Chapter 1: Girl, Plummets

Act 1: Welcome to a New World

Chapter 1: Girl, Plummets

 

A pink world was spinning round and round.

A girl was flying in a straight line, toward somewhere, within its dreamlike scenery. Absently, she wondered how she had ended up in this situation. If she remembered correctly…she had found a bizarre street on her way home from school.

The backstreet was the same as any found in a residential area—she'd otherwise never taken a second look if she hadn’t heard the rich notes of a bewitching singing voice. Drawn to the sound, she had turned in to the back street, when suddenly the ground gave away. She only comprehended that she was falling when her stomach lurched as if rapidly descending a steep hill on a roller coaster.

The next thing she knew, she was free-falling in a pink world. At first, it had felt as if she were plummeting, but she gradually became aware that it was more like she was being pulled toward something—toward somewhere.

But where?

“UWAAAAAH?!”

Fear struck the girl like lightning as she realized something was pulling her toward the pink world like a magnet. The roller-coaster sensation of abrupt descending and ascending was happening at such breakneck speed she thought it might really break her neck. One thing was certain—her life would end in a pancake mess if she crashed into anything.

“SOMEBODY! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

CRASH!

“AEUGH!”

Terror surged through her at the same time she slammed into something. After having let out a yelp unbefitting of a young woman, she remained limply sprawled out on the ground for some time. Was she…dead?

“…………”

She couldn’t move for a whole minute after her crash landing. She kept her eyes pressed shut.

The solid object beneath her seemed to be the ground. She was pressed against something soft yet rough, some spots rugged and scraggy. Were the chirping noises she heard that of birds? Wings flapped in the flurry of a sudden takeoff.

Is this a forest?

She counted to ten, taking deep breaths to confirm her lungs still worked. She was breathing in thick forest smells she’d never encountered before, and they filled her chest to the brim, which only further stirred her confusion.

Not wanting to move her limbs yet, she lifted her stiff neck from the ground and cautiously cracked her eyes. The woods spread out before her were sparkling.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

The movement hadn’t been accompanied by pain, so it didn’t seem like she was seriously injured anywhere. She sat up. Her nose stung from where she had rammed it into the ground, but she didn’t feel much pain aside from that. It could be nothing other than a miracle, considering the speed at which she had fallen.

For a while, she just sat there in a daze. By all appearances, the forest was the definition of tranquil. A gentle breeze swayed the shapes of the soft shadows from the sunlight shining down through the trees and played with her shoulder-length hair.

“I-Impossible. This can’t be happening,” she muttered to herself.

The forest was devoid of people and deprived of human activity. It didn't matter if it was only her own voice, she desperately wanted to hear someone.

Slightly stronger winds stirred up the trees, making all sorts of rustling noises. To a girl from an urban city, being inside a forest was the same as being in another world.

Though, for that matter, was she even in Japan anymore? The luscious, dark green colors all around her appeared out of the world she knew, but she couldn’t recognize any of the thick vegetation thriving in abundance. The closest thing she could map her location to was the deep forests of Northern Europe she had once seen on TV.

I sure hope there aren’t any wolves or bears around…

The girl shuddered as she imagined getting attacked by a ferocious wild animal or passing out in the bizarre forest from starvation. She quickly rubbed the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her school uniform and jumped to her feet to shake away the unsettling images dancing around her head.

“I-I’m overthinking it! There aren’t any signs of a large animal passing through here recently, and I’m sure if I walk around I’ll eventually find the exit. I know I’ll be home in a few hours and my dinner will be waiting for me. Miiko will be waiting for me too. I have to hurry home.”

It’s okay. I’ll definitely be fine, she reassured, mustering her courage to take the first step forward…only to have the wind taken right out of her sails. The loafers she should’ve been wearing had disappeared from her feet at some point. Nervous about traipsing around a forest with nothing more than thin dark-blue knee-high socks on her feet, she remained rooted to the ground.

“……”

Uneasiness over her future prospects had left her without words.

Did my shoes fall off in that weird pink space?

She sighed in resignation and began walking again, trying her best to step on the softest undergrowth.

***

TROUBLE found her in but a few minutes.

“Ugh.”

Since she had been driven to a corner due to the critical situation, her sleeping sixth sense had awoken with the adrenaline coursing through her. And now, an indescribable sense of something foreboding had stopped her in her tracks.

Put simply, something was in the thicket before her.

“……”

Some four-legged animal was moving through the other side of the brush. The crunching of leaves and twigs sounded loud in her ears. Her heartbeat accelerated to match, and sweat was forming in her clenched fists.

“…!”

While instinctively retreating, she had accidentally stepped on a fallen branch. SNAP. Whatever creature was several meters away must’ve heard the noise too.

Faster than she could think, the girl spun on her heel and sprinted in the opposite direction. Now wasn’t the time to remember that she had never been a fast runner.

“ACK!”

Either her panicked mental state or the fact she had no shoes on had worked against her, because her foot caught on one of the many roots crawling across the ground between the trees, and she fell flat on her face! Her grazed arms stung with pain, but the sensation promptly flew out the window the moment a shadow landed with a thud on a massive tree root in front of her.

A giant brown wolf had found her. Panting, its sharp, glinting golden eyes held her captive. Its deep, menacing growl paralyzed her as she scrambled to get back on her feet.

“N-No…stay away!”

The brown wolf lowered itself into a pouncing position. Its lips curled back, baring its white fangs all the way to the gums.

Her futile attempt to escape had ended in vain—the wolf lunged for her. She slammed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact of teeth sinking into her flesh.

But, no matter how much time had passed, the pain never came.

“…Eh?”

The arms she had braced in front of her head felt lukewarm for some reason. Nervously opening an eye, she found the wolf licking the cuts she had sustained when she tripped. Then, as she was watching the wolf in a daze, something even more unbelievable happened.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you. I mean it. I’m not lying, okay?”

She surveyed the area for where the apologetic voice of a young boy was coming from. No one was around—aside from herself and the wolf.

She gawked at the wild animal in front of her in disbelief—sure enough, its lips moved and words came out.

“You got hurt. Does it hurt? You must be hurting, it’s gotta hurt, ‘cause I hurt when I’m cut too. I’m hurting right now too, the area around my chest is all tight. I’m sorry. I’m sorrrrrrrr-ruff,” cried the wolf, messily shedding tears from his big yellow eyes.

He seemed so remorseful that it washed away her fear and doubts. She hesitated for a moment over whether to speak to the wolf or not.

Will he understand what I’m saying? Wait, he—I think it’s a he—is already speaking a language I understand.

“U-Umm, I’m okay, so please don’t cry.”

“Buuut, buut, it’s all my fault,” the wolf howled sadly.

Thank goodness, he understands me. Relief washed over her once she confirmed that she could communicate.

“I’m okay. See here? The bleeding stopped because you licked it.” She hopped to her feet to show she was okay, and the wolf’s sobbing slowed to intermittent sniffles.

“Really? You’re really, really okay?”

“Yup, I’m perfectly okay.”

He bared his gums at her answer, and she jumped—but it just seemed to be his way of smiling. The wolf, sitting down and wagging his tail as he peered up at her with expectant eyes, seemed like a friendly dog—excluding his massive size and mouth full of fangs, that is.

“I’m so glaaaad. Hey, hey, where did you come from? It’s rare for visitors to come to this forest, so I got all excited and chased you!”

The girl swallowed back her immediate reaction—to tell him that he’d scared her half to death—and opted to reply with, “I don’t know how I got here either. It seems like I lost my way without realizing it.”

“Then are you a lost child? Yay, a lost child!”

Why is he so excited about that?

The wolf hopped to all fours and dashed around the girl in circles. After running around her ten times, he suddenly hit on the brakes and skidded to a halt right in front of her.

With a twinkle in his golden eyes, he said excitedly, “Hey, hey! Become my friend! Master is nice, but he never plays with me. I’ve been bored outta my ruffen-minnddddd.”

She immediately leaned forward. “Master? Does someone live in this forest?!” she demanded impatiently.

Looking stunned—the wolf was actually quite expressive—he nodded. “Master is here.”

“Will you please take me to this master of yours?”

The wolf was happy enough to jump into the air. “Yaaaay! Now the three of us can live together!”

That’s not what’s happening here. You’ve got the wrong idea! But not wanting to disappoint the wolf leaping with joy, she merely made a strained smile.

“Oh yeah! What’s your name?”

“Me? I’m…”

The wolf happily frolicked around after hearing her name. “So you’re Nichika, huh! Nice to meet ya!”