Summary: They say life flashes before you in that moment before death. I could see it all reflected in the blade. I was standing under the cherry blossoms at my school entrance ceremony, eating cake at my sister's wedding, standing outside praying the monster wouldn't come tonight. I might not be dead yet but I can see what's coming, this is the story of how I was murdered by a fox monster!
Chapter 13
Cling.
Cling.
Cling.
Cling.
Were the first sounds that reached my ears when I finally fazed back into consciousness. It sounded like someone was repetitively throwing coins at the ground. It reminded me of the time I dropped all my change as a child, and I could do nothing more but watch as my pocket money rolled into a drain.
Cling.
Cling.
Cling.
Cling.
It continued until the noise finally came to a halt.
I became aware that my head was throbbing, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't remember why.
Had I fallen? Had someone hit me?
I could remember staring anxiously at a large house amongst the trees, but after that everything became hazy.
I had a feeling I'd been talking to someone, but I couldn't remember who. A face didn't come to mind.
I moaned and cracked my eyes open, but everything was a blur.
The room was pitch black so a few hours must have passed since I remembered being conscious.
Indistinguishable shadows moved around the room before me.
One of the blurry shadows spoke.
"Have you found anything over there?" It asked.
"Sorry boss," replied another person.
"What are we dealing with? An orphan?" asked the first shadow. "This is why I told you not to target children!"
"Oi! He looks like he's coming to!" Yelled someone I couldn't see.
Slowly everything swirled and came into focus.
I was sitting in what appeared to be a living room. The only light was from a TV in the corner which cast a blue glow. It was playing some sort of game show, but no one was watching except for a large dog lying on the carpet before it.
There were loud noises from the corner, and I turned to see a short stocky guy (who I instantly recognized as the man I met outside) going through a duffel bag. He was throwing things all over the room. Books, pencils, and gym clothes all went flying. I was wondering who the poor sucker was who got his bag stolen until I realized it was my own.
I attempted to dash over and save my belongings, but it was only then that I realized my hands had been tightly bound behind my back. I tried my best to set them free, but they had been strapped together with tape.
"Hey you, human child," said another guy who I suddenly noticed was standing before me. It was hard to see his face in the darkness, but he was waving what looked like my wallet in my face. "What is this? No credit cards, nothing of value, only 700 yen? How poor are you?"
"I'm in high school, I don't have a credit card," I moaned.
"Students," he spat.
He dropped the wallet to the ground and kicked it.
"That last girl had a credit card. The one with the fancy socks," said the short stocky guy. "We partied for a week. Do you still remember that boss?"
"I wasn't talking to you," he hissed.
I was now conscious enough to get a good look at the guy before me. His hair was bleached blonde, and half his face was covered in a spider tattoo. I spent a good minute wondering what terrible deeds I'd ever done to deserve this sort of mugging, before I came to the terrible realization that I was standing face to face with Yuto Murakami's werewolf.
I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach and I had to try not to faint.
I hadn't been kidnapped by just anyone. I had been kidnapped by a gang of murderous wolf Obake!
"What about your parents brat?" The man with the tattoo continued. "Do they have money? Maybe we can hold you hostage."
"No," my voice began shaking. "They don't, sir."
He stared at me skeptically. "You don't look like you're lying. If your stupid parents had money, you'd be better dressed and wouldn't be carrying around this sad excuse for a phone," he picked my phone up off the ground and waved it in my face.
"I didn't think people still owned this hunk of crap, there's no touch screen or internet. What do you use this for? Self defense?"
For dramatic purposes he threw it at the dog who let out a scream of pain.
"Watch it," said the dog.
I stared in shock.
"That dog, it talked, it seriously talked," I said in awe before I could stop myself.
Tattoo man glared at the dog (who let out a small whimper), before he quickly glanced back at me and gritted his teeth.
"I don't know what you're talking about. You must be imagining things," he said in an attempt to cover up what happened. "After being knocked out your mind has begun to play funny tricks."
"Don't lie to me! Do you think I'm stupid?" I must have had the sense knocked out of me because what I said next was nothing short of suicide. "I know what I just saw. I know what you are. You're all wolf Obake!"
"What did you say little boy!" He roared.
"Nothing," I squeaked. "The dimness of the room." I decided to use the same lame excuse he did. "Is playing tricks on your mind?"
He looked so angry that a vein almost burst out of his forehead, but luckily for me, all his rage was directed at the dog.
"What have I told you about talking to the hostages in wolf form, Nao!"
"Sorry Boss," replied the dog as he attempted to bury his way into the carpet.
"Looks like we have ourselves a smart one," sighed the tattoo man as he ran his fingers roughly through his hair. "You know too much, so it's impossible to let you go now."
"I suppose we could always eat him," said the fat one going through my bag.
"Nice idea, but I just ate," said the tattoo man. "Are you hungry Bozu?"
"Maybe after we finish up here boss," said the fat man. "They usually keep for a few days. Maybe we can put him away and munch on him later."
"I could do with a snack," said the talking dog.
"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you Nao!" The tattoo man snapped before he looked me up and down like he was judging my edibility. "I think this will do nicely, you don't look like a bad breakfast."
He reached down to pick me up, but suddenly froze midway for a reason I couldn't understand. I looked up to see him staring at my face intensely.
"Your face looks familiar, " he muttered. "Have I tried to kill you before?"
"No, no, I don't believe so, it's hard to forget a pack of wolf Obake trying to extort you for money," I said.
He held my chin between his fingers and turned my face from side to side.
"You look a bit like that guy. Hmmm," he stopped and shrugged his shoulders. "Must be one of those strange coincidences. Now into the pantry you go!"
The pantry was the next room which may have once been a bedroom. The bed and couch had already been shredded to pieces, and the wallpaper was ripped like someone had attempted to scratch their way to safety. There were human bones lining the floor which must have been from the original occupants, or some poor soul they dragged in.
My only escape route looked to be the window which had been conveniently left open to crush my soul, because my arms and legs were too tightly bound to give me any chance of escape.
I was as manly as the next guy, but I seriously felt like crying. All I could think about was how I could do nothing if one of the wolves suddenly decided they were peckish? My life could be over within the next hour and no one would ever know what happened to me.
I imagined nothing but my bones being thrown hazardously amongst the pile in the room. No one would be able to tell which ones were mine. My sister would have to morn the death of a Daisuke yet again, and I would never see Hikaru grow up. She would probably never remember me either, except for a few small memories like the way I remembered my grandfather. I could never hang out with my friends (who would be heartbroken and miserable about my death) again, and my classmates would definitely break down into tears and leave hordes of flowers all over my desk.
My eyes began to burn. Tears welled up and flowed down my face. I was certain that I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it.
I was in the middle of contemplating my death (which seems ridiculous now that I know I was going to live) when a shadow slipped in through the window. I thought it was the wolves coming to devourer me whole, until I recognized the face in the moonlight.
"Itsuki!" I cried.
"Shhh, keep it down," he hushed. "You don't want them to hear you."
"Thank god it's you," I whispered. "Now you can go out there and kill them all."
"What are you? Insane? We can't take them alone, we have to wait for the others to arrive." He flipped out his phone and began quickly writing a message. "Now all we have to do is wait." He took a break from typing to glance at my face and the tears still running down it. "Have you been crying?"
"No," I protested.
I attempted to move my arm to wipe the tears away, but it was impossible with my hands tied. I was exposed in front of my nemesis and there was nothing I could do about it.
I thought Itsuki was going to use the opportunity to laugh and call me names, but instead he sighed and sat down against the wall.
"They looked like they already ate their fair share tonight so we should be safe for a while. We just need to keep our heads down and the others can deal with them when they get here," his voice was softer than normal. Like he was attempting to be nice.
I felt baffled by his lack of obnoxiousness, but the tape binding my wrists and ankles was a bigger concern. I shuffled to try and get into a more comfortable position, but it was impossible.
"Hey Itsuki," I whispered. "Do you think that maybe you could untie me?"
"Oh, sorry," he said like he hadn't noticed.
Itsuki magically pulled a knife out of nowhere and began cutting the bonds. Maybe sudden knife pulling was another exorcist skill that Akito passed on to his students.
Once I was cut free I sat down against the wall, but maintained my distance to prevent any awkwardness. I stared into the darkness and attempted to ease my anxiety which was making my chest relentlessly pound. I felt better with someone else there, even if that someone was Itsuki.
"It must have been scary right?" Itsuki said. "Being alone with the wolves. It's alright to cry."
"Shut up," I hissed.
"You don't have to be so angry. If it was me, I'd be scared too."
I tried to imagine how an exorcist genius like him could ever feel fear, when his phone began to vibrate. He took a look at the screen.
"OK, they should be here soon," he said.
"How did you find this place? Did you use the glowing paper?"
"It wasn't hard to find. There was a giant puddle of blood outside, and the neighbors were all complaining about it."
"Oh."
His reason seemed legitimate enough, but I couldn't help feeling that there was something odd about his tone of voice.
"Thanks," I muttered. I didn't know what else I was supposed to say to my nemesis after he saved my life.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you trying so hard to be an exorcist? You must have realized by now that it's not easy. If those wolves were hungry you'd already be dead."
"Why wouldn't you want to be an exorcist," I smiled. "It's awesome! You get to fight monsters every day and you don't have to go to school or do homework."
"What are you, five?" He scoffed. "That's so childish."
"Hey, maybe I am five, mentally."
"I suppose that explains everything," Itsuki sighed and began tapping his fingers against his knee. "I don't know if you've realized it, but unlike you, the rest of us don't have much of a choice. We're either forced into this by our parents or the exorcist organization. All because of the families we were born into."
"But that's not so bad, you're lucky. You can do something special that everyday people can't."
"Maybe so, but I despise it," he said bitterly.
"You despise it? But you're a great exorcist and everyone knows it."
"Really? You think I'm a great exorcist?" He laughed. "This life ...It's sickening. I never wanted this. I only wanted to keep my parents and the organization off my back. But I don't know if I can take it anymore. I can't choose where I live or where I go to school. It's like a giant trap that I can't escape. I'll probably spend the rest of my life fighting Obake until I eventually come up against one that I can't beat, and then it's the end," he paused as though looking for the right words. "It might sound like I'm being cruel, but I want to tell you this before you get way over your head. Like right now."
I sat there and tried to process his words. So Itsuki didn't want to be an exorcist after all. I always took him for an arse without realizing that he had issues too.
"Have you ever tried to quit?" I asked.
"A few times. I even ran away once but my parents found me. Our organization is so desperate for members to counter the growing unrest against the Obake, so they can't afford to let anyone go. That's probably another reason why they allowed you in. It would have been a different story twenty years ago. Back in the days of Daisuke Matsumoto it wasn't so hard to leave, but that would be impossible now."
"I see," I nodded.
It seemed like my adopted brother was becoming more awesome with each passing day. I wasn't sure how I was ever going to match up to his reputation. It made me feel resentful.
"What would you be if you weren't an exorcist?" I asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a doctor, or a lawyer, or just anything which doesn't involve killing Obake. I'm going to try and get into a good university and then I'll figure the rest out. Even if my family's against it I'm just going to go."
"I'm sorry, things must be tough."
"Don't be. What about you Daisuke? Do you have any dreams for the future? If you do, you better quit trying to be an exorcist while you can."
"I haven't really thought about it," I scratched my head. "To be honest, I think being an exorcist is pretty cool."
"I thought you might say that. You sound just like Taisei."
"Yeah, if only I'd been born into an exorcist family and trained from an early age, I could have been awesome by now!"
"Perhaps, but I'm not sure if you'd be passable even if you began training in kindergarten. You shouldn't lament over stuff like that."
"Hey! I'd be awesome!" I protested. "At least I think I would be," I added as an afterthought.
Maybe it was impossible to change how we were born and raised, but there was still something that I could do about the future.
"OK, I've decided," I said while punching my fist into the air. "I'm going to train really hard from now on. I'm going to become a super awesome exorcist and get rid of tones of Obake. That way they won't need you anymore and you can go to whatever university you like."
"I don't know," said Itsuki skeptically. "A guy like you? You don't really seem like the serious type. You'd probably slack off."
"Shut up. I'm going to become serious from now on, unbelievably serious. I don't care what anyone else thinks, and that includes you."
"I'll believe it, when I see it," he sighed.
"Just you watch. I'm a guy who sticks to his word."
I stared off into the darkness and tried to imagine what it would be like to be a great exorcist. Hopefully I could be just like my step brother and travel the country exorcising dangerous high level Obake. I'd become really fit and buff, and tones of chicks would follow me like magnets. Even if I didn't become super popular, it wouldn't be so bad if I married someone like Mana when I became old enough.
I was busy daydreaming about how Mana and I would make an amazing exorcist couple, when I remembered something I'd been meaning to ask Itsuki.
"Wait," I said. "You never told me what's really going on between you and Mana?"
"I can't believe that you're still hung up on Mana. All because she was the first girl to talk to you at school."
"Shut up! Mana and I have a deeper spiritual connection than you can ever realize! So do you like her?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't, but I'm not handing her over to someone like you soon. You'll probably just play around and crush her self-confidence."
"So you do like her! If you didn't, you wouldn't say such possessive shit."
"Maybe I do, but that's my secret," he winked.
"Liar!" I gave him a shove and Itsuki almost toppled over. "OK, I'll cut a deal with you. If one of us doesn't survive this, the other guy can have Mana."
"Are you sure you want to do that? What's going to stop me from killing you now and taking Mana for myself?"
"But I know you won't do that. You're the type of guy who has morals and stuff."
"But maybe I'm just an Obake in disguise," he dropped his voice and began to make scary ghost noises, which looked pretty lame on a serious guy like him.
I punched him in the arm. "Don't be stupid! As if an Obake would want to go to high school."
Itsuki laughed "No, I don't think they could-"
He was cut off by a sudden crash outside our room. It sounded like something large breaking, and I assumed the wolf Obake had heard us fooling around and were coming to devourer us both.
I grabbed onto Itsuki's arm for dear life and pressed my back against the wall in an attempt to appear as small as possible. I must have gripped on pretty desperately because he hissed in pain.
I prayed that it wasn't the end. I was only fifteen. I was too young to be consumed as food!
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