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“Where am I?” Suzuka asked aloud as she opened her eyes. This is not my room at Tsubasa, she said to herself. She suddenly remembered everything that happened last night including her travel to Arcadia. She bolted upright and came face to face with Koji who fell down the floor
“Whoa, you scared me, Suzu-chan. Come on and I’ll show you around,” Koji said after he composed his thoughts.
“Hey, stop calling me Suzu-chan,” Suzuka argued.
“Why? You called me Koji-kun last night.”
“I did not!”
“Oh, so who was it? The pillow perhaps?” Koji joked but Suzuka did not answer. “What’s wrong?”
“Koji, I was just wondering about Earth. I really need to go back now. The others would be worried.”
“Don’t worry Suzuka, time is different here in Arcadia. When you go back, it’s as if nothing happened,” Koji answered.
“But when can I come back?” Suzuka asked again.
“Just stay with me until the festival, and then you can go back to Earth. I promise,” he said and held Suzuka’s hands.
“Are demi-human’s hands cold and clammy all the time?” Suzuka suddenly asked.
“What do you mean by that?” Koji said as he released Suzuka’s hands. He blushed while Suzuka laughed.
000
Koji belonged to Class B, a class for the demi-humans who were between the borderline of beginner (Class D) and superior (Class S.) A normal day for Class B would be a loud, silly day full of laughter. But today was different, they were all quiet and behaved, and everyone was catching a glimpse of the girl that Koji had brought along.
“Hi, guys, this is Suzuka. She’s the girl that I will be bringing for the Show and Tell Festival,” Koji introduced Suzuka in front of the class. The shy Suzuka barely smiled and looked at them.
This is very embarrassing, she thought.
“Hey, Koji, where is she from?” someone asked.
“She’s from Earth,” he answered when their professor, an Arcadian, suddenly arrived.
“What’s this all about?” their professor demanded. “A new student?”
“No sir, she’s the girl that Koji will bring for the festival,” someone from the back answered.
“Oh, isn’t it too early to bring her here?”
“Uh, everything’s all right, sir. I wonder if she could sit in with the class while she’s here.” Koji asked.
“Well, there won’t be any problem with that. Has she got any powers?”
“No sir, she’s a human from Earth,” he answered.
“Ah, Earth, what an interesting world that is,” the small Arcadian answered as he motioned Koji and Suzuka to return to their seats.
After the morning classes, Koji suggested that he will tour Suzuka around for her to meet his friends. Suzuka immediately declined and said that she doesn’t want to meet anyone.
“Hey what’s wrong with meeting my friends?” Koji asked as they walked out of the classroom.
“I just don’t like meeting people,” Suzuka tried to reason out.
“And what’s your reason?”
“I just don’t like it! Isn’t that enough for a reason?”
“Of course not, silly. If you can’t come up with a decent reason in 30 seconds, we’ll go and meet my friends,” Koji said smiling at her.
Suzuka tried to say something but she couldn’t come up with any other reason. She just frowned and said, “Fine, you win.”
000
Koji and Suzuka walked around the east part of the school where Koji and his friends usually hang out. Suzuka was already complaining about how far they had to walk, but she was surprised when Koji said that they haven’t even walked about ten percent of the whole school.
“This school is so large,” Suzuka exclaimed.
“Well, the student population is large too,” Koji answered while he pointed at a small group who were inside a strange looking laboratory. “Oh there they are.”
“Those are your friends?”
“Hey, Koji! What’s up? Haven’t seen you in a while,” a guy in black said. He looked exactly like Koji except that his hair was black, and he was wearing black.
“That’s Fuji. We aren’t related, even if we do look alike,” Koji said to Suzuka.
“Hey, who’s your girlfriend?” a girl with pink hair asked with a smile. Her question both made Koji and Suzuka blush.
“She’s Suzuka, by the way. I’m taking her to the festival,” Koji said.
“So she really is your girlfriend?” the girl asked, but now her hair was green to which Suzuka was surprised.
“That’s Mina, she has the power to change her appearance to anything that she likes,” Koji said to Suzuka.
“Hello there, nice to see that Koji finally had the guts to ask someone out,” Mina said with a smile as she looked at the girl in front of her.
Have I seen her before? Mina asked herself.
“Oh, I’m not really Koji’s girlfriend,” Suzuka quietly said.
“Huh? You aren’t?” Mina asked with a disappointed face.
“Ouch! Denied right in front of your face, Koji,” a guy who looked older than them said. He had several tattoos and piercing in his face and body.
“Don’t mind them, Suzuka. He’s Kei, by the way, he’s a superior demi-human and one of the top students here,” Koji explained.
“Hi, so if you’re not Koji’s girlfriend, then can I date you?” Kei asked.
“Oh yeah, Suzuka, just a little warning, Kei is really a playboy,” Mina said as she avoided Kei’s tickle attacks.
Koji’s friends are wacky, Suzuka said to herself. But they look fun to be with, I guess.
While Kei was running around and chasing Mina and the others watched, a small explosion was heard at the very back of the lab. A small figure coughed and suddenly emerged from the smoke.
“Is everything alright, Saiko-chan?” Mina exclaimed to the small figure. A little girl with glasses suddenly emerged.
“I failed with my experiment,” the small girl, Saiko, cried out.
“And that’s Saiko. She may seem small but she’s older than us. She belongs to Class A with Kei,” Koji said to a confused Suzuka.
“Saiko-chan, meet Suzuka! She’s Koji’s friend, although I can probably tell that they’re going out,” Mina said as she turned her hair short and black. “Is this haircut cute for me?”
“Brown is better,” Fuji answered.
“Why not try white like Koji, then I’ll give you those glowing stuff that Koji puts in his hair,” Saiko suggested with a smile. “I was the one who created the stuff that Koji uses for his experiment, you know.”
“What experiment?” Suzuka asked as she turned to look at Koji who was laughing.
“It’s the stuff that I put on my hair and my clothes to create a ghostly feeling,” Koji explained.
“I thought it was a natural glow,” Suzuka said while everyone laughed.
“It’s not that hard to fit in and to meet my friends, Suzuka,” Koji whispered in her ear.
I wish that the girls at Tsubasa were as fun as they are, she thought.
“Suzuka, are you a new student here?” Saiko asked.
“Uh, no I’m not a demi-human, like you guys,” she explained.
“Oh, so you’re from another world! Where are you from?” Saiko asked again with fascination and amazement in her eyes.
“She’s a human from Earth. I’ll take her to the festival,” Koji answered.
“Oh, she’s from Earth! Just like Rie-sama! Have you met her?” Saiko suddenly exclaimed.
“Huh? Who’s Rie-sama?”
“Rie-sama was a human who visited Arcadia a long time ago. You haven’t talked about her during classes?” Saiko asked.
“Not yet,” both Fuji and Mina answered at the same time. Mina was in Class A, while Fuji was in Class C.
“What about you, Koji?” Kei asked.
“Uh, well, I haven’t encountered that name, too. Who is she?”
“You’ll learn about that when time comes. I wouldn’t want to spoil you anyway,” Saiko answered with a smile.
At the end of the day, Suzuka was already exhausted and worried about getting back to Earth. Koji kept on assuring her that the time span of Arcadia is very different than that from the Earth.
“Relax, Suzuka, a minute probably haven’t even passed on Earth. Nobody would notice that you were gone,” Koji said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. We studied all the different time spans back then.”
“Have you heard of the name Rie-sama before?” Suzuka suddenly asked.
“Huh? Not really, why do you ask?”
“It sounds familiar,” she answered.
“Well, maybe you had a friend back then whose name is Rie too. Maybe it’s a common name,” Koji explained.
Suzuka just shot him his death glare once again.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Did I say something?” Koji asked.
“You know that I never had a friend before.”
“Oh, so now that you had befriended me, you also got an additional four friends. They’re fun to be with, right?” Koji asked.
“Yes they are, but it’s like you don’t have something in common. Why did you become friends?” Suzuka asked as they sat at the garden.
“Funny you asked. It’s really a long story but a good one,” Koji said with a laugh.
Koji looked at Suzuka who was beside her. He was happy that Suzuka was comfortable with his friends. He was afraid that she wouldn’t get along well with his friends, but he was wrong. He then told his wacky tale on how he and his friends met.
“It started a year ago when the five of us were grouped for a laboratory competition. We have to come up with a unique stuff for our Show and Tell presentation.”
“I thought that the Show and Tell requires you to travel to different worlds then return with a thing that you found the most interesting?” Suzuka asked.
“Well, that was the problem. There were students who never got to travel or just didn’t find anything interesting. Those students were then grouped for a competition. The five of us were unlucky to bring anything back,” Koji explained.
“Oh, so you never found anything interesting back then?”
“Well, I still haven’t met you during that time,” Koji answered as he made Suzuka blushed again.
“So, the five of us were trying hard to create something breathtaking that will leave the whole audience in awe. But no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t come up with anything,” Koji continued.
“What happened next?”
“Saiko suddenly had an inspiration from Mina’s changing of appearance. She worked hard and asked us not to disturb her. Then she created the ‘Shiro Dust Powder,’” Koji said as he laughed hard as he remembered the events as if it was yesterday when it happened.
“The powder that Saiko created was the prototype of the glowing powder that I am using now. We were really amazed at Saiko’s invention. We sprinkled our whole body with that powder and modeled it on stage in the dark,” he continued.
“Oh, so you won the competition?” Suzuka asked.
“Not really, because it turned out that the powder contained some really allergic stuff. All of us were sneezing so hard that the stage fell out. We were then disqualified. But after that incident, we still continued to meet at the laboratory just to hang out. And Saiko had finally created the glowing powder which doesn’t cause any allergies,” Koji said as he finished his story. Both he and Suzuka were laughing really hard.
“It’s really fun here in Arcadia. I wish that I was just born here rather than in Earth,” Suzuka suddenly said.
“What made you say that?” Koji asked.
“Well, it really is fun here and your friends too. I feel like I don’t want to return back anymore. Can’t I stay here, Koji?” Suzuka asked.
“What are you saying, Suzuka? You have to go back to Earth, too!” Koji exclaimed.
“But, I like hanging around with you and your friends. I wonder what happened to Rie-sama that Saiko was talking about,” Suzuka wondered.
“Saiko said that she came to visit Arcadia a long time ago, right? What made you wonder?” Koji asked the svelte girl beside her. She was looking at the darkening sky which was casting a purple glow at the school grounds.
“Saiko didn’t mention what happened to her in the end. She didn’t say whether Rie-sama returned to Earth or if she stayed here,” Suzuka answered.
“Suzuka, do you really want to stay at Arcadia?” he asked her.
“Yes, I do. Every time I think about it, I kept on wondering if everything’s just a dream. But then I’ll realize that everything is real,” she answered.
I’m really happy that Suzuka has found happiness, Koji thought. I know that she is different now, compared to when she first arrived at Tsubasa Academy. But I can’t let her stay at Arcadia. After some time, she’ll begin to realize that this is not some place for a human to stay. She’ll just feel out of place because all of us here are demi-humans and Arcadians. She can’t even enroll at the academy because she doesn’t have any powers. She’ll just waste her life here, and I don’t want her to do that.
“If I stay here all my life, you can tour me around the whole academy. And we can travel the whole Arcadia!” Suzuka excitedly said.
“You can’t do that, Suzuka! Arcadia is not for you, you belong to Earth.” Koji sharply said.
“Huh? Koji, what’s wrong with you?”
“It’s nothing. I’m sorry, I’m just tired,” he said as he stood up and held Suzuka’s hand.
“Promise me that you’ll return to Earth,” Koji whispered.
“Why? Won’t you let me stay?”
“Arcadia is not for humans, Suzuka. It may be a Star of Possibilities, which may sound great, but this is a world full of unknowns. It’s dangerous,” he explained.
“Won’t you protect me, Koji?”
“I wish I could, Suzuka. I’ll try to, but you need to return to Earth.”
