What do you mean I'm in England now?!

Midoriko felt like she’d done a backwards sommersault. All the beer and snacks she consumed at the drinking party threatened to come back up. With the world still spinning, she forced herself to open up her eyes.

It was daytime. Above her was a blue sky with fluffy, white clouds. Beneath her was dewy green grass.

She sat straight up. Probably too fast by how the blood seemed to leave her head, resulting in an intense bout of vertigo. After ensuring her glasses were still on her face, Midoriko tried to take in her tilting surroundings.

A lovely garden filled with flowers. An old-looking home made of brick and stone, like something out of a European fairytale, and…that man.

Midoriko seethed with rage. As he stood up and dusted himself off, she wanted to knock him back down into the dirt. Perhaps spatter the cute white flowers with his blood. But when she moved, the sensation of needing to vomit became uncontrollable.

“Blegh…”

Right onto that bastard’s flowerbed. A small revenge for sure.

“Ah! My poor datura!” he cried.

Datura…?

The door connecting the house and garden flew open, and a young man came rushing out into the garden.

“Master Ryo–” He stopped himself when he saw Midoriko. “...Huh? Who is this?”

“A hostage,” the bastard replied, nudging Midoriko with his foot. “See to it that she’s taken care of while I figure out what to do with her.”

“Pardon?!” The young man clutched his chest in shock and looked down at Midoriko.

She was dry heaving now, having emptied the contents of her stomach onto the garden. Her eyes were watering enough that she could barely make out the young man’s features–straight black hair in a bowl cut, a round face–but she knew.

Midoriko pointed a shaky finger at the young man. “Asian!”

“...”

She pointed at the shithead who kidnapped her. “Asian!”

“...”

Finally, she pointed at herself. “Asian…And we’re all speaking Japanese…So you can’t trick me…”

“Did she hit her head?” asked the young man.

“At some point? Maybe? Who knows…” The kidnapping bastard tried to stifle his laughter.

“Where…did you…take me…?” Midoriko panted as she tried to stand up. Her legs were trembling.

“Hm? Oh? Did I not say?” her kidnapper mumbled, pretending to feign ignorance. “We’re at my country home in England. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Eng…land…?” Midoriko repeated.

The man stretched out his arms in a broad gesture, then in perfectly unaccented English announced, “Welcome to England!”

Midoriko felt her legs give out, and everything went black.

***

It was almost dark out when Midoriko woke up dazed in an unfamiliar room. Everything immediately came flooding back to her and she sprang out of bed. The room was clean, plain, and old-fashioned–filled with vintage and antique furniture.

She gave herself a quick once-over. Still fully dressed, but her shoes had been removed. They hadn’t done anything to her…yet.

Midoriko looked around the room for her missing shoes and purse. Not only had her shoes been set neatly on the floor next to the bed, but her purse was right there on the bedside table. She grabbed the purse and dumped its contents onto the bed.

Phone…wallet…keys…junk…

But no kīla. Midoriko clicked her tongue in frustration. That thief must have taken it out. But why did he leave everything else?

Her wallet wasn’t missing anything–her ID, credit card, and around 3000 yen were still there. When Midoriko unlocked her phone, she realized that she had no data or WiFi. Her kidnapper must have known the phone was useless.

Was he looking down on her or just taunting her by letting her hold on to all of this?

The door to the room was closed. Midoriko put her ear up to it, listening for any sounds, but it was quiet. As she touched the doorknob, Midoriko felt something like a static shock.

“Ouch!” she hissed, recoiling from the sharp pain.

She tried again. Whatever static buildup she’d had was clearly gone since it didn’t shock her a second time. But was the door unlocked? She held her breath as she wrapped her hand around the cool, brass doorknob.

The door opened with a click. She pulled the heavy wooden door open slowly, worried it might creak. With every action she took, Midoriko would stop and listen for any sounds outside the room.

With the door ajar, she peered into the dark hallway. It was quiet and empty as she’d hoped. She quickly gathered her things and picked up her shoes–it would be better to sneak around this place with wood floors in just her socks.

Midoriko slinked down the hallway to the staircase. She couldn’t hear anything from downstairs either. Midoriko grabbed the railing and tiptoed down the stairs, one at a time, holding her breath with each step.

Halfway down the stairs, the thing she had been dreading happened.

As soon as her foot came down on the step, a noisy creak escaped the old wood. She winced. That was way too loud. Someone definitely heard it, right?

Midoriko waited, listening for any reaction to the noise she’d just made. But there was no sign of anyone else there. If they were gone, then this was the perfect chance for her to escape. The front door was in full view from where she was on the stairs.

She threw caution to the wind and thumped down the remaining stairs, running to the door. Midoriko’s fingertips got zapped by the knob again, but she quickly unlocked the fancy, old deadbolt.

Midoriko threw the door open and started running. She had to get away from here before they realized she was gone. There wasn’t even time for her to put on shoes–she took off barefoot down the driveway.

Then, she felt herself yanked back hard.

“Agh!”

As she was pulled into a not-so-loving embrace from behind, she caught a whiff of that familiar scent. A velvety voice whispered in her ear. “Tag. You’re ‘It’.”

Midoriko struggled as her kidnapper, now changed out of the security guard uniform and into a half suit, flung her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. With her arms pinned to her sides, she could only kick her feet weakly, much to his amusement.

He carried her back into the house, up the stairs, and into the room she’d just escaped from before unceremoniously dumping her onto the bed.

Before Midoriko could run again, he pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and locked her to the metal bedframe.

“What do you think you’re doing, you perverted bastard?!” Midoriko said, trying to squeeze her hand through the cuff.

“Relax, I’m not a pervert,” he replied, calmly pulling an elegant, old chair up to the bedside. “I just want to have a word with you.”

“Go to hell!” Midoriko shouted. She threw a kick in his direction, but he caught her ankle in his left hand with ease.

“What are you?” he asked, squeezing her ankle tightly with his gloved hand. The tips of his fingers dug painfully into her pressure points.

Midoriko winced. “Ow! That hurts! Let go!”

He yanked on her leg. “I don’t like repeating myself. What are you?”

“Ack! What kind of question even is that?! I’m obviously a human being!”

He eased his grip but didn’t let go of her ankle. Staring pensively at her, he gently ran his other hand over her foot and shin. “It’s strange…Why does nothing seem to work on you then?”

The ticklish sensation of the leather glove against her skin gave Midoriko chills. She reflexively yanked her foot out of his grasp.

“I…I really don’t know what you’re talking about right now,” she said, rubbing her ankle in an attempt to erase his touch. “Try being more direct.”

He let out a hearty, genuine laugh. “Okay. I’ll do that.”

The man relaxed in the chair, resting his elbows on the armrests and crossing his legs. While he seemed to be collecting his thoughts, Midoriko scooted away from him on the bed.

“Not only were you able to see through my disguises, but you were also completely unaffected by all of my commands at the museum, and you managed to bypass every magical lock or barrier in my house,” he explained with the kind of amused expression a parent might have when catching their child in an obvious lie. “If I hadn’t caught you, you might have actually gotten away. This place is in the middle of nowhere, though, so you probably wouldn’t have gotten far...”

Magic? Did he just mention magic? Midoriko couldn’t even process the remark about how she did actually almost manage to escape, too hung up on the insane string of words preceding it.

“I could have killed you if I wanted,” he continued. Midoriko was snapped back to reality at that.

“Then why don’t you?” she asked, staring him down.

The man sighed and rested his chin on his left hand. With a cold smile, he simply said, “Something tells me you’re more valuable to me alive.”

Midoriko sat on her trembling free hand, trying to hide her fear. He was making it clear that he could dispose of her if he wanted. Her mouth felt dry as she swallowed hard.

“What do you want from me then?”

“Good! You’re quick on the uptake. That makes this easier,” he said, perking up. The man leaned forward in his chair. “I want your cooperation.”

“And if I don’t? If I try to run again?” she asked. Midoriko knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him.

“Then I’ll have to use physical restraints on you like I am right now,” he replied, tapping the handcuff connected to the bedframe. Midoriko flinched away.

“I don’t think either of us wants that outside of very specific circumstances,” he added with a wink.

This guy was nuts. But Midoriko preferred to come out of the situation unscathed, so it left her with no other choice.

“Fine. I’ll cooperate.”

“Good decision,” he said. He grasped the handcuffs with both hands, grazing his thumbs over the locks. With a soft click, they were undone–like magic. Midoriko rubbed her now free wrist.

He tucked the handcuffs into his pants pocket as he stood up from the chair. The man adjusted his vest and started to walk across the room.

“What did you do with the kīla?” Midoriko finally asked as he reached the door. She knew he’d taken it, but she still didn’t understand the motive behind the theft.

He stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. The man cocked his head to the side and smirked. “Why, it’s part of my collection now.”

Midoriko got up from the bed and walked to the doorway.

“I want to see it.”