Chapter 23: Black and White

Day 023: Black and White

"Awoo~!" Lumi cheered as she skipped along the forest, finding her way back to her cabin. She had been looking for people to talk to, but the forest was pretty empty. That Miko person at the top of the mountain was very nice to talk to, but Lumi wanted more friends to talk to. She opened the door to her wooden cabin, a wide smile on her face. "What should I eat today?"

She walked over to her fridge, opening it. There was nothing there. "Aw darn, I guess I have to go hunting," she said to herself as she closed the fridge door. She was about to turn around but stopped herself when she saw a particular orange pamphlet attached to the fridge. She detached the pamphlet from the magnet on her fridge and read it. "Where did I get this?"

She read it a couple times. "It says I can meet people there?! Maybe I should invite Merry!" She bolted over to her phone, dialing her cousin's phone number. "Awoo~!"

-

Merryweather sat down on the bed in his quarters. As a commander of the Navy, he had his own quarters, so he had time to let himself breathe. He took off his hat, letting his dog ears flop down on his head. At that time, he heard his phone ring on his nightstand. He heaved a sigh, standing up and walking over to the nightstand, picking up the phone. He looked at it to see a picture of him and his cousin, Lumi posing together. He smiled softly as he answered the call.

"Hello?" Merry asked, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello!" Lumi cheered in her normal, cheerful voice. "I found this really fun place we can go to and meet new friends! Awoo~!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Lumi?" Merry asked, heaving a sigh. "With tensions this high, I'm not sure it would be a good idea."

"It seems that the pamphlet I got was actually targeted towards demons," Lumi replied. "I'm sure it would be really fun!"

"If you say so," Merry said. "I'll meet up with you in a couple hours. You're still in Japan, right?"

"Yup!" Lumi chirped. "I'll see you soon! Awoo~!"

Merry smiled as the line went dead. "I guess some things never change."

-

"Agh, my back," Ryan said as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Morning Sui-,"

"Shhh!" Suisei shushed him, cutting off. Ryan looked around bleary-eyed to see Suisei mashing on a controller, looking at a TV she apparently installed while Ryan was asleep. She was playing Tetris 99, of course, and it seemed that she was competing with someone for first place. "I'm trying to focus!"

"Whatever you say," Ryan sighed as he got out of bed, followed by the TV making a bunch of noises.

"Ah, I lost!" Suisei looked at the TV. "What?! That was YAGOO?! Matsuri damn it not again!"

"It seems that YAGOO is a pretty good gamer," Ryan heaved a sigh. "Well, I need to go to work."

"Yeah, yeah, shoo," Suisei waved her hand dismissively as she started another game. "I have a stream in 30 minutes and I don't want you to be here when it starts."

"Whatever you say," Ryan heaved a sigh as he opened the door to his apartment, walking out.

-

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan smiled as he opened the doors to the KFP.

"Hey Ryan," Kiara said, a bright smile on her face. "Are you feeling better?"

"Getting all of that off my chest yesterday felt really good," Ryan replied. With a snap of his fingers, he was instantly in his KFP uniform. "God, it feels good to do that again."

"I bet it does," Kiara put a hand on Ryan's shoulder as he walked around to the other side of the counter. "I'm proud of you, my Little Egg."

"Thanks, Tenchou," Ryan said with a smile. At that time, the doors opened.

"Awoo~!" Lumi cheered as she barreled through the door. "Is this KFP?"

"Yes, it is," Ryan said. "Welcome to KFP. My name is Ryan Shade."

"I'm Takanashi Kiara and I'm the manager!" Kiara introduced herself, excited to see someone new. "What would you like to order?"

"Nothing for now," Lumi said as she sat down at the counter. "I'm waiting for my cousin to join me."

"Oh, someone else I coming as well?" Kiara asked. "That's great!"

"Yep!" Lumi said, smiling. "Awoo~!"

-100 hp! Critical Hit! Ryan clenched his chest as the cuteness seeped into his body.

"Are you okay?" Kiara asked, looking at Ryan, concerned.

"Yeah," Ryan said. "I've been dealing with this ever since I started working here, I don't really know what it is."

"Maybe I'll get Choco-sensei to check you out someday," Kiara said.

"Please don't word it like that," Ryan shuddered, remembering the time Choco came to "Get Ryan a Girlfriend Day". "It brings some… unsavory memories."

"I don't see why Choco-sensei hitting on you would be a bad thing, but okay," Kiara shrugged as the door opened.

"Is this KFP?" A man with dog ears and black hair walked into the restaurant. He wore a military uniform with a lot of medals pinned on it. He wore an oversized, puffy jacket over the outfit and a red tie. He had a black and red hat, his dog ears sticking out on either side. He then focused his attention towards the wolf girl sitting at the counter. "Lumi!"

"Merry!" Lumi jumped up, tackling the dog boy into a hug. "It's been so long! How are you?!"

"I've been alright," The dog boy, seemingly named Merry replied, putting a hand on Lumi's head. "Let's sit down, shall we?"

"Sure! Awoo~!" Lumi smiled brightly as she pulled Lumi over to the counter. "This is my cousin Merry!"

"It's nice to meet you, Merry," Ryan extended his hand to shake. "My name is Ryan Shade."

"It's nice to meet you too," Merry said before turning to Kiara. "You must be Takanashi Kiara. I wonder why a CEO is working at such a small joint."

"Well, I wanted to make this place a sanctuary for magical beings," Kiara said with a smile. "What would you like to order, Merry?"

"Do you have treats?" Merry tilted his head, obviously excited.

"Of course!" Kiara said. She then turned to Lumi. "What would you like?"

"Can I order some head pats?" Lumi asked, her tail wagging excitedly.

"Ryan, I'll go get the treats. Can you do the pats?" Kiara asked.

"I would love to," Ryan said as Kiara walked to the back room. "Alright, Lumi. Here you go."

Ryan smiled as he put his hand on Lumi's head, rubbing it gently. Lumi smiled as she closed her eyes, her tail wagging even more.

-999 hp! Super Effective! Ryan clenched his chest in pain.

"Can I pave pats too?" Merry asked, taking off his hat.

"Of course," Ryan smiled softly as he placed his free hand over Merry's head. Merry closed his eyes, his ears twitching as his tail started to sway from side to side.

"I'm back!" Kiara smiled as she walked over to Merry, who seemed to be enjoying the headpats. "Say A~"

"Ah," Merry opened his mouth, his eyes still closed as Kiara fed him the treat. "This is really good!"

"Hey Tenchou," Ryan tuned his head to face Kiara.

"What's up, my Little Egg?" Kiara tilted her head.

"I take back everything I said yesterday," Ryan turned to look at Lumi and Merry. "This is the best day of my life."

-

"I'm back," Ryan said as he opened the door to his apartment.

"Hey Ryan," Ryan heard Suisei's voice come from his room. "You might want to see this."

"What's up?" Ryan asked, his hands in his pockets as he walked through the door to see Suisei looking at the TV screen. Ryan saw that she had since moved her streaming PC into Ryan's room, but paid it no mind.

"Look," Suisei pointed at the TV. Ryan sat down next to her, interested in what she wanted to show him.

"As you can see from this overhead footage, roughly a quarter of China has been covered by this darkness," The news reporter said. "Some are suspecting that this is a power outage, but it doesn't seem to be the case. No matter how many lights we shine into the darkness, it is impossible to see our way through. We have sent in a team to report, but we have been unable to contact them since they entered the darkness. It seems to be rapidly spreading throughout the country. More at 8."

"Do you know what it is?" Suisei asked.

"Yeah, it's the void," Ryan's expression darkened. "It looks like war is coming. We have to prepare."

-

Shade heaved a sigh as he looked at the TV. "Looks like shit's hitting the fan, huh?"

"What do you say we do, Shade?" Sabrina asked as she walked into the room, her mask on.

"Looks like this is the biggest threat that's entered this dimension since the evil gods that resided in heaven three years ago," Shade said, standing up. "I guess we're going to have to pull the Masked Mages from retirement."

-

Grimm looking around him with a satisfied smile on his face. The Phoenix Dimension's development was going very well. Although there weren't a lot of buildings, he liked it that way. He liked that lush plains, flowers blooming throughout the terrain as small hills and valleys were scattered across the plains.

"It seems that you're doing well," Grimm turned around to see Shade closing a portal behind him. Shade was a bit taller than 2 meters. He was lean and muscular, but his muscles were being covered by his baggy orange shirt and cargo pants. His hair was short, messy and blond. His left eye was covered by an eyepatch, but his right eye was a deep ocean blue. "I haven't seen you in a while, Grimm."

"Hey big bro," Grimm said as he tuned towards Shade. "Would it kill you to visit every once in a while?"

"You know how much I don't like to leave the overworld," Shade said, shaking his head. "I'm happy to see you're in good shape, though."

"Yeah, surprisingly, Nux was the one to put me on the right path," Grimm chuckled. "He's been a lot more involved lately."

"That's good, because I might need his help," Shade heaved a sigh. "It seems the void has come to the overworld. I'm trying to put together the Masked Mages again. Are you in?"

"You know, Nux was here not to long ago asking me to help him out with the void," Grimm said. "I'll be there for the fight. Don't you worry."

"Interesting," Shade rubbed his chin. "I'm going to host a meeting in a couple of days for the Masked Mages. Please be there."

"Will do, bro," Grimm said.

"Thank you," Shade said, turning around. With a wave of his hand, a portal opened up. Without another word, Shade stepped through, closing the portal behind him.

-

"Are you sure you want another shot?" Roberu asked.

"Yeah," Jack grumbled. Jack's short hair was messy, as if he hasn't brushed it in years. His right eye was brown, but his left eye was covered with an eyepatch. He wore a blue trench coat and a checkered shirt underneath, topping off his outfit with dark brown cargo pants. "It's not my fault that your alcohol is weak as hell."

"Whatever you say," Roberu sighed, pouring Jack another shot of liquor, sliding it over.

"Thanks man," Jack said as he downed the shot in one go.

"I should have known that you would be here," Jack didn't even turn when he heard Shade's voice.

"What the hell do you want?" Jack asked. "I thought I could just retire in peace now that the evil gods are dead."

"We both know what's going on right now," Shade said, sitting next to Jack as he looked at Roberu. "I'll take some cola."

"One cola, coming right up!" Roberu said, spinning around to prepare Shade's drink.

"I guess I don't really have a choice," Jack rubbed his temples.

"Here's your order," Roberu said cheerfully, placing a glass of cola before Shade.

"The meeting's in a couple of days," Shade said. "Meet me at KFP."

Jack only grunted in response. "I guess I'll take my leave now," Shade said. "Oh, and Roberu?"

"Yes?" Roberu perked up.

"Congratulations on winning," Shade said, smirking as he vanished with the glass.

"I'm not going to get that glass back, am I?"

-

"I really enjoyed our date today," Ollie said, a huge smile on her face as she held Brianna's hand.

"Yeah, me too," Brianna smiled at her partner. "I never thought I would enjoy an arcade as much as I did. My brother was a bit of a gamer, but I never saw the appeal of it."

"You were surprisingly good at the rhythm games!" Ollie exclaimed as they found their way to Brianna's house. Brianna got the keys from her pocket, unlocking the door.

"I was actually in a marching band before I died," Brianna said, nostalgia flooding through her eyes as she sat down on the couch next to Ollie. "I wonder if I can go back to the living world one day."

At that moment, the two heard a knock on the door. "I got it," Brianna said, standing up and making her way to the door. She opened the door, flinching slightly when she saw Shade.

"It's nice to see you, Brianna," Shade said, a small smile on his face.

"If you're here, then I guess something bad is happening," Brianna said.

"As much as I want to let you exist in the underworld happily, there's a threat that can potentially seep its way in here," Shade said. "I really need your help."

"I guess I have something to fight for now," Brianna said, looking back into the house for a second before looking at Shade. "I guess I'm in."

"I'll come pick you up for the meeting in a couple days," Shade said.

"Thanks," Brianna said before closing the door.

"Bri?" Ollie asked as Brianna flopped on the couch next to her, snuggling into the zombie idol. "Who was that?"

"My foster dad," Brianna replied, burying her face into Ollie's shoulder. "It looks like I have a job to do."

-

Shade appeared atop a building to see a man with a black hoodie and black pants on, his back facing Shade.

"I'm in," Reporter said as he looked at the city lights in the distance. "It's not like I have a choice."

"Thank you, Reporter," Shade said, closing his eyes. With a flash of orange light, he was gone.

"Ugh, I guess I have responsibilities again," Reporter ran his fingers through the hair under his hood. "What a drag."

-

Shade's last destination was the graveyard of the Masked Mages. He stood before a figure whose back was faced towards him. "I'm not the person you're looking for," The figure said, not caring to turn around to confront Shade.

"I know," Shade replied, "but I decided that you deserve a spot amongst us."

"I guess that's fair enough," The figure chuckled. "I already know what you're up to. You know YAGOO is going to join us, right?"

"All the better," Shade said. "The more help we can get, the better."

"I guess you're right," The figure said. "I guess I'll see you in a couple days."

Shade smirked. "Thank you, Ryan Shade."