In a small clinic in a small town, a young man wakes up on his bed. He sees the plain white walls of the clinic and upon turning around as he sits up, his girlfriend and a nurse. The only audible thing is a muffled TV broadcast and the room reeks of bleach.
"Nadehiko! Thank goodness you're okay!" His girlfriend stands up and embraces him.
He hugs back, still hurting a little. "What happened?"
"We found you in the woods, unconscious. Are you still hurting?"
"I'll bear it, don't worry."
"I thought I'd lost you, you know." She begins to tear up.
"It's fine, Rina. I'm awake now."
"Thank goodness you are." The nurse speaks up.
"How long have I been here?"
"Since yesterday, sir."
"Do my friends know?"
"We've notified your other contacts about it, no need to worry. Let me just tell the doctor that you've woken up." The nurse leaves the room.
"Do you remember what happened?" Rina asks.
"It literally went in a flash for me, I can't remember anything."
The nurse returns with the doctor. "Good morning, mister Izuki." He greets.
"Good morning, doc."
"How are you feeling?"
"Still hurting, how bad was it?"
"They brought you here unconscious and badly wounded, but it seems you've recovered quite fast."
"Is there anything else?"
"No, I think I can send you home by noon, but just to be on the safe side I wouldn't advise you to drive or do anything too strenuous."
"Okay doc, thanks."
Rina starts dialling on her phone, calling a friend to fetch them and Nadehiko's motorcycle that's been parked next to a store.
"Thanks for helping out, Masato." Rina says as he places the scooter onto the back of a his pickup.
"It's nothing." He answers as they get inside. "How long did the doctor say till he can come back to work?"
"About a week."
"I'll tell the team later."
Some time passes, Rina looks at Nadehiko staring by the window silently.
"Anything wrong?"
"No, I'm fine. I'm just trying to remember-"
"Don't stress yourself out, now."
"Something tells me whatever happened wasn't just any accident."
"You're okay now, and I don't want you back in a doctor's office so soon."
-----
By the time he's okay enough, the couple go to the mall to meet with some friends. The friends waiting by a cafe are relieved to see them alright, especially Nadehiko.
"Hey, welcome back!" One of them, Koyomi greets.
"Thanks, guys." Nadehiko says with a smile.
"Everyone at the bar's worried since they heard about what happened."
"Thanks for the concern."
"We sure missed one of our best patrons, not to mention founders."
"Don't forget team members." Someone says by the door.
"Hey Masato!" Nadehiko greets.
"The rest of the team can't come but they can't wait for you to come back."
"I miss the guys too, but I'll be back in action soon."
-----
One day, Nadehiko gets ready to go to the cafe and talk to Masato and another acquaintance, Kitsutsuki, about some computer build. Dressed up and ready, he leaves his place just before lunchtime. His friends had arrived first and are waiting for him.
"Do you know what happened to him during their hiking trip? I just heard about it when I came back." Kitsutsuki asks Masato as they both wait.
"He said the whole thing happened in a flash. Everyone else was sleeping so they found him on the ground the next morning."
"Whatever that was he sure recovered fast, nothing seemed off about him."
Nadehiko opens the front door, but something about him changed, as noticed by the customers as he enters through the door.
"Uh..." Masato blurts out. "Nadehiko?"
"Yeah, why are you looking at me like that?"
He points at a nearby mirror. Nadehiko turns and sees himself in the mirror, but just his clothes. He looks at his hand, and it's not there, just an empty sleeve marking where it is. He gets to the table where his friends are.
"Screw the whole computer thing, what's happening?"
"I don't know! I didn't't even know until you told me."
"Just happened to you."
"Right."
"So you don't know how to turn back?"
Everyone is still looking at him, even as he tries to play this off by sitting down with his pals. "Let's go back to my place, this is a bit too much for me to take in."
"Are we still getting coffee?"
Masato checks the counter. "There's no one in line, I'll get it for you guys." He gets up and goes for it
The three rush to Nadehiko's apartment immediately after getting their coffee, taking some alternate paths to hide the hidden guy.
"Do we really have to take this route?"
"We're not letting you get naked, Nadehiko."
"It's not like you can see me-"
"I don't care, you won't."
"So you didn't notice it before you left?" Masato asks as he hands out the take-away coffee to the other two.
"Before I left I can still see myself." Nadehiko shrugs. "If I saw myself like this in the mirror before I left I would've called this off, you know."
"Fair enough, and you have no idea how to be visible again."
"I don't want people to look at me, for the wrong reason anyway."
"So now you're invisible, are you going to stay here until you find a way to show yourself again?"
"I can't do that, I have a lot of things to do, and what would my excuse be?"
"Just call in sick, say you're not really all here."
"How long would that be? I'll take the risk."
"Are you seriously going to show yourself in public like that?"
"Why not? It's not like no one will see me at all, unless I go naked. Don't my clothes look good enough on their own?"
"Even without his looks, he still thinks about his appearance." Kitsutsuki comments. "What a guy."
"Does Rina know this?"
"No, I haven't told her ye-"
The doorbell rings, and Kitsutsuki opens the door.
"Oh hey, Rina."
"Masato just texted me about Nadehiko, where is he?"
"He's... here..."
Rina enters the apartment, and finds her currently invisible boyfriend sipping a coffee on the sofa.
"Is that you?" Her yellow eyes stare at him wide-open.
He stares back at her, though you can't really tell. "Yeah, it's me."
"What happened?"
"I don't even know," He stands up. "They noticed I've become like this before I did, so I was out in public, invisible." He lifts up his shirt with his free hand to prove his point.
"We're wondering the same thing." Masato says, his arms crossed. "Right now we have to think of how he'll be visible again, for now he'll have to show himself that way."
"I hope it's not forever." Rina says. "This is enough trouble for today."
"Okay, wise guy, what would you say if anyone sees you?" Kitsutsuki asks. "And people will see you."
"Do I have to?" He opens a drawer and rummages through it. "If the floating pile of clothes doesn't speak up then he wouldn't have to explain himself."
"You'll have to explain yourself one way or another, mister."
Nadehiko pulls out a few arm accessories and puts them on. "These ought to make things easier." He returns to the group slipping in a glove. "What should I say, then? I don't even know why I'm invisible."
"You're really going back out like that."
"I can't just stay here, I still have stuff to do, and I'm perfectly fine otherwise."
"We know you like being the talk of the town, but this is not exactly a good way."
"Stop worrying about it guys, I'll go on as usual, let's not make a big fuss about it."
"Do we have to pretend nothing's wrong with you?"
"If that helps, why not? By the way, Rina, don't tell anyone at your work what happened, okay?"
Rina nods before leaving.
"So about that build you keep telling me about, where is it?"
-----
Amid the looks through him already just outside the building, Nadehiko walks between Masato and Kitsutsuki on the way to the computer gaming store, one of many electronic shops along a street. Rina had gone to work, while Nadehiko calls in to say he can't come to work; even if he did he'd be MIA.
"Couldn't we call this off?" Asks Masato. "Nadehiko is gonna land us a viral post for all the wrong reasons."
"I've bothered the people in there so many times," Kitsutsuki answers. "I don't want to keep them hanging."
He sighs. "How long is this gonna take?"
"It won't even take an hour, don't worry."
The busier tech store streets only mean more people looking at the invisible man right until they arrive at the shop.
"Hey, you're here for the model I showed you, right?"
"Yup, that's us."
"You said you'll bring your tech guy, where is he?"
"Show yourself." Kitsutsuki drags Nadehiko into the open by the arm, having missed his hand.
"Really now, that's him?"
"Yeah." He speaks up.
The storekeeper stands up and look at the invisible guy as close as he can.
"Let's just pretend nothing's off with him and get on with the thing."
"It's at the back, follow me."
At the assembly room, the computer model in question is just about done. "This is the one they're going to feature at the next conference. You guys are lucky to get this sneak peek."
Nadehiko gets a test try of the computer by playing a match. The people around are less interested in the gameplay than with the bunch of clothes, some of them looking at where his unseen left hand's pressing on the keyboard.
"Is it good?"
"It's great, when can we get it?"
"I'll get the preorder form."
After filling in the details, the three immediately leave for the apartment. Upon arriving Kitsutsuki checks her phone.
"Guys," She shows the boys the image on the screen, "someone posted this."
"That's from a while ago, what sort of paparazzo posted that?" Nadehiko exclaims.
"It doesn't matter," Masato says, "let's not make this thing blow up. How do we hide the act that you're hidden?"
"Cover him up?"
"That sounds stupid enough for it to work. You still have some biker gear, right?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Great, we're going to pick up some stuff, so get dressed."
For the rest of the afternoon Nadehiko carries various purchases around while confounding some people by insisting that his helmet stay on. He ends his day in his place still invisible but not fully naked.
-----
The next day. Still in the same predicament, Nadehiko sighs at the bathroom mirror. With little reference he continues through his morning cleaning before putting on some clothes, in today's case a shirt with longer sleeves than he usually wears under a jacket and a pair of gloves.
Someone rings the doorbell. He opens the door to see Masato.
"The guys at HQ don't believe me."
"Is this good enough?"
"Yeah, just get your helmet."
Nadehiko is part of an e-sports team, mostly as a technician but he's also in the lineup as a backup. Their main headquarters is otherwise a run-of-the-mill internet café.
"Here he is." Masato arrives.
"He looks fine?"
Nadehiko takes his helmet off to nothing, he even takes his jacket off."
"You weren't kidding." One team member pokes at the invisible guy's arm.
"Can you stop that?"
"How are we going to make a fanbase now that our most attractive member's now invisible?"
"He's not even in the main lineup." Team leader Masato retorts. "Anyway, we're not even sure if this is a permanent thing, but here's your proof."
"There's just one thing I don't find believable." Another guy comments. "He didn't go out of his place again until now?"
"Does the convenience store count?" Nadehiko asks.
"No one batted an eye there cause they've seen everything."
"We'll cover for him if this still persists on game day, let's start going through our battle plan." Masato rounds everyone important into their game spot, Nadehiko making good of his invisibility by taking a corner spot. This doesn't really help as people do notice and he still has to keep his composure. A computer in a public area breaks down and he gets tasked to fix it even in his state, forcing him to do it while wearing a helmet.
-----
After all that Nadehiko heads down a small bar, one that he helped get running. He is the decently-sized bar's first patron of the day, for all the good reasons.
"Welcome, oh hey Nadehiko." Koyomi greets him after he takes off his helmet.
"So you heard."
"Yep, ironic how being unseen makes it obvious it's you."
"I just want to forget that I'm invisible right now, okay? I'll have the usual."
Rina enters the bar, also done with today's work.
"Hey, Rina!" Koyomi waves.
"Hi! Is he here? Oh there you are. Anything else happened?"
"Not really, which is great news."
"No new paparazzi shots?"
"Yeah, but I sure don't want to keep doing this." Nadehiko complains. "It's gonna suck if I'll be invisible forever."
"Still no solution to that?" Asks Koyomi.
"Yeah, and no one else can help me; it's not exactly a common problem that you suddenly become a walking pile of clothes."
"That reminds me, do you still have a picture of where you bought your jacket?"
"I still have it here, wait." He taps on his phone to check the gallery, then to a picture of himself that he took. Suddenly he fades into view, and everyone stares surprised.
"What the..." At least one of them blurts.
"Looks like I know how to make myself invisible."
"The next step is, can you do it at will?"
"I haven't tried that, let me try." He holds up a hand and after a bit of intense staring he sees it fade to view, sure enough he's as invisible as last time. He takes another short while to make himself seen again.
"So it's really only you that vanishes."
"If I really wanted to hide I'd have to get naked." He notices Rina leering at him. "Not that I have to, right?"
"What you have to do first is to learn how to control that."
"Yeah, but it doesn't feel like I have to make any effort in keeping myself in either state."
"Once you get the hang of it, please don't traverse around town naked and do stupid things." Rina implores.
"Of course I won't."
-----
As it usually goes for him, Nadehiko is at a venue for a league match. While his work is mostly at the sidelines he's also in the lineup. The team is a favorite to be in the playoffs but they have to make enough wins in the league they're in. Unlike yesterday, he's more lightly dressed and he has someone else with him.
"Thank goodness you're normal again." Masato sighs at the sight of him in the flesh. "You brought Rina with you?"
"Yeah, she insisted."
"It's my day off at work." She answers with a smile. "It's my first time watching live."
"Nadehiko's probably not gonna get a lot of playtime today, but it's not because we're afraid he'll vanish in front of everyone."
"Oh."
"You can watch with him from here if you want."
The match begins, and everyone at the locker room watches the game intently.
"So how long would this take?"
"Probably all afternoon; we're scheduled for three matches at least."
"That's probably a long time."
"It's fine if you want to do something else, we're inside a mall anyway."
After a good long struggle the team finishes ahead. With a new win on their record, the team heads back to HQ. The sun has already set and the city lights begin to flash.
"Just two more wins and we're through to the playoffs." Masato says. "Next few teams won't be easy so we have to up our game."
"Can you imagine if we make it? We'll be on a major stream!" A member says.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves; we still don't have a sure spot."
"So how many games do you need to win?" Rina asks.
"Five."
"Guys," Nadehiko interrups. "Do we still have drinks back at the HQ?"
"No," Someone answers. "The refills didn't arrive."
"I'll get a coffee over there."
So he goes ahead to a nearby vending machine. Before he can dig his hand into his pocket, a hooded figure sticks a knife close to him.
"Give me your money!" He lunges forward, Nadehiko barely managing to dodge as the blade cuts his cheek. The man readies himself to take another swing at him.
With only a moment to think, he chooses to fight, squarely punching the crook in the jaw. The assailant recovers to take a swing but only nails a cut on the other's forearm. As he closes his hand again, a sword suddenly forms out of it. The sight of the glowing blue blade scares the thief but its wielder manages to swing it at him, the light blade slicing through the metal one. Nadehiko swings again, this time
While the robber vanishes into the streets, the come back from the convenience store next door and arrive at the sight of him staring at a sword.
"Where did you get that?" Asks Masato.
"I didn't." He opens up his hand and immediately the sword dissipates in a mist of light. He tries it again and the sword appears again.
"Wait," Rina says. "you're bleeding, we should deal with that first."
He wipes his cheek and looks at the stain on his glove. "He actually hit me."
"Didn't you notice you were cut?"
"It didn't feel like much, really." He answers. "Then the sword distracted me a bit."
"I'll go back to the store." She leaves and after a couple minutes returns with some first aid. She starts
"With all the things you're just finding out you can do," Masato comments, "The only thing left is for you to embark on some sorta quest."
"Like how he's the chosen one?" Kitsutsuki chuckles.
"You're probably right."
"I wasn't being serious."
"Why else would he have a magic sword?"
"Yeah... makes sense."
A flash startles them; the wielder is holding a sword once more. Kitsutsuki pokes the blade.
"Hey, you don't know what touching that would do."
"It's cold!" She giggles. "It feels like an actual blade."
"It isn't?"
"Have you seen a sword made of light before?"
"Not in real life, but I was expecting this to slice through everything it touches."
"But you cut the guy's hand."
He makes the sword disappear. "Let's just head back."
-----
After dropping off Rina to her place, Nadehiko heads into his apartment, tired yet his mind still filled with questions about his powers. He takes off his gloves and stares at his hands, there's nothing on them right now, but he can see them, not until he focuses a bit, and now his sleeves are empty. He reverts to being visible but he's still not used to having to make an effort to be seen, something he had taken for granted. He resumes stripping himself down and putting on his home clothes, resigning himself to bed.
-----
Deep within a forest bordering Tokyo, a man sleeps upon a high branch, undisturbed by the cold breeze even with his only clothing being an open vest and knee-length shorts. A flash of blue awakens and jolts him off his branch, landing towards the ground on his face. He gets up and looks at the figure before him.
"Tsukasa..." The blue bird calls out while it descends.
"Wait, the Blue Eagle? Why are you here?"
"Do you remember what did here on this spot a few weeks ago?"
The man thinks for a bit. "Oh yeah I think I tried to shoot one of those creatures."
"You hit someone else, and that is why I've come."
"Does that mean he has-"
"I had to intervene lest you kill him. As much as I didn't want to endow all these to him this soon you have forced me to do so, so I want you to tell him about his task on my behalf."
"Can't you tell the guy yourself?"
"I must hold you responsible; what you have done has also rendered him capable of invisibility."
"How do I do it, though, just go to wherever he is? I gotta tell her first."
"No, it is better that he come here."
"Cool, you know his phone number?"
"I don't do that, you know. What I will do instead is lead him to you when I see fit. He has discovered he has powers, so that needs little explanation."
"Then I tell him the stuff, got it."
The ethereal bird flies off, and a lady arrives by the man's side. An orange shirt assists her relatively shorter vest, although it is only covering the upper half of her form, a seeming compensation for her shorter shorts.
"Whoa, was that the Eagle?"
"Yeah."
"What did he tell you?"
"There's a new guy in town."
"New guy... he found someone?"
"He always does, I just made the whole reveal thing happen earlier."
"What did you do?"
"Apparently I missed a shot and hit him so hard, the guy even got an extra power or something."
"What, he turned invisible?"
"How did you know?"
"That sorta happens when you nearly kill someone." They both fall silent. "You're so gonna have to explain a lot."
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