A Garden of Hope

   Hao Hao and Jim ran outside. Shinigami stood in bright sunlight, like nothing they’d ever seen in the border of Shigo. Behind her was something even strange. It had stopped raining, and instead of woods and trees, there were buildings. Residential. It looked very much like a small town. How odd. That wasn’t there before. Hao Hao wondered if it could be some sort of magic native to Shigo, but… based on Jim and Shinigami’s reaction, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Are we where I think we are?” Shinigami asked.

“I don’t believe it,” Jim said, “We’re on the other side. This is back on your world, Hao Hao.”

“Wait, really?” Hao Hao asked. She wasn’t familiar with this place, but, well, she had been new to this county before she got taken to the border of Shigo, so she supposed it made sense that she didn’t recognize it.

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand how we got here.” Shinigami said.

“Me either.”

Hao Hao asked them, “Is it really that strange? Reapers come to this world sometimes, right?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Only at the portals,” Jim explained, “You remember the waterfall? That’s a portal.”

Hao Hao did remember it. That was when she first met him, and they went down the river. The waterfall is where her clothes changed from brown to black. It may also be when her hair changed color, but she doesn’t know for sure. That reminded her to look at it now. Had it gone back to normal? No. It was still blue like in the border of Shigo.

“I guess that rain back there counted as a portal?” Hao Hao asked.

“Must be.”

Shinigami said, “This is completely unheard of. Reapers travel back and forth, but humans don’t come back from the border. They physically can’t.”

“Really?”

Jim answered her, “It’s difficult for us to get through all on our own. I’ve tried to push through a person before, but we didn’t make it.”

Shinigami nodded. With a solemn tone, she said, “I don’t know what do to. This has never happened in all my years as a reaper. There is no protocol for it.”

“Well,” Jim said, “Let’s start with going back inside. You’ll scare people with the scythe.”

They did just that. Hao Hao asked, “It doesn’t turn into a normal stick like yours?”

“Nope.”

“There is no point to it. Who cares if it’s scary? I take people to the border and straight to Shigo. It’s not like they’re supposed to get comfortable and tell me about their kids and other such nonsense.”

“I don’t know. I like hearing about their lives.” Jim said.

“You always have.”

It was nice to hear Jim and Shinigami talking and it wasn’t an argument, but at this point there might be more troubling things to worry about. Once inside the school again, they decided to head to where everyone else was, the courtyard. It seemed they’d be finishing the tour after all.

They came outside. Birds flew above them, squirrels dashed around the floor. The courtyard didn’t usually get animals, so this must be because of them being in another world. Maybe magic kept them away before and now it couldn’t, Hao Hao supposed.

A short distance away from that was the garden where everyone was gathered. The plants were so huge it was almost hard to see past them. Jim asked, “What happened?”

“Hard to explain,” Hao Hao said.

They proceeded. Inside the garden, the others were talking very animatedly, gesturing exaggeratingly. They must have been as surprised by the sunlight as Hao Hao and the others were. The three of them came and took a seat. Shinigami went right for the center fountain, sitting beside it. Hao Hao would have chosen an empty corner personally, but since she was leading the tour, she felt she should join. Jim did too.

“What’s going on? It’s never been sunny like this here,” Emily said.

Jim explained, “That’s because ‘here’ has changed. We’re not at the border anymore.”

“What? We aren’t?” Sumi asked. Most of the others voiced similar questions.

“We’re in your world.”

“Wait, really?” Joy asked, “We’re home?”

At once the others looked to their hair or in a mirror if they had one; checking the very same thing Hao Hao had when Jim said it to her. Their hair and features were all just the same as before. She could see Cleo feeling her cat ears with frustration.

“Don’t get excited now. That doesn’t mean you’re free to leave. Remember your agreement.” Shinigami said strictly.

“Not that everyone wants to.” Jim said, nodding to the residents of Shadow Town. Red till had an axe in head, and with how old Mrs. Travis and Oleander were, it was reasonable to assume they wouldn’t know anyone.

“I just don’t understand what could have caused this.”

Several people put their hands to their heads in thought. Daichi said, “Well, rain isn’t normal in the border. Could it be that?”

“That seems likely,” Jim said. “The portals are like waterfalls, so… rain is a little similar.”

“But what caused it to rain?”

“Must’ve been something pretty special. Since it hasn’t happened in forever.” Sumi said.

“Um, well…” Hao Hao said, her voice threatening to lower to nothing. She pushed through it and said, “I don’t know for sure if that’s what caused it, but… it started raining, as I, um… I cried.”

The other students asked if it was really possible, but Jim quickly answered, “I don’t think so. You’ve cried at the border of Shigo before, right?”

“Yes, but this time was different. My tears hit one of the plants, and it grew really big, and then when it started raining, all the other plants grew tall like it. Is that a Whisperer ability?”

“No,” Jim said. He scratched his head and looked to his mother. She said, “I’ve never heard of such a magic. The only thing mildly similar is fairies magic, but this isn’t how it works. Fairy magic takes time and effort: it’s not an immediate sort of power. They also can’t talk to or control spirits.” She notes at the end.

“So this really is something new. That’s amazing Hao Hao,” Jim said.

“It also might be a terrible omen.” Shinigami said. “Humans and reapers, several centuries ago and long before my birth, used to coexist. I don’t know why they stopped, but it may very well be related to out-of-control magic.”

“You can’t say that for sure though,” Jim argued.

“It’s a reasonable guess.”

“For all we know, the original separation could have been made by something as silly as a bar fight.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You banned fish from our coastal town because you didn’t like the smell. I think it’s entirely possible that the whole separation thing might be a lot of nonsense.”

Again, no one can see Shinigami’s face, but everyone can feel the tone in the room change. Hao Hao goes for damage control and says, “But, also, if it is something dangerous, then I’d like to do what needs to be done to keep it in check. I’d never want to hurt anyone.”

“A good manner to have. I admit, you’re a very polite young girl.” Shinigami conceded.

“Oh, um, thank you.”

“I’d like to add, “Emily said, “If you don’t know what caused the separation, aren’t you worried it could happen without your knowledge?”

“Yes. That’s why I leave nothing to chance.” Shinigami said.

“But still, things do slip by you.”

“No one can be perfect all the time.” Alice said.

“And, things do slip by,” Jim said.

‘No thanks to you.”

“Listen, I’m not the one that brought Red and the people from Shadow Town. They were already there.”

He didn’t say it with his usual casualness. As he stayed quiet while the words lingered, they sounded more real. Shinigami asked, “Wait, really? That isn’t one of your lies?”

“It’s the truth,” Red said, “Whatever reaper was supposed to get me never came. I ended up stumbling into Shigo all on my own. Oleander and Mrs. Travis are the same.”

Shinigami was shocked. She was muttering words like ‘how could this happen’ and ‘why did this happen’ all out of earshot of most of the group, but Hao Hao and Jim were sitting right next to her.

Jim said, “I just decided to keep an eye on them while trying to find a solution that worked for everyone.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I knew you would want to send them to Shigo. They didn’t want that, and they’re my friends, so… I didn’t have much other choice.”

As the others went quiet, and all they could hear was the murmur of the town beyond, she seemed to lose her nerve. She said, “I can’t hear myself think with that noise? Can’t they stop?”

“You want to stop a town from making noise?” Jim asked.

“Yes.”

If one could see his eyes, they’d probably see them rolling. As was he was just quiet. Hao Hao suggested, “Maybe music would drown out the noise.” Kirai still had his guitar. He was supposed to play earlier when they were still doing the tour, but maybe he was still willing to play. She asked, “Kirai?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He acted irritated, but he started to play anyway. Shinigami regained herself, and she said, “I suppose I was a little hasty with my decision. Perhaps me and Jim could discuss it a while longer.”

“What about the school?” Joy asked.

“We may have to leave it for now. Unless Hao Hao knows how to get it back.” Jim said.

Hao Hao shook her head.

“That settles that for now then.”

“And what about us?” Taeyang asked.

“I… hope you can pardon me for asking you to go back to the border of Shigo. You are all still passed on, so it might be jarring in ways I don’t know how to navigate. For your families as well as yourselves.”

The others nodded. Truthfully, many of them didn’t actually want to go home anyway. Whether it be tough home lives, fear of how they look, or uncertainty, all of them were perfectly fine with going back to the border of Shigo.

In the sky, a rainbow shined over them all.