Authors Note: I'm a shit writer. Please criticize me so I can be somewhat competent.
Last edited 05/02/18. Not going to bite off more than I can chew. Looking back I can see that I had a lot of ideas that I just can't deliver on with my skill level. Going to cut down a lot of it and go with a story that I'm actually capable of writing with some degree of quality.
Terms and Conditions May Apply
Cadet training prepared the body and mind for the rigors of military life. That didn't refer to rappelling from a helicopter guns blazing or clearing out a building during a tense hostage rescue. As Minato Arisato had found out, reality was far less exciting. The most essential skill he had acquired was the ability to accept that his time would be wasted and complaining would only make things more unbearable. Be it waiting at formation for hours while the cadet organizer was sound asleep, or getting volunteer'd to wash the car of whatever enlisted man was fortunate enough to run into him.
It was this ability to shut up and put up with it that allowed Minato Arisato to ignore the eerily green sky and step over the sanguine puddles on the way to his dorm. Was it a spooky block party? Did his train drop him off in the the ghost realm? It wasn't his business. The address was correct and that's all there was to it.
Still, behind his carefully crafted bored expression Minato couldn't shake growing number of questions gnawing away at him. Iwatodai was no Tokyo, but it still had a night life. Despite that, there were no street lamps, no food stands, not even the tale-tell stench of vomit from drunken salarymen was present. Was this a city-wide black out? Maybe. But that didn't explain the lack of cars or pedestrians.
No bugs, no birds, no drunk laughter. The complete isolation was a little unnerving. His hand instinctively felt around the lining of his blazer until it found the familiar texture of an envelope.
My silver lining.
Minato was a... competent student. He scored above the curve in most exams and sat comfortably in the top 30% of his not entirely prestigious academy. He expected to coast through high school and get scouted by one of the shittier colleges in the country. He'd get a degree in some easy field, commission in as an officer, and live the good life outside of barracks housing. That was the plan. What he didn't expect was a full ride scholarship by the continent's largest tech firm for one of its own extremely competitive and exorbitantly expensive high schools. Housing, meals, transportation, moving fees, trips, tuition, it was all covered. There was absolutely zero justification for their generous offer. He hadn't applied to any scholarships. He wasn't an honor's student. He had no family connections to the Kirijo Group.
A morally sound man would have called their scholarship department and asked if there had been a mistake. Minato, however, opted to fill out the attached forms and send them without a second thought. His foster family agreed to it pretty quickly after they found out that they'd still receive their monthly education and rent stipends from the government. A classic win-win scenario.
He snapped out of his trail of thought as he spotted a large structure in the corner of his eye.
This is the Kirijo Dorm?
The street surrounding the building was decorated with the occasional red puddle and a distinct lack of illumination. Large ornate double doors awaited him as he scanned the barren streets. He sighed and shouldered his duffel bag. Perhaps the reason why he'd received the scholarship was that they needed students to populate this city with god awful infrastructure.
He rapped his knuckles gently on the door before letting himself inside.
A dark void greeted him as he stepped into the lobby. It quickly became apparent to him that the power was also out in this building. Not even the digital clock on the reception counter survived the outage.
Minato shrugged his shoulders and started to look around the lobby for a staircase. It wasn't his problem if the landlord neglected to shell out money for an auxiliary generator. He bumped into the furnishings haphazardly as his eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. The further he moved into the dark room, the more he got the feeling that he was being watched.
It was ridiculous. He knew that watching horror movies fucked with his perception and it was always best not to indulge his delusi-
"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you."
Minato froze as his brain registered those words. The speaker was young, far too young to be his Kirijo liaison. His erect posture straightened further than he ever thought possible and a small surge of adrenaline began to flow through his body. His mind concocted images of demonic spirits or haunted dolls lurking in the dark room, waiting to pounce the second he made a sudden movement.
"If you want to proceed, just sign this contract," said the child-like voice.
Steeling his nerves, Minato slowly turned around to face the creepy voice. He saw a kid behind the reception counter dressed in black and white striped clothes, much like a prisoner. He couldn't have been older than twelve. The boy's pale skin was clearly visible in the dark lobby. The bright blue of his eyes contrasted clearly against his face.
Minato took a few tentative steps towards the child. He wanted to bolt out of the room but with all the coffin decorations outside and the lack of people he suspected that he might actually be on a reality show. He'd play it cool for now on the off chance that his frightened scampering would end up on social media.
"All it says is that you'll take responsibility for your actions, you know, the usual," the kid coolly explained.
Minato opened his mouth to inquire about the boy's identity but was quickly shut down by having the red leather bound contract shoved in his face. He grabbed the contract gingerly and opened it.
'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.'
The wording of the contract worried him. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was some sort of Faustian bargain. He raised an eyebrow at the grinning child as he went over that line in his head. Deciding not to prolong his encounter with the spirit realm, Minato signed his name quickly and handed the contract back to the pre-teen prisoner. He didn't know much about ghost law, but he had a feeling he wouldn't have to answer a court summons from this kid anytime soon.
The kid hugged the contract to his chest and looked up at him with a creepy smile.
"Time is something no one can escape from. It delivers us all to the same, tragic end. Wishing for it to end, wishing for it to pause or stop. It won't work. It won't go away," he foreshadowed.
With those ominous words the boy disappeared into the darkness.
Minato was left scratching his head as he looked at the now vacant lobby. The boy was gone. He hadn't heard a single footstep but the pale kid had just vanished from the room. His heart began to beat faster. He'd seen a ghost. He'd seen a ghost and signed a contract with it. His eyes widened. What the hell had he agreed to?
This has to be the wrong address.
The sound of tentative footsteps became apparent to him as he searched through the reception counter for a business card or something along the lines to verify the address. His entire body stiffened as they got closer. This was it. The ghost had returned to consume the soul he had signed away.
He turned to face the new specter so he could at least grovel for mercy before being shipped off to the dark realm. He froze when he saw a girl about his age. She just stood there, shaking but not breaking eye contact. He thought he could make out a faint nervous expression in the darkness.
"W-Who are...How did you…" She whispered.
Minato took a tentative step forward. Was this his Kirijo liaison? There was barely enough moonlight to see any facial features...
Her eyes widened and she reached for her thigh before raising a gleaming object and pointing it at his chest.
"S-Stay back!" She yelled.
Her hands shook violently as she struggled to keep the gun on target.
The gun...THE GUN?
Minato's heart threatened to burst through his ribcage as adrenaline flowed through him.
Run or fight?!
He wanted to glance around the room and see if there was any strategic cover. He wanted to kick the gun out of her hand and put her in an arm bar. He wanted to do something but his brain had decided to add another tool to his fight or flight response: freeze.
"Takeba wait!" A female voice barked out.
Just then the dorm's lights flashed back on. He rubbed his eyes and examined the situation. A brunette girl was standing in front of him, handgun now pointed safely at the floor, with her finger resting on the trigger. Whoever she was she certainly meant business. Behind her was a woman wearing what looked like a Gekkoukan uniform. The woman stepped between him and the armed girl.
She was tall. Her expression was completely nonchalant despite the scene before her. She practically exuded authority and wealth. He'd wager his life that she came from old money.
She smiled warmly at him. "Sorry about the reception, we weren't expecting you to arrive this late."
Minato let his shoulders slouch a bit and let out a sigh of relief. So he was at the right address.
The woman gave him a short bow.
"My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, I'm one the students that lives in this dorm," she greeted.
Minato's face blanched as he heard her name. Not only was he immensely under dressed for a meeting with the daughter of Asia's most powerful CEO; he had also managed to get into an armed altercation with what he could only assume was one of her security personnel.
The brunette behind her glanced at him. "Who's he?"
He straightened his back in the posture that had been drilled into him by his military adopters and offered the aristocrat the deepest bow he could muster. "Minato Arisato."
"Sorry about the late arrival, Kirijo-sama," he apologized.
"It's quite alright. You just caught us off-guard," replied Mitsuru.
She turned to the brunette. "He's a transfer student being sponsored by the Kirijo Group. It was a last minute decision to assign him here, he'll eventually be moved to a room in the boy's dorm."
"...Is it okay for him to be here?" The brunette cautiously holstered her handgun.
Mitsuru looked at him and gave him a small smile.
"I guess we'll see." She mused.
She motioned to the brunette. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you," she said after giving her an encouraging push towards the teen.
Yukari gave him an awkward bow.
"...Hey," she mumbled out.
Minato glanced at her thigh and back at her. In all his life he had never seen a minor with a firearms permit, let alone a guard card. Did the Kirijo Group really have enough sway with the Diet to commission teenage armed security...?
He might as well ask. "Why do you have a gun?"
The question seemed to knock her off guard. She wrung her hands and did everything she could to avoid making eye contact.
"Um...It's sorta like a hobby...Well not a hobby but…" She trailed before looking at Mitsuru pleadingly.
The red head caved and bailed her out.
"You know how it is these days, it's for self defense. It's not a real gun of course," she explained.
She glanced over to the clock on the counter. "It's getting late so you should get some rest."
He lacked the energy or the testicular fortitude to ask the billionaire how she expected him to believe the gun was fake. He gave her a simple nod.
"The belongings you mailed us last week have been placed in your room. It's on the second floor on the right-hand side. Takeba, can you show Arisato-san the way?" She asked in a tone that implied Yukari didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Yukari nodded reluctantly.
"Right...follow me," she said while motioning for him to follow her.
The duo traveled up the stairs and into the beige corridor of the second floor. They walked in silence until Yukari stopped abruptly at the end of the hall.
She gestured to the door on the right side. "This is it...Pretty easy to remember since it's right at the end of the hall right? Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it… So, any questions?"
Minato suppressed a chuckle as countless topics popped up in his head. Where did you get your firearms license? Is this place haunted? What's that SEES armband stand for? At the end of the day it wasn't any of his business. He could overlook everything that had happened today after a good night's rest.
He shook his head while he dug around for his key. Yukari looked unsatisfied from his non-verbal response and took a step towards him.
"Um...Can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything okay?" She asked.
"Yes." He really didn't feel like having small chat right now.
Yukari sighed, still not satisfied with his response. "Alright then...I'm sure you've got other questions but they can wait until later, right?"
Minato gave her a curt nod and dismissed himself. He slammed his door shut, jumped on the bed, and salvaged whatever hours of sleep he could.