I Could Never Get Lust

I might have made a mistake in saving E.T. from being impaled by the stick. He was my prime suspect in several murders, and he very well could kill again. His death might save me a lot of trouble in the future. Regardless, this wasn’t the time to think about this, because saving him had caused another issue.

When I interacted with the world as a spirit, I would also become visible. E.T. didn’t get a good look at me, but Blue Suit Guy definitely did, even though I returned to invisibility as soon as I could. Oblivious birds chirped in the background as I awaited his reaction, but what he did next was beyond my expectations.

Blue Suit Guy, maybe I should settle on this name, shrank his staff back to its original size. His wings flashed into existence, and he took off into the sky. I probed around his mind for an explanation, but what I found instead was a cause for alarm.

Death spotted. Must call Boss.

He saw me. And he recognized me from the brief glimpse of my pale green hair. That narrowed down the identity of his boss to only a few suspects.

I floated behind him, a perk of being a spirit. After he found a vantage point to hover at, he tapped his earpiece nonchalantly to make a call. But to whom?

You are reading my mind, aren't you, Death?

Even though I was the one reading his mind, it felt as if the opposite was happening. I drifted away from him. I should still be invisible; he shouldn't know I was here.

Yet, the smile on his face communicated otherwise. The call didn't go through. His phone hung up by itself with a whimper.

But something was happening. He is coming. I didn't know an internal thought could sound so smug, but Blue Suit Guy just kept surprising me. Also, thanks for the nonspecific and ominous foretelling, buddy.

I could sense my quasi-omniscience losing grip of Blue Suit Guy's information. A blind spot manifested and expanded right before me. A sharp red gleamed in his eyes, and his smile gained a pinch more confidence. From the outside, Blue Suit Guy appeared the same. But inside, he had surrendered his body and mind to the Horseman of War.

“Hello Death, how long has it been?” His quasi-omniscience shouldn’t reach me, and I checked to make sure I was invisible, but there wasn’t a hint of uncertainty in his voice, expression, and pose.

He was always this obnoxious; every time we crossed each other, it was like lava meeting glaciers. The worst part was that he could never comprehend jokes. Maybe he should stop searching for pawns and start looking for his sense of humor.

Or maybe I could start teaching him comedy by pretending that I wasn’t here. Yes, shame wasn’t part of his emotional palette, but he should still recognize how absurd his monologues sounded.

As I was sneaking away, the clouds sent down a bolt, tearing a path towards War. But the Ruyi Jingu Bang soaked up all the electricity. I could start calling it the lightning rod, but the innuendo would devolve any creative nickname into a low-hanging sex joke.

War gave out a sigh for a completely different reason. The strike was a retaliation from E.T., who now hovered above the truck. Even with the distance between us, I could feel his calculated bloodlust leaking through his oni mask.

“Death, if you don’t keep your dog on a leash, I’ll have to put him down.”

Believe me, I also want to find the said leash.

The shifting of War’s arms pried me from my thoughts. He pointed the Ruyi Jingu Bang at E.T. again. A long distance, but I had no doubts that his attack would hit.

“No!” I shouted, not caring that the act would render me visible. In a moment, those constant howls of death in the background, the ones that I had been ignoring, became clear to me again, syncing with my own desperate cry.

The Ruyi Jingu Bang extended forth, and with pinpoint accuracy, jabbed at E.T.’s right shoulder. I could almost hear the crack of the impact. Cloudie slipped out of his grasp as he dropped to his knees, clutching his shoulder. Even his oni mask seemed to be making a pained expression.

But he was alive and well. Relief welled up in me, and I could once again look away from the flashes of death sparkling around the world.

“I didn’t break anything. Don’t worry.” War retracted the staff back to its normal length. “But hey, you look as good as the last time we met. Hmm… what do the cracks mean though?”

Oh no. In my panic, I forgot to hide my form. It was probably too late to pretend that I wasn’t here. Not replying would make it seem like I was avoiding him. If black company workers could smile in the face of their unreasonable bosses, surely I could act courteously once to this jackass.

“And you look like you dropped your humanity in the Shinkansen platform gap.” Well, maybe I couldn’t.

War’s expression didn’t change, his smile unreadable as always. “L-M-A-O. This is the reaction you want from me, right? Now, I would have liked to catch up…”

“I don’t.”

“…but your target would get suspicious soon.”

The red gleam in his eyes felt like a spotlight, exposing all my plans. By instinct, I rushed to hide my trails. “My target? I don’t know what you are-”

He cut me off before I finished speaking. “Oh, he isn’t? Then I’ll kill him and take back the mallet.” If Raven’s body had been close enough, I would have clobbered him.

“Fine. We’ll leave.” I didn’t want to deal with him anyway, so this was a more-than-acceptable resolution for me. But it left a sour taste in my mouth. I snuck back to the truck roof, staying invisible until I got to my destination.

“I'm Yonna,” I said while showing myself.

E.T. picked up Cloudie with his working left hand, gritting his teeth through the pain of his dislocated right shoulder. “I saw you up there with that… monster.”

“Nope, he is worse than a monster. And…” I leaned into his ear. He took a step back and swung Cloudie at me, but the blade simply passed through me. I still got close enough to whisper, “You are Endo. Do you need me to say more, or can we leave now?”

He relaxed a little after hearing his name, clumsily slipping Cloudie back into its sheath. “I wanted to leave, but Midorikawa-san was stuck here.” Oh, right. The jacket was keeping her in place.

I touched it to give out new commands, asking it to detach from the truck and the guard. As if assembling DIY furniture, I attached the suitcase to Raven’s torso and Raven’s hand to E.T.’s leg.

“What about you?” E.T. asked once my work was done.

“Don’t worry about me.” I disappeared from his sight after those words.

E.T. kept his injured hand steady while taking off, with Raven dangling off him like wind chimes in the breeze. War watched them from the same spot, having not moved an inch since our conversation. Maybe his real identity was the Horseman of Creeps. Once we vanished from his sight, my quasi-omniscience told me that War finally handed the body back to Blue Suit Guy.

***

The first view that entered Raven’s vision was the foliage above. A calming sight to me too, after my spirit was dragged back into her body. She gauged her surroundings with her tired eyes and touched her face, finding the oni mask absent.

E.T. was sitting beside her, his legs crossed and mask also removed. Hair lost all order, and his golden shawl was soaked with filth. They were in the middle of nowhere, under the shelter of sugi trees. The wet dirt cradled their weight.

“How are you feelin… Ugh!” E.T. made the mistake of leaning forward, straining his healing injury. He held onto his right shoulder. Groans of pain crawled out from his throat.

Raven sprang up, and her hands floundered. “Is there… uhhh… how… what… I… can I help?”

“It’s no big deal. I just need some rest. Yonna-san fixed my shoulder already,” E.T. said with a lethargic tone while rubbing his right side.

“Yonna-san appeared?” Raven’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“She said that she used a magical item to appear here.”

“Oh? What did she look like?” Raven’s lips curved into a smile. This was less of a ‘gotcha’ moment than she thought, but I would gain nothing by clearing her misunderstanding.

“A mix of dark and light green hair. Her skin was on the pale side, and there were some cracks on her skin too. What else… her eyes were glowing with a green hue. That was all I remember.”

“Hmmm…” Raven fell into thought, but a sudden question from E.T. pulled her back up to reality.

“By the way, do you know anyone named Midorikawa Maya?”

“Excuse me?” Her breath halted as if her lungs had forgotten how to function.

“Look.” He opened the suitcase and took out the certificate for the mallet. The person who signed it was none other than… Raven’s deceased mother. I knew Raven's mother was involved in some shady business, but she might have been shadier than I thought.

“It’s… It’s nothing. This is just a coincidence.” I felt Raven’s body trembling and how she grasped at a steady rhythm for her breaths. Her head spun, and the vertigo was also getting to me.

“Midorikawa-san? Are you feeling alright?” E.T. shuffled closer to Raven on the soil. Raven grabbed his shoulders for support. He yelped and instinctively swiped Raven’s hand away from his right shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Raven shut him up with a non-consensual kiss. Her mind probably got rotted from watching too many romance shows. E.T. grabbed the back of Raven’s head and retook the initiative.

I had to suffer through a series of intersecting saliva and breath. Many times, I just wanted to command Raven’s muscles to pull away, but I decided against it. It would only complicate things.

And yes, they did the deed. Without contraceptives. On the dirt, where parasitic worms and bacteria called home. All the while, people were dying around the world. How people could feel pleasure when so many deaths were going on was beyond me. Then again, Raven had a track record of insensitivity.