"Young man, don’t you like the meat soup? Auntie made it herself."
The old woman’s face fell, clearly reading Lucian’s hesitation as reluctance to touch her cooking.
"Young man, if the soup isn’t to your taste, why don’t you try the bread instead, and this drink? At the very least, you should put something in your stomach first."
The old man said it warmly, holding out the loaf of bread along with the cup of deep, thick red liquid.
Huff. Why am I letting myself spiral like this... I should be grateful for what they’ve offered me.
Lucian drew in a slow breath and let it out again, trying to steady himself.
Maybe I’m just letting my own paranoia get the better of me. The least I can do is try the bread.
"Forgive my rudeness, sir, ma’am. I’m just, uh, not quite used to soup like this, so for now I think I’ll just have some bread."
"Don’t worry yourself, young man, eat whatever you like. As it happens, that bread was only just baked, so it might suit you better," the old woman said, still spooning her soup.
Lucian reached out and found the bread beside him, closing his hand around it. It was still warm, as if it had come straight from the oven, though beneath that warmth lingered a faint, scorched smell unlike anything he’d ever caught from food before.
He brought it slowly to his mouth and bit down, chewing carefully, taking in the bread’s texture: crisp on the outside, soft within. But there was something odd tucked inside it too, some kind of filling that clung stubbornly between his teeth, refusing to go down easily.
What is this... why is it so hard to swallow?
Stranger still, no matter how long he chewed, he couldn’t taste anything at all. Not sweetness, not salt, nothing. Just the texture, working against his teeth, and nothing else.
"Ma’am, this bread has a rather unique filling. Is this something you eat often here? Would you mind telling me what it’s made from?"
Lucian kept his tone pleasant, as if he genuinely enjoyed it, when in truth all he wanted was to know exactly what he’d just put in his mouth.
"Oh, you like it? Hmm, truthfully, we rarely eat bread ourselves."
The old woman set down her spoon and picked up a piece of the bread herself, chewing thoughtfully before continuing.
"Where we’re from, nothing grows, so we’ve never been able to farm crops. But thanks to Miyu bringing back hair from her hunts, once it’s properly prepared, it makes a wonderful topping for bread."
Oh. So it’s from hair.
...Hair? Did I hear that right? What kind of hair gets turned into bread?
"Ma’am, what kind of hair goes into bread filling, exactly?"
The old woman smiled. "Special game, of course, whatever Miyu manages to catch."
Lucian’s hand began to tremble again, the growing certainty that something about what he was eating was deeply wrong settling into his stomach like a stone.
Damn it. Damn it. Is everything I’m eating tied to Miyu’s hunts somehow? Isn’t there any normal food anywhere in this place?
At least let me drink something first.
His throat had started to itch, so he reached for the cup without thinking to check it first, catching only the sharp, unmistakable scent of iron rising off it. Without a second thought, he tipped it back and drank.
He spat it out almost immediately.
"Uhk! Uhk!" Lucian broke into a fit of coughing the moment the red liquid hit his tongue.
Holy moly, what is THIS drink...
The old man and woman startled at his sudden coughing fit. The old man quickly grabbed a handkerchief and pressed it into Lucian’s hand.
"Lucian, are you all right?" the old woman asked from across the table.
This drink has no taste at all, but it’s thick, so thick, and the smell is unbearable, like drinking water that’s been left to soak with iron.
Before long, the sound of the door drew their attention. ’Lucian, Uncle, Auntie, I’m home,’ Miyu called out, her voice bright as ever, though the cheer in it faltered the moment she caught sight of Lucian wiping frantically at his mouth.
’Lucian, what happened?’ She hurried straight to his side.
’Auntie, Uncle, what did you two do to him?’ Miyu’s voice was sharp with worry, but both of them only shook their heads, insisting they’d done nothing to him at all.
Lucian tried to steady himself, wiping at his now-stained clothes.
"It seems Lucian and Auntie’s cooking don’t quite agree with each other," the old woman said gently.
’Is that true, Lucian? Do you want me to cook for you instead? Though I’m running a bit low on ingredients, we might need to go hunting first so I can make something properly.’
"Hunting?" Lucian’s face turned toward her voice at once.
’Mm, actually, that’s part of why I came back, I couldn’t find the chocolate milk you like, so I wanted to ask if there’s something else you’d rather drink.’
She really went looking for chocolate milk...
Miyu said it all with that same bright cheer, clearly already turning over what else she might cook for him. But for Lucian, the mention of hunting sparked something else entirely, a chance, maybe, to finally learn what exactly she’d been hunting all this time, and perhaps even where he truly was.
"If you don’t mind, Miyu, I think I’d like to come along and watch you hunt." Lucian said it with a trace of hesitation, unsure whether she’d actually allow it.
’Really? You want to watch me hunt?’
"Yes, if that’s all right." Lucian let a small smile show.
’Of course. But you can only watch, Lucian, you’re not allowed to hunt yourself, and you have to follow my instructions exactly so you don’t get lost.’
Miyu said it the way someone might speak to a small child they were fond of, which only made Lucian more curious than ever.
’All right, as long as you’re ready and not afraid of heights, it should be fine. Just remember, don’t you dare pass out.’
"Pass out?"
Before Lucian could fully process what she meant by that, the warmth in the kitchen shifted, settling back into something gentler.
Miyu crossed the room to her aunt and uncle and wrapped her arms around them both at once.
The embrace lingered, heavier than it should have, as though it were meant to be their last. Miyu’s expression had turned unmistakably sad, nothing like the bright warmth she’d carried all evening, while the old couple only smiled and stroked her hair.
"It’s all right. This time, you really have found him. He’s every bit the good boy you said he was, Miyu," the old woman said.
The old man let out a warm laugh. "Hohoho, truly, a good boy. Even weak and paranoid as he seems right now, I have a feeling he’ll suit you just fine."
Lucian felt the mood shift too fast to follow. What had started as warmth when he first stepped into this room had turned tense over the food, and now it had settled into something that felt, unmistakably, like grief.
What’s actually going on here? he wondered, unable to shake the feeling that something important was passing right over his head.
"All right. Time’s up, Miyu. You need to go with Lucian now," the old woman said, and if Lucian could have seen it, the crescent mark on her forehead had begun glowing with a soft white light.
"Remember to be careful with your next step, Miyu. And Lucian, please, take care of her. We’re counting on you."
Take care of her? Aren’t we just going hunting, like she usually does? Maybe this is just how their family does things, Lucian thought, assuming it was simply some tradition of theirs.
"Oh, of course, Uncle, Auntie. Don’t worry."
But Lucian never saw the moment Miyu finally let go of them. Slowly, green particles of light began rising from the floor of the kitchen, and as they spread, the furniture around them started to fade away, piece by piece, the food along with it.
Little by little, the old man and woman began glowing with the same soft white light, their bodies growing steadily fainter as Miyu drew back from them, though neither of them stopped smiling as they watched her stand there with Lucian.
Even though Lucian couldn’t see any of it happening, he could still feel it, somehow, like a memory dissolving somewhere close beside him.
Finally, Miyu took hold of Lucian’s hand and stepped backward, away from them, careful not to look back at the fading light where her aunt and uncle had been standing only moments before.
"Miyu?" Lucian said softly.
A blue thread appeared before them again, only blue this time, nothing else, and slowly it began weaving itself into the shape of a door. Once it had finished, Miyu reached out and opened it, and the faint sound of wind rushed out from somewhere on the other side.
’Lucian, are you ready?’
"Eh, wait, I haven’t said goodbye to your aunt and uncle yet—"
Lucian had no idea that the space around them was no longer the kitchen he thought he remembered, that the old man and woman were already gone.
There was only a blue door standing before them now, and Miyu pulled it open.
WHOOSH!—
A tremendous gust of wind roared out from beyond it, strong enough that both their hair whipped wildly in the current.
’Lucian, hold onto my hand, okay? Don’t you dare let go,’ Miyu said, her voice straining to carry over the wind.
"Ah, Miyu, wait, what is this—"
Before Lucian could get another word out, Miyu had already pulled him through the doorway. But it wasn’t like stepping into a room at all. The instant they crossed the threshold, the ground simply wasn’t there anymore, and they were falling.
"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Lucian screamed as he plummeted alongside her, nothing around them but an endless stretch of blue sky and clouds rushing past. The faster they fell, the tighter Miyu’s grip became, until she wasn’t just holding his hand anymore, she’d thrown both arms around him entirely, refusing to let the fall tear them apart.
Ohhhh Goddesssss
It truly felt as though they were falling straight into another world altogether. Far below them, a thick, unbroken canopy of trees stretched out in every direction.
Lucian had no way of knowing just how close they were to slamming into the earth below, but Miyu’s expression had turned sharp with focus, her star-shaped pupils blazing with a bright, fierce light.
THUD!
The impact hit with tremendous force, the ground shuddering beneath them. Miyu’s eyes still burned with that same light as she looked down at him.
Lucian, meanwhile, was a complete wreck, his hair a tangled mess, his face pale and drawn, still struggling to process that any of this had actually just happened to him.
’Lucian? Are you still with me?’ Miyu asked, easing him down onto the ground.
Slowly, Lucian became aware of something achingly familiar settling in around him: the rustle of a forest, birds calling somewhere overhead, the crisp bite of fresh air.
Still conscious, he pushed himself upright and realized, with a jolt, that he recognized exactly where he was.
"Miyu... isn’t this the forest?"