prologue

It wasn't to long ago when I almost thought I had been cured. My days started normal again I got some amazing friends, almost if nothing had happened. But then she came along and ruined every thing, but you will understand later. as for people who don't know what happened up till now, I will explain short. It all started in middle school when I had a condition called chuunibyou or Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome it means that your over imagining things that don't exist in our world. In short I had a power of dark flames or so I imagined, I was called the "dark flame master" and overpowered as hell. I even went as far to put on bandages to keep my powers under control while I was at school. Anyhow now I'm cured for as long as it will last. we got a new transfer student called "Takanashi Rika" a very silent person at first sight, but she's about to put my world up side down.

I'll be starting at the moment they meet in

So we meet again

I got home still thinking about that silly girl. She didn't even react on the fact that I had seen her panties. She was just emotionless- normally girls go would go all out like: "You pervert!" or "You saw them didn't you... now I have no other choice but to kill you!" While thinking, I went to the kitchen to get myself some real food for a man who lives on his own. It was rip-off canned noodles. After dinner, I thought I should study for the math test tomorrow. While studying, I noticed a white object coming down from the 2nd floor. First I thought: "It must be some of the laundry I hung up yesterday but... it couldn't be so high up... right?" I spent the next few minutes pondering what it could be when I thought I might as well get up close and research the mysterious thing myself. So, I walked to my balcony, and to my surprise the object turned out to be a string of bedsheets tied together. I heard some noise coming from upstairs, from the apartment above me. Then, in a blink of an eye, I saw a little girl with dark blue hair gliding down the string off bed sheets. I was so stunned I didn't know how to react and thus it took ten whole seconds to see that the bed sheets where not long enough for her to make contact with my balcony. As soon as I regained my consciences I jumped and reached out to her feet to give the needed navigation, until she could finally touch the rail of my balcony with her feet. As soon as she felt solid substance under her, she tried to jump off the rail, but while doing so she lost her balance and she took a forward dive. I tried to catch her, but I got thrown away by the speed and power that gravity exerted on her. Just like that, I found myself in a position where I had a girl laying on top of me. When I got a better look at the person still laying on top of me I realized it was the girl from the other day, the emotionless one. What was her name again? Takanashi? When she regained her strength, she took on a comfortable position on her knees, like she was sitting on a horse... But still on top of me.

"Mission accomplished. No injuries occurred so far. Start investigation: where is dark flame master?"

The moment I heard the last three words coming out of her mouth it was like I got hit by a car. Completely frozen I asked: "where did you hear that name? It's not possible for you to know it."

"Target found. It occurs I... " When she realized she was sitting on top of me in a somewhat inappropriate way, her face flushed fire red.

When I tried to get up, I made the situation only worse, when I got up our faces only shared a tiny space of 2 inches.

When I had regained the courage to say something I gently asked:

"Hai, Takanashi wasn't it? not to be rude, but what where you planning on doing at my place?" The moment I asked she had already jumped aside and sat on her knees across from me.

"I am on a quest to find my soul mate, the dark flame master. And you should call me Rika"

"Uhm, okay, uh, Rika."

" How do you know about that name? You can't possibly know!"

"In our former life we where an unstoppable team and a legend!" She was shivering, and I only now noticed she was wearing only her pajamas.

"Uhm.. would you mind coming inside so we can continue our conversation? It seems like you're cold."

After chatting for a while I thought about the fact that we had school tomorrow.

"Should I bring you home? Its getting pretty late and it doesn't feel right to let a little girl go home all by her self."

"That is not necessary. I will be accompanying you to gain more information about dark flame master."

"You can't stay here! What do you think your parents wil think if you're not home ?"

"I do not have such thing as parents. I live all on my own."

"And what do you think people will think when when they find out?"

"It's for investigation purposes," she said stubbornly.

"hmmmm... I will take out a futon for you then, oke?"
Oh god, what am I doing...?

"Thank you, it's very much appreciated."
What's with that reaction? It's like she changed into a whole different person in the span of two seconds.

After getting everything ready for her to sleep, I was wrecked and slept in five minutes.

Deep in the night, I woke up with a weird sensation of being watched. I turned around and saw a little girl sleeping with a notepad in her hand. She probably fell asleep while taking notes the whole night. I picked her up and carried her back to the living room, where I had put out the futon for her. I looked out of the window and saw it was raining. There were lightning bolts flashing pretty far away, even at this distance they were still bright and clear. It took about ten seconds when I heard the thunder associated with the lightning. Which reminds me: when I was in middle school I would go out and say all kinds of magical spells to see if I was powerful enough to beat nature it self. I laughed to myself. Sadly I never won. Which is pretty obvious, because there is no such thing as magic or spells to change the weather. I put her back in bed and went to my room to get as much sleep as I could still get.

The next day I woke up with a pretty big pillow, or stuffed animal, pressed against me. At least- that's what I thought, since I live alone and…

No- she couldn't have... right? I turned around and saw Takanashi, or I mean Rika, sleeping peacefully. A quick thought ran through my mind - she was pretty cute.
When she is asleep, I mean. I decided to stay calm and just ask her what she was doing in my bed. I poked her in the face with my finger and waited for her to respond… there was no answer. A bit annoyed, I tried shaking her awake.

"No go away evil demon of light I will not cooperate…" she muttered, and dozed off again.

"This is my house, and you're telling me to go away? Besides, this is my bed! What are you doing here? Your futon is in the living room!"

Looking like she was half dead, she straightened up.

"Hmm..." she blinked at the sunlight a few times and said: "oh good morning flame master. Have you had a good night sleep?"

"Don't avoid the question! What are you doing in my bed!"

"I sensed powerful phenomena last night."

"So you're scared of thunder?"

Looking shy, she nodded.

"I think you really need to go to your own apartment to get dressed for school. Because I have no girl's uniform. "

"No need. I have my clothes right here."

She walked to my balcony and, now that it was light outside, I saw not one string but two of them dangling down from above. She gave a tug on the rope and a school bag dropped down on my balcony. I was amazed she had thought her plan trough so thoroughly. Then it hit me she was planning on staying the night all along.

Which meant she liked me. Or is that jumping to conclusions? I regarded her as she crouched over her bag, busily unpacking it. She could do. Like me, I mean. Why else would she have done what she did?

I stood there, rooted to the ground and thinking, for a while. It really was a predicament I got myself into. Then, when Rika was done unpacking, she turned to face me from her crouched position. The sun at her back, its halation making her look like she was the one glowing, she donned a tiny, happy smile. It turns out my efforts of over-thinking this situation were wasted. The girl, Rika I mean, shattered all my expectations- except for one.

"Yuuta. I want to stay at your house forever."

Ah.

I could have expected this.