For the next few days, Max didn’t bother trying to leave. He liked Horys, and Horys seemed content to stick around with him. But Max was definitely curious about the rest of the world. And he wanted to meet more people.
“Horys? Have you ever left this forest?”
Horys shook their head. “Not since forest. Remember when empty land, before trees. Stayed when trees grew.”
“Are you up for a bit of an adventure then?”
Horys hesitated. “Leaving woods?”
“Yeah. Let’s see what’s out there. It’ll be you and me together!”
Horys gave Max a toothy grin. “Okay!”
It turned out that they weren’t far from the edge of the woods anyway, and soon the two of them were on an empty street.
“Weird lines on path,” Horys observed.
“It’s a street. For cars.”
“Big metal loud things?”
“Exactly!”
“Should follow lines?”
Max considered the question. “Yeah. Let’s walk along the road for a while. To see where we end up.”
After a while, they encountered a car. The driver must have noticed Horys, because the car stopped driving and backed up a bit.
“Whoa, neat cosplay!” someone exclaimed from the backseat.
“Oh hush, Jules,” the driver said through her window. “Sorry about him.”
“I don’t recognize the character though,” Jules said loudly, rolling down a window in the back.
Horys looked at Max nervously.
“He’s dressed as his own original character,” Max improvised.
“Oh wow, an OC?”
“Jules, honey, I don’t have time for this. We’re supposed to be at my sister’s house soon.”
“But mom, they’re so cool! And they look like they might be my age!”
“I’m sorry,” Jules’s mom said to Max, “but do you mind giving Jules your email address or something? He doesn’t have friends who share his interest in cartoons.”
“It’s anime, mom! Not cartoons!”
Max froze. He didn’t know any email address, and he certainly didn’t have a phone with him. “I, uh… don’t have an email. But I’ll probably be around the, uh…” he paused, looking around for some idea of what to say, when he noticed a playground down the street. “Around the park. Come by some time so we can talk more.”
“Sweet!” Jules said. “Mom, can I go to the park tomorrow?”
“Well, it is summer vacation… Alright, Jules..”
“Man oh man, this is great!” he exclaimed.
After a bit more excited chattering, Jules’s mom drove off.
“Told lie,” Horys said. “Why?”
“I didn’t really want to tell an adult about my missing memories,” Max admitted. “Adults make big decisions sometimes. I think it’d be annoying to deal with. Sorry.”
“Not mad,” Horys replied. “Was just wondering.”
“Oh, good.”