What is it that makes people happy? This was a question that frequently crossed Haru’s mind whenever he had time to think. This was generally during the 15-minute walk to and from school, during boring lectures, or quiet mealtimes. He knew it was pointless to ponder something like this, so he tried to focus on other things such as schoolwork or his favorite TV shows, but the thought keeps surfacing when he lets his guard down. The happiness he had in mind wasn’t the temporary kind that comes from playing games or spending time with friends, but a more long-term, fulfilling kind. He sees classmates that fully enjoy their time at school, but also those that seem to carry a deep weight, taking all that they have to get through each day. He knew that there were adults like that as well. Fortunately for Haru, his parents leaned a bit more towards the former. Haru himself didn’t have much to complain about either. His grades were decent, the people around him were nice, he enjoyed reading fantasy stories and playing games, and he didn’t have any major causes of stress. Granted, he could have tried joining a club or doing some extracurricular, but there was a limit to his diligence.
Today, the thought once again arose as he waved off his classmate Natsumi as she left for after school tennis practice. Rather than going out of a sense of duty, she seemed genuinely happy to run back and forth across a court, sweating while hitting a ball across a net for an hour. To put it another way, she found happiness in doing so. In contrast, Haru was content with going home, doing his homework, and spending the later part of the evening in front of a TV. While he didn’t exercise regularly, he still liked going on short jogs every so often too, so he thought to himself that he’d do a lap or two around the park after dinner to help the meal digest.
“See you tomorrow, Natsumi.” A daily farewell that was merely an expression of fact, without the backing of any real emotion. Still, he put a bit of energy in it, for courtesy’s sake. Natsumi sat next to him in class, so they talked about various things out of convenience, but they never hung out together after school or anything.
Walking down the sidewalk away from the school, Haru saw several small groups of students going in the same direction. While not a loner, most Haru’s friends were parts of clubs, so he tended to walk home on his own. Not that he minded really. If he were with anybody with different interests than himself, the trip would either be uncomfortably silent, or they’d have to pretend to show interest in topics they honestly could care less about. Walking alone was comparatively much more pleasant. It gave him more leeway to appreciate the surroundings. The town was a rural one like any other, with the residential area conveniently situated close to the school with a decent amount of nature in between. Crows would often perch themselves on the trees dotted alongside the path to the school, watching the students. Likely because some students found some fun in tossing snacks for them to feast on. They looked a bit ominous, but Haru had some admiration for how clever crows can be. He heard somewhere that some can even interpret traffic lights.
The reason traffic lights came to mind was because Haru was currently waiting at a crosswalk for the light to change, along with a few other students and office workers. It was a warm summer day, but not uncomfortably so, which was why the chill Haru felt as he waited felt so unnatural. A moment later, a middle-aged office worker started walking, or rather, shambling, across the crosswalk before the light even change. As he passed by, Haru heard the man mumble “…never getting anywhere…after so many years working.”
But what truly drew his eyes was the thing that seemed to be hovering over the man. It looked to be smoke, but it looked nothing like the smoke that cigarette smokers would exhale. It was thick and black, and resembled a small cloud that followed the man as he walked. Quickly glancing at the people around him, Haru noticed that they were more focused on the man himself than the cloud over him.
“What’s he doing?” “You don’t think...?” “No way”
The voices murmured with excitement, but they gave no indication of calling out to the man or stopping him. Hearing the sound of wind moving, Haru then noticed a car barreling towards the crosswalk at speeds noticeably higher than the limit.
Feeling his pulse increase, Haru instinctively took a huge step forward and reached out towards the man’s back to grab the cuff of his shirt. For a moment, Haru swore his saw the cloud change shape and saw two glittering spots resembling eyes.
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And then, time stopped. No. not in a figurative sense. Time literally stopped moving. The people, cars, birds, and everything else simply froze in place. Everything stopped with the exception of the undulating black cloud, Haru (who barely stopped himself from crashing into the frozen man), and…
“Caught you in the act.”
A boy around Haru’s age wearing eye-catching clothes instead of a school uniform stepped onto the crosswalk. Ignoring Haru, the boy was focused solely on the smoke above the man’s head. ‘Eye-catching’ was the best word Haru could find to describe his clothes. Another word might be ‘fashionable,’ though he wasn’t very knowledgeable about what that entailed. Dark denim pants, a navy-blue tank top with a similarly colored coat half zippered up, with hair dark and parted to one side. Most striking was the short sword strapped to his back that he unsheathed in one move.
“I’ll deal with this quickly…hmm?” The boy then noticed Haru staring at him with wonder. Panicking, Haru then took several steps backwards. “You’re moving? In this space?” the boy asked something, but Haru had no idea what he meant. Suddenly, the smoke seemed to extend itself over the boy and reach towards Haru.
“The heck? You’re ignoring me?” The boy swung his blade in an arc and bisected the smoke, which dispersed, then reformed a moment later. “I’m curious about your affiliation, but we’ll talk about that later. Don’t move from that spot or I’ll make it so you can’t move.” The boy threatened him casually, but Haru could sense he was serious. Moreover, it’s hard to argue with someone swinging a blade around.
But not moving when some mysterious entity is explicitly targeting you proved to be rather difficult. The smoke split into two large tendrils and closed in on Haru. Despite his fear, he was very ready to make a break for it despite the warning.
“Idiot.” The boy spoke as he charged at the spot from which the smoke tendrils originated and cut through it in an instant. As soon as he did, the smoke tendrils stopped, then dispersed fully, fading into the summer air. Haru breathed a sigh of relief, but a moment later, the boy had his arm pressed against his through and pushing him against a streetlight.
“Back to before. What group are you working under? Are you a new recruit? Or maybe working undercover? Is that why you’re not armed?” The boy had an intense expression and was virtually gritting his teeth with anger. Completely lost as well as scared, Haru managed to choke out a response through the pressure on his windpipe. “I don’t know...what you’re even saying.” He replied honestly.
The boy said nothing for a few seconds (despite time still being frozen) and merely stared into Haru’s eyes, then abruptly let go. Haru crumbled to the ground coughing, but heard the boy muttering something under his breath.
“An ordinary person could see Shades? More than that, being actively targeted? Too weird. But if there’s some kind of talent involved…might be my chance for a promotion. But if not, I could get in trouble…”
While he still didn’t know what he was talking about, Haru could sense some very worldly desires from the tone of his voice.
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do.” The boy finally turned around and handed something to Haru. For a moment, he thought it’d be a business card, but it turned out to be a small wooden bell, similar in appearance to ones meant to ward off misfortune. “I want you to keep that bell on your person at all times. Don’t worry if it rings for no reason every once in a while. Just keep it with you for 6 months or so and if nothing happens you can just toss it. Later then.” The boy turned to leave, but Haru’s confusion was about to hit critical mass so he wanted at least a few answers.
“Wait!” Haru called out and the boy stopped and turned back around. “All these weird things kept happening one after another and I have no idea what’s going on! What was that smoke thing? Who are you? And what does this bell do?”
The boy said nothing for a few seconds, then replied, “If it turns out to be a one-time coincidence, you don’t have to worry about it. You can do back to your ordinary life. If you really are something special then, well, we’ll deal with it when it happens.”
The boy took a few steps across the crosswalk and reached an arm across the frozen office worker and pulled him a few steps back towards the sidewalk. Sheathing his sword, he then…vanished? No, that would be ridiculous, but that’s what appeared to have happened in Haru’s eyes. One moment he was there, the next he had completely disappeared. At the same moment, time started flowing normally again. The car sped across the walkway, several feet in front of the man that was partway across it moments before. The man blinked and looked around in surprise.
“Wasn’t I just…? No, just my imagination.” The man didn’t seem to clearly remember what he had been doing just seconds before. The other pedestrians also seemed confused but shook it off quickly. As the light changed and the group crossed the road, Haru glanced at the wooden bell given to him. A plain charm bell with no markings, attached with a red thread that could be tied to a strap or something else. The one physical proof that what had happened was not dream. It might have been just a whim, but Haru decided to follow the odd boy’s request and keep it close to him for the time being.