edelweiss - &team

22

Harua offered to provide them a mode of teleportation, stating he'd prefer it if they could minimise the amount of time spent separated. In the meantime, the rest would continue to track down Death. Yuma had an inkling of where he was heading, so they were willing to bet on that. After an hour of work, Harua created a two-way talisman to Korea. Before they left, Harua extended the talisman between two fingers and said, "Be careful."

Euijoo nodded as reassurance and as he took hold of the talisman, the four of them were whisked off.

-

"Oh god." When they recovered from the sudden change in environment, they were pleased to be right at where they needed to be, before realisation sunk in.

Euijoo's lovely little shop was truly in shambles. A light smell of smoke lingered in the air despite the short time the shop was in flames. The street had been cordoned off, police investigation was underway as they suspected it was not an innocent accident.

"Do you reckon it was Hayate?" Riki asked as they stepped through the red tape. Euijoo was scouring the shop, searching for any potentially trapped animals or damaged plants, hence he failed to respond, so Yixiang supplied, "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it doesn't matter."

Fuma ducked into one of the less scorched rooms, then called the rest over, "I found his message." As Euijoo has reported, Death had left a few sentences written among the ashes just for them.

"Bastard," Riki swore, a rare moment for him. Euijoo knelt down, eyebrows knitted as he dragged his fingers through the ash. "What are you-" Yixiang's question was answered when Euijoo withdrew a few pieces of paper, the size of tarot cards. They were coated with a silvery sheen, with delicate details in bright silver. As he fanned them out, Fuma's frown deepened. "I don't understand-" He began, then Riki interrupted, "There's seven of them."

His hand darted out and he selected one, the only one that was dull and not glittering.

Written on the card were two things: Hayate and Lust. Illustrations of flames engulfed the card rendering it orange and red. Euijoo quickly thumbed through the others, but they were mostly blank besides a single word.

The three were at a loss but Riki snapped his fingers, "Easy. They're the seven deadly sins."

He slipped the other cards from Euijoo's hand, one decorated with a frame of bones said Gluttony, another with strange abstract forms said Wrath.

"Only one card has a name, Hayate," Fuma noted. "And he was the only one we've met so far," Euijoo added.

"So we're expecting...six more. Are the pictures clues to them?"

Suddenly, Hayate's card glowed red hot, Euijoo nearly dropped them all in shock. The orange card bled into black and white words began forming on the card.

It took a while but I've collected back my other children. Every one of these immortals will trigger a little...event, shall we say? It's unfortunate Hayate turned his back on me, but no matter. The show will go on.

The words quickly vanished, and they all waited patiently but there was no follow up. The card returned to its original dull orange colour.

"That's it?" Riki asked, aghast.

"I think-"

"Hey, gentlemen." They were interrupted by a good-natured looking policeman, "Sorry about this, but we gotta investigate and you have to leave the premises. Is the owner of the shop here?" Euijoo immediately stepped forward and before they vacated, Riki swept his foot across the ashes to wipe away the message.

As Euijoo spoke with the police, Yixiang, Fuma and Maki started to walk with no specific direction in mind.

"Wait but some things like lust don't make sense. You mean to say he's going get people on the streets to fu-"

"Maybe he's just being dramatic," Fuma smoothly cut off Yixiang, "He's always been like that. He likes things that sound grand and fancy."

"Like his own name," Riki added thoughtfully. Then, Euijoo caught up with them, looking frazzled and burdened. "Let's take a walk, okay?" Fuma said, eyeing a park full of nature that might be good for Euijoo. With no disagreement, they all walked slowly and silently.

"We'll have to report back to the rest, as soon as possible," Euijoo said decisively. "Can we get food first, though," Yixiang said abruptly, "Maki pulled me aside just now and he asked for some fresh Korean snacks."

"Are you serious-"

"Cut him some slack," Euijoo said with a look of exasperation but a twinkle of amusement in his eyes, "It's been a while since he was here too. Fine, we'll get it. Riki, you stay here."

"What? Why?"

"You are carrying a scythe taller than the average man," Euijoo reminded him. "Yixiang's scimitar is massive -"

"It could pass off as a cosplay prop sheathed, " Yixiang shot back, enjoying the exchange a little too much.

"Hey, mine too. You guys can't leave me alone. I haven't been in Korea for forty years, my Korean is really rusty-"

"You'll be fine, it's so late at night!" Yixiang waved at him with a cheeky grin and Riki returned the sentiment with a finger.

Breathing an exasperated sigh, Riki turned to take a look around, the darkness of the park closing in on him. Then his eyes dropped down to his scythe. He had been using a handy little light trick to keep it out of sight and now he could let his guard down a little.

Or so he thought.

The weak streetlamps flickered rapidly, then went out with a defeated buzz. Being fully enclosed in darkness prompted Riki to summon light to brighten his surroundings,

Branches snapping and dried leaves crunching made Riki swivel in that direction. From amongst the trees and stillness of the empty park, emerged a man, young and lean. But he wasn't alone. Large, bright forms of tentacle-like appendages slithered across the ground, as though he owned multiple large snakes. Connecting the tentacles were thin golden threads that led to the man's fingers, ten threads for the ten tentacles.

"Hikaru? He seriously sent you all the way here?" Riki asked distastefully. If Hikaru was offended, he didn't show it. "Well, I missed you," Hikaru offered mockingly, his doe eyes innocent. Riki was too stunned to speak, his fingers slack around his scythe.

With a sly smirk that was almost playful, Hikaru twitched his finger and his tentacle forms wrapped around the entirety of Riki's scythe. Alarmed, Riki yanked at his scythe, his mouth brimming with curses, but Hikaru managed to jerk the scythe out of his grasp and fling it into the distance. "Still careless as ever," Hikaru cooed, light of his feet as he repositioned himself.

With his weapon gone, Riki was now left with only his powers. Quickly steeling himself, Riki drew in a long breath and from his back, his own energy took the form of slender, geometric spikes similar to spider limbs.

"Copycat," Hikaru drawled teasingly, "You've always watched me and followed my methods." Riki's eyes flashed indignantly, "No, mine is simply better." A soft scoff fled Hikaru's lips, then he tore his hand through the air and the tentacles shot forward. Riki's own energy pierced into the tentacles, sometimes successful in impairing them, other times his own "limbs" were snapped off, but quickly replaced.

Riki scowled, knowing that if they went on so passively, the winner would be the one with the strongest stamina. He had to attack the little puppeteer where it hurt most.

an: is the idea of tentacles attached to fingers weird? yes. we're gonna roll with it. also yes hikaru's personality is far from this but it spices things up so yes.