Tales of Mysidia : Paradox Heroes

Stars. All I can see right now are stars. There isn’t a sky nor a ground in this place—only stars. And only one place that matches all of my descriptions—outer space.


"(Where am I? What am I doing here?)"

At first, I think of this situation as a big joke since I am "floating in outer space," there no way that I will survive this unforgiving place without using any safety gear.,

"(Yeah...if I am really in space, I should be dead before I know it.)"

As I try to convince myself that this is a very unique prank, I raised my left arm where my electronic wristwatch is placed and looked at the time itself.

"(It is already 3:47PM, I suppose.)"

Although when astronauts look for the time, they always look at the time at Greenwich (GMT +0); but for a high student like me, the time in Japan should be enough for me.

However, I noticed something peculiar with my watch.

The exact time that my watch showing is 3 o' clock, 47 minutes and 35 seconds in the afternoon (3:47'35PM) and the time stays still even I count from one to five, not even the second is counting, let alone the minutes.

I can't say that my watch is broken since its shows the "exact time" and besides, I recently replaced its battery last week when it became dead.

So I stop questioning the watch's integrity and move to the next thing that I have--my phone.

Using my right hand, I grab my two-folded cellphone from my right side-pocket, unfold it, and enter my six digit personalized lock code and my phone enters standby mode.

Its standby mode has a plain description except for the blue haired girl with a yellow school uniform's blouse, a turtleneck beneath it and a blue skirt. She has a pair of cherry-like ornaments attached on the both sides of her hair and smiling while holding a bunch of books.

In other words she was wallpaper on my phone and her name is Ayaka, an anime character from a certain anime, and the only girl that hits the bulls-eye in my strike-zone. It is not that I don't like real girls but I can say that Ayaka has the description of an "ideal girl."

I look at her for a moment (more likely, my wallpaper) and give her (more likely, my phone) a faint smile, and immediately change my attention from her, to the uppermost part of the screen where the important information like battery life status, network reception and of course, time and date itself.

"(It is expected that the signal is dead, but time was still the same: 3:47PM and it is not counting at all. Hehehe...okay he'd got me but this is not funny at all...)"

And I really mean that. Well, the prank was unrealistic from the looks of the things, and I think the person made this for me went overboard this time. And I only know one person who will do anything in order to make fun of me.

"Ryuji...you idiot..."

I put back my phone in my pocket and lift up my upper body as if I am waking up from a beautiful sleep, but because I am in space and nothing is supporting my back, my whole body tilts upward like changing my position from lying to standing position.

"...I'm sorry if I left you behind because you were busy with your girls, but I think you have made yourself contented by hilariously laughing at me, so please get out from where you are hiding and bring my room ba--"

Wait, something is very wrong that I actually stopped speaking at the very end. The last thing I saw was my room and then when I opened my eyes, I am here.

Ryuji can't prepare this to me; much less he arrived earlier than me.

The reason is because I left school during class hours and school is ridiculously far away from my house. And that time, I remembered something. I touch my left chest using my right hand, checking on something fleshy and painful.

"(No wounds or any blood coming from it. I thought I was stabbed right into the heart. There must be some wound here. What the hell is happening to me?)"

And then I use my both hands to touch every part of my body but I did not feel any wound nor stinging sensation that is coming from inside, and then I realized:

"(Yeah, the last thing I know that I was inside my room and there was a shoulder length red haired girl wearing only nothing but bandages wielding a long Japanese sword that its length reaches up to two meters and stabs my chest, piercing to other side with it.)"

After a few moments of self-reflection, my conclusion leads to a simple but concrete question.

"Am I really...DEAD?"

Of course no one answered my question for me since this is an unknown place that I am the only one suppose to be human here. So that explains that even in space, I'm still in my normal shape, but that conclusion revived another question:

"(Where exactly am I? I don't believe in purgatory, and I don't think this heaven or hell because the place is too gloomy for that.)"

Running out of possible answers, I look again at this place that is full of nothing but stars and dust, and then I find something strange.

Something is floating at the northeast point of my view.
I leaned my body forward and lightly kick the open space with both legs and miraculously, I started to move forward for the first time.

"(I see, so that "thing" was also a human just like me.)"

I'm pretty convinced that it is a human floating from a far.

And so I took a closer look at that person.

It appears to be a male person, based on his blue rugged shirt with some steel plating on his chest, and dirty, black pants he is wearing on his body. Also, he has a long brown cape on his back and a long sword that is placed on his right side together with its scabbard. He's some kind of a weirdo to me because just looks like a valiant swordsman from the Middle Ages.

"(Perhaps, he came first here. I wonder if he is still alive. I've better go there and ask him about this place; if he is still alive.)"

And so I go with my stupid idea of going at the floating man where the same time, things are getting stranger than ever.

As I get closer to him, I've been able to describe his overall characteristics.
He has black hair arranged in a brushed up manner, dark blue eyes and has a pale white skin that you can barely describe him as the man who hates sunlight; loves dipping himself in a bathtub full of beauty cream; or has a very bad congenital disease that he barely survive his condition until he reached up that age. Anyway, I can describe his face in a single sentence:

"(HE ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE ME!!)"


Yes, he really looks like me, as well as for the black hair.

I said that because I have a blue hair arranged in brushed up manner compare to him that is pure black.
Although, the reason for having a blue hair is because I once dyed my black hair with a blue hair dye.

Going back to the situation, the guy in a swordsman outfit is pointing his gaze on nowhere, nor did his eyes do not any blink at all.

"(What is he doing? Is he still alive?)"

Of course, I thought he doesn't want to be bothered in his staring contest with nobody so he simply ignores me like that.

But I can't simply let him do in his own accord and don't say anything.

I want to understand anything about my situation.

I used to make myself stupid just don't make this thing seriously but in reality, I have no idea where I am, what happened to me or even how to go back.

I want to know the answers to my question; whether I'm still alive or dead; whether this is heaven, hell, or some unknown place where my normal brain can't comprehend.

And so I made my decision.
After all, it is not painful to for something you don't know.

Still staring at the empty space, there is no way that the boy will react that I'm coming at his place, so instead, I make my first move.


"Hey..."
"..."
"Do you know something about this place?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"HEY! ARE YOU STILL ALIVE OR WHAT?! ARE YOU STILL GOING TO IGNORE ME LIKE THAT? SAY SOMETHING!!"

I unintentional raise my tone because I'm half pissed because I know that he is alive by looking at his inflating and deflating chest and yet he intentionally ignored someone who is talking.

Or maybe he does not understand me at all.

"Sorry...it seems you don't understand me."

I made a sincere apology the person in front of me. Maybe he did not understand what I am saying since he looks like a foreigner.
However, his mouth begins to open and when it began to create a sound:

"No...I understand everything."

He replied at me with the same language I am speaking.

The once gazing dark blue eyes are changing its focus, from the emptiness of space, to the person who is floating beside him--me.

And then once again, he opened his mouth saying these words to me:

"Do...you...want...to...come back...home?"
"Huh?"
"I said...do you still want to go back home?"

Honestly, I did not understand what he just said for the first time to the point the person in front of me said the same question twice.

To tell you the truth, when he said those words for the second time, I felt that there is still some hope remaining for me, maybe because of two conclusions made by his words:

First, I'm still alive and second, there is a way how to go back home.

Before I can answer that question with full of gratitude, the guy in swordsman gear suddenly added something.

"If you are thinking that you are still alive, then I tell you once and for all that you aren't living anymore."
"What are you talking about? You were asking me whether I want to go home hoping that I may be still alive, and now you are telling me that I'm dead?"

The guy in swordsman gear slightly nods his head and then he respond in a low but annoying voice.

"I did not say that you are still alive, and besides, there is no lifeforce flowing inside your body, meaning that you are already dead and also a non-existent being."

Still dumbfounded of the situation, I try to process it inside my head.

And what is this "lifeforce" he's talking about?
Did he come from some sort of an occult?

I always playing games that include magic and the word "lifeforce" is very common, and those games are 100% fiction so there is no way there is actually a person who use this "lifeforce" to call out a fire from his hand.

Due to the confusion that is circling my head twice than the speed of light, I suddenly ask him some words that I should say in the first place and then he simply answers it.

"You are saying about this "lifeforce" thing to me. What are you talking about—wait, who are you anyway?"
“You want to know who exactly I am?”
“Of course! I don’t like to talk to strangers anyway.”
"Then, I am going to tell you this once so please listen...
I AM YOU... AND YOU ARE ME. EVEN THOUGH WE CAME FROM DIFFERENT DIMENSION AND DIFFERENT REALITY, OUR LIVES ARE BOUNDED INTO ONE MISSION, CREATING ONE COMMON SOUL...AND THEREFORE, SHARING THE SAME FATE AS MINE..."

Clank!

Being eaten by the confusion and questions, the guy ignores me for a bit and draws his long sword from its scabbard using his left hand.

The long sword he drew was very plain, except that there is a round hollow space between the cross-guard.
And then he puts in his right hand inside a leather pouch attached on his black pants and by the time he took out his hand, he is holding a shiny red glass ball slightly smaller than a golf ball and placed it at the hollow space of the cross-guard.

The sword shone for a bit and after that he holds its edge and points the handle of the sword to me, as if he was saying "Take this with you" line.

"Will you accept your death as part of your fate in order to return to your world, living once more?"
"Eh? What did you just said?"
“Let me rephrase my question: Can you accept everything you just saw as a part of your fate in order to live again? If you answer me “Yes” then I will help you getting out of this place.”

Everything is getting too fast for me to understand each and every word the mysterious guy just said.

I don’t even know his name and maybe, he doesn’t know my name either. But in spite of that, I could feel that he is not telling a joke. The only thing that is left is whether I trust what he say or not.

Right now, my mind is like in a middle of a road of no return where I must choose one out of the numerous routes in order to get at the end of the road.

What will happen if I stupidly accept this "fate" he was giving to me and found out in the end that it was all lie?
What if that "fate" his is saying is true and I turned him down, is there any opportunity left for me after that?

These two questions are the main reasons why I can’t make my own answer.
I can’t help but to imagine these two questions since my life depends on what scenario is going to happen in reality.

"(Can I make the right choice here or even trust him for a little?)"
“AAAARRGGH!!! I DON’T WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME NEXT! I’M ALREADY DEAD ANYWAY, SO BE IT!”

I don’t want to think about it anymore. The more I think about that guy’s question, the more I gain the desire to go home.

And so I came up with an answer, taking one of those routes while hoping for the best...

"If all the things you were saying to me is true, I'll gladly accept that fate we are going to share, but promise me you will going to explain to me everything after this."
"Yeah...if that is the way where I can use your help."

The guy smiled after he heard my answer and offered again the sword to me.

I grabbed the sword he was holding without any hesitation.

And the red glass ball inserted in the cross-guard released a very bright red light that everything in this vast empty space was filled with red light...


...and then...

7:05AM.


First day of school.

The day that the most of the people loved and hated; especially the students whose two-month vacation aren't enough for them and they need to warm up their lazy brains for the rest of the year, but at the same time, very excited because they can have their allowance back from their parents; and teachers whose two months are spent with beauty rest or part-time jobs will going to worry again about the wrinkles and blemishes made by the stress from both work and students but at the same time, they can have their regular paycheck because school days started at this day.
To put it short, this day will be the start of a very busy but regular school year.

And as for me--Yusuke Kotaro, who just finished moving here at my aunt's all boy's dormitory at Ibuki City last week, this will be a very long day for me.

It all started one morning of June 4, the day that the classes will begin. Apparently, it is still spring, but the sun shines, very bright that their rays penetrated through my black curtain and heated my body with the radiation itself.

"(It's still spring but it is very hot... Tch... This hot feeling is really irritating...)"

Since my bed is placed three meters from the window, even though there is a big black curtain that covers the enter window and prevents the sun's rays to directly attack me, the heat itself still scatters inside my small room making it so bright that you can see everything in my room even with the lights all off. Even so, I still continued to fight in order to regain my nice, sweet dreams even just for a minute.

Just as I'm falling asleep for the second time, a loud beeping sound came from my phone echoed the entire room.
Half-pissed and half-annoyed, I limply reached out my left hand to my phone that was beside my left cheek (more accurately, it is placed exactly on my left ear).

"Someone is calling me..."

I clicked the "Answer" button and aimed the phone's speaker to my left ear. A very loud voice deafened my left ear for a while.

"GOOD MORNING, SLEEPY HEAD!!!"
"Shut up...Ryuji...Why are you calling? Is there any important activity today?"
"Uhmm...hehehe...nothing. No reas--"

Click!
I clicked the "End Call" button before the guy on the phone finished speaking.

"That idiot... What the hell he is doing early in the morning?"

The guy who called me a while ago is my brown haired good-for-nothing, half-ass, a quarter-smart, and a quarter-heartthrob, one hundred percent delinquent, Ryuji Himura, who lives the room next to me, and for some stupid and unfortunate reasons, he's the one first one who become my friend since I moved at Ibuki City last week,

Since then, he always pull a lot pranks to me that every time I come to my room, I need first to check for any booby traps installed. And he is starting to make fun of me again by calling again at my phone. I clicked again the "Answer" button, hoping that he will say something less annoying even for a small chance.

"OI! WHAT WAS THAT FOR? IT'S A WASTE OF PREPAID CREDITS JUST TO CALL YOU, YOU KNOW?"
"THEN DON'T CALL!"
"Relax, I'm just kidding, I'm subscribed in an unlimited call and text service for today, though I don't know who should I call first."
"So you choose to call me, even you know that unnecessary things in the morning annoys me a lot?"
"Exactly."
"Haaa...Why don't you call your girls? I'm sure that if you called them on the phone, they will love it for real."

"I don't want to..."

"Why?"

I heard Ryuji sighing on the other line and then...

"BECAUSE THEY SCREAM LIKE CRAZIES EVERY TIME I TALK TO THEM!!! IT'S SO ANNOYING YOU KNOW?" shouted Ryuji
"(You're annoying too, you know...)"

As my left ear being temporary deafened due to that stupid wake up call from him, I made long sigh and whispered so soft that he cannot hear it at the other line with my anger being suppressed.

"...you're hopeless, Ryuji... I thought you would be less irritated if you are with your girls, but I think I was wrong about that thought."
"I HEARD THAT! DON'T SAY THINGS LIKE YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

SNAP!
Really. Taking the "girlfriend" thing in this conversation. Just digesting the words he said, I felt something snaps inside my brain in an instant, that I am starting to yell on the phone .

"HEY! D-DON'T ADD THAT GIRLFRIEND THING ON THE TOPIC!!! IT'S NOT THAT GIRLS DON'T L-LIKE ME. I JUST DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TIMING FOR THAT!!! I'M JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR PROBLEM!"
"Oh, come on, you stupid pessimist... I know you can't do things like that without a little push from me. Do you even know the feeling of touching a girl's tit? OF COURSE, YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU DAMNED VIRGIN!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

"OF COURSE, I-I KNOW HOW IT FEELS, YOU ROTTEN CHICKBOY!!!" I yelled.

All of a sudden, we're talking dirty, thanks to Ryuji's bad puns on me.

All of a sudden, the table of this conversation has been turned against me, thanks to him.

At first, Ryuji is asking me for help about girls, although I really don't know a single thing about them (and I mean it); then all of a sudden, I am now the one who needs help on anger management.

Continuing his vicious assault of words to me, he evilly laughed on the phone as if he was a dangerous villain in a certain action show (Well, he should already knew this is now a one-sided fight against me).

As for me, whose temper is on the roofs at this time, I had no choice but to fight back although I am at a loss of words against him.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! REALLY?! REALLY?! REALLY?! SINCE WHEN? YOU FAILURE OF A MAN! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Grrrrr...you...YOU...ASSHOOOOOOOOLE!"

Suddenly, Ryuji's tone changed as if he was only flipping some sort of a switch on him, while I started to go rampage on my room.

"Hey...chill out man. Don't sweat that words I said to you, I'm just kidding you know. As a matter of fact, I'm right in fro--"
"YOU STUPID CHICKBOY!!! IF YOU ARE STILL HUNGRY FOR TROUBLE, I'LL GIVE YOU ONE SO GET OUT OF YOUR MOUSE HOLE AND GET SOME TASTE OF YOUR MEDICINE!!!"

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

I DON'T CARE ABOUT RUINING MY BEAUTIFUL MORNING BY HIM OR SWEARING EARLY IN THE MORNING-- I JUST WANT TO TAKE REVENGE ON HIM.

On the other side of the line, a very, very, long sigh can be heard...

"Haaa...I think it's too early for him to went wild like that..."
"WHAAAAT??! WHY ARE YOU SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN? AREN'T YOU THE FAMOUS ASS-KICKER HIMURA RYUJI WHO SINGLEHANDEDLY KICKED OUT 20 ASSES IN A SINGLE STREET FIGHT? WHY DON'T YOU USE THAT STRENGTH TO ME? BECAUSE I'M YOUR FRIEND? FRIEND, YOUR FACE!!! THERE IS NO SUCH WORD "FRIEND" IN A STREET FIGHT. IN FACT, EVEN BEST FRIENDS FIGHT EACH OTHER YOU KNOW. OR MAYBE YOU WERE JUST A COWARDLY PUPPY THAT WILL CRY AND CALL FOR YOUR MOMMY WHEN YOU WERE LEFT OUTSIDE...HAHAHAHAHA!!!

...and again, a very, very long sigh can be heard on the other side...

"Haaa...You know, I'm just in front of your door the whole time. You didn't let me finished speaking in the first place."

"Eh? Why?"

...and all of sudden, I came back to my senses, though I doubted myself whether I remembered what did I said to him, like nothing happened.

"Why are you at my doorsteps, Ryuji?" I asked him.
"DON'T YOU FORGET IT? TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS, AND THERE IS ONLY TWENTY MINUTES LEFT BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY STARTS...THANKS TO RELENTLESS RAMPAGE."

And Ryuji simply put the blame on me just like that. It was his fault in the first place for provoking me. I was thinking the best yet painful thing to him once I opened the door.

Shall I punch him in the face?
Shall I kick him in the crotch?
Shall I smash him with anything hard and blunt?
Shall I stab him with a knife?

I was thinking the the best way to take revenge on what he said when I recapped his final words.

"DON'T YOU FORGET IT? TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS, AND THERE IS ONLY TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY STARTS...THANKS TO RELENTLESS RAMPAGE."

Twenty minutes huh...

I clicked the "End Call" button and took a few seconds to breathe, and think of that "twenty minutes".

When I went first to my school to enroll, it took me thirty minutes to there in a rush hour just to go there via bus, and that is transportation alone.
If I include my preparations for school, It will took me an hour for that.

In other words...

"SH*T! I'M LATE! Why did you not said that me in the first place?"

I shouted at the door, knowing Ryuji was there, but he briefly laughed and calmly replied,

"Don't blame me. That is absolutely your fault for not sleeping at eight o' clock in the evening, and letting yourself berserk early in the morning."

Turning again the blame on me for what he'd done. I had no choice but to yell and hurriedly prepare myself for school while cursing Ryuji for his "very kind" actions as I become a running candidate for being late in the first day of school.

7:19AM.

Almost ten minutes left before the opening ceremony starts, and Ryuji and I were running the eight kilometer gap between our dormitory to the school we were going to enter, Ibuki National High School, where the opening ceremony for both old and new students is going to be held.

Well, running early in the morning especially without any warm up rapidly drains my stamina down.

To make the matters worse, the burning daylight of late spring makes me sweat a lot, and we cannot rely on the bus anymore because of the rush hour. Therefore, we have no choice but to run all the way from here.

While Ryuji, whose body is more athletic than mine because of his street fights, is enjoying his 2km run, I- on the other hand, I preferred to run at "slower" pace than him.

It's not because I can't put a fight against him in a sprint contest, but because I have no energy left for me to fight. After all that trouble Ryuji gave to me (though he still insist that it is my fault for making us late for school), including this scenario, my 50% of my stored energy was wasted, arguing with him, 30% was wasted in cramming for the opening ceremony, and the remaining 20% will be wasted running the 2km distance of my school (considering that my energy came from my dinner I ate last night) and it is dropping at a very dramatic rate.

In other words, I am so hungry that I can't keep myself up with him or much worse, I might roll down the pavement if I don't eat or drink anything for the next five minutes.

Ryuji noticed me slowing down, and he stopped running for a moment, just to wait for me to get at his place.

"Oi...can we have a ten second break here?" I heavily shouted at him.
"No way! I don't to be the center of attraction! We can still make it if we continue to run at this rate!"
"But I need to take something...or I'll be dead meat anytime...And besides... we're the center of attraction here, I thought you want to be famous, don't you?"
"IT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!! Anyway, you're not going to die here...trust me."
"Tsk...if only you didn't spilled my breakfast, I won’t act like this..."
"Aaaarrgh...quit complaining and start running! Your ten-second break is over."
"What the-- You didn't say you're allowing me to do that--UWO...UWAAAAAAA!!!"

Just after I replied to his heartless reply, he instantly grabbed my right hand that is resting on my right knee and hastily ran towards our destination like a boyfreind holding his girlfriend's hand while running away from the his girlfriend's parents.

As we continued to run, I'd felt my consciousness was going to drift away because of stress, hunger, and fatigue. I don't even feel my senses to be working properly. In fact, I'm getting the feeling of being knocked out cold all of a sudden. And then I reminisce the final unfortunate events happened just after he called on my cellphone.


Nine minutes earlier, 7:10AM.


It all started again about nine minutes ago, just right after he said that we were running late that time. While crazily yelling out for being stupid at falling again at Ryuji's trap, I'm hearing voices from outside of my room- one male and one female voice.

"Kanami nee-san! KOTARO'S FREAKING OUT AGAIN!!! GIVE ME THE MASTER KEY, HURRY!!!"

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE THE ONLY REASON WHY DID HE FREAK OUT LIKE THAT! I TOLD YOU TO WAKE HIM UP NOT TO MAKE FUN OF HIM!!!"
"Uuuu..."
"YOU KNOW THAT HE CAN'T GET A GIRLFRIEND EVER SINCE AND YET YOU STILL USED THAT AS YOUR TRUMP CARD AGAINST HIM?!"
"Uuu... Sorry nee-san."
"Geez, are you really his friend anyway?'

I thought she was defending me from that stupid Ryuji, but in reality, she's putting so much oil on the fire. Anyway, that doesn't matter for now because I need to prepare my instant breakfast quick. Based on the conversation outside my room, it seems that the male voice, Ryuji was being scolded by a woman who happens to be my aunt and the caretaker of this dormitory, Yusuke Kanami nee-san for his "stupid" actions. It seems that she asked Ryuji to wake me up in the first place, but eventually, we ended trash-talking each other. I heard a long sigh, probably from nee-san because of the female tone of her sighing. She calmly spoke as I heard a metal clanging afterwards.

"Here is the key to his room. BE SURE MY NEPHEW WON'T BE LATE AFTER THAT TROUBLE YOU HAD MADE."
"Sure. You can count on me for that Kanami. After all, you've captivated my heart since the first time I saw you..."

...and then...

"SHUT UP!!! DON'T CALL ME KANAMI AS IF WE ARE FRIENDS OR YOUR LOVER YOU DAMNED PLAYBOY!"

...the door suddenly destroyed from the inside followed by a "dead body" that is carried away along with the door (more precisely, the door was kicked very hard from the outside that all the clamps holding the door snapped and fell down like a domino that fell down from its long stand. The next thing is... a bouncing body of a man from the doorstep holding a key on his hand).

"(So the key isn't needed to open this door. This woman's violence is on the roofs.)" I muttered to myself as such ridiculous event just happened.

Going back to the story, that ruckus happened when I'm changing my clothes from my sleepwear to my school uniform (to be exact, I'm on the part where I am wearing nothing but boxers and trying to put my navy blue colored school pants on top on it.). At that time, someone's standing at the doorsteps. A tall, brown, long-haired girl in a ponytail wearing plain yellow t-shirt and long green skirt has her left leg raised at about 70 to 90 degree angle (also known as Kanami nee-san) suddenly trembled at what she saw that her white face suddenly turned into red and starting to produce "Uwaa! Uwaa!" sounds.

"Wh-why are you n-n-naked Kotaro? Wh-why are you dressing up in front of the door?"
"AS IF I KNEW YOU WILL KICK THE DOOR, RIGHT?!" I answered.
"Bu-bu-bu-but..."

She didn't finished what she was going to say, as she instantly ran away followed by a long "Kyah~~" sound. Ryuji--who supposed to be a corpse there, spoke to the half-naked me.

"Man. She sure is one hell of a virgin..."
"Don't talk to me..."

Well, Ryuji's right. She is a virgin. Although she is exactly thirty years old, she doesn't have a husband or a boyfriend or experienced naughty things when she was young. According to my mother, who is her older sister, ever since middle school, she has a very fierce personality that wards off every man in her school and at the same time, idolized by her female classmates there because of her toughness. Because of that, she maintained her bishoujo look (with a help of little cosmetics) even at thirties. I gave him an affirmative reply, as if nothing happened to us in the first place.

"Well... you're right on that thing." I said.

He simply nodded his head. Still lying on the destroyed door, he became uneasy.

"I feel somewhat warm under my left hand right now."
"Eh..."

Looking again the the lying Ryuji, I felt also the warmth coming from there to my feet. As I looked down at my feet, a brown liquid flowing under the door. Suddenly, my jaw dropped as I realized what is this hot feeling. It was my instant noodles in a cup I was going to eat as my breakfast! I did putted my newly-cooked instant noodles on the floor as I'm changing my clothes when the door broke away along with Ryuji and squished the food underneath. With a shocked expression, I knelt down on the floor with a mixed emotions of sadness, loss, anger, and hunger.

"M-my...breakfast..."
"..."

"..."
"Ahh...well..."
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH MY BREAKFAST?!!"
"Aaaaaaahhhh...hehehehe...sorry..."

"DIE!!!"

Thanks to that, I hadn't taken my breakfast and I have a feeling that I will pass out any moment now..

But on the bright side, because of Ryuji's perseverance, we've reached the school gates just the opening ceremony was about to start. It seems there are still students trying to attend the opening ceremony just like us on time. Because of that, I regained my will to at least, walk a little bit more in order to go to the nearest canteen possible.

"We made it, Kotaro!" he said that while puffing his chest with pride.
"Yeah... We made it. At least we're on the safe haven." I answered.

I hate to admit this, but his stupidity showed its good side at last to his friend--me.

7:30AM

And so we had reached the school gates at exactly 7:30 in the morning, thanks to Ryuji's great perseverance. Actually at that time, I did admit that he managed to run that far in less than ten minutes and still maintains his refreshing look.

"(Perhaps a little fist fighting can be good to health sometimes.)" I muttered.

On the other side, I looked like a zombie who's ready to hunt some human prey because of severe fatigue and hunger. And besides, a little tour to the canteen won't hurt our time here since we're inside school premises and if a teacher saw us going to the canteen, we were going to be told to go to the school gymnasium immediately.
More importantly, we are not candidates for latecomers anymore so we can lax now inside the school.

We went to the canteen together with the reason of Ryuji becoming hungry again after that long run with a sixty kilogram me being pulled by him.
Forget about a heavy meal, I just need something to eat in order to buy time until lunch.

Ryuji chose the newly cooked hotdog sandwich being stacked on a large tray and an orange juice from a vending machine, while I chose the tuna sandwich and a milk drink from a vending machine also.

After we ate our snacks the second after we bought it, we immediately went to the school gymnasium where we must attend the opening ceremony for old and new students. People wearing the same uniform as us seems to be excited about the new school year because of such wishes like, wishing to have easier subjects to be studied, wishing to have nice homeroom teacher, wishing to have a cute classmate. As for Ryuji who is also a notorious womanizer, his sight were already on the beautiful girls walking and talking around the gymnasium, wishing one of them can be his classmate.

I made a long sigh...

"(...Ryuji's hopeless.)"

I left a sigh and silently continued eating at my snack with my sight still hazy because of the fatigue.


Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!


The opening ceremony ended just before I knew it.
Though it is called an opening ceremony for the new school year, it is mainly made of long boring speeches from the principal of the school, from the Student Council President and the head teachers from various subjects themselves.
I'm starting to think for a reason for why we should listen some boring speeches from the school officials themselves.

Come to think of it, they usually said the rules and regulations of this school though they've given us student handbooks to read during the enrollment, (though I haven't read that ever since and I consciously knew what will be inside that book), so why do they want to say those things that students already knew ever since they started schooling in the first place? I gave that a long yawn because of severe boredom. Even Ryuji, who was very lively before we went to school, fell asleep during the long speech. Thankfully, the ceremony came to a close and we can now proceed in finding my designated classroom for this year.

"..."
"..."
"..."
"So, what do you want to say, Kotaro?" Ryuji asked me with a lecherous grin on his face.
"I'm going to die this year..." I hopelessly answered.

Haaa...actually, I'm going second year this school year and so with Ryuji too, but I'm pretty confident that we were going to be in separate classes since all enrolled students will be sorted our based on the grades you have in your previous year.

Honestly, I ain't a smart guy who will be assigned in the top class, nor a dumbest one who will be sent out on the worst class.

To make that long explanation short, I have grades that can categorized as "NOT BAD, BUT YOU SHOULD STUDY HARDER FOR THE NEXT YEAR (C+ to C-)."

Despite of that, I ended up on Class 2-B, where Ryuji becomes my classmate this year.

What's the reason?

Well one time, during the enrollment, he showed me his classcard and I saw that his grades were between B+ to A+ but the narrative report written on his classcard from his adviser was written like this:

"You are really smart on class, in fact, I was going to recommend you on the top class next year but before I do that, PLEASE IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD STUDENTS AND TEACHERS."

"Isn't that great? Girls are more than boys in our class...ufufufu...my beautiful harem in my dreams is now building..." Ryuji said that as he looks on the paper with the class designation written on it while drooling.
"Give that daydreaming a break..." I answered while frowning at his disgusting face.
"...If you didn't stop yourself from drooling, we're going to be late."
"Haha...you're right. LETS GOOOOO!!!!!"

Then Ryuji ran away from the gymnasium the instant he shouted his battlecry, leaving me behind his tracks. Well I do know where is my classroom going to be, so I can walk my way there though I still have my fatigue from the long run, I knew to myself that I can attend class even with my state.


"So...I think should go as well..." I muttered to myself as I left the gymnasium.

1:24PM

"Where..am I?"

The first thing I saw is the fluorescent light hanging on the ceiling. There was also a wet towel placed on my head and also I smell the scent of ethyl alcohol within the place.

"(This can't be the classroom, right?")

Then I realized, I am already lying on a white soft bed intended only for the sick people. Aside from the bed, there are two other white beds; one at my left and one at my right separated by a white curtain on each side. I went up of the bed and sat on it instead. I became dizzy all of sudden as if my surroundings started to spin in my sight.

"Ughhh... What the hell..."

I closed my eyes as I wait for the dizziness to fade. After a few minutes, it gradually subsided and disappeared, restoring my normal sight. There is a table beside my bed where I did lied down and a backpack was placed on top of it (more exactly, it was my bag that is placed on top of the table). I took my bag, wore it on my back and walked away from the bed as I'm going to leave the place. As I left the bed, there are tables and cabinets with names "First Aid" and "Medicine" respectively placed against the wall giving me the hints the place where I am.

"So I'm inside the clinic now, but how did I managed to get here?"

I muttered to myself as I'm very confused with my situation.

Luckily, nobody except me was inside the clinic so no one heard me.

And then my stomach grumbled violently as if it was complaining to something. I'm not that stupid to not notice what is happening to me right now.

"I'm hungry... I did eat a sandwich earlier but that wasn't enough to make me satisfied. A heavy meal can do the job but..."

I looked at my wristwatch to see the recent time...

"...but it is 1:25PM and classes are resumed an hour and a half ago--don't tell me..."

Yep. Breaktime starts at 11AM where students have an hour of free time to do anything, but since it is also lunchtime, most of the students will eat their lunch at that time because when the clock strikes 12PM, classes will be resumed at a moment. In other words...

"...I DID SKIP MY CLASS ON THE FIRST DAY!"

Terrified at what I did (though I have no idea why am I in this place), I started to think various scenarios of such event where the teachers found me skipping classes.

Shall I be delivered to Guidance Counseling Office?
Shall I be taken to my adviser and call my parent because of my "bad attitude"?
Shall I be brought to the Principal and kick me out of this school?

Anyhow, if they found me out of here, rumors that a certain transfer student skipped his class on the first day of school by staying inside the clinic will spread in an instant, ruining my reputation as a student here.

"(I need to get out of this place before anyone catches me here. Canteen itself is impossible; I need to find food somewhere else.)"

I approached the door of the clinic and eavesdropped at it for some unnecessary noises like people chattering or footsteps on going. After a few minutes of eavesdropping, I heard no other noises inside.

"(Good...)"

I can execute my plan with an environment like this. I slowly opened the door and crawled my way out of here.

My actual plan will be like this:

There are three floors in this building, and I am in second floor. In the second floor, there are seven classrooms with the clinic (my starting point) is on the fourth door. On its right side are three classrooms (Classes D-F) leading to a dead-end while on the other side were the three other classrooms (Classes A-C) with a staircase after Classroom A.

My objective is to slip through the three classrooms on the left in order to get to the stairs without startling the people inside.
And then on the first floor, there was a very long pathway after the staircase that leads to the doorway to school grounds where the exit gate can be seen from a far, but I wont walk through it instead, there were bushes growing on each corner that circles the whole school ground if you look around it where I can go to the gate by crawling around them.

If I get successful with my plan, I can avoid my reputation being tainted by humiliation and at the same time, I can buy now food to eat.
Well, I really need to thank Ryuji for telling me stories of him skipping classes.

"(Okay...my plans are now ready, Operation Breakout: Commencing!"

1:26PM

And I start to make my way out of this school with my credibility at stake if I were found out.

As for me who did not skip classes for the entire my life not until this day, cold sweat, high blood pressure and anxiety filled me as I peeked at the corridor through the door of the clinic.
Good thing that no one's there at this moment so I took my first step outside the room and make my way towards the staircase beyond Class 2-A's classroom.

And then, a sudden voice echoed the whole floor speaking of such an announcement.

"Good afternoon everyone. According to the principal and the student council president, we will have a general checkup among students at the school clinic at second floor starting 1:30PM onwards. As for the lessons on going at this moment, it will consider as postponed. As for the classes that suppose to start beyond the stated time will be considered cancelled. Thanks for listening and God Bless."

And the announcement from somewhere repeated for three times before silence regains again.

"(This is bad; there will be a general checkup in less than five minutes. Now that it has a time limit, if can't do this quickly I'm in great danger for sure.)"

Of course I gave up on blending with the congesting people later because most general checkups are class scheduled so it is batch by batch, and whoever saw me here first will be suspicious of what I am doing here. I grabbed my cellphone from my pocket and look at my "cute" wallpaper.

"Good luck,"

That's all I can say for now.

Perhaps luck is the only card left in my sleeve, but it might betray me as well if all else fails.

Even so, I started crawling towards the staircase at the end of the hallway.

First room is the Class 2-C. Luckily I made it safely.

The wall of the classroom has the combination of glass window pane on the top, while a concrete wall, solid as a rock is on the lower part of the wall (well, I don't know what call to that thing so I described it awkwardly).
Because the concrete part of the wall is above my waist, I can crawl my way towards the staircase with ease.

Another thing is the door. The door of this classroom is tightly shut, so the teacher sitting in front of the class won't see any glimpse of me, crawling.

Next is my classroom, Class 2-B with on my watch, 1:27PM.

Between each classroom is a support post with three meters in height, and half a meter wide and thick respectively where I can stick against it when something worse happens.
I can consider this a checkpoint because if I hide myself using this support post people from my class won't see me unless they look at it.

I stuck myself against the wall of the support post as I assessed my current state now.
Right now, this is the most delicate part of sneaking out because once you caught skipping classes with your classmates, it's all over. It is like defusing a C4 bomb by cutting the red wire inside a bunch of wire, considering that there are other red wires not to cut whereas doing this the wrong way will instantly detonate the bomb. Even so, I have only three minutes so I must continue this no matter what.

"(The doors are tightly shut as well, this will be easy as long as I crawl at fast pace while no one is opening the door.)"

As I did the same routine by crawling my way towards the staircase with a low profile, the once tightly shut door suddenly opened.
As I was shocked by what happened, I immediately went back to the support post I came from with a very tense expression. It is a good thing that the post has a half a meter thickness so me, and my bag can hide with ease (though I need to tiptoe in order to perform that complete concealment. While tiptoeing, I peek towards the hallway to see who's going out of the room.

A tall man wearing a pale brown coat and pants with an age of about 35 to 40 based on his occurring wrinkles on his skin left the classroom with a fierce expression on his face.
I assumed that he was my teacher in some sort of a subject we are about to learn this year. Well, because I ended up inside the clinic all of a sudden, I've never had an opportunity to read the class schedule for this day.

The man in brown coat I assumed to be my teacher puts his right hand inside the large pocket located on the lower part of his coat and grabs a chocolate bar from it. Feeling half disappointed and half pissed because classes are suddenly interrupted, he violently opened the chocolate bar by ripping the plastic casing with his gritting teeth and chomp on it afterwards.

“(Well, I heard that chocolates can make our moods better but I don’t think he will be cooled down easily with his very mad expression like that.)”

I muttered as I feel terrified for as this teacher is suppose to be our teacher for the rest of the year. And just the time I peek at him through the concrete support post, the pissed of teacher puts his attention on the concrete post where I am hiding. He was possibly thinking that there was something within that post. More accurately, he must be thinking that someone was in that post. In an instant, I quickly hid again against the concrete support post.

"(WHAT THE--! DID HE SAW ME THERE?!)"

To make the matters worse, the curious teacher starts to walk towards the concrete post where I am hiding with a half eaten chocolate bar on his right hand.

"(DAMN! I'VE BEEN COMPROMISED!)"

Having with cold sweat on my face, I think of a possible alibi I can make. Forget about making excuses, I just need to make an alibi that can lower my offense here.Still holding the chocolate bar, the man continues to close the distance between me and him.

"(HE'S CLOSING IN. SH*T!, I CAN'T THINK OF ANY ALIBIS.)"

Out of desperation, I can only hold my backpack with my left hand and place it on my chest and whack him out with my bag. Though I don't trust myself that this will work, I have no choice but to do this.

Holding my bag with both hands, I readied myself for the worst case scenario of being found out by the teacher, skipping classes.

"Sensei, we've finished filling up the homeroom officers. I'm the one who was voted as the class representative. I'm ready to hear your instructions inside."

A female voice suddenly echoed within the area that the incoming old man stopped from walking and turned his face on her.

"Good, well, I'm going." said the male teacher as he walks away from me while eating his half-eaten chocolate bar.

The footsteps became softer and it ended with a loud "thud" sound.

The time is 1:29PM, A minute remaining.

Having a very fast heartbeat and a cold sweat running through my neck, I slowly put my bag down with trembling hands and lay my back against the wall.

"Is...it...over?" I muttered.

I nervously looked again at my surroundings with my five senses. There mustn't any commotion now, I thought. Because it is a minute left, I hurriedly went back to crawling, not caring on what will happen next. Perhaps this is the power of adrenaline which is used in fight or flight sequence. Still heading to the goalpost in the name of staircase, I continued to crawl as fast as I can like there is no tomorrow.

2:38PM

I walked through the seaside sidewalk eating a bag of yakisoba sandwich I held in my left hand in a sunny afternoon. I breathe in the pleasant smell of the sea as I walk my way home (well I walk my home using the farther route to kill time, though). Though it is already afternoon, the road is free from the vehicles running on a busy day that the usual city possesses.

"Ah... What a hot day. So many things that happened this day, most of them, misfortunes, but..."

I look at my bag of sandwiches for a moment.

"I barely manage to go outside school at the first day...sigh."

After all, my escape plan succeed, despite of some life threatening situations at the second floor, but the rest was very easy. The general check up didn't help since it raises the risk of being found, even so, I stuck to my plan of going my way around through the bushes in the school ground in order to escape and it succeeded the way it should be. But for what did I did today, felt somewhat guilty from what I've done. Well skipping class is bad and doing it at the first day of school is unforgivable.

"(If nee-san found out about this, she'll going to kill me...)"

More importantly, I must act tomorrow as if nothing happened or else there will be people who will be suspicious of me, especially Ryuji since he was the only one who knows about me.

Anyway my classmate will go to know my name tomorrow since I missed my introduction earlier.

Speaking of introduction, I need to make an appropriate introduction because doing this will leave an impression of me throughout the year, something like "Good morning, my name is Kotaro Yusuke, 17 years old. Actually, I came from Tokyo but because of some circumstances, I am going to live here at Ibuki City until graduation. Anyway, nice meeting you all," or "Hello! My name is Kotaro Yusuke, 17 years old. Nice meeting you guys or whatsoever.
Well, the earlier one is true to the fact that I still get lost when I'm going to a convenience store. I want to cry at that fact but I can't because it is embarrassing.

I moved from my parent's house at Tokyo to my aunt's house at Ibuki City because of some things I don't want to remember.

Anyway, past is past.

I just want to enjoy the sea breeze coming from this beautiful coastline.
I just want to enjoy my remaining high school days, all by myself.
At least, I've won't ever get distracted by my parents to anything I do again, compare to the times where I still live there.

Geographically speaking, Ibuki City is actually one of the small islands of the Okinawan Archipelago that is located in the Southern boundary of Japan with a population of about 300,000.

Despite of its small size, it is one of the major cities in Okinawa, where technology, infrastructure and education are highly innovated that you will forget that this is an island but more than a highly advanced city surrounded by water.

Like the major cities in the mainland, Ibuki City is complete with everything required to be called as a city like high-rise building, commercial establishments and general facilities like school, hospitals, police stations and many more. Even its security is highly innovated where the city itself have jet airplanes, battle tanks, and naval ships standby on their hangar once security crisis occur.

The nightlife in this city is very alive where every night, bars, casinos, hotels and motels are opening to accompany customers who want longer nights.

As for the school, the place where I'd just escaped-Ibuki City Science High School is one of three high schools built in this city, also the most common among the three schools since the other two are all girls and boys school.
And because it is a science school, subjects here are also science-based like geology, advance physics and biochemistry.
It has also the weirdest class curriculum since classes start at June and ends at March, like the curriculum in the tropics. I felt bad to myself for going to school at summer but somehow, I will manage to get through it.

Feeling the fatigue from my legs, I sat down at the breakwater that separates the main road to the shoreline and put down my both bags of school stuff and sandwiches on both sides. Out of impulse (or should I say habit), I checked my stuff inside my schoolbag.
Notebooks, pencils, technical pens and much stuff I did not make any use today were found inside my bag.

"What a waste..." I said to myself.

I dug deeper within my bag using my both hands and felt a small but thick thing inside. I grabbed it from my bag and it turns out that it was a smaller notebook compared to my notebooks used for lessons with a large NOTEPAD on the front with my name on the lower part of the cover. This is not just a notepad, I thought.
I opened my notepad and it only showed blank pages.

As I flipped the pages until it reaches the halfway part, Words, numbers, and symbols are showing on the page. The page starts with the date of December 12, 2011. Paragraphs followed the date, ended with a period and a long straight line that separates the text from the other parts of the page. After that line, another date is written; December 13, 2011, with the same format and so on and so forth. In other words the halfway part of my notepad was my diary, but it wasn't an ordinary diary. I started to read the paragraphs written on the first day--on December 12 last year.


"A certain family is running through the burning forest. Three men, wielding a sword on side and the other one is a girl wearing a long white gown, but it seems the lower part of the skirt is ripped off and stained with smoke, mud and blood. Behind them is a group of ugly looking guys wielding swords and wands chasing the running family throughout the forest."


That's all it says...

To make this explanation short, this event is not actually happened of ever exist; moreover, it came from my brain when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

In other words, it is a dream--a certain someone's dream. Until now, I had no idea why did I dream of that kind of scenario that night or dreaming every night.

Because of that, I've decided to write everything I dreamed ever since that day until today.
Well, dreams are only random events made by the brain and most of them are very insignificant, and illogical to the reality.

But what if these dreams do make sense after all? In a way that if you collect all the thoughts that your subconsciousness at the same time, you might unlock the mystery behinds these dreams. Seems like unrealistic doesn't it?

And so my silly decision of writing everything I dreamed started.

Since December last year, I started to write these dreams as long as I remember even a bit of what I dreamed that night. Fortunately, after months of writing of dreams, I've came up on a single concept.

It is about of a valiant swordsman from the past who got himself into a time traveling spell and ended up in the modern world, together with the divine relics he held that said to have powers residing it. In order to fulfill his mission, he must appoint few individuals from that world who has the right to possess these divine relics he carried in order to protect not only the swordsman's world but also their world that in a verge of the reality being distorted.
Well, that concept was made from various days that if you compiled it into every night dreams, it will take about two weeks or about 14 nights (the fragments of these dreams came from December 12 last year up to some random days of May). Though I don't have an idea on how did I dreamed of that thing, but at least I can complete it and make it as a real story, that's what I thought.

3:12PM

Going back to reality, I closed my notepad and put back inside my back, and stand up as I'm ready to walk again.
As I walk home, the scenery of seaside and towering buildings are gradually disappearing. Instead, they were replaced by tall trees flourishing on the both sides of the road. Wild animals are starting to appear in the road as they are crossing the boundary between two forest. Houses made of simple materials like wood with vegetation of their backyard are being seen on the side of the road. Away from the modernistic appearance, this place is much like countryside with a bunch of trees than a forest with citizens who prefer to get away from the civilization. More accurately, this place is the suburbs of Ibuki City. Though it is very far from being a residential area in the city with houses tightly packed in a single place, it is still better because it gives the peaceful atmosphere too hard to find if you live within the city instead.

3:42PM

After almost thirty minutes of walking throughout the forest of Ibuki City (though I still don't have an idea how Ryuji managed to run that far in less than thirty minutes), I've reached the end of these scenario of trees. At the end of the road was also the end of civilization where as roads made of dirt replaced the concrete roads, grasslands and rice fields starting to appear. It is like an old village found in the provinces. Luckily, the signal reception still reaches this place, so TV, cellphone, and internet reception is still available despite being far from the city.

Going further within the village is an old building made of wood and rusty steel. And it is called the Silent Plains All-Boys Dormitory (based on the old wooden tag hanged on the gate to know what place is this). Well, this place is where I lived as long as I am in this island. It is now owned by my aunt Kanami nee-san who happens to inherit this place when my grandfather died. Well, I remembered that my grandfather said that it survives many tropical storms and even the crossfire of World War II. So this place is important for our family, not even history can't demolish this place.
I opened the metal gates on opens the wooden soon as I approaches it and went inside.

"Nee-san? Hello?"

A large room supposed to be the lobby with a large wooden table used for information's desk welcomes me inside. But the person that suppose to be inside the information's desk which is Kanami nee-san is missing.

"Hmm..Maybe she bought goods for dinner, wasn't she?"

Although disappearance of my aunt in her desk seems to be peculiar. I did not matter about that and opened the brown wooden door that leads to a long hallway with doors on each sides and a staircase at the end of it.
Usually, the hallway is filled with yells, agony, and wild noises that nee-san usually freaks out and starts to yell at the same time because of that, but this time, it is silent as if it was a building being abandoned many years ago.

"Huh... This place is silent too. What on earth is happening here?"

Even so, I ignored the eerie silence and went upstairs. This building has only two floors so this is the top floor. Same as the hallway at the first floor, it is filled with weird silence. Well most of the people living here are students like me so this silence must be expected, but in the same way, I felt something is happening here.

"(This is getting weirder as I get upstairs; I wish nothing bad is happening today.)" I thought.

Just at the same time I thought about that, a sudden noise echoed from the one of the doors here. More exactly, the noise came from my room, four doors away from the staircase where I am standing now.

"Nee-san! Are you there?" I shouted, but no one answered.

Sudden chill appeared on my back.

If that person made that noise was nee-san, she will responded to my shout, more likely, she will start to nag me just after I shouted.

Even so, silence dominated the building once more.

Fear rose through my head as I grabbed a foldable pocket knife from my bag (for security reasons) and silently walk through my room.

As I reached the door to my room, I tightly held the knife in my right hand as I am trying to gain momentum.

In an instant, I forcefully opened the door using my left hand causing a loud banging noise echoing the whole floor.

"W-WHO'S THERE!" I shouted and then startled at what I saw.

Inside, there was a blue eyed, long red haired girl wearing only bandages wrapped on her body with a large leather coat covering her back.
On her waist was a Japanese sword that stretches up to two meters enclosed in an old scabbard.

The girl welcomed me with a sweet smile that if there wasn't that weird atmosphere, you will be captivated by her but at the same time, raises my suspicion towards her.

"Nice meeting you, Yusuke Kotaro-kun! I've been waiting you for so long!!!"
"Hey. Who are yo--?"

I instantly unfold the pocket knife I held by swinging my right hand downwards, while showing the hostility towards the sword wielding girl. The girl's sweet smile turned into a deathly grin as she unsheathed her sword at her waist showing traces of blood on the edge of her swords.

"NOW! GO TO HELL!!!"

She shouted as she ran behinds me faster than the wind--no, that wasn't the right term for that. SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME THE TIME I SWUNG MY KNIFE WHILE SHOWING HOSTILITY ON HER!

The next thing is...

I saw the bloody point of her sword piecing through my left part of my chest (more accurately, she pierced it through the most vital part of my body--my heart) with my bulging eyes because of shock and sudden fear.

"(What the... What...just...happened...)"

She pulled her sword against my chest with ease as she was only pulling it from the ground and licked the blood remained on the blade before sheathing it on her scabbard attached on her waist. As for me, who's vomiting and spilling blood from my punctured chest I tried to ask her for her reason for doing this, but it seems I can only do is to murmur whether I like it or not.

"W-Why..."
"No reason~~" She replied as she was singing.

And then, sudden thought entered my mind knowing her identity...

"D-don't...tell...me...You...at...this...city..."

I limply replied at her before losing all of my energy. I didn't heard what did she said next before she left my room. Anyhow, I knew who she is, but it is too late for me to realize it.

Her name was Maiya Tsukino.

There was a certain girl reported to the news few months ago about being the culprit of mass killings among men throughout Japan and caught up in an entrapment operation in Osaka.
She was charged of mass murder with no bail and life imprisonment as punishment, but it turns out that the girl they caught was mentally ill and she was decided to be moved into a high security mental facility in Tokyo, but a sudden unexplained phenomenon happened the next day.

The next day, according to the news, a rain of fireball bombarded the van where the girl was confined.
She was considered dead at first, but according to the witnesses who lately said their statements, it was a man with black robe who did the rain of fireball and abducted the girl from the destroyed vehicle.

Since that day, she never shown herself nor did any mass murders.
Even so, the authorities still continues to look for her and confine her again and they are afraid that there will be a time that she will escaped the country, making her charges here will be forfeit.

After all the investigations made by the police, they are failed on figuring out the reason she was performing series of murders among men throughout Japan.

And now, she made a next victim, proclaiming her return--me.

Blood continues to spill out from my body. As I continued to vomit blood, I tried to call for help, as someone might hear me calling for help.

"H-h...elp..."

But it seems nothing's coming from my mouth aside from blood. As my consciousness is fading away, I still hold my knife from my left hand but after a few moments, strength left not just my right hand but my body as well as I closed my eyes not knowing when I will open it again.


On this day; June 4 2011, 3:47PM and 35 seconds--I declared myself, "dead on the spot."

June 5, 6:11AM

"(Ughhh... What is that red light--huh?)"

Still half-blinded by the red light coming from the sword I held moments ago, I opened my eyes. There is a black curtain fluttering through the cool winds of early morning.

"(Huh, morning already?)"

I looked on the wristwatch attached on my arm. My watch says it is 6:11AM the next day, away from the 3:47PM I once saw in my watch. Feeling weird of what is happening, I stood up from the bed where I ended up laying...

"(Wait, this is my bed. Since when did I get laid here?)"

That's far weirder from what I seen.

The last time I saw was the unknown space where I ended up floating like there is no tomorrow.
Then, a man who almost looks like me asked whether I still want to go home or not. At my response, he gave me a sword with a red glass ball inserted in the hollowed slot of the cross-guard. That red glass ball also the cause of the red light that blinds me to the point that I can't avoid the light even I close my eyes.

Speaking of the sword, it was laid beside my bed.
I grabbed the sword and took a glance at it.

The red glass ball sparkled as if it was sparkly clean, through the reflection made by the red glass ball I accidentally look at the surroundings.

Black curtains that covers the window, old wooden floor, an old but working refrigerator, as well as an old TV placed on top of an old small table, a small dining table, a small bathroom, and a door that has its clamps snapped.

"(Hmm.. this place looks familiar... a door that its clamps snapped--)"

In a flash, a bit of enlightenment enters my head. That door was destroyed when nee-san and Ryuji are talking to each other but it ended up in a brutal ending where nee-san kicked Ryuji so hard that the door destroyed because the force it receives from nee-san's leg plus Ryuji's momentum against the wall was overwhelming.

"Don't tell me...Did I just...return? N-no, that wasn't the right question... Am I...alive...again?"

I did hear that guy asking me whether I want to return here. In fact, I remembered the exact words he said that time:

"Do...you...want...to...come back...home?"

and...

"Will you accept your death as part of your fate in order to return to your world, living once more?"

Dying as a part of my fate? I tried to think about that, but it seems my stupid mind can't understand what he means about that. While sitting and heavily thinking about that matter, I felt thirsty. I stood up from the bed and walked towards the refrigerator. I opened the metal door that seals the coolness of the fridge from going outside and gulped a bottle of water I grabbed from the cold shelf. By drinking that bottled water, I did realized that I'm really alive now (I won't get thirsty nor having worldly desires if I'm still dead).

"So... I am really alive now... hahaha..."

I lightly laughed as I continued to drink the remaining water in the bottle until nothing remains inside.

"Well, I'm glad, he's telling the truth. I wonder how he did that..."

All of a sudden, the doorknob of the door starts to move. Due to previous experience of being killed, I panicky grabbed the sword that is lying on the bed and clumsily hold it with my whole strength from my hands. A shadow of a person is entering the sight. I can't tell whether he was a boy or a girl. Even so, only one person entered my mind as my fear of the unknown is rising--

Maiya Tsukino...

That is the name of the serial killer who killed me yesterday. Since I'm still alive at this moment, is there a possibility that she will return here to finish her business here? I bet it she will do that. After all, she won't leave any witnesses alive whereas she has also a history of killing every witness who saw her or survived the murderous attempts she performed.

"(Don't tell me... I'm going to die again?)"

As my fear is continuing to rise, I hesitantly shout at the approaching person on the door, hoping that it would be anyone else I know.

"W-WHO'S COMING?"

Footsteps continued to enter the room until a certain person completely inside and now standing on the wooden floor.

Fortunately, it wasn't Maiya Tsukino. who entered my room...

Moreover, it is a person I knew before. A young man with black hair having an average height same as mine, and has blue eyes but it does have a fair complexion compare to the last time I saw him on that gloomy place. In addition to his description, he was carrying a tray filled with food on it.

"Huh? Who am I?" The guy holding a tray of food asked me in puzzlement in straight Japanese.

As for me, who's shocked of what I've seen, dropped the sword I once tightly held and left my jaw dropped for more than a second.

"(Wh-What is he doing here? And how did he understand or even speaks Japanese as well?)"
"Oi Oi! Don't look at me with that very surprised expression." He answered, averting my question on him.
"...ugh..."

In other words, the person who entered my room, holding some food is THE GUY THE REASON WHY I AM STILL HERE!

6:16AM

"Whngo arg nyou?"
"Can you please swallow your food first before you talk?"

I was scolded by an unknown person due to my unethical way of eating such as talking when my mouth is full. Well, I can't hold myself back from refraining myself from asking him some questions.

At first, I was stunned when I saw him went inside my room holding a tray full of food. Who have thought that the person I saw somewhere outside from this world is the same person I'm going to see here carrying food?

"(Really, what the hell is happening today?)" I thought.

Speaking of that person, he wasn't wearing his worn-out swordsman outfit of his. Instead, he was wearing a white polo with the badge of our school on its front pocket and navy colored pants, similar to our school uniform. He is also carrying a tray with fried fish as a main course, miso soup for the appetizers, and a hardboiled egg for side dish. Together with a bowl of newly cooked fried rice and a bottle of iced tea, they are placed in a large tray he ended up carrying upstairs.

By the time he put down the tray on the table, I stared, sniffed and even tasted the food with my index finger like some idiot who idiotically checks the food if there is poison added here or not. With a reaction on his face that says: "What the hell is this idiot doing with the food?" He speaks in a calm manner as he responds to my stupid curiosity,

"Don't worry, it's safe to eat."
"..."
"In fact, a tall brown girl with brown hair in ponytail asked me to bring that to you."
"Kanami nee-san?"
"She said that I must bring this tray to you upstairs, if you were still sleeping please, I'm going to wake you up."

And that's how I get my breakfast with some unknown person as a waiter (apparently, I recently knew about him because I once saw him at "outer space").

Going back to reality, I swallowed the food I was chewing so that the person sitting in front of me won't feel disgusted as continue to eat. I asked him again the same question,

"Who are you?"
"Before I answer your question, is the time here correct? Well, based on the position of the sun, it says that it is about six in the morning, am I right?"

Instead of answering my question, he asked me another question. I looked on my wristwatch to confirm the time.

"(It says six sixteen in the morning here on my watch. I guess he is right regarding on the time. But seriously, answer my question first.)"

"Yeah, to be exact it is 6:16AM, now can you please answer my question now?"

Silence reigns inside the room as the person in front of me became silent. After a few moments of silence, he starts to introduce himself.

"It is nice to see you in your world, Yusuke Kotaro."
"Yeah, yeah nice to see you--hey, how did you know my name?"

I answered him with a mix of disrespect when suddenly became shocked of my name being known by him. But he seems not affected with my answer and continues to speak.

"My name is Johann Valliere, the first son of the Valliere's head family. I came here in your world for a certain request."
"What do you mean?"
"First of all, as you can see, we are similar to the fact that our faces and our bodies are very alike, but in reality, we are different only on one thing—you exist in this world while I am not.”
“Well... I guess you were right about that fact. I'm different from you and so are you. But I'm still wondering about one thing; if you don't really exist here as you said, how did you managed to get here?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong again..." He again averts himself to my question.
"(Seriously...he answered me again with another question.)" I thought while feeling irritated to the person I'm talking to.
"...this place is called Ibuki City, a certain modernized city inside of a small island found in a group of islands called Okinawa which is under territory of a certain place called Japan, right?" He asked me again with another question, verifying if what he said is correct.
"Yeah, this place is part of Ibuki City. Well, how did you manage to get here or even gather information just like that though you are not from this place either?" I answered while trying to ask him again the same question.
"Information is everywhere. Just by looking at your surroundings, you will know about everything." Johann answered.

Yeah, it does make a sense. After all, in place where technology is highly innovated, you will know everything about the world just by looking at them.

Cellphones, computers, televisions, and even catalogs hanged out on the street can give you various information about everything—the basic at the least.

I even thought about him as a genius who knew everything in this world, and then I realized: "There is no way for a medieval aged swordsman to know about everything in a snap of a finger."

I took a spoonful of meal in my mouth as I looked at him.

"(Round face, blue eyes, fair complexion. There is no doubt, except from his black colored hair he actually looks like me,)"

I was thinking of that while chewing the food inside my mouth. We are not blood-related but, I and the person named Johann possess almost the same physical characteristics. Of course I can compare anything more than the basic parts of my body to prove that we weren't the same. So I ended up asking him about his "face" after I swallowed my food.

"Hey..."
"What is it?"
"Say, why do we look alike?"

Johann went silent while humming a "Hmmm..." sound as if he was thinking very deep.

"Well, do you know about parallel universes?"
"Well, a little. As far as I remember, these universes contained multiple realities on a different time and place. According to some theoretical physicists, parallel universes can also be considered as "another part of you if you took this route."
"Theo-what?" Johann asked in puzzlement
"Theoretical physicists, the ones who focus themselves in theory of relativity or the time and space itself."
"Are they humans as well?" Johann stupidly asked.
"Yes, they are humans as well. “
Haaaa... He acted like he knows everything here and now he looks so stupid.

“Let me say like this: these physicists are people who studies time and space."
"Oh... I get it, so those people also study things like that," Johann answered as if he understands it now (hopefully, he does really understand it).
"Sorry about that. I just don't completely know about everything here. As far as I know, only my clan studies about that stuff." He added as if he is making a confession.
"So, there are so many physicists in your family...amazing," I said it with my honest praise.
"No, they aren't the same people you're talking about,"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, my relatives are magicians--to be exact, time magicians."

Dead air reigns inside my room for several seconds...

"Huh?"

I said as this is the only thing I can react for the time being.

Seriously, he is a magician?
His family is a magician?
Is this a joke?

"Don't you know about them?" Johann asked.
"I-I know about them, but the things they only can do were summoning rabbits out of hats, or showing the card you drew without knowing what is it, or even chomp a metal coin and spits it back to normal as if nothing happened. I didn't know of a magician that can travel back through time."

Truthfully speaking, I don't believe in magicians who can do supernatural powers like throwing fireball from their hands or healing ones serious wound by touching on the injured part just like some fiction shows on TV.

"Magicians don't summon rabbits from their hats or even chew coins and spit it back from their mouth. Perhaps the thing you saw as magicians were only fraud and doing those petty tricks just to gain impression from people."

I felt speechless as he speaks. His eyes are filled with seriousness as if they were saying that "We're not joking! All the things I'm going to say are all true so, you must believe me," he continues to speak as I remained silent.

"We magicians are not performers. We are warriors that will fight for our country as long as we breathe," he said.

And then he became silent as well, but not for long because he changed the topic as he starts to speak again, but his mood changed, from a serious one, to a much cooler one.

"Ah...sorry, I was carried away. Well, my patriotism causes me to act like that of earlier," he suddenly apologized.
"Ah...yeah, I'm sorry as well. It seems that I unconsciously insulted you all of a sudden, so it can't be helped if you get mad at me all of a sudden."
"You're right, let's end our apologies and go back to our topic."

I took a breath from the discussion by taking again a spoonful of food into my mouth.

It seems that the food cooled off a bit after a brief discussion, but it does not matter to me. After all, I managed to eat again decent food, which "living people" like me needs to survive.

Johann, on the other hand, was simply glimpsing on the food every now and then.

"(Is he hungry?)"

Well, it bothers to me also that someone's in front of me, watching me eating. And so I decided my next move, but just by time I thought of that. Johann opens again the discussion.

"Going back to our topic, it seems you know a bit about parallel universe, then."

I nodded while trying to swallow the food I'm chewing.

"According to our elders studying the time and space itself, these universes possess different realities of life. Some universes have life, some have not. Some of them are very different to us, some of them are alike to us, and some of them are absolute opposite to each other." He explained.

Then he raises his right index finger in front of me and then...

Biri Biri!

...a short trail of electricity came from his fingertips as I flinched of what I saw.

"Wow..." I spat out in fascination.
"This is my power as a magician... As I said earlier, some of these universes are either alike or opposite to each other, although I'm not sure about this fact it is still better to say this to you."
"What is that?"
"It seems my world and your world are in different poles, in other words even though we came from different time and place, we are still interconnected by the fact that our worlds we live on are one, despite of different scenarios."

The room became silent once more.

"What are do you mean by that?"

With a confused expression, I asked for an explanation. As for Johann’s response, he only said this to me:

"I mean, you, and I are only one."

6:21AM

"Okay...let's consider the fact that we are one. Well, how can you justify that?" I asked Johann.

Well, I'm still surprised thinking of another me, from another world that suppose to be "non-existent" by science coming here for a talk, and now I am seeing him in front of my eyes realizing the reality of my imagination. And the ones I wrote in my notepad became true. I wonder if it is just coincidence or I am just dreaming. But despite of everything I’m seeing now, I still doubt about him, this time traveler thing or even myself.
Perhaps my minds if filled with "What's?" or "Ha's" because of these unimaginable thought. As confusion attacks my head, together with my now-cold meal, I asked him again. In an instant he replied to my question just like this,

"In the time the world is in chaos, a group of people from the world, together with the power of the gods residing in them, they will save the world from further destruction...a certain prophecy of ours said that."
"..."
"That prophecy explains the a group of people from another reality or parallel world, together with the power of the gods gave to them, they can lead the world from being astray. One of those people is you." he added as he points his index finger on me who just finished eating.
"Me? Are you sure with that?"
"Yeah, I'm sure of that. That sword is the solid proof."

He immediately points his index finger to the sword resting on the side of my bed.

"That the sword I gave to you right?" He asked me for verification.
"Yes, it is." I nodded in affirmation.

Yeah, I still remember about that. He did give me that sword when we were floating on "outer space." But first, he placed some red glass ball in a round hollow space inside the cross-guard of the sword. That thing also shined by the time I touched the sword, causing to me, ending up here as if nothing really happened.

"That sword has the power of the Fire God within it. Because the orb attached to the sword shined by the time you touched it, you have been selected by Fire God as his servant by reverting the time to the time you were still alive."
"So this is past right?"
"No, it's not like that. You are still in present times though certain things happen making you in this situation same as mine."
"Then, how did I end up in my room?"
"Well, what do you remember before you've met me?"

I deeply think about things I did before I saw him. First of all, I had a bad wakeup call from Ryuji as well he ruined my breakfast meal. Secondly, I ditched school because for some unknown reasons, I ended up lying on the bed. As lastly, I was killed. That's right; I was killed by a most wanted murderer with a Japanese sword on her hand. I can't forgive her. She's the reason of all of this. If it is wasn't for her, I'm still enjoying my peaceful life as high school student in this highly advanced city surrounded by water known as Ibuki City.

"I was killed..." I answered as I tightly clenched my fist.
"I was killed by a serial killer," I added.

Still, I have some anger residing in my heart, because of no reason; my life just ended with a single thrust of a sword. Even so, I am still glad I manage to be here again. Speaking of being here again...

"Wait, I have something to ask you, time traveler,"
"What is it?"
"Am I alive at this moment?" I stupidly asked a question that a normal person won't get the sense of asking it.
"Apparently, yes. You are still alive." he answered.

I felt relieved at that time. At least it came from the person who told me first that I'm dead but...

"How? I was dead before, how did I manage to be alive again?" I asked him with still doubts on my mind.

Johann putted the back of his left hand to his chin with an expression of being troubled. He remained in that pose while whispering to himself: "How can I explain this to him?" several times, until he came up on an idea.

"Kotaro, can you give me something that I can throw," he requested.

Without any words, I followed his request as I search my whole room for anything I throw. Of course I have a bad feeling about what is on his mind. Even so, I have to do this in order to understand everything, I thought. One by one, I assessed the things I see whether it can be thrown as well I need to consider whether it is safe to throw or not. As of now, I've collection several things ready for my final evaluation (though I don't have an idea why did I consider human references as targets to be thrown).


Pencil ----> too small to throw, also its point can be dangerous as it can puncture the eyes.
Empty Plastic Bottle ----> can be thrown but its lightness makes this weapon hard to aim.
Kitchen Knife ----> I only see knives being thrown in movies in which whoever has been hit this thing instantly die and I feel it creepy.
The Sword on my Bed ----> If I don’t want to see a flying knife, what more a flying sword?
My Small Round Table ----> too heavy to be thrown. Also, Nee-san will kill me if I destroy this thing.
Old Science Book ----> Maybe this thing will work. It can be thrown and at the same time, it is safe to be thrown.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Johann with a troubled expression scratched his temple as I am being cautious of what I am being thrown.

"(I only want anything to be thrown and yet, he's having a hard time on it,)" he thought.

And then he saw the book I was holding. As he saw me staring at it,

"(I prefer to throw the knife or the sword I gave to him as a joke but I think this book is fine,)" he added.
"That book is fine," he said while raising his voice a bit as he looks at the book I'm holding.

I walked towards the round table where Johann is sitting on the other side of the table and gave him the book. I went back again at my seat when suddenly...

"So what are you planning with that bo--Ow!"

By the time I'm going to sit down, Johann who's holding an old science book threw it in front of me.
The trajectory of the book says it will head my forehead at 100% accuracy and it does!
The momentum of the incoming book was stopped by my forehead and falls on top of the table creating a jolt of movements on the dining ware placed on top of it. As for me who was hit by an incoming book at high speed, I was knocked back in order for the energy made by the momentum of the incoming book being distributed to my body.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! That hurts!" I yelled while in agony.

It takes about half a minute crying in pain until it subsides. By the time I don't feel any pain from my body, anger filled my body next.

"HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"No reason. I only threw it as a joke...pfft...," he answered as he kept resisting himself from laughing. He again picks the book that is dropped on the table.
"Okay, I'm going throw it again to you," he heartlessly said to me as a warning.
"WHAT THE--"

Johann throws again the book at me, but this time I crossed my both arm as I'm trying to block the incoming book. The book simply hits my crossed arms and fell again on the table, avoiding the critical blow on my head for the second time. But this time, my temper exploded.

"YOU..." I angrily muttered.

As I about to grab the book he throw to me, just to throw at him for revenge, Johann snapped his fingers and the book suddenly disappeared from the table. No, that's not the right term. The book that was once on the table was now on the floor where it was located by the time I'm choosing a thing to throw. Johann, on the other side clicked his tongue in disappointment as the book misses its trajectory for the first time.

"Tsk...It misses, too bad he already knows where I am going to throw the book at," he murmured.

Unfortunately, I heard about that loud and clear as I am going to charge and give him a solid punch. Johann who was sitting on the floor starts to explain everything.

"I see, you blocked the book with your both arms crossed," he said.
"OF COURSE, I'M GOING TO BLOCK IT! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!"
"Relax; I'm going to defend myself with my explanations,"
"Etch..."

Johann, who is now uncomfortable to his speaking position, moved sideways several times until he'd found out his comfortable position. As he was already comfortable in his seat, he began to explain himself.

"You, by the time I already holding the book and you're about to sit to the floor. I threw the book at you, right?"
"..."
"Does it hurt?"
"OF COURSE, IT DOES! TRY TO STEP IN MY SHOES AND BEING THROWN A BOOK IN YOUR FACE, I THINK YOU WILL UNDERSTAND HOW AM I FEELING RIGHT NOW." I exclaimed in anger.
"What will happen if such thing happens again, won't you try to stop it?" he suddenly asked me a serious question.
"What do you mean?"
"For example, you said that you were once killed by a serial killer without a certain reason, don't you want avoid death when you already know what will exactly happen to you?"
"Yeah, without a doubt, I'll prevent that thing to happen..." I replied in agreement with him.
"...in fact, by the time I see her again, I am going to stamp my fist onto her face!"

I tightly clenched my fist by the time I said. Johann, who asked that question to me can only do is scratch his head to my reply.

"Geez... I guess you are the type who hits on girls. Even though the one who killed you was a girl, well at least have some manliness towards girls."
"Really..." I answered while being displeased.
"Anyway, what am I saying is, you want to avoid the worst thing that suppose to happen to you when you actually knew about it right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"That such situation actually happened when you gripped the sword I gave to you at the dimension rift."
"..."
"When you hold that sword, the orb I attached a while ago shined, blinding both of us in a pure red light. Well, actually "you" are the only one who was blinded there. As for me, who was also there when the red light from the orb engulfs us, I was traveled back in time--to your time, actually."
"What do you mean by that?"
"To be concrete, when you took a grip on the sword, the red orb attached in the sword released a shiny red light that blinds everything it reaches. By the time we were blinded by light, a part of your memories was being shown to you of how did you end here and I saw you, being stabbed by a woman in bandage. Then I used an Art of Space Time just to travel to your past and preventing you from being killed. As a result, we ended up in this situation," he explained.

As he explains why we I am still alive and how did he ended up here, I started to think of a single word.

"(I'm sure; there is a term for that. I can't think of that word. Damn it!)"

While he's speaking, I grabbed the science book that was used to throw at me as well. It was a physics book where you will know the physical properties of everything. I first planned of flipping the page chapter by chapter just to find that certain word for that but I felt that it will be very hassle to do that.
So I decided to start looking at the back of the book, not because the most topics here are hard to understand but I want to search the Index part of the book about time and space (since he'd just said a "Space Time Spell" so I thought it is based on some parts of theory of relativity). After a few moments of flipping and skimming the pages, I'd found the right word on that and I muttered it as if I am trying to memorize it.

"Paradox," I muttered.
"What?" Johann asked.
"Paradox. Pa-ra-dox. What did you just do is a paradox."

I looked again at the page where I've found out about that...

"Though, it only explains on my book that killing yourself in the past resulting losing your existence in the future is the perfect example of a paradox, I think doing this the other way around such as preventing yourself in a fatal car accident can cause your existence in the future continue the way you've survived a sudden death." I added.
"So what is this paradox anyway?" This time, Johann who is on the thinking state, asked me regarding on that.
"Yeah, speaking of that, I've just remembered of a certain documentary about time I watched few days ago. According to the theoretical physicist who guest themselves on that show. Paradox is a distortion of the time of an individual made by a sudden change that changes one reality in an instant."
"..."
"One concrete example of that is death. According to the explanation of paradox, if the present you time traveled to your past and you killed your past yourself, the present you will vanish in an instant as if you did not exist. But they did not tell if doing this the opposite way also a paradox, and besides..."
"..."
"There is no way you can travel back in time in this world since there is no technology has been made that can travel you in the past, not even to prove the existence of paradox," I lightly laughed at the sad reality of this world.
"..."

Johann while his head slightly lowered having his thumb and his index finger holding his chin remains himself in thinking.

"Hmm... w-well, I think you are now having a hard time thinking about what I said, I won't bother you about that, but I want to ask you about something."
"What is it?" he replied, as if he was snapped out of his trance.
"Well...we're talking about the sword I touched many times ago but still I want to know, what that sword you handed to me is? More precisely, what is this red orb you placed in the sword causing all of this?"

I asked Johann while pointing my index finger on the sword that is resting against my bed.

6:26AM

"Well...we're talking about the sword I touched many times ago but still I want to know, what that sword you handed to me is. More precisely, what is this red orb you placed in the sword causing all of this?"

With an expression of puzzlement, I asked Johann with my index finger pointing at the sword resting beside my bed that is behind him.

Just the time I pointed the sword behind Johann, the glass ball in its cross-guard glowed for a bit as if it is responding to my attention. As his response, Johann only twisted his body to the left just to see the sword that is placed beside my bed. He took the sword and placed it on top of the table. Of course, I removed all other stuff that is placed there such as my old silverware and chinaware that once held my breakfast. As I cleaned the table, he inspects the sword by looking, touching the sword itself and even swinging the sword lightly while sitting on the floor. Then he answers my question, the same way he always me--a very confusing answer from him.

"Oh, the sword? It's just my ordinary long sword I took from my place."
"Eh? THEN WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED TO US?!"
"Relax, I'm not finished speaking yet. Yes, the sword itself has nothing to do with us. But instead, the thing that I installed to the sword had made everything going the way it desired."
"Then what is that red thing you placed on the sword?"

While holding the sword in his right hand, Johann placed his left index finger on the red glass ball that is continuously glowing since the time the sword was carried over to me.

"This? This is the Fire Orb. A Divine Relic that contains the power of one of the Four Gods that governs life--Icarus of the Blessed Flame."
"..."

Then he took out a leather pouch, which is used to be a wallet in medieval times from the pouch of his navy blue pants. He looses the tie from it and its contents rolled down from the pouch. There are exactly three glass balls rolling on the table with colors yellow, blue, and green respectively. Then Johann continues to speak as he putted down the sword along with the other glass balls that recently stopped rolling on the table.

"These are the Orbs of the Sacred Gods, where the power of the gods who govern the life and balance of this world are being sealed in this orbs. The Earth Orb contains the power of the Earth God, Gaia of the Divine Land; the Water Orb contains the power of the Water God, Aqua of the Serene Torrent; And the Wind Orb with the power of Zephyr of the Surging Breeze sealed in it."
"(Compare to the "Red Orb" that has its red color glowing, they aren't glowing at all despite of their same origin.)" I thought.
"Together with Icarus of the Blessed Flame, when the powers residing in each of every orb combined into a single entity, they will become the symbol of salvation--the Orb of Light."
"Hmm... I don't understand what did you just said, moreover, what these gods have to do with this event?" While having a hard time on my mind, I asked Johann.
"Well, these gods HAS something to do with you, since one of them selected you."
"Activated by...me?" I dumbly asked.
"Yes, you are. To make a certain long explanation short, you activated the Fire Orb the first you've touched it."

While saying these words to me, he grabs the sword on its edge with the hilt pointed on my face with his serious blue eyes as if he was saying: “If you still don't believe me, then see it for yourself."

I took his offer and hold the sword by its grip for another time.

Just like the first time I touched the sword, the red glass ball attached in the sword known as the "Fire Orb" continues to glow with its red light.
Although it is not glowing so bright that it might blinds me by time I look at it, it is glowing a faint red light that still attracts my attention like a kid who gets fascinated by a cool toy or a beautiful doll.

Speaking of first time--wa-wait a second, I just realized something...

"Hey Johann,"
"What is it?"
"Did this Fire Orb glow that bright before?" I asked Johann by the time I'd realized that matter.
"No...I mean, I don't know. It had been a while since these orbs are handed over to me."
"So...you're saying that I made this orb shined like that?"
"As you can see, it is a big YES for me. Did I tell you earlier, certain group of people from another reality together with the power of the gods given to them can save the world and one of those people I'm talking about is you."
"..."
"In addition to that prophecy, the one who was chosen by the God to handle its power can make the hold, representing that God itself shined the first time he or she'd touched it. Thus, those people are being called by the gods as Servants."
"...ugh..."

It does make the sense. Our bizarre meeting at "outer space," offering the sword he unsheathed together with the Fire Orb attached in it to me, the killing, my sudden misfortune, all are now making sense.

I want to think about this as a dream--a nightmare at least, but unfortunately, I am already in the real world, living again in the reality of life. Moreover, it seems these events are not actually a coincidence, more accurately, it was planned properly in order for me to do it whether I like it or not.

"(I just want a peaceful life, that's all...)"

I'm just a rebellious high school student; who only wants freedom on anything I liked as long it is not bad things; who moves away from my family in order to spend my remaining years before joining the society and then all of a sudden, I was killed by a cute psycho girl who was being chased by the police up to this moment, yet managed to survive that bloody murder by a guy who looks like me and proclaims himself a magician, leading me to be appointed by a servant of a being who doesn't really exist here (or rather from a distant world).

"(I have a feeling that I will be dragged into a big mess which I myself can’t get an idea on how to clean it.)"
"You mean...since I'm the only one who made this orb shined that means I'm its...servant?" I reluctantly asked Johann.
"Exactly."

Johann simple nods on his response.

And my premonition is right, He had simply affirmed that I was selected to be a servant of a deity from his world, and in the days to come, I will see myself in the center of a certain business regarding these orbs.
I want to laugh at this serious matter but deep inside my heart, I want to cry while banging my head on the hard floor for being involved in this strange situation like this.

6:30AM

"Ehhhh...is that so? I guess I have no choice but to GLADLY accept it."
I said that half-heartedly to Johann who's scratching his head due to my sudden change in behavior. He might be thinking that this is the end of the world for me and now thinking a best way to slowly accept my fate. By the way, these are also my thoughts about being a servant.

"(I guess I should go with the flow. Nothing will happen if I still continue to complain to myself.)"

"Hey, I'm serious with this, man."
"I know."
"Then tell everything about this servant thing." I retorted to Johann who just recently snapped out of his brief trance.

"(Is he really serious about this? He's always making dead airs during our talk. Moreover, he's like a PC with a network connection issue, to a certain point that he's lagging in the middle of our conversation.)" I thought.

Johann seeming to agree to my suggestion starts again to speak nonchalantly.

"Today, Johann Graci de Valliere, eldest son of the fourth generation head family of the Valliere clan, will appoint this person, Yusuke Kotaro to be the servant of the Fire God, Icarus of the Blessed Flame for the rest of his life--"
"WAIT, WAIT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

And he starts to speak crap too...
Johann, holding the sword with the Fire Orb attached on the hilt placed it on top of my shoulders (left to right consecutively) and onto the top of my head, mimicking some royal ceremony among monarch kingdoms. He all did this to me while having an Indian seat on the floor. To Johann, (who likely came from a monarch kingdom based on his previous swordsman outfit) doesn't seem to be bother by this little play, but as for me, (who's living in a diplomatic country since the time I was born) I felt stupid at it.

"I'm appointing you now as the servant of Icarus-sama." He answered as if he really not bothered by it, despite how stupid looking it is.
"Just ignore the appointing part for a moment; just tell me who this Icarus-sama is. Oh another thing, what does this God had done with me?"

Putting down the sword to the floor, Johann performed a series of small coughs, and then he again continued to speak with a hint of distraction on his face.

"Icarus of the Blessed Flame is the one who brings fire into existence. The fire itself represents the cycle of life--life and death. Its heat supports everything living in order for them to survive, but at the same time, it brings destruction to everything and anything that seems to affect the balance of the world."
"..."
"According to a certain myth about the beginning of time, the Four Sacred Gods; Gaia of the Divine Land, Aqua of the Serene Torrent, Zephyr of the Surging Breeze and Icarus of the Blessed Flame who once in the form of human beings in the beginning of time, decided to create the universe, as they felt bored talking to each other in a place where nothing exist around them. Because of that, they sacrificed their human form to form a single mass of energy that blasted in all directions resulting in more massive explosions in order to create everything in its existence. After that, the Gods used their remaining energy in order to be reincarnated as a physical figure; the Earth God, became a lion, the Wind God, became a hawk, the Water God, became a shark, and the Fire God became a phoenix, and sealed themselves in orbs made of gas that lately solidified through thousands of years. Even so, up to this moment, their existence are still living and appoint a Servant that will have a right to use their power on their behalf by the they were unsealed by the person who touched it. However, that will only happen if the world is at its worst state."
"And, one of those people is me, right?"
"Yes," Johann simply replied.
"Then how did appointing me as a servant reverts back the time?"
"You weren't listening to me, were you?"
"..."
"Okay, I'll tell this again once more. When we first met at the dimension rift, your mind and heart told you that you were dead, but in reality, you were still half-alive, though you are only seconds closer to death. Even though you were at that dying state, Icarus-sama still chose you as its servant and by the time you took a grip on that sword, Icarus-sama used a small part of his powers to dig through your final memories. And then I saw you being stabbed by a woman in bandage."
"..."
"Then I casted a Time Space Art that consumes my entire lifeforce to revert the time you were attacked, and a Space Warp in order not only to travel to your time and stop that from happening but also to rewrite the time that I, and these orbs did exists in your world."
"I-I see..."
"Well, if you really lived in the same world as I am, I can let you die there and let Icarus-sama do the job."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked him at his sudden retort.
"According to my great-grandfather who once held these orbs two generations ago, the now-phoenix form of the Fire God Icarus has the ability to resurrect not only itself but also others according to the strength of the willpower to resurrect that target. It is called the "Flame Rebirth"--the power of Icarus-sama, now being shared with you as its servant."
"Its power has being shared...with me?"

I looked at the sword that is laid on the floor. I lifted up the sword from the floor and took again a closer look at it. The orb attached on the cross-guard shined by the time I hold it with my right hand.

"Flame Rebirth...I wonder how it works," I muttered to myself.

Just the exact time I said that to myself to myself, Johann's figure became blurry and just flickered within a second.

"(What the...Johann?)"

At first, I thought it was only me who was hallucinating early in the morning not only because I haven't eaten since yesterday and the food I ate today was taking too long to digest but also because of the weird thing that happened to me.

However, Johann's figure became blurry for the second time...

I scratched my eyes and look at the blurring figure of him. It wasn't my eyes that made his image to me--more likely, Johann (as a whole human) really became BLURRY!

"Hey Johann! Are you alright?" I immediately asked him with a bit of worry and fear on him.
"Yeah. More or less..." he answered.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MORE OR LESS?! TRY TO LOOK AT THE MIRROR. YOU WERE ACTUALLY FLICKERING AND FUZZY LIKE A HOLOGRAM BEING HIT BY AN OBJECT, FOR YOUR INFORMATION!"
"I'm okay."
"YOU'RE NOT!" I yelled.
"I said I'm okay, don't mind about it. This is only a side-effect," Johann nonchalantly replied.
"Side-effect?"
"Yes. After all, I'm all out of lifeforce since I used it to travel to your time and rewrite my existence here. Plus, I created a small spark. As a result, I don't have sufficient lifeforce to maintain my existence here, ending up in this flickering state."
"You're scaring the crap out of me! Seriously, a person who's fading and suddenly appear all at a second or less, like it's nothing anyone will saw you like that will be scared to you as well!" I retorted to him who is being affected by a weird after-effect.
Frankly speaking, looking at a person who is flickering like a ghost like it's nothing is more terrifying than all of the horror and gore movies I watched combined!
"Don't worry, Kotaro. Maybe I looked like this, but I'm fine, believe me. If it wasn’t for me who cast a spell without enough lifeforce to spare, I wouldn't end up like this. Sorry, if I made you worry like that." Johann answered.

Just as the same time he spoke, his flickering stopped--no, maybe that is not the right term. Perhaps, his flickering is slowing down its pace from several times per second, to every second, up to several seconds per flick.

I felt relieved at that time.
Because if that happens, he might only scare the people here or much worse, exterminate him like a pest that is infesting the whole farm whose food can feed up to 300,000 people.

Oh yeah, when he created a small spark on his finger he added that he lost enough lifeforce in order for his existence to be stable, causing his body to enter in a flickering state. He also said that I lost all of my lifeforce when we were at "that" place.

"(Just what is this lifeforce anyway?)"

6:33AM

"Hey,"
"What?"
"What is lifeforce?"

I asked Johann while drinking a bottle of water I tossed on him from the fridge. He still insisted that he was "okay" and nonetheless, only the effect of shortage of what he called "lifeforce" within him causing himself to blur and flicker like that. He also added that he also needs a quick break from all that talking.

Moments later, just after he requested that to me, Johann resumes to speaking despite requesting for a break while putting down the now--empty bottle on the table.

"Lifeforce is type of natural energy that is involuntary created through your heartbeat. It is also an essential type of energy for all life forms that maintains one's existence, physically and spiritually."
"..."

I diligently listen to what he was going to explain at me. Although some of the words don’t make the sense, I still tried to comprehend it, in order to learn more about of our situation.

"All living things including humans have lifeforce, though they are widely varied to each other depending how diverse they are. As for the humans like us who is the most intelligent lifeform of all, have the greatest amount of lifeforce leading to the one who dominates during the period of evolution."
"In other sense, lifeforce is important because it is the only thing that creates and maintains the fact that you lived on this planet..."
"(You are saying that to me, like I am already dead. Well...previously, I am dead)."
"...even if you die, the lifeforce residing on your body will remain--even your body rots or you ended up as a skeleton, the people around you can still recognized that you once lived and existed here. But once you've lost all of your lifeforce, you're doomed, no matter how great your condition is. You will disappear by the time you lose your lifeforce and no one will recognize that you did exist here even once."
"You said earlier that I lost my lifeforce, right? If that is the case then, I didn't just die but also they did not recognize me anymore."Then how come nee-san still remembers me to the point that she actually asked you to carry my breakfast for me?"
"I wonder..." Johann scratches his head as if he really doesn’t know the reason.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN "I WONDER"?" I retorted while my vein is bursting with anger.
"Just kidding... Ahahaha!"
"Then how?"
"You can say your doubts to me later but please listen further to what I'm going to say more,” answered Johann, who just messed up a bit to me, brushing off my question as he tries to maintain his focus of what he is saying.
"...tch..."
"But that is not the only use of lifeforce. Moreover, it is also used to create another special energy called soulforce."
"What now is this soulforce?" I disinterestedly asked.
"Soulforce is a special type of natural energy that is also made when the heart beats. It is created when the stored lifeforce in your body which is a passive energy is involuntary converted into an active form of energy at the same time your heart makes a full pace. The soulforce is also essential for magicians like us in order create various incantations resulting in various supernatural events I can refer in our terms as magic."
"(Magic huh?)" I thought.

So this event is because of magic after all. At least I understand a bit on what he is saying right now. Though, there are some thing I can't fully understand, I can now classify things that is realistic as reality and every that is eccentric, and surreal can be classified as magic.

"(So that small spark created from his finger was made by magic, from his soulforce I guess.)" I muttered to myself.
"(Then why...)"

"Then why did you end up flickering earlier. I know you told me the basic reason, but can you tell the reason in full detail?" I asked him the same time I thought about that.
"Oh...I see. Then, I will it to you in full detail, to a much simpler term. As I was saying, soulforce is necessary for creating magic, right? If you started to cast a spell, your present amount of soulforce is starting to decrease, and if your remaining soulforce becomes empty, you cannot cast spells anymore. Of course, it can be replenished by converting the lifeforce within you though it will take time in order to fully replenish it."
"(Soulforce is needed for magic huh? It's like a mana that is needed to use skills. If I lose mana, then I can't use skills but there is the lifeforce that acts as my ability to regenerate my lost mana. Of course, it will take more time to fully recover from that. It seems that this "lifeforce" is like an infinite reservoir.)" I thought as I digest his words to my brain in my own terms (gaming terms actually).
"If you are thinking that lifeforce is really that infinite, you are certainly wrong with that," Johann added as was deciphering my reaction based on my facial expression. Well, I am really thinking heavily at that time, so he might saw me on that face.

Even so...

"Wha-what the...how did you know about that?" With a shock on my face, I asked him.
"Just as premonition..." he smilingly answered.
"..."
"Usually, the conversion of lifeforce to soulforce runs at same rate your heart normally beats, no matter how low your present soulforce or lifeforce you have.
It is just preset like that since the time you were born in order to obtain the equilibrium between soulforce and lifeforce in your body.
Of course, you can manage your lifeforce, by using it to increase the conversion rate of lifeforce, or to cast a lifeforce-based spell or even stop the conversion of lifeforce into soulforce in order to prioritize your losing amount of lifeforce."
"..."
"The earlier two explains the choice of consuming lifeforce in replace of recently depleted soulforce, but this option can only used when it comes in dangerous situations. I said this because doing such a risky thing like that will deplete remaining lifeforce within you, thus temporarily shortens your lifespan as well as slowly affecting your existence just like what happened to me earlier. And if for some reasons, you still continued to do that, you might lose your entire existence, disappearing from this world without anyone recognizing about you."
"Eh?"

My suddenly twitched for that moment...

"As on my case, I believe I said the reason I ended up like that a while ago, so I don't need to say it again since it is only a waste of time..."
"(...sorry for being a slow learner, alright?)"

I silently retorted to my brain, responding to the words he recently said. He grabbed the plastic bottle that is resting on top of the table, laid it again on the table and continues again to speak while spinning the empty bottle with his right hand.

"...as I was saying, I used the last choice among the three choices I told you about. I consumed a bit of my lifeforce to stop the conversion of lifeforce into soulforce within my body in order to prioritize the recovery of my lost lifeforce. Taking a rest and not participating in battles nor casting any spells is the best way to regenerate my lost lifeforce but in my case, I lost a huge amount of lifeforce so resting will take longer than expected." Johann added as he removes all of my worries...

...not all apparently...

"That includes staying at my room with an indefinite amount of time doesn't it?" I instantly replied him with a question as he was feeling relieved for removing "all" of my worries. Unfortunately, except for this one.

If he demands a longer break from his "battle" of his own, does it means he will going to stay as long as he wants in the name of "taking a break?" Of course, I can take care of myself and this room as well. I can even cook simple foods like fried chicken, pork stew or fish steak or any dish that can be easily prepared.

"(Geez...)"
"Yes, the brown haired girl told me so..."Johann simply replied.
"You are a great guy, are you?" I sarcastically complimented him.
"Me? Hahaha! Don't sweat about that. That is only part of mission as a Guardian."

He honestly answered without any hint of being affected with my sarcasm, or perhaps he didn't figure out my sarcasm after all and honestly answered me like that.

"(Ah, forget it. We're all in this together so I think sharing my room with him won't hurt me.)"

I made a long yawn while facing behind Johann's. With all that talk, I felt sleepy all of a sudden.

It's not like that I'm not interested from what he was saying, but he was saying so many things that an ordinary student like won't easily understand in a flick of a finger.

But frankly speaking, Johann was a great guy.
Though it is inaccurate for me to say so, but he is the only one who made so much effort in order to achieve this...this world where he, I, and the Orbs of the Four Sacred Gods co-exist with each other.

Honestly, I felt myself in-debt a lot from with his all of his efforts he made.

But what if the Fire God who actually chose me as its servant today never appointed me by the first time I met Johann somewhere in space, will he still help me?
I want to ask Johann about that but I realized in the end, it's not worth to say that in front of him.

"With his good deeds, I wonder if Johann's popular with the girls in his place," I utterly murmured to myself as I avert my previous thoughts into another.
"What? Popular?"
"Nothing!"

All of a sudden, he heard me murmuring a while ago. Despite I said it very softly up to the point that I am the only who can hear what I am saying; he merely said a single word from what I said.

"Is that so, I thought you were saying something, more exactly you have something to ask me right?"
"...ugh..."

I was at a loss of words. Not only he did heard what I said earlier, he actually remembered that I was going to ask him a while ago. Though he told me to save my questions after he explain, I can't barely remember now what I am going to ask him.

"Ah...yeah, well... (I COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN WHAT AM I GOING TO ASK HIM!)
"..."

He only stares at me by the moment I said that "popular" word, seeming to have interest to what I am going to say regarding that. And it seems that he knows that I am at a loss of my words at this moment.

"Well, you said that all living things including humans have lifeforce that can be converted into soulforce in order to use magic, right?"

Even so, it also looks like he won't stop staring at me as long I don't say I want to say to him earlier so I decided to make a question based on what I did understood a while ago.

"Yes."
"Then even before you came here, all of the people here must be throwing fireballs or pouring a rain of icicles to each other or even dividing the sea in half with ease based on what I confirmed from you, then why all of this is still impossible for me to do it?"
"True, as humans we have a great potential in creating magic. I had proved this to you by creating a small spark in my finger minutes ago. We have sufficient amount of lifeforce, capable of soulforce production and so-creating magic. But we live from different worlds, parallel and opposite to each other, right? I believed I've already told you this matter earlier."
"Yes, you've already told me that. What are you trying to say by that?"
"Of all the worlds the Four Sacred Gods created, our worlds are the most magnificent of them all, because it represents the opposite reflection of each other, like a mirror for example."Johann continues to speak while grabbing a mirror from his leather pouch and immediately passed it to me afterwards.
"Mirror?" I pondered.
"Try to read the title of the book on the table."
"Oh, wait."

I frantically pulled the book towards me to get a closer look at the title of the book. It was the same physics book that Johann threw at me a while ago and now, he was asking me to read the title of it.

"Modern Physics for High School Students. Written by: Eiji Matsu--"
"Title is fine, Kotaro," he said, trailing me off from what am I saying.
"Oh..."
"Then try to read its reflection on the mirror."

I followed what he does say and place the mirror beside the book. After that, I looked on its reflection and tried to read what does it says. Frankly speaking, I can’t read even a single word from that reflection, and so I gave up.

"Sorry, I can't read it."
"So, you did not manage to read it? That same goes to our worlds we came from."

Johann points his finger on the book.

"Let's say that this book is your world and its reflection from the mirror is my world. You've manage to originally read the book because this thing came from here. You've also able to read it because you know the laws of this world. But when you start to read the words from the mirror that symbolizes my world, you failed to identify even a single letter there, let alone read the whole word there despite it is the same book you've read earlier."
"..."
"That same goes to our worlds, though I can't fully say that the physical features of this world are quite similar to our world because I haven't seen any map here or anywhere else, I can partially confirm it to myself that our worlds are physically alike because everything I see here is almost same as ours. Even so, there is only one thing I feel it the least ever since I came here and thus, one of the reasons our worlds are opposite to each other."
"What is this thing?" I slowly asked him while having some processing of thoughts inside my brain.
"It is the natural energy itself?"
"Natural energy, you say?"
"Indeed, natural energy is the energy of this entire world itself. It is essential for this place to support by itself. Without this energy, this entire place--no, the universe itself will not exist up to this moment. The rustling of the wind, flowing of water, earthquakes and volcanic activities are perfect examples of natural energy."
"..."
"When the Four Sacred Gods created the universe, natural energy is also created in the process as it starts to circulate moments after it was created. That was the first time the natural energy flowed into the existence. As it flows within the universe the Four Sacred Gods created, several phenomenons, like gravity, inertia, and heat necessary for magic were created because of that. These energies, created by Four Sacred Gods cannot be destroyed but at the same time, it cannot be created by other medium except for the Gods itself." Johann stated.
"What?" I responded as I really cannot understand what he is saying.


But despite of that, Johann continues to speak.

"Even though natural energy is indestructible in this manner, it can still change into other types of energy that has the same value of the natural energy itself, like physical and spiritual energy for example."
"..."
"Physical energy is the type of energy that is responsible for the physical properties of this world. Starting from landscapes, vast open seas, and even the heaven itself are examples of physical energy."
"Okay..."

He's referring on outer space, I think...

"Spiritual energy on the other hand is the type of energy that creates phenomenon like breezes, tides and weather itself. It is usually influenced by objects made by physical energy, like mountains, lakes and seas and many others. Lifeforce and soulforce belonged to this category."

And this spiritual energy is the thing that makes everything in this world alive--these were words coming from the mouth of Johann--only to be translated in my terms in order for me to understand it.

"These two types of energies are the only thing that the natural energy can only produce that creates a cycle which greatly affects the balance of this world," he added.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked in puzzlement.
"Let me give you an example in general. Let's say that a landscape decays or a person dies because of a certain disease, either the physical energy or the spiritual energy that resides within the land or the deceased person will simply be reverted into natural energy that can be use for the cycle of life for years. At the same time, when a lady becomes a mother, the natural energy automatically converts itself into lifeforce in order to support a brand new lifeform that was about to be born."


What he said to me right now made me conclude of a certain thing, though I don't know whether it is right to Johann's perspective or not.


"You said that by the time I die, my lifeforce is reverted back to natural energy and if that time comes, won't it lose the things proving that I still exist? It's really confusing, you know." I asked Johann while scratching my head, maybe because of confusion. And I really mean that!


"Yes, the lifeforce that once within you will be reverted into natural energy by the time you die. Even so, your existence will remain because your lifeforce did not lose in the first place, it only change its form though. Don't be confused. Think that as if only decomposing the remains of a dead person for example."


"Oh, I see..." I nodded at him.
"But your example gives me the creeps...seriously."
"Haha, is that so? My apologies, then." Johann waves his right hand in the air sideways as he apologizes to me with a smile.
"Oh...geez..." I groaned.

Johann continues to speak at me as he discusses everything about the fate I am going to take from now on.

"Actually, this is where the story is going to begin. Since some of the natural energy presented in this very universe is converted into physical and spiritual energy, various things like mountains, rivers and even lifeforms begin to be created into existence. In this manner, the once indestructible natural energy that was being converted into physical and spiritual energy is now can be destroyed through the means of consumption."
"..."
"While some of these energies are returned to its original nature, most of them are consumed and converted into other means, the original cycle can't interfere. Human innovation for example."
"Human innovation..."
"People at our world who are performing various rituals for various purposes like rituals for a great harvest or a good luck that usually uses sacrifices; loses some of its natural energy into nothingness. But at least its effects are at its minimum that everyone can still perform enchantments, though I can't say that a small amount of natural energy can't affect the entire balance of the world."
"..."
"But as for this world you lived in, your innovation sharply advances into rates I can't possibly imagine."
"Ha?"
"I can only see few mountains in this place, as well as some of the waterways within this place isn't enough to support life. Earlier this morning, when I started my measures to replenish my lifeforce, I sensed that I can't replenish my lifeforce unless I get closer to a tree nearby. More importantly, there are unusual structures and objects that aren't powered by basic elements..."

You are referring to the entire city, its waterways and the buildings itself, aren't you?

"...with those evidence I saw earlier, I can deduce that this world of yours, despite being innovative has lost its ability to perform incantations due to the lack of natural energy presented," Johann concluded.

To summarize what he said, the "innovations" he was saying was the technology itself.

But as for me who lives in this world, these "great innovations" he was saying wasn't great to me at all.

Because on my perspective (me, being influenced by animes and movies especially SF theme), being "advanced" means having out of this world technology that makes everyone say: "awesome!"

For me, the world is just undergoing a stage of human evolution known as "modernization" where everything can be done though not all at few clicks or presses of a button, but at ease at least.

But I can't say that Johann's wrong with that.

Through the history, from the Stone Age up to this Modern Era, mankind has accelerated into further extent that mankind itself begins to explore through the heavens hopefully trying to find a unique world, different to Earth.


"(Innovations huh? Maybe Johann really came from the Middle Ages.)"


Since the first time I saw him that he was wearing an outfit perfect for a swordsman, I have a thought that he came to the Middle Aged Europe that time, but my thoughts about his origin went wrong. Plus it looks like he came from the other time, based on his words that can refer "innovations" of him, into "technology" of ours.


Speaking of technology...


"Did you explore this place on your own?" I asked Johann.
"Yeah," he straightly replied.


"Oh, I see. So you had explore this place on your own huh?"


Wait...Something's not right...If he went outside to "investigate" everything about this place, then he went come out of this place with that tattered outfit of his!


"If you went outside to investigate everything about this place, wouldn't everyone will look at your outfit that time?"


Crap...I accidentally said to Johann what I was thinking about.

Come to think of it, if he really did went outside wearing those swordsman outfit of his and a sword on his back to survey this place, wouldn't everyone just thought him as a cosplayer instead of a real swordsman?

Let me put myself in the situation. If I am one of those "someone else" who saw Johann in his swordsman outfit during dawn, wouldn't I think he was just a crazy otaku cosplaying before everyone wakes up?

Let me reverse my position with Johann...

Wearing some worn-out swordsman attire, what would I feel if I walk in the middle of the city at dawn with just worn-out warrior outfit of mine?
Actually, I don't know...and I wouldn't dare myself to do that, EVEN IT COST MY LIFE!

It's not like I don't want to wear a swordsman outfit and walk towards the city streets as if you are the real one.
In fact, I once want to cosplay a swordsman not until I met Johann.

But the time that I will walk within the city (which is dawn) isn't the ideal time to do that.
Lucky for Johann that he did not went into some enforcer nearby or else he might get surrendered to the police station for being suspicious. In Ibuki City where several clubs, casinos and hotels that are open during nighttime, nightlife is as just lively as the usual day life so it is possible for that scenario to happen.


But Johann seems to accept my words as if it was a normal thing to say and calmly said to me:


"I know that would happen, so I borrow a portion of your belongings starting to this clothing I'm using right now."Johann points his left index finger on the polo he was wearing.
"Ah, what the--that was my spare uniform!" I gave a sharp reply on what Johann said.


He is already wearing my spare school uniform that I am going to use this day. And I have only two school uniforms, not to mention that I'm still wearing the same school uniform I wore yesterday.


I gave a sigh on everything that is happening to me. I briefly smelled the uniform that I was wearing since yesterday, hoping that there weren't bad odor within that said outfit. Luckily, it did not produce any bad smell despite of extreme heat yesterday, not to mention that I woke up in my bed wearing this uniform.

"I guess I have to compensate with this," I murmured.
"It was for the need of blending with everything else. If I was bothering you in any aspects, my dearest apologies to you then."

And then my phone rang very loud, causing to vibrate violently and gently shook the table we're using for our short discussion...

A long "KYAAAA~~!!!" reverberates through the entire room as it continues to vibrate violently causing Johann to avert his gaze and looked at my phone with a troubled expression.

"Hehe, excuse me..."

Feeling embarrassed, I quickly unfold my phone and stop it from making noise. And then silence reigns once again in this very room as I made a small coughing in order to go back from being serious.

"There is no problem with that. I hope a full bath would make me clean at least."

I replied at him as I stood up from my place as slowly walked towards the bathroom when suddenly...

Growl...

An unknown stomach is growling from nowhere...

And I know the person who made that growling. It was so loud that I even hear it even I was very far from the culprit.
If the obvious hint still isn't enough to know who is the person behind that weird noise, (though I feel stupid for that someone for not answering that answer despite how obvious the origin of the earlier sound) perhaps he or she has problem in hearing at point-blank range.

To put it in very simple words, obviously it was Johann--or rather Johann's stomach that is growling at this moment, maybe because of hunger.

"Damn you! Why don’t you say something?" I quickly retorted at him, who was looking at me with a guilty smile on his face.

Yeah, I just realized....All this time, he only looks at me while eating, though he didn't show any intentions of jealousy towards my food.
I wasn't bothered by anyone who looks at me while eating, but I am not dumb enough to not notice that there might be people or a person at least around me who is as hungry as I am.
And so, I asked the person in front of the table to clarify what am I thinking up to this moment.

"I bet you are hungry, aren't you?"
"...ah well...about that..."

Growl...

I heard another growling from Johann's stomach for the second time.

"So, you are hungry. I was about to ask to Nee-san for food for you but I need to hurry up if I still want to catch the last bus towards the city proper."
"Ah.., thanks for the concern but no thanks. I'm still--"

Growl...

For the third time around, Johann's stomach growled violently.

"(Man, he sure is stubborn.)"

I scratched the back of my head as I looked at him.

"--hungry. That was the word you would say, right? Don't go with the formalities and let me treat you breakfast."
"..."

Johann went silent as he heard those words from me.


"And besides, there are things I still want to ask you more. But for the mean time, you should eat first." I added.

Upon hearing that, he simply nodded and said,

"I understand what you meant by that. I said many things to you and it can't be helped if you understand a bit on our previous discussion. So, I will accept your offer with gratitude while at the same time, telling you about your future."
"At least you don't need to be formal to me next time."

Johann nodded again at me for the second time.

"Okay, if you said that. Take your time inside."
"Yeah..."

I closed the door leading to the bathroom while thinking on the things that happened earlier.
I put my right hand on my left chest for my vital signs, only to know that my heart is still beating like it always intended to do as an organ.

"There is no doubt, I'm still alive..." I murmured that to myself.


Even so, the fact that I once died less than a day ago still lingers in my thoughts.


The feeling of a sharp metal stabbing through your chest, the taste of your blood as it tries to leaves my body through my mouth, the feeling of gasping for air despite under the sea of breathable air and the feeling of strength leaving my body no matter how I try to exert effort, all these feelings were the exact feeling when I was going to die yesterday afternoon and still scared the crap out of me.
Even so--for some complicated reasons that I myself can't even explain about it, I'm still standing in this bathroom, with my heart still beating the same in order to live another day--as if the horror I felt yesterday afternoon did not exist. I'm sure that even if I tell anyone everything about this, no one--I MEAN NO ONE, including Nee-san will believe to what I am saying.

I already hearing small voices inside me saying, "What the hell are you thinking?" or "Are you talking about your dream?" or even "Are you lacking some screws in your head, Kotaro?" if I brought the topic about what happened to me yesterday.

Sigh...I guess I really don't have any choice...

"(So, I have to carry this thing...together with that person outside...right?)"

Ever since yesterday, all the things that happened to me are really ridiculous, not to mention that those things continue to happen early this morning.
As I removed my clothes and turned the shower on, I made the decision of following the "swordsman" Johann. I don't care now how weird are the things he is going to say to me, because no matter how I try to refuse to accept it on my mind or even telling them my situation right now, everyone won't believe at my stand here.

"I guess, I have no choice...but to join him..."

I muttered that as tiny droplets of water coming from the shower continues to falls as if it was rain, cleansing not only my body but also my mind as well--even for a single moment.

6:47AM

The date today is June 5, 2012; and the current season today is spring--late spring though.

This is the part of the spring where the overall temperature of the entire place starts to rise.

Frankly speaking, although it is still less than fifteen minutes before seven o' clock, the sun is already shining brightly--so bright that my one day old school uniform is starting to get drenched in sweat as I continued to walk towards the nearest bus that will send us in front of my school.

Why did I say "us?"

That is because of a certain reason...

The self-proclaimed magician, who just sent me back again in this place, Johann Valliere was now walking beside me right now.

Wearing a white polo with a badge of our school in the chest pocket as well as his navy blue pants, (which is now our current school uniform that was both borrowed from me) he walks beside me at a slower speed than mine. From the looks of the things, it seems that he wants to know the way to the school using me as a medium.

"Huu...haa..." he heavily sighed.

While holding a large brown envelope in his right hand, Johann wiped out the accumulating sweat in his forehead using his free left hand.

"Aahhh...why it is so hot despite it is still spring?"
"..."

Johann seems to understand why I keep on whining that he weakly nods at me after saying those words.


Why did I say that?

That is because Johann himself can't take the heat anymore that he kept on wiping his forehead with his left hand all over again.
Well, it can't be helped if the climate change itself continues on getting worse that it starts to bug people's everyday lives by just experiencing this hot feeling in this early morning--perhaps, this is what Johann meant by lacking of natural energy in this world.

Let me tell our situation once again...

Under this beautiful but hot early morning, we--Yusuke Kotaro and Johann are walking along a familiar downhill slope that leads to the bus station at the bottom.

As for why I call this a "familiar slope," it is because this slope not only serves as a main route from the dorm to the nearest bus station but also this is the same place where I ran towards school for I don't know how long while being dragged on by my friend, Ryuji.

In fact, because that was happened yesterday, I started to feel goose bumps as I look on this road.
Maybe because this road leave me an unforgettable spot in my brain which whenever I thought about it, my desire for crying is starting to well up.

Because I was the one who "missed the school bus on the first day of school," and also the first person who "ditched the first day of classes," I decided to go earlier this time in order not to perform the same mistake.

I took a glance at Johann who was walking beside me before releasing another sigh.

"(Haa...just what is this guy trying to do now?)"

Even I myself became startled at the sudden turn of the events.

As the reason for this thing to happen, there is a valid explanation for that.


Eight minutes earlier...


It was 6:39 in the morning when I finished taking a bath and got out of the bathroom. Wearing my used-but-still-good-for-this-day school uniform, I went downstairs in order to give Johann something to eat.

But before that, I removed the contents of my schoolbag and place them on top of the table where Johann and I are talking about random things.

I have a habit of unloading my entire bag in order to check whether I'm missing something or not even though that thing is becoming one of the reasons why am I coming late at school. But at least, it is still better than having one or two things with you suddenly lost in a blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, sitting at the same spot, Johann was just staring at me--or rather, looking at what am I doing.

On the top of the table were my school stuff as well as my document that was about to be passed yesterday but because I was directly headed into the clinic instead of a classroom, I failed to do it so.

So today, before anything else, I must submit these documents no matter what.

"I'm going to look for something to eat downstairs. Don't do anything with my stuff."

I finally said that to Johann as I about to leave the room.

"Sure," he answered.

Hearing that from him, I lightly nodded and then grabbed on the doorknob of my wrecked door as I went out of my room. Inside the kitchen that is located right in front of the staircase below, there were no traces of my auntie working inside. Perhaps she went outside to do some errands by herself. Man, being the caretaker sure is troublesome.
Even so, it is still a great chance to grab all the food I need upstairs.

But for some reasons, there were also no traces of any handmade meals made by my Nee-san--not even from the pot, microwavable containers or even from the fridge. It's just gone, or maybe Nee-san kept it somewhere else. Thankfully, there was still a pack of loaf bread towering in the middle of a large table inside the kitchen.

"(Since the actual breakfast isn't available, maybe I can at least prepare a sandwich for him.)"

At my agreement to myself, I started to prepare some sandwiches for my visitor upstairs.

Few minutes later...

I went back in my room carrying a pile of sandwiches on a plate and a small pitcher of orange juice on a tray.
I made them all at haste because I want to hurry myself if I don't want to be late for the second time.

Let my clarify myself; I did said to Johann not to do anything on my things didn't I?

I think I said those words to him before I go downstairs.

But contrast from that...

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

Still holding the large tray with my both hand, I asked Johann who is doing some weird hand movements on my stuff, not noticing my arrival...

"H-hey!"

Then a small green circle appeared around my stuff.

I have a very bad feeling about this...

"O-oi! What do you think are you going to do with my things?"

I, who has his things getting messed up by a person who looks like me asked the culprit in a heightened tone.
Then a few seconds later, maybe because he finally felt my presence his mouth starts to open, producing words from his voice box while his eyes both stuck at the table.

"It's for the disguise..."
"..."

At the same moment he answered, another green circle appeared on the floor beside him. And then after a few seconds, the circle disappeared in an instant, replacing it with several paper with a picture stuck on a paper there.
As for my things, thankfully nothing happened with my stuff after those things I saw before me.
Well, as long as he really did not mess up with my things, I won't give a damn on what is that man doing. And besides, I'm not a shallow minded person who gives a care on a single meaningless thing so I decided in my mind to let it go.

But something unexpected happened...


I was about to let that issue go as I placed the tray filled with food and slowly pushed the tray towards him as if I'm saying: "Here's your meal for now..."

...when I accidentally saw the papers which appeared after Johann.

"...ugh..."

Ah...how should I explain this?

Saying "What the hell?!" in this situation would be the better response for this but I know to myself that it wouldn't enough to describe what am I feeling right now.
Right now, I will say the truth, only the truth, and nothing but the truth.

Back to the story...

Contrast to my impressions of a bunch of papers, compiling into a single file, these papers are actually few--three to be exact.
Well, saying these things "documents" rather than "papers" would be better to describe them.

Because what I saw next totally made my jaw drop not only mentally, but physically as well:

Document #1 - Birth Certificate

As for what kind of document it is, obviously it is a birth certificate, just as the name says.

On the top part of the first paper, it said "BIRTH CERTIFICATE" in capital letter was printed on the said document together with its required information.
As for those "information," there are already placed just after the Birth Certificate title on the top part of the page.

Name (Surname First): Yusuke Kaito
Gender (male or female): Male
Birthday (month/date/year): September 18, 1995
Place of Birth: Tokyo City General Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
Type of Birth: Normal
Kind of Birth (Single, Twin, or Multiple): Twin
*if Twin or Multiple, Write the order: First
Blood Type: A+

"What...the..."

If that is just a joke, then I’ll try to laugh about it while saying: “Aaahh... You got me there!” forgetting what I just saw today.

However, it wasn't--not to mention that Johann himself didn't show any tinge of joke in his face as if it was fine with me.
Well, for your information I'm in a situation that jokes aren't relevant for this moment, not to mention that I need to go to school as soon as possible.

Speaking of school, the two other documents are about school and they were written on the paper as follows:

Document #2 - Tokyo City National High School Report Card

Just like the birth certificate, Johann's information is still the same, using the name Yusuke Kaito as a disguise and other information mentioned at the birth certificate.
And because the information used is also the same as the one in the birth certificate, it made me frown as well...

Name: Yusuke, Kaito
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Status: Regular Freshman
Performance Briefing:
English - 93%
Freshman Japanese - 90%
Mathematics I - 95%
Biological Science - 91%
Basic Programming - 90%
Physical Education - 93%

...and many more subjects that if I continued mentioning them, I might snap in an instant.

"(Calm down, Kotaro...)"

I began chanting those words in my brain as I try to calm down in the situation.

Well, to tell you the truth, this is now beyond plagiarism.

Yeah, it can't be helped if he manipulates some information in order to hide his real identity.

In the first place, he was a person who did not originally exist here and even I myself still doubts about Johann himself.

But I do feel now that he's getting further from the reality.

For a person who came from an unknown world--not to mention unaware of everything that is happening here, what was shown there was getting too far.
As a matter of fact, I started to worry about Johann who barely knew everything about this world through my existence that all the things that were written on those documents would backfire at him.
I hope it won't...

On the other hand, Johann who I think was still unaware of what am I thinking up to this moment is silently eating the sandwiches I prepared beforehand.

Going back to the reality...

"So, why did you do that in the first place?"

As we continued to walk along the sidewalk of the downhill slope, I asked Johann regarding on what he had done earlier.

Perhaps because my brain cells just finished processing all the data that was supposed to finish up to this moment. Well, it can't be helped because in the first place, comprehending something that is beyond anyone's normal comprehension isn't as easy as counting from one to one hundred. In fact, counting from one to one million in one saying is a perfect example for that.

"Didn't I tell you, this is all for a disguise, to investigate not to mention to track every each of every movement of yours."

While wiping the sweat on his forehead with his left hand, Johann answered that to me. So his plan was to follow me throughout the day. Well, at least for a bit, it made sense towards all things.

"(So that is the reason why do you have an enrollment form.)"

By the way, the third document was an enrollment form, requesting for Johann to be admitted in the same school where am I attending--Ibuki City Science High School using the report card he just recently fabricated.

"And besides, even though the general information regarding this place is extracted from your mind and now currently sharing it to me, I still believe that these things aren't that sufficient thus, I need to learn more about this place." Johann added.

Okay, if he personally said that to me, then I have no reason to object--in fact, if he was seconds late from thinking that thing, I might let him go to school with me.
After all, in order to fully understand Ibuki City, let alone the entire Japan itself, he must learn about Japan especially Ibuki City beforehand, though I doubt that he will manage to fully understand everything within a single run.
Johann, despite he came from another world was still a human, yearning for learning in order to catch up through the flow of innovation this current age is bringing.

"Innovation, huh?" I leaked out some of my thoughts into the air through my mouth.
"Did you say anything?"
"Yeah, but please don't mind it."Johann simply nodded at me as I said those words to him.

"(At least, he can be obedient sometimes.)" I thought.

Just like how blood flow through my veins, sudden thoughts instantly popped up on my mind.

"Speaking of the innovation you were saying,"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Based on how you use your words about this place, it seems that you have some sort of a disliking in this place. For some instance, is your place is just as same as countryside?"

Since Johann proclaimed that he came from a world completely opposite to this place, he can easily compare Ibuki City to "his place," proving to himself that this place is the exact opposite of his world where things like "lifeforce" and "soulforce" barely exist here.

"No, you are incorrect regarding that thing. Even though I made some criticism about your place, everything here is somewhat similar to our place, though with the lack of lifeforce and soulforce here."
"..."

"Starting from the tall towers, to the vehicles same as the sailboat, up to the structures that can be referred as houses, though they didn't contain some active energy inside of them but still they were somewhat doing the same job at Mysidia."
"Misi-what?"
"My-si-dia. That is the name of the place where I came from."
"O-oh..."

So, this guy came from a place called Mysidia huh? Well as far as I know, there is no such place as Mysidia here on Earth so maybe he's telling the truth about it.
And I even admit to what he had said earlier.... they didn't contain some active energy inside of them...Taking that in my approach, that part of his statement may be true.

Let's say that this natural energy of Johann is the natural resources of mine...

In a world where everything advances into a certain extent and at the same time, the environment was being continuously neglected for several times, there is no doubt that you can only witness the gradual loss of the natural resources.

Let's take Ibuki City as an example.

Originally, this small island in the far southwestern part of the Okinawa Archipelago, just before the Japanese Maritime Boundary, was once a rich island where everything that is necessary for living such as food, shelter and transportation is present there.
According to some history books I once read, this place was once like a paradise, where every single thing that you can found in this island is quite worthy, and then during the late Industrialization Period about 95 years ago, this place is started to being utilized by the Japanese itself--in fact, during the World War II, about 20% of the resources that was used for military, whether it is for machinery or food rations came from this small island inside Okinawa causing for their domination during the war itself.

After the war, even though this place suffered from mild damage continued to utilized the resources here and then ended up undergoing commercialization which leads to the city 95 years later also known as Ibuki City.
And at to this moment, a certain person from an unknown land pointed out the comparisons between his place and our place.
Seriously, it made me frown a bit about that.

"Hmm...Is there something that is wrong with that? I mean, if something bad will happen into this place if it ended up in a state like this?"

Johann lightly waved his hand sideways as if telling me that I'm wrong with that.

"Even though this place is lacking on both lifeforce and soulforce, it doesn't mean that this world would immediately end because of that. I can only say that your world can be still called as stable even with that. Moreover, if for some instances that this place would meet its end, I believe that my place will meet that same end as well. After all, despite our worlds are opposite to each other, there are some things that are identical as well..."


Still wiping the sweat in his forehead, Johann answered to my question.

"...though for an individual who lives and will live in this place for the rest of his life such as yourself, incantations are impossible. Even I--myself can barely cast some small spells here."

So for the people who depends on this so-called "natural energy" like Johann, magic is like another half of their being. Without that natural energy, they can't do any magic. And without magic, they will probably not survive. That was my perspective on what just Johann said to me.
Unaware to myself, I am already making a serious expression which Johann instantly saw as if I am worrying about everything he said.

He again spoke in a laughing tone.

"Anyway, don't worry about that. I'm pretty sure that this place won't end just because what I'd said, right?"

Like hell I would think about this world's apocalypse!

Though, I admit that Johann's a-quarter-right about that--but that was about the world won't instantly end because of that.

Speaking of that, I suddenly want to imagine a large comet impacting Earth within 24 hours just to rebut Johann.


Haha, I feel that I myself became a bad person.

Setting that thing aside, Johann who had stopped walking has his eyes focused on my lower part of my body--more accurately, my hand, which was holding something aka my bag.

"Can you lend me that me later on? I have a feeling that I'm going to need that in the future."

With formalities, he asked me to give my bag to him.

Not so long ago, he had an offense of forgery of document in order to go to same school as mine. And now, he's asking me my bag.

Who knows whether Johann tries again to mess up with my things or not.

But I think that Johann is right about that...

Right now, he is holding nothing but an envelope, let alone an attaché case for the envelope itself.
Wouldn't be weird for a student who enters to school with nothing but only himself?
Even the poorest student in this school has even a notebook and a pen, ready to be used.

"(What should I do now?)"

If there is an extra time to spare, maybe I can still provide him a small bag, a notebook and a ballpen--at least all the necessary things needed to survive an entire school day. Unfortunately I only have less than fifteen minutes before the last bus departs at the station on time.

"Huu...haa..."

I leaked out a sigh while making my resolve here.

"Maybe I have no choice for now..."

Upon saying that, I reached out my right hand which was holding my bag right now towards Johann who making a wry smile as of now.

"Just don't mess up with this next time..." I said.
"You have my word," Johann replied. "But I won't be doing that at this moment. I don't want to make a commotion here."
"Ah, yeah. Do as you please."

Hearing that from him despite of the conflict between on his words right now, I lowered my right hand together with my bag and continued walking.

"Ah, by the way," Johann says.
"What?"
"Can you give me some words on the place where am I going right now?"
"You mean...the school?"
"Yes," he replied. "Is it some sort of school of magical arts or military academy or something similar with that?"
"Wrong."

A stupid conversation about the things that happen inside school, I felt myself stupid for answering Johann's super obvious question.
Maybe he was really thinking that school is only intended to train fighters to fight against the worst enemies possible.
I want to retort at Johann that bad but it seems that he has no idea about that so tried to tolerate it until it is gone.

For a "time traveler" like Johann who just traveled from another timeline, although he managed to get the necessary information in order to live in this place, it doesn't mean that he fully understands about it. After all, there are some instances that he is asking me about some things.

"(Maybe just like me, he's also having a hard time regarding that.)"

As I continued to ponder about that while walking, I can now see a large red waiting shed at the bottom of the hill. Beside that shed is a white bus with a large tag placed on the front mirror saying, "City Proper"

"(That is the bus that will pass through the school. I made it in time!)"

Yes... At last, I can make it on time. I can now go to school without the concern of being pulled hardly by your friend at your right arm.

Seeing my face lightened a bit because I saw the last bus that will apparently save us from being late, Johann spoke to me as if he was clarifying something from me.

"I can see a white thing ahead of us. Is there a relation between that thing and us?"
"Yeah, because of that bus. We won't be late this time!"
"Late?"

He asked while having a complicated expression on his face.

As for myself, I am checking everything within me in order to prevent accidents.

Shoes...check...
Uniform...check...
Bag...check...

It looks like I'm ready to go. The only thing to do now is to answer Johann.

"Yeah! If you are late, you won't be participating in some events here for a while."
"What do you mean by that?"

I didn't give him an answer for that. Instead...

"If we manage to catch up to that bus before it leaves the terminal, I will tell you everything about school!"

With those words, I instantly kicked off the ground as I started to run towards the station.

"WAIT!"

Johann also ran at the same time I ran.

Anyhow, I won't be laying my focus on Johann at first because my main priority now is to catch to that bus before it makes any unnecessary actions.

To make the long story short, on that short period--about less than an hour, I met a person named Johann Valliere who probably will influence my life to the extreme.

Anyway, I don't care what will happen to me next. As far as I know, as long as I live, there will be things that once impossible will be possible, like that time traveling and paradox.

I instantly brushed off my thoughts and focus myself on running towards the bus station where another part of my life is supposed to be, going to start--school life.