Anime Adjacent (90's anime megacross!)

[Radial]

Omake: "Get off my lawn!"
—
*THOOM*
Areru stopped mid-work. A fluid in a glass beaker in his hand was about to be poured into the bubbling concoction resting on his work table.
*THOOM*
He put the beaker down and considered. This part of the process can wait.
*THOOM* *ROAR*
Areru eyed the trembling fluid in the beaker and sighed.
He made his way to the window and raised the blinds.
There, in the distance highlighted in the night, near where the sea was… a giant… reptile. Up on two legs. Despite the square cube law.
It's back lit up, scrutes backlit with a blue glow, from the tip of its tail, up its curved spine, lighting up hardened spines until the light reached its head and mouth, and it fired a blue beam into the night sky with a roar.
He could spot the lights of aircrafts and spotlights pointing at it.

Areru pursed his lips, a small frown forming.
He looked back at his work table. He would need to get back to it soon.
He eyes the room space, and realized he can't go for a full transformation.
Clearing his throat, his face and head slowly morphed into his draconic form. He hasn't tried partial transformation in this body yet, but it he came to him easily as he adjusted his vocal cords and lungs.
Flashes of explosions and more roars echoed off the mountains as the JSDF began to attack the giant lizard.
With a deep inhale, Areru opened the window, poked his head out, and roared.
—
The reptile froze, its mutated hindbrain translated the distant roar as something old, something terrible, something greater.
A reminder of its old time as a small reptile, aware of predators around it, aware of being in another's territory, aware that it was not wanted.
The reptile ignored the pricks of pain as it slithered back into the waters.
Perhaps it could try another rock to make it territory. This one is clearly claimed.
—
Areru coughed as he reverted, rubbing at his throat. He closed the window and pulled the blinds back down.
Turning around, he eyed Reis trembling, curled up in the corner, and went back to his work table.

 

[ThaTrueRealmWalk]

Since it's an Anime, Areru having a halfway form between human and dragon feels appropriate.

So I drew it.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 059
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

11/7/1993

"...That went well," Katsuhito decided to say as the young man that had twice denied a family disappeared down the steps of the shrine.

"Did it?" Naru asked, a tone of sadness in her voice.

Katsuhito could hardly blame her. Areru... was a sad existence. Abandoned and isolated, rejected and unwanted. The boy had taken that in, claimed it as his own and held fast to it in the face of change. He'd spent years, living and thriving under his own decisions, making his own choices.

To trust someone else with his wellbeing, after having such comfort taken from him before...

"Oh my, yes," Katsuhito told her as he turned and made his way to the kitchenette. The old man refilled his kettle and put it on the stovetop to heat up as he considered how to word his observations. "Areru is angry, justifiably so. But he did not allow that to be the driving force behind his actions. In that regard? I suppose we are rather lucky. There is a proverb from... Africa, I believe?" Katsuhito couldn't quite recall, truly. His memory was hardly perfect, after all. "'The child that is not embraced by the village would burn it down to feel its warmth', I believe."

"I... suppose that is the best we could hope for," Daisuke mumbled, the man despondent at the rather thorough rejection from his child.

"Perhaps," Katsuhito allowed as he opened a cabinet and pulled down a box of tea leaves. "Though, Daisuke, I have been wondering something of late. What's become of Areru's mother?"

"...Emily?" the man asked, clearly uncertain. "She... went back to America after our separation. Beyond that, I'm afraid I don't know."

Katsuhito pursed his lips, quite unhappy with the answer as he puttered about, Naru joining him to help with the dishes.

Daisuke... should have contacted the woman, when it became clear what Shinji wanted him to do with his son. The Americans may have been brutish and uncultured as a people but it would have clearly been a healthier environment for the erstwhile teenager than growing up in the forests, surrounding himself with a surrogate of spirits.

"Well, what's done is done," Katsuhito said with an unhappy shake of his head. "We must look forward, rather than behind." Handing a stained plate to Naru, covered with sauce from what had been a truly delightful meal, Katsuhito considered the next order of business. "Now, have you decided on what you'll be doing about finding a safer place to stay?"

"...Not yet," Daisuke admitted, the man carrying his daughter to stand next to the working duo. "It's not exactly easy to just..."

Katsuhito nodded as his hands worked at the plates before handing them off to Naru to rinse and dry.

"You know, there's a lovely little village near here," Katsuhito began to say, drawing a concerned look from his granddaughter. Oh, he understood her worries well enough. If Daisuke went there, if Hanabi went there, eventually the truth of her heritage would come out. But they'd already peeled back one layer of the world.

What was another one?

"You've come into something of a windfall recently," Katsuhito led. "And there are many members of the Masaki family there, so the community itself would be much more welcoming than trying to find some place completely new. It would also let Hanabi get to know her grandparents, Naru's mother and father live there."

"But that... I don't even know how Areru got that money," Daisuke stuttered out, nervously rocking Hanabi all the while. "What if it was... illegal?"

Which... was a fair concern, actually. Five million yen was a significant amount of money. More than most could earn in a year of labor.

"Then we'll deal with it," Naru told the man. "But we have to make a choice. We can't just wait and pray."

And there it was. Katsuhito was proud of his children, his grandchildren, and all of those that came after them. He'd taught them all to stand up for themselves, to try and do the right thing.

Some had used those lessons poorly. Some had left, abandoning the family name to strike out on their own. Katsuhito missed them, all of them, but he was no tyrant.

That was his wife's job.

"...I've been wondering something," Daisuke admitted some time later, once they'd sat back down with a fresh pot of tea. "Areru has always been able to see things. And you seem to see them, too. Is that... natural?"

"For him? Almost certainly." Katsuhito poured a fresh cup of tea for Naru, then Daisuke and then himself. "I had to learn, however. Opening one's third eye, as it's often referred to, is a slow and difficult process for most practitioners."

Yosho's connection to Funaho had certainly made the process easier, thankfully, but it was still a slow and tiresome task.

"But... that deer thing. We all saw it?"

"The Lord of the Forest is an old and powerful spirit," Katsuhito happily explained. "His nature transcends the standard boundaries between the spirit and the mundane. Some others that exist around Okayama would be the Two-Faced Bear, a monstrous beast that actively pursues and hunts after unwary hikers, though I've not heard word of him in some time..." Katsuhito trailed off briefly, a concerned look in his eyes as he gazed in the direction of the Ginji home before he cleared his throat. "A few clever Kite spirits keep watch over some nearby campgrounds and the Kingfisher is certainly noticeable enough. He's a beautiful one, cocky too, and pictures of him end up in the Okayama Newspaper from time to time-"

"Mama?" Hanabi interrupted the old man, her hand tugging at Naru's sleeve. "Mama? 'm sleepy."

The talk on spirits and their nature was put on hold for a bit as Katsuhito helped Naru and Daisuke set up the bedroom. Unrolling a futon for the little girl so that Naru could properly put her to bed.

The discussion once they got that task finished, however...

Explaining the very real dangers of the things that most thought to be mere nightmares was always a heavy topic. One that Katsuhito only rarely touched on, few enough were aware that cared to keep people safe rather than some foolish notion of how much power they could gain by (failing to) command the world unseen.

It was a difficult thing to discuss. Especially unaided as they were by spirits of a rather more alcoholic variety. Daisuke would be returning to Tokyo tonight and it would be unfair for Katsuhito to indulge when the younger man could not.

One thing that none of them discussed, one concern that still weighed heavy on the old man's mind, was the ghost that Areru claimed to be ready to deal with.

He had no idea if the young man had a wellspring of well-earned confidence...

Or if, in his isolation, the boy knew not the dangers he courted.

It was a worry that would keep the old man awake that night. It was yet another concern that he, despite his age and experience, did not have the tools to resolve.

Or...

Maybe he just didn't have the courage.

Firming his heart, Katsuhito resolved to check in on the young man. To properly look at the child's situation. He may not have been able to fix it, Areru may not allow him to help...

But leaving the child alone was... wrong.

That night, as he slept, Katsuhito dreamed. He saw the faces of his children. And his children's children. Many remained. Some had been lost, claimed by circumstance or time.

His bed was cold when he awoke. And there was nobody there to see the tears that stained Yosho's pillow.

 

[BethofDeath]

Man, I really want to see what the reaction to Areru's true nature will be from the various factions.

Click to shrink...

This is entirely YOUR fault.

---

"Wait... you're... a dragon?!"

Areru was getting a touch tired of everyone focusing on that, instead of the wannabe Eldritch Abomination's puppet's Dark Kingdom... a sigh escaped his lips. "Yes, I'm a dragon, and the revelation was a Loong time coming. Can we please focus, here? Or rather..." he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the crescent moon, "...over there?" He snapped his fingers, teleporting the Sailor Scouts, the moronic cat, and Ryoko to the restored ruins of the Moon Kingdom with him.

"...well, this sight certainly is breath-taking. Why, precisely, can I still breathe?"

"Don't be catty about getting some Luna-on-Luna action. And stay on the path, I'm not cleaning the moon dust out of your fur."

 

[Pinklestia]

Omake: Break Time II

"Mew." A pink kitten was somehow in her cupboard, it had pink fur and it was so small, completely adorable!

Catwoman closed her eyes and counted to ten, Jinx had warned her about this.

"Mew, right? Jinx warned me about you."

"Mew." The pink kitten disappeared in a poof on pink smoke and then someone rang her bell.

After groaning Catwoman went to the door already knowing who was outside.

"Mew? Is that you?"

"Mew, yes it is I Mew, pink cat goddess of life extraordinary!"

"What do you want?" Catwoman asked and opened the door. In front of her was a perfectly ordinary teen school girl... with pink hair and pink eyes.

"Can we hang out?"

"What if I don't want you to?"

"You act catlike, I am a cat, do the math."

"Ugh... fine come in."

AN: Yes Mew is in Gotham, no she and Catwoman won't be staying there. Mew is gonna take Selina Kyle to Carmen Sandiego all over the world to steal cat themed stuff.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 060
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

11/7/1993

Well. That was... stressful.

Didn't think I'd see Daisuke again. Didn't really want to, all said and done. Feels like I just ripped a scab off and dug a finger into the wound.

Naru... can't say much about the woman. She seems nice enough, I suppose.

Hanabi is three. And fixated on Hello Kitty at the moment. She's cute, though.

Ryoko is still at the shrine, probably watching and listening. I guess that's a good thing? I wouldn't be very good company at the moment.

I get sullen, withdrawn and snappish when I'm angry and I know it. I need to calm down before Sunny Greens opens in an hour and I start doing deliveries.

...Screw it. May as well write things out. It helps me get my plans in order.

So. One of the things I've been working on recently? I went and picked up a calligraphy pen and ink set.

Had a bit of a laugh when I got to thinking about things. Back when I was hooked up to a System, I had an honest to gods Writing skill exactly for what I'm working on and I never actually used it.

As for what I bought it for?

I've been working on recreating a book of Cure. The same kind that I learned one of my spells from. It's really more of a pamphlet but I've dissolved a bit of silver into the ink and I've been channeling a bit of magic through the pen while I write. Couldn't do that with a normal ink pen, the ink would foul the tip.

What's it for? Two thing, really. The first is that it'll actually have a trace of the spell locked into the book, which should make it a bit easier to learn. The second is a bit more important, though.

See, I'm making it for the Sailor Senshi. Teaching them a basic, harmless spell would be a good way to get them started on controlling their magic to do more than throw city-breakers in frisbee form.

And the second effect of a proper book of Cure is that it can function as a reasonably potent Cure spell, regardless of the spellcaster's actual ability or stores of magic.

Emergency magical healing. Only good once but it's still one more time than they've currently got.

The problem now is going to be delivery.

I thought about dropping it off in my true form. They've seen it, they know I'm sophont and that I'm not actually hostile but...

I know what I look like. I scare people just by existing. It's hard to get people to trust you, even when you're actively being honest and trying to help them when their first impression is... yeah.

I've thought about trying the whole wizard shtick. Problem there is that, well, most of my spells don't have any knobs or controls or levers to modulate them. Some do. But the majority of my offensive repertoire I've mastered to a level that makes them ah, what's the naval word?

Danger-Close.

Look, I've got a spell that would handle my little ghost problem with one word. Two syllables.

Holy.

Problem? I used to have a means of mastering things beyond the normal human limit. And I used it. I initially couldn't scale the power back, so I used the System I used to have to out and out purchase the power to do so.

And that purchase didn't come with me.

So, guess what happens if I cast Holy at its full strength? The answer is that it'll send up a beam of Holy power into the upper atmosphere where it'll detonate into a cross. The island of Ōshima would be sanctified, along with the next fifty kilometers of sea water and the spell could probably be felt all the way over in America by anything with any measure of magical sensitivity.

If I thought the assholes from Kanto or Kansai were bad, at least I'm only dealing with those two and not every thrice-cursed prick from every nation worldwide.

I'd have to pack up and move. Something I'd like to avoid doing, alright? I like my house.

It's where my stuff is.

Tis Rozain or its opposite, Void Ray? They've got a seven-meter diameter and either one could carve through a mountain. Teps Oceus, aka Chain Lightning? Jumps through twenty potential targets and it doesn't have a friend or foe selector.

Ultima? Working with that spell has always been difficult. It's one of the few that the Chaos actually seemed to worry about. It actually hurt it. I don't think I was damaging it, though.

What's the difference?

It was a matter of scale, really. Even with all of my gear, boosters and multipliers and everything else? My very best was basically a tiny splinter to the Chaos. Painful and noticeable but hardly enough to actually do more than irritate and annoy.

So. Offensive options are limited.

Suffering from success, I suppose.

My Skills are better options, at least. Those do, in fact, allow me more control. And I'm not talking about the Manipulate skill. I'm out of practice with a lot of them, though. And my sparring with Ryoko isn't bringing things back at the kind of speed I'm familiar with.

Only thing to do, there, is to keep working at it. Patience will win out, eventually.

So, how am I going to try and hand off the booklet to the Senshi?

Well... I've got an idea. There's this creep called the Masked Tuxedo. Some of my regulars over in Minato keep telling me how dashing and handsome the guy is. And how he keeps trying to give roses to the Youma.

I... don't really know what to say about that one?

I mean, I know there's a fetish for everything but... well, honestly, the monster fetish isn't that weird.

But a lot of the women around Minato just can't keep from gushing over how handsome or dashing or charming the guy is. And I've seen some of the fan-zine photos that old lady Hanako had on hand.

He's just some guy in a tuxedo with a cape. With a stove-pipe hat. And a cane.

Chicks go crazy for a well-dressed man.

I'm absolutely certain that this guy's costume was put together by a woman. Or at least was focus-tested on women. And I know, I know, most of high-fashion is designed by men but there's a simple reason behind this.

If Masked Tuxedo wanted to be respected, not just lusted over by teenage girls and lonely housewives?

He'd be wearing armor. I'm talking a full ō-yoroi and dō-maru. And he'd probably have it in black and red so the kids would think the colors were cool.

And I'm not just saying this because my preferred PPE for a fight is a full suit of heavily enchanted armor. I'm saying this because our resident monster-romancer is wearing a cape.

No capes! They're a fantastic handhold for literally anyone and anything to use against you.

As for me? I've got a contingent of grumpy Wraiths working out back with the forge- Need to upscale that, somehow. Problem is I don't have much room.- to make a suit of armor for me. And I'll be joining them here in a bit.

Initially, I wanted to make it out of Darksteel or Ebony. Problem is that I don't want Darksteel becoming common knowledge and...

I can't make Ebony anymore. I can make the knockoff stuff, sure. And it's still better than steel by every metric except weight. But I can't make the genuine article. I guess I lost the ability when I lost the System. I've got a few tons in my personal realm but...

Well, I'd have to access my personal realm. Which would require a Gate spell, which would be noticed like a damned depth charge by the locals. Or I'd need to create a new door which... would be doable, yeah. But any option would involve opening my realm and...

I don't know if the Chaos is even paying attention to me right now but, if it is? There are a lot of things I've got hidden away that it cannot get.

So I'll have to settle for something else.

Which kind of works out, I guess. I'd like to set up a more approachable impression than my usual attire would give me. And that means I need to change my color scheme.

Ebony? Black. Darksteel? Black. Traditional Adamantine Alloy? Black.

Dwarven Adamantine, which isn't actually an alloy? Aquamarine blue. And shiny as all hell.

So. Dwarven Adamantine is something of a misnomer. It's a metastable form of compressed mithril. (Mithral? Mythril?) created by compressing liquid mithril that's sitting between 1200-1400 degrees Celsius, or else glowing yellow-hot. And it's got to be compressed under a significant amount of force considering we're literally doubling the amount of mass within the same amount of volume.

But, despite having no Adamantite in it at all? Dwarven Adamantine measures up to the real deal just fine.

I've got a squad of Wraiths outside right now, manufacturing and filing down the various plates, rings and buckles. The metal isn't unworkable once it cools but good luck trying to hammer it into shape. Instead, it's easier to use molds to cast the metal into the desired shape and then trim and file it down.

Or I could just use Fabricate once I've got the various Adamantine pieces, saving myself so much trouble.

The cost that factors into the cost-benefit of Dwarven Adamantine? The stuff is actually pretty susceptible to heat expansion. And, if it gets melted down? It turns back into mithril and has to be re-compressed.

Need to find some leather, though. Straps and padding. I did skin this two-headed bear spirit that got violent when I refused to help it, last year. It wanted help tracking down some hikers that wandered into, then out of, its territory.

Also turned its bones into fertilizer and its meat into dinner...

Just need to figure out what I did with the skin. I wasn't just going to leave it lying around, y'know?

Bear skin rugs are just gaudy as hell.

 

[Pinklestia]

Omake: Break Time III

Jynx the teen dragon stepped out the magical portal mirror. Then used her magic to pick the biggest couch she could find and smash the damn thing to pieces. Sure she could have destroyed it with her magic but Mew had warned her against touching the thing with magic directly.

"Never, ever again."

She was finally back home.

Why the heck had to ask Mew for harder training?

That Nightmare Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Mode had been even worse that any of the Dark Soul like worlds… or anything else she could remember of her Quests with Alchemists.

Probably the fact that if she died she would have died for real... something that Mew had warned her about.

She had been such a fool by thinking it would be fine, more so as Mew warned her that she would not be watching over her this time around.

Then as she exited the storage room were the destroyed mirror was, she almost bumped into…

"Catwoman?"

"Oh, hi Jinx." The Teen dragon looked over the thief and raised an eyebrow.

"Why the red trench coat and hat over your costume?"

"Mew, is funny!" Said a teen girl in a pink cat costume… a girl that had pink hair and pink eyes. "So… how was Nightmare Mode?"

"Horrible… I guess I got too used to having someone else as backup. Being alone in something that difficult… good thing I always had revive seeds or… I would have been a goner."

"Told ya Mew, anyway I came here to check on you. We are going on a worldwide heist tour of cat themed treasure!"

"Really? And what does Batman think of it?" Jinx asked

"Well, I mentioned things to Batmite and he was okay with it Mew." The pink Cat goddess disguised as a teen girl said. "Anyway, you are coming with us!"

"What."

"Don't worry I got a cat themed costume for you too Mew!"

"But I am not a criminal anymore!"

"We will donate most of the profits for Charity Mew! Now come on!"

And so Jinx, after a change into a silly giant cat costume that fit her dragon body really well, was dragged into adventure and crime.

AN: Mew is basically cosplaying as that Catwoman sidekick most people forgot about, Jinx is dressed in a Big The Cat costume.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 061
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

12/7/1993

*Click*

"One day," a cold, even voice declared over the unattended handset of a phone, hanging off of its cradle.

The room was dark, no natural light penetrated the sealed walls and no artificial lights remained that still worked. Boarded over, sealed away, forgotten...

Wrong.

A will lingered. Hateful and betrayed, condemned for the crime of her birth and nothing more. Faint, shattered memories held together through nothing less than immeasurable regret and a refusal to let go. A silent voice that screamed, screamed and screamed unheard.

Wrong.

Beneath the roiling hatred, the directionless rage...

Doubt festered.

People feared them. People always feared them! Even before she'd become... what she'd become!

A voice echoed, rising above water and bouncing across stone. A broken sob, a remnant as dead as the soul it'd come from.

Underneath of the burning fury that tethered them...

Fear grew.

-----

13/7/1993

Ryoko hovered at Areru's shoulder as the teen worked on doing something she'd sort of seen before but never quite in the way he was currently doing it.

He'd set up a big sheet of paper on the floor of the sitting room and he was currently in the process of drawing a fairly large circle on it. Which was something she'd caught him doing pretty often in that journal of his when he wasn't writing in that strange, angular script that she couldn't make out.

In fact, he'd drawn the same circle. Exactly. It was in wax with silver mixed into it, which was kind of weird; Primitive worlds tended to value precious metals as currencies rather than tools. It was obviously magical in some fashion, though admittedly not in any way that Ryoko was familiar with.

Ryoko's abilities, exotic though they may appear, were derived from technology. The details were beyond her, a fact that silently irritated her even to this day, but she could understand enough to know that she didn't intersect with magic.

Of course, before encountering Areru, she'd thought magic was strictly limited to special plants or entities that ate those plants on the planets they sprouted on.

Earth was... weird.

Finishing up, Areru stored the wax stick away and made his way over to the phone. A vicious smirk spread over Ryoko's face as he dialed in the number and held the handset up to his ear. It rang once, then twice-

*Click*

"Are you ready?" Areru asked, the static filled with some kind of choked clicking. "Because I am."

An electronic whine filled the air as the phone speaker emitted the dial tone of a disconnected call and Areru hung up the phone before turning around. Ryoko lifted a bit higher, hovering over him as she saw the television, previously turned off, had turned itself on.

There was a stone well in a dim room onscreen for a brief moment before the screen flickered and the image trailed up and then down like a skipping videotape until it resettled. Now it was an image of a stone well in a dim room with a teenage girl in front of the well. She had long, dark hair hanging in front of her face and wore a simple, white dress.

The girl stepped towards the screen, her motions jerky as her body twitched, until she seemed to reach the camera-

And her hands pressed through the glass of the television screen!

Ryoko goggled at the sight! She'd seen teleportation before, multiple different kinds throughout the millennia at that, but none of them were so smooth or simple!

The girl's head came through the screen, then her torso-

And then she seemed to struggle, apparently caught on something.

"Uh-oh," Areru said, his tone mocking as he walked up to the television. The girl tried to swipe at him but Areru was just out of her reach. "I think someone got stuck!"

Ryoko didn't actually know how Areru had managed it but, through the television screen, was the second Areru. Holding on to the girl's ankle in a pair of gloved hands.

"Ugh!" the girl moaned, her body shaking as she tried to reach out, to swipe at Areru or otherwise pull her foot free. "Ugh..."

"Sorry, sweetie," Areru said with a shake of his head. "That's not gonna work. But this will..." A smile spread across her friend's face. One that was as sadistic as Ryoko's own. "Coochi-coochi-coo..."

The Areru through the television screen ran his fingers along the bottom of the foot he was holding on to and the ghostly girl struggled harder in his grip. Her fists slammed down on the hardwood floor over and over and, as the tickling torture continued, the girl even started trying to roll in place to free herself!

"Ugh... ha! Hahah!" Eventually, however, the angry ghost succumbed to Areru's wicked ways and broke out into peals of laughter. "Hee-hah! Hah! Stop!" the ghost eventually croaked, the word cracking as though the teenage specter hadn't truly spoken in a long, long time. "Stop! Stop! Please!"

"Hmm... no," Areru denied the ghost, continuing to tickle the trapped entity. "Not unless you agree to pass on."

"Never!" the ghost shrieked between peals of laughter. "I-I-I- Stop it!"

"You know," Areru said, his voice even despite the dark smile on his face. The teen lifted a length of nylon rope and brought his hands together, slackening the coil for a moment before swiftly separating his hands, tightening the rope with a loud *Thwap!* "I don't actually need you to agree. I can send you on, whether you want to or not."

The ghost steadied itself on her hands as best she could, her chest heaving with suppressed laughter. She swung her head up, flipping her hair away from her face to glare into Areru's eyes with her own.

"Is that supposed to do something?" Areru asked as he slowly uncoiled the nylon rope, a rather bored expression on his face. "Sweetheart? I've had to kill a magical eyeball the size of a house. It had teeth lining its eyelid. I had a knife."

That... actually wasn't a story that Ryoko had heard, yet. The woman floated over, hovering over the ghost that was trying and failing to back her way back into the television and met Areru's eyes.

"It's actually a pretty good story," the boy told her as he began to prepare the rope. "I'll tell you tonight once we get this mess dealt with."

Ryoko smiled to him and nodded. That... actually sounded interesting.

Although, watching as Areru began to wrap the rope around the struggling ghost girl, Ryoko felt her face flushing.

He...

Well. Ryoko had -not- known that Areru knew those kinds of knots...

 

[Radial]

Omake: New hire

"Hello-hello, Thank you for calling Sunny Greens produce and bakery. How can we help you today?"
Usagi pursed her lips as she counted out her saved allowance again and placed it on the table.
"Hello, do you still have any strawberry cakes?"
She hoped they still had some, it was rather late in the day, and she had a bad scare from her weekend afternoon nap. Some good cake could take her mind away from that night.
"Hm, please hold while we check our stock."
A click and a soft tune had Usagi humming as her tired mind wandered. She hoped the dragon was okay.
Another click brought her attention back to the phone, and Usagi tried to unwind her finger around the phone cord she subconsciously twirled around.
"Ah yes, you're in luck. We have one last cake in stock. Would you like to purchase it?"
"Ah," she winced as she twisted her hand around the cord, trying to free her hand but only getting it more stuck. "That would be great! Is the price still the same?"
"Yup, 4500 yen, plus delivery."
"Then sure, please deliver it to-"
Usagi didn't get to finish as she tripped, pulling the phone cord loose from the base unit, and disconnecting the call.
She blinked, eyeing the silent phone next to her head as she lifted the broken cord jack to eye level and sighed. Maybe she wouldn't get th-

The lights flickered.
"… Shingo are you there?"
The lights turned off.
"Luna?"
Usagi's heart began to race as she felt a deep feeling of unease wash over her.
She let out a high pitched yelp as her TV exploded in sound and light as it activated on its own, filling the quiet house with loud noise.
Usagi shuffled back into the corner in fear as the static of the tv cleared into a picture of a well in the woods.
She silently watched as a blank stained hand grabbed its way out of the well, and didn't stop as another joined it.
She struggled to move or escape but she could only shrink in fear as a white clad figure pulled itself out of the well.
Condensation dripped from the sides of the screen as the figure walked towards the screen.
Usagi could only watch in silent horror as the figure in stained white clothes and long messy black hair and covered face reached the screen.
Her eyes dilated and she curled up as the figure leaned into the screen and into her living room.
Water dripped onto the floor, staining the hard wood floor as it pulled and crawled itself into the room.
In the same room as her. Her mind could only jibber in fear as the figure stopped once it was out of the television.
She screamed as the figure suddenly went from the floor to upright without moving, almost as there was a glitch in reality.
The figure turned its head towards her and Usagi hiccuped into silence, hoping that this wasn't the day she died.
Her eyes tracked the figure as it pulled a box from somewhere and placed it on the living room table and grabbed something from the table and it suddenly disappeared.
Usagi was quiet.
The lights turned back on.

She was quiet for a long time, her muscles locked in fear.
The sun sank lower, tinting the room red.
Slowly, she shakingly made her way around room from the corner she hid in, avoiding the puddle of water, and eyed the familiar looking box.
Despite the water stained paper box, she recognized that box.
Unwrapping it revealed the cake.
That strawberry cake.
The cake that she ordered.
Her head whipped back to the table where she placed her now missing money.

She needed two cakes now. Maybe three.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 062
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

13/7/1993

Walking along the road to the Ginji estate, Katsuhito felt as though things were actually rather good. The sun was shining high in the sky, birdsong drifted along the wind and fought with the cry of the summer cicadas for dominance. Wildflowers were blooming, offering an understated but pleasant scent to his journey.

At his home, Naru and Hanabi had been exploring the nearby forests and mountains. Just yesterday, he'd taken the two of them on a journey around the Masaki lands, reacquainting Naru with the paths and trails. Showing her what remained safe, what had changed, pointing out a few spots where the local wildlife had been passing through or bedding down...

It was a...

Katsuhito...

Froze in confusion as he stared at the sight that was walking towards him.

Ginji Areru was walking towards him, ambling slowly in the direction of the Masaki shrine. In one hand, he held a cup with a long straw and he was sipping at the contents.

In his other hand was a young woman. A young woman with pale, bloodless skin and long, black hair. Wearing a white dress that was bunched up awkwardly where she was tied up and bound in ropes that kept her limbs locked in place.

And she was gagged.

Katsuhito could almost feel the neurons missfire as he struggled to make sense of the sight in front of him. Brazen was the first word that came to mind, followed immediately by hentai and it took quite a few seconds before the details were properly processed and Yosho realized that the woman that Ginji was carrying by a rope handle was, in fact, a ghost.

Or a corpse.

But she was struggling too much to be a corpse, thankfully, so it was increasingly likely that she was the ghost that Ginji had said he would be dealing with.

Which. Well.

Katsuhito supposed that counted for 'dealt with'.

"Ginji," Katsuhito greeted as the boy got within hearing range. "What is it that you have, there?"

The boy looked to Katsuhito's eyes. Then down to his cup. Then he tilted his head down to look at the struggling Onryo. Then back up to Katsuhito.

"A smoothie," the boy told him, lifting up his cup for emphasis. "Apple, pear and mango." He sipped at his straw for a moment before clearing his throat. "Was actually just coming over to ask if I could borrow the shrine for a moment."

"You seem to have the situation well in hand," Katsuhito observed. "I can't imagine there's much else you would need."

"I need to call up a Shinigami," the boy admitted as he started walking towards Katsuhito's shrine. "She's refusing to pass on voluntarily."

Katsuhito shook his head as he turned and walked with Ginji, silently marveling at how little the teen seemed to care about demanding the presence of such entities.

"And the reason that you have the Onryo tied up in such a fashion?" Katsuhito asked, the man making a serious effort to pretend he didn't hear the bound ghost... squeaking with every step. "Surely you had other methods available?"

"A few," Ginji admitted with a shake of his shoulders that had the Onryo teetering from the end of her rope. "It's kind of a difficult balancing act. I needed to use force, but I couldn't use violence. She's already been a victim of that and I don't really expect that throwing more at her would stick any better now than it did before."

Katsuhito nodded along as the boy spoke. It made a fair amount of sense, if looked at from a certain point of view. An Onryo was a spirit of violence, born of it and perpetuating it. While they could be overpowered, doing so was often a herculean task which left behind no small number of corpses.

"And the reason that you have her bound in such a fashion?" Katsuhito asked, a brief nod towards the wiggling remnant.

"...I don't actually know how to tie someone up any other way," Areru admitted with another shrug, jostling the hateful ghost and drawing out another squeak from around her gag. "And she tried to bite me a handful of times. Considering how filthy the mouth is for a -living- human? I wasn't about to let her sink her teeth into me."

Katsuhito nodded seriously, then surreptitiously looked down to the bound spirit.

He... got the distinct impression that she wasn't actually trying to get free.

"Very well," Katsuhito agreed as they came to the base of the steps that led up to the shrine. "How, precisely, do you intend on calling upon one of the Shinigami? I've always understood their motivations as being where they're needed, when they're needed."

"I'm sure they'd like to perpetuate that little story," Areru said with a harsh sniff, clearly disagreeing with the matter. He stepped up on the first of the many stairs, jostling the spirit who...

Katsuhito's face turned crimson as the Onryo moaned.

"But if they were properly on the ball? This little lady would have already passed on to whatever afterlife is waiting for her." The logic in Areru's statement was surprisingly simple, and equally sound. "I know a little trick to get their attention, though. There's a way to Charge a prayer so that the various gods and goddesses actually hear it. And if it's aimed at all of the gods of Death that have a hand in moving spirits onwards? They apparently start asking the locals why they're getting calls from beyond their service area."

Katsuhito almost missed a step as he processed what Areru was saying.

He wasn't asking the local Shinigami to do their job...

He was shaming them by asking foreign Shinigami to do their job!

-----

Far above the forests and mountains of Okayama, a woman flew through the air upon a wooden oar. Her blue hair danced upon the winds and the fabric of her pink kimono flapped harshly against her body.

Botan, a D-Class Shinigami, was not pleased.

Pretty much anyone that had just gotten an irate call from their boss wouldn't be.

Circling over an old shrine, the reaper pursed her lips and focused. There were... she wasn't sure. The entities below didn't feel human. One was almost human, one was too old and powerful to be a human and there was something else, something...

There was something wrong, down below.

Descending, Botan actually saw three people were waiting for her.

One spirit, bound in holy ropes. Which... was a new one for Botan. One old man, one very old man. Looking at him was difficult but she could see... roots? Something, anyway, penetrating and supporting a soul that was older than she was.

The third entity, whatever it was, just looking at it made Botan feel like there were millipedes crawling down her back. It looked like a hole in the world, filled with countless, countless fragments of dead, broken souls. Looking at it, the thing sucked in her gaze and she felt eyes, hundreds, thousands of eyes staring back at her.

Begging.

Pleading.

Crying.

Screaming!

"Good," the yawning Void said as Botan landed roughly. "I was worried you'd be taking your time. The others certainly did."

"What are you?" Botan asked, a faint tremor in her voice before she managed to rip her eyes away to look at the spirit wrapped up in- "Why is she tied up in shibari?!"

"...I told you that would be a problem," the old soul said, a faint chuckle in his voice.

"Well, it was the best of my list of bad options," the Void petulantly told the old soul. "This is her last day on Earth. I wasn't going to take that away from her by turning her to stone or something." Turning towards Botan, the Void cleared its throat before addressing her. "It's the only way I knew how to bind her without causing unnecessary pain."

"Well, unbind her!" Botan demanded. The reaper stomped over, her fear forgotten in the face of her outrage. She'd just about reached for the gag in the spirit's mouth when the Void spoke again.

"I'd watch my fingers, if I were you," the entity said, freezing Botan for a moment. She turned to look at it, glaring at the spot where she figured its eyes would be. If it had a normal pair. "She bites."

"Just... help me get her on my oar," Botan said, her voice terse as she just... gave up.

She could deal with the mess back in the spirit world. They had teams who were tasked with-

Botan's thoughts came to a screeching halt as the Void grabbed a rope handle on the Onryo spirit's bindings and the woman... moaned. Botan's face twisted in distaste and she shook her head.

Why did she always get the weirdos?

Koenma, the lord of the spirit world, was -not- paying her enough for this. For any of this!