Chapter 16: My Other Childhood Friend Speaks a Language From Another World

The classroom door slammed open hard enough to rattle the shelves.

The stuffed bird fell over again. Gale-sensei did not look up from his tea. Rin paused mid-bite on a strip of dried fish. Sakuya, beside me, had not slept the night I fell into the dungeon. He had paced the dormitory until dawn. He looked up now with the calm patience of a man who had decided not to lose me twice.

A boy stood in the doorway.

He had silver hair, swept back as he had practiced in a mirror. He wore the gray first-year tunic, but the collar was open. The sleeves were rolled. A red scarf was tied around his left arm for reasons I could not name. His boots were deliberately scuffed. A short sword hung at his hip.

He scanned the room.

His eyes locked onto mine.

He grinned.

“Alfred.”

“…Leo.”

“My eternal rival.”

“We are not rivals.”

“My destined opponent.”

“Leo, sit down.”

“My other half.”

“LEO.”

He crossed the room in three long strides. Behind him, a girl with bright pink hair stumbled through the door, balancing a stack of books up to her chin.

“Leo-kun. You forgot your notebook.”

“A warrior does not need a notebook, Mei.”

“You need the notebook. Sensei wrote the homework on it.”

“My memory is sharp like a blade.”

“You forgot my name yesterday.”

“That was strategic.”

Mei sighed. It was the sigh of a woman who had lived through this conversation many times. She set the stack of books beside the seat Leo had chosen. The seat was directly across the silver circle from me.

Leo sat.

He crossed his arms.

He stared.

I did not stare back. Staring back was the trap. I had known Leo since we were six, and staring back was what fed him.

“Alfred-kun.”

“Yeah.”

“Who is that?”

“Childhood friend.”

“…another one.”

“Different kind.”

“How is that a different kind, Alfred-kun?”

“This one I can outrun.”

Across the circle, Leo had not blinked. The pink-haired girl crouched beside him, opened a fresh page, and pressed a pen into his hand. She gently guided his fingers to write the date. He let her. He did not look at her. He kept staring at me.

Mei caught my eye. She mouthed the word sorry.

I mouthed I know back.

Gale-sensei finally lowered his newspaper. He looked at Leo. He looked at me. He looked at Leo again.

“Vermillion.”

“Sensei.”

“You are late.”

“My rival summoned me.”

“Your rival did not summon you.”

“He summoned me with his presence.”

“Takafumi has been sitting in this classroom for ten minutes. He summoned no one.”

“His existence is the summons, Sensei.”

“Sit down, Vermillion.”

“I am sitting, Sensei.”

“Sit quietly.”

“I will sit loudly with my soul, Sensei.”

“Vermillion.”

“…yes, Sensei.”

Class began. I tried to focus. I failed. A pair of green eyes burned a hole in my forehead from across the room. Beside me, Rin had stopped chewing the fish. Her ears were flat.

Leo was muttering.

Leo was muttering at low volume but high frequency, and the words coming out were words I did not recognize.

“He’s lowkey cooking.”

“…what?”

“It’s giving rival arc, no cap.”

“Leo. What.”

“The vibe is straight bussin.”

“Sensei. Please make him stop.”

“Vermillion. Stop.”

“Sensei, I am observing my opponent.”

“Vermillion, Takafumi is taking notes.”

“He takes notes like a king, Sensei.”

Sakuya turned his head slowly toward Leo.

Sakuya, who had not been ruffled by a sword in a forest, who had not flinched at the news of my yandere fiancée, was now staring at Leo with the expression of a man trying to identify what language was being spoken.

“…Alfred-kun.”

“Yeah.”

“What is bussin?”

“I do not know.”

“Have you ever known?”

“I have never known.”

“Has he always done this?”

“Since we were nine.”

“Where does he learn it?”

“Nobody knows.”

Mei leaned across the circle. She was trying very hard to whisper. Her whisper carried across the entire chamber.

“He reads old journals from the founders’ archive.”

“…the archive.”

“Some of them are from hero-class summons. Other-world stuff. He picks up the phrases. He uses them wrong.”

“He uses them—”

“He uses them so wrong, Alfred-kun. So very wrong.”

Leo turned to Mei.

“Mei.”

“Yes, Leo-kun.”

“Are you simping in front of my rival?”

Mei’s face went the color of her hair. The pink got pinker. She made a small noise like a kettle losing pressure. She slid off the bench and pretended to pick up a pen she had not dropped.

I closed my eyes.

I opened them.

The silver circle was still there. The world had not ended. Gale-sensei had picked up his newspaper again, and the corner I could see was doing the thing all the adult men in my life did when they were enjoying my pain.

The bell rang.

Leo did not stand. Leo waited until I stood, then stood at the same time, in the same motion. He mirrored me with the precision of a man who had also practiced this in a mirror.

I walked toward the door.

He walked beside me.

Mei trailed behind, carrying both her books and his.

“Alfred.”

“Leo.”

“Spar with me.”

“No.”

“Train with me.”

“No.”

“Eat lunch with me.”

“…what?”

“It is a strategic meal. We will share a fish.”

“I am not sharing a fish with you.”

“Mei made onigiri.”

“…did Mei make onigiri?”

“Mei made enough onigiri for four.”

Mei, behind us, made a small choked sound that suggested Mei had in fact made enough onigiri for forty, in case Leo brought home the rival, the rival’s roommate, the rival’s summon, and a rival arc audience.

“Leo.”

“Yeah, Alfred.”

“We have known each other since we were six.”

“True.”

“You have called me your rival since we were nine.”

“Also true.”

“What is the rivalry about?”

“…you do not know.”

“No, Leo.”

“You do not remember.”

“I do not.”

“Alfred. You beat me at cards. You beat me at cards twelve years ago. You laughed, and you said, Leo, you are bad at cards, and I have not slept since.”

“…you have not slept since.”

“Metaphorically.”

“Leo. Your father told my father you sleep through training.”

“Metaphorically, Alfred.”

Behind us, Mei was making a different sound now—a laughter sound. A leaking, stifled, gasping laughter sound. She was hiding it badly behind the stack of books.

Sakuya stepped up beside me on the other side. His shoulder brushed mine. His dark eyes were on Leo. The calm warmth was back, but underneath it was the same thing I had seen in the forest, just before he had put fire in his palm.

“Vermillion-kun.”

“Pretty Boy.”

“My name is Sakuya.”

“I know, Pretty Boy.”

“…I see.”

“You sit close to him.”

“I do.”

“You make him rice cakes.”

“I do.”

“Pretty Boy.”

“Yes.”

“That is my move.”

“…your move.”

“The rice cake move. The childhood-friend rice cake move. I have been working on it since we were eight, Sakuya. Alfred ate one of my rice cakes when we were eight and called it fine, which is the worst word in the language, and I have been recovering for ten years, and now you are here.”

“…I am here, yes.”

“Stay in your lane, Pretty Boy.”

“Vermillion-kun. I do not know what a lane is.”

“FIGURE IT OUT.”

He stormed off across the courtyard. Silver hair flying. Red scarf streaming. Short sword bouncing against his hip in a rhythm only he could hear. Mei half-ran after him, books bouncing in her arms, calling his name in a voice that was somewhere between exasperated and adoring.

I stood on the white stones with Rin on my right and Sakuya on my left.

The noon sun was warm.

Sakuya cleared his throat.

“Alfred-kun.”

“Yeah.”

“What is a lane?”

“I do not know.”

“He used it like it was a real word.”

“It is a real word.”

“It is not used like that.”

“In my grandfather’s world, apparently, it is.”

“…the other world.”

“Yes.”

“Your grandfather has reached out from the grave to make my life harder, Alfred-kun.”

“Welcome to the family.”

Rin tugged my sleeve.

Her ears were up. Her tail was high. The silver chain on her headband chimed once. She had refused to take the dress off, and the dress had refused to come off, and three different students walked into a wall watching her cross the courtyard.

“Alfred.”

“Yeah, Rin.”

“He wants to fight you.”

“He wants to spar with me.”

“That is the same.”

“It is not the same.”

“It is the same, Alfred.”

“…fine.”

“Can I bite him?”

“No, Rin.”

“A small bite.”

“No.”