“So, that was the reason why Kusari wasn’t able to kill me with his manifestation. The difference in our strength caused his ability, that would normally render me as a vegetable for the rest of my life, to only temporarily incapacitate me.” Oda would only lightly nod his head upon hearing that, truth be told despite being a rather easy concept to grasp these phenomenons Mifuyu called ‘Manifestations’ seemed a bit too otherworldly for his mind. Something that so blatantly violated the laws of physics ought to not exist in Oda’s humble opinion. But, they did exist, he had seen them in action more than once so that was the undoubtable reality Oda now found himself in and he had no choice but to accept it. He himself apparently possessed a manifestation, these unique superhuman powers granted only to those who are special and did not only slow down one's aging, but also bestows upon them beyond human physical prowess. But, Oda was far too inexperienced with this type of thing to properly control it, according to Mifuyu, it was more like a beast within him threatening to seize the reins rather than a beneficiary boon. But, from the discussion they have had during the last hour it became clear that the white-haired man across from him did not see it like that, more so something that needed to be understood and controlled rather than feared and avoided.
With a heavy sigh Oda would place down the cup of coffee on his kitchen table, how the hell did he even get into this mess to begin with? Regardless, he took the opportunity to ask a question that had been bugging him ever since Mifuyu started talking about the subject. “And these so-called ‘manifestations’, are they all truly unique?” When he said that, a solemn look appeared on Mifuyu’s face. “Oda, I have lived and traveled through this land for almost four hundred years, in that time I have encountered a dozen people with manifestations, none of them being even slightly similar to each other.”
The blonde would nood his head, for some reason he had been inexplicably obsessed with the fact that there could be two or more people with the same manifestation for the last ten minutes, but now he laid those thoughts to rest. He thought about Mifuyu’s statement, if he counted the people he had met within the town of Pandemonium among that number then there had been seven people with manifestations that Oda knew nothing about out there, but he wasn’t that overly curious about them. He looked at the calendar that hung on his fridge, it was the fifth of December and one week since they had encountered Maru-Maru after kidnapping Kusari. Oda took a sip from his black coffee, it was bitter just like he preferred, but Mifuyu liked his coffee with a tiny bit of milk and sugar. Although the blonde respected that, somehow deep down it made him feel just a tad bit superior to the man.
“So, what do you think about Alice?” He would ask the white haired man sitting across from him, Oda’s apartment had undergone quite a bit of cleaning since his last visit. Something about being put in a life or death situation really brings out the neat-freak in people apparently. “She has a manifestation as well, but compared to yours or mine it is weak. If she were to encounter Maru-Maru it would be bad news.” Oda would nod upon hearing that she had been specifically targeting Alice so another attack aimed at the black haired girl wasn’t unlikely.
Pulling a white phone from his pocket, Mifuyu would speak as he navigated the mobile devices clunky menus. “But, if both you and Evelina were with her at the same time then you will probably be able to fend her off.” That was the estimation that Mifuyu had done from his knowledge on the possible combatants, he had told Oda about Evelina’s manifestation earlier, the description he had given off it was much more comprehensible than the jumbled mess of static and words that Oda had been forced to try and decipher when the woman began speaking about it during on of their phone calls.
After a quick, and much more comprehensible phone conversation with Mifuyu’s superior mobile device the three of them agreed that even if Alice was in danger they couldn’t just sit around and wait for Maru-Maru to inevitably kill someone innocent again. Evelina was also a lot more confident in her abilities than Oda, apparently being able to ‘shred that bitch like a meat grinder’ although he doubted the validity of that statement the blue eyed man did not feel like trying to argue against it while standing next to Mifuyu. As such they would end up splitting into two teams: Alice, Evelina and Oda would be one team while Mifuyu alone would make up the other. That way, regardless of which team encountered the tanned woman they would at least stand a fighting chance against her. Evelina and Oda had agreed to meet up in the city mall, where they would discuss things further
At the same time, a certain girl with black hair wearing a purple and dark-green dress that seemed like it had been made specifically for her was walking through the pristine halls of the mall of Pandemonium. Walking next to her, keeping a respectable distance of maybe around three decimeters was a man with golden hair and pale skin, his eyes had a golden tint to them that made him seem almost angelic as he walked through the shopping mall, a trait that was only further exaggerated by his disarming and attractive appearance. The library had been packed with people, at least by Violet's standards, but this mall was something completely else. If she merely stretched out her arm at any moment she would be able to feel the touch of another human being in the most crowded parts of the building. It was something a person who had grown up and lived in isolation for so long like her had never experienced until now. Truth be told, she felt intimidated by the large number of people, but all those feelings of fear disappeared as she simply turned her head around to look at the man next to her. She knew that he would keep her safe regardless of what happened. A slight giggle escaped her lips, merely walking next to this man was enough to make her feel warm within, she was experiencing true love, something she had only been able to read about until she encountered this youthful man. Although she was incredibly shy due to her isolated childhood, Violet decided to take the initiative at an attempt at physical contact. Moving her right arm closer to his left one slowly, she felt both excitement and fear race through her mind.
But, before their hands connected a high-pitched beeping rang out, the blonde man next to her then picked up his cell phone from his left pocket and took a quick glance at it before turning towards her. “I’m sorry, something important came up. I have to leave for a few minutes, why don’t you explore the mall on your own until I’m back?” Not waiting for her answer, the blonde man would leave her as he hastily made his way along the path inside the large building, a few moments later he was completely out of sight. She looked down on the tiled floor below her, black and white. Slowly, she could feel the panic starting to creep up on her, the safety she had felt before was ebbing away and the crowd around here seemed more and more intimidating with each passing second. Truth be told, the fear made her feel like she could fall over at any moment, quickly looking around she saw a nearby cafe with several empty chairs. Stumbling over there, she sat down and made sure that no one was sitting right next to her. But looking throughout the crowded caffe, it did seem like Violet had done little but manage to trap herself in another uncomfortable situation.
Suddenly, a black haired girl emerged from the crowd and approached the gothically-like-clothed woman. Aside from their choice of clothes, the two actually looked rather similar. If one had glanced at them it would not be far fetched to assume the two were sisters. Looking down on the sitting girl, Alice would ask her a rather simple question. “Is it okay if I sit here?” She would look Violet straight in the eyes as she spoke, taking a page out of Evelinas book of confidence. “I… uhh- Sure.” She said with an uncertain voice, truth be told she did not really know how to speak with people other than Junsei.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Therefore Violet did what was likely to cause the least conflict when Alice asked her that question. Even going so far as to move slightly to the side to give Alice more space as she sat down. Although the black haired girl was a bit anxious, she decided that acting a bit more bold like Evelina was a good thing to do and as such she turned to the girl she had just sat down next to. “Hey, my name is Alice. I hope you don’t mind me sitting next to you for a moment.” Simply nodding her head, Evelina would move over slightly so Alice would get some more space.
Not being able to decide what to do next, Violet simply sat there for a few moments until she was spoken to by the girl next to her. “So why have you come here today? I mean, to this mall?” Considering how to answer that question made Violet blush, she thought about the reason why she was here, that man that she loved. But decided that telling the truth was too embarrassing so she instead went with a much more universal approach. “I am simply here with a friend, although they had to do something important so I’m on my own for now.” Not revealing the gender of her friend as she spoke to Alice. Upon hearing that, the other black haired girl would nod and respond. “I see, I am also here with my friends!” After she said that, neither of the black haired girls would speak for a while, simply not having anything to converse about.
In a vain attempt to break this awkward silence, the unfortunate girl would ask the other something. “So, do you read any manga?” Upon hearing that almost foreign word Violet would think for a moment before she came up with an answer she deemed suitable. “I have heard about it, if I’m not wrong they sell those picture books in this very market square?” Listening to the older girl speak, the first thing that Alice would pick up on the very odd choice of words, who called a shopping mall ‘market square’? Regardless, she had no time to question the girl about what she had said as their already short conversation was cut in half.
On the mall’s rooftop, the man who had previously been accompanying Violet looked around. He could see two individuals clad in armor, completely obscuring any hint of their real appearances. The one closest to him wore white armor, something that would fit a paladin or a hero from a fairy tale. The knight further away, however, wore black armor that would only suit a demon from the depths of hell. The three were standing on the mall's metal roof and the blonde man could feel the cool winds chill him down for every moment that he spent up here. He wanted to get back to Violet as soon as possible, keeping her waiting wasn’t good, although he knew that he could probably get away with doing so. As he opened his mouth, the man looked around, from up here one could see a large portion of Pandemonium, in all its gray glory. “So, why have you called me up here? I assume it’s something urgent.”
Looking at the giant armored man before him, the difference in height was apparent, Junsei wasn’t much different from the average man while the knight would be seen as a looming giant by most. Despite that, he spoke to the man before him with reverence almost like he was his boss. “Yes, it’s about Kigura…” The man stopped speaking for a moment, unsure about whether to continue speaking or not. “... He has disappeared. No trace of him, we looked through the entire city.” When he heard that the smaller man would let out a reassured sigh. “Oh, it’s just that. Then there is no need to worry.” After he said that, he would look at the silver armor before him before turning around and heading back to the staircase that led to the roof. Aside from the three of them, there was no one else there so when he opened the metal door leading back in it was apparent who he spoke to despite not turning around to face him. “I spoke to Maru-Maru, there is no need to look for Kigura. Although, we are starting a bit further than I anticipated.” With those words, he entered the mall again and closed the door behind him, putting an absolute end to their conversation.
Oda would feel a sudden shock scourge through his body, quickly looking down he could see that Evelina had hit him with her elbow. Looking at her for a moment, he could see that she was pointing towards Alice with a sly smile on her face. “Looks like we finally found somewhere to sit.” While he appreciated that she let him know about the black-haired lady's success he would have preferred it if she kept the use of physical force to a minimum. Calming himself and making the slightly irritated expression vanish from his face, he followed Evelina towards Alice. The two of them could not help to notice the strange girl that she had seated herself next to, the group had split up briefly looking for places to sit in the crowded mall. As they approached, Oda was the quickest to introduce himself to this stranger who looked oddly familiar to Alice. “Hello there, sorry if I am interrupting but my name is Oda Kaguri, I am a friend of Alice’s.” Evelina wouldn’t have herself be outdone by some blonde-headed wannabe popstar and not only introduced herself but also asked a question to the young woman who was sitting next to the black star of misfortune. “And my name is Evelina, also a friend of Alice. From a glance, she looks really similar to you, are you two sisters perhaps?” Violet would blush, to think that someone thought that she could be the sister of someone as cute as the black-haired girl she had just met filled her with a sense of pride.
“No, I just met her for the first time in fact…” Despite it being the first time for an awfully long while that she spoke to someone other than him, Violet was able to immediately follow up that statement with a question directed towards the two people who had just appeared. “Do you guys also like manga?” A direct reference to what she had talked about with Alice mere moments ago. Oda would think a moment before he answered that question. “Not really, I feel like that stuff is just for kids.” Evelina, who had patiently waited for Oda to finish speaking before she gave her answer, was of a completely different opinion. “Yup, I love manga. Especially magical girl ones.” A moment would pass of silence as both the bright haired man and woman looked at each other, like some sort of hidden rivalry was developing between them based on their opinion about Japanese comics.
But, in an instant that air of rivalry was blown away as the two of them broke out in heartfelt laughter. “Man, I hate people who get all serious about stuff like that.” Oda would say, with Evelina soon chiming in in agreement. “Yeah, they are just comics anyways, nothing you should base your identity around.” Alice felt a tingle of embarrassment as she heard those words for she had in fact done just that just a few years prior. After listening to their conversation Violet would reveal a fact about herself that only the man she loved knew to the group, although, aside from him there existed barely anyone that knew what kind of person she was. “I haven’t really gotten into comics, growing up I mostly read what you would consider classical literature.” Almost immediately after she was finished speaking Oda would comment on the remark she had just made. “Looks like people still have some appreciation for the finer cultures.” Although it was mostly meant as a joke the blonde could not deny that there was some hint of truth in those words.
Just as Alice thought she was going to be able to ask Violet about what books she had read in detail, their conversation was interrupted by a soft voice speaking up from behind them. “Excuse me, I hope I’m not interrupting you at an inopportune moment.” Behind them stood a man with a beautiful appearance wearing a white suit, perfectly complementing his blonde hair and golden eyes with its similarly colored decorations, truly that piece of clothing must have cost a small fortune, giving away that he was the kind of man who placed great emphasis on style. He spoke with a soft voice that could disarm anyone with just a few words and as his eyes glanced over each and every member of the group before him they would eventually stop at Violet. “Who are these friends of yours?” Being asked for an explanation about the current situation, Violet would blush a little as she spoke to the man. “They were just looking for a place to sit, but seeing that you are back that might not be possible anymore.” Indeed, there were five of them and only four places left to sit at the table. Upon hearing that Oda was about to propose that he could stand if it was necessary but before he could start speaking the new man had already done so. “Well, I think it’s about time we started heading back. It’s getting quite late.” His words were aimed at Violet and everyone knew that what he said was true, the mall closing in just another hour, therefore she got up and quickly made her way over next to the man.
“Where are my manners? Sorry for not introducing myself earlier but my name is Junsei Seijin. Perhaps we will meet again.” With that he turned around and started walking out of the mall, away from the group. Violet looked at the three people before her, she had a nagging feeling that she had forgotten to do something important. She simply stood there for several seconds before she figured out what it was, it was her name that she had forgotten. “And my name is Violet, Violet Evergreen. Don’t forget it!” Being embarrassed about forgetting something so basic, the black haired woman would turn around and jog until she was next to Junsei. Slowly disappearing from the sight of our three heroes as they made their way out of the shopping center. There would be silence among the three for a moment before Oda spoke up. “Man that felt odd. Anyways, does anyone want some ice cream? I'm buying.”