Interlude III Lord of the flies

''To think that those two brothers meet their death in this little town, even if deserved for there to be someone that would dare to kill an ex-member of the Nishiyama clan remains a great offense, they should have died under my hand. I came all the way here to see to their final rites and yet, someone else dared to take their punishment from me.'' A man in a black elegant business suit stood at the border of a rooftop starting at the apartment complex that the police still had closed down. The man's black suit was proper and expensive with nothing but a clean black color and a dark green tie with a red scarf. The man had a fan in his hand, adorned with elegant drawings of leaves drifting upon the winds of a mountain in a rather traditional Japanese style.

Thought for as elegant as his attire was the man was wearing a strange green wooden mask, resembling a furious demon with a long nose, one could only see his eyes which were pure white and devoid of his pupils.

''I'm sure you are a witness of what happened here, speak now goat, and do not test my patience.'' The man turned around, someone had come to the rooftop, and with precision, he felt their presence in an instant. It was the manager of a small newspaper company in the district, Vic Ocassio. He came along with two men wearing damp green trenchcoats as guards.

''My apologies for the intrusion Mr.Andou I figure you may want a rundown of the events here before you back to Mr.Nishiyama and it will be respectful if I don't do it myself as the manager of the information branch in the district.'' Vic Ocassio Took out his hat and bowed respectfully.

''Indeed it will be rude, very well since you show the courtesy to show up yourself I will listen, just ensure to not waste our precious time.'' Andou closed his fan and stared straight at him before bowing as well, on his chest a small golden insignia glimmered, showing his position as a high member of the Nishiyama clan. Vic put on his hat once more.

''The brothers were killed by the ghost of this town, Mr.Nishiyama is aware of her, Im sure he insisted on just letting this situation as it was.''

''And merely ignore betrayal, it is the clan's responsibility to carry out their punishment, a mere finger will not be enough on this and I have the intention to leave some hitman to do it for us, even without Nishiyama's approval as one of the three great terrors I would do their execution myself. That said do you really expect me to believe this was that ghost doing? the ghost works alone.'' Mr. Vic's expression turned serious, he was not expecting that response.

''As expected of the great Andou you were aware of that much, I suppose not only the ghost came here yesterday, but there is no denying that she was here as well, as the other people involved in this, I'm afraid we have no information on them yet.''Andou opened his fan and a ghost of wind blew towards the member of the information agent, it was a ferocious wind that threw Mr.Ocassio's hat into the skies.

''You lie, do not lie to me.'' The white hair wig on the mask began to move, the hair spiked and floated like limbs behind his head as if the mask itself was becoming alive.

''It is not a lie Sir, Im afraid that Louise's information agency is still working hard on the matter, the people that attacked were a small armed group with no demons, I can assure you the ghost finished the job and that these people are far underneath your attention Mr.Andou!''Vic screamed trying to have his voice reach the other man amidst the wind that was beginning to force him back, a storm was beginning to form around them.

''Louise has become too arrogant, Mr. Nishiyama may forgive such arrogance but I do not.''He opened his fan and with a furious swipe a gust of wind followed hitting the three men with the intensity of a tornado, one of the men was sent flying crashing against the entrance to the rooftop. Vic remained on his feet but the last of his guards flew off the ground going over the fence.

The guard saw the skies and the shining stars above as he began to fall rapidly to the streets below, but something grabbed his hands and he was lifted again into the skies above and back into the roof.

''Now think your words carefully, rest assured that the Nishiyama will not simply forgive any more offense, the brothers still have our blood in their veins, as they shared a cup with Mr.Nishiyama, to kill them was an insult ot them.'' Andou closed his fan and looked with uninterest at Vic in just an instant the manager had jumped after his subordinate and returned unrecognizably.

''I meant no offense, Please forgive me, but it is again our code of honor, to provide inaccurate information, we have nothing concrete to offer, please remember that we are a business with pride in what we offer, if you wish us to investigate do make a contract and share as well, Nishiyama and Louise have good faith in each other, it will be a poor show if we tarnish that with a fight here...none of us will win if anyone ends up dead.'' Vic's body had shifted, a pair of black long wings raised from his back, they were the wings of a black crow and his head had changed as well, it was surrounded by a black cloak of fog hiding the solid form of the head of a goat, his hands as well had turned into claws. He had lifted back his subordinate lifting him over with a single hand and left him to fall back into the roof. The demon goat arranged his tie as he remained on his knee. Staring back at Andou with glowing red eyes, between his horns a crown of fire manifested almost floating like a mirage.

''Baphomet, this is the first time I have seen you in your true form, but is hardly impressive for me, those wings could never take you as high as I stand.''Andou stated as he opened his fan.

''I don't intend to, I beseech you as a representative of Mr.Louise. Emperor of the Tengu return wto Mr.Nishiyama and tells him we will find the truth of this night and sell it for the proper price as we have always done. Let us leave here with no fight or violence, this small town has seen enough.'' Though Vic Ocassio spoke with sincerity he never lowered his guard, his claw sharp and firm as the flaming crown above him stirred.

''I suppose since you have shown proper manners, I will permit you to live. I hope Mr.Louise and you know what it will mean to betray our trust. I will leave this call to Mr.Nishiyama you get to keep your silver tongue for now you peasant goat'' The man with the green mask opened his fan and jumped with a ghost of wind that made the windows close by vibrate. He landed on the rooftop of the next building and looked back with contempt.

''As long as you remember your place our relationship will remain do not waste my pity, return to your master and remind him of his duties.'' With another gust of wind, Andou disappeared and the demonic goat slowly grabbed his hat with two of his fingers and then waited as the masked man banished into the sky.

''Oh dear, they must know more than what we knew, the Nishiyama knows of our friends....'' The black fog twisted and slowly his goat head turned to mist and back to that of a human as he placed his hat back on his head, his hands returned to their usual dark skin rather than that strange miasma that had surrounded his palms.

''Well, then gentleman let's report to Mr. Louise.''

Vic Ocassio had moved to a nearby alley close to a restaurant. He received a message that said that this would be the meeting place, He had talked to Louise plenty of times, but never in person, he knew not where or when, but if there was something he had learned in his many years working on the newspaper company is that Mr.Louse even if you cannot see him, he can always see you. The other two men were already eating something from a local restaurant. They had quite a shock but were already back on their feet, this was not that unusual to them.

Vic remained on his own corner seeing them joke with each other, he smiled gently feeling good that they were finally out of the frying pan. He looked around seeing people walking on the streets outside of the alley, till one of them suddenly stopped as if frozen in place a woman stopped in the middle of the street and turned in her heels towards him. Her walking was strange she moved as if her legs were broken, her head was twisting unnaturally as well, and she moved her hand through the alley wall as if completely blind.

''Good evening miss.'' He put on his hand and leaned in the wall of the alley giving a signal to his men to come closer, the woman shook her head while looking at the floor.

"There you are, champ; I heard the Tengu Emperor had already taken flight, so it's a good thing you were there, taking charge like a real man.'' The woman laughed with a strange tone to her voice, He recognized that speech pattern for sure, Mr. Louise was on the other side of her words. Grabbing someone at random on the street and possessing them to serve for communication was a fearful thing, and yet it was just the usual for them. Even the two guards barely reacted as they kept eating.

''Yeah, director Vic showed him this is our territory, boss.'' One of the guards said to the strange woman. The woman twisted her head, even though she was speaking to them normally she wasn't looking at them, her eyes were lost and her mouth was constantly open. There was a terrible smell surrounding her as well. Her arms kept randomly moving as if she had no idea what those limbs were for anymore.

''They suspected it was not the ghost, it seems they must have heard of our friends from whatever was left of the snakes. There's no need to worry for now at least, if it's just them who know. Nishiyama is always conservative in his actions, he won't spread any crazy stories like that of demon hunters. We only need to keep this under wraps till the government gets involved.''Vic spoke with clear respect far more serious than he tended to.

'' oh, I doubt the Nishiyama will be a pain and as you say once the government is involved, the hunter will be on their own, good luck to them'' The woman weakly moved her arm to her mouth as if smoking a cigar but she had nothing at all on her hand.

''Even so, they did what they promised. Both brothers were killed and if their demons can't be summoned anymore, Nishiyama will be the first to notice''

''But that is the beauty of all of this. They can't exactly take revenge outside of the city. Those hunters are confident their maze will keep any dangers away, which is still naive to me. If the families get serious, they don't have a ghost of a chance to protect themselves, let alone if the anti-devil corps go for them, and yet it is clear they want to poke every beehive in town. Crazy, but man I gotta appreciate that boldness'' The woman clapped, leaning against the wall due to how hard it was to remain on her feet.

''Indeed, but that is a risk to us as well, if they believe us to be their allies there is nothing stopping them from knocking at our doors instead, that remains my concern Mr.Louise.''

''No worries, soon enough even the families will hesitate to do that against us, in fact, the hunters really fit us like a glove. We can finally make up for our lack of martial strength. It is almost too good to be true. You have to pay so much to hire an assassin, and these fellas are straight-up paying us to kill whoever we want them to, I can see it, champ. The time for us to really feast is coming.'' Vic pondered for a moment, with a solemn expression, as he looked at the sky above.

''So you intend to truly take over this district then...I suppose that is the only way we can ensure that the families will keep their distance.''

''This town is just too small for us champ, Beelzebub demands more and more knowledge, I can't feed him with just what I have. This woman's brain barely had any secrets worth keeping and most people in this district are no different. We need to expand and send our web all over this city.'' The woman stood raising her hands.

''There is a chance those hunters will come after us as well. Is that not a concern to you Mr.Louise.''

''By then, we will know all about them, and that is all I need to have them under control, we are not their true enemies... if that woman in charge of the hunters is who I think it is, then we really need her on our side, this city is about to change, after all, things will get ugly and soon. They may not realize but these hunters already have the ire of every family by taking away their sacrifice, that anger has nowhere to go yet...but when it does, man, that is going to be one hell of a show and we will be their only allies in this word so play nice with them my good man.''The woman laughed again.

''As you wish, Mr. Louise, but if you intend to take over the inner circle, that means that we will have to deal with my brother, I assume that means...'' Vic didn't look at the woman as he spoke; there was no point to that.

''I will leave that to your discretion, if you can find another way I'll lend an ear, I trust you that much after so many years, I'm sure you'll do the right thing champ, for now, lets just cut this chat here, this poor woman is already late for work and is about time she gets her body back.'' With a laugh, the woman smiled madly, and the sound of flies raised in chorus. Like a mist, flies flew out of her mouth and flew into the skies, the woman was about to collapse but Mr.Ocassion helped her stand up she was looking quite confused.

''Help me get her to a nicer place, she'll be back to normal soon.''

''Geez, im glad she won't remember a thing. How can a bunch of flies even do that?''

''Every fly in this city could be one of his thralls, which explains why that man has eyes everywhere, but we only call them flies, they are no ordinary insects that's for sure.''

''Geez, I wonder if the boss is even still human, have you never really seen him in the flesh Mr.Ocassio?'' The three of them helped out the unconscious woman with care, Mr. Ocassio looked at the skies making sure there were no flies above.

''Truth be told, I'm rather afraid of seeing the Lord of the Flies in the flesh, even if Mr.Louise will not agree, some things, we are better off not knowing. ''