"Tanjiro, are you ready? You have to be there in 20 minutes!"

Tanjiro was just putting his uniform jacket on. "Almost!" he said. Quickly, he dashed out of his room, jumped down the stairs four at a time, and ran to the door to get his shoes on.

Nezuko, his younger sister, was already waiting there with her bag. She had pink eyes and her black hair was tied in a bun on the back of her head. Her face was soft, but sometimes her personality was anything but. She had her uniform on: a white shirt with a handkerchief tied under the collar and a black skirt.

"Jeez, Tanjiro, is it always like this?" she asked, somewhat annoyed and impatient. She pointed at her watch. "I don't want to be late on my first day!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Tanjiro said, sloppily tying his shoelaces. "I just slept in a little."

"Nezuko's been ready for 10 minutes already!" his mom said, walking up and handing his bag to him. "You better not get in any trouble, you hear? And your hair is a mess!" She looked almost exactly like Nezuko, but with purple eyes and her hair down.

"It's fine, it looks better like that anyway!" Tanjiro responded. For his part, he had a relatively soft face for a man, with red eyes and hair. Not red as in orange, but a dark crimson. He had his black pants and jacket on with a white shirt underneath. His tie was red with black lines running across it at random angles.

His mother sighed. "I guess it's fine for today. You two better get going to school, at this rate you'll need to run to make it."

Tanjiro shot up to his feet. "Alright, let's go!" He charged out the door as fast as he could. Nezuko was completely shocked by his speed, but hastened to follow him. The two waved to their mother on their way out.

"Good grief, I hope they don't get run over," she said to herself.

Nezuko was a good runner, but even she had a hard time catching up to her brother. "Do you always get to school by running!?" she yelled.

"Yeah, pretty much!" Tanjiro said back. He narrowly avoided running into a man on the sidewalk, then jumped right over a bike that was standing up on its kickstand. Nezuko apologized for him as she went around it.

"Slow down a little!" she said.

Tanjiro actually did slow down. He was still running, but Nezuko was able to get beside him. "Sorry, was I leaving you behind?"

"You need to set an alarm or something," Nezuko complained. "This is ridiculous!"

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Tanjiro pondered the idea for a moment. "But this is more fun!" he said, smiling.

"Maybe for a troublemaker like you!" Nezuko retorted. Tanjiro laughed.

They ran around a corner and almost bumped into a policeman. "Hey!" he yelled.

"Sorry, officer!" The two said in unison, neither of them slowing down.

"Damn kids," he mumbled.

Tanjiro led Nezuko through an alley, then the school was right across the street. He looked right and left, then crossed, pulling Nezuko along. "Hey!" she yelled, but she came along.

They walked around the fence to the other side of the block, where the gate was. "Look at that, we made it with five minutes to spare," Tanjiro said.

"That's barely something to brag about," Nezuko said. They walked inside.

"Have a good first day of high school," Tanjiro said. He waved, walking off to the stairs to get to the second floor where his classes were.

"Gee, thanks," she muttered, sarcastically.

Tanjiro found his class just a minute before the bell rang. The teacher, an older, slightly pudgy man with greying hair told him where to sit. He did as told and sat down right in front of a tired-looking blonde kid. To the blondie's left was another boy with a navy blue jacket on over his uniform. His hood was up, obscuring his face from view.

A few more stragglers came in, then the teacher started class.

"Alright kids, first thing's first, I'm Mr. Senza, and I'm your homeroom teacher this year. Hey, you there, in the back, take off your hood, that's disrespectful."

Everyone except the blonde turned to look at the kid, who muttered something, and took his hood down. A cacophony of whoah's, ooh's, and gasps echoed through the class. The kid, who was clearly male, had a face that looked oddly like a girl's, along with his black hair having blue tips. He looked at the floor in front of his desk.

"Alright, settle down," said Mr. Senza, "I'm gonna go over the school rules with you. You probably know them already and this definitely won't make you follow them, but I'm supposed to do this, so whatever."

He began to go over the uniform, the conduct, and whatever other rules the school had, but people were two busy staring at the oddly colored trio in the back to listen.

At lunch, there was a fight, but Tanjiro tried to keep his distance, so he didn't learn much about it. The rest of the day was uneventful, if uncomfortable. When the day was over, Tanjiro found Nezuko by the gate and they started walking home together.

"So, how was your first day?" Tanjiro asked.

"Hm, it was fine, I guess," she said. "Boring, though. I talked to another girl at lunch. We got along, but I didn't catch her name."

"Well, I'm sure you can ask her later," Tanjiro said. "I'm glad you had a good day."

"Thanks," Nezuko said, she smiled at Tanjiro. "How was your day? Made any friends yet?"

"Ah, well, no..." Tanjiro said.

Nezuko sighed. "I know your hair and eyes make people uncomfortable, but still..."

"Don't worry about it," said Tanjiro. "I have my family, after all."

"That's not the same," Nezuko replied. "You've gotta find people you really just like to be around. People who are like you."

"That's no fair," said Tanjiro, "I like to be around my family."

"That's not what I meant! Sign up for a club or something, you're a good athlete after all."

"Aw, but I don't want to stay at school after it's over," Tanjiro responded. He put his hands on the back of his head and looked up at the sky. "You'd think it'd be warmer, what with all this sun."

"Don't change the subject like that," Nezuko complained. "You're hopeless."

Tanjiro chuckled.

They walked the rest of the way home in silence. When they got to the house, Tanjiro opened the door "We're home!" he announced.

"Welcome back!" Their mother called from the kitchen.

In the living room, in front of the TV, Rokuta and Hanako, Tanjiro's youngest brother and sister respectively, had failed to even notice them. They were fighting over the remote, wrestling on the carpet trying to grab it from each other and making quite the racket. The fight stopped for a moment as Hanako managed to snatch it from Rokuta. "Hi Tanjiro," she said.

"Give it!" Rokuta yelled, continuing the fight.

Tanjiro and Nezuko sighed.

Soon after, Takeo and Shigeru, Tanjiro's younger and second younger brothers, ran in. "Hey, Tanjiro, do you wanna play my new game with us? Shigeru thinks he can beat you," Takeo said. He was a head shorter than Tanjiro, with short, messy black hair. Shigeru was a little shorter than Takeo, with much shorter hair. A buzz cut, basically.

"Maybe he can," said Tanjiro. "Do you have any homework?"

"No, it's the first day after all," Takeo responded.

"Alright, let's do it," Tanjiro said. The three of them went off to Takeo's room where he had his game system.

After a fun day and a nice dinner, Tanjiro headed off to bed. He was already tired, so he found it easy to drift off. It was a quiet night.

He woke with a start.

This wasn't his room, this was somewhere else. He was laying on something hard and cool. The ceiling above him was dark, but there was a warm light coming from in front of him. He waited for his eyes to adjust, then sat up. He saw, ahead of him, a squarish room with walls of indigo velvet. In the center of the room was a desk, with a tall, dimly burning candle in the center. A man sat behind the desk, he had black hair that fell below his shoulders. He looked ill, as his forehead was purple and veiny. He wore what appeared to be very traditional japanese garb, a black kimono with a white haori (a long, loose-sleeved jacket) over it. A deep whirring sound came from beyond a door behind the man.

The man reached out his hand, with his palm up. "Hello, child, my name is Ubuyashiki. Welcome to the velvet room." he said. His voice was oddly soothing.

Tanjiro stood up, which was when he realized the floor was made of glass. A dark, greenish-blue was all that could be seen below, fading into blackness after only a short distance. Behind him, the room narrowed and sloped slightly to a point. He turned back to the man, unable to find the right words to say.

Ubuyashiki chuckled. "You seem confused," he said. "Do not worry. In reality, you are still fast asleep."

Tanjiro stared for a moment, until he finally found his ability to speak. "Huh? But..."

He looked down at his hands, turning them over, then back up. He was still wearing his pajamas. He took in the room and its almost oppressively dark atmosphere.

Ubuyashiki smiled kindly at him. "This room exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," he explained. "It is a place only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter"

"A... contract?" Tanjiro asked.

"Indeed," Ubuyashiki responded. "This room reflects the state of your own heart. It intrigues me that it would appear as a yacht, especially in a place so dark."

"Huh? We're... inside a yacht?" Tanjiro asked. "So, then, there's water underneath the floor?"

"There is," said Ubuyashiki. "In addition, it seems that a great threat is hiding just below the surface."

"A great threat..." Tanjiro said to himself, looking down. At that moment, a huge, pitch black shadow moved right below the ship, obviously much larger than the yacht itself.

"Ahh!" Tajiro screamed, jumping somewhat.

Ubuyashiki simply nodded. "You must stay true to your convictions and your bonds," he said. "If you don't, it seems a terrible fate may swallow you whole."

"What? Really," Tanjiro asked, flustered.

"You will form a contract, after which you will return here," Ubuyashiki said. "Until then, farewell."

Tanjiro's vision began to darken, and soon he found himself fast asleep, once again.

When Tanjiro woke up, he only remembered having a strange dream, but nothing about what happened.

The rest of the week was fairly normal. On Wednesday, the history teacher, Mrs. Chisato, a black-haired woman with long hair and a short stature, called him to stand up.

"Mr. Kamado, what was the name of the allegiance between Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey during the late Roman Republic?" She asked.

"Uh... hmm..." Tanjiro didn't know if it was because he hadn't been listening, or if the teacher was trying to segue into the lesson, but he had no idea what the answer was.

"Tch," came a noise from the kid with a girl's face behind him.

"Um... The... trio?" Tanjiro said, wincing.

"Close," said Mrs. Chisato, "but no. This alliance between prominent Roman political figures was called the First Triumvirate. It was formed so each of the three men involved could avoid the democratic boundaries that prevented each of them from gaining more power individually. On that subject, today we'll start our unit on Rome."

'So it was just a segue,' Tanjiro thought as he sat back down. 'That's no fair.' Some of his classmates were staring at him.

Saturday came, and Tanjiro found Nezuko at the gate like always. On their way home, she told him about how she'd made plans to go shopping with some friends the next day.

"Sounds fun! I hope you have a good time," said Tanjiro.

"Thanks," Nezuko said. "You really should make some friends yourself, you know."

Tanjiro shrugged.

By noon on Sunday, Tanjiro had helped his younger siblings through their homework, and he had the rest of the day to relax. He went outside and took a walk around town, spending some time at the arcade and getting a snack. He got back around 4:00.

"Hey, Tanjiro, have you seen Nezuko?" said his mom. She was leaning on the back of the couch, with her phone in her hand. A news channel blathered quietly from the TV. "I told her to be back by now, and she hasn't answered my messages."

"She's probably just having fun and didn't realize," Tanjiro said, taking his shoes off.

"She's never been late like this before, though."

"I'm sure she's just having fun with her friends," Tanjiro reassured her. "She's in high school now, cut her some slack."

"You're probably right," his mother said. She turned her phone off and put it in her pocket. "I guess I'm just getting myself worked up."

When another hour passed with no news from Nezuko, the Kamado family started to really worry. Both Tanjiro and his mother tried to call her, but neither got a response. His mother called all her friends to ask if they had seen her, and none of them had.

45 more minutes passed.

"I'm going to call the police," Tanjiro's mother finally said.

"Really?" Tanjiro asked, but after thinking for a moment, said "No, you're probably right. This really isn't like her."

"Did something happen to Nezuko?" Rokuta asked. He was clearly on the verge of tears. So was Hanako.

Tanjiro decided to tell the truth. "I hope not, but at this point, maybe," he said.

The two children did start crying then.

"Don't worry, though. The police are on their way, and they'll help find her," he said. "They do that all the time. It's their job."

Hanako sniveled. "Really?" she asked.

Tanjiro nodded.

A few minutes passed, and soon there was a knock at the door. Tanjiro's mother rushed to open it. A man stood on the other side, wearing a navy blue suit and tie. He had long, black hair and an angular face. "You're Kie Kamado, right?" he said. Tanjiro's mother nodded. "I'm Giyu Tomioka. I'm a detective."

Kie craned her neck to look behind him. "It's just you?" she asked. Her expression was a mix of disappointment and despair.

The detective turned his head to the side, avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry. Criminal activity has taken a sharp rise recently, I'm the only one the police could spare."

Kie brought her hand to her mouth in shock and horror.

"I'll do everything I can, though," the man quickly said, "so please, tell me everything you know about what your daughter was doing before she disappeared." The man's voice seemed to carry no emotion, however.

"...Alright," said Kie.

She sat down on the couch with the detective, and Tanjiro brought them tea. She told him everywhere that Nezuko had planned on going, as well as the names of the friends she was with, and exactly when she had stopped answering her messages.

After he finished asking all the questions he had, Tomioka went outside to begin his investigation. He was just unlocking his car door when he heard the house's door close. He turned around to see Tanjiro standing there, wearing a grimace.

"C-can you really find her all on your own?" Tanjiro asked. "What if she's been kidnapped!?"

Tomioka sighed. "I don't know," he said. "As a policeman, there are rules I have to follow, and I sincerely doubt that the courts could find time to give me a warrant with the current situation."

"N-no way," Tanjiro stammered. "She's my sister!"

Tomioka closed his eyes for a moment. He then opened the door of his nondescript white car and leaned inside, opening the glove box and pulling something out. He turned back to Tanjiro and handed him a very plain business card. It read 'Urokudaki Private Investigation,' along with a phone number and address.

"This man, Sakonji Urokudaki, was my mentor. He's also the best private eye I know of. He's retired now, but he might just hear you out. Tell him Giyu Tomioka sent you."

This was an idea that I had and thought might be fun to experiment with. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter.