Cross Worlds: The Tale of Two Boys who swapped worlds - Chapter 5

Chapter 5






…

"Takahiro…" Yuri said as he waved a hand in front of Mochizuki's gazing eyes. The two boys were currently in Tachibana's adjoining room, sitting around the table being idle. "I have a question."

"Huh?" Mochizuki said, returning to reality. "About what?"

"School. What's it like? Or rather, what subject areas will I have to cover?"

Mochizuki sighed and stretched out his arms on the table. "Well, there's Math, English, Japanese ―this includes Literature, P.E, Social Studies and Music or Art."

The Prince was stunned. "That's it?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a couple." He laughed.

Yuri sighed in relief. "Well, so far, I think I can handle those subjects you listed out. Except the social studies and Japanese ones. What are they about?"

"Social Studies is a killer." Mochizuki said, looking like he was getting sick. "It's a combo of Geography, Japanese History, World History and Civics, if my memory serves me right. Japanese is our language."

Yuri stared at Mochizuki like a lost child. He understood the History parts but the others were new to him. He let out a groan. He's always hated History, but in his world, at his age it wasn't compulsory except for Engineering History.

"What's Civics?" he then asked.

"Civics is citizenship education. You learn about society, politics, economics, and culture." Mochizuki deadpanned.

Yuri was not amused. "Whatever. Civics sounds like bullshit so I'll ace everything else so the teachers won't complain."

"Our civics teacher will complain! If you're constantly failing he'll definitely think that he's not teaching right!"

"Well, fuck him." The Prince snorted while folding his arms. "I'm not the only one in the class, am I?"

Mochizuki sighed. The Prince was stressing him out and it wasn't even Monday yet. "You're heartless! And it won't be the teacher who'll be fucked, it's you! Look, I'll teach you so you won't be failing. If Tacchi didn't fail, then you shouldn't."

"Okay." Yuri shrugged without a care in the world.

But after hearing what the subjects entailed, the Prince realized that in this world, he could pull off being the other Yuri successfully. The only problem was that he didn't know how to play this sport called volleyball.

Yuri sighed.

There was another thing that he had to fret over. But he wasn't worried about himself that much. Seeing this world, he deduced that they wouldn't have classes like his world did, probably some mathematics and languages and stuff like that. What ―rather who he was worried about was Earth's Yuri.

There's so much he has to learn in such a short space of time. Add to that, Yuri doubts that Tachibana can even use a Spear let alone two. Plus, there's his engineering class and magic class and…he didn't go on.

"My school life is ruined!" he screamed out, gripping his hair in distress.


"What makes you say that?"

"My subject areas are nothing like Japan's!" he groaned in agony. "My classes are Magic, Lightning, Spear, Engineering, Engineering History plus Military Tactics which covers a range of sub-classes! My outstanding grades will plummet! The horror!" The distraught Prince was howling in grief.

Mochizuki paled. Even though his best friend was now living as a Prince, his life didn't seem so princely like what's been depicted in anime and manga. Yuri was right; Tachibana will die in that world. There isn't even anything familiar.

"But I'm sure your family won't let that happen, right?" Mochizuki said, trying to calm down the worrying Prince and himself.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "They'll put him through the wringer."

"This is where I'm supposed to worry?"

Yuri shook his head. "It's where you get on your knees and start praying earnestly that your best friend will actually survive."

For the third time, Mochizuki paled.

But seeing how the boy looked, Yuri took swift action. "Don't worry! He won't die. I can assure you! I was just pulling your leg." The silver haired Prince even proceeded to pat the boy on his back. But Mochizuki hadn't budged. Yuri figured that would be normal if he had heard that a friend was in danger and he can't do anything to save him.

"Seriously, Takahiro," Yuri tried to soothe. "Your Yuri will be fine!"

"Well, if you say so." The dark haired teen finally gave in.

"I know so!" Yuri perked, giving the other boy a smile that rivalled Tachibana's million dollar smile. "Now, which manga would you recommend from those bookshelves?"

Mochizuki smirked. "Death Note."

xxxx

[While Yuri was busy touring Akihabara…]

Tachibana was slung over Seiya's shoulder and the three boys exited the office. When they came to the end of the hallway, instead of going up the stairs or down, they turned to the right onto another corridor. They walked pass multiple doors, each door having a sign or plaque to indicate what they led to. After completing that hallway, Tachibana saw that there were stairs which led into a small garden.

But, the garden was completely overshadowed by a three storey building. It was painted in mostly white and blue (as all the buildings here) and the plaque on the front read 'Saishi Royal Library'. His heart raced a little when he saw 'Saishi' as it was written using Japanese kanji.

Then it hit him.

The people here speak Japanese. He hadn't realized until just now. Back at the hospital, there were no writing at all in his room, and he was too distracted by the technology to even notice.

"Yuri! What are you doing? Let's go." Akira nudged him out of his daze while Seiya had already gone on ahead. They then walked up to the door which slid open as they neared. Tachibana let out a sigh of relief as at least there was some familiar technology about. They entered and the first thing Tachibana noticed was the bookshelves; he even ignored the receptionist at the desk.

The bookshelves were thick and painted in white with glass-like covering over where the books were. If he didn't know right, he'd think that these books were on display. At the sides of these bookshelves were touch screens with a keyboard on it. Inspecting it, he saw the long search bar and raised an eyebrow.

"In case you're wondering, all public bookshelves are like this." Akira came up behind him and said. "You type the name and/or author in the search and if it's on this shelf, it'll come out."

"Why?"

"We have inter-spatial devices, obviously, they want to prevent theft." Akira sighed. "If a book leaves the library without the receptionist's stamp, then an alarm will go off. These books have something special on them which even if it's in an inter-spatial device, it can be scanned." He continued, "As a matter of fact, it's like this in every store you go."

"Wow, they thought about this really thorough, huh."

"Ha! Please," Seiya laughed. "Back in the day when these devices were just coming out, people stole like crazy. I mean, with a wave of the hand, the object disappears without a trace, not even a fingerprint. So obviously, people are going to do that."

"I see. I guess this place isn't perfect."

"Is anywhere?" Both Seiya and Akira said.

Tachibana was left speechless. Hearing that, he wondered how high their crime rate was. How their well their economy is doing and things like that. When he was in his hospital room and learned that Magic exists, he thought that this place would be like what he's seen in many mangas and light novels and by extension, anime. But it wasn't. There were no medieval buildings and clothing, there was no Adventurer's Guilds or any guild for that matter, there were no Adventurers, nothing. It seemed like a really futuristic society with magic. That's all.

"Sit." Tachibana was taken out of his thoughts. They were in another part of the ground floor, and Tachibana hadn't even realized when they got here.

"The first thing you'll learn is Geography. Alright?" Akira said, standing in front of a board, Seiya was sitting in the chair beside him.

"Sure." Tachibana nodded.

Akira then took up a small silver thing, round in shape and placed it on the table top. He pushed a small button that was on it and suddenly, a holographic map came up.

"This is the world map of Sekai."

Tachibana rose to his feet in shock. "That-that-that-that…" he was so shocked that he kept stuttering.

"Come on, Yuri. What is it? We don't have all day." Seiya said.

"That's Earth's world map."

Akira paused. "Hoh? Then this'll be simpler then." But even though he said that, he too was shocked. If Tachibana said that Earth had the same map, then without a doubt, this Earth place might be a parallel to theirs. The Second Prince then sent a glance to Seiya who was no less shocked than he was.

Akira then used two of his index to enlarge a certain area in 'East Asia' in the same motion one would use on their smartphones. When the image came up, Tachibana let out both a sigh of shock and relief.

Home sweet home ―Japan.

Still, there was a part of him which told him that they didn't call the landmass Japan. After all, Kouen didn't know what it was in his interrogation.

"And this is the Nihon Continent." Akira said.

"How's it a continent? In my world it's an archipelago." Tachibana then said. "And it's called Japan."

"Well, it is. But it's so damn big that it's referred to as a continent nonetheless." Akira replied.

"Big? Japan is just 377,962 km², how's that a continent ―"

"Your Japan is that small, our Nihon is at least five times that. Just because it's the same landmass, doesn't mean that the size will remain the same." Seiya pitched in.

"Yes Sir…"

"Anyway, since it's similar to your Japan, I'll tell you the name of each country, and for your sake, attribute it to a region in your country. For example, this country here is the Kamata Kingdom." He said as he pointed to the top of the map. "In Japan what is it?"

"Hokkaido."

"See? And we'll keep going like this. That way, you'll remember." Akira smiled. "Kamata has the nastiest cold season and a part of it is always frozen. But, they have the highest tourism rates during that season due to their snow."

"Ahh, it's somewhat similar to Hokkaido."

"Also, the current Monarch is Arata Kamata with his Queen Sachiko. They have four overgrown children ―Princes Atsuhiro, Atsuhiko, Atsushi, and one Princess, Atsuko." Seiya said. Tachibana chuckled at Seiya's description of them being overgrown.

"Their Kingdom is a constitutional Monarchy which means that the government is headed by Monarch and regulated by constitution." He continued.

Akira then pointed to another area below that. "This is the Waseda Patriarchy. If you're looking for a wife, stay away from these crazy bitches."

Tachibana let out a laugh, Akira's face was hilarious. "Waseda would be the Tohoku Region minus the Fukushima prefecture but including half of Niigata." The Japanese said.

"Waseda's ruler is Hayao Waseda and he only has one son, Hayato. The country is a Patriarchy which means that the Monarch in which power rests with the males through the male line. If you're a female, then you're out of luck. In addition to that, the country is nothing but desert, however, they are the largest exporters of refined oil used for transportation."

"Refined oil?"

"This oil has mana mixed into it as well. That way, it won't be harmful to the atmosphere like back in the day. Don't ask me how they do it, I don't know."

But Tachibana found something strange. If Waseda was equivalent to the Tohoku region of his Japan, then there shouldn't be any deserts. Tohoku isn't at the equator, as a matter of fact, that region has one of the nastiest winters around."

"Why is it a desert? Tohoku isn't a desert in my world."

"Ask the fucking Earth Seirei not me." Seiya shrugged. Tachibana flinched at the obscene language. Shouldn't Princes be less foul mouthed? "Plus, it isn't like the Sahara Sabaku where the temperature is boiling hot. It's normal heat in Waseda."

"Sahara Sabaku? What?"

Seiya sighed. He then wrote the name on the board and immediately Tachibana perked up. "Oh! You mean the Sahara Desert!"

"Whatever."

"Anyways, this here is Shoei Aristocracy. In Japan it is…?" Akira continued.

"It's actually two." Tachibana said. Akira raised an eyebrow. "Shoei is the entire Kanto Region plus Fukushima prefecture from the Tohoku Region but minus the Kanagawa prefecture."

"I don't even know some of these places, but it seems you know your stuff. You really would make a good Prince." Seiya commented. "Shoei is ruled by Rintarou Sugawara and he has two children ―Shintarou and Sayaka. Shintarou is around your age while Sayaka is like, six, I think?"

"Next up, is us the Saishi Kingdom. What is it in Japan?" Akira said without hitch.

"Chubu, including half of Niigata and the Kanagawa prefecture."

"Next up is Amagiri Empire. It is the entirety of these lands, and again, if you're looking for a wife, the bitches here are not to be even looked at."

Tachibana stifled his laughter. "In Japan, Amagiri would make up the Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions." He then said, "It sure is big."

"It's an Empire. Of course it's going to be big. Plus, the previous Emperor was a fucking psycho who thought that all should kneel before him." Akira said in anger. "And it seems his grandson is going to follow in his footsteps."

Tachibana let out a sigh, but he was still partially relieved. Even though he was in a new world, it didn't seem so unfamiliar anymore. With the Nihon continent being the same as Japan, he felt so much more at ease.

His geography lesson continued, and apart from Waseda, there isn't any much difference to the climates. But due to the fact that the countries are ruled by different people and different ideologies there are things such as culture that may be slightly different.

But the lesson then spilled over into things like different seasons, a conversation which Tachibana and Akira had earlier today while at the café. There were four seasons around Sekai —Haru, Natsu, Aki, Fuyu, which are equivalent to Earth's Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

In addition to that, he's learnt about the 'animals' that reside in this world. To everyone here, they may just be 'wild animals' but to Tachibana they were nothing less than monsters. There were the creatures that lived in the sea and other water bodies such as the Mizugumo, which Tachibana learnt was equivalent to a water spider but with some 'differences' so to speak.

One, the Mizugumo was freaking huge. Seeing it, Tachibana was sure that he couldn't use his mother's stiletto heels to kill that. But what was even more frightening, the thing could use water magic. Hell, all the 'wild animals' could use some form of magic. Which meant, if Tachibana ever comes across one, he'd be fucked.

Also, Tachibana found out that apart from these 'wild animals', there were beings that were dwelling on Sekai before humans ―or rather Ningen did. These beings are called Seirei, and when Seiya had written the kanji, Tachibana saw that it was the same as his 'Spirits'. There were many different Seirei found, each category was the same as the Elements ―there were Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning & Thunder.

Seirei looked like people and both Seiya and Akira had admitted that no one could tell a Seirei different from a Ningen (human). But, in terms of abilities, Seirei were far better at magic than Ningen were.

While on this topic, Tachibana felt a bit enthused. Reading all those manga and light novels, and watching all those anime, he'd always wondered what it's like to wield magic. Since he was currently in a world where it's possible, he wondered if he could cast magic.

Tachibana grinned on the inside. He couldn't wait to see.

...

…

King Ayumu sat around his desk, rubbing his temples. He had just gone through Kouen's report of the investigations, and there were still many unanswered questions. A freaking monster appeared in his youngest son's room and there were no other reports of Youma sightings in the capital that day.

The King was stuck. "What the hell happened?" he groaned in frustration.

"Your Majesty!" A voice from behind the door took him out of his thoughts. "It is I, Kouen!"

"Enter!"

The Chief of Police made a respectful bow to the King before entering the man's office. He held a sealed envelope and by the looks of it, there were quite a few documents in there. King Ayumu let out a frustrated groan. He wasn't in the mood for any more readings and worse his wife was currently busy with other things.

"This is a detailed report on the creature that attacked Prince Yuri." Kouen said. King Ayumu's eyes widened as he received the set of documents. "It's directly from the Lab, and I must say, the findings are quite pleasing."

"How so?" the King asked. However, Kouen didn't answer as he saw that the King had started to read. With each line that the man read, his eyes widened from the revelation until he finally placed the documents on the table. He addressed Kouen with a dismayed look on his face.

"So you're saying that the creature that attacked my son wasn't a Youma?"

"Yes." Kouen's voice was firm. "Analyzing the DNA found in the room and on Kohaku Ito's halberd, our scientists came to that conclusion. Even though it wasn't a Youma, it seemed to be derived from one." He paused a little to let the King absorb that bit of information.

"What do you mean?"

"The creature that attacked Prince Yuri was created somewhere, using a Youma as its base, so to speak. Think of it as a pet that had its body altered by its master using the parts of another creature." Kouen answered. "And as such, the creature was given directions on where to attack, which is why there were no other reports of a Youma anywhere else in the city."

"Then that would mean someone in the castle is colluding with whosoever did this." King Ayumu said who had stood up due to his devastation and disbelief. Kouen could sense the King's bloodlust and internally sighed. The entire world should know by now not to mess King Ayumu and his family. The man was a freaking psychopath who would mow down a god if it means protecting his dearest ones.

"That is entirely correct, Your Majesty." Kouen said in the calmest tone he could muster. "For the fact is, no one should be able to find your children's rooms that easily. Even my team and I had to be led there for the investigations."

"Exactly." King Ayumu agreed. But he was irate. Lightning crackled all over the man's body and quickly, Kouen moved to the other side of the office where the mountain of documents was. One thing he's learned about the King over the years, no matter how pissed he is, he'll blow everything up except important documents.

"This is the second time that someone tried to snatch my little punk," he snarled. "Kouen, double the amount of personnel working on the investigations, I want those fuckers caught as soon as possible." But then he added, "Never mind that, as soon as they're caught…" the King trailed off. "Wipe. Them. The. Fuck. Out."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Kouen said. "And I won't let anyone else find out that the real Prince is elsewhere."

"Good." The King smiled. "A question, do you have any reason to believe that it may be Waseda again?"

"No, Your Majesty." Kouen said calmly. "To be precise, we aren't sure. There isn't any evidence which points to a specific country, but we have a feeling that the co-conspirator may be in one or a few of your son's attendants."

King Ayumu smirked. "Tell me more, and drop the formal act."

Kouen sighed a relief. "Frankly, apart from your family including Yuri, the attendants are the only ones who know where his room is. Not even the Palace guards know, am I right?"

The King nodded.

"And since this creature was created somewhere in some lab, it means, someone had to give the creature the coordinates of where to attack."

"That's right." King Ayumu said in realization. "Add to that, Akira told me that when it was severely wounded, it ran away by opening up a magic circle. Youma don't do that shit. They take their slaughtering and die."

Kouen chuckled on the inside upon hearing that last sentence. "That's true."

"But there's another thing bothering me. How is it that Yuri ended up in this Japan place? If he was chasing the creature, then shouldn't he ―"

"Sorry to interrupt Your Majesty, but your son simply messed up the symbols he saw on the creature's magic circle." Kouen said in a matter-of-factly. "When Akira told me what Yuri said to him from the other world, I realized that there's no way 'Japan' could be where the creature comes from."

"Hmm?"

"One, there is no magic. Two, technology is ancient. Thus, they shouldn't have a way to cross over to other worlds without one of the two listed." Kouen said with a shrug. "But I need to know more about this Japan place and if it really doesn't have any Youma."

"Why?"

"Because I want to figure out the reason why our world has been attacked since days of antiquity and Japan isn't. Kakihara-kun says his world was suddenly attacked out of the blue one day." Kouen reasoned. "Is it that there's something here that's attracting them? Or is it that our world is just easy to cross over from where they are? I need to know."

"I understand." The King nodded. He then asked. "This Kakihara-kun was the case from five years ago, right?" Kouen nodded his response. The King continued, "But the other Yuri should be free right now, how about you ask him if his world has ever had grotesque creatures attack them." The King said with a shrug. "Still, it would be good if we could find out why those shits are after us."

"You know, I've always wondered…" Kouen said with a heavy sigh. "…how come a royalty of your calibre is so foul mouthed?" he sighed heavily. "Do I need to point out that your sons have taken up this nasty trait as well? Have you ever heard when Seiya's arguing? Or Akira's threats? Don't even get me started on Yuri."

King Ayumu shrugged. "Blame my upbringing."

"Don't try to pin the cause on someone else!"

The King only smiled and batted his lashes playfully. "But it's the truth."

…

…

"Okay, we'll stop here for today." Akira grinned.

Tachibana felt exhausted. It was like he sat there for two hours or more, trying to suck up information like a sponge. Thank God geography was easy since Nihon was Japan, only larger and split into five countries.

"Why do you look like that?" Seiya asked. "All we did was go over some basic stuff. We haven't even touched Yuri's school work."

"It was too much to absorb. I felt like you just dumped the information on me." Tachibana whined.

"Quit whining." Akira laughed as he pinched his cheek. "The day is still young so there's something else we need to find out."

"What's that?" Tachibana asked.

"You'll see."

Once outside, Tachibana saw the Princes grin maliciously at each other before turning to look at him. Tachibana had a sinking feeling that he was in danger, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Let's race." He then heard Seiya say.

"Sounds fun." Akira grinned. "But what do we do with him? I doubt he can use magic."

"We throw him there."

"No way, Dad and Mom will be pissed if they found out."

"Tsch, what they don't know won't hurt us."

"I'll carry him, which means I should get a head-start." Akira smirked as he threw Tachibana over his shoulder like a sack, ignoring said silverette's indignant shouts.

"No way." Seiya said. "He's light isn't he?"

And just like that, the two Princes dashed off at a blistering speed, running down a paved path lined with strange yet beautiful orange flowers. Just then, Akira and Seiya made a sharp right turn, Tachibana felt as though he nearly got whiplash. The boys continued on the path until Tachibana got the shock of his life.

They encountered a tall building at which the path forked into two ―left and right, but the Princes seemed as though they were going to enter the building. However, upon reaching where the path diverged, the Princes created magic circles in the air and jumped onto it. They continued like this, using their magic circles like stepping stones to get over the building.

Screams ripped from Tachibana's throat, and the poor boy gripped onto Akira's clothes for dear life. When they made it onto the roof, Tachibana felt Akira stop, held him by the belt and threw him downwards to Seiya like a baseball pitcher.

Tachibana screamed his throat out, thinking that he was going to die. Hearing the boy's frightened screams getting louder and louder, Seiya looked up and saw the blond boy flying towards him.

"You bastard!" Seiya hissed as he caught Tachibana in the bridal style. He shot a glare at Akira who was skating down the walls of the building on water.

"I carried him, so it's your turn Big brother!" he said in a teasing voice as he landed. Akira escaped quickly and instead of running, he continued to skate on the water he had accumulated at the bottom of his feet.

"That fucking cheat!" Seiya shouted. He then looked at Tachibana, who was whimpering in fear. "Let's go Damsel." He grinned.

"I'm not a ―" Tachibana started but with Seiya's sudden movement, he ended up screaming.

With Lightning crackling around his body, Seiya dashed off and caught up Akira within seconds. Still, as he neared the Second Prince, balls of water were thrown at them which upon impact left a nasty dent in the paved path.

"That bastard…" Seiya snarled. But then, he got an idea. He looked down on Tachibana who had buried his face in his chest to not die of a heart attack. "What goes around…" Seiya said as he held Tachibana under the arms like a newborn.

"What are you doing?!" Tachibana asked, gripping onto the older boy's arms.

"Returning the favour." The First Prince smirked. "As a Tachibana, we never fail in that aspect."

Before Tachibana could argue (more like beg for his life), Seiya threw him at Akira, who was skating merrily away. Like Seiya, he heard Tachibana's screaming getting louder and louder and as such he turned around to look. There, he saw Tachibana flying towards him with Seiya not far behind with a grin on his face.

"Sei! How could you?!" Akira shrieked. He then created a wall of water in order to break the flying teen's momentum. It worked; however, Tachibana slammed into it and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Akira and Seiya looked on in horror. The two boys rushed to his aid and looked down on Tachibana's unconscious figure.

"You don't think he's dead?" Akira asked.

"Who's dead?" a high-pitched voice asked from behind them.

Immediately, they stiffened with fear. That voice belonged to no one but their mother and the Queen of Saishi ―Azusa Tachibana. Neither boy could move, because if they did so, she'll see the dishevelled and unconscious state Tachibana was in.

"No one, Mom." Seiya answered. "Just a bug we attempted to kill."

Azusa narrowed her eyes at her sons. She noticed that there were two of them instead of three. "Where's Yuri?" she asked in a cold tone. She walked to them and with every step she took; she saw them quiver in fear. Her eyes then caught the figure lying on the ground before them and instantly, her anger was ignited.

"What have you fools done this time?!"

"It was an accident!" the two shouted as they dashed off. However, a bright blue light caught their eyes from above. Stopping, they looked up to see a gigantic blue magic circle and one word could escape their lips:

"Shit."