Vroom... vroom...

I hear a car driving on an empty road. Am I dreaming? What is it coming from?

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." said a deep voice. I look up to see a bizarre-looking man with a woman dressed in blue. It looked like I was in a limo. What kind of dream is this?

"Ah... It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny..." the man chuckled. "My name is Igor," the man said, "I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

His nose was really long and he had a tuxedo on. Who is this man?

"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.." Igor continued to say, "It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future."

Near future?

"Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?" he asked.

Oh. "Yukari Narukami." I introduced.

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

My future? What is my fate?

Igor held out his hand in front of the table in front of him. A blue light flashed and there was a weird card on the table.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?" Igor asked. All of a sudden, he waved his hands and all these cards were on the table.

What is this?

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different." Igor said, deeply. Then, he chuckled, "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

A card flipped over.

"Hm, the Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent." Igor said, oddly. "The card indicating the future beyond that is," Igor began to say, then another card flipped over. "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'. Very interesting indeed." Igor finished.

These cards... What do they mean?

"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you." Igor warned, "In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost."

Whoa, what will I do?

"My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen." Igor explained. He waved his hand and all of the cards on the table disappeared. Igor then remembered something very important, "Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you. This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

She's so beautiful, wow.

The woman looked towards me, "My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey." Igor looked back towards me, "We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell..."

This train station is full of people. So many people who are gossiping and talking.

"Do chicks really dig politicians?" a guy asked this girl.

There were commercials of Risette everywhere and the news talked about the scandals about some Mayumi Yamano chick. I didn't really care, the news was weird.

The train started to pull in. Okay, here we go, new life. I thought about my last day at my new school.

"So, as most of you know, she will be transferring to another school." my homeroom teacher said.

"What?!"
"No way!"

"Aww!"

"I will miss you!"

Students kept mumbling stuff as if I was a celebrity. I sighed. I might miss that school. I will sure as hell miss my friends that I made.

I checked my phone. I had a messaged from my uncle.

"Meet us outside Yasoinaba Station at 4PM"

"We will arrive at the Yasogami Terminal in a few minutes," the announcer began to announce all over the train, "Passengers headed for Inaba city and Yasoinaba station, please go to the other side of the station."

Well, that's where I need to go. I start to grab my stuff and head out as the train stops.

Gosh, all these train rides. I'm so tired. I start to put my head down.

Igor.

Margeret.

I look up real fast. Was that really a dream?

"Yasoinaba.." the speaker says over and over again as I get off the train.

This town looks so peaceful. I gazed around the town.

"Hey! Over here!" shouted a man's voice. I turned to see a little girl with a man.

"Well, you're more beautiful in person than in your photo." the man complimented, "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you." Dojima smiled. "Let's see, I'm your mother's younger brother, and that about sums it up." he introduced.

"It's nice to meet you." I said politely. "Heh. You probably don't remember, but we've met. I've changed your diapers before, you know." he chuckled. I laughed awkwardly.

The little girl walked in front of Dojima, "This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

I looked and Nanako looked very nervous. All she said was, "'lo.", blushed then walked behind Dojima. She was really shy. Dojima chuckled, "What're you so shy for?"

Just then, Nanako smacked Dojima. "Ow!" he laughed. Nanako still looked very embarrassed.

"Well then, let's get going." Dojima stated, "My car's over there."

I got in the car and headed for Dojima's house. This was going to be interesting.

This town was a nice, small town. It didn't look like much, but I liked peacefulness. We arrived at the central shopping district, and to the gas station.

A gas attendant ran out, "Hi! Welcome to Moel!"

Dojima looked towards Nanako, "Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?" he asked. "Uh-huh." Nanako replied, she got out and looked around.

"The bathroom is in the back, to your left. You know which way's left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in." the attendant teased. "I know, geez." Nanako mumbled and headed to the bathroom.

I got out of the car to get some fresh air. The air was so clean here.

"Are you taking a trip?" The attendant asked. "No, we just went to pick her up. She just moved here from the big city." Dojima told the attendant. "The city, huh?" the attendant questioned. "Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine." Dojima ordered. "Right away, sir!" the attendant exclaimed. "Good time as any for a smoke." Dojima mumbled and walked away.

"Are you in a high school?" the attendant asked. "Um, yeah." I replied. "Does it surprised 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. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part time help right now."

The attendant walked towards me, "Give it some thought why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student." The attendant and I shook hands as Nanako came running back. "Oh, I should get back to work." the attendant said and began to walk away.

I noticed Nanako was looking at me. Suddenly, I felt awful.

Nanako came up to me, "Are you okay? Did you get carsick? You don't look to good." she wondered.

Could it have been from the exhaustion from the long trip? Now that she mentions it, I do feel a little dizzy.

Either way, we arrived at the Dojima house. For the next year, this place will be my home. I walked inside.

In the evening, we had sushi, it looked delicious. "All right, let's have a toast." Dojima insisted as we opened our sodas.

"So, your mom and dad are as busy as always. They're working overseas, was it?" he asked. I nodded. "I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents... It's rough being a kid." he went on, "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." he chatted on. "Yes sir!" I answered. Dojima looked confused, "Uh, right. Are you into military stuff?" he questioned.

Military stuff? "Well, anyway, let's eat." he claimed.

Bleeep

Bleeeep

"Ugh, who's calling at this hour?" Dojima complained. He got out his phone and answered. "Dojima speaking. ….Mhm..." he answered as he got up, "Yeah? I see, so where is it? …...Uh huh... All right, I'm on my way." he sighed. "Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze." he mumbled. Booze? He shut his phone and turned to Nanako and I, "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me." he apologized.

I looked up as Nanako stood up. "I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help her out, okay?" Dojima declared. Nanako frowned, "...Okay." she replied, sadly.

Dojima began to walk out and then shouted, "Nanako, it's raining out. What did you do with the laundry?!" Nanako proceeded to shout, "I already brought it in!". "All right. Well, I'm off!" he called as Nanako and I heard the door slide shut, the car start and drive away.

Nanako sat back down and turned on the TV. "-for the week. Next, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas." the news announcer said, with enthusiasm. Nanako peered towards me, "Let's eat." she offered, quietly.

I found myself alone with Nanako. I might want to strike up a conversation.

"What does your dad do?" I asked Nanako. "He... investigates stuff, like crime scenes." Nanako answered calmly, "My dad's a detective."

A detective?!

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

Nanako groaned, "This is boring." she said as she changed the channel. A commercial came on, "At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" the commercial blissfully went on, "Every day's great at your Junes!" the singer in the commercial sang happily.

Nanako suddenly had a bright look on her face, "Every day's great at your Junes!" she sang cheerfully. She suddenly stopped and looked at me, "Aren't you going to eat?" she asked calmly.

Oh, that's right. I hurried to eat the food.

After dinner, I went up into my new room. I felt so exhausted. I looked over, the futon has been prepared. I decided to get some rest.

I'll be living in this town for one year, starting today. I wonder if everything will be all right. School starts tomorrow, I should stop thinking and go to sleep.

I look up and see I'm somewhere.

..? What is this?! This area is covered in a really thick fog. I don't know what to do, but I'll proceed forward.

I start running forward, and all I see is fog. Fog, more fog and more fog. There's nothing here. I didn't hear anything, all I could see was fog.

Suddenly, a voice started ringing. "Do you seek the truth..?" the voice questioned. I kept running, but I didn't see anyone, and the fog did not clear up. "If it's truth you desire, come and find me.." the voice rang again.

That voice came from up ahead.

I continued to run and then I saw a door. I sensed someone beyond the door. Naturally, I proceeded forward, letting curiosity get the best of me.

I found myself with a sword. I barely made out a silhouette in the fog.

"So, you are the one pursuing me. Hmhmhm, try all you like." the silhouette mocked.

I went up to the silhouette, barely seeing it, and slashed it with my sword.

"Hmmm, it seems that you can see a little, despite the fog." the silhouette hypothesized.

A card similar to the one I saw at the Velvet Room floated towards my hand, I squeezed it, something came out and shocked the silhouette with lightning.

"I see. Indeed, you possess an interesting quality." the silhouette congratulated.

Another card floated in my hand, I squeezed this one, the same thing came out but this time, cleaved the silhouette with something.

This damn fog.

"But, you will not catch me so easily. If what you seek is "truth," then your search will be even harder." the silhouette hissed. Suddenly, the fog got thicker and I could not see anything.

What the hell?!

I had yet another card, and when I squeezed it, I suddenly felt more defensible.

"Everyone sees what they want to.. And the fog only deepens." sneered the silhouette, which I couldn't see anymore.

I couldn't take it anymore. I ran out and slashed my sword but I hit nothing.

"Will we meet again? At a place other than here, hmhm, I look forward to it." the voice echoed.

Suddenly, I felt I was losing consciousness.

To Be Continued