Seed Pocket

Chapter 12: The Transfer Student

One Monday started off like normal. I got ready and went to school. When first period started, Mrs. Sakura gave us an announcement.

"Alright, class. We're getting a new transfer student today," she announced to us. "Come on in, dear."

A pale white-haired girl stepped into the room. She was squinting like the lights were too bright for her. She cowered in front of us, too afraid to say anything.

"Go on. Introduce yourself to the class," Mrs. Sakura prodded gently.

"H-hi. M-my name is Chiri," she said nervously.

"Ok, Chiri. Go take a seat. Anywhere is fine, ok?"

She nodded and scurried over to the desk next to mine. I noticed that she didn't have any supplies with her.

"We can share a book if we need to. Here's a pencil you can borrow too," I whispered to her, holding a pencil.

"T-thanks," she mumbled, taking the pencil from me.

At the end of the day, I decided I would go straight to the park since I didn't have any homework. As I started walking to the park, I noticed Chiri was following me.

"What's wrong, Chiri?" I asked, concerned.

She hurried over to me and held out the pencil that I let her borrow.

"H-here. I-It's yours," she said meekly.

"Don't worry about it. You can keep it. I've got to go. See you later!" I said as I walked off.

I noticed that Chiri brightened when I said she could keep the pencil. She may be a little strange, but at least she's nice.

Eventually, I made it to the abandoned gazebo in the park. I quickly threw up the Seed and warped to Shizin. Nothing out of the ordinary happened while on the alien planet. It was when I got back that something happened.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary when I got back to Earth. I had done this so many times that it almost seemed normal to warp between planets. However...

"Ahhh!" someone shrieked just outside the gazebo.

I froze, not sure what to do. Had they seen me or was something else happening?

"W-where did you come from? W-what was that light?"

I recognized that voice. It was Chiri. What was she doing here?

"I-It was nothing. I was just...uh... messing with a flashlight. Sorry to frighten you," I lied, trying to sound convincing.

"Y-you're lying. O-one moment you weren't here and the next... y-you were! W-what was that? M-magic?" Chiri gasped. "Y-you're one of them, aren't you? T-this is bad! T-they know we're trying to find help! W-we're doomed!"

"What are you talking about, Chiri? Who are 'they'? Who's doomed? What's going on?" I asked, confused by her babbling.

"I-It's nothing. I-I need to go," she mumbled, running off.

Something about this made me uneasy. I had to find out what she was talking about. I just had to figure out how to get her to open up to me.