Chapter 2
April 29th, two months ago.

City Black.

Widely known as Burnsley.

It's a city on the east coast of the United States.

It's a city like no other.

Not because of its buildings or because of its culture.

No.

It's because of its paranormal environment.

In City Black, paranormal occurrences come as often as a fly on moldy bread. Some occurrences are annual while some are just arbitrary in terms of transpiring.

But when my aunt, Crystyn Blackwood, gave me the chance to live here right after my father passed away, I just had to say yes. Paranormal activities aren't something I would consider my hobby, but I do find that sort of thing highly interesting.

So I moved here last August to go to my new high school here and to live under the guidance of Aunt Crystyn. However, there was an additional reason as to why I wanted to live here... I could never tell Aunt Crystyn that reason though...

Eight months after moving here, I dropped out of high school in the middle of my junior year. I didn't find school interesting anymore and I felt that my freedom was being limited which is bad for me and the people around me, I assure you. One of the reasons I came to Burnsley was to feel free... but staying in that high school countered that.

Three days later, also known as today, this morning, I abandoned my aunt's house to begin living on my own. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for what she's done for me in these eight months, but I've decided that I'll need to start living under my own rules from now on.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where exactly I can live on my own since I'm still a minor...but I guess anywhere where Aunt Crystyn is absent is fine...

I kind of got off track.

Anyway...

I'm now currently roaming around the neighborhood, looking for a place that is remotely decent enough to stay at. I haven't had much luck so far and I've been searching for approximately twenty minutes.

Those twenty minutes felt like two hours.

"Where the heck can I find a home? ...Hm?"

My goal is somewhat delayed when I detect something out of the ordinary.

Excuse me; when I detect someone out of the ordinary.

Woman.

It's a woman. A tall one at that. No... tall is a massive understatement.

She's a giant.

As a former third-year, I'm painfully short, standing at only one-hundred sixty centimeters or five feet and four inches. So you can imagine my astonishment when I laid my eyes on this woman, who has to be at least 194cm tall.

She's dressed in a white form-fitting dress to match her untrimmed gently flowing hair and she's handling a white Japanese parasol while walking down the footway. Her face is perfectly shadowed and all I can see is her mouth and down from there.

Clutching her stomach while softly moaning, her steps get slower and slower. I watch from across the street, wondering what such a giant is doing in the empty neighborhood and why she's moaning.

That's when her parasol drops the ground and she falls onto both knees, the grip on her stomach getting visibly tighter.

I quickly turn away the minute she collapses. It isn't my business to get involved with this woman. I walk off with speed, hoping that she wouldn't notice me neglecting her.

I don't want to say I'm a bad person, but it would have been a pain helping her. I need to help myself before I can help others and what not. I'm sure many of you reading this have heard that statement.

But as I look back to take a peek at her, I notice something strange.

I didn't move a single centimeter.

I'm still solidly standing in the precise spot I was before I saw her fall onto the ground. I try moving again, this time I am vigilantly watching my feet as I walk away. Sure enough, I see the sidewalk passing me by and each foot is continually being placed in front of the other.

But this unforeseen, ominous mistrust prompts me to rubberneck at her direction once more and she is still the exact same distance away from me as she is before I began pacing. I glance farther ahead of me and I notice that a piece of gum attached to the sidewalk, that I am more than positive that I passed by, is a few inches in front of me.

What the hell?

Then more happens.

I not only can't move away from this giant of a woman but now I'm being dragged towards her. Helpless, I watch as my body carelessly runs across the street and to the groveling woman.

"M-Miss... Do you need help?" I ask after squatting down to the lady's cowered sized.

Do not talk to strangers.

I can't explain it, but as I'm on her level, I feel outrageously uneasy. So uneasy that I can feel the fabric of my shirt sticking to my skin from the sweat I am in. It kind of hurts just to be this close to her. It's like she's giving off this terrifying aura that made her unapproachable.

Yet... I can't run away even if I try.

But that doesn't stop my seemingly controlled body. I take a hand and gently rest it on her shoulder. As I touch her, I feel that she's shivering while she moans.

She's also... cold. Like a dead body.

April is a month of rain for sure, but whenever the sun is out, the weather is reasonably dry yet cool at the same time.

Today is a sunny day and is extraordinarily heated. Hell, even the sidewalk is scalding as I relax my other hand on top of it. When I get close enough, I notice that not only does she have a parasol, but she has a sun hat as well.

The parasol must've been obscuring my view of the sun hat.

Judging by that and the odd temperature of her body, she must be really attempting to shield herself from the sun.

But for what reason?

"I'm... hungry..." she eventually croaks with awfully little enthusiasm.

Hungry?

"I would've loved to get you some food... it's just that... I can't do it at the moment..." I explain.

I always desire to help others. It's just a natural instinct of mine. However, helping others completely goes against my motto of "don't care for other people unless it manages to benefit you." But this woman... I just know she needs my help...

What's going on?

Maybe it's her aura that's making me think like this...

I know that an overwhelming guilt will overwhelm me if I don't help.

"You're looking for... a place to live...?" she asks, her voice very weak like that of a person on their deathbed. "I can show you a place... in return... you can get me some food, okay?"

How did she...?

I can't even think of another answer. The same word is the only one visible in my clouded mind, just begging to be said. I simply nod and respond with the word like my mind is ordering me to.

"...Okay."

"Thank you..."

She puts one hand on her upper thigh and the other grabs the parasol. Seconds later, she gets back on her feet and is once again protected from the sun's rays by the Japanese umbrella. Watching her rise to her feet was like watching a dinosaur emerge from its slumber in one of those Jura Jura Park movies. Somehow through her still shadowed face, she catches me rudely staring at her and she does nothing but smile. The way her delicate, blood-red lips rounded was enticing enough to put me in a daze.

Only after she sighed did I wake from that euphoric daze. I was beginning to ask her what was wrong until she told me herself.

"We've already struck a deal, yet haven't even introduced ourselves to each other," she states. She was definitely right. And it wasn't just any deal. It was a deal between two complete strangers that felt like it was forced on me. In any event, she continues, "My name is Deryn Hier. I was just wandering around this neighborhood to take in the empty scenery when you found me."

Deryn Hier.

Sounds decorative.

"My name is Brynn. Brynn of the Blackwood family. I found you after I left my aunt Crystyn's house to try living on my own. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hier."

"The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to what you'll be cooking for me." She adds, "You may call me by my first name, Brynn. I am younger than you."

...huh?

"N-No. I'm sorry. I'm only a junior in high school."

"Exactly. I am younger than you."

Huh?

"How... old are you exactly?"

Cutely, she sways her head to the side, allowing her white locks to blow in synchronicity with the passing wind.

"I'm thirteen years old."

A wind passes us by as she says that.

"HUH?!"

She's... not even legal... all of the thoughts I had about her... I need to take a long, hot shower as soon as I get to my new residence.

"There's no need to be so shocked," she says. "I know you're not of the legal age either. In fact, you're not all that younger than me."

There she goes again. She knows exactly what I'm thinking. She must be able to read my facial expressions outrageously well.

"Huh...?"

"Golly... is that the only thing you know how to say?" She pouts before clearing her throat. "I can tell that both you and your soul are... sixteen. You're only two years older than me, assuming that your birthday is before mine."

Impossible... Just by glancing at me she was able to guess my age perfectly...

"Wh-When's your birthday?" I ask.

"May 13."

I shake my head. "Nope. My birthday's after yours, making me three years older than you."

"Aw!" She flails her arms around wildly, though it isn't enough to uncover and expose herself to the sun's detrimental rays.

"Speaking of which... you said my soul and I are a certain age, right?"

She nods. "Yup!"

"Then that means souls and bodies can have different ages, huh? Okay then, how old are you? Like your body..."

"I already told you." She pauses. "I'm thirteen."

"Stop it! There's no way that someone that looks like you is thirteen!"

"Eh? Why not?"

"Look at yourself! You're well over six feet and your body is like a Greek sculpture's... You look like some sort of erotic alien!"

"Wah?!" She covers her body with her arms while giving me the eye. "You're checking me out?! That's embarrassing...! The high school junior is checking out the eighth grader and having amorous thoughts about her! That's weird!"

No matter how you look at it, people would think that I'm the eighth grader and you're the high school junior...

Wait a minute... Did she...?

I think back to her words.

"The high school junior is checking out the eighth grader and having amorous thoughts about her!"

"Wait a second. How did you know about my thoughts? I didn't even say anything about them nor did I change my facial expression."

"U... Um..."

I can only assume that she awkwardly looked off to the side because she stopped talking. If only her eyes weren't being so inconveniently shaded, I would be able to tell for sure.

"N-Never mind that!" she exclaims. "Let's just go to my place already! I'm starving!"

Subject change. Is that suspicious? Yes. Do I care? No.

"Okay," I reply with a smirk. "...Ryn-ryn."

She shudders at the sound of the little name I give her before turning back and looking at me with an... embarrassed expression? I still cannot tell.

"'Ryn-ryn?!'"

"It's your new nickname. Hope you like it."

After saying it a couple of times over, she eventually starts smiling wider the more she says it. That was kind of convenient... she got used to the nickname much quicker than I thought she would. Strange. I'm getting along better with a stranger than I did my own family member.

"Yeah... Then that's what you'll call me from now until we depart. Okay, Brynn?"

"Of course. It's a promise, Ryn-ryn." I smile, but behind that smile is confusion and slight anxiety.

All throughout the conversation I had with Deryn, well... how do I put this...?

Not once did her mouth make a single movement, minus the smiling. It was like she was telepathically speaking to me... But that's not real, is it?

I wonder...