1 New Reality

Again, I'm sitting in front of my computer. I have nothing to do, but to stare at the monitor. It's been like this since we are not allowed to go out anymore. Life is just plain.

I wake up, sit all day in front of my desk, and go to sleep at the end of the day. Everything's just plain. I'm plain. My whole life, I thought that I could achieve something, but here I am. Alone in my room repeating the same thing for the past 256 days. Today is my birthday, so I thought that I should do something different, but what can you do in a situation like this. Food is delivered everyday to the citizens of this city, so that we don't go out. If someone breaks the rule, they get caught and punished. I don't know exactly what happens to them, but I think that they go to jail. Well, at least they're not having a plain life. I lost so to much weight since I'm just in my room. I don't have appetite or the desire to do move at all. Maybe I should cut my hair today. I haven't done that for almost a year. Yeah, I should totally cut my hair.

It's the year 2211, and the boy who's talking to himself is Hirono Hidō. Hirono turned 23 years old today, and as he is telling himself, he hasn't been out for 256 days. The question here is, why Hirono didn't left his room or rather, why he isn't allowed to.

Everything was normal. People were living their lifes, were going to their jobs and were interacting with each other. Kids were playing at parks, teenagers were playing card games ouside and adults were meeting to go to the gym. Without restrictions. But that all changed 256 days ago.

The international space station, an organization to control outer space, were holding check ups every week, to control if earth is endangered by outer space objects. It was so accurate and their scan radius so wide, that they wouldn't need to hold more than one check up a week. But the space station came across something surprising. Exactly 256 days ago, on the day of their weekly check up, they discovered a meteorite heading to earth. It was unusual, since the meteorite wasn't on their radar the week before. The problem of the situation was that the meteorite would hit earth within 2 hours of their discovery. Of course, there were panic going on all around the world when the information was released. The people were ordered to stay at home. The inevitable happened, and the meteorite hit earth. At the moment of the impact, the space station didn't know that the meteorite would spread a poisoness gas. Since that day, no one is allowed to go out because of the gas in the air. The streets are just empty. A system was developed in no time, so that the people would receive food and water. A handful gas masks were created for soldiers to deliver the suplies to the citizens. People tried to go out of course, but they were arrested immediately by the soldiers or by the machines the space station developed for these kinds of situations. Nobody knows when they will be able to live their lifes normally, or if they will be able to live their lifes normally.

Hirono enters his bathroom to search for a scissors. In a drawer next to the mirror on the wall, Hirono is able to find one. Hirono takes his shirt off, and puts it on top of the drawer. As Hirono mentioned, he was skinny. The bones of his body could be seen. Hirono looks at himself in the mirror, and holds the scissors with his right hand, while holding his long hair that goes straigth down to his chest with his left hand. For a moment, Hirono stays in that position and watches himself in the mirror. Slowly, Hirono point the scissors at his neck, and stays in that position for a while as well. Tears start to come out of his eyes. Hirono let's the scissors fall on the ground, making him leave the bathroom to go to his room.

Hirono lives by himself in a small apartment, on the third floor of the building that his parents left him. His parents died three years ago on a plain crash. Since then, Hirono is living by himself, and doesn't have much people to talk. The only person he talks is his best friend, Takumi Shiratsuchi from college.

Hirono enters his room and gets in his bed, covering himself completely with a blanket. Hirono is still crying, as the sun slowly sets. Takumi is trying to reach Hirono since morning, but Hirono was not in the state to answer his phone. Takumi already tried to reach Hirono 23 times.

It's dark outside, and Hirono decides to get out of his bed. His computer is still on, and the light of it brightens up the dark room. It has been three days since Hirono last showered, so he gets back in the bathroom to take a shower. After his shower, Hirono looks at his phone, seeing 32 missed calls from Takumi, but leaves the phone on his table again. Hirono puts some clothes on and turns his computer off. As it's his birthday today, he decides to do something special, something that wouldn't be plain. Hirono decides to go out.

My parents bought this apartment before I was born, but never used it since we were living in a big house together. When I started to go to college, I moved here by myself. This apartment is near to my college. My parents were traveling all the time, I wasn't able to see them a lot. It made sense for me to move in this small apartment near my college. I've been living here for four years now, and I know everything about this apartment and the streets around it. There is a hidden passage way that is connected to the outside. Nobody knows about it except me, and it connects directly to the outside. There are no cameras, soldiers or machines to check on me either, since I've kept on watching that spot since the lockdown. My life is plain, I need to do something different once in a while. I hope, Takumi won't get mad at me.

Hirono opens a small hidden door next to the mirror behind the desk in his bathroom, and a secret passage way opens. He starts to crawl inside it. The space is narrow, and also covered in dust and spider webs. But Hirono keeps on moving until he reaches the exit of the passage way. Hirono stops. His heartbeat starts to rise. It would be the first time since 256 days that he would be out. He is scared, but excited at the same time. He didn't felt this way before. Slowly, Hirono tries to open the rusty exit, without causing any noise. He successfully opens it, and gets out. Hirono is in a tight side street, and he is able to see the main street at the end of it. His heart starts to beat faster. He can feel and see his heatbeat. Instead of going to the main street, Hirono decides to get up to the roof of his building. The only way to the roof is to climb the walls. Normally, it is impossible to get on the roof, even within the building. Hirono puts one hand on the wall of his building and the other hand on the other building, starting to climb the walls that way. The building has five floors, but Hirono keeps on climbing, finally reaching the roof. There are no cameras around or on the rooftop. When Hirono reaches the roof, he has to take a moment. He hasn't been moving for almost a year, so he was out of stamina. After taking a small break, Hirono walks to where he can see the main street. As Hirono watches the city, he never felt more alive like this. Hirono sits on the ground, and keeps on on observing the city.

I forgot how it felt to be outside. The air is hitting my face. I feel cold, but I don't want to leave. The stars look still beautiful. I missed this feeling. Why haven't I done this before?

Hirono quickly remembers the poisoness gas in the air, and covers his mouth and nose with the scarf he brought with him. He didn't know if it would help. Probably not, since special gas masks were developed for this case. But Hirono didn't care at all. Even this small minute was worth doing it. Hirono starts to lie on the the cold roof and closes his eyes. He probably will die being outside, but he doesn't care. Hirono would rather die like this than being alone in his apartment. Without realizing, Hirono sleeps.

It's the 257th day since the meteorite crashed. Hirono is still on the rooftop, when the sun slowly rises. Someone's screams wakes Hirono up. The body of Hirono hurts for lying down on the roof. He tells to himself that he should've brought a blanket with him. Hirono realizes that he is still alive, and checks on his body. His body still hurts. At that moment, someone starts to scream again. Hirono wonders about it, and looks carefully down, but no one can be seen. The streets are covered in fog. Hirono still hears the screams of someone, and decides to go down. He climbs the building down the way he climbed it up, but his whole body hurts in that process. Once landing on the ground, he can't move for a moment out of the pain. He slowly moves to the main street, but doesn't enter it. Because of the fog, Hirono is not able to see a thing. Hirono believes that soldiers and machines would be able to see through the fog, so he can't enter it just like that. He waits for a few seconds and observes the street. In that process, Hirono hears the screams of that someone multiple times. The impatience of Hirono kicks in, making Hirono enter the main street.

Hirono carefully moves along the buildings towards the sound of the screaming. Suddenly, Hirono hits against something on the ground, and he looks down. He sees a lifeless body of a soldier. Hirono gets shocked by the sight, and makes him step a few steps back. The screams still keep on happening. Hirono quickly picks the gas mask lying next the corpse, and puts it on. As Hirono guessed, the soldiers were able to see clear with the gas masks. He also puts on the clothes of the soldier. Without hestitation, Hirono keeps on moving. The closer he gets, the more noises he hears. When he finally reaches the place where all the noises are coming from, Hirono gets shocked. A huge monster in the shape of a human with one eye, fangs and claws is screaming and rampaging against seven soldiers. The soldiers are shooting with their weapons at the monster, but the bullets don't seem to have an effect. The monster ruthlessly kills one of the soldiers by piercing their stomach with it's left hand. The soldiers keep on shooting, but with stronger weapons and explosions. One of them comes over to Hirono and asks Hirono where his weapon is, but gives Hirono one of his. Hirono looks at the weapon and doesn't know what to do. The soldier tells Hirono to defeat the human quickly, before turning completely into a monster, shocking Hirono completely. Hirono asks the soldier, if that monster is a human. The soldier quickly realizes that Hirono is not a soldier, and asks who Hirono is. The soldier wants to arrest Hirono, but gets killed by a ray shot from the eye of the monster. Hirono gets even more scared and starts to run away, while holding onto the weapon.

„What the hell is going on here? Why is a human turning into a monster? Why are soldiers fighting and getting killed? This is not real. This can't possible be real. This must be a nightmare. I'm dreaming. I'm still on the roof sleeping. I need to wake up now."

Hirono sees someone leaving their house in front of him, and stops. Hirono asks that person not to leave the house and that it's dangerous outside. That person tells Hirono that his little brother probably ran away this morning, he can't find him. Hirono remembers the monsters, and that it probably is the little brother of that person in front of him. Hirono says that he will search for the little brother, but the person has to go home now, but that person refuses. Hirono points his gun at the person, and orders him to go back inside his house, but still, the person refuses.

„It's my little brother I'm talking about, I can't abandon him in a place like this. I don't care what happens to me, but I can't let my brother be in danger. You won't be able to hold me back by pointing a gun at me. If you really want to stop me, then you really have to shoot me."

Hirono doesn't know what to do. His whole body shakes and hurts. He wasn't expecting something this strange to happen outside. The person in front of him suddenly starts to feel pain in his chest, and falls on the ground. Hirono immediately rushes over to him. It must've been the poison. Hirono still clueless, searches for something in his pockets that could help the person in pain, but without success. For a moment, Hirono thinks about calling one of the soldiers, but he still hears the screams of the monster. Hirono feels completly helpless. The muscles of the person on ground suddenly gets bigger, making Hirono step a few steps back. The human starts to turn into a monster, shocking Hirono. The person gets white hair, white skin, gets an eye on his forehead, his whole clothes get ripped away because of the muscles, and also gets two additional arms and hands. Hirono falls on the ground, while the monster is standing in front of him. The monster starts to scream like the other one. Hirono stands up and wants to run away, but his left leg gets erased by the ray of the monster, when Hirono turns around. Hirono falls back on the ground, and screams out of the pain. The monster starts to scream again. Hirono grabs the weapon and turns around to point it at the monster, but the monster appears on top of Hirono and grabs Hirono's arms with the two additional arms of his, breaking the bones while crushing them into the ground. Hirono screams even more, making the monster do so as well.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. I'm scared. I don't want to die like this. I don't want to lose my life like this. I want to live.

Hirono starts crying while not able to move. All three eyes of the monster start to glow. The monster opens his mouth, while drooling all over Hirono's face. When the monster is about to bite Hirono's head away, the monster is pushed away by a huge wind storm, and hits the wall of a building. Someone in a white trenchcoat, white clothes under it, with a white pesk mask and a white top hat slowly walks over to Hirono.

„I try to keep my clothes as clean as possible, but the dust in this city keeps on making it dirty. I need to clean them once I am out if here. It's messier in here than I anticipated."

The mysterious man stops next to Hirono, and looks at him. He takes off the mask of Hirono, and looks at his face.

„You inhaled the gas before, but it didn't turn you into one. I still get fascinated by the phenomenon. It will be easier for you to adapt as a matter of fact. I'm glad to be here, even though my clothes get dirty."

Hirono can't put a single word out of his mouth. Who was this strange looking person? How was the monster send flying away so easily. One moment Hirono was about to die, the next moment Hirono gets saved by something. The mysterious man puts out an injection and a small bottle with fluid out of his pocket. He fills the injection with the fluid and injects it into Hirono's body.

„You will be fine, you can take care of things now. But don't overdo it, you still need to completely adapt to it. I'm excited to what will happen this time."

Suddenly, Hirono feels something strange happening inside his body. His body starts to hurt even more. The bones in his body start to break one by one. His brain starts to hear multiple loud noises. The pain is unmeasurable. The bones of Hirono start to repair themselves. The left leg grows back instantly. His whole body gets pumped up, and Hirono gets muscular, ripping the clothes on his body. His hair gets slightly shorter, and his eyes turn green. Hirono doesn't know what's happening to his body, but can clearly feel a strange power. A voice asks Hirono, if Hirono wants to live. Hirono answers with a yes. The voice says that Hirono has a long way to go then. Suddenly the whole body of Hirono is surrounded by a bright green aura, making him look at his hands.

„Congratulations, you aquired your new powers. Now you are not as helpless as these soldiers."

The monster suddenly throws a giant rock at both Hirono and the white clothes man, but a strong wind cuts the boulder into tiny pieces right in front of them.

„The monster will not stop until it gets killed. You should put an end to all of this. You are now capable of doing it. I am excited to see what you actually can do."

Hirono stands up, and looks at the monster. He is still confused, but he knows that the strange man is right. He is capable of beating the monster. The bright green aura enters the body of Hirono completely. The monster grabs another giant rock and throws it at Hirono, but Hirono breaks the rock with the back of his left fist. Hirono looks at his fist. The monster fires a ray with all three eyes this time, but a bright green barrier appears in front of Hirono, blocking the attack completely. Hirono slowly moves towards the monster while maintaining the barrier. The monster is powerless against the barrier of Hirono. When Hirono reaches the monster, the monster tries to destroy the barrier with it's fists.

„I'm sorry that your brother turned in one of the monsters. I'm sorry that you turned into one too. I didn't realize that the poison was the cause of it. Are you in pain right now? Are you screaming because of the pain? I'm sorry, but I will end your suffering now."

Hirono covers his right fist with a bright green aura, and punches the monsters stomach with it, through his own barrier. The aura expands, and cuts through like a blade.

„May you rest in peace."