A Civilian Administrator in the PSDH

Yamada Hanako was a civilian administrator working for the Tokyo Devil Hunter Bureau of the Public Safety Commission.

Her work comprised handling the active status and well-being of the Special Division 4 agents and filing reports on their public actions. Her direct superior was the infamous Makima, the de-facto head of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area Devil Hunters Bureau.

She could remember her interview with Makima when she applied for the job. She was surprised when she got the acceptance letter for the job. "You are the very epitome of normal. Average height, average weight, average resume... and average morality. You will do an adequate job as my employee."

When she said 'employee,' she could've sworn she heard her say 'dog.'

Not that it mattered. She was happy enough to take the job. And she was good at it.
She was your ordinary, average Japanese civil servant.

That was why she was looking at her desk with a glint of fear in her eyes.

There were a pair of normal-looking N-shaped earrings on the clean desktop.

Hanako swore she reported them and handed them to the Lost-and-Found department before getting her morning cup of coffee. When she came back, the earrings were still on the desk.

She shook her head, trying to get the morning grogginess out of her mind.

She picked them up and reported the item to the Lost-and-Found department. The clerk managing the desk, Ippan Dansei, greeted her as if he saw her for the first time today - "Hello, Miss Yamada. How can I help you today?" "Did I come here 10 minutes ago?" "No, why?" "Nothing. I guess I'm still groggy today."

That was 10 minutes ago. And she was looking at the earrings on her desk for the third time today.
She didn't dare move. She knew this had to be related to a devil of some sort.
The job of Devil Hunter Bureau Civilian Administrator didn't mean safety from the fiends and Lucifer.
Some Fiends worked here, for God's sake. And the Devil Hunters' offices were targets of devil terrorism.

She wished Miss Makima was in. She looked at the door to her office. She should've been in right now.
But as far as she could tell, there were no signs of life or presence near her.
She looked at the clock. The hands weren't moving. God, what has she gotten herself into?

Like it or not, she had been dragged into an abnormality caused by a devil. A devil that specifically had eyes on her.
She could feel her throat dry as she lost the feeling in her legs.

She knew from the numerous files that there was only one out of a demonic abnormality - moving forward.

She picked up the glimmering earrings with trembling hands. And put the studs through her long-closed earring hole.
The feeling was numb as it was with had been with her legs. Her mouth gaped open as she could feel her lungs shrivel with exhalation. She was in Hell.

There was no other way to describe the unpleasant, retched, horrible place she felt.

There was no up, no down. There were no ins and outs, no me and you. She was nothing. And was becoming nothing.

With a sharp crash of a porcelain ashtray breaking, she came to her senses in an endless void.
But she could feel the uncanny presence looming behind her. And Yamada Hanako instinctively knew the devil with the N-shaped earrings was making its reality known. And it wanted her to turn around and face it.

Hanako slowly turned around to make herself known to the unknown.