Mismatch 5
Crossover fanfic; Obey Me x Tokyo Debunker .✦ ݁˖
Author's Note:
─ The next part would be my favorite, so I lost control a bit in here (3.6k words). And probably would be worse in the next part that I've been waiting to write since I started this series ( 〃● ₃● ) ~
─ Ooooh, finally the other pov!!!!! (and I'm on my final term, so yeah... I don't know when I will have time to write the next part. Please be patient, my dear) <3
─ Taglist; @gulaaren-123, @luckytyrantgalaxy, @rosebell0, @help-whatdoimakemyusername
(please dm me to be added or removed, ty)
─ MASTERLIST [ Mismatch; (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) ]
"I should just Obliviate all of them." The words exploded out of her before either of them could stop her.
Actually, that wasn't entirely true.
One of them tried. "No."
"Absolutely not."
"I wasn't asking." She was already moving.
By this point, she was fairly certain she had earned at least one magical breakdown. Maybe two. Possibly three.
Her patience had been stretched, folded, stomped on, set on fire, and then somehow expected to continue functioning normally afterward. Every day brought another conversation she wasn't prepared for, another person noticing something was wrong, another situation she had to navigate while pretending to be somebody she had never met.
And somehow everyone kept expecting answers. Expecting reactions. Expecting her to know things.
Do things. Be things.
At this point, she was honestly considering whether wiping a few memories counted as self-defense.
"That's not self-defense!" one of them snapped.
"I didn't say it out loud."
"You absolutely did."
"...Oh."
That explained why both of them looked alarmed. Unfortunately, their concern arrived approximately ten seconds too late.
Magic was already gathering beneath her skin.
A familiar warmth spread through her fingertips. Ancient syllables rose automatically to her tongue. The spell came easier than it should have. Which honestly felt like a warning sign.
A glowing circle began forming beneath her feet. "Wait, wait, wait—"
"Nope." She pointed accusingly at absolutely everything. "I'm done."
The circle expanded. Symbols ignited one after another. The air crackled. Both boys lunged simultaneously, one grabbed her left arm while the other immediately wrapped both hands around her shoulders.
"Stop casting."
"No."
Lucas tightened his grip on her arm "MC."
"I'm serious."
"So are we."
The spell circle flared brighter.
Kaito immediately looked like he was on the verge of collapsing under the weight of his own stress. "This is a terrible idea!"
"Do you have a better one?" she shot back
"Yes! Literally anything else!"
"Wonderful. Let me know when you think of it."
The argument would've sounded more convincing if she hadn't continued chanting through it. Magic pulsed, the circle brightened.
"She's serious!"
"Of course she's serious!"
"Why is she serious?!" Kaito went rigid so fast it looked like his soul had tried to evacuate the premises while clinging to her shoulders.
"I don't know!"
"Maybe because I'm losing my mind!" she shot back. "Has that possibility occurred to either of you? Because it feels pretty relevant right now!"
She tried lifting her hand, Kaito immediately shoved it back down. She tried continuing the incantation, a hand clamped over her mouth.
"Mmph!"
"No."
"Mmph!"
"No."
"MMPH!"
"Still no."
The three of them nearly toppled sideways. For one brief, ridiculous moment it looked less like a magical intervention and more like three students collectively losing a fight against gravity.
The spell circle flickered. Then brightened again.
"Oh, come on!" she shouted the moment her mouth was free. "Do you have any idea how exhausting this is?!"
The words escaped sharper than intended. Not angry, not really. Just tired, so unbelievably tired. The frustration had been building for days.
Every suspicious look. Every strange conversation. Every moment spent wondering whether somebody had noticed. Every moment spent wondering whether she'd made a mistake. Every moment spent missing people she couldn't contact.
Missing home. Missing certainty. Missing the ability to simply exist without calculating every sentence before she spoke it.
The magic wavered.
For a second her voice cracked. The two holding her immediately went quiet. Which was unfortunate, because silence gave her room to continue.
"So yes," she said, lifting a trembling hand. "I think wiping a few memories is actually a very reasonable response."
The magic wavered.
For a second her voice cracked. The two holding her immediately went quiet. Which was unfortunate, because silence gave her room to continue.
"So tell me," she said, lifting one hand despite the fact that both of them immediately tried pushing it back down again, "what exactly is the better solution here?"
Neither answered.
"Because from where I'm standing, I've spent days pretending to be someone I'm not, getting interrogated by people I walk on eggshells around, and every morning I wake up wondering whether today's the day this entire disaster finally explodes."
Her fingers twitched. Light flickered across the half-finished spell circle.
"I'm tired."
The admission came out smaller than everything else.
"I'm tired of watching every word that comes out of my mouth. I'm tired of guessing who knows what. I'm tired of feeling like one wrong answer is going to get all of us caught."
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.
"We know," Lucas said quietly.
"No, you don't." The response arrived immediately. "You really don't."
Because they couldn't.
They had their dorms. Their friends. Their classes. Their lives.
She had none of that.
She had a borrowed face, a growing list of mistakes, and absolutely no idea how to get home. The thought made something inside her snap.
"Honestly, at this point I'd settle for making everyone forget the last two weeks ever happened."
"No." The answer came so fast it was almost impressive. "Because it's a terrible idea."
"It's an excellent idea."
"It is objectively not."
"It solves at least three of my problems."
"It creates about fifty more."
"That's future me's problem."
Kaito looked horrified. "You can't just decide future you can deal with magical crimes!"
"Why not? Future me already has terrible judgment. Look where she is."
For one awful second, Kaito looked like he actually considered the argument. Then his expression somehow became even more distressed.
The spell circle flared.
Both boys immediately reacted. "Oh no. She's doing it again."
"I'm not even doing anything!"
"MC."
"Maybe the spell is casting itself."
"Your magic could do that?!!!"
"Maybe??!"
"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT HELPS?!"
The circle expanded another inch. And that was precisely when a voice spoke from behind them.
"I don't think that's a very good idea."
Everything stopped, instantly. The spell. The shouting. The struggling. Even the air seemed to still for a moment.
All three of them turned around at once.
For one disorienting second, she genuinely thought she had imagined it.
Because there was absolutely no reason for him to be here.
The narrow space behind the school building wasn't exactly a popular gathering spot. Most students didn't even bother walking through this section of campus unless they had a specific reason. It was quiet, tucked away, and far enough from the main paths that conversations could remain private.
Which was precisely why they used it. And yet there he was.
Standing a few feet away as though he'd always been there. As though finding three students wrestling over an active spell circle was the most ordinary thing he'd seen all day.
"...Edward?" Kaito's voice came out an octave higher than normal.
The spell circle beneath her feet finally sputtered out.
Not because she'd dismissed it. Because surprise had completely knocked the concentration out of her.
Edward looked exactly the same as always. Relaxed posture, sleepy smile.
The kind of expression that made him seem perpetually half-asleep, as though existence itself required more energy than he was willing to spend. Which was precisely the problem.
Because Edward never came here.
Obscuary's vice-captain practically lived inside his dorm. If he wasn't asleep, he was usually trying to become asleep. The amount of effort required to get him moving from one location to another was apparently significant enough that Rui and Lyca always complained about it.
Yet somehow he was here.
Standing in the exact place where they'd been discussing her situation for days.
Her stomach dropped.
Lucas moved immediately. A subtle shift that placed himself slightly between Edward and her. The motion was so natural most people would've missed it.
She didn't. Apparently Edward didn't either.
His eyes flickered briefly toward Lucas before returning to her. Still smiling, still calm. Still entirely unreadable.
"Edward?" Lucas's smile appeared a little too quickly. "Well, that's unexpected. Though I must admit, you've chosen a rather curious moment to appear and say a rather ominous thing when all we're doing is having a conversation."
Edward blinked once. Then tilted his head slightly, as though genuinely considering the statement. "Did I?"
The question sounded innocent enough.
Lucas let out a quiet laugh, masking the tension quietly settling beneath it. "I suppose that depends entirely on what you meant."
"Hm." Edward considered that for a moment, looking for all the world like someone trying to decide whether continuing the conversation was worth the effort.
Beside her, Kaito looked like he wanted to throw himself into the nearest grave and remain there permanently. She wasn't doing much better.
Eventually, Edward's gaze drifted downward toward the fading traces of the spell circle etched across the ground. His attention lingered there for a second before shifting to the place she'd been standing moments earlier.
Then his eyes returned to her.
"Oh." The sound escaped him quietly. Almost sounds like absentmindedly. "I thought we weren't pretending anymore."
The words settled over the group like a stone sinking into still water. Nobody spoke.
For one horrible second, she genuinely wasn't sure whether she'd heard him correctly. The smile on Lucas's face remained exactly where it was, it simply became very, very still.
Edward seemed to notice the silence only after it had stretched for several seconds. His gaze moved between them with mild curiosity, as though he couldn't quite understand why everyone suddenly looked so alarmed.
Then his attention returned to her. "Guess we are."
The words should have been harmless. Instead, the temperature seemed to drop all at once. His posture remained relaxed, his expression gentle, yet something in his eyes made every instinct she possessed flare into alarm.
It was like standing beneath deep water and realizing, too late, that something enormous had been watching from the dark long before she'd noticed it.
Edward let out a small sigh, as though the realization had only just become mildly inconvenient. "You don't have to keep hiding it from me."
His voice stayed gentle, matter-of-fact, the sort of tone someone might use while mentioning that it was about to rain.
"Because I already know she's not MC."
Her stomach dropped. For one horrible second, she could only stare at him. Edward, meanwhile, looked mildly inconvenienced by the entire conversation.
The contrast was so absurd that it almost made her question whether she'd heard him correctly.
It felt like Edward had glanced at the situation once, arrived at the answer almost immediately, and then simply never bothered mentioning it because it hadn't seemed important enough to interrupt his nap schedule.
Kaito stared at him like he was trying to determine whether this conversation was actually happening or whether stress had finally caused a complete break from reality.
"...Wait." His voice came out strained. "You've known?"
Edward blinked slowly. "Hm?"
"This." Kaito gestured vaguely between her, Lucas, himself, the extinguished now non-existent spell circle, and apparently the collapse of his mental stability. "All of this."
A small flicker of understanding crossed Edward's face.
"Oh." The sound was almost embarrassingly casual. "Yeah."
The answer landed with enough force that Kaito physically recoiled. She couldn't even blame him. What was she supposed to do with that response?
Edward had just admitted to knowing one of the biggest secrets currently tying the three of them into knots, and yet he sounded like someone confirming he'd seen rain in the forecast. Across from him, Lucas remained remarkably composed.
Edward, meanwhile, seemed completely unaware that he'd just detonated what remained of the group's emotional equilibrium. Or maybe he was aware and simply didn't consider it important enough to comment on.
The casual response nearly gave her emotional whiplash.
Because how was he acting normal right now?
How was any of this normal?
He had just admitted to knowing one of the biggest secrets currently circulating between exactly three people. Four now, apparently. A secret that had been responsible for most of her recent anxiety, several near-heart attacks, and at least one ongoing magical breakdown.
And yet Edward looked like someone discussing the weather.
The discrepancy was honestly impressive.
"Edward," he said after a moment, his tone remaining pleasant through what was undoubtedly an extraordinary act of self-restraint, "while I appreciate your remarkable ability to introduce alarming information with complete composure, I believe there are several details that would benefit from clarification."
Edward considered that, then nodded. "Probably."
The answer did not inspire confidence. Lucas's smile strained almost imperceptibly. Kaito looked ready to passed out in the spot. She was beginning to sympathize this two ghouls who clearly care too much about their MC.
"How long?" Lucas asked.
Edward looked thoughtful, more because he seemed to be trying to remember than because the question itself was difficult. "A while."
"A while isn't a timeframe."
"Hm..." Edward glanced upward. "I guess since the beginning?"
The world collectively got worse.
Since the beginning.
Not recently. Not after she slipped up. Not after she made a mistake. The beginning. The realization hit with enough force that she almost forgot to breathe.
All those days spent worrying about every misplaced reaction, every accidental slip, every conversation that felt slightly wrong, and Edward had apparently looked at the situation once, arrived at the correct answer immediately, and then simply... kept it to himself.
Because apparently that was a thing people could do. Or perhaps it was simply a thing Edward could do.
His gaze shifted toward her and, for the first time since the conversation started, some of the amusement faded from his expression.
"You don't have to look so worried." The statement should not have been reassuring but somehow, it was. "You're actually lucky."
"What?"
"Because it was me." Edward yawned, covering his mouth with one hand before continuing. "If it had been someone else, things probably would've gotten complicated already."
His gaze drifted briefly toward her. This time there was no coldness in it, only concern, a genuine one.
Kaito shifted beside her, looking as though he had been wrestling with the urge to speak for several seconds already, and then finally blurted, "Edward-san... if there's anything you can do about this, or if you can help with—"
"Not really," he cut in to admit it, looking genuinely apologetic. "I can tell something's wrong, but I don't know enough about what actually happened to fix it."
The atmosphere immediately grew heavier. Because that was the problem, wasn't it? Nobody knew enough.
Every theory led nowhere.
Every attempt ended in more questions.
Every day passed without answers.
Edward looked at her for another moment before his expression softened slightly. "But you need to figure it out soon."
The words landed harder than everything else he'd said. There was no joking hidden underneath it. No teasing. No casual indifference. Just quiet certainty.
Edward lowered his gaze briefly, as though searching for the right words. "Your soul doesn't feel right."
Nobody moved, and nobody spoke, because the weight of what Edward had just said seemed to settle over all of them at once, even dragging Kaito out of his panic long enough to stare at him in stunned silence.
Edward, meanwhile, frowned slightly, the expression so small and so thoughtful that it almost looked like he had just noticed something unpleasant rather than alarming.
"The longer you're here, the more unstable it feels. I can't really explain it properly, but…" He hesitated before continuing. "I don't think this is only affecting you anymore."
The words settled heavily over the small group. Nobody spoke, nobody even seemed entirely sure how to respond to that.
For days, all of their attention had been focused on one problem. One missing person. One impossible situation. The assumption had always been that the danger belonged to the person trapped in the wrong world.
The possibility that it might be affecting both of them had somehow never been discussed aloud.
"I don't know enough to tell you what's happening," Edward rubbed the back of his neck. "But souls aren't supposed to be in places they don't belong for this long. Especially not if there's another soul occupying the space they're supposed to return to."
A cold sensation crawled down her spine. Lucas's expression grew noticeably more serious. Kaito’s expression tightened. Edward glanced between them before continuing.
"If I'm wrong, then great. I'd actually be pretty happy about that." His smile returned briefly, though it lacked most of its usual laziness. "But if I'm not..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to. The unfinished thought hung there anyway.
If he wasn't wrong, then every day they spent without a solution wasn't simply delaying a reunion. It was making the situation worse.
For everyone.
She lowered her gaze toward the ground. For one fleeting moment, a familiar thought surfaced again.
The brothers.
If she could just contact one of them. Even one.
Mammon would probably charge into the problem headfirst without thinking. Lucifer would somehow force an answer out of reality itself. Barbatos might actually understand what was happening.
Any of them would be better than sitting here blindly guessing.
But the thought died almost as quickly as it appeared. Because no matter how hard she reached, her magic kept slipping just short of them, close enough to feel like she was standing a single step away from contact and yet still trapped behind something she couldn't break through.
And if they tried crossing dimensions themselves... The consequences could be catastrophic.
No.
As tempting as it was, she couldn't take that risk. Not yet. Not when she still didn't understand what had caused any of this. Not when she could potentially make it worse.
Mammon,
She thought desperately, the name rising inside her chest before she could stop it, as if saying it quietly enough might somehow carry across whatever impossible distance had been forced between them.
. . .
A faint pulse.
A familiar feeling. It lasted less than a second. The sensation brushed away before vanishing again.
Mammon stopped mid-sentence. "...Huh?"
Several pairs of eyes immediately landed on him.
The living room of Purgatory Hall had become significantly louder over the last few days, mostly because seven demon brothers had collectively decided that being denied access to their human was unacceptable.
Mammon frowned.
For a moment he could have sworn he'd felt something. Something familiar. Like hearing a voice through a wall before it disappeared. The sensation was gone before he could grab hold of it.
"What?" Satan asked.
Mammon blinked. "Nothin'."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed slightly. Mammon ignored him. Whatever it had been, it was already gone. And honestly, he had bigger problems.
Namely the sorcerer currently responsible for every bad mood in the room.
"Quit changin' the subject!" Mammon pointed dramatically across the room. "Give MC back already!"
"Must you phrase it like I kidnapped them?" Solomon asked.
"You DID kidnap 'em!"
"I really didn't."
"Ya absolutely did!"
Around him, the others immediately joined in. The argument restarted with alarming speed.
Leviathan was complaining.
Asmodeus was offended.
Beelzebub looked worried.
Belphegor looked annoyed.
Lucifer was somehow managing to sound calm while being visibly one inconvenience away from homicide.
Meanwhile, standing near the doorway, Simeon offered the group a patient smile while continuing his increasingly impressive effort to redirect the conversation away from several extremely important questions.
Questions that would become very difficult to answer if the brothers discovered what Solomon had actually been hiding.
A few minutes later, Solomon quietly slipped away. The noise of the argument faded as he walked deeper into Purgatory Hall. When he finally stepped into the room he'd been using as a temporary hiding place, his expression immediately softened.
The girl sitting on the edge of the bed looked up the moment he entered. Her shoulders had been tense before. They became even tenser now.
"Still arguing?"
He nodded. The answer didn't surprise her anymore. It would've been more surprising if they weren't arguing.
"The distraction is working for now," he said as he closed the door behind him. "Simeon deserves a medal."
A small smile tugged briefly at her mouth before disappearing again. He crossed the room before sitting beside her.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then Solomon leaned back slightly and stared at the ceiling. "You know," he said eventually, "we can't keep doing this forever."
Beside him, she went completely still.
Her fingers tightened around the fabric of his sleeve almost immediately. The girl lowered her head. And for the first time all day, she couldn't think of a single argument against what he'd said.
Because he was right.
Sooner or later, somebody was going to find out. Sooner or later, the truth would stop fitting inside the spaces they'd created to hide it.
And when that happened, neither of them knew what came next.
The thought settled heavily inside her chest. Without realizing it, she moved closer. Not because she expected Solomon to magically solve everything, but because ever since she had arrived in this impossible situation, he had been the only person who understood how terrifying it was.
The only person who had known from the beginning. The only person who had stayed. The one who's been helping her since she's been swapped.
The only one who knows she's not where she supposed to be
Solomon glanced down as her hand tightened slightly around his sleeve. He didn't comment on it. He simply rested a hand lightly on her head. And for the first time since the conversation began, neither of them said anything at all.
Outside, distant voices continued echoing through Purgatory Hall. Inside, the silence felt much heavier.
And neither of them could shake the feeling that time was beginning to run out.
⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖ .fin
Early warning: Tbh, I'm still not finished with all the episodes up to the latest update, so I actually have little information to go on while making this (please forgive me if there's any OOC; have mercy). Word count: 3.620
