At the Tsukikage Town's Music Conservatory, a teenage girl wearing a white summer dress over a light blue cardigan with her black hair whose length only reached three inches below her shoulder was busy practicing her chosen musical piece on one of the grand pianos there. She chose to practice using the grand piano in the stadium. Only a few people were permitted to use that piano for practicing. Hoshiyama Erika was among them, but she was permitted for one special reason.
That grand piano once belonged to her father who was a famous pianist in their town. His talent in piano was so impressive that it earned him several more performances throughout the country. It would have lived on for a long time if his father didn't die along with her mother in the hotel fire 10 years ago. She and her older brother Itsuki were some of the few survivors of that tragedy.
It had been 10 years, and right now, she was quite happy with her life even though her parents were dead. Her parents' friend was their current guardian who raised her and Itsuki like his own children.
Erika continued practicing without a care in the world since she needed to do her best for the upcoming piano recital she was going to participate in a month from now. It would also provide her access to study in one of the prestigious music schools in Japan if she did her best and impressed the sponsors. But since she was still having a hard time deciding on whether or not she would leave Tsukikage Town for her dream, she would play the piano to her heart's content.
She was almost done playing the piece when she suddenly heard footsteps coming from backstage. Of course, she got startled by that which made her almost immediately stop playing the piano. She was about to leave the stadium and get her things when a familiar voice spoke.
"Geez! It's just me, Erika. You don't have to be that scared."
Erika exhaled sharply when she heard her brother Itsuki's voice. "Urgh! Do you seriously have to scare me like that, Onii-chan?"
But the answer she got from him was a noncommittal shrug and approached her. Itsuki wordlessly took her bag and started walking away from there. He stopped in his tracks for a short while before turning to face her.
"Come on. We need to head home fast. I don't want Hideoki-san to scold us when we get there late."
"Is that all you have to say? Shouldn't you be saying something to me about your composition?"
No words came out of Itsuki's mouth after Erika asked those questions. At that point, he didn't want to talk about it.
"I'll show it to you when we get home. I'm done composing it, anyway. You can even try playing it if you want."
Erika's face brightened at his words. "Really? I get to play your latest composition?"
Itsuki nodded. This time, with a smile on his face. He rarely smiled in front of everyone but not to Erika. After all, she was one of his reasons to smile.
With those words, Erika followed her brother and clung to his arm. She always does that whenever they go home together. It was a habit ever since the fire that took their parents' lives 10 years ago. And it was always a gesture that calmed them both, that gave them strength.
"I wonder what Hideoki-san would make for dinner. I realized that I didn't even have lunch a while back," Erika suddenly blurted out.
Itsuki frowned. "You didn't eat your bento?"
"No. I gave it to the old man selling scraps on the way while I was heading here. It's better that he ate it since he was working very hard."
Itsuki couldn't comment anymore about it. He knew Erika was like this, always thinking of others more than her. He could only smile at it.
"Well, I'll just give you a pig portion later before Eichirou-san gets all of it to fill his bottomless stomach."
The siblings laughed at it before Erika let out an agreeing sound and nodded.
= = = = = =
Taiyou Family Restaurant, 6:03 PM...
The restaurant was already closed at around 6:00 PM, but only on that particular Wednesday since that was the day that Mizuhashi Hideoki would do a certain ritual. But it was a secret ritual that only his cousin knew.
Before he decided to do the ritual, he was in his working station to prepare the ingredients needed by the next day. As he did so, he was also watching the 6:00 night news. But a certain headline caught his attention. He wasn't too sure about it, though.
Hideoki stopped slicing the vegetables and increased the volume of the TV for him to be able to hear the news.
~"This afternoon, at 1:30, a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 8.7 struck the area near Mt. Kumamoto, killing 312 people..."~
But Hideoki wasn't busy concentrating on the report but on the series of footage overlooking the damage of the aforementioned earthquake. Not only did the scattered bodies of the victims shock him, but also the other damages around the scene. What put him in a state of disbelief was the fact that the damage was something the earthquake didn't do.
"This can't be..." were the only words Hideoki could ever utter in shock.
But despite being in shock, he knew one thing.
The victims... moreover, the children... They didn't die because of the earthquake. Whatever caused the earthquake to happen became the catalyst for the perpetrators to kill them.
It was the terrifying truth that lies in it that Hideoki had been afraid of ever since.
He felt weakened at the truth flashing in his mind about the news. He collapsed to his knees as he kept shaking his head.
"Don't tell me... It's time already? Mariko... don't tell me you knew this would happen?"
= = = = = =
Hoshizora Bookstore, same time...
The owner Kinmura Nanami, the cousin of Mizuhashi Hideoki, was busy putting newly-arrived books on their designated shelves. She had already closed her store so she wasn't worried about incoming customers—most of them were either bookworms or just people who wanted to read a few books to pass the time. As she did so, she was watching the news on TV.
But the currently airing news headline about a field trip that went bad caused Nanami to unconsciously drop the other books she was holding. Her eyes were wide open as she watched the news in shock. She proceeded to increase the volume of her TV to hear it even clearer. It was for her to know that it wasn't a dream or maybe even a nightmare at all.
'312 people, including elementary students, die in a field trip mishap. The cause of the 8.7 magnitude earthquake, is still undetermined.'
It was that byline that made Nanami know something was weird. What supported her theory was the series of footage with regards to the disastrous event. Being the one familiar with different types of wounds, the sight of the injuries of the victims made her know what exactly killed those teachers and students on that mountain.
"Someone... broke one of the seals?" Nanami managed to utter before continuing to watch the news about the disastrous field trip. After watching it, she went to a cabinet on the counter and took a decorated chest box from there.
Nanami carefully looked at the crest engraved on the top of the chest box. It was a fully bloomed lotus flower with its five visible petals having five different colors, starting from red, blue, green, yellow, and white.
"Mariko... if that time had come already, I want you and the others to guide them all the way. Don't let them suffer even more than they all had for the past 10 years since that fire..." she whispered as she touched the chest box as carefully as she could.
With a distraught expression that gradually changed into a determined one, she decided to finish what she had to do first before heading to her cousin's house.
= = = = = =
Well, if one could describe the word "disaster", the death of almost 400 people and counting in one day would have been one of the best pictures for it. Too many bodies were scattered everywhere around the mountain area. Rescuers, police, and even nearby villagers were doing their best to find at least a few survivors in that area.
But there was no such luck.
The police did state to the reporters that the earthquake killed the students, along with their teachers. But they purposely left out one important piece of information and decided not to mention it to the media at all.
Many of the victims died not because of the earthquake. Their perpetrator wasn't nature's wrath but a ruthless murderer wielding bladed weapons sharp enough to slice their bodies open, killing them instantly. What was even weirder was the scorched boulder near the scene where they found two more bodies—one belonged to a boy (Kouta) and a teacher.
Even normal humans could feel that something ominous was lurking around the area.
If only they knew, that ominous feeling would soon spread out to continue an ancient agenda—one that threatens to destroy everything...