Do you ever get that feeling?

You know that ONE.

Where the sole act of standing up makes your head spin to an unbelievable degree. Moving around makes you nauseous and lying down, reminds you of how pathetic you are?

Someone just offering you food, makes you want to throw up your own organs just to never eat again. Drinking something makes you want to dry up in the desert, so you never need to drink anything.

Basically, just being alive is painful, and you want to end the fragile little thing people call ‘your life’.

Yeah, that feeling.

Well, what I’m feeling at this moment is ten times worse.

My head hurts in many ways some sensations describable by words others are not. My head is pulsating as if the mother of all headaches is assaulting me. The nerves around my skin and skull keep sounding alarms telling me to do something. The taste of blood overflows my mouth and the inability to spit or swallow. Worst of all is this sensation of something cold being injected into my brain. Every part of my mind is reacting to this coldness. My brain cells keep twisting to the whim of this indescribable sensation. And it keeps going through my entire spinal cord. My body changing in ways I don’t understand or comprehend, the only thing I can describe that it’s painful.

The fact that I can still think clearly is a miracle. So, my eternal list of grievances to everything around me keeps getting longer. Since complaining is kind of my thing, no surprise that I can keep doing that even now.

My limbs feel like they have been pushed to their limit and just gave out. Refusing to move. Each individual muscle hurts, with every time my heart beats the pain spreads to each individual muscle. They contract and relax, contract, and relax. Each muscle tissue hurts individually and endlessly reminds me of what it means to push yourself to the limit. It feels like I am being tortured on a molecular level.

My breathing is shallow, and I need to take a deeper breath. But due to being unable to control it, that is impossible. The feeling of suffocation never fully goes away.

And I’m not even going to begin how my right socket feels.

Not eye but eye socket. I’m sure that I just turned into a cyclops with the pain my right eye socket feels. I can sense my left eye but not the right one, it’s gone without a doubt.

I can’t even move my body or see what actually caused me to get to such a sorry state.

Even screaming out in pain is impossible because I lost all my motor functions.

Is this what sleep paralysis feels like? Like that one painting where a demon sits on top of some sleeping woman while some horse just stares at the scene. I hope not.

If that’s the case I’m buying some protective charms the next time I visit a Shinto Shrine. Maybe the Emperor's divinity will protect me from crap like this.

The only thing I feel besides the excruciating pain is the hard surface I am lying on face down.

Like I’m lying down on the roadside.

The lack of any surrounding sounds does not help me to understand my situation either. The only sounds are the pulsation of my head and the heartbeat of my tired heart. No sounds of nature, people, or anything.

Just me.

If not for the pain and the uncomfortable hard surface, I would think this is not that bad. This would be like sleeping on the roof.

Hmmm?

Wait I can hear something.

It sounds like a car going at maximum speed… As if whoever’s driving is getting closer to my locations. The engine sounds clearer and even the smell of oil and gas fumes becomes clear. It reminds me that other sensations, but pain, exist.

There was a sound of breaks creaking. I am not sure, but the car probably just stopped somewhere nearby.

Soon enough footsteps. Three people from the sound of it.

“*******”

And what was that just now? Static?

I feel like something has been made to cut out just now, but what? A name? Location? Or something completely unimportant.

“******, ****** he’s here!” a voice, a male voice, sounds around 20 something.

But without a doubt that was a voice, that of a human and a concerned one.

Quickly the footsteps become louder, all of them sound quite different from each other. Indicating the height, weight, and body type difference of the people who found me.

“He made it, shit ******* you really like making people think you’re dead don’t you.” Another man but older than the previous guy. The voice sounds a bit gruff but also quite relieved.

The footsteps close in I can feel them standing right beside me.

Sounds of rustling I assume their trying to do something to my body.

“His eye… what the hell did they shove into his eye socket.” The younger man talks in a concerned voice.

“Is the ******* okay? It looks like **** is really suffering.” A third voice. A voice of a child I can’t tell whether it’s a boy or a girl. The voice is still somewhat androgynous I can’t exactly pinpoint the kids real gender.

Why is there a kid here? What kind of idiot brings kids to-

To…

Actually, I don’t even know where this is.

“Don’t worry about him ****** he survived worse, you’ve seen yourself. He’s just lost consciousness, that’s all.” the older man responds trying to reassure the kid.

“Yeah…” the kid did not sound so sure.

“Should we pull this thing out ******-san?” the younger guy spoke up.

“Don’t touch that, it seems to be lodged too far in *******’s eye socket. It could be risky to remove without proper equipment. We shouldn’t test his luck any more than the man himself wants.” The older man gave his two cents.

“Got it, let's get him into the car. We need to catch up with the others.”

“Yeah, not only is everything turning from bad to worse for us by the moment. The country is holding on by a thread. ******* is dead with the ******* gone. Who knows what is going to happen next? With the ****** down we have no idea what’s happening overseas.”

“Still isn’t finding ******* what adults call a silver lining. The others will also cheer up knowing that he survived!” the kid sounded very optimistic now.

“Yeah, he always pulls through no matter what. All that we need to do is have his back and make sure the ***** doesn’t do anything too stupid.”

“I imagine *** will want to kick his ass when the ***** wakes up, *****-san will read him a lecture while ***** will probably find an excuse to get the ***** drunk.” The younger guy continues cheerfully, the mood apparently rising in the entire group.

“Oh, do you think ******* will do that pirate thing he did?” the childish voice asks innocently. Getting a chuckle out of the older guy.

“Considering that he doesn’t have an eye anymore, his whole Somalian pirate shtick will have more weight behind it? Sure he will be happy to play pirate with you again” the older guy answered.

“Yay! We're gonna drown some dirty stowaways again!”

“But only when he wakes up okay?”

“Okay!” No hint of worry remained in the kid's voice. But then suddenly… “Ah.” As if realizing something the kid gasped in a way that was not suited for a child. The sudden realization of something terrible, that I can't understand.

In the process drawing the attention of the other two.

“What is it?”

“Where did the *******’s ****** go? Isn’t it very important?”

Even though the pain I can tell.

Whatever happened seems to make this group realize just how hopeless things are starting to become.

“I didn’t see it anywhere…” the child spoke in a small voice as if the kid didn’t mean to bring down the mood.

“They probably took the ******…” the older guy didn’t sound very happy but decided to state the obvious.

“If they have it, then…” The younger guy's voice was quiet. The rest fades away into the distance.

Whatever they keep talking about is beyond me. It looks like I’m finally waking up.

But shit…

I bet this all happening is because I ran all around campus yesterday and tired myself out too much. Kimura you motherfucker someday I’ll kill you for putting me through this. I swear.

“This is the worst.” Muttering to myself I continue to glare at the clock near my bed. Warm, comfortable, and most importantly still sleepy. This is what I call comfy and the wish to go back to sleep is overwhelming.

Yet…

The digital clock says 5:00 am, there still an hour before I usually wake up.

Waking up this early is unusual, to say the least. Since I tend to sleep until the last moment. Barely arriving on time for homeroom or the 1st period. But today something is keeping me awake.

Still glaring at the clock hoping that maybe by staring hard enough will make me fall asleep. But it only makes my eyes hurt.

Why the hell did I wake up so early, after yesterday's escape I still feel tired? Running around the entire campus should take a bigger toll on me than this.

First, I decided to shake off by appealing to Kimura’s sense of decency. So, running to one of the outdoor sports fields was my first idea. Specifically, to where one of the baseball clubs was practicing. So, I assumed that disrupting practice was enough to convince him to stop following me around. But no, he just kept running after me.

I tried to run towards other areas where clubs were having their activities. The football club, rugby club, basketball club, and car club among others.

And just to be clear the car club does not drive cars; they talk about cars. I found that out yesterday personally.

I was planning to use the ‘get inside the girl's bathroom that was nearby’ strategy again. Until I saw a certain someone enter the lady’s room. And if ‘she’ would have caught me, the hospital would be my next destination.

At that point, I wasn’t sure if anything was going to work.

Only when I made my way to the library, specifically Nishi library that things started to go my way. Looked like Kimura was being bothered to make noise in there, so he stopped running. While I didn’t.

The only reason why I managed to get away is that I laid low in the library for a while. Then I ran straight towards the port and jumped on the first ferry that was departing.

Me being so unsure if Kimura somehow made on to the boat, forced me to keep running nonstop. A lot of other students had a look with a mix of pity, annoyance, and confusion. But my (already bad) reputation be damned. Better safe than sorry.

Still running around like that would force a person to keep sleeping for longer. Not keep them from sleeping.

Maybe I had a bad dream or something if that’s the case I can’t remember what the dream was about. I just feel very irritated.

Well even if I don’t remember it, the dream was probably a bad one. If it was a good one, I’d still be sleeping now. Good dreams don’t wake people up and piss them off in the process.

Seeing that sleep is no closer than it was a couple of minutes ago, I lie on my back and throw the warm blanket of myself.

My hand reaches over to the switch of the small table lamp near me.

Squinting my eyes due to the sudden brightness I get up.

Since falling asleep is impossible might as well do that.

My uniform is on the floor, so I grab it before moving to the living room.

The living room and the kitchen are one area, while the bathroom and bedroom are separate. Apartments like this are a rare luxury at this point. Most families are living in single-room apartments with the only separate space being the bathroom.

With the continued increase in the population of Japan, the living space for families on the mainland is constantly decreasing. Most people tend to continue to emigrate to the protectorates that are under Imperial control. But even those places are starting to get overcrowded. The government for its part is also trying to force people to move to the countryside. But it appears the sheer convenience of living in a city, just isn’t worth replacing for a spacious house. And apartments like mine are sold or rented out for extortionate prices, which most people can’t pay for.

As for me, I got this spacious apartment from my grandfather, who owns a bit of property all around Japan, and even in the protectorates and foreign countries.

So, the fact that my apartment has a separate bedroom, bathroom with an actual bath, and a decently large kitchen makes me fortunate. At this point even having a bath is a luxury to most people.

Well, it’s not like luxury is something new for me.

After entering the bathroom, I look at my reflection. My bed hair is a mess like always and my goatee is a bit more visible.

Why the hell did I get a goatee at 16 years old instead of growing just a bit taller? Not my fault I guess, just my genes at work.

I grab the shaving machine and turn it on.

Like usual I can barely force myself to shave properly. After shaving, some stubbles are still visible on my chin and jaw, but that’s good enough for me. At least I look a bit more presentable.

No helping the hair though. Hair gel is just something I cannot be bothered with.

After a quick shower, I start to get dressed in my uniform. Pants, shirt, and jacket. The only problem is that the tie that came with the uniform. I lost it somewhere at the start of the year.

Since all I get for not wearing the tie is just some sort of condemnation from the teachers, they always say ‘Buy a new one’.

But like usual bothering with the minor details is annoying.

I reach for the remote and turn the tv on, might as well listen to some noise to wake myself up.

In the kitchen, I put some water to boil and reach for the wooden container near the stove.

After opening the container a strong scent of green tea enters my nostrils from the green powder.

Not really paying attention to the noise coming from the tv, I take the boiling water and pour it into a cup.

Taking less than a teaspoon of green powder, I put it into a wooden cup with the boiling water.

The water starts to take on a bright green color.

There are more proper methods to make Matcha, but due to my chronic laziness bothering is a herculean task.

The cup is still hot, so I take it with me as I sit on the couch in front of the tv. Putting my feet on top of a small living room table. And blankly stare at the tv screen while waiting for the tea to cool down.

Yesterday’s news is on repeat, the newscaster is saying something, but it just doesn’t fully register with me. Due to my still sleepy state.

Something about the Republican and Communist forces in China threatening to restart hostilities with each other. Another protest in Korea due to another influx of migrants from the mainland. Some mercenary group killing a bunch of people in British East Bengal, allegedly by accident. The Indian and Pakistani armies suffering massive casualties due to an unknown force. Something about the Soviet Union and the Americans not agreeing on how the Philippines tsunami relief issue should be handled.

Probably some typical news, about how the world is a shitty place. That would be nothing new.

With the green tea cooling down a bit I bring the cup to my lips and take a small sip.

Sip.

Bitter like usual, but it wakes me up better than a single cup of espresso. So I prefer drinking tea in the morning. Due to the extreme bitterness, even some ardent green tea lovers find matcha undrinkable.

“Hmm?”

My phone is lying on the top of the living room table. I threw it there before I went to sleep yesterday.

I grab it and look if there is something important in my phone alerts.

Several missed calls. All of them from grandpa, look like he tried to call right after I fell asleep.

Sip.

We’ll he’s going to call me back later if he really needs to, it’s not like not responding is going to kill me.

It looks like I got some new emails.

Checking my inbox, spam and some advertisements become visible.

Only one thing catches my attention though.

It’s an email from the Hanabi animation studio. An animation studio that makes anime and various kinds of merchandise. Specifically, the series called ‘RabuRabu Rangers’.

Just the name of the series sets the tone perfectly.

Sip.

A couple of months ago I entered a contest. The prize of the contest was the tickets to an early screening of a movie in the RabuRabu series. The only reason why I had for entering this contest is due to a rumor. I heard on the net that Anastasia Morozova is performing a song in this movie without notifying her fanbase. She just happens to be one of the few things that I have any enthusiasm for.

Even though she’s from the Soviet Union her concerts are quite popular here. It also helps that she has an interest in various anime, some of which borrow her musical talent to produce music and songs.

Sip.

This RabuRabu thing is popular with kids and even most adults. Morozova herself is apparently a big fan according to rumors circulating on the net.

I can’t remember if it was this popular when I was still a kid. But during junior high, there were plenty of people wearing RabuRabu merchandise. I think a bunch of people cosplayed as the characters during the culture festivals we had back then. Even when I get far away from home to a place like Kyushu it still seems these things are everywhere.

To sum it up, the series is popular.

Me? Can’t stand this RabuRabu Ranger crap. Why it’s so popular is incomprehensible for me.

Not even sure what the plot is or who the characters are, to be honest.

Sip.

Hmm.

But two tickets? Who the hell would want to go to watch some kids movie? Especially together with me.

Not like I want to have anyone to go with me either. And I prefer to do things by myself, even if that includes suffering through some dumb movie.

Although this power of love and friendship crap just presses a nerve for me, I’ll watch this movie anyway. Just for the possibility to hear the Morozova’s new song.

The clock on my phone is showing that it’s around 5:50 AM so it’s still early. Maybe getting something from the convenience store for the ferry ride is a good idea.

I’ll relax for a couple more minutes and head out.

Sip.

After catching one of the first ferry rides of the day at Nagasaki port, I step out on Hashima island. Somewhat refreshed after the boat ride I proceed to move out of the harbor and go towards the Main School Building.

Sakura trees have been planted around the islands, no matter where you go there is bound to be a sakura tree there. Since there’s still time until they bloom, most of the campus lacks the atmosphere that I saw here at the start of the academic year.

The tea from the morning probably helped me to wake up, while the fresh morning air made me forget the unpleasant sensation I felt this morning. I guess these trips from Nagasaki port can be a pretty good from time to time.

The campus is not full of students as usual considering that it’s still morning. The students on campus now are the ones who mostly reside in the dorms on the island. Or those who have clubs with strict training routines. The baseball clubs start their practice at 5am and continue to train until the first period starts.

There are also dock workers certified by the school board who unload cargo.

This place by all factors should be a logistical hell hole. The only possible ways of transporting goods and people are by air and sea.

Maintaining the academy itself is also a money sink. Roads, facilities, equipment need their own specific resource to work properly.

And someone must not only look after the students but also make sure that everything is being run properly.

And yet the government is still sinking money into this place. Out of curiosity, I wonder how much money goes into Gunkanjima and compare it to the Academy in Tokyo.

The Tokyo Academy is probably much more costly.

Civilians of course can come here on the weekends and special occasions like festivals. If they have permission from the school and government authorities that is.

Now that I think about it not being easily accessible is kind the main feature of this Island.

“I wonder if the roof is empty…” I mutter to myself as I keep walking.

If it is, I could probably kill some time up on the roof, before classes start.

The main school building is at the center of the Hashima Island. Taking about a 40-minute long walk if you’re in a hurry. For that reason, the school has busses going around the campus regularly. Smarter students just use their bikes to get around.

I’ll just skip the final class again. It’s not like algebra is going to be particularly useful to me in the future anyway.

Unless they want me to count corpses that is.

A sudden vibration in my pocked interrupted my thoughts. Without stopping I pull out my cell phone from the pocket.

A notification from the Gunkanjima Academy app that has been installed on my phone.

The app was designed to make life more convenient for the students, faculty members, and other workers on this island. Features like timetables, event notifications, a map, and other more situational features are the main reasons for using the app.

I mostly just use it for the map feature, since getting lost on this huge campus is easy. Even after studying here for almost a year, I tend to get lost.

What makes this app a bit more different is that it is integrated into the school ranking system. Before such convenient things as apps existed, the best way to figure out which superhuman was stronger - were tournaments. International and national tournaments that had varying systems. Needing safety regulations, rules, a list of acceptable weapons, and other convolutedly annoying things. And each of those factors varied depending on who, where, and why was holding the tournament.

Basically, a huge waste of time and talent.

But you needed strong fighters, not babies who follow the rules. And potentially strong superhumans could be overlooked due to the rules and regulations. To make this whole process a bit easier some League officials just decided to create a system with more flexibility.

And the point of this new system is to find the best fighter among a huge number of people. Not the one who obeys the rules and regulations the best.

Ranking systems are not unusual even outside Japan since most other Academies have an app with the same feature.

I know someone in the top 200 is going to fight.

Since I turned all notifications about the ranking system off.

But the top 200 fighters in the school are automatically considered a top priority, so everyone gets notified automatically. Even me who barely gives a shit about all this ranking stuff.

Since top rankers tend to become really important figures in the future, a lot of people pay attention to them.

I reach my finger to swipe the notification, not caring about the duel.

…Huh?

One of the names makes my finger freeze in midday.

Koshimizu Honoka v Harumi

Koshimizu Honoka? The student council president? The one who never lost a single duel even before I enrolled? Why is she having a fight?

Her fighting with some else high up in the ranking? After what she did last year at the international tournament? I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to even think about winning against her.

Today just keeps getting weirder.

Then I recall something that Kimura told me yesterday.

‘We're getting two new transfer students tomorrow.’

I need to check if Koshimizu will be fighting someone who just transferred in. I open the app and go to the ranking section.

The ranking pops up on my screen showing numbers and names:

Koshimizu Honoka Suzuki Yuta Azai Miria Kimura Takeshi Tendou Akechi

I ignore the top and scroll down towards the bottom of the ranking. Until I see my name. Two names have a lower ranking than me. Which means someone really transferred in today.

48,317. Suzuki Kaito

48,318. Malan Elize

48,319. Harumi

These are the transfer students huh? Why did they transfer in when its less than three months until the spring break? I’d say it’s kind of pointless at this point. The school year is almost at its end.

And that is not the only strange thing about them. One of them is a foreigner. That much is clear from the name and the katakana.

Foreigners usually attend the Academy in Tokyo, not Nagasaki. Due to the enormous city of Tokyo being the central hub of the entire Asian region for economic dealings. Even though I’ve never been to Tokyo myself, that much is common sense. The people in the capital are much more used to foreign tourists coming to visit. Additionally, people who flee war or political instability in the region also prefer taking refuge in the capital. And Gunkanjima Academy does not have any support facilities for foreigners in the first place.

If the new transfer students can’t speak decent Japanese, I can’t see them like it here very much.

And one of them is strange for another reason. Harumi? Just Harumi? And why is her name written in Kanji?

Is she supposed to be Japanese or not? Does she even have a family name? Is the lack of a family name normal in her country?

She might not even be a foreigner in the first place. Since her name is written in kanji, I’d assume she’s Japanese?

This Harumi is the one that’s going to fight against Koshimizu. The Koshimizu who broke through the entire ranking on her first year here and has never lost her spot to anyone?

And then she went to Moscow. In the process becoming an idol for everyone at this school. Maybe even all of Japan.

Who knows this Harumi might strong, but isn’t this duel just a bit too much?

Still, why would someone as admired and skilled as president bitchface, fight some nobody who just got here?

Something going on here.

I didn’t care about the fight just a couple of seconds ago but now I’m very curious.

I look at the app notification again to find the location of the duel. It will happen at the Outdoor field A2, which is on the other side of the island. A bit far away but I’ll make it on time by taking the bus.

Still, who could have thought that waking up earlier today might be this worthwhile after all?