The Memory of Another Day in Kairo Packer's Earth Life

Kairo yawned as he scuffled down his residential street to his workplace, at the train station a few meters ahead. He pulled out his phone from his pocket to check his work schedule. Paused. An insistent urge of wanting to stop and look up made him do so.

"Hey, lady, watch out!" A man shouted to warn the chubby woman, who was about to knock into the stationary cyclist, waiting at the pedestrian lights.

Kairo sprinted and grabbed the woman's arm, yanking her back to make her drop her cream bun. She snapped at him, then was embarrassed when she realized the potential accident. The cyclist thanked Kairo for his help, while the woman hurried away.

"I don't recall this happening in my memory." Kairo sighed, but decided to keep walking.

This time he pocketed his phone and gazed at his old street: familiar, musky air and the scent of car fumes on the hard concrete brought tears to his eyes, a reminder that this was Earth. Lost in nostalgia, he didn't see his foot stepping on a stray cat's tail until too late.

"I'm sorry!" He frantically apologized to the black and white tuxedo cat, which hissed, arched its body, then scrambled up to a high ledge to swipe at his hand.

As Kairo was doing his best to calm the angry animal, it tumbled off the ledge and landed on the head of an elderly man standing nearby.

"Crap! Let me get him off you." Kairo frantically grabbed at the cat as the elderly man was holding his toupee. He managed to pry the cat off, where it wiggled free to land into the sweet-smelling flower basket of a passing businessman wearing a smart navy tie and shiny, matching suit.

"What the hell you're playing at?" The grumpy, scruffy face, old man complained to Kairo before hobbling away, and muttering about careless youth.

Kairo sighed and smiled at the kind businessman, who was calming the animal with beef jerky.

"I lost my cat the other day, and was taking flowers to its grave site. It must be fate." The man's eyes welled with tears as he petted the cat and continued his walk.

It was a touching moment, which stirred memories of Kairo's own pets, now long gone. The man and cat faded from his view. Kairo carried on to his workplace, where he was greeted by Station Master Adams.

"Evening Kairo!" Station Master Adams tipped his hat to him as he strolled past the platforms' ticket area for the Underground Entrance.

Typically, their exchanges were nothing more than greetings. But Kairo felt the urge for small-talk.

"How long has it been since we've said hello and goodbye to each other?"

The question surprised the station master, who hastily recalled a timeline. "It'll be almost two years now. I think you started working in your last year of high school."

Kairo nodded. "Sounds about right." His mouth eased into a warm smile, which further surprised the station master.

"Well, make sure you have a good day." Station Master Adams tipped his hat to Kairo, who continued his walk to work.

Kairo's grimoire glowed bright with magic, overwhelming the underground tunnel details to make them fuzzy and fade to black.

"No, wait!" He cried out, sprinting for his work. It was gone, leaving behind an empty feeling and a persistent ache to return home.

These feelings mixed with his experiences shared with Genie: the colliding emotions caused him to break down with tears.

"I want to go home, but I don't want to leave Genie." His eyes were swollen. They stung from the Cosmic Seed's light, which drew into focus his current environment.

He was back in Genie's room, staring at the teleportation array. His Holy Ama Cross pendant glowed with mellow and warm light, as if it was giving him a hug.

He sat down on Genie's bed, thinking over his memory, and what he had seen but ignored. On Earth he had passively existed with the belief that life was typical, but it proved to be the contrary. His mundane persistence was actually his choice to embrace a stable life.

"But I can't ignore what challenges me anymore, being on Lux has proven that. Nor can I ignore wanting to go home. I have to, because I'm a human from Earth. There's so much more life there, I've missed out on. And..." He closed his eyes as he thought over everything he had experienced on Lux: it all had Genie.

His eyes opened with a new conviction and change of plans. "He's coming with me."