After chatting with Luci for the greater part of an hour, we left the inn to visit Setsuna's house to see what she was pnning to do about the wedding invitation. Ina let us in when we got there, and we went to the living room.

  It's a simple room with only two couches perpendicur to each other and a coffee table in the middle. We've been in here a couple times in st few days though, so we don't waste much time in sitting down. The three Kitsune girls take one couch, while Luci and I sit with Kino on the other.

  After a moment, Setsuna becomes the first to speak, tossing her invitation onto the table.

  “So, Luci. The one getting married is your… brother?”

  Luci nods and says, “Yep. I'm guessing you pn on attending, so when do you pn to leave?”

  Setsuna responds quickly, so she likely discussed this before we arrived. “Four days.”

  “That sounds good. Why that long though, if you don't mind me asking?”

  Kino answers for Setsuna.

  “I only had two weeks off before I came here, and I have to be back to what I was doing in five days. It's about a day of traveling for that, and since I'm leaving then those three decided to stay here until I'm gone.”

  Luci nodded and leaned back into the couch, having no reason to ask about anything else. I, however, am curious about one thing…

  “What exactly are you on a break from? Do you work in one of the other Territories or something?”

  “Uh… not exactly… Setsuna? Should we…?”

  “Hah… That's probably not for me to say. It's your home, not mine.” Setsuna simply shrugs, then Kino suddenly stands up.

  “Okay… let's just do it now then. Mira. There's something I should probably show you. Luci… I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to come along.”

  A little confused at how things just pyed out, Luci and I stand up as Setsuna does the same, while the other two foxes remain seated.

  The four of us leave the house, but instead walking anywhere like I thought we would, we ended up stopping at what is probably the strangest structure I've seen here. There was a small, fenced in space next to Setsuna's house with what appeared to be the top of a Japanese torii gate peeking just barely visible over the fence.

  Without a word, Setsuna took out a key and unlocked a gate in the fence, and we entered. Inside the area was exactly the structure it looked like from the outside. I was about to question what this was here for, when I noticed a barely visible, vertical line in the middle of the gate. It was as if it was drawn on the air itself, but before I could ask, Setsuna approached it with an ominous statement.

  “Mira. Luci. Under no circumstances are you to let anyone outside of this vilge know what you are about to witness.”

  As soon as she said that, she grabbed the mysterious line with both hands, and pulled them apart, turning it into some kind of transparent oval. The other side, however, was not what it should be. Looking through the… thing, I saw a forest where there should be a fence.

  I didn't have long to admire it, as Setsuna put a foot through it, waving for us to follow.

  Kino was the first to go after Setsuna, both acting as if they've done this countless times before.

  It was my turn next, but as I stepped up to the… whatever it was, I couldn't help but feel… something. It was a sensation I could barely describe. Some part of it may have been dread, as if I instinctually knew something - good or bad - would happen to me if I stepped through. At the same time, there was almost a sense of familiarity, one even stronger than what I would get if I were to look at my own body in a mirror…

  Whatever this thing was that I would step through, my instincts told me that it has to have something to do with my past life as Ren.

  Luci, seemingly reading my thoughts, put her hand on my shoulder. “This rift thing has something to do with your past, right? Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't hurt, after all, those two went through just fine. And I'll be right behind you.”

  “Right. Thanks, Luci. I'll be going through now.”

  Finally stepping through, I was greeted with forest, and a somehow even stronger sense of familiarity than what I just stepped through. The only difference I could think of is that while the st time it felt like part of my body, this feels different, like maybe it could've been a pce I liked to visit or something.

  The forest itself was also unlike any I've been in before. The others I've been to have have been filled with kinds of flora that I couldn't name if I tried. Most importantly, everything was Green. But here? There are only a few trees that are green, trees I recognize as pines and cedars. The rest of the trees are mostly shades of red or orange, with a few that are still green. On top of that, the ground is completely covered with dead leaves in those same red and orange shades.

  Directly in front of me were Kino and Setsuna with very different expressions.

  Kino was looking around with a nostalgic type of feel to her, likely simir to what I'm feeling right now, only that she probably knows what this pce was to us.

  Setsuna, on the other hand, was looking directly at me with her arms crossed, lightly tapping her foot impatiently.

  Luci appeared beside me, and Setsuna stepped towards the opening, grasping it and closing it just like she opened it.

  “There. Don't think anyone should be able to follow us. You wanna take the lead here Kino?”

  “Sure. You guys follow me.” Kino nodded at Setsuna's question, turning her attention to us with her st words.

  She then starting walking, and the rest of us followed as Setsuna finally expined how we got here.

  “That which you just stepped through is what we call a ‘Gate’. It's a type of portal, or maybe a rift in space itself. We don't really know what it is, only that we have the only one left. There were others, but they've all been gone for the better part of a year now. The different Kitsune vilges were al built around these Gates in order to protect them.”

  Setsuna paused for a second, turning to look at me before she continued, “Between the first of Sunscorch of st year to the fourth of Sunstoke earlier this year, all of those Gates were closed, and the rest of the vilges chose to come together as one, hence what is now the United Kitsune Tribes. Very creative and original name if you ask me!”

  She puffed out her chest and put on probably the biggest grin I've seen before, only to stop when Kino cut in, rolling her eyes in such amanner I could almost hear it.

  “Yeah, very creative. Almost like you didn't practically copy it from the country we're in while you say that.”

  “I mean, it's not like anyone else will know about it! People here have no clue I used this country as reference, and back home people outside the vilge don't even know what a country is!”

  With perfect timing as if she was defending Setsuna's stance, Luci interjected with, “Um, yeah. What even is a country?”

  Setsuna replied, now grinning even stronger than before due to her win, as Kino simply rolled her eyes and focused on guiding us.

  “A country is basically just a kingdom, although usually they're rger.”

  “I see… Wait, why haven't I heard the term before. You can't mean… Did the Gate lead to another continent?! I was always told that those rumors of there being others besides Chinoko haven't been proven… You mean to say that the Kitsune have been hiding this the whole time!”

  “Whoa there! No need to jump to conclusions. While this is another continent, it's… well, since you're both here, I'll go ahead and tell you. It's another world.”

  “Oh. That's… Wow.” Luci was stunned by this development, and frankly, I was too, perhaps even more so. The Kitsune literally have a portal to another world sitting in the middle of their vilge, and nobody knows about it?!

  Then, with the fact that everything here seems so familiar… Am I from this other world then? Wait… I could just ask.

  “Er… Is this world where I'm from?”

  “Yup! Anyway, we've gotten quite sidetracked. Now where we… Right! In just a little less than a year, the other Gates were all closed, resulting in the rest of the vilges coming together as one against the final one that we chose to keep. By the way, you were the one who closed the others. That sword you carry has the power to completely, permanently destroy them.”

  She paused, hearing said sword at my hip begin vibrating. Of course, that meant it was talking to me.

  [What she says is true. I have the power to close Gates. Ask her to tell you why you chose to close them though.]

  Don't worry, I was already about to ask.

  “So, why did I need to close them anyway?”

  Setsuna nodded, understanding the validity of my question. “It was fine for a while. Really, we had no problems at all until just before I met you. It was when a group called MAF Security Contracting, one of the rgest, most influential businesses in the world, started kidnapping some of the Kitsune that came through the Gates wanting to harness our power to open and close them. Which is something only we can do, by the way.”

  “MAF Security Contracting?” It was Luci asking the question this time. “What does that mean?”

  “Good question, since it's one even I don't really know. MAF seems like it should be an acronym for something, but nobody's ever figured out what it was. Thankfully, there's nobody left to tell us anymore. We do know what the ‘Security Contracting’ part meant though. Basically, they were mercenaries, a concept that doesn't exist anymore in this world. They were based in a country far to the east, but their mercenaries could be hired anywhere in the world under the guise of ‘private security’. We know now that their real goal was just to spread their influence to gain access to the Gates. How they knew about us though is yet another unanswered question.”

  Setsuna then lightly tapped the side of her head, remembering something, right before all hints of joy left her face.

  “Right. I forgot to mention that while you killed their leader, Kril Yoshikari, he was also the one who dealt the blow that ended up killing you.”

  Yoshikari… That name seems very familiar, and not in the same way that everything else from my past is. It's familiar in the sense I've heard it very recently.

  “Was there anyone else with that st name? I feel like I've heard it not too long ago.”

  Unexpectedly, it was Luci who had an answer.

  “Remember the guy who we saved her from in that mansion? His st name was Yoshikari.”

  “Mhm.” Setsuna nodded. “That man was Kril's elder brother. He helped found MAF, but soon after, he dissapeared around the time MAF first openly attacked us. He must've slipped through during the chaos. That night was when I first met you, by the way. I had escaped during the fight with nothing but the clothes on my back and that sword in my arms. My grandfather had pnned for me to keep running until I found a Gate to another vilge on the other end that hopefully hadn't been attacked, but before I could do that, I found you, and you came to help.”

  I was about to ask more about the topic, such as the grandfather she spoke about, but Kino cut in before I could.

  “We're here.”

  Wherever ‘here’ was, I was hit with the strongest feeling of nostalgia yet, of a simir kind to the rest of the forest, only stronger. In front of me was a small, white house in the middle of a clearing. There was a dirt road leading to it from the front, simir to one a carriage would travel on, and what appeared to be a training yard in the back, complete with wooden swords and staves leaning against the house as well as multiple straw dummies.

  My eyes however, were drawn to the side of the house. Specifically, to a pair of round stones sticking out of the ground. Almost like gravestones. As I approached, I realized, that's exactly what they were. As I read the names engraved on them, I was suddenly struck with the most excruciatingly painful headache yet, only for the pain to stop as quickly as it struck. After that, I realized something:

  I remember.

  Alpy376