Chapter 8--Broken Promise=Lie

This chapter is written in Aaron's point of view.




“CRACK!”

Uh…There’s a lot of SyaoInn circling my head. What happened? That was the first thing that shot through my mind when I fell down due to carrying too much weight on my back. I thought that Natsuki had suddenly become too heavy, but that was ridiculous. She couldn’t have gain weight suddenly, unless... unless it’s that fairy kid again.

SyaoInn quickly helped me pushed the heavy load off my back, that’s when I realized that there were two heavy loads. One was Natsuki, which I had been carrying off my back for hours; the other one was Fuyuda, which I have absolutely no idea where he came from.

‘Where did he come from?’ I asked SyaoInn. SyaoInn looked upwards, as if telling me, ‘From the sky.’

He dropped from the sky, asleep. How could he still be asleep when he crashed on me?

‘Hey, Fuyuda wake up.’ I shook Fuyuda, hoping that he would wake. But as I touch him, something weird happened. The surroundings started to change into an unknown street lined with shop houses. To make things weirder, the shop houses and the people within those buildings were blurred. I couldn’t make out the names of the shop houses and the faces of those people.

‘SyaoInn, do you know where we are?’

SyaoInn shook her head.

Two almost identical little kids appeared on the streets. The little boy had white eyes and hair, and he looked like Fuyuda. The little girl had white hair but possesses purple eyes, and she looked a bit like Fuyuda. They could have been twins. This is so weird. Where exactly am I?

‘Umm, Fuyuda.’ said the little girl.

What on earth is going on? How can that little boy be Fuyuda, when the real one was sleeping beside me? Besides that, it seems that those mysterious twins could not see us. What on earth is going on?

‘What is it, Fuyuhana?’ asked the little Fuyuda.

‘Could you promise me something?’ requested Fuyuhana, the little girl, ‘Could you promise me that you would make new friends in the village where Uncle Menomoto lives in?’

Little Fuyuda looked a bit bewildered, in my opinion. But he nodded in the end, and smiled. It had been years since I saw that rare and blissful smile of Fuyuda’s.

‘But why?’ asked little Fuyuda. Yeah, why?

‘Well, it’s because I don’t want you to be lonely,’ answered Fuyuhana, ‘You always avoid interacting with the people in the village. The only people you ever talk and play with are me, Papa and Mama.’

Fuyuhana is right. Fuyuda barely speaks when I first knew him nine years ago. He’s weird and extremely quiet, but really smart. If it hadn’t been for me and Tsi Inn, who talk to him and make friends with him, he would be treated as a person who lost the ability to speak.

‘Would you promise me that you would make new friends?’ Fuyuhana held little Fuyuda’s right hand with her own (This is how sorcerers make a promise, according to Yan), ‘Would you promise me that you won’t be lonely?’

‘Y…Yes, I promise.’ promised Fuyuda. Fuyuhana let go of his hand, and sighed in relief.

‘Hey, little kids.’ I waved my hand in front of those two kids, ‘Do you know where I am?’ But they ignored me.

‘HELLO, DO YOU KNOW WHERE I AM!!!’ I shouted, but they continued to ignore me.

‘Fuyuda, wake up.’ I shook Fuyuda to wake him up, ‘Do you know where we are?’ But he continued with his beauty sleep. I’m amaze by how soundly he slept.

‘Hehehe, this show sure is interesting.’ said the weird Fairy, who appeared out of thin air, and was eating popcorn.

‘You!’ I exclaimed, ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Want some popcorn?’

‘No.’ What if the popcorn was poisonous?

‘Don’t you feel hungry?’

‘No, I’m not hungry.’

GUU~~

I looked at SyaoInn and it looked back at me.

That’s definitely not my stomach grumbling. That must be the first thing that popped out of our minds.

‘Hehehe, I apologize.’ said the Fairy, grinning, ‘My stomach’s telling me to stop stuffing myself.’

Isn’t that the way our stomach tells us that we need to eat? How in the world does his body works? But that’s not the important point, the important point is:

‘What are you doing here? Where are we?’ I asked, or demanded that weird Fairy kid for an answer, ‘Why are there two Fuyudas?’

‘Hehehe, this is your good friend’s memory.’ he answered, ‘The little ghostly white kid over there is your friend when he was only six, hehehe.’

‘Why do you want to show me this?’ I asked.

‘Hehehe, you aren’t as dumb as you look. The reason I show you your friend’s memory is to let you see him die, hehehe.’

‘What’s the matter? You look as pale as your little friend—’ I hold the Fairy by his oversized shirt’s collar and point my sword at his neck before he can finish his sentence.

‘Stop this…this memory playback stuff! Don’t you dare do anything to Fuyuda!’ I thought if I threatened him, he would stop his menacing acts, but I was wrong. Instead of being afraid, he put on his signature “hehehe” laugh.

‘Hehehe, do you think a mere human like you could threaten me?’ The Fairy’s eyes looked deadly all of a sudden.

The moment he stared at me, the atmosphere became dense. I felt as if it’s hard to breath and I was perspiring heavily, in addition to that, my body felt weak, so weak that I didn’t even have the energy to stand…

‘Such a fool,’ said the Fairy and he kicked my head hardly, it was as though a huge load fell right on top of me, ‘Besides, there’s still time before your friend dies. When that time comes, you could wake him up in order to save him. But it depends, hehehe.’

‘For the time being, why don’t you relax and watch this interesting memory?’

I wasn’t the only one in this paralyzed form, it seemed that the Fairy also paralyzed SyaoInn. I mustered all my strength to move even a finger, but I failed. All I could do now is, I really hated to admit it, was to watch Fuyuda’s memory.

The twins were now in a living room, which I supposed must be their house. In that living room, there are the twins, a man and a woman which I don’t know, and Doctor Menomoto.

What was Doctor Menomoto, our village’s doctor doing there?

‘Fuyuda, hand me Angel’s Manuscript.’ ordered the man with a pale complexion and purple eyes. Fuyuda obediently gave him a dictionary-like thick book. The man placed the book on his palm and sang a strange song, then two books appeared. After that, the man handed one book to little Fuyuda and the other to Fuyuhana. Both the twins looked at the man with a wondering face.

‘There are some things that are best left unknown, my dear children.’ says the man as if he had read their mind.

Doctor Menomoto and the man carried a great deal of luggages and boxes outside the house whereas the woman took the twins by their hands outside. Then they mounted all those luggages and boxes onto a carriage just outside the house. Before entering the carriage, the woman (I guess she must be little Fuyuda’s mum) hugged little Fuyuda tightly. At the corner of her eye, a tear rolled down her cheek.

‘Please take care of Fuyuda for me, brother.’ said the woman to Doctor Menomoto

‘Don’t worry, I will make sure he’s safe.’ assured Doctor Menomoto.

Little Fuyuda’s mum turned towards little Fuyuda and said, ‘Papa and I promise, we would come and fetch you when the time is right.’

‘You really promise?’

Little Fuyuda’s mum nodded her head. The man and Fuyuhana took turns hugging Fuyuda. Then they boarded the carriage and left the village. Little Fuyuda watched sadly as the carriage moves further and further away.

‘Your family won’t come back. Hehehe. But you could go to where they are now.’ says the Fairy. Why does he say that anyway, it’s not that little Fuyuda could hear him.

‘Who are you?’ asked little Fuyuda, ‘What do you mean?’ Wait a minute, that Fairy kid was talking to little Fuyuda, how on earth did he do that? I’m positive that was not part of Fuyuda’s memory.

‘Hehehe. Your family is in a dimension different than Mirage Island and your dimension,’ said the Fairy, ‘And they can’t return to your dimension no matter what. Even I am powerless when it comes to bringing them back to your dimension. Hehehe. But you could go to that dimension and join them.’

‘How?’

‘Hehehe. By jumping down this hole.’ the Fairy pointed towards a hole that was absent just now, ‘But beware, once you jump down, you won’t be able to go back to the dimension you are living presently. Hehehe.’

His parents were in another dimension. Hmm, I seemed to recall that Ying Yu said that there are three dimensions. If they weren’t in our dimension and Mirage Island, then it’s possible that his parents are in the dimension of the dead. This is not good, that Fairy is going to send Fuyuda to hell! I’ve got to do something, but I can’t…I can move?

I quickly went to Fuyuda’s side when I find out I can finally move. SyaoInn was there already, using his paw to shake Fuyuda. I tried shaking him, hardly too, but he still wouldn’t wake up. I tried slapping him countless times, but he still won’t wake up. This is not good, the little Fuyuda is already preparing himself to jump down the hole, if I don’t wake him up, he will…die.

There’s still one way, and it better work. I lift Fuyuda and went near his ear, then took a deep breath and shouted with all my might.

‘FUYUDA!!! WAKE UP!!!’

Instantaneously, Fuyuda opened his eyes, and the surroundings changed back into the maze.

‘Why am I still in the maze?’ was the first question that came out of Fuyuda’s mouth.

‘You should be grateful you are still in this maze!’ I said angrily.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Why do you listen to a stranger’s words in the first place? What if that stranger is a bad guy? Do you know that weird looking kid wants to send you to the so-called Dimension of the Dead?’

Fuyuda stared at me, thinking of the words I said just now.

‘How do you know about me talking to the weird kid?’ he asked.

‘I saw your memory, the time before your family left you with Doctor Menomoto.’ I say, ‘But what actually happen?’

‘Do you think my family is dead?’ Fuyuda ignored my question, he looks sad when he says those words.

I shook my head and said truthfully, ‘That weird kid must be lying, he said those words just to make you enter the Dimension of the Dead.’

Fuyuda let out a sigh of relief, then asked, ‘Why did he want me to die?’

‘Dunno. He’s just weird.’ I said, ‘But what actually happen after your family left you with Doctor Menomoto?’

Fuyuda hesitated for a while, but finally he answered my question.

‘After my family left, Uncle Menomoto brought me back to Ninken and changed my family name from Tenshi Fuyuda to Menomoto Fuyuda.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know.’ Said Fuyuda, ‘But I stayed in the Menomoto’s residence since then.’

Fuyuda paused for a while, and continued, ‘Every month, I would receive a letter from my family, telling me about their condition in their new home, but they never tell me the name of the village they live in.’

‘In every letter, Papa and Mama would tell me that they couldn’t come and fetch me to their new home. Every time I saw those words, I felt really unhappy. But I still waited patiently for that day to arrive, because they promised me that they come and fetch me one day. And when I was nine, I suddenly stop receiving letters from my family. But I still waited patiently for their letter, waiting for them to tell me that I am finally able to join them. But after a year of waiting, I finally gave up waiting for them.’

‘Could it be that they had abandon you?’ I thought Fuyuda would be mad when I accidentally blurted those words, instead, he nodded.

‘How can they abandon you cruelly like that? What kind of parents are they?’ I said angrily, ‘How can they break their promise like that?’

‘They didn’t break any promise.’ said Fuyuda, ‘They lied to me.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘A promise is a promise, you can’t break it. If it is broken, then it’s not a promise, it’s a lie.’ said Fuyuda.

‘Once we’ve finished our studies, we’ll search for those parents of yours and demand them for an explanation.’ I said, ‘That’s a promise. That’s not a lie.’

Fuyuda smiled, it was that rare and blissful smile of his.

‘Oh, by the way, why are you here? Where’s Yan and Tsi Inn?’ ask Fuyuda.

‘Those should be my line! Why are you here? Where’s Tsi Inn and Yan?’

‘I’m not sure. I was with Yan and Tsi Inn a few moments ago. Suddenly, I fell down a hole…And I am here.’ answered Fuyuda, ‘Where’s Natsuki? Is she with you and SyaoInn?’

‘She’s right here…’ I pointed to the spot where Natsuki was supposed to be lying, but it was empty.

This is bad, really bad. If Natsuki’s not there, then she’s awake and on the move, this means…

‘Aaron, behind you!’ Fuyuda tried to warn me, but it’s too late.