As I half-expected, it was Masa. The Malay butler, Muhammad, had directed him to my room and was standing by outside as well. I popped my head outside to make sure my parents were still downstairs watching TV before grabbing both their wrists and pulling them inside my room.

"Young Miss!" protested Muhammad, but he didn't resist much and simply sighed once he realised what my intention was.

Yup, this was a great opportunity to discuss our secret travel plans. I had them sit down on a fluffy rug beside my bed and joined them with my notepad and pen. To save time, I scribbled down the plans Masa and I had already discussed as I told Muhammad about them. He stayed silent throughout and when I finally finished writing and cast him a glance, he was giving me the coldest glare that had ever been directed my way. I gulped and broke out into a cold sweat, but instantly turned to wheedling to get my way, since our plans hinged on his cooperation.

Masa glanced at me and then at Muhammad, but wisely chose to remain quiet. I did notice him take a few furtive glances around my room, where some anime posters of pretty boys and the bookshelf full of Chinese-translated manga caught his eye. For a while after that, he couldn't meet my gaze. I was dying inside from embarrassment as well. If I had known a handsome guy was visiting my room, I would have kept some things first! Was it too late to shove them into my Void with what little mana I had now?

I pushed all those thoughts aside and concentrated on persuading Muhammad to help us. He finally relented when I promised that I would return safely and also write a note telling my parents that this was all my idea in case they somehow found out about our plans. Breathing a sigh of relief, I hastily scribbled the note and handed it to him. Then, a brilliant idea struck me.

"Hey, why don't you come with us? My parents will surely feel more relieved with you accompanying us," I suggested. "And you already know about Shyi'eld, right? I bet you have a really high Level or something."

At my words, Masa turned to stare at the Malay man. "What? You also know about Shyi'eld?"

Muhammad's lips tightened and cast his gaze downwards. "I will never go back there," he spoke in a final tone. "Never, ever."

We waited to see if he would say anything more, but he simply clenched his fists and stayed in the same pose. Masa and I exchanged worried glances, but didn't probe any further.

"Well...I guess that's all we have to discuss then," I said after a short silence. "We'll leave the morning after tomorrow. My parents will be going out to buy groceries before breakfast so we can just come back to the house when they are away."

Masa nodded, and we discussed our plans for tomorrow a bit more before the two bid me a good night and left my room. I turned off the light and lay on my bed, and before I realised, I was fast asleep.

My alarm rang at a ridiculous hour in the morning and I dragged myself down for breakfast after washing up. We were going to visit the forest park and then I was going to take Masa to visit some old shopping streets in Melaka where he could buy some souvenirs. My parents wanted to treat him to lunch there, so we would be meeting up with them later. Muhammad would be our driver for the day, using an old Mercedes Benz that had belonged to my grandfather while my parents would drive their own car, a more humble Toyota Altis.

"Wow, it's actually my first time riding in a Mercedes Benz," I admitted to Masa in a low voice.

"Same here," he told me, feeling the smooth seats and then looking out the window at the scenery. "For such an old car, it's rather a smooth ride, isn't it?"

I nodded my agreement and we chatted about what he found interesting in the sights he saw. Apparently the streets were much more weathered and bumpy than what he was used to, and he was amazed at the somewhat haphazard achitecture and colours of the kampung houses. He was also somewhat disturbed at the way people flaunted traffic rules much more often here. I gave him a sheepish smile as I recalled the slight culture shock I myself had experienced after moving here. Well, Malaysia had its own charm and I much preferred the slow pace living in the countryside here compared to the stressful life we had in urban Singapore.

We arrived at the forest park without incident and Masa grabbed his binoculars the moment he got out of the car. I rolled my eyes at him, but as his host, I was obligated to at least accompany him on his tour. Just think of it as payment in advance for when we got to Japan, I told myself. Plus I did like nature in general, just not the mosquitoes. I sprayed insect repellent liberally all over my clothes and exposed skin then went to see what Masa was looking at. Muhammad wasn't too interested in accompanying us, so he said he would wait for us in the car and gave us a time limit of two hours to wander around.

As I quietly approached the young Japanese man, he muttered in a low voice, "There's a Banded Woodpecker on the top of that dead tree," then handed me his binoculars.

A little surprised, I took the binoculars, looked for the dead tree he mentioned and then put my eyes to the lenses. "Wow! It's really pretty with its reddish brown feathers and yellow crest! I don't think I've seen a woodpecker like that before."

He stared at me, tilting his head slightly. "They're not too uncommon in Singapore either, you know."

I frowned back at him as I lowered the binoculars. "Well, I'm sorry for not being a birder and only seeing common birds before."

"No, no, I wasn't trying to be nasty," he said hastily, waving his hands at me. "I just thought...no, never mind."

He silently accepted the binoculars I passed back to him and continued walking down the path. It was still quite early, and apart from the few joggers coming to exercise, there weren't many people around. The trees were practically alive with birdsong and the strange hooting calls of gibbons. I breathed in deeply, taking in the fresh, slightly moist forest air plus a tinge of citronella from my insect repellent.

Coming to places like this once in a while wasn't too bad. Shyi'eld felt foreign and sometimes even unreal to me because of the climate and magic, not to mention the monsters out to kill you, but being in this forest was as real as it could get. Seeing the tall trees, catching glimpses of birds fluttering in the canopy and seeing squirrels and monkeys feasting on fruits, now this was nature at its best. I wasn't about to catch Masa's enthusiasm for feathered creatures anytime soon, but I could at least understand why he was so excited to come here. A familiar humming sound drew near my left ear and I quickly waved my hand in that direction to prevent the mosquito from landing on me. OK, that was too real for comfort. "Hey, Masa, wait up!" I called out as I ran to catch up with him.