(Material Realm - Hamasaki Mansion)

The Head Office— one of the most important rooms in the entire mansion– was particularly dim today. There were several books neatly arranged in the shelves and the high quality furniture placed at their specific locations made everything feel surreally in place.

Every non-living thing in that room was in place of course.

However…

"A- Are you sure about this?", a stern-looking man carefully spoke. "Our new estate is one of a kind. You said this yourself, didn't you? So, why are you suddenly backing away from the deal?"

Hamasaki Haru, Head of one of the largest and most successful estate agencies, was greatly disturbed by what he was hearing from the person on the other side of the phone.

He stood up from his desk and began to move about in the dimly lit office.

"What?", his eyebrows furrowed. "One of the Emperor's relatives?"

Sweat ran down the sides of his face as a strained smile cut across his face. Somehow, he couldn't believe what he had heard just now.

"What do you mean one of the Emperor's relatives has offered you a contract you cannot decline?", Haru moved over to the window behind his desk. "You already signed a few documents. Terminating it now would-"

Haru kept silent all of a sudden. There was a hint of annoyance in his eyes as he sighed, secretly clenching his fists.

"Fine", he closed his eyes. "I understand your decision."

With that, he ended the call and sighed. He had been receiving a steady decline in the number of requests and contracts from the members of the imperial family and it left Haru greatly troubled.

There was only one cause he could link the problem to.

However, he wished that was rather not the case.

Haru's musings were cut short as someone knocked lightly on his door. His eyebrows rose slightly. He had ordered no one to get anywhere near his office, so who could it have been?

The stern-faced man paused for a bit.

Actually, there was only one person who came to mind at that point. Initially, it would've been two, but the current situation was beginning to cause certain rifts between him and the people he deemed important.

"Come in", Haru said as he turned around.

The wooden door slowly crept open as a lady dressed in a delicate kimono stepped in. Her soft amber eyes expressed concern as she noticed the unease in Haru's demeanour.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your work, Haru", she closed the door gently.

"Ayame, dear", Haru's frown turned to a smile. "You know very well that I don't mind having you around the office regardless of the time."

Ayame returned a smile and nodded, "It's just, you've barely had any time to relax lately."

The black-haired lady walked up to her husband and held his hands, gently massaging them and staring deep into his eyes.

Haru sighed, "Yes, well, things haven't been going smooth especially when it comes to negotiations with the royal family."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

There was a slight shimmer in Ayame's eyes, "The imperial family… Could it be-"

"Let's not jump to any form of conclusion, dear", Haru suddenly interjected. "Until I receive word from the Duke himself."

"O- Of course", Ayame lightly smiled.

Haru opened his mouth to utter a few words, but was interrupted by the harsh ringing sound of his phone. He gestured for his wife to excuse him as he picked the call. Ayame nodded gently and watched as Haru immediately fell into a tense conversation.

Something rumbled within Ayame's belly. It was a deep and sickening feeling within her. A feeling she had whenever something really bad was going to happen.

"Alright then, please wait for me", Haru cut the call and turned to Ayame with a slight look of guilt in his eyes.

He had wanted to spend a little time with his wife, however there seemed to be a change of plans.

"Don't worry about it", Ayame smiled. "Afterall, it's all for the family, right?"

Haru got closer to Ayame and gently kissed her on the forehead, "I'll be back soon."

With that, he left the office and strangely enough, the little bit of light that was within seemed to disappear along with him.

Ayame stood in the barely visible room, lightly clenching her fists and placing them on her chest. It was already late. Clearly, she wasn't going to be able to spend any time with him.

"I should probably see how Izumi is doing", Ayame muttered to herself as she motioned towards the door.

Just as she was about to hold the door knob, a sudden chill ran down her spine. It felt as if the temperatures had dropped drastically as she saw something gaze upon her from the darkness.

"W- Who's there?", her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make out the silhouette.

Giggles could be heard at several corners of the room as the silhouette only seemed to grow bigger and bigger.

Ayame could feel the sickening pounding in her chest as she scrambled around to find the light switch.

The more she scurried along the walls of the room, the closer the silhouette got and the more inhumane it looked.

"S- Stay away!"

A blood curdling laughter filled the office as pure dread engulfed the young woman's eyes.

She couldn't find it

No matter how frantic her desperate attempt at searching for the switch was, it didn't bring it closer to her nor did she get closer to it.

Why was she suddenly feeling misplaced?, she wondered.

Ayame crouched in the corner and covered her face. Tears began to roll down her face as she began to whisper obscure words to herself.

The words she uttered brought a kind of calm into her and soon after, the menacing feeling of someone or something's breath on her skin faded away.

Even with the feeling gone, she didn't dare lift her head for fear of coming into contact with something she'd rather not see.

"W- Why is this happening to me?", she muttered shakily.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, at around the same time and at a distance away from the Hamasaki mansion, three humanoid silhouettes stood on the rooftops of one of the estate buildings.

The bright moon light only illuminated them slightly as they gazed upon the mansion from far away. It was difficult to identify who exactly they were as they hid themselves in thick hooded coats.

One of the individuals chuckled playfully, "We're this far away and yet our spirit energy is having this much of an effect?"

The stranger's voice had a seductive feminine tone to it and her fanged grin glistened in the moonlight.

A gentle gust of wind blew as another one of the strangers, the tallest among them, turned their back to the mansion.

"This is a waste of time", the stranger muttered in a slightly deep male voice.

"Huh?", the fanged woman turned to face him. "And who are YOU to talk?"

She held her hips and tilted her head, an aura of mischief growing around her.

"This time, you're not privileged to say anything", she continued. "We're here under orders after all. And of course, you wouldn't like to do anything contrary to the boss' orders."

The tall stranger sighed, "Observing that family is something you can do without my help"

"Ho?", the fanged woman smirked. "What if I said your presence was the only thing keeping me alive?"

There was a brief silence between the two. One kept her mischievous smirk and the other had no shred of amusement.

The third stranger, much shorter than the other two, flinched as they felt the tensions growing between the two. One could easily tell that they were female by the nature of their body and the long locks drooping down their face.

She tried to say something, but was shut off by the taller stranger who suddenly phased out of sight.

"Tch!", the fanged woman spat. "That egoistic bastard! Would you ever get the opportunity to have a girl try to flirt with you!?"

The woman faced the little girl and raised an eyebrow, "What!?"

Frightened, the girl cut eye contact faster than the eye could track.

"Humph!", the fanged woman sat down.

…

…

…

A few moments of silence passed.

"Hey kid", she began. "Wanna go torment a random human in his dreams?"