"_____-up"

"Wake up! Hurry!"

Asuka felt someone shaking her over and over again. With a soft groan, she opened her eyes to see an unknown man.

"Who..."

"Shhh.. I'll explain everything to you later. But we should get out of here first"

She didn't know who this stranger was or how he came here. But all that mattered to her right now is that this stranger is willing to help her. Whoever he is, it's better than staying with her mentally unstable friend.

"Why're you helping me?"

"I'm the follower of God of Judgement, a person who's responsible to take you back to your world"

As soon as she heard that, Asuka took her hand away from his grip and stopped walking.

"What're you doing? We've to hurry before he-.."

Before the man could finish his words, the smaller girl grabbed him from his collar tightly, looking right into his eyes with glare that could kill.

"So you're the bastard who brought me here? Explain or I'll scream right now and notice Usato. I'm sure he won't let you get away easily"

If possible she wanted to punch him in the face or threaten him to take her to the f*cking God of whatever just to curse that damn god who put her in this hell. The mental and physical pain she has experienced after coming to this crazy world.. Just thinking about it makes her anger boil.

"Okay calm down human. We've to get away from that guy first. And I'm not the one who brought you here, nor the God of Judgement. It was his heir's mistake to release the 'dark angel' and cause a time loop. I'm helping you while the system isn't active. If the system got fixed then you'll immediately reach a bad ending, lose a point and when a new route starts, the hidden character and the 'dark angel' will trap you here forever!"

It took her a while to understand all those crap he was talking about. So basically, she's here because some idiotic son of a bi-.. no, son of a god made a mistake, released whatever the dark angel is and now she's in danger even though she didn't do anything wrong?

"Then were you sent by the person or whatever who brought me here?"

"I told you I'll explain later!" He shouted, grabbed her wrist again and started running. The mansion was like a maze but the unknown guy seems to know his way quite well.

In few minutes of running nonstop they sneaked out of the mansion, managed to pass the guards and reach the ocean. There was a ship hidden by bushes. After removing them, they hurriedly get on the ship.

"We're free now. Explain everything" Asuka asked the as the man started driving the ship.

"Just ask me what you want to know"

"Then what will happen if I lose the game?"

Actually she imagined what'd happen if she got stuck here forever. She'll probably stay trapped in here without any way out, repeating the routes over and over again.

"The system will disappear and the 'dark angel' will took it's place to create new worlds and make time loop. Those bastards are like what you humans call a 'virus', they make everything in human mind reality and everytime a new world is created, time loop is also created. Using that chance they bring their future or old version to add on their numbers. Fortunately it's his first world so we've a chance to stop him"

Unlike what she actually expected, this man was more humane like, such as his speech and knowledge.

"Are you human or some other worldly creature like those dark angels?"

She was staring at his back this whole time as they speak but it was easy to notice he got angry after her last question.

"Don't you dare compare me to those evil beings. I'm a faithful follower of God of Judgement, the most honest being! I'm not an angel yet but I will be one if I rescue you, the only soul that wasn't created by the dark angel"

'Isn't that like an employee trying to impress their boss and get promoted? Does he get a salary?"

Asuka was curious but that wasn't important right now.

"Then what about that bastard who brought me here? Is he going to help me?"

It took him a moment to reply.

"Well.. he probably won't... help you"

"Why?! It's literally his fault for releasing the dark angel or whatever! Isn't he the one who started all this crap?!"

She said the last part louder than she intended. Asuka simply couldn't control her anger. Also the cold weather wasn't helping her situation at all as she was just in her pajamas.

"You see, his holiness has went to other dimension and is currently absent. His son is trying his best to hide his mistake so that he won't receive a punishment or worse, lose his position. My mission was to make you fail this game and lock you here forever along with the dark angel"

"So you disobeyed his order?"

"Yes. I'm the follower of God of Judgement. And I judge you as someone who doesn't deserve all this. The next heir is simply too incompetent to be the next god"

Asuka thought the man is like a knight that follows only their king's words and no one else's, even if that person is the king's own son. It made him look very trustworthy. For the first time, she met someone who she can actually believe and definitely won't turn into a lovesick psycho.

Also what he just said makes a lot of sense. She doesn't know much about the gods or other stuff he's talking about as she didn't even believe them in the first place. However if such a being really does exist, they certainly won't care about someone like her dying accidentally. After she's nothing but another person who has no special traits or whatsoever.

But it might be a little different if that god has name Judgments on their title. She hoped the real god to consider her situation and act accordingly unlike his stupid heir, son or whatever he's called.

Because he sounded very frustrated and disappointed at the facts he just stated, she tried to change the subject.

"Where're we going?"

"To somewhere they won't find us. It maybe a world made of human's imagination but there're still many other countries and places since this world is basically the copy of Earth"

"I see"

She was feeling very sleepy but because of the coldness, she couldn't sleep. Seeing her squirming around like that, the man took a pity on her and lend her his coat.

"Won't you be cold yourself?"

"Just a bit of coldness is nothing to an immortal creature like me" he proudly said, his eyes still focused on the ocean. However in reality he was feeling very cold. The only thing that prevented from taking back his coat was his pride.

"Thank you. By the way, what's your name?"

"Immortal beings don't have a name. We're addressed by our title" He answered confidently as usual.

"That's so sad" Asuka's mumble didn't go unheard by the man.

"Why is that sad? I'm telling you, we're immortal!"

"Because only thing that'd describe you will be your work. I'd rather die than live forever like that"

"Hmph, weak mortal humans like you won't be able to understand the greatness of us, immortals"

"Yeah yeah, I understand"

"...."

He was speechless. Although what she said was true, he wanted to deny it somehow. What's so important about being called by a name? And why did she give up so easily without arguing back? Such a weird human...

"Truthfully, I got myself a name after living here for sometime in mortal body"

"Oh really? What is it?"

"John"

"Any last names?"

"No. That's all"

"What the hell. That's boring.. you should.. have just...added....another..."

Her voice slowly faded away as she succumbed into darkness, due to fatigue and stress. It was okay to sleep now since she has an ally that won't harm her. Probably.

"What the.. real humans are so weird" John sighed as he watched her sleeping form.

The two of them still had a long way to go.

________