Emissaries - A Kai Side Story

Prologue: My Beloved Emissary

NOTE: This is rose. Welcome to Emissaries, our little Gaiden. As of this release, Team Kai is still planning out how the Parpaldia arc (in the main story) will move forward, so if you're wondering why we decided to do a gaiden while taking a break from the main story, it's to get Kai content out, because regardless of whether this Gaiden (which has already been planned out) is going to release or not, the main story will still take a break because we still haven't fleshed out the incoming main story arc. With that said, we will go back to the main story in a while since this story will only be 9 chapters long.

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Cent. Calendar 07/05/1639, somewhere in Hyogo prefecture, 15:00

"Shit!"

Pestered by the incessant ringing of her home phone while tending to her daughter and her homework, one Izumi Hikari had inadvertently tripped on her matting.

With the ringing telephone mercilessly blasting away its annoying chime in endless repetition, Izumi recovered from her fall and fixed her now messy chestnut hair. As she traveled to the other end of the room where the telephone was, her tracks were then stopped by another noise coming from behind her.

"Okaa-san! What does 'shit' mean?"

Her 4-year-old daughter had now learned how to curse. Irked and completely out of it, she simply cursed herself for her blunder as a single mother.

"I'll hafta get back to ya, Sayaka!"

Kicking that proverbial can down the road, she went on to finally pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

Another annoying voice clawed at her ears from beyond the phone before she could even complete her hello.

"Yo, Hikari-chan! 'This a bad time?"

Instantly recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, Izumi let out a loud, hopefully, audible-to-the-other-end sigh. Coupling it with a facepalm, she finally responded to the other person's greetings after two gritty seconds of asking herself, "why the fuck..."

"What is it, Kita? It's our scheduled break from the mandatory labor program... Curse my luck!"

The person on the other end, Kita Michi, was a close friend of hers.

After having gone through middle school and high school together, they then went their separate ways when Kita was held back a year in high school while Izumi moved on to Keio University in Tokyo, taking up Archaeology and then later a Masters and a Doctorate in History. Kita followed suit, taking up Archaeology at Hiroshima University and later moving to Keio for her Masters and Doctorate. Both of them ended up teaching undergraduate courses at Keio, much to the chagrin of the more senior Izumi. After the transfer, at which point higher education institutions were either closed or forced to operate at reduced capacity to redirect labor towards urgent and important sectors, Izumi returned to her home city of Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. Since then, she hasn't spoken to many of her colleagues in Keio, including her long-time friend.

"Same 'ere! Anyway, did'ja receive an email from yer department?"

"My laptop broke after the transfer, and I can't get it fixed since most shops have closed down."

"Yer phone?"

"Sayaka has been playing on it, and I don't really get the time off to check it..."

After a momentary pause, Izumi finally realized what receiving an email from the department may entail. Hot on the heels of this realization, she quickly broke the silence.

"Wait, we're being called back???"

"Nah, Keio U's still closed... Anyway, I'll be forwardin' the email over to ya, so check yer phone!"