Reading the Book

The evening had settled in, quiet and slow.

Downstairs, Orion had finally fallen asleep on the living room futon. Having gotten out of the school uniform, he was a bit too eager to get back into his leather gear. Making it seem to Emi like he was much more comfortable wearing it compared to the normal human clothes.

His new phone was on the table, untouched since the afternoon when Emi bought it for him. He hadn’t figured out how to use it yet, but the way he studied it during dinner, one would think it was some kind of archeological find.

Upstairs, Emi sat on her bed cross-legged, the mysterious book cradled in her lap. The very one Orion fell out of.

She hadn’t really dared to open it since. But now that Orion was sleeping away downstairs, she gave in to the curiosity that had been eating at her.

The contents inside were… strange.

Not ancient, magical, or arcane. Simply old. Like a fairy tale from her grandmother’s attic, lodged between a tea set and an old music box. Yellowed paper. Hand-drawn ink illustrations. And the story, as it turned out, was nothing groundbreaking – tale as old as time.

A Chosen One. Born under a star. Raised in secret. A war-torn land. A dark lord in the far distant lands. And here, the child, gifted with a pure good heart, now destined to fulfill great prophecies. Along the way, he made many new friends, traveling companions – brothers. A typical five-man band. A wise cleric. A brooding swordsman. A comic relief rogue. A kind-hearted warrior. And, of course, the childhood friend who believed in him most.

Emi squinted at the artwork on the page. The Chosen One looked younger here, and there were a couple of significant differences here and there, but one could still convince her that this was Orion from a time long ago.

But the way he was drawn, his pose, his demeanor – his smile.

“This isn’t him,” she whispered.

She turned back to the beginning again. Something about the story felt too clean, too safe. There were no betrayals. No losses. No… darkness. Not yet anyway.

Like a bedtime version of what had really happened.

And if this was the fairy tale…

Then who had written it?

Her eyes drifted to the window, to the stars outside. She thought about the thing that had stirred earlier that day. The thing behind Orion’s eyes that scared those delinquents away without a word.

Something wasn’t adding up.

All that had to wait, however, as Emi’s phone rang, with Kana and Misaki on the other side facetiming her. They must have planned this ‘assault’ together, but Emi sort of already knew this was inevitable.

After a sigh of surrender, she clicked accept, and instantly, her screen was filled with two faces far too energetic for this hour.

“Emi, finally!” Kana cried. “Where have you been?”

“I told you,” said Misaki, “she’s totally dodging us.”

“What? No!” Emi laughed. “I was… reading.”

“You’re reading the book, aren’t you?” Kana asked. “So give us the deets, girl. Is it a romance? It’s totally a romance, isn’t it? I knew it! Ugh, why is life so unfair? Giving you a boyfriend before me. When will I get my own handsome prince?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Emi almost shouted. “And he’s not a prince either. He’s just… kinda him. Just the Chosen One. You know, the cliché stuff.”

“But… also the Dark Lord?” Misaki asked.

“That’s… what he’s been telling me,” said Emi.

“Dark broody prince. Nice,” Kana tapped her chin curiously. “Anyway, what’s it like living with him? You gotta tell us all the juicy juice.”

“The what?”

“Have you guys held hands? Kissed? Oh my gosh, you guys are totally doing naughty stuff aren’t you?”

“No! No, none of that. What do you take me for?”

“I don’t know,” Kana shrugged. “I know I wouldn’t let him sleep in the same room as me.”

“Well, he’s sleeping downstairs, actually,” Emi explained. “Just borrowing my parents’ futon. We haven’t done anything, because we are not going to be doing anything. Okay?”

The two on-screen groaned in disappointment.

“Well, I’m not gonna stop hoping,” Kana grinned, ear to ear. “If I can’t get a hot hunk, I’m just going to have to live my fantasy through your life.”

The three of them laughed, but then Misaki’s expression softened:

“Are you okay, though?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I dunno,” Misaki hesitated, “you look kinda… spooked.”

Pausing for a second, Emi thought about it for a moment before replying:

“I’m just trying to decode this whole thing, that’s all. Something’s weird about him. And this whole fairy tale thing too. It’s a puzzle I have to solve.”

“Well, we’re here if you need any help.”

“Yeah,” Kana nodded. “We’ve got your back. Unless it gets scary. Then you’re on your own.”

“Wow,” Emi deadpanned. “Thanks for the support.”