I stood rooted to the spot in the middle of the alley, completely bewildered by Hana's tearful accusation. Middle school. The scar. The conversation. It was all foreign.
I slumped down, thinking for a long time. Right now, I still couldn't remember who Hana was. All my memories were just a soulless void; those memories had been forgotten, but I didn't understand why they were rushing back.
But in my memory... I had a friend from a game. It was a girl. She was fun to talk to, and we played games together from time to time. And she was better than me in every way, from gaming to the way she saw the world.
But that was impossible. Her name was Alice. And she was far away in Kotrito, another city in Luisz. She also never knew about any scar story.
Hana and I just stared at each other. She started to look sad, hastily wiping away her tears. I knew there was some mistake here, a terrible misunderstanding, but I didn't know how to explain. And I couldn't just say, "Sorry princess, you've got the wrong person," after she had just saved my life a few weeks ago.
As we were both lost in the awkward silence, a dreadfully familiar sound suddenly rang out.
— Ring.wwww Ring.wwww —
A phone ring. Mine.
Hana and I both flinched. I quickly reached into the pocket of my cloak (the only thing left from the old world?), and pulled out the phone. Its screen was cracked, but it still lit up.
How? After being beaten to a pulp by monsters and torn apart by an explosion, it should have been broken, right? The logic of this world was so strange.
The caller ID: "Alice".
I was stunned to see the very person I had just been thinking about calling me. And why was she calling me now, or was it a wrong number...
Hana stared at the phone, she looked like she was about to say something, but then stopped. I took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.
"H-hello?"
"Hey!"
A woman's voice came from the other end, slightly staticky but still clear.
"Long time no talk. Do you still remember me?"
I was dazed. It had been almost 6 years since we last spoke, ever since I heard she got a boyfriend. "Ah... you're... Alice, right?" (Looking at the phone number and the memory I just recalled, I could guess her name).
"That's right!" she cheered. "My god, I've been calling for days and couldn't get through. I heard news about the monster attacks in Hattrick and Istrich, Opal... I remembered you were in Hattrick, so I called to check. But I thought... you were dead!"
Her voice dropped at the last sentence. Alice. My only online friend. She still remembered me, though I didn't know why.
"I..." I didn't know what to say. "I... I'm okay. I'm in a different place."
"A different place? What do you mean? Did you evacuate somewhere? The signal is so bad..."
I couldn't explain. "I... I'll call you back later."
I silently hung up. A fragile connection to the old world had just been lit, only to be extinguished again. It made me feel even more lost.
"Who was that?" Hana suddenly asked, her voice holding... a hint of jealousy?
I answered her:
"That was an old friend of mine."
Hana looked at me, then she fumbled inside her coat pocket. Without a word, she pulled out a slightly old photograph and... slapped it right onto my face.
"Ah~~ That hurts!" I yelped. "Why'd you slap it on so hard!"
I pulled the photo off my face, looking at it irritably.
And I froze.
In the photo, it was me. But it was the me from many years ago, skinny and naive. I was standing protectively in front of an unfamiliar girl who had fallen to the ground. Around us were the shadows of many others. A thought flashed through my mind: "This... When did this appear?"
I tried to rummage through the jumbled memories in my head. The photo was like a key, unlocking a drawer that had been locked and gathering dust for a very, very long time.
13 years ago.
I, a 9-year-old kid, was wandering the streets after skipping cram school. Suddenly, I heard a "thud" and a whimpering sound from an alley. Curious, I snuck in to look.
A horrific scene. A little girl (around my age) was surrounded by a group of older boys. There must have been 17 of them. They looked like thugs, and their eyes... "predatory-looking" was how my memory described it.
I don't know where the courage came from. Maybe from watching too many superhero shows. I decided to play the hero saving the damsel in distress.
I dashed out like an idiot, holding my only weapon: a metal ruler. I smacked the biggest guy on the back.
The other 16 guys turned to look at me. The one I hit just smirked.
"Hey, little bro! Trying to be a hero and save the girl?" Then another one spoke up.
"If you want to save her, pay each of us five hundred!"
I was trembling, but I still tried to act tough, raising the ruler.
"You guys... let her go!"
When they heard me say that, they didn't say another word. They charged.
I was beaten. Beaten relentlessly. I tried to cover my head, but they kicked me in the stomach, in the back. I fell. The metal ruler clattered far away. I only managed to see the girl scream in fear.
He (or 'He'?) saw this, his voice deepened. "I find you pitiful. Dying for such a silly reason. I will give you a 'Totem'. When you die, you will be revived. But only 3 times. This is the first. After the second and third, you will die for real. Don't waste them."
I didn't even have time to understand what a "Totem" was.
—THUD!!—
The thud was quite loud, and I woke up. I was in bed, at home. My neck ached, but it wasn't bleeding. There was only a faint scar.
So what was that? A dream? And what had happened to me? I still didn't understand. I only knew that the girl had disappeared.
That was all I remembered from that time.
I looked at the photo again. It was definitely me. It was definitely that alley.
But... the girl in the photo. I didn't remember her face at all. I only remembered saving someone.
"She must have mistaken me for someone else," I muttered.
Hana seemed to read my mind. The look of hope on her face vanished completely. She said nothing more, just silently snatched the photo back from my hand, turned, and left.
I stood there, on the bustling street of this strange city.
A few minutes later, I started wandering, trying to sort everything out. I looked at this country. The food, the culture, the people... Everything was beautiful, and strangely, they spoke the same language as us.
Just a few hours later, as it started to get dark, I went back to Hana's house (I figured it was the only place I could go). I felt I had lost so many things, not just my memories.
When I reached the palace gate, her father, the King, was standing at the entrance. He still looked as cool as he did this morning, with his white coat and mysterious bracelet.
As I was lost in thought, he stepped in front of me, looking me up and down.
"Hello! It's you again!"
A strange greeting. I didn't know how to respond, so I just sidestepped him to go inside.
"Why don't you answer me?" he called after me.
I didn't answer, just kept walking. I opened the large door into the main hall. I saw Hana. She was sitting on a chair, holding the photo from earlier and staring at it. When she saw me, she flinched, quickly stood up, rushed over and...
— SLAM —
She slammed the door right in my face. I thought: "Well... maybe she really doesn't like me.~"
The King stood behind me. He smiled, clapped me hard on the shoulder, then leaned in close to my ear and whispered.
"Hehehe! Looks like you'll be sleeping outside!"
~ ... ~
I sighed. Maybe I really would have to sleep outside. The weather was starting to get cold. Even so, I couldn't stop worrying. HighG and Hachi. Where were they? And my little sister....
But one thing was certain, they weren't in this country. This was a city that was far too peaceful. They were out there, in that hellish world. And I... I was stuck here...