“So…are you two going to leave?”
Shinobu cocked her head to the side. “Why?”
“Because I need to take off my clothes to put these on?”
“So?”
“I’ll only be wearing my underwear for a period of time?”
“Ok?”
“I mean, do you not see what’s wrong with that?”
“No?”
“I’ll be half-naked, and you’ll be watching? Privacy concerns, that sort of stuff? …Goddammit, Noa, stop laughing and get her out!”
The café owner’s shoulders were shaking from laughter, as she said, “I have no problems either, Himura-kun! Come on, strip!”
“I mean,” Shinobu said, confusion still in her voice, “People aren’t concerned when others see them in swimwear, right?”
“…guess that’s another sign of abnormality.”
With a displeased grimace, the blue-haired boy grabbed the gakuran and headed out of that stark white room. Though that solution had always been an option, defeat tasted bitter on his tongue.
----------------------------------------
The black school uniform fit well, the fabric soft and cool against his skin. Despite its ordinary outer appearance, the inside was embroidered with a variety of complex patterns. Hiraku felt as if his mind was clearer, more focused, after putting it on, and could only assume that this was yet another ‘magic’ laced into the collared jacket and trousers.
A silver pin in the shape of a torii, a shrine gate, rested in the trousers’ pocket. Maybe it had some other meaning, but the all-black attire made him feel like a ninja, childishly enough, and he didn’t want to ruin that sensation by pinning a flashy ornament to it.
“Are you ready?” Shinobu asked in mangled Engrish. She had changed from her school girl uniform to a pair of faded jeans and a gray hoodie. It would have almost been normal, if it wasn’t for the fact that the hood had two cat ears sticking out of it.
“I’d be more ready if you gave me a magical sword or something, but sure. Noa, you’re not coming?”
“Naw,” the silver-haired beauty waved, “You kids go have fun.”
“Such a responsible adult.”
“Don’t want to hear that from an edgy brat like you, Himura-kun.”
“Bye bye, Noa-chan~”
With that, the door was opened, leading to…an alleyway. An alleyway so dark that it might as well have been a tunnel. In the dim moonlight, Hiraku could barely make out the difference between the buildings and the sky. Reaching into his pockets for his phone, the youth cursed as he realized that everything from his house keys to his wallet was in the clothes that he changed out of.
“Geez, Hiraku, what are you doing? Let’s go already!”
“You know I can’t see shit, right?”
“Oh, right…there’s actually nothing in this alleyway, so just touch your hand against a wall and follow my voice!”
“Better not decide to lead me the wrong way or something with ventriloquism or something…”
“I’m a magician, not a ventriloquist,” Shinobu chastised, no doubt smirking smugly. “Gotta remember that next time, Hiraku.”
“Whatever.”
They walked through the alleyway for another few minutes, the silence broken only by the squealing of rats and the yowling of cats. Without the moon, he couldn’t tell at all how much time had passed, and without light, he couldn’t tell where they were going. Neither end of the alleyway shone with the light of civilization, nor were there any signs of life from the tall buildings that stood on either side of it.
He wasn’t scared, but it was still uncomfortable, trudging along silently.
“So, Shinobu…what sort of person is Noa anyways?”
“Eh? Oh, I see! That’s why you weren’t interested in me! Your strike zone is m-”
“Shut the hell up.”
“Ahahahaha, sorry bout that, thought that you were a little too tense, so I thought a joke would lighten you up.”
Hiraku shook his head. The path to hell was paved with good intentions, huh? “Just tell me what you know.”
“Well…basically, Noa-chan’s really grumpy when she’s hungry, and she loves white knight types, because she wants to be pampered. Oh yeah, and her favorite food is fried fish cakes!”
“…I’m more interested in why she knows about Unveil.”
“Ah!” Shinobu smacked her fist into an open palm. “Do you know the Yasaka Shrine, in Kyoto?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Noa-chan’s the eldest daughter of the shrine’s owner, and was taught how to be miko at an early age. Of course, she wanted to live her own life instead, so she ran away from home, before setting up shop here!”
“A miko? Her? She looked Russian to me, with silver hair and all that…”
“Well, you have blue hair, Hiraku. What does that make you?”
“Agh, never mind. How did she learn of Unveil though? I mean…”
“Eh? Didn’t she tell you about how people who believe can see?”
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?”
“Well, basically, almost every person who knows of Unveil came from a traditional family, and grew up with their parents hammering concepts such as ‘the spirit of the sword’ or ‘the demons that cause plagues’ into their head. So they get exposed to Unveil when they’re show interest, go to school, learn magic, chase off evil spirits, and voila. There you have it! Really, people like you, with only a desire for something weird, are the minority here.”
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“Huh, so this is more well-known than I thought…”
“It’s another world, but it was part of this world in the past, you know?”
“I see…so, you’re also from that sort of family?”
“You still didn’t get it? I’m the same as you, Hiraku! The minority that found this paradise because modern society was too boring!”
“Then your m-”
“Oh, here we are!”
Hiraku almost bumped into Shinobu when she suddenly halted. Looking over her head, he couldn’t immediately tell what she was stopping for, until something rippled. It was only a slight movement, but in that instant, the shadows became three dimensional, an ink-black fabric blowing in an unfelt wind.
“Well, see you on the other side!”
Fearlessly, Shinobu grabbed onto the shadow itself, and pulled it apart. Before his eyes, space separated, a layer of reality being peeled off to reveal a landscape so bright he flinched. By the time his eyes adjusted to the darkness once more, the magician girl was gone.
The darkness still pulsated, and tentatively, Hiraku touched it.
Disappointing, but he felt nothing in his hand, as if he was grasping at air itself. Drawing it to the side like curtains, he closed his eyes to protect them from the blinding light, and then stepped forwards.
A sense of vertigo overcame him, and Hiraku pitched forward, falling face first onto the ground. Senseless voices burst into his mind, and a myriad of vivid colors ate at his consciousness. His body instinctively curled up into a ball, as his body temperature fluctuated wildly. A lance of pain shot through his right hand and a prickly sensation ran up and down his face, stopping only once it reached his neck. He felt the presence of a dozen unseen invaders, trying to make their way inside his warm shell.
And slowly, ever so slowly, he could feel something expanding in his chest, growing and growing and growing, until he could hardly breathe.
He was drowning.
No, he was…
The swirling colors faded, his vision slowly returning to normal.
He forced himself upwards, standing uneasily on his feet. His body was still his own, his heartbeat slowing as he looked outwards.
Shinobu and Noa weren’t lying after all.
Devoid of the stars, the moon, and the clouds, the night blanketed the world with a pitch black cloak. Brightly colored objects floated about in that blackness, from origami birds that left behind trails of green light to polyhedral objects that seemed to inflate and deflate in regular intervals.
Bone-white buildings provided all the illumination that one needed in order to see, and, upon closer inspection, Hiraku noticed that they had no doors or windows. They weren’t buildings at all, but instead, were sculptures mimicking buildings in the real world. All manners of fantastical creatures scuttled about on ground level, from horned giants to balls of puff. Though it was clear that these spirits could see him, none of them approached Hiraku, going on with whatever business they were off to.
The cold air burned his lungs in the most wondrous way, and he etched the sights into his brain, his smile threatening to split his face in half.
A dragon with golden scales and an ash-gray beard slithered through the skies majestically, its proud horns shedding a crystalline mist.
A flock of ghostly hands sped through the streets, chattering in a high-pitched voice.
A midget knight wearing iron leaf armor sat on a turtle as it proudly patrolled the skies.
It was all so incomprehensible, this land of black skies and bright earth. A sense of childlike wonder overcame Hiraku, and laughter, quiet yet genuine, made it out of his voice.
“Enjoying it?” Shinobu stood before him, a smile on her lips.
“Yeah,” he replied, “It’s wonderful.”
“Well then,” she exclaimed, flourishing dramatically, “Allow me to introduce this place to you properly!”
With a snap of her fingers, fireworks exploded in the black sky, a mesmerizing display of color and sound. The spirits stopped and marvelled at the sight, the origami birds dancing inbetween the illusionary sparkles. Bemused by the mortal’s actions, the golden dragon joined in, offering a thunderous cry that echoed throughout the land.
“Welcome to Unveil, the land of spirits and the supernatural! Abandon your sense of reality and surrender to glorious abnormality, Hiraku!”
The blue-haired boy could only laugh and concede to Shinobu.
He still didn’t trust her, but really he can’t say that he hated her in this moment.