"The typical expression of opening friendship would be something like, 'What? You too? I thought I was the only one.'"

—C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Chapter One: Meeting/Reunion

Yu

21 April 2003

It was about five o'clock in the evening when I exited Book On back into the hustle and bustle of Iwatodai Station. I stood still for a moment, quietly contemplating how I'd spend the rest of the day. I briefly considered going to Game Panic, but I quickly dismissed the idea. I didn't feel like trekking all the way over to Paulownia Mall when I knew that the arcade was going to be packed and that I'd have to wait in long lines to play any of the good games. As such, I opted to take a short walk up to Naganaki Shrine, my arms laden with the day's purchases.

I was a regular at the shrine, but it wasn't because I was exceptionally religious. I liked the shrine because it was one of the few places in Tatsumi Port Island that were quiet. On every day that it was pleasantly warm, I'd make a visit to the shrine with books in hand to catch up on my reading and take in the scenery. Many days, I'd stay there until long after the sun had set before I finally went home. Even back then, I knew that it was frowned upon for a child to be out so late while unsupervised. If my parents knew how late I'd stayed out on a regular basis, the disciplining I would've received would've been the stuff of nightmares. Of course, this punishment never came, and I knew that it never would. Truthfully, I probably could have roamed the streets of Port Island until midnight, returned home, got in bed, and my parents wouldn't have been any the wiser.

To say that the amount of contact I had with my parents was limited would be an understatement. On most days, I didn't see them at all. The notes they left for me before they went to work in the morning were the greatest extent of the communication we had with each other. Did the Kirijo Group really overwork its employees that much? It was unlikely; several of my classmates had parents who worked for the Kirijo Group, and their parents' weren't completely absent from their children's lives. What exactly did they have my parents doing? What job duties did my parents have that consumed the majority of their lives? I knew that they were working as scientists, but I never learned anything about their jobs beyond that; I never even learned what kind of scientists they were. Chemists? Biologists? Physicists? The only days I saw my parents for more than a few minutes on were national holidays, but by lunchtime, they would have excused themselves to go to some undisclosed event or another, and they wouldn't return until the early hours of the next morning. It was a lonely home life, but I got used to it quickly; I could take care of myself reasonably well, and I had my books to occupy my mind.

The crowd on the street thinned out substantially as I grew closer and closer to the shrine. I approached the benches of the shrine's playground, I noticed something extremely unusual: another person. She was a young girl of about my age or perhaps a bit younger. Her dark blue hair was unusual, to put it mildly, but I wasn't in any position to talk; my prematurely grey hair undoubtedly appeared bizarre to her. Her grey eyes were fixed firmly upon the ground. She seemed to be in deep thought. Given that I'd never had to be in the presence of another person at the shrine, I wasn't entirely sure what the proper protocol for the situation was. I approached her, hoping that she would notice my presence, but she remained as still and silent as a statue. After a few seconds had passed, I cleared my throat and said, "Excuse me; do you mind if I sit here?" as I gestured to the adjacent bench. It was only polite to ask before doing, right?

It took her a moment before she acknowledged my words. She looked up from the ground, repeatedly trying and failing to make eye contact with me as she said, "That's fine; go ahead." The severe stutter in her speech made those four words drag out much longer than one would think.

Having been granted her permission to do so, I sat on the bench, placing the shopping bags at my feet. For the first time, I did not find the silence of the shrine relaxing; instead, I found it incredibly awkward. I felt that I should make some token attempt at conversation.

"My name's Yu," I said, trying to be as genial as possible.

Once again, she looked towards me, almost but not quite making eye contact.

"I'm Naoto," she said, stuttering even more badly than before.

Once again, silence fell upon the shrine. It was very clear that I was making her incredibly uncomfortable, and it would be for the best if I kept my mouth shut. I reached into one of the shopping bags and pulled out one of the books: Detective Doyle: The Nation of the Monks.

I'd waited that day for far too long. I'd devoured the entire Detective Doyle franchise in less than a week roughly two years prior to that day, and I'd waited so eagerly for it. It was originally slated for release less than a month after I'd finished up the rest of the series, but then it was delayed. It was delayed five times, in fact. After endless frustration with the constantly moving release date, however, I finally held it within my hands. I hadn't even made it past the first page when I was abruptly interrupted.

"You like Detective Doyle too?" Naoto said with a surprising degree of energy, her stutter gone.

I looked up from my book to see her staring very intensely at me with a look of a mixture of disbelief and glee in her eyes, a far cry from the sullen and nervous look she bore when I last attempted to talk to her.

A smile came to my face. I'd never met another person who'd shared my interest in the books, and judging by her abrupt change in demeanor, neither had she.

"Yes! They're my favorite books!" I said, probably louder than I intended. It was very difficult for me to contain my excitement. My tastes were a bit esoteric for my age; the only thing I liked that was popular at school was Featherman, and it gets very old very quickly when there's only one thing that one can talk about.

"Which one's you favorite?" Naoto asked. By this point, she'd moved from her bench to mine and was speaking loudly enough that she'd be drawing a lot of attention to herself had we not been the only ones there.

"The Symbol of the Seven," I replied.

I'd forgotten entirely about my new books at this point. I'm not quite certain how long we stayed on that topic of conversation, be we'd talked about everything from the twist ending of His Final Bow to who the best side character was to speculation on what the resolution of all the dangling plot threads would be. This continued until my throat became so sore from talking that I had to stop for a moment. Silence fell upon the shrine for the first time in a long time. Naoto quickly took notice of this.

"Oh. Did I say something wrong? Do you want to talk about something else?" she said. Her stutter had returned, and she once again had difficulty maintaining eye contact.

"No, not at all!" I said, panicking a little. I felt immense guilt that I'd made her feel like she was boring me. She must have noticed the hoarseness of my voice, as her immediate reaction was to retrieve a bottle of water from her backpack and hand it to me. I nodded my head in a gesture of appreciation and rapidly downed the contents of the bottle. Once again, there was silence.

"I'm sorry if I got carried away. I don't get to talk about this stuff a lot," she said.

"Neither do I," I said in reply. By this point, the moon and stars were visible in the sky. I knew that I wouldn't have to be home for quite a while, but I was getting a bit worried that our lengthy conversation would get Naoto in trouble with her parents.

"Do you need to be going home soon?" I asked.

"I forgot my house keys this morning. I have to wait until my grampa gets home, and he works late tonight," she said, blushing a bit and looking and sounding incredibly embarrassed. A thought dawned on her after she said that.

"Oh! Do you? Did I talk too much?" she said, panicking again.

"No, it's fine. My parents won't be home for a long time," I said, trying to reassure her. Once again, the shrine was silent.

"You see that?" I said as I pointed the sky and traced my finger along a line of stars, "That's Hydra." I knew that astronomy wasn't exactly a hot topic of conversation, but I was really struggling to come up with something to talk about. Much to my surprise, she pointed to the sky and did the same.

"And that's Serpens," said Naoto.

"And that's Corvus," I said. I honestly couldn't believe it. I'd learned all sorts of things about all sorts of topics through reading, and I never found another person to talk about them with. Every time I tried, I only succeeded in boring them. By some miracle, however, I'd found another person who delighted in all the same topics that I did. Our conversation jumped from subject to subject several more times until midway through a discussion about Japanese mythology, she looked down at her watch and frowned.

"I really have to go now," she said, seeming rather disappointed. Instead of leaving right away, however, she looked at me to say one last thing.

"I had a good time today. Can you meet me here tomorrow at five?" she said with great nervousness. I could tell that she was deathly afraid that I'd say no. There was no danger of that, however.

"Yes, of course!" I said. After having such a good time today, how could I refuse? Naoto smiled wider than she had all day.

"Great! I'll see you then!" she said.

I watched her as she left, and once again, I was alone. I had come to the shrine today to be alone, and now that I had what I wanted, it felt kind of sad. The irony was not lost on me. Seeing no reason to stay, I gathered my belongings and started towards home. For the first time in a long time, a day had gone by where I'd gotten no reading done. The day was hardly wasted, however. I'd met an interesting person who liked talking about the things I liked, and I'd be able to talk to her again tomorrow.

Overall, I'd say that it was a pretty good day.

11 April 2011

Wherever I was, it certainly wasn't the train to Inaba. I appeared to be inside of a moving limo. I had never been in a limo before, but the fact that every surface within the vehicle was some shade of blue certainly struck me as odd. The fog outside was so thick that I honestly thought that the windows had been painted grey for a few seconds.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," said a voice from across the vehicle. I turned my head in the direction of the voice and was greeted by the oddest looking man that I'd ever seen in my entire life. He was a short, squat man with receding white hair, pointed ears, bulging, bloodshot eyes, and a nose that protruded out at least thirty centimeters from his face. His toothy smile stretched across most of his lower face. He more closely resembled a goblin than a human being. Next to him sat a tall woman with silver hair dressed entirely in blue. Unlike Igor, she might have been able to pass for a normal person had it not been for her bright yellow eyes.

"Ah, it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny," he said, chuckling quietly. "My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

After the initial shock had worn off, I asked the first of many, many questions that I had.

"Where am I?" I asked. The man laughed to himself as if the answer was self-evident.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future," said Igor.

After he had explained himself, I actually understood less about the situation than I did going in. This place existed between dream and reality? How? Also, what was this talk about a contract? I hadn't signed any contract. I was going to ask him to elaborate, but he spoke before I had a chance to.

"Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?" said Igor. After a brief pause, I managed to answer him.

"My name is Yu Narukami," I said with no shortage of hesitation. I won't lie. I was more than a little afraid of Igor at that time. I attempted to ask one of the many, many questions that were running through my mind, but once again, Igor interrupted me.

"Hm. I see. Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" said Igor, producing a deck of tarot cards.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?" he said.

"No, not really," I answered. Igor didn't seem particularly interested in my reply because placed the cards upon the table anyway. I might have been impressed by the deftness with which he dealt the cards had I not been so hopelessly confused.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?" said Igor. He then flipped over one of the cards.

"Hm. The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent," said Igor. I didn't think that it was possible for the situation to become any more uncomfortable, but it just did.

"What kind of catastrophe?" I asked Igor. Upon hearing my words, he merely chuckled and waved one of his gloved hands at me flippantly before turning over another card.

"The card indicating the future beyond that is The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery.' Very interesting indeed," said Igor.

"'Interesting' is one word for it," I said to myself.

"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you," said Igor. "In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here."

"I'd rather not," I said. Igor apparently thought that I was very comical, as he laughed once again upon hearing that.

"The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost," said Igor.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked.

"Because it is my duty to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that that does not happen," said Igor.

Guests? I looked to my left and to my right. Aside from Igor and the woman in blue, I was the only one there.

"Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you," said Igor. He gestured to the woman sitting adjacent to him.

"This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself," said Igor. Margaret nodded in acknowledgment.

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey," she said.

"What journey?" I asked wearily. I didn't expect a meaningful answer. The two residents of the Velvet Room had been thoroughly unhelpful thus far. Meeting my expectations perfectly, Margaret remained silent, and Igor merely laughed at my frustration.

"We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell," said Igor. I tried to fit in another question, but the words died in my throat as everything started to fade to black.

I awoke abruptly when the train passed over a bump in the tracks. Despite having slept for the majority of the train ride, I actually felt more tired than I did earlier. I checked my phone for the time. It was a few minutes before three in the afternoon, one hour before my estimated time of arrival. I tried to go back to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes for more than a few seconds, I was greeted with visions of my extremely vivid dream of the Velvet Room, jolting me awake. With the possibility of sleep removed, I had nothing to do but stare out the window and reflect upon my situation.

It was about five weeks ago that I learned that I'd be moving. This was not unexpected in the slightest. I'd had to move every year since my parents and I left Port Island. What was unusual, however, was who I'd be living with and were. My parents had returned home early—by which I mean they had arrived home a few minutes after midnight—and told me that their work required them to move to San Francisco for the next year. I immediately began to panic. I was accustomed to moving all over Japan, but the idea moving overseas was simply too much. My panic was short-lived, however, as my mother was quick to explain that I'd be staying with my uncle Ryotaro Dojima in the town of Inaba. I felt both relieved and perplexed upon hearing this news. Firstly, I never knew that I had an uncle. I pressed my mother for more information on him, and it immediately became clear that she hadn't really kept in touch with her brother. The only bits of information that she was able to supply me with was that he worked as a police detective and was a widower who lived with his daughter, Nanako. Secondly, I'd never heard of Inaba. I attempted to research it online, but resources were scant. The only meaningful detail that I had managed to gather was it was a very rural town located a few hours' drive from Okina City. I had mixed feelings about it. I'd spent my entire life living in large metropolitan cities. On one hand, the countryside could be a welcome change of pace. On the other, I would be completely outside of my element. Whatever the case may have been, I'd have to live with it for the next year.

"Yasoinaba! Yasoinaba!" cried the speaker on the train. My stop had arrived. I gathered my belongings and exited the station into Inaba, and I was greeted with a very pleasing sound: silence. Despite the fact that I had never set foot outside of the big city in my entire life, I was never able to get over my distaste for the noise. I would spend as much time at home or in the few quiet corners of the city that I could find. If even the train station of this town could be this quiet in the middle of the day, I could see myself living here very happily indeed. I know that it sounds like such a silly, insignificant thing, but Inaba really had made a very good first impression on me for this simple fact alone.

"Hey! Over here!" said a male voice coming from the bottom of the steps, snapping me out of my reverie. I looked in the direction the voice came from, and I was greeted by a middle-aged man with a dark tan wearing a grey shirt and a red necktie. I descended the steps to greet him.

"Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo," he said as we shook hands. "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you. Let's see…I'm your mother's younger brother…and that about sums it up."

"It's nice to meet you," I said to Dojima.

"Heh. You probably don't remember, but we've met. I've changed your diapers, you know," said Dojima. He seemed like a very nice man, but to this day, I still cannot get over how incredibly awkward his greeting was.

"This here's my daughter," he said, stepping back to reveal the young girl in pink that had been standing behind him. She looked positively terrified of me, and I worried to myself if I had said or done something wrong, but she was probably just anxious around new people.

"Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin," said Dojima.

Nanako remained silent and averted her eyes from mine.

"…'lo," she muttered almost inaudibly. I felt rather guilty that I was making her feel so uncomfortable. Dojima, on the other hand, found this highly entertaining and chuckled at his daughter's awkwardness.

"What are you so shy for?" asked Dojima in a playful tone. Nanako was not as nearly as amused as her father was, apparently, as she slapped Dojima across his midsection. Dojima was clearly unaffected by this, but nonetheless, he feigned pain and gave another soft laugh.

"Well then, let's get going. My car's over there," said Dojima. I began following him, but I stopped when I heard a feminine voice called out to me.

"Hey! You dropped this," the voice said. I turned around to see a girl with short black hair. Her sense of fashion was unconventional, to say the least. Granted, it was fairly tame by the standards of a big city; I saw far much more daring outfits every day there. It's just that I had pictured the styles of the countryside being far more subdued. I wondered how she got behind me. I was the only one who had gotten off the train at Yasoinaba Station, and the parking lot seemed totally barren save for myself and the Dojimas.

"You dropped this," she said. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but she seemed to be in a rather foul mood.

"Ah, thank you very much!" I said to her, taking the slip of paper she held in her hand. It was the note that had Dojima's home address on it.

"Whatever. All I did was pick it up," she said bitterly. Did I do something to offend her? How was that even possible? I had barely spoken to her.

"What's wrong?" said Dojima from across the parking lot.

"Sorry, I was just talking to…" I turned back around to where the girl had been, but she had vanished. I must've looked like a lunatic to Dojima.

"Nothing," I said approaching the car. Thankfully, Dojima didn't press me any further on the matter.

As the car started moving, I felt as though I should try to make some effort to converse with Dojima. I wasn't an overly talkative person, but the man was kind enough to take me into his home for a year. Being totally asocial would be rude, wouldn't it?

"Detective Dojima, I would just like to emphasize how grateful I am that you would be willing to…" I began before Dojima cut me off.

"Stop. Don't thank me. You're family, and this is what family does," he said, taking his eyes off the road for just a moment to smile gently at me. He no doubt intended to be reassuring, but instead of making me feel relaxed, his words made me feel incredibly foolish.

"So, how's your mom doing?" asked Dojima. I struggled to come up with an answer. The honest answer would be 'I wouldn't know because I almost never see her,' but I doubted that he'd appreciate that answer.

"Very good. She's been working very hard lately," I said. I hoped that if I was vague enough, he'd drop the question, and thankfully, he did.

"How was Shibuya?" he said.

"Loud and crowded," I said. I had no love for any of the cities I'd ever lived in, but Shibuya was especially bad. Dojima merely laughed.

"If you like the quiet, you'll be more than happy here," he said jokingly.

Dojima and I exchanged small talk for a few minutes while Nanako sat silently in the back seat. We eventually arrived in what appeared to be Inaba's shopping district, and Dojima stopped at a Moel gas station. After rolling down the window, a very eager attendant ran up to the car.

"Hi! Welcome to Moel!" said the attendant excitedly. Dojima exited the car.

Nanako had been visibly fidgeting in her seat for a while by this point. Knowing exactly why, Dojima looked back at Nanako and asked, "Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?"

"Uh-huh," said Nanako as she exited the car.

"It's in the back, to your left. You know which way's left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in," said the attendant.

"I know, geez," said Nanako, very offended that this attendant thought that she was so juvenile that she couldn't distinguish left from right.

I exited the vehicle. Between the train ride and the car ride, I'd spent far too much time sitting. I needed to stretch my legs.

"Are you taking a trip?" asked the attendant.

'No, we just went to pick him up," answered Dojima as he looked over to me. "He just moved here from the big city."

The attendant looked over from Dojima to me. "The city, huh?" she said.

"Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine," said Dojima.

"Right away, sir!" said the attendant

"Good time as any for a smoke," said Dojima quietly before leaving the gas station.

Rather than getting to work, the attendant looked directly at me, staring into my eyes very intensely. Needless to say, it was a little creepy. Once Dojima was out of earshot, she spoke again.

"Are you in high school?" asked the attendant. I found it rather odd that the attendant would neglect her job to strike up a conversation with me of all people.

"Yes. I'll be going to Yasogami High for the next year," I said.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here? There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs," the attendant said. Without intention, her words cut ever so slightly. I suppose I didn't like being reminded that I hadn't had any close friends since I moved away from Port Island all those years ago.

"Speaking of which, we're actually looking for some part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student," said the attendant. I then wondered if attempting to recruit me was the reason she bothered talking to me.

"Thank you. I'll think about it," I said. It was a lie. I didn't really have any interest in a part-time job at that moment, but I didn't want to be rude. We shook hands. It sounds so innocent, but this was unlike any other handshake I'd ever had before or since that day. It felt like she was trying to crush every bone in my hand into dust. She clearly hadn't noticed me wince, as she maintained the handshake for about seven seconds. Before I could object, she released me at last.

"Oh, I should get back to work," the attendant said before walking off. She said it so casually, as if there was nothing unusual about the fact that she'd nearly severed my hand with her grip.

The pain didn't subside when she let go. It actually got worse. It spread up my arm and eventually throughout my entire body as if my hand had been bitten by a hundred vipers. My head felt like it had been struck by Mjölnir. I hadn't eaten anything all day, but I was overcome by an overpowering urge to vomit.

"Are you okay?" asked Nanako, startling me. I hadn't noticed her exit the restroom. I opened my mouth to speak but I was in such a state that couldn't properly formulate words.

"Did you get carsick? You don't look too good," said Nanako with genuine concern in her voice.

"No, don't worry. I'm fine," I said after a few seconds of trying and failing to speak. The mere act of speech was a herculean task in the condition I was in.

"What's wrong? You okay?" said Dojima, returning from his smoke break.

"It's nothing. I'm okay," I said. I put on the best smile that I could manage in the condition that I was in as I lied through my teeth, but despite my best efforts, it was abundantly clear that Dojima didn't believe me.

"It must have been a long trip for you. Why don't you take a little walk, get some fresh air," said Dojima.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I'll be back soon," I said while futilely attempting to downplay how sick I felt. I took a few steps and nearly fell flat on my face. Thankfully, neither Nanako nor Dojima noticed. Eventually in was able to balance myself, and I continued down the sidewalk. The walk wasn't much, but it was able to take my mind off the pain. With each passing meter, my coordination got a little bit better, my nausea faded a little more, and my head got a little bit clearer. Once I had made it halfway through the shopping district, I'd regained my ability to walk like a fully functioning human. Every part of my body still ached like I was run over by a tank, but I felt that I could probably move about without injuring myself. Eventually, I saw a red torii, indicating that I had reached the town's shrine. I thought that I might as well visit it and maybe make a short prayer to whatever gods were listening and ask them to rid me of this searing pain. I never got to make this prayer, however. The very idea left my mind as soon as I saw the person standing between me and the altar.

Though she was dressed like a boy, that dark blue hair and those grey eyes were unmistakable. The expression she wore after seeing me was one of pure shock and disbelief. It looked as though she had just witnessed a unicorn stride up to her. The first few seconds of our reunion were as quiet as the vacuum of space. Neither of us was prepared for the situation we had found ourselves thrust into. There were about a million things that I wanted to say, but for the longest time, I couldn't pinpoint which one I should say first. I'm not quite sure how long I stood there with my mouth open like an idiot before I was finally able to break the silence.

"Hi Naoto," I said.