Wings of Another World I

It was a shame Haruki had joined his parents in the afterlife so early. So young, full of life, with another good fifty-odd years to go before gravity pushes his spine down until he’s an old, wrinkled ball of skin and bones.

Or so he thought.

He slipped into consciousness, though he hadn’t opened his eyes. His senses began to return one-by-one. A faint smell of lavender and something sweet and unknown wafted first.

Then came sensation—a pillow under his head. A pillow? It couldn’t be. It was firm, squishy, but soft and supple enough. He was either in a hospital or this was what lying down in fluffy cloud heaven felt like.

He twitched to life, letting the electricity of life flow through his fingertips. The object below him twitched in kind.

“Saas…?”

Hearing returned. Saas? It wasn’t any language he recognized, and he understood Mr. Junk well enough even when he didn’t speak Japan’s vernacular.

“Saas…!”

Curious, Haruki slowly opened his eyes. When his sight came to him, a deep, blue sky yawned back from above. Then his attention turned to the shadowed figure looming a mere spitting distance from his face.

“Sir…?”

The more his eyes opened, the more the amorphous speech began to take form.

“Sir…! You’re awake…!”

The voice of a young woman, mature, delicate, but endearingly nasal. Her expression wore thick unease, tears almost welling up for some reason.

Her long, flowing golden hair drooped down to Haruki, tickling him. Though her chin was sharp, her cheeks were puffy, erring on the side of pinchable. Though Haruki couldn’t see the sun, the way her golden eyes glittered like gold dust alongside her glowing fair skin—he didn’t need the sun to brighten the surroundings.

When he scanned her further, that’s when he noticed her long, pointy ears and out-of-place green tunic and sheer dress which accentuated certain… features, when seen from below.

Cosplay? He didn’t think there’d be any cosplayers, let alone ones donning prop ears in the countryside of Hanamigaoka.

Haruki stammered out a response. “H-Hello?” He finally registered that the object under him must have been her thighs. Glorious. When was the last time he was treated like this by a lady—if ever?

“Ah!” The girl’s face lit up, but worry rushed in just as quick. “I thought you might’ve been dead. I saw a great big bird land in the canopy, then that’s when I found you here. Were you not pursued by a griffon, by any chance?”

“No…” Griffon? I think you just saw a plane crash. “Uh, griffon?” Haruki sat up quickly. “Sorry, my plane malfunctioned just a moment ago. I must’ve crashed here and survived—-somehow.”

“Plain… crashed? Aren’t plains a flatland? Or is your plain a type of bird?” The girl inclined her head. The word ‘plane’ seemed to have perplexed her so much, Haruki could swear he could make out the big question mark floating above.

“A plane.” Haruki spread out his arms, mimicking flight. He scanned his surroundings, searching for the Kenichi Modern, but could only make out trees upon trees. “I fly an early twentieth century biplane. It’s a recreation of an old Bristol. Seen it?”

The blonde girl tilted her head the other way.

“Twentieth century? Your ‘Bristol’ must truly be an ancient bird. My father had only lived up to his fifth.”

This girl either had her head way up in the clouds, or something else had gone awry.

Haruki breathed in deep. If he wanted to make sense of the situation, he had to calm down.

He got back to his feet, taking in the girl’s pleasant, flowery scent one last time. A shame, but at this rate, he may end up catching her crazy.

“Sorry. Let’s start over,” he said, bowing. “I’m Haruki Kanno. I’m a plane pilot who just crashed around here. Where is here?”

“Hm? We’re in the woods near Cain-Mylah Foothills, just a stone’s throw away from Ka-Ilyah Castle. Are you alright, sir?”

Just when he thought she was done talking gibberish, now she says that alongside their vernacular. If this was her way of cosplay, this was an elaborate one—and it wasn’t funny.

Feeling a rising ache in his head, he squeezed his temple.

“No… I’m not okay.”

The girl fidgeted with the brooch tying the tunic to her chest. “Your Bristol… your bird. I think I know where it is,” she said, her tone tender and reassuring. “Maybe if we find it—”

“Yes!” Haruki snapped back into total sobriety, and clasped her hand in his. “Please! Take me to it.”

“O-okay!” The girl’s voice quivered. None of them could tell if she was shocked, flustered—or both.

=====

Cleaving their way through thick shrubbery and overgrowth with only a utility knife Haruki had strapped to his belt, they made their way due north through the endless forest. The girl trailed behind, making sure to not lose sight of Haruki as she gave him directions.

When they came into a clearing at the edge of the forest, the trees parted to frame an image of a red-orange flying machine—the Kenichi Modern—stuck in the tree canopy.

Haruki outpaced the girl, jogging right into the plane’s shadow.

“That’s it,” he said as he pointed at the machine, then scratched his head. “Well… at least it looks like it’s in one piece.”

He stymied the thought of the ‘how’ it’s not damaged, and just thanked his lucky stars it wasn’t.

The girl looked up at it, studying its form, color—its very existence. She looked at it as if she were a child getting a toy truck for Christmas and thinking the little person inside the driver’s seat was real.

“Is this… your plane?” She darted side to side like she was in a coffee-induced frenzy, with curiosity the sugar. “Where is its head? Its body? Oh, these are their wings, but they look so rigid… How does it flap? Is it even alive? Where does your Bristol poop from?”

“Uhh…”

Haruki shook his head. Had she never seen a plane before?

When the wind blew his hair, he followed its source and peered through the remaining treeline. Beyond the last row of trees was an endless plain of green and rolling hills beyond. There were no signs of rice paddies, wooden houses, or konbinis as far as the eye could see. Where am I…?

“Sorry,” he said, turning back to the girl. “Where did you say we were? Are we still in Japan?”

The question came unanswered. The girl seemed too enamored with his plane to give him the time of day. After a moment passed, she pivoted towards Haruki and came up to him, leaning with a playful smile.

“Does it fly?”

“Huh? Of course it does.”

“Is it alive? Can it still fly?”

“Well yes, it looks like it can still fly.” Haruki raised an eyebrow. “Though it was never alive to begin with?”

“How could that be? If it can fly, it’s definitely alive.”

“How do I even explain this? It—”

“If I get it down, can we fly it?”

Get it down, she says. Without a crane or elaborate equipment, they wouldn’t be able to get it down without crashing the plane for real and damaging its parts.

“Well, yeah,” he answered, not facing her but instead surveying the endless stretches of land for civilization.

The trees behind him, where the KM layed, began to rustle. A faint glow caught the corner of his eye. When he turned, he saw an aura of green envelop the girl—her arms clasped and eyes closed as if in prayer. The plane behind her unraveled itself from the canopy, floating above the treeline.

Haruki’s eyes shot open, as wide as humanly possible. W-What on earth? Actually—that may not even be correct. Was he still on Earth right now?

But the more he stared at the marvels before him, an unrelated realization finally set in.

The girl… she really was beautiful.

Even the best cosplays gave off this slight tinge of artificiality. Whether it was make-up, the costume, or just the natural act of putting on airs to appear in character—in the end, it was make-believe.

But this—this was just her.

This has to be magic, right?

She really is an elf, isn’t she?

The KM landed on the ground with a gentle knock. Haruki rushed to its side like it were an injured child.

“Whoa! The canvas is almost entirely intact!” He scampered around the plane, inspecting for damage or defects in its movable parts. There were none. When he clambered into the cockpit, it too seemed immaculate. “Everything here’s intact. Amazing.”

“So, is it alive, Sir Haruki?”

Haruki paused, letting the moment—of her and the KM sink in. He then hopped out of the cockpit and walked slowly towards the girl, his mouth hanging agape.

“Y-Yes… It’s very much alive,” he said, voice shaky. “What did you do?”

“Hm?” The girl tilted her head and smiled. “I used a simple air spell on it. The bird was a bit heavy, but nothing I haven’t handled before.”

It really was magic.

Haruki wasn’t on earth anymore—unless there was a nation of elves and magic tucked away just off Japan’s west coast. He was certain there wasn’t. There couldn’t be!

“Who are you…?”

The girl hesitated. She pursed her lips, eyes lingering to the side a moment too long. It all then melted in an instant, her expression returning to its youthful, curious look.

“Anemone. That’s my name.”