Work Text:
“Evil Eye, is that you?” Jiji whispers frantically as he holds the kozuka knife in his hand. The knife doesn't respond. There’s no markings to say which spirit is inside.
An explosion sounds behind him. No time for second guessing. Whatever this thing is, his spiritual energy alone isn’t enough to beat it. They need Evil Eye's endurance.
He draws the knife across the back of his hand, willing the cold blanket of Evil Eye to sink into his bones; the familiar simmering rage to penetrate his flesh and a mantra of violent opinions to spill into his psyche as the spirit looks out through his eyes. Instead, it feels like there's a weight on his back.
“You're not Rin,” Mai says snidely as she materialises.
“Uh oh, wrong knife!” Jiji has time to say, before he dives out of the way of an attack.
“Where's Rin?” Mai asks, floating alongside him, seemingly unperturbed by the destruction around them.
“She's safe, but she's not here at the moment.” Jiji ducks and rolls. “Any chance you can help us with that?!” He points at the flame-spewing yokai-user currently bearing down on Okarun, who's spinning his super-cool new sword really fast to deflect the flames.
“That depends,” Mai floats along nonchalantly. “Can you sing?”
“Sure!” Jiji says, and he breaks into the Love Live! theme as he runs.
“No, no!” Mai chides him, and there's something darker about her tone. The weight on his back feels heavier. “I'm an idol producer. You'll never make it as an idol with that voice. You sound terrible!”
“Sorry!” Jiji yells, as he dodges a pillar of fire. Mai tsks at him.
“Can you dance?” She asks.
“Aira's the dancer,” he responds. Actually! If he can get Mai to Aira, maybe she can use her power. He looks around for her - she's on the far side of the yokai, bent over like she's in pain, hands clutching at her head. Oh no -
Mai sighs, and the sensation of weight grows even more.
“Fine, then in that case we'll have to rely on your visual appeal.”
“My visual wha-?” Jiji starts to say, before Mai bursts into a glow that blinds him and he throws a hand up to protect his eyes. He feels a rush of wind flow past him, the heavy weight settling fully across his back as his eyesight returns.
His clothes have changed! He's wearing some kind of gauzy shirt that does nothing to keep the wind out and his pants feel way too tight. His hair is all in his face, messy strands obscuring his vision and it feels like his whole face is covered in a layer of something.
“Whoa! Mai! What'd you do?” He calls to her, but she's not there - instead a camera with her face stares back at him. His image is reflected back in her lens; eyeliner, mascara - is he wearing lip gloss? - before a flash of flame also catches in her glass.
Jiji throws himself down, just in time for the flame yokai to run fiery claws through the air above his head and he turns, centres his chi and blasts it back with a burst that feels weak compared to what he could achieve with Evil Eye.
“That's a good pose,” Mai says mildly, like how Aira comments on clothes when she's flicking through magazines, and as the camera starts flashing around him, extra energy runs from his back through his arms and into the blast - a feeling of weight as he pushes the yokai back further and further, pummelling it into a crater in the ground.
Okarun seizes the moment, Momo riding on his back as the pair of them run headlong towards the yokai, screaming as the ogre club forms a giant scimitar to strike down at the enemy.
Jiji lets up on the chi blast so they don't get caught in it, standing back to full height and running towards the others. Camera-Mai's flashing ceases. He throws out his hands, trying to will that feeling of weight towards the yokai, but nothing comes out.
“Hey, Mai, do that thing again!”
“What thing?” She says, and he feels like she's doing it just to be contrary.
“The gravity thing - please let me use your power!” He begs her, firing off a chi blast in an arc to deflect a pillar of fire away from the others.
“You need to give me something to work with,” Mai says idly. “As a visual, you need to work on your image.”
“How'm I supposed to do that right now?” He whines, turning to pout at her and she flashes that bulb directly at his face in a way that makes him yelp as she mutters something about him needing to work on his sultry look.
“Fine. Since you're desperate and I don't have time to train you, we'll have to use the tried-and-true techniques, even if they are tacky. To be clear, I'm only managing you until I can get back to Rin.” She sounds disappointed in him, and maybe that would bother him more if he hadn't just caught sight of Aira charging across the battlefield at a full yell, a deep purple mantle spread across her upper body - so Mai’s next sentence about playing into sex appeal goes straight over his head.
~ ~ ~
Aira arms ache. So do her legs. Her core is hollow and aching without Acro-Silky’s love beating inside it. She’s so sick of these wannabes and their stupid stolen powers.
She slides under the enemy’s next attack - a rope of flame lashing towards her - and ignores the stinging in her palms as she comes to a stop. Being a regular human again sucks. If she still had Acro-Silky, this guy would’ve been toast ages ago. Instead, here she is, stuck playing defence while Enjouji tries to blast it and Takakura, weighed down by that useless amnesiac Ayase, has to do the real work of trying to cut it into pieces.
A noble goal, and she would never doubt him, but maybe it would somewhat help if he actually landed any of his hits. It’s probably the extra weight of Ayase on his back that’s throwing his balance off.
The exact reason why is besides the point, though. She’s their leader; she needs to come up with a plan for them to beat this thing. She shouts for Takakura to aim for its left side where it seems just a little bit slower, but as she watches his swing arc towards it in a way that’s way too predictable she’s more frustrated than ever that she can’t just take this thing out herself.
What she wouldn’t give to have Acro Silky back - her thoughts are disrupted as she trips over something in the field. What the - she looks down at the decorated handle sticking out of the dirt. A kozuka knife? Did the enemy drop it? Did that Baron guy lose it before he left?
She grabs it, rolling out of the way of the next attack as Takakura parries it directly into her position - something she’d cuss Enjouji out for, but she’ll let slide since Takakura’s doing his best and obviously didn’t mean it.
She turns the knife over. There’s decoration on the handle but she’s not sure how to tell if it’s empty or full. The enemy has decided to focus on Enjouji for the moment, his chi blasts tearing up the grass as Enjouji misses his shots. This isn’t working. They need something else. They need an edge.
She looks down at the blade again. Best case scenario, Acro-Silky is inside, and using the knife will give her back her powers. Worst case scenario, it’s empty, and nothing happens.
Is what she thinks, until the moment she lightly dashes her own outer wrist, and her nerves alight from the point of contact, spreading outwards as pain consumes her, body and soul.
Aira thinks she’s screaming, but she’s not sure. Her hands are tangled in her hair and the pain is so intense she can’t think of anything else. She’s going to die like this. It’s going to burn through her and fry her already weak heart, and this is not how she’s going to let things end is her only cognizant thought before the pain dims - not vanishing, but disappearing from the forefront of her mind, as a voice both familiar and more childish than she’s ever heard it before reverberates through her head.
“Huh? What’re you doing here? Where’s my vessel? Where’s Jiji?” Evil Eye spits at her, a simmering rage accompanying its questions.
“Evil Eye!” She gasps (out loud? In her own head? It doesn’t matter right now). “I need your help - we need to take this thing out!” She points at the flame-yokai, which has cornered Takakura and Ayase, throwing blow after blow at them as they only barely manage to keep its attacks at bay.
Evil Eye’s laughter reverberates inside her head.
“Help you? I’m gonna kill you. Stupid; don’t you know a normal human like you can’t handle a yokai like me?” Aira vaguely remembers something about how Enjouji’s spiritual energy levels were what made him such an attractive host for the Evil Eye, but that wasn’t exactly helpful right now.
“I can handle you for as long as I need!” she argues back. She can feel Evil Eye’s disagreement in its simmering anger.
“Stupid.” It says again. “You’ve got maybe one minute left. Your body's already burning up from the inside out.” Did the Evil Eye sound sad about that, or is the pain affecting her brain as well?
Takakura misses one of the parries and the yokai’s claws bite into his arm. They don’t have time for this. She can feel that it’s telling the truth. She burns, all over, every fibre of her being. There's agony through every muscle and she feels like her heart is going to give out.
“What, are you saying that you’re not strong enough to take this guy out in under a minute?” Is what comes out of her mouth. She feels its indignant gasp.
“Hey, I could take that guy down so fast you’d barely see it!”
“Prove it,” she says, and maybe she should feel scared, as Evil Eye rises to her bait and she starts to lose feeling in her limbs, but as her consciousness starts to sink into the icy-hot rage of Evil Eye’s being all she can feel is satisfaction. Making the best out of a bad situation - this is why she’s the leader.
~ ~ ~
Jiji can only watch as the Evil Eye lands three hits on the yokai in quick succession before it slips past their guard and gets a blast off on them from behind. They don’t even try to dodge it. Aira’s jacket sizzles in the heat, but Evil Eye makes no other signs of distress.
How did this happen? Did Aira know it was Evil Eye before she took on its powers? Evil Eye was too powerful for something like that! She did look super cool though…
“Is that the best you’ve got, ya bastard!” they yell, voice weirdly deep and casual, waving around a fist as the yokai backflips away from them.
“Evil Eye!” He calls out, faintly wondering if this was what he looked like when Evil Eye took over, all slouchy and loose-limbed. They perk up, turning to face him, face dark with a glowing third eye in the centre of their forehead, and he sees the spirit’s two normal eyes go wide as they take in his current attire.
“BAHAHAHA,” they bellow, pointing a finger at him, “you look stupid like that.”
“Evil Eye, why’re you with Aira?!” Okarun chimes in, the four of them finally regrouping for a moment as the flame yokai starts to run laps around them, a wall of flame caging them in as the creature moves faster and faster around the edge of the field.
“Dunno,” they say helpfully, sticking a finger in their ear, before glaring at camera-Mai. “Gimme back my vessel!”
Jiji can’t help thinking that they look weirdly cute pouting like that.
“You’ll get him back once he’s finished his contractual obligations with me,” Mai responds primly. Jiji’s heart drops.
“Wait, contractual obligations?! When did I-”
“Focus, people!” Momo interrupts, pointing towards the yokai emerging from the wall of flame, body now licking flames all over. “Jiji, you use Mai’s gravity powers to hold it down. Evil Aira, once it’s stuck in one place, you pummel it. As for Okarun and me,” she gestures to Jiji, “gimme that knife they used on Mai. Once he’s down, we’ll make him admit defeat and strip him of his powers.”
“Roger,” Jiji says, handing over the knife. Even without all of her previous yokai experience, Momo still always knows what’s what. He flashes her a smile and he’s not sure how he feels when she blushes and tells him ‘not to look at her when he’s dressed like that, dammit!’, but he can worry about that later. File it right alongside Evil Eye’s over intense staring at the kozuka knife.
The yokai dashes towards them, and Jiji slides into his familiar stance, back foot anchored to draw chi as he sends out short blasts, trying to keep the enemy contained as Mai snaps a couple of shots, telling him to pout more. He tries, but he’s not sure how it comes out when he’s mostly focussed on trying to channel the scraps of her energy into his attacks.
“Mai, any time now girl!” he says as Evil Eye bodily tackles the yokai, unbothered by the flames pouring off its body as they scrap with it for a moment until it twists out of their grasp again.
“Hmm, I’m just not feeling the energy,” she says. “We need more.”
“More what?"
“Lift your shirt up; show me those abs,” she responds, in such a neutral tone that it’s actually weirder than if it’d felt like there was a nefarious intention behind it. Still, he does it, because what else is he gonna do in this situation? She makes a pleased noise that morphs into distaste when his shirt falls back down, because he needs both hands for his attacks.
“Hold it in your teeth,” she says neutrally.
“What? No - Mai I get what you’re going for, but I don’t think that’s my thing. I’m more of a sweetheart country kid kinda vibe, right?” The weight on his back bears down, and if he hadn’t spent so much time training with Auntie Seiko he’s sure he’d be in the dirt by now.
“Are you defying my wisdom as your producer?” she says, in that dark tone of hers.
“No - I’m not - hang on, just let me -” He pulls the shirt over his head, netting only briefly catching on one of his earrings before it’s off and he throws it into the dirt. “There, is that better?”
“I’ll make it work.”
The power flows more smoothly after that, and for a brief moment he manages to pin the yokai so that Evil Eye can get a few good hits on it before it breaks free of his blast. It moves to strike at Evil Eye and he manages to deflect another wave of fire but Evil Eye is looking tired - no, Aira’s looking tired is a better way to put it, as Evil Eye burns through her reserves of spiritual energy. Jiji can feel her chi depleting by the second. There has to be more they can do - he can feel how powerful Mai is, the rich source of energy on his back, but he can’t tap into it.
“Please, Mai, this isn’t enough!” He says, feeling tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he runs towards the melee. He hates this kind of fighting, but this time there’s no Evil Eye to help him harness that hate into a strength - it just sits in his belly like an ugly ball of fear.
“Oh, that’s a good look,” Mai says, snapping another photo as she bobs along with him. “The bottom line is, you’re not talented enough for this industry, really.” The neutrality of her voice slides into casual cruelty. “But, since you need to access more idol power, there is one more thing we can do. It’s quite extreme though - your public image may never recover,” she warns in that darker tone, like he cares about that at all. Distantly he can hear Momo yelling for him to stop stalling and get on with it already.
“Whatever it is, I’m ready!” He says, meaning every word of it.
“Alright.” Mai swings around in front of him, bringing him to a stop as she blinds him with another flash; that same wind rushing past him as he feels his clothes start to shift again. “Artistic nude centre-fold photoshoot, go!”
Wait, what?!
The wind stops, but the feeling of air on his skin doesn’t dissipate, and he realises with horror that she wasn’t exaggerating when she said ‘nude’. He’s bare as the day he was born and she is snapping images faster than he can keep up with as he tries to cover his junk, telling him to look this way and that, and this is so much worse than Evil Eye running around in his body naked. At least he’s not conscious for that most of the time.
Still, the more she snaps, the more attuned he feels with her powers. He can worry about the embarrassment later - after all, it’s not like she’s actually a camera, right? Not to mention, thanks to Evil Eye, everyone here has already seen him naked before. Well, except the yokai-guy, but Jiji cares a lot less what that guy thinks about him. Just… lean into it, yeah. Mai wants him to be an idol? Sure, he can be an idol.
“Evil Eye, watch out!” He calls out, centring his energy deep in his core before he pushes it out and towards the yokai arcing over Evil Eye’s head.
“Idol Power Gun!” He yells, drawing out everything he can; hair blowing dramatically in the wind coming off his own attack, hip cocked and back arched like Mai instructed, and this time the yokai slams into the ground and stays there as he sustains the beam.
“Yes, hold that pose,” Mai says, continuing to snap photos, the pair of them reaching an equilibrium as Mai tells him to pout and smile and give her his best innocent eyes as Evil Eye uses the chance to beat the yokai into the ground. Evil Eye in Aira’s body is a sight to behold. They’re efficient and brutal, wasting no time in beating their enemy into the dirt.
The fire protecting the yokai-user starts to splutter, until with Momo and Okarun’s help the yokai’s powers are extinguished entirely; one full kozuka knife and a passed out salaryman all that remain of their enemy.
He breaks the pose, running towards the others as he feels Aira’s spiritual energy start to fade completely, Okarun and Momo already by their side.
“Evil Eye! Is Aira okay?” he asks stupidly, when he already knows the answer; wondering again if this was what he looked like when Evil Eye took over. He’d always thought he’d have a teeth mask like the others did, but it’s all Aira’s own pearly whites that grin manically back at him as they idly rustle through her pockets for something.
“Her? Nah, she’s dying. She’s too weak to handle a power like mine,” they say it like it’s an unavoidable fact.
Jiji’s heart drops like a rock. No - no, Evil Eye wasn’t supposed to kill anyone. Even if it didn’t mean to, killing Aira because she wasn’t strong enough to host it was the worst possible outcome. If only he’d been better and not lost Evil Eye in the first place, none of this would be happening!
Evil Eye seems unfussed with the last moments of Aira’s life - Jiji needs to ask it to swap back. To let them see Aira for one last time; give her that moment of lucidity before she succumbs to the drain of hosting Evil Eye. He can feel tears forming in his eyes again.
“Evil Eye, please, I need you to -” Evil Eye pulls a kozuka knife out of Aira’s pocket and thrusts it at him.
“Shame I lost to a stronger vessel before I could kill her, huh?” They say, with that cocky voice he’s only heard in his own head before, and a wave of relief Jiji didn’t even know was possible washes over him from head to foot.
“Thank you, Evil Eye,” Jiji says softly, and even though time is of the essence Jiji still can’t help but wrap Evil Eye up in a hug, his gratitude overcoming him as he places one hand on the back of Aira’s head and holds this friend he’d never wanted, but never wants to be without, close for the first and possibly last time.
“Whatever, just do it already,” Evil Eye mumbles into the side of his neck, and despite the stiffness in their shoulders he feels Evil Eye’s hands come up to hug him in return; tentative, unsure, and uncomfortable as they tighten their hold just that little bit more.
“Okay, here goes,” he says, as he delicately places a small cut at the nape of Aira’s neck, feeling the rush of spiritual energy flow into the knife before it once again goes dormant - no sign of the Evil Eye left as Aira collapses against him and he pulls back far enough to grip her by the shoulders, looking her over.
“Aira, are you okay? How do you feel?” He asks, pushing some of his spiritual energy into her to try and build up her strength. Beside him, Okarun and Momo both crowd in as well, all three of them murmuring platitudes to each other as they lower Aira to the ground and kneel around her.
~ ~ ~
“Hey,” is the first thing Aira hears, echoing out of the darkness at her. Everything hurts. She feels like a million pinpricks in the shape of a person.
“Hey, wake up. I beat ‘im,” the voice says again, and this time the pinpricks even prod at her consciousness.
“Oww!” she says, suddenly more alert. She feels Evil Eye huff at her in indignation.
“I did it. So stop ignoring me.” She feels the icy-cold of Evil Eye around her senses.
“Were you fast enough, or did you take so long you let me die in the process?” she asks. What happens when you die - is she gonna become a yokai? She doesn’t really wanna hang around on Earth forever, but also she is gonna haunt Ayase’s ass for losing her memories and causing all of this.
“Yer not dead. My vessel’s way stronger than you are. He’s gonna fix this.” It sounds smug.
“Cool,” she says. So not dead then, just in pain. She can wait for this to pass. She lets her thoughts drift in the pin-pricky cold space.
“Hey,” Evil Eye says again.
“What?” she replies tiredly. If it’s not gonna kill her, can it at least let her rest (temporarily) in peace?
“I hate you.” Evil Eye says sulkily. That’s nice of it to tell her, like she’d ever forget.
“Well, I hate you too,” she says idly.
“What! That’s not fair. I hate you more,” it insists.
“I hated you first,” she tells it. The pin-pricky space ripples with indignation.
“No, you didn’t!”
“Yes, I did,” she says, exhausted. This thing is such a child.
“No, you didn’t! I’ve hated humans since way before you were around!”
“Sure, but I started hating you before you started hating me specifically.”
“I hated you from the moment I saw you!”
“I hated you since I heard about you. Which is before I saw you. So I win.”
Evil Eye lets out a cry of frustration, and she imagines it carrying on in Enjouji’s body, hands tangling in its hair as it pouts and stamps its feet. The inky darkness starts to retreat from her; she feels like she’s rising out of the depths.
“I should kill you for hating me so much.” It sulks, as Aira rises higher and higher, feeling flowing back into her limbs, and she knows she has one last thing she needs to tell it before she loses her chance.
“Hey, Evil Eye,” she calls to it, as her awareness of it starts to fade.
“What?”
“Thank you,” she says, and in that moment she is catapulted back into her body; every inch of it aching, sweaty, her nerves alight and heart beating raggedly in her chest. She hurts, but it’s the last thing that matters as she takes in the others around her, whole and safe and alive, thank goodness they’re alive, and she pauses to savour this fact before she asks the only question that matters in this moment.
“Enjouji! Why are you naked?!”
~ ~ ~
BONUS
“Wait, what do you mean I can’t take Evil Eye back yet?”
“You heard me, there was only two of those knives left behind before those jerks fled. Evil Eye’s in one of ‘em, and we used the other to capture the Ubagabi.”
“What Miss Ayase means is, unless we have a third knife to transfer Mai’s powers to someone else until we can return her to the class rep, unfortunately we’re kind of in a stalemate.”
“I don’t know - I could handle the Evil Eye again long enough for you to transfer Mai into Takakura, then once Evil Eye’s back with Enjouji you could transfer Mai’s powers to me. I’m the much better choice to keep her in line, obviously.”
“What makes you think I’d lend you my power at all, bitch?”
“What makes you think I’m giving you a choice, bitch?”
“Okay, skanks, can we please all take a chill pill for a minute?”
“Miss Shiratori, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be handling Evil Eye again so soon.”
“Yeah, Aira, you were totally brave, but you also nearly died! That’s super not cool - you need to rest up.”
“Don’t look at me like that! I made my choice and I stand by it.”
“A good idol knows their strengths and weaknesses. Only tacky ones try to push themselves for roles they’re obviously not qualified to fulfill.”
“What’d you say?!”
“Miss Shiratori, please -”
“Besides, I’ve got enough on my plate at the moment. I need to find a publishing deal for this one’s photoshoot.”
“Umm, say what? You’re joking, right?”
“...”
“Mai?”
“...”
“You’re joking, right?!”