Your insults are still the same even when you're looking like this…] I can only sigh at the polarity happening in front of my eyes. We watch TV while we wait for Genhou to finish bathing and then I show them to their respective rooms and take a shower myself once they have settled down. As I relax my body in the warm water I remember what Amagawa-san said earlier making me smile like an… eejit…
"Peace filled days eh… I really do wish for these peaceful times to go on…"