6. the vision of Korova

Connie opened a portal. Connie jumped through the portal. Connie disappeared.

“We’ve been abandoned,” said Yukimura.

“No we haven’t,” replied Aoko with her please-don’t-eat-the-cat voice.

“But what if?”

“There’s no if. I know you just wanna scare me.”

“Do you know? Or do you think?”

It always impressed me how Aoko kept falling for his antics. “Um, I… think, I guess, but… oh, no, what if–”

Connie opened a portal. Connie jumped through the portal. Connie reappeared. Beside his green portal popped a yellow one, out of which hopped another lizard-turtle-rabbit chimera thing. “Hiii guys!!!!” She said. “I’m Tonnie!!!! Nice to meet you!!!! I’ll be assisting with teleportation for the night!!!!”

“Ishidaseishin and Yukimuraisami come with me,” said Connie. “Kawakamiaoko, Sakurahisui and the dragonkin can go with Tonnie.”

“Yeah!!!!” Opined Tonnie. “But you guys will have to crawl!!!! I’m sorry about that but the portals aren’t stable lately so they have to be smaller!!!! Please don’t go in at the same time or you will fuse!!!! Thanks!!!!”

The plan was to wait for all of them to crawl through the portals before I moved from my safe zone, but of course, someone had to perceive me again. “Ishidaaa!” Called out Hisui. “Hurry upppp!” Or maybe she said ‘Hurry up!!!!’. I wasn’t sure anymore. For obvious reasons, I’d taken my phone out before soaking under the rain earlier, but now I had to take it, but I was still soaked, but I didn’t want to hold it in my hand because it’d be too distracting or jarring, but–

“I heard your brother killed one of my summons,” Tonnie told the dragon girl as the girls headed to their portal. “That wasn’t nice, Tissu. That was very mean. Tell your brother he’s banned from my comedy club.”

The dragon girl–Tissu–leaned over Tonnie, motioned for her to approach her, then opened her mouth wide. Tonnie’s eyes turned into literal Xs before she collapsed. Nonplussed, Connie said, “You could have chosen a better method to explain your temporary muteness. That was indecorous. According to…”

Tissu had already crawled through the portal.

“...well, no matter. Who’s next?”

Hisui, that’s who. As nonchalantly as she’d hopped into the green portal the first time, she crawled through the yellow one now. We hadn’t even been told where we were going, other than there being ‘accommodations’ for the night. Aoko kneeled, then winced. “Um, does it hurt?”

“It does not,” replied Connie.

“Will Tonnie be alright?”

“She will. She passes out at the sight of blood. Hence me taking her summon to the revival center in her stead, but… she’ll be fine. Thank you for worrying.” Connie ‘smiled’ by closing his eyes.

“Ah. I’m glad.” Aoko stared at the portal as though it were a cockroach. “I’ll go now, then. Thank you. Bye.” But she didn’t budge. “What if–”

Yukimura literally punted her into it. “Your turn,” he said. It took a moment to realize he was talking to me. We had quite literally never interacted before when alone. He gestured at the green portal. “Go on. Your turn.”

I was torn between punting him into the portal out of misplaced justice and not making my already terrible first impression worse. As if on cue, Connie said, “Yukimuraisami, you can go first. I want to talk to Ishidaseishin for a moment.”

“..ehh…” But Yukimura complied.

There was only Connie, an unconscious Tonnie!!!! and I left. The former had his hands behind his back, eyes closed. I’d just pretend to have a tongue injury. Easy. “First question: why are you soaked? Were you unable to find shelter from the rain in time?”

I nodded. The answer: I needed to clean off.

“What exactly happened during your encounter with the dragonkin?”

I shrugged. The answer: I was stupid and irrational as usual.

“Why are you isolated from the rest?”

I looked away. The answer:

“This forest is heavily regulated. There are no blunt weapons, no props, nothing but a stage for outlanders to awaken their magic… and some emergency utilities. How, then, could a dragon have received such a grave injury? Not even I was able to heal her. Her insurance covers work-related accidents for more advanced healing, but what if it didn’t? Who would be responsible? If you refuse to speak, once she can, it will be her word against none.”

I shrugged, and that was the answer.

Connie watched me with those giant, slitted eyes on a turtle’s face, rabbit ears twitching. I waited for a lecture. Words have power or something stupid like that. But he simply gestured at the portal before turning around.

:–<> –:

I didn’t land on anything this time; like the rest, it seemed, I crossed through a ‘tunnel’. Hisui and the others, sans Tissu, gathered around a pink Connie. “Good evening, outlanders!” He said. “I am Ronnie. I will be your host for tonight.”

I stood up, then covered a sneeze with the back of my hand. It was freezing in here. Still, the colors of what seemed to be an inn were warm. The tables and the chairs were made of logs–from trees, it seemed, not mushrooms. Instead of curtains, there were giant, dusky leaves. I didn’t walk to the rest of the group because I didn’t want to.

Why are you so isolated from the rest?

That was it. That was the answer.

“I’ll be guiding you to your room,” Ronnie said. “Follow me. However, please note that our establishment isn’t responsible for any losses.”

The group followed Ronnie, and I followed the group. There were several clusters of people my age, all surrounding -onnies, some in uniforms, all outlanders. Interestingly, some of them carried luggage. An -onnie stood on a stage at the center, dancing and playing what I strongly presumed to be an instrument. It sounded like one. It seemed to work like one. What came out of it was incoherent… for an outlander like me, anyway.

Our room was 1408. I smiled, but I doubted anyone else would get the reference, so I didn’t say anything about it. How did I know? Because it had numbers at the top, gibberish at the bottom–outlander and local numerical systems respectively. “There are two bunk beds, a cot, two bathrooms, and a bell you can use if you want to use any of our services,” Ronnie informed. “Dinner will be ready in an hour or so. Please don’t leave the establishment unless absolutely needed. What else… oh, and there will be an initiation seminar after dinner. Some outlanders introduce themselves with nonsensical lexicon. Please don’t do that. It’s embarrassing. Also, please don’t ask about an ‘adventurer’s guild’ or a ‘stat screen’. It’s even more embarrassing. And don’t touch the staff’s ears without consent. That is a crime. Good evening.”

And so the four of us were left alone in room 1408. The four of us. In one room. Trapped in the same claustrophobic box.

Hisui was the first to walk in, unsurprisingly. “It’s picturesque,” she said. “By the way, I want one of the top beds.”

Yukimura raised his hand. “Dibs on the other top one. Aoko. You bottom.”

Aoko grimaced. “Did you really have to phrase it like that…”

And Ishida? Ishida sneaked out before anyone could notice, of course. The hallway itself was like that of a real–if themed–hotel, so in theory, I’d just have to walk in a straight line somewhere, then go back in… an hour or so. I turned on my phone, checked the time, then turned it off again.

At the end of the hallway was a log, a bigger log, a half-broken window, and a vase. I sat on the smaller log.

I had to wake up.

I had to wake up.

I had to wake up.

But I couldn’t, because this wasn’t a dream. I couldn’t bullshit myself into thinking that anymore.

I turned on my phone.

No signal, of course.

I scrolled through my gallery. It was barren, of course. Funny pictures. Food photos. A nice landscape or two. My goldfish. I’d won them at a festival almost a decade ago. One was called Akira Kurosawa, the other Takashi Miike. I also had a Mari Okada, too, but she died. More scrolling. It was almost like traveling back in time. Back when I hadn’t dyed my hair. Back when my grades were passable. Back when I lived in Fukuoka. Very fun stuff.

I didn’t even notice someone hopping through the window until they landed before me. While they visibly flinched at the sight, I kept my gaze fixed on my phone. A thief? An assassin? Amazing. Very nice.

“Ah, you broke Tissu’s face.”

…oh, come on. I leered at whoever had talked: a slender man with lavender, wavy hair and curly horns. It was obvious that this was Tissu’s brother and he seemed pretty smug about it, so I went back to my phone.

“...hello? Kid? Hi?”

I scowled at my phone.

“Aren’t you even gonna ask what I’m doing here? What if I wanted revenge on my sister’s behalf? What then?”

“Then I’ll break your face as well.”

He laughed. “Will you, observer?”

It wasn’t until he’d walked down the hallway that it dawned on me–the voice I’d heard as I’d fallen to this world was his.