I woke up sometime later in the small infirmary with fresh bandages lining my skin. There was a slight pain in my head and a dull ringing in my ears as I remembered the events from earlier. When I looked out the window, it looked to be the middle of the night, but my body felt rested. The fight and the explosion must have happened hours ago, knocking me out cold in the process.
On my usual chair were two jackets, each identical to the other except one seemed a bit frayed from the blast. I slipped on the old one and carried the new one on my arm. Since it was night right now, everyone else in the building was either out working the night shift, or asleep in their rooms. The halls were quiet as I walked through them, I could hear my almost silent footsteps and heartbeat in my ears as I made my way down to the front steps. I called one of the drivers while hobbling to the elevator, it was waiting for me when I got down there.
When I got home, I called Mori, leaving a voicemail detailing my report to him. I threw the phone down on the bed, grimacing with the sudden movement. My entire body was unbelievably sore from the occurrences earlier today. The worst of the damage seemed to lie in my arm. The appendage was done up in tight bandages over a heavy metal cast that I could guess the use for, though the good doctor did think to give me a sling, so that made the weight more bearable.
As I laid down on the bed, feeling the way that my stomach protested the movement after the abuse it suffered from Chibi's kicks, I knew that if I were to undo my shirt, the entire area would be a deep purple. Getting to work on time tomorrow was going to be near impossible.
—-
I stood outside of Mori's office the next day, waiting for the right time to go inside. Chuuya was brought in yesterday with all the other mafia members that passed out from the explosion, apparently. He was brought over to Mori's office not too long ago, Randou was with him. The ability user was using his skill to keep the gravity manipulator in check while they were in there with the boss. The sub executive could create sub spaces at will, anything within the space was under his control. Currently they were being used to trap the small teen.
I could vaguely hear the conversation on the other side of the door, I think the ginger had just mentioned something about the Arahabaki that he seemed so interested in. Chuuya's knowledge of a god whose origin is unknown was strange. It was definitely something that brought curiosity to me, as a Greek demigod in my own right.
I opened the door, startling all three criminals present in the room. I swept my gaze over the room, taking in the necessary details: Chuuya's arms were bound with leather straps, a chain was wrapped around his legs, his ankles were tied with industrial grade steel wire that was attached to the floor at the other end. Even his fishes were tightly chained. Randou's subspace skill was active around the gravity user's torso, with the skill user standing not far behind him. Mori seemed to be simply sitting at his desk, observing the scene.
"Scuds me. Coming in... oh?" I pretended to be surprised, an act that didn't fool anyone in the room. Well maybe Randou but his mind is focused on other things right now.
"Perfect," Mori said, his voice already grating on my nerves. "I was waiting for you."
I bet you were.
"Ah! You're that li'l twig from yesterday!" Chuuya exclaimed. I watched as the boy practically leaped in the air. Something told me that if he wasn't restrained right now, there would be a foot in my face. "You goddamn punk!"
"Oh wow. You seem to be doing well. I, on the other hand, got inquired pretty badly, as you can see," I held up my right arm, showing off the thick cast. My head was also wrapped up in bandages from the explosion and beating, not that you would really know since it was normally done up that way. "Where does all that energy of yours come from anyways? Are you having a growth spurt? Or is that what happened to all the nutrients that were supposed to make you smarter and taller?"
"Leave my height outta this, damn it!" I liked the way that he looked when he was angry, it was natural without all of the false bravado.
"Fine... I suppose it's pretty tasteless to criticize others shortcomings, after all. I'll never do it again, Pip-squeak."
What can I say, sarcasm and being generally sassy has how I've survived for years.
"Why you...!"
"That's enough," Mori chided, clapping his hands together to garner attention. "You two really hit it off for just having met a day ago." He observed.
Hit it off? What in Hades is this old man talking about? If this is what he considers 'hitting it off' then in his deranged mind, he and I are probably best friends.
"At any rate... yes, Chuuya, I would like to ask you about the explosion yesterday. Randou, could you leave the room for a moment?"
I watched as the skill user frowned, displeased with the idea. "I... cannot recommend that, boss. This boy is dangerous..." Randou trailed off. There was something strange about his response, something that I couldn't help but be naturally suspicious of.
"It's fine," Mori waved his hand nonchalantly. "Dazai can nullify his skill if it comes down to it. I already have measures in place just to be on the safe side. More, importantly, Randou, you look colder and paler than usual. Are you alright...?"
Randou had been acting strange for a few days now, staring off into space, shivering more than normal, even for him. His behavior was strange. It's good that Mori finally noticed it before I had to point it out for the man.
Randou was shivering even more violently than before, as if chilled by the question. "I am embarrassed to admit it... but I feel like I'm about to freeze to death..." the man admitted, looking away from Mori and I as if embarrassed.
He's almost acting like a meek high school girl in front of a crush... but why?
The ginger in front of him seemed to almost choke. "You're cold?" Chuuya questioned, his disbelief audible. The teen cocked an eyebrow while glancing at Randou. The scene reminded me of when I'd first met Randou. I'm starting to think that this was just about everyone's reaction to the man. "Wearing that? In this weather?"
Anyone could understand that small teen's reaction. The man's entire outfit was sturdily insulated all the way from the trenchcoat to the thick coat wrapped around his neck. There were warm earmuffs donning Randou's head, with tall leather boots going up to his knees. These were only what could be seen. I once saw him remove the coat to replace one of his dozens of heat packets lining his coat. Looking at the man, you'd believe that we were in the South Pole during a winter night's snow storm instead of a warm office.
"I dressed lightly for the occasion," the man explained, uttering the sentence with ease despite the fact that thirteen year old me would have choked hearing, "so as not to offend the boss, but..." the man shivered,"... it's so cold."
"Randou's medical exam showed no signs of physical or mental illness," Mori explained to the baffled Chibi. A part of me wanted to take a picture of the expression on the boy's face and use it as blackmail later on. But blackmail means having something to use in the future. Being in the future means having to live to that point, so the effort would be pointless. Especially with the drug Mori promised. "He simply hates the cold."
"... I want to work somewhere warm... boss, are there any Port Mafia branches near a volcano...?"
The question made me wonder if the man was joking. However Mori's response told me two things: Randou was not joking and this wasn't the first time he's asked something like this.
"Afraid not," Mori said simply.
"Mn. I'll be taking my leave, as you wish."
Randou released his skill, causing the glowing yellow cubes to dissolve before us, as he staggered off to the door. The three of us watched on as he left. I could tell that a part of the man was happy to go, the fire at his home seemed to be calling him. Can't say I blame the guy.
Mori explained to Chuuya that Randou was a sub executive and an exceptional skill user despite his strange appearance and behavior, but his explanation was predictably met with annoyed grumbling from the small skill user.
An awkward silence seemed to stretch on after the explanation. I watched as Chuuya stared boredly at the two of us. When I glanced at Mori I found the man glancing vacantly around the room and at the two of us in it.
"Mori, do you think you can speed things up and cut to the chase," I asked, rolling my eyes. The silence was suffocating and annoying.
"Ah yes, of course." The mafia boss took a few more moments before finally speaking. "Chuuya, how would you feel about working for us?"
The urge to slap my hand to my face was overwhelmed by a loud roar tearing through the room. My already sensitive ears burned from the sudden noise. Jagged fissures spread through the floor around the angered redhead.
"... excuse me?" Came what sounded like a voice from the depths of Tartarus. If I hadn't already heard Kronos's myself, I would have thought that he followed me here to Japan. But the voice belonged to Chuuya. The reinforced, bulletproof flooring was scattered across the room, some of it laying at me feet, from Chuuya's violent motion. Despite this, neither Mori nor I batted an eye. I'd know that this was coming sooner or later from the moment that I heard that the boy was in the Mafia building. "You drugged me all the way out here, just to listen to you talk out of your ass?" The teen growled.
"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised by your reaction," Mori said blandly. I watched his and Chuuya's interaction. Mori had the displeased look on his face that appears when he doesn't like the results from the medical test. "But from what I can see, we're essentially after the same thing. Perhaps you might consider what we can offer each other before giving your answer."
Chuuya laughed dryly. "Hilarious. I had no idea the mafia's new boss enjoyed wasting people's time like this." The boy sneered, going as far as to bare his teeth like a wild beast ready to tear their prey to shreds. Something about the hungry look in the teen's eyes reminded me of the Minotaur getting ready to charge at me and Ares swinging his sword at me when I was twelve. It was the look of a killer, of a monster. "You want me to join the mafia? Don't tell me you forgot what your organization did to this city."
"You're referring to the previous boss's atrocities, yes? I, too, am pained by what he did," Mori replied sullenly. It was hard to read his expression to tell just how sincere his statement really was.
The previous boss's actions were nothing short of a bloody tyranny that had plunged Yokohama deep into a sea of violence and terror of the likes that had never been seen before in the city. The tragedies that occurred under that man's reign were still fresh in everyone's mind.
No one could forget the young boy killed just for scribbling on a car that happened to belong to the boss, or the housing complex whose water tank he'd ordered the poisoning of, killing everybody inside on the off chance that a rival organization's boss was hiding out there. Another day, he'd issued a notice detailing that anyone who spoke ill of the mafia would be killed and that anyone who reported such talk would be reworded. Yokohama became a tightrope city, everyone constantly watching their step around others, never able to trust anyone around them. By the end, over a thousand people were executed, most of which were known at the time to be innocent.
Nobody was safe from the terror that the previous boss had imposed, not even a fourteen year old child. I could still remember the blood on my hands. Blood that for the first time, was not my own. Everyone in the slums had been hit hard by the disease. Family members were gone and with them went any income that they might have made by any means. The promise of a reward was too tempting for some people.
Someone had sent a collector after me. It was a safe choice for them to make, I was a stray child that nobody would miss or seek revenge for. When the collector came for me, ready to kill me where I stood for a crime that I didn't even commit, I snapped. Riptide is made of a substance that can't hurt mortals, but the racks and rubble that'd been laying around me were a different story.
He'd been the first man, the first human, that I'd killed, an action that a child should never do, let alone repeat. When Mori had offered to kill the man that made me into a killer, even if only for survival, it'd been easier to accept than I thought it'd be. Something that everyone learned in that time: opposing the Port Mafia meant death. Disagreeing meant death.
The merciless tyrant of the night and his army of death- that was how people called the Port Mafia.
"But the man is dead. I cared for him when he was sick and on his deathbed," the man said sternly. "If there's such a rumor that this tyrant has come back to life, wouldn't you want to know if it's true, to help you sleep at night."
Do you sleep at night, Mori? Do you sleep knowing that the boy you experimented on could spill your secrets at any moment? Knowing just how easy everyone would believe me since no one trusts you yet?
Chuuya stared at Mori with such a piercing glare that if looks could kill, he'd be dust right now.
"Still doesn't give you a good reason to push me around, Doc," Chuuya said with a slight sneer. "There's plenty of nasty rumors about you flying around as well. Like how your predecessor didn't actually die of illness, but instead you killed him," the boy paused for a brief moment as if considering how far he could push it. Smart. "... which you obviously did. Nobody with a functioning brain would believe that the old boss spent his final moments making his personal physician the next mafia boss. If I'm wrong then prove it. Prove right now that you're not just another inspiring grim reaper with a lust for power." The boy stared Mori down, it was a brazen gaze that I thought suited him. A big part of me was impressed by how fearlessly he could say all of this despite his position. "You can't, right?"
The doctor's assassination of the previous boss was a closely kept secret, especially within the organization itself. Only Mori and I knew the truth of that night with absolute certainty. It should be fun to see how the old man handles this.
"You're right. I can't prove it," Mori said, going as far as to shrug. "Because..." the doctor looked at me, it was the face of someone planning to do something stupid. I noticed the change in his demeanor and opened my mouth to try and stop him before he got us both executed, but he'd already started talking again. "Because I did kill my predecessor."
I sighed heavily and covered my face with my good hand, dragging it slowly down as if to erase the words I just heard the annoyance utter. When I looked at Chuuya, Chibi was quiet for the first time since coming here as if he too couldn't believe what the idiot just did.
"I slit the great boss's throat with a scalpel and made it look like he died from illness. What about it?"
The doctor's voice was completely calm as he said that. The way he spoke was like that of a younger sibling admitting to taking their sister's toy and not understanding why what he did was wrong, or understanding and just not caring. Neither his posture nor his expression changed very much and yet... the doctor felt like a completely different person. The being at the desk was t a man at all but a monster in human skin. A demon that would devour anything and anyone that got in its way.
I watched as Chuuya looked at the man, choosing to focus on the small man rather than the boss. I could tell that the boy was taken back by the sudden change. I didn't blame him, it was a shocking thing to see all the warmth leave the man's eyes, to see him transform into what could only be described as an evil incarnate. I'd grown numb to the sight over time, even learning how to replicate it. But for Chibi, I knew he could almost smell the deaths seeping from the doctor's pores. It was a transformation that had scared me too the first time that I'd seen it, just about a year ago.
"You've got to be kidding me," Chuuya said in a stiff voice. It was always hard to talk after seeing, feeling, that for the first few times. "He's just a timid doctor, they said... you make that old man seem like an unruly child."
"I appreciate the compliment," the doctor said, smiling as if talking to a patient. I was a smile that I knew well. "Forget what I said about working for me. I'd like to ask that you work with us, share information."
"... and if I refuse?" The stubborn boy asked.
I thought that Mori's answer would be obvious.
"Then I'll kill you," Mori said as easily as asking for a pencil. "However that would require a lot of effort and resources. That's why I'll simply just have all your friends killed-your Sheep-insetead. How does that sound?"
The restraints on Chuuya's arms and legs flew off, embedding themselves into the walls and ceiling. A slight jolt of surprise ran through me when I realized that most of that was brute strength from the small boy.
The boy screamed something as he flew forward, closing the distance between him and Mori in a second, but I didn't pay attention to what he said. I was busy watching the way that Mori reached behind him, pulling out a small black communicator. He held the object between them, effectively stopping Chuuya's incoming punch.
So this was the countermeasures he spoke of.
"Hey... Chuuya! Help! You're there right?"
A boy's worried voice could be heard from the earpiece. It wasn't a voice that I recognized, but it was one that Chibi obviously did.
"The Port Mafia's got us surrounded! C'mon, hurry...! Do something-anything-just like you always do!"
It's true then, the rumors that the Sheep are reliant on Chuuya. That they just go around making messes for the teen to have to clean up. 'Like you always do' the words left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I could hear the click as Mori switched the device off, I could see Chuuya's trembling fist pinned to his side.
"It was extremely simple, to tell you the truth," Mori sighed. "They may be armed, but they lack finesse. The Sheep... an organization holding Yokohama's prime territory, hell-bent on retaliation... aside from you, they're nothing more than children with guns."
I watched the teen's fist tremble even more, but there was no other movement in sight. No matter how much Chuuya wanted to, he couldn't. He didn't have a choice but to stand there.
"As a leader myself, I can relate to how you feel. Who knew that the force known as the Sheep was simply an overpowered king and the hangers-on who can do nothing but rely on you for their survival?"
"... you bastard," the teen muttered through seemingly clenched teeth. I could tell that he was barely restraining himself from doing anything too drastic.
"What's with this fist? Getting in some exercise?"
I watched the way that Mori calmly prodded Chuuya's raised fist. It'd been slowly creeping up since Mori started laying in on the guy. A palpable tension hung through the air until Chuuya slowly lowered it. I almost felt bad for the pretty boy, not even a saint could go long without wanting to punch the man.
"Well, there you have it, Dazai," Mori said in a teacher's voice, smirking. "Chuuya is the most violently powerful person in the room. But in the mafia, violence and brute force are merely a couple of tools at our disposal. Our strength lies in controlling rational action by any means. In this case, the disadvantages of opposing me outweigh the advantages. Just some food for thought."
This was a lesson that I already knew well. I learned it growing up with Gabe as a step father, with the teachers and kids in school, and with the gods that wanted to use me to clean up their messes. I even learned it again during the past year here. It was a lesson that I knew very well.
"I guess I see what you mean, but what are you lecturing me for?"
"Good question."
Mori looked at me with an ominous smirk. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chuuya watching our exchange, looking at us like a hungry beast. The teen didn't like be the subject of a lesson for some 'punk' still, he didn't make a move.
"'A disadvantage that outweighs the advantage,' huh?" The teen growled, focusing his glare on the doctor. "We can trade info... if it benefits me. You two go frist, I'll decide what to do after."
For someone that hates the title, he acts like such a king.
Mori gave the boy a con artist smile as he explained the investigation, going all the way from the three sightings to the eyewitness that I found. "His fourth appearance was when he blew you two away with those black flames. It feels somehow connected. Do you know anything about that?"
I watched as the small teen stared at the mafia boss for servers moments before simply replying:
"The dead don't come back to life."
I wanted to smirk at how sure he sounded. If he knew anything about the world that I come from, he wouldn't be saying things like that.
"I agree. That would put doctors out of business otherwise. However... the evidence seems to tell a different story. Take a look at this."
Chuuya and I watched as Mori unlocked his desk and took out a video player about the size of the man's palm. The boss placed it on the desk and turned the device on. An image of the bird eye's view of a room lined floor to ceiling in cash appeared on the screen. Mori explained that this was footage from the mafia's vault, the place where half of the mafia's assets are hidden away, and one of the most difficult places to break into in the mafia. Just when the sight started to get unbearably dull, a shadowy figure started weaving between the stacks of bills.
"That's impossible," I lightly gasped.
The shadowy figure was startlingly familiar. It looked up at the surveillance camera, eyes gleaming with hatred. The figure was an elderly man, wearing the same tattered clothes that he'd been buried in: the merciless tyrant of the night. The old man looked at the camera, seemingly knowing just how any view seeing this must be feeling at the sight of him.
"I have risen," the deep voice crackled like flames. It felt as if the room had gotten colder when he spoke, as if the voice had stolen all of the warmth for itself.
"I have risen from the raging flames of hell. Do you know why, Doctor?"
We watcheted as the man's figure flickered slightly like a mirage, the body of someone simmering in heat. I felt my heart chill at the sight of the man.
"It is anger-fury born from resentment," he explained. The body spoke of a devouring wrath that summoned him to incite more. "The black flames, the powerful divine beast Arahabaki is the very embodiment of rage itself. I will fulfill its wishes and have my revenge as I sow even more anger. Tremble as you try to sleep, and regret ever killing me."
On the screen, massive flames poured from the body, devoting and melting the stacks of bills and the walls themselves. Then the screen went black, the footage stopping there.
"This is all the footage that we have on him," Mori explained. "The only people who know it exists are the head of security, one executive, and myself. There is a very strict gag order in place, but even that might not be enough. There's no promise that he won't repeat this performance elsewhere."
I looked at Mori with a stiff expression. This was a dangerous situation for the two of us to be in. "What are you going to do if he gives an encore?"
"I have a good idea what would happen. In this, he made it clear that his death was not by illness, but by assassination. If any of his supporters were to find out, a third of our men would turn on me. Win or lose, the mafia would be finished."
I looked at the blank screen, running through the information. Monsters come back from the dead all the time, but even in most resurrection myths, things like this don't happen. This isn't the work of some god or goddess, not even an angry titan could do something like this. No matter the mythology, the deities have kept a low profile for the past hundreds of years, thats why they're considered myths, the mist makes sure of that.
This is someone else.
I heard Mori ask what Arahabaki was, but he was met with silence. "I did a little research myself. Legend has it Arahabaki was a servant deity, the god of habaki. A god so old that he predates Japanese mythology, making its origins remain unclear. Apparently, no one even knows how the name was originally written. As such, there are numerous variations of the god according to local legends across the country."
Well, that saves me from having to do my own research.
"Do you seriously believe in gods?" Chuuya said, seemingly mockingly. There was something about his tone that made the question feel... off.
"No." Mori said bluntly. "I believe only what I can see for myself... which is why I can't deny that the man in the footage looked exactly like the old boss."
Believe only what you can see for yourself, huh? I wonder how he would react if I told him that the secret to abilities that he's been chasing lies in what he just claimed to not believe in.
"It's no coincidence that you're searching for Arahabaki. My guess is that you heard the same rumors that we did and went searching for the truth."
I watched the boy's eyes quickly dart around the room, his nervousness evident.
So he is related to the god in some more personal way then, I thought. Rumors are a good source, but they're just that, rumors. This seems more like an obsession of his than anything. This obsession is built on hard evidence.
I could see the hesitation in Chuuya's eyes before he finally answered. "Who knows what true," he said, evading. "We get a lot of drifters. There's no way to pin down where the rumor started. But anyways... Do you know where Suribachi came from?"
"The city?" Mori asked, raising an eyebrow. I could tell that he didn't understand the seemingly sudden change in conversation. "It was built within a crater formed at the end of the conflict. The cause of the explosion remains unknown-"
It was Arahabaki, supposedly," Chuuya says, cutting the mafia boss off. I could see the way that the boy grimaced. Obviously he didn't mean to sound so sure. Chuuya went onto tell a well fabricated, but obviously outlandish story about a rumor the sheep had heard regarding the explosion. He told Mori about a foreign soldier that'd been captured and tortured at a secret military base there. He said that the soldier had died, but his rage had summoned Arahabaki from hell. "Regardless, the resurrected soldier killed the torturer he despised . More specifically, he blew up the entire facility along with all the soldiers. And that explosion created-"
"Suribachi," Mori cut in. "I see."
"Yeah. Arahabaki's power is too great to be contained in one person, so the soldier lost his mind and turned into an uncontrollable monster. They say the flames consumed him and the ground below him till there was nothing left."
"Hmm. The return of an angry god... what do you think, Dazai?"
"About what," I shrugged, laying the disbelief on thick. "It's impossible. Grudges beyond the grave? Souls? Yeah, right. Someone's just making stuff up for cheap thrills."
Gods, monsters, ghosts... of course I know that they're all real. But the thing was, even if they wanted to, they couldn't show themselves like this. The mythological world is kept separate from the mortal world by the mist, that's why those born without the sight believe that the myths are just that, myths. Even if skill users have the sight, there aren't enough of them to make up all of the eye witnesses and put Arahabaki behind this. Besides, they're no way that a deity is just going to let a soul come back from the dead. Even in Greek myths, when something like this happens, there's always a catch that stops them from being able to do it or that shortly returns them.
Mori's expression turned serious. "Nonetheless, my predecessor did kill a lot of people and died filled with anger. That much matches up. Furthermore, he clearly mentioned Arahabaki by name in the footage. No ordinary person would be able to sneak past the vault's top security."
"Then the answer is simple," I decided. "It's a skill. Someone with a skill that we don't know about made that footage. All they had to do after that was take advantage of the rumors about Arahabaki and make it seem like the old boss came back to life."
"Why would anyone do that?"
Seriously, such a stupid question.
"Isn't it obvious? To make people believe you assassinated your predecessor..." There was also the problem of Chibi over here, but I'll let that rest for the moment, "and destroy the mafia."
Mori sighed and shook his head. The exhausted look came back to his face. "'Death returns upon the murder' as they say. Dazai, this is an order: find who's behind all this before they do the same thing they did in the video in front of my predecessor's supporters. Got it?"
"I guess I can help. After all, they'd end up torturing me to death for being your accomplice if they ever found out," I agreed. I'd known for a bit that this might be the case, the possible torture. They'd make sure to nab me before I could painlessly kill myself. "We don't have much time, though. I hope you're sure about sending me alone."
"I'm not," the bastard replied, smirking. "Chuuya here is going to help you."
The ginger and I locked eyes as we bought shouted in unison. "What?!"
I could feel a heat creeping up my neck and cheeks at the thought of spending that much time with him. This could not happen.
"The hell is wrong with you? You lookin' to die? I oughta-"
"No, no, no! Anyone but him! I'd-"
"-kick your ass, you-"
"-do so much better on my own."
"-piece of shit!"
"Stop shouting over each other," Mori interrupted, raising his voice to be heard. I watched as he eyed both of us. Maybe I could just rip those eyes out. "Chuuya, I trust that you understand you're in no position to refuse."
"Oh, come on, Mori, that's-" I shouted.
"Don't get cocky, you damn octopus!"
"-downright dirty!"
"Screw you!"
"Yes, yes," Mori said, waving his hand in a dismissing manner. I could tell that he was refusing to engage with our yelling, even if it was all pointed at himself. Annoying bastard. "I have several reasons for pairing you up. First, someone outside of the mafia will have an easier time investigating these rumors given how dangerous they are to the organization. In addition, I need someone to keep an eye on Chuuya so he doesn't betray us. That's where your nullification skill comes in, Dazai. And the last, most important reason is..."
I could feel myself lean forward, and could see Chuuya unconsciously doing the same thing. However when Mori spent the next few moments letting the words sit on his tongue and his face morphed into a grin, I knew exactly what was coming.
"... a secret."
"The hell?" Chuuya growled.
"Simply consider it a grown man's intuition." I watched as Mori's lips curled into a mysterious smirk, it made me want to learn to sow just so I could sew them together. "Get along, you two. That's an order. If I hear you're neglecting your duties because you can't make nice... well, no need to explain, yes?"
He slowly smiled at us once more, an invisible chill swept through the room. In moments like this I wondered if the thing to ward off evil that Grover showed me would work on the mafia boss. Who knows, it just kill him
Maybe not even sowing, stitching his lips together should work.
"So? Do you understand?"
Silence rang through the air.
"Do you understand?"
"...yes," we mumbled just loud enough for the old man to hear.
"Good. Then go. I'm expecting great things from you two."
Chibi and I turned and made our way to the door at the dismissal. Chuuya put himself on my blind side, making it harder to gauge where the small teen was as we shoved each other back and forth on the way out. There was no friendliness in the action, and yet it reminded me of when I'd frist me Annabeth.
Then again there was no friendliness between her and I in those early days either.
I shook my head before my mind could go to a dangerous place, it always seemed to do this around the small ginger.
Let's just get this over with