The Nature of Things

From the moment he answered, Setsuna wasn’t prepared for what stood in front of his apartment door.

“Hey, who’s that?” shouted a girl with shoulder-length short charcoal hair, standing a full head shorter than Setsuna. She sported a maid headdress and looked to be particularly fashionably dressed for a stranger.

“Looks like a BOY!” exclaimed the similarly sized girl with long red hair, tied in a single pony tail with a bow sporting an outlandishly drill-like fashion. As she grinned, razor sharp goblin teeth were clearly visible.

“A demon boy?” inquired the goth lolita-fashioned girl before Setsuna could get a word in edgewise. Her jaw dropped inquisitively, showing a similar set of chompers.

“A BOY!” observed the red-head, overwhelming Setsuna in sheer energy.

“…Hey, uh.” Setsuna began, clearly expecting someone else. “Are you sure you have the right room?”

“POSITIVE!” raised the red head.

“Absolutely certain. The queen would not mislead us.” followed up the charcoal haired one.

“Oh.” Setsuna demurred unamused. “I’ll go get Elegy.”

“ELEGY’S BROTHER IS A DEMON?” The red head was grinning widely, making no effort to conceal her observation. “THAT’S SO COOL, JUST LIKE HER!”

“Wait…” said a boy’s voice behind Setsuna. “Brother, I think I can explain this.”

Setsuna turned to see a slightly embarrassed Nagahisa off to the side, blending in with the furniture. Behind them both was Elegy, charging with force to meet the girls waiting outside.

Elegy waved both of her brothers off. “I’ll handle it.” The door closed as a bevy footsteps could be heard towards the stairwell outside.

“Don’t mind me.” came another voice, this time on the couch in front of the TV set. Takajou was munching on a bag of Makai Burgers, his usual light snack. “I’m just here to borrow some salt.”

Setsuna, fatigued, pointed straight at Takajou. “You’re thirty minutes late! We had a date.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry Set-chan.” Any hint of regret on Takajou’s behalf was betrayed by his unyielding enthusiasm for eating the burgers at hand. “I was so lost observing Nagahisa’s science project that I didn’t think to look at the time.”

Nagahisa looked down at his feet. “Right…”

Setsuna composed himself, straightened out his black wings and wiped the sweat off his brow. He was a bit more irritated that none of his jackets fit the appendages on his back, forcing him to wear his tight shirts with an opening in the back. None of that was really important, just a small nuisance.

“Brother, is everything alright?”

“Yeah. I think so.” Nagahisa was again looking off to the side.

Takajou’s lightless eyes looked straight into Nagahisa’s shrinking self “Did you create new life?”

Nagahisa nodded slowly. “I… we… Paracelus had an idea for a new kind of fusion.”

Setsuna’s pointy ears perked up with interest as Nagahisa continued.

“A homunculus, from the form of a mandrake root and the blood of an angel, or... something close to that.” Nagahisa swallowed his throat. “I wanted to see if I could recreate father, or, something like him.”

“That’s quite bold of you, Nagahisa!” Takajou slurped his chocolate cake as Nagahisa gave him a scowl.

Setsuna just wanted answers. “So the girls outside, those were homunculi?”

“Yeah, from the blood of one with Michael's — myself — and the blood of one that observed Gabriel.” Nagahisa was clearly not excited about having partaken in this.

“Ah, Gally and Michelle!” Takajou blurted out.

Nagahisa continued. “They had to be girls… and they looked enough like winged ones from an early age…”

“But something went wrong, like a fusion accident.” Takajou’s smile wouldn’t disappear.

Nagahisa cleared his throat, unamused by the antics of Setsuna’s boyfriend. “I don’t know how, but I’m sure YOU’RE behind this.”

Takajou only paused between bites of burger for a few seconds before resuming. The tension in the air was thick. Nobody seemed to budge.

Not wanting to cause a scene, Setsuna continued to focus on the story at hand. “How did they come to know about Elegy?”

“They… had a little trouble listening to me, so Paracelus suggested I bring a friend who had leadership experience.” Nagahisa recalled, somewhat wistfully. “They were very responsive to her, almost too well. Then they started to physically change…”

“With the teeth and the hair and frilly fashions?”

“Yeah…”

“Have you heard that the best mandrake roots are said to grow from the bodies of atheists?” enthused Takajou between bites of barbeque seaweed flavored chips.

“Why couldn’t you just tell me this in the first place?” whined Nagahisa. Setsuna had a palm on his forehead, as he swayed his head side to side.

“I guess I just forgot.” answered Takajou matter-of-factly. Nagahisa was turning red, Setsuna was giving a side eye.

“Nagahisa, I’m sorry that didn’t turn out like you’d expect.” Setsuna offered the apology that Takajou wouldn’t give. “Would you like to go out with us tonight?”

“Ehh? Set-chan, I thought we were going out for a movie?” Takajou’s enthusiasm finally seemed to dissipate, as he paused his food intake for more than ten seconds straight.

“Takajou, we’re going to cheer up Nagahisa.” Setsuna offered, big-brotherly. “I hear there’s a new Ultraman? Ultraman Nexus.”

Nagahisa perked up a bit at this.

“Would you like to go see the premiere, and pick up some action figures and cards after?”

“But…” Takajou lightly protested.

“Sure!” interrupted Nagahisa. “…they’re collectible figurines, not toys, you know.”

“Right, sorry.” acknowledged Setsuna, moving his gaze to Takajou. “Would you be interested in coming?”

Takajou, vaporizing the last of his trash, sulked a bit at the proposal before his figurative better angels got the better of him. “If it’s to be with you, Set-chan, I’ll always be by your side.”

Nagahisa paused to show a bit of concern. "But what about your black wings, big brother?"

"It's alright," reassured Setsuna. "As long as we're in Harajuku, nobody will be surprised."