The vast meadow stretched out like an endless ocean of gently undulating green grass, interrupted only by isolated, gnarled trees that rose defiantly into the once blue sky.
Every stalk of grass seemed to cower under the weight of an invisible heaviness, as if the environment itself had laid a heavy shroud of grief and doom over the landscape, turning the once vibrant green meadow into a dead and pale gray.
In the middle of this silent grave was a large wolf...
But not just any wolf, but a creature shrouded in pure darkness.
Its dense, snow-white fur, fluttering slightly in the gentle wind, looked like a wave of shadow. The black aura that surrounded him seemed to pulsate as the grass on his paws withered and decayed.
His breathing was heavy, and a low growl vibrated in his vocal cords.
"You look pretty vicious when you stare at me like that." Number Two looked calmly towards him, but without any interest in finding the source of this aura, nor the reason behind this sudden transformation.
A scornful grin graced his lips, with no trace of fear on his face.
"But whatever. Since you got in my way, I should punish you for it. Just once and for all. DIE!"
Behind him, three large magical circles drew their lines, glowing red-hot, blazing and crackling like glowing iron wheels of fire.
The air shimmered with heat as multiple arrows of fire detached themselves from the circles with a bright hiss and plunged towards the wolf at breakneck speed. Each arrow, combined with an exploding after-effect, was designed not only to pierce and incinerate his opponent, but to destroy both him and everything around.
A long, bloodcurdling howl made the ground shake. With a roar that seemed to tear through the sky, the wolf unleashed a wave of shadow.
The darkness thickened abruptly, forming an invisible shield that stopped the arrows. Or rather devoured them, like it was the monster's second stomach.
Number Two still didn't make a face.
He had already played his part in various battles in his past and gained experience. Whether it was a human or a monster, or even a high-rank monster from a deep dungeon.
If he had not experienced those things in his past, he would hardly have become a vice commander now, moreover the person he is now.
"So, close combat then."
He dropped Monika on the grass next to Number Three and pushed himself off the ground calmly but strongly. He flew towards the wolf in an arc and created several small circles of magic around his arms and over his body.
Flame spears shot at him, again at high speed, but the big wolf countered the attack again, this time with a quick dash to the side.
It seemed that Kaito's monstrous wolf form had developed keener senses than his previous half-wolf form.
The place where he had been standing suddenly exploded under the force of the impact.
The pressure waves drove down the grass. But the vice-commander immediately followed up, his newly created spears now pursuing Kaito like homing missiles.
But the beast was faster. With its animalistic precision, it dodged and whirled around, its paws tearing up the earth as it struck back.
A sharp spark flew as one of the glowing blades grazed the wolf's shoulder. Blood dripped down onto the grass, but the blood was not red like that of a human. It was pitch black like the night and thick, it looked like dark matter.
Kaito continued to growl, his eyes flashing. In one movement, he was in front of Number Two. Time seemed to stand still for a moment as his huge claws struck the magic circle and canceled its activation.
His sharp teeth approached his leg to gnaw at it like a chew bone.
But Number Two reacted quickly and pushed him back with a shockwave of wind and light magic.
After a loud bang, both were pushed apart, the vice-commander managed to roll away in time and quickly got up again like nothing happened. However, the lingering injuries of such a close attack were not necessarily avoidable even for a human, resulting in droplets of blood staining his forehead and his entire right arm red.
He huffed in annoyance. "You're pretty annoying, you know that?"
Unexpectedly, he noticed a twitch on his left leg. When he looked at the ground, he found Number Three, whose body was stirring weakly, and the girl with pitch-black hair. Number Two hadn't even noticed that both Number Three and Monika were in his current surroundings after the shockwave.
Have I become so foolish as to get involved in such a stupid fight and forget about my surroundings and my actual task? the vice-commander asked himself.
"Nh... Hm?" Number Three slowly opened his eyes and looked around disoriented as he half straightened his strapping body and his cloak blew slightly in the wind.
"What's going on here? Where am I?" He didn't understand how he suddenly emerged from a stony room onto a vast landscape, although he tried hard to remember, he couldn't recall that particular scenario, as if his memory had a blackout after a long night of drinking.
But then his eyes fell on Number Two, who was next to him. "Ah! What are you doing here, you brat?"
"Oh, you're awake. How nice." Number Two was probably very pleased that his colleague had woken up again, as he could tell from his broad smile and cheerful expression.
This expression, of course, was just a facade...
"Now DIE!"
"...Huh?"
A black leather shoe hit Kaito's father's well-trained body and sent him flying effortlessly, but at the same time with great force, without Number Three being able to do anything about it.
Time seemed to pass for him in slow motion as he saw a wide, hemic grin in front of him, with narrow glittering eyes that were like the evil itself. But he didn't even notice how the other evil was running towards, right behind him, its mouth wide open.
And devoured him in a single bite.
Number Three's blood filled the big wolf's mouth. Its sharp teeth were stained red and bodily fluids flowed down from the gaps between them, watering the already decomposed plants.
"This guy is crazy! Hahahhhh!" laughed Number Two loudly. "It would be a shame to kill you. You could be a perfect killer-toy for us, I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind."
If I could at least knock him out or even tame him and introduce him to the boss, I might get a reward from him.
"I guess taming him won't do any good with this wild beast. But there's nothing easier than knocking him unconscious. I'm getting tired of holding back..."
The vice-commander paused briefly when he saw his opponent in front of him. But there was something strange about him. His red eyes were not looking at him.
Number Two followed his gaze in astonishment, which landed on the girl to his right, her unconscious body motionless.
"Tsk. Even in this form, you only have eyes for this runt, huh. Even though you're an oh-so-great and monstrous wolf that could destroy the entire kingdom on its own, you still want to play the hero and save your princess?"
Disgusted, he looked at Monika, reaching out and holding her by her hair in front of his face. "I still can't believe that I, the vice-commander, one of the strongest in our organization... Or even the entire continent, am not considered a worthy opponent and at the same time still being subordinated by a puny woman with no special talents."
What am I even talking about? Why do I even care about being recognized as worthy when I'm stronger than everyone here anyway? Exactly. I could send both the girl and the boy to the land of hell with a single spell... But why didn't I do that?
Caught up in his thoughts, Number Two heard the growl of the white wolf. He finally realized it...
"Ah, right... I was taught this spell and I had mastered it too, but... it's no fun to kill someone this way!"
Suddenly, the vice-commander threw the girl, who bore the code name Number Seven, in Kaito's direction as well, landing right in front of him on the cold ground.
"If you want her so badly, then take her! I had no use for her to begin with anyway. I still don't understand why the boss hadn't killed her yet, even though she failed her mission!"
The wolf wasn't interested in any rambling. Instead, he approached the lifeless-looking body, growling, while the blood of his previous victim still dripped from his mouth.
He was now standing directly over her. However, he did not devour her like his father, Number Three, but stared at her with his reddish glowing eyes and continued to growl deeply like a monster.
"...Ha... Ha... Kai... to..."
Something suddenly squeaked just before the girl with pitch-black hair slowly raised her eyelids, trembling. Her vision was blurred, but she still recognized the outline of a large wolf in front of her and felt liquid drops landing on her face.
However, she was not frightened. In fact, she remained calm on the withered ground and looked at him with sparkling emerald green eyes.
Sparkling like fireflies, small lights appeared, dancing around a few hundred meters from the actual chaos and trailing multi-coloured veils behind them. Sometimes red, sometimes blue and sometimes green, they pulsed as they joined together and took on the shape of a magic circle.
A short time later, this circle illuminated part of its surroundings, but then disappeared, shattering as if two glasses had been thrown together.
Small dust-like lights illuminated a small group of five figures as they looked around their new and unfamiliar surroundings for the first time. Nevertheless, their vision was still slightly blurred and indistinct due to the spell. It took a moment before the contours of the surroundings slowly became clearer and the group found themselves in a vast landscape.
"So, here we are..." Dorilla, the hero known for his gorilla-like appearance, was suddenly speechless as he looked up with wide, frightened eyes at an unfamiliar bloodthirsty monster.
"Huh? What's wrong?" the small blonde, Alicia, asked him, glancing in the same direction as Dorilla.
But when she saw the same thing, she also froze like a block of ice.
"Pa-" "-pa?" the two little dragon girls, Eiko and Reiko, whispered cautiously as they found their father, Kaito, now standing in front of them as a large wolf with a strong dark aura.
Despite their fear, they dared to try and took a step forward with the impression of having an idea. A method that could possibly bring their father to his senses.
"PAPA!!!" Eiko and Reiko shouted.
The wolf heard their squeaky but tender voices and turned his gaze away from Monika for a moment. The twins began to smile as they thought they had managed to reach him. To show him that his daughters were worried about him.
...But it was useless...
Kaito had not changed back to his original form, or even said anything. All he did was continue to growl, followed by another mighty roar that made the earth tremble.
"ROOOAARR!!!"
Eiko and Reiko shrank together, clinging to each other. They were afraid, they were clueless, they didn't know what was happening to him, what was turning him into this monster and this darkness.
It was already clear to their eyes that this was not the loving, happy father they once knew and cherished and had looked up to since birth.
They were afraid of their own father...
"My hero...?" Anna, the red-haired salamander princess, was also in deep shock. Without any rhyme or reason, she slowly staggered towards her beloved hero, her hand outstretched towards him and the constant whispering call for her hero.
Suddenly, the purple-colored strands on the white wolf's fur started to glow, lengthening fivefold, becoming sharper and sharper like a needle and starting to spin like a drill as he fired them.
His target, Anna, suddenly stayed motionless, stunned by the sudden shock, her survival senses and hopes extinguished.
"GO DOWN!" screamed Alicia, lunging at Anna.
"Earth Wall!" Dorilla reacted quickly and used his earth magic to create a thick wall of earth and rock that protruded from the ground to protect them from the attack. At the same time, he created a long-lasting protective barrier for the dragon twins so that they would not suffer any damage from these long needles.
However, the rapid rotation of the needles gave them extra stamina and destructive power, causing the wall of earth created by Dorilla to shatter.
But behind the wall of earth came another surprise...
"Ice Wall Five Layers!" From a magic combination of the wind attribute and the water attribute, a total of five consecutive square layers of ice were created, which, through Alicia's hand, repelled the subsequent attacks, albeit just barely.
"Nrgh. How did he get so strong?" Dorilla asked himself, gritting his teeth.
"My... Hero..." Anna mumbled again, Alicia's intervention leaving her on the ground, her face slightly dirty. Alicia, still on top of Anna after fending off the previous attack, was scooped off Anna's back and staggering forward on her legs, her arms drooping, her eyes dull and lackluster.
She continued to murmur for her hero, Kaito the wolf, ignoring her and growling as he averted his gaze from her again.
Salty tears trickled down her dirty cheeks as she held her left hand out to him again.
"...Tell me... Why... Why don't you look at me...? ...Hey... Tell me...!"
The outline and visual image of the wolf blurred in her eyes as they filled with tears that wouldn't stop dripping down to the floor.
Anna sobbed several times until an unexpected black sound broke through the current chaos as Alicia's palm of her right hand met Anna's cheek, accompanied by an echo that lingered in the air briefly.
"Pull yourself together! Do you wanna get killed?" screamed Alicia.
"But... My hero... He is..."
"Just look at him! Kaito is no longer himself! Furthermore, he has Monika under his claws! If this goes on, he will kill her for sure!"
"Monika... Monika again... Monika here, Monika there. Why does he only look at her and not at me?" cried Anna desperately, her thoughts and feelings mixed together, she covered her eyes with her hands and fell to her knees.
"What's so great about her anyway that he only has eyes for her?!"
"Anna..." Alicia didn't know what to say. She had no idea about things like love or anything similar, since she never fell in love. Neither in this world, nor in the other.
"Why...? Yet I'm standing here... right in front of him... and yet his eyes are only seeking for her."
"Anna, are you in love with Kaito..."
"I never told him, but you could still see how much I love him. I healed his wounds when he was hurt after a fight, talked to him often, covered his doubts with my hope. And yet... He doesn't look at me. He only sees her... Tell me Alicia... Am I indifferent to him? Am I invisible? Am I really nothing more than a shadow standing next to him while he worships the light of someone else?"
"Anna, I..."
"It burns. It burns so much inside me again and again. I don't know how I can breathe when I have to look at him while he looks at her. Please... please tell me, my hero... Why am I not enough for you? Why is my heart... not enough?" Anna unexpectedly grabbed Alicia's hand and continued sobbing.
"Anna... I want to be straight and honest with you. I wanna help you, but... I have no idea how. I have never experienced anything like love or romance myself, so I might say the wrong thing or two and hurt you, which I want to avoid. However, from what I've just heard from you, one thing seems strange to me."
"...Eh?"
"You said that you covered his doubts with your hope. But in truth, it's the exact opposite, isn't it?" Anna remained calm and didn't make a sound.
"Anna, if you can't look Kaito in the eyes, then at least look into mine and answer me."
Anna hesitantly lifted her head and saw Alicia's beautiful crystal-blue eyes sparkling in front of her, accompanied by a broad smile that made her face glow with ambition.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. When I'm done here, we'll get your staff, so please wait a little longer."
Anna remembered. She had seen the same expression somewhere before. The broad yet gentle smile, the words he had said to her back then, when she had already lost her own hope and was about to spend the rest of her life in the prison of the palace in the mountains.
At that moment, her heart was full of mixed feelings and she lost herself. But she already understood that she was not the only one with these feelings. She knew that Elaine also had the same feelings for Kaito, and she didn't deny it.
The last time Anna had seen Elaine cry, she pulled herself together and held back most of her own feelings to help Elaine instead of causing her more pain. But now it was she who had to be pulled out of her own spell and into reality.
"But what can we do? How can we open his eyes so that he comes to his senses? If this goes on, he won't just kill Monika, he'll destroy everything else around him!"
"The only thing we can do is wait and watch." Dorilla said as he approached the two girls, with Eiko and Reiko behind him, still inside the protective barrier.
"We're supposed to sit around and watch him run amok?" asked Anna.
"Dorilla is right. Kaito is controlled by this aura from inside of him, which means we have no access to it. He has to do it on his own, somehow manage to fight his way out from his inner self." Alicia explained.
"Besides... we're not going to stand around doing nothing. There's already another problem waiting for us, eager to see us." she added, pointing at the vice-commander, who was about two hundred meters away from them and approaching them calmly, followed by a murderous shadow.
"I'd already forgot that guy." Dorilla admitted. "Be careful. He's not to be messed with." he added. Alicia and Anna nodded as they took up defensive positions.
Eiko and Reiko were scared, not only because of Number Two coming towards them, but also for their father. Still, not because of the dark aura he exuded, but because they were very worried about him.
Papa... was the only thing they could think about right now.
A strident, annoying sound pierced my ears and filled the once quiet atmosphere in my room. The sound repeated itself at regular intervals, seeming to grow louder and more unbearable with each passing moment as this shrill melody screamed out of my smartphone.
"Mhmm..." I was still half asleep, my eyelids were heavy and wouldn't open, my senses were still totally foggy.
I was currently lying on my stomach, which had become my best and most comfortable sleeping position so far. At least I always woke up lying on my stomach, hence this thought.
Anyway, this noise was starting to get on my nerves, so I wanted to reach for my smartphone with my lazy left arm to put an end to it.
But... I couldn't feel anything...
I continued to scan the immediate surroundings, but my hand found only an empty sheet instead. My phone, which usually lies between my pillow and the edge of the bed, was nowhere around.
But I didn't give up, it had to be somewhere, I thought, and continued to scan the bed.
Until I touched the emptiness rather than the bed. Somehow my arm immediately pulled my whole body with it, whereupon I unexpectedly lost my balance and rolled backwards off the bed.
"Ouch!"
With half-opened eyes, my dark brown eyes caught sight of the ceiling of my one-room, while I silently rested on my back on the floor, when the shrill and agonizing sound finally stopped.
Finally! I wanted to scream, but... my thoughts were somewhere else right now, in the early morning.
"What a strange dream."
Last night I had a strange, but also very amusing dream. Suddenly I was in another world and was even in an adventurers' guild, becoming an adventurer myself. The events felt so real even now, but I think it's because I've been reading too many isekai and fantasy light novels and manga lately.
No wonder I'm dreaming about it.
Oh right. If I'm already thinking about dreaming, it certainly wouldn't hurt to doze off for another ten minutes.
If the first alarm clock has just switched itself off, the alarm clock should automatically ring again in ten minutes according to the smartphone manufacturer's pre-set settings. So, straight to bed!
At least that's what I thought...
When I got up because I didn't want to sleep on the floor, my eyes caught sight of the black wall clock with white numbers and hands hanging above my bed.
At first I thought that I was dreaming again. According to the wall-clock, the current time was at seven and forty minutes, and if I remembered correctly, my alarm clock was supposed to go off just before seven, or was I wrong?
To my left, on the wooden floor, I found my smartphone, which was still plugged into the charging cable. I looked at the time, and it certainly was ten past half past seven...
Wait! Ten past half?!
It was only now that I realized that I screwed up, my alarm clock hasn't just rung for the first time, it already tried to wake me up several times before that! I'm so stupid!
"Crap! I'm gonna be late for school!"
I got up hastily, almost falling on my face because I slipped on my blanket. There was no time to brush my teeth and eat breakfast, I'll just buy something from the cafeteria later or whatever. Unfortunately, the first lesson doesn't start at eight o'clock today as it normally does, but ten minutes earlier because of the new school year.
It takes me about fifteen to seventeen minutes from home at my normal pace. But if I run to school as fast as I can, I'll only need ten minutes at best, which is a very tight number...
I quickly changed into my black school uniform, put on my shoes and pushed open the door, sprinting out as the door of my one-room apartment slowly fell back into the lock and locked automatically.
Blue sky with light clouds loomed over my head, but despite that, the sun didn't stop reflecting on the wet asphalt floor. My vision, which had become like a tunnel vision while running along the side streets, was affected by the sun.
My pupils became smaller, and I felt a sudden stinging sensation from the glare.
In the background, I could hear young birds singing, their melodious chirping not distracting my ears from their sound.
The two creatures were perched on a beautiful cherry blossom tree right by the side of the road I was passing.
A light breeze brushed through my tousled dark brown hair and through the pink-colored crown of the tree. Scattered pink cherry blossoms flew around and landed wherever they wanted.
But now, unfortunately, I didn't have time to enjoy the beautiful spring in this country, because as a teenager, as a student, I have other things on my mind and need to do.
It was now ten minutes till eight o'clock, the said time when all the students, including the new students, gathered in the school gym to hear the traditional welcome speech from the principal and a school representative to welcome the students of the youngest year, including wishing the oldest year good luck for their final exams at the end of the school year.
Me and my friends, Yorihiko and Koji, wouldn't be taking the final exam until next year, but I'm already terrified of it.
I hurriedly ran through the school gate, which was still open, straight towards the gym. I'd gotten a few calls on the way, but I didn't answer, even though they were probably Yorihiko and Koji asking about my whereabouts...
Oh, talk about devils...
"Yuuji, this way, hurry!" whispered Koji.
"Good morning, guys." I greeted them both.
"Good morning, my ass. Do you know what time it is? The principal was just about to start his speech." Yorihiko grumbled.
"It's no big deal, it'll be the same speech as last year anyway, won't it? Honestly, I would have preferred to sleep some more."
After my statement, Koji and Yorihiko suddenly fell silent and didn't move. They were as white as chalk, like they had seen a ghost. What was wrong with them?
"Oh, is that so, Mr. Takahashi. How about you just make yourself comfortable on the sickbed in the health room. I'll wake you up in person at the end of the school day."
"Really? Thank you so mu-..." I answered without thinking, but then I too became pale in the face when I recognized this deep voice and slowly turned around while a tall man, about 1.82 meters, stared at me. He had short dark hair and his three-day beard combined with his narrow and evil eyes made him look like someone from the mafia or something.
It was the sports and Japanese teacher, but also our class teacher from the previous year, Mr. Yamashita. And I learned one thing last year, something I won't forget until I graduate.
You should not mess with him!
"M-Mr. Yamashita. G-Good morning. How have you been during the school vacations. Hehehe..." I tried to talk my way out of it by sucking up a little, but as I suspected, it was useless in his case.
"After the school assembly, you will go to the staff room without further ado. Do you understand?"
"Iks..."
"I asked, do you understand?" Mr. Yamashita raised his voice and rubbed both of his fists against my head.
"Ow, ow, ow... Got it. Got it!" In the end, I gave in. I knew from the start that I wasn't going to get out of this one in one piece.
I sighed and joined up with the other two.
The speech, or rather the whole assembly, took us the entire first lesson, afterwards all the students went to their respective assigned classes, whereupon, in the second lesson, the class teacher introduced himself to the students and discussed organizational matters with the class.
Well, in my case, I only joined my classmates after the second lesson, as I was called into the staff room to listen to Mr. Yamashita's blathering.
Firstly, I didn't thought that he would be my class teacher this year again and secondly, I didn't expect him to be able to talk for so long. No wonder he is a Japanese teacher.
During the first break, I was on my way to the cafeteria with Koji and Yorihiko to have a small breakfast, which I skipped this morning.
"Hey man, thanks a lot Yuuji. Thanks to you, we just had a free period, so I was able to sleep in." Koji said happily as he threw himself on top of me.
"The thing about being late will probably haunt me for a while yet."
"It's your own fault for oversleeping on your first day of school." said Yorihiko.
"Yeah, yeah..." I contorted my face.
"By the way Koji, are you sure you're fully awake now? We're about to have history class with Mr. Hasagawa." Yorihiko added.
"What...? Are you serious now? That guy is like a sleeping pill, I'm going to doze off again and end up failing at anything like last year... Yorihiko, Yuuji save me...!" Koji whined desperately.
"I have no idea about history either." I admitted honestly.
"How about we review the material later in the school library, as long as you don't fall asleep with my teaching methods." Yorihiko suggested.
"You would do that? You're the best, teacher Yorihiko!" Koji thanked him.
"Don't call me like that... Geez." mumbled Yorihiko, his cheeks turning slightly red as he adjusted his glasses with his left hand.
The three of us continued towards the cafeteria. My stomach hasn't stopped grumbling since I got here. I hope there is still an egg sandwich and a cutlet sandwich, as these two types are usually sold out quickly in the morning.
But maybe I'll be lucky at least once today.
"Kaito!" a female voice called out, running past me on the left like in slow motion. At least it felt to me as if time had slowed down, even for a brief moment, as the girl with chestnut brown hair, who was also only a head shorter than me, walked past me.
I don't know why, but I stopped suddenly and had a strange feeling hanging in my stomach, like someone had punched me in the stomach and left subsequent damage.
I turned around, my eyes following this girl's steps until she stopped in front of a classroom, a small group of three boys to be exact, and approached one of them.
Apparently one of them is called Kaito, but... Why did I just feel addressed?
"Is something wrong, Yuuji?" Koji, who had already moved on with Yorihiko, asked me.
"Eh, no. It's nothing." I said and kept walking.
I tried not to think about this strange feeling for the rest of the school day, especially since I didn't even have a real clue, let alone any other information that could help me find my murderer...
...Huh? What the... What was I just thinking...?
"Okay. The lesson is over. Clean up and get changed. Goodbye." said Mr. Yamashita, the sports teacher.
"Goodbye."
Right, we'd just had PE in the last lesson and were doing long jump and high jump, but before I could even start with the long jump, the school bell rang.
It was now a quarter past three and the end of the first day of school. The windows of the school building reflected the sun, which was still shining and trying to peek out between the gray clouds, and the students who were leaving the school grounds through the school gate, either one by one or in small groups.
After classes, many students went to their chosen activities, such as school clubs, or headed to the cram school to continue studying in preparation for the next tests or exams. But neither Yorihiko, Koji nor I had anything like that to do, as we had never been interested in anything like clubs, let alone cram schools. So, we went straight home.
"Geeez... Why do we need to have sports in our last lesson? I'm all sweaty." Koji complained again.
"Would you rather have PE in first period and sit in the classroom all covered in sweat?"
"He has a point." I agreed with Yorihiko and giggled.
"Why are you against me? What did I do to you?" Koji asked, blubbering.
"Well then Yuuji, see you tomorrow."
"Yes, see you tomorrow."
"Now stop blubbering." Yorihiko said to Koji.
Until now, I hadn't realized that we had already arrived at our meeting point, at an intersection.
Maybe it's because I overslept today and got in trouble from Mr. Yamashita. Or maybe it's because of that weird dream I had last night, but when I try to think back to it now, I can't remember it at all, like I'm stuck in a little birdcage like a budgie.
I walked a little further to clear my head again. But after a while, I stopped again because I was surprised by something.
"Rain?"
Suddenly something wet touched my nose, sporadic watery drops hit the asphalt floor, changing the smell of the air.
Automatically, I turned to my school bag, which I had hanging on my left shoulder, and unzipped it. I held the bag open with my left hand while I rummaged through it with my right, looking for my umbrella.
Roof tiles and bushes around me played their piece of nature's music through the pounding rain, like an orchestra, while I was still searching for an umbrella... Huh?
"... Wait a minute... I am already..."
Slowly I turned around and within a second a dull sound like that of a butcher stabbing and cutting into the flesh with his knife sounded.
The knife, the blade stuck more than halfway in my stomach and piercing through my skin, left a large bloodstain on my school uniform, while more red drops slid down the blade and dripped onto the street.
I struggled to hold myself up with heavy body movements, but it was all useless. Suddenly my vision became dizzy, I could no longer feel my legs, just like my hands, which were already completely soaked and blood-red from the rain and my blood.
Right... I... died.
Like a countdown was over, I lost my balance and fell to the wet cold asphalt road... or so I thought. Instead, I fell through this asphalt as it shattered like a pane of glass, and I was sucked in by gravity.
My eyes still half open, my vision blurred, all I could see were the glowing red eyes of the killer through his sunglasses.
My surroundings were now as black as the darkness. I had expected to suddenly feel a slight tickle in my eyes when I found myself in a white room again. That would probably be the closest thing I could wish for at that moment...
Instead, I continued to be surrounded by this darkness, I noticed... nothing. I couldn't move. I could no longer see anything. My senses were limited, or rather, no longer available. My body was empty, my thoughts continued to wander from the current situation.
I suddenly became very tired, like on my first day in that world. The night I was killed without even realizing it.
So why got I reincarnated in the first place if I was going to die again on the same day? And why got I reincarnated afterwards if I have to endure the same suffering and all this pain and new wounds again anyway?
Why wasn't I allowed to bite the dust once and for all on that night and have my peace?
What's the point of all this? I want...
I just want to... die.
Hehh, you really want to die so soon, even though you haven't even completed your mission?
A voice suddenly appeared in this, rather quiet, dark place. This voice sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't identify it with anyone I knew, yet it seemed very familiar. It was very close and spoke directly into my ear, the tone was calm, but you could still recognize a hint of mischievousness.
"... Mission?"
Yeah, right. Your mission! You swore to yourself that you would find your murderer and kill him. Your mission is revenge!
Revenge... That's right... I wanted revenge...
That was the real reason why I left the first town in the first place and wandered around like a zombie looking for that one brain to eat.
After a while I had almost given up looking for this person because I was sure I would never find him again, I kept telling myself that all the time.
Do you seriously want to die without having taken revenge?
Yet the person you are looking for is right in front of you.
What does he mean by that, I asked myself. My thoughts were all woozy, I couldn't quite follow him.
Suddenly, a wide, glowing screen of about sixty inches in size appeared in this black world. However, this glow was too weak for this world and could only illuminate a very small radius around it.
Slowly, the once white-golden light changed into different colors and contours, even though the image and my own vision were still distorted, I recognized a person lying directly in front of me with her weak body on a cold greyish ground, surrounded only by scattered wilted grasses.
"Mo-nika..."
Monika, the girl we met on our first day is your... our target!
Our?
I had already noticed how this voice had come out of nowhere and started speaking into my ear. But now I realized that I was not alone in this darkness.
My half-open eyes looked to the side for a brief moment and saw something I had never seen before.
During my time in that fantasy world, I had already seen and met many different people and fought monsters, but I had never seen anything like him.
Behind me was a shadow. A silhouette whose body was dipped in pitch black but revealed by the dim light of the screen. You couldn't make out the outline of his body because his contours flickered faintly like a flame. But you could see where his eyes were, if you could really call them eyes. They were circular, snow-white, and staring straight at me.
Who is that? I asked myself. He was the same height as me, but I don't know him, or maybe I do?
Come on, the time has come. She's right in front of you. Fulfill your greatest wish! Unleash all your hatred on her, KILL HER AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO STOP YOU!
My greatest wish... My wish was to find my murderer and kill him, he's right about that. I constantly talked myself into different things to distract myself, but in reality... it was the others who prevented me from getting my revenge. The others, Anna, Elaine, Dorilla, Alicia, the fortune teller from back then, the salamanders and the people from Ringol who put me in jail, the villagers, the slave traders, and the organization.
They all constantly distracted me along the way, so I didn't even notice that my killer was close to me the whole time.
I'll kill them all, every single one who gets in my way again!
I'm gonna kill Monika...
"Kai-to..."
Huh?
HA??
The frail girl, whose face was covered with several scratches and whose shoulder-length pitch-black hair lay open on the dirty floor, opened her eyes despite her heavy eyelids. Her eyes, which once shimmered in a beautiful emerald green, were now pale and soulless.
Quietly, she spoke to me.
"I'm sorry, Kaito. For lying to you from the beginning... I'm sorry for killing you back when you were still Yuuji."
...Monika.
No! Don't listen to her!
"I know a simple apology isn't enough for what I did, and to be honest, I wanted to kill you when you became Kaito as well. But I couldn't. I didn't understand the reason for it at the time, but... When our journey together begun, we experienced many things together. Fun, joy, but also sadness and pain. If I hadn't followed you on this journey, I would never have experienced any of that and would have collapsed without those memories."
W-what do you mean?
She's LYING! Fun and joy don't exist! To achieve something, you must be the strongest and make sacrifices! KILL HER NOW!!!
"You know? My heart isn't really mine. It's a fake, artificial heart, created by the organization to carry out orders!
"You know what? My heart isn't really mine. It's a fake, artificial heart, created by the organization to carry out orders. But from the moment I disobey an order, a special countdown is activated that will shatter my heart like glass when the time comes. And that countdown is already in its final stage, I don't have much time left."
Monika suddenly explained her current situation to me, and despite everything, she smiled at me as her emerald, green eyes filled with tears and ran down her face.
Shortly after, she slowly raised her left hand, covered in scratches, and touched my cheek in the real world. But for some reason, even in this shadow world, I could feel her pale, cold hand on my left cheek, as if she were here with me.
"I'm sorry, Yuuji. Thank you for everything."
A second later, I no longer felt her hand on my cheek, as if it had vanished into thin air. But on the screen, it was much worse... I saw her left hand slowly falling back onto the cold ground. Her eyes remained half open, and then...
...she went silent.
"... Ah... hah... a... Aaaaaaaaahhh!!! Why?! Why?! Why am I still here??! I have to get out of here! I must... save Monika!!
You... You useless soul! Just die! Get out of here so I can take over this body and kill everyone!!!
"There's no way I'm gonna give you, my body. There are people waiting for me. I'm not gonna let your evil thoughts trick me. Even though it was mostly my fault and my thoughts distracted me from my path. But... Because of my friends, I sometimes forgot what my real mission was. They showed me the way out of a dense, confusing forest and led me to the light. That's why I won't abandon my friends, and certainly not the person I love more than anything else!"
Love? Friends? Nobody needs these useless creatures! They're just using you, so you'll dance to their tune. Nobody needs these weaklings! NOBODY!!
"If you say something so simple and reckless, then you have never understood the meaning of friendship."
Meaning? There is no meaning to such nonsense!
"Yes, there is!! I'll show you what true friendship means!!"
... Kukuh... HAHAAAHHAH... All right. This time, as an exception, I'll leave you alone... Then show me! Prove me wrong! But I'll tell you one thing... One day you'll realize you're wrong and ask me to help you kill everyone!!! HAAHHHHAHH!!!
His devilish laughter grew quieter and quieter as he, the unknown silhouette, faded and finally disappeared. To this day, I still don't know who that was. I hope I never meet him again. But I have a bad feeling about this.
Suddenly, this world of pure darkness changed. The large screen in front of me, where I had seen Monika until recently, disappeared in the blink of an eye. And my surroundings slowly turned snow-white, as if a dimmer switch had been triggered.
I now found myself in a white sphere that felt very familiar to me. Shortly afterwards, I noticed that my physical appearance had also changed. I was no longer wearing my black school uniform, but a black coat and dark brown boots, and my dark brown hair had grown a little longer and turned white silver.
I turned back into Kaito.
You took your time, huh? a childish girl's voice said to me. Surprised, I turned around and saw a girl, maybe 1.25 meters tall, maybe 1.30 meters.
Her hair is deep, dark red, tied into two playful braids that fall loosely over her shoulders. She wears a black dress adorned with beige fur on the sleeves.
Her legs are covered in long white and black striped socks, and her feet wear small black ballerina shoes with tiny ribbons.
Her piercing dark blue eyes were fixed on me, her cheeks slightly reddened, the corners of her mouth smiling.
"Loli. Sorry I'm late. I kept you waiting."
Loli shook her head. It's okay, I'm just glad you're back to your senses.
"Oh yeah, silly question, but... Do you have any idea how all this muddle happened?" I asked honestly.
Hmmm. I think it's because a certain someone ate a weird, cursed devil flower!
"Eh? The flower is responsible for all this? But it made me stronger."
And turned you into a monster.
"Nrgh... Yeah, you're right," I admitted involuntarily.
Geez. How can someone be so stupid? Loli's cheeks puffed up, her hands on her hips.
"Ehehe... Well, anyway, do you have any idea how we can get out of here? I don't see an exit anywhere."
While you were away, I made myself useful and searched for the main core of the devil flower and that strange aura. Well, follow me. It's right over here.
I followed Loli, and together we wandered through the white sphere. Only now did I realize how large such a sphere really is, but it still didn't seem endless, at least according to my intuition.
After a while, the air I was breathing became increasingly stuffy, and my animal senses triggered an alarm when they sensed the negative energy flowing around.
From a distance, I finally saw something. I recognized a person sitting huddled on the ground, surrounded by this negative energy.
"A child?" More specifically, a little girl who looked about six years old, but when I think about it, I'm not good at guessing ages, at least when it comes to strange little girls I encounter in mysterious spheres. Refer to Loli.
This child is the main core, or rather, the flower itself.
"She's the flower???" At first glance, she didn't seem to me to be the main core of an evil power or a flower. If I remember correctly, the petals were the same color as her dark purple dress, and the pollen was just as shiny as her golden blonde, long, wavy hair.
I still couldn't imagine that this child could be responsible for all of this, but if that was really the case, then...
Why is she crying?
Go ahead and ask her. Loli suddenly interrupted my thoughts.
"Oh, right. Mind connection." Due to the contract Loli and I made, our minds were connected, even though I sometimes forgot this and suddenly thought about something dirty. But what can I say, I'm just a guy.
I slowly approached the girl, knelt down in front of her, and spoke to her.
"Hey, my name is Kaito. May I ask what your name is?" I asked her. But she didn't answer, she just kept crying.
"Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" I asked her more questions in a gentle voice, but even then, she didn't answer me.
"You can talk to me about anything, you know? Your big brother is listening."
At that moment, I referred to myself as her big brother, although I don't really know why. Maybe she would respond to that and realize that I didn't want to hurt her, but that she was safe, just like Akira and his little sister back then. Or was it more because I wished I had a little sister for a long time?
"Big... Brother...?" she suddenly said in a trembling voice. Her voice was soft, but it sounded like a little bird chirping on a branch.
"Yes. Your big brother will listen to you. So please tell me what's bothering you."
"I... I'm... scared," she said hesitantly.
"Scared? Of what?"
"The darkness. It's everywhere. I'm very scared..." She crouched down further and held her hands over her head to protect it. Her small body trembled incessantly.
"Darkness, hm." No wonder, many are afraid of the darkness. "Tell me, what would you like to do when this darkness disappears?"
"When the darkness disappears?"
"Yes. Do you have a dream?"
"My... dream?" Suddenly she stopped trembling and looked deep into my eyes with her tear-stained crystal-blue eyes. "I want... to see... I want to see everything that has nothing to do with darkness, but how the sun shines on the earth and the flowers grow," she said confidently.
At first, I was very surprised by her statement, but I knew her feelings all too well, and a smile seemed impossible to wipe off my face.
"I see. You have a wonderful dream." Shortly afterwards, I got up again. At that moment, it was very important for me to leave this sphere. If I hurry, Monika can probably still be saved by Dorilla's healing magic. I hope it's not too late, that simply must not happen!
"Well then, it's about time for me to go."
"Are you leaving already?" she asked whispering.
"Yes. I have to. So many people are waiting for me. I can't cause them any more worry. Besides... someone very important to me is in trouble. I don't want to waste any more time and regret it later."
"So, you're leaving me alone?" After asking her question, she began to tremble slightly again and let the water droplets roll down her cheeks once more.
I hesitated briefly. "... I never said that." Then I held out my right hand towards her. Loli came over immediately and held out her hand too, wearing a gentle and reassuring smile.
"...?"
"Would you like to go out into the outside world with us? Explore the world with us? Do you want to... have an adventure with us?"
She stared at me as if she had seen a ghost, as if she couldn't believe my words. Hesitantly, she raised both her hands and placed them on mine and Loli's.
"Yes!" she exclaimed with a broad smile on her face, which was slightly reddish but covered with tears of joy.
"Great. Then from now on, your name shall be... Violet."