Edge of the Forest, Part 1

When Yukio and Amanda arrived at Katori, he was surprised to see three people standing outside the gate, having a conversation.

“Can you do it now?”

“Just a bit. Still not as good as Ando-san.”

“Are you stupid? Of course you can’t be as good as her! You should take it slowly and-”

“I don’t care! I want to be stronger as quickly as possible! So that… it never happens…”

Yukio noticed that the conversation was happening between the two boys. The girl, who looked the youngest among them, was just a spectator. As Yukio approached them, one of the boys noticed him.

“You’re the new member, right?”

Yukio realized that he is probably the only one not related to any of the Minus Plus members.

“Yes…”

They must be the Apprentices, he thought.

“God, you were right. They really are kids.” Yukio whispered to Amanda, and then realized she was no longer beside him.

“Oh my gosh, who do we have here!”

She was standing beside the girl and rubbing her face against her.

“Mami-chan… I missed you…”

With a pissed expression, the girl was trying to shove her away, but Amanda was really persistent.

Yukio had no idea what was going on. As he was standing there awkwardly, the boys pretended as if nothing was happening and walked up to him.

The shorter, healthier one asked him, “What is your power?”

“Huh?”

He wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Don’t all of them have the same power?

Then he remembered Kichiro-san talking about Sugi.

“What are you doing here?”

Yukio was surprised. The voice belonged to the person he was just thinking about, but he was nowhere near them. As Yukio was looking all around him, one of the boys tapped on his shoulder and pointed towards a tree.

Sugi was standing on top of a branch.

“What the…”

“It’s okay,” the taller boy adjusted his glasses and clarified, “For some reason he likes to stay on treetops. We’re used to it.”

Yukio felt a bit jealous, as he was always bad at climbing trees.

“I think,” Sugi was suddenly right in front of him, with a stern expression, “I asked you a question.”

What’s up with him?

“I’m here because I’m going on an Expedition with Sumeragi Sensei.” Yukio answered, reluctantly.

“What?” he sounded surprised, “No one told me that!”

That’s your problem…

Now the boys were also looking at him curiously, along with the third person of their group. The girl was silent all this time, and when she walked up to him, Yukio expected her to say something. But she just shook her hands in a peculiar way.

“She is saying,” Amanda was so quickly beside her that Yukio was sure she Jumped, “What are you going to do?”

The realization finally dawned on him.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, “Nothing much, actually… just gonna help him test his TD. Considering I don’t have any powers, that’s all I can do…”

The girl frowned, and made a series of hand signs. Amanda translated, “She is saying she can’t use her powers either. So you shouldn’t worry about that.”

Yukio smiled at the girl. “Thank you. Let’s do our best.”

“Hey! We were having a conversation!” It was Sugi, who sounded pissed.

“Oh, really?” Amanda rolled her eyes, “I thought your question was answered, and you were back being a monkey.”

“Burton!” Sugi was having a staring contest with her.

“Come on, you two…”

Now I have to be the mediator? Yukio sighed.

“Lively as ever, huh?”

All of their eyes turned towards the person who had suddenly appeared on the other side of the gate.

It was a man in his early Thirties, wearing a checkered shirt and a black pant in such a way that made him look like an average office-goer Japanese. His expression made Yukio think that he was one of those people who were always happy for some reason.

“Kawata-san!” Amanda exclaimed.

Kawata? Wasn’t that the name of Sumeragi Sensei’s assistant?

“Good afternoon, Amanda. Sugi, aren’t you supposed to be with Tetsuya-san?” The man spoke. “She will need your help soon.”

Upon hearing the words, Sugi’s expression changed.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He was clearly nervous.

Then he looked at Yukio.

“Okay, I don’t know why Sensei chose you of all people. If you’re really going with him, make sure you don’t cause any troubles for him. Good luck.”

As he turned around to leave, Yukio called out to him, “Hey!”

“What?” He rotated his head.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

“For saving my life.”

For a moment, his eyes widened.

“D-don’t sweat it,” He said embarrassingly, and Jumped.

“Alright. It’s time.” Kawata Minori said with his ever-cheerful expression.

Yukio was standing together with him and Sumeragi Sensei, their luggage at their feet. They were at the lawn, with only Amanda and Kichiro-san to see them off.

The kids he met earlier were the Apprentices Amanda talked about. The girl he saw was Amaya Mamiko. The taller boy with glasses was Fujimoto Sasaki, and the shorter one was Tamura Hirotaka. They were the only Apprentices in all of Japan currently, a fact that initially came as a shock to him. Then he realized that the number of Tracts in Japan weren’t much after all.

After their introductions, the apprentices were sent to Ando Satoko, their teacher. And then they were joined by Kichiro-san and Sumeragi Sensei.

“Yukio, remember what I said,” Amanda said in a commanding voice, “DO NOT touch any unknown flowers or plants. Most of them are still not studied by Sensei, so-”

“They can be dangerous,” Yukio completed her sentence. “I know! You said that already!”

“Yeah, Amanda,” Kichiro-san added, “Don’t treat him like a child.”

Amanda puffed her cheeks.

It was the first time I’ll be Jumping without her, Yukio thought.

He knew it wasn’t a big deal, that he couldn’t expect her to always be with him. He tried to convince himself… and yet a part of him remained unconvinced.

“Are you ready, Takanashi-kun?” Sumeragi Sensei looked at him with mischievous eyes.

He should have been ready. But the truth was, he was already feeling a tightness in his chest. He was excited about going to another world, that much was true. But this time wasn’t like the last time, when Amanda took him to Lativis without any warnings. This time he knew what was coming… and he felt apprehensive.

Did I make the right decision, coming back here?

The time was up. The three of them were holding each other’s hands.

“See you!” Kawata announced.

“Be careful!” It was Amanda.

The next moment, he was standing in a different world.

Yukio started taking deep breaths.

The Forest of Kelna, Ebromia

Yukio was sitting on a rock, enjoying the view of the vast greenery in front of him. Or at least, he wanted to.

After they arrived at the Kemirsh village, and spent some time there, whatever uneasiness Yukio had pent up inside him was gone. It was substituted with frustration.

Is this what he was so afraid of?

In his eyes, Kemirsh wasn’t different than any other typical village on Earth.

It was situated in the middle of a valley, and surrounded by a huge forest. There was a single, long road crisscrossing through the entirety of the village, and most of the houses were situated on the sides of it. As for the houses, they were mostly made with a combination of wood and clay. Some were made with stone, but those were mainly shrines and places to store harvests.

And the people were… people.

He looked hard at them, but couldn’t find any difference between them and himself. Even their dresses were made of normal clothes sewn together to form the shape of a body, i.e. the same way clothes are made everywhere. The person (if he could be called that) he saw on Lativis had given him an impression that he will see lots of different kinds of people on the other worlds; even though Amanda told him otherwise.

Yukio looked intently at a tree near him.

I don’t know what it’s called, he thought, but I’m sure I’ve seen the exact same thing somewhere on Earth.

And ultimately, that was the thing that disappointed him the most.

He tried, but absolutely didn’t feel like he was anywhere but on Earth.

“How did people from Earth get here?” Yukio just couldn’t keep the question out.

He was sitting in their tent with Sumeragi Sensei, while Kawata was back on Earth; to back up some data and get some resources.

Yukio did as he was told: he went to the village, and rubbed his head at the ‘Sacred Stone’ five times in front of a witness. Then he was taken to a house.

Usually outsiders were not allowed on Kemirsh, but they could spend some time there if they were blessed by Lord Kah, the god of the soil.

Much to his dismay, it was less of a house and more of a farmhouse. It had some furniture that resembled tables and stools, indicating people lived here. But there was fodder lying around everywhere, and at a corner a bunch of animals (resembling sheep with unusually large noses) were constantly bleating. It smelled really bad.

Sensei had already arranged everything, so he just had to sit on a stool and wait for the villagers to come talk to him. Whatever they said, it got translated by the TD on his ear with a few moments’ delay. But most of the sentences were inane.

“I like jumping.”

“My wife hairy.”

“My rear painful.”

After some time, the village leader said something that translated to “Time to remove.” He was shown out, and then he was walking back at the only modern piece gracing this piece of land: their foldable tent.

He was thinking of a lot of things, but mainly that he couldn’t wait to return to Earth. He would rather visit villages on Earth than places like this. Why would anyone want to come here?

That’s when it hit him.

“I will ask you again. How did people from Earth go to the other worlds?” Yukio was looking at Sumeragi Sensei with large eyes.

After some time, when no answer was offered to him, he resumed, “Amanda told me that to ‘Jump’, we just need to imagine a place, or a person. Now, I don’t think she meant that by imagining the wrong image, we can end up in an alternate world. Because that would’ve made Jumping completely useless, and extremely dangerous. So, how the hell can someone Jump to another world?”

Just when Yukio thought he wouldn't be getting an answer, Sumeragi Sensei steadied himself.

Yukio kept looking at him.

“What you said about ‘Jumping’,” Sensei started talking, “It was just slightly wrong. Or rather, it omitted something. To Jump, Tracts need to either imagine a person, or a place with a specific ‘Anchor’. And by ‘Anchor’ I mean some landmark that the Tract remembers. Otherwise, if they think of a broad area, they can end up anywhere on it, far from their destination. Anyway, just as you said, there’s no way someone can end up in a different world because they imagined something slightly different.”

“Then?” Yukio leaned forward.

Sumeragi Sensei continued, “You asked how Tracts from Earth ended up on other worlds. The thing is, they didn’t. Not at first anyway. Has anyone told you about the War of the Seven Worlds? It’s called by other names as well. Anyway, it was a war that was fought a long time ago, among Tracts of many different worlds. Now, before that, no one on Earth knew about the existence of other worlds.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” Sensei adjusted his glasses, “One day, suddenly a bunch of people from different realities were on Earth. Minus Plus, or whatever its name was at that time, interacted with them at first, since the intruders were almost as confused as them. After scanning their memories, the Tracts learned about the existence-”

“Wait, wait,” Yukio had to stop him. “Scanning their memories? Is that even possible?”

“Come on, you should already know this. Although most of the Tracts are only capable of what you call ‘Jumping’, and some level of telekinesis, many of them have some specialized powers. Kiyoshi also had that power. The power to scan parts of someone’s memory, and remember things one isn’t supposed to remember.”

My God…

Yukio had no idea that such a thing was possible.

“So you mean…” he was saying in-between pauses, “The Tracts scanned their mind, gained memories about their world, then Jumped there. But then… how did the people of the other worlds obtain memories of Earth?”

“That, truthfully, I don’t know,” Sensei admitted with a downward gaze. “I asked that to Kiyoshi many times, but he never revealed the origin of those memories.”

Yukio was bummed.

“Who is this Kiyoshi-san? Can I talk to him?”

Sumeragi Sensei was silent for a few moments. Then he said in a grave voice, “Unfortunately, he is no longer with us.”

Both of them fell silent. Yukio gazed at Sensei, who was back at clicking the keyboards of his laptop in a rapid speed. Then he just let go of his body.

Special powers…

After observing the tent-top for a few minutes, he suddenly got up.

“What other kinds of special powers are there?”

“What now?” Sensei stopped typing, but didn’t move his head.

“Nothing…” Yukio suddenly realized he wasn’t talking to Amanda. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“It’s okay,” Sensei waved his hand, “I didn’t hear you. What was the question?”

Yukio composed himself, and then slowly muttered something different, “I was just thinking… how someone can get these special powers…”

“No idea,” he resumed typing, “Ask Chiro-chan, or Man-chan.”

Who are they?!

“Do you have any special powers, Sensei?” Yukio asked, apprehensively.

“Oh God,” Sumeragi Sensei suddenly turned towards him, “Did no one tell you?”

“What?”

“I’m not a Tract. Just a normal human.”