Road Trip

18th Day of Stellvard (approx)

That man dragged me out of the dungeon, and used more elven elixir to fix my arm. I came to in time to see the portal collapse in on itself. Without the boss monster keeping the link stable, it fell apart.

All the cult members were gone. He said he'd managed to fight off at least half a dozen before he dove into the infinity portal, but it seemed none of them had followed him. Were they afraid of the portal? In any case, there was nobody left in the building. Even the books and the banner hanging outside had been packed up and taken away. The only evidence anybody else had been there at all was the tea tray, and the upended cups of tea.

Who are these people? I'm certain they aren't humans, or the demons from my world, the Jel'Almorians. How did they open an infinity portal? Does this have something to do with my arrival in this world? Or was it something that was here all along?

My instructor at the church once told me that the magic that makes my dimensional pocket work is very similar to the magic that drives a dungeon. The scale and purpose are different, of course, but as far as magic spells go, they're almost exactly the same. Perhaps the fact that my dimensional pocket works in this world means that dungeons could also exist. I think I probably should have understood that right from the beginning.

I parted ways with the hero of Jel'Almore for now. He said he'd find me if the cultists reappeared.

I hope never to see him again.

---

Aiko was waiting outside her apartment, holding a little travel bag that Nomura had loaned her. It was filled with only a few things, not really enough for a long journey, but enough for a single night, assuming everything went as planned.

A small yellow car pulled over beside the apartment, and Koharu emerged from the driver's side wearing a baseball cap and large sunglasses. She waved at Aiko, beaming.

"Oh, little Aiko! Your enemy has finally arrived," Nomura said. She had been watching from above.

"Enemy?" Koharu squeaked from the car.

Aiko looked up at Nomura. "I'll be back soon," she said.

"Take care, dear, come knock on my door when you get back."

Aiko nodded, and jogged over to Koharu's car.

"Ready," Aiko said to the blond-haired girl.

"Well, get in then!" Koharu grinned, bowed to Nomura for some reason, then climbed back in behind the wheel.

Unlike Rei's car, this one was small and compact, and quite tall, so Aiko could see more of the road in front of her. She put on her seat belt, and hugged her bag as Koharu started the engine and smoothly pulled out onto the road.

Koharu did not drive as fast as Rei did, but that suited Aiko fine. She let herself breathe out and looked out at the scenery passing by.

"It's a long drive to Kyoto," Koharu said. "About six hours."

"Not long." Aiko shook her head. She had looked at an old map of Japan together with Nomura the night before, and after converting the distance to Impalian fegues in her head, was shocked to discover the trip could be done in less than a day.

"Well, let's put some road behind us and we'll make a few stops on the way. I usually do this trip on my own, so it's kind of fun to have somebody else along!"

Aiko looked over at Koharu, who was smiling, but seemed to be looking for something to say. Without really knowing what for, she reached over and touched the other girl's head.

"Wah!" Koharu jolted a little. "Sorry! Ahaha, what's that for?"

"Nothing," Aiko said.

In the end they managed to get out of Tokyo and drove for three hours before they stopped at a rest area. Koharu bought them hot udon, and then coffee from a giant machine that grumbled and shook impressively before spitting out a brown liquid that Aiko was not prepared to acknowledge as coffee.

Still, it was hot, and better than nothing. They sat leaning against the back of Koharu's car as they drank it, and watched the traffic zooming past on the highway.

"Thanks for coming with me," Koharu said. "I know I was just here, but… It sounds stupid, but I feel like I owe it to you. I mean, the old you. The one who, you know."

After that, they kept driving all the way through until finally they arrived at their destination. Or at least, as close to their destination as they could go on foot.

Koharu drove them all the way to a large parking area, on the edge of a long chain link fence that had been put up right in the middle of what looked like an abandoned suburb. Even though there were still houses on the outside of whatever zone was demarcated by the fence, everything on the inside was untouched. The roads were overgrown with weeds, and in some places it looked as though entire houses had been swallowed up by creeper vines.

Close to the parking lot was a large gate, and a small guard house just big enough for the single policeman standing inside, gazing at the houses beyond the fence. As Koharu and Aiko drew near, he looked up at them.

"Hello there," he said pleasantly enough, "are you coming through?"

"Visiting my parents," Koharu said. She showed him a small card that she fished out of her purse, and the policeman nodded.

"Alright, just write your names here." He gestured at a small clipboard sitting on the bench of the guard house.

Koharu wrote both her name and Aiko's and they continued through the gate, into the abandoned suburb.

"Not long now," Koharu said, smiling at Aiko.

The two of them kept walking until Aiko couldn't hear the city outside of the fence any more, and the only noises were their own footsteps, and the chirping of birds. Finally, after they rounded one last corner they arrived at a place where they could go no further.

They had arrived at a giant hole, so large that it was difficult to get an idea of what its circumference was, and so deep that it seemed to burrow down into the earth forever. There was a railing that had been erected along the entire length of the hole, and Koharu rested her hands on it, looking over the edge.

"Well, this is where my parents are." Koharu gestured down into the hole.

Aiko looked up at her, brow furrowed, and walked over to peer inside. She couldn't see anything. The hole went on forever.

"About ten years ago," Koharu explained, "something came into our world. Lots of things, I guess, like, just so many of them. No one really knew what, but for a while people were scared that the human race might not make it. Back then, there was a man who called himself the demon lord. He…" she sighed. "I don't really know what happened, but one day, right here, this hole appeared, and then the demon lord was gone. Only, yeah, so was everything else."

Koharu sighed, and leaned onto the railing.

"Right in the middle, that's where Kiyomizu-dera used to be. Do you remember that?"

Aiko shook her head.

"Ah, well, big temple. My parents weren't there, but we used to live here in Kyoto, and we had a house pretty close. Not too far from here. I was at school, so, like, over there." Koharu pointed at a large building not too far from where they were standing.

"One day we were in class, talking about how bad everything was, and I was looking out the window, and wishing I was back home. And then…" She shook her head. "Then this. There was just a bright light, and then a strong wind like you wouldn't believe. We all thought it was an earthquake or a bomb, and then we looked through the window and everything was gone. My parents were gone."

Aiko said nothing, and looked into the hole.

"Kids used to go visit that temple on school trips, you know? Now they come look at this hole. What a joke. Nobody even knows what happened, really. Or if they do they never told us. Nobody told me, at least." Koharu sighed again. "Well, either way, after this happened all the monsters just sort of vanished. The demon lord vanished, and things kind of just went back to normal. You'd be surprised how quickly. I moved in with some relatives in Tokyo. We went to the same high school after that. For what it's worth. Sorry that I acted the way I did. When that man said you were the demon lord I just… I just thought of all this and… I don't know." Koharu shook her head again. "Sorry. I guess I wanted to show you this, you know? Just… Sorry, Aiko. I know it's not an excuse. But I just wanted you to know."

Aiko looked down into the hole.

It was deeper than anything she'd ever seen before, but it also felt familiar. As though she'd seen something quite similar, without knowing what.

She closed her eyes, and reached out, looking. Beside her was Koharu, with that still not-quite normal psychic imprint. And around them were countless insects, birds, spiders, and larger animals hiding in the abandoned houses.

And in the hole, very deep, almost too far to sense at all, something else. Something not quite human. Not quite demon.

"You're wrong," Aiko said, finally.

"H-huh?" Koharu looked at her.

Aiko sighed, and took a moment to think about what she needed to say.

"About whatever you think vanished," she said. "It's not gone."

"W-What do you mean?" Koharu stood up straight.

Aiko pointed into the hole.

"It's in there," she said.