[open] open 24 hours

[metafictions]

Who ⬤ Kamui and you
What ⬤ The extremely cursed 7/11 night shift
When ⬤ throughout May
Where ⬤ that one Sutoku/Shuten 7/11
Content Warnings ⬤ n/a for now, will update
Notes ⬤ please see Kamui's permissions to opt into having him sense your character's criminal power!

A. convenience store;

[It's 2 am, or thereabouts, and you are on a street where Shuten and Sutoku territory just barely overlap-- so it's a bit of a dodgier visit tonight. However you managed, you've finally bypassed the oni punks squatting outside the automatic doors and made your way into the waiting fluorescent arms of the 7/11, only to find...]

Welcome.

[this guy, dispassionately welcoming you to the store. Like, has he even blinked? It's like they've seated a cryptid behind the counter in a silly uniform. His lack of enthusiasm, his unbroken stare, and the strange presence his silver left eye seems to radiate all combined make this late night convenience store visit feel especially unnerving.

Sometimes, he pauses to stock the shelves, but it always sort of feels like he's watching you. Not that he's a rude cashier, or treating you like you're going to shoplift: he'll ring you up just fine. It's just his terrible vibes. Sorry.]

B. toilet dungeon;

[There's also a public restroom in this 7/11... if you can find it!]

Oh, welcome back. [says Kamui breezily, as his customer emerges from the 7/11 back door for the second-- or third?-- time.] Did you find the WC yet? I'm sorry for the inconvenience, it was cursed last week, so the hallway has gotten longer. You need to follow the directions exactly or you'll just be sent back here right away.

[In one long, breathless sentence, Kamui repeats the directions:]

Go through the door in the back, take a right, go through the fourth door, turn through the first hallway on the left, then keep going straight until you take a right at the intersection, go through the second door and you'll get to a staircase, so go all the way down and through the emergency exit on the right, take the stairs all the way up to the top, and you'll hit a T-shaped hallway, and you'll find the WC just past that.

[He blinks, head canting ever so slightly to the side.]

Please take your time.

C. hani-uhh???;

[There's a haniwa figure that has cropped up right next to the magazine aisle. Fortunately, this is one of Kamui's earlier shifts, so he's not the only employee around and won't be abandoning the register for this-- but they've still got to figure out what to do with this distinctly-cursed looking little guy before one of their oni regulars kicks it over, right?]

Erm...

[Except that, especially with his ability reactivated, it really, really feels like a bad idea to touch the clay figurine. And yet, he definitely can't just leave it there, can he?

Kamui's brows knit together with concern as he stands over it, armed with one of the tongs for hot food. He clicks them together, uncertain, before he crouches down to get a better look at it. He might be poking it with the tongs. Give it a few moments-- he's making up his mind.]

D. wildcard

[here for a vending machine substory task (or another substory)? just wanna generally harass your friendly neighborhood 7/11 cryptid? go wild my dude]

Comments

B

[heretic_blade]

[ Izō generally only comes into this convenience store when he's broke and hungry or drunk and hungry. Tonight is one of the latter times. At least he's not a belligerent drunk like he sometimes. ]

Huh? I think ya got me confused for someone else...

[ Because Izō does happen to look like a tengu from a quick glance, what with the wings and crow's feet he has.

But now that Kamui mentions it... ]

If it's that bad, why don't ya show me where it is? I ain't gonna remember all that.

[metafictions]

Ah. You're right: you're not the youkai who went in there earlier. Sorry about that.

[Which means the poor tengu who had actually drunkenly stumbled in there... is most likely still stuck in that hallway labyrinth.

That's. Bad, probably.

He frowns, then turns to the only coworker still here-- a nure onna with her sleek black hair tied back in a tight bun. She rolls her eyes, but slithers over to take Kamui's place behind the counter.]

Of course, I'll take you. I'm pretty sure I have that all memorized.

[Kamui walks out from behind the register, then holds the back door open for Izo; it leads to a dull and uniformly gray hallway.]

[heretic_blade]

[ He realizes this is Hell and all, but does it really have to extend to the bathrooms, too?? Whatever, so long as there aren't any akaname hiding living in there, he's fine.

Izō shrugs and steps past the door. ]

These bathrooms ain't gonna send me some place weird, right?

[ Because the last time he'd used a public bathroom, he'd sure gotten sent to a high school haunted by an aka manto. He does not want to repeat that experience. ]

[metafictions]

Nowhere weird. [He nearly promises that, but with how things have been around here lately, he can't promise-promise it.] Not as far as I've seen. If we fail, the curse simply drops us back to where we began: [he gestures with his thumb] back into the lobby.

[Kamui rubs his chin, running through the directions in his head again.]

All right, straight down here. Follow me.

[What they don't know, however, is that another haniwa has spawned just around the bend.]

[heretic_blade]

What a fuckin' pain in th' ass. Why does everythin' gotta be cursed 'round here?!

[ Still, he follows along, grumbling to himself. Unease creeps up on him as they start to round the bend and he stops in his tracks. ]

You completely sure this is fuckin' safe?

[metafictions]

If it's not, between the two of us, I'm sure we can handle it.

[NOT A GREAT ANSWER, but Izo's face is familiar from clan dealings, even if he hasn't ever really spoken to him personally: if there's anything the Shuten are good at, it's fighting their way out of bad spots, really.]

Don't worry. It'll be--... [he glances down, and sure enough, that little bastard's on the ground. Kamui makes a disapproving tut with his tongue.] God, not these again.

[heretic_blade]

[ If you're trying to put his mind at ease, you're failing that task spectacularly, Kamui.

Izō follows his gaze down and immediately jumps back. He isnt keen on messing with the haniwa if he can avoid it. ]

Ya got an infestation or somethin'?! I put one'a these fuckers on the curb after it showed up in my apartment! Is it followin' me?!

[metafictions]

[HE'S AWARE. And he sighs wearily, nudging the haniwa over with his shoe. It rolls over, now staring pathetically up at the two of them with its empty eyes.]

Infestation, maybe. But it's probably not the one you threw out. [Probably. He doesn't really know how these things work.

Regardless, it can't stay here, so gingerly he picks it up and slips it into his pocket for now. They'll figure it out later.]

As long as we don't break it, it's fine. I don't want to know what happens if you break it. I'm feeling something really unusual from these things...

[heretic_blade]

I don't wanna break 'em, either. 'S why I put th' damn thing outside instead'a breakin' it. They give me th' fuckin' creeps.

[ Izō had experience with people breaking cursed objects -- not here, but in Hakagemachi -- and would really rather not deal with that again. It might not be as bad, but he doesn't want to risk it. ]

...Th' crow ain't happy with 'em either. I trust his fuckin' judgement 'bout that shit.

[ Maybe explain the tengu possession first before mentioning it offhand like that, Izō. ]

[metafictions]

The crow... [he echoes; oh, right. There are a lot of people from Hagakemachi here, just like Emily, and she had mentioned that Izo was a friend.]

So, you're like Hibiki and Emily, then? I'd trust a youkai on youkai matters too.

[They reach a portion of the hallway with a set of doors: Kamui keeps walking, quietly counting off the doors to himself.] It's this door, by the way. Follow me.

[heretic_blade]

...Yeah. [ Emily knows a lot of people, doesn't she? ] Me an' Em are real close.

[ Don't pay attention to his blush.

Izō follows after with probably too much caution. ]

Ever think about gettin' a sign or makin' a fuckin' map?

[metafictions]

And then a left up here.

[Sorry, HE'S PAYING ATTENTION, but without any real knowledge of their relationship, Kamui just takes it for... the normal way one would feel about Emily Dyer. She's a charming lady: he gets it.]

I'm happy to hear that. Emily's a really special person... she's been so nice to me since we met here.

[A beat of silence. The maze is more bothersome than dangerous to him now, really.]

I did try that, by the way, if you can believe it. The signs disappeared. I tried writing down the directions too, but they became unreadable as soon as you walked in here. The curse is thorough, I'll give it that. No cheat codes here.

[heretic_blade]

We came from th' same place before showin' up here.

[ There. That's all he's willing to divulge. He's a tsundere idiot. ]

...That all jus' fuckin' sucks. I'm jus' gonna piss in th' alley next time.

[metafictions]

[He wheels them around another right, before replying, deadpan--]

Could you pick a different alleyway, please? Kim-san and I have to take out the trash.

[Back to their other topic, though:] I can imagine you'd all be close after a place like that. Majima-san mentioned once that it was rough. You've probably met him too, though, huh...

[heretic_blade]

Ain't gonna promise nothin'.

[ He might make an effort. Might.

His reaction to Majima's name is also quite telling. He blushes almost instantly, a frustrating response He can't control. ]

Sure fuckin' hope so, 'cause we live together.

[metafictions]

[FLATLY:] Ah.

[He almost trips on-- seriously, is that another haniwa? Hastily, Kamui bends down to pick it up and reunite it with its brother in his coat pocket, which is deep, but beginning to get a little full. At least it means he doesn't have to look at Izō's rather readable expression.

(Kamui has a sudden and very terrible vision of... Andy laughing in his face. He's not cursed by the haniwa: because of her, he's somehow been cursed with way too much knowledge of everybody's love lives. Horrible.)]

Um. Congratulations. I apologize, I wasn't trying to pry...

[As they hit a flight of stairs, Kamui goes first-- it'll give his companion time to recover.]

W-we're almost there, at least.

[heretic_blade]

[ Izō recovers in record time because he goes right back to being annoyed. Annoyance is better than fear. ]

Ya weren't pryin' at shit. I was jus' tellin' ya what I wanted to.

[ His descent down the stairs is slow, partially due to how drunk he is, partially due the fact he's checking the steps for anymore stray haniwa. ]

[metafictions]

[Now that he's thinking of it, he can kind of see it? And they're both Shuten too, so. Good for aniki, he supposes.]

Thank you for sharing, then. I'm happy for you. Even in a place like this, it's... good to have your people around.

[Your people. Another Andyism sneaking into his speech...]

It looks like we made it alive, at least. [Kamui gestures towards the end of the hallway once they reach the end of the flight of stairs: the WC's right where it should be.] Don't worry if you don't remember the way back. It'll kick you out of the hallway either way.