Todd stared at the ground and muttered as he paced back and forth in the small room which served as the headquarters for the Fillmore safety guards. Jun sat at a long table and idly flipped through a book. Several orange sashes hung on the wall, and there a stack of cones stood in the corner of the room next to a large metal cabinet.

“I can’t believe Mr. Scofield hasn’t arrived yet. We can’t have a club without a teacher.” Todd said.

“I was asleep for ninety percent of that class and even I knew he wouldn’t show up.” Jun said as his finger moved across the words on one of the pages. He looked up. “Besides, you have bigger and glowing fish to fry.” Todd stopped walking.

“I’m not focused on that because I didn’t see that. There were no glowing eyes because that’s impossible. It’s probably a combination of stress and my mind being infected by your little game of pre...” Todd paused. If he called out Jun’s obvious delusions, it might drive him away. “Preoccupation with...jackets....during summer...” Jun raised an eyebrow and Todd wanted hid in shame from such a terrible attempt at a save.

“This jacket fulfills both style and substance.” Jun said. “I wouldn’t expect a fashion disaster like yourself to understand.” Todd pursed his lips and slowly nodded. Based on the consistent bed head and bags under his eyes, Todd wouldn’t have picked Jun out as fashion conscious.

“The point is, there’s clearly a normal and logical explanation for...well everything.” Todd said. He snapped his fingers. “Obviously, the light hit dust particles and created a sort of glowing effect. Honestly, it really speaks more to how poorly the school was cleaned over break.”

“Oof. I would not let them hear you say that. Probably too late though, they hear everything.” Jun said.

“Whom?”

“League of Janitors.”

“Okay, come on.” Todd said. Jun shrugged.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Will you be serious for a moment?”

“I am incredibly serious Todd Stewart.” Jun said. There was a knock on the door and Todd turned around. The one window in the room was made from frosted glass and only allowed vague silhouettes to be visible from the outside. A shadow stood in front of the window and knocked again. Todd slowly pulled the door and created just a sliver of an opening. Standing in the hallway was a girl with pink hair and a septum ring. She wore an oversized black hoodie and black jeans. She stopped chewing her gum when she saw Todd and narrowed her eyes.

“Hello?” Todd said. The girl blew a bubble and pushed a medium sized box into the door and forced it open. Todd was pushed backwards as Jun walked to the door. He pulled something from his pocket and discreetly placed it into the girl’s palm. She nodded and left without a word. Jun shut the door and took the box from a bewildered Todd and placed it on the table. He opened it and stood up on his toes to peek inside.

“Nice.” Jun said. He closed the lid and gathered his book bag. “Let’s go. Todd Stewart grab the box.”

“Go where?” Todd asked.

“To start the adventure of a lifetime.” Jun said. His eyes flashed blue.

“That...didn’t explain anything, and we can’t leave. If Mr. Scofield or member shows up, they might report us for truancy.” Todd said. He whispered the last word. Jun looked around the room.

“I don’t get think anyone else is going to show up.”

“Still you can’t just leave to go do whatever-” Jun rubbed his forehead and sighed loudly.

“Fine. I’ll get you up to speed and progress events at the same time. You better be turn out useful.” Jun pulled the book he had been reading from his bag and cracked it open. “You know how you claim to have gone to this school where nobody remembers you and routinely see teachers with glow in the dark eyes?”

“I did go to this school. Also I didn’t say glow in the dark. Why?” Jun turned the book towards Todd and tapped the page. Todd grabbed the book and scanned the page. It looked like a medieval manuscript, complete with ornamented lettering. There were hand drawn and highly detailed diagrams depicting some sort of creature and related items. It reminded Todd of a mixture between a chemistry textbook and the figures he’d seen in anatomy class.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Todd’s eyes moved back and forth as he tried to comprehend what the book was actually supposed to be about. “Is this for a tabletop game or something? It’s in-depth, I’ll give you that, but I don’t see what it has to do with people not remembering me. Allegedly.”

“I didn’t bother to look that stuff up, but I did find the Kinuiki, which happens to be the furry, four legged creature you lost to earlier. Once we deal with that we can probably fix your other problems.”

“Do I need a twenty sided die or this more of a crunchy math situation?” Todd asked.

“Mock if you wish, but fact: you’ve had not one but three different experiences in a single day which can be classified as supernatural. And you’re about to have a fourth.” Jun said.

“What fourth?” Todd asked. Jun placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Todd there comes a point in every boy’s life where he accepts that the tooth fairy is real and that he must summon a Kinuiki in order to keep it from feasting on the hairs of his classmates. It’s just part of growing up.” he said.

“Pretty sure we’re the same age.” Todd said, a blank expression on his face.

“Only in years Todd, only in years.” Jun said as he walked towards the door.

----------------------------------------

Todd tapped the side of his head with heavy fingers as he waited at the bottom of a staircase. Jun disappeared upstairs and left Todd with the box, which he carried all the way from club headquarters, and the bizarre book conspicuously in the hallway. Jun refused to come back to the room, so Todd was forced to follow him to the back of the school in order to make sure Jun didn’t cause any trouble. The rest of the day was given over to fun activities and the first day picnic, but Todd still felt uneasy about being caught; there were no classrooms, just utility closets and extra gym equipment storage. At the back of his mind was nagging distress due to what Mr. Scofield said during class. Todd was increasingly worried every minute he wasted on Jun caused him to get further and further behind.

To calm his mind, Todd opened the strange book Jun used for his pretend play time. He hoped to find something that could be used to connect with Jun and nudge him to more normal and scholarly pursuits. Maybe if Todd spoke his language, Jun would be more willing to listen. He sat on the bottom stair and read the pages again, this time taking closer note. Whatever the book was, be it RPG guidebook or fantasy book companion, Todd was impressed by the organization and detail. He made a mental note to try and find the publisher and check out their other work once this was all over. “Huh.” Todd said as he turned the page. “I don’t remember that thing in having two tails.” The door to one of the utility rooms burst open and Jun emerged, head first into the hallway.

“Up this way. Bring the box.” Jun said before he slipped back inside.

“Up?” Todd asked. He quickly followed and discovered what Jun was referring to: a staircase to the roof. “Oh no. We are definitely not allowed up there. I am not getting expelled for going on the roof. And I am making a loud, clear, declarative opposition to your idea.”

“Relax, Todd Stewart. Nobody will know we’re up there. I took care of the cameras, same as I did earlier.” Jun said and he took off.

“So, what do you think this book is about?” Todd asked as he trudged up the stairs after Jun.

“The Codex is the sum total of knowledge on various species of supernatural creatures and otherwise strange occurrences. Volume one.” Jun replied.

“Of course.”

“Did you pack a lunch today?” Jun asked.

“Yeah, I typically need foods that don’t require the use of hands to eat so I can study during lunch.” Todd said.

“Weird but good enough.” Jun said. “The Codex has a chart in the front. It carries all your basic descriptions: limb count, size, aggressive howl volume, shade of dark aura; typical things. Combine them all and find your entry and you know what you’re up against. You should familiarize yourself.”

“Where did you get this?” Todd asked. Jun stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“Unimportant.” he said and continued up the stairs.

“Whoa look at this.” Todd said. “I just read here that the Kin..whatever hates being on the roof and can commonly be found in the class room.” Jun stopped at the top stair and looked at Todd. He shook his head and pushed his body into the door. Todd’s mouth dropped as it opened to the roof. A large, dark brown cube was in the middle of the roof. It was dark brown with various symbols carved on the walls. Each side was enclosed except for the front which had a door shaped opening.

“What? How? When?” Todd stammered.

“Basic summoning cube Todd Stewart. Take it easy.” Jun said. He grabbed the box from Todd and pulled an ornate star out and attached it to the structure directly above he opening. “There now we won’t have to worry about it levitating.”

“This is unbelievable.” Todd said as he walked around the cube.

“You better believe it. You owe the clay modeling club a good amount of money for this. And they seem more than willing to collect.”

“Wait what?”

“Step back.” Jun said. He grabbed the Codex from Todd. “Let’s see....blah blah blah, restraints....caution...here we go, summoning phrase.”

“Did you say levitation?” Todd asked. Jun wrote something on a scrap piece of paper, balled it up and threw it into the cube. A gust wind picked up and the Summoning Cube began to sway “It didn’t levitate.” Todd yelled as the wind increased. The box that held the clay star scooted backwards into the door leading to the stairs. Jun turned around.

“What?”

“The creature didn’t levitate, it levitated the dioramas. The book is wrong.” Todd cupped both hands to his mouth and yelled. Leaves and other debris swirled around and Todd was forced to take a step back to keep his balance.

“Codex never wrong.” Jun yelled back.

Before Todd could respond, a loud booming noise came from within the cube and he was knocked off of his feet. A bright light briefly emanated from within the cube. As Todd sat up and looked for Jun, a loud roar caused his heart to catch in his throat. In the middle of the now broken cube, was a seven foot tall, two tailed, raccoon. Jun slowly got to his feet and held one hand out toward the beast and the other in front of Todd.

“It’s possible, I may have read the wrong page.” he said.