Damn, another day of drudgery awaits me. I sighed, a long breath escaping from my mouth as I stared at the email on my monitor, scanning the contents.
Another coding job. How dull. Still, the pay is adequate… damn, how I wish for a job that pays well, or even better,
! Shaking my head I ran my hand through my short-cropped black hair, grimacing as sweat drops scattered all around me. It was baking hot, but running the air conditioner was a luxury I couldn t afford right now. The window in my small apartment was open, but the day was cloudless with barely a breeze, so that was hardly helping.
Oh well, the sooner I finish this, the quicker I can relax. I muttered to myself, getting to work quickly. Taking out a notepad I quickly sketched out a few ideas, and after a few minutes I was satisfied I understood how to go about meeting the client's needs.
For several hours the only sounds that could be heard in the small room were the clicking sounds of keys being pressed and the faint hum of the computer as I worked. By the time I was finished it was early afternoon, the sun beating down, turning the air hot and oppressive.
Damn, that was harder than I thought it would be. Sending the finished work back to the client, I stretched my arms above my head, trying to work my tired muscles. Standing, I glanced around the room, catching sight of myself in the mirror that was hanging in the bathroom through the half-open door.
I was tall for a Japanese man, getting on for five foot nine inches in height, though that probably had something to do with my mixed blood, no doubt, not that it was easy to tell at a glance that I was half British. The clearest giveaway was the eyes, which were an unusual steel-grey colour, and shaped a little differently from the normal. Still, I thought I wasn t too bad looking, even if not everyone agreed.
As if mirroring my thoughts an email pinged up on my screen, from Oshiro Sapphire Aiko, my sister. Glancing to the side of my workspace I looked briefly at the framed photograph that sat there, a few years old, of me in the middle, looking younger and shorter, while on one of my sides was my sister, with her striking and rare blue eyes and hair so black it was almost glowing blue, while on the other was a smaller girl, looking more classically Japanese, with her hair tied up into adorable pigtails. Cracking a wry smile I sat down again, clicking open the email. No doubt it would just be more complaints, but she was certainly adorable… in her own way. There was another photo next to it, of some old university friends too, but I didn t spare it a glance.
Spoiler
[collapse]
The first line read. I couldn t help but scowl. Man I hated that name. Oshiro Moonstone Akio, bright hero of the moon. I wasn t an idiot, I knew my mother gave us middle names as a tribute to her nationality based on the colour of our eyes, but when I got to middle school I had done a search on the internet and realised no-one in Britain ever did that anyway. Besides…
Shaking my head, I realised I was getting distracted by stupid stuff again. I continued to read, trying to rein in my irritation.
At that my eyes flickered over to the photograph again. The smaller girl was Eri-chan, childhood friend of me and my sister. We went everywhere together when we were young, my role to look out for them both, Eri-chan especially, as she was alarmingly timid and did not take to people easily.
That would be all I needed. I pinched my nose, feeling a headache coming on. It wasn t like I wouldn t be able to squeeze her in here if I had to, although charitably the apartment could be called cosy (and if I was being honest, cramped would be a better word), and as a plus it didn t allow pets, so no
, but living together with my sister would
have more minuses than plusses.
. Besides, I worked from home most of the time, and having the space filled up with her crap…
her possessions would make it harder for me.
One more glance around the small room and I could see my bookshelves, piled up with reference materials in both book and DVD format. The less enlightened, such as my dear sister, would probably call them stupid cartoons, but they
for work. I didn t just do programming, I also did graphic design and also art projects, such as signage, but one of my favourite jobs was when I did some 3D modelling and coding for an Indy game. It paid like shit (in fact, it hadn t really paid at all yet, but the project lead insisted I d make a ton when the service finally goes live) but it was somewhat fun.
That reminded me, it had been a few days since I had heard from her, so it was about time she sent me some more work. I had to prioritise the paying work first, but I just couldn t say no to her for some reason.
In any case, this small one-room-plus-bath apartment right on the outskirts of the Tokyo suburban area was hardly going to be the ideal place for my sister to stay, let alone store all the clothes, makeup and other things a young girl needed for day-to-day college life. I d been living here for a couple of years now, and now I had enough work coming in that I could afford it without looking to mom and father for handouts, not that I was living luxuriously.
No, this is a dangerous line of thought. I shook my head to clear it, and finished off reading the email.
Oh man, my sister can be seriously annoying sometimes. I complained out loud as I hammered out a quick reply, saying that her wonderful brother would be more than happy to advise her, but that it also looked like he wouldn t have any free time to make it back this summer. By the time that was done a couple more emails with offers of work had appeared, including as expected one from the princess , so I steeled myself to ignore the early summer heat and get back to work…
********
I barely stifled a yawn as I leaned back in my chair. It was now late evening, the only light from without the glow of the streetlamps outside my window. Unfortunately the temperature hadn t changed much, the still night air remaining oppressively warm.
This time a yawn did burst free, so I decided that I would call it a night. One of the tasks I had been sent was largely finished, and the other was coming along nicely and could be finished with another day or two of work. That would put an extra few yen in my pocket and take the pressure off for the rest of the month.
Getting up, I took a bottle of iced tea from the small fridge sitting in one corner of my room, popped the top and took a swig. That s good. I sighed in pleasure. Nothing was better than a reward after a hard day of work. Taking another long draught I had a thought that perhaps I was too easy to please…
Oh well, no point dwelling on things. It was important to make the most of the peace and quiet, as if my sister had her way, which I had to admit she usually did, as she was the apple of our parents eyes, she would be here by next summer, so this may very well be my last year of peace, unless I somehow hit it big with work.
Anyway, not that such excitement was likely to just fall into my life. I was just a normal half-Japanese guy with a freelance part-time job, getting by in life without making waves.
I blinked, rubbing at my eyes. I must have worked harder than I had thought, as I could have sworn I heard a strange hollow voice speaking behind me. Of course, when I turned around there was no-one there.
I must be hearing things…
Once more a voice came from behind me. Now I couldn t tell whether the beads of sweat sliding down my face were from the heat or this sudden fear that was prickling at me.
Who s there? I asked, turning around slowly.
The half-drunk bottle of tea fell from my hand, spilling across the floor. In front of me was a glowing figure, light shining a cold silver, washing everything in pale shadow, shrouding all detail except a vague shape. I staggered backwards, my feet soaked by the spilled tea and let out a hoarse gasp of alarm. As I was preparing to run, mind reeling, the figure spoke once more.
I was frozen mid-flight, gazing at the glowing figure, which was strange in itself being a light so bright it should have hurt my eyes, yet it had seemingly no effect, almost as if it was an illusion. As it stretched out a glowing arm towards me I was unable to move, mind racing.
I still wasn t sure I hadn t fallen asleep at my desk and was dreaming this whole thing, but to be honest with myself I d read enough Light Novels about other worlds and mysterious beings to at least give a little thought to the possibility this was all true. And if it was… could I forgive myself for passing up the chance to be someone who mattered, someone able to make a difference, strong enough to defend those I held dear? No, to be a hero?
So… just what is this crossroads? How can I protect Earth? I asked nervously, heart racing.