"Nare..."

The sun had set on the first day of Shintaro's journey. There was much to learn, and much was still at stake. We could not let trivial matters intrude.

"Nare..."

Today we would begin the first of many trials, the protagonist-worthy school life that awaited Shintaro was unlike any other.

"Nare..."

So much excitement awai- WHAT!?

"Nare... there's a small, flat flying beast in my room. It is disturbing."

I was lying awake, or at least awake now after my eyes had flung open, sleeping under Shintaro's kotatsu as he was using his bedroom and I had little other option. I had planned to rest plenty for the next day, and wrap up by addressing the audience to rouse their spirits for what was to come, but right now, Shintaro had entered the living area of his apartment and was sitting on top of the kotatsu table, calling out my name.

"A what?" I mumbled, shuffling out from under the kotatsu and struggling to lean up to talk to him. "Look, I'm sure it's nothing. I'll come and get rid of it for you."

"I-Is it an intruder? Another alien species, perhaps? A rival?" He jittered about, and I held the table still.

"No, it's probably just an insect," I groaned, rising to my feet and rubbing my eyes. The digital clock read 5 am.

I launched his door open and turned on the light. As far as I could see, there was nothing there, and I even made sure to inspect under the furniture and around his bed to put him at ease. He snuck up behind me and clutched my shoulder, leading me to swat his hands away.

"There's nothing here. Go back to bed."

"But there was, there definitely was," he insisted.

"And where was it?"

A light flickering sound reverberated from nearby, behind where I had opened the door.

"Well, it was..." he glanced around until something in front caught his eye. "Oh, there it is!"

"Huh... oh, it's just a..."

Something was on my chest, where Shintaro was now pointing. Something shiny. And black. With two long, spindly antennae...

"A... cockroach."

AAAAAAAAA-

"What should I do? Nare? Nare? Did you go back to sleep? Your body is cold, please respond. How should I deal with the intruder?"

And so, a few hours and a can of bug spray purchased from the convenience store at 7 am later, we could safely resume the story. Apologies for any inconvenience.

---

"This feels kinda wrong. Just, yknow, go and talk to him."

Yuuna's head was peeking around the corner of a wall in the school hallway. Another head, Tsugumi's, popped up beside her.

"Go and talk to him? Uh... I mean, I don't know about that. This is Shintaro we're talking about. What if he thinks I'm..."

"Weird?" Yuuna cut in. "After what I've seen recently, you have nothing to worry about there."

"But still..."

"...Alright, if doing it this way is really what you think will work then I'll give it a go. If there's one thing I'll accept it's that when I go with what you say, it usually works out."

"That's... not 100% true but thank you anyway."

"Then we'll make them work out anyway. Anything less than 100% and I'll just make up the rest with sheer goddamn willpower," roused Yuuna, who was promptly yet softly yanked back behind the wall.

"Look, here he comes," whispered Tsugumi.

Shintaro and Shigenori stroll down the hallway together, talking. Talking might be a strong word, since Shintaro was doing none of the speaking, and Shigenori's actions consisted not just of mouth movements but also a lot of arm and hand actions as well. Not to worry though, even though I'm narrating for these two, I'm keeping an eye on him. I've dealt with multiple perspectives before, no problem.

"Oh... he's with Shigenori..." sighed Tsugumi.

"Shigenori, huh..." sighed Yuuna, dejected.

"Mm... Shigenori."

"Shigenori..."

Is there an echo in here?

Shigenori, somehow not sneezing a hundred or so times in reaction to everything that was going on in secret just around the corner from him, halted in the hallway and turned toward Shintaro.

"It is time," he announced

"Time?" Shintaro wondered, reaching for his phone as if to check, only to be interrupted.

"Time to present the evidence to the Occult Club, of course. Did you think that would be nothing more than an establishing moment? No, this is still of dire importance, and at the start of the year, currying favour with a club is the wisest decision. I would ask that you accompany me on this endeavour, as well, as my trusted aide."

Yuuna and Tsugumi shuffled along the wall to hear the conversation.

"The Occult Club? Is that even still running anymore?" asked Yuuna.

"I recall it had a decent turnout last year. Well, decent for a club of that nature..." replied Tsugumi.

Arriving at the door just beside them, Shigenori gestured to it with open arms. Plastered on it was a crudely taped paper sign that read 'Occult Club - Meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays' in scrawled, faux-graphic handwriting, with some purple lines added with a pen as if to make it look more ominous. The actual sign, which jutted out from above the door, showed that on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, this was a teaching supply storage room, although at the end of that sign someone had stuck a small sticker of a crystal ball as well.

"Our future haven awaits," uttered Shigenori, and he tapped his schoolbag, which, upon closer inspection, showed the alien pictures from earlier peeking out from inside.

Well, this can only go well...

Shigenori stepped up and gave the door a knock. For a short while, there was no response, but after a faint rustling inside, a voice could be heard.

"It's open."

Shigenori waited at the door, and then cleared his throat, a thin veneer of blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Sh-Shintaro, if you please."

Shintaro walked up to the door and pushed on it, but nothing happened. He continued to do it for a bit, the wood shaking until I gave up and decided to spare him any further trouble.

(This one slides. Try moving it to the right.)

("...Humans need to reconsider this 'door' technology. I will make a note for that to be the first alteration I suggest to their society after their subjugation,") Shintaro communicated to me as the door rumbled open. Shigenori's face was, at this point, bright red, although he did his best to compose himself as the room can into view.

The room was predominantly unchanged from how you would expect a teaching supply storage room to look, with shelving against one wall, a decently large window at the back behind a desk, and various cardboard boxes stacked against the corners. This, however, was not enough to hide the alterations that had been made, such as the purple blanket strewn over the desk, the various occult posters pinned to the wall with novelty alien and ghost pins, and the main centrepiece: a series of glass trinkets suspended from the ceiling by string taking various shapes, such as a star, a moon, a lion's head, and two different wizardly-looking men, one with a beard and another with a tall, priestly hat. There were also signs that other items have previously inhabited the room, as some areas were dustier than others.

"Oh... who might you be?"

There was a girl sitting behind the blanket-draped desk, leaning the chair against the wall, her legs crossed and one foot pressed against the corner of the furniture. The deep, low beams of evening sunlight struck the back of her head, plastering a heavy silhouette where her face would be.