Chapter 5: The Day My World Changed 

Tenshujichi (Kamakura, Japan)

Despite it being night-time, his eyes had been reflecting what was not light.

At first, the eyes had shone in grey color, but moments before he vanished they shone blood red.

That could only mean two things: Either he was using his powers to do the smoke thingy, or someone else was watching through the same eyes.

The scent of burnt parchment suddenly spread out everywhere, but nobody seemed to notice anything strange.

The smoke had started to dissolve.

CLINK!

Something small and shiny fell to the ground.

I bent over to pick it up and saw that something was written on it:

“Return it to me tomorrow morning at Central Park.”

“This creep is making up excuses to meet me again!? Hah, I’ll just play along until it goes farther,” I thought.

Just then, a strong arm yanked at my shoulder;

“What has gotten into you, Tazuki? I said you could go take a walk nearby, what are you doing so far away?” she shouted.

It wasn’t that far away.

I looked around and there was nothing around me, just empty streets, silent and lonely.

How did I end up this far?

“That a**hole,” I said under my breath, hoping Reika wouldn’t hear it.

“Did you know how worried I was with all the smoke coming around from here? I thought there was a fire or something,” she nagged, like usual.

“Of course you were worried. Listen, Reika, I’m really tired after walking such a long way, let’s just call it in for the night.” I advised.

“Fine, I’ll book us a cab,” she replied.

★ ★ ★

I waited quietly and patiently till the next afternoon.

So, when Reika had gone out for a call, I hurriedly slipped out.

“Central Park… Central Park…” I murmured under my breath as I searched through the road maps.

“Found it!”

I pocketed it and followed the directions whenever I got doubts.

Thirsty and tired, I got to the area but found that it had been sealed.

I went forward to examine it a little and let out a gasp from shock.

The earth underneath was uplifted and cracked, like a separation in the land itself.

The cracks shone bright red, as if lava was emerging from it.

Were both pieces of land rejecting each other to form a rift? How could a natural phenomenon happen so suddenly?

I took out the piece of paper I had pocketed but it wasn’t the same anymore.

The markings of the land and ocean previously had been changed.

Instead, the borders and seacoast were separating.

I unfolded the rest of it and saw that several more borders had separated from other places and were actively joining with others.

The ground beneath me shook violently.

I did not have enough time to realize what was happening when my head began to ache horribly, my eyes were burning, and I fell over.

Just as I was about to hit the ground, someone grabbed hold of me.