2nd August

It's 3:45 PM and Yuki is at Naomi's house, Yuki trying to process what Naomi just said, "So you can take me to that place, like, right now?"

"Not exactly, but yes."

"You sure are not trying to pull out a prank are you?"

"Believe me."

"So… assuming that what you are saying is true, how are we supposed to go to Avalon?"

"There's a gateway."

"So there's a gateway that connects this world to the realm of Avalon…?"

"Precisely."

"So, like, a wormhole…? That's connecting this dimension to that dimension?"

"Well, calling it a wormhole would be kinda weird, and also it's not a different dimension, remember, I said it was a pocket dimension."

"And where exactly is the gateway?"

"You have been there."

"I've been there… you mean… the storeroom?"

"Indeed, so do you want to go there?"

"No, wait, I'm not mentally ready for it."

Naomi thought for a while, "You can take your time, till then shall I get you something?" She said with a smile.

"Energy drink, if you don't have it then coffee should be fine."

"Sure."

With that Naomi left for the kitchen.

✳✳✳

Naomi prepared coffee in the kitchen and came back to see Yuki was gone.

That idiot一... I should have known he would do something like this.

She looked out of the window to see if she could spot him, her window provided her with a clear look of the vicinity, which made it quite easy for her to spot him.

Naomi pulled out a card from her pocket and manipulated the info on it, using it like a touch screen smartphone.

Here, Yuki, not being able to process what's going on. He was running towards the direction of his house. The area had many houses so the road was not exactly broad. He took a left turn and stopped so he could catch his breath.

After a while he started running again, taking lefts and rights, after running for a few minutes he realized something, or rather, confirmed… No matter what directions I take or how much I run, I end up at this same spot, that Naomi must have done something. He ran back on the path he came from but still ended up at the same intersection, angered, he shouted, "I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HERE, JUST COME OUT ALREADY."

Silence

Yuki was trying to keep his calm and not get angry, he was thinking about what to do when he heard calm footsteps walking towards him from behind, he turned around to see Naomi, "You were shouting pretty loud you know, I was able to hear it from 100 meters away."

"I don't care about that, just let me go."

"You really want to go?"

"YEAH!"

"This might be your last chance to visit Avalon, you should think about it."

"Why do you think I want to visit a place which I don't even know if it exists?"

"Think about it…"

"..."

Yuki sank into thoughts for a moment, not knowing what to do, he thought about it for a while, but processing all this information was overwhelming for him, in the end he thought to himself, If this again is some sort of prank then I'll really kill her for real.

"Fine. But this should not be a prank."

"It's not a prank until you try to run away."

5:15 PM

Yuki and Naomi arrive at their school, as the back was not fenced properly they had no trouble getting in, while they were approaching the store room Naomi asked, "Won't you try to run away this time?"

"I want answers, if I run away I won't get'em" , said Yuki.

"Is that so, well, you will get answers."

Yuki didn't reply and quietly kept walking. They arrived at the store room, Yuki stopped walking, but Naomi advanced and opened the door. Yuki swallowed his spit out of anxiety. Naomi entered the room and waved at Yuki to come in, he also entered the room.

"Do you believe in ghosts?"asked Naomi

"No, why?"

"Just asking."

"Don't tell me there are ghosts at Avalon."

"Non, non, Avalon isn't that exciting."

"Cut the crap and show me the real deal."

"You are very impatient, aren't cha'."

Naomi spread her hands and slowly the wind started to swirl around them, it went faster and faster until it was a tornado, the roof disintegrated to reveal a bright light. So bright that Yuki couldn't even look in its direction. "Your head will hurt for a while." said Naomi.

Suddenly everything started spinning in front of Yuki's eyes. The colors of the light changed and changed, from white to red, red to yellow, yellow to green, green to cyan, cyan to blue, blue to violet, and finally back to white again. As Naomi said he had a sudden and very painful headache his vision turned blurry, he crouched and held his head tightly and let out a loud yell of pain.

After a moment everything returned to normal and Yuki stopped screaming. He stood up, his vision was still somewhat blurry, he tried to process what just happened.

As his vision recovered he realised that he was not in the storeroom anymore. Now he was in a very big hall, he looked up to see a dome, decorated with stained glass that formed a mandala, supported by pillars that had yggdrasil carved on them.

Yuki looked at Naomi expecting an answer but she just smiled. Yuki was dumbstruck and didn't know what to say.

"When's your birthday tho?", she asked…