Chereads / REAPER'S BALLAD / Chapter 96 - Episode 94: IMPENDING DANGER

Chapter 96 - Episode 94: IMPENDING DANGER

After buying them goods, Murasaki went back to Jerico's apartment, only to find out that he's still sleeping. Gosh, he must have really been in hell taking care of these rascals. Murasaki put the groceries down, only for it to be torn apart by Humility, as he looks for food to munch. As expected, the other two kids were too absorbed eating the food bought by him, while he looks at Red who was quietly opening a chocolate box. He struggled to open it, and in impatience, Murasaki offers to open it for him.

MURASAKI: Here.

RED: Thank you.

MURASAKI: So...can you tell your friends to settle down and...talk?

RED: Br-

HUMILITY: We're not friends. Anyways, sure. Ask what you want.

MURASAKI: Okay. So..uh, that lady...Tanken, if I'm not mistaken...is the one responsible for...for your...condition, right? You were...turned into kids..and your memories altered to prevent you from rescuing her, yes?

HUMILITY: Yes.

MURASAKI: Now we only need to figure out if that's temporary or not. Come to think of it, how many hours have-

HUMILITY: Not aware.

MURASAKI: I see...so...what the hell am I to do then? Wait for your condition to be better? Ugh..but...waiting...no, no. Gabby must be dead by now if that's the case.

HUMILITY: Well...I do remember ascending to some high place.

MURASAKI: That's because you're a reaper, right?

RED: A reap...er... Oh.

Suddenly, visions of bloody murders played on Red's mind, and was eventually reminded of the times he witnessed gruesome deaths before his very eyes.

RED: I...

He dropped his chocolate box, as he tried to shut his eyes. The flashbacks are too...overwhelming.

MURASAKI: Hey, kid...are you..?

RED: We...then...we...we were supposed to have abilities.

MURASAKI: If you remember things, then the power must be wearing off, am I right?

RED: Probably. But..how can we find her in this form?

MURASAKI: I-

JERICO: Yo! I'm up...so-

Jerico stops, surprised at how many sweets Murasaki had bought for the kids.

JERICO: (What...the? Dude! That will make the kids awake for much more hours! What was he thinking?!) ...

MURASAKI: Are you okay?

Jerico dismisses his thoughts and continued being his submissive self. He nodded his head and grabs a chocolate bar from the pile of sweets on the table.

JERICO: But I'll be taking this. I'm hungry, this kids emptied my fridge.

MURASAKI: Yeah.

JERICO: Also, Gabby's parents are already in Tokyo. I received the news from Tiwari. She texted me recently and the good news...among the bad ones is that she's taking care of it.

MURASAKI: Yeah, good. Let's just hope that we get Gabby back to safety.

...

The rain was pouring heavily on the roof, and as Murasaki was busy looking after the kids, while hoping that they'd remember something useful, Jerico was looking at him wondering, just why he seems too caring for the children...as if he knows something more than he does.

JERICO: The..the police. They, they told you anything more?

MURASAKI: Useless bits of info. But I don't blame them, I think this is as expected. They aren't dumb, but the way the abductor did the scenario is...well, you could say that it really would be almost impossible for them to find any leads.

JERICO: I didn't expect her to be the victim. I wonder what happened to her? I hope they didn't do anything mean to her...

HUMILITY: Funny, if they didn't do anything mean to her by this time, what's the point of even capturing her?

JERICO: Hey, close your mouth shut, Brylle.

MURASAKI: Ugh, this is even harder than I thought. Is there anything else we could have done to get to her? This is...really a head ache.

JERICO: Maybe you should go ahead and rest then. That might help you out. I'll take care of this little dev- divine creatures that are very sweet and kind.

HUMILITY: Nice save, but I know you're originally gonna say devils. I don't blame you though, Harry and Red could really be annoying.

HARRY/RED: ...

JERICO: Eheheh, anyways...Murasaki your eyes don't look so well. Get some rest, alright?

MURASAKI: Pff, yeah, yeah. Take care of these devils for me, alright? Bye.

JERICO: Yeah, right.

As usual, he spent a whole lot of while guarding the kids. Especially Brylle, who was...quite special if you ask him. The nasty type of special. He was ruthless. As if he was raised by Germans ready to fight on war or something. Never before had he been aware that such energetic kids exist.

JERICO: Hey, hey...Brylle. Put your brother down.

Humility played no mind and continued playing roughly with Harry and Red, throwing pillows at them.

JERICO: Geez, I said stop.

When he tried to approach them unfortunately, a big pillow met with his face.

It didn't knocked him out, but the impact was enough to hurt his nose.

JERICO: Look, I don't usually curse but, but if you...you do that again, I'll spank your butt.

HUMILITY: Yeah, yeah, whatever. You can't hurt me. That's pathetic, I'm a defenseless little kid.

JERICO: Defenseless? Look what you did to poor Harry. He's knocked out.

HUMILITY: Not my fault he's so weak!

RED: You're being too much, Brylle.

HUMILITY: Shut up, odd-eyes. It just means I'm the strongest reaper. And I'll get Gabby no matter what.

JERICO: Judging from how immature you're acting, I don't think you're the real deal.

HUMILITY: Excuse me?

JERICO: I mean...you all look like kids to me. You don't act like what you explained to be. Don't get me wrong, but just how are you going to convince me that you're some sort of supernatural entity sent from heaven to the mortal realm, when all you do is beat up your poor ally?

HARRY: Hahahahhah! He got you, Bry!

HUMILITY: Are you telling me that I'm weak?

JERICO: Well, kids are sorta weak, right?

The lights in the room all flicked shut, as only two purple eyes were glowing in the darkness.

Jerico felt like screaming, but he wasn't sure just how to react.

Fear rattled his body as he continued to stare at the two orbs.

Then, by some miracle, the voice of the kid suddenly changed into a much more mature tone.

HUMILITY: I'll show you who's weak.

He was about to fire, when realization hit him.

He was already normal.

Jerico was already praying on the floor, sweating furiously when the lights went on.

In front of him, were three grown adults. Looking like the kids before.

One of them, he was certain was Red.

JERICO: Red...I..you..

RED: Hey, man. Sorry, but it seems that the stones were no longer effective.

HUMILITY: Ugh, why does my head hurt so much?

RED: I...Jerico, I expect you to believe us now.

JERICO: But...but...I...

RED: Scream all you want, but yeah, we're real.

JERICO: Just tell me I'm hallucinating, or this is some sort of prank, and that Gabby's safe and...

RED: This isn't some elaborate prank, Jerico. This is real. Me, and my friends...are real.

JERICO: But what happened?

RED: Our strengths, both mentally and physically were stripped away from us temporarily by some sort of shards.

JERICO: And Gabby?

HUMILITY: Let's just assume she's safe. Anyways, there is no time to lose for us. We need to find her quickly.

What surprised Jerico more was how unusually calm the guy who introduced himself as Brylle before. His voice is softer, and he looks properly standing along with his assumed allies.

HUMILITY: Oh, and...sorry if I was...rude to you before.

JERICO: Never mind that.

HUMILITY: My humility had been taken away as well...I know how much I've cost you.

JERICO: It's fine, really, I mean...it's not like you can stop it, right? Anyways, I..well, does Murasaki know about this crazy stuff already?

RED: Yes.

HARRY: And...with our abilities back, we can start tracking Gabby starting from now.

JERICO: Uh, yeah, right, but...do you need our help?

HARRY: Well, unfortunately you might die if we do have you on our journey.

JERICO: Oh? What help could I assist you from here then?

HARRY: Keeping this a secret and just straight up telling the authorities that our parents picked us up.

JERICO: Would they believe me though?

Humility holds his hand and a glow transferred to Jerico.

JERICO: Wha...what was that?

HUMILITY: A magic trick.

JERICO: A magic trick?

HUMILITY: Yes. With that help of that, no matter how bad your acting is, they'd believe you.

JERICO: Cool.

HUMILITY: But do it before this day expires. Or else the trick won't work no more.

JERICO: Understood.

...

Meanwhile, on a far distance, Fia, the Jorugumo, was busy trying to locate the three reapers that had escape their certain deaths.

She knew that they are already weakened, but the lack of flare on their bodies also made it painstaking for her to locate.

They as if, vanished on her perimeter of smell.

Jinko, on the other hand, was busy taking some other matters.

But if those three are not to be obliterated, then, their actions and countless planning will be to no vain.

She must find them.

But where? Where could those three little kids go?