Chapter 4: An Unnatural Surprise
1
Tatsuya opens his eyes and sees himself standing on a field filled with flowers.
"What is this place?"
"Let's go! We can come back here later you know."
Tatsuya turns around to see a beautiful lady with white hair wearing white armour along with a white sheath on her waist.
"I know that I've seen this hair somewhere."
"What are you talking about? We have to walk quite a bit so stop wasting time."
Tatsuya tries to reach out to the lady by extending his hand but she keeps going further away from his reach.
Suddenly the flower field disappears and he finds himself standing in the middle of a huge crater made in the land. He sees the lady from before lying on the ground close to him while being covered in blood.
"Help...!" she reaches out to Tatsuya.
Tatsuya extends one of his arms as well. But this time her hand comes closer to Tatsuya. As soon as Tatsuya takes her hand, he gets up from bed and while placing his hand on his head he says-
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Why does my head hurt like hell?"
He looks to the right of his bed to see Kei sleeping on the chair while resting her head on the bed.
"Oye, Kei... If you sleep here you'll fall sick."
Kei starts to mumble in her sleep-
"Ryo nii... Wake up... let's go on an adventure again..."
"What are you talking about Kei?" asks Tatsuya softly.
Suddenly the door opens and the healer from before comes in with a plate containing soup. She looked as young as Tatsuya and wore normal clothes. He figure was just like a normal person's and her hair was red in colour. She was also very attractive.
"Kei Chan... time to get up... don't you want to feed-"
Tatsuya looks at the healer and gives a bright smile-
"Yo! Good morning!"
She drops the plate and starts to get teary eyed-
"Thank God! You finally woke up...!"
Kei wakes up because of all the commotion and while rubbing her eyes she says-
"Ryo nii?"
"What's up? Kei..."
"Ryo nii!" exclaims Kei while she hugs him.
Tatsuya pats on her head and says-
"I must have worried you, didn't I?"
"Yeah... I thought you would never wake up ever again..." says Kei while crying.
"Don't cry! Kei just who do you think I am...?"
Tatsuya smiles at Kei and says-
"I'm the shut-in genius, Tatsuya Ryo after all!"
2
Tatsuya sits up on the bed while Kei sits next to him on his bed. The healer sits on the chair after picking up the fallen plate and the very first thing she says is-
"I guess I haven't introduced myself yet... My name is Rose Celestine. As you know I'm a healer."
"I don't think I need to tell you about myself now, do I?"
"Kei Chan has told me everything about you. It's nice to have such a cute sister."
"Well.... Yeah. Hahaha."
Rose keeps staring at his shirtless body and starts to blush.
"What's wrong? Have a fever?"
"No! No! No! It's nothing! It's just that you don't look like what you are on your outside."
"Outside?" asks Tatsuya. Then he sees that his body had become well-built.
"So, how long have I been out for?"
"One whole week! I don't even want to remember what happened there that day... Also all the people who you helped escape paid for your stay here."
"I guess no one is in debt now, eh?" and he starts to laugh a bit.
"How are you so calm after something like that? A normal human would've still been terrified!"
"Well... All I can say right now is if Veilios hadn't given me some of his power I would've surely been sliced... Also, what I felt disturbing was that that monster was human before."
"How is that possible?! Humans turning into monsters and having such insane strength..."
"Right... now I remember! When I started to slice him his regenerative ability just kept on getting better and better... I'd have to say I was a bit frightened when he transformed and threw me all the way to the entrance."
"Transformed... Now that I think about it as well there was a certain pressure in the air when he tried to leave..."
"What did you just say?! Did he leave the dungeon?! Is everyone in the Kingdom safe?"
"About that... Right when I started to heal you some swordsman came out of nowhere."
"Swordsman?"
"Yeah..." and she explains what all happened there to him.
"Ryo nii! You saved everyone right?"
Tatsuya then remembers the few people around him in the back who fell prey to the monster's attacks.
Tatsuya makes a face filled with rage and then looks at Kei after some time and says-
"No Kei... I'm not the hero you thought I would be... I let many people die. If only I had raised my strength before that then maybe..."
As Tatsuya was grumbling Kei puts her hand on his shoulder and says-
"It's alright now! You did what you could so don't worry."
When she says this and smiles Tatsuya remembers the lady in his dream who resembled Kei a lot. He holds his head in pain and says-
"Ow! Ow! Ow! What was I dreaming about?"
"Ryo nii, are you alright?"
"Yeah. Don't worry Kei! I'm alright now."
Suddenly the wardrobe few open and the grimoire came out of it levitating in his hands.
"Finally, you're ready to answer my questions...aren't you? Veilios!"
"Yes, yes... ask me all the questions you want."
Kei and Rose look very confused and Rose asks Tatsuya?" while pointing at the grimoire-
"Tatsuya san... why is the grimoire talking?"
"Oh, you mean Veilios? He's a Great spirit!"
Rose looks really surprised then asks with suspicion on her face-
"Your joke wasn't too funny... Even I know that there are only four Great Spirits."
"How dare you insult me, girl! I was the one who trained those scoundrels whom you call Great Spirits! In fact, there were only two Great Spirits to begin with!"
"You're just an imposter! Don't try to act like you are an existent Great Spirit!"
"Oye! Veilios... you can continue your argument later on... For now, tell me everything you know!"
"Looks like there's no escape from this, huh..."
The book opens itself and a black shadow appears from it.
Kei gets scared and hugs Tatsuya tightly.
"First of all this is not my true form. Because of your lack of magic this the only form I can take."
"I've been wondering for a while now... But how is everyone able to hear you now?"
"Boy... Don't you want to check your attributes before that?"
"Why not? Show me..."
The book starts to flip its pages and letterings appear on one of the pages. Tatsuya extends his arm and brings the book closer to him.
"Now let's see..."
Tatsuya's eyes widen as he sees that his attributes had risen way more than what he was expecting.
"Strength- 257, Agility- 243... Stamina- 400!?" Then Tatsuya reads on the next page.
"What is this?!... Magic-500! How is it showing numbers now? I thought it's the size of the aura or something."
"Well, it seems that you are more accustomed to numbers than aura so I changed the encryptions...Anyways, someone like you wouldn't have understood all those encryptions anyways." And he smirks.
"Oye, you know that I can still hear you right?"
"Anyways, your attribute for magic increased right after your dagger absorbed those spells. Basically the magic you collected flowed through your body and after using the strength obtained through that magic all your attributes increased... Also, you obtained a skill after getting all that magic."
"Skill...? Oh! You're right! What does this say?
Rose and Kei lean towards the book and see a skill called 'Borrow'.
"Borrow..? This is my first time seeing such a skill...do you know how to use it Tatsuya?"
"No idea...! But I have a feeling that it will come handy in the future."
"Boy, how about you try it out then?"
"That's a pretty nice idea!"And he lifts his finger and points it at Rose.
"Tatsuya? What are you doing?"
"Skill- Borrow!"
3
A smoke screen appears and fills the room with smoke. Then the smoke dissipates and all the four stare blankly at Tatsuya's hands.
Tatsuya's nose starts to bleed a little and he says while having a serious look on his face-
"Hmm... black huh... I think you should go for another colour."
She feels really embarrassed to look at his face and punches him in his gut really hard and takes her bra back from him while screaming-
"NOOOO!"
He lays on the bed looking as if his soul had left his body and Kei enquires if he was okay.
He holds his stomach in pain for a while and gets up from bed while looking at the embarrassed Rose.
"Can I just try that again once more...? This time I won't play around! Pretty please?" pleads Tatsuya while he joins his hands and bows.
"I can't trust you at all." Says Rose while looking away.
"I just want to try out the skill! I wanted to test it so I did that. C'mon please just let me try it once...!"
"I guess once can't hurt, right? Hmph! Get this over with then." Says Rose while still being embarrassed.
"Thanks for the opportunity!"
Tatsuya holds his hand towards Rose and takes a deep breath.
"Imagine! Imagine!" and he starts to imagine her healing.
"Skill: Borrow!"
A glow of light covers Tatsuya and after few seconds it disappears. He grins and walks over to the plate with the food. He picks up the knife and cuts himself.
Kei and Rose get shocked and shout-
"What are you doing!?"
Tatsuya walks back to the bed and sits on the bed while holding his bleeding hand. He takes his unharmed hand and while holding it over the hand with the cut he says-
"Heal!"
A glow of white light covers his hand and after some time it disappears leaving his hand completely healed.
He smiles while looking at Rose and says-
"Thank you for this!"
She gets shocked after seeing him not chant the entire spell and only saying the word 'heal'. Then she tries to use heal but it doesn't work.
She becomes teary eyed as she looks at Tatsuya and she says as she is on the verge of crying-
"Give it back... My magic... Give it back!"
"Alright! Alright...! Umm... how do I return it again?"
"Boy... use your head will you? It goes back to its owner after a while. That's why it's called borrow!"
"Ok. Ok, I get it. Stop shouting. Also, when is this while?"
"How should I know?! Maybe fifteen minutes.... or thirty... Just wait for a while and it should go back."
Rose wipes her tears and sits quietly.
Twenty minutes pass but nothing happens. She becomes teary eyed again and looks at Tatsuya like a puppy dog. Suddenly after another minute he feels like something it getting out of him and he leaves a sigh.
"Looks like it took twenty one minutes. Try using it."
She uses heal on him and a white light comes from her hands. She becomes overjoyed and starts saying-
"Thank god! Its back... I hope you don't use in times other than when its needed.... ok?" and she sees him using his skill once again.
"Looks like there's some cool down period after its use... Pretty useful."
"Didn't you hear me? Why are you taking away my magic again?!" says Rose while screaming on the top of her voice.
"Umm..."
"What's wrong Kei?"
"Ryo-nii, can I get some new clothes. These clothes have become dirty."
"Don't worry... I was planning on getting them for you anyways."
"Thank you soo much Ryo-nii."
Tatsuya hugs Kei as he says-
"Awww! You're just so cute!"
4
After a few more days of rest he heals completely and gets up on his feet.
"After all that resting... my body feels kinda stiff. Maybe I'll exercise." Says the refreshed Tatsuya early in the morning while removing all of his bandages.
"Good morning nii..." says Kei in a sleepy voice while getting up from bed.
"You're up early?! What's wrong... have a bad dream?"
"No... I was getting up this early right from when you disappeared the day when you were injured." Says Kei while nodding her head sideways.
"Well... how do I put it...? I'm really sorry Kei."
"Umhm~ it's alright! I'm not that small anyways."
"Is that so?! Someone's all grown up...!"Says Tatsuya while giving a smile.
"Are you not well yet?"
"I'm all fine now so don't worry... Want to tag along with me?"
"Why not?!"
Kei rushes from bed to Tatsuya's side and they walk out of the room. When they exit their room Tatsuya sees his old world's classroom and when he blinks once everything becomes normal.
"Veilios made me remember everything... But these memories are kind of a pain in the ass!" Tatsuya thinks to himself.
Tatsuya sighs and Kei looks at his face like a worrywart and Tatsuya says-
"Let's eat something first!"
They head downstairs and sit on the table.
"Hob!" Tatsuya calls out to the waiter in the distance. "I would like to order our food."
Hob walks to their table as there was no one else except Tatsuya and Kei in the place at that moment.
"Food will be free for you for some while since you performed such a great deed!"
"It's become a big deal, huh?"
"Yeah! It seems like you'll be getting a reward from her highness herself!"
"Ya~... So can we get our food, please? The reward can wait before your delish food."
"You sure know to use your mouth properly unlike the others, Tatsuya."
"You know me the best." Says Tatsuya while smiling.
After a while Hob brings two plates of pasta to their table and Kei starts first. Tatsuya looks disgusted for a second then his face becomes normal and he thinks to himself-
"No matter how many times I see it the fact won't change that this world has the same food from my old world..." and he starts eating it.
After eating they leave the inn and start walking towards the market block. Kei looks really cheerful on seeing all the different types of vegetables. After they walk for a bit they reach the end of the market block but they both notice something weird.
The candy store along with the old man had disappeared and it was just empty.
"Where did the candy man go, nii?"
"I don't know Kei. Maybe he is resting or changed his shop's location." says Tatsuya and they continue walking towards the next district.
"Maybe we can find you some clothes here..." Tatsuya holds Kei's hand and starts to walk toward a shop called 'Clothes Contact'.
"That's some really bad naming sense..." says Tatsuya while making a lethargic face. " Well, it doesn't matter if the shop fulfils its purpose.
When they enter the shop the bell attached behind the door rings and what they see in front of their eyes surprises them. They see a really well decorated shop with clothes everywhere.
They walk up to the counter and Tatsuya stares into the face of the smiling man who smiles continuously at Tatsuya.
"Welcome sir! How may we help you?"
Tatsuya startles a bit and says-
"That's really creepy! I thought you weren't human for a second!"
"Hahahaha! Creepy... surely you jest! So what do you need today?"
"I'd like normal clothes for me and my sister."
"Then you can see-"
"Also don't try selling your high quality stuff to me. All we need is normal clothes."
"That works as well! You can choose what you want by going to the furthermost area of the shop."
"Thanks." Says Tatsuya and walks with Kei to the end of the shop.
Tatsuya first takes a normal shirt and a pant, in black and says-
"This should do... Now Kei, which one do you want?"
He sees Kei next to him holding at least five white dresses on her head and says-
"Ryo-nii! I can't see you."
"I'm right here." Says Tatsuya after lifting the clothes off of her head.
"These are the one I want... Is it okay to buy all this?"
"Don't worry... I am your brother after all. Let's go then... or do you want to change into one of these?"
"Okay! I'll do that."
"Then I'll change as well!"
Both of them enter in the dressing rooms next to them and after few minutes they exit the dressing room looking better than before.
"This is unexpectedly comfy and good... isn't it Kei?"
"Yeah! I like it a lot... Thank you Ryo-nii!"
"No problem!"
"You both look really dashing anyways."
"I know right! Well, even I was surprised. Ha-ha." Tatsuya stops laughing and asks the red haired boy in front of them, "Who the hell are you, anyways?!"
The boy gets startled by his voice and says-
"Well, you should know who I am!"
"Will you spit out who you are...Or do you need a punch in your face?!" asks Tatsuya with an intimidating face.
"You really don't know me.... Looks like I'll have to introduce myself then." Says the weird red haired boy while putting his hair backwards.
"This guy irritates me somehow!"
"My name is Rose Colbie! Make sure you remember it."
Tatsuya brings out his palm facing upwards and he places his fist on the open hand and he says-
"Oh! You're Celestine's brother."
He gets shocked and asks-
"If you know who my sister is then how don't you know who I am."
"Well, she never told us anything about her family... so how are we supposed to know who you are... dumb kid."
"How dare you talk like that to a noble, tell me you name right now!"
"Sure. I'm Tatsuya Ryo."
Suddenly Colbie's eyes sparkle and he says-
"So you were the one who saved the people. That's so cool!" and his eyes sparkle even more.
Tatsuya starts to sweat and he says-
"Kid I've got to go... We'll see each other later..."
He picks up Kei by her waist and rushes to the counter and puts the money on the table and rushes out of the shop at full speed. He enters some other shop filled with armour and weapons and after putting Kei down he starts breathing as fast as one could.
"Looks like we were able to escape."
"Where are we, Ryo-nii?"
"I don't know... let's go outside."
When he tries to open the door the door doesn't budge a bit. He tries again and again but it doesn't open.
"What kind of joke is this?"
They hear an eerie laughter from the counter of the shop. On hearing it Kei hides behind Tatsuya.
Tatsuya walks to the counter with Kei hiding behind him.
"Very few can enter this shop... After all this is in another dimension stranded from the real world."
5
The voice came from a small pixie like creature sitting on the chair behind the counter.
"What are you? A pixie? A fairy? Or something else."
"You're half-right and half-wrong Ryokai." And Tatsuya butts in and says, "But my name is Ryo." But the pixie like creatures continues paying him no mind, "I'm a half-breed! Child of a pixie and a fairy! What were you saying earlier Ryokai?"
Tatsuya sighs and asks the half breed creature-
"What should I call you anyways?'
"Yavia is alright."
"So you are a girl."
"Ryokai... if you can't make out the difference between a boy and a girl then you can never get married."
"Who the hell are you, my mom?" says Tatsuya with an annoyed expression.
Yavia starts to flap her wings on her back and she starts to levitate. She moves closer to Kei and stares at her intently.
"What might your name be little girl?"
"K-Kei."
"So Keiki you were the one who I talked to."
"Are you really the fairy from my dream?"
"Yes! Sure I am. Even though I'm wearing this green robe."
"What does the green robe have to do with that... and why the hell are you calling her cake?"
"Oh... it's just a way of me being friendly..."
Tatsuya looks around while Kei talks to Yavia. He walks in the shop looking at everything there was in there and reaches the end of the shop where there was a closed door with the sign 'Open if you can'.
He tries to turn the knob of the door and open it but the doorknob doesn't
twitch even a bit.
"Yavia!"
"What's wrong Ryokai?"
"How do we go back?"
"Oh... That's simple! You just have to buy something from my shop. Also, this is not some normal shop... You'll find really good stuff here."
Tatsuya looks at Yavia in the distance with a very serious face and asks her-
"Is it possible.... to like maybe get a discount or something?" and he laughs.
"Maybe I can reduce the prices for you by ten percent since you are the first customer in six years."
"Are you kidding me? You've been waiting here for so long just to sell your stuff?!"
"All alone... Can you imagine how I felt all this time?" says Yavia while shedding fake tears.
"All right. All right. I'll buy something... Good grief! Girls are the same even in this world." Tatsuya continues to look around and after a while he asks-
"How long have you actually been here?"
"I don't remember... Maybe one fifty years or so."
"Things in this world don't surprise me anymore." Says Tatsuya while kneeling and picking up a sword with a black handle.
"I suppose so... After all you were brought up in a different world, ain't I right Ryokai?"
He puts the sword in its scabbard and takes it to the counter and says-
"So do you know about that shitty geezer?"
"Shitty geezer?"
"So you don't know..."
"The sword costs a lot though... Are you really buying this?"
"It's a magic sword right?"
"If you can see it then why ask... Really Ryokai you're very stupid."
"Just tell me the price cause I have to do other things as well."
"Yes. Yes. This sword costs four hundred fifty del..."
Tatsuya becomes shocked and his mouth falls.
"Ar-are you sure you gave me a discount?"
"Of course Ryokai! Its original price is five hundred del after all."
"Even if this is a magic sword the cost can't be this much right."
She puts her hand out and says-
"Pay up Ryokai. No use trying to bargain."
Tatsuya opens his pouch, takes out the money and gives it to Yavia while crying.
"Ryokai, take this as a gift for your first purchase." Says Yavia as she gives Tatsuya a key.
"A key? What is this supposed to do? Open the back door?"
"The backdoor has some items only available to people worthy of it... This key is for entering this shop from any door in the world. Of course you can leave at will from here as well."
"Do you give everyone this key?"
"Sometimes I don't need to since they come in with their own powers. Most of them who come once in this shop don't even return back... What a hassle!"
"Alright then! I guess thanks." Says Tatsuya as he walks with Kei towards the door.
Kei turns back and smiles at Yavia. Yavia then says hesitatingly-
"Tha-thank you for your purchase! We ho-hope that you will visit us again."
"You can count on it Yavia! See ya later."
Tatsuya opens the door and they exit the shop. When they come back they see that it was still early in the morning. They walk back to 'Silver moon inn'. After opening the door to the inn Freda and Hob ask him-
"Where were you all this time?"
"What do you mean where? I was shopping."
"You were shopping for three whole days?"
"Three days? It's only been thirty minutes since we left."
"How can you joke like that? Look at the calendar and see for yourself."
Tatsuya looks at the calendar on the wall and sees that three days had actually passed.
"Kei come with me, quick!" says Tatsuya while he runs up the stairs to his room.
After closing the door shut Kei asks-
"Ryo-nii? What's wrong?"
"If anyone asks you where you were for three days then just say that you went around town with me... got it?"
"But why?"
"I'll handle that!"
"No. why should I tell that?"
"It's because we can't tell anyone that we entered Yavia's shop in another dimension."
"Alright!"
Tatsuya goes to his wardrobe and takes out the grimoire. He hits the book several time and then says loudly-
��Get up! Get up! Get up!"
"What's your problem Kid?!"
"Can you do one favour for me... since you are a great spirit?"
"Spit it out."
"Change everyone's memories of us for the past three days."
"There'll be a problem if I do that."
"What is it?"
"I'll need to use most of your mana."
"I don't care. Just do it fast."
"I already did it."
Tatsuya makes a fist and says with an annoyed expression-
"Then why the hell did you give me a warning for?!!!"
"You're so loud this early in the morning. I'm gonna go back to sleep. Don't wake me up for few hours."
They go downstairs and both of them act normally. The both of them exit the inn and decide to go to an open place.
"Kei..."
"Hmm?"
"Where do you want to go? Any place in particular?"
"The apple tree... if possible."
"I was thinking the same... let's go, shall we?"
"Yeah!"
6
Kei and Tatsuya exit the gate and walk on the green grass while the breeze hits their faces.
Kei starts running ahead towards the tree in the distance and yells after stopping for a while-
"Ryo-nii catch me if you can!"
"You better start running cause here I come." Says Tatsuya and starts to run toward Kei.
Tatsuya and Kei play tag till they reach the tree and after wearing themselves out they rest under the tree and gasp for breath while laughing.
After a while Tatsuya gets up and says-
"Kei you can play here for a while since I'll be training. Will you be fine by yourself?"
"Yeah!" says Kei while admiring the flowers and playing with the butterflies.
Tatsuya walks for a while in the flower field and unsheathes his dagger. He swings it in all possible ways and starts to repeat the same while running.
After doing this for a while he puts the dagger in its sheathe and goes back to the tree. He sees Kei sleeping peacefully behind the tree and thinks to himself-
"She is growing. I can't afford to be the only on who's weak. I've gotta protect her." And he keeps the dagger near Kei and grabs an apple from the tree.
After keeping the apple on her lap he goes away from the tree and removes his shirt.
"Still... I'm amazed that my body grew this much after coming here. Gotta hand it to you, you shitty geezer." And Tatsuya starts doing push ups.
"Veilios... you there?"
"What now?"
"Tell me something frankly.... You aren't a villain right? I remember playing games where the character's friend is actually the boss of the game."
"And why the hell would I be the boss of this world? If you want to know who the boss of this world is then..."
"I don't know why... but I'm getting a déjà vu."
"Actually I don't know myself if it was a demon lord or something like that. Hahahaha!"
"I was a fool to ask you..." and Tatsuya sighs.
"But still I feel like I'm forgetting something... Whatever it is can't be that important anyways."
"Where is that man?! I've been looking for him for hours... Why was I even given this job?!!!!" yells Celestine out of frustration.
"Now that queen asks him to meet her, he disappears... Mr. Hob do you know where he could've gone?"
"No. I don't know. I saw him go out somewhere early this morning. Ask the people walking near the gate. Maybe they'll have a clue."
"Thank you Mr. Hob. Let's go Colbie."
"Yeah~."
After Celestine and Colbie exit the shop and start to ask people around Colbie starts to mutter stuff to himself.
"Where are you Mr. Hero...When will I get the chance to ask you... It's near... I can feel it..."
"What's wrong Colbie?"
"Nothing at all, elder sister."
"C'mon. Maybe the guards will give us some info."
Tatsuya feels a chill down his spine while doing sit ups.
"What was that? Maybe it's getting cold..."
Celestine asks the guards about their whereabouts and the guards say where he went. She thanks them and exits the gate and goes to the apple tree.
She sees someone sitting behind the tree and rushes to the tree with Colbie. Just when she was about to call out Tatsuya's name she sees them sleeping together like a family. Kei's head resting on Tatsuya's arm and Tatsuya's head resting on her head.
Celestine smiles and says-
"What am I gonna do with you? Maybe I'll let them sleep for a little more time... I guess?"
Right after she says this Colbie takes a broken twig from the ground and pokes it at Tatsuya's arm and says with sparkly eyes and a watering mouth-
"Get up Mr. Hero! It's morning."
"Who the hell..." says Tatsuya while waking up and looks at Colbie's face and goes back to sleep."
"Don't sleep... I want to ask you lots of things..." says Colbie very creepily.
Tatsuya starts to sweat a lot while his eyes were closed and Celestine come closer to them and says-
"Since you are awake... The queen has summoned you. She wants to give you the reward."
"Oh! Now I remember... that was what I was gonna do three days ago."
"So you forgot?" says Celestine and sighs.
"First of all why are you so obsessed with me Colbie?" asks Tatsuya and Kei gradually starts to wake up.
Colbie looks embarrassed and plays with his fingers. Then he says bashfully-
"It-it's because I've fallen in love with you!"
On hearing this Tatsuya becomes pale white, and he lays on the ground looking as if all the life had been sucked out of him.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone