"I see. Have you made any headway on finding Ohara?"
"Unfortunately, no. However, there is something I'd like to ask you..." Lowering his voice, Narukawa looked at Feed.
"What is it?"
"Professor, do you know a man named Isma Feed?"
The instant the professor heard the name, Nakajima noticed his expression cloud up.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"We've received a communique from the FBI that Isma has snuck into Japan."
"This is bad. As you know, in the incarnation of a serpent, Set was powerful enough to take on and fight all the Egyptian gods to a standstill single-handedly. If Isma were to join forces with one such as him..."
Without explaining just who Isma was, Feed turned to the window and gazed outside with unfocused eyes.
CHAPTER 5
On the second floor of the eight-story building next to the official residence of the Nagatacho Council Chairman was the office of one Ota Masaru, Chief Secretary of the Liberal Party. Though it was past one o'clock in the morning, Ota sat on his bed in his private room beyond the office, gripping the receiver of the phone as he had been for over an hour. He had been losing a lot of sleep over whether or not the National Secrets Protection Act was going to pass or not. His bulldog-like jowled face was thick with signs of accumulated fatigue.
"You yourself advocated the importance of passing the National Secrets Protection Act; it would be a waste for you change your mind about it now!" Ota's voice sounded a little rude.
"Now that Committee Chairman Matoba is against the act, I can't go along with it. Try and understand the tight position that I'm in right now." The voice on the other end of the phone was also tired. Judging from the fact that he brought up Committee Chairman Matoba, the speaker was probably a member of the Diet from the Social Democratic Party.
"I've done my best to convince Matoba. If that's not enough, then the only thing left for you to is to try and convince him yourself. I'm sure Matoba is not unflappable, so long as you agree to a power share between the two parties." Saying all he was willing to, the speaker hung up.
"Damn!" Slamming the receiver back onto the phone, Ota fell backwards onto the bed and rubbed his eyelids. Taking in a deep breath, his bulging stomach expanded like a frog's.
Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"It's open." Yawning as he spoke, Ota made no effort to turn toward the door. It made a clicking sound as it opened, and a red face with a clearly ingratiating smile poked in through the door.
It was Shimazaki Ryunosuke.
"I don't know what it is you want at this hour, but I'm not exactly in a good mood." Propping himself up on the bed, Ota turned his head toward the man, the bones in his neck popping as he did so.
"There's something that I would like to tell you." Shimazaki's eyes were lit up.
"I'd love to hear another one of your schemes to make more money, but this isn't the time. I've got to get this law passed."
"Trying to score as many points as possible while Chief Secretary so you can be first in line for that juicy Party Chairman position when it next goes vacant, are we?"
"Hmph!" Ota glared at Shimazaki with displeasure in his bulging eyes. But he didn't show any reaction to the man.
"You have nothing to worry about. After all, Comittee Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party is going to switch sides and start supporting the National Secrets Protection Act."
"What did you just say...!?"
Ota bolted upright, and as if to taunt him, Shimazaki remained silent for a while.
"I'm saying that if you leave everything to me, I'll get the Social Democratic Party on your side."
"If this is a joke, it's not very funny. Do you have some sort of plan?" Ota's voice was trembling.
CHAPTER 6
The long-term Committee Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party lived in a manor in a residential area about a ten minute walk away from Ikegami Honmonji. The modern, reinforced concrete building behind the vine-covered gateposts stood in stark contrast to the traditional Japanese-style buildings all around it.
While Shimazaki was paying a visit to Ota, a tall man carrying what looked like a slim suitcase stepped out of a black Cedric parked near that gatepost. The man was in excellent shape, but his behavior seemed somehow agitated and anxious. Stepping into the alleyway and slipping behind Matoba's manor, he opened the lid of the suitcase.
Apparently that suitcase was actually a notebook computer.
Typing on the keyboard with uncertain movements, a droplet-like crystal blurred the liquid-crystal display of the machine. Presently the crystal changed into a milky-white liquid, which spilled to the ground by the man's feet and took on the form of an Apep, the minion of Set. Raising its slender head, the Apep took a quick look around before silently disappearing inside the concrete mansion.
Right at that moment, Matoba was taking a nap on the sofabed in the study next to his office. The heavy black bags under his eyes belied his exhaustion, most likely from his nonstop efforts to bring his party together and block the National Secrets Protection Act from being passed. Taking advantage of the fact that the world stage was more and more becoming becoming a war of information, the restrictions in the act clearly indicated that the Liberal Party was veering even further and further to the right. As the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, that was hard for Matoba to let slide.
A quiet breeze blew into the room through the air conditioner that Matoba had left on. Not even disturbing the sound of that breeze, the snake slipped into the room through the slit under the door. It raised up its head, as if fixating on its prey. Its small red eyes looked all over the slightly snoring, sleeping form of Matoba. Squiggling its body rapidly, the white snake slithered across the floor, effortlessly climbing up the sofabed and diving into the V-neck of Matoba's undershirt, clearly exposed by his unfastened tie.
The next instant, without any hesitation, the pale serpent bit into the exaggeratedly expanding and contracting fat stomach before it. Like a sharp drill, the slender body of the snake tunneled into Matoba's gut. As if he felt no pain whatsoever, Matoba kept sleeping on peacefully.
A minute or so later, Matoba suddenly twisted up away from the sofabed as if a wave of high-voltage electricity was running through him, and his body started to spasm wildly. However, it appeared that the Apep had gained full control of his nervous system, as he soon started snoring again and fell into a deep sleep. Strangely enough, the wound on his stomach had sealed up as if cured by some sort of magic medicine. Only moments later, the light sound of a Cedric driving away could be heard moving away from the front of Matoba's manor.
The next morning, Ota, who had been sleeping like a rock in his office in Nagatacho, was shaken awake by a messenger.
"Is it time for today's plenary session already?" As Ota's sleepy eyes searched for his glasses, the messenger's excited voice interrupted.
"Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party declared his support for the National Secrets Protection Act in a press conference this morning. Congratulations, Chief Secretary. Now the law is as good as passed."
"What!?" As if he had not completely awakened from a dream, Ota shook his head furiously.
PART 3:
SET SUMMONED
CHAPTER 1
The air conditioners in the basement of the manor hummed at full blast, drawing in the air from the Soga Forest, damp from the previous day's rain, and drenching the room with thick humidity. Focused entirely on his work at the keyboard, Isma heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and turned around in irritation. Shimazaki entered the room, his yellow teeth drawn in a wide grin.
"The Apeps are working splendidly."
"Of course they are. But don't forget--any body the Apeps possess won't last ten days."
Brushing aside Isma's warning, Yamazaki continued speaking. "You know, the C
hief Secretary of the Liberal Party says he would like to meet you..."
"I have no interest in petty Japanese politicians."
Isma's words left Shimazaki at a loss. He simply smiled ingratiatingly, but not discouraged, walked behind Isma to take a look at the computer display.
"What are you doing now?"
"Though I have suceeded in giving form to Set's Apeps, this is just the beginning. Until I can manage to give Set himself a body, it will be impossible to truly conquer the Assiah world."
"You certainly have set your sights high, Saint. Oh, by the way..." Lowering his voice, Shimazaki pulled a nearby chair up and sit down next to Isma.
"Nakajima has apparently returned."
Isma stopped typing on the keyboard.
"So this means he really did defeat Loki."
"Most likely. On that note, there's something in the information I got about him that has been bothering me..." Shimazaki moved even closer to Isma.
"I've heard rumors that a man named Charles Feed has joined with Nakajima and is working with him to develop a plan to fight back against the demons. Who is he?"
"He's my brother." Speaking in an emotionless voice, Feed started typing again.
"Oh. Well, that's a strange coincidence..." Shimazaki had found that much out for himself long ago, but pretended that he had not known.
"In any case, I would like your advice on how to deal with the current situation."
As Shimazaki spoke, Isma lifted his bony fingers away from the keyboard and slowly looked up.
"Send Ohara after him."
"Eh?" Not understanding what Isma meant, Shimazaki stood with a look of puzzlement on his face.
Isma chuckled and spoke in a cold and ruthless voice. "While it is best to dispose of any liabilities, I would like to get a sense of their abilities first. At the moment, Ohara is showing signs of demonization. She is also very disposable, making her ideal to test their power. Wouldn't you agree?"
CHAPTER 2
Meanwhile, Yumiko was learning to control her own power from Izanami, the goddess having brought her into Yomi. Though she lived the life of an ordinary girl for seventeen years, Yumiko had inherited the constitution of Izanami. That, along with the adept instruction from the goddess herself, had allowed Yumiko to learn to draw out the bottomless power slumbering deep within her, bit by bit, in a very short time span.
She was currently in the middle of training to harness the psychic power once held by the ancient gods. With just a space of two meters between them, two rock walls, nearly perpendicular to the ground, faced each other, towering up into the sky. Yumiko was floating in mid-air, as if weaving through that gap. Her white skin began to glow more and more with a purple phosphorescent glow. With a boom like thunder, the glow increased in intensity. Yumiko, enveloped in that mysterious light and surrounded by a golden aura behind her, resembled the smiling visage of the Miroku Buddha. Soon, as if she had transformed into a particle of light herself, the outline of her shape started to blur and become indistinct.
Silently, Yumiko raised her right hand. The clouds of light surrounding her body started to condense at the tip of her finger. Yumiko brought down her arm forcefully. As she did, the light fired from her finger shot like an arrow through the rock face.
An immense roar echoed, and a brilliant blue pillar of flame flared into the sky. Yumiko watched the giant rock with an almost drunken expression in her eyes as it slowly crumbled into nothing, as if in a slow-motion video. But as if Yumiko sensed something, suddenly her eyes clouded up, and she started plunging toward the ground some twenty meters below like a bird whose wings had been pulled off.
"Look out!"
Mere moments before Yumiko would have struck the ground, an invisible power picked her up and brought her slowly to the ground like a leisurely falling feather.
"What's the matter with you!?" Izanami, who was kneeling next to Yumiko, spoke harshly.
"If this is the best you can do, I can't imagine when I'll be able to send you back to the human world..."
The goddess realized that Yumiko's eyes were trembling as if in terror, and softened her tone.
"You saw something, didn't you?"
"Yes. Someone close to me crying out, and the smell of blood..." Yumiko replied in a broken voice, her pale lips trembling, drained of blood.
"Was it Nakajima's voice?"
"No....it was my mother's voice."
Yumiko looked up into the sky anxiously. Other than the sound of the wind blowing through the valley, all was silent. But Yumiko was sure that she had heard her mother scream.
"Izanami, could something terrible have happened to my mother?" Yumiko's voice was full of emotion.
Yumiko might have foreseen something in the future. However, there was also the possibility that her desire to return to the human world was unconsciously causing her to hallucinate. Izanami had trouble deciding whether or not she should return her charge to the human world.
With Izanami's direct instruction, Yumiko had gained mastery of psychic powers well enough to face off against demons on her own. But her mind was still that of a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl. Like what had happened today, if her determination wavered, it could have disastrous consequences. Furthermore, Yumiko was relying too much on her sense of sight when using her powers.
Still, her immaturity is not a problem that can be solved with just a little bit of short training. This girl's desire to return to Nakajima is clouding her judgement. If she was with him, it might actually help fix her shortcomings instead.
"Do you want to return to the human world?" Izanami smiled kindly at Yumiko.
CHAPTER 3
Dressed in a colorful chinese-style one-piece, a woman walked briskly from West Eifuku station on the Inokashira line, following a path that ran along the train tracks. Her dark brown eyes shined with a ghostly light in the darkness, accentuating her beauty. Soon the woman stopped in front of a low-rise building covered in white tiles. The name "Sanzhi Electric Residences" was etched into the plate on the entrance to the building. Though it was a corporate dormitory, it was very well maintained and was on the scale of a high-class apartment building. Warm lights coming from various windows on the three-story building and the soft sound of air conditioner compressors reflected the calm and relaxation of the tenants within.
The woman glared with malice at a corner of the top floor of the building.
Shirasagi Yumiko, just you watch. I'm going to slaughter your whole family.
Ohara's eyes glowed with a green aura, revealing the demonic power within her. She recalled how Yumiko injured her beloved Loki in the CAI room. Though Yumiko was really possessed by Izanami when she had fought Loki, to Ohara it was all the same.
If something has happened to Loki, it's Yumiko's fault--there's no other way to look at it.
Ohara's hatred for Yumiko far surpassed that of hers for Nakajima. Though Isma had instructed her to kill Nakajima, Ohara suggested that she it would be best to first draw him out by attacking Yumiko's family instead; though the plan had merit it was Ohara's hatred for Yumiko that was really behind her proposal.
Trying to calm her emotions, Ohara closed her eyelids. Soon, the grim expression on her face disappeared, to be replaced by a smile. Taking in a deep breath, she started to climb the stairs.
Right as the doorbell echoed for the second time, the door opened slightly, locked with a chain, bathing the concrete pathway outside with light. A woman looked through the crack with suspicion at this late-night visitor.
"My name is Harayama, and I'm from Jusho High. About Yumiko..." Ohara could not risk using her real name.
The door closed for a moment, and then with the sound of the chain being unfastened, it opened wiedly. A plump middle-aged woman stood in front of Ohara, looking up at her with eagerness in her eyes.
"Thank you for taking the trouble to come out here in the middle of the night..
.have you learned anything new?" The woman hardly resembled Yumiko; her double-eyelids were about the only feature the two shared. Her barely 150-centimeter height and plump frame made her look jovial and pleasant. For an instant, Ohara's hostility was dulled.
"Don't just stand out there! Come on in!" The voice seemed to come further in, from the living room, but then a handsome man with silvery-gray hair looked around the corner. The instant Ohara saw the man, she saw the resemblence to Yumiko in his good looks, igniting the flames of hatred within her. She felt the scales under her thick makeup hardening.
"I'm sorry, I just got over-excited. Please, come in." Motioning for Ohara to come inside, Yumiko's mother locked the door. The man was returning to the living room when he heard a strange sound from the foyer, and turned around.
The visitor was facing away from him, crouching as if to maybe take off her shoes, and his wive was staring at her with shock in her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
But instead of answering her husband, the woman simply gaped and spurted blood from the deep wound in her throat.
"Heh, heh, heh."
The woman facing away from him started chuckling. Yumiko's father watched as his wife, her throat rent in two, slowly collapsed to the floor of the foyer, now a sea of blood, with a look of disbelief on her face.
"Gah hah hah hah!" The woman's laugh rose to a cackle.
"Y-You bastard...!" The man gradually realized the seriousness of the situation.
However, the woman slowly stood up and turned around, and the visage of her face froze Yumiko's father in his tracks. Her bronze face was framed by black hair, her crimson mouth slightly open, her silver eyes glittering with madness, looking him over. Ohara herself was taken aback by the force of her transformation. However, she was partially drunk with the mysterious power she had gained with Loki's blood running through her veins. Her hands, coated in purple scales, grabbed onto the man's throat, and she effortlessly lifted him in the air.
Digital Devil Story: Warrior of the Demon City Page 4