Naoki

Naoki Yanatake left his front door with a sigh. His dad had insisted he should leave early, and Naoki had grumbled, but he didn’t really question most things his dad suggested. Today was his first day of high school, after all. Assuming he could even call where he was going to a “school.”

He looked back to see his twin sister Sakuya at the front door, waving at him with a wide smile on her face. He rolled his eyes and kept walking.

He’d told his dad that he couldn’t be bothered with more school, since he’d basically spent half of his waking hours in school. The other half went to training and eating. He hadn’t exactly had the time to be a kid. But Shiro Yanatake had insisted, saying that the Pacific Treaty required that Naoki go to school. Vacations weren’t allowed.

He’d even called an acquaintance to enroll Naoki late, just yesterday, like the responsible dad he was. Naoki had almost celebrated, thinking he didn’t have to go to school this year. But he’d known that this happening had been a possibility, and

The Higashi Academy had sent the letter late last night, just ten minutes before the annoying living room clock had struck eleven. His dad had read it out loud to Naoki and Sakuya as they lounged on the sofa. Naoki had had his headphones on, and Sakuya had been watching a comedy show on the sixty-inch smart TV.

The letter had detailed many things Naoki didn’t remember: his class, his seat, the Higashi Academy’s vision, the conditions of his stay, and many others that Naoki just didn’t bother remembering.

Sakuya had it easy, he told himself. She wasn’t an Angel, so she didn’t have to go to school. She was free to take vacations and attend normal school like a normal person.

Naoki wasn’t as lucky. He was an Angel, in fact the first male Angel in at least a hundred years. He’d tried to hide it, of course. Their family had tried to hide it, but something had happened back in middle school that Naoki didn’t really want to remember. That had alerted the media, and within minutes, the Yanatake family had become world-famous.

And being world famous wasn’t exactly comfortable when he’d been trying to live an ordinary life. Today was no exception. Naoki felt eyes on him as he walked.

Well, it was partly his fault. He wanted to blend in with the crowd, so he’d chosen a jacket to go over the uniform that had come with the acceptance letter. He’d figured that that would at least hide the fact that he was an Angel going toward the Higashi Academy, the largest school for Angels in the world.

But he’d chosen a black jacket with blue lines running along its sides, the same jacket he’d been wearing when the media had first broadcast a full-body shot of him to the world.

Of course he’d be recognized by everyone. He silently cursed himself as he realized this.

This jacket didn’t have a hood, so he had nothing to cover his face with.

He shivered a bit. Somehow the spring air felt a little colder than it should. He wrapped the jacket a little tighter around himself. The blue headphones around his neck could have warmed his ears at least, but his dad had told him not to wear the headphones. That he should “learn the sounds of normal life.” So of course, Naoki wore the headphones around his neck.

He waited for the light to turn green at a crosswalk he used a lot, while usually a lot better disguised than this. He wondered what his dad had been thinking when he’d decided to let Naoki walk to school alone.

He could have driven me there, Naoki thought, pushing away a stray lock of hair from over his eyes, but it was really pointless to think of that. What’s happened has happened. There was no way he could turn back time to choose another jacket or something, is there?

Besides, as he waited, he noticed that the countdown timer felt slower than it should.

Interesting, he thought.

Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, he counted, looking away from the timer. When he reached zero, he looked back at the timer.

Twelve seconds left.

Got you.

Naoki had an absolute sense of time, or he had an internal clock that ran at the same intervals as the average intervals within the universe. He wasn’t sure which was the explanation, but he kept both explanations in his mind as possibilities.

There were also several possibilities behind the obvious difference between Naoki's sense of time and the flow of time around him at the moment. It could be someone like him, an Angel, or a Master, or something Naoki really didn’t want to meet on his first day of high school.

As it turned out, it was the latter. Naoki knew that if there were an Angel or a Master close to him, he’d also be hearing an annoying buzzing sound behind his ears, but there was nothing at the moment.

Naoki reached into the pocket. If this was the third option, then he’d need his katana.

A high-pitched wail pierced Naoki’s hearing, and the pavement in front of him exploded, showering everyone and the nearby shops with debris.

A dark object rose from the ground. It was humanoid, and it was fully-equipped with shadowy armor and a short sword in each hand.

“Minamoto...” it drawled, as it raised its blade over its head and rushed toward Naoki with blinding speed.

But even if his was Naoki’s first time seeing that, he was prepared to some extent.

He sidestepped, taking the miniature katana out of his pocket.

The dark humanoid thing stopped itself five meters away, then turned back to Naoki.

“Shizuka Minamoto...” the words came out in a metallic warble. “Kill...”

Naoki willed the miniature katana to grow into its original size. He held the still-sheathed katana out in front of him.

The shadowy thing lunged at him again, both short swords whirling.

Naoki parried and parried, then inserted some attacks of his own. The moment his katana impacted the shadow’s armor, the shadow jumped up and back, landing on a nearby roof.

Naoki used the time that brought him to whip his phone out, turn his headphones on, quickly create a playlist and connect the headphones to his phone wirelessly.

He wore the headphones.

The music came just as the shadow jumped down.

Naoki smiled as he blocked and turned every single slash. He’s in my territory now.

After all, they were above ground. And where above ground did the air not touch?

Naoki smirked as he watched the shadow’s swords whirl toward him again in slow motion. He took a step back and slashed upward.

A blade of wind sliced the shadow in half.

“Kill... Minamoto... Shizuka... Kill...” the shadow repeated over and over again as it disintegrated, its two halves melting into the ground and the air around it.

Shizuka Minamoto. Apparently the shadow had mistaken him for a girl of that name. But this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

Naoki removed his headphones and found, to his dismay, that several bystanders had their phones out and had recorded the whole thing.

Now I’m gonna blow up online again. He was used to it by now, really, but he still normally did everything he could to keep it to a minimum. This would probably overshadow all the effort he put into keeping a low profile in the past six months.

Another shadow appeared, and Naoki was thankful that this one ran away, into an alley.

He followed it, riding the wind to reduce the effort he had to put into his legs. He let his mind do the work. Anything, as long as he didn’t have to physically move too much.

This shadow was a lot faster than the previous one, though it was equipped the same way. The same shadowy armor and two short swords. It was saying something, a lot more actively than the previous one.

Naoki caught only little hints, but his mind filled in for him. “Shizuka Minamoto... Shizuka Minamoto...”

Naoki had heard of the name once before, when he’d first heard of the Higashi Academy. She was probably famous there, but Naoki had avoided the internet as much as possible, only going online to choose and download new songs when he needed them.

The name ticked. Shizuka Minamoto was the “ace” of the Higashi Academy. She held the record for the highest Level ever reached by an Angel, Level V, high up there in the fifth set of levels. There were only six sets of levels, including the “impossible” Level, Level Z, which was theoretically impossible to reach. V was close enough to Z, though, and most people speculated that Shizuka would be reaching Level Y within a year.

But Naoki didn’t know why these shadows would want to kill Shizuka. Heck, he was stumped by the shadows themselves. He always knew there was a reason for the existence of Angels, but he didn’t expect the shadows to be it. And of course, there were numerous possibilities running in his mind, but there was none he could choose at the moment. It was too soon to draw a conclusion.

The shadow stopped when it reached a dead end. It turned to face Naoki.

“You aren’t Shizuka Minamoto. Who are you?”

This shadow, Naoki noticed, also stood straighter than the previous one had. And it held its swords with a lot more confidence.

“I don’t see any significance in giving my name.”

Normally Naoki wouldn’t have followed the shadow, but it was all new to him, and he didn’t want to miss it.

“If you aren’t my target, I don’t really have to touch you, but I can’t be sure that you’re not a danger to us. Are you an Angel?”

Naoki looked into the pools of darkness that he assumed were probably the shadow’s eyes.

Enemy, Everything in Naoki screamed at him. Run.

Why would I run? Naoki countered himself. I’d rather stand. Running’s too tiring.

Naoki nodded.

The shadow attacked.

It was fast. Nowhere near fast enough for Naoki, but fast enough that a normal human would have to be in perfect condition to even keep up.

In just a blink, both swords were arcing toward Naoki’s neck. Naoki quickly wedged his sheathed katana between the swords, stopping them. Then he lashed out, kicking the shadow as hard as he could into the wall.

The shadow slammed into the wall in a cloud of dust. Naoki checked his pocket for the only other thing he brought: a tuning fork.

Depending on the strength of the shadow, he might have to use the tuning fork, but not yet. As long as the shadow didn’t land a blow, Naoki didn’t see a need to step up his game.

The shadow would have to step up its game if it wanted to touch him, even more so if it wanted to kill him.

“You can touch me?” it asked. Naoki figured if its face could look surprised, then that’s exactly what it would look like now.

Naoki also figured Angels normally can’t touch shadows. Or at least this type of shadow.

“What are you?” he asked the shadow.

The shadow emerged from the dust cloud, this time with a warrior’s stance. It had shed its confident air, and now looked like a soldier trained to kill.

Naoki didn’t replicate. He lazily turned his katana upside down and leaned on it.

“The Shade you destroyed earlier was my brother. He was the weakest in our regiment, but he was still stronger than most humans. Angels shouldn’t be able to touch him, either.”

So they’re called Shades, huh? Naoki hadn’t touched the previous Shade, but it had gone down without a fight. Or at least without much of one.

“Tell you what, Mr. Shade,” Naoki tried. “I’ll offer you a chance to leave. I’m kind of running late on my first day of class now, and being late kind of really annoys me.”

“You aren’t in a position to offer anything to me. I’m about to kill you. Don’t you understand?”

Naoki didn’t understand. He didn’t understand how this Shade could think that it was about to kill him.

“No, I don’t. And my offer stands. Stand back, or you’ll be the first of your kind to taste my blade.”

The Shade did nothing, only made a rasping sound from deep within its throat. It was probably laughing.

Laugh all you want, then.

Naoki stepped forward and was about to unsheathe his blade, when a girl’s voice called from the top of the wall.

“Hey! Shade!”

Naoki looked up, and sure enough, there she was. Shizuka Minamoto. He didn’t know how he knew—he never saw her face before. But he knew by the way she was comfortable standing on a wall twenty feet up that she was someone who knew how to carry herself in a fight.

Shizuka was also wearing the Higashi Academy uniform, but her collar had red lines, as opposed to the green lines on Naoki’s collar. That meant she was a third-year.

The bottom half of her top wasn’t buttoned as well, so her belly was in full view. She had a half-length jacket, but that did nothing to cover her exposed belly.

And the relatively-short skirt of the Higashi Academy’s girls’ uniforms seemed much shorter when Naoki was looking at Shizuka from twenty feet down. He had to avert his gaze.

The Shade looked up as well.

“Well, well. Look who we have here.” The Shade turned its full attention toward the new threat on the wall.

Shizuka said nothing, only removed a gun from its holster and fired.

Naoki instinctively took a step back. He didn’t need to be here, did he? Now that Shizuka was here, she’d take care of the Shade, and it’d all be over.

But something in him told him to stay and watch.

The bullet pierced through the Shade, hitting the ground with a solid thunk. The Shade’s head disintegrated for a moment, then pieced itself back together.

“Get out of there, first-year!” Shizuka’s eyes were wild as she finally seemed to notice Naoki.

Naoki shook his head at her. What was she doing, anyway, taking his prey? Though it wasn’t exactly his prey to begin with...

Shizuka dropped down from the wall, firing two more shots into the Shade, and landed in a crouching position.

“You need to get out.” Her tone was serious, and Naoki had half a mind to ignore it, but she didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d take that kindly.

“Why?” he asked.

“This is a Shade. It could kill you!” she practically screamed at him.

He shrugged. “Or it could kill you.”

For a moment, Shizuka looked like she wanted nothing more than to wring Naoki’s neck, but then her expression calmed.

A little bit too suddenly, Naoki realized.

Shizuka fired her gun, but it wasn’t aimed at the regenerating Shade this time. The barrel was pointed straight at his head.

Interesting, he thought, as he watched the bullet come toward him in slow motion. He could simply slice it in half, or...

He saw the Shade move a bit suspiciously, inching left toward one of its swords that it had dropped when Shizuka’s bullet had pierced through its arm.

Naoki smiled. The easiest thing had presented itself. He loved nothing more than hitting more than one bird with one stone.

He unsheathed his katana and slashed upward, taking care to tilt the blade as accurately as possible so it would redirect the momentum of the bullet a hundred and seventy degrees.

It happened in a blink, but he doubted Shizuka even knew what had happened.

The bullet whizzed past Shizuka’s face, so closely that Naoki almost called out, and landed between the Shade’s whirlpool eyes.

This time, the bullet did the damage it was meant to do. The Shade collapsed on its knees and tried to hold its head together, but it was already over. Shizuka watched in utter surprise as the Shade dissolved into dark dust and dematerialized.

After a few moments of silence, Shizuka finally turned to Naoki.

“You.” she pointed weakly at him with her left index finger. “You’re an Angel, aren’t you?”

Naoki nodded. Why would she be asking that now? Surely she’d told him to run because she already knew.

“That Shade was one of the strongest second-tier Shades.”

Yeah, so?

“And even I would have had trouble subduing it, much less killing it.”

Naoki suddenly remembered exactly who he was talking to. Shizuka Minamoto was the “ace” of Higashi Academy. At Level V, the second level in the fifth set of levels, she held the record for the highest level ever reached by an Angel. It wasn’t far-fetched to say she was the most powerful Angel to have ever existed.

And that makes me...what? Naoki did a flourish with his blade, artfully spinning it twice before letting it stop upright in front of his face. The blade reflected Naoki’s mismatched eyes back at him for a moment before he swiftly sheathed it.

He looked up to see that Shizuka still had her gun trained on him.

“Tell me, are you truly an Angel?”

What kind of question is that? Of course, Naoki understood. He guessed that would have been the way he’d react if he’d been in her shoes.

“Yes.”

“And you’re a first-year. Going to your first day of class. Today.”

“Yes.”

Shizuka lowered her gun and shook her head.

“I can’t believe it. First, her, now you. Can’t the gods be a little bit less generous? My spot as top-ranked is about to be taken over by a first year.”

Naoki realized he’d been having the conversation with his headphones on. He could hear everything, but he figured it must look rude to Shizuka. Or anyone, for that matter. He slipped his headphones down around his neck.

“That was your bullet, though.” He had felt something within that bullet, a concentration of magic that he could barely match. He knew that because the air around him was tinged in pink. That only really happened when he had to unsheathe his blade.

Which, of course, was one of the reasons why he kept the blade sheathed most of the time.

Shizuka nodded. “I suppose it was my bullet...”

Then she looked him in the eye.

“You seem fast, but aren’t you running a bit late?”

Naoki glanced at his wristwatch. 08:25:43 A.M.

Yup. He was running late. He’d have to exhaust a lot of his energy to get to Higashi Academy in time, and he’d hate to have to do that. He probably wouldn’t.

He shrugged. “I guess I’ll be late, then. At least I have someone and something to blame it on.”

Shizuka smiled. “I can get you to Higashi A in less than a second. Care to try?”

Teleportation Magic? Naoki didn’t know Teleportation Magic, so of course he wanted to try it out.

“Shoot,” he said, spreading his arms.

Shizuka’s smile widened even further, and Naoki knew he’d said the wrong thing.

She shot him, and with a sudden pain in his chest, he found that he was suddenly several hundred meters in the air.