--Re:Twilight: Earth--

III. Fated Encounter

Ingrid

Modern Earth, 20xx

My happy family of two: now I’m alone.

“Uuuuu… Tenji… uuuuu…” -crying myself as I lost Tenji, I looked up the clear sky. I wondered if another bright star had been added from what was visible to my current vision.

The cool breeze blew.

Aaah, there goes the last of my family.

Tenji was a 15y/o Shiba-inu that we have adopted when I was young. At times of my grief when my mother and father died, he was always the one to comfort me. He was a cheerful little creature that always waits at our front yard during late afternoons until I arrive from school. He was always getting angry for my sake, he seeked for me when he wants to play, he always approached me when he felt I needed someone to talk to: not like he understood all that I was saying.

Now, he’s gone.

I’ve cherished him like my real family. I guessed even the healthiest pets doesn’t get safe from old age. I understood that he’s done enough and he now needed to take a rest. I just wanted time to weep. I came with him to the mountains with him and here we spent his last moments.

I could still feel his last lick on my cheeks, the warmth of his lifeless body that slowly faded. Everything I felt was heart-piercing.

I wept for a while.

I carried his slender, light body following a trail towards a small stone formation. I went back to the mini-truck to gather the tools needed and followed the same trail back to where I will bury him.

Half an hour passed and I’ve completed the burial, and there I left his collar beside the stone I placed on the top of the mound formed.

If a police catches me here I’d be suspected of burying a dead body. -I laughed at this thought.

The path back to Tenji’s death spot was easy, I just have to follow the trail back and it will lead me eventually to the mini-truck.

---

I was startled on the figure of a man standing on the same spot where Tenji and I had a rest.

Who is he? What is he doing here?

He looked weird. Is that a full-plate armor he’s wearing? Did he attend a cosplay convention of some sort? How did he even get here? What’s his goal?

Questions started to swarm my mind. I knew talking with him will clear out many of those questions, but I’m quite anxious and afraid talking to strangers, especially now that Tenji is gone.

What if he have ulterior motives? What if he's an exhibisionist, or rather a random freak molester?

I don’t want to have any business with him. I just want to recover from a loss, God please don’t add any more problems.

Trying to sneak my way out, as quiet as possible, I heard him talk.

“Ah, let’s see how I will manage. It seems like I was summoned here as a perfectly normal human.”

….

“I wonder if they have a writing profession here.”

Eeh? Summoned? What? Writing profession? You nuts?

And why am I letting myself be drawn to this utter nonsense? Quick, I need to get away from here quietly.

If I were to surmise what I just heard, his situation must be arranged:

>He’s from a country far away and was suddenly moved here, maybe of accident or mistake?

>He has zero knowledge about this place

>Writing is one of the available professions on his previous place.

NO, NO, NO, NO—don’t think of anything, just leave quietly.

Then suddenly: A loud clanking of fallen metals.

“HII!!—” I screamed my lungs out.

“Eh? Who’s there?!”

Ah, there goes my peaceful quiet ninja-like leave. I turned around and looked at him. Illuminated by the moonlight, his face became clearer from a mere silhouette from a moment ago. He’s quite a young-looking man around his mid-twenties. But…

Seriously? Karate?

He took his stance. I knew he should be wary of me, or rather, I should be the one wary of him! Besides, what’s with the battle stance he was doing?

“M-My name is... Frederie!, Frederie Spence. I don’t mean any harm, please lay down your weapon. I just got transported to this land. Please, tell me, I need to get back to my world.”

The conversation was getting nowhere.

Transported? His world? Plate armors? My weapon? Karate? Again, questions started to swarm my mind.

“Young lad you see, my shovel and your fist fighting stance are two different things. It’s like me burying my dead dog versus your self-defence, you can’t do that!”

Of course he should not. It was utter nonsense Why compare a shovel to a weapon? Did I look like one of the protagonist of a post-apocalyptic zombie manga or some sort? Why start to compare things that are completely irrelevant?

“Dead dog? Shovel?”

Asking questions without care at all? What are you? Do you like hitting me where it hurts? You a sadist? I’m getting tired. I need to hand him over already to the police station or the train station for him to go back to where the even earth did he came from.

It was when I noticed his face. It was fresh from crying. Those swollen eyes, red snotted nose, he looked like a kid that was snatched away of his candy when that was all he had. I wanted to ask why, but as much as I wanted to pry in, also a part of me told me not to.

But what if the situation was as what i think it is?

Leaving behind someone on an unfamiliar land, he's at an away-game. I wouldn’t be able to sleep just by thinking what could happen to him after i left him alone. Not much people on the town could bother, he might be brought fast to the police station. I thought that’s for the better.

That’s for the better...

“Hey, want to take a walk?”

I chose the other way around. Some unseen element had me drawn interested to him.

He’s still cautious, I see.. That’s to be expected. I really just didn’t liked how he treated Tenji’s funeral like a joke. Or if I’m mistaken, did he really have no knowledge of this place? It seemed like a joke. This could also be a prank from those night TV shows. If I’m being filmed, I must show some composure and awareness.

“I’ll show you to the town, maybe you’ll find some hints there of how to get back to your place.” -I told him pointing the trail back to the main road.

I started walking and stopped, he’s still standing.

Sigh

“Look, it will freeze here later. Do you wish to sleep out here in the wilds or I could find you shelter at the town, a warm place you can stay in for the night or hand you over to the police also. You can think all day tomorrow how can you get back, but at least, you should stay in this town for the night.”

The thought of having him spend the night at the apartment complex came to me.

NO! NO, NO, NO!!!

This human speaks trouble. I mean, look at him: he’s doing those ‘fireball shot’ stance with his right hand?! Now what?, he has some eight-grader syndrome or sort? He idolize some manga protagonist? He’s on leather armor, counting out that heavy clank of his plate armor he left there, that’s fine tempered steel. Seriously:

He speaks T-R-O-U-B-L-E

He suddenly appeared next to me.

“Let’s go.”

Eeeeeh??

“Seriously, a human who doesn’t even know what a shovel is...”

I’ve murmured as I’ve put the tools back at the mini truck. I could lock up the truck here, not like it could get stolen. Almost no one goes to this place and it’s not hunting season. It should still be safe until tomorrow. I thought I'll apologize to my aunt by bringing her a pot of beef stew.

I approached him and made signs of proceeding.

“Taking a walk this time of the night should be fine. Also it might help you cool your head first. Seems like you’ve gone mental after being lost.”

“Hmp. A mere human instructing me what to do.”

What did you just?!—I should’ve brought double-barrel-boy with me... Grrrr!!

The high and mighty attitude irritated me. Was he a king of his country? Not all people here can tolerate such so it would be a really bad idea if he went on and blurting such sentences in front of others. I thought I should shut him up or tie his mouth. Again, that was bad idea.

“The name is Ingrid by the way.”

I introduced myself and continued walking.