6th of April, 2009
Two young teens sit at the train, late at night. One, with blue hair and silver eyes, looks around the empty train anxiously. The other, with auburn hair, seems to be sleeping on the bluenette's shoulder whilst hugging his arm. Minato just sighed at his sister's clinginess. She was always too close for comfort. It didn't bother him that much, and he wouldn't wake her up just because of that. They were siblings, it was only natural that she would act close to him, and he would just have to suck it up. He was out of the norm, not the other way around.
The sudden announcer interrupted his train of thought. "Now approaching, Iwatodai...", he heard. Looking at Hamuko, she still seems to be sleeping. Unfortunate, he was hoping the announcer would hake her up so he wouldn't have to. Minato nudged his sister gently until she opened her eyes. "Hamuko? It's time to go." She just nuzzled on his shoulder and yawned. "Can't you just carry me to the dorm while I'm sleeping?" she said, as she rested on his shoulder again. "Not a chance. I don't even know how you can sleep on a train like this, doing that is basically asking to get mugged." He pushed her head from his shoulder as he began to get up. "If anything, you should be the one carrying me to the dorm. I'm way more tired than you, seeing how you slept through our entire trip while I was looking after our things." The bluenette said, taking his luggage and making his way to the door. "Jeez, can't you be nice to your sister for once?" Hamuko yawned, slowly getting up to reach for her suitcase as the door opens. "Hurry it up, or I'm leaving you here." Hamuko just sighs as she gets up and they both walk through the door. "Maybe you should've gotten some sleep, you get all grumpy when you're tired" He just shrugs that thought off. If no one looked after their stuff, who knows what would happen? As Hamuko rubs her eyes, her eyes dart to the station clock. It's a few seconds to midnight. "Oh, It's almost that time, isn't it?". He shrugs again, the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time was getting old after years of experiencing it, surprisingly. Minato just keeps reading the dorm flyer, not really caring about the world around him changing. "There are a lot of rooms in this dorm, this place seems to be a lair for social beasts." Minato smirks at Hamuko, who smirks back. After a few more quips and witty responses, they arrive at the dorm. The bluenette goes to open the door, just to see Hamuko standing back. "I thought you were tired. Let's get some sleep already". Hamuko eyes the coffins around them, then looks back at her brother. "Nuh-uh. Remember the last time the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time ended and we were close to one of those coffins, and the guy who came out of that claimed that we were teleported just in front of him? I want our dormmates first impression of me to be flawless." Minato groaned at his sister's bullshitting. "Well, I didn't have the luxury to sleep through the entire trip, so I'm tired. Wait outside if you want to, I couldn't care less."
The bluenette went through the door, closing it behind him. "You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you." His eyes darted to his left side, only to find a young pale boy with blue eyes, with some strange prision-like attire. Seeing him, Minato freezes up. He had never seen anyone but himself and Hamuko move within that time. No one seemed to even know about its existence. And yet, here this boy was, talking like they were long-time friends and he was 10 minutes late for a study session. "No need to be afraid. I just need you to sign this contract right here. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff." Still in shock, there is no way the teenager could answer. How could this even be possible? How could this hidden time that no one knows about even be possible? Sure, he has gotten used to it, but he could not fathom why it happens and why he and his sister would be the only ones that's able to act within it. Well, apparently not the only ones anymore. A snap of fingers from the mysterious boy wakes him up. He seems to be frowning. "Look, I know a lot is going on in your head, but stick with me for now, alright? Everything will be explained eventually. Just sign this and I'll go." For the first time, the bluenette decided to let his worries and questions aside and just go with the flow. Grabbing a pen, he wrote his name: Minato Arisato. Say what you will, his handwriting was excellent. Looking back at the boy, he was smiling ear to ear. "So... it begins." Saying that, both the boy and the contract vanished in thin air, all of the questions, doubts and worries he had came rushing back to him. As he was now all alone with his thoughts.
"Who's there?!" Not alone anymore. His eyes rushed to the stairs, as he saw a brunette with neck-length hair talking to him. Great, another person that both knows about this time and can operate within it. Maybe this chick will know at least something more than he knows about this seemingly supernatural event. She begins reaching downwards for her... gun? Well, there Minato goes, completely freezing up again. This is how he dies. This girl is wearing a uniform, she is probably a student who lives in this dorm. Maybe she is just as afraid as he is, seeing that another person can move within the hidden hour. But he can't scream out, ask for her to calm down. He is terrified, both after seeing that other people can move during this time and a kid completely disappear before his own eyes. He can't bring himself to talk her down, scream for Hamuko, or even just run. His head is a mess, and these situations happening one after another don't help it one bit.
"Takeba, wait!" Another voice came and crashed Minato's train of thought. Looking at the girl again, she was trembling and sweating, her gun still on her holster. The brunette was clearly hesitating, and he could've easily just talked to her. Thinking about it now, it's kind of funny that he was that scared at someone who probably wasn't even going to shoot in the first place. Looking at where the voice came from, Minato saw a stunning long-haired readhead who looked to be about a year older than him. Another one who can do anything within this timeframe. Alright, this is already getting old. They both seemed to have a red and black armband that read "S.E.E.S". The brown-haired girl calmed down as the world seemed to shift back into non-creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. He heard someone opening the door behind him, knowing it probably was Hamuko, he decided to look back anyway. There she was, and she was looking at him puzzled. "Minato? I thought you were going to bed immediately." He couldn't tell his sister about this, as she would probably press the two poor girls for answers. The bluenette decided to play it cool. "I was planning to, but then I had a little run-in with these two ladies." Hamuko just smiled smugly, knowing that if he had waited outside with her, this wouldn't have happened. She then turned to the two girls "I'm sorry, my brother is just sneaky, he didn't mean to startle you."
Both the redhead and the brunette look at each other, puzzled on what the auburnette meant, but the older one decides to let it go, as she looks at the twins and speaks up. "I didn't think you'd both arrive so late." Hamuko just mouths "Sorry", making the redhead give a faint smile. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo and this is Yukari Takeba. We're students who live in this dorm". Yukari looks at Mitsuru. "Is it really okay for them to be here? Who are they, anyway?" The redhead looks back at her, before continuing. "They're transfer students. Last minute decision to assign them here. If it is okay, only time will tell." Mitsuru looks back at Minato and Hamuko. "Takeba here will be a junior this spring, just like you two." Yukari realized it was her time to speak to them. "...Hey." Of course she had to make it awkward. "Nice to meet you!" Hamuko answered, not caring at all about the awkwardness. She has met shy people before, and she knows exactly how to make them more talkative. It seems to have worked, because Yukari smiled after that. "Yeah, nice to meet you too." The brunette then looked at Minato, who was looking straight at her holster, as she tried to turn around to hide it. "Why do you have a gun?" Yukari froze up at that question which made him smile. Serves her right, it's payback for scaring him half to death with that gun. "Huh? Um, well, It's sorta like a hobby... No, not a hobby, but..." Hamuko interrupted her, seemingly surprised. "Wait, she has a gun?!" Yukari tried to interject, but Minato stopped her in her tracks. "Yeah. I thought she was gonna shoot me when she saw me." Yukari tries again to speak. "No, wait, I wasn't-" But she is interrupted by Mitsuru, who decides to put an end to all the questioning. "It's for self-defense. Not a real gun, of course, but it scares the robbers away. I apologize for her behavior, she just mistook you for a thief." Yukari sighed in relief. She obviously can't keep herself together when put on the spot. "It is getting late, so you all should get some rest. The second and third floor are where the male and female rooms are, respectively. Takeba will show you to your rooms." Minato thinks he has had enough. He doesn't want to annoy Mitsuru, and if he wanted answers, it could wait until tomorrow. Hell, right now, he just wants to catch some Zs and, looking at his sister, it seems that she agrees, if all the yawning and eye-rubbing are any indications. No need to press this any further, he doubts these two will be disappearing like that kid.
The walk to his room is quiet and uneventful. As Yukari and Hamuko stop at the door, the brunette starts to talk. "This is it. Pretty easy to remember, huh? Right at the end of the hall. Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it. So, any questions?" A ton. But he can't ask her about the creepy boy or the contract, he doubts she'd know. And he can't ask about she moving within the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. At least, not in front of Hamuko. She'd just freak out. "Nah, not really." Yukari seems relieved that she doesn't have to explain anything any further. "Um... Can I ask you something?" Minato retreats a little bit. A thought resurfaced in his mind. She might be just as surprised as him that a person other than her and Mitsuru can move within that hidden timeframe. However, if she asks about this, it could be dangerous. If Hamuko learns about this, she could freak out and get anxious, maybe pressing for answers that might not even be there. And based on what he saw of Yukari, she does not work well under pressure. "Go for it." He tenses up, half hoping that she would at least use ambiguous language and half expecting a direct questioning. "On your way here from the station, was everything okay?" Thank god. Minato is unsure if it's actually intentional or not, but he takes it. "Well, not really. I had to deal with this little devil that I call a sister bugging me for the entire duration of the trip." Of course, trying to be humorous to ease the tension is a good way to start laying the groundwork for information. If she somehow has answers, he wants them. And it's better that he uses proximity to get those answers than to pressure the poor girl. "Other than that, no problems." He looks to Hamuko and sees that she is pouting at him, and he just gives her a little smile. "What do you mean? You were the one bugging me about sleeping on the train!" He looks at Yukari. She doesn't seem satisfied with the answer, but he's not letting her ask anything else. "Well, you were bugging me by sleeping on the train on the first place. What if you were alone? You'd probably have all your stuff stolen by that one creepy bald dude that I bet you didn't even see." Hamuko looks displeased, but she is way too tired to continue arguing, and she sees her brother is even more tired. "Whatever. You were there to look after my stuff, weren't you? And by staying awake all this time, I bet you're tired. So like the nice sister that I am, I'll let you sleep, before you try to stay up until 3 A.M. arguing. Let's go, Yukari!" She began huffing off. Minato could tell that it was only half-serious, and looked back at Yukari. "Well, I better get going..." She starts to walk and he begins to open his door, until the footsteps stop. "I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later, alright? Good night." He actually smiles at that. Maybe he was overthinking. Maybe getting some answers won't be as hard as he thought. "Good night." He says, as Yukari smiles. She begins to walk off, as he enters his room. Finally, some sweet relief from all that time he spent awake. Sure, he was going to get less than 5 hours, but it was still something. As he puts on his pajamas and lays into his bed, he closes his eyes. Finally satisfied that he can, possibly, be able to uncover this mistery of the creepy-bloody-coffin-midnight-time. Maybe, finally, have someone around him, who isn't his sister, that doesn't think he is crazy when he talks about something supernatural happening at midnight.
.
.
.
He can't sleep.
Fuck.