It's All a Matter of Time

A matter of time

"Move it woman, get inside." A strangely dressed man orders me rudely as he shoves me into an old style barrack.

"What the hell, let go of me." I scream as he slams the door shut. "Let me out! ...how did it turned out like this?" I sigh heavily.

"I'm so sorry." A boy tied up in front of me says apologetically. 'He looks my age. Why is he apologizing?'

This whole thing started because I just had to be late in leaving for school. I was in my classroom taking care of some paperwork for the student body council since the co-representative had something urgent to take care of and the work took me a long time. I managed to finish after about two hours and I was heading out when suddenly I had a strange feeling like the floor had moved under me. Then out of nowhere I found myself in a vortex of purple light and the next thing I know I was here, somewhere in the country side. I tried to figure out where this place is but before I could get any answers I was taken by that rude man and now I'm here.

"What on earth is wrong with that guy? Is it custom here to lock visitors away?" I ask rhetorically but the boy on the other side of the room opens his mouth to answer.

"They probably think we're heretics or something like that."

"Why would they think that? It's not like we're special, or we look like we can do magic, we're dressed casually."

"To us, but to them we probably look like we came from a distant dimension, although we're just from the future." He continues explaining.

"Hmm...wait did you say future? You mean we're..?" I exclaim.

"We're not in 2215 anymore." That five words sentence sends me into despair.

"Then-then where are we?" I ask cowardly not really wanting to believe all of this.

"In the Heian period." 'You can't be serious. That's like in the times people fought with swords.' My expression turns to one of complete terror.

"I'm so sorry, this is all because my experiment went berserk and..." The boy is interrupted by the sound of the door opening. I see a young man come in, next to him it the guy who brought me here.

"On your feet woman." The rude guy says.

"You're not the boss of me so don't order me around."

"You little...your in the presence of Lord Yoshiro and you dare speak as such?" The man steps forward preparing to hit me.

"That's enough Kenta." The other guy shouts and the rude one steps back. "Woman, I just came to ask who you are, and for what reason have you infiltrate my territory? Are you a spy?A heretic?"

"I haven't infiltrate anywhere and I most certainly am not a spy nor a heretic." I state clearly.

"Don't lie, why else would a woman be here?" The guy named Kenta scolds.

"I have no idea what impression you may have of me but let me tell you, you guys are extremely rude, locking me up with no solid proof that I have done anything. And by the way I have a name and that's Natsuki for your information." I growl.

After my statement the two men begin whispering something to each other but I pay them no mind as all I want is to get out of here and go home. 'Now that I think about it...how do I even get home?' I turn my gaze to the other boy.

"Hey you, you never told me your name, not to mention you still haven't explained everything."

"I..." The boy begins speaking shyly. "My name's Daichi. I was working on a time machine and it went berserk so I ended up here. I thought I was alone in the school but I guess I was wrong." I listen to his story closely and so do the other men until Kenta intervenes.

"I don't know what you two are talking about but you will be kept as hostages until you can prove to us you are innocent." And just like that they left.

"What now?" I ask Daichi as I start untying him.

"The machine should take us back in a few hours so it should be ok." 'That's the first happy news I receive since I got here.'

But things didn't go so smoothly as five minutes later "Lord Yoshiro" came back to ask me some more questions. Luckily this time he came alone and insted of staying in that barrack he actually said to follow him.

"You talked with that boy about a time something, what was it?" He asks me out of the blue.

"The time machine? It's a construction that is supposed to help you travel through time, in the past or the future." I explain as simply as possible.

"Time...are you from the future?" I nod. "Really?" I nod again. "That's so amazing, what-what's it like in the future?" He asks eagerly just like a little kid and just like that we start talking about all sorts of things although it takes me a while to convince him of the existence of...everything, but I like technology so I actually enjoy this. 'He's actually quite nice, once you get to meet him.' And so, without even noticing it we became friends.

The sun starts to set slowly and I feel like I could actually get used to living here if only...

"Natsuki, thank you for all you've told me about the future today, I hope I can ask you some more tomorrow." Yoshiro smiles and my lips curl into a smile as well although inside...I'm crying. "I also want to give you this..." He hands me a small hair pin. "...as a thank you and sorry, I know now that you are not a spy and I will discuss it with the rest." And just as he's about to hug me, the vortex of purple light surrounds me again.

"Wait, why? I don't want to leave yet!" I scream but there's no use.

I wake up in the school hallway, my face on the cold floor. 'Was it just a dream?' I ask myself as I clench my fist but then I feel something...it's the pin, the pin I received from Yoshiro. 'It wasn't a dream after all.' I think smiling stupidly as a single tear falls down my cheek.