My eyes began to open.
Instead of staring up at the night sky, I was staring at the wooden ceiling with a pillow under my head.
The bed I was resting on smelled like hay and old wood.
I looked around the room I was in, it seemed pretty barren, there wasn't anything except for some type of storage chest and a wooden chair.
Lifting my body up, I felt a tinge of pain in my shoulder, although it still hurt, it was significantly less painful than I remembered.
Some light was shining through a window in the room, and for some reason, the fact that it was daytime made me far less worried about waking up in a place without any idea how I got there.
Looking down, I realized my shirt and pants were gone.
"Why am I naked!?!"
I jumped out of the bed, panicked, looking around for my school uniform.
"Where is it….??"
Getting on all fours, I searched under the bed but had no luck.
Nothing on the bed either.
"Who undresses a man and then hides his clothes? That is just rude".
My foot bumped into the chest on the floor.
"Jackpot."
Kneeling down I opened the chest to find my school uniform and more importantly, my underwear folded neatly.
Thank god nobody walked in while I was naked, I think I would have died from that embarrassment.
I grabbed my underwear and slid them about halfway up my legs when the door to my room swung open.
"I brought you some breakfast!"
The girl I met in the forest was standing in the doorway holding a breakfast tray with eggs, some kind of bacon, and what looked like orange juice prepared for me to eat.
Our eyes met, her holding a tray of food for me, while I was bent over, almost as naked as the day I was born.
Both of us froze for a moment like deer in the headlights.
"KYAAA!" she squealed, turning beet red.
Dropping the tray of food on the ground, she quickly covered her eyes.
"Kyaaaa! Don't look!"
I shouted, pulling my underwear up.
I've never been more embarrassed in my life.
Quickly putting on my clothes, I picked up the tray and set it on the bed.
"Sorry about that, if I had known you were bringing breakfast, I would have stayed under the blanket for longer."
"No, it's my fault; I should have knocked before entering."
She began to turn to leave, embarrassment still covering her face.
There were a lot of questions on my mind that I wanted answers to, and since she was nice enough to help me in the forest, I figured she might be nice enough to answer them.
"No, please stay, I don't like to eat alone."
I was actually pretty used to eating alone back home.
Due to my dad's work, which always transferred him from one city to the next, I was always the new kid at school.
At first, I would always try to make friends, only to move away a few months later, so I eventually gave up and began to stick to myself.
But this time was different, I needed to get to know this girl so I could figure out where the heck I was and what attacked me.
"Mmmmm… okay if you insist."
She sat down in the one chair of the room and introduced herself.
"I'm Misaki, it's nice to meet you officially."
"Officially?"
"Well, I don't think you can call me saving your life in a forest a proper introduction, silly."
"Yeah, I guess that's true, I'm Tatsumi by the way, I'm sure you have noticed that I'm not really from around here, could you tell me exactly where I am?"
"You're in a village called Dellin's Hollow. It's a small village just outside of the forest I found you in. They don't get a lot of travellers here so they're a bit wary of strangers. Luckily I passed through a couple of days before running into you, so they let me rent a room for you to stay in."
I looked out the window to see a small village surrounded by mostly forest and a light fog.
It didn't look like the coziest place, but the few people moving about the streets outside seemed happy enough.
There was a knock at the door.
A slight look of panic appeared on Misaki's face.
"Quick, get under the covers and pretend to be asleep."
"Why do I have to pretend to be asleep?"
"Just do it, trust me, it's for your protection."
The sense of earnest in her voice convinced me quickly that listening to her was a good idea.
Getting back under the covers, I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep while leaving just enough of a crack in my eyelids to see what was going on.
Misaki opened the door just enough so she could see the man who was knocking on the other side.
An older man was standing at the doorway. The clothes he was wearing gave off an air of importance.
However, he did look a bit frail at the same time, hunched over using a cane for support.
"Elder Bazile, how can I help you?"
The man cleared his throat, speaking in a kind voice.
"So sorry to bug you so early in the morning, Miss Misaki, but I was hoping to introduce myself to your companion. As the village elder, it's my responsibility to make sure he is not a danger to the people that live here. I'm hoping this excuses the rudeness of knocking on your door so early."
Misaki let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her head.
"No need for excuses sir, we all have our duties to fulfill… unfortunately, he is asleep at the moment but rest assured as soon as he's awake I will let you know."
"I'm sure he's quite tired from the journey, so I'll leave you two be for the time being. I wouldn't want to disturb the young man's rest. Please bring him by once he's awake."
I heard the elder's footsteps as he began to walk away.
Misaki closed the door and turned around. A sigh of relief floated out of her mouth as she slumped back in her chair.
I sat up on the bed.
"What was that about?"
"They've had lots of problems with monsters in the area, so they are pretty wary of anything that comes out of the forest, even if it's humans like you and me."
"But I'm not dangerous. If I wasn't pretending to be asleep, I could have told him that."
"I'm sure you're right, but I was just worried about the mayor seeing your mark and assuming the worst."
"My mark, what are you talking about?"
I felt a heat flare up on my neck and shoulder, reigniting the memory and pain of my attack.
Taking my shirt off, I inspected my torso in the reflection of the window in the room.
Wrapping itself around my neck and shoulder, there was what looked almost like a tattoo. Its shape resembled that of a dark crescent moon which wrapped around the scars left by the fangs puncturing my skin.
"What… what is this?"
"It looks like the beast that attacked you left its mark. I don't know what this means just yet, but for now it's best if nobody sees the mark. Now please put your shirt back on, Tatsumi."
Her cheeks were turning red.
"Oh, sorry."
I put my shirt on and sat back down on the bed.
"So what do I do now?"
"Just rest for now. It's best if you avoid leaving the room until we know what caused your mark. I'll ask around in town about the beasts in the forest to see if I can find out what attacked you."
Misaki stood up and headed for the door.
"Ummm…. Misaki, thanks again, you know, for saving me. If it wasn't for you I would probably be…"
Quickly, she turned around and winked.
"No need for thank you. It's the responsibility of any traveling mage to help a fellow traveler in need."
Then Misaki turned her back to me and exited the room.
Falling back onto the bed, I let out a sigh of my own.
One minute I am taking a nap, next thing I know I'm stuck in some world straight out of a fantasy novel. And to top it all off I'm probably cursed or something. Man, I have the worst luck. It would have been so much better if the school had just called my parents.
I guess there is nothing left to do but wait for Misaki to return.
The pleasant smell of meat entered my nose from outside the building, causing my mouth to salivate and my stomach to growl.
Maybe I could just go out for a quick bite, I thought to myself as I closed the door behind me.