Chapter 2

It seems morning has come.

The mist is getting brighter, but the visibility is still poor, with a viewing distance of only a few meters, just like yesterday.

Was last night's strange occurrence just an illusion? The more time passes, the less real it seems.

"Good morning!"

My sister's carefree voice sounds unusually loud in the silence.

"Good morning, sis. ...We can't move for a while because the fog hasn't cleared yet."

"Right," she says, rummaging through her backpack.

She eventually takes out the leftover onigiri from yesterday and tosses it into the corner of the fire. From my backpack, I take out a trekking pot, fill it with water from my canteen, and place it over the embers.

While watching her, I start talking about the old man from last night, and suddenly she turns to me.

"That story might be a bit true. The old name of the Yajou family is Yamagami. I remember grandpa saying, 'They were priests of the mountain god who integrated the mountain worship in this area.'"

As she says this, she takes the onigiri out of the fire, peels off the foil, and throws it into the pot. She then takes out some miso from a tube and stirs it into the pot.

The fog is gradually thinning. Now, we can see at least 10 meters around us.

While looking around, I notice a small, moss-covered shrine.

It somehow reminds me of the old man from last night. Come to think of it, the direction the old man disappeared in is the same as the direction of the shrine.

"Here!" my sister says, putting the makeshift rice porridge into a cup and handing it to me.

Eating the hot porridge in the chilly air warms me up a bit.

"Akito... Can you listen to me while you eat?"

I nod, putting the spoon in my mouth.

"Last night, I had a strange dream. ...Strange, right? I wasn't even sleeping."

No, you were definitely asleep. It's hard not to say that to her.

"The old man... a small old man in tattered clothes appeared and said, 'I will grant your wish.'

So, I said... I want to never age, never get sick, and understand any language. ...How do you think I can verify that?"

Hold on, what you just said is linked to what I told you earlier. ...Wait, there was something more important... Right, 'accompany.' This is a word used when going somewhere with someone.

"Hey, sis. Have you ever thought about going somewhere?"

"Oh! You know well. ...Sometimes I think we should live on our own strength."

I noticed the plural form, but I'll let it slide.

The fog is clearing more due to the morning sun, and we can now see about 100 meters ahead.

The place where we camped, relying on the fire, turned out to be a small clearing about 20 meters wide. It must be the site of the shrine we saw earlier. The trees don't seem to grow here because the ground is compacted.

The surrounding trees are covered in green...?

Wait, it's autumn! But they are indeed growing lush, like it's early summer.

We search for the trail we came in on, but we can't find it anywhere. Even the traces of the trail should still be there.

We search diligently, but there are no traces around the clearing.

The fog is thinning, but we still can't see the distant mountains. Let's try to determine our current position and find the direction to go down the mountain.

Finally, the distant mountains are faintly visible through the thinning fog.

But where are we?

We see a completely unfamiliar range of mountains. The tallest one looks like Mount Fuji.

"What's wrong, Akito?"

My sister, looking up at me standing there in a daze, calls out in surprise.

"This isn't our backyard!"

Hearing my voice, my sister stands up and looks at the surrounding mountains.

"Where are we?"

It's a rather deflating question, but if neither of us recognizes the place, where are we?

"Kyeo..."

A strange bird flies over us, making an odd sound.

It looks a bit like a pheasant, but pheasants don't fly so high in the sky.

"Akito... Maybe, but this place might be a different world..."

That's what I was thinking too... But I didn't want to say it because it might make my sister anxious. But if she thinks the same, this must be a different world.

Rustling sounds come from the opposite side of the bushes, and a small animal appears.

It moves its small head around and, noticing us, jumps back into the bushes.

"Did you see that!?"

My sister looks at me with a surprised face.

The animal looked like a common rabbit, but instead of long ears, it had horns growing from the sides of its head.

It might not be a rabbit, but the length and position of the horns made it look like rabbit ears.

"I saw it! ...But I've never seen anything like it before."

If such a creature exists, it would be rarer than a panda. And I've never heard of it living in the mountains behind my town.

Indeed, as my sister said... this is a different world.

And I must have come to this world with her, fulfilling her wish.

My sister takes a crossbow out of her backpack and starts assembling it.

She attaches the carbon fiber bows to the shoulder-mounted frame and strings the bow at the ends.

She then puts on a quiver like a shoulder bag and finally takes out a short sword from her backpack and attaches it to her belt.

"Come on, Akito, get ready too!"

I was taken aback by her actions, but her voice brings me back to reality.

I take out a kukri knife from my backpack, loosen my jeans belt, and securely attach the knife case to the back of my belt.

When I look at my sister, she is removing the sickle from a harvesting tool and attaching a dagger to the end of the handle.

How much of a weapon enthusiast is she, really?

"Last, this!"

My sister takes out two packages from her backpack and hands me the larger one.

The larger package, wrapped in a red bandana, feels heavy.

Unwrapping the bandana, what appears is...

"Sis, ...where did you get this?"

What appeared is a handgun. Moreover, a modified M29.

A .44 Magnum revolver, known for being able to take down a bear with one shot.

Moreover, it has a 7-inch barrel, which looks like a custom order from Gun Smith.

"It's three months' worth of part-time work. Isn't it amazing? Mine is this one."

She unwraps the bandana on her knee, revealing an M36 with a 4-inch barrel, which also looks like a custom order.

"Sis, I don't think you can carry these in Japan... Where did you get them?"

"I asked Alec, and he easily bought them for me."

That foreigner. I always thought he wasn't just anyone... He must have been a diplomat.

When he invited us to 'swim on a southern island,' we ended up in Guam...

I thought we would stay in a cheap hotel, but we were housed in a naval base barracks.

We spent the days in endless shooting practice and only got to swim at night.

Thanks to that, we managed to return without getting sunburned after a five-day stay on the southern island.

We repeated this many times since last year.

Hold on.

If that's the case, my sister must have known this day would come before we came here.

To balance the added equipment, she takes out a suspenders-equipped gear belt and adjusts the positions of the weapons.

She attaches the M29 holster to the gear belt. The kukri knife is fixed to the back of the shoulder pad so the handle is at shoulder level. Finally, she attaches two pouches, each containing six .44 Magnum rounds, on either side of the holster, and the preparations are complete.

"Sis, ...did you know we were coming here?"

My sister, who was attaching a large rescue pouch to her belt, looks at me.

"...I knew. The old man has appeared many times before. It seems he is leaving this world and has been listening to my wishes. ...I wished to live without family ties, just the two of us, and he said he would grant it."

"...I was worried about you going alone. ...I guess there's no choice."

Even though she's not related to me... I can't bear to be separated from my sister, who has been with me since birth.

I always tell the guys my sister dates:

"Beat me, and I'll recognize you!"

Thanks to that, I've been beating up jerks every month since my sister started high school.

I owe a lot to my sister, and in a way, I might have feelings that go beyond just admiration for her.

"I knew you'd say that, Akito. ...Let's go!"

My sister stomps out the remaining embers of the fire, slings her backpack over her shoulder, and heads into the bushes.

I quickly put on my backpack and follow her.