1 Prologue: The Void

On a sunny day in Japan, the streets of Tokyo were bustling with activity. People were going to their work, kids were going to their school, some were going home from their nigh-shift, and some were lazing around. Among all these people, there was an unordinary man who liked in his 20s was running on the street.

"Shit! I'm going to be late for work and my boss is going to chew me out again", He screamed. He ran and ran until he reached his workplace right on the dot.

"Thank God I made it." The man huffed and tried to gain his breath with his hands on his knees. He lifted his head and sighed in relief when he didn't see his boss at the entrance and made his way toward his office. He greeted everyone and went to work.

At the end of the day, after countless hours of work, the man stretched himself on his seat and yawned. Looking around, he saw that most of his coworkers had gone home. Surprised, he looked outside and saw it was already nighttime.

"Already?" He questioned. the worker got up, packed his stuff and made his way home. As he walked, the sky darkened even more and rain started pouring.

"Goddammit! I forgot to bring my umbrella", cursed the man. Putting his bag over his head, he started running towards the apartment on a dead night. As he crossed a road, he didn't notice a truck rolling down the street. Similarly, the truck driver didn't see him either until the last second. The latter widened his eyes and started honking toward the running man.

"HONK! HONK!"

"Wha-BAM!" Startled, the man turned his head and, finally, noticed the truck but it was too late. It crashed into him. the office worker skidded on the road, bloody and lying there as he couldn't move.

"What the fuck happened? Did I just get hit by a truck?" He questioned as my consciousness started fading.

" I can't die like this. This is not how my life is supposed to end. I haven't even thanked my mother. I did not have a girlfriend yet and lost my virginity. I didn't get successful yet." he started to cry when he almost blacked out.

"Very well then. If this is my time, then I can't do anything."

Accepting his fate, he finally finished his mental monologue as he eventually blacked out and left the living. When he left my body, he felt pulled by something. The surrounding started to blur and the lines between reality and illusions started to fade as the pull started to become stronger and stronger. He couldn't do anything as the man was powerless against the pull and let whatever that was pulling guide him.

After what felt like an eternity, it finally stopped. Gathering his wits, now that he confirmed that he was dead, he looked at what appeared to be his soul. he saw that his soul kept his human shape, but nothing else. A pure white incorporeal body shaped like a human. Looking around, the soul saw nothing. He literally saw nothing as everywhere he looked was black. Even the white of my soul was doing nothing to the dark surrounding.

"What is happening? Is this what death feels like?" He questioned out loud but received no answer.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Can someone answer me" he asked again but still received no answer.

As no answer came to him, he tried to get it himself. To his relief, he could move just by imagining it. Or maybe he just thought he moved because there was no concept of direction in this place. He searched around and called anyone but received no answer. And so He continued his search for what felt like an eternity.

"What is this? Why isn't there anyone? What is happening to me? Why am I like this?" the soul started questioning itself out loud again. At this point, he stopped trying to calculate his time.

"Why is this happening? Why is this happening to? Why? Why? Why? Whywhywhywhywhy?"

The man started to hold his soul equivalent of his head and started to ask in a crazed manner. He didn't notice that his soul start to distort and change colour. Starting from his feet, the distortion was spreading across the incorporeal body like an accelerated form of cancer until it finally reached the top of my head.

Finally, the soul stopped everything. He let his head go and observed his new form. the soul was now a mix of different colours and it kept changing form while trying to retain its human form. It looked like it was glitching.

"Why?", It asked one last time without any emotions.

"B̴͕̣͓̜̹͓͓̂̽̓̽̅̌̊E̸͖͎̘͓̻̞͗͘C̷͖̥̞͍͚̉̾͂̈́̑Ą̷̛̦̤̟̮͌̒̿Ṳ̴̞͓͛̓̌̍͂̂̚S̶̮̼̦̪͛̑̓E̵̢̨̛̮͖̿͒̈́̑ ̸̟̫̬͓̬̩̔Į̷̧̹͚̲͑̈́͋͑͂́͠T̸̪̹̪̗̫̃͐͐̽͘ ̷̤͔̗̏̑W̸̡̮̬̩̬͉͗̄A̵͎̓͗̀S̷͚̳̝͇͇̓́̑́́̚͝ ̸̖̬̖̾̀Ň̷̛̘̖̐͑O̴̢̦̲̐̈́͑Ṫ̷̨̪̖͔ ̷̨̳̜͉͖̼͖̆̋̉͐̑M̷̞͖͋̔͂̌͛͜͝Ẻ̴̹͍̪͋̎ͅÃ̸̧̮͈́͛̇̆N̶̬̍̎̿̑̍͊͜͠Ṱ̴͈̮͍͊ ̴̱̹͐̏́̕ͅF̴̛̣̅͠O̶̟̟̯̗̙͎̓̇̎̀̍͜R̵͈̺͚̾ ̴̦͔͓͗̊̋͋́M̶̪̟͑͊͐́̋̓̎O̸̟̒̓̐̉̎̊͝ͅR̸̟̂̿͗̾̀̌T̴̛̞͔̺͎̯̀̂̄͛̅̓Å̴̙̪̜̞̒̀L̴̰̭̈́́Ṣ̵͕̻͙̳̙̩̄͑̈́́" something answered back.

"What is?" he asked without looking surprised at the voice.

"T̶̢̧̮̭̑̀́H̶̹͌Ḛ̴̣̍̇̐̕͘͝ ̶͕̞͉̭̠̈͝V̷͎̯̹̾̚͝Ȏ̸̡̢̨̪͉̟̫Ǐ̶̧̡̗̟̞͍̫̝̎͐ͅD̴̩͆" it answered back. the soul stayed silent and waited for the voice to continue.

"T̶̤͈̆̈H̶̖̗̬̜̞̼̣̊͒͘E̶̺̤̐̽͌̉͜R̶̙̳̪̮̒̿̋̆̔͂É̴̤̓͐̈́͝ ̸̦̫̰̭̫̑̌͂̐̿̏͜I̴̫̦̽̎S̴͖̮̠̔̚͝ ̴̱̃͘N̵̰̐̊͝ͅÖ̸̡̧͔́̉̎̈́̅́̏ ̶͉͙̫̲̰̰́B̵͉̖̟̀͌́ͅË̶̤͍́́͐͂G̶̯̰̤͕͕͚̟̀́̀́I̷͖͔̲̒N̶͙̮͎̯̹̰̚Ǹ̸̨̨̛͉̰̀͐͋Į̷͗̐Ń̶̢͙̻̼͉͋͆G̴͈̓ ̵̜͊̋̂̐͠͝N̵̨͉͈̗̤̯͋̏́Ò̷̧̞͙̖͊̿̊̆̆Ṟ̸̠̺͖̘͌ ̷͍͋̂̾Ě̸̛͚̟͙͗N̵̺̋͒̉̉̅̚D̶̻͚̲͕̍̈́̓̐͒̔͘.̷̛̟̪"

the man listened as information started appearing in him. He tried to comprehend, but it is taking almost his whole being and sanity to understand.

"T̸̙͔̉̈́H̶̢͔͎͙̀̌̒E̶͇̓̈́͌͂̆R̷̙̼͈͎̈́̈́̈E̵̗̞͙̜̫͘ ̵͉̦͇̀Į̷̺̹̥͗̏S̵̫͋̔̄̚ ̴͍̘͔͕̅̇́̋̈̚͘O̴̻̐͠N̵̤͓̱͇̔̇̇̈́́̀L̵̩͎̅̿̋̍̉͠Ý̸̖̪̲̙̟̱͒̃͒̒ ̶̼̳̗̊͜A̴̹̋ ̷̳͈̫̱̉͆́͊̑͋̋N̸͍͗̍̑̃̇̚E̷͚͉̭̎V̸͈͓̹̩͚̰͎͝E̶̖̹̥̺͂̈́̈́̽̒̑Ŗ̴̹̩̤̯͙̭̒̋͂̍̏Ẻ̷̢͖̜̣͔̈̈́̑̄Ṅ̷̨͉̦͉̘̪̙͒̀D̴̙͝I̵͎̯͂̃́̇̒̚̕͜N̵̢͉͕̈́̓̚͜G̴̛̥̤͌̑̉͛̐ ̸̦͉̖͖̇͜͝ͅC̵̪̳̞̻̹̲̙̓͂̾̀̓̇Ÿ̷̧̩͓͎̯́̀̔̊̽̓͜C̸͙͕̼̖͔͖̮̅͗̀͋͝͝L̸̛̬͍̜̊̓̓̒̍Ê̴̹̖͌̆̒͑͒̔ ̶͇̓͜Ǫ̶͚͕̈́̐͗͒͠F̵͙̼̠́ ̵̡̠̻̙̙͚͊͛͝C̴̪̈́R̵̡̡̦͚͒̉̅̃͘̚͝ͅȨ̵̖̹͔̩̲͉̑͋͒͗A̷̪̝̖͛̽͒́̈́T̵͇̪͙͑̆I̵̡̱̹̱͍͊̿͋̽̉̃Ö̸̢̩́̓̑N̵̳̓̀ ̷̣̼̤̲̆͝A̷̫̐̿͛̀̑̀̃ͅṊ̷͐̃̄̂ͅD̵̛̹́ ̷̛̙̠͎̂̿̾̈́̽D̶͓̦̩̺̼͐̒̓̽͋͌́Ȩ̵̻̺̰͍̐͜S̴̳̰̈́̽̾̂̋͝T̶̮̼̠̑̌́ͅṞ̶͔͑͆́Ȕ̴̼̣̻̙̘̟̝̈́͛͂͑C̶̢̯̈́̿͐́͠T̴̨̘̬̺͎͖̄̄̑́I̶̧̡̛̗̬̘̮̺͌͋̈́̿̎͊O̶̳̮̳̣͓̰̓͛̒̑̈Ǹ̴̟̟̝͍̘͚.̸̙̘̹̿̐̕"

The man's sanity started slipping and his soul started glitching even more, but it persevered in his comprehension.

"T̷̫͔͙͍̻̘͎̀͆̏̈́̓̽H̴̱̪͓̱͍͖̲̓Ē̵̖̮̠͓̚R̵̖̫̘̋̇̅͊̐̈́̿E̸̫͉̼͙̓̌̃̚͜͠ ̶̯̗͈̊I̷̢̥̠͔̗͖͊̄̓͊͌͒̋S̷͖̿̌ ̷̡̣̩̦̹̙̰̾Ồ̶̡͍̪̺͙̝̈́̒̈̆̕N̵͓͎̜̘̗̳̂̓̈́͝Ḽ̸̳̬͙͗Ỳ̶̧̘̥̥̦̮̪ ̵̢̻̯͍̉͋͘Ṋ̷͚̀O̶͚͚͚͋̑̇̈ͅṪ̵͇̰͒H̶̝̀̍̀͑̍Ḯ̵̹̩̓N̸̡̪̑̀̇́G̵̟̻̫̀ ̷̯͇̼̰̘̗̂́̂̒̚͜͝A̴̫̠̩̣͚̠̋͛̊͆̕ͅN̴̼̹̖͋D̷̩̓̀̕ ̸̨̳̹̟̭͂T̴̝̘̥̮͆́̋̓̚Ö̶͕͉̱̱̗͈́͊̚ ̷͔̍͒̚D̸̮͇̼̪̱̻͆E̸̢̬̫̩̪̲̊͛̈́̌̄͘͜͝Ń̶̮̻͊̓Ẏ̸̳͇̾͆̑̒͝ ̸̢̗̙͝Ñ̵͓̘͔͓̟̘̏Ơ̵̻̊̊̂̿͆̌T̵̨͉͍͋H̴̬͕̠̟̪̫̞͌̎͑̎̉͠I̷̠̯̝͓͖̐̀̈́̑͆̕Ņ̶̦̫̋̐G̷͇͔̳̺̝̿̄̿̊͜ ̵̞̯̹̍I̸̡̖̻͑̌̏̀͜͠S̶͍̳̬̩̬̼̹̃̑ ̸̢͓̗̘̣̇͆͐̋͊̚Ć̷̨̫͎̣̼͓̎̽̔̑͝R̶͇̣̲̩̲̺̗̍́̇̑̓E̴̮̰̤̘̓͛͋̆̐A̴̛̩̦̻͎̓̈́̆̕͝͝T̶͎͎͆̏Ȋ̵͍̭̺̺͔͇̤͌̉̉̃͝Ö̸̪̖͇N̵̙̱͌̒͒̓͆͝.̷̟̗̭͖̆̈̾ͅ"

With those words, he finally understood what the voice was talking about, what this place represented, what the void is, what creation is, and what destruction is. He finally relaxed. He finally stopped struggling. He finally let go.

"Oh. Ok. I understand. I can let go now." the soul mentally said and, for the first time in eternity, a light appeared under it, and it fell through satisfied and unafraid.

Light shone once again upon his face and he opened his eyes.

"It seemed that I was back in a body made of flesh and blood." he mentally said.

the baby tried to look around, but everything seemed blurry.

"Oh look at you my baby." he heard a tired gentle female voice. the baby tried to turn his head towards the voice and could make out a Japanese lady with long dark hair and dark eyes.

" So beautiful, I wish your father were alive to see you. He would've jumped in joy and shouted looking at you." The woman said with a smile. The baby continued to listen as his vision started to adjust and could make out more of her feature.

"Hello, my beautiful son. My name is Miyamura Iori and yours is Izumi Miyamura." She spoke. the baby opened wide my eyes as he finally understood his situation.

"What the hell? Where have I heard this name? All right, let's calm down. I tried to calm myself and searched my memories", he thought.

After what seemed like a long time, but in fact, a few seconds, he found it.

'THE HELL? I AM IN HORIMIYA AS IZUMI MIYAMURA!