Chapter 26

Would you believe me if I told you magic was a lot like data science? Well, at least I found myself fascinated by both of them. I had spent years learning how to learn from data. It took me about as many years to learn how to control the flow of reality with my mind.

I sat in front of a rose bush, the same one I had eaten from what seemed like a lifetime ago. I closed my eyes as they burned with a red flame, and I pushed against time. It was like pushing against a river, but I felt it move with time.

I saw a black shadow move among the trees. It wandered close, tentatively. It looked at the yellow fire burning from a stone in my hand. In a flash of orange, white, and black smoke the Bakeneko cat had taken a human form. It was Nyarin again.

She stayed away from me, as if she could sense the change in me caused by the years I had spent trapped and alone. I had finally had time to think. It was time to decide who I wanted to be.

We sat there quiet, me struggling to make the yellow flame go away and her watching me, hugging her knees against her chest. When I glanced at her the purple flame would reappear and she would wince, so I would look away again.

“The yellow flame means happiness,” I said.

She nodded. She didn’t speak or ask questions and the silence stretched on.

So I started talking. At times the yellow flame guttered out and disappeared. At other times it was rather large.

I told Nyarin about Sachiko. We met in college. We were poor and stupid and happy. We dated. We talked about our dreams. We fell in love. It’s an old story.

“I finished my statistics degree and got another business degree,” I said, technically to Nyarin but she had never shown any sign that she could hear me except the occasional twitch on an ear.

She still winced if I looked her way and the purple flame reappeared.

“I got a job with a big vacation and tourism agency. We basically overcharge old people for vacations that they can’t plan on their own. We depend on contracts with hotels and resorts that allow us to overcharge for mediocre rooms. You and I are in the same business, Nyarin. For a living we promise people an escape and trick them with a disguised substitute.”

The yellow flame returned to the stone as I remembered Sachiko. “She got a job nearby so that we could keep dating. We wanted to get married, sometime, when the time was right. I wanted to delay until my next promotion, which should have just been around the corner. Then there was an economic turndown and tourism suffered. Then my company was bought out by a bigger one, and the promotion structure changed. Years passed.”

The yellow flame disappeared and my gut felt heavy as I remembered the next part. “One day, Sachiko asked me if I loved her. She wanted to get married. She had given me a gift after three years of dating. I hadn’t even remembered that particular anniversary. Her job wanted her to move to another city. It was a promotion. She said she wanted to go. She wanted me to go with her, but only as her husband.”

A tear, then tears fell down my face. “We fought. I had meant to say yes, but one thing turned to another. She said that I had wasted her time. That was three years ago. A year ago, I saw her pushing a stroller through a train station. She had moved back, I guess. There was a ring on her finger.”

At some point Nyarin had moved closer to me, ears low and cautious. There was no flame of any color coming from the stone now. “I kinda fell apart. I stopped hanging out with friends. I did get that promotion, but then my company floundered and I barely survived being fired. I rarely left my apartment. Then one day I heard about Truck-kun, about Isekai.”

To my surprise, a tiny yellow flame popped up on the stone. I chuckled, “I loved the idea of an escape. The promise of Truck-kun made me feel happy. A chance to start over. I could be a hero, doing the right thing. I could be a new born without regrets but with the wisdom of an adult to avoid stupid mistakes. A good Isekai story, whether a book or a show, is a mirror. I learned to love them, because they showed me where I went wrong.”

“I thought only a fool would get married young and poor. I wanted to be something before taking that step. I waited too long. I waited to cross the river until all of the water had passed. I didn’t appreciate what I had, and I lost it.”

Nyarin opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m done being that man.” The world became fuzzy. Memories flashed over my mind.

“Seo,” Nyarin said, confused, “something’s wrong. The spell is moving even through Truck-kun stopped it.”

“I know,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s time we moved forward. Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

As she watched a red flame red over my eyes and spilled up around my eyelids.

“You’re doing this? But how, only the Baku knows enough about the spell to…” she trailed off for a moment, mouth falling open and ears spreading wide with caution. “I only walked away for a minute, maybe two. How long were you alone, Seo?”

I pushed against the spell, willing it to move. On the other side I felt Truck-kun resisting, still frozen in time.

Yellow fire flared from the white stone, so high that it reached above my head. “I’m going to fix this, Nyarin. Follow me into the next reality. I've got a plan.”

And then the world around us disappeared.

But not before Nyarin muttered, “Dammit, not ANOTHER Isekai.”