“Finally” I said to myself as I stumbled through the door of my apartment into my room and collapsed on my bed. This is how nearly every day goes. I dedicate the majority of my time to either school or homework and get nearly no time for personal activities. I rarely ever get the minimum amount of recommended sleep and it’s likely affecting my complexion. Not that it matters too much though. Aside from that I’d say I have a relatively good outward appearance.

For context I, Akio Sato, am a sixteen year old teenage boy from japan. I’m relatively average height wise if not a little short. I have longish brown hair, green eyes, and you can typically find me wearing a basic t-shirt with some sort of print on it. I’ve always been a bit of a loner. I spend most of my days drawn away from any groups, usually playing games or watching some type of show. Not at all to the point where I’d be considered a hikikomori but I’d definitely say that it was noticeable.

I rested my head face first on my pillow tiredly as I waited to fall into slumber.

“Gyaaah, What time is it? Did I forget to set an alarm? That’d be the best explanation. I doubt that I would have woken up before it went off.”

Despite my alarm never going off, in an act of sheer muscle memory I swatted my hand down to the right hand side of myself and instead felt my hand make contact with hardwood flooring a few feet under where I was resting.

“Owww” I muttered to myself as I pulled my hand back up beside me. At the time I was still half asleep and didn’t consider suspicion and nearly returned to my slumber.

I immediately sat straight up in my bed.

“Wait . . . Hold up . . . What?”

“Where the hell am I?”

After scoping out my surroundings I seem to be some sort of rustic inn. Most everything there was made out of wood and the only light source was the light shining through windows along with a few unlit candles spread throughout the room. I decided to stay rational and not panic. My best option to make my way back home was to piece together where I was at the moment by picking up on clues. I concluded that the best way to go about this was to start making my way downstairs and work from there.

I made my way down a set of creaky wooden stairs that led to the ground floor. It seemed as if this floor served as a bar of sorts though I didn’t intend on ordering anything. I walked past the area without sparing a glance so as to not draw any attention so that I could get this over with as quick as possible and find my way back home. Though as if he could read my mind the bartender made a point to get my attention. Just as I walked past him I heard:

“Hey Sir, Wonderful day isn’t it”

To clear the inconvenience of the bartender calling out to me I dismissed him with a simple:

“Yeah, Great weather out there isn’t it?”

Feeling as if I’ve dodged a bullet I proceed to the exit smoothly. After pushing open the door I suddenly felt an unexpected barrage of rain hit the top of my head. The shock of this revelation sent me tumbling back inside where I sat cross legged on the floor of the bar.

“You’re not from around here are you?”

I heard the bartender ask me from behind my back.

“Oh how could you tell?, I was just stopping here after a long trip from a far away land.”

I shallowy lied.

“You sure are a strange one aren’t you”

“Yep! You got that one right!”

I say as I hurriedly get onto my feet and start making my way out of the building while using my hands to protect myself from the rain.

“What kind of phony ad-libbing job was that? I made a complete fool of myself!” I thought in my head. Just as I assumed that this disastrous situation had ended I heard a voice call out to me.

“Hey Kid! No wonder you’re such a mystery. You’re trying to hide something from me, And I think I just about figured out what it is!”

I saw the large figure slowly approaching me menacingly while I maintained no grasp on the situation unfolding before me.

“You think you can pull a fast one on me, huh? Listen, I know you're young so I don’t want to go too harsh on you. But you can’t leave without paying the price for your night at our inn.”

“Oh yeah, I suppose I must have gotten here earlier and have yet to pay for the room”

I thought to myself.

“Oh! Sorry for the inconvenience sir, I should have my wallet right he-”

I felt a cold sweat running down my forehead. After turning both of my pockets inside-out I revealed to both myself and the bartender that I didn’t have a single yen on me. His glare intensified.

The pressure of the situation started to take a toll on my decision making skills as I made a rather regrettable choice. I kicked one of my legs off the ground and made to sprint forward as far away from the inn as possible. It only took a few seconds to see the flaws in my plan but at that point it was too late to turn back. Driving the nail in the coffin even further I hear the same voice call out to me.

“If you think you can disrespect our business like that, I’ll have to show you who’s really in charge!”

I see a massive muscular figure running towards me at inhuman speeds. I hadn’t the slightest clue what he intended to do with me but I still braced for some sort of impact.

. . . . . . . . . .

“Graagh, I didn’t know headaches could hurt this bad, it feels like I got hit by a boulder. I also remember having an extremely bizarre dream last night. It probably doesn't mean anything, I don’t want to be late for school though so I better get up soon”

I opened my eyes to see that I was laying heavily bruised on the street of an unknown town.

“So that wasn’t a dream was it”

I say defeatedly as I lay my head back down on the ground in hopes that the problem would find a way to resolve itself when:

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“Hey what’re you doing down there? You know it’s not very safe to rest somewhere like that don’t you?”

I turned my head up to see the face of a young woman, maybe around my age if not a little younger. She had a somewhat enthusiastic look in her eyes along with beautiful red hair tapering out into a black color near the back nearly reaching halfway down her legs. She was wearing a basic looking blackish grey adventuring uniform. She also wasn’t hiding the fact that she had a quality looking dagger being held in a protective pocket attached to the side of her uniform. Even if it was just for that fact alone I had to make a point to stay on her good side.

She didn’t seem to have a very good sense of personal space though. She was leaning down staring into my eyes, Her face no more than a foot away from mine while I awkwardly lay on the ground.

“If you can’t get up, I can help you” She said looking somewhat concerned as she reached out one of her hands in my direction.

“No thank you, I’m fine" I said as I brushed the dirt off of my body.

“What were you doing on the ground there? Did you get injured?

She asked while tilting her head to the side looking genuinely concerned.

“If you want the truth I am injured but I shouldn't need much help. See, I can stand up perfectly fine on my own.”

. . .

Or not.

“Don’t worry, I know just the place to go!”

She said as she hoisted me up on top of her shoulder and started walking forward.

“Mind if I ask a question real quick?” I said while receiving an unwanted ride on the back from a stranger down the streets of an unknown town.

“No, not at all, what do you need to know?”

“This is a pretty bizarre question so just humor me for a second. Would you happen to know where we are right now?”

“Like . . . The street?”

“I’ll just say it straight, I’m extremely lost right now, Let’s just start with where I am on earth and work our way from there.”

“Woah, you don’t say. You must be extremely lost. I don’t know any nearby towns that go by that name”

I looked down at the ground after feeling overwhelmed with a sense of fear in realizing that I may not even be on my home planet anymore before soon coming to my senses.

“You’re this old and still caught up in these imaginary fantasies? That’ll explain your getup too. Who wears clothes like that? I bet the dagger is a prop too.”

“You sure are an odd one, There's nothing too awfully strange about me, If anything you’re the one who looks off putting in a crowd.”

I was somewhat miffed by her previous statement but shrugged it off because she was giving me a free ride on the back to a place that could presumably treat my wounds, so I gave her a pass.

“Okay, We’ve arrived” I hear her say.

“Finally, A moment of peace for once, Now I should be able to rest and finally start piecing together the clues on my loca-”

My thought was abruptly stopped in its tracks as I saw where she brought me. All of what I assumed to be yesterday was a blur but now I know for a fact that the inn she brought me to was no falsely manufactured memory. Despite that though she had no clue what went down in this very inn and began to unknowingly prance into the building. The glares that I got from the bartenders induced not only from what happened earlier but also by my less than conventional way of returning were extremely terrifying but in a weird way, somewhat satisfying.

“Room for two please” I hear her shout out to the bartenders who I suppose were also in charge of the rooms as she seamlessly threw a handful of cash towards the desk. My smirk grew larger as I realized that they lost the moral right to lay a single finger on me. Though my smirk quickly faded when I realized what she said.

“What did she mean by ‘room for two please’? Did she intend to stay in a room with me overnight? Surely not.”

. . . . .

So this is Déjà vu. I’m back in a room nearly identical to the one I woke up in yesterday staring at the ceiling while lying comfortably on the floor next to a fireplace. Next to me was the girl I met earlier sitting on a bed staring into space oddly casually like we already knew each other for a long time. Speaking of that,

“You know, I need something to call you by. You’ve never given me your name have you?”

“Oh, You’re right, We don’t know each other's names. My name is Yui. Yui Fujiwara. What about yours?”

“My name is Akio Sato” I said while still laying on the floor soaking up the flames of the fire.

“Ah, That’s nice. By the way, Do you think that you can work up the strength to stand up on your own yet?”

She asked while dangling her legs off the side of the bed and swaying her head from one side to the other.

“Oh that? If I wanted to I could have easily stood up on my own no more than around twenty or so minutes after you found me. In more than one way, I was really enjoying the ride on your back all that time and decided not to tell you . . . Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

At that Yui blankly stared at me with an emotionless expression for almost a solid fifteen seconds.

“Well it’s nice to know that you healed so quickly . . . Just next time tell me, Okay? People can be really heavy, you know?

“Is this chick really not gonna smack me right now? Whatever, I suppose I should be more honest in the future.” I thought to myself

“Sorry about that, But if you don’t mind me asking. After that, how aren’t you angry in the slightest?

“Don’t get me wrong. What you did made you look very creepy but what’s the use in getting angry over it? People can improve so as long as you do too I don’t mind very much. By the way, it’s getting pretty late. How about we call it a night?”

“Yeah sure” I said casually without much thought

“Hold up a minute, She rented a room with only one bed. Where could she possibly intend for me to sleep? She can’t possibly be fine with me slee-” My thought was cut short

“Before we rest for the day I would like to get something straight. Only one of us is getting the bed! And to keep things fair I prepared a fun game of-”

“It’s fine . . . I’ll sleep on the floor.” I said dejectedly while curling myself up on the hardwood flooring of our room.

“Don’t be such a downer” I heard Yui yell at me from across the room as she threw one of her pillows towards my face.

“Thanks” I mumbled as I heard her putting out the fire a few feet away from me and blowing out the last of the candles leaving the room in complete darkness.

“What a bizarre couple of days” I thought to myself.

“Tomorrow I should have the time to start tracking down my location and finally end this nightmare. But in a weird way, this has been the most fun I’ve had in the last couple of days.” I thought to myself while laying on the floor drifting off into sleep.

Chapter 1 Fin.