Chapter 1: The Other World

I look at the clock and watch the minute hand over lap the number three. The day finally comes to an end and what I experience earlier didn't make it go any faster. The bell suddenly rang letting all students know it's the end of the day and the beginning of club activities. Everyone in the classroom started packing up their books getting ready to either go home or go to their clubroom. Every student in this school needs to be part of a club which I didn’t like since it took time away from my studies. I tried making a study club, but they rejected it since clubs suppose to be something fun and active yet, they have the classic chess clubs that I find more boring than studying.

"Yooooooooo, YAAAASSSUUUU!" Daikichi called out my name while waving his hands standing in the doorway. He’s about 5’6, skinny, wears lame glasses and yet, gives off a feeling of a rich conglomerate owner’s son but doesn't act like one.

“Yo Daikichi." I nod to him as he walks towards my table and waits for me to pack all of my things.

I bet he's going to ask me a question about what happened earlier. I say in my mind.

“Dude, what happen to you earlier?!"

I knew it.

"I heard you went all ballistic on the floor!" Daikichi grabs my shoulders and looks me up and down. "You alright? Why you’re not in the nurse office right now?!”

“Relax with the questions. I’m fine now. Let’s go, I’ll tell you on the way to the club room about what happened.” I reply to him as I walk out the classroom with him following behind me.

We both belong to the piano club. I needed to join a club and I thought piano would be the most relaxing one. Not much of a piano player but I’m a fast learner. Since it’s mandatory, I might as well join something I can use to relax. As we walk our way towards the clubroom, I explained to him what happened during the incident I had earlier. I can see him trying to hold off his laughter and knowing Daikichi, he finds almost andything or should I say, he finds everything amusing.

“Bro! That is insane!” He laughs out loud as we walked down the hall towards the stairs of the school building.

"Ha-Ha very funny," I say lightly punching him in the arm. “Even I don’t know what the hell was that.”

“Maybe it has some grudge against you! What did you do to it? Wait, what is it anyway?” Daikichi asked me and it made me wonder more, what it was.

“I don’t know. It's like something sent me pictures on my mind.” I say pausing for a brief moment. "I don't even know, maybe its new military weapon and I got caught it the crossfire? Maybe I'm just going crazy."

“Seriously? Why would the army send pictures to their enemies? Hey guys! Look! I can kill you with images! You know what I think it is? Your guardian angel. It was sending you images because you pissed it off for studying too much.” Daikichi responds with a smug look.

“Probably. We should hurry; we don’t want to make Kana mad for being late. You know how she is.” I tell him as I jogged up the stairs speeding up my movement. The minute we got to the top floor of the building, we both start running towards our clubroom, which is located next to the band club in the far corner. It’s the biggest room up here making it perfect to play the piano due to the ambient sound. Sometimes, the acapella singers or bands come by to use the room for practice or, listen to us play the piano. Daikichi opens the sliding door peeking briefly inside as if a monster will pop out any minute.

“Heeeeey~, club pres~, we're here--"

BAM!

A figure came flying towards me pushing Daikichi to the side while crashing into me making me stumble to the ground.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAH! I thought you died!" Kana hugs me tightly as she cried. She started inspecting me frantically for any injuries as I sat there watching her go crazy. "Are you alright?! Are you hurt?! Do you need to go to the hospital?!”

“I’m fine, just had a bit of issue earlier with my eyes, but I’m fine now," I say to her. Her name is Kana. She is a beautiful junior in our school and the president of the piano club. She is around our height. A lot of guys are attracted to her because of her looks and her figure. She also currently holds the third position in the school ranking of seniors. I’m number one from the freshmen side, Daikichi is number two. But the overall ranking of the school in regards to everything is, me at top rank. Daikichi at number two spot and Kana at number three. A lot of seniors were outraged at us taking up the first two spot since it has never been done before.

Freshmen's being at the top of the overall ranking is something impossible to do. I don't know how I did it but I guess getting the highest marks on the test and doing all the extra credit work made the school recognize my efforts. I was really aiming to be a number of the freshmen ranks but I didn't expect to be number one on overall rank. I asked them about how they figure out who remains at the top. They told me its all based on current events and achievements. Those who do more deserve to get the top spot. Those who slack and do less work deserves to be at the bottom. Years in school have nothing to do with the ranks. But in reality, even the bottom rank is set to work for a company after they graduate. In the end, they couldn’t do anything since it clearly shows we both worked harder than any of them in regards to everything we do so, they all just mumbled to themselves until it became normal again.

“I was so scared!" She says as she hugs me again. She quickly looked at Daikichi glaring at him. "DAIKICHI!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO PROTECT YASU!”

“Eh?! It’s my fault?!” Daikichi responds and I can see him laughing a bit.

Kana let me go and like a ninja, she was quick and had her hands on Daikichi’s neck. "YES, IT IS!! MAKE SURE YOU GET HURT FIRST BEFORE YASU! OUR CLUB NEEDS HIM MORE THAN WE NEED YOU!"

Daikichi's head shakes back and forth as Kana tries to choke him but not too hard to the point he can’t breathe. “Kana--------you're----going----to-----break----my------neck------yasu-----help.”

“I’m fine Kana.” I say placing my hand on her shoulder. “Stop shaking Daikichi to death. How is he going to protect me if he’s dead.”

That looked painful. I whisper in my mind as I see her hand wrapped around his neck.

"Ah! You’re right. Sorry, Daikichi.” Kana says as she lets go.

"No problem. What are necks for right? cough* Cough*” Daikichi says as he tries to catch his breath.

“Ah, since you guys are here, listen to this song and tell me if you guys can identify the composer," Kana says as she drags us both inside the clubroom. Since the place was as big as an auditorium, there are two grand pianos in the center facing each other while a couple of electric piano on the side. Even the clubrooms in this school were set up with the highest quality equipment. Probably, one of the electric pianos cost more than two months rent combined. There are seven pianos here and I heard from Kana that a grand piano can easily cost around $10,000 and up. There are two of them. Everything about this school is high class. The food, the library, even the restroom looks like it came from a five-star hotel penthouse riddled with decorations fitting only the wealthy one percent. Kana sits at one of the grand pianos and started playing. It was a very calming sound, something I am too familiar with.

“Raindrop by Chopin, Am I right?” I asked her.

"Yup! This is what we're going to play at the music festival this upcoming weekend! It’s an easy song and by the amount of talent you have Yasu, you should have it mastered in no time.” Kana says as she looks at me while smiling.

"Wait, you want me to play at the music festival?" I asked her with a surprised look.

“Yeah, I played last year. So, I decided for you to play in my stead.”

“but ---“ As I try to speak, Kana interrupts me.

“NO BUTS. Presidents order is final.” She says as she crosses her arms.

“Yes, ma'am…" I responded back to her who then immediately smiled.

I sat down and started practicing Chopin's raindrop. I always have this code, everything I do, I must do it to the best of my abilities and excel. Nothing is impossible.

The sun starts to sets covering the sky with an orange hue. I decided to stop practicing and pack my stuff to pick up my mother from her part time job. She doesn’t work as late as she used to like in my middle school years but I still pick her up from work and walk her home. Since she gets out late, I’m always worried about her. If she ever goes home by herself late at night and something happens, I won’t know what to do. As I pack all the music notes in my bag, I hear Daikichi and Kana arguing as usual. I sat on one the electric piano since I can plug a headphone in and listen to myself play over and over again without getting distracted while Daikichi hits random notes. He excels in a lot of things but the piano isn't one of them.

“Daikichi, loosen this damn fingers! Are you trying to destroy the piano?!!” Kana screams at him.

“I’m doing the best I can!”

"Well, the so called best that you can do, sucks!!! Look at yasu, he’s already at another section and you’re still in the beginning stages!! That's it, I’ve had it. You’re not leaving today till you’re able to play this song without mistakes!!!” Kana says and I can see the fury in her eyes.

"Eh?!” Daikichi tried to stand but Kana pushed him back down. I can see his complexion turning pale.

“Stop complaining! Play!” Kana shouts in his ear that made him look at me with puppy eyes.

“Y-yasu. Buddy, d-d-don't we have to run an errand for our dear mother.” Daikichi says that made me chuckle a bit. He’s been to my house and calls my mom mother.

“I…have no idea what you’re talking about. Have fun!” I tell him as I stand up.

“No! Don't leave me alone with this demon from the mist!!!” Daikichi looks at me like he’s about to die. I see Kana clench her fist glaring at him so hard.

“Huuuuuuh??! What did you just call me?!” She looked even more furious now. If I don't leave she might trap me in here as well.

“Yasu!” Daikichi shouts my name.

“Later gator.” I leave as he cries my name over and over again while Kana holds him down to the chair. Seems like Kana has a thing for Daikichi. She’s nice to me because I’m like a brother to her. But for Daikichi, it’s different. She is rough with him but in my vision, it’s more out of love. I always wonder when they will go out with one another but, every time I bring it up to Daikichi, he brushes it off and tells me she's a monster.

"One day, those two will get married," I whisper to myself as I walk towards the stairway that leads down to the ground floor. Another thing about this school is, how many floors it has. It's so big it actually has an elevator.

“Might as well buy food on the way home. I wonder what mom wants to eat for dinner.” I say as I leave the school grounds and head to the station. I take out my phone from my pocket and started dialing my mom's number. Everyone has the latest fad and the most expensive cell phones while I have a flip phone that probably dated back in the year 2000. Quite an old model but it's cheap and it does its job. My mom wanted to get a family plan and get us both expensive phones but I decline since all I really need to do is make phone calls. I press the green button and place the phone on my left ear. It didn't even ring a twice and my mother picked up right away.

“Hello?” I hear my mom’s voice from the other line.

"Hey mom," I reply back to her. "I'm going to buy dinner. Do you prefer anything?"

“Where?”

“I’m going to the family restaurant near the station since it’s on the way there.”

“Ah ok, then get me the braised fish combination platter.”

“Alright, I’ll come pick you up after your shift so wait for me mom.”

"Ok honey, be careful of cars okay? Don't go crossing a red light. Make sure you look both left and right. If you see something suspicious, go to a police box and tell them or call the police." My mom nags me every time I call her. Even though I'm in high school now, in her eyes she still sees me as her little boy.

"Ok, mom I will," I reply to her smiling even though she won't see it.

“Now, how was school?”

"It was fine. Actually, mom, Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it, honey?”

“Did dad ever have an eye problem?"

“Your dad had 20/20 vision. Why? Is your vision blurry? Do you need glasses? This won’t do. I’m going to leave work early and we’re going to the eye doctor now. “

"Relax mom, I just asked," I tell her. "My eyes are perfectly fine." I was going to mention what happened to me but I decided not to since she worrying too much.

“Are you sure? Still, we're going to the eye doctor. If you don’t want to go now, we'll go tomorrow. Don’t go to your club activities and come straight to my work. I’m going to leave early and bring you to get an eye exam.”

"Ok, mom," I replied back. My mom still works part-time in the convenience store. Even though I told her she doesn't need to work because I get living expenses from my school and it's enough for both of us to survive, she still decided to work there part-time because she don't want to stay home and do nothing. I guess it’s to keep her mind busy. She still hasn't gotten over my father's death even after a couple of years.

“Ok mom, I’m going to hang up now I’ll call you later when I’m near.” I tell her as I walk down the steps of the station.

“Ok honey, I’ll see you later. I love you, Bye.”

"Love you too mom, Bye." I hung up and sped down the stairs. Since the restaurant is quite a way from my school, I have to take a train to get there. It’s the same subway line I ride to go to my mom but instead of stopping at Harajuku station, I get off two or three more stop after that. I enter the subway and scan my card on the scanner and hop on the train that's waiting in the station.

"Lucky~ I caught the train before it left," I say as the train leaves the station. I sit down and that’s when I noticed, there isn’t anyone in it.

It should be rush hour right now. How come this train is empty? Did I get on the maintenance train by accident?I say in my mind. I decided to look around and all the whole train is empty.

"What the fuck…" I took out my cell phone from pocket and decided to call my mom. “huh, no signal?”

Out of nowhere my vision somehow started getting blurry as if my eyes are adjusting itself. I try to rub them clear but it doesn’t work. My heart started pounding because it’s similar to what happened to me earlier. All of a sudden, my eyes started burning like before.

“AGGGRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I scream as the pain brought me to my knees. I dropped my phone and I hear it roll and slide away from me. I was waiting for more messages but nothing, my eyes just burned and it felt like someone is lighting my eyeballs on fire that I could feel the heat from the back of my eyes.

“AHHHH!!! HELP!” I shouted out but nothing. This train is empty. All of a sudden, the train stopped so fast it caused me to stumble forward planting my face in the ground. Right at that moment, the sensation stopped and when I opened my eyes, the whole world was dark. Blackness. Just complete blackness. I tried to rub them but nothing. I started to feel nervous as I blink my eyes opening and closing them as fast as I can try to regain my vision back.

"Oh my god, no, no, no, no, no." I started rubbing them roughly now. My heart is beating so fast it feels like it's going to pop out of my chest. “No, no, no, no, no, oh please no, don’t let me go blind.”

I kept rubbing my eyes but nothing is happening. “NO! FUCK!” I punch the floor of the train as the frustration of not being able to see get the best of me. I took a deep breath and exhale slowly whispering in my mind.

Calm down, calm down. This must be a dream. Wake up. I say as I tried slapping my cheeks but nothing.

"WAKE UP YASU! WAKE THE FUCK UP!” I scream to myself but nothing. I tried to stand up and walk forwards but it felt like someone tripped me causing me to fall back to the ground.

THUD!

“GUACK! Who’s there?! H-help me. I can’t see!” I say as I lay on my chest but nothing. Not one sound is happening around me. I felt the train stop earlier thinking I stopped at a station but nothing. Everything is so quiet.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

.

.

The sound kept getting closer and closer as it gets louder and louder.

Tap

Tap

Tap

“W-w-what? Footsteps?” I whisper as I listen closely to the tapping.

Tap

Tap

.

.

.

.

It stopped right next to me. I whisper in my mind trying not to move as I remained on my chest. I waited for a couple of minutes but nothing.

“H-hello? Can you please help me. I-I-I can't see! Can you call an ambulance? Please h-h-help me!” I say as I push myself up to get on my knees.

.

.

.

.

No response. Is anyone there? I’m sure I heard the tapping.

“h-h-hello?” I asked again but nothing.

.

.

.

.

I try to feel around the floor to try and find my phone.

*Rrrrrrriiiing

*Rrrrrrrriiiiiiing

*Rrrrrriiiiiiing

*Rrrrring—crrrack!!

I hear a crunching sound, which abruptly stopped the ringing.

*Crack

*Crack

*Crack

It sounds like-my phone!!!

“W-wh-what that the fuck?! My phone?! Is that my cell phone?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I tried to feel around trying to grab onto whoever is destroying my phone. Even though I can't see, I know it's my phone. I think it is. Besides, I'm the only one here and it was my ringtone.

“Fuck you!” Who are you?!” I swing my arms wildly into the air trying to find his leg. I can hear the person walking around back and forth but I can't seem to grab him. Then, everything stopped and it got quiet. The sound of the train tracks, the footsteps, everything disappeared. I still can't see and I only heard my own breathing.

“Huah-Hah-hah-hah.” I felt a faint whisper in my ear. “KKKUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAKKEKEKEKEKEKKE!" The voice didn't sound human at all. It sounded like someone gargling on his or her own blood along with a sore voice. But the scariest part was the laugh. It was a very high pitch to the point it was hurting my ear.

“AGGGRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I scream as my eardrums felt like it was about to burst. “Shut up! Shut up-“ Without expecting it, I feel something stab me from the back. It went through me and exited the left side of my chest. I could feel warm liquid dripping from my chest down to my stomach. I can feel my clothes hugging my skin as the liquid soaks up my uniform. But no pain.

Huh? I’m having trouble breathing. Whatever impaled me from the back slowly came out where it came from.

SLluuurrrrrrccchhh!

“URRGGHHHHGGGUUUAAAAHHH!!” I scream from a strong jolt pain I felt that’s twice as worse, no, hundred times as worse than I have ever felt before.

*pant

*wheeze

*pant

As my breath started getting slower and my consciousness started to leave me, I faintly heard a heartbeat. Rather than hear, I felt it as some liquid hits my face at every beat and I smell a metallic odor. I didn't even notice it but I’m laying down flat on my stomach and my body feels like it’s going numb.

Even though I want to move, I couldn't.

Bu-Bump

Bu-Bump

Bu-Bump

Bu-Bump

“w-w-what? W-who’s….Huh?”

Bu-Bump

Bu-Bump

I could hear the heartbeat getting slower and slower. Before it completely disappeared, I heard him whisper something in my ear. “To be reborn you must first, die.”

It laughed a sinister laugh as I lose consciousness.

.

.

.

WELCOME! HUMAN!

“Huh?"

OPEN YOUR EYES! Kekekekekeke~

“W-w-what?”

Seriously, OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES!

Upon reading, I follow the instructions and slowly open my eyes. Since the place was dark, my vision adjusted quickly and I noticed I’m staring at a brick ceiling.

Great! Now that you're awake, why don't you stand up and follow the light!

As instructed by these weird windows, I stood up. The room was suddenly illuminated as a bright light appeared out of the wall like a ghost.

"What. The. Fuck." my voice trails off as I see it proceed to float towards a wall and stopped before it collided with it. After a couple of seconds, a door and a sign appeared out of the wall. I decided to walk closer to it and as soon as the sign is within my view, I stop in my tracks and stare at it. This kind of stuff only happens in dreams.

Am I still dreaming? When will I wake up? Is this the after life? I whisper in my mind putting my hand on the sign that's attached to the door. As I stare at the sign, I subconsciously read it out loud. “Welcome to the new world.”

Like a magic word from fantasy novel, the words disappeared and the door slowly opened.