ARC 1
The Fallen Millionbell
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Chapter 1
~stranger meets stranger~
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Kazuki would never ask anyone to call him 'Master'. He's been to a maid cafe only once in his entire life, back when he had just graduated from university. Hearing a teenage girl call him that in an overly cutesy tone had given him a strange feeling of guilt, and he was sure that it would never change.
He wouldn't want anyone to call him 'young', either. Could he even be considered young if he was nearing his 30s?
So imagine his bewilderment when he woke up in a luxurious Victorian-style room, saw a scary-looking red-haired old man dressed in a butler's uniform hovering nearby with a tea set tray in hand, and heard that man use those two words in succession to him.
"Young Master, you're finally awake. I shall go inform Master Julius immediately," the old man said in a deep voice as he placed the tray on a wooden nightstand. Both objects looked like they would be worth more than one month's apartment rent. And yet, they weren't the only expensive-looking thing around.
Just as Kazuki opened his mouth to say something, the butler-like man headed outside, closing the door behind him and leaving him alone in the middle of the overly-luxurious room. Even at first glance, for instance, those blue velvet curtains framing the window, which was probably twice as tall as he was, looked like they could feed him for at least three months if he were to sell them somewhere. Not that he was going to since he'd be caught and sent to prison before he could start pulling them down.
...And why was this bed ridiculously comfortable and why didn't he have a bed like this back at home? He would never pull all-nighters - heck, he'd never want to do anything if he could just lie down all day in this plush, soft, fluffy, amazing piece of furniture!
As dumb as it made him look, Kazuki had to pinch himself, whispering over and over again like a broken record: "Don't be a hikikomori...you're not a NEET, you've got deadlines to fulfil..."
It took him a while to stop gawking at every shiny object or calculating their prices, but he successfully snapped out of his stupor. The first thing he usually did to clear his mind was to pace around the room, a habit that he obtained from Akiko when he got stuck writing his second novel. The ideas really did come rushing in much faster than if he were to sit down.
"Here goes nothing," he told himself, shifting to the side of the bed. The surface seemed too far to reach, and somehow his legs and arms didn't look or feel quite right, but it was probably because he just woke up.
Kazuki was extremely glad that no one else was in the room as he lost his footing and fell flat on his face.
With his right hand, he pushed himself upright, holding his throbbing forehead gingerly with the other. It was at this moment that he saw his reflection on the polished floor.
And promptly froze for a solid minute before slamming his head down once more.
"Ouch!" The reflection was still there, gaping at him as if he had grown an extra head. He might have, considering that the person staring back was as tiny as his childhood self, although it was still difficult for Kazuki to make out the features of this figure. Was his mind hallucinating because he hit his head twice? Or was the floor actually a disguised mirror that distorted the faces of everyone who looked at themselves in it?
Dumb theories aside, his best bet was to rearrange the jumbled up thoughts in his brain. He chose an empty spot between the bed and the window, closed his eyes, and began to pace back and forth while mumbling: "My name is Arima Kazuki, twenty-nine years old, author of the light novel series 'What Remains of Our Broken World' living in Tokyo, Japan. I was heading to the Light Novel Awards ceremony with Utsunomiya Akiko, my editor and fiancee..."
Something fast moving in the corner of his eye. Bright lights, shining through the taxi window, and a warning that erupted out of his own mouth as he shielded Akiko from the brunt of the impact. There was blood, a lot of blood...and a blazing pain that wracked every inch of his broken body. Broken bones. Broken everything. Someone screaming his name, and -
"I'm dead. I should be dead. Why am I not dead?" Kazuki whispered to himself - oh god, why did his voice sound like he never went through puberty - and prodded his body to check for injuries. Nothing, not even a scar adorned his thin, short figure.
While at this thought, he stopped pacing abruptly. Had his body shrunk while he was unconscious? He wasn't a tall person to begin with, but his current hands and feet were only about half as long as his previous ones. That wasn't the only difference, though: his skin was as pale as the palest model that appeared on the billboards of the underground train stations, and his face felt ten times smoother and softer as if someone had dumped a handful of moisturiser on it. The only normal thing was his clothes, consisting of knee-length brown shorts, short-sleeved white dress shirt, and a thin black ribbon tied around his collar.
Wait, no...it wasn't normal at all. It reminded him a lot of what rich young boys wore in fantasy light novels with a western setting, including his. Where was his 7000 yen suit, a bargain purchase from his first year as a published author? Why was he barefooted, and where did his glasses go? Better yet: where did his poor vision go?
"What are you standing there for?"
Hearing a voice that appeared out of nowhere, Kazuki jumped in surprise, falling onto his back as he lost his balance. It was just his luck that for the third time, he managed to hit his head again.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
As he was about to stand, a helping hand pulled him back up, belonging to a fresh-faced youth with dark brown hair tied to the back with a dark blue ribbon. His silver-grey eyes peered down at the fallen Kazuki, a hint of concern hidden behind them.
"That was a pretty big fall. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks for..." Kazuki began to say until he noticed the other person staring disbelievingly at him. "Is something wrong?"
The question brought the youth out of his stupor, but Kazuki suddenly found his head being prodded and swivelled around from left to right, top to bottom. The bump on it throbbed once in a while as he endured the examination. "Arion, did that fall do something to you? Do you feel faint or dizzy at all? What is one-plus-one?"
"It gave me a bump, I'll be fine as long as you stop poking my head, and one-plus-one is two - unless that was a trick question. Again, could you stop poking my head, please? I'm fine, really!"
The look on the youth's face was nothing but sceptical, but he nodded and gave Kazuki his much-needed personal space. "If you say so."
"I know so," Kazuki said, and then added as an afterthought, "but why'd you think that there's something wrong with me?" Could it be that he has noticed that Kazuki wasn't whoever this little person was supposed to be? What was the name that he was called by...'Arion'? Could it be...?
His question seemed to shock him once more, but the youth recovered from it by himself. "You're usually a bit more...reluctant to say anything. I think this might be the first time I've heard you say this many sentences."
Pondering over those words, Kazuki kept absolutely quiet, mercilessly crushing the guilt that welled up as he saw the glimmer of hope in the youth's eyes slowly disappear, a product of his refusal to say anything else. Schooling his expression into blankness, just like Akiko's, Kazuki waited until the other said something else.
A minute or two must have passed before he sighed and, unexpectedly, patted Kazuki's head. "You should get some more rest. That fall must have hurt you more than you think."
Keeping to 'Arion's' character, Kazuki nodded and watched as the other left his side with barely a glance back. Immediately after the youth closed the door behind him, Kazuki dropped his deadpan and slumped tiredly to the floor.
Arion is the name of a major character in his first novel. To be specific, Arion is the third and youngest son of the Millionbells, an affluent noble household. Born as a weak-bodied magic prodigy with antisocial tendencies, he had been disliked by many, including his two brothers and the rest of the family's servants. The only person who genuinely loved him is his mother.
"If I'm supposed to be Arion Millionbell, then..."
The answer came to him as soon as he heard that name. In Kazuki's story, the boy's powerful, yet uncontrollable magic potential kickstarted his inevitable downfall, transforming him into an insane, world-hating antagonist in the early chapters of the series.
There were details about Arion's backstory that Kazuki couldn't grasp since it had been a few years since he wrote about the character. Nonetheless, he could recognise the youth from earlier as the first worrywart son of the Millionbells. Unlike the rest of the family members, the youth continued to appear in the main story after the end of the first volume where he was first introduced. He was a travelling mercenary who joined the heroes' party and became one of the protagonist's most loyal comrades.
However, there was only one piece of information that Kazuki cared about.
The end of the first volume marks the end of Arion Millionbell's life. His killer is no other than his oldest brother, Julius Millionbell.
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- Author's Notes -
Good luck, Kazuki. Sorry for making you suffer.
...Aside from that utterly sincere apology to a fictional character in the body of a fictional character, I probably should have mentioned some things before:
1. British-English spelling, unless I slip up and use American-English.
2. No OP protagonist (at least, that's the plan for now).
3. The story will be fairly lengthy, spanning multiple arcs and (sort of) Loads and Loads of Characters. If I ever finish writing it out.
4. The Action and Adventure parts of the story, like its Tragedy, will arrive a bit late. For now, there's just Fantasy, Drama, and Originality. (And a bit of Slice-of-Life, although I'm still on the fence about adding that genre.)
Kazuki may be in Arion's body, but that doesn't mean he's already accepted his role as Arion. If the character perspectives get confusing, do drop a comment (with, perhaps, some advice) and I will fix it as soon as I can.
Also: holy cannoli, I use a lot of ellipses. And I use hyphens instead of em dashes because I'm lazy at formatting. For you grammar aficionados, please say the word if it gets too unbearable to look at!
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A selection of rants that you may want to disregard:
- Why, European nobility ranks, why? Why are you being so uncooperative? You know what, I'm just going to default to 'noble household' until I figure these things out.
- I don't understand how this arc is so hard to write out, despite already being planned completely from start to finish...
- Need to rewrite that ending, it's not worded right - still not sounding great - wait, did I just pass out while writing this? ...Huh? Is this the fifteenth edit already?
- This is one of the best-worst productive procrastination methods I've ever gone through. Oh, wait...