10 Red Strings At Your Service - Chapter 3 - Burglar? Ghost? Airhead!

“I’m home…”

My voice came out exhausted as I pushed open the front door.

Stepping inside, I removed my shoes, and place them properly on the rack. I make my way towards the living room. With each step, the loud sound of the television grew louder, it sounds like some variety show, judging by the chaotic mix of laughter and dramatic sound effects.

Pushing open the living room door, I found my little sister sprawled across the couch, completely engrossed in her phone. She was typing away with her fingers moving at lightning speed in my eyes. Despite the TV’s obnoxiously high volume, she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to it at all. Poor TV. Reduced to nothing more than a bgm for her chat.

For a brief moment, I considered turning it down, but my thirst took priority. Tossing my bag onto the nearest chair, I made my way to the fridge.

The moment the cold water touched my lips, I let out a deep sigh of relief. The icy sensation coursed down my throat, washing away at least a fraction of my exhaustion.

Man, nothing beats cold water after a long day.

As I continued gulping down the cold water, savoring every drop, my dear little sister remained blissfully unaware of my existence. Her eyes stayed glued to her phone, fingers moving at an almost inhuman speed, completely immersed in whatever conversation she was having.

To make matters worse, she was idly swaying her legs back and forth, the kind of movement you’d expect from a girl in the middle of a dreamy, shoujo manga love scene. You know, the kind where the heroine kicks her feet in excitement while lying on her bed, hugging a pillow, giggling over a text from her beloved.

Seriously, just how careless can you be? At least acknowledge that someone entered the house. What if I were a burglar? Or worse, some creep who goes around stealing innocent little sisters?

Well, knowing my sister, a burglar would have a higher chance of being sent to the hospital than successfully robbing our house. With her kendo skills, she could probably knock a grown man out cold. That punch from this morning? Yeah, that was her holding back. If she ever went all out, I’d probably end up coughing up blood.

As I entertained the terrifying thought of my own sister accidentally killing me in a moment of unrestrained sibling violence, I walked over to the TV that playing a variety show featuring idols. Looks like the group that has been trending recently, even I’ve heard one of their songs. Anyways, I grabbed the remote, and turned the volume down to a reasonable level and now that I could hear my own thoughts again, I finally spoke up.

“Hey, Akari, if you’re not even watching, I’m turning this off.”

At the sound of my voice, she finally acknowledged my existence. She lifted her head just slightly.

“Oh, Onii-chan, you’re already home, huh? Welcome home,”

Just like that, she went right back to texting.

“Don’t turn it off,” she added nonchalantly. “I’m gonna watch the drama after that.”

I let out a sigh. “Anyways, where’s Mom?” I asked.

Akari, still glued to her phone, replied . “She said she’s gonna be late today.”

“I see…” Then, we’re gonna take care of our dinner tonight. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Yup, me and my friends grabbed something on the way home. Still full from that.”

Well, looks like everything’s fine here. She’s old enough to take care of herself, so there’s really no role for me in this situation. No big brother duties to fulfill.

I guess, I’ll be having dinner alone tonight.

With that in mind, I made my way toward my room, planning to change into something more comfortable before unleashing my MasterChef cooking skills in the kitchen.

But just as I reached for the doorknob, I froze.

A faint sound.

Muffled, shaky, and coming from inside my room.

Eh? Don’t tell me, a real burglar?

My back instantly stiffened, and a cold sweat trickled down my spine.

I pressed my ear against the door, heart pounding, trying to make sense of the noise.

“Ow… Uee… Wha,-… shou-… do…”

A voice. A girl’s voice. A shaky, trembling voice. Soft whimpers mixed with hitched breathing.

This is bad. No, scratch that—this is seriously bad.

I’ve been sleeping in this room for years, blissfully unaware that some ghostly woman has been residing in it the whole time? Me and this room has been partner for a long time. I clean it, it resides me and this is how my room repays me? By making it a hunted room! The betrayal.

I swallowed hard.

No. Wait. Let’s not jump to conclusions here. There’s a logical explanation for this. It might not be a ghost. Maybe it’s… a burglar? Yeah, that makes more sense. A flesh-and-blood intruder rather than some vengeful spirit that decided to make my room her eternal resting place.

But then, another realization hit me.

Why the hell did I immediately assume it was a ghost just because it was a woman voice?

Couldn’t it just as easily be some woman burglar is in there? That’s a possibility too. It’s the era of gender equality, after all. I can’t just default to outdated stereotypes. If I don’t consider the full range of potential intruders, I might get canceled.

Goddamn it, My life is already a mess with red strings problem, and now I have to add paranormal activity and progressive burglar profiling to the list.

Alright, enough joking around. It’s time to get serious.

While I was busy into my useless thoughts about gender-equal burglars and ghost roommates, my body had already taken action on its own. In my hands was a broom—an object so intimidating that any potential intruder would surely surrender on the spot. Yeah, right. At best, I could use it to mildly inconvenience them. But hey, it’s better than nothing.

Just in case, I also pulled up the number of the local police station on my phone, my thumb hovering over the call button, ready to press it at the slightest sign of trouble. Because let’s be real, if this is actually a burglar, my broomstick isn’t exactly going to perform miracles. At best, it could sweep things or I’m gonna ride it and fly away like Harry.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself.

With a sparkle of dramatic scene of an agent uncovering a major conspiracy, I slammed the door open.

BANG!

“Hyaah!!”

A shriek. A distinctly feminine shriek.

Oh. So I was right, it really is a girl.

I didn’t step inside just yet. Instead, I remained at the doorway, keeping a full view of my room. No way was I about to charge in blindly. I may be an idiot sometimes, but I’m not that much of an idiot.

My eyes immediately landed on the most attention-grabbing thing in the room—the broken window.

Glass shards were scattered on the floor, glistening under the dim light. The curtains swayed gently, rustling from the breeze sneaking in through the gaping hole.

Right there, frozen in place, was a girl—her eyes wide in shock, I see drop of tears in the corner of her eye.

I was shocked too, but not for the reason you would expect. Sure, a girl breaking into my room through a shattered window should raise all sorts of red flags, but my brain had momentarily stopped for an entirely different reason.

The fact that she is an out of this world beauty.

Long, silvery hair. Her large, crystal-blue eyes her youthful face, brimming with emotion—fear, surprise, maybe even a hint of desperation. Her skin is pale and she’s wearing white and black frilled dress adorned with red ribbons and lace, the kind of attire you’d expect from a cute fictional girl not someone making an entrance through a broken window.

The most out of this world thing about her wasn’t just her doll-like beauty or her ridiculously extravagant outfit.

It was the things attached to her back.

At first, I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. Maybe it was just part of her outfit, some kind of elaborate cosplay accessory. But no—those weren’t just props or stitched-on decorations.

They were moving.

A pair of pristine white wings big enough to peeked out behind her back, flapping slightly, as if responding to the uncertainty in her expression—it was too natural, too real.

For a brief moment, we just stared at each other, locked in an awkward silence, neither of us making a move.

The only sound in the room was the faint rustling of her trembling wings and the soft sniffles escaping her lips.

“U-um… I-I’m not someone suspicious, so please don’t hit me…”

Her clear and delicate voice snapped me out of my daze, forcing me to actually register the situation in front of me.

She had her hands raised defensively, shielding her head as if bracing for impact. Her entire body is quivering, her wings twitching in sync with her fear. Teardrops welled up in the corners of her large, jewel-like eyes, threatening to spill over.

She looked exactly like a scolded child—small, vulnerable, and pitifully adorable.

Any rational human being would stay on high alert in a situation like this. I should be keeping my guard up. For all I know, this could be an elaborate ploy, some kind of angelic con job meant to lure in unsuspecting victims to get their souls or something.

But unfortunately, at the end of the day, I am nothing more than a simple creature. And one undeniable truth of life is that I have absolutely no resistance to the sight of a cute crying girl.

I sighed.
Alright, great. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?

—❀—❀—❀—❀—❀—❀—

“Have you calmed down?”

I asked, eyeing the girl sitting in my chair, her delicate hands wrapped around the empty cup. Meanwhile, I sat on my bed, trying to process this absurd situation.

“Y-Yes… Thank you for the drink,” she replied, her voice still carrying a faint anxiety, but compared to the nervous wreck from earlier, she seemed considerably more at ease.

I have so many questions. Too many questions. But before anything, there was one thing I needed to deal with first—the mess.

Glass shards from the broken window littered the floor. Miraculously, the broom I had originally armed myself with fully prepared to fight off a burglar managed to fulfill its actual purpose. With careful sweeps, I gathered the fragments, all while keeping a wary eye on the girl.

We hadn’t exchanged many words during the cleaning session. I simply told her to stay put and not cause any trouble, which, thankfully, she obediently did. At least, she wasn’t one of those hyperactive types who would suddenly run around touching stuff. From the looks of it, she’s actually pretty guilty about this.

As for the broken window… Yeah. Is going to be a problem. I could cover it up with curtains for now, but it’s only a matter of time before Mom find this out. And of course she would demand a very detailed explanation.

“What happened here?”

“Oh, you know, just winged cosplayer crash-landed into my room, don’t mind it that much.”

Yes, this would definitely go well.

I will be needing a believable excuse. Preferably one that didn’t involve supernatural beings falling through the sky directly into my room.

Midway through my cleaning, I kept stealing glances at the girl, catching sight of her small frame subtly quivering. Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but let out another sigh.

Wrapping the glass shards in paper and throwing it in trash. Before I go back upstairs, I went to the fridge and get a bottle of barley tea, pouring her a cup.

At least this much I could do.

Meanwhile, my little sister remained blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding in my room, her attention glued to the TV playing the drama she said she was going to watch and the volume is back to being uncomfortably loud. That must be why she didn’t even noticed the sound of shattering glass when I got home earlier. Honestly, I should really sit her down and teach her about basic situational awareness.

For god’s sake, if this had been a real break-in, she’d probably only notice after the burglar walked off with the TV.

Thus, bringing us back to the current situation.

A beautiful girl with angel wings was sitting in my chair, in my room, after breaking into it through the window. And here I am, struggling to even start a conversation.

Not that I was ever good at starting a conversation in the first place. And besides, let’s be real, having a cute girl in your room is not exactly an everyday experience. Even if the circumstances were slightly insane, the undeniable fact that she’s cute remain.

But still, I couldn’t just sit here in awkward silence forever.

“Now that you’ve calmed down… Can you tell me your name?”

I figured that was a safe enough question. After all, learning someone’s name is, at the very least, the bare minimum for human interaction. Even if, I wasn’t exactly sure if she’s even a human.

That said, there were so many other things I wanted to ask. Like, “Why did you break into my room?” Or, “What the hell are you?”
Or “Can I touch your wings?” etc.

Let’s pretend you didn’t read the last one. Anyways, my point is, introductions is very important. It’s common courtesy, right? Even burglars usually start with a polite “Hands up!” before robbing you.

“I-I’m Lily…”

Her voice was soft, hesitant—like a child apologizing after breaking a vase.

“I see. I’m Akai. Ito, Akai.” I replied, making sure to keep my tone casual. No need to scare her any further. “So, uh, L-Lily…san. Why did you brea— enter my room through the window?”

That was close. Calling her out for breaking in might set her off again. She finally calmed down, and the last thing I needed is her crying again.

“I-I’m really s-sorry, uuh…”

Ah, crap. She looks like she’s about to start crying again. Her wings even drooped slightly. Now I feel miserable.

“It’s really fine,” I said quickly, raising my hands “I don’t really mind… as long as you have a proper explanation for it.”

“I-I came here…”

Lily hesitated, her voice barely above a whisper. Then, with a determined look, she slowly raised her right hand and pointed—directly at me.

No. Wait. Not me.

She was pointing at my hands, still awkwardly raised in please-don’t-cry gesture. More specifically, at my fingers with nine red strings wrapped around them.

“For that.”

Her gaze was locked onto them. For the first time ever, someone was pointing them out.

“I see.”

A totally calm response. A textbook example of playing it cool.

Of course, it’d be a complete lie if I said I wasn’t expecting something like this. I mean, come on. A girl with literal angel wings crashes through my window exactly a week after I got these red strings wrapped around my fingers?

Yeah, no way that’s a coincidence.

If anything, why it took this long for some supernatural weirdo to show up. I was already mentally prepared for something like a shady old man blabbing about fate-changing prophecy or maybe some underground organization kidnapping me in the middle of the night. But instead, I get…

A crying, flustered angel girl?

Not exactly what I had in mind, but sure, I’ll roll with it.

Still, that doesn’t mean I can just blindly trust her. For all I know, she could be some winged con artist trying to scam me out of my nonexistent life savings or worse, a celestial debt collector here to tell me I’ve been on some divine contract I don’t remember signing and now is the time to pay it off with my soul.

“Y-You don’t seem that surprised.”
Lily said, her voice carrying a hint of curiosity, maybe even admiration. Her wide, glimmering eyes locked onto mine, with her mouth slightly open in awe.

This is just basic nerd knowledge. No need to look at me with those pure, awestruck eyes. Seriously stop, I can feel myself breaking down into dust…!

“Uh, well… actually, I don’t really know much about this either, so if you have any idea what’s going on, I’d really appreciate an explanation.”

“Um, before that. Let me properly introduce myself this time.”

Lily, who had been fidgeting nervously in her seat, suddenly straightened up. Her wings twitched slightly, as if preparing for a grand announcement.

“A-hem!” She cleared her throat, putting on a more serious expression—though, honestly, with her teary-eyed face from earlier still fresh in my mind, she’s not exactly doing it for me.

“I am Lily Yue Lao. An apprentice angel from the Heavenly Realm. I’m here to guide and assist you, Ito Akai-sama, in resolving this peculiar phenomenon of having nine fated partners.”

So, she is here to help me with this! Thank goodness! I’m finally free from this burden! Thank you, Lily! Thank you, God!

“I-I see…!” I barely contained my excitement, “Then, please tell me how to solve this problem immediately!”

“Awahwah~ A-Akai-sama, p-please calm down!”

Before I knew it, I’m just inches away from Lily’s face. I can clearly see her cute face up close, that are now red from blushing. Her wings also twitched in panic, making her look even more adorable.

“Oh, uh—my bad.” Regaining my composure, I quickly pulled back. “I got a little too excited there.”

Lily fidgeted in her seat, pressing her fingers together nervously. “I-I understand, Akai-sama! This is a very serious situation, after all! But uhh umm, solving it… might not be as easy as you think…”

Eh?

“W-What do you mean by that exactly?”

Aren’t you just going to release some bright light in your hands and chant some divine incantation, and—poof—the red strings disappear? Ok, maybe it’s not that easy but still.

“Red string is an extremely powerful spell cast on every humans in this world by gods themselves,” Lily explained, her voice carrying an unusual seriousness for once. “Everyone is given at least one fated partner… But last week, our superiors detected a massive fluctuation in the spell, which led them to investigate. And, that’s when they discovered a person suddenly having a nine fated partners and even more so, he can see the red strings…”

She paused, fidgeting with her fingers, her wings twitching slightly. It was clear she was holding something back. Just as I was about to press her for more details, she took a deep breath and blurted out—

“S-So, um… Akai-sama… That makes you the prime suspect of this phenomenon…!”

Huh?
Huuuuhhhhh?!
Wait, hold on. What?

Now I’m suddenly a wanted person in the heavenly realm?! What kind of twisted development is this?!

“Y-You’re joking, right…?” I managed to say, my voice shaky.

“U-Um… You see…” Lily hesitated, her face scrunching up as if she was struggling to find the right words. “A being capable of tampering a spell casted by the gods themselves is—”

I gulped hard. Something about her tone sent a chill down my spine. Even Lily, who had been nothing but a clumsy ball of energy moments ago, was gripping the hem of her dress tightly, her wings trembling.

“—a direct threat to the natural order,” she said, her voice quieter but carrying an unsettling weight. “A force that has powers to defies fate itself… Entities like that… are to be eradicated immediately before they can cause irreversible damage to the balance of the world.”

I see… I take back what I said after all.
Screw you, God.