At the station down in downtown Shibuya I found myself waiting for the train to arrive under the comfort of a smoke. The atmosphere, the people, everything felt so relaxing that I could just fall asleep and never wake up again. Looking around, I see all kinds of people. There's the rich lady with the overinflated ego. Wealthy, but has no know-how about the regular life like us regular joes do. The young skater kid who looks as though he's not got his life planned out. Wouldn't it be great if we could all life like that? No worries, just live life for fun. The busy businessmen always looking for a deal. They would sell anything, even their mother in law.
You see, I'm not much of a action kind of guy. I grew up in a suburb. I went to a cheap public school where I not only learned subjects related to school, but also gained experience. In fact, I would go as far to say that my life was straight out boring. There were no interesting things happening at all. No Gods falling from the sky. No Aliens kidnapping my parents. No awakening of some ancient demon. None of that. I found myself in a world where things like that weren't possible.
Or so I thought.
Analyzing people is what I do for a living. I'm always offering a listening ear to whomever needs it. I do what people forget about these days: I listen. Most of the stories I hear are the same, really. Here in Japan it seems as if 70 percent of the population has a chronic depression. Bad for the people, but good for my business. It almost feels criminal to ask money for this kind of service. Regardless, things were going to change. A change so big that you'd think you'd be able to see it coming from miles away.
You'd THINK that.
One day a young lady walked into my office. She seemed normal enough, save for her rather interesting clothing. She had a certain mysterious aura about. A certain youthful beauty you don't see anymore on the streets these days. An innocence that's still pure and not tainted by modern society. Judging by het uniform, she came straight out of a highschool to visit my clinic. We exchanged stares for a bit before she opened her mouth and said:
"What do you see when you look at me?"
What sort of a question was this? I wondered about the answer, but truth to be told... I didn't really have one. I saw a beautiful young girl, yes... but what more did I see? For once in my life I didn't have an answer ready. She just looked, smiling, knowing that I didn't have an answer.
"If you can't answer that, them you might as well quit your job," she said rather carelessly. Before she I could ask her for her name she told me it out loud.
"Haruhi, Professional Unnatural Phenomena Chaser, and YOU're going to help whether you like it or not!"
... AND THEN I WOKE UP.
o_O