This was the city of Fallway, a sprawling metropolis.

In a world so normal, so ordinary, a special occurrence had happened on that day. On July 7, the media exploded in news about a girl somehow displaying supernatural powers in the middle of a large city while two people seemingly attacking her with their own brand of power. When it reached its climax through their sudden disappearance, everyone laid in silence. At least, that’s what Riki wants to think about how everyone would react. In reality, only he has knowledge of it as far as he knows.

Riki looked around. No girl or ice in sight. Everyone around him appears as if nothing had happened at all. How could this be? He considered the fact he might be going insane. That was, until he noticed a light glistened near his foot. It was a fragment of ice left by the struggle. He picked it up and was first taken back by the coldness. It appears, at first sight, just an ordinary piece of ice. The fragment was indistinguishable from any other ice that would form on a concrete in the middle of a winter night. Yet, Riki couldn’t help but focus on not only the temperature, but also the feeling of it in his hand. As he did, the ice reminded him of the times where he needed the coldness of ice to ease his wounds long ago. A memory so vivid, but that was the past now. It was then the shard melted in Riki’s hands along with his daydream in his mind.

He was just an ordinary passerby, an afterthought. And he saw it. But did he? Riki thought to himself that it was merely a hallucination. There would be no way that supernatural powers actually exist. The notion was absurd. He humbled himself. And thus, in order to remind himself that this was reality, Riki recounted the events that lead up to this moment.

At least… he tried.

Who am I…? He thought. What was I doing again? And who am I?! Like a person waking up from a dream, memories faded out from his mind. His heart palpitated. What was happening? Riki tried to recall something, anything. His identity, his goals, his experiences… lost. Except for one thing. All that he could remember was that girl with supernatural powers.

It was at this point where Riki was approached by someone speaking to him before he could shift his focus to look at them. He blurted out his thoughts out loud as a response instead of asking to repeat themselves.

“Did you see that too?”

“See what, sir?”

When he finally looked at them, Riki saw a girl in a maid outfit: a black dress with those frills accented everywhere. Even if he couldn’t remember anything, he could tell that the appearance of this maid stuck out like a sore thumb.

She looked confused at his question, which he expected. Though, he was worried that this person knew him and would have to explain what had happened. First, he would have to play it out.

“Nevermind, forget I asked. Can you repeat what you were saying again?”

The maid performed a curtsy before she responded.

“Sir, you look a little flustered. Perhaps, you might find an inn to stay convenient for you?”

“An inn?” Riki said, relieved that they didn’t know each other.

“Yes, although I do not work at any inn, I do know my way around town. There is a specific inn I am especially familiar with that has always met my expectations.”

The shock and fatigue from today’s events did leave him feeling drained. An inn sounded like a nice idea to him. But first, he wanted some confirmation.

“Sorry but I have to ask another strange question, do you know who I am?”

The maid cocked her head and squinted her eyes. It felt as if she took a second too long to give her response.

“...No sir. I was just passing by and saw you… standing there for at least a full minute staring blankly in the distance.”

“Standing there?”

“Yes and then you picked up something by your feet afterwards but I didn’t quite catch what it was.” the maid said.

I was just standing there? What do I even make of that?

“...I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Riki wanted to not waste anymore energy and decided to follow the maid’s directions towards the location that was outside of Fallway. He trekked up a path in the outskirts of the city. No matter what, he couldn’t imagine what would become of him. The only reason he accepted her offer was because he needed some direction for himself to follow. After a bit of wandering, he found a wooden building that matched the description the maid gave.

A wooden inn, yes, but it was the largest inn Riki had ever seen. At least, he assumed so.

“Welcome, welcome!”

Over at the counter, an old man was leaning back against a chair and holding a novel. He must have come from a time where appearance was everything as he was well dressed in a rather dapper suit.

From what he can tell, it seemed like this inn doesn’t get a lot of visits. The only other people were two girls about Riki’s age sitting in the lobby. One was sipping tea, while the other was sitting right by her reading a book. The latter noticed him staring at them, because she took a glance at him in the corner of her eye.

“Name?” she said.

“What..? Oh uh… my name’s Riki.”

She paused for a second. Her facial expressions don't give any emotion whatsoever. It was impossible to read her.

“My name is Kaori, just don’t get too close to us, ok? I’m saying this for your own good.”

(Cold), he thought. The tone of her voice was pretty monotone and yet it sounded like she had seen all of the worse that life has to offer and thought to herself, ‘alright what next?’.

He could very well guess the character of these two. The other girl drinking tea was wearing a prestigious uniform. It wasn’t detailed or anything, but it was a black dress with a red collar, most likely a University that he couldn’t even dream of applying to even if he tried. Kaori seemed to have the same one, but modified a little.

“Hmm, the appearance of this boy is quite unique. Indigo blue hair that is unkempt, a not-so-built frame, and body language that says they don’t usually go out often.” the other girl uttered.

[https://i.imgur.com/79LPDbg.jpg]

It’s definitely that tone typical of someone of high status.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed that Riki lacked the necessary social skills that people need to converse with people. He could only receive the damage taken from that blow to his ego.

Aside from the damage, Riki debated whether or not to tell someone about his current predicament.

No… I’d rather not bother people with my own troubles.

“You’re not from around here I presume? Worry not. We are visitors as well.” the one drinking the cup of tea said to him.

“Visitors? You guys from somewhere else?”

“Yes. Now don’t get too surprised. My name is Tamaki.” She sips her tea.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Tamaki, huh. Nice to meet you, I’m Riki.”

She stares back at Riki with a perplexed look on her face, like she was expecting a completely different response.

“W..wait. Hold on. How are you so calm? You don’t mean you never heard about my family?”

“Hey, old man. Are these regulars at this inn?” he whispered to the innkeeper.

“Ah, well… it’s a bit more complicated young man.”

“Complicated?”

“You see, this inn is run by Tamaki’s family. It’s one of the properties of her family, but she is just a guest here like any other. Although you may find it odd that me as the innkeeper isn’t actually related! I was just a random old man appointed here!”

Riki kind of understood.

“When these two walked in today, I was surprised to be told that one of the family members was actually here to stay!”

It was like the girl had flipped a switch for her charisma. To prevent anymore invasion of privacy, Tamaki needed to get back the attention of that person who walked in.

“Riki, do you want to try out a little brain teaser? Right now if you can be so inclined, look around the room and note down in your head everything that’s blue.” she asks.

“Huh.. why?”

“You’ll be surprised to find a limiting part of the human consciousness.”

A strange task, but fine. Riki began to scan the lobby for anything blue. A blue water bottle. A blue mechanical pencil. A blue linen bag. A blue window spray. Ordinary objects.

“Alright… now what?”

“Now, without looking around again try to think of any object that was red. Give it your best go.”

Red… Red… He really did make an attempt. But it was basically impossible.

“...Wow your stare is even worse when you're concentrating like that.”

“Hey.”

“Kidding. You’re finished trying and failed, correct? Now look around.”

As he did, everything was a lot more red than he realized. Even the girl’s own eyes were red which he didn’t even realize before.

“Our brains have a limited capacity for what we can store at a time. It is why you're so blue at the moment. Just be sure to be present in the moment and not tunnel vision. Presence is the single best state to be in.”

“I’m blue?”

“Sorry Riki, Tamaki says some strange things sometimes whenever she’s flustered. I’d rather you not get side tracked in her ramblings.” the other girl said. Right, her name is Kaori.

After Kaori’s suggestion, the awkward silence fell upon the lobby. The sound of the continuously running radio was deafening to say the least.

‘...reports of random power surges going off around the city. Please be also advised that areas a and b have high volumes of injuries with causes unknown, with the death toll at an all time high within the last few years. The investigation of the anomaly located in Kosmos Valley is set to be scheduled—’

“...Anyways. If you don’t mind. I’m going to go and collect my thoughts.” Riki said.

・・・・・

As he closes the door to his room, he immediately sighs and droops to the floor.

Was I depressed or something? Why am I so out of energy?

Getting into a criss-cross position, Riki checked his person for any items that might lead to whoever he was. But of course, all of his pockets came up empty. What was he doing in a big city without any personal belongings whatsoever?

As he lay in his bed, he kept thinking of that girl from this afternoon. He shut his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep but to no success. Riki thought of the possibility of rescuing such a person. Impossible. Those flames, that heat, was real. If those flames were an example of the type of powers he would have to encounter, there wouldn’t be a chance in the world he would even see the face of her again. Plus, he has no lead at all. It wasn’t as if he could just ask around. At that exact moment, what is she going through right now? It was killing him. He has to let go of the thought of her.

*sigh* I got no confidence in myself, huh.

…

Nah, I’m gonna save her.

Though how could Riki do that if he has no clue who he was in the first place? It was strange, he cared more for the girl than for his own well-being. The thought caused him to chuckle. He turned his head to the left. Only 12:00 am. Eventually, he decided to get up to walk his thoughts off. On the other side of the door was a pitchblack hallway. The hallway was a pain to navigate through, there were hardly any windows, and no light fixtures for whatever reason.

But then Riki heard commotion coming from one of the rooms of the inn. The voices he heard were from the girls earlier in the lobby.

This will surely get me into trouble.

He pressed his ear near the door and listened in.

“...my earrings are missing, Kaori! The family earrings!”

“Calm down Tamaki, just think where you would have used your earrings and the likely location you would have misplaced them. It’s the strategy a lot of people use to find missing stuff easily. We could either go now or wait until tomorrow to search for it depending on what you think.”

“Ugh, well either way, we’re going right now to find the earrings. Let’s see.”

What could be so special about a pair of earrings? He thought. Well I shouldn’t be saying anything.

“Sighed, this room is cramped. I need more space to regain my composure.”

“Of course.”

The sound of footsteps came closer to the door where Riki was right up against and it took him a second too late to process.

Oh crap--

The door opened and out came Tamaki in a t-shirt and sweatpants, a total contrast compared to the elegant uniform earlier. She turned her head and screamed.

“W-wwwhat are you doing here?!” she went into a defensive position as if he was going to mug her.

“I… uh umm.. I was just on my way to the bathroo—” his voice cracked.

Riki’s hands started shaking. Really? An awkward encounter like this was affecting him this much? A ridiculous notion. However, he noticed that she was also pretty much shaking from head to toe.

“Hey relax Tamaki, don’t jump to conclusions that I know what you may be thinking right now.”

Kaori walked out of the room as well with a done face that gives away that her friend does this quite frequently. Riki relaxed. For some sort of reason, he trusts Kaori a lot.

“Listen... uhh…”

“...Riki.” That trust just took a hit.

“Riki, there’s a little problem in our hands. I’m sure you’re aware of the family that Tamaki is from, correct?”

“...From her appearance, well from a couple hours ago, yes.”

“She owns a pair of earrings. Earrings that have been given to her by her parents.”

“Just a pair of jewelry? I’m sure with how rich you guys are-” Actually, this thought seems to be a bit insensitive.

*Ahem* “...How smart of you to catch your tongue for a second there. This isn’t some pair that you could just willy nilly purchase. In fact, this was a gift to me from a special someone years and years ago. ” Tamaki crossed her arms and sighed.

“ ...Oh.”

“Now unfortunately for us, they said it's incredibly valuable and if word passes that it's out of my possession, numerous parties will try and take it before we retrieve it. Of course, I won’t let that happen.”

“...Now how much money are we talking about?”

“Oh, I’d say 19 grand.”

Riki caught his hand going up for a facepalm. Of course, he thought. Why wouldn’t it be otherwise? With this, however, he realized that he is still familiar with the monetary system… and social cues somewhat. This would mean the only thing he lost is his past life based on this fact.

“Well. I’m not going to force this mission on you and I don’t expect you to, but if you want to help us, then it’ll be appreciated.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll help you find those earrings.” Riki answered without a second of delay.

What other choice did he have? His instincts told him that usually trying to find a lost item always results in finding another item previously missing. He couldn’t say this was to only benefit him.

The two girls looked at each other, then laughed.

“Hey, what’s so funny?”

“Ah, nothing. Welcome to the team Riki.” Tamaki said with a questionable ambiguous smile on her face.

He wasn’t sure he was going to regret that decision or not. Either way, he went back to his room, too tired to think. Kaori reached up and stretched her entire body.

“Well, we should call it a night now if we’re going patrolling… Tamaki?”

The girl kept on playing with her hair and looking content with herself.

“That was... the first time in a while where I actually talked to someone so casually outside of the family...”

“For a second there, I thought you were actually swooning for him.”

“OF course, not Kaori! For goodness sakes, you know that I barely get anyone to talk to... hey, put that phone down.”

“Sorry, this was a rare moment.”

The next morning soon followed. Riki looked up at the ceiling, not recognizing it. That’s right, it was because he doesn’t recognize anything at all. This would be his first day of existence in an unknown world. The sun was blinding from the window. Apparently the inn provides free clothing to their guests because Riki didn’t notice the set of clothes that was on the cabinet. Hold on, how did he manage to get a room without any means of payment? He didn’t have anything on his person that could’ve acted as a payment method. A non-profit inn? Do they even exist?

...Need to focus. Gotta get dressed I suppose.

Riki took off his shirt and looked into the mirror. And he screamed at the top of his lungs.