"KYO!!"
I shot up out of bed in the middle of the night, my eyes wide open and my heart beating incessantly like a drum. "What just happened...?" I said breathlessly, frantically scanning my room. All of a sudden I remembered the dream I just had. The dream that took place within Kyo's memories.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I recalled Kyo in his most vulnerable state, on his knees and crying over the loss of his brother. It almost seemed too hard to believe. I mean, Kyo always did seem a bit strange to me, like there was something about him I just couldn't figure out. But never...had I expected something like what I saw in my dream.
It was then that I heard my phone ring. I squinted at the screen that had just lit up, mentally asking the question, "who the heck would call me at this hour?" I reached over and picked up my phone, then held it up to my ear, without first checking the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Seraph told me everything."
The voice on the other end sounded too much like Kyo's...but it couldn't have been Kyo's voice. That would be impossible.
"W-who is this?" I asked nervously.
"Your little friend with the gray hoodie, remember?" The voice said, completely ignoring my question. "He told me about how you looked into my past."
It's definitely Kyo. "I didn't choose to!" I insisted. "Everything I saw came from Seraph's own doing. I'm sorry, Kyo...I really am. But wait...h-how did Seraph speak with you anyway?"
"Transferred himself to my phone via email," Kyo replied. "Or at least, that's what he told me."
"Kyo, I'm sor-"
"Save it," he interrupted, his tone harsh. "I can't undo what he did. You saw what happened, and now you understand why I'm the way I am. A bitter old man...a coward."
"You're not a coward, Kyo..."
"I am." I could almost see the pained expression on Kyo's face as he spoke to me. "I'm not at strong as I may appear, nor am I as happy as I may seem. First it was Ren, then my father, and finally Aiichiro. Their deaths have made me into the bitter and cowardly man I am now. I live in constant fear...constant fear of losing another loved one. I need you to understand that, Morgan. Ushio doesn't know about my brother...and neither does Yuta. But they don't need to know. And neither did you." There was a brief pause after that sentence, almost as if Kyo wanted to let the guilt sink even deeper in my heart. "But now that you know everything, I'm going to need you to promise me something, Morgan. Promise me that you won't ever tell Ushio and Yuta."
My chest feels so heavy... "Of course. I promise to keep it a secret."
"Good. Now anyway..." Kyo began, sighing deeply. "That wasn't the main reason I called you. There's something I need to show you. Come to the cafe's basement as soon as you can."
"But what about Ushio and Yuta?"
"Ushio told me he's been having trouble sleeping ever since the incident at the amusement park last week," Kyo informed me. "Just in case he's managing to get some rest this time, I'm not going to bother him. Same goes for Yuta. But since you're already awake, I want you to get over here now."
"Y-yes, sir..."
Guess I have no choice, then...
+++
I showed up at Kiyoko's Cafe at around 3 a.m., and much to my surprise, Kyo was waiting there to open the door for me. Without even saying a word, he led me down the stairs and into the basement, then gestured for me to take a seat.
I shifted around on the sofa as I waited for Kyo to say something. It took a little while, but eventually Kyo took an envelope out from behind his back, and said, "This is from Connie."
I stared at the envelope with curiosity. "Seriously?"
"Do you think I would joke about something like this?" Kyo said harshly.
Yikes...forgot he was still in a bad mood... "Right. I'm sorry. So have you opened it yet?"
"Yeah." Kyo then tossed the envelope to me and watched as I clumsily attempted to catch it before it hit the floor. "See for your self."
I opened it without hesitation and pulled out the letter that was tucked inside, then began to read the message that was written on the crinkled piece of parchment.
'Dear Acquaintances,
I would first and foremost like to apologize for my sudden disappearance last time we saw each other. I'm sure it wasn't very hard to tell that I wasn't in the most emotionally stable state at the time, so I hope that you will forgive me. To prove that I still wish to assist you in your search for the Shadow Keeper, I would like to inform you of a masquerade party that will be hosted just three days from now. The guests of the party will be all demons, but as long as you are wearing a disguise, no one will be able to tell that you are mere humans. The reason I am telling you of this party is not because I wish for you to indulge in the festivities of my kind, but rather for much more significant matters. This particular masquerade party will be hosted by none other than the infamous twin demons, Karm and Charis. Not only that, but it is rumored that the Shadow Keeper himself will make an appearance. I am not so certain whether or not it is wise of me to believe such a rumor, but I thought it would be right to at least inform you of its possibility. I do not think that I will be attending this party, but I hope that you will take it into consideration for your own benefits. However please keep in mind that there will be risks. Not all demons are as kind and compassionate as they appear. In fact, it's quite rare that you'll come across a demon that will be willing to stand up for you. A few of us in the Midnight Legion may be exceptions to the cruel majority, but Karm and Charis are not. And I do not wish to offend you, Morgan, but if you happen to stumble across your friend during the masquerade party, I must beforehand warn you of what he has most likely become. A demon with as much power as he does has slim chances of keeping all his sanity. I would like for you to give a lot of thought to the matter, and no matter what you end up choosing, I wish you and your friends the best of luck.
Sincerely, Connie
(P.S. the address of the party's location is written on the back of this letter. Additionally, you will need invitations, which I have also taken the liberty of including inside the envelope.)'
I couldn't take my eyes off the writing, despite how hard I tried. A sudden aching started up in my chest as I repeatedly read one specific line of the message aloud to myself.
"The Shadow Keeper himself will make an appearance...the Shadow Keeper...Hanako..."
"Yeah, I thought you'd find that part interesting."
Finally able to tear my eyes away from the letter, I looked up at Kyo with a hopeful expression. "This could be it," I said, fighting back a smile that was tugging at the corner of my mouth. "This could be my chance. I can finally see Hanako again!"
"Are you an idiot or something?" Kyo snapped, narrowing his eyes angrily at me after I had eagerly jumped out of my seat. "Did you skip over the part where she said it was just a rumor? And that every single person at the party would be a demon?"
"Demons or no demons, rumor or no rumor, nothing is going to stop me from seeing my best friend again." I made sure to look Kyo dead in the eye as I said these words, hoping that my hopeful and positive attitude would maybe rub off on him. "I'm willing to take the risk. No matter what may happen to me, I'll always be willing to go to the ends of the earth for Hanako."
Kyo shot me a funny look and stared at me for a few seconds with a perplexed look on his face. A quiet laugh escaped his mouth as he turned his head away from me. "You're somethin' else, Morgan," he said, sighing gently. "I guess that settles it then. In three days, the four of us will be attending a masquerade party."
"With a bunch of demons," I added, smirking.
"With a bunch of demons..." Kyo whispered.
+++
"We're going to a Democratic Party? What?"
"I think he said demonic."
"...nope. He definitely said democratic."
"Are you guys drunk or something...?"
Yuta lifted her head high and squinted at Kyo. "Tired," she huffed, flicking his forehead. "Lemme spell it out for you: t-i-r-e-d. Tired."
"Ugh, I don't care!" Kyo seized Yuta's hand and threw it back at her, his eyebrows arched as he glared furiously at her. "Idiot, can't you take anything seriously?!"
Yuta's eyes widened in shock at Kyo's harsh words, and she took a step back next to her brother. Kyo immediately noticed the strange looks on all our faces as we stared at him, confused by his rude behavior.
"Ah, I-I didn't mean it like that!" Kyo stammered. "I'm sorry, Yuta, I-"
"It's fine," Yuta said softly. "You don't have to apologize. Anyway, we have more important matters to focus on, don't we? For example..." Yuta hurried over to me and grabbed hold of my arm, winking at Kyo as she showed off one of her brilliant smiles. "If we're going to a fancy party, then we need to dress fancy, don't we? Come on, Morgan! I know a great place we can go shopping!"
"H-hold on! Go shopping?!"
Before I could even protest, Yuta had already begun leading me down the sidewalk at a fast pace, leaving Kyo and Ushio behind in a state of perplexity. Once they were both out of sight, I directed my attention back to Yuta, who at the moment seemed completely oblivious to everything but the destination she had set in her mind. "Yuta!" I shouted. "Where the heck are we going?"
"It's a masquerade party, isn't it?"
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah...and?"
"We have to get ourselves some good masks for disguises. I know the perfect place! I have this classmate who works at a pawn shop and..." All of a sudden Yuta skidded a stop in front of a small shop that had the title, 'Mura's Pawn Shop.' "This pawn shop!" She said proudly, pushing open the door and leading me inside. Then she let go of my arm.
I took a brief look around the place and began to hum thoughtfully to myself. It didn't look much different than I expected any pawn shop to look like. It wasn't a very big shop, basically just a few small aisles, a front desk, and a door behind the front desk that I guessed led to a storage room of some sort. A short woman with black hair and red highlights stood behind at the front desk, a surprised look appearing on her face the moment she saw Yuta.
"Hey, Mura," said Yuta, walking up to the woman to greet her. "I haven't see you since high school. How've you been?"
"Geez..." Mura scratched the back of her head and raised her eyebrows at Yuta. "Ya look...different, Zalia..."
"Call me by my first name. It's Yuta."
"Right..." Mura shook her head and smiled slightly at Yuta, then asked, "So what brings ya to my shop today?"
"Strange as this may sound, I'm looking for masks."
"Masks?"
Yuta nodded. "It's for a family gathering. We decided to go with a sort of masquerade theme this time. You wouldn't happen to have anything of that sort, would you?"
A family gathering...? Really, Yuta?
"If you'd come with me to the back room, I could show you what I have," said Mura. And with that, Yuta and the pawn shop owner disappeared through the door behind the front desk, leaving me all alone.
Well, that is, I was only alone for a little while. Kyo and Ushio soon arrived and joined me in waiting for the two girls to come back.
"Wonderful weather we're having."
"Please don't start a conversation like that, Kyo..."
"Oh, boys~..."
The three of us lifted our heads at the sound of Yuta's singsong voice, and we were all surprised by what she had brought back with her. Four uniquely crafted and designed masks: one that was entirely black and covered up the entire face except for one eye, another was dark red with tiny carvings marked on both sides (it covered the bottom half of the face), the third being a mask that was black on the left side and white on the right side, and the final being a dark blue mask that covered only around the eyes and down to the nose. Yuta held the masks up for us to see, a wide grin spread across her face, making it look like she was very proud of what she had found. "We're gonna get these!" She exclaimed happily. "You can thank me later!"
"Huh..." Kyo nodded his head slowly as he watched Yuta purchase the masks from Mura at the front desk. "I think I'd look pretty darn good in that red one."
Ushio punched him in the shoulder jokingly. "Oh, you're full of it..."
"Yeah, I am..."
+++
The next couple of days seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, the time of the masquerade party had arrived. Ushio, Kyo, Yuta and I stood by Ushio's car outside of a large mansion that for some reason seemed strangely familiar to me. I decided not to let it bother me, but rather tried to focus on the more important matter at hand.
"...who's gonna take which mask?"
"I already claimed the red one."
"Kyo, you're not allowed to call dibs."
"And why not?!"
"Let's do this the fair way. Rock paper scissors."
"Fine by me."
Kyo and Ushio faced each other and held out their tightly clenched fists, staring into each other's eyes as they readied for their duel.
"Alright, here we go. Rock..."
"Paper..."
"Scissors..."
"Shoot!!" The two men shook their fists one last time with great force, eyes fixed on the opponent as they eagerly anticipated the outcome. Kyo suddenly spun around and shot his friend a cocky smile, snatching the red mask from the hood of Ushio's car.
"Rock beats scissors, buddy," he laughed, placing the mask over his face and tying the string in the back. "Now don't be a sore loser, guys. Just accept my superiority and fight between the remaining choices."
Ushio quickly claimed the black and white mask. Yuta took the blue one that only covered around her eyes and down to her nose. I took the remaining mask and put it on, then tied the strings around the back of my head. Because of how the mask was crafted, I could only see out of my left eye. It didn't bother me, though. In fact, I actually felt...pretty cool.
"You guys ready to go?" said Kyo. I could almost see him smirking underneath that mask of his. After each of us gave a nod of approval, we followed Kyo up the stairs that led to the mansion's front doors. Standing beside those giant bronze doors behind a tall podium was a man wearing a bandanna and a police officer's hat. Of course, he wasn't a real police officer...
"Invitations," the man said, holding out his hand. Kyo dug into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out the four invitations Connie had included in her letter. "Thank you." After dropping the invitations in a small box on his podium, the man opened one of the bronze doors and gestured for us to go inside the mansion. "Enjoy your night."
The four of us thanked the man and made our way into the mansion, where we could now clearly hear loud chattering and peaceful music. It surprised me, to be honest. This was a party for demons, after all. I had expected something much more...lively. Not that I was complaining.
With the turn of a single corner, my friends and I found ourselves standing directly in the middle of a crowded room full of masked strangers. Hanging high above everyone was an enormous crystal chandelier that lit up the entire room with a warm, brilliant light. The carpet beneath my feet was smooth, velvet, and absolutely spotless. Long tables located in the corners of the room held desserts and drinks of all kinds, available to be freely enjoyed by the party's many guests.
Laughter and smiles...happy music and so many people...it was almost too hard to believe that I was standing amongst demons. However, despite how welcoming everything appeared, I mentally told myself to be extra careful at all times.
"Well, hello there, honored guests!"
My attention was seized by a deep, yet cheerful voice that I assumed had been addressing my friends and I. My gaze soon fell on a bright young man with neatly groomed black hair. After shaking each of our hands as a polite greeting, the man introduced himself.
"My name is Vitri," he said. "I appreciate you all coming out to attend this party. Mr. Karm and Mr. Charis always love big crowds, so your contribution to this event means a lot to them. Do you mind if I ask for your names?"
"Not at all," said Kyo. "My name is Prius. This snowy haired fellow here is my pal Honda. Boy with the orange hair is Stewart, and our lady friend is Beyonce."
He just made all those up on the spot, didn't he...?
"Ah, Beyonce..." Vitri gazed deeply into Yuta's eyes as he gently lifted up her wrist, then planted a kiss on the back of her hand. "A beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. Tell me, Beyonce, would you care to dance?"
"I appreciate the offer, Vitri," said Yuta, slowly pulling back her hand and linking her arm with mine. "But I'd rather dance with my friend Stewart, here."
Did she seriously just call me Stewart?
"I see..." Vitri let out a small sigh of disappointment. "Very well, then. I hope that you all will enjoy your night. Sorry, miss, for asking that question out of the blue. It was rather rude of me."
"Nonsense," Yuta said with a kind smile. "You weren't being rude at all."
With that, Vitri turned his back to us and disappeared into the crowd. As soon as he was gone, Yuta faced me and flashed a bright smile, staring into my eyes with a hopeful expression. "So..." she began, glancing away just for a second. "Would you-"
"Let me." I pressed my finger to her lips to stop her from speaking. Unlinking our arms, I took a step back from Yuta and bowed my head, holding out my hand as any gentlemen would when asking a lady to dance. After but a few seconds of silence, I lifted up my head again to gaze into her beautiful green eyes. "Princess Beyonce, would you care to dance with a commoner such as myself?"
Yuta stifled a laugh as she took my hand, giving it a gentle tug as if to tell me to stand up straight. Once I did, she linked arms with me once again and said, "Of course I'll dance with you...Stewart."
Kyo and Ushio watched us silently as we made our way into the crowd, and just before they left my sight, I managed to hear Kyo mutter, "Curse you, Stewart...that was smooth. Real smooth..."
Yuta and I soon found an area of the room where we could easily dance around to the music. With joined hands we stepped side to side, moving back and forth in perfect sync with the beautiful melody that resonated throughout the room. It was as if the two of us had completely blocked off the world around us and had silently agreed to focus on nothing but each other. A smile never left Yuta's face, and I could've sworn I had never seen her so content in all the days I had known her. It puzzled me, but at the same time, I was really happy.
It was then, just as the song we had been dancing to ended, that everyone around us stopped moving, and silence spread throughout the entire room. I shot Yuta a concerned glance, but she simply shrugged in response. Soon, however, we noticed that everyone's attention was turned to the same thing. Yuta and I lifted our eyes and discovered that two men, both wearing masks similar to what Yuta was wearing, were standing side by side at the top of a large staircase, looking down at the crowd with proud smiles on their faces.
"I hope you're all having a good time so far!" said the man with the chestnut colored hair. "We're so glad you could all make it."
"Indeed," added the man with slightly darker, brown hair. "You know how much Charis and I love big crowds."
So these are the twins, then. My eye began to twitch with anger as I suddenly felt the memories of Karm and Charis begin to resurface. Even though it was in a past life, they had still kidnapped Hanako...and beat up Suri...I can never forgive them for that...
"I would like to make a very important announcement that I'm sure you will all be very pleased to hear!" Karm exclaimed. "We have a special guest that has agreed to show himself to you tonight! Everyone, please give it up for our guest of honor, the Shadow Keeper!!"