Chapter 2: Chapter 1 – Hi, Scary Forest

Beeps ring out through Taishi.

The cool air.

He opened his eyes to see that he was in a hospital. His head was throbbing with discomfort as he looked around. His arm has a UV line attached and sees that the beeping is coming from the vitals monitor next to him.

One of the nurses saw Taishi awake and immediately went away from his view. Taishi probably assumed that she was informing the others.

He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing that he's still alive. Taishi cannot recall his memories, but he remembers the recent performance of the wind orchestra.

Soon, other nurses and doctors examined Taishi to see if he was alright, and he is.

After restless nights of check-ups and examinations, the doctor finally told him about his condition.

"Sir, you don't have much time. You were in a comatose state for ten years."

"What..." Taishi felt like his heart became heavy. He'd never felt that in years.

He coughs, "Yes... I'm afraid it's around a couple of days. Your long condition in your comatose state allowed various conditions within your body to flourish."

The doctor breathes slowly, before exhaling. "You have some days to make a will, call your family and friends, or anything. Or... you can be taken off your life-support."

The doctor stares at Taishi for his answer.

"I guess I will be with my friends."

Outside the window, a night has passed, and the spring trees show their vibrance. The gleaming glares of the orange-hued sky pierce through the windows of the room. A relaxing environment for Taishi.

Dozens of footsteps clamor outside of Taishi's room. It was his clarinet section and other players of the wind orchestra. He smiled at having so many people check up on him.

When Taishi looked at his friends once more, they all looked somewhat different. His friend, Okumura, has a rather interesting fashion that's formal. His formal outfit looks professional, but it has this exotic design on its white dress shirt.

He can feel that his colleagues are overwhelmed with joy and happiness just to see him awake.

"Okumura..." Taishi groans to him.

"You're finally awake." he smiles.

"How long has it been since I've seen you?"

Okumura gulps, "...en years."

"Ten years..." Taishi trails off. Taishi really did forget how long it has been, it felt like a couple of days has passed.

Okumura regains his composure. "Ten years." His face looks to be in bliss in reuniting with someone in a distant time, holding back feelings.

"How was the outing at the restaurant?" Taishi asked Okumura.

"The outing..." It took a while before Okumura remembers.

He continues, "It was good. But, we were saddened by the accident at that time... it's not the same without you."

"Thank you, but I will be fine." Taishi smiles.

Taishi wondered what he could've done in ten years. He could've done a lot in those ten years. His thoughts were of wasted years in his life. The bottle of emotions is finally starting to burst.

"W—Why..." his eyes were watering up. Tears dripping from his eyelids.

"Don't fret, Taishi. We will always be here for you."

Taishi sees through his blurred vision, and it's Ayumi. Her pleasant smile is beaming at Taishi, calming him down.

She looks at the rest of the wind orchestra players, and they all rushed out. Then, came back in with their instruments. Okumura started counting at the beginning of the piece.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

The whole room breathes, and they played their instruments. It was harmonious. Taishi instantly knows that this is "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring". The calm and the serenity of this piece are really fitting for him. Their playing filled the room and his body. Just when he was going to cry in embarrassment in front of his friends, he was eventually soothed by the music.

"T—Thank you." Taishi smiled.

The musicians can only play sincerely and show their response with their eyes or their facial muscles. Nurses, patients, and doctors nearby peeked into the room to listen to such fascinating sounds.

Taishi then closed his eyes, to embrace himself with the music. He himself was a musician.

Now, he's the audience.

His tears came dripping down from his eyes.

Taishi believed that he has finally done it in this world. Spreading such wonders of music across the countries. Even though he has no relatives that he can recall right now, this is his family. He now knew that the Kosei Wind Orchestra will always be spreading exceptional kinds of music.

"This will be the right time to move on," he thought to himself.

Being in this condition is to taxing on him to maintain. Just looking at his friends made his body ache.

The sounds of the instruments are slowly fading away. It's now the sequence of beeps from the vitals monitor that rapidly speeds up in pace.

"Taishi?"

"Hey!"

"Taishi!"

"Oh no..."

"Someone get a doctor!"

The faint movements on him are imperceptible to Taishi, his ears are now ringing, and he felt tranquility.

In the realm of somewhere...

One such being overlooked him, and deemed him to be of good faith for the world he's going to be in. The being has sought this being for centuries and finally found one. For one, it's going to honor its ultimate wish in this new world.

Taishi now can hear things. Trees swaying in the wind, birds chirping, and the breeze of wind gushing through his ears.

He bolts awake and sees that he's now in a forest.

Taishi couldn't imagine what kind of western hospital dumped deceased patients into a forest. Perhaps, this is some sort of new bio-decomposition method.

But, he cannot fathom how he's alive.

He looked at himself and realized that he was in a way different outfit than he's used to. It was a formal outfit, that is reminiscent of some royalty in a foreign country. A black high-ranking military outfit.

He saw some mild protrusions coming from his chest. As he grasps it, he felt weird, it's a tingling sensation. He continues trying to experiment and assumes that this is some sort of high-dense material from the military uniform and just lets go of it. Taishi felt a breeze and sees that he has long blonde hair. Apparently, it felt silk to the touch.

"I don't really remember being into this kind of stuff," he says in his mind.

Looking around, it's a forest. And judging by the trees, Taishi seems to perceive the trees as taller and larger than usual.

"What's happ—"

It was the voice of a young girl. Thoughts clutter Taishi, it couldn't be this possibility. Had he robbed someone of their soul? It couldn't be. Taishi cannot envision being in someone's body. If he were, he would be sorry, as he has already fulfilled his goal in life.

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Regardless, it's only him, and the forest. There's no time to squabble about that.

As he wandered throughout the forest, it was just trees. A ton of trees. There's no sight of the outside. It's all forest.

After walking for some time, he concluded that it has been hours, and the light that was soaking into the forest seemed to be changing.

He scrounged throughout the pockets of his uniform and found a small piece of paper. It's not a standard white paper, but the leathery type.

He reads, "Hello. It seems to be that you're in a peculiar situation. It was my doing, and I'm humbly sorry for that problem. You could use your skills to help guide you out of this forest."

The calligraphy on that letter is intricate, and he can barely read it.

The one word that occupies his mind, is "Skills."

"Just how do I use skills?" he says out loud.

He tries every line or word using the word "skill."

No results.

He sighs, "Maybe it meant actual skills."

Taishi was unfortunate after realizing that it's not some sort of mythical skill. But, he continued his journey through the vast endless forest.

The sky is now an orange hue. Taishi can feel that it has been a long time walking through this forest, and it's only a matter of time before he dies from his needs, or if any, wild animals. The breeze that's swaying the branches is getting scarier for Taishi.

"I guess I'll make some campfire..."

He explored the area around for sticks and tinder.

As he tries to start a small fire, he's losing the endurance to create such fire. It's faster than he'd anticipated.

"So hard!"

He threw away the two sticks at the nearby tree in fury. It only flew at a short distance, barely making it to the tree. The friction of the two sticks isn't enough to make a small fire. Maybe the wood is too wet, but it feels dry to Taishi.

His legs are aching from all the hours of walking, and it's already approaching darkness. Any small touch on his body would make him flinch in this dark forest, even a feather.

Huddling around the tree, he was alone. Terrified. Terrified of the fact that he could once again, die in this place.

Taishi heard a stick snapping under someone's foot. Something is here. It's not a person. It has to be a wild animal. His heart is racing, the body tensing up for a reaction.

"I could die... I could die... I could die... I could die..." These are the thoughts saying in his head.

The ground beneath Taishi rumbles as it approaches. It's a behemoth. As it gets closer, a large silhouette finally appeared out of the large bushes. He sees that it's not aware of him, and it's a green beast. It looks more like a large orc that he saw in fantasy games or stories, wearing leather gear. Just seeing that beast sent shivers down his spine.

He panicked, and his body refused to remain calm. It soon got a mind of its own. His leg moved, disturbing the leaves below his boots, which caught the attention of the orc.

The orc made a grunting sound and walked closer to Taishi. He can only stare at the death in front of him, unable to flee at all.

Taishi was in a fetal position with his back against the tree, looking away from the orc. He can feel the somewhat odorless breaths of the orc on his face.

He knew that it was directly in front of him.

"Please..." Taishi whispers. As if begging a wild animal could be of any use.

"Just as I was collecting materials... it's odd to see such elves in this part of the forest," the orc spoke with a low-thundering voice.

Taishi looked up at the orc to see him just staring, "O—Orc?" he stutters. Taishi also wondered why the orc called him an elf.

The orc was surprised by what he said, "Yes, how do you know?

"Games..."

"Games? You are very intriguing."

"Mhm..." He nods as he accidentally lets the word "games" leave his mouth.

"Luckily I found you first, those monsters in the forest would've eaten you to the bone." The orc grabbed Taishi and placed him on his shoulder.

"W—What are you doing?!" he flails, trying to get off.

"Going back home, away from the danger."

"Alright..." Fighting the orc more would do more harm than good.

Taishi relaxes on their journey to the orc's home.

"What's your name, gal?"

"Um. Saori."

"That's an odd name for one of you. Normally, it would be Maescia or Water. Call me Taruk."

Saori wouldn't understand someone naming their daughter "Water." Taishi had to make a name up on the fly and blurted out Saori in a life or death situation. After speaking such a name, Taishi finally recognized that he made a proper name instead of a tongue twister.

They finally made it out of the forest, and in the distance, is Taruk's home. It was an ordinary wood cabin. It's rugged and rustic, with a stone chimney at the end of it. Further away from the cabin is a tree stump with an ax, with a pile of logs in one bundle. Saori can finally see the beautiful countryside hills and the evening hue behind them.

Taishi was seated at the dining table, and the inside of the cabin was decorated with finely crafted wooden furniture and it felt cozy to him. The fireplace was crackling with timber. Within the cabin is the delicious cooking that Taishi can smell.

Her stomach growls immensely at the scent of food.

"You've certainly been in there for a while, for it's my courtesy." Taruk places down a big bowl of vegetable stew in front of Saori, and it looked appetizing to her.

It contains various meats and vegetables in the liquid. As Taishi ate the stew, it tastes like heaven. It's pleasantly earthy, though stodgy. But it's filling and joyful to eat. The broth is mouthwatering. In all, it was a gratifying meal.

"Looking at your face, I can tell that you enjoyed my cooking," Taruk laughs.

He takes a seat across her, "Saori, you look rather important for an elf. Your uniform and other items. Who are you?"

"I—I don't know. I ended up in the forest somehow," she murmurs.

"For the gall of an elf to be erasing their memories, and dumping them into such dangerous circumstances. Well, I will have to check your status."

As he grabs a stone from the bookshelf, "What's that?" Saori asks.

"It's a stone that checks every creature's status. From levels, class, skills, and many other things. This stone, however, can only check your level and class as it's a lower-quality one."

"Hold out your hand," he says.

Taruk places the stone on Saori's palms, then a holographic screen appears on top of it.

The screen says that Saori is of a Bard class, and is level 100.

"Oh my... the level cap..." he says in astonishment. His chair creaked back a bit.

Saori was getting mildly afraid as she doesn't know if it was bad or not. She remembers that the bard was a relative of a musician in fantasy games or something.

"Saori," Taruk sternly focuses on her.

"U—Uh... what is it?"

"From what I've heard, it has been hundreds of years that no one has seen or heard a bard in their life."

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