“Had a nice mid-morning nap, did we?”

Keizo opened his eyes sleepily. His mother was in the kitchen, unloading the groceries. “Don’t worry, this boring weekend will be over soon. You have school tomorrow!” She sighed, but Keizo couldn’t tell if it was because she was tired or worried.

“I bought some Daikon.” She looked up. “Hey Keizo, are you feeling ok?”

Keizo broke out of his trance. “What? No, I’m fine.” He looked down at Ichi in his lap. Ichi looked right back up at him. I wonder…

Ichi yawned and jumped off his lap.

* * *

Throughout the day, Keizo found himself wanting to go back to Rewarudo. Maybe for ideas for his Manga. Maybe to see Yume again. Probably just because he was bored.

He went to bed early that night. “Wow, you’re that excited for school?” his mother asked, “I guess you want to see your friends again.”

“Uh, yes! That’s it, yeah!” he responded. Actually, Keizo didn’t have very many friends at school. If you couldn’t tell already, he isn’t the most social person. Maybe that’s why he was so eager to revisit Rewarudo. He considered Yume as a friend.

* * *

And there she was, yet again, her face less than a foot from his. “Are you ready for some fighting today Keizo-kun?!” She asked, leaning forward a little.

This time, Keizo didn’t jump back. Yume took a step back herself and smiled, crossing her arms. “You look ready to me! But first…” She reached out her arm to him, touching her finger to his chest. Keizo blinked in amazement as armor materialized around him, just like Yume’s, except his was a little darker with green accents, and hers had purple. Keizo actually had a short black cloak, which he liked a lot.

“There!” Yume said, “Was that the right color option?”

“Actually yes.” Keizo replied. “How’d you guess my favorite color?...”

Yume winked at him. Ichi stepped out from behind Keizo and mewed her approval.

“Hey there Ichi! I think you need something too…” Yume picked her up, to which she responded by purring. Yume made a simple bandana around Ichi’s neck.

Keizo smiles at the two.

“What’s that I see, a smile?” Yume asked, raising an eyebrow.

“U-uh…”

“Well it should be because we need weaponry next. And for that, we can finally get out of this room.” Yume bent over and set Ichi down, then turned to the wall behind her. She put her hand up to it, which was scanned with some faint blue light. A seamless door opened up, sinking in then sliding into the wall.

“Follow me.” Yume said, signalling with a nod. She walked through the newly opened doorway. Keizo quickly followed after, Ichi at his heels.

They met some kind of weapons room, with shelves and racks filled with strange weapons, like a fusion between medieval and futuristic technology.

Stolen story; please report.

“We have swords, lances, axes, gauntlets, hammers, maces, chain blades, bows, and blasters! Well at least these are what we’re legally allowed to use.”

Keizo took in all the weapons. “A bit overwhelming, usually there are only three or four options…”

“What do you mean, usually?”

“I mean, like in a video game, you know? An RPG or fighting game maybe.”

“Huh? I have no idea what that is… video game?” Yume asked, cocking her head to the side.

Keizo laughed. “I’ll tell you about it later.” He continued to search the room. “So uh, what kind of weapon do you use?”

“Me? I’m an axe user myself.” She whipped her arm to the ground, causing an axe to materialize. A large, heavy blade on a long shaft. She twirled it around gracefully, leaving it to rest on her shoulder. “Top of my class, I may add.” She said proudly.

Keizo walked up to one of the shelves. He picked up a pair of guns, which immediately began to glow green. They felt comfortable in his hands, not very heavy but not too light, he felt like he could wield them all day.

“Energy Pistols.” Yume explained, “Very fast and can do some real damage when used in succession.”

Keizo lifted one up and aimed it at the wall. “Can I try them out?”

“Yeah but-”

Keizo pulled the trigger, causing a green bullet-like beam of energy to shoot out with a bang. It made a black burn mark on the metal wall.

“Keizo!!!” Yume practically screamed, “You can’t fire that in here! You didn’t let me finish! I was going to say wait until we get to the training facility-”

Keizo shrugged, smirking. “Hey, what can I say?”

Yume grumbled. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” Ichi meowed in agreement.

“Anyways… follow me again.” Yume said. She dematerialized her axe and opened another door in the wall. Keizo, not knowing how to dematerialize his pistols, just carried them for the time being.

They walked through a short hallway, which led to a huge room, maybe the size of a Shukyu field. The floor was dirt, and the ceiling opened up, only metal arches separating it from the sky. A strange, greenish, turquoise sky. There were targets, dummies, and all sorts of training equipment on the field and… other people?

“This is the training facility, here at the Palace.” Yume said, watching Keizo gawk around the room.

“The Palace?” he asked, still looking at the other people.

“Oops! Pardon me, I must not have told you. Right now we are in the center of Rewarudo, at the capital. We’re in Queen Ikoto’s Palace. She rules Rewarudo. Well, her and the Prime Minister. Actually, I heard this really interesting thing abou-”

Keizo had stopped listening. As they had gotten closer, Keizo could see the other people in the facility better. Some looked more human than others, with a few having features such as different looking eyes, or maybe even a few scales. We truly are from different worlds. But out of all of them, one caught his eye more than the rest…

Tall. Black hair. Charming expression. “Brother.” Keizo breathed.

Yume continued. “-And that’s when she kicked his ass like ‘yah!’ It was so cool and- Wait, Keizo come back!” She picked up Ichi.

Keizo had begun running, no, sprinting all the way to his, “Brother! I-”

The black haired man looked at him with piercing red eyes. “May I help you?” he said in an agitated tone.

“Nope, I’m sorry, you looked like someone else…”

Yume finally caught up. “Keizo? What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Keizo responded, his head down. He grabbed her arm, leading her away.

“Keizo what’s the matter? Who was that?” Keizo took her to a bench, close to the edge of the field, by the wall, out of earshot.

“That guy looks exactly like my brother. It’s not him. I can tell.” He looked up into Yume’s eyes.

She wavered, then nodded. “I see. You must not have seen him in a long time. I understand that feeling.”

Keizo nodded back. Yume’s eyes sparkled. She put her arm around his shoulder. “I’m sure some training will take your mind off of it.”

Keizo smiled weakly at her. “Thanks for being so… friendly to me.”

Yume smiled back, warmly. “Of course! Though I can’t say the same about you.” She stuck her tongue out at him, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. Keizo laughed a little, rubbing his rib.

Yume got up. “C’mon!” She ran away, signalling for him to follow.

Keizo smiled down at Ichi, who purred back up at him. “Well, I guess that’s our queue!” He ran after Yume.

The red eyed man watched them from across the field.

Carefully.

To be continued…