CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Magi Earth

  Hajime’s eyes flew open.

  “I-I’m back,” he gasped.

  His head hurt as if ants were crawling around in his brain. It ain that vanished in the seds it took him to sit up. Or so he thought. A sed ter, Hajime was climbing out of bed so he could puke his guts out on the nearby trash bin. It would be a while before he would rise from the floor.

  “But…was it real?”

  In the cold light of day, Hajime couldn’t help but doubt it just a little. The fact that his spirit had been summoo another world while his body slept.

  “It couldn’t have been a dream…”

  From the sound of his captors’ voices, the taste of elderberry tea on his tongue, or the stench of a beast’s carcass on his nose—such details from his dream were too vivid for his imagination to have jured them up on its own.

  “Arienai…my imagination’s good, but it’s not that good…”

  Butterflies danced in Hajime’s stomach.

  “It wasn’t a dream… It happened…”

  Etion blossomed in his chest.

  “Meaning…”

  While wiping the spit from the er of his mouth with his shirt, Hajime strode over to the gss door at the other end of his bedroom. He pushed it open and walked out onto his apartment’s baly with its view of tral Park from across the street.

  Then, with the breeze on his fad joy in his heart, Hajime pumped his fists into the air.

  “Yatta!”

  He basked in the glory of his revetion while the te afternoon sun shone down on him.

  “I’m a chosen one!”

  “Good for you!” yelled one of Hajime’s older neighbors who was out on the baly to the left of his. “Now, shut up, asshole! I’m trying to read here!”

  With cheeks turning the color of apples, Hajime bowed hurriedly.

  “Sumimase-san.”

  Hajime dove for the safety of his apartment. He shut the door and then leaned against its gss. Then he ughed. He ughed until his sides hurt, and then he ughed some more. When he was doh his fit of hysterics, resolve fshed on Hajime’s face.

  “I’ll resign today.”

  An hour ter, the chiming of the elevator doors woke Hajime from his musing.

  He’d been thinking about the tract he’d signed with the Aarders—the name he’d giveherworlders—and was w how they could improve on it so that the experience for other Earthers wouldn’t feel as strange as what he’d gohrough. The thought of the small meat doll that had morphed into a toy doll version of him after he’d given it a drop of his blood still caused shivers to climb up Hajime’s spine hours after Rowan had jured it out of the remains of the carcass of the monster whose blood had given Hajime form.

  “Maybe we make the summoning chamber look like airport immigration.” Hajime khis was a silly idea while he said it. “Airport immigration is scary too…especially Ameri airports.”

  The elevator doors opeo a pristine white space that was ohe setting for Hajime’s worst nightmares. Today though, the sight of the studio’s lobby no longer filled him with paralyzing fear.

  “You’re te,” said a familiar voice that tickled Hajime’s ears to hear.

  A blonde woman with almond-shaped hazel eyes slid into view in front of the elevator. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Sliding over to stand beside Bridget while looking tired as ever was Hajime’s boss.

  A bittersweet smile fshed on Hajime’s face. “Bridget-san, Chris-senpai…”

  One et’s long eyebrows arched upward, and as realization dawned on her, she gave Hajime a smile that could light up a room.

  “Shit, you’re finally doing it,” she guessed.

  Hajime nodded.

  After he stepped out of the elevator, Hajime took out the crumpled white envelope from his jacket pocket and offered it to Chris with a bow.

  Chris let out a heavy sigh. “Darn it, not you too…”

  “Eh?” Hajime gnced up.

  To his surprise, both Chris and Bridget were grinning spiratorially at him.

  “I guess great minds do think alike,” Bridget said, ughing afterward.

  From her jeans pocket, she produced a folded white envelope.

  “Ee~~eh!” Hajime stepped back. “You alset-san?”

  “Not just me.” Bridget cocked her head to the side. “Chris is gooo.”

  Again, Chris let out a heavy sigh. Theoo produced a white envelope from his jacket pocket.

  “The studio’s big three quitting on the same day…” Chris shook his head. Though his tired face cracked into a grin when he added, “I re we’ll all be unemployed together.”

  “No, we won’t…” It took him a few seds, but Hajime’s braiually accepted this strange ce as good fortune, and he couldn’t help grinning now too. “We’re the chosen ones!”

  her Chris net uood what Hajime meant, but they’d listeo his suggestion that the three of them gather at his apartment ter for what Hajime called the most out-of-this-world business proposal either of them would ever hear.

  So, on a night that was like any other for most of New York City, three mortals would attempt something that hadn’t been attempted oh sihe a days when the old gods walked the world. Iingly, two of these three partits had no clue what they were about to do.

  “Y’all fet to pay your electricity bill?” Chris asked.

  The tall, fair-skinned, but gaunt-faced former executive producer of a triple-A gaming studio arrived at Hajime’s apartment with a bottle of expensive whiskey in hand.

  “No, I alay on time,” Hajime said as he received the bottle from his former boss.

  Bewilderment fshed on Chris’ face. “So, what’s with all the dles…?”

  Hajime watched Chris’ fusion grow as his gaze swept the living room. To be fair, the sight of so many lit dles scattered on the floor was a strahing to behold in these modern times.

  “I asked him the same thing when I got here,” Bridget answered casually.

  She lounged on Hajime’s white couch while sipping on her gss of wine like a cat that had made itself at home.

  Seeing her looking so rexed caused Hajime to blush, though it didn’t look like either Bridget or Chris noticed. They seemed too preoccupied by Hajime’s choiood lighting.

  “What’d he say?” Chris asked.

  “He said—”

  “—I said it was a surprise!” Hajime cut in, adding, “Chotto matte, my presentation’s almost ready.”

  One of Chris’ bushy eyebrows hitched up. “Presentation?”

  “I’m guessing all this”—Bridget waved at the dles—“is meant to set the mood for Hajime’s big reveal.”

  “You were serious about pitg us?” Chris asked.

  “Hai,” Hajime answered distractedly.

  He was busy p wio ay gss.

  Chris’ face fell a little. It did seem like he wasn’t ied in talking about new work. Of course, Hajime uood. Any other time, he would’ve joined Chris in drowning their sorrows and frustrations in alcohol while cursing the greedy bastards who’d turheir beloved gaming studio into the sellout it became. However, this night was meant for strahings, and the Aarders were waiting for new sacrifices…

  Hajime shook his head.

  Not sacrifices, he thought.

  Those were Rowan’s words. Bram’s name for them sounded more pleasant.

  Colborators.

  Hajime offered Chris a gss of wine.

  The gaunt-faced man shook his head. “I’m gonna need something harder.”

  “Iie,” Hajime insisted, pushing the wine gss into Chris’ hands, “we’ll drink whiskey ter. Trust me. We’ll need something strong for after.”

  One of Chris’ bushy eyebrows hitched up. “After?”

  “Just roll with it, Chris,” Bridget said, taking another sip of her wine.

  “Ah, fuck it. Why the hell not.” Chris pced the gss to his lips so that it brushed against his mustache. He didn’t drink it right away though, instead asking, “Y’all didn’t put anything in this drink, did you?”

  Since he meant it i, Chris didn’t notice Hajime’s smile falter. No, Hajime didn’t put anything in Chris’ drink, but that didn’t mean things weren’t about to get weird.

  “I-Iie, Chris-senpai,” Hajime chuckled nervously. “It’s not like I’m pnning to murder you or anything…”

  A sed of nervous silence filled the living room—and then all three of them ughed. After all, it was inceivable that loyal, straight-ced, hardw Hajime could ever do anything weird to his two friends.

  Chris downed half his gss of wine in one gulp. Then, with a mustachioed grin at Hajime, he said, “Well, it’s your show, Romeo.”

  “One more minute,” Hajime promised. Then added, “More wine?”

  Chris shrugged. “Sure.”

  After Hajime refilled his gss, Chris tiptoed past lit dles that leaked beads of wax onto the hardwood floor and made his way over to the couch. Ohere, he gently pushed Bridget’s feet out of the way so that he could sit o her.

  That’s when he leaoward her and asked, “He’s not gonna kill us, is he?”

  “I don’t think so, but who knows,” Bridget replied, adding, “We’re all a little crazy from w at Biosoft for so long.”

  Chris ked his gss against Bridget’s gss. “Touché.”

  “I hear you,” Hajime cut in.

  He lit o dle. It was thick, bck, and sweating beads of wax just like its brethren lined up around it.

  “Yoshi.”

  Finished with his prep, Hajime stood up to admire his work.

  The dles on the floor formed an intricate pattern; a spiral that looped inward. This seemed like nothing special tet’s and Chris’ eyes, but Hajime had actually recreated the round depression at the heart of the summoning chamber ihe cursed cave…with oeration. There was no round crevi the ter of his living room. In its pce was a wooden board that boasted a symbol Hajime had once seen floating in the air between him, Rowan, and Bram.

  “What’s the triskelion for?” Chris asked.

  Hajime had indeed carved a triskelion onto a thick wooden board he’d pced in the very middle of the spiral of dles.

  “It’s meant to establish a e,” he replied distractedly.

  From how Rowan had expi to him the night before, the triskelion board was the ‘focus’ meant to establish a e betweewo worlds. If he’d made it in the right proportions she’d detailed, then it would act like a s buoy that should help Rowan’s sorcery find the object he po send over to Aarde.

  It was the first of several experiments the trio had po discover if trade ossible betweewo worlds. For, as Hajime had expi to the Aarders, “Turning success on Aarde into tangible rewards oh is the best way to hook people who don’t normally py video games but have the skills we’ll o help grow your kingdom.”

  “‘Tis worth testing,” Rowan had agreed.

  Hajime couldn’t admit any of this to his friends though. At least not yet.

  “A e with what…?” Bridget asked.

  Hajime gnced up.

  Both his friends were looking back at him with worried faces.

  “Hajime,” Bridget’s brow creased, “what’s going on?”

  “Something I ’t expin with words… I o show it to you,” he admitted.

  Hajime observed his two friends gng at each other and wondered what he would do if they decided to leave.

  Chris was looking gaunt from stress with work, but he was still a big guy with shoulders nearly as wide as the Aarder prince. He had short-cropped sandy hair and a horseshoe mustache to go with the deep blue eyes of the Texan he was. Sure, Hajime may have a samurai’s spirit, but he was no match against a real-life cowboy in fisticuffs. Not that it would get to that point.

  As fet, Hajime had been crushing oractive blonde writer siheir first week w together more than half a decade ago. There was no way he could hurt her.

  “Please, just trust me,” Hajime said as early as he could. “I promise this will be worth it.”

  Bridget and Chris gnced skeptically at each other, but eventually, they leaned back against the couch.

  “Alright, Bud.” Chris sipped on his wine. “Let’s hear the pitch.”

  “But nothing too weird okay?” Bridget insisted.

  Hajime smiled but said nothing. There was no way he could promise that. Instead, he walked over to the kit to pluck two things lying oabletop ter; a of soda and a bowl filled with red liquid. He then brought these items back to the circle of lit dles and pced the soda on top of the triskelion he’d carved on his wooden board.

  Again, Chris and Bridget exged a look while Hajime looked at the smartwatch around his wrist.

  “One mio Eight PM,” he reported. “It’s almost time.”

  Hajime poured the bowl’s tents into the grooves of the triskelion. Immediately, an iro filled the air.

  “Holy shit,” Bridget breathed, “is that…blood?”

  “I-It’s just pig’s blood,” Hajime promised.

  “How’s that aer?” Chris replied.

  The Texan stood up, his hackles clearly rising. However, before he could freak out about Hajime’s morbid show, something happeo keep harsh words from spilling out of his mouth.

  ‘Ping!’

  The alert of Hajime’s smartwatch sighe beginning of something otherworldly.

  There were no glowing lines of blood or telltale sparks of sorcery to signal that the ritual was a success, a all three Earthers had their mouths agape.

  “Sweet Christmas,” Chris whistled.

  The of soda on Hajime’s board was moving on its own as if something were rattling inside of it.

  “See, I had to show you,” Hajime whispered, his ay over his friends’ skepticism diminishing slightly.

  The of soda rattled, paused, and then rattled some more as if it were a tin dancer pying to a beat only it could hear. Then, after a long dance seque vanished—plucked out of Hajime’s apartment by an invisible hand.

  ‘Ba-dump.’

  An eerie silence permeated the air.

  ‘Ba-dump.’

  One by ohe dles winked out as if an ill wind was blowing across the living room. Soon, there were no lights left to keep the darkness at bay.

  ‘Ba-dump.’

  “Yatta!” Despite the unnerving darkness, Hajime pumped his fists into the air. “We did it!”

  “We?” Bridget repeated, to which Chris added, “What’d ‘we’ do exactly?”

  “And turn on the goddamn light already,” Bridget pined.

  “Ah, hai,” Hajime said, quickly rising to his feet.

  He knew better than to let Bridget’s Irish temper fre up—he’d seen firsthand how badly her team members cried whenever she bsted them for missing deadlines—but he would quickly discover that he couldn’t do anything about her request. The lights wouldn’t turn on. Indeed, it seemed like every piece of teology in Hajime’s living room stopped w.

  “Darn it, my phone’s dead too,” Chris reported.

  Someone fumbled in the darkness. A sed ter, the thick bckout curtains c the living room window were pulled aside. Moonlight filtered into Hajime’s apartment. Only, the moon seemed tht for this part of the city, which was always lit with bright lights.

  “Holy fuck, Hajime,” Bridget breathed.

  She’d been the oo open the curtains, so she had the best view of the outside, includiral Park, which, like the ey of the street below, was covered in darkness.

  “Did you do this?” she asked.

  “Um, I didn’t know this would happen,” Hajime replied mely.

  It was another New York City bckout, though not like the ohey were used to. There wasn’t a single honk of a car to be heard, though there were a lot of raised voices from below. It wasn’t just a few city blocks that had lost power either. From the view of their window, it seemed like all of Manhattan was silent.

  “But what did you do?” Bridget pressed.

  Hajime was so distracted by the view that he answered without thinking. “I sent soda to another world…”

  Both Bridget’s and Chris’ gaze snapped sideways.

  “What?!” Bridget asked incredulously—to which Chris added, “This is what you meant about us needing my whiskey ter?”

  Hajime nodded.

  So, Chris obliged. With the help of the moonlight, he poured all three of them a drink, and only after they’d all dowheir gsses did he say, “Alright, Bud, from the beginning…and don’t y’all leave aails out either.”

  “Um, so…” Sighing heavily, as if to expel doubt from his body, Hajime asked, “Do either of you know what ‘isekai’ means…?”

  GD_Cruz