The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, spreading its warmth all over the village. That day, the village seemed livelier than usual. Street vendors called out their goods with loud voices, while the rhythmic clang of the blacksmith’s hammer echoed through the air, adding even more energy to the small village. But even on that beautiful morning, Hazuki was still asleep, buried under his blanket from head to toe.

  “Hazuki, wake up! It’s already morning! Get up!” his mother, Reika Tsubasa, said, pulling the blanket away. Hazuki groaned as the cold morning air hit his face.

  “But mom... I want to sleep a little more. I’m still so sleepy...” he said, letting an enormous yawn out and turning to the other side.

  “Hazuki Tsubasa!” Reika yelled. Even though Hazuki was still half-asleep, he knew that when his mother or father called out to him by his full name, it never ended well. So he jumped out of his bed like he had been awake for hours. He felt as if he had gone blind as the bright light hit his eyes.

  “Oh, well, you are awake! Now get ready and come downstairs. Breakfast is ready. And dad said he needed your help with something,” she said, walking out of his room.

  Hazuki washed his face and readied for the breakfast. When he came downstairs, his father and mother were waiting at the table for him. Even from afar, he could tell how delicious the meal was just from its smell.

  “Come have a seat!” Reika said.

  They all enjoyed the delicious home cooking of Reika. Every bite Hazuki took felt like heaven. Just as he took his last bite, his father, Daigo Tsubasa, spoke.

  “Hazuki, today I need your help with some wood chopping. Our lumberyard needs more wood finish some orders.” Hazuki never refused his parents.

  He always helped his parents anytime. “I’ll help you, dad. When we gonna leave?” Hazuki asked.

  “Alright, then meet me at the lumberyard at noon. And make sure to bring the spare axe in home.” Daigo stood up from the chair and said, “Okay, I’m going to the lumberyard. We have a lot of work to do.”.

  “Well then, be careful!” Reika said, standing up from her chair. Daigo gave a kiss to her forehead and said, “I will”.

  Daigo left the house, and Reika went back to the kitchen. And Hazuki left alone in the living room.

  “Aahh its boring! I want to do something.” Hazuki thought.

  “Mom! I’m going out for a bit!”

  “Okay, but come back before lunch. Remember, you have a work to do!” Reika yelled from the kitchen.

  From the given chance Hazuki went outside. Just as he opened the gush of morning breeze welcomed him. The sun was shining in the clear sky and birds were flying as they were singing.

  “What a nice day!” he said to himself, walking down the road.

  He looked around to capture the beauty around. People were busy with their morning works. Most of the people from the village do simple jobs. Just like Daigo was a lumberjack and a carpenter, others’ jobs were fishing, hunting, or farming. But they all were happy with their jobs.

  Hazuki walked down the road and reached the edge of the village. The village was mostly surrounded by the forest, which served as its primary food source. Each morning, farmers and hunters would venture into the woods to gather food. And they tell stories about old structures that lay deep in the forest. Even though Hazuki had heard those rumors, he had never seen one himself. But when he thought about how his father had asked him to go into the woods, Hazuki’s mind filled with excitement.

  As his thoughts raced with exhilaration, he heard a chorus of laughter beyond the village gate. He walked toward the sound and saw a group of children playing in the open area just outside the village. But then, his gaze landed on a figure older than those children and looked like someone his own age. Hazuki looked closer and realized it was none other than his secret crush, Kagura. Kagura Hisakawa is the same age as Hazuki and both had done everything together. They had played, eaten, and learned together since their childhood. As the time had passed, some thoughts had come to Hazuki’s mind, but he had never told.

  The more Hazuki was gazing at her more Kagura felt it. So Kagura turned around without knowing who is it. As the both eyes met each other, Hazuki froze without knowing what to do. He tried his best to keep his nerves calm, but Kagura relieved to see Hazuki.

  “Hazuki! Come here!” Kagura called out, waving her hand for him.

  Hazuki, without a hesitation, walked toward the playing area. Kids were playing with a ball as Kagura was watching over them. Kids stopped playing to check who was coming, but seeing Hazuki, they went back playing.

  “Good morning Hazuki! What are you doing out here?” Kagura asked.

  “Morning Kagura! I just came for a walk, nothing special. What are you doing?” Hazuki said.

  “Oh, I’m just watching over them.” She pointed kids that playing in the field. “They came to morning saying they need to play here, but parents don’t give permission. So I had to take the responsibility.”

  “It seems fun, though.” Hazuki said, glancing at the kids over her shoulder. Kagura chuckled softly. Suddenly, a kid ran and grab Kagura’s hand.

  “What happened?” Kagura asked, patting his head.

  “Kagura-neechan, can you play with us?” he asked. She glanced back at Hazuki. Seeing this, Hazuki knew she didn’t want to go play because of him. So he made his move.

  “Come on Kagura-chan, let’s play!” Hazuki said in a childish and playful tone. Kagura blinked, then burst into gentle laughter, shaking her head to say yes. She felt lighter in her heart.

  “Yay Hazuki-chan coming too!” the kid jumped with joy. With hearing it, other kids came to celebrate too.

  First, they played catch with the ball. Sometimes, Kagura had a hard time catching the ball, which made kids laugh. So other times Hazuki intentionally let the ball slip past him, bringing more laughter in to the play. After hours of playing, the kids finally stopped from the exhaustion. They lay down under a tree and Hazuki and Kagura joined them as well.

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  “Look, that cloud looks like a fish!” one kid said, pointing at the sky.

  “That one looks like a sword.” Another one joined.

  “Kids don’t stare at the sky for too long. The sun is almost at its peak,” Kagura informed them. Hearing that, Hazuki got the sense of time. Spending time with Kagura, he almost forgot the job his father gave him. He jumped from where he was laying and turn to Kagura’s side.

  “Kagura, I gotta go. In the morning, dad called me to help him at noon.” Hazuki said. But neither his mind nor his heart was truly willing to leave her.

  Kagura stood with a smile on her face. But under the smile, she was truly sad to breaking apart but the fun they had helped her with the smile.

  “it’s okay Hazuki. You must help your father. And we are going back too.” Kagura said, realizing his feelings.

  “Then see you, Kagura! See you guys!” Hazuki waved and walked back to home. Kagura kept watching him disappearing into houses of the village.

  Hazuki traced his steps back to his house. On the way, the only thing on his mind was the fun he had with Kagura. Without the awareness of time, he reached his house.

  “How was the walk?” Reika was sitting in the living room.

  “Oh, it was good.” Hazuki said, keeping things hidden and short.

  “Good to hear! Hazuki wash your hands and takes the lunch. I will pack the lunch for dad.” Reika said.

  He did just as she did. And as Hazuki was taking the lunch, Reika packed the lunch for Daigo and others. Then she brought the axe from the back.

  After taking the lunch and resting for a while, Hazuki was ready for some wood chopping. He brought the bag and the axe, then head out for the lumberyard.

  “Let’s check if they are still there.” He thought. So he changed his way to go near the gate. But when he came, they were gone.

  “It seems they went back after I leave.” So he continued his way back to the lumberyard. When he reached to the lumberyard, everyone was resting from the morning work.

  “Here comes Hazuki. Where were you? You are late!” Daigo said.

  “Oh, sorry dad. Here is the lunch.” Hazuki gave the bag to Daigo.

  After having their lunch, Hazuki, Daigo, and others left the lumberyard. The sun was shining at its peak. And the heat was so intense that Hazuki felt like burning alive. But he always took another step with determination.

  “Here we are! This is the wood we need.” After a few hours of walking, Daigo said, signaling the group to stop. In front of them, there were some gigantic trees.

  Hazuki’s mind took a step back, but seeing others getting ready to chop wood, he made his mind.

  “Here, take this,” Daigo handed him an axe. “Let’s just go for five trees, tops. Cause we need to get them back to the village before getting dark.” Just as he finished, everyone raised their axes to show their agreement. Hazuki had heard this since his childhood, that everyone needs to get inside before nightfall.

  Few hours passed, and the sun began to go down his path to west. Finally, Hazuki chopped down his first tree. But when he looked at his father and other they always ahead of him. when Hazuki cut down a single tree they halfway through their second tree. How hard and fast Hazuki tried, he never caught with professionals.

  As the sun was descending its path, darkness rise from the other side. And the surrounding was getting calmer.

  “Ah, why this cart is late today?” Daigo said, putting his axe down. “Hazuki, can you go back from where we came and check if the cart is coming?”

  “On it!” Hazuki quickly threw the axe away and went down the path they came earlier. “Hurry Hazuki! it’s getting dark!” Daigo shouted as Hazuki was vanishing into the tree line.

  Hazuki remembered some signs on the path so he can come back anytime. He checked his surrounding when he felt he was lost. He ran for minutes as branches brushing past him and the sound of crunching leaves chasing him, yet no sign of a cart.

  “Did cart guy forgot about this?” he thought. After waiting a few moments, Hazuki went further to check. As he kept running for a while, he noticed something different. Something wasn’t right.

  Hazuki slowed down to stop. Air felt more cold and heavier. He turned around to see where he came from. But to his shock, the track that he came all the way had vanished! He turned his head around in a flash to check ahead. But in a blink of an eye entire forest shifted.

  “What?!... Where am I?!” Hazuki muttered, looking around for something familiar. The sun drifted into the horizon, leaving only a bit of daylight.

  Meanwhile, the cart finally reached Daigo and others.

  “Hey man, what took you so long?” Daigo asked, helping others to pack logs.

  “I’m really sorry, Daigo! I had a few more work left, so I had to attempt them.” cart driver said.

  “Anyway, did you meet my son on the way?” Daigo asked.

  “No. no one ran into me.”

  This made Daigo furious. “Did he lie to me? Where did he go if he didn’t meet the cart?” more and more thoughts pour into his mind.

  After packing up the cart, everyone followed it way back to the village. Still, Daigo’s mind kept thinking about Hazuki. As they reached the lumberyard, Daigo left everyone saying he had some work back in home.

  As he opened the door, Reika welcomed him with a warm hug.

  “Oh, how was the work? Where is Hazuki?” Reika asked, noticing Hazuki was not with him.

  “Wait, Hazuki didn’t come home?” Daigo asked with a surprise on his face. This made Reika uneasy.

  “What do you mean, he didn’t come home?” Reika asked. Her voice was almost breaking. Daigo explained everything to her.

  “He might be with that girl. There is still some light left outside. He will come back. Don’t worry!” Daigo said, showing he was not worried. But inside he worried, same as Reika.

  Even though Daigo said that, Hazuki was still lost in that forest. He tried to walk north, south, left and right, but still no sign of an end of the forest or the track he followed. He was only heading toward the deep of the forest. The sun already sank more than half into the horizon and there was only a small amount of light left. And the darkness already devoured most of the forest.

  “What should I do?” Hazuki murmured.

  Hazuki took his next step in the dark. Suddenly, he fell to the ground and hit his back. He slowly stood up as the pain of his wounds surged through him, forcing him to clench his teeth and breath faster. He looked around to figure out where he was. It was an old underground tunnel. Hazuki tried to climb back up, but he gave up when the pain strike harder.

  “What is this place?” he muttered, touching the cold stone walls. Suddenly he noticed at the one end of the tunnel there was a faint but noticeable light. Without any idea of what to do next, Hazuki slowly walked toward the light. As he was getting closer, the light was getting brighter. With every step forward, the pain pulled him back. But with the help of the tunnel wall, he finally reached to the light.

  At the end of the tunnel, there was an old staircase made of stone that go up. And the light came from a lit torch at the beginning of the staircase. Hazuki looked up and, with help from the light, he noticed a door at the end of the staircase.

  “If this is going up, that door might get me out here.” Hazuki said to himself. Then he slowly climbed the staircase. As he climbed, he felt a little numbness in his right leg. He looked down to see his dislocated ankle and a few bleeding wounds. But despite all the pain, he reached the door.

  He pushed once, but the door didn’t budge at all. So he used the last of his energy and pushed. Luckily, the door opened. Hazuki wanted to be greeted by a gush of wind from the outside. But he greeted with light coming from another room.

  “What?!...” Hazuki looked around. It was a big room made of stone bricks. The walls, pillars, all made of stone. Every pillar had a lit torch attached.

  “Is someone live here?” he asked to himself. But as he looked around, his eyes caught something in the middle of the room. A giant stone throne was sitting in the middle of the room. Hazuki walked toward it, pulling his numb leg with him. He touched the throne, and he felt a chill that went straight up his spine.

  “No one would blame me if I sit on it.” Curiosity got the best of him. He slowly reached to the seat and sat on it. He looked down, and he felt like a king on this cold throne. But it’s only for a few seconds…

  A surge of energy went through him, and he felt like he was struck by lightning. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t control his body. In a few moments, the additional pain passed the old pain of the wounds. Hazuki screamed with pain, but in this dark alone forest no one could hear his scream. As this agonizing pain rise, his vision got darker and darker. In the end, everything was devoured by darkness, leaving only his unconscious body on the throne. Just before Hazuki became unconscious, a single phrase got into his mind.

  “I’m back…”