Author's Note: Hey guys! Here's another chapter for you guys! Finally, right? As an apology, I made this one longer! :) A heads up for this chapter: I use italics to show what Takano is thinking, when people are talking in a different language, AND for the dream sequence later. I tried my best to make it apparent so that you all would be able to distinguish which is which, but if you have questions let me know.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.

Chapter 5

Takano stared out into the moving canvas of Listriv and thought not for the first time how beautiful the scenery was. The greens of the plant life meshed well with the earthy tones of the mud on the floor. He closed his eyes and sighed out of content. "This is how traveling should be." The black-haired boy allowed this lazy thought to linger in his mind for several moments as he drifted off into a blissful sleep.

His breathing slowed and he felt his tense body relax. This, however, didn't last long. The carriage stopped abruptly which jerked Takano forward, almost crashing into Haitani who was sitting across from him.

The mage's brow furrowed and he turned toward the man driving the carriage as well as his horse-like creature that was pulling the carriage. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

The driver turned around in fear to witness Haitani's rage. "I'm sorry, sir. But the road toward the capital is closed."

Haitani poked his head out of the window to confirm the driver's assessment. To his surprise, a barrier consisting of multiple purple tinted hex-shaped blocks was spread from left to right, effectively blocking their path. "Then find another way," Haitani said rudely to the elderly man.

"But – "

Before he could finish, Haitani cut him off. "I'm not going to pay you for your incompetence. We need to get there immediately. And when we do get there, I'll be sure that you lose your job."

"Calm down, Haitani." Onodera said sternly to the taller man. Said man turned his glare to Onodera who remained unfazed at how he regarded him. "There must've been a reason that it's closed. Like an accident of sorts. It's likely this time of year isn't it? Since this is when monsters start to mate."

The driver nodded briskly, catching on that Onodera was trying to defend him.

Haitani pondered this for a moment. "Is that so? Fine then. Take us to Maryllis instead."

The man nodded curtly and wore an expression of tired relief as he redirected his tamed-monster drawn carriage around the detour. He wiped his white eyebrows with the back of his hand. He could only hope that he can keep his job at the end of this trip.

Takano looked around at his surroundings clearly confused. Onodera leaned in and answered his unasked question. "The road to the capital is closed so we are going to stay in a town known as Maryllis for a while until we can reach there safely."

"Oh." Takano gazed at his lap with a dejected look on his face. The brown-haired man reached over and squeezed the boy's knee which enticed a small smile from Takano's lips. This was when he knew that the older man was back to his normal self which eased him tenfold.

Takano gazed out the carriage window and continued to watch the movement until the greens turned into the browns of the fire baked bricks and the soil turned into a stone walkway. He didn't need to be told that they've reached their destination.

The driver removed himself from the front of the car and walked hastily toward the door that housed the three men and opened it politely for them.

Onodera was the first to exit the vehicle. "Thank you," he said.

The driver nodded and then turned to Takano who was the next one to exit. He thought it was only polite of him to say thank you so he mimicked what Onodera had just muttered to the man. But when he did, it turned out to be heavily accented followed by a lot of stuttering. Onodera laughed quietly while the elder grew a broad smile at the boy's cute utterance.

That smile was wiped off of his face once Haitani confronted the man wearing a sour expression. Haitani fished into his pocket and grabbed coins without counting any of it. "Here's the payment."

"Th-thank you, sir!" the man said graciously while bowing low.

Sensing the oldest man's gratitude toward Haitani, Takano could tell that the mage had paid him handsomely even though he didn't understand the currency in this country. Seeing Haitani act mercifully to the man gave Takano an idea of Haitani's true nature. Through his snappy remarks he still had a soft spot for common people it seemed.

Haitani turned toward Takano and Onodera once the man left. "Now, I don't know when the road's going to be open, but I want us to get to the capital as soon as possible."

The brunet of the group didn't like where the conversation was going, but he listened in anyway. "What do you propose?"

Haitani clear his throat and lowered his voice. "Even though the roads are blocked, there must be another way to the capital."

Onodera clicked his tongue in irritation. "Do you even realize what you are saying? You should know the geography of your country. That city is surrounded by mountains. The only way to get there is by the road."

"Yes, I do realize what I'm saying. And I very well know how these cities work," Haitani said with his own growing frustration. He then turned his attention to the black-haired teen with full intention of ignoring the stick in the mud. He smiled as the urge to play tour guide for a while consumed him. "Maryllis and Callia, the capital, are ancient cities here in Listriv. I'm not sure if you're interested, but there are many ruins and catacombs around both cities that date back to that time period. Now, the roads between these two cities were built a couple hundred years ago, but records show that people were living in Callia almost a thousand years ago."

"Is it necessary to give him a history lesson? He learned all of this in school," Onodera stated rudely.

"Shut it, prick. Your school system is so flawed I'd be surprised if he actually learned any of this." His face then softened as he turned back to Takano. "So, what I'm thinking is that there must be a way for us to get to Callia without using the road. Now, this is where Onodera comes in." He glared at the brunet. "There's a famous library here in the center of town; I'm sure you have heard of it." After Onodera nodded slowly, Haitani continued, "There are many ancient texts there, I reckon there's going to be one about a pathway towards Callia as well. You can read ancient Listrivian right? Your job is to find the path and then lead us there."

The brunet began to tap his foot. "That's a good plan. Or we could wait till the roads are cleared up."

"The season just started, and the monsters will be running rampant for the next 3 months. We don't have that time to spare."

Onodera sighed to show his consent and the three of them made their way towards the library. During their short journey, Takano couldn't help but be invested in looking around the town. There were many scholarly looking people, and a handful of them were accompanied by strange creatures. None of them were able to specifically fit into any animal category that was in Heliconis, but they had some features that would imply that they were cousins of the beings found in the neighboring country. Takano shook his head to relieve himself of his amazement and continued to follow the other two males.

Once they reached the establishment, all three of them gazed in awe at the sheer size of the library. It was about 5 stories high with every wall filled with multitudes of books. Between the shelves were wooden tables where people sat to read. The place was brightly lit with magic as well as some candles placed on the tables.

Onodera went to work and began to read through the texts in the ancient civilization section.

Haitani yawned as he resumed scrutinizing Onodera. It had been about four hours since the brunet had begun searching and it was obvious that he hadn't found anything.

Takano was content staring out the window on the first floor of the library and watching the hustle and bustle around the city. He did this to slow his fast beating heart, but it did nothing to calm him down. After two hours of staying in the town he couldn't help but feel on edge; it was as if he were anticipating something. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The boy muttered an apology when it he realized that it was Haitani with a distraught expression.

"Are you tired? This is taking a while isn't it? Perhaps it would be best for us to get a room in the inn and wait there," he said with concern evident in his voice. Takano made no indication that he heard the older man, but the thought of a nice bed was enticing.

Haitani didn't wait for an answer as he yelled over to Onodera who was in the midst of placing yet another book in the growing pile next to where he sat on the floor. "Onodera, we're calling it a day. Come to the inn when you're done."

Onodera sighed. "Fine," he yelled back.

Takano felt that his feet were moving on their own accord and before he realized it, he was sitting on a warm bed staring out of the window again, but in a different building.

He was broken out of his trance by a voice behind him. "Hey kid, what's up? You're not yourself."

Takano bit down hard on his lower lip. "I don't know why, but I feel uneasy."

"Take deep breaths." Haitani began to breathe audibly to reinforce his advice. "Maybe this new environment is freaking you out." Takano nodded his head and hoped with all his might that Haitani was right.

Once it seemed that Takano wasn't going to burst, Haitani lay down on the bed adjacent to Takano's and put an arm over his face. "This place hasn't change at all since last time I came here." Haitani said underneath a long sigh. Takano turned away from the window and faced the man on the bed.

"I remember the first time I came here was during a school field trip when I was just a boy. Since this is the only city you've visited in Listriv, you may not know that this is the only place where people tame monsters. My class was finishing a unit on biology so we came here to see the creatures we were studying."

Takano looked outside the window again and spotted a young boy petting his pet bird, or at least that was the closest thing that the creature resembled. It was brightly colored and twice the size of the boy, but it had the signature beak and wings to mark it as bird-like.

"None of my classmates were overly fond of me. Apparently they found my jokes offensive." Haitani chuckled. "To get back at me, a group of kids provoked a 'tamed' monster to attack me. At that point in my life I had already gotten some spells under my belt so when I was assaulted, I subdued the monster with my fire magic. But, my teacher was not very pleased with how I tried to defend myself so I was sent home from the field trip early. My teacher explained the situation to my parents and after a sound beating from my father, I was grounded for the rest of the week."

"That sounds terrible." Takano said.

Haitani shrugged. "It wasn't too bad though. After a few days into my confinement, my father came and informed me that I wasn't going to school anymore. He said: 'You like your spells so much, now you can use them to your heart's content. You're joining the capital military.' At first I hated my father for it, but now that I am where I am now, it's not so bad. I get to serve my king personally and help the not so fortunate people in Listriv. Two things which I enjoy."

Against Takano's better judgment, he decided to tread dangerous waters. "Is that why you overpaid that carriage driver?"

Haitani removed his arm from on top of his face and stared at the ceiling in silence for several moments. "Yes, of course. It is my duty to help them." He then returned his arm on top on his face. "Although, I didn't always think that way in my youth. I've hurt so many of those that I was supposed to protect in the past. I want to forget everything that I have done, but my job never grants me that wish since I am constantly reminded of it." He then finally turned his gaze to Takano and gave him a genuine smile. "Which is why I must redeem myself by bringing you to the capital safely. You're going to help us restore prosperity to Listriv."

The teen stared at the man in disbelief. "What does any of this have to do with me?"

"My king says that he has a trick up his sleeve. What that means? I have no idea. But if it will save my country I will do it."

Takano nodded his head at Haitani's statement. He was suddenly reminded of how Onodera described the people of Listriv as people who blindly follow their king; he realized that the brunet's assessment was not far off.

Takano stood up again and walked around the room to relieve some tension that started to grow again at the pit of his stomach. Haitani wiped his face of him grin and regarded Takano with a concerned expression again. "Hey, kid?"

"What?" Takano muttered, although he was only half listening to Haitani.

The foreign man gazed outside the window at the setting sun. "I'm going to rest for some time. But do not leave the room."

"Why? Is there some problem?" Takano asked.

"This is your first night in Listriv so I should inform you that it's not safe to be outside after dark."

This heightened Takano's unease. "But, Onodera is outside."

Haitani turned his body away from Takano as he muttered his reply softly. "He's in the library. He'll be fine."

Takano gazed at Haitani's back. He very well knew that Onodera was a strong man and he could take care of himself, but Takano just couldn't get him out of his mind. "I'll just check on him," he thought. "It's not dark yet, after all. I'll just retrieve him and then come back to the room."

Takano waited for steady rise and fall of Haitani's chest for the signal that he could leave unnoticed. He rose, and then locked the door securely but discretely behind him.

Onodera was halfway through a sentence of the fortieth text he was reading through when he heard some footsteps approach him from behind. He did a double take behind when he realized who had just come in. "Masamune? Why are you here? I thought you were in the inn."

The teen kneeled down to be at eye level with the brunet. "I was, but I thought you might need some help with that."

Onodera laughed. "Yes, I could. But I'm not so sure how much you could help me."

Takano looked around the room and knew that Onodera was right. He couldn't read a damn thing in the whole building. He then hung his head in defeat.

"Hey, it's alright. How about you gather some books for me. Just look for some really old ones and put it in a pile for me to look through."

Takano nodded and then went to work on sifting through the aged paper on the wooden shelves. He started with the shelf that was at eye level to him. He grabbed a few off, but hesitated before grabbing the next one. He left his hand floating in the air as the pit in his stomach grew yet again. He squinted at the characters on the book and tilted his head sideways to get a better view of it. He almost dropped the books in his arms when the meaning of the specific series of characters jumped out at him.

"A Traveler's Guide through the Center of the Himbu Mountains" is what the book was entitled. Takano remembered Haitani talking about mountains that surrounded the two cities so he grabbed the book and brought it to Onodera's eyes as soon as he could.

"What about this book?"

Onodera raised his green eyes and got up on his feet to see the reading material that was falling apart. "Hmm… A guide… through the mountains of… Himbi?"

"Do you mean 'Himbu'?" Takano asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I suppose that would make sense since ancient people called that mountain chain Himbu. What language is this anyway?" Onodera then opened the book and was greeted by a map and he smiled. "This looks very promising! You have a good eye for these books!" Onodera sat on the floor and then studied the map, trying to commit it to memory; all the while he remained oblivious to Takano's literacy of the dead language.

Takano returned the remaining books to the shelves. Once he was finished, he looked around to notice that the librarian locked the door to the library and eradicated all magic that brightened up the room, leaving only the candles to create light in the building.

The black-haired one began to panic slightly. "Hey, why is he locking the door?"

Onodera lifted his head and followed Takano's example of scanning the area. "Because it's about time for the curfew to take place. I'm sorry, but it looks like we are going to have to stay here for the night."

"Why?"

"It's not safe for anyone to be roaming around at night." Onodera pulled Takano by his arm and toward the window next to the front door where the sun had almost set completely leave the city in darkness.

Once the sun had set fully, Takano almost jumped back when he saw humanoid figures of black, darker than the night, conjure from the air. After a few seconds, there were about fifty of them outside. They slowly walked from left to right with their heads hung solemnly. Takano didn't realize how long he had been gawking at them when one of the entities caught sight of him staring from the window. Takano was frozen in fear as the black figure strode briskly towards him; it was so close that the glass window was the only thing that separated the two. It roared at him, baring its ugly teeth. Takano didn't have time to react as Onodera grabbed him and forced him to hide behind the wall underneath the window. The dumb humanoid waited for a few moments for Takano to return, but it soon forgot why it was standing in front of the boring building and walked off towards its unknown destination like the rest of the figures.

Takano looked back into the library and found that the rest of the occupants were staring at their show. They scoffed and then returned to their work.

"What are they?" Takano asked Onodera.

"No one knows for sure. Some say that they are lost souls, some think that they are zombies, while others believe that some dark wizard conjured them. But what we do know is that they've been here for as long as history. Perhaps even longer. We have references that they have been around in all of the written records." Onodera motioned towards the books. "All we know is that we never want to be face to face with them. People have fought them before, but obviously they didn't succeed in wiping them out."

"Oh. So they're all across this country?" Onodera nodded. "How do they know where the borders of Listriv lie? Why aren't they in Heliconis?"

Onodera shrugged. "We have no explanation to these horrid things. I just wanted to give you a visual of why you don't want to be outside at night here."

"Oh, I see."

The duo returned to their previous station and Onodera continued to read the book. Takano looked around for a few minutes and found that the people left in the library were students and the occasional bookworm who was too into their reading to realize that they were locked in. Takano suddenly felt jealous of those readers and wished that he too could read the modern novels that the library had to offer.

Onodera followed his gaze and then smiled sadly to him. "Hey, I'm almost done with this map. How about you grab a book that you want me to read to you?"

Takano's usually stoic face brightened up at the offer and then immediately went to work in finding the perfect bedtime story. In this case, he had to judge the book by its cover.

When he returned with a hefty novel, Onodera had already placed the ancient text aside and left his arm outstretched for Takano to place it in his hand. Once he did so, he sat next to the brunet and waited patiently while Onodera cleared his throat. The brunet translated the first few pages out loud, however, before he could finish the first chapter, Takano had already fallen asleep.

Onodera sighed while staring at the peaceful face of the sleeping youth. He moved Takano on his back for a more comfortable sleeping position so that he wouldn't be achy in the morning, he then bunched up his jacket and placed it under Takano's head to act as a pillow. Onodera nodded at his handy work and then resumed reading the book to himself out of entertainment.

"Hmm… hm… hmm hm…," a low voice hummed.

Takano awoke from his dark slumber as he caught sight of what was singing the song. Once he did he noticed that it was a large dark figure, much like the entities that were outside the window of the library he was at with Onodera. "Where is Onodera?" he thought. He gazed around and noticed that he was in a dark forest that was somehow sparse of trees and yet felt dense at the same time. Takano turned his head around to find that his hands were tied with rope behind the trunk of one of the grey trees.

Takano brought his gaze back to the dark figure and gasped when he realized that the figure was twirling a knife in its hand. The black humanoid smiled with its deformed yellowing teeth and then walked slowly towards the sixteen-year old while humming the same broken melody again.

"No. Please don't!" Takano cried as the hummed tune augmented in decibels; it served as a precursor of what was to come.

The figure placed one hand on Takano's head and pulled the teen's head down, forcing him to look at the knife in the other hand. Much to the teen's dismay, he found that he couldn't look away.

"Stop! No – don- Ah!" Takano screamed as the knife plunged deep into the teen's belly and then twisted inside of him cruelly. The figure never relented as it pulled the knife upwards to a point that was below the boy's sternum. Blood and guts started to fall out of Takano's body.

His eyes were overflowing with tears, but he knew that there was more to come. The entity laughed maniacally at its evil doing and then placed his knifed hand into Takano's belly again only to forgo the point object and grabbed Takano's small intestine instead.

Takano gagged at the sight of it, but then froze when he realized that it wasn't his small intestine at all, but instead it was a bloodied snake that appeared to have little horns on its head. Beneath the blood that was caked onto the snake, Takano could tell that the snake was once a silver color. He gulped as the black one brought the snake up to Takano's face. The reptile flicked a tongue, smelling her prey before sinking her teeth into the teen's cheek and chin. The teen cried in pain and he struggled against his bindings, but to no avail.

He continued to thrash about until the snake had bitten his face all over. The poison became too much and the boy begun to fall into a dreamless sleep. All the while the entity hummed the same eerie melody as he lost consciousness.

Takano thrashed his head from side to side as he treaded through the depths of his nightmare. His forehead and neck were slick with sweat and tears started to paint his handsome young face.

This commotion woke Onodera and he looked on at the young man with great concern. He gasped silently as the black-haired boy started to breathe heavily and make erratic motions with his body. The older man took this as a sign to stop observing Takano and finally wake him up. He placed his hand on his shoulder which the boy immediately slapped away.

Onodera stood back for a moment in shock, but then went about pulling him from his troublesome dream with more determination in succeeding. "Masamune, wake up," he said softly. After seeing that this was having no effect, the green-eyed man grabbed his shoulder yet again and shook it slightly.

Finally, Takano opened his eyes and immediately started sobbing. However, once he noticed he wasn't alone he quickly wiped away his tear-stained face and took deep breaths to slow his breathing.

"Hey, are you alright?" Onodera asked with a trepid tone. His face was a perfect representation of how helpless he felt. It was difficult for him to swallow the fact that he could not help him at all.

"I'm fine," Takano croaked out. He got up from the floor he was sleeping on and pushed Onodera to the side as he strode out of the door, unwilling to show Onodera his most vulnerable state. He walked halfway around the perimeter of the library and plopped down on his bottom next too some fallen branches.

There, the teen continued to weep with his hands on top of his face. "It was just a dream," he repeated to himself multiple times. However, he thought for sure that this one was real and this was the first time he was ever so shaken by one of his dreams. It left him in such a compromised state, and to have Onodera witness it was adding salt to injury.

Takano turned his gaze upward when he saw a pair of dirty shoes in front of him. He expected the man to be Onodera, however, it turned out to be Haitani instead. The foreign man took hold of Takano's arms and tried to get him to stand, but the teen was not up for it at all. He remained seated with his legs crossed.

"Hey, what happened to you?" Haitani forgot about punishing the boy which was his intention when he left the inn room and instead he wanted to comfort him.

When Takano didn't answer, Haitani sat next to him and sat quietly. That was until Onodera came running from within the library.

"Masamune, are you ok – " Before Onodera could finish asking his question, Haitani cut the man off.

"What did you find in the books?"

Onodera understood from the glare and slow shake of the head that Haitani was giving him that he was trying to change the subject.

"Oh, well there is a mountain pass to the east of here. It will lead us to Callia," Onodera said quietly.

"Great. We will head there then." He then turned to Takano. "Kid, we will leave when you want us to."

Takano rubbed his forearm underneath his nose and sniffed. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Neither of the older men were convinced from the teen's answer, but they followed nonetheless. The three of them rose and made way to the east of town. All the while Haitani and Onodera exchanged glances with each other and had a conversation through their eyes. They knew that the only way to help the boy was to bring their journey to a close, and that was what they intended to do.