Chapter 1「1819」
"Kid! Hurry! Wake up!"
"Hot…" Hoku mumbled, jolted half-awake by the burning pain.
"Of course it's hot! I can't carry you off like this. Stop mumbling and move!" a voice barked impatiently.
". . ."
"Aish, you must be a log if you can sleep with your leg nearly cooked."
Hoku flinched as his body came down, and what seemed like several voices crowded his ears.
He felt a tug on his arm, then the dull scrape of fabric against wood.
'A-am I being dragged?' Hoku groaned, rolling onto his side.
"Hm?"
His hair slipped over one ear. Then something grazed the back of his neck.
"Don't!" A young man with short blond hair stumbled over Hoku's leg, nearly falling to the ground.
The instant Hoku met the stranger's gaze, his storm-cloud irises caught his attention. Beneath them sat a pair of thick golden brows.
"Heaven's kid! I wasn't robbing you, I was trying to pull you away from the hearth," the young man said, tugging at the white neckerchief tied around his neck.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Hoku asked, bending his leg to scoot farther from him.
"Why am I here? This is my house! I should be asking you that question."
The young man folded his arms behind his back and gave a light chuckle.
'His house? Who would stay in a place like... this…' Hoku glanced around, and his stomach turned.
"You appear to have gone rigid. Is there something wrong?" the stranger asked, arching a brow.
'Is there something wrong?' The question left Hoku dumbfounded.
He stared at him for a moment before clearing his throat.
'What was he supposed to say after looking around a room like this, full of things that looked untouched and new?'
Hoku raised a hand to his forehead, pushing his bangs back and letting them fall just above the bridge of his nose.
'Just moments before, there had been nothing—only soot and walls half-lost in it.'
His eyes narrowed as he massaged his temples.
"Sir?"
Concern drew the corners of the young man's mouth down.
'The stairs are much the same in structure, but everything else is different. This is... the same room... right?' Hoku's gaze dropped below the staircase.
A dark mahogany door stood there, quaint designs inscribed at the center of two rectangular panels that swelled outward instead of inward like most doors.
Most notable, however, was the narrow crack between the hinges and the frame.
Even with the young man standing in front of the knob, Hoku could tell from the opposite side of the handle that the door was barely ajar.
"I see you've finally woken up… have you gone insensible, or is your mind still jumbled?"
The man lowered his head and began mumbling, one hand resting beneath his chin. "Hm, that is only natural. Of course, you needn't be too startled by this, they might return after—"
"What happened to me?" Hoku asked, avoiding a direct look while keeping part of his attention on the staircase behind him.
"You're speaking! I assume you are curious about my dwelling if you've come all this way to break in." The man had a nearly dramatic English accent.
"What? No—I mean, I was only looking around earlier. Thought the manor had been…" Hoku peered around the room again, briefly losing hold of the conversation.
'How am I supposed to convince a stranger of something that sounds this absurd?' Hoku wondered, unsettled by how it sounded even to himself.
"Less burned?"
Hoku swiftly looked back at him, leaning forward a little.
"Why has everything suddenly—changed?"
"I likely know, by a rough margin, a little more than you do. Most of my additional knowledge is that I'm supposed to give some kid in a brown trench coat a watch."
Hoku pulled one side of his coat over his lap and frowned as the young man surveyed him.
He hummed in amusement before saying, "It appears you closely match that description, no? What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
He remained by the door, idly fiddling with a button on his burnished vest.
"Hoku," he replied tersely.
"Hoku? That's an unusual name indeed. I quite expected something else…"
"What do you mean? What did you assume my name was?" Hoku asked, suspicion flickering across his face.
"There's no need to be skeptical. I've simply never heard such a name before. I suppose I should leave my home more," the young man said politely.
Hoku found that almost unsettling, until he remembered he was the one sitting on the floor of a stranger's home.
He quickly rose to his feet and cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the memory of his humiliating introduction.
"Haha, I was wondering when you were going to stand up. I suppose you still feel faint in the head. Take it easy for a bit."
"What is your name then?" Hoku asked, steering the conversation elsewhere.
"You may refer to me as Polaris." Polaris cleared his throat and awkwardly shifted his gaze.
"Saying it aloud, I realize that I may also have an odd name," he added.
"Nothing to worry about," Hoku said.
"Is it possible for me to take my leave then? This is all very strange. I'm not sure how I will ever tell the story," he added with a nervous attempt at humor.
Polaris closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "You needn't worry. For now, leaving isn't an option. However, if you'd prefer, I can show you a way out."
Hoku's pulse quickened as he clenched his fist.
'His intentions couldn't be farther from clear,' he thought.
Yet, unexpectedly, he nodded and forced a smile. "I wouldn't mind, as long as I can leave safely."
Polaris gave a small gesture, then motioned for Hoku to move toward the door behind him.
The wooden door's hinges creaked bitterly as he opened it, revealing a smaller set of steps.
As they descended, Hoku kept his gaze on his hand, unease settling over him as it slid along the smooth cedar railing.
Moments later, they stood before another door. Polaris reached into his pocket and drew out a silver key.
He pushed it into the empty keyhole, and it clicked after a short twist.
The door looked nothing like the one above.
The wood was dingy, with greenish-blue blemishes spreading from the bottom up to the middle hinges.
"I thought you were leading me into a wine chamber…" Hoku said, raising his chin to look over Polaris's shoulder.
"A wine chamber? More like a neglected study," Polaris replied, shoving the door open.
"After you," he said, stepping aside.
'How long has it been since anyone last set foot in this room? It reeks of rust and stale cigarette smoke.'
Polaris closed the door and crossed to the other side of the room, stopping near a wall of bookcases.
After a moment, he casually added, "You've probably noticed the scent. Just to reassure you, I don't smoke. The previous owner, though…"
Hoku said nothing, only nodded. As his gaze moved across the room, he noticed the only semblance of order: the books, arranged by size.
The tallest stood against the side walls, while the smallest gathered near the center, an almost deliberate symmetry amid the mess.
Nevertheless, the entire room was coated in dust.
"Now... where did I place that box?" Polaris muttered, disappearing behind the ornate desk.
Its placement was odd. Most desks, Hoku thought, were tucked into a corner or set against the back wall. Yet this one stood at the center.
"I apologize for the state of things," Polaris said, straightening and placing a hand on the edge of the desk. "Had I known we'd be having a guest, I might have made more of an effort to tidy up."
Hoku immediately noticed the subtle tension in his posture.
"Do you mind assisting me with something? It won't take much of your time."
Hoku nodded and walked around to the side of the desk for a better look.
"What is it?"
"A wooden box. I'm searching for a wooden box—small, obscurely plain, and evidently made without the guidance of a craftsman."
'...Craftsman?'
"Would it be in this room?" Hoku asked.
"I would like to think so… but now I'm somewhat unsure. I thought I hid the watch behind these books. Could you look through the drawers on that desk and check the shelves behind you?"
Polaris stood, brushing his palm over his trousers a few times to smooth the wrinkles.
"This desk?" Hoku asked, touching the edge with one fingertip.
As Polaris walked toward the door, he murmured part of his reply. "I'll make sure I didn't leave it anywhere upstairs."
Hoku nodded again, then turned toward the wall beside him.
"Lastly, I know everything that belongs to this room, including the number of books, so don't pocket anything~"
Polaris was out of the room before Hoku could answer the presumptuous remark.
"Says you," Hoku grumbled, grasping the broken locket through his shirt. The cold metal grazed his skin beneath the cotton.
Clutter filled every corner of the space; stacks of books lined the walls and high shelves, empty glasses stained with ink lay tipped onto their sides, and a collection of perhaps seven or eight hundred journals had been scattered inadequately across the floor.
Crumbled papers had been thrown into a corner and kicked about.
Hoku curled his fingers around the rigid knobs of the desk before crouching in front of the drawers.
Each one he tried stayed fast in the frame, clicking back into place whenever he pulled too hard.
After tugging on the third drawer, however, he noticed a tiny, almost dot-sized hole beneath the knob.
'Keyholes? What kind of desk drawers need a key?!'
Raising his head above the surface, Hoku peered helplessly through the slots.
Through the narrow spaces, he saw a rigid object veiled by a tarp long enough to spread outward at the end.
'Could this be—'
He rose and approached the object leaning against a broken easel.
As he reached for it, his fingers sank into the folds of the tarp, and it slipped from one of the sharp corners.
It only slipped enough to shorten the strip of red hanging down the other side.
"Damn—it must be caught on something."
"I found it! You can come upstairs, kid. It seems I left it in the master!"
"Was it? Okay… I'm coming up then."
Hoku pressed his lips into a line and let his fingers slide from the tarp.
'I'll ask about it later.'
He moved toward the door, glancing back once at the tall object before leaving the room.
The space between the walls that held the stair railing was narrow and poorly painted.
It felt like stepping back into the original house; everything below was still grotty.
Hoku kept his eyes on the steps as light poured in through the doorway.
As he neared the top, a shadow crossed the landing, and he looked up.
"Huh?" He squinted.
A thin black cat with large emerald eyes crouched at the top of the stairs.
Hoku paused, one foot still on the stair below, and looked at the frail creature.
He climbed one more step and murmured, "...Cheshire?"