I exchanged glances with Masa and we decided to show ourselves. At most they would just run again, right? They didn't carry any weapons, but of course those could be hidden in their Void if they were Conjurers. And the fifth one was a confirmed Transporter, since he appeared without any sign of a teleport slate. Things might be dicey if any of them were Elementalists, since those could attack without any weapons.

Nonetheless, the group seemed more inclined to flee than confront us. The other four were arguing about something at first, but then the fifth person touched them and teleported the whole group away. My shoulders slumped and Masa gave a frustrated sigh. Oh well, at least the portal was ready, I think. They wouldn't have left it alone otherwise, right? I turned to look at Masa, who shrugged and stood, offering me his hand. I accepted his help in standing up and we both stared at the portal for a while.

Then Masa walked towards it and stuck his left hand in, drew it back out again and then took a deep breath before sticking his head in. I held my breath, but his head soon popped back out again. "It seems fine," he said, beckoning to me. "The other side looks like the forest in the botanic gardens we came from."

"Great," I said with a sigh of relief. "Let's head back then."

Masa nodded and stepped into the portal, and I followed soon after.

We emerged into the tropical heat and surrounded by tall trees. I was a little disorientated, but Masa returned to the main path as if he had just stepped outside it for a short while. Well, even though we had spent nearly two full days in Shyi'eld, that was barely eight hours here, right? Wait, wouldn't eight hours from ten in the morning would make it six p.m. now? It certainly didn't look like it was evening. In fact, from the sun shining directly overhead, it was midday, which was about the same time we left Shyi'eld.

Huh? Had my calculations been wrong? Or… A worse possibility came to my mind. The portal makers had still been working on the portal when we met them, right? What if they missed adding something, or there was a bug? I started to sweat, and not merely from the heat. What would my parents say if they found out I had been missing for two days? My heart sank. I was in for the scolding of my life. And how could I explain meeting Masa? If I told them the truth at this point, would they just think I was lying to hide some worse misdeed?

“—n. Rynn?"

Masa's voice broke into my thoughts. I blinked, then looked at him. His brows were furrowed as he peered into my face. "Are you all right?"

Too close! Resisting the urge to jerk backwards, I felt heat rise from the back of my neck to my ears as I slowly shook my head. "I think I'm in trouble. Did you notice the time?"

He glanced up at the sun, then took out his phone to check. "Huh. So we spent the same amount of time in there this time," he remarked. "The portal must have glitched or something."

I stared at him. "Won't your parents be worried?"

"I did inform them I was taking a short overseas trip," he said with a shrug. "My mother just gave me a knowing look."

"Well, I hadn't told my parents that I would be away so long," I said, holding my head in my hands. "I can't even imagine how mad they're going to be."

Masa tilted his head. "They didn't seem that hot-tempered to me. Maybe they'll hear you out. I can help to explain too. I'll just say it's not your fault since I dragged you into this."

"Uh, that's not exactly wrong, but I get the feeling they're going to misunderstand things even more," I muttered. "Never mind, let's just head home and face the music."

I must have looked so upset that Masa patted my head a couple of times to console me. That did perk me up considerably, and it lasted until we stood outside the door of my house. I was too afraid to check my messages beforehand, and besides, my phone's battery had already died yesterday. Masa's had been able to last because he turned it off when we entered Shyi'eld and he also had not just one, but two power banks with him. This guy was always so well prepared.

Taking a deep breath, I put the key into the lock and opened the metal gate, followed by the door. There was silence. I couldn't hear any movements at all. Maybe they were at the hospital visiting Grandma again? I hadn't thought of that possibility and had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I was relieved, but on the other, it was just delaying my punishment. Not only that…it meant that Masa and I were home alone?

Wait…waitwaitwaitwait…! What? Oi, my heart is not prepared for this. What? Uh…c-c-calm down. Caaaaaalm dooown. Phew. Let's just act like this is normal and invite him in first, ok? My parents would probably be back any minute now. No, seriously, did I just hear the lift go ding? That must be them. No? It's just the neighbour? Phew. It's just my imagination that the neighbour is giving me a weird look. Yessss…

Despite the chaos in my mind, I somehow managed to invite Masa in and offer him a cool drink as we waited for my doom—uh, my parents to come home. Our Singapore house was much smaller, so I couldn't just retreat into my room and hide under my blanket without him realising. Plus I would fail as a host if I did that. So we simply sat down on the sofa in the living room and waited quietly.

At least until I noticed the handwritten note on the dining room table.