Other World Chapter two: Stranger in the City

"Hey mama, there's a guy sleeping on the floor"

"Let's leave him Kuro"

I woke up in the middle of the street, I don't even remember how I ended up here, This place seems far from my home. My eyes were dazzled as I try to look up, It's sunny already but there seems to be no sign of people roaming around the Streets, It's so silent except for the birds and insects that were making noises. And there's no sign of cars moving around the Road. I tried to stand up and begin to observe the area where I was. I don't know this place but all I know was that I'm still in Japan because of the Katakana (Japanese alphabet) I saw in the restaurant sign on my right and the street that shows "Gazebo" and "Hyokko" on my left. The street floors were well-made by bricks which reminds me of Tokyo. While wasting my time in thinking on how I end up here. I started to look for an adult to ask directions which I'm not very good at.

I first checked the Restaurant on my right but it was closed.

Second, I checked the following store next to the restaurant, the fruit store. It was open but there's nobody inside.

Third, I checked the streets, the balcony and the alley but no one was there...

"Where is everyone?" I asked myself. I went back to the place where I was before while thinking of how I'll get back home. I accidentally bumped into girl who just came from the fruit store.

"Hey! Watch where you’re going!" She said in an angry voice.

"Ohh, sorry! I wasn't paying attention on where I'm going." I apologized.

"I think I'm lost..."

"Is  that so, Why didn't you say so? I'll help you."  She said in a friendly manner.

"T-t-thanks!" I said in relief.

"Name's Mikari, Mikari Sako." She said.

"T-ta-tarou-ko, Tarouko Katsugaya!" I said in a very awkward way.

"Tarou-chan...huh?",  Mikari asked curiously as she stared at me, within seconds she's getting closer.

"Uhmm. W-where am I anyway?" I asked her in a stammering voice since I'm too embarrassed to talk to a girl I just met. Mikari has a pale skin, her pink hair was more tinted compared to that of Kagami and it was tied in pigtails on both sides, her eyes were violet and round, she has a pinkish lips like any average female girls. She also wears clothes which happen to be a teenager’s with lots of cute accessories.

I guess she's not listening judging by the look on her face. She seems busy staring at me even closer. That puts my face to red.

"jiiiiiiiiiii...."  Mikari stares closer as our nose were almost going to touch one another.

I tried to move backwards but her face was only leaning forward.

"Why are you blushing?" She asked and look at me with suspicious eyes.

"n-n-nothing", I said in a stammering voice while looking at her eyes. It made me shyer.

"Why are you sweating? Why do you look so red, and what are you hiding from?" she asked me with non-stop questions.

(I can't really tell her my personality and she’s just too cute to stare at). "A-anyway, where are we?” I tried to change the topic.

"Oh!, where in Hessongkyo", she said in a Cheerful manner.

"Hessongkyo?" (I never heard of that place before)

"Yes! Hessongkyo, City of Dreams! How about you, where'd you from?", Mikari Questioned me.

"I'm from Akibahara" I said.

"Akibahara?" She said with a clueless face. "I never heard of that place before, what does it looks like?", she said.

"Hmm. It is a good place, there's plenty of people, plenty of tourist views and also the home of ANIME!", I told her in an arrogant tone.

"A-anime? What's that?, she eagerly asked.

"w-what?! You d-don't know what's Anime???", I asked in a shocking tone.

"yeah, is it food?", she asked with an innocent  face.

"No! It's a Toy! A Collection!, a Passion!, It's an Animation of cartoons!", I said in a very high tone.

(I can't believe it! She didn't know what place is Akibahara yet she lives in Japan and worse is, she didn't know What Anime is? What is this place?)

"A-are you okay?" she asked with a concerned voice feeling a little guilty on her words.

"S-sorry, I'm just confused. I-I didn't know how I ended up here and for all I know is that I'm still in Japan." I said to her.

"I'm so sorry!", Mikari said as she bowed her head to show a sign of an apology.

"N-no, It’s okay, anyway, there's this important thing that I should be doing right now but I forgot it.", I said.

For some reason, I forgot what I supposed to be doing.”

"Hey, what's this?" she pointed at the plastic that was hidden from the side of the post and she carefully picked it up. "Hey look! It's a medicine!"

"M-medicine?" I asked with a slight of confusion. And slightly popping out are some of my memories and I somehow remembered everything.

"Give me that!", I said as I snatched the plastic that Mikari was holding. "It's the medicine I bought for my dad, now I remember. I was buying some medicine for my father on a bad weather when suddenly a large fog came up and drag me into an old park and I saw a very old well. I tried to make a wish and for some inexplicable reason I happened to have lost my consciousness and ended up here."

"So that explains everything", she was amused. "So, you’re a complete total outsider who happened to fall into this world." she is amused as she points her index finger on me.

"Y-you’re making it as if it were a joke. Besides, I'm still in Japan right?" I said and grinned awkwardly.

"Nope, this is Hessongkyo. Although we speak the same language as that of your country, this doesn't mean that you’re in your world." she said. She’s probably joking.

"...", I remained silent for a moment because I was so pissed off.  I still don't know if she's telling the truth or not, basically some people would try to make fun of others because they’re lost. And to tell if she's in Japan, How could she not know what Anime is?

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked with a smile.

"ENOUGH PLAYING GAMES WITH ME! I KNOW YOU’RE ONLY MESSING UP! BESIDES, I NEED TO GET HOME QUICK SO THAT I CAN GIVE THIS MEDICINE TO MY DAD! HE'S ILLED AND NO ONE WILL REPRIMAND HIM IF I'M GONE, YOU UNDERSTAND? NOW IF YOU DON'T GIVE A DAMN TO HELP, AND YOU’LL JUST MESS AROUND, KINDLY LEAVE ME ALONE!" ,I said in a very angry tone as I yell out on her. She was petrified and pebbled-tears started to fall from her eyes as she was hurt.

"S-sorry… I didn't mean to offend you nor your father." she lowered her head slowly and then she ran away.

I felt a little guilty. I shouldn't have done that. What if she's telling the truth? That I'm no longer in my world anymore? No time to waste, I better go now.  The cloud is getting darker and soon it will rain.

"I keep walking pass the side streets and into the alley where I hope I find somebody. Shouting will only waste my energy so I remain quiet. I heard a low thunder strike coming from above so I tried to run as much as possible to avoid getting wet. I tried to go in every corner I saw. Since there's nobody elsewhere, there's no need to be afraid. The alley has dirt and if it rains it will turn into a mud. I kept running and running until my feet got tired. As another thunder strike came. The rain started to pour.

I keep running and running without noticing the dirt was forming into mud. And it made me run slower now. A few seconds later, another lightning stroked and I slipped due to the mud. I feel like losing, losing the opportunity to get home. This is why I hate the OUTSIDE World. It gives me the unfairness in my life. I was given a single task to buy medicine yet I failed, how foolish am I? I should just stay at home and watch Anime, I don't even know where I am. Tears started to fall from my eyes as the rain keeps showering. I tried to close my eyes for a second and think about negative stuff about the outside world.

Suddenly, I felt that the rain had stopped. A large shadow figure covered me. As I look up, I saw Mikari holding a big umbrella over me while wearing a light blue raincoat.

"T-there you are" she said worriedly.

" M-mikari??? W-why are you here?? A-anyway  I-I’m s-sorry about earlier....I was just not in the mood to make jokes especially such that involve me and my father." I told her in a low voice. "Please forgive me"

"No! It's okay!" Mikari said as she pulled my hand up. "b-besides, it's normal for a person to get mad at those things. I should have known that you were in a hurry to give those medicines to your father", she said cheerfully

"It's Normal for a person to get mad at those things."

 Those words got stuck in my head as if I were called “Normal” for the first time by an outsider. Not all people call me normal because of my personality… but Mikari, she thinks I'm normal. And she didn't even hesitate to come back to help me even though I yelled at her.

"Hey, Mikari, Thanks for helping me! You are so nice.” I said to her after I got back up.

"It's no big deal!" She said as she smiled at me. Judging by the look on her face she likes to SMILE a lot.

"Hey tarou-chan", D-do you have a place to stay? she asked me.

"Uhmm. N-no, No I don't have… one..", I said in a freezing voice which reminds me that It's getting cold here.

"Great, W-why don't you stay at my house for the night?" she said in joy.

"Eh, R-r-really?" I said in surprised.

"Yep." She said as she makes a cute face.

"b-but, w-would you c-cons-sider a-a-a g-guy o-on y-your h-house", I stutter.

"A friend doesn't need to be picky on helping others, besides, you’re freezing out here, you might die from the cold if I didn't find you and, also, you seem to be a good guy.", mikari giggled

"O-okay then." I said.

She gave me a towel that was on her shoulder and I quickly put it over my head.

"Okay, then, let's go!" Mikari shouts actively. So active as always.

Seems that there are still good persons that even though you have made bad things on them, they would still help and understand you, I thought that it only exists in Anime… and she seems kinda cute.

We did some little chat about Anime while heading to her place, she seems interested to it.

A couple of steps after walking, we finally made it into her house. It's 1km away from the city and is surrounded by other houses. Her house was like a bit of a 2-story house with a terrace. Flowers grow on their yard. Their house was surrounded by high fences and the gates were like the same. The house was painted gray and the rooftop was painted brown covered by some molds in. The inside of the house looked old. As we entered her house, I noticed that the house was well-cleaned and many things such as books, T.V, Radio, and Dining table can be seen just by entering the house. There're also many pictures of her and her family. There's this Teddy Bear in the sofa. And there's this ladder from the main left that leads to her room. She prepared me a coffee and gave me a blanket so that I wouldn't get cold if I sleep on the sofa… as for me, I'll just relax for a bit and tomorrow, I'll go back to my main task, to deliver this medicine back to my dad.