Itadaki no Hecate

The End of One Possibility, a Different Beginning

An orb of bright light shines in the darkness, orbited by gears of a clock. Circles of glowing arcane shapes and letters dimly shine in the darkness. Wrapping around the device is the body of a great black serpent with long spines.

A heartbeat that lasts for eternity; souls consuming lives in soundless balls of fire. No one can tell when the world will be remade, and the wishes of the Crimson Realm finally granted.

A normal city in Japan, where Autumn came late that year. In Misaki City, it could have been a day like any other.

But days like that did not last forever.

The sky was tainted in crimson red. Men, women and children stood still as statues beneath the veil, unhearing, unseeing, and completely unaware of the scene around them. One by one, the humans were consumed in wisps of bluish flame as a monster, a giant abomination of a baby with two rows of sharp teeth, consumed them in its massive maws. A sphere of many doll-like faces accompanied it.

The first monster noticed something different beneath the crimson sky. One lone human, a single male Japanese student, although terrified, was running away while carrying a petrified girl with long black hair and small pigtails.

The giant had no trouble catching up to the young man. It quickly grabbed him from behind by the legs, causing him to lose his balance and drop the girl he was trying hard to save.

"Itadakimaaaasu!"

Holding its prey upside down, the giant baby opened its mouth wide in glee to swallow its meal whole.

Suddenly, a shower of energy beams fell upon the creature.

Episode 1: The End of One Possibility, A Different Beginning

School had just begun. It was a time of moving up and moving on, to reach for greater heights. For some, it was a fresh start. For others, it was the continuation of the story of their own lives.

It was a seemingly ordinary day, and a seemingly ordinary lunch break. Most students would bring their desks together to eat with one another, sharing their thoughts and feelings, to tease one another as friends did, and to sample each other's food too.

A certain male student in his freshman year had just bought his share of food. Normally, he would eat together with the best friend he had grown up with, Hayato Ike, but today he felt like a change of pace. The two didn't always have to be together after all. And besides, when he had left him, he seemed to be enjoying a good conversation with a pair of cute girls. As he recalled, one had short light brown hair, and the other had long black hair with little pigtails. It would probably have been a bad idea to walk in if he was still with them.

For some reason, he felt like staying on the roof for that time. Perhaps it was on a mere whim, or perhaps something was beckoning him, be it an inaudible voice, or some mysterious fate.

He caught the glances of two girls in the green school uniforms of the school. They stood beside each other as he passed by his classroom on the way up. The roof was unlocked, so he let himself through.

He was surprised to see one of his classmates up there as well, by herself. She had short, dark greenish hair, cut no further than her shoulders and ended in straight, blunt bangs. She stood on the edge of the rooftop, leaning over the rails. The wind blew against her face gently, and she closed her eyes in peaceful serenity. Her eyes opened again slowly only when two small birds fluttered in the air in front of her.

"Konoe... Fumina-san, right?" the young man said as he approached her.

The girl turned back to him. Her bright green eyes glittered like gems. She simply nodded in reply.