Chapter 23 : The Hang Out

[Marshy and Duri's house]

Duri, Kazuma, Seven, Nine, Ren-Ren, and Jiyu stopped at Duri's door.

Tek had left before they arrived, he didn't promise he was gonna show up at Duri's house later, he had things to take care of. So coming over was a hard MAYBE.

Before Duri could open it, Marshy had already opened the door wide from the other side.

Marshy was smiling, "Duriiii! And his friends!"

Duri replied, "Marshy…they are not my fri-."

"Nonsense! Come on in, come on in."

Kazuma, Jiyu, Ren-Ren, and Nine walked in first, shocked by the brevity and size of the inside of the house.

Seven asked Marshy, "Do my parents still hate you? And you're okay with me being over here?"

Marshy replied, "No disrespect, Seven, I'm not worried about them. And yes, they still hate me. Of course they do, they're MY rivals."

"Mhmm. That's cool. You're cool by the way."

"Don't gotta tell me twice, I hear it every damn day."

Seven walked into the house, and Marshy and Duri looked at each other.

Duri asked Marshy, "Why are you so happy? You're rarely ever this happy."

"As mothers, it means a lot when they see their children grow. I never really had friends in school, but you do. Which makes me damn happy."

"They're not my friends."

"Sure looks like it."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No no no no."

"If they're not your friends now, they'll be your friends later."

"Doubt it. Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Mm? Oh! This.."

"I'm listening."

Marshy pulled out her phone, and it showed Duri in the arcade dancing against Seven with a bunch of students around them. 

Duri blushed, snatching Marshy's phone away, saying, "Tha-that's not me!"

Marshy responded, "Awwww look at you."

"Stop it. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

"Marshy.."

"I'm kidding I'm kidding, we'll talk about what I wanna talk about later."

"Mm. Okay."

Seconds later, Duri and Marshy were in the house, seeing Seven, Ren-Ren, Nine, Kazuma, and Jiyu walk around looking at the artifacts and cool stuff Marshy had around.

Kazuma and Jiyu were standing near a gold statue of a warrior, and Jiyu said excitedly, "This is a very rare piece! It's so co-cool."

Both of their eyes glittered in awe, gazing at the statue.

Kazuma replied to Jiyu, "So awesome! This statue is a statue of a legendary Titan from the Garden realm! How did she even get a hold of this?"

Marshy walked up to them, and responded, "It was given to me as a gift. By my grandfather, Mifu."

Kazuma and Jiyu asked together, "A gift?"

Marshy held up the statue, saying, "He said he helped forge this statue. Made from the minerals that were inside of a mythical beast."

Kazuma asked, "Coool! Is Mifu from the Garden realm?"

"No. He's from another realm. But he's been to the Garden realm to help out with things, he says."

Kazuma and Jiyu looked at each other, saying, "Her whole family is awesome..!"

Behind Marshy, a few feet away near the other side of the wall, Ren-Ren was staring at a floating sword covered in a white aura.

He said, "Precious…precious sword…I can sense soooo much power…hehe…hehe.."

Ren-Ren was about to touch it, but Duri grabbed Ren-Ren's wrist.

Ren-Ren asked, "Duri..why? Let me touch the sword. I'll be nice to you forever."

Duri responded, "You can't touch that."

"What will happen?"

"You won't be able to wield that thing. It kills whoever tries to handle it. Marshy can only touch it. Yeah, I was surprised that weapons are made like this, seeming like they have a mind of their own. They're called soul weapons. Weapons with mythic powers and abilities by the way if you're too ignorant."

"Mmmm…touch it."

"No. Are you dumb?"

"Whaaat? You might actually be able to wield it."

"I don't need a damn sword. Nope."

"Hmm. You kept me from touching the sword, seems like you were protecting me…FRIEND."

"Definitely was not protecting you."

"Hohhh? Then what was it?"

"I didn't want your brains and body parts splattered around the living room like the last guy did."

"Hehe…blood…I mean um, that actually happened? You actually watched it."

"Yeah I was looking right at him when it happened."

Suddenly, Seven and Nine walked over to them.

Seven said to Duri, "Oi, Duri. You got some pretty cool shit in here, dude."

Duri answered, "Tsk. Glad you like it. It's expected out of us."

Nine added, "I agree, Duri. I don't usually find things amusing, just boring. But this is like a museum of things I can steal and sell to some kingpins around the world for a little extra cash."

Duri responded, "Really? Then you can start with the floating sword in front of us."

Ren-Ren smiled, and said to Nine, "Yeah, go ahead. Grab it. It'll sell insanely well…hehe..hehe.."

Nine pretended like she was gonna touch it, but then she moved her hand away, "Yeah I ain't falling for that ya damn murderers. I heard you two a few seconds ago talking about this thing. You were actually gonna let me touch it, huh?"

Ren-Ren said, "Yes."

Duri said, "50-50 chance you'll survive anyway. But if I let you touch it, Marshy will get mad at me."

Out loud, Jiyu asked Marshy, "Um..Marshy? I-I know we should start studying in a little bit, but c-can we have a tour around the house? I-I'm such a big fan. Sorry I stutter a lot, it happens when I'm re-really nervous."

Marshy grinned, "Sure thing. That's if the others don't mind."

Marshy and Jiyu looked over at everyone else.

Kazuma said, "Yes! Let's do it!"

Ren-Ren replied, "My villain checklist: Take a tour and scope out a Hosts house to gain intel, check. I'm down. Let's do it!"

Nine said, "Shiiiit let's go! I'm tryna see some more loot!"

Duri said, "Marshy."

Seven was looking at her phone, and she said to everyone, "You guys can go ahead. My dad is calling me for whatever nerd ass reason."

Marshy answered, "That's fine, Seven. Tell him I said hi."

Seven replied with a natural grin, "Very funny, haha. I'll tell him to send you a letter."

Seven responded, "Very funny. Alright guys, let's start this tour thing or whatever."

Marshy and the others started to walk through a large hallway, and Marshy closed her eyes. She began to speak telepathically to Duri, saying, 'Duri. Keep Seven company. It's not that I think she'll steal anything, it's just that…you DURI…should NEVERRR leave a girl by herself when it's her first time over. Got it? Good.'

Duri replied, 'You look happy…too happy..it's kinda creeping me out. Usually you're nonchalant and sarcastic, but now…'

'I'm happy. That's all you need to know. Have fun!'

Duri sighed, and he thought to himself, 'She's…really happy. The smile on her face…she's really happy right now. Is it because she actually thinks these are my friends? Did she really not have friends when she was in school? Damn. Seven stepped outside to talk on the phone, guess I'll sit down and wait. I want to train right now, but Marshy will drag my ass outta there in a heartbeat. What the hell will I even talk about with Seven? I don't know how to start conversations with girls. Not at all. I'll just wing it.'

Outside of the house, Seven was leaning against the wall, on the phone with her father.

Seven was saying, "Well that's what mom said…yeah okay…yeah I know they rescheduled the exams for tomorrow morning…..you asked where am I?...I'm at a friend's house studying for algebra homework….no it's not a boy's house..please stop being an overprotective dad..it's fine, I'm fine..I can handle myself…"

Duri sat down on the couch, and pulled out his phone. He went onto the Bloggerz, and he checked his profile. He saw he had gained 10,000 followers in the past day, making his total follower count as 70k.

Duri said, "Imagine."

'I always wanted to try this..'

Duri looked left and right to make sure no one was watching him. He aimed his phone slightly upward, showing his face only in the camera. He took a picture of his bruised face, and posted it on Bloggerz, with a caption saying, "Fuck."

In a matter of seconds, the post was getting hundreds upon hundreds of likes. 

And there were comments under the post, saying:

"Oooo! Duri posted!"

"Finally he posted!"

"birthmark boy. looks like he got beat up. not so strong huh?"

"Duri is always fighting, such a badass."

"Duri I will pay you to beat up my bully at my school. I'm only 13 but I got some change."

"Duri actually posted! We all know the news is gonna cover this."

"He's gonna be so good in the exams tomorrow! Good luck Duri!"

"Can't believe they actually changed the exam day for tomorrow.."

"Duri! Glad to finally see you've finally posted something. Me and my partner have tried texting you through the app but you never responded, I can just imagine how many messages you get a day. But I'm a reporter by the name of Jin, and my partner's name is Mara. We are the ones who got footage of your fight against that Yoshida man in the mountains. We would love to have an interview with you. We left our contact number in your inbox."

"Duri is just another bloodthirsty kid with anger issues that's always getting into fights, and everyone is treating him like a damn king. He's not even all that."

"People are overrating Duri too much. He's just a violent kid. Nothing else."

Duri was about to type something disrespectful and very threatening, until Seven's voice behind him said, "That looks painful."

Duri put his phone down quickly and stood up. 

Duri said, "Why are you sneaking up on me? You almost got your face ripped off."

Seven replied with a smile, "Then I'd have to rip your face off first then, hm? How did you like that ninja stealth approach though? My moves are crazy as hell, not gonna lie."

"Okay, we get it, you're a badass. Is that what you wanna hear?"

Duri thought, 'I didn't notice her behind me, I was distracted heavily. But it's still impressive how I didn't detect her. Now I just gotta think about a conversation. Think…think…think..'

Duri fixed his posture, put his phone in his pocket, and asked, "You see my fight against Yoshida?"

Seven stared at Duri, then began chuckling.

Duri asked, "Did I say something funny? Why are you laughing?"

Seven responded, "Haha! I was just thinking about the serious look on your face before you passed out out there! You were like, 'Grrrr grrr I'm angrrrry!' And then, bam. Night time. HAHA! Good times, man."

Duri chuckled a little bit, but he stopped himself a millisecond later.

Duri said, "W-well, you'd be the same way if you were in that position."

"Hahah. Whooo. Alright alright, I'm done laughing. Tell me something, Duri."

"What?"

"If you could guess your power level…what number would you put yourself at?"

Duri took a few seconds to respond, then said, "Walk and talk. I get frigid when I'm asked a question like that while standing still."

Duri and Seven were walking down the 20 foot tall hallway with red carpet and paintings on the wall.

Duri said to Seven, "I would put myself at 7 million."

"The confidence is definitely oozing out of you. That's almost halfway close to the Seven strongest Hosts."

"Hehh? Then what about you? What's your power level?"

"Low."

"What is it?"

"Ugh…100 thousand."

"That's not bad I guess. You think you can beat me inna fight?"

"I'll definitely win, no doubt. I could probably beat a man with a power level of 400,000. It's not just about the strength and levels, but it depends on your IQ, it depends on how smart you use the powers within you."

"...Marshy told me the same thing. The same exact shit."

"Lemme guess, you don't care?"

"I don't give a damn, no."

Seven laughed again, and said, "Damn, you're just like Marshy. Are you sure she isn't your real mom?"

"...You know I'm adopted?"

"Who doesn't? But you two do kinda resemble each other though."

"People say that too much."

"In all seriousness, any luck on finding out who your real parents are?"

"Not a lot, no. The only thing I've figured out is that my mother must've been of Titan and human descent, since I already know my father was a Shadow human hybrid."

"Damnnn all these hybrids, no wonder you fight like you do."

"Yep. Be impressed."

"HA! I am. But I'm not like all these other people that worship your ass."

"Whatever. So what are your parents like? I know Marshy and your mom and dad are rivals and can't stand each other. What's the deal with them?"

"Oh, they've been rivals since they were in school together. My father once did have a secret crush on my mom, but my mom didn't like it. She was jealous of Marshy, and they competed in everything. My mom saw my dad letting Marshy borrow his homework, and my mom got mad and got with my dad's friend. Since then, they've all butted heads."

"So how the hell did your dad end up marrying your mom?"

"They apologized to each other after a few drinks if you know what I mean."

"Oh, gotcha gotcha. I also heard they used to be Hosts."

"Yeah they were. Now I wish they were back to being Hosts. They went all spec ops mode now which is making them PARANOID. PARANOID AS HELL."

"Damn. Sorry, I guess?"

"Haha, don't be. They're extremely overprotective, I have to remind them almost every day I can handle myself. Like dude, let me be a damn teenager. The hell? They don't even like me dressing like a boy sometimes. It's not my fault I like boys' outfits."

"Pay me 500 million yen I'll dispose of them real fast."

"Are you serious?"

"No. Thats fucked up. What's wrong with you?"

"You weren't serious? Aww man. I was gonna take you up on that offer."

"What the hell?"

Seven laughed again, "HA! I'm kidding, idiot! So dumb. So stupid."

"You're the dumbass, shut up."

"Mhmmmm. I know you have a training room somewhere in this big ass house. Take me to it."

"Why should I do that? Why WOULD I do that?"

"Because I asked. And no one has ever turned down a request by me."

"Oh yeah? Well I am. No. You're not seeing it."

"What if I wanna fight you in there?"

Duri grinned, "Oh hell yeah let's go then. Don't mind the blood stains on the wall, those belong to me."

Seven said in a sarcastic way, "Ooo I'm so scared. Damn all of that. My training room has blood on the walls too. Yeah, fear me asshole."

"I can't wait to cave that pretty ass head in."

"Aww you called me pretty."

"Shut up or I'll start blasting now in this damn hallway."

On the other side of the house, Marshy was showing Kazuma, Ren-Ren, Jiyu, and Nine the second living room, which had a lot of cool glowing artifacts, game systems and giant TV's on the wall, and a kitchen.

Kazuma exclaimed, "This is sickkkk!"

Jiyu smiled, "My life feels so complete..I'm inside of Host Marshy's house!"

Ren-Ren said, "This is all exceptional. I shall add these things to my checklist for my villain base when I get to building it. Hehe…hehe…"

Nine was speeding around with her hands in her pockets, saying to each object and artifact she saw, "This one's cute. This one would sell. This one would definitely sell for a lot of cash. I wonder if Marshy would let me borrow this. Ooo, this would look badass on my mma gloves. Oi, Marshy, can I borrow this or what?"

Marshy answered, "Got 80 million yen?"

"No but.."

"Yeah hell no."

Kazuma and Jiyu were standing near a white boiler suit that was hanging on the wall. Staring right at it.

Jiyu said, "This…this is.."

Kazuma asked, "I bet this suit shoots out rockets or summons beasts!"

"This is.."

Marshy walked beside them, saying, "Yes. That was your folks suit that they had made for me. No offense, your family is full of tech nerds. But they helped me out a lot when I first got here. This suit made me go invisible for a while, until I got enough power to go invisible on my own."

Jiyu's cheeks went red, "Gasp! Really?!!!"

"Yes. I take it that you like to create some science nerd shit too."

"I doooo! I'm so happy! So so so so happy!"

There was a ring at the doorbell, and the door was a few feet from everyone. 

Nine said, "Oh! I'll get it!"

Marshy answered, "No it's fine. I got it. It must be the pizza."

Ren-Ren and Kazuma exclaimed happily together, "Pizza?!"

Marshy opened the door, and the person standing there…was Tek. 

Marshy said, "Dammit. I thought you were the pizza guy. I know you. You're Tekeshi. A young prodigy. I know your badass parents too. Come in."

"Yokai."

Tek walked inside, and the pizza man was standing there holding four boxes of pizzas.

The pizza man said, "How are you guys doing?"

Marshy sniffed a few times, then she turned to everyone, saying, "Guys I'll be RIGHT back, okay?"

Everyone besides Tek, replied, "Okay!"

Marshy stepped outside with a smile on her face, holding the pizza man by the collar of his shirt.

He looked at her real nervous, but he was grinning a little because he thought Marshy was gonna kiss him.

Marshy continued to smile, and then they vanished.

A second later, they appeared in the sky, floating up there, and Marshy was dangling the pizza man by the leg.

The man exclaimed, "What are you-what are you doing?!"

Marshy answered with a sinister tone, "You brought the wrong pizza. I wanted two cheese pizzas, one hamburger, and one pepperoni pizza. And you brought the ones with the nasty vegetables on it. My baby Duri and his sweet friends are dying of hunger. Go back and go get the right pizza or I will turn you into a flat pizza. You got eight minutes."

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the wrong order!"