With light footsteps, a man and a woman traveled the rough streets of Emia. Naturally, they both spoke Emian; however, the man's fluency wasn't the greatest. They walked slowly, but fast enough to get to places.
"…Girl, you know you can go away now, right?"
The man, named Agan, had been walking to Doctor Jones' office with the help of a young woman. The eyes of the man could see aura–a talent coveted by many, but one he regrets having. His left eye in particular was blind due to a particular incident that had happened earlier to him in the past, but he felt nothing much from it. His muscular arms were now frail, and he had to use a cane to walk fast. Agan's heart was filled with expectation at how the appointment would go. It was a sunny day, and the air felt boiling hot. He was reminded of the summers in his village, and he felt a reminiscent nostalgia. The feeling saddened him.
After all, his village was massacred, and he believed himself to be the only survivor. The girl smirked with harmless intent.
"You're going to get lost if I don't lead you there, old man."
"Hmph. I'm only forty, kid."
The two chuckled together. This young woman had been assigned to take care of him ever since he was rescued from bandits three winters ago. Although Agan would never understand why she kept taking care of him even after he was deemed healthy, he didn't mind her presence. He would have shuddered at the bad memory of being captured, but he had grown to ignore the past.
"Besides, you said all I have to do now is go right and straight ahead. It can't possibly be that hard…unless?"
"Well, it wouldn't be, but…for some reason, her place kind of…" The girl leaned in towards Agan's ear, afraid to catch anybody's attention.
Ironically however, this only made the duo stand out more.
"…It disappears and reappears around in this town like a ghost. Are you really sure you wanna go there?"
The young woman, Kamae, was skeptical of the place, but since Agan had gone there once already safely—without letting her know—she let him go again, but only if she came along. The old man couldn't find the place as he didn't know his way inside the city, so she had to guide him either way. Kamae was also very skeptical of the place, because there was no way something so good existed.
Not in this world.
"You already know the answer to that, Kamae."
She sighed as her arms slumped. Worry radiated off of her body as she gave Agan a side eye, completely showing her annoyance.
"...I can never stop you when it comes to things like these. Why do you even want to go to that creepy place?"
"Hahaha! It's not creepy. It's a nice place…it lets me get my mind off things. I think that's what it'll do, at least. Just that alone is enough." He laughed grimly.
Then, for a reason Kamae did not know, the man stopped at a wall.
"...Here it is." He let out a deep sigh, something invisible clearly weighing on his shoulders. The young woman looked at him with confusion.
"Have you grown mad due to your old age? There's nothing there, Agan."
He grew shocked at her words, and then laughed hard. Despite his ruckus however, nobody seemed to be paying attention to them–a detail Kamae was forced to notice. She had no idea what was going on, so she felt skeptical of the situation.
Agan's voice distracted Kamae from her thoughts, however.
"Well, while you do that, I'll be entering. Don't wait for me, alright? Go ahead and eat something." With his blind eye closed, he waggled his finger at the woman. "I'll be back in a bit, Kamae. Don't bore yourself while I'm gone–and if for some reason I don't come back, you can inherit my money, haha!"
With an exciting tap of his foot, the old man put his hand on a seemingly invisible door knob and entered inside the wall, opening a nonexistent door. The wall shined for a small moment, and then, he was gone.
In her shock, Kamae muttered to herself.
"...How in Mier Gande…?"
She touched the wall, but nothing happened. Then, she suddenly remembered the words Agan had said before he disappeared into the wall.
"...What do you mean 'you can inherit my money', old man!?!"
Her angry voice echoed across the streets, and the pedestrians all around her gossiped. Kamae's face turned red, and her priorities shifted from protecting Agan to getting out of that embarrassing situation.
-O-
A bell rang, and an otherworlder appeared inside the modern world of Earth. Sun shone through the perfect glass windows, and plants peacefully lived inside the room. The air was perfectly cool, and many things about the place would be unordinary to a person who lived in Mier Gande.
The moment he came in, however, Agan didn't notice any of those things, only focusing on the other person in the room. His instincts crawled, but he forced them under control. His aura was nowhere near as bad as that thing. Agan lamented at his weakness.
'How dangerous…he reminds me of a beast in control of its emotions. A fearsome ability…''
The odd-colored green eyes of the man stared back at him, noticing his presence. Agan calmed himself and sat down three chairs away from him, setting his cane down on the chair next to his right. The eyes of the other person glowed for a short moment, and the man felt less dangerous.
'I've only seen ten as strong as him during my time at the capital. Unbelievable…'
With the swordsman's aura signature practically forced into his eyes, he shuffled his hands uncomfortably, and tried starting a conversation.
"May I ask for your name?" Agan said, looking over to him. The other man thought for a moment, and nodded.
"...It's Nata. What's yours?"
He felt less of a burden on his shoulders, and he started talking to him with a cautious calm. And so, for another ten minutes, they spoke to each other…
-O-
The door knob from Dr. K. Jones' room could be heard opening, and Agan stiffened for a moment. Nata was confused by this action, but he understood when he pointed towards the doctor's office.
"Seems like your friend is done, Nata."
The old man looked at Nata and then focused on his friend–a young boy who looked barely thirteen with a noticeable scar on his left eye. Those details straightened Agan's back, but to him, there was no possible way Jaffy could have lived from the massacre. Even that monster, the village chief, died–what could that child do?
As the two of them talked to each other, Agan walked over to the doctor, and began talking to her–though he waited until she was finished.
"So…I'm not sure if you remember me from last week, but I'm here for my appointment today." He was slightly nervous in his heart, but he hid his feelings well in front of the doctor.
"Welcome back! Of course, I remember you from last week, so you don't need to worry. I've been looking forward to our session today; how have you been since we last spoke? Has anything changed for you in this past week?"
He chuckled. "Not much, just the usual. I've been doing alright, but I would like to speak my mind to you about some things."
Then, he heard something that wasn't usual, flinching at the very name. Agan's eyes widened, and the doctor noticed his shock.
"...sorry, Jaffy–"
'What!? Jaffy?!'
He nearly turned around with the name called out, eyes blinking. Doctor Jones didn't say anything about his behavior, however.
'It's…probably a coincidence. That's the word, right?' Agan thought in his head. With calm, the doctor waited patiently for him to zone back in.
"Of course, just give me a short moment…" She wrote in her calendar and a notebook, and the man marveled at the slick white paper. "Your name is…Agan, right?"
From the other side of the room, a magical noise sounded out. 'It was probably those two walking out.' He thought to himself.
His old mind then promptly remembered he was in a conversation.
"Oh—yes, I'm Agan from the other day." He paused briefly. "Don't tell me I came in at the wrong time…"
"No, you did come in at the right time. I apologize if you waited too long for me."
Doctor Jones closed her books, and she gestured to the man. He followed her, and then the doctor opened her office. The comfortable dim light inside wrapped itself around his eyes.
"Come inside, please." Doctor Jones smiled warmly. Agan took the offer, walking inside the room and its beauty.