These Branching Moments
“Takajou, what is up with your face?”
“Ooh, did I get something on it?” Takajou got out a tiny mirror and started poking at his pores.
Takajou and Elegy had been sitting side by side on the bus, Elegy looking out at the moonlit countryside.
Elegy’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve had this dumb smile ever since we left the onsen.”
“It’s been awhile since I’ve let my hair down.” Takajou beamed as his green hair was at his sneakers. “Real cinchy to convince them I’m a girl!”
The two were sharing a blanket provided by the driver for the long ride back home, holding hands discreetly underneath.
“Is that also why you’re blushing?”
Takajou fidgeted a bit in his seat before turning his booming voice down to a whisper. “…How bad is it?”
“Rougir jusqu'aux oreilles.” offered Elegy. “Like you’re choking in embarrassment.”
“Well, I think I’m alright…” Takajou stared off into space. “There were many first times back there!” Takajou’s eyes closed as his grin widened further.
“Hey, have you ever been into masks?” Elegy offered a finger up to her chin as she rifled through her backpack.
“No, why?”
“Boys like to talk. Ask questions. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more discreet?”
“What did you have in mind?” Takajou gave her a side eye and a smirk. “Wait, ahhghh!!!”
Elegy started playfully pushing a brown bag that once carried leftovers over Takajou’s head as Takajou gently resisted.
“TOO suspicious!” wailed Takajou. “I need something cooler.”
“Fine, have a lady's mask.” Elegy lifted out a smaller, under-eye gas mask appropriate for Harajuku street wear. “Though I think it needs something extra…”
“You're into masks?” inquired Takajou, rubbing his chin with interest.
“They make a statement, for those moments when a woman wants to stay cachée.” Elegy retrieved a bottle of white nail polish and proceeded to paint on the mask as Takajou admired her handiwork.
“Mmm… a moon… a pig nose… a gingerbread man?… oh, a skull!”
“Two skulls, to match your butterfly wings.” remarked an intensely focused Elegy.
“Nice. I can dig it.”
Takajou exhaled deeply, only left with one problem on the way back. How to get back into his shipping container bed by the Baal Bros Travelling Circus without waking up the likes of nosy Phegor or curious Berith.
But that’s more than an hour away.
For now, he can drift off deep in memories of the night they spent together, without thinking about pesky follow up questions like what to do if Setsuna finds out.
It was 1:00 in the morning when Takajou quietly opened the door to his shipping crate, trying to be as silent as a mouse. The wind against the relative quiet of his cramped quarters had him considering how matters ended up like this.
Makai took Mirai from him, Setsuna had gone out with another girl, and Elegy, well, it was hard to understand exactly who was in charge between them.
This was all very troubling to Takajou. He always has the answers. Except for now, as the world seems to be moving on from him.
A circuitous rhythm of raindrops helped disguise the sound of his footsteps against the floorboards. Squeak. Squeaaak. Eight more steps, now five, two…
“Big bro!” came the throaty voice of a young, stout boy. “Were ya caught up in the middle of a nighttime stroll?”
There was Phegor, great demon with the fabled Demon Duck as his steed and trusty porta-john. Well, that’s not the worst. thought Takajou.
“Hey, Phegor. Is Berith working late tonight?”
“Hmm.” Phegor stood with his staff at his chin. “If he was workin’ late, he’d have called to ask if any of us want some Makai burgers and DVDs on the way back.”
Phegor was indeed the smallest of the Baal brothers. Stout, hardy, and not above a good poop joke if the occasion arose. He also happened to take things quite easily at face value, a quality that Takajou hoped Berith had.
“Then he’s probably out on a date.” Takajou speculated. “Or gambling. Or finding dates while gambling.”
“Something like that!” Phegor smiled. “If you’re thinkin’ of staying, I made your bed for you. I figured Berith would have been happy to, so I should give it a try, y’know?”
If Berith didn’t suspect a thing, he would.
Takajou nonetheless took his circumstances as a small blessing, that Berith wouldn’t be nosing into his love life, that Phegor wasn’t at all interested in the gas–
“Hey, where can I get one of those?” Phegor pointed to Takajou’s stylish face covering.
“…Somewhere in Maxicimam. They have some cool ones now like ones with spikes that you might like.” Takajou paused for a moment to consider the lie. “You better act quickly, they might already be all sold out!”
“Agh, does that mean dealing with girls and girl stuff?”
Takajou’s mask pressed up against his cheeks as he gave a wink. “Still trying to find the strength to speak to one?”
“Just you wait!” Phegor shook his sceptre as his voice held a rasp. “I donno how and I donno when, but someday, I will find the strength to say a modest ‘Hey there. How’s it going? Could I interest you in a good sandwich spot?”
“Hamill’s a lady.” observed Takajou “You don’t have much trouble speaking with her.”
“BAH! Bah. Bahhh.” Phegor was waving his short little arms in protest as his mouth opened as wide as it could with every onamonapia. “Hamill is thousands of years older than both of us! It ain't right.”
“Suit yourself.” Takajou shrugged with his arms in a resigned pose. ”You might want to set Demon Duck aside before you try talking to other ladies.” He poked the beak of Phegor’s copyright-questionable throne.
Phegor puffed out his cheeks while sucking in his tummy. “I gotta show people that I am who I am. Which happens to be a small dude fond of ducks and the finer things in life. Like floral scented toilet paper.”
“To each their own.” The middle brother tucked himself into bed, closed his eyes, and went out like a light.
A warm aura came over Takajou as he sensed himself slowly falling down an endless chasm, lined by pastel coloured orbs and fireflies, no, will-o-wisps orbiting about.
Takajou held his arms and legs out spread-eagle style, finding that this slowed his movement down further still, to the extent that he was nearly floating in infinite space. It was hard to place this as Makai, the Known World, or some effectively liminal space left uncharted.
“Setsuna, can you hear me?” Takajou blurted out, to no response. There was no reason to expect Setsuna here of all places, but still. It was worth trying.
“Anyone?” Still nothing.
Takajou descended deeper into the empty void. A deep hole? No, a “hole” would imply breaking through a surface, one that couldn’t be seen as far as his eyes could perceive.
Suddenly, a chill. The wisps disappeared as Takajou could only feel a curious emptiness as he allowed himself to be pulled further down to the celestial space.
An image flashed by his mind. A familiar shape, manhandled by another being. The interloper shrieked THREE WORLDS, UNITED.
Within him, Takajou felt a rare yearning, a mandate to help, or of trying. To be by their side, tell them that “Everything will be alright.”
The freezing temperatures escalated as Takajou could no longer feel his fingers and toes. His limbs locked up, his breathing ceased, as he could feel his body ripped away from his soul.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Takajou’s eyes snapped open at the obnoxious sound of his alarm.
It was six in the morning, Phegor sleeping through as soundly as ever while birds sang outside. Still with no Berith in sight.
Takajou hit the pavement with a handful of flyers, suit and tie dress, his partial gas mask a permanent fixture on his jaw. His empty red eyes were beneath eight spines of hair, the rest of it tied up in a large braid made by Phegor that morning. It took the assistance of two to hold his hair tightly enough for his usual pony tail, and there were more absences at the circus that day.
Masato Takahiro, the group’s mage, was typically the fellow tasked with promoting the circus. He had the hair and feathers of an owl’s plumage, orange at the roots and brown at the tips, donning a custom haraigushi with a Dragon Quest slime on its tip. Unfortunately for the Baal brothers, Masato’s desktop computer, laptop and cell phone all failed at once in what he had termed an “airborne virus”.
Then it was left to the clowns of the troupe, Takajou and the tiny juggler Mr. Do, to mercilessly shove as many flyers in the hands of Harajuku pedestrians as they could manage.
“Ahoy, Mister Whiskers!” Takajou shouted to a young man with big cat ears and tail and mauve eyes in short shorts, socks above his knees, and a puffy shirt with black ribbons around his wrists and neck. His hair was mostly white, grown down to his neck, giving him a scholarly appearance. That is, but for a ceremonial pattern, rings of black on the hair draping his forehead and the tips of his ears, echoed by a single band of black around his right thigh.
“Um, hello fine sir in a spooky mask.” replied the cat boy.
“Would you like to add a little excitement to your life? Meet a cast of talented performers? Become world famous?”
“…I think I’d rather sunbathe in front of a window, nya.”
“How about all the stinky fish you can imagine?” Takajou pitched without missing a beat.
“Now I’m listening.”
”The Baal Brothers Travelling Circus has an opportunity for YOU.” Takajou winked and gave the cat boy a light punch in the shoulder. “Help us save our circus by become one of our performers in the athletic arts.”
The cat boy gave a bit of a grimace. “I’m not going to be locked in a cage, am I?”
“Heavens no! You’ll just have to do a few tightrope acts, balancing, knife throwing, uh, fully assisted of course!” Takajou closed his eyes. “But first, we want YOU to prove your dedication to the cause!”
“Sounds pretty good, nya. I’ve always been open to running away and joining the circus…”
“Then you can start right now by handing out these flyers to all these people!” Takajou took all the flyers he had at hand and shoved them in the cat person’s open arms. “I’ll be watching you!”
“Alright, I’ll do my best…” The cat boy, whose name Takajou never bothered to ask about, wandered off with Mr. Do to solicit customers for the Baal Brothers Travelling Circus.
His deed having been done, Takajou elected to exit stage right from the premises. Or he would have.
“Hey, aren’t you Berith’s little brother?” inquired a blonde, blue eyed girl in pigtails crossing her arms, with an orange sparkling scarf and green bee wings in a white sailor suit outfit.
“Well, that depends on where you know Berith from!” responded Takajou.
“You don’t remember us from last year?” asked a girl with a black hime cut and orange eyes wearing a loose sweater with a giant blue bow and blue triangle butterfly wings.
“OH! You’re the…” (Takajou mumbled “older…”) “girls who graduated for university about two years back?”
“That’s right!” grinned a girl with rounded, chin length black hair cut into a “v” shape around her purple eyes. Her white downcast bird wings and white button up shirt with a black bow almost gave her the appearance of an angel. “And we’re here to collect the other half of what you owe us.”
“Please, ladies!” Takajou raised his hands up to his face in gentile protest. “Though we appreciate all that you have done to help entertain Japan, circuses haven’t been doing so well of late.” Takajou lowered his voice to a mockingly sad tone. “We’ve given away every cent we have to spare! But if you are able to participate in the Baal Brothers Travelling Circus this year…”
Takajou was immediately grabbed by a light brown haired girl with two long locks of hair framing her face. She had a big blue hair clip on top, with a tartan orange skirt and beige vest that matched her monarch butterfly wings. The enthusiastic girl yelped, “I’ve got an idea!”
Takajou lightly pleaded, “Help…?” Though he was a bit eager to find out where this was going.
The monarch winged girl continued, “Let’s take him up for RANSOM!”
“But they don’t have any money?” indicated the bee winged girl.
“Let’s play with him, anyway!” enthused the feathered girl.
“Roger that!” confirmed the monarch winged girl, launching him into the sky.
“Hey, just what are you doing?” shouted the blue triangle winged girl, buzzing straight towards a wide eyed Takajou rising in the sky to intercept him.
“Take him to Laforet Harajuku mall!” shouted a dark green cicada winged girl with brown hair, messy hair down to her elbows in a blue sailor school outfit. “Nobody can find their way out of there!”
Takajou was bored.
The blue triangle winged girl had gently carried him as a prince might carry off a princess. In that sense, there was no mischief. No element of surprise. Why are college girls so responsible? pondered Takajou.
“Excuse me?” inquired Takajou’s captor. Her unamused face hadn’t changed since they left the ground.
Grinning behind the mask, Takajou replied, “Oh, nothing, Miss…?”
“Maiko. Maiko Sakura.”
The one with monarch butterfly wings was flying closer by to listen in on the pair. The girls all flying in a “V” formation with the bee winged girl in front.
“Not all of us are as responsible as Maiko.” The girl with monarch wings snickered. “I’m Akane! Akane Mazuzawa.”
“My younger sister.” added Maiko. “You won’t have to worry about her while I’m in charge of you.”
“That’s good!” mirthed Takajou. “Because I’m about to bail.” Takajou slipped through Maiko’s arms by closing the distance between his knees and head, careening down to a freefall four three hundred meters from the ground.
As the wind sailed through Takajou’s ears, he could barely hear the commotion from above. The bee winged girl giving orders, Maiko rocketing straight down to catch up with Takajou in 3… 2…
Like a ripcord, Takajou unleashed his own wings, a Cairns birdwing pattern that was black with white patches, including a pair of skulls, one for each wing, at the top.
“Oops.” Takajou remarked as the girls flew a considerable distance down as he suspended himself in the air. “I guess I forgot to mention that I can fly.” he declared with a wink and open arms, the girls uniformly cycling back in an arc to correct their mistake.
“Scatter!” commanded the bee winged girl. “Don’t let him out of your sights!” The girls all proceeded to dart about in non-uniform directions, some advancing towards Takajou, others reversing course.
Takajou responded by diving straight towards the bee-winged girl, expecting to throw the acrobats off. In a flash he saw her expression of panic followed by a sudden loss of speed, a weight on his right boot.
The bee girl’s scarf had been lassoed onto his ankle, with the lady herself holding firmly onto Takajou’s calf with her body curled into a fetal position. Using her weight to glide Takajou down the streets below, she started laughing with light amusement.
“Nobody gets past Hachimitsu Himeno! Not even a Baal Brother.”
“Hey, I like this view of your legs.” complemented Takajou with a grin. “Miniskirts sure have made a comeback recently!”
“Enjoy it while you can, bub.” responded Hachimitsu with a wide grin. “Don’t forget to keep your eyes on the skies.” Takajou snapped his head back, as the cicada-winged girl intercepted Takajou’s left arm with minimal effort, keeping him in flight, as the white feathered girl sailed in from above to blast his face with a canister.
“Easy now, ladies…” Takajou reassured his captors, as his head was flooded with memories of Setsuna, the first time they caught frogs around the hills of Tottori, that time they went surfing at the closed beaches of Yumenoshima, as his vision started to fade…
A dimly lit arrangement of swashbuckling clothes, open treasure chests, and boots greeted Takajou when he came to. The underground mall was not new to him, so to speak, and neither was this store, “Alice and the Pirates”. Though this was the first time he’d been here as captive.
“Avast!” the cicada-winged girl announced through her messy brown hair. “The sky sucker has awakened.” Maiko gave the cicada-winged girl a side eye while mouthing the words sky sucker.
“That wasn’t too much laughing gas, was it?” inquired the white feathered lady. “My name is Chihiro Kuroha, nurse in training.” She looked somewhat crestfallen. “I hope you’ll forgive me for this potential breach of the Hippocratic Oath. We needed some way of calming you down before anyone was hurt.”
“Oh, it’s fine!” remarked a still woozy Takajou, struggling a bit to get on his feet. “My afternoon became more interesting.”
“In that case,” announced Akane. “We’d like to play a little game of dress up.”
“You mean dress Takajou up.” asserted Hachimitsu. “Though you’re all free to play along if you’d like.”
“You wouldn’t mind if I got in the changing room with you?” Akane inquired. “Since you’re… not having the easiest time trying to walk… or stand… as far as I can see.”
Takajou shook his head. “(Older) ladies, I have nothing to hide.”
“I’ll play, too!” declared the cicada-winged girl. “I’m Akari Endou. Counter admiral of the guarda-coasta!”
“I’m keeping an eye on you.” remarked Maiko, looking straight at Akane. “Don’t do anything weird with the boy.”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about!” Akane’s nose shrivelled slightly at Maiko’s probing, as she grabbed a few racks of clothes that she felt suited Takajou best.
“Um, Takajou?” Akane scrutinized in the changing room.
“Yes, my dear Akane?” responded Takajou in turn, Maiko’s feet still visible from behind the changing room door.
“Is it… correct to pick out men’s clothing for you?” Akane was visibly puzzled by something.
“As right as rain in April, my lady whose name I just learned this morning.” Takajou asserted.
It was about the point when Akane had removed Takajou’s dress shirt that she noticed Takajou was wearing a fairly stiff sports bra, rather than an undershirt.
“Then why do you…?”
“He’s a boy, Akane.” Maiko interrupted from outside, between inhaling a cigarette.
“But why…?”
“That’s none of our business.” Maiko loudly exhaled. “He’s a boy now. He’ll be a man when he’s ready to act like one.” The cigarette was thrown on the ground and crushed by her boot.
“…Right, well, you don’t mind if I change in here too?” asked Akane. “I’ve always wanted to try on a real uniform, you know, like Berith’s military coat?”
“Not at all, darling.” Takajou didn’t have the energy to disagree with the particulars of how cool Berith’s kingly dress really was. Rather, he was grateful at the moment that Maiko was there to avoid an awkward conversation he’d rather not make much fuss about.
Hachimitsu looked up from her flip phone at Takajou and Akane as they left the changing room, studying their attire. “Is that appropriate for a kid?”
He had a small duffel jacket, all black with bold white lines at the ends and tiny vertical pinstripes with a sailor collar outlining his neck. His shirt, a black and white horizontally striped long sleeve t-shirt with holes for the thumbs and fingers to poke through at each end, had little stretchy fabric lines drooping down at the front to give it the appearance of a loose belt.
Takajou shrugged with his hands at his side. “Whatever do you mean? I think these wraps give me significant coverage! Promise I won’t trip!”
“I… think she means the booty shorts.” added Chihiro.
Beneath the waist, Takajou had a pair of A&P heart short pants, black cotton lined with little sequins where the shorts meet the thighs like tiny belts around each leg. Each button for the pockets and up top was in a tiny heart shape.
“He can handle it.” Akane proclaimed. She was donning a Ranveil jacket, black with gold at the ends and small chains at every side, and a Ribbon Ribbon Prince Blouse in grey and lilac underneath. Unlike Takajou, her legs were very much covered by a pair of Tartan Check Edward Marini pants with high heeled A/P Loran shoes underneath.
“Everybody loves my legs!” boasted Takajou. “They are ripe with Takajonium.”
Chihiro and Hachimitsu glared at Maiko, who returned fire with a very faint smile.
“…and what, pray tell, is Takajonium?” inquired Chihiro, who had no recollection of this in her medical studies.
Takajou raised one finger to the sky as he proceeded to elaborate. “Takajonium is one of the main ingredients found in Takajou Zett. Regular intake is necessary for individuals with specialized needs. Should you happen to be deprived of Takajonium, that may lead to a loss of metabolic function, or even death!”
Hachimitsu could see Maiko chuckling softly as Akane was trying to keep a straight face. Takajou did not stop.
“In addition, it has been reported that even a mild deficiency has a serious impact on mental hemostasis, causing instability and a range of emotional disorders.”
“So, I guess that means we’re not going to let you go… ever!” Akari snuck up behind to grab Takajou by the chest. Akane parried, pulling Takajou to safety as she shuffled between them.
“Takajou is MINE, picaroon.” declared Akane.
Akari lifted her hands to signal her prompt surrender. Putting up no real fight, everyone could see she was wearing a black embroidery sailor blouse with two layers of frills in dark purple. Her lazy smile shadowed by a silk feathered top hat. Daniel pants covered a pair of antique leather boots on her calves up through her legs.
As the commotion rose, the sales clerk charged towards the three noisemakers in confident stride. She was a young woman with white long hair, pink cat eyes, seven white fox tails, pink heart glasses, a large white scarf, and puffy ears.
“Alright, alright.” Akari responded. “No bummers, no quarrel over the dungbie.” Takajou was not familiar with this term, quietly making a point to look this up later.
“Are you three ready to check out, now?” asked the fox girl with a toothy grin.
“We’re ready.” answered Hachimitsu. “Put it on Belial’s tab.”
“Which show is it for?” prodded the fox.
“The Lock Academy on rue Coquilliere. We’re now in the escape room business.”
“Ah, how modern.” The fox proceeded to tally up the receipts before putting them in a large, overflowing binder. “Back entrance, again?”
“As always.” confirmed Hachimitsu.
The fox girl flipped a switch, the garage door for the front of the store closed as a secret back door revealed itself to a cavernous, underground landscape of piping, yellow lines and concrete.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting…?” Takajou asked the saleswoman. “I’m Taka-“
“I know everything about you.” monotoned the fox girl, leaning in to get uncomfortably close to his face.
“I’m Takajou Zett.” proclaimed Takajou, undeterred.
“I’m Chefei.” The name sounded familiar to Takajou, somehow, but he couldn’t quite place it. “You should come here more often. Bring money next time.” She rubbed her thumb and fingertips together for clarity.
“Duly noted, madame.” grinned Takajou, as the college girls left beside him through the portal.
Behind the mall was a series of passage ways, geological formations held together by “shotcrete” with the occasional door to nowhere. Some lined with markings too faded to understand their original purpose. Suspended LEDs powered by an unseen force lit the way forward.
The five ladies and Takajou were flying at a lower speed, careful not to hit surfaces with force to make an exit troublesome. Far off in the distance were bumps and thumps of various kinds, barely recognizable speech from entities unseen, and the occasional sound of footsteps.
Takajou’s inquisition broke the silence. “Is this where you girls have your evil spooooky lair?”
“I think we could have done better.” remarked Hachimitsu.
“Nowhere here to put in a big screen TV or to get some decent privacy.” added Akari.
“And no equipment here in the necessary condition for lab work.” confirmed Chihiro.
Takajou looked over the walls and the occasional harmless critter, a human eye passing by with wings and insect legs. “I don’t recall seeing anything like this around Makai. Where are we, exactly?”
“It’s what’s left of an old US Military housing settlement.” mused Maiko. “Besides that one ugly white house in Yoyogi Park spared from demolition after the 1964 Summer Olympics. A bunch of decrepit, segregated, underground barracks.”
“Some of it’s still usable as athlete housing.” Akane considered. “Though I guess if an abandoned jail can be made into housing for professionals in sports, just about any old space can be.”
Looking up and down the surfaces at the side and curiously marked crates, Takajou imagined that whoever, or _what_ ever, once lived down in these depths had to be in a hurry to leave.
“Then as an occasionally willing hostage, are you plotting on throwing me into the brig?”
“Heck no!” shouted Akane. “It’s just a place we have to go through to get to where we want to be. Gonna meet some friends!” She closed her eyes and gave a big smile, not that Takajou needed to be comforted at the moment.
BOOM
All of the winged ones immediately halted their advance.
A very large figure in a powered suit, white lined with gold, with a massive set of horns at his sides tipped in purple crashed down from the ceiling ahead without warning. His face was a mask, green glowing eyes, his helmet containing no less than four horns, two in the back pointing inward, two in the front pointing outward.
It spoke with a heavy, metallic reverberation. “I am Malchidael, angel of March. Who dares to desecrate the halls of man with the souls of the damned?”
Hachimitsu stepped forward. “We’re the Printemps Bleu, and this child is Takajou Zett.”
“We’re on our way to see some old friends.” Akari elaborated.
“Objection! There can be no quarter for imitators in the halls of Washington Heights.” Malchidael glared at Takajou. “Especially not a cohort ferrying the soul of my old nemesis.”
The girls prepared for battle, bows and cords at the ready, as Takajou cracked his knuckles.
“DEEP HOLE!” Takajou announced, emitting a steady stream of all-encompassing ink at the archangel, dousing the angel in the tarry, void like substance that got into his joints and helmet.
The girls promptly followed up with cabling intended to slow the brutish hulk down. Maiko and Akane started tying down his legs and Akari struggling to pull his arms together as Chihiro was looking into which of her gasses might be most effective against an angel lesser enough to be unknown, great enough to be acknowledged by periperal lore as a tyrant. Hachimitsu readied her bow aimed at his heart.
Malchidael was unamused, and proceeded to wipe off the blackness with his bare hands.
“God’s Judgement be upon you, scion of Baal.”
Takajou was struck down hard by a bolt of lightning as the girls looked on with terror.
“Time to–”
…
It was quiet.
The middle Baal Brother twitched and stirred, recovering from a massive shock. This isn’t supposed to happen he thought to himself. Takajou never loses a fight, unless it’s with a Devil Child.
“Hachimitsu?” No response. “Akane, Maiko…?” Still nothing.
Opening his eyes, Takajou could see the entire scene frozen in time. Wings suspended perfectly still in the air. Mouths open mid-sentence. Malchidael about to focus his wrath on the girls. Maiko starting to race towards Takajou. Hachimitsu about to miss her shot in the midst of the commotion. Akane with tears forming in her eyes. Akari about to shout something while looking at Hachimitsu’s error. Chihiro pulling a canister of what appeared to be nerve gas out of her bag. And…
“Say, I don’t believe we’ve met?” remarked Takajou, dusting off some of the ash from his legs and hands as he looked up at a new face.
There was another winged woman suspended in the air, with wavy green hair and large hazel eyes. Donning a black, fur trim bodysuit with four red marks on the front and back of her torso resembling a harlequin ladybird. Her elven ears bore large earrings of blue opal outlined with brass, in the shape of rings with a large arrow pointing down and a smaller one pointing behind her. Whatever stillness affected all the other parties in the room appeared to have no affect on her at all.
“Takajou.” Is that what you call yourself today? Her eyes stared deep into Takajou, though her mouth did not move when she spoke.
“That’s me!” Takajou grinned. “Just your friendly neighbourhood fly boy. Held captive in a quest to find the Great King Berith!”
I do not see you running.
“Well maybe it’s a mutually beneficial hostage taking!” Takajou held his hands behind his back, fidgeting.
I see you’ve come a long way from being Zebul. She smiled faintly.
“And what kind of human-sized fairy are you supposed to be?” She was notably taller than Takajou and easily could have been bigger than any of the five Printemps Bleu, though it was a bit hard to tell from the ground and everybody else being trapped in a moment of time.
I’m Fino, of the Kingdom of Finvarra, the Land of Heart’s Desire. She looked up with beaming appreciation. Millenia ago, Baal helped me retrieve one of my wings, stolen by a tyrant endeavouring to capture valuables across the known universe.
Her face soured. Though, you are no Baal. The only wisdom Zebul could part with was the significance of edibles and garments.
“Well, I want to think I’ve matured since then.” Takajou scratched his chin nervously. “Kind of. Sort of.”
Did you know those arrow markings on the walls open doors?
“Oh!” Takajou immediately went to press one, finding it land with a satisfying CLUNK in front of Malchidael. “Wait a second, I need to do some rearranging.”
You have all the time you need.
Takajou pressed it again to reveal Malichidael, then took Maiko from under her own arms to position her besides Hachimitsu, moved Akane to be right next to where Takajou and a pile of ashes were on the ground, shifted Akari to be just far enough away not to have Hachimitsu’s ears start ringing, and carefully separated the canister of nerve gas from Chihiro as she too was placed behind Hachimitsu.
NOW Takajou pressed the button, satisfyingly slamming it on Malichidael.
Fino proceeded to inform. This complex is unique in that no door can truly trap one behind its walls. Each switch that closes one door will open another, in a revolving manner.
Takajou sulked. “So we’re still in danger?”
You could always run away and leave these women behind.
“Not part of my style. Not now, sorry.”
Acknowledged. It was nice seeing you again. Fino smiled. Of what’s left of Baal.
“Wait!” Takajou interrupted the fairy’s departure. “Where’s Berith?”
Hiding, of course.
“Of course…” Takajou nodded, his mouth in a resigned, horizontal line.
Fino vanished in a fraction of a nanosecond, as the ladies slowly started to move, the noises of the halls swelled once more, and a frustrated sequence of metal pounding against metal sounded behind the door that was now closed ahead of them.
“You’re alive!” Akane beamed at Takajou.
“Believe it or not, I have more magic tricks than you could possibly understand!” Takajou raised an arm in front of his face to shield all but his eyes from the girls, wiggling his fingers to add to the kitschy mystery. “…We should leave quickly. Like, now.”
“I agree…” acknowledged Hachimitsu. “Let’s head straight to Harajuku Underground Apartments.”
“…Underground Apartments?” inquired Takajou.
“You’ll see.” remarked Akari.
Maiko’s thoughts drifted off. The tunnelling showed little variety, and what doors or cells existed off to the side led to makeshift homes, forgotten artifacts of the former occupation, and — most often — nothing at all.
Two years ago, the short haired Hanako Yano and herself were the main attraction. Hanako could improvise, go completely off script with her boisterous antics, and capture an entire room with her larger than life personality. Maiko was often the one to pull Hanako back to the act to finish their duet, a mix of arial dance and song.
One day, Hanako declared that she was ready to go back to university. It wasn’t immediately clear that they wouldn’t be in the same school or part of the same show, but that was how she’d planned it. It led to a fissure between them that wasn’t remedied until—
“Something’s coming!” the unexpectedly wary Takajou declared to the Printemps Bleu.
Sure enough, a rhythmic set of elephant footsteps, a timpani drum beating steadily, then accelerating, was getting louder.
“Everyone! Find a bunker to take shelter!” commanded Hachimitsu.
Each of the girls swarmed to find the best candidate for a hiding place. Akari stumbled through a few nearby doors, Hachimitsu looking farther out for unoccupied places with decent coverage, Akane held Takajou close in a signal that she would not let him into harm’s way this time. Maiko and Chihiro searched through the rooms in between.
“This one.” Maiko waved them into a space, not offering a chance to reconsider.
The room was filled with large stuffed toys, the former heirlooms of army brats past, between expired rations and a collection of records, besides other boxes left partially unpacked by temporary residents.
Hachimitsu and Chihiro waved their companions into positions behind the stuffed animals, flexing flat on the ground with their ankles twisted by their sides. Takajou was not nearly as flexible, but could be meaningfully surrounded by the plushes. And Maiko…
“Ready for your shoot?” inquired Takajou.
Maiko was lying down onto the plushes straight in front, with a presence that she belonged there.
“Stay down and be quiet.” declared Hachimitsu. “Don’t say another word until you’re called.”
Takajou nodded, the lump he was between a giant dog plush and a giant frog plush, with the vain expectation that someone besides Akane, clinging to his legs as a weight on the floor, might notice.
FWOOSH. The door slid open to reveal a Malchidael soiled by the tarry substance from before. Each footstep of the power armour making a loud CLANG on the ground.
To Takajou’s surprise, the angel surveyed the boxes in the corner, turned over the collection of records on its side, kicked aside a small television that had been unnoticed. But the collection of stuffed toys seemed to pose no immediate interest to him.
Then Malichidael shifted his gaze to the toys, to Maiko. Loudly shifting his mass over, hunching over, getting uncomfortably close to Maiko’s face. Only the sound of his respirator breathing in large gasps was audible.
Maiko’s expression was unchanged. She looked back sternly, standoffishly, unamused.
Takajou’s jaw almost opened, before the force of an unseen hand from underneath caused it to clamp up. Right, no talking.
Malichidael stood up straight and left the room in haste, as the sound of a beast could be heard in the distance. All five girls remained still for the next twenty minutes, as the sound of elephant feet faded into nothing at all.
Maiko casually stood up with the other girls from the pile of forgotten toys, each jumping up to resume their original itinerary, Harajuku Underground Apartments.
“What… happened? How did we get out of there without third degree electrical burns?” Takajou inquired, as a bewildered child trying to understand what just happened.
“Nobody can own a scene like Maiko.” offered Akari, as Akane was still cradling Takajou like the baby he was.
Takajou opened his mouth again, and let his first set of words fall back to his throat. He didn’t understand college girls, and he understood their kind of show business much less.
“I better watch her carefully, next time she’s on stage!” Takajou put a finger under his chin, thumb outstretched.
A door gave way to blinding blue light from an artificial source. As Takajou’s eyes regained focus, a blue Torii gate lined the entrance from which they stepped out. City buildings plucked out of another time with cobblestone streets lied the path in front.
Perhaps he would have been more at home dressed as the great Raidou rather than as a pirate, like two Halloween’s ago? Yet this place was out of the Taisho era. The lack of artifacts from Imperial military presence, the horrors from the time of the dragon, that was nowhere to be seen.
Before Takajou was a theme park snapshot of the period roughly five years after the US gave back occupied lands. Rows of compressed apartment buildings from the 1960s and small businesses nestled within. A pocket from a time of shared reconstruction somehow suspended here, down below, under city lights. Like an underground, urban Showa no Machi.
“Swanky.” remarked Takajou with a big smile. “Do any of you expect we’ll find Berith in this museum?”
“Maybe if he’s feeling up to it.” replied Akari with a casual stretch.
“Not likely.” assessed Hachimitsu. “A casino residency or a tour on the road would be more his style.”
“There’s not enough money to be made in a sleepy place like this.” remarked Maiko. “Better to go where the little fish are already feeding for glitz and entertainment, like he’d say.”
“Though we want to negotiate with him, right?” Chihiro raised. “Tuition does not come cheap.”
“Right, he has friends in the area.” Hachimitsu relayed. “We can depend on them to send what Berith needs to hear.”
Takajou nodded. Akane chimed in. “Akari and Takajou, we better head over to the Leon so the others can do the real work.” She gestured with her thumb behind her towards a kissaten-style coffee shop just under one of the ramshackle apartments. “We’ll find something for you in there.” she mused optimistically.
“Don’t worry, ladies. I always find something to do.” grinned Takajou.
The interior of the “Leon” was packed with a number of artistically aligned demons of sorts. Among the clientele were a man in a wheelchair and glasses, a young girl with blonde hair and a purple halo-like object floating above her with swirling black patterns along their upper left arm and right hand, and a young boy with long grey hair and a leather uniform covering all but his wrists, head, and his exposed back. At the bar were two girls, both of whom were very busy trying to keep the place in working order.
An entertainer was jumping from table to table, her blade-like brown hair in a ponytail wound tight by a throwing knife and a kimono with a woven pattern resembling a series of eyes. Takajou couldn’t get a clear view of them from where he was at the moment, with Akane and Akari leading them to the front counter to take orders.
“I’ll have an iced macha latteé,” requested Akane. “And Akari will have…”
“Three cups of coffee, iced. Black. Just black.” Akari added with a small sleepy grin.
“And Takajou will have…”
“One of every flavour of smoothie you have, only six at a time. Starting with cherry, please.” registered Takajou as Akane’s smile faded at the thought of what was going to happen to her bank account.
“No food this time.” Akane interjected. The girl at the counter, with two large tufts of hair resembling unusually huge cat ears, was scribbling away diligently without any second guessing.
“Right away!” proclaimed the barista. “Have a seat anywhere you’d like, and I’ll be right over.” She winked at Takajou in a manner that had Akane trading glances at both of them.
The three found a table on the far end of the cafe, surprisingly clean given the amount of traffic coming in and out of the Leon at this moment. As the three took their seats, Akari put her head down into her folded arms, leaving Akane and Takajou to themselves.
“So, don’t take this to be me being nosy at all.” rebuffed Akane. “Do you and that girl who was taking our orders, do you know each other?”
“Maybe!” Takajou left himself alone with his thoughts to consider if she was, or if she wasn’t, a troublemaker from long ago. “I’ve met so many people over so many years, I don’t remember.”
“How old are you, again?” Akane squinted.
“It depends on how you look at it!” Takajou gleefully posited. “Am I thousands of years old, or just tens? Am I gluttony incarnate, or just some kid pretending to be this generation’s Loki?” Takajou blinked twice at Akane. “Whaddaya think?”
Akane raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I think you like to talk big.” The smirk became a toothy smile. “And that’s part of why you have fans.”
The young lady in the kimono came up to their table. “Would you like to know your fortune?” Akari gave a small head movement that looked like a no. Akane thought for a minute before responding herself.
“Try me on.” Takajou proclaimed with close eyes, a confident smile, and his arms folded.
The young lady opened her palm, itself emblazoned with the illustration of an open eye, towards Takajou’s immobile face. Akane could see the fortune teller’s expression change; sullen. Perplexed. Shock, as she quickly withdrew her palm. Two dozen eyeballs could be seen peeking out through her blades of hair, as she looked unto Takajou with a defensive posture.
Swallowing hard, she addressed Takajou, “Baal, or should I say, Baal Zebul?”
Takajou gave a crescent moon grin as he looked down at the lady. “Tenome. It’s been awhile.”
“Hey, don’t be a creep.” Akane interrupted, in an effort to turn down the temperature. “He’s Takajou, and he’s travelling with us at the moment.”
Tenome turned to address Akane, as one of the eyeballs in her hair flew out with a set of insect wings and legs, keeping a steady eye on Takajou. “This Takajou among you. What do you know about him?”
“He’s one of the Baal Brothers?” Akane responded matter-of-factly as Akari arose mildly unsettled. “He’s Berith’s cute younger brother.”
“Zebul is a glutton, a great arch devil, notorious for destroying many lives and empires.” Tenome warned, keeping her distance from the former Maou as each eyeball was fixated on the child. “You might think of him as your friend, but consider! When he’s backed against a wall — your entire world will come crashing down around you in a tide of blood.”
Takajou’s smile had vanished, and Akari was rubbing his arm in her sleepy daze to try to calm him down. “Tenome, right, that’s your name? You’re not helping us out here.”
Akari chimed in, “We’d appreciate it if you went to another table.”
Then Takajou felt a need to respond.
“That girl taking our orders, that’s the rabbit girl Jinguji Yachika?” Takajou asked. Tenome turned her body to glare at him. “She reminds me of Xiaotu.”
“Takajou!” Akane yelled.
“Back in the 1940s, she was your pupil, that Chinese little rabbit? You sent her off to be a great devil hunter, on a train on her own. And you never saw her again.”
Akari was inclined to talk down Takajou, but her curiosity got the better of her, as Akane was motionless. Neither was totally able to comprehend the situation at the moment.
“But you did see a doppelgänger, right? A demon formed from a mindless apparition of hate and revenge, the one corrupting the inhabitants of Japan at that time? Before she could sink her fangs into you. You killed her.”
“TAKAJOU!” Akane yelled louder, causing some of the clients to turn towards their table.
“Did you ever think that might have been her?”
Before Takajou could blink, Tenome threw a fist directly into Takajou’s nose. He was out cold.
When Takajou awoke, Akane and Akari were at his side, as Chihiro was checking his heart rate from his wrist.
“Guess I’m not invincible.” remarked Takajou with a smile.
“What was that?” Akane asked. “That was an absolutely terrible thing for you to do.”
Takajou blinked twice and wiggled his fingers, checking that he had enough of his bearings at his side. He paused to consider a quip, though all he could manage was “Sorry.”
“What did Tenome ever do to you to deserve that response?” Akane was flustered to a degree Takajou was uncomfortable with, which only emphasized the degree to which he messed up.
“I… we were not friends back then.” Takajou explained. “Not now either, from how I see it. I got carried away.” Takajou shrunk into himself, hoping for some forgiveness. “I’m sorry.”
The four were some distance away from the Leon outside, in front of one of the apartments, as Takajou was still being mended to.
“You should apologize to Tenome.” remarked Akari, between sips of coffee. “I'm not the type to say it's OK to be violent, but telling her that she killed her student? That was really, really bad.”
One of the baristas from the Leon came out with a wet towel in their hands, approaching the four. Takajou’s vision was still adjusting to the state of his face being mildly smashed in.
Akari and Akane stepped aside while Chihiro remained close by, as a girl in a maid headdress sat down at her knees to Takajou.
“That was awful!” her shark-toothed sales smile opened wide as she offered her towel to Takajou. “I quite enjoyed that performance.”
Takajou’s face broke to mild surprise before his eyes settled into a half-open expression aided by a smirk. “Gally?”
Chihiro broke up the unprepared reunion of troublemakers to give an update, “We’ve found the wassailite Ruri Moreh and the violinist Lulu Judea. Both are due to join Berith to celebrate his ‘royal’ birthday.”
“Nobody invited us?” Akane puffed out one cheek and looked disappointed.
“We’re too mature.” Akari surmised. “That’s why we’re shaking him down to get paid – responsibly.” Akari raised a sleepy finger to the air.
Chihiro continued, “Hachimitsu and Maiko offered to trade places with you two to act as birthday guests, seeing as both of you tend to fit in better with a festive atmosphere.”
“Hey, aren’t we forgetting the man of the hour?” Takajou interrupted.
“You have someone you’ll need to apologize to, first.” Akane tut-tutted with a finger wag, as Gally’s eyebrows went up.
“And then I can go?” Takajou pressed.
“It depends.” Akari pushed back. “Depends on how you behave, else ye’ll be swabbing the poop deck and swimming with the fishes before we gets there.”
“Okay, fine.” Takajou raised his arms above his head, surrendering once more. “Gally, we… I need to talk with Tenome. Tell her that I want to apologize. And if it’s okay, I want to talk to her out here.”
“Why not ask her yourself?” Gally had finished assembling her three-part oak staff into a broom and makeshift bo staff, and had been doing practice swipes at the air while the party was deciding on their next course of action.
“Because I’d be shocked if I wasn’t banned from the Leon for this mess–”
“Oh, you absolutely are!” Gally clarified.
“…and I’m sure she’d rather know in advance than be surprised by the shadow of a Mysterious Boy on her way home.”
“Fair.” Gally kicked the soot off of her mary janes, tapped the end of the broom twice on the street, and shot Takajou a glance. “I’ll see what can be done for someone so intimately familiar with the Queen.”
Takajou’s eyes wandered off, before Gally followed up.
“You know she’s told Setsuna by now.”
Takajou’s felt a spike drive through his heart, as Chihiro caught him from collapsing on his side.
As Gally confidently trotted back to the cafe, the nurse-in-training at Takajou’s side whispered, “You might want to think about putting that mask back on, after this meeting.”
“Right…” Takajou felt the dumb dimples at the sides of his mouth, realizing in that moment how women read minds.
Thirty minutes passed since Gally returned to the Leon. Out in this cold, Takajou could only hear the distanct sounds of his “captors” voices in between persistent, steady gusts of wind.
Chihiro, Akane and Akari had all been talking among themselves, with Hachimitsu and Maiko speaking remotely on a flip phone, over how best to engage with Berith on his birthday, December 25th.
Takajou’s mind had floated elsewhere, thinking of what he might say and do to help smooth things over. Provided that Tenome was going to give him a chance.
A figure in a colorful, orange kimono came through the front entrance, approaching Takajou at a steady place. The girls wrapped up their conversation as Tenome’s face came clearly into view. The circles around her eyes a painful crimson. In Takajou’s direction, she sized him up with a glare normally reserved for bastards and felons.
With a light quiver in his voice, Takajou spoke first. “I never should have brought up Xiaotu.”
“You will never speak of Xiaotu, ever again.” Tenome spoke in a rasp. “Am I clear on that?”
“Absolutely.” acknowledged Takajou. “I am sorry.”
“Are you? Are you sorry that you hurt me, or are you sorry for yourself?”
“I didn’t think about hurting you–”
“You didn’t think at all!”
“Yes, I was thoughtless and careless. However…” Takajou raised a finger to the sky. “I want to help you find what happened to Xiaotu.”
“Shut– wait.” Tenome took a deep breath, with little involuntary gasps for air as she breathed out.
Her face twisted to a puzzled expression, one eyebrow raised and the other eye squinting. “You just told me – suggested to me – that I killed Xiaotu, the closest thing that I have ever had to a sister. Was that a LIE?”
“All I know is that she was called in to exorcise a demon. That turned out to be a ruse, and she was nearly possessed herself. Though, despite the odds, she survived. That was before you fought the demon that looked exactly like her.”
Tenome crossed her arms. “I have half a mind to punch you again.”
“Go right ahead!” Takajou turned his cheek and offered his face, hands and arms behind his back.
“Takajou.” Tenome’s arms were firmly at her sides, resigned to a neutral position. “Let’s go back to that alleyway, if you’re serious.”
Akane interrupted, “Hey, we’d like to have Takajou back in one piece. If you’re going to continue escalating this violence, we’re going to pull him out of here.”
Akari added, “He’s not very useful to us dead. And besides, we think he has some redeeming qualities!”
Chihiro assessed, “I’ve observed that Takajou’s body is quite damage resistant, though I can’t in good consciousness leave him to be a pin cushion. Even if he completely deserves it.”
Tenome waved with both of her hands above her head, signalling a surrender of sorts at the three printemps bleu. “No, please wait. I have an idea. For that, I need to talk to him alone.”
With a quick huddle followed by a collective nod, the three girls left Takajou’s fate in Tenome’s hands.
The alley was even colder than the streets outside, with no visible windows above and rooftop signs lining each wall. A number of assorted boxes containing consumable goods lined the sides in careless formation, creating a small, urban maze that Takajou’s inner child wouldn’t mind exploring if the circumstances were less tense.
“Stand here, and hold still.” Tenome waved Takajou to a corner that was entirely out of view from each side of the alleyway.
Takajou obliged, for the most part. “I’m not great at this when I’m following doctor’s orders, so you’ll need to be quick.”
“It will be only a second.”
Tenome sat down on her knees and opened her fist, the marking of an eye. Her fist emitted a bright light that covered Takajou like the flash of a camera. When the light settled, Takajou had some black fur around his boots, a series of six legs – not on him, but around him – and a puddle of black ink oozing from his shoes, as if it were part of him.
Tenome nodded her head and spoke in a whisper.
“You aren’t lying about Xiaotu. What you know comes from fragments of a Maou trapped within the great devoid of Makai.”
“Deep Hole!” Takajou mirthed in a Vincent Price imitation.
Tenome looked deep into Takajou’s eyes. “Yet you were lying about being Baal Zebul. You are his puppet. A special puppet.”
The insect legs lost their form as they melted into the inky substance at the floor, as Takajou looked around himself with mild curiosity.
“Zebul forfeited his corporeal form to be Takajou, rather than treat you as a disposable human-like asset. In that sense, you are quite unique, even among your brothers.”
“I always knew I was special, even before I became Setsuna’s boyfriend.” Takajou grinned.
“You would do well not to take that for granted.” Tenome concluded. “I don’t see the future, I can only see demons and humans for what they truly are, in their hearts.”
“Which is enough to make decent money off fortune telling. I get it.”
Takajou made an alternating finger guns gesture to articulate his understanding. A gesture that made a single eyeball within Tenome’s hair poke out in alarm.
“No, wait, I didn’t mean anything bad!” sputtered Takajou. “As a matter of course, I have never used a gun in any of my many lives.”
With his apology, the stray eye softly retreated to the liminal space in Tenome’s hair. Tenome herself let out an audible sigh and readjusted her hair.
The voice of Tenome rose back to normal. “I don’t believe you are a very serious person. However, your soul is pure enough that you would give anything to save your friends.”
Takajou nodded.
“Then, let me demand this much; atone for your sins by finding Xiaotu – alive, by any means you can – and I will be your lifelong ally.”
Takajou’s eyes grew wide, before settling down to his usual candour.
Tenome concluded. “We will need to excavate horrors from the past to do this. Given the uncertainty and the risk, are you certain you want to do this?”
Standing upright with a smile, Takajou gave Tenome a salute. “Maou’s honour!”