Mysterious Light

“What…..is this?”

A fantasy-like scene unfolds in front of me, as I mutter out loud. Deep within the mountain behind my house, a blue aurora light, the size a classroom, was glowing brightly.

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I – Yozakura Ritsu – who became a 2nd year high-schooler this year, was told by my grandfather to bring a tyre from the back-mountain for tyre-pulling training. Ritsu belonged to an ancient house of martial artists who owned a small but historic Dojo, as well as the mountain behind their residence.

“Tomorrow’s a school day as well, you know.”
Despite being a growing boy in my 2nd year, my grandfather acts like he waited for me all day and imposes harsh training on me.

Since I almost always have training after school, I’ve developed a weak presence in my classroom. The only person I claim to get along with is my classmate – Takiya Kenji, but even he’s convinced that I’m a training-addict.
Not a day passes by where I didn’t wish for a manga-like development in my life.
“Haa~”

Despite it all, the only reason I’m able to attend school without brooding too much, is mainly because of Kenji.

Though he seems awkward at first glance, Kenji is quite friendly and can read the air. He’s also quite good-looking. Being on friendly terms with such a person, allows me to carry on with life without much difficulty.

“Training, training all the time… Haa~”
Regarding tyre-pulling as part of my training, my grandfather claims- “Pulling tyres makes your legs so fast, it feels as if you’re dreaming.”. In the beginning, it felt easier than any training I was put through before, and I enjoyed doing it instead so I carried on sincerely. But by the time I realized my mistake it was already too late.

Seeing me having too much fun, my grandfather changed the tyre to one used in trucks, and increased the number of tyres I had to pull.

After this and that, I came alone to the mountain behind our house, trying to find the tyre that was supposed to be here.

“Haa~… is there really a storehouse here?”
While snapping twigs fallen on the ground with a crunching sound, I progressed further into the mountain. The management of the mountain was done pretty thoroughly making it easy to traverse, and the trees planted by previous generations extended to the heavens at fixed distances.

“Hm?”
I thought I saw something shining on the ground at a distance.
(It might be the motion-detecting lights around the storehouse.)
As I pick up the pace and head towards it, I find nothing but a slightly open gap in the ground.

“That’s weird.”
As I mutter that, a blue light dominates my view.

“What the–!!?”

I open my eyes gradually and see a fantasy-like blue light fluttering in one place like a curtain.
Ritsu instinctively stares at the mystical scene obviously not from this world, and gets taken aback by it.
“What…..is this?”
An aurora taking place in Japan, that too right above the ground was unheard of. After contemplating for a while, I stretch out my hand towards it. Right as I touch it, the light expands and my vision goes dark. The ground closes on me in an instant.

“Oh n–o…”
With the impact of hitting the ground, my consciousness fades.

---

“Uu….”
(It feels like I slept for too long. My entire body feels lethargic.)

“Da–mn.”
As I open my eyes, I try to move around and wake my body up, without much success.
“Uu.”
With a desperate attempt he tries standing on his knees. In one moment, the ground let out a vibrating sound, and in the next, Ritsu found himself high above the trees in the forest.
“…Ha?”
Within the turmoil, Ritsu realized that he was about to fall to his death, and broke out in cold sweat.
(BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD)
Ritsu tried to brace himself for impact somehow, but his body wouldn’t listen to him. Having resigned himself to his second fall of the day, he grits his teeth to prevent biting into his tongue, and closes his eyes.

(………..)
After maintaining this posture for a while he felt something graze his back slightly, but the grand impact he awaited bitterly never arrived. Opening his eyes in fear, he only saw the evening forest stretching out in front of him. He had managed to fall safely on his back.

“What was that?”
After coming to his senses, Ritsu tried standing up on his own, but ended up taking support from the tree next to him. In the next moment, the upper half of the tree blew off right from the middle, where he had just rested his hand.

(Eh?)

Ritsu finally began to understand what had happened to him.

“What should I do about this…”

For the time being, he decided to return home.

Next

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This series shifts from MC POV to narrator POV quite spontaneously.
I hope you can bear with that.