I don't remember when, but I somehow remember it again.

Prolog: The beginning of the end.

On that night it was raining, so I could not sleep easily. I remained on my bed, but I heard whispers that scared me. Despite that, I stepped out of my room. Down the stairs, to the left was the toilet. Though a light leaked some another room and I peeked through the door. There, I see my father and another man, and they were both conversing with one another.

"The key is ready; just give it some time I promise."

The bell rings and hits me back to my current self; previously asleep but still in my classroom. As the bell continued to ring, the other students had packed their ways out of the classroom. Confused, I checked my phone, which it replied with a time after school hours and that the school just ended for today.

That being said, I am Sakuzaki Natsuki, a high school student of Takizawa high school. I'm just one of those average male high schoolers that you would find almost anywhere; average build, glasses and messy hair, you can see my design on the cover photo.

"Sakuzaki, how long are you going to stay here for?"

Something left with a gentle pat on my back, and I turned to Daisuke Kiriyama. Daisuke was just a childhood friend of mine who happened to be in my class. He's a pretty cheerful man in general, but sometimes, he is just too positive for situations. Because of that, I would usually find myself dragged into one of his hobbies helplessly, even if sometimes they would be dangerous. That being said, today the two of us were planning to-

"Come on, Haru-chan's going to be left waiting again if you stay like that!" He stays silent for a short while, "You want her to tag along, don't you?"

"Hey come on," I replied, soon began to pack up to leave while left too embarrassed to reply anymore though. We hadn't originally planned to include her, but if he said so, then maybe.

"Hey, Haru!"

"Hey!" She turned and waved towards our ways before joining us. Akitsuki Haru, just a childhood friend of ours who just happened to be a mother-like figure for us. Because of all Daisuke's hobbies, she just happened to always lecture us to not do so. Over the past decade we've known one another for, we pretty much know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"Yo Haru-chan," Daisuke took the first move today, somehow, "You want to go to a cafe?"

"Sorry, I'll pass. I got to go to the dojo today."

Honestly, I had hoped to have dragged her in with a bait like this, though it did not work this time. Kendo was her specialty, though it became a convenient excuse because she does not tend to stick with hanging out with us.

"I see, see you then."

We waved our departures and Daisuke and I parted with her. It was just a 5 minutes trip towards the station, to an alleyway almost unnoticeable, we arrived at the gaming arcade.

"Just making it clear, we're not spending any more than 2,000 yen this time."

"Speak for yourself, Daisuke. You always end up paying more than you wanted."

As we looked around the arcade area, we stumbled ourselves into an excitement to just play.

"Want to try racing this time?" he invited me, and we did the usual. We jumped ourselves onto the platform. The virtual engines roared, and we pushed our accelerators into the tracks against each other... though, I lost again.

"Man, that was fun!" I could almost hear the satisfaction from him. To have beaten me for almost countless times, I wondered why I still continue to tag along. Though, it was slightly better than the usual, as he always engages in dangerous hobbies every other day, usually with me dragged along. Usually, it was urbex, but this time it was a change for the better, at least for me.

"Com'on Sakuzaki, let's try out that one again!" He would point to another station and drag me along there.

After some repeated losses across several, he started to get bored.

"Dude, you wanna try something new this time?" His eyes lit. Though, I carried almost no interest in his hobbies despite the fact I was his victim, "Wanna visit her?"

I nodded, slowly. Haru has training on this day, on a weekly basis. At no point in time, she started training, we were not bothered to pay a visit and I was somewhat surprised by his suggestion.

"That settles it then! Sakuzaki, y'know where the dojo is?"

Then I remembered the main reason why we never paid a visit prior; we do not know where she does it.

"Oh."

...

After a quick message from her parents telling us where she is, we immediately caught ourselves on the next train to a neighboring town from here. The district seemed more modern than compared to where we live and was full of department stores, office buildings and the such though that being said, in the far corner of this new town, was the dojo.

"God, how does she travel this far weekly?" Even Daisuke started to pant, "This distance is almost too far to walk for a day."

"Calm down, just focus on keeping your breath or something," I replied, "It is summer today after all. Ah, look we're almost there."

He somehow gave his final pants and began running there, like a finish line of a race or something. I remained walking slowly, slightly amused by the sight of this person finally struggling with something. Guess he should have seen it coming back at him.

Then up beyond the stairs, we waited around the entrance. The place was almost a traditional mansion of sorts and like a maze we got ourselves lost. It left us all the more in awe of her.

"Excuse me, who might you two be?" A young woman asked from not a distance away. She was obviously older and wore a yukata with a jacket. Her formal yet casual style of fashion almost made us forget that we weren't in a local shrine of any sorts, but instead a dojo with trained people.

"Uh..." I stuttered to find an answer as she lightly smiled whilst waiting for our answer.

"Wow she's hot!" he whispered to me and we lost a good first impression. If I recall correctly from what Haru mentioned, the sessions were split into gender groups... so today was female only. Maybe that's why this girl scorned us slightly and wondering our intentions of being here.

"You do realize that I could hear you, right?"

"AH! We were just passing by and thought we could come here and pick up a friend from here. You know Haru Akitsuki, right?"

"Oh, I see." She nodded in an understanding, "If that's the case then-then try not to enter from the back entrance then. Shall I guide you to the dojo?"

"Thanks. Come to speak of it, I don't know your name yet," I tried to stick out my hand for a handshake as I introduce myself, "I'm Sakuzaki Natsuki, nice to meet you."

"I know, your father used to be a big shot here," She sighed, "The name's Hanae Haruko. Also, don't let that pervert tag along."

I tried to hold my laughter. Serves that bastard right.

She soon led me there, left Daisuke behind. Though, Hanae really just walked a few steps down and showed me the entrance to the door. Around there, I could already hear the session soon to be over.

"Ah, didn't realize you were here," Haru said as she packed her bags and saw me.

"Sup, let's go."

"Come to speak of it," she asked, "if you're here, where's Daisuke?"

"Back at the entrance, he pissed a girl we met earlier. You probably know her; Hanae Haruko. Besides, we just came here cuz we got bored by ourselves."

"Weird to see you acquainted with a girl like her," She sighed, "But thanks, didn't know you two would go so far to pick me up from this far... Oh, I see him now."

It was sort of impressive for a person like Haru to hang around with a bastard like me, someone impressive like her occasionally shines among us. Though that being said, Daisuke likewise is overly optimistic as a person. I... am just here, just acting upon what I perceive as normal. Before I long knew it, I had already developed a thing for her.

So, I smiled helplessly as Haru ran towards Daisuke and greeted him, turned around and waved back.

"Com'on, Sakuzaki"

"Sign" I whispered to myself, and lightly jogged to chase up to them.

I really wanted to preserve moments like this... I think.

...

Down an alleyway lit by streaks of blue and red, the sirens echoed loudly and endlessly. Among there, two people stood.

"What do you think we'd make out of this," The male one spoke, asked for the female's opinion on the corpse before them. Just between the two of them and the corpse, they were separated by several 'Police: do not cross' tapes.

"Too much of a pain. The victim's beheaded with the head gone and there's nothing helping us to get her identity. Also..."

The woman bends down, picked up the bloodied cell phone the corpse held on to, "Investigator Julius, this message is too damned vague."

On the phone notepad, there was a simple message written there that showed words so simple that it becomes confusing.

'The key is near.'

Chapter 1 : Bonds

Beyond the police tapes, two people observed the corpse. One was an investigator, named Julius. The other was female forensic scientist named Faye.

A headless corpse, needless to say; a beheading. And on top of that, the torso seems to split apart, as if torn. It was almost impossible to figure out the gender of the victim, even more so of her identity. All the corpse had was a phone and its clothing.

'The key is near', was the note left on the phone.

"In the end, this is just too much of a pain," Faye said, with disgust,

"Too damn vague."

...

It was the next morning, at least since when we first checked out the dojo. It was a pretty tiring day back then, so I felt almost unwilling to wake up.

"Oni-chan!"

Oh yeah, we're set in Japan, just to make it clear, so don't cringe and enjoy the chapter!

As my little sister shouts to wake me up, she bounces up towards me. Like a tiger... but you get the point. She flies, like almost literally, across the room from the door up to my bed blanket. She's almost always carefree at home. But I guess that may be fun in itself.

After landing on the blanket flat, she sits herself up in a provocative manner.

"Good morn-! Eh?"

Feeling a bit unusual, she figured she sat on something weird.

"Oh... hehe..." she smirked in a weird manner. Then she crushed me painfully with her rate. Then, she twists it, grinds it slowly.

"Wait wait stop it Nozomi! Any more and I won't be able to reproduce!"

"Ohoho... I thought you'd like it like this."

I really wished I didn't enjoy the situation the least bit, honestly. My gentleman down there says otherwise, though. I could do nothing but to keep the situation like this.

Then the alarm rings, and I woke up from my dream.

"What."

The alarm rings, pretty loudly. For the nth time it was being played, it annoyed the hell out of me so I shut it for the day. Though, the dream... it was too weird to be true anyways. If anything, Nozomi would be closer to an M than an S, after all.

Well, it was a new day again today. Halfway dressing into the school uniform, I see myself in the mirror. Reflected there was your average high school boy, just except the stitch across my right arm. I almost felt like a zombie upon looking that scene, but it didn't matter because I'm not.

Then my sister, Nozomi, interrupted me after a prepared for the morning.

"Morning, nii."

"Yo, Nozomi. You finally woke up early for once unless..."

I drew a conclusion which a kind, positive girl like her would reach to. But she wasn't entirely just energetic, so knowing her, the reason why she would wake up early was...

"Uncle's breakfasts are too plain again," She pouted.

"I see..." I lightly smiled and sighed, "Want me to help?"

As I said so, her face brightened a bit.

It's been a while like this I think. Under the Natsuki household, only the three of us lived together. My uncle, sister and I; Natsuki Tenya, Natsuki Nozomi, and Natsuki Sakuzaki. I've been told that our parents were working overseas, so our uncle took care of us in their stead. Because of that, our daily lives were void of our parents but full of this useless uncle of ours.

For a guy his age, it's almost impressive how he was still single.

"Oh, you guys already prepared breakfast already?" my uncle exclaimed in surprise at the sight of my sister and I eating the omelet rice we prepared.

"Yeah," Nozomi replied as she shoved another spoonful of the meal into her mouth, "It's only our shares though. There are some cup noodles up the cupboard for you I'm pretty sure."

"Hey isn't that too cruel..."

"Go find yourself a girlfriend to make you one if you can't prepare something decent yourself," Nozomi smirked.

"Jokes aside," I cut their banter as I passed another plate of the meal to him, "Here's your share."

I think our uncle almost cried.

'Today on news, a corpse has been found in an alleyway in X city. The investigation is currently undergoing and it is...'

"X city huh..." Uncle sighed as we saw the new announcement from the television, "isn't that pretty close from here?"

"Guess so..." I looked down at my watch, "Guess I gotta go now. Let's go, Nozomi."

"Have a safe trip!" uncle waved his farewell.

My sister and I studied at separate schools, so we departed by the bus station. From there, I meet up with Daisuke. Usually, we'd also meet up along with Haru but perhaps today she was late or something.

"Mornin' Sakuzaki!"

"Morning," I casually replied, briefly looked around then asked, "Have you seen Haru around?"

"Nah, totes not. You really interested in her though?"

"Not that way, really. Chill."

"Ah yeah come to speak of it," Daisuke suddenly changed the subject, "You know that game that's coming soon?"

That is to say, the game which he was mentioning was a mobile game named 'Freedom'. It's turn-based RPG game that's been gathering quite some hype around this area. Though, currently, the beta version has been via subscription.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The beta players of the game so far have given it quite a lot of good reviews regarding the game. With all that being said, there still seems to be room for more people to try out the beta."

"Your point being...?"

Daisuke pulled off a cheeky smile, then announced, "I went ahead and entered your name into the subscription into the beta version test! So once you get it, mind letting me have a try at the game?"

"You do realize exam week is coming soon, right?" I sighed, this guy was almost helpless in his dedication for entertainment, "But geez sure, I'll pass it to you when I receive the beta."

Surely he could have been patient enough to wait months for a real deal rather than a fragment of the game...

Though I think it was around this point that I made a mistake too major to be dismissed.

"Oi Natsuki," Daisuke pointed out, "We're about to miss the school mate."

And in a hurry, we got off the bus.

"That being said," Daisuke suddenly continued as soon as we got off and about to enter school, "Seems like we have a new substitute teacher for P.E. today."

"Heh..."

Seemed like he just wanted to chat til class starts, not that I cared.

"Com'on, at least try to sound interested!"

"Yeah Nah, not today," I sighed as I passed through the overwhelming gate.

Not long after, school started. We attend in Takizawa High

Not that you would be interested, but until lunch, it was all discussion and notes varying from Maths to Traditional Japanese history. Same with lunch and recess times; just bento and casual banter amongst mates. Today couldn't be any more mediocre.

It was until the last period when P.E. was about the begin soon; that's when we left to change for sports uniform. Oh yeah come to speak of it, wasn't there a new teacher today? Oh well... After I changed, the class moved to the indoor gym.

"Yo, I'm the new teacher, Ms. Hanae. Please look after m- oh," the new teacher paused once we met eye contact.

"Eh?" "oh."

Yeah, Ms. Hanae, Hanae Haruko, was an acquaintance whom both Daisuke and I encountered not long ago. She seemed to be affiliated with the dojo which Haru also attends.

"A-anyways," she stuttered to continue, "Let's all play a game of dodgeball or something."

Wow, so casual.

I would say I'm not the sports guy, but I'm not really that unfit to a certain extent. Though that being said, I couldn't give any excuses of being struck out early in the game. But seriously though, I'd say I'm a fast guy though!

While I was at it, I just felt like conversing with Ms. Hanae.

"What a coincidence to have you as our teacher eh..."

"Nice to see you here. Not sure about that idiot though..." She looks back to Daisuke.

Daisuke sure loved to be immersed in sports and almost shouted every time. Looking at this from the sidelines, it was pretty entertaining and almost laughable at times. I lightly laughed and agreed with her.

"I guess you can say that. He's a bit of a pain sometimes so sorry about that."

"No worries, not your fault anyways."

"Oh yeah come to speak of it, don't you also work for the dojo as well?"

"Yeah. It's kind of like a part-time job; not so special. I'm just here to satisfy myself financially."

"Wow isn't that a very adult-like excuse..."

She briefly laughed a bit, then replied, "Trust me, the adult world's a sadder place compared to high school; cherish now a bit more."

"You sure sound older that I expected... I actually once thought you were younger when we met yesterday."

"As if, I'm pretty much an auntie with this age."

"Bull, you're like 24-26 years old aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

"SEE! You're pretty young for a teacher..."

Ms. Hanae gave a sigh in annoyance and then ended our conversation, "This is really unnecessary... but thanks for the compliment."

She's pretty cold eh.

Class ended not long after so we changed back to our usual uniforms. On the way to exit the school, the phone rang.

"hm?", I pondered before opening the mail.

"Ah, you received it?" Daisuke popped up suddenly.

"OH geez don't just scare me like that!" I briefly glanced back at the phone that Daisuke snatched from me and took it back, "also, I'll hold on my phone for now. You get your share of the game once the exam week is over."

"eeh... I'll be going first then. Cyas."

"Cyas."

I looked back at my desk, to my bag. I packed everything for the day and soon left the classroom too. Whilst walking down the corridor, I began to read the mail sent.

[Congratulations on becoming a beta tester of the RPG game, FREEDOM-]

"Ouch!"

"Ah- Sorry... "

I looked up at the person I accidentally walked into; Ms. Hanae.

"Natsuki, try not to walked and look at your phone at the same time too," she pulled me up, "What's that you looking at?"

"Ah, a friend recommended me it," I replied hastily, "Seems like the beta version of the game named 'FREEDOM'."

Her face changed slightly, though she gave a farewell, "I see. At least be careful next time then."

I guessed it was nothing special, so I went back to reading the mail.

"kya!"

Twice the bad luck, it turned out I fell off some stairs.

Instead of the cold hard surface, I was supposed to land on. I found myself on something warm... pretty warm and soft too. My hands moved on its own to try to push myself back up but found something softer around the center. It was surprisingly squishy that it made it a bit fun to play with. I should seriously get myself back up though.

Then I opened up my eyes.

Ah....this cliche.....

END