1 Chapter 1: A world where magic exists

It was on the morning of the 14th of May that it all started.

"What started?"

What started? Well, what started, was a story that was about to put the world upside down, so to speak.

It was the start of a story that was going to change the world and in a way life, as everyone knew it, but I know, what your next question is...

"How did a story like that even begin in the first place?"

Well, it all started with a chance encounter, an encounter, between a boy and a girl that had no relation to one other.

A boy and girl that were from very different backgrounds and worlds, but even so, they were both about to do great things together, things that many could not do and this is their story.

Now, without any further ado or asking more questions, let us begin this story at once, to answer all of these questions...

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Well then, it all started on the Wednesday morning of the 14th of May.

To be more precise, everything started in a rather medium-sized bedroom that had an equally medium-sized bed with a black frame and white mattress, that stood very close to the wall on the left side of the bedroom, and on the bed's right side, close to its top, was a small black nightstand with three drawers.

As for the wall to the right side of the bed, was a black wooden desk and an equally black office chair that had a dark blue school bag on top of it and on the right side of this desk was a white built-in wardrobe with two sliding doors and on the left side of the desk was the bedrooms door.

Then in front of the bed was a small window, that had a pair of long white curtains with a slight opening that allowed the morning sun to creep inside the room, and on the left si of this window was the tall and rather lengthy built-in shelf with rectangular holes, that were filled with manga and light novels on it's top and two drawers on its bottom.

But something that stood out in this room was it's tidy and organized look, which is rather rare to find.

Now, this tidy bedroom belonged to a young man named Kurokami Tatsurou.

A young man that if anybody asked, was just your average 15-year-old, 1,75 meters tall, first-year high-school student, that had only two things, that made him stand out and those things were, his black messy hair, that partially covered his whole forehead and his black eyes that were both sharp and slanted, something that gave him a rather piercing and scary glare, and if we had to be honest, these to things made Tatsurou look similar to any run of the mill delinquent, but moving on...

So, inside this small bedroom, Tatsurou was wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, as he peacefully slept on top of his bed, covered in the soft, fuzzy, and warm bed sheets, that had the habit of making the waking up in the morning, quite the daunting task and truth be told this was one of the few reasons that always gave Tatsurou a hard time waking up, it was so bad, that he always had to put at least 5 different alarms on his phone, all on repeat, to wake up on time to go to school and even with all of this, he would still arrive at school late, most of the time.

But that's just how Tatsurou was when it came to waking up and right now, we were about to witness how dealt with it, and so, the first alarm from his phone, that was standing on the small bedside table, rang and nothing happened.

Then the second alarm rang and again nothing happened.

Then the third alarm came around and Tatsurou's reaction was to simply turned around to the other side of the bed, while he covered his head with the bedsheets, before he snored briefly and by the time the fourth alarm came nothing happened, again, except for the fact that Tatsurou now dug his head under his pillow.

"Come on...just turn off already..." Tatsurou muttered both angry and annoyed, as he kept his head under the pillow, while the fourth alarm kept on ringing, but when the fifth alarm came, something very unexpected happened...

What happened was that the door of Tatsurou's room swung open with such force that it made Tatsurou jolt quite a bit on his bed, as he raised his head from under the pillow.

"What the...!" Tatsurou said with a scared but mostly confused tone, while he was still in a state of half-awake, half-asleep before he began to look in every direction until he looked to his right, and he finally saw the cause behind all of this.

"Just how long do you plan on sleeping, and let that alarm ring, Tatsurou you idiot!?" The person that asked this to the still half-asleep, half-awake Tatsurou was Kurokami Hime.

A woman that was already in her mid 40's, but looked more as if she was in her late 20's, that had short and wavy dark blue shoulder-length hair with side swept bangs, but what stood the most in this woman, was her sapphire colored eyes, that we're both very sharp with a slightly round edge, that had rather lush lashes.

As for the clothes, Hime was wearing a navy blue sleeveless dress that reached to her knees and showed off her rather enviable hour-glass figure and a bit of her very modest chest, and over this said dress she wore a white frilly apron.

"So? What do you have to say in your defense this time?" Hime asked with a very angry tone, as she quickly approached Tatsurou's bed, while she placed her hands on her waist.

"Come on, Hime! Why do you have to scream like that, so early in the morning?" Tatsurou asked with a stoic tone, while he scratched his head and yawned, with an attitude of someone that didn't do anything wrong, and upon hearing this Hime snapped, while she frowned and a small anger vein appeared on her forehead.

"Why do I have to scream so early in the morning, you ask? That's pretty simple! if I don't do this, you never wake up on time for school, you moron!" Hime said with a very angry tone, as she pinched Tatsurou's cheeks with both of her hands, to wake him up for good this time.

"Ow, ow! Ok, I get it, I get it! Please stop pinching my cheeks already, Hime, it hurts!" Tatsurou said with a very pained tone, as he flailed his hands around a bit, and upon seeing this, Hime stopped pinching Tatsurou's cheeks, before she placed her hands back on her hips.

"Good grief! I still have a lot of doubts about leaving you alone starting today...will you even be able to wake up in time for school, Tatsurou?" Hime asked with a worried tone and expression, as she looked at Tatsurou rubbing his cheeks to ease the pain.

"Don't worry about that Hime, I'll manage somehow..." Tatsurou said with a faint reassuring tone, as he stopped rubbing his cheeks before he smiled at her, but this just got Hime angry once again.

"It's not "I'll manage somehow..." and more like, "I will manage it!" understood?" Hime asked with a very angry and stoic tone, as she pinched and pulled Tatsurou's right cheek a bit.

"Yes ma'am!" Tatsurou said again with a pained tone and once again Hime let go of Tatsurou's cheek, as soon as she heard him.

"That's what I love to hear! Now, get dressed and come eat breakfast, before you make your way to school! Oh and open up the curtains a bit, while your at it, alright?" Hime said with a happy tone, as she turned around and left Tatsurou's room and once she was gone, Tatsurou let out a big sigh, before he fell on his bed with his back and his arms spread.

"God...another wild morning...but well...I kind of deserved it..." Tatsurou thought as he let out another sigh, while he quickly got out of the bed before he made his way to his wardrobe to take out his clothes for today and get dressed.

"But then again why is it always the same with Hime, every morning? She could wake me up gently, every once in a while, right?" Tatsurou asked himself, as he sighed once again, while he opened his wardrobe, from which he took out a black gakuran school uniform and hoodie, that he placed on top of the bed, before he began to undress, and for many asking themselves, who Hime might be and why Tatsurou calls her by name, let's just say that it is kind of complicated.

But one thing is sure, Hime isn't Tatsurou's real mother, but she is in fact, the closest Tatsurou ever had to one and regardless of what we just saw, Hime cares deeply for him, just as a real mother would and Tatsurou cares deeply for Hime, the same way a real son would.

"Done! Now the only thing left is getting my school bag and I'm ready to go...but fist let's open those curtains..."

Tatsurou, that had finally changed from his black t-shirt and shorts to his gakuran school uniform, that he wore with a hoodie underneath, said with a happy tone, while he adjusted the jacket of his gakuran and his hoodie's hood, while he made his way towards the window of his bedroom to open the curtains and once that was done, Tatsurou made his way towards the chair close to his desk, where his school bag was.

Then after checking if all the books and notebooks were inside his bag, Tatsurou finally grabbed his school bag and placed its strap on his right shoulder before he also picked up his phone, which was on top of the nightstand and after doing all that, Tatsurou finally left his room and made his way to the kitchen and when he got there, Tatsurou saw the usual big kitchen that had a large sideway L shaped counter with various cupboards and drawers, under the silver marble stone on top of the said counter and various cupboards that stood over it.

The fridge stood on the bottom of the L shape that was on the right side and next to the fridge was a smaller counter that had a microwave on top of it and on the wall instead of having cupboards, there was a small TV on the said wall.

As for the top of the L shape or rather it's front was another counter, that had a open space on it's middle to prepare the food, and on the right side of this open space was the sink and on the left side, was the stove and oven, but what caught the attention of anyone that entered the kitchen was the rectangle-shaped table, that had a total of six chairs.

"Oh, smells nice here!" Tatsurou thought as he entered the kitchen and saw two plates that had two slices of toast each, smeared with butter that stood on top of the table, before he looked at Hime, which was in front of the stove, frying some eggs and bacon.

"Well...Hime is a bit distracted...I might as well just grab a piece of toast and be on my way to school…after all today is...!" Tatsurou thought as he got close to the table before he slowly moved his hand towards the plate to grab a slice of toast and make his way to school, but just as Tatsurou was about to pick up the said slice of toast, he felt an aura of impending doom, hovering around him.

"Don't even think about it, Tatsurou!" Hime said with a very faint angry tone, without even looking at Tatsurou and upon hearing her Tatsurou jolted a bit, as he pulled a chair from the table, and before he took a seat, Tatsurou placed the strap of his school bag on the chair, then he proceeded to take his seat and wait for his breakfast and after about 4 minutes, Hime finally finished up breakfast.

"Here's your milk, Tatsurou and be careful, it's still hot!" Hime that was now holding two mugs with chocolate milk said with a happy tone, as she turned to the table and placed one of the mugs in front of Tatsurou and the other mug on her side of the table, while she gave Tatsurou a wink.

"Thanks, Hime!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone, as he looked at Hime, turning to the counter again, to get two plates that had two fried eggs and two slices of bacon, but as Hime did that, Tatsurou got up from his chair and walked towards one of the many drawers of the kitchen, to get a fork and knife for him and Hime.

"Oh my! I almost forgot about those...thank you for getting them, Tatsurou!" Hime said with a relieved and happy tone, as she placed the two plates she was holding on the table before she finally took her seat.

"You're welcome, Hime!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone, as he placed a fork and knife, close to Hime's plate, before he also placed a fork and knife, close to his plate, before Tatsurou took his seat once again, but now he was facing Hime.

"Very well then, let's eat, before it gets cold!" Hime said with a happy tone, while both she and Tatsurou placed their hands together, as they made a slight bow, before they began eating and so Tatsurou grabbed his mug with milk, but just as he was about to take a sip, he glanced at Hime that was giving Tatsurou a rather weird and somewhat angry look and it was needless to say that Tatsurou took notice of this.

"Say, is something wrong, Hime?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone and expression, as he tilted his head a bit, and Hime simply looked Tatsurou in the eyes in silence, before she let out the biggest of sighs ever heard.

"Come on, Tatsurou! Just what you have against wearing a standard shirt with your uniform, just like everyone else in your school..." Hime said with a faint depressed tone, as she sighed once again.

"Oh! So that's why you were looking at me! I honestly thought that you were still angry about trying to sneak out without eating breakfast..." Tatsurou said with a joking tone, as he laughed a bit before he took a sip from his mug, but Hime on the other hand looked depressed as she let out yet another sigh, and for those wondering, the school Tatsurou goes to has a uniform policy, where the boys have to wear a classic black gakuran, while the girls wear the classical black and white sailor fuku.

However, in Tatsurou's school, this uniform policy isn't very strict and boys can wear what they prefer under their gakuran and girls can wear a cardigan over their sailor fuku, if they want and in Tatsurou's particular case, he usually wears a black or white hoodie with is gakuran, much to Hime's dismay.

"Honestly, using your uniform like that, makes you look like a delinquent, more than you already are, and those sharp eyes don't help your case either..." Hime said with a stoic depressed tone, that made Tatsurou almost choke on the milk from his mug, upon hearing Hime.

"W-What the hell are you talking about, Hime?!" Tatsurou asked both confused and worried, as he coughed a bit, before placing his mug on the table.

"First of all, language! And second of all, I'm not saying this just to mess with you, Tatsurou…but you started high school last month and you have yet to show me that you made new friends...so what I'm trying to say here is that...perhaps if you change your appearance a little bit, it would be a lot easier for you to make said friends, right?"

Hime said this with a serious, but also worried tone, as she moved her right hand a bit before she glanced at Tatsurou, that was looking a bit away from her, while he blushed and the reason why Hime said this was because, from a very young age, Tatsurou had quite a hard time socializing with people and with his rather rough look and sometimes awkward attitudes, it was hard for people to get close to him and it proved to be quite a challenge to make friends or meet with new people at first.

But even though Tatsurou got better at socializing as the years passed, Hime couldn't stop worrying, especially taking into account that Tatsurou had at the very best, only two friends, one from his high-school and another from outside of high-school, with the latter being the only one Hime knew about.

"Come on, Hime! You don't have to worry about those kinds of things and after all, it's not like I dress for people to like me...or something…!" Tatsurou said this with a rather stoic tone and humorous expression, that made Hime get up from her chair briefly before she hit Tatsurou with a strong chop in his head.

"I worry about you and this is how you act?! Seriously, you're such an idiot sometimes Tatsurou, hmph!" Hime said with a very angry tone, while she took her seat again before she began to cutely pout, as she crossed her arms while looking away from Tatsurou.

"God, I shouldn't have said that...especially when Hime worries so much..." Tatsurou thought both worried and guilty, as he sighed a bit, before he patted his head a bit, to ease the pain of Hime's chop, but it wouldn't last long as Tatsurou quickly cleared his throat, to get Hime's attention.

"Ahem! Listen, Hime...I know that you worry about me a lot since I don't have a lot of friends and I also know that I'm not making your worries go away, by not bringing over the few friends I have or talking about those said friends...but I don't think that changing my appearance, will attract other people to be my friends and honestly I would rather have friends that like me for who I am, instead of the way I look..."

Tatsurou said with a calm and faint reassuring tone, as he made a brief pause before he looked at Hime, that glanced at him, as she kept pouting with her arms crossed.

"That is true...but I'm still worried nonetheless…and to be honest it feels like you lie to me, whenever you tell me that you have friends or that you're trying to make friends..." Hime said with a worried and suspicious tone, as she looked at Tatsurou scratching the back of his head a bit, while he briefly looked away from Hime, but it wouldn't last long as Tatsurou put on a determined expression on his face.

"I know...that it's hard to both believe me and not worry about this kind of thing, Hime...but please believe me, when I say that I have friends and even if I don't have a whole lot of them, to show, they are all very good people and I cherish them very, very much and despite not look like it, I'm always doing my best every day to become better and make more friends, so please rest assured, because one day, I'll show up with a lot of friends!"

Tatsurou said with a very honest and happy tone, as he gave Hime a reassuring and comforting smile and of course it was needless to say that, Hime was a bit taken aback by what Tatsurou said since it was something a bit unusual for him to say.

"I see...then I'll try to not worry as much, but you better not be lying about this, Tatsurou! I really want to throw you a big birthday party with all those friends you're going to make, once I come back!" Hime said with an angry tone, that quickly turned into a happy one, as she smiled before she pointed at Tatsurou that also smiled.

"I would never do that and come on, you'll come back home way earlier than that, right?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone, as he tilted his head a bit before he grabbed his mug.

"Well...I'm not sure of how long I'll be in Japan, but I'm counting on coming back just in time for your birthday!" Hime said with a reassuring and happy tone, as she briefly placed her right hand on her cheek, while she looked at Tatsurou taking a sip from his mug.

"I see...then let's hope everything goes smoothly so that you can come back soon! Oh, and speaking of which, who will take your place in the hospital, while you're gone?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone, as he placed his mug down, before he scratched his cheek a bit, with his left hand.

"Oh, that would be a young girl fresh out of college, she's still a bit clumsy, but passionate about our work field and she's also…" Hime said with a happy tone, as she raised her index finger a bit, while she looked at Tatsurou grabbing a slice of toast, from which he took a bite, and with that, both Tatsurou and Hime began to talk about trivial things, while they finished eating their breakfast.

Then, a few minutes later...

"Thanks for the food!" Both Tatsurou and Hime said as they finished eating their breakfast and as Tatsurou got up from his chair, he grabbed both his and Hime's plates and utensils, before he took them to the sink and after putting them there, Tatsurou pulled his sleeves back as he prepared to clean the dishes, but that was when Hime gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"Say, aren't you forgetting something, Tatsurou?" Hime asked with a curious tone, as she tilted her head and that was when Tatsurou realized that the dishes had to be cleaned later, as right now, he had to go to school.

"Oh! Right, right...I have to go to school and fast since I have class duty today..." Tatsurou said with a robotic tone, as he turned away from the sink to grab his school bag, and once he grabbed his bag Tatsurou placed its strap on his right shoulder before he went straight to the front door, which had a small genkan covered with a white doormat and in this genkan were Tatsurou's black and white converse sneakers and Hime's light blue and white trainers.

"Well then, let's put these on for today…!" Tatsurou thought as he began to put on his sneakers, but as he did that, Hime slowly approached him from behind.

"Listen, Tatsurou...I know that we already talked, about me going to Japan yesterday and I know that I'm probably repeating myself here...but once again while I'm gone, please try to go to bed early, try to have proper meals or ask Wise, to make you something if you don't feel like cooking, and please don't sleep during classes and also..."

As Hime kept going on and on with what Tatsurou should and shouldn't do while she was away, Tatsurou interrupted Hime, as he finally finished putting his sneakers on.

"Alright, alright, I will try to do all of that...so don't worry about it, Hime…!" Tatsurou said with a monotonous stoic tone, while he guided his right hand towards the door handle, but that was when Hime pulled Tatsurou close to her by grabbing his left ear, with her left hand.

"It's "I will do everything you just said!" right, Tatsurou?" Hime said with a stoic angry tone, as she pulled on Tatsurou's ear a bit once again.

"Yes, ma'am! I'll do everything you just said!" Tatsurou said with a pained tone, as he placed his left hand on top of the hand Hime was using to pull his ear, so that she wouldn't pull too hard.

"Now that's more like it!" Hime said with a happy tone, as she finally let go of Tatsurou's ear, before she placed her hands on her hips, while she smiled.

"Yeah, right...well then Hime, I guess that with all that said, I believe that I should be on my way to...!" Tatsurou said as he gently rubbed his ear before he guided his hand towards the door handle again, but as he did that, Hime suddenly interrupted Tatsurou, by giving him a very big and tight hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Tsu-chan!" Hime said this with a very happy tone, as she kept hugging Tatsurou, that blushed quite a bit, as he looked at Hime, that was hugging him even tighter.

"C-Come on, Hime! Please don't call me by that nickname, so suddenly!" Tatsurou said with a very embarrassed tone, as he heard Hime, calling him by the nickname, that she sometimes used to call Tatsurou when he was younger.

But make no mistake, despite the reaction that Tatsurou had upon being called by his nickname, he did not dislike it, the thing here is that, there was someone else that Tatsurou holds very dearly, used to call him that and needless to say that every time Tatsurou heard his nickname, he got hit with some very unpleasant memories, but let us save this for another time.

"I-I'm so sorry, Tatsurou...I didn't mean to...but I just couldn't help it..." Hime said this with an apologetic and worried tone, as she stopped hugging Tatsurou, that let out a small sigh, as he looked at Hime.

"Come on, Hime...you don't need to apologize like this every time you call me by my nickname, it's ok! But to be honest, I would rather not be called like that..." Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he gave a rather cute smile to Hime, which made her blush a bit as she heard Tatsurou.

"I know that Tatsurou...but I won't be able to see you for a while and I really couldn't resist it..." Hime said with an embarrassed tone and expression, while she looked down before she began to point her index fingers at each other.

"It's alright, Hime and I understand so don't worry about it, ok?" Tatsurou said again with a reassuring tone, as he gave Hime a quick thumbs-up, while he smiled.

"Now then, I'm already a bit late, so it's off to school with me! So...have a safe trip and lots of fun at work, Hime!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone, as he placed his hand on the door handle again, but this time Tatsurou finally opened the door and walked outside of his house that was, a small apartment on the second floor of a 4 stories apartment building in a private complex, where Tatsurou lived alone with Hime.

"Likewise Tatsurou! Have a safe trip and lots of fun at school!" Hime said also with a happy tone as she took one step outside of the apartment, before she smiled and waved at Tatsurou, that sighed.

"I will try...but first..." Tatsurou said with a depressed tone, which quickly turned into a mischievous one as Tatsurou suddenly warped his arms around Hime's waist, before he briefly raised her from the ground, to give her a big and tight hug and it was needless to say, that this surprised Hime quite a lot, as she let out a small gasp.

"I'll miss you too, Hime!" Tatsurou said with a very happy tone, as he hugged Hime one last time, while he gently placed her back on the ground before he finally stopped hugging her.

"Tatsurou, you…!" As Hime called Tatsurou, he suddenly interrupted her.

"Well then, see you soon, Hime...oh! And don't forget to give me a call once you're plane lands!" Tatsurou said again with a happy and somewhat embarrassed tone, as he quickly adjusted his gakuran, before he made his way to the stairs on his left side that would lead him to the ground floor of the apartment and once he was gone, Hime let out another sigh.

"Come on, Tatsurou...is it that hard to say goodbye, without being embarrassed...! Wait, am I forgetting something? No, probably not..."

Hime thought as she smiled a bit before she entered the apartment again and as she did that Tatsurou finally reached the ground floor of the apartment complex and once on the said ground floor, Tatsurou made his way towards the front gate of the apartment complex.

But to get there he had to walk on the complexes long and large stone walkway, that had lush and green gardens with trees on both the right and left side, but there was something on the right side that always caught Tatsurou's attention, everytime he made his way to the front gate and that was the small square-shaped house modern house inside the complex that belonged to the landlord of the apartment complex.

Then, after a few seconds Tatsurou finally got close to the apartment complex's gate, but as soon as he put a foot outside of it, he was greeted by a tall female Wolf Beastkin, that had black and white fur and long silver hair, whit two pointy and slightly curved black and white wolf ears that sprouted from her head, as for her clothes, she was wearing a white sweater with a black apron over it and light blue jeans, from where a black fluffy looking tail poked out and on her feet she was wearing sandals.

"Oh! Good morning, Wise-san!" Tatsurou said with a calm and respectful tone, to the wolf Bestkin, that was cleaning up the sidewalk of the apartment complex with a red straw broom.

"Well, well! Good morning to you too, my cute and little Tatsurou-chan!" Wise said with a very joyous and cute tone of voice, as she stopped cleaning the entrance, while she tilted her head a bit, before getting close to Tatsurou.

"Say, say, is everything alright, Tatsurou-chan? Do you need something for school or is it Hime-chan that needs something for her trip?" Wise asked with a very curious tone, as her ears pointed up and her tail wagged around a bit.

"No, everything is alright, you don't need to worry about it, Wise-san..." Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he smiled a bit.

"Oh, I see! But if you end up needing something, you know just where to find me, Tatsurou-chan! Oh and have a safe trip to school, sweetie!" Wise said with a happy tone, as she gave Tatsurou a wink before she began to walk in the direction of the complex's gate.

"Thanks and don't worry, I will!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone as looked at Wise entering the complex, as she waved at him and for everyone wondering, this female wolf Beast-kin was called Wise Loupinia and she is the landlord of this apartment complex, that she has been running for about 20 years and she was to Tatsurou a sort of an older sister, more than just a simple landlord, after all, Wise as known Tatsurou, ever since he was a child.

But I know, why is there a Beastkin that runs an apartment complex, and just why isn't Tatsurou, taken aback by it, at all?

Well, that's a rather very simple answer!

That's because both magic and mythological creatures, such as Mermaids, Vampires, Merfolk, Dragons, and Beastkin, are quite the normal sight and occurrence in this world.

Something that I should probably have said in the beginning, but well, no time like the present!

But now you know, that in this world, both mythological creatures and magic, exist, to be more precise, 40 years ago, one woman, revealed to the whole world, that magic and everything that had to do with it, existed

But instead of letting all of the magic and magical creatures be hurt or used for wrong doings, they were given a chance to come to a certain place, where they would be safe from harm and that place was an artificial island, made out of iron and magic, that was bigger than Switzerland but smaller than Austria, that was located in the pacific sea, between Hawaii and Japan and the name of this island, was Takamagahara Island.

This island, was an independent country ever since it's foundation and it was structured with a large central island, that has a very tall tower built right in its middle, and this tower that stood there tall and imposing was the Tenko-no-to tower, shortened to Tenko tower, by the inhabitants of Takamagahara and around that said main island stood 10 other, smaller islands, that were referred to as Districts were connected to both the main island and the other districts thanks to the several bridges and monorail lines of the island.

"And what was the purpose of such an island and it's Districts?"

The purpose of such Districts, was to research various different types of magic, with every District not only having several research centers, but also having schools, shopping centers, police stations, downtown, residential areas, in a certain these Districts felt as if they were a small country of their own and not just a place to research magic.

As for the purpose of this island, it was, in short, to research magic and give a place to live to both people that use magic and magical creatures, in its early years, but soon enough, the whole world began to use magic and organizations that used magic in secret, began to slowly show themselves to work with Takamagahara to study and research magic, to create, in their words, a better world, but in all honesty, to protect and help everyone that uses magic and its mythological creatures, was mostly to look good in front of the press, as here, in Takamagahara and the rest of the world, to some extend, much of the research wasn't very protective or helped the people that were involved in it, at all.

But right now, this wasn't too important as Tatsurou was already running a bit late for school and sure enough, Tatsurou finally began to walk towards his school that was rather close, it was a rather quick 20-minute walk from his apartment to the school, 15-minutes, if you ran or simply just 4 or 5 minutes if you took the monorail, but Tatsurou prefers the first, a calm and evenly paced walk towards school, with his hands inside his hoodie's pockets, with his mind lost in random thoughts, well, mostly random thoughts...

"Why does Hime need to go to Japan so much nowadays...I know that it is for work, but still...I don't really like to be all alone for months on end..." Tatsurou thought a bit sad as he looked at the sky with a sad expression for a bit, before he let out a sigh and this was the reason why Tatsurou wanted to grab a piece of toast and go to school, instead of eating breakfast with Hime earlier.

As he wasn't very happy with the idea of having Hime going out of the country to work, as it meant that he would be alone, until she came back, something that Tatsurou disliked quite a lot and despite having hugged Hime before he made his way to school, he didn't want to do it, as he also has a strong disliking towards saying goodbyes.

"I just hope that Hime doesn't stay out for half year like last time...now that I think about it, I might as well invite Yumeko or Wise over for dinner tonight...maybe we could also watch a...!" Tatsurou thought again, as he now looked forward, after letting out a depressed sigh, but suddenly, something quite unexpected happened, that made his thoughts come to a sudden halt...

"Kurokami-kun!!!" A cute voice of a girl shouted Tatsurou's name from behind him, and upon hearing this voice, Tatsurou stopped and looked behind him to see who it was and as he did Tatsurou saw a girl with long black hair that was tied into a low ponytail, that reached to the middle of her back, as for her clothes, this girl was wearing a black sailor fuku uniform, with a beige cardigan over it and a long skirt that went past her knees.

"Oh, it's just Sachiko..." Tatsurou thought as he looked at this girl for a bit before he turned forward and proceeded to walk away again, but that was when something grabbed Tatsurou's hoodie before it pulled him back and by consequence that made him fall with his back first on the sidewalk, and shortly after this girl, finally caught up to him.

"Morning, Sachiko-san..." Tatsurou said with a stoic tone, as he looked at Sachiko that had her right hand covered in a transparent aura, while he kept lying on the sidewalk.

"Good morning to you too, Kurokami-Kun!" Sachiko said with a happy tone, as she briefly tried to catch her breath, before the aura on her hand vanished.

"Seriously, Kurokami-kun! You could have at least waited for me so that we could go to school together! And also, don't act like you don't know me when I call you!! Sachiko said with a very angry tone, while she put her right hand on her hip before she frowned.

"Sorry about that, Sachiko...I was just messing with you a bit and after all, it wasn't like you couldn't catch up with…! So today, it's white as all the clouds in the sky, huh?" Tatsurou said with a very stoic tone, after he made a small stop, that confused Sachiko a little bit.

"Huh? What are you talking about...!" Sachiko asked with a confused tone as she tilted her head a bit and it was only when Sachiko moved her gaze down that she finally realized what Tatsurou was talking about.

"K-Kurokami-kun you...perv!" Sachiko said with a very embarrassed tone, as her face turned bright red, as she finally realized that since Tatsurou was lying on the ground, he could see under her skirt, and by consequence, he could also see her underwear.

"J-Just who told you to look!" Sachiko asked, still with her embarrassed tone, as she took some quick steps back so that Tatsurou couldn't see under her skirt anymore.

"Well, Sachiko, this is not my fault, you were the one that pushed me back with your telekinesis and then you got close...I guess you could say "You reap, what you sow" right?" Tatsurou asked still with his stoic tone as he slowly got back on his feet and the fact that this girl could push Tatsurou, without touching him was proof that she had a magic ability, called telekinesis, that fell somewhere in the magic chart, in the Esper category.

"You're just the worst, Kurokami-kun you idiot! Now I can't get married anymore!" Sachiko said this with an embarrassed and distressed tone, as she looked at Tatsurou brushing the dirt from his uniform before he adjusted it, but after doing that Tatsurou looked at Sachiko with a rather guilty expression that quickly turned into a rather serious expression.

"Alright then, Sachiko! I will take responsibility and marry you if that's the case!" Tatsurou said with a determined and serious tone, as he looked at Sachiko, that became even more embarrassed upon hearing Tatsurou.

In fact, Sachiko became so embarrassed, that her face got even redder than before and you could almost see smoke coming out of her head.

"Y-You...you idiot! Don't joke about things like that!" Sachiko said again with an embarrassed tone, as she kept blushing even more than before, while she glared at Tatsurou.

"I'm not joking here!" Despite saying this Tatsurou was joking and just messing a bit with Sachiko.

"You're such an idiot Kurokami-kun! Don't even talk to me ever again!" Sachiko shouted with a very angry and embarrassed tone before she began to run away from Tatsurou.

"Wait, Sachiko!" Tatsurou called Sachiko, but It was mostly useless as she was already too far away and way too angry to listen to anything that Tatsurou could say.

"That girl, honestly..." Tatsurou said as he let out a sigh, before crossing his arms, while shaking his head a bit, and for those wondering, this young girl was Sachiko Aiko.

She was one of Tatsurou's classmates and they have known each other since their third year of middle school, when Sachiko moved to Takamagahara, because of her Father's job and for those wondering, Sachiko was one of the two friends Tatsurou had and in school, she was the only person in his class that didn't ignore Tatsurou nor wasn't afraid of talking with him and that was because Sachiko knew, that behind Tatsurou's rough delinquent appearance was in fact, a good and normal person that unfortunately, most of his classmates, refused to see or acknowledge, a true shame in all honesty.

"God, Sachiko is going to be angry at me for a while because of this little stunt...I should have apologized, instead of joking around, but well crying over spilled milk won't help me here..." Tatsurou said with a faint stoic and worried tone, as he began to rub his chin with his right hand, while he closed his eye a bit.

"With that said, this calls for an emergency apology gift! But this begs the question of, what should I get her…" Tatsurou said with a faint happy tone, as he began brainstorming ideas of what he should get as an apology gift to make Sachiko forgive him for what happened.

At first, Tatsurou thought of going to the convenience store to his left, but then again, there was probably nothing there that was good enough to make Sachiko forgive him, then he placed his hand on his school bag, but today he didn't bring a bento with him, so he couldn't offer any food Hime made to Sachiko.

"Goddammit...I'm running out of options and time here…!" Tatsurou thought as he briefly scratched his head, as all hope seems lost, Tatsurou looked to his right and he saw an office worker that was walking down the sidewalk from the other side of the street, while he ate a cupcake and that was when Tatsurou got hit with an idea.

"That's right! I should buy Sachiko a good sweet and she will probably forgive me!" Tatsurou said this with a rather confident tone, as he opened his eyes wide before he hit the palm of his left hand with his right fist and then instead of going to school right away, Tatsurou made a very little detour to buy Sachiko an apology gift and more or less 6 minutes later, Tatsurou found a small beige building, that had a sign with a drawing of cake, that read "Lovely cakes" over its large and automatic sliding door.

"So this is the place that Sachiko has been talking about, huh?" Tatsurou muttered as he looked at the front of this cake store that Sachiko had been telling him about for the past few days, and from what she told him, this shop had a strawberry cake that was just to die for.

"Well, even if this isn't the place, I better get this strawberry cake, before I come in late for class..." Tatsurou said as he went inside the store to buy the cake for Sachiko and after some rather short minutes, Tatsurou came out of the store holding a white plastic bag with a square box and a can of milk coffee inside it.

"This was a bit more expensive than I was expecting..." Tatsurou said as he briefly looked at the plastic bag he was holding before he let out a quick sigh.

"But well, it's a small price to pay, if it means that Sachiko won't give me the cold shoulder, yes, it's worth it!" Tatsurou said with a confident and yet suspicious tone, as he prepared himself to go and make this apology happen.

But as I told you, this was the day that things would change and they were about to in this very precise moment...

"Well then, let's...!" As Tatsurou thought this, he began to walk away from the cake shop, but he was stopped dead in his tracks, as someone came running out of nowhere, towards Tatsurou and that someone ended up crashing against him.

"Ow!" The person that crashed against Tatsurou, said with a strangely cute tone, as she fell on her butt, while Tatsurou remained standing.

"Hey! You should watch...where you are...going...!"

Tatsurou said with a faint angry tone, that slowly turned into an embarrassed and surprised one, as he looked at the person sitting on the ground and that person was, in fact, a small young girl with pale skin, that was perhaps 1,50m tall.

This girl had beautiful silky-smooth pale pink hair that went past her shoulders and somewhat messy bangs that partially covered her forehead, but it was the equally pink ahoge that sprouted from the top of her head, that caught all of the attention and her eyes were round and yet they had a slight edge that made it's light blue color stand out quite a lot, as for her clothes, she dawned a classical shrine maiden attire, with geta sandals on her feet, that made her even more beautiful and pure looking, than she already was and truth be told, Tatsurou simply couldn't take his eyes off this girl, that looked akin to a small and cute porcelain doll.

"S-She's...she's so pretty..." Tatsurou thought as he kept looking in complete silence at this shrine maiden girl, as he was simply mesmerized by her beauty, but then something unexpected happened as the shrine maiden girl broke this seemingly unending silence between them.

"Oh my! I'm very, very sorry for this! You're not hurt are you?" The girl asked with a rather worried and polite tone as she placed her hand on her rather small chest, before she looked at Tatsurou and her voice was simply beautiful and cute beyond comparison and once again Tatsurou became mesmerized upon hearing her voice, but not for too long as he quickly came back to him, after he briefly shook his head.

"W-Well...I mean...I think that should be my line here...but yeah, I'm alright...how about you?" Tatsurou asked with a worried and polite tone, while he grabbed the girls very small hand before he helped her get back on her feet, but as Tatsurou did that, he looked a bit away from this girl, as he was both astonished by her, but mostly embarrassed about having talked to her with such a harsh tone, when she bumped against him.

"I'm alright! Thanks for helping me up...!" As the girl said this, she suddenly stopped, as an angry shouting voice of a woman was heard, from behind Tatsurou.

"Just where the hell did she go? Find her right this instant, before she runs away again!" As Tatsurou heard this angry voice, he looked behind him to see who this voice belonged to, but that was when he noticed that the girl started to hold his hand tight, and when Tatsurou looked at her, he saw the girl with an expression filled with fear, that Tatsurou thought he would never see again in his entire life, and so without wasting any time thinking, Tatsurou held the girls hand tight, as he ran to the closest back alley he saw, that thankfully was next to the cake shop he was just in.

"Stay behind me and don't make a sound, alright?" Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, to the girl as soon as they entered the back alley.

"O-Ok..." The girl said with a faint worried tone, as she nodded, and after that, Tatsurou began to peek around the corner, to catch a glimpse of this girl's mysterious pursuer and the person that perused this girl, was a tall woman, perhaps in her mid 30's, that had long red hair that was tied into a ponytail, but even so, it went past the middle of her back and her equally red yes were extremely sharp and very intimidating by consequence, as for her clothes, she wore black and red priest robes with black boots, that somehow made her even more intimidating.

"God damn it, not again!" The woman said as she stopped at the exact place that Tatsurou and the girl had been standing, not so long ago, as she proceeded to look left and right, as if her life depended on it, and then, after a short while the woman began to walk forward along the sidewalk.

"Just where the hell did that brat run off to again?!" The woman said again with a very angry and annoyed tone, as she kept walking and a few minutes later, she never was gone and this prompted Tatsurou and the girl to let out a sigh.

"Looks like she's gone..." Tatsurou said with a relieved tone, as he sighed once again, before turning towards the shrine maiden girl.

"W-Well...that's good and all...but you can let go of my hand now, right mister?" The girl asked with a shy and embarrassed tone as she looked a bit away from Tatsurou and as one could imagine, Tatsurou got pretty embarrassed, as he finally realized that he had been holding the girl's hand ever since they entered the alley.

"I-I'm sorry..." Tatsurou said with an embarrassed tone, as he blushed, before letting go of the girl's hand.

"You don't have to apologize, mister! You did that to help me just now and I could never get angry at someone, because of that!" The girl said with a reassuring tone as she placed her hands together, while her ahoge wiggled around a little bit before she gave Tatsurou a big smile.

"I-I see..." Tatsurou said a bit embarrassed, as he once again was shocked with the shrine maiden's politeness and sweet demeanor that he wasn't ready for.

"Well then...I am very sorry for all the trouble I caused you just now and once again, thank you for your help, mister!" As the shrine maiden said this she gave Tatsurou a small bow before she began to walk out of the alley, and for a moment Tatsurou didn't react until...

"W-Wait, a second, what's...!" As Tatsurou was about to ask the girl to stop, to ask her name, and more importantly, why that woman with red hair was after her, the girl collapsed on the ground.

"What the!? Are you alright? " Tatsurou asked with a very worried tone, as he approached the girl but as he did that, he heard a big and somewhat scary growling sound.

"I'm...I'm so hungry..." The shrine maiden said with a sad and pained tone, while she kept lying on the ground with her stomach growling louder and louder, with each passing second, this took Tatsurou aback a bit, as he opened his eyes wide, but it wouldn't last long as he put a determined face on.

"Alright then! You're coming with me!" Tatsurou said with a very determined tone, as he helped the girl getting up, and once she was back on her feet, Tatsurou gently held her hand, as he began to slowly walk out of the alley.

"Wait, what are you...!" As the shrine maiden was about to ask Tatsurou what he was doing, he interrupted her, by looking at her from over his shoulder.

"Just, follow me...alright?" Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he briefly looked at the girl that simply nodded, upon hearing him.

"Ok then, let's go to a calmer place, not too far from here..." Tatsurou said as he looked forward and began to make his way out of the alley and into the streets, as he kept holding the shrine maiden's hand...