Author's Note: You'll see references to random games and stuff. It's something I like to add in just for the heck of it. If you don't get it, Google or YouTube it. The chapters following this one are all roughly the same length as this, mostly because I didn't have much time when I wrote them. Sorry if they're short. I'll do my best to improve them as I go along.

I'd post the warning here, but you guys probably know by now. Incidentally, did anyone notice that it took 9 chapters for a single day to pass in this story? Hehe, I have a bad habit of making things drag on, don't I? And with this we start Arc 2!

Hishoji skillfully inputted the required buttons for the final attack of the 2D game he was playing on the computer.

"Take this!" His character inside the game spoke as she fired off an enormous rainbow colored beam. "Love Sign 'Master Spark'!"

The beam engulfed his opponent in the game, and Hishoji cheered the attack on silently as it dealt the finishing attack, reducing the life bar of his opponent to zero.

His victory was short lived though, as weird letters in a font Hishoji had never seen before began to form around his computer screen.

"I don't remember this being in the game," Hishoji muttered as he looked at the letters. They were slowly beginning to form a sentence. "'Eye ham a little shit.' What?"

No sooner had Hishoji spoke the sentence out loud did his computer screen suddenly begin to distort as a head started emerging out of it.

"What the eff?" Hishoji recognized the face instantly. After all, it was his face. The tattered red jacket confirmed his identity. "The hell are you doing in there, Shinki?"

"Beats me," Shinki shrugged, then gave Hishoji a look that sent shivers down his spine. "Now stop dreaming and wake the hell up. Ayumi says it's time for school."

"Wake up? School?" Hishoji was genuinely confused. "You mean I'm dreaming?"

"You can't even differentiate between reality and your dreams? Figures, since you're playing games even in your sleep," Shinki walked closer to Hishoji and raised his feet, revealing that he was wearing boots that had sharp, shiny spikes underneath them. "Real nice of you to admit that you're a little shit by the way. And now, boot to the head."

"Gyaahhh!" Hishoji jumped off the floor in a panic, and unfortunately went headfirst into the "Wall of Blood". The collision caused him to become disorientated, and he started to see double.

"Wow, he actually did it." A startled Ayumi blinked. It was a good idea to allow Shinki to wake Hishoji up after all. The three alarm clocks they bought never really did their jobs, and since Shinki had kindly offered to wake Hishoji up without any terms and conditions, Ayumi took up his offer instantly.

Hishoji cursed out loud after a few seconds of looking around his room with a dazed look in his eyes. He gave Ayumi a look of anger as he went into the toilet to wash up, swearing revenge on Shinki for such a cruel wake-up call.

Well someone had to do it, I simply volunteered. Shouldn't you be praising me for doing a good thing for once? Shinki chuckled.

"What the hell happened to our deal?" Hishoji rolled his eyes.

The deal never said anything about not doing good things for you without abusing my powers. Now, shouldn't you hurry up? Kuroi is starting to annoy me with his enthusiasm about this 'school' thing.

Indeed, Kuroi chipped in. It certainly sounds like a nice place.

"Nice? Pfft, only if you have any intention of studying," The water felt freezing cold on Hishoji's face. As his bed had been cleaved in half by Volt, he had to spend the entire night sleeping on the floor, and his body was now starting to ache. "And while we're at it, don't try to pull anything funny there. Or I might not even have a school to go to, just like I don't have a bed to sleep in now."

"Eh? Why aren't you getting dressed?" Hishoji asked Ayumi as he chowed down on some bread.

"It's a holiday for me today, remember? Something about our class having the top performance for five times in a row, so the principal gave us an off day."

"Man, I wish I could have today off too. We have sports today. I hate sports. Something bad always happens during sports."

"Maybe if you exercised more you won't get an injury every time you attempt something as easy as running." Ayumi suggested.

"It's not my fault I prefer exercising my brain by playing console games than exercising my body doing physical activities," Hishoji shrugged and grabbed his cellphone. "Anyway, I'm gonna be late if I dally any longer. We'll contact each other through phone if anything happens."

The chinking of armor could be heard as Volt walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," he rubbed his eyes. "So uh, what are we doing today?"

"Nothing much. I'm heading off to school," Hishoji yawned, then looked at Volt with an eyebrow raised. "Hey, do you take off your armor when you sleep?"

"Nope."

"Figures. Well you DO take it off when taking a bath, right?"

"Only if you guys had a hot spring around, which you don't. So no, I won't be removing it when I bathe. Why do you ask?"

"...Seriously? I wish I never asked. Anyway, I guess you should stay with Ayumi today and protect the house or something in case another monster appears. Well, gotta go."

He went out of the house and headed for school, leaving behind a confused Volt.

"What was that about my armor?"

On the way to school, Hishoji was given many odd looks by other students who were headed for the same destination. And true enough, if one didn't know better, one would assume he had a screw loose in his head from the way he was wearing a red glove on his right hand and a black one in his left, and how he was constantly talking to himself.

It didn't help that once he was in class, the students began to gossip about him. Amongst them was Hishoji's friend Edmund, who had a passion for collecting weird, mostly harmless rumors. Since the gossip involved Hishoji and could potentially hurt his feelings, Edmund wasn't too happy. He broke off from the group roughly five seconds after he joined them, and went to his seat beside with a disappointed look on his face.

Judging from Edmund's behavior, Hishoji assumed that there were no interesting rumors for the day. Most of the time, when Edmund got word of an interesting rumor, he would spread the news around the school with a shine in his eyes.

The students at the back continued their gossiping even without Edmund, and despite Hishoji's best efforts to ignore them, their claims were getting louder and more ridiculous by the second.

"I heard his parents were injured in an accident of some sort."

"Really? Was he the one who had both his parents in a coma state or something?"

"But I heard his parents died?"

"No no, I heard that his dad was the one who died. His mother's the one in the coma."

Hishoji couldn't take it anymore, and glared at the ones who seem to be taking delight in talking about his parents. They noticed him and quickly moved to another corner, presumably to continue their gossiping. It wasn't like he could do anything to them anyway. Yesterday had been crazy with the entire Monster Hunter stuff going on. Still, he had an uneasy feeling today wasn't going to be normal either.

Not like it's going to be normal again. Ever. Not with me around. Shinki's voice echoed in his head.

"Whatever." Hishoji searched his bag for his spare PSP. It was a backup, with almost no save data on it, but it'll have to do for now. Using Mark to play would feel weird as well, and if he had spoken out loud then his classmates would get suspicious of him.

Fortunately I left Mark at home, he turned on the PSP and plugged in his earphones. His game booted up at the same time the teacher entered the class. Hopefully the craziness will be kept to a minimum.

Ayumi sighed. The house feels strangely empty without her parents around. Granted, they were normally out working, but they only left for work in the later part of the day, and were they still here today they would have found some way to strike up a conversation with her or something. Anything was better than this silence. She found herself remembering all the time she had together with her parents.

I can't talk to them ever again, huh... Her eyes started to tear up again.

Have faith, Ayumi. Shira's voice comforted her. It's not like they aren't alive anymore. There's still a chance that they might wake up.

Yeah...thanks, Shira. Ayumi shot a glance at the clock in her room.

"10 AM, huh? Looks like it's gonna be a long day," She sat on her bed and looked out the window at the dark clouds that were swiftly approaching. "Huh? The weather report didn't say anything about it raining today."

"Hey Ayumi, what's this giant black thing with the screen supposed to be?" Volt asked and pointed at the television as he entered her room.

Ayumi gave a little jump. With all the reminiscing about her parents she had nearly forgot the presence of the hunter in their house entirely. Maybe it won't be as bad as she thought after all. Still, it wasn't right to enter someone's room without knocking.

"You really should knock before you enter," Ayumi gave him a disapproving look. "Anyway, that's a TV. Short for television. I'll show you how it works."

Very interesting game you're playing. Kuroi's voice suddenly rang out inside Hishoji's head, completely drowning out the sound from the earphones. But in case you haven't noticed, the lesson's over.

Hishoji looked up from his PSP, and took off his earphones. He hasn't noticed the time since he started playing, and now the class was almost deserted.

"Good thing the teacher didn't notice the two of you," Hishoji muttered as he looked at the gloves he was wearing. "Well, it's not like she ever notices anything anyway. Not even me playing a PSP in her class. Well, time for me to hide somewhere and avoid sports."

"Oh no you don't."

Someone pulled Hishoji by his collar, causing him to gag slightly. He struggled and broke free, casting an irritated look at the person who just manhandled him.

Unfortunately for him, it happened to be their class chairperson, Elizabeth. She had her hair tied up in double ponytails, and facial features which complimented each other so nicely such that most other girls would be green with jealousy.

Unfortunately, Hishoji couldn't really be bothered with her.

"Elizabeth, do you really enjoy seeing me suffer injuries in sports?" Hishoji muttered.

Elizabeth gave him an amused look with her blue eyes, and then her expression went back to a serious one.

"It's my job," she stated, "Come on, let's get going already. Mr Aloysius isn't going to be happy if you're late again." She turned and went towards the stairs.

"I hate sports. Something bad always happens during sports. I bet today-"

"A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!" Hishoji's PSP cut him off midway. He remembered that he was in the middle of an arcade fighter game, and that the volume was on max. He quickly switched it off with a worried expression on his face.

"That has got to be some kind of foreshadowing."

The rain arrived sooner than Ayumi had anticipated, and she ran around the house in a hurry to close all the windows after taking in the laundry.

"Volt! Help me out here!" She shouted.

"Can't do that, this TV thing is too interesting!" Volt replied from inside her room.

"Dammit," she swore, "Should never have introduced him to TV. Now, where else? Oh, first floor."

She made her way to the first floor and started to close the windows as well. As she reached for the last window to close, she froze. It might have been a trick her eyes were playing on her, but for a moment Ayumi thought she saw something move.

Something's out there. Don't make any sudden movements. Shira confirmed her suspicions. This feeling...I believe I know who it is.

Right. She slowly begun to back off as the wind outside picked up speed, blowing with enough force to make the last window close with a sharp click.

A minute passed, and Ayumi scanned the area outside through the window. The rain obscured her sight, and she couldn't see any farther than three, maybe four meters. And yet the ominous feeling that there was something outside did not pass. If anything, it got even stronger.

And then she saw it at the same time it saw her. A creature completely covered in what appears to be a solid white spinning mass of wind, and Ayumi could just about make out what appeared to be two black eyes focused on her.

The Kushala Daora let out a roar that shook the foundations of the house.