Chapter Text
Why did summer have to be so scorching hot? She hated how her clothes stuck to her skin, how the Sun beat down on her, how sweat dripped down her forehead. If it weren’t for Samo needing to go out every single day, she’d have spent the entire day at home. Perhaps the whole holidays. It’s not like she could do anything else.
Minori watched her dog run around in circles, eyes carefully tracking the movement of the blue tennis ball in her hand. His fur whipped around him as she unleashed the ball, sending it flying into the air for a few metres before ungracefully falling back down, having lost all momentum. Even Samo looked disappointed that this was the furthest she could throw. Nonetheless, he picked it up and scurried back to her, ready for another throw.
Minori knew she could throw further standing up, but it’s not like she had a choice on whether to sit down or not. Her spine couldn’t support her weight anymore, so she could only stand up for a few minutes at a time. It had been soul-crushing at first, needing to give up on everything, but she had adapted into a more mundane lifestyle, neither fulfilling nor difficult. She was glad that no one was in the park with her - the stares she got on days where it was the perfect weather was all too much: whispers about her commitment to caring for Samo, rumours about her retirement… each stare, each finger point at her, was a dagger stabbing her again and again. Besides, the benches were bought with her parents’ tax dollars, so it’d be a waste not to make good use of it.
Minori was even feeling a bit bold today. “Ok, Samo-chan, since you love me so much, I’ll throw it farther than I’ve ever thrown, alright? Be ready!~” she stood up, swung her right arm around in circles, and released it, seeing it fly through the air and… hit a bin, having it disappear behind some foliage. Of course. With her luck, how did she expect that not to happen? She should be glad that it actually didn’t fall into the bin. No matter, Samo was a smart dog - he’d find it and return it back, and maybe she’d call it a day and head back inside. Yet, minutes passed, and she hadn’t seen any sign of that pristine white fur, nor a joyful bark. Did something happen to Samo? Did he get lost? It was awfully hot today… what if he got heatstroke? Minori rushed to her feet, hoping that she’d be able to find him quick. She couldn’t stay up for long, and time was of the essence.
She pushed past the foliage where Samo had jumped through, having thorns stab her palms, but instead of seeing a bundle of white fur, there was a red drawing on the ground. A scent slowly filled her nostrils. Metal? Stepping closer to investigate, she found that her feet became frozen - unable to move, glued to the ground. Minori twisted in a circle, realisation dawning on her: the drawing on the ground, the blood smell… she stood right above a pentagram, and Minori couldn’t escape. On cue, the star glowed blindingly bright, swallowing her vision, and Minori shut her eyes and raised her arms to shield them from the light. Some weird ritual sound was playing in her ears: the screaming of souls, the yells of pain, the grunts of agony, and it took all of Minori’s willpower to not faint on the spot. Why she didn’t scream for help when she really needed it, she didn’t know. Maybe some instinct that drawing attention to the summoning circle was not a good idea if you didn’t want to die.
After a few more minutes (Minori could barely stand anymore) everything seemed to go back to normal - no screams filled her head, and she wasn’t blinded by anything but the hot Sun. The pentagram also dissolved into the grass, so the only evidence that this ever happened were Minori’s memories. Thankfully Samo was there too in one piece, running circles around her so quick in anticipation to throw the ball that it almost looked like there were multiple Samo’s. Despite all that, her beloved dog was still alive, none the wiser about what happened. Silly her - she might have overestimated her dog’s intelligence. Fortunately Samo was the type of dog to never get in trouble. Unfortunately for her, with all that pentagram stuff, she was probably in the biggest trouble she’d ever been in. Hopefully it was just the heat though.
Minori let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, leashed Samo, sat on her e-scooter and headed straight home, not wanting to think about anything other than the fact that Samo was indeed safe. She was still shaking, but that didn’t matter - it would pass, right?
Minori was back home, silently entering her room and collapsing onto her bed, pulling out her phone to search more about pentagrams. Even though it was all a big joke, it couldn’t hurt being prepared, right?
Unfortunately, the searches only granted her wallpapers (creepy) or the different meanings of different pentagrams (it’s a star painted in blood, how different can it be?) and the Wikipedia article, which she could always count on, just talked about the geometry and the golden ratio of the stupid star instead of normal warnings like “in Shibuya, pentagrams appear as a natural occurrence, and whilst they look terrifying, they are harmless” or something similar to calm her nerves down. (She made a mental note to ask the Wikipedia volunteers to stop being so obsessed with math and more concerned about the creepy cults like normal people). As none of the information she found was comforting nor useful, she decided to pretend that nothing happened and go to sleep, as per usual.
Minori woke up with a jolt, still surrounded in the pitch-black darkness, still reeling from her dream, like something was slithering over her grave. She felt her stomach - still intact, and sighed in relief. That dream - no, nightmare - had felt so real and so scary. Someone had taken a long weapon with three prongs - she wasn’t sure what it was - and impaled her in the stomach, before finding that she had woken up. Gah. Well, with her heart pumping that fast, there was no way she would sleep again now. So, she sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes, drank some water, and checked the time.
3:00 AM.
That sent shivers down her spine. A flashback to the pentagram and its ominous glow. Everything always happened at 3:00 AM in spooky movies, didn’t it? Whether it be possessed Furbies or zombies... Minori slid back into bed, pulled the blanket over her head and tried to fall asleep again, not thinking about anything, but couldn’t. The hairs on the back of her neck stood, warning her of danger. Maybe that nightmare was a foreshadowing? Cautiously, her hand fumbled against her nightstand to find the light switch. She recoiled at the light, holding her arms above her head and closing her eyes shut. She remained like that for a while, as silent as possible. Samo was in the living room today, so no one except her should be breathing, so in theory she should hear nothing else yet… Minori swore she could hear something else breathe; was someone else in here? Cautiously, Minori opened her eyes, still hurting from the light, and saw someone standing there, at the edge of her bed.
Minori let out a quiet yelp and shuffled to the back of her bed, trying to put the most distance between her and it. She then screamed for help, calling out for anyone to come and save her from this intruder. She pulled her pillow in front of her and observed the thing. It had long, sharp horns and a pointed tail that swayed from side to side, both painted red like that pentagram. It wore an amused expression, as if seeing someone in so much distress was so funny. It continued staring, fierce blue eyes gazing at her. Observing her. Its eyes absorbed every detail of her. For a while, no one said anything. Minori was confused as to why no one had come, despite her screams; did they all die? Had this demon killed them? She wanted to go check, but what would this demon do to her if she did? An awkward silence passed as she glanced for any self-defence weapons or escape routes, but none were in her reach. It continued watching her, tilting her head, having her blue hair sway with it. Finally, it broke the silence.
“You’ve got a lot of questions, don’t you? That’s strange for someone who summoned me herself.” Summoning? When did she… Ah, right. The pentagram. It was talking about that, right? She recalled accidentally stepping on the pentagram and being blinded and deafened by horrible devilish imagery. It let out a giggle, catching her by surprise. She didn’t see anything funny at all with this business. If this was her brother’s prank, he’d have no hope of seeing tomorrow.
“You did none of the standard summoning rituals, yet you were the one that brought me to this realm. You’re a strange one, aren’t you?” It let out another slight chuckle. “You might be the luckiest person in the world, having such an affinity for summoning. Although, maybe you don’t see that yet.” It furrowed its eyebrows, thinking hard. Minori was still frozen in fear. Summoning? Affinity? Lucky? If she had to pick one thing that she didn’t have, it would be luck. Good luck specifically. It was actually the thing that caused her entire downfall, luck. So to now suddenly be lucky? With the most taboo of things ever? It made her head hurt. She called out again for her parents, tried reaching for something to throw, but It just moved her nightstand away from her, so the only thing she could throw were her plushies, and she’d rather die than give them to the enemy. It shook its head, stifling laughter. Was this so funny?
“I sealed the room so that no sound to escape, so spare yourself the trouble and lower your voice. Maybe we could talk a bit?”. Considering that she hadn’t died yet, she supposed the thing could exercise some self-restraint, which pointed to the fact that it could be reasoned with. It still stood there, watching, although its tail was less intimidating, having been lowered so it didn’t cast ominous shadows on the back wall.
Cautiously, she made eye contact. It was patiently waiting, as if Minori was important to her. After a while, she glanced away, unsure whether this was all real. She glanced back again. It wouldn’t give up, would it? Still, this shouldn’t even be possible. Surely this was all just a dream, right? All just a…
She pinched herself, suddenly so sure that she was dreaming. She stopped immediately once she felt the shock travel up her arm, gasping in surprise. Definitely awake. She swivelled her head towards it. Still there. Still waiting. Still standing. Minori remembered a time where she could still stand for a long period of time, even dance in front of a crowd, but she had left behind that life now. She sighed, and, giving up, asked it to start from the beginning. Before she opened her mouth though, it replied.
“Well, for starters, you can stop calling me an it. Just because I’m not from your world doesn’t mean I should be dehumanised.” It started, crossing its arms. Well, not an it, she supposed. Minori just realised the whatever it was could sense that Minori called it, an it. She also would’ve chuckled at the demon using the word “dehumanised”, as if it were a human in the first place if she wasn’t so terrified.
“You’re still doing it.” The demon chided. She shook her head in disappointment. “And I’m not a demon either. Devils are different from demons, as we have sentience, whilst demons are mindless and have no control over their magic. Call me Haruka, please.”
Minori nodded along in understanding, but the words passed over her head. She tried to absorb all the information, but instead she focused on the apparently devil in front of her, Haruka. A deceptively normal name for someone from another realm. Minori wondered where Haruka had gotten their name from. A past life? was that even possible? Anyways, Haruka was talking again.
“Because you summoned me, we now have an invisible link. Basically, I can read your thoughts. Got it? I. Can. Hear. You. Not. Focusing. And no, it doesn’t work the other way round.”
That snapped Minori back to attention. The words just got processed when she realised what Haruka just said. “Huhhh…?”. Her thoughts… Minori thought about all the times she glared daggers at people, especially after last year’s summer. How often she thought about the death of other people…
Haruka smirked, letting out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good. At least I won’t be that bored being in this world. Who do you hate again? I could help you with your revenge.” Haruka stretched, looking refreshed as the words marched in Minori’s brain. Revenge…. She had to be missing something. Why would a devil help her? Weren’t they supposed to be a menace on society, everyone’s bad guys?
Haruka listened intently - even her head was cocked to the side, as if she was trying to hear better. Then, Haruka recited her entire backstory as if she took a test on it. “Ok so, to understand why I’m doing this, you need to understand who I am, and to understand who I am, you need to understand where I come from. First, I come from the underworld. I was born there, and have never been into your world until now; this is my first summoning. Basically, when we’re summoned, we’re tasked with, under our linker’s command - that’s your command - to cause as much destruction and despair as possible. This way, when they die all depressed, they’re sent to the underworld, and become labourers for the rest of their life. This means that we native folk become promoted, and have a better quality of living.” Haruka took a pause to see if she was listening. She actually did, probably the first time that she understood something that night, but… why? Why was this all necessary? Did they really need her involvement?
“We need to be summoned to the living realm because otherwise we’re too unstable and perish, which has a ripple effect in the underworld as well. At least, it’s happened in the past, and no one wishes to replicate that, no matter how dire the situation is. As for what you get… when you pass a way you get promoted, once you land in the underworld. Thus, instead of being a peasant labourer for the rest of your afterlife, you get to at least be a manager, or if you’re more accomplished, a general. It’s a much better quality of life, which is good since you’re spending the majority of your conscious there. You also get to act out your revenge - I’ve heard it’s sweet.”
Minori pondered her words for a minute. Revenge… something she had wished for long ago, but could never enact because of all the things in her way. First of all, she couldn’t physically do all the things that she wanted to do now, the reason she wanted revenge in the first place. Secondly, she’d never hear the end of it, starting from her parents, her brother, her classmates, maybe even the media… with all the consequences, how was she going to enact revenge?
Haruka smirked - it was like a cat-like smile, eyes glowing as she read her stream of consciousness again. “Well, as someone from the underworld, I can give you something you’d never encounter somewhere else. Take your back, for example. It’s been confining you to seats and held you hostage by the worst places of your mind. Has it even throbbed with pain when we had this conversation?” Haruka was right - she hadn’t actually felt anything painful for this entire conversation. Feeling daring, Minori stepped out of bed, and seeing that didn’t hurt, twirled, danced a bit, even doing a handstand (although the strength in her arms was much less than it was before, so she almost immediately collapsed). She looked at Haruka again, pure joy on her face. This was huge. She could walk again, be a normal person, participate in activities again! If she really wanted to, she could become an idol again, but she was sure she had left that life behind now. But now that the idea had come back to her… she remembered the rest of what happened during her idol days.
Minori finished the dance rehearsal, completely exhausted, much like everyone else that was there. She had put in extra effort at home to not waste anyone’s time, but it still didn’t feel like enough. However, she should be happy - she was an idol, and in a popular group at that. Happiness was anything but what Minori felt though, or what the managers had on their faces.
“Not good enough - she’s still late on her turn, and she’s out of sync in the second half, and she’s still rushing herself, and she’s not moving enough… at this rate they won’t be ready for the show.”
“We can have them do more rehearsals until they get it, because otherwise we’ll be outcompeted by everyone else.”
“Yeah, that’s probably right.”
And so, the group kept training. It didn’t end until at least 5 of them had dropped from exhaustion, which had to be carried back. It was absolutely gruelling.
Haruka was right. Revenge would be sweet. Yet, she still didn’t trust this whole… devil thing. They needed to make a deal, a guarantee, that this would be seen through.
“Alright.” Minori broke the silence between them. “If I’m to help you create despair, I need you to promise that you’ll put my safety first - that includes helping me live a normal life, relatively speaking. If we do something, and I’m in danger, and you don’t help me, I will do everything in my power to break this contract of yours.” Her voice came as purposely venomous - probably the greatest tough act she’d done.
Haruka’s eyes widened in surprise, but crinkled again as she smiled. She offered her hand to Minori. “I agree to those terms. Let’s make the pact.” She took her hand and shook, feeling something sizzling on her arm, but not daring to pull away in fear. Once it finished, she held it up to the light. She glared at Haruka. “What was that?” She held out her own wrist, marked with a shield. “If I end up harming you because of this, I’m liable by this pact to return to my home. This is what you wanted, right?” Now that she looked closer, her mark was also of a shield, but also bore another mark, the kanji for the word revenge. “This also means that if you don’t help me cause despair, you’ll also pay the price.”
Minori swallowed. Sure… she could work with that. Revenge created despair anyway, right? Might as well get on with it before she faced whatever consequences that entailed…
“Alright, where do we start?” She held back the fear that would’ve seeped into her voice. Haruka pointed outside her window, towards the city centre with all its skyscrapers, pointing at one in particular.
“That’s where all your suffering comes from, right? Good place to start, don’t you think?”