Chapter 2 – The Return

The school bell rang for the last period to begin. All the students rushed to their seats and began pulling out their textbooks. Izumi sat by the window in the back corner of the classroom, but his mind was nowhere near the lesson.

It’s been a few days since Hana Morikawa reappeared in his life. She seems to be settling in well. She ran into friends from middle school. They sit around Hana's desk talking about old times and what relationship drama she's missed. Izumi could hear bursts of laughter from two rows up—names he half-remembered, a story about a middle school festival gone wrong, someone teasing Hana about how she still talks with her hands.

He didn’t know what to make of it.

I mean… I like that she's back. But how am I supposed to talk to her now? Oh hey… remember the other world I told you about when we were kids. Nope, nope, I’m not bringing it up. She’s probably already forgotten about it. I am glad that she is able to make friends here, she must of been nervous, but you would never tell. She’s a little different than I remember, she seems put together, and I’m just the loner… She is really pretty…

Izumi could feel his cheeks getting warmer.He caught himself staring again and looked away. Hana, as always, was focused on the lesson. She didn’t seem to notice—or maybe she just didn’t mind.

The bell rang, and Teacher – “Alright, we’ll pick this up tomorrow. Don’t forget to finish your questions on page 114.”

The class erupted with moving seats, books closing, and talk about after school plans. Izumi moved on autopilot, stuffing his notebook into his bag.He was halfway to standing when a soft voice slid in beside his desk.

Then a soft voice beside him.

Hana – “Hey… Izumi. Want to walk home together?”

Izumi blinked.

Izumi – “what?…Why?”

Hana – “Because I want to talk.”

He hesitated. Her expression was saying that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She meant it.

Izumi – “Fine. But I take the long way.”

Hana smiled.

Hana – “Good. I like the long way.”

They slipped out with the second wave of students. The hallway smelled like dust and chalk and the sugary tang of someone’s vitamin drink. They walked in silence for a while, their shoes crunching softly on a quiet sidewalk. Cars raced by and many kids were on their way home from school. The cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom, a few petals drifting past them in the breeze.

Hana – “You disappeared in middle school.”

Izumi stiffened.

Hana – “You were gone for a week. Everyone thought you transferred or moved. But then you came back… different. I do remember you being weirdly stronger. Remember when those kids threw my bag over the metal fence, you beat them up with both hands in your pocket and then you bent the metal bars so I could get my bag. It was incredible to see…but you stopped smiling as much.”

Izumi didn’t answer. His hand flexed once on the strap of his backpack.

Hana – “I knew something happened to you.”

Izumi – “You were the only one who believed me.”

She looked at him, surprised.

Izumi – “Everyone else just whispered behind my back. The most popular rumor was that I ran away from home because of family problems. You would always get mad at people for spreading that rumor”

Hana – “You remembered that?”

Izumi – “Of course I did.”

The two of them walked in silence for a minute. A breeze rattled a row of wind chimes on someone’s balcony.

Hana – “So? What happened to you there?”

Izumi stopped walking. His hand curled into a fist around the strap of his bag.

Izumi – “…I don’t want to talk about it.”

Hana – “Then tell me later.”

Bringing up the past like that, what do I even say to her? He turned to look at her. She was smiling—but not to make him feel better. It was quiet… Comforting.

Hana – “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll listen. I still want to know the real you.”

Izumi smiled slightly and sighed, he forgot what talking to a friend felt like.

Izumi - “sure… but it may take awhile”

Hana - “I'm in no hurry…

She bumped his shoulder with hers, light but deliberate.

Hana – “Also, pro tip? If you’re going to keep secrets, at least pretend to be mysterious on purpose. It plays better.”

Izumi – “That’s your official advice?”

Hana – “Yes, from the Department of Not Being a Total Hermit.”

She reached out and grabbed Izumi’s forearm like she used to when they were kids and she wanted him to race to the river steps.

Hana - “I’m just glad to see you again… Come on loser, I'll race you to my place.”

Outside of Hana’s apartment was calm, and it wasn’t far from his apartment. Izumi walked Hana to the apartment building's front door. Izumi looks down with a strange look. He wasn’t sad or happy, it was somewhere in the middle. He’s happy that Hana is back but sad that he has to hide so much from her.

Hana punched Izumi in the shoulder—gentle, because despite the jokes she always measured her strength.

Hana - “Hey, I don’t know what’s going on in that gloomy head of yours”

Izumi - “I'm not gloomy…”

Izumi looked up and saw Hana's beautiful smile and wavy hair in the breeze. His heart skipped a beat. They both took a long pause.

Hana - “Anyway, I’m excited to hangout this year. I hope it’s going to be a fun one… okay bye bye.”

She backed through the door, wiggled a few fingers in a half-wave, half-salute, then disappeared into the stairwell with a soft echo of steps. Izumi turned around and walked home, the map of streets to his apartment suddenly feeling a little shorter than usual.

That night, Izumi couldn’t sleep.

The stars outside his window looked brighter than usual. Izumi got up out of bed and walked to the window. There was a strangeness he could feel in the air, like something pulling him outside.

He turned to the door, passing his desk he felt another pull, Izumi froze. He turned to the desk and opened the drawer. The pendant he kept hidden, charred and cracked from that final battle, was glowing faintly for the first time in years.

Izumi – “…You’ve been quiet for a while.”

He held it in his palm. The metal felt warmer than his skin. A pulse rolled through his hand and up his arm, a warmth he hadn’t let himself hope to feel again. He slid the cord over his head. The weight settled against his chest. He put on a hoodie, and stepped outside.

Izumi could feel the pendant pull him in a direction. Left at the vending machines. Past the shut-down arcade with the “RE-OPENING SOON” sign that had been lying for five years. Across the pedestrian bridge where someone had written a love confession in chalk and the last rain hadn’t quite erased it. He followed the glow. Through the quiet streets. Into the old train station that had been closed for nearly a decade.

The station was a skeleton of its old self. Grass pushed up between the rails like the earth reclaiming the area back into the beauty of nature. The air shimmered ahead of him. The pendant pulsed.

A rift split open in the space before him, it was silent, golden, swirling like water in reverse, pulling light inward instead of letting it spill. The smell was impossible: hot pine and cold iron, and summer rain on stone. Izumi froze, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Izumi – “No…It can’t be…Solvain?”

He stepped through.

He landed in a forest clearing under a violet sky filled with twin moons.

Mana. He could feel it instantly—warm, alive, rushing through his skin like static.

Then a scream.

It sounded like a child.

Izumi ran toward the sound without thinking, instincts from memories took over. Roots grabbed for his ankles; he slipped past them. The clearing broke into a slope, then a path, then.

In a ruined village engulfed in flames all around, a little girl with white hair and golden eyes was cornered by two large beasts, they were called demon bears. They’re nasty beasts that look like bears on earth but way bigger and they can use fire claws. When they slashed, their claws left trails of burning fire in the air that hung for a heartbeat before vanishing into sparks.

Izumi didn’t hesitate.

He moved fast like lightning.

Mana gathered to his core and spread. He slid down the last of the slope, putting himself between the girl and the bears. The first bear lunged. Izumi dropped under it, palm striking up into the throat where fur thinned and heat flashed. A hard exhale, a cough of embers. He rolled, felt the second swipe singe the back of his hoodie, dealing a swift back round house kick turning the beast’s charge sideways.

He rose with his right hand lit from within. Not a flame, more a thread of heat braided around his hand. He struck once, short and precise, and the breaded heat exploded into sparks. The bear reeled, howling, and crashed through a half-burned cart.

His hand glowed with fire, as he stood there waiting for the beast's next move.

The beasts weren’t stupid. Pain and a warning were enough. They backed away, snarled, and finally scattered and disappeared into smoke.

Izumi dropped to one knee, panting.

Then he felt it, tiny fingers clutching his sleeve. A small face stared up at him, streaked with soot, eyes bright and shining gold. White hair stuck to her cheeks. Her breath came in short, careful pulls, like she was afraid of using up too much of the air.

Girl – “Papa?”

He looked down, stunned.

Izumi – “…What?”

Girl – “You… came for me. Papa…”

Izumi – “I… no…I’m not?”

Her eyes were full of tears, but because she was scared. She was smiling. Izumi didn’t know what to do. So he did the only thing he could think of at that moment, all he could do was lift her gently into his arms.

She didn’t cry. She just held onto him. Her small hand clenched onto his hoodie as they walked around the burning village. She lowered her head to rest it against his shoulder.

Izumi – “Hey, it’s okay… you’re safe now. I promise.”

He rubbed her back while walking around the village. What could be happening here, something didn’t feel right.

But first… he had to protect her.

Whoever she was.