The sweet sound of the school bell, signaling the end of the day, was the only thing I was looking forward to right now. We had just had a practice exam for the upcoming mid-terms and by the talks I had after the test it was obvious I would have to study my ass off if I wanted to not fail the real one.
The bell finally struck and I left the room, sprinting through the hall, when I heard a stern voice behind me, causing me to freeze.
"Miyata Rin, what are you thinking, running in the halls like that?" it was the student council vice-president, Shibuya Kameko. She was the most beautiful girl in school, with straight black hair flowing down to her chest and dark-blue eyes that pierced your soul like ice. However, she was born in a family of rich magnates and lived a pretty sheltered life, causing her to view rules as an absolute authority and regarded rule-breakers the same as me and you would treat a robber after he's been caught. Also because of this, almost no one dared to go against her.
"Sorry miss I-love-rules, won't happen again" I turned back towards the exit and started walking towards the exit, leaving her a bit flustered, before she headed back to the student council's room.
In front of the gate, I saw Minato and Kurou waving at me.
"Dude, where were you" asked Kurou when I went to them.
"The vice-president scolded me for running in the halls" I explained "anyway, we should get going if we want to catch the train" we went to a vending machine to get a drink and began walking to the train station.
"Rin, have you heard of the new game console coming out in a couple of months, the one where you put on a headset and you play with your mind while sleeping" asked Minato.
"Yeah, I've been saving up for it for the past couple of weeks, hopefully I'll have enough around the time it releases" it was the most hyped console for the past couple of years so of course I had heard of it, who did they think I was? "What about you guys, do you plan on buying it?"
"I asked my father about it, he said if I helped my grandparents around during summer vacation, he might buy it for me" said Kurou. In his family, new things were a rarity, so even the chance of him getting something was great news.
"Well, I've already pre-ordered, so suck it!" Minato was from a fairly well-off family, which meant that if he asked his parents for something, they'll most likely buy it for him.
"OK fancy-pants, why don't you buy it for us too, huh?" Kurou laughed and turned to me "What do you think? When should we get together again?"
"This week's probably fine, we did our mock exams aft-" the sound of my phone stopped me and i picked it up.
"Ring ring" It was my mother "Hey mom, what's up?"
"Well sweetie, my boss wants me to stay for a couple more hours, so I have to ask you to go through the post office to get a package for me." why did they always hold my mother there, don't they know she has other things to do "If your friends haven't gone home already, they can come over and you can order pizza, how's that sound?"
"Fiiiine, I guess I'll go get it." I was slightly annoyed that she wanted me to get it, but I understood and at least she allowed Minato and Kurou to stay for a bit "Love you."
"Love you too, byeee!"
I put my phone away and looked up "guess I can host you today, what do you say, but we'll first have to pick something up on the way" the sun was still in the sky, but for some reason after talking with mom, there was something different about it. I couldn't place my finger on it however.
"Guess today's our lucky day, right Rin----." Kurou nudged me and smirked "it just so happens that my family's been out for a couple of days, so I this works perfectly for me."
I rolled my eyes and we continued to chat for a while until we reached the post office. "Any one of you want to accompany me?"
"Nah, your mom asked you, we'll just wait here for you." Minato laughed and him and Kurou continued to talk.
I sighed and opened the door. The receptionist inside was a woman with a fiery-red hair and some black stripes on it. Even though she was wearing sunglasses the most confusing, at least for me was the uniform she was in. It wasn't the first time I've come to this post office, since school letters and packages for both me and my mom come here, and her attire was something I'd never seen before. She was wearing a black coat with a little pin on it that had the initials "LL". The woman seemed to be scrolling on her phone, but when I entered the door she almost jumped in surprised, like she didn't expect anyone to come in.
"E-excuse me, ma'am. I am here to get a package that was delivered." I hesitantly went to her desk and pulled up the parcel number my mom sent me. The woman seemingly regained her composure and smiled at me, although for some reason I felt a bit like she was baring her fangs at me.
"Of course, let me just check the code and get it from the back." She typed a few things on her phone and went in the backroom, coming out in a couple of minutes, holding something like a book, covered in a white golden-ish wrap, came back to the front desk and handed it to me.
"Thank you." I picked it up, took out a bag from my backpack and put the package in it.
"No problem, have a great life!" while I was leaving, I heard the woman talking with someone over the phone, but didn't pick up on anything.
I left the post office and headed for Minato and Kurou.
"Any idea what it is?" Minato was looking at the bag in my hand.
"Maybe a book about databases or whatever it was your mom did." Kurou obviously wasn't as interested as Minato to know what the package contained.
As we were a couple of turns from the post office, I fell and the bag slipped out of my hand, going forwards before brushing off of a sharp look and seemingly tearing both the bag and the wrap.
"Shit, you okay?" Kurou stretched out his arm to me and helped me get up. My school uniform was a bit torn, but I was going to ask my mom to stitch it up for me tomorrow, since it was the weekend.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. As long as there's no blood, i'm fine" I stood up and chuckled.
Following that, the three of us looked at the bag, standing a meter or two in front, with a small-sized hole in the bag. I went over to pick it up and looked at the tear. Inside the package was a furry object in a dark color, with nothing other than that being able to be seen or felt inside.
"Looks like the bag's also fine, just a small hole, I'm sure your mom won't scold you for something like this." Kurou seemed relieved, however I wasn't as calm as him. What if the object was something delicate and the package falling had broken it? Just because the damage was negligible didn't necessarily mean that the thing inside it was fine.
"Well, nothing we can do now, let's just go ho-" While Minato was talking, something strange happened. The streets and alleys all around us darkened, and the sky became a blood-red color, and mist started to gather around us. That same moment a strange echo was heard. It was as if countless of people were screaming, however the tones formed something of a deathly melody. We were too stunned and petrified to speak, I instinctively held onto the package, as if to protect it from whatever it was that was surrounding us. Suddenly, countless blades, formed from the mist came over us. There was nothing I could do, so I just closed my eyes and tensed up. However, as I closed my eyes, I felt warmth emanating from my hands, or more accurately from the bag in my hands. A golden dome was erected around us, and the mist blades evaporated upon striking the dome.
"Interesting~" A voice was heard from outside. I looked at both Minato and Kurou, and they looked just as petrified, but it was clear they had also heard the voice. "Good thing I set up the Isolated Isle, or those fucking angels would be all over my ass after this leak of holy energy."
The dome dissolved in an array of bright golden particles, that all were sucked back into the object in my hands. The golden dome had done something to the wrap, because it was turning into dust as well, falling on my hands and then the ground. In it's place stood a black, furry book with golden letters on it had appeared. After somewhat recovering from the shock, but still in cold sweat, I looked up from the book and saw that leftover mist around was converging into a humanoid figure in front of us.
"W-w-who a-are you?" The voice of Kurou echoed through the empty streets.
"You aren't important enough to know my name, just know that you aren't leaving this place alive. Someone among you has a Holy artefact and it has apparently reacted to you little mortals, so I'll get it and exterminate the potential threat. Nothing personal~" The figure finally took shape, and I was horrified to realize that the look of the person in front of us was almost exactly the same as the woman that was at the post office. The one here however had black hair and was wearing a red coat, with the initials "LR" this time.
"B-but, if it's just one of us, why must you also kill the others, why not just let us go?" Kurou, still trembling, and looking to have peed his pants, was looking straight at the woman in front of us. I was also asking myself that question, however something in me told me that even if she lets the non-threats go, I won't be one of them. I hugged the book in my hands and dared to continue looking forward.
"Sure, if you want, go past me and never return, how does that sound" The woman was smiling, but the smile she had was more of a mocking one, rather than an understanding one.
Kurou started to walk towards her, but I grabbed his arm. "Don't go, I'm sure she isn't planning on leaving us alone."
"Better to risk it and try to call for help" It seemed like some of his color had returned to his face, even if the wet spot between his legs was betraying his true emotions. I reluctantly stepped back and looked as he was getting closer and closer to her, her smile unchanging, she stepped back and let him go past her.
"See, she let me go. Don't worry I'll find help" Even if that was his intention, I was sure he would not be able to go through with it, because the sight me and Minato were seeing was telling us something else. There was a gaping hole, as if by a sword going through him, and the woman was standing behind him. But he wasn't really killed by a sword. The smell of excrement was somewhere around us, because the sight in front of us was just so grotesque and bizarre, that someone's lunch came back in their pants, and I wasn't even sure whom it was. There was a pair of pitch-black wings coming from her back, one of them in Kurou's chest.
"One down, two more to go." The woman looked at us, with something like a crazed hunger in her eyes and dashed towards us. I didn't know how or when, but I was now in front of Minato with the book still in my hands.
"So you're the one with the Artifact? Well that just makes my job easier, I'll just kill your little friend over there and deal with you~" Her smile widened, looking more unhinged now.
"No! You won't be able to get to him!" I mustered up all my courage and energy and shouted at her.
"Oh, I won't do anything, I'll let him do all the work" I looked back and instinctively made a couple of steps backwards, before realizing and stopping. Minato's eyes were empty, no pupil nor anything. However, in a moment they began filling up and turned into the same color as the black sky above us. He then extended his arm and the same mist that flew at us before started gathering at his hand, where it formed a blood-red blade, and before I could even react, both of my best friends were gone, just like that. They couldn't even do anything or realize how their end came. Moreover, I couldn't do anything. I just stood there and watched as the blood sprayed from his neck, some of it falling on me, not that I cared. I turned back around to stare at the person, responsible for this. At that moment, I had one thought: Even if I was to share the same fate as my friends, I was going to land at least one hit on her, to do something for the sake of both of them.
"Uhoo, so scary~~~" The woman laughed and her wings extended "I've taken down people way more powerful than you. Don't think that just because you have one measly Artifact you suddenly stand a chance against the third most powerful in the Underworld's 9 Domains. Don't make me laugh" The mist gathered around her and shot at me, however the book summoned the dome again and absorbed the mist. "This Artifact is a little more powerful than I thought." She furrowed her brows before summoning more of the same mist, this time creating a giant axe above me and crashing down. The book reacted once more and the dome gathered in the shape of a disk above me, stopping the axe just before it crashed down on me.
"Why are you doing this?" I couldn't help but ask "Were we really that big of a problem"
"Shut up! You would be long gone without your little toy there. If you give it up to me, I might consider letting you go" I hugged the book tighter and shouted "NO!"
"Then prepare to die!" Two more mist blades formed and attacked on each side. The book managed to stop them just in time however. Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, I felt a sharp sense of shock and pain in my chest. When I looked down, the same wing had impaled both the book and me. More accurately, the book was driven through me, and was just barely penetrated. With this, I realized that the book was the woman's enemy, not me. It was the one that was protecting me, and thinking I could manage even one hit on her was crazy talk. I felt my limbs numbing and the world darkening. It seemed this was the end. All of this just caused three people, including myself to die. But strangely, that time of complete darkness never came. I was engulfed in a feeling of warmth, and I heard a gentle voice all around me "One time." What did one time mean? "You are still not ready."