『Entangled Stars』;「運命」┇akane a. x aoi. a au

chapter xii: another dimension

12: "Another Dimension"
新世界

Akane Aoi slowly regained consciousness. He blinked a few more times to fix his vision until he noticed that the setting he was in is very familiar. Dusting off his clothes, he quickly checked the items in his bag and sighed in relief when everything is fine. He put his attention back on the view in front of him.

That's why it was so familiar. It's their school, Kamome Academy. He started walking into the school's premises and noticed the lack of students around. When he gazed at the orange sky, he realized that maybe the students have already gone home. The wind made the different leaves in warm hues fall from respective trees. With orange skies and red to yellowish leaves, it must be Autumn Season in this dimension.

He stopped and looked at the entrance of the academy. It changed a lot. There were a lot of parts that were renovated. But somehow despite the changes, he still felt that this school is the same. It was strangely familiar.

To be honest, looking back on the past, the establishment really had no hope. It was old and some parts of it were already abandoned. This is why Akane slightly expected for it to be gone in the next years. But seeing it still standing, someone probably treasured this too much to even spend money on administering and doing revisions for it. Who might it be?

Akane physically shooked his head when he realized his losing focus. He shouldn't be caught up with the possibility of the future of their school, he should know where he can catch a star. So made his way inside the school and up to the stairways.

Walking to the staircase, Akane accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh no!" He scratched his nape. Being in awe of the interior of the academy, he didn't notice that a teacher was also on the staircase.

"I'm very sorry, sensei–" His line of vision went from the fallen book to another book and another. It was about seven books placed on top of each other with two pale arms beneath them. The said arms are carrying and balancing the tower of books.

Once Akane remembered that there was also a book on the ground, he crouched to pick it up. His crimson galaxies caught the title on the cover. "You also dropped this book about. . .

Astronomy, sir."

Behind the tower of books, a man with black locks of hair peeked as Akane carefully placed the book on too. Confusion filled his system causing him to furrow his eyebrows a little. Hmm. . .why does he look familiar?

"Oh, you're right! Thank you for putting it back!" The man chuckled. "I'll finally be discussing Astronomy with my class tomorrow. But wait a minute, you seem to be a student here. Class hours have already ended, right? Why are you still—"

"O-oh no, don't worry sir!" Due to sheer panic, Akane quickly made an excuse while shaking both his hands in front of the teacher. "I was just about to get something that I almost forgot in our classroom. After that, I'll head straight home, sir."

"Well, is that so? Alright, I'll get going then. Stay safe on your way back." He slowly nodded as he watched the tall figure continue its path down the stairway. His crimson galaxies observed the side profile of the male teacher. A sudden surge of electric shock-like realization bombarded his system when he witness the man smiling. C-Could he be. . ?

He flinched when the man looked back at him. His face was in complete view, making Akane in awe. The teacher didn't seem to notice the boy's trance as he continued sharing something with him. "Oh! By the way, speaking of Astronomy. There will be a meteor shower tonight, it will be a nice sight to see. You can try to watch on high grounds like the rooftop of this school. But I'm planning to just stargaze at the park with her. Anyways goodbye, kiddo. Be careful on your way back."

"Y-Yes!" Akane caught a glimpse of his ID before bowing his head in gratitude.

"Thank you, Amane-sensei."

---

The cold wind of the night swayed his crimson locks as he stood on the open rooftop of the building. His vision traveled around the night view of the school. There were lamp posts illuminating some parts of the school grounds, leaves in various shapes continuously falling, and the sky. . .

The night sky was beautiful. Slowly amongst the shiny dots glittering the black horizon, trails of white started appearing too.

The sky mirrored the colors of the galaxy, black with a hint of blue and purple as the specs of comets get scattered across. Akane quickly put the silver whistle on his lips and blew as the meteor shower began.

He gripped his bag tightly as the wind became stronger, his crimson irises kept switching to each of the shiny rocks the rotating planet encountered. He looked for the blue wisp. But none of the passing stars transformed. Where is it?

Suddenly a memory flashed in his mind. The time he went stargazing with the girl he loves. At the time he believed that wishes would be carried out by shooting stars.  The time when the fragrant aroma of tea lingers on the hill as they share a drink waiting for the meteor shower. The time when he realized that the sight of the figure beside him was more beautiful than the view of the sky above. It was the days of his childhood that highlighted his naivety but at least at the time. . .

he was still full of hope.

Trying to return from his trance, he blinked a few times only to be met with a blue flame-like thing in front of him. Woah. At the very center, there was a very small figure kinda like a tiny fairy. However, his shock made him completely stop blowing the whistle. The loss of sound made the blue wisp go away. 

"W-Wait no, come back!" 

He panicked and reached for the fading wisp when suddenly a ringing sound filled his ears and a burning sensation filled his system when he got in contact with it. Slowly he gets engulfed by a blue light that gets brighter and brighter.