Kyuuketsuki
By S.M. Cook
Chapter 2
Part 1
I awoke to find myself lying under a white velvet
quilt, so soft it was like being wrapped in a cloud. The
room itself was dark and cold, about which I had no
complaints, but I didn’t like not knowing where in the hell
I was. Disoriented from my latest battle, I could not yet
figure out how I had gotten here, nor any clue as to who
had brought me or why. My head seemed to be doing a
sort of slow-motion summersault and had not yet come to
a rest. Looking around cautiously, I tried to discern any
features the room might have to offer me. There was little
furniture in the room, only a short dresser of some sort
and the low bed I was lying on. As my mind started to
clear, I became more curious as to where I was until I
spotted the elaborate silver mirror standing in the far
corner. Hmm. I’m home.
I gradually turned my head toward the large silk-
screen windows standing open on my right, trying to gage
the time of day. It was still velvety night outside, covering
Tochigi Prefecture in perfect darkness; I assumed that
either I had been out for only a short time or for more
than a day. But by the heaviness of my overtaxed mind
and the knowledge that I was back in Japan, I figured it
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