Prologue
There were countries such as the United States of America, China, Russia, and so on, all of them being iron giants with a long history to them. Their history was mixed with both sweat, blood, and conflicts that eventually forged the path to the now barely attained peace between them. Specializing in certain economies have become the meta for global competition, and this has been the case for many years.
In some smaller countries, this was less prominent. Some continued to stand on their toes in the potential of conflict breaking out between each other.
And in some cities, rivalries formed among one another within the borders of a single country.
And some towns such as Maple Station did not care about anything aside from doing their own things.
The Maple Neighborhood was the name given to one of the very first residential areas in the town. Despite this, however, it had yet to be completely filled due to a lack of people demanding more residential space. There were about five thousand people in total living in the entire town, and only a portion of them lived in the neighborhood.
But the story did not focus on all of the district. Rather, it focused more on one particular housing area.
A young woman in a cat hoodie swept the dirt around her apartment. She was the landowner of the place, and also a local to the town. Some said she aspired to become a NEET at one point due to how little goals she had in life, and they weren't entirely wrong. She just happened to gain interest in being a landowner all of a sudden by the time her last year of high school came along.
So here she was, sweeping the floor of the apartment.
She swept every nook and cranny with a broom. After finishing up the outer parts of the small building, she proceeded to walk over and sweep up the building itself. Things were peaceful at the district, and the same could be said for her portion of land. Nobody made a ruckus early in such fine mornings, so it made her job easier-
”ALEX, YOU IDIOT! WHAT’RE YOU DOING?! SHOOT THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM!”
”Oi, this is literally my first time playing this game. Shut up for a second!”
”SHOOOOOOOOOOT THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM!”
”SHUT UP, DUMBASS!!!!!”
POW!
”AghhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-”
…
…
…
Hibiki Kate looked up to the skies as she stood still in front of the apartment room she lived in.
It was another fine day to wish for some peace and quiet.
The sound of digital firearms faintly boomed behind Room Number 10 as Hibiki began sweeping up the place again. When she heard the two people in her room arguing again, she instinctively moved away from the front door. She expected someone to come flying out the door at any moment soon. Alex was quick to get furious at people like Yagamine, after all.
A few seconds after she thought this, her (obvious) prophecy came true. A man was blasted out of her room’s door as he tumbled into the grass the Landowner had just cleaned up.
“Ghhkkkkkkkkkkkkkk…! Landowner!” Yagamine screamed as he tried to get up from the bushes, only to fail for some reason the Landowner could not comprehend. “Where’s my pen?! I think I can beat Alex in a writing contest!! Ha. Huh HAH huh HA HA HA!! Someone like her can't probably write, anyway-“
Yagamine screamed incoherently as he jerked his neck just in time before a BB pellet landed straight on his forehead.
Yagamine Kurosaki was the latest addition to Maple 801 – 101. Fortunately, he knew how to pay the Landowner. Unfortunately, he did not know how to behave accordingly to how much he paid. As he finally got up from his little power struggle with the bushes, a brunette woman with a tattoo on her arm emerged with a BB gun.
She also had an angry expression on her. At this point, the Landowner had gotten used to Alex trying to gun down Yagamine. She just wished Alex used less BB pellets; that always meant she had to clean up the place for a bit longer.
“You’re DEAD to me! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!” Alex roared as she charged towards Yagamine.
“Not over my dead body!” The man screamed like a deranged psychopath as he giggled. “I’ve got a present for you!”
Reaching for the inner side of his khaki suit, Yagamine lowered his torso as he hid whatever he planned on using against Alex…
…before spreading his arms out in an embracing manner.
“It's a HUG! I BET YOU DIDN'T EXPECT TH-“
“SHUT THE F*CK UP!”
The sound of Alex’s BB gun matching its target echoed across the apartment. Thankfully, Maple 801 – 101 had a bit of a distance from other apartments, so it wouldn’t be enough to wake the neighbors up.
“AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
As her two friends got in yet another cat fight, the Landowner turned to her own apartment room, which had its door remaining open. She walked over and closed the thing gently before cleaning the place up again.
The days in Maple 801 – 101 were both insignificant and simple. Maybe that was the charm to being the Landowner of the place.