The streets of downtown Tokyo were always bustling with people—tourists, businessmen, vendors promoting their wares. Jubilee thought she might never get used to bumping shoulders with them on a day to day basis.
Then again, she had thought she would never get used to seeing angels and demons on a day to day basis, either.
Yet here she was, an American living in Japan, on her way out of the grocery store with a twelve-foot-tall angel gliding beside her.
Oh, there were other angelic beings drifting about the place as well. There always were. Some radiated a gentle light or brilliant colors; others, not so much. One particularly dark being, with blackness oozing off of itself in smoky wisps, rolled its way through the crowd, occasionally lingering over a particular person here or there.
Jubilee looked away. She had only recently started seeing more dark beings and wasn't quite as used to it yet.
Shifting the bag of groceries in her arms, she shouldered through a throng of people watching a street juggler. Dad, please let the train be late today, she thought to herself. She had picked up a cake as a treat for the kids back at the Wakahisa Children's Home, where she lived and worked, and was running behind schedule as a result. The little ones would throw a fit if she didn't make it back in time to have lunch with them as she had promised.
Miss Julie, little Meirin would be sure to say, You said you would be back ASAP, and this is not ASAP!
She had taught them that little American acronym during English lessons, and they had taken quite a liking to it. She'd also taken on the name of Julie since coming to Japan, since it was easier for the natives to pronounce...and because that was what they always thought her name was, anyway. She remembered her first time coming through customs, when they had asked for her name.
"Jubilee Jenkins," she had said.
The woman at the desk looked like she had been prepared for a challenge as soon as Jubilee's less than perfectly Japanese-looking face walked through the door. "Ju...lee?" she said.
Poor woman. She had tried so hard.
The same thing happened when she was getting photographed for her staff ID at Wakahisa.
"Julie?" said the man printing her ID for her.
She had sighed, giving in. "Sure. Yes."
Her reminiscing was interrupted as she suddenly tripped and was about to fall headlong, when a light touch at her elbow caught her and straightened her back up.
"Thanks," she murmured quietly, glancing at the angel beside her. He gave her a nod, withdrawing his hand. Briefly she wondered how her fall just now had looked to everyone else.
It looked like you stumbled and then caught yourself, said the angel with a shrug. That's what it always looks like to humans...even to themselves.
Except for me, since I'm blessed with eyes to see, eh? she thought silently, giving the angel a wink.
The angel sighed.
"What?" she whispered aloud out of the corner of her mouth as she continued to walk. "Don't you like being actually acknowledged, for once?"
Jubilee, said the angel sternly, If the Father wanted everything to be big and showy, then just now I would have levitated you in slow motion back to standing.
Jubilee thought to herself that such a display would be an improvement, as it would make her look a little more sane to everyone else.
That's your own fault, pointed out the angel. I've made it perfectly possible for you to be discreet. You're the one winking at thin air.
She threw up her hands in defeat and exasperation then, to the alarm of a few passersby whom she almost hit in the face.
And that. That does not help your case.
Hastily lowering her hands, she hurried past the people who were now giving her strange looks. Turning a corner, she made her way down a more secluded alleyway. It was a shortcut she sometimes took to get to the train faster. She switched back to speaking aloud.
"I can't help it, okay?" she huffed. "Ever since Dad made it so that I can see and hear you clear as day, it's hard not to respond back in the same manner. I'm human! We talk a lot. We emote. At least I do. If He doesn't like it, He shouldn't have made me that way. Or, He shouldn't have given me this ability." She stormed onward down the alley.
The angel sighed again. Jubilee was starting to get all too used to that. She wondered how many times during the course of her lifetime he must have sighed and shook his head while watching her do stupid things, even back when she couldn't see him yet. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. It was something she didn't want to think about.
Everything He does has a purpose. That you know already.
"Yes, thank you Yoda," she said dryly, not missing a step.
She wasn't sure whether or not he got pop culture references, but at the moment she didn't care. There was a beat of unreadable silence as he continued to trail gracefully down the path next to her.
So, he prompted at last, Why do you doubt?
"Why do I doubt?" she repeated, stopping. She turned to the angel. "Why do I doubt the purpose behind seeing what no one else can see, for no other reason than to look nuts and never be normal again? No, stop—" She put up a hand to cut the angel off before he could say anything. "Don't tell me. I know, some people wait and pray their whole lives for something like this. I admit that once upon a time, I would've thought it was pretty cool too. But now I see why those kinds of prayers aren't answered." She turned away to stare at the ground. "You catch a glimpse of heaven, you see beyond...and you're ruined for this world," she whispered. "I don't want to be here, Hellenos." She faced the angel again. "Why did He send me back? No one would ever believe me. Even people who believe angels exist would think that I'm a freak. What could possibly be the purpose of that?"
Hellenos gazed at her evenly. Honestly, she wasn't completely sure that that was his name. Back when she was first getting used to hearing in the spirit, she thought that that was the name she had heard. But since then he had never confirmed, and she didn't know why he wouldn't. He never corrected her, in any case.
Why don't you ask Him yourself? he asked simply. She thought he looked sorry for her. You know you can hear Him.
"Can I?" she asked bitterly.
Hellenos put a palm to his face, an act she was almost certain he had picked up from her. It never ceases to amaze me, he began, How you humans can be shown so much, and yet you STILL find reasons to doubt.
Jubilee put a hand on her hip and blew air out through her lips. She had most certainly missed the train by now and would have to catch the next one. Being able to see and talk with angels was incredibly distracting sometimes. What was she supposed to tell the kids back at home? Sorry, I got sidetracked having a heart to heart with my guardian angel?
"Listen," she said. She paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm still resentful about...about some things. It...gets in the way of hearing, you know?"
Hellenos nodded.
"I'm not always," she went on hastily. "Just when I'm not in a good place. When I think about things too much. Honestly, I don't know why Dad chose someone like me to see and hear stuff. I'm no good at letting go of grudges, even against Him. I always thought that was one of the prerequisites for getting to see angels—being forgiving and all that." She laughed. "So why is it I can still see and hear you, most of the time?"
The angel smiled. Everything He does—and allows—has a purpose.
Jubilee smiled back halfheartedly. "Alright," she said. "Fine." She took a deep breath of resignation and looked to the sky. "Hey...Dad," she whispered softly, before retreating into her mind. Been a while, huh, she thought, and then the rest of her thoughts devolved into a vague and frustrated amalgamation of wondering what she should ask and what the whole point of her life was anyway. "Why do I see what I see?" she finally asked aloud, quietly. "And...what do you want me to do about it?"
Silence.
A gentle wind picked up and swept through the alleyway. Jubilee was briefly reminded of the cold winter winds back in Chicago. Like on the day of the car accident...
Jubilee shivered and turned back to Hellenos.
Well? he prompted.
"I don't know," she stated flatly. "I think it's got something to do with...with the day it all started. But that's obvious, isn't it?" She kicked a pebble on the ground, irked. "Everything has to do with what started everything. The answer to the universe is the answer to the universe. Great." She sighed. "Anyway, I didn't really hear anything. It's not like the way it was, back in the beginning. I don't know how to hear Him these days."
Because you doubt.
"Yeah, probably," she conceded. "Dad picked the wrong gal to have His eyes. Now, can we get back to—"
She stopped. Footsteps and a faint voice were coming from the other end of the alleyway. She looked up at the opening thirty feet ahead, just as a young Japanese man walked past. Behind him a tall, angular demon with black wings and spiky hair floated by, following him.
Jubilee froze. She could not recall having ever seen a demonic being that looked that big or that powerful. Yet, somehow, he looked familiar as well.
As the two were disappearing around the corner, the young man turned and spoke over his shoulder. The demon bent its head, as if listening attentively.
Jubilee's eyes bulged. He was talking to the demon?
In all the time that she had begun seeing into the spirit world, she had seen plenty of spiritual beings following humans around. Sometimes it was angels, sometimes it was demons. She had become somewhat numb to it, perhaps partially to keep herself from staring at people. But never, in the past two years since all this began, had she ever seen another human be aware of—much less acknowledge—the beings around them.
"Oh my G—" she began, but Hellenos cut her off.
Don't.
"Sorry," she said absently, before turning to her guardian angel with wide eyes. "Did you see that?!"
He gave her a look. I'm an angel from heaven, and I vibrate at an immensely higher frequency than human beings in their current state. Of course I saw that.
"I think you picked up some snarkasm while you were on earth, so I'm not sure how that may affect your frequency," she commented, then went on before he could interject, "That guy could see that demon! He was talking to him! I'm going after him." With that, she took off.
For a moment she had the sense that Hellenos was about to object, but he didn't. Instead he followed silently after her. She hurried to the end of the alleyway and exited back onto the street, looking frantically in the direction the young man had gone. It wasn't hard to catch him—the floating demon at his side rose several feet above the crowd. Putting on a semblance of composure, she walked quickly after them.
Don't let them see you, Hellenos spoke up. It is not yet time.
What is THAT supposed to mean?
He didn't answer.
Jubilee let his silence go, too engrossed in this new development. Excitement enveloped her senses. This was it. Something new was finally happening...and maybe she would finally find another clue as to why she was the way she was.
The young man and the demon turned another corner onto a busy street where the train stop was. It wasn't the stop that Jubilee needed to get home, but she didn't care. The kids would have to wait. As inconspicuously as she could, she tried to sidle up next to the two as they waited for the train; but several other people waiting stood steadfastly in her way. Reaching into one of her bags, she jammed a pair of sunglasses onto her face and turned so that she could observe the young man without him noticing her. She didn't look at the demon. From what she had already seen—pale gray skin and bulging yellow eyes—it gave her the heebie jeebies. Something about the man, though, made her look twice. She blinked, squinted, and then her lips flattened into a grim line.
Hellenos, she thought, What is that...thing, around the guy?
Hellenos gazed calmly in the direction of the man and the demon, before turning to face ahead towards the train tracks. You tell me. What do you see?
Jubilee squinted again at the man.
Stop doing that. You know it's not your physical eyes that are seeing it, so why do you keep trying to adjust them?
Sorry. Instinct. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again to gaze upon the man. He was handsome, by Japanese standards. Medium height, clear skin, light brown hair and bright brown eyes. His face was serious. But all in all, very normal looking...except for what looked like a black, shimmering haze all around him. That, and the demon next to him.
Jubilee cocked her head and considered the haze, which wasn't altogether clear to her. It seemed to keep changing...like a shadow flickering under candlelight, or a blur of motion when she didn't have her contact lenses on.
Dad, she thought, Help me to see.
For a split second the haze sharpened into a black knife, sticking straight out of the man's chest. Then it was several knives, all equally dark, jammed into him like extra limbs. Blood oozed from wherever the blades entered him.
Jubilee gasped and the vision cleared, reverting back into an indiscernible black haze around the man.
A cell phone rang. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, putting it to his ear.
"Light Yagami speaking," she heard him say, before the sound of his words was cut off by the train pulling in.
She turned to stare up at the angel, not caring if anyone was looking her way. They weren't, in any case, all of them preoccupied by the incoming train.
I saw it, she thought. Darkness, piercing him like knives. What WAS that?
Hellenos' expression was somber. Those are the stains he has allowed into his soul.
Jubilee was about to question him further, when the swarm of people around her began to push her forward as they piled onto the train. She was suddenly shoved through the car doors by the crowd, right up against the back of the man with the demon at his side. Neither of them paid her any attention, but a cold and heavy dread instantly hit her from the demon's presence.
Hellenos gracefully appeared next to her. She eyed him.
You walk through the wall of the train or something? she asked silently.
Nope, he said. Not necessary. One day you'll get how these things work. Then he winked at her.
You're pretty funny, for an angel, she thought. She suspected Hellenos was only joking around to try and lighten her spirits. The proximity of the demon made her feel an underlying anxiety, as was usually the case with these types of beings. She'd never stayed so long in the presence of one before, at least not consciously. Usually she made a beeline in the other direction if she saw any demonic being. Sometimes it was unavoidable if she was out in public, where there were big crowds. Demons seemed to love feeding off of the nervous energy of people. And what better place than in a big city? But they had never acknowledged or bothered her before, and she suspected that she rarely saw them because Dad was making it easy on her senses—or had been at least, until now. What could it mean now that she was able to see one of the bigger guys?
Wrestling with that question in her mind, she soon lost track of time and the train reached its destination before she knew it. Startled back to the present as the man and the demon began to disembark, she hurried to follow after them. Hellenos glided calmly beside her.
The stop that the man had gotten off at was a quieter area of town, with slightly less foot traffic. Jubilee slowed her steps, pretending to look around to get her bearings. Actually, she didn't need to pretend. Where was she?
To-Oh University, Hellenos pointed out, gesturing to a sign near the group of buildings the young man was walking towards.
"So, a college student," she said under her breath. She glanced at her watch. It was just after one o' clock. He must have been on a lunch break and was now getting back to class. Surely she could still pass for a college student, she thought to herself. She'd graduated only two years ago, after all, and this looked like a big university with too many students for every one of them to be recognizable.
Quickly she transferred the groceries into her backpack, thankful that she had brought it along today, and then discarded the paper bag before hurrying after the young man and the demon.
Wait, Jubilee, began Hellenos, holding out a hand.
She didn't stop. "What?" she murmured, closing the distance between her and her targets. She strained to hear if either of them was talking. Probably not the boy, since he was in public. But perhaps...if she could hear angels, then she could hear if a demon was speaking, too.
Suddenly a tall body was standing in her way.
"Oomph," said Jubilee as she walked straight into a police officer's chest. She stared up at him, alarmed, then at his partner standing next to him. The second police officer was holding out a pair of open handcuffs.
"You're under arrest, miss," said the first police officer in Japanese.