I found a piece of paper that is A-four-sized and find for a pen to pen down my diary. Up until now, I have been focusing on my writing. The last part where I wrote 'I closed my eyes, expecting a good night's sleep and a good dream' was the last thing I wrote for the night. I clicked the tip of the pen closed and put it down on the glass table.
"Ah I'm so tired now, what time is it?" I sat back on the chair. I stretched and gazed at the clock. It is already three at midnight. I was shocked and almost fell when Neko caught a glimpse of me.
"Aroma-chan, you haven't sleep yet?" Neko rubbed her eyes. She was awoken by the sound of the pen.
"Ahh, sorry for waking you up suddenly Neko, I was about to go to sleep," I said.
"Rest assured. I couldn't even sleep well this whole time. I'm getting two glasses of water. One for you and one for me." Neko sighed. She went to the kitchen to get the two glasses. As I turned back and looked outside of the big window, Neko was sighing again.
"By the way Aroma-chan, how did you end up here?" The cloud was dark. Grey and dirty. Thick clouds blew by the strong breeze and leaves flying everywhere in Node 3. The red sky cracked by the lightning.
"I don't know," I replied. I held my hands together and bent my head down. The rain started to fall. I fell asleep. Neko took her last sip of the drink. She had sighed yet again. She went back to bed.
As I was asleep, something was not right.
The moment I closed my eyes, I saw, or it was my hallucination, an image of a disreputable person wearing a black hoodie with red stripes and two red horns. Is he a demon? An elf? I felt uneasy. The aura was vague and dark. The image was not clear. It looked like a boy. It was blurry until I saw his fingers with his sharp and long fingernails. Talk about the worst nightmare.
It was already seven in the morning. I woke up instantly. Without hesitation, I hurried towards the washroom to wash my face. I looked at the mirror. My face was as if I was suffocating. I vomited. Before I knew it, I was vomiting blood.
"Aroma-chan, what happened?!" Neko was stunned. She hit my back vigorously. What is wrong with her? What is she doing? Here I am vomiting and she hit my back so hard I could vomit again. Neko stopped.
"Nothing, I just vomited out of the blue," I said as I was catching my breath.
"You say nothing but your mouth is covered in blood!" Neko was anxious and fear was what she could think of.
"What is happening here?" Shinji dashed into the room and pulled Neko instantly. As I was coughing blood, Shinji was raising her hands. I did not know what she was doing. All around me was blurry except for her bright hands. What is that purple light? What is with her hands?
Shinji touched both my shoulders. I could feel some of the energy that has been transferred from her body to mine. No. This is not real, is it? Am I imagining things? The things that I see become less blurry now. It is clearer as seconds went by.
"Are you feeling better now?" Shinji asked. I nodded, feeling a bit uneasy but better than before.
"Onee-chan, why...do you have to..." Neko spoke with anxiety.
"Go out first Neko, I have something important to negotiate with Aroma-chan here." Shinji changed the subject.
"Why..." Neko asked again.
"That's an order," Shinji said firmly.
Neko nodded lightly and went out of the room. The door is closed. The room went silent.
"Sweetie, what have you seen?" Shinji asked. Who is this person? Is she Shinji? She is like a real goddess that knows what I am going through now. Her instinct was great.
As I explained to her what I dreamt about last night, I tried my best to speak fluently. After I explained, Shinji's expression changed. She closed her eyes and opened them calmly.
"Oh, you meant him." Shinji does not look surprised.
"You know him?" I was curious.
"No one knows him. All these decades, according to history, he only appeared once. A lot of people have been talking about him lately.
"When was it?"
"Yesterday, the day you were reincarnated," Shinji explained. I was speechless.
"Just now, was that real? The one where your hands became bright purple."
"Oh, you mean that? Yes, what about it?" She replied and asked back.
"How did you do that?" I asked. She raised her hand, concentrating her energy on her palm.
"You mean this?" Shinji showed. My eyes sparkled. I had never seen such power before.
"Wow, awesome. It's just like magic." All I ever focus on is her hand.
"When the time comes, you will know how to use yours. I mean, it is magic after all. In this world, whatever you ask for will surely come true only when you lose someone or something precious to you." Shinji explained further. I did not know what she meant by 'lose'.
"If the prophecy is right, you are the only person in the world who can change all of this mess back to normal," Shinji predicted.
"Prophecy what now?" I was confused. Shinji giggled.
"Although we are in the afterlife, you can change the people around you. I mean, you weren't reincarnated as your usual self don't you?" Shinji's words trapped in my mind. I could not translate what she meant.
"Well, I just sense another person in you. Whatever it is, you can just talk to me. I will be there to help you." Shinji grinned.
"Who do you think the person that I saw in my dream is?" I asked Shinji.
"That's..." Shinji could not finish what she wanted to say.
"You, what takes you so long just to negotiate!?" Neko slammed the door open. She had interrupted our conversation.
"Neko, you heard all of that?" Shinji asked. I was hoping that Neko would not hear what I said. I did not want to put a burden on her shoulders. Shinji? I had no choice but to seek advice from her since she saved me. It is not that I want her advice just because she asked me. She just looks like the right person to talk to.
"N-no I didn't. Why should I listen to your boring speech?" Neko crossed her arms? She is rude to talk like that in front of her own elder sister. Neko saw Shinji's hand. It was the bright purple light again. Neko turned back. I looked at Shinji.
"She is always like that." Shinji smiled.
"Shut up," as Neko left the room and shut the door, Shinji sighed.
"Shinji, why are you so patient?" I asked. "You could have scolded her as her elder sister to teach her the right thing." I continued.
"Look who's talking," Shinji teased. I lowered my head down.
"Haha, just kidding." Shinji tapped my shoulder. Shinji is a good person.
"Hey Aroma-chan, would you mind?" Shinji lifted my right hand. Bright purple light magic was concentrated in her palm.
"Now, your left hand." Shinji lifted my hand again. Pure bright light magic was concentrated in her palm this time.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked instantly.
"Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out," Shinji answered. She held my hand gently.
"There's no way I can help it then." Shinji sighed again. I was wondering what she wanted to say.
"Aroma-chan, I think of you as my younger sister." The moment Shinji said, I felt peaceful. Very calm and cooling. What is this feeling? I remembered that I did not have a family in this world. Now Shinji treated me like a trusted person. She treated me well. She treated me like her own younger sister. In the moment of realization, she treated me like a family.
"Everyone, father and I will go off to go to work!" I heard her mother's voice. Shinji and I rushed out of the room and went to the living room to say goodbye to Asakura and his wife.
"E-excuse me, may I know your name? What should I address you as?" I wanted to know what I should call the mother.
"Shinrai, Rai-san will...do." Rai-san exaggerated.
"Seriously mom, why are you drunk? Did you drink early in the morning again?" Shinji asked.
"Again?!" Neko was stunned. No one ever dares to drink beer before work. Shinji caught a glance of a canned beer.
"Mom, what is this? Why is it here?" Shinji took out the canned beer and put it aside on the dining table.
"Teehee. I'm sorry. Can't help it though," Rai-san grinned.
"Seriously mom, it's very dangerous out there." Shinji was worried.
"Ok then, I'll be going for now." Both the husband and wife went out.
"Take care!" Shinji, Neko, and I waved at the husband and wife as they entered Asakura's car. They drove off.
"By the way Neko, where do your parents work?" I asked.
"The place where we work. The CCI HQ. They work as crew and do behind the scenes at the backstage." Neko explained.
"Oh, it's already time, I need to go and do some intermediate things that I need to handle," Shinji said.
"Intermediate? Sounds heavy and troublesome to me." Neko implemented.
"Haha, there's no way I'm not handling this case. Take care guys." Shinji laughed. She patted Neko's head, just like the owner patting her cat's head. Neko was embarrassed. Shinji had left.
"Ok Aroma-chan, since there are the two of us left, why don't we go to the CCI Mall?" Neko suggested.
"There's a mall?" I did not expect the HQ to have a mall.
"Let's go!" Neko grabbed my hand and we went out of the room and she locked the door.
"But...!" I voiced out. Neko was staring at me, wondering why I shouted out of the blue. "But what transportation do we take to go to the mall?"
"Oh, that. I have never thought of it." Neko was just a blockhead for a second.
"This girl..." My heart whispered. Not for long, we heard the sound of an engine of a car. The car stopped beside us. The guy inside the car opened the door and stepped out. He waved.
"Yo! Long time no see ya! Haha, how're you doin'?" Neko dropped her handbag.
"Hey," as her handbag dropped, I had to pick it up for her.
"S-sss...SAGAR?! What are you doing in a place like this?" Neko was surprised to see the young man with black and yellow hair.
"Haha, if you want to know, I'm picking up a good scent here." Sagar smelt. He sniffed again.
"Oooh, this smell is...lovely. Where did this scent come from?" As Sagar sniffed, he moved towards the smell and banged into my breast. I was swallowed by how erotic this is that was caused by a pervert.
"You, you'll die!" Neko punched Sagar's face. Neko could not take the heat of the situation.
"Haha, this is great." I did not get how Sagar is having great satisfaction of getting punched by the little girl.
"Ah, I'm so sorry soulmate!" Sagar bowed in astonishment. He looked at me.
"Seriously, I don't quite get the fact that you are apologizing yet being rude to her at the same time. And why soulmate? Who do you think you are?" Neko was annoyed.
"Ah Neko, do you have a minute?" I spoke to her ears, preventing Sagar from hearing it.
"What is it Aroma-chan?"
"Who is this guy?" I asked.
"Sagar, one of the professional members of CCI, also known as the 'Stage X'" As Neko, explained, Sagar butted in.
"Well, you see, there are 10 stages of the professional members including me. I'm at the tenth stage, the lowest rank in Stage X." Sagar explained.
"Th-then who is...the first stage?" I asked. Who could it be?
"Hmm...Nora is the first stage," Sagar said.
I knew it was Nora. Ever since I saw her during the registration, I had this feeling that she is the best deejay in CCI.
"Oh, by the way, I'm going off to the headquarters. Wanna follow?" Sagar invited us. I mean, we do want to get a ride to go to the headquarters.
"Sure!" Neko said. All of us took off. Neko sat behind and I sat in front, beside Sagar. As Sagar drove, he was distracted.
"Mm, you smell good," Sagar said.
"Thanks..." I answered.
"What's your name? You might taste good too for a lovely girl like you." Wait, is this considered sexual harassment? My face turned red.
"Oh my goodness." I squealed.
"Just kidding, I'm just kidding. Relax haha." Sagar teased.
"You just wait. After we alight, I'm gonna make sure you can't escape so that I can beat the shit out of you!" Neko had become a beast. Seriously, now I have to deal with these two loudmouths. To put it simply, I should just ignore it.
"Woah, talk about a hot girl." Sagar just could not stop what he was doing for the past five minutes. Inside the car was silent. Only the engine of the car could be heard.
"Ok fine, I'm sorry, let's go now haha. We are arriving at our destination in a minute!" Knowing Sagar, he loves teasing people. Also, he should not have lived in this world. Just die. No one needs a pervert here. Girls take useless jokes seriously.
"Okay, guys we are here. We will be splitting ways now because I have a case to attend to and it's way more important, bye!" As we arrived at our destination, we went out of the car and heard Sagar said. He was about to leave.
"Wait, you had forgotten!" Neko used her leg to kick Sagar's leg and tripped him off. Sagar's head hit the concrete and there was blood.
"Ouch, it hurts, Neko-chan." Sagar moaned. He whined about the pain and passed out. Neko and I panicked. Neko checked his chest to listen to his heartbeat.
"Oh nice," as soon as Sagar whispered, Neko heard what he had said. Neko raised her head from the chest and banged his stomach.
"Ouch!" Sagar cried and coughed afterward.
"Well, see you then." Neko waved a goodbye.
"Good grief I did not die," Sagar lied down. Then he stood up and waved back at us. He smiled.
Neko and I went inside the building and stopped by a cafeteria. I grabbed a chair and sat down. Neko hesitated. Then she sat down on a chair.
"Don't you wanna order something?" Neko asked.
"Well..." I was interrupted by a sudden bang.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here." A guy banged the table. He was wearing a black jacket and a big necklace. He had worn a gold ring. He had a handful of jewelry.
"Aroma-chan, let's leave this place," Neko said. Before I could stand up, that jewelry guy grabbed my right shoulder.
"Wait, I haven't finished my sentence." I got really scared. I tried to push him. However, he was too tough for me to knock him over.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Neko shouted.
"You, don't you understand what I'm saying?!" The guy grabbed my shoulders harder. As hard as he could grab, my shoulder is going to break. It hurts. I shrieked in pain.
"Wait, this is the CCI HQ, how are the likes of you be able to..." Neko was stunned. "This is no mistake, are you...?"
"Tsk, you have noticed me then." the guy took out a gun from his back pocket and aimed at my head.
Neko's eyes widened. She never wanted this to happen. Though it is unexpected, it looks as if she had gone through the same situation. Before the guy could pull the trigger, someone came in out of nowhere. His hair was dark brown. He jumped and pushed him down. The guy's jaw hit the ground.
"Hurry up and run!" The brown-haired boy exclaimed. Who is he this time? As Neko grabbed my left hand and ran away from the cafeteria, I looked at the boy once more. However, I could not focus because I was running of course.
Neko and I ran towards the CCI mall, took the elevator four levels down, went out, and started walking briskly. Neko suddenly banged into a person's fluffy sweater.
"Wo-Woah! Ne-Neko?! What are you doing here?" The person said. Who is it this time? Neko stepped back as she was about to fall.
"Xenon? What are YOU doing here?" Neko was shocked. "Cherry too? What?! Good thing that I ran into you. I was thinking if we could do some research on this guy." Neko took out her phone and showed him a picture of the jewelry guy. She had taken the picture of him when he was injuring my shoulder.
Xenon and Cherry seemed like a couple. Xenon with his fluffy jacket, Cherry with short red hair. Just like a cherry itself. Wait, no, I should not just judge them by their looks.
"Oh, this guy." Xenon was confident at first. "Wait, this guy? Wait, what?!" He became more and more confused as he tries to look closer to the phone.
"Let's go somewhere else so we don't block the people here." As Xenon and Cherry walked in front of us and proceeded to sit down at a table, Xenon saw something that is beyond his expectations.
"It's likely to be the head with two eyes that looks like a red ball and it has a glitch effect."
Xenon pointed out. "There's no mistake, he is one of Ivy's dogs.
"Ivy? Do you mean the guy that hasn't been showing up for a hundred years?" Cherry asked. I was shocked to hear that a person can live that long. What about Neko? She looked calm. Maybe she did not care about it.
No, Neko did not look calm. She was stunned by the fact that Cherry gave. Hearing that just made her feel uneasy.
"N-no way," Neko stood up. She looked down at the table. Neko had a vision of the past when she looked at two frames. One with a picture of her great-grandmother and the other one with her great-grandfather.
Back then, she heard that both of them had passed away because they were killed in action. However, she did not know who caused their deaths. As she remembered, both of them had the same symbol tattooed on their neck.
When both of them were still in the youth age, they were called the legend duo. One was Alex and the other one was Alice. They were called the legend duo because, with their spectacular talents, they were the best deejay and won the Deejay Championship Tournament for seven consecutive years in a row.
Even as partners, they were really in sync with each other. Some sort of great resonance.
After seven years had passed, they got married and had two children. One of them was Neko's grandmother.
Alex and Alice were called to the CCI HQ to handle something important, on their way, when they encountered an unexpected incident. They tried to use their magic to fight, but their enemy was too strong to be beaten. With that, they were brought down in despair and they were killed.
Neko's grandmother was still young then. As the Asakura bloodline passed on from generation to generation, Neko was born as a baby. She was not reincarnated. She was already born in the afterworld. This was why when the both of us first met she did not look lost. She was already familiar with the surrounding.
"Neko, Neko!" Xenon snapped. Neko was alert now.
"You're, you're kidding right? This symbol..." Neko pointed out. Fear was trying to swallow her up. When I saw the symbol, my mind was reacting really weird. It was awful. I saw the image of the person again.
My heart was beating fast. And it skipped a beat. I felt awful and tried my best to hold on to it, but I could not. The feeling is just too intense. And once again, I was coughing blood. I tried to stop myself from coughing, but it would not stop.