Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. No profit has been earned off of this story. The story and the anime all belong to the talented mangaka Matsuei Yuusei.
Hi there dear readers, you might have seen me lurking around in the MTNN category posting numerous review in numerous stories. I've been so impressed with a number of fanfics in this series that I was inspired to write one of my own. The thought to create a fanfic was a bit daunting at first. I've never attempted to write a fanfiction before despite my love for them. My expectations for fanfictions, like any other published works, are high. However, to find that level of expertise in myself... i had my doubts. Nevertheless, I've came out of my shell. My love for this series is unparalleled. I thank whatever creative juices that flow inside Matsuei Yuusei's head to have blessed us with such a wonderful story. Anyhow, enjoy my first attempt at fanfiction. Please read and review. Criticisms are accepted, mindless flaming however is not. Thank you!
It's been a while now since Nougami Neuro has started working with Yako as his cover up in the human world. However, the infuriating amoeba seemed to refuse any advances of his power and claim over her.
No matter what tactics he used to corner her, the wood louse always managed to weasel her way out of becoming his property. She may let him casually tease and torture her all day long while she was at the office, but she stubbornly refuses to submit and yield to him completely. While he can make her cry out in pain and force her to do most of what he wishes her to do, he could not, however, exercise complete claim over her.
That is what irks the demon spawn the most. He hates it when things don't go his way. He hates it more when he is denied things that he wanted and had a right to (at least in his mind). After all, he was damn miles above her in the evolutionary trend. So it should have been easy, painless even, to get her to submit to him- heart and soul, mind and body.
By any means, Yako wasn't the first thing that he wanted to have complete possession of nor was she the last. However, she was quickly becoming the most difficult item to attain. Even the gathering of the 777 demonic tools he used wasn't nearly as frustrating as his present conquest in progress. In one of his rarer moments of frustration, Neuro had fancied that if he could evaluate his pursuit for compete dominance over Yako to his pursuit for the ultimate mystery on levels of edibility and flavour, the conquest of Yako just might top the ultimate mystery. In fact, Neuro would go as far as to say that the search for the ultimate mystery could be considered a breeze compared to the perplexity his little slave presents. Mysteries only need logic, intellect and a good set of instincts to solve. Sadly, the same can't be applied to the maggot.
Never before in all his demonic glory, had Neuro failed in so many attempts (or failed at all) in acquiring what his mind desires. Although the reasons for his minor – keyword: minor- obsession was not clear to him, Neuro did not let his lack of rationale daunt him in the slightest. He just waved the impulse off as a necessary and given component for a proper and healthy slave and master relationship.
He had utilized every single method his brilliant mind could think of to convince his little pet to surrender herself to him. Pain was the obvious first choice for him as it was as amusing and satisfying to use as it was to watch Yako's little outbursts in response to his abuse. When that hadn't worked due to the wood louse's surprisingly high tolerance to torture, he had uttered little threats here and there to frighten her into submission. However, that method too went down the drain as the maggot demonstrated a strong resistance to his idle menaces (not that she didn't act most favorably whenever he decided to whip one out on her out of the blue.) As a result, he now resorts to trickery and manipulation. Constructing little schemes and plots to effectively trap and corner Yako had quickly become a fond hobby of his. Disregarding the fact that none of his plans had actually succeeded to provide him with the desired response from Yako (which was to have her kneeling and groveling at his feet with complete servility), the amount of stress and distress his little games caused her served to amuse him to no end.
Nevertheless, the demon remained slightly peeved that he had to apply even a fraction of his genius to outwit his slave.
In addition to his little tricks, Neuro takes advantage of every single miserable event that occurs in the slug's life to ultimately coerce her into bending to his will. Despite Yako's determination to never rely on others for help, sometimes her resolve would weaken when faced with a difficult task that was truly beyond her capability. It was in those moments of weakness that Neuro's probability of capturing her was the highest. In the end, she would always wander back to him for assistance no matter how many others she had asked. It certainly wasn't by chance that Yako's predicament was always the same; Neuro made sure of that. - No one could spare the time or energy to aid her, effectively leaving her to turn to her evil stalker boss as a last resort. He would be a fool to let golden chances like that pass him by.
It was only proper to require some sort of payment when asked to assist others-even for humans. He knew that Yako could not refuse his requests if she wanted/needed his help badly enough because of her strong sense of morality and justice. Therefore, he would go out of his humble way to make sure that her situation was indeed very bad. Everytime, his only demand was to have her completely surrender her human rights to him as well as her dignity as a human being (the latter being solely for his amusement).
There was that one time when Yako's exam time rolled around. He was well aware of her situation before she was. Neuro took extra care to ensure she was fully occupied with hunting down mysteries and acting as his cover up, so occupied that she couldn't even think about school until the week before her first exam started.
Just as he had predicted, she came rushing to him in a state of panic. When she had adamantly refused to lick his shoe-the greatest symbol of submission since ancient times- he had taken the liberty to make her situation all the more unbearable by sending a demonic tool to further stimulate her teacher's brain into making a grueling test.
His second course of action was mainly spurned by his desire to punish her more than anything else. How dare she refuse what he asked of her and offered her. So even when she squealed that she would consider licking his shoe just to appease him at the realization of his plans, he had turned a deaf ear to her pleas. Moreover, he could request more from her in that situation since she would require more of his assistance. Either way, it was a win-win situation for him.
Unfortunately for him, he did not take into account the fact that the measly human brain could not take the weight of his fine demonic tools effect. Ironically, Neuro managed to buy Yako more time as her teacher was sent off to the hospital in critical condition.
He was a slightly put down over his miscalculation but his efforts weren't for naught. Although he uses the excuse of "Yako's evolution to something more useful" to justify all his torture, he was truly impressed with Yako's determination and resilience to do everything by herself till the very end. At the end of the day, Yako had evolved, even if it was only by a bit.
Neuro was not one to cry over spilled milk, as the human saying goes. He made best of the situation and patiently waited for the next misfortune to befall on the slug. With the wood louse's desperately lacking intelligence, it wouldn't be long before trouble came knocking at her door due to her stupidity. Or if he was forced to wait too long, he would simply create trouble for her himself.
His next chance presented itself during the HAL incident. With HAL isolating himself in the middle of Tokyo Strait on a nuclear warship, Neuro had no choice but to buy a helicopter to reach HAL's fortress. Of course, Neuro could have used one of his demonic tools to save money but he wasn't that petty nor was he willing to expend what little demonic power he had left on transportation. Besides, it was the perfect opportunity to make Yako's life living hell.
He had taken ridiculous loans under her name for the helicopter forcing her to pay everything back by herself. He had made it so that even with the earnings that the two had gained from solving the HAL incident, it was impossible for Yako to return all of the fees before the deadline. She, being the predictable dishrag that she is, had come to him to ask for extra funds. He had given her the amount of money she needed with no fuss. So relieved she was that she hadn't even found his lack of opposition the least bit suspicious.
He would have to teach her to look ahead so as to plan wisely versus only having the present state in mind. On the other hand, he was pleased that she had stumbled so blindly into his trap.
The very next day Neuro handed her a 'love letter'detailing the outstanding fines that she owed him. In the demon world, the rates were as illegal as they were high. So of course, he had played by his own rules and made the interest rate so high that Yako would have to pay 1000 times the amount that she borrowed from him. Neuro was certain that Yako wouldn't be able to retaliate then. She had neither the resources nor the time to cough up 5 million yen in such a short amount of time. What's more was that he had forced her to sign a contract beforehand when she had borrowed money from him. The penalty for not paying the fine was the surrender of all dignity and human rights that Yako possessed to Neuro. (He had taken care to write that penalty microscopically small so that Yako would be sure to overlook it). There was absolutely no room for her to escape her predicament this time-or so he thought. He was practically oozing smugness from every pore of his body at his success when the little dishrag had the nerve to rain down on his party.
Yako refused to comply. Instead, she was all the more determined to rebel against him.
She swore that she could return the money somehow if given just a little time. With her rather heated outburst, she had then stomped out of the office, promptly slamming the door after her. What a frustrating yet intriguing spitfire his wood louse had become.
Neuro wasn't particularly worried about her bold statement. Even by the off chance that Yako did find a way to finance her way out of her contract, he still had many tricks up his sleeve. He could afford the wait. After all, he had all the time in the world to make her his. Eventually, Yako would burn out from exhaustion or stress, whichever one came first. He just needed to be at the scene when it happens to claim her.
Plans settled, the demon sauntered leisurely over to his desk. All he had to do now was to wait for the dishrag to return, either to admit defeat or evolve.
As Neuro sat in his chair, quietly mulling over his thoughts, he could not help but let his mind stray to his vexing little charge. He supposed that his decision to conquer Yako wasn't so mindless as it had first seemed. She never failed to amuse or perplex him with her stubborn nature and mental retardation. In a very, very private corner in his mind, Neuro could admit to himself that he somewhat admired Yako for understanding human psychology on such a thorough and deep level. Her skill was something that Neuro would never be able to attain no matter how many years he wasted on the surface. Without a doubt, her ability to comprehend the intricacies of a human's mind made her a valuable asset. Her talent made it all the easier for him to feast on the delectable mysteries that exist on this world. More importantly, he mused, her unquenchable desire to prove her own worth to herself and him was compelling to say the least. It was because of this burning desire of hers that he had been so unsuccessful with his attempts. Slowly, unbeknownst to her, she was becoming one of the real challenges that Neuro had had in a long time. Neuro wasn't one to be afraid of a challenge. He would confront it without hesitation and proceed to vanquish it in all due time. If anything, Yako provides him with endless entertainment. Even in hell he had not found such an intriguing creature. His persistence in gaining complete control over Yako made sense to him now.
Rather than having her wander off out of his sight and control after they have found the ultimate mystery, he would much rather have her by his side to entertain him. The only way to bind her to him forever was to have her acknowledge herself as his property. A very annoying law of the daemon world it is. Demons like himself, cannot claim humans as they like. Without the consent of humans, demons can not assert complete control over the beings. Neuro was certain that the law was just some bullcrap made up by the elders to preserve the so called 'harmony' between the two worlds. If it wasn't for the penance of hell that came with breaking any regulations involved with the surface world, Neuro would have long ago taken Yako by force.
Back in hell, he could acquire almost whatever his mind desires without so much as a thought. Whether the objects in question were tools or other lowly demons, they were all his for the taking since he was the stronger opponent. No creature or thing dared to oppose his wishes.
To have finally encountered an individual who had the gall to not only deny him, but to deny him constantly was new and tantalizing at the same time. Neuro supposed that Yako might be worth the chase that she had so thoughtlessly laid out for him. Yes, he supposed she was.
Knowing that Yako's stubbornness could take up to a few hours to wear off, Neuro decided to take a little nap. He will definitely capture her; patience is the key. With that thought left on his mind, the demon slowly nodded off.
Whewf, hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I'm not sure if I should continue this fic as opposed to making this a oneshot. Please give me feedback or even suggestions on how you wish this story to progress. Comments are much loved.