¨Velvet Room? ¨ Tetsuya asked ¨But… is this some sort of prank? ¨
The long-nosed man chuckled ¨This is no prank, the Velvet Room is a place that exist between dream and reality, mind and matter¨ He extended his arm towards the other person in the bar aside from the student and this strange man ¨To my left, behind the counter is my assistant, Silvia¨ The woman with yellow eyes remained silent as she bowed both to her master and the newcomer ¨I am Igor and I inhabit this place¨
¨You… live in a bar? That is a strange way of living¨
¨The room manifests according to your own thoughts, perhaps you know the why¨ Igor allowed his hands to rest in front of him as he looked at the boy with his grim smile ¨I am certain you have questions right now, Fool, but you will have answers for them in due time¨
Something clicked in Tetsuya, it was a memory from that same day ¨Wait, you are the voice that talked to me in that dream. You mentioned a path of redemption, what was that? ¨
¨As I mentioned, there will be answers that will come in due time...¨ He made a movement with his hand and a glass filled with a dark liquid appeared; within that liquid there was something moving but the young one was not sure what it was ¨Your world is endangered by the messengers of an ancient evil and you will rise as its savior. But first you must awake to your true power, confront your true self much like others did in the past¨
¨Wait, why me? If there are others, then why not recruit them for this task? ¨ He was still confused but slowly decided to accept this, after all his mind thought that it was a dream.
¨Every Fool has to take a journey…¨ Igor let the glass on the table and then clapped. All around the bar a lot of shadowy figures appeared, all of them people who Tetsuya didn't recognize; some were talking, others were by the counter and even some were just walking around ¨…one that you will not take alone. These are all people who will come along in your journey¨
¨Why can't I see them? Can they even see me? ¨
¨Their minds are not strong enough to understand how this world works. Besides in order to appear in this place they require an invitation¨ Silvia was the one who spoke, explaining the situation to the Fool.
¨You will know who these people are as you meet them, for now they all remain shrouded in mystery¨
¨Back to the main topic… what are these ancient evils that I will have to face? ¨
¨I am afraid I have no information about them, it will be your task. But do not be afraid, we will meet once again soon¨
¨Wait, this makes no sense, you gave me a lot of questions but still not a lot of answers! ¨ The entire place was slowly fading to black ¨No… I need the answers! I-¨ He blinked and the next thing Tetsuya knew was that he was back at his own bedroom ¨What? ¨ The boy looked around, went by the window and noticed that barely any time has passed ever since he was in the Velvet Room, there were still people outside and the sun was still shining ¨What just happened? ¨ Tetsuya looked down at his hand and saw that the letter was still in his hand ¨The Fool… what could that even mean? ¨
The newcomer noticed that the door to his bedroom was closed and when he opened it the bar was no longer there, it was the hallway with the many doors to the other student's rooms. With many doubts he locked the door and left the letter on top of his desk, he then grabbed the phone and played with it for an hour before going to sleep.
- April 8th -
The answers you seek are in the shrine
…
Follow it and your path may continue.
Tetsuya woke up to the sound of thunder. He rose from the bed and saw how the sky was dark and there was rain pouring out. With utmost calm he grabbed his phone and saw that he didn't have much time left before classes started so the boy had to rush everything. He immediately switched to the black and green uniform, grabbed everything he needed for the first day and left the bedroom. On the main floor there were some students already dressed in their uniforms.
Before leaving the dorms Tetsuya walked to a vending machine that was inside of the building and bought a loaf of bread for breakfast ¨ (I should look for some work around here, I will run out of money soon) ¨ He thought to himself as he grabbed his meal and left the dormitory.
The rain didn't seem to stop, the young Hayashi was a couple of blocks away from Sagano and was still on time. Most of the students were able to cross the street but he was stuck on the other side as the green light shone and the cars started to move. Despite being very close to the city center it was still a bit quiet, probably because it was still early in the morning.
¨Oh no! ¨ An unknown male voice was rapidly approaching Tetsuya.
¨Wait up! ¨ Another unknown voice, except this one was female.
When the student turned he saw two young people using the same uniform as him, the boy had short brown hair and had a black and red backpack in his hands; behind this one was a girl with long dark red hair and wearing glasses. The guy on the front was trying to slow down but his shoes unfortunately slipped in the rain and caused his fall near Tetsuya.
¨Roka-senpai! ¨ The girl shouted and ran towards the fallen boy, dropping the umbrella and trying to help her friend.
Tetsuya looked at the two of them and went to grab the other umbrella.
¨Stupid rain, I hate it! ¨
¨Senpai if you didn't run then maybe you wouldn't have fall¨ The girl grabbed Roka's backpack and gave it to him as she helped him get back on his feet ¨Where's my umbrella? ¨ She turned and saw how Tetsuya was giving her the object back ¨Oh, thank you¨
By the time the dark haired was about to move the boy who fell stopped him with his voice ¨Wait a minute, have I've seen you before? ¨
¨Uhm… I believe not, I arrived to this city yesterday¨
¨Oh! You are the student from the countryside, yeah the student council prez' was talking about it yesterday morning, saying she wanted to meet the student from that famous town¨
¨Y-yeah she was excited yesterday¨ He said remembering the conversation and how Chika was very excited.
¨The name's Roka, Oishi Roka¨ The student hanged the backpack from his shoulder and then pointed with his thumb at the girl that was right beside him ¨The person who you gave the umbrella is Wakamura Hitomo¨
¨Hi¨ Hitomo waved.
¨I'm Hayashi Tetsuya, I arrived here yesterday and… had quite the interesting day¨ Of course talking about the Velvet Room, the voice in his dreams and the inhabitants of that place would mark him as the `weird one´ and right now his goal was not to be a target for the rest of the students.
¨I can imagine, meeting the prez' can be quite the experience¨ Roka chuckled and looked up ¨Hey, the light's gone red, we should go before we are late¨ The three of them walked together and stopped as they arrived at the school's entrance.
Much like the dorms it was a big building with a modern-westernized style, it had three floors as well as two buildings nearby, one was the gym and the other the cafeteria. By the entrance there was a big sign with the name of the school.
¨It was smaller in the pictures…¨ Tetsuya whispered, still in awe from his new school.
¨Come on¨ Roka tapped on his companion's shoulder ¨You don't want to get late on your first day¨
¨And you do, senpai? ¨
The brown haired remained silent for a moment, his gaze was blank for a few seconds ¨Yeah I guess not¨
The three of them split up to the different classrooms and continued their day. Fortunately for Tetsuya it was a calm and fast day and they were allowed to leave the school at noon and thus have the rest of the day for himself but (un)fortunately the same people that talked to him in the morning appeared once again.
¨Hey, Tetsuya-chan! ¨ Roka waved at the student, Hitomo was once again following her friend ¨Planning on going back to the dorms already? ¨
¨There is nothing else to do for today¨ He looked at the entrance, there were a lot of students leaving already and the rain stopped for now ¨Maybe I'll explore Kyoto¨
¨Oh, I'm glad you said that, Hitomo and I can show you around¨
¨Thanks but I want to leave my things back at the dorms first¨
¨Senpai, you should leave him do that first¨
¨Nonsense, the day is young and the faster we get away from this place the happier we'll be! ¨ With a lot of confidence the boy started to push the other students outside of the main building and acted as a guide for Tetsuya.
Their first stop was an area that was a street away from the school, it was a big fast food shop, very colorful and already with a lot of people inside, mainly students.
¨This is the Big Bang Burger, there's another one of these on the other side of the city, do you have one in your town uh… what was the name? ¨
¨Inaba, and no, we do have one of the best Ramen shops I've ever been to¨
¨Oh well, you should go there one day, unfortunately they said they have a challenge there but it's only available in Tokyo for some reason. Oh well, next stop! ¨ The trio kept moving with Roka on the front while the other two were following from behind.
¨So, Tetsuya-san, how are you liking Kyoto so far? ¨ The girl asked, she carried her umbrella on one hand while on the other she had her bag.
¨It is… different I suppose, the change of scenery and the fact that now it's louder than in the morning makes it a bit… annoying. Though I guess I can get used to it¨
¨That's the spirit! ¨ Said the guide ¨And speaking of spirit, tell me Tatsuya, have you gone to a temple before? ¨
¨When I was a kid, and its Tetsuya¨ The student corrected the other one and started to imagine what the next stop in this tour would be.
¨Alright so I'm pretty sure you heard that Kyoto has a lot of temples and shrines, both within the city and some others on the outskirts, the one we are going to see right now is Funashu Inari, if you think the city is loud then you will love when you go past the gates, it gets really quiet there, perfect for meditation¨
Unlike the fast food shop, the shrine was a bit far away from the school and the dorms. But Tetsuya already noticed how there was a bit more of peace around that neighborhood. Eventually the three of them arrived to a more secluded place where they were greeted by a long set of stairs and a Torii gate that led to the shrine itself; the classic style of this entrance was a sign that despite all the advances in society there were still some places that retained the old ways of Japan.
The walk to the top was quite fast and just like Roka said, everything was quiet. There weren't a lot of people there and those were mostly adults.
¨Welcome to the Fushima Inari shrine, it is not much like the golden one but it is something, and it's very close to the dorms¨
¨Sometimes I come here after a bad day to clear my mind¨ Hitomo said.
Tetsuya was looking around but something caught his attention; one of the doors to the temple was open but he couldn't see anything inside, instead what his eyes were seeing was a black and red spiral that felt inviting.
¨Were you listening? ¨
¨Huh? What? ¨
¨I said if you like this place… are you okay? ¨ The student was about to open his mouth to answer but got interrupted when they all heard the sound of thunder and suddenly rain started to fall over them ¨We need to find a roof¨ The guide looked to the sides and noticed the open door to the temple ¨Let's go! ¨ He started to run in that direction.
¨Senpai, wait, don't run or you'll fall! ¨ The friend had to follow and Tetsuya had no other option either, he followed the other two students inside, crossing the door and the strange spiral that he saw.
¨What…? ¨ Roka asked but the last person to enter didn't notice at first.
The inside of the temple was different than what they all thought, there were big red walls to the sides and a long hallway that forked at the end of it, they couldn't see anything above the walls and the light that was equally red. The floor and the ceiling shared the same blood-red hue and.
¨What is this? ¨ Tetsuya said, looking everywhere in front of him while Hitomo turned around to face the exit.
The answers you seek are in the shrine
A female voice rung in the boy's head, a pulsing pain that remained for a few seconds before leaving ¨The answers…¨ He repeated the same words ¨But what am I supposed to seek here? ¨
¨This is getting creepy; we should leave now¨
¨Uh… senpai… where's the exit? ¨ The girl with the glasses said with a little fear in his voice, shaky and uncertain on what to do.
¨What do you mean where's the exit? We just came from…¨ Roka's words trailed off when he saw that the entrance to the temple disappeared and instead it was replaced with the same hallway they were in ¨…there¨