My First Glance Into the Light

The eyes that pierced through me shone with the colour of blood, as if foreshadowing her hostile intentions towards me. I had previously noted the beauty of her eyes, but at that moment I could feel nothing but fear.

“Why are you attacking me?”

I thought I had pieced most of the story behind my position together already, but I needed confirmation before continuing.

“Answer me first. Besides, you should know why by now. We’ve been living together for nearly a year now.”

“Huh?”

Did I get the story mixed up? How could we be living together if she was so aggressive towards me.

“Don’t act surprised now! If the next words out of our mouth aren’t an explanation, then I’ll use my magic to prove there’s something wrong with you.”

Well she definitely wouldn’t have believed the truth if I told her. Therefore, I had to give a different plausible explanation which would suit this situation.

“Sorry, I’m not feeling very well… In fact, I can’t remember anything before a few minutes ago.”

Feigning amnesia seemed dishonest and a feeling akin to guilt began to well up in my chest, but it did not affect me so much as to influence my behaviour.

“Amnesia… How could that happen? You were standing still, nothing happened to you that could be a catalyst for amnesia. Are you sure you’re not just lying to get my sympathy?”

I just wanted to escape. My words may come across as rude at times, but that is never my intention. But, the exasperated look on her face after I uttered the next words proved to me that she had no understanding of my behaviour.

“It’s honestly better for me if you believe that, so just leave me alone.”

I realised my tone was harsh after the words escaped my mouth, but in this circumstance I couldn’t backtrack.

I turned my back once again to exit the training room, taking one more second to glance at the expression on Aile’s face. I needed to ensure that her expression wasn’t hostile, before leaving her alone and sure enough, she seemed pensive more than anything.

As I glanced over the horizon, hoping to take in the beautiful scenery of the new world I found myself in, I was interrupted by footsteps which seemed to get louder and louder. I could only assume that my judgement was wrong and Aile was launching an attack, so I jumped evasively.

However, when I turned she had actually puffed her cheeks and almost appeared to be pouting. She stomped her feet beside me and threw her hands onto her hips.

“You don’t have to be so stubborn. I’ll help you out since you’re so helpless right now. Just know that I haven’t forgiven you and the second you get your memories back, I will cease with the niceties.”

“Fine with me.”

She appeared to be a dangerous person to be around, but at this point information gathering was my top priority. So, I set my fear aside in order to work cohesively with this girl, until I could find my own way in this world.

At this point, I finally decided to use her appearance as a source of information gathering. If I used the quality of her clothing, I could probably deduce her level within the town.

Her clothes appeared to be well kept, but not fancy enough to be any form of royalty. I could only assume she was middle class. However, considering we were duelling with swords, I thought it strange that she wasn’t wearing any metal armour. In fact her outfit appeared to be something of casual-wear from my world, certainly not a battle uniform.

She simply wore a plain white shirt, coated with a black blazer and a red skirt. Maybe the clothes were manoeuvrable and were used in battle for that reason?

I then glanced at my own clothes, realising why I found my movement restricted. I was wearing a full suit and tie, with a blazer, a belt and even my shoes seemed to be formal. It was even more formal than the clothes I used to wear at work. In fact, I never had any reason to wear formal clothes in my previous life.

It was tempting to make finding new clothes my new objective and priority, but first I needed to learn about this world or at least find a place to stay.

I finally turned and acknowledged the scenery around me. We appeared to be at the edge of a town, which was brimming with sunlight. Streams ran through the town, surrounded by rocky borders which seemed to guide the glimmering water through the maze that was this town.

Most of the houses appeared to be made of either wood or stone, meaning this place couldn’t be as technologically advanced as the world I came from. I could hear the chirping of a creature that sounded like a bird, but I had never heard the particular singing of this animal. I was quite certain this species of bird did not exist in the world I came from, but I still didn’t know what the creature looked like.

“Woah, the scenery is amazing.”

I couldn’t help but whisper my appreciation upon the open beauty before me. I was used to seeing buildings entrapping me on all sides, so an open landscape of rock and grass felt cathartic to me.

“You don’t even remember the scenery of Hikari town? Wow, your amnesia might be worse than I thought.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

I held the door open to let Aile outside, but she shot a sceptical stare at me with every step she took. It was as if she didn’t expect me to let her outside.

“Fine, I’ll take you back to my place.”

Now she was acting like it was a kindness to take me to the place where I lived with her. Wait! I did live with her, right? I had to confirm this immediately.

“Don’t you mean our place?”

I wasn’t sure why, but she seemed quite irritated by this question.

“Yeah well the only reason I’m helping you is because without Benjiro’s memories, I can consider you a different person. Therefore, it is my house.”

I couldn’t believe she could be so high strung. But then again I couldn’t blame her, since I had no idea what the previous owner of my body had done to her.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go to your house.”