Chapter Text
A young girl was walking through the Shibuya streets, sporting a white tank top with spaghetti straps and floral designs, a pleated pink miniskirt, and white, buckled sandals. She had long pink hair that went down to her waist, with the ends being wavy. The girl walked briskly down the streets, not stopping at any stores and seemingly not aware of the other people on the street; however, she was actually listening to music using Bluetooth on her phone, vibing to the sounds rather than her surroundings.
In another part of Tokyo, a young boy was riding the subway, lost in thought. He had jet black hair and was wearing a simple black top and dark grey slacks. His dark black eyes were muddled with conflict, and he wore a dazed expression on his face. He was thinking about how he’d been kicked out of his hometown for trying to protect a woman from being taken into a man’s car for ulterior motives, and how his parents went along with sending him to the city.
The train stopped at Shibuya, and the boy stepped out of the train station. Shielding his eyes from the sun after being in the subway for a while, he observed the city through his fingers. It was crowded as ever, seeing as this was Tokyo, which shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did at any rate.
The boy took a few steps ahead, then everything around him suddenly froze.
Glancing all around, the boy was completely confused. That was when blue fiery flames showed up in the center of the station square and a mysterious silhouette appeared. At the same time, his phone vibrated, so he took it out and noticed an unknown application that showed up on his phone. It had a red icon with a mysterious eye on it.
“Wh-What… is going on?” the boy asked no one in particular, seeing as he was the only one who wasn’t frozen.
Just as he asked that, the flames faded, and everything returned to how it was prior. The black-haired boy blinked a few times to adjust to what happened, still confused, but he continued to his train transfer. He rode the next subway to Yongen-Jaya, where he was supposed to be staying at. When the subway stopped, he alighted and walked out of the station, noticing the drastic change from Shibuya to this area. It was much smaller, with fewer people and fewer shops.
‘Sojiro Sakura… His house is supposed to be somewhere around here…’ The boy thought to himself, checking the note paper in his hand for the address.
Satisfied, he walked through the town toward the other end before turning right. Glancing around the neighborhood, he thought he had reached Sojiro’s house. Checking the house number and name plate, the boy pressed the doorbell and waited. But no one answered the calls. Almost panicking, he noticed a deliveryman behind him saying Sojiro must be at his café, Leblanc, in the alleyway, and that he’d deliver the package later.
With that news, the black-haired boy left the house and looked around the neighborhood for a café. Not before long, he reached an alleyway and a shop with a red ceiling that read “Leblanc.” Figuring this must be the place, he opened the door. A middle-aged man was seen sitting on a stool with a newspaper on his lap and a customer at a table.
“Um… I’m Ren Amamiya. Is this Sojiro Sakura?” the black-haired boy named Ren said.
“Oh, so today is the day, huh,” the middle-aged man said, as he got up from the stool and set aside the newspaper on the counter behind him.
“Well, the change is on the table. I’ll be taking my leave,” the customer at the table said as he rose.
Ren stepped aside to let the customer out and looked gingerly at Sojiro, who merely raised an eyebrow before gesturing at Ren to follow him. Quickly running behind the man, Ren followed him to the back and up the stairs. It was an attic in the restaurant that looked cluttered, with books and plants littered around the floor. There was a bed at the other end of the room. He also noticed there was a big box in the middle of the room, which he figured were his belongings.
“This is where you’ll be staying at,” Sojjiro finally said as they reached the center of the room. “I’ll at least give you sheets.”
“It’s big,” Ren simply said.
“So, you’re on probation because you tried to get in between two adults. That’s what you get for interfering. And now you’re here because your parents kicked you out and the law barred you from your regular school.”
Ren said nothing. If he was to do it again, he would do it in a heartbeat. It wasn’t in him to let a woman get taken advantage of. He still remembered how it happened. He was late returning home that night, so it was dark already. He heard noises from the other direction; a drunken man and a woman were arguing, with the man telling the woman to get in his car, but she was refusing. Knowing it was wrong, Ren had hurried to the woman’s rescue and tried to stop the man. Instead, the man had fallen and struck his nose on the pavement, but instead of assuming responsibility, he said he’d sue Ren and had the woman agree.
“Hello? Are you there? Don’t space out while someone is talking,” Sojiro said, waving a hand in front of Ren.
Ren blinked a few times. “My bad.”
“Anyway, we’re going to Shujin tomorrow.”
“Shujin?”
“Your new school. The only place that is willing to take you in.”
Ren nodded.
“It’s your responsibility on how you want to treat this place,” Sojiro said before leaving.
Ren looked around the attic that was supposed to be his living quarters for the next year. He was honest when he said it was big; it certainly had sufficient room for living, he surmised. Kneeling to the box, Ren lifted it slowly and moved it to the shelf on the left. Then he decided to clean the place a bit, to make it tidier for himself. It took a bit, but eventually the room was slightly less cluttered, though it was dark by the time he finished.
Just as Ren was about to sit on the bed to relax, Sojiro appeared from the steps. He peered in and looked around the attic room before walking toward Ren. He still had his apron on over his pink shirt and slacks.
“I was wondering what all that ruckus was about,” Sojiro said. “You were cleaning. Not bad at all.”
Ren merely nodded before taking a seat on the bed. Sojiro was true to his word about giving sheets. He looked around and nodded, satisfied with what he cleaned so far. It would take a few more days to get everything fully ready.
“As I said earlier, we’re going to Shujin tomorrow. Since it’s far, you’ll be taking the public transit, but just for tomorrow, I’ll drive you there,” Sojiro reminded. “Sheesh, I usually never let males in my passenger seat.”
Ren avoided looking at Sojiro, but gave a quick nod of assent. He wondered what the new school would be like and if he’d make any friends, considering what happened with his last school. He was naturally wary for tomorrow, but decided to head to bed early after Sojiro departed the place.
**
Sunday came for Ren, and Sojiro appeared in the attic, dressed in his casual clothes consisting of a top hat, a pink dress shirt, and white slacks with white shoes. Ren wore his Shujin Academy uniform, which was a black blazer over a white top, black-and-red trousers, and dark brown shoes. He followed Sojiro into his yellow sedan, and the two drove to Shujin Academy located in Aoyama-Itchome. It was quicker than public transportation and there wasn’t traffic on the way there.
Sojiro led Ren into the school building and toward the principal’s office when they noticed the door was shut close. The two exchanged glances, confused as to why it was closed when the principal should have been expecting them. Just as Sojiro was about to knock, the door suddenly opened to reveal a girl in the Shujin Academy uniform with an older man, supposedly her guardian or parent.
“Oh, I’m sorry, were we taking up too much time?” the girl asked.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” Sojiro shook his head.
The girl smiled. “I’m a new transfer, too. My name is Izumi Takeharu.”
“Ren. Ren Amamiya.”
“It’s good to meet you , Ren,” Izumi smiled as she turned around. “I hope I see you around.”
Sojiro waved to the girl and her guardian— or whoever the man was—before turning around to enter the principal’s office, leaving Ren to hurry after him. Inside the office, a rather obese older man sat behind the desk, with a young woman with messy black hair standing beside him. It would seem the man was the principal, named Kobayakawa from what the name plate said. Ren guessed the woman was a secretary of sorts.
Principal Kobayakawa and Sojiro discussed Ren’s transfer and how Ren had to be on his best behavior, or he’d be expelled, and then he’d be at a complete loss because “their school was the only one that’d take Ren in with a juvenile record.” Ren merely nodded at each remark thrown at him, stuffing his hands into his pockets and avoiding eye contact with any of the adults.
“And this here is Kawakami, your homeroom teacher,” Principal Kobayakawa introduced.
Kawakami sighed and took out an ID card, though a pink poster came out with it. Ren reached out for the ID, as Kawakami quickly grabbed the poster before Ren could see what it was. Her actions made Ren curious about what she was hiding, but since she was going to be his instructor, he shrugged it off and stuffed his ID into his pocket.
“Please, please remember this is your last chance. If you misbehave, we will not hesitate to expel you,” Kobayakawa warned Ren.
Ren merely nodded.
“Please watch over him, Sakura.” Kobayakawa turned his head to look at Sojiro.
“You don’t have to say that; I will be watching over him,” Sojiro remarked.
“Well, that’s that then.”
Sojiro and Ren departed the school and returned to Sojiro’s automobile. As they drove off, traffic started building up. Curious, Sojiro turned on the radio. The newscaster reported that there had been a heavy accident on the subway, and how eighty people were injured or killed, causing the road traffic. Sojiro sighed, but otherwise remained silent.
Ren looked out the window, bored out of his mind, but he refrained from saying anything. As he watched the people pass by, he noticed Izumi walking alone, wrapping her arms around herself. He wondered why she was alone and what happened to the other man who had been with her at school. But it was all in speculation; it wasn’t like he could just go up to her and ask, and he was with Sojiro after all. However, maybe Sojiro would give her a lift. Ren glanced over at Sojiro, who was tapping impatiently on the wheel.
“Sojiro?” Ren asked.
“Hmm?”
“I see Izumi outside, alone. Mind if I ask if you could give her a ride?”
“Oh, sure. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon anyway.”
Ren unlocked the door and dashed out, running after Izumi. She hadn’t been walking fast or anything, but Ren had to walk briskly to catch up. Izumi’s long pink hair swayed in the wind as she walked. Ren tapped her shoulder, startling the girl as she jumped in her step. Turning around, Izumi saw it was Ren, and her expression softened.
“Oh, it’s you…”
“Yeah. Uh, I see you’re alone now. What happened? Sojiro—my guardian, that is—said he is willing to give you a ride, though there’s heavy traffic right now so…” Ren said, stuffing his hands into his pocket out of habit.
“Oh… No, it’s fine. I…I wanted to take the train, heh…”
“Didn’t you hear? There was an accident on the subway. It’s dangerous.”
“Oh… Oh no…” Izumi looked shocked and pale. “That’s… terrible.”
“Let us give you a ride home,” Ren insisted.
“Mm… Alright, I suppose.”
Ren grabbed Izumi’s arm and led her back to where the car was waiting. The two walked in silence. When they reached the car, Ren opened the side door and let her sit inside first before returning to the passenger seat. Sojiro made small talk with Izumi, learning that she lived in Nakano, which was a bit away.
Eventually the traffic eased as Sojiro drove Izumi back home. However, she insisted they drop her off at the corner by a convenience store rather than her house. Once she left, Sojiro drove back to Leblanc, and he and Ren returned home. Sojiro remarked that he never had time to open the shop, but escorted Ren to the attic. He tossed a small black notebook to Ren when the two were inside, telling Ren to keep note of what he did daily, as Sojiro had the responsibility of reporting Ren’s doings while Ren was on probation.
Sojiro waved farewell and departed the shop, locking up after himself. Ren changed into his sleepwear, which consisted of a tan sweater and dark grey slacks. Just as he was about to head to bed, he heard ringing in the distance. Checking his phone, he noted that the ring was from a further source, so he walked downstairs. He walked over to the yellow telephone on the counter and picked it up.
“Who’s this?” Ren asked.
“Did you forget how I sound like already? Sheesh. Anyway, I need you to go out and switch the plate from open to close. No one’s probably going to notice, but just do it anyway,” Sojiro said over the phone.
“Got it.”
Ren hung up and exited the restaurant, then turned around and flipped the sign. He opened the door again and locked it before returning to his room. He lay down on the bed and pulled the cover over himself. He took out his phone and noticed that the same application appeared again, the red icon with a creepy eye. Sighing, Ren uninstalled the application once more and then stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He closed his eyes to sleep, but sleep seemed to evade him. He still remembered how he tried to save a woman from being taken advantage of, only to be sued, get a record on his file, and be kicked out of his own house.
**
The next morning came for Ren, who rose early for the morning commute. As he descended from his room, he walked toward the exit when Sojiro called him over . On the counter was a plate of curry and a cup of coffee. The curry smelled delicious for Ren, who had eaten nothing since he left his hometown. Ren took a seat by the plate and started eating, which tasted better than he expected. He thanked Sojiro for the food and coffee, then departed the shop, also flipping the sign for Sojiro.
Ren rode the first train to Shibuya, where he had to transfer, when he saw a familiar face. It was Izumi. He walked quickly to the girl, who turned and waved. The two then walked toward the next train, which was the Ginza line, and waited for the subway in silence. As they disembarked the station, it was drizzling, and another girl was standing under a small roof belonging to a shop. A white car drove by and lowered the window as it approached that standing girl. The man in the car spoke to the girl for a bit before she went inside the car, drying herself when she was inside.
“That damn Kamoshida!” A masculine voice came from the other direction. “Acting like he’s the king of a castle.”
Ren and Izumi turned around to see a blonde boy around the same age as the two. He threw a fist at the car that stopped briefly. They exchanged looks before tilting their heads in confusion.
“King of a castle?” Izumi asked in confusion.
“Kamoshida?” Ren amended.
“Yeah, Kamoshida! The one that just drove by! Aren’t you two also from Shujin?” The blonde boy replied with another question of his own.
Izumi and Ren nodded. It would seem this boy was also from Shujin Academy. The three students walked together to the school, mostly in silence, with some questions asked by the boy to the two transfer students. They learned his name was Ryuji Sakamoto, and they introduced themselves to this Ryuji kid as well.
As the students walked together, chatting away, they soon noticed a change in scenery. Upon arriving where the school should have been, it was a decorated entrance to a castle-like building. The three exchanged curious glances before entering cautiously. What was inside shocked the three of them: large, strange figures showed up and surrounded them, wielding spears in their hands. They attempted to run, but it was futile the three were captured and thrown into a prison cell somewhere in the building.
**
After a while, Izumi and Ren woke to find Ryuji crouching by them on the cold, hard cots. Izumi sat up immediately, rubbing her eyes while Ren stood up to examine the cell. It was obvious they were stuck in the cell with no way out. Then there was noise coming from outside, so the three went to the bars and peered out.
What awaited them was something unexpected . Kamoshida was there, the same man who was driving the automobile, but he was wearing nothing but a red cape, pink underwear, and a red crown on his head. His body hair was fully visible on his chest and legs as he walked toward the cell with his underlings, all holding spears.
“What… what is this?” Izumi asked, looking terrified.
“…Kamoshida?” Ryuji said, flabbergasted.
“You are in the presence of our King Kamoshida. Show some respect!” one of the underlings commanded.
The underlings unlocked the cell and Kamoshida stepped in, blocking their exit. Ryuji attempted to challenge Kamoshida, but was pushed down to the floor. Kamoshida then proceeded to kick Ryuji a few times with his feet clothed in pink slippers. Izumi tried to shield her eyes from the sheer violence, while Ren clenched his fists in frustration.
“The ex-athlete is helpless after all. Or are you going to repeat your mistake and show your true violent self?” Kamoshida sneered.
“S-Stop!” Izumi suddenly shouted.
“Oh? Looks like you want to join in.” Kamoshida stopped momentarily to look at Izumi. He walked over to Izumi and pushed her against the wall.
“No! Leave her alone!” Ryuji shouted from the floor, unable to stand.
Kamoshida stopped in his tracks, as if contemplating who to strike. He continued to Izumi’s direction despite Ryuji’s cries. Ren glared at Kamoshida, fists still clenched as he tried to think of a way to save Ryuji and Izumi. As Kamoshida reached Izumi, he pinned her against the wall with a lustful expression.
“You’re not bad looking. Not like my special princess, but not bad at all,” Kamoshida said leeringly.
Kamoshida started caressing Izumi’s cheek with one hand, his other still pinning her down. Izumi turned her head aside, but that didn’t help as she was still pinned down forcibly. His hand started moving down to the neck, which made Ren start moving, when he noticed Izumi clenched her fists with eyes closed.
Izumi tried to escape from what was happening, keeping her eyes shut tightly. A voice surfaced in her head, though it sounded like it was from an external source.
‘I am thou, thou art I. You don’t have to suffer injustice anymore. Just say my name and you will be liberated.’
Izumi opened her eyes slowly, fists still clenched. She blinked a few times, to try to make sense of what the voice was telling her. She knew neither who nor what that voice was, and she did not know the name,… at least, that was what she thought, but something deep within her knew it.
“Per…so…na… Snow White!” Izumi said under her breath.
A bright light surrounded Izumi, and a white mask formed over her eyes. She closed her eyes again, with a pained expression on her face as she gripped her head with both hands. The pain was getting more and more intense until Izumi opened her eyes again, with both her hands gripping the white mask that appeared. Suddenly, she tore the mask off her face, and a red liquid oozed out as the mask was pulled out. A pale woman showed up, floating in front of Izumi, with short jet-black hair and a long flowy white dress. Izumi had a change of clothes as well, now wearing a long flowy pink dress with frills at the sleeves and ends of the dress, as well as with lilies that adorned the bosom.
Ren and Ryuji could do nothing but stare at Izumi and the new figure that appeared, both flabbergasted and confused simultaneously. Kamoshida sneered and threw himself against Izumi, pushing her against the wall and ignoring the figure that just appeared. Ren knew what he had to do; he couldn’t let history repeat itself in front of him. He dashed forward and shoved Kamoshida, hard, so he fell on the floor. A keychain with multiple keys dropped on the floor and Ren quickly picked it up.
“Let’s go, guys! We’ll lock the cell with Kamoshida inside!” Ren commanded.
Izumi hurried outside while Ryuji rose to his feet and followed Izumi. Ren locked the cell once all three were outside. The moment they left, Izumi’s clothes returned to her school uniform, confusing Ren and Ryuji further. But there was no time to contemplate what happened; they had to escape the castle and return to the proper school building.
As they ran through the castle to where an exit could possibly be, the three ended up at a dead end. They looked around to see if they missed something or if they turned the wrong way, when a voice came from a cell on the left side.
“Hey, you three!” the small voice called out, interrupting the three from searching.
Izumi was the first to notice, and she turned to the cell. What she saw was some kind of monster cat standing on two feet with a black mask and a white furred chin with blue eyes. He was wearing a yellow necktie and a belt with small pouches around stomach.
“What… are you?” Izumi asked the feline creature. “Are you… a cat?”
“No! I’m not a cat! I’m a human named Morgana!” the supposed cat-human named Morgana shouted.
Ryuji and Ren caught up with Izumi and this Morgana in the cell. Ryuji called Morgana a monster cat, and that offended him, but ultimately Morgana struck a deal to lead them to the exit if they free him. Morgana was suspicious to Ren, but Izumi disagreed; if he was suspicious, Kamoshida wouldn’t have locked him up. In the end, Izumi unlocked the cell and Morgana came walking out, stretching his small limbs.
Morgana proceeded to lead the three from the cell, returning to where they had been, and stopped in front of a small, wooden figure of Kamoshida’s head. He jumped up and down a few times to indicate that they should pull the switch. Izumi reached out and pulled the handle. The action led to the drawbridge lowering, and the three hurried along the new hallway. As they walked, they encountered one of Kamoshida’s underlings standing in their way.
“Well, looks like we’re in for a fight,” Morgana said, readying his stance.
“A fight?! How can we fight?!” Ryuji stammered.
“I... I think I can fight…” Izumi said softly.
Ryuji stared at her, astounded at this news. He certainly didn’t expect this turn of events. Then he dug around his pockets and found a model gun in his hand before handing it to Izumi.
“Well, I don’t know how much that’d help since it’s just a toy gun, but if you can fight…” Ryuji trailed off.
Izumi blinked as she held the toy gun in her hands, uncertain what she’d do with it considering it was a model gun. She looked down at Morgana for instructions, and he nodded and explained to them that it would work out. Then he proceeded to jump the enemy standing a few steps in front of them. Flustered, she ran forward with Morgana as her outfit changed to a pink dress, and a scabbard appeared at the right side of her dress.
Morgana jumped to the right and struck the opponent with his dagger, causing it to fall backwards a few steps. Izumi joined in and slashed the enemy across the chest with her katana. She jumped backwards and watched Morgana slash the adversary repeatedly, wondering what else she should do. She had never fought before, especially not these unknown . Morgana gestured to her to continue, so she dashed forward and struck its left leg.
The two worked in tandem with each other until the shadowy opponent started swaying in place, unable to move or attack the duo. At Morgana’s prompt, Izumi pulled out the gun and pulled the trigger, not expecting anything to happen. However, the enemy fell over and dissipated into the air. Izumi, Ren and Ryuji simply stared blankly at where the opponent was while Morgana stood there looking smug.
“And there you have it!” Morgana said smugly.
“What just happened?! That was SO COOL!” Ryuji exclaimed.
“Hehe… I… just followed Morgana’s instructions…” Izumi said, blushing slightly.
“That was still so cool!” Ryuji responded.
Ren nodded in assent as he walked over to the two after the enemy had fallen. Morgana kept looking smug before he started running off, leaving the other three to hurry after the cat-like creature. As they ran through the castle, Morgana tried to explain how things worked; they were in a cognitive world, not their world, and this was Kamoshida’s world. None of the others understood what he meant, especially Ryuji, but they simply wanted to leave this place.
While Morgana led the three through the corridor to the exit, they finally reached the area where the three started in., Izumi noted that, but Morgana continued walking past the lobby. As the three walked past the lobby, Ryuji dashed ahead to the door on the right, but it didn’t budge. He started lashing out at Morgana for tricking them. Morgana simply shook his head and gestured to the door on the other side. Ryuji laughed, then opened the door, only to see a room without another door, but a ventilation shaft above a shelf. Ryuji proceeded to jump ahead and knocked the shaft door down before going through it, with Izumi and Ren following closely behind.
“Heh… I could definitely use that pink-haired girl in my mission…” Morgana said to himself as soon as the three left the area.
As the three left the cognitive world, they returned to Aoyama-Itchome, with all the people walking as though they didn’t just show up out of nowhere. Suddenly, two police officers with a bicycle approached the group. Ryuji started to panic, but Ren simply walked ahead to where the school was, with Izumi and Ryuji running after him.
Once the students reached the school, an overweight middle-aged man was seen on the steps with Kamoshida in his teacher outfit beside him. The middle-aged man was apparently the counselor, as Ryuji told the other two, and Ryuji had to follow him, leaving Ren and Izumi to deal with Kamoshida. However, upon seeing Kamoshida, Izumi froze up after what happened in the castle.
“Uhh… uhh…” Izumi could only say.
“Get in the school, you delinquent. Go to the faculty office, your instructor is waiting for you,” Kamoshida sneered at Ren. “You’re lucky I’m not going to report this.”
“Thank you, sir.” Ren smirked as he walked in, taking Izumi’s arm to lead her away from Kamoshida.
As Ren and Izumi entered the school building, it was the actual school this time and not the castle. They proceeded to the second floor, where the faculty office was, only to receive nasty looks for being late on their first day in high school.