The Great Wave off Kanagawa

“Hey, Rin? Are you all right there?” Aila waved a hand in front of my face. “Hello?”

“I’m fine,” I said, pushing her away. Needles crawled up my arms, snakes of knives and pins that sent a shiver up my spine every time they dug into my skin. It’d been a long time since I’d had to deal with such an annoying feeling.

Yet these types of memories were carved with stone. Some thoughts were like pencil scratches, others like markers on a whiteboard. Those served their time. But others reveled in their staying power, those types of memories that are so important they’re never forgotten.

Pressured water couldn’t sand down metal, nor could time. Those were the types of memories that stuck with me.

I could bury them, shove those memories away in some dark corner, and fill the room with junk. It would always be there in the recesses of my mind; there was no denying the inevitable.

“I’ll meet you back at the dorms, decide without me,” I barely got out my words before darting around the corner.

It was stupid, I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t ignore the well of emotions bursting from my stomach.

I’d been thrust from my home on the eve of turning my life around, thrust into this archaic world with pipes for wires by some god too cowardly to even show its face! All for what? To risk my life saving some people I’d never met in my life.

I was not a hero. I was the furthest thing from one. Why drag me away from Earth just when things were getting better, when I was about to turn everything around?

All that effort I put in, all that time Lilly and I put in, wasted. Why bother putting the fighting gloves away when some egomaniac of a deity would force you to go to the isekai equivalent of a worldwide gladiatorial arena?

“Rin, wait up!” Aila shattered my spiral. She shoved a hand on my shoulder and twisted me around with much more strength than I would have expected. “What’s going on, Rin? You can’t just leave me hanging like that!”

“Nothing important, I’ll be fine in a few.” I knew my voice was harsh, but I couldn’t keep it in.

“I don’t care about you later, I care about you now!” Aila grasped me like a vice, putting her other hand on my shoulder. “I’m your partner, and we can’t be partners if you won't give me a hint of what's going on!”

“But–”

“No buts. Let’s find a quiet place to talk.”

֎ ֎ ֎

Before I could comprehend the situation, Aila had dragged me like a doll back to her dorm.

I always heard how a person’s room reflected their personality, and Aila’s was a good example of that. Bright pink curtains drawn to a close covered the windowsill; blue pastel bedsheets covered her mattress. Everything had a very bright, cheerful tune.

Even the simple wooden desk in the corner carried that motif. Above on the wall, several pictures had been stuck to the wall haphazardly, showing paintings of various places around the city and beyond

There was the local bakery, Unit E’s dorms, several more buildings I hadn’t had the chance to stumble upon yet. That wasn’t to mention the framed pictures on the desk showing Aila and presumably, some old friends.

“I think we're all alone here,” Aila gently closed her door without a sound.

“Yeah…” Our eyes met, and it quickly became clear to me that Aila’s passion overruled mine on a scale of ten to one. I wanted to hide; she wouldn’t let me.

“I don’t like beating around the bush, Rin. If we’re going to be partners, I can't have you running off like this! I want to help but can’t if you won't play along.” Aila said.

I plopped down on her soft, cloud-like bed, sinking into the covers. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it.” I sighed. “Okay, that’s a lie. I don’t. But I know for both our sakes that is probably the best move.”

Aila sat down at her desk chair, staying silent and letting me continue on. “It’s not one specific incident in particular; I guess the race between Theo’s parents was just the trigger?”

“For what?”

“Lilly.” I could feel my voice shake. “My life on Earth wasn’t the best, mainly my own fault—but in a way, it wasn’t that different from what we're doing now. My grades were abysmal, home not a place that I would wish on anyone, and all I wanted to do was fight.”

I smirked. “I was pretty good at it too, you know, went years without losing a brawl. But that kind of life isn’t sustainable. Not on Earth.”

“I had wondered,” Aila paused for a second, gathering her thoughts. “Rescorge are never great fighters at first. That's the whole reason Unit E started doing their basic practice fights. But Rin, you came in there and destroyed those bandits like they were nothing! It was so cool! The way you fought with no remorse all up close was so different from the knights, like using the bandits' own methods against them.”

“It’s not all sunshine and roses. Sure, it’s useful here, but back then, I was destroying my life one step at a  time. Shit, without Lilly I would have ended out on the streets, bloody and with my clothes torn.”

“I see that woman means a lot to you,” Aila said coldly.

“She’s the reason I’m alive.” It was the truth, though I would never dare to say that to Lilly’s face. “But to see the girl that saved you be wanted for mass murder in a strange land; to know there is no way in hell she’s responsible for that! I know that the rational move is to stay here and get connected so I can find her, but every bit of me just wants to go run away and find her before getting out of this insane world!”

“How has Unit E been for you?” Aila asked, changing the question. “If the combat is worrying you, I’m sure I can tell Richard to–”

“I doubt that man would take my excuses kindly.” I scoffed. “It’s not the combat itself. I don’t deserve to be called a hero, Aila. Lilly does, and now our roles have been reversed. Isn't that so funny?”

“Then work to clear her name! What’s the point of hanging around here then when we could go training?” Aila jumped up from her chair, face flushed, and marched over to me. “If you’re right about this, then what does this accomplish? You got sent here. Cry, be elated, whatever. That can’t be changed. What can be is Lilly’s fate!”

“No but–”

“If you’re down in the mud, crawl back up!” Aila said. “I am sure you remember what Urial told you back at that church. Are you going to let her be right? If you’re so full of unrequited sin or whatever she said, then redeem yourself!”

“I– No, you’re right.” The truth came with its familiar sting. Lilly had forever told me the same thing. Yet even with a bit of conviction, the human mind couldn’t forget that easily. “But if even a god sees no hope in me…”

“You’re the one who said she’s not infallible. She can’t even see you on the planet from what you told me, much less who you are. Are you going to let someone like that keep you down?”

“What next then?”

“We just have to wait for our next chance to strike. I’m also nothing special—I can run fast, that's it—but for some reason I have a feeling our opportunity will come soon enough.”

“If you say so.” I didn’t know why, but for some inexplicable reason, I found some truth behind her words. I could only have hope that Lilly was alright, wherever she was.