OTHERS

Chinatsu noticed that Peony was staring daggers at the new guy. Did they know each other? The man didn’t seem to recognize the Elf, so maybe not. Maybe Peony was feeling distrustful? Or maybe they just didn’t like smokers?

The return of birdsong cut through the silence. The newcomers did deserve to be caught up on the predicament they all found themselves in. But first, how to break the ice?

“Um! Why don’t we all introduce ourselves first,” he said, laughing nervously. “I’m Chinatsu.”

“Ah, good idea,” Miyabi chimed in. “My name is Miyabi. Our Elf companion is named Peony.”

“Joel,” he said, extending his hand to Miyabi. The firm handshake she gave him was reminiscent of a business deal.

Joel was older, but not quite middle-aged yet. Mostly clean-cut but with a 5 o’clock shadow forming. Up close, Chinatsu noticed that not only were both arms covered in tattoos, there were also some on his neck.

“And I’m Masha!” the woman said, setting down a rather large rucksack and producing a half-eaten loaf of bread. “Why don’t we build a fire and eat while we talk?”

Chinatsu and Miyabi eyed the bread hungrily.

“There’s a mess kit in this pack I picked up off a dead soldier,” Joel said, throwing down an old, worn-out military backpack. “You can use that to help prepare something.”

“Great! If there’s fish in the pond, then maybe we can catch some! I can also harvest some edible plants. It’ll be a proper meal,” Masha smiled. She was younger than Joel, but still older than the teenagers. Chinatsu got “big sister” vibes from her.

Peony quietly got to work building a campfire, while Masha began to flit around inspecting the variety of plants in the garden. Chinatsu pondered how to catch fish in the pond. He definitely wasn’t going to be able to just grab them with his hands.

“Can I borrow that scarf?” Chinatsu said, pointing to the scarf on Masha’s head. “If I can make a net, I’ll be able to catch fish from the pond.”

“Oh! Good idea!” Masha said while removing the scarf. As she pulled it away, two soft and fuzzy ears popped up on her head. One of them was slightly floppy at the tip.

“E-E-EARS!!” Chinatsu yelled.

Masha started to cover them with her hands.

“Ah, so it’s like that in this world, too,” she said, smile fading from her face.

“Wha–? No–! It’s just–!!” Chinatsu couldn’t get out the words. He realized he was probably embarrassing Masha, but was just so caught off guard by the ears…

“Chinatsu is just excited,” Miyabi chimed in. “I can hardly believe it myself! Where we’re from, people like you only exist in stories.”

“Ah, I see…” Masha lowered her hands, and her ears perked up again. “In my world, humans don’t like my kind. I’m glad you feel differently.”

Chinatsu couldn’t help but stare at what he thought was a pelt but realized it was her tail. Of course, Masha caught him looking. She smiled and gave the fluffy tail a little wag.

“I’m surprised a girl like you is interested in fishing,” Masha said, changing the subject.

Ah, that’s right. By all appearances, Chinatsu was a girl right now.

“This girl likes all kinds of unexpected things that come in handy here,” Miyabi said, leaning on Chinatsu.

“I just want to be useful,” Chinatsu mumbled.

They’d agreed to keep their swap a secret from Peony, so that extended to the two newcomers as well. Still, it felt like an old wound was being opened up in his heart when he heard himself called “girl.” How long had it been since someone teased him like that? He thought he was past the point of being upset by something like that.

Chinatsu took the scarf and tied it between two sticks to create a net. Joel gave him the helmet to help hold any fish that were caught. Chinatsu then waded into the pond slowly so as not to scare the fish. The shambler had scared them off, but now that it was calm again, the carp were returning to the surface of the water.

Miyabi rolled up her pant legs and waded into the pond with him.

“Do you think we can trust these people?” Miyabi asked in a low voice.

Chinatsu looked around.

With the fire built, Peony was relaxing under a tree again. The newcomer, Joel, was standing off on his own, fidgeting with his smartphone and smoking his cigarette. The other newcomer, Masha, was harvesting cattails from the edge of the pond.

“I think right now, we have no choice,” Chinatsu said, scooping up a fish in the makeshift net.

Miyabi nodded and held out the helmet to catch it.

As the sun got low, the fish roasted over the fire, and Masha prepared the cattails. She had harvested both the shoots and roots of the plant and boiled them. Chinatsu was surprised to learn they were edible, but Masha explained that a lot of different plants were edible as long as they were prepared correctly.

By the time the sun had set, their pond feast was ready. The birdsong had now been replaced with a symphony of frogs and crickets.

Chinatsu and Miyabi ate greedily. It was their second night in this place, but it had been more than a day since they had a proper, filling meal. Peony also seemed to be enjoying the food. Chinatsu wondered what Peony had been living off of this whole time. Edible plants? Fish?

“Masha, you were really prepared! You even brought salt to this world,” Chinatsu said.

“Oh, that’s because I was traveling when I…”

“When you what?”

“I think I died,” Masha said, staring into the fire. “I was traveling with a caravan, we were attacked, and I was shot with an arrow. But I woke up to find myself in this place four days ago.”

Chinatsu remembered the bus. He and Miyabi had fallen onto the road when a bus was coming, and that was the last thing he saw before he opened his eyes in this strange place. Does that mean he and Miyabi died too?

“Us too…I think,” Miyabi said.

“I don’t think we’re dead, though,” Chinatsu said. “My hunger feels like proof I’m alive, at least. Maybe our bodies are waiting for us back in our world?”

“You kids seem pretty calm about this whole situation,” Joel said.

“Ah, well… There are a lot of books and movies about this sort of thing where we’re from, so I guess we were able to easily accept it,” Chinatsu laughed.

In fact, hadn’t he just recently borrowed a light novel from his classmate about this exact sort of thing? Chinatsu wondered how his classmate was going to get that book back. He hoped he’d be able to make it back there and personally return it.

“Sounds like anime. Guess you’re from my world, then,” he said. “You kids are Japanese, right? I’m from the great state of New Jersey. I just got here today.”

“What happened to you, Mr. Joel?” Miyabi asked.

“It’s just ‘Joel.’ No ‘Mister,’” he said. “Anyway, I was set up–I was murdered in cold blood by some thugs. Can you believe that!?”

Joel stuffed his face with fish and bread. He seemed reluctant to eat the cattails, though. That just meant there was more for the rest of them.

“What about you, Peony? How did you come to this place?” Masha asked.

Peony had been quiet the whole time since these two showed up. Chinatsu saw the cool indifference in their eyes shift when Peony smiled, as if a mask was put up.

“Ah, me…Let’s see…” Peony shifted and put their hood up to hide their face. Chinatsu noticed this habit in the Elf whenever they got flustered.

“Peony, earlier you promised me you’d tell me the story of how you came here. Will you still tell me?” Miyabi asked, putting her hand on Peony’s shoulder.

Peony relaxed and pulled down their hood. The Elf looked at Miyabi and expressed a genuine smile.

“That’s right, I did.” Peony took a deep breath. “It’s a painful story, but I’ll share it.”

Chinatsu watched Peony intently. He really wanted to know everything about this Elf.

“In my world, I was the Saint on a crusade with the chosen hero of our country. A hero prophesied in our Holy Scriptures. One who would deliver us from great evil and bring peace to our country.

“We were to defeat the Demon Lord whose army of demons and monsters plagued our country. Our party was nearly at his keep. The only thing standing in our way was the Demon Lord’s Red Dragon. It had already brought down half our party.

“I was trying desperately to heal those left among the living when I noticed the dragon was preparing to breathe its fire at our hero, Leonheart. I acted without thinking. I dove into the path of the dragon’s breath to push Leonheart out of the way, but we both woke up here in this world. In this labyrinth.

“We traversed this place–fighting and surviving our way to the center together. There we met with the god of this world. This god told us that only one of us could return to our life in the other world. In the end, it was Leonheart who left this place.

“After that, I was sent back to the beginning–my first reset of the labyrinth. I kept trying and trying, but I have no fighting prowess, so all I could do was heal myself when injured and hide.” With the conclusion of their story, Peony clutched their chest and closed their eyes. A tear rolled down their cheek.

Chinatsu reached out to comfort Peony, but Miyabi beat him to it when she patted the Elf’s head.

“Thank you for sharing and…I’m sorry,” she said.

They all sat in silence for a moment. Chinatsu wondered how many resets Peony had to endure in the fifty years they’d been here. It would be too easy to lose sense of yourself in a situation like that, but Peony seemed so strong.

“Sounds like we all went out too soon, then,” Joel chimed in.

“Yes, we were all brought here after having met some kind of terrible end, but there’s still another common thread,” Peony said.

“Something else in common? What is it?” Chinatsu asked.

“We all held some regret in our hearts when we met our ends, didn’t we? Leonheart confided in me that as the dragon’s fire engulfed us, all he could think was that he wanted to live because he hadn’t yet gotten the one thing he wanted in life. I also held a similar regret at the time,” Peony explained.

The moment the bus bore down on them, Chinatsu couldn’t help but feel like it was all his fault. So that was the catalyst for their arrival here. He looked at Miyabi and wondered what kind of regret she was holding on to.

“You implying that this place is like a second chance at life if we make it out?” Joel asked.

“I’m not implying it,” Peony replied.