Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer Volume 1 [Parts 1 to 2] by Akito Narusawa

Author:Akito Narusawa
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 4: The Setting

With the first day of school over, I set off for my room.

I walked toward the dorms adjoining the school grounds where most students resided, as they had traveled from across the world to attend. I imagined I’d be no exception and made that my destination. I’d plunged into DEC’s world without warning, and I wanted some time alone to calm down and get my head around what was happening.

However, I couldn’t find the name Narumi on the room list by the dorm’s entrance, so I asked one of the dorm staff.

“Narumi, wasn’t it?” the woman asked. “You’re not registered here. You must commute in.”

It seemed that I lived at home. “Err, yeah...I do. Could you tell me my address? I seem to have forgotten.”

She handed me one of the school’s introductory pamphlets and told me the address. I also heard her mutter under her breath, “And he’s just a kid” as she pointed a pitying look at my bulk.

I flicked through the pamphlet and found a map of the local area, and I recognized the names written there. That was when I recalled DEC’s setting was in an alternate reality version of modern-day Japan. My memories of visiting this area in my previous life told me I should see tranquil residential streets and scenic parks overlooking mountains and the sea. But tall buildings and apartment complexes instead blocked the view from within the school grounds. I wasn’t likely to figure out the reason for the discrepancy by thinking about it now, so I thanked the woman and headed to the address that she’d told me was my home.

***

I passed through the thick and robust school gate only to land in a bustling shopping district. The street in front of the school had hotels, department stores, and commercial complexes all lined up. The scene wouldn’t have looked out of place in my Japan were it not for its citizens. Some wore suits of armor, others carried large weapons, and all of them unmistakably belonged to DEC’s world. I stared at the buildings and passersby as I walked on, and after a few minutes I reached my home.

The first floor of the house was a store, and above the door was a sign with “Narumi’s General Goods” written in large letters. The door-plate also read “Narumi,” spelled with the same characters as Piggy’s family name, so I’d found the right place. I hadn’t known that Piggy’s family ran a convenience store. A car was parked outside, so I could tell that I wasn’t the only one living there.

Is it okay to go inside? I wondered. It doesn’t feel right barging into someone else’s house. Wait a second... I know this place.

A fragment of Piggy’s memories had found their way to the surface. Looking at the building again, I felt a spark of recognition and a warm sense of belonging. Of course, Piggy did belong here. It was home.

After I’d been loitering outside the house for a while, a woman in her forties emerged from the shop wearing an apron.

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