"Miku, what are you doing?" Yotsuba asked her sister, while Miku wasn't the most active one, it was weird for her to be so much into looking at her phone.
"..." there wasn't a response. She was still with a laser focus on her phone.
"Yotsuba she is wearing her headphones she can't hear you" Nino pulled Miku headphones surprising the quiet girl.
"Hey" clearly annoyed about nino distracting her.
"Yotsuba was calling you"
"Huh? sorry I didn't hear you" Miku turned to finally realize how close Yotsuba was, when she followed her eyes it pointed to her phone.
"Miku, you've been stuck in your phone since the afternoon" Yotsuba had clear interest on what had miku so in trance.
"Leave her she's probably playing a game or watching a streamer" Nino on the other hand wasn't interested in the least.
Miku didn't pay attention to Nino "remember the first tutoring session with Kiyomaro"
Nino just let out a grunt of frustration "c'mon is supposed to be our day free of him why does he keeps popping out"
"Mmm yes? It wasn't that long" Yotsuba was wondering what does this have to do with anything.
"Mn. Kiyomaro talked about some stolen artifacts and robbed graves" seeing Yotsuba nod she continues "well in a museum in the city next to us, the same thing happened"
Now that did pick Nino attention "You said it yourself, it could have been anyone. It is not like stealing is something only one person can do" Nino tried to imitate miku lines and tone of voice.
"Yes but the rumor is the exact same, a big figure with a small one next to it" then she showed the picture to Yotsuba then Nino.
Calling it a little blurry would be an understatement, the person that took the picture was clearly running or shaking from fear, but even with that quality a big figure and small one next to it could be discerned
"Really why in this day and age every supernatural picture is like this? Like the monster doesn't appear unless is in a picture from ten year old phone"
"The post mentioned how first all the lights went out then he heard some weird language" Miku did not give Nino rant importance while she kept explaining to Yotsuba "and the next thing he knew he was on the ground and the wall next to him was gone, he took the picture with his broken phone."
Somehow Yotsuba ribbon reacted to her feelings and curled down, which combined with her trembling showed how much Miku's tale had affected her.
"So what did they steal?" From Nino point of view Miku had just told a campfire story, everything was nuts except for the fact that they were supposed to always steal something, that she could believe.
"Mmm" Miku checked the info again "some piece of a poem from a thousand years ago, apart from the its age it didn't have anything very word while, is not a very good poem nor is it from a famous enough person"
"A thousand years old!" It was a scale of time that was hard for Yotsuba to imagine for her. Five years was already a long time.
"Mhn what monster would want a poem? they're just teatric thiefs" Nino flipped her hair and brought the most logical approach to this situation.
"But is scary Nino a giant breaking through the wall" Yotsuba hugged Nino trying to dispel her fear.
"What got you so scared? we don't have anything old in here they might want" she tried to sound brave to conform to Yotsuba but the moment she let her imagination run wild and imagine her or her sisters being attacked by those shadow figures Nino felt a shiver run through her spine. Nino tried to dispel that image by shaking her head and hugging Yotsuba harder.
"Well, like you said, this department is very new and none of our things are a thousand years old or older." miku finally put the cellphone down, she had read the news article and some post here and there, she had no way to get more information "they also attack mainly at night but I guess as long as none of us go to a museum at night we should be fine"
When Itsuki reached the bookstore as she had feared it was already close. Somehow she felt like the closed sign hanging on the door was mocking her.
After making a complicated expression she looked around. Itsuki remembered that there was a family restaurant close, while she had eaten dinner with her sister's, Itsuki thought it would be bad not to order something just to at least make the trip worthwhile.
But she also remembered Ichika's advice of going back home quickly if it gets dark and in fact the sun was already gone right now and the streets were already dark.
Maybe too dark since before she knew it all the lights on the streets had gone out.
Itsuki turned around nervously no matter where she looked. There was no light on the houses or the street. Only the moon and the stars worked as a natural source of light.
When Itsuki pulled her phone to use as a flashlight she noted she wasn't getting any signal nor data, now she was getting worried while the trip from the apartment to the store wasn't far it was totally different if everything was dark, after all no matter how safe japan was a girl walking on the dark streets wouldn't end well.
Itsuki also started to fear for her sisters, they were the floor thirty. she hoped none of them got stuck in the elevator and if this blackout lasted longer they could get down safely.
Without realizing it Itsuki started to hug her bag for comfort, it was truly ironic that the item which brought her to this situation was now working as a pseudo teddy bear to conform Itsuki in the darkness.
Now the youngest quint was looking at her options since she couldn't call a transport or someone to come look for her. she could stay either stay where she was right now until the lights come back or start walking back home.
If Itsuki walked back home there was the chance of her sisters coming to the bookstore to go look for her and ending up missing each other, that's when she heard a loud noise behind her.
"Eek!" she aimed at it with the light of her phone hoping that at least it would blind the possible bad guy, the only thing she saw was a cat that had knocked over a trash can. Itsuki felt her knees grow weak but since she already knew which direction was safe she decided to get close to the cat, hoping that petting a cute animal would calm her nerves.
"You really scared me you know" she crouched to get a better view of the cat, it was black with big green eyes. The feline was cautious of Itsuki now that she got close but seeing that she had no intention of getting closer or harming him it finally lowered its guard then resumed what it was doing in searching for something to eat in the trash can "sorry I don't have anything with me right or I would have give you some".
she just smiled at the cat that was calmly doing its own thing, maybe if such a small animal could feel at ease right now so could she, but that feeling depended completely on the assumption that the cat would continue to feel safe.
So of course Itsuki's feeling of safety broke when she saw the cat hiss at something in the direction of Itsuki, not at her but something behind her. she just froze not wanting to turn around, the feeling she had was like going to see a doctor expecting bad news but with only the surprise of how bad could those news would be.
The cat continued to hiss. Its eyes got sharp and took out its claws, almost as if this little cat had a chance of intimidating whatever danger was behind Itsuki, no matter how small the chance of that happening Itsuki was really rooting for the cat to succeed.
A small hope that broke when a strong stump sound came behind itsuki. in the end the cat's survival instinct took control and ran off into the dark alley.
"..." another stump was heard this time closer Itsuki could only hear due to the proximity because right now to her the loudest sound was her heart that was running harder than it had ever done.
Another stump was heard and just like the little feline Itsuki ran off in the same direction the cat had escaped earlier. no turning back. she knew If she turned at any point her body would freeze and she would no longer be able to stand.
But she wasn't Yotsuba. Itsuki wasn't the most athletic of the sister's but for this time she pushed her body with all she had. she only had to reach someone else or a light, her brain went back to the most basic instinct of a human being, safety in numbers and not being in the dark.
Sadly she wasn't Yotsuba and after the fifth step her own legs got tangled, having her fall down face first. Looking back it was clear she was crouching a moment ago and she suddenly started running at full speed, Itsuki didn't have the time to get into a stable position before running.
With tears from the sudden fall tried to stand up again only to freeze mid way, something told her that death would catch her If she got up a little more.
[Akusu]
She only felt a gush of wind accompanied by the sound of glass breaking.
Itsuki finally looked up and saw destruction in front of her. The alley in which she used to escape had a horizontal line, her ears did not hear wrong concrete and metal had been cut, a clear slash had cut the alley, maybe she was trying to escape reality but it reminded her of an anime she had seen with Yotsuba and Miku were the character's would unleash powers and cut large objects or buildings in a seemly perfect way.
But this was the real life, those powers couldn't exist here, Itsuki's mind was working overtime trying to find some explanation over what was happening here that did not involve the supernatural. The curiosity killed the cat, is the saying but if the cat was already doomed, why not satiate that curiosity before going to the other life.
Itsuki turned to see the thing that had caused so much damage and she almost instantly wished she hadn't done so. The figure was a lizard with a humanoid build standing over 2 meters tall, it had some pieces of armor like a shoulder pad and a helmet. but the most scary thing was the axe that was holding on its right hand. a big metal axe that combined with the lizard build It could easily cut a human being.
The lizard raised the axe again and held it up high. Itsuki wondered what it was doing. The lizard was big. Yes, it had great range with its long arms but even then it was too far away from Itsuki. Then she remembered the wind that had cut the aley.
[Akusu]
She heard those words again but now she finally saw what had happened. The axe started to shine with dark green light and the lizard moved his weapon down, unleashing an attack that was impossible in the reality that Itsuki lived 5 seconds ago.
Before the attack could reach her. Itsuki rolled to the side that glued herself to the right wall of the aley. she had been lucky that while destructive the attack was slim since its purpose was to cut after all not cause large area destruction.
She turned to see the lizard again. While scary she had already learned that by looking at the direction he moved the axe she could predict the next slash and move out of its way.
Then she finally noted something behind the lizard. it had the shape of a person.
"Please run! call the authorities! there's a monster here" Itsuki understood that if the lizard notices that person it would die. She was, while not safe by any means, the lizard couldn't enter the alley due to its size but that person was out in the open with the lizard.
She really hoped that person could escape and find some help. A hope that did not last the figure while having the shape of a person it wasn't a human being.
"Nonono" it was as if a shadow had taken fiscal form. it didn't have any facial features, its legs were hard to discern as if they were meshing and separating at the same time. The most human properties were that it had a torso and two arms. one of the arms was holding a thick book with a dark green cover.
Another monster had joined the lizard and this one was smaller, it could enter aley but it didn't, what happened next surprised Itsuki while the lizard raised its axe to do another slash the book the shadow was holding started to shine with green light.
[Akusu]
And with the words of the shadow another slash was unleashed toward's Itsuki, who again had to throw herself to safety.
When she turned again to look at the pair attacking her she finally noticed the book the shadow was holding was similar to the one she had on her bag.
the bag she hasn't stopped holding with all her strength all this time as if a texture bag and a book would serve as a shield. She took the book out of her bag to see it. and as she had supposed. except for the color it was identical to the book the shadow was carrying.
"You want this? you can take it! just dont hurt me please" with a crying voice she said her offer. The shadow and the lizard stopped when they saw Itsuki holding the book. she hoped that maybe they'll take her offer. but the worst happened.
[Linruku]
The lizard that was already big increased its size and its muscle mass also increased. It had dropped the axe since it no longer had any need for it, his claws were sharper and bigger now.
She didn't wait to see the end of the transformation, Itsuki finally got off the ground and started to run while the giant lizard was tearing everything apart.
Then the realization dawned on Itsuki, She hasn't been surviving all this time, they were playing with her. While she rolled on the ground to dodge the attacks, while the lizard slowly raised its axe to aim at her. All this time she was being toyed. Itsuki had no chance from the beginning.
Itsuki just kept running, not looking back trying not to hear the destruction behind her.
'I don't want to die'
"Ichika" she remembered her oldest sister, the caring sister that always was there to give an advice.
'I don't want to die'
"Nino" her protective older sister, always willing to stand up for her.
'I don't want to die'
"Miku" her quiet sister that is always able to lend an ear
'I don't want to die'
"Yotsuba" her cheerful sister who always wanted to help her in any way she could.
'I don't want to die'
"Mom" the mother who they have lost. The kind and maternal woman, who Itsuki greatly admired.
'I don't want to die, I still want to be like Mom, I haven't reached her'
Itsuki had finally reached the other side of the alley but like the place she had come from there wasn't any light or people. The lizard was right behind her and as if tired of the chasing it threw a piece of debris toward Itsuki.
The impact on her back was felt, it make expulse the air of her lungs and threw her to the ground.
She rolled a little while hugging the book. She was now facing up looking at the moon while the giant lizard approached.
Every stump from the lizard walking in her direction was her time running out.
"I don't want to die" she voiced her last wish "I don't want to leave my sister's!"
And as if responding to her feelings the book started to shine with a strong white light.
The lizard realized that something was happening and picked up the pace but it was too late.
The shining of the book got stronger but Itsuki didn't find it uncomfortable. Then the giant lizard came to strike Itsuki with its claws. The book released itself from Itsuki grasp and opened the pages flipping until it reached the middle then a small ball of light hit the lizard on the chin and sent it flying.
Itsuki was clearly speechless. First this monster was following her and destroying everything on its path and now it had been sent flying by a book.
"You dumb lizard!" A voice came from right beside Itsuki. The ball of light that had attacked the lizard was changing its form.
Almost as if the world was playing with Itsuki, weird and weirder things keep happening to her tonight.
She didn't know if this was the real form of the ball of light or a form it took to calm Itsuki.
But right beside Itsuki there was a young girl no older than eleven, with snow white hair that ended with a little bit of red and fiery red eyes. The girl was wearing a white dress with frills and some cute shoes. What weirded Itsuki is that the cute outfit the girl was wearing was thrown out of sync by a strong red cape that had fur on the beginning that connected with her collar and the end of the cape.
The white book that had flown out of Itsuki's arms had lost its shining and as if finally remembering that gravity exists it fell on top of Itsuki.
She hugged the book again now feeling way more safe with it in her hands. Itsuki, not wanting to stay in the dirty ground, the confused girl stood up, there was pain all over her body and the exhaustion was getting to her, her breathing was all over the place.
When Itsuki was finally on her feet, to her surprise the girl right beside her hugged her, almost throwing her to the ground again.
"I finally meet you, my bookkeeper!" for some reason this girl had small tears on her eyes "I-I-I always wanted to meet you"
She sniffed a little while hugging Itsuki, the bookkeeper had raised her arm in surprise by the sudden affection. Itsuki at least had her last remnants of distrust dispelled, contrary to the lizard this girl did not have any evil intentions toward her and is not like she had many options but to trust her. She finally lowered her left hand to pat the girl hugging her on the shoulder.
The moment was interrupted by the scream of the lizard who had finally gotten up from the hit, the ball of light or now the girl hugging Itsuki had given him.
"Muuuuu" the white girl had released Itsuki from her hug and now was looking at the lizard with clear rage "you dumb lizard! Who do you think you are? To interrupt the meeting between me, Lya von Raure and my precious bookkeeper."
The girl Lya was looking at the lizard that was four times her size as an annoyance more than a treat.
With a roar the lizard lunged at Lya, but there was no surprise or fear on her expression. She moved to the side and dodged the attack then did a spinning kick directly to the side of the monster, sending it flying again to the opposite side.
"Hmp, you are not a big deal. It's a shame that my first victory with my bookkeeper would be this lizard" she said with a proud attitude "now my bookkeeper! read the spell so we can end this!"
Again she said it with an exciting tone, but Itsuki couldn't be more lost, this young girl was beating the lizard by a lance slide. Why did she need Itsuki again?
"Bookkeeper the spell?" A confused Lya asked Itsuki why she was not taking this chance to finish off their enemies. A chance that was lost because the shadow had arrived and stood close to the lizard.
Again the book shined green and the shadow mentioned the same words Itsuki heard before.
[Akusu]
Only that now instead of the axe as catalyst for the attack it had used its claws which had grown bigger with the change of size.
"Bookkeeper!" Five slashes were directed toward Itsuki "a spell!"
"Eh?" Itsuki didn't even knew if this was real anymore. She thought that studying so much had fried her brain and this weird dream was because of it.
But the pain of her hitting the ground was real. Lya had pushed Itsuki out of the way of the attack instead she had to get hit by it.
Itsuki saw the child on the floor. her pretty clothes were dirty now and there was blood on the ground Lya landed. Itsuki's desperation was higher than ever. she just witnessed a murder, no way anyone could survive and attack like that.
The shadow of the lizard came close to Itsuki again, this time he was more feral than before. Right now he wanted to rip Itsuki apart with its teeth.
And he launched himself to bite the scared girl. It stopped mid only for gravity to do its job and send him back to the ground.
"Ugh, you're not touching my bookkeeper" Lya had quickly risen from the ground and grabbed the lizard mid jump. In her small frame it could be seen her muscles tensing, she put her everything to spin and send the lizard flying on the opposite side.
"Huff huff" Lya was panting. Itsuki came close to the girl, it was clear she was an Ally by now and was worried about her.
"Y-you okay?"
"Of course my bookkeeper" she replied putting on a happy face, somehow she was still shining despite being covered in dirt of the ground and blood. Lya had a full smile while facing Itsuki.
"You keep saying that word bookkeeper" she had calmed herself a little upon seeing Lya friendly attitude "what does that mean?"
"Mu? You don't know, well I guess it doesn't come with a manual, so there is nothing to do!" Lya put her hand on her chin doing a thinking pose, while keeping eyes on the direction the lizard flew away "you have seen it when that shadow says some words the lizard sends an attack right?"
Itsuki noded.
"that shadow is the lizard bookkeeper" and now she turned to see Itsuki and pointed at her with her finger, Lya had clear happiness to be close with her "and you're mine"
"..." her situation was ridiculous to say the least but she wasnt trembling anymore, somehow watching the happy girl had calmed her nerves. Itsuki opened the book. she remembered not being able to read anything but one page.
Itsuki eyes landed on the page that she could read and she said the worst out laud "Farusu" nothing happened.
"...Bookkeeper" Lya just watched as Itsuki read the words but nothing happened "you can do it Bookkeeper!"
"Farusu!" she screamed, Itsuki didn't know what happened before how she managed to make the book shine then but not now, she only remembered how much she wanted to meet her sisters again.
The lizard was on four legs now, no longer having anything close to a rational mind. He only wanted to deal with this annoying prey.
"I'll stop this lizard bookkeeper! you gather your strength!" as she said that Lya launched herself to fight the lizard head on.
Lya delivered a high kick to the chin but the lizard cared little right now about the pain. It grabbed the leg that kicked him and slammed Lya against the ground. There were some fissures on the ground from the impact. Lya eyes went white for a little while.
When her enemy tried to stab her with its claws with the intention to finish her. Lya pulled something from her back as if her cape had a pocket hidden there. It was a wand. The material of it must have been very strong because when she hit the claw that was coming closer and closer not only could Lya redirect the attack with it, the wand didn't have any sign of damage.
Itsuki looked at the wand that seemed more of a prop for a cosplay than an actual weapon but given everything that had happened this was the least. The wand was a straight white stick with a red circle on top of it and within that circle a star was floating there with seemingly no connection but also not falling off.
"Lya!" Itsuki was worried for the little girl who was on the receiving end of the lizard's attacks and she could only defend herself with that little wand.
"Ugh! don't worry bookkeeper" she said as she deflected another attack with the wand "even without a spell I can dealt with this lizard, after all I am the Lya von Rauren the prodigy of the Rauren house ahahaha"
Whether that laugh was to reassure Itsuki or herself was unknown, but it was clearly a forced laugh.
"Work! c'mon work! farusu!" Itsuki while crying was hitting the book. That girl Lya was giving her all to protect her. She didn't want her to die, she didn't wanted to die.
"Work with me book! [Farusu]" she screamed with all her might and finally the book responded.
The star in Lya wand shined with a bright red light and just as the lizard was about to snap it's jaw at her. From the wand came a beam of red light which for the first time it showed real damage to the enemy.
"Ahahaha" Lya stood up quickly and moved to be in front of Itsuki again "I told you didn't I. I'm the Prodigy of the Rauren house and with my bookkeeper here we are invincible ahahaha" her voice was loud and energetic which made Itsuki smile.
Itsuki was very surprised at what she had done. She had managed to activate the book and say a spell, just as Lya had mentioned, but while part of her was still afraid to face the enemy she at least could fight.
The lizard in question got up again with clear wounds from the beam. He wiped the blood from its mouth. And looked at the pair with clear rage.
The youngest quint wanted to look away and escape but this enemy would not stop until she and Lya were dealt with.
So with a renewed motivation and fighting spirit the shining of the book responded to her feelings.
She wasn't going to run anymore, she had the option to fight and she would take it.
"[Farusu]" she said the spell again and the book like before responded to her.
hello I hope you're having a good day and finally we reached the first mamodo battle with Itsuki taking a more protagonist position. if you noticed that I didn't do the fireworks arc that was suppose to come after fuutaro getting paid. don't worry I'll adapt it too but I needed to two things to happens before that, Itsuki becoming a Bookkeeper was one of them.
also here is Lya an OC character, I hope you can like her. I'm a big fan of the ojou-sama character that is a very nice girl at the end of the day like luvia from fate or akino from priconne so I'll try to take a spin on this troupe and also use her by proxy to explore the nobility side of the mamodo world.