1 Prologue
Deep underwater, where no light could reach me, static noises clouded my mind. As pockets of air bubbles left my mouth, flooding my lungs, a sharp burning pain from my chest made me wake up gasping for air.
"KUAAaahhh!.... Haah... Haah... Huh...?" Gripping the hem of my blanket tightly as beads of sweat start to fall from my face.
I looked around my surroundings, but, realizing I was in my usual messy, dimly-lit room, then I gently release it from my grip.
[What was that...] Sitting on my bed, perplexed, with my hand on my chest, As I could still feel the lingering pain with my breaths.
Putting back my hand down, I calmly relaxed my breathing but whenever I tried to think about it, it caused a migraine, not helping me find any answers.
"..."
Placing my bet not to worry about it anymore. I was about to go back to sleep, but the morning alarm from my phone made me change my mind.
🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵🎵——
"Tch..." Slightly irritated, I swiped my fingers to the right to turn it off whilst taking a glance at the date, which is July 1, 102.
Realizing it's a weekday, I unwillingly decided to prepare breakfast.
...
Going downstairs, yawning out the remaining drowsiness, I entered the kitchen and opened a can of Cornbeef from the kitchen drawer.
[... We might need to do some groceries later...] I thought to myself as seeing the vacant space inside the drawer.
With an additional chore for today, I lazily list some things we might need to buy as I placed the Cornbeef inside the rice cooker with 2 cups of tap water.
Making sure the rice cooker is plugged in, I closed the lid and pressed the cook button.
"That should do it... But the rice... Hmm... Microwaving it will do the trick..."
While waiting for the Cornbeef to cook, I opened our fridge and grabbed some leftover rice and butter. I smelled the rice and taste tested it first before mixing it with butter and putting it inside the microwave.
As I was preparing to make 'buttered rice', I heard footsteps from the staircase. It didn't take long as he appeared by the kitchen entrance.
"Yo, Masako... What's for breakfast?" He asked in tired deep husky voice. The person who asked was my roommate and my childhood friend.
The reason he was here was due to special circumstances. He just moved in last week since 'it' happened. However, I was truly grateful for his company when I needed it the most.
Without looking back, I took out the 'breakfast' from the rice cooker and seeing my dish, he gave a dry laugh as he knew what the taste will be as we just had this yesterday.
I know I'm a terrible cook so I wanted to play it safe with the rice cooker and microwave. Well, not like he's much any better.
[I could still remember the taste of coal...] The image of him almost burning the house came into mind.
Ding*
Hearing the microwave, I placed our breakfast on the table. Sitting in front of him, I could clearly see his reluctant expression as he took a spoonful of microwaved buttered rice with Cornbeef.
...
After a few bites he dips out and starts washing the dishes.
"Let's... order take-out next time..."
"Come on! It's not that bad!" I took a spoonful to taste it.
"I bet you put the whole bar of butter in that rice..."
"Hrmph—" As he mentioned it, I definitely taste the grease from my mouth.
[I shouldn't have put two bars...]
...
With our breakfast out of the way, we both prepared to leave for school.
Being in college and soon to be working adults, I thought to myself about improving my household skills.
[Well, I don't want to drag him down, and it's best that I should forget about those memories so I could finally move forward.]
With the scent of dried grass and the gentle breeze under the warm morning sun. It had been so long since I went outside.
[I guess I should thank him for last night.] I unconsciously smiled which made him snicker.
"Heh."
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just I remember those old times we used to hang out together."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You really looked like cute girl~"
"Hah?! Do you know how weird it is hearing you call me that!" I started punching him but with my nonexistent strength which really didn't do much.
"Calm down! I'm just messing with you bro! Haha~" He dodged some of my hits and ran ahead which made me chase after him.
"Oi!"
We ran and stopped by a pedestrian lane waiting for the light turn green. He didn't break a sweat but for me I was wheezing and gasping for air.
"Man~ Jogging from time to time isn't bad right~"
"Haah... Haahh... You sh*t!"
"Don't be like that~ I'll treat you lunch today. So let's hangout like we used to. It's been a long time, hasn't it? "
"Urgh fine..." Even though I complain about his teasing, I'm glad that we're going back to what we've used to.
After catching my breath, I drank a bottle of water from my school bag. As my friend was leaning from the telephone pole fiddling with his phone, the timer from the stop light was counting down from ten.
I called out to him after finishing the bottle and picked up our bags as the light turned green.
"So what's our first subject this morning?"
"For being top of the class you're pretty forgetful. Anyways, I think it was Biolog-"
Before I could finish my sentence, the timer reached to zero. ☼︎e♎︎︎ ◻︎ar⧫︎i♍︎︎l♏︎︎⬧︎︎ splashed to my face, unknowing what they were, I touched my cheeks resulting my fingers to be smeared in ♌︎l□︎o♎︎ . As my vision blurs over the road, a ♍︎ri❍︎s□︎n ❒︎♏︎d ⬧︎tr♏︎♋︎k streching to the corner of my eyes led me to see his ❍︎♋︎n♑︎le♎︎ ♌︎o♎︎y.
"M□︎◆︎z♏︎i..."
👍︎♒︎◆︎■︎🙵⬧︎ □︎♐︎ ♐︎●︎♏︎⬧︎♒︎ ⬧︎♍︎♋︎⧫︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎♏︎♎︎📪︎ 👌︎●︎□︎□︎♎︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎■︎⬧︎ ♏︎❖︎♏︎❒︎⍓︎⬥︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎📪︎ ✋︎ ♎︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ⬥︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎ ⬥︎♋︎⬧︎ ♒︎♋︎◻︎◻︎♏︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎■︎⍓︎❍︎□︎❒︎♏︎📬︎ ✋︎■︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎ ♋︎ ❖︎□︎♓︎♍︎♏︎ 🙵♏︎◻︎⧫︎ ⬧︎♋︎⍓︎♓︎■︎♑︎ 🕯︎☜︎❒︎❒︎□︎❒︎✏︎🕯︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ♌︎♏︎♑︎♋︎■︎ ♍︎♋︎◆︎⬧︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♏︎⌧︎♍︎❒︎◆︎♍︎♓︎♋︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ◻︎♋︎♓︎■︎ ⧫︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎ ♎︎♓︎⬧︎⧫︎□︎❒︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ❖︎♏︎❒︎⍓︎ ♌︎♏︎♓︎■︎♑︎📬︎
✋︎ ♍︎♋︎❍︎♏︎ ❒︎◆︎■︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎⧫︎ ♒︎♓︎❍︎ ⬥︎♓︎⧫︎♒︎ ⧫︎♏︎♋︎❒︎⬧︎ ♓︎■︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ♏︎⍓︎♏︎⬧︎📪︎ ⬧︎♍︎❒︎♏︎♋︎❍︎♓︎■︎♑︎ □︎◆︎⧫︎ ♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ■︎♋︎❍︎♏︎ ♏︎❖︎♏︎■︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♒︎♏︎🕯︎●︎●︎ ■︎♏︎❖︎♏︎❒︎ ❒︎♏︎⬧︎◻︎□︎■︎♎︎ ♋︎⬧︎ ♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ●︎♓︎♐︎♏︎●︎♏︎⬧︎⬧︎ ♌︎□︎♎︎⍓︎ ⬥︎♋︎⬧︎ ❍︎♋︎■︎♑︎●︎♏︎♎︎ ♋︎♍︎❒︎□︎⬧︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⬧︎♓︎♎︎♏︎⬥︎♋︎●︎🙵📬︎ 👌︎♏︎♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎ ✋︎ ♍︎□︎◆︎●︎♎︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎🙵 ♋︎■︎⍓︎❍︎□︎❒︎♏︎📫︎
[MAJOR MEMORY CORRUPTION DETECTED!]
[AUTO-CORRECTING EVENTS BEFORE UPLOADING...]
"Hurk—" I knelt down to the ground feeling nauseated.
In the distance I heard a worried voice coming near me.
"...Woah! You okay Masako?" Offering his hand to me I can't help but look up to him.
Overshadowing me with his towering height, I couldn't make out his face as his usual bright orange hair looked dull to me. My eyes strained to grasp a better look but his eyes were no where to be seen as only black viscous fluids were flowing upwards from his gaping mouth with no signs of stopping.
"G-go away!" I slapped away his helping hand only to revert the world I see back to normal.
[What the f*ck was that?!] Panting heavily and my skin turning pale. I'm gradually becoming insane as the world I just saw overlaps with my reality.
"H-hey..." Reaching out to me not knowing what to do. His words were cut off by garbled noises.
The moment he saw my condition, he immediately panicked and tried looking for something in his bag. I saw him picking up his phone probably calling for an ambulance. But before he could call someone some unknown force made me try and stop him.
"M-masako, Why are you stopping me!?"
In that moment, I lost control of my body... I just watched the entire scenario unfolding in front me in black and white. There was nothing I could do to interfere with this poorly made play.
"I'm f-fine!" But those words were never truly mine...
"There's no way you're fine! Just stay still and I'll send an excuse to the school lat-"
Pushing me away from him, I fall back seeing his panicked expression worsened along with the feeling of getting dragged across the road.
As surreal as it was, I couldn't feel any pain but felt my body was freezing. I was unable to move as my strength was slowly fading. I heard muffled screams and sirens around me under my weakened breaths. My desperate friend holding my hand and mouthing out words I couldn't comprehend, but one thought came to mind.
[Am... I dying...?]
That sole thought devastated my already mangled heart making a tear trickled down my lifeless eye feeling sleepy as I don't want to close it.
[No... Just when I found a reason to keep on moving...]
"I... on't... na... i..." Muttering my final request, the last sound I heard was a clang from the metallic bracelet wrapped around my wrist.
...
Deep underwater, where no light could reach me, silence filled my mind. No air passed through my mouth, emptied lungs, and half-opened motionless dead eyes...
Darkness... total darkness... Floating around from what seemed like an endless void.
[I guess... I'm meeting them sooner than I expected...] Accepting my new reality, the voice in my mind was cold rather than a sense of longing.
...
However, a sudden surge of electric current was transmitted throughout my entire body. A monotonous voice of a young woman read the message popped inside my mind.
[MASAKO(1).MMR HAS BEEN RESTORED!]
[MEMORY TRANSFER COMPLETE! REVIVING HOST!]
Forcing me awake, though in a daze, the burning sensation from my head and chest that came soon after made me thrash my body around.
I instinctively placed my head as high as I possibly could, but when I did, a solid ceiling hit my head. I tried clawing, bashing, and pulling my way out, but my fingers felt numb.
[Hurts... Can't... Breathe... Air...] As my thoughts are a jumbled mess, I desperately kicked trying keep myself up.
Pockets of air rushed out from my mouth, but, with a stroke of luck, I felt a hollow wall in one of those kicks.
However, the pain became unbearable as it was like I'm slowly burning up inside. My hearing distorted as high pitched ringing struck my ears.
[Is... This... Hell...? Please... I... don't... wanna... be... hurt... anymore...] More and more air bubbles exit my mouth.
Bashing my fist to the hollow wall, I heard a faint crack which gave me hope. Not wanting to go through this kind of pain for eternity, I kept punching, kicking and slamming my body with the remaining strength I have left.
Crack*
[... Just...]
Crack* Pssss*
[... one...]
Crack* PSSSHHH*
[... more...]
With one last attempt as I could barely keep myself awake. The current dragged me across a cold hard floor.
Positioning myself on all fours, I violently coughed out the water that invaded my lungs.
"Guh-—Ah! UuugghhhEEeeee... Haahhh—Haaahhh—Ha—" As the ringing haven't fully subsided, I feel like I heard something strange...
With drool dripping of from my mouth, my arms wobbled as I could barely support my burdened body. My senses are already all over the place causing discomfort, I could only do nothing but lie down to my side gasping for air.
...
A few moments passed, the ringing finally stopped while the remaining water hasn't left my ears, I turned my head around scanning my location. On my right, I noticed a small white dot peeking through a gap.
Regaining back a little portion of my strength, out of curiosity, I stood weakly, making my way through this dark room.
Taking a step forward, the more I spent my time in the dark, the more confused I am about my situation.
[Didn't I just... Die? Am I... still alive? If yes... Then, where the fuck am I?] Such questions rang through my mind.
Prioritizing my circumstances, I carefully treaded towards the white dot while avoiding sharp objects from the floor. Occasionally bumping into something and taking a small detour, I eventually stood in front of it.
I placed my hand over the surface which had a mix of wooden and metallic texture. Getting the grasp of its shape, I guessed it was some sort of opening.
First, I tried giving it a push only to be blocked by something outside. Failing to push, I then tried pulling it towards me which didn't budge at first until my fingers accidentally moved it a little to left making the white dot turn into a line. Figuring out the mechanics to open it, I squeezed my fingers through the gap then sliding it open.
A blinding white light hit my eyes—
* * *
