Today was the day.
Hisako sat splayed out on her floor in a pancake stretch as she gamed. Her hands snapped across her keyboard and mousepad absently.
"On the right," she said. "Byakko, on your right. Incoming."
She crouched her character, creeping behind a concrete barrier overgrown with vines and mosses. The white outline of Byakko's character rounded a corner cautiously, crouching sporadically to look over their cover.
The enemy NPC walked through the clearing. Their shadow splattered on the asphalt of the street, painted by the bright streetlamp above. The muzzle of their gun swung across the area, a red laser making it comically obvious.
"Sneak by?" Byakko asked through her headset.
Hisako made a noncommittal noise. Ammunition was sparse, and shootouts, even when they had an advantage, could become fatal, and there were no respawns until they finished the level.
"Yeah," Hisako decided.
The guard walked through. They moved along as they did, making sure the NPC's vision cone didn't catch them.
"What's your status?" Hisako asked. "If you're good, we can go around the lighthouse loop."
"Lighthouse loop!" Byakko hissed. "I don't know–"
Hisako stopped listening after her phone buzzed. She twisted, releasing her mouse and keyboard to fish her phone out of her couch.
"Sako?"
Hisako unlocked her phone and went straight to her new text.
Amajiki had sent her an address and "ASAP".
Hisako logged off the game in two clicks of the mouse. "Sorry, gotta go."
Byakko made an exasperated noise of annoyance, but didn't complain. He'd gotten used to Hisako dropping out unexpectedly to leave for physical therapy and health checkups.
Hisako threw on some street clothes and grabbed her shoulder bag before running out of her apartment. She waved goodbye to the night door-guard and then hurried to the train station a few blocks away.
She tapped her card at the posts and then went down the stairs to the platform at record pace.
The train was just pulling into the station. The train attendants lowered the safety screen, and as soon as the passengers got off, she got on.
She stood, only having to wait a few stops, and then was the first to get off once the train pulled into the station.
She took a pause, taking in the city's end. She hadn't been there before, and it had a foreign peacefulness.
On one side of the rails, there was the city's edge, similar to where she lived, but the buildings were sparser, and parking lots and empty lots were more common than a building taller than two floors.
On the other side of the rails, there were fields of crops and long, thin roads raised between paddies. Forests–real forests–lined the horizon, creeping into the farmland in some places.
The noise of the cicadas was almost overbearing. The hum made her ears rumble, carried by a gentle breeze untouched by the city's currents.
This place wasn't as lit-up in the dusk as the city's heart, and it was peaceful. Though she couldn't see the stars from here, she felt they were actually there for once.
She stepped more slowly now, catching her bearings as well as figuring out where she was to go in the new area.
She could tell why city door worlds were so rare now. The city didn't glow like this place did.
She forgot she couldn't take her time wandering through the quiet streets. She quickened her pace, but still took the moment to look around.
Like in the city, people bustled in small ramen shops and bars, but they talked more heartily with each other. Someone walking a dog passed by–the dog looked up and smiled at Hisako as she strode by.
It wasn't a shiba or a smaller dog; it was a big or medium retriever of some kind. Hisako had never seen one in person. She smiled back at the dog.
She broke off the main street onto a side street. She ducked beneath hanging banners and ribbons, as well as low-hanging branches of blooming white trees.
The address was a small one-story building sitting at the back of the street. The roof was dirty, covered in moss and old leaves, and the tiles of the building's facade were grimy and cracked.
She turned the corner to the entrance, following the path, and found Amajiki waiting by the entryway.
He waved playfully when he saw her. "Good to see you! You're looking a lot better."
"I feel as good as new," Hisaok said. "The PT stretches have made everything better than before."
Amajiki nodded. "Good, good. Come inside. It's time to get you cleared for door duty."
"Yeah?" She smiled, and her stomach fluttered with anticipation.
Amajiki brushed aside the curtain and ducked in, holding it open for her.
Amajiki led her through a small waiting room to the back of the building–it was a clinic, clearly, and hadn't been used in a while.
At the end of the hall, in the opening to one of the patient rooms, was a door. Not Hisako's door, but a clean white metal door with a doctor's name on it: MoonHaneul, MD.
Amajiki turned the handle and opened it. "It's safe."
Hisako nodded and followed him in.
Doctor Moon's world was strange; it was neither civilization nor nature. It was a bit of both.
They stood in the sky on a platform of gentle grass with small wildflowers curling around their feet. Furniture, white as the clouds floating below, sat in the grass. Above, the sky melted from pale blue to midnight black with stars dancing unnaturally.
It was something out of a fantasy cutscene or dream sequence.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Amajiki asked.
"Are there walkers here, too?"
Amajiki nodded. He pointed below. Hisako risked a glance over the nearest edge. Far, far below, she could see water between the clouds.
"Of course, but the best Doorkeepers can manipulate their worlds and walkers. Dr. Moon has created this place in the sky for her visitors to use."
"How did she do that? Is it her magic trick?"
Amajiki chuckled and led her along the platform, towards a curtained-off area. "Magic trick? We call it an Awakened's ability, first of all."
"Awakened," Hisako echoed, tasting the word. "Sounds a bit pretentious."
Amajiki laughed aloud. "I suppose. But, no. It's not Dr. Moon's ability. Anyone can do this, but it's usually not worth it for Doorkeepers who don't share their space. I can do it, but I have no need for it, for example."
Hisako nodded in understanding.
They reached the curtain, but Amajiki didn't open it. Instead, a smooth voice summoned them in.
"Enter."
Amajiki then brushed it aside, and they ducked into a room with an examination bed and a white couch.
Two women were in the room, both in the white shirt-black slacks dress outfit Amajiki was in.
The woman standing was Korean, and she wore the uniform with the sleeves pinned away from her forearms and a medical mask over her face. Her eyes were accentuated with dark makeup, making them look sharp yet elegant, and her dark hair was pulled back in a small bun.
The seated woman was Japanese, and overtop her uniform, she wore a fine black coat and black leather gloves that hugged her lithe fingers. Her short hair was dyed white and styled elaborately with ornate golden pins, and her dark eyes sat behind thin, wide-rimmed glasses.
"Mochizuki-san, meet Dr. Moon and Akabane-san."
Hisako bowed in greeting. Dr. Moon bowed back, and Akabane nodded politely.
Akabane gestured for Amajiki to sit next to her, which he promptly did.
"Come sit. You may remain dressed as you are, but please roll up your sleeves," Dr. Moon said.
Hisako stepped over to sit, obliging. Dr. Moon checked her pulse and heart wordlessly, then her eyes and ears, before feeling her ribcage.
"No pain?"
"None."
"The ribs have healed well, then." She looked at Akabane. "At the rate of an Awakened." She turned back to Hisako. "Deep breath."
Her chest expanded painlessly.
"Okay, now please stand. I want you to stretch and touch your hands behind your back, one arm over your shoulder."
Dr. Moon walked her through various stretches, checking her range of motion and flexibility. When she reached down for her toes, Dr. Moon checked the alignment of her spine.
"She's in good shape."
"Field-ready?" Amajiki asked.
"I'm clearing her for duty, yes."
Akabane stood. She was tall, and the coat accentuated her figure, making her look sharp and imposing. "You've gotten lucky," she chuckled darkly at Amajiki. "Your gambit has paid off so far."
Amajiki grinned, but it wasn't as true as Hisako had seen before. He looked a little nervous.
"I'll allow your mission, but you will select another keeper to go with you. Should she succeed to your standards, she'll undergo formal testing and be eligible for recruitment."
Amajiki stood and bowed. She turned on her heel, and a door appeared before her–the clinical door of Moon.
When she opened it and went through, Hisako didn't see the run-down clinic in O-Megumi Shi. She saw a garden outside a castle in the countryside.
"Her base of operations," Amajiki offered quietly when the door shut. "Akabane-san is the captain of the Enforcement Division."
"Enforcement? Are you in trouble?"
Amajiki chuckled and shrugged.
Dr. Moon's expression finally shifted; she smirked teasingly. "Masaru-kun is always in some form of trouble, but he has a gambler's spirit and a devil's luck."
Amajiki ducked his head in feigned embarrassment, waving his hand in humble dismissal. "Ah, you're always so generous, Doctor."
Moon gestured, and the privacy curtains flew away in a gale of invisible wind, exposing the simplicity of the structure fully. It truly was barebones and utilitarian, but Hisako got the impression from Moon's minimalist aesthetic that she was capable of something more complex but simply didn't desire it.
Amajiki bowed one more time, properly, and Hisako did the same. Then, Amajiki led her out the way they came.
In the privacy of the real world, as the door to Moon's faded away, Hisako finally began needling Amajiki with questions.
"Are you actually in trouble? Real trouble?" Hisako asked quietly.
Amajiki chuckled and shook his head. "No. It's not even a slap on the wrist. Akabane-san is just warning us to do this the right way."
"Do you often take… 'apprentices', I suppose is the word?"
"Ah, I had one, once; back when I was a special classes instructor," he replied, "but Akabane poached him for her division," he added, laughing.
Hisako leaned in as they walked down the quiet streets. "And what division are you in?"
"Ah. I'm in the Chubu Division. We, of course, cover the Chubu region."
"So, the Enforcement Division isn't limited by region, then?"
"Correct. We in the general divisions are divided by region."
"Who leads your division, then?"
Amajiki smiled mischievously. "I can't tell non-Doorkeepers. I'll tell you later."
"You seem pretty confident about me," Hisako said.
"Like Dr. Moon said: I'm a gambler, and a winning one at that."
Hisako thought back to seeing Amajiki fight. "That's your Awakened ability, isn't it? You gamble in battles. Your weapon changes."
Amajiki nodded. "The roulette wheel decides which weapon I get, and the element it's infused with."
"Are you familiar with all of them?"
"Eh, not all of them. I've mastered most weapon types, but the wheel always finds new ways to surprise me, either through element combinations or weapon type."
Hisako nodded. "So your power really does match your personality."
"The door is the embodiment of the person–ability and weapon included."
Hisako frowned, recalling her weapon. "A sword isn't very unique."
"A massive double-handed greatsword is." He patted her back gently. "It'll feel like your own limb soon enough. Just give it some time. Even when I don't know how to use my weapon's form, I always feel comfortable with it."
"How do you know when you have your ability?"
"You'll know."
"It's a feeling?"
"Like no other."
Hisako nodded, allowing the silence to settle. They stopped before the station. She looked to Amajiki, curious what the next step was.
He answered her gaze: "Tomorrow night, we meet where your door was. You'll re-summon it."
"And the other Doorkeeper that Akabane-san asked you to bring?"
"I have someone in mind."
He had that grin on his face again, but instead of making her uneasy, her nerves danced with excitement.