Kanato looked at the teddy bear in his arms, his childlike innocence spilling out of his eyes as he burst into tears. Reiji patted his head, looking at Shu. Kanato was a bit confused as well as elated. He did not feel Teddy's soul inside the plush, but was reminded of the past with his teddy, he remembered tying an eye patch when Teddy lost his eye in a satanic ritual. Kanato buried his nose into the bear's fur, inhaling its scent to his heart's content. His hands patted the underside of the toy's belly, and then they were fishing out an eye patch out of his pocket, buckling it around the bear's skull.
"Where did you get that from?" Shu asked, genuinely surprised.
"I keep spares with me." Kanato said, looking at Reiji, his eyes still wet. "Thank you, Reiji."
Reiji exhaled in approval. He didn't know exactly how to answer Kanato's gratitude. "The demon is still not possessing it."
Kanato tilted his head to his side, hugging the teddy closer to him. He wanted to feel every bit of his favourite toy to compensate for the time lost between them. "I will take care of that." Turning towards Shu, who was standing at the door of the library, he said, "Shu, you only want to summon the soul, right?"
Shu said, his hand resting on his hip. "Yes. We've thought of a vessel."
Kanato knotted his eyebrows, appearing concerned. "I don't think any ordinary human will be able to bear the brunt of a resurrected soul."
Shu smiled in response.
Kanato shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Follow me," Kanato said, disappearing from the library and entering into his room. Shu and Reiji followed soon after. Reiji's nose puckered at the smell of death and candy in the same room. Kanato looked at him, giving him a sour look. Usually Reiji didn't care how the brothers kept their rooms. Kanato was visibly offended.
Kanato's room had a purple themed room, decorated with knick knacks in the form of teddy bears, dolls, model carousels, candy boxes and a huge pony by the side of his coffin. He had a red carpet covering the floor beneath them, and periwinkle curtains covering the french window opposite to the bed. Jars upon jars of glitter were kept by his bed stand, and Reiji must have been stumped as to what purpose they served. Scattered over the floor were numerous soft toys, a ladybug plushie peeking out from the edge of his bed, a little figurine of a cat with its paw raised lay near their feet. An array of pretty little dolls were arranged on a shelf nailed to the wall. They looked hyper realistic, with their shiny marble eyes and blushing cheeks. In places where Kanato had forgotten to wax, he could see skin peeling off. He had to repair his little darlings soon. Kanato favoured pastel, muted tones to decorate his room, and it was evidently a bit jarring for Shu.
Kanato kicked one of the corners of the carpet, generating a dust cloud. Kicking it again, he uncovered some etchings in the wooden flooring, looking like a pentagram enclosed in two big circles, and the space between each line was filled with ancient languages and weird drawings. He rolled the carpet off to show Reiji and Shu the weird symbol, spanning about five by five foot, faded with time and disuse.
Kanato didn't really practice rituals very often, but he did know his way around them. Cordelia had been kind enough to teach him the basics, and they did try to revive one of Cordelia's past lovers once. Kanato was obsessed with macabre ever since then, but it tied to a trauma too deep for Kanato to revisit. He found comfort in behaving like a kid, just because he had lost a lot of time of his childhood because of Cordelia. It was like constantly living in a nostalgic dream, his hand constantly reaching out to a lost cause, never quite reaching his destination.
"Will it work?" Reiji asked, getting down on his haunches, admiring the artwork Kanato had scratched into the wood.
"Hard to say. These things are hard to work with." Kanato picked up a candy jar from his bed stand and took out a lollypop, saying, "The last time I put teddy in it, it was working fine."
"How long has it been since then?"
"I did that before our mother died," Kanato said. What he meant was that he killed her, but he didn't like talking about it. None of the triplets did.
"Can you show us?" Reiji asked. Kanato huffed, gesturing to both of them to step away from the pentagram, and placing the new teddy in the center of the symbol, and carefully stepping away from the pentagram. He then placed a hand on the outer circle, slowly pressing in.
Shu gasped as the edges of the pentagram flooded with blood in an instant. Reiji stepped further away, not bearing the amount of malicious energy that seemed to sweep the whole room. The blood for the edges of the pentagram slowly flowed away, towards the inner circle, pooling around the jagged edges of the scratched form. He removed his palm from the surface. The blood discoloured, turning into a dark sooty colour instead of red. The teddy bear fell on its side as they felt a rush of energy into the toy, almost knocking all of them down on their knees. For a brief moment, the teddy's exposed eye blinked. It was ignored by both Shu and Kanato, but Reiji pointed out, his finger trembling. "Is it alive?"
Kanato merely blinked at him. "Of course it is. I just performed a soul transfer."
Shu pushed Reiji aside, asking in a calm tone, "Can you choose a specific soul, or is it based on a lottery system?"
"Is your soul in hell?"
Shu looked at Reiji, who was going bonkers at the thought of a ghost residing in teddy. "Is she?"
"She was a vampire, of course she's burning in hell."
Kanato looked at the blood, rapidly drying up around the teddy bear, and picked the teddy by its ear. He clutched the toy in his frail arms, caging it in his chest, breathing the scent in. "Then it's fair game."
Reiji looked at the teddy, a bit confused. "Is the soul in there?"
"Oh, no, only demons can inhabit inanimate objects." Kanato sucked on the lollypop, trying to find comfort in the sweet taste of raspberry. "You'd need a soul to possess a living body."
"So, vampires cannot be vessels for the soul?"
"No, idiot," Kanato said, pushing both Shu and Reiji outside. "Now get lost, I need to play with Teddy."
The door slammed shut, as Shu looked at Reiji in bewilderment. "Did you feel the energy inside that toy?"
"Yes, I did," Reiji looked in the direction of Kanato's room, saying, "I felt it flow from the pentagram to the toy."
Shu shut his eyes in disbelief. "That hysteric. He's fucking nuts, keeping a demon that close to him."
"Now we only need the vessel," Reiji said, his eyes daring to look directly at Shu, who squinted at him. He knew Shu was overtly obsessed with the human, and perhaps hated the idea of trading her in exchange of their mother. He'd seen the lust in his eyes as he'd chased after her. Honestly, if Ayato wasn't providing her his protection, Reiji was sure that the girl would have been snapped in half by Shu after being violated by him. Or, Reiji thought in distaste, the other way round.
"Don't look at me like that," Shu said, looking at the floor instead of maintaining eye contact with his younger brother, "I don't care if the girl lives."
"Do you care if the girl dies?" Reiji said, trying to garner a reaction from him.
Shu looked at him, pissed at his insinuation. Now Reiji knew what aggrieved his brother the most. Talking about the death of the bride was obviously a trigger for him. Though Reiji seemed to think that he regarded Shu with an indifference bordering on aversion, he'd be delighted to see his brother uncomfortable, even if for just a few moments.
"What do you need from me, now that I have gone to lengths to bring Mother back?"
"Preferably your absence," Reiji said, his tone gaining a cocky edge.
Shu closed his eyes, trying to shut him out, and plugging in his earphones. "See you later, Reiji."
Reiji watched his brother disappear in front of his eyes, and headed for the library again. There were too many things left unattended, and he hated to be unoccupied. He had to start off preparing for the ritual.
***
Grabbing her schoolbag in her hands, Yui rushed to the refrigerator, grabbing her water bottle and the cranberry juice tetra pack, her legs feeling a bit wobbly. She was panting with exhaustion as she raced towards the limo, her bow coming undone with the wind, her hair clips slightly sliding off. She quickly climbed the car, heaving a sigh of relief. Whether or not Reiji punishes her, at least she would not have to walk to the school yet again.
"Being tardy is becoming your habit now, is it?" Reiji said in a harsh voice. He was sitting directly opposite to her, a book in hand, as always, but today, she noticed it. His tie was off center. Reiji, the guy who was obsessed with being proper and punctual was himself rushing through his schedule. She knew she'd woken up late because she'd been up thinking about Ayato's strangely clingy behaviour, but she didn't know why Reiji had struggled to wake up, and it bugged her.
"What are you staring at?" Reiji said, bringing her back to her senses. She shook her head, and stared at the ground instead. Beside her, Kanato had gotten his teddy back somehow, but she didn't want to congratulate him, for the fear that he would remember that it was Azuza who had burnt Teddy because of her. She couldn't handle his tantrums, and Ayato would become furious yet again.
As Ayato's thoughts invaded her mind, she found him staring outside the window, lost in thoughts. She wondered why he was so quiet after their study session, and why he seemed so surprised every time they touched. It wasn't like they hadn't touched before, they'd practically slept in each others' arms. Twice. What was changed between them now that was so strange and alien?
The time after their study was tame enough, they were playful but nothing happened of much significance. Still, she found Ayato ignoring her in the afternoon when he woke up, grumpy and sleepless as she had been. He'd even snarled at her when she greeted him. He'd act like a cat sometimes, wanting attention and playing with her whenever his heart desired, and then going back to ignoring her like she was nothing.
Ayato caught her staring at her. She counted to three before he gave a reaction in the form of a sadistic smile. What behaviour from her warranted such a reaction, she didn't know. She did not care either. Her previous attempts to uncover secrets of the Sakamaki mansion had always resulted in dead ends. Why did the diary of her father end up in the mansion, in the same room where the triplets' mother had died? Why did Cordelia take over her body? What happened when she was not in her body, while Cordelia was manipulating her?
What made Ayato come back for her?
Her chest rose with nervous breaths as Laito leaned over towards her, whispering in her ear, "You mind getting a room with Ayato now, little bitch? I'd happily watch you both fuck."
The vulgar words Laito uttered were enough to make her blush. Ayato looked up in surprise, as his name was called out, meeting Yui's gaze. She caught a sort of tenderness in his eyes, before he averted his gaze.
"Laito, manners." Reiji's voice boomed inside the limo. Laito put an arm around her shoulder, saying, "Aww, Reiji, don't be so sad. Little bitch has reserved a place for you in her bed as well."
Yui felt the situation get of out her hand pretty quick. Here she was, being reduced to a mere plaything for Laito's amusement. She glared at the boy, hoping he would get the idea and respect her decency. Instead, he egged on, continuing his ramble, "I believe we've been getting lower amounts of blood from little bitch nowadays. We should start sharing her six days a week." He looked at her, glad to see her getting flustered by the moment. "The last day she can have to herself."
"I'd vote Laito out of the scheme, he'd taint Yui-san's blood for us." Kanato clutched his toy closer to him, his jacket slumped off on one shoulder, his Victorian style ruffled collar peeking through. It had been days since Yui had seen him around, and she often wondered what he had been doing, all by himself.
"Me too," said Subaru, head leaned against the window. She hated being reduced to a mere puppet, but she had little choice in the game.
"Hey, it's not fair that you get to keep the bride all to yourselves." Laito was getting way too passionate about the debate.
"As if you deserve her in the first place," Shu said, plucking out his earphone. "You've ruined my music, congratulations."
"What a massive asshole." Subaru made no secret of his displeasure as Shu tried to join the conversation.
"Stop this tomfoolery at once!" Reiji said, as the car came to a halt. Gathering his wits, he said, "You are the sons of the Sakamaki household, better behave like it."
Laito pushed Yui out of the car, clearly annoyed. His hand wrapped around her elbow, as he pulled her closer, and whispered to her as they climbed down the car, "Would you give me the same attention you give to Ayato kun? I'm sure I can lick your pussy better than him."
Yui felt a wave of nausea rock her body. He was inaudible to everyone else, but the others did get to see her become red as Laito uttered those words. "Laito kun, please leave me."
"Why?" The grip around her elbow became tighter, as he forced her to look up at him, "Why do you freely bleed for him while you have all of us lined up for you? Why is Ayato so special?" He forced her to walk towards the gate, her feet dragging behind her. "Because he is the eldest of us siblings? Because he has the fucked up personality of a sadist? Please, Komori Yui, enlighten me with what you were doing with that son of a bitch that day-"
Without thinking, Yui raised a hand at him.
The air cracked at the impact, as her hand landed on Laito's cheek. Everyboddy stopped in their tracks, stunned. Laito lost grip over her elbow, and stumbled back a few steps.
Yui's breathing was ragged and shallow, as she took in the reactions of the brothers. Everyone stared at her, dumbfounded. Even Ayato, who's insult had motivated her to slap Laito across his cheek. The air seemed heavy with tension, weighing down in her lungs, as Kanato said, "Whoa."
She knew she was doomed. She shouldn't have done this. She regretted paying attention to him in the first place. The first reaction from Laito, though, shocked her outright.
"Fucking bitchslapped me, right, little bitch?"
Reiji came out of his shock, as he said, offended by her actions, "What makes you think you can hit one of us? Have you finally lost your wits? Do you desperately want punishment?"
"Reiji kun-"
"I demand your presence in my room once we get home," Reiji said, "You seem to be getting out of your standard pretty quick. Sneaking out, staying out of the mansion, coming home late at nights, now slapping Laito-"
Reiji's voice pitched high as he went on describing her unruly behaviour, as the rest of the brothers went on towards their classes. Yui tuned him out, hanging her head, as she caught Ayato cast a gloomy look at her, before proceeding towards their classroom. Her heart quickened as she thought of what would happen if she found out why he'd brought her back, and she feared that it will destroy her completely.