Itadaki no Hecate Second

In the Eyes of a Flickering Flame

The sun shone behind a single solitary figure, masking his front in his own shadow. He stood over a great, dry plain. It was a land of light brown soil and sand-like dust, once bountiful with glittering gold in old times, yet it was now just a harsh and unforgiving wasteland.

The entity tossed away what appeared to be a folder of papers, and spoke to himself; his form was small for his kind, and his voice was nowhere near deep, but it was menacing in its own right.

"So, a human brat and a sheltered Crimson Lord bitch faced off against a Crimson God and won?" As he spoke, white teeth shone from the face of the silhouette as he grinned with excitement. "I've been waiting so long for a sign, to get back at them all. It's high time a real god played his hand in the grand scheme of things."

As he turned, his front now bathing in the bright sunlight and his back covered in darkness, he felt a powerful gust of wind rush past him and flutter his poncho. Holding onto his hat so that it would not fly away, he noted that the winds were headed towards the Eastern side of the world.

Episode 1: In the Eyes of a Flickering Flame

In Misaki City lies an apartment room, with but a single inhabitant. And that inhabitant is me, Yukari Hirai.

It's weird, having no memory of your own family, or if you even had one. I can't even remember how I was raised. But I'm here now, and I know I'm me, and no one can take that away.

I won't mope about it, or look too deeply into it. All that matters is I know I'm here. And I'm going to go out, learn, and have fun with all my new friends!

It's those two again, Ike-kun and Sakai-kun, talking about guy stuff probably, or how they both managed to get into the same school. Well, there's no doubt Ike-kun would make it into any place he wanted to, he's so smart after all. I wonder if he has a girlfriend.

It's our first year as high schoolers, pretty exciting for most of us—well, probably. That bored looking guy in the corner of the classroom doesn't look too thrilled. Satou-san I think his name was. Oh, wait, he just cheered up, I guess that squinty eyed guy and Ogata-chan are close friends of his.

Oh, our first real class is about to start, lemme just take my stuff out.

Plugdugugbugbug.

What the? Did that girl sitting two desks across my left just spill all her books out all over the floor? She must be nervous. Wait, has she been here since the first day? I don't think anyone's noticed her until now. Weird, you'd think someone with the rare natural dark green would attract some attention.

If I remember right, I think her name was Fumina Konoe. She's been pretty quiet ever since we had to introduce ourselves. I guess until now she's just blended it like a piece of furniture. Poor girl, she's probably really shy. Maybe I should—

Oh, Sakai-kun's already helping her. Actually, looks like he went ahead to pick up the mess the moment it happened. Wow, Yukari, quite the attention span.

And speaking of attention, Yoshida-chan, I think I know what that look in your eyes means~

During lunchtime, while she's out getting water for her tea, I catch her in the corridor.

"So, you like Sakai-kun huh?"

Aww, she's blushing, that's so cute. Of course, we're both whispering though.

"Y-You can tell?"

"Of course, us girls have a natural sense for these things." And that's a fact!