I dragged myself to the meeting room the next morning, eyes heavy, limbs heavier. The door creaked open, and I stepped inside, already bracing for their voices.
Kebe was lounging in his chair like he owned the place, feet up on the table and a rice cracker halfway into his mouth. Fumiko stood near the window, arms crossed, pretending not to be waiting for me.
The moment they saw me, they pounced.
"Look who finally decided to wake up from his romantic trauma coma." Kebe said with a sly grin.
"Tch. I thought Seiko said he saved the girl. Not terrified her into a sprinting record." Fumiko added coldly.
I sighed, dropping into my chair. "Morning to you too, jackals."
"C'mon, man. You can't just show a girl your inner monster and expect her to swoon. That only works in vampire movies." Kebe said, crunching the rest of his cracker.
"Don't compare him to a vampire. Vampires have charm." Fumiko muttered.
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. I knew it was coming, but still… it stung.
"I didn't mean to scare her." I said quietly.
"You think that makes it better?" Fumiko asked, her voice flat.
Kebe held up a hand. "Okay okay, let's not rip him apart. He already looks like a kicked dog."
"Because he acts like one. If you really care, why'd you let her leave like that?" Fumiko asked, turning to face me fully.
"She wanted to go." I replied.
"And you just let her?" she pressed, one eyebrow twitching.
I didn't have a good answer. I wasn't even sure I could've stopped her without making it worse.
"Wait, wait, hold up." Kebe said, leaning forward with sudden realization. "Did she cry?"
She said, 'please don't touch me.'
Kebe's face dropped. Fumiko turned her head like she didn't want to hear that.
"...Yikes." Kebe mumbled.
"That's worse than I thought." Fumiko added softly.
"I didn't attack her. I almost— I didn't mean to swing at her. I wasn't in control," I said, my hands gripping the edge of the table.
"But you did," Fumiko said, meeting my eyes. Her gaze wasn't angry. It was disappointed. That was worse.
"You know she's just a girl, right? She hasn't seen the kind of things we have." she continued, voice quiet.
"To her, that whole room was a nightmare. But to you, it's Tuesday," Kebe said, tapping the table with two fingers.
They weren't wrong. But that didn't help.
"I was infected. A Youkai virus. Embedded in my vision and hearing. The sword— it... I had to cut it out." I explained.
"...Out of your head?" Kebe asked, blinking.
"Yeah." I said flatly.
"You're either a genius or an idiot," he said.
"Probably both." Fumiko added.
"Wait. Back up." Kebe said, tilting his head like he was solving a puzzle. "So you're saying... your sword can go through dimensions and become selectively untouchable?"
"Basically," I replied with a shrug.
"Okay, yeah, you definitely scared the girl," Kebe said, eyes wide.
"You should've warned her. 'Hi, I'm Kurai. I can cut the air and my brain open. Wanna hang out?' Fumiko said dryly.
I rolled my eyes. "I didn't exactly get the chance to send her a brochure."
"What I don't get is, why didn't you run after her? Or I dunno... say something? 'Hey, sorry I went full psycho in a haunted theater'? Anything?" Kebe asked.
"Would it have made a difference?" I asked.
"Yes. Of course it would've," Fumiko snapped.
"She saw what I am." I muttered.
"She saw what you became. Tha's not the same thing," she replied sharply.
I didn't say anything. Fumiko's voice, while stern, had that weight again. That annoying, painful weight of truth.
"Do you like her?" Kebe asked suddenly.
"No." I said.
"You hesitated." he smirked.
"He totally hesitated." Fumiko said, turning to him.
"Shut up." I muttered.
"I'm just saying, if I had the chance with a cute girl and I blew it by turning into a demon, I'd at least try to apologize." Kebe said, poking the air like he was teaching a lesson.
"He doesn't know how. He thinks silence is some kind of shield." Fumiko said.
"Maybe I just don't care," I said quietly.
"Liar." Kebe shot back.
"Coward." Fumiko added.
I stared at the table, jaw tight. But they weren't attacking me — not really. This was how they showed they cared.
"I'll talk to her. When the time's right," I muttered.
Fumiko gave me a small nod, like she'd been waiting for that.
"There we go. Now we can insult him without guilt." Kebe said, kicking his feet off the table.
"We never needed guilt." Fumiko said.
"Says the girl who cried when Kurai got a paper-cut once." Kebe teased.
"Says the guy who screamed because he touched a cold toilet seat," Fumiko shot back.
"IT WAS WINTER!!" Kebe said, annoyed.
I leaned back and watched them bicker, sniping at each other like always. Idiots. But they were my idiots.
For the first time that morning, I almost smiled.
Suddenly, a loud alarm blared through the room. A piercing, mechanical screech that rattled the windows and made the walls feel like they were vibrating.
"AGHHHH, WHAT IS THIS SOUND?!" Fumiko yelled, clutching her ears, visibly startled.
Seiko barged in at that exact moment, her face pale, lips pressed into a tight line. She didn't say anything at first, just stared at the monitor on her tablet, eyes scanning something we couldn't see.
"No... no... no... no... no..." she muttered under her breath, voice uncharacteristically shaky.
"What 'no'? WHAT 'NO'?!" Kebe asked, eyes wide with alarm.
Seiko's hand tightened around the tablet. "That's a Code Violet," she finally said, her voice trembling slightly.
"WHAT THE HELL IS A CODE VIOLET?!" Fumiko demanded, stepping closer to her.
Seiko looked up at us. Her usual confidence was gone—replaced by something I hadn't seen before.
"It's when a rift forms. A tear between our world and the Youkuma dimension," she said grimly.
My heart skipped. "No way... does this have anything to do with the Youkai I defeated?" I asked, intrigued but also uneasy.
Seiko shook her head. "I don't think so. But it's bad. Really bad. We need to check it out. Now."