August 5th, 2019. 7:00 A.M. - Two days before the summoning.
On a sunny Monday morning, a young man could be seen getting dressed up and combing his short black hair.
Work has been a regular part of his routine ever since he graduated from The University of Tokyo, also known as Todai.
"Kioooo are you awake yet? Miyu is already here," shouted Kaori, his 18 year old younger sister. Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt due to the summer heat, Kaori tied her light brown, shoulder length hair neatly into a ponytail behind her back.
"Kaori, I'm already awake and getting ready for work." Kio replied, still slightly drowsy from waking up so early. With messy, disheveled hair after waking up, Kio always had to comb his hair for work, otherwise it would look too unprofessional.
Kio, at the age of 22, has been working full-time at the Mitsui Garden Hotel at Ginza for a few weeks already. Shortly after passing the interview for a front office clerk position, he fell in love at first sight with one of his coworkers.
Thinking about being able to work another day with his crush, Kio began to daydream about their possible future together if he can successfully confess to her.
"It would be nice if these days can continue forever," Kio mumbled with a grin on his face.
After he finished putting on his dress shirt and pants, he opened the door to his room and walked downstairs.
"Morning Kaori, Miyu. Eh? Riko, why are you here?" Kio asked, shocked about the additional presence in his house.
In the midst of summer vacation, Kaori informed him yesterday that her friend Miyu will come over to their house today and have a sleepover. However, he didn't hear anything about Miyu's older sister, Riko, coming over as well.
Miyu was currently in a white t-shirt and red skirt, exposing some of the skin around her legs and arms so she wouldn't be uncomfortable in this summer heat that's reaching above 30 degrees Celsius. Her straight black hair fell neatly to her back, reaching up to her shoulder blades.
Beside Miyu stood Riko, who was slightly taller than her younger sister. Clad in a white one-piece dress along with matching white high-heels, Riko was standing in the living room when Kio came downstairs. Her black hair was similar to Miyu's, except it was longer, touching her lower back.
"Hehe, Riko missed you since you two haven't seen each other for awhile." Kaori moved closer to Kio's ears and quietly told him.
Kaori had told Kio a few years ago about Riko's feelings for him, which troubled him because he treated Riko as another sister to him.
All of his friends have already heard about his romantic troubles, repeatedly calling him a normie and telling him to share some luck with them.
***
Around 5 years ago, when Kio and Kaori moved to Japan with their parents, they had trouble speaking fluent Japanese with the people around them since they were born and lived in Canada ever since. Being a Japanese-Canadian, they should know a bit of Japanese, but they weren't too fluent in it since English was the primary language over there.
Luckily for them, their neighbour Miyu and Riko were willing to come over and chat with them on a daily basis, allowing their proficiency in the Japanese language to improve drastically.
Kaori and Miyu got along really fast since they were the same age and have been in the same class ever since Kaori transferred into a nearby junior high school. Spending time at each other's house and shopping together, the bond between Kaori and Miyu deepened with each passing day.
Unfortunately for Kio, his friendship with Riko didn't have such a favourable start.
Greetings and small talk filled the majority of their chats on the small occasions where they meet when they pick up their sister from each other's houses or when they bump into each other on the streets.
Their relationship changed a year after their meeting when Riko entered the same senior high school as Kio. Being able to walk to school together, they became more acquainted with each other, even with their 2 year age gap.
One day, Kio noticed Riko with a very uncomfortable look on her face when she was surrounded by a group of delinquent boys outside school on the way home.
Riko had left school by herself that day because Kio had some after-school duties to finish up with.
Kio took out his cell phone and put the phone near his ear while speaking loudly. "Hello officer? There's a group of boys attempting to rape a high school girl. The location is…"
The delinquents panicked and ran away from the area, worried about the police that will arrive and arrest them.
Ever since that moment, Riko gradually became interested in Kio and her feelings for Kio developed slowly with other events that happened between them.
Although she wasn't romantically interested in him from just that, but she gained a favourable impression about him. With the large amount of time they spent together, she didn't even know when she had developed feelings for him.
***
Kio had already noticed Riko's feelings for him awhile ago, but he didn't know how he felt about her and decided to just follow the flow of things, to see if he will eventually feel the same for her.
"Well, I'm about to go to work, so you girls have fun. If you need anything, remember to call me or your parents." Kio said while putting on his shoes.
"Umm… Kio, do you mind if I go with you? I want to buy something at Don Quijote, which is only a minute away from your workplace." Riko timidly asked, worried about being unable to spend some time alone with Kio if he says no.
"Sure, let's go now."
The two left the house, oblivious of the grin on Kaori and Miyu's faces.
"My stupid brother is aware of Riko's feelings but isn't doing anything about it. If it wasn't for us increasing their chances of meeting each other, nothing will ever happen between them. Just like today, if we didn't wake up Riko and force her to come, she would still be sleeping and lose a chance to get closer with my brother," Kaori voiced her thoughts out loud, knowing that Miyu had similar thoughts about them.
"Maybe your brother already has a girlfriend and we just don't know about it?" Miyu asked, worried about her sister's future.
"No way, if he had one, I would've known about it. I only know that he has a crush on somebody at work, but they aren't together yet. We need to quickly make my brother fall in love with Riko, that way we will be together in the future as sisters," Kaori stated, proud of her plans for the future.
"Okay, hehe," Miyu giggled, thinking about being able to always have fun with Kaori in the future.
Unaware of his sister's plot, Kio walked with Riko to the local Don Quijote close to his workplace, intending to drop her off before going to work.
Since the trains had a long delay for some reason, Kio and Riko had no other choice than to walk, which made Riko happy because she got to spend a bit more time with Kio that way.
"Umm Kio, can we go to your workplace first? I want to see what you're like at work," Riko cautiously asked, curious about the hotel that Kio is working at since she never visited his workplace before. She had been busy with classes at Todai, and it took her a week to gather the courage to ask about visiting Kio's workplace.
"That's fine, I don't think anybody would mind as long as you're only checking out the lobby area."
"Okay," Riko replied, with a bright smile on her face. After receiving Kio's permission, Riko is glad that Miyu woke her up early today to go to Kio and Kaori's house together.
While walking side-by-side with Kio, Riko began humming her favourite song. She felt like today will be a great day due to such a good start in the morning, and she secretly hoped for something to happen that will deepen their bonds further.
"Is there anything you want to see here? Since we arrived early, I have some time to spare before my shift starts," Kio asked after they entered the Mitsui Garden Hotel.
"Not really, I just wanted to…" before Riko could finish her sentence, she got cut off by loud screams outside the hotel.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
"Ahhhhhh!!!!"
"Runn!!!!!"
"What's happening…?" Riko asked, confused about all the noise outside.
"Let's go take a look through the windows," Kio calmly replied, since he also wanted to know the situation.
Looking outside, they saw many people running, being chased by others who had blood around their mouth, limbs, and other body parts.
After Kio saw this scene, he instantly thought of some anime or novel series that he used to watch or read, which led him to subconsciously voice out his conclusion, "zombies…?"