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Chapter 2: Toilet and Tears

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mizuki, was it?" Hades said with the best smile he could pull off. He really wanted to escape the situation. He had absolutely no desire to socialise with this strange creature of a woman. Hades merely wanted to familiarise himself with his new home and search for a few more things on the internet to help build up his common sense and maybe find a job.

"Cerby-chan!" Mizuki practically squealed as she saw the head poking out of Hades's suit. "How cute! I can't believe he's just sitting there and behaving! I need him! GIVE HIM TO ME!" She shouted as she once more lunged towards Hades. Hades once again avoided her with a sidestep. She just blankly looked at her empty hands with a deadpan expression.

"Please don't ever do that again. As much as I can appreciate your admiration of my friend, I feel very uncomfortable with the way you're acting. I'll move house if I have to." Hades threatened her. He didn't want to erase her existence to fix this issue as that would ultimately defeat the entire purpose of his visit to the mortal world. So he tried to use what little of the local customs he had learnt initially from his arrival to defuse the situation.

"No! Please don't move! I'll behave...j-just let me play with Cerby-chan please!" Mizuki pleaded as she began to lightly cry at the prospect of the fluffy object of her one-sided friendship leaving, to probably never return. 

Mizuki realised she had acted purely on her emotions but was it really her fault? Few things in existence could dare to even claim that they shared the same level of fluffiness as Cerberus's fur, or so she believed.

"Well, it's not my choice to make, Cerby?" Hades asked his pet. Cerberus just looked up at Hades's face before sending him a glare that just screamed 'erase her you fool'. Upon noticing that Hades would do no such thing, He just sighed with his little furry mouth and snout before weakly nodding. Mizuki was ecstatic. Now she could pet and cuddle and play with her new 'friend' as much as she wanted.

"You can do as you please with him only twice per week, stress is bad for his fur, and only in my presence or not at all." Hades proclaimed, crushing Mizuki's dreams of constant playdates. She was saddened by Hades's addition, but it did make sense. He didn't know her after all, how could he possibly trust her after only meeting her? Mizuki thought such things as she ignored the fact that she had given a terrible first and second impression to him.

"That's fine! Can the first time be now? I'm Mizuki Haruhi by the way!" She exclaimed happily after getting over her momentary depression. Hades was surprised at how quickly these humans could adapt.

Maybe he should throw her in a volcano just to see how she would react? He squashed such a thought as he realised he was being immature.  He shouldn't throw his neighbours into active volcanoes, or so he concluded.

"No, I'm busy, come back in two days. I'm Hades Pluto." He ordered her before he finished opening his door and went inside. Mizuki then heard a clicking noise. Apparently, he had locked himself inside, or maybe locked her out?

"Hades Pluto...what a weird name...wait...Hades...Cerby...Cerberus? No way." Haruhi dismissed her absurd conclusions as she went to go shopping for food, as was her original plan before she met the God of fluffiness once more. She was quite happy to have found him again.

However, Mizuki quickly realised that she had basically given her number to an unknown man for a shallow reason and that he didn't even need it now, but he still had it. She was worried about what to do but first came food. The food was always a top priority.

Inside of room 27B, Hades's new apartment, he let Cerberus out from his suit before taking a moment to inspect his new humble abode. It was a clean and clearly unfurnished apartment. The floor was entirely wooden except for the bathroom which hosted a tile-based one. There was a basic kitchen and bathroom in the apartment, but besides that, the home was completely devoid of furniture.

"Perfect!" Hades said in a chipper tone. "Now I can act like a human and buy items to fill my new house. I should use this 'internet' thing to see what kinds of furniture I can purchase to fill my new home." Hades was very excited, so far he had loved almost every minute of his new life in Japan. Almost, but not quite. He was trying his best to repress the memories of his interactions with the woman called Mizuki Haruhi. 

"What a strange name. Last I remembered, people over here were called things like Susanoo and Amaterasu. I wonder what changed?" He asked himself as he sat on the toilet and took out his laptop.

The bathroom had a single toilet, a sink and a bathtub in it. Hades had no need to use the toilet, so he thought he might as well use it as a chair for now. What good would it be if he didn't at least use it somehow?

A problem had occurred. His laptop needed about 4 hours to complete some sort of 'start up' procedure. Hades was befuddled by this, but he didn't want to interfere with the device in fears of breaking it. So he decided to go outside and explore a bit. Get familiar with the locals and whatnot. 

"Cerby, I'm going out for a walk. You wanna come?" He asked the dog that was laying on the floor of the empty living room/bedroom. He just looked up and shook his head a little bit before resting it back against the floor. Apparently, he was tired mentally from today's events as Hades knew he wasn't tired physically, such a thing was impossible.

"I understand, buddy. You rest up; I'll be back in four hours." Hades said as he made to leave. He then heard a few yips, some sort of response for himself, a farewell perhaps? He then left after locking the door again. Luckily he didn't meet Haruhi again as he left the compound.

Hades wasn't quite sure where he wanted to go exactly. He wanted to do something, but what? Maybe he should spend the rest of the money he had created? Hades still had about 60,000 yen in his pocket, and he didn't really need it. If he needed to pay rent and somehow didn't have a job despite his vast skill set, then he would only need to make more money.

After having decided to spend his hard created cash, he left for a nearby shopping district that was labelled on the map he had been given at the real estate agency. Hades noticed that while inspecting the map carefully, that the name of the city he was in was called 'Tokyo'. A very odd name as far as he was concerned, but who was he to judge? It was their city, not his. 

It took him about 10 minutes to reach the district. Hades thought it might be wise to go back at some point and thank the real estate agent for giving him such a convenient apartment. As far as Hades was concerned, he was gifted the property because he clearly had no real issues with money. Hades had decided to spend the rest of his creations on clothing; he couldn't regularly walk around in a suit, now could he? 

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There were quite a few little stores that were selling ordinary clothes. The whole idea of them sent chills down Hades's spine. He was so excited to wear what ordinary mortals wore! He couldn't wait to get his anxious fingers on a few of these such outfits. He quickly approached one of the nearest stores.

"Hello, excuse me, how much are you selling these articles of clothing for?" Hades politely asked. He knew better than just to take them. He would have most certainly done so had he taken an interest in them two days ago.

Thankfully he had scanned for the small amount of cultural knowledge he now had. That was how he had managed to successfully buy the laptop and rent the apartment without simply claiming them as his own property. Hades was apparently learning.

"Want something, Sonny? Well, everything I've got up here is 100yen, take what you like then give me the money." The vendor said a little bit too rudely for Hades's liking, but he quickly forgave the elderly man as the price made him jubilant. If all the stalls were like this, then he could buy hundreds of outfits! This idea nearly had the poor God of the underworld frothing at the mouth.

"You okay, Sonny? Need me to call an ambulance for you?" The senior asked him in worry. He was a bit perplexed at the interest the fancily dressed man had in his wares; then the bugger suddenly started to salivate a worryingly large amount.

The elder clearly didn't have the time for such a nuisance as he had already pulled out his phone and had started to dial 119, the number that was for the fire and ambulance services in Japan.  

Hades quickly came back to his sense after hearing the old vendor's concern.

"Ah, my apologies. I'll take everything, please." Hades declared after he had gotten a firmer grip on his emotions. He was usually quite good at controlling them but found it exceedingly difficult to do so as he was experiencing far too much fun for a simple Divine Level Being such as himself. The old man just looked at him for a moment.

"If you can take it, and pay for it, then it's yours, Sonny." He happily said. He had assumed that the strange foreigner was just joking. Hades suddenly dropped an exact amount of 4,000yen just before he started to pick up the clothing articles.

There were exactly 40 different items at the stall, ranging from shoes to sunglasses. The old man was amazing at Hades's ability to count his things so accurately, but more so at his ridiculous ability to carry items.

°Is he a circus performer?° The elder thought as he and a few nearby shoppers and vendors watching the spectacle that was Hades as he piled up clothes and the other items in his hands, on his shoulders, stuffed them in his suit and even held them in his mouth.

Hades then slowly and carefully walked to a nearby alleyway and shortly afterwards came back out, however, this time he was wearing a pair of regular sandals, cream coloured shorts, a blue and red Hawaiian themed shirt, and he was sporting a pair of black sunglasses.

°I finally look like a normal mortal!° He exclaimed in his head. He could tell that he now looked normal thanks to all of the stares that he was receiving due to his obviously expert level technique as far as blending in went, or so Hades assumed. He then went around the various other clothing stalls before repeating exactly what he just did at the first vendor.

It was quickly reaching the four-hour mark that Hades had set to return by. He could easily tell the time by the position of the stars that only he could see during the daytime as far as Earth was concerned.

Hades made to leave, but just as he was about to exit the marketplace, a familiar person soon made herself known once more.

"Plutos-san?" Haruhi asked. She wasn't sure because the last time she had seen him, he was wearing a very professional looking suit and not whatever trash he was now adorned with.

Haruhi had just finished her shopping. Shopping was like a sport to Haruhi, she always tried to find the best deals, and that was why she took roughly five hours every trip. She was quite happy because she had only taken just over four hours today.

"Ah, Mizuki...san? Sorry, it's my first time in Japan for a long time, so forgive me if the way I'm addressing you is incorrect." Hades said in a happy tone. He was still very pleased with how much clothing he had managed to acquire.

Hades had even found something called 'lingerie' which he found to be very unique, for lack of a better word. He was itching to try wearing it to see just what was so unique about it that had caused the vendor to be so adamant about him buying it. Something about impressing a wife, but Hades was far too absorbed in the design of the clothing to care.

"So it is you, Plutos-san! I almost couldn't recognise you." Haruhi happy said as she started walking next to him because he was apparently heading home. She wanted to talk more to him in an attempt to worm her way into his life solely so she could get a bigger allowance as far as seeing Cerberus was concerned.

"Please, just Hades is okay. I'm not comfortable being called by my...what was it again...right...surname. And of course, I look far more normal now, no?" Hades said as he smiled. He apparently thought her not recognising him was due to how much he blended in with everyone else.

"O-Of course...Hades...san. Your Japanese is amazing for a foreigner, but it's a little bit stiff isn't it?" Haruki asked as she ignored his misconceptions. She had noticed that he spoke in a very olden styled dialogue with only a few words or phrases being more modern. 

"Well, the last time I visited this country was a very long time ago after all." Hades vaguely explained. Haruhi looked lost in thought for a moment before visibly deflating as a sad look took shape on her pretty face.

"You and Cerby-chan are only visiting?" She asked in concern. She wanted to cuddle her living plush toy forever, not just for a short while.

"Of course. If not for some recent...changes, I'd almost certainly still be working in my dreadfully boring job. Thankfully I somehow managed to quit that borderline slave labour job. I should be here for a few decades at the very least, or so I would imagine." Hades said which made Haruhi visibly brighten up.

After that, the two continued to walk together as Haruhi tried to small talk him a little bit more. Hades answered all of her questions politely, but she could clearly tell that his mind was elsewhere. Wasn't she a beautiful 29-year-old woman? He was clearly far older than her, why couldn't he at least pretend to be interested?

°I wonder what shirt I should wear tomorrow and do I stick with sandals or move on to crocs?° Hades was lost in thought about what to wear tomorrow, or so it would seem.

The two soon reached the apartment complex, and Haruhi walked towards the elevator while Hades made for the stairs. Upon noticing him, Haruhi called out to Hades to ask what on earth he was doing.

"Hades-san. Why aren't you going to the elevator? It's a lot of stairs to reach our floor." Haruhi pointed out. She thought that maybe it was a foreigner thing, or perhaps he was a health-nut? She wasn't quite sure but thought it would be best to ask him just to be certain he knew that he could use the elevator.

Haruhi then realised that he must have walked up and down the first time which horrified her. Stairs were one of the few things that filled the woman with pure dread.

"But I'm not ready to use that yet. I need more time." Hades said in a matter-of-factly manner. He then turned around before walking up the stairs once more. He truly was unprepared for using the elevator anytime soon.

°Does he have a trauma or something? Maybe he got stuck in one as a kid...° Haruhi thought as she jumped to conclusions. If that truly were the case, Hades would have mentioned it as he was usually quite an honest person, except when it suited him not to be, so perhaps he wasn't very honest at all?

Haruhi soon reached her room but roughly ten minutes after entered it, she heard a knock at the door. She was quite curious as to who could be knocking for her; perhaps it was a mistake? Haruhi thought as she didn't really have any friends due to how eccentric she could be so she ignored the door.

A few minutes later she heard it again. She decided to check this time, just in case the rare event of someone actually looking for her had occurred. She was shocked as she opened the door. Hades was standing outside of it while he was holding a laptop and he had tears streaming down his face.

"What happened Hades-san?! Did Cerby run away?!" She asked as she began to mull over the possibility of such a thing happening.

"I don't know how to work the internet! Teach me!" Hades loudly requested.