a normal, completely legal visit to an old friend's house

“I didn’t know the buses went out that far.”

“You’d be surprised! Though, for routes that far out, there usually only run once a day.”

Sele groaned.

“Why did you even want to go out there, anyways? You’ve heard me say that Velvet is kind of a dolt, and I thought demons made you nervous.”

“Because maybe Velvet’s caretaker would know something? We’re kind of stuck with no leads here, and that connection you drew between Velvet’s caretaker and the illustration in the book has been literally all we’ve got.”

“I’m trying to tell you, babe – if demons freak you out, you’re not going to like the demon that Velvet lives with.”

“Don’t call me babe.” Jackal huffed.

“And, I guess that’s why you’re coming along. You’re good at charming them, aren’t you?”

Jackal’s soft rejection of Sele’s petname stung a bit, but she was already too frustrated to hang on it for too long.

“I’m telling you, she’s-”

Sele was cut off by the bus pulling up.

With a sigh, Sele followed Jackal as she motioned to get on the bus – neither of them paid the fare, and the two sat next to each other.

Initially, Sele was keen on just idly distracting herself on her phone after the argument she’d had with Jackal, but the bus ride seemed to be much longer than she’d anticipated. It’d been forever since she left the Dirge district after all, so it was a bit hard to remember the true distance between the inner city and that specific area of the outskirts.

The warmth of the bus was a bit intoxicatingly cozy, and Sele couldn’t help but lay her head on Jackal’s shoulder a bit as she drifted off from the atmosphere.

Thankfully, it was shortly after she’d decided to get comfy that the two’s stop was announced, jolting Sele awake before she could properly fall asleep.

Jackal thanked the bus driver, and the two hopped off.

The Dirge district was… just as Sele remembered it. Unsettling, dark, and the haunting melody that the wind made as it blew through the twisted trees was just the same.

“Yeesh, I’m glad that when I got dumped in the outskirts, it wasn’t here of all places.” Jackal shuddered.

“Alright, do you remember where Velvet lived?”

“Unfortunately.” Sele sighed. She pulled her phone back up to try and check the map, but only gave a frustrated groan.

“No fucking reception?! I would’ve thought they’d at least modernized that here by now!”

“I guess we could always ask around?” Jackal suggested.

“Jackal, nobody lives here. Well, like, they do but… it’s sparse is what I’m saying!” Sele sighed.

“Whatever. The posters at this bus stop literally haven’t changed, somehow, so… I think I know where we are.”

“Alright – you lead the way, then.”

It was nostalgic, but not necessarily a feeling of nostalgia Sele was fond of. A few blocks that way, turn, walk down the unpaved path that way… eventually, the two finally came upon a small house, partially overgrown by the plants in the yard’s garden.

“Well well, this looks cozy! Seems pretty nice for out here.” Jackal remarked, eyeing the home.

“Don’t let it fool you…” Sele replied, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll knock… you may want to stand by a bit, just in case it’s not Velvet who gets the door…”

Jackal nodded, and went to crouch behind one of the well-maintained hedges that surrounded the property’s fence – while Sele let herself past the front picket gate.

With a hesitant deep breath in, Sele knocked on the door… and waited. She waited a bit more, before knocking again… then she rung the doorbell, knocked again, rung the doorbell again… nothing. Sele ultimately gave the front door a kick before letting out a mix of a frustrated yell and a groan.

“...Is everything alright?” Jackal asked, as she peeked out from behind the bushes.

“Nobody’s coming!! The lights are on, and I can hear the doorbell on the other side… just… UGH.” Sele said.

“I’ll bet you ten bucks Velvet is the only one home, just conked the fuck out.”

“Well, let’s solve this problem, then.” Jackal replied, as she got up and approached Sele.

“Does this place have a back door?”

“Mhm, yeah. Why?”

“It’s never wise to break in from the front, after all.”

Sele paused, while Jackal went to follow the stone path that led from the front garden to the back of the house right away.

“Are you SERIOUS?!” Sele called out. She stood firm, but quickly ran to Jackal upon seeing the woman didn’t intend on turning back.

“You’re gonna get both of us torn to shreds!”

“What, says the woman who seemed keen on breaking in to Shuten-doji’s personal quarters? Seriously, I doubt a demon who has an adoration this deep for our kind is anything too worrying.”

Sele stumbled over her words as she tried to form some sort of explanation for Jackal as to why exactly she knew this was a bad idea, but nothing coherent came out.

Still, Sele followed Jackal to the backyard garden, which was the same as she’d ever remembered it to be. There was a quaint outdoor seating area, a hammock and swingset, and an outdoor grill under an awning – which happened to be next to the back door.

Jackal peered through the back door, and while the lights were on, she was given a visual that nobody was there – though she did knock and wait, just to make sure.

Upon receiving no response, Jackal reared back a bit and prepared to charge the door, before Sele caught up to her.

“JACKAL, HOLD IT!!” Sele cried out, stopping Jackal in her tracks.

“Look, if we’re gonna break in, can we at least be… more subtle about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if we break the door down, it’s going to cause a lot of commotion and we’re probably gonna get our asses kicked for the damage. There’s gotta be another way, right?”

Jackal shrugged.

“Well, shit outta luck, unless you happen to have some kind of lockpicking kit with you. I didn’t think we’d be breaking into houses, so I just left mine at home. Besides, I’m a bit rusty with it anyways…”

“Would… these work? Hold on.” Sele said, before proceeding to fumble with her ears a bit – taking them out of their bundled up pigtail position.

In return, Sele extended an open hand to Jackal, which had about 6 bobby pins in it.

“Don’t they use these to pick locks on TV?”

“Well… huh. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try!” Jackal said, a bit baffled.

Jackal grabbed the bobby pins, took two from the pile, and set the rest down on the ground beside her as she crouched in front of the back door.

She bent the pins into the proper position, before promptly getting to work on the door, as Sele watched on.

Jackal looked pretty focused, so Sele say idly by in silence. At least, until…

“Shit!” Jackal exclaimed, recoiling a bit from her position.

“What happened?!” Sele asked.

“I told you, I’m outta practice. The damn thing broke.” Jackal said with a sigh, tossing the two pieces of one of the pins onto the ground.

“Whatever. There’s more pins, I guess.”

Jackal picked up a replacement, and started her second attempt. This time, she got to a point where she thought she’d broken the lock – only for the doorknob’s jiggle in protest to elicit a deeply annoyed sigh.

“Maybe these pins just suck.” Jackal said, tossing the two she was holding to the side and picking up another pair.

“Hey! Don’t use all of them!!” Sele huffed, but Jackal was back to being so focused, she didn’t get a response - so Sele just rolled her eyes and leaned on the grill a bit.

Time ticked by, and though Jackal seemed too intensely focused on brushing up her lockpicking skill to notice, Sele could feel it – the intense, looming feeling of fear and dread settled like a blanket over her shoulders.

“Hey, uh, Jackal?” Sele mumbled in a manner almost uncharacteristic to herself.

“We should… go.”

“I’ve almost got it, shh!!”

“No, uh, I… really, really think we should leave. Like, right now.”

Jackal didn’t respond, until…

“Bingo!” she exclaimed as she heard the click of the door unlocking. Jackal went to turn the knob to open it, but… it seemed to turn open on its own.

Jackal was confused at first, but as her eyes drifted upwards to the figure that had opened that door, she could suddenly understand Sele’s insistence to leave so quickly.

--

A few hours later, Sele and Jackal were waiting at the Dirge district’s bus stop once again – only this time, both of them looked completely and utterly exhausted.

“We are so lucky that Velvet walked in, Jackal. Holy shit.” Sele groaned.

“Yeah, I could feel the demonic rage halfway across the room while Velvet was blabbering on, geez…” Jackal said.

“The worst part is, I don’t think she even realized what her caretaker caught us doing. She was just too happy to see you to care, Sele.”

The bus pulled up, and Jackal took Sele’s hand as the two hopped on together.

“Though… the lockpicking… it gave me a bit of an idea.” Jackal said, suddenly gaining back a sly glint in her eye.

“Hm? About what?”

“So… you know how we’ve been needing a way into that office in the library? I think I have a plan now.”