Credits: Thanks, JayDirex.

Under the night sky, in the backyard of his house, there stood a lone boy deep in his thoughts while gazing at the stars.

Ah, my both of my feet are starting to hurt. Just standing here is not making my head cool any faster...

Something bothered the mind of the lonely boy. And so, he moved his gaze towards his wrists and started doing a monologue for some reason.

"Become poor or be subjected to lots of torture... Such a hard choice. Not that I get to be able to choose anyways," muttered the boy to himself while looking at his wrists.

Fresh bruises covered most of his wrists. The freshness proved that someone or something must have caused it just recently.

"Who the hell wants to live alone with those two demonic little sisters of mine anyways? No fighting back my ass!" angrily yelled the boy while clenching his fists as he stomped on the ground with force.

He paused a bit and turned around to look behind. There, he saw his normal looking 2-storey house, but only for a moment as he shortly turned around again to continue his rant.

"Good, good. No one saw me say that... Now where was I? Oh, right! --They always violently attack me and I even when I call them out on it, my parents still won't do a damn thing!" said the boy while forcing a frown and gritting his teeth.

The boy's his facial expression suddenly became neutral. He looked behind him again, but this time, he waited for a few seconds before turning back to his previous direction.

"...I really hope no one saw that. Ahh~ This is so embarrassing."

He felt goose bumps as he imagined how awkward it would be if his family members saw his little solo performance.

After that short monologue, he turned around in order to face the direction of his house again. This time, for good.

"Uhh, oh right, my finale. --But now that my parents will be gone for a while, no one can stop my... My revenge! Mwahaha!"

The boy extended his right hand forward and grasped the air. From his point of view, it looked like he just squeezed the whole house with his hand.

"John? Are you talking to someone?"

A male voice suddenly came from the direction of the house. To be precise, it came from the second floor's balcony which faced the backyard.

"Mwahahaaa--? Bffkhh! Cough! Cough! What the hell!? No wait, I mean, what is it, dad? N-need something?" replied the stuttering boy named John upon seeing his father pop out of the balcony.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought I heard someone so I came to check. What were you doing just now?" asked John's father while pressing himself against the balcony.

"What? Oh, haha! Nothing! I was just reciting some recipes for cooking," replied John with a smile while desperately avoiding eye-contact, despite his father being too far away for them to actually have eye-contact.

"...Okay, just don't sleep too late. Just like you said, you will need to cook for yourselves starting tomorrow since your step-mom and I will be leaving after midnight."

John's father went back inside the house after he said his words to John.

Finally released from the pressure due to almost getting himself caught doing an embarrassing act, John decided to idle around for a few more minutes.

"Sigh... Time to sleep. I just hope I can survive the following days of being alone with those two bitc- Err, girls..."

John tried to head back inside the house, but before that...

Without warning, a blindingly bright light appeared just a few meters above him.

"Huh? What the? Can't see," said John while blocking his eyes as he faced the hovering light from above.

"StAte yOur nAMe."

A voice reached John's ears, asking for his name.

"...Wait, what?" murmured John, not understanding what he just heard. He wanted to know who said it so he looked around. He tried but he could not discern where or which direction it came from.

Unable to find anyone else who could possibly be the source of the voice, he reflexively stared at the unnatural light.

"ONce aGaiN, I sAy, stAte yOur nAme."

This time, he felt a chill down his spine.

Wait, why is there such a bright light at this tim-- Oh shit! C-could it be... Aliens?

He clearly heard the voice. To him, it felt like the words came from both the hovering light and inside his head at the same time.

A static-like, gut wrenching, unrecognizable voice. He could not determine whether the voice belonged to a male or a female, or whether it came from a human at all. He only knew, no, he felt that he needed to obey and answer the voice said at any cost.

"M-my name is John."

He could barely contain himself as he struggled to not move a muscle while standing still like an unmoving statue.

"...UnDerstOOd. BuT I doN't lIke yOur nAme. Jun... Jon... Jen... Jin... Jan... YOur nAme wILL nOw bE Jan."

"...Huh?" John could not comprehend what the voice just said. He could only stand idly, trying to decipher the meaning of the voice's words, all while still staring at the hovering light.

"NonOnoNo, oN sEconD thOught. Jan sOunds unfIt arOund hEre. I'lL cAll yOu John instEad. SOrrY bUt I'lL bE trOublIng yOu fOr a bIt, John."

After the voice finished saying it's sentence, John did not have any time to retort back with "My name is already John!" like he intended to since something else happened immediately.

The light went down onto the ground, slowly shaped itself into a pure white crack on an empty space, its height and witdh matching that of an average door, and from within it out came a brighter beam of light which shot towards John.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--!!"

Due to the sudden panic caused by the situation, John fell on his butt while shouting with closed eyes, expecting the light to hit him any moment now...

"--aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--!!"

Any moment now...

"--aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--!!"

.....Nothing happened.

"--aaaaaaai think I'm going crazy... Did I just have a hallucination? I really need to go get some sleep now," said John as he slowly stood up.

After tidying himself up, he went inside the house and headed straight to his room.

<><><><><><><><>

"--ake up..."

John heard a vague voice.

"Wake up..."

He heard it again. This time, the voice became clearer. It belonged to a girl.

"John! Wake up!"

In response to the voice, John slowly opened his eyes. He found himself sitting on a chair while hunched over his desk as if in a sleeping position. Realizing that, he raised his head and looked around him.

"Mnh... Huh? Why am I here in the classroom? ...Oh, wait. I was dreaming about that night again."

Shortly after that, he finally noticed the Class President standing right next to him.

"Hn? Class Prez? What do you want?" asked John as he rubbed his half-closed eyes while facing the direction of the Class President.

"You can't sleep during our class!!!" shouted the Class President right directly at John's ears, fully waking him up in the process while making his head hurt. This of course, caused a minor side-effect. That effect being...

To John, the Class President looked just like a person from inside a muted television. She kept moving her mouth without any sound coming from it. Or at least that's how it seemed.

Finding no quick solution to this minor problem, John decided to mindlessly stare and wait for her to finish speaking instead.

"....And...while... And so, you get what I'm saying?"

"...What? Whatever it is you're trying to say, I'm sorry. My ears are still ringing right now thanks to you," said John while covering his ears.

He of course already recovered enough to hear her properly but he ultimately decided to act like otherwise instead.

"Whatever! Just learn to control yourself, or better yet, learn to sleep on a bed instead of your desk for once," said the Class President while looking annoyed.

"Oh yeah!? How about you try not appearing on my bed all of a sudden? Why were you even on my house last night anyways?" retorted John as he slammed at his desk.

Although John did not know, his words attracted different types of gazes from the many classmates already listening to their loud exchange. Both good and bad gazes.

"Y-you be quiet! Everyone will misunderstand!"

The Class President blushed shortly before she started weakly pummeling John in retaliation. Meanwhile, John tried to shield himself despite the attacks doing no actual harm.

"No, hey! Hey! Stop that! It's getting annoying!"

All of a sudden, someone banged on the huge blackboard in front of the entire class three times.

The loud sound caught everyone's attention.

Every student inside the classroom, including both the bickering John and the Class President, turned to the source of the sound. It came from the female teacher banging on the blackboard with a meter stick.

"Class President, stop that! John, you too! Stop sleeping during class hours and listen to my lecture!" yelled the female teacher while pointing her meter stick towards John and the Class President.

"...Yes Ma'am," replied both John and the Class President. The Class President returned to her seat afterwards.

"Good. Oh! Now that I remember it, John. I'll go to your house today to ensure that you study and sleep on time," said the teacher as she crossed her arms after placing down the meter stick she just used.

Oh no! Not again! I'm sure this will start the usual chain reaction! Damn, why did the teacher have to say that!?

Not long after John thought that, his predictions came true.

"Me too! I wanna go too!", "Same here!", "I'll tag along!", etc. etc.

Like the teacher, the girls of the class also stated their own plans and wishes to go to John's house.

Of course, except for John, all the boys of the class won't take the events that kindly.

"Why!? This is no fair!", "John, you lucky bastard!", "I'll forgive you if you take me to your house!", "I'll turn this John into a realistic zombie!", etc. etc.

You guys wouldn't be jealous if you know how bad this situation really is! I can't even sleep peacefully anymore!

John could only curse and make up excuses inside his head as the situation grew worse.

Again, the teacher banged on the blackboard using her meter stick to call for everyone's attention.

"Everyone! Be quiet! I'll start the lecture for the History now," said the teacher after looking around to make sure she successfully silenced the students.

The students remained silent as they listened to the teacher's lecture. John however, instead of listening to the teacher, just sank deep into his thoughts.

"After World War Three ended, most of the powerful nations fell--"

That dream... No, I think it was more like a memory.

"--everyone ignored the ban on using nuclear missiles--"

I remember now. The girls started acting weird about a week ago, or to be exact, the day my parents left for their business trip...

"--Lots of children were orphaned so the military took them in and--"

It was also that very same day that my sisters suddenly apologized to me. Although, I still think they're planning something behind my back, just waiting for their chance...

"--A few years later, after the end of the war, the side-effects of nuking each other started to show--"

Wait, what if my sisters coerced all these girls here into staging a big prank for me? I know how much of a jerk my sisters are. If so...

"--So when you see someone with colored hair, it's most likely their natural hair color--"

Even then, some girls who's names I don't even know are starting to act weird too. It's so obvious. I won't fall for their tricks anymore! That's why...

"--Along with physical changes came the cultural changes all over the world and... John? John, are you listening?"

I'll never be deceived by their fake love for me! Come at me all you want but I will neve--

"John! Stand up and repeat what I just said!" shouted the teacher, interrupting John's thoughts.

John immediately stood up and tried to come up with words.

"Ah! Huh? Uhh, err... Something about fake--"

"F-fake? Ah, N-never mind, continue," said the teacher while blushing and covering her breasts from John's sight.

She looked concerned about something around her chest area, but John did not care about that due to the struggle to find an appropriate answer.

He instead tried to make up his own answer on the spot.

"I, uh, I mean, deceiving the soldiers and fake world leaders to--"

Without warning, the school bell rang, interrupting John's sentence.

"--Oh! Time to go home! Thanks for the lessons, teacher," said John as he stood up and began quickly packing his things.

"O-okay! I'll go to your home after I get my things at the faculty office," replied the blushing teacher.

Afterwards, she left the classroom with heavy footsteps while murmuring something like, "I can't believe he found out..."

Ah dammit! I have to hurry up or else they will catch me and force their way into my house!

As John thought that, someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Hey! How's my best friend doing? Are you free this Friday?" said a male student while giving John a smug look.

"Sigh... Need something, Jason?" coldly asked John while continuing to pack his things.

"Awe, don't be like that! I'm being considerate to you since I'm your only real friend, you know?" said Jason, as he placed a hand on John's shoulder.

"Tch! Why you--!! Sigh..."

Because of the passive-aggressive tone of the last sentence, John wanted to hit Jason, but he eventually managed to calm himself down. He then continued to ask Jason while having a clenched fist prepared,

"Come on, out with it. What do you want? Why Friday?"

"That's more like it! You see, I've got these tickets for a concert here!" replied the smiling Jason while using his other hand to wave around two tickets in front of John's face.

"...Oh! Isn't that the upcoming concert of that one new famous Idol called Hielo?" asked John with a curious look on his face after he finished packing his things.

"Yeah. So what do you think? Interested in my offer?" replied Jason with a proud look, waving around the tickets even faster.

"Yeaaaah, no. Sorry, but I have plans. Ask again some other time."

"Man, you're such a kill-joy. Oh well, see ya' tomorrow!" said Jason as he left the room.

Did I really have plans this coming Friday? Hmmm... I'm pretty sure that I made a promise to come with this one girl who I can't really remember the name of, but... Wait, never mind the girl. I have a plan now! I'll definitely enjoy myself this Friday! I'll take a break from all of this turmoil, all by myself! Completely alone!

As John thought that, he exited the room with a happy smile, not knowing what fate awaited him in the following days.

Upon reaching the school gate, John spotted a variety of girls waiting for him.

Girls with colorful hair, little girls, adult women who look like little girls, girls from another school, and many other girls grouped up together while waiting for John.

Wait, why are there girls gathered by the school gate? And is that our teacher? ...Oh no.

John did not realize that he wasted too much time talking to Jason earlier.