Chapter Text
The magic was restless.
Izumi didn’t know why, but he could feel it in the air. In fact, he was sure everyone in the Under could feel it, because you’d have to be braindead not to. The magic was shifting, tearing at the fabric of their very world. It was unsettling enough that Izumi sat up, slowly climbing out of bed, even though it was the middle of the night and lack of sleep was bad for his skin.
Grabbing a black coat, he slid it over his shoulders and stepped out into the hallway. The Under Palace was a beautiful place, built of dark walls with tall stained windows with floating candles lighting up the space. But even for a demon like Izumi, it was admittedly creepy at times like this. He blamed the Sakumas, because their clan was so obsessed with aesthetics, and the current generation refused to renovate the place. Speaking of the current generation of Sakumas, they were the rulers of the Under, so they would probably know what was going on. In particular, the younger Sakuma was a close friend of Izumi’s, and he also happened to be a magic expert.
Upon checking his room, though, Sakuma Ritsu was nowhere in sight. So in the end, Izumi slipped out of Under Palace into the Wild.
Even for a demon as powerful as Izumi, the Wild could be a dangerous place. The wild magic in the Under was extremely volatile, and there was no telling what it would do at any point. Few people would brave the Wild on their own, but Izumi was confident in his abilities, so he did it anyway. In the worst case scenario that something happened to him, Ritsu or Arashi would be alerted and come running, thanks to magic that Ritsu had cast on them a while back.
Tendrils of darkness snapped at his feet, and Izumi walked past, unbothered. He stepped through brambles of the night, clicking his tongue in annoyance as his sleeve caught on a branch.
He was supposed to be asleep right now. He knew he had so much work to do tomorrow, and the mere thought of it was giving him a headache. Yet here he was, walking through the Wild, all because he’d felt a slight disturbance in the air. If anything, he should have let someone else handle it. Never mind that he was among the highest-ranking demons, there were a few people above him in the hierarchy, and they could’ve taken care of it.
There was movement in the leaves, and Izumi snapped his head towards it. He was getting really close to the problem, now, but somehow that brief movement had captured his attention thoroughly. A beat later, he realized why- there was a small void in magic that way.
He stepped towards it, pushing aside leaves, and the closer he got, he realized he could hear a voice, just barely audible underneath the whispers of the Wild. The voice was humming.
A beat later, the singing stopped, and instead the voice proclaimed, “It’s here! Inspiration! This place is just overflowing with it! I could write a hundred sympho- ouch!”
Izumi stepped forward once more, and in a small clearing, he found a boy. The boy had green eyes and ginger hair bright as the sun (which, one should note, didn’t exist in the Under). He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, drawing music notes into the dirt with his index finger. All the while, the Wild roared at him, magic sparking at his skin with hostility. This boy was unmistakably human, a fact made obvious by the way he didn’t emit any magic.
That was a problem. Humans shouldn’t be in the Under. Humans couldn’t be in the Under, not unless something had gone wrong in the space between worlds. Now that would mean the natural order of the universe had been upset, and stuff like that always ended up as paperwork on Izumi’s desk. A terrible thought, because he’d have to deal with that tomorrow morning.
“You’re upsetting the Wild,” Izumi said flatly.
The boy looked up, eyes widening like saucers. He was silent for a beat, and Izumi raised an eyebrow, waiting for a reply.
“You’re beautiful,” the boy said finally.
Izumi nearly choked on air.
He was beautiful, a fact he knew thanks to this little thing called self-awareness, but it was rare for people to say it to him upfront. Especially not as a first greeting. Especially not in a place like this. And the boy had said it with such reverence in his tone that Izumi was honestly unsure how to respond.
“Are those real?” the boy asked, and he pointed at the tall, elegant horns atop Izumi’s head.
Izumi scoffed, motioning at the dark landscape surrounding them. “Of course they’re real. You’re the one who seems unreal around here.”
The boy hummed. He seemed intrigued by that idea, somehow. “Awesome! I’d better look around more, then! I bet I’ll find even more inspiration!”
He rocketed to his feet, starting to march off. The Wild began to move, angered by his presence. The ground lifted, knocking him off balance, and he yelped as he fell quite ungracefully onto his butt.
Izumi crossed his arms, watching him with a vague sense of amusement. “You’re ridiculous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human as ridiculous as you.”
“Are humans common around here? I thought I was super rare or whatever.”
“Dead humans, yes,” Izumi replied. “This is the Under, the land of the damned. Humans like you, with souls alight with life, don’t belong here.”
“Wow. ‘Alight with life’, huh? That’s poetic. I’m gonna write a song!”
And then he was squatting, finger dragging through the dirt once more even as the land protested his every move.
Izumi sighed. “Look, human-”
“Leo!” the boy interrupted. “My name is Tsukinaga Leo!”
“Right. Then, Leo-kun, you need to get out of here. If another demon discovers you, I’ll have to write up a report. And the last thing I want right now is to have more work to do tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“Hah?”
“What’s your name?” Leo asked, staring expectantly. “You haven’t told me yet.”
“Why the hell do I need to give you my name?” Izumi retorted. “All that matters is that I can probably help you get home, and more importantly, out of the Under.”
“How am I supposed to talk to you without knowing your name?! Names are important, you know! You have to use names to communicate on a more personal level, that’s what Suo always tells me! It’s probably because I kept forgetting his name- that always made him so mad, it was kind of funny- but there’s still some truth to his words, so with that being said, tell me your name, or I’m not moving an inch!”
Izumi groaned, because Leo was now stubbornly digging his feet into the ground.
“It’s Sena Izumi.”
Leo smiled, and there was so much joy in his expression that Izumi’s annoyance died for a split second. Just a second, though, no longer than that.
“Then, Sena-”
“Sena,” Izumi corrected, because his pronunciation was off-
“Sena!” That wasn’t any better (in fact, it was exactly the same) but Izumi didn’t feel like correcting him any more, and he supposed it wasn’t the worst, with the way it rolled off Leo’s tongue. “Where’s the exit at? You said you can get me out of here, right?”
“Right.”
Izumi turned, nodding in the direction they were going, and began to walk. Leo trailed along like a chick behind its mother, practically chirping like a chick, too. Annoying, so annoying.
“This way is the way to the portal to the human realm. It’s supposed to be a one-way portal, but something’s wrong with it right now. This is probably the way you came in. Do you remember?”
“Nope! I got lost!”
“Figures. You looked lost. Any human with even a singular brain cell would backtrack through the portal as soon as the saw even a glimpse of the Under.”
“I have a singular brain cell!” Leo huffed indignantly. “Even more than that! I have hundreds, billions of brain cells, and they all bounce around in my skull weaving melodies and harmonies never heard before! Because I’m a genius!”
At some point Izumi started tuning him out.
The portal was in a grand cave in the middle of nowhere. It was overgrown with spindly dark branches and large leaves, with floating candles surrounding its entrance. Izumi led the way, the nighttime breeze carrying the tails of his coat.
Leo’s steps faltered behind him.
Izumi turned, slightly annoyed. “What.”
“Will I ever see you again, Sena?”
Izumi sighed. Humans were so sentimental. Was it because their lifespans were so short? “No, Leo-kun. You won’t see me again, if you’re lucky.”
“But-”
“No buts. Come with me.”
Leo sighed, and eventually he started walking again, this time keeping in step with Izumi rather than following behind.
Izumi put a hand out, feeling the magic swirl around him. The disturbance he’d felt before seemed to have disappeared, and the portal was back to normal.
“It’s safe to go through. Go back to the human realm. If it makes you feel better, you can think of today as some sort of fever dream.”
“No,” Leo responded, “Because you’re real, I know you are.”
Izumi scoffed lightly. “Suit yourself.”
They walked up to the portal together. Leo lifted a hand hesitantly and tapped a finger to its glass-like surface, causing a ripple to shudder through it.
“This’ll take me back home?” Leo asked.
“It will,” Izumi confirmed. “I’ve taken this portal hundreds of times. The magic will sense where you most want to go and deposit you directly.”
Something flickered over Leo’s expression, some sort of emotion Izumi couldn’t name, but it looked to be a positive one, so he figured it was fine.
But then Leo grabbed his wrist, and they both fell forward into the portal.
✩₊˚.☽⋆🕯⋆☾⁺₊✧
Izumi groaned, massaging his temple as he slowly sat up.
Where was he? A beat later, he remembered; he was in the human realm. That much should have been obvious, owed to the fact that he could no longer feel his horns on his head. The human realm was a stagnant place, a place where magic was very weak. His horns, being a physical extension of his magic, simply didn’t exist here. His magical spells, especially high-level ones, would be significantly weaker here if they even worked at all. Izumi in particular was only capable of using the bare minimum of magic required for his job of escorting human souls to the Under.
He looked around, finding himself in a bedroom. There was an L-shaped desk in the corner, and sheet music strewn across the floors. A keyboard was on the edge of the bed, plugged in such a way that one would have to step over its cord to traverse from one end of the room to the other. Next to the keyboard was the very reason why Izumi was in this realm in the first place.
“Leo-kun,” he seethed, “You bastard-”
“I wanted you to see my room!” Leo said, kicking his legs excitedly. He was like a little kid. “Wouldn’t it be a shame if that one conversation was all we knew of each other?”
“No, it would have been fine. I have work to tend to, and it’s such a pain to get back to the Under from your stupid magicless realm.”
Leo laughed, tapping the top of Izumi’s head where his horns were supposed to be. “Wow, you look like a human! Now we match! Uchuu~ ☆!”
Izumi crinkled his nose. “Like hell we match. A demon’s horns are their pride and joy, you little-”
“Even without them, you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of people!” Leo said, and he took Izumi’s chin into his hands delicately, tilting his head to get a better look. His fingers were cold but soft, and Izumi’s face caught on fire in an instant.
“You- you’re so irritating.”
Leo laughed, bright and joyful and everything that a demon was never supposed to know, and released him. “Yes, I enjoy your company too, Sena!”
“That is not even remotely what I said,” Izumi grumbled in return. He rubbed at his chin as if he’d been burnt. “You need to get your ears checked.”
“My hearing is great! I’m a musician, after all.”
Izumi sighed. “Whatever. I need to go back to the Under, you brat.”
“How do you go back, anyhow? If your magic doesn’t work?”
Izumi reached under his shirt, where a necklace had been hidden under his nightclothes. Its pendant was a small vial, tied to the necklace with a pretty knot. He never took it off, in case of emergency. “I can use some magic, just not all of it. And this is bottled magic, so it can’t be erased until it’s released.”
“Won’t it just stop working as soon as you open it, then?”
“It’ll still be enough to get me back home. This happens to be the magic of one of the strongest demons in the Under. Right now, it’s the only reliable way to get back, unfortunately.”
“Wow~. That’s pretty cool. But if it’s that easy to get back, you should stay with me a little longer!” Leo said.
“No,” Izumi responded. “I’ve wasted enough of my night as is. I’m pretty sure I said this already, but I have work tomorrow.”
“So you’d stay with me otherwise?” Leo asked, tilting his head a little. He looked cute like that, but Izumi ignored the thought, because why did it matter if a human looked cute, anyway?
“No,” Izumi answered, and with that, he opened the vial, and the familiar magic wrapped around him to bring him home.
Farewell, Leo-kun, he thought as he departed from the human realm, May we never meet again.
✩₊˚.☽⋆🕯⋆☾⁺₊✧
Scarlet eyes watched expressionlessly as Izumi thumbed through the documents he’d been given at a meeting an hour ago.
“Kuma-kun, stop staring,” Izumi grumbled, though his own eyes remained focused on what he was doing.
“I’m bored,” Ritsu said.
“Great. Go be bored elsewhere.”
Ritsu clicked his tongue, annoyed, and crossed his legs to indicate his clear intentions to stay rooted in his seat.
“Secchan,” he complained.
“What.”
“I’m bored,” Ritsu reiterated.
Izumi shut the folder he’d been sifting through, turning his attention to the brat currently sat on the edge of his bed. “Kuma-kun, I’m trying to work.”
“Secchan, tell me about the human you met yesterday.”
Izumi stiffened, then, because how the fuck did he know, but also it was Ritsu, so of course he knew, but he wasn’t supposed to.
“Why would I have met with a human?”
Ritsu rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. I can sense it on you, you went to the human realm. Your magic signature is all messed up. But you didn’t have any work there yesterday, so something else caused you to go. And with the portal malfunction fiasco that happened yesterday, there’s only one conclusion. A human stumbled through the rift between worlds, and you coincidentally ran into them, then decided to spare them and help them back into the human realm, because you’re a total softie.”
“How the fuck is that the ‘one conclusion’?” Izumi retorted, but unfortunately, Ritsu was right (except Izumi was not a softie, thank you very much).
“Because,” Ritsu drew out the word into a slow drawl, “You’ve been distracted ever since. And there are few things in this world that can capture your attention like that.”
“Shut up.” Izumi gritted his teeth. He had been certain that nobody would find out. Maybe that was his first mistake, because ever since they met centuries ago, Ritsu had been one of two people who could see through him like he was a goddamn window.
“Give me your necklace.”
Izumi sighed. So he knew about that, too. He was going to ask for a refill, anyway, after some time passed. He slipped the necklace off his neck, handing the empty vial to Ritsu.
Ritsu held his hand over the vial, and liquid magic dripped from his fingertip into the vial. He started to give it back, and Izumi reached to grab it, but he snatched it away at the last second. A smirk pushed up the corners of Ritsu’s lips, and Izumi felt a sense of dread take over.
“Hmm… But I don’t really feel like giving you this. That’s my magic, you know, my very life force,” Ritsu said liltingly.
Izumi wanted to call bullshit- that much magic for Ritsu was a drop in an ocean, and it didn’t cost him anything to give away that little. But he had a feeling if he said anything, Ritsu would bite his head off.
“So, as a favor to me, you should tell me all~ about this human you met.”
“Why do you care so much, anyway?” Izumi grumbled, fingers itching to just snatch the vial out of Ritsu’s grip. He needed that thing, unfortunately, because he wouldn’t be able to visit the human realm without it and he happened to go to the human realm frequently for work.
Ritsu batted his eyelashes, obvious and so, so annoying, but all Izumi could do was relent.
“Fine.”