Chapter 1: Angels of New Beginnings

It's raining outside. Children, adults and teenagers walk around with their umbrellas outside the house, smiling and laughing. Most of them doesn't seem to care that it's raining.

I look down at my new uniform. The skirt is red and the shirt is white with a red vest covering the chest.

"Koharu, are you done yet?" mum shouts from the stairs. "I want to take a picture of you and Sora!"

Grimacing, I take my school bag, strap it onto my back and leave the safety of my room.

Sora's bedroom door is closed shut, but since mum didn't shout for him to come down too, I don't bother to open it to see if he's there. He's probably already downstairs, showing mum how to operate his new camera.

"Good morning, pipsqueak," I greet my baby brother as he puts on his shoes in the foyer.

My black-haired brother looks up and glares at me. "Look who decided to show up," he mutters. "The social recluse has finally entered the scene."

Mum sighs and hold up the camera. "Shush," she says. "I want a good picture of you two. Stand closer!"

I put on my sneakers and obey her, putting my left arm around Sora's shoulders. He really need to join a sports club. He's way too thin for a twelve-year-old boy.

Mum snaps a couple pictures and then kiss us on the cheek. "Have a wonderful day at school."

"Of course!" Sora says with a big smile, stuffing his camera inside his bag. "See you later!"

"Will try," I reply with not even half the enthusiasm my brother manages to muster. "See you after school."

I open my umbrella and walk right, up the small hill toward the train station. Or rather, tram station, since it's not a real train going up the hill to the city centre.

"Try not to make a fool out of yourself," Sora says from out of nowhere, appearing by my side with his own umbrella.

"Likewise," I shoot back, giving him the evil eye. "You haven't had an episode in, what, two weeks?"

It's mean to pick on Sora's psychic abilities, but since he's being an arse, I think I'm entitled to make fun of him too.

Sora's face, throat and ears immediately turn red from anger and embarrassment. Huffing in frustration, he walks faster, leaving me behind.

"You said it, not me!" I call after him, smiling in glee.

Finally alone again, I look around, trying to memorise the houses and street names.

Azumano's architecture is magnificent and old. Everything looks quaint and idyllic, with cleaned streets in cobblestone and trimmed trees and bushes everywhere. Most of the windows facing the streets, including the ones in my own home, are filled with colourful flowers.

A child run past me, waving happily and shouting at the rain. A moment later, their father run past me too, shouting at the child to take cover under his umbrella.

I smile despite myself and calmly walk all the way to the tram station without incident. Sora is already there, standing alone and glaring at the railway.

"You'll get wrinkles if you continue to frown so intensely," I comment, stopping on the step before his.

"Shut up, hag."

I glare fires at him. "What did you call me?"

Sora calmly meet my burning gaze with his own steely one. "Hag."

"Why you-"

The metallic voice from the speakers interrupt me to announce that the tram is coming.

"No wonder you don't have any friends," Sora whispers under his breath as the tram stops and the doors opens.

While the crowd inside the tram step out, I turn to stare at him.

"And it's a wonder you have them," I retort. "Who would want to befriend you with that attitude?"

We hold our gazes on each other until it's time to border the tram. We're in the last car and I decide to leave Sora there. I walk to the first car and sit down at the only available spot beside a redheaded boy dressed in the same uniform as me.

"Can I sit here?" I ask politely.

The boy look up at me and smiles. "Of course!"

"Thank you."

I take a seat and put my school bag in my lap.

"Are you also a student at Azumano High School?" the redheaded boy asks after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah. We just moved here so I'm new. I barely remember the way to school."

I look down on my hands.

"Oh! Would you like me to show you the way, then?"

"Really?" I ask, surprised he offered to help. "If it's not too much of a bother…"

The boy wave his hand in front of his face.

"Of course not. I'm Daisuke Niwa."

"Koharu Kobayashi," I reply, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, Daisuke."

Daisuke gives me a look of surprise, and for a few seconds, I don't understand why. Then I remember people in Japan use the surnames of the ones they don't know or aren't close friends with.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I exclaim, embarrassed over myself. "I've lived most of my life in England, so I forgot I should address you by your surname."

Daisuke chuckles in amusement. "It's okay, miss Kobayashi. Call me Daisuke if you want."

Red from embarrassment and unable to look at him, I nod.

"Next, Grande Station. Next, Grande Station. Mind the gap please," a metallic voice ring out from the speakers.

"Let's go." Daisuke stands up and I follow him to the doors. They open and we walk up the stone steps through the station and into the actual plaza.

"You said you come from England, right?" Daisuke asks after a few minutes. We've left the lively plaza and walk over a robust stone bridge.

"Yeah. Mum's a writer so she travels a lot to different places for inspiration. Dad's a teacher. They both studied in England and after Sora, my little brother, was born, they decided to move back there," I explain.

"Cool. I've never left Japan."

We continue chatting for a while and when I can finally see the school building I smile.

"I hope I remember the way tomorrow," I joke.

Daisuke gives me a reassuring smile. "I always take the tram at this time, so if you're unsure, why not walk together?"

"Really? That's so sweet of you! Thank you."

I smile at him and don't notice the curb, so I miss it and fall. Daisuke is quick as a viper and catches me, but not before my pendant flies out of my shirt where I've hidden it and touches the filthy ground.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for catching me."

I dust off the pendant and return the necklace to its invisible state.

"I didn't notice it before, but are you wearing a necklace?" Daisuke ask from beside me.

I nod and show it to him. "It's a family heirloom," I explain. "Four hundred years ago, my ancestor Chihiro Kobayashi was given this by a lover. It's a good luck charm to protect its bearer from any harm."

"Ooh. Does it work?"

I giggle. "Not on me it doesn't." I stop giggling and avert my gaze to the ground when I see Daisuke's confused expression. "Sorry. Forget I said anything."

Daisuke catches on and smiles and starts walking again.

"Family heirlooms are amazing. Some of them have really interesting stories to tell, like your necklace. Did your ancestor and the lover marry?"

I shake my head, clutching the pendant in my hand.

"Chihiro was forced to marry another man and died shortly after giving birth to their child," I mumble. "Can you take me to the reception? I need my schedule."

"Oh. Well, I guess not all stories have happy endings. And of course I'll show you. This way."

We walk into the building and take off our shoes. Since I don't have a locker to put mine in, Daisuke is nice enough to let me store them in his. He only has one pair of indoor shoes though, but it doesn't bother me that I have to go just in my stockings.

"Yo, Daisuke! Who's the girl?"

We turn around to see a brown-haired boy with dark eyes and a round face approach us. He as the biggest of smiles on his lips, and as soon as he comes within an arm's length, he puts his arm around Daisuke's shoulders.

"Good morning, Saehara," Daisuke greets the newcomer. "This is miss Koharu Kobayashi, a new student as of today."

Saehara turns around to look at me. I frown at him when his smile turn more… seductive.

"You're beautiful, miss Kobayashi," he says, bowing deeply. "May I show you around town after school?"

I gape. If there's one thing I haven't taken into account would happen on the first day, it's a guy basically asking me out on a date.

I haven't even been to a date before, and I'm not interesting in being alone with this guy.

"Um, thank you for the offer, but I have a little brother I have to walk home with." Mum had us promise we'd at least walk home together every day until we're certain we both know the way to school.

"I see. Another time, then." He wink at me and turn to face Daisuke again. "Did you hear? The police got another warning letter from Dark! This time, he's gonna steal the Angelarium from the Esuviru Art Museum."

"O-oh. Okay. Thank you for the information, Saehara."

Saehara smiles yet again and dash off, but not before turning around and wink at me again. "My full name is Takeshi Saehara, by the way, but you can call me Takeshi any day, miss Kobayashi."

I stand dumbfounded by the lockers, wondering if I've travelled to an alternative universe where boys are actually interested in me.

"What… What just happened?" I ask, looking at Daisuke.

"He can be a little pushy," Daisuke explains, an apologetic grimace on his face.

"It feels like a whirlwind has gone through the place," I mutter, following Daisuke through the first floor corridors to a pair of stairs. They lead almost immediately to the reception area where the principal has their office.

"Thank you," I once again thank my new ally.

Daisuke wave away my thanks. "No problems. But hey, Saehara had a good idea. If you want to, I can show you around town someday."

"Are you an angel?" I laugh good-naturedly. "You're a godsend, Daisuke. I'd love for you to show me around town."

"Nice. Here, I'll give you my home number. My phone just broke, so you won't be able to call me personally, but I'll write down the number either way."

He pick up a notebook from his bag and write down the two numbers.

"My last class ends at 3:15PM, if you want to take the tram together again."

I thank him for the millionth time and watch him leave for class. I wait until he's out of sight before I enter the reception area.

"Good morning," the receptionist greet me with a big smile. "How can I help you?"

"Yeah, um… My name is Koharu Kobayashi and I'm new here. I need my schedule and a map, please."

"Of course, of course! Sit down, dear, and I'll go get everything you need." The woman leaves through a door behind the desk and I sit down to wait for her to come back.

She doesn't appear for a few minutes, so I decide to take out my sketchbook and draw something. There isn't really anything interesting in the room though, and before long, I'm just sketching the empty vase standing on the receptionist's desk.

More time passes before the door opens up again to reveal a blue-haired boy in glasses. When he sees the empty desk, he sits down beside me without comment.

Curious, I glance at him. He has pale, fair skin and what appear to be dark blue eyes in a round, emotionless face. He's not beautiful, more like cute or pretty.

"Finding me fascinating?"

I jerk back as his blue gaze meet my grey one.

Shit. He noticed.

I smile shakily and look down on my sketch, letting my long black hair cover my face.

"Maybe," I whisper.

"I see. Look all you want."

I lift my head to stare at him. I can't decide if he was joking or not. He sounded both amused and nonchalant at the same time, if that's possible.

"Oh, um… Okay?" I frown. "Are you also new?"

Aoi, I name him after his blue hair, shake his head slightly. He manages to move both gracefully and nonchalantly and I grudgingly consider myself impressed.

"I'm here to get the keys to the library's locked department. I'm helping the history teacher gathering books and magazines."

"Oh. So you're a TA?"

"Not really. Anyone can help. I'm not assigned."

I don't even know how being a teacher's assistant works so I just nod and pretend I know what we're talking about.

"But since you asked if I'm also new, I guess this is your first day?"

He turns around to face me.

Having the full force of his gaze on me is more intense than I initially thought.

"Y-yeah, it is," I reply. "I'm waiting to get my schedule and a map of the school."

As on cue, the receptionist appears behind the desk, papers in hand.

"Sorry it took so long, dear. Here you go," she says with an apologetic smile, handing me the schedule and the map.

"Thank you."

I take them and look for my classroom number to compare it to the map.

When I think I've found the right one, I turn to Aoi. "Good luck helping the teacher. See you some other time, maybe."

"Good day," he replies, inclining his head before turning to the receptionist.

It takes a while for me to find my classroom, but when I finally do, I have at least memories the hardest way to get there.

I enter the room and look around for an empty seat.

"Miss Kobayashi?"

I turn to the owner of the voice. It's Saehara, walking over to me in silent surprise.

"Are you in our class?" Saehara asks with a small smile on his face. "Neat!"

"I guess so," I reply nervously. "Um, do you know if there's a seat available?"

"Of course I do!" He puts his arm around my shoulders and take me to the middle of the benches. "This is the only seat not taken yet. I sit over there at the front, and Daisuke sits to my left by the window."

Daisuke is in my class? Wonderful! Someone I actually speak to.

The realisation is enough to instantly brighten my mood.

"The teachers are really nice, most of them anyway. I hope you're good at cooking, because mr. Kaseda is scary and not easily impressed."

I smile and put my bag on the school desk.

"Thank you for the warning. I actually enjoy baking and cooking, so home economics shouldn't be too hard."

Saehara smiles widely. "Oh by the way, are you free tonight?"

Suspicious of where he's going, I reply with, "Not sure. Mum may want to drag me and my brother through town to make sure we won't get lost. Why?"

"Because Dark is going to steal the Angelarium painting tonight! It's gonna be wicked."

Who would want to see someone stealing a piece of art? And what psycho would enjoy it?

"Who's Dark and why are you happy he's breaking the law?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're new." Saehara sits down on my desk, winking at me again. "Dark is what we call a Phantom Thief. He's appeared in Azumano for hundreds of years stealing artwork. He was last seen forty years ago, that is until we got a new warning letter a few months back. Isn't it awesome?"

If you consider watching a famous at least sixty-something thief try to steal something for the fun of it, then yeah.

Considering I love museums and art, hearing about the Phantom Thief Dark is horrifying.

"Do the police ever find the artworks he steals?"

Saehara shrugs. "Mostly not. Some of them do reappear though."

"How come a sixty-something-year-old can dupe the police?"

"Sixty?" Saehara laughs and even slaps his knee. "Girl, Dark still look younger than twenty. He's an angel."

At that precise moment, Daisuke enters the classroom, looking at us in surprise.

I slowly walk over to him, glancing at Saehara.

"Angel? Ha, yeah sure. Are you certain it's not his son or grandson?"

"Hey!" Saehara exclaims while Daisuke gives me a confused smile, asking, "Angel? Are you talking about Dark again?"

I nod and walk with him to his bench.

"Saehara said Dark still look as young as he did forty years ago. Either it's his son or grandson or Saehara is confused."

"Hey, I can hear you!" he mutters, plopping down on his seat.

"Sorry," I mumble before returning my attention to Daisuke. "Is he really an angel?"

Daisuke looks down on his bench. "Well, he does have wings…" is all he says before the teacher walk through the doors together with Aoi.

"Hello again," he greet me while walking past us to his seat at the far back of the classroom.

"You've met Hiwatari too?"

"Who?"

"Him," Daisuke says, nodding at Aoi.

"Oh. Yeah, at the reception."

I walk back to my own bench and sit down, picking up my notebook and a pen.

"Okay class, today we have a new student in our midst…"