I followed the tracks that I found, by the way the highway is made on a hill so I am walking uphill and I don’t know what I am going to see after reaching the top. After walking for about an hour or so, I can finally see a settlement. The settlement looks like a sunnyside up egg with the egg yolk as an open field where there are many people gathering also in the middle of it, there’s a huge tree providing some shade for the people. But, it’s still far away. I think I still need to walk for another hour or so before I reach the town. If I am going to give an estimate on how far it is, I think it’s about 4-5 kilometers away. It’s going to be a long walk but I think its fine since the sun isn’t that hot, compared to reality, and the air is also fresher.

Based on what I can see from here, the structures are made of wood and there’s no wall or fence to keep wild animals or that bipedal rabbit away. Most of the buildings are one-story structures but near the center, the open field, there is a two-story building and a lot of people are coming in and out from it. I wonder what that structure is. Is it a department store? Well, there’s no point on thinking about it right now. Ah right, there is a mountain that could be seen on the back of the village and it seems so high since you can’t see the top of it because of the clouds also the village is approximately 10~15 meters away from the forest that surrounds it. There is also wheat plantation on the side of the highway. It seems that the staple food here is bread not rice… As a Pilipino, more likely, an Asian, my meal isn’t complete without rice… I wish that this village imports rice. Wait… In the first place, this is a dream so why should I demand rice? After all, I am going to wake up sooner or later.

I walk towards the village while keeping vigilant to the forest besides me. It’s the forest where the bipedal boxer rabbit lives and it won’t be strange for it to appear on this highway. The village is still far away from where I am right now so I better stay vigilant on my surroundings.

As I am walking, I hear footsteps coming from the forest. It sounds like a multiple being running towards where I am and the sound interval of each step is short making me assume that they are running. I draw my sword from its scabbard and prepare myself to fight and then they showed up. The group that you will always see at transported light novels and attack a certain carriage and the protagonist will drive them away. They are wearing leather armors and their weapons consist of sword, axes, and spear with their messy hair and vulgar smiles and laughs and most importantly, they stink to the point that you will wonder if they haven’t taken a bath since they were born. Yup, right now I am facing bandits. There are 3 bandits in front of me and I am not sure if there are some of them hiding inside the forest. The bandit in the center gives a vibe of a leader and his muscle are bulging while his axe is resting on his shoulders. On his left stands a small man with a spear and on his right stands a big man, smaller than the leader but still big, with his sword drawn. All of them has this wicked smile on their face.

“Hey hey~ What’s with that stance? Tryin’ to imitate the hero?”

The leader said while his underlings laugh. I don’t know who the hell this hero is but it seems that I have the same battle stance as him/her and it seems that in this dream, a [Hero] exist. Too bad I am not the [Hero] and I don’t want to be one in the first place. Being a [Hero] will only give you unnecessary attention of the populace. Making you conscious on how you move and act since the [Hero] must move and act in a righteous way. There’s a time where I aspire to become a [Hero] and had a dream about becoming a [Hero] but as I grew up, that feeling fades away.

“Ya know~ If ya leave everything ya have then we will let ya go~”

“Kuku… Boss is right, we will let you go if you leave everything here”

The leader and the small one said. But I ignored what they say and slowly retreated back to the forest, luckily they aren’t surrounding me and give me a way to retreat but not too long after that, I realize that I am naïve. On my back, I heard a laughter coming out from the forest. It was followed by footsteps slowly walking towards my back while dragging something heavy. When I look back, I saw a man, bigger than the leader dragging a big hammer on his back while smiling creepily at me. Then the small one went to my right while the one on the right side of the boss went to my left. Right now, they are encircling me.

‘This is bad!!! I let them surround me!’

I scream in my head while I hold the sword with both of my hands. What kind of dream is this!! Letting me meet a bandit while I’m still weak and moreover, 4 of them at the same time! Should I attack first? Or let them attack me? What if they attack at me at the same time? Can I avoid or deflect their attacks? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! Whatever! If I lose then I wake up and if I win then the dream continue! But the problem is… To whom should I start?

I feel my hands getting wet and sweat started to form at my forehead.

“Soo~ what ya gonna do? Fight or leave everything you have?”

The boss said again while I am thinking on who should I attack first. If I rush towards the boss then the spear user can stop me and the hammer user can just swing his hammer at my back, same if I rush towards him and if I choose the axe user, I will be showing my back to the spear user. Maybe I should start with the hammer? He’s the nearest to me in the first place but the problem is his weapon. It seems heavy and one wrong move then I’ll die but if I let them attack me first then I’ll surely die! The outcome will be the same so I’ll do it!

After deciding whom I’m going to attack first, I quickly turn my body towards my target, the hammer user. The big man holds the handle with his two arms and swings the hammer vertically but I quickly lower my body while running towards him making his attack pass overhead. The wind generated by his attack is no joke but I continued to run and when his on the range of my sword, I sweep it sideways but the man jumps into the air dodging my attack. I see him raising his arms above his head aiming to swing down his hammer towards me but I didn’t stop running. Then, he swings his hammer down but I am no longer in the reach of the hammer part. I swing my sword upwards with both of my hand while giving it all of my strength aiming at the wooden handle. The handle was cleanly cut and numbness spread in my hands but I let my sword flow towards his neck. I know I am going to kill this guy but it is a dream so I should not let my moral affect me right now. The sword manages to cut his neck sending his head flying while scattering blood here and there. His neck looks like a fountain because of the blood spurting out from it but I didn’t let it bother me. There are still 3 enemies at my back!

I run towards the forest while hearing an enrage screams at my back. Suddenly, I feel something uncomfortable at my back so I quickly turn my body towards it only to see a spear aiming at my chest. I tried to avoid it but it pierces my right shoulder and pain started to run at my body. ‘Weird… I should not feel pain if this is a dream’ but my thoughts was taken by the pain of spear being pulled out of my wound. After that, I can’t feel my right hand and I can see the sword slipping out from it. I hurriedly catch it with my left hand and deflect an incoming spear. After successfully deflecting it, I can see the axe user swing down his axe so I deflect it again but matching the timing I am deflecting the axe, the spear user once again strike at me.

‘Shit!’

I hurriedly twist my body but the spear managed to graze my body leaving a mark on my leather armor. At that time, I thought I am saved but the leader joins the attack and swing his sword aiming at my neck. I jump backwards while the sword manages to leave a small cut on my neck. It’s not fatal just a small cut but I never thought that I can avoid that attack. My feet successfully lands on the ground but the hammer that I cut before made me trip and I fall down on my butt. Without letting go of that chance, the axe user and spear user attacks me. The axe user’s attack has a short reach so I tried to deflect the spear that aimed at my chest. Upon deflecting the strike at my chest, the spear continues to come forward and if I leave it alone, it will pierce my face! I tilted my face sideward but the spear still managed to cut my cheeks but without waiting for the spear user to withdraw his weapon, the axe user swings his weapon aiming at my head. I quickly block his weapon but due to his swing, I almost let go of my sword and let his attack land on me. The axe user suddenly grinned and put pressure to my sword forcing me to give my strength towards it and after a while, I understand why he grinned. The sword user intended to stab my face while the spear user aims at my chest.

This is it… Its game over

I close my eyes and brace myself to the incoming pain but it never happen. I guess when you were stab in the face you won’t feel it since it will surely skewer your brain… But to think that I assumed this is a dream… Well, it can’t be help after all those unrealistic I’ve experience starting at the jeepney, I’ll really think that it is a dream as a way to escape reality. So, I died two times in a single day… Nobody can do that Jasper!

*Thud thud thud*

A sound of body collapsing to the ground could be heard while I accept the fact that I am going to die. I feel the pressure in my left slowly disappear while the axe seems to be falling slowly.

“Hey… Open your eyes.”

I heard a girl voice talking to me. Is this the voice of the God? I thought that God is a man since I was a kid but… It is a god so gender doesn’t matter to him/her/it right? Just as the voice said, I slowly open my eyes and what I saw is the axe user with an arrow embedded to its temple. I look around and see the spear user’s corpse with an arrow at the back of its head the same goes for the leader. The sword is currently pointing at my groin.

“I’m…. still alive?”

I muttered and look towards the girl who said to open my eyes. She’s wearing a brown villager dress while holding a basket full of herbs on her right hand. Her black hair fall down towards her waist and a handkerchief tied on her head like a hat. Her black eyes under her glasses seem to be worried about me. Her face that put model to shame and she gives a strict person aura due to wearing glasses. A familiar face with her familiar voice, the girl standing in front of me is none other than Kaezar Padilla…

“K-kaezar….”

I muttered as I lose my consciousness due to exhaustion.

I wake up facing a white ceiling.

“I see… I lost consciousness”

I said to myself as I, Kaezar Padilla, am looking around for my glasses. My eyesight is bad so I can only roughly see the shape of my surroundings. On my right, there’s a blurry shape of a desk and there I saw the familiar shape of my glasses. I reach out my hand to it and notice that there is someone sitting in a chair before the bed, since I can’t see that person clearly, I don’t know who it is so I wear my glasses and look at that person again. It is a man with a blonde hair while his pair of brown eyes looks at me while smiling. He’s wearing the university uniform a proof that he’s a student enrolled in this university. He is Jack Anderson, a half-American half-Pilipino student. He’s also working as student assistant on the university clinic so I met him before since I have a sickly body.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He said while smiling but on his eyes, you can see that he’s worried about me.

“I’m sorry for bothering you again.”

“No no, it’s fine. It’s my job as a student assistant… and even if it’s not my job, I’ll still take care of you.”

“!”

H-h-how can he say something like that without feeling embarrassed! Jack is, how should I say this, an informal suitor of mine? Well in my first year as a student in this university, I met him in this place and with the same situation. He’s a year above me and even back then, he’s working here. The first time we met was when I fainted at school orientation seminar. Since then he’s taking care of me every time I faint and one day, he declared that he loves me and ask if it’s okay for him to court me. I rejected him but instead of giving up, he continued to court me until today. It’s been a year already but he hasn’t given up yet. Seriously, I already told him over and over again that I have someone I like and relationship isn’t my priority right now but he just smiled and said “I can wait you know… and even if you like someone as long as you’re not in a relationship with him, I can still court you right?” That statement of his made me speechless and just said “Do as you like!” But please, don’t think badly of me, I clearly told him that I don’t like him, romantically, but he still continues to do it. I don’t know why his still courting me even though he’s popular with other girls.

I keep my head down hoping that he won’t notice my flushed face.

‘Seriously! This guy is persistent! Does he love me that much?’

The door of the clinic suddenly opens and I can hear hurried steps towards me. I look up and see my cousin, Graziel, looking at me worriedly but when she noticed Jack, she smile shrewdly. What’s up with that smile!

“Jack, I’m sorry for bothering your ‘Quality Time’ but I am worried for my cousin…. Well, she’s already awake so I think she’s already alright. The third wheel is now exiting the scene~~ Good luck!”

“W-w-w-what’s with this ‘Quality Time’?! I-it’s not like that!”

I shouted at Graziel while my face feels hot. She really likes to tease us! Jack is simply doing his work nothing more nothing less! And what did she mean by ‘third wheel’? We aren’t doing anything so why would she be a third wheel!

“Hey, stop teasing her. Look, her face is now read.”

Thank you Jack! Go and scold her more!

“Well, she’s cuter while embarrassed right?”

“!”

“You’re right, she’s cuter this way.”

Jack said while smiling refreshingly.

“Aahh!! Seriously! You two really get along! Jack! Why don’t you just shift your attention to my cousin since you two get along too well!”

“Don’t tell me, Kaezar is jealous of me?”

My cousin said while hiding her mischievous smile with her hand. Hearing that, Jack chuckled and said…

“Don’t be jealous Kaezar, my love is for you alone.”

This guy!!!

“I’M GOING TO SLEEP SO LEAVE ME ALONE BOTH OF YOU!”

I pull the blanket and cover my whole body with it while facing my back to them. Seriously, Graziel likes to tease me and Jack can naturally say those embarrassing lines with a straight face! I close my eyes as I hear them giggle behind me.

After a while we hear the relaxed breathing of Kaezar while I, Jack Anderson, face her cousin Graziel.

“Thank you for helping me divert her attention.”

“It’s alright, I’m quite worried about her and I think that being alone with you will not help her right now.”

Graziel said while she pull down the blanket of Kaezar to her shoulder while taking her glasses.

“But seriously, I am quite impressed by you. You keep on loving her even though you know that she loves somebody else. Not anyone can do that…”

Yup, I already know she loves somebody else. She already told me that but she never mentions a name. Even if she didn’t tell me who it is, I already know. The guy she likes is Jasper Perez, a student of different university and I heard that he’s her classmate on her high school days. I already met him due to our common friends and every time I see her with him, her smile can’t be compared to her normal smile. As if she’s enjoying every second she spend with him. It hurts when I see her smile like that and how many times did my mind told me to give up yet… here I am hoping that one day, that smile of her will be directed to me. I guess I really love her that much…. But there is something I don’t understand about that guy. I can feel that he also love her but he’s not making any move towards her. As if something’s holding him back and that ‘something’ is strong enough for him to hold back, I wanted to ask him about it but every time I tried to ask, my chest hurt and thought that if he became free of that something then he would take her away… that thought scares me the most. I smiled bitterly on my cowardice…

“Hey, is there news about ‘that’ incident?”

I ask Graziel about ‘that’. That incident is the cause why Kaezar fainted, the incident where an abandoned jeepney was found in the middle of the road. Normally, if that happens then we would just feel a little worried about our own safety but sadly enough, that guy, Jasper Perez, is a passenger of that jeepney. The guy that Kaezar loves, my love rival and my friend.

“There’s none, the police are still investigating about it and I think it will take too long before they solve it.”

The mysterious disappearance of the driver and the passengers of a certain jeepney… I heard it on the news that the jeepney was in a bad shape and there are traces of blood inside but the strange thing is, there are no corpses inside only their belongings are found. If this done by a terrorist group then they will surely ask for ransom money from the government but strangely enough the terrorist group isn’t asking for a ransom money nor claiming that they did it. The police believed that every person inside the jeepney was dead but I feel that isn’t the case… If they really are dead, then why there’s no corpses to be found, even if the perpetrator hid the corpses, there will be a track of blood that leads to it but there are none. Honestly, I don’t know what is happening in this country right now…

Seriously, where are you right now Jasper? I can’t stand seeing Kaezar like this, so even if you take her away from me, right now I think it’s okay. Just let me see her smile lovingly even if it’s not for me…