In a medium sized room, a bed lay beside the window where the glow of the morning sun was seeping through the drapes, off to the side on a table was two computer monitors with a swivel chair before them, a small shelf with books was beside the table and a wardrobe was by the wall on one side. On the wall above the bed was a big poster of some anime, while on the floor in the middle of the room was a soft rug.
An alarm clock resting on the drawer beside the bed came alive, bringing mayhem into this peaceful sanctuary.
"Hnnnnnn."
A hand reached through the blanket and hit the top of the clock, returning peace.
Soon, the figure on the bed stirred and then sat up, long black bed hair reaching his neck and red eyes that seemed to be glaring and unfocused.
Crawling from bed, he crashed onto the floor with a groan and then gradually stood up, scratching his chest.
Wearing a comfortable black baggy sweatshirt and black pants, Oddie stretched his body with a yawn as bones creaked into place. Glancing at the clock beside his bed, the time read 09:04 AM.
He walked towards the window, stifling another yawn and then spread the curtain, letting light fully illuminate the room.
"Hello, Saturday."
It was a Saturday so he didn't really have anything scheduled… except meeting up with Miyamoto.
He took his phone from the table as he walked out of the room into the living room then continued towards the bathroom, inside, he took out his brush and toothpaste from the cabinet and started to brush his teeth on the sink.
He unlocked his phone then scrolled through his contact list looking for Miyamoto's number, finding it, he sent a message.
[Me: Yo, let's meet up at Cafe Lotus by 11.]
That done, he messaged someone else.
[Me: Hey, I'm meeting with Miyamoto later, you coming with?]
He continued to brush his teeth after sending the message. Once he was done, he rinsed his mouth and then left the bathroom, as he stepped into the kitchen area, his phone vibrated with a notification.
[Miko-sama: No.]
[Miko-sama: I have some duties today… arghhh.]
[Me: Too bad, fight on Miko-sama.]
[Miko-sama: Don't call me that, like, it's enough that everyone is treating me like a deity already.]
[Me: Are you going to stop calling me Cupid-kun?]
[Miko-sama: Like, come on, no way.]
[Me: There you go!]
[Miko-sama: …Get me boba on your way home.]
[Me: Quick to switch gears as usual. Anyway, will you ever pay me for all these boba and snacks I keep getting you?]
[Miko-sama: I'll give you a goodluck charm to make up for it.]
[Me: Aye, aye… talk to you later then, say hi to the girls for me.]
[Miko-sama: Okay, thanks, Cupid-kun.]
Now standing at the balcony, Oddie looked at the scenery with a small smile on his face, his current abode was at the third floor so he could see almost everything from there, including the Miko's shrine.
"Let's start the day then."
•••
Cafe Lotus was a shop that always had a pleasant fragrance in the air, the kind that made you not want to leave.
There were electric bulbs held with long ropes hanging from the ceiling, brown bistro stools before the counter and around the shop was brown chairs and tables, on each table was a flower vase containing a single lotus flower.
Behind the counter on the wall was a big clock embedded into the wall and a green board beside it, with things sold on the shop written on it, on the far end of the counter was a see-through glass containing snacks and confectioneries of various kinds.
"Yo, over here!"
The one who called out to Oddie was Miyamoto who was sitting at a corner of the shop, with an empty chair before him.
He was dressed in plain blue sweater, black shorts, casual black shoes and a black baseball cap on his head.
"'Sup dude, you're looking a lot better than last night." Oddie observed as he took the empty seat before Miyamoto. Oddie was dressed in casual clothes as well, black jacket over red t-shirt, black trousers and red slides with his hair styled in the usual ponytail.
"Yeah, I don't remember the last time I slept that well." Miyamoto replied, he was lacking the usual eye bags and he seemed a bit buffer.
"Hmmm…" Oddie hummed as he picked the menu, perusing through it.
"Is Akiko-san joining us?" Miyamoto asked.
"Toru? Nah, she's busy with family stuff." Oddie replied nonchalantly.
"What's her deal anyways? I didn't think you guys were close." Miyamoto continued.
"We actually are. We've known each other for about five years after all. Well, Toru looks like a distant person so at first glance, she probably looks like someone who doesn't have any friends, right?"
"Aren't you the same though?"
"Wha—" Oddie started but was interrupted by the server who had arrived at their table.
"Did you decide what you… eh, senpai?!" The server started but became surprised upon seeing Oddie.
Black hair with a shade of blue styled in two braids resting over the shoulder, wearing a grey t-shirt with the cafe logo on the chest area, brown indoor shoes and a black apron over blue jeans was one of the girls who had gifted Oddie a present yesterday.
"Oh, kouhai-chan, fancy meeting you here." Oddie's replied cheerily.
"Ah, my dad owns the shop so I help out sometimes, I didn't think I would meet you today senpai, I guess it was worth it then." She said, holding a notepad to her lips, smiling.
"I'm glad to see you as well. Oh and your present yesterday was very delicious, I guess you made it yourself then." Oddie said.
"Hehehe, I did, I'm very happy you liked it… anyway senpai, who is your friend?"
Oddie looked at Miyamoto, who was… blushing?
"Umm, I'm Hiroshi Miyamoto, I'm his classmate, nice to meet you."
Miyamoto reached a hand to her.
"Nice to meet you as well, I'm senpai's kouhai, a second year student." She shook his hands.
"You are not going to tell him your name?" Oddie asked, a bit surprised.
"Isn't being known as senpai's kouhai, fine…? And besides a little mystery is sexy right?" She tilted her head, mischievousness in her eyes.
Oddie chuckled good-naturedly. "Fine, fine, you got me."
"Alright!" She did a guts pose. "Anyway senpai and paisen, what are your orders?"
"Paisen?" Miyamoto muttered.
"Mmm, I'll have the brunch set, what about you Miyamoto?"
"Ermm, ah yes, coffee, just coffee, milk coffee precisely."
"Hai, it will be right up in a sec." She said as she walked away, bouncing on her feet.
"Miyamoto, don't tell me you just fell in love at first sight." Oddie asked, teasingly.
Miyamoto blushed and looked away.
Oddie stared, mouth agape. "No way…"
"I did not, I just thought she was very pretty! That's all." He answered, embarrassed.
"Hahaha, if you say so." Oddie laughed.
"A-anyway, you were going to say something about Akiko-san." Miyamoto put the conversation back on track.
"Oh right, Toru. Where to start… let's just do a bit of lore dump. You see, the Akiko family has apparently been living in this city for centuries so they have deep ties to the land and they are contracted to protect it." Oddie started as Miyamoto listened. "Her family is sort of special in that they only give birth to girls—"
"Seriously?" Miyamoto interrupted.
"Yeah, seriously…" Oddie confirmed.
"That sounds like a curse." Miyamoto said and Oddie chuckled.
Not that their family think it is.
"It does, doesn't it? But that was actually due to a [Vow]."
Miyamoto put a hand to his chin. "A vow huh, is that why Akiko-san is a fox spirit?"
Oddie smirked. "You catch on fast. You see, the children of the Akiko family are put through training from an early age where they are trained to become a Miko. There is something called a soul bonding where the children would bond with the contracted spirit the family has… usually a bond has a very low success rate and even then the Miko only gain a portion of the fox spirit's power, some might develop a fox tail, some might develops just ears, if you are lucky, maybe a tail and ear, that would make everyone consider you a once in a lifetime gift, but at the end of the day, it is only traits that they pick, making them something akin to Demi-humans or Spirit-kin… but Toru is different."
Oddie looked at Miyamoto intently. "Do you know why?"
Miyamoto gulped from the intensity of Oddie's stare.
"Her race said 'Fox spirit', which means no part of her is human anymore." He answered and then Oddie snapped his fingers in confirmation.
"Exactly. If someone who was able to bond and receive the ears and one tail is called a once in a lifetime gift, Toru who has both ears and nine tails along with her race being rewritten would be considered something like a deity."
Miyamoto felt some sort of pressure as Oddie said that.
"Apparently not even their founding ancestor was that compatible with the fox spirit… so yeah, Toru is basically an anomaly even by supernatural standards and she is vowed to protect this city." He finished.
"That is—" Miyamoto started but stopped.
"Heeere are your orders." Kouhai-chan said as she set the orders in front of Oddie and a coffee in front of Miyamoto.
"Hey, I'm done deciding what I want!" Another voice, a man in the cafe called out.
"Yes, I'll be right there!" Kouhai-chan replied. "Anyway, enjoy yourselves senpai and paisen."
"Thanks Kouhai-chan." "Thanks." Both Oddie and Miyamoto replied to her as she left.
On one of Oddie's plate was fried eggs and hot dogs and on the other was sealed crustless sandwich with a glass of orange juice on the side.
"Itadakimasu~" Oddie said excitedly as he picked up a fork.
Miyamoto took a drink from his cup. "So what? She is contracted to protect the city from those void beings, then?"
"Yes, but not only that, for example there is currently a vampire causing trouble around." Oddie said nonchalantly as Miyamoto's eyes widened.
"What?! Vampires exist?" Miyamoto whisper-shouted as Oddie chuckled, that's the kind of reaction he expects from that kind of information.
"Nice reaction." Oddie gave him a thumbs up.
"But yeah, vampires do exist but most of them usually live in Europe. Remember yesterday when Fuko-sensei said there were reports of unusual incidents happening in area?"
Miyamoto seemed to blank out at what Oddie was talking about before he recalled it.
"Oh yeah, it's been five years ago for me but I do remember that, so that was caused by a vampire?" Miyamoto asked.
"Yeah, it was. It's surprising that one would be causing trouble here especially when they are scared of Toru." Oddie added.
"Scared of her? Why?".
"Mikos are capable of purifying malevolent entities, which vampires fall under but some strong vampires can easily resist it, as for Toru, she is capable of manipulating something called life energy, which is very deadly to undead beings." Oddie said as he continued eating.
"Wow…" Miyamoto rested his back against the chair. "Since when did this world stop making sense."
Oddie chuckled. "You have things like boba tea, nobody is fighting everyday and continents are not casually getting destroyed. I think the world makes sense."
Miyamoto stared at Oddie, flabbergasted. "What the hell type of apocalyptic scenario is that?"
Oddie moved on to his sandwich. "Well…" He swallowed then looked outside, through the glass in the shop. "What I'm saying is that, it's not that bad."
Miyamoto followed his view, looking as people go about their day, cars driving around, the chatter of a Saturday's afternoon wrapping the cold air like a warm blanket.
"Yeah… you are right. Compared to the other world, I like this monotonous lifestyle. I could get used to it." Miyamoto said softly.
"Right?" Oddie agreed.
"Wait a minute!" Miyamoto stared abruptly. "Don't tell me there is a Demon Lord in this world."
Oddie stared.
Then he burst out laughing.
"Don't… hahaha… don't tell me you were summoned as a hero to… hahaha… defeat a Demon Lord."
Miyamoto blushed, embarrassed. "Hey!"
"Sorry… sorry but that's just… hahahah… that's just beautiful." Oddie laughed, wiping away a tear.
"So, I guess I should start calling you Yuusha-sama then?" Oddie teased.
"Please don't…" Miyamoto said then whispered in a somber tone. "I'm no hero…"
"Oh, ouch… I'm going to feel bad if you react like that." Oddie said.
"Ah, sorry for killing the mood."
"It's fine… can I ask what happened? Well, you don't have to tell me."
Miyamoto sighed as he removed his cap and ran a hand through his hair before wearing it back. "Well, long story short, two years into my journey, we had the final battle against the Demon Lord, we lost… bad. My companions, four of them gave their lives to protect mine." Miyamoto balled his fist.
"Oh fuck…" Oddie muttered. "Then you didn't?" Oddie let the question hang in the air but Miyamoto shook his head.
"I did, I eventually defeated the Demon Lord three years later. After I lost my companions, I isolated myself inside a spawn dimension, like that one from yesterday… I spent two years inside and spent a year fighting against the Demon Lord army. I won but… I'm no hero." He finished.
"I see… but you know, the path to becoming a hero often comes with losses that can't be undone." Oddie said all of a sudden.
"Eh?"
"I read that in a manga."
Miyamoto stared then laughed. "I thought you would try to tell me that I did my best and console me, I didn't think you would be quoting a manga, man…"
"Well, I can't tell you that you are what you don't want to be… at the end of the day, only you can forgive yourself." Oddie shrugged then drank from his glass of orange juice.
"Yeah, I guess you are right…" Miyamoto said. "By the way, void beings, what are they? Do they just randomly appear in this world?"
"Hmmm… they are creatures that reside in the reverse side of the world called [The Null Dimension] or [The Void], they do spontaneously appear but since they lack a physical body, they are not that difficult to kill." Oddie said and Miyamoto narrowed his eyes.
"Is that all?" Miyamoto asked.
"Why do you think there is more?" Oddie asked, tilting his head.
"I feel like there is."
"Well, not much is known about the [Void Beings] or what they want but they are basically the number one enemy that every supernatural faction in the world fights against… oh and one more thing, if you ever encounter a [Void Being], make sure you kill it before they get the chance to kill a lot of people." Oddie said cryptically.
"Why?" Miyamoto asked.
"Because when they manage to kill a lot of people, they gain a physical body which anchors their existence into this plane and by that point, they get stronger and possibly intelligent."
"So, like leveling up." Miyamoto said, with a hand on his chin.
Oddie blinked. "I guess that's one way to put it."
"As for the other things you should know about…" Oddie continued.
•••
Now outside of the cafe, exchanging goodbyes is Oddie and Miyamoto.
Miyamoto looked like he has aged twenty years as he sighed.
"So, not only [Void Beings] but Vampires, Spirit-Kins, Foreigners and some cult like church. Damn, how is this world still standing?" Miyamoto lamented.
"Because the good tries their best to cancel the evil?" Oddie replied.
"Ahhh… yeah, I'm just… going to go home and go play games." Miyamoto sighed again, slouching his shoulders.
"Really? You came back to this world after five years, you have free time and you are going to go play games?"
Miyamoto put his right hand in his pocket as he started walking away, he waved over his shoulder with his left hand. "Meh… see you later brother."
Oddie watched his back as he left. "He is wearing shorts, does he not feel the cold?" He wondered aloud. "Don't tell me he has something like a cold resistance skill… you know, that might just be possible."
He shook his head then checked the time on his phone. It was 01:13 PM.
He turned and started walking towards the opposite direction from Miyamoto, that was when he came across a guy who was walking with two girls, one on each side of him.
"You're so cool, Kazu-kun." The red haired girl on the left said.
"I totally agree." The black haired girl on the right agreed.
The boy who had blonde hair with brown tips laughed, hands wrapped around the neck of both girls as they both held him close. "I am, ain't I?" He glanced towards Oddie but otherwise continued to walk away.
As Oddie started to wonder where he had seen the boy before, he was interrupted by a loud voice.
"Oiiiiiiii Cupid-kunnnn!!!!"
Looking straight ahead, there were three girls walking towards him and one of them waving.
He recognized them, they were students from his grade.
The one who had called out to him was Aisha, an olive skinned girl with green eyes and short black hair in cornrows with two braids falling over her face, she was the energetic type and was considered one of the 'bros' due to her tomboyish look. She was wearing a yellow jacket over black t-shirt and black pants, with transparent glasses and earrings on her ears.
"It's true, it's really Cupid-san." One of the girls, Mirai said, she had yellow eyes and her blonde hair was styled in twin buns with bangs covering her forehead. She was a polite and reserved girl. She was wearing a knitted brown sweater and black shorts over black pantyhose.
"Ai-chan, how did you even spot him?" And the last of them was Minoru Yuuki from his class. She was wearing ear muffs, black layered skirt, thigh high socks, purple long sleeves and a black winter jacket.
"You guys…" Oddie said as Mirai waved in greeting.
"I'm surprised you didn't, even though you are from the same class." Aisha replied.
"Anyway…" Yuuki started, reaching into her purse. "Here you go." She held out ten thousand yen to Oddie, who blinked, her friends were looking in surprise as well, so it wasn't just him.
"Errm, what's that for?" Oddie asked.
"Yeah, why are you giving him money all of a sudden?" Aisha added.
"I mean, look at him." Yuuki stretched a palm, as if presenting him to some audience. "He is all dressed up and standing beside the road, it's too pitiful that he would be whoring himself out like this."
Silence… and then.
"Pffft— ahahahahahaha." Aisha held her sides as she started laughing.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Yuuki tried to hold Aisha who was still laughing while Mirai started to bow repeatedly to Oddie in silent apology as she tried to get her friend to apologize too.
"Idiot, I'm obviously doing no such thing, how did you even get to that conclusion?" Oddie exclaimed.
"You are not?"
"Why are you looking disappointed? And Ai-chan, aren't you laughing too much?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry." She wiped away the tear in her eyes. "That was really funny, especially when you consider that she was trying to hire you… Yuuki, your mouth will get you in trouble some day."
"Hey, I was just trying to help out." Yuuki pouted.
That doesn't make it any better, Oddie thought. It's even worse that she genuinely thought she was trying to help.
Oddie sighed, Yuuki was sort of a spoiled girl sometimes but that's what coming from a rich family usually does to someone.
He reached a hand to pat her head.
'Yet her sharp mouth doesn't hinder cuteness.'
"Hey, stop that, I'll have you know that I'm not a child and we are classmates." She hit his hand away, embarrassed.
"Anyway, what are you guys doing out here?" Oddie asked.
"Karaoke." Mirai responded with a peace sign.
"Yep, Toru was supposed to come with us too, but she's busy… ah that's right, why don't you come with us Oddie?" Aisha suggested all of a sudden.
"Nah, I'll pass."
"Come on, come on, no need to be so modest…" Aisha wrapped an arm around his neck. "You sang a song in the last school festival right? You can sing as many as you want today."
"Ehhhh." Oddie had a face that said 'this is going to be a pain'
Walking to the other side, Mirai held onto his other hand.
"Et tu, Mirai-chan?" Oddie said.
"Good job Mimi! Don't let him go." Aisha encouraged her who nodded, resolutely.
"Guys, it's almost our reservation time." Yuuki added the final blow.
Oddie looked at each of the girls who were now looking at him with doe eyes.
"Ahhh, fine you win."
"Yaaay, score." The girls high-fived one another.
"Let's go then." Yuuki said.
"To the karaoke!" Aisha pointed a finger forward.
"Woohoo." Mirai cheered.
"So energetic." Oddie chuckled even as he remembered what Miyamoto had said earlier.
"Compared to the other world, I like this monotonous lifestyle. I could get used to it."
Well, he agrees.