Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The End
Shuichi Saihara liked to consider himself a little above average in terms of intelligence. He knew he wasn’t special by any means, but when compared to his fellow classmates, he performed better on tests. Also, he was one of the better puzzle solvers he knew… besides his uncle, who was the smartest man he knew as the top detective in Hope City. It was this intelligence that allowed him to become a detective-in-training at only ten years old. He didn’t like to consider himself a real detective, though. Regardless, it was the fact that he was so smart that made this situation all the more confusing to him. He had no logical explanation for this. Nothing could explain why everyone in his criminology class had suddenly disappeared.
Shuichi sat silently for a few minutes before coming to the realization of what just happened. His yellow eyes scanned the room, noticing traces of the life that was there only moments before. He didn’t feel as shocked as he should have been. Instead, he felt strangely calm. He slowly stood up from his desk and looked around again, just in case this was all some illusion. After no one showed up, he started pacing the classroom. Whether it was himself panicking or simply an instinctual need to investigate, he couldn’t be sure, but he was picking up on small details. Like the notebooks open to half-scrawled notes on pages with similar looking graphs and statistics. Or the pencils that were left rolling around on the ground after they’d dropped from the hands of their users.
The silence was suffocating. It was piercing through his ears, going straight to his brain and leaving only a sharp ringing. He swallowed his fear and burst out into the school’s hallway. It was in a similar state of abandon as the classroom. No one could be seen or heard. Even though he knew the answer, he checked all of the other classrooms one by one. The growing dread in his stomach grew with each lifeless room he came to. After what seemed like hours of exploring his school, which now felt more unfriendly and unfamiliar than it ever had before, he came to the conclusion that there was no one there besides him.
He was unsure of what to do. He felt he had a freedom he didn’t want. He was used to following a pretty strict schedule everyday. Wake up and get ready, go to school, work at his uncle’s detective agency, go home and work on homework, then go to sleep and repeat the next day. In all his planning, the incident of everyone disappearing from his school never seemed like a possibility. Even if there was someone else here now, someone more confident and assertive than himself, he would have someone to follow, which he preferred. He didn’t like having to make decisions for himself. And yet, that seemed like the only option now.
So, with dread lingering on his heart and mind, he pushed open the double doors to the outside world and stepped into the cool morning air. It was a partially sunny day, with light gray clouds passing over the sun every couple of seconds. A breeze came from the nearby beach to the north, creating a comfortable temperature. The sounds of birds chirping and tree branches rustling in the wind were a welcome addition to the tense atmosphere.
Shuichi let his feet carry him down the road from his school, which went through a short field before leading into the city. Skyscrapers rose suddenly on either side, a harsh contrast to the grassy plains mere feet away. Cars were stopped at random positions on the roads. No human beings in sight. As Shuichi came upon a four-way intersection, he realized the gravity of the situation. Cars were rammed into the sides of nearby buildings and metal poles. It seemed that this disappearance didn’t just affect his school, it affected the entire city… maybe even more. Shuichi shook his head to clear it of such frightening thoughts and continued on his way.
He decided that without any clear objective in mind, and no knowledge of what could lay around any corner, he should head to his uncle’s workplace. Maybe his uncle would be there, and he would definitely have an explanation for this. Together, they could solve whatever crazy thing was happening here.
Before Shuichi could walk another block, a force suddenly crashed into his back and he let out a short scream before his face was forced down onto the cracked concrete of the sidewalk. He tried to stand again but couldn’t due to the weight keeping him pinned down. He struggled, attempting to move his limbs so he could push himself up, but whoever or whatever was on him wouldn’t let up easily.
“Stop struggling,” A cold voice said. Shuichi gasped and stopped, just like he was ordered to. The sound of another voice was like music to his ears, even if its owner had complete control over him at the moment. “Who are you and where are you from?”
Shuichi winced as he turned his head so he could more easily speak in his awkward position. “Who are you?” His detective instincts speaking, even if his common sense told him to answer his attacker’s questions.
“I’m asking the questions.” At that point, Shuichi realized a higher pitch to the emotionless voice. So it was a girl. An extremely strong, and frankly, intimidating, girl. He tried to place the voice to a face, maybe it would be someone he knew. The girl was definitely younger, under twenty probably, but he knew looks and voices could be deceiving. She seemed to be growing angrier too, losing her patience.
“Hey. Answer my question, or I’ll make you answer.” Shuichi felt pain explode in his right shoulder as the girl twisted his arm behind him.
“Alright, alright. Shuichi Saihara. I’m from Spring Field Academy, just a few blocks behind us,” Shuichi said, feeling the pain on his cheek grow with every word he said. It was definitely scraped.
There was a short pause before the girl spoke again after releasing his arm. “Saihara, huh? You must be the so-called junior detective. I’d expect you to have an explanation for this, then.” Shuichi felt the girl’s knee dig harder into his back.
“N-no, honestly, I don’t. I have no idea what’s going on, sorry. I’m really not all that great of a detective… But if you let me up, I’ll lead you to the police station and we can see if anyone there knows what’s going on,” Shuichi said, hoping the girl would agree.
There was another pause before the weight was lifted from his back and he let out a deep sigh. He shakily stood up and hoped the soreness in his back wouldn’t last long. He turned around slowly as to not startle the violence-prone girl even more. It was obvious she was suspicious of him. He supposed he should be suspicious of her too, but he felt more relieved than anything to have another person by his side right now.
He was shocked at how average the girl looked. She was shorter than him and skinny, with two long pigtails of soft-looking brown hair. Her blood-colored eyes were trained on him, not averting for even a single second. She wore a dark red and black school uniform. So she was in high school, like him. That made him feel even better about being acquainted with her.
“Don’t try anything funny,” The girl said. “We’re going straight to the police station with no stops or shortcuts or anything. Do you understand?” Her eyes were staring into his soul.
“Yes… I understand,” Shuichi replied meekly. He wasn’t about to disobey someone who could probably take him out with one hit. So, with the powerful girl by his side, Shuichi started on his walk to the police station again.
Before long, the sound of their footsteps was the only thing Shuichi could hear. It was a repeating pattern of his black loafers and then the girl’s light-colored boots. His mind focused on the differences of the sounds they were making. He felt like he was losing his mind. Not to mention the gaze he could still feel on his back. He had to speak to break the tension.
“So… you have no idea what’s going on either?”
“No.”
“Um… I mean, since we’re walking together, what’s your name?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Shuichi was silenced by the girl’s rudeness. But he still felt he deserved to know her name, if nothing else. “Can you please tell me?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Fine! If you must know, Maki Harukawa.”
Shuichi was sure he’d never met her now. Still, something about the name seemed oddly familiar. Like a memory he’d had but was now shoved to some dark corner of his mind. He turned to look at her, only to quickly face forward again at the sight of her piercing red eyes.
“What school are-” Shuichi started.
Shut up.”
“Why are you-”
“No, seriously, be quiet. What’s that noise?”
They were only two blocks away from the police station. A car was crashed into the building ahead of them, the windshield shattered into a million pieces and the bumper crushed beyond repair. Just beyond the car was a small alleyway. And from somewhere in that alleyway was a strange whimpering noise. It sounded like an injured animal.
“Stay here,” Maki mouthed to Shuichi as she crept forward to the side of the car. She crouched down, careful to not let her bare knees touch the glass shards as she crawled to peer around the back. It was amazing how she could creep through the glass and not let a single audible footstep ring out through the near-silence. Maki was completely still as her eyes focused on something Shuichi couldn’t see from his angle. Then, she suddenly leapt forward into the alleyway, which was followed by a scream.
Shuichi ran around the car to help Maki, assuming she was the one who let out the scream. However, he assumed wrong, as he noticed the trembling figure Maki was dragging out onto the sidewalk. It was another girl. She looked like a middle schooler, being under five feet with a weak-looking frame. A floppy witch hat covered red hair, cut above her shoulders. Her clothes were just as odd and looked like they’d come out of someone’s grandma’s closet. A brown vest and black jacket over a buttoned white shirt and a puffy red skirt over black leggings with large cream-colored boots to complete the look. When the girl opened her brown eyes, Shuichi noticed their watery look and the puffiness of her red, tear-streaked cheeks. Her face gave off a pouting look that a small child would make when they were upset over not getting something they wanted.
“Who are you?” Maki demanded in just as cold of a voice she used with Shuichi. He realized she didn’t hold back no matter who it was. She was harsh.
“Maki, wait… She’s just a kid,” Shuichi held his hands out comfortingly towards the young girl as Maki shot him a cruel glare.
“That doesn’t matter! Don’t you understand what’s going on here? Or are you just stupid?” Maki hissed back, tightening her grip on the girl’s jacket. The girl let out a whimper.
“I…” The girl started as she wiped the back of her hand against her eyes and nose. “I’m Himiko Yumeno… and I’m a high schooler, not a little kid.” Shuichi gasped quietly as Himiko looked at him. There was no way that tiny girl was almost the same age as him. “Also, I’m a mage!” Shuichi’s eyes widened. She was out of her mind.
“Alright, whatever,” Maki scoffed as she released Himiko. She stumbled now that she was free and brushed off her leggings.
“Why did you grab me like that? You could’ve asked me to just come out,” Himiko mumbled, adjusting her witch hat. Shuichi couldn’t take his eyes off her weird wardrobe choices.
“Just in case. Why were you crying?” Maki asked, giving Himiko the same piercing look she gave to Shuichi.
“Well… I was walking home from the gas station, since I had today off of school and I needed some more candy for one of my spells,” Himiko started as she gestured to a small plastic bag in the alleyway, which Shuichi could see contained colorful bags of sweets. “And then, all of a sudden, this car crashed right in front of me. I guess the ghost driving must have been a bad driver…”
“The ghost?” Shuichi asked.
“Nyeh, well, there was nobody driving,” Himiko pointed out.
“It’s not a ghost,” Maki said as she rolled her eyes. “Everyone just disappeared.”
“Since the car almost hit me, I had to run in there to escape it. That was really scary, but then I saw a monster. It was super tall and it had six arms and eight legs and was sniffing around. I think it was looking for magic, so I ran further back and hid behind a trash can. It smelled really bad, but it didn’t notice me so that’s okay,” Himiko continued. Her voice quivered at the mention of the monster.
“A monster…” Shuichi muttered to himself. He could barely believe the situation. First, everyone disappears, then monsters appear? How much weirder could this day get? Shuichi hoped this was all a dream, but something within him told him that wasn’t the case.
“There’s no such things as monsters,” Maki said. “You were hallucinating. Now go on home and eat your candy or whatever.” With that, Maki spun on her heels and resumed walking in the same direction they were before. “Come on, Shuichi,” She said impatiently over her shoulder.
Shuichi took a step before looking back at Himiko again. A tear rolled down her round cheek. “But didn’t everyone disappear? I don’t wanna be alone with the monsters outside. What if the monster’s waiting outside my house because it knows I’m tastier since I use magic?” Himiko turned to Shuichi with the wide, frightened eyes of a child. It would be wrong to leave her.
“Maki, wait!” Shuichi shouted to the girl getting further away. “Himiko, do you want to come with us? You’ll be safe with us… I mean, her. I wouldn’t want you to see that monster again.” Shuichi thought of himself as a skeptical person. You had to be as a detective. People are innocent until proven guilty, even if they are accused of being guilty. So, he would have liked to doubt a “monster sighting”. But when ninety nine percent of the city’s population disappeared for no reason, it was hard to doubt many things. So he forced himself to take Himiko as a truthful person.
“Can I really?” Himiko asked, looking between him and Maki.
“Of course.” Shuichi smiled. The first smile he’d had ever since this craziness started. Himiko’s eyes sparked with a new hope and she excitedly grabbed her bag of candy before running after Maki.
“Shuichi!” Maki shouted angrily as he approached the girls.
“We can’t just leave her,” Shuichi said, holding back his fear of the strong girl’s anger. Thankfully, she didn’t pursue it, simply growling something under her breath and stalking behind Shuichi. Himiko skipped along beside her, swinging her plastic bag. Shuichi kept walking, determined on reaching the police station before anything else could happen.