Chapter 1
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...
The room was extremely large and painted in orange with golden designs lining edges of the walls. On the left and right sides of the walls there were three rows of bookshelves which were filled with books of varying subjects.
In the middle of the room there was a glass-top table with two sofas on the left and right and two chairs on the other sides. A tall silver-haired male sat on one of chairs with his feet on top of the table engrossed in a novel. His red eyes sparkled with enjoyment. He was none other than Prince Yuri Tachibana.
"Your Highness!" a voice from the other side of the door took him away from his reading. "Your guests are here!"
"Send them in!" He replied. As he said that, the door opened and two teens ―a male and a female entered.
When the door closed, the male spoke, "What's with her, Yuri?" he asked. "Why's she so stiff? Aren't the palace staff used to us by now?"
"I can't answer that." The Prince shrugged. He then had a playful look on his face. "By the way Mamoru, were you and Kohaku out on a date? You both look dashing."
"Isn't it ob―" he broke off as he was kicked by his female companion. Mamoru was a tall male with an average body build. He has short black hair done in a sweep to the right. He has very narrow eyes home to green pupils. He was dressed casually, a white dress shirt and black pants with white sneakers.
"Of course not!" Kohaku screeched, her face red with embarrassment. She has bright blue eyes which were emphasized by her short voluminous black hair done in the sophisticated bob hairstyle. She wore a white shirt underneath a royal blue blazer and white pants with matching blue heels.
"Come on, Kohaku." Yuri drawled playfully. "Don't be like that. Mamoru isn't denying it, now is he?"
"You should not be like this!" she continued. "We just happened to run into each other that's all!"
"Wow, that's some luck." Yuri smirked. "Just admit it. Don't be shy now."
Kohaku twitched angrily. Then without a word, she dashed towards Yuri and gave him a drop kick. He was sent flying into a nearby wall, after which Kohaku fixed her hair out of her face.
"You have some guts talking to your me like that, brat." She spat
.
"Kohaku! That was mean!" he whined.
"Koha, this isn't school. Drop kicking the Prince in the castle is forbidden." Mamoru said warily. "What if someone had seen?"
"Humph! He deserved it!" she said as she folded her arms.
But, their playfulness soon came to an end, as the atmosphere in the room seemed to chill. The three looked about in apprehension, when suddenly, there was a dark purple light coming from the opposite direction of the teens. Turning to look at the source, the trio saw that it was a dark magic circle with strange symbols inside.
The rings on the trio's fingers glimmered momentarily and immediately after, Kohaku brandished a halberd. The shaft was metallic and red in colour, and consisted of an axe blade with a spike at the very top.
Beside her, Yuri had one metallic spear which was silver in colour. The shaft was tall, extending about two metres, with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.
Mamoru stood behind them and wielded a simple recurved bow which was roughly as tall as him. It was white in colour with blue ornate designs on the lower and upper limbs of the bow. The handle riser section was completely in gold however, the arrow rest had a blue stripe in the middle. Around his right eye was a semi-transparent display lens which was attached to a metal base at the ear.
By now, an elongated creature slithered out of the magic circle. It had no legs, and its entire body was covered in overlapping green scales. The creature was as tall as the room, but unfazed, the teens went to work.
As Mamoru pulled his arm backwards, air swirled around him and condensed into the shape of an arrow. He released it towards one of the creature's eyes, effectively blinding it. The others charged at it; Mamoru never stopped releasing his arrows as he wanted to garner the creature's attention.
The creature let out a roar which shattered the glass in the room and had the teens covering their ears desperately. Then, it lunged at both Kohaku and Yuri who were closest to it. Haven't yet recovered, Kohaku managed to use her fire to create a wall barring the creature for a couple seconds. Yuri followed suit by moving the two of them away from it with his lightning.
Kohaku receded the wall, and in that moment, the creature used its tail and made a lash at the three. They dodged it with ease of course, and this time, Mamoru aimed for the other eye. He was successful, and sent a smirk of triumph to the others.
Without hitch, they dashed towards the creature which was moving erratically, due to its sight being gone. Reaching close to it, Kohaku jumped up and with her halberd, she slashed the top of its head but was unable to give it a finishing blow due to the creature twisting about.
Yuri slid on his knee to avoid the creature's tail. Getting behind it, he used his spear to jab the monster in its tail. With a malicious grin, the Prince proceeded to cut upwards its body by dragging the weapon along its body as he ran. But likewise Kohaku, he couldn't land a fatal blow due to its movements. Mamoru as well, he was finding it hard to release his arrows to hit the fatal areas.
"This shitting monster!" Yuri hissed in rage and frustration.
Suddenly, coming from the outside, a tunnel of water knocked the creature into the wall and stunting it.
"Yuri!" a voice shrieked. "Are you alright?!" Another tall silver haired male dressed in a blue suit came through the broken window with a panicked look on his face. His hair was carefully parted to the right with his forehead fringe hanging over his right eye. The back of his hair was in the messy style, seeming as though he hadn't combed it somewhat.
"Akira!" Mamoru said in relief.
"Akki! You're late! Where―?" Yuri didn't get to finish the sentence as the creature once more let out a scream. However, instead of attacking them again, a magic circle appeared on the ceiling, and the creature slithered up and disappeared through it.
Not wanting this creature to get away, Yuri headed towards it by using a magic circle as a stepping stone. Reaching the ceiling, he flashed a bright smile at his brother, Kohaku and Mamoru.
"I'll be back!"
"Wait! You don't even know where that thing came from!" Akira shrieked. But knowing his little brother, with an outstretched hand, he called forth water to restrain him while the magic circle was fading. Kohaku and Mamoru were beside the older male with looks of concern.
"Don't you want to know where the hell these creatures keep coming from?!" Yuri asked. "We can't let this opportunity go to waste!"
"You impulsive brat!" Akira shouted. "Think first! So what if you found where they are coming from?! What will you do if ―!" But he was unable to finish the sentence. Yuri evoked his lightning and sent a shock towards his brother, causing him to lose focus. In that moment of freedom, using a magic circle, he jumped up to the ceiling, hoping that the magic circle the monster came out of was still there.
Sadly, it wasn't.
He then evoked his lightning once again, and began to write a magic circle. Trying to remember what the creature's circle looked like, he frantically wrote. While Kohaku was attending to the shaken Prince, Mamoru looked up and saw Yuri writing.
"What are you doing Yuri?" He asked.
"Nothing much." He replied. But as he continued to write, Mamoru caught glimpses of the characters being used.
"Nothing my ass!" he shouted and just like Yuri, he used a magic circle as a stepping stone to get up to the ceiling. He didn't want to touch the Prince because he knows he'll be electrocuted like Akira. Instead, with his recurved bow, he pulled his arm back to release an arrow. However, it was too late. The magic circle lit up, and within an instant, Yuri disappeared.
"What was that, Mamoru?!" Kohaku asked, Akira was finally waking up.
"It's Yuri! He wrote up a magic circle and disappeared!" He pointed to where the faded circle was still present. "By the time I drew my bow, he disappeared."
"He what?!" Kohaku asked. She looked up at the ceiling and saw the circle. "Let's drag his ass back here."
She got down on her knee and with the aid of Mamoru; she too copied his magic circle. Akira had gotten out his electric daze, and he was filled in by Mamoru. When Kohaku had finished the magic circle, hers was a bit different than Yuri's. While Yuri's had the character for "departure" and "arrival" on the outer rings, hers had the characters for "arrival" and "return".
She then placed her hands on the edge of the circle and it lit up.
"Kohaku keep it open," Akira commanded. "Mamoru, get your bow ready. Who knows if a monster may follow him here."
"Yes Sir!"
"Alright," Akira said as he stood firm. He then evoked his water and formed what seemed to be ropes with it. Each hand had one, and with a grunt, he pushed the water into the magic circle.
"He's right there, on his back! Grab him!" Kohaku said. Since this was a spatial magic circle, she was able to see where it had opened up. What she saw was a silver haired male in a white shirt, lying on his back. And judging by his body structure, and hair, this was no doubt the Third Prince.
Akira followed her instruction, and made a fist as though he was holding something. When he felt the water secure his target, he made a giant leap backwards, planning to bring him back in one swoop. But the boy was resisting.
This brat, He thought angrily. He continued his actions, and not before long, Akira had successfully pulled back the silverette into their world. However, when the boy fell out of the circle and the light dimmed, all colour from their faces drained.
"Oh shit."
xxxx
"I'm home!" Tachibana Yuri shouted as he took off his shoes at the genkan. He then made his way inside the kitchen and saw both his parents busy. His father was by the counter with a knife in hand, chopping meat while his mother was by the sink washing rice.
"I'm home." He said again. The two jumped when they heard him, and greeted him with a smile.
"Welcome back." His father smiled at him. Tachibana's father ―Ayumu was a tall man with lovely silver hair and bright red eyes.
"So how was practice?" Tachibana's mother ―Azusa then asked. Compared to her husband, she was a short woman, with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes.
"It was the usual." Tachibana replied with a sigh. He practiced Martial Arts at a dojo nearby. "Sensei worked us like mules; I guess he's still hung up on the practice match." A few weeks ago, their dojo had a match against a rather new and upcoming dojo so they didn't take them seriously. And sad to say, Tachibana's dojo got their asses handed to them.
Azusa chuckled. "I'm sure your father told you not to judge a book by the cover, right? I'm sure it can be applied to karate as well."
Tachibana deflated and made a pout. "Mom…"
"By the way Yu," Ayumu joined in after making one last chop. "We published a tankobon for a new manga today; I brought a copy since you might like it."
Tachibana brightened in an instant. "Thank you!" With that, the teen sped off up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Flinging the door open, he spotted the manga, sitting atop his bed. He threw his school bag and blazer on the chair and dashed to the bed.
He took up the book and headed into the adjoining room. This room was painted in orange with gold on the edges. On the left and right walls, there were bookshelves, all laden with fiction of the different genres that one could think of (well, appropriate genres for a teenager). There were novels, light novels, but mangas took up the bulk of the books there.
He lied on his back on the floor, and started to read. However, as soon as he opened the book, he heard the sounds of static electricity. Placing the book on his chest, Tachibana looked about the room, wondering where the sound was coming from. He saw nothing out of place, and shrugged it off as maybe coming from outside. He went back to reading, but then, a bright yellow light shone in his face.
"What?!" Tachibana said aloud, somewhat angry. He just wanted to read the manga in peace. But that was when he saw it.
On the ceiling, there was something that was too similar to a magic circle he's seen in anime. Within the outer bands, there were intricate writings ―symbols rather, but Tachibana couldn't tell what symbols they were due to the light emitting from the circle. The inner circle had a hexagram in the centre and at each end of the diagram, there were smaller circles connected together with straight lines. Within those smaller circles, he saw the kanji for "departure" and "arrival".
But then, from these smaller circles went electricity that followed along the lines of the hexagram. After all was connected, Tachibana saw the hexagram and the circles disappear to give way to what seemed like a portal opening.
It left Tachibana frozen in shock.
He wanted to run, but his body just won't move. He kept staring at the magic circle which kept expanding. Suddenly, Tachibana saw another spell circle appear beneath him. Finally his body responded, and he bolted upright. However, in that instant, Tachibana felt something wrap around his body and he was being pulled in.
Tachibana let out a blood curdling scream.
Meanwhile, Ayumu and Azusa immediately dashed up the stairs as their son's scream had reached their ears. However, by the time they reached Tachibana's door, they saw the blinding yellow light and headed towards it. But as they reached the doorway to the adjoining room, they saw Tachibana on his back being dragged down into what seemed like a portal by…bands of water? The teen was resisting with all his strength but it was futile. Even though the water bands held him, he couldn't hold them.
"Yu!" Ayumu shouted and made a dive for him. But it was too late. The light from the magic circle faded and his son had disappeared. However, both parents noticed that there was another magic circle on the ceiling, but before Ayumu could move, something fell on him. Without hesitation, Azusa kicked it off her husband, sending it rolling off to the corner. She saw that it was a human being, but she didn't want to take any chances. She just lost her boy; she couldn't lose her beloved too.
The light from the magic circle on the ceiling faded, and the two parents were looking at the person that arrived.
Gesturing for his wife to stay on guard, Ayumu made his way to the seemingly unconscious teen who was dressed in casual clothing. He wore a white shirt with a few buttons undone tucked into dark jeans and matching shoes. Around his wrist there was a gold watch with diamonds embedded in the bands and on his thumb there was a plain ring.
But that didn't catch their eyes at first. It was the spear he held on to. It was entirely made out of metal; the shaft was as tall as Ayumu (or even taller), with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.
Using a nearby mop-stick, Ayumu kept a distance from the boy (and the magic circles) to roll him onto his back to see his face. The act was successful, but a part of the two parents wished that it didn't.
The silver haired teen on the floor was the exact replica of his son, Tachibana Yuri. His hairstyle was the same. His face was the same. His height was the same. Everything was the same. But both Ayumu and Azusa knew that the boy in front them weren't their son. It couldn't be.
The Tachibana look-alike then shuffled, getting himself up onto his feet. When he was finally up, he looked towards the two and a smile came onto his face as he lunged at them.
"Daddy!"
Ayumu and Azusa were left frozen.
Ayumu pushed him off, while Azusa swiftly held the kitchen knife at the boy's neck. "Who are you?" She asked. The young boy stiffened at feeling the cool sensation pressed up at his throat. He wanted to retaliate, but she looked like his mother…he couldn't find it in him to throw her through the window and electrocute her to death.
But, deep down, both Ayumu and Azusa had a feeling of what this is. Especially Ayumu. Being in his line of work, he's edited and published many stories with this kind of premise but to think it was happening at this very moment…
The Tachibana look-alike blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? It's me, Yuri!"
"You can't be." Ayumu answered. "My son never calls me "Daddy"."
"And two," Azusa joined in. "Our son doesn't have so many piercings."
It was as they said; this Yuri had four piercings on his left ear ―three at where his lobe is, and one on his helix.
But hearing what the two said, Yuri was taken aback. The two people before him were identical to his parents, but when he looked about the room, it was then that he realized that something was wrong. His room didn't look like this.
This room is small! Yuri thought. But then again, he remembered entering the magic circle to chase after the creature. Still, there's no way those creatures could come from a place as nice as this. That means I messed up. His expression fell immediately. Because of his rashness, he ended up somewhere his own parents doesn't even think he's their son.
Deciding to act calm, Ayumu decided to speak before his wife decides to slice the boy's throat for taking her child away.
"You say you're "Yuri" correct?" he asked.
"Yes. You don't believe me?"
"Of course not." Azusa said.
Yuri sighed. "Daddy, when I was five you ran over Eiji with your car but because Mom wasn't here, when she returned you told her that he had escaped and got killed on the road. You even dug a hole in the wall to show her that he escaped through there." Eiji being Yuri's pet.
Ayumu stiffened. Both in shock that that was a secret between him and his son, no one else should know about that; and the fact that Azusa was sending him death glares.
"That's ―" he broke off before he could finish.
"Here." Yuri interrupted. He rolled up his pants leg and pushed down his ankle sock to reveal a mark. It was oddly shaped, seeming like a formless artwork. "This is ―"
"Your birthmark." Azusa finished. She dropped her hands and almost broke out in tears. If anything should ever happen to her son's face (God forbid), Azusa would know her boy just by that one mark; and no one should even realize that it's there; it's so inconspicuous.
Ayumu let a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. He didn't want to believe that this was happening and that his son was just playing an elaborate joke on them, but sadly, it was not so. He knew Tachibana would never do such a thing, given that it isn't April's Fool.
"Could you tell me where am I?" Yuri then asked.
"You're in Yamato City, Kanagawa, Japan." He said. He found it odd that this boy who was the carbon copy of his son didn't know where he was. But throwing that thought aside for now, he then looked at the magic circle in the floor. "Now could you tell me why the hell are those things in my floor and ceiling?"
Yuri looked at the one on the floor and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I don't know about that one." He then looked up at the ceiling. "That's the one I drew to chase the Youma that attacked me in my room. By the way, what's "Japan"?"
"Wait, I want to know what this is about drawing magic circles and a youma-something." Azusa spoke.
"How come you don't know Japan?" Ayumu asked.
"I know Yamato City and Kanagawa, but I've never heard of Japan before. As a matter of fact, it doesn't exist." He turned to Azusa to answer, "Youma are grotesque creatures that attack my world almost every day. No one knows where they originate from though, so don't ask me that."
Ayumu and Azusa exchanged glances before letting out a sigh. For one, somehow, they could tell that he's not lying, as, if they should use their own son as reference, whenever Tachibana lies his left eye twitches profusely and he avoids eye-contact. The doppelganger before them was looking directly at them and seemed like a lost child.
They sighed again. This is going to take a while.
xxxx
Without a doubt, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku could tell that this was not Prince Yuri. For one, this silverette didn't wear the watch that Yuri received from his father on his birthday last year. The second visible thing was that this teen before them was in a different set of clothing than the Prince.
Still, they were frightened.
When he looked up at them, the trio was seeing the Prince. Same silver hair with bangs that come over into his face, same bright red eyes, same angular face…everything was the same (minus the clothing).
"Who are you?" Tachibana asked, his eyes were spinning and he felt dizzy. He propped himself up onto his elbows but he couldn't go any further. Kohaku had her halberd poised at his neck, so if he tried to get up, he'll get decapitated.
"We should be asking you that." Mamoru started with folded arms. "Who are you?"
Seeing how he was in a disadvantageous situation, Tachibana decided to be cooperative. "I'm Tachibana Yuri." He introduced.
"There's no way you could be." Akira said, joining in. Seeing him, Tachibana froze. Akira looked a lot like his father and him. But Tachibana is an only child and his cousins didn't look like that. "Where's your proof?" Akira asked. Still, he wondering why the silverette used his family name first. No one speaks like that.
Hearing that, there was only one thing that came to his mind. Ever since he was little, his mother always told him that if anyone asks him for a proof of his identity, he should show them his left ankle. And that Tachibana did.
"This is my birthmark. I am Tachibana Yuri." He declared. "Who are you?"
The Japanese saw Akira's face twist with confusion. "How come you say you're Yuri and yet, you don't recognize me?"
"I don't know you." He said in a firm voice. But all throughout this time, Tachibana's eyes darted around the room, in hopes of finding an escape. Still, a part of him was a bit sceptical, as even if he somehow managed to escape these three, who knows who else he'll run into. "I really don't. Just don't kill me, okay?" he said this time in a softer voice. "I was just reading a manga when water wrapped around me and pulled me here. I don't mean any harm."
It was best to defend oneself before things get even nastier. Show them that he really was harmless.
Akira looked to Mamoru. "Leave him winded." He said. Hearing that sentence, Tachibana knew that it was coded language. But for what? He had no idea.
As he was about to ask, he realized that he found it hard to breathe. It was almost as though the air supply was diminishing, like there wasn't enough in the room. Looking up one last time, he saw the faces of the trio, and knew that they were the ones behind this.
"Let's go you two." Akira then said. "I'll go get Papa; we need to get to the bottom of this before Mom comes back."
xxxx
"I want to know where the hell are you from." Ayumu said. "You said Japan doesn't exist, which means, from my perspective, you're from another world. But I can't understand how Yamato City and Kanagawa exists, but Japan does not."
Yuri's eyebrows rose. "Well, that would explain the existence of a country that I never heard of. I can't answer that part. Japan isn't real in my world." He then slumped in the chair, preparing to answer Ayumu's first question. "Well, first and foremost, I'm the third Prince of the Saishi Kingdom, located on the Nihon Continent."
Ayumu and Azusa looked irritated; Yuri wondered if he said something wrong.
"Honestly, if I hadn't seen my son get dragged into that glowing magic circle, I'd seriously cut out your tongue right now." Azusa said.
"Mom! What did I do!?" he screeched in horror. Well, at least some things never change.
"There's neither such continent as Nihon nor any kingdom with the name Saishi." Ayumu answered.
"What?!" Yuri roared.
"I don't know." Ayumu shrugged. "Anyway, continue telling us about your origins. Who are your parents? Who are the other two Princes, if you're the third one?"
"Well, my parents are you two ―King and Queen of Saishi, Ayumu and Azusa Tachibana. I have two older brothers ―Seiya, being the older and Akira being the second."
"You have brothers?!" Ayumu said in shock. "You…or rather, my son is our only child."
"Hoh?" Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Why were you holding onto that weapon?" Azusa asked. She then looked around and saw that it was gone. "Where'd it go?!"
"It's my spear. And I keep it in my ring." Yuri moved his thumb around as if it was something the whole world knew. "I mean, why is it a surprise?"
"Why?! Are you an idiot? How is something that tall able to fit in that ring?!" Ayumu asked. "Hell, how is anything able to fit in a ring?! Doesn't it hurt your finger?!"
"Wait, this is an inter-spatial ring. It's used for storage. Like, everyone has one or a few. And no, it doesn't hurt." He said with a frivolous laugh. "Don't you guys have it?"
"Obviously not!"
"Seriously? This is something anyone can buy. Well, it depends on the storage capacity. The more it's capable of holding, the more money for it."
Ayumu paled. "Is that like a thumb-drive or something?"
"Thumb-drive?! Who still uses those ancient things anyway!? I've never seen one except in my Engineering History textbook!" Yuri guffawed. "As a matter of fact, those were deemed ancient even before my 5th great-grandfather was born!"
This was it. Azusa had had enough. So, she leaned towards her husband and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to finish dinner. I leave this in your hands."
When Ayumu saw her face, she looked ghastly pale, and decided that it's for the best. She then left, and headed straight into the kitchen.
"Why'd she leave?" Yuri asked.
"You're too much for her." Ayumu sighed. "Now, tell me everything we need to know. About your world, about you yourself, your country, everything. In exchange, I'll answer you as best as I can."
"Deal." The Prince smirked. "But can you handle it? I mean, Mom just left."
Ayumu laughed at the boy. "One thing you should know, when it comes onto "getting transported to another world" kind of thing, never underestimate a Japanese."
And thus, the two engaged in what would seem to be a "Questions and Answers" session. And just like Yuri had wondered, his answers had floored Ayumu. Being an editor, he was used to reading books of this genre. But never before has he ever encountered a book, be it in his company or on a bookshelf in a store, which has a plot such as Yuri's world.
So far, he's gathered that Yuri is from another world called Sekai which, in essence was like a parallel of Earth with a few differences. One of these differences is that there is the presence of Mana, which allows people to cast magic. Mana is still not completely analyzed as yet, but Yuri told him that normally, it's invisible, but if enough is gathered in a small place, then it becomes visible.
Another thing, when Ayumu asked what exactly is Mana, if it was like air or a liquid, Yuri shrugged and said:
"Scientists are still trying to find out. But, in my opinion, it'll be more like air. You can't see it but you can feel it in your body when you're about to cast magic."
In addition to that, Ayumu learnt that Sekai's technology far exceeds that of Earth's. The Prince demonstrated his storage ring; by hovering his hand over the table, it was sucked in the ring like a vacuum, and when the Prince waved his hand, it reappeared from the ring.
Another piece of Sekai's technology Yuri demonstrated was his cell phone. It was stored in his ring so there was no damage done to it. At first, Ayumu thought that it was a regular touch screen phone like theirs but boy was he wrong.
When Yuri took it out, a small "chibi-like" person appeared on the black screen. He had blue hair with bright red eyes and was dressed casually ―a black v-neck t-shirt and what seemed to be white jeans and matching shoes. He was adorable!
Yuri then said, "Open up the damn phone, I need to get in."
And the chibi-like person responded, "So mean, Yu." With a pout and everything. Ayumu nearly fell off his seat. What is more, this chibi-like person called "Kei", unlocked the phone and did everything that Yuri told him to.
"In my world, cell phones come with an AI," Yuri had explained. "You do know what an AI is, right?"
Ayumu had gotten pissed at this. "We aren't that dunce!"
"Just checking," the silverette shrugged. "Anyway, if I want I can make Kei do everything as I just showed you. Another example would be if someone texts me and I'm busy, Kei has enough sense to message them back saying 'I'm busy doing something, talk later'."
"Without you saying anything to him?" Ayumu asked.
"Of course. Kei isn't an idiot." The Prince shrugged. "However, if I'm reading a novel or drawing or something trivial, Kei would ask me if I want to reply or not."
"But wait, how would Kei know that you're doing something?"
Yuri didn't respond. He simply placed the phone on the table faced up, and told the AI "to get out". The lens of the front camera shone, as though it was taking a picture and there stood Kei, in full colour in all his holographic glory. He even waved at Ayumu with a blinding smile. Kei was able to walk around and sit, but he was restricted to the phone's face. But Ayumu had to admit, Kei was quite adorable.
But apart from that, Ayumu had also learnt something quite…unnerving.
According to Yuri, if Tachibana was dragged into Sekai, then the blond would have to learn how to fight with a weapon since there are existences called Youma. These are creatures that attack and destroy indiscriminately, and what's worse, the school he goes to trains them for such future combat.
Ayumu started to fret for his baby boy. Although his son was a black belt in martial arts, he had a feeling that it will be useless against the Youma that the Prince had previously described.
xxxx
By the time Tachibana came to, he realized that he was in a closed room with wooden walls and floors. But when he tried to move his body, he couldn't. He knew he was sitting up straight on a chair as he could feel the sensation, but he just couldn't move. His head and eyes were fixed on the person before him, forcibly.
On the other side of the table, there was a tall man with average amount of muscles. He had wavy black hair neatly combed, his dark eyes devoid of emotion.
"You're finally up." The man said. "It seems Akira went a bit overboard." He said with a chuckle. Tachibana didn't know whether or not the man was trying to lighten the mood because it sure as hell wasn't working. "I'm Kouen Inaba, Chief of Police. And you are…?"
"Ta-Ta-Tachibana Yuri." He stuttered. Tachibana was close to panicking. He couldn't move his body, all he could do was sit and look at Kouen which he deemed frightening.
"Hmm…" Kouen leaned forward as if he didn't believe him. "Tell me, why do you address yourself like that? Is it that "Tachibana" is your given name, and "Yuri" is your family name?" He found it odd as no one speaks like that here.
"No Sir. In my country, everyone introduces themselves beginning with our family name."
"Is that so?" Kouen hummed. "If that's the case, tell me, where are you from?"
Thanks to his knowledge from manga and anime, he swiftly said, "I live in Yamato City in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan." But when Tachibana answered, he noticed that he was starting to feel dizzy. He thought that it was probably the effect of being in this forced position for so long, as it seems he was like this when he was unconscious. However, the feeling didn't go away.
Kouen raised an eyebrow. "Prefecture? Japan? Boy, what are you talking about?"
Tachibana started to break out in cold sweat. Not because he was scared of the man, but because he was feeling like he was going to die. "I'm from Japan. It's a country on Earth, third planet in the solar system, Milky Way galaxy. A prefecture is a district under the authority of a governor. Japan has a total of forty-seven and ―"
"Wait just a minute." Kouen said, stopping him. "You say your planet is Earth, right?"
"Yes." Tachibana managed to utter out but his voice was strained. He then saw the man jump out of his chair and turned his head to the left, tilting upwards.
"Get a doctor and a Regulator in here now!" he barked. Looking at his face, Tachibana could tell that Kouen was worried about something. Was it that they knew about Earth? Did they think Earth was dangerous? But what's that about Regulator? At least a doctor was coming, he felt like he was being torn apart.
But just then, a searing pain ripped through his body and Tachibana couldn't help but scream out. Kouen dashed to his side and with two taps of his index and middle fingers, Tachibana could move again. He was just in time to cover his mouth as he felt something rise within his throat. He coughed and what came out on his hands left him speechless.
"Shit." Kouen swore.
Blood.
Tachibana trembled from the shock, but nevertheless, the pain was not subsiding. He then felt Kouen grab hold of him and turned him on his side. With his insides on fire, Tachibana felt numb. His vision was getting cloudy with red, and not long after he couldn't even register what was going on. His consciousness was fading, his mind was going blank.
"Shit, where is that doctor?!" Kouen said in frustration. "He's even bleeding from his eyes."
Within a moment's notice, the door of the room bust open and a beautiful woman in a white coat entered. More like sprinted. Without hitch, she slipped on what resembled a headband onto Tachibana's forehead, and in that instant, his body spasms stopped.
"Men! Let's get him out of here!" she barked. Just then, three men on what seemed to be a hovering stretcher entered the room and Kouen gently placed Tachibana on it. The stretcher glowed red the instant his body touched it and everyone's face paled.
"God speed!"
"Yes Ma'am!"
…
...
The doctor exited from the room to meet with Kouen, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. Seeing their faces, she let out a sigh.
"He'll live." She said. "There's no need to worry at the moment."
"So what was the problem?" Akira asked.
"He has no Vault which means that his body was sucking up mana like a sponge. Because of this, it was building up too much in his body and killing him."
"Oh shit." Mamoru said in shock.
"Then it's a repeat of the case five years ago, right Ayane?" Kouen asked.
"You could say that." Ayane answered with a sigh. "But really, what happened? How is Prince Yuri and this boy…?"
Kouen looked at Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. The three then recounted the incident and upon hearing everything, Ayane was shocked. Kouen then added his bits from the interrogation. Putting the information together, Ayane then realized what was going on.
"I still need to question him some more." Kouen sighed. "That way, I can have an idea of exactly where the Prince may be."
"You have to wait until he wakes up." Ayane said. "Ari tells me that he'll be up in a few hours."
"Then, we'll wait." Akira said.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
...
The room was extremely large and painted in orange with golden designs lining edges of the walls. On the left and right sides of the walls there were three rows of bookshelves which were filled with books of varying subjects.
In the middle of the room there was a glass-top table with two sofas on the left and right and two chairs on the other sides. A tall silver-haired male sat on one of chairs with his feet on top of the table engrossed in a novel. His red eyes sparkled with enjoyment. He was none other than Prince Yuri Tachibana.
"Your Highness!" a voice from the other side of the door took him away from his reading. "Your guests are here!"
"Send them in!" He replied. As he said that, the door opened and two teens ―a male and a female entered.
When the door closed, the male spoke, "What's with her, Yuri?" he asked. "Why's she so stiff? Aren't the palace staff used to us by now?"
"I can't answer that." The Prince shrugged. He then had a playful look on his face. "By the way Mamoru, were you and Kohaku out on a date? You both look dashing."
"Isn't it ob―" he broke off as he was kicked by his female companion. Mamoru was a tall male with an average body build. He has short black hair done in a sweep to the right. He has very narrow eyes home to green pupils. He was dressed casually, a white dress shirt and black pants with white sneakers.
"Of course not!" Kohaku screeched, her face red with embarrassment. She has bright blue eyes which were emphasized by her short voluminous black hair done in the sophisticated bob hairstyle. She wore a white shirt underneath a royal blue blazer and white pants with matching blue heels.
"Come on, Kohaku." Yuri drawled playfully. "Don't be like that. Mamoru isn't denying it, now is he?"
"You should not be like this!" she continued. "We just happened to run into each other that's all!"
"Wow, that's some luck." Yuri smirked. "Just admit it. Don't be shy now."
Kohaku twitched angrily. Then without a word, she dashed towards Yuri and gave him a drop kick. He was sent flying into a nearby wall, after which Kohaku fixed her hair out of her face.
"You have some guts talking to your me like that, brat." She spat
.
"Kohaku! That was mean!" he whined.
"Koha, this isn't school. Drop kicking the Prince in the castle is forbidden." Mamoru said warily. "What if someone had seen?"
"Humph! He deserved it!" she said as she folded her arms.
But, their playfulness soon came to an end, as the atmosphere in the room seemed to chill. The three looked about in apprehension, when suddenly, there was a dark purple light coming from the opposite direction of the teens. Turning to look at the source, the trio saw that it was a dark magic circle with strange symbols inside.
The rings on the trio's fingers glimmered momentarily and immediately after, Kohaku brandished a halberd. The shaft was metallic and red in colour, and consisted of an axe blade with a spike at the very top.
Beside her, Yuri had one metallic spear which was silver in colour. The shaft was tall, extending about two metres, with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.
Mamoru stood behind them and wielded a simple recurved bow which was roughly as tall as him. It was white in colour with blue ornate designs on the lower and upper limbs of the bow. The handle riser section was completely in gold however, the arrow rest had a blue stripe in the middle. Around his right eye was a semi-transparent display lens which was attached to a metal base at the ear.
By now, an elongated creature slithered out of the magic circle. It had no legs, and its entire body was covered in overlapping green scales. The creature was as tall as the room, but unfazed, the teens went to work.
As Mamoru pulled his arm backwards, air swirled around him and condensed into the shape of an arrow. He released it towards one of the creature's eyes, effectively blinding it. The others charged at it; Mamoru never stopped releasing his arrows as he wanted to garner the creature's attention.
The creature let out a roar which shattered the glass in the room and had the teens covering their ears desperately. Then, it lunged at both Kohaku and Yuri who were closest to it. Haven't yet recovered, Kohaku managed to use her fire to create a wall barring the creature for a couple seconds. Yuri followed suit by moving the two of them away from it with his lightning.
Kohaku receded the wall, and in that moment, the creature used its tail and made a lash at the three. They dodged it with ease of course, and this time, Mamoru aimed for the other eye. He was successful, and sent a smirk of triumph to the others.
Without hitch, they dashed towards the creature which was moving erratically, due to its sight being gone. Reaching close to it, Kohaku jumped up and with her halberd, she slashed the top of its head but was unable to give it a finishing blow due to the creature twisting about.
Yuri slid on his knee to avoid the creature's tail. Getting behind it, he used his spear to jab the monster in its tail. With a malicious grin, the Prince proceeded to cut upwards its body by dragging the weapon along its body as he ran. But likewise Kohaku, he couldn't land a fatal blow due to its movements. Mamoru as well, he was finding it hard to release his arrows to hit the fatal areas.
"This shitting monster!" Yuri hissed in rage and frustration.
Suddenly, coming from the outside, a tunnel of water knocked the creature into the wall and stunting it.
"Yuri!" a voice shrieked. "Are you alright?!" Another tall silver haired male dressed in a blue suit came through the broken window with a panicked look on his face. His hair was carefully parted to the right with his forehead fringe hanging over his right eye. The back of his hair was in the messy style, seeming as though he hadn't combed it somewhat.
"Akira!" Mamoru said in relief.
"Akki! You're late! Where―?" Yuri didn't get to finish the sentence as the creature once more let out a scream. However, instead of attacking them again, a magic circle appeared on the ceiling, and the creature slithered up and disappeared through it.
Not wanting this creature to get away, Yuri headed towards it by using a magic circle as a stepping stone. Reaching the ceiling, he flashed a bright smile at his brother, Kohaku and Mamoru.
"I'll be back!"
"Wait! You don't even know where that thing came from!" Akira shrieked. But knowing his little brother, with an outstretched hand, he called forth water to restrain him while the magic circle was fading. Kohaku and Mamoru were beside the older male with looks of concern.
"Don't you want to know where the hell these creatures keep coming from?!" Yuri asked. "We can't let this opportunity go to waste!"
"You impulsive brat!" Akira shouted. "Think first! So what if you found where they are coming from?! What will you do if ―!" But he was unable to finish the sentence. Yuri evoked his lightning and sent a shock towards his brother, causing him to lose focus. In that moment of freedom, using a magic circle, he jumped up to the ceiling, hoping that the magic circle the monster came out of was still there.
Sadly, it wasn't.
He then evoked his lightning once again, and began to write a magic circle. Trying to remember what the creature's circle looked like, he frantically wrote. While Kohaku was attending to the shaken Prince, Mamoru looked up and saw Yuri writing.
"What are you doing Yuri?" He asked.
"Nothing much." He replied. But as he continued to write, Mamoru caught glimpses of the characters being used.
"Nothing my ass!" he shouted and just like Yuri, he used a magic circle as a stepping stone to get up to the ceiling. He didn't want to touch the Prince because he knows he'll be electrocuted like Akira. Instead, with his recurved bow, he pulled his arm back to release an arrow. However, it was too late. The magic circle lit up, and within an instant, Yuri disappeared.
"What was that, Mamoru?!" Kohaku asked, Akira was finally waking up.
"It's Yuri! He wrote up a magic circle and disappeared!" He pointed to where the faded circle was still present. "By the time I drew my bow, he disappeared."
"He what?!" Kohaku asked. She looked up at the ceiling and saw the circle. "Let's drag his ass back here."
She got down on her knee and with the aid of Mamoru; she too copied his magic circle. Akira had gotten out his electric daze, and he was filled in by Mamoru. When Kohaku had finished the magic circle, hers was a bit different than Yuri's. While Yuri's had the character for "departure" and "arrival" on the outer rings, hers had the characters for "arrival" and "return".
She then placed her hands on the edge of the circle and it lit up.
"Kohaku keep it open," Akira commanded. "Mamoru, get your bow ready. Who knows if a monster may follow him here."
"Yes Sir!"
"Alright," Akira said as he stood firm. He then evoked his water and formed what seemed to be ropes with it. Each hand had one, and with a grunt, he pushed the water into the magic circle.
"He's right there, on his back! Grab him!" Kohaku said. Since this was a spatial magic circle, she was able to see where it had opened up. What she saw was a silver haired male in a white shirt, lying on his back. And judging by his body structure, and hair, this was no doubt the Third Prince.
Akira followed her instruction, and made a fist as though he was holding something. When he felt the water secure his target, he made a giant leap backwards, planning to bring him back in one swoop. But the boy was resisting.
This brat, He thought angrily. He continued his actions, and not before long, Akira had successfully pulled back the silverette into their world. However, when the boy fell out of the circle and the light dimmed, all colour from their faces drained.
"Oh shit."
xxxx
"I'm home!" Tachibana Yuri shouted as he took off his shoes at the genkan. He then made his way inside the kitchen and saw both his parents busy. His father was by the counter with a knife in hand, chopping meat while his mother was by the sink washing rice.
"I'm home." He said again. The two jumped when they heard him, and greeted him with a smile.
"Welcome back." His father smiled at him. Tachibana's father ―Ayumu was a tall man with lovely silver hair and bright red eyes.
"So how was practice?" Tachibana's mother ―Azusa then asked. Compared to her husband, she was a short woman, with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes.
"It was the usual." Tachibana replied with a sigh. He practiced Martial Arts at a dojo nearby. "Sensei worked us like mules; I guess he's still hung up on the practice match." A few weeks ago, their dojo had a match against a rather new and upcoming dojo so they didn't take them seriously. And sad to say, Tachibana's dojo got their asses handed to them.
Azusa chuckled. "I'm sure your father told you not to judge a book by the cover, right? I'm sure it can be applied to karate as well."
Tachibana deflated and made a pout. "Mom…"
"By the way Yu," Ayumu joined in after making one last chop. "We published a tankobon for a new manga today; I brought a copy since you might like it."
Tachibana brightened in an instant. "Thank you!" With that, the teen sped off up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Flinging the door open, he spotted the manga, sitting atop his bed. He threw his school bag and blazer on the chair and dashed to the bed.
He took up the book and headed into the adjoining room. This room was painted in orange with gold on the edges. On the left and right walls, there were bookshelves, all laden with fiction of the different genres that one could think of (well, appropriate genres for a teenager). There were novels, light novels, but mangas took up the bulk of the books there.
He lied on his back on the floor, and started to read. However, as soon as he opened the book, he heard the sounds of static electricity. Placing the book on his chest, Tachibana looked about the room, wondering where the sound was coming from. He saw nothing out of place, and shrugged it off as maybe coming from outside. He went back to reading, but then, a bright yellow light shone in his face.
"What?!" Tachibana said aloud, somewhat angry. He just wanted to read the manga in peace. But that was when he saw it.
On the ceiling, there was something that was too similar to a magic circle he's seen in anime. Within the outer bands, there were intricate writings ―symbols rather, but Tachibana couldn't tell what symbols they were due to the light emitting from the circle. The inner circle had a hexagram in the centre and at each end of the diagram, there were smaller circles connected together with straight lines. Within those smaller circles, he saw the kanji for "departure" and "arrival".
But then, from these smaller circles went electricity that followed along the lines of the hexagram. After all was connected, Tachibana saw the hexagram and the circles disappear to give way to what seemed like a portal opening.
It left Tachibana frozen in shock.
He wanted to run, but his body just won't move. He kept staring at the magic circle which kept expanding. Suddenly, Tachibana saw another spell circle appear beneath him. Finally his body responded, and he bolted upright. However, in that instant, Tachibana felt something wrap around his body and he was being pulled in.
Tachibana let out a blood curdling scream.
Meanwhile, Ayumu and Azusa immediately dashed up the stairs as their son's scream had reached their ears. However, by the time they reached Tachibana's door, they saw the blinding yellow light and headed towards it. But as they reached the doorway to the adjoining room, they saw Tachibana on his back being dragged down into what seemed like a portal by…bands of water? The teen was resisting with all his strength but it was futile. Even though the water bands held him, he couldn't hold them.
"Yu!" Ayumu shouted and made a dive for him. But it was too late. The light from the magic circle faded and his son had disappeared. However, both parents noticed that there was another magic circle on the ceiling, but before Ayumu could move, something fell on him. Without hesitation, Azusa kicked it off her husband, sending it rolling off to the corner. She saw that it was a human being, but she didn't want to take any chances. She just lost her boy; she couldn't lose her beloved too.
The light from the magic circle on the ceiling faded, and the two parents were looking at the person that arrived.
Gesturing for his wife to stay on guard, Ayumu made his way to the seemingly unconscious teen who was dressed in casual clothing. He wore a white shirt with a few buttons undone tucked into dark jeans and matching shoes. Around his wrist there was a gold watch with diamonds embedded in the bands and on his thumb there was a plain ring.
But that didn't catch their eyes at first. It was the spear he held on to. It was entirely made out of metal; the shaft was as tall as Ayumu (or even taller), with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.
Using a nearby mop-stick, Ayumu kept a distance from the boy (and the magic circles) to roll him onto his back to see his face. The act was successful, but a part of the two parents wished that it didn't.
The silver haired teen on the floor was the exact replica of his son, Tachibana Yuri. His hairstyle was the same. His face was the same. His height was the same. Everything was the same. But both Ayumu and Azusa knew that the boy in front them weren't their son. It couldn't be.
The Tachibana look-alike then shuffled, getting himself up onto his feet. When he was finally up, he looked towards the two and a smile came onto his face as he lunged at them.
"Daddy!"
Ayumu and Azusa were left frozen.
Ayumu pushed him off, while Azusa swiftly held the kitchen knife at the boy's neck. "Who are you?" She asked. The young boy stiffened at feeling the cool sensation pressed up at his throat. He wanted to retaliate, but she looked like his mother…he couldn't find it in him to throw her through the window and electrocute her to death.
But, deep down, both Ayumu and Azusa had a feeling of what this is. Especially Ayumu. Being in his line of work, he's edited and published many stories with this kind of premise but to think it was happening at this very moment…
The Tachibana look-alike blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? It's me, Yuri!"
"You can't be." Ayumu answered. "My son never calls me "Daddy"."
"And two," Azusa joined in. "Our son doesn't have so many piercings."
It was as they said; this Yuri had four piercings on his left ear ―three at where his lobe is, and one on his helix.
But hearing what the two said, Yuri was taken aback. The two people before him were identical to his parents, but when he looked about the room, it was then that he realized that something was wrong. His room didn't look like this.
This room is small! Yuri thought. But then again, he remembered entering the magic circle to chase after the creature. Still, there's no way those creatures could come from a place as nice as this. That means I messed up. His expression fell immediately. Because of his rashness, he ended up somewhere his own parents doesn't even think he's their son.
Deciding to act calm, Ayumu decided to speak before his wife decides to slice the boy's throat for taking her child away.
"You say you're "Yuri" correct?" he asked.
"Yes. You don't believe me?"
"Of course not." Azusa said.
Yuri sighed. "Daddy, when I was five you ran over Eiji with your car but because Mom wasn't here, when she returned you told her that he had escaped and got killed on the road. You even dug a hole in the wall to show her that he escaped through there." Eiji being Yuri's pet.
Ayumu stiffened. Both in shock that that was a secret between him and his son, no one else should know about that; and the fact that Azusa was sending him death glares.
"That's ―" he broke off before he could finish.
"Here." Yuri interrupted. He rolled up his pants leg and pushed down his ankle sock to reveal a mark. It was oddly shaped, seeming like a formless artwork. "This is ―"
"Your birthmark." Azusa finished. She dropped her hands and almost broke out in tears. If anything should ever happen to her son's face (God forbid), Azusa would know her boy just by that one mark; and no one should even realize that it's there; it's so inconspicuous.
Ayumu let a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. He didn't want to believe that this was happening and that his son was just playing an elaborate joke on them, but sadly, it was not so. He knew Tachibana would never do such a thing, given that it isn't April's Fool.
"Could you tell me where am I?" Yuri then asked.
"You're in Yamato City, Kanagawa, Japan." He said. He found it odd that this boy who was the carbon copy of his son didn't know where he was. But throwing that thought aside for now, he then looked at the magic circle in the floor. "Now could you tell me why the hell are those things in my floor and ceiling?"
Yuri looked at the one on the floor and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I don't know about that one." He then looked up at the ceiling. "That's the one I drew to chase the Youma that attacked me in my room. By the way, what's "Japan"?"
"Wait, I want to know what this is about drawing magic circles and a youma-something." Azusa spoke.
"How come you don't know Japan?" Ayumu asked.
"I know Yamato City and Kanagawa, but I've never heard of Japan before. As a matter of fact, it doesn't exist." He turned to Azusa to answer, "Youma are grotesque creatures that attack my world almost every day. No one knows where they originate from though, so don't ask me that."
Ayumu and Azusa exchanged glances before letting out a sigh. For one, somehow, they could tell that he's not lying, as, if they should use their own son as reference, whenever Tachibana lies his left eye twitches profusely and he avoids eye-contact. The doppelganger before them was looking directly at them and seemed like a lost child.
They sighed again. This is going to take a while.
xxxx
Without a doubt, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku could tell that this was not Prince Yuri. For one, this silverette didn't wear the watch that Yuri received from his father on his birthday last year. The second visible thing was that this teen before them was in a different set of clothing than the Prince.
Still, they were frightened.
When he looked up at them, the trio was seeing the Prince. Same silver hair with bangs that come over into his face, same bright red eyes, same angular face…everything was the same (minus the clothing).
"Who are you?" Tachibana asked, his eyes were spinning and he felt dizzy. He propped himself up onto his elbows but he couldn't go any further. Kohaku had her halberd poised at his neck, so if he tried to get up, he'll get decapitated.
"We should be asking you that." Mamoru started with folded arms. "Who are you?"
Seeing how he was in a disadvantageous situation, Tachibana decided to be cooperative. "I'm Tachibana Yuri." He introduced.
"There's no way you could be." Akira said, joining in. Seeing him, Tachibana froze. Akira looked a lot like his father and him. But Tachibana is an only child and his cousins didn't look like that. "Where's your proof?" Akira asked. Still, he wondering why the silverette used his family name first. No one speaks like that.
Hearing that, there was only one thing that came to his mind. Ever since he was little, his mother always told him that if anyone asks him for a proof of his identity, he should show them his left ankle. And that Tachibana did.
"This is my birthmark. I am Tachibana Yuri." He declared. "Who are you?"
The Japanese saw Akira's face twist with confusion. "How come you say you're Yuri and yet, you don't recognize me?"
"I don't know you." He said in a firm voice. But all throughout this time, Tachibana's eyes darted around the room, in hopes of finding an escape. Still, a part of him was a bit sceptical, as even if he somehow managed to escape these three, who knows who else he'll run into. "I really don't. Just don't kill me, okay?" he said this time in a softer voice. "I was just reading a manga when water wrapped around me and pulled me here. I don't mean any harm."
It was best to defend oneself before things get even nastier. Show them that he really was harmless.
Akira looked to Mamoru. "Leave him winded." He said. Hearing that sentence, Tachibana knew that it was coded language. But for what? He had no idea.
As he was about to ask, he realized that he found it hard to breathe. It was almost as though the air supply was diminishing, like there wasn't enough in the room. Looking up one last time, he saw the faces of the trio, and knew that they were the ones behind this.
"Let's go you two." Akira then said. "I'll go get Papa; we need to get to the bottom of this before Mom comes back."
xxxx
"I want to know where the hell are you from." Ayumu said. "You said Japan doesn't exist, which means, from my perspective, you're from another world. But I can't understand how Yamato City and Kanagawa exists, but Japan does not."
Yuri's eyebrows rose. "Well, that would explain the existence of a country that I never heard of. I can't answer that part. Japan isn't real in my world." He then slumped in the chair, preparing to answer Ayumu's first question. "Well, first and foremost, I'm the third Prince of the Saishi Kingdom, located on the Nihon Continent."
Ayumu and Azusa looked irritated; Yuri wondered if he said something wrong.
"Honestly, if I hadn't seen my son get dragged into that glowing magic circle, I'd seriously cut out your tongue right now." Azusa said.
"Mom! What did I do!?" he screeched in horror. Well, at least some things never change.
"There's neither such continent as Nihon nor any kingdom with the name Saishi." Ayumu answered.
"What?!" Yuri roared.
"I don't know." Ayumu shrugged. "Anyway, continue telling us about your origins. Who are your parents? Who are the other two Princes, if you're the third one?"
"Well, my parents are you two ―King and Queen of Saishi, Ayumu and Azusa Tachibana. I have two older brothers ―Seiya, being the older and Akira being the second."
"You have brothers?!" Ayumu said in shock. "You…or rather, my son is our only child."
"Hoh?" Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Why were you holding onto that weapon?" Azusa asked. She then looked around and saw that it was gone. "Where'd it go?!"
"It's my spear. And I keep it in my ring." Yuri moved his thumb around as if it was something the whole world knew. "I mean, why is it a surprise?"
"Why?! Are you an idiot? How is something that tall able to fit in that ring?!" Ayumu asked. "Hell, how is anything able to fit in a ring?! Doesn't it hurt your finger?!"
"Wait, this is an inter-spatial ring. It's used for storage. Like, everyone has one or a few. And no, it doesn't hurt." He said with a frivolous laugh. "Don't you guys have it?"
"Obviously not!"
"Seriously? This is something anyone can buy. Well, it depends on the storage capacity. The more it's capable of holding, the more money for it."
Ayumu paled. "Is that like a thumb-drive or something?"
"Thumb-drive?! Who still uses those ancient things anyway!? I've never seen one except in my Engineering History textbook!" Yuri guffawed. "As a matter of fact, those were deemed ancient even before my 5th great-grandfather was born!"
This was it. Azusa had had enough. So, she leaned towards her husband and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to finish dinner. I leave this in your hands."
When Ayumu saw her face, she looked ghastly pale, and decided that it's for the best. She then left, and headed straight into the kitchen.
"Why'd she leave?" Yuri asked.
"You're too much for her." Ayumu sighed. "Now, tell me everything we need to know. About your world, about you yourself, your country, everything. In exchange, I'll answer you as best as I can."
"Deal." The Prince smirked. "But can you handle it? I mean, Mom just left."
Ayumu laughed at the boy. "One thing you should know, when it comes onto "getting transported to another world" kind of thing, never underestimate a Japanese."
And thus, the two engaged in what would seem to be a "Questions and Answers" session. And just like Yuri had wondered, his answers had floored Ayumu. Being an editor, he was used to reading books of this genre. But never before has he ever encountered a book, be it in his company or on a bookshelf in a store, which has a plot such as Yuri's world.
So far, he's gathered that Yuri is from another world called Sekai which, in essence was like a parallel of Earth with a few differences. One of these differences is that there is the presence of Mana, which allows people to cast magic. Mana is still not completely analyzed as yet, but Yuri told him that normally, it's invisible, but if enough is gathered in a small place, then it becomes visible.
Another thing, when Ayumu asked what exactly is Mana, if it was like air or a liquid, Yuri shrugged and said:
"Scientists are still trying to find out. But, in my opinion, it'll be more like air. You can't see it but you can feel it in your body when you're about to cast magic."
In addition to that, Ayumu learnt that Sekai's technology far exceeds that of Earth's. The Prince demonstrated his storage ring; by hovering his hand over the table, it was sucked in the ring like a vacuum, and when the Prince waved his hand, it reappeared from the ring.
Another piece of Sekai's technology Yuri demonstrated was his cell phone. It was stored in his ring so there was no damage done to it. At first, Ayumu thought that it was a regular touch screen phone like theirs but boy was he wrong.
When Yuri took it out, a small "chibi-like" person appeared on the black screen. He had blue hair with bright red eyes and was dressed casually ―a black v-neck t-shirt and what seemed to be white jeans and matching shoes. He was adorable!
Yuri then said, "Open up the damn phone, I need to get in."
And the chibi-like person responded, "So mean, Yu." With a pout and everything. Ayumu nearly fell off his seat. What is more, this chibi-like person called "Kei", unlocked the phone and did everything that Yuri told him to.
"In my world, cell phones come with an AI," Yuri had explained. "You do know what an AI is, right?"
Ayumu had gotten pissed at this. "We aren't that dunce!"
"Just checking," the silverette shrugged. "Anyway, if I want I can make Kei do everything as I just showed you. Another example would be if someone texts me and I'm busy, Kei has enough sense to message them back saying 'I'm busy doing something, talk later'."
"Without you saying anything to him?" Ayumu asked.
"Of course. Kei isn't an idiot." The Prince shrugged. "However, if I'm reading a novel or drawing or something trivial, Kei would ask me if I want to reply or not."
"But wait, how would Kei know that you're doing something?"
Yuri didn't respond. He simply placed the phone on the table faced up, and told the AI "to get out". The lens of the front camera shone, as though it was taking a picture and there stood Kei, in full colour in all his holographic glory. He even waved at Ayumu with a blinding smile. Kei was able to walk around and sit, but he was restricted to the phone's face. But Ayumu had to admit, Kei was quite adorable.
But apart from that, Ayumu had also learnt something quite…unnerving.
According to Yuri, if Tachibana was dragged into Sekai, then the blond would have to learn how to fight with a weapon since there are existences called Youma. These are creatures that attack and destroy indiscriminately, and what's worse, the school he goes to trains them for such future combat.
Ayumu started to fret for his baby boy. Although his son was a black belt in martial arts, he had a feeling that it will be useless against the Youma that the Prince had previously described.
xxxx
By the time Tachibana came to, he realized that he was in a closed room with wooden walls and floors. But when he tried to move his body, he couldn't. He knew he was sitting up straight on a chair as he could feel the sensation, but he just couldn't move. His head and eyes were fixed on the person before him, forcibly.
On the other side of the table, there was a tall man with average amount of muscles. He had wavy black hair neatly combed, his dark eyes devoid of emotion.
"You're finally up." The man said. "It seems Akira went a bit overboard." He said with a chuckle. Tachibana didn't know whether or not the man was trying to lighten the mood because it sure as hell wasn't working. "I'm Kouen Inaba, Chief of Police. And you are…?"
"Ta-Ta-Tachibana Yuri." He stuttered. Tachibana was close to panicking. He couldn't move his body, all he could do was sit and look at Kouen which he deemed frightening.
"Hmm…" Kouen leaned forward as if he didn't believe him. "Tell me, why do you address yourself like that? Is it that "Tachibana" is your given name, and "Yuri" is your family name?" He found it odd as no one speaks like that here.
"No Sir. In my country, everyone introduces themselves beginning with our family name."
"Is that so?" Kouen hummed. "If that's the case, tell me, where are you from?"
Thanks to his knowledge from manga and anime, he swiftly said, "I live in Yamato City in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan." But when Tachibana answered, he noticed that he was starting to feel dizzy. He thought that it was probably the effect of being in this forced position for so long, as it seems he was like this when he was unconscious. However, the feeling didn't go away.
Kouen raised an eyebrow. "Prefecture? Japan? Boy, what are you talking about?"
Tachibana started to break out in cold sweat. Not because he was scared of the man, but because he was feeling like he was going to die. "I'm from Japan. It's a country on Earth, third planet in the solar system, Milky Way galaxy. A prefecture is a district under the authority of a governor. Japan has a total of forty-seven and ―"
"Wait just a minute." Kouen said, stopping him. "You say your planet is Earth, right?"
"Yes." Tachibana managed to utter out but his voice was strained. He then saw the man jump out of his chair and turned his head to the left, tilting upwards.
"Get a doctor and a Regulator in here now!" he barked. Looking at his face, Tachibana could tell that Kouen was worried about something. Was it that they knew about Earth? Did they think Earth was dangerous? But what's that about Regulator? At least a doctor was coming, he felt like he was being torn apart.
But just then, a searing pain ripped through his body and Tachibana couldn't help but scream out. Kouen dashed to his side and with two taps of his index and middle fingers, Tachibana could move again. He was just in time to cover his mouth as he felt something rise within his throat. He coughed and what came out on his hands left him speechless.
"Shit." Kouen swore.
Blood.
Tachibana trembled from the shock, but nevertheless, the pain was not subsiding. He then felt Kouen grab hold of him and turned him on his side. With his insides on fire, Tachibana felt numb. His vision was getting cloudy with red, and not long after he couldn't even register what was going on. His consciousness was fading, his mind was going blank.
"Shit, where is that doctor?!" Kouen said in frustration. "He's even bleeding from his eyes."
Within a moment's notice, the door of the room bust open and a beautiful woman in a white coat entered. More like sprinted. Without hitch, she slipped on what resembled a headband onto Tachibana's forehead, and in that instant, his body spasms stopped.
"Men! Let's get him out of here!" she barked. Just then, three men on what seemed to be a hovering stretcher entered the room and Kouen gently placed Tachibana on it. The stretcher glowed red the instant his body touched it and everyone's face paled.
"God speed!"
"Yes Ma'am!"
…
...
The doctor exited from the room to meet with Kouen, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. Seeing their faces, she let out a sigh.
"He'll live." She said. "There's no need to worry at the moment."
"So what was the problem?" Akira asked.
"He has no Vault which means that his body was sucking up mana like a sponge. Because of this, it was building up too much in his body and killing him."
"Oh shit." Mamoru said in shock.
"Then it's a repeat of the case five years ago, right Ayane?" Kouen asked.
"You could say that." Ayane answered with a sigh. "But really, what happened? How is Prince Yuri and this boy…?"
Kouen looked at Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. The three then recounted the incident and upon hearing everything, Ayane was shocked. Kouen then added his bits from the interrogation. Putting the information together, Ayane then realized what was going on.
"I still need to question him some more." Kouen sighed. "That way, I can have an idea of exactly where the Prince may be."
"You have to wait until he wakes up." Ayane said. "Ari tells me that he'll be up in a few hours."
"Then, we'll wait." Akira said.
...The room was extremely large and painted in orange with golden designs lining edges of the walls. On the left and right sides of the walls there were three rows of bookshelves which were filled with books of varying subjects.In the middle of the room there was a glass-top table with two sofas on the left and right and two chairs on the other sides. A tall silver-haired male sat on one of chairs with his feet on top of the table engrossed in a novel. His red eyes sparkled with enjoyment. He was none other than Prince Yuri Tachibana."Your Highness!" a voice from the other side of the door took him away from his reading. "Your guests are here!""Send them in!" He replied. As he said that, the door opened and two teens a male and a female entered.When the door closed, the male spoke, "What's with her, Yuri?" he asked. "Why's she so stiff? Aren't the palace staff used to us by now?""I can't answer that." The Prince shrugged. He then had a playful look on his face. "By the way Mamoru, were you and Kohaku out on a date? You both look dashing.""Isn't it ob" he broke off as he was kicked by his female companion. Mamoru was a tall male with an average body build. He has short black hair done in a sweep to the right. He has very narrow eyes home to green pupils. He was dressed casually, a white dress shirt and black pants with white sneakers."Of course not!" Kohaku screeched, her face red with embarrassment. She has bright blue eyes which were emphasized by her short voluminous black hair done in the sophisticated bob hairstyle. She wore a white shirt underneath a royal blue blazer and white pants with matching blue heels."Come on, Kohaku." Yuri drawled playfully. "Don't be like that. Mamoru isn't denying it, now is he?""You should not be like this!" she continued. "We just happened to run into each other that's all!""Wow, that's some luck." Yuri smirked. "Just admit it. Don't be shy now."Kohaku twitched angrily. Then without a word, she dashed towards Yuri and gave him a drop kick. He was sent flying into a nearby wall, after which Kohaku fixed her hair out of her face."You have some guts talking to your me like that, brat." She spat."Kohaku! That was mean!" he whined."Koha, this isn't school. Drop kicking the Prince in the castle is forbidden." Mamoru said warily. "What if someone had seen?""Humph! He deserved it!" she said as she folded her arms.But, their playfulness soon came to an end, as the atmosphere in the room seemed to chill. The three looked about in apprehension, when suddenly, there was a dark purple light coming from the opposite direction of the teens. Turning to look at the source, the trio saw that it was a dark magic circle with strange symbols inside.The rings on the trio's fingers glimmered momentarily and immediately after, Kohaku brandished a halberd. The shaft was metallic and red in colour, and consisted of an axe blade with a spike at the very top.Beside her, Yuri had one metallic spear which was silver in colour. The shaft was tall, extending about two metres, with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.Mamoru stood behind them and wielded a simple recurved bow which was roughly as tall as him. It was white in colour with blue ornate designs on the lower and upper limbs of the bow. The handle riser section was completely in gold however, the arrow rest had a blue stripe in the middle. Around his right eye was a semi-transparent display lens which was attached to a metal base at the ear.By now, an elongated creature slithered out of the magic circle. It had no legs, and its entire body was covered in overlapping green scales. The creature was as tall as the room, but unfazed, the teens went to work.As Mamoru pulled his arm backwards, air swirled around him and condensed into the shape of an arrow. He released it towards one of the creature's eyes, effectively blinding it. The others charged at it; Mamoru never stopped releasing his arrows as he wanted to garner the creature's attention.The creature let out a roar which shattered the glass in the room and had the teens covering their ears desperately. Then, it lunged at both Kohaku and Yuri who were closest to it. Haven't yet recovered, Kohaku managed to use her fire to create a wall barring the creature for a couple seconds. Yuri followed suit by moving the two of them away from it with his lightning.Kohaku receded the wall, and in that moment, the creature used its tail and made a lash at the three. They dodged it with ease of course, and this time, Mamoru aimed for the other eye. He was successful, and sent a smirk of triumph to the others.Without hitch, they dashed towards the creature which was moving erratically, due to its sight being gone. Reaching close to it, Kohaku jumped up and with her halberd, she slashed the top of its head but was unable to give it a finishing blow due to the creature twisting about.Yuri slid on his knee to avoid the creature's tail. Getting behind it, he used his spear to jab the monster in its tail. With a malicious grin, the Prince proceeded to cut upwards its body by dragging the weapon along its body as he ran. But likewise Kohaku, he couldn't land a fatal blow due to its movements. Mamoru as well, he was finding it hard to release his arrows to hit the fatal areas."This shitting monster!" Yuri hissed in rage and frustration.Suddenly, coming from the outside, a tunnel of water knocked the creature into the wall and stunting it."Yuri!" a voice shrieked. "Are you alright?!" Another tall silver haired male dressed in a blue suit came through the broken window with a panicked look on his face. His hair was carefully parted to the right with his forehead fringe hanging over his right eye. The back of his hair was in the messy style, seeming as though he hadn't combed it somewhat."Akira!" Mamoru said in relief."Akki! You're late! Where?" Yuri didn't get to finish the sentence as the creature once more let out a scream. However, instead of attacking them again, a magic circle appeared on the ceiling, and the creature slithered up and disappeared through it.Not wanting this creature to get away, Yuri headed towards it by using a magic circle as a stepping stone. Reaching the ceiling, he flashed a bright smile at his brother, Kohaku and Mamoru."I'll be back!""Wait! You don't even know where that thing came from!" Akira shrieked. But knowing his little brother, with an outstretched hand, he called forth water to restrain him while the magic circle was fading. Kohaku and Mamoru were beside the older male with looks of concern."Don't you want to know where the hell these creatures keep coming from?!" Yuri asked. "We can't let this opportunity go to waste!""You impulsive brat!" Akira shouted. "Think first! So what if you found where they are coming from?! What will you do if !" But he was unable to finish the sentence. Yuri evoked his lightning and sent a shock towards his brother, causing him to lose focus. In that moment of freedom, using a magic circle, he jumped up to the ceiling, hoping that the magic circle the monster came out of was still there.Sadly, it wasn't.He then evoked his lightning once again, and began to write a magic circle. Trying to remember what the creature's circle looked like, he frantically wrote. While Kohaku was attending to the shaken Prince, Mamoru looked up and saw Yuri writing."What are you doing Yuri?" He asked."Nothing much." He replied. But as he continued to write, Mamoru caught glimpses of the characters being used."Nothing my ass!" he shouted and just like Yuri, he used a magic circle as a stepping stone to get up to the ceiling. He didn't want to touch the Prince because he knows he'll be electrocuted like Akira. Instead, with his recurved bow, he pulled his arm back to release an arrow. However, it was too late. The magic circle lit up, and within an instant, Yuri disappeared."What was that, Mamoru?!" Kohaku asked, Akira was finally waking up."It's Yuri! He wrote up a magic circle and disappeared!" He pointed to where the faded circle was still present. "By the time I drew my bow, he disappeared.""He what?!" Kohaku asked. She looked up at the ceiling and saw the circle. "Let's drag his ass back here."She got down on her knee and with the aid of Mamoru; she too copied his magic circle. Akira had gotten out his electric daze, and he was filled in by Mamoru. When Kohaku had finished the magic circle, hers was a bit different than Yuri's. While Yuri's had the character for "departure" and "arrival" on the outer rings, hers had the characters for "arrival" and "return".She then placed her hands on the edge of the circle and it lit up."Kohaku keep it open," Akira commanded. "Mamoru, get your bow ready. Who knows if a monster may follow him here.""Yes Sir!""Alright," Akira said as he stood firm. He then evoked his water and formed what seemed to be ropes with it. Each hand had one, and with a grunt, he pushed the water into the magic circle."He's right there, on his back! Grab him!" Kohaku said. Since this was a spatial magic circle, she was able to see where it had opened up. What she saw was a silver haired male in a white shirt, lying on his back. And judging by his body structure, and hair, this was no doubt the Third Prince.Akira followed her instruction, and made a fist as though he was holding something. When he felt the water secure his target, he made a giant leap backwards, planning to bring him back in one swoop. But the boy was resisting.This brat, He thought angrily. He continued his actions, and not before long, Akira had successfully pulled back the silverette into their world. However, when the boy fell out of the circle and the light dimmed, all colour from their faces drained."Oh shit."xxxx"I'm home!" Tachibana Yuri shouted as he took off his shoes at the genkan. He then made his way inside the kitchen and saw both his parents busy. His father was by the counter with a knife in hand, chopping meat while his mother was by the sink washing rice."I'm home." He said again. The two jumped when they heard him, and greeted him with a smile."Welcome back." His father smiled at him. Tachibana's father Ayumu was a tall man with lovely silver hair and bright red eyes."So how was practice?" Tachibana's mother Azusa then asked. Compared to her husband, she was a short woman, with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes."It was the usual." Tachibana replied with a sigh. He practiced Martial Arts at a dojo nearby. "Sensei worked us like mules; I guess he's still hung up on the practice match." A few weeks ago, their dojo had a match against a rather new and upcoming dojo so they didn't take them seriously. And sad to say, Tachibana's dojo got their asses handed to them.Azusa chuckled. "I'm sure your father told you not to judge a book by the cover, right? I'm sure it can be applied to karate as well."Tachibana deflated and made a pout. "Mom""By the way Yu," Ayumu joined in after making one last chop. "We published a tankobon for a new manga today; I brought a copy since you might like it."Tachibana brightened in an instant. "Thank you!" With that, the teen sped off up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Flinging the door open, he spotted the manga, sitting atop his bed. He threw his school bag and blazer on the chair and dashed to the bed.He took up the book and headed into the adjoining room. This room was painted in orange with gold on the edges. On the left and right walls, there were bookshelves, all laden with fiction of the different genres that one could think of well, appropriate genres for a teenager. There were novels, light novels, but mangas took up the bulk of the books there.He lied on his back on the floor, and started to read. However, as soon as he opened the book, he heard the sounds of static electricity. Placing the book on his chest, Tachibana looked about the room, wondering where the sound was coming from. He saw nothing out of place, and shrugged it off as maybe coming from outside. He went back to reading, but then, a bright yellow light shone in his face."What?!" Tachibana said aloud, somewhat angry. He just wanted to read the manga in peace. But that was when he saw it.On the ceiling, there was something that was too similar to a magic circle he's seen in anime. Within the outer bands, there were intricate writings symbols rather, but Tachibana couldn't tell what symbols they were due to the light emitting from the circle. The inner circle had a hexagram in the centre and at each end of the diagram, there were smaller circles connected together with straight lines. Within those smaller circles, he saw the kanji for "departure" and "arrival".But then, from these smaller circles went electricity that followed along the lines of the hexagram. After all was connected, Tachibana saw the hexagram and the circles disappear to give way to what seemed like a portal opening.It left Tachibana frozen in shock.He wanted to run, but his body just won't move. He kept staring at the magic circle which kept expanding. Suddenly, Tachibana saw another spell circle appear beneath him. Finally his body responded, and he bolted upright. However, in that instant, Tachibana felt something wrap around his body and he was being pulled in.Tachibana let out a blood curdling scream.Meanwhile, Ayumu and Azusa immediately dashed up the stairs as their son's scream had reached their ears. However, by the time they reached Tachibana's door, they saw the blinding yellow light and headed towards it. But as they reached the doorway to the adjoining room, they saw Tachibana on his back being dragged down into what seemed like a portal bybands of water? The teen was resisting with all his strength but it was futile. Even though the water bands held him, he couldn't hold them."Yu!" Ayumu shouted and made a dive for him. But it was too late. The light from the magic circle faded and his son had disappeared. However, both parents noticed that there was another magic circle on the ceiling, but before Ayumu could move, something fell on him. Without hesitation, Azusa kicked it off her husband, sending it rolling off to the corner. She saw that it was a human being, but she didn't want to take any chances. She just lost her boy; she couldn't lose her beloved too.The light from the magic circle on the ceiling faded, and the two parents were looking at the person that arrived.Gesturing for his wife to stay on guard, Ayumu made his way to the seemingly unconscious teen who was dressed in casual clothing. He wore a white shirt with a few buttons undone tucked into dark jeans and matching shoes. Around his wrist there was a gold watch with diamonds embedded in the bands and on his thumb there was a plain ring.But that didn't catch their eyes at first. It was the spear he held on to. It was entirely made out of metal; the shaft was as tall as Ayumu or even taller, with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.Using a nearby mop-stick, Ayumu kept a distance from the boy and the magic circles to roll him onto his back to see his face. The act was successful, but a part of the two parents wished that it didn't.The silver haired teen on the floor was the exact replica of his son, Tachibana Yuri. His hairstyle was the same. His face was the same. His height was the same. Everything was the same. But both Ayumu and Azusa knew that the boy in front them weren't their son. It couldn't be.The Tachibana look-alike then shuffled, getting himself up onto his feet. When he was finally up, he looked towards the two and a smile came onto his face as he lunged at them."Daddy!"Ayumu and Azusa were left frozen.Ayumu pushed him off, while Azusa swiftly held the kitchen knife at the boy's neck. "Who are you?" She asked. The young boy stiffened at feeling the cool sensation pressed up at his throat. He wanted to retaliate, but she looked like his motherhe couldn't find it in him to throw her through the window and electrocute her to death.But, deep down, both Ayumu and Azusa had a feeling of what this is. Especially Ayumu. Being in his line of work, he's edited and published many stories with this kind of premise but to think it was happening at this very momentThe Tachibana look-alike blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? It's me, Yuri!""You can't be." Ayumu answered. "My son never calls me "Daddy".""And two," Azusa joined in. "Our son doesn't have so many piercings."It was as they said; this Yuri had four piercings on his left ear three at where his lobe is, and one on his helix.But hearing what the two said, Yuri was taken aback. The two people before him were identical to his parents, but when he looked about the room, it was then that he realized that something was wrong. His room didn't look like this.This room is small! Yuri thought. But then again, he remembered entering the magic circle to chase after the creature. Still, there's no way those creatures could come from a place as nice as this. That means I messed up. His expression fell immediately. Because of his rashness, he ended up somewhere his own parents doesn't even think he's their son.Deciding to act calm, Ayumu decided to speak before his wife decides to slice the boy's throat for taking her child away."You say you're "Yuri" correct?" he asked."Yes. You don't believe me?""Of course not." Azusa said.Yuri sighed. "Daddy, when I was five you ran over Eiji with your car but because Mom wasn't here, when she returned you told her that he had escaped and got killed on the road. You even dug a hole in the wall to show her that he escaped through there." Eiji being Yuri's pet.Ayumu stiffened. Both in shock that that was a secret between him and his son, no one else should know about that; and the fact that Azusa was sending him death glares."That's " he broke off before he could finish."Here." Yuri interrupted. He rolled up his pants leg and pushed down his ankle sock to reveal a mark. It was oddly shaped, seeming like a formless artwork. "This is ""Your birthmark." Azusa finished. She dropped her hands and almost broke out in tears. If anything should ever happen to her son's face God forbid, Azusa would know her boy just by that one mark; and no one should even realize that it's there; it's so inconspicuous.Ayumu let a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. He didn't want to believe that this was happening and that his son was just playing an elaborate joke on them, but sadly, it was not so. He knew Tachibana would never do such a thing, given that it isn't April's Fool."Could you tell me where am I?" Yuri then asked."You're in Yamato City, Kanagawa, Japan." He said. He found it odd that this boy who was the carbon copy of his son didn't know where he was. But throwing that thought aside for now, he then looked at the magic circle in the floor. "Now could you tell me why the hell are those things in my floor and ceiling?"Yuri looked at the one on the floor and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I don't know about that one." He then looked up at the ceiling. "That's the one I drew to chase the Youma that attacked me in my room. By the way, what's "Japan"?""Wait, I want to know what this is about drawing magic circles and a youma-something." Azusa spoke."How come you don't know Japan?" Ayumu asked."I know Yamato City and Kanagawa, but I've never heard of Japan before. As a matter of fact, it doesn't exist." He turned to Azusa to answer, "Youma are grotesque creatures that attack my world almost every day. No one knows where they originate from though, so don't ask me that."Ayumu and Azusa exchanged glances before letting out a sigh. For one, somehow, they could tell that he's not lying, as, if they should use their own son as reference, whenever Tachibana lies his left eye twitches profusely and he avoids eye-contact. The doppelganger before them was looking directly at them and seemed like a lost child.They sighed again. This is going to take a while.xxxxWithout a doubt, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku could tell that this was not Prince Yuri. For one, this silverette didn't wear the watch that Yuri received from his father on his birthday last year. The second visible thing was that this teen before them was in a different set of clothing than the Prince.Still, they were frightened.When he looked up at them, the trio was seeing the Prince. Same silver hair with bangs that come over into his face, same bright red eyes, same angular faceeverything was the same minus the clothing."Who are you?" Tachibana asked, his eyes were spinning and he felt dizzy. He propped himself up onto his elbows but he couldn't go any further. Kohaku had her halberd poised at his neck, so if he tried to get up, he'll get decapitated."We should be asking you that." Mamoru started with folded arms. "Who are you?"Seeing how he was in a disadvantageous situation, Tachibana decided to be cooperative. "I'm Tachibana Yuri." He introduced."There's no way you could be." Akira said, joining in. Seeing him, Tachibana froze. Akira looked a lot like his father and him. But Tachibana is an only child and his cousins didn't look like that. "Where's your proof?" Akira asked. Still, he wondering why the silverette used his family name first. No one speaks like that.Hearing that, there was only one thing that came to his mind. Ever since he was little, his mother always told him that if anyone asks him for a proof of his identity, he should show them his left ankle. And that Tachibana did."This is my birthmark. I am Tachibana Yuri." He declared. "Who are you?"The Japanese saw Akira's face twist with confusion. "How come you say you're Yuri and yet, you don't recognize me?""I don't know you." He said in a firm voice. But all throughout this time, Tachibana's eyes darted around the room, in hopes of finding an escape. Still, a part of him was a bit sceptical, as even if he somehow managed to escape these three, who knows who else he'll run into. "I really don't. Just don't kill me, okay?" he said this time in a softer voice. "I was just reading a manga when water wrapped around me and pulled me here. I don't mean any harm."It was best to defend oneself before things get even nastier. Show them that he really was harmless.Akira looked to Mamoru. "Leave him winded." He said. Hearing that sentence, Tachibana knew that it was coded language. But for what? He had no idea.As he was about to ask, he realized that he found it hard to breathe. It was almost as though the air supply was diminishing, like there wasn't enough in the room. Looking up one last time, he saw the faces of the trio, and knew that they were the ones behind this."Let's go you two." Akira then said. "I'll go get Papa; we need to get to the bottom of this before Mom comes back."xxxx"I want to know where the hell are you from." Ayumu said. "You said Japan doesn't exist, which means, from my perspective, you're from another world. But I can't understand how Yamato City and Kanagawa exists, but Japan does not."Yuri's eyebrows rose. "Well, that would explain the existence of a country that I never heard of. I can't answer that part. Japan isn't real in my world." He then slumped in the chair, preparing to answer Ayumu's first question. "Well, first and foremost, I'm the third Prince of the Saishi Kingdom, located on the Nihon Continent."Ayumu and Azusa looked irritated; Yuri wondered if he said something wrong."Honestly, if I hadn't seen my son get dragged into that glowing magic circle, I'd seriously cut out your tongue right now." Azusa said."Mom! What did I do!?" he screeched in horror. Well, at least some things never change."There's neither such continent as Nihon nor any kingdom with the name Saishi." Ayumu answered."What?!" Yuri roared."I don't know." Ayumu shrugged. "Anyway, continue telling us about your origins. Who are your parents? Who are the other two Princes, if you're the third one?""Well, my parents are you two King and Queen of Saishi, Ayumu and Azusa Tachibana. I have two older brothers Seiya, being the older and Akira being the second.""You have brothers?!" Ayumu said in shock. "Youor rather, my son is our only child.""Hoh?" Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Interesting.""Why were you holding onto that weapon?" Azusa asked. She then looked around and saw that it was gone. "Where'd it go?!""It's my spear. And I keep it in my ring." Yuri moved his thumb around as if it was something the whole world knew. "I mean, why is it a surprise?""Why?! Are you an idiot? How is something that tall able to fit in that ring?!" Ayumu asked. "Hell, how is anything able to fit in a ring?! Doesn't it hurt your finger?!""Wait, this is an inter-spatial ring. It's used for storage. Like, everyone has one or a few. And no, it doesn't hurt." He said with a frivolous laugh. "Don't you guys have it?""Obviously not!""Seriously? This is something anyone can buy. Well, it depends on the storage capacity. The more it's capable of holding, the more money for it."Ayumu paled. "Is that like a thumb-drive or something?""Thumb-drive?! Who still uses those ancient things anyway!? I've never seen one except in my Engineering History textbook!" Yuri guffawed. "As a matter of fact, those were deemed ancient even before my 5th great-grandfather was born!"This was it. Azusa had had enough. So, she leaned towards her husband and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to finish dinner. I leave this in your hands."When Ayumu saw her face, she looked ghastly pale, and decided that it's for the best. She then left, and headed straight into the kitchen."Why'd she leave?" Yuri asked."You're too much for her." Ayumu sighed. "Now, tell me everything we need to know. About your world, about you yourself, your country, everything. In exchange, I'll answer you as best as I can.""Deal." The Prince smirked. "But can you handle it? I mean, Mom just left."Ayumu laughed at the boy. "One thing you should know, when it comes onto "getting transported to another world" kind of thing, never underestimate a Japanese."And thus, the two engaged in what would seem to be a "Questions and Answers" session. And just like Yuri had wondered, his answers had floored Ayumu. Being an editor, he was used to reading books of this genre. But never before has he ever encountered a book, be it in his company or on a bookshelf in a store, which has a plot such as Yuri's world.So far, he's gathered that Yuri is from another world called Sekai which, in essence was like a parallel of Earth with a few differences. One of these differences is that there is the presence of Mana, which allows people to cast magic. Mana is still not completely analyzed as yet, but Yuri told him that normally, it's invisible, but if enough is gathered in a small place, then it becomes visible.Another thing, when Ayumu asked what exactly is Mana, if it was like air or a liquid, Yuri shrugged and said:"Scientists are still trying to find out. But, in my opinion, it'll be more like air. You can't see it but you can feel it in your body when you're about to cast magic."In addition to that, Ayumu learnt that Sekai's technology far exceeds that of Earth's. The Prince demonstrated his storage ring; by hovering his hand over the table, it was sucked in the ring like a vacuum, and when the Prince waved his hand, it reappeared from the ring.Another piece of Sekai's technology Yuri demonstrated was his cell phone. It was stored in his ring so there was no damage done to it. At first, Ayumu thought that it was a regular touch screen phone like theirs but boy was he wrong.When Yuri took it out, a small "chibi-like" person appeared on the black screen. He had blue hair with bright red eyes and was dressed casually a black v-neck t-shirt and what seemed to be white jeans and matching shoes. He was adorable!Yuri then said, "Open up the damn phone, I need to get in."And the chibi-like person responded, "So mean, Yu." With a pout and everything. Ayumu nearly fell off his seat. What is more, this chibi-like person called "Kei", unlocked the phone and did everything that Yuri told him to."In my world, cell phones come with an AI," Yuri had explained. "You do know what an AI is, right?"Ayumu had gotten pissed at this. "We aren't that dunce!""Just checking," the silverette shrugged. "Anyway, if I want I can make Kei do everything as I just showed you. Another example would be if someone texts me and I'm busy, Kei has enough sense to message them back saying 'I'm busy doing something, talk later'.""Without you saying anything to him?" Ayumu asked."Of course. Kei isn't an idiot." The Prince shrugged. "However, if I'm reading a novel or drawing or something trivial, Kei would ask me if I want to reply or not.""But wait, how would Kei know that you're doing something?"Yuri didn't respond. He simply placed the phone on the table faced up, and told the AI "to get out". The lens of the front camera shone, as though it was taking a picture and there stood Kei, in full colour in all his holographic glory. He even waved at Ayumu with a blinding smile. Kei was able to walk around and sit, but he was restricted to the phone's face. But Ayumu had to admit, Kei was quite adorable.But apart from that, Ayumu had also learnt something quiteunnerving.According to Yuri, if Tachibana was dragged into Sekai, then the blond would have to learn how to fight with a weapon since there are existences called Youma. These are creatures that attack and destroy indiscriminately, and what's worse, the school he goes to trains them for such future combat.Ayumu started to fret for his baby boy. Although his son was a black belt in martial arts, he had a feeling that it will be useless against the Youma that the Prince had previously described.xxxxBy the time Tachibana came to, he realized that he was in a closed room with wooden walls and floors. But when he tried to move his body, he couldn't. He knew he was sitting up straight on a chair as he could feel the sensation, but he just couldn't move. His head and eyes were fixed on the person before him, forcibly.On the other side of the table, there was a tall man with average amount of muscles. He had wavy black hair neatly combed, his dark eyes devoid of emotion."You're finally up." The man said. "It seems Akira went a bit overboard." He said with a chuckle. Tachibana didn't know whether or not the man was trying to lighten the mood because it sure as hell wasn't working. "I'm Kouen Inaba, Chief of Police. And you are?""Ta-Ta-Tachibana Yuri." He stuttered. Tachibana was close to panicking. He couldn't move his body, all he could do was sit and look at Kouen which he deemed frightening."Hmm" Kouen leaned forward as if he didn't believe him. "Tell me, why do you address yourself like that? Is it that "Tachibana" is your given name, and "Yuri" is your family name?" He found it odd as no one speaks like that here."No Sir. In my country, everyone introduces themselves beginning with our family name.""Is that so?" Kouen hummed. "If that's the case, tell me, where are you from?"Thanks to his knowledge from manga and anime, he swiftly said, "I live in Yamato City in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan." But when Tachibana answered, he noticed that he was starting to feel dizzy. He thought that it was probably the effect of being in this forced position for so long, as it seems he was like this when he was unconscious. However, the feeling didn't go away.Kouen raised an eyebrow. "Prefecture? Japan? Boy, what are you talking about?"Tachibana started to break out in cold sweat. Not because he was scared of the man, but because he was feeling like he was going to die. "I'm from Japan. It's a country on Earth, third planet in the solar system, Milky Way galaxy. A prefecture is a district under the authority of a governor. Japan has a total of forty-seven and ""Wait just a minute." Kouen said, stopping him. "You say your planet is Earth, right?""Yes." Tachibana managed to utter out but his voice was strained. He then saw the man jump out of his chair and turned his head to the left, tilting upwards."Get a doctor and a Regulator in here now!" he barked. Looking at his face, Tachibana could tell that Kouen was worried about something. Was it that they knew about Earth? Did they think Earth was dangerous? But what's that about Regulator? At least a doctor was coming, he felt like he was being torn apart.But just then, a searing pain ripped through his body and Tachibana couldn't help but scream out. Kouen dashed to his side and with two taps of his index and middle fingers, Tachibana could move again. He was just in time to cover his mouth as he felt something rise within his throat. He coughed and what came out on his hands left him speechless."Shit." Kouen swore.Blood.Tachibana trembled from the shock, but nevertheless, the pain was not subsiding. He then felt Kouen grab hold of him and turned him on his side. With his insides on fire, Tachibana felt numb. His vision was getting cloudy with red, and not long after he couldn't even register what was going on. His consciousness was fading, his mind was going blank."Shit, where is that doctor?!" Kouen said in frustration. "He's even bleeding from his eyes."Within a moment's notice, the door of the room bust open and a beautiful woman in a white coat entered. More like sprinted. Without hitch, she slipped on what resembled a headband onto Tachibana's forehead, and in that instant, his body spasms stopped."Men! Let's get him out of here!" she barked. Just then, three men on what seemed to be a hovering stretcher entered the room and Kouen gently placed Tachibana on it. The stretcher glowed red the instant his body touched it and everyone's face paled."God speed!""Yes Ma'am!"...The doctor exited from the room to meet with Kouen, Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. Seeing their faces, she let out a sigh."He'll live." She said. "There's no need to worry at the moment.""So what was the problem?" Akira asked."He has no Vault which means that his body was sucking up mana like a sponge. Because of this, it was building up too much in his body and killing him.""Oh shit." Mamoru said in shock."Then it's a repeat of the case five years ago, right Ayane?" Kouen asked."You could say that." Ayane answered with a sigh. "But really, what happened? How is Prince Yuri and this boy?"Kouen looked at Akira, Mamoru and Kohaku. The three then recounted the incident and upon hearing everything, Ayane was shocked. Kouen then added his bits from the interrogation. Putting the information together, Ayane then realized what was going on."I still need to question him some more." Kouen sighed. "That way, I can have an idea of exactly where the Prince may be.""You have to wait until he wakes up." Ayane said. "Ari tells me that he'll be up in a few hours.""Then, we'll wait." Akira said.
