Land of the Unknown

Yukio was hiding behind a tree, with his back resting on the trunk. He was trying really hard to hear the creature’s breathing. And to hold on to his sanity.

He had no idea how much time had elapsed since he started running, and how he managed to keep the creature at bay and survive this long. But none of that mattered now. He was just waiting for the slightest of sound behind him.

He was no longer breathing through his noses. His clothes were clingy with sweat and unimaginably dirty, and he had lost one of his shoes some time ago. One of his palms clutched a sharp piece of rock, and the rock was instantly crimson.

He kept waiting.

Then the sound came. But not from the direction he was expecting.

His phone suddenly started beeping, disturbing the silence of the forest.

By the time Yukio took it out and stopped the timer, it was too late. The creature had heard him, and it was coming for him. The sound of its footsteps, which made the earth shake, indicated it’ll reach him in a few seconds.

This time, instead of running, Yukio closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

“There you are!”

He opened his eyes, and saw the person he was expecting to see a long, long time ago.

It didn’t take Kawata Minori much time to understand what was happening. He quickly grabbed Yukio’s hand, and they both disappeared.

The next second, the creature slammed into the tree. A part of its skull moved, and an eye emerged from the hole. It scanned everywhere, but couldn’t trace the prey.

The sound of another hollow roar filled the whole forest.

“Why couldn’t you come earlier?!”

“I had no idea what happened to you, where you were. Just Jumping at your location without any information could’ve been dangerous. I hope you understand.”

Yukio was standing with Kawata-san in a small, empty room whose walls indicated that it was also a very old one. If someone stepped outside of it, he would’ve observed that the room was part of the ruins of a building. Surrounding it, there were many other similar kinds of buildings; some covered with greenery, some completely decimated, and all of them completely devoid of human life. And that didn’t change no matter how far someone travelled.

They were on Earth 2.0. Yes, according to Kawata-san, that’s what Sumeragi Sensei called this world. It was apparently the world that was most similar to earth; but it was also the only one without any people. For some reason, the humans had gone extinct from this planet. All that they left behind were some buildings and cultivated lands. Judging by their condition, the buildings were hundreds of years old.

The reason Kawata-san brought him here was because he had something important to do here. And he had already jumped a lot today; before coming to look for him, he took Sumeragi Sensei back to Earth. He also jumped a few times to get deeper into the forest, until he found Yukio. And now he was too tired for another inter-world Jump.

But at that moment, Yukio didn’t care about that.

Kawata-san was scratching the back of his head, smiling as usual. Yukio, standing in one shoe on an uneven floor, with his hands still dripping blood, couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Dangerous? It would’ve taken one second! I could’ve DIED!”

Yukio shouted, and then slowly sank on the floor, panting.

“Okay, look, I’m sorry. I understand that it was really tough for you, encountering a wild animal like that. But did any of us tell you to go to the forest? It’s bad enough that Sensei would need to start that module from the beginning again, but you made him sleep in that dangerous place. And went out, leaving him alone. Seriously, what were you thinking?”

Yukio looked up at him with a blank expression. He could clearly see Yukio’s state, and even now he was busy scolding him?!

He turned his face away, his anger palpable.

“Okay, here’s what we are gonna do,” Kawata-san talked to him as if he was a child, “I am going to get out for a bit. For the job. When I’m done, probably in an hour, I’ll return. And then we’ll go back to Earth and get you treated. For now, just stay here. Okay?

After a while, he took Yukio’s silence as his acknowledgement. “Good.”

Then he walked out of the room.

Yukio felt a bit strange, watching him leave like that. When was the last time he saw a Tract walking to go to a destination?

He suddenly remembered his walk with Amanda in Ginza.

Yukio was in a familiar place, holding a very familiar thing in his hand. Without looking at it, he could tell that the baseball bat in his hand was partially red, and dripping a dark liquid. Yes, that’s how he saw it; that exaggeration was what his mind remembered. The body lying face down in front of him was, dramatically, lying in a pool of blood.

It was a scene he had seen countless times. But this time, there was something wrong with the body.

It was wearing a different kind of dress, and its size was also a bit different. Something was stuck at its hair, something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

A hair pin.

A white rabbit-hair pin.

Suddenly, the body changed its posture, and looked at him directly.

It was Amanda.

He fell on the floor.

Yukio woke up with a jolt. He was still in a different world, in an old room that smelled of dust and mold. The sun looked like it was about to go down, making him wonder exactly how long he was sleeping.

Not only did his whole body hurt, his left arm was especially sour. Must’ve slept with my head on it, Yukio thought. The back of his head throbbed as well, as if he just hit his head on something.

As he checked the room, something felt different. It could’ve been due to the red glow that was slowly filling the room, or something else.

He suddenly realized that Kawata-san wasn’t back yet. He said the ‘job’ would take an hour, but it seemed like at least three hours had passed since he left.

After getting up from the ground, Yukio stretched his body a bit. Several parts of it were throbbing with pain; he somehow endured it. Kawata-san said not to go anywhere, but he also said that he would be back in an hour, and that wasn’t the case anymore. He had to go out.

He hoped there were no ‘wild animals’ in this world.

After stepping out of the room, Yukio realized that the space he was thinking of as outside was actually just a large space inside the building; probably a hall room. A considerable amount of sunlight came through its broken, oversized windows. On the other side of it, there was a big hole that showed the outside, i.e. several buildings in various stages of decay. That’s probably the door, he thought.

The roof also had big holes at places, giving him a glance of the crimson sky.

Wait, wasn’t I in a multi-storied building?

Before Yukio could finish that thought, something caught his eyes. It was at a corner, and the fading sunlight was falling directly on it, making it glimmer.

As he walked towards it, he also noticed something else. This room (if it could be called that) looked like it had been used recently; it was not only mostly free of dust, a few footprints were also littered here and there. The prints looked strange, as if they were made by creatures whose toes were shaped like eggs.

Or maybe it was the shape of their shoes…

His eyes started scanning every nook and corner of the room, but his attention kept returning to that one corner where the shiny object was. He approached it apprehensively, his eyes occasionally darting towards the windows and the door. When he reached it, he felt both excited and disappointed.

It was a ring!

It was just a ring.

He picked it up, wiped it on his dirty shirt, and looked at it carefully. The inner part of it was coated with a dark, mushy stuff that looked like fungus. On the outer part, there was a strange symbol at its round head, with similar looking runes running through its body. Yukio couldn’t identify the material; it had a greenish hue, and felt a bit slimy when pressed.

“There you are!”

Second time.

Before turning towards Kawata-san, Yukio dropped the ring in his pocket.

“What took you so long?” Yukio asked him before he could say anything.

“The job took a bit longer than I expected.” Kawata-san didn’t look like his usual self, but that also could’ve been due to the low light. “But that doesn’t mean you should wander off again!”

“What?” Yukio was unsure what he was talking about.

“Why did you leave the room? And even if you did, why did you travel so far? Do you really like causing trouble or something?”

What are you…

Yukio’s mind was in inquisition mode. If what Kawata-san was saying was true, it meant he was no longer in the building where they initially arrived. It was what he suspected as well. But he doesn’t remember getting out of the building.

Which only leaves one possibility…

But how? One can only Jump to a place where he has been before. Okay, also by ‘scanning’ someone’s mind and acquiring their memories. But in this case, none of those conditions were applicable. He literally came here for the first time a few hours ago. So… how?

“Should I tell him?” The question echoed in Yukio’s mind for a few moments. It didn’t take him long to make the decision.

“Sorry, I was just curious about this world,” Yukio tried to smile, despite everything.

“Good God,” Kawata-san sighed, “So, are you satisfied? Want to finally return home?”

Yukio lowered his head. The answer was obvious.

With another sigh, Kawata-san approached him and tried to grab his hand.

“One thing.”

The sentence made him pause.

“How did you arrive here?” Yukio asked, “If there are no people on this world, how did someone travel to Earth from here?”

“I don’t know all that,” Kawata-san was suddenly his usual, smiling self, “Sugi brought me here.”

Sugi?

Yukio was surprised.

Does he also have the ability Sumeragi Sensei was talking about? Or did he visit this world with someone else, like Kiyoshi-san?

For a few seconds, none of them said anything.

“I think it’s better if you ask Sensei.” It was Kawata-san who broke the silence, “He knows about the other worlds much more than me.”

“Even though he’s not a Tract?”

Kawata-san just blinked.

Just another reminder that they still don’t trust me, Yukio thought.

In another time, it would’ve really irked him. After everything that he went through, there should’ve been no need for them to keep things from him. But this time, it was different.

This time, he was also keeping things from them.

Katori, Chiba

“So, you know what to do?”

“Yes. Fujimoto-san has explained everything.”

“Good,” Kichiro Sakue looked pleased, “I’m sure you know how important this expedition would be for us. Be extra careful this time, okay?”

“Absolutely.” Amanda said, firmly.

Tetsuya Megumi was observing their interaction with a smile on her lips.

They were in the underground room, but this time there was no prisoner with them. The leader was sitting in a chair at a corner, while the other two were standing.

“Where is she, btw? I told her to go to Tamura-san’s house, then report back to me. What is she doing, I wonder…”

Her voice trailed off.

Amanda said with an embarrassing smile, “Probably busy with Miyu-san…”

“Oh. Sorry, I understand. Is she okay now?”

“Yes. Her legs have healed. It should take her a few more weeks to get into shape.” It was Kichiro who answered.

“Good,” the leader relaxed in the chair. “Amanda, you may go now.”

“Excuse me.” Amanda disappeared.

“How is he?”

Kichiro had no problem understanding who the leader was referring to.

After a few moments of silence, she said in a hesitating voice, “ He’s fine, but… I don’t think it was a good idea, sending Yukio with Sensei like that. We were supposed to-“

“I know what we were supposed to do,” the leader cut her out. “I had no other choice. Sumeragi-san knows what needs to be done just as well as we do. We just have to hope he makes the right call, and doesn’t reveal much to him.”

Kichiro was silent again.

“I understand we have an unpredictable element. But, I have faith in Amanda. She has managed him brilliantly so far. As long as Yukio stays in that building, and encounters him, everything should go without a hitch.”

“Yes, Taicho.” She faced the leader with conviction, “I believe we have a genuine chance of curing Midori-chan this time.”

The leader smiled.

“Whatever it takes.” Both of them said at the same time.

The next moment, there was another girl in the room. She looked to be in her late twenties, and she was wearing a Kimono just like Tetsuya Megumi.

“Nodoka!” The leader exclaimed, “I was waiting for you!”

“Sorry for the delay, Taicho,” Fujimoto Nodoka bowed gracefully, “Actually, I had an encounter with Matsuda-san.”

“Hiromi?” Both of her listeners exclaimed.

“She’s back?” It was Kichiro, “She should’ve met me at once!”

“There’s a reason she didn’t visit you. I found her at Tamura-san’s house. She’s being kept in a separate room.”

“What? Why?” It was the leader this time, “What happened to her? Did she fight any of the Tiztaanians? Did the King-”

“No, nothing like that.”

After a few moments of hesitation, Nodoka looked up at them, “She’s sick. And she’s got some bad news.”

Both of them looked at her with an alarmed expression.

“The Tiztaanians are gone. All of them.”