The very air smothered me, making my breathing quicken. I nodded and made it out the door before my limbs shook too much. What on earth had just happened? Like navigating in a fog, I pushed myself forward, out of the antechamber. The Minister's words rang in my ears, on repeat, as if a sadistic part of me cherished them.

The man who’d brought us here stood outside the lift. What before had seemed a jovial grin, now mocked me with its cheer. His dark eyes glinted as he noticed me, and my skin crawled at the thought that he might have heard what had happened in the office.

‘Everything okay?’ he asked, as he pulled the creaking cage open.

‘Ye-ah.’ My voice cracked despite my best efforts, and I cleared my throat.

Once he shut both doors, the glass outside that had enthralled me just minutes ago vanished. I didn't know if I was ever going to see the lights of the town again. All that remained was the faint glow from above. It left us and most of the bars of the cage in shadow. Chains I couldn't see clinked and clanged as the lift made its way down.

‘Don't worry too much, kid. I remember my first meeting, nerve-wracking too. He's really not so bad though, once you get to know him,’ The man said over the noise. Even amongst the darkness, or perhaps because of it, his teeth shone like a beacon.

I ran a hand through my hair, strands sticking to my palm. For all I knew, he could be right. But I doubted he’d told a fib a toddler could see through.. ‘I guess, thanks.’

‘No problem, kiddo.’

The lift bounced to a stop, metal brakes whirring as it brought an end to its momentum. Muffled footsteps and far away voices snuck in the cage from the ground floor. My eyes stung as the doors flew open, and I blinked off the flashing afterimage.

‘Tahro.’ called out a girl's voice as I made to follow the Supervisor along the corridor.

Kaede, Tsubasa and Daisuke stood to the side of the room.. The first two waved at me, while Daisuke’s nose was buried deep in a frayed mammoth of a book. Tayo circled Tsubasa's feet, chasing an insect, as I joined them.

‘You waited for me?’

Kaede crossed her arms, and frowned. ‘Well, of course, we're a team now.’

I shrugged and tried not to think about how much longer that would last.

‘A-are you a-alright?’ asked Tsubasa, his glasses failing to hide the crinkles of worry around his eyes.

I plastered a smile on. ‘Yeah. I was just nervous, that's all.’

‘What did the Minister want though?’ asked Kaede.

His words echoed in my ears just as loud as when he'd said them. If only I could go home now, bury myself in my blanket and forget this whole thing even happened. ‘I asked to meet him yesterday, so he wanted to know why. I, um, I told him I wanted to talk about becoming a permanent squad member.’

She unlocked her arms and beamed. ‘That's great! What did he say?’

Nothing Kaede thought, if I had to guess. ‘Well, um, he said-- he said he needed more time.’

‘I'm sure it'll work out fine.’ She patted my shoulder..

Tsubasa nodded at her words, although the crinkles around his eyes remained where they were. Could nature whisperers tell what a person was feeling? Or if they were lying? I sighed. As if I didn't have enough things to worry about.

‘I hope so.’ And I wholeheartedly did.

Daisuke slammed his book shut. A smirk tugged at his lips, as he shifted his attention to us. ‘When are we going to see Ahio?’

Kaede frowned. ‘I was just about to ask everyone if tomorrow noon is fine. We can meet here, and I could take everyone to his place.’

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘Is it?’ asked Daisuke, his eyes now on me and Tsubasa.

I didn't have plans for anything else, so I nodded. Other than sleeping in for several hours that is. As soon as Tsubasa agreed, Daisuke swirled around and marched away, forgetting his goodbyes altogether.

The rest of us walked out of the HQ as one before bidding farewell at the gates.

It was a perfect day, just like every day in Heikisato, with a pale blue sky, wispy cloudlings and just the right amount of soothing wind. I passed through the lanes that I now knew better than the back of my hand. Who knew the back of their hand well anyway? Bird-song gave way to human chatter and laughter, as I left the main road and entered the winding alleyways. Several wooden lifts swished up and down apartments. while old ladies stood on their rickety balconies, gossiping with lifelong neighbours.

Before I knew it, I reached my building, an old, renovated thing of four stories. While it was only to the second floor, I took the lift by the entrance. They were fascinating machines, with ropes, chains and gears everywhich way that interlaced to form a pulley within a gabled alcove above. While my other self would never set foot on something as creaky as these little wooden cages, here I feared nothing. Even if the rope did snap, as my imagination told me, I could at least jump off and save myself.

But if I must be honest, most of all, I just hated the stairs.

I hopped out onto the shared balcony once the lift jerked to a stop. Moments later, I reached my door. As I shuffled around in my pockets for the key, my gaze fell on a little white paper sticking out of the mailbox.

I pulled it out. A wax seal with the sigil of a sword notched in a bow sealed the envelope shut. My heart began to race and the words I'd managed to forget came back to me. The last time I’d gotten this mail, it was about when and where to meet my replacement team. But after today, I couldn't be sure it was the same.

My sweaty fingers creased the paper as I broke open the seal. The letter inside tore a little as I unfolded it with trembling hands. The Minister was going to discharge me. I just knew it. What was I going to do now? I had to start a new life, learn another trade.

As my eyes skimmed the message, a gentle rain washed away my worries. I sighed. It was the same as before, the time and place to meet a new replacement team. With my key in hand, I unlocked the door and entered my room. I hoped it missed me. I sure missed it.

***

A few hours later, I sat at my desk, a stack of new sheets on one side and a pile of crumpled paper on the other. The few I was currently writing on buried the diary underneath. It was a habit I was trying to develop. And a habit that I'm now grateful for having. Who'd have thought Yuuhei’s niece would want his best friend to write a custom book for her?

An untidy script scrawled all over the sheets in front of me. They spoke of everything I remembered from a day or two ago about both worlds. From the phone call with Yuuhei to the conversation with the Minister. Well, everything but whatever had happened to my other self after I’d woken from my stupor. That part of the page stayed blank. Perhaps not as pristine and white as before, with all the ink-stains and creases, but blank nonetheless. 

Like the days before my other self's memories had rushed in, all I could get was a vague sense of what I was doing in the other world.

I flipped my pen around and sighed. This was important. I had to know what would happen in future chapters. What I'd thought would be an ordinary third grade quest turned out to be one for special grades. The lowly bandit I'd stopped was a wanted criminal. And now the Minister was on my case. If I'd screwed up anything, I needed to know.

With a deep breath, I closed my eyes for the umpteenth time today. Somewhere at the edge of my consciousness, was a pull. While hard to do, once I focused on it, I could sense my breaths. They came and went in a slower rhythm from what I had now. Although I sat straight on my chair, this slippery sense told me that no, I was sleeping. Well of course I was asleep. It must've been the wee hours of the night in Japan.

Yet no matter how long I waited, that sensation of fainting, of falling into a dream, never came. 

With a groan, I opened my eyes. This wasn't cutting it. How on earth did it happen that time? Was it because I was distressed after arguing with my mum? How did any of this even work? 

I closed my eyes again. There must be something, anything I could see. I focused on the pull. A faint high-pitched voice whispered too soft into my ears to hear. And before I knew it, the beats of my heart smothered them.

As I opened my eyes, my heart still raced. What if I had changed something in the manga? What if the man didn't kidnap random children and had always had his eyes on Kaede? Did the Minister know about this and send the special squads to use her to track down all the children? I clenched my fists as my breathing quickened.

After a few more tries, I took some deep breaths and forced my heart to calm down. The next chapter is still a week away, so panicking now will just slow me down. No, what I should do is be calm and focus on figuring out how to know everything my other self does. Then, if the manga reveals I’d messed something up, I could deal with the consequences. 

I took a new sheet of paper and wrote down some helpful topics to get books on. It was time I stopped taking this-- ability? for granted. Books on inner spirit, on dimensions and maybe a few on quantum physics. 

As I scribbled away, my scratching pen kept one thought submerged deep in my mind. What if I'd already screwed up too much to fix?