Ran was woken up by the loud chirping of birds around her. Half-asleep, she opened her eyes and was immediately startled by the strange and unfamiliar surroundings. She quickly got up from the ground, her mouth wide open in disbelief at the scene in front of her.
Towering trees reached high into the sky, surrounded by thick, unknown bushes. Birds flew between the trees, and what shocked her the most was their size—some of them were at least half as big as her!
Finding herself suddenly in a strange place, Ran took a few steps back in fear and leaned against a large tree. She remembered that before she passed out, she had been on a bus. She was on her way to visit the director of the orphanage where she grew up.
Ran was an orphan and had grown up in the orphanage. After becoming an adult, she worked hard to support herself. The director had always treated her well, so she often visited with gifts for the director and the kids. This time was no different—she had a backpack full of items and had taken the bus to visit them.
While she was dozing on the bus, she heard a loud crash. Everyone on the bus started screaming. She felt herself spinning and losing consciousness. Just before everything went black, she thought vaguely that she might have been in another accident. She wondered if she would be lucky enough to survive again.
Ran had been in a car accident as a child, which took the lives of her parents. This second accident didn't kill her, but it had somehow brought her to this strange new place. She crouched down, hugged her knees, and wondered where she was—and if she could ever go back.
She didn't have many attachments in the modern world. The only people she cared about were the director and the children at the orphanage. The orphanage had been struggling financially, and the director had been holding things together alone. Ran had worked hard to earn money, hoping to keep the orphanage running and give the kids a place to live.
She had also bought an accident insurance policy with the director listed as the beneficiary. If this accident turned out badly, at least the director might receive some insurance money. This thought gave her a bit of comfort—maybe her situation wasn't completely meaningless. And after all, she wasn't dead. She was just in an unfamiliar place.
After spending some time lost in thought, Ran pulled herself together and started to look closely at her surroundings.
She seemed to be in a forest, but the climate didn't feel like anything on Earth. Even with thick trees blocking the sun, she could still feel the burning heat on her skin.
Why was it so hot here? The temperature felt unnaturally high.
She took off her backpack, which was filled with items she had bought for the kids at the orphanage. There were all sorts of things—lighters, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, towels, and a large down jacket meant for the director. The bag also contained lots of snacks and toys. To her relief, she also found two Swiss army knives.
She had bought the knives for two boys at the orphanage, and now they were proving to be very useful. She covered all her exposed skin with clothing, tightened her sleeves and pant legs, and carefully started moving forward with one of the knives in hand.
The forest was full of bushes and plants, with almost no clear path. She had to use the knife to cut through the plants just to make a path to walk on.
After walking for a long time, she finally found a place where she could stop and rest. She discovered a large tree with a hollow inside. The tree was so big that even ten people couldn't wrap their arms around its trunk.
She entered the hollow and looked around. It seemed to have once been a den for some large animal. It was spacious and empty, though there were a lot of leaves and debris on the ground. It looked abandoned.
She decided to settle there for the night. She rolled up her sleeves and cleaned the space, then spread the down jacket in a corner to use as a bed.
After organizing her things, Ran sat down to rest on the jacket and took out her phone to check the time. It had been 10 a.m. when she left, and now it was 5 p.m. She had walked for at least six or seven hours, which explained why her legs hurt so much.
She looked at the sky. Although her phone said it was 5 p.m., the sun was still shining brightly above. The time here didn't seem to match Earth's time.
She carefully pulled up her sleeves and pant legs to check her arms and legs. Even though she had used the knife to clear a path, she had still been scratched and cut many times. Her skin stung with pain, and now she could see the cuts.
She had a box of band-aids in her bag, but since she didn't know what the future held, she was reluctant to use them. Earlier, she had seen a familiar plant called thistle.
Thistle is a wild plant. Since the orphanage was located on the edge of town, the director used to take them out to the countryside often. She had taught them how to identify many wild plants.
Thistle is mostly used as pig feed in rural areas. Though it's edible, people rarely eat it because it's rough and uncomfortable. But thistle also has another use—it can stop bleeding. Ran had picked some on her way, just in case.
She crushed the thistle leaves and squeezed out the juice, applying it to her wounds. Soon, the bleeding stopped.
Even though the sun was still shining, according to Earth's time it was nearly night. So Ran decided to stay in the tree hollow for the night and think about finding food the next day.