The Disappearance of Osomatsu-san

Chapter 126: Host of The Devil

When Ichi opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that Chibita and Iyami seemed to be frozen in place. The taller male was stuck in a pose in which he was covering his face, or his overbite to be exact, with both of his arms in a crossed-position. Then there was Chibita, with his ladle that he pulled out from nowhere, in a fighting stance and with one of his hands curled into a fist. He looked angry, Ichi noted. But another thing he noticed was that both of them were gray from top to bottom; it was as if they were just stone statues. Not only that, but everything else around Ichi seemed gray, except for Ichi himself. He looked at his own palms and his own clothes, realizing that his purple and black attire still maintained their respective colors.

And Ichi certainly wasn't frozen in place. He saw his own fingers move, and the fact he was able to turn his head to the side was enough proof.

When he looked at what was in front of him, his eyes widened. At the door was Shiyou, gray from head to toe, similar to Chibita and Iyami. Not only that, but she was frozen in place as well. Her hair was supposedly fluttering, but it was stuck in the air. One of her arms were outstretched to Ichi's direction, and her face was maniacal. However, as Ichi was thankful for, Shiyou was frozen in place, similar to a stone statue that Ichi usually saw in museums, particularly ones from Greece. The fact that she was frozen meant she couldn't harm him or anyone else in the room. Ichi slowly backed away until he felt his back press against Jyushi's bed.

"Oh my god." He heard the eldest Matsuno's voice.

When he looked around, he saw Osomatsu beside him, eyes trembling in fear, maybe because he was so confused on what happened. Osomatsu also had color, and just by seeing the movement of both his eyes and his chest, Ichi could say with confidence that Osomatsu was in a same state as him. But Osomatsu wasn't focused on what was in front of them, he was looking at something from behind them.

And when he looked behind him, Ichi noticed three things.

The first thing he noticed was that Todo was now a few inches away from Jyushi's bed, and had knocked down the chair he had been sitting on earlier. Jyushi's bed, the chair, and every other single piece of furniture and trinket was also gray, indicating that it may or may have not turned into stone. Well, Ichi certainly couldn't tell if it was stone or not, but they were all a dull gray color. Even the vase that had been sitting peacefully at Jyushi's shelf had been knocked over. But instead of seeing the flowers on the ground, Ichi noticed that the vase, like Chibita and Iyami, was stuck in place. It was in the middle of falling when time had apparently paused.

The second thing he noticed was the other three clones that shared the same face as he possessed, as well as Jyushi and both of the Osomatsus that Ichi had met this week. Kara had pulled Lonely close to him in what seemed to be a protective hug, and Todo was standing in front of them with his arms spread out, probably intent on protecting them. But Kara was trembling, Lonely seemed confused and was patting Kara's arm as a gesture for him to let go, and Todo was breathing harshly. Besides their movement, like Ichi and Osomatsu, they still had the color on their clothes, on their skin, and on their eyes.

And third, he noticed that while the sleeping Jyushi wasn't in color, there were yellow strings attached to both of his gray-colored wrists. The strings seemed to be attached to the giant purple mist that was surrounding the top of Jyushi's bed, accompanied by red eyes and a wide smile with a row of sharp teeth-

"What the fuck?!" Ichi pointed his katana at the purple cloud floating on top of his brother. "Who are you?! What the fuck do you think you're doing to my bro-"

"Akumatsu." That name was murmured out by Osomatsu, who was shaking in place. He recognized what form Akumatsu took that day, back when Kamimatsu had first appeared. Summoning him was already a pain with the fact that they pracitcally let him borrow their souls, but Osomatsu hadn't noticed how terrifying Akumatsu actually looked up close. He was glad that he seemed smaller this time, though it may be because of the absence of the other Matsuno brothers. Osomatsu honestly didn't know, but it just seemed like the most logical thing at the moment. "You.. you're definitely Akumatsu, right?"