Millennium Match

Millennium Match is my first attempt at producing a work of fiction that is “anime-like.” However, it ended up drawing from light novel influences, especially Boogiepop. It started out as an amalgamation of things I liked, but grew into something just a bit more unique than just a sum of parts. This is the last time I ever attempt to write something set in Japan, for reasons that should have been obvious to the past me, and are obvious now.

Prelude

It’s only fitting that my life’s work be published close to the eve of such a historic event. But then again, perhaps this too is just another of the many coincidences that led me here.

Please note that I am not a science-fiction or fantasy writer; I am a journalist. I dare not say that everything in this book is fact – just that I report everything that was told to me, without bias or alteration. How you choose to read it is up to you. I can only hope you begin to see the absurd connections I do.

The chaos all started innocently enough when I interviewed a classmate in Japan. L.A.-born and Kobe-raised, she was also related to a female member of the Diet. She told the most inane story I had ever heard. It was like a bad piece of fiction – but one that could not possibly have come from a middleschooler’s mind; it was more like one of those trashy girls comics that I could never understand. That was basically how I regarded the tale until a couple of years later when I took it upon myself to investigate a minor school mystery. Then, the first coincidence: a single familiar name. Its meaning eluded me until I realized I had heard it in that absurd tale. I connected, followed leads, formed even more connections, followed dead ends, hunted down more leads, solved a mystery or two, discovered unsolvable mysteries, lost hope, gained hope, ran the full gamut of emotions possible when uncovering a story of such immense scale and finally ended up here, where it all truly begins. And yet, even though the long tangled web leads here, the final element had no part in the whole. I started out with the beginning and arrived at the end, with only 25 years separating those two points; and yet, if you were to connect those two points without following the chaos thread you would miss out on the sheer significance of those two points.

I am pleased to say that this January I will NOT be in attendance. I will be watching a stream from halfway across the world, catching up with some much-neglected friends and family as boundaries break and a long promise is fulfilled.

-R.S. 12/20/2036 in Annapolis

Characters

Millennium Match

TORIYAMA Nara (11) – The narrator of the story, told years in its future. A serial embellisher.
SEINO Rie (11) – Nara’s friend. Precociously inquisitive.

MISAKI Ryogo (15) – The male lead. The son of the head of the Misaki Group. Generally good-hearted, but has a bad reputation at school, and his aloof nature doesn’t do him any favors. Doesn’t have any friends outside of his family and the Misaki Group. He works as a chef at Sweet Tears, a small confectionery that used to be a front. Though he is in a ritual marriage with Saki, his heart belongs to Mizuno, a childhood friend.
SATOUMURA Saki (16) – The female lead. The pampered daughter of a Diet member.
MIZUNO Yui (15) – Lived most of her life in the United States, but used to live in Hyogo and recently returned. Her father used to be the Misaki Group doctor. Her goal is to become a lifeguard.
MIZUNO Sayu (13) – Yui’s younger sister. More westernized than Yui. Studied several forms of martial arts and is a yellow belt in all of them.

MISAKI Nadeshiko (28) – Ryogo’s older sister and a would-be bride. Her husband-to-be got scared off when their wedding was attacked by a rival “gang,” and she was paralyzed from the waist down.
MISAKI Rokusaburo (47) – The head of the Misaki Group. Usually has a calm and diplomatic demeanor, but can, if provoked, reveal a fiery rage that is intensely intimidating.
MISAKI Rei (25) – A stunningly handsome member of the Misaki Group, and a successful businessman. Fell in love with a Mexican waitress in Los Angeles and got married in Las Vegas.
SATOUMURA Eiji (38) – Saki’s father. Doesn’t spend much time with his family, but he does care deeply for them and works tirelessly for their sake. Meets with Rokusaburo and makes the suggestion that Ryogo marry Saki.
SATOUMURA Shizuru (39) – Saki’s mother. A shrewd businesswoman with a talent for seeing the truth in peoples’ hearts (she uses this talent to recognize emerging pop trends early).
SABURO Shunya (27) – Rokusaburo’s aide.
ORACLE (??) – The keeper of ancient lore

NISHIJIMA Yukiko (16) – One of Saki’s friends.
MATSUDA Natsuko (16) – One of Saki’s friends. Acquaintances with Ryogo and secretly harbors a crush for him.
AKIYAMA Marie-Antoinette (32) – Ryogo and Saki’s biology teacher. Her dreams of becoming a marine biologist shattered, her days are filled with silent, bitter judgment and an addiction to student gossip.
SAWATARI Miho (27) – A professional confectioner that starts working for Ryogo at Sweet Tears.
AKATSUKI Souma (15) – Ryogo’s bodyguard. Violently dedicated to protecting him and the prophecy.

Millennium Body

AKIYAMA Marie-Antoinette
SASAI Hizuki

Millennium Mystic

SEKIHARA Katsumi

Millennium Revolution

SEINO Rie
SAKAI Kazuya

Millennium Match 1: Prophecy
Millennium Match 2: Meeting
Millennium Match 3: Union

Millennium Mystic 1: Intrusion 20

Millennium Body 1: A Day in the Life

Millennium Match 4: Waves
Millennium Match 5: Erosion

Millennium Revolution 1: Awakening

Millennium Body 2: When I’m Sixty-Four