Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Adventure
PARALEGAL Aki Konishi stretched in her seat as she glanced at the clock hanging on the office wall, her beige suit pulling tight against her body. It was already past nine, the sun having set long ago.
Aki set the files she finished on the side of her desk and spoke to her coworker working overtime beside her, “Good work today, Katou. We had a really busy case again.”
Tsunehiku Katou peered up from his paperwork. “You worked hard on the case too. You’re as fast as always, Miss Konishi. I still have a long ways to go before I can go home.”
“Not at all. The fact I had to work overtime shows how slow I am with my work. Work has a weird way of increasing the more you do it.”
“I couldn’t agree more…” Tsunehiku sighed. Aki fished through her bag and held out several pieces of candy. She kept them readily in her purse to quell her hunger during overtime hours.
“Would you like some, Katou?”
“Sure, thanks. You seem to always have lots of sweets on you. Do you like sweets that much?”
“Not exactly. My younger sister likes them more than I do. She always forces me to take a bunch of sweets to work under the pretense it would be bad if I get hungry during work hours and can’t concentrate.”
“Heh. She sounds like a sweet younger sister who looks out for you. If that’s the case, I’ll be happy to take some. Much obliged.”
“Please do. All right, I’m heading home now. See you tomorrow.” Aki bowed to Tsunehiku who waved back to her. She quickly exited the office, thankful the workday was finally over.
I’m leaving the office late again… I hope Nako isn’t too worried… Aki hurried home while constantly checking her wristwatch.
She worked as a newly hired paralegal at a law firm in the city, and lived with her younger sister in a condo near her office. It was her first year in the workforce and her sister was in her first year of university. Their parents were stationed overseas for work, so they didn’t live together anymore, but everyone was on good terms.
Within no time, Aki arrived at her condo and unlocked the door with familiar ease. She placed her purse in a corner of the entryway and stepped into the hallway.
“I’m home, Nako! Sorry I’m so late,” she called out as she usually did, but no one answered. Normally, her younger sister gave a short reply of, “Welcome home.”
Something felt strangely off about the disturbingly silent condo. The lights were turned off in the hallway, but a faint light spilled in from the living room down the hall. Her sister should be home since the lights were on.
Aki took a breath to find her composure and proceeded down the hallway to check on Nako. She peered through the cracked open living room door.
“Nako, are you here?”
“Oh, Aki, welcome home!” Nako turned around where she stood by the window on the other side of the room, her slightly wavy chestnut hair fluttering with the movement. Aki exhaled with relief upon seeing her.
Thank goodness. Nako got home safe…
She walked toward her sister and abruptly stopped. A tall unfamiliar man stood right beside Nako.
The man’s face was almost bewitchingly handsome. He had long dark-green hair and crimson eyes like the color of flowing blood. The color of his hair and eyes were clearly not of this world. Straining her eyes, she saw his ears were long and pointed like some sort of fairytale creature.
The man stood right next to Nako at the window and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. At a glance, he seemed to be trying to forcefully take away her resisting little sister.
Wh-Wh-Who is this guy?! It looks like he’s about to kidnap Nako! Tension rippled across Aki’s entire body. I need to save her!
She clenched her fist in front of her chest and assertively snapped at the man, “Who are you?! Let go of Nako!”
“My words exactly. Who are you?” The man undauntedly lifted his chin and looked down at Aki with cold eyes. She recoiled from the penetratingly cold, deep timber of his voice.
I’m the one who wants to know who you are! I asked first! She gritted her teeth and glared at the man. He copied her mannerism again and glared back at her. Nako looked up with concern at the man beside her amid the explosive situation.
“Don’t worry, Dark Lord! Aki is my older sister!”
“…Sister?”
“…Dark Lord?”
The voices of the man called Dark Lord and the hysterical Aki overlapped.
Did Nako just call this man the Dark Lord? …Dark Lord?
“Nako, what’s this Dark Lord nonsense about? Who is this man?”
“Dark Lord refers to me, Nako’s Older Sister.”
“Huh?” Aki gaped at him.
He’s not serious, is he? She didn’t know if she should make a joke about his name or not. At her wits’ end, she turned her full attention to Nako, keeping the man in sight out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey, Nako, I keep asking questions here, but are you friends? If he’s your friend, can you send him home for tonight? It’s already late.”
Even if they were friends, it was thoughtless of her to have a member of the opposite sex at a house of only girls this late at night. Dark Lord stared in puzzlement at her indirect attempt to send him home.
“Sister, Nako and I aren’t friends. We’re engaged.”
“…Excuse me?” Aki’s mouth fell open.
E-Engaged?
Confused, Aki asked a completely pointless question, “…Um, you’re engaged? How does that make sense? My sister is still a college student…”
As if to thrust the final blow into Aki’s bewilderment, Nako leaned forward and happily proclaimed, “It’s the truth, Aki! It looks like I was chosen as Dark Lord’s fiancée!”
“What are you saying, Nako?”
Were they now at the point in their lives where they wouldn’t be able to understand each other even if they talked it over? Dark Lord exhaled a short sigh after the girls stopped talking.
“…Hm. We won’t get anywhere even if we were to continue having this heated debate. Let’s get going, Nako,” Dark Lord whispered to Nako and picked up her delicate body. He didn’t even glance at Aki as he turned his back on her and hopped onto the balcony outside the open window.
Aki panicked and stepped toward the Dark Lord kidnapping her little sister.
“W-Wait just a minute! I told you to let go of Nako! We aren’t done talking!” She shouted. Dark Lord locked his red, slit-eyes on her.
“Sister of Nako, you should follow me if you want your sister back. You will likely be chosen by that person too.”
“What are you—” Before Aki could finish her question, Dark Lord muttered some words and lifted his hand toward the night sky. The space his finger touched split open instantly as if an invisible blade cut through it. A jet-black hole widened from the split.
What is that?
As Aki’s attention was captured by the ominous black hole, Dark Lord unhesitatingly leapt into the air with Nako in his arms.
“Wai—That’s dangerous!” With her eyes wide open, Aki frantically ran onto the balcony after them. She placed both hands on the railing and looked over the edge to witness something unbelievable unfolding right before her eyes. Dark Lord and Nako were floating in the night’s darkness like they were suspended in the air.
No way! They’re flying? Is this a supernatural ability? Magic?
Nako frowned sadly as she looked down at Aki left behind on the balcony. She reached her hand out to Aki and clenched her fist as if to stop herself from grabbing hold.
“…I’m sorry, Aki. I’m leaving now.”
“Wait, Nako! Please explain the situation to me!”
I don’t get what’s going on here!
Half in shock, she reached her hand into the air, but her fingertips only fruitlessly trembled in the cool night air with no hope of reaching Nako. As if to shake off her pursuit, her sister and the kidnapper faded into the jet-black hole. Meanwhile, the hole floating in the air rapidly sealed behind them. If the hole completely closed, Aki might never see her sister again. She had no time to hesitate.
Aki sucked in a determined breath. “You told me to follow you, so I’ve got no choice but to chase you wherever you go!”
She couldn’t let her precious little sister disappear with that man without knowing what was going on.
I have to save Nako!
She roughly slipped on the shoes laying nearby, rolled up her sleeves, and put one foot on the balcony railing.
“Just you wait, Dark Lord! Nako, I’m coming for you!”
Aki kicked off the railing with all her strength and soared into the night sky. The second she reached her fingers out to the sinister hole, an invisible force sucked her toward it.