Day 17: Moving Lines

As Ryan slept soundly, Edhas took over his body. He opened his eyes, making sure Ryan was still asleep. He grabbed his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" Reporter's voice came through the phone.

"It's me," Edhas said.

"Just who I needed to talk to," Reporter said. "Something's starting to happen."

"I know," Edhas replied. "I need an order."

"I know what you need," Reporter said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't want to, but I'm not sure if there's any other way to resolve this," Edhas sighed, wiping his eyes. "Just get it done."

"Roger that, asshole," Reporter said before hanging up.

"Whatever," Edhas grumbled before letting Ryan take over again, letting the body sink into unconsciousness.

-

Sabrina sighed as she repaired the RSFC HQ for the third time that night. Melody and Ironmouse's idea of 'having fun' was something very different than what Sabrina would consider fun. "Can you guys please lay off the explosions?"

"When can we see Ryan?" Melody asked. "I want to meet him."

"I guess we can see him today," Sabrina sighed. "I should be grounding you for stealing Reporter's android, but whatever."

"Yay!" Ironmouse cheered, causing another explosion to destroy the RSFC HQ.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Sabrina grumbled to herself.

-

"Wake the fuck up, dead beat," Edhas said, waking Ryan up.

'What crawled up your asshole and died?' Ryan dragged himself out of bed, cracking his neck and his back.

"Nothing really," Edhas said with a sigh. "I just don't want to hear your bitching and moaning when you're late for work."

'Fair enough,' Ryan heaved a large sigh. 'Let's get this over with.'

-

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan said as he opened the door. He never got used to walking in the KFP. No matter how many times he did it, it always put a huge smile on his face.

"Hey!" Kiara chirped, eating a fried chicken leg. "How did you sleep?"

"I'm a bit sore for some reason, but otherwise I'm alright," Ryan heaved a sigh. "You know, I missed it back when days were eventful."

"Ever since I've gotten permission to come back to this dimension after dying (read: KFP Chapter 29), I've been hoping cooler would happen," Kiara said. "I don't have to worry about dying anymore."

"I have a feeling that my ability to cheat death has run out," Ryan grumbled. "I mean, Uruha-san could revive me if I died."

"You know, if you revived, I wouldn't come back with you," Edhas said. "I have too much magic power to bring back. The only other people that can't come back are Shade and YAGOO."

'Well that blows,' Ryan thought. Despite the banter he had with his other half, he could barely remember what life was like without. He felt inseparable to Edhas and he was truly a part of Ryan.

"You know I can hear your thoughts," Edhas said smugly, giving Ryan a mental nudge.

'Since when were you able to do that?' Ryan asked. He knew Edhas could read his mind, but he didn't know Edhas can convey things other than just words.

"There are a lot of things I can do but don't care to," Edhas replied. "Better watch your ass, loser."

'Whatever,' Ryan thought before remembering he was in the middle of a conversation. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"Nope," Kiara shook her head, "but you haven't changed yet."

"Oh, my bad," With a bit of magic channeled outwards, he was in his uniform. "I still can't get over how convenient magic is."

"Yeah, yeah, now get behind the counter before I send you to the Usual Room," Kiara said.

"Yes Tenchou," Ryan said stiffly before dashing to his manager's side. He has yet to find out what the Usual Room is and he has absolutely no intentions of finding out after Amelia told him that the Usual Room footage is how Kiara deals with the dark web.

"Morning," Ryan turned to the door to see Sabrina walking in. "Just a heads up, Ironmouse is coming back."

"Oh shit," Ryan groaned, his palm quickly connecting with his face.

"What did you expect? For her to show up once and never come back again?" Sabrina shook her head with a mixture of disappointment and pity.

"I hoped that was the case, but I see that it isn't," Ryan sighed.

"I don't think she's that bad," Kiara said, causing her to get confused looks from both Ryan and Sabrina. "She reminds me of me whenever Calli is in the room."

"That's fair," Ryan sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm back!" Ironmouse crashed through the door, an excited look on her face. "And I brought a friend with me!"

"Hello!" A girl with multicolored hair and ocean blue eyes walked in. Ryan noticed her movements were stiff and inconsistent, as if she was still getting used to her body.

"That girl," Edhas said with a suspicious tone. "She's using one of Reporter's new magical androids. Reporter shouldn't have finished preparing those for at least a couple more days."

'Reporter is making magical androids?' Ryan asked. So that's what he's been up to.

"Welcome back," Ryan gave Ironmouse his best customer support smile before turning to the girl. "My name is Ryan Shade. What's yours?"

"You can call me Melody!" The girl said with an enthusiastic voice. "Mousey here has told me a lot about you."

"You probably shouldn't believe a word she says about me," Ryan said. "She probably heavily exaggerates things."

"There's nothing I need to exaggerate about those abs-,"

"That's enough from you," Ryan cut in quickly. How was she even able to see those? Ryan almost never took off his shirt, only doing so when he absolutely needed to.

"She may or may not have followed you home the other day," Edhas said.

'And you didn't tell me?!' Ryan exclaimed in his head, genuinely betrayed.

"What? I thought it would make things interesting if I didn't tell you," Edhas said innocently.

'Whatever,' Ryan sighed. There wasn't anything he could do about it, so he just let it go. "What would you like to eat?"

"I'll just have some pancakes," Melody said, taking a seat. "I don't know if this android body needs food, but pancakes are amazing."

"I still have that bowl of pink starburst that I prepared before you left if you want that," Kiara said to Ironmouse.

"Pretty please?!" Ironmouse instantly directed her attention to Kiara.

"Sure," Kiara smiled at the small demon girl. "I'll make the pancakes too while I'm at it."

"Wait-," Ryan extended a hand towards his manager, but she was already gone. "Whatever."

"Hey Ryan," Sabrina caught his attention. "Are you getting a bad feeling about something?"

"Not really, but Edhas has been in a pissy mood since this morning," Ryan said.

"That's because something bad is going to happen," Edhas said, a slight growl in his voice. "I have a really bad feeling."

-

"Do you know how long you're able to hold on?" Grimm asked as he channeled magic into Storm's body, trying to ward off the entity who was trying to possess his body.

"Probably a week at most," Storm grunted, looking visibly strained as his black eye flickered white. "What are we going to do when it takes over?"

"I'm sure Edhas has a plan," Grimm assured his friend. "For now, all we can do is hope."

-

'I'm sure it's nothing,' Ryan waved Edhas off as Kiara came back with a large stack of pancakes and a bowl of pink starburst.

"How are you even able to cook things so quickly?" Ryan asked as Kiara placed the food on the counter.

"Magic phoenix fire," Kiara answered simply.

"Makes sense," Ryan sighed. "I think."

"Ah, these taste even better in real life!" Melody exclaimed. "Makes me wonder about other things…"

"Break room's off limits," Ryan said instantly. He's already had enough of Kiara and Calli going at it in the room where he eats Oreos and he was not about to let whatever Melody was thinking about to destroy his sanctuary.

"Boo," Ironmouse said through a mouthful of pink starburst. "I can bang my hot robot wife wherever I want to."

"Only I get to bang my wife in my break room," Kiara said firmly. "I might let Ryan use it once he gets a girlfriend… or boyfriend. I won't judge."

"Very bold of you to assume I'm going to get a partner," Ryan said.

"Yeah," Edhas knew he couldn't be heard, but couldn't help but add his two cents in. "Even I'm starting to give up on the poor sod. He's probably going to die alone."

'Can it,' Ryan grumbled. "Wait, what even was the point of visiting again?"

"Beats me," Melody and Ironmouse said at the same time, causing Sabrina to facepalm.

-

Flare sighed as she walked into the café, looking around. She was here to meet a friend, but she was kind of ticked off that she was dragged off to the café because she wanted to go on a date with Noel.

"Flare-chan!" Flare turned her head to see a demon girl with wavy, purple hair and amethyst eyes waving at her. Flare walked over and sat down on the seat across from her, eyeing the large glass of beer that was resting on the table.

"I thought we were going out for coffee," Flare said. "Seriously, Mary-san. You need to work on your alcohol intake."

"It's fine!" The demon girl, Mary, waved the elf off as she took a large gulp of booze. "So, do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"I just thought you wanted to hang out," Flare said. "Speaking of hanging out, where's Patra-chan?"

"She's out doing… whatever," Mary said, a slight slur in her voice. "But that doesn't really matter! I heard Kiara-chan and Senchou-chan were trying to hook up some guy?"

"Marine-chan told me all about it," Flare shook her head, remembering the pirate retelling the events that happened that day. She was thankful she wasn't invited. I think I owe Noe-chan an extra bowl of gyudon.

"Who is he? What's he like?" Mary asked, an eager expression on her face. "Maybe he'll finally be the one. Knowing my luck, he's probably just another deadbeat."

"I'm sure you've heard of him somewhere," Flare couldn't help but pity Ryan's newfound fame. He seemed like a very introverted individual. He seemed fine with talking to the many members of Hololive, but Flare could tell he could be very nervous and uncomfortable when talking to anyone else. "Kiara-chan was trying to find a girlfriend for her employee, Ryan Shade."

"Oh him?!" Mary exclaimed before giggling slightly. "He's not bad. Maybe I should stop by the KFP myself. Senchou-chan said they had good booze."

"Mary-san, your health," Flare said, a genuinely concerned look on her face.

"I'll be fine!" Mary said, putting a hand on Flare's shoulder. "Anyways, how are things with Noel-chan going?"

"I was going to go on a date with her if it weren't for you," Flare said sternly.

"Oh, maybe I can come with you!" Mary said. "Noel-chan can be really good at flirting when she wants to be. Maybe I can ask for some tips."

"Ryan," Flare rubbed her temples. "I hope you're ready for what's going to come."

-

As Ryan entered his apartment, a shudder went down his spine. 'Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?'

"Because something is, dipshit," Edhas said.

'No,' Ryan shook his head. 'I feel as if my chastity is in danger.'

"Well, if you're technically using my body, then-,"

'I refuse to let you finish that thought,' Ryan thought to himself, physically hitting his bed before flopping on his bed. 'Seriously, what has my life become?'