This is a story from another world. In concrete terms, it was a world very similar to modern-day Japan, though it had no connection to the world Yogiri and Tomochika came from. Either it was a parallel world, or perhaps at some point in the past it had branched off from the same world and become slightly different. Perhaps it arrived at a similar place entirely by coincidence, life and culture evolving in the same way entirely by chance.
In any case, it was the world where the one who would one day become the Great Sage Mitsuki was born.
✦ ✦ ✦
Mitsuki opened his eyes to see the face of a young girl directly above him.
“Uhh...good morning?” Still half asleep, it took him a moment to realize what was happening, but it seemed for some reason Yumeno was sitting on top of him while he slept. She was staring at his face from uncomfortably close, but when he started staring back, she hurriedly sat back up.
“G-G-Good morning! Get up, Mitsuki! You’re going to be late for school!”
“Hm? Oh. Thanks.”
Looking at the clock on the wall, he saw it wasn’t quite time to get up yet. In only a few minutes his alarm clock would wake him, so he would have been fine without her help, but he felt he should thank her for coming to wake him up anyway.
“Hey! What are you two doing?!” Still in a sleepy haze, Mitsuki heard his window open as his neighbor Rio stormed into the room. The balcony outside his window connected with the neighbors’, so they could easily come and go between them.
“Morning. She was just here to wake me up.”
“That’s right! I was just waking him up!” Yumeno echoed.
“If you were just waking him up, why are you on top of him?!” Rio demanded.
“Actually, that’s a good question.” Gently pushing Yumeno off of him, Mitsuki finally sat up.
“Jeez! I can’t take my eyes off you for a second!”
“By the way, why are you here, Rio?” Mitsuki asked.
“I-I just came to wake you up! If I leave you be, you’ll sleep all day!”
“I mean, I have an alarm clock...” However, he didn’t think of these two as a bother. He was thankful they were trying to help. “I’m going to get changed; can you two step out for a minute?”
“Ah, sorry!”
The pair stepped out of his room, though he didn’t know why Rio went downstairs when she had come in through the window. After changing into his school uniform, he headed downstairs where his maid, Akane, was waiting.
“Good morning. Your breakfast is ready.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“I could have made breakfast for him. Why do you need her?” Yumeno mumbled, though considering her culinary “skills,” he was quite glad to have Akane make breakfast instead.
Mitsuki’s parents had gone abroad for work and wouldn’t be back for some time. In their absence, they had hired Akane to take care of him. Normally one would think of a hired housekeeper as a middle-aged woman of some sort, but for some reason, the maid they had hired was close to Mitsuki’s age and had decided to live in the house alongside him, taking care of all the housework herself.
“Wait, why is Rio eating breakfast with us?!” Yumeno protested.
“It’s fine; she’s here anyway,” Mitsuki said.
Finishing breakfast, Mitsuki headed to the front door and left for school. His stepsister Yumeno, childhood friend Rio, and live-in maid Akane, now also wearing school uniforms, were in tow. All of them attended the same school. The moment they made it outside, they were greeted by a sleek black luxury car waiting for them.
“Mitsuki, sir! Salutations on this fine morning!” Standing beside the car was his classmate, Reika. Saying she was just like she looked may have come across as a bit mean-spirited, but she was indeed a rich young heiress.
“Reika, I don’t mind if you want to walk to school with us, but bringing a car isn’t a great idea.”
“He’s right!” Yumeno declared. “The roads are cramped enough as it is! You should have thought this through!”
“It is no matter! I have already acquired assent from the people of this neighborhood.”
“Except I live in this neighborhood, and you didn’t talk to me at all!” Rio snapped back.
“My, how rude of me!” Reika replied. “I thought it would be sufficient to speak only with the owners of the houses, but I suppose I will need to be more thorough in the future.”
“What’s that for?” Mitsuki asked as Reika pulled out a stack of bills.
“I need to acquire Miss Rio’s approval, do I not?” she said boldly.
“I don’t need money from you! Let’s go!” Rio said, storming off. Mitsuki followed close behind as other girls from the neighborhood joined the entourage one by one. It was kind of a strange sight, but it was an everyday thing for Mitsuki. That everyday occurrence was about to be interrupted, though.
A bolt of lightning from the blue, despite there being not a cloud in the sky, struck the ground a few steps ahead of him. If he had stepped a little farther forward, he would have died. The asphalt shattered, cracks running out in every direction. A young girl wearing a white robe now stood where the lightning had struck.
“Ah! Of course he looks even better from up close, but this aroma too! I can’t get enough!”
The girls around Mitsuki froze. Lightning had struck right in front of them. The shock of that would leave them confused regardless, but the fact that a girl had emerged from the strike had them even more bewildered.
“Now, I suppose I cannot afford to waste much time. I am sure others will have noticed your awakening by now. I will need to take you away before anyone else comes to interfere.”
The beautiful young girl approached. Mitsuki was powerless to do anything but watch as she stepped closer. Before she made it to him, the chaos continued with another explosion and cloud of dust. Judging by the aftermath, it seemed like something had struck the first girl and sent her flying to the side. She had been sent through walls and houses, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. It felt like a miracle that Mitsuki and the girls around him hadn’t been injured, as close as she had been to them when she was struck. It looked like rubble from the blast was going to hit them, but it dodged around them instead.
“What is going on?” Rio muttered.
“I have no idea.” Mitsuki echoed her thoughts.
“I do not know who you are, but I have to praise your nerve if you are willing to get in my way!”
“I was hoping that would have been enough to put you down for good. I really wanted that to settle things.”
The girl in white seemed impressed by the woman in red who emerged after, wearing a strained smile.
“Fear not. Now that you have brought this fight, I will take it quite seriously. This won’t end until you accept total defeat!”
“I wanted to finish this quickly so I could leave right away...but it looks like it’s not just the two of us anymore,” the woman in red said, looking behind the girl in white. Mitsuki turned to follow her gaze, finding a woman in blue descending from the sky in a pillar of blinding light.
“What a pain...” the girl in white said, clicking her tongue.
Mitsuki couldn’t help but agree.