Dogs were barking. Possibly fighting each other in the brutal uncivilized manner.
Night had fallen on the city of Ach'ka Chuai. A slow boring process of the sun shutting itself down the horizon.
"Ghaaah!" a woman opened a door and entered her apartment, panting with depression. "Ugh... I don't get it. Why does it always happen to me?"
She was referring to her bad day of work that she was brave enough to face. Walking a small distance, she dumped her bag and flung herself on a couch. She let out a sigh - not out of relief; out of frustration. At herself.
"Curse my luck...."
She turned on the TV. It was automatically switched to an anime channel.
Her bag suddenly tipped over, and a namecard fell out. It read "Takira Honé, junior detective".
Lazily, with eyes half-enveloped with sleep, she peered over to see what had happened. The word "detective" drilled ill vibes of misfortunate memories into her head just by the sight of it.
"Nope. Not again."
She tried her best to ignore her past. Whatever had happened.
Eyes glued to the TV screen, Takira seeked refuge. To escape reality. To allow her fascination for anime to act as painkillers to subdue the aftermath of her day at work.
Takira gulped and let out another sigh.
"Forget it. I'm never gonna be able to solve that case."
Her mind had been embedded with an infestation of boredom combined with regret. Wherever she looked, she remembered that face. That annoying face.
Her boss's face.
"Yaaaaaaargh!" she clawed the air, as if her boss was standing right in front of her.
But there was no one around.
Takira blinked twice. Another sigh and she turned off the TV.
"I guess I'll goto sleep," she muttered to herself.
Roses are red,
The sky is blue,
She lay asleep on the bed,
But one thing she forgot to do!
* Imaginary arrow points towards an alarm clock on the bedside table *
*****
Screeeam!
Takira awoke with a hearty scream. The reason: she had forgotten to set the alarm and was now running late for office!
Downstairs, Takira's neighbor received a shock after hearing her scream. With a jolt, a swab of tea dropped onto a brand-new smartphone. The neighbor cursed her name eleven times while wiping the device clean.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Takira hurried into her daily official apparel, joining up the buttons on her fur jacket.
With a fog of crazed speed, she dashed out of her apartment, down the stairs and almost slips on the wet floor ahead.
"Hey! Watch your step!" the janitor warned. But it was too late. "Hey! What're you.... Aaargh!"
Takira grabbed the janitor's shoulder, conserving and transferring the momentum. Thus, the janitor slipped and fell down instead of her.
"Sorryyyyy!" Takira innocently smiled and faded out of sight from the janitor.
Finally, she touched down on the street.
Instantly, the flaring effects of the crisp sunlight made her shield her eyes with her handful of files.
'Must keep going,' she thought.
Her feet resumed the race. The forces of a typical employee vibe tugged her along.
Eventually, Takira arrived at a collection of crossroads, carelessly about to cross the road.
Everything seemed to be normal. Peaceful. Quiet. Only the natural ambience of birds hidden among the pink-leaved trees.
Alas...
Right at the moment when she was crossing, a car appeared in the horizon like a proud antagonist.
She was about to die from a car crash.
Fortunately, she's unharmed.
Unfortunately, someone else got smothered by the car instead.
- Swerve....Crash! -
Takira gasped as she turned her head towards the noise.
*****
An hour earlier...
Hastily clutching the tie of his office, pacing up the walking rate...
A man entered his boss's room. Anyone gifted with the skill of critical observation could easily infer from his actions that he wanted to ask for a pay raise. Or perhaps a vacation opportunity.
The boss, however busy he looked at that moment, was actually knee-deep in a private business of his own - playing games on his PC.
At the sight of the employee who had just entered, the boss was startled. He pressed the "Esc" key and quit the game. Obviously he didn't want any member of the organization to discover his secrets.
"Wa.. Wan Dé... What's the matter?" he bit back a gasp that was about to escape his lying lips. "Err...any problem? What's wrong?"
"Sir," the employee, named Wan, loosened the grip on his tie."I need... An emergency vacation."
"A vacation?!"
Wan nodded.
His boss blinked twice, as if attempting to process the information.
"Hmm... Ah, alright!" he drew out a file from a cabinet nearby. "Your file will just be... yikes!"
By accident, a sheet of paper flew out of the file stack. And by the look on the boss's face, Wan knew that it had some crucial info on it. Something so valuable that made his boss react in the manner he had just done.
Thanks to luck, it landed right in front of Wan's feet.
"No, no, no, no... Stop! Wan, don't.... Don't look at it.... Please, no! No! Noooo!!"
The boss seemed super-scared and stunned. And was already biting his nails.
Wan defied his orders and picked it up. Turning it over, his eyes popped open wider than the Pacific ocean.
'Hmmm... Impressive taste, Mr Kayun!' he commented in his mind.
"Ooooh, I didn't know you were an otaku, Mr Kayun!!" Wan smiled and waved the manga poster over and over at his boss's face.
Comically, Mr Kayun became a living statue. For five full seconds, he didn't utter a single syllable.
But, then...
"WAN!!! GET OUTTA MY FACE! GET OUTTA THIS OFFICE!! NOW!!"
"Huh? But.... but.... All I did was...."
Mr Kayun walked up towards Wan, while he kept blabbering reasons for not firing him for such a silly issue.
Despite Kayun's deceiving gaze and pretending to listen to Wan's reasons, he simply walked up to him.
He paused. He patted Wan's shoulder.
"Okay. I understand your verdict, Wan," Kayun nodded, with his secret weapon of deceit armed and ready.
He snatched the poster with an iron fist.
"But you're still fired!" Kayun broke off the conversation with a feast of evil laughter.
Wan Dé simply had no choice.
He left the room, continuing to exit the management office.
~Sigh~
Wan Dé clutched at his tie again - this time, he attempted to tear it to tendrils.
Walking along the streets now, he had nothing much to do.
Unemployed.
Sinking into life's dosage of depression, Wan sighed and threw his attention around his environment. The sky. The trees. The people.
Unemployed.
The delicate silence.
'I want to enjoy all of this while I still can.'
He slipped his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes.
He didn't realize it, but he stepped right onto the middle of the road.
- Swerve... Crash!-
A girl gasped and screamed nearby, his ears noted. He felt pity for whoever that unlucky person was. He thought that girl was the one who got hit by the car.
Time slowed down.
Wan's eyes jerked open.
'Where am I? What am I doing? What is....'
He found himself holding the car above his head. A 400-kilogram object, balanced on one hand. How was it possible?
He gently placed the vehicle down on the other side.
Time went back to normal.
By the concepts of time, he had managed to lift and flip the car over his head in a fraction of a second!
'Damn. That wasn't so serious.' Wan crossed his arms and watched the driver of the car merrily continue on the journey, unaware of the events that preceded just now.
~Sigh~
'That was close. I was almost exposed to the human world. Luckily no one is around me, except for....'
Wan looked into the direction of the girl.
Takira and Wan's eyes met, as they both stood shocked by what they each had experienced just now.
Takira stared deep into the stranger's eyes. Midnight pools of mystery. And the hair is all garnet brown, uncombed likely.
Wan scrutinized at Takira. Brilliant blue colours highlighted her eyes. And her haircut... certainly unique!
A moment ticked by, and Wan's pupils dilated. Without a word, he sped away from her.
"What...wait! Waiiiiit!!" Takira was speechless after what she had just seen. How the man just picked up a car and escaped certain death. So odd. Almost unbelievable.
Wan Dé darted out of sight, sprinting faster than the upper limit of humanity.
He switched direction into an alleyway and checked his surroundings.
'Hmm... That was close. That girl almost saw through my disguise. Course is clear. Time to move on.'
He cast a spell.
His office outfit was replaced with some red robes. On it, was inscribed, in runes: "Akaminé". In his hand, a glaive was equipped. Its blade thirsty for blood.
Another spell.
A shimmering portal materialized in front of him. He stepped through, just in time for the portal to collapse inwards and implode out of existence.
Takira was right near the alleyway, but dropped to her knees, panting.
A paper flew out of her file stack.
"No! Noo!!" she tried to grab it but the wind teased her and carried it afar.
She wanted to weep. A great storm of grief and depression overtook her soul, washing away her triumph. What a terrible day! Again!
She got back to her feet and spotted a café beside her.
She entered, but felt something cold and sharp slide past her. Like a strange wind.
The place was half-packed with people. 'And also half-empty,' her pessimistic mind informed.
She ordered a cup of coffee and sat down at a table.
From out of the corner of her eye, she noticed some men dressed in black muttering about a very serious issue.
"...yes, yes. I heard it, too. The Evil God awakening...."
'What? Evil God? Who is he? Who are they?' She couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. But she ended up confused with a deck of unfamiliar terms and names.
She peered over their direction but rapidly turned back again.
Unfortunately, one of the men noticed her actions. He whispered to his companions about it.
Takira's legs began trembling.
One of them walked up the aisle.
Tip-Tap.
Tip-Tap.
The footsteps echoed across the floorboards.
Tip-Tap.
Tip-TAP.
He was getting closer.
Takira gulped and closed her eyes.
TIP-TAP.
TIP-Tap.
Tip.
The footsteps seemed to draw away from her now.
She opened her eyes again. She was relieved.
The man was simply paying at the cashier.
However, now he was facing Takira directly. Which meant a very discomforting situation for her.
Takira stood up and was about to pay her bill as well....
But the world suddenly crumbled under the touch of beings unseen.
From the 7th dimension, an invisible demon entered the Earthly realm and landed on a building rooftop behind the café.
A shockwave passed through the neighborhood. An earthquake.
Floors cracked.
Everyone inside the café screamed. Everyone excluding the peculiar men.
But one of them did.
"Shut up, Fagin," one of them snapped at his associate. "Behave yourself. Or you'll only make a laughing stock out of us Alkynes."
"Looks like we finally got our hands on somethin'," the third member cracked his knuckles.
"Uh...okay," Fagin, the cowardly one, agreed. "Let's go...."
They hurried outside, running with skill.
They search around for the source of the quake, namely the demon.
"There! It's a Jinnic demon!" one of the Alkynes pointed.
They drew out weapons - swords, guns, and ropes. All made of an unknown metal.
Takira Honé, meanwhile, ducked for cover and crawled near the doorstep. An aura of curiosity overwhelmed her, though. And she decided to peek over to see what the Alkynes were doing.
Her eyes widened with awe.
A battle was in progress. But it appeared that the men were fighting with the air.
In fact, from their perspective, they were easily able to detect the monster.
Takira's subconscious personality dragged her forward, outside the café, inch by inch.
Without even realizing it, she was in the line of fire.
At the same time, Fagin's courage meter hit full throttle; he dived and absorbed the blow from the demon.
Protecting Takira.
A few minutes later...
The demon was dead. The Alkynes stood in their positions, nearly exhausted.
Takira was speechless just as everybody else who were now spectating the fight. Mostly because some unknown person had just saved her.
Fagin cast a healing spell on himself, luckily. And his wounds vanished.
The rest of the Alkynes braced for a memory recorrection spell to be applied on the civilians nearby.
Magic was forbidden. Magic was a myth. And a combination of cults practicing magic was gravely shunned in the human community.
"You there," Fagin called out to Takira."You are interested in magic, I see." He held her palm. As if reading her mind."Now, now... Would you like to learn more about it?"
Takira gulped for the third time, because of the Alkynes.
She couldn't believe her eyes and ears. For all she knew. For all she cared.
"Y-ye...yes..." her legs trembled; this time due to elation.
"C-come with us, then! My name is Fagin," he stopped Takira trying to face the crowds of people who were about to be devoid of their memory of the events that had occured."What's yours?"
"Um....Ta...Takira," she replied, out of sheer joy. She didn't allow herself time for a logical decision.
"Nice to meet you, Takira. I'd love to take you to our world. A world of magic."
*****
Meanwhile....
At the other end of town....
A girl hummed to the tunes of the birds as she engraved her name on a hockey bat on her lap, seated on a bench.
She was almost finished carving out "Miyumi Rakkan" on the surface.
She suddenly raised her head, her eyes closed.
A terrible color was portrayed in her mind. A sensation. Of danger; danger to a friend she knew.
Miyumi cried out her friend's name, "Takira!"