First Floor Metaphor

Setsuna was sipping his apple juice box impatiently.

He'd been asked to show up behind Harajuku High at the request of a few old friends. The sun and the heat were not making this task easy, prompting Setsuna to do the unthinkable and tie his jacket and muscle tank top at his waist.

Most students had already gone home, in the peaceful embrace of properly air conditioned cars, homes and malls. Not him, nor his desk neighbor Yuta, who was waiting with him.

Yuta was a short, cute looking boy about a head smaller than Setsuna. He had hooves for feet, massive triangle shaped horns above a messy tuft of jet black hair above doe-like blue eyes, a pale complexion, and a strong preference for leather from head to hoof. Which make him perfect as Setsuna's desk neighbor; nobody paid attention to Setsuna's black wings when the person he orbited around looked less the part of a normal human.

Just when Setsuna was about to suggest waiting inside, a girl’s voice called out in the distance. “Mecchi Mecchi Tenseiiii!”

Riding on the back of Setsuna’s Cerberus friend Cool was a girl with a dark brown haired bob-cut wearing an orange headband with (fake) horns and a pin with the face of a smiling demon. A demon that he used to have close to him to cheer him up on bad days.

But one day, that demon evolved into something terrifying; an inquisitive teenage girl.

Setsuna rolled his eyes and inquired, “what are you doing inside the school? You’re not a student here.”

“Mechiyama wanted air conditioning!” the girl smiled as she stood up. “And big brother Cool always finds a way inside.”

Yuta was focused on Cool, with his spiked collar and mohawk. For most grown ups, including an older Setsuna, it wasn’t a very intimidating look, but for a tiny person who was trying to head off “awws” and a rotating cast of taller people messing up his own hair, Cool appeared to be an absolute badass.

“Well, whatever you did, I will pretend that you didn’t make another hole in the middle of the hallway.”

“Can’t prove it!” Mecchiyama asserted, her greyish purple Thelema hexagram shirt, black boots and black double belted pleated miniskirt brimming with confidence as she crossed her arms with her eyes closed.

“Nobody will notice a thing.” Cool confirmed, “Not unless they step on that one tile in the janitor’s closet. We’re pretty sure nobody goes there.”

“Setsuna, Setsuna told me you knew something about the rumor of the white slayer.” Yuta interrupted the reunion of friends, “That’s what I came here for… if it’s not much trouble?”

“Ahh!” Mechiyama gave an approving glance and put her forefinger on her chin. “Yes, I do believe there was a new lead posted there next to THE SECRET OF THE EAR CLEANING TEACHER FROM MAKAI, REINCARNATED BASKETBALL MVP REIKO KASHIMA, and THE MYSTERIOUS VIRAL SENSATION OF NAPS ON LAPS.” Yuta’s ears perked up as Setsuna was giving Mecchiyama looks.

Mecchiyama pulled out her handheld DeviPsion connected by cell phone to call up a website that was more banner ads than words. Scrolling slowly with the arrow keys as banner ads animated in and out of view, she pointed at a comment from “Anonymous Blob”.

“I can’t read that.” grumbled Setsuna. “Are you sure that’s not spam?”

“Positive! Look, they mention a place,” she ran her finger at a specific sequence in the sludgy typography, “Omoide Nukemichi, that’s in Shinjuku, right?”

“Back alley with bars, crooks, and plenty of dark places to get jumped in the night?” Setsuna was not looking forward to this evening.

“Yeah! Perfect place for investigating a mecchi mecchi rumor, isn’t it?” badgered on Mecchiyama.

Setsuna looked at Yuta, one part looking for confirmation, another part for sympathy with the things he had to put up with.

Yuta nodded, “If this has anything to do with the man in white who followed me home for the past few nights, I think we should check it out. We haven’t had much luck with anyone else…”

“Right.” agreed Setsuna.

Previously, Yuta went to countryside transplant Hinata Sumiyoshi for help. Hinata, for her troubles and boisterous manner, did a fine job of walking Yuta home safely. So impressed was he with the degree to which she stayed focused, ignoring the mass of explosions along the way and the sense that at least one building might have been turned to rubble. Still, the man in white seemed to be at large, the local police finding nothing in the ruins, despite the efforts of the pink haired exorcist’s seals and seances.

Nagahisa woke up in a cold sweat. He could remember every detail of the nightmare.

Angels of Fire Land rose up from the floorboards to blame him for their plight. Their city in ruins, a kingdom of heaven transformed into a hive of sloth when Heaven became Makai.

It was Nagahisa that burned them all, led them to the void. Cast down the sinners to create the world anew, the ideal world.

Is that really so, Ouji? Would we like what comes after Makai?

Setsuna's eyes locked on Nagahisa's. Judgement. A cold wind in front of a raging fire.

Only the night is kind to me, whispered Nagahisa.

On a typical weekday, Nagahisa would sleep when the sky was blue and the sun was trading places with the clouds. Tsubomi would go over his home schooling correspondence courses in the earliest hours of the morning, before Nagahisa slept through typical school hours.

When in the company of Setsuna and Elegy, all other concerns about their moral compass aside, he'd feel at ease enough to leave the apartment and ride around doing errands. Errands as mundane as one would expect of the Kais.

However, it was 5:30 PM. Setsuna was not at home.

Nagahisa had a very bad feeling. For much as some of his gifts may have decayed, his sense of premonition seemed sharp as ever.

"Pharaoh," Nagahisa waved his Sphinx forward with his other fist clenched. "We've got to find big brother. Do you have his scent?"

Pharaoh nodded, bearing one of his usual smiles that, depending on how you looked at it, could be interpreted as adorable zeal or impish delight.

Kabukicho’s own Omoide Nukemichi lies behind a precariously held sign indicating the street’s vintage; “Since 1951”, a portion of the sign scratched out below, its stands covered by a carpet of overlapping flyers. The passage is a dark, narrow series of twisty alleyways, distinguished by the faint glow of tiny bars, knick-knack shops and restaurants under cobwebs of hanging wires.

Rumors abound that the location was the site of a famously brutal 1994 quinglong knife attack. Though to Mecchiyama’s disappointment, the rumor was only just so. Rather, Omoide Nukemichi conveys a time of civil unrest and gang-led presence in post-war Tokyo, the mood and setting one might expect for a stabbing.

“Here, here!” Mecchi pointed to one of the cramped doors in the alleyway as she commandeered Cool. A placard hung overhead that read “Heaven’s Ward”. Beneath that was a slip of paper, “800 yen cover charge. No taxes.”

Mecchi looked back at Setsuna. “There’s a performance tonight! Somebody who does jazz and rock and roll covers on bass guitar.”

“Bass players are human?” snarked Setsuna.

“Nope! Not this one.” chirped Mecchiyama. “But I hear he’s friendly to his fans. And non-fans!”

Past a stack of shipping crates fit for a supermarket and concrete walls, Setsuna met their first opponent from that night.

“You four look quite young to appreciate fine jazz.”

The assumed bouncer was tall, young, clad in white, with a skinny frame and wind-swept grey hair that reached down to his shoulders. With one eye in blue and another in green, they possessed a mole underneath their green eye. A white waistcoat and jacket with matching white dress and black stockings left them with the presence of an 1800s western nobleman. Twin swords sheathed at their side made it clear that they were not to be taken lightly.

Setsuna stepped forward, as Yuta froze and Mecchiyama was swooning with Cool readying himself for whatever might happen that night. “Tell Greddy that Melton sent us.” He flashed his allowance for that month, two thirds of which would competently cover the four of them.

“Tell Greddy that ‘Melton’ sent a few school kids?” The bouncer lightly smiled with their eyes closed. “Did you need help with your homework?”

“No, we want to help Yuta.” Setsuna waved one hand in the direction of the hooved one in black. “I’m Setsuna, and this is Mecchiyama… riding on Cool.”

The person in white opened their eyes with a dithering look as Setsuna finished the roll call. “Setsuna, the runaway prince?”

“The… what? You’ve gotta be mistaken…”

Mecchiyama stepped in. “The great hero Setsuna! The good soccer player. The competent kendo star!” Setsuna exchanged his usual look with Mecchi.

The bouncer smiled, merrily took Setsuna’s money, and waved them inside. “You’ll fit in, I’m sure.”

Mecchiyama ran out in front to take photos of the seedy location and its customers. Within a minute Mecchi yet out a yelp, which was quickly drowned out by a very deep, blood curdling scream.

A burly man had their hand skewed by a dagger on a wooden post. As he was shouting for dear life, a regal woman in a dress of red and black calmly walked over to extract the glowing dagger from the quivering hand. In one motion, she twisted the man’s arm behind him and delivered a swift kick in the behind, sending him straight out the door to be re-introduced to the bouncer in front.

“Please forgive our establishment for that mongrel’s manners.” The woman bowed to Mecchiyama as the crowd in Heaven’s Ward resumed its festivities. “Our business is to save souls in danger of hell. What a man does is their own business.”

“However,” the woman stood upright with a wink. “when it comes to violating the space of others, well, that becomes our business.”

This woman had green eyes and blonde, messy, curly hair tied in a giant black bow that went down beyond her waist. Her dress was predominantly red with the part below the waist bearing tartan pattern to the frills below. A small white bow was at her waist, her bust covered in black with a corset in red. Above her cleavage and at her wrists were impeccably clean, white frills at every end. Not a single inch of her gave a hint at her fighting prowess.

Mecchiyama leaned in to photograph the woman as Yuta pointed down at the woman’s footwear, underneath white stockings. “You have hooves, too?”

“Ah, a hereditary issue.” the woman smiled. “I’m very sorry, I don’t believe we’ve introduced ourselves…?”

“Yuta. Yuta Papimer!” Yuta stood up at attention with the sensation of being in the presence of a great protector.

“My name is Davi.” the woman smiled, eyes closed. “Davi Seto.”

Mecchiyama turned away from the group as she charged back in to the crowd towards the front entrance. “I’ll be right back!”

“Hey, wait up!” Cool followed Mecchiyama as closely as he could, trying to keep up with Mecchi, the agile lightning thrower.

Setsuna shrugged his shoulders at the scene as he raised an eyebrow at Davi. “You’re the barmaid here?”

“That's my duty. It keeps a roof over our heads.” Davi nodded towards the bouncer in front, whom Mecchiyama was eagerly engaged in a rousing conversation with. “That's Tao, the warrior in white. Tao and I have been keeping this settlement running for close to a year now.”

Davi turned to look straight into Setsuna's red eyes. “I hope you’ll find our takoyaki to be no match for anything else in all of Japan.”

“Takoyaki… we’ll have two.” Setsuna was not certain if Mecchi or Cool were in the mood to eat, as the former’s tendency to talk tended to keep the latter too preoccupied to relax and have a meal. “And when you can, could’ja also let Greddy know that we’re here to ask him some questions.”

“Certainly! Make yourselves at home.” Davi bowed again and ran off to the kitchen behind the bar, her shoes clopping with force as she scurried about.

“Greetings to all!” Greddy was tuning his Fender Jazz Bass under the cast shadows of his blue fedora as Setsuna and Yuta approached the stage. He had just finished playing a set of cover tunes accentuated by his John Lennon sunglasses and shoulder length ice blue hair.

“Hey,” opened Setsuna, not particularly eager to waste time in this bar. “We’ve heard that you might know a thing about the white slayer in the Internet rumors.”

“Yeah, I’ve been around a few spooky types in my day. Rick, Melton, Clyde.” Greddy stroked his chin very skillfully with a knived glove. “Rick, quiet dude, pushed me to go out and get a bass guitar so that we could strum along with a few tunes, you might say-”

“Does this seance have anything to do with the white slayer?” interrupted Setsuna.

Yuta tugged at Setsuna’s side. “Hey, you don’t need to be rude!” quipped Yuta, who seemed more interested in Greddy’s stories.

“Alright, I get it.” nodded Greddy. “Straight to the point, no time for a tell-all book. The white slayer? They’re the bouncer at the entrance.”

“Wait, what.” Setsuna and Yuta gave each other both looks, to the bouncer that Mecchiyama was deeply preoccupied by, and then to Greddy, who seemed only somewhat amused by his company’s reaction.

“Yeah, bit of a modest type. We met over fantasy baseball, them with the Waseda University Baseball Club and me with the Blue Jays…” Greddy pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. “They’ve got this intensity about them, too.”

Yuta spoke inquisitively, “You wouldn’t happen to know if they’ve got a hit out on me, would you?”

“Oh, I couldn’t believe that…” Greddy chuckled.

“Well, I think they’ve been following me from school for the past few weeks. Maybe. The Internet says it’s them!”

“Huh. Could be that they want to share something, and they don’t know how?” speculated Greddy. “Tao and Davi, they have interesting stories, and not too many friends outside this place.”

“Fine! Fine. Guess we have more business with Tao.” Setsuna gave Greddy a half-hearted wave, enthusiastically returned, before Setsuna impatiently marched towards the entrance, clutching at Yuta’s arm.

“You’re back.” Tao sneered at Setsuna.

“SETSUNA! You’ll never guess what I’ve learned!” chirped Mecchiyama.

“Tao’s the white slayer, we already know.” predicted Setsuna.

“And…?” Mecchiyama leaned towards Setsuna with big eyes, awaiting another moment of Setsuna’s wise words.

“I don’t read minds. Is there something else we should know?”

“Tao’s been wanting to meet YOU!” Mecchi pointed firmly at Setsuna’s chest, belaboring the point.

Tao butted in, “back alley after closing.”

Setsuna’s breath was running ragged. He had been known to be something of a hot head in the past, a tendency that led to bad outcomes. Cool was typically the negotiator who could point him in the right direction, though it had been awhile since they were close.

“Okay, what about Yuta?” Setsuna grumbled. “You’ve been following him, why’s that?”

Tao brushed off their side, addressing the audience of four. “When one of Mara’s children walk the earth, there’s cause for concern. Yuta, as he stands here? Primarily good, unmoved by temptation. A servant of God who might one day become his son. Unclear that he even knows of his origins.”

Yuta seemed relieved, even if the statement came off as somewhat nutty on its own. “So, that means no more loud noises and debris on the way home?”

“Yes, you deserve a treat.” Tao unwrapped a bag of candy corn with Holy Scripture verses on the outside and handed it to Yuta, who accepted the offering with some trepidation.

Tao shifted their gaze to the white haired one. “Setsuna, however–” Setsuna looked at his own feet.

“TAO.” a shout from outside interrupted Tao’s probing. It was Nagahisa’s, and he’d shouted between breaths.

“…The Kais, however...” resumed Tao. “I’ll have more to say about you later.”

There is a long corridor within Omoide Nukemichi with no storefronts. An alleyway where the only sound is the humming of fans from myriad power supplying units on each side, the only light comes from the end of the alley leading out to wider Kabukicho.

Setsuna was left to wait here with Nagahisa, as Mecchiyama, Cool and Yuta opted to stay with Tao to hear more stories. As Setsuna finished half of his takoyaki, he rose to speak with his brother. “Care for a bite?”

Nagahisa was unnervingly quiet. Pharaoh, adjacent to his summoner, was kneading his shoes, not receiving much of a reaction.

Setsuna continued, “You shouldn’t face trouble on an empty stomach, you know.”

Nagahisa opened his mouth, closed it before he could think of anything to say, and accepted the offering of takoyaki three minutes to midnight.

It wasn’t out of character for Nagahisa to be quiet, or intensely in thought. His knees seemed a bit shaky, though, as a concerned kid would leading up to finals, or perhaps, a child preparing to face off against a schoolyard bully.

Though Setsuna wasn’t particularly observant, he could see something was wrong. Hoping to clear the air, he addressed Nagahisa, “What do you know about Tao?”

“They’re a Seto, Setsuna.” Nagahisa furrowed his brow. “Have you ever met Ouji Seto?”

“Nope, never.”

“He was… intense.” Nagahisa breathed in deeply, recalling a haunted past. “Cold hearted, self-proclaimed savior. Couldn’t accept that there were demons pure of heart. He wanted them all struck dead.”

“Well, that’s concerning.” Setsuna winced. “And Tao is his… child? Parent?”

“Sibling.”

“How’d you meet Tao?”

“Group therapy.” Nagahisa slouched. “Tao and Davi used to come to sessions with me, before I had moved my schedule to nighttime.”

“Where’s Ouji, now?”

Silence from the direction of Nagahisa.

“Were you ever planning to tell me about this?”

“Ouji wasn’t a good person. Not a good memory.”

Setsuna’s stopwatch sounded the alarm at precisely noon. A number of footsteps approached from the dark side of the alleyway, as Tao, Mecchiyama and Cool approached. Notably absent from the group was Yuta.

“I sent Yuta home.” declared Tao, “He does not need to be a part of this.”

Setsuna took out his Devil Riser 2000-B. Nagahisa followed with his own Angel Riser. Though Tao seemed unlikely to attack unprovoked, neither of the Kais wanted to take chances.

Tao put one hand over one of their two swords before speaking. “Ideally, I’d like to challenge Setsuna to a friendly duel, with the permission of your friends. Circumstances have changed, somewhat.”

Cool spoke up. “He sees you as a rival, Setsuna. You don’t need to accept.”

Mecchiyama concurred. “We’ll be happy to cheer you on from the side, whatever you do!”

Tao continued, “I’m worried about the presence of young Nagahisa. I don’t believe he’s ready for a fight with his temperament.”

Nagahisa’s quivering shifted to an aggressive stance. “What do you mean ‘not ready’? I’ll fight you right here, right now.”

Tao shook their head solemnly. “You don’t see me as Tao. You never have. You want to fight an opponent who is already dead.”

Cool, alarmed, shouted at Nagahisa, “Nagahisa, Tao doesn’t want to fight you! Please, for the sake of your mother, your brother and your sister, go home.”

Setsuna concurred, “I’d be happy to walk you back.”

Nagahisa shook his head vehemently. “No. No. NO! I am going to fight Tao, and none of you are going to stop me.”

Setsuna was not happy with this turn of events.

Tao calmly unsheathed both of their swords. Mecchiyama started backing away, Cool lept to Setsuna’s side, Pharoah to Nagahisa’s.

Nagahisa flicked his wrist against the air to summon a gravity well beneath Tao. “GIGARION!”

Tao leapt towards the brothers, only lightly knicked by the effects of the vortex’s pull. With two sweeps of their blades, energy pulses aimed at the guardians slammed straight into Cool and Pharoah.

“Cool!” Setsuna raced over to his guardian demon as Nagahisa assumed a defensive posture.

Tao sheathed one of his swords as he calmly walked towards Setsuna. Cool was knocked out, still breathing, much to Setsuna’s relief. As far as he could ascertain, Pharoah was in the same state.

Nagahisa pointed his Angel Riser at the floor beside Tao. “CALL!”

Out came Uriel, flaming sword at hand. Unimpressed, Tao motioned to Uriel to strike the first blow.

Uriel lurched forward with “TRISAGION,” smoldering the ground where Tao stood. Tao whisked away the flames with a sweeping gesture, embers smoldering from their robe, dispatching Uriel with a swipe of their own blade.

Setsuna returned Cool to his own Devil Riser, stepping in front of Pharaoh as he sighted Nagahisa grabbing loose piping from the ground. Setsuna responded by picking up a traffic cone, eyes shifting rapidly between Tao and Nagahisa’s positions.

“Nagahisa, stand down NOW!” cried Setsuna.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Nagahisa threw the pipe in Setsuna’s direction, causing him to dodge and Tao to adjust their focus on the seemingly less rational Kai. Nagahisa threw another pipe at Tao, hitting their head with a sickeningly loud metallic clang.

Setsuna recoiled again, trying to figure out how to disable his brother as quickly and safely as possible within the constraints of the battle at hand. Tao remained standing, stoic, frowning about the circumstances as he rubbed his head, showing no pain.

“This is for Michael!” Nagahisa started casting another spell, only for it to be interrupted by a loud ZAP from Mecchiyama.

Mecchi pleaded, “That’s enough! Go back home, Nagahisa!” The sound of distant, loud footsteps was coming from the dark side of the alleyway

A flash of light from the other end revealed Davi, running as quickly as she could to the scene. “Nagahisa! Stop, please!”

A furious Nagahisa came back to his feet, extremely agitated. “SHUT UP!”

“Nagahisa, I understand that you have your own pain.” Davi confided. “But we don’t overcome that pain by chasing after phantoms. We have to work together to get rid of it for good.”

“SHUT UP!”

“I’m sorry for what Ouji did to you. To all of us. Yet you are not alone in your pain.”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”

“I was stabbed in a bathroom and sliced up, served as a meal by extremely horrible people, for no reason at all beyond being right there. It took me a very long time to forgive humanity when I came back.”

“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP”

“Please, I know you have a good life and a future ahead of you. I don’t ask that you forgive Ouji. Could still you find it in your heart to forgive us, who weren’t able to stop him?”

Nagahisa charged at Davi with a sharp weapon in hand, as a white blur stepped right in front of his path to receive the blow.

Blinking, Nagahisa had tears in his eyes as the group all closed in on him and Davi to break them apart.

“Setsuna?”

Setsuna was bleeding heavily from Nagahisa’s improvised sword, shrapnel through his chest. Tao and Pharaoh swept down to restrain Nagahisa as the rest of the group raced over to treat Setsuna’s wounds. He keeled over and passed out on the ground.

“Manger, Setsuna.”

Elegy was in pajamas next to Setsuna on his bed, feeding him by spoon. Setsuna did not particularly feel like eating, but he couldn’t remember the last time he ate.

With sluggish verve, Setsuna chewed on the contents of the spoon. It might as well have contained the blandest baby food in the world.

“You’re awake.” observed Elegy, between spoonfuls.

“Ugh, my eyes.” Setsuna stirred under the covers, unable to sit up. “Why are the walls so pink?”

“Mother insisted that I switch beds with Nagahisa.” Elegy lifted an open palm to gesture at the considerably more girly presence around the room. Setsuna saw his mom’s messy hair and vibrant clothes in triplicate, grabbing what might have been dirty towels from a pile on the dresser.

“You remodeled.” Setsuna deadpanned.

“Gally and Michelle put together the décor, I gave the orders.” Elegy puffed her chest out with eyes closed, proud of her followers’ results.

“Where’s Nagahisa?”

“Rehabilitation.” Setsuna’s eyebrows moved up, as the rest of his body remained still. “Mother… and Mirai’s mother… had a long talk with the Setos and Mecchiyama to figure out how you ended up in the hospital.”

“Nagahisa didn’t confess?”

“Oh, he did. It was still a burden on mother to understand what to do with her son after he fatally stabbed his brother.”

“Well…”

“Don’t worry, we know. He really meant to stab a reincarnated murder victim, and the target of a hate crime.”

“…Yeah.” Setsuna looked depressed. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“Mother put him on a new therapy plan with Divine Nike.” Setsuna had one eyebrow raised. “I guess angel boy likes girls with bird wings. Besides, a commoner therapist wouldn’t be able to sort out shit from Makai.”

Setsuna took a deep breath as he tried to relax with the baby chow taste in his mouth. “Better than jail.”

“Oh yeah, we all agreed that jail would only make him worse.” Now Elegy started to look out the window, at nothing at all. “Nobody escapes a conviction in Japan.”

Setsuna thought for a moment. “I want to believe in him. I mean, he’s our brother.”

“He sure is.”

“What about the Setos, and Mecchiyama?”

Elegy relaxed her posture on the bed, looking mildly relieved to change the subject. “Your former friend Mecchiyama has been doing fine with her banner ad collection, last time I checked.”

Setsuna winced at Elegy’s phrasing. “We’re still friends.”

“Yeah, besides the part where she annoys you after spending, what, fifteen minutes together?”

“We have different interests.”

“Quite.” Elegy rolled her eyeballs in an overblown gesture to the back of her head. “I take it that the Setos have been helping her rumor mongering.”

“Should I pay them a vis-” Elegy got right up in Setsuna’s face, without a word. “Okay, not right now.”

Elegy backed off with an overblown sigh. “…just let yourself rest, damn it. I don’t want you back in a body bag.”

“Thaaaanks.” grumbled Setsuna.

“Speaking of the Setos, you got a letter from Davi.” Elegy handed Setsuna a beige envelope with lily stickers and flowers and tiny cat faced drawings on the back, which he proceeded to open as quickly as his fingers would allow. “That girl’s going to be trouble, you know.”

Setsuna eyed the contents with a light smile, before folding up the letter and putting it back in the envelope.

“I love you too, Elegy.” Setsuna stuck out his tongue at his sister.

“I love you more.” responded Elegy, with a middle finger. “I’ll see about getting Nagahisa back later this month.”

“Thanks, mom.” With that, Setsuna fell back to sleep, wondering about all the changes to come.