Prologue:
Friday: November 4, 2022 3:00
At the sudden ringing of the school bell, Yuyuki quietly stood up with the rest of her class and faced the front of the classroom and bowed, following the teacher's example. She stuffed the test paper she was handed back into her book bag and prepared to leave when a couple of her classmates tapped her on the way out.
"Ne, Kamiya-san, want to join us? We're going to the store later for candy!" The trio waited impatiently for her answer, and when she politely shook her head no, a brief look of disappointment passed through their faces. Then they cheered up and nodded. "Okay then, maybe next time!" They each patted her shoulders and ran out of the classroom, prompting cries of outrage from the teachers walking in the halls. Yuyuki linked her fingers together in front of her, hooked onto the handle of her book bag.
Dodging the various students in the hallways on their way to their club rooms or home, she made for the nearest restroom and looked into the mirror. Taking off her blue framed glasses, her vision gradually fading as her eyes struggled to focus without help. . Reaching into her pocket for a small box, she took out a pair of contact lens, blue in color. Widening her eyes, she carefully put it in each of her eyes and blinked a few times to get use to the contacts again. When she blinked for the last time, her chestnut brown eyes had turned light blue, slightly darker than the sky on a clear day.
She sighed inwardly. Despite her pleas, her mother insisted on the colored lens instead of the clear ones that Yuyuki herself thought was better. At least with the contacts she wouldn't have to worry about any accidents with her glasses and her being blind for the rest of the day. Taking out her glasses case, she carefully slipped the lens into the box and the box into her bag. Clicking open her phone, she looked at the time and panicked.
It's already five past three! Her sister is probably already waiting for her in the parking lot of the campus. Slipping the phone into her pocket, she grabbed her bag and ran through the now empty halls of the building. Now and then, she could see movements in rooms as the clubs went about with their activities; the origami club room filled with paper, the shogi club playing board games. She almost stopped to watch the shogi club, but she shook her head and internally scolded her self for even thinking about going off task. Her footsteps echoed all over the building as she rounded a corner and bumped straight into another girl carrying a stack of papers.
They both fell back and the stack of papers exploded into sheets and fluttered all over the floor, covering the floor like a tiny layer of snow bound to come soon. Yuyuki sat up slowly, rubbed the back of her head in pain; her vision blurry and seeing double. A hand appeared in front of her and she grabbed it slowly.
The girl pulled her to her feet and offered a light bow. Although it every movement made her head spin, she dipped her head anyway, knowing fully that it was her fault.
"Thank you," she managed out hurriedly, blood flowing to her face. She took the a moment of let her gaze leave to floor and look at girl who so kindly helped her up. Her uniform is different from her own; slightly more elaborate in design and a deeper shade of red. She recognized the campus' middle school uniform. Hurriedly, she corrected her language. "Thank you, senpai!" She bowed again, deeper this time.
The girl waved it off and bent down to pick up the pieces of paper. "Sorry for bumping into you," she said, still cheerful despite her fall. She pushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face.
Yuyuki reddened. Flustered, she answered quickly. "No, it was my fault for running in the halls. I'm sorry, senpai!" She leaned her bag on the wall and bent down to help pick up the pieces of paper, making sure they're facing the right way. After a few moments, she looked at the girl. The girl had her brown hair tied in twin pony tails that kind of sticks out of the sides and reached the top of her neck; fastened by red ribbons. The girl suddenly looked up as well, catching Yuyuki's eyes.
"'Senpai' is too formal, it's making me nervous. My name is Keiko; what is yours?" she asked, looking at Yuyuki. Yuyuki hesitated before giving her name.
"Yuyuki...Kamiya Yuyuki, Keiko-senpai," she answered. Keiko laughed; a bright clear sound, but when Yuyuki asked her about the reason, she didn't say anything. Finally, they stood up and Yuyuki handed her the stack of paper that she picked up. Both hands busy, Keiko nodded and smiled at Yuyuki before taking off in a half run to make up for lost time. Meanwhile; Yuyuki grabbed her bag and settled for a fast walk in order to avoid more accidents.
As soon as she was out of the school building, she broke into a sprint; running down a wide path toward the center of the campus. The path came to a intersection and she followed it north and then east to the parking lot. Behind her, the huge high school building and the smaller middle school and elementary school building shrank in the distance. Reaching the parking lot, she ran through the lot and looked in each row of cars for her sister.
Hearing her name, she spun around until she pinpointed the location and ran towards it, weaving back and forth through what little cars still remained in the parking lot in the after school hours. Finally, she saw her sister waving at her.
Ayase is still wearing her school uniform. It looked similar to the the middle school uniform; consisting of a red blazer with white outlines along the edges and a skirt instead of the sailor type that middle school girls and younger wear to school. As Yuyuki drew closer, she could just make out her sister's eyes through the dark glass of the motorcycle helmet she wore. As soon as she was within range, Ayase picked up second, smaller helmet from between the scooter's handlebars and tossed it underhand to Yuyuki, who barely caught it.
"Oh, nice. You managed to catch it this time," Ayase cheered as Yuyuki finally reached her, panting slightly. "Come on, let's head home." She gave Yuyuki a boost onto the back of the scooter seat before climbing on herself. She waited until Yuyuki fastened her helmet and looped her arms around her waist. "Hang on tight, Yuyuki, you're not allowed to fall!" Her sister waited until she felt movement behind her indicating Yuyuki's nod and a muffled cry of affirmation.
At the turn of her sister's keys, Yuyuki felt the locks on the wheels release with a soft tremble through the machine. The sleek black bike gave a hiss and the whole machine began to tremble like a beast awakening. The crystal display on the scooter came to life, the arrows moving back and forth before settling; the speed, gas and essential information. Thanks to her family's habit of weird tastes, the bike had lights in random places in the scooter's exoskeleton; flicked on and off at the push of a button and giving it a intimidating look at night. Totally random.
"Lets go!" cheered Ayase. She cracked her knuckles and pulled on her gloves. As Yuyuki tried to pressed her head snugly against her sister's back, she felt a slight twinge of anger at the thick helmet that kept her from snuggle against her sister. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she heard a clank as her sister shifted gears and they began to move forward, quite slowly until they were out of the parking lot before she heard the motor's pitch rise. In seconds, they were cruising at the same speed as nearby cars; maybe a bit slower. She saw some kids in a car point at them, and saw their mouths move. She smiled to herself and tighten her grip. Ayase mistook her movement for fear and slowed down a bit before Yuyuki told her through muffled shouts that she was wrong. Her sister laughed and accelerated to their previous speed.
As they always did during the weekend, Ayase soon broke away from the city traffic and went down a narrow road into slightly less populated areas. As they sped on, the residences they saw became larger and further apart. Finally, they slowed to a stop in front of a small mansion with high walls and large metal gates. When Yuyuki released her tight grip of her sister's waist, Ayase swung down from the seat before helping her down, offering a hand. Yuyuki grabbed it and jumped down, landing on the ground with a small puff of dust, clutching her book bag to her chest.
"You're so slow, Yuyu!" Ayase chided, taking her hand. Shaking her head at her silence, Ayase reached into her breast pocket and took out a keycard. Slipping it into a lock mechanism near the gate, she quickly typed in a short code and pulled out the card as soon as a green light lit and the gate began to clank open. She shoved Yuyuki through the gate before running back to roll her black scooter into the gate before it closed.
As the doors closed with a clank behind them, Yuyuki walked alongside Ayase as her sister rolled her scooter into a garage and slammed the shutter doors close. The siblings ran into the large house and upstairs to their room.
Jumping onto Ayase's bed while her sister opened her book bag to take out her school work, Yuyuki rolled to face the ceiling. "When will they come home?"
Ayase sat down at her desk and flipped on her lamp. "I don't know. Don't you have homework, Yuyu?"
She shook her head and rolled off the bed, walking toward the door. "I finished it in class. I'm going to look for some food, okay?" She waited for a reply, but Ayase just raised a hand and gave her a little wave. Yuyuki nodded to the back of her sister's head and opened the door, thumping down the stairs toward the kitchen in the various corridors and halls of the large building. She remembered when they first moved in here, she got lost and sat down and cried right next to the room she wanted to get to.
She smiled to herself at the memory and walked into the kitchen. She stopped. There were two boxes stacked on the dinner table with a piece of paper stuck in between the boxes. Approaching the boxes, she pulled out the piece of paper.
There are two NerveGear helmets in the box along with the latest virtual reality games in the flash drive. Read the instruction manual; we didn't bother. There are food and stuff in the fridge and closet. Survive on that until we get home on Monday. Work calls! Bai bai. -Love Mom and Dad
P.S: Server on Sword Art Online starts at 13:00; don't miss it. The product keys is already in the helmets; set by your loving father. Do your homework and have fun!
Yuyuki stared at the message for one...two...three seconds before spinning on her heels and charging upstairs. Bursting back into Ayase's room, she made her sister jump in surprise as she turned to see the intruder.
"Ah! Don't scare me Yuyu. What's the matter?" Ayase asked. Yuyuki handed her the paper, slightly breathless. Ayase skimmed over the letter before laughing. "They're...haha...so irresponsible. 'Survive on that?'" she gasped in between bursts of laughter, "what kind of parents leaves a message like that?" She rose out of her chair and pulled Yuyuki downstairs again toward the kitchen. "Lets go get food and then wait until I finish my homework. We can test out the NerveGear tomorrow. I didn't think Mom and Dad could actually get two of them. They're always so busy..."
The two sisters thumped down the stairs toward the kitchen and ripped open the fridge door; helping themselves to the sandwiches they found wrapped. Eating the food, Ayase cut open the boxes and pulled out a heavy dark blue helmet. A small booklet fell out as soon as Ayase righted the helmet and she picked it up. She took one look at it and shoved it at Yuyuki.
"I'm sorry, Yuyu. I suddenly feel very sick. I must go rest myself. Please read the instruction, my dear sister; until I can recover from this mysterious ailment." With that, she glided out the room with a flourish; leaving Yuyuki holding the small book in her little hands.
Note: I have never been on a motorcycle before, so please correct any mistakes I made. This is a rewrite of the first chapter for Oath in the Darkness. Hope you enjoy it more than the original. Also, I have no idea is any of this is legal (motorcycle). Please review and favorite. Thanks!