A Devilish Detour
Tokoyami Towa was having the most unlucky day a devil could imagine. After sleeping through her alarm, she had shambled out of bed only to be confronted by a water leak on her apartment floor. Trudging outside, she realized at the last second she had walked to the wrong bus stop and quickly sprinted back the way she came. Now, soaked with sweat and bereft of breakfast, she flailed wildly to get the bus’s attention, and by some miracle was able to flag it down. Flopping her haggard body in an empty seat, Towa had barely a moment to relax before her phone rang. Picking it up, an irate, high pitched voice began admonishing her.
“Towaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Nene squealed, “Where are you?! Recording was supposed to start 10 minutes ago!”
Towa sighed heavily, “I’m sorry, there were a lot of complications this morning. But I’m almost there, just sit tight for a bit, okay?”
Nene’s voice softened, seemingly mollified. “Well…okay, I’ll be waiting outside when you get here, see you soon!” Returning her phone to her pocket, Towa closed her eyes in exhaustion. At the very least she would be there soon, if a little late.
As if on cue, the bus made a horrible sputtering noise and stopped in its tracks. As it lurched, Towa was jostled from her seat. “Aw shoot...looks like a fuse blew,” the kindly driver announced, “No worries folks, this will only take a few minutes.” Towa grinded her teeth. She didn’t have a moment to spare, much less a few minutes. Picking herself up, she hopped off of the bus and arrived at an extremely busy crossing. Checking her phone, Towa saw that there was a taxi pick up spot on the other end of the crossing. If she could just get over there she could get a taxi to the studio. All she had to do was…get through the crowds.
The sea of pedestrians going to and fro seemed to stretch on forever. Every businessman, office lady, and wannabe mobster was rushing to get home, their next appointment, or any number of other destinations. Everyone was in a hurry, but surely someone would be courteous and let a strapping young devil girl in?
“Ummm…excuse me? Could I just? I just need to get…would you kindly…” Try as she might, Towa could not find an opening, and none among the hordes of people had the decency to acknowledge her existence. “Hey…I really need…would you just…LET ME IN!” An assertive attempt to break through earned Towa a shoulder check from a cold-faced office worker, one who simply melted back into the crowd without so much as a finger wag from anyone else. Picking herself back up, Towa clenched her fists in frustration. Fine, if they wouldn’t let her in, she would simply go through them. Calmly stepping back towards the crowd, a purple aura began to envelope her.
The throngs of pedestrians continued unabated, a seemingly never-ending orderly march. That was until a stylish black sneaker descended from the heavens and slammed straight into the middle of a dense group of people. Those caught under its sole were flattened instantly, a spray of viscera and blood soaking those just fortunate enough to not end up under the shoe. The crowds had no time to take this in before a second shoe slammed down with equally gruesome results. The entire crossing stood deathly still as every person present craned their necks upward to look at the owner of the sneakers. A pale skinned devil girl sporting long, purple twintails now towered over them, her spiky tail swishing impatiently. She had a look of utter impatience and indifference as she gazed ahead, completely uninterested in the countless humans at her feet. And worse of all, she was not going to be waiting for the crowds to get out of her way.
A wave of pandemonium erupted over the crossing as every pedestrian’s focus shifted from their mundane responsibilities to simple survival. While Towa would have liked nothing more than for the humans below her to save her the time and simply disperse, the chaos and single-mindedness of each person resulted in the throngs of jostling, panicking people to form a living carpet in front of her. Not that it mattered, either way she was getting to where she needed to be.
Every step Towa took added a litany of pops, crunches, and squelches to the chorus of screams. Left in her wake were footprints splattered with blood and viscera, a few mangled remains and articles of clothing all that was left of their former owners. “Ugh...why do they have to be so messy..” The devil for her part proceeded at a relatively leisurely pace. Despite her need to reach the studio quickly, her massive size gave her a very impressive stride even while walking, and she assessed it was better to save her energy for the recording than waste it running.
Finally arriving at the taxi stop, Towa sized up her options. While she could try and wait for a taxi, all of the ones that had been idle had been taken up by people fleeing from her. To make matters worse, the streets themselves were now clogged with throngs of pedestrians who had escaped the crossing and had brought traffic to a standstill. No, continuing on foot was the best option, and with that Towa strided into the roadway.
The devil’s arrival signaled a symphony of honking, yelling, and wailing to commence from the bumper to bumper traffic, many of which were swiftly silenced as Towa’s blood-caked sneakers fell upon their vehicles. The metal frames of the cars fared little better than the fleshy bodies of the humans, Towa’s steps reducing each one to a metal pancake, their paintjobs replaced with the scarlet remains of their occupants. As before, Towa paid little heed to those in her path, the pops of humans and grinding of metal a passing sensation to her. That was until something caught her eye. A motorist had seemingly abandoned all decency and had begun to drive on the sidewalk, his desperation to escape overriding his respect for his common man. Witnessing this, Towa’s eyes narrowed. More than anything she despised injustice and those who treated others poorly. Her prey squarely in her sights, she shifted her speed to a casual jaunt.
The ignoble driver soon realized the twin-tailed devil was targeting him, and frantically attempted to pick up the pace. Alas for him, even with a straight shot Towa’s ponderous stride was more than enough to catch up with him. Before he could attempt to switch tactics, a massive black sneaker slammed down in front of him. Skidding at the last moment, his car impacted the shoe and came to a stop. Elegant fingers decorated with purple and yellow nail polish wrapped around his car. The driver felt a jolt as he was hoisted into the air, and soon found himself face to face with Towa, her face now red with indignation.
“Hey! Who do you think you are?!” the devil boomed, then sheer ferocity of her voice caused the man to grip his ears in pain. “What gives you the right to put people in danger like that?! Answer me!” The irony of the situation was completely lost on the devil, although perhaps to her she was above the same morals she was now enforcing on the driver. Regardless, the man’s terrified stuttering proved an insufficient answer for Towa. Her fingers tightened around the vehicle as the driver desperately attempted to open the door and escape. Scoffing softly, Towa crushed the car like a soda can, the driver oozing out between her fingers. Tossing the mangled wreck aside, Towa continued on her way.
However no sooner had she dealt with one roadblock she faced another. A squad of police vehicles had set up a barricade near the end of the roadway and had quickly deployed to ambush the approaching monster. The troopers’ determination soon turned to dread as they witnessed her advance. The calm, almost whimsical look on her face contrasted completely with the indifference with which she trampled on the screaming throngs of people below her. But the troopers knew they were all that stood between her and the city, and thus stood their ground. As Towa approached, they opened fire, their bullets bouncing pitifully off of the devil’s smooth, pale skin. She didn’t even spare them a glance as she plowed through their barricade, one squad car pancaked under her right foot and another receiving an accidental kick from her left. This latter squad car spun several yards down the road before impacting an abandoned semi-truck. The driver of the car was knocked out cold, and his companion attempted desperately to free him from the vehicle and carry him to safety. But this was in vain, as the monstrous girl soon was upon them. Closing her eyes and accepting her fate, the officer was instead greeted by absolute stillness. Opening her eyes in apprehension, she glanced behind only to see the sight of Towa continuing on her way, the officer of so little concern to the massive devil that she had not even paused for an instant.
Reaching the end of the street, Towa now encountered an elevated train track that stood at about stomach level. Checking her phone, she saw that the studio was just slightly down the road and across from the tracks. Rather than waste any more time dealing with pedestrians and their tin cans, the now extremely tardy devil climbed on top of the tracks, reasoning that just a quick jaunt on them would save her a good chunk of time.
Yet again the obnoxiousness of the humans proved her wrong, as just as soon as she stepped on the tracks she heard a train speeding towards her from behind. Thoroughly annoyed and not wanting to waste the effort to stop the train, Towa hopped onto the adjacent track. Alas, the massive vtuber appearing in his path had spooked the driver of the train enough to engage the emergency brake, causing it to screech to a halt next to Towa. But as if to further taunt the twin-tailed devil, a second train coming the opposite direction appeared in the distance. Towa sighed in frustration. It seemed that no matter what she did, these humans seemed intent on ending up as a smear under her sneakers. Well, if that’s what they wanted so bad, she was more than happy to oblige.
Standing her ground, Towa met the approaching train with an upturned sneaker. It too slammed on its brakes, coming to a gentle stop as Towa pushed her foot against it. The passenger train was roughly 12 cars long, with each car roughly as long as her foot. Sizing up her captive audience, Towa flashed a devious smile.
Those inside the train waited with baited breath, unsure of what was happening and why they had stopped. They received their answer as Towa’s behemoth sneaker slammed down on the lead engine, crumpling it like a paper cup. The train erupted into panic as the passengers attempted to flee to the furthest back cars, the corridor that ran through the train offering a clear view of Towa’s approaching foot. While the passengers were able to empty out the first car or two, the tight lanes of the train cars and the disorderly movements of the riders caused several stragglers to lag behind the main group. Thus as Towa reached the third car, the usual crunch of metal was joined by a handful of pops and squishes, which only increased as she moved further down. Those stuck in the train on the other track were treated to a daunting sight: a young devil girl with her hands on her hips, slowly walking one foot at a time, heel to toe, every step pulverizing a car of the adjacent train. This captive audience caught glimpses of the terrified, fleeing occupants of the other train, the unlucky ones who stumbled or fell behind snuffed out along with the entire train car they occupied.
As Towa reached the last few cars, the number of fleeing passengers in each one steadily increased. These last few cars were packed so full that crushing them was akin to stomping on a packet of ketchup. Finally, Towa reached the final car, the opposite engine of the once luxurious train.
Ripping the train car off its tracks, Towa gave it a shake, the muffled noises and thudding sounds confirming it was positively packed with passengers. She considered throwing it, or maybe even simply setting it down and going on her merry way. Then, her rumbling stomach answered her question for her. Towa groaned and looked at the train car with apprehension. She greatly disliked resorting to “emergency food,” typically finding it unsightly. But she hadn’t eaten all day, and a bit of protein would do wonders for the long recording session she had scheduled. Ripping the door off the train car like the pull ring off a can of tuna, Towa brought it close to her face. The terrified occupants were greeted by the sight of a massive green eye which, upon confirming their freshness, pulled back to reveal the elegant face of their devil girl captor. Licking her lips in anticipation, Towa leaned her head back, and opened her mouth wide. The passengers’ attempts to cling to anything in the train car were in vain, as a few shakes by Towa was more than enough to send them plummeting into the devil girl’s awaiting maw. Rolling her prey over a few times in her mouth, Towa swallowed. Not the worst taste in the world, but she would definitely be getting Nene to treat her to some barbeque later. Crushing the empty car in her hand, she tossed it aside as she hopped off the train tracks, her destination in sight.
An exhausted sound engineer exited the Cover studio and fished his keys out of his pocket. Another long day of recording and editing music videos had left him drained, but it was finally time for him to make his way home. Walking up to his car, his water bottle adorned with Towa stickers fell from his full arms and clunked onto the ground. Bending down to retrieve it, the worker felt a series of powerful shakes approaching him, followed by the crashing sound of his oshi’s foot pancaking his car. Staring in a daze as the titanic form of Towa passed over him, the engineer watched as she shrunk down and an ornery blonde girl ran up to her.
“Towa?! Where have you been! The crew is about to leave!” Nene howled in agitation.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Getting here was…well, a bit of a hassle.” Towa rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “But hey, don’t worry about it! Let’s get this show on the road!”
Sighing and shaking her head, Nene followed Towa inside, with the two resuming their normal conversation as the engineer continued to stare in awe.
“Hey Towa, what the heck happened to your shoes! They’re filthy!”
“Oh uhhh…it’s a long story.”
“Tell me I wanna hear!”
“Well, it kinda started when I went to the wrong bus station and…”
As the girls faded behind the doors of the studio, the engineer took one final look at what was once his ride home. Maybe going on foot wouldn’t be such a bad idea.