03

  "Have fun at work! And cheer up! Your face looks ugly when you're pouting!" With that wonderfully brutal farewell Miyamoto-san left for who knows where. 

  Hmph. I looked away from her retreating figure and turned my attention to the building in front of me.

  Occult Club Inc.

  The most popular and yet totally unknown provider of quality antiques and special services.
The place where I've spent nearly all of my free time since I learned of its existence 2 weeks ago on that day in May. It really is quite the interesting store. With an old Chicago style red brick exterior, sandwiched in between two modern skyscrapers, it really is out of place. Although it does seem to attract a good number of customers on the weekend. Working at Occult Club Inc. is my first job, and let me tell you, customer service really breaks my back. These people really think I know where every little thing in the store is! For crying out loud it's more of a hoarder's paradise than a proper store with a real inventory. I don't think the boss even knows what he's selling half the time. To my professional eye it all just looks like a garage sale, but inside a building. 

  I looked at my watch and I'm officially 15 minutes late for my shift. Perfect. As the person doing the favor, covering Miyamoto-san's shift, that is, I can be any number of minutes late because I am the one being inconvenienced here. It'll appear like I dropped everything to come to work today and pick up her shift. I'll be showered in praise! The next promotion will surely be mine.

  "Hm..." I smirked, slightly overwhelmed at my own genius.

  Ring-a-ling.

  The bell on the front door cheerfully announced my presence in the front door. Such a tender jingle. I love that bell. I scanned around the store looking for the boss before I fully stepped in. Looks like he's not working upfront today.

  I was wrong.

  "Hello hello hello! Welcome in to Occult Club Inc.! The most popular yet totally unknown provider of quality antiques and special services!"

  Shoot. The boss was right there the entire time! He looks so relaxed sitting behind the front desk-- he must've been there the whole time! I wonder if he saw me show up early and then wait until I was late!? 

  "Oh... it's just you, Seiji."

  Ah mannn, the boss sounds pissed!

  "Hey... um, yeah, hey." I didn't have much to say. I tried to hurry past him into the back so I could change into my work uniform.

  "Seiji. Stop right there. I'm not done talking to you" the boss whispered to me.

  "..." He whispered to me! He must really be pissed for real!! My days are numbered! I regret it all! Such intimidation!

  "Seiji," he whispered again, " don't tell me you've forgotten my name and have been referring to me with some shady moniker like I'm a higher-up in the mafia."

  Critical hit! How'd he know!? He read me like a book!

  "Uh, well I just met you..." I trailed off. HIs presence is getting to me. Suffocating. Pressure from all angles. I've broken into a cold sweat now. Pure power just radiating from him.

  Then he snapped his fingers. 

  All of that pressure, intimidation, power, just disappeared.

  "Hahha... Don't sweat it! Although you've spent more time with me than in school the last two weeks, I get it! Names can be hard, but you ought to treat me with more respect! I'm talking sensei or sama action!" Wow. Sensei-sama really just changes his mood around like a flip of the coin. Two sides to the same Sensei-sama, but completely different and will never meet. There's no inbetween with him.

  "Phew," I sighed the most real and necessary sigh of relief, "I'm sorry Sensei-sama--"

  "Oh please! Hahahaha, you're making me blush! Don't be so formal. I get it, I really do. But I don't want our relationship to be boss and grunt worker. It's gotta be man to man! You picking up what I'm putting down?"

  "Um, not really, but okay Sensei," I said. At this point I have no idea what's going on.

  "Yeah sure. Get to it Seiji-kun! You're on inventory duty today!" he cheered.

  And with that is how my first hour of work started, or actually, ended. The boss, or rather Sensei-sama. What was his name again? Ah, that's right.

  Italo Maekawa.

  Half Japanese, half Italian.

  Honestly a bit of a shady character, tattoos and always wearing black. Kinda greasy too. He claims to be only 29, but he also says he's retired from his career and that's how he ended up owning Occult Club Inc. and just vibing for the rest of his days. He says he's always bored so he asks me for jokes, but he never laughs at them. He only ever laughs at his own jokes.
Oh yeah, one more thing about Maekawa-sensei. He's a huge gamer. The most indulgent person I have ever met. He plays every popular game out there and even collects retro consoles. He also plays a ton of board games, which he says he played by himself until he met Miyamoto-san and I. He is the most competitive when it comes to games.

  "Hey Seiji-kun, wrap it up. Let's chat" Maekawa-sensei suddenly said to me. 

  "Okay, but I'm not nearly close to done" I said as I tossed an old fedora into the back room. 

  We went upstairs and into his office. I've never been into all of the rooms in the building, but Maekawa-sensei does own the whole thing, so I'm sure he could take me on a tour one of these days. Anyway, we're now sitting down facing each other. This feels serious. Man to man, let it out Maekawa-sensei.

  "Okay, Seiji-kun. What do you remember from 2 weeks ago? The night we met in particular."

  "Nothing," I replied.

  "Okayyyy. This is what happened," he began. An hour and a half later he finished. from what I understood, my life was never going to be the same. Maekawa-sensei told me to accept and embrace the supernatural in life. Those words would never leave me, and little did I know that they would save many lives in the future.

   We were in a sort of training room when Maekawa-sensei gave me this rundown. Let me sum it up.

   Spectra energy. Two types: positive and negative spectra energy. It's what makes things be. Humans can learn to use this energy in many different forms. However, not everyone has aptitude for spectra energy. Apparently, people with aptitude for spectra energy can feel or sense the presence of other people with an aptitude for it. Maekawa-sensei says that these people are narrowed down by their type, either positive or negative, and then a percentage to determine potency; to measure how powerful. Sensei says he's 80% negative. That doesn't mean much to me.

   The last thing he explained to me got me really excited. The best way to suppress an eidolon is by using swords. Not just regular swords, but swords imbued with spectra energy. Apparently it's a long practiced tradition that was established by the first user of spectra energy. Not gonna lie, it'd be pretty sweet to slay a huge devil dragon with a sword. Maybe I'll dual wield. Or maybe 3? I'll get there when I get there.