He faced the raging sea as if it was an arch enemy he had long waited to meet. He brandished his spear and fell into a fighting stance. Around him, the earth shook with great might and anger. The man looked ahead, but not at the giant waves threatening to swallow him whole, but beyond them, into the eyes of the man in red.

This crimson hue was shaded with the blood of his enemies. He had vowed to never let whoever oppose him live, yet before him the white man stood, unwavering. 

The land shook as if to threaten the approaching sea, the sea roared in defence. Lightning was the only source of light illuminating the scene, whilst thunder was the only sound loud enough to silence the running crowd. 

“Leukós, my brother. One last time, I ask you… Stop this—” 

"Yamato, we're here," I heard someone call out my name. Tomoya was jumping up and down trying to get me off my seat, his white hair jumping along. 

I must've been so immersed in the story I didn't realise we arrived. I 

reluctantly shut the book I was reading. The Untold Reality. It was a really controversial historical book, mainly because it was filled with such fiction. 

However, just because it was controversial didn't mean it wasn't a fun read. I'd enjoy reading anything anyway. 

The rest of Class 4 started getting off the bus, and Tomoya rushed after them. I sighed and got up, straightening my red uniform and fixing my messenger bag to the side.

"Hey, Yamato. Could you take his bag with you? He left it here again," Haruno said. He was Tomoya's older brother, who always hung out with us, despite the age difference. Maybe a year difference doesn't really matter that much. 

"Yeah, of course," I yawned, picking up the bag. I hung it on my shoulder and headed for the bus door. "I'll catch up with him before we lose him in there," I laughed before exiting the bus.

The sunlight welcomed me just outside the bus door. The sky was a clear blue and the birds were chirping out. It was a really beautiful day. 

But today was not the day to be enjoying nature. After two weeks of preparations, hours of studying, and so much dedication to Japanese history, we finally arrived at the museum. I felt so excited and ready to just run in. 

I saw Tomoya standing at the front door, just gaping at the sight of such a huge museum. His hair really was pure white under the sun.

 I hit him on the head to snap him back to reality. "Ouch! What did 

you do that for?" He rubbed his head. "Just hurry up already, all of you. I want to see the old Samurai armour. You said you wanted to see it too.”

"I AM hurrying up. You, however, need to calm down. You forgot your bag on the bus," I handed him his backpack. "You shouldn't be this careless, Tomoya. We can't always be there for you."

"Thanks, but-" he took his bag and hung it on his shoulder. Was he really trying to look cool right now? "-I trust you'll always be there."

Okay, he was sounding a bit cool. Now I can't not feel a little guilt if I'm not there. Well played, Tomoya. Well played.

"Honestly, Yamato. You should've left it back on the bus." Kosuki said as he walked out onto the pavement we were standing on. Speak of the devil, just as I was talking about someone trying to act cool too. I sighed.

"The bus was about to leave, Kosuki. We were the last ones getting off—"

"Yeah yeah I don't care." He cut me off. The nerve of this guy.

"Can't you both spend 5 minutes without arguing? Please?" I begged in disbelief.

"He's right, you know," Haruno said behind us. His hair looked messy after trying to break up the fight between Kosuki and Tomoya on the bus. He still looked cool in that green hoodie though. "I don't want to hear any arguments between you two today, alright?"

"..Fine." Kosuki relented, crossing his arms.

"Okay, Haruno," Tomoya said, relenting as well.

I was slowly losing patience by then. How could they waste so much time as if we weren't about to do the greatest thing in history. "Can we go now? We've been preparing for this for weeks," I said, impatiently. 

"Yeah, let's go."

*****

We kept walking and talking until we arrived at where the rest of the class was.

"Alright, listen up, 4-C," Our homeroom teacher ordered. The noise in the crowd died down in response. He was standing at the door of the museum with some of the workers there. "Is everyone here? Good. I want you all to form two lines in front of me so that we can enter. These workers have volunteered to be your guides for the day, so please treat them as you would a teacher."

We formed two lines as ordered. Tomoya and Kouski kept pinching each other's backs and almost fought for who goes first, so Haruno made me stand in front of them just to shut them up.

When we were done forming a line, one of the workers came to the front of the line and motioned for us to follow him. He seemed to be in his sixties or so. I wondered why he was still working in a place like this. 

He was leaning forward while walking, probably because of his old back. I would've thought he was pitiful if it wasn't for how energetic he seemed while walking. Older men always had this slow and seemingly painful walk. This man seemed to walk slow on purpose. 

Then again, I could just be overthinking this. He could just be a very healthy man. I tend to overthink a lot anyway. One time, my sister said.. I'm blabbering again, aren't I? Anyways, he just seemed unusual. 

Once we got in, everyone's jaws fell wide open. Saying it was magnificent was an understatement. 

It was a large circular hall tinted in yellow, with spectacular stage lights highlighting their corresponding ancient monuments. Statues, tongue masks, battle armour. It was an amazing view for children and adults alike. There were even some hologram tables that showed scenes of old battles or how the people used to look. 

As someone who has read everything about this place and seen lots of pictures, I can tell you, it is much more fascinating in reality. 

I looked at Tomoya, and saw his purple eyes shine in fascination. Even Kosuki's usually timid dark blue eyes seemed to glow. Haruno smiled at the place, I was dumbfounded by his reaction, sure it was his second time here but surely it was just as amazing as the first time, right? So how could he JUST be smiling?

The old man chuckled as he saw our reactions. "I never get used to how spacious this place is either. How about this, I trust you all know how to take care of yourselves, but just for precautions, 

we're going to split in groups. I just need to get something of mine from the staff room. I want you all back right here in ten minutes, okay?"

"Okay!" Our group shouted in unison. We spread out. I walked with my friends a little bit, until Tomoya suggested we split up ourselves. "It's only ten minutes anyway, we can see much more then."

"Alright, but we should rendezvous here before the ten minute mark," Haruno agreed.

We split up, and I went to the holograms first. They were really really cool. It showed so many scenes of battle, all reenacted with the help of the greatest historians and battle tacticians. Looking at them set ablaze a dying ember in my head. 

I always wanted to know what it's like to use a sword. I've seen many videos of people doing so, and I've played many games with sword users, but that didn't satisfy my curiosity. 

Oh well, nowadays wars are just fought with guns and tanks and other industrial age weapons. It's not just the weapons, though. I don't think society has improved since 2029. You'd think that at least something new would appear in a hundred years, but here we are. 

But God, does fighting with swords look cool.

The next panel showed the archers. I didn't have much to look at here, I was already a good archer myself. Whenever we'd go to a mall with an archery game I'd always score direct hits. My eyesight 

is something I'm proud of. 

I'll skip telling you about the rest, just know it was amazing. You'd have to visit it yourself to know. Anyways, I returned to our starting point on time, where I saw Kouski and Haruno standing. There was no sign of Tomoya. 

The moment Haruno saw me, he asked, "Hey, Yamato. Have you seen Tomoya anywhere? He's not here yet."

"No, I haven't," I replied. "You wanna go look for him?"

"Do we really have to?" Kouski whined. Something told me he was serious.

"Yes, we do. Now c’mon."

Tomoya was an active child, but he's never been this late before, unless he lost his way. I couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this.

*****

We went to the samurai armour displays and didn't find him there. We went through the museum, found out that there is a second floor, but still found no sign of Tomoya. 

We were about to give up and inform a security guard when we finally found him. He was just staring at a mask, but something was wrong. 

He seemed okay at first, yet when we took a closer look, his eyes seemed blank. And the mask itself just looked out of place. 

It didn't look like an ancient Japanese mask. It didn't have that style. It seemed to be made of wood, and it reminded me of a Venetian eye mask more than anything, with greenish-yellow stones above the eyes, fitting with its jungle-green color. But those weren't made until a much later time. Was this the original mask or something? And why was Tomoya just staring at it like that? 

"Tomoya?" I called out. He didn't respond. 

That's when Haruno and Kosuki realised something was wrong. We walked up to him, but he didn't give any signs of noticing us. He raised his hand and stretched it towards the glass containing the mask. 

That's when a hand grasped Tomoya's hand. He yelped in pain. It was the old man that was supposed to be watching us. The rest of the class was behind him. Tomoya realised what he was doing, and pulled his hand back. "I-I didn't mean to—"

"It's quite alright," The old man smiled. "I shouldn't have left you alone in such a big place anyway."

"Sir, what's that mask anyway?" I asked. "It doesn't look like a Japanese mask at all. It looks like the masks from Venice."

"Hohoho, you're a bright one, aren't you?" His eyes sparkled at me. "What's your name, young one?"

"Yamato, sir. Yamato Hamayumi."

The old man's eyes widened in surprise. Did he recognise my 

family name? Maybe he knew my grandfather or something? Just as I was about to ask, he answered on his own. 

"I used to teach your father back when he was still a young kid in second grade. You look a lot like him," he smiled. "How is he, by the way?"

"He's well, sir. Living a good life." I answered.

"Tell him I said hello, will you?"

"Of course, sir."

"Well, young one, back to your question. It does indeed look like a Venetian mask. It confused lots of historians and archaeologists, but the fact that it was found here in Japan is undeniable proof. As you can see here," he waved his hand towards the label under the glass mask. 

"It was made long ago, around the time ancient civilizations like Greece and Egypt were around and standing high. But in reality, no one knows its origin or who made it, it's only here because it was FOUND here. Even the name itself isn't Japanese, see?" He pointed once again at the label. 

I looked carefully this time, realising it said: "The Fox, Leukós". Leukós? I read that name somewhere. Not that long ago either.

How did I already forget? I hate this memory. What's the use of being smart if you can barely remember stuff? 

Under the Japanese characters on the label, was what I could only 

assume to be the translation for the name. But what language was that? It seemed like an old language. Was it Greek? 

I looked back up at the mask and shivers went straight down my spine. Why was I feeling like this? It's like a thousand eyes were staring right into the very depths of my soul. 

The sounds of my class talking and the other adults at the museum muffled, as if I've been submerged in water. So many sounds invaded my ears, like an entire crowd talking all at once, except everyone was yelling different words.

It hurts. It hurts so much. Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry. I really am. Please just stop it all. 

Silence. 

Everyone went back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

"Yamato, are you okay?" Haruno asked, snapping me out of my daze. In my head I could only form one question. What the -excuse my language- hell was that.

*****

We resumed the rest of the tour, now with our guide. There was so much to see, but I couldn't think about anything other than the mask. 

What was that mask, why did it feel so unappealing and frightening, like it was pushing me away? 

On the way back to the exit, we passed by it again. Just as the 

chills started running down my spine, the old man gently touched the glass with his fingers, a motion of passing by it. 

The shivers instantly disappeared, and the mask seemed.. normal.

No frightening aura, no feeling of dread or fear, nothing. I stopped in my path, and stared at it again. Something was different. I just couldn't place my finger on it. 

The rest of the class was walking ahead, and they were gonna leave me behind, so I decided to head on with them. Those eyes never bore into me again.

As we approached the door, the old man excused himself. "The door's right there, and your teacher is waiting outside. I just need to rest these old bones of mine, they're not as strong as they used to be," He chuckled lightly. 

"You guys go ahead, I need to go to the bathroom," I said, immediately.

"Alright, but hurry up. We don't want to take the metro back home," Tomoya said. He seemed unfazed by what had happened back at the mask glass case. 

I headed to the bathroom, but just as I was out of their sight, I snuck behind the old man. I had light feet, but if he turned around at any point, he'd recognize me, so I kept my distance. He entered the staff room, looking behind him as he did so. 

Right before the door closed, I slid in. I felt thankful for my thin frame for once. 

I saw him kneel down, and wipe his hand in front of his eyes. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

The mask just started forming there on his face, like he'd been wearing it all along.