PART 1:
NIGHT OF DEMONS
CHAPTER 1
After many days of rain, the sun finally showed its face one June morning. The muddy water collected in puddles on the street reflected its rays like little mirrors. Shirasagi Yumiko narrowed her eyes a little bit and gazed at the three-story school building, which shimmered a bit like a mirage, wrapped in the haze created by the vapor from the evaporating water on the ground.
Shirasagi Yumiko.
Her long, slender limbs made her image seem appropriate to her name, which meant "White Heron." Her inquisitive red-brown eyes--which reflected her keen intellect--and her well-shaped nose gave her all the qualities of a natural beauty. However, it could be argued that her propensity for mischief kept her from being as mature as an ordinary high school senior.
Yumiko's transfer to this school had been quite sudden. Only two months earlier, her father, who had worked for a major electronics firm, had been transferred from the branch office in Sapporo to the main office in Tokyo. As the daughter of a salaryman, Yumiko had gotten used to frequent moves, but this was a bad time for a major change--next spring she would be taking her college entrance examinations. She had wanted to spend her last year of high school with the friends she had made, and it was hard to give that up. But after a lot of indecision and hard thought, the entire family had decided to move together, mostly on her mother's insistence that "it's too dangerous for either you or your father to live alone." But only two days after having transfered to Jusho High, Yumiko quickly started to regret giving in to her mother.
"I don't like the mood here."
Yumiko's admission test to the school had demonstrated that her abilities put her in the top tier of the "gifted" class. Her parents were quite relieved and happy at her scores, but Yumiko felt that this school had an unnatural coldness that she just could put her finger on. Her former school in Sapporo had also been quite a prestigious institution, but there was no sort of artificial separation between "gifted" and "general" classes, and the students there just seemed to be individually enjoying their life as high school students more.
In stark contrast, the students of Jusho High had the air of old hermits who had altogether given up on life. The gifted class simply went through the curriculum like machines, as if being programmed to pass their college entrance exams. Even though the general class had its share bright and talented students, many of them had lost their will because of the way that they were passed over by the administration, in favor of the students in the gifted class. Everyone knew their place in the organization, and nobody attempted to break that mold.
Come to think of it, she hadn't spoken a word yet, outside of her general introduction to the class. That alone was tough for Yumiko to stand, as she had never been the quiet type. However, she didn't feel any real hostility toward herself from the faculty or students. The entire class was eerily silent, as if being awkwardly suppressed by some sort of invisible force. During free periods, not a single one of Yumiko's classmates had said so much as a word to her.
"If you're too popular right from the beginning, people will start to keep an eye on you, and you don't want that!" That was what her mother had laughingly said when Yumiko mentioned the issue to her and joke or not, the comment had hurt her pride.
Inside the school courtyard, the opening bell rang.
Drawing in a deep breath and summoning her will together, Yumiko slowly walked toward the school building.
The first hour of the day was Classical Japanese class.
The professor, Ohara, was quite a beauty. She wasn't wearing much in the way of makeup, probably due to work regulations, but her tall height, style, and face--which looked attractive even to the eyes of other women--was such so that she could probably easily make it as a model. But the dull, toneless voice in which she read the text, combined with the monotonous translate-classical-to-colloquial manner in which she conducted the class could hardly be said to be attractive, even as insincere flattery. Yumiko had been desperately suppressing yawns all class long.
"In the Ise Monogatari, there is a tanka poem: 'In the Uzu Mountains of Suruga, I will not meet you in reality or in a dream.' In the past it has come up three times in Keio University's entrance exam, and also in Waseda University's exam, so you should memorize it..." Ignoring all cultural significance of the poem, Ohara started talking about entrance exams.
So much for romance and mystique of the Ise Monogatari. Ariwara Narihira must be rolling over in his grave.
Getting downright irritated by the class, and nearly on the brink of being overcome by drowsiness, Yumiko noticed a rythmical sound behind her, like that of a plastic sheet being tapped. Turning her head, she saw a handsome male student diagonally behind her to the right, typing on the keyboard of a handheld computer that sat atop his desk. She recalled his name as being Nakajima Akemi. Yumiko had been introduced to him along with all the other students the day before, but their names and faces had gotten all mixed up so she couldn't clearly remember everyone. But Nakajima's profile and name were both rather feminine, so his image had stuck in her head. Though he had completely ignored her when she had intially bowed her head in greeting.
Well, he's pretty obviously ignoring class. He's got guts! For some reason, Yumiko felt some affinity for this particular classmate.
It doesn't look like he's playing a game. Is he writing a program or something?
As if taking a break, Nakajima stretched his back and looked up slightly. His almond eyes looked around, and unexpectedly his gaze met Yumiko's.
After his successful test of the demon summoning program, it seemed as if Nakajima's nature had changed from the very roots. Or perhaps his true, formerly sealed-off demonic nature had been released and consumed the old Nakajama. Two months ago, his handsome face had only shown weakness, but now it emanated a powerful aura of pure ego. But what surprised Yumiko when their gaze met was not his powerful presence, but rather something else.
Deja vu.
I didn't realize it yesterday, but I think I've seen this guy somewhere before--like from a long time a go. Geez, I wonder why that is? A wave of emotion like awe coursed through Yumiko's body.
Despite Yumiko's staring at him, Nakajima displayed no interest in her and returned to typing on his keyboard rythmically. As if staring into a deep ravine, Yumiko was struck with a strange sense of loss.
"Ms. Shirasagi, what are you looking at?" Ohara's somewhat irritated voice pulled Yumiko back to reality. Looking up, she noticed the tanka poem written on the blackboard in white chalk had been annotated with red and yellow markings.
"What does the 'utsutsu' in this tanka indicate? Explain." Yumiko felt the gaze of all the students in the class fall on her, as if testing her. The dull sound of Nakajima typing monotonously--and flagrantly--on the keyboard was the only sound in the room.
"Yes, ma'am. It indicates the name of the place, Uzu, and the meaning of the word 'utsutsu' itself, which is 'reality.'" Yumiko's voice sounded slightly nervous. But Ohara's question was an extremely easy one, especially for someone like Yumiko, who was aiming to be a literary historian.
"I see you've studied well, Ms. Shirasagi. But sometimes what I'm saying will come in handy too." Ohara's expression softened a bit with her sarcastic warning. The momentary tension in the classroom dispersed, and as if beeing pulled in by Ohara's smile, the male students all grinned. Yumiko got the sense that the entire class was mocking her.
The class bell rang.
"Excuse me, professor." Nakajima called out to the teacher, stopping her just as she was about to leave. Ohara turned around, her eyes clearly full of apprehension.
Yumiko the unusual relationship between the two.
The professor is afraid of Nakajima?
"Professor, you're coming tonight like we planned, right?" Nakajima stayed seated at his desk, idly playing with the keys on his handheld computer.
Ohara's face see
med to turn slightly red.
"OK. I'll see you in the CAI room..." she replied delicately. Nakajima smiled, nodded, and waved to her.
Gaping at the two in surprise, Nakajima's behavior seemed to Yumiko as if he was saying "Good girl, now go away." But this strange relationship between professor and student didn't seem to bother her classmates in the least, who indifferently prepared for their next class.
Overcome with curiosity, Yumiko waited for Ohara to leave the classrom and walked over to Nakajima's desk.
"Hey, Nakajima..." Yumiko spoke to him, not really sure of what she was going to say.
Nakajima looked up at her dubiously. Being watched by those eyes full of a strange devilishness, Yumiko was struck once again by a strange sense of deja vu.
I can't shake the feeling I've met you somewhere before. Why? While that was what Yumiko really wanted to ask, that kind of question would probably just confuse him. Yumiko struggled to try and figure out what to do with this new, strange sensation.
"You know..." Nakajima opened his mouth and spoke as if teasing a small child.
"I think you'd be better off staying away from me."
"No, I..." With that response, Yumiko was unprepared with what to say next. At a seat further back, a stern and tough-looking male student's expression and hand movements signaled to Yumiko that she should probably leave Nakajima alone.
The classroom bell rang. The physics teacher for the second hour of class had at some point entered the room and was already standing at the head of the class.
You can go ahead and ignore me if you want. I want to know what's up with you, and it's my right to try and find out. Returning to her seat and enduring the thoughts and feelings welling up from the depths of her soul, Yumiko bit down on her lower lip with her well-shaped front teeth.
CHAPTER 2
Later that day at 7PM, Yumiko stood concealed in the shadows of the schoolyard, watching the CAI room carefully. An uncomfortably warm breeze struck her, carrying with it swarms of irritating insects that refused to leave her alone. The full moon showed itself from a break in the clouds, and illuminating the gloomy, flat-roofed separate building that housed the CAI room.
I feel like an idiot--a high school senior playing detective! Yumiko smiled bitterly while carefully observing the silent, empty CAI room. Yumiko asked herself just why she was out here doing this.
Yumiko was pretty sure that Nakajima had said "tonight." It just wasn't normal for a student to call a female teacher to the CAI room in the middle of the night. Of course, it was probably none of her business what the two of them would be doing there. However, after seeing Ohara's nearly drunken gait as she left the classroom, Yumiko had been very upset, and was overwhelmed with the urge to find out what the relationship between the two were; thus she had been hiding here all afternoon long.
Is this love at first sight?
No, that was too hasty a conclusion to make.
Yeah, right...
Yumiko could not deny that Nakajima had a very unique appeal to him, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was drawn to him on some sort of deeper connection, on a level beyond an ephemeral "love or hate" sort of emotion.
The arms of the clock passed 9PM, and just as Yumiko's arms and legs were starting to fall asleep, the silhouette of a person passed through the connecting hallway and entered the CAI room. Yumiko's body stiffened in nervousness. Presently a light went on inside the CAI room, and through the glass of the window, the outlines of several people moving about the room were faintly visible. But before Yumiko's heart even had a chance to start racing, the shadow of a very large man approached the window, and in an instant, all the blinds were lowered.
It would appear that Ohara and Nakajima were not the only people meeting tonight. The mystery only deepened, and Yumiko, overcome with curiosity, decided to move from the rear of the schoolyard to the CAI room to get a better look.
Right as Yumiko left her former watchpoint, Ohara stealthily approached the CAI room, opened the door slightly, and slipped inside. The room was lit up brilliantly, and three students arrived to greet her. The three of them were garbed in black robes; one of them reverently carried a silver platter, and the other two carried swords and candlesticks. The desk in the center of the room that normally sported several computers had been removed, and in its place was a leather sofa. Nakajima Akemi was sitting on that sofa, deep in meditation. A large circle divided into twelve sections like a horoscope was drawn on the floor, with the sofa situated in the center; at four places inside the circle were astrological symbols representing the Moon, Sun, Mars, and Pluto.
"Hello, and welcome." Realizing Ohara's arrival, Nakajima stopped his meditation and slowly stood up; as he left the sofa, the several several belts attached to it on the backrest, arms and base--belts expressly designed to bind a person down--became clearly visible. However, even seeing this, Ohara displayed no signs of fear, and in fact her expression even calmed a bit. Smiling and nodding, Nakajima ordered the three students to turn out the room lights and ignite the candles. They obediently followed his orders. As if enthralled by the mysterious aura the now-dark room seemed to hold, Ohara knelt on the ground in front of Nakajima.
Nakajima's white, translucent hand touched Ohara's flushed cheek.
"Come, relax a bit. In just a few minutes, the demon Loki will arrive. Loki is well known for his beauty and mischievousness; a perfect match for you, Professor..." Nakajima spoke in a voice that had a composed, sweet sound, one that could melt the heart of any person. As Nakajima's hand slid from Ohara's cheek to the nape of her neck, her breath became deep and heavy.
"It's time to turn on the host computer. There's no need to worry, Professor. I'm sure that you will satisfy the demon..." Whispering in Ohara's ear, Nakajima stepped away and entered a command into a nearby terminal. Beyond the thick plate glass, the reels of magnetic tape slowly started to turn. Nakajima picked up his handheld computer and entered a quick command. A white haze appeared from the liquid crystal display and began expanding before seeping out the doorway; as soon as it disappeared from view, the low growl of a beast sounded throughout the outside hallway, enough to send tremors of fear into the bowels of all within earshot. It was Kerberos, a digital beast summoned from the Atziluth world and given form by Nakajima; he was to perform the role of guardian for tonight's ceremony.
Meanwhile, the three students in the room led Ohara to the sofa, and fastened her firmly to the seat using the leather belts.
"Come, steady your breathing. Concentrate your spirit, and call forth the demon from the Atziluth world."
Click, Click.
As if impatient, the sound of the terminal's disk drive echoed throughout the room.
"The Moon and Mars are opposite each other, and so are the Sun and Pluto, forming the Grand Cross in the heavens. No night could be as perfect as this to summon a demon." Speaking as if chanting a spell, Nakajima took a helmet-like device from the machine room and placed it on Ohara's head.
It was a brainwave Modem Helmet. It digitized human brainwaves, and acted as an interface to directly communicate with the computer. Two long cables extended from the back of the helmet by the base of the head, one red and one black. The red cable connected to the host computer, and the black one connected to one of the terminals in the room. Nakajima entered a command on the terminal, and the magnetic tapes started to spin rapidly. Ohara's body started twitching slightly, as if her consciousness was already blending into someone inside the host. A pungent musky spell wafted up from somewhere, enveloping her. The faces of the three students watching over the ceremony with glazed-over, unfocused eyes, lit up with an expression like awe.
"Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." The instant the low, rumbling voice sounded from the machine room, Ohara let out a cry and started twisting her body about. As she continued to scream intermittently, her eyes opened wide with fear, staring emptily into space. The legs of the sofa started to come
off the floor as Ohara twisted her limbs as if trying to escape from something, stretching the cables connected to her helmet.
The leather straps binding her ground against her wrists, breaking the skin and staining the belts black with oozing blood. But the expression of panic on Ohara's face soon dissipated, her face became calm, and she closed her eyes. Her mouth turned up at the corners into a smile, even though her bottom lip was still bleeding from where she had bitten down on it.
"I see you've succeeded in taking in Ohara, Loki. Now, what are you going to do with her?" Nakajima looked into the display of the computer connected to the modem helmet.
The digital modem helmet had taken Ohara's thoughts and sensations, digitized them, and sent them into the world that virtual Loki had created in the host computer. One could say that her earlier pain had just been a temporary autonomous rejection reaction when her digitized nervous system initially came into contact with that of the demon.
Nakajima looked into the display of the computer, hoping to get a glimpse of the world that was currently being fed into Ohara's visual cortex. All of a sudden, Kerberos' angry roar echoed throughout the corridor outside. In reaction to Nakajima's gesture, the two stern students carrying swords started moving toward the door.
Shortly after Ohara had entered the CAI room, Yumiko moved from the rear of the schoolyard to the hallway that connected the outlying building with the rest of the school. She slowly walked along the corridor, using the reflected moonlight off the linoleum floor as a guide. From a crack in the blinds by the darkened window, a slight flickering light was visible, most likely from candlelight.
Stop this foolishness. Let's just go home, take a shower, and forget all this. Yumiko's normal instincts anxiously tried to persuade her. But tonight, there was another Yumiko pulling the strings.
What are you so afraid of? This is our chance to find out what's up with Nakajima! Like all other girls her age had done at least once or twice, Yumiko obeyed her more daring, curious voice. From the CAI room, she could hear the sound of a far-off cry, like sobbing. The instant Yumiko's heart started racing, something suddenly crawled out of the darkness right in front of her, before she had a chance to even react.
Digital Devil Story: Reincarnation of the Goddess Page 3
