Chapter 2 - Mamodaku and Humanaku

Kiyo had set aside about half of his lunch on the rooftop of the school. He tapped his chopsticks together a few times and began shoveling white rice into his mouth. He stopped for a minute to catch his breath and scanned the area. Yakune was nowhere in sight, and he was a little disappointed. Kiyo took another mouthful of rice and chewed it up slowly before swallowing hard. He rested his elbow on his knee and pressed his cheek against his palm. He brought it away not two seconds later.
“Wha…?” Kiyo’s cheek had been hot, and he was surprised to feel it so flushed. Something had made him burn with a red-hot intensity, and he had no idea what. At the same time, his chest began to ache. He dropped his lunch and spilled white rice everywhere, clutching his shirt. He panted heavily as a strong pain shot through his heart. He cringed. Something was hurting him, and he had no idea what.
“What is…this disease?” he managed to murmur. He suddenly fell to his knees and almost lost consciousness. The horror of a sudden pain was almost too much for him to handle. It was not like he was Zatch and did not get sick, but he had no idea what he had suddenly contracted.
In an instant, the pain disappeared, and Kiyo was able to stand up straight as if nothing had happened. He rubbed his chest for a moment but felt nothing. He lifted his shirt a little, but there were no scars across his torso. He rubbed his head, and it felt normal. Even his cheek was no longer flushed, and his body temperature was normal.
“What was that?” he asked no one. He could only look at the surrounding area and shake his head. “Bizarre…but I should stay more on my guard and head to the doctor after school.” He evened out his shirt and sat back down on the bench.
Suddenly, Kiyo heard a long stream of footsteps from behind the door to the upper floor of the school. He jerked his head towards it, hoping to see his guest. When she opened the door, Kiyo could not help but blush slightly. Yakune looked pretty when she ran.
“I’m sorry…I’m late…” she panted. “I was meeting someone for a little while. We ended up talking longer than I had expected.” She smoothed out her dress and walked properly over to Kiyo. Kiyo stood up and offered his seat to her.
“You look wasted,” he commented. “Sit down.” Yakune sat down reluctantly and looked at the box of food sitting next to her. Her eyes widened, and she was almost afraid to speak after seeing it.
“You saved that all…for me??” she asked, stunned. Kiyo nodded and started shoveling white rice down his throat. Yakune took the box with shaky hands and picked up the pair of chopsticks lying on top. She clicked them together once and slowly started tasting the food. It was delicious.
Without a warning, Yakune began to cry. Kiyo perked up from his meal to see a few tears stream down her face, and he immediately became concerned. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “It doesn’t taste good?”
“I haven’t eaten anything…” Yakune began, “…so delicious in a long time.”
“What about meals at home?”
“I don’t get any.”
“What?”
Kiyo stood up in front of Yakune and put on an angry face. “Your folks don’t give you the proper food you need? What kind of family is that!?”
“No, you don’t understand.” Yakune shuffled in her spot for a moment before finally explaining her story to Kiyo. “I just mean…I’m a foreign exchange girl. I’m here…but I come from a place where people don’t exactly trust me or treat me all that well. So…I’m really not used to someone’s kindness. I mean, sure, there’s the host family I’m living with, but we all haven’t sat down to eat a meal yet. The parents are nowhere to be found, and my temporary sister is rarely home. Just once…I’d like to sit down and eat dinner with them like a normal family. You know, everyone gets together and talks about how days went and laughs and share stories.”
Kiyo rolled his eyes. He had no idea what Yakune was talking about. His father was gone off in England or God-knows-where. His mother was still around, but that was not too often. Whenever she was around, she was usually harping on him to get to school and do things right. And then there was Zatch. Oh, how he sometimes hated Zatch. The little demon was just an annoyance to him. Obviously, the family never got a good time together to sit down and eat with each other, but he pretended to go along with what Yakune was saying to make her feel better.
Kiyo sighed and continued shoveling food into his mouth. His rice was finished, and he was moving on to the chicken teriyaki. Yakune took her sweet time with her rice though. She was still working on it when the bell for the next class rang. Kiyo picked up his suitcase and started walking for the door.
“You’ll be okay by yourself?” he asked. Yakune nodded, not looking up from her bowl of rice. Kiyo cocked his head and opened up the door back down to the lower levels of the school. “If you want to eat together again, come up here tomorrow.”
A little while after Kiyo left, Yakune was working on a pile of steamed vegetables. She did not even hear the clack of the latch to the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was standing in the doorway.
“Yakune,” Suzie mumbled, “what was Kiyo doing up here on the roof with you?”
“He gave me half his lunch,” Yakune snapped back. “Is that a problem for you? I mean, you never give me any of your lunch.”
“We just met this morning.”
“So what? I was hungry.”
Suzie stared at Yakune with a tense, angry face. She pouted for a minute and turned away from her. “I think you’ve had your fun as a human,” she finally stated. Yakune’s eyes grew wide.
“Oh no!” she cried. “Please, Suzie, please don’t make me go back the other way! I beg of you! I’m loving my life as a human! Don’t make me turn back into a mam--”
“MAMODAKU!!!”

Brago’s eyes instantly popped open. He sat up straight and scanned the area. Nothing. Yet, he could have sworn he had picked up some sort of mamodo nearby. He scowled at the nothingness of the forest and leaned back against a tree.
“So suddenly,” he muttered, “I felt it…”
“What’s the matter with you, Brago?” Sherry asked, sitting off to the side. She smoothed out her dress and stood up. “You’ve been acting awfully strange lately.”
“I could have sworn I felt the presence of the enemy just now.”
“And?”
“But it just appeared so suddenly. Usually, it grows until it’s nearby. This just came by out of nowhere, and that’s not normal. It’s almost as if a mamodo just appeared.”
Sherry narrowed her eyebrows and began walking out of the forest. “Impossible,” she stated simply. “One hundred mamodos are sent to earth for the battle, no more, no less. There’s no way one could just appear.” She listened as Brago got up from his spot and charged after her.
“Don’t tell me what I already know!” he growled. “I am superior to you, you weak human.” He walked ahead of Sherry without another word until they reached the outside of the forest. Albert was waiting there with the limo, and he opened the door for the two of them to enter. Once inside and in their seats, Brago could not hold back his thoughts any longer.
“Sherry,” he said, “tell your butler to drive us towards that city that holds the child with the red book.”
Sherry gazed at Brago in horror. “Why would you want to do that?” she asked. “We have no more use for Zatch and his human. Not now anyway.”
“I think we do.”
“Why?”
“The presence of the mamodo I sensed came from the same city.”

Zatch was meanwhile on his way home. His feet made little tapping sounds as he ran down the street in his gym bag disguise. Every now and then, his little head popped out to make sure he was going the right way.
“Two more turns…” he began to himself, “and it’s yellowtail for lunch!!” He made a sharp turn and began running past the playground. His eyes peered over the edge of the bag to see all the small children (about his size) playing in different areas of the setting. A pair of girls was on the swings. A few babies babbled gibberish and threw sand in each other’s faces. Some older children (probably pre-school to kindergarteners) hung on the monkey bars. Zatch decided he could fit in a quick game before lunch. He ran out into the grass and threw his bag off.
Suddenly, Zatch heard a familiar sound coming from the nearby bushes. He turned and stared at the plants until a friendly face jumped out of the green shrubs.
“My horsey friend!!” he cheered. “What would you like to play today? We could play tag or stare at the clouds or pick some flowers or whatever!”
Schneider made his usual sounds and then began running in circles around the blonde mamodo. Zatch giggled in delight and began chasing him, deciding tag was a fun game to play. He eventually jumped and grabbed Schneider’s tail, forcing the strange creature to the ground. Schneider laughed in his strange horse-like creature way.
“You’re it now!” Zatch cried. “I bet you can’t catch me!” He started running towards the other end of the playground. Schneider followed close behind but was still no match for the speedy little mamodo.
Zatch soon bumped into something though, causing him to fall backwards. His dress flew up for a moment, and he landed with it over his head. He laughed hysterically.
“It must be later than I thought!” he chuckled. “I wonder if Kiyo is home from school by now.” He took the dress off his head. “Oh! There we go! So I guess it’s still lunch time then.” He smoothed it out and looked at whom he had hit. “Yakune!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon!”
Yakune did not look happy. She wore a sad frown and brushed some of her hair back. Zatch gave her a worried look and put some of the long bangs behind her ears. “Thanks,” Yakune mumbled. She stared off into the sky and sat down in the soft grass. Zatch joined her.
“So what are you doing here?” the blonde mamodo asked. “I thought you were off to the junior high. Or did you finish what you had to do there?”
“I just needed to see my big sister…” Yakune murmured. “That’s all.” Her gaze did not move from the sky. Zatch watched as Schneider sat next to him. Yakune was not interested in the horse-like creature.
“This is my horsey friend!” Zatch cheered. “Horsey Friend, this is my new friend Yakune!” He pointed to the small girl. Schneider made his usual noises. Yakune’s gaze still did not budge an inch.
Zatch and Schneider looked at Yakune and tried to make out her expression. However, her eyes were cold and did not seem to hold any life. Her body was still and stiff. “It seems as though it could go on forever…” she finally whispered.
“What?” Zatch scratched his head.
“The sky. Just look at it. It’s awful big. I wonder how big it is exactly.”
“That’s a good question!” Zatch and Schneider joined her in staring into the big, blue abyss. A few clouds passed over head.
“What do you think that one looks like? Yakune pointed to a specific cloud that began blocking out the sun.
“It’s a yellowtail tuna!” Zatch smiled. “That reminds me! It’s time for lunch at my house, and I’m having yellowtail tuna!” He jumped up from his position. “Would you like to join me? I’m sure Kiyo’s mom would let you stay! She’s a really nice person.”
Yakune gently shook her head. “That’s all right,” she replied. “I all ready ate lunch. I hope yours is good though. Enjoy your yellowtail.” Her eyes seemed to be frozen.
Zatch looked at Schneider quizzically, and the two of them began walking out of the park and on the way home. But before they reached the exit, Naomi drove by in her car and smacked Schneider into the sky. And she would have done the same to Zatch if he did not throw on his gym bag and run away like his life depended on it.

“We’re close to her now…” Brago stated as the limo drove into the city. “I can feel her nearby.”
“But are you sure it’s her?” Sherry asked, gripping her spell book. “What if it’s not? What if it’s just another regular mamodo? After all, this one is only supposed to be a legend, right?”
“She’s real,” Brago replied firmly. “I’ve met her before. I remember her back in Mamodo World. Always getting herself into trouble and being the center of cruel jokes. I know her scent anywhere. ‘The mamodo who smells of a human’.”
Sherry stared out her window. “No more…” she muttered. “I won’t let anymore mamodos enter this fight. She’s not welcome here on this earth, and I will not let her stay here. She’s going right back to where she came from.” She turned and smirked at Brago. “After all, half mamodo means half power, right?”
Brago stopped himself before he said anything. He thought about his partner’s statement for a minute and then nodded. “Yes, that’s right,” he confirmed. “She should be the weakest out of anyone we’ve faced so far. The Half-Breed Mamodo…”

Later that night, Yakune stood in a dark room with only the cracks around the door giving off a somewhat light. She stared at the being before her and took a step back, positively in shock of what she was seeing.
“First…” she began, “you turn me into a mamodo right in the middle of lunch. You were mad because I was talking to Kiyo. What’s your problem this time??” She made fists.
“This time…” the person replied, “you talked to Zatch. I told you not to speak with either of them. Oh, I wish you had a third transformation. I’d prefer it if it were one so hideous, neither of them would come near you.”
Suddenly, a bright flashed filled the room as the sound of turning pages became audible. Yakune fell backward and began crab walking her way towards the wall. She soon realized she was cornered with nowhere to go.
“Please don’t do it!!” she shouted. “I’m begging you! You know how much pain it is to transform! Why don’t you just cast another spell like you did to Kiyo?? Will that make you feel any better? It’s supposed to be a great stress-reliever, right??”
But it was too late to convince anything.
“HUMANAKU!!!”

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