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CHAPTER 40: You just lit a flame Part 2
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“Sawada go after him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy.” Junpei says and Sawada walked out the living room to go after Takumi.
"You know what you all need, to relax for a bit. It's getting late out, let's figure out where we are going to sleep." Tobi says and I can see he seems uncomfortable in the mansion. I can't blame him, this is where the governor did all of his wrongdoings, and even I feel uncomfortable at the thought of sleeping here during the night. As I look out the window, I see the sun had set and the time I spent here went by so fast that's it's already night time.
"Let's go outside and form a camp somewhere. I feel safer in the open air than this place." I say and we all stood up and walked out of the mansion. All the maids have left to their homes as we argued and the minute we stepped out; the mansion left an eerie silence lingering around. Having the governor's mutilated body in the basement doesn't help either. I also heard from the captain that they moved the three dead soldiers also in the basement and have decided to bury them all tomorrow morning. The day went by so fast that we all didn't eat anything making us hungrier than ever.
“Ugh, is there any other place we can eat around here?” Riki says as we walk.
"Yeah same here, I'm also starving," Tobi says as he looks around to see if there's any stalls or any restaurant, we can eat in.
“Sir Balo!" I hear a shout from a distance, and I see the captain running towards me. "After gathering the soldiers that worked with the governor, I removed them of their ranks and sent most of them to jail. They are all in the cell. A couple of my men are on watch duty. A small light was spotted by one of my soldiers, so I have sent a couple of them towards it to investigate."
"A light?" I asked him.
"Yes, sir. Might be a campfire. One of my scouts has spotted it from a distance." He replied back pointing towards one direction out to the forest.
I hope they find Yasu. Rikimura will be a pain in the neck to deal with. At least we can try to convince Yasu to join us.I say in my mind.
"Good Job Captain. By the way, is there any place for us to get something to eat?” I asked him as I feel my stomach grumble.
"Ah yes! I saw Sir Takumi earlier with Sir Sawada. I lead them also to a restaurant nearby. It's not as grand as the Inn restaurant as they say but they do have good food.” He explained pointing towards one direction.
“Did you eat Captain?" I asked him.
“I have not sir.” He replied while shaking his head.
"Ok, come take a break with us and let's go eat," I tell him. He’s been a great help to us as he kept going back and forth trying to fix things as I ordered, and I felt bad I didn’t even make sure he ate.
“I-it would be an honor!” The captain says happily as he led us towards another path. Most of the stalls are closed and only a few lights exit people houses. From a distance, we spot a place that's more illuminated than the rest of the building. As soon as we got right in front of it, I noticed the sign on top the entrance.
"Grub a boar," I whisper and the minute the Captain opened the door, I can smell the aroma of barbecue making my stomach grumble and my mouth salivate.
We all slowly walked in and automatically we spot Takumi sitting at a table with Sawada. It looks like they finished eating as the waitress is picking up plates with leftover bones on them. He spotted us and rather than saying hello, he ignored us and continued talking to Sawada. I sat down towards another table far away from him. I should have never gotten mad at him, so I decided to give him space until he cools down a bit. Everyone sees me sit and everyone helped to grab another table to combine it with mine so were all in one group. We ordered quickly and stuck to small chats with one another.
Kumiko-sensei and Ms. Sam enter the restaurant with a guard leading them and the minute they saw us, they approached our table. I notice Kumiko-sensei looking at Takumi and Sawada confused to why they're seating so far away. Ms. Sam whispered something to her ear and she lightly nods as they sat with us. The waitress came out and got their orders quickly to be able to bring them all out at the same time as ours. After a few minutes, the waitress comes out with our food and I notice Takumi stands up and started walking towards the door. Sawada quickly took out coins from his bag placing them onto the table before following Takumi as he passes our table.
"Hey, Takumi, come sit with us," Kumiko-sensei says as Takumi pass her. I guess trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere as she probably figured out what was going on or maybe Ms. Sam figured it out and told her.
"No thanks, sensei. I'm done eating. I need to get some fresh air. Somehow, the air here feels stuffy." He tells her and he walks out the door followed by Sawada.
"Wow, he's really mad," Riki whispers.
“You should make up with him. You both shouldn’t fight.” Kumiko-sensei says, and I just nod at her.
“Yea, I’ll apologize to him tomorrow. I just want to give him space.” I tell her.
Everything has been going out of the plan and it’s harder to focus even if it’s something as simple as listening to people talk. We ate in silence and even the waitress felt uncomfortable as they all retreated out of our vision in the middle of the feast. After eating, they suddenly came out of a door and collected our dirty plates while another one comes out with a cart full of dessert.
“Umm…we didn’t order this?” Kumiko-sensei says and the waitress nod and smiled at her.
“It’s on the house. Orders from the owner. Enjoy~” She bows and hands out the plate with a slice of cake to each and everyone one of us. Then, she slowly retreated with the other waitress with the dirty plates. I took a fork they gave us along with the plate and sliced off a piece of the cake and quickly took a bite. It melted in my mouth as the cold feeling hit the top of my mouth and spread through my tongue.
“Mh~! It’s ice cream!” I hear Akane blurt out of joy and everyone quickly tasted the ice cream cake in front of them. Somehow the mood lifted up a bit as I see the girls talk to each other and laugh while the guys start conversing with one another. I felt a bit better but still felt a bit depressed. After eating, the waitresses came out again and collected our plates. Right when we decided to pay, the waitress refused it as she gently pushed my hand away as I tried to hand her a few gold coins to pay for our meals.
“P-please. It’s on the house. The only thing the owner wants is to meet you our lords.” She says as she bows.
"It will be our pleasure," I tell her as I stop her from bowing all the way. In my mind for once, I wanted them to stop bowing towards us every single sentence.
“T-thank you! Please give me a moment.” She quickly ran in the back and after a minute, an old man dressed as a chef came out followed by the waitress. He quickly came towards us and I stood to shake his hand.
“Our lo-“
“You don’t have to call me lord. Call me Balo.” I say interrupting him as I stop him from bowing. He smiled and gave me a nod.
“Sir Balo, everyone, it is nice to meet all of you. I hope the food was to your liking.”
“It was delicious. Thank you. Please let us pay for the food to help out.” I tell him as I try to hand him the coins, but he stopped me by grabbing my hands firmly.
“Please, it’s a gift. But there is one thing I ask for all of you.” He whispered to me with a worried look.
“Sure, what is it?” I say staring him in the eye. I can feel his grip tighten and then loosens as he nods at the waitress behind him. She proceeded towards the staircase in the back that probably leads to the room upstairs.
“I want you all to listen to a story.” He tells me as he calmly gave me a smile.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind listening," I say as I sit down, and he grabs a chair near us and sits in front of me. He nods towards a waitress and she slowly made her way towards the door towards outside. In a couple of minutes, she walks back in holding the open sign that was hung outside. Then the waitress closed the door behind her, and I hear her lock it.
"Please do not worry. The story you're about to hear doesn't belong to me but it belongs to two girls I have recently given shelter." He tells me and somehow, my hearts started pounding remembering about what the captain said earlier in regard to some missing girls.
Right the moment he finished talking, the waitress comes back down, and I see two girls wearing a hooded robe behind her looking down making it hard to see their faces. The owner then gestures to every waitress to sit and everyone grabs a chair and huddled around us. We decided to move the table so now we're circling each other like we're in front of a campfire ready to tell scary stories. The two girls who kept their head down this whole time didn't bother looking but I can see them playing with their nails, probably from being nervous.
“May I ask for one more condition? To not let anyone, know about these girls being here.” The owner bows towards all of us with genuine sincerity.
"Do not worry, we promise to take this to our graves," I tell him and I look at everyone including the captain who's been with us this whole time. They all nod and I turn back towards the owner who slowly lifting his head up.
"Girls, it's ok. They will understand once you tell them." He says and the girls slowly lifted off the hood covering their faces and it left me speechless. Both of them are covered with bruises and one of them has one eye swollen shut.
“Oh my god! Who did this to you?!” Ms. Sam suddenly stands up startling the girls.
“Ms. Sam, Kumiko-sensei, please heal them," I ask them, and they nod. Ms. Sam worked on the girl that doesn't have a bruised eye while Kumiko-sensei worked on the girl that had severe bruises. Not only that, when they removed their robe, we saw bruises on their arms and scratches like they were in a scuffle. From then I knew, these are the two missing maids.
I see one of them started crying as Ms. Sam heals her bruises. Ms. Sam is still low level, so she healed her slower than Kumiko-sensei. But the warmth the two adults gave them as they healed their bruises made the girls cry and repeatedly say thank you over and over again. It took a while for them to calm down and we waited for them to be ready to talk.
“I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to give you such a disturbing view.” One of the girls says as she bows towards us. “My name is Melinda, I’m the head maid from the governor’s castle.”
“M-my name is Rola, I’m the assistant head maid. T-thank you for healing us.” The other girl bowed, and I can hear her voice shaking. Deep down in my gut, I felt like it tied itself as guilt returns to my core. They were in that condition because of my carelessness. I quickly stood up startling them and I dropped on my knees and bowed towards them.
"I’m sorry!" I felt guilty as I apologized from the bottom of my heart. "The reason the governor was appointed here was that of my careless mistake!" I kept my head down the ground and I can hear them baffled.
“W-wh-p-please raise your head. It's not your fault." One of them dropped on her knees as she placed her hand on top of my shoulders. I slowly stood up and I can see they're both crying again.
“I-I’m sorry. No one should be put in such a situation.” I tell them and they cried again. It took a couple of minutes to calm them down and we all went back to our chairs.
"I-if you know about the…sniff*…governor, that means you know what he has done to this town." The head maid says as she wipes the tears from her eyes. I nod to her and I wanted to apologize again but the best thing is to not interrupt and listen to what they have to say.
“Girls, you should tell them your story.” The owner calmly said as he smiled at them making the two maids relax a bit.
The owner stood up and retreated to the kitchen giving the girls a private time with us as they tried to tell their story with their shaking voice.
"W-we…we were promised to be able to work in the gold city's mansion by the governor if we worked with him for a few months. He told us he had connections directly to you lords that he can put a good recommendation. We were happy and quickly accepted. That's how he mostly recruited the maids in the mansion. All of us wanted to have better-paying jobs since we didn't choose to be an adventurer. But the minute we got into the mansion, things changed and we began to be frightened that any wrong move will lead to losing our chance to go work in the main city. The governor has seen this and decided to use it to control all of us. A-anything he wanted, we need to give him without a word even if, if it’s something during the night.”
The owner who had left a minute ago came back with two glass of water and gave it to them to drink. After drinking, she continued on with her story and we all silently listened.
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"This went on every day as the governor rotated between all of us. So frankly speaking, some of the girls didn't mind. If it gets them out of the town and in the city, they will do what they can.” The head maid suddenly paused as she hugged herself. “I-it had gotten worse when he started replacing all of the guards. He started giving them rewards for doing excellent work. Rewards like money, position, and…and……us.”
What she said made me sick to my stomach as I felt solely responsible for their situation. I couldn't help but feel useless as I kept thinking I caused all of this mess. I didn't say anything and let the girls continue with their story.
“The governor would order us to sleep with the guards. One of the maids tried to retaliate and she ended up disappearing the next day.” Rola says as she started tearing up again. One of the waitresses hands her a tissue and I can see even she had tears accumulating on her eyes.
“W-we were scared," Melinda says and she tried her best to continue with their story. "We were mad. Some of us have gone mad and killed themselves. I tried talking to the governor and ended up being hit."
She suddenly stopped as she grabbed her arms together. I had my hands in my pocket the whole time and I clenched my fist so hard that I felt my nails dig into my skin. I heard in bits and pieces from the other maid of their stories, but this is the first time I'm hearing it in details, and it is making me sick to my stomach.
How can someone do such a thing? How? I questioned in my mind over and over as she explained her day-to-day life in the governor's mansion.
“Inside, I felt like I was rotting.” She continued on and I can see her trying her best to tell us. Ms. Sam who sitting beside her started stroking her back slowly calming down Melinda. After she took a couple of deep breaths, she continued telling her story, "But outside, I had to show good faith into the governor doesn't punish me or the other maids. We all had to show we cared about him and worship him. We were powerless. We didn't aim to be an adventurer, so we don't know our classes and our capabilities. Being caught practicing magic as a maid in the mansion means we either get put on night service every day until our mind breaks. This made us fear anything that we do. So, the other girls, we're scared to the point that we became obedient dogs.”
“How come none of you contacted your family about it or ran away?” Junpei asked. I also see he’s clenching his fist as he crosses his arms on his chest.
"Some of us tried. There was an instance that a family went straight to the governor. The next day, they all disappeared. We don't know where they were bringing them or whether they were killing them so the maid who had a family didn't tell anyone to protect those around them." She replied.
“What the hell...” I hear Riki whisper and even him, with his goofy character, had a serious expression.
"Can you tell me, what happened here?” I asked her reluctantly. I know they’re still hurting from all their experience but I need to try to figure out what really happened here.
"One day, I overheard a guard telling the governor that two adventurers came into the village. A man no older than any of you, and also a girl probably the same age as any of you. Then, the governor's son went home with the girl saying that he wants to marry her. We all saw that the girl was quite confused and also a bit terrified of the situation. But that's when we saw an opportunity. She's an adventurer. She can save us." Melinda says as she looks down on her hands.
“Did she?” Tobi asked and the head maid shakes her head as she looks down towards her hands.
“We made a mistake. Due to our selfishness, we got her involved in this mess.” She replied and both of them had a sad look. “She couldn’t fight. She had a non-combatant class that is only heard in the stories the librarian would tell us.”
The minute she tells us this, I notice Junpei and Hiroko had a grim expression as if they just found someone close to them died. They’re probably thinking about Yasu and his class. Even I got another twist on my gut as I remember my best friend that died a year ago.
“So what happened to the girl?” Sawada asked and we all waited for them to speak.
"E-even though it's a legendary class when they asked her about her skill they found out she only had one skill that is basically useless in combat. From then we knew our chances of escaping is slim, but we decided to save her. She didn't need to be in this position, so we made sure she stayed close to the governor's son. If he were with her, the governor wouldn't dare do anything. But, after finding out about her class, the governor had a change of heart and wanted to keep her for himself. To cultivate her to become a fighting machine."
Before, we didn’t know about the full extent of the special class. Not until the habitants of this world told us. If the girl had a non-combatant class, it’s only natural for corrupted people to want her.
“What about the guy?” Hiroko asked.
"Well, we didn't know anything about him. From what the governor's son told us, the young Miss hired him to be her bodyguard, but he left her as soon as they arrived in the town. The governor wanted to send someone to investigate since the young miss kept looking for him. The governor found an opportunity to send his son to investigate him so he permitted her to go and brought along his personal guards with him. When they arrived at the Inn, that when chaos erupted. New broke fast around the town that's there's someone strong enough to land a blow on the governor. We wanted to check but we're afraid of being caught outside the mansion, so we all remained where we were. Then we heard a loud rumble and could see the smoke from the distance. After an hour, a guard came rushing back at the mansion and told me to collect some papers in the governor’s quarters. We both rushed out towards the Inn and that’s when I saw him.”
“What did he look like?” Hiroko asked.
“They didn’t give us details about him when he arrived in town except, that he’s a young adventurer. As far as looking at him, he’s probably around the same age as you guys as I said before. He wore a white shirt and sleeping pants and stood in the middle of the havoc with his arms crossed.” She says and I can see a smile on her face.
“What else?” Junpei asked next and I can see the girls somehow relax when they started talking about him.
"W-well, He almost killed me. When we went back to the governor, we grabbed the governor's personal healer on the way. As soon as we got there, I saw the governor's condition. It made me happy a bit on the inside of the governor caught me smiling so I had no choice but try to attack the intruder making it seem I'm on the governor's side. The intruder suddenly pounced on me and I saw his fist raised above my head. He brought it down barely missing me and destroying the ground in the process. It clearly shows in his eyes that there is something going on his mind far from what we can comprehend. But one thing I can say, he was far more dangerous than the governor." Melinda says and I can see she’s serious.
“He was barehanded?” I asked trying to figure out the missing puzzle to the mysterious identity of the adventurer.
“When I saw him. He didn’t have any weapon, but the guards have told me he actually used a black sword and used the axe of the eight overlords." She said making my heart drop.
“The eigth overlord?!” I say suddenly standing up.
“Wait, isn’t that the new overlord that we constantly hear about?” Junpei asked.
"Some of the guards that we trust have told us that the intruder was strong enough to kill an overlord," Rola told us and I sat back down. "He easily could have eradicated the whole town and killed the guards with ease. To which is why I believe wasn’t his purpose. After all, he saved us.”
I can see her smile a bit and even the assistant made has a happy expression.
"We owe him our lives. Did you find him?" Melinda asked me looking up with a hopeful expression.
“Well, he disappeared after killing the governor. He abducted a woman I believe." I told her and she shook her head.
"No, he didn’t abduct her." She tells me right away without a moment's hesitation. “We saw how she looks for him every minute. We sense that she's been relying on him this whole time. Since I saw him near the inn up to the point we went towards the governor's mansion, she followed him everywhere. It came to our surprise when he left without her."
“He left? You saw him leave after killing the governor?” I asked.
“No. He left during the night after talking with the governor. I didn’t see him but some of the maids saw him leave and they told me about it. That also when…when the governor ordered me and Rola to please some men as punishment. I-I tried begging him, but he just laughed and one of the guards grabbed me by the hair and dragged me toward the stable. They had their way with us, and it felt like an eternity.” I see her body shake as she hugs herself. “I wanted to just die.”
I see the other maid also clenching her fist as they both recall the horrific incident; they both went through in the stable. Right when I was about to try and say some comforting words, the head main interrupted me.
"That's when I saw him again. He was there, sitting in the dark, slowly moving. He gestured to me to be quiet as he walked around the dark. I couldn't do anything but just endure until he jumped out and hit them all with a skill that paralyzes the three guards.”
“Paralyzed?” I asked thinking about Rikimura’s skill.
Shit, don’t tell me it’s really Rikimura. I prayed in my mind.
“He jumped out the dark so quick that the guards didn’t notice. Even I didn’t notice until I felt the guard stop moving while his body dropped on top of me. I quickly scramble away and that’s when I saw him standing in the center. He muffled one of the guard’s mouth to prevent them from screaming and we both did the same to the other two guards. He quickly dealt with one of the guards proceeding to cut off his arms and even that scene made me shake in fear. After the guard passed out, he picked up two daggers he got out of his bag and threw it in front of us.” She suddenly pauses as she looks at her palm.
“Don’t tell me…you two ki-“ Ms. Sam asked but she was suddenly interrupted as the two girls cried.
“Yeah, we killed the remaining two guards. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That’s what he told me before he left us with a choice either to kill ourselves or kill them and survive. We chose to survive, and we’ve been lucky that the owner of this shop took us in.” Melinda told us as she looks up looking at our eyes. “Now, I know what we did is wrong that’s why I’m telling you about it but please don’t blame the owner of this shop for harboring fugitives. We will go to jail for our wrongdoings, but the owner of this shop had nothing to do with what we’ve done. Please spare everyone here in this place.”
She bows and most of the waitress who had been crying listening to her story quickly came to their side.
“P-p-please. B-be lenient with them.” One of the waitresses begs as she hugs the head maid who still has her head down. I look at everyone and everybody else look back at me.
"Please raise your head," I tell them. "No matter how justifiable it might have been, a murder is a murder. And I order you both to keep your head up and live for as long as you can. The punishment I will give is for you to live knowing you have killed someone. But be at ease, no one is going to jail.”
The head maid suddenly looks up and I can see the happiness on her face as tears streak down her cheeks. "T-thank you! Thank you!"
"But, I should also apologize," I say as I bow my head. "If I looked at the candidates carefully, in the beginning, all of his would have been prevented. For that, I apologize. I will grant you two anything you wish for. It's as much as I can do to at least help mend your spirits. If you want to live a life without worries, I can provide that. If you want to go to the gold city and start anew? I can help, if you both want to open your own shop, I can provide you money and supplies.”
It's the least I can do knowing the fact what they went through because of me. I hear the head maid cry more as she just nods while she cried her hearts out.
“Thank you. But, we both decided long ago what we both want to do.” The head maid says as she looks at the assistant maid. “We both want to be an adventurer. We want to serve under him.”
“Under who?” I asked curiously trying to see if they’re still talking about the same person that killed the governor.
“I know it seems wrong but, he helped us. And as I said earlier. I don’t think he meant to destroy the inn. From what the guard told me; the governor’s son was the one who started the fight that leads to the destruction of the inn. We just want to repay our debt to him.” She replied and somehow, it makes me less stressful that the person isn't much of a psychopath.
“Are you both sure? Being an adventurer means no one can protect you but yourselves.” I tell them.
“We’re sure.” She tells me with determination.
"Ok, captain. Please help these ladies and give them any equipment they need. You can get them from the item shop tomorrow morning. Get the armor, weapon, and help them figure out their class."
"Yes, sir!" The captain replied and right when I was about to tell the two maids to rest, she stood up and bowed towards us.
“Thank you! And as for weapons and armor, we have them already. One of the daggers he gave us has sold for a lot in the boar shop and it’s enough for us to get everything we need. As for our class, we want to travel towards the gold city and register in the adventurer’s guild.” Melinda says and I gave her a nod.
“If I may ask, do you know what his name is?” Hiroko asked and she shook her head. “The girl he was with when he entered the town never spoke of his name and just referred to him as ‘him’.”
“Do you know her name?” I asked her.
“Yes. I believe she was called Suyeon.”
Suyeon? Isn’t that Korean? Don’t tell me, she’s from earth? I have to ask him if it's her. he'll be really happy to know she's alive. I say in my mind.
"Um, if I may ask. Are you traveling back to the gold city anytime soon?" Rola asked me breaking me off from my thoughts.
“Ah, yes. As a matter of fact, you two can travel with us. I plan to go back to the gold city first to talk to the rest of my team before heading out towards the other towns. You both should get some sleep; we will head out as soon as the sun rises.” I tell them and they both bowed and retreated back up towards the second floor.
Before everyone left, I talked to the owner and gave him some gold coins enough to rebuild his restaurant. We were planning to the camp outside but the owner of the restaurant offered to house all of us for the night. We all agreed and helped to move the chairs and tables to place our sleeping bags down. Good thing is that most of us have a dimensional bag that has all of our necessities including sleeping bags. I sent out Tobi to get Takumi and Sawada, but he came back along saying that they will camp outside, and Sawada is still keeping an eye on Takumi. The waitresses have also retreated on the floor above and based on what the restaurant owner said, it seems like all of them were orphans that he housed when he found them wandering around looking for food. This has opened my eyes, even under our rule, poverty exists where our eyes can't reach.
"Stella," I called out to her. "You've been a great help. Ever since we found you, you and your father have been helping us with everything we need. That is why, I think, for the best of both our interest, I leave the city to you and your father's care. After checking all the town and making sure the people I appointed isn't like the governor, I will go on a journey to look for Luro.”
I see her sit up with a surprised look but she couldn’t say anything.
"I know it's a lot to take in but, I think Takumi is right. The main reason we are on this planet is that of one thing. That's Luro. If we wait around, I don’t know what he might do. It seems like he has the power to send this planet crashing with mine and if that happens, it will be the end for all of us. And frankly speaking, I think you and your father can do a better job than I can.” I tell her.
"That's true. Back in our world, we won't even be as close as governing our own lives." Riki interrupts and everyone chuckles a bit. I feel her lay back down and probably a lot of thoughts are going on her mind. It has been a year, but that year has formed a bond between us all and the thought of separate after this is all done have made it more depressing.
If only Takumi is here. I say in my mind as I lament about the situation between us. It feels like a family member; a brother is mad at me and it’s making me feel more depressed. But my body seems like it’s more tired than usual and I fall fast asleep.
.
.
.
.
“My lord! Wake up! Sir Balo! Wake up!!” I hear shouting that abruptly woke me up. I notice the door open as the afternoon light enters the darkness of the restaurant.
"Oh shit. It's already afternoon?! Guys wake up! We overslept!” I say as I noticed them slowly sitting up with a drowsy look.
“Captain, why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” I asked with a hoarse voice as I squint my eyes towards him trying to steady my vision.
“S-s-sir! It’s morning time! S-sir hurry! There’s fire!” He shouted pulling me up trying to force me to stand.
“H-huh? Say that again?” I asked him while rubbing the crust off my eyes.
“S-sir! The whole fore-“
“Balo! Balo!” I see Sawada shouting my name as he enters the restaurant. “Takumi is missing! I-I woke up to a blazing inferno and I can’t find Takumi anywhere!”
“What?!” I shout as I run out of the restaurant to see what's going on. The minute I got outside I froze in place as I look at the sky covered by an orange hue and black smoke filled the air. "What the fuck…" my voice trails off as I feel the heat from the wind as I look all around at the forest that surrounds the town, is on fire.