The World Unseen

Chapter 11 -- The Mortal World

'Sometimes it was possible for me to believe he had practiced an enchantment upon me, as foxes in this country may, for, here, a fox can masquerade as human and at the best of times the high cheekbones gave to his face the aspect of a mask.'

-- Angela Carter

...aishiteru...

...aishiteru...

'...my dear Sora, always remember...I love you!'

...aishiteru...

The train rattled violently as I was jostled awake as I looked around, wondering where I was. I looked at the colors and shapes of a rail car starting to form around me as I had finally exited the Spirit Realm and I was materializing in the Mortal Realm as a normal human boy.

At first, everything around me was blurry; but soon details came into focus. I could make out chairs and an aisle...and in the chairs were humans who were eagerly awaiting the arrival to their desired station.

The sound of the rails sang a hypnotic song as I finally realized just where I was: 'I am on a train!' I seemed to materialize on a seat as a felt someone's arm touching me. When I turned to see who it was, I cried out, finally remembering her face!

"Mom!" I yelled to the irritation of the passengers. I hugged her, and cried as this caught mother by surprise.

"Sora!" she yelped, stunned "What is wrong!?"

"I have missed you so much! It feels like a lifetime!" as I buried my face into her shoulder as I would have done to Aki-san. My tears flowed as my behavior alarmed her.

"There, there." she hushed me "Everything is alright! It was just a bad dream you were having." she then smiled as she said "You actually gave everyone quite the startle, two ladies from the forward car found you asleep there. You wouldn't wake up. You must have been so tired!" she giggled.

The two ladies walked over as I looked up, seeing familiar faces. I was stunned as I did not know what to say. 'Aki-chan!? Fuku-chan!?' They certainly did look just like them, but these ladies were human, not kitsunes. 'Did I dream it all up?!'

"Thank you." I heard my mother say as the two women bowed lightly.

"We are glad that we could have been of assistance." the golden hair woman said as she smiled and walked away with the other.

The train slowed down as I looked out the window to see that we had arrived in the city of Kyoto. I was confused, as when I had boarded this train, we were headed to Izumo.

"Why are we in Kyoto, mom?" I wondered.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" mother asked me.

"Weren't we going to see grandfather?!"

"Wow, you must be really tired! We just returned from your grandfathers after a 28 day stay." she bit her lip as she revealed something that I was not aware of "Do you remember much during the trip to your grandfathers?"

"Uhm, I went into the other passenger's car and fell asleep." as I omitted the whole part about my adventures in the Spirit World. "Why? Why do you ask?"

"You do not remember anything!?" she asked me again.

"No, what happened?!"

"Sora, you were gone for over 28 days! There was a massive search for you, but when they found no trace of you, it was called off. I almost gave up until I had a dream from Inari-sama, telling me to take this train, today."