Spark in Darkness: Unworldy encounter/Prototype

Spark 6: A new school

Haruki opened his eyes. There was only one word to describe how he felt like.

Crap.

His eyes were heavy, his head hurt, his throat was parched, and his body felt sore.

Haruki tried to recollect what happened, and he finally realised he had blacked out after a fight.

And that he was not in Japan anymore. Or Earth. It was some bizarre place where there were two moons in the sky, and people had special powers. If it was a dream, it was getting a bit too long. And realistic. It was unlikely he was transported into the past either, unless there was a period of unrecorded history where people could control Light and there were two moons. Not exactly possible, right?

Haruki tried to sit on the bed he was on, and he looked down to see his body wrapped in bandages. Seems like the two worlds were not that different in terms of the way of living and treatment to injuries after all.

Haruki looked around. He was back in the room he was in when he first visited the town. The stream of sunlight entered the room from the window showed it was daytime.

Haruki wondered how many days had past since he lost conscious. Half a day? A few days? Weeks? He thought about his parents, especially his mother. Was she still safe and sound?

His mind wondered off to his neighbours and friends. Then there was Suzuki Meiyu, the first girl who confessed to him. How was she doing? Was she missing him? How was everyone at school?

The limitless questions with no answers made his head hurt, so he stopped thinking about them.

The door to the room opened, and Haruki turned his attention towards the figure standing there. The man was easily over 180cm, almost hitting the door frame. He was well-built, his muscles seen through the thin fabric of his tight black shirt and the short sleeve of his jacket. However, his face still looked young, showing that he in his early twenties, and his hair looked like bleached red.

"Feeling better, Haruhi?" The man's voice was surprisingly gentle.

"Yeah, thanks. It's actually Haruki. Haruki Yamata."

"Oh, my bad. I heard of your name from the grandma living here. Maybe her lack of front tooth caused an inappropriate pronunciation or something." The man chuckled at his small joke as he came into the room.

"My name's Shinesh. Shinesh Formyre."

"Shinesh-san, huh..."

"San?" Shinesh asked, bewildered.

"Oh, don't mind me, it's how my people address each other," Haruki quickly answered.

"That's kind of unique. Where are you from?"

"Me? I'm from another world."

"..."

"..."

"That was meant to be a joke, right?" After a moment of silence, Shinesh raised an eyebrow and looked at Haruki, expecting him to break into laughter any moment, saying everything was a joke.

"No. I'm from this place called Japan. One country formed by volcanoes. A volcanic arc. On this planet called Earth. The third planet of the solar system." Haruki Yamata recited off his memory of Geography lessons.

"Okay, okay, fine. Now I believe you. It's just that we don't really have that many travelers popping from the other world. Besides, the part about the third something matched the description of what previous travelers said." Shinesh scratched his head and said.

"So there were people before me who came here before?" Haruki asked, intrigued. If there were people who landed here, then maybe he might be able to find a way back.