After the bright-blue teleportation light ate her, Sera lost her strength to move. She witnessed a new vibrant world far contrasting from her viridescent hometown. Saturated buildings taller than their forest tree contained brilliant billboards that changed their image every millisecond. The smoke from the exhaust pipes of the vehicles irritated her sensitive nose. Lost in thought, her awareness of danger vanished like her existence from her world.
She only believed that the magic circle transports persons through long distances, not very long distances. Her tears dried under her cheeks, her throat parched and begged for hydration. She could only gaze forward, where the sight of an unknown metallic invention, a car, grew bigger as it came near. Soon, she felt her body being dragged by a stranger, lately realizing that he saved her from danger.
Her body laid flat on the ground, immobilized by the man's body that rested over her. His face was buried on her chest, but the dehydration she felt couldn't turn her pale face into red. Her breath shortened, her sunken eyes only stared at the man's hair. The vehicles in the vicinity stopped, causing a traffic jam.
Without knowing each other yet, Kou could still feel his breathing, yet when he turned back, his prosthetic right foot disconnected from him and was flattened in its middle. However, even eyes lie. His past vision took over some seconds of his memory, his breaths quickened rapidly. The vision of the pool of blood under his leg distorted before his eyes, like a hallucination that took over his reality simultaneously.
His body experienced full-tremors. Even without experiencing physical pain, the sound of his heartbeat trashed into his ears. With copious sweating, he whimpered, wanting not to experience the same pain again. His hazel-brown eyes appeared red, but before he cried, Sera's voice pulled him back to reality.
"W–Water…"
"S–SHIZU-SAMA!?"
Kou gasped and looked into Sera's sunken emerald eyes. He thought her beauty was otherworldly, including the notable long ears that had no touch of any cosplay embeds or plugins. She portrayed the exact appearance of the elf goddess that he adored in his game. However, he perceived her sticky mouth and her skin that lost its glow. His heartbeat cycled slowly back to normal. When he grasped her situation, he voluntarily shouted.
"WATER! DOES ANYONE HAVE WATER!?"
Since the crowd had already surrounded them, a stranger gave a bottle of water that hadn't been opened yet. Kou supported Sera's back to sit straight and placed the open bottle diagonally onto her mouth. Sera swallowed in huge amounts, her throat expanded for every gulp. On a count of five, she already finished the bottle and coughed. Her skin returned its usual glow that attracted the people's gaze.
"Are you alright?" Kou asked while rubbing the coughing Sera's back.
After coughing, she replied with a tearful voice, "… Where am I?"
"Hey, Shizu-sama, aren't you a hardcore for cosplay roleplays? Whose die-hard Otaku wouldn't know what Akihabara was?"
She may not have understood what Kou's words meant. The letters in the building's signage didn't catch her understanding, but she recognized the people's language well. Sitting straight, she pressed her lips and clenched her fists. "... My father…"
Sounds of unstoppable horns of cards deafened our ears. Soon, a police mobile came to fetch them to make a police report. The policeman left his vehicle and supported me to stand. "Sir, would you be willing to go to the nearby station to file a report?"
When Kou noticed the PUV driver being questioned by the police's partner, he shook his head. "I just need to ride back home. You can let me go. I can stand on my own foot." Though contrary to his request, the policeman didn't let him go.
"Was this yours? I found it on the nearby pole." Another policeman asked and came to give the bag that he dropped on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, only the For Dummies book was in there. The figurine didn't even say goodbye to Kou. After witnessing the karma of skipping into the lines, he flared his nostrils, accompanied by cycles of noisy breathing. Grinding his teeth, Kou thought that Sera was an accomplice to steal his treasure. Her similar appearance to Shizu-sama wasn't a coincidence.
Kou pointed his finger at the weak Sera and said, "You'll bring her with me. I will never let this go."
Affirming his commands, the other policeman dragged Sera and forced her to go into the police mobile. Sera struggled to escape, the fear of the unknown showered his skirmish towards her undetermined fate. "L–Let me go! What are you doing to me!? I just wanted to go home!"
"Shut your mouth, thief! You'll pay as a replacement for my limited-edition Shizu-sama figurine."
"I don't even know what you guys are saying!"
Sera surrendered and sat together with Kou on the police mobile's backseat. Still trembling, her face turned ashen. She thought that these people were the accomplices of the knights that brought disaster to her hometown and chased her. Her shakiness only alerted Kou, proving that she was guilty of being an accomplice of the underground Otakus, a term for those who claim limited merchandise with underhanded tactics. Kou bit his lip since he could be labeled with the same term due to abusing his privilege.
"Reveal yourself now, thief. I'm a forgiving person. I would listen to you only if you give the Shizu-sama limited-edition figurine with removable clothes back."
"I'm no thief! In fact, I think you are one of my abductors, only disguising yourselves so I could become your slaves. Please bring me back to my father! If something happened to me, the Percyne kingdom wouldn't forgive you."
"Percyne? What is that? A Greek-myth reference? You can't fool the 21st century people nowadays. You're avoiding the topic. You must've been guilty of the charge. Bring back the figurine now!"
Tears crawled down Sera's cheeks. "I don't even know you… or what you have! Please free me! My father needed me!"
"Shut up! I don't even know who you are, yet you just appeared in the middle of nowhere! It's unrealistic–" Their heads bumped into the front seat when the mobile stopped. They both caressed their heads from the impact.
The driving policeman gave Kou's ID to him and uttered, "You're only given a free ride. We would appreciate it if you keep quiet to avoid further accidents. Furthermore, we're already at the said address. You owe us a free donut."
The two accompanied the policemen as they knocked on Kou's house's door. As the door opened, they greeted Kou's mother who was in shock. His mother's eyes rolled down, noticing that he only stood with a foot.
"Mrs. Maki Sugiyama, is that correct? We're only visiting your home about the previous incident that happened. We'll be glad to fill you out with the details."
"A–Accident!? What happened to Kou's foot?"
"You wouldn't like to hear what happened, Ma'am. All I can say was… it would be expensive."
Before they entered the house, Kou noticed his Mother's darted gaze at Sera's brooch. It was a pace that she usually does when sitting for longer periods of time, doing nothing. In this aspect, he had difficulty discerning his mother's thoughts. Sera noticed it and stared at Maki's jade-green eyes. If Maki's brown hair was dyed blonde, they would be mistaken for a mother-daughter relationship.
With them sitting on the living room sofa, Maki listened to the policemen report and Kou's rants. Sera didn't gain a spotlight to tell her side. Even though she was given one, she wouldn't tell, as the outburst of emotions that she suppressed might soon explode.
"So, that's it? Let me process it…" Maki shut her eyes for a moment and soon awoke the same time the thinking bulb lit inside her head. "First, what was the report about? Was it the incident, or the thievery of a rare doll?"
"We only came to report the damages that the incident caused. Many owners of private vehicles demand compensation for the ruckus, since we heard from witnesses that the traffic lights were still on green. It would be a total of a million yen as an estimate."
"You're demanding us to pay when my son saved a girl from death? It's impossible that the damages totaled exactly a million. You're not asking him for donuts, aren't you?"
The policemen's faces turned pale when they stuttered, "N–No, Ma'am! We're not asking you for the payment. We're specifically referring to that cosplay girl. Wandering between the streets to disrupt the traffic flow was a violation to the law. We only need your confirmation, a signature, to affirm with the report." They might've thought she was cosplaying due to her long ears.
"You're asking a lost minor to pay millions?"
"N–Not really, Ma'am! We're just forced to bring her as per your son's request. We can soon look into the database to look for her parents and inform them about the situation."
"And what business do you have with her, Kou?"
"She's an accomplice, Mom! She took my limited-edition figurine–"
"That limited-edition figurine with removable clothes? Do you have any proof that she stole your belongings? If she did, what would she do with it?"
"..."
"Don't play dirty tricks, Kou. Your misconception may harm innocent people. Couldn't you see the look on her–"
Sera could hold on anymore. Her deep breaths, which soon shortened, only forced her tears to come out her wet dull eyes. Crying, her face puffed alongside a runny nose. "Father… Help me… I want to go back…" The wailing that echoed throughout the walls halted the interrogation session.
Maki embraced her, rubbing her back and whispering with a kind soothing, "It's alright… Don't hold back. Just cry as you wish. It may be hard for you to hold it until now." She then faced the policemen and declared, "If you have any CCTV footage of the scene, I would like to request you to delete it. Please cancel the allegations for the said incident. I'll report to the nearby station tomorrow and pay the reimbursement of crybabies that only amounted to a tenth of my savings."
"W–What the hell, Mom!? You're just nullifying the accident that nearly killed me!? Also, when did you have ten million yen in your bank account!?"
"As you wish, Ma'am. We apologize for the monotonous conversation. We're content with being side characters. The office is only ten minutes by car across Akihabara's UD+ building. We'll be expecting your attendance soon."
Completely ignoring Kou, Maki nodded at the policemen before they set off. Sera buried her eyes onto Maki's shoulder, her body fully trembling. It didn't take long until her cry gradually softened and turned into a doze. Maki laid her head flat on the couch. "She must be so tired."
"Mom… Explain."
"Kou, I'm glad that you're safe, and I'm very grateful for it. I never thought that you would step your legs in the same situation that day to save somebody. But if you lose something important, just think how important this girl's life is for her. I hope you understand that well. I'm glad I raised you right." Maki rubbed the pouting Kou's head and smiled.
"That's just unfair… You're too good with words."
"And you're too good with actions."
"You still haven't explained the ten million though…"
"Let your Dad explain it."
Six in the evening, the windows only harnessed the brightness of streetlights before the Sugiyama residence. A familiar ceiling greeted Sera who just woke up from lethargy. The memories still remained, the heartache accumulating, but her feelings were reset. The aroma of the roasted chicken's sweet fragrance diminished the remaining doubt on her heart.
Sera sat up on the couch, not witnessing any people but the television that remained on. She stood and searched for the source of the aroma, finding herself in the kitchen where Maki served the meals on the dining table.
"Oh! Good evening."
"Good evening… Ma'am… I'm sorry for what happened earlier, and… thank you for letting me rest in your home."
Maki shook her head and smiled. "Did you enjoy that limited-edition couch? I even found myself wandering off as soon as I felt its comfort."
"I–I'm not going to lie, but… it was comfortable, I guess. I really appreciate your courtesy. I may need to leave soon. I need to go home now."
"Really? Won't you like to join us for dinner?"
"I–" Instead of her mouth, the growling of her stomach became her answer. She may have ticked her hunger after smelling the fragrance of a mouthwatering dish she never experienced before. With the lack of spices in their world, elves crafted a unique sense of taste from the forest herbs and salt gained from boiled seawater. However, these flavors would only taste like baked bread on Earth.
Maki laughed after Sera shared her unconscious response. "Really? What perfect timing! Don't be shy, girl. You can sit on the table. I'll call Kou for dinner."
Shrouded with embarrassment, Sera couldn't deny what her body really wanted and sat on a dinner chair. "T–Thank you very much…" When Maki left, Sera vacantly looked at the roasted chicken meal surrounded by three blank plates, utensils, and full water glasses. However, she gazed back, suppressing the twisting of her stomach.
Sera's hands trembled while chewing her lips. Due to her over-sensitive sense of smell brought by her hunger, her deep breathing couldn't escape the scent of flavor emitted from the smokes of the cooked meat. She thought, This is too much. Even though I'm a stranger, they're willing to help me. But… I don't deserve this. I don't have time to stall. I need to return home.
When Maki came down with Kou who just reattached a spare prosthetic foot, the entrance door was left wide open. She gasped, unable to see any living creature in her kitchen. In contrast to the untouched meal, the water glasses, once filled, remained empty.
"I haven't known her yet. I should've asked her name."