Chapter 1:
Humans & Cryptids
Cryptids Management Centre
This story takes place in a peculiar world, in a particular island, in an interesting place, somewhere over there, or, somewhere over here.
«Ouch! Ouch! You’ll make me go deaf if you scream like that» replied him putting his hands over his ears.
«Oh man, it was my turn being the club president this year! And now- Now they’re cheating me of the position! Those scoundrels! Who was it? WHO? I’ll have to file an official complain with the school council! No, this matter is bigger, more important, crucial to my personal and the club development! I’ll take this matter to the town hall!»
«Stop there! Nobody said it was permanently closed, they’re just re-decorating the club building. They’ll re-open it in a month or so.»
«You scared me, you should have said so since the beginning. But we do still have a problem, what am I going to do now that I can’t do my usual activities…»
«We? Don’t compare yourself to me, you bureaucratic freak! You come to the club only to do the busy work, stuff so boring that nobody else even wants to think about it.»
«You don’t understand, my problems are also your problems, we’re mates, we gotta find something do.»
«I’ll go home, you do whatever you may please. Bye» as he said this, Hiroki got up and walked away from the class.
«Nooo– Hirokii– Don’t leave me here– You were supposed to be the chosen one– Please come back–» I screamed at the fading figure of my belated comrade leaving me there like no honorable mate should.
«I’m not dead!» screams someone in my head. Must have been the wind.
The guy that just left me; that dishonorable, vile, shameless, despicable, rotten piece of human meat which just left me is called Miyamoto Hiroki. He’s my long-time mate from kindergarten, we attended our whole school career together, yet I wasn’t aware of his cowardly nature.
Left with no options as my routine silently (screams excluded) shatters, I went wandering the school halls searching for something to do. I put my mind to work imagining every possible scenario where I would be needed, my neurons started churning enormous amount of data to predict the immediate future.
After some time playing Laplace’s demon I gave up, I’m not some multi-billion dollar research supercomputer after all. Asking someone else was always the smarter answer to the problem.
My first stop was the teacher’s room and ask the few professors staying after lessons.
«Do you need help, Muramoto-sensei?» I asked my homeroom teacher, a respectable old man with delightful teachings in the subject of Japanese.
«No thank you, you’re always quite helpful Daisuke. Is something the matter? Oh, yes, the clubs are suspended at the moment, you must be bored.»
«Yeah, that’s the case. Is there something do around here?»
«I can’t think of anything… Maybe you can fetch some of the more delicate equipment in the club building, I wouldn’t want to bill the renovator with a new microscope for the biology club in case they accidentally damaged it during their work.»
As trusting as always, is there a reason why he can’t trust people he doesn’t know to do a good job? Maybe some long lasting trauma from growing up in a godforsaken island? But he grew up around here, didn’t he? Will I also turn like that?
«Earth calls Daisuke? Are you good? The club’s opening delays must have impacted you more seriously than I thought…» said the teacher puzzled.
«I’m fine, I was just thinking about the most optimal pathways to the club building, I’ll be going now»
«Always talking about some non-sense, these younglings…»
I waltz through the school’s hallways like an arrow pointed to that stuffy old structure that hosted clubs and the occasional storage room.
Strangely, no one was there, no construction worker in sight, no work being done, waste of time in substance.
Well, anyway, not my business how other people want to conduct their work. Or maybe this time it is also my business? No point in thinking too much about it.
But where is the Biology club? I forgot to ask the only important question to Muramoto-sensei! Let’s look around a bit, in a worst case scenario I’ll just go back and look at the map in the school registry.
I wasn’t exactly planning to search a whole building that day, not really much use in being stubborn and pursue a pyrrhic victory.
Defeated and humiliated I proceed to retreat and do some research.
Bang– Tudd– Badoom–
Some strange sounds start coming from one of the room in the aisle I was in.
I should check if everything is fine before going back, way too much noise to be just a bunch of rats. Nobody should be here and I haven’t really seen anyone come in. This situation definitely stinks, maybe some students is having an escapade in the quietest part of school and they got hurt by being inconsiderate of the place they’re in. Some people should really have more respect of such a sacred space for learning. Also, troublemaker create problems for everyone, the teachers will be more strict with the rest of the students if they get caught.
With a righteous attitude I approach the incriminated class, I can’t hear any more sounds coming from it but it’s still worth giving it a check.
I open the door just to finally find the Biology clubroom, with it a stunning dark haired female student.
She looks like the standard Japanese beauty, black long hair and dark eyes with a modest but elegant figure, dressed as pretty _normal_ female student of this institute.
«I’ve heard a sound coming from here, are you good?» I ask the girl.
«Did you see?» she replies.
«See what exactly?»
«Nevermind, I can’t risk it!»
The room goes dark, or better, my vision goes dark.
I can’t see anything.
Who eclipsed the sun? It should still afternoon, why is everything dark? Is the other girl still here?
«Help! Help! Somebody please turn on the lights!» I yell in vain.
«It’s time to shut up!» I hear a feminine voice reply.
I feel a weight on my stomach, a vertical force to be precise, maybe a punch or a hit with a blunt force weapon.
All I know is I feel sick and need to puke my soul.
«Stop there, you fiend!» this time says a different feminine voice.
I hear some other rumbling and tumbling but I still can’t tell apart light from dark.
A window breaks? Or something else made of glass? Soundwaves come in my ear but my eyes aren’t working at all. Is this what a blind person experiences normally?
The furious sound of steps get farther by the second.
Silence.
It feels like an eternity but It realistically should have been about a half minute.
Someone is coming back, I can hear it.
«Are you hurt?!? Oiii– Please reply– Oh, what am I gonna do- I involved a civilian, I’m getting a scolding this time-» shout the last voice I heard.
«Who are you? Sorry, I can’t see at the moment…» I reply.
«Oh, thank goodness you’re fine, I was worrying too much it seems, let me dispell that nasty trick that scoundrel used.»
The girl start reciting some strange word in an unfamiliar language, could be latin or gaelic as far as I’m aware, wouldn’t really make a difference either way.
As soon as my vision begin to come back I can make out a silhouette.
A girl is in front of me.
My name is Niwa Daisuke and I live in a little village part of a group of islands known as “Amatsu-no-shima”, an archipelago off the shores of Japan.
My life is of a fairly regular order: I wake up; I eat breakfast; I go to school; I partake in club activities after lessons are over; I return home and study; I go to sleep; repeat.
My days are filled with normal activities, normal days with normal predictable scenes, normal classmates with very similarly normal lives in normal classes.
Yet, the tsunami of events that brought me to the Cryptids Management Centre sound like an epopee coming from one of those light novels I used to read.
Everything started that time the club was undergoing renovation, a full-blown hierarchical and structural reconstruction AKA yearly passage of the torch from graduating hags students to their young counterparts.
This year was my year. My time to shine, My time to break this normality, My time to bring the club to glory. I was ready. My body was ready. My mind was ready.
And so, April came bring with it an unexpected adventure.***********************************************************************************
«What do you mean closed!?» I screamed at Hiroki, which was right in front of me by the way.«Ouch! Ouch! You’ll make me go deaf if you scream like that» replied him putting his hands over his ears.
«Oh man, it was my turn being the club president this year! And now- Now they’re cheating me of the position! Those scoundrels! Who was it? WHO? I’ll have to file an official complain with the school council! No, this matter is bigger, more important, crucial to my personal and the club development! I’ll take this matter to the town hall!»
«Stop there! Nobody said it was permanently closed, they’re just re-decorating the club building. They’ll re-open it in a month or so.»
«You scared me, you should have said so since the beginning. But we do still have a problem, what am I going to do now that I can’t do my usual activities…»
«We? Don’t compare yourself to me, you bureaucratic freak! You come to the club only to do the busy work, stuff so boring that nobody else even wants to think about it.»
«You don’t understand, my problems are also your problems, we’re mates, we gotta find something do.»
«I’ll go home, you do whatever you may please. Bye» as he said this, Hiroki got up and walked away from the class.
«Nooo– Hirokii– Don’t leave me here– You were supposed to be the chosen one– Please come back–» I screamed at the fading figure of my belated comrade leaving me there like no honorable mate should.
«I’m not dead!» screams someone in my head. Must have been the wind.
The guy that just left me; that dishonorable, vile, shameless, despicable, rotten piece of human meat which just left me is called Miyamoto Hiroki. He’s my long-time mate from kindergarten, we attended our whole school career together, yet I wasn’t aware of his cowardly nature.
Left with no options as my routine silently (screams excluded) shatters, I went wandering the school halls searching for something to do. I put my mind to work imagining every possible scenario where I would be needed, my neurons started churning enormous amount of data to predict the immediate future.
After some time playing Laplace’s demon I gave up, I’m not some multi-billion dollar research supercomputer after all. Asking someone else was always the smarter answer to the problem.
My first stop was the teacher’s room and ask the few professors staying after lessons.
«Do you need help, Muramoto-sensei?» I asked my homeroom teacher, a respectable old man with delightful teachings in the subject of Japanese.
«No thank you, you’re always quite helpful Daisuke. Is something the matter? Oh, yes, the clubs are suspended at the moment, you must be bored.»
«Yeah, that’s the case. Is there something do around here?»
«I can’t think of anything… Maybe you can fetch some of the more delicate equipment in the club building, I wouldn’t want to bill the renovator with a new microscope for the biology club in case they accidentally damaged it during their work.»
As trusting as always, is there a reason why he can’t trust people he doesn’t know to do a good job? Maybe some long lasting trauma from growing up in a godforsaken island? But he grew up around here, didn’t he? Will I also turn like that?
«Earth calls Daisuke? Are you good? The club’s opening delays must have impacted you more seriously than I thought…» said the teacher puzzled.
«I’m fine, I was just thinking about the most optimal pathways to the club building, I’ll be going now»
«Always talking about some non-sense, these younglings…»
I waltz through the school’s hallways like an arrow pointed to that stuffy old structure that hosted clubs and the occasional storage room.
Strangely, no one was there, no construction worker in sight, no work being done, waste of time in substance.
Well, anyway, not my business how other people want to conduct their work. Or maybe this time it is also my business? No point in thinking too much about it.
But where is the Biology club? I forgot to ask the only important question to Muramoto-sensei! Let’s look around a bit, in a worst case scenario I’ll just go back and look at the map in the school registry.
I wasn’t exactly planning to search a whole building that day, not really much use in being stubborn and pursue a pyrrhic victory.
Defeated and humiliated I proceed to retreat and do some research.
Bang– Tudd– Badoom–
Some strange sounds start coming from one of the room in the aisle I was in.
I should check if everything is fine before going back, way too much noise to be just a bunch of rats. Nobody should be here and I haven’t really seen anyone come in. This situation definitely stinks, maybe some students is having an escapade in the quietest part of school and they got hurt by being inconsiderate of the place they’re in. Some people should really have more respect of such a sacred space for learning. Also, troublemaker create problems for everyone, the teachers will be more strict with the rest of the students if they get caught.
With a righteous attitude I approach the incriminated class, I can’t hear any more sounds coming from it but it’s still worth giving it a check.
I open the door just to finally find the Biology clubroom, with it a stunning dark haired female student.
She looks like the standard Japanese beauty, black long hair and dark eyes with a modest but elegant figure, dressed as pretty _normal_ female student of this institute.
«I’ve heard a sound coming from here, are you good?» I ask the girl.
«Did you see?» she replies.
«See what exactly?»
«Nevermind, I can’t risk it!»
The room goes dark, or better, my vision goes dark.
I can’t see anything.
Who eclipsed the sun? It should still afternoon, why is everything dark? Is the other girl still here?
«Help! Help! Somebody please turn on the lights!» I yell in vain.
«It’s time to shut up!» I hear a feminine voice reply.
I feel a weight on my stomach, a vertical force to be precise, maybe a punch or a hit with a blunt force weapon.
All I know is I feel sick and need to puke my soul.
«Stop there, you fiend!» this time says a different feminine voice.
I hear some other rumbling and tumbling but I still can’t tell apart light from dark.
A window breaks? Or something else made of glass? Soundwaves come in my ear but my eyes aren’t working at all. Is this what a blind person experiences normally?
The furious sound of steps get farther by the second.
Silence.
It feels like an eternity but It realistically should have been about a half minute.
Someone is coming back, I can hear it.
«Are you hurt?!? Oiii– Please reply– Oh, what am I gonna do- I involved a civilian, I’m getting a scolding this time-» shout the last voice I heard.
«Who are you? Sorry, I can’t see at the moment…» I reply.
«Oh, thank goodness you’re fine, I was worrying too much it seems, let me dispell that nasty trick that scoundrel used.»
The girl start reciting some strange word in an unfamiliar language, could be latin or gaelic as far as I’m aware, wouldn’t really make a difference either way.
As soon as my vision begin to come back I can make out a silhouette.
A girl is in front of me.
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