The man's face started to turn purple. However, his primal survival instinct was not dead, and like a shrimp, his body shook, his legs kicking.
Murmuring, Ohara squeezed tighter. "That's right, strugle. Struggle as hard and as vainly as you can."
"Guagh!" With a bizarre voice that could only come from a larynx being clamped shut, the man's body spasmed and went limp.
At that moment, the doorbell echoed throughout the apartment. Most likely, Yumiko's younger brother had come home. Licking the black blood off her razor-sharp talons, Ohara smiled at the fortuitous timing of the arrival.
CHAPTER 4
On the evening of the following day, Nakajima's mother was getting irritated at how late her son was returning.
Even if he is helping with the investigation, I can't imagine they would need his help this much...
She looked up at the clock; it was already long past eight o'clock. Recently Nakajima had been spending long amounts of time with Feed. This was to be expected; without him, there was no chance of the Demon Banishment Project ever coming to fruition. But Nakajima's mother had no way of knowing the truth behind the situation. MIT's Professor Charles Feed showing up. The Special Forces-like Cabinet Intelligence Office getting involved. All of the signs pointed to her son being embroiled in some sort of grave and important affair. Even though her primary concern was for her son to do well in his college entrance exams coming up the following spring, she was in no position to bother him about such a trifling affair.
"I'm sure that at MIT, Akemi will be able to do research that will benefit the whole world. Please let me make arrangements for his matriculation." If not for Professor Feed's request, which sounded at least half-serious, right about now there might have been a great rift between her and her son.
The doorbell rang.
"He's finally back."
But the slightly nasal voice from the intercom claimed to be a guidance counselor from Jusho High. Looking at the mirror and fixing her hair slightly, Nakajima's mother opened the door. A graceful, smiling woman stood in front of her.
Is this really a teacher? I imagine none of her students would dare disobey her...
Dressed in a colorful colorful one-piece, her supple body certainly didn't seem to be what one would expect of a teacher.
"There's something I think I should talk to you about Nakajima." Ohara knew just what to say to gain her target's trust. Though slightly confused at her slightly overly-gaudy appearance, Nakajima's mother smiled politely and prepared from slippers.
"The place is a mess, but please, come in."
Ohara's expression stiffened for an instant as she watched Nakajima's mother turn around.
She looks exactly like Nakajima Akemi...
Trying to control her cascading emotions, Ohara bit down on her lip.
Facing Nakajima's mother on the sofa, the teacher made an unexpected comment.
"My name is Ohara. I was lying when I said I was a guidance counselor, so I apologize for that."
"Eh...?" Nakajima's mother tilted her head in suspicion.
Ohara's eyes narrowed as she watched the woman across from her.
"I take it from your expression that you don't know who I am." There was an uneasy tension in the air between them.
"You really do look a lot like him." Murmuring, Ohara felt the scales on her cheeks hardening beneath her makeup.
"Have a look at this." Speaking in a restrained voice, Ohara extended her hands out toward Nakajima's mother.
"What's this...!?"
Green scales were slowly sliding out of the white skin on her hands.
"Your beloved Akemi was the one who transformed me into this." Ohara's eyes burned with a silvery flame.
"What do you mean?" Bewildered, Nakajima's mother spoke shrilly; even if she had wanted to stand up, it was if her body was rooted to the spot and she could not move.
A tiny white snake stuck its head out of the purse that Ohara had put on the sofa. Its flat head turned and its red eyes fixated on Nakajima's mother.
Nakajima's mother bolted to her feet. "Ah!! What is this thing? Who are you...?"
The white snake swiftly slid across the ground to her feet, and deftly began to slither up her slender leg.
CHAPTER 5
The same night, Yumiko returned from Yomi to her house for the first time in ages, only to be greeted by the stench of blood. She stood fixed to the spot, staring at the wet pools of blood in the foyer.
Why...who did this...
Dropping to the floor, her hands slipped in the lake of blood below them. The mangled corpses of her mother, father, and younger brother all lay before her. Perhaps she was paralyzed by the overwhelming shock of emotion, but Yumiko strangely did not shed a tear. All of a sudden, the image of a sneering woman's face appeared before her eyes.
"Ohara!" Yumiko's honed supernatural senses had picked up her mother's faint residual energy and amplified it to a clear picture.
"It was you, wasn't it, Ohara!" Yumiko's field of vision reddened, her sorrow turning to rage. When she regained her senses, she found herself walking outside.
"Yumi! When did you get back?" The housewife next door had just just come up the stairs, but as she saw the blood dripping from Yumiko's hands, she dropped her shopping bag in shock.
But as if she did not even see the woman, Yumiko passed by her, walking down the stairs as if sleepwalking. Soon afterwards, she heard a piercing scream behind her. Most likely the housewife she had just passed had looked into Yumiko's apartment and seen the bloodbath there. To Yumiko, it all seemed like something that happened in a dream or a far-off world.
Why did I even come to Tokyo? If I had stayed in Sapporo none of this would ever have happened to me... Yumiko saw the roadside trees where she had been living three months earlier in Hokkaido superimposed over the lines of gingkos in front of her.
Nakajima, if only I had never met you...
Yumiko pictured Nakajima's handsome features in her mind. Love, malice, irritation. A whirl of uncontrollable emotion surged through her body. Unable to withstand it, Yumiko squatted down along the side of the road. The minute she thought of Nakajima, tears started flowing out of her eyes uncontrollably. A nearby child looked at her suspiciously, then ran away in shock upon seeing the blood on her clothing.
I've got to find Nakajima.
With heavy footsteps, Yumiko started walking toward the one connection she had remaining.
CHAPTER 6
It was past 9:00; certainly not an early time to be returning home for a high school student. As Nakajima hesitantly pressed the intercom button, the door swung open, as if waiting for him.
"Sorry I'm home so late. Professor Feed was..." Sensing a strange coldness from his mother's stare, Nakajima stopped in mid-sentence.
This isn't the first time I've been late; why is she so mad?
However, his mother's expression soon softened into a smile, and she pointed inside.
"There's a guest here to see you."
"To see me?" Nakajima pictured Yumiko's face.
However, the sight of a pair of high-heeled shoes in the foyer soon dispelled his hopes.
"Who is it?"
"She says her name is Ohara."
"WHAT!?" Crying out, Nakajima darted into the living room, without even taking off his shoes.
The woman sitting on the sofa with her back to him slowly stood up and turned to face him.
"It's been a while, Nakajima."
The voice was familiar. The face covered in bronze scales was not.
Nakajima felt surreal, as if he had been pulled into a nightmare, and he felt the will being sapped out of his body.
"What...are you here for!?" Nakajima finally managed to open his mouth and speak.
"I'm here to kill you, of course." Speaking casually, a crazed smile flashed on Ohara's face as she assaulted him.
With the demonic blood flowing in her veins having transformed her into a powerful demon-human hybrid, Ohara was not an opponent that Nakajima could take on barehanded. Without even showing signs of resistance, Nakjama simply let Ohara hold him down, which caused her to let her guard down slightly.
"What's wrong, Nakajima? Are you trying to suggest that I'm not worth killing!?" Sneering, Ohara's rank breath assaulted Nakajima's senses. However, he did not falter.
I'll make you regret not using this opportunity to kill me...
Nakajima had been picturing two blue spheres in his mind. They were spheres he had been given in Yomi, and were used to summon Hi-no-Kagutsuchi. Knocking the two spheres in his mind together, they gave off a shower of sparks, and a blistering aura surrounded his right hand. All of a sudden, Nakajima was grasping the Sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, which glowed with a crimson light.
Feeling the intense heat, Ohara reflexively jumped backwards. Immediately the crimson blade came crashing down, slicing through her arm. Nakajima charged Ohara, who had been knocked backwards by the force of the blow, stabbing the sword as if to finish her off. But he had not adequately trained with the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, and Ohara escaped its tip by a hair's breadth.
That moment, Nakajima noticed his mother in his field of vision, watching their battle as if possessed.
"Mom, hide!"
Nakajima became worried; he needed to get his mother outside safely before Ohara attacked her.
"Do you want to be skewered on the sword that defeated Loki too?" Standing between his mother and Ohara, Nakajima threatened his opponent. But that once sentence reignited the dwindling flames of Ohara's desire for revenge.
"You killed Loki...!?" Holding her wounded arm, Ohara ground her teeth together and took a step back.
"The minute you let me bring out my sword, you lost. Wake up already!" There appeared to be almost a look of compassion in Nakajima's eyes, reflecting the red glow of his blade.
However, at that moment, an intense pain shot through his right arm. Of all things, his mother had stabbed him from behind with a fruit knife. Though Nakajima immediately pushed his mother away reflexively, he could not understand what had happened and just stood there confused, and in that moment, Ohara, who had slipped behind him, grabbed him in a headlock.
"Your mother has been possessed by a demon called an Apep, and is completely under my control. Letting you get killed by your own mother is the least I can do for you. Come on, do it!"
Resonding to Ohara's orders, Nakajima's mother slowly walked toward her son, brandishing her fruit knife.
"Mom, please stop!" Trying to break Ohara's grip, Nakajima cried out desperately.
Right at that time, Yumiko had arrived at Nakajima's apartment building, and was about to press the intercom when she felt a strange presence. Without hesitation, she put her hand on the doorknob and focused all her energies on it. As a noxious smoke filled the area, the expensive, high-security lock system melted, and the doorknob fell to the ground; Yumiko had used a tremondous spontaneous combustion power. Running into Nakajima's house without taking her shoes off, Yumiko ran into the living room to see Ohara holding Nakajima in a headlock, moments before he was about to be stabbed by a silver knife.
"Nakajima, look out!"
"Wait!"
The two cried out at exactly the same.
Yumiko's eyes flashed with a blinding light for an instant, and the arms of Nakajima's knife-wielding mother burst into flame. In mere moments, the fire spread, engulfing her entire body in crimson flames, burning her to a crisp as she wailed in pain.
Meanwhile, Ohara had escaped outside via the veranda.
"Mom..." Not noticing the white snake crawling out of the conflagration before disintegrating into thin air, Nakajima merely stood agape as he watched his mother perish, wreathed in flames.
"Yumiko..."
Finally Nakajima turned around, his eyes wandering aimlessly.
"You just killed my mom..." Nakajima's strained voice tore out Yumiko's heart.
No, it can't be...
Covering her face with her hands, Yumiko ran outside.
CHAPTER 7
Ohara had managed to make it back to the Soga Forest after escaping from her close shave with death; she stopped by the shores of the swamp, breathing heavily. Surrounded by dark green reeds, the surface of the water rippled, reflecting parts of the dilapidated old manor here and there. A deep wound as if cut by a scalpel was openly exposed in Ohara's arm where she had been hit by the sword of Hi-no-Kagutsuchi. However, mysteriously enough, there was very little blood flowing from it any longer.
Ohara did not really have any intention of returning to Isma. But there was something in the Soga forest that calmed her demonic soul. Sitting down on the trunk of a fallen larch tree, she whispered to herself.
"Loki..."
I meant to get revenge, but in the end I didn't even manage to take out the one who killed Loki...
Something hot welled up in Ohara's eyes, and her bronze cheeks became moist. Waiting a little while, the night breeze cooled her well-formed face, gently wiping those tears off.
Right at that moment, the white visage of a girl clearly entered Ohara's field of vision.
It might have been the fact that only hatred had been keeping Ohara going that caused her to notice that Yumiko had half-unintentionally followed her after running out of Nakajima's house.
You just killed my mom... Nakajima's voice still echoed in Yumiko's ears. As if trying shake free from it, Yumiko slowly raised her hand, glaring at Ohara with tear-filled eyes. The psychic power bestowed upon her by Izanami would surely finish her off in a single attack.
But Yumiko faltered.
Professor Ohara is also a victim here. Nakajima's mother surely was also possessed by a demon. And I...
"Heh, heh, heh." As if she had read Yumiko's mind, Ohara sniffed her bloody fingers, suppressing a giggle.
"Foolish sympathy will destroy you. Have a look at my fingers! Some of your family's blood still remains on them!"
"Stop it!" Crying out, Yumiko closed her eyes and swung her hand.
As if following the arc of that hand, Ohara's chest was rent open, and a spray of her blood drenched the surrounding area. Yumiko unconsciously ran over and pulled up Ohara's broken body, which looked almost coiled around the larch log. In a brief moment, all traces of scales disappeared from her face, and her ghostly white lips quivered, as if trying to say something.
But Yumiko could not hear whatever it was she was tring to say. Tears rolled off her cheeks and onto Ohara's face. All of a sudden at that instant, there was a rumbling roar from the shores of the swamp, and the entire area was steeped in a miasma.
CHAPTER 8
Right at that moment, in the manor across the swamp, the magnetic tapes of the computer started spinning furiously next to Isma, who had gone without sleep or rest, analyzing data to give Set a body. The computer rejected all the commands he typed on the keyboard, and the screen started scrolling rapidly, as if a huge amount of data had gone haywire.
"What's going on!?"
Isma stood up, and the concrete under his feet tore in cracks with a terrible rending sound. Gouts of flame erupted from the cabling, and the hexagram inscribed on the floor started undulating as if it was alive. The cellar was filled with the murmurs of otherworldly voices.
"Set!"
"Set is going to be born!"
"He's finally going to be born!"
Ancient Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek...all the voices, regardless of the languages they spoke in, started blending together in a disordered cacophony.
Born? What do they mean by born?
Isma just managed to stumble outside. There, his supernaturally heightened senses detected a demonic power far beyond anything he had ever experienced before gathering on the opposite side of the swamp.
CHAPTER 9
Squelch.
"Augh!" Feeling a stabbing pain in both her eyes, Yumiko dropped to her knees.
Hya! Hya!
A laughing voice that sound like fingers scraping on a chalkboard echoed in her ears. Sensing something inexplicably foreboding in that voice, Yumiko stood up into a ready stance. However, robbed of her sight, Yumiko could scarcely even be sure of her footing, let alone fend off an attacker.
Moments later, a huge amoeba-like writhing creature crawled out of Ohara's torn-open belly and gradually started floating in midair.
An almost unbearable stench wafted through the air. Unable to withstand it, Yumiko's knees buckled and she started coughing uncontrollably.
Hya! Hya!
Yumiko blindly fired her psychic power in the direction of the voice. But her psychic wave merely passed through the gelatinous blob, engulfing the larch tree behind it in flames.
The blob gradually floated up right above Yumiko's head, and as if it had melted all of a sudden, poured itself all over her body. Momentarily, the amoeba had Yumiko's body entirely encased in translucent jelly and two points of red light on it, clearly sentient, flickered with satisfaction.
PART 4:
HE WHO CALLS
CHAPTER 1
A week passed. It was 10:00PM in Inogashira Park. Being the latter half of August, the heat during the day was as blistering as ever, but this late it was a lot easier to bear.
"Cut it out, not here!" A high-pitched nasal, entreating voice blended in with the chirping of the cicadas.
The voice of a heavily-breathing man responded. "Aw, c'mon, this is the perfect place!"
Shortly later, the woman realized that the cicadas had stopped their chirping.
"Hey, is someone watching?"
"Who cares? Let 'em peek!"
Digital Devil Story: Warrior of the Demon City Page 5
