[Y/n], Rin, Kamiki and Shima had been sent off to the beach under the impression that they were going to be exorcising some problematic demons. They were ecstatic. Their first mission as Exwires! However, what had seemed like a great mission involving the beach, swimming and demon hunting had rapidly become a tedious retail work that involved grilling and selling squid in front of a snack bar. And that's how [Y/n] found himself in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals, sitting on Sema's case with his chin in his hands, occasionally glancing down at his exposed scars self-consciously. Shima sulked as he sat on the ground beside him and Rin happily grilled some skewered squid.
"Man, this sucks." Shima complained, letting out a groan as he threw his head back, looking around at the other beachgoers, who were all enjoying themselves. "Go figure we'd get stuck flipping squids at the shop all day. And with all these voluptuous babes around..." He complained, looking down at the sand in defeat. [Y/n] rolled his eyes at Shima's complaining.
"I know, it's so sad that you can't get rejected on the beach like you do at school." [Y/n] replied sarcastically, causing Shima to whip his head toward him as he scoffed in offence.
"That was uncalled for."
"Step on up folks! We're gonna rock your stomachs!" Rin called out, holding up two of his freshly grilled squid as he tried to attract some customers. "Our grilled squid is so awesome, it melts in your mouth! You won't mind selling your soul for a taste!" Rin exclaimed, his grin slowly falling as everyone around them blatantly ignored his little sales pitch.
"In the face of tragedy, you're being a good sport." Shima commented, looking up at Rin with dead eyes. Rin raised a confused eyebrow before shrugging.
"Oh well, I don't mind doing stuff like this." Rin replied casually, turning his attention back to the food. [Y/n] chuckled as he looked at his friend's excited face. They had talked out everything after the situation with Neuhaus - the powers, Rin's sword, Father Fujimoto, everything. Safe to say, their relationship was pretty much completely back to normal. The only real change was that Rin didn't hide his tail anymore when he asked around the dorms. He even introduced [Y/n] to his familiar, Kuro. Things were going pretty well.
"I couldn't care less as long as I get to eat more of your cooking." [Y/n] announced, reading forward to grab one of the squids, only to have Rin slap his hand away.
"Those are for the customers." Rin replied, giving [Y/n] a warning look while [Y/n] just rolled his eyes, featuring around them.
"What customers?" He asked, remaining Rin that no one had been bothered to look at their squid in the four hours that they had been selling for.
"I don't get what we're going wrong. The squid looks damn good!" Rin announced, looking down at all his hard work sadly. [Y/n] gave him a sympathetic smile until Kuro suddenly jumped up onto the table and then onto Rin's shoulder, his eyes lighting up as he stared at the squid. "Sorry pal, they're for sale." Rin said sternly, leaving [Y/n] to assume that Kuro had asked for some too. [Y/n] gave the little guy a scratch under the chin, which he graciously accepted.
"Hey, is that him?" Shima asked, finally getting to his feet. [Y/n] and Rin turned to see him pointing at Kuro with a curious look in his eyes. "That's your new familiar, the Cat Sídhe, isn't it?" He asked and Rin nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah, I figured I'd bring him 'cause they said it was a mission."
"Mission my ass!" Shima snapped, throwing his hands up in the air as he gestured around them. "They say we're here to collect seaweed for demon-warding potions! Bull! They've got us working retail!" He screamed, throwing his head back in utter exasperation. [Y/n] let out a defeated sigh, fully agreeing with Shima. Some 'mission' this was...
"Did you know that this snack bar and the place we're staying at both belong to Old Sideburns' missus?" Rin spoke up, looking down at the grill before glancing over to the hotel they were staying in across the seafront. As they began to talk more about Mr Tsubaki and his 'Kitty Cat', [Y/n] turned his attention back to Kuro, who was very clearly bored.
"I doubt sitting around with us is a lot of fun. Do you wanna play with my familiar for a while?" [Y/n] asked and Kuro's eyes instantly lit up as he started to nod frantically. [Y/n] chuckled at his reaction before looking up at Kuro's Tamer. "Is that okay with you?" He asked and Rin nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, of course." He replied and [Y/n] nodded, taking out a piece of summoning paper from his pocket before pricking his finger on one of the knives on the table. He let a few drops of blood douse the paper before holding it up.
"Son of the land, hound of Cuainn! Bare your fangs and sever fate!" He chanted, summoning Flor in his signature flash of light. The little demon looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on his Tamer. "Hey, buddy!" [Y/n] greeted with a close-eyed smile and Flor's face instantly lit up.
"Hey!" He replied, jumping onto his kind legs as he pawed at [Y/n]'s leg. [Y/n] chuckled at his excitability.
"Wanna play with Rin's new familiar?" He asked and Flor immediately nodded, desperate for some entertainment.
"Yeah!" He replied, looking around for his new playdate. Rin chuckled softly before letting Kuro jump down from his shoulder to the other familiar. The Cat Sídhe eyed the Split Wolf suspiciously until Flor spoke up. "Hey! Name's Flor! I hear our partners are pretty good buddies." He greeted, presumably receiving one back. In an instant, the two were playfully chasing each other and wrestling in the sand. [Y/n] and Rin watched the pair happily, glad that they were getting along.
"We're not gonna sell jack today unless we get a hot girl to stand by the grill." Shaima suddenly announced, pulling both of his friends' attention from their familiars back to him. "How come Kamiki's not out here suffering with us? The least she could do is suck it up for an hour." He complained, lying down in the sand. Just as he said that, Kamiki began walking toward them from inside the Ocean Hut, wearing a swimsuit and carrying a swimming ring. "But, I guess, she's not what you'd call a 'team player' is she?" He asked sarcastically, completely unaware of the girl's presence. Rin paled when he saw her, glad that he wasn't the one who was just badmouthing her. From the look on Kamiki's face, [Y/n] could tell that she heard everything Shima said.
"No, but she's, what I'd call, 'standing right behind you'." [Y/n] announced with a sly smile while Rin sweatdropped. Shima's entire face paled as his eyes slowly glanced up. The second he saw Kamiki looming over him, his eyes went wide and he jumped up.
"H-Hey... Oh, y-you look pretty cute in that swimsuit of yours!" Shima panicked as all the colour drained from his face. [Y/n] and Rin tried and failed to hold in their laughter at his misfortune. After all, he was the one who angered the beast. Kamiki just glared at him.
"What's your problem? I helped you grill those squids, didn't I?" She asked before turning away, turning her nose up at them. "Besides, I'm not really the kind of girl who works retail." She announced before she started walking away, leaving the three boys by the grill.
"I-I guess you have a point." Shima stuttered out, scratching the back of his head in a mix of embarrassment and nervousness. "Hey, don't worry about us, we already went swimming so have a blast!" He announced and both Rin and [Y/n] sweatdropped. Yeah, they went swimming... for five minutes until they were told to run the shop. Kamiki turned back to them with an uninterested look.
"Oh, don't worry, I will. It's my turn to go swimming anyway." She announced, scoffing at Shima's assumption that she cared whether he had gone swimming or not. [Y/n] sweatdropped at her tone.
"Olive branch?" He asked, reminding her of their agreement.
"No." She replied, turning on her heel and walking away without another word.
"Yep, that's our girl... She's all 'tsun' without any trace of 'dere'." Shima sweatdropped, sighing in defeat alongside [Y/n] and Rin.
"Good work, boys!" The three students turned to see Mr Tsubaki stood to their right while fanning himself as he smiled at them. All three of them groaned internally at the fight of him. "I'm truly blessed to have such wonderful students under my wing. By the way, how's business?" He asked curiously but only received a deadpan stare from the trio in response. He smirked at the reaction. "I figured as much." He said through a chuckle as he shrugged. That last comment got the boys' attention. All three of them were wondering what he meant by he 'figured as much'. If he knew that they weren't going to sell anything, why even bother asking them to try in the first place? Tsubaki took note of their sudden interest and laughed quietly to himself. "I'll explain the situation later. Ta-ta!" He announced with a wave and, like that, he was gone. The trio just blinked in confusion as they silently stood by the snack bar, wondering what the hell he meant. After a moment of silence, an irk mark appeared on the side of [Y/n]'s head.
"So why are we willingly doing manual labour for Professor Booty Call again?" He sneered, suddenly hating the already tedious work even more now that he knew the teacher had set them up for failure. Rin and Shima both just shrugged in confusion, although both of them seemed just as pissed off. Shaking his head, [Y/n] turned back toward the water, looking out to see if he could spot Kamiki. He may as well tell her they were set up. When he finally noticed her pink swimming ring, he narrowed his eyes to get a better look. Once he did, his eyes shot back open. Kamiki was lying with her head back, not moving, and some guy with brown hair was pushing her back to the shore. "Hey, I think Kamiki's unconscious!" He announced, instantly shocking both of his classmates.
"What?!" They both exclaimed as they frantically tried to see if they could spot her.
"Looks like someone's carrying her back to shore!" Shima announced and the other two nodded in agreement. [Y/n] immediately grabbed Sema's case and Rin grabbed the Kurikara's sheath as they shut off all of the grilling equipment.
"Let's go!" [Y/n] exclaimed as he took off toward Kamiki and her saviour with Rin and Shima hot on his heels. The three boys sprinted through the sands and wove through the crowds of people as they made their way toward the shore where Kamiki and the other guy were en route. Kuro followed along behind them. When they finally arrived, they saw Kamiki standing up with both hands pressed against her forehead.
"Hey!" Rin called out as they arrived, gaining Kamiki's attention as she turned to them. "Are you okay?" He asked and she nodded in confirmation, though the fact she was holding her head like it was injured said otherwise.
"I hope you know how lucky you are." Shima scolded, putting his hands on his hips. He quickly looked around before raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Hey, wait, what happened to the guy that saved you? Did he leave already?" He asked, altering [Y/n] and Rin to the fact that the guy wasn't there.
"I'm right here!" A squeaky voice yelled. All three boys blinked in confusion before slowly looking down. When they did, they saw a kid, probably around 10 or 11, looking up at them angrily.
"Oh, hey, you're so small I didn't see you." Shima teased, ruffling the kid's hair playfully. The little kid slapped his hand away.
"Oh yeah?! My dad says a guy can be small and be a man as long as he's big where it counts!" The kid yelled, crossing his arms over his chest confidentially. All four teens froze as they just stared down at the kid with wide eyes, beyond shocked by his dad's 'advice'.
"What the fu-" He was cut off when Rin quickly clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Don't swear in front of the kid!" Rin snapped, shaking his head when [Y/n] just rolled his eyes and pulled Rin's hand off of his face.
"Don't talk like that!" Kamiki scolded, giving the kid a disapproving glare. The boy looked confused by her order.
"Why not?" He asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion as if he didn't know what he said was extremely inappropriate for someone his age. "What? You don't like guys with big hearts or something?" He asked and all four Exwires simultaneously sweatdropped. Ignorance is bliss... At least he didn't mean the other thing... Just as they got over the kid's little linguistic issue, they heard yelling and screaming coming from the footpath behind them. They all immediately whipped their heads toward the source of the noise. When they did, they saw a frenzy of locals and tourists running toward the lighthouse at the end of the pier.
"Wonder what's going on up there..." Shima thought aloud. Just as they were about to start walking toward the source of the commotion, the little kid suddenly ran off without a word.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Rin called out after him but was completely ignored. The team watched him run away in confusion but decided that chasing him wasn't worth it. They needed to find out what was happening at the lighthouse.
"Let's just go check it out." [Y/n] suggested and the others all nodded in agreement as they began to jog over to the source of the trouble. Pushing through the panicked crowd of people, the four young Exwires eventually made their way to the front of the pier, they saw that everyone else was worriedly looking out at the ocean. Following their concerned gazes in confusion, the team froze when they saw the water. It was pitch-black.
"Woah... What is that?" Rin asked, looking out at the pitch-black sea before them.
"Whatever it is can't be good." [Y/n] commented, meaning a nod of agreement from Shima and an unimpressed 'obviously' from Kamiki.
"It's a demon." A raspy voice announced from beside them. The four teens quickly turned to the source of the voice. When they did, they were met with a short old man in a bamboo hat and a robe who was holding a staff similar to Shima's K'rik. They all looked down at him in confusion. "It's said that when the sea turns black as ink, a demon the size of a small mountain shall rise from it and destroy everything..." The man explained while the four teenagers just looked at him sceptically, intrigued by his claim but bothered by the lack of solid evidence. Rin's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"It's a legend that's been passed down for generations..." The man began before raising his hand like he was praying. "Mercy on us..." The man breathed out while the Exwires just looked at him in confusion, silently wondering how he knew it was a demon. Sensing their curiosity, the man spoke up. "Follow me and I'll explain further..." He assured as he turned to walk away. The Exwires all glanced at each other, wondering if they should trust him or not. Realising that there were four of them and one of him, that they were much younger and in much better shape, and that two of them had weapons and three had familiars, they decided that they'd almost certainly be fine.
The four teenagers followed the old man as he led them toward a temple about ten minutes away. As they entered the gardens of the temple, the old man led them to a secluded section, hidden under the guise of the surrounding trees. As they reached the end of the path, they saw a large wooden slab with a painting of a giant squid surrounded by crashing waves and wrecked ships. The Exwires all stared up at the painting in confusion.
"What is this?" Rin asked looking up at the intricate and well-preserved painting before them.
"A votive tablet." The old man replied, turning to the four students. "Four hundred years ago, this temple's priest made it." He announced and the four of them nodded in understanding as they studied the artwork on the tablet.
"That's a big squid..." Shima commented awkwardly, looking the painting up and down as he compared the scale to that of its surroundings. "Like really big..."
"It's a Kraken, I think." [Y/n] quietly spoke up, thinking back to one of the books he had read in Mabaa's library on aquatic-type demons. The Kraken was one of the deadliest and most ferocious of them all. Rin, Shima and Kamiki all turned to him in confusion. None of them had ever heard of a Kraken before.
"A Kraken?"
"A giant squid-like demon that lives in deep waters." [Y/n] explained and his classmates nodded along in understanding. The Kraken definitely fit the description they had so far. They all looked around nervously before turning back to the old man, waiting for him to continue.
"He is correct." The man announced, nodding slowly as he looked from [Y/n] to the painting. "The sea has turned black from the ink of that monster." He spat, a low and angry growl escaping from his throat. [Y/n] could tell that there was a more personal note behind whatever was going on with the old man and that Kraken.
"Yeah, but that's just a story, isn't it?" Kamiki asked nervously, looking at the tablet before her suspiciously.
"I wish it were..." The old man began, looking down sadly. The four students froze at that comment as they slowly turned to him, already worried about whatever he was about to say. "We experienced this six months ago, the sea turned black, just like today, and a fisherman set out alone on his boat to drive away the demon." He continued, shaking his head as if he was silently cursing the man. The Exwires all went wide-eyed at the announcement, immediately fearing the worst for whoever that poor fool was. "However, to this day, that man has not returned." He finished ominously. The Exwires shared a collective glance as they all quietly gulped. The nervousness and fear slowly began to set in.
~*~
"Just our luck, I didn't think we'd be hearing about demons this far from school." Shima complained, groaning in annoyance as the four Exwires and two familiars began their walk back to their hotel under the setting sun.
"Don't you think it'd be cool if our very first mission was to kill that demon?" Rin asked excitedly, putting his hands behind his head as he walked. [Y/n] sighed and shook his head.
"I wouldn't hold your breath-"
"Ha! Water pun!" Shima laughed, cutting [Y/n] off before he could explain any further. He just gave Shiam a blank stare while shaking his head. Rin snickered at Shima and Kamiki groaned before slapping him upside the head.
"Idiot."
"Krakens are very high-level water demons." [Y/n] continued, ignoring Shima's complaining as he rubbed the back of his head in pain. "I honestly doubt that we even could take it on by ourselves." [Y/n] announced, crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to think of some way to stop a demon that powerful with just the four of them. Their options were definitely limited. The news didn't exactly inspire the other three.
"What the hell?" Rin suddenly gasped, stopping dead in his tracks. [Y/n], Shima and Kamiki all looked at him with raised eyebrows, wondering why he just stopped in the middle of the road.
"Watch where you're going!" A high-pitched voice suddenly yelled. All four teens shared a quick glance before looking down to see the brunette kid who saved Kamiki holding his head in pain. [Y/n] internally groaned, too tired to deal with kids right now.
"Look, our little friend's back." Shima announced tiredly, not really wanting to deal with his kid again either. And [Y/n] felt the exact same.
"You know, we were worried about you. Where'd you disappear to?" Rin asked, putting his hands on his hips. The kid just scoffed before turning up his nose at them.
"Nowhere!"
"Nowhere, huh?" Rin repeated with a raised eyebrow, shaking his head before his hand wandered over his chest. "You are one hard-headed kid." He muttered out, surprised by how much walking into him had hurt.
"You're telling me." Kamiki added, putting her hand on the spot where the boy had hit her earlier. The kid seemed surprised by her comment as he turned back to her.
"Does your head still hurt?" He asked and Kamiki groaned.
"Yeah! Of course, it does!" She snapped, putting her hand on her still-sore head. The boy just stared at her for a moment before looking down at his feet.
"Sorry about that..." He apologised, looking away in embarrassment. Kamiki seemed taken aback by the apology but Rin just sighed in annoyance.
"C'mon, kid, you had to see us coming your way, didn't you? You could've just given us a little room to get by."
"No way!" The kid exclaimed, turning away and crossing his arms over his chest. "My dad told me that a real man walks a straight path and that's all I was doing." He announced proudly and all four teens sweatdropped.
"I'm almost certain that he meant that metaphorically." [Y/n] replied tiredly and Kamiki nodded in agreement.
"And, besides, if you only go straight, I'm pretty sure you're gonna wind up lost." Shima added with a chuckle.
"No one's that dumb!" Rin laughed.
"Do any of you know how to get to the pet store?" The boy suddenly asked, regaining everyone's attention as they turned back to him in confusion. "I need to get to the pet store. I drew a map but I don't know how to find it." The boy announced as he pulled a terribly drawn map out of his pocket, holding it out toward the four teenagers. They all just stared at the child in complete silence for the longest time until [Y/n] let out a defeated sigh.
"Correction, Rin, some people are-"
"Not now, [Y/n]."
~*~
So after helping one of the locals, who they learned from Kamiki was named Yohei, figure out where the pet shop was and listening to him go on and on about his father, the Exwires quickly learned that Yohei's father was the one who had gone off to fight the Kraken and hadn't returned. The little boy was set on defeating that thing, completely ignorant of the fact that he had no actual chance against it. After all of that, the team returned to their hotel to meet with Mr Tsubaki and discuss their next step over dinner. Flor and Kuro curled up together and dozed off under the table while the Exwieres and their teacher sat down to eat. As they sat down, their stomachs turned at the feast in front of them.
"Thanks for all the hard work! Dig in!" Tsubaki exclaimed, extending his arms dramatically. The Exwirres just looked at each other as they stared down at the food in front of them. Squid sashimi, squid noodles, sweet-and-sour squid, squid ink spaghetti...
"Everything here has squid in it." Kamiki spoke up, saying what was on all of their minds.
"That's right! Bon appetite!" Tsubaki replied, grabbing his plate and some chopsticks. The students all turned to him with uneasy expressions.
"Yeah... But... Don't we have anything besides squid?" Rin asked, desperately hoping that the answer was 'yes'. His three classmates were too.
"No, we don't! Do you know why?" Tsubaki asked and they all just stared at him, waiting for him to answer his own question like they knew he would. "No one has been able to catch anything in these waters besides squid! It's driving everyone squiddly!" He explained and everyone groaned at his terrible pun. "However, on the upside, you can all squid out 'till you get sick." He announced happily, giving them a wink and a thumbs up. Rin let out a frustrated sigh as he looked away.
"That's why no one bought our squid."
"Figures..."
As they ate, Tsubaki explained how the creature that they were most likely dealing with was, in fact, a Kraken, confirming [Y/n]'s earlier suspicions. After a brief strategy meeting, they came to the conclusion that there wasn't a lot that they could do to fight it. Its fatal verse was still unknown but people had a rough idea of where in the bible it would be. However, none of the Exwires were well suited for fighting a water-based demon. As they continued to try and come up with a plan, they were all immediately silenced when Mr Tsubaki's phone rang. His face lit up at the sight as he immediately got to his feet and headed to the door.
"What is it, honey?" Tsubaki asked, stepping out of the room. [Y/n] crawled to the door to look out while his teacher walked off. As he did, he felt a body plop down on top of him, followed by another one. He grunted at the sudden weight as he looked up to see that Rin and Shima had basically dogpiled on top of him to get a better look. Kamiki, thankfully, just kneeled beside them as she peered down the hallway. "What again? Don't worry, Kitty Cat, I'm on my way." Tsubaki answered whoever he was talking to before hanging up the phone and turning back to his students. "Something just came up so I have to go for a bit. You can take the day off tomorrow, we've hired a proper employee to work part-time at the Ocean House." He announced as he walked away, leaving his students in stunned silence.
"'Proper employee'? What are we? Interns?" Kamiki asked sarcastically, narrowing her eyes in disdain.
"Who cares about that? I wanna know who 'Kitty Cat' is." Rin replied and [Y/n] nodded in agreement.
"Okumura, [L/n], do you guys know what this means?" Shima suddenly asked, looking down at the two males beneath him with excitement glistening in his eyes. He quickly jumped off of them and pulled them both into kneeling positions as he grabbed both of their hands. "We're gonna swim our asses off!" He announced excitedly, earning wide smiles from the two males and a shocked yell from Kamiki.
"Right on!"
"Finally!"
"What the-"
"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you." Tsubaki began as he suddenly appeared back in the doorway. Everyone turned to him in surprise. "I want you to make sure that Yohei doesn't get anywhere near that demon." He ordered, instantly filling the four students with a sense of immediate dread. "That's right, you're babysitting tomorrow!" He waved happily as he walked off again, leaving the four of them shocked and desolate. All four of them froze as all sense of their excitement faded away instantly.
"Screw you and screw your 'Kitty Cat'!" [Y/n] whisper-yelled, glaring at the open door as he gritted his teeth in frustration.
"I think that's what he was planning on doing." Shima replied with a snicker, earning a harsh slap on the head from Kamiki in response.
"Jackass." She spat, shaking her head while Shima rubbed his. Rin threw his head back as he let out a loud groan.
"Tomorrow's gonna suck!"