Volume 4—Chapter 100: Seeking the Fate
That was something. But it’s exciting nonetheless. From the moon to the Earth in seconds. From the moon to Earth in just a second. I look around, and there are two girls standing in front of me. One I know well, Caroline. The other is unfamiliar. Silver hair, witch-like clothes, and a relaxed smile that does not match the situation at all.
“Fancy seeing you here, Caroline,” I say as I approach. “Who is beside you?”
“Yeah, nice to see you too,” Caroline replies with a sigh. “She… well… I just met her, too.”
The silver-haired girl gives a playful little bow. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amelia. You may call me Ame.”
“Ame… like rain?” I ask before thinking, since it sounds exactly like the Japanese word.
“Rain?” Ame tilts her head. “Ah, you mean ame in Japanese. I suppose you could make that connection if you want, but my name has no relation to that.”
“Oh, got it. Sorry for assuming.” I take another look at her outfit. “So… are you a cosplayer or…?”
“Cosplayer…” She glances down at herself, lifting a strand of her cloak with mild curiosity. “I suppose it does look that way. But no, this is just how I normally dress. My sister wears something similar, and I like matching her. I am not really a witch. She is.”
“Sister? Do you have a sister?” My curiosity gets the better of me. Maybe I am trying too hard to connect, but meeting someone new after diving through the atmosphere at terminal velocity feels surreal enough to justify it.
Ame brightens immediately. “Yes, my sister is an amazing person.” Her voice carries genuine admiration.
“What does she look like?” I ask, trying to picture someone with a similar presence. Part of me wonders if imagining hard enough will make her appear here, too. After all, this is a lucid dream.
Ame nods eagerly. “She actually looks exactly like me.”
“Ah, so you are twins.” I clap my hands once. “Just like my sister and me.”
Ame lifts her brows in surprise. “Oh, so you are a twin too. It is rare to meet fellow twins. Although, my sister and I have a bit of a different circumstance from regular twins.”
“Different circumstance?” I lean in, genuinely curious.
Ame opens her mouth, about to explain.
But Caroline steps between us, rubbing her temples like we are giving her a second headache. “Can we cut the chat later? How are you going to get us out of here?” Her tone sounds like she has already dealt with too many weird things today.
Now that she mentions it, the reality finally clicks in. We are, in fact, standing in the middle of a forest that looks like it crawled straight out of a horror movie. Fog everywhere, the air feels heavy, and even though I am sure the sun should be up, everything looks like late evening.
“Did you guys rent a villa nearby and get lost?” I ask, trying to make sense of the situation.
“Villa?” Caroline snaps. “Even a tiny hut, I would be grateful to have that. I have been stuck in this place for who knows how many days.”
“Ah, so that is why you have not come to school for three days.”
“Three days!!” Caroline nearly shouts. “I have been here for three days?! I thought it was way longer! Or… maybe shorter? Ugh, I hate this place.”
Oh… I wonder if she ate a weird mushroom somewhere down the line.
“Why don’t we just jump out of here?” I say casually.
“Jump?” Caroline blinks at me.
Without further warning, I scoop her up in a princess carry.
“What… what are you doing?” she blurts, face turning bright red.
“Oh come on, why are you blushing? We are both girls.”
“You… you will not understand,” she mutters, still flustered.
Interesting. Should I tease her more?
“Are you perhaps… a lily admirer?” I say, leaning in with a grin.
“Lily admirer? I do not even like the flower lily,” Caroline replies, completely missing the point.
Ame then chimes in. “That is not what she meant, you know.”
Caroline frowns. “Then what?”
“You know the word yuri?” Ame asks as if discussing the weather.
“Yu… Yuri?” Caroline repeats. Then the realisation hits, and her face turns even redder, redder than a tomato. Why did my brain think potato? Whatever, her face is a tomato.
Alright, maybe I should stop teasing her before she explodes.
“Oh, before I forget,” I say. “Ame, can you hold on to my back tightly?”
Ame shakes her head. “No need, I have my broom.” She lifts herself a little higher, floating neatly above the ground.
“Ah, so you really are a witch after all,” I say.
Before she can answer, I tighten my hold on Caroline and bend my knees.
“Well then, follow me!”
With one powerful jump, I launch us upward, breaking through the fog in an instant.
“Ah… woah!! This… this is…!!” Caroline yells, gripping me like her soul depended on it.
I ease up on the momentum and let us float in place, the air cool and thin around us. I have no idea how high we are, but the view tells me enough.
“Huh… this is definitely not Tsukuru Island,” I murmur.
“You can fly?” Caroline asks, still clinging to me like a terrified koala.
I just gave her a little smile.
A moment later, Ame glides up beside us on her broom, looking as relaxed as if she’s commuting to work. “We are currently in Belgium, not anywhere near Tsukuru or wherever you came from.”
“Belgium?” I stare at her. “That’s literally the other side of the world. The heck are you doing in Belgium, Carol?”
“Like heck I want to be here…” Caroline snaps, then suddenly quiets down. “It was…”
She hesitates, her eyes flicking away, as if deciding whether to explain or not.
“…Never mind,” she finishes, her voice small.
I guess this dream really cannot get any weirder.
I breathe out, half a laugh forming in my throat about how ridiculous everything has been. Then my instincts spark. Something is off. Before my brain fully catches up, my body moves on its own.
With a swift motion, I toss Caroline toward Ame and twist my body aside.
A beam of light slices through the air where I was just floating.
The heat brushes my cheek. That was close.
I whip my head toward the source. A girl hovers there, glowing faintly. She looks exactly like Ame, same silver hair, same youthful face, even the same body proportions. Like a mirrored version but colder.
“Can’t believe you are in this world,” she says calmly. “That explains a lot.”
So this must be the twin.
She floats without a broom, though the broom is there beside her. And on top of that broom, gripping it with wide eyes, is someone I did not expect to see.
“Syena?” I mutter.
Her appearance only makes this moment stranger. What is she doing here, clinging to a flying broom like a panicked cat on a tree branch?
The twin glances at her sister, then shifts her gaze back to me. Her eyes glow with a sharp intensity, completely unlike Ame’s gentle vibe.
“As expected,” she says, voice flat and cold. “The bearer of Reality… you are seeking the fate.”
That sentence sends a chill down my spine.
Bearer of Reality? Seeking the fate?
What on earth is she talking about?
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