A Crafted Tale

Early morning bird song interrupted their sleep and set a new tone. After spending time in a sci-fi world beyond any sort of normal environment, hearing nature was quite pleasant. Even being a refreshing change from the low, almost impossibly quiet hums of technology, it only took a few notes for it to start to become a little bothersome when trying to sleep.

If it had been an alarm clock she would have slapped it into pieces. She wished it had been one so that she could put an end to the noise. But she couldn’t even find it, let alone shut it up. All she could do was accept that she was awake now rather than attempt to sleep longer.

After all of the tension on the space station, for as little as she was present for, her body still felt oddly exhausted from it as though she hadn’t had normal sleep in months. Given the way that Yumi talked about it, the strange feeling that shouldn’t exist was some phantom of her body remembering things that her mind couldn’t. Like missing a limb and still believing and feeling that it was there. If it was anything like that, she would have liked not to feel anything more, considering the outcomes of those phantom lives.

Rolling over on her back, she noticed that the roof didn’t look so good. ‘Definitely a new world…reminds me of the first one…’ She looked around taking in more of the surrounding space, noticing another lump in the torn and ripped cloth that they treated as a blanket to sleep under. The bed was more ground and dirt than anything with just a simple bit of dried grass and leaves. It was flattened deeply into the dirt making it seem more married with it than separated. They were no better than camping, despite this actually supposed to be a home.

A basic house, if it could even be entertained as such in someone’s imagination. The camping analogy still had a more accurate definition by her terms. Four walls, perhaps four, was being generous in count. Even allowing for a door, the fourth wall hardly had much going for it protection other than the two beams of wood that acted as support. Most of the paneling of the wall had fallen off or slipped. It was no surprise that she could easily hear the birds outside.

Everything within was crammed together just like a studio apartment, which was probably this era’s equivalent most likely. A place to cook rested off toward the corner seated within a basin that some poorly cleaned wood surrounded to offer something of a clean place to sit. Nearby the cooking pit was a table half covered in the clutter of tools ranging from an axe and knife to a pot and rock, which might be a tool in the right context. She didn’t really know. Whatever era this was that she was stuck in didn’t get covered in her limited history classes or dramas. Perhaps she should have watched more like Yuki suggested to her.

Remembering that there was someone else with her, she leaned over trying to get them awake. ‘Looks like it’s going to be another case like the first time, where we’re split up. So who am I with this time? They look way too small, but maybe that’s just perception…’ That was her hope anyway, but something in her heart told her that there was something off about the whole thing and that maybe she should pay more attention to it.

But not yet.

“Hey, wake up already! How is that bird not annoying you too?!”

“Five more minutes, Momo…”

“Momo? Yuki?! Get the hell up right now, it’s not the real world damnit!” She grabbed his shoulder to shake him awake. “And stop with that imitation voice!”

Still groggy, Yuki seemed to want to sleep for longer, somehow. “What’s wrong with you, Momo? You sound weird…”

“Me, you sound weird! I’m not your sister!”

“Not my sister?”

“That’s right, did you already forget that you’re inside Yumi’s mind like the rest of us?” It finally seemed to have reached Yuki that he needed to snap out of his manufactured reality. He turned around and then sat up finally bringing himself to face their current reality. But she didn’t anticipate what she saw when she finally got a good look at him. The sight made her hesitate trying to process it all.

Yuki looked over to find that Momo was indeed not next to him, though also no one that he recognized. “Who are you? I’m not very thrilled about being placed in bed next to a child as an adult.”

“Is that you, Yuki?” she questioned, “I’m not a child!”

“Yes, you are and yes, it’s me.”

“You’re no adult either.”

“What?!” He immediately looked down at his hands to confirm what she was telling him and then noticed it in his voice as well. Everything pointed to him being young again, somehow. As the pieces fit together and he understood what happened, he focused on the child next to him. “Saki?!”

“That’s right.”

“This seems like an unexpected arrangement.”

“Why would we be children in this world? And why are you taking this so well?”

Yuki shook his head at her, letting his black hair relax from his sleeping position. “I’m just as bothered by this as you. I can only guess it was necessary for the story of this world.”

She disagreed with the conclusion that Yuki came to and stood up trying to see if there were any more clues. “What possible reason could there be for turning us into children. They didn’t mess with our bodies before this point. We can’t do anything as children!”

“Maybe that’s how they’re increasing the challenge for Yumi?”

“This isn’t a game, Yuki! This isn’t like increasing the difficulty, we’re talking about the sanity and security of Yumi!”

“I’m not dismissing any of that, just pointing out her personalities point of view, possibly. We still know so little about their motives, considering that they could have crafted worlds far more lethal for her.”

“I thought you already had this figured out.”

“I’m not all knowing, it’s not like I’m stealing the advanced unwritten scenes. I’m making best guesses like the rest of you.”

“But you’re not without an idea.”

He smiled back at Saki, which with the child face that he had only seemed to enhance his youthful expression that he always bore for his friends. “I certainly have some ideas. Who knows if any of them are correct though.”

“You going to bother with any of the details?”

“Not a lot of point when it’s just guesses right now.”

“Yuki…”

He stood up interrupting her from trying to press him for an answer that he remained unwilling to give. Taking in their shelter, he made his way to the door quickly. “We’ve got bigger issues to figure out than their motive. We’re children in either an abandoned shack or some poor district of a town, we need to know what’s going on with us and figure out how to survive.”

“Damnit, Yuki…” she cursed knowing that he was right about that. While she hadn’t been up for long, she never saw any signs of a parent. ‘Unlike before, they gave us a story. That’s probably what Yuki’s implying… We’re not children because it was random, we are no longer ourselves…which is an even more disturbing thought…’

Chapter 499 – A Crafted Tale

Across the land in another unknown home awoke yet another of Yumi’s friends. To break with the repetition, unlike the others, he didn’t find this all that surprising. Sure, it was something that didn’t expect and for that he could have been said to have held a mild case of shock. But for him this was an opportunity, as misguidedly simple as that thought was.

This should spell things out clearly enough by now. Mystery over.

Seiji stood up, figuring it out sooner than everyone else that he had the body of a child. Personal awareness of the condition of his body was something that he took pride in. It was the home in which he would achieve his goals. So if he didn’t give it his attention, what sort of man would he be? Though reverted into a child, he could no longer be a man.

However, that did nothing to stop him, as previously stated. This was a boon for him. A chance for him to reaffirm his path, the correct path laid before him. Nothing would stop him.

Seiji left his room and marched around the house that he found himself in. Time and era had little bearing on his interests. Something seemed to have instinctually sensed it as though it called to him. Through some sort of pre-natural ability that he would call his senses of masculinity, while Saki would mock him for such a completely stupid notion. If she had been here, he would have countered with the suggestion that it was his version of female intuition, which she would still claim he didn’t have.

Whatever it was that allowed him to find it, he came across the sight that got him pumped up. “A dojo!” he exclaimed, spotting others inside practicing in the early morning of the day. The smell of sweat and energy of contest between men put a wide grin over his face.

His voice managed to break barely over the structured shouts of the training men. Some of the younger teens in the back rows look back to see him standing in the threshold. “Lord Hajime!”

Once his name started to spread through the ranks, he received more and more attention. “What’s the young Lord doing here?”

“Is he going to be starting?”

“But he’s too young…”

The commotion got the attention of the Master, who barked orders to his students. Authority restored the order of the dojo, but did nothing to dismiss what was drawing away their thoughts. He found Seiji completely unaware of his presence as he approached, grabbing the door. “What are you doing here, son? I’ve told you that you’re not allowed to enter this room until you’re older.”

“What?! But it’s so cool!”

“Cool?” The strange term brushed past him mostly as he focused on shooing out Seiji. “Leave right now!”

“I want to stay and watch!” Seiji seemed on some level to understand how to compromise, while entranced with what he saw.

His father found the look in his eyes surprising as he clearly had become trapped by what he saw before him. A little bit of pride could be allowed for the moment as he softened his pressure on the door. “If you step foot in here, you do not watch. You work.”

“Really?! I can!”

The plan to chase his son off backfired so fast for him that he could hardly even react to the spinning. He tried to balance himself, but staggered back on one foot. Low whispers and gasps from his students as they watched the scene put a target on him. Any more would lower their opinion of him risking the respect and discipline that he held as their Master. “Get in line! You will finish the morning routine!”

“Yes, sir!”

Completely exhausted, but happy as well, Seiji sat out on the porch overlooking the courtyard from the dojo. He completed the morning exercises with everyone, to their surprise even if he didn’t have the same sort of grace. A cloth that substituted for a towel rested on his neck as he lay on his back. His feet dangled over the side swaying cheerfully somehow still full of energy.

A shadow of a person crawled over his eyes as he glanced over to see a young girl in a kimono and the sleeves tied back. She carried a tray with a cup resting atop of it, though rattling a little despite having two hands on the bottom side. “Master…”

“Hey Nerine!” he said without even hesitation.

“…Seiji…how did you figure it out?”

“I just felt it. Also your hands are shaking.”

“I didn’t think I’d be this unfamiliar already with this sensation.”

He popped up putting the cloth over his shoulder and accepting the tea that she carried for him. “I’m Hajime apparently. What about you?”

“Got that far already?” she remarked, impressed with what he had figured out. “I’m Hotaru Shinozaki.”

Seiji finished off the tea quickly and handed it back to her. “Impressive as always, already got a full name. What about me?”

“You’re in the Nagahama Clan and well known for training the elite soldiers of the Lord of this region.”

“Damn, you haven’t wasted any time at all! Found anyone else?”

“No, his-Yuki and everyone else have not found me. Given our appearances, it’s likely going to be difficult this time.”

“I’ll know Yuki and Saki when I see them! Trust me, Nerine!”

“Then I’ll be counting on you.” Nerine looked down at Seiji finding his unfounded confidence encouraging in this new strange world where she felt even more helpless than she expected. Trapped in this land as a child in an adult world, she feared what might be in store for their future. This was nothing like the past two worlds that they were stuck in. She actually felt scared.