Prologue
Part 1
It was early summer.
Sakamaki Izayoi was enjoying the sweet fragrance of early summer at the riverbank. Admiring the sun, he muttered to himself "Ah, found a dark spot. Maybe the sun really is entering a glacial period."
His motto was "The heavens did not create man above myself" and he seemed to prefer global warming to global cooling.
He had no inclination to go to school, so instead he tried to think of ways to play around at the riverbank while still wearing a uniform, but any he could think of would be embarrassing if seen by strangers. And if he were to be seen by someone he knew, they would end up pointing a finger at his back afterwards for sure.
"There’s gotta be something fun going on."
Taking off his headphones, he heard the voices of a group of delinquents standing around wearing long coats with "Fighting Spirit" written on them. In the middle, there was a boy being beaten up by them, and forced to kneel and apologize.
"Hey, this is terrific, this guy is really crying. Disgusting, let’s throw him into the river to get him clean."
"Then let’s make him jump in butt naked, with both his hands and legs tied up!"
"Hiii.....!"
The boy was trembling in a squatting position. Sakamaki Izayoi slowly sat up and started talking to the group that was still kicking and hitting the boy a few dozen meters away.
"Aaah, I’m bored. Really bored. If I could sell my boredom, I’m confident I could make a living. Hey, dumb looking fools over there, how about you provide me some entertainment and I will reward you with a nice long-term vacation at the hospital."
"Come on, take off your clothes fast and jump into the river already!"
"Let’s at least tie his hands together. As long as his legs are free, he won’t die."
"Help me........Help me....Help me...."
There was no reaction to Sakamaki Izayoi’s words. It was to be expected.
He didn’t yell at them, and just spoke as if to someone right beside him. There was no way his words could have reached them; they just got carried away by the wind instead. Because of the beating he'd taken, the boy’s face was quite unsightly. He was covered in dirt, tears, and nasal fluids.
"................"
Sakamaki Izayoi stood up without saying a word.
He picked up a few palm sized stones from the ground, then started throwing them while yelling, "Let me in on the fun too!"
The impact of the stone blew away the whole riverside. That's not a figure of speech. There's no need for rectification.
Exactly as described, the stone flew at the stupidly high speed of the Third Cosmic Velocity, and with a thunderous roar and huge cloud of dust, blew away the delinquents, the boy, and the riverside alike.
"Arghh!"
"It-It’s Sakamaki Izayoi! Everyone, run for it!"
"He-Help...."
"I'll keep 'em coming!"
The stones continued to fly, accompanied by resounding laughter, and left craters upon impact, just like a bombardment would. Both the delinquents and the bullied boy ran away, terrified.
And just to be clear, Sakamaki Izayoi didn't throw those stones to save that boy.
"Crush the strong, crush the weak" was also one of his mottos.
"Haha! Pathetic, pathetic! Is 'Fighting Spirit' only on the back of your coats?"
Sakamaki Izayoi was holding his stomach and laughing as he watched them run away. He kept rolling about with laughter and stamping his feet on the ground.
The only sound remaining in the area was the sound of his laughter. There was no one else around, and so when Izayoi stopped laughing the area became quiet.
There was no sign of anyone else near the riverbank. Boys and girls his age are probably having lunch in school right around this time.
Sakamaki Izayoi stood up silently.
"........Boring."
He said, expressing his deepest feelings. He only found the scene of the delinquents and the boy running away ironic; he did not get any real enjoyment out of it. He laughed loudly, but it was just for show. It was far from real fun. Sakamaki Izayoi let his feelings of emptiness go with a deep sigh, and turned his back on the riverside.
".....Hm?"
Woosh. At the same time he started to move, a strong sideways wind started blowing. A sealed letter was dancing in the wind and - after following a very unnatural trajectory - it delivered itself into Izayoi’s bag, like a thread through the eye of a needle.
"....What the hell was that?"
He took out the mysterious letter.
The recipient's name was written neatly on the envelope: "To Sakamaki Izayoi-dono."
Part 2
The garden was noisy from the loud chirping of cicadas.
"Enough of this. Silence!" Kudou Asuka yelled towards the garden.
And suddenly there was silence.
The crowd of cicadas stopped chirping all at the same time, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand. It seems the words of the Kudou family’s Ojou-sama were more important to them than their courting activities.
Without even finding this odd, she continued strutting through the well maintained mansion’s corridors at a fast pace. She wondered why, even though this place belonged to one of the five biggest conglomerates in Japan, it didn’t have air conditioning in the hallways.
She stormed into her room, wiping the glistening sweat off of her hair. She made sure to lock the door and then threw herself on the bed, which caused it to shake from the momentum. But it seems that she wasn’t satisfied with just that, and she bounced one more time.
"So my relatives are having a meeting about the dismantling of the conglomerate? I did not expect that they would call me to the farthest corner of Japan for such a reason."
To put an end to a meeting that had been going on for months already, she was dragged before the Head of the family. The family Head was already bedridden, but his authoritative voice was still widely feared and respected.
She was speechless when the relatives came to her pleading "Please, do something about him!", asking a girl, barely 15 years old, to resolve the situation.
The still dumbstruck Kudou Asuka traveled to the family Head’s mansion and said to him only one short sentence.
"Stop complaining and cooperate with the dismantling of the conglomerate!"
"Understood."
He agreed without even a single complaint. It didn’t even take 10 seconds. It couldn’t even be called a meeting anymore at that point.
Without waiting to see if it really led to a real conclusion, she immediately turned around and left the mansion. Even the relatives who were expecting this outcome could not help but doubt their eyes and ears.
As the relatives would put it, everything that the Kudou family’s Ojou-sama says will happen without fail. It’s not like there is a law or rule about it - anything she says will simply happen, just like that. They claim it to be a powerful suggestion, hypnotism, or even brainwashing, but she didn't agree with any of them. She just says what she thinks out loud.
No one can go against the flow of the current society, so there was no choice but to dismantle the conglomerate. She tried reassuring herself with these thoughts.
"....Ludicrous, even against that Ojii-sama, this is all it took. It is laughable, really."
She grasped the bed sheet tightly, lying face down. That was what really bothered her. Relationships where the only answer you hear is "Yes" are plain and without substance. To put it simply, she could only build meaningless relationships, and Kudou Asuka was tired of those meaningless relationships.
"....It is hot. What is it with this humidity?"
This dress is the greatest problem of all, should I just leave the hair ribbon and change the rest?
Asuka’s eyes wandered around the room, suddenly fixating on a suspicious sealed envelope that was left on the desk.
The following was written on the envelope: "To Kudou Asuka-dono."
"......?"
Asuka tilted her head.
She immediately glanced at all the possible entrances, the door, the window, and the secret emergency escape route, but they were all locked and none of them showed any signs of entry. At that moment, someone knocked on the door, and a maid’s voice could be heard.
"Asuka Ojou-sama, I brought some refreshments-"
"You there, did someone enter my room while I was gone?"
"? Only Ojou-sama has the key to this room, therefore no one could have entered."
"Right...that is true. It is fine. You can leave now."
The maid bowed politely and then left the room. Kudou Asuka rechecked all the possible entrances, but none of them appeared to have been used. Which meant that it should have been impossible to leave that envelope in this room.
"....Fufu. I do not know who you are, but a 'sealed room letter' instead of a 'sealed room murder'... I like your style."
She even forgot about the blazing heat, and for the first time in a very long time, a smile appeared on her face. She joyfully broke the seal on the envelope.
Part 3
The autumn rains had ceased and the momiji leaves had started falling. Kasukabe Yō was making preparations in her room to go sightseeing before the falling leaves lost their color. She was preparing to put her kimono on, when a calico cat ran to her feet.
"So-Something very strange happened Yō-ojou-chan! A letter addressed to you fell from the sky!"
"....From the sky?"
For your information, the cat was just a regular cat. The one special in some way was not the cat, but Kasukabe Yō. The calico cat pushed the letter into her hands while trying to climb up to her shoulders.
"Don’t misunderstand, Ojou! I am not kidding at all! This letter really fell from the sky!"
The calico cat sounded like he was making excuses, so she gently patted his head and lifted him up while showing a slight smile.
"I believe you. You're telling the truth." She said smiling gently.
Her tone was calm and soothing. The cat calmed down for a moment, but then became very interested in the contents of the envelope, so he started looking pleadingly at her.
"Ojou, please open it already, I will lose all my fur from anticipation."
"After I get back."
Kasukabe Yō then put the cat and the letter down and continued putting her kimono on. But the curious cat could not leave it at that. Once again he tried to climb up her clothes with his claws open, saying, "Ojou~! Let’s read it now~ ! Don’t bother with this kimono now, after this-"
Ripp! The unpleasant sound of fabric tearing could be heard. She looked down fearing what she might see, and in fact on the side of the kimono all the way down was a long tear.
"......................"
"O-Ojou.....!"
Kasukabe Yō was just standing there struck with grief. It was a scarlet, long-sleeved kimono, with momiji leaves as decoration. This one was her favorite. This kimono was a seasonal wear, so if she can’t wear it this time around, she wouldn't be able to till next year. By the looks of the tear, it would take quite some time before it’s repaired.
.......It’s a real shame. She didn’t know how to express it.
"O-Ojou...I was-I was just...!"
"It’s ok, don’t worry about it. Can’t do anything about it now." She let out a sigh and smiled somewhat bitterly at the calico cat.
Kasukabe Yō then changed back to her normal clothing, a sleeveless jacket and shorts. Then she took off her hairpin, and broke the seal on the letter brought by the calico cat.
"What is it?"
"......."
After breaking the seal on the envelope that fell from the sky, she stared at the letter for a long time. The curious cat climbed up her shoulders and started reading the contents.
Part 4
"Boys and girls with wondrous talents and much distress, I address thee! If you strive to test your Gifts, then cast aside your friends, your possessions, your world, and come to our Little Garden"
Part 5
"Wha-?"
"Kya-!"
The scenery changed before their eyes without any transition. Suddenly, they found themselves 4000 meters up in the air. Even while suffering from the pressure of falling, they all had similar thoughts about the situation and said mostly the same words.
"Where the hell is this?!"
An entirely foreign scenery unfolded before their eyes. At the horizon, a steep fall could be seen presenting an abrupt ending to the world. Under them was an unknown fully covered city, so huge it confused their sense of scale.
The world before their eyes was an entirely different world.
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