Pov Narrator.
Some time later...
Isagi ran his hands over his face, rubbing with tiredness, regretting having come; it would have been better if he had stayed at home playing the pull-out game with Agito… jokes aside, Isagi really hadn't talked much the whole night, he wasn't the type who enjoyed being in gatherings with too many people, too much noise and empty conversations.
At the end of the meeting, Denji was "kidnapped" by a drunk Himeno, who carried him on her back, staggering but without letting him go, quite impressive considering she could barely walk in a straight line herself.
Isagi sank into his seat inside the car, resting his head against the window while the buildings and the city lights passed one after another, reflecting on the glass in intermittent flashes. He knew what would happen tomorrow… the attack on Public Safety by Akane Sawatari and Katana-Man. Isagi didn't know the name of the hybrid, so he would simply call him Katana-Man, like in his head.
"What's wrong, Isagi? During the whole welcome you barely spoke, did you feel excluded because of what happened at the beginning?"
Breaking the silence, Makima spoke with her usual calm tone, slightly turning her gaze toward him, noticing how unusually quiet he had been. She decided to find out what was going on, even if her expression didn't change.
"What, skinny?" Isagi came out of his thoughts, blinking a couple of times before turning his head slightly toward her. "Do you think I have such low self-esteem that what those skinny 35-arms guys did would affect me? I'm offended that you think that, Makima." Said Isagi shaking his head, with a mixture of disbelief and slight pride in his tone.
"Hey, scoundrel!"
Power jumped fully into the conversation without any warning, leaning forward until her face was almost touching Isagi's, completely invading his personal space. She smiled widely, showing her sharp teeth, her eyes shining with a mixture of excitement and demand.
"You still haven't given me your blood, you said you'd give it to me twice a week!" She said anxiously, her breath hitting Isagi's face directly, who frowned with obvious annoyance at the closeness.
So, without hesitation, he placed his hand on Power's face and moved her away from in front of him, pushing her firmly but without too much force, as if he were already used to that kind of behavior. Then he looked at the driver, who was Aki.
"Hey, Aki, has Power bathed and behaved well?"
"No."
That was Aki's dry response, without even turning his gaze, his hands firm on the steering wheel while he squeezed it a bit harder, remembering the disaster from that same afternoon, where Denji and Power had fought because the latter refused to bathe. He had to clean the bathroom for the third time in a single day, something that clearly had him at his limit.
"Power, Power…" Isagi wagged his finger and shook his head, with an exaggerated expression of disappointment, as if he were scolding a little girl. "The deal was that you had to behave well."
"Of course not, scoundrel!" Power growled, crossing her arms with indignation. "The deal was that you'd give me your blood if I listened to you!"
"(Oh, you daughter of a bitch… so she can think)." Thought Isagi, raising his eyebrows, genuinely surprised that Power remembered the exact deal without getting it wrong. "(Well… the terms changed, I never said they couldn't be changed."
"But!"
"No buts, no pears, no Peru." Said Isagi with a mocking smile, slightly crossing his arms while looking at her calmly. "Until you bathe properly and stop making poor Aki's life miserable, I won't give you blood."
"Grrrr."
Clenching her teeth and growling in frustration, Power threw herself back into her seat, dropping against it with annoyance. She knew that even if she tried to attack him right there, Isagi would probably end up throwing her out of the moving car without hesitation… yes, he was totally capable of that.
So she had no choice but to grumble like a spoiled and tantrum-throwing child, crossing her arms and looking the other way. Which, curiously, gave Isagi a certain pleasure; seeing that he effectively had control of the situation was satisfying to him.
"(Ah, I feel the essence!)." Thought Isagi for a moment, as if something inside him reacted, feeling the Zenin blood trying to take over his mind, his thoughts becoming slightly more arrogant. "(No, alright, jokes aside, tomorrow will be a very hectic day).
And with that thought, he closed his eyes, adjusting himself a bit in his seat. He would take a small nap (sleep) for a while as the car moved steadily through the city, the sound of the engine and the gentle motion helping him relax.
.
.
.
.
.
"Ah, damn!"
After a while, Isagi woke up suddenly, giving a slight jump in his seat, his breathing speeding up for a moment, since he dreamed that he was falling from a skyscraper straight to the ground… although he woke up just before touching it.
"Grrr… how I hate those dreams, they ruin resting time." He muttered, running a hand through his hair while trying to calm down, still with the sensation of the fall running through his body.
"I see you already woke up."
Makima watched as Isagi sat back up after the scare, still with his eyes half closed, blinking slowly as if Windows 10 were still loading, his mind taking a moment to place itself.
"Where are we going?" Isagi looked out the window at the street he didn't recognize, slightly frowning when he noticed it wasn't any familiar route.
"We're going to my house." Makima replied with complete naturalness, making Isagi turn to look at her abruptly, his expression changing instantly.
"Are you kidnapping me? I'm going to throw myself out the door Fast and Furious style."
"You fell asleep without telling me the address of where you live and I noticed you were a bit tired, so I didn't want to wake you up, so that's why I decided it would be better to take you to my house." Said Makima calmly while driving, her hands firm on the steering wheel, without taking her eyes off the road.
After leaving Aki and Power at Aki's apartment, she had taken control of the car. Isagi turned to look at the "nothing" (fourth wall), with an expression that said everything.
She didn't know where he lived?
Bullshit. If she knew the telephone number of Isagi's house, it was more than clear that she knew where he lived. Besides, Isagi wasn't an idiot; he was aware that from time to time he was watched with that disturbing ability Makima had to see through the eyes of animals.
"I'll pretend it's not a kidnapping… by the way, I found the movie I told you about." Said Isagi remembering that he had the dog movie in his inventory.
This seemed like a good opportunity to say it, since he was going to Makima's house, it would be a good moment to finally watch this work of art.
"So you found it? I think it would have been a good moment to watch it at my house if you had brought it with you."
"You underestimate me, Makima, I belonged to the secret society of magicians of Criss Angel." Isagi smiled while raising his hands and showing them front and back, turning them slowly as if he were on a stage. "Look carefully, Makima, I have nothing in my clothes."
After demonstrating that his pockets and places where he could store things were completely empty, he clapped once, the dry sound echoing inside the car, and slipped his hand back inside his jacket with complete naturalness. Slowly, as if enjoying the moment, he began to pull out the DVD of the movie Hachiko, making it visible little by little.
"Yes, I know, I'm incredible, no need for applause." Said Isagi confidently, slightly raising his chin.
While in his mind applause and cheers echoed… of course only in his mind, because in reality the silence remained intact.
"In DVD format? I understand that movies in that format are expensive and uncommon." Commented Makima, barely turning her gaze toward the disc, analyzing it with genuine curiosity.
"Really?" Isagi looked at the DVD that contained the cursed movie that made him cry every time he watched it, spinning it between his fingers. "(Is this format really that rare nowadays? Where I come from, these things cost 20 pesos in the corner store)." Thought Isagi without much interest in the subject of prices, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
It was almost the year 97, and what was more normal at the time were VHS, large tapes that dominated the market.
"(I don't know why, but suddenly that episode of Regular Show where the VHS have a war with the DVD discs came to my mind)." Thought Isagi, remembering one of the most "normal" episodes of that series, which was already saying a lot.
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End of the chapter.
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Announcement from the original author of the story:
I'm still alive, my children of corn. To be honest, I messed up my hand. I had a little accident, I fell, and to avoid hurting my face, I put my hands out in front of me, and well, one of them got twisted, the right one, and it hurts like hell, but I've recovered. It still hurts a little, but I can write again.
Slowly, but I can write again.