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05- The Adventure of The Society of World’s Fate
In the central portion of the great Japanese country there flows a dirty and repulsive river, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilisation.
This same river is the one I have to get across every day to get to the place where I have to go to conform with society rules. Do I need to go there, junior high school, full of underqualified teachers and useless homework? Or should I use that time to polish my abilities? That’s something that I can only know after I get enough evidence, and that’s still far from now. And my pop wouldn’t let me drop it anyway.
It’s in this school, a simple set of two main buildings interconnected, where you can find the objective of my investigation: The Society of World’s Fate.
The members as of now are: Iwaki, Holland, Minamoto, and Matsuyama. All but Iwaki are in 1-3, my class, so they fell under my careful observation.
The three of them were investigated as each of them committed crimes. Even when there was proof of those crimes since long ago, you can’t make theories until you have all the evidence.
After conducting interrogations with other members of the student body and analysing all the clues, I had confirmed my hypotheses. The cases were complete.
Holland Jake was first. His offences were perjury, vandalism, and preventing the course of justice. I found him reading about deep sea creatures in the recess.
“Excuse my interruption, Holland, do you have a moment?”
He looked at me without moving his head. Grimpoteuthis discoveryi was the title of the page on his book. His eyebrows moved a tad. He didn’t like interruptions.
“What’s up?”
“I noticed you carry a permanent marker with you,” I said, starting with the lesser of his offences.
“Mhm…”
“I believe you used it on the second day of class.”
This caught his interest. He put down the book and turned to me.
“Do you realise that was over a month ago?”
“Thirty five days, to be exact.”
He pulled out the marker from his pocket.
“Do you think I would remember if I used this marker thirty five days ago?”
“No, you didn’t. That’s a new marker, you ran out of ink in the other one.”
“Well, I tend to use my marker every day, so yeah, you’re probably right.”
“I also noticed the sushi club sign now reads headquarters, by means of certain marker scribbles.”
“Impressive game of words, right? I’m happy to get some recognition here.”
He was minimising the felony as expected. Now it was time to add the other charges.
“After reading your declarations to Mr. Watanabe I noticed you omitted how Iwaki didn’t fall from the ladder. He also used fake blood. Are you all right with lying to the authorities?”
“How do you know this? Did Minamoto tell you?”
His eyes were wide open. I got him.
“Iwaki was bleeding from the top of his head... After falling from a ladder you would expect blood to come out from the back of the head. He was also bleeding from his nose and the colour was different. There were also the paint stains on his uniform the next day.”
“Oh, that’s nice. If Minamoto said nothing then it’s fine.”
“There’s no way to deny it, the evidence is— wait, wait… Is this a confession?”
“Yeah, whatever,” he said, and went back to his book.
It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. A disappointing experience, in fact. I had two more to go, though, so I didn’t lose my spirit.
Amaya Mari was back from buying a yakisoba bread for lunch. Her crimes were identity theft and bribery.
She sat and opened her portable gaming system. I forgot why I wanted to talk with her for a second there.
“A-Amaya! Could that be the new Professor—” but then I saw the title screen. Three boys were smiling to the player. The name of the game was under them. Dokidoki Memories.
Amaya looked at me, the bread in her mouth, waiting for me to finish the question.
“Never mind. Can I have a minute? I need to talk to you.”
She put the system down and looked at me with a smile. She was my age, but acted like a senpai, or an older sister. That made it harder to confront her.
“Can… Can you tell me your name?”
“You just said it: Amaya.”
“Your full name, please.”
“Mari Amaya.”
She was interested in what I was saying and I thought she could be a good friend. Maybe her misdemeanors weren’t as bad.
“Take this as a caution for I have no motifs to take it to any authority. You shouldn’t ask your cousin for her ID…”
She blushed. Her hand moved to the pocket where she had the ID.
“I know you want to get those games, but the rating is just informative…” I continued.
“H-how? T-This is embarrassing…”
She was not looking at me and her smile was not there anymore. I felt uncomfortable.
“It is… but it’s more embarrassing to buy yakisoba bread every day because you have no money after paying your cousin for the card…”
She turned away and opened her math book to a random page, faking to read it. The back of her ears went red.
“F-forget it, Amaya. J-just forget it,” I said, and went back to my seat.
I couldn’t look at her for the rest of the day. I shouldn’t have said anything to her, the offences were trivial. I was just showing off, and I wished I was more diplomatic…
At the end of the day, Minamoto Hikari was waiting for them outside of the classroom. I thought about leaving it for the next day, but she was the last one, and I had to do it. Her charges were stalking and aggravated assault.
“Minamoto, could you give me a moment?”
“Certainly. What can I do for you?” she said.
“Have you paid for the window you broke?”
“What window?”
“The one in the hallway. You broke it with your shinai.”
“Murasaki. It’s a katana.”
She showed me her weapon. It was a shinai.
“That looks like a shinai, does it—”
“It’s a katana. It has been a katana for hundreds of years.”
The shinai looked almost new, but it was clear she wouldn’t accept that fact.
“You broke it with Murasaki,” said I, incapable of admitting it was a katana.
“It wasn’t just a window, it was the whole wall.”
What?
“I just came from that building, the wall is intact. I saw staff replacing the window.”
“He must have repaired it.”
“Who’s ‘he’?”
“Iwaki-dono. As expected from him.”
“Wait, wait, you said you destroyed the whole wall, then Iwaki rebuilt it and nobody noticed?”
“He must have been fast.”
If the wall was in fact destroyed and rebuilt, it would mean this case was much more difficult than expected. I needed more evidence. I frowned.
“What do you do in The Society of World’s Fate?”
“That’s top secret.”
She was playing with me.
“Don’t you wonder how I knew about the window?”
“I destroyed the whole wall, why are we talking about the window?”
It was too much, she wouldn’t make a fool of me anymore. I bowed to her, then walked away.
I was waiting for the train home when I found the last member of The Society. Trying not to think of what happened during the day, I was playing the game I thought Amaya had.
“Still having trouble with that puzzle, Suzuki-san?”
“Yes! It seems to be impossible… Wait, wait, what do you mean, still?”
“Oh, nothing, I saw you were stuck with it, it is a very difficult—”
“W-what do you mean you saw me? When? How do you know my name?”
“I have been following you around for a couple of days now.”
I never saw him. And even when he said that, he could have been onto me since he realised I was investigating his group.
I was tired. So tired. It was supposed to be a day where everyone would end up surprised of my skills, but instead I felt ignored, guilty, and fooled. He was a good spy, to be able to go unseen by me, but at that moment he was just an annoyance.
“Oh, is that so?” I said.
It was not my day, sorry, Iwaki. I pulled out the pepper spray from my backpack and pressed the button.
The next day I waited outside of 3-1. Iwaki was wearing black glasses.
“Suzuki-san, long time no see. Not that I can see much at the moment.”
I looked away.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no, no. It was my bad. I did not use the correct approach, I got distracted by what you were doing.”
“But still… I shouldn’t have—”
“Well, if you want, we can forget this incident ever happened…”
He made a pause until I looked at him.
“Under one condition,” he said, giving me a piece of paper. “Bureaucracy, I hate it, but I have to deliver one of these.“
I looked at it. Application to join The Society of World’s Fate. It was a free pass to get information about the society from the inside… but just before taking the sheet, I hesitated.
“You may want to reconsider.”
“I said I have been following you—”
He stepped back and showed me his palms, as if asking me to not attack him again. I showed him mine, shaking my head, as a sign of peace.
“You were, so you know I investigated them,” I said.
“That is why I want you to join.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are a marvelous detective, Meitantei Suzuki.”
I frowned to try and stop myself from smiling, signed the application, and gave it to him. He, on the other hand, grinned wide as he entered his classroom.
I thought I was a good detective myself, but it was the first time someone told me so. Now I was sure of it. All the times people ignored or underestimated me didn’t matter anymore. Like the Roman miser:
Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca.
This same river is the one I have to get across every day to get to the place where I have to go to conform with society rules. Do I need to go there, junior high school, full of underqualified teachers and useless homework? Or should I use that time to polish my abilities? That’s something that I can only know after I get enough evidence, and that’s still far from now. And my pop wouldn’t let me drop it anyway.
It’s in this school, a simple set of two main buildings interconnected, where you can find the objective of my investigation: The Society of World’s Fate.
The members as of now are: Iwaki, Holland, Minamoto, and Matsuyama. All but Iwaki are in 1-3, my class, so they fell under my careful observation.
The three of them were investigated as each of them committed crimes. Even when there was proof of those crimes since long ago, you can’t make theories until you have all the evidence.
After conducting interrogations with other members of the student body and analysing all the clues, I had confirmed my hypotheses. The cases were complete.
Holland Jake was first. His offences were perjury, vandalism, and preventing the course of justice. I found him reading about deep sea creatures in the recess.
“Excuse my interruption, Holland, do you have a moment?”
He looked at me without moving his head. Grimpoteuthis discoveryi was the title of the page on his book. His eyebrows moved a tad. He didn’t like interruptions.
“What’s up?”
“I noticed you carry a permanent marker with you,” I said, starting with the lesser of his offences.
“Mhm…”
“I believe you used it on the second day of class.”
This caught his interest. He put down the book and turned to me.
“Do you realise that was over a month ago?”
“Thirty five days, to be exact.”
He pulled out the marker from his pocket.
“Do you think I would remember if I used this marker thirty five days ago?”
“No, you didn’t. That’s a new marker, you ran out of ink in the other one.”
“Well, I tend to use my marker every day, so yeah, you’re probably right.”
“I also noticed the sushi club sign now reads headquarters, by means of certain marker scribbles.”
“Impressive game of words, right? I’m happy to get some recognition here.”
He was minimising the felony as expected. Now it was time to add the other charges.
“After reading your declarations to Mr. Watanabe I noticed you omitted how Iwaki didn’t fall from the ladder. He also used fake blood. Are you all right with lying to the authorities?”
“How do you know this? Did Minamoto tell you?”
His eyes were wide open. I got him.
“Iwaki was bleeding from the top of his head... After falling from a ladder you would expect blood to come out from the back of the head. He was also bleeding from his nose and the colour was different. There were also the paint stains on his uniform the next day.”
“Oh, that’s nice. If Minamoto said nothing then it’s fine.”
“There’s no way to deny it, the evidence is— wait, wait… Is this a confession?”
“Yeah, whatever,” he said, and went back to his book.
It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. A disappointing experience, in fact. I had two more to go, though, so I didn’t lose my spirit.
Amaya Mari was back from buying a yakisoba bread for lunch. Her crimes were identity theft and bribery.
She sat and opened her portable gaming system. I forgot why I wanted to talk with her for a second there.
“A-Amaya! Could that be the new Professor—” but then I saw the title screen. Three boys were smiling to the player. The name of the game was under them. Dokidoki Memories.
Amaya looked at me, the bread in her mouth, waiting for me to finish the question.
“Never mind. Can I have a minute? I need to talk to you.”
She put the system down and looked at me with a smile. She was my age, but acted like a senpai, or an older sister. That made it harder to confront her.
“Can… Can you tell me your name?”
“You just said it: Amaya.”
“Your full name, please.”
“Mari Amaya.”
She was interested in what I was saying and I thought she could be a good friend. Maybe her misdemeanors weren’t as bad.
“Take this as a caution for I have no motifs to take it to any authority. You shouldn’t ask your cousin for her ID…”
She blushed. Her hand moved to the pocket where she had the ID.
“I know you want to get those games, but the rating is just informative…” I continued.
“H-how? T-This is embarrassing…”
She was not looking at me and her smile was not there anymore. I felt uncomfortable.
“It is… but it’s more embarrassing to buy yakisoba bread every day because you have no money after paying your cousin for the card…”
She turned away and opened her math book to a random page, faking to read it. The back of her ears went red.
“F-forget it, Amaya. J-just forget it,” I said, and went back to my seat.
I couldn’t look at her for the rest of the day. I shouldn’t have said anything to her, the offences were trivial. I was just showing off, and I wished I was more diplomatic…
At the end of the day, Minamoto Hikari was waiting for them outside of the classroom. I thought about leaving it for the next day, but she was the last one, and I had to do it. Her charges were stalking and aggravated assault.
“Minamoto, could you give me a moment?”
“Certainly. What can I do for you?” she said.
“Have you paid for the window you broke?”
“What window?”
“The one in the hallway. You broke it with your shinai.”
“Murasaki. It’s a katana.”
She showed me her weapon. It was a shinai.
“That looks like a shinai, does it—”
“It’s a katana. It has been a katana for hundreds of years.”
The shinai looked almost new, but it was clear she wouldn’t accept that fact.
“You broke it with Murasaki,” said I, incapable of admitting it was a katana.
“It wasn’t just a window, it was the whole wall.”
What?
“I just came from that building, the wall is intact. I saw staff replacing the window.”
“He must have repaired it.”
“Who’s ‘he’?”
“Iwaki-dono. As expected from him.”
“Wait, wait, you said you destroyed the whole wall, then Iwaki rebuilt it and nobody noticed?”
“He must have been fast.”
If the wall was in fact destroyed and rebuilt, it would mean this case was much more difficult than expected. I needed more evidence. I frowned.
“What do you do in The Society of World’s Fate?”
“That’s top secret.”
She was playing with me.
“Don’t you wonder how I knew about the window?”
“I destroyed the whole wall, why are we talking about the window?”
It was too much, she wouldn’t make a fool of me anymore. I bowed to her, then walked away.
I was waiting for the train home when I found the last member of The Society. Trying not to think of what happened during the day, I was playing the game I thought Amaya had.
“Still having trouble with that puzzle, Suzuki-san?”
“Yes! It seems to be impossible… Wait, wait, what do you mean, still?”
“Oh, nothing, I saw you were stuck with it, it is a very difficult—”
“W-what do you mean you saw me? When? How do you know my name?”
“I have been following you around for a couple of days now.”
I never saw him. And even when he said that, he could have been onto me since he realised I was investigating his group.
I was tired. So tired. It was supposed to be a day where everyone would end up surprised of my skills, but instead I felt ignored, guilty, and fooled. He was a good spy, to be able to go unseen by me, but at that moment he was just an annoyance.
“Oh, is that so?” I said.
It was not my day, sorry, Iwaki. I pulled out the pepper spray from my backpack and pressed the button.
The next day I waited outside of 3-1. Iwaki was wearing black glasses.
“Suzuki-san, long time no see. Not that I can see much at the moment.”
I looked away.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no, no. It was my bad. I did not use the correct approach, I got distracted by what you were doing.”
“But still… I shouldn’t have—”
“Well, if you want, we can forget this incident ever happened…”
He made a pause until I looked at him.
“Under one condition,” he said, giving me a piece of paper. “Bureaucracy, I hate it, but I have to deliver one of these.“
I looked at it. Application to join The Society of World’s Fate. It was a free pass to get information about the society from the inside… but just before taking the sheet, I hesitated.
“You may want to reconsider.”
“I said I have been following you—”
He stepped back and showed me his palms, as if asking me to not attack him again. I showed him mine, shaking my head, as a sign of peace.
“You were, so you know I investigated them,” I said.
“That is why I want you to join.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are a marvelous detective, Meitantei Suzuki.”
I frowned to try and stop myself from smiling, signed the application, and gave it to him. He, on the other hand, grinned wide as he entered his classroom.
I thought I was a good detective myself, but it was the first time someone told me so. Now I was sure of it. All the times people ignored or underestimated me didn’t matter anymore. Like the Roman miser:
Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca.
03- Rise of the Shooting Star (3)
“Tasked with the duty to protect the order across the universe. Soaring through the galaxies. Brandishing starlight!” screamed Rizel, while crossing her arms above her head. She joyfully spun the toy scepter she was holding in front of her and finally held it towards Yume. She winked her left eye.
“Mahou Shoujo! Magical Shooting Star!”
Hoshigawa stood still with a big smile, waiting for a reaction from her wild-haired classmate. But much like her at the moment, he didn't move a muscle or say a word. He only stared at her with his arms crossed, sporting a malicious grin.
“Space pirate, Shiroku Yume. I'm here to put a stop to your evil schemes!”
How about that? she thought.
“Ho~?” was the first response the girl got from the transfer student.
What do you mean “ho?” Are you mocking me?!
“I know your type. Pirates are evil. They are kidnappers, thieves, murderers. And you space pirates are even worse. How dare you bring your tainted selves into the pureness of the cosmos? As a magical girl from the stars, I can't forgive you!”
“So what if we are?” he retorted, teasing Rizel.
“Star Sagitta!” she shouted, all of a sudden swinging her toy. Again, she remained quiet, whereas nothing else happened. Yume didn't even flinch.
“Th-That was just a warning shot.”
She started to feel nervous, so she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down.
“I'll give you one opportunity, Shiroku-san. I'll let you walk away unharmed, provided you swear that you'll quit your life of piracy.”
Yume turned around, crouched, and grabbed his school bag.
“Kidnap, thievery, murder. The truth is I have no intention to do such things.”
He seemed to take something out and carefully place it in his pocket, but his classmate wasn't able to see what it was.
“But it doesn't matter. If I ever want to, I won't let anyone tell me otherwise.”
He stood up and turned back to face Rizel, as he was putting on a couple of wristbands. In his left hand he was holding a smartphone.
“So, if you are planning to get in my way, then we might as well settle things right now, don't you agree, Nagareboshi?”
The expression on Yume's face became somewhat menacing, putting pressure on the magical girl.
“Sagitta!”
The young pirate waved his jacket in front of him, like he was using it to block something. He threw it and ran upstairs. Once he was on equal ground to Rizel, he launched his fist against her at the same time that his cellphone let out what seemed to be the sound of a mechanical object moving. The punches were never close enough to hit her, but she moved to evade them anyway.
Rizel was retreating all the way. She had to do something to even the odds, so she ran downstairs and reached the shoe lockers. While turning towards her enemy, she brandished her scepter.
“Star Sagittarius!”
Quickly, Yume covered himself with his left arm. His phone played the sound of an explosion.
He withstood that?!
He raced to reach his opponent. She had to act fast.
“Star Scutum!”
Yume stopped running and began to punch the air repeatedly. Sounds of clashing metal could still be heard.
He's cracking the shield!
It looked like Rizel started shooting invisible projectiles at him while Yume was hitting an invisible wall. But clearly they were putting a lot of effort into what appeared to be a game of pretending.
They both had opposite ideals.
Rizel wished for order and she perceived Yume as a chaotic individual.
Yume’s determination was to do whatever he wanted to, Rizel was nothing more than an obstacle in his path.
And so they were fighting a battle that was beyond the limits of reality. One which could only be appreciated by achieving their level of imagination.
In a world covered by the night sky, the fighters faced each other in the middle of a city in ruins. There were no artificial lights, the stars shone upon the battlefield.
Yume's fists, armed by huge mechanic gauntlets, finally pierced through Rizel's solid light shield.
All she could do was guard herself with her arms as the pirate's punch sent her flying into a nearby building. The strong impact caused the already weak structure to collapse on top of her. Seconds of quietness left the fate of the magical girl unknown.
“Is that all, Nagareboshi?” he asked, slowly walking to the wreckage.
Beams of light flashed out through the cracks of the building’s remnants.
“Star… Hercules.”
Steadily, the girl pushed the rubble away. One last powerful move freed her from her prison of concrete. She gripped her weapon and placed it firmly on the ground. Yume saw her toy scepter turn into a long staff with five orbs, and a winged ring with a star made of light on its tip.
“That's more like it.”
Rizel and Yume glared at each other. Neither was willing to give up. Both sprinted to their right. The star on the girl’s pole, named Cassiopeia, flared as she prepared her attack.
“I won’t let you tarnish the name of the astronomy club to deceive people into joining your pirate crew! Star Sagitta!” she yelled again, boldly fluttering her staff, firing three glowing arrows at the transfer student.
The pirate was able to dodge the shots, though one of them barely scarred him. Once he posed his eyes back upon Hoshigawa he beheld the ominous radiance flowing from the weapon, slowly taking the shape of a giant bow, ready to fire an equally enormous arrow. Standing at a safe distance from her adversary, she mimicked the act of pulling back the bowstring.
“You’re jumping to conclusions there, Nagareboshi.”
Rizel cried out the name of her previously failed attack, Star Sagittarius, whilst releasing the invisible bowstring. The immense arrow of light blasted off in the shape of a comet.
Without hesitation, Yume extended his left arm in front of him.
“Pridwen.”
The strike triggered a huge explosion. It completely engulfed a wide area around Shiroku.
The dust dissipated. Rizel frowned at the debris she caused.
After putting a much greater amount of energy on the attack, Rizel couldn’t hide her surprise when she saw him standing in the middle of the havoc. His left gauntlet was now a broad shield, a force field around it.
“I refuse to lead a crew made up of conviction-lacking, misled members. But that doesn’t mean I can’t point them in the right direction.”
He dispelled the barrier and his shield reverted to a metal glove.
“Then, what are you planning to do with it?”
“I’m going to make sure they know what they’ve been missing. The magnificent world of endless possibilities that exists beyond the clouds! I’m going to show it to them.”
Yume raised his right arm and pointed to the sky.
“The Ocean of Stars!”
Rizel stared at her new classmate, unsure of what to think. His blatant statement astonished her.
The boy’s right gauntlet changed its shape. Most of it detached from his arm and turned into an oversized sword handle. A glimmering blade spawned from its hilt. He jumped, gripping his weapon, in the direction of his opponent.
Hoshigawa’s body wasn’t responding. She could only look at him as he prepared to brandish his fiery weapon.
Ready to strike, Yume called out the name of his sword.
“Calib—!”
“Hey! Who’s there?! Didn’t you hear the announcement? Go home, now!”
That sudden interruption from a member of the school staff brought the couple of fighters back into reality. Rizel’s toy scepter returned to its original form. On his right hand, Shiroku had a small, plastic-made version of the sword he was about to swing.
Free to move again, the girl ran upstairs while undoing her twin-tails, to grab the school bag she had carefully placed on the stairway landing. There was no time to go back to the lockers and change, so she only removed the neckerchief and put on the uniform’s blouse. Yume, that only needed to change his shoes, wasn’t around anymore when she was ready to go.
But after hurrying outside, she saw the transfer student riding a bicycle across the schoolyard. He wore the school jacket properly when biking.
Rizel remained still for a couple of minutes. In his own way, Shiroku carried the ideals she once held dear. The childish wish of sharing what lies beyond the skies with everyone else. One she had stripped from her last year.
“The stars won’t ever judge… we humans do.”
Class had already finished the next day. Yume sat over a desk at the clubroom, with his arms crossed, looking through the window.
Outside, Asuka walked to the door, dragging her pink-haired friend with her.
“Stop, Asucchi! I said I was thinking about it, I haven’t decided yet!”
“It’s fine, Rizeru-chan! I understand you!”
“If you do, then let me go!”
She did, right when they had reached the entrance to the clubroom. Rizel looked up to see the new door sign, with the words “Astronomy Club” on it.
“You want to try again, don’t you, Rizeru-chan? You only need a little push forward.”
Her friend was right. Even more than stopping the space captain and protecting the Universe, Hoshigawa’s heart wanted to recover her innocent wish.
Was she ready to try again? She wasn’t sure. But, at least for once, she chose to follow the pirate’s credo of doing whatever she wanted to do.
“Let’s go, Asucchi.”
“Yes!”
As if it was a metaphor, the girls opened the door to their future.
“We’re here to join the astronomy club!”
“Mahou Shoujo! Magical Shooting Star!”
Hoshigawa stood still with a big smile, waiting for a reaction from her wild-haired classmate. But much like her at the moment, he didn't move a muscle or say a word. He only stared at her with his arms crossed, sporting a malicious grin.
“Space pirate, Shiroku Yume. I'm here to put a stop to your evil schemes!”
How about that? she thought.
“Ho~?” was the first response the girl got from the transfer student.
What do you mean “ho?” Are you mocking me?!
“I know your type. Pirates are evil. They are kidnappers, thieves, murderers. And you space pirates are even worse. How dare you bring your tainted selves into the pureness of the cosmos? As a magical girl from the stars, I can't forgive you!”
“So what if we are?” he retorted, teasing Rizel.
“Star Sagitta!” she shouted, all of a sudden swinging her toy. Again, she remained quiet, whereas nothing else happened. Yume didn't even flinch.
“Th-That was just a warning shot.”
She started to feel nervous, so she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down.
“I'll give you one opportunity, Shiroku-san. I'll let you walk away unharmed, provided you swear that you'll quit your life of piracy.”
Yume turned around, crouched, and grabbed his school bag.
“Kidnap, thievery, murder. The truth is I have no intention to do such things.”
He seemed to take something out and carefully place it in his pocket, but his classmate wasn't able to see what it was.
“But it doesn't matter. If I ever want to, I won't let anyone tell me otherwise.”
He stood up and turned back to face Rizel, as he was putting on a couple of wristbands. In his left hand he was holding a smartphone.
“So, if you are planning to get in my way, then we might as well settle things right now, don't you agree, Nagareboshi?”
The expression on Yume's face became somewhat menacing, putting pressure on the magical girl.
“Sagitta!”
The young pirate waved his jacket in front of him, like he was using it to block something. He threw it and ran upstairs. Once he was on equal ground to Rizel, he launched his fist against her at the same time that his cellphone let out what seemed to be the sound of a mechanical object moving. The punches were never close enough to hit her, but she moved to evade them anyway.
Rizel was retreating all the way. She had to do something to even the odds, so she ran downstairs and reached the shoe lockers. While turning towards her enemy, she brandished her scepter.
“Star Sagittarius!”
Quickly, Yume covered himself with his left arm. His phone played the sound of an explosion.
He withstood that?!
He raced to reach his opponent. She had to act fast.
“Star Scutum!”
Yume stopped running and began to punch the air repeatedly. Sounds of clashing metal could still be heard.
He's cracking the shield!
It looked like Rizel started shooting invisible projectiles at him while Yume was hitting an invisible wall. But clearly they were putting a lot of effort into what appeared to be a game of pretending.
They both had opposite ideals.
Rizel wished for order and she perceived Yume as a chaotic individual.
Yume’s determination was to do whatever he wanted to, Rizel was nothing more than an obstacle in his path.
And so they were fighting a battle that was beyond the limits of reality. One which could only be appreciated by achieving their level of imagination.
In a world covered by the night sky, the fighters faced each other in the middle of a city in ruins. There were no artificial lights, the stars shone upon the battlefield.
Yume's fists, armed by huge mechanic gauntlets, finally pierced through Rizel's solid light shield.
All she could do was guard herself with her arms as the pirate's punch sent her flying into a nearby building. The strong impact caused the already weak structure to collapse on top of her. Seconds of quietness left the fate of the magical girl unknown.
“Is that all, Nagareboshi?” he asked, slowly walking to the wreckage.
Beams of light flashed out through the cracks of the building’s remnants.
“Star… Hercules.”
Steadily, the girl pushed the rubble away. One last powerful move freed her from her prison of concrete. She gripped her weapon and placed it firmly on the ground. Yume saw her toy scepter turn into a long staff with five orbs, and a winged ring with a star made of light on its tip.
“That's more like it.”
Rizel and Yume glared at each other. Neither was willing to give up. Both sprinted to their right. The star on the girl’s pole, named Cassiopeia, flared as she prepared her attack.
“I won’t let you tarnish the name of the astronomy club to deceive people into joining your pirate crew! Star Sagitta!” she yelled again, boldly fluttering her staff, firing three glowing arrows at the transfer student.
The pirate was able to dodge the shots, though one of them barely scarred him. Once he posed his eyes back upon Hoshigawa he beheld the ominous radiance flowing from the weapon, slowly taking the shape of a giant bow, ready to fire an equally enormous arrow. Standing at a safe distance from her adversary, she mimicked the act of pulling back the bowstring.
“You’re jumping to conclusions there, Nagareboshi.”
Rizel cried out the name of her previously failed attack, Star Sagittarius, whilst releasing the invisible bowstring. The immense arrow of light blasted off in the shape of a comet.
Without hesitation, Yume extended his left arm in front of him.
“Pridwen.”
The strike triggered a huge explosion. It completely engulfed a wide area around Shiroku.
The dust dissipated. Rizel frowned at the debris she caused.
After putting a much greater amount of energy on the attack, Rizel couldn’t hide her surprise when she saw him standing in the middle of the havoc. His left gauntlet was now a broad shield, a force field around it.
“I refuse to lead a crew made up of conviction-lacking, misled members. But that doesn’t mean I can’t point them in the right direction.”
He dispelled the barrier and his shield reverted to a metal glove.
“Then, what are you planning to do with it?”
“I’m going to make sure they know what they’ve been missing. The magnificent world of endless possibilities that exists beyond the clouds! I’m going to show it to them.”
Yume raised his right arm and pointed to the sky.
“The Ocean of Stars!”
Rizel stared at her new classmate, unsure of what to think. His blatant statement astonished her.
The boy’s right gauntlet changed its shape. Most of it detached from his arm and turned into an oversized sword handle. A glimmering blade spawned from its hilt. He jumped, gripping his weapon, in the direction of his opponent.
Hoshigawa’s body wasn’t responding. She could only look at him as he prepared to brandish his fiery weapon.
Ready to strike, Yume called out the name of his sword.
“Calib—!”
“Hey! Who’s there?! Didn’t you hear the announcement? Go home, now!”
That sudden interruption from a member of the school staff brought the couple of fighters back into reality. Rizel’s toy scepter returned to its original form. On his right hand, Shiroku had a small, plastic-made version of the sword he was about to swing.
Free to move again, the girl ran upstairs while undoing her twin-tails, to grab the school bag she had carefully placed on the stairway landing. There was no time to go back to the lockers and change, so she only removed the neckerchief and put on the uniform’s blouse. Yume, that only needed to change his shoes, wasn’t around anymore when she was ready to go.
But after hurrying outside, she saw the transfer student riding a bicycle across the schoolyard. He wore the school jacket properly when biking.
Rizel remained still for a couple of minutes. In his own way, Shiroku carried the ideals she once held dear. The childish wish of sharing what lies beyond the skies with everyone else. One she had stripped from her last year.
“The stars won’t ever judge… we humans do.”
※※※
Class had already finished the next day. Yume sat over a desk at the clubroom, with his arms crossed, looking through the window.
Outside, Asuka walked to the door, dragging her pink-haired friend with her.
“Stop, Asucchi! I said I was thinking about it, I haven’t decided yet!”
“It’s fine, Rizeru-chan! I understand you!”
“If you do, then let me go!”
She did, right when they had reached the entrance to the clubroom. Rizel looked up to see the new door sign, with the words “Astronomy Club” on it.
“You want to try again, don’t you, Rizeru-chan? You only need a little push forward.”
Her friend was right. Even more than stopping the space captain and protecting the Universe, Hoshigawa’s heart wanted to recover her innocent wish.
Was she ready to try again? She wasn’t sure. But, at least for once, she chose to follow the pirate’s credo of doing whatever she wanted to do.
“Let’s go, Asucchi.”
“Yes!”
As if it was a metaphor, the girls opened the door to their future.
“We’re here to join the astronomy club!”
04 - Stage 4
The sun was about to set.
“Three minutes,” I said.
I looked around. The three of us were alone. There were no signs of her.
Without making a noise, Irwin Laurentius Goodenough put his right knee on the floor and prepared his Obediah-KN Steam Launcher.
“Two minutes. Where is she?” I insisted.
I heard the sound of a new message, and checked it: I will be there soon, I had something important to do.
Nobody but me realized just how serious this was. Something “important.”
“There is nothing more important than being here on time!” I said out loud.
“One minute, forget about her,” said Phineas Julian Rayburn, as he turned on his clockwork machines. There was a turret—built first as always even though we had told him not to like a thousand times—a resupplier and a… was that a takoyaki stand?
I wanted to ask about it, but there was no time left. I closed my helmet and prepared to receive most of the attack.
“I, Mira Georgina Hopperton, as the leader of The Electric Pillagers, declare our victory in advance!”
The three of us had our backs against each other’s. We counted down the remaining few seconds in our minds.
Exactly at sunset, two shadow walkers appeared on the horizon, red shadow walkers to be specific. A steam-powered rocket passed next to me, exploding at their feet.
The shadow walkers didn’t die from it, though, and I could just get rid of one after four shots from my shotgun.
“Don’t shot when they’re that far, Mira, check your ammo,” said Irwin.
He sounded calm when he said it and that made it worse. I was the leader, in case he had forgotten.
“Mind your own business, would you? What’s the resupplier for, then?” I said as I finished the other walker then reloaded.
“We have no intel about these, Mira. And I only have this stupid pistol,” cried Phineas as two more shadow walkers attacked from afar.
“It’s too late to worry about her, you just said it: we have no techie. You could try and respond to the shots instead of whining, this armor won’t last forever.”
A bullet hit me on the face and the helmet got destroyed.
“Shit, I’m hit! Irwin, there are some behind us!”
I replaced the helmet as quickly as I could. A walker that came too close, and I had to punch him away. A shout of victory—more like a screech—behind my back made me aware that Phineas had killed one with the turret.
I had to rotate to cover them while they ate the takoyaki—that was so out of place, I can’t believe it yet. However, after it became obvious that their arms were their weak spot, it seemed like we would get out of there alive with no problem.
But that would have been boring, wouldn’t it?
After the last red walker in sight fell down and disappeared, I heard an explosion behind me. It was the turret.
“We’re under attack! We’re under attack!” screamed Phineas. Oh god, how I hated when he screamed like that.
“Shut up! Rebuild the turret and shut up, now! Where did it come from? Did you—” Another explosion interrupted me.
“I’m hit,” said Irwin, “piercing bullets, maybe HT-200. It went through my body and blew the recovery unit. It’s their boss.”
“My takoyaki stand!”
“How in the hell is their boss around? And where is it? Phineas, is the new turret—”
This time the interruption came from Irwin.
“I’m down.”
He fell to the ground, face down. We were so dead.
The resupplier blew up next and Phineas was already running away trying to hide. I wondered how many hits could I withstand with the heavy armor. No more than four.
The first hit was on my leg, as expected from a professional sniper. I wouldn’t be able to run and hide. I saw Phineas when I got the second hit. He was hiding behind a non-radar-proof wall. The wimp would get what he deserved, too.
I heard the third shot, but it didn’t hit me. After perfect accuracy this couldn’t be possible. I turned around.
Temperance Dinah Gold was behind me, on the brink of death after the shot.
“Techie!” screamed Phineas, and the next shot found his head.
Thank you for shutting him up, I thought.
“Two down, two wounded. You’re way too late,” I said.
“My apologies, but you have nothing to worry anymore. I have the intel you need,” she said, with a masculine voice.
“I think it’s too late.”
“It is not. Look at the rocketeer.”
Irwin was up, running behind us.
“You didn’t… you didn’t, right? I told you like three hundred times—”
“I did, and I have the intel you need,” she said.
“What’s the info, techie?” said Irwin.
“Red shadow walkers, the arms are their weak spot, two pistol shots and they’re down.”
We kept running and got behind a well protected wall, all wounded but no more losses. It was just a matter of time though: the boss would move or send more minions.
“Yeah, we know about the red shadow walkers, what do we do with their boss?” I said.
“Boss? What boss?” said Temperance.
“The one that is attacking us!”
“I have no intel of that. Should I go get the engineer?”
“No! I’ve told you five hundred times! You never use crystals for that!”
“You do, one. It is explained when you stand next to a body—”
“Just don’t go! Ahh! Forget about that, we need to know what to do with the boss!”
“I’ve always wondered why the techie chose to be a girl,” said Phineas out of nowhere.
“You!? You’re dead! How can you talk!?”
“Oh, after we made a petition they implemented it in this version. It’s convenient as hell! I’m sorry I wasn’t saying anything. When they got me I went to grab a slice of pizza. Did you guys missed me?”
I wondered if I could kill him while dead, but then a shot sounded and Irwin fell again.
“I’m tired of this, Mira, you can call me when you get a real party,” said his corpse before disappearing.
“From all of us, it was the rocketeer who rage quits? Shame, shame. I’ve been dead for a while, but am I complaining? No, I’m just fine. Let’s find a new rocketeer,” said Phineas.
“He just wanted to stop listening to you,” said Temperance.
“Oh, is that so? Then I won’t make you suffer that sad destiny anymore, you can try and stop me, but I think this is the end of The Electric Robbers.”
“Pillagers,” I said without hesitation.
Phineas body disappeared after he realized we weren’t trying to stop him. I looked around. Temperance was spinning around. I sighed.
“You are trying to look at them again, aren’t you?”
“Look at what?”
“Panties,” I said.
She stopped.
“I am disappointed about the lack of turnability of the skirts in this game.”
“I find it disgusting to hear a male voice coming out of that cute girl saying such a thing.”
“I find it disgusting that you told me this game had cute girls and then they ended up having unflippable skirts,” said Temperance. Those were her—his?—last words.
She fell down after a bang. I didn’t have to wait much to face my own death.
We got back in the lobby. The party was indeed lacking both Irwin and Phineas.
“So, are we trying again?”
“No, we’re not. We have no more members in the team, as you can see,” I said.
“I am sorry I was late… I was busy for real.”
“But but! Nobody takes this seriously!”
“I think the rocketeer did, if you ask me. As for me, you knew it was not my kind of game, that is why you told me about the cute characters.”
“Uninstall it, then. I’ll find another game. Anyway, it’s kind of late so I’ll go to sleep. The junior high is killing me. See you later.”
I jumped on my bed. it wasn’t late, but it was true that school was killing me. As well as this guy’s attitude.
He was a good friend, but while he was too direct at times—like this one—, he seemed to be too private about giving details of his life.
We had known each other for more than half a year now, when we met online. Yet I had no idea where he lived, when his birthday was or what he looked like.
I knew—in exchange, I guess—that he used to live in Sweden, he was planning “something huge,” as he said, and that he liked striped panties. I also knew he was in the third grade of junior high school because he said something about it when he thought his microphone was off.
It was so unfair because he knew everything about me. How my brother had banished me from the Kingdom of Hungary, just so he could get the throne. How I had slain a demon on my way to Japan. How I had stolen its weapon. How I would get revenge and become the legitimate Queen of Hungary.
I had even sent him a picture of my face in the hopes that he would do the same, but of course he didn’t.
And that was why, the next day, when I had to stay to clean up the classroom, it happened.
Holland-kun was there, reading a book about dinosaurs, Minamoto-san was next to him, waiting, when he came in.
“Jake, Minamoto, time has come for us to make the contract, we should—” and then he saw me.
“Hermit!?”
I looked at him, he knew my true identity, so I feared he was an enemy.
“Who are you?”
Minamoto-san looked at us alternating. Holland-kun kept reading, oblivious to everything else. Our senpai turned for a moment and when he turned back his eyes were red, his hair messy.
“This must be Freyja’s doing,” he said
“K-Karmin?!”
He smiled.
“Welcome to the team.”
“Three minutes,” I said.
I looked around. The three of us were alone. There were no signs of her.
Without making a noise, Irwin Laurentius Goodenough put his right knee on the floor and prepared his Obediah-KN Steam Launcher.
“Two minutes. Where is she?” I insisted.
I heard the sound of a new message, and checked it: I will be there soon, I had something important to do.
Nobody but me realized just how serious this was. Something “important.”
“There is nothing more important than being here on time!” I said out loud.
“One minute, forget about her,” said Phineas Julian Rayburn, as he turned on his clockwork machines. There was a turret—built first as always even though we had told him not to like a thousand times—a resupplier and a… was that a takoyaki stand?
I wanted to ask about it, but there was no time left. I closed my helmet and prepared to receive most of the attack.
“I, Mira Georgina Hopperton, as the leader of The Electric Pillagers, declare our victory in advance!”
The three of us had our backs against each other’s. We counted down the remaining few seconds in our minds.
Exactly at sunset, two shadow walkers appeared on the horizon, red shadow walkers to be specific. A steam-powered rocket passed next to me, exploding at their feet.
The shadow walkers didn’t die from it, though, and I could just get rid of one after four shots from my shotgun.
“Don’t shot when they’re that far, Mira, check your ammo,” said Irwin.
He sounded calm when he said it and that made it worse. I was the leader, in case he had forgotten.
“Mind your own business, would you? What’s the resupplier for, then?” I said as I finished the other walker then reloaded.
“We have no intel about these, Mira. And I only have this stupid pistol,” cried Phineas as two more shadow walkers attacked from afar.
“It’s too late to worry about her, you just said it: we have no techie. You could try and respond to the shots instead of whining, this armor won’t last forever.”
A bullet hit me on the face and the helmet got destroyed.
“Shit, I’m hit! Irwin, there are some behind us!”
I replaced the helmet as quickly as I could. A walker that came too close, and I had to punch him away. A shout of victory—more like a screech—behind my back made me aware that Phineas had killed one with the turret.
I had to rotate to cover them while they ate the takoyaki—that was so out of place, I can’t believe it yet. However, after it became obvious that their arms were their weak spot, it seemed like we would get out of there alive with no problem.
But that would have been boring, wouldn’t it?
After the last red walker in sight fell down and disappeared, I heard an explosion behind me. It was the turret.
“We’re under attack! We’re under attack!” screamed Phineas. Oh god, how I hated when he screamed like that.
“Shut up! Rebuild the turret and shut up, now! Where did it come from? Did you—” Another explosion interrupted me.
“I’m hit,” said Irwin, “piercing bullets, maybe HT-200. It went through my body and blew the recovery unit. It’s their boss.”
“My takoyaki stand!”
“How in the hell is their boss around? And where is it? Phineas, is the new turret—”
This time the interruption came from Irwin.
“I’m down.”
He fell to the ground, face down. We were so dead.
The resupplier blew up next and Phineas was already running away trying to hide. I wondered how many hits could I withstand with the heavy armor. No more than four.
The first hit was on my leg, as expected from a professional sniper. I wouldn’t be able to run and hide. I saw Phineas when I got the second hit. He was hiding behind a non-radar-proof wall. The wimp would get what he deserved, too.
I heard the third shot, but it didn’t hit me. After perfect accuracy this couldn’t be possible. I turned around.
Temperance Dinah Gold was behind me, on the brink of death after the shot.
“Techie!” screamed Phineas, and the next shot found his head.
Thank you for shutting him up, I thought.
“Two down, two wounded. You’re way too late,” I said.
“My apologies, but you have nothing to worry anymore. I have the intel you need,” she said, with a masculine voice.
“I think it’s too late.”
“It is not. Look at the rocketeer.”
Irwin was up, running behind us.
“You didn’t… you didn’t, right? I told you like three hundred times—”
“I did, and I have the intel you need,” she said.
“What’s the info, techie?” said Irwin.
“Red shadow walkers, the arms are their weak spot, two pistol shots and they’re down.”
We kept running and got behind a well protected wall, all wounded but no more losses. It was just a matter of time though: the boss would move or send more minions.
“Yeah, we know about the red shadow walkers, what do we do with their boss?” I said.
“Boss? What boss?” said Temperance.
“The one that is attacking us!”
“I have no intel of that. Should I go get the engineer?”
“No! I’ve told you five hundred times! You never use crystals for that!”
“You do, one. It is explained when you stand next to a body—”
“Just don’t go! Ahh! Forget about that, we need to know what to do with the boss!”
“I’ve always wondered why the techie chose to be a girl,” said Phineas out of nowhere.
“You!? You’re dead! How can you talk!?”
“Oh, after we made a petition they implemented it in this version. It’s convenient as hell! I’m sorry I wasn’t saying anything. When they got me I went to grab a slice of pizza. Did you guys missed me?”
I wondered if I could kill him while dead, but then a shot sounded and Irwin fell again.
“I’m tired of this, Mira, you can call me when you get a real party,” said his corpse before disappearing.
“From all of us, it was the rocketeer who rage quits? Shame, shame. I’ve been dead for a while, but am I complaining? No, I’m just fine. Let’s find a new rocketeer,” said Phineas.
“He just wanted to stop listening to you,” said Temperance.
“Oh, is that so? Then I won’t make you suffer that sad destiny anymore, you can try and stop me, but I think this is the end of The Electric Robbers.”
“Pillagers,” I said without hesitation.
Phineas body disappeared after he realized we weren’t trying to stop him. I looked around. Temperance was spinning around. I sighed.
“You are trying to look at them again, aren’t you?”
“Look at what?”
“Panties,” I said.
She stopped.
“I am disappointed about the lack of turnability of the skirts in this game.”
“I find it disgusting to hear a male voice coming out of that cute girl saying such a thing.”
“I find it disgusting that you told me this game had cute girls and then they ended up having unflippable skirts,” said Temperance. Those were her—his?—last words.
She fell down after a bang. I didn’t have to wait much to face my own death.
We got back in the lobby. The party was indeed lacking both Irwin and Phineas.
“So, are we trying again?”
“No, we’re not. We have no more members in the team, as you can see,” I said.
“I am sorry I was late… I was busy for real.”
“But but! Nobody takes this seriously!”
“I think the rocketeer did, if you ask me. As for me, you knew it was not my kind of game, that is why you told me about the cute characters.”
“Uninstall it, then. I’ll find another game. Anyway, it’s kind of late so I’ll go to sleep. The junior high is killing me. See you later.”
I jumped on my bed. it wasn’t late, but it was true that school was killing me. As well as this guy’s attitude.
He was a good friend, but while he was too direct at times—like this one—, he seemed to be too private about giving details of his life.
We had known each other for more than half a year now, when we met online. Yet I had no idea where he lived, when his birthday was or what he looked like.
I knew—in exchange, I guess—that he used to live in Sweden, he was planning “something huge,” as he said, and that he liked striped panties. I also knew he was in the third grade of junior high school because he said something about it when he thought his microphone was off.
It was so unfair because he knew everything about me. How my brother had banished me from the Kingdom of Hungary, just so he could get the throne. How I had slain a demon on my way to Japan. How I had stolen its weapon. How I would get revenge and become the legitimate Queen of Hungary.
I had even sent him a picture of my face in the hopes that he would do the same, but of course he didn’t.
And that was why, the next day, when I had to stay to clean up the classroom, it happened.
Holland-kun was there, reading a book about dinosaurs, Minamoto-san was next to him, waiting, when he came in.
“Jake, Minamoto, time has come for us to make the contract, we should—” and then he saw me.
“Hermit!?”
I looked at him, he knew my true identity, so I feared he was an enemy.
“Who are you?”
Minamoto-san looked at us alternating. Holland-kun kept reading, oblivious to everything else. Our senpai turned for a moment and when he turned back his eyes were red, his hair messy.
“This must be Freyja’s doing,” he said
“K-Karmin?!”
He smiled.
“Welcome to the team.”
03 - TRE
The train opened its doors and Jake jumped on, making me realize he was not paying attention. I sighed and, after looking at the other people getting on the train, followed him.
“I need you to listen to me, Jake.”
He arched his eyebrows and pointed to his earphones. I pulled one of them off and put it in my ear. No sound came out of it. Jake rolled his eyes and looked at me.
“I can finish that story about Thor later, there is something more important—”
“You don’t have to,” he said.
“I do not have to what?”
“Finish that story.”
“But it is a really interesting story about how he was judging where at Yggdrasil—”
“Look, I don’t care. I thought it was about that movie with the superheroes, not about… whatever that was about.”
I would have complained about his lack of interest for the Poetic Edda, but I did have something more important to tell him.
“All right. Listen. I think your classmate knows something.”
“Your levels of security, objectivity and specific details are astounding me.”
“I do not know her name, Jake. The one that I thought liked you.”
“What?”
“Oh, I was going to tell you today, I forgot, sorry. Remember the girl that stopped you yesterday?”
“I believe she stopped us and you ran away like a little shit.”
“I am going to ignore the fact excrement cannot move. You know the woman now, right? What did she tell you?”
“She said something about an organization. Listen, I’m not a database, I’m just a guy trying to get home and go to his room and stop looking at you.”
“What did you tell her, then? I assumed she liked you because she had been following us from the first day. Freyja knows how these women are…”
“Freyja?”
“Yes, she is Odr’s wife. She is the goddess of love, fertility—”
“Oh, I remember! I told her your plans, and she didn’t like them!”
“What do you mean? It was Freyja who gave me the instructions, she knows them already—”
“Not that, Minamoto!”
“What Minamoto?”
“My classmate!”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, the conversation derailed a little there… wait, wait, what did you say!?”
The train stopped in Tofukuji and Jake jumped off. I followed him through the station. What did he mean he told her my plans? How did he know my plans to begin with? Was he working for the government? Was he training in America and now he was back trying to stop me? He sat down, waiting for the next train. I stood up in front of him.
“How do you know my plans?”
He pointed to his earphones. I pulled them off, and that seemed to upset him.
“What the hell, dude?”
“How do you know my plans?”
“What plans? I just said you had terrible plans or some shit like that, nothing specific. And you have told me a lot of stuff, you never shut up!”
It wasn’t convincing enough, so I gave him more pressure.
“I am sorry, Jake. But I know your plans. Plead guilty right now and you won’t have to face punishment.”
“Again with this… You know? Even back in L.A. I didn’t have to deal with the entire population of a mental institution. I have no stupid plans, you have, emphasis on stupid, please.”
“I am not sure if I can trust you, you better prove yourself—”
“Geez. Do you want me to tell you I’m from the government and Minamoto has terrible plans? ‘Oh, Kabi, Minamoto will stop you, she already has an army of hundreds of ninja,’ something like that?”
“Does she?!”
“No!… Look, look… I’m your cousin and I’m helping you with your stupid club. I’m staying there fighting crime, or saving the world, or collecting cards… Whatever you want, okay? Just trust me… and remember that with great trust comes great not bothering your trusty allies.”
He was right. Freyja had assigned me the person that has the role of my mom, and this man was her legitimate nephew. He also helped me with the creation of the headquarters for the society. I had to trust him.
“All right. Just know that I will be careful.”
“Yes, yes,” he said, as he got on the train that would take us to Jingumarutamachi.
I spent the rest of the trip home thinking. Minamoto knew something about Elysium, that was why she attacked me.
How did she know? Was she working alone or was a part of an organization? Was she a decoy and somebody else was following me that very moment? I had to find those answers, but there was a bigger mystery on my mind.
Through centuries my enemies have been trying to stop me—in the last one especially, thanks of Mister Stoker. They have tried everything from swords, back in Sweden, to machine guns and other military weapons.There was even an incident with someone shooting silver bullets at me like I was a werewolf. But in all my life I was never the victim of such a clumsy aggression.
Minamoto was swinging her shinai without even looking, yet when she said she was going to “crush” me I could see the determination in her eyes. She could have given me a good fight, but she instead broke the window. I had a couple of hypotheses on why she would miss on purpose, but none of them seemed convincing enough.
When we got home I went to my room. I concluded that asking her would be the fastest way to find out, if not the less problematic. Having decided this, I turned on the computer and got back to work.
And I must have fallen asleep on my desk because the next thing I remember was my mom pushing me out the house to go to school. It was not until we got off the train to school that I remembered about Minamoto and how I had to talk with her that day.
“Jake, I will be absent from the society today. I have to talk with Minamoto. In fact, I want you to make rounds around the school and make sure there is nobody else following us. In other words, you will ensure our rendezvous is not interrupted by third parties. Be sure to be ready, I will cite her on the back of the building so nobody can see me transformed. That is all,” I said as we entered the school.
We parted ways saying nothing else. I scribbled a note for Minamoto and put it in her shoe locker before going to class.
The day went by fast, and soon I found myself at the back of the school. I took out my pendant, Brísingamen, and prepared to release my powers from within it. It was a pain, literally and figuratively, but I had to keep them sealed or I would have a lot of problems. For example being persecuted by the townsfolk or getting a prolonged sunbath.
I moved to the darkest area of the building’s shadow, said the words Freyja had taught me, and felt my blood become colder as my vision blurred. Brísingamen shined. I put my hands on my head and closed my eyes. When I opened them I was not Iwaki Kabi anymore.
After a long wait, I realized Minamoto was approaching. I could smell her.
“I-Iwaki-senpai?” she said. She seemed surprised and I could see her cheeks were red.
“Excuse my boldness, but I have a few questions for you, Minamoto.”
She pulled out her shinai, but I jumped forward and was behind her in a fraction of a second. She was paralyzed.
“If you want to continue with your peaceful life you will answer them. Could you be so kind as to drop your weapon, please?” I whispered in her ear.
“I let my guard down,” she said and dropped the shinai, “you win this battle. Ask away.”
“Thank you very much. My first question is: how do you know about me?”
“My brother graduated last year from this school, he told me about you.”
I tried to remember any Minamoto-senpai, but nothing came to mind.
“I’m going to have to ask you to elaborate on that. Could you?”
“I came with him here to get introduced to the kendo club. I saw you and I asked him. He just confirmed what I saw.”
What did she see, then? If she was on the dojo… then I was…
“Oh, but people get confused with what they see all the time, what is it that you think you saw?” I asked.
“I saw you transform.”
I closed my eyes and sighed in silence. It was one of my training sessions. I must have been in the middle of transforming when they went to the dojo. And I did not see them because of the pain. I cursed in my mind, knowing I would have to deal with this “Minamoto-senpai” later.
“Transform you say?” I started, and let a gentle laugh out, “Is this some kind of horror movie, maybe? Minamoto, child, I think it is clear—“
“You’re a vampire,” she said firmly.
She had to know she would not be leaving alive after saying that, yet she remained calm. I grinned, admiring her courage. I had two more questions before finishing with this sad act.
“Very well, you seem convinced. Instead of arguing, tell me: you said you knew my intentions. I think I have the right to defend myself in case you are misinterpreting something… so, what are my intentions?”
“You will make everyone a zombie-vampire.”
There was no way she meant it.
“What?” I frowned for a moment, then regained my composure. “Minamoto, Minamoto, Minamoto… Do you see? This is why you talk with the accused before sentencing.”
“My brother told me. You will suck everyone’s blood and then you’ll laugh maniacally while shouting ‘rise, my children, rise!’ And then—”
She was not listening at all.
“Minamoto! I guarantee you that is not what I have in mind.”
“It’s not?”
“Eh… no, of course not.”
“What are they, then? Your intentions.”
There was no reason to keep her alive anymore. Her brother was nothing to worry about either, he just made up a cheap horror movie thing just to scare her. He did not know what she saw in reality.
“You will soon know.”
I moved my hand back, preparing it for the kill. But before I attacked I looked down and saw her shinai. And then I got an idea. Why not change a problem into a chance?
The sun had set.
I stepped back and Jake appeared from around the corner.
“There you are! Let’s go, I can’t be here all day! You know my mom wants me to go with you. Even though I have tried explaining this isn’t America, but I guess you know how moms are always—”
“I am glad you are here Jake. You know her already, but let me introduce you to Minamoto Hikari, the third member of the Elysium Society for World’s Fate.”
“I need you to listen to me, Jake.”
He arched his eyebrows and pointed to his earphones. I pulled one of them off and put it in my ear. No sound came out of it. Jake rolled his eyes and looked at me.
“I can finish that story about Thor later, there is something more important—”
“You don’t have to,” he said.
“I do not have to what?”
“Finish that story.”
“But it is a really interesting story about how he was judging where at Yggdrasil—”
“Look, I don’t care. I thought it was about that movie with the superheroes, not about… whatever that was about.”
I would have complained about his lack of interest for the Poetic Edda, but I did have something more important to tell him.
“All right. Listen. I think your classmate knows something.”
“Your levels of security, objectivity and specific details are astounding me.”
“I do not know her name, Jake. The one that I thought liked you.”
“What?”
“Oh, I was going to tell you today, I forgot, sorry. Remember the girl that stopped you yesterday?”
“I believe she stopped us and you ran away like a little shit.”
“I am going to ignore the fact excrement cannot move. You know the woman now, right? What did she tell you?”
“She said something about an organization. Listen, I’m not a database, I’m just a guy trying to get home and go to his room and stop looking at you.”
“What did you tell her, then? I assumed she liked you because she had been following us from the first day. Freyja knows how these women are…”
“Freyja?”
“Yes, she is Odr’s wife. She is the goddess of love, fertility—”
“Oh, I remember! I told her your plans, and she didn’t like them!”
“What do you mean? It was Freyja who gave me the instructions, she knows them already—”
“Not that, Minamoto!”
“What Minamoto?”
“My classmate!”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, the conversation derailed a little there… wait, wait, what did you say!?”
The train stopped in Tofukuji and Jake jumped off. I followed him through the station. What did he mean he told her my plans? How did he know my plans to begin with? Was he working for the government? Was he training in America and now he was back trying to stop me? He sat down, waiting for the next train. I stood up in front of him.
“How do you know my plans?”
He pointed to his earphones. I pulled them off, and that seemed to upset him.
“What the hell, dude?”
“How do you know my plans?”
“What plans? I just said you had terrible plans or some shit like that, nothing specific. And you have told me a lot of stuff, you never shut up!”
It wasn’t convincing enough, so I gave him more pressure.
“I am sorry, Jake. But I know your plans. Plead guilty right now and you won’t have to face punishment.”
“Again with this… You know? Even back in L.A. I didn’t have to deal with the entire population of a mental institution. I have no stupid plans, you have, emphasis on stupid, please.”
“I am not sure if I can trust you, you better prove yourself—”
“Geez. Do you want me to tell you I’m from the government and Minamoto has terrible plans? ‘Oh, Kabi, Minamoto will stop you, she already has an army of hundreds of ninja,’ something like that?”
“Does she?!”
“No!… Look, look… I’m your cousin and I’m helping you with your stupid club. I’m staying there fighting crime, or saving the world, or collecting cards… Whatever you want, okay? Just trust me… and remember that with great trust comes great not bothering your trusty allies.”
He was right. Freyja had assigned me the person that has the role of my mom, and this man was her legitimate nephew. He also helped me with the creation of the headquarters for the society. I had to trust him.
“All right. Just know that I will be careful.”
“Yes, yes,” he said, as he got on the train that would take us to Jingumarutamachi.
I spent the rest of the trip home thinking. Minamoto knew something about Elysium, that was why she attacked me.
How did she know? Was she working alone or was a part of an organization? Was she a decoy and somebody else was following me that very moment? I had to find those answers, but there was a bigger mystery on my mind.
Through centuries my enemies have been trying to stop me—in the last one especially, thanks of Mister Stoker. They have tried everything from swords, back in Sweden, to machine guns and other military weapons.There was even an incident with someone shooting silver bullets at me like I was a werewolf. But in all my life I was never the victim of such a clumsy aggression.
Minamoto was swinging her shinai without even looking, yet when she said she was going to “crush” me I could see the determination in her eyes. She could have given me a good fight, but she instead broke the window. I had a couple of hypotheses on why she would miss on purpose, but none of them seemed convincing enough.
When we got home I went to my room. I concluded that asking her would be the fastest way to find out, if not the less problematic. Having decided this, I turned on the computer and got back to work.
And I must have fallen asleep on my desk because the next thing I remember was my mom pushing me out the house to go to school. It was not until we got off the train to school that I remembered about Minamoto and how I had to talk with her that day.
“Jake, I will be absent from the society today. I have to talk with Minamoto. In fact, I want you to make rounds around the school and make sure there is nobody else following us. In other words, you will ensure our rendezvous is not interrupted by third parties. Be sure to be ready, I will cite her on the back of the building so nobody can see me transformed. That is all,” I said as we entered the school.
We parted ways saying nothing else. I scribbled a note for Minamoto and put it in her shoe locker before going to class.
The day went by fast, and soon I found myself at the back of the school. I took out my pendant, Brísingamen, and prepared to release my powers from within it. It was a pain, literally and figuratively, but I had to keep them sealed or I would have a lot of problems. For example being persecuted by the townsfolk or getting a prolonged sunbath.
I moved to the darkest area of the building’s shadow, said the words Freyja had taught me, and felt my blood become colder as my vision blurred. Brísingamen shined. I put my hands on my head and closed my eyes. When I opened them I was not Iwaki Kabi anymore.
After a long wait, I realized Minamoto was approaching. I could smell her.
“I-Iwaki-senpai?” she said. She seemed surprised and I could see her cheeks were red.
“Excuse my boldness, but I have a few questions for you, Minamoto.”
She pulled out her shinai, but I jumped forward and was behind her in a fraction of a second. She was paralyzed.
“If you want to continue with your peaceful life you will answer them. Could you be so kind as to drop your weapon, please?” I whispered in her ear.
“I let my guard down,” she said and dropped the shinai, “you win this battle. Ask away.”
“Thank you very much. My first question is: how do you know about me?”
“My brother graduated last year from this school, he told me about you.”
I tried to remember any Minamoto-senpai, but nothing came to mind.
“I’m going to have to ask you to elaborate on that. Could you?”
“I came with him here to get introduced to the kendo club. I saw you and I asked him. He just confirmed what I saw.”
What did she see, then? If she was on the dojo… then I was…
“Oh, but people get confused with what they see all the time, what is it that you think you saw?” I asked.
“I saw you transform.”
I closed my eyes and sighed in silence. It was one of my training sessions. I must have been in the middle of transforming when they went to the dojo. And I did not see them because of the pain. I cursed in my mind, knowing I would have to deal with this “Minamoto-senpai” later.
“Transform you say?” I started, and let a gentle laugh out, “Is this some kind of horror movie, maybe? Minamoto, child, I think it is clear—“
“You’re a vampire,” she said firmly.
She had to know she would not be leaving alive after saying that, yet she remained calm. I grinned, admiring her courage. I had two more questions before finishing with this sad act.
“Very well, you seem convinced. Instead of arguing, tell me: you said you knew my intentions. I think I have the right to defend myself in case you are misinterpreting something… so, what are my intentions?”
“You will make everyone a zombie-vampire.”
There was no way she meant it.
“What?” I frowned for a moment, then regained my composure. “Minamoto, Minamoto, Minamoto… Do you see? This is why you talk with the accused before sentencing.”
“My brother told me. You will suck everyone’s blood and then you’ll laugh maniacally while shouting ‘rise, my children, rise!’ And then—”
She was not listening at all.
“Minamoto! I guarantee you that is not what I have in mind.”
“It’s not?”
“Eh… no, of course not.”
“What are they, then? Your intentions.”
There was no reason to keep her alive anymore. Her brother was nothing to worry about either, he just made up a cheap horror movie thing just to scare her. He did not know what she saw in reality.
“You will soon know.”
I moved my hand back, preparing it for the kill. But before I attacked I looked down and saw her shinai. And then I got an idea. Why not change a problem into a chance?
The sun had set.
I stepped back and Jake appeared from around the corner.
“There you are! Let’s go, I can’t be here all day! You know my mom wants me to go with you. Even though I have tried explaining this isn’t America, but I guess you know how moms are always—”
“I am glad you are here Jake. You know her already, but let me introduce you to Minamoto Hikari, the third member of the Elysium Society for World’s Fate.”
02- I Know Your Intentions
“Holland Jake,” said Mr. Watanabe.
“I’m Jake, nice to meet you and all of that. I like baseball and punk music.”
He had already finished saying that when he got to the front of the classroom. I had been following him through the morning, the first day of school. He’s a boy with curly hair and a foreign looking face. “Definitely not a Japanese,” I thought when I heard his name.
“Holland comes from America, so I’m sure he will be happy to help you all with your English, right, Holland?”
Holland nodded while rolling his eyes and sighing. He didn’t seem happy about it. He didn’t seem happy about anything, at least that morning. The first day of school is difficult for some people, I guess.
He went back to his seat and opened a biology book, ignoring the other students that were introducing themselves in the front.
I wasn’t paying attention either, as I had concluded there would not be any other interesting member of this class, except for me. And… Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet—
“Minamoto Hikari,” said Mr. Watanabe.
“Hello and good day, everyone. You can call me Minamoto Hikari though my real name is unknown even to me. Please don’t be surprised by this, but I want to let you know that I’m an ayakashi—”
“Are those youkai?” interrupted a student, distracting me from my monologue.
“They… Yeah, yeah, spirits… What else? Oh, yeah… what I like… I guess… I like dango… Yeah, thank you,” then I went back to my seat.
I had done it again, couldn’t finish saying what I wanted. I rehearsed my presentation the night before, but this question was unexpected… Why would you ask such a question? You google it later if you’re that curious.
There was no other explanation. It must have been some force from the spirit world, using the body of my classmate to inconvenience me. I have yet to identify who said that. Once I do, I may be able to perform an exorcism… I mean, if it’s not too late.
Nevermind that, I was telling you about Holland.
I saw him first the morning of the first day, as I said, followed by my target. He is probably one of the most important members of the organization, I thought, because when even my target was talking without caring for possible eavesdroppers, Holland kept a low profile.
And there was also the ladder act. He had convinced the entire school, teachers included, about the authenticity of the fall. From what I saw, he must have told my target to fall on his face, risking him breaking his nose.
It made me think that maybe I had my intel wrong. Maybe Holland was my real target, and he was using that upperclassman as a decoy. Maybe he had everything set up in a way that would fool me, predicting my appearance even before moving back to Japan. Did he move back or was that also a deception?
Those were the main reasons I thought I should confront him as soon as possible. I didn’t want to be discovered by him. The hunter could have become the hunted.
After Mr. Watanabe went out the room, Holland stood up. He had clear intentions to walk out the room, so I rushed out through the back door, and waited for him. I had less than ten seconds to prepare.
I checked my surroundings. Three people were walking in the hallway. I wouldn’t be able to throw him to the ground there as I had thought, too many witnesses.
The best idea seemed to be following him until we were alone, then attacking before he reacted. So I waited. And waited.
A long time passed and the next teacher came, so I had to return to the classroom. Holland was still in his seat, reading his book. Was it a coincidence? Did he know about me already? Did he look at me while I was going back to my seat?
Three days went by and I couldn’t get the chance to interrogate him. He knew about me, I was sure by then. I had seen him looking at me in class more than twice, and he never left the room if I was waiting outside.
It may sound like I was getting paranoid, but I was left with no other option except direct confrontation after what happened on the first Thursday.
He was with my target, vandalizing a classroom sign. That was punishable enough, but it was what he wrote that revealed me just in what kind of situation I was.
“Rei.”
It was the kanji for “decree,” but, as you know, it has the same reading as “example” and “spirit.”
He was making a decree that would set an example for spirits. It was a direct declaration of war. As they walked away from that classroom, I stood in front of them.
I wasn’t going to fight there. They would have attacked me together, for sure, as they lacked any form of honor. I was just acknowledging the challenge.
“Holland, I know your intentions.”
He looked at me with a puzzled face. But he wasn’t going to fool me. I kept eye contact until he talked.
“Are you from—?”
“I need to go, excuse me,” interrupted my target.
He walked by my side, and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. He was as calm as he was supposed to be. Holland had been sent to fight in his place. The last thing I saw of him was his grin. They had deceived me.
I looked back, but the hallway was already empty. It seemed I had no choice but to get Holland first.
“Ignore him… you’re from my class, aren’t you?”
“I… yes. You can call me Minamoto Hikari, but my real name…”
“Oh, yeah, you’re the one that believes in all that stupid spirit stuff, yeah. What’s up?”
“Hey! There’s no need to be rude… well, nevermind… what are your and your organization’s plans? Tell me all you know and you won’t have to die here.”
“I have no organization, and my plans are going to the park right now, so move.”
“You won’t pass until you talk to me,” I said while drawing out Murasaki, my katana.
He looked away, knowing he didn’t stand a chance, and after a long sigh, he surrendered.
“Did you see the guy that was with me? It’s his organization. I’m on your side here. His plans are much bigger than you or I know, and I’m trying to get more information. I’m working for the government, and even when we appreciate your desire to help, I have to ask you to stay away from this.”
As if I would. He had said what I wanted to hear. I put Murasaki away and left Holland there. I’d investigate him later, you can’t trust the government these days.
The rest of that day, and the morning of the next, was spent with preparations for the battle. By the time the last class ended I was ready. I went to meet my destiny.
My target was the last person to get out of the classroom as always. When he did, I was in front of him.
“Even when the whole world is your enemy, you will be okay if you have some allies. Sadly, you seem to have none,” I said. It sounded as cool as planned, and it had to cause a great impact on him.
“Excuse me, do I know you?” he wasn’t even looking at me. Playing dumb again, it seemed.
“I know your intentions, I won’t let you do what you want. Tell me your name!”
“Iwaki.”
“Iwaki-senpai, you better leave right now. Or else I, Minamoto Hikari, will crush you, understood?”
“I have no idea what is this about, but I have no time to spend here with you, my plans can’t wait. If you could move—”
“I gave you a chance, but you didn’t take it…”
I attacked him with Murasaki but a strange force made me miss. I tried again, but it was like an invisible barrier was diverting my strikes. The left wall of the building ended up destroyed.
“It seems I underestimated you,” I said as I retreated.
“I will study him more,” I thought while running away. He seemed not willing to attack while at school, so I had time. And there was also Holland, he may be able to help me, if he ended up being on my side.
As for my reputation, it was not in danger. Only a fool fights a battle she cannot win.
“I’m Jake, nice to meet you and all of that. I like baseball and punk music.”
He had already finished saying that when he got to the front of the classroom. I had been following him through the morning, the first day of school. He’s a boy with curly hair and a foreign looking face. “Definitely not a Japanese,” I thought when I heard his name.
“Holland comes from America, so I’m sure he will be happy to help you all with your English, right, Holland?”
Holland nodded while rolling his eyes and sighing. He didn’t seem happy about it. He didn’t seem happy about anything, at least that morning. The first day of school is difficult for some people, I guess.
He went back to his seat and opened a biology book, ignoring the other students that were introducing themselves in the front.
I wasn’t paying attention either, as I had concluded there would not be any other interesting member of this class, except for me. And… Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet—
“Minamoto Hikari,” said Mr. Watanabe.
“Hello and good day, everyone. You can call me Minamoto Hikari though my real name is unknown even to me. Please don’t be surprised by this, but I want to let you know that I’m an ayakashi—”
“Are those youkai?” interrupted a student, distracting me from my monologue.
“They… Yeah, yeah, spirits… What else? Oh, yeah… what I like… I guess… I like dango… Yeah, thank you,” then I went back to my seat.
I had done it again, couldn’t finish saying what I wanted. I rehearsed my presentation the night before, but this question was unexpected… Why would you ask such a question? You google it later if you’re that curious.
There was no other explanation. It must have been some force from the spirit world, using the body of my classmate to inconvenience me. I have yet to identify who said that. Once I do, I may be able to perform an exorcism… I mean, if it’s not too late.
Nevermind that, I was telling you about Holland.
I saw him first the morning of the first day, as I said, followed by my target. He is probably one of the most important members of the organization, I thought, because when even my target was talking without caring for possible eavesdroppers, Holland kept a low profile.
And there was also the ladder act. He had convinced the entire school, teachers included, about the authenticity of the fall. From what I saw, he must have told my target to fall on his face, risking him breaking his nose.
It made me think that maybe I had my intel wrong. Maybe Holland was my real target, and he was using that upperclassman as a decoy. Maybe he had everything set up in a way that would fool me, predicting my appearance even before moving back to Japan. Did he move back or was that also a deception?
Those were the main reasons I thought I should confront him as soon as possible. I didn’t want to be discovered by him. The hunter could have become the hunted.
After Mr. Watanabe went out the room, Holland stood up. He had clear intentions to walk out the room, so I rushed out through the back door, and waited for him. I had less than ten seconds to prepare.
I checked my surroundings. Three people were walking in the hallway. I wouldn’t be able to throw him to the ground there as I had thought, too many witnesses.
The best idea seemed to be following him until we were alone, then attacking before he reacted. So I waited. And waited.
A long time passed and the next teacher came, so I had to return to the classroom. Holland was still in his seat, reading his book. Was it a coincidence? Did he know about me already? Did he look at me while I was going back to my seat?
Three days went by and I couldn’t get the chance to interrogate him. He knew about me, I was sure by then. I had seen him looking at me in class more than twice, and he never left the room if I was waiting outside.
It may sound like I was getting paranoid, but I was left with no other option except direct confrontation after what happened on the first Thursday.
He was with my target, vandalizing a classroom sign. That was punishable enough, but it was what he wrote that revealed me just in what kind of situation I was.
“Rei.”
It was the kanji for “decree,” but, as you know, it has the same reading as “example” and “spirit.”
He was making a decree that would set an example for spirits. It was a direct declaration of war. As they walked away from that classroom, I stood in front of them.
I wasn’t going to fight there. They would have attacked me together, for sure, as they lacked any form of honor. I was just acknowledging the challenge.
“Holland, I know your intentions.”
He looked at me with a puzzled face. But he wasn’t going to fool me. I kept eye contact until he talked.
“Are you from—?”
“I need to go, excuse me,” interrupted my target.
He walked by my side, and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. He was as calm as he was supposed to be. Holland had been sent to fight in his place. The last thing I saw of him was his grin. They had deceived me.
I looked back, but the hallway was already empty. It seemed I had no choice but to get Holland first.
“Ignore him… you’re from my class, aren’t you?”
“I… yes. You can call me Minamoto Hikari, but my real name…”
“Oh, yeah, you’re the one that believes in all that stupid spirit stuff, yeah. What’s up?”
“Hey! There’s no need to be rude… well, nevermind… what are your and your organization’s plans? Tell me all you know and you won’t have to die here.”
“I have no organization, and my plans are going to the park right now, so move.”
“You won’t pass until you talk to me,” I said while drawing out Murasaki, my katana.
He looked away, knowing he didn’t stand a chance, and after a long sigh, he surrendered.
“Did you see the guy that was with me? It’s his organization. I’m on your side here. His plans are much bigger than you or I know, and I’m trying to get more information. I’m working for the government, and even when we appreciate your desire to help, I have to ask you to stay away from this.”
As if I would. He had said what I wanted to hear. I put Murasaki away and left Holland there. I’d investigate him later, you can’t trust the government these days.
The rest of that day, and the morning of the next, was spent with preparations for the battle. By the time the last class ended I was ready. I went to meet my destiny.
My target was the last person to get out of the classroom as always. When he did, I was in front of him.
“Even when the whole world is your enemy, you will be okay if you have some allies. Sadly, you seem to have none,” I said. It sounded as cool as planned, and it had to cause a great impact on him.
“Excuse me, do I know you?” he wasn’t even looking at me. Playing dumb again, it seemed.
“I know your intentions, I won’t let you do what you want. Tell me your name!”
“Iwaki.”
“Iwaki-senpai, you better leave right now. Or else I, Minamoto Hikari, will crush you, understood?”
“I have no idea what is this about, but I have no time to spend here with you, my plans can’t wait. If you could move—”
“I gave you a chance, but you didn’t take it…”
I attacked him with Murasaki but a strange force made me miss. I tried again, but it was like an invisible barrier was diverting my strikes. The left wall of the building ended up destroyed.
“It seems I underestimated you,” I said as I retreated.
“I will study him more,” I thought while running away. He seemed not willing to attack while at school, so I had time. And there was also Holland, he may be able to help me, if he ended up being on my side.
As for my reputation, it was not in danger. Only a fool fights a battle she cannot win.
02- Rise of the Shooting Star (2)
“Everyone please remember to go straight home once you leave the facilities.”
Class had finished. The class representative gave the order to stand and bow to the teacher.
“Oh, that’s right. Yume-kun, please come with me to the teacher’s lounge to fill up a couple of papers.”
Rizel packed up her belongings, keeping an eye close on the transfer student until he left the classroom along with Vanilla-sensei.
“Let's go, Asucchi.”
“Where to?”
The expression of curiosity of the girl with the hair bun was rewarded with a cheeky smile.
“We're going to follow them.”
Most likely any other person would ask why before agreeing to such request, but Asuka’s mind didn’t work like that.
“Okay!”
She quickly processed the little information she had and turned it into a espionage escenario. Without a second thought, the energetic girl accompanied her friend, believing any answer she needed would be found at their destination.
Going through the crowded hallways, sneaking downstairs, every little movement had to be done with cautiousness. Always walking close enough not to lose sight of their preys, far enough not to be discovered. It was every bit as exciting as Asuka thought it would be.
They followed them all the way to the first floor of the third building and watched them go inside the teacher’s lounge. The girls carefully slid the door just enough to be able to peek inside. There they saw their new classmate speaking with their professor.
“And that’s it, Yume-kun. Now, do you have any questions about your new school?”, asked the teacher, eager to help.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I would like to procure a room to establish my crew's lair.”
Standing there with his arms crossed, Yume spoke with a collected tone. It was clear that his petition was serious, which made his choice of words a little more confusing.
“We'll use it to prepare for our journey. Research material is needed, so it must be big enough to store books, maps, everything that can provide us with information about the ocean of stars and the cosmic islands.”
Vanilla-sensei employed all his experience as an educator to try and decipher the teen’s terminology.
“So… you want to start a club?”
His student’s nodding encouraged him..
“And you want to research space so… an Astronomy club?
Immediately after hearing those words, Asuka took a glance at her friend. She on the other hand drifted her eyes away from the conversation..
“I understand your interest, Yume-kun, but starting a new club is not an easy task.”
The teacher reached out to the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a sheet of paper.
“At the very least you need to gather four members, and an advisor. Then you have to submit this club application to the Student Council. From there—”
“Here, brat.”
A tall, sturdy teacher, threw a key to Yume. He was barely able to catch it.
“Take the application, go to the spare room on the fourth floor of the first building. The one without a door sign.”
“What are you doing, Coffee-sensei.”
“There’s no need to tire him with all the details now..”
Vanilla-sensei pouted.
“Gather four members and look for a professor to be your advisor. We’ll talk about other details later.”
Yume left the room, walking as fast as he could. The girls moved away from the door just in time to avoid being seen by him, who then sprinted to the school yard.
“Aren’t we going to follow him?”
Rizel just stood there in silence for a minute, while staring at the ground. A hint of sorrow sparked from his eyes.
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted to follow sensei and the transfer student.”
Amused by classmate’s insightful attitude, Rizel decided to play along.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You want to join the Space Pirates!”
But immediately switched to being irritated.
“Of course I don’t. Pirates are evil. Nothing more than criminals.”
Asuka got startled by the reaction.
“And a Space Pirate is even worse.”
“But, if we join him, we would be members of the Astronomy club, right?”
It was hard to ignore that. In fact, there was a time when just hearing the word Astronomy would be enough to make her jump with excitement. But that time is long gone, she thought. However, there was still something Rizel had to do.
“I’m sorry Asucchi, would you please go ahead without me?. There’s something I have to do before going home.”
Puzzled by the pink-haired girl’s behavior, Asuka parted ways with her.
With every single step full of determination, Rizel made her way to the change rooms located on the rooftop of the third building, next to the swimming pool.
Coffee-sensei felt the incessant staring of his moping co-worker.
“What is it, Vanilla.”
“Are you sure about this, Coffee-kun?”
“I told you to stop calling me ‘-kun’.”
Vanilla-sensei let out an innocent laugh. He leaned his slender figure on his chair.
“There’s no point in having an Astronomy club without night activities. At least that’s why the Student Council shut the attempt to create one last year. What could be different this time?”
What, indeed. Coffee had acted on a whim.
“Who knows, Vanilla. But, if we are supposed to encourage the students’ independence, we should let them try.”
After listening to the reasoning behind his long-haired colleague actions, Vanilla-sensei couldn’t help but giggle.
“I guess you’re right, Coffee-kun.”
“Enough with the ‘-kun’.”
The sunset light coming through the windows painted the hallways in a quiet orange color. The school was little less than empty when the order to leave the building sounded from the speakers. After closing the clubroom, the transfer student walked down the last flight of stairs which led to the shoe lockers.
"Shiroku Yume."
He turned around. The one who shouted his name was standing on the stairway landing, wearing the school-issued swimsuit for girls, though still keeping the skirt and neckerchief. She wore her hair into twin-tails and was holding a small toy scepter.
Class had finished. The class representative gave the order to stand and bow to the teacher.
“Oh, that’s right. Yume-kun, please come with me to the teacher’s lounge to fill up a couple of papers.”
Rizel packed up her belongings, keeping an eye close on the transfer student until he left the classroom along with Vanilla-sensei.
“Let's go, Asucchi.”
“Where to?”
The expression of curiosity of the girl with the hair bun was rewarded with a cheeky smile.
“We're going to follow them.”
Most likely any other person would ask why before agreeing to such request, but Asuka’s mind didn’t work like that.
“Okay!”
She quickly processed the little information she had and turned it into a espionage escenario. Without a second thought, the energetic girl accompanied her friend, believing any answer she needed would be found at their destination.
Going through the crowded hallways, sneaking downstairs, every little movement had to be done with cautiousness. Always walking close enough not to lose sight of their preys, far enough not to be discovered. It was every bit as exciting as Asuka thought it would be.
They followed them all the way to the first floor of the third building and watched them go inside the teacher’s lounge. The girls carefully slid the door just enough to be able to peek inside. There they saw their new classmate speaking with their professor.
“And that’s it, Yume-kun. Now, do you have any questions about your new school?”, asked the teacher, eager to help.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I would like to procure a room to establish my crew's lair.”
Standing there with his arms crossed, Yume spoke with a collected tone. It was clear that his petition was serious, which made his choice of words a little more confusing.
“We'll use it to prepare for our journey. Research material is needed, so it must be big enough to store books, maps, everything that can provide us with information about the ocean of stars and the cosmic islands.”
Vanilla-sensei employed all his experience as an educator to try and decipher the teen’s terminology.
“So… you want to start a club?”
His student’s nodding encouraged him..
“And you want to research space so… an Astronomy club?
Immediately after hearing those words, Asuka took a glance at her friend. She on the other hand drifted her eyes away from the conversation..
“I understand your interest, Yume-kun, but starting a new club is not an easy task.”
The teacher reached out to the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a sheet of paper.
“At the very least you need to gather four members, and an advisor. Then you have to submit this club application to the Student Council. From there—”
“Here, brat.”
A tall, sturdy teacher, threw a key to Yume. He was barely able to catch it.
“Take the application, go to the spare room on the fourth floor of the first building. The one without a door sign.”
“What are you doing, Coffee-sensei.”
“There’s no need to tire him with all the details now..”
Vanilla-sensei pouted.
“Gather four members and look for a professor to be your advisor. We’ll talk about other details later.”
Yume left the room, walking as fast as he could. The girls moved away from the door just in time to avoid being seen by him, who then sprinted to the school yard.
“Aren’t we going to follow him?”
Rizel just stood there in silence for a minute, while staring at the ground. A hint of sorrow sparked from his eyes.
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted to follow sensei and the transfer student.”
Amused by classmate’s insightful attitude, Rizel decided to play along.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You want to join the Space Pirates!”
But immediately switched to being irritated.
“Of course I don’t. Pirates are evil. Nothing more than criminals.”
Asuka got startled by the reaction.
“And a Space Pirate is even worse.”
“But, if we join him, we would be members of the Astronomy club, right?”
It was hard to ignore that. In fact, there was a time when just hearing the word Astronomy would be enough to make her jump with excitement. But that time is long gone, she thought. However, there was still something Rizel had to do.
“I’m sorry Asucchi, would you please go ahead without me?. There’s something I have to do before going home.”
Puzzled by the pink-haired girl’s behavior, Asuka parted ways with her.
With every single step full of determination, Rizel made her way to the change rooms located on the rooftop of the third building, next to the swimming pool.
※※※
Coffee-sensei felt the incessant staring of his moping co-worker.
“What is it, Vanilla.”
“Are you sure about this, Coffee-kun?”
“I told you to stop calling me ‘-kun’.”
Vanilla-sensei let out an innocent laugh. He leaned his slender figure on his chair.
“There’s no point in having an Astronomy club without night activities. At least that’s why the Student Council shut the attempt to create one last year. What could be different this time?”
What, indeed. Coffee had acted on a whim.
“Who knows, Vanilla. But, if we are supposed to encourage the students’ independence, we should let them try.”
After listening to the reasoning behind his long-haired colleague actions, Vanilla-sensei couldn’t help but giggle.
“I guess you’re right, Coffee-kun.”
“Enough with the ‘-kun’.”
※※※
The sunset light coming through the windows painted the hallways in a quiet orange color. The school was little less than empty when the order to leave the building sounded from the speakers. After closing the clubroom, the transfer student walked down the last flight of stairs which led to the shoe lockers.
"Shiroku Yume."
He turned around. The one who shouted his name was standing on the stairway landing, wearing the school-issued swimsuit for girls, though still keeping the skirt and neckerchief. She wore her hair into twin-tails and was holding a small toy scepter.
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