Nikko followed Sekai out of the infirmary and down the corridor towards a row of elevators. The corridor walls had a metallic black tint and had white LED lights running along the edges of the floor. Sekai hit the ‘up’ button by the closest elevator, and a few seconds later, the elevator doors slid open. The pair entered the rather spacious elevator and was greeted by the beautiful night time view of the outside – a modern-esque city landscape occupied by bursting neon lights, high-rise buildings and a futuristic sky train line that seemed to zip through and across the entire city. The city, just like the corridor, was mostly shaded black with subtle hints of smaller white structures and white lights, complementing the starry night sky.

“Whoa,” Nikko gleamed as she pressed both hands against the glass barrier of the elevator as it gradually moved higher.

“Completely different from the mortal realm, isn’t it?” Sekai chuckled behind her.

“Yeah… I thought Tokyo was really advanced, but this is… wow. It’s like something you see in movies.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought when I first got here.”

Nikko turned her attention to Sekai. “Wait… you don’t mean… were you from the mortal realm too?”

“Mhm,” Sekai nodded. “Just like you, I was born a mortal back in that realm a long time ago. I was revived here to be a spirit chaser.”

“So… you’ve died before, huh?”

“Well,” Sekai looked to her side. “Let’s just say I wasn’t too happy with my life back then. I asked Daisuke-kun to let me be a spirit chaser.”

“O-Oh,” Nikko decided not to ask about Sekai’s previous life. “But it was Koduro-san who resurrected you too?”

“Yup, I was the very first mortal he brought back here,” Sekai said as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. “Ah, that was such a long time ago, though. I’ll tell you more about it later, ‘kay?”

Sekai led Nikko out and took a left turn. “This is the 28th floor, one of the residential floors for us spirit chaser. Oh, the building we’re in is the Mabaroshi Headquarters, by the way. It’s basically the central building where the Mabaroshi SCS run their missions.”

“Damn, 28 floors?” Nikko said.

“There are more floors above us,” Sekai laughed.

Not before long, the pair stopped in front of a door. The number 14 was displayed on top of a holographic intercom panel on the right side of the door. “This is your new home, Sugimura-san,” Sekai said as she removed a black card from her side pocket and handed it to Nikko. “This is your spirit chaser ID. It may just be a blank card, but it holds your personal details and data, and also grants you access into your room and other facilities in the HQ.”

Nikko took the card from Sekai and swipe it onto the holographic panel. It glowed green and the door opened to a dark room. Nikko stuck her hand in and felt around the sides of the door to find a switch. She pressed the switch, and the room lit up to reveal a bedroom that resembled the bedroom she owned back in the mortal realm.

“This is…!” Nikko gasped.

“Surprised?” Sekai asked, entering the room. “The technology here in Mabaroshi HQ is amazing, we have programs that read into the cognition of mortals who have been resurrected into the alternate realm. It reads into your memory and designs your personal HQ room to not only appear as the room you once had, but become the room itself.”

Nikko carefully walked through her room. She went to her bookshelf that stored all her manga. Every single copy she owned was there, and arranged in order. She moved to her desk where her laptop sat and flipped the screen up. The power wasn’t turned on, so she decided to check it out later. Nikko then walked towards her unmade bed. The sheets were exactly how she left them on her last morning in the mortal realm. This was her room.

“I don’t believe it,” Nikko said under her breath. “This is all real? All my stuff back home is here!”

“Well,” Sekai spoke. “Technically everything here is shaped to your perspective and how you remember your old room, so it’s not a completely accurate duplication of it. I guess we know it can be tough to leave your normal life behind, that why we made the technology to at least let us have something from home.”

While Nikko did find it all amazing, she still could not help but think of everything she had to leave behind. Her mother. Her education. Her friends… well, friend, which was pretty much just Arii. She also wondered if the alternate realm kept up with the latest anime releases. Her stomach then growled loudly.

“Ah!” Sekai exclaimed. “You haven’t eaten ever since you’ve been brought her.”

“Have I seriously gone for a week without eating?” Nikko asked. “How am I still somewhat functioning?”

“You were given some glucose and food pills to give your body energy as it recovered, but you must be starving for some real food. I’ll take you out for some food, but before you leave, you might wanna change out of those robes,” Sekai said, leaving the room.

“R-Right!” Nikko almost forgot she what she was wearing. She quickly moved to her wardrobe and fished out a casual long-sleeved pink top and black pants, changed out of the robe and left the room.

Nikko and Sekai took the elevators back down, this time to the ground floor of the Mabaroshi HQ. They stepped out into a large hexagon-shaped lobby. Counters for reception or inquiries were located on both sides of the elevators and a large sculptured stone fountain of humanoid figures lay right in the centre of the room. Daisuke was talking to another man by the fountain.

“I’ll be taking Sugimura-san for a quick bite,” Nikko informed Daisuke as the pair walked past him.

Daisuke nodded and returned to his conversation. The other man was as tall as Daisuke, stood strait with his arms folded and had black messily parted hair. He wore a grey padded vest and black pants that were slightly baggy around the thighs but tight around the calves. A black scarf wrapped around his neck and covered his face from the tip of his nose down. His appearance and stance reminded Nikko of those ninja-type of characters from video games. I wonder who that is?

Nikko and Sekai stepped out to the night sky. The air was cool, and a tame gust blew past them, blowing Nikko’s fringe into her own face.

“What would you like to eat?” Sekai asked as she watched Nikko brush her hair aside.

“Uhh, something quick and easy I guess,” Nikko replied.

“Hmm, there’s a really good ramen place just around the corner.”

“Ooh, ramen? Yes please!” Nikko said as she bounced lightly on the spot. Nikko loved ramen.

And so did Sekai. “Haha, you know what’s good!”