Blissful Memories (Kotori's Childhood Bliss)

I lay in my bed awake the whole night. Thinking. It's been a few days since Saikawa left. Kanna refuses to leave her room. Can I blame her? No. I can't. Love is complicated. I press snooze on my alarm clock and crawl out of bed. I put on my clothes. I have at least a month of time to myself. No school. I should be happy that I don't have to go to school. I can relax and work on my computer. I don't feel like it thought. My mood for programming or working on inventions is non-existent. Kotori folds and hangs out the clothes to dry outside. She sees me and runs to my side, "Shiro?"

I sigh and walk past her. She grabs me by the hand, "Shiro. Don't leave. Please," she pulls me closer.

"I'm sorry. I just want to be alone."

I notice how tall Kotori is compared to me. She towers over me by a few feet. She pulls me close to her chest. Her heart is beating, "Shiro. It's not your fault."

"I know," I let out another sigh. She pets me, "Shiro. Cheer up. You've been through worse," she gives me a soft punch on the shoulder.

I nod, "Yeah," I look at her chest, blushing. "I'm sorry. Could you please let go…It looks suspicious for a brother and sister to be so close together. She immediately lets go, "Sorry. Sorry. I-I got carried away,"

"What about Kanna?"

"Kanna is resting. She needs some space. For now, let's just take our mind off Kanna and Saikawa. Okay?"

She opens the door to my bedroom and looks outside. The living room is dirty. There are clothes everywhere and the dishes haven't been cleaned, "We need to clean this mess up before mom comes home."

"I'm not very good at-"she drags me before I can object to cleaning the living room.

I rinse the dishes with water and douse them in soap.

Lick lick

She goes through the laundry with her dragon tongue.

We clean my room for a few minutes then focus on Kotori's room. When that is done, we approach the door to Tohru's room.

"Maybe we should ask Tohru," I hold my hand on the door knob indecisively.

"Nah," Kotori opens the door wide open for me. The lights in the room are still on, but there is no sign of Tohru. We cautiously enter. Inside is her queen-sized bed. There are pictures of Kobayashi hanging from the wall. At the back of the room is a shut closet door. Light is pouring out through the cracks underneath it. When I reach for the door knob I feel a draft brushing against my skin.

Creeaak.

A flash of light blinds me. When my eyes recover, I see a purple crystal on the floor.

Kotori holds it in her eyes and examines it.

"Kotori we shouldn't be touching Tohru's things," I touch the crystal, but Kotori pulls the crystal away from me.

"I feel something. Familiar about this crystal," she rubs it furiously.

Pzzzttt

Ptoom

The crystal blows up, everything is white. When I come to I'm outside. Lying down in the grass.

Kotori is lying beside me.

A blushing lady is standing in front of us. She is in a maid outfit. Her hair is red and her eyes were blue as the ocean. She looks down on us with her hands on her hips.

"Well, Well. Looks like you've been sleeping again, Kotori," she pulls Kotori up.

I get up, "Thanks."

The lady doesn't make eye contact with me, "Huh?" I look at my body and see I'm transparent. A perception blocking spell? No way. Can't be right.

"Huh…," Kotori gives a confused glance at the lady and me. It looks like Kotori can see me.

I look back at her and shrug. Must be some sort of spell. Or maybe this woman mistook her for someone else. I look around me. I can't recognize any landmarks or roads. I guess, we teleported.

"No time for lollygagging. We should hurry and get going," she takes us to a manor on a rolling green hill. Roses sprout from the meadow as far as the eye can see.

She gives Kotori a good scolding at the front door, "What did I say about wandering off, Kotori? Next time make sure that doesn't happen until you finish your chores," she leaves us two alone.

Kotori digs into her pockets and searches the area around her, "The crystal…"

"It's gone. I guess we're going to be stuck here for a while," I sit down. My heart sinks while I fidget.

"Are you doing the chores, Kotori?"

We notice a bucket with wet clothes in it. We decide it would be a clever idea not to anger the lady.

We hang the clothes out to dry in the sun. The breeze tickles my sides.

The lady from before comes and gives both of us a pat on the back, "Good work, Kotori. Remember father should be coming home today."

Clop Clop Clop Clop

Some servants run out of the manor. A carriage drawn by horses stops in front of the manor. The carriage door swings open and a man in a dark suit comes out.

"Miss Rosie," a servant says to the lady in the maid outfit, "It's master Stephan."

Rosie walks over to Stephan. She gestures for her to follow

"I'm home. This time I brought something special," he holds up a spell-book.

"Wow. What is that?" Kotori touches the book.

"Now, hold on," Stephan pulls book away. It's not a toy."

"Dinner is ready," Rosie interrupts.

Stephan nods. He brings us inside the manor to the dinner hall. There's a large table that stretches 12 yards. The room is barely large enough to fit us all. We eat together.

I whisper to Kotori, "Where are we? It can't be our world. I don't see any roads and people are still using horses like it's the middle ages."

"I know. Yet...," she pauses. She takes in the scenery. She breathes in the air blissfully, "This place feels…so familiar."

I think. Could this be her home? If so, where is Tohru? When we finish eating they send us to a bedroom on the third floor. Inside is a room full of toys and books scattered all over the floor.

"I remember this. This is my room," Kotori picks up a doll, "This is Georgie! My favorite doll."

"Do you know where we are?"

Kotori eyes open wide. She runs to the window and opens it. She points outside. I look through the window. What I see surprises me. There isn't the moon. It's several moons littered across the night sky.

Dragons fly across the sky. I hear their distant roars over the soft chirping of crickets.

"This is the other world."

I sit on the bed, "You lived here, then? Is it okay if you tell me what happened?"

She stands still, "Trying. Trying to remember," she wracks her head.

We hear arguing upstairs between Rosie and Stephan.

"She's going to grow up soon. Our little girl is going to be a grown up."

"I know. That's why we need to be careful and teach her right from wrong. Before she becomes…an adult dragon."

"By teaching her magic? Stephan. That's too dangerous. What if she hurts someone?"

Stomp

"I know that! It's inevitable. We should at least teach her to be a decent person. That's when we let her go."

"But, I don't want to let her go."

Kotori listens as if she's a trance, "I'm…a dragon."

A sudden realization hits me. We did not get teleported to another world. We are living in a memory from Kotori's childhood.

We get sent to another point in time. I see Kotori sitting on the bench while Rosie reads a story to her.

"This is a new story, you might like it. The story of a hero who goes on adventures," she flips open the book and narrates to her.

Again, we get whisked to another part in time. Kotori is training with her father.

"Use your dragonfire!" she shouts.

She spits out a lightning bolt. The bolt slams into a target dummy.

When the training is, over Kotori is resting.

"She's ready. It's time, Rosie. She needs to go."

"But I don't want to leave her, "Rosie shouts in disbelief that he would tell her to abandon her daughter.

Kotori enters Stephan's room. There are books neatly placed on shelves. There's a globe in the corner and paperwork on his desk. She picks up the spell-book he brought home from before.

"I don't want to go," she says. She shakes the book, "Please help me. There must be a spell here that can help me stay with them forever!"

She takes the book and flips through it.

Whooooosshh

A vortex appears in the middle of the room and sucks everything inside.

Rosie runs into the room, "Kotori!"

The gust of winds pulls Kotori into the vortex. She gets stuck halfway in up to her hips.

Rosie gets knocked over. Stephan runs to her side, "Kotori. Take my hand!" he stretches his hand toward her while holding tightly on to the door.

Whooooooosh fwoop fwoop

Kotori tries to grab Stephan's hand but it's too late. She's sucked inside.

Not good. I jump into the vortex after her.

We fall through the hole and crash into the asphalt.

Beep Honk Beep Honk

A woman, in a blue jacket walks past us. She stops and then walks back to us.

She has a curious look. She walks over to Kotori and gently nudges her.

"Argh…" Kotori rolls around in pain.

"You're a dragon. Aren't you?" the woman says.

"Yeah…," she shakes her body scared when she realizes where she is. She crawls to the back of a wall.

"Where am I? Who are you?!"

"Shh. Shh," she comforts her, "What's your name? Where are your parents?"

"K-Kotori," she answers.

"My name is Tohru. If your parents aren't here. Would you like to stay with me until we find them?"

FLASH

I'm blinded yet again. When I wake up, I'm in Tohru's room.

I breath heavily, "Kotori…Kotori?"

"Mmm…," she opens her eyes, "That…wasn't a dream, was it?"

"No. No it wasn't," I shake my head.

"I'm home!" Tohru shouts slamming the door shut behind her. Her footsteps fast approach her room.

Creak

She sees us on the floor, "Kotori. Shiro," she says sternly, "Is there a reason why you're in my room?"

She notices the crystal on the floor, "Ah," she kneels and picks it up, "So you found the crystal."

I rub my forehead, "What was that crystal, Tohru?"

"Something to help me remember all the precious moments I have with Kobayashi."

Kotori trembles, "I-I remember how I entered this world... I saw my home. I got sucked in through a portal. I have to go back!" she panics and runs to the front door, "We have to go back and get them!"

Tohru shakes her head, "Kotori. The portal to the other world is closed."

"But…But..," her hand is shaking. Tohru holds her hand, "I need to know what happened to them."

Tohru steps aside. She clears her throat. That's my cue to talk.

"Kotori," I speak softly, "You just remembered they took care of you. We don't know where they are."

Kotori reluctantly steps away from the front door.

"I'm sorry," Tohru apologizes, "I waited. Waited for the right time to tell you how I found you. I found you passed out. Maybe you hit your head. Because when I asked who your parents were you said you didn't know. I wanted to give you the crystal when the time was right."

She takes a deep breath and lets go of the door knob, "But mom. I'm home-sick."

Tohru hushes her, "Shh. I know. I miss the other world, too. But it can't be helped. This is our home now. Maybe one day we can go back there. Back to the other world. I'll find out how to open that portal. When we do, we'll find them. I promise," she extends her pinky finger out.

"Haha…A pinky promise," Kotori wraps her pinky around it and they shake.

"We have a home here. What happened is behind us," I hold the crystal in my hand, "I think you should keep it."

She takes the crystal from my hand and puts it in her pocket.

"Brr…," she rubs her hands together, "Is it cold in here?"

"The AC doesn't seem to be working," I groan. I point to the fireplace, "We're going to need to light the fireplace. Again."

She spits fire from her mouth and roasts the logs in the fireplace. We all huddle up close to the fireplace without saying a word. I think about her old family and the beautiful world Tohru and Kotori came from. I feel grateful to have them. I feel sad that she can't return to her other family. But at the same time, I know had they stayed there, they would be just another fire-breathing dragon. We wouldn't be together and I would continue to be alone. I wonder if they will return to that world. If they do, could I go with them? The thought scares me. But I know that moment won't come soon. For now, I need to stay in the moment. I need to leave behind a plethora of happy memories.

Preview: Magus needs help. I always help those in need. Next chapter, will I be able to change Magus? Or will his past transgressions catch up to him?