In his place, an ornately decorated carriage trundled forward. It rumbled to a stop before Hiro.
“Go on, get in,” the girl prompted. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of space.”
Hiro peered inside as Cerberus bounded through the door. The interior of the carriage was spacious enough for six people to sit comfortably. He stepped in, skirted around the white wolf making itself comfortable on the floor, and took his place on one of the seats. The girl climbed in last, seating herself opposite him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sure this must all be very alarming for you.”
“No worries,” Hiro replied. “It’s all just a dream, anyway. It’s not your fault.” Even now, his mind still refused to acknowledge that this was reality.
The girl cocked her head. “A dream?”
“I mean, it has to be, right? None of this makes sense otherwise.”
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“I mean, I was walking to school like usual, then before I knew it, I was lying in that forest. Suddenly ending up somewhere else, filled with people you’ve never met...that’s the sort of thing that only happens in dreams.”
“Maybe. You seem real enough to me, though. I mean, you’re right there.”
The girl abruptly stood up from her seat and leaned over. Hiro was still wondering what she was doing when he felt the warmth of her hand against his face. He barely had time to register the softness of her touch, before—
“Yeeeooowch!”
She grabbed his cheek between her fingers and pinched hard.
“Well? Does that hurt?”
“Whass dhat fhor?!” he yelled, his stretched mouth distorting his words. On the floor, Cerberus’s eyes widened in alarm.
The girl released his cheek and sat back down, satisfied. “See? Now we know you’re not dreaming.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just pinch me out of nowhere!”
“Sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you, but I thought it would be the fastest way.”
Hiro wanted to retort, but her innocent smile made it impossible to stay angry, so he resorted to sulking instead. What was she going to do if this awakened something in him? As he nursed his cheek in silence, there came a rapping at the carriage window. Dios’s accusing glare appeared on the other side of the glass.
“Is something the matter?” he asked.
“Not at all,” the girl replied blithely. “Hiro was just worried he might be dreaming, so I pinched his cheek to check.”
“Denying reality, is he? Perhaps the boy truly is a spy.” With that, Dios pulled away from the window.
Still rubbing his stinging cheek, Hiro heaved a sigh. In his head, he’d known all along that this was no dream, but his heart had been unwilling to let go of that final hope.
“So what do I do now?” Gazing at his feet, he cradled his head in his hands. As shameful as it was that it had taken a pinch to bring him to his senses, there was no getting around the facts: he’d somehow traveled to another world. How could he get back home? Could he get back home? Could he even wriggle out of his current predicament? Questions loomed before him one after another, but he had no answers.
“Are you all right?” The girl reached over from the opposite seat to pat his hair. “Come on, don’t look so glum. They won’t execute you.”
“That’s not why I’m... Wait, what was that last bit?”
“Come to think of it, I never told you who I am, did I?” She didn’t seem to have heard his question. His voice must have been too weak. The girl laid a hand on her chest. “I’m Celia Estrella Elizabeth von Grantz, Sixth Princess of the Grantzian Empire. I’ve just turned fifteen. Oh, but you can call me Liz for short. Most people do.” She concluded her introduction with a dignified smile.
Hiro stayed silent, thinking. Was he allowed to call a princess by her nickname? That sounded like it might really earn him an execution. He’d have to make an effort to address her more politely. He wasn’t about to lose his head to carelessness before he could even get his bearings.
“What’s wrong?” Liz asked.
“Am I actually allowed to call you that? Won’t they cut my head off?”
“It’ll be fine if I say it is. Dios is rude to me all the time, and he gets away with it.”
“I guess that’s true,” Hiro mused. “All right, then. Liz it is.”
She’d been open and friendly to him from the moment they first met. A princess she may be, but she seemed easy to get along with.
“Now that’s more like it. Although I should warn you, when I said ‘most people,’ I didn’t mean Dios...or the men in general.”
“Gaaaaaah!” Hiro cried. “I fell for it! I’m done for! I’m a dead man!”
Liz broke into a laughing fit as Hiro descended into panic. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It’ll be fine, honestly. Just...perhaps don’t call me Liz in public. I’m sure Dios won’t mind, but the soldiers might take it the wrong way.”
Being teased by someone at least a year his junior was not a pleasant feeling. Liz clearly found it hilarious, but for Hiro, it was literally a matter of life and death. Still, a question remained. This girl had taken pains to be kind to him at every turn, even going so far as to insist he use her nickname. Why?
“Do you mind if I ask you something?” he ventured.
Liz looked up. “Not at all.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Because you were alive when I found you.”
“What?” Hiro cocked his head, uncertain what she meant. “Sorry, I don’t think I follow.”
“Hrmm...” Liz stared thoughtfully into space, cupping her chin in her dainty fingers. “I mean, Cerberus never attacked you, and the spirits didn’t seem to mind you either.”
“What would have happened if they had?” Hiro asked.
“Then you’d be dead, silly.” Liz shrugged. “The forest back there—the Anfang Forest, it’s called—it’s no normal place. A lot of spirits make their home there. The first emperor made a covenant with them a thousand years ago, allowing them to live in the forest as long as they acted as its guardians, and they keep it to this day. Only the royal bloodline can come and go as they please. Anyone else who enters will never make it out alive.”
Hiro blanched. “All that time, I had no idea...” No wonder the forest had seemed so treacherous to navigate. If he hadn’t chanced across Liz, he might have actually died in there. It sent chills down his spine to think how much worse things could have gone.
“So that’s why I helped you out,” she concluded. “Does that make sense?”
Hiro nodded. “I never even realized how much danger I was in. Why am I still alive, then? I’m no royal or anything, I’m just...me.”
“Well, there’s the mystery. That’s why Dios suspected you might be some sort of spirit.”
“That explains it. He did seem weirdly confident.”
“Exactly,” Liz agreed. “Anyway, I’ve told you what I can, so now it’s your turn. What are you doing here? You aren’t really a spirit, are you?”
Hiro gave a defeated sigh. “I wish I knew. Then maybe I wouldn’t be in this position.”
Liz leaned forward. “So you’ve lost your memory?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m just an ordinary high schooler. I’m not that interesting.”
“A ‘high schooler’? What’s that?”
Hiro’s eyebrows rose. “You know, like a student? A school student?”
“Do you mean like...at the Imperial Training Academy?”
She didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. This world didn’t seem like the kind of place that had high schools. They might share his language, but that didn’t necessarily mean the terminology exclusive to Hiro’s more modern world would be understood.
“Wait. Hang on. That’s not it.” At last, Hiro realized that something was off. “I’m not speaking Japanese right now, am I?”
“‘Japanese’?” Liz cocked her head. “Is that a language? I’ve never heard of it.”
“All right, um...can I ask a weird question, then? What language am I speaking?”
She looked at him curiously. “Grantzian, of course.”