The Writer of Questionable Stories grumbled through his teeth as he gulped down another glass of guava juice and flipped another page.
"...This is just freakin' great. I spill my favorite beverage, fry my hardware for a week, AND I cause a catastrophic case of reality displacement. What ELSE can go wrong now?"
"Still working on that sad, sorry mess?"
"Hey, it was your idea."
"Of course... but you DO realize that you'll eventually need to readjust and correct that imbalance you've created, you know."
The Writer of Questionable Stories grimaced as he turned up the sarcasm to maximum amplitude.
"And just what do you think I'm doing at the moment, hmmmm? Now stop pestering me. I've got an entire reality to correct."
"Then again, you COULD do THAT..."
"...Don't even go there."
SHAKUGAN NO YUJI?
Chapter 9002: The Backlit Flame
And here I was thinking that my life in Misaki couldn't get any less normal. Now some annoying fellow shows up, looking as though he'd caught his hair and eyes in a three-alarm fire, and tells me that the "real me" no longer exists.
Hmph. Maybe I should've just called in sick this morning.
Shana sat down on the park bench next to the young man who'd come to her aid earlier that afternoon. The girl was quiet up to the point when he finished explaining the entire situation.
"So... let me get this completely straight. This world shifts next to that of another dimension, called the Crimson Realm. Denizens from that Crimson Realm come to our reality to extract Power of Existence from humans in order to fuel their desires in the form of Unrestricted Methods. They use tools called Rinne in order to carry out their plans. You're a Flame Haze, contracted to Alastor, Flame of Heaven, who is a Crimson Lord. Crimson Lords maintain the balance between the two worlds in part by hunting down Denizens, repairing dimensional damage, and by creating Torches, or temporary existential human replacements, such as myself. So by implication, that means the 'real me' no longer exists."
The boy sadly nodded.
"That's right. And eventually, just like any other Torch, the rest of what little Power of Existence that remains in you will burn away and..."
Shana finished his sentence.
"...I'll disappear."
Alastor spoke up again.
"For a Mystes, you're taking this incredibly well. Most Torches we explain the situation to usually become so consumed with their eventual non-existence that they simply go insane or commit suicide."
Shana shrugged.
"Nothing can be done about it. And if nothing can be done about it, what's the use of struggling or putting up a fuss about it? Now with that..."
Shana got up from the bench and dusted off her hindquarters. The boy looked askance at her.
"So what are you going to do?"
Shana looked over her shoulder at the young boy.
"What else? I'm going to fully enjoy what little time I've got remaining, that's what."
Shana quickly dashed over to a nearby cart that was selling melon bread and brandished a wad of yen bills in the vendor's astonished face.
"Hey, you! I'm buying all of your melon bread! Yes, yes, ALL of it! Say, do you have a handtruck, wagon, or dolly for me to carry all this with?"
The boy smiled wanly as Shana began piling her purchases into her arms.
"She's got a lot of spirit."
"Indeed. You know, if she weren't in these circumstances... with her personality and talents, she would have made a great Flame Haze."
The little doll in the elegant white suit mumbled apologetically.
"I... please forgive me, Mistress. I lost one of your favored Rinne, and failed to obtain the Mystes' treasure."
The blonde-haired woman in the purple evening dress shushed it with a caress and a loving nuzzle.
"Hush, my darling Friagne. There was nothing you could reasonably do in those circumstances. Flame Hazes are such crude, overpowering brutes, trying to come between our dearest wishes."
The doll that was Friagne seemed to tremble in ecstasy.
"You're so good to me, Mistress... I only wish I could make up for my mistake. That Flame Haze... and that infuriating Mystes! I so desperately desire to redeem myself. You've done so much for me already... I can't just sit idly by and let this play out by itself-"
The woman laid a finger on the doll's face, quieting it with a gesture.
"In time, in time, my darling Friagne. But for now... please rest. We shall deal with this interloper soon."
Even as the doll fell silent, the woman smiled thinly as she looked over the Crystal Altar once more.
"Hmph. The one with Crimson Hair and Burning Eyes, eh? This should be interesting..."
Shana sighed as she contemplated the cup of instant ramen sitting in front of her. Wilhelmina, her guardian, looked up from her own cup as she quietly slurped a mouthful of noodles.
"Truly, something seems to be matter with you this evening."
Shana looked over to Wilhelmina, who was regarding her intently.
"...Wilhelmina, could I ask you a question?"
"Truly, what would that question be?"
"If... if a friend were to disappear soon, what would you do?"
Wilhelmina was silent for a long moment. Then she quietly spoke.
"Truly, is that the situation in which you find yourself? Are you about to disappear?"
Shana quickly and vehemently shook her head in hasty denial.
"N-no! That's not what I meant! It's just... never mind. Forget I said anything."
Wilhelmina took in another mouthful of noodles... then abruptly got out of her chair. Shana looked up in some mild puzzlement.
"Wilhelmina, what are you-"
"Please excuse this one for what she is about to do."
Shana's eyes widened as she abruptly felt her guardian embrace her. Shana quietly smiled as Wilhelmina spoke again.
"Truly, if a friend of mine were to disappear... I would be most unhappy."
"Wilhelmina..."
The next morning found Shana stepping out the door of her apartment. To her surprise, she found the young boy standing near the entryway to the complex. Shana had a vexed look on her face as she spoke in an annoyed tone.
"Y-you!? What are you doing here!? You're not stalking me, are you?!"
Shana reinforced that last accusation by pointing her katana at his neck. The boy quickly stammered and waved his hands in a panicked attempt to placate the irate Mystes.
"N-no! Nothing like that... I... Alastor and I were discussing the situation yesterday evening, and we both agreed that it would be wise for us to keep an eye on you."
Alastor's voice spoke into the air.
"Those Rinne that attacked you yesterday were quite intent on opening you up. Whatever you have inside you, it definitely calls for close watch on our part."
Shana pointed at him.
"How does he... do that?"
The boy blinked.
"Do what?"
"Talk, that's what, idiot! How does Alastor talk? You're not a ventriloquist by any chance, are you?"
The boy laughed mildly in puzzled humor.
"A what?"
"A ventriloquist! Don't tell me you don't know what a ven... Agh, forget it. But how does Alastor communicate?"
The boy laughed again.
"Ohh, that."
Pointing to his belt, the boy tugged on a ring of keys that was attached to his waist. Attached by a chain to the keyring was a small orb of glass crisscrossed with wire. Shining within the ornament's depths was a curious glow that looked like a spark of flame that had been given life.
"It's through this. It's called a Cocytus. Through it, Alastor sees what I see, and can communicate."
Shana sighed.
"I see. Anyways, if you are going to stalk me, just don't follow me too closely. Someone from school might see us and get the wrong idea."
The boy blinked in mild bewilderment.
"Huh? What sort of wrong idea?"
Shana blushed like a tomato and quickly ran off down the street, hollering her words back at him angrily.
"Shut up, shut up, shut UP! None of your business, okay!?"
The bell rang. Shana sighed as she took her seat and leaned back in her chair, awaiting another session of pointless classes. She groaned as she saw an unwelcome figure in a white lab coat walk... or rather, leap into the classroom.
Oh great... it's that nutjob of a science teacher, Dantalion, here to once again extoll the wonders of our universe for our benefit.
Dantalion jumped into his teacher's chair with a terrific bound and flashed everyone in the classroom a half-brilliant, half-crazed smile.
"GOOOOOD MOOOOORNING, everyone! It is an EXCELLEEEEENT day, I'm sure! Is everyone REAAAADY!?"
Shana grimaced, even as Dantalion's teaching aide, a weirdly odd robot he called Domino 28, waddled into the room after him.
"Ah, Professor... try not to blow up the classroom today. The rest of the faculty has voiced their fears for the safety of the class-"
Professor Dantalion whacked his aide with a Bunsen burner as he spoke in a somewhat injured tone of voice.
"QUIIIIET! No risk is too great in the pursuit of knowledge! The wonders of science must be explored thoroughly! YESSSSS!"
Suddenly, a quiet voice whispered to Shana from her right.
"...He's quite... interesting, isn't he?"
Shana spun around in alarm as she saw an all-too-familiar figure sitting in the chair next to hers. The Flame Haze simply smiled and waved.
"Y-you... WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"
Shana jumped out of her chair, grabbed him by the collar, and began to angrily shake him like a maraca.
"U-ugh... don't shake me so much... E-everything's spinning..."
Dantalion, seeing the spectacle in front of him, rubbed his chin in intrigued interest.
"Ah... STUUUUNNNING! The mystery of love... the chemistry of reproduction! HOOOOW ROMAAAANTIC!"
Shana turned red in the face and angrily shook the hapless Flame Haze harder.
"Pervert! Stalker! IDIOT!"
"Seriously, did you have to shake him so hard? You shouldn't have taken out your frustrations on a fellow student like that..."
"Ehhhh!?" Shana spun around as Khamsin gently chided her during the lunch hour. "Him!? A student!? HERE!?"
Khamsin sipped at his milk.
"Don't tell me you're THAT unaware of your surroundings, Shana. Hirai-kun's been sitting next to you since the beginning of this class term."
Shana was about to speak angrily in protest, but suddenly stopped in her tracks as an uneasy realization came to her.
I... I never... Come to think of it, I was so convinced that classes were such a waste of time that I never even noticed the student sitting next to me in the room... Wait a minute, was Hirai even a boy to begin with!?
Shaking her head in an attempt to clear the confusing thoughts from her brain, Shana continued with her argument.
"Even if I didn't notice, you can't tell me that Hirai looks like that!"
Khamsin looked askance at Shana, as if she'd suddenly lost her mind.
"What are you talking about? Hirai-kun's always looked like that."
The Flame Haze sat on the roof, munching away at a riceball for lunch.
"Well, this is fun. And new. I've never had school like this before."
Alastor hummed in quiet agreement.
"Mmm. This must be a new experience for you."
"Yep. You and Mother always taught me everything back home, so I never had a chance to associate with fellow academic peers."
Alastor's voice took on a warning tone.
"Don't forget, however, that our first priority is monitoring the Mystes. We must not let down our guard. That Denizen might strike at any time."
"Yes, yes... I understand."
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the Flame Haze, darkening his view. Looking up in surprise, he found himself staring up at Shana. The Mystes had a decidedly irritated look on her face. The Flame Haze smiled warmly.
"Oh... hi."
Shana was silent for a long moment before she spoke.
"...How did you do it?"
The Flame Haze blinked.
"Huh?"
"Don't fool around with me, idiot! How did you deceive everyone into thinking that you're actually part of the class!?"
He blinked again, this time in realization.
"Oh. That. That's easy. I simply took over the existence of the classmate that had been sitting in the chair next to you."
A look of confusion intermixed with the annoyance already present on her face.
"...What are you talking about?"
The Flame Haze looked down at the riceball in his hands.
"The classmate sitting next to you... was already a Torch for some time. She'd been ready to burn out at any moment, in fact."
"W-wait... did you just say 'she'?!"
He nodded. There was a look of mournful regret on his face as he did so. Alastor's voice cut into the silence.
"Yukari, daughter of the Hirai family. Her whole family, in fact, had already been a family of Torches for some time. A family destined for existential oblivion. A Denizen most likely got them all during a sweep for Power of Existence. She was the last one left. From that point of view, it was just a matter of taking what little of her existence remained and adjusting it to serve my purpose. I've just simply taken her place in this plane's reality. To be honest, I'm not happy about it, but it was necessary."
Shana couldn't tell why, but something about the idea of her classmate's existence being used in such a way irritated her.
"Necessary for what!?"
The Flame Haze looked up at Shana. His gaze was gentle, but at the same time, seemed oddly intense.
"...To keep a closer eye on you, of course."
Without warning, Shana felt her cheeks heat up. The Flame Haze blinked.
"Is... something wrong? You're looking awfully red in the face."
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
The bell rang, signalling the end of another day of classes. Shana slowly walked out the gates, looking back up at the school.
So... one day very soon, I'll disappear just like my classmate Hirai, eh?
The Flame Haze was following a discreet distance away. Shana looked over to him and narrowed her eyes. She considered for a long moment, then sighed and walked over to him.
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"Do you have a name?"
The Flame Haze blinked. "Ummm... Flame Hazes don't really have personal names. Most of the time, I just go by the title of 'Flaming-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter'. Why do you ask?"
Shana sighed.
"You really are clueless, aren't you? If you're going to be stalking me this often, it wouldn't help me if I didn't have something to call you by."
The Flame Haze thought for a long moment.
"Well... Before I became a Flame Haze, my mother just called me 'Yuji'."
Shana sighed in exasperation.
"That'll do, it's as good as any. Very well, then... 'Yuji'. That's what I'll call you from now on. Do you mind?"
Yuji smiled, once again warmly.
"Mmm. I don't mind. Now that we're on the topic of names, I'd like to know yours as well."
The Mystes blushed.
"Shut up, shut up, shut UP!"
Yuji laughed.
"Is that a 'no'?"
"..."
"Well?"
"...Just call me Shana."
So there I was, stuck with a pervert stalker of a Flame Haze named Yuji. I had no idea, however, of what was within me... or of the absolute chaos that was about to follow.
The Writer of Questionable Stories groaned as he finished the last page.
"Urgh... Two sections finished. At this rate, I'll never be able to get the re-tuning process completed."
To Be Continued...?