It had been a perfectly ordinary Saturday morning in the Awayuki mansion. Himeno had gone down to breakfast only to find that her stepsister Mayune's prank for this morning had been gluing Himeno's chopsticks to her placemat. When Himeno had tried to pick them up, the placemat had gone flying along with her plate and drink... Right onto Mayune's lap.

Himeno had decided to spend the day out of the house.

"Is it too much to ask to get through one breakfast without getting hurt, breaking something, or causing Mayune to swear revenge on me?" She muttered as she wandered aimlessly about the property.

No one answered.

A few minutes later she heard angry muttering along the lines of, "Couldn't have put it in a more inconvenient place and still be on the Awayuki property if they had tried! I swear sometimes they do it on purpose!"

Himeno didn't recognize the voice. Curious, she changed course and came to an opening in the trees where she could see a woman with a wheelbarrow staring at a pile of mulch almost as tall as she was.

"Good morning!" Himeno called.

The woman jumped and turned to face Himeno, "Ah! You scared me!"

"Gomen."

"It's okay. By the way, who're you?"

"Awayuki Himeno."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Tsubayasa Chiaki."

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be mulching the azalea garden, but it's on the other side of the house. And of course it rained last night, so this road is just too muddy to bring a vehicle down. I'm stuck using the wheelbarrow."

"Oh," said Himeno, getting ready to leave.

She paused. That pile of mulch was taller than Chiaki was. It would take forever for her to cart it to the azaleas by herself.

"Do you want me to help?"

Chiaki looked startled, "I think Mrs. Awayuki might be annoyed with me if she finds out I put her daughter to work."

"It's okay," Himeno assured her, "I need something to do anyways, and I like gardening."

"Alright then," Chiaki began shoveling mulch into the wheelbarrow, "There's another wheelbarrow in the storage shed over there. I think there's a second pitchfork, too."

"Hai!" she ran towards the shed.

Himeno returned and the two women worked in companionable silence for a while.

"So, Tsubayasa-san," Himeno began.

"Call me Chiaki. Formalities make me nervous."

Himeno laughed, "Okay, Chiaki. Why haven't I seen you around? I thought I knew most of the people here."

"I was only hired three days ago. Working for college money, and all that."

"Oh, that explains it. Where are you from?"

"Well, originally Tokyo, but I've been in Ireland for the past two years."

"Ireland? Wow, that's a long way away. What's it like?"

"It's the greenest place I've ever seen, but that's 'cause it rains a lot. Some people find it depressing. I liked it, though."

"Why were you in Ireland?"

"It was as far as my money would take me."

Himeno decided not to ask, and changed the subject.

"How embarrassing!" Himeno laughed at Chiaki's tale of her friend Wakika exploding a can of whipped cream while trying to make an ice cream sundae.

"I'll say! We were red enough you could see it through the whipped cream!"

They were walking back towards the mulch pile with empty wheelbarrows, when Chiaki stopped.

"What is it?" Himeno asked.

"There weren't these vines here when we came this way."

Himeno looked to see what she was talking about. Thick, thorny vines covered the path. They looked very foreboding.

"Maybe you took a wrong turn," Himeno suggested.

"It's possible," Chiaki pulled a set of ratcheting clippers out of her pocket, "But either way, these have got to go."

Chiaki stepped up to the curtain of vines and pulled one out. In a movement too fast for the eye to trace, the vines had shot out and grabbed Chiaki, lifting her into the air.

"What the hell?!" she screeched.

A small blast of fire struck the vines. They recoiled and dropped Chiaki.

"Whaah!" she landed on the ground with a soft thump, "What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you?!"

For Goh and Kei had arrived.

The vines were moving again. Chiaki stared at them.

"Chiaki, run!" Himeno yelled, "We'll be okay! Get away!"

She didn't need to be told twice. She took off back down the path, her long stride eating the turf.

The other Leafe Knights arrived, having sensed the power of the vines.

"Himeno!" Hayate reached for her. She grasped his hand.

[insert lengthy-and-annoying-after-the-second-time changing sequence here]

The Wind Sword cut through the vines easily, but more kept springing up. Himeno didn't have time to see where their power was coming from as they attacked from all sides.

Focusing on the part where the attacks seemed to be thickest, Himeno blazed forward. She could barely see for the flying bits of vine were everywhere.

Then, suddenly, the attacks stopped. Looking around, Himeno saw that she had cut all the way through. Standing before her was a small imp.

The imp clapped, "That was impressive! It's been a while since I fought anyone able to get past my vines. I can't believe I'm going to get paid just for that!"

The imp disappeared in a puff of smoke. The vines fell limp and began to crumble away.

Paid? Himeno wondered.

It be written! The first real chapter of Soul Collector. And it only took about what, a month?