Tamaki turned the corner and saw her assistant and the person she wanted to speak to already outside. She quickly turned her back against them to wipe away her face and turned back again with a smile.
“Oh, Kaori, that’s where you were. And… Rikki, you’re up! How are you feeling?”
“A little sore but—”
“Really? That’s good to hear!” she blurted out.
A silence fell upon the hallway. Kaori knew her Lady was having one of her moments but decided it was best to let her have time to think. Tamaki decided to be blunt again about her plan.
“Rikki, I’m going to be straight with you. I’m going to investigate exactly what is happening with that inn.”
Somehow, it was an expected yet unexpected response by Kaori’s standards. The passive girl who tries not to be declared something as bold as this.
“Are those earrings really that important to you to risk your life again?” He asked, though at this point, he would expect these were more than just a piece of expensive jewelry.
“...They were once owned by a friend…” Tamaki said with a gloom face, “She wore them for almost every single day of her life. Until a certain event happened. She died in what seemed like a building fire. We were attending a class when the emergency fire system suddenly blared its alarms. Then it happened. The roof collapsed in on itself, and then there I saw it. A figure among the smoke. That was him.”
The two were silent.
“So what if I had the ability to see into the future? It couldn’t help me lift up whatever was crushing Komiya’s own internal organs…No one came for help. It couldn’t be a coincidence. That thing has to be responsible for her death.”
She took a moment to wipe her eyes again.
“Listen, Rikki. We’re going on a trip back to Fallway. Do you remember this?”
Tamaki held up a silvery object in her hands. It was the lighter they had stolen from the masked stranger.
“What we found inside this thing is perplexing.”
She focused on the object and used her ability. A product of being able to see into the future of an object, was also knowing everything about it as well. The physical properties, the damage, scratchmarks, the frequency of opens by the wear of the lid, it’s all coming together to form the journey of a single everyday object.
“The brand of the lighter is a local one. There is about 40% of lighter fluid left inside here. It has gotten a ton of use over the years it has since been first purchased. Unfortunately the finish used in the shell does not track fingerprints. But here’s the strange part, there seems to be plant matter particles within the hood of it. And chemicals that came into contact with the metal of it. ”
“And so, how is this important?”
“Hmph, surely you have read at least some mystery novels haven’t you?”
“Eh… not that I’m aware of.”
“This is a lead, Rikki. We might be able to trace back who exactly that plague thing is. Before that though, we also have a lead for you personally.”
“Huh? For me?”
“Apparently you came from a southern region away from the capital. That is your hometown… apparently.”
There was that feeling you rarely get, when you truly get excited for something. That feeling that rises in your chest which makes you stand up. That feeling is what Rikki was experiencing in that particular moment.
He thought of endless possibilities, friends, family, food, culture, places, anything that he could return back to. He would be home! Though, even if he does get to experience this again, how would everyone react if he says they were complete strangers to him? That was scary and maybe it wouldn’t be home.
Rikki was at a crossroad in life.
“The choice is on you. Would you rather go back to your hometown to re-remember who you were, or go with me to retrieve my earrings… again?”
“As your valet, I’m legally responsible to help you out, Tamaki.” Kaori interrupted.
Tamaki giggled.
“Right, right. Go with us? Now, what would it be?”
“Seriously though, just how are you thinking about taking back your earrings, never mind making out alive? The chances of that actually happening is so low.”
“Well, we’re here now speaking with each other.” Kaori said.
“...I thought you two were supposed to be reasonable.”
It was a guarantee he would learn about himself if he waited until tonight to return back to his hometown. On the other hand, figuring out who attacked the inn and retrieving back the earrings was far from likely. It seemed like an easy choice, and yet...
“I…I need to think about this for a little bit if that’s fine.”
Upon hearing Rikki’s response, Tamaki felt her lips coming into a pout instinctively. And she wondered why exactly she wanted him to come that badly.
“Make it fast.”
It was new experience after new experience. Rikki slumped his arms on a window sill and gazed at the huge expanse of greenery that is the backyard. After so many expensive furnitures and items entered his vision, Rikki felt like the equivalent of an ant walking on paved concrete. That was the first time he saw a girl cry before. It should be fair to assume that the girl was dealing with a lot of stuff at the moment.
The burn marks still stung everywhere. It stung, yes, but Rikki kept on pressing down on every bandage wrap to test the pain level. This was to remind himself that it actually happened. What also happened was that dream. He couldn’t tell whether or not that was his first dream or that indeed there was more to it. It just felt too real.
That person in front of me said something about a “key”. I have no clue what that means. “Prevent this from happening” they said. Prevent what though?
“My daughter can be a handful sometimes.” a voice snuck up behind Rikki while he was lost in his train of thoughts.
“Rikki, right?”
When he looked back, he saw a man in a suit. Stubble for a beard and moustache, his hair was slicked back and had the same red eyes.
“Yes, sir.” Rikki said, bowing his head.
“Haha, no need to be so formal. So I heard that you lost all of your memories of who you used to be. I have to sympathize with you, must be painful.” the man said, also coming in to look through the same window.
“To be perfectly honest, I feel like a lost child in the middle of the woods right now.”
“I’m sure that Tamaki feels the same way.”
“Really?”
“It always seems like she has her head in the clouds, almost always responding a little too late. It’s a strange quirk she has. Tamaki suddenly started doing that one morning years and years ago.”
Rikki figured she was using her ability to look into the future of whatever.
“And then that happened. She sometimes falls victim to her bursts of crying… Anyways, that’s not why I came to you. You should know that we managed to trace back your origins to a certain region in the southwestern direction. That region’s name is called Chordia.”
“Chordia…” Rikki repeated the name of such a region.
That name… shocked the deepest crevices of his memories. It was like a flash of light. A ball of radiant energy. But it left him as quickly as it had appeared.
“If you would like, I can book a ship to that region and drop you off with a care package to set you off with one foot in the right direction.”
“I have a choice in the matter?”
“...Well I mean, wouldn’t you want to go back to your region and remember who you used to be?”
“For now at least, the name was good enough for me.”
The man scratched his beard and reminisced on his own youth. He saw a bit of himself inside Rikki. As yes, that’s right. I was making foolish decisions back in the day, hanging around and letting life guide me, he thought.
“Sir, you’re going to force me to go even if I say ‘no’, right?” Rikki asked.
And then the man laughed. And laughed.
“So they told you about it, eh?”
Rikki made the decision, the first important decision in his life that would lead him to the fitting future.
“I…”
“I can’t believe I’m inside a barrel right now.”
Rikki was back on the luxurious ship. He was sitting inside a barrel looking up at the sadistic Tamaki and Kaori. Their plan was to have him hide in there. When the ship undocks, they’ll unload a couple of resources and during that time, the two would carry the barrel to a place where they can’t be seen. There Rikki would spring out.
“It can’t be helped, my father said he was shipping you to your home tonight. That’s why we needed to leave as soon as possible.”
But he sees more flaws than benefits in this plan. First of all, wouldn’t they be monitored by guards? It’s not like they were stupid enough to neglect the one person that they were stationed to oversee. And yet a big part of the plan was for the two to go and hide behind whatever.
He couldn’t argue, because they slapped on the lid of the barrel where he sat.
I wonder, what if I can’t escape this? Oh god.
And then he felt the swaying of the ship becoming more pronounced.
What? Already?
And so the plan initiated without any warning, the ship has begun to depart. Rikki had agreed to come along to once again help them on their mission to retrieve the earrings. Though, he only agreed to investigate the inn.
Who knows how long he sat there and waited for the signal. Luckily, Rikki didn’t feel the motion sickness now as it was back then. Guess it was just an out of body experience. Right now, his eyes weren’t experiencing anything. It was dark in that barrel. Even when his eyes adjusted to the light level in there, he could barely see his shoes. If only he had a light source...
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Rikki felt confident that he arrived on the mainland. He felt the sway of the ship grow less and less, until it leveled out. And then it was still. Though, it was a little too still. Even docked ships should have at least a little sway to them, yet it felt like he was on land. The sound of a loud bang to the right of him suddenly rang in his ears.
“The heck is going on…”
“One… zero.” He heard someone said.
And then came the sudden propulsion. Left, right, down, up, Rikki couldn’t even tell which way was the ground anymore. Too much, it was too much. Eventually he felt the impact of what must have been the ground. Now he was stationary again and this time, there was no swaying.
Is it over, can I get out now…? Screw the signal, I’m going to head out.
He kicked the cover straight off, but quickly regretted it as he was very much still dizzy from the trip. Rikki crawled out slowly, and saw the two devils running towards him themselves.
“I thought I was gonna die.”
“But you didn’t, right?” Kaori said with a straight face.
“Let me guess… your ability?”
“You guessed it.”
“I don’t want to know how.”
“Law of conservation of energy. And a wrecking ball.”
A wrecking ball.
“No, like I said, I—”
“Don’t worry, I made sure you won’t fall into the ocean by looking ahead into the crate’s future. I had her adjust the aim accordingly.” Tamaki said.
“No, that’s not the point.”
Thus, it was the beginning of the investigation that would impact the whole world.
