Zumberge

It was an ordinary autumn day at an ordinary high school in an ordinary city in Japan.  Nothing of grand dramatic importance happened there, either in the city or the school; it was placid, perhaps excessively so.  Despite this it had a certain charm, its mundane nature casting the events and hardships that took place within its walls in a dramatic - and potentially melodramatic - light.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that things were even stranger on levels that were heretofore overshadowed by other strange events.  For such a large city, it had to have some earlier foundations, but there were no signs of historical buildings or landmarks.  It was just a very generic large, modern city.  Odd how he never considered it until now, he thought. "So about what you said a few days ago..."

She glanced behind her as she walked. "What about?" she asked.

The young woman was confident, the young man nervous.  She, tall, red-haired and freckled in a crop top, jeans, and sandals with a duffel bag over her shoulder; he, a tanned brunet, in deep blue swim pants, being lead along by her by a long leash connected to a collar.  They did, naturally, draw attention from others in the park, if not when they appeared than when they stopped, in the middle of the widest expanse of grass.