Prologue - Chaos Mage and a Half

"The familiar ceiling I thought I would recognize waking up was the classroom." I, Shirayuki Otogibanashi, announced in frustration as I looked straight at Amaterasu. "Why are we here now?"

Tick, tock! When the butterflies screamed in September, I wasn't there. After all, it wasn't the story I was supposed to helm. Nonetheless, before the Prince of Clovers took the hand of liberation─I was supposed to have the power. Whoever's struck with the hand, they'd be seeing the bigger picture.

What one can see is a wider horizon where six trillion butterflies flock.

And─the world is suddenly a simulation.

Else, a novel set in a fictitious premise.

Sometimes, I think about a scenario where Amaryllis didn't think enough and let the chaotic storyteller spirit absorb her.

And so, I should have known the truth ever since.

Nothing about "Snow White and the Seven Gods" is true─and the prologue has been renewed.

For some reason, I've been aware.

I wish I could say the same to her, Amaterasu Origami, without being ostracized. 

Her hair dropped down the ground, now untied for a sweet digression she's not fine at all.

I asked her a question, but she didn't say anything.

We were inside the Otogibanashi Mansion, home of the fairy tales who lurk in all of Nichiyoubi.

We were in my room, and I'd been laid over my bed like a patient.

Nonetheless, nothing about the conditions fill Amaterasu's adapted nurse position. Obviously, she didn't look like a nurse since she's a student. Playing detective has her drifting away from taking care of someone.

She'd rather break a door than tend to an injured leg.

Amaterasu drank coffee from the printed mug I bought from Akiba.

She lavishly sat on the gaming chair I smuggled from the Human Side when I could've been acting king on it. Flashing in the background, the computer monitor flashing the pause menu of Tetris. About as close as to stacking near the ceiling when she finally passed the hi-score by three points.

Our eyes locked onto each other, fire was lit for an eventual staring contest.

I suppose I don't have to engage.

I can't deny its interesting component compared to thinking I sleepwalked home.

Home is only at the other end of the plaza, after all.

Disregarding the obvious questions, it's not an overboard speculation bringing a sleepwalking dilemma up, and yet.

"No, it's been bare to you the whole time. I carried you here and woke up falling off your bed."

Also, for some reason, I was pinning Amaterasu underneath.

"Uh, could we not talk about that?" She politely asked, her face flushed and reddened all the way to the ears. "It's embarrassing…So please, leave it untouched."

I can't blame a person for skipping a beat at the given situation.

"More importantly, did you see yourself losing against Miss Ayanami?"

She turned to ask, eyes gleaming in surprise.

Might have been her move to mask her awkward pleasure.

Nothing her fake big brother can do but entertain the question. Lest I was supposed to speak when she thrusted another line out. "Ah, for your information, I am officially in charge of Nayami now!"

I suppose I'm warranted to pause then, hearing I'm stripped of a position.

"Miss Narukami appointed me since you were asleep all day, after all."

My, how jolly can one person be.

I would love to express my gratitude.

I don't have to be stuck with the horror of six fortune deities in the coming eight more months until graduation.

But no, there's something more important.

"You know…I don't remember being capable of seeing the future," I addressed, as there was the need for it.

And of course, Amaterasu would raise an eyebrow.

"Boo! Mister one and only Chaos Mage!"

"Huh?" I couldn't help but let out an exasperation, concerned for how she flipped towards the uncertain.

"For someone who can rewrite a story however he wills, no one will take you seriously if you lose."

Snow White couldn't help but cringe.

"And so, that was all deliberate!"

And cringe some more.

What happened to her, I don't know nor understand.

"No, it was not," I retorted softly.

Her voice cracked, you know, highly demanded, strong to the point of strangulation albeit virtual. It's true, I felt the suffocation when her hands didn't even reach to the neck. And─I heard myself gasping once, yet hard.

I do hate you after all, daughter of the sun.

"Hmm…Your suggestion almost sounds too comical," I retorted. "I told Azusa not to let you read."

"No, I have it at home. Stole from your stash." She deadpanned and broke out a proposal, "If the Human concept of Chaos Magic can also be applied in reality, then you should be able to eradicate anything."

Amaterasu Origami took her sentiments out, not letting her fake big brother speak his mind out.

Although now, what does it hold with faking the loss again?

No, I certainly wasn't faking anything─like, at all.

"I mean you've always had the urge to eradicate Mind Magic out of existence."

Sigh, she chose to close her ears and begin on a squabble.

I suppose I can ride along her journey.

Such as, when the butterflies screamed in September, they weren't Mind Mages.

As far as I know, which I've come to conclusion several years back. However, the itch in having your mind read, would be very appealing to take out. Take the butterflies out, and no one will ever burn their brains anymore.

None the detective clinging onto Snow White's endlessly thinking mind.

"I will always love you," she said, smiling through a melancholic reproach. "Even if you take away what makes Amaterasu your little sister."

"No," I vetoed.

Eradication of Mind Magic has always been far off the list.

We've always hated our own kind.

So if I were to hit delete on a concept file, it'll be magic in itself.

Good thing I can think rationally about not incurring events I couldn't possibly fathom.

"Ah! Anyway, I'm being hypothetical." Amaterasu lashed out, probably forgivable for how cute it was delivered.

My answer, well, was the obvious choice, "You are?"

Protean in her eye's curious movements, her face crumpled from sudden guilt.

"You know what it sounds like?" I imposed ahead for rethorics. "You're foreshadowing something vicious, and at the least, I should be aware."

She looked at me blankly, unaware of any underlying debate.

I practically stopped the volley.

She didn't speak more.

I didn't expand on the discussion.

Also, there was no telepathic squabbling─which made it terribly dull.

Amaterasu turned around for more Tetris while I watched her play.

"I hate to break it to you but, aren't you progressing a little behind with computers? I have better games installed."

"They all connect to the internet." She deadpanned, then eventually lost the round by deliberately spamming the space key. She closed the tab, and spun the chair around. "Say, nii-chan, could I eat here for dinner?"

Never mind, the verbal conversation was bound to continue itself one way or another.

It wasn't like the endpoint was a tragedy, after all.

"Inviting yourself in, huh? What a pig."

I threw a pillow at her─which she caught so effortlessly I even doubted myself.

"Before dinner is served though, we'll have to return to school and attend our classes," I said as I put my shoes on.

Not that I knew my action resulted in something abnormal.

"Hmm, school's over already."

I looked towards her only to find her mystified.

Somewhat anxious in effect.

Yet, overall, I accepted there'd be strife to how I'd maneuver the rest of the day─and I lagged about the outcome.

"...Uh, so it goes in that direction," Amaterasu murmured to herself. Later, she headlined the news, "I hate to break it to you but classes have already ended."

For better or for worse, I was prompted to look at her in an even curious stare─bedeviled by the leap.

It's not difficult to fill in the blanks.

I was knocked down hard by Miss Ayanami, leading me to fall down─lost, battered, and asleep.

I uncovered the window and saw a dazzling sunset, exactly by that time where it's neither day nor night.

Say, I could even vanish from the romance brought by the scene. Backdrop being the school and below, the grandiose plaza I tread almost everyday. I wouldn't have appreciated its beauty on a normal day but as the pale orange light struck the quartz statue─all felt down to significance.

Nigh.

I should have known by looking at my computer's clock, but the brain worked for the more obvious.

Convenient for the exact moment that my room doesn't make anyone aware of time overall.

I could have wondered, but being built into nihilism left only a sigh on part seeing the town plaza turning into a night market.

We looked at each other.

"You know, nii-chan, you didn't consider the context at all."

Jolt to the brain, and something registered.

"Ah, for your information, I am officially in charge of Nayami now! Miss Narukami appointed me since you were asleep all day, after all."

The fact that I can remember word-by-word, I can't say I considered them at all.

None of the normalcy would ever be written in the pages, and I hate it.

"I can't say I'm curious but whatever happened to her, then?"

"I thought you weren't going to ask!"

Insensitive goes Amaterasu Origami, but don't worry, I'm fine.

"It seems to me you're fine being kept in the dark, which you always are most of the time," she said, smearing hurtful reality to my face. "I even gave up remembering the events so I might not provide you the best chronicle out."

"If you can simplify, then it's not a problem?"

However, before she could explain to me what had taken place in the whole day I passed out─my true little sister barged into my room.

"Shiro! I'm home, what's for dinner?"

Silly came home and acted like a glutton.

"Hey, Amaterasu, welcome!"

Silly saw a familiar face, and acted all friendly─and then, the takeover.

"Since you're here, why don't you have dinner with us? And perfect! Come to my room, I have something to show you!"

Amaterasu was aggressively dragged, gasping as the forceful true little sister grabbed her by the wrist.

Orihime and Amaterasu took off, and I was left alone.

Shadily the perfect timing to cut the conversation, I daresay.

Suspicion triggered for hands clacked down for creative fiction, although I can't possibly deny its corrosiveness.

I might as well forgive the venture.

What a haphazard change of gears, I would have preferred she made it more opaque.

No matter, I only have to move along the tide.

I sighed, tasked for the dinner of gluttons.

I didn't bother changing my uniform and just walked downstairs.

I wore this complacent smile on my face, discarding all mysteries aside regarding our newest classmate.

And yet, the universe countered.

Nayami Ayanami was downstairs.

Our eyes met.

Alerted to the adverse soul she nearly killed.

She gasped and cast her eyes down, mumbled for herself a courageous spell, then looked up once more.

Our eyes met, again.

"Mister Otogibanashi, I have something to say!"

She clasped onto her necktie.

Her eyes looked down at her shoes, an omen dropped itself out in the open.

Erraticism has been nurtured in her soul for a long time now, she couldn't even stay focused.

I don't understand shy people.

Of course, I'm the kind of person who can say whatever I have in mind without thinking twice.

I wouldn't relate to her.

Nonetheless, I waited.

"Uh, Mister Otogibanashi─!"

She gasped and looked down once more.

You can only do so much to catch someone's irritation.

Perseverance was the only thing I can show her.

Until she raised her head for another shot…Now, seemingly like a completely different person.

Indignant for the senses to be jarred, a spectacular drive of deja vu was touched.

Her eyes, different, akin to the one I fought during the morning exercise.

A shade of zombie and gremlin meshed together.

Hilarious and yet, I can only see a mirage breaking out from fiction for no apparent reason.

"Shirayuki, I'm sorry for invading your dream."