Grimoire - Vol 1. Revelation of Rakshas

Interlude (aka Parts of the Story I Wasn't Around For) - Plans of Rest

Ryouichi hated this place. It stank no matter how much you drowned the place in an air freshener. It creaked no matter where you sat on the sofa. And, the walls looked like they would fall down and become dust any moment now if anyone even dared to sneeze loudly.

'Seriously, is that the best Ash could get for us?' Ryouichi wondered.

Ashraf was, after all, one of the most important members of their 4th coven. Infact, he was considered to be the next-in-line to becoming their vice-captain...after 2 other people but still, important enough.

It was hard to believe he held no sway over the administration coven to give them a better base location.

Then again, Ryouichi knew the sort of man his boyfriend was. He'd be okay with living in a pit as long as it wasn't an obstacle in their path to completing their mission.

Ryouichi was not like that. Sure, he cared about the mission too. But not at the expense of his own comfort.

"It's just temporary. There was a little mix-up in the admin coven and hence...this," he said, lifting his arms and gesturing to the apartment. "I've lodged the complaint and they should remedy that within a few days. Unless, ofcourse, we complete the mission before then."

Rei scoffed, "Yeah, like that'll happen." She slipped down even further in her plastic seat such that now her bottom wasn't even on the chair. Ryouichi could almost hear their elder brother scolding her to sit straight.

Usually, Ryouichi hated to agree with Rei, and he rarely did agree with her, but he was with her on that one. Let alone finishing their mission, they weren't even sure what their mission was exactly.

Remedy the increased corruption activity in the area.

Those were the official words said to them before pushing them out of the Aatmahal and into this shitty town.

What they failed to mention was the unwillingness of that corruption to stay down.

Ryou, his sister and Ash have been fighting Rakshas for days now, from morning till night. They must have killed about fifteen Rakshas already in the past week.

Sixteen if you counted the Akkorokamui.

Though...that was a strange one.

He was the first possessed they had encountered since coming here. Possessed weren't strange occurrences by themselves, but the timing of it...it really made Ryou wonder as to what exactly was happening here.

"Whoever's behind this, we will catch him and kill him, be it a Rakshas or an Asur, don't worry about that," Ash said, who sat on the sofa as if none of the grimy stains on it bothered him even a little. Ofcourse, he couldn't see the stains—he was blind after all—but Ryouichi was sure that the smell must be really grating on him.

Not that Ashraf would have ever admitted it. Small as the group was, he was still their leader. Ryouichi knew that Ashraf simply didn't want to let the morale down.

'Well, I can't take it'. The smell was giving him a headache. 'Might as well check up on the human', Ryouichi thought as he got up and started to make his way towards the small room.

"Ah, about that, Ryo, don't bother. The human isn't there anymore," Ash said. As amazing of a person, Ashraf was, his uncanny sense of hearing still creeped out Ryouichi. Didn't mean that he loved him any less.

"He's not? Where is he?" Rei said, sitting straight up—with a lot of effort too.

"I don't know," Ash shrugged, "Home, I guess. He walked into this room, eavesdropped for a few minutes and escaped from that window in the backroom when you," he pointed at Ryouichi, "got up to start pacing. You should have heard his heartbeat," he said, chuckling.