I trudged through the front door and slipped off my shoes. "I'm home." I called out to the photo of my parents on the table next to the door. They weren't dead or anything, I just liked to pretend I had someone to come home to. After moving out of their house and into the city, things tended to get lonely. Tossing my keys into a bowl next to the photo, I slipped on a pair of slippers and shuffled to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
As I was guzzling down the contents of the bottle, the alarm on my cell phone went off. I looked down at it and saw the word 'Noragami'. I choked on the water, spitting it out into the sink. "It's starting!" I shrieked, making a mad dash to the living room. I hopped over the back of the couch and landed on its cushions as I swooped up the remote in my hand. Once the t.v was on the only task I had left was getting it to the right channel. Which was easy. I had the AniNet marked as a favorite channel. I heard the opening song before the picture came to life on the television. "Ah, I made it before the opening ended." I sighed in relief.
"Dare no ondo mo nai heya de
Hiekitta te wo nobashiteru
Fusaida boku no iru basho wa
Dare ni mo wakaranai
Chikutaku chikutaku to
Damashi damashi no hibi wo
Chikutaku chikutaku to
Susumanai boku wo
Chikutaku hari wa chikutaku to
Semetateru you ni
Chikutaku hari wa chikutaku to
Subete kasanatta" I sing along with it, off key, to the parts I know. Yep, this is me. Alice Hayashi. What most people would call an Otaku. In my opinion, I'm far from. I have a job. I'm not a shut in. I just like anime. But, like with many words, Otaku has been adapted to mean ... Basically anyone who like anime. Well, okay, I'm obsessed with it. If I had it my way, I'd be married to at least fifty of my favorite characters. That's besides the point. Male anime characters are just better than real guys. For one, they don't stink when they leave the gym after working out. Two, they can go all chibi, real people can't chibi. Three, they have better reactions to things. When have you ever seen a real guy blush? You haven't they don't do it. Their blush setting is off. Or the nose bleed thing when they see something sexy. Doesn't happen in real life either. I rest my case. Think what you want, but I like it this way better. The show starts, Yato's magnificent blue eyes glow like sapphire's in the moonlight.
"I wish I would meet someone with eyes like those." I say, thinking out loud as I grab a bag of potato crisps from the coffee table and begin to munch. "I'd marry him in a heart beat. Specially if he had black hair. If he resembled Yato, I think I'd just faint." I sat talking to myself between crunching on my snack. "Yukine would be our son. He's adorable." I continued.
By time the show gets close to the end of the episode, I'm hanging off the edge of my seat hugging a pillow trying to figure out what this Rabo guy has to do with my Yatty-kun. The dangerous feeling this guy gives off gives me the heebee jeebees. Then a thought enters my head. "What if he tries to kill Yato?" My eyes open wide and I slip from the couch to kneeling on the floor, scooting closer as I'm mesmerized by the pictures flashing across the screen. The show ends with the infamous 'To be continued'. With out realizing it, my hand press against my tv screen. "Wait. No! You can't end the episode like that! Who is that guy?! Is Yato okay? What's going on? You can't leave me hanging like this!" I yell at the ceiling as if it would bring the show back. I pound my fist against the screen. "This is your fault!" I yell at the tv. "You do this to me five times a week!" I continue to knock on its glass. "I'll just get a new tv." I threaten, fully knowing it's not actually the tv's fault. Just then lightning crashes and thunder roars, causing my power to go out.
"Eee!" I squeal, then turn back to my tv. "I didn't mean it! I was just joking." I say wrapping my arms around it. "Come back." I beg. Then thunder loud enough to shake my house sounds. A shiver of fear runs up my spine. If there was one thing I was terrified of, it would be storms. Rain pours down, pelting my windows and making it sound if there were a thousand people outside tapping their nails on the glass. I grab a blanket and wrap it around me as if it will protect me from the storm. "Okay, power outage check list. F-first step, find the flash light and candles. I army crawl across the carpet of the living room to the hard wood floors of the kitchen. Once I reach the smooth floor, I lift my feet and use my hands to drag me across it on my belly. Lightning lights up my house for a split second. But, it was just enough to push my fears over the edge. There was a dark figure in the window just across from me. I shook in fear as I reached up and dug in the drawer above my head. My hand found a small flash light and a knife. I grabbed both. I held the knife in one hand and frantically clicked the switch on the flash light. Nothing. "Come on, come on. Work!" I whispered to it as it hit it against my palm, hoping it'll just jumble the batteries around enough to make it work. A white beam shines from it.
"Don't come in here! I have a big knife!" I declare holding the knife out then pointing the light in the direction of the dark figure. "Ahh!" a blood curdling scream escapes my throat then slowly lowers as I realize what I had really seen. I have just scared myself half to death. The dark figure in the window ended up just being my reflection in the mirror. "Jesus tap dancing Christ." I sigh, placing my hand over my still racing heart. "Okay, moving on. Flashlight found. Time to go light every candle in the house." I say pushing myself to my feet, still wearing the blanket over my head like an indian head-dress.
Grabbing the box of long matches, I begin to wander around the house lighting every candle I could find. "Darkness is your enemy." I say lighting the last four in the bathroom. A moment of suspicion comes over me as I eye my shower curtain. Serial killers usually hide in the shower. I reach out my shaking hand and pause for a moment. Do I really want to know? I mean, what would I do if someone was really in there? Die. But wait, I have a knife. I look down at my hand finishing my inner conversation with myself. I can do this. I'm an adult. I've seen people fight with swords at least a million times. Anime people...But still. And a knife is kind of like a sword. A really short sword. Kind of like...Naruto's kunai...only longer. There we go. It's not a really short sword! It's a really long, misshapen kunai. I think to myself. Finding a single ounce of confidence. Okay serial killer here I come!
I reach my hand out and grab the shower curtain, flinging it back. Only to reveal... absolutely nothing. The scariest thing in there is my hair ball in the drain. "Eww." I say reaching down and picking it up to throw it away. In a way I'm relieved that the only thing in there was a hair ball. Even though I tried to hype myself up and be brave, I so wasn't ready for a serial killer to be hiding in my shower. I let out a little sigh of relief and leave the bathroom.
"Step three. Make sure you have plenty of clean drinking water." I say, going over the things my parents had thought me in my head. I go to the sink and fill up four empty milk gallons with water before what's in the pipes goes stagnant.
"Flashlight, candles, water...What else was there?" I ask, tapping my finger on my chin. "I know I'm missing a few things...Ah!" I say as it comes to me. "I have to find the first aid kit, check to make sure all the windows are closed and unplug everything to make sure it doesn't get fried from a power surge." I list off. "I probably should have checked the windows first." I tell myself as I head down the hall to my room. "I'll check the windows now, then find the kit." I say pushing through my door. Inside my curtains are flapping around wildly and my bed is soaked.
"Ahh! What the heck Rito! You couldn't have had my back this once?!" I yell at a soaked, twenty-two inch stuffed panda laying on the floor. One my father had given me as a gift. "It's okay, I'll forgive you this time." I say, picking it up and wringing it out on to the floor. "The next time you decide to take a shower mister, you do it in the bathroom. Not on my bed." I scold as I carry him and my soaked blankets to the dryer. I stuff them in and close the door then hit the fifty minute button on it. "What the heck! Why isn't it..." Then it hits me. "Duh, the powers out." I shake my head and pull the first aid kit out of the cupboard above the dryer. "At least I could get this while I was here." I say, looking down at the box in my hands.
The power has been out for a total of two hours now. I am bored out of my mind and I'm missing the new episode of Naruto. What a crappy night. "Oops!" I say jumping up and running over to my computer. I pull the plug from the wall then head for the tv. "I forgot to unplug everything. I got distracted by Rito showering in my room...Damn panda." I lean over and grab the plug to the cable box and tv then pull. As I do a jolt of electricity hits me so hard that I could feel it travel through my body. That was the last thing I remember before everything faded to black.