“Yo bro, wake up! Wake up dude!”

An obnoxiously loud voice right beside me urged a pulsing pain in my head to worsen, while clammy hands half caressed and half pat my cheeks as if the person doing so was trying to imitate what they had seen on television, but not wanting to hurt me accidentally. I would have preferred if they did slap me because the moist palms stroking my cheeks gave me feelings of extreme disgust, which did nothing to help with the whole ‘I’m dead’ situation that I was in.

What’s up with ‘bro’ and ‘dude’? It’s too familiar… I hope that Heaven isn’t filled with hip wannabees like this guy. I would prefer to go to hell. Even spending more time with that lunatic would be a better choice.

Something about my displeasure must have tipped the person off because I could hear them getting excited and calling to their surroundings, “I think he’s awake! He’s awake, right? Hey dude, get up quickly, we got pretty nervous for you!”

The voice wasn’t only loud, but also exceptionally nasally. It was a voice that belonged to a male, one around the same age of me. It didn’t sound like anyone I recognized, so I guess it was safe to say this was heaven. Then again, there are lots of people that I don’t know, even in my class. It’s quite sad.

The guy started to grope around my clothes for a purchase to which he could pull me up to my feet with, but as a terrible pain coursed throughout my head, making me shut my eyes tighter. I refused to cooperate.

Truly, going to heaven is too bothersome. First, you have to put up with some crazy chuunibyou then you have to put up with people who can’t use common sense to check out the atmosphere. You’ve been through this before right? You should know how painful this is then! Someone stop this idiot, please…

“Sorry, I just have a terrible pain in my head. It was like this for you too, right? Don’t worry about me; there's nothing all that special about my death. Only some fire and a bomb—an accident.” I still replied politely, engraved by my father from a young age, no matter how repulsive and annoying the person I was talking to was. I was speaking towards the direction of the last voice I had heard as my eyes were shut closed, hoping that I wasn’t addressing the wrong person; but after I had said that statement, I could feel the atmosphere stiffen around me.

“Your death? A fire and a bomb? What sort of joke are you trying to pull Vincent?” A questioning voice came from the other side of me, a little farther away than the obnoxious voice. It was a voice that I recognized; it was Ben’s.

I froze up for a second, as I was sure that a bomb and being on fire was enough to kill me and send me to heaven. But I very quickly regained my calm and started to stand up, receiving some help from someone next to me.

...Ben’s going to think that I’m an idiot now. Damn it!

“An extremely distasteful one I suppose. It’s already time for the presentation, and yet, here we find you sprawled out on the floor, smelling of smoke, next to ashes, with your hands in glued together. If you wanted to pray and have a sacrifice to whatever you worship, make sure to pick a better time and better place. You’re lucky that the sky is green, else I don’t know what would have happened to you if we couldn’t find you in time.” A cold, stern voice answered for me, belonging to Aria.

Are all the members here? That’s even worse! They must see me as a total loser now… though it’s not like they didn’t think that before. Damn it, should I just die?! How am I supposed to play this off!

And I vaguely remember something about a green sky when my hands were on fire. Has it turned into a big deal? I might as well check it out for myself…

“Ha-ha, sorry! I guess it is a pretty bad joke. I didn’t mean to stay on the floor; a small accident happened to occur. Thanks for waking me up, I appreciate the thought.” It was a terrible pretext directed to anyone present, accompanied by some perfunctory words of thanks for the disgusting awakening.

I backed up a few steps, to get off of the shoulder of the person I was leaning on. Then I opened my firmly sealed eyes, to get a better look at the situation. Filling up the space around me was Ben on my right side transmitting worry and unease, with Lisa beside him transmitting feelings of passionate love and Stella closer to the exit behind her transmitting feelings of envy and jealousy. Aria was on my left side, looking coldly down at me, seeing through the pathetic explanation without blinking an eye, and I could feel a terrible impatience, and killing intent directed towards all of us present from her. The person who had been supporting me was Holtan, whose face was covered in fat beads of sweat, transmitting feelings of nervousness. His eyes were locked on me as if he didn’t dare to look in the direction of anyone else.

“No problem!” Holtan said, confirming that it was he who had woken me up, before whispering, “Don’t worry, I thought your joke was sort of funny.”

What part of me being unconscious on the ground funny to you?

So it was Holtan that woke me up? I guess he’s sweating and nervous because of all the pretty girls in the room. What is he, a middle school student?! Or maybe it was because of Aria… well, I can’t fault him if that was the case. That could also explain that weird nasal voice I’ve never heard him use before. Wait no, in the first place, why is he even here?

I shot him an odd look, questioning him, but it didn’t seem like he picked up on it, as he continued to look at me. I gave up, after becoming slightly depressed at the clueless expression he was giving me.

Then it finally hit me, why are their emotions being transmitted to me? I had already overused my power for the day, and my vision was still completely normal, still in full color. But it was nearly the same feeling I had when using my ability except I couldn’t see how their emotions might make them react.

Is this that ‘help’ that lunatic told me about? Wasn’t that just a bad dream?

I immediately checked if focusing did anything for the transmitting of emotions, but nothing happened.

Why is this even more useless than what I had before?! At least I could decide when I wanted to look at other people’s mood; now it forces it on me… Help, my ass, if anything, you harmed me instead!

While I was doing my thing over on the side with Holtan staring intensely at me, Ben and the girls started a talk about what they thought the green sky was about. They were ignoring me as usual and even came to ignore Holtan as well, and I didn’t feel the need to listen in. Just the transmitted feelings were enough to fill me in on what the situation was: Green sky equals danger. At least that was what Ben and Stella were giving me. Aria was just giving me the usual ‘I’m about two seconds away from murdering everyone here’ vibes, and Lisa was just lovestruck, not paying attention to the conversation.

All in all, pretty normal despite what just occurred.

That aside, I decided to get a good look at the unusual sight that kept everyone on their toes despite my pounding head. I walked over to the window with Holtan following, seeing the curtains once again covering it.

Now how am I supposed to do this with both my hands stuck together? I guess I could ask Holtan for help…

I took a glance at Holtan who, feeling less nervous, finally took his eyes off me. Just as I was about to ask for help, he just sat down on the ground and started to breathe slowly for no reason.

…what is this kid even doing. I’m better off just spending some extra time opening this up myself.

I wasn’t resigned to spend an inordinate amount of time just to open the window curtains, so I tried opening my firmly stuck hands. To my surprise, they came apart easily, leaving the pendant lying peacefully in my right hand, as if it wasn’t a bomb at all.

I’m not sure it is a bomb anymore… I don’t think bombs can stay ok in fires, much less cause a fire and stay perfectly fine afterward. At least, not the bombs that Father has shown me.

As long as I’m alive, I should be happy. Nothing like being on fire and a bomb scare to make you glad that you’re still alive!

Shrugging my shoulders to dismiss any other thoughts, I put on the pendant around my neck, leaving it on the outside of my blazer in case it acted up once again.

I took a deep breath, readying myself for this unique phenomenon when I had placed my hands on the curtains. What has caused this? What’s going to happen now? Most importantly, are my hands going to catch fire again? Whatever the answer, the only way I would know is if I tried it out. And thus, using all my courage, I threw open the curtains, recreating the scene from not too long ago. Once again, the incredible sky greeted me.

Unlike the previous time, there weren’t any distractions that took my attention away from this sight. It was a breathtaking scene, one that I would surely remember for the rest of my life. While the sky was green, that wasn’t the most unusual occurrence. What really took my breath away were the aureate, resplendent lights that filled my vision. They were all moving towards one point, resembling a magnificent golden river as it flowed towards its destination. The lights seem to come from everywhere, the earth, the trees, people, some seemingly popping into existence. It was a never-ending movement of light, stunning me for what seemed like an eternity.

A point in the sky, a transparent, golden disk, was the final goal of all the floating lights, and I watched as it grew real-time at a rapid pace, from half a meter in radius into something spanning tens of meters in a few seconds.

It was a captivating and picturesque sight, a sensation of ancientness and profoundness emanating from the disk, before concluding its growth with a glimmering shine. The golden lights continued to flow into it, and the disk started to actually grow smaller, becoming it seemingly more solid and less transparent. Intricate engravings began to mark itself on the surface, turning the scene into one full of mysteriousness. Then, the scene turned frozen as the engravings ended, and the disk returned to its previous size of half a meter, only this time it was dark gold in color, covered in deep lines, exuding an alien presence of something that I felt that I should remember, but couldn’t place. It shocked me out of my reverie, leading me to contemplation.

What the hell did I just watch? Is that a fucking UFO? Are they the reason why the sky is green? Are they here to abduct people? Maybe they’re here to capture the leader of big companies who are at the presentation? That actually isn’t a terrible plan…

During my useless thoughts, the pendant started to burn once more. This time, it was one of a cleansing heat which swept throughout my body, removing my headache, fatigue, stress, among other unhealthy traits. I didn’t know what was going on, but it made me feel great and filled me with energy.

…I have mixed feelings about this. Wasn’t this a bomb? Why is this giving me energy? Maybe this was actually one of those energy pendants I’ve heard about? I think one of the kids in my class is the son of a manufacturer. I just hope it doesn’t set me on fi—

Out of the blue, a gigantic golden beam descended down upon me like a bolt of lightning, striking the pendant on my chest, sending me sprawled out on the ground. When I looked back up, I was welcomed by Ben and the other girls’ faces full of surprise. There was a split second of silence on both my side and their side, due to this unexpected event.

What. The. Fuck.

“Um, Vincent what happened to you? Did you just fail a backflip?” Ben was surprised and unconcerned as if startled by the unexpected act, but not worried about me at all. Screw you too.

“…Are you okay? That looked like it hurt, whatever that was…” Lisa was feeling more curious than concerned. But at least she was a little worried, Stella wasn’t even looking in my direction, opting to look towards the open window, feeling a little mortified while Aria was feeling a little pleased about something, staring intently at my chest where the pendant laid in all its golden goblet glory.

“Sorry for interrupting your conversation,” I let out a weak smile towards Lisa, completely disregarding Ben’s questions, “I think I’m okay, and I’m not too sure what happened either… but I can tell you that there is a UFO outside if you wanted to know why I’m like this!”

10/10, I might as well have joined the Drama club at the beginning of the year, look at those deflection skills! Looking at those confused faces actually is making me want to commit suicide. Goddamn it UFO, you motherfucker, if you wanted to screw someone over, why did it have to be me? What even was that? It hit me, and I went flying…

“Uh-huh, a UFO. I’ll check it out, no worries Vincent.” Ben spoke to me in a patronizing voice, looking at me with a worried expression. He was doing it with kind intentions, which was starting to piss me off.

Aria came over to me and extended a hand to help me up, following her kind girl act she always had on. “Vincent, your jokes aren’t humorous… It’s an inappropriate time to do this as well. I get that you're trying to lighten the mood, especially when we’re supposed to be presenting but I can tell you now that you need to tone down.”

“…” My name isn’t Vincent! It’s Victor, Victor! Get it in your head; you’re the freshman rep, how do you not know this? And my jokes aren’t funny? Does it look like I’m joking? You’re the one that’s a joke!

She was feeling oddly excited, speaking not to my face, as her gaze was affixed to my chest. It was seriously weirding me out, and she was starting to piss me off too. Not like I would actually do something though, she probably brings a knife where ever she goes…

I ignored the outstretched hand filled with malicious intent and decided to just continue lying on the ground while closing my eyes. I was full of energy because of the pendant, but I was starting to become seriously disheartened. It was like the world was out to get me. Bomb scares, fires, a lunatic in my head, and UFOs hitting me with laser beams on what is the most important day of my life... It would be weird if I didn’t get the message that life was giving to me, a big, fat: FUCK YOU.

“Ben, take a glimpse out the window! The light in the sky has changed; it’s become a summoning medium! There’s definitely something wrong with this!” Stella was speaking in a hushed voice, full of worry, taking care to make sure others couldn’t hear. The thing was, I could still hear her loud and clear.

Ben went silent, presumably taking a quick glance out the window and observing the changes for a few seconds. “Hmm, maybe regular people see it as a UFO?”

“That’s not the point! Get serious, would you? This is a massive problem! That’s the biggest summoning medium I’ve ever seen, and I’m part of the Ardor family!”, came the harsh reply.

“Sorry, I just can’t see how I would help. I’ve only been studying magic for two months, what do you expect me to do? If something does happen, then I’ll be sure to protect you guys, so don’t worry about that.” Ben was getting into his girl-capturing mode, spouting embarrassing cheap lines.

“Who would want your protection! You can’t do anything but get beat up...”

Summoning medium? Magic? That’s some pretty intense chuunibyou. What are these guys even doing with their lives…

I couldn’t take the flirting and opened my eyes only to see Stella blushing red like a tomato. Seriously, can’t you take this somewhere else? If not, pick a better place, Lisa is looking like she wants to murder you guys. Can’t you have some self-awareness? It looks like you guys are just whispering sweet nothings to each other…

Lisa couldn’t take it any longer and grabbed Ben’s arm to pull him away from Stella. “Get away from him you slut! Can’t you keep your hands to yourself for a second?”

“Slut? Where did you get that from? I guess it’s expected, athletic and smart, the boys can’t get enough of you, and now you’re projecting on others. Maybe your reputation exceeds you, and you just don’t know what the word slut means?” Stella shot back heatedly.

Another drop in the bucket. Do these girls not get tired of these fights? I closed my eyes again, to shut out the quarrel. Ben, why can’t you just go out with one of the girls? The lively Lisa, the noble Stella, even Aria sometimes looks like she’s got the hots for you, albeit in a different manner. Speaking of which, lately she doesn’t even look at you like she wants to murder you. Take the chance and turn the tables on her, I’ve heard hatred and love are two sides of the same coin. I bet it would be a happy and wholesome relationship!

Meanwhile, I’m just here on the ground listening to girls fighting over a different guy, and no one even calls me by my real name. Fun right? The saddest part is, you probably yearn for a shitty life like this. I think it’ll be one of my best achievements if a girl would even call my real name during the whole span of my high school life. Right up there with being able to dodge 50 baseballs going 120 mph and being able to say that my father runs cult meetings with 500+ people attending every week. What a fulfilling life!

While you yearn for my life, I can only hope to have a fraction of your happiness; even a familiar name calling would be nic-

“Hey, Victor.”

Just like that. It even sounds like Aria. Am I really that desperate for someone to call my name? A murderer… actually wouldn’t her personality fit into a certain archetype? Hara.. harg.. Damn, I just can’t remember. If it really was Aria, I guess it couldn’t be too bad. Being friendly with a beautiful, high-spec person like her would be the dream of many boys at our school. I would probably have a crush on her if not for my useless power. So I guess it isn’t useless all the time… Oh, what am I kidding, if I didn’t have my power, I wouldn’t even have the courage to go near people like this, despite what my father has put me through. It's not because I’m shy but because we are from different worlds, in more ways than one.

I can’t imagine finding myself a girlfriend or have somebody even remotely see me as someone that they would like to romantically go out with. In fact, most people don’t even notice I’m near them. Just like how those girls got into a fight despite me being on the ground. What would they do if I peek or something? The world is lucky it has a gentleman like me in its ranks. The evil that people could do with my nonexistent presence, the horr-!

“Victor, are you ignoring me?”

I guess I’m incredibly desperate or something. Imagining Aria saying my name once is one thing, but two times is a little…

“Victor, stop joking around! I told you it wasn’t funny!”

Oh shit, she really is calling my name.

My eyes snapped open, to see Aria right in front of me. She was crouched down, staring down, not looking at me, but at my pendant with a greedy look on her face. I could feel her delight seeping from every pore of her body.

You know what? I thought this would be a more monumental moment of my life, but I really don’t feel anything at all from this. Maybe it’s the girl, but I feel cheated of a happy moment. If she knew my name before, why was she calling me by Vincent this entire past year? She just called me Vincent a second ago actually! Just looking at her expression makes me disgusted. Why is she looking at some crappy cult merchandise like that? It’s just a bomb/energy pendant…

“Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Do you need something?” I scooted back a little, to put some distance between me and Aria, but it was futile as she inched even closer than before.

“Not much, I was just wondering where you got that necklace of yours! If it isn’t important, would be able to gift it to me?” A sweet, captivating smile appeared on her face. I could imagine people’s jaw-dropping if they could see this smile. But I wasn’t fooled, it was suspicious enough that she would say my name correctly, but she wasn’t even trying to hide her greed.

“It’s just a trinket that my father gave to me on my fifth birthday. He absolutely loves it when he sees me wearing it, so it would be impossible for me to give this to you. Sorry!” I denied her as softly as I could, continuing to back up as fast as I could. I was also trying to stand up if only to make Aria give me a little bit more breathing room. But alas, the situation took a turn for the worse.

She grabbed my shoulder with an iron grip as I was in half-crouching position, sticking me in place. This was despite me being in the best condition in my life.

“Oh, but I think it would be possible.” A sinister aura suddenly appeared; one that was usually reserved for Ben. Aria put her face closer to mine, this time staring deep into my eyes. Her amber eyes spoke tales of murder and death, making my back covered in sweat in an instant.

What is she doing?! This is blatant robbery!

...just please don’t kill me.

“Haa, you’re right! I was just…a little absent-minded, that’s all! Just pretend I didn’t say anything earlier. This is my present to you, so don’t feel as if you need to give me anything back.”

Actually, you don’t have to feel the need to ever see me again. I’d be willing to take the initiative if that doesn’t bother you.

“Oh my, thank you! Don’t worry about the presentation; it's just icing on the top for everyone here, even if you skip it, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you!” She gave me her terms for the pendant (not like I had any choice in the matter), and I passively accepted it. She allowed me to stand up properly after removing her hand from my shoulder.

Then she grabbed the pendant.

BOOM!

It was if a bomb had gone off. A deafening sound erupted the moment Aria’s hand touched the golden goblet, from up above. There was screaming involved, but I was pretty sure that it was just Holtan. The pendant started shining a brilliant gold, rays of light spilling through her fingers. Ominous popping noises started to fill the surrounding area.

It was the roof. Cracks began appearing on the walls around us, accompanied by the moaning of rushing wind.

Then it came off. The roof just was lifted in the air, and in mid-air, I witnessed it turn into the same golden light I had seen before. Air rushed into the room, making all the members duck in cover, and Aria was forced to remove her hand from my pendant. I grabbed it again and turned around.

A chance!

I immediately ran away from Aria, hoping to make lots of distance, but then the walls started to disintegrate around us, exposing us to even more air than before. It threw me off balance, and I landed on the floor, facing me towards an open hole leading outdoors. It was here, where I witnessed one of the eeriest sights in my entire life.

I saw almost all the people on the streets float into the air, turning into golden lights, before rushing to a point above my head. All the many lights I had seen before were rushing upwards as well, creating yet another beautiful scene, which made me wonder: Where did these lights come from?

The green sky changed color once again, into a deep bloody purple color, and was darkening by the moment as if the presence of light was disappearing forever.

When half of the walls disappeared, I gained the courage to look upwards and saw the ‘UFO’ directly overhead. Except that it was a little different from how I remembered it. It was a lot bigger than before, spanning the entire building. There was a black spot in the middle, where all the aureate lights were disappearing into, widening by the second.

What the hell?! It actually is a UFO! The world is going to end; they don’t want to abduct people, they want to extinguish humanity!

Not a moment later, one of us in the room started to float upwards: Holtan. Filled with despair, he started bawling and screaming, presumably because he had seen what had happened to the others who were lifted up as he was the one closest to the window.

It happened before I realized it. Filled to the brim with energy thanks to my pendant, I got up in a split second and jumped to hold Holtan’s legs down. I didn’t really understand what this would do, but it seemed to help the situation somewhat, as Holtan’s rise had halted.

What the hell am I doing? I’m not some hero… That’s Ben’s role! Should I let go? I mean he’s already fine now, but I’m already up here, so I might as well go all the way. Damn, why am I such an idiot! Look at you, bawling and screaming, I feel like doing that even more than you! *Sigh* Its reasons like this why people don’t know my na—

All of a sudden, Holtan started rising again, albeit at a slightly slower pace than before. The thing was, I was still holding on to his legs.

Whoa! Oh my god! OH, MY GOD! I’m so dead. I’m so dead. I’m really dead this time. I think I’d rather get blown up by a bomb than disintegrate into those golden lights! Of all the ways to die, this is something I would never have thought of…

I closed my eyes in anticipation of death, wondering what the feeling of disintegration felt like.

Is it painful? I sure hope not…

But the feeling didn’t come as expected. Instead, a pair of hands found their way around my ankles, preventing both me and Holtan from rising. I opened my eyes again, waiting to see Ben holding on with all his might, but instead was greeted by Stella’s determined face. I was touched; did she remember me?

But alas, time waits for no man. After another second, we started rising once again, only to stop once more. This time it was Lisa grabbing onto Stella’s legs. I couldn’t see Lisa directly, but I could infer so because I was able to see Ben rushing over still, while Aria was glaring murderously at me.

“Thanks, Stella! You’ve saved me once again!” I felt the need to say it to Stella at least once in my life.

I didn’t receive a reply, and that was to be expected. It was something that I had bottled up for years, meaning to keep it deep in my heart. I didn’t have the bravery to say it out loud to her, but to speak it in the middle of a torrent of wind was enough for this life. In the first place, she was only paying attention to the object in the sky.

It was like a stalemate against the ‘UFO,’ everytime it wanted to pull us into its clutches, we would deny it of that chance. It was exhilarating to me, despite the fear deep in my heart

We can do this! We can survive!

It was as if it could sense my defiance, and immediately I could feel another change. The howling winds grew even faster, buffeting the entire human ladder thing we had going on. I was forced to close my eyes, as I couldn’t see anything with my hair being blown into them. Things are a lot scarier to imagine in the dark, and it was especially so when in a situation like this. The whistling wind and screams from people rising were all that I could hear. It there was hell, it was here. That was all I could think about.

We started ascending even faster, with two breaks in between, presumably when Ben and Aria joined in. Yes, we kept going up, and up, and up. It was weird because the others on the ground had disintegrated when they had risen only about 3 meters in the air.

Have we really not risen that far yet? It seemed very improbable…

Speak of the devil, and he doth appear. I could feel the pull coming from up above me slowly starting to get lighter, horrifying me. A second hadn't passed before my hands became empty. Holtan had disappeared.

It wasn’t as if he was just gone, but I could feel that he was broken down. I sensed his feelings, emotions, memories: the whole of his life was just slipping away into the air.

I was next.

I opened my eyes once again, despite the wind whipping my hair against my face. I wanted to get one last look of the world before I left it, to keep a beautiful image in my mind as I died. I wasn’t scared of death at this moment, but instead, I felt that I had accepted it, like how it was when I first met the devil. There weren’t any flashes of my life, and all worry vanished, with a smile appearing on my face.

To enter the world cluelessly, and to leave the world with a smile; It was the way my father told me he wanted to die when I was nine years old. I kept that in my heart until this day.

I bet he would never think that I would die before him either. I still don’t really believe it myself; I figured that someone would stab him in the streets long before this.

What else do people look for when they die? Regrets? I don’t really have any…

Happy moments? I don’t believe I have any of those either…

To be surrounded by friends and family? I can check that one off, my only friend in the world is right underneath me!

My smile grew, even more, self-satisfied, glad that the ideal way to die was right in my hands. Even if my life has been one filled with disappointment, I can say that I’ll die the way countless people hope they can die.

While I awaited death, my vision filled with shining golden lights as if heaven had come down to greet me into its doors before I had even died. With one last look at the sky, I screamed out into the gaping hole: “FUCK YOU! ALIENS ARE PIECES OF SHIT ANYWAY!”

I burst into laughter after hearing my self-speak nonsense and prepared myself to stay laughing to the end.

It looks like you’re having fun in the face of death. It’s quite admirable that you have this type of quality in you, despite how much of a weakling you are.

…what?

Do you have a yearning for death? It’s amazing how ignorant you are about the things around you. A fateless accompanying you in death is something that I would never even dare to imagine.

It was that stupid chuunibyou lunatic’s voice inside my head.

Do people go crazy before they die? That can’t be right, I’ve always heard that people become more lucid at the point of death…

You have the Holy Grail around your neck, yet you speak of death! How amusing!

…what the hell? I did go crazy!

I’ll help you out once again, you didn’t survive this, but I’ll let you pass on behalf of your attitude.

Before I could think of anything, I felt the control of my body cease. My hand slowly reached up to grab my pendant, then stick it in my mouth, starting to chew furiously.

?!

After a couple of bites, I spat it back out, only to watch it start to glow with sacred light. It was burning brighter and brighter, eventually resembling a miniature sun.

Not a bomb, not an energy pendant, not even cult merchandise; what the heck is this thing around my neck?!

I stared at it, dumbfounded, while cracks appeared all over the body of the pendant. As the cracks grew wider, a golden sheen appeared on the outside of my body and making its way downwards to cover everyone else.

We were still being dragged upwards, but I had an unusual sense of safety when I saw the gold cover me.

Maybe we CAN live through this! If I can survive, I’ll make sure to change my life around! I’ll tell those everyone to start calling me by my actual name, and I’ll get real friends. It’ll be—

Then the pendant blew up, right in my face.

As I sunk into darkness, I felt vast anger over a certain chuunibyou. Before I could think of anything derogatory, I saw a strangely broken figure at the edge of my receding vision.

Father, what are you doing here...