(V1) I Know What You Did Last Isekai - Chapter 2

Another chapter in the story set shortly after the prologue (In what may become a volume one of the story) This time we get to see the beginnings of Kimberly learning the language!

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Rain continued to fall well into the night, leaving Kimberly soaked despite the cloak offered by Viola.  It did a decent enough job of keeping her dry on the walk through the city streets, right up until a literal horseless carriage splashed a puddle on the both of them.  Viola had sighed, then laughed it off, before hurrying along to a small home.  She snapped her fingers, setting the fireplace alight and pressed a hand against a slate on the wall which warmed the house almost instantly.  Then she was left to dry off while Viola took care of something in what looked to be some sort of kitchen.

A cup of steaming liquid was set on the table, along with a basket of pastries.  Kimberly looked up from where she sat as Viola joined her.  The mage had spent the better part of an hour conversing with the armored men before they allowed them to depart.  Something told her that Viola was taking some measure of personal responsibility for Kimberly, or Kimbree, as everyone kept calling her.  It was one of the few things she could follow in the language, and if that was the name they were going to call her by, it wasn’t the worst. 

The first bite of pastry was divine; an explosion of savory butter that was followed by a rich meat and gravy filling on par with the best pot pies that she had ever tried.  Kimberly looked up with wide eyes and was greeted by a smug smirk from the purple-haired mage.  No words were shared as she ate, not that they would have been able to understand one another.

Kimberly hadn’t even realized how hungry she was, not until she had taken that first bite.  Three pastries vanished in quick order before she got an idea.  She held up one of the pastries, looking Viola in the eyes as she spoke. 

“Meat pie.”  She pulled the pastry apart, then pointed to one of the chunks of meat.  “Meat.”  Then the crumbling crust.  “Pie.” 

Viola watched her with some interest as she pointed at the piece of meat and spoke a single word, then another for the pastry.  She then picked up an intact pie and said a third word.  Kimberly nodded, pointing at the one in Viola’s hand. 

“Pastry.” 

A chuckle came from Viola as she sat the pie down and stood.  She held up her hand and said something before hurrying off.  Kimberly hadn’t expected to be left alone so soon; especially in their home.  Viola lived in a modest home on the edge of what appeared to be one of the city’s wealthier districts.  It was hard to tell in the dark of night, but the surroundings looked a fair sight better than anything she could see in the lower districts. 

Even now she could see the sprawling nature of the city out the window.  Their current location was built atop a plateau of some sort, or a smoothed out hilltop.  The next layer down was much larger, spanning all the way to the distant walls.  Then there were the buildings beyond the walls where actual fires flickered in the distance.  She would need to get out there and see them up close before passing full judgment, but it really did appear that the city was quite segregated by wealth. 

More perplexing was the sky.  Up above, the stars shone brightly as expected, but mingling with them were glowing bands of symbols that seemed to encircle the center of the city itself.  Her first instinct was some sort of barrier or monster repellant.  It would fit with the fantasy setting, and left her wondering what might be out in the wilderness that could warrant a city sized defensive measure.

She almost expected a dragon or something to swoop through the sky just to scare her, but there was nothing out there that she could see.  Just a pleasant evening, if a bit chill compared to her preferences.  The split pie was eaten at a more sedate pace, alongside the tea.  It would have made for a pleasant evening if she wasn’t dealing with the whole mess of dying and waking up in a completely different world.

Were the two realities even on the same timeline?  Had her soul just been floating around for ten thousand years or something before that ritual grabbed hold and shoved her into some poor girl’s waiting body?  What kind of monsters had arranged that situation in the first place?  Hell, were they going to blame her for all of it?  Was that why Viola seemed to step in and help her out? 

What was the motivation there?  People didn’t just jump in like that without a reason.  People weren’t that kind-hearted out of nowhere.  There was so much more to her situation than she realized, and she had no way to ask questions.  It was infuriating to say the least.

A muffled crash was followed by indistinct cursing before Viola returned looking a bit ruffled as she shifted an armful of stuff.  Kimberly pulled the pastries off to the side, but kept them close enough to reach as Viola set down a stack of actual paper along with a single thin book that looked hand bound. 

One of the pages was pulled from the stack and set in front of Kimberly as Viola took the chair beside her and another sheet.  Then a pen came from a pocket on the woman’s robes, the cap revealing something akin to a really fancy fountain pen she’d seen one of the rich kids at school using. 

Viola gave the pen a quick shake, then wrote out at least four dozen symbols in a deliberate order.  Once done, she pointed at the first and made a sound not dissimilar from a long ‘E’ in English.  Blinking for a moment, Kimberly attempted to replicate the sound. 

Viola smiled, nodding, then moved her finger to the next symbol.  This repeated until she had gone through the more than fifty symbols that she had introduced.  It was a fair bit more than she was used to, but knew it was nothing compared to Chinese, which Kimberly hoped this wasn’t about to rival. 

An idea occurred and she gently pulled on a blank sheet.  Viola moved her arm, then handed her the pen.  Kimberly then wrote out all twenty-six letters of the English alphabet along with the numbers one through nine.  She repeated the exercise on her end, and Viola mimed her pronunciation with a bemused expression.  When Kimberly reached the numbers, she wrote them out underneath then spoke them as she counted them off. 

This got Viola’s attention and she asked for the pen back, not that Kimberly could understand her, but the implication was clear.  She then repeated the same exercise with a series of symbols.  One through ten.  Each written in plain script underneath and counted off with verbalization.  Nodding along, Kimberly took the page and wrote out the rough English phonetics of the words alongside whatever language she was quickly breaking down. 

The pen passed back and forth as they added things to sheets, then the book was opened.  It was a children’s picture book that told a very simple story.  Not quite See Spot levels of infantile, but close enough.  Viola read it aloud with patience, Kimberly notating the English beneath for future reference to them both. 

Definitions of each word were roughed out and she wrote them on yet another sheet as they went, and soon she thought that there was enough there that she could actually read the book in its native language.  There was no way in hell she would manage that without her cheat sheets, but it was a start.

Best of all, Viola seemed genuinely excited, babbling too quickly to follow along as she wrote what looked to be a shopping list of some sorts?  It was hard to be sure, but that was the impression she got.  Viola left the pen on the table alongside the stack of unused papers, saying one of the few words from the book that she was fairly certain meant ‘to keep’ or close enough to be splitting hairs.  It was a sweet gesture, one she returned with a simple ‘thanks’ and hoped that Viola picked up on it.  She appeared to as she quickly repeated their fairly unique method of breaking down the languages and copied it over to her own sheet before Viola departed, leaving Kimberly alone in her guest chambers. 

The soft light of the lamp ensured that she would be able to keep working if she wanted, but after the night she just had, the bed was oh so tempting.  With a sigh, Kimberly took a blank sheet and the pen, looking at the letters of the new language.  She began to write each one, ten at a time, and worked her way through the list.  That took at least half an hour, and then she began to transcribe the book.  Using the letters in a proper sentence was helping, as was sounding it out as she worked.

Kimberly was just finishing that up when Viola returned, carrying several more books in her arms.  The greeting was enthusiastic and Kimberly quickly wrote down the rough English for what she had just heard along with her best guess at the translation.  Holding up a hand, she then attempted to write out the phrase.  Viola watched, then let out a bit of an excited squeal, shaking Kimberly’s shoulder as she did. 

Well, it looked like she got it roughly right.

Viola took the pen, then wrote out the phrase for her, a minor correction in the character used.  It looked like the language was phonetic to a degree.  Closer to what she knew of Japanese with the writing, but with some system of altering the pronunciation that she would need to learn in time.  Still, that much was progress.  Viola opened one of the books, revealing it to be another children’s tale, though a bit more complicated. 

Despite how weary she felt from the whole death and resurrection thing, Viola’s enthusiasm was a welcome distraction.  She could have a breakdown once the lights were out and she was alone in bed.  For now, she would distract herself with the puzzle before her.

Anything to avoid thinking about how broken Heather must be feeling.