Lost and Found - Book 1

Chapter 6

Alm wasn't quite sure what to expect when she first met Nekozawa. With what little she knew of him, at least she knew he would be weird. Kyoya was convinced he could help her, and so Alm would have to roll with any strange antics Nekozawa threw her way.

The club room had to be prepared for his arrival. The windows were covered and all of the lights were switched off. Just a few candles were lit to highlight the basic layout of the room so no one would bump into any tables or knock over any of the very expensive decorations.

Nekozawa, the dark prince with a very dark presence, sat alone on his side of the table. Alm sat across from him in between Tamaki and Kyoya. The silence that persisted for the first few minutes of the meeting was deafening, and it made Alm very nervous.

"Well?" Nekozawa spoke up. "You've had enough time to gather your thoughts, Kyoya. You told me this was more important than the beginning of first period and I want to believe you, but you'd better start talking."

Kyoya cleared his throat. "Yes... well."

"We need your help," Tamaki said. "Our friend here, Alm, she's... she's not supposed to be here. In our world."

Nekozawa took a cautious pause before responding. "Are you implying that she is an alien?" Even to Nekozawa, that sounded ridiculous.

"No, not an alien," Kyoya said. "Perhaps it would be more correct to say she isn't from our dimension."

"I see, hmm..." Nekozawa took his time to think. This was beginning to seem more interesting than going to class after all. "I would love to help but I'm not sure that I can, my friends. I've heard of inter-dimensional travel, but never before this moment have I ever considered it to be anything but a fairytale."

"Please," Alm stood up, shaking with nerves. "Please, this is real. I don't know how I got here but I need to get home."

Nekozawa hummed, tapping his chin. "Okay, I believe you. Still, there is the matter of how I'm supposed to help. Kyoya?"

"To my knowledge, your family owns an extensive library of many books containing information on black magic, correct? Spell books, historical documents, that sort of thing."

"That is correct," Nekozawa confirmed. "Go on."

"My hope is that what's happened to Alm has happened to other people, and if it's been documented, you must be able to find it. I have a book containing notes of everything we know so far about the situation."

"You're assuming this was an act of black magic. If that is true, and it has been documented before, there is a high chance of me being able to find it," Nekozawa nodded, finally understanding why Kyoya came to him. "The notes would be a big help, thank you."

"Great, perfect, I'm so grateful that you're going to help us," Kyoya stood, handing over the notebook. He was ready to close the meeting and let Nekozawa go to class, but the dark prince remained seated with one more thing to say.

"I'm willing to do this work for you, Kyoya, but it will take a lot of time and effort from me. It would be appreciated if I got something in return."

"You want money?" Alm panicked, already feeling guilty knowing that Kyoya would have to pay out of his pocket to get her help.

"No," Kyoya sighed, "I know what he wants." Nekozawa chuckled darkly, and Alm tilted her head in confusion wondering what it was that she was missing. "Tamaki..."

"No... No Kyoya. No, Nekozawa!" Tamaki shrieked, catching on more quickly than Alm did. "I won't do it."

"Tamaki, please." Kyoya spoke so firmly. He wasn't begging, he was demanding.