When I heard the date, I could almost feel the collective shock in the room. Everyone fell silent, their faces masks of shock. The only other noises to permeate the air were the distant sounds of clamor and bustle outside.
"Is something wrong?" Oboro asked, looking around the room, his brows furrowed in worry.
"1593..." Shinso repeated the date under his breath, his lips parting slightly as if he wanted to say something, but nothing left his mouth.
"We've been transported five hundred years into the past? ..." I questioned, my heart racing in my chest. I didn't know what to say, what to do, or where to go. I had accidentally transported everyone here, and I don't know why; I don't know how I did so. My breath quickened in my chest, and my throat seemed to tighten up. The lights in the room appeared to flicker, and the room around me began to spin.
"Kid?..." Mr. Ryujin's voice sounded in my ears, but it was blurry and distorted. I felt like I was going to pass out again. My body darted towards one of the chairs in the room, sitting down quickly as I planted my head onto the wooden table, my stomach tying into an insolvable knot.
I closed my eyes, my breath coming in short bursts as I grabbed my hair, pulling at the silky brown locks with tightly clenched fingers. Everyone in the room was looking directly at me, but no one moved a muscle. The ringing in my ears began to intensify as I felt my face heating up. I felt like I had to vomit.
My body surged upwards, and I ran into the bathroom I had woken up in, gagging as I threw up into the bathtub. Outside, I heard a knock on the door.
"Are you ok?" It was Ayumi, the girl's voice echoed with obvious worry. I took a moment to regain my senses, but the knot in my stomach, the stiffness in my body, and the pounding in my head remained as I raised my head, saying with a hoarse voice. "Yeah..."
"You don't sound like it." The door opened behind me, and the black-haired girl entered, sitting down beside me. Her rounded glasses were cracked slightly.
"Why do I have to ruin everything?" I asked, tears forming in the corners of my eyes as I leaned forward, throwing up again. Ayumi's hand found my back, tracing small circles as I vomited in the tub.
"It's not your fault..." Her voice was low and assuring, her hands continued to trace small circles on my back as she continued to look at me.
I felt a pang of guilt when I heard her words. "Then why did I bring everyone here with me? It is my fault! I don't know how or why we're here...I don't know how we'll get home...and I don't know if I'll..." I didn't finish the sentence, more vomit rushing up my throat and collecting in the bathtub.
The girl remained silent, her gaze fixated on my pitiful form as I continued to vomit.
"Calm down, we're all ok...see?" Ayumi looked back at the rest of the room, glancing at the others who had hesitantly gathered around the table. They had begun to emerge in light conversation, even in the midst of the revelation they had just received.
"This Oboro guy seems like quite the mood-lighter." Ayumi's tone grew warmer, and her lips formed a gentle smile as she continued looking at the others.
"We should eat, it's not all the time we get to eat like this." The girl stood up, offering me her hand. My head remained submerged in the tub for a few more moments, staring at the contents of my empty stomach which had been regurgitated.
"We can figure this all out later, ok?"
"Yeah...we should." My body trembled heavily as I stood up, grabbing Ayumi's hand as the two of us slowly made our way to the table, which was occupied. Oboro, Aizawa, Shinso, Mr. Ryujin and Olivia were all eating the bread Oboro had prepared, but Aizawa seemed tense the entire meal, his gaze remaining on the blue-haired man.
"Why has he been acting like that?" I asked, exchanging a glance with Ayumi. The girl sighed as she sat down beside Shinso, picking up a slice of bread from the plate in the center of the table.
"I don't really know." She said as she stuffed her face with the food. I looked towards Aizawa for a few moments before sitting down on the other side of Shinso, picking up a piece of bread and biting into it. The margarine wasn't the best topping for the bread, but I figured everyone was eating it like hogs since we hadn't eaten in a while.
"Sorry if this seemed commercial, they'll be here in a few minutes." Oboro spoke up, dabbing his face with a handkerchief as he turned towards the door. "They usually bring the real food on nights like this."
"Who's...them?" Olivia looked up from her plate, looking towards Oboro with a slightly curious look.
Oboro's smile widened as he took another bite, saying with a mouth filled with food. "My accomplices...or we could just call them fellows."
His gaze swept across the table, and his eyes suddenly widened, realizing something. "Due to the boisterous quantity of you, would you mind relocating to the living quarters?"
Oboro pointed to the right half of the room, which had a lit fireplace, accompanied by a sofa with a large table. "I'm sure there's enough room for all of you."
"Yeah, we don't mind." Olivia quickly relocated, snatching a piece of the bread off the plate and nibbling it as she sat down in the living quarters. She looked to her left, watching the snow fall through the closed window.
"Are you sure they aren't freezing? When we woke up it was awfully cold."
"You assume the average patron doesn't possess winter garments? We're the wealthiest dominion on the continent!" Oboro leaned back in his chair, the ungentlemanly gesture amplified by the sound of his boots resting on the table.
He continued, his tone radiating with pride. "Our agricultural output is triple the other kingdoms on the continent combined!"
The door leading to the apartment room was knocked on. "Y'sqaubling to yourself, Oboro?" A low and gruff voice sounded from behind the door. The voice sounded to belong to someone in their early to mid fifties.
"Not this day, Aaron. Did you bring the good stuff?" Oboro asked, standing up from his chair and opening the door. Standing in the foyer were a group of people, including two older looking men, and a pair of younger adults behind them.
Oboro turned back to us and smiled. "I have guests over, or should I perhaps call them...foreigners?"
One of the men, who had a broad forehead, and gray hair, let out a hearty laugh as he pulled out a pot with his gloved hands. "Well, tell your foreigners the reign of stale bread has ended. Aaron's prestigious soup has come to claim the throne of the evening meal!"
"Evening meal? It's only six past morning." The other man, who stood a few inches taller than Aaron, scoffed as he combed his slightly darker hair.
"Clam it, Isaiah. Evenin' is when the sun don't shine no more." The shorter man strode into the room, his gaze falling onto the collection of strangers gathered in the living room. "Now, who might you fellas' be?"
Mr. Ryujin put down his bread and looked back at the other man, smiling softly. "Just a group of travelers."
"From where, Indun, Katshin Empire? The swamps?" Aaron put his hands on his hips, as is judgementally assessing us.
"Uhm..." Mr. Ryujin fell silent, unable to make up a plausible response.
"We're not from this place...we're from...somewhere...different." Ayumi spoke up, her voice coming in short spurts, feeling extremely hesitant to share the information with a complete stranger.
"What do ya' mean, speak up! Did ya'll do Squid Spice and lose your minds? Everyone knows where they came from, even my friend Isaiah does!" He pulled the taller man against him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
Aizawa let out a long and tired sigh. "We're from a different dimension it seems. We've been transported five hundred years in the past."
"How the hell could that happen? That's the work of Gods, not us primitive humans." Isaiah said, wringing himself loose from Aaron's group and stepping back. His gaze remained critical and hyper-analytical as he assessed us.
"Gods?..." Ayumi's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.
"Yeah, the deities. We don't know much about them. Aside from not worshipping them results in death." Isaiah continued.
"Get your facts checked, Mr. Walls." A female voice sounded from the doorway. A woman with black hair, rounded glasses like Ayumi's, and wearing a purple dress, walked into the room carrying an assortment of items in her arms. The woman approached the table and put down some roasted meat, before stepping back and scanning the table.
"You didn't prepare the culinaries?" She looked towards Oboro, raising an eyebrow.
Oboro scoffed, shaking his head. "Unfortanlty not. When you have last-minute guests, you don't have ample time to do stuff like 'prepare.' The man crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall.
"Well, Cathy. I don't think the placement of forks and silverware is the biggest thing right now. We're together, that's all that matters." A young male voice emanated from the doorway, and a man with fiery orange hair, dark yellow eyes, and a small patch of freckles entered the room—popping the collar of his vest like a king as he sat down on the chair nearest to Cattleya.
The woman let out a tired, yet slightly amused groan. Her lips formed a small smirk as she turned around to face us. Her gaze, solemn and refined, yet containing an almost maternal warmth, shrank back when she looked at me, Shinso and Ayumi.
"Children?" She asked, taken aback.
"Excuse me?" Shinso raised an eyebrow, a silent yet definite sign of confrontation.
"I apologize." She stepped back, bowing her head. "If I appear confrontational, I digress."
"Is this a drinking, get drunk and have an orgy kinda meet-up?" Shinso cleared his throat, slowly correcting his posture.
"What?...why would we do such a thing?" The woman's eyes lit up with a small amount of concern, and her cheeks flushed slightly. She was clearly shocked by Shinso's bluntness.
"I mean..." The man with orange hair raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into a Cheshire smile.
"No one's getting drunk, today fellas." Oboro leaned off the wall, chortling as he spoke. "But we did bring the wine Isaiah patented as: "to-be-drank-responsibly type wine."
Oboro pointed towards the taller man, who was carrying a few bottles of reddish-gold liquid that seemed to shimmer in the light.
"Ahh, is that the Katshinese stuff? If it is, I might have to get a little drunk." The orange-haired man grabbed a bottle.
Isaiah's gaze turned towards the man, cocking an eyebrow as his lips formed a wrinkled frown. "We have adolescents present with us, Carter, getting drunk is for those without a roof over their head."
"Well, sorry to say I once didn't have a roof...or a house in general until I met Miss. Catherine over there." Carter gave a playful wink towards the young woman as he slowly unscrewed the cap.
"Did we only bring wine?" Catherine asked, sitting down at the table near the window.
"I think so..." Carter scanned his numerous pockets for a few moments, before sighing in defeat.
At that moment, Catherine turned to the three of us and asked a question. "Do you want anything to drink?"
"Water." Me, Shinso and Ayumi answered.
"Simple, but easy to begin with. Maybe something heavier later?" Carter looked towards us, the same smirk plastered on his face.
"For the deities' sake, the kids aren't drinking alcohol!" Catherine rubbed her glabella, letting out a tired and annoyed groan as she took out three cups from an overhead cabinet above the stove.
She placed the three empty glasses on the table and grabbed a bottle of Katshinese wine, pouring three glasses. Seeing this, I was instantly overcome with confusion.
Why was she giving us wine?
The woman reached into her pocket, before taking out a small necklace. The pendent had a white charm on the end of it that flickered with blueish-purple hues.
She closed her eyes, and the necklace began to flicker and tremble as if an invisible sandstorm was blowing against it.
Me, Shinso, and Ayumi watched in shock as the reddish-gold wine quickly turned transparent, and strawberry slices slowly manifested on the rim of the glasses.
Catherine put the necklace away and looked back at us, seemingly taken aback by our shocked expressions. After a few moments of silence she sighed.
"Right, you haven't seen Sealed Relics before."