Emerald Leaf

A Disappearance

I decided that the fastest way to learn about the human world would be to read on it. So when Sumire gave me a day off, I went in search of a library, while making a mental map of the city. I realized as I was making the map that there seemed to be no order to where things were placed. The shops, the hospitals, the schools, everything seemed so random. But everyone seemed to know where they were going.

Everyone but me.

"Sir, do you know where I could find the library?" I asked a pink-haired boy who was walking by. He looked a little familiar, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it. I wondered if he was searching for something, or simply out on a stroll.

He simply stared at me for a bit, or more accurately, my hair and eyes, before he pointed down the street, rattling off directions.

I thanked him profusely, when another blond-haired boy came running up, almost tackling the pink-haired one.

"Koi! I found an amazing sweets shop!"

The pink-haired–Koi–laughed. He looked at me and nodded, as the blond-haired looked at me as well.

"You look like Haru."

"Kakeru," said Koi, placing a hand over Kakeru's mouth, while I wondered how they knew Haru, and whether we were thinking of the same Haru.

"Mmph!" he protested, as Koi took his hand back. "Right, sorry." He looked at me again and smiled. "What's your name?"

"Aki."

"It was nice meeting you, Aki," said Koi.

I nodded and then headed down the street, following the map I had made in my head, which was also now reciting the directions Koi had given.

I stopped in front of a building and whistled softly. It was huge.

I entered nervously through the front door, and was greeted with three floors of floor-to-ceiling books. I stared in awe before realizing I wasn't supposed to be so surprised, otherwise it might seem too weird.

I walked past the shelves, skimming through titles.

The Little Mermaid.

Snow White.

Pied Piper.

Looks like I wandered into the fairy tale section. We had these stories as well. I found it funny how most humans called them 'fairy tales' despite most of their stories having nothing to do with fairies.

Fairy Folklore.

My eyes skipped over the title, and I doubled back to check it out. They had a book on fairies? Before I knew what I was doing, I opened it to a random page and began to read.

Fairies were considered notorious, but fair. When one of their children fell ill, they would swap it for a human child, instead of simply stealing one, under the pretense of being fair. Most of the fairy children left in the human world live longer than they would have if they were with the fairies, however, that too, by human standards, was a very short life. These fairy children were called changelings.

My thoughts went straight to Akina. She was probably a changeling, so what does that make me? A lost human? I shook my head, and continued to read.

As for the humans who were taken to the fairy realm, not much is known about what happens to them. However, it is believed that they are treated the way the fairies would treat their children.

At this, I scoffed. Then I remembered Daniel. He was a human too, but I suppose he was treated like a family member. The way he had called out, 'House of Loris' with such confidence, as if it was his own house rang in my ears. Humans didn't know that some of us were treated like servants instead. I suppose Daniel was just lucky, in the way that I was not. I almost laughed thinking about how humans thought they knew so much about fairies, and then I had to stop myself, for I was a human too.