Somewhere in Tokyo...
*Portal opens*
"Where the hell am I?" I looked around the place and it seems like I teleported to a dark alleyway. It's also night time and I think it's best if I stay hidden somewhere.
I walked out of the alleyway and casually stroll like the rest of the humans here. There are so many people here and it's this late on top of that.
"I guess it's always busy here in Tokyo no matter what the time is." I looked up and saw many bright lights on big LED screens, office buildings, shops and restaurants, "Don't these people get blind from all of these lights?!"
I kept walking and spotted a wooden bench nearby. I went to it and sat down slowly.
*sighs*
"Where am I supposed to find my bride in this crowd?" I massaged my temple and inhaled slowly, "He could be anywhere right now."
A few minutes passed and a young girl walked over to me. She just stood there and stared at me like I'm some kind of weirdo or something.
"What do you need, child?" I asked with a bit of annoyance.
She tilted her head. "Hey, mister."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Are you a cosplayer?" she asked.
"A what?"
"A cosplayer! You know, those who dress up like anime characters or video game characters and flexes it to comic events?"
"I'm sorry but why do you think I'm a cos-cosplayer?" I seriously don't know what this kid is talking about.
"Well, you're wearing a costume, aren't you?" She pointed at my clothes.
Shit! I forgot that my normal clothes aren't normal here in the mortal world. I was standing out that much the entire time?!
"Uhhh... I'm not a cosplayer but I am wearing a costume because... I came from a p-party." I forced a smile.
"Ah I see! I love your costume, Mister." She smiled, "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm dressed up as uhm... The devil." I growled and she was suprised, "Lucifer The King of the Underworld!"
"Waaah! That's so cool! I want to dress up as a princess if I get to go to a costume party." She giggled.
"Aris! Let's go home, Sweetie." a woman called from a far.
"Okay, Mama!" She turned to me and waved, "Good bye, Mister! Oh- what's your name?"
"I'm Lucif- Lucien." I smiled.
"Mister Lucien... If I get to dress up as a princess, will you be my prince?" She looked so happy.
"Of course, my lovely princess." I bowed down and copied those princes in storybooks.
"Oh! My name is Aris! Don't forget me Mister Lucien!" She smiled and waved good bye once more.
Huh... Children are not so bad after all.
The Tachibana Household...
"I'm home." Damn I feel so tired. I feel like my vocal chords are going to explode! Practicing too much before the debut isn't a good idea.
"Oh, Kazuki. You're just in time for dinner." Mrs. Takano said. She's our helper here in the house and takes care of us like her own children. She is quite old now so my father told her to take it easy and don't work too much or her body will shut down.
"What's for dinner, Mrs. Takano?" I asked.
"Takeru cooked your favorite curry rice tonight." She smiled.
"Oh Takeru is home!" I rushed to the dining room and all of them were there. Father, mother, Takeru and... A guest?
"Kazuki! You're finally here." Takeru said with a smile.
"Wow everybody's here! And Takeru, you made curry rice." I was happy to see my whole family inside the dining room together.
"Kazuki, sit here now, Sweetie." Mother pointed to a chair beside her.
I sat down the chair and was about to start eating but then Takeru asked for our attentions. "Uhm... Mother and father already knew this but Kazuki, I'm getting married."
"Father told me this morning, actually."
"Father!" Takeru whined, "I was supposed to be the one who tells this to Kazuki."
"I'm sorry, Takeru. I had to because there was a bit of misunderstanding with this whole marriage thing." Father said.
"Misunderstanding?" Takeru looked at me, "What kind of misunderstanding?"
"I uhm... I thought you were going to get married to her for advantage and not because you love her." I couldn't look at him in the eyes this is so embarrassing, "Because you never told me about her so maybe you had no choice but to get married to her..."
"W-why would you think that?" Takeru asked, "Did you really think I would marry anyone as long as they're rich?"
"No." I said softly.
"Kazuki..."
I don't want to fight with Takeru here. His fiance is sitting right next to him and if I mention Yuki, everything will be much worse.
The room fell quiet and I knew that I was the one who needs to leave. "I feel tired from the practice so I'm going to bed now."
"Kazuki, you haven't eaten anything yet." Mother said, "You'll starve if you don't eat. Curry rice is your favorite, right? Takeru cooked this especially for you."
"I'm sorry but I don't feel like eating anymore." I walked out of the dining room and head towards my bedroom. I laid on my bed and cuddled a pillow.
"You're an idiot, Kazuki. You embarrassed yourself in front of your brother and his fiance" I told myself. Why do I feel so uneasy though? Something doesn't seem right.
"I don't want Takeru to marry her... I don't know why." tears started to fall from eyes, "Please don't do it, Takeru."
And then I fell asleep...
A Train Station in Tokyo...
Damn it. I don't know where to go! I managed to change my clothes to something more casual. Something a normal human citizen would wear in a daily basis: A plain white shirt, ripped jeans, shoes that has "Nike" on it, and a pair of sunglasses. Where did I get these, you ask?
I have the power to control others... I kinda made one of the sales lady buy me these clothes. It's not stealing! Let's just say I'm in debt to her and I will repay her in the future.
What do you expect from the King of Hell?
I stood against a wall and watched others walk by. "He's not here."
I sat down on the ground and sighed heavily. "Where can you be, Kazuki?"
As I kept whining inside the train station, a scream from a woman suddenly caught my attention.
"Help me!" a woman cried.
I looked for the woman and as I saw her, black smoke lingered around her. "Dark energy."
She fell off the platform and down to the train tracks. Her shoe got stuck in one of the rails and people started to rush and help her.
*Train noises*
"The train is coming!" one of the people shouted.
"Please help me!" The woman cried so hard.
I went running and was about to help her out when suddenly...
*Portal opens*
"Lucien?"
"Lucifer?!" He freaked out more than I did, "What the hell are you doing out here in the mortal world?!"
"Long story... But right now I'm going to help save that woman."
He pushed me away. "Are you crazy? You're the King of the Underworld! Why do you want to save that woman who's in my list?"
"List?" That's right. Lucien is the current Grim Reaper and his job is to pick up souls and bring them to the purgatory. He appears in places where there's a dead person or someone in the verge of death. "Does that mean... She-"
"Yes! She's bound to die today and that's how my list works. Why would you want to save her anyway? Like, since when did you care about human so much?"
"I don't know." I stared at the scene, "I just felt like I need to."
"You know, if you weren't the child of the 15th Demon King, you'd be an archangel right about now." He said.
"This is the first time I'll be seeing you doing your job."
"Heh?! I know I'm a bit lazy but I do work hard!"
"I meant this is the first time I'll see you in action. All these years I trapped myself in the castle and being here in the mortal world terrifies me. I don't know anything or anyone here except my fated pair. After 1000 years, I will be witnessing my baby brother pick up souls right in front of me."
"B-baby brother?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I'm 900 years old! I'm not a baby anymore." He pouted.
"100 years age gap is a big deal so you're still my baby brother, Little Lucien." I laughed.
"I swear I'll get back at you, Lucifer."
"Anything you say, Little Lucien." I smiled
"Grrrrr!" Lucien turned around and went closer to the woman in danger. He has hidden himself so nobody can see him except me. He pulled out his list of names of every human being on earth and did his thing.
"Lucien..."
He looked at me. "What?"
"Put that woman to rest."
"I'm not sure about rest but I'll take her to the purgatory and she'll be judged there." He explained.
"I know... But the fact that you pick the souls up without forcing them or threatening them, makes it look like you're putting them to rest."
"H-how did you know?"
"Gabriel told me. He's your best friend, right?"
"He's an amazing angel and does his duties perfectly but he doesn't know how keep his mouth shut." He sighed, "I'll put her to... To rest."
I nodded and he went back to do his job. I watched him from a distance and I have never seen him this focused and serious before.
"Thy soul is thy beginning and is thy end, thy doors of heaven and hell shall open, thy soul be judged for good and bad, let thy soul be taken by thee and returned to Them." (Lucien's prayer to peacefully take the souls of the dead)
"Amen."
As Lucien said his last word, the soul of the woman turned to a little white flame and he put her soul in a small jar that hangs from his belt. His list of names glowed as the soul went in the jar. It could mean that Lucien successfully did his job.
As soon as Lucien finished his job, I returned back to reality. Policemen came and all civilians near the incident were immediately requested to leave the station. I just stood there thinking how beautiful it was to see Lucien put those souls to rest, although he said it's not the way he sees it. If only humans could see what I saw then they wouldn't have panicked this much.
"Sir, please leave the station for now. We have to do our job in maintaining peace and order in the area so I don't want you to get involved in this incident." A police officer said.
"Okay. Sorry to interrupt your investigation, officer." I smiled and left the station.
*police car alarms*
A huge crowd surrounded the outside of the station. Civilians, reporters, policemen, medic and of course, me and Lucien. He's standing by the side of the station and he's not hidden himself anymore.
"Little Lucien."
"Grrr I said stop calling me that!" Lucien pouted like a kid.
"I'm sorry, Lucien."
"Well good I don't want to be called Little anymore hmph-"
"No. It's not that."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm calling you Little because I never got to see and appreciate you when you were younger. Although we're brothers, we were raised in separate places. I never got to be the older brother you can depend on when you get fights with bullies or when you need to cry. But I was never there. The first time I saw you was 30 years ago and you were already independent. You're already the eighth grim reaper when at that time I was still cooped up in the castle and did nothing but study how to rule the underworld."
"..."
"I really wanted to be close to you as an older brother and do stuff that brothers normally do. But you're busier than I thought. You rarely come home and I'm working my ass off to run the Underworld."
"You are my brother." Lucien said, "It's not your fault that we didn't become buddies when we were young... I guess that's how it goes for the royal family who have two sons inheriting the throne and the job of a grim reaper. If I could turn back time, I want to grow up with you and play stuff that we never got to do."
I pat his head. " Me too."
"So... What are you doing here exactly?"
"Beelzebub is going to show up real soon." I clenched my fist, "My bride is in danger if I don't get to him quick."
"The Blood moon, huh?"
"He's going to make his move on Friday night. I have to stop him from destroying the mortal world."
"You should go to your bride like right now." Lucien pulled my shirt, "I have free time since I learned how to make more copies of myself that help me do my job all around the planet."
"That's amazing."
"Well it took me 900 years to get this far so I kinda mastered the summoning technique. But it does consume a lot of power."
"Are you gonna be okay? You should head home and rest to gain more energy. I'll go search for my bride by myself."
"Did you say search?" Lucien raised an eyebrow, "So you don't know where he lives?!"
I scratched the back of my head. "N-no..."
"So you plan on walking all over Japan to search for your bride before Friday which is in three days?!" Lucien inhaled slowly, "Okay I'll help you since you're my brother and this concerns your partner and his safety. Plus, I hate that son of a bitch!"
"Thank you, Lucien." I smiled, "So how are we supposed to find him?"
"My scroll!" He pulled out his scroll with the list of different human names, "I can track anybody and everybody in this list. Just tell me his name and we'll get to him in no time."
"Great! His name is Tachibana Kazuki and he lives somewhere here in Tokyo."
"Got it." Lucien looked through his scroll like what humans do when they use their...Cellphones? "Ah! Found him!"
"So how do we get to him?"
"We can go to his house via portal but we need a place that's dark and quiet to summon one."
"There's a dark alleyway around here. That's where I spawned when I exit the portal."
"Perfect. Lead the way, brother."
Lucien and I went to the alleyway where I was before. When we got there, he pulled out his scroll once again and navigated Kazuki's location. "Okay I have his coordinates! Let's go to him now, shall we?"
He summoned a portal effortlessly with one hand. "You really are an expert when it comes to summoning things."
"It's no big deal actually. But for you who's locked up in his tower for years, it probably is."
I laughed. "Okay. Let's go." I went in the portal with Lucien to find my bride.
"I'll finally see you soon, Kazuki... Wait for me a little longer..."