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Monday, December 13, 2010

Return – Chapter 2

Kuniritsu, Tokyo.

It was summer vacation. Jusho High’s plaza was empty. The blazing sun, now slightly less fierce, quietly illuminated the building. Housewives and students tried to avoid the sun’s rays as they walked beneath the rows of gingko trees lining University Avenue even as they cast curious glances in the school’s direction.

A week ago, the school's CAI room had been destroyed. The entire class that had been taking a lesson inside had vanished.

"The entire class colluded together to destroy the facility, and then ran off somewhere." That was the explanation their instructor, Ohara, had given.

No one could have imagined the truth behind the incident, a symbol of the growing violence that had been plaguing the school.

One of the students at the school, Nakajima Akemi with his handsome feminine looks, had been an object of jealousy amongst the other male students. Blessed with genius computing ability, Nakajima had discovered the similarities between computer theory and magical theory, and succeeded in summoning the digital data of the demon Loki with his computer. Using Loki's power, Nakajima had attempted to exact revenge on the students who had wronged him. Living inside the CAI room's computer as a digital construct, Loki had granted Nakajima's wish by taking control of the students attending lecture there.

Meanwhile, Loki secretly achieved a physical body of his own, and had deemed Nakajima a threat. The beautiful teacher Ohara, given to Loki as an offering, became enthralled by the demon's charm, and learned to operate the demon summoning program in Nakajima's stead. Soon, Loki had slipped from Nakajima's control, a man-eating beast enamored of brutal killing sprees. Feeling a deep responsibility for the results caused by his curiosity and desire for vengeance, Nakajima summoned the demon beast Kerberos and challenged Loki. He was defeated, but an unlikely ally appeared during the battle.

The Japanese goddess Izanami had possessed Shirasagi Yumiko, a transfer student with a crush on Nakajima. In the indescribably harsh battle, the CAI room had been reduced to ruins. Izanami had teleported the wounded Nakajima and Yumiko to her burial place, Asuka. Loki had headed to Asuka in hot pursuit.

Of course, no one could have possibly known the true circumstances of the incident, and in a typical sensationalist manner, only the surface end results made it to the mass media.

"Elite Class Destroys Classroom and Disappears!" That and similar titles were making the headlines of the weekly papers.

Until the police concluded their investigation, the CAI room was off limits. Though considerably diminished, a stench difficult to withstand still wafted through the rubble-strewn room. A suspicious figure lurked within the miraculously undamaged machine room, separated from the rest of the classroom by cracked plate glass. Deep red fingernails massaged the terminal's keyboard. The LED light of the disk drive flashed busily. It appeared to be copying either a long program or a huge amount of data. The copying finished. Ten large 8-inch floppy disks had been filled. The woman breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ohara-sensei, are you done yet?"

Reluctantly opening the door, the janitor looked around the area before sticking his head into the machine room.

"If they find out I let you in here I could get in big trouble."

"I'm really sorry. I'll be done in just a minute." As the woman spoke in a nasal tone, the janitor grudgingly pulled his head back. Softly clicking her tongue, she returned to her typing. A message displayed on the screen.

> PROGRAM "DEMON" DELETE YES OR NO?

The computer was asking whether or not she wanted to delete one of its programs.

> YES

The woman slowly entered the command and pressed the Return key. As she did, the magnetic tapes of the host computer emotionlessly spun and clattered, before soon grinding to a halt. The demon summoning program that Nakajima Akemi had written vanished without a trace from the Jusho High computer system.

Resting his elbows on the concrete fence surrounding the school building, Isma Feed stood like a shadow. He was dressed the same as he had been in Massachusetts, black cloak draped over a yellowing flaxen robe, and wearing black leather boots. Despite his unusual appearance, the people passing by on the street appeared to pay him no heed. They were not avoiding him deliberately; rather, they did not even realize that he was standing there. Isma had surrounded himself in a magical field. The ability to hide one's presence within a magical field was thought to be the specialty of the Japanese Onmyojis, but its roots were actually far older, and had been mastered by ancient Mayan magicians. For Isma, a descendant of those same magicians, hiding his presence was an easy task. But his eyes, turned to the school building, were full of discontent.

I can't sense anything. There seems to be no doubt that the boy named Nakajima summoned a demon, but I can't feel any demonic presence...

Isma had noticed the similarities between computer theory and magical theory years ago. He had thought the reason that it was so difficult to summon demons into the human world was that it was easy for the weather and the earth's magnetic field to interfere with the environment necessary to successfully perform a summoning. He had theorized that if one were to create a strong magnetic field within a computer, it would be possible to eliminate said outside influences. He had been attempting to do so himself. However, upon learning from the ISG databanks that a young man in Japan already succeeded in doing so, he immediately flew to Tokyo.

Looks like I'm just going to have to take the time to search out Nakajima Akemi myself.

Disappointed, Isma slowly turned around and started to walk away, when he heard a pleading voice say "Sensei, please keep all this a secret..."

Turning around, he saw an ordinary-looking middle-aged man calling to a woman carrying a large bag. The woman waved her hand irritably and started walking toward Isma.

She was a very alluring woman. Her beautiful symmetrical body emitted feminine charm and could easily belong to a model. Her hot yet somehow dark gaze could not help but kindle desire in any man that saw her. But that was not all. Isma sensed something from Ohara that set off his instincts as a magician. A smile formed on Isma's lips as his eyes traveled up and down her body.

A demon really DID come to the Assiah world. The demonic life within that woman's body is the proof.

Isma blinked twice, three times rhythmically. Perhaps it was a gesture to drop the magical field surrounding him, but Ohara stopped in her tracks as if struck by lightning.

Ohara's love for Loki was special. Nakajima Akemi had given her as an offering to the demon Loki in June. At the time, the digital Loki had made love to her in a virtual world. The voluptuous Ohara was no stranger to sex, but the intense, nearly-fatal ecstasy she felt from sleeping with a demon had brought out the innate feminine devilishness within her to its utmost extremes. Soon Loki gained the ability to take form in the human world and had materialized. Ohara belonged to him heart and soul, and she became impregnated with his child.

But after chasing Nakajima to Asuka to kill him, Loki had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Believing it impossible for a demon as powerful as Loki to be defeated by one as weak as Nakajima, Ohara had tried to use the demon summoning program over and over again, but she had gotten no response from Loki. Instead, a different demon calling himself Set had appeared.

Furthermore, the critical CAI room had become off-limits after the incident, so she no longer could use the computers there freely. Ohara had finally copied the demon summoning program, but she had no idea how and where she could run it to find Loki. While mulling over what to do next, she noticed Isma and stopped in her tracks.

"Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." The words of the spell that Loki had cast left Isma's lips.

"Who are you...?"

Ohara was entranced by the mysterious, shining, blue eyes of this oddly-dressed foreigner. Isma closed those eyes halfway and whispered "Let's go."

Isma silently started to walk. As if pulled by an invisible line, Ohara followed after him.


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