Midnight's POV

Life sucks.

That was the constant thought running through my head as I watched the random channel I had the television on. It was 11:40 P.M. The sky outside was full of stars. Outside my apartment, the city of Quinnville, Oregon, glistened like a model town they have at some stores in Seaside or Lincoln City.

My name is not important. Everyone I know just calls me Midnight. Don't ask me why. Some people have told me that it's because of my dark hair. Others have said it's because I'm a night owl. Still others have said that it's a mixture of the two. But that's the name I go by. Midnight. Get used to it.

I have a part time job as a waiter at a local restaurant, but my hobby is detective work. I have a website with which clients can contact me. It's virtually untraceable.

Now, the very odd thing is the type of crowds I somehow manage to cross with my "hobby." Even though I take what you might think are normal cases, such as missing persons, fraud, murder et cetera, I somehow manage to cross a special group of people with every case I get. I call them Paranorms. These consist of aliens, witches, warlocks, vampires, time travelers, demons, angels, and various other paranormal creatures or phenomenon. The only normal group that I cross is the Syndicate, a secret international organization who are on the lookout for Paranorms to exploit.

I don't know why, but every time I try to take a normal case I always seem to end up crossing the path of one or more Paranorms. I've even had Paranorm clients who ask for my help. And since my website says, "I won't be racist," I have to take their cases. Which, all in all, isn't that bad, since my Paranorm clients are the ones who pay more handsomely than my regular clients, who do pay a substantial amount more than what I charge.

As a result of one of my earliest Paranorm client's payment of a teleporter system, I can now travel to the other side of the world instantly to take on cases, which has opened a great amount of doors for me. Hardly a month goes by when my services are not requested for a case.

This month had been one of those rare cases where I hadn't had an e-mail or call so all I had to do was live a normal life, or, what you might consider normal for a twenty one year old who lives by himself in a two bedroom apartment. I would just do homework for college, then watch TV or played video games until I fell asleep or went to bed.

Tonight was one of those nights for me, except that my online college classes had ended for the summer, so I didn't have any homework. I lay on the couch watching some stupid cartoon. There was nothing better on anyway. The main character, some green cat, was at some store getting something for his pet geese. He was bumbling his way through the store, like his character usually did.

Rrrriiinnnggg!

I was half asleep when my phone rang. My eyes shot open and I jumped in surprise.

Rrrriiinnnggg!

It rang a second time. I tossed my Snuggie off and walked over to the phone. It was my business cell.

Finally, a case, I thought. I won't lie to you. I really enjoyed my hobby. Solving mysteries was one of life's simple pleasures for me. I reached over and picked the phone off of the receiver.

"Detective Midnight. How may I help you today?" I said in my business tone. I waited for a response. Fifteen seconds passed, and nothing happened. I repeated my business line. Finally, I heard someone inhale.

"The owl cries at midnight," a female voice finally said.

I smiled. A lot of my clients would say that. It was part of my standard procedure. If they didn't want to tell me about their problem over the phone, they had to use certain code phrases to indicate that.

"Where does he fly after he cries?" I replied. This meant, "Where do you want to meet?"

Another pause, and then, "Where two cherry blossoms fell and destroyed the ant's home."

Ah. That meant Japan. The two "cherry blossoms" referred to the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Where did he land?" I asked again.

"Where the books are underwater."

A rarely used answer. Well, if we were going to meet somewhere in Japan, the place where they held Comiket would be a good place, I guess.

"How long did it take for the owl to reach the tree?"

"Twenty minutes."

My eyes widened. I looked at my clock. Sure enough, midnight was only twenty minutes away. I converted, and that made the local time in Japan about 3:40 P.M. tomorrow.

"Indeed?"

"Indeed." And the girl hung up.

Well. Another standard call. I went to my room and got dressed. Not that I was naked to begin with, but I was only in shorts and a t-shirt. I got dressed and picked up my "suitcase," a small box that I attached to my keychain and hung it around my neck. What no one knew was that it was a device that could hold virtually an entire large swimming pool of water and all equivalent amounts of material. I had received it as payment from one of my Paranorm clients, an intergalactic trader of goods who I had saved from a group of rogue vampires. It came in handy keeping things together such as clothes, identification, and weapons I used against Paranorms or humans.

I went to the only room in the house that was empty: the back room. In the middle of the room was a small circular pad. I looked at my watch. I had five minutes. When the computer announced that it was ready, I gave the order. A bright light permeated the room. Soon I was dissolving. Suddenly I was standing in a small alley. The sun was overhead. It was warm. I head people walking and talking in Japanese.

I looked at my watch. I had four minutes. I looked out. The teleport had done its job effortlessly. I saw the building where Comiket was usually held. I walked out and tried to blend in.

Which is quite hard to do if the people are all Japanese. Thinking about Comiket got me to thinking. I never wasted my time watching anime or reading manga anyway. I did used to have an otaku friend who was into that, and she constantly tried to get me interested in that stuff. She would hate me forever if she could see me now.

I sat at a bench near the building. I had one minute to spare.

I was staring off into space when I felt someone sit next to me. At that moment, I felt my ring vibrate. I knew what that meant. There was a Paranorm sitting next to me. I checked the color of the jewel on my Paranorm detection ring.

And nearly froze in shock.

I had heard that humanoid interfaces for the Data Integration Thought Entity were mostly deployed in Japan, but I never expected to run into one here. I had run into only one other in a past case, and that was a brief encounter where it tried to kill me.

So you can understand my concern when I saw the pretty blue haired girl in a sailor outfit sitting next to me.

"You're a humanoid interface," I began, a hint of mistrust in my voice.

She smiled and nodded.

"You must understand," I continued, "that I am very mistrusting of interfaces. One tried to kill me last year."

"I know," she said, still smiling. "He was part of a radical group of interfaces. I used to be as well, but I am no longer."

That didn't help you at all, I thought. However, I couldn't be discriminatory, even to an interface. I inhaled and turned to face her once again.

"You called me, miss…?"

"Asakura. Ryouko Asakura."

Why did that sound a bit familiar? Not the name, but the way it was delivered. Ah! A James Bond type of a delivery. I'll be the first to admit I didn't know much about interfaces, but I didn't think they'd have a sense of humor.

"Okay, Miss Asakura. What exactly do you want help with?"

"I need you to act as my boyfriend."

More interface humor? I looked at her, and she did look very serious. Her smile had disappeared.

"Y…you're serious?" Sure, she was pretty, but acting as someone's boyfriend, much less an interface, wasn't part of the job description.

"I am."

"Well," I said, "this isn't exactly detective work."

"I'm not finished yet."

Okay, I thought so.

"I was created a few years ago to observe a person who can possibly help with the evolution of the Data Integration Thought Entity. However, I was merely a backup. As such, I had more free time than my primary. But I have been reassigned. There has been an incident at the school where I have been stationed."

"What kind of incident?" I asked.

"Murder."

Bingo. Now we're in business.

"Okay, but why do you want me to act as your boyfriend?"

"To observe you."

O…kay then. "Wait, I thought you were observing someone else."

"I have been reassigned to observe and assist you. The Data Integration Thought Entity took notice of you after the interface called Barlow nearly killed you six months ago."

Great. Once again I'm crossing paths with Paranorms.

"Okay, let's focus on the murder first," I said. "Who was murdered?"

"The principal of the school."

"How?"

"Stabbed sixty five times."

Even for a murderer, that's just plain disgusting. Apparently a psychotic killer, possibly on some sort of drug.

"Where was he killed?"

"In his office."

"When?"

"12:00 P.M., local time."

In broad daylight? How could no one have heard?

"I have the police reports handy for you, if you wish."

Wait, how…? Oh right. I forgot. She's an interface. "I would like to read over them."

"Very well. Now, if you'll please follow me, you need to change."

Change? I gave her a confused look. Her smile returned.

"If you're going to act as my boyfriend, you need to be in the same school as I am."

She stood and beckoned for me to follow her. I sighed, stood and followed her into the crowd. We walked down the street, which was filled with people. She led me down an alley. She suddenly stopped and turned toward me. I stopped as well.

"Please stand still," she said. She then lifted her hand. Her mouth began to move incredibly fast. She sounded like a sped up videotape. I suddenly found myself in a room. The sun was shining through the windows.

"Please follow me," the interface said, still smiling. I sighed with an air of resignation and complied. She led me to a sparse bedroom. Lying on the bed was a suit.

"Try it on," she said as she closed the door.

I sighed again, rolled my eyes and began to change. The uniform was a blue blazer with blue pants, a white dress shirt and a red tie. The blazer had a red symbol on the left lapel. When I finished dressing, I went out.

"I'm finished," I said. She appeared from the room we had materialized in.

"How does it feel?" she asked, her expression a pleasant one. Her smile had diminished a bit, but it was still a very pretty face. In fact, this interface was a very pretty one altogether. Her hair, even though it was blue, seemed to somehow suit her perfectly. Her blue eyes were also very beautiful as well. She was also very well built, for an interface. Her school uniform made her look very sexy indeed. Hey, can you blame me? I'm a young adult.

I found myself staring at her. I shook my head, embarrassed. Reel it in, boy, I told myself. She's an interface. She isn't human. And even if she were, she'd never go for you anyway.

"How does it feel, Midnight?" she repeated. She had an amused look in her eyes.

"It feels fine," I replied, trying to keep my tone neutral, and barely succeeding.

"Excellent," she said. "But there's still one thing missing. What was it…?" she stared off into space with what looked like a confused face. She frowned and seemed to be deep in thought. I could tell that it was fake. She was probably messing with me. And what she did next proved my point.

"Oh! That's right!" she said suddenly. She grabbed me by the lapels of the blazer I was wearing and pulled me uncomfortably close to her face. There was amusement lighting her eyes.

"Uh, wha–?"

I never even got to finish the sentence as she crashed her lips into mine. My eyes widened in shock and my mind froze. I was expecting anything but this from an interface. Not like I was complaining, though.

A few seconds later, she broke the kiss and released me. I collapsed to my knees. I could tell that I was blushing because my face felt incredibly warm. My heart was beating furiously.

"Well, feel any different?"

You have got to be kidding, right?

"What do you mean, do I…? Wha…?"

At that instant I felt like my brain had exploded. I grabbed my head and screamed. It felt like massive amounts of data had been downloaded into my mind. As everything around me swirled, the only emotion I could feel was fear.

Because I had responded to her inquiry in Japanese.

The next thing I remember I was lying on something soft. I realized that it was a bed.

"Ugh, what happened?" I asked no one in particular as I sat up. I really couldn't remember.

Then it all came back. The kiss, the massive headache, the scream, and blacking out.

Then I realized what I had just said.

"What the hell…?" I said again. Yup, I could now speak Japanese. Quite fluently, in fact. My brain had never felt so full in all my life.

Question was, could I still speak English? I tried mentally switching gears.

"Check. Testing: one, two, three." Geronimo! I can still speak English. I repeated the same phrase in Japanese.

"Are you ready to go?" I heard a female voice ask from behind the door. It took my fogged up mind a couple of seconds to realize that the voice was of the strange girl, no, interface, I had met earlier. Speaking of which, I wondered how long I was out.

I looked at my watch. I had been out for more than a few hours. My watch was set to Japanese time just minutes before I left, and right now it read 7:37 A.M.

"H…hold on, I just woke up," I stammered. I threw the very warm and comfortable clothes off, only to realize I only had underwear on. My eyes widened in shock. Did Asakura…? She must have. Even if she is an interface sent to observe me, there are some things that should never be seen.

"Hurry up and get dressed for your new school!" she said in what sounded like a cheery voice.

Wha…? Oh, right. I'm supposed to act as her boyfriend while I investigate the murder of the principal of the school she "attends."

Well, time to go to work. Or school, as the case may be.

Detective Midnight is my original character. I came up with him in a dream a few nights ago. I'm gonna swithc between his perspective and Kyon's perspective. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!

morbiusgreen