The Place Where I Belong (END)

The harvest that year went smoothly. It was every bit as difficult and hellish as last summer, but Haruki enjoyed every moment of it.

After everything he’d been through this past year, he felt incredibly lucky to be living such a life. Or really to be living at all.

He sat out on the porch of the farmhouse, sipping on a cup of coffee and watching the morning sunrise. Lillianna sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder and her hand holding his.

She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

“I do love you, you know that?” the girl said to him.

“Does that even need to be said?” he teased back.

“As long as you understand.”

He kissed the top of her head, he couldn’t get enough of her soft hair.

They stared out together over the empty fields. Soon enough, the fields would once again be planted, and in a year another generation of crops would spring forth from the soil, keeping the cycle of life going.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I’ve finally begun writing my book,” Lillianna said.

“Really? What’s it about?”

She blushed, a bit embarrassed to talk about it.

“It’s about a girl who goes to another world. Your world, Japan; the place that you’ve described to me so much.”

Haruki chuckled. “Is that so?”

“Don’t laugh… Hmph!” she faked a pout.

“You’re right, you’re right. I apologize.”

“I’m sure I got everything about your world all wrong,” Lillianna conceded. “I don’t quite understand most of what you tell me about it, but perhaps that just makes this version all my own.”

“As I said before: whatever you write, I’m sure it’ll at least be interesting.”

Looking back, Haruki’s former life back in Japan seemed so distant. He could hardly remember what it was like.

He missed certain aspects of Japan, it’s not like this world is inherently any better. The only real difference is that this time he chose to make something of it.

His new life may not be the fantasy dream-utopia he had originally hoped for, but what he found in this world was something much more meaningful.

It was a life that he earned for himself, which he built through his own courage, and with the help of the friendships he fostered. It wasn’t a life that was handed to him on a silver platter, nor was it an easy life, but for those reasons he loved it all the more dearly.

He could do without ever having to face another giant slime, though.

“Let’s go, son.” Johannes appeared beside the farm house, farm tools in hand. “We’ve still gotta thresh the wheat from the harvest.”

Haruki stood up, placing his farmer’s cap on his head.

This is it. This is the place where I belong.