Story Chapter 13: Knight Patrol

The villagers continued staring at Haruka. The uneasy feeling in her stomach only grew stronger. Then she heard the unmistakable clanking of armor. Haruka slowly turned. Two knights were approaching her from opposite sides of the street, their expressions serious as they moved through the gathering crowd. “Ah…” Haruka instinctively took a small step backward. One of the knights stopped directly in front of her. “Madam, who are you, and why do you dress so scandalously?” Haruka's face immediately flushed. “Scandalously?! I-I…” She looked down at her strange modern athletic clothes, suddenly wishing she had something—anything—more appropriate to wear. “I can explain! It's just that…” Her words caught in her throat. How could she possibly explain that she had come from another world? “I… I'm not from around here.” The knight narrowed his eyes. “Not from around here?” “N-No! I mean, yes, but… that's not what I meant!” Haruka's nervous stammering only made the situation worse. She desperately searched for the right words, but nothing sounded believable. “I was… um… somewhere else, and then there was this strange blue light, and suddenly I was here, and…” She stopped. The knights exchanged a suspicious glance. Haruka's heart sank. She had a terrible feeling that her explanation was not going to convince them.