The Extraordinary Accounts of One Lost Girl

-7-

Aanya left me with lot to think about.

I ate my food, dumped the tray on the bunk in front of me and laid down again before I started to think all over again. I tried to remember every interaction I have ever had with my family, trying to remember anything that would make sense with the information I knew now.

Yet it didn't make sense. My parents were genuinely concerned about my future. Father would not try to marry me off to someone if I was some project the Royal Academy entrusted to him. The servants in the household never mistreated me. The butler never treated me differently, and he was very loyal to the Willows. He would have at least made a hint if I was not a Willow. My father and mother would not agree to allow me to train me as a nurse if I was not truly their daughter.

But then I remembered the annual blood tests. It was only me that had to conduct the test. When I was little I thought that it was to check whether I was an esper. But the older I grew the more I realized that was not the case. I also remember the General that always came to our house randomly every year and would speak about random things with me for half an hour for no reason what so ever.

If I ever got sick, I was always placed in a specialized room with the same doctors in the Royal Academy who treated me since I was little.

The more I remembered, the more I realized that Aanya might be telling the truth. But it could not be. Even if my family was not perfectly harmonious it still felt like a family.

But the more I thought about it, the more absurd the claim that I was from another world became. I should have asked who Aanya worked for, for I had a good feeling that she might be Russian. They did say that the Eastern Empire was a bit crazy and dwelt in a lot of things that were unscientific. Maybe this was one of it.

They must I be delusional, I thought, and there was nothing much I can do myself. I guess I should wait for this client and see. Who knows, the client might even be an agent from the Western Alliance who wanted to catch these operations.

The next day, it was a man who came to deliver my breakfast. I almost gasped at the height of him. He was taller than Anya and Anya was tall. He seemed to be in his mid thirties, while Aanya was in her late twenties. His long black hair was tied back with a pony tail and wore an attire that screamed black. He wore black leather jeans and a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath. On his belt were two swords with pommels that had red and black cloth wrapped around it in a strange pattern. Also, the swords were curved. One short. One long.

The man must have noticed my stare on his swords because he pulled it out and handed the blade over to me. I stared at the man, aghast.

Was it really a clever thing to do to hand over a weapon to a hostage?

I didn't take it, for the curves blade looked really sharp and I feared cutting myself before I could ever harm him. The man gave a smirk before sheathing his swords. He pointed at the long sword and said, 'Katana,' and he pointed at the short one, saying, 'Wakatashi.'

I nodded.

I could only think of one thing as the man left.

He was East Asian. But I could not let what nationality he was from. His eye lids were folded like the stories go, but they were sharp and thin. Our schools mostly thought about the British Culture and a little about the Ceylonese culture. Information about other nations and their countries, especially about the countries who vowed to the Eastern Empire, were very few. I simply finished my meal of what seemed like strangely seasoned noodles and waited for lunch to arrive. There was nothing I could do as the ship swayed to and fro.

During lunch, the man arrived again. He handed me another tray and simply sat on the same bunk bed that Aanya had sat on and began to read what seemed like a booklet with the strangest letters I had ever seen. The title of the book was not written from left to right.

No.

They were written from top to bottom. I spent a great deal staring at the strange combination of wriggles and lines that seemed to be made from a brush as I ate another bowl of seasoned noodles. Much to my delight, there was a boiled egg as well.

The man kept on reading even after I finished my meal. As he was willing to show me his weapons, I thought that maybe he would not mind answering me.

'Um, excuse me?'

The man looked up.

'Where are you from?'

The man stared at me apathetically, a contrast from Aanya's confidence and smugness.

'Japan.'

My felt my eyes widen.

Japan.

Of course. It was one of the biggest powers in the Eastern Empire after Russia.

'Never seen a Japanese?' he asked.

I shook my head.

Silence overtook the room.

'What's your name?' I asked again.

'What can that information do for you?' he said, returning his concentration back to his book.

'Just curious.'

He didn't answer for a while. After I thought that maybe he might not answer, he simply said, 'Ahikito Sumire.'

He then left with both my trays from breakfast and lunch.