Book Two
This book is ready to be published
Story: Diaoji and Leilani’s adventures continue when the Tengu Shaman sends them on a journey in search of the portal into the Middle Earth. They first go to a between-dimensions Mu pyramid in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, which is one of the portals into the Middle Earth. They discoverthat they need all five Crystals Spheres to place on the pyramid’s mother board, in order to open the portal. They are then dramatically transported to a pyramid in the Himalaya’s, where they have to fight off nine foot tall Monkey Soldiers to recover the most powerful Clear Crystal Sphere. Back in Kyoto they learn more about their missing mother, now convinced she’s still alive. They find the Blue Sphere in Egypt, while playing an arcade game. The book ends with them being kidnapped by the evil ruler of Middle Earth and taken there as prisoners, because he also needs the Spheres to possess the power required to rule the worlds, and he knows that only the Twins can find them. Twins Two
CHAPTER 1
After all the shocking revelations presented to Kozo in the last hour, he took the first opportunity to excuse himself. It was as though he had been mortally wounded; stripped of his eleven years of justified avoidance, ignorance.
Before her disappearance ten years ago, Pualani was the love of his life. They were companions and partners in every way. She helped design the estate and supported his business risks and inventions. For Kozo her loss was devastating. In his ill-fated choice for emotional protection, he was never interested in another woman or allowed himself to show or express any emotional attachment to his children. He believed that this would protect them all from any future losses.
The last thing Kozo wanted to support was the possible loss of his two children because of their Twins of Kashal nonsense. Aiko suggested that we should have a private talk with Daioji and Leilani before we left.
I started off by saying, “I thought it was a good discussion. It was all clearly explained, and you saw a part of your father he would never before dare to reveal. He was upset. Maybe for a good reason. How do you feel about that?”
“We needed to have this talk with him. Especially before we begin our quest. We clearly laid it all out. But I don’t think anything has changed,” Leilani started. “He was cornered and ended up saying things he didn’t mean.”
“I agree,” Daioji jumped in. “He saw the red crystal morph into Mei Lin right before his eyes. We clearly explained that we’re the Twins of Kashal. That our destiny is to find our mother and maybe save the world. What’s wrong with that? He didn’t want to hear it. In the end he said all he wanted was for us to grow up, go to school, get a good job and get married. Be normal. Can’t he see . . . we’re not normal and never will be.”
“I hear you,” Aiko joined in. “But you have no idea what your future will bring. I went to college, dated boys and was destined to have a normal life and career. Then my father died, and I needed to be with my ailing mother. I stopped dating and I got a lowly secretary job working for the cantankerous goofball Satori. He just wanted me to be a good little girl and get his coffee. Three years later I’m still his lowly secretary, and he has no idea that I’m the one who runs his whole business. I became the head of Satori Investigation and met the love of my life. Tashi. And now I’m part of your adventure. I would never have guessed, still showing up to work, that my life would now be so incredible.”
“Same with me,” I added. “I was stuck in the oddest distraction. Spending countless hours taking photos of tombstones in cemeteries. There really was no way to make money doing that. And I also make very little money being a part time detective. I can barely make ends meet. A voice in my head kept saying the same thing your father is saying to you. Stop all this nonsense. Get a real job with a steady income. Marry some girl and have a normal life. Instead, I kept being Satori’s crypt boy while flirting with his beautiful secretary.” Aiko chuckled.
The twins were now interested in hearing more. Daioji asked, “So how did you get involved with our father, and now us?”
“Ten years ago, while exploring cemeteries, I stumbled upon a remote Mt. Kurama crypt engraved with The Royal Twins of Kashal. Born 1499. It fascinated me and I kept returning every year, on the Spring Equinox. This year, just a week or so ago, a longer story, but the crypt doors opened and inside I found an altar with the perfectly preserved Royal Twins sitting across from each other. It was like they were still alive; except they were holding their severed heads in their hands.”
“What?” Daioji couldn’t help but interrupt. “Is this a true story?”
“Absolutely. Their eyes were looking at the book on a table in front of them. Suddenly my raven flew in and screamed ‘leave, leave, leave.’ In English. Instinctively, I grabbed the ancient book and ran out before I was almost entombed in the crypt.”
“What a story,” Leilani offered. “Then what happened?” She was enthralled.
“Back home at my place, I opened the book, it was titled The Twins of Kashal, A Living Story. I spent most of that night reading it. The pages were blank and then words appeared. The story was of both the 16th century twins and what you two were doing in your present time. The story in that book filled both Aiko and I with incredible information.”
“You read all about us? Even before we left Kauai?” Daioji asked. I nodded. “Our father is very busy, making appointments that fill his days. He overly protects us, like this is our vacation prison. People like him don’t entertain people like you. No offense. Especially if you found a book claiming we’re the Twins of Kashal. You’d never get your foot in the door. How in the world did he get involved with you?”
“This is where you both should have some compassion and understanding of who your father is. And what motivates him to do what he does.” I offered.
“What do you mean?” Leilani asked, wondering why we needed to explain their father to them. “I’m pretty sure I understand him to be a self-centered jerk. I only have compassion for those who deserve it.”
“Let me have a go at it,” Aiko entered. “It’s all about Kozo and his precious red crystal mask. He had no idea that a Goddess named Mei Lin lived in the form of a red crystal mask, hidden in his secret vault. For ten years. He never told anyone. Soon after he found it, he had the mask tested. They found it possessed an unearthly energy more powerful than anything known to man. For the next ten years he spent maybe a billion dollars inventing and perfecting a Tesla-like particle accelerator. He was almost ready to place the crystal mask in the middle of the accelerator to give all of Kyoto free energy. No more electric bills.”
“Wow. That sounds incredible. I guess if he had an idea or who and what the crystal mask really was, he would have saved ten years and a billion dollars,” Daioji offered. “Maybe he didn’t care.”
“Maybe.” I nodded to Aiko and continued the story. “One day the mask disappeared from his impenetrable vault. Kozo was totally beside himself and didn’t know what to do. For some odd reason he met with Satori and the old man said he had a detective who could help him find it. Me. I must add that I’ve come to realize that there are no accidents or coincidences in this supernatural story.”
“But you must have known that there was no way you could find something that disappeared from a vault, we didn’t even know existed” Leilani questioned.
I continued, “Kozo had another powerful object he had found the same time he found the mask. The Kipa. The only place he could imagine the mask could be, was in the same crypt where I found the Living Story book. So, he contrived for us to meet him at the crypt. Once in, he gave Aiko the Kipa, snuck out and locked us in.”
“He locked you in a crypt?” Daioji was confused. “Why would our father lock two innocent people in a crypt? I don’t understand.”
“Well,” I continued, “Your father is a compulsive, pragmatic, idealistic, genius businessman. He wasn’t thinking about leaving us to die in a crypt. He just wanted his power object back, so he was doing all he could to find it. And the reality was . . . he was right. His lost red crystal mask was in the crypt and with Aiko’s innocence she used the Kipa to make the mask appear, which then morphed into Mei Lin. For us it was mind-blowingly incredible.”
“What did she tell you?” Leilani asked.
“She told us the whole 500-year-old story, something I’ve been wanting to know for the past ten years,” I answered.
“She also invited in your Uncle Heijo and the Tengu Shaman,” Aiko offered. “This is how we all bonded. She let us out. Your father needed to accept the fact that his power invention would never be powered which led to the revelations which were shared tonight.”
“So, you two now know who everyone is,” Daioji offered. “You haven’t met our Grandfather Koichi, but you now know his immortal brother Heijo. We haven’t yet met the Tengu Shaman, and you know him. Maybe you can lead us to the Tengu Village, so we can meet him. We’ll need to meet him to begin our journey.”
“Good idea. Why don’t you both come and spend the day with us in Kyoto,” I responded, “And maybe the day after we can meet the Shaman. But in the meantime, tomorrow morning, I suggest you find some way to honor your father and start building his support.”
CHAPTER 2
It was a beautiful spring day on Mt. Kurama. Perfect weather. Suki offered to make breakfast and serve it on the patio between their cottage and the main estate.
While they enjoyed Suki’s delicious food, Kozo addressed Leilani, “I know you want to spend the day in Kyoto with Tashi and Aiko. Heijo has a treat for you. I don’t think you’ve ever ridden in his 1970 Triumph TR6.”
“Leilani,” Heijo cut in. “How would you like to go for a ride in my classic sports car this morning?” She enthusiastically responded, “Are you kidding. Yes!”
And then Kozo spoke to Daioji, “I don’t think I told you that I have a prototype electric flying car.” Daioji perked up. “Would you be interested in flying to Kyoto with me?” His positive reaction was the same as his sisters. “Wow!”
“I’ll tell you what,” Kozo continued. “Once we get to Kyoto, at the bottom floor of my skyscraper, we can meet at my bistro cafe. We have the best croissants.”
“You have a cafe?” The twins said at the same time. “Not someone’s cafe in your building. Your cafe?” Kozo nodded. “What’s it called?” Daioji asked.
“KK’s Bistro. It’s a coffee house and cafe in the morning. We close at one in the afternoon. It reopens for dinner at five and at 8 we present Kyoto’s best live soft jazz music until closing,” Kozo proudly answered.
“We thought you don’t go out at night,” Leilani said in surprise. “I never knew you liked music. I can’t imagine you socializing. How long have you had this bistro?” She was honest, not trying to be rude.
“It’s been four years now.” He was surprised to be enjoying their interest. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. Sorry to have kept it from you. I had my reasons. Up until now, still now, you’ve been too young to go to a bar at night. Better you didn’t know. And for whatever reasons, the spring and fall months are very demanding for me. When you’re here in March, I always need to work late. And since when I’m through for the day it’s always past your bedtime, I’ll go to my club and have a few drinks to wind down.”
The twins were both surprised. “You could have just told us that. At my age I have no interest in going to a bar at night.” Leilani nodded agreeing. “Do you play an instrument?” Daioji asked.
“Occasionally I sit in with the snare drums or bongos. Just for fun.”
“You have fun?” Leilani couldn’t help but say. Again, not wanting to be insulting, surprised that he wasn’t.
After that, the twins loved traveling to Kyoto in the two-seaters. Kozo landed on his twenty-two-story skyscraper’s roof. Since they arrived long before Heijo, he gave his son a tour of his office. Twenty minutes later, Heijo dropped Leilani off at KK’s. Kozo and Daioji were waiting in the half-full cafe. He parked the TR6 and brought a company car around. After thanking their father for a great start of the day, Heijo drove them to my flat not so far away.
When Aiko and I welcomed the twins, they were met with unexpected chatter: “Daddy loves Aiko. Daddy loves Aiko. Who are you? Who are you?” JoJo, my parrot, made them laugh. Sitting at the dining table, they told us about how they got to Kyoto and how surprised they were that their father owned a cool bistro. After they said the name, Aiko said she liked KK’s Bistro, even though she never knew who owned it. I’d never been there.
Daioji had decided he wanted to spend the morning with me playing video games and maybe learn some advanced coding skills. Aiko suggested they go to KK’s. It had separated booths and would be a good place to do what Leilani suggested, talk story.
When the two arrived, it was now around ten, past the morning coffee rush, and the bistro was almost empty. Leilani identified herself to the waitress and asked to be left alone. A couple cups of green tea would do.
Aiko was anxious to start talking about the subject which intrigued her. “I read that you were doing the Dance of Migration the day before you came to Japan. I can’t wait to see you do your hula dance. It’s something I’ve never seen up close.” Leilani did some hula hand moves which made Aiko laugh. Leilani waited a long minute for Aiko to ask more about hula. “I really want to know about the Dance of Migration. Whatever you say might surprise me,” Aiko continued, “but nothing will upset or offend me. I’m thinking your migration story is about something that happened 13,000 years ago. Can you tell me what it’s all about?”
“Can I?” Leilani questioned apologetically. “I’m just a native girl, not a storyteller. Where I’m from this isn’t talked about. Such things are just understood. We grow up knowing about Mu or Lemuria. The other dancers have never asked what the chants mean.”
“Please Leilani. What you know is way more than I know, which is nothing. Whatever you can tell me will help me to better understand this situation that I stumbled into. I’m curious to know what it really means for you to be a twin of Kashal. I only want to know enough to fully honor you.”
“Okay,” Leilani exhaled and responded. “I’ll try to put it together the best way I can. Ready?” Aiko nodded. “First off, anyone not native to Hawaii will think this is a fairy tale and couldn’t possibly be true. Things can’t disappear. But I know, we know, that from the beginning of time, since this world was created, the biggest continent on this earth took up most of the Pacific Ocean. It had other names, but we now call it Mu. It was truly paradise on earth. All the people enjoyed extremely long lives – hundreds of years of great health, peace and harmony. Loving everyone and everything was simply the way of life. There were islands off the shore of Mu. The bigger islands were Japan, Okinawa, the Hawaiian Islands and Polynesian islands like Tahiti. The motherland to all these islands was the great land of Mu.”
“Thank you. I get it,” Aiko interjected. “You’re saying that Mu was a tremendously huge landmass in the middle of the Pacific. There’s truth in these legends. I know there’s a huge ancient sunken city off the shore of Okinawa that nobody wants to talk about. People don’t want to think about things that don’t make sense. I do. I’m just curious why it’s not there now. How did Mu disappear.”
“I’m getting there. Thanks for listening. I’ve never had to tell this story to anyone. Anyway, most of the millions of Mu people lived on the continent. Not that many people lived on the islands. In the years before the Ki Earth became the Ku Earth, there were prophecies. The wise Kahunas told people that Mu would soon disappear and it’s best for them to migrate to the islands, especially the Hawaiian and Japanese islands, before it does. Of course, everyone loved the life they were living where they were, and hardly anyone believed that the land of Mu would disappear.”
“It would absolutely be the same today if some wise Shinto priests said we needed to move to China before Japan disappears. I wouldn’t move. But still, I’m guessing, quite a few people did migrate to Japan, Polynesia and Hawaii.”
“Yes. So, this is where the Crystal Goddesses come into the story. There are five Royal Goddesses. We’ve now met Mei Lin and Hina I met in Hawaii. I’ll share the story my Grandfather Koichi told us many times while growing up. 13,000 years ago, when the Kashal Mothership was bringing refugees to Ki Earth, while he and Heijo were off the ship, their evil triplet brother Kudram caused a catastrophe. With the help of two Atlantean astro-physicists, they were able to bring a giant planet called Nibiru into our solar system. As Nibiru approached they couldn’t stop it from colliding with the earth. The five Goddesses were in a box in the control room. They were remotely watching and seconds before the collision they responded immediately. To save our pristine Ki Earth, they duplicated it, put it over there in the sky. The original earth, which we now call Ku Earth, was hit by Nibiru and started wobbling out of control. Even though it was a very huge planet, way bigger than the earth, like it was a ball, the goddesses hurled Nibiru back to where it came from. Grandfather said that is what being all powerful means.”
“They sent a whole planet flying just with their minds?” Aiko asked. “Wow.”
“Yes. Hard to imagine, right? And then, with the Ki Earth safely over there, they left the wobbling earth alone, to settle itself down. The whole continents of Mu and Atlantis, with only those people with high loving vibrations, transferred over to Ki Earth. Where those two continents used to be was now only a vast sea. Most of the whole Ku Earth was flooded. During the shift, unfortunately, the Twins of Kashal died. Only those who made it to high ground survived, which included the two brothers who landed their small ships on Hawaiian and Japanese mountains. Ku Earth survivors needed to rebuild their communities and lives. The kahunas who had migrated from Mu to high Hawaiian ground, began passing the Migration story down for these thousands of years. It’s all in the hula Dance of Migration. Ki Earth is still there, but invisible to us.”
“What happened to the Mothership with the Five Goddesses in it, and the evil brother?” Aiko asked.
“The refugees on the ship were a thousand immigrants from the planet M’tajak. The Atlantis scientists on board knew of a passage to Middle Earth, and of a semi-abandoned castle there. That is where Kudram took the ship. He’s been there ever since. Of course, the Goddesses are no longer there.”
“Amazing story. Let me put this together,” Aiko concluded. “The Dance of Migration hula is about two things. It’s about how your people migrated away from the Continent before it disappeared, and they became Hawaiians.” Leilani nodded. “I’m thinking the other thing has to do with how we can somehow migrate back to Ki Earth or bring the Ki Earth here. Can you see the Ki Earth?” Leilani shook her head no. “How can you make the Ki Earth reappear?”
You’re smart,” Leilani responded. “Ki Earth will remain a myth, invisible, until we fulfill our destiny, which means that Daioji and I need to find the other three Goddesses, and bring the five together. And then, with our collective energy . . . Grandfather understands this better than I do . . . but with the power of the natural selection of good over evil, the low vibrational Ku Earth people will be separated from the high vibrational Ki people. The Ku Earth will still be over there but only appearing real to those people.”
“What people?” Aiko asked.
“Those who are greedy, who gossip, display anger, who fight and hate, the perverts, murderers, thieves, arrogant controllers and so on will live on the Ku Earth. And only those who have good loving hearts, filled with aloha, those who are generous and compassionate, and deserve to have happy, prosperous, fulfilling lives, will live on the beautiful pristine Ki Earth. Making the Ki Earth a reality is why Daioji and I were born as the Twins of Kashal.”
Aiko was grateful to have heard this remarkable story, so well said by a sixteen-year-old girl. She was now convinced that Leilani was probably one of the wisest teenagers on earth. The story spoke of her evolved royal Twins of Kashal bloodline. To her it was simply the truth easily spoken.
When Aiko and Leilani returned to my apartment, Daioji was ready to “talk story” too.
CHAPTER 3
I made some ginger tea and the four of us sat at my dining table, only because I don’t have a living room set up for four. In it I only have my reading lounge chair and a small loveseat. I rarely have visitors.
Aiko started by telling us what Leilani had told her about the Dance of Migration, about what happened 13,000 years ago and the Twins of Kashal’s mission to return the Ku Earth to the Ki Earth. “One day Tashi and I will tell you what Mei Lin told us in the crypt. She said some things about the last Twins of Kashal you may not know. She told us who Tashi was back then, which unconsciously led to his interest in the Royal Twins today.”
“Thanks for sharing that,” Daioji offered to Aiko. “Tashi and I had fun playing his new video games., especially a game called Earth Conqueror. You get points for zapping the dark force bad guys who control the world. It was realistic.” He nodded at me and then continued, “We’ve heard stories like Leilani told Aiko, but mostly we were raised to be normal Hawaiian kids. Never to think we were better than anyone else. I don’t know what this all means, Tashi. We’re supposed to be these Twins of Kashal, but we’re only who we are. We’ve learned the hula, Aikido, surfing, and school things. How to speak Hawaiian, Japanese and English. Some dumb guy Pako thinks my sister is hot. Barf. We’re just normal kids doing normal stuff.”
“What’s changed,” I asked.
“This past year Grandfather has been telling us to embrace the fact that we are the Twins of Kashal. ‘Tell your father.’ But don’t act special even though you are special. Confusing. He’s been telling us that we’ll soon go on a quest to find our mother. And he’ll help.”
“What do you think about that?”
Leilani answered. “We want to find her, but we don’t think we’re special. I can accept that we’re the Twins of Kashal, but it’s not like we have a bunch of supernatural abilities. We just know some natural things.”
“Like what?” Aiko asked.
“Daioji and I know what the other is thinking. They call it telepathy. We call it moo-moo. But I think it’s just a twin’s thing. We can also talk to dolphins. Just something that happens by spending so much time surfing and in the ocean. And we also know for sure that our mother is still alive. Nobody, even our father, can change our minds about that.”
“But you did meet Hina, an immortal Crystal Goddess,” Aiko wasn’t buying it. “Something like that only happens to special kids. Mei Lin told us the history of the Twins of Kashal. For over 12,000 years the twins have never returned to this earth because it was either too primitive for their survival or too controlled by dark forces. She said that finally 500 years ago the Kashalian Wisdom Council decided that the twins would have a good chance of turning Ku back into Ki, if they were born into protective Royalty. Their Emperor of Japan father, plus Grandfather and Heijo, Kinju and Izami, would protect them and help them in every way. And still they were murdered by the dark forces. Which we’re sure is why your father is so afraid. And then she told us, now 500 years later, that you two, Daioji and Leilani, were the new Twins of Kashal and this time you’ll be well protected.”
Leilani wasn’t swayed. “What if I told you that I was told that the two of you would be the ones who lead us to our mother? What would you think about that?”
“I would think it’s nonsense,” Aiko replied. “You think she’s alive. Maybe she is but you have no idea where she’s at, and we would have no way to get there if you did. And that’s not our destiny.” Leilani shrugged her shoulders. “You need to stop denying who you really are.”
“I think it’s just a matter of accepting your destiny,” I joined in. “We know there are dark forces around every corner. You need to know who to trust.”
“That’s what Grandfather and Grandmother have always told us,” Daioji answered. “We’ve never not been safe. We trust you two. We absolutely trust Grandfather and Heijo. The two Goddesses. We don’t know who Kinju and Izami are. Maybe we can trust them too.”
“Don’t you see? Everything that is happening now is supernatural.” Aiko offered. “I think each event we encounter from now on is beyond our control.” Again, I was blown away with Aiko’s level of understanding.
“Maybe so,” Daioji answered. “My Kauai surfer life is now being pushed into a new place . . . where I’m forced to figure out why supernatural multi-dimensional reality is suddenly entering into our reality. I see how it works with fake situations in the video games I play. But having to deal with real life dimensional shifts in our reality is different. When we were in the Imperial Palace and got sucked into the mouth of a dragon and sent back it time, all we could imagine was that it was a dream. But we knew it wasn’t. We were sent into another dimension of reality. Totally different from me deciding how to surf the next wave.”
“Grandfather keeps telling us that everything we encounter in this dimension of reality, all our time and space beliefs, are just illusions,” Leilani added. “They are restrictive Ku Earth beliefs. There is only eternal life.”
“That’s right,” Daioji continued, “He’s been teaching us to not be swayed by doubt. That every human mind has been programmed with limitations. But not ours. Just like in the video game we played. The dark forces create the illusion of limitations. In that game, like in real life, we need to be skilled like you are Tashi in video games, to get around them. Instead of being zapped, we were zapping. Winning. Bad Ku Earth leaders set the limits of what’s humanly possible and what’s impossible. He says that limitations like these don’t exist on Kashal.”
Leilani was now animated, excited, cutting in, “Daioji’s right. I’m sorry Aiko for being a brat. This year Grandfather has been teaching us to be aware of our stupid limiting thoughts. To see life from a different perspective. You two should do the same. What stopped you from meeting our almost impossible to meet father? Nothing. What stopped you from meeting an immortal Goddess, and a Tengu Shaman and now us? Think about it. You met the former Twins of Kashal and now you’re meeting us, the current ones. Somehow you made it possible to meet both sets of Twins of Kashal in one week. Do you realize how amazing that is?”
I thought about it for a minute. “I see what you’re trying to say. You have never thought you were gifted and special, just like Aiko and I don’t think we’re gifted and special. We’re just humans. I was really scared, almost being trapped in that crypt. If it wasn’t for my raven, I could have died in there. And I came out of it with this amazing Living Story book. That’s an unbelievable thing for anyone to do.”
“When we were locked in the crypt, I knew Kozo never would have left us there,” Aiko broke in. “And I’ll admit, I’m still a bit attached to my limited beliefs about things. But Mei Lin, a Goddess materializing in front of me, ruined so much of my not believing in supernatural things. She was there to answer all my questions about the last set of twins and the fact that Tashi’s past life as the Shogun Tashinami was a good one. Tashi and I wanted to be pragmatic detectives following the solid leads. What’s solid about the supernatural? I think we’re in this together with more things to learn. I can’t tell you how special I felt this morning when you Leilani told me about the Dance of Migration. What else can we learn from you?”
She perked up. “Thanks, Aiko. Well, Grandfather told us something that made no sense a couple weeks ago. He said that there can only be one Twins of Kashal. Only one soul energy in similar bodies born exactly 500 years apart. With one mission. Now I’m realizing we share the same soul energy of the twins you found in that crypt. The soul energy you went up the mountain for ten years to meet. Now here we are. Maybe like us now, back then they didn’t know where their destiny would take them. We have an even bigger mission now. All we can hope for is that it will take us to our mother.”
“Wow,” I was floored with her understanding. “We learned from Mei Lin that the twins’ best friends in your past life were Kinju and Izami. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that they aren’t limited by time and space. And that they’re not immortals. That they’re just who they are, showing up at another time in another space. I’m sure you’ll recognize them when they appear in this here and now. What do you think about that?”
“That will be cool,” Daioji answered. “Right now, I don’t know what to expect. But I think I’ve seen them in visions, so I’ll recognize them as soon as they appear. It will be a great reunion. What else are you curious about?”
“If it wasn’t for reading The Living Story, having crazy experiences and impossible meetings with you and the other past life characters now appearing in this life, I would think I’m dreaming playing a video game. That it’s not real,” I answered. “And I know I’m not making this up. But it’s still hard for me to digest immortality, even when I hear that there are no time and space limitations. So far, I have no doubt that Mei Lin is an immortal who can change forms and make herself appear and disappear. It’s harder to accept that Heijo is immortal, or your grandfather. Heijo just seems like a kind older man with a normal human wife. We’re starting to wonder if everyone in this Living Story is some sort of immortal, except us. Or Kozo. Is the Tengu Shaman immortal? It’s like a week ago we thought there were no immortals on earth, and now we’re surrounded by them.”
Leilani and Daioji both laughed, and she asked me, “Who says you’re not an immortal too, Tashi?”
“What?”
She smiled, “For you two, I think this forever Living Story has just begun.”