#a man altered the sculpture | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dnangelic · 14 days

Text

OK PATIENT NICHE GANG MY LN 3 POST IS FINALLY HERE. this is the last standalone dnangel LN, aka the only light novels NOT just rehashing the anime which i don't have or want, (posts for LN 1 and LN 2 here, i would recommend reading these as there are many direct references to the past light novels within this, and they're good) the usual yadayada disclaimers, once again this is 200+ pages or so worth of content + imgur linked illustrations so watch your dash if you decide to open the read more.

*i also haven't typo/formatting or weird eng/transciption nonsense checked this yet, but i'll revisit this post alongside my other translations to further refine, add to (esp ln 1 since i didn't bother with the prologue/earlyish chapters and that bothers me now!) or correct them in my free time. my top priority was to finally just put this out there for myself and others!!

PROLOGUE.

the reddish light of dusk shines into the quiet church. a girl was kneeling at the altar. a stained glass window depicting the virgin mary and an angel transforms the setting sun into soft, colorful light that decorates the girl's plump white skin. a little girl with a school bag on her back was praying. put your plump little hands together, close your eyes, and concentrate. at the back of the alter was a pipe organ, and in front of it was a glass slipper. transparent shoes that look like something out of a fairy tale. it was a sculpture made out of crystal. it doesn't seem like something appropriate for a church, but it's properly placed on a pedestal. it's the glass slipper that the girl is praying to. 'magician... please listen to maho's request.' a lisping voice softly spread throughout the small church, where no one else was there except her. immediately after, the girl heard the sound of a heavy bell and opened her eyes startled. that bell didn't belong to this church. it's the bell of the large clock tower in the center of the city. the majestic sound of the bell suits the image of a girl praying in a church, giving it a somewhat fateful sound. in fact, she was listening intently to the sound, staring intently at the glass slipper as if expecting something. then, when the aftershocks of the seventh bell disappeared, the girl's shoulders slumped. 'i guess it's no good after alll...' with a small sigh, the girl slowly stood up. the sky, which had been casting a warm light until just now, seemed to start darkening. although the change was not clearly visible through the colored glass, the girl looked up at the stained glass window with an angel painted on it.

' ah!' --- a large black shadow was passing across the window. the girl's widened, her school bag rattled, and she started running, rushing out the open door of the church and looking up at the sky again as if praying. i saw it! the anxiety disappeared from the girl's face, and a smile spread across it. indeed, a large black object flew over the building next door. the girl was convinced that her prayers had been answered. 'here, wizard! the girl's cheeks flushed and she cheerful ran towards the back of the building. in the sky that was gradually turning dark from blue to deep purple, she spotted large black wings. it was a human flying in the sky, a man with long black hair flowing and a black costume fluttering around his slender body as he gracefully flew. 'a wizard isn't an old woman, right? it could be a man!' when the girl saw him for the first time, she thought he was the wizard she was waiting for. then, her eyes sparkled with joy, she began chasing the man flying through the sky. she breathed happily, as if she was skipping. adults passing by on the street watch the girl with smiles on their faces. there's no one in azumano who denies that there's no way humans fly. the town is reminiscient of old european towns, with many elaborate buildings made of stone and brick that can be considered works of art in themselves. the town has an atmosphere that makes it no wonder that many valuable works of art, most of which have been lost, are gathered here. the cityscape bathed in the setting sun was quite charming, but once the sun went down and the street lamps imitating gas lamps began to light up, it was like wandering into a painting. there is a legendary person in this town who is worthy of such a beautiful and fantastic night view. a man who flies freely through the night with large black wings on his back.

'wait...!' the voice of the girl chasing after him did not reach him, and eventually the owner of the black wings whom she called out to disappeared in the sky. this girl didn't know that the man with black wings was called dark. dark is a legendary phantom thief who only targets certain types of works of art. everyone in this town knows him. his appearance is better than that of an idol celebrity's, and when combined with the wings on his back, he exudes an unrealistic presence. his mischievousness and courage makes him proudly appear in front of television cameras, and he never fails to provide fan service. his skills are said to be so great that it's said there's no lock he can't open. his tricks to outwit the police and his outstanding athletic ability all arouse the admiration of people. however, no one knows his true identity - except very few people. darkness lurks in incredible places. a man with such a strong personality was etched into an ordinary boy. a man enters the empty church that the girl had run out from. slowly but without hesitation, he headed straight for the altar. then he stopped in front of the crystal sculpture. a tall, well-proportioned man with long hair, motionless as if he were a beautiful statue himself. he looks down at the glass slipper. the glass slipper looks like something out of a fairy tale, giving it an unrealistic presence. it's so transparently beautiful that it seems like it would break just by touching it. the nobility of choosing who you touch. a pure brilliance that can see through everything. a soul dedicated only to the truth. the man is curiously staring at this transparent sculpture. it was the 'glass slipper,' an art object that was rumored to be the next target of phantom thief dark.

the first chapter opens up with riku staring intently at her reflection in a show window. although her hair's undecorated and left around her shoulders as always, from the neck down it's different from usual. she's dressed up in clothes she borrowed from risa: a dress made of soft material, and she feels like she's standing face to face with a girl she's never seen before, who isn't her. even though she borrowed something plain, something about it just didn't feel right. this is the entrance to a shopping center in front of a station, and there's plenty of girls wearing similar clothes coming and going.

however, for some reason, i can't be as dignified as them. '... it's not strange, is it? '

it's been a long time since she's worn a skirt outside of her uniform, and she can't help but feel unsteady on her feet. after wearing sneakers most of the time, it feels like her shoes will fall apart and break if she runs.

it may be the first time she's worn cute shoes. at least, it was the first time she thought about trying to dress up.

riku mulls over the way that the only reason why any of this was possible was thanks to risa (who wants to be seen as cute as possible) and one boy: daisuke niwa.

riku pictured the boy coming up next to her in the shop window. he has red hair, a cute face, and is petite... but he seems to have grown a little taller recently. he's kind and gentle, and can be clumsy at times, but he's always working hard. he had a warm smile and only called me by my name. until recently, we were just classmates, but before i knew it, my eyes were always on him. otherwise, there's no way i could have described him so clearly. there are still a lot of unsaid things. and it seemed like he was watching me too. the fact that you invited me on this day... 'niwa-kun... i wonder if it's still not yet...'

the mere mention of daisuke's name makes riku's face red. she never thought that she'd get so nervous just from the thought of them meeting each other alone. (was this ... a first date?) just thinking about the word makes her heart flutter, and trying to control the pound of it, she looks up into the sky. her meeting with daisuke is at seven, but the seven o'clock bell has already stopped ringing, and the bell can be heard no matter where you are in town. riku can only smile as she imagine 'a slightly clumsy boy panicking.'

daisuke is a good-natured person who tends to get into trouble. maybe you're unexpectedly stuck somewhere. still, it's sure that he'll run up to riku with a smile on his face as usual.

checking her reflection in the shop window again, for a moment riku feels as if risa was there instead of herself, and she hurriedly erases the image. it's can't be true, because daisuke had invited riku. even risa had said that she thought riku looked cute, although she wasn't used to seeing it. what kind of face would daisuke make when he saw her different from usual? what would he say?

...i want to meet you soon....

riku's happy feelings didn't dwindle due to the wait, but only continued to swell even further. meanwhile, daisuke is shouting at dark to hurry up - the 7 o'clock meeting time had already passed! dark retorts with with an 'i know.' by saying things like 'is this fine?' he's been making light of daisuke's words and worries that had been 'repeated many times.' although he wants to keep playing, he doesn't want to make riku cry. in the meantime, he suddenly lands and casts a sharp gaze at his surroundings. there's no sign of anyone around, so it seems like they've managed to escape. daisuke breathes out a sigh of relief inside dark's consciousness - that is, even without his own body to breathe with at the moment, dark and he are still 'accomplices' who share both body and mind.

'well, it wouldn't be fun if you didn't always work as hard as you did today.' dark said that, sounding bored, but daisuke could feel his sense of relief. the pursuit this time was relentless. at 6pm, i will go to the azumano central library to steal the 'angel's song.'

although stealing the treasure itself had been no problem and easily ended up in dark's hands, what had happened afterwards was difficult. one of the reasons why he couldn't shake off pursuit was because he had to change the time of his work schedule so that he could go on a date with riku, so he wasn't able to disappear under the cover of darkness as usual, but that wasn't all.

every time he went down to a deserted back alley, he was ambushed. he thought he wouldn't be found if he went down to the corner of a gateball venue at the senior citizen's club, but all the surrounding participants were former police officers. he felt like he was doing something wrong when he tried to run as fast as he could from the great detectives of yesteryear who were chasing him down with their sticks raised. when he went down to the valley between buildings, which had become a dead-end street due to road construction, he found out that a huge pit had been dug. when fresh concrete was poured from above the hole, he was a little shocked by the attack, which went against his sense of aesthetics, but for dark who has wings, escaping from the pit was a no-brainer. he thought if there were couples flirting at regular intervals, they wouldn't notice, but it turned out to be a group of dark fans who had gathered at the news that dark was coming. they asked for autographs and handshakes, and they couldn't help but smile. dark ended up doing some fan service, and the police almost caught up with him. in such a situation, his movements were completely read, and although it was exhausting, it was a trick. a trap that turns the entire town into a battlefield and incorporates the citizens as well.

despite all of this, it was clear there was no intention of competition. in the end, it would be hiwatari himself who would appear to capture dark.

'but...' '......this doesn't seem like hiwatari-kun.' daisuke was right. the word 'desperate' suddenly comes to mind. at that moment, daisuke felt a sharp, searing pierce flash through dark's heart. he was curious, but hesitated to ask about it. it was because he felt like he could see the unusually serious expression on dark's face. but perhaps it was just daisuke's illusion. dark immediately spoke in a cheerful tone. 'well, i wonder what kind of cool riku will be here. i'm looking forward to it, daisuke.' --- i agree. when daisuke thinks of riku's smile, he's suddenly filled with happiness. maybe she'll dress up for me...

dark grins as daisuke starts imagining things and immediately starts to tease him. although they start their usual back and forth bicker and banter, daisuke tries to use the pound of his heart to start transforming back to normal. because riku isn't the type to leave just because he's late, he doesn't want to keep her waiting, but he gets interrupted by risa, whose sudden appearance shocks him so much that his hot mood instantly cools.

even though it was my first date with riku, why did i go on one date after another at a time like this?

inside of dark, daisuke drops to the floor in dismay. although he can't actually make any gestures since he's transformed, there's no other way to express his feelings.

'isn't my daily behavior bad?' as if to say so, dark was grinning in his heart. he looked so happy that daisuke wondered if he had come here on purpose to try to attack his relationship with riku. yes, happily.

risa stands rigtht in front of him with a thoughtful expression on her face, and the usual bright, confident and gorgeous smile that daisuke was used to seeing is nowhere to be found. dark only asks if she was waiting, and risa's gaze lowers a little - the words aren't cold, but they don't meet her expectations. daisuke too even tries to search for words of encouragement, despite knowing that risa wouldn't be able to hear them.

'did you know? tonight is lover's night. lovers are supposed to spend time together.' a sweet voice that once made daisuke's heart flutter. but right now, there's just a lonely sound to it. daisuke was now trying to shake off those feelings.

spending time together tonight was the same as declaring you were lovers. knowing that, daisuke was able to arrange a date with riku - if you don't invite her today, when are you going to invite her?! daisuke's mother had kept reminding him at home, while saehara had threatened him at school. riku must have heard about the event from risa, so if he didn't invite her, he'd be disappointing her. while daisuke remembers all of this, dark answers to risa with 'the perfect balance of curtness and kindness':

'ah, it seems like that.' 'why? why can't it be me?!' risa tried tried to cling to dark, but just before she touched him, she hesitated and stopped. her eyes flicker with a twinkle. ' tell me you want to spend time together... even if it's a lie... ' daisuke wanted to cover his ears at this heartbreaking plea. as much he understood the pain of a heart whose feelings couldn't reach someone, he wanted to go to riku as soon as possible, and for risa's sake. his heart felt like it was going to be torn apart by the feeling of wishing for something that won't come true. 'if i give one person special treatment, the girls will get noisy.' daisuke wanted to look away from risa, who was shown through dark's eyes.

risa shouts for dark not to make fun of her - he always disappears somewhere and doesn't care about her feelings. although her face looks exactly like riku's, for daisuke, seeing it distorted with sadness was like seeing another version of himself instead - and he's the one who knows best that her wish won't come true. as she tells dark not to be so nice to her, daisuke's chest aches until dark suddenly embraces her. her eyes widen in surprise until she gently rests her head on his chest. her sadness and anger melts away, the stiff air becomes softer, ('just like the feeling in your arms,') but immediately after experiencing this sensation, daisuke comes to his senses: he skipped the meeting with riku and hugged risa!

this is bad!!!! this is seriously bad!!!! dark suddenly laughed, as if enjoying daisuke's reaction as he screamed in his heart. to risa, it must have looked like a kind smile. risa's face was filled with anticipation, but the next moment, dark was no longer there. '---- see you! ' his voice becomes distant. the flapping black wings cast a shadow on risa's face and then disappear. 'dark---!' without looking back, dark flew away into the sky.

the meeting place with riku is in front of the station, but it's one of the busiest places in azumano, and dark can't possibly appear in a place like that - so he has to find a suitable place to turn back into daisuke, but he can't find one. fortunately, people on the ground don't seem to be able to see dark's figure, who was sitting on top of the station building.

in the sky where the stars were twinkling, dark, his black wings, black hair, and black clothes blended in perfectly. the sight of him calmly looking down at the earth makes him look like an angel. however, daisuke was angry that he was a demon inside. actually, it was him who's inside, so it's kind of unpleasant. --- why did you do that?! i'm angry at dark's actions, but there's a more pressing issue than that. while looking for riku, daisuke was thinking about how to apologize for being an hour late. however, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find riku at the meeting place. he's confident that he could have found her even from quite a distance. --- it can't be helped. i was an hour late... i know it's my fault. but--- 'you don't really think, do you? ' daisuke didn't say anything in response to dark's teasing.

thinking of riku who must have waited for a long time and then returned home all alone, daisuke feels sad - he hurt her. maybe it's because he couldn't forgive himself that dark tried to hurt him with what he just said - because they're one and the same. eventually, the bell tower starts ringing: it's 8 o'clock. the sound echoes through the air and his heart, but all daisuke can think about riku, who was no longer standing below him, his chest hurting --- until suddenly the pain changes from regret to joy.

as expected, riku can't be competed with... dark muttered. contrary to his words, he sounds satisfied.

dark's eyes are fixed on a certain spot: a telephone booth that riku comes out of. the explosive joy at the sight of her transforms dark back into daisuke, who starts rushing towards riku - in a bit of a panic that leaves him screaming and falling alongside wiz from the rooftops. when he finally makes it to the station square, riku's standing with her head down - daisuke can't keep quiet because she looks so small and sad, and immediately calls out her name while waving his hands.

as soon as her dark shadowed eyes caught sight of daisuke, they began to shine brightly. riku hurriedly approached, flipping the hem of her skirt. even in this crowd, daisuke could clearly hear riku's footsteps. a transparent and light sound different from her usual sneakers. on her slender legs extending out from the skirt were the cutest shoes daisuke had ever seen. for a moment, his eyes were caught by the thinness of her ankles, which were usually hidden under her socks. at that time, riku let out a small voice.

'ah --- !' riku's toes caught in the gaps in between the paving stones, and her body swayed. daisuke immediately stretched out his hand and caught riku. the reaction caused him to stumble a few steps, but he managed to support himself.

daisuke asks if she's alright, to which she gives a shaky yes --- nodding, she keeps her head on daisuke's chest, and daisuke thinks that although he hadn't understood why dark had hugged risa at first, it was natural to feel like you couludn't leave a girl alone when it looked like she needed help.

if it's a girl you like, all the better. i don't want anyone to rely on me but myself. even my small and unreliable body can handle things like this... to the point where i don't want to let go... so much that i want to hug her. riku's hair sways gently as she leans on daisuke, giving off a glimpse of what has been dyed pink.

doki-n.

his heart is pounding again. it's bad --- even though he went to the trouble of returning to normal, he'd turn into dark again. suddenly, daisuke averted his gaze from riku. ' sorry i'll get up on my own,' riku said shyly, so daisuke hurriedly let go of his grip on riku's shoulder.

daisuke says he's the one who should be apologizing - he's really sorr yfor being late, but riku cheerfully shakes her head and smiles - he came properly, so it's okay. when she called his house, he wasn't at home, so she was worried there might have been an accident on the way.

'this kind-hearted boy gets into trouble somehow, whether it's because he's good-natured or because he's careless.' since it's you, something must have happened on the way, right?'

daisuke has no way of knowing what riku's feeling as she says this, but hearing the idea that something happened makes him clearly freak out.

'...did something happen?' riku looked into daisuke's face. ' ah, um, i mean, it's not like anything in particular happened...' he could feel riku's eyebrows furrowing in dismay. why are you in such a hurry? i haven't done anything wrong! daisuke said to himself. still, why was he so nervous? was it because he was lying to riku? he felt a kind of embarrassment he had never felt before, and was unable to look at riku's face properly. i can't do it. from a while ago. ever since we met.

daisuke continues to panic in front of riku while dark, in the back of daisuke's mind, starts to laugh. '.....i can't help it! i can't tell i can't say that i transformed into dark and stole... let alone met harada-san!' seeing daisuke cornered more and more, riku's smile disappears. there's no way he could say that he was hugging risa, and in the first place, that was dark's doing! because of dark, he hid something from riku - although it was only something small, the number kept rapidly increasing. riku grows upset at the realization that daisuke is lying to her, while daisuke, still panicking, likewise continues to try to hide the truth from her, until he finally bends over and apologizes with a bow.

' you're angry, right? ' his pitiful behavior was so cute that riku felt like she was going to get carried away for a moment. however, even if you apologize without the other person knowing why, nothing will change. 'i think you're angry because i made you wait.' even as he said that, the words she heard from risa on her way out slowly cast a shadow over her mind. 'it's better not to go too quickly. if you wait patiently, they'll realize, oh, this person likes me. you'll be taken lightly.' riku had laughed it off and left the house, thinking that this wasn't the case with daisuke. 'love is all about chasing and waiting... it's harder when you love a lot. ' risa, who should have been aware that she was popular, let out a voice that sounded like it was going to die out, but suddenly it echoed in her head. daisuke has no idea how worried i was... why are you late? why do you make me worry? why do you keep secrets? why do you make me feel so anxious? all of these expressed riku's feelings, but they didn't fit perfectly. ' i --- ' daisuke was staring at riku, who was still searching for words and was about to open her mouth. he didn't miss a word, his eyes were sincere as if he was trying to take in the situation. at his feet, wiz was looking up at daisuke and riku with worry. the day was already over before she could even blink. riku had no choice but to surrender to the sight of one person and one animal.

riku considers how it was strange for herself to be suspicious and anxious over someone so honest - daisuke's always serious about every little thing, which is why he never gets angry or panics like she does. she should have known that much - he was a good person who couldn't overlook things that everyone else just ignored or turned a blind eye to, and she had fallen in love with it. what was there to be anxious about? with a laugh she says that she has to go home in a little while and doesn't want them to waste time with excuses, something that leaves daisuke stunned and responding with an 'ah, i see. sorry.' his apology turns her sullen and although she laughs, she tells him that's enough. sighing to himself, daisuke wonders if something like that was the only thing that would make riku so angry.

' um, riku-san...' ' enough already! '

riku turns away, and daisuke inadvertently thinks about how cute even that gesture was - his heart starts to pound and he starts to move, but he's nervous, looking 'in the direction of tomorrow' in order to suppress his reactive genes. wiz looks up at the two of them who had finally met but wouldn't look at each other or speak, shakes his head as if to say that it couldn't be helped, and then starts licking them. eventually an extremely loud cry echoes throughout the area, and everyone starts to stare at riku and daisuke. between them is a girl with a school bag on her back, grabbing them by their sleeves and crying! wiz is alarmed by the volume of the girl's voice, while daisuke and riku both talk at the same time: 'what's wrong? did you get lost?'

but the girl only cries even louder. 'what's your name? where did you come from?' daisuke asks, but her cries only get louder. even when wiz tries to be cute, she doesn't show any interest. now, she was crying with all her being, as if she would cry out no matter what. riku looked at the girl for a while, then let out a sigh and said simply - 'maho-chan, do you want to eat some candy?''

after giving her the candy, the girl finally stops crying. daisuke and wiz watch the process with 'eyes as if they were watching a magic trick,' after which the girl asks how riku knew her name - riku laughs and shakes her head, it was written on her name tag in beautiful handwriting. 'big brother!' the girl named maho smiled for the first time; it seemed that she wanted to say it was her brother who had written the name, and she was so proud and happy to have the tag praised for its beauty. riku asks where he is, to which she responds that he's in a cute house that has cinderella's shoes. daisuke immediately recognizes where just from hearing 'cinderella's shoes' - it's the church, the same housing dark's next target.

riku offers to take maho over to reunite her with her brother, and maho immediately latches onto her hand with a tight hold - likewise, riku and daisuke both seemed to have lightened up from their experiences between each other just moments before. riku tells daisuke that it's strange for a boy to know about cinderella's shoes, but daisuke tilts his head - it wouldn't be strange if all boys knew about the story of cinderella, only for riku to continue.

'risa told me that if you pray to cinderella's shoes in that church, a magician will appear and grant only good children's wishes. it seems that many girls believe this when they're young.' just as riku's said, daisuke's never heard this story - all of his childhood memories are of being dragged around by saehara and running all over the place, often being made an accomplice to saehara's pranks and receiving punishments for them... nothing's changed at all. there were times when he's swayed by saehara, and times when he's dragged along by someone else's feelings and made an accomplice.

however, daisuke was satisfied when he discovered one major change. having someone you like. back then, i never knew how happy i felt being able to be with that person.

daisuke looks at riku as everyone walks side by side- riku is smiling at maho, and maho is so excited that it's hard to believe she had been crying so hard just a moment ago. the girls compliment each other's socks, maho saying that hers had been bought for her by her brother, and starts skipping while riku holds onto her so that she won't fall.

the kind eyes that watched over the little girl were different from anything daisuke knew. plus, she had a soft, soft tone that he rarely got to hear at school. 'i wish i had a kind brother like that too.' maho answered her with a smile, and riku continued. 'these shoes are my sister's. aren't they strange?' 'no! you definitely look better as an older sister!' maho insists, even though she's never seen riku's younger sister, risa. 'really?' riku laughed as if she was tickled. daisuke's heart sank again when he saw her shy smile that brightened up the whole area. it was gone. he finally understood why he had been so nervous for a while now. but he didn't have time to think about that anymore - he was afraid of turning into dark.

everyone finally reaches the church and maho dashes in calling for her big brother. riku, still holding onto maho's school bag, looks at daisuke and smiles, who feels his heart cry out but can only give a bashful laugh as he stands by her stand. not good, why was she so cute?! fighting against so many different emotions, from happy ones to troubled ones to ones he doesn't even know, he feels it's only a matter of time before he turns into dark - it's impossible to suppress after riku's smile just now had completely pulled the trigger. daisuke starts looking for a place while maho returns from the church, still searching for her brother - and daisuke tries to sneak away before being caught by riku, who he tells he's going to go look for maho's big brother, who might be out looking for maho.

although riku wants to go with him, he asks her to stay with maho, to which she nods and looks impressed. daisuke goes to hide, feeling a little guilty - there's no doubt that the best place to wait was where riku and maho were, but the real reason he wanted to go alone was because he was worried he was going to transform into dark. for riku to be impressed... it hurt just to lie, but making everything seem like he was only trying to show off his good side made him feel even more guilty.

'i wonder how long we have to keep doing this...' daisuke jumped behind a tree while grumbling. here, even if you transform, no one will notice. it's night outside. complete darkness. dark would be more suited to exist there than daisuke.

inside the church, riku watches as maho prayers towards the glass slippers, but the only thing on her mind is daisuke --- she thought and worried about all sorts of things as she had been waiting, like whether or not the clothes risa chose for her suited her, or that something might have happened to daisuke on the way, and that daisuke couldn't have kept her waiting so long, until she shakes her head. what was wrong with her to be thinking like that? it was only because risa had said something weird - no, risa wasn't bad. it was because riku herself was thinking too much. hoping, dreaming, worrying, feeling depressed - she's been emotionally unstable for a while now, as if her heart no longer belonged to herself alone. it's daisuke fault, she could only ever think of him. meeting eyes with the virgin mary in the stained glass, riku instinctively straightens up a little, then giggles like a kid who's been naughty.

the virgin, painted in colored glass, appears to know everything. if you look up at it in bright daylight, how brilliantly this stained glass will shine.

riku starts to walk around the church - she knew there was one here, but it's her first time going inside. even in azumano, where the whole town is like an art museum, there were still some unique things that couldn't be seen anywhere else. a pipe organ with a towering and massive presence, and in the center of the alter, the glass shoes.

'really, they look like cinderella's shoes...'

riku traces a finger down it: its colorless and transparent nature is resemblant of ice, but when you touch it, it feels surprisingly gentle and warm. the shoes have a smoothness suitable for a lady, and a clear radiance, like a pure heart. even though riku thinks the shoes are beautiful, she also thinks they don't suit her.

what kind of person is suitable for these shoes? in the fairy tale, what kind of woman is the one that the prince desperately searches for? riku's finger left the glass slipper. 'what's wrong, sis?' maho was looking up. it seemed like she was deep in thought again. riku smiled bitterly. 'it's nothing.'

the sound of a car suddenly stopping nearby after entering the churchyard is followed by footsteps. when riku turns around to look at the door, she gasps --- there's someone there. the silhouette of a tall and slender man who was able to commute to school was clearly visible.

no way... riiku couldn't believe her eyes. the man, his long hair flowing, was heading straight towards me. 'no...' that's phantom thief dark...?!?! riku took a step back to run away. she limped, but couldn't move any further. her body was stiff and she couldn't breathe. it felt like her heart was beating loudly in her temples. ............don't come here. riku closed her eyes tightly, as if praying. however, there was no escaping the images burned into her retinas. from the memory of being forced to leave it behind by an intruder in the middle of the night. only the face looks good, dark's. the man who stole riku's first kiss. for just a moment, as he was about to leave, she thought she saw daisuke's confused face. the memory of that night clings to riku and tightens her grip. .......niwa-kun!

riku remains paralyzed until the man calls out for maho - his voice is different from what she had expected, and 'as if the restraints had been lifted, her body's freedom returned.' maho rams into him full-force and calls him big brother, while he says that he's been looking for her and asks where she's been in a scolding, but relieved tone. maho hunches over as she clings to his (long) legs- although the man says that she had promised she would wait for him, maho says it was because of the wizard, and begins to cry again.

' nii-chan, aren't you angry? you were really worried about maho.' ' i ... i'm sorry. ' the man easily picked up maho, who was shivering, and pat her on the back. the man's hands that were touching maho as if holding a precious egg were completely different from dark's, the ones riku knew. his face was well-shaped and you could call him beautiful, but his eyes were completely different. they gave the impression that they were gently enveloping what was reflected in them, unlike dark's, who had a strong stare that forced its way into the heart. if you look closely, you can clearly see that, although they look alike at first glance, he's a completely different person. 'maho-chan's older brother...' feeling weak, riku sat down in a nearby chair.

maho's brother only now realizes he wasn't alone with maho in the church, and asks who riku is, (scaring her with the difference in his voice compared to when he was speaking with his sister,) only for maho to inform him that riku was the one who brought her here because she was chasing after a magician. he tries to make friendly talk by calling her legs beautiful and asks if she plays any sports, but riku's too out of it to properly respond or receive any questions - being eyed up and down makes her shudder, until maho turns bright red and tells him not to fool around with her like a 'naked woman.' riku's tears of terror turn into angry tears as maho's brother insists he's said many times before that he's never done such a thing, and as he approaches riku with a wry smile she quickly scurries away from him - she wants to run, but her legs still don't have any strength.

what kind of person is this? please answer me quickly, niwa-kun.....

daisuke rushes back in calling for riku, 'so brightly that it seemed out of place---' he had transformed into dark and was trying to do something ever since he had left, but desperately talking with dark and being reminded of riku helped him to somehow return to normal --- as for himself, he's so happy because he broke a record for the shortest time he's ever taken to get back. noticing the atmosphere has him stopping short, however - maho is crying, riku is sitting exhausted, and the man hugging maho and giving a friendly nod had to be maho's brother.

riku looks at daisuke with relief, and daisuke realizes something terrible had to have happened while he was gone. wiz bounces over to riku who hugs and plays a little with him, and daisuke nearly apologizes for taking so long, despite having thought about riku the entire time. maho's brother speaks up again and interrupts him - riku was beautiful, so he was wondering if she'd go out with him for a little while. daisuke ignores and has his turn to interrupt maho's brother by asking riku what happened as he holds out his hand to help her up, but riku only hesitates.

nothing had actually happened - the man had only told riku that she looked beautiful, so there was no lie in his explanation, but riku feels a little too self-conscious in front of daisuke to say that the look in his eyes was scary, and that the reason she was scared was because he seemed like dark for a moment.

the man in front of her, who was holding maho in his arms, could be recognized as having the face of 'good big brother' without a second's hesitation.

riku's face grows hot and she says that nothing happened - the same words that daisuke had used when she questioned him earlier. keeping her head down and hiding her face, maho's brother takes her chin with a finger and tells her it's a waste to look down like that - he makes her look upwards, his other arm still holding maho, but daisuke is the one who reflexively brushes his hand away. standing in front of riku as it to protect her and glaring up at maho's brother without saying anything, both riku and maho's eyes widen at the 'unexpected intensity,' and riku herself finally looks maho's brother over daisuke's shoulder.

don't run away this time. however, despite riku's sharp and accusatory gaze, which would have made daisuke curl his tail and surrender, the man was... there was no sign of him moving at all. ' if it's me, i can bring out your unadorned beauty. ' the man said this confidently, looking straight into riku's eyes as if trying to seduce her. riku's eyes, which were glaring up at the man, wavered for just a moment. daisuke, who was carrying riku on his back, couldn't see it, but the man could clearly see it. he laughed, faintly but triumphantly. 'what are you saying?' daisuke said quietly and sternly. it was his first time experiencing such a feeling. daisuke had never felt this much anger, even towards his other self. daisuke and the man were glaring at each other, and a slurred voice called out. 'onii-chan, are you sorry?' maho was pulling on her brother's long hair as if it were a rein. ' don't bully big-sis. she helped maho.' 'i didn't mean to bully her, but... i'm sorry.' laughing lightly, the man's face returned to that of a friendly older brother. 'she was so pretty that i thought i'd ask her to model for me, but i guess that's not possible. sorry,' the man muttered.

riku lets out a sigh of relief but still ends up surprised that her heart had moved 'even a little' at the man's offer - why be swayed by the words of such a suspicious man? she doesn't understand it herself, but maho and her brother both thank them, daisuke included, leaving daisuke too confused over the sudden change in attitude. daisuke says he hadn't done anything - and in the midst of his and riku's mixed feelings, maho's brother, taking out his car keys, offers to take them both home. daisuke recalls his mother telling him that lover's night is supposed to end wtih the boy taking the girl home and tries to decline.

daisuke had long overcome the fear of not knowing what was lurking in the dark. as phantom thief dark, he had run around freely many times, so even at night he knew every corner of the city. even if he couldn't see anything, it was still hammered into his senses. even if something were to happen, he was confident that he had the strength to protect riku. his skills, experience, and athletic ablity were not at the same level as a normal junior high school student's, and he had acquired them as dark. even if there weren't many things, daisuke believed that he could do anything for riku.

riku stares up at daisuke who clearly declines maho's brother's offer once more with trust in her eyes, and after comparing the two, he seems satisfied, saying that even azumano's more unpopular group wouldn't touch children.

rather than being convinced, he may have been trying to respect daisuke's feelings as a man. the man smiled so warmly that it felt like that.

maho's brother tells them to have a nice night as maho waves her hand and says bye - daisuke and riku are both left confused, failing to understand him:

you might think he's laughing out loud, but then he's trying to force people to move at his own pace. which one was true? however, neither of these can be considered acting. rather than that, i think it's the vagueness of my words and actions, which i don't want to lie about, that bothers riku more. the thought also briefly crossed daisuke's mind.

immediately after leaving the church they hear maho's brother giving sermon - he scolds his sister for breaking her promise and tells her that lying is even worse - words that stop daisuke's legs as if they had been frozen.

'i'm not lying.' 'maho!' 'the wizard really existed!' maho had always believed that the magician came because of her prayers, and insists that she got lost while chasing after him. 'he was flying through the sky with black wings! i saw a man who looked like big brother!' hearing maho's words, daisuke and riku turned around at the ssame time. 'that's....' 'dark?!'

daisuke, thinking it a ridiculous misunderstanding, has no idea what it means that dark was supposed to be a wizard - meanwhile riku suddenly turns pale. with the brightness from before having disappeared, maho's brother walks back towards the hall with the glass slippers.

'that person is not a wizard. there are no wizards anywhere,' the man said, his voice squeezing. also, his expression was different from before. daisuke was curious about the way the man looked at the glass slipper. a dark, penetrating gaze that seemed to be trying to chip away at the crystal sculpture. maho looked up at her brother in silence, wondering if she had ever seen eyes like that before. 'even if you pray, your wishes won't come true. there's no magic... maho.' seeing maho looking down, riku became angry. there's no need to go out of your way to teach such things to small children. riku thought that this arrogance that hurt others was the same as dark's. are you trying to destroy a little girl's dreams like a thief who forcibly steals something precious without warning?

outraged, riku nearly moves to say something, but daisuke grabs her hand and steadily tugs her out of the street. out on the deserted street, riku exclaims how much she hates dark - which leaves daisuke looking troubled. riku asks why-wasn't everything dark's fault? daisuke's been pushed around a lot today, and although things had been energetic and good at first, they've been becoming more depressed. neither of them got to be alone together, and daisuke agrees, 'nodding with all his might.'

it's all dark's fault, after all.

riku's been made sad and angry lots of times today, but half of it was daisuke's own fault, and there was nothing that he could do about it. glancing at riku, he notices that she's frowning -- he's been slowing his walking speed to match riku's pace, but she didn't seem to be just tired, the way she was walking was strange.

'show me your legs.' 'eh?!??!?' riku turned bright red and took a step backwards. 'ah, no, i didn't mean anything weird!' in front of the panicked daisuke, riku frowned again. moreover, her gait was unsteady, which didn't seem like the athletic girl she was. 'i knew it.' daisuke squatted down and began to take off his sneakers. then, he placed the shoes he took off at riku's feet. 'your feet hurt right? you've been enduring all this time, and i didn't even realize it.' daisuke's face twisted with pain.

riku's the one who gets scared when she feels someone taking this much responsibility for her - she tries to downplay things by saying that she just has a sore and it's not daisuke's fault, but daisuke insists that she changes into his own - his mom had washed them for today, so they're clean. riku's brief silence in response makes him and wiz worry over any kind of potential scent, but riku frantically stops them and decides to accept. daisuke lets her sit on a guardrail as he starts to help change her shoes:

riku was well aware that no matter how much she refused, daisuke wouldn't put his shoes back on. he was the kind of person who couludn't overlook the pain of others. with a sigh, she took of her small shoes. '... then i'll borrow them. thank you.' when she put her foot into the sneaker, it was surprisingly big, and daisuke's warmth remained.'

as daisuke helps her, riku looks at his back - seeing a reliable person who protected her so that nobody could see her or get too close. just a little while ago he had protected her from a strange man, and other than being a little taller, he wasn't much different looking from her. then, before she knew it, daisuke had changed a lot.

compared to that, i... just as riku was about to sink into despair, daisuke suddenly said something. 'when i met riku-san, it was weird, wasn't it?' while wondering whether or not it was okay to affirm, daisuke continued talking to himself. 'i was so nervous... that's why i couldn't speak properly.' riku wondered if he was trying to comfort her. 'riku-san was so cute. ah, of course i knew she was cute, but today she was so lovely in a different way than usual. i got confused. ' '...thank you.' riku stood up, dragging her big sneakers. it felt like her feet, which had been confined to small shoes, had become a little revitaliized. she could relax and be surrounded by daisuke's warm and spacious heart. 'let's go.' wiz plays with daisuke's socks and tugs them as he starts to walk. it was so heartwarming that tears fell from riku's eyes as she laughed.

cut to dark calling out daisuke's name 'from the darkness.' daisuke had delivered riku home safely leaving him with a sense of pleasant fulfillment, and had just collapsed onto the bed and turned off the lights.

'what is it, dark? let me sleep right now. ' he was already exhausted from dealing with his mother, who had been waiting to find out how the date went. --- that man is suspicious. '.........yeah.' daisuke's nods, half asleep. a dark gaze that was staring at the 'glass shoes,' and a pained voice that said 'your wishes won't come true.' the man's words and actions in front of the glass shoes at the church had been caught by dark. although he was hopelessly fascinated by the glass shoes, he never tried to touch them, as if he was imposing something onto himself. even though he touched riku so casually that daisuke was jealous. --- all i know is that he's also after that treasure. '.........yeah.' with his face in the pillow, daisuke chimes in. wiz was sleeping comfortably, leaning against his back. --- but, even if our aims are the same, our purposes are different. '.........yeah.' --- daisuke.... there's no reply anymore. for a while now, daisuke had been snoring and was completely asleep. --- if you're talking in your sleep, say so clearly! dark yelled in a voice that no one but daisuke could hear. the sound of a bell echoes from afar. twelve o'clock, the bell that heralds the fateful time when cinderella's magic melts. and then the real battle begins to make that wish come true.

the morning after lover's night, an exhausted-and-therefore-overslept daisuke runs to the school gate at the same time as saehara, who greets him with his usual hello and stumble-inducing whack - something that takes place in some form every day. daisuke greets him and saehara immediately asks how yesterday was, full of enthusiasm even this early in the morning as he sinks an elbow into daisuke's side. daisuke vaguely tells him that he did all kinds of fun things, but saehara, who notices that daisuke hasn't said any of it with any kind of embarassment or shame, dramatically bends over and tries to weedle him for more - there had to be so many things!

his shouting reminds daisuke of his father- inspector saehara. although the inspector was always chasing after dark, because he was the agressive type, he ended up always being under dark's control. he and his son were very similar to each other, and daisuke tells takeshi as much as sekimoto appears. everyone starts to joke as if they were daisuke's parents - they're so proud of daisuke for getting big, and they're getting old now too! daisuke interrupts and abandons the manzai routine by saying he'd go to class first, but saehara tackles him on the way and whispers into his ear - what happened? sekimoto whispers into daisuke's other: he and saehara were worried. although saehara wanted to be on the scene by the time of dark's notice yesterday, he had been forced to take up cleaning duty thanks to daisuke rushing home in order to take care of dark's work before meeting riku, and that was the last time he had seen saehara for the day. daisuke tries to lie about his wherabouts and the day's happenings, but saehara punishes him with a surprise photo --- 'nobody's going to believe that!' 'why are you so persistent?!'

turns out saehara had taken a photo of daisuke and riku at the square. the sight of him supporting a stumbling riku looks like something right out of a love scene! shouting saehara's name and shoving all the photos into his bag, daisuke glares at his 'bad friend.' saehara and sekimoto only laugh together, insisting that daisuke keep a 'record of his memorable first date, as friends.' although both of them were convinced they were blessing daisuke, he's too embarassed to say anything in response, including the fact that everything, including his fight with riku, was really his fault. saehara explains: after leaving clean up duty to risa, he had gone out with his father to capture dark's heist, but he happened to see riku and daisuke out together, hence the photo that he took as a 'souvenier.' he only really saw the moment the two met, and daisuke lets out a sigh of relief.

saehara and sekimoto continue to prod and tease (and pinch daisuke's cheeks) until the main school building saves him from the persistent interrogation. daisuke's going to be late- but saehara presses an extra edition of the school newspaper into daisuke's hands. seems like something big was going to happen, and daisuke immediately dreads the idea of his 'lovey-dovey picture' being on the front page. instead, the top page is an introduction to student teachers. pompously, saehara says that he might have gotten one step closer to finding out dark's true identity - although daisuke thinks there's no way saehara would ever find out, every time saehara said something like that, daisuke couldn't help but freak out. sekimoto scolds him - there's no need to act surprised every time, and it was off the mark, anyways.

even though he doesn't mind doing flash things when he turns into dark, he's quite timid.

the homeroom teacher comes in and looks a little troubled - another teacher was supposed to come in today for teaching practice, but as she says this, someone suddenly runs in.

'barely safe! ...don't you think so? ahaha.' a tall man with long hair was scratching his head at the edge of the podium. 'ah!' riku and daisuke couldn't help but cry out when they saw the man. he was the older brother of a girl named maho that the two met in the wild. however, daisuke and his friends weren't the only ones who raised their voices, and the whole classroom became noisy. 'cool!' 'hey, haven't we seen you somewhere?' 'on tv, like a celebrity!' 'hmm... i don't know who it is, even though he's come all this way!' the girls whisper to each other while looking at the photos and profiles published in the school newspaper. they might have been trying to whisper, but their voices were getting louder due to their excitement.

the homeroom teacher quiets them down, and maho's brother begins speaking to the students buzzing with excitement as he writes the kanji for his name: yuma sagami. he hesitates when he looks down at the school newspaper, and everyone holds their breath in silence, waiting for him to continue.

'the kanji is written in this newspaper. the school/department name, birthday, blood type, etc, are all written in the paper. since i'm a student at an art university, it's natural for me to take art classes, and i'll be in charge of them. anyone have any questions?' sagami looked around the classroom, and when he met daisuke's eyes, he gave a slight wink. his refreshing and healthy smile retained the same impression from when they had first met. he didn't have the strange intrusiveness that toyed with daisuke and riku. what happened to that expression you showed for just a moment yesterday, as if you were peering into the dark? i wonder why he was staring at the glass shoes like that - the question returned to daisuke's mind.

meanwhile, amongst the girls that had cheerfuly raised their hands, saehara is frantically waving his own, leaning forward with a pen in his hand like a reporter you'd see in news footage asking questions of a president. sagami laughs and says that 'the girls in this class are more energetic' before choosing saehara after all: he cheers and stands up. he's the one that wrote the newspaper article, but he's had a question ever since he was reporting it.

'sensei, have you ever been told that you look like dark?' aren't you dark? the tone is full of such connotations. i knew it.... daisuke was weakened by the action that did not disappoint his expectations. when saehara said that he might have figured out dark's true identity, he was referring to sagami. i can hear the girls whispering to each other, 'i thought i saw him somewhere, but he looked like dark!' sagami must not have thought it was suspicious, because he simply replied: 'oh, there it is. you just said it.' the class erupted in excitement at the answer. daisuke laughed, wondering if the person with that type of face was good at being condescending.

saehara sits down, and immediately after, one girl after another attacks sagami with personal questions: does he have a girlfriend? what's his favorite type? can they go to his house to play? all of these were politely avoided, and the girls who couldn't be bothered formed the 'sagami sensei fan club' - most of them girls who had always declared themselves dark fans. during breaks and class letters were being passed around and information was being exchanged - sagami's effect was tremendous and effected the school clean-up. under the direction of the trainee teachers, each class was expected to spread out around the school to clean it- daisuke and his friends, in 2B, were in charge of the grounds and supposed to pull up weeds, but most of the girls had gathered into one place.

they gather around sagami, forming a herd like a flock of goats. daisuke and his friends watched from a distance. 'girls are scary...'

earlier nishimura, the male committee chairman, had went around trying to tell others to clean properly, only to be told that it was up to the invididual to decide what to clean. sawamura, the girl's commitee chairperson, and also the de facto boss of 2B, also had a group. nishimura brings up how he had been yelling at hiwatari yesterday, and daisuke replies that if hiwatari had been here, things might not have turned out the way they did. at this point, the other boys realize for the first time that they haven't seen hiwatari - it felt like he hadn't been here since morning, he's so quiet it's hard to tell whether he's there or not, but daisuke had noticed it well. saying that hiwatari was a classmate and so it was natural that he'd notice, daisuke continues to pluck at the weeds.

while the other boys start sumo wrestling with each other, there was already a small mound of weeds in front of daisuke. pulling weeds up from ground that had become hard and pat down after being trampled was a tough job that required a lot of guts, and moreover, it was getting chilly. the wind was blowing relentlessly on the field, and anyone could catch a cold. although daisuke and his friends are quiet, they can still hear the girls who seem to be having fun.

'as expected of an adult. after the herd moved on, there was no grass left, as if they had eaten all of it, and they were very good at controlling the girls.' saehara, who was observing sagami's actions, muttered. it was a serious statement from his side, as though he had found something in common with dark, but sekimoto immediately became the straight man. 'is the teacher a sheepdog?' laughing at his friends' conversation, daisuke looked for riku. riku was not a member of the sagami sensei fan club, and was walking around the field with a garbage bag in hand. it was the beautification commitee's job to pick up the scattered piles of grass, but she probably did it for them. a female beautification commitee member was smiling happily in the crowd. '......as expected, riku-san is the best.' daisuke's face naturally relaxed. however, he was taken abakc when he saw riku place the garbage bag at her feet and let out a sigh. the side of her face, with her hair brushed back from her face, made her look like she was tired. 'riku-s---' 'AGH!'

because daisuke suddenly stood up, he ends up hitting saehara in the jaw. daisuke apologizes, but saehara seems fine, so he quickly runs off leaving a mewling saehara behind - daisuke's been neglecting him since the morning, and he hasn't even spoken to harada once! the voices of his friends dies out until daisuke can no longer hear them; in his mind, there was only riku. she's staring blankly at her feet and doesn't even notice that he's approaching. when she tries to pick up the bag, daisuke grabs it first. he asks her what's the matter - she hasn't been feeling well since this morning, and tries to smile, but it looks like she's forcing herself.

her smile is always bright as the sun, but it looks like the sky is cloudy, and her face always had a slight pink glow. it's bright red now.

daisuke excuses himself for a moent before he wipes his hands and places one on riku's forehead - her face turns even more red, but he can clearly feel the heat in his hands, and says they should go to the infirmary. riku brushes his hand away saying it's fine, but her hands are also warm - it's clear she's pushing herself too hard.

'riku-san -' 'i can handle this much, so it's nothing!' saing that, riku takes back the garbage bag that daisuke was holding and throws a lump of grass into it. daisuke spoke patiently as they collected the grass together. 'let's go to the infirmary.' 'i said it's fine. do you want me to get angry?'' riku answered without looking at daisuke. didn't she notice that her voice lacked its usual strength?

daisuke takes the garbage bag from riku, who was about to stand up after collecting all the grass nearby. staring straight at riku, he tells her that he's worried, but her face only twists with sadness for some reason.

'riku-san? it's really difficult, isn't it?' ' why are you saying something like that...' daisuke put his hand on riku's shoulder as she was looking down. 'hey, come with me.' daisuke's pleading voice is filled with pure kindness. he didn't know how that kindness was now painful for riku. what happened to riku after he dropped her off at home last night? what was riku thinking? 'riku-san,' as if to encourage her, daisuke gently pushed riku's shoulder. 'that's enough already, leave me alone!' unexpectedly, riku fiercely resisted. daisuke was flustered, not understand why she was refusing so stubbornly. 'sorry, i just...' 'what's the matter, are you two having a fight? '

sagami's bright voice cuts in between the two of them - he's somehow succeeded at getting the group of girls to concentrate on weeding. daisuke explains that riku seems to have a fever, and although the events of yesterday still haunted him, he still wanted to respected sagami's position: although sagami was only a teacher trainee, he was still a teacher to daisuke and his friends, with all of 2B supposed to be under his supervision during this time.

'let's see.' sagami's hand crossed in front of daisuke and touched riku's forehead.

after confirming her fever sagami tells riku to either go to the nurse's office or go home early. daisuke stands without a thought or sound and a carefree smile on his face, and riku does too, remaining both silent and still. daisuke's eyes also never leave off from sagami's touch, and noticing the fact, he tries to release his hand, only to leave riku jumping back a little. she says she's fine, but it's almost a scream - then, she suddenly collapses. daisuke immediately supports her even as she tries to escape from his grasp, and he says that he'll carry her to the nurse's office on his back - daisuke crouches, inviting her, but riku shakes her head refusing, continnuing to stand alone. daisuke doesn't have the strength to forcefully carry her since she won't lean on him, and he worries that maybe she was worried about what everyone else would see.

how can i take riku without being a burden... sagami seemed to be thinking the same thing. 'if we keep talking here, we'll start to attract more and more attention. i think we should move quickly.' sagami smiled as he put his hand on riku's shoulder, who was unsteady. it couldn't be helped. the next moment, daisuke couldn't believe his eyes. riku entrusted herself to sagami's arms. maybe she just couldn't stand anymore.

sagami tells a completely stunned daisuke not to worry - he was used to carrying his little sister, and now he was a teacher, even if he was only still an apprentice. holding riku, he looks down at daisuke apologetically, and daisuke feels that the height difference between them was more than it actually was. sagami tells him not to worry once again - did daisuke look desperate enough that he needed a reminder? easily carrying riku sagami walks towards the school building - a girl spots them and cheers.

'isn't that riku?' 'oh, sagami-sensei's treating her like a princess.' 'that's so nice!' riku's face is pressed against sagami's chest and can't be seen. maybe she's hiding it because the girls are making a fuss, and she's embarrassed. maybe she's just not feeilng well, and just leaning on something nearby. but to daisuke, it felt like he was being rejected. he was worried and wanted to keep up, but his legs wouldn't move. 'riku-san.... why...?' she waved him away with her hand. daisuke looked at his hands in disbelief. why....? daisuke was left alone on the field, which was gradually getting colder, with a garbage bag in his hands. a cold wind blew through.

in the infirmary, sagami enters and says it's an emergency. riku often visited due to PE or her club activities, and so the nurse and her knew each other. she hands riku a thermometer and riku starts getting questioned over her fever. sagami asks if he's riku harada - he had heard that there were twins in his class, but riku doesn't respond to him, even if he sounds friendly. ever since she had been talking to daisuke on the field she's been feeling dizzy, and she remembers shaking off daisuke's favor - she couldn't let herself be spoiled by that. riku's temperature clocks in at 38 degrees celcius, and the nurse asks her to take a break while she calls someome from home. partitioned across from her is another bed. the nurse tells riku that there's another boy taking a break, and as if to answer her, hiwatari comes out from the other side of the curtain, asking the nurse to excuse him since things have calmed down. he isn't wearing his glasses but doesn't seem to have any difficulty seeing, then stares intently at sagami.

rather than observing a stranger, the expression on his face was as if he had found a known person. sagami smiled bitterly. ' i'm sure you wouldn't say that i look like dark, too.' 'you? are you similar to him in some way?' hiwatari thought that he had heard something unexpected, so he asked again. 'well? that's what the students have been saying to me since this morning.' hiwatari stared at sagami who shrugged his shoulders. it's an unreadable gaze, as if it could see right through to the bottom of a person's heart. 'if anything, i feel like it's the opposite.' hiwatari muttered while putting on the glasses that were on the desk. 'really...' riku noticed that the smile suddenly disappeared from sagami's face. when people say he looks like dark, he smiles, but when people say he's the exact opposite, he looks depressed. what's the reason for this? even when she tries to think, her mind wanders and won't work. daisuke's hurt face which she saw for just a moment in the end, flashed before her eyes. it's different, isn't it? why are you doing this to me? her mind was spinning. kindness, jealousy, and... jealousy? why? to whom?

sagami's voice interupts her sprawling, rambling thoughts and she starts to follow him until hiwatari says her name. he watches her from the doorway and asks if there's anything she has to say - she says nothing, and he responds saying that he understands before slowly making his leave. the nurse comments that it must be good nobody had to tell riku's sister - riku assumes that the person being told the story was daisuke, since there was no way that hiwatari, who had been sleeping in the nurse's office, would have known about the argument. riku lays down on the bed, the nurse goes out into the hallway, and sagami calls out - he says not to worry, making it clear that he was speaking to daisuke.

those were the same words said to daisuke on the field. 'i've been told that i touch girls too casually, including what happened yesterday. all girls are like little sisters to me, so i can't leave them alone.' sagami says this as if he's apologizing for forcing her to come here. however, riku already knew. she was just running way from daisuke. she wondered if this man knew that. 'but.... i was worried about niwa-kun. i didn't want to cause trouble, but i did it again, just like yesterday. i started to suspect that daisuke, who is such a kind person, was hiding something... and yet, i couldn't help but feel sorry for myself.' 'i don't deserve to hear all that...' riku rolled over in her sleep. 'is it painful to be treated kindly?' sagami said from the other side. 'from what i see, your boyfriend seems to think he would do anything for you. he probably doesn't care what you think at all.' riku knows this better than anyone else. he's extremely kindy and personable... but in an emergency he's forceful and doesn't hold back, and that's what makes him reliable. 'but... i can't do anything for niwa-kun.'

riku looks up at the ceiling - the whitness of the clean infirmary sheets was starting to hurt her eyes. sagami says that he doesn't really care what had happened earlier and puts a cold compress on riku's forehead, then strokes it a little. although his hand is rough, riku closes her eyes and feels a little comfort. she admits she's getting swayed by all kinds of thoughts and has been blaming daisuke; even though she doesn't want to, she feels empty. sagami casually says it's just because of the fever, and riku slips the blanket all the way up to her head- sagami tells her that when she gets better, she'll forget about it. he pats the top of the futon and his hand leaves, to which riku denies his words - there's no way things would go smoothly like that. he's thes ort of person who always says selfish things. although she feels some slight repulsion, she still feels a sense of relief and falls asleep, then has a dream - the events of last night were starting to bother her.

riku had returned home with a limp and was happily greeted by her sister - risa asks if it was fun and whether or not daisuke praised her, but riku only gives vague answers, leaving risa disatissfied. she also thanks risa for letting her borrow things, although the shoes were kind of hard to walk in - she tripped, but it was fine because niwa-kun supported her, and riku wonders what kind of face daisuke was making since she could only see his back as he was complimenting her on that night.

riku walks into the bathroom, while risa laughs and says that it's typical of riku: no matter what she wears, it's still riku. although riku had been trying to avoid the thought, it's right on the mark - the restlessness of looking at herself in the show window, and the misery she felt while she was walking with a limp on her hurt leg, all of it made her feel ashamed, and it could have been that daisuke only said that he was cute because risa had made her look cute. the hot water soaking into her sore wouldn't let her forget the trouble she caused for him, but risa only laughs, thinking this was just like riku, too. what did daisuke think?

risa asks what the two had been doing together, but riku doesn't respond. risa tries to goad her on a little more, to which she she says that she hadn't done anything - she was so restless, she couldn't eat, and didn't really have anything to do.

after a long wait and a fight, she brought a lost girl to her brother. there was nothing like a date. let alone playing together, they didn't even have time to talk properly. there was hardly anything. however, she received a lot from daisuke's kindness. 'niwa-kun.' ' what, what? ' 'he noticed that something was out of place. so he lent me his shoes and walked barefoot. he sent me here. i did something bad.'

risa falls into a thoughtful silence then calls daisuke a kind person in a forced, cheerful voice. riku's heart aches when she understands that meant that daisuke was kind to her and didn't get bored. risa doesn't know that she's comparing riku's date to what happened to her, but her words were only digging into the wound - it was typical of daisuke and riku to run around and miss out on food, or they make mistakes, or things don't go well. daisuke complimented the clothes risa had chosen for riku as cute. even after getting out of the bath riku still can't get this out of her head, and so she was alone looking at the starry sky from the balcony -- that's why she caught a cold last night, and she remembers this in a daze. daisuke didn't do anything wrong, but he was depressed, worried, and felt bad--- later she'd have to apologize, but for now, she falls asleep.

eventually she wakes up on her own bed - her mother had picked her up and carried her home. she had been planning on waking up, apologizing, and then going home with daisuke, thinking that she could just wave goodbye and look forward to tomorrow as if nothing had happened. looking at the clock, it's 9PM: daisuke might still be awake. if she just wanted to talk, then a phone call was enough, but riku was still pacing up and down the hallway even at 9:30. speaking without looking at someone's face took a lot of courage! it was highly unlikely that daisuke wouldn't answer her calls, but it was even scarier feeling because you couldn't see someone's facial expressions over the phone. even then, it was better to call and apologize sooner rather than wait until tomorrow- riku starts mumbling to herself as she stops in front of the phone.

'sorry that i told you to leave me alone when you were worried about me. i had a fever and had been getting worse. sorry. alright, let's move on!'

right as she's gathering herself up to pick up the phone, risa walks over - what are you doing here? riku still had a fever, so she needed to get some sleep. risa mumbles to just let her have one call, but risa stays nearby and watches her, worried that riku might pass out again, frustrating riku - there was no way she could call daisuke and have a proper talk with him like this. giving up, she goes back to her room, apologizing to daisuke and promising that she'll apologize tomorrow at school while swearing to the photo by her bedside - the photo of herself and daisuke smiling at the barbeque tournament (from LN 2.)

at the same time, daisuke was also pacing back and forth in front of his phone. wondering how riku was feeling, he picks it up, hangs it halfway, then hangs it up again. it'd be bad to wake her while she was sleeping, and although he's tried to go up to his room, halfway up the stares, he'd come back again. he's done that over and over again.

'instead of having riku-san come over, i could just ask the people at home how things are going. harada-san won't mind!' daisuke seemed to have made up his mind and put his hand on the phone. but then, as if something had hit him, his hand suddenly let go of the receiver. '....i give up.'

as he turns around saying that he's gotten so nervous his throat has gone dry, a loud commotion comes from the other room- there's the sound of something violently falling to the floor, and then his mother's screaming kosuke's name. when daisuke enters the kitchen, his father's legs are tangled up in a chair, and he blithely asks if daisuke was making any progress with his studies. beside him and his timid smile is emiko, frozen in the same position as she was trying to pull out the chair that had gotten tangled around her husband's legs.

'.....mom.' 'oh, my! i thought we'd try yoga for a bit, but it turned out like this... kosuke is such a mess.' even when daisuke glares at her, his mother keeps smiling, trying to keep up the deception. my grandfather had a newspaper spread out on the table with a casual face, but there was no doubt that he was listening along with me at the door. even though he's gotten older, he's still as strong as hsi predecessor, and he's still very light in his movements. i don't know what a normal family is, but the niwa family is definitely a family where you can't let your guard down. if you're worried, depressed, or lost, you'll be turned into a toy.

daisuke sighs and opens the fridge to pour himself some milk while watching everything out of the corner of his eye - he pretends he isn't looking, but he watches his dad escape the yoga chair as he prays that he'll grow taller. suddenly, his family stares at him, but daisuke doesn't say anything in return, so there's an awkward silence - until his grandfather compliments his hearing. daisuke can't help but retort that everything was the same as usual, realizing too late that he's trapped himself into conversation - his mother's eyes twinkle and she says that she was worried, and he retorts that she's also amused. even at school, he'd encounter curiosity disguised with worry. noticing that his dad was smiling, he asks kosuke to say something to his mom - he was the only person that he could count on for common sense, because he had married into the niwa family and therefore knew what a normal family should have been like. he's also the one who gave daisuke his genetic clumsy and pushy side.

'hmmm...' after thinking for a long while, his father says to his mother, 'thank you for making our home a bright one.' looking at my father who said it with a smile, my grandfather was also satisfied with his meal. daisuke was stunned, but his mother hugged him tightly. 'that's right! we're a proud family!' 'stop it, mom!' that's right. after all, his father fell in love with his mother and married her. maybe he shouldn't have expected common sense from the beginning.... daisuke struggled in his mother's chest, but eventually gave up. --- are you trying to get away with using the word common sense? my other self whispers to me from the depths of my heart. it was already late and i wouldn't want to wake her up. yes, it was true that i was worried about riku, but that wasn't the only reason i couldn't call her. of course, it wasn't because my family was listening. --- are you really that scared of talking to riku? amidst the happy laughter of his family, daisuke tried to pretend he couldn't hear. however, that was impossible. because it was his own voice, no one else's. once he got back to his room and was alone, he had no choice but to face it.

he wonders if riku still hasn't forgive him - she brushed off his hand, but didn't resist sagami and was taken to the infirmary. yesterday he was both frightened and even angry - he can't help but wonder if he was that unreliable.

' i could carry riku-san by myself.' sure, he might have been smaller than the average second-year middle school boy, if it was for riku.... 'if only i were big and strong like dark and sensei...' then no matter what riku said, he could have taken her away. in reality, all he could do was stand there blankly and watch them go. --- well then, you should have transformed into me. dark laughs maliciously. 'that doesn't make any sense!' usually people transform at school --- no, that wasn't what i mean, daisuke muttered to himself.

it was hiwatari who had told him that riku was resting in the nurse's and that she'd return home when her family came to pick her up - he must have happened to be there and took care of things, for which daisuke was grateful for. on another level, daisuke was frustrated - it was a shame to leave things and have to hear about riku through others. riku relied on sagami because of his narrowminded-ness: dark, sagami, even his own father, who always had a gentle smile on his face, all had something that daisuke didn't - something that backed a person's confidence and allowed them to smile even in desperate sitations and support others. even though daisuke wanted to be relied on when things were painful and confided in about everything, the fact he was wishing for it still remained a big secret.

'i wonder why i still transform into dark even though i'm finally in love with you...' if he hadn't transformed, he wouldn't have had to work, he wouldn't have met risa, and he would have been waiting for the meeting. there was no need to be late or lie. moreover, the girl named maho would have never gotten lost chasing dark. if it weren't for this secret, everything would be fine. daisuke looked up at the sky from the window. a thin moon, like a scratch in the night, floats in the sky. it seemed like there was an unerasable wall between daisuke and riku. 'mom said that if you have mutual feelings with the person you love, then my body would stop changing...' ---only if you have true mutual feelings. you said it yourself. 'eh?' when daisuke asked again, not knowing what he was talking about, he felt as if dark was grinning from behind the window. ------ the secret is becoming an obstacle. it's just as you think. 'even if you say that...' daisuke mumbled an argument in his mouth. riku hates dark, so there's no way he'll let dark's true identity be known. '--- hey, are you blaming me for that?' 'because it is your fault, isn't it?'

when daisuke was captured by the snow queen, riku admit that she liked him even though he was in dark's form. that didn't mean that daisuke had admit that he was dark. riku was just desperately trying to save daisuke who had been about to be frozen. 'in fact, within riku, there was a growing sense of malice towards dark himself, seeing him as an ominous presence.'

--- then, that means you're hated too. 'why is this happening?' --- i told you, i'm you. the people who like riku are daisuke and dark. riku likes daisuke. what riku hates is dark. daisuke is dark. dark is daisuke. if it's a mathmatical proof problem, it won't work as is. it would work if daisuke or dark weren't there. in reality, feelings are not that simple. what should i do to truly feel mutual love with riku? what am i missing? no matter how much he thinks about it, there's no way to come up with an answer. daisuke was confused. he starts to murmur as he strokes wiz, who was sleeping face down on the bed. ' dark... i just don't want riku to feel bad because of me.' --- same goes for me. daisuke was startled by the unexpectedly quiet voice. that was right, dark loved riku just like himself, but she hated him. i feel sorry for him, but it's strange for me to comfort him... as daisuke pondered this, dark continued. --- i want all girls to be happy. 'people hate me because of that kind of attitude!' feeling like he could see dark grinning instead of himself reflected in the windowpane, he pulled back the curtains.

the next morning, riku was planning to go to school, but he rmother pulls her back to bed - her fever hasn't gone down yet, so it's important she doesn't push herself too hard. risa says that it must be nice since she gets to take a break from school, and that she wants to hang out at home too, but her mother chides by reminding her that riku had a fever and it was painful - risa's attitude immediately changes. she knows, and riku didn't like being sick, so she just wanted to make things a little more fun. she brings an idol magazine, a fashion magazine and manga to riku's bedside - promising to take notes, she tells riku not to worry and leaves for school. riku only glances at the books risa had brought for her without opening them before saying that she really had to go today. she picks up the photo of herself and daisuke at the barbeque again and looks at it nostalgically before saying daisuke's name.

at school, daisuke suddenly looks at riku's seat - but no matter how many times he looks, riku's still nowhere to be seen. before he realized it, it had been a habit to look at her, and he bitterlyy smiles. lately he seems to have forgotten that the passage of time could actually feel this slow. ever since he had started turning into dark, he's had less time - stealing art, chases with hiwatari, dealing with saehara's dark discussions. he had more things to do, and he couldn't take it easy yat school as much as he used to, but daisuke still thought that the biggest factor was riku. just her being in the same space made time fly by more quickly during class or breaks, and that's why the day felt so unbearably long.

--- weren't you afraid to talk? dark seems interested and speaks. it's rare for dark to talk during the day, but it seemed that dark was also bored since riku wasn't around. 'it's much harder not being able to see her,' daisuke muttered to himself. even the time spent on his favorite art felt so long.

while absentmindedly carving daisuke suddenly relaizes that one of wiz's ears were gone - it's not real and just a wood carving, but sagami, whose eyes have been patrolling around the class, tells him that it's dangerous and to be careful with the knife. although he speaks in his usual loose and slightly relaxed manner, his eyes were sharp in the classroom and went through every corner of the room - it was a little like the face he had showed in front of the glass slippers. daisuke wonders if this was the kind of look on his face he got when he got serious on something, like a sculpture. the bell rings to end the school day and everyone leaves. daisuke collects the chisels that had been carelessly left behind by students hurrying to their club activities, and sagami thanks him with a very casual, english 'thank you.'

daisuke is completely in charge of clean-up alone today - hiwatari's gone, and so is risa. sagami compliments him a little more, saying that he thought daisuke was quite skillful and a member of the art club, but the way sagami carefreely smiles as if nothing had happened yesterday makes daisuke want to lose his temper.

it wasn't as powerful as the smile daisuke usually spread to the people around him, but there was no way daisuke himself would notice. 'teacher...'

daisuke was rambling. 'how can i become like you? 'like me? sagami laughed a little. 'it's better not to be.' he said it so plainly that daisuke wasn't sure what sagami really meant. does he not realize that he has something so enviable? or maybe he himself...

risa appears thanking daisuke while sagami tells her that even if she showed up now, everything had already been cleaned up. risa had forgotten she was on duty since riku wasn't here, and didn't sagami think it wasn't good to let a girl hold a carving knife? ssgami says those were tools he probably used --- although he was sweet with girls, he seemed to be immune to being pampered and lightly dodges her line like this, which would have made daisuke nervous.

risa looks over sagami intently then suddenly leaves, but daisuke stops her. her eyes looked just like riku's, and it makes him a little flustered, but he says riku's name and risa explains riku had been trying her best to go to school, except her fever wouldn't go down, and she said that she didn't have anything to say. thanks to this daisuke ends up unable to ask if he could visit her, and just as he's about to try speaking, a school announcement comes on - daisuke ends up called away. risa promises to tell riku that daisuke told her to take good care of her, and daisuke thanks her.

in the art prep room, daisuke's asked to submit his work as the school's representative piece in the painting category to a competition held every year at the azumano muncipal museum of art. cut to him staggering down the road to the church. he's not proud of the fact, but he's never had the privilege of representing the school - to him, it's too bad that he's the rep, because he's only painting because he likes it, and yet it turned out to be a big deal. there's nothing he can say or do about any of it though, so he sighs for the umpteenth time as he arrives at the church. it's the same where the lost girl was brought; daisuke came to attach dark's notice to warn that he would steal the glass slippers. besides this, his mom told him that he should take another proper look.

when he enters he sees someone in front of the slippers - not good. he thinks about going back or asking wiz to help, but when he recognizes the person, he can't help but call out - it's sagami! the man looks up 'as if he had been repelled-' he had been concentrating on something until daisuke came in, and hadn't even noticed.

' h-hey! we meet again.' while saying this, sagami was quietly hiding something. he's pretending to be calm, but it's visible that he's panicking. 'what are you doing in a place like this?' ' just a little - right, my sister insists that she saw a wizard, so i thought i'd cme back again. you? ' 'me too...i think i lost something yesterday.' daisuke looked under a chair and pretended to be looking for something. ' looks like he's not coming today. well then,' sagami was about to leave, carrying an extremely large bag. sagami noticed that daisuke was looking at the bag and said 'oh, this constains materials and tools used in class.' then he added, 'can you please not tell anyone that we met here?' '... it's fine.' ' if that's true i should go home and prepare for tomorrow.' sagami showed a simple, friendly smile. daisuke thought he was hiding something.

daisuke really had seen that bag in the prep room, and all the tools were from there. sagami leaves and daisuke quickly approaches the glass shoes - what was sagami doing here? or, was he planning on doing something? his attitude towards the glass slippers was unusual-

yes, like the fierce light that lurks in hiwatari's eyes when he corners dark. there's something intense and sad about it. daisuke left dark's notice on the pedestal of the glass slippers and left. for some reason, he felt anxious whether or not he would be able to bring it with him when he came here again.

cut to hiwatari being alone in his room, his face lit by the light of a screen. his room's spotlessly tidy and there's no sense of life in it, not for the sake of cleanliniess, but 'to the point where one could mistakenly think that he wouldn't be able to return home at any moment.'

'the angel's song......?' hiwatari's mouth twisted. there was no expression behind the glasses, so it was impossible to tell whether he was smiling or not. musical scores were lined up on the screen in front of him. 'a magical song that is said to bring happiness... will it also give me peace?' suddenly, the sound stopped. with a faint hum, the arrangement of musical scores on the screen changes. hiwatari muttered as he scanned them. 'there is always a risk in magic.' too much power has a correspondingly strong reaction. who would be captured by that power, himself or dark? originally, he didn't want to use such a method. 'i don't have time anymore...' hiwatari exclaimed as he took off his glasses and let his gaze wander into the darkness. it was as if he was seeking salvation from something that couldn't exist anywhere...

daisuke enters his classroom, and the first thing he looks at is riku's seat - he was hoping that she'd come today, but it's empty again, disappointing him. saehara rolls up and daisuke readies himself to get a whack, but saehara's in a good mood and only pats him on the shoulder.

'did something good happen?' 'thank you for listening to me, my friend!'

saehara's arms immediately wrap around daisuke's neck and he yells, forced to sit in his seat with his neck held in his arms. takeshi's brought today's 'big scoop' - the headline reads that dark's true identity is sagami. daisuke asks if it isn't bad - although it's only a school newspaper, this was still going too far! saehara responds by explaining that sagami was the only one who went in and out of the church before and after dark's notice arrived - he had been watching all day after school for the last couple of days, expecting to receive dark's notice, leaving daisuke stunned.

'i saw you show up too. what were you doing?' 'i went to get something i forgot.' 'as usual, you're living carelessly. be careful.' daisuke wanted to say that he could repeat those exact words. it may be strange to suspect that daisuke is dark, but the fact he was excluded right away also felt kind of strange.

saehara lowers his voice and explains there was also one more reason - sagami had been carrying arounud a huge bag, and the other practice teachers don't have that much baggage. most of the tools were ones they used in the art room classes, so the contents of that bag were suspicious. daisuke nods, also concerned - everything had something to do with the glass slippers. saehara finishes up by saying that sagami only started going to the church in his spare time after dark had announced that he would steal the glass slippers next.

deciding that he's doing some serious research, daisuke looks through the newspaper again - there's ridiculous stories and anecdotes about the other trainee teachers, and daisuke's relieved that the dark=sagami theory was amongst them. next was a statement from the church priest - he refused police security on the church grounds. a church was meant to be a place to confess sins and beg for forgiveness, therefore, if a phantom thief as grand as dark came for that purpose, then there was no reason to seize him. the glass shoes were always left on a pedestal and never stolen, and a thief would never leave church with them.

even when dark steals treasure, he manipulates surveillance cameras to disable them, puts police officers on guard duty to sleep, or distracts them, creating a moment that never ends. indeed, there may not be many people who steal in places where god seems to be watching intently, daisuke thought. ' however, it has nothing to do with dark. we haven't been given god's protection,' hiwatari muttered next to daisuke. he was holding a newspaper in his hand that had apparently been given to him by saehara. daisuke turned around at the somewhat sarcastic tone, as if everything were someone else's problem. 'ah, good morning, hiwatari-kun.' daisuke waved the school newspaper. 'sagami-sensei is dark. i wonder if they're really that similar.' daisuke laughed, but hiwatari didn't smile. hiwatari's facial expressions didn't usually change that much, but he usually makes humorous comments. 'yes, i'd like to hear about it from you.' '...hiwatari-kun?' hiwatari's eyes, which were directed at daisuke, remained filled with a chillingly dark pierce. 'regardless of whether he's dark or not,' there was something tense in that voice, which was usually casually directed at daisuke. there was no warmth. 'there's no doubt that he's after the glass shoes.' hiwatari said the same thing as dark. this meant that dark, hiwatari, and saehara were all in agreement. what on earth was sagami trying to do? did hiwatari know what it was? daisuke stared intently at hiwatari, trying to read any emotion that was drowned out on his face. however, the words that came back were like a sword cutting through the air. 'it means i'm not the only enemy of dark.' he had never used the word 'enemy' before, so it was a wonder what was going on. daisuke could only be surprised. it seemed like something had changed in hiwatari.

at lunch break riku comes to school wearing a mask. daisuke asks if she's fine as she passes by his seat, and although she looks away a little and hesitates, she nods firmly - then runs away when he stands up. before class begins, riku gets asked to fetch an english notebook, and daisuke quickly follows suit. in the hallway, he's relieved by the sight of her eyes, and although he can't tell what she's thinking and won't speak because of the mask, he gets over his loss over where to start, takes the plunge and starts speaking.

'the other day ended so badly, so to make up for it...' will you go on another date? he tried to say that, but the words were cut off. his heart rate increased as he looked into riku's eyes that were moist with fever. daisuke tries to control his racing heart, but things don't go as planned. it might have been that his immunity was gone just because he hadn't seen her for a day. he was going to turn into dark. 'sorry, i'll tell you next time! 'was all that he could say as he sprint away. he finally got a chance to talk to her... daisuke cries in his heart as he rushes to find a place where no one could see him. riku, who was left behind, muttered to herself through the mask. her voice was muffled and hoarse. 'i guess that he hates me...'

daisuke, who has now transformed into dark, wanders around the school trying to somehow return to normal.

it was quite nerve-wracking to move around the school where students were ruthlessly coming and going, trying to find a place where no one could see him. after all, this appearance is too conspicuous. long hair, a slender body, a well-shaped face, cool eyes. dark is a popular celebrity idol on TV. even if you're wearing a uniform, there's no doubt that you'll be found out in no time. making full use of his sharply honed senses and extraordinary motor skills, dark moves stealthily from blind spot to blind spot, from shadow to shadow and along the walls, a splendid display of the usual phantom thief dark.

and yet there was still something so far away from that. daisuke wants to go back to riku to have a proper talk with her, but he keeps getting farther and farther away from the classroom. as he's walking along the hallway in a panic, he sees riku approaching in front of him - so he turns around only to see saehara walking up from behind, camera right in hand!

'what should i do...? i got caught between two people in school that i shouldn't have met right now...' dark----daisuke looked around nervously and jumped into the nearest bathroom. 'huh? just now...' sekimoto was washing his hands when he saw a shadow in the mirror. ' that looked like dark, didn't it?' 'so, isn't it sagami-sensei? everyone says they look alike.' 'if you were a teacher, you'd use the toilet next to the staff room.'

daisuke, who's still in dark's form, hears everything through the bathroom stall. in the hallway, saehara calls out to risa as she passes by - he heard she had taken over cleaning duty, and she confirms it. saehara tilts his head - why? risa wasn't the type of character to go out of her way to clean things up herself. he's been wondering over the change in her since yesterday. why not work together so that she could go home with riku instead? saehara's half admiring and half-stunned by her attitude. risa pouts, she's trying to be serious!

'also, you'd better cancel that sagami-sensei = dark theory as soon as possible. it'll be embarrassing.' this time, saehara was the one who raised his eyebrows. 'why do you say that?' 'a girl's intuition. '

the two start arguing over things like who had more info on dark or who knows him better right in front of the bathroom, leaving sekimoto and everyone else trapped. daisuke desperately wishes he could return back to normal, but with risa and saehara shouting at each other right next to him, he's far too unsettled to make any progress. if he had to wait until they stopped arguing, then his lunch break would be over.

angry, dark --- daisuke jumped out of the stall and quickly headed in the direction opposite the door. there was a window there. while sekimoto and the others were distracted by the commotion in the hallway, he quickle opened the window and jumped outside. sekimoto turned around when he heard the flapping of wings. 'wow, someone jumped down!' when he looked out of the window, there was no one below. instead, black wings soared towards the sky. 'it's dark!!'

saehara grabs his camera and runs back into the bathroom. risa, who wants to follow but can't into the men's restroom, runs outside in a hurry instead. elsewhere, hiwatari suddenly looks up, noticing a black shadow passing by on the other side of the window. sagami, facing hiwatari as he sharpens a chisel in the art prep room, also notices it, but continues speaking.

'...why did you turn down being a competition representitive? the sculpture department had high expectations for you, but the teachers... we were wondering.' 'i don't have time for things like that.' hiwatari answered without any interest. 'such things?' sagami's once smiling face suddenly became stiff. seeing this, hiwatari let out a small sigh - as if to say, why can't you just accept the facts? ' don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that sculptures and works of art aren't something you should spend your time on, because they're important.' 'i really don't get it.' true to his words, sagami frowned. for him, making sculptures was a natural desire, so he really couldn't understand a refusal to do so. without any preamble, hiwatari began. as if reading something out loud, he calmly spoke. 'yuma sagami. he went straight to azumano art university and is currently in his fourth year. he's won a prize in a competition sponsored by the azumano town museum of art for the past six years in a row. although it's only a small provice, the artistic standards of this town are among the highest in the country. in addition to this, he has a lot of experience winning awards. he has considereable talent... or rather, he is a hard worker. he lives with his parents and younger sister, but his mother has been in and out of the hospital many times, so he takes care of his younger sister mostly by himself. regarding job hunting, although he's requested information, he's never attended any seminars or visited any companies.

sagami's face changed as hiwatari spoke about himself smoothly and without any hesitation. he gripped the chisel in his hand tightly. 'why do you care about me so much...? sagami shed the face of a student teacher towards the students in the class he was in charge of. the sharp gaze that daisuke had seen early in the church seemed to cut into hiwatari's face. however, hiwatari accepted it calmly. 'i don't want you getting in the way between me and him.' 'him...?' 'i've already looked into what you're doing, and what you're about to do.' 'what do you mean?' sagami tried to remain calm, but in front of hiwatari, it was meaningless. hiwatari continues speaking quietly. 'but, after this is over, i'm going to forget everything you did.' the conversation was not entirely between a junior high school student and a student teacher. it was as if something absolute was trying to use hiwatari's mouth to deliver a prophecy to sagami. there was something solem and irresistible about it. '...if you promise to forget what i'm going to do from now on.' sagami asked, even though he was under pressure. it was a small resistance. 'what if i don't promise?' ' what you're trying to do must be stopped.' the look in hiwatari's eyes was unusual. the other person doesn't feel like having a close relationship with the child. 'okay. let's pretend we didn't see each other.' sagami had no choice but to promise. he had no idea what he was going to see. all he knew was that it was going to be something.terrible. he already knew from the beginning that he was about to do something drastic. 'it's strange for me to say this, but do you really need to stop?' 'would you understand if i said that i don't understand your passion for art? i have a friend who is a good-natured person. maybe i got infected by it.' saying that hiwatari smiled faintly. he could no longer be as cold as he used to be when he saw people trying to live against fate. ' i believe i can show you the power of magic.' 'are you telling me to pretend that i never saw magic?' sagami tried to ask, but he couldn't make a sound. the smile had disappeared from hiwatari's face.

thanks to wiz daisuke escapes out of his bathroom pinch and returns to normal. he starts running hoping that he can get back to the classroom early and have a proper talk with riku, but he nearly smashes into risa, who's running looking up at the sky. she asks if he's seen dark flying this way- daisuke says that he hadn't and risa figures that dark must have gone away somewhere already. on the way back to class, risa asks why daisuke's still wearing his indoor shoes outside - daisuke points at wiz on his shoulder and says that he had found wiz sneaking around and was trying to get him home, to which wiz lets out a single affirming kyuu. risa stares at him for a minute, either stunned or in disbelief, and after that they walk in silence, until daisuke suddenly thinks of something to ask. it's been a long while since he had talked to risa properly, and now he was feeling nostalgic about her behavior, but he only asks if riku had been avoiding him - did she say anything? risa says that she hasn't been avoiding him, and though daisuke's seriously troubled, she laughs in amusement.

'do you know something?' yeah, but it's not really a big deal. while saying this, risa continues to laugh to herself. daisuke thought it'd be nice if she could tell him it wasn't a big deal. ' i'm sorry. riku will get angry if she founds out. but niwa-kun really cares that much.'

risa's laughter makes daisuke wonder what's so funny. it's weird, but risa's smile brings a smile to his face too - he's relieved to see her smiling after seeing nothing but sad faces through dark's eyes. that being said, why was she smiling when he felt like he was in so much trouble? he can't help but worry unless he hears about things, but risa only laughs and changes the subject without considering daisuke's feelings.

'niwa-kun, you know that dark-san is not sagami-sensei.' daisuke was at a loss for words at this seemingly unrelated development. ' eh, ah, yeah ... why do you think that? ' 'because! it's impossible for a face not to change at all when you look at me! first of all, since i've seen them face to face so many times, it's obvious he's a different person. also, when i asked him what he thought about the girls in class, he said they were all like little sisters.' risa speaks indignantly. 'dark would say something more clever!' daisuke also fully agreed with that. at the same time, daisuke found it funny that risa was talking about such things so desperately and seriously that he started laughing. girl's problems are difficult. it's so off the mark, yet it's so on point. feeling refreshed, thinking that maybe his troubles weren't such a big deal from risa and riku's point of view, he continued to laugh. 'i'm being serious right now!' even though she likes to laugh at other people's troubles, risa felt a pang when she was laughed at herself. but soon they started laughing together. it had been a long time since she had talked to daisuke like this without any kind of hesitation, and risa felt very comfortable with him.

riku watches as the two of them walk and happily laugh - they pass right under her, who was watching from the window. ......how nice - even though she's thinking this, riku still couldn't speak. the other girls in the class seem to notice it as well - aren't those two getting along well? risa was amazing because she was easy to spoil and pamper, but daisuke might have grown a little. he's wasn't just cute anymore, and had been calling out to and helping everyone he could. everyone notices and recognizes daisuke's acts of kindness, and riku feels happy because he seems to have found something good in her, but at the same time, she's still a little frustrated.

i want all that of that kindness to be directed at me, but when it happens, i can't be honest. why.....

even after school riku had hurriedly left the classroom to avoid daisuke, but not anymore. she wants to go meet him and talk, so her legs start heading in a different direction from home, as if being drawn to something. before she knows it she's at the church where she had met sagami - if she wanted to confess her feelings directly, then was she looking for some kind of help? she steps int othe light of the stained glass hall, and the glass slippers on their pedestal shine brightly as if they had been waiting for her. they're bathed in a gentle, mellow light just like the last time she had seen them.

riku thought to herself while looking at the glass shoes. didn't cinderella feel nervous when she was presented with these shoes? maybe she wondered if she was worthy of them. daisuke gave riku a pair of glass slippers, and even though she was supposed to be wearing them... she couldn't help but feel that they didn't suit her. glass slippers are so fleetingly beautiful that i fear they will disappear someday. you can't run around freely and feel safe. you can't move forward unless you check things step by step. when i shouted to daisuke that i loved him, i was completely ecstatic. why am i thinking about so many things now? riku thought. i want to ask cinderella... how did she find the courage to appear in front of the prince just as she was after the magic wore off at midnight? riku knelt in front of the glass slippers and began to pray. ........i'm not a good girl. but the person who told me that he loved me.... i don't want to disappoint him. please give me a chance to speak honestly with niwa-kun. then, this time....

riku's bag starts to rattle, and when she turns around, a little girl is running towards her- it's maho! riku smiles and catches her, but maho's face darkens as she hears riku's voice through the mask. did she catch a cold? when riku nods maho immediately clasps her hands together and prayers for the magician to cure riku's cold. riku tells her in return not to worry, and stroking maho's hair, asks her to do a favor, one that maho obediently nods to.

the day that dak promised to steal the glass slippers had finally arrived. emiko greets her son with his black outfit for the day as she enthusiastically imagines how 'even more beautiful' he'll be in it, to daisuke's own disinterest. he'd forgotten about it until his mother had reminded him- there were so many things going on that he didn't even know where to start! he had to talk to riku properly, he had to answer about being representative of the art competition, sagami was aiming for the glass slippers and saehara was under the impression that sagami was dark, and what was hiwatari doing? he takes a deep breath and sits down at the table, greeting his dad and grandfather. daiki is reading a newspaper, and kosuke's reading a book. they both greet daisuke in return, and so the family meal begins. because kosuke was usually way, when he was at home, everyone tried to eat together as much as possible. emiko expresses her joy at being able to eat and see everyone's faces, and daiki asks how daisuke's school was. daisuke can only sigh.

things like transforming at school and being chased by friends, or missing the chance to talk to a girl you like, etc. daisuke looked at his grandfather, wondering if he had also experienced the same thing. how did he overcome this situation when he was burdened with a big lie? what should i do to have true mutual love? but the only way to do that is to find out yourself. this is one of the biggest things daisuke had learned since becoming involved with dark. what you notice, discover, and decide on your own.

kosuke's father calmly asks if daisuke's worried about something - daisuke considers how his father must have considered all kinds of things before he married his mother. when kosuke tries to reach over and pat his son's head, a teacup gets knocked over, and emiko shouts that he's going to get burned - until a dish towel 'flies like an arrow' and prevents the hot water from flowing out. daisuke had thrown it, and after a quick check of kosuke's hands, nobody comes out hurt. daisuke's parents end up holding hands and looking at each other while daiki politely coughs. for daisuke, because his father was usually traveling far away somewhere, he didn't usually know where he was or what he was doing, but he actually worried more over his mother. they waited because they believed in kosuke, and daisuke suddenly remembers riku from his first date.

....he finally understood why she had been so angry. still, he had no idea why riku was avoiding him right now. emiko takes one look at daisuke and smiles, sayin gthat she understands - she can tell that he had a fight with riku, and kosuke brings up 'that girl...' emiko clasps a hand over his mouth, but daisuke glares at his mother - she confesses that she and kosuke went out to watch daisuke's date... secretly. daisuke's shocked - he thought they said they were going on a date!! emiko starts to cry crocodile tears while saying that it was just part of a parent's heart to want to see their child grow up with their own two eyes - daisuke only sighs, thinking to himself how it's always been like this.

emiko then offers to tell daisuke something good as an apology, and speaks without hesitation even as he eyes her with suspicion. don't be depressed just because you had a fight! sometimes a girl's i hate you means i like you: sometimes she's happy but she's sulking, and even when she's smiling, she's actually angry, his mom says that can be complicated, and a little hope grows in daisuke's heart.

'but there are times when it really means what it is, so be careful.' daisuke almost shoved his face into his teacup. ' geeze, then i won't be able to understand after all! ' 'hahaha... don't think about it that hard!' my father is smiling meekly. 'all girls are cute. you should cherish them.' ah, even my father is saying something dark-like...

daisuke wishes that he could understand riku's heart - if she was really angry, or really happy, or if she really hated. if he knew, then he wouldn't have to worry so much. while holding his head his mother simply says this.

'oh, there is something like that.' 'eh--?!' 'didn't i mention that the color of the light from the 'glass slippers' changes depending on the feelings of the person who touches it? 'say that sooner!!'

since daisuke had been eating breakfast with his family in the mornings, he always left the house sa little late. he shovels his food down, grabs his bag and runs out, despite his mother calling for him. some concerning noises happen ---- turns out she forgot to mention that she's strengthened the house's traps starting today, leaving kosuke to scratch his head beside a happily smiling emiko.

' it's tough for you, daisuke...' even now, as daisuke continues to perform brilliantly as phantom thief dark, his life-threatening special training continues.

despite the way the morning went for him, daisuke still felt a little better after his mother's words, still, even if he became more assertive, it didn't change the fact that he wouldn't be able to talk to riku if she was running around. he walks into the art room feeling exhausted- he wanted to decline being the painting competition representative. he only painted because he liked it, and as dark, he had all sorts of opportunities to come in contact with real art, so he didn't think it could be helped. when he enters the prep room he looks for his advisor, but there's a scraping sound. sagami has his back turned and himself devoted to his work. he didn't have the relaxed atmosphere he had in class or when he was playing with his students, exuding something demonic instead.

when daisuke timidly calls out to him, sagami turns around with a start.

he had familiar, sharp eyes. it's a wonder if he was so focused that he didn't notice anyone's presence, or if daisuke's quiet foosteps had unconsciously crept in, but either way, just when he thought no one was there, someone appeared and he became etremely nervous.

sagami picks up something that had been on his desk and puts it into his bag on the floor. by the time he closes it and turns to look at daisuke, he's already back to the bright and usual sagami.

'seems like i was bothering you...' daisuke wondered whether he should leave or not. however, sagami offered a nearby chair and sat down. 'i had just finished the finishing touches, so it was perfect.' sagami pat the bag that was the subject of daisuke's suspicions. what exactly was inside? 'um, sensei's...' 'ah, already went home.' daisuke realized now that he had been so focused and surprised when daisuke walked in because he knew no one would come. ' i'll come again next time.' sagami said to daisuke who was trying to stand up: 'did you refuse the competiton, too?' 'me too? was there anyone else? ' 'well, i wonder... apparently he had other things to do. what reason do you have for this, daisuke-kun?' when daisuke was asked this directly, he felt confused. lack of self-confidence seemed to be a very pathetic reason. sagami laughed, perhaps understanding daisuke's feelings. 'at your age, you can start over as much as you want, and it doesn't have to be perfect. it's an opportunity. just think about it and give it a try.' 'because i'm still in middle-school?' the question rolled out in a voice that was so bad that even daisuke himself was surprised. ' if you're a college student, is it already too late?' i don't even know what i'm trying to say. as i looked at sagami's far-sighted smile, something struck me. sagami obediently answered to daisuke's intent stare.

' no, i don't think that's the case. that's bad, it seems it's being recommended with the assumption of failure. what you are in the present is everything, and what's important is always the same for everyone.' as he said that, the man who was said to look like dark looked confused, something that dark had never shown to daisuke, and fell silent. 'no, i...' daisuke also fell silent. it felt like sagami, who he thought had more leeway, was being cornered somehow. if you feel like you're being encouraged then push back, it's a sign that you're afraid of failure. the reason why he didn't get a chance to meet riku today was because he avoided doing anything reckless at the last minute. the most important thing is that anyone should be able to see the difference between the two. i don't want riku to hate me anymore. 'sagami-sensei.' daisuke looked straight at sagami. sagami felt that there was something fierce behind those eyes, different from this gentle-looking boy. 'when we first met, you said that in that church. there are no wizards, there's no magic. no matter how much anyone prays, their wishes won't come true...' sagami looked calm. 'why do you say that?' 'it's exactly what you said.' the answer was just one word, spoken indifferently. daisuke waited, but he couldn't hear any more words. he knew that sagami believed everything so much that he didn't need any explanation. but daisuke couldn't admit it. he couldn't admit it, because it would be a denial of their existence and dark's. 'i can't prove it,' he said. 'i can't prove it, but...' daisuke stood up. they were struggling to break the chains of fate that bound them. 'but i know that's not the case, he said, and left the art preparation room. 'i'm surprised you're saying the same thing, even though it's the exact opposite.' sagami muttered as he looked down at the large villa. he rembered the boy with glasses also had said the same thing. 'seems like i'm not meant to be a teacher after all...' sagami stood up, carrying a large bag. 'now, let's go for one last struggle.

daisuke leaves the art room and starts looking for riku - but when he sees her she suddenly runs away and locks herself into a room. although opening it would be a piece of cake for someone like him, he doesn't want to open it like that and tries to speak to her through the door.

'i'm sorry. i was hours late for the meeting. i thought riku-san must be feeling anxious during that time. but i never thought about how worried you were about me.' daisuke didn't know if riku was listening, but he continued talking. 'and yet, even though i was trying to do my best even when riku-san was sick, i was just trying to push my feelings onto you..' riku heard daisuke's gentle voice speaking to her from right on the other side of the door. a voice that resonates comfortably in your ears. he tried his best to think about riku's feelings. while she was only thinking about herself and feeling depressed, riku realized that daisuke cared for her so much, which made it even more difficult to open the door. she worried that the clothes and shoes risa lent her didn't suit her, that daisuke didn't think about her that much, that she's just causing trouble and that he'll hate her... she knew he wasn't the kind of person to care about things like that. while i was hating myself and running away, niwa-kun was thinking about me all the time.......

riku wonders what he plans to do and what the person outside the door would be most happy about. praying for the courage to show herself as she was, she thinks of the glass slipper in the back of the church, and has a glimpse of what a man had said to her in front of those shoes flash through her mind. the door clicks and slowly opens, and riku looks at daisuke - she opened the door for him. taking a step closer, his face fills with joy, but at that moment, riku raises her hand as if to wait.

cut to hiwatari standing in a classroom in the afternoon. he's staring at one of daisuke's shoes that have been left behind .'praying alone won't change anything': he was determined to make the attack and defense at the church his last battle. there wasn't a more suitable stage for dark, a fallen angel. he had to settle the matter quickly, but there was one thing that shook his resolve - one of his only friends who would always show him a flawless smile.

thinking of the pain 'that red-haired boy' would receive makes hiwatari double over. his face distorts in sudden pain and he puts his hands on a desk so he doesn't fall over, his knees buckling. it feels like he's about to pass out, but his mental strength holds everything together, until risa's voice interrupts - she tells riku to go home first if she wants, and that she has plans, then lets her eyes widen. she thought nobody was in there, and the classroom falls into a brief silence. although risa tries to correct her expression, she gives up when she realizes it's hiwatari- no matter how cute she ever acts, there's no point around him. most people, after finding out it was him, left immediately. risa notices his weakness and asks if he's sick, only to be deterred by one of his hands - she offers to call the teacher, but hiwatari says it's fine, and that it's not time yet. although risa doesn't know what he means by not yet, all she can do is silently watch him.

the sun sets and hiwatari looks up as if he's calmed a little, but judging by the look on his face, he hasn't actually recovered yet. he tells risa that he wouldn't get better even if she watched over him, even if it wasn't risa, anyone would have been offended by the way he said it - without a hint of consideration of delicacy. risa excuses herself and leaves hiwatari in silence. he had thought she was being impatient, and although watching over him wouldn't have helped anything, he was going to say thank you anyways. there was only one person that could save him from suffering, so nothing could be helped. shaking off his symptoms, hiwatari leaves the school. immediately after, all the locks at school were put on timer locks.

elsewhere, riku apologizes- she's still sick and can't properly speak, so daisuke gives her a piece of chalk to start writing with. she writes to him that her voice is hoarse, and she doesn't want to talk because it's not cute, but daisuke immediately tells her that if it was riku, then everything would be cute, and smiles at the blackboard.

......ah, geeze. it's no good after all. i'm no match for niwa-kun. riku let out a deep breath inside her mask. 'also, i blew my nose so much that it turned red.' daisuke says 'cute!' thinking it's irresistibly cute that she cared about such things. 'you're lying!'

the chalk in her hand is getting smaller, and contrary to the violence style of writing, the space around riku's eyes peeking out from above the mask is flushed, conveying her embarassment.

'niwa-kun is just full of lies!' having written all that in one go, riku suddenly turned away. all of it was so cute that daisuke's face couldn't help but relax.

the two communicate what they had been thinking: riku had been worrying over the cute clothes and shoes borrowed from risa and the way she had been waiting, feeling anxious until she caught a cold while thinking about it all, so she felt guilty and couldn't accept daisuke's kindnesses. daisuke apologized for making her wait so long and not realizing that riku was worried - but he couldn't bring himself to talk about dark. finally, he lets slip that he had been asked to enter the art competition as his school's representitive.

'i don't have confidence... i wonder if it's okay for me. there are so many people who are better than me... there are lots of people who like to draw more.' riku picked up some chalk. 'that's amazing!!! good luck!!!' then she drew a flower with red chalk. 'niwa-kun can definitely draw something wonderful!' riku put the chalk down and clapped her hands. 'i don't know...' but he honestly thought he'd try if it would make riku happy.

riku smiles and nodded, and even though she doesn't say anything, daisuke feels like he heard her voice. smiling back at her, the two look at each other, until the lights suddenly go out. riku gropes until she grabs daisuke's shoulder - it was time for the lights to be off. the school's crime and disaster prevention systems were all automated, and all the doors and windows locked during closing time. when the lights turned off, all power went off - minus those requiring 24h light, like tropical fish tanks and greenhouses. the power had completely cut off in the science room (the room riku and daisuke are in,) since there was no one left after closing time. because there were dangerous things inside, the lock couldn't be opened from the inside. daisuke was used to situations like this, but it was a first for riku. when he asks if she's scared, she says that she's fine, but her hand tightens on his shoulder.

although daisuke could have easily unlocked the door and leave, he didn't want to expose himself in front of riku. still, things couldn't go on like this, and daisuke keeps track of the time. riku asks if she can sit, and so the sit of them sit side by side against the wall. daisuke asks if she's cold, and riku's hoarse voice replies that it's fine. since it's pitch dark, she can't even write anymore, but unbearable to bear the silence, riku starts to speak. she met maho-chan the other day- daisuke reminded of the little girl carrying a school bag on her back. she was a crybaby but a cute child who loved her big brother. sagami said that he would give her the glass slippers - daisuke asks if she means that sagami would make them for her. is that what sagami had been making in the art room? but why would you make a gift for someone with such a terrifying appearance?

riku explains that maho had touched the slipper and been able to tell things as a lie. meanwhile in daisuke's thoughts things were starting to connect between dark's, hiwatari's, and saehara's and his own guesses.

'...niwa-kun?'

daisuke fell silent, and riku's voice trembled in worry.

'ah, i was just wondering what sagami-sensei was planning to do.' ' sensei ... isn't dark, is he?' riku knew it was true. however, she can't tell daisuke why she knows. ' i think so too.' daisuke knows this fact, far from thinking about it - because none other than himself is the true identity of dark. however, he can't tell riku about that. ........it's okay if there are things you can't say because you love someone.

daisuke asks riku about sagami - she was so angry at him at first, when had they become friendly? riku's hoarse voice becomes even weaker out of embarassment, but she explains that she was grateful for sagami encouraging her in the nurse's office, wondering if that was what it was like to have a big brother.

daisuke briefly remembered the man who was said to look similar to sagami. he wasn't sure if he was overthinking it or if he was slightly right.

'i'm a twin, but i'm the older sister...' while saying this, riku'u body leans against daisuke's shoulder. daisuke felt his heart begin to pound as riku's hair tickled him. 'i-i'm an only child, so i wouldn't know...' even as he casually said these words, he felt his heart rate rapdily increase. he couldn't suppress it. if he turned into dark in a situation like this while the two of them were alone these days, no excuses would work anymore.

daisuke immediately starts naming and thinking of as many years and eras as he could remember, trying not to be conscious of riku's body getting closer and closer to him. all of the sudden, riku explains that her teacher had asked her to be a model for the contest, but she had politely refused. however, if niwa-kun were to enter the contest... she's about to say more when she collapses onto daisuke's chest, and daisuke immediately curses his misunderstandings. her body was hot and her fever had returned - he wanted to help riku, who was exhausted, by himself this time. he's too weak to open the lock and carry her out of her, though - so he calls for dark and surrenders his body for riku's sake.

she can't rely on me right now, but someday i'll become stronger and be able to protect her. --- leave the rest to me!

daisuke hears a 'reliable voice' and transforms into dark, who carries riku on his back and heads towards the window that he easily unlocks. calling wiz, he flies off holding riku, slicing into the new moon night.

the moonless sky is surprisingly dark, and even daisuke who was used to the night sky felt a sense of loneliness. but below, countless stars were twinkling lights on houses, streetlights, neon signs ,car lights and taillights..... each light looked like a sparkle of the lives of the people living in this city. --- it's beautiful. daisuke wished riku could have been awake and seen this scene on the first floor. until the day comes when he could talk to riku about this, it wouldn't be possible.

they land on the same clocktower that they had seen riku for the first time - the harada twins live in a massive western-style building with a magnificent balcony. dark calls riku a princess and says they're almost there - he flaps his wings and lands on the balcony before entering riku's room.

this is the room they once ran into when they were cornered by the police. dark gently laid riku on the bed and looked down at her sleeping face. 'her sleeping face is cute, but i really like riku's eyes.' dark remembered the eyes that swiveled around and had a glint of strong will behind them. ------ dark! daisuke yelled inside of dark. it was about to be his predicted time. 'well then, shall we get going?' dark laughed, the corner of his mouth turning up in a grin. the glass slippers were waiting for them.

dark flies once more and appears above the church at 10 o'clock, just as predicted. it's hard to see him from the ground because of his black wings, hair, and costume - he's dutifully worn the costume prepared to him by daisuke's mother this time as well. when he looks sdown there isn't a single person in the church or surrounding gardens - normally, at his arrival time, the scene would be lined with floodlights and cameras crowded together and hecklers rushing in, but perhaps because the church priest had asked everone to refrain from doing so, it was completely deserted. the reporters were probably hiding in nearby buildings or homes, pointing their cameras at the church, and dark mutters that if the police can't even enter the church grounds, then it would be an easy victory for the night.

daisuke warns him not to let his guard down --- inside of dark, his tensions were rising. hiwatari had been completely different from before lately, and just because the police couldn't get in didn't mean that he wouldn't do anything. as dark glides in preparation to land, the area becomes as bright as if it were daytime - a police force had been hidden tightly along the surrounding wall. dark's figure is clearly brought out by some cleverly hidden floodlights, and dark says that now things were getting interesting --- just as something whistles flying by dark.

--- what was that just now?!?! once again, something cuts through the air and comes flying. with his terrifying dynamic vision and reflexes, dark grabbed onto it by chance. it's as arrow. 'now!' inspector saehara's voice came from somewhere, and dark was pulled downwards by the arm. a thin rope is tied to the arrow, and the police are pulling on it. 'are you trying to catch me?' as if to say it was ridiculous, dark let go of the arrow he was holding. on the ground, the policemen who were pulling on the rope fell backwards like dominoes. a loud, angry scream comes from a man. 'fire!' at inspector saehara's command, another arrow comes flying. a number of arrows, each with a birdtail at the end and a rope tied to the butt, were fired at dark. wiz flies around and dodges the arrows with ease. as he does this, the altitude gradually decreases. dark was laughing and throwing back arrows that he grabbed. how matter how much they say so, there's no way that dark would be captured by such an operation - it must be a diversion. what next? --- dark, you'd better get to the church soon. as soon as daisuke said that, something hit dark. 'uwah ?!' 'hahaha! i caught you, dark!' to his surprise, saehara was clinging to dark. he made a desperate jump from the next building over. ---- geh. to be caught by saehara's dad.... while daisuke was in a panic, dark was suffering from a different perspective. 'being hugged by an old man with no sex appeal is something phantom thief dark will never know.' 'fufufu. remember the ibushi gin's middle-aged power!'

between saehara, the police pulling a lifeline connected to saehara, and the inspector's own weight, poor wiz roars and defeatedly flaps his wings - dark's altitude was decreasing as the two powers began to rival each other, but dark doesn't seem too bothered as he asks himself what he should do now. in the midst of saehara's good mood he starts tickling the inspector off him, who falls and lands clinging to the churchwall. dark lands in the churchyard and asks saehara to 'look like a glamorous older sister' the next time he uses that strategy. leaving behind the rest of the men dark enters the church, as a police car retrieves saehara from the wall - he starts reporting to hiwatari, saying that everything was going according to plan and that dark was now headed his way.

'understood. thank you for your hard work.' a quiet but strangely clear voice answered even amidst the noise. 'hey, the operation's over! good job everyone.' calling to his subordinates, inspectorsaehara reluctantly pulled out a cigarette. what was this boy, who was the same age as his son but in charge of the dark investigation, trying to do inside? he wasn't told. however, from past experiences, it felt like he knew that the battle would be greater than he could have imagined. 'what a terrible mistake.' grumbling, dark opened the church door. it wasn't locked. it seemed that the owner of the church really did welcome dark. 'i don't have anything to repent for.' with a fearless smile and black wings on his back, the phantom thief slowly made his way to the altar. in the pitch-black church, only the stained glass windows of the virgin mary and the angel were with a soft glow. sandwiched between them is a pipe organ in the center. in front of it were the glass slippers. sitting on a small pedestal, they looked as if they were waiting for a prince to come and look for them. there was no one standing in dark's way anymore. walking leisurely towards the crystal sculpture, dark finally took possession of it. ---- you did it, dark! daisuke, who had thought that hiwatari must have been waiting for him in this dark church, felt relieved. the police probably wouldn't catch up with him if he flew away like usual. however, the smile quickly disappeared from dark's face. ' i'm insulted that you'd think i'd fall for something like this.' ---- eh?!?!? 'it's well made, but this is a forgery.' ---- forgery....? it's a fake of the glass slippers?!?! the candles suddenly lit up, and a faint light spread inside the church. the light slowly approaches. ----- hiwatari-kun? 'no, for him, this kind of childish play has no meaning.' as if guided by dark's voice, sagami appeared before them. 'you're the one who made this.' sagami nodded silently. he moved the candle in his hand to a candlestick and took out a pair of glass slippers from his chest. the flame of the candle flickers distorting the shadows on his face. ' it's well made. if it wasn't me, anyone would have been fooled.'

daisuke's guess had been correct - when daisuke came into the church to deliver dark's notice and stumbled into the art room, sagami had also been making this at the time. 'how did you know? sagami bites his lip. 'don't get so depressed. the real thing has a magic that's now been lost. even if you try to copy it, you won't be able to do it.' 'it's magic....?!' sagami's eyes when he looks at dark have that grim shadow that remained in daisuke's heart when they first met. 'be confident. this is what i* say: it's a good copy.' (*lit この俺 / 'this me'.) dark took a step forward. ' now, the time for corrections is over. hurry and give me the real thing.' a resounding voice gave the command as if it were a natural thing to do. sagami slowly steps backwards, still holding the 'glass shoes.' ''it's meaningless even if you have it.' dark demands again. 'sorry, but my sister wants it.' sagami tried to smile, trying not to get carried away by dark's presence.

seeing this reaction, daisuke realizes something - he's had a vague inkling from what happened up until now that sagami might have been trying to make a copy of the glass shoes and replace them, but why tonight? dark takes over his question and solemnly asks as if he were passing judgement: which glass slippers did his sister want? holding up the shoes that sagami had made, he explains that if sagami's sister had only wanted the glass slippers, then they could have been switched at any time without having anything to do in accordance to dark's notice. sagami's mesmerized by dark's confidence and apparent power to see everything.

'--- i was betting.' muttering weakly, sagami stared at the real 'glass slippers' in his hands. 'if i can create an artpiece that deceives dark, i will continue pursuing the path of sculpture no matter what. that's what i thought.' dark spins a glass slipper on his finger and chuckles. ' why do i have to decide for you? isn't it your own path? i don't care how much of a cutie you are, there's no way i'm going to take your hand.' 'you wouldn't understand, because you're different from other people.' 'toooooooootally.' --- i'm having a lot of troubles with that, though. sagami doesn't know that daisuke is sighing while dark easily smiles. turning his gaze from the glass slippers to dark, he lets out a pained cry. 'if possible i'd like to continue like this... but do you think i can make a living with sculpting so easily? i don't have much time at home, and if i work part-time, it's obvious that i'll collapse. i tried getting a job as a teacher to help support my family without quitting, but... it turns out that's not the case. my sister believes in magic and prays every day. but, there's no magic that makes wishes come true!' 'that's it. so, if you can trick me, you'll confidently pursue a career in sculpture, but if that doesn't work, you'll become an art teacher?' dark scoffed. 'with what kind of attitude, you'll never succeed no matter what you do. don't you think so?' the last question was not directed at sagami. 'it's a deception.' a quiet voice, as if devoid of any emotion, cut him off with a single word. the voice was coming from the back of the altar, right in front of them. sitting in the pipe organ perfromance seat, with his back to them, was hiwatari. 'you're ...' dark doesn't pay attention to sagami's surprise as why hiwatari was here. he spoke in a brutally cheerful tone. lightly, like it was no big deal. ' even if there are imperfections, the real thing is the real thing. no matter how good a copy is, it can't beat the real thing. if you're willing to pretend it's for someone else's sake, then don't do it. --- that's too harsh, dark! daisuke shouted in a voice that couldn't be heard.

daisuke had been wondering why sagami was always staring at the glass slippers with such dark eyes and only now finally understood. a wish that's unlikely to come true even if you wish for it; as a sign, sagami had devoted everything he could to the glass slippers - he was desperate. screaming and clutching the real glass slippers, sagami shouts that he wouldn't do something like this if he could just quit - and the shoes light up and emit a dazzling sky blue. reflexively sagami throws the shoes away and steps backwards. the light disappears immediately after the shoes leave his hands and fall back onto the pedestal. sagami, terrified, looks back at the shoes then his hands as hiwatari approaches and says that he promised he'd show sagami the power of magic. dark curls his lips into a smile and tells sagami those were his true feelings. hiwatari explains that the glass shoes emit a light that reveals the hearts of those who touch them: if the words are true then they turn blue, if they're false then red, and the stronger the feeling, the stronger the light, but sagami's still in too much shock and disbelief to respond.

if you understand, then hurry up and take these home! --- no, dark! shaking off daisuke's restraint, dark threw the 'glass slippers' that sagami had made. at that moment, sagami suddenly came to his senses. 'my ---'

sagami slides and catches his piece just as it was about to crash into the floor, but he loses track of his momentum and crashes into a wall, losing consciousness. daisuke calls his name and worries, but dark's vision only shows hiwatari and the real glass slippers - it's the first time he notices that hiwatari had been wearing earphones, too. although hiwatari'd wear them during breaks, this was during work - the person in front of him wasn't daisuke's classmate, but the commander in chief of the dark investigation. he must have been communicating over the police radio, and daisuke thinks that saehara's reckless tactics earlier must have been part of hiwatari's strategy too --- something like dark's instincts tell him that the real battle would begin from here.

'we're finally alone together.'

hiwatari asks what kind of change of heart it takes for dark to be so kind as to deal with someone like sagami - dark smiles 'as if he knows the reason' and says that even if he left things alone, they still would have gotten in the way. in that case, it'd be for the best if hiwatari helped. hiwatari says that he too wants to end the copying of history that his family has been repeating, and the quiet church starts to fill with all sorts of emotions. dark's lighthearted talk takes on a serious tone.

'so, what are the results of you buying time?' 'try it for yourself!' after solemnly saying so, hiwatari smiled slightly. then he took a remote control out of his pocket and pressed a switch. 'gah --- !' dark's tall body swayed. --- what's wrong, dark?!!? daisuke didn't know what happened. suddenly a mass of air appeared from above, almost crushing dark. the pressure impacts the eardrums and brain. something invisible was trying to disturb dark's mind. his nerves seemed to be screaming and writhing around. the information had been transmitted to daisuke, but now that he didn't have a physical body, the pain wasn't unbearable for daisuke. he doesn't know what's causing dark so much trouble. all that daisuke knew was that the pipe organ had begun to play a magnificient melody. a deep melancholy sound fills the church. 'do you know what this is, dark?' hiwatari approaches dark, who is too stunned to move. 'it's the 'angel's song' that you stole.' ----eh? the angel's song should have been stored in the niwa family's basement storage a long time ago. daisuke couldn't believe his ears. 'the magic of the angel's song is not created by the score itself, but by the sounds played. therefore, it has the magic of being able to make others happy.' dark, who's tormented by the sound itself, may not be able to hear hiwatari's voice. wiz was also shaking his wings in pain on dark's shoulders. ---i have to be strong. daisuke carefully checked the information coming in through his eyes and ears. he wondered why hiwatari was able to remain calm while dark and wiz were suffering so much. daisuke felt something strange as hiwatari approached him. he was louder than usual. not only that, but something else was different. 'however, if you play the score of the 'angel's song' backwards, it becomes a deadly weapon that inflicts pain on those who hear it. its name is the 'devil's song.' don't you think you deserve to have black wings, right?' there was no reply. dark couldn't. he clutched his ears, fighting the constant rush of pain. there's no point in hiding them. the sound reflects forever. it's as if they were singing the heartlessness of an inescapable fate. 'i'm sorry i couldn't prepare a choir, but this is a requiem for you.'

hiwatari approaches showing no emotion on his handsome face beyond a glare. he touches dark's neck as if caressing it through his balck outfit, then starts to squeeze with a force that was hard to imagine coming from such a 'delicate' appearance. dark's own hands, wrapped in black gloves, struggle to shake hiwatari off, but he an only manage to shake the cords of the earphones hanging at hiwatari's chest. the stained glass angel slowly moves away, and dark ends up pushed to the floor.

----- no, if it stays like this.... daisuke called out to hiwatari from within dark. --- 'hiwatari kun!' suddenly, hiwatari's movements stopped. daisuke's eyes, occupied by something he didn't know, wavered slightly. but once again, hiwatari pressed his whole weight and strained. their faces are so close that they're almost touching. ---- why.....? even daisuke's consciousness begins to fade away, as if he's having trouble breathing. hiwatari's face, which was supposed to be right in front of him, seemed extremely distant and hazy. he seems to be in more pain, perhaps because his vision is distorted. hiwatari used to be so lively that he seemed to be enjoying chasing dark... right now, it's scary to think that he's going to disappear somewhere along with dark. it seemed to be covered in a certain amount of emptiness. ----- is this, what you .... want....? there's no way that scream can be heard. but as if it were a trigger, hiwatari contorted in pain. ' i.... i have no choice but to do this....!'

dark doesn't miss the moment when hiwatari's force weakens - he uses his legs to throw hiwatari, who goes flying and crashes into the altar's pedestal. the glass slippers fall on top of him, and immediately emit a blood-red light as he groans, crouches, and starts to hold his head - dark, coughing and panting, stands up. the point wasn't to attack hiwatari but to make him listen to the 'devil's song.' the grabbed cords of hiwatari's headphones dangle in dark's hands, making faint sounds. the way to muffle and counteract the sound was to hit it with a sound of an opposite wavelength, and hence hiwatari had been playing the 'angel's song' through his earphones to cancel out the 'devil's song.'

dark approaches hiwatari as the red light disappears and snatches up the remote control in the blink of an eye. he turns off the devil's song and the pain that had been constantly attacking him and wiz was gone, only now the tables were turned and it was hiwatari enduring pain on the floor. even though the music had already disappeared, it was as if hiwatari was fighting something invisible. dark can only look down in silence.

---- what's wrong, hiwatari-kun? 'maybe you had too much of the hospitality you prepared for me.'

daisuke's worried, but dark laughs and brushes him aside. when he picks up the glass shoes, they glow a faint red. daisuke's about to ask what the reason was until wiz barks. as dark asks what it is and turns around, someone snatches the glass slippers from his hands.

--- sagami-sensei! before anybody knew it, sagami had regained consciousness and ran off with the glass shoes. 'to steal it from my hands...' dark started running, saying he had no choice but to do it. however, he actually fell to his knees in agony. it seemed the damage from the deadly fight with hiwatari was worse than expected.

sagami, who had lost consciousness, had probably avoided hearing the devil's song. he makes off in his car, tires screeching, while dark calls for wiz. although wiz had also been attacked by the song's sound, it was probably easier for him to recover faster. dark asks if he can fly and wiz affirmatively groans. meanwhile, saehara and the rest notice the sound of wings. it had t obe dark.

'it couldn't be... the glass slippers?!' the master of the black wings smiled from above as inspector saehara threw his car onto the road. 'i didn't take anything.' 'what do you mean?'

dark flies off and away while saehara starts frantically calling for hiwatari, who manages to respond after a while, sounding extremely exhausted. he tells saehara there's no need to chase. inside the church hiwatari's still lying on the altar - the pain that had hit him was gone like a receding wave. he takes a breath and tries to sit up, stretching his hand out on the floor for support, touching something smooth. it's a glass shoe. it has no light, it has no magical power, it was created by an ego and has no meaning in itself.

--- no, it's just a copy. hiwatari thought about the meaning of that light. 'then, what i really want is...' hiwatari's voice, always full of confidence and calm, seemed to be fading away.

he looks up at the virgin mary in the stained glass, but of course it's still dark outside and so not a single ray of light could be seen.

of course, he shouldn't be relying on anyone but himself. hiwatari shook his head lightly, as if to scold himself.

the church's priest comes over and remarks that god must have protected them after all. at hiwatari's request he had left the church, but since the commotion had subsided he came back to see what was going on. the priest had said earlier that the thief could not have taken away the glass slippers, and he believed it - because hiwatari held them in his hands. hiwatari hands over the glass shoes to the priest without any suspicion. it didn't matter that they lost to dark this time - for those who believed the fake slippers were real, it didn't matter whether they were magical or not. it would continue to shine in people's hearts as it always had. hiwatari watches blankly as the priest puts the shoes into place - thanking him, he tells hiwatari that god sees him doing the right thing, and that his wishes would come true someday.

hiwatari isn't able to coldly respond to the sound of complete faith in the priest's voice, and considers that it might have been easier to get rid of reason and theory.

'is that so.'

was there really such a thing? even being at the mercy of fate, created by immense forces other than nature, someday finding true salvation... 'for example.... ' hiwatari suddenly looked up at the sky. it was like chasing the shadow of a certain person who had now flown away to a place he couldn't reach. ' even if there are two contradictory wishes, and if one of them is granted, the other will be forever extinguished? '

it might have seemed like a cruel question but it was hiwatari's true feelings that he felt as if he couldn't do anything about. the priest nods at him and tells him that even if it seemed like that now, there was only one true desire. he says he'll pray for hiwatari, and the warmth of his words, even if there isn't any meaning to them, makes hiwatari forget the pain just for a little bit. as if in response, the glass slipper seemed to glow gently just for a moment.

'maho, as promised, i'll give you the glass slippers.'

sagami comes home to maho curled up and sleeping peacefully in bed. he places the glass shoes nearby, which seem to faintly glow on their own. sagami thought that if maho woke up and saw them that she'd surprised and overjoyed, but for some reason, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared. in his imagInation it was very happy, but his heart wasn't all that excited.

'...i guess you're tired.' sagami gently pat his sister's body from above the futon and stood up. when he looked out the window, he could see a jet black sky. although there were stars scattered here and there, the night of the new moon was pitch black. there were no rays of light, and he couldn't help but feel anxious. sagami frowned as he remembered the man dressed in black. 'that guy... what does anyone care about what a thief says?' annoyed at the fact that he was telling himself that, sagami turned away from the direction of the glass shoes and left the room. immediately after that, the curtains of maho's room that had cute stuffed animals drawn on them suddenly swayed. from the darkness beyond the window appeared a shadow so black that it couldn't even be stained by the darkness. it went without saying that it was phantom thief dark.

dark enters and maho wakes asking if he's her brother - when she reaches out to her bedside, she feels something cold, but can't tell what it is. groping around until she turns on her bedstand light, she realizes what it is - the glass slippers. turning around, she also realizes that it's not her brother. only their silhouettes were similar, but the difference is clear: there were black wings on the man's back. maho calls him a magician while recalling seeing something similar once upon a time, a man flying in the sky when she had been praying to the shoes. dark asks in a clear, slow voice why she thinks so, and maho, unable to stay still any longer, jumps up.

'angels have golden hair and white wings. that's why you're not an angel. wizards wear black clothes, so you're a wizard.' a dark, black shadow swayed in the small, twinkling eyes. those pure, pure eyes. 'were you waiting for an angel? i'm sorry to disappoint you.' his tone was surprisingly gentle, approving, and lonely, something daisuke had never heard before. 'no, that's not true!' the girl denied it with all her might, as if it was outrageous. 'maho, see, has been asking the wizard for a long time. didn't you hear me? ' 'unfortunately not.' maho smiled understandingly at dark's honest answer. 'it's okay. my big brother is also very busy, so maho is always waiting for him. but you know, he'll always definitely listen to my requests, so it's okay to wait.' her tone was so mature that it was hard to believe she had just entered elementary school. moreover it didn't sound unhappy in the least, and it didn't seem like it was overexerting itself... is this what siblings were? daisuke wondered whether girls accepted others and tried to protect them from such a young age.

daisuke also fondly remembers the time that riku had tried to comfort him when she mistakenly believed that daisuke wasn't good with blood or dark places a long time ago.

' actually, i have a request for you.' dark looked at maho, who said quietly - 'that's weird. the magician is asking for a favor?' maho's eyes roll and she laughs a little. dark knelt down respectfully, as if the person in front of her was not a little girl but a proper lady. then, he reached out his hand towards the glass slippers. 'little princess, would you lend that to me until you become a good and suitable woman?' 'eh?' maho compared dark and the glass slippers. something that her beloved brother had probably worked hard to obtain for her. proof that her big brother cared for maho. dark watched intently as various emotions swirled around in her little head. 'is this a request from someone?' maho whispered a little. 'there are people who would be in trouble without this,' dark nodded in response to maho's question.' 'okay then. i'll give it to you,' maho said simply as she held out the glass slippers. ' in return, please don't forget maho's request. ever.' maho looked at him seriously and insisted. 'i hope my brother can continue his favorite hobby.' a small, plump hand placed the clear glass slipper into a black gloved hand. dark answered confidently. 'yes, that's for sure.' at that moment, the glass slipper emmited a dazzling light in their hands. it filled the small girl's room with a blue light as deep and clear as the sea. it was such a warm and gentle glow that anyone would have been wanted to be exposed to it forever. 'i'm glad.' without hesitation, maho let go of the glass slipper.

dark gently takes hold of her hand and the light blue on he rface disappears into a cherry blossom pink- one that's very beautiful. thanking her, dark and daisuke's feelings become one: it wasn't bad to get a piece of art like this. maho says it's okay, because her brother makes everything for her. dark makes a face.

until someday someone came along who could offer her shoes, that brother would be her prince. until one day, as if by magic, she would suddenly grow beautiful and fly out to meet someone who was waiting for her. it seemed like it would be a long time before she learned that it was love that provided magic. '....maho?' there was the rattling sound of a door being opened in the back. footsteps and voices were approaching. 'did you wake up?' 'oh, it's my brother!' maho put a hand over her small mouth. then, in a panic, she pushed dark towards the window. 'hurry hurry! if we're found out, the magic won't work!' it was funny to see how seriously she was panicking, and dark did as he was told. as he leaned over the window sill, a small hand grabbed his strong shoulder. 'hmm?' as dark turned around, something soft touched him. her lips were cute, like cherry blossom petals. 'thank you, wizard-san.' after seeing him off with a kiss, dark flew off into the night sky. today was surprising, but this kind of incident was very welcome. 'be a good girl.' he looked back just once, and the powerful sound of wings continued to recede further and further away.

just as maho sighs sagami enters the room -- he must have just finished a bath since his hair is wet and he has a towel around his neck. he notices the window's completely open and the curtains are flapping and frowns - then he notices the glass slippers are missing.

' maho.....' maho jumped at her brother to interrupt his words. 'big brother, thank you for the cinderella shoes!' 'ah, yeah...' sagami sat down on the bed after being attacked by his little sister. 'you know, the wizard said there wwere some people who would be in trouble without it, so i gave it to them. it's good, right, brother?' he can't say anything back with her staring up at him. sagami strokes her little head, feeling a strange sensation of being lethargic. 'i don't mind if you're okay with it, maho. big brother will make another one for you.' 'really?!?!' maho jumped up into his arms. her eyes were shining brightly. 'you know, what i really like the most is when big brother makes it for me!' that single sentence was enough. sagami hugged the little angel tightly. 'i'll make as much as you want, forever.' it had been taught to him by a kid he was supposed to be responsible for. sagami thought that it seemed like he wasn't cut out to be a teacher after all. and apparently, magic really did exist. ' are... there any wishes that won't come true?' he suddenly remembered the slightly different faces of two students at his teaching practice.

dark is flying through a sky studded with stars when he grins and says that daisuke's gained another troubling secret - he's talking about maho's kiss, but daisuke responds that it's okay.

black wings fly straight through a moonless sky. daisuke felt like he had an invisible light. even if you can't see it right now, the moon is definitely in this sky. it was like riku's voice, which was supposed to be inaudible, that he had still heard back then. no one can erase what's firmly in your heart. the guilt he felt for keeping a secret from riku, and the pain of not being able to tell her everything never went away. daisuke thought that it didn't matter. the fact he liked riku was an irreplacable fact. the midnight bell was ringing. cinderella's magic melts, and she begins to walk on her own two feet.

EPILOGUE.

early morning at school, takeshi is hawking and handing out extra editions of the school news. before daisuke can even finish speaking, saehara hands him a paper - as expected, dark's incident is on the front page, but daisuke's eyes widen at the headline. 'the phantom thief dark is fooled! the police strategy wins, and sagami-sensei's shadow plays a big role!' for some reason, there's even an illustration of dark standing there holding a pair of fake glass slippers with the word 'it's a shame!' written on them. daisuke asks what it means, and saehara says that he was fooled too - saehara growls, thinking he was able to see through what sagami had been doing. according to saehara, the reason sagami had been going to church so diligently was because he was making fake copies of the glass slippers, which dark ended up stealing. he continues to ramble and daisuke only stares.

a quiet voice came from behind his head. 'to deceive an enemy, you must first start with your allies.' 'that's right! as expected, hiwatari is faster than daisuke! '

to those who weren't hiwatari who knew the truth, everyone was convinced that sagami had protected the real shoes by deceiving everybody, even the school and students. daisuke's gaze shifts from the paper to hiwatari, who was still standing there - hhe's the same as usual. it's hard to read his emotion, but he looks calm, although daisuke can feel like he can still see shadows.

i wonder what happened yesterday.... even as he thought so, daisuke smiled. 'goodmorning, hiwatari-kun!' '.......good morning.' there was a brief pause, as if he were suprised, before hiwatari had answered.

daisuke enters the classroom and sagami's getting a fresh haircut - all the girls are making a fuss, some thinking it's a shame because it looked so similar to dark, others thinking it looks fresh and wonderful. daisuke and riku exchange glances and nod at each other - even though they don't say anything, they're still harmonized. daisuke smiles at sagami, bringing up the fact he cut his hair - it was hard to believe that he resembled dark anymore, but sagami's reaction is one of someone who just got bit by a stinging bug.

'my sister started talking about becoming dark's wife.' 'eh?' riku and daisuke raised their voices at the same time. riku said that she wasn't convinced, and daisuke said that something had become complicated again. sagami continued, unaware of the two's true intentions. 'that's outrageous, isn't it?! she started saying that she liked him because he looked like her brother, and i got really angry, so i changed my hairstyle.' daisuke and riku started laughing at sagami who was breathing heavily as he said this. seeing as he treats maho like a precious jewel, it made sense. however, some unwelcome commotion arose among the girls. 'eh, wait a minute, are you a siscon?' 'he's still cool, but i'm disappointed.' moreover, his integrity seems to have made him more popular among the boys. ' please let me call you aniki !'

daisuke tells sagami there's nothing to worry about - he was about to say that maho's words meant that she still liked her older brother better, but sagami flatly tells him that sooner or better you had to be prepared for it. even evil people couldn't do anything about people's feelings, and that was why.

one day he said the same thing that daisuke felt. the class fell silent as his serious yet calm tone. 'i don't have anything to teach you. i've just been doing what i love, because it's human. but...' sagami looked around the classroom. then, he looked directly at daisuke. 'if someone needs you, i want you to respond to their request. because that person knows something about you that you don't know, and they need it. it's the most invisible thing. there is always something for each person. you don't have to be like someone else. it's a precious, real treasure. take on challenges without thinking that you might not be able to do it.'

he seemed to be trying to say something, not just about the competition, but about many other things.... things that he doesn't know, thought daisuke. 'that, like magic, should give you power.' everyone listened silently. eventually, riku started clapping. it spread like ripples throughout the classroom, turning into a tidal wave of applause.

sagami scratches his head amidst the applause - even though everyone had taken care of him, he doesn't think he'll be a teacher. he playfully salutes, saying that he'd do his best to make sure his work would get stolen by dark, and daisuke understands- maho's wish would definitely come true someday. without thinking, daisuke stands up and declares that 'in that case, i'll definitely go steal it.' his classmates look at him in shock for suddenly speaking out loud, and daisuke starts to silently panic, until saehara throws a rolled up newspaper and asks 'are you dark?' the class bursts into laughter and daisuke, timidly smiling, sits back down. glancing over at hiwatari, he's smiling too. riku's eyes looked a little sullen as if she was embarrassed, but her smile blooms like a flower.

the next sunday, daisuke had asked riku to go on a new date at an amusement park- or so it was thought, but in addtion to daisuke and riku were risa's friends, ritsuko, ukihara, sekimoto, and for some reason, even hiwatari. riku hadn't said anything, but she gives off the impression that she's in a good mood, and daisuke takes a deep breath. apparently riku had forced risa while daisuke had forced saehara to ask each other, until everyone decided to all go out together.

it seems that wishes don't come true easily.

saehara nags and snatches away hiwatari's computer from him before shoving it into a locker - it's going to be 'bean sprout-kun' who goes straight to the nurse's office early in the morning because of somethig like that, and what was he thinking bringing a computer when he was going out to play? daisuke walks up to hiwatari who had been left standing blanky- as if he had been planning on working on his day off but now had to figure out what to do instead. even if he did ruin date plans, he was still a good natured person, trying to be careful in his own way. everyone else is looking at a map of the park- riku and risa are asking each other where they want to go first, and daisuke feels as if it's the first time he's ever seen the two of them having so much fun. as expected, it was good for today.

'i'm sure there's a way to make everyone happy somewhere.' hiwatari remains silent. the facts he knew contradicted that, so he couldn't say it. 'i also thought that no matter how much you wish, there may be some wishes that won't come true..' daisuke didn't really understand why he was talking to hiwatari about this. although he thought that he might be taken aback, he continued anyway. 'but, if you believe and keep working hard someday it might come true, even if it's in a different form. that's what i want to believe.' daisuke speaks with a straight, unclouded smile. hiwatari narrowed his eyes and smiled. daisuke thought it was so gentle that it looked like it would disappear at any moment. today, riku is wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. however, daisuke's heart rate increased in his chest without him even realizing it. a sparkling smile that even the most beautiful jewels can't match. how beautiful is the voice that calls out to daisuke with all its trust?

it's so cute that it makes him dizzy. trying to slowly walk away while suppressing his heart leads hiwatari to push him hard on the back, making daisuke jump forward towards riku. riku asks what in the world he's doing - even though the words are rough, there's still gentleness to them. daisuke stands and stutters - he was panicking because he was about to transform, but when hiwatari pushed him, his heart started to race even more. he never thought hiwatari would do it on purpose and try to catch him when he was dark! he's so anxious his thoughts have become a mess, but he couldn't tell riku about anything -

well, the reason why this happened in the first place... 'i was fascinated by riku-san...'

riku gives a flustered response as daisuke's own face turns red. everything was because riku-san was cute --- the clothes had nothing to do with it. although the only person who could make his heart flutter was riku, suddenly riku turns away from him. she realizes that if what he says was really the case, then she'd never be in the kind of position where she couldn't sleep well at night because she wouldn't know what to wear. it was nice, but her more selfish feelings stir in her heart and won't let her be honest - even if she didn't doubt daisuke's feelings in the slightest. she was happy with his reaction and wanted to be spoiled --- but what happened yesterday? even though they were locked up at school, she woke up sleeping in her own bed, and daisuke wouldn't explain. daisuke panics - he couldn't say ythat he had transformed into dark and escaped the school, or that he turned on the light and went into riku's room without her permission.

'nothing! it's the truth!' daisuke, waving his hands and yelling, was tragically desperate. the more he says it, the more daisuke gets stuck in a hole, and the more riku loves him more and more. 'because niwa-kun is full of lies.' 'o-oh, like that...' i can't say no, he's an honest daisuke.

from a distance everyone else watches as daisuke gets into trouble and riku has a little fun. although daisuke would have told them not to follow, there's no time for him to notice anything - right now, he was desperately trying to calm riku.

he had been thinking of asking riku for a favor, but at this rate, she might not have listened. daisuke was planning to ask her to become a model for the competition. you don't need glass slippers or pretty dresses. daisuke wants to draw with his own hands how ownderful riku looks just as she was. with all of the feelings that couldn't be expressed in words.

#reference.#*･ﾟ⊰ 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒. ⊱ ✦ › OUT.#fav.#and with this uhh huuuu i brush my teeth

9 notes · View notes

thehat-taheht · 4 months

Text

Listening to Insanity in the Center of the Universe

From the Land of Enchantment:

Listening to Insanity in the Center of the Universe (Adapted from a speech)

=============

I have been telling people about how crazy living in Albuquerque was for a really long time. Most people didn’t give my stories much thought until ‘Breaking Bad’ debuted. It has only gotten better since then with ‘Better Call Saul’ and ‘In Plain Sight’ et cetera. Now people put a little more faith in my stories from New Mexico. One of my favorites is about crazy people.

In the early 2000’s I was a freshly minted high school graduate, chip on my shoulder, rucksack on my back, $2 in my pocket, and big ideas in my head. My best friend and I had moved to New Mexico on a whim after spending 5 minutes there over the previous summer. I wanted to study Psychology after being obsessed with the ‘X Files’ and reading “Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious” in high school. C.G. Jung was a hero of mine, but so was the Joker, so go figure. I wanted to be a criminal profiler, but figured that I would more likely be a family counselor.

Having quite an extensive history of drug use already by age 18 I had few illusions about how the world works and had already experienced a significant amount of abnormal psychology first hand. I had found an affinity with people of altered mental states and that I could understand them in a way that I felt was meaningful. There was one guy in my old neighborhood that would always refer to himself as King Arthur and eventually he came to call me Merlin. I felt that this bond had been positive and after a while Merlin was able to advise Arthur to get back on his meds.

Now before I get into the story I need to set the scene a little. I was about 19 and since 1995 I had taken to wearing a black long coat of some type (even during summer), a top hat, and round sunglasses. I had waist length brown wavy hair, and was usually covered in buttons and pins with funny or ironic phrases, like ‘Got Beans?’. In that particular coat I carried a small bag of pinto beans that I could present to anyone that asked about the button. Those are all other stories that you may or may not want to hear so I will avoid them for now.

It was shortly after I had enrolled at UNM that I was walking around campus, probably ignoring a math class, that I discovered a strange looking building with no doors in the middle of the quad. After closer inspection I found that it was a large sculpture/engineering project called ‘The Center of the Universe’. The structure had an opening in every cardinal direction and 2 more for up and down. As I walked through the Center of the Universe for the first time I looked out of the top, neck craned to look at the puffy white clouds rolling by, I was hit by the sudden urge to lay down.

Setting down my backpack I spread my coat out over the metal grating that covers the ‘down’ direction and propped up my head on my backpack. I had recently begun meditation so I tried to empty my mind and just let the world roll around me. My concentration was broken by a raspy ancient voice.

“Hey Merlin, get up.”

I still had my eyes closed and just assumed that it was a trick of the meditation or maybe a flashback to my conversations with King Arthur back home.

“You’re Merlin right?” the voice said.

I opened my eyes to see what I assumed was a homeless man of about 50 or so, dreadlocked hair, tattered clothes, and very very pungent.

“Get up.” he says to me. I obeyed and gathered my things.

“Sir, do you know me?” I ask him using the honorific not because I was playing into his delusion, but because I was taught to respect my elders.

“Of course, you’re Merlin.”

This of course struck me as odd. My skin crawled a bit.

“Why do you think that?” I asked with more genuine curiosity than I had ever felt before in my life.

“It’s you. I know you.”

I want to stress to you that I had no idea who this guy was. Never seen or smelled anyone like him. This was at the time the singular strangest event that I had experienced, but I learned, in that moment I think, to roll with whatever the Universe throws at me and try to enjoy the ride

“Yes it’s me.”

I don’t know what I expected to happen at that moment. Maybe the Halls of Knowledge would burst open and Truth would flow like a river from the Doors of Perception, maybe I would become changed and realize my True self: an inner deity sleeping soundly as the world drifted by. Perhaps the very nature of the universe itself would change and I would receive an owner’s manual to reality and be able to unlock the 'Developer’s Mode'.

Instead all he said was “Yes I know… I just told you that.”

I was lying down at the Center of the Universe starring Insanity in the face and somehow felt disappointed.

“You are needed at Denny’s.” Which is a sentence that no one should ever have to hear.

“What is waiting for me there?” I asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

The man said nothing and walked away, muttering to himself. I thought about chasing after him, but didn’t want to destroy the illusion just yet. He seemed very cogent when talking to me and then seemed to revert back to some less aware state. This made my whole body shiver a bit.

I remember recounting my story to my roommates, this received the expected amount of laughter and head shaking. Due to our shared drug-use history this story seemed much more likely that I had experienced some flashback or had a dream or some such. Honestly, I hadn’t expected much, but wanted to make sure that someone else was aware of the story in case it became relevant later. For you see, I have seen a lot of movies, and there is always a point in the film of some fantastic tale, where you feel like yelling at the main character for not sharing information and I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’.

Nothing happened for months, aside from normal life stuff. I found my first job as a Kitchen Steward in the Albuquerque Convention Center Kitchen where I was hired for my ability to count to 100 in Spanish, English, and French. I learned a lot in those months about life and consequently quit that job to try to make more money at Denny’s.

Big Mistake. Not the biggest of my life, but it was up there.

I honestly had forgotten about the homeless man I met in the Center of the Universe so working at the Albuquerque Central Avenue Denny’s may have been some type of subconscious thing to indulge my curiosity. My tenure at Denny’s was short but intense. 6 months that aged me 6 years. During this time, I met a new roommate who would become the father of my nieces, dated a former model with a knife scar on her throat, rediscovered my love of poetry, stayed awake for 11 days, learned how to donate plasma, was on the TV show ‘Cops’ twice, faked my way into a Master’s level psychology class, saw the movie ‘Fight Club’, read ‘Food of the Gods’ by Terence McKenna, and decided I was never going to work another food service job in my life.

In my last week working at the Central Denny’s (now famous for the show Breaking Bad) I was asked to deal with a crazy person in the smoking area. I was the only non-smoker working there, but as the only person studying psychology, management felt I was uniquely qualified to handle the situation. More likely they probably thought I was crazy enough to be able to talk to the guy, and after having been on ‘Cops’ and telling the camera guy he had to stay outside, they knew I had no problem telling people to leave.

I walked over to the smoking area and there was a very large man dressed completely in denim, my mother used to refer to this as a Canadian Tuxedo. There were lots of pins on his jacket, studs on his lapels, a dark thick beard hid his face and dark sunglasses hid his eyes. He looked a bit like a biker, but more of a nomad. Arrayed on the table in front of him were about 20 coffee cups and 10 ashtrays all of them had coffee and cigarettes in them. I was told by another staff member that he had been taking them from other tables whether or not the table was finished with them. He would then sit back down and smoke and ask the waitstaff for ridiculous things like 40 eggs or to turn off the sound on the TV, which we didn’t have. Eventually the other guests had left the smoking section and he was now alone.

Ever the consummate professional, I approached the man to determine if he was just high or actually crazy. He didn’t seem violent yet, so there was no immediate reason to call the police. My goal was to keep him calm and get him out of the store, so I could go on making 2.15 per hour with no tips, you know like usual.

“Hello sir, I am sorry but our waiter was called away and I have been asked to help assist you. Is there anything I can help you with?”

He muttered something about silverware and ashtrays and ‘where are my eggs?’, but most of it was unintelligible. For those who know me they will tell you I have a hard time hearing, and I tend to read lips a bit to aid my comprehension. So I leaned in closer to make out what he was saying.

This very very large man grabbed my shoulder with a hand that belonged on a monster in a fantasy movie. His massive mit engulfed my entire shoulder and its weight felt far too heavy to be real. He brought my good ear close to his beard and whispered “Hello Merlin.”

My mind exploded a bit, with the memory of the homeless man and my friend in my hometown, and the message about being ‘Needed’ at Denny’s. The world faded a bit as my attention was focused on this man’s gruff road-hardened voice wafting through his unkept, unwashed beard, into my unprepared mind.

“Merlin, I have a quest for you. You are needed in Espanola.”

“What do I need to do?”

“You must walk into town and meet a wise man.”

“How will I know him?”

“He thinks he will know you, but he will not recognize who you truly are. You will know what needs to be done.”

My mind reeled from this exchange. So many questions, but they wouldn’t come. Instead I shut my mouth as he released my shoulder. I stood up straight and backed away. The man stood up bumping the table a bit and causing several cups and ashtrays to spill onto the floor. The man’s face seemed to get angry although I was never sure because of the beard. He lumbered for the door making a low humming noise, knocking over a table as he ran out of the door.

This is where my story gets weird.

--------

Months pass. I quit Denny’s and found work at a Circle K, became a manager inside a few weeks when my store manager decided to steal $5000 worth of money orders and leave the state. My district supervisor comes to the store and says ‘I guess you’re it.’ I get into a weird rhythm of working and quitting. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in the C-Store world but the unwritten rule in the early 2000’s was that you can always request vacation, but it wouldn’t come ever. If you really needed time off, then you had to quit. They would hire you back if you were a good employee, because it was cheaper than hiring and training someone new.

So the cycle would go, work for 2 months with no breaks as there was infinite overtime available. Save enough money for 2 months of rent and then quit. Coast for a month, selling plasma, doing odd jobs for walking around money, do ‘other things’, and then get rehired. Easy-peasy. On these furloughs I would focus on school, study metaphysics and other pseudosciences, and read every religious text I could find. I devoured entire bookstores. Searching, researching, studying, learning, theorizing, and finally feeling that I was ready to make decisions about my life. I felt that I had learned something in the hodgepodge of religious soup that I had ingested for so long.

A certainty that every world religion has a nugget of Truth, a small piece that they got right. It was only after trying to see it all through the lens of Science and Understanding that my personal beliefs began to take shape. I felt that I had touched the Aether and it had changed me in the process. The world was brighter, more deliberate. My studies in psychology had reached a climax. I was too poor to afford more schooling, didn’t qualify for grants or loans, so I lied. I signed up to audit course after course using my knowledge of the subject matter to social engineer my way into higher level courses.

I journaled during this period and continued working and coasting. During one such coasting period, I scheduled a trip to the remote town of Espanola as I felt the time was right. A few years had passed, I had given up all drugs including caffeine and pledged to remain this way for 6 years. My friends could barely stand the sober version of me. Apparently I was an insufferable ass, that would constantly deride anything that others thought or felt and was consumed with reading and learning so much that I would ignore important parts of my life, like family and relationships. I tried sobriety and it honestly isn’t for me.

The trip was well planned and orchestrated. I had written out several scenarios for emergencies and eventualities. I hired a co-worker to drive me to the outskirts of the city and drop me off so I could walk into town. I was to play a character that I had devised to hide my intentions in the town. My name was Bill, I wore an old army jacket, tattered jeans, a wide brim military surplus outback style hat, and 10 year old chuck taylors (which were less shoes and more moccasins by this point). The Army jacket had a lot of holes in it that didn’t go through the lining so they made good hidey spots. I stashed about $500, an emergency phone, an extremely dented WWII canteen, 3 tin whistles of varying keys and an old battered wooden recorder.

In my rucksack I had several books, a change of clothes in a ziplock tucked away at the bottom, a journal and few pens, a summer sausage, a box of crackers, hank of rope, a mess kit, some dryer lint covered in candle wax inside a ziplock, utility knife and a firestriker. My hair was long and I had made sure not to shower for a few days before the trip.

After being dropped off in the desert about 5 miles from town, I rolled around in the dirt and dust and made sure to wear my jacket as long as I could stand in the sun on the walk in to get all sweaty to complete the ambiance of Bill the wayfarer. As I made my way down the mountain into town, I was greeted by the Welcome to Espanola sign with the message ‘LowRider Capital of the World’. If you are from California and want to dispute that, take it up with Espanola, that is their claim not mine.

My plan was to make a small splash when I entered town to announce myself, but not so big that it seemed planned. Just enough to let others know I am there. I entered town through the Santa Clara Pueblo heading toward the Rio Grande and came to the first restaurant I saw called La Cocina, which means the Kitchen if you don’t speak any Spanish. I don’t really speak it either, I spoke New Mexican which is fundamentally English with a lot of Spanish nouns and random verbs and curse words. Like Spanglish but with less Adam Sandler and more Carlos Mencia.

I picked a nice spot in the shade so that cars and people walking into the restaurant could see me, but the staff could not. I dropped my pack and used it as a seat, took off my coat and laid out all of my instruments on it. Then turned my hat upside down in front of me and started to play. I only knew about 10-15 songs, but could improvise a bit on the whistles and the recorder. I would alternate songs and even tried to play two whistles at once, poorly. Did everything I could to attract attention and eventually picked up a few dollars from passersby.

Took me about 45 minutes to make enough for 2 enchiladas with green chili and Spanish rice. Management demanded that I get it to go as ‘there was no seating available’. Big air quotes. I was then less politely told not to eat on the premises or continue to panhandle lest the authorities be notified. I picked up my stuff and tipped my hat to them and left. Choosing to cross the Rio Grande and head down a street called Riverside eating my enchiladas on the walk.

On my way down Riverside, I saw some Low Riders and some Police cars. I tried my best to be ignored by both groups, but a long haired 20-something dirty white kid playing a flute was bound to attract someone’s attention. When approached by police I played my flute and danced, whenever they weren’t looking I switched flutes. I made a game out of it. Try to make myself seem too weird or crazy to be dealt with.

When approached by anyone else, I tried to engage them as directly as possible. Attempting to match their speech patterns as closely as I could. If I was unable to do that then I would simply play the role that I would assume they see in me. If they were nice I was needy. If they were mean, I was crazy. If they were curious, I was a fountain of information and dialogue. I tried hard not to outright lie about anything including my name. I of course allowed them to think my name was Bill, because every time it looked like the conversation was headed toward my name, I would stare off into space and say ‘Just Bill…’ occasionally followed by a hand motion as though it was written on a Movie Theatre marquee.

I made my way to the end of town, which at this stage of Espanola’s development was just past the brand new Walmart supercenter. There was a bar in the parking lot in front of the Walmart and just past that on the road that stretched out into the open desert was an old 50’s style motel that I had assumed was condemned. I noticed that in the window was an old school orange Vacancy sign with the ‘No’ part off. After walking in I figured that it was likely less than a few days away from a health inspector walking in and shuttering the place for good. I haggled with the manager over an hourly rate room that I wanted to stay in for several days and he finally agreed to give me the one room that isn’t regularly used for hourly entertainment.

He almost lost his shit when I told him I would be right back once we decided on $25 per night. I explained that I needed to go make that money by playing my flutes and I would return before sundown for the room. He reluctantly agreed and I headed to the Walmart parking lot. It was hot and I was tired. I played outside the Walmart Super Center for about an hour and made a few dollars, but not enough to pay for the motel room. I noticed a few other vagrants trying to sponge the Walmart patrons for a few bucks. When a security guard in his little go-kart came around to roust them out, I felt that it was time to blend. Picked up my sack and shuffled after them. They all hid behind the walled dumpster area of a western bar that shared a parking lot with Walmart. I followed them in.

One of them spotted me and looked me up and down and then pushed aside a crate that was blocking a broken utility panel and stepped aside, waving his arms to usher everyone through. He yelled something, that I would later learn was the Hopi word for ‘inside’ or ‘indoors’ or some such, but I couldn’t pronounce it then and can’t repeat it now. We all rushed through the small opening, I had to drag my sack behind me. The native man that had helped everyone escape pulled the hatch closed and pulled a rope through a hole that was attached to the crate. Once completely taught it had hidden our escape route entirely. I heard the go-kart pull up with its sickly electric whine and heard the angry shuffling of security guard shoes grinding away at the heated asphalt in the desert sun outside.

Looking around in the space, once my eyes adjusted to the dim light that emanated from the emergency lighting and cracks in the ceiling and walls, I seemed to be in a seldom used storage area with a lot of empty beer cans and bottles, unwashed bedding, and piles of aluminum signs and lighting for the bar. Spiders and moths seemed to be fighting an unending battle in the rafters and there was the telltale small black lumps of chocolate that told of mice in the area. Standing up straight the Native man towered over me, by about a foot and a half, but it felt like 12. He looked down on me, face stern, but with a smile in his eyes. He extended his pizza-pan sized mitt and said, “Name’s John, people call me War Machine.”

Trying my best not to be intimidated by this huge man that I now found myself in a closed area with, I allowed my seemingly tiny, feeble hands be swallowed by his, looked to where I assumed his eyes were and said with a completely straight face, “My name is Bill, people usually call me ‘dumb kid’ or ‘hey you’.” I could hear the silence pounding in my ears, all of the oxygen ripped away from the planet and I was left falling into nothingness. I expected War Machine to rip my arm off and beat me to death with it. I imagined my death in a thousand different ways, but I remained calm and relaxed.

His grip tightened. He jerked suddenly, throwing his head back and a deep low rumbling like from the bowels of a volcano shook me. As the blood rushed into my ears the roaring sound was replaced by a raucous throaty laugh that left me dumbfounded. His enormous hand clapped me on the shoulder and he kept chuckling. “You’re funny Bill. Welcome to Espanola, did you just get here?” He let go of my hand and motioned for me to walk toward the back of the building.

“Yeah got in this morning.” I found that the rest of the escaping vagrants had moved to the back of the room behind the aluminum signs. Above the door in permanent marker was a hand-drawn symbol that I had seen before. It looked like a block M where the middle line was facing up instead of down, or rather like a rectangle where the bottom line was removed and placed standing straight up from the middle of the top line. I was later told by War Machine that this was a sign that meant ‘good place’ or something similar. To this day I am not sure if it was a New Mexico, Native, or hobo thing, but I have seen the same symbol in other places.

When we got into the room and my eyes adjusted, I saw that there were makeshift beds, an old discarded couch, several crates and even a few chairs. A familiar hissing and popping sound was emanating from a large crack in the wall that was in darkness. The only light source in the room was some cracks in the wall from the outside and an emergency light that someone had rigged up to an electrical socket. One of the other guys in the room picked up the emergency light box and hung it on a hook above the crack in the wall.

Inside the crack were exposed compressed gas beverage lines each with a tourniquet of some kind around it and a label next to it on the wall. Most were indecipherable from this distance, but I recognized one at the top that said “Miller Light”. Almost everyone in the room produced some kind of mess kit cup or canteen or plastic bottle and passed it down the line. I took the last swallow of water out of my canteen and passed it down the line along with War Machine’s Aquafina bottle. Both of our receptacles came back filled to the brim with chilled Miller Light.

Now I despise Miller Light and light beers in general, in fact I don’t even like drinking much, but when you are tired, sore, hungry, and a little sunburned that Miller Light tasted like sweet Ambrosia. It was Manna from Heaven, sent to us hungry world-weary travelers to save us from the ravages of the waiting desert. I don’t remember much of the rest of the night except from a few tidbits here and there. The group of us played a game that involved some kind of nonsense words and repeated phrases that always ended in laughter.

Pretty sure that I paid for my room. I remember getting propositioned by an older hispanic lady repeatedly. I believe that she even snuck into my room somehow and I may have scared her away with the business end of a summer sausage that I swore to her was a knife. That could all be some kind of alcohol delusion, but it seems dumb enough to be true. I slept off the booze and tried to make a fresh start of it in the morning.

==================

The next day I continued my completely undefined quest, relatively sure that these vagabonds in the city didn’t need my help. As far as they went they were pretty set. They had places to be, food, and fun of a sort. So if the universe didn’t mean for me to help them, what was I needed for?

To try to sort this out I had an idea that the answer would hit me dead center in the face if I looked hard enough. I planned to continue to dodge cops, pretend to panhandle, and toot my flutes. For breakfast I had what was left of the cheese, crackers, and summer sausage with some water from my canteen. I filled up the canteen with some questionable water from the motel bathroom sink and strapped my knife to my boot. I took all of my possessions with me and set out.

It was hot again. The town danced in front of my eyes in the heat if I looked at it directly. There wasn’t much to the town on the main drag, but there were some chain restaurants like McDonald’s and SubWay. Now I know that you are thinking that going to MickeyD’s would be the right choice to try to panhandle and get some food if you were impersonating a homeless person, but I had a different take.

After spending so much time with real homeless folk in Dallas and in Albuquerque, I felt that SubWay was the better choice. At McDonald’s most of the folk who go there order from the dollar menu if they have to or from the regular menu if they can. Most patrons don’t spend time there unless they have kids, and people are not likely to give change in a drive through. McDonald’s is cheap, ergo people who eat there generally don’t have much to spare. If they do, they have kids and they don’t want homeless folk around their kids. Combine that with the fact that they are almost always on a separate lot and you are just asking for cops to harass you.

This made SubWay a much better choice. People actually spend time inside because of the lack of drive through, the culture in the restaurant promotes tipping, so money is more readily available, and people who eat there are usually sans family. Plus they are usually in strip mall box storefronts so it is easier to avoid police.

I popped a squat on the pavement outside the subway within earshot of the tables inside, but not in direct eyesight, as this tends to draw the ire of the employees quickly. I took out a D penny whistle and a plastic recorder and flipped my hat upside down on the pavement. I practiced both the rhythm and harmony parts of the theme song of Buckaroo Banzai. The rhythm part was my left hand on the recorder and the right hand played the penny whistle on the melody.

Once I was satisfied I knew both parts well, I tried my best to play both parts at once. Honestly I am sure it was horrible at first and most people just ignored me. Eventually I changed the rhythm section a bit to match the breaths of the melody and that worked better as I wasn’t running out of breath constantly. So I wasn’t playing the real song, but some new rendition of it. To my surprise someone actually put in some money while walking by, a dark skinned fellow in a white suit and white shoes. As his clothes reflected too much light I couldn’t tell much more about him at the time.

I switched to When the Saints Go Marching In on the recorder and dropped the penny whistle back into a hole in the lapel. When I assumed the guy went inside, I stopped playing and I dropped some more of my own money in the hat. To make sure that not too much attention was paid to my money, I kept playing until at least two more patrons passed by me, pretending to thank them for their generous donations.

After I felt enough time had passed I went inside the Subway after stowing my instruments and donning my hat. I ordered completely prepared to pay for my six inch Italian and chips, but I was told that my meal had been paid for and I could get a drink as well. Accepting a bottled water from the cashier, I was informed that the gentleman that tipped me earlier had paid for my meal. I approached him, not sure how to handle speaking to him. He seemed to be of Indian descent and was dressed in a nice looking white suit with no tie. He had friendly eyes and the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

He gave off a certain confidence despite the strange situation that made me think that he had done this before. He offered me a seat across from him at the table and I cautiously accepted and decided to stop the crazy act I had put on for the police.

I feel it bears a reminder at this point to set the scene. The Subway, despite being brightly lit, has heavy tint on the windows to keep out some of the heat. I haven’t showered or changed clothes for over a week to make sure that my disguise is as accurate as possible. I rolled around in the sand and dirt on the outskirts of the town to give my vintage moth-eaten army surplus coat a fresh coating of earth. I have long hair that is matted and dreaded up and I am sure my breath smells terrible. People are staring at us as we sit there talking about food and desperation.

He offers to buy me another sandwich and I accept and tie it up and put it into my pack. He laughs at this and then starts to talk about himself. He indicates that he works with youths and would like to offer me a place to start over. He knows that being homeless is hard and that I seem intelligent but desperate. “All most people need is a place to get cleaned up and stability so they can get a job and re-enter society.” He explained. “I work at a place of worship and the people there could help you get back on your feet.”

“I would be very grateful for any help I get sir.” I felt that I wanted to appear very desperate and pliant. I had never heard of a guy like this randomly picking up homeless people so I had a hunch that this is why I was here. It was possible that he was just some kind of pervert, but I didn’t get that feeling with how he was speaking.

“That is good to hear.”

We packed up my kit and we headed out of the SubWay to his Lexus which was also white of course. I guarded my answers and responses closely to not let out too much of my real personality. Per my assumed identity I told him that my name was Rene Carter as a modification of my favorite philosopher René Descartes. Let’s call the man Raj, I will keep his real name to myself for this story.

We arrived at their compound at the edge of town in the early evening and he showed me to his house on the lot. It was a nice two story adobe filled with southwestern kitsch and Native American blankets. After getting a short tour we ended in a room filled with hundreds of crystals and candles. I honestly almost laughed when we walked in that room, but I stifled it. Raj told me that he was something called a ‘Light Giver’, which he explained was a form of shamanic healer that uses light focused through crystals or that emanates from his hands to “heal the body and uncloud the mind” as he put it.

He offered to let me use the shower and he gave me some donated clothes. Still not knowing what to expect, I briefly inspected the lavish bathroom for cameras and then showered off my finely cultivated layer of earth. My long hair was still matted, but I soaped it and tied it back again with a length of gaffer’s cord. The clothes fit well enough, they were plain and all tan. I insisted on keeping my jacket, and Raj offered me some scented oils to make my hair and jacket smell better. Honestly I just didn’t want anyone discovering the $500 I had hidden away in one of my flutes.

After I was a little more presentable, Raj took me outside and into the compound proper. For our purposes we can call it ‘la Hacienda’.

Albino peacocks and white people in bright Sikh clothing everywhere. It was kind of strange to look at like a bad episode of a scifi show where you are more worried about the actors getting heat stroke than following the plot. Not knowing they were Sikhs yet, I just assumed it was some sort of cult. In the end I guess I was right.

Now I had studied with some Sikhs in University and my favorite Indian restaurant “Kebab’N’Kurry” in Dallas is run by the nicest Sikh and his family you may ever meet. I knew Sikhs as a super friendly and approachable religious group that would never try to prosthelytize and despite having roots in the rougher times in India, it was all about the equality of men and women and a celebration of life and its mysteries. I knew that they rejected the Caste system of old and were all about working as a community to elevate everyone.

Armed with this information already I was agog at what I saw on the Hacienda. Not all men wore the Turban and few had beards, but the obviously traditionally garbed men let me know what was up. Raj looked more like a modern reformed Sikh that had that super suave beardiness still but kept his hair short, he wore white, but not the full dress like some of the others. Something else stood out that I didn’t quite catch at first.

There were no adult women present outside, just men and children. Red flags should have gone up at this point, but I was still in observation mode at this point. After walking the grounds a bit, Raj invited me to come eat supper with him and I followed. We ate and I tried to keep up my character, by being a bit cagey and fingering my flutes. Mostly he just wanted to sell the lifestyle to me it seemed. He talked about how there was always food, friendly people, stable housing, and community. I was told I was welcome as long as I wanted to stay. After the meal I was taken to a small single room house that had a lot of pillows and blankets with a thin plank built into the wall. I slept there that night and didn’t want to disturb any of the cult members by asking where the bathroom was so I just pissed in the nearby brush.

The next day I was taken to breakfast and was introduced to several random folk in the group that were doing menial chores. It seemed to be Raj’s intent to introduce me to people that were genuinely happy doing simple chores, thereby making me more likely to want to achieve the same level of happiness. Most of the day was spent going around la Hacienda with breaks for meals. Eventually we came back to his house and talked to me again about ‘Light Therapy’ and being a ‘Giver of the Holy Light’. At several points he seemed very serious and almost scientific, at others I was sure that ‘Giving someone the Holy Light’ was a euphemism for sex.

He offered me a ‘Light Healing’ session and asked me to take off my shirt and lie down on a massage table face down. After hesitating I obliged and he lit candles and incense, then turned off the light and began chanting. He selected a large crystal from the wall with his eyes closed and proceeded to wave it about, while chanting rhythmically. He touched the crystal to my back and rolled it up and down my spine. It was an interesting sensation as one side of the crystal was warm and the other cold. He abruptly stopped chanting and produced a bottle of some kind and began to put baby oil on my back. I instinctively leapt off the table and took out a few crystals on my way and grabbed my shirt and told him in what I thought at the time was a polite tone, that the session was over.

Raj took this in stride and announced that it was time to go out with the youth group anyways. I followed him outside where he met with some other adult leaders as a group of 15-19 year olds walked up the hill in jeans and t-shirts. Raj informed me that as soon as the adults changed into their ‘city clothes’ we would be heading into Santa Fe to see a new movie as a group. The situation was very strange as I was absolutely mobbed by most of the younger kids asking me lots of questions about the outside world. I did my best to remain in character as my new cult friends took me to go see X-Men which had only recently been released.

Going to the movies with a lot of anglo Sikhs in Sante Fe to see X-Men was one of the most surreal non-drug related experiences. I am sure that we looked very normal from the outside, but me knowing I was likely surrounded by a real bunch of cult members was super strange for me and hard to deal with. Consequently I had a hard time paying attention to the movie, and honestly they were really chatty. Rewatching the movie later, I realized how bad it was and felt less bad about missing the movie.

Normally during a social outing like this at this age I would honestly be looking to hookup with one of the girls that were with the group, but I was way too distracted to even think about anything other than maintaining my false identity. It didn’t even occur to me at the time that most of the girls that were with us were all sitting next to me, or that all of the boys were either trying hard not to look at me or were shooting me disapproving looks. It also didn’t occur to me that the social interaction may have been an exercise orchestrated by Raj to find out which girls I had chemistry with. I was so oblivious in fact that when the movie was over and we were on our way back to the compound that I didn’t pick up on the fact that Raj decided on the seating on the way back and surrounded me with girls that wanted to touch my hair and talk to me about where I was from.

As always I did my best not to lie too much and laid out half truths with other half truths making little misunderstandable truth sandwiches that those girls ate up with gusto. Meanwhile I tried to get some information about their little group from the talkative girls. They were not surprisingly pretty tight-lipped about the compound, but did talk to me enough about their religion for me to understand that it wasn’t entirely a pure Sikh ethos. There was a certain sense of misogyny in their words, a subtle hint that women weren’t being treated as equals. I found no outward obvious signs of abuse, but there was definitely some mental conditioning. At the time I just chalked it up to them being in a religious cult. After all even non-cult religions have their conditioning in some ways.

We got back to la Hacienda and the girls I had been sitting with insisted on washing my hair. As it was done in a public place I saw no problem with it and just did my best to enjoy the pampering. I had chest length thick brown hair, that despite my earlier shower was still pretty matted and they got all of the dirt out and I was very relaxed. They used some kind of homemade shampoo that smelled like hibiscus and honey and was like no product I have ever used before or since. The girls were extremely fit and very pretty and I remember letting my guard down around them a bit. They told me a bit more about the group. I learned that their highest guru was in la Hacienda and that his 70th birthday was in a few days, there was going to be a big ceremony and he would address the entire congregation.

===================

I think I passed out before dinner because I don’t remember much else that night and woke up to Raj telling me to get dressed so I could help with breakfast. The group was very much a ‘nobility in work’ group and they paid people that did the job around them in high esteem. With the pampering from last night, my hair was light and bouncy and I must’ve looked like a Penecostal white Jesus with sandals and white loose fitting white clothes and a scruffy beard, hair all flowing in the wind. The illusion was immediately dispelled when I got to the kitchen and they gave me a hairnet. I tucked in my hair and started cutting vegetables and fruit. Eventually I was asked to help make something called ‘prashad’, my job was to keep stirring a pot like a madman until someone told me to stop and then pour it out into a bowl, which was then blessed with some kind of knife or dagger.

It was actually interesting and I enjoyed helping these folks in the kitchen. It dawned on me again that no younger women were in the kitchen area or anywhere I could see. Breakfast was vegetarian again. Two days in and I was already missing bacon. I had eaten my remaining provisions on the first night and was now completely dependent on their food, which was excellent especially for vegan food.

I finally spotted some of the younger girls that I had seen at the movies coming out of the large building toward the front of la Hacienda. Most of them were wearing loose flowing white pants and bright cotton tops, very different from before. They walked away from where I was and into another building that looked more like a dorm.

The next morning I was practically pulled out of bed by a few of the younger girls who helped me dress and then pushed me into the large building I had seen them come out of before. There were lots of small thin mats on the floor and I was confused about the room’s purpose. The girls all helped me to go through some of the first poses in what had become my first yoga class. I had relaxed a lot by this time and constantly being on my game about my false identity was less on my mind. Consequently my hormones took over a bit and I started noticing exactly how fit some of these girls were.

So much so that I had some physical manifestations of my desire for intimacy. Naturally I felt that like everything else with the group, as a natural function it shouldn’t be hidden so I didn’t leave the room or try to cover up any more and just tried to keep going with the lesson. I tell you what though, it really did make some of the poses very difficult. I heard a few giggles from the class about my inappropriate situation. Between the young girls sweating and bending over into compromising positions and my head swimming with early 20’s hormones I am sure I was about to make some really dumb decisions.

We will ignore the details of what happened next as this is not that kind of story, but the facts you need to know are that I was beset upon by a group of girls that wanted to talk to me. Eventually there were very few girls, nature took its course and I was instructed in my first lesson in Neo-Trantic Yoga.

I was too inebriated on hormones to even think about what the consequences for this action would be. So I had little control over what started to happen after this. Luckily for me this wasn’t something that was going to get me killed or anything. No one even appeared angry and there didn’t seem to be any immediate attachment between me and the yoga girls. I suspected that the situation was likely intentionally manufactured to convince me to stay in the group as a sort of honeypot trap.

The rest of the day was spent with me learning various parts about the ceremony that was to occur the next day and my duties in the kitchen.

That evening I was again accosted by a group of the young girls and we talked about life in la Hacienda. I questioned them vigorously, completely ignoring my facade at this point.

So it turns out one or more of the girls were spoken for by other men in the compound, but many of the girls there were either runaways or homeless and had not always been with this group. I asked about how they were recruited and they all recounted similar stories to my own. Found wandering, a well-dressed man bought them food and convinced them to come live at la Hacienda, where they were shown care, comfort, and kindness. Then they were each shown the value of community and hard work, but also given rewards like going to the movies. From their stories the place was sounding less and less ominous. That was until of course one of the girls started crying.

The other girls in the group hugged and patted her until she could speak again and she explained that this is what they are supposed to say. That some of them had been required to marry against their will and that the elders in the group would sometimes touch them in intimate ways without permission. It was explained that the elders would test them to see if they were ready to bear children and marry. A few other girls admitted this was true and one even described some forms of sexual and emotional abuse. I pressed for details on the identities of the elders responsible, but they were very tight-lipped about it.

Needless to say but I was appalled and the illusion of civility that permeated this place was shattered. I felt my burden growing. I know this started as a lark, that it was a way to have an ‘interesting experience’ in the desert and to face the unknown, but now things were becoming serious. As a former Boy Scout who served the community in a variety of ways, I felt compelled to right this wrong. I had heard of this kind of thing happening in cults and other positions of authority, but this was my only experience with it directly. If I were to simply call the police the cult would likely shut down the investigation with well rehearsed stories and solidarity. I struggled with what to do the whole next day until it was time for the ceremony.

Turns out the ceremony was like hand-fasting. It was a marriage of sorts, but given the nature of the cult, it was likely not a marriage in a legal sense. Everyone walked down this low hill to a mostly dried riverbed just before dusk. It was quite a scene with everyone wearing white and carrying wrought iron lanterns, while walking through the desert landscape and drums by the riverbed played a driving beat. I noticed that many of the women had henna tattoos on their hands and feet while we were all walking together.

At the riverbed an ancient looking man was kneeling on a pillow that was on a raised platform. He had a long white beard, a gray mustache, and piercing eyes that looked like they knew the secrets of the universe. As the ceremony began, a couple knelt on some decorative pillows and the Guru started speaking about how this wasn’t just a marriage but a joining of souls to make a singular person. He talked for what felt like a long time as the sun washed across the landscape and bathed the entire ceremony in a soft pink light. Seriously pink. If you have never experienced a New Mexico desert sunset, you owe it to yourself to experience it at least once.

I zoned out through part of his sermon to inspect the couple. The bride was one of the girls I had met before who had talked about inappropriate touching. The groom was at least 10 years older than her, but I figured that she was at least 19 so it wasn’t an illegal kind of bad, but didn’t make me any more comfortable with what I was witnessing. In my head I was trying to figure out which of the elders they could have been referring to. I know that Raj had made me feel super uncomfortable and wanted to put his hands on me, but I suspected that it was less innocent than that based on their stories.

I started to listen to the sermon again and started to hear some of the most sexist, misogynistic, and outright old fashioned ways of thinking about women and their duties to their husbands. The Guru was telling this girl of 19 that she had no control over her body as it now belonged to the groom. He was dressing it up in flowery language and sprinkling it with spiritual mumbo jumbo, but he was still describing sexual slavery. Anger overcame me.

I don’t remember much of the rest of that night, but the next day was the guru’s birthday and there was to be a celebration in the temple at noon. I screwed up all of my courage and asked Raj if I could have a word with the Yogi. He said I would have to wait in line to give him his birthday wishes. So I did. Waiting in line I imagined what I would say, but couldn’t think of anything. I knew I needed to say something.

When I got to the front of the line I blanked out. Mind went completely blank and the world started to move in slow motion. I could hear my breath and feel sweat rolling slowly down my back under the white rough cloth shirt. Something happened to my mouth, and I saw the all-knowing look of the aged Yogi suddenly turn to anger. I realized I was speaking extremely fast and pointing at him. Suddenly I could hear my voice again.

“…this type of thinking went out with universal women’s suffrage. Their bodies belong to them and not to you or any member of your so-called religion. If you do not change your ways and teachings then you are leading all of your followers to destruction. This will not end well.” I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room staring at me. Inspecting me, judging and hating me. I was being dissected by their vision. Not knowing what else to do, I said “Happy Birthday.” and turned to leave the room. Raj and a few other men practically tackled me on the way out of the room and I was force-marched to the front gates and handed my already packed bag with all of my possessions. They had been cleaned and smelled like sandalwood.

Getting my bearings I walked the few miles back into town. Getting a fresh coating of dirt and dust on the way. When I reached the edge of town I spotted a Motel 6. I pulled my emergency cash from inside on of my flutes and rented a room. Then I took the longest shower of my life. I called my ride and he came to pick me up the next morning.

I don’t know what it all meant, but while writing this piece and researching it for accuracy, I found that the Yogi I had berated in public had died the next year and it was discovered that he did indeed have sexual relations with many of the members of his sect.

I strongly feel that some external force was working through me that day. Call it what you want, but I do feel as though I was meant to do something that day and it was done. I struggled with writing this as I now know what happened after I left and it is a strange set of events. Not the strangest of my life, but that is another story.

#Espanola #lowriders #new mexico #land of enchantment #land of entrapment #albuquerque #denny's #writing #breaking bad #tantric yoga #xmen #UNM #center of the universe #schizophrenia #true story #yoga #hobo code #motel 6

2 notes · View notes