POV: Hoga Yasahiro
"If I survived but couldn't protect what was important to me, I might as well be dead. Since that probably will mean the death of one's will; the death of one's soul. And for that reason alone, I will fight to save them, the people I hold dear, the treasures I got, even if I had to sacrifice so much for that, I will gladly sacrifice as many farts as possible for the sake of humanity," I read as I was flipping through the manga Izumi left behind before he went to his own apartment.
What kind of nonsense is this? Do people really like this stuff? In the first place, what is with the title, Fartsman!? It seems pretty decent without the hero saving people with farts, I really can't get why people would read this kind of stuff. No, this is why the author is living in this rundown apartment building, because no one is bothering with this trashy manga.
I caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall to see it was already midnight then realized how much time I wasted, and was about to get up to go to the laboratory to research the ability some more but out of nowhere the doorbell rang.
I started moving toward the front door and peeked from the peephole, I saw a silhouette of a person standing there with their arms crossed.
I'm not expecting anyone, and it's pretty late for an unannounced visit, the only one who I know will do this… is probably him.
Deep down I had a hunch who this might be, it is definitely Izumi, but the real question, 'should I open the door?'
It's late so I could use that as an excuse to drive him off, but he might just be here for his manga that he forgot.
After pondering for a bit, I went inside and brought his manga and opened the door.
I creaked the door open with a disappointment to see Izumi standing in front of me exactly like I thought.
"Here you go," I said as I tossed his stupid manga and I quickly grabbed the door handle and started closing it.
"W-wait, at least hear me out, you jerk," Izumi said as he grabbed the door preventing me from closing it.
Why the hell is he here this late?
Izumi: 'I'll kill you… I'll kill you…'
I see, I get what he is doing… he is trying to practice on me the way to greet others.
I let out a sigh and advised him, "you better not say what you are planning on saying to me, I won't be that confused by it since I read your thoughts this morning, but other people will think you are delinquent or a loan shark then it won't end up good and you'll end up being known and treated as a crocked neighbor."
I pushed him away from the door and continued to close it while saying, "well, then goodbye."
Out of nowhere Izumi put his head inside before the door close preventing me from closing it yet again and mumbles, "I get it, I won't use it so let me in, rude human."
"Why should I let you in? if you have something say it now, I don't have time to waste on you" I asked confused by the request he is asking.
Izumi: 'this jerk is he really not planning on letting me inside?!'
"Yes, I'm not planning on letting you inside," I answered his thoughts and continued, "now that you realized that, move your head."
Izumi moved his hand on the handle from outside and violently opened the door with his full strength which made all my body move forward and pulled me outside.
What's with this power? Was he always this powerful?
"I didn't plan on entering forcefully, but you left me no choice so don't blame me for it," he said before entering the apartment.
And he was saying how rude I was before…
Giving up on trying to make him go back to his apartment, I surrendered and let him inside.
"Do you have something to drink?" Izumi asked as he was opening the fridge without my permission.
"No," I answered annoyed by the fact he's acting like he owns the place and I continued, "so, what did you come here for? if it's your manga I already returned it, can you leave now?"
Not noticing my unwelcoming tone, he continued to search in the fridge till he yelled excitedly, "ah, this will do! I was so thirsty," and he got a cola can from the fridge.
Did he just invite himself in to get something to drink?
I let out a sigh and repeated, "if you are done, can you leave now?"
He went and sat on the sofa and popped open the cola can in his hand and told me before taking a sip from it, "we need to talk."
No, we don't.
I quietly moved and sat next to him and asked, "what is it? are you still afraid to sleep alone after that Hisakawa Naoki's incident?"
"Ah, yeah, about that while I was searching for something to drink I happened to see this as well," Izumi said as he took a knife from his pocket and showed it to me and continued, "so I was wondering."
He started moving the knife my way till it landed on my neck, "was it something like this?"
"What are you doing?" I asked nervously as the knife started poking my skin.
Izumi smiled and said with a cheerful tone, "I just wanted to know if I died like this."
"What are you talking about? You were stabbed in your stomach and if I remember correctly your knee seemed to be bleeding as well before I shot you with the gun," I answered while I inspected his thoughts,
Izumi: 'so, he was the one.'
I asked confusedly, "but I told you before that I shot you, don't you remember?"
"But why are you still alive?" Izumi asked me with confused eyes.
Is he half asleep? Or is his memory that bad? Did he forget I'm immortal? No, he is acting a bit weird and the knife, is he not planning on removing it? What is he trying to get at?
"Do you mean after that white thing killed me?" I asked back and started inspecting him for a reaction.
I died after Izumi died, he has no recollection of what killed me, and he doesn't know about that demon.
Izumi started laughing loudly while pressing the knife harder against my neck, he tiled his head sideway and said, "what are you testing me for? you shouldn't get me so riled up, or my hand might slip."
My mouth started trembling from excitement forming a grin before I replied, "I thought this before, but you surely are sharp for something that is living inside Izumi's body."
It's the demon, he is the one controlling Izumi's body, interesting, I didn't think he could do that.
He let out a sigh making his face turn into an angry one and he said, "you know, I'm pointing a knife on your neck, yet you are smiling at me like that, are you nuts in the head?"
I asked amused by the fact I'm facing, "are you doing this because you don't know I'm immortal just like Izumi? Or do you think that if the head is separated from the body I won't be able to regenerate like before?"
Unexpectedly, a shocked expression surfaced on Izumi's face and he let go of the knife pressing against my neck, he started mumbling while laughing with a devastated look, "so, he ended up giving it away."
Demon: 'why did he choose this guy? I'll kill him. I'll freaking rip his guts inside out, I'll haunt him till he loses his sanity and make him regret betraying me for the rest of his plain life'
He's thinking Izumi gave me immortality on purpose? Is he not aware of the stuff that happens when Izumi is in control of the body? If I leave him misunderstanding, there is no knowing what he might do to Izumi's body… I have to clear it without letting him know of my mind reading ability.
"After the accident with the truck explosion, I was in critical condition and they ended up giving me Izumi's blood as a solution without his knowledge," I explained casually trying not to look too weird for bringing it up suddenly.
He started looking me upside down looking like he's deep in thoughts and a grin resurfaced on his face, "your existence might not be so useless after all, let's make a deal, human."
Is he nuts? Why would I accept that?
I responded, "I know better than to make a deal with a demon."
He laughed creepily for a bit and said with a smirk that didn't leave his face, "you sure have guts, is it because you think you are immortal and I could do nothing that can hurt you?"
Well, that is partly correct, I have no reason to be afraid of him and even if I could possibly die, I wouldn't really mind it instead I will welcome it.
He grabbed the knife again and started flipping it in the air up and down and with excitement in his voice he said, "you might be immortal but guess who is not~" he suddenly stabbed it in the table making a loud thud, "your grandfather," and stabbed the table again, "your co-workers," and stabbed again, "the granny owning this building," and kept stabbing the table calling out the names of the people who I had met in my life then he stared at me and said, "anyone that is related to you, I will make sure to kill every single last one of them."
He's threatening me with the life of others? This is useless, I couldn't care less about any of them-
"Trembling now?" he asked smiling.
Hearing that, I looked at my hands to see them shaking, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, a person like me whom I thought had nothing to lose, I thought I cared about nothing but when the life of those who are involved with me is in danger, I was scared of losing them… I was afraid of having to see them vanish one by one because of a mistake I have done. And that was a feeling I have never knew I was capable of feeling.
Astonished by the new feeling I felt, what caught my attention back was a loud thud on the table that resounded throughout the whole room.
"Are you listening to me, you pathetic human?" He said as his leg was on top of the table which made me realize that it was the reason for the thud from before.
"The table is ruined… too bad and I really liked it…" I mumbled as I noticed the scratches and the spots he left from stabbing it with a knife before.
He let out an annoyed sound and raised me by the collar and angrily yelled at me, "as I thought I really can't handle your type after all, I don't care if you are immortal now, I am capable of killing you over and over and over again till you are not able of thinking of anything anymore and will be busy yelling and screaming your lungs for your puny life every time you revive, if you understand sit down and give me your whole attention before I lose my reason from anger."
I responded trying to make an excuse, "You say that, but I can't really take you seriously when you're in that body… since to me it seems like Izumi is the one talking."
He let out a shriek, "Eh!?" and started looking at Izumi's body while inspecting it.
Demon: 'damn, I'm running out of time…'
Time? He can only control Izumi's body for a certain duration?
"Since you seem to be running out of time, want to get right to the point and tell me about that deal of yours?" I suggested trying to be nice, but I soon regretted the words that came from my mouth as I looked at his surprised face.
Shit, I let it slip… now he'll know I can read minds…
He started mumbling to himself, "he is one of them as well? No… he might be one of us?"
Them? Us? This guy might know more about the abilities than I thought, I have to get as much information as I can out of him somehow.
Cutting my thoughts off he started talking, "I won't kill anyone that's close to you as long as you follow these three instructions carefully."
I interrupted him, "wait a minute, I don't mind following what you plan on telling me, but know that I won't do something like killing another person or something that might affect another person."
Upset by my response he clicked his tongue and continued, "First thing is making sure no one in this world knows about Izumi's immortality, if anyone knows about it I'll kill them without any exceptions."
Shit…. That Naoki guy is dead meat….
He continued with the second one, "secondly, make sure that you are the one killing Izumi not someone else, if someone else is attempting to kill him, make sure you land the final blow to Izumi before he dies."
Kill Izumi?! Wait, did he not hear my condition, I clearly told him I won't kill anyone.
As I was objecting to his condition I said, "like I said a minute a go, I won't kill anyon-" interrupting me he said, "but Izumi is an exception since he is immortal so even if you kill him, he won't die, and this is an important part since if anyone else kills him I would be left with no choice but to kill them. As you probably have concluded from when we fought before, I have to kill whoever kills Izumi regardless of my will. But if you are the one doing the killing, I would only kill you, resulting in no victims."
Shocked by the fact he presented to me I confirmed, "are you telling me to kill Izumi, so I would die instead of whoever is killing him?" to which he nodded.
You got to be kidding me, 'resulting in no victims' what about me!? I will definitely be the victim in that case, trashy demon.
Averting his eyes from my glare, he continued, "and lastly, make sure that Izumi doesn't know of my existence at all."
I let out a sigh and refused, "I can't do that, since you are using his body like this he has the right to know."
"I see, it can't be helped," he said as he started getting up, "you can say goodbye to your grandpa then, my very first victim." he threatened.
This jerk of a demon…
"fine, I won't tell him about you but if he figured it out or you let yourself get caught, it won't be my responsibility," I demanded.
"Don't worry about me getting caught since Izumi will have no memory of me controlling his body, and him figuring it out by himself will not happen unless you give him hints for it," he said as he grinned my way.
He does have a point… Izumi will never figure it out by himself since he's an idiot. But unexpectedly these conditions are not that hard to do…
"I don't see a problem abiding by these conditions, but… I can't understand how they are benefitable to you." I questioned staring at him hoping to get some answers.
Demon: 'Not much time is left…'
He started heading toward the door saying, "you don't have to understand it."
No, he can't leave, I have to ask him other stuff, how to disable the ability, who is he and why is he doing this…
"Wait, Izumi!" I yelled stopping him from going outside.
He turned around and corrected me, "Kenta, is my name."
He looked at me with sadness in his eyes and mumbled in a faint voice, "although it's been 15 years since anyone used it…" then he left the apartment.
As he closed the door behind him and the intense air around me vanished, I lost the strength in my legs and fell on the floor.
I just had a casual talk with a demon, but rather than the terrifying feeling I had when I fought him before, this time he felt… more like a human… was it because he was in Izumi's body?
And just like that, the long night came to an unusual end and left me with many unanswered questions.