"I don't believe any of this. In fact, I'm not sure why I listend to Sengoki-san. You and he are just senile, old citizens that should be locked up in some nursing home!" I was fanatically waving my arms about in sheer disgust that I would be duped and bought into this nonsense.
"But you do believe me. If you don't, then go to Sapporo and prove me wrong. Do have a 24-hour train pass anyway from earlier, do you not?" She gave me an insightful look.
"So you and Sengoki-san are stalkers? Big whoop!"
"Dost thou not wish to seek solace? Thou know-eth thy truth. Thou art afraid," she smirked.
"Shakespearean quo, good for you! Not everyone will by into your garbage!" I crossed my arms and started stomping away.
"Dost thou know-eth of thine Arcana? Fool be what thou art, thou art no Magician. Priestess be thy nature, Empress you shall save. Twenty-one aracanas exist in the world. You know of them?"
I turned around and stared at her. Of course I knew the Arcanas. The arcanas were used in tarot reading (which fascinated me to no end).
"Aeon be-ith thine last. Aeon be-ith thine strongest. Howev'r, death be thine only link to thy soul," I quoted back, remembering the last bit of the Arcana fable used in tarot reading.
"Good, good. You want to know your fate, I presume," she almost cackled with her hoarse of laugh. I was getting impatient, nervous... anxious.
"I wouldn't be here, would I?" I was infuriated and kinda glad mom dropped off my glasses so I could see. I mean... I still had my contacts, too.
"Patience. Follow me," the old lady turned around. I nervously looked about. People were carrying on with their lives, unnoticing of a potentional pedophile rape situation. "You doubt my power."
"Gee. Am I that obvious?" My voice is laced with sarcasm as she chuckles.
"Then I will show you the power of the prophet."
I quirk a brow quizically as we stand infront Shiragakui fountain, just a few feet away from the replica of Hachiko. The old hag pulls a card out of her sleeves. It has the Fortune Arcana on it. She whispers something, takes some magic sand and sprinkles it, before blowing and dropping the card into the fountain.
Nothing happens.
"I'm waiting." She holds up a finger to shush. A moment later a whirlwind comes and the fountains water projects towards the heavens in a typhoon, but remains stationary. Coins descend from Heaven unto Earth. I look around, but no one seems to take notice of this spectacle.
"No one sees what's happening!"
"That's because they are not 'Chosen'. They do not have fates so near," she cackled as the water descended back into the fountain. In a matter of seconds, the entire scene was over. In a matter of seconds, I went from non-believer to believer.
"Fates so near?" My eyes were widened.
"Dear... nobody can see you now. Now that you have your fate sealed and your fate so near, nobody knows you exist anymore except I, Sengoki-san, and Yatsuro Mikumi. Don't worry, dear. Mikumi-san is in much your same position. Go to the empty Arcana Shoppe in Sapporo."

That's when everything changed. I can tell you I nearly ran from that witch. I ran as fast as I could. I wanted to get away, but... what happened next made me take the train to Sapporo. I became transluscent.
I wasn't looking where I was going and ran into a wall. Lemme rewrite. I ran THROUGH a wall. Yeah, one moment I'm looking behind me, seeing that fountain of demonic power while running forward, the next moment I see a wall behind me and I'm in an abandoned factory. Freaking out, I looked down to see that I was... well, see-through. This was some Spirited Away shit.
"What's happening to me?!" I screech. I look up and the old witch is in front of me with a sad look.
"You're disappearing. If you don't embrace your fate, you'll completely disappear," she sounded almost mortified.
"If... if I don't goto Sapporo, I'll... disappear?" I asked, gulping down my fear.
"I'm afraid so. Once the Fate decided it was time for you to live your destiny, you began to cease to exist until your destiny is over," she shook her head.
"If it's my destiny, won't... that mean I'll die by the end?"
"Not necessarily, child," she smiled. "Lots of people have multiple destinies. However, only some of them need help to face their destinies. Such as you."
I looked at my transluscent body and nodded, taking a shakey breath.
"I... I'll do it." A hand went through my hair as I readjusted my glasses.
She smiled and I sighed turning around and walking through the wall. What a weird feeling. Was I a spirit now or something? Part of the realm of the dead. It explained why I suddenly felt cold. Or maybe that was from my own overthought.
I head toward the train station. I coul walk through solid objects, nobody could see me, and nobody could hear me. Sweet! Free rides.
Once at the train station, I just 'phased through' the train and hitched a ride to Sapporo. This is where my destiny began. It started to begin when I met Sengoki-san. But now it's in a full snowball effect. No turning back now.

I think about that moment in my life to the fullest affect. Maybe that was the calm before the storm and write now, in the moment that I'm taking to write out my story, I'm in the eye of the storm. And this storm is a category 5 hurricane-frankenstorm. With winds over 130 MPH and hail instead of rain. Defintely like a category 5 hurricane-frankenstorm.

The Arcana-Shoppe. I finally met Yatsuro Mikumi. Miku-kun as I call him now for he has become an important person to me.
The moment I met him, I felt Heaven. For some reason my heart began to race, my face began to flush, my palms began to sweat, and I was swallowing bile in my throat. I almost wanted to throw up because of the nerves.
He was very handsome. He was tall (about 6'0"), had nice milky-white skin, beatifully white-ish hair, amazingly red eyes, a nice build (he was fairly muscular), and an adorably handsome goatee (white of course). I could tell he was melanin and carotene deficient (thankfully not hemoglobin deficient). Why? Because he was classified as an albino - people who are deficient in melanin and/or carotene production.
"Hi..." That was my first response to meeating Mikumi. My lame response.
The white-haired man turned around with wide eyes. "You-You can see me?!"
He rushed to me and pulled me into a hug. "I've been standing her for hours and nobody's ever given me a second glance! Some creepy lady said I don't exist! I'm so thankful you can see me."
"The witch lady. I call her Yudaba-san," I mentioned with a slight smile.
"You know her too?!" He smiled and hugged me more. I couldn't help but blush.
"I... uhm... also know about you, Yatsuro Mikumi-san," I mumbled and looked away. He held me at a distance but kept me in his hands.
"And you are?" He had a sketical look on his face. As if he thought I was an elderly warlock or something, like Sengoki-san or Yudaba-san.
"Atsume Ryoka."
His eyes widened even more. Good, introductions were done with.
"You're the one that witch lady, you called her Yudaba-san, told me about," he breathed out.
"And she told me about you. For the record, I don't know her actual name I just call her Yudaba-san. It's fitting," I shrug. "Do you know Sengoki-san?"
"The old man? Yeah. He just greeted me when I came here stating that you were on your way. I don't know anything other than I'm supposed to meet you here," Mikumi looked down.
I sigh. "I'm about where you're at. All I know is that we are going to face a fate different from the rest of the people of the world. And we have to do it, or else-"
"Or else we disappear. Yudaba-san told me that," Mikumi sighed out, frowning. Suddenly, I really didn't like that frown. I didn't like seeing him frown. He had such a beautiful smile.
Maybe that old hag wasn't so crazy afterall, or maybe I was tricked by her words... whatever the case, I was starting to fall for Mikumi. I could tell because my heartrate was already increasing (and sinking) according to his emotions.
"We're connected at the pinkies by a red string."
That sentence was what made me inevitably fall for Mikumi.
"What?" A blush was already spreading across my face.
"The reason we're chosen is because we have special abilites. I can see the soul strings that link soul mates together, I can also see the dead. What's your ability?" Mikumi smiled. I couldn't tell if he was flirting or not.
"Ah... uhm... I... I'm not sure..." I trailed off. I was never told I had special abilities... or that Mikumi did. But I guess I should have expected it.
"That's why you're here now." Mikumi and I almost instantly turned to the voice that spoke out.
"I am your fortune teller. Kawari Sugoe. You may call me Sugoe-san." Another old lady. What, did all the elders of this world take part in this special fate thing?
And thus we drew our cards.
I'll skip the boring details. I drew the Lovers Arcana, as did he. That card sealed our romantic fate, even though our fate was sealed when he saw our pinkies tied with a red string.
I drew the Hermit Arcana, he drew the Devil Arcana. Those cards sealed our sexual fate.
I drew the Star Arcana, he drew the Moon Arcana. Those cards sealed our destinies, the Star would die, the Moon would live.
He drew the Fool Arcana... I drew the Death Arcana. That sealed my death and his widow's future.

After all that, I found out I was going to die. Whether I took on my fate or not, I was going to die. But... I had to take on this fate, or else Mikumi would disappear too. I didn't want that.
The fortune teller then told us our fate, "A war is coming, unbeknowst the humans. A war of demons that humans cannot see. Mikumi's power is to spot these demons. Ryoka... your power is to STOP these demons. You have the power to summon good demons and angels to your side."
"Do we share any abilities?" Mikumi asked that.
"Yes. You both share the ability to heal on another. Now, I present you with your weapons of choice. You may choose as many of you like, however I'm only give you both each two for free."
"What? We have to pay?" I asked, bewildered.
"Hey. I'm also a psychic shop in the material world too. Things ain't cheap," Sugoe-san smiled and I sighed.
"That's okay. We only need two weapons," Mikumi stated.
She led us to the back room where a shizz-load of weapons were. In the end, I ended up with twin blades (thank you, kendo club) and a bow with arrows (thank you, archery club); the twin blades counted as one and same with the bow and arrows. Mikumi took dual guns (one weaopon count) and a claymore. He definitely had more strength then I did (because he was on his school's lacrosse and soccer team where as I've only been in kendo and archery club).
This is where it got interested.

When we left the Arcana Shoppe, it was dark and the sky was green instead of pitch-black. It was creepy and chilly.
"It's a little too quiet... and too vacant."
"This must be the Demon Hour where everyone on Earth disappears for an hour because it's Earth's way of protecting its inhabitants from the demons," I stated. Yeah, we were given the downlow.
"That makes sense. But aren't the demons getting smarter? Coming out after Demon Hour's over?" Mikumi looked at me in worry.
"Yeah. But they're also dragging people INTO demon hour," I look around, wary. I had changed from my glasses into my contacts. It was just easier and less of nuisance when fighting (which I was going to need to do, I knew that much already).
"Should we start look looking for victims?" Mikumi looked at me for an answer.
I nodded and started forward. I didn't like what I saw next...

To be continued...