>>5884339Those damn bugs! One has spotted you as it flew over the river at exactly the wrong time. As you scramble up the opposite side of the river, it wheels around and begins diving towards you.
It is time to run, and you are not an athlete like Naomi or Ruka. Panic fuels your desperate flight into the forest. Reducing the mobility of the bug by going in through the trees is an unexpected bonus, as the large creature can no longer fly and track you from the air. Instead, it has to blunder in the forest instead. Yet you aren't really gaining ground to escape the thing.
Darkness is growing. The tangled ground of the forest will be working against you soon once the light is gone. You need to escape.
Wait?
A stone arch? It is so incongruous and out of place, but you don't really have much time to ponder it. It is ancient-looking and isn't remotely Japanese. If it were a torii shrine gate, sure, you could buy someone constructing it, but this thing looks European. A bellow from behind pricks you onward and reminds you that you don't have time to daydream. Damn bugs, go and attack a bear or something.
If there's an arch, maybe there's a building up ahead. You keep running, pass under the mossy stone construction, and feel an electric jolt pass through your body as the forest shifts into something completely different.
You are high above some sort of mountain and coastline. The granite valley you were in a few moments ago has disappeared! You take a moment to look right behind you and discover that the strange arch is gone.
Did you get warped to somewhere else? Where are you now!?
A few seconds pass, and you remain stunned by the sudden transition of location. Timidly, you look around this wild mountain to get your bearings. Off in the distance, who knows how many miles away, is a ruin with dark gray walls.
Urgh.
"I'm safe... right?!" You speak out loud, if only to hear a human voice, even if it's only your own.
Your cell phone rings as though in answer.
With shaking hands, you press the button to see who is calling. Is it that weirdo lady again!?
"YOUR MAJESTY! YOU'RE HERE!"
"HIP HIP HOORAY!"
"LONG LIVE THE KING"
"CAMELOT, THY SHINING WALLS WILL RISE AGAIN!"
"MEEP MEEP MEEP."
A chorus of enthusiastic voices greet your ear. A lot of enthusiastic voices, you have no idea how many. They sound absurdly childish. Then the call cuts out and goes dead.
You take this moment to sit down and take a deep breath.
"I have to be dreaming... This is a dream. Soon the train will arrive in Asahikawa, I'll get off with my classmates and go to our hotel before we have to head out to the mountains tomorrow. I'll definitely go for a walk around the city with friends and eat Chinese food with them. Heck, maybe a bit of shopping! I... I..."