When Yuzuru returned to the shack and saw the kids sniffling by Taiga’s side, he thought he was too late. He staggered and pushed his way over all the debris, shouting, “I have the potion!”
Leona broke away from the group and came over. There were tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away when she saw the little beaker of liquid.
“Is it enough?” Yuzuru asked, following her back to Taiga. “Is there still time?”
The top of the beaker came away with an audible pop. The kids parted to let them through.
Taiga’s skin was pale, sweat glistening on her cheeks.
Leona brought the beaker to Taiga’s mouth. Her hands shook and trickles ran from Taiga’s lips.
“She won’t take it,” said Leona. “I… I can’t get it through.” The kids looked at each other, panic starting to build on their faces.
Yuzuru stepped in. “Give it to me.”
Leona looked up with overflowing eyes. She handed Yuzuru the potion and watched as he tilted the contents into his own mouth. Kneeling over Taiga, he motioned for everyone to make room. Then, without stopping to second-guess himself, he pressed his mouth to hers.
After one hour, Taiga’s fever broke. By evening, her breathing returned to normal, and her eyes opened the next day.
Everyone cheered.
Leona threw herself on the bed. She locked her arms around Taiga and started to cry. “We thought you were going to die.”
“Me too,” Taiga said. She coughed and smoothed the hair on Leona’s head. “Why didn’t I?”
“The traveler saved you,” Leona answered. She got up just as Yuzuru squeezed through the crowd.
“I’ve got food,” he said, holding up another rabbit, this one freshly skinned and cleaned.
Taiga’s eyes went wide. “You’re not dead,” she said.
“Good morning to you, too.” Yuzuru handed the rabbit to one of the kids, who ran off to put it into the boiling pot.
“Sorry,” said Taiga. "I got used to saying that to you, didn't I?"
As he helped Taiga out of bed, Yuzuru filled her in on the past events of the day, including his foray into the forest and how he got the health potions.
“I think I know who this masked girl is,” Taiga said. “The Bastard King’s Right Hand Woman. Does all his dirty work, like hunting down criminals. What did she help you?”
Yuzuru shrugged. “Maybe because I’m so charming.”
One corner of Taiga’s mouth lifted.
They made their way around the debris. Yuzuru had cleaned much of it, but there was no saving the roof. If Taiga wanted to continue living here, she’d had to rebuild the whole thing. She seemed to know this.
“You’ve all just been living here like this?” she asked.
One of the kids answered, “We slept on the floor.”
Taiga looked to Yuzuru. “At least you didn’t start bundling them away in baskets.”
For the rest of the day, they worked on getting their lives back to normal.
Well, Yuzuru was helping Taiga. His life wasn’t normal in the slightest. Normal would be waking up in a proper bed, brushing his teeth with a real toothbrush, and turning on his computer to search the web for his missing girlfriend.
As Taiga and her kids worked on housekeeping, Yuzuru went back out to hunt. He was getting better at it but he attributed this purely to the crossbow. He only had to keep quiet and wait, then aim and fire. These were things even someone with no hunting experience like him could do. It also gave him time to think, something he didn’t really have the luxury of since arriving in this world.
When he came back with his fresh kill, Yuzuru made sure to pass by a different section of the slums. He saw the damage of the Blight Beasts was not isolated to Taiga’s dwelling. Many places showed signs of battle, shacks were crumpled, bodies lay rotting in the streets. People were in the midst of cleaning up and rebuilding. He hurried on, not wanting to bump into any more shady characters like the bat-man.
A campfire was burning in the yard when Yuzuru returned. He handed Taiga the squirrel he killed and played with the kids until the meal was ready. They sat in a circle and ate, Taiga livening the atmosphere with her stories.
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After all the bellies were filled, the kids huddled around the campfire’s warmth while Yuzuru and Taiga sat aside and chatted.
“Do you want some tea?” Yuzuru glanced over to see Taiga holding up a banged-up kettle. “I made it myself.”
“Sure,” Yuzuru said and offered out his empty soup bowl.
The aroma of herbs wafted into Yuzuru’s lungs as he sipped. It cleared his mind and soothed his sore muscles.
“This is just what I needed,” he sighed. “I crouched under a bush for hours until that squirrel finally showed up.”
Taiga smiled and poured her own bowl. She set the kettle next to the fire and sipped her tea like a normal person, that is, not like a cat would. “Nights like these make me reminisce,” she said with a sigh.
Yuzuru felt a little disappointed that she wasn’t lapping the tea, but then felt bad for expecting it. He looked down into the bowl. Staring at his wavering reflection, he started to speak.
“Three years ago, my childhood friend went missing. She was… we were just beginning to date.” He lifted his gaze to the stars. “Anyway. The day after we graduated from middle school, I lost her. No one knew where she was. It was like she disappeared, or…”
The night sky was awash with glistening lights, more than Yuzuru had ever seen. The beauty of it took his breath away, but that might just be the rawness of talking about Honoka, his Honoka.
“Taken to another world,” Taiga finished the sentence. She was looking up too, her eyes dancing with the luminescence of both fire and starlight. “I don’t know if the Lady Honoka I knew is the same one as yours. Here, in Arcadia, she is known as the White Witch, the once-queen of Cold Castle, and the last hero to stand against the Calamity Dragon.”
“That’s a lot of titles to get in three years," Yuzuru remarked.
Taiga sipped the rest of her tea. She took the kettle and put it back onto the fire. “She’d been in Arcadia for more than 30.”
“Then…”
“She probably isn’t your girlfriend.”
Yuzuru thought about it. “Did she have a last name?” he asked.
“She never told anyone,” Taiga answered.
The kettle screamed. Yuzuru stood up. “Then I need to find her, this Lady Honoka. I need to be sure.”
Taiga didn’t move. The kettle overflowed, bubbles running down the sides, sizzling onto the burning logs. She only moved it away when the kids started looking over.
“She’s gone, Yuzuru.”
Yuzuru felt his throat close up. “Gone?” he asked. “Where?”
Taiga’s cat ears flattened on top of her head. She put down her bowl and stood up. “Kids? Let’s get to bed. It’s late and we have a lot to do tomorrow.”
She started to walk away but Yuzuru grabbed onto her arm.
“Please,” he begged. “Tell me what you know. I promise I won’t ask you anything more. Just tell me where she went.”
Taiga shook her head, her eyes sad as they fixed onto him. “There are two ways this conversation ends," she said. "You either convince yourself your girlfriend has walked the surface of Arcadia, or you convince yourself the only way to know for sure is to visit her grave.”
The camp was quiet. The kids have stopped talking and are looking over, curiosity on their sleepy faces.
“Either way, you won’t be happy with what you hear, because Lady Honoka is dead and you’re stuck in Arcadia until the same thing happens to you.”
Yuzuru didn’t know what to say to that, but he didn’t let go. Taiga didn’t struggle, and the two of them stared into each other’s eyes, a silent back and forth.
“There’s no point to me leaving if Honoka isn’t with me," Yuzuru said. "If she's here."
Taiga’s shoulders rose, then fell as she let out a long sigh. Yuzuru waited. Taiga turned away. Her silhouette was framed by orange flames, making the patch of raw skin on her neck stand out like a landmark, a testament to how closely she danced with death.
“I know how you can go home,” she said finally, her voice a quiet mewling. “I kept it from you because I didn’t want you to leave as Lady Honoka did, but I know now you travelers are all the same. None of you want to be here, no matter how great your lives become.”
Yuzuru felt rage, annoyance, and impatience all mixing together. He kept them in check. Standing so close to Taiga, he hadn’t realized how much shorter she was to him. With her ears flat, she reached only his chest. She was the same height as Sara.
Someone pulled at the bottom of his shirt.
“Don’t blame Taiga,” Leona said, rubbing her eyes. “She just doesn’t want to lose another friend.”
Yuzuru said nothing. He looked behind her, saw the kids lined up and ready for bed, and all of his negative feelings melted. He let Taiga go and crouched in front of Leona.
“I forgot about this,” he said, taking out his watch. “Thanks, kid. It really did keep me safe.”
Leona’s eyes brightened, then she frowned. “Why is it broken?”
“It would’ve been me instead.” Yuzuru took Leona’s hand and lead the other three kids towards the shell of their house.
They had cots strewn all over the floor space, each one protected by only a flimsy net to keep the bugs out. Yuzuru helped each kid inside their tent. They fell asleep quickly, each as exhausted as he felt.
After all four were taken care of, he straightened, and felt Taiga’s presence behind him. She had a leather backpack clutched in her hands. “There are rations and some basic supplies in here,” she told him. “No weapons, though.”
She bit down on her lip and looked away. She looked angry, but when Yuzuru came closer, he noticed her eyelashes were glistening. “Lady Honoka left it behind. She told me to give it to the next traveler who came through here.”
“Thank you.” Yuzuru gently took the bag from her stiff fingers. “For this, for saving my life.”
Taiga touched the scar on her neck and chuckled mirthlessly. Then her expression faltered. “Are you sure about this? The kids love you. And I… I can’t protect them by myself.”
Yuzuru thought about what she was saying, the hidden meaning behind her words. He let himself imagine living here with her, surrounded by trash and noisy children and danger around every corner. He imagined how it might feel to kiss her, touch the snowy white fluff on the inside of her ears, hold her close on cold nights, and grow old and happy together.
“I’m sorry, Taiga, but this isn’t my world.”
Taiga looked down. She must’ve expected him to say that because when she looked up again, her expression wasn’t one of disappointment.
“Good luck, then,” she said, and stepped in, stretching herself up on tiptoes to kiss the side of Yuzuru’s jaw. “May your days be long and full of light,” she whispered, her voice warm in the cold between them.
Yuzuru watched in silence as Taiga turned and went back into the house, her tail swishing slowly. Up above, the stars twinkled brightly. A silvery moon shone across the mountains of trash all around them. He let out a deep breath and looked around. “That’s great," he said to himself. "Now she made it awkward for me to follow her inside.”