Chapter 20: Friend Like Her (Part One)

The night had fallen hard on Oklahoma, more so at the gates of Starlight High. Trees loomed beside the school, casting jagged, spindly shadows that looked like skeletons on the gravel floor. Hazel glanced at the huge clock on the school building. It was nearly midnight.

How cliche.

On the other hand, Starlight High did not look much different than it did earlier that evening. The only difference was that the security booth was empty now. Whether it was Komyo’s doing or the guard had simply decided to slack off and take the rest of the night off, Hazel didn’t bother to think further.

All that mattered was that she was here now, and no one was going to get in her way of saving the ones she cared about.

Nobody dared to use magic to teleport into the school, so Hazel simply walked in through the gates anticlimactically. Ava had taken the liberty to magically sever the lonely padlock barring their path, while Luca mended it right after everyone had entered. Hazel kept her guard up as she approached the entrance to the building, mentally mapping out her school.

It was pointless.

A cooling wave washed over her as she opened the glass door, and she found herself in some sort of liminal space instead. Vinyl stretched out to infinity beneath her feet, while her eyes caught a glimpse of stacked desks and chairs from far away.

Hazel held in a gasp of realisation. It seemed she was in her classroom, if her classroom had somehow been stretched out to an impossibly huge size. She squinted at the small figure ahead, standing in front of what she assumed was the ‘front’ of the classroom.

“So, the four of you simply walked in. How very boring,” Komyo spoke with an oddly distorted voice, almost as though he was a woman. “No matter, I’ll liven things up.”

Liam walked up beside Hazel, staring intently at the unusually petite figure. A spark of recognition lit up in the back of Hazel’s mind, although she was too focused on the figure to pay attention to it.

“This place is under my dominion. It is a place between natural and supernatural, unbound by the laws of order yet bent to the careless whims of anarchy. Celestial energy resonates through the viridescent supernatural realm, while cosmic energy provides nourishing succour to the land you call home. Blessings rain from above and the bountiful harvest of life springs forth, bringing a beautiful balance to our realms. But that is nought but a foolish dream, never meant to last.”

Silence echoed as the group stared blankly at the figure. And then Liam broke it.

“The fuck are you saying?”

Hazel stepped forward. “Who are you?”

“As far away as the scantiest of thoughts, but as close as a friend.” The mysterious figure wasn’t giving up its cryptic persona. “As familiar as your closest neighbour, yet as foreign as the highest of deities.”

“I meant your name.” Hazel was getting tired of its poorly phrased riddles. “Are you really Komyo?”

The figure walked towards her slowly, allowing the dim light to illuminate its face. Hazel’s jaw dropped in shock.

“No.”

Tomoko Sanada flipped her silky-looking hair, which looked like it had grown a whole metre overnight. A pure white Kimono draped her body from her neck down to the ground, where eight fluffy fox tails flicked around serenely. Her eyes were also no longer chestnut brown, but a striking green now.

“Ugh, guess I can drop the pretence.” The girl rolled her eyes as her voice returned to normal. “So much for the opening act.”

Everyone continued staring at her in confusion.

“Tsk. You’re such a disappointment, Hazel.” She clicked her tongue at Hazel. “I gave you so many hints but you still failed to guess my identity. Are you even trying?”

Hazel shook herself out of the daze and grabbed Tomoko, shaking her roughly. “What the hell, Tomoko? Has this whole thing just been one big prank? Give me back my grandfather!”

Her fingers squeezed the air as Tomoko simply slipped out of her grasp like she had turned temporarily intangible. The girl slid backwards, blowing silvery dust into the air. The dust coagulated quickly, forming a mirror of some sort.

“Relax. He’s safe at home. I simply lied about him being in danger. That’s what you did to your friend last time, didn’t you?”

Hazel’s eyes darted to the mirror which looked a little like a camera footage. Her grandfather was pacing up and down his room, occasionally checking the clock on the wall.

“What do you want, Tomoko?” The mirror vanished as Hazel turned her attention back to the Kitsune.

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“All I wanted was a friend. All I wanted was someone to play with.” Tomoko dropped her voice. “And yes, I did try to play with others. I hung the janitor’s belongings on top of the school antennas to get his attention, but he was too busy being afraid to even search for it. I made use of the Union to smuggle my forest mates to this land. I created a false ‘accident’ to set them free so I could play with them afterwards, but you put them right back in their cages!”

Hazel pursed her lips apprehensively.

“Ever since I came to this land, I thought I found a kindred spirit in you.” Tomoko glared at her. “Mischief is entrenched deep within your soul, just like mine. That’s what drew me to you in the first place.”

She lunged forward without warning.

“But you’re just like everyone else! I cast an illusion of the Jubboko when you talked about the supernatural world, but you didn’t even chase those dogs away for me. I let you in on my pranks and you just shut me out. You don’t want to play with me. All you do is spoil my fun! The celestial world wants me to leave your world and attend to their boring duties. It’s only because I cut off one tail that I get to enjoy another hundred years in this realm. I’m running out of time, and still! Still, nobody obliges me in my fun!”

“Tomoko, I didn’t know—”

“I have lived a thousand years alone,” the Kitsune breathed heavily. “You have no idea how it feels to have nobody to play with. Not when you have friends around you. And perhaps I’ll never know what it means to have a friend, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend the rest of my time on Earth by myself.”

A powerful gust of wind knocked everyone off their feet with a simple swat of her hand. Hazel stood back up painfully, only to realise that she was encased in some sort of magic barrier along with everyone else.

Liam was throwing fireballs at his own barrier, Luca was firing hundreds of bullets, and Ava was swinging her mace wildly. But it did nothing to even scratch their magic jail.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Tomoko hovered like some sort of fairy as the air around her shimmered fiercely. “Since Hazel has brought along three other playmates, all four of you will play games with me. If you lose, you’ll belong to me forever. But if any of you makes it to the end, I’ll call it off and leave you alone.”

“No! What the hell?!” Ava screamed, pounding futilely on the invisible box. “I came here to get Chester back, not play your stupid games! Let me out, dammit!”

“Let the games begin!” Tomoko shrieked in delight. “First game, Daruma-san ga koronda! When I say ‘Daruma-san ga koronda’, move towards me. When I say ‘Tomare’, you must stop. If you don’t stop, you lose. The game is over when the first person tags me. Let’s go!”

The ground shuddered as square-shaped cracks began to form around Hazel. Tomoko was certainly eager to play.

Hazel gasped and stumbled back as pockets of ground crumbled dangerously close to her feet. She looked around. There were square-shaped holes in the ground now, and everyone seemed to be lined up about fifty metres away from Tomoko. It was clear how this game was going to be played.

“Tomare!”

“Don’t move!” Hazel yelled as everyone froze in their tracks. Tomoko surveyed them with a thin smile. She turned around.

There was a gentle tugging in Hazel’s chest again. She relaxed her body as a green glow flickered in her eyes. About damn time.

“Daruma-san ga koronda!”

Hazel wasted no time, leaping from platform to platform. Everyone else followed suit, desperately trying to cover as much ground as possible before they had to freeze again.

“Tomare!”

The girl clung to the ground, daring not to move a muscle. Her heart leapt to her throat as cracks began to form under her. An uncomfortable feeling shot up through her spine without warning. She craned her neck, eyes wild with fear—

There was a loud cracking sound as Luca’s tile crumbled beneath him.

“Honey!”

Ava leapt off from her tile to catch her husband before he fell into the yawning abyss. The couple rolled safely onto another tile, but Hazel’s heart sank. They had just lost the game.

“Oh, looks like the Watsons moved without my permission!” Tomoko clapped her hands gleefully. “Yay! Two puppets to play with!”

The couple faded into dust before her eyes, leaving behind two glowing orbs of light. The orbs soared through the air towards Tomoko, before rematerialising beside her. Hazel covered her mouth in horror.

Luca and Ava had turned into dolls.

“Daruma-san ga koronda!”

No time to hesitate. Hazel flicked her head back to the tiles in front of her, trying to predict which ones were stable enough for her to land on—

“Hazel, over here!” Liam beckoned to her. His hands were positioned like a volleyball setter, and a magic platform sat squarely above them. It was obvious what he wanted her to do.

The girl sprinted off her tile, diving towards Liam. She braced her knees as she felt the hard platform touch her shoes.

“Jump!”

Hazel pushed off hard, using Liam’s hands as a spring. Wind rippled through her hair as she soared with incredible speed towards Tomoko, who still had her back turned.

“Toma—”

“Gotcha!”

The two girls tumbled to the ground as Hazel’s body slammed into Tomoko harder than a professional rugby tackle. She coughed, trying to catch her breath that had just been knocked out of her while holding Tomoko’s hand tightly.

“I… win,” Hazel smirked at the Kitsune, who also had a huge grin on her face.

“Totally didn’t expect that, you trickster! That was so fun!” Tomoko exclaimed. “Don’t let it stop. Let’s move on to the second game!”

“What? Hey, how many games—”

The world spun around Hazel before she could complete her sentence.