Chapter One - A Fateful Encounter

POV: Unknown l Location: Japan

Running a little late, piece of toast in her mouth, was a 17 year old Schoolgirl by the name of Aishi Ayano, at first glance, she seems ordinary, but if one could peer into her very SOUL, one would find a certain emptiness, her external appearance a cleverly designed front, there is no medical reason for this emptiness of course, it has nothing to do with her physical body, it is an affliction of the SOUL, one that can be passed on to any descendants. Strangely, this emptiness makes her SOUL traitless, grey, not snow white as a monster soul, but devoid of any discernible color.

Despite having no significant care, Ayano still can feel a mild amount of pity, her emotions are not really non-existent, more likely suppressed, not that she would know the difference, but we might.

On any other day, in any other reality, she might have bumped into someone else, but as fate would have it, Ayano was destined to start a chain of events that would lead to revelations neither she nor he was expecting.

POV: Ayano

She was going to be late if she didn't run, for some reason she slept in. It's happened before, just by chance. Not that she really cared, but it would be disadvantageous to be tardy, then someone interrupted her by accident, she was in too much haste to notice him, the transfer student.

A discernible FWUMP was audible and she turned to look at the person who had so stupidly bumped into her, she thought she wouldn't care, but something had changed, was it his brown hair, his unnatural crimson red eyes or the strange feeling that she felt in her chest, no, maybe not her chest, near it, but not exactly in it. She couldn't explain it, not how or why, but she could feel. It was like a weight had been lifted from her chest that had been there all her life, like seeing color for the first time, like feeling the warmth of the sun when never having known it before. It was beautiful, she had hoped this feeling would last forever.

"Sorry." was all he said before he lent her a hand. She made it a point to know her classmates so to give the appearance that she was responsible and sociable, Chara Mason, a nationalized peer who up until last year had lived in Idaho State in the US and based on the talk of the school, he was likely moving back in a few months.

Just behind him, someone else had witnessed the event, an upperclassman, Taro Yamada. Funny, had she not bumped into Chara, she probably would have bumped into him. Fate seems to have other plans however.

POV: Chara

How annoying, but he had to be polite, his mother always admonished him if he wasn't. So he offered his help, biting his tongue secretly to avoid calling her an idiot for bumping into him like that and not paying attention to her surroundings. The upperclassman nearby offered help but none was needed, they made brief introductions and as they continued on their way to school, Chara could not help but feel this idiot was staring, he didn't mention anything though. He didn't care, he just wanted to get the day over with.

POV: Unknown

In this timeline, it took longer for Ayano to notice she required proximity to Chara to feel anything, as they were classmates, but when lunchtime came, it was noticed immediately by her, she sighed, that feeling was gone, she thought back to when her mother told her that one day she would find a special someone to complete her, if there was one thing Ayano was certain of, it was that this person, Chara, was that person, without question. Chara's opinion of Ayano was however, dismissive, he was never really sociable beyond common courtesy, he had no interest in making friends here anyway when he knew he was leaving in a few months, it didn't really matter to him, humans here put up a front of courtesy and politeness but he could tell he was a little unwelcome, he knew going back to their hometown wouldn't change much, but at least there he felt more at ease, Chara's lunch had a pre-packed chocolate donut, not really healthy but he managed to sneak it in with the sandwich his mother made him.

And that girl, kept staring at him, he noticed it, he didn't telegraph he knew, but it was obvious. Ayano Aishi, from what he understood, she had decent grades, though wasn't really an overachiever, she was sociable, but not exactly the talk of the school. She just seemed, average, normal even. Why the sudden interest in him, maybe because of their little incident earlier? Chara sighed and chomped on the donut, he couldn't shake the feeling that these next few months would be annoying.

School went on normally, Ayano cursed every moment she had to spend away from Chara, but knew she couldn't rush things, she knew one thing though, she needed to be near Chara as often as possible, the best way to do that it would seem, was to be with him as a lover, but she didn't really know how to accomplish that. It didn't matter though, one way or another, they would be together, there was no choice in it for Chara to her belief. Thankfully Chara didn't seem to have much interest in socializing with other girls, a few times a female student talked with them, Ayano felt fear, then hate, but these feelings subsided when Chara found ways to end the conversation without causing too much offense, she decided she'd watch and wait, if Chara wasn't interested in relationships, then that just meant she had time. An unexpected call from Info-Chan led to some interesting things, unexpected things. The possibility of catching her peer, Chara, had just increased, Info-chan had offered her services, of course there was a price, but Ayano had learned things from her mother that should help in meeting that price. It was a little distasteful, but no price was too great for taking Chara as her own.

When Ayano got home, her mother gave a call, Ayano and Ryoba talked about the day, then Ayano decided to ask a curious question.

"Mom, may I ask a question?" said Ayano, Ryoba replied "Of course. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I was wondering. Have you been to Idaho, and what's it like if you have?" Ryoba was curious as the very specific question, in fact her investigations had led her to that very state, she replied "It's nice, people are friendly enough and there's this one mountainside village that makes a very nice tea that your father clearly enjoys. Why the sudden interest?" Ayano then said "Well, there's someone I met, we accidentally bumped into eachother and, well it got me thinking about what you said earlier, about meeting someone who would complete me."

Ryoba understood what her daughter was talking about and said "Do you feel it's this someone?"

"Yes, definitely. His name is Chara and, unfortunately he'll be moving away to Idaho in a few months. It, wouldn't be too difficult to move there, would it?" said Ayano. Ryoba knew no matter what she said, Ayano would be dead set on following Chara, plus the Journalist is definitely a resident of the state of Idaho, two birds, one stone. Ayano can be with her special someone and nobody would ever be able to separate Ryoba from hers. It'd take some doing but it would indeed be possible. Ryoba then replied "Not really. It'd take a little effort but we could pull it off. I'm not sure if it would be able to be done before he moves, finances and all, but it would be an inevitability, I know you'd want to make the time spent away from them as minimal as possible, so I'll do my best to help with that. I do have things to finish here, but as it seems to turn out, my goals and yours align perfectly. It also might be a good idea to get away from the rumors too." Ayano didn't know, nor care about whatever her mother meant about rumors, but was glad this wasn't going to be a problem. Ryoba then said with an interested tone of voice "So, tell me all you know about this special someone."

And with those words said, Ayano couldn't shut up about what she'd learned. Ayano could always get the idea that her mother understood her, she was the perfect confidant and had more than enough advice and wisdom that would be very useful for achieving her ends.

Chara slumped into his bed after a mostly uneventful day, aside of course from bumping into that Aishi girl on the way to school. The voices started to get louder, he sighed, another fight between mom and dad. Hopefully in a few months the stress would reduce when they'd get back home. Dad kept going on and on about responsibilities to the group they were with, they were here for a purpose, that purpose had been fulfilled and now they were getting ready to head back, though slowly to avoid arousing suspicion. Chara didn't know the exact details, something about tea and the old legends about monsters. Hah, monsters. The only monsters Chara could think of were humans. He was losing his faith in humanity, not just because of his parents but because of pretty much everyone he met, always concerned with their own success, their own well being, social norms. If there were any good humans in this world, Chara certainly hasn't met them.

Still, he felt something strange, tugging away at him. That girl, something was off about her. Chara had a unique skill, he could sense people that were nearby, for some reason, it was like being able to sense their SOULs. He never confided about this to anyone, not even his parents, he didn't care to anyway, it was an advantage that helped him. But, Ayano's SOUL, if that was what he felt, was different. It was almost like it had been empty, that emptiness is why he accidentally bumped into her, it made her difficult to detect, but now whenever he was near her, he felt a sort of connection, a two way one. Chara didn't understand it, but he felt something in his own SOUL, like he knew fate has something planned for the two of them, what it was, he didn't know.

To be continued...