An Encounter

Well then, what do I do now? I was told by mom to get some rest, but I don’t feel tired at all. Let’s see… Oh yeah! Let’s explore the house! Of course there’s a difference between what I ‘remember’ and what I’ll see.

Right! Let’s get out of this room first. After I stepped down from the bed, I saw that my shoes were also at the side of my bed. I also noticed something else: this place is covered in shoe-prints.

When I put on the shoes, I notice that they were knit with a grass-like material. They feel uncomfortable, but I’ll have to manage with these for now. I don’t think there are any other types of shoes, are there?

Getting off the bed, I opened the only door in the room, and went outside. Looking to the left, it had a staircase going down, and to the right there was nothing but a dead end with a window. And in the front, there was a door.

And so, I decided to open that door first.

“Excuse me…”

I said so in my childish voice, and opened the door. I somehow felt like I was sneaking into someone else’s home.

The room looked like it was a storage room, I didn’t really know what to look at, so I thought I shouldn’t go in there.

Let’s go down-stairs then, after I walked down the creaky stairs, I found a short corridor with a door at the end. It had two doors on the right, and one on the left.

I opened the doors on the right, and found that the first door was a toilet, and the second was leading to a living room, with a table and some chairs.

There was another door at the back of the living room, which I opened. Outside there was a small garden and a well. There were fences on the sides to prevent people from getting in, both from roadside and neighbouring homes. Of course the fences were wooden.

I’m guessing this is where they do their laundry, there’s a basin and clothes hanging on a string that’s connected from the house to the wooden fence, it seems that from Leon’s memories, he also uses a basin to wash his body with a towel…

I don’t want to do that. I wonder if there’s a proper bath in this world. What if there isn’t one…

No, I’m sure there’s a bath somewhere here. Once I know this world well, I’ll go looking for a bath. First, let’s continue exploring the house

Next, I went to the other door in the corridor, I heard some noises, so I assume that mom and dad must be there.

When I opened the door, I saw mom and dad were cooking in the kitchen. It looked like they were preparing for business later.

“Leon, what’s wrong? Did you have enough rest?”

“It’s okay. I feel better now, mom.”

Taking a closer look at her, she was really beautiful. Probably in her twenties, with blonde eyes, and amber eyes. From Leon’s memories, she seems to be kind. But she’s quite scary when she’s angry.

“Leon, you alright? When you fell down and hit your head, I couldn’t do anything. I’m sorry.”

“Dad, it’s okay! I’m fine now, see!”

“Alright, if you’re really fine, then I’m glad.”

His face looked relieved. He has brown hair, and brown eyes. He seems like a nice person. He’s quite relaxed and friendly.

“John! If you don’t move faster, we won’t be in time for the store to open!”

“Sorry, I’ll be right there.”

Leon couldn’t help but chuckle at his parents. It seems that his mother was the captain here.

But I can tell from a glance that both of them love each other. Even though dad looks a bit angry, he still has a smile on his face.

“Mom, where’s Mary?”

I wanted to meet my new sister. As Ryosuke Kikuchi didn’t really have younger siblings, I always wanted a little brother or sister.

“Mary is cleaning the diner. Leon, if you feel better, could you help her?”

“Mhm.”

“Mary~! Leon’s coming to help you!”

Mom called out for her from the kitchen, since both the diner and kitchen are connected, though there is a counter in between them. 

“Yay~! It was hard to do alone, but I did it!”

After I heard Mary’s voice, I went back into the corridor and walked into the door in front at the end of it and went into the diner area.

“You okay, big bro? It doesn’t hurt anywhere, right?”

“I’m sorry, I’m okay now.”

“Jeez~ My brother’s so clumsy…”

Mary puffed up her cheeks and pouted at me. I couldn’t do anything but stare at her.

Marie had brown hair, amber eyes, and a face like a doll. She’s way too cute. This is practically a crime…

She’s just five, but she’s helping out at the diner, and she’s already become like a mascot of the diner. I swore to protect her from all the weirdos that might come here.

Aren’t I already becoming a idiotic-clingy-brother? Jeez~

“Bro! Big Bro?! What’s wrong? Does it hurt in your head?”

I was staring at her, so I probably looked like an idiot, and worried her.

“I’m alright! I’m alright! See, even your big brother will work now!”

“Really?”

Mary was skeptical, but she was convinced after I nodded my head.

“Okay, you can go clean outside the entrance, and I’ll clean inside, okay?”

Mary then handed me a broom to clean the outside.

“I understand! I’ll go clean outside!”

Leon then took the broom and opened the door which led outside.

“Woah..!”

He unintentionally let out his reaction and kept his hands on his mouth.

But I still couldn’t calm down, I knew what it would look like from Leon’s memories, but of course seeing it with your own eyes, and having memories feel completely different. It really hit home that I was in another world, it was so different from the Japan I was used to.

The first thing I saw once I opened the door, was a large street with enough space for carriages to pass through. There were already a lot of people and carriages coming through and going places.

Most of the houses that can be seen are made of wood, and are two-stories tall, they’re all lined up in a row. But considering this scene, it could also be like a ‘time-slip’ event, right? But it was proven that it wasn’t. Why?

From Leon’s memories, there was magic in this world. So, it was clearly another world.

Even so, it wasn’t exactly impressive. It wasn’t as beautiful or as clean as Japan. But, the fact that it’s another world overcomes the fact that this city isn’t clean at all.

But thinking about it, I’ll have to live here for quite a long time. That kind of made my excitement wear off, and just made me wish this place was cleaner…

There’s no point in thinking about that now! Slapping myself on the cheeks, I got my mind cleared. Right as I tried to walk to the right, another person was walking from that direction, and I bumped into them. Leading me to fall right on my butt.

“Ow.. ow.. huh?”

I looked up to apologize to that person. 

Although I endured the pain to apologize, when I looked up at him, I was shocked and couldn’t say anything.

It was a knight, he didn’t wear full plate armor, rather he wore light armor, and had a sword on his waist. He looked cool with his red hair and brown eyes.

I didn’t know if there were nobles in this world, but from his clothes he seemed like an important person, and so I sat down and tried to apologize, but he held his hand out.

“You alright? I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

When he apologized, my head didn’t fully register what he said, and I was confused. I stood up quickly and apologized.

“Likewise, I apologize for bumping into you. Are you perhaps injured anywhere?”

It was a habit from when I was in Japan. I replied to him with honorifics. Did he think it was strange for a child like me to speak honorifics? When I looked at his face, he was furrowing his eyebrows, and looked skeptical. [T/N: The JPN version of that dialogue is very very polite/respectful to say it. Since it was said by Leon; a kid. The knight looked suspicious.]

I was really nervous and wondered if a child shouldn’t talk like that… And then the man asked meー

“Where did you learn to talk like that? Aren’t you the kid at this diner? I don’t think you’ll have a proper chance to learn that though…”

Wait. What if it doesn’t matter if you’re a kid and it’s just not used by anyone here?! What if it’s not allowed… Oh man… What should I do!

“Umm… So… I learned it from the old man in the neighbourhood…”

I tried lying to him, but he still looked doubtful, I was panicking on what to do, and then he smiled.

“Is that so? That’s great then.”

He patted me on the head, and I finally let out a sigh from all that stress. 

“My name’s Frederick. What’s yours? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“My name is Leon, I’m okay, and I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

I told him without sounding too polite.

“Leon, I don’t have time right now, I’ll stop by at the cafeteria later.”

He said, smiling at me.

“Ye- Yes, I’ll be waiting!”

I smiled back, Frederick patted my head yet again, and left.

“Fuuh~ I wonder if I managed to fool him.”

This was really bad, I’ll have to be extra careful.

I don’t get it… How could I even speak Japanese honorifics? At least ‘Leon’ can’t speak it.

If I really think about it, I can speak in this other world’s language just like I speak Japanese, I can also understand everything they say.

Thinking about letters… I tried writing letters on the ground, but the strange part was; I was writing the words of this world, as if I was writing Japanese, and I could read them.

What does this mean…? According to Leon’s memories, he couldn’t read or write.

I don’t really get it, but it seems I can read and write this world’s language as well as I can with Japanese. 

Right as I was thinking, Mary opened the door of the Diner and came out.

“Big brother, are you done?”

That’s when I remembered what I had come out here for. I hadn’t cleaned one bit. Quickly I took the broom and started sweeping.

“Ha- Haha, I wonder if it’ll take a little longer…”

I looked at Mary with a fake smile, and she looked really suspicious.

“Brother… You’ve been slacking off, haven’t you?”

“No! No! I was just about to be done, so you can go back inside!”

Mary was staring at me, but then her face calmed down a bit. Maybe she was convinced?

“Okay. Then hurry up. We’re almost about to open.”

“Understood. I’ll be done soon.”

Mary said that and went back inside.

Oh man! I gotta clean up faster! I then cleaned in a hurry.

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Author Note: I’ll be posting everyday for a little while. I’m planning to post every day after 20:00, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d read it!

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