Where this chapter ends is just about all I have but I have a lot of free time so hopefully I'll be able to get to where I left off last time...
Part 2: The New World - Chapter 2
The next morning, they set out before the sun had fully risen. Giris, who controlled the horses, had concluded to move at a faster pace than usual after being informed of the situation. They traveled uninterrupted for most of the morning, until they hit a roadblock—literally. At least 12 knights from the water magic kingdom blocked their path, Beta's father at the front of them,
"You know what we want!" He said loudly.
"Forget about it!" Meia yelled, poking her head out from the inside of their wagon. Meanwhile, Grace and Kirino were slowly making their way to the opening at the back of the wagon while Kanon walked towards the front,
"Grace, you get Kirino out of here while I try to buy us some time!" he said quietly. Kirino nodded and exited the carriage, sneaking towards the thicker part of the forest in hopes they wouldn't be spotted. When they were a short distance away from the knights, Kirino finally asked,
"Grace, where am I going to go, you know I can't just survive on my own! They'll find me for sure!"
Grace picked up a fairly flat stone from the ground and removed a small bottle from the pocket of the apron she always wore. Inside it there was a blue liquid that was as thick as ink. She took off the cork, pouring a tiny bit of it onto her index finger. She started to draw a symbol of some sort on the stone. When Kirino looked at it, it looked familiar. He'd seen it on the inside of a book that Beta was reading once, but he wasn't able to read the caption.
"I hate to be going to such drastic measures, but it's the only place I can think of that they won't be able to find you in." She dropped the painted on stone onto the ground, muttering what sounded like gibberish. Kirino stepped back in shock when a small round portal appeared on the ground before him. It was glittery and light pink.
"Teleportation Magic." Kirino whispered. He looked back to Grace, "But why? I'm sure they'll just end up sending out troupes to every corner of the world looking for me!"
"That's why this portal doesn't lead to anywhere in this world." Grace explained. Kirino gasped,
"You mean this leads to another universe!?"
Grace nodded, "Now come, we don't have much time." She waited for Kirino to step in before she followed.
When Kirino opened his eyes he was standing in front of a tall metal gate. He looked to the side to see Grace smiling,
"I'm glad the ink still works. I made it so the portal would drop us off here, but I was afraid it got too old and lost it's magic." Kirino followed Grace to a small black box on the tall fencing surrounding the gate. Grace pushed a button on it and Kirino jumped in surprise when a voice come out of it,
"Yes, who is it?" Asked the voice of a lady.
"It's Grace. I hope you still remember me."
The lady on the other end gasped, "Grace!? Oh of course! The gates are open come on in!"
Kirino stepped closer to grace when the gates started to open on their own. He had only been in this world for less than a minute but he was already scared. He followed Grace up the lengthy path towards a big white mansion. Before Grace even knocked on the door, it flew open and Grace was engulfed in a hug.
"Grace!" Exclaimed the lady who had opened the door. Kirino recognised her voice as the one who was speaking through that box at the gate. When she pulled back, the woman turned to Kirino. She had short, curly brown hair, fair skin and Brown eyes.
"Who's this?" She asked.
"This is Kirino Ranmaru, I hate to ask this so suddenly but we have a small problem back home, so do you think he could stay with you?"
The lady smiled, "Of course Grace! Anything for a friend!" She stepped aside to make room for them to enter, "Oh Grace, you must come in for tea!"
Grace hesitantly shook her head, "As much as I'd like to, I'm afraid I'll to refuse. My friends back home need me."
The lady frowned, "Oh, okay, but you have to come visit more often!"
Grace looked to Kirino, "I'll come get you as soon as we get them off your tail. Until then you'll be safe here." Kirino nodded and Grave waved as she walked off, soon disappearing through another portal back home.
"I'm Shindou Kinko," The woman introduced herself, guiding Kirino through her large house, "Call me Kinko. I met Grace when she was first learning teleportation magic. She accidentally ended up in this universe."
"Thank you for letting me stay here." Kirino said shyly to Kinko, who grinned,
"Any friend of Grace is a friend of mine!" Kirino smiled at this statement and they entered what seemed to be a living room. It had white walls and dark wood floors. In the middle of the room there was a large fluffy white rug. On top of it was a boxy white couch with some light brown and grey throw pillows on it. There was a loveseat beside it with a glass end table in between the corners. In front of the couch was a glass-topped coffee table with a few magazines on it and there was a large flat screen TV on the wall. There was a black grand piano in the top left corner, beside a doorway.
"Why don't you have a seat and I'll make some tea!" Kinko said, disappearing through the doorway close to the piano. Kirino watched her go, walking over to the couch and sitting down. It was really soft and was comfortable to sit on. He examined his surroundings. He could recognize most of the items in the room, but he just couldn't figure out what the big black box on the wall was. After a minute or two, Kirino heard footsteps running down a flight of stairs and someone appeared in the doorway that Kirino had come through to enter the room. It was a person who very closely resembled Kinko, but he was a boy and much younger. He gave a confused look to Kirino before shrugging and sitting down on the end of the couch opposite to Kirino. Kirino cradled a small, barely visible fire in his hands. He let the warmth of the fire calm him down. The boy picked up a little black box with a bunch of buttons on it from the coffee table. 'This world sure does have a lot of little back boxes...' Kirino thought. The boy pressed a button and Kirino jumped and let out a surprised squeak when the black box on the wall suddenly started to emit sound, and there were pictures on it that moved. The boy wasn't phased, as he expected this to happen. He gave a look to Kirino,
"You act as if you've never seen a TV before." He said flatly.
"A TV?" Said said, confused, "What in the great war is that?"
"Uh, that thing." Replied the boy, gesturing towards the thing displaying moving pictures with the little black box that was still in his hand. Kinko suddenly came back into the room, holding a tray with a teapot and a few teacups on it.
"Ah, Kirino! I see you've met my son, Shindou Takuto!" She said, placing the tray down on the coffee table.
"Mom, who's this?" Shindou questioned, "And why does he look like he just got back from a renaissance fair?"
"Takuto, don't be rude!" Kinko scolded upon hearing her son's final remark before answering his question, "This is Kirino Ranmaru, a close friend of mine asked if he could stay with us for a little bit. There's a little trouble going on back where he's from."
"That doesn't really explain the outfit though." Shindou replied. Kinko sighed,
"Takuto, it's a long story and it probably won't make much sense to you."
"I still want to know." Shindou pressed on.
"Why don't we have some tea before it gets cold!" Kinko said, completely changing the subject. She poured Kirino a cup of tea and handed it to him before pouring some for herself and her son.
When Kirino received his tea, a fire started to form in his hands, surrounded the cup to heat the tea to almost boiling temperature. Since the heat didn't hurt Kirino, he actually really liked his tea to be far too hot.
"What the fuck." He heard Shindou whisper as he spotted the fire. He started to inch farther away from Kirino, continuously staring at the fire while Kinko gave Shindou a dirty look for his language. Kirino gave Shindou a confused look,
"What, you act like you've never seen magic before."
"I've never seen magic because it isn't real." Replied Shindou, earning a frown from Kirino,
"Of course it's real. I'm using it right now."
Kinko tapped on Kirino's shoulder,
"Kirino, the people here don't have magic."
"What!?" Kirino exclaimed, "But how do you survive without magic!?"
Shindou completely ignored Kirino's question, instead asking his own, "Mom what's going on?"
Kinko sighed, "Well I knew you'd find out eventually, we live in the same house, but I didn't think it would be this early." She said, "I thought I'd at least have time to think of an answer that makes sense."
"How does 'teleported here from another realm' not make sense?" Kirino asked, genuinely confused. Where he was from, explaining his situation wouldn't be hard.
"Well that's one way to put it…" Kinko said with a chuckle.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. What's the real story?" Shindou asked, not believing a word either of said so far. Kinko shrugged,
"I'm sorry, Takuto. That's the truth. Kirino came from another realm to get out of some trouble. There's not really another way to put it."
At this point, Shindou had no other choice to believe what he was told. Putting her cup down, Kinko changed the subject again, "Now I want to help Kirino get used to this world, so Takuto, could you lend him some of your clothes?" Kirino frowned,
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Kirino asked.
"It's a little…old fashioned." Kinko said, "Not to mention it's dirtying up my couches!"
Kirino looked behind him, only to see a little dirt on the formerly white couch, "Oh, sorry…" Kinko smiled,
"Oh don't worry about it!" She looked to her son, "So Takuto, how about those clothes? Nothing too tight though, I know you're getting into all that tight black clothing stuff." Shindou gave his mother a look when she finished speaking, but stood up nonetheless, "Follow me, Kirino, I'll get something for you upstairs."
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