Chapter Text
It’s been a long time since you’ve been in a real fight. Not counting the one against Kudlak, anyway, which you don’t. Not fully anyway. After all, it might’ve been your body moving, but you weren’t the one running the show at the time. Kresnik was. Sure, it was satisfying in it’s own way to feel yourself moving with greater strength and agility than you were normally capable of, and to feel your own hands finishing off that leeching bastard... but it was different.
This fight against the Shomonkai is your first as one hundred-percent yourself since you were a teenager. And you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t missed the feeling at all. Especially with Mari at your side. The few scuffles you’d had each others’ backs in were, for a time, a source of shame for you. Feeling like you needed her protection, that you forced her to step in and get her hands dirty... no matter how much she assured you otherwise, you couldn’t shake the bitterness or guilt.
Now, though, you can feel secure. You can remember those times - even those when it wasn’t just the two of you, but your brother as well, all looking out for each other and not losing to anyone - with pride instead. The same pride you feel right now.
Of course, you’re a little rusty, but the COMP’s giving you a boost, and it’s easy to get back into a groove with her. You know how she fights, you can match her better than anyone. And it’s so damn satisfying to see those walking traffic cones run off once you’ve crushed their weapons and sent their demons packing. Even when the big black snowman demon comes barrelling into the fight, you don’t lose focus on your main targets - which turned out to be a good decision, since Loki quickly welcomed the demon and made it clear the thing was a friend.
That said, you’re a little relieved that Naoya and Kazuya managed to defeat the maiden before it was necessary for you to lend a hand. Logically, you know she doesn’t need you to take it easy on her. You wouldn’t be able to afford to - from the way she was flinging shots of gold light left and right, you know she’s plenty tough. But she’s still a kid. Same age as Gin, maybe younger. She shouldn’t be in this kind of place at all.
No matter how carefully Kazuya lays her down on the nearby grass after the fight, seeing her unconscious gives you a twinge of uneasiness. Like this, it just makes it all the more obvious how young she is. Just how the hell had she even wound up in this position?
Your feelings must show on your face more clearly than you’d intended, because when Kazuya stands, he gives you a pat on the shoulder and smiles evenly at you. “Don’t worry. The angel using her will keep her safe for now.”
...Man. He may be Naoya’s cousin, but you can’t say you like his vibes. No wonder the kid was having so many problems with him.
You hear footsteps then, but though you and Mari both jump to attention once again, it’s not another cultist. Just some guy who looks about your age, with brown hair and a toothy grin. “Hey, so I hear it’s safe to come out now?”
Kazuya snorts a bit. “Yes, the big scary angel is out cold.” But he smiles in a friendlier way than you’ve seen from him as he says it, and steps back from Yuzu. “We’re counting on you, Atsuro.”
You glance over at Naoya and Loki to see if they recognize the newcomer. They do, and Naoya seems okay with him - or at least, not openly suspicious - but even so, you can’t help but ask, “Just what’re you gonna do?”
“Well y’see, you guys need to face Jezebel. But if she wakes up in the real world, she’ll burn up Yuzu’s soul pretty quick,” Atsuro says, kneeling down and taking out his own COMP, “We definitely don’t want that, so you’re going to have to face her while she’s still asleep.”
As the guy gets to work, Naoya kneels down too, his eyes sharp as he watches Atsuro’s every move. “How’s that even possible?”
Atsuro grins, waving a knowing finger at him. “The COMPs are powered by feeding off emotions and thoughts through the internet. They’re capable of creating a link between minds - which means with a little tweaking, I can build one directly between your’s and her’s. Then, once the link is made, you all can fight Jezebel inside her mindscape.” He looks back up over his shoulder at you as you join Naoya in observation. “Are you interested in this kind of thing too?”
“Not exactly. Just wanted to see how it works,” you answer as you straighten back up a little. There’s no hint of embarrassment in your expression or stance - he oughta at least expect a little skepticism when he popped up out of nowhere.
There’s an amused look in his eyes for a moment, but then the COMP he has hooked up starts beeping. The grin comes back as he stands back up with a slight hop. “Okay, you should be ready to go.”
“All of us?” Naoya asks, “Will that many connections hold up?”
“Well...” Atsuro hums, eyeing his own COMP. “It should work fine, but if you’re worried, I don’t mind hanging back. You guys’ll probably feel safer with a guard anyway, right?”
“Oh-ho?” The snowman demon asks, “Should I hee-help him?”
“No, you’ll be more helpful in the fight,” Kazuya says, before Naoya can make the call for himself. “Jezebel isn’t good with ice.”
Mari hums then, almost interrupting him. “I think I’ll join you instead, then. Better two pairs of eyes keeping watch than one.” But the look on her face makes it clear she’ll be watching the newcomer as closely as she would an enemy. That, more than anything, is the reassurance you need.
You don’t know much about this Yuzu girl, but her ‘mindscape’, as Atsuro called it, is surprisingly lifelike. Simple, too - just a normal house like you’d find anywhere, with a cluttered living room and kitchen that Kazuya leads you past without even glancing at it. He only pauses when he finds a long, stretching hallway, lined with shut doors. “Guess Jezebel’s being kept behind one of these,” he says, looking a little impressed, “She always was good at compartmentalizing.”
Naoya narrows his eyes at his cousin, and grabs his arm. “What do you mean by that? Just what did you do to her, anyway?”
Kazuya gives him a long sideways glance, his smile giving you an instinctive chill that you hope he didn’t notice. “Nothing she couldn’t have prevented with a little more caution.” And with that, he pulls away to walk down the hall, leaving Naoya to glare silently after him.
You’re about to speak up yourself, to ask what the hell that’s supposed to mean, but Loki pipes up before you get a chance. “So, what d’ya think is in all these rooms? Seems like she could use some spring cleaning in here,” he says, opening one without warning. You jump, your eyes reflexively drawn to the interior. It’s dark, but enough light from the hallway reveals a bed, with a school uniform and bag laying on top of it. There’s a musty smell, like it’s been stagnating in there a long time. You shut the door yourself, forcing it out of his hand.
“Oi, don’t snoop in someone else’s mind,” you scold, to which Loki holds up his hands in a surrendering pose.
“Fine, fine. Just curious.”
He doesn’t sound especially sorry, but since he just catches up with Naoya instead of trying another, you let it go. Besides, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t wondering about all of this yourself. This place just looks so normal. Considering she’s the Shomonkai’s ‘maiden’, you’d have expected something more... you don’t know. Spiritual? But it’s just a regular house, with regular things all shut up inside it.
You try to ignore the questions niggling at you, focus on the team. Frosty’s started barrelling ahead like he’s impatient, with Naoya keeping a sharp eye on your surroundings as he follows in second. Kazuya’s just walking, not even giving the doors on either side a glance.
But watching him, his casual and unconcerned behavior, makes you bristle. Yuzu shouldn’t be here, like this - you feel that all the more strongly now. And the fact that Kazuya apparently had a hand in making sure she was puts your teeth on edge.
“Over hee-here!” Frosty finally calls back towards the rest of you. He’s pressed one of his large hand against a door, identical to all the others. “This one’s nice and toasty, ho! I think Jezebel’s all hee-holed up in here.” Naoya catches up to him quickly, taking a moment to inspect it and place his hand on it as well. An odd look comes into his eye - somehow both focused and distant at the same time - then blinks and pulls his hand back.
“Yeah, she’s in here alright.” He opens the door, a wave of warm, sticky heat emerging from it. Almost like a greenhouse. With a grimace, Naoya asks, “Frosty, can you do something about the temperature?” The demon gives him a quick salute, and gives itself a firm shake. A flurry of snowflakes puff around it, relieving the heat somewhat before it starts leading you all down the stairs waiting just past the door frame. Kazuya puts a finger to his lips in a gesture to stay quiet, and goes down right after it, leaving the rest of you to follow.
The room at the base of the stairs is large and empty, pulsing with a dark red light that makes you squint. But it’s enough to make out the general shape of the demon, large and bulky, with its twisting vines and flowers crawling up the sides of the walls. Loki lets out a low whistle, and says, “Looks like it’ll take the whole place down if we get rid of her.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Kazuya says, “This girl isn’t that weak.”
You mutter, without really planning to, “So, what, you did this to her because you thought she could handle it?”
But, of course, Kazuya’s expression remains even and unconcerned. “You don’t think she can?”
Ugh, this fucking guy. You really don’t know how he can be that confident and smug when, in front of the massive demon, Yuzu’s laying all curled on her side. Even in the poor light, there are enough roots growing over her that you can’t possibly miss them.
All he says on the matter, though, is, “As long as they’re connected like this, hurting Jezebel will hurt her as well. We need to seperate them before we defeat the demon. Understood?”
“Okay,” Naoya says simply enough, as he pulls out his COMP, “No point wasting time, then.”
This space isn’t made for fighting. You could tell that much just from a quick look around. The ceiling is too low, and Jezebel takes up too much space for flashy maneuvering. Her roots line the floor and her vines coat the walls; if she really has full control of all of them, you’ll have to be very careful to watch for attacks from all directions. But Naoya’s right. There’s no other choice but to get started.
Most of your team heads right for Jezebel’s main body, but to your surprise, Kazuya goes for Yuzu instead. In your suspicion, you follow him. You’re worried about her too, and if you want to try and figure out what’s going on in that head of his, this seems like an important chance.
At least he doesn’t try to argue against your presence, though when he notices you, it does look like he finds it kinda funny. Asshole. With a small smirk, he asks, “How good is your magic?”
“Eh, so-so. I’m better with punching.”
Wow, that smug look just gets worse. Speaking of punching... “Alright, I’ll handle the spellwork then. You and your demons can just tear them up to your heart’s content.”
It’s a solid enough plan, and though you don’t like that you’re listening to him, you won’t be petty enough to go against him for just that reason. Kazuya casts wind spells at the roots, the gusts whipping them up and giving you a chance to strike. Your Orochi starts trying to chew through them with its many heads, while Touki slices them up.
Just as you expected, Jezebel has full control over her roots. They move around and under you, trying to strike at or cling to you and your demons. You do your best to punch and kick them away, but some have thorns that turn these attacks into double-edged blows.
“Are you holding up alright?” Kazuya asks, with what you can only hear as condescension, as his Tao Tie launches a stream of lightning that fries the ends of several roots as before they can reach Yuzu.
“Just peachy,” you retort, yanking two large handful of vines back despite the way they dig into your palms, to give your Touki the chance to slash right through them all at once, “I got some real thick skin, y’know.”
You’re not sure if it’s a surprise or not when he laughs, but then you feel the effects of a Diarahan mending your injuries. When you look over at him, his hand is raised, and there’s that annoyingly calm smile back on his face. You hold off on a snort, and turn your focus briefly to the rest of the fight.
As you thought, Naoya, Loki, and Frosty are doing well. From the look of it, Frosty’s ice attacks are doing a lot of damage, and Naoya’s got his own to aid him. Loki whips up a hurricane with a Wind Dance that picks up their ice attacks and turns them into a fierce blizzard that buffets the monster mercilessly. From within the funnel of wind and frost, you can hear her long, low moans of pain.
A grin starts to tug at your face. They’ve got this, you’re sure of it. You just have to make sure to keep Yuzu safe and detached until the fight is over.
Then you turn your head back to your own fight, and you’re greeted by an extremely weird sight. A second Yuzu, her hair fully down and free of the lotus hairpiece, and her uniform being worn in a way that is decidedly not up to the Shomonkai’s standards, practically slipping off her shoulders. She merely glances at you and titters. It’s Kazuya she approaches, a hungry look in her eyes.
“Dearest Kazuya,” she practically purrs, “Are you really so cold as to throw me out after preparing such a lovely home for me?”
There’s no change in his expression, no trace of guilt. But while his demons are at the ready and his hand holding his COMP twitches, he hesitates just a moment to attack her.
You almost do, too. But then you spot the vines trailing from the flowers on her shoes, moving quickly towards Yuzu’s still-sleeping body. That’s what sends you launching the full-force of a Brutal Hit right at her without a second thought, sending her and her vines flying. It’s only after the impact that you have enough time to think and maybe regret - but when she lets out a shrill, inhuman laugh, you have none to spare for her. Whatever that thing is, it’s even less Yuzu than the one that was walking around outside.
Kazuya blinks, apparently startled by the suddenness of your attack, then just goes right back to that smile. “I had that under control, you know,” he says.
“Can it,” you growl, as the Jezebel-Yuzu stands again. You’ve got her full attention now, and she cackles as she vanishes, only to reappear right in front of you. She tries to tangle your limbs in vines, and if you were on your own it might be a problem, but you’ve got a team with you. And as long as you’re keeping her busy, she doesn’t have time to try and reach Yuzu herself.
The ceiling starts to crumble, both a threat and a relief, as the main body of Jezebel tries to move herself. Perhaps to attack more viciously, perhaps to simply run and retreat deeper into Yuzu herself. You’re not sure, but Kazuya’s eyes sharpen and he barks out towards Naoya, “Finish it, quick!”
“I don’t need you to tell me that,” you hear his cousin snaps in return, and Jezebel-Yuzu looks back over your shoulder towards him with actual panic in her eyes. Reflexively, you give them a quick look too, just in time to see Jezebel pierced by three massive icicles, pinning her in place and leaving her nowhere to run.
Both the monster and phantom let out an agonized shriek in unison, and the Jezebel-Yuzu turns back towards the sleeping girl and tries once last time to reach her. “Orochi!” you cry, and your snake-like demon Constricts her before she can try to pull off that teleportation trick again. Her roots move fast, but Kazuya is closer and faster. Before they can touch the sleeping girl, he grabs her and tears her away from the last of the tendrils.
It’s a little far away, but you think you see Yuzu start to stir.
Then Jezebel screams again, calling out, “Forgive me! Forgive me, Master Belberith!” with a desperation you wouldn’t have expected. The false Yuzu disappears in your demon’s coils, evaporating into smoke, and you see the remaining roots burst into flames. She’s being consumed by her own fire, you realize, and when you turn back to look at the enormous being of flower and root, she’s already starting to disintegrate.
Thankfully, it isn’t long before her shrieking tapers off into silence. Soon all that’s left of her is a thick, heavy smoke - at least, that’s what it looks like to you - that seems drawn to Naoya for some reason. You watch him breathe it in deeply, and suppress the urge to warn him about it being dangerous. He looks like he knows what he’s doing. Part of helping him means knowing when to stand back and let him handle things his way, after all.
Once the smoke is gone, the rest of the room starts to flicker and fade out too. The heat lets up, and the air starts to feel lighter around you. It’s easier to breathe now. As your surroundings vanish and you feel your consciousness slipping, you hope Yuzu feels the same way too.
You open your eyes to the red, overbearing sky, and Atsuro looking down at you with a slightly concerned expression. “You feeling alright? Any numbness or sense of disconnection?”
“Yeah. Fine,” you sit up, taking a quick look around. You seem to be the last one awake - Loki’s giving Naoya an enthusiastic and one-sided hug and Frosty’s trying to imitate him. “Was that something they were supposed to be worried about?”
“Not exactly - but even when you know exactly what should happen in theory, there’s always a chance for unexpected side effects,” he says with a shrug, “But looks like you all came through it just fine! Way to go, you all saved the sleeping princess.” When he grins and pats you on the shoulder, he seems so sincere, you forget for a moment that he’s first and foremost Kazuya’s buddy.
“Do you need help standing?” Mari asks, approaching you with an offered hand. You have an urge to say ‘nah’, just out of habit, but since she’s asking and not just pushing it on you, you can accept it. “Was it a difficult fight?”
“Ask those kids, they’re the ones who got the worst of it,” you say, breathing out a slight laugh as you stand. Once you’re up, you spot Kazuya a little ways off, and Yuzu. She’s still unconscious. That doesn’t seem like a good sign... didn’t you see her start to wake up in that place? What’s it mean that she’s still out like this?
But before you can offer to take a closer look at her, he turns back towards you and says, “Atsuro, take her back to your apartment. She’ll be safest there until she wakes up.”
“You got it,” Atsuro says with a mock salute, as he hurries over to her side as well.
You blink at him, crossing your arms, “What, you gonna kidnap her on top of everything else?”
“No,” Kazuya says, with a bluntness you don’t expect. He takes another look down at her, frowning lightly. “She just deserves the chance to rest until this is over.”
The way he says it is almost... soft. You really don’t know how to read this guy and you hesitate to take it at face value, but... it’s not like he’s bothered making a show of concern for anyone until now. And then he turns back towards Naoya, who’s watching him just as sharply, and doesn’t give her another look. “How do you feel? Any different?”
Naoya pauses, just a moment, then shakes his head and says, “Not really.”
There’s another unexpected bit of weirdness then, in the strained look that pulls at Kazuya’s expression. But he continues easily enough, “Well, just let me know if that changes.”
For a long moment, you just eye him carefully. You trust Naoya, that’s not in doubt for you. If he thinks that this guy’s plan is a good one, then you believe in that. But you don’t like being on the same side as someone you can’t figure out.
So you turn to Atsuro, who’s carefully picking Yuzu up, and ask, “Hey, mind giving me a ring when she does wake up? If she’s, I dunno, sick or something, I might be able to give you a hand. You do have a COMP, right?”
The guy tilts his head, seeming to consider the idea, before nodding. “Sure, I can do that. Naoya has my address - send me a message, and I’ll add you.”
“Not Kazuya?”
He laughs. “That guy wouldn’t remember an e-mail address if it was tattooed on his hand. No, you wanna ask Naoya. He’s the one who’ll know what you’re talking about.”
Kazuya twitches slightly at the sound of the laugh, and the look on his face makes his suspicions clear. “Now’s not really the time for gossip, don’t you think?”
“Of course, of course,” Atsuro says, with a sing-song lilt, before giving you a wink and, in a flash of smoke, vanishes still holding the girl.
“Guy sure knows how to make an exit, huh?” Loki says, snickering a bit. “Hope he didn’t singe you.” You’re not sure if it’s more directed at Atsuro, or your own bafflement. So the guy’s not just Kazuya’s friend, but a demon too?
...Well. Maybe that’s not too much of a surprise, all things considered.
“It’s fine. I am getting pretty used to hanging around demons at this point.” You grin back at Loki for a moment, before shooting a challenging look in Kazuya’s direction. But he just keeps that cool, amused look on his face.
This time, though, you don’t let it get to you. However he acts, he’s still just some guy. And if you can understand and work with demons, you can find a way to do the same with him. Whether Kazuya’s a good person, a bad one, or something in between, you need to at least be able to work with the person who’s so instrumental to this whole scheme. And between his friend, his cousin, and himself, you’re sure you’ll figure him out sooner or later.