Chapter 1: Day Zero
The acrid air filled the classroom with mind-numbing heat; pushing the students to stay awake as their teacher droned on and on. Yuuki Kisaragi lay on his desk half asleep; his eyes blurred in and out of consciousness. He could never recall a day which was as uneventful; the blue sky that peeked in through the windows beckoned, and the wind that rustled through the trees whispered sweet nothings in his ear.
BANG! Yuuki jumped backwards and fell out of his seat. Laughter erupted from his surroundings; his eyes were still blurry but the looming silhouette of Mr. Morikawa was all too recognisable.
"Kisaragi!"
Uh oh… Yuuki knew he was in trouble. The sudden swelling of Mr. Morikawa's usually tiny eyes was a sign of his emotional switch from calm to extreme rage.
"My class is a sacred place of learning and as such I expect nothing less than the undivided attention of ALL my students!"
"I'm sorry sir," Yuuki bowed his head in apology.
"Sorry's not gonna cut it Kisaragi." He began to rant about his days as a student in a more 'respectful' and 'wholesome' Japan; how humanity was not as it was in the previous generation and degenerated due to the internet and television. By the time he had finished, the school bell had already rung signalling the end of the day and the entire class bolted out of the room without a moment's delay.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" He groaned. "This day couldn't've ended sooner!" Yuuki stretched and yawned slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder and loosened the tie on his school uniform.
"Hey Yuuki!" Another boy called over to him.
"What is it Hitoshi?" Yuuki called back.
"Hey! Listen closely, cuz I'm only gonna say this once!" Hitoshi Yamada was one of Yuuki's best friends. They had literally been with each other since birth; having been born at the same hospital only two minutes apart, one before and one after midnight. Their parents, being good friends with each other, saw it fit that they be raised in each other's company. "So I was browsing on the news app on my phone…"
"News app?" Yuuki sputtered. "Why the hell do you have a news app?"
"It's good to be aware of current events." He grinned. "Anyway, there's been like a shitload of streams on what seems to be a recent outbreak of criminal activity in Hokkaido. 000 is apparently swamped with emergency calls all about these random animal attacks with insane casualties."
"Okay and why should I care?"
"Dude! This could be the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse! How fuckin' awesome is that?"
"Cool, tell me more."
"Yeah sure, but we need to meet Aki on the roof today remember?"
"Oh right!" Yuuki smacked his forhead. "We should get going then."
"Oh! Dude! Before I forget…" Hitoshi reached into Yuuki's pocket and grabbed his smartphone. "I'm gonna download a news app for you."
"Hey Aki-chan!" Hitoshi bolted to the chain-link fence that surrounded the perimeter of the roof to where Akiko Yamaguchi was leaning. "Listen! Listen! Listen! I got Yuuki to download a non-game related app! You owe me lunch tomorrow!"
"Wha-?" Yuuki was flabbergasted.
"Man are you shitting me?" She turned her attention to Yuuki. "You had to choose now?"
"How is this my fault?" He retaliated.
"Bitch please! How is it not?" The bow of her sailor uniform fluttered in the warm breeze.
"And You!" Yuuki pointed accusingly at Hitoshi. "What the hell man? Was this why you called me up here? To confirm your bet?"
"Yeah dude pretty much, and I won it all baby!" He struck a victory pose and mockingly danced at Akiko.
"Wait! It's not over yet!" She said.
"Uh, yeah it is!" Hitoshi countered.
"Not until I see proof."
"But you don't need to—"
"Habbeus Corpus! It means show me the body and is also a legal term. No proof? No lunch!"
"Fine." Hitoshi shrugged. "Yuuki, show it to her!"
Yuuki sighed and pulled out his phone, he scrolled down the list of downloads until he found…
"What the hell? WHAT THE HELL? HITOSHI WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO? MY APPS ARE ALL GONE!"
"WHAT!?" He snatched the phone away
"Ha!" Akiko pumped her fists in the air. "I win! You owe me lunch!"
"No! Wait a second!" Hitoshi's face lost all trace of its former vigor. "This is a mistake; I know I downloaded the news app on this thing."
"Well if you look closely at all these empty windows, YOU MESSED UP!" Yuuki felt like he was about to explode, like his eyes were about to grow three sizes. He had never been that angry towards Hitoshi in his life.
"Oh! Hey! One survived."
"Give it here!" Yuuki ripped the smartphone from Hitoshi's fingers and instinctually pressed the only remaining icon on the screen.
DEMON SUMMONING APP CONFIGURING…
CONFIGURED.
HARMONIZER ACTIVATING…
INITIALIZING FIRST TIME SET UP…
COMPLETE.
A ritualistic looking emblem filled the screen as black windows opened and closed while streams of red code flowed through them.
SUMMONING.
GOOD LUCK.