“Once there were two lovers, whose love is considered a sin, thus, they were banished to this forest. They were never to mingle with the common folk, until one day, a beautiful sorceress in disguise arrived in the forest. She was on the verge of death and the lovers nursed her back to health. Little did they know, the sorceress had fallen for one of them and she intended to have him. When the sorceress was strong again, she showed her real identity to the lovers and told them that she would give them a chance to correct their most grievous mistake. But there’s a catch, once their mistake is corrected, their memories of their lover will be erased, and they shall never meet again. Surprisingly, one-half of the lovers took her offer, and his wish was so unprecedented-”
“Kouchi, where are the crackers?”
“-even the sorceress couldn’t believe it that he would-”
“Kouchi, where are the crackers?”
“Can the paper driver shut up?” Shintaro roared at Taiga, who was sitting in the back seat. “I’m telling daddy a story.”
“I don’t think daddy is interested though, and your story is full of inconsistencies. Lovers banished to the forest? Why? Can they just move to the next town? Also, a sorceress on the verge of death? That means she’s not very good with magic if she can’t make a spell for food or medicine. Oh, another thing, correcting a mistake? Seriously? That’s such a lame reward.”
Shintaro rolled his eyes in annoyance. “You obviously don’t know anything about the legend of this place.”
“I’m sure you made it up, or it’s one of those Korean dramas you watch,” Taiga countered.
“Certainly not. Although I agree that the plot sounds very K-drama-ish, that’s not the point-”
“Kids.” Kouchi, the driver and “daddy” to Shintaro and Taiga, finally spoke. “Can you guys keep your mouth shut even for a minute?” His tone might be mild, but the two passengers can detect simmering anger. However, it wouldn’t stop Taiga's sassiness.
“You should have stopped Shintaro earlier,” Taiga quipped.
Kouchi immediately hit the brakes, which propelled all of them forward if it weren’t for the seat belt.
“You guys can’t really shut up.”
“I’m not the one who talked!” Shintaro said.
“That’s it, out of the car, both of you.”
“Daddy!” They both complained.
“I’m not your fucking dad!” He glared toward Taiga. “We’re fucking born in the same year, and you-” he roared to Shintaro, “this camping trip was your idea, but not only did I have to drive, but I was also the one who prepared all the fucking equipment!”
Taiga and Shintaro were too shocked to react, after all, “daddy” rarely gets mad toward them.
“You both have your phones, which I’m sure both have GPS, so you may start walking to the campsite.”
“Eh?”
“Eh?” Kouchi repeated sarcastically. “Get out of my car now or we’re all going back to Tokyo.”
“We can’t!” Shintaro said with his eyes wide, “you know that I’m trying to avoid someone.”
“I’m not avoiding anyone but it’s sweltering hot in Tokyo right now, and my AC got sent for repairs for dying.”
“See? Since both of you don’t want to go back to Tokyo, start walking to the campsite now.”
“We promised to be completely silent,” Taiga begged. “You won’t even know we’re here.”
Shintaro nodded repeatedly. “Yes, please, Kouchi.”
Kouchi shook his head, completely undeterred. “Nada. Out. Now.”
***
“I still think we should have stayed by the roadside, which is concrete, and we can even hitch-hike,” Taiga complained as the mossy-veiled trail and steep slope forest they were traveling as a shortcut grew denser.
“Are you sure this is a shortcut?” He asked as he looked up, the sky was blue and cloudless.
Shintaro turned back to him, his thick eyebrows forming a v-shape. “The GPS says so,” he said, tapping his phone, “and as long as we have a signal, it only means that we’re still within civilization. Why? Are you getting scared?”
Taiga scoffed. “Please, I’m going to eat a snake if I see one.”
“We’re already halfway there,” Shintaro said, checking his phone again, “we can even slow down a bit so we’re sure that Kouchi has put up the tent by the time we arrive.”
Taiga scowled at first, but he ended up smiling at Shintaro’s idea. “Good idea. I hope he starts cooking the pizza as well.”
They resumed walking, not hurrying, but not slowing their pace either. Taiga didn’t like camping, but he is an avid hiker because of his goshuin hobby, and with “forest bathing”, he felt like his lungs had been cleaned from all the dust and smog of the city. Moreover, even though they’d been walking for quite some time, he didn’t think he even had a bead of sweat.
“Ah!” Shintaro hollered, which surprised him. “Look!”
Taiga looked on and saw a reflective road sign that read, “200m to the camping site”.
“See? The GPS is correct.”
Taiga nodded in awe. “I’m impressed as well.”
“Let’s dash to daddy!”
Taiga was about to reply when Shintaro really made a run, he was so flabbergasted that if it wasn’t for the coos of the crows, he wouldn’t start running as well.
“Shintaro! Slow down!” He shouted as he tried to speed up, but he knew it would be impossible since he was never a fast runner.
“Shintaro! Wait-” He yelped as he almost flew and rolled a few feet away.
“Fuck that hurts,” he muttered as the forest floor became shrouded with mist. He tried to stand but his left ankle screamed in agony.
“Shit! Shintaro!” He yelled as he looked around a forest with almost zero visibility. “Why is it suddenly misty? Are these mist or clouds? God, I hope it won’t rain or something,” he murmured as he opened his phone and saw that he had no signal.
“Eh? I’m sure I have one earlier.” He looked up and saw that the earlier blue sky had turned gray.
“Shit! It might really rain. Shintaro! Kouchi!” He called out once more while he waved his phone around for a signal when he heard the rustle of dried leaves.
“Shintaro, is that you? I think I sprained my ankle.”
The rustling grew nearer and faster. Taiga thinks that Shintaro was probably running, and he could also make out a light growing brighter beneath the mist.
He turned on the flashlight of his phone and shouted, “I’m over here!”
Leaves and twigs cracked with each footstep until Taiga could make out a shadow.
“Shin-”
“Young Master, where were you?”
A figure stepped out from the mist and Taiga found himself more mesmerized than terrified. The man looked down at him, gently steering the old-fashioned arabic lamp that hangs on a stick near his face, and Taiga could finally make out the man’s features. He has a well-chiseled face, which looks soft with him, almost puppy-ish, instead of sharp, and his straight black hair was shiny and looked soft to the touch. He was tall and lean and the white linen suit he was wearing made him look like a deity who came down to shower the mortals with their beauty.
If he was dazzled by the man in front of him, Taiga could tell that the man was not only surprised to see him, he wasn’t at all thrilled.
“Errr…are you from the campsite?” He asked. He doubted the man’s outfit was something one would wear camping, and he wondered if he and Shintaro might have gone to private property.
“Ah, you got lost from the campsite?” He asked in a tone suggesting that this wasn’t the first time someone got lost from the site.
Taiga slowly shook his head. “I’ve never been to the campsite, I’m on my way there,” he clarified.
He sighed as though he was about to do something against his will. “Stand, I’ll guide you back to the campsite.”
“Uhm, I won’t be sitting here if I could stand,” he said, pointing his phone’s flashlight to his injured ankle, which was now swollen. “That looks bad,” he added, a bit frightened.
The man sighed once more.
“Uhm, you don’t need to help me, can I just borrow your phone? Mine doesn't have any signal. Or perhaps, do you have a radio or something?”
“There’s no signal around here.”
“Huh? But my friend has one earlier-”
The man stretched an arm toward him. “I’ll help you to stand on your foot, then I’ll carry you.”
“Eh…I’m heavy,” Taiga muttered, he felt shy all of a sudden.
“I can manage, let’s go before I change my mind.”
He was still hesitant, but as soon as their hands touched, the man pulled him up to stand on his right foot, before guiding him for a piggyback ride.
“You’re right. You’re heavy,” he complained, grunting as he adjusted Taiga’s weight on him. “Take the lamp with you.”
Taiga took the lamp, feeling his face hot as a familiar smell wafted toward him. “Mmmm, you smell of lavender.”
“You smell of wood,” the man replied.
“As you should! We’re in the forest! I doubt there’s a lavender field here, but is there one nearby?”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Well, I always dream of waking up in a field of lavender, and I’ve been to a lot of lavender fields, but no one comes close to the one in my dreams.”
“Because it’s just a dream,” the man said with sarcasm.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, he didn’t have the energy to contradict a man who was suffering his weight. “It is all but a dream. By the way, were you looking for someone? I think I heard you say, young master ?”
“Yes, I am looking for someone.”
“Oh! Once we’re near the campsite, you can just drop me off and I’ll crawl or roll my way there, the kid might be scared in this forest.”
“Kid? What makes you think the young master is a kid?”
“He’s not?”
“Well…he wished he was young.”
The man walked more, the mist started clearing, and Taiga didn’t think he was gone that long as darkness cloaked the forest.
“We’re here.”
“Where? Oh! How did this happen?” Taiga asked, confused to see the same sign he and Shintaro saw earlier. He recalled running and tripping on something, but he didn’t think he rolled back.
“Is your name…Taiga?” The man asked, speaking his name in a soft whisper.
“How did you know?”
“I can hear them calling for you.”
“Really?” Taiga tried to concentrate, but he couldn’t hear anything, not even the sound of the wind. “Your huge ears can hear that far?”
The man simply smiled and helped him down to lean on a tree. He looked in the direction where he and Shintaro ran earlier.
“They are coming soon. I must leave as well, I can already hear the young master calling for me.”
Taiga scowled as he couldn’t hear anything else. “You can really hear that well? Is that a superpower? Are you…a superhero?” He asked with extreme interest.
“I’m just…I’m no one,” he said and Taiga could feel the harrow in his tone. “Goodbye, Taiga.”
“Wait! You know my name, I should also know yours.”
The man looked up, Taiga looked up as well and saw the sky draped with stars.
“You can see my name up there.”
“Up there? What do you mean-” He shone his phone’s flashlight around the darkness. How could the man disappear in a flash? He took a deep breath, the floral and woodsy smell of lavender still lingered nearby.
“Where are you?” He asked when he heard Shintaro and Kouchi’s frantic voices calling for him. He cleared his throat and bellowed, “I’m here!”
Soon, he heard barking, more crackling sounds, and breaking twigs as the spots of lights grew nearer to him.
“Taiga!” Kouchi and Shintaro both shouted.
“Where were you? We’ve circled this place around three times!” Kouchi said and before Taiga could answer, Kouchi noticed his ankle. “You’re injured!”
Uniformed rescuers immediately helped him and transferred him to a spinal board. Taiga couldn’t say a word as they all marched back toward the campsite and he could only sigh as the smell of lavender grew fainter and fainter.
“Is the young master growing weak?”
Hokuto ignored the speaker and concentrated on folding his dough. He is dead-set on accomplishing the 324-layer croissant he saw on “Yakitate!! Japan.”
“I heard that someone got in again.”
Hokuto muttered something incoherent when his dough started to crack. He should make it thicker, but one thing was for sure, working with a chilled dough works best to achieve that 324 layers.
“And the young master wasn’t happy when he heard that the unwanted visitor returned with a team with him.”
Hokuto paused and finally paid attention to the speaker, Juri. Juri smirked seeing his sudden interest, his thick gold necklaces gleamed as the morning sun penetrated the frilly and sheer curtains of his bakeshop.
“The unwanted visitor returned?”
Juri remained smirking, looking ecstatic to be the bearer of the latest goss.
“According to the grapevine, the man returned with a group of men who spent hours flying something above the sky. Are you familiar with that?”
“No idea,” he lied, he thinks those flying things were drones. “I'm surprised you weren't curious enough to check out the unwanted visitor.”
Juri looked like he ate something spoiled. “Why would I be curious about a guy? Like 99% of people who would bypass this forest are men,” he finished with disgust.
Hokuto nodded in understanding. The only way Juri would be forced to venture into the forest was with the scent of a woman. “Well, it would be weird if a woman were to be seen walking this forest all alone.”
“Unless she'd gone here to commit suicide,” Juri said and goosebumps spread all over Hokuto’s arms. “Anyway, did you get scolded by the young master for helping the man?” Juri added.
“Not really,” Hokuto said, returning his attention to the dough to wrap it with a plastic cling, “I said I was looking for him when I ran to the man, it was an accident, he was injured, and I felt obliged to help.”
Juri raised an eyebrow, his eyes brimming with malice. “And he believed that?”
It was Hokuto's turn to raise an eyebrow. “Why wouldn't he?”
“You have good ears, Hokuto, you could easily differentiate our voices from those from the outside. You deliberately approached that man.”
Hokuto scoffed. “Assuming it was intentional, why? What's my purpose? What could he actually do for me?”
Juri's mouth remained open, but he had no immediate answer. “You're right,” he said after a while. “Even if you deliberately approached him, it makes no sense since it's not like you can gain anything from it.”
Hokuto nodded with a smile. “Of course. Everyone who passed by this forest is no one but mere passers-by.” He finished wrapping his dough and placed it in the fridge to cool when the shop’s doorbell rang and a couple of famous gossip mamas glided into his shop.
“I just remembered that I have to water my garden,” Juri announced and left his shop in a flash.
“Juri has a garden?” One of the mamas in a busty polka-dot dress asked, before picking up a bruschetta.
“He grows lettuce,” Hokuto replied.
“Is that all he eats so he's so thin?” The other mama asked, whom Hokuto knew as Yae-san.
Hokuto smiled politely. “He just doesn't see the point of even eating.”
“Bah!” Yae-san countered. “We are in such an ideal place to eat anything and never have to worry about ever getting fat.” She patted her rounded tummy, which made Hokuto giggled as both mamas gave them their bread for him to pack.
“By the way, Hokuto, is the young master okay?” The polka-dot dress mama inquired, their speculative eyes studying him while he covered their bread with kraft paper.
“He is okay,” he answered as he expertly folded the paper, “he was just feeling a bit under the weather. The heat is too much for him.”
“Are you sure?” They asked in unison, and Yae-san added, “There seem to be more outsiders-”
The doorbell rang again and Hokuto's bakeshop fell into stiff silence when a man with a blue fedora entered, his cane tapped rhythmically against the marbled floor. He tipped his fedora and greeted the mamas, who immediately regretted that they couldn't stay long, and scurried out.
“Safe to say, I was the topic before I arrived.”
Hokuto gave a half-smile. “Nice to see you outside, young master.”
“Please, I told you to just call me by my name when it's the two of us.”
“Very well, I have fresh-baked dinner rolls, do you want some, Jesse?”
Jesse smiled and his ashen lips formed a fissure by the side. “I would love that.”
Hokuto prepared the rolls while Jesse wandered along the bread shelves. “You’re the only one in this town who hasn’t asked me about my condition.”
Hokuto gave him a side glance while he plate the rolls. “I refrained from asking questions with obvious answers, because most of the time, people just tend to lie.”
Jesse smiled coyly, and despite his pale complexion, it was easy to see that he is insanely good-looking starting with his Caucasian features.
“Here are your rolls,” he said, serving them with a glass of iced tea.
“It’s the heat,” he said as he took a seat before taking a huge bite of the dinner roll, “I really hate summer.”
Hokuto simply nodded. He didn’t want to be a prick and remind Jesse that he’d been using the same excuses, from “it’s too cold”, “spring worsened my allergies”, and “there’s too much rain”.
“I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll repeat it again. Can you not find someone else to do your job?”
Jesse slowly shook his head. “I answered this before, this is my punishment.”
Hokuto had no idea about Jesse’s punishment, a tidbit he never bothered sharing. “Haven’t you suffered enough? Even those in prison can be pardoned.”
“The only one who can set me free will never come back,” he said with a sigh and Hokuto could feel the heaviness of Jesse’s baggage. “Can you pack the rest for me? These will go well with my soup for dinner.”
Hokuto nodded and took Jesse’s unfinished dinner rolls. He watched him walk toward the bay window, the morning sun had dimmed, and an overcast could be seen on the horizon.
“I really hate summer, it’s hot enough so why would it even allow rain?” Jesse mused as Hokuto finished packing the rolls. The forest is harsher when it rains, it attracts thunderstorms, trees absorb water, and the soil gets softer; those would surely hinder Taiga if he ever wanted to return.
Hokuto shook his head and thought of himself as crazy, why would he even want Taiga to return?
***
“How could it rain in the middle of summer?” Taiga complained as he paced inside his hotel room, which overlooked the campsite, and the vast forest ahead. Despite an unsatisfactory result, Taiga was able to convince the local municipality to grant him another permit for another round of heat mapping and topographical laser scanning around the forest under the guise of research. He lied that he saw an indistinguishable flora and fauna when he got lost, they obviously didn’t believe him, but they gave him a chance nonetheless.
“They will never grant me a permit again,” he muttered with a sigh and as though the skies were mocking him, it rained even harder along with lightning and thunder. He slumped down on the nearby chair and watched as it rained cats and dogs. Maybe this rain is a sign that he should stop this “madness” as Kouchi called it. Maybe the man was really just a product of his imagination, as his psychologist pointed out because he was looking for someone to save him in a dire situation. Or maybe even Shintaro was right, someone used a Sling Ring and the man accidentally stepped in.
Taiga sighed. What was he fighting for anyway? It was not like he was planning to give the unnamed man a reward. He sighed once more and made a call. “Let’s pack up. Let’s go back to Tokyo.”
The rain remained strong as Taiga rode the front seat of the Range Rover. He didn’t want to wait for the rain to subside, or he might change his mind again. The driver stepped on the gas as soon as Taiga closed the door, his eyes following the forest’s outline with sadness while they sped away when the driver muttered “shit!”, and Taiga could only gape as the driver raced against time to avoid the mudslide. The driver made a sharp turn to the right as the mudslide spilled all over the road, they hit a guardrail and found themselves teetering on a cliff. Taiga held his breath, afraid that even a sigh would lead to their downfall.
“Can you try to go to the back of the car?” The driver asked and Taiga thought he was mad when another mudslide came crashing, pushing the car from the cliff and having them sliding toward the forest.
“Hold on tight!” The driver instructed and Taiga held on to his seat belt as the car skidded down, the mudslide chasing them like a horror movie killer. They hit a couple of trees until they stopped, but not the mudslide as it overflowed around them and buried them under.
***
Taiga stretched his arms overhead as the gentle breeze blew, carrying the familiar delicate and powdery scent of lavender. He quickly opened his eyes and sat up, finding himself in the middle of rows and rows of violet flat evergreen needles. He is definitely dreaming again, for the field would only exist in his dreams.
“Why is it always the same field?” He murmured with a sigh as he looked at the cottage at the top of the slope. It’s always the same cottage, and in his dreams, he would always try to reach that cottage, but he would always wake up.
“If I’m dreaming, does that mean I didn’t die from the mudslide?” He smiled and started walking toward the cottage. “Time to wake up, Taiga.”
From walking, he changed to a light run, his pace slowed as he reached the beginning of the slope, the cottage growing closer, he could even see a cloud of smoke coming out of its chimney, but instead of waking up, he was still in the field, the cottage drew closer as his breathing hiked.
“Why am I still here?” He murmured, catching his breath as he reached the red cottage door. He shrugged off the uneasiness spreading in him as he took a deep breath and knocked softly on the door. When no one answered, he went ahead and opened it.
***
Taiga’s eyes shot open as the sweet smell of lavender slowly dissipated and was replaced with the smell of freshly-baked bread. He looked around the small log cabin room, bare from any decorations saved from a study table on the foot of his bed, and an arch lamp beside his bed.
“Am I back at the hotel? Is this a different one?” He surveyed his body and he immediately knew that his clothes had been changed. There was no way he owned white silk pajamas with ruffled trim and a bow.
“I guess I’m okay if I didn’t wake up at the hospital,” he concluded when the tempting smell of bread made his stomach grumble. He followed the smell, tiptoeing as he left the room, and as he slowly descended the narrow staircase, he realized that he must be in a bakeshop.
“I don’t think there was a bakeshop back in the hotel,” he murmured when a door behind him burst open. His eyes widened as he gestured, “You!”
The man looked surprised to see him as well, but for an entirely different reason.
“I wasn’t expecting you to wake up this early,” he said as though he was blaming him. He immediately went to the shop’s entrance and flipped the sign from open to close, before he pulled down all the blinds, dimming the entire bakeshop.
“What’s happening?” Taiga whispered, the panic in this man’s face and movements was appalling.
The man turned back to him and said, “Please go back upstairs, I’ll send you your breakfast.”
Taiga was about to reply when they heard a tapping on the shop’s glass door. “Hokuto, are you really close?”
“I’m cleaning for a bit!”
“Hokuto. Big Dipper. I finally got your name,” Taiga said, feeling annoyingly happy despite Hokuto’s obvious distress.
Hokuto sighed impatiently. “Yes, that’s my name. Now, can you go back upstairs?”
Someone tapped on the door again. “Hokuto, are you opening late?”
“Seems like you have lots of customers, I’d better help-”
“No!” Hokuto cuts in, alarmed in his tone. “I’ll explain everything later, but you can’t be seen by anyone,” he added before he grabbed his wrist and pulled him upstairs.
“But why?” He asked as they reached the bedroom door. “Is this your workplace? Are you not allowed to have help or visitors?”
Hokuto sighed again as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. “You shouldn’t be here,” he reiterated.
“Then you should have brought me to your house, or…wait a minute, how did I get here? Where was the driver with me? Where did you find me? What is this place?”
“I know you have lots of questions, but first, you’re in Ealar .”
“Ealar?” Taiga repeated a fancy name for an unfamiliar place.
Hokuto nodded. “It’s a place where lost souls go.”
Taiga watched the customers that came in and out of the shop through the bedroom window. Most of Hokuto’s customers were women; probably middle-aged women, there were also a couple of kids with their red randoseru, a salaryman in a crisp blue suit, and a grandpa who smoked two cigars outside of the bakeshop before leaving.
He slowly shook his head, there was no way the people he saw were souls. Hokuto was definitely pulling his leg, or this could be his tactic to scare him. Taiga had no idea how, but Hokuto might have heard how he had been searching for him around the forest. He quite admits that his actions may seem stalker-ish, but he had nothing but pure intentions. He just wanted to thank him.
“So, go ahead, thank him, and leave,” nagged a part of his brain, which Taiga quickly shut off. He had another reason why he wanted to see Hokuto, he needed to see the lavender field that he smelled on him.
“Okay then, will you leave afterward?” The rational part of his brain asked, to which Taiga responded with a nod. Of course, he would leave…he could always go back again.
He thought of Kouchi, his ever-doubtful friend, and searched for his phone. He saw it on the bedside and tried turning it on when the door opened.
"Here's your breakfast," Hokuto announced, carrying a tray and putting it on the table.
Taiga completely forgot his phone as his stomach grumbled from the hearty smell of his meal.
"Tomato soup, slices of French bread with butter, and milk tea."
"Thank you, but why is it only for one?"
"Oh! You can have a second serving, of course."
Taiga feigned a cough, he didn't think Hokuto would think of him as a glutton.
"Uhm, no, I was hoping you would eat breakfast with me," he said, feeling sheepish.
"Ah…" Hokuto mumbled.
"I'm sure you haven't eaten yet," he added when the doorbell chimed downstairs.
"Ah, you can eat first, I can't be out of the shop for long. I'll talk to you later."
Taiga sighed and sat down, his hunger evaporated from the thought of eating alone. He heard the unmistakable sound of his phone, a warning that his battery is low. He reached for it and sighed that not only was it below 15%, he saw that he didn't have any signal.
"How come signals are hard in these areas?" He muttered, opening his camera to take a picture of his window view, but he saw nothing but the forest.
"What the?" He panned the camera around his room, and all he could see onscreen were trees and the forest's green and murky floor.
"Is this broken? Why is the image different from what I'm seeing?" He changed the camera settings from rear to selfie, and he was glad to see his face, but his background was still the forest and not his room.
"I think my phone is really broken. It kinda feels different too."
His phone gave out another warning, it now only has 10%. "Sod off, you can't even give the right image," he muttered before he threw his phone on the bed. He is getting cranky and decided that he might as well eat.
***
“Here are some bread.”
Juri scoffed. “So you’re giving me hush bread instead of hush money, huh?”
Hokuto smiled and looked pensively at his hands. They were clean now, but it hadn’t been hours ago when it was covered with mud, up to his arms, down to his toes, and all over his clothes. He resembled a dog who dug soil to release all that energy, and what he did really drained him afterward.
“I’ll be forever grateful that you helped me,” he said, helping Juri hang his and Taiga’s clothes on the clothesline.
“Yeah, removing the mud from your clothes almost broke my bones,” Juri quipped, before making a show of stretching his tired limbs.
“I really owe your washing machine an apology,” Hokuto mused, sighing. “Uhm, why did you help me?”
Juri looked back at him, frowning as though he spoke a foreign language, before grimacing. “So I’ll have something to blackmail you with,” he said with all seriousness.
Hokuto felt his face fall.
“Lighten up!” Juri chided, lightly hitting his chest. “I don’t want to go all mushy and say, ‘That’s what friends are for’, but since you got here, you always have this ‘I couldn’t care less about anyone else’s attitude, so seeing you actually caring about someone makes me want to support you.”
Hokuto could feel his face heat up from Juri’s observation that he found himself denying it. In the first place, it was a coincidence how he learned that an accident happened by the edge of the forest, and he supposed that it was serendipitous that his good ears picked up a familiar, but weakened voice, asking for help.
“It’s not that I care about, but do you expect to just watch him die? That’s cruel!”
“Okay, okay, I knew you would deny it,” Juri said. “So why is it you only brought back one man, why leave the other in the middle of the woods?”
“Digging the mud to reach the car was hard enough, I’m sure the rescuers-” Juri nudged him to stop as Yae-san and her husband passed by his yard.
They both nodded in greeting as Yae-san’s husband, who wanted to be addressed as Colonel, spoke to them in his usual gruff manner.
“Gentlemen, have you heard about the mudslide that happened south of the forest?”
Hokuto and Juri both shook their heads.
“Were there any casualties?” Juri asked. “Did someone new arrive?”
The couple looked at one another and shook their heads. “Not that we know of, the young master went fishing by the lake this morning.”
“Ahhh…” they both mumbled, before bidding the couple goodbye.
Hokuto breathed in relief once they could no longer see the elderly couple. “Do you think the young master knows I sneak someone in?” He whispered.
Juri shrugged. “You know him better than I do.”
“I’ll make sure he leaves by tonight before the young master gets a whiff of him.”
“Good luck with that.”
Hokuto squinted his eyes. “Why does that sound like a challenge?”
Juri shrugged again. “Well, it’s never easy to let go of someone.”
Hokuto scoffed, chuckling. “We are dead, Juri, it is preposterous for us to form any attachment.”
***
“How could he not have a charger?” Taiga mumbled after checking the nook and cranny of the bedroom. It was one of three rooms upstairs, the other one is the bathroom and an enormous walk-in closet. He suspected that the smaller bedroom is the real walk-in closet, but the owner thought it would be remiss not to house his clothes in a bigger room. By the owner, he meant Hokuto, whom he had never thought would own that many clothes for being a baker.
Carefully, he went down to the shop and found it empty except for the little kid seated alone.
“Uhm, hi?” He said, giving her his sweetest “I’m your friendly oniichan” smile. “Are you all alone? Have you seen Hokuto?”
The little girl simply shook her head, her pigtails swaying side-to-side.
“I see.”
“Uhm, I’m here to pick up pieces of bread my mother ordered from Hokuto-nii.”
“Oh…” He mumbled as the kid gave him the list.
He nodded as he read the list. “Okay, let me help prepare this for you.” He was about to picked-up a tray when he noticed a tray full of different pieces of bread beside the cash register. Taiga checked out the list and confirmed that it was the kid's order and proceeded to bag each piece of bread, his handiwork was so amateur he actually felt bad.
“Okay!” He said triumphantly when he was done. “Uhm…” He made a sweeping look at the bread shelves and realized that there were no price tags whatsoever.
“Did your mama give you money for payment?” He asked.
The little girl shook her head. “Mom never gave me money.”
“Ah…” Taiga nodded, the girl’s mother must have paid Hokuto in advance for her orders. “Anyway, here is your bread…by the way, is there a store here that sells smartphone chargers?”
The kid looked blankly at him, before saying, “You can try the young master’s place, he has everything.”
“Young master?” He repeated in a whisper, recalling his first meeting with Hokuto and how he was looking for a certain young master. “Hmmm, can you direct me to where this young master lives? He might have what I need.”
The girl smiled, perking up with the thought of being of help. Taiga closed the store and walked hand-in-hand with the girl until they reached a fork in the road.
“Left is where I live, and the right is where the young master lives. It will be easy to spot the white house before the lake, that’s where the young master lives.”
Taiga thanked her as they bid goodbye. The sun was still at its peak, and it was harsh on the skin, but a cooling gentle breeze flowed slowly from the mountainside.
“Am I still in Japan?” He murmured. “This could be like Switzerland.”
He hadn't walked that far when he saw a white house on the foothills. It was quaint with large windows that reflected the rolling hills nearby. And as his eyes roamed further, he could see a lake.
“Uhm, excuse me?” He called out, feeling a bit silly that this could be a private residence and here he was, asking for a charger.
“Are you here to see the young master?”
He almost yelped when he heard a voice behind him. He whirled around and saw who could be the tallest man he had seen so far in person.
“Uhm, yes. I was told that he has everything.”
The tall guy agreed and instructed him to wait by the porch because, in that way, the young master would know that someone had stepped into his house. Taiga did as he was told, looking for any signs of alarm, sensor, or CCTV cameras around the porch, but there were none. He wondered how the owner would know of his presence simply by being on his porch.
He was doubtful, but he did again what he was told, and busied himself with some book on the nearby shelf.
“This book looks so old, it should be in the museum,” he murmured as he cautiously turned a page. The smell of an old book made his nose itch as he started reading, “Once there were two lovers, whose love is considered as a sin, thus…why does this sound familiar? I think I heard this start before. Could this be the first edition of a book?” He continued reading when he heard the sound of footsteps on the gravel, and before he could turn around to check, a hand tightly covered his mouth as someone whispered in his ear, “You don’t belong here.”
***
Hokuto could hardly catch his breath while he dragged Taiga away from Jesse’s place. His heart almost stopped when he saw Taiga seated on Jesse’s porch, and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before Jesse learned that someone different got in.
“Hokuto, wait a minute, aren’t you overreacting?”
Hokuto paused, whirring around, and stewing in a mixture of anger and fear. “Overreacting? I’m fucking overreacting?!” He bellowed and made Taiga step back in surprise.
“Okay, so I might have used the wrong word to describe your reaction. But I really can’t understand why you were reacting this way.”
“Then I’ll make you understand.” They reached the bakeshop and he pulled Taiga to his mini kitchen. He pulled the sharpest knife he could see Taiga’s eyes widened in alarm.
“What are you doing?”
Hokuto looked at him with determination. “Proving our difference,” and with a steep inhale, he stabbed his right hand.
Taiga’s screams echoed while Hokuto twisted in pain as he pulled out the knife, blood splattered and gushing out of his hand.
“Are you out of your mind?” Taiga asked, and in a move, Hokuto didn’t expect, Taiga removed his clothes and used it to stop the bleeding. “If you want me to leave this place so badly, just say so, you didn’t have to hurt yourself,” he added, his fingers trembling as he pressed on his injured hand.
“I’m not hurt,” he said slowly, regretting scaring Taiga.
“Fuck it!”
He sighed and reminded himself not to be swayed by mortal emotions.
“I said, I’m fine.” He pulled out his injured hand and showed it to Taiga. The blood has dried, the wound has closed, and there was no trace he ever stabbed himself, not even a scar.
“H-how?” Taiga asked, astounded.
“Because I’m a soul, there was no way for me to die again.”
Taiga remained dumbfounded when they heard the bell of his shop, followed by a voice he feared.
“Hokuto, are you here?”
He signaled Taiga to stay quiet as he replied, “Yes, young master.”
Taiga found himself clamping his hand on his mouth. There was a sense of foreboding in the air, and even though he still found everything incredulous, his gut feel told him to shut up if he wanted to survive.
He sat on the floor while the conversations behind him were as clear as Hokuto’s blood on his shirt.
“I believe we just missed each other, I was at your house earlier,” Hokuto said.
“I was fishing by the lake, why were you at my place?” Asked a voice. Taiga thought this young master sounded young, but the way he spoke made him sound old and authoritative.
“Uhm, well, I was at Juri’s place earlier, and Yae-san and the Colonel passed by. They mentioned an accident at the edge of the forest and asked me if someone new came in. I said I have no idea, so I went to your place.”
“They were right. Someone arrived, but he or she is not a spirit.”
“Ohhh…is it another wanderer?”
“Not an ordinary wanderer if he or she reached my place without the guardian knowing. Someone else got this person in.”
Taiga swallowed hard and took a couple of deep breaths, his heart had been beating so hard that he was afraid this young master might be able to hear it.
“Perhaps someone mistook him - or her - for a spirit and brought him or her to your place,” Hokuto reasoned out and Taiga thought of the little girl who brought him at the fork of the road. He hoped that she wouldn't get in trouble for helping him.
“That is plausible, after all, this isn’t the first time it happened. I can only hope that it was really an innocent mistake,” the young master said slowly, a faint threat evident in his tone.
“Shall we patrol the area?”
“Yes, please. I’m pretty sure that wanderer is still here, but there’s no need to tell the others. I don’t want to cause a commotion.”
“Very well. I’ll patrol the area with Juri later. I’ll update you with anything by dinner.”
“Thank you, Hokuto, by the way, I didn’t think you’d be interested in any of the books on my porch.”
Taiga almost gasped when he recalled that Hokuto dragged him away so fast that he brought the book he was reading with him. He cautioned a peek behind the mini kitchen and saw the book by the cash register.
“Ah…this? It was on the floor when I got there. I thought it was interesting because it's such an old book.”
Taiga winced, thinking that Hokuto’s alibi screamed guilty. Who picks up a book just because it looked old?
“I see. I hope you enjoy that one. It’s not just a simple story.”
“I definitely will.”
“Well then, I’m expecting you by dinner, Hokuto.”
“I’ll be there, Jesse.”
Taiga waited until he heard the closing of the door before he stood up and left the kitchen.
"Hokuto…" he whispered.
Hokuto glanced back at him, his face serious. "Are you now ready to believe everything I say?"
***
“It’s hard to tell you how it started because I also don’t know the exact time and day when I opened my eyes, and I found myself in the field of lavender,” Hokuto started as he and Taiga sat in the middle of his closed bakeshop.
“So that lavender field I’ve been seeing in my dreams is not just a dream? I also dreamt of it before I wake-up in your room.”
“I don’t know why you dreamt about that, but it does exist, and you will see it again later once I take you back to the forest.”
“Do you really have to take me back?”
Hokuto ignored Taiga’s question and continued, “At the end of the lavender field, there is a brick house where an old guard lives. You must have heard Jesse - the young master - mentioned him as ‘the guardian’. All souls pass by his place and it’s his task to bring us all to Jesse’s place, who will then explain everything. This place they called Ealar, a place for lost souls, those who have died but whose body hasn’t been found or given a proper burial, and we would remain here until such time when our body is found in the outside world.”
He expected Taiga to be shocked, but he didn’t expect him to pepper him with questions immediately.
“How can someone die and your body not be found?”
“Murder,” Hokuto said with a shrug, trying to make light of it.
Taiga gasped.
“Or an accident just like the mudslide that happened to you, but my body is yet to be recovered,” he added and Taiga gasped once more.
“But…but this place looks normal, you even have a bakeshop?!”
“That’s the magic of this place,” he said while his eyes roamed around his bakeshop. “Once you stepped in a vacant place, it would transform exactly to how and where used to live when you were alive.”
“You lived in a bakeshop?” Taiga clarified.
“I can’t remember,” Hokuto said regretfully. “But this must be what they call ‘muscle memory’. I remember how to make bread and so on, but I couldn’t remember anything when I was still alive. In fact, the only reason I knew my name was because it was stitched on my uniform that I found here.”
“Oh,” Taiga mumbled sadly. “So memories get wiped out when you die?”
Hokuto shook his head. “No. Just me. Everyone here that I’ve met knows how they lived and the last moments before their death.”
“Ahhh…then-”
“But I don’t want to know how I died,” Hokuto added quickly. It was easy to tell what kind of ideas were forming in Taiga's head. “Just like everyone here, it must be a painful story, or worse, it hurts that I died and no one looked for me.”
Taiga started to tear up and Hokuto had to pinch his thigh so he wouldn't cry too. “It’s fine. I’m happy where I am now.”
“How about me? How can I get in? How can I see this place?”
“There were few incidents where the living stumbled into this place. The first type of people who could get in is those who had a strong attachment to someone here. Like that of a parent looking for their missing child. Hard to say really whether it was coincidence or fate that brought them here."
"What's the second type of people?"
Hokuto hesitated. "We're not really that sure, but those who'd been on the edge of death."
Taiga was silent for a while, before asking, "Is there a third type? I don't think I belong to either of the two."
Hokuto lightly shook his head. "No. Well, not that we know of yet."
"Is it right to assume that once you're here, you can't get out? I mean, if I were a soul, I would try to go looking for my family."
Hokuto sighed. "Mostly don't. But the young master and I could venture out of the forest."
"That's why you were able to help me back then!"
Hokuto nodded. He didn't need to add that even though it wasn't the first time he ventured out of the forest, it was the first time that someone saw him and even touched him, and that was how Taiga managed to snag his curiosity. What made Taiga different from the rest? He wanted to find out, but he was also scared of what he might learn.
"You heard what I told Jesse earlier? I'm going to take you back as soon as I get back from reporting to him," he said firmly. He didn't want to part ways with Taiga yet, but it must be done.
"Uhm, I hate to ask, but what's the worst that could happen if I stay?"
"Better if you don't know," he said with an air of grim and mystery. He also had no idea what could happen to Taiga if he stays, simply because everyone eventually leaves, how could Taiga be any different?
***
Taiga watched the town come alive at night through his bedroom window. It was full moon tonight and Hokuto said that as far as he knew, they share the same sky. Taiga sighed and tried to turn on his phone but to no avail. Hokuto told him to be ready as they would leave as soon as he returned, and even though Taiga had qualms about leaving, he didn’t think he had more say in the matter.
He heard the bell ring downstairs, followed by footsteps on the stairs, then a knock.
“Taiga?”
Taiga sighed and opened the door. “Are we leaving now?”
“This is the best time while everyone is busy having dinners. Let’s go.”
Taiga could only nod and follow Hokuto out. The streets were deserted, but Taiga still kept his head low as he followed Hokuto in haste. Before long, Taiga could smell lavender in the air, and he thinks he should be rejoicing, the lavender field he’d been searching for is now in front of him. It wasn’t only a dream, it was a reality, and under the full moon, the field of purple looked mystical.
“You should duck when we pass by the brick house, it’s better if he only sees me,” Hokuto whispered.
Taiga gave his legs a stretch before he walked while half-squatting. Hokuto provided the distraction and cheerfully greeted the guard as he safely passed, and they broke off to a run afterward. Taiga was breathless when they reached the coarse forest floor, and he couldn’t help but glance back, it must be nice to see the lavender field in parallel with the dense forest using a drone until he remembered that Ealar is not something that could be seen with a naked eye.
“Quickly, Taiga,” Hokuto called out.
They half-walked and half-ran in the forest until they reached the site where he was first lost, at the sign that says, “200 meters to the camping site”.
“I’m sorry, but this is as far as I would go,” Hokuto said. “You know your way from here?”
Taiga nodded. “I…I haven’t thanked you. Thank you for saving me twice,” Taiga said.
“It’s nothing. Uhm, I’ll wait here until you’re out of my vision, you better go before it gets much late.”
“Yes. Uhm. Will I ever get to see you again? Can I even visit you?”
Hokuto appeared surprised by his question. “I think it’s better if we never see each other again.”
Taiga expected that answer but it still hurt him. “Then why would you even help me again? Why did you even bring me there?”
“Because…because I was curious about you. Because you could see us and that’s it. Just that and nothing else.”
“Curious, huh? Then, let me further your curiosity.” In one swift move, he pulled Hokuto close and kissed him full on the lips. Hokuto smelled of fresh bread and lavender, while his lips tasted of promises.
Hokuto’s eyes were wide with a mixture of surprise and anger when he finally let go of him.
“I’m not sorry I kissed you,” Taiga said immediately. “And I’m no psychic, but I’m sure, we’ll see each other again,” he finished, before heading back to his reality.
***
“You heard the doctor, right? I’m okay. I’m as healthy as a bull,” Taiga said while he prepared to be discharged. It had been three days since he “returned from the dead” and he caused quite a sensation. It must be slow news that the media heavily reported on his “miraculous return”, he was not only featured on TV, he was also in every major newspaper. Taiga certainly didn’t expect that kind of reception and he had no idea where he got the nerve to conjure the most audacious lie he ever told.
“You lost your memory for a while and some kind of a mountain man took care of you,” Kouchi said with a sneer. “You should have asked Shintaro to write a script for you.”
Taiga scoffed. “The truth is even worse than that, which you refused to believe.” He told everything to Kouchi and Shintaro, but as expected, Kouchi didn’t believe him, and he hasn't seen Shintaro for two days. “You don’t think there is a press outside?”
Kouchi shook his head. “The hospital already announced that you were discharged two days ago, and don’t worry, you were transferred here to the ICU floor because it has a separate elevator not used by the public. We can take that one straight to the parking lot.”
Taiga nodded as Kouchi led the way. “I was hoping they would bring me to the VIP suite.”
“You’re not that important,” Kouchi jeered. “Besides, you should be thankful they transferred you here and not in the psych ward, which frankly, suited you better.”
Taiga scoffed once more, they were almost near the nurses’ station when someone caught his eye. “Wait,” he whispered urgently as he stepped closer to the glass window.
“This can’t be,” he murmured as he stared at the man with all the medical contraptions one could think of. The medical personnel inside quickly shut the blinds upon seeing him gawk, and he quickly locates the patient’s name by the door.
“What?” Kouchi asked, sounding impatient.
“He’s not yet dead,” Taiga murmured, his lips forming a smile as he read the name by the door, “Matsumura Hokuto.”