Shikigami

Chapter 14: Little By Little

The more Allen was strolling – with difficulty – in the lively and crowded streets of the capital city, the more he regretted coming there. The sky was pitch black above him but the festivities were in full swing, the boy had trouble avoiding bumping into people and the noise around him was threatening to give him a powerful headache. At first, he had come to the Festival to lighten his confused mind, and hearing all the cheerful voices around him as well as watching various artists sing, juggle, spit fire and exhibit many other skills had entertained him a bit. He had even been offered dumplings and sake, though he refused the latter.

But then, he started seeing drunk people yelling obscenities while scaring young ladies, men fighting after gambling, and even kids stealing purses of careless people. At the corner of a narrow street, a man was throwing up abundantly next to a person – Allen failed at identifying the gender – who was lying on the dirty ground, probably too drunk to stand. And there was the smell. Smell of countless dishes prepared by travelling sellers mixed with emanation of alcohol and odours of rubbish dumped on the streets were filling the air; it made Allen sick. And it was only the first night. The boy didn't dare imagine the state of the city three days later.

Since it was the first time Allen attended the Festival, he was clearly shocked when he realized that the party wasn't exactly how he had imagined it to be. How could Lavi and Lenalee stand all that... debauchery? The imperial guards were there to keep order, or at least they were supposed to, for Allen noticed with clear disapproval that most of them were holding either a bottle of sake, or a woman, or both. The silver-haired boy hurried to the main thoroughfare, hoping that it'd be more... respectable.

However, on his way there, his attention was caught by something moving furtively on the roofs. He stopped, trying to catch the thing – probably a youkai – with his eyes but a man bumped into him and started insulting him for standing on his way. Allen wrinkled his nose as the man reeked of alcohol – gods, were there only drunkards in the street? – but was about to apologize anyway when the same man let out a cry of pain and the woman – visibly as drunk as the man – who was holding his arm shrieked in surprise.

"What the..." the man started, shaking his leg frantically and almost losing his balance.

As Allen looked down, he saw a lizard about the size of a cat biting the man's leg.

"A youkai is attacking me!" he yelled. Some people turned their gaze to him but quickly walked away, visibly uninterested by such a minor event. The man raised his angry eyes to Allen:

"It's yours, right?" he barked at the boy, still trying to get rid of the youkai. His cheeks were red, but Allen couldn't tell if it was due to alcohol or to fury. "You sent your pitiful shikigami because I bumped into you, right? You son of a..."

"Call it back!" the woman ordered Allen. "Call it back or I swear you're going to pay, you little scum!"

Allen was distraught. He had originally intended to help the man, but now all his will had vanished. Fortunately, there was already so much mess in the streets that not many people noticed the ruckus the man and probably his wife were making.

"It's a wild youkai! I didn't do anything!" Allen replied as he stepped back.

"Liar! You sent it! You're a demon as well!" the woman snapped back, pointing at his white hair.

"I-I..."

"Yeah, you're a demon too! Take that, demon!" the man made an unsuccessful attempt at punching Allen. The boy mentally thanked the wasted state of the man that had prevented him from aiming correctly.

But he couldn't stand it any more, so he did the most logical thing possible: he ran away, bumping into several people but he didn't care. All he wanted was to flee the stifling crowd, the noise hammering his skull, the nauseous and heady smell of alcohol mixed with grilled food, everything. If he had thought that coming to the Festival would help him, he was now realizing how much of a mistake it was. At that moment, he was more willing to face Kanda than going back to the Festival. That's why he ran back to the Temple.