The atmosphere of the room became tense. We stared at each other in unbroken silence. I blinked, trying to process what Renko just literally said about several seconds ago. First, I encountered a sexy, crazy lady at the gas station who basically told me that every folk tale I heard as a child is true. Then I get stuck in a random traffic jam. Recently, about several minutes ago, another insane female whackjob ran out of aforementioned apartment building and bumped into me, causing injury to myself. That girl had the nerve to just run off without saying even a damn apology. And now, I have to deal with random bullshit spewing from who I think is another crazy nutjob trying to tell me that there is a another world in which the supernatural exists. I blink again as I run through the entire day so far in my mind. Deciding to hold any comments, I gesture for Renko to continue. I rather not act like an skeptical asshole for the second time today.

"The Secret Sealing Club is a circle that Maribel and I are members of.", she explained, "We founded this club for the sole purpose of finding out more about the world of Gensokyo and how to get there."

As I was thinking, I realized. Something is up about Renko's statement. I decide to say something. "So what you just said still doesn't quite answer what's been bothering me. How do you know of the existence of Gensokyo?"

Renko sighs and says, "Maribel… sees it through her dreams. That is hard to believe. However, I have had experienced the other world and other… supernatural occurrences with her."

I pause and wince. Trying to stifle my skepticism, I refrain from speaking. I wave my hand to gesture her to continue. Renko, being confused, asks, "What exactly do you want me to say? I mean, I can't exactly prove it to you unless Maribel's here. I don't know how I could exactly continue. I can't read minds."

I open my eyes and take a deep breath, then I ask, "Well. You could tell me about what have you come up with so far." I couldn't believe that I just say that. However, my mind seems to ditching all sort of rational thought and is jumping for the unknown. I had to admit to myself that this talk about the supernatural and other worlds was starting to excite me a bit. What am I thinking…. Of course it does! I contain my excitement, I rather not have my giddiness screw this up.

Renko starts telling about me about her exploits with her friend Maribel. From the moment they met in high school and investigated the Netherworld (Whatever that is) to their exploration of the TORIFUNE and their recent travels around Japan finding artifacts, it was a long time before she finished recounting them. About some hours. The TORIFUNE story was what removed all my skepticism. I had been fascinated with TORIFUNE when the project was announced. It was supposed to be a space station which was to contain a self-contained ecosystem. Kinda of like a Noah's Ark, but in space. A mysterious glitch had affected the station so the scientists couldn't control it anymore. It was left in space, derelict and abandoned for years. The public had considered it a great waste of money. I read the reports on what happened, being obsessed with the TORIFUNE project for a while as I wanted to make a game about a similar concept. The details were spot on with Renko's story.

Sorry, I kinda went back into my middle school space nerd phase. I really liked learning about outer space. Why wouldn't one be fascinated in an age where one can go to the moon on an tour? Renko and Maribel had met in school. They happened to get seats next to each other and made small talk. One boring day, they started talking about the supernatural and other topics and realized their mutual interests and passions for those sorts of things. Months later, Renko found a picture of the Netherworld and showed it to Maribel. They went to investigate one of the most well known shrines in all of Kyoto, the Hakurei Shrine. Unfortunately, the pair weren't allowed on the premises due to it being property of the Hakurei family who have forbade trespassers since 1885. After that, they formed the Secret Sealing Club to investigate strange matters in the hopes of finding out more about Gensokyo. Despite several attempts, they haven't been able to investigate and find out more about the Hakurei family. Until today.

"So the girl who bumped into me. She is a Hakurei?", I asked.

"Yep, she was sneaking around in my apartment, talking to herself for some reason.", Renko answered, "Luckily, she didn't steal anything from my room." She sighed in relief as she finished her sentence.

"What do you think she was doing in your room?" Why would she just come into Renko's apartment and sneak around, but not take anything?

"I don't know, but nothing seems to have been messed with. You want lunch or something? I'll invite Maribel and she could tell you a lot more.", she said.

Despite my better judgement, I reply, "Yes." I'm too intrigued by the prospect of investigating the possibility of the existence of another world alongside ours."

We suddenly heard knocks on the door. Renko walks over to the door. "Do you know who is at the door right now?", I asked out of curiosity. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Honestly, I don't know who it is. I didn't even call Maribel yet." Putting her hand on the doorknob, she then proceeded to open the door. I came over to see who it was.

Standing there was a girl with disheveled blonde hair about Renko's height. With her lilac blouse, dark lavender dress, and a mop cap, she looked like she was still living in the nineteenth century. Unusual features for someone living in Japan too. Blonde hair, pale skin, and… purple eyes? That's very peculiar indeed. I presume that this girl is Maribel Hearn. She stepped in like she was already familiar with Renko's apartment.

"Oh hi!", Maribel greeted with enthusiasm. "Who is this random guy? A boyfriend that I didn't know you have?"

Renko, taken aback by this question, stammered while blushing furiously. "No. H-h-he... He isn't my boyfriend! I just met Kaito this morning. I managed to apprehend a Hakurei, but I couldn't ask her any questions. She bumped into Kaito and I took him inside to have him rest a bit."

I was a bit sheepish, embarrassed by the mention of the incident. Then, I suddenly remembered something important! The handcart! My stuff! All of my belongings are still downstairs! "I got to go get my stuff, I'll be back later!", I spoke quickly. I proceeded to run out of Renko's apartment, leaving the pair.

Author's Note: Man, I have not wrote in a while. I'm kinda losing inspiration with this story and I don't want to disappoint you guys by writing crap. I have also been gaming too much. Maybe I just need to get in the mood again. I'll have to do way more research. I'll try to write more often. I don't want to leave this story incomplete like so many others on this website. I hope you guys aren't pissy or anything over it. And as always, please rate and review so I can improve! All comments help!

-Kaito Sekozawa

If you guys want to read a cool story set in the RWBY universe, I suggest you go to my friend's story.
s/12028446/1/Citizens-of-Vale

You guys should also see my other story Operation Detachment. It's a story set in the Rising Storm (Red Orchestra 2) universe where two soldiers from California fight on Iwo Jima.
s/11900852/1/Operation-Detachment