Chapter 1

In a blue limo room, a hunchback man, a blond woman in blue, and a girl with short brown hair and a black school uniform are sitting quietly, but the quiet soon ends when the hunchback man said "Welcome to the Velvet Room."

He had crazy like eyes, a very wide smile, and dressed like a butler. He continued saying "Ah...It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny...*chuckle*. My name is Igor...I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter...It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter...It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then...Why don't you introduce yourself...?"

"...Ellen Narukami." said the girl in black as she pushed up her square glasses.

"Hm...I see. Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" Igor said.

Ellen nodded thinking to herself "It's only a dream, so why not?"

Igor soon moved his hand and made a bunch of cards appear on the table in front of him and said "Do you believe in fortune telling?"

"Not really..." Ellen said in a quiet voice.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the results is always different. *chuckle* Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it? " Igor said.

Igor then makes one of the cards flip on its own and the card shows a tower getting struck by lighting with some small people jumping off. Igor then said "Hm...The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future beyond that is..."

He flips another card showing a moon and says "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents "hesitation" and "mystery"...Very interesting indeed. It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days, you will enter a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in you destiny...If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen."

He makes the cards vanish and says "Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you."

He turns Ellen's attention to the blond haired woman and says "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey." the woman said in almost a boring tone.

"We shall attend to the details another time. Until then farewell..." Igor said.

Then soon everything went white and then Ellen woke up on the train. "...It was just a dream, wasn't it?" Ellen thought to herself as she stared out the window.

She was almost to Inaba, a rural town she has to stay at for the next year. Ellen just shook her head and thought "I'm thinking too much...It was just a dream...what else could it be?"

She then took her mind off it and then recalled last week when everyone in her class learned that she was leaving from the city for a whole year. Everyone seemed shocked and upset but, to Ellen she didn't mind. She prefer less than more and having to deal with less people is fine with her. She may seem nice and quiet on the outside but, on the inside things were more...loud.

She soon got off the train to the Inaba train station and look around for the person who was picking her up. Her mother told her it was her younger brother who was talking care of her. She soon heard a man's voice yell "Hey! Over here!"

She looked and saw a middle age man and a little girl that looked like his daughter. She walked over to them and shook the man's hand as he said "My, my, if it wasn't for the haircut I would have mistook you for your mother when she was your age."

Ellen faintly smiled and said "I get that a lot. Someone got gum in my hair and rather than try hours getting it out I just cut all off."

"Hehehe, I don't blame yay. Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you. Let's see...I'm your mother's younger brother...and that about sums it up."

"It's nice to meet you." Ellen said calmly.

"Heh. You probably don't remember, but we've met. I remember you still being a toddle." Dojima said.

He pushes the little girl a little more towards us and says "This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

Nanako blushed a little and said "...'lo."

Then she hides behind her father and Dojima just laughs and asks "What're you so shy for?"

Nanako smacks him in the back and Dojima just chuckles and says "Well then...Let's get going. My car's over there."

She follows them to the car until an unfriendly looking girl gets Ellen's attention. She calls out to her and the girl says "You dropped this."

It was a piece of paper. Ellen took the paper saying thank you and saw it was the note she made of Dojima's address. The girl then said "Whatever. All I did was picked it up."

Then she walked off and so did Ellen. They drove into town and first stop by the gas station called MOEL. A gas attendant comes up to them as they get out of the car. While Nanako went to the restroom, gas attendant asked "Are you taking a trip?"

"No, we just went to pick her up. She just moved here from the big city." Dojima said.

"The city, huh...?" the attendant asked.

Ellen just nodded and looked elsewhere around the town. By look of this area, it looked like a shopping district. There were a few shops and small warehouses. "Not much here, it seems. I might have to start ordering my books online..." Ellen thought to herself.

She then heard the attendant ask "Are you in high school?"

Ellen just nodded and the attendant continued saying "Does is it surprise a city girl to see how little there is out here? There's so little to do. I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part time jobs."

"Or simply read, jackass. There's more things to do besides those things..." Ellen thought to herself.

"Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student."

"Thank you. I'll think about it." Ellen simply said while shaking his hand.

In realty she though "Not in your lifetime."

The attendant then left and Ellen saw Nanako come back. She was looking right at her when suddenly Ellen had a strike of pain in her head. She then heard Nanako ask "...Are you ok? Did you get carsick? You don't look too good..."

"I-I think I'm alright. Thank you." Ellen said.

Whatever that was with her head, it's gone now. She just felt dizzy now, probably from the long trip. Dojima soon came back from taking a smoke and asked "What's wrong? You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little tired." Ellen said.

"That's understandable. It must have been a long trip for you. Well, let's get back home." Dojima said.

They all got back in the car and arrived at the Dojima residence. This is where she has to live for a whole year. She went inside and after awhile of unpacking they all had dinner together. Dojima soon said "Alright, let's have a toast."

They toast and soon he said "So...your mom and dad are busy as always...They're working overseas, was it? And your brother is studying abroad in America?"

Ellen nodded and said "Yu wants to be a world culture teacher. He figured doing his studies around other areas would be best for him."

"Huh, not a bad career choice."

Ellen faintly smiled and said "My mom said the same thing."

"Hehe, doesn't surprise me, but anyway I know it's only for a year but, getting stuck here because of your parents...it's rough being a kid."

Ellen shook her head and said "Don't feel too bad. This happens more often than you think. I'm use to it."

"Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home." Dojima said.

"Thank you, I will." Ellen said.

"Good. Well anyway...let's eat."

They were about ready to chow down when Dojima's phone rang. "Ugh...who's calling at this hour." Dojima moaned.

He get's up and answers the phone. After a bit he hangs up and says to them "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me."

Nanako get's up and Dojima says to Nanako "I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help her out, ok?"

"...Okay." Nanako said sounding disappointed.

Dojima then leaves and Nanako turns on the TV. "Bummer, he has to go out in the rain...Maybe I should say something..." Ellen thinks to herself.

"So what does dad do, Nanako-chan?" Ellen asks.

"He...investigates stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad's a detective." Nanako answers.

"Huh, I see...that must be tough."

"It's always like this."

"I can relate with things like that."

The news soon came on before Nanako could say anything. "And now for the local news. City council secretary Taro Nametame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to station that she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances. Until allegations of an affair Mr. Namatame are resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye."

"...This is boring." Nanako said and changed the channel.

"I agree. That crap with that affair has been going on for days now."Ellen thought to herself.

A commercial came on saying "At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself and get in touch with our products."

"Sure, its a deal when no one looks at the prices and does the math." Ellen thought to herself.

Then the little jiggle came out saying "Every day's great at your Junes!"

Then Nanako sings that same jiggle and Ellen couldn't help but, smile a little. It's cute when a little kid sings it. After dinner, Ellen went to bed thinking about what her new school will be like and hoping it will be quiet.