magical boy

"Do you think I wanted to be born this way?" An affiliated roleplay blog for Americano Beans from Americano Exodus. Part of Amaranth.

[chiefofmerit-blog]

Only when a shower of thunderbolts absolutely annihilated the monster, Yamato snapped out of it. Rising from where he had been squatting, he wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Had he been paralyzed? He wasn’t sure, but that experience sure hadn’t been pleasurable. 

Now that the monster was nothing but ash, Cerberus ceased its growling and returned to Yamato’s side. Yamato stroked its mane as he turned to face the person who had saved him.

“Heed my advice and don’t make eye contact with those.”

Yamato gave the kid a single nod as thanks for saving him just a moment ago before continuing his hike deeper into the woods. Cerberus pretty much copied its master by staring at the kid for just a moment before coming along. Cerberus huffed when Yamato suddenly stopped walking and looked over his shoulder.

“Your name?” Yamato spoke, almost as if to be giving out one of his orders. Someone who could use magic without the use of the Demon Summoning App could be of value to him. He’d better ask for their name. “I am Hotsuin Yamato. Why did you come here?”

[binjeu-blog]

“Haah…?” Eye contact? “I understand...”

Getting rid of the creepy gremlin appeared to be the solution to whatever malfunction was in Yamato’s head—apparently, it wasn’t because he was sorely lacking in experience on the battlefield, but it had been a consequence of making eye contact with the strange monster. Then, had it been a curse of some kind?

If that was the case, then for there to be monsters capable of casting curses just like that made things (albeit slightly) dangerous and a whole lot more bothersome, but oh well—as long as he was faster than them, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

Speaking of eye contact though, Yamato and his… pet… lion… were certainly giving him a lot of that now. Like, more eye contact than he had ever asked for, but then the lion and human duo went along on their merry way soon afterward. (And speaking of the lion, he still didn’t quite understand how it came to be. Technology has truly gone too far in its flashiness and convolution. All he could say for sure was that the lion’s ego was nearly identical to Yamato’s.)

The authoritative voice recaptured his attention, though he felt minor disapproval at the tone which Yamato spoke with. “It’s... Amel, and I came here because I…” Needed a quick way to make money. “Because because, is there a problem?”

[chiefofmerit-blog]

Yamato was paying very little attention to the kid rambling on. Their voice was but an annoying buzz as Yamato focused on his surroundings. There was something hiding in the shadows of the trees. He would spot movement in the corner of his eye, but every time he turned his head he saw nothing.

Without a word, Yamato squatted down. He pointed at the kid and then to the ground, gesturing they had to do the same. They were at a disadvantage. Whatever was out there probably knew of their location, but the same couldn’t be said for them. They had to move to a less open area. If they maneuvered themselves for a surprise attack, they would have the advantage. 

There was one problem, however. Yamato didn’t know if this kid had any abilities. There was no way for him to tell if he could rely on their strength, if they had any at all. If they hadn’t been in a situation in which they had to be silent, Yamato would have ‘tch’ed to show how he felt about this.

Yamato had just finished signed that he was going to move and that the other had to move as well when it happened. No sooner had a monster leaped out of the bushes than Yamato had summoned one of his demons. Cerberus roared as it casted Agidyne, a fire spell. The monster shrieked, but it was still very much alive. Just as Agidyne wore off and Yamato had been about to cast a spell himself, he froze.

What he was fighting wasn’t like anything he had seen before. The monster was pitch black, its silhouette similar to that of a child’s. Hollow, glowing eyes stared into Yamato’s very core. Its black skin was smoking were fire had burned skin away. What… was that….?

[binjeu-blog]

He would have really appreciated it if the other teen had made any indication that they were listening to him, but alas, it more or less felt like everything he had said went in one ear and out the other. In fact, they weren’t even looking at him when he was talking, and they apparently found their mostly deserted surroundings to be more interesting.

This insolent fool… he was terribly close to shoving the other teen into the floor, but the taller of the two made the first move—and that was squatting down without any explanations, and apparently he was expected to do the same? What the heck? What was the meaning behind this?

As confused as he was, his intuition ushered him to comply, so he copied the action obediently, despite all his questions. (But really, why were they doing this?)

Things didn’t make sense until the moment the weirdo tapped around on his little device, two monsters appeared without warning, and some kind of battle ensued. (One thing came from the bushes, the other from… some… place… else. Wow. Technology has gone too far.) However, only a couple seconds in the battle and suddenly the stranger halted completely—leaving himself wide open for whatever the heck the thing that jumped out from the bushes was—was that a demon? Ooooh… it was ugly. But anyway! The weirdo! What was he standing there for, after his pet had provoked the thing even more? Whoever taught him how to fight clearly didn’t do a good job?

Deciding to take matters in his own hands, he casted a rapid shower of thunderbolts toward the creature, perhaps overdoing it by a margin when, in the next moment, all that was left was the crackling of leftover electricity, ashes, and some gold.

Nice, money. But before that...

“I’m confused. What were you trying to accomplish by standing around and doing nothing?”

[haisentantei2-blog]

Did Shinjuurou have to educate this child too now? He wasn’t really up for it. Then again… the boars seemed to make for one heck of a nasty experience as well. Priorities had to be made.

“I’d rather not die in such an unpleasant way…” He said softly in response as he continued plucking. “Hai, hai, Amel-chan surely can deal with this.” Now his voice had shifted into a slightly annoying tone.

“Please scare the boars away, if you can.”

[binjeu-blog]

What a demeaning way to be spoken to, he almost wanted to just screw it and ditch Shinjuurou right then. Still, being spoken to in a patronizing manner was only to be expected, and he was supposed to be used to it by now. (He had grown accustomed to it, supposedly, but it was still annoying nonetheless.)

“…Hmph.”

Pointing the tip of his staff toward the approaching boars, he unpityingly sent a shower of thunderbolts toward the boars from above, sparks creating an unpleasant crackle and an explosion, and reduced the boars as well as the area surrounding it to barrenness and soot.

‘Like that?’ he eyed the man silently.

[chiefofmerit-blog]

Out of all the descriptions of different locations and world pieces of Amaranth, one in particular had caught Yamato’s attention. Demon’s Town was an island which supposedly was inhabited entirely by monsters and demons. Being a Demon Tamer he saw it as his duty to pay the place a visit. He just so happened to be paying it a visit today.

His thumb was hovering over the enter button of his phone as he scouted the area. At the first sight of trouble, he would press the button and summon his demons. It had been a while since he had opened the Demon Summoning App on his phone. Using it now almost felt nostalgic.

After walking around for what had been more than an hour at least, Yamato finally found another soul in the dark woods. What he found wasn’t a demon, but a child with an attitude.

“Searching,” Yamato replied curtly, his eyes scanning his surrounding. “You’re in my way.”

[binjeu-blog]

The obstacle was none other than a snappy teenager who didn’t appear to be the type of person to carelessly leave their belongings behind or whatnot, but oh well, appearances could be deceiving.

If he had been in a bad mood, he would have wasted no time in slamming this cretin’s face to the cold, hard ground. Fortunately, he wasn’t. Yet, at the same time, he wasn’t particularly in a good mood either, but he could spare some slimmer of patience for this stranger.

“Am I?” he probed, slightly annoyed. “What a coincidence, and I was thinking you were in my way. What could you possibly be looking for? I’ll help in exchange that you leave immediately afterwards.”

(On a side note, what was that strange device in his hand, and why was he holding it so delicately? If it was a valuable yet fragile item, it didn’t make sense to bring it into hazardous areas such as this place. Weird…)

“I, too, have my own business to do here. You being here is a huge inconvenience.”

[drivend-blog]

Time will Tell

@binjeu

Click. The handle of the door gave way to the small key in Mako’s hand. Its cold metal produced a soft metallic tick, the only indication that someone was just beyond the wooden frame. The person inside could have been enjoying a quiet meal, savoring the silence of a serene morning as they stared out of their window at the view below. They could have been thinking of nothing in particular but the way the sun felt on their skin or how living in such a place and in such a way wasn’t so bad. The door creaked.

   “I’m home!”

The door burst open.

In a flurry of energy, a gale of noise and cheer, Mako sent her backpack off onto a spare bed like a projectile missile and threw her arms as wide as her smile (approximately about as wide as it takes to eat 7 mystery croquettes at once). “I’m Mako Mankanshoku! It’s nice ta meet cha, partner!” 

[binjeu-blog]

Surprisingly, despite how he had been feeling alright before, he had woken up with terrible pains this particular morning. (As in: everything ached, and he started to believe that he might as well be dying again.) At any rate, it was fortunate that he had actually listened and retained the information he was told when he first arrived to this apparent afterlife and concluded that this pain probably signified that he was assigned a legitimate partner.

Therefore, the one way to ease the aching would be to seek out his partner, but—good grief—the core alone was already huge, and not to mention all the other floating bits and islands? Pain wasn’t a good enough incentive for him to actually get up and go—especially when the same pain was starting to drain him of all his drive to do anything at all.

At least, in midst of his wallowing in pain, he began to notice that the aching was actually gradually fading over time (in stark contrast to how it had been growing exponentially just a moment ago), and in the next moment, he could hardly process anything that happened beyond what sounded like an explosion.

“…”

What the heck. 

“…Ah, is that so… it’s... a pleasure to meet you too, Mako Mankanshoku? I’m… called Amel. For what reason are you causing such a racket for, anyway?”

[haisentantei2-blog]

Lazy brat. Shinjuurou sighed and continued picking the mushrooms.

“Then you make sure the monsters stay away.” He decided, because was Amel able to do anything else but release random thunderbolts? Well, if Shinjuurou didn’t have to watch his own back anymore, then fine.

“I got a bunch already… Seems like we’re in luck today.” The detective muttered, looking around and becoming slightly nervous when gigantic boars came into sight. “… I hope.”

[binjeu-blog]

“Yes, yes, I understand.” He waved dismissively. Amel was absolutely able to do things other than release random thunderbolts, but he just lacked a worthy incentive and respect for Shinjuurou. 

(In reality, no, not really. His only skill was wrecking things.)

“Oh, is that so?” Because in that moment, gigantic boars surely did come into sight. “Now I wonder if you have a tendency to attract misfortune, is this what commoners refer to as ‘jinxing it?’ Should I be doing something right now?” 

It wasn’t like the boars were charging toward them at a dangerous speed… probably, hopefully, maybe. Don’t jinx it, now.

[perfectconduct-blog]

Americano Beans, huh. It was a strange name indeed. They must have had a parent that loved coffee enough to name their kid after it. But a name was a name, and it was just downright disrespectful to make fun of someone’s name. 

Tsukasa would know, especially with all these upperclassmen who insisted on calling him by tasteless nicknames and a certain person who wouldn’t bother to remember his name at all. 

Beans though, he couldn’t remember the family name of Beans from anywhere at all. Maybe they weren’t related after all. 

“Beans-san, is it? What is it that I can help you with?”

[binjeu-blog]

…Surprisingly, the reaction he received upon stating his name was rather mild.

Not that he was going to complain! Typically, he had expected some unnecessary commentary like ‘As in, the coffee?’ or ‘What is your name, really?’ but this time, he hadn’t received any remarks of that sort. At any rate, this Tsukasa person was alright.

It was just—Beans-san was too much. (And, he also didn’t have any valid, straightforward reason for approaching Tsukasa in the first place. It was more or less out of curiosity… ugh, whatever.)

“Hah… it’s fine for you to call me Amel,” he said, then looked off to the side. “To be honest, I thought you might’ve been a relative, but it’s unfortunate that it was just a mistake on my part. I apologize for taking your time.”

[haisentantei2-blog]

He gave Amel a small chop on the head. Don’t be such a demanding cheeky brat, young one. They were in this together. If you didn’t want to explain yourself then fine. Whatever.

“That’s good. Help me out a bit.” Shinjuurou said as he moved towards the patch of mushrooms and readied his bag. If they were good for healing, then perhaps he should keep some to himself. He had a habit of injuring his own throat, after all.

Shinjuurou crouched down to gather the fungi and place them into his bag. “Do you know their value?” Because, you know, money was still the most important item on the menu. Although Shinjuurou briefly wondered if these were edible. Cup noodles were getting dull, after all. Maybe he could fry them or something.

[binjeu-blog]

Commoner trash, you did not just chop him on the head! He’ll let it slide this time (because he feels bad about almost murdering you) and fume silently, but you won’t be let off so easily the next time—ugh.

“Uhm.” He pulled out a sheet of notebook paper and squinted in the poor lighting. “Since they’re in demand, and most people typically get slaughtered by wild animals by this point, three hundred gold each.” He looked up. “That’s six baguettes per mushroom. Make sure you get everything.” 

Because, you know, Amel wasn’t even going to try and help with the dirty work.

[binjeu-blog]

@chiefofmerit

An island inhabited entirely by monsters and demons—while anyone with common sense would probably have strayed far from such a place, Amel, in his glorious arrogance and otherwise lack of common sense, immediately sauntered off toward the location upon learning that mass murder equated to money earned.

(He was getting tired of the mundane cycle that was ripping up vegetation in a shady forest and then exchanging them for money, questions about where his guardian was, and a long lecture about how a little kid like him shouldn’t be going to dangerous places filled with ferocious animals in the first place. Screw them.)

Anyways, Demon’s Town. He didn’t have any idea what a demon was, but that didn’t really matter—all he had to do was blow up things and he’d get gold—gold just by itself and not accompanied by ‘Oh my god you poor child where are your parents?’ or anything of a similar nature. He was ready to make profit via mass murder, but before he could get started and set things on fire, he still needed to clear the area of any unsuspecting civilians from the line of fire.

Which was a grand total of one person, but anyway. “...You, what are you doing here?”

[haisentantei2-blog]

What was that supposed to mean? Shinjuurou gave Amel a frown, deeply dissatisfied with the direction this conversation was swaying to. Sure, the detective had no special power or whatever, but… he wasn’t that useless.

“I could say the same to you, Amel-san.” He scoffed, but looked around for some mushrooms. This shouldn’t be too hard. Shinjuurou used to hunt for his own food like this before.

“Why are you even here?”

[binjeu-blog]

Oooh, feisty.

“I’m not obligated to explain myself to a lowly commoner,” he shrugged. Granted, his reason wasn’t anything worth keeping as a ‘secret’—he was just here to gather (preferably valued) items to pawn off in hopes of having money for once, but he wanted to spite Yuuki, because, well, why not?

Alright, so he was just being a little shit, but anyway.

“Ah,” he stepped a little bit ahead, and pointed toward a particular cluster of mushrooms that had become obscured underneath the shade of a tree that was too tall for its own good, “I heard these in particular had incredibly potent healing effects…” So gather them up, Yuuki.

[haisentantei2-blog]

Oh. Well, that was some valuable information right there. To begin with, money was Shinjuurou’s priority. It was needed to buy food, items.. everything he needed, basically. Like a printer or a microwave.

“Then we’ll look for those.” He said as he moved on. Business was business and Shinjuurou couldn’t really complain. “We’ll split the loot we manage to get together. That sound good?”

[binjeu-blog]

Well, if anything, this Yuuki person actually recovered from shock and confusion very quickly, he’ll give him that much.

Walking deeper into the forest, he replied, “Hn, that’s fine with me, just do your best to avoid causing any unnecessary trouble along the way.” As in, not aggroing monsters, but he wasn’t going to have high expectations—or any expectations for that matter. “I’m not expecting you to do anything useful, though.”

[ryokuuryuu-blog]

… Oh, oh dear.

“That is a problem.” Jae-ha sweatdropped, although if Amel were perhaps a little older, he would have had no issue with this. Unfortunate as it was, the girl before him was a child, and therefore he wasn’t as pleased about this as he could have been. Then again, Yona had also worn a skirt and rode on his back often, and he hadn’t paid much attention to the matter, so…

“Hmmm, it doesn’t bother me.” He replied with the wave of a hand. “It will be brief, and I promise that I will hold your skirt down while we jump, so please don’t mind it.”

Strictly speaking, he imagined it would only take a few hops across the land to reach the plains, anyway. The best hunting place was particularly dangerous, now that he thought of it, but he wouldn’t make it an difficult matter. As long as he could protect the young miss and feed her, then he would be satisfied. Oh, plus, he should probably get some food for himself and his partner while he was at it.

Couldn’t have him going hungry.

“Now, shall we go?” Jae-ha patted at his lower back, “It might be a little cold, miss… ah, what was your name?”

[binjeu-blog]

Clumsily twiddling with his fingers, he glanced from the stranger’s back to the ground, then back to the stranger’s back. He was being shown more generosity in this one day by a single person than he could ever remember having from his previous life. 

He was taught to be wary of strangers, but so far, the stranger hadn’t done anything but try to accommodate for his wishy-washiness, so… he supposed it was alright to trust this person. 

(Unless, he was supposed to find their overwhelming generosity to be suspicious?)

“…Alright.” He stated, more so to convince himself that this was fine and solidify his decision. Without too much of a fuss besides how much he was blushing by now, he climbed onto the stranger’s back. (When was the last time he had done something like this? Probably never.) “It’s Amel… and I’ll be fine. By the way, what’s your name, uncle?”

Also, come to think of it, what exactly did he mean by jumping? Was this piggy back ride really necessary if it was going to be brief? Where were they headed—where was this river-side, anyway?

[haisentantei2-blog]

How dare you. Shinjuurou wasn’t that ordinary.

“I don’t mind, but…” He looked down at Amel, a little confused. Why were you trying so hard? Nobody really liked listening to a 12-year-old. “Do you happen to know anything about the plants in this area?”

Shinjuurou put the bottle away in his bag. “I heard rumours that some have magical healing potential.”

[binjeu-blog]

He did not at all appreciate that question because no, he didn’t know anything about the plants in the area. All he knew was that if he found some nice mushrooms that were deep within the forest, he’d be able to pawn them off for money, and that was all he had cared to know. He just needed the money to buy food, geez…

“Ye… s… I knew that already!” Not really. “Is that the reason why you’re here? …The more valuable plants are deeper in the forest, bumming around here won’t do us any good, let’s go.”

[ryokuuryuu-blog]

For such a young child, it was cute to see her dissatisfaction from having to ask for help. It reminded him of a certain someone – someone who wasn’t Yona, thankfully, and therefore that seemed to act as an even better distraction than before. He crouched down to be on eye-level with her, given that being at least two feet bigger would have hurt his neck sooner or later, and smiled.

“I don’t have any money on me right now.” He explained, which was true. Apparently, he and his partner had to kill monsters for that, and complete quests with said accomplishments, but he had yet to manage that right now. For the past few weeks, Jae-ha had been surviving by capturing his own food and cooking it above a fire. The so-called “radiator” in his house was useless at frying animals, may he had. What was even the point in it? He had read the instructions, but was it supposed to keep him warm?

That was all?

( Fires could do so much better. )

“But I can catch something in the wilderness for you.” The dragon hummed as he rotated to display his back instead, hands reaching just above his behind to suggest a ‘piggy back ride’. He had given so many lately, that actually offering it to a young lady was a breath of fresh air from all the heavy men he had been lugging around.

“Hop on. The trip is a little far, but the river-side should be near.”

[binjeu-blog]

One part of him thought, ‘Oh good, I don’t have any money either,’ not out of spite, but out of relief that thank goodness he wasn’t the only one with absolutely no money on him. Though it was uncharacteristic of him, for once, he found comfort in that he wasn’t alone. 

But another part of him basically died in that moment.

Didn’t no money mean no food? Had he been cheated? If this person had no food to give, then why would he offer to find… or, actually, now that he thought over it carefully…

Ah, yes, one of the greatest gifts of the world: the bountiful wilderness. He hadn’t wandered too far from civilization to know what sorts of animals inhabited the area, but surely, with magic, then hunting for game and whatnot couldn’t be too hard to do on his own—but he felt very demotivated and drained from his arduous search for family earlier, so since he had already reached out for help and since this man was offering to do it for free—he’d take up on that offer, though hesitant he may be. 

“That’s fine, but—”

There was still one problem. 

He tugged his skirt down, half of habit and half of self-consciousness that it felt too short and too breezy. “I’m wearing a skirt… so a piggy back ride is a little bit…”

[haisentantei2-blog]

“Yuuki Shinjuurou.” He answered slowly, although still confused. The detective reluctantly got onto his feet and looked around. Weird. The electricity left a burned mark on the ground, but he didn’t feel anything.

He picked up the bottle he was carrying earlier and gave it a look. It was an ordinary one, having held water from the stream nearby. Was this the reason he felt okay? Or perhaps the thunderbolt didn’t harm people?

“I was gathering some plants… Water, too.”

[binjeu-blog]

This man seemed very confused, and it made Amel look down on him even further, despite the fact that the stranger (now that he was on his feet) towered over him in terms of height.

Nothing about the stranger stood out. He seemed completely ordinary.

Usually, everything his magic struck died in an instant, but perhaps this man survived because he had somehow, through sheer luck, avoided taking the brunt of the attack… or had it been something else? He eyed the bottle in the stranger’s hands suspiciously, but then shrugged it off.

“Oh, what a coincidence.” He placed his hands on his hips, trying to be as authoritative as his twelve year old body allowed him to be. “Then, Yuuki Shinjuurou, since we’re basically doing the same thing, as an apology, I’ll accompany you.” Because Shinjuurou definitely would want that. Yes.

[haisentantei2-blog]

Was this his third death? Did Shinjuurou finally die again. He groaned as he opened his eyes and found a young person leaning over him. A girl? That’s the one who electrocuted him?

“I’m–” He sat up and rubbed at his throat, then checked the rest of his body. There were some marks of him being burned by the electricity, but they were so minor that they could be ignored. “… Fine?”

Shinjuurou couldn’t really believe it. Either he miraculously avoided the thunderbolt by a scratch, or he just revived here and now. Whatever. Not like he lost anything valuable to him yet. Although the water he just drank spilled all over the forest floor.

“You are…?”

[binjeu-blog]

(Un-)Fortunately, Shinjuurou, you are very much alive.

“Amel,” he responded curtly, staring down at the stranger who seemed to be taking the situation quite well, despite only narrowly escaping death. “I’m sorry about that, I mistook you for a wild animal. I’m glad you’re not dead.”

After all, his ideal career path wasn’t to be a serial killer, or murderer, or any other type of criminal for that matter. Well, none of this would have happened if this man hadn’t been present in the first place. What was he doing here? He seemed completely ordinary, did he have a death wish? But then again, he did seem to be faring well despite being electrocuted, so maybe he had some kind of hidden power...

“Anyways, who are you? I didn’t expect to find another person here. For what reason are you here? Are you lost or something?”

[binjeu-blog]

@matcrnelle​

Visiting the Star Gardens on a whim during a night where he simply just couldn’t fall asleep for more than fifteen minutes at a time was an alright decision in the end. Being able to witness the romantic light show of the fireflies in its full glory was an experience, and the general peaceful tranquility of the gardens on a quiet night was comforting.

What wasn’t comforting, however, was the awkward addition of another person in the scene. Amel would have preferred to be alone, but he wasn’t. Initially, he tried to ignore whatever discomfort he had from sitting in silence with a stranger, but such a little thing had grown into a huge distraction from the sparkly creatures’ presentation. Now, rather than admiring the whimsical performance, he was staring (not very subtly) at the stranger sitting not too far away from him.

“…”

What was this person doing, awake at this hour, anyway?