Chapter Text
June 8, 1997.
The heat was close to blazing, even as the evening sun was beginning to set on the town of St. Peanutsburg. Keita still remembered the dumbfounded look on Buck’s face after he was able to beat the Junkernaut. As it’s huge, metal body fell onto the junkyard ground in a rusty heap, Keita felt eyes looking at him, and turned to look.
Buck’s mouth was agape in a wide smile, and he was trying to speak, but he was too excited to. The kid who was so rude to Keita not that long ago was now staring at him, as if he was some sort of legendary hero. Feeling a bit of sweat roll down the back of his neck, Keita smiled.
It was nice to finally have a friend. A person who could see—
“ALIENS!” Buck jumps up and strikes a pose, almost slipping on Keita’s bedroom rug. “They’ve been causin’ all sorts of problems around this here town. And you’ve got two of them with ya? You sure don’t see that every day!”
Buck reaches his hands out to Whisper and begins to stretch his face. “Durable and stretchy. I bet you could throw him just like a football and he would bounce right back up!” He grins, clearly ecstatic.
“What-?! Hey, don’t even think about throwing me!” Whisper protests, trying to swat Buck away from him.
“Aliens..?” Keita shakes his head. “Are you serious? You mean Yokai, right?”
Buck lets go of Whisper. “Yo…Kai..? Yokai? What’s that? Sounds like hogwash ta’ me!” He begins to pet Jibanyan’s head. “So, what planet are you critters from? Mars? Neptune? Pluto?” Buck’s eyes sparkle as he lets out a loud laugh. “No wait, it’s gotta be something else, like Planet Krypton from them Superman comics!”
“We’re not from Pluto, or Krypton, or whatever you’re talking about, nya! We’re yokai!” Jibanyan huffs, but he undoubtedly enjoys the pets he’s receiving.
“Hey, Keita, I need ya ta’ help me out. Since we can both see aliens—“
“—Yokai.” Keita corrects him.
“—Whatever!” Buck waves his hands. “Since we can both see ‘em, how ‘bout you help me do a little bit of investigatin’? The City Hall has this HUGE, beautiful bell up top! I reckon the aliens are hidin’ in there!”
“Uh…ok, so first you find my house, and now you want me to hunt Yokai—“
“—Aliens!”
“—Whatever, with you.”
“Mhm. Cmon, it’ll be fun! And I’ll be showin’ y'all around the town!” Buck says cheerfully.
“Um…ok?” Keita mutters. He doesn’t fully trust Buck, but he can’t help but grow fond of the boy's wild enthusiasm and Southern charm. “I’ll come with you, I guess…”
“Keita, what are you thinking?!” Whisper pulls him aside, holding him by the shoulders. “We don’t know this young man! What’s even worse is that he called us aliens !” Whisper shudders at the word, as if it disgusted him to even utter it. “I think you should tell this boy to leave.”
“Well…” Keita turns around, facing Buck again. “Buck..?”
“Yeah?” Buck looks at Keita expectantly, nearly bouncing in excitement. “What’s up?”
“I’ll go with you! Lead the way!” Keita smiles a little, trying to regain his confidence.
“He…he didn’t listen to a word I said…” Whisper looks dejected as he sighs.
Jibanyan shrugs. “Eh, the alien stuff is annoying, but Buck gives good head scratches.” His ear twitches. “I think Keita knows what he’s doing, nyan.”
Whisper tries to protest. “But I’m his Yokai butler! Shouldn’t I have a say in what’s best for him—“
“Cmon, let's go already!” Buck runs out of the room, and they hear his boots thumping on the wooden stairs as he sprints. Nate and Jibanyan quickly run after him, leaving Whisper alone.
“I can’t believe this. Well, I suppose I have no choice…” Whisper sighs and floats out of the room, hoping that they all won’t get into too much trouble with whatever they come across at the City Hall.
They step out of the house and into the light rain, the summer heat making the air humid and muggy. Keita pulls his rain jacket over his shoulders, but Buck just runs through the rain, droplets splattering onto the black sunglasses he keeps up on his head.
“H-Hey, wait up!” Keita runs after him, still pulling his arm through the sleeve of the red jacket.
After a while, they make it to the City Hall. It’s a grand building, with large, wooden doors and a formal air to it. They turn their heads and see a couple of people entering and exiting the premises.
Buck shakes droplets out of his hair. “You ready?”
“Uh—“ Keita manages to croak out some sort of noise before Buck enters the building without a second thought.
Immediately, Keita's eyes fall on Agent Blunder and Agent Folly, the two weirdos who have been popping up all around town. They seem to show up whenever he goes somewhere.
Buck glances at them curiously, as they’re in the middle of a conversation.
“I'm telling you, Blunder, there’s nothing in that bell. Now will you stop bringing it up? We gave it a close inspection, and it was normal.” She shakes her head, her forehead wrinkling in frustration.
“You just want to disagree with me all the time! I saw something in that bell, I know I did!” Blunder protests.
Agent Folly walks up to the kids.
“The City Hall is no place for children. What business do you have here?” She asks.
“Well, we’re…here to see the bell.” Keita manages a straight face. It isn’t a complete lie, after all.
“That’s a coincidence…we also came here to see the bell.” Agent Blunder says, scratching his chin.
“Yes, the completely normal bell.” Agent Folly mutters, rolling her eyes. “Agent Blunder, we have no more business here. Let's go.” She walks away towards the door quickly, leaving Blunder to scramble behind her.
After they’re gone, Buck lets out a whisper. “Didja hear that? Them agents was investigatin’ the bell too! Now we’ve GOT ta’ see it! Let's beat ‘em at their own game!” He runs off, leaving Keita, Whisper, and Jibanyan.
“He dragged us into this, and he’s yet again leaving us behind…” Whisper mutters, shaking his head.
“Let's catch up to him!” Keita makes sure to walk in the direction that Buck went, trying not to gain attention from the numerous people within the City Hall. After a minutes of walking, he turns a corner and finds a pair of double doors, with dark brown wood and golden doorknobs.
“I think we should open this door! There could be something important on the other side!” Whisper says gleefully, with a strange air of adventure about him.
“Yeah, open it!” Jibanyan says.
Keita tries one of the doorknobs, but it’s locked.
“It’s locked…” Keita sighs and backs away from the door, looking defeated, before he suddenly hears Buck sprinting down the hall before skidding to a stop.
“Y’all got away from me quick!” He laughs, a little breathless.
“We…we got away from you..?” Keita squints in confusion.
“Cmon, you guys are way too slow! I couldn’t keep track of ya! So, didja find somethin’?”
Keita nods his head towards the door. “We found a door, but it’s locked.”
Immediately, Buck pulls out an ornate key, its dark-brown color matching that of the door. The gems in the key sparkle an alluring red, and Nate and his yokai companions stare at it, their mouths agape.
“Why do you even have a key like that?!” Jibanyan sputters.
“Well, I can’t tell y'all why! A good secret needs t’ be kept, yeah?” He unlocks the door. “There, now we can pass!”
The double doors creak open, making way to a small wooden room with a set of stairs that lead to the loft.
Keita feels his hands tremble a tiny bit. “Jeez, it’s dark…”
“Hey, Keita, why dontcha head on up first? I don’t wanna steal the spotlight away from ya for too long!” Buck giggles and waits for Keita to go up the stairs.
Keita walks up the stairs carefully, and comes up to the area with the bell. The bell is like a giant ray of life in an otherwise empty, musty room. Keita approaches the large bell, taking in its surpassingly delicate appearance before running his fingers over the surface.
“See anything unusual?” Buck asks from somewhere behind him.
“No…” Keita says, wiping the dust on his fingers onto his pants. “Everything seems normal..?”
“Keep checkin’! We might be missin’ something.”
Keita continues to observe the bell—he even tries the Yokai Watch—but there’s nothing wrong.
“It looks normal. I think Agent Folly was right…” Keita scratches his head, sighing.
“Dagnabbit! I was sure something was wrong with this bell!” Buck crosses his arms, looking frustrated. “I’m gonna figure out what it is! Something ain’t right…”
“Hey, Buck. Something’s been on my mind.” Keita says quietly. “How…can you even see Whisper and Jibanyan? I mean, you don’t have a Yokai Watch or anything…”
“I would like to know as well! You have too many secrets, young man!” Whisper huffs.
“Alright, I suppose I’ll tell y’all…” Buck grins sheepishly before beginning his story. “The night before y’all moved here, this huge object crashed right into our town!” He moves his arms up, trying to imitate the scale of the mysterious object. “Folks were saying’ it was a meteorite, but I knew that theory was a load of bull! It was a UFO!”
“A…UFO…?” Keita looks at him curiously.
“Yessir! After it hit the ground, it floated back into the sky! What kinda meteorite can do that?”
“I mean…I guess it sounds like a UFO.” Keita says hesitantly.
“There’s no way this story is real…” Whispers says. “UFOs simply do not exist. If it was a Yokai, I would understand, but a UFO?”
“I got the evidence right here! You believe me, dontcha, Keita?” Buck gets closer to him, his eyes sparkling as he shows off his necklace to him.
“Woah-!” Keita backs up a little, until his eyes lock on Buck’s necklace. The end of the necklace has a small, bright blue stone.
“It’s..it’s beautiful! Wow..” Keita stares at the stone in wonder.
“Yup, ain’t she a beauty? I found this little thang at the crash site. I call it my ‘UFO Stone’, and it’s powers let me communicate with aliens!” He flashes a wide grin.
“I mean, that’s cool and all…but…” Keita says.
“But what?”
“It’s just hard to believe.”
“Alright, I get ya. I’ll take y’all over t’ Mr. Keensight, the guy who runs the watch shop. He’s the one who put the stone in this here pendant for me.” He plays with his necklace. “He’ll be able to convince ya that I’m tellin’ the truth!”
“Ok…” Keita is hesitant, but follows Buck out of city hall. They head to East Pine, and make their way to the Watch Shop.