PAST TIMES

"Well, you being there helps the school get more jobs from the government, which increases the school's revenue. But the student gets an increase in salary and maybe a promotion, but it's based on your skills."

"You mean the more exchange programs I participate in, the more I can get promoted?" I asked.

"Yes, and don't forget the salary. If you get promoted, you can get access to authorize information."

"What do you mean by authorize information?"

                         "Information no one can access" she answered.

                    "That mean I can find my sister?" I said to myself happily.

"Did you say something, Kakashi?"

"No, nothing. I know what to do," I said seriously.

                                                                                                   I remembered that Elizabeth left yesterday after Natski stopped her, she was supposed to come back today.

                                                                                                    "Mira, I'm going back to your mom's office" I informed her, she asked me why.

                                                                                                     "I got someone to meet, and I'm going to inform her that I will be in the next exchange program"

By the time I got to Natski's office, Elizabeth was already there.

                                                                                                                       "Look who's here" Natski called out to me. "We were just talking about you."

                                                                                                                                        "Okay, I'm here now" I replied

                                                                                                                                                         "Sorry for what happened last time" the Elizabeth said, she was sitting on a chair opposite Natski. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Elizabeth Van Rose, the first daughter of the royal house of Rose and the devine magic sage.

"I'm Kakashi Yami," I hesitated.

                                                                                                                                                                                           "Why don't you come have a sit, Kakashi" Elizabeth invited me to another chair opposite her, and I sat. "So please, tell me, no, tell us, what happened at the lab; tell us what happened throughout your life; how did you come here?" 

"Well, it began four years ago when I was only ten years old."

* * *

I was ten years old and my sister, Tokah, was five. We live together with our mom, Ako, in a forest not too far from the city. 

My mom was everything you would ever need in a mother; she was a beautiful, kind, gentle, straight-forward, and caring lady. She was in her late 30s. 

I never really knew my father well, but my mom told me he died in an accident, of which the details are not clear.

My sister, Tokah, was a goddess. Her beauty was out of this world; her long, soft white hair was a perfect match to her beautiful blue eyes, and her small body made her cute. If only she were fragile and less powerful, she would be the most perfect thing anyone could ask for.

We always told our mother to take us to the city, but every time she refused, she said that the outside world was too dangerous for us.

"The world is too dangerous for special people like you," she always says.

"When can we go out then?" I asked.

She laughed and replied. "Till you realize how special you are."

To me, I knew she was lying; it's either that we were locked up here because of something she did or she was running away from something, but either way, I didn't mind; it didn't matter as long as I was with my family; nothing else matters, and as the only boy in my family, I took it as a duty to protect them. 

Once in a while, my mom goes outside the barrier to do her business, or according to what she said, a man who introduced himself as our uncle came to teach us about our ability, which is to control lightning.

He told us not to tell our mom because it was because of it that we lived here, but he never said what really happened. And mom never mentioned him to us, maybe because of what he said. And each day we learn, we become better at it, even though Tokah is stronger than me.

My mom told us to go near the barrier, especially at night, because they were demons. One day, my mom left for the city, and Tokah said we should go to the end of the barrier.

"Big brother" Tokah called out to me.

"Hmm?" I answered.

"Since mom will not be back until tomorrow morning," she said carefully, choosing her words. I was wondering what she was trying to say. "Let's go to the barrier."

"No!!!!" I yelled, and her expression changed; it was like she was about to cry. "Umm... ummm, I mean, mom said we shouldn't, especially at night, and look, it's already evening."

"Don't worry, with you by my side and my lightening style, we'll be fine."

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said as we both walked to the barrier. "According to what I've learned, the barrier covers a 5km radius. How can we walk to the end before nightfall?"

"Good thing that you asked; I've been working on my new lightening style technique, lightening flash!"

"Lightning flash???" I asked. I know she has been working on a new technique, but I didn't expect her to perfect it so soon. "You already perfected it? And I'm still stuck trying to control my own chakra."

"I'll go on ahead. You didn't want to go to the barrier in the first place; why don't you wait for her for me?" She activated her technique and left without me.

Lightning flash is a technique that utilizes your chakra to reduce your body weight and increase your speed, making you move as fast as lightning. It also has one disadvantage, which is that if a body surpasses the limit, it will break. I was told by our uncle not to use it since my chakra was unstable.

I sat down under a cherry blossom tree; it was not too far from the house. I sometimes come here to rest, take a nap, or settle down after I lose to Tokah, and for some reason, I feel better.

Tokah came back hours later; it was already nightfall, but something was wrong with her. She seemed pale, like something bad had happened to her.

"Tokah, what happened?" I called on her, but she didn't respond. "Tokah!!!, You scare me. I thought we agreed that you were coming back before nightfall."

She didn't answer me She kept walking straight to our house. I ran to her as I tried to stop her. She held my hand, twisted it, and threw me against a tree. I fell on the ground, coughing blood. Tokah looked at me, and suddenly she returned to her normal self and ran to help me, crying. She always cries if anything bad happens to me.

We got home and I asked her about what happened.

"Big brother, I made a friend outside the barrier," she happily informed me.

"Outside the barrier! Who is this friend of yours?"

"It was a young lady; she said her name was Usagi Kempachiro. She lives in a town close to the forest called Yoshinon. She comes into the forest with her father to cut wood and sell it to the villagers," Tokah explained. "Guess what, brother?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"She took me into town and showed me some places. The town is really amazing."

"You know, we're not allowed to go outside. How did you go outside in the first place?"

"Simple!!" She shouted proudly. "I tried to touch the barrier, but my hand just went through it as if there was nothing there."