Not Alone

Morning comes quietly.

For the first time in what feels like forever, I wake up in my own bed.

The room is familiar. The old paint of the walls. The dusty curtains drawn closed, allowing only a thin line of sunlight to get through.

I don’t move.

Every part of my body feels exhausted.

Yesterday was a lot.

Being chased by creatures, running through that strange world, getting dragged into a horde of them, nearly dying, and then somehow making it back home…

Just thinking about it makes me tired again.

I sink deeper into the bed.

I should probably get up.

Eventually.

For now, I close my eyes.

Wait no, I have to get up.

I need to wake Mina up for school.

“Ah.”

That’s right.

Mina is gone.

The thought comes back to me all at once.

For a moment, I just stare at the ceiling.

I don’t know why I forgot.

No.

Who am I kidding?

I just didn’t want to admit it. Deep down, I was hoping that maybe everything that happened yesterday was all a dream.

Unfortunately, the soreness in my body says otherwise.

So does the fact that I can still remember everything so clearly.

The horrific creatures.

The feeling of being stabbed and almost dying.

The Princess.

I raise my hand and stare at it for a moment.

Up until now I was powerless.

Now I have a power.

I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about that.

I let my hand fall back onto the bed.

There are probably a lot of things I should be doing right now. Figuring out where Mina is. Figuring out what happened to me. Maybe even figuring out what the Princess expects me to do now that she’s given me her power.

But for the moment, I don’t want to think about any of it.

I just want to lie here.

RING RING RING

My phone begins to rise.

I stare at it from across the nightstand.

For a few seconds, I consider ignoring it.

Whoever it is can probably wait.

The ringing continues.

With a sigh, I reach over and pick it up .

The number is all too familiar.

I take a deep breath before answering the phone.

“Hello?”

“Yusuke?”

A voice that I know all too well.

It’s my boss.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

I blink.

“Home.”

“Then why haven’t you come to work?”

I sit up straight.

“...What?”

“Where have you been? You haven’t shown up for a week.”

A week?

I look at the phone again.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ve been trying to contact you all week, but you never answered my calls.”

I glance toward the calendar on my desk.

The date catches my attention.

I glare at it.

Then I look at my phone.

A week.

That can’t be right.

It was only yesterday.

At least, that’s how it felt.

“Yusuke?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you alright?”

I don’t answer immediately.

I’m not sure how to explain it.

Because as far as I know, I went to another world yesterday.

And somehow…

A week has passed.

“It’s complicated, sir.”

“I see…”

His voice is quieter than before.

“But are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine, sir.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

I don’t know what to say to that.

I can’t exactly tell him that I spent the time being chased by monsters in another world.

He’d probably think I had lost my mind. Or that I was just skipping work.

“I just… had some things happen.”

“Are you able to tell me?”

I hesitate.

“I can’t really explain.”

Another silence.

Then I hear him sigh.

“Alright.”

He doesn’t push any further.

“Just tell me one thing. You’re safe, right?”

I look around my room.

Safe as can be.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

There is another pause.

“I was starting to get worried.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. I just can’t help but worry.”

“Right…”

“I mean it, Yusuke. I’m completely fine with you taking some time off, but don’t just up and vanish on me for a week. You have to at least tell me.”

“You’re not angry, sir?”

“Perhaps more worried than angry. You’re one of my best workers, Yusuke. But more importantly, you are a friend. I see my whole team as family. You’re no different.”

“Sir.”

“Here, take today off too. Come back whenever it feels right. Well, maybe not too long, though. You know how Yuito works by himself. He’s a complete mess.”

He lets out a small laugh.

“The office isn’t the same without you.”

I can’t help but smile.

It’s strange.

Even after disappearing for a week without saying a word, he isn’t angry with me.

He’s worried.

I’ve always known my boss was a good person, but hearing him say things like this makes me realize just how much he actually cares about everyone.

I never thought of the office as anything more than a place I went to work.

But maybe to him, it was a little more than that.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t mention it. Just make sure to get some rest.”

“Yeah.”

The call ends.

I lower my phone and stare at the screen for a moment.

For some reason, I feel a little lighter.

Mina is still gone.

That hasn’t changed.

But…

Maybe I’m not as alone as I thought I was.

I look down at my phone again.

My boss had been trying to reach me all week.

He had been worried about me.

Somewhere out there, people were probably wondering where I had gone.

I had been so focused on finding Mina that I forgot something.

There were still people who would notice if I disappeared too.

The thought lingers in my mind.

After Mina disappeared, all I could think about was finding her.

I didn’t have time to worry about anything else.

But now that I’m back home…

I realize there are people who care about me.

Maybe I should have realized that sooner.

I place my phone back on the desk.

Then I notice the number of missed calls.

I pick it up again.

There are dozens of them.

My boss.

My neighbours.

Yuito.

A few other people from the office.

Even some numbers I don’t recognize.

I stare at the screen.

So I really was gone for a week.

I scroll through the messages.

Most of them are asking if I’m alright. Some ask where I am. A few are just simple messages telling me to call them back.

I don’t know why, but seeing them makes my chest a little tight.

Not in a bad way.

I suppose I had gotten used to thinking that nobody would notice if I disappeared.

I was wrong.

< You seem pleased. >

I pause.

I had almost forgotten she was there.

“...You heard all of that?”

< Naturally. >

I look at the messages on my phone again.

“I’m not alone.”

There is a brief silence.

<No. You are not. >

Her answer is simple.

But somehow, hearing it from her makes the thought feel a little more real.

I set my phone down.

For a moment, I just sit there.

Then I sigh.

“Well, I guess I should get up.”

< At last. >

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

<I was beginning to wonder how long you intended to remain in bed. >

“So impatient…”

< What was that? >

“Nothing.”

It’s a little strange how quickly I got accustomed to having a voice in my head. Honestly, talking to her feels surprisingly natural.

I shake my head.

Thinking about it too much is probably just going to give me a headache.

I get out of bed and stretch.

Even though I have a power now, the back pain is still there.

Besides my back, my whole body still feels exhausted.

I guess running for my life constantly will do that.

I look around my room.

I have no idea what I’m supposed to do today.

I don’t have work.

And I don’t have Mina here to wake up.

I pause.

Right.

I still need to find her.

And it’s not like I can just go back to that strange world whenever I want.

Even if I could…

An image of the horde of monsters flashes in my memory.

There’s no way I’m anywhere near ready for that sort of danger.

The Princess is plenty strong, but as she said before, I’m weak.

If I don’t get used to my power, she will never be at full strength.

I would love to look for Mina immediately, but that just isn’t realistic.

There are still far too many questions that need to be answered.

To begin, I don’t even know what exactly happened to me.

Some strange entity transported me to another world through my phone.

A world that looked exactly like mine.

But it wasn’t a Manifestation.

At least, not any kind of Manifestation I’ve ever heard of.

And that’s the problem.

I work with Manifestation reports every day. I know what they’re supposed to look like. I know how they’re classified, how they’re documented, and what usually happens when one appears.

That place didn’t fit any of it.

There were no other people.

No signs of an ongoing incident.

Just an entire world that looked like my own, except something was terribly wrong with it.

The twisted purple sky. The amount of otherworldly beings.

Just thinking about all the creatures I ran into is enough to make my body quiver.

Creatures that could mimic Mina’s voice.

Creatures that could kill me with ease.

All of them after me.

It was a complete nightmare.

Why were they after me specifically?

I could rack my brain about it all day, but all that’s important to remember is that that place has something to do with Mina.

I need to go back.

But before I can do that, I need to become stronger.

And before I can become stronger…

I need to understand my power.

I stare down at my hands.

Authority.

That’s how the Princess refers to it.

I still don’t really understand what it is fully capable of.

But there are a few things that I’ve seen that I should be able to do at some point as well.

The ability to stop things in their tracks.

The ability to heal even lethal wounds.

The ability to travel between worlds.

If I were to mark this power down in a document, the danger level would be maxed out.

And that is just what I know.

The Princess said that she’s far from her full capabilities in her current state.

It’s honestly hard to believe that she could have even more abilities outside of the ones I already know. But after seeing firsthand how monstrous she can be, I can’t exactly doubt her.

And now that it’s in my hands, I need to use it properly.

I need to learn what I’m capable of.

Thankfully, there is one place I can start.

I know the process.

I used to handle those forms almost every day.

Usually, I’m the one sitting behind a desk checking someone else’s information.

But now it’s going to be my turn.

The thought feels strangely surreal.

I spent most of my life being powerless.

Now I have a power of my own.

I get out of bed.

< Finally. >

< You were lost in thought for far too long. >

I let out a small laugh.

“Sorry about that. I’m ready to go now.”

I get dressed and head downstairs.

Breakfast is quick.

I make some toast and eggs, clean up afterward, and get ready to leave.

Wallet. Phone. Keys.

I check everything one last time before reaching for the door.

There’s one thing I always do before leaving the house.

“Mom. Dad. I’m heading out for the day.”

No answer comes.

I don’t expect one.

Usually, I’d say bye to Mina too.

I pause.

“Don’t worry.”

I look toward the empty hallway.

“I’ll bring her home. No matter what.”

I open the door and step outside.

And for the first time in a long while, it feels like I’m not walking alone.