CSC Special Chapter: A Meeting on New Year's

*****

Hisao

*****

Hey guys. Hisao Oota here. So, it's finally that time again. New Year's. Here in Japan, we've got a few New Year's traditions that are pretty unique, compared to the rest of the world. One of those traditions is the first shrine visit of the year. A lot of folks in Japan get up really early, like pre-dawn to line up at the shrine gate to offer a small donation and make some prayers. My family usually goes a little later in the day, but right after the New Year's bells rang, me and my cousin, Yuna, headed straight for the shrine.

You see, me and Yuna are part of our high school's Community Service Club. And although we didn't have any volunteer jobs scheduled on New Year's, we all decided to gather together at the shrine anyway. Well, the others decided. I was a bit on the fence about heading out at midnight, especially a cold winter midnight, but when my mom heard about the gathering, she said I HAD to join them. She really worried too much about my social life.

Like I mentioned before, a lot of folks come to the shrines for New Year's really early in the morning. So by the time me and Yuna got to ours, there was already a line reaching all the way to the bottom of the hill. Guess where we started.

Mirai, Omoyo and Isaneko, the other members of the club were already there by the time we arrived. We chatted a bit while we waited for our turn to pray. Most of the time I was on my phone catching up with the latest events my online games had.

A long time had passed by the time we finally reached the top of the stairs. So long that I was surprised that the sky hadn't started to light up yet. It was still black out, but a huge number of lanterns lit the courtyard, and the shrine was full of life. There were tents where warm drinks were served and stands where good luck charms were sold. Not too far away, I could see some guys from my class hanging wood boards on a display. They had some really desperate looks on their faces so I could only imagine the kind of wishes they wrote on those boards.

Although most of my attention was glued to my phone, sometimes my thoughts wandered to reflect the past year. A lot has certainly happened, many of it not good. One of the most significant things that happened this year was, of course, when I first entered Megugami High and met the Community Service Club. If not for that, I would not have gained superpowers.

I think you know this already, but me and the other members of the club are psychics, each with a power unique to us. Mirai was the one who gave me my power to control psychic energy. I won't say how, since it's supposed to be a secret technique. Not to mention I have absolutely no idea how it worked.

Gaining superpowers was not the only thing that had happened, though. I went through a lot of major incidents, like encountering the serial killer called the Piper, dealing with those fires and the effects they had on the town, facing off against the Holiday Demon, and, of course, getting mixed up in a feud between two groups of psychics time and time again. There were a few more stuff, but I don't want to talk about those.

When it was finally my turn, I tossed some money into the donation box, shook the huge rope to ring the bells hanging from the ceiling, clapped my hands together and prayed with all my might, "Please let the next year be a peaceful one. Please no more crazy things happening."

After I finished praying, I went over to join the others who were gathered at a certain spot in the courtyard. But before I reached them, there was a strong gust of wind that made me close my eyes. When I opened them again, the gang was nowhere to be found.

"Oof! Hey! Watch where you're going, you halfwit!"

"S-sorry!" I stammered. I had bumped into a tall, lanky guy who looked a little bit older than me. At first, I thought he was a businessman, wearing a tie and all. But after getting a good look at his face, I figured he might still be in high school.

His eyes fell on my phone I held in my hand for a moment before he turned away after hearing a voice.

A girl approached and called out, "Ryu, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said the sour young man. "I just bumped into this halfwit here who was just standing and staring off into space like a halfwit."

I gotta say, that guy really liked saying the word "halfwit".

"Now, now," said the girl. "Be nice. Sorry about my friend here."

"Oh no, it's fine!" I exclaimed. When I met the girl's eyes, an odd feeling came over me. "Say, have we met before?"

This should be our first time meeting, but for some reason, I couldn't help but think that I've seen her before. It nagged at me from the back of my brain.

Naturally, the girl looked at me with somewhat suspicious eyes and slowly replied, "No. I don't think so. What school do you go to?"

"Megugami High," I replied. And then it hit me. "You look just like the girl in that poster the kendo club always got hanging on display! That girl they call the Sword Princess!"

"Another school's kendo club has a poster of me on display!?" the girl cried out. She, of course, looked horrified.

"Well, the Sword Princess looks like you," I said to the girl. "But it can't be you, since that picture's like way, way old. Like before-my-grandpa-was-born old."

"I see," said the girl. 

"Come on," said the lanky guy named Ryu. "We need to get going. Tsubaki's expecting us."

"Tsubaki?" I said. "As in the former head of the Shirogami?"

Ryu suddenly whirled his head to me and said, "What was that? "

The girl was just as startled.

Confused, I replied back, "What?"

"Repeat what you just said," Ryu commanded.

"What?"

"Before that!"

"Tsubaki? As in the former head of the Shirogami Clan?"

"What did you mean by that?" Ryu asked. He spoke in a low, almost threatening voice. But I was more astonished than scared.

"Have you been living under a rock this whole year?" I asked. "Everyone knows about the coup that drove Tsubaki Shirogami and her family out of the Shirogami Clan."

I couldn't believe that there was someone who DIDN'T know about it.

"Who's in charge of the clan now?" Ryu asked.

"I don't know his name, but it's some shady uncle," I said.

Ryu and the girl exchanged looks, and then the girl asked, "About the Sword Princess, you wouldn't happen to know her name, do you?"

"Hmm." I thought for a bit. "I think it was Hana-something. Oh, wait! It's Hanako! I forget what her family name's though."

Ryu and the girl exchanged looks again.

"I have another question of my own," Ryu said. "How old is your grandfather?"

I answered, "I'd say around early sixties. Anyway, I can't stay here long. I've got to go meet my clubmates."

"Hold up!" Ryu shouted. "I've still got a lot of questions!"

Suddenly, there was a huge gust of wind that made me close my eyes. When the wind died down, I opened them again, but Ryu and that Sword Princess look-alike were nowhere to be seen.

I wondered where they went. After looking around a bit, I scratched my head and then heard my name being called out.

"Hey! Oota!" Omoyo shouted. "We're gonna go draw our fortunes. Come on! Hurry up!"

"Coming!" I called out to her. I looked around one more time for Ryu and the Sword Princess look-alike and then ran after the others.

*****

Ryu

*****

It was nighttime, and I was in a room with a tatami mat floor. There was a party going on in the other room, but there was something I had to talk about that could not wait. Sitting across from me at the other end of the table was a girl around five to six years my junior wearing an elaborate kimono. Her name was Tsubaki, and she was the next in line to inherit leadership of the Shirogami Clan.

"Interesting," she said, while thoughtfully folding her arms in front of her. Despite being a kid, she had the maturity and mentality of a grownup, probably due to a recent incident that made her recall her past life.

I had told her about my encounter with a mysterious boy that had appeared out of nowhere and disappeared in a gust of wind and the weird things that he had said.

"What did you make of what this boy said?" she asked.

"Well, I checked but Megugami High's kendo club has no such poster of Hanako," I replied. "They never had. But as far as I could tell, he did not appear to be lying. He also knew your name when most people in town have yet to hear of you. And looking back on the history of your family, you are the only one named Tsubaki who is slated to lead the Shirogami Clan. By the sound of it, your leadership term will be a long one, albeit with a rather disappointing ending."

"You make it sound like this boy is a time traveler from the future," Tsubaki said.

"As absurd as that sounds, I somewhat believe that is the case," I said. " I've been through quite a few things over the last few years that could be considered absurd to the extreme, so I must consider the possibility. In addition to the things he's said, there's also that phone he was carrying."

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "His phone?" 

I nodded and said, "That phone appeared far more advanced than even what's slated to go on market in the next five years."

I took a sip of tea and continued.

"It makes sense, really. The Shirogami Clan has relied on the power to predict the future that you and your ancestors were born with to become rich and powerful for years. But with dampeners, machines that cancel out psychic powers, starting to spread all over the world, soon, you won't be able to use your power to control the future however you like. At this point, the fall of your family is guaranteed."

"If it falls, then it falls," Tsubaki said. I couldn't help but notice how lackadaisical she was being for someone who just learned she was destined to lose everything in the future. "But even with my power to predict and control the future sealed, I can still do something to make that fall a graceful. I have more than sixty years to prepare for it. And I'll have you to help me."

"Sixty years, huh?" I said, rolling my eyes to the side. The door to the room was left open, giving me an unobstructed view of the moon outside. "Well, I can think of worse ways to spend that time. But I can't make any promises that things will go our way."

Tsubaki smiled.

"As long as we all make it out okay in the end, that is fine." she said. "Oh! I almost forgot! Happy New Year, Ryu! No, Benjamin Tao."