Chapter 1
"Why Not Follow the Crowd?"
The light of the day was slowly ebbing as the darkness began to consume the forever busy city of Tokyo, Japan. The
district wasn't as busy as it would normally be, since everyone was retiring to their respective homes for the evening to have
dinner with their family.
The effervescent glow of the advertisements cast eerie shadows to the dark parts of the city. I looked up at one of the
signs. It seemed it was barely hanging on its hinges and the light coming from it was dingy. I read it aloud "Liquor, Drugs, and
Cheap Whores". I shook my head. What are people thinking now-a-days? I continued past the skanky brothel and headed
towards the main street.
The alley I walked through was littered with so much trash that I didn't even feel like getting to the other side. But it
was the quickest way to get there. Any tourist would probably get lost in this city. It was like a giant maze; only with lots and lots of advertisements and signs.
"Ne, ne! Gin-chan! How much further? My wings are tired. Can I rest on your shoulder?" The annoying winged
creature behind me complained.
"Urusai na." I said, irritated at the pestering bat. Did he ever shut up? I flicked my index finger at him as a warning,
not feeling wholeheartedly up to punishing him if he continued to rant.
Alright. So maybe I have something to explain. Like, why I have a talking bat hovering around me. A few years ago,
my friend and I were joking around when he suddenly told me a secret he'd been keeping from me. I thought he was crazy at
first, but what do you expect from someone who didn't believe in the super natural?
He'd told me that he'd been studying alchemy for the past year. Alchemy is pretty much like the practice of
witchcraft. Only a lot different, as he had explained it.Everything has to be perfect for the 'spell' I guess you could call it, to
work. Alchemy basically converts one object of a certain mass into another, with the same mass, or density. If they aren't
correct, bad things could end up happening. Your whole body could be ripped to shreds, resulting in death, or even take the
form of some other creature. Sometimes your whole body may disappear, and your soul is left to claim whatever object just
happens to be around.
In this case, since he royally screwed up, my friend was changed into a bat. I laugh at him now and then and joke
about it often. But I really do feel bad for him. At least he can still talk. That's always a plus… right? I mean, you don't often
see a bat that talks.
The alley got brighter as we reached one of the main streets of Tokyo. The difference in brightness was so much that
I had to shield my poor eyes from it. "Itaiii…" I exaggerated. "It's so freaking bright in this stupid city." I rubbed my eyes. "Well
let's try to find our way to my Uncle's house." I looked left and right. Everything looked the same. I sighed inwardly.
People were walking along the sidewalk chatting idly with one another. The crowds had actually thinned down since
we had entered the maze of the alleyway. I looked up at the sky. The stars weren't very visible from here. This city just had too
many lights. I could tell it was dark though, and the moon should be almost at it's peak in the sky.
Some of the passerby's looked at me now and then as I tried to figure out where to go. They even gave me funny
looks. Wait, that wasn't at me, it was at Ake… my winged flying bat friend hovering beside me.
I coughed lightly, grabbed Ake and held him to my chest. "Shut up, don't move, and… well… Pretend you're a stuffed
animal or something, just don't do anything. You're drawing attention to me. So, just relax and let your wings rest, as you were
complaining about earlier."
"Bah! I don't want to. I'm fine. Hanasei! Let me go, let me go, let me go!" Ake complained again as he flapped his
wings relentlessly.
"Stop being such a little - "I looked up forgetting to finish my sentence. Something strange had just crossed my field
of vision. I'm seeing things, aren't I?
"Ano sa, Gin-chan? Daijabou desu ka?" Ake asked, perturbed by his suddenly quiet friend.
I looked around, not seeing anything now. What was that? I blinked, totally dumbfounded. A black… mist looking
thing? I must have been imagining things. I shook my head as if to shake off my weird feeling and looked down at the little
creature in my hands.
I smiled like the idiot I was "Betsuni..." I must have been trying to convince myself at the same time. That's how it
sounded to me.
Ake looked at me oddly and what he actually had said registered in my head "Ahh… I meant that I'm fine. Genki
desu!" I smiled again and laughed, trying to blow off what I'd just seen. Then, I glanced sideways trying not to look as stupid as
I felt.
"Yeeeahhhh…" Ake said unconvinced. "Anyways, we've been standing, or, well, you've been standing here for the
last 15 minutes. Can we go now?"
I sighed and nodded towards him. "Sure, I just need to figure out where to go." I took a piece of paper from my
pocket, studied the contents for a few seconds and then shoved it back to it's respective place. I took off in the left direction.
Might just as well follow the crowd, I thought, everyone else seems to. I laughed mentally at that.
I hope I'm not rambling too much.. heh. I should probably put some footnotes down for all those who don't know what I'm saying in Japanese(It's probably really gibberish to those who actually know it though lol )
Urusai na - "Shut up"
Itai - "Ow" or "Ouch"... or even "That hurts"
Hanasei - "Let me go"
Ano sa - "Hey"
Daijabou desu ka? - "Are you alright"
Betsuni - "It's nothing, really"
Genki desu - "I'm fine"