A.N. (11/8/21) - Forgot to publish the chapter this morning.
DNAngel (8) - Niwa Family
"What do you mean it didn't work?"
The girl known as Hio winced as she heard the sharp tone of the elder Hiwatari coming from the phone in her hands. "Exactly as I said, he didn't listen to my words. I think he grew resistant after last night."
Earlier, when she tried to hypnotize her target. For some reason, she could feel her magic working. But near the end, it was as if he somehow managed to ignore the effects instead of simply breaking out of it.
"It was a mistake to even try."
She bristled at his words. "It would have been the easiest way to get him under our control. But that's not all, he's growing stronger than when he first came here. I think he's starting to work things out, especially with your son trying to protect him for some reason."
A sigh came from the other end of the phone. "And what are you suggesting, exactly?"
"Lock him up, don't let him leave before the ceremony starts. It's just a few months, so it shouldn't be too troublesome…"
"I can't do that," his words interrupted her. "Multiple parties are interested in his… not exactly his well-being, but more of his situation. Any moves I make here will send waves amongst my circles."
"But sir—!"
"Right now, he's still just an ordinary person. Keeping him trapped may be counterproductive to us if he tries to figure out why we're so interested in him."
"Could he even do that if he's locked up?"
"The risk is not worth it." His tone turned cold as he gave his next order. "I want you to just keep a watch over him for the next few months. It's only till the end of the year, then his purpose will no longer matter. Are we clear?"
She hesitated but eventually answered him. "Yes, Sir."
The call ended.
}-{
There was a tense silence in the living room as Nagi found himself surrounded by the Niwa family.
To their credit, they weren't trying to make the situation uncomfortable. Rather, they seemed more curious as to what was going on in the first place. Even Dark, who tried to act like he wasn't interested, was lingering nearby in the corner waiting for Nagi to talk.
He gulped.
"N-Nice to meet you all…"
Nobody responded at first until the sound of muffled laughter drew his attention and allowed Nagi to realize that it was Dark who laughed. Everyone else ignored him, still managing to keep their attention on him instead.
"It's nice to meet you as well," the eldest of them said, an old man in his fifties or sixties. "Would you like to introduce us to yourself…?"
"Ah, right!" Nagi laughed nervously. "M-My name's Nagi Kujikawa, I recently moved here from a small country town called Inaba. You've probably never heard of it."
"Inaba?" This time, it was a young-looking woman who spoke. "I think I have a friend who lives there. Kimiko Sofue, we used to go to college together."
"That's right, it's been a while since we heard from her though." The man who spoke smiled. "But I think we're digressing, we should probably get to the main issue at hand."
And everyone stared at him again.
"Let's start with the big question first," Dark said. "Why exactly did you appear in our house?"
"Ahahaha… would you believe me if I said it was an accident?"
"Start from the beginning, if you can."
So Nagi began telling them exactly what happened starting from when he first left the infirmary at school. Nobody said anything as he told his story of entering a snow-covered world and how he met a creature that introduced itself as Jacky. During that time, the rest of the Niwa household remembered to introduce themselves, allowing Nagi to recall their names after having forgotten what they were from watching the series so long ago.
As he got to the point where he explained how he found himself appearing at their house, Dark made a noise of understanding. "Ah, I think I got it now. You appeared in our room because I accidentally released you."
"Released me?"
"Yes. When I felt something strange with the painting, I metaphorically 'poked' it with my magic to see what was wrong. Upon doing so, it allowed a small gap to open and reject what I assume to be any foreign beings from its world out of it. I doubt it was on purpose either, so it looks like all of this was just an accident."
An accident.
Those simple words didn't feel enough to describe the experience Nagi just underwent, but that was what it was in the end. Just an unlucky occurrence that he somehow got caught up in. Even in the end, when he was about to be attacked, he only managed to escape because Dark accidentally saved him on time.
"Again, I am sorry for just suddenly appearing in your home without warning."
"Oh, that's alright." The woman, who introduced herself as Emiko earlier, just gave a small laugh. "It's at least better than appearing in our house without warning on purpose. Then again, we're mostly worried about robbers in that case. A lot harder to deal with, especially with what we keep in our basement."
"I… what?"
"Ignore that," the old man, Daiki, sighed. "Random intruders aside, there's another issue we need to deal with. I'm surprised that you haven't commented on it up to now."
Another issue… oh!
"You're talking about Dark?" Nagi gestured in the phantom thief's general direction. "I mean, he was honestly a bit low on my priority list. The weird alternate dimension I was trapped in was more noteworthy in my opinion than some random thief."
Said thief snorted. "Sure, just gloss over the big-name famous criminal of the century, why don't you."
"Forget about him," Towa, the maid, gave a bright smile. "His ego can't handle getting any bigger. We're trying our best not to encourage him."
"But getting back to the issue," Emiko said. "We're not sure how much we should tell you. But it would help if you promise first that you won't call the police on us for having Dark here."
"I promise."
"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Not that we thought you would in the first place if you didn't freak out when you first saw him. But there was still that small risk…"
"I'm also curious about your story about entering the world inside the painting." The young man, who introduced himself as Kosuke, gave Nagi a curious look. "To think that Dai- erm, the painting that Dark took would be capable of such a thing."
Did they seriously try to pretend that Daisuke wasn't Dark at this point? They introduced themselves to him as the Niwa family earlier, knowing that he went to the same school and class as their son.
Still, if they didn't want to tell him, Nagi wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. "I'm more curious about how Jacky mentioned something about a 'queen' that ruled that world. I figured that she would be the most likely candidate for the reason why I entered that world."
"Ah, yes. The creature that resembled a Jack Frost."
Dark blinked. "Isn't that a type of demon? Are you saying the whole place might be full of those things?"
"I doubt it," Kosuke replied. "The number of demons appearing in modern times has drastically decreased over the past few centuries. Although, I did hear a rumor about some new demon summoners appearing a few years ago while I was traveling around. Maybe that might be worth looking into again."
Wait, what?
Before Nagi could ask for more clarification on that, Daiki spoke up. "This may not be demonic in nature. Rather, I assume that the painting must have developed a consciousness of its own. After all, there are plenty of Japanese myths of objects forming a will of their own. A sort of tsukumogami, or household spirit, if you will."
Dark frowned. "That doesn't sound right. Don't those take about a hundred years to form? I don't even think the painting is over a month old."
"I am referring to the Jack Frost. From young Nagi's story, the creature sounded young and mostly unaware of anything outside its own surroundings in the world of the painting. You're correct that it is unusual for a tsukumogami to form so fast, but there may be another explanation." Daiki sighed. "I fear that something else may have created a link to the painting as a medium. For whatever reason, I cannot say. But pouring that much magic into something like the painting, it may have allowed such a connection to support such a world so that the painting is now linked in a way as to access the world contained in it."
The explanation flew over Nagi's head, but Dark seemed to have understood it judging from the sigh that came out of his mouth. "Great, another pesky magical artifact acting up. Just another Tuesday, isn't it?"
"So if we identify which artwork is causing this," Kosuke interrupted. "We can find a way to stop the painting from causing trouble and growing stronger than it already is."
"I think I know which artwork it is."
Everyone turned to Nagi as he said that, and he blinked as he realized that everyone was paying attention to him now. "Erm… What I got from your conversation is that you think some kind of unknown magic artwork is using the painting somehow. If I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure it's something called the Second Hand of Time."
Even though it's been several decades since Nagi watched the series, he still recalled the various episodes detailing the story of the Second Hand of Time and the two lovers that made a wish upon it. Or rather, all of the clues before this helped him recall the name.
"How do you know this?"
At the question, Nagi blanked as he realized that he forgot to come up with an excuse. "Erm… I'm not sure? The name just popped up in my head."
Somehow, it worked.
"It's not unusual," Dark shrugged. "If a sufficiently powerful artwork grows strong enough, it must be due to possessing enough fame to make its name well known amidst the realm of human thought. Deep down, you might have learned the artwork's name without realizing it because of its magic and the fact that you were inside its world."
Really? While Nagi was glad for the save, Dark's explanation seemed a bit too convenient. Then again, it wasn't like Nagi was an expert on magic or whatever cognitive psience was at play.
"The Second Hand of Time…" Kosuke muttered. "I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere before."
"Maybe on a clock," Dark said with a yawn. "You know, that thing people use to tell how many seconds have passed."
"Do you think there's a First Hand of Time as well?" Towa asked with a tilt to her head. "But for some reason, I feel like I too have heard of this Second Hand of Time before…"
"That doesn't narrow it down," Emiko said. "There's a lot of famous artworks that you might have heard of over the past century."
"Ahem," Towa scowled. "I'm only ninety-eight years old, thank you very much. Still two years shy of a hundred."
At her words, Nagi just gave the young-looking maid a disbelieving look. She noticed and returned a bright smile his way.
"It's getting late," Emiko continued. "We should probably contact Nagi's parents and tell them that he's here with us."
...ah.
"W-Wait, that won't be necessary. I can find my way home from here."
"Nonsense, we can just call them and ask them to pick you up. No young boy should be walking around this late at night, and who knows how far you are from your house."
No, that wasn't important. Since he didn't have any parents, the only ones they could contact would be his current guardian, Commissioner Hiwatari. And Nagi definitely didn't want him finding out that he was at Niwa's house. The house of the family that was considered sworn enemies with the Hikari.
"It's fine really," he insisted. "I can make it back home on my own, it's really no trouble."
"Well…," Emiko hesitated. "If you're sure."
"I am, but thank you for the offer." He stood up and turned to Dark. "Also, I forgot to say it earlier. But thank you for rescuing me earlier. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't saved me on time."
He smirked. "You probably would have frozen to death."
"Probably, I didn't bring a jacket after all."
He snorted at that, before gesturing towards everyone else in the room. "You can talk to these folks if you ever get involved in something like this again. I'd tell you to forget about what happened tonight, but I have a feeling that my words would just fall on deaf ears."
Nagi nodded. "I'm still interested in learning more about the Second Hand of Time. I don't know why… but something about it calls out to me. I can't help but feel that there's some kind of connection between it and me."
Dark nodded. "Figured something like this would happen."
Nagi didn't know what to say to that. Bidding everyone farewell, he left and began making his way back to Hiwatari's place.
}-{
Now, there was just one problem left.
It was already evening, the sun in the distance was slowly sinking. Since this was his first day here, there was no excuse for why Nagi was coming home so late. He didn't have any clubs or other places to visit after school.
So what was he supposed to tell Hiwatari?
Despite the other boy only being in middle school, Hiwatari gave off the impression of being so much older than his outward appearance depicted. Ironic enough, considering it was Nagi who was the reincarnate.
Acting as his minder, it was in Nagi's best interest to not cross the other boy. Yet, somehow he had already done so not even a week after moving in with him.
Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for this.
Opening the doors, the first thing Nagi realized was that the lights were off. Making his way silently inside the apartment, he noticed a letter lying at the center of the table. Picking up the piece of paper, he realized it was a note from Hiwatari.
I'm going to come home late today.
There isn't any food in the fridge, so you can order takeout.
Reading it, he gave out a sigh of relief.
"Looks like I'm in luck. I doubt he'll realize how late I came home now."
But what exactly was keeping him out at this time of the day?
An idea came to him, and Nagi searched the apartment for a television. Finding one, he turned it on and switched to the news channel.
As he suspected, the reporter was currently discussing how earlier today a notice card was delivered to the police station. Spending the next few minutes listening to her, Nagi realized that Dark was going to go out on another heist today. And that meant that Hiwatari was going to be busy dealing with coordinating with the police on his capture for the rest of today.
"Guess I'll eat out today."
}-{
That night, Nagi was still awake.
Looking at the clock, he saw that it was only a few minutes away from midnight. Hiwatari still hasn't come home yet, and currently, he was alone in the living room.
"Two minutes left…"
The events of that day came back to him, and Nagi finally had time to gather his thoughts. His fight against Jack Frost, how he was somehow able to survive its attacks with barely any injuries.
But how was that possible? It wasn't just him becoming stronger out of nowhere, but a lot of other small things that didn't add up. The fact that he was barely cold after several dozen minutes of being in the snow, the fact that he had the energy to run around while he was being attacked.
It didn't make any sense.
"Could it be like the Dark Hour," he theorized. "For Persona users, entering a Shadow infested place usually improves their physical attributes to inhuman levels. But I don't have a Persona, so does it really make sense for me to become stronger all of a sudden?"
He looked up and noticed the clock tick.
11:59
"One minute left…"
Nagi waited with trepidation.
The only way he could test his theory was to see if his body changed or not during the Dark Hour. If that was the case, then Nagi could figure out the rest once he confirmed his theory.
And so, he counted.
—3
—2
—1
12:00
"...eh?"
Yet for some reason, the Dark Hour did not appear.
Somehow, I'm able to churn out a lot of words when I'm focussing only on one project at a time. In the past, I used to work on multiple stories at once, making it easy for me to lose track of details while writing out new chapters.
The disappearance of the Dark Hour is only limited to Nagi. Or rather, it should be better phrased as Nagi no longer being able to enter the Dark Hour. The reason as to why will eventually be revealed later on.