I think you all know by now to believe me when i say i might update again soon. I've been totally swamped with schoolwork lately (im actually putting off doing schoolwork rn) so I haven't been able to write much but then i ended up writing an entire chapter just to avoid work..

Part 2: The New World - Chapter 3

Kirino stared in awe at the house around him as he and Shindou walked up a flight of stairs,
"I've never seen such a fancy place before!" He commented.
"Do they not have mansions where you're from?" Shindou asked, raising an eyebrow. Kirino shook his head,
"Oh no, we have mansions, but nothing close to this. Especially not where I lived."
"What kind of place did you live in?" Shindou asked, genuinely curious. This Kirino guy was becoming more interesting every time he opened his mouth and despite his backstory (that Shindou did not fully believe) Shindou admit he did harbor some interest in his pink-haired guest.
"I lived with 4 other people and we'd travel around the world." Kirino replied, remembering the world he was in a mere 30 minutes ago.
"Were'd you get the money do so much travelling?" Shindou wondered, "Plane tickets are pretty expensive."
Kirino gave Shindou a confused glance, "What's a plane?"
"O-oh, I'll tell you later." Shindou replied as they approached his bedroom door. 'I guess he doesn't come from a technologically advanced world then…' He opened the door in front of them and stepped inside the room with Kirino.
Shindou's bedroom was large and rectangular. On the two far walls there were a few large windows. In the far right corner there was a raised platform with a black grand piano on it. While the platform was wood, the rest of the room had plush blue carpet. The walls were plain white with dark wood baseboards. In the middle of the left wall, a double bed was against the wall. On the same wall as the door, a little left of it was a dresser that matched the dark wood end tables on either side of the bed. There were some plush white couches and chairs with a coffee table near the piano, just off the platform. On the right wall there were 2 doors, both were closed so Kirino had no idea what was behind them. Strewn around the room was soccer memorabilia, from tournament posters on the wall to trophies on the dresser. There were also some pictures around of Shindou and his friends.
"This is your bedroom!?" Kirino exclaimed in shock when they entered. Shindou shrugged,
"Yeah. I know it's a little big." When he said this, Kirino stared at him,
"A little big!?" He said in shock, "I don't think I've ever lived in a whole house this big!"
"You said you travelled a lot," Shindou replied, "Most hotel rooms are this big aren't they?"
"What's a hotel again?" Was Kirino's reply. Shindou sighed, 'well at least he's not afraid of asking for help. It'd be worse if I went off talking about something that he didn't understand.'.
"It's a place people stay when they go places. They pay money to rent a room for their vacations." Shindou smiled when a look of understanding appeared on Kirino's face. He thought that it was much better than the confused looks he had gotten so far.
"Oh, you mean an inn!" Kirino said, finally understanding something Shindou said, "We don't stay at those. Takes away from our food money. We don't go to cold places very often so we usually just sleep with our stuff in the carriage."
'Carriage? Inn?' Shindou thought, 'Just how technologically inadvanced is that place?' Shindou walked to one of the closed doors. He opened it to reveal that it was just a closet.
"So Kirino," He started, pulling down some clothes off their hooks, "What's the world you come from like?"
Kirino shrugged, "It looks a lot like this one, but it's not, that's for sure. You have weird magic like moving pictures and candles without fire." Shindou was confused about the 'candles without fire' statement before he realised Kirino was talking about lightbulbs.
"Kirino, we don't have magic here. What you're seeing is the work of electricity. I take it you don't have that where you live?" Kirino shook his head and Shindou continued, "It's kind of like lightning but on a less powerful scale." He explained, "Without TV and internet and stuff what kind of things do people do for fun where you come from?"
Not bothering to ask what a 'TV' and an 'Internet' was, Kirino responded, "The kids spend their time playing outside. If they're not doing that then they're causing trouble inside. The adults work a lot but they also do other things like sewing and knitting. Some people read. We also have festivals and things like that in the town sometimes."
Shindou tossed a pair of brown trousers and a white button up shirt at Kirino, who ended up getting hit in the face with it,
"Here, change into this. Put what you're wearing in there to be washed." Shindou said, pointing to a white basket in the closet he left open. He walked towards the door, "Just come downstairs when you're done. The staircase is directly down this hallway. I'll be waiting with mom." Shindou closed the door behind him and left Kirino alone. He ran down the stairs to find his mother, who was still in the living room drinking tea. Shindou sat down beside her,
"Mom. Give up the act. What's the real reason Kirino's here?"
"Takuto, I don't know what you're talking about. I've told nothing but the truth about him." She replied. Shindou frowned,
"Oh come on, you can't actually expect me to believe such a silly story." Before he could say more, his mother sighed and placed her cup down, turning to face her son,
"Listen Takuto, I know it's hard to believe, but there's another realm that exists alongside ours. I first came in contact with it when a girl from that universe appeared my yard when she accidently teleported there. She was just learning teleportation magic and had gotten herself stranded here for about a month before someone came to rescue her." Kinko chuckled, recounting the fond memories, "I took her in while she was here. We became close friends, but it was hard to keep in contact when she returned home. I was so surprised when she showed up at the front door earlier. All she said was that Kirino was in some trouble and needed to hide out here for a bit."
Shindou stared at his mother; he had no idea that happened. Why hadn't she mentioned it at all before? Kinko loved telling stories and this sounded like a great one! Kinko's face got a bit more serious,
"Now Takuto, I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I don't want to let my friend down, so please just bear with it for a little while." She returned to her usual smile, "Who knows, you might even end up being friends with Kirino!"
As his name was spoken, Kirino stepped into the room from the hallway, Kinko grinned at him,
"Look at you! You look so nice. Those clothes are a little big though so we'll have to go out shopping for you soon!"
"Thanks for the clothes." Kirino said to Shindou, who gave a low "No problem" in reply. As Kirino got closer, Kinko gasped,
"Oh my, Kirino I didn't notice before but now that I'm looking at it, your hair is filthy!" When Kirino was a little taken aback by the comment Kinko added, "S-sorry… When was the last time you took a bath?"
Kirino shrugged, "I don't really keep track of it. I only take baths when we come across a river after all." Hearing this, Shindou took a step farther away from Kirino, who gave him a dirty look, "Oh come on, and we didn't always have bathing water when we're always moving around. Even if we did, we don't even have anywhere to put it!"
Shindou's mom sighed, "If you leave the house as you are you'll receive a number of dirty looks. People here stay very clean." Kinko giggled and stood up, "Why don't we get a shower ready for you, then you can rest. You look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet!"
As she said that, Kirino had just become painfully aware of how tired he was. It wasn't that late but the shock of this new world must've tired him out. Kinko lead Kirino back to the staircase, "We have an extra room you can stay in, follow me!"

A few minutes later, Kirino stood in the weird rain maker they called a 'shower'. He stood staring at the back wall with the water falling on his back. He had finally calmed down enough to think. He hadn't been in this world long, but everything he'd experienced in it had been so quick and rushed. He didn't even get to finish his tea from earlier before he was brought upstairs to change. Through his whole experience he was utterly terrified. He wanted to go home but he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. All he could do was wait for Grace to come get him. Kirino whipped away a teardrop that was running down his face,
"Get it together." He said aloud to himself, "You've only been here for what, an hour? You can't be homesick already!" As he thought of home, it just made the problem worse. He wondered what everyone else was doing right now. He hoped they managed to get away from the water users. If they got captured he didn't know what he did. Based on the time of the day last time he looked out a window, his friends would be eating lunch together by now. Oh, how he wished he could be there to. His hands curled into fists. This was the water users fault. All of it. During his travels he often heard the water users started the war. Everything was their fault. Kirino decided to drop the topic so he wouldn't get himself too angry. He yawned, getting out of the shower so he could just sleep already. He picked up a white towel that was neatly folded on a counter and started drying himself. His mind would constantly wander back to home, but he did his best to distract himself.
When he put his borrowed pants back on, he gladly wrapped himself up in the blankets on the comfy bed in the room he was given. He'd never slept in such a comfortable bed, not even in Beta's big fancy summer home. Despite his efforts, Kirino thought of his friends back home as he dozed off.

I'm going to try to update again soon but I'm not sure when it'll come... I have about 3 school projects due next week but after that i have like a whole week before i have to study for exams so hopefully I can write something then!
If u liked the chapter u should leave a review on your way out!