Chapter 2: A language lesson under the cloudy sky
When Lumine became conscious, she felt soft fabrics touched her skin. Warmth enveloped her as she continued to lie down.
This was the softest bed she ever slept in. Unlike the beds of her home, which only comprise cottons.
If only Aether can experience this bliss now.
Oh... right... He's gone...
Opening her eyes and got herself up from the bed, she found herself in an unfamiliar room with a shelf and a desk.
There was an odd device of the ceilings too and it was producing air by spinning it's blade.
Is this technology in this world? How far had the civilization of this world went?
These questions hammered her with the idea she was lost in every way possible. Before she merely followed Aether to anywhere they visited.
He was her guide, a way finder, and her companion.
"Oh, you're awake." A boy's voice broke her out of her musing. She turned to him and recognized he was the same boy who helped her.
Now she looked at him properly. He was young. Perhaps the same age as she was? And he was wearing a black thin coat over a red shirt alongside a black long pants.
'Cute too, if I say so myself.' She thought to herself.
Not that he was the first boy she thought about it. Traveling to many worlds brings a series of charming boys for her to admire.
"Are you... okay?" The boy asked in a curious tone. She looked at his body language, assess his tone and the pronunciation.
Recalling the same words yesterday, she nodded at him. Then she gestured being sleepy while saying the same word.
The boy became confused for a moment. He seemed to have thought about her gesture and words.
When a moment of clarity hit him, he looked like he understood.
"You are sleepy?" He did the same gesture again while speaking. 'He understands quickly', Lumine thought before nodding.
"You can go back to sleep." The boy done some gesture and point at the bed. Lumine shook her head and got out of the warm bed. Stretching, she let out a satisfied moan and felt the blood flowing.
When she turned to the boy, he slightly blushed and seemed to hold himself back from something. Regardless, both of them fell into an awkward silence until there was a distinctly loud sound.
The sound of hunger.
Lumine became flustered by it, realizing she had become hungry. The one thing she hated the most was her gluttonous behavior.
She would still blame it on the appetizing food.
"You can come with me to get food." The boy, trying to make the best of the awkward situation, spoke to her once more with some gestures. She analyzed his words, gestures, and body language but couldn't understand it. She merely frowned and tilted her head, hoping the boy understood her.
Realizing what happened, the boy came towards her before hesitating for a moment. Shaking his head, he pulled her along and left the bedroom.
*---------break---------*
Issei was aware of his action. Pulling her to the dining table felt like he was a child leading an adult to somewhere.
If anyone else were to see it, there will be an ocean of questions flooding him.
Regardless, he was on a mission to sate the hunger of this girl. Turning another corner, he found himself at the dining area with his parents eating their share of food. Said food comprise a simple toast with fried egg and milk.
"She's awake now, mom." He announced to his mother, presenting the girl to his mother. The girl lightly nodded and raised her hand to greet the parents while speaking the same unfamiliar language.
None of them understood her words, but the gesture told them she was greeting them.
Looking over at the clock, Issei immediately realized he would be late for school. "Oh crap, I'm late!" He immediately gulped a glass of milk and snatched his toast before dashing away, apologizing to his mother and the girl for leaving in a hurry.
The girl looked confused before turning to the older woman. Said woman merely sigh and gave her some simple gestures to communicate with her. "That boy is late for school."
From the gestures to tone, it further confused the girl. 'Running, time, book? What does it mean?'
The older man, Gorou, understood her confusion and told his wife.
"Maybe we can teach her Japanese? The language barrier is an issue." Gorou suggested to his wife. Without hearing a response, Gorou gestured to the girl to sit and have breakfast with them.
His wife thought about it for a moment, before looking at the lost girl.
In her eyes, the girl hesitantly ate the toast. The girl's eyes were squarely looking at the two tenants of the house, seemingly afraid of doing anything that might offend them. Her body language shown she was trying to shrink herself, trying to assess the atmosphere while being careful.
A lost girl indeed. The unfamiliarity and the lost expressions told Miki many things. One of them was that the poor girl needed help.
"Dear, do we still have Ise's old textbooks?"
*---------break---------*
Issei took his time to return to his home, as he needed some time to mull over the current predicament. The cloudy sky didn't deter him from taking his time, as today's forecast said nothing about rain.
From the morning interaction, he could tell they could only understand each other through sign language and observing each other's body language.
It could become a problem eventually, thus he took it upon himself to help her with the language barrier. First order would teach her the most basic of Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji…
Okay, maybe Hiragana first, since that was the easiest set of Japanese words to learn.
Who would make three different sets of Japanese words for them to learn anyway?! What sadists does that?!
Regardless, he already prepared something for the girl. That would be a children's storybook that mostly contained Hiragana. He remembered his mother would read storybook with him to sleep when he was a toddler.
The warm scene of a young Issei sitting on the lap of his mother while reading the grand fairy tales of love and bravery. Exhaustion would overtake him eventually and he would sleep soundly.
That brought a small smile on his face, but he would not dwell on it longer. Opening his house's door and entering the house, he unconsciously announced his return to all the tenants.
"O…kai…rin?" A familiar voice called out. Issei became stunted when he saw it was the girl who said it.
There were so many questions in his mind! Despite butchering the words, he could tell she said, "Welcome back". How did she learn it so fast?! When did she even learn the words?!
His mother, Miki, walked out of the living room who just removed her glasses. "Why are you standing there Ise?"
"Mom, did you teach her Japanese?" If she did, will his effort be in vain?
"I was using your old textbooks to teach her." She spoke with a smile. "We started with the picture books I read to you when you were younger"
Ah, now he understands. "Well, I bought another picture book from the stores. Is it wasteful for now?"
For the first time since... Issei doesn't know how long (wow, he truly disappointed his parents), Miki beamed at his action. "Oh, it will help a lot!"
The girl merely stood there, confused by the interaction. But from what she could tell, the boy had brought something for his guardian and she was proud about it.
Since that day, Lumine has made many steps forward in learning the new language called Japanese.
*---------break---------*
On the third day since Lumine began learning the new language, she had already grasped the fundamental basics of their noun.
The picture books that were used to teach her how to speak was especially helpful as it translated the meaning of each word well. The mother was very helpful too, showing a tremendous amount of patience and care to teach the girl.
As of now, Lumine was revising the nouns she had learned in the three days. She looked at the words intensely while point a finger on each letter.
"Ta...dai... mah, nii-san."
The mother nodded in approval. "Correct."
Lumine strewn over the unrecognizable word for a moment and evaluate the meaning behind it.
"Me... correct?" This caused the older woman to be surprised. Lumine didn't mind the shock of how fast she was learning. As a Traveler, it was an innate skill she had since birth due to how many worlds she had travelled to. New language and cultures were to be expected, thus having a skill to bypass the barrier as fast as possible was essential.
The older woman, unaware of her musing, clapped her hands and said some congratulating words. Lumine understood those words as the mother had spoken them a lot.
Really, it reminded her of her mother prior to her journey.
The older woman, without hesitation, took another book to continue their lessons. This time, the book has a lesser amount of pictures and more words. Lumine was eager to learn, fortunately.
*---------break---------*
On the sixth day, the girl's language skill has graduated from the kindergarten level.
To say her skill impressed Issei was an understatement. She had made something that took a few years to learn looked easy, and that was just the beginning. Ever since she graduated from this level, her language skill has been rapidly improving.
His mother predicted that she would graduate from the primary level in another week or less. Afterwards was where the true difficulty enters, as she must learn the three different versions of Japanese.
Issei wished her good luck on that.
"Help?" Issei broke out of his reflection when he was being called by the girl who was sitting across from him.
Today was Sunday, thus he got to stay at home. His parents went out to grocery shopping together on the cloudy day to restock the refrigerator. With an additional mouth to feed, the stocks in the storage dwindled faster.
Though for the life of him, he wouldn't understand why his parents went out on a cloudy day. Not that it matters anyway, since the entire week has been cloudy.
"What is it you need help?" He leaned forward as Lumine pointed at a single letter called 蛍.
"Hotaru." He answered simply before noticing the girl frowned before shaking her head. "Ying (荧)."
What? "No, it's Hotaru."
She shook again. This time she spoke in a full sentence. "My name... It's Ying (荧)."
Ying (荧)? Isn't that a Chinese word? Did she come from China or somewhere near there and wrote Hotaru (蛍) that way?
Deciding to test out a theory, Issei took a piece of paper and pen and wrote the word Lumine has been speaking and presented it to her.
"This is Ying (荧). This is the word you have been talking about." He then pointed at the letter Hotaru (蛍). "That is Hotaru in Japanese."
Lumine then nodded at his explanation. She assumed there was over one language in this world judging from what Issei has spoken.
Since she was on the topic of names though...
"I have not introduced me, did I?" She asked the boy.
Now he thought about it. He had never learned her name at all and always referred to her as "the girl". Well, that changes today and he was excited about it.
Not everyday he was being introduced by a cute girl herself, anyway!
"I will start first, then." Issei unconsciously made a grin and show his bravado. "I am Hyoudou Issei, 16 years old, and my dream is..." Issei faltered on the last part and nearly lost his bravado.
As much as he wanted to tell her about the Harem King dream, perhaps it will be a terrible impression on the girl he saved a few days ago.
"... to be a hero. Nice to meet you!" Yeah, it sounded childish, but at least he won't learn the ire of the girl.
As for Lumine, for as much as she wanted to ask about his hesitation, she knew not to pursue it. It would be unbecoming of a lady like her anyway (not she cared much, but she would like to uphold a certain image).
"I have many names, but I would tell you three of them. In Japanese, it would be Hotaru (蛍). In my mother tongue, I am Ying (荧). And in my second language, I am called Lumine. Nice to meet you, Hyoudou Issei."
That was a lot of names for him! But then again, from what he could tell, her name derived from the word "Light".
How fitting for a glowing girl.
"You don't have a surname, Hotaru?" She shook her head.
"Only the royalties have the privilege to earn a surname."
Now Issei became increasingly intrigue. The way Lumine spoke about her origin, he assumes she must be from a rural place with old ways of teaching. Maybe he could prod for more answers?
"I see... you never been to Japan before, have you?" Again, she shook, and she frowned at herself.
"I... did not ask to be here."
"Y-you didn't? Why?"
Lumine kept her lips tight at that. For as much as she appreciated his family's hospitality, she wouldn't say she trusted the family with her origin. Experience told her that people like them do not hold any ill intent at all, but sometimes she would be wrong and had her power sought after.
But then her heart weight heavily. Issei was the one who saved her in the rain and, as per tradition, she must return a favor that was equal or more in value.
"If you don't want to talk about it, then I wouldn't force you." Lumine reacted to the boys unexpectedly gentle voice. She saw his expression, one in disappointment, guilt, and pity. The boy was empathetic, huh?
"No... I want to share a piece of my story to return your favor." Before Issei could interject, she spoke.
"I was travelling with my older brother, Aether, or Sora (空) in your language. We supposed to leave and explore more place." She could feel her heart beat faster and her breath becoming erratic.
"However... we are stopped by someone... she... told us that our journey was over and..."
Flashes of images appeared in her mind. The battle... the fear... the worry... and the pain... it came crashing down on her once more since the first day.
A pair of warm hands enveloped her hands, as if it was an attempt to reassure her and keep her calm. It worked somewhat, and she could stabilize herself. "... and... she took him away while throwing me aside when I was unconscious. Now... I am clueless in looking for my older brother."
As she spoke more, she slowly became a sobbing mess and eventually cried.
Issei stayed silent as she finished her story. Guilt crept up in his heart, as he should've known the scars were still fresh for her.
Another feeling, the feeling of anger also welled up. He felt rage towards whoever kidnapped her brother and dumped her in Japan to survive. Without knowing, he gripped her hand harder and the feeling of resolve came upon him.
"Lumine…" She looked up to him with her sobbing face. "I swear to you, I will help you find your brother. I will take care of you for as long as possible until you find your brother."
"I, Hyoudou Issei, will find your brother until the day I die! I can promise you that!"
She looked at his face, full of righteous fury and his voice so full of resolve. Somewhere in her heart, many feelings came to her.
She felt guilty, for the boy had sworn himself to do an endeavor that would end in a dead end if Aether was not in this world; that the boy decided upon himself that he would carry her burden.
At the same time, she felt happy. That the boy who saved her was the one who also helped her like a knight to a maiden; that she could sincerely trust on his words.
For the first time in this new world, even if she was still crying her heart out, she smiled in relief.
"I trust you... Hyoudou Issei."
*---------break---------*
{If gods exist
I wish the sun light pierce the gloomy clouds
And bless me the strength in my endeavor
So I can see her smile once more}
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone