Gates of Gehenna Ch.02 p4

*BLAM!*

The maintenance door slammed open, and from inside two silhouettes came rushing out to the mall's interior.

*sniff-sniff*

"Eww, what a foul smell! That demon really should consider taking a bath once in a while. This way Homu-nyan!"

Koneko fixes her glasses and literally flew forward in an inhuman speed. Her feet never touched the ground, it's like she was hitching a ride on the wind.

Behind her was Nakayama, who easily matched Koneko's unbelievable speed by running.

"Don't worry, once we're done, that demon will be bathed in blood. How far is it?"

"Uuu, Homu-nyan's so scary… We’re close, I can smell Shizu's gunpowder too. Oho! She’s using her special mix!"

"Magic bullets?"

"Yep! This time it's a combination of fire and earth magic, it smelled like charcoal though."

"I don't care how it smells, as long as it's effective."

"Yare-yare, Homu-nyan's way too serious on everything… Oh! There she is!!"

A girl with silver hair jumped backwards to their direction as she shot a few bullets to an unknown creature in front of her.

*don don don!* three small explosions erupt at the creature's body, effectively knocking it back by a few feets.

"Whoa!? A lion??"

Koneko shouted as she took a clear look on the large beast.

"It appears so. Shizuko, what's the status of the civilians?"

The silver haired girl, Hamada Shizuko landed near where Nakayama and Koneko were standing. She pulled a red colored speed loader[6] from the small bag on her hips.

"They've successfully escaped. Nana, do you recognize this lion demon?"

Hamada still focusing her attention to the black lion that's growling at them, while her hand swiftly pulled the revolver's bullet chamber, emptied it and used the speed loader to quickly reload her revolver with fresh bullets. The empty shells that fell had somehow vaporized mid air.

"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. A lion-shaped demon were quite rare, could it be a high ranked demon?"

GRAAAAA!!!

"We can talk later, first, we need to take care of this thing."

Nakayama pulled her wooden bokken with a motion of pulling a katana off its sheath.

She kicked the floor and launched herself toward the black lion's direction, cutting the distance between them in a flash.

She swings her bokken diagonally upward, slashing the lion square on the chest. Her attack was quickly followed by a torrent of gunshots, coming from Hamada’s revolver. It seems that she had tweaked the revolver to be able to shoot consecutively and somehow reduced its massive recoil.

Six explosions blast the black lion’s head, but they’re not done just yet. Koneko who had been chanting from the moment Nakayama attacked, points her left index finger to the lion and said,

"Pierce through my enemy..."

A cold shill swirled in front of her finger, creating a somewhat icicle construct.

At first it was as big of a pen, and then it quickly grew larger to the size of a baseball bat. It kept on growing until it created a spear of ice.

"Shimo Yajirushi!![7]"

As the ice spear finished materializing, it immediately flew forward, piercing through the battlefield.

True to its name, the Frost Arrow travels in such speed like it was shot by an invisible bow. Leaving a slight trail of ice on the floor it passed.

With a loud crash, the Frost Arrow smashed into the black lion's chest.

The black lion staggered backwards, roaring in pain.

"Ice?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's elementary my dear Shizu-tan. A lion is the embodiment of a flame spirit, as demonic as this one is, I don't think there would be any difference on its element."

"I see, so that's why my bullets didn't do much on it."

Her magic bullets [Red Baron] was a combination of condensed fire and earth magic in a single bullet, when the bullet exits the gun, the magic inside the bullet started to react and creating something like a chemical reaction. When the bullet hits the enemy, the container would break and all the energy that was held inside will burst, causing a large explosion.

But since it concentrated heavily on fire element for its destructive power, it couldn't do much to the black lion in front of her.

Hamada picked up another speed loader from her waist bag, but this one had a tinge of blue on the bullets. She reloads her revolver as fast as she could and aimed for the lion's head.

Meanwhile, Nakayama who was right between them hold her grounds, not letting the lion move another step forward. She skillfully deflects the scythe-like claws and avoided the snapping jaws of the black lion with graceful moves. It's as if she was performing a Kagura dance[8] instead of fighting with a demonic lion.

"Chief!"

"…"

Nakayama, as if she could see what's happening behind her, deflects another claw attack and then leaped to her left.

Right at that precise moment, Hamada squeezed the trigger of her revolver.

*Bang!*

A small bluish green colored bullet exits the barrel. After a few meter distance from the barrel, the bullet shattered. Unleashing a flurry of small ice blades that flew towards the black lion.

Combining the speed of wind magic with the flexibility of water magic, such is the power of the magic bullet [Northern Wind].

But, choosing quantity over quality do have its own cost. The black lion who was hit by the initial wave of the ice hail immediately leaped backwards and lets out an ear-splitting roar. Destroying most of the icicle blades flying at it. Only some gets through and scratches the thick skin of the black lion, creating small minor wounds all over its body.

"Che! What a troublesome demon!"

"TORYAAAAA!!!"

Nakayama didn't give the lion any time to recover after the roar. She leaped into the air, lifting her bokken high above her head. And by using the power of gravity, she unleashed a powerful downward slash at the lion's head.

The lion growled in pain as it leaped backwards, keeping its distance from its three attackers.

After a few moments of silence, the unthinkable happened.

"Guhahahaha!! And they told me that the slayers in this city were just a bunch of ragtags! What a farce!"

The lion had somehow spoken with perfect english, surprising Nakayama and the others.

"To injure me this much in my current state... you three are truly worthy of praise."

"Who the hell are you? And what do you want?"

"In your human tounge, I would be called Arioch. As for the second question, it's been more than five moons since I ate, I'm quite hungry you see?"

"Sorry, but the buffet is closed, permanently!"

"So it seems, I'll just have to find someplace else to eat."

The lion nodded as if it understood the situation clearly. He would find another place filled with human beings. After all, all demons have a certain taste for human flesh. If we had the saying 'tastes like chicken', the same goes for the demons: 'tastes like human.'

"Sorry. but you're not going anywhere."

Nakayama pointed her bokken to the black lion with a challengging manner.

"Oh? Interesting... I don't have time to play, but..."

GROAAARR!!!

A pillar of flame suddenly burst from where the lion stands. enveloping its whole body. But instead of harming the lion, the flame pillar did the opposite. The small cuts all around the lion's body shrunk in size before it disappeared completely. The large wound on its chest had also disappeared, the black lion now stands at its full glory.

Regeneration!?? Damn... Of all the annoying abilities it could have.

"Nana, I want you to restict its movement. Shizu, cover me."

"Right-o!"

"Roger."

Nakayama kicked the floor and leaped forward, brandishing her bokken. Behind her, Hamada knelt down and aimed her magnum revolver carefully to her back in a slightly upward angle.

*BANG*

The [Northern Wind] explodes in mid-air right above Nakayama's head, raining down at the lion like a hailstorm.

Most of the icicle blades melted because of the flame pillar's heat before it could reach the lion. Yet, a few did manage to get through and disrupts the lion's incantations. And if that's not enough...

"...succumb to the clutches of darkness, Kuroi no Kiba!![9]"

Seven oddly shaped black shadows manifests itself around Arioch. And in a flash, thick black spikes as dark as the night thrusts from within the shadows, trapping the lion on its position. It also broke the flame pillar's incantation completely.

"Homu-nyan!"

"Nakayama-ryuu, Tatsumaki Kougeki!![10]"

Nakayama swung her bokken right at the lion's chest, hitting it with a few continuous horizontal slashes. She was so fast that no normal man could even see the movement of her arm as she slashed six times at the lion.

Knocked back by the sudden combination attack, Arioch growled in anger.

"You have no idea who you are challenging..."

With a loud roar, a large explosion erupts with the lion at its center. The explosion sends countless waves of flames in the shape of scythes to every direction.

"Che!"

Nakayama who bolted toward Arioch was forced to retreat while dodging several flame scythes that flew at her.

The same goes with Hamada and Koneko, though because of their faraway position, they could easily dodge the flame scythes. The rest of the flame scythe destroyed most of the second floor's interior, including the shops. A few of them had already catching fire, creating a truly hellish view.

"Let's end this."

Arioch raised its head, in a motion like he was inhaling as much air as he can.

"!!?? No way!?"

Koneko who was a magic user, was the first to realize what Arioch is doing. He was absorbing mana from everything around him, and in an enormous amount too.

With the amount of mana Arioch had amassed, even a newbie mage would know that this won't be just a regular fireball spell.

"Homura! Get behind me, NOW!! Shizuko, no matter what, don't move from my back."

Koneko shouts to Nakayama and immediately chant a spell.

"Inari no Okami, grant us your protection,"

Koneko pulled a small white cloth from her pocket and quickly unwrap it. Revealing the white rice she had used to track Arioch earlier. Nakayama joined the two as she leaped back from the frontlines. She glanced at Koneko's face for a second, and then stood behind her without any questions.

"Please accept my offering and protect us from the wrath of the elements,"

She spreads the white rice to the floor in front of her.

"For I am the descendant of the wise white fox!"

The white rice that's scattered on the floor rose up to the air and gathered around in front of Koneko, creating something that resembles a large white curtain.

Just as she finished her chanting, Arioch the black lion turned its head to them. A large hexagram appeared right under its paws, like it was drawn by an invisible hand.

"Now DIE!!!"

The hexagram underneath Arioch glowed bright red, and...

BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!





[6] Speed loader : a small metal bullet holder with six bullets locked in place, all the user need to do was push the button at the center to release the bullets.

[7] Shimo Yajirushi : literally Frost Arrow.

[8] Kagura dance : a Japanese ceremonial dance, usually performed by miko at a shrine. The kagura dance differs depending on the shrine, at one shrine the miko would perform with a fan, at another shrine the miko would perform using an ornamental sword, and at some other shrine the miko will use both items.

[9] Kuroi Kiba : Black Fang

[10]Nakayama-ryuu, Tatsumaki Kougeki : lit. Nakayama style, Hurricane Strike. A sword style unique to the Nakayama Family, it was modified by Homura to suit her fighting style with a bokken. The original move was named Tatsumaki Ryuzan, consisting of six consecutive horizontal slashes with incredible speed.

Gates of Gehenna Ch.02 p3

part 3 :



"Seiji, are you sure this is the right way?"

Yukino asked me with a worried tone. Why shouldn’t she be? Instead of running out, we were racing back into the third floor’s mall interior, and went to the line of shops on the eastern side of the mall.

"Yeah, the place where I want to show you is just over this shop."

I directed my phone's light to a book shop that's right in front of us. The book shop was deserted and in shambles. Magazines and newspapers were scattered around the floor and some of the hard covered books that's on sale had also toppled from its display area.

After passing the shop, we arrived at an empty coffee shop. Needless to say that it were also in shambles. Broken cups and plates with half eaten desserts were scattered around the small round tables. Looks like they were in a big hurry. Can't blame them though, with the black out and all.

A large logo of the coffee shop was attached to the entrance door, a crescent moon with a pack of deer running under it. Hence the name Moon - Bucks, it’s an odd way of naming, don’t you think?

"Is this... the Moon Bucks?"

"Yep, Moon Bucks."

"And what do we need from this coffee shop?"

"Hmm? Yuki, you never been inside the shop?"

"Uh, no, I just heard it from my friends from class. They said that this shop was special or something."

"Oh, I see... Then let me show you what makes this coffee shop so special and how it would help us in this situation."

I let her hand go and reached for the thick glass door decorated with the Moon Bucks logo,

"Ah! Your hand..."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Uh, n-no, I didn't say anything..."

Odd, I could've sworn she said something... Oh well.

"Follow me."

I navigated through the dark coffee shop interior and quickly reached a small opening on the corner of the shop. Right in front of me was a red door, decorated with golden stripes on the sides. I open the door, revealing a set of stairs leading down.

"Eh? Stairs?"

"Yep, if you were on the second floor, you would find a small area where this stairs would end. It would also be covered in red carpets and a logo of Moon Bucks on top of it."

"I see. Two entrances, one at the second and one at the third floor... and we could use it to go to the second floor!"

"Exactly."

"But Seiji, how do you know all this?"

"Oh, I worked part-time here before, so I practically knew about the dual entrance."

"..."

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing... I just thought that you're starting to look like a certain butler that I read in a manga... in terms of working part-time almost everywhere..." [5]

A butler? Ah, that reminds me when I had that part-time job on a certain mansion at summer. But enough about that, we need to escape!

“Come on Yuki, and watch your steps.”

I lead the way into the dark stairs, brandishing my flashlight (/phone) to light the way. Yukino grabbed on my hooded jacket and followed behind me.

As we worked our way down, the gears inside my head starts to spin again.

There's something bugging me from the start of that fire alarm.

Judging from the fact that all the sprinklers had been activated at the same time, it should have been a really big fire. But oddly enough, I don't see any smoke coming from the upper floor or the lower floor. I can't even feel any extreme temperature changes to the mall interiors.

Is this some kind of sick joke? If so, this is definitely not funny...

Tch! At any rate, I must get Yukino out of here first.

As we reached the second floor, I quickly took her hand and guided her to exit the room. And right at that moment...

*pan!* a sharp breaking sound echoed through the mall. An eerie blue light suddenly envelops the mall's interior, the fire alarm went silent and the sprinklers stopped dousing the mall's interior.

"What is that sound?"

"I don't know, maybe one of the glass pane got broken? Anyway, looks like the backup generator had finally kicked in."

Though I doubted that fact myself, I need to calm her down a bit. She was on the verge of freaking out, squeezing my hand like she wants to crush it.

Thankfully, the blue light had returned some visibility to my eyes, but it's still a little too dim to see anything clearly.

"Seiji? Where is everybody?"

There's a complete and utter silence in the air, it's as if someone had pushed the giant mute button.

I narrowed my eyes and looked toward the huge stairs to the third floor that was supposed to be packed with panicked people trying to escape.

But, no matter how hard I look, there's not a single soul there.

"What the heck??"

Yukino suddenly pulled my left arm, hugged it tightly and let out a shriveled voice,

"Yuki?"

"S-Se-Seiji, w-wh-what is that!??"

She points to certain area of the hall that's usually used to set a stage. A large shadow slowly moved from behind a pillar and out toward the wide hall area.

I reflexively raised my phone, trying to see the owner of that mysterious shadow better.

"Geh!!??"

An enormous beast came into my sight, with black skin and mane as dark as the night. The sheer body size of that thing was as big as a dump truck, maybe even bigger.

Huge teeth roughly as big as my arm lined perfectly on its huge jaws. Three large scythe-like claws jutted from each of its huge paws. Its body was standing on all fours, giving a monstrous yet majestic look.

I was speechless, that thing is definitely a monster. There no other words to describe it but that.

Two gleaming yellow eyes that's attached to its head stared back at me. Then the lion-like beast lets out an intensely loud roar.

It suddenly stomped on the ceramic floor and moved in an unbelievable speed towards us.

"Dammit!!

I quickly grabbed Yukino's hand and quickly dragged her out of the way.

"Uwah!!??"

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the left side of the collision course. And as I gain a slight momentum, I hugged Yukino’s hip and quickly launched my body to the air, in hoping that we managed to dodge the incoming beast completely.

"Uooo!!!"

And right at that moment...

*Crunch!!*

The huge beast's gnashed its teeth about an inch behind me. If I'm late just by a second, we'd be caught between those razor sharp fangs. As the beast flew past us, the extremely huge body had created a gust of wind. Powerful enough that it to knocks both me and Yukino away.

"Gah!!"

"Kyaaahh!??"

Being thrown off track like a paper plane that's suddenly blown to another direction, the only thing I could see was a wall of ceramic tiles around a meter distance in front of me, and the fluttering hair of the Hoshiyume shrine miko.

That's because I was flying in mid air, facing down, and holding Yukino on my arm.
And to avoid Yukino being squashed under me, I used everything I had to spin my body facing up. With this speed, I might just break my back on the landing, but it would be better than the other option.

"Hiiiii~!!"

Yukino curled her body in fright and with strength that I couldn't believe her slender body could have mustered, she tightened her grip to my ribs to the point I started to think that she would break every single bone on my ribcage.

*WHAM!!*

To add to my agony, my body slammed to the cold hard ceramic floor. As the sharp pain shot through my whole body, my consciousness drifted from being awake and passing out for a brief moment.

"Kuh…"

And as I regained my consciousness, the beast lets out another ear piercing roar, probably signaling another charge like earlier.

Dammit!! This is bad!!

I picked up my aching body and pulled every ounce of strength left on my body to move toward Yukino who was lying on the floor not far from me.

"Yuki!! Oi, YUKI!!!"

I shook her body to wake her up. But it's no use, she's out cold.

So I tried to lift her to my arms with a cradling position. But, as I managed to hold her on my arms, I saw the beast's jaws gnawing at me. The monster was within three feet distance from me and Yukino. there is no way I can dodge it this time...

Dammit!! Is this it?

Is this how the life of an ordinary guy, Akuno Seiji, will end? Getting eaten by a giant hulking monster while trying to save a girl?

Heh, so much for being lucky…

*BANG!* a dry gunshot reverberated the hall, followed by an explosion to the beast's right side, veering it off its inteded course and slammed itself to the large pillar on the side.

The floor shook like the mall had just caught in an earthquake.

"Take her and run! The demon won't be lying there for long!"

A voice of a girl echoed at the empty hall, followed by a torrent of footsteps coming towards me.

Her stature was quite small, maybe a little bit shorter than Yukino who was one head short from me.

"Demon?"

Did I heard her wrong? Or did she really said demon? That monstrous thing is a demon??

She stopped right beside me. Her silvery white hair had covered most of her face, so I couldn’t see her face clearly.

She points a silver object on her right hand to the beast.

That long barrel, revolving bullet chamber, and that stainless steel frame... It was a gun, a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum Revolver, with a laser targeting system attached on its barrel.

I know that gun because I have that exact same gun replica in my room.

"Oi! Are you deaf!? I said take her and run!"

Her voice snapped me out of my dazed state.

"Wha-? Oh! R-right! What about you?"

"I’ll be fine,"

The girl twirled her Magnum Revolver like she was a cowgirl marksman on a western movie.

"You should be more worried about the girl on your arms than me."

Yukino was breathing silently like she was just taking a nap, but I could see a small cut on her forehead, dripping with fresh blood.

"Damn…"

"Go, I’ll cover you."

She said again, this time with a cold tone. Her eyes did not leave the big mass of muscles, claws and fangs that were recovering from her surprise attack earlier. The monstrous beast was growling with anger as it regains its grand posture.

"Khh… Please be safe!"

I urged each and every muscle on my body to move, and I ran as fast as I could towards the large stairs to the first floor. I know it’s a cowardly thing to do, leaving a girl fending herself in this situation, but what other options do I have?

At that moment I could hear the silver haired girl said,

"Now then, how would you like another serving of my magic bullets?"





[5] Here she implies a certain butler from a manga series, codename: Combat Butler  :P

Gates of Gehenna Ch.02 p2

part 2:



"Wait! Wait!! I… I could explain, please don't hit me- GYAAAA!!!"

Koneko Nanase screamed as she got hit by a wooden bokken[4]. The executioner was none other than Nakayama Homura.

"I thought I told you to use void spell… why did you cut the power and then threw a fireball at the fire alarm!?"

"Uuu, about that… it looked like it was a good idea back then, I mean everyone had escaped from the mall and…"

"Idiot!"

*BONK!*

"UGYAAAA!!"

"All you did was creating a huge panic!"

"Uuu..."

"Set up the void spell now, I won't repeat it again."

"O-okay…"

Koneko quickly took out five rectangular papers from her pocket and set it on the floor in the shape of a star.

"[Seal of Void]!! Confine this space in the emptiness of the eternal void!"

The rectangular papers shined, making a line of light to each other, ultimately creating a circle with a pentagram inside. And in a flash, all five papers burned, leaving only a small patch of ash on the floor.
The whole building interior that was drowned in darkness suddenly lit in a blue light, returning visibility to a certain degree.

Ignoring Koneko who just finished casting a spell, Nakayama contacted another person with her wireless radio.

"Shizuko, report!"

"I'm currently at the mall's second floor's hall," a clear voice answered her from the other end of the wireless radio.

"And I have a visual of the creature. It's quite large, it must've entered through the parking lot and worked its way in..."

"..."

Large beast... Should we just surround it and strike with all we had? Or should we use hit and run tactics to whittle down its strength?

As Nakayama thinks for the best solution, another report came from the wireless radio,

"Chief, there seems to be a couple of stray civilians at the area."

"What? But, Nanase already used her void spell!"

The Void spell, a high level barrier spell that's modified to 'persuade' other people than the caster (and a selected few) to immediately leave the area enclosed with it. Once they get out, they would be unable to enter the area again as long as the spell was active. Any outside interference will also be negated and directed to somewhere else

In Koneko's case, she was one of the few magic casters that could modify the void spell to the point that it would force teleport everyone except her and her companions. And ofcourse, the demon weren't affected by the spell.

"I don't know about that chief, but if this continues they're going to be killed."

A sudden loud howl came from the background of the report.

"Permission to engage?"

"... fine, saving the civilians is your top priority, make sure that they escaped and try to hold off the creature until we get there."

"Do I need to use the [Eraser] on them?"

"No, thanks to Nanase's earlier 'diversion'..."

Nakayama glanced to Koneko and... *THWACK!*

"UGEEEEE!!!? Whyyyy!!!???"

"...people would think that they're hallucinating because of inhaling too much smoke."

"Understood, I will engage now."

*BANG!!* a loud bang went through the wireless radio before the connection was lost. Nakayama lifted the bokken to her shoulder and turned to the tearful Koneko.

"Come, we have a demon to slay."





[4] A bokken (木剣, bok(u), "wood", and ken, "sword") (or commonly as bokutō 木刀 in Japan), is a Japanese wooden sword used for training. It is usually the size and shape of a katana, but is sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the wakizashi and tantō. Some ornamental bokken are decorated with mother-of-pearl work and elaborate carvings.

Sorry...

With all this mess around me, I have been strucked  by the dreaded writing block, so I can't update the blog for a while. But, maybe I'll post a little bit update for tommorrow.

I'm not that experienced in blog making, so please give me some feedbacks to improve myself ^_^

Gates of Gehenna Ch.02 p1

CHAPTER 2: THE BLACK BEAST





Part 1

There’s a large cube shaped mechanical structure that stood almost at the same height as myself right in front of me. The mechanical arm inside the machine gleams as it reflects the lighting on the place, a lever on the machine's side awaits its next victim to try their luck. It is the very machine that had stolen so much from society, and laughed at them with a ridiculous "too bad, so sad" jingle every time they failed at the challenge.

"You’re sure about this?"

"Yup, I'm positive that's the one I'm looking for."

Yukino points at a certain area inside the machine's that was piled with plush toys of various shape and sizes.

Yeah, this is a crane game machine with plush dolls as prize.

"Well, there's only one way to find out..."

I reached for my pocket, took a game coin that's recently bought by Yukino here and inserted it into the coin slot.

*ring ding ding* Detecting the game coin inside its mechanism, the machine started to play a 8-Bit song. For a 21st century machine, this thing was quite odd. I mean 8-bit music? Please... does the developer doesn't have some extra money to spend on the music department?

Tossing that aside, I reached the lever that looked like an oversized joystick and pushed it to the left, prompting the mechanical arm inside the machine to move accordingly.

"Right over there Seiji! On that straw hat bear’s left!"

Yukino pointed the same mound of plush dolls again, but this time I saw the bear wearing a small straw hat that she mentioned.

"Don't blame me if I picked the wrong one though..."

“I trust you~!”

Ugh, please stop putting too much hope to me. It was just a lucky shot that I got the so called rare “Rider Bear” from this machine a week ago.

The three fingered mechanical arm moved slowly in accordance with my control manipulation. It kept on moving across the machine's inside until it reached a certain spot. Right above the mound Yukino had pointed earlier. I nudged the lever bit by bit until I was confident with the position, and then pressed the red button beside the lever.

*Ziiiii~* Yukino held her breath and crossed her fingers watching the mechanical arm descending down.

*Kacha!* Ooh! It caught the doll right at the body.

*Ziiiiiii~* the mechanical arm pulled out an orange bear plushy wearing a scarf and... an eye patch? What the heck? I turned to see Yukino’s expression, but her face went blue because she held her breath for too long. I had to shake her body to remind her to breath again.

Then *Clack!*, the mechanical arm drops the plushy to the drop area, and the machine played the rarely heard victory fanfare.

Wow, I’m honestly impressed... to think my luck could do this kind of thing two times in a row, and in the same week to add. Should I try my luck on a lottery? I might just get myself a bag of cash... hmm...

“Seiji...”

Yukino, squatted down to the prize claiming box under the machine, took the eye patch bear and showed it to me.

"This... is Kaizoku-kuma[1]!! Yay!!”

She jumped around like a little kid getting a new toy. Well, the part of 'getting a new toy' is true though.

"Pirate? Ah, that explains the eye patch."

"Uh-uh, with this my bear collection is finally complete!!"

Apparently the company who made the crane game here had established a collectible series in order to attract more customers. Yukino were collecting the bear series, where there's a variety of bears like Straw Hat Bear, Rider Bear, Pilot Bear, Navy Bear and so on. The other popular series was the cat series which were based on their fur color. By the way, two of the largest plushies in the machine was Kero-pan[2] and Ao-tama[3].

"Well, want go home?"

"Uhn, thanks for the plushy."

"No problem, consider it as payment for the lunch earlier."

“Huh? I say, Seiji, do you really have to apply your philosophy of not owing anyone to me?”

“Eh? Aaa, sorry, it’s becoming quite a habit now.”

My motto was “If you owe someone something, repay it the same day when you owe it”. It was born because my own life was pretty hard, I had to work part time to pay my tuition money, electricity and water bills, not to mention my daily expenses (food and such) and unexpected emergencies. So, adding some debt into the fray was out of the question. And it wasn’t just limited to money. I also returning other people’s favors too, in a way that I deem it was equal or more than what I get in return. If I can’t do it the same day then I’ll do it tomorrow, if I still can’t, then I’ll just do it the day after tomorrow, and so on until it’s settled.

Some of my friends called it a twisted philosophy though. I really don’t understand why. Was it that odd to return something equal to what you get to the person who gave it?

“That’s a really bad habit you know? Not everyone wanted something in return when they do something for you, it’s like you’re denying their good will or something.”

“Uhh... you do have a point there... ”

I scratched my head in reflex, she really didn’t hold back on her words. That’s one of her good traits that I liked, not afraid of telling the truth. Though I couldn’t just change my life’s motto like that.

“Next time you do this to me I’ll definitely kick your butt.”

“Oi oi oi, that’s not what a shrine miko should say in a public place like this isn’t it?”

The two of us were currently in the Taiga Mall’s third floor, along the electronics section of the mall. And the crane game I just played was sitting in front of the game center that I frequently visited when I was still in high school. Needless to say that there’s a bunch of kids and some high school students skipping school in the area right now.

“...”

Realizing what she just said to me, Yukino’s face turned pale instantly and she hugged her shoulders.

“...Mom’s going to kill me if she heard that...”

“Let’s just go and hope that no one who knows you and your family had actually heard you say that.”

“Uhn, you should go to work too.”

“Yeah, yeah... Come on, I’ll walk you to the station.”

She nodded in agreement and started to pace herself beside me.


***


If someone saw the two walking side by side like this, they would probably think the two of them were a couple. Akuno with his all black hoodie, jeans and shirt, coupled with Oimikado who wore a white dress and a cream colored cardigan (oh, don't forget, she’s holding a mean looking bear with an eye patch too).

Hehe, to be walking together with Seiji like this, it almost felt like a date... Oimikado’s cheeks flushed red because of the excitement.

"Yuki? You okay?"

"Fuey? Ah, I-I'm okay! Yes, definitely okay!! Absolutely!!"

"... uh, right,” he stared at her with a worried look, “are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor? We could go now if you want to?"

"N-no, I'm fine really!"

"Hmm, well, but if you feeling sick or anything just let me know, okay?"

She only nodded to answer his question.

It’s quite rare for her to have this opportunity to be together with Akuno like this. He always went to work after he’s done with his campus studies, so she had to use the chance to its maximum potential. Even if that only means having a walk together with him to the bus station.

*snap!* suddenly everything went dark.

“Ehh???”

“Yuki, are you okay?”

A hand reached to her shoulder, judging from the direction where it came, it was Akuno’s. She reflexively clung to that hand while still trying to figure out her bearings in the dark. Her eyes were still adapting to the sudden change of brightness.

“W-what happened?”

As opposed to Oimikado's bewildered tone, Akuno answered her in his usual tone,

“It must’ve been a power failure. Let’s just wait until-”

BRIIIIIINNGGGG!!!! A sharp and loud alarm echoed at the mall’s interior. The sprinkler attached to the ceiling started to spray vast amount of water. The visitors began to panic as they scream across the dark mall. Shuffling footsteps and sounds of falling shelves could be heard in the dark.

A black out AND fire? Are you kidding me? Akuno held his breath at this sudden revelation.

He pulled Oimikado to the side and stick to the wall, if they keep on standing where they were, they’re bound to be hit or worse, stampeded by the panic mob.

"Be careful, and don't let go of my hand."

"O-okay."

She tightens her grip on Akuno’s hand, and urged him to move. They treaded the dark hall by moving along the wall. If they followed the wall from the game arcade, they would end up at an open area near the stairs to the second floor.

Akuno flipped his phone open and activate its flash light feature. It’s not that bright, but still, it’s better than nothing. He tucked the phone under his jacket to prevent it from getting wet from the sprinklers.

Okay, let’s just hope the stairs weren’t full of people who wanted to go down.

With his makeshift flash light in his hand, Akuno guided Oimikado through the darkness. Several people ran past him while shouting and some of them even cried. But the two kept their slow pace.

Panicking is not a good idea. It would only cloud your better judgement and rational thinking.

Akuno grumbles as he kept on walking toward the stairs to the second floor.

As the two finally reached the area with the stairs, they saw a commotion with people shouting and shoving each other. One of them actually fell down from the stairs to the second floor, breaking his arms as he tried to break his fall with arms stretched.

Damn! This is going nowhere… No one can tell what would happen if we join in there.

Akuno frowns at the scene, and started to rack his brain for another alternative.

“Seiji? Is there another way around?”

Oimikado probably thinks the same thing as he is, plunging into that chaos would prove to be a stupid thing to do.

Go to the north fire exit? No, it would probably be full of people from the fourth and fifth floor trying to escape.

Akuno bit his lip as he crossed out most of the possible alternative escape routes from the third floor.

Maybe… maybe I could use that place...

“Yuki, follow me!”

“Eh? Where to?”

“I might just found a way out of here safely.”





[1] Kaizoku-Kuma: literally means Pirate bear.



[2] Kero-pan: A frog plush doll that's holding a large bread, with its mouth open, ready to eat.


[3] Ao-tama: A large blue colored ball-shaped cat that's the size of a volleyball, it became one of the most difficult to obtain because of its size and shape.

Gates of Gehenna Ch.01 p3

Chapter 1




part 3


Uwaaahhh! I have to hurry or she'll hit me again! It really hurts!

Koneko Nanase hugged her head as she ran through the path at park's exterior, heading towards building D. It was the path she always took every day since she became the Student Council's secretary.

Thinking back, it was a totally random incident. One day, the student council president herself appeared before her and asked her to take the secretary position. At first she refused, but the student council president simply gave Koneko an offer she couldn't refuse.

But, that guy... Sei-yan... fu fu fu, interesting... Koneko grins as she remembered about the guy she had just met earlier.

She slows down her footsteps as she went near the faculty office. She was in a hurry, but if she's running in front of the faculty office now, it would be like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. And since she's a member of the student council, she won't get away just by saying a simple 'I'm sorry'.

Cutting down her speed to half, she fast walked through the faculty office doors. And on the other end of the hall stood a crimson haired girl, waiting right in front of a door with a plate that reads 'student council's office'.

"Yo, Homu-nyan!"

Koneko greeted her, though she used an impolite tone toward her superior.

Yes, this crimson haired girl in front of her is the current 34th Seihokami University's Student Council President, Nakayama Homura.

Nakayama glanced at Koneko, turned her body and enters the office.

"Get in," she said

Koneko silently followed her into the office.

The office was the size of a normal classroom, complete with the whiteboard and a notice board near the entrance. The chairs and desks was lined in the shape of a large U, mainly used as a mean to have a conference. Student council related papers were scattered at the desks, the table who had the most paper was... Koneko Nanase's desk.

Ugh... so much work to do… she frowns as she saw the hill of papers at her desk.

"Nana, you remember when you told me that there's something odd around the steel factory at the mountain this morning? Like a distortion or some sort?"

"Ah? Yes, well, I was on my way there to investigate it just before I got your phone call."

"There is no more need to do that, I already went there earlier."

"Eh?? I thought you said that I should look into it myself?"

"I have no morning classes today, so I took the liberty to check the place myself."

"So, did you find anything?"

"Other than the freshly wrecked remains of what's supposed to be an abandoned steel factory? Just this,"

Nakayama produces a small sealed plastic bag and threw it towards Koneko, inside it was a few gray colored fur crumpled together.

"Homu-nyan, this is?"

"I'm not well versed in the arts, so I can't chase the owner of that fur."

"And that's where I come in, right?"

"Yes, can you do it?"

Koneko stared at the small sealed bag on her palm.

"Hmm... it's not much, but I guess it'll just do the trick."

Koneko looked around and found herself an empty table at the office's corner. She pulled the wooden table to the center of the room. Then she pulled a black magic marker from her pockets.

She uncapped it and hummed a song from a commercial as she wrote some unknown words into the table’s surface. It wasn’t Japanese, or English, or maybe it’s not even words at all. She wrote it in a circular pattern, creating a circle that’s 15 centimeters in diameter.

Feeling satisfied with her work, she nodded and stow the magic marker away in her pocket. And from her other pocket, Koneko took out a weird shaped item covered in white cloth.

She unwrap the white cloth, revealing a handful of white rice inside. Koneko gently pours the grains of rice at the table, thus creating a second circle outside the magic marker’s circle.

Lastly she unsealed the plastic bag, took the strands of fur out and put it in the middle the magic marker's circle.

"Ahem…"

Koneko cleared her throat and closed her eyes.

"Inari no Okami, please hear my plea,"

She spoke with a tone devoid of all emotions, as if she had turn into a machine. The magic marker writings on the table suddenly glows a faint blue light. Soon after, the second circle that was made from grains of rice, floated up a centimeter above the table's surface and rotated clockwise.

"Impart to me, the knowledge that which I seek... reveal the owner of this article..."

At that very moment, Koneko open her eyes, but instead of her usual hazel colored pupils, her eyes were bright yellow, like a cat's eye reflecting light.

"I could sense it..." she turns her head to the side, facing a wall.

"Where is it hiding?"

"Please wait, I'll pinpoint its loca- eh?? It's... moving?? Homu-nyan, the creature is moving!!"

Koneko's gaze shifted slightly to the left, and continues to stare at the wall as if she could see through it.

"That's impossible, those creatures were nocturnal, there is no way it could be active during the day."

"I know! But this one is really moving right now, and with incredible speed too."

"Can you identify the creature?"

"Unfortunately no, it seemed to be blurred somehow. This never happened before..."

"..."

Silence fell into the room. Nakayama was deep in thought while Koneko was still tracking the creature in question.

What on earth is happening? Not only it moved in broad daylight, but Nanase's vision magic had failed to see it clearly... 

"Umm, Homu-nyan?"

"What is it Nanase?"

"If I'm guessing correctly, the creature is going straight to the direction of Taiga Mall..."

"That thing went straight for the all-you-can-eat buffet...” Nakayama scowls at the fact, “Nanase, you go on ahead to the mall, set up the void spell. I'm going to get Shizuko, meet us at the mall entrance at..." Nakayama looked at her wristwatch.

"...12:15 sharp."

"Roger, I'll call you when I'm done with the void spell."

The two girls quickly exit the room and went their separate ways.

Gates of Gehenna Ch.01 p2

Chapter 1


part 2


Seihokami Cafeteria, a 20 feet wide food court, placed at the middle upper area (using north as reference) of the Seihokami park. The cafeteria itself had two entrances, west gate and east gate respectively. Various food stalls occupied the middle area while tables and chairs were lined neatly encircling them.

The cafeteria here used a food coupons system, where you could buy the coupons for the food you wanted at the coupons booth, and then trade it at the stalls. They had a wide variety of food like Japanese food (ain't that obvious?), Chinese food, burgers, hotdogs and a whole lot more.

For the drinks, you could buy some using the coupons too. But if you wanted the old school vending machine, there's a line of vending machines at the west entrance selling tea, juice and even experimental drinks like the dreaded Guava Coffee or Peppermint green juice that tasted like a spicy bunch of grass blended together.

"Tadaa!! Oimikado Yukino's special bento!!"

Yukino produced a large laquered bento box from her tote bag (so that's why her bag looked oddly square). Then she put the 20x20 cm large bento box in front of me.

Seriously? I dare say the line 'I made too much' she said earlier was totally an understatement...

"..." I held my breath as she open the bento box.

Lined in perfect order from the upper left corner: eight 3cm x 3cm square shaped chunks of black meat (?), nicely cut green omelettes (??), blue fried mushrooms (!!??), oddly colored vegetables as a side dish (I can't even put it into words) and white rice at the bottom (THANK GOD!!!).

I could only describe her cooking as: out of this world. I mean, how the heck did she make meat balls, no, scratch that, meat 'cubes' go black? And green omelette? What the hell did she mix the eggs with? Not to mention that blue mushrooms... is it poisonous? And this... this... uhh... camo-veggies? It's a perfect combo of black, brown and green lining on top of each other like an army camouflage pattern. How'd she manage to do that?? I’m really thankful that she made the rice normal though.

Why did she cook such abomination you ask? I truly had no idea.

"Something wrong Seiji?"

"N-no, the food looked... *gulp* uhh... delicious?"

"Really? I wonder if I made the taste right for you. Here," she hands over a pair of disposable chopsticks with an angelic smile. Or maybe that of a demon?

Ugh... No backing down now... gotta man up and eat the whole thing, even if it cost me my life... I could clearly see the newspaper headline for tomorrow, 'College kid died of food poisoning' with a black and white photo of me on the side.

I split the disposable chopsticks witha a small crack sound and took one of the meat cube. Analyzed it for a few seconds. And as my slow accumulating bravery had reached the required amount to eat the mysterious food, I lift it up to my mouth.

"I-itadakimasu..."

*chew*

"!!??"

The moment I sink my teeth to the meat cube, a perfect combination of sweet and salty taste quickly assaulted my mouth. And the chewiness of the meat is perfect, as if its melting in my mouth. Though the form was quite dreadful, this meat cubes were pretty good! No, it's awesome!

How did her cooking improve so much?? The last time I ate one of her cooking it was... well, let's just say the word sweet, salty, bland, bitter, spicy, and even poison had failed me. It was a blank, literally. The next thing I know, I was lying in bed at the nurse office, the nurse in charge informed me that I had a severe case of food poisoning.

"Thi-this... this is!!?"

"How is it? Is it too salty? Or maybe too sweet? Or is it sour?"

"It's delicious! The seasonings was perfect! You're going to be a great wife someday Yuki!!"

But you really need to fix the outer appearance of the food you make. Or the lucky guy won't feel so lucky anymore.

"T-th-thanks..."

Her face gradually turned red from the neck up as if she was a soda pitcher getting a refill. Another sun-stroke symptoms?

Then I realize the only bento box present was right in front of me, where's hers?

"Yuki?"

"Yes?"

"You're not eating? I thought you say you wanted to eat together?"

"Eh? err... I..." she hesitated for a bit, while her eyes darted around.

"…I'm on a diet? Ah, yes, I'm on a diet! Ahahaha."

"Diet? Did you gain some weight?"

I craned my neck to the side, looking at her from top to bottom, but I can’t find any obvious reason that would make her go on a diet.

"Wha-? What are you looking at??"

Noticing my eyes went to 'scanner mode', she quickly covered her waist with her left arm and pushed my face away. Ack! Don’t poke my eyes!

“Really, how rude could you be…” she puffed her cheeks again while crossing her arms on her waist.

“Well, sorry, could you blame me if I’m curious?”

With a loud ‘humph!’ she turns away quickly.

“But not eating anything for the sake of diet is bad for your health you know?”

“I-I know that… “

She slowly turns back her head facing me while mumbling something I can't hear.

“Here,” I took the small meat cube from the bento and lift it to the same height of her mouth.

“Huh???”

"Eat up, and I won't take a no or diet as a reason."

"Eh, but-but that's..." she points at the chopsticks.

What's with the chopsticks? Is it dirty?

Yukino silently stared at the chopsticks like she had found the very weapon used by her evil arch-nemesis to kill her father.

No, her father's very much alive, he's probably cutting the leaf from his bonsai trees at the Hoshiyume temple grounds right now, saying "ah, what a beautiful day" like what he always do.

"Come on, just one bite, what's the harm of that?"

"O-okay... Itadakimasu!"

With a low chomp sound, the meat cube had successfully entered her mouth.

And the scene froze....

...

For around 30 seconds...

"Uhh... Yuki? You could let go of the chopsticks now..."

"!!???"

With a complicated look on her face she retracted her head and quickly covered her cheeks with her hands.

"Yukicchi?"

A soft voice resounds from across the cafeteria. I put the voice at my brain's voice recognition system but it had no match to anyone, so I decided to ignore it.

"Yukicchiiiii!!!" the voice called again, but this time even the stupid me could hear it moving straight at us at incredible speed.

As I wanted to turn my head toward the voice's source, *gasha!* two slender hands suddenly slid under Yukino's armpits with incredible speed and hugged her from behind. From the corner of my eyes, I could see someone with a flowing green hair behind Yukino. A girl?

"Eh?"

“I miss you Yukicchi!!!” said the girl.

"Hu-ugk!!??"

An odd sound that’s different from her usual cheery tone exits her mouth. Then she suddenly hit her chest numerous time like a gorilla on a rampage, her face turned from white to pale red and then dark blue.

“Eh? Yukicchi??”

Even the green haired girl behind her knew something was wrong as she quickly released her hug.

"O-oi, don't tell me you somehow choked that meat earlier??"

“%@&*!%##)$” She nodded furiously while still hitting her chest.

Ugh, this is bad! I quickly took a canned juice that we had bought from the vending machine earlier, popped it open and gave it to her as fast as I can.

*Gulp* *gulp* *gulp*

She drained the whole 300ml juice in one go. While the mysterious green haired girl rubbed her back.

"Buhaaaa!! *cough!* *cough!* I thought I was going to die a horrible death... *cough* "

True, died by choking on her own cooking would be... awkward.

"Take it easy Yukicchi, take a deep breath, and release, take a deep breath, and release," said the green haired girl.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Yukino waved her left hand like a drunkard before she turned toward the green haired girl.

"You almost kill me Nanase-senpai!"

"Hehe, sorry about that," she grinned innocently.

The girl Yuki called Nanase-senpai then noticed me,

“Ara? Who is this guy Yukicchi?”

“Ah, umm, let me introduce you."

"Seiji, this is Nanase-senpai, she's one year above me in the education majors. And Nanase-senpai, this is Seiji, my friend from highschool."

"I'm Akuno Seiji, nice to meet you," I stood up and extends my right arm for a formal handshake.

"Hello, I'm Koneko Nanase, it's nice to meet you too," she gave me a light handshake accompanied by an ojou-sama smile.

Koneko-senpai had a shoulder length wavy hair that's oddly green, and on top of her head was a knitted hat in the shape of cat's ears.

"Ara? Wait a second, Akuno Seiji... that name sounded very familiar..." she pushed her oval rimmed glasses with a serious look.

"Hmm... Akuno… Seiji… Seijii… uh… Sei…ji… Oh? Ohh!!! You're Yukicchi's boyf- mmpphhh!!??" before she could finish her sentence, Yukino had somehow teleported herself to Koneko-senpai's side and covered her mouth.

"NO HE'S NOT!!! not yet, at least..."

"I'm your what?" I didn't quite catch the last part.

"N-Nothing!! Please forget about what she said, ahahaha," Yukino gave me a nervous smile.

Hmm, I smell something fishy around here...

Oh, wait, there's someone eating Tazukuri[1] on the table beside me, that explains the fishy smell.

"Nee, Yukicchi..."

"Y-yes?"

Koneko-senpai whipered something to Yukino, who quickly turned beet red. Okay, that's it, I'm seriously taking her to the doctor after this.

"N-no, umm, it's still a one-way..." Yukino fiddled with her fingers while stealing glances to me.

"Hee? Really? I see..." Koneko-senpai nodded, stared at me for a second and turned her attention back to Yukino, "but lunch is a good start, keep it up Yukicchi!"

"Uhn."

Though it really makes me curious, I don't want to be considered rude and butt in on their girl's talk. Besides, from what I heard so far, I concluded that they're planning to have lunch at some restaurant at a one way street. And seeing how they occasionally glanced at me, it's obvious that they don't want me to know where it is.

*nyanya-nyan-nyanyaa-nyan-nyanyanyan* a meowing ringtone suddenly breaks into the scene.

Eh? A nyan-cat ringtone?

"Ah! Excuse me," Koneko-senpai raised her index finger signalling Yukino to wait.

She took a green phone —almost the same shade of green like her hair— with a small ornament that looks like a cat’s ear on top of it from her pocket. She must've really loved cats.

“Moshi-moshi, Koneko Nanase speaking. Oh, Homu-nyan, is there a problem? ... eh? I'm still in campus... what? …you mean right now? But... uhn, okay, I'll be there in a moment... yes... yes, I will... okay, bye."

She turned off her phone with a sigh.

"Is there a problem Nanase-senpai?"

"Aiya? Oh, it's nothing for you guys to worry about. Umm, I really need to go now, there's some Student Council stuff that I need to take care."

"Yukicchi," she hugged Yukino again from the back, "I expect a full report later, ‘kay?"

“Ah, uhn," Yukino nodded sheepishly.

"And Sei-yan, it's a pleasure to meet you," Koneko-senpai flashed a smile toward me.

"The pleasure is mine, Koneko-sen-... wait... Sei-yan??"

"Well then, I guess I'll be going now, or Homu-nyan will go ballistics on me. I'll see you two later!"

Nanase waved goodbye and moved her legs with such speed that it looks like she was floating towards the eastern exit of the park, and vanished at the area between building C and D.

"Hey Yuki..."

"Hmm?"

"Is it just me, or did she just call me Sei-yan?"

"Aaa, don't worry, she just had this odd way to call everyone she knew."

"Like how she call you Yukicchi?"

"... *sigh* yes, just like 'Yukicchi'. But please don't call me that..."

"I see..."

I nodded at her answer and continued to wolf down the food that's thankfully not as bad as the appearance.

The blue mushrooms was deep fried, making it crunchy inside out and it doesn't feel oily at all. While the green omelettes were (from my experience cooking) a combination of nori[2] and a dash of green tea, which pretty much explains the color. Though the taste was... err... sweet? Too sweet perhaps, I might get a diabetes if I continue eating this omelette.

Last but not least, the camo-veggies... To tell you the truth, I had no intentions to eat it, but it would be bad manners to throw away the food someone had made for you. Especially if that person is right there watching you...

Okay, back to topic, camo-veggies... *chomp* Hmmm, not so bad... I couldn't recognize the vegetables she used, but the taste was equivalent with a garden salad, a little bit bitter though.

"Umm, Seiji? Do you happen to have some time after this?"

"Hmm?"

I took a glance at the large analog clock at the center of the cafeteria (just above the food stalls) to check on the time. It was 11:54am.

"Yup, but I need to fix my bike at the bike shop and go to work after that, so I have around an hour at best. Is that okay?"

"Uhn, that's plenty."

"So? What do you have in mind?"

Her expression suddenly turned serious and said,

"I need your help concerning 'that'."











[1] Tazukuri : dried sardines cooked in soy sauce, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds. One of Osechi-ryōri (御節料理 or お節料理) or traditional Japanese New Year foods.


[2] Nori (海苔?) is the Japanese name for edible seaweed.