Chapter 1 - Awakened

Ahh, nothing like a good 3 hour sleep to start the day.

Well, I did beat the hidden boss in Dragons and Dungeons though, that was worth it. (I think?)

I'm Kaide Shinichi by the way. Just your ordinary 16 year old, high school student living alone in a boarding house.

In case you didn't know already, my hobbies include playing games, reading (from novels to manga), and dozing off once in awhile.

Speaking of which, I dozed off far too much… Crap!! I'm gonna be late for school! Better get going or I'm really gonna get it..

*pant *wheeze..”Barely made it!”

“Oi Shinichi-san, sweating early in the morning again I see”

A familiar voice rings in my ear, it was Kurokawa Endo, my classmate who is a full time asshole and a sadist. He’s pretty much your modern day bully with the lackeys and all. I deal with them all the time in school and I can't really avoid them because my aunt will be all over my ass if I ditch school.

“Why were you late again shitface? Don’t tell me you’re hoping to not meet me at all this morning hah?!”

“I-It’s not like that Endo-san, and technically I wasn't really late you kno-...”

*bam

The next thing I knew,Kurokawa and his lackeys, Kojiro and Daichi, were laughing and I’m on the ground holding my stomach from the unbearable pain.

From the beatings I have received throughout the school year, let's just say, If I was a game character, my endurance [END] stat would probably off the charts by now.

“Hahaha, being a smartass now are we?”

Kurokawa said with a grin on his face.

“Try it again and I'll break your face you fucking bitch.”

*cough *cough

“W-what do y-you want Endo-san?”

“You know what I want shithead, give me the stuff.”

I don't really know why I asked when I already know what they want. I reached for my pocket and pulled out over half of my money and handed it to Endo.

“Pleasure doing business with you shitface. Oh, and by the way, not a word on the teachers got that?

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If I get into trouble because of you I'll make sure that you get crippled for life.”

With that, Endo went away with Daichi and Kojiro, leaving Kaide sitting on the ground.

“Gah, just another fucking day in this monochromatic world.”

I said with a sigh. Saying it like that wasn't an exaggeration at all.

The only thing I was holding on to since my parents died was my hobbies, especially games.

In games I can escape reality, be anyone I want to be, not some pathetically weak guy that does whatever he’s told to. In games I am free.

With that thought, I stood up and went to class.

As I opened the door, I went to my seat as my other classmates were talking amongst themselves, including Kurokawa and his gang.

In addition to being bullied, I'm not really what you call “popular”. The reason being is my unkempt appearance and my expressionless face that you can barely see with my long hair.

I guess you could say that I don't have the enthusiasm to make the effort to socialize. Especially if all I get from people are looks of pity or disgust.

With that thought, I began to doze off in my desk. 3 hours of sleep is a little short after all.

After a while, I felt something ominous. I forced my eye open and I saw our maths teacher “Mrs. Mirai Nakazawa” in the middle of her lecture. Nothing unusual was happening though.

“Didn’t bother to wake me up huh.”

I whispered while thinking about the strange feeling earlier.

Seconds after I woke up, the entire room was moving. For a second I thought it was an earthquake, but I realized this was different. It was more like the room was--vibrating.

The strangest thing happened after that. A circle- no,a seal was seen from both the ceiling and the floor.

I caught a glimpse of it. The seal contained a variety of symbols of god-knows-what.

Following the seal, the classroom seemed like it was flickering.

I actually checked if I'm not imagining things because of my lack of sleep, but I could hear screams and chatters all around the room so I am sure I can't be making this up.

Not even a minute later we were on some sort of green pasture, with the beautiful trees and all.

“Wh-what the hell is going on?”

A gruffy guy from the class, said with a loud voice.

“Somebody g-get some help, p-please.”

It was starting to get out of hand when finally, Mrs. Nakazawa spoke up.

“Everyone, calm down and don’t panic. We should wait for a bit and I'm sure help will come.”

And with that, everyone hushed up, occasionally talking amongst themselves or calling family names.

After a while I started to scan my surroundings. Besides for the grass and the trees, in the corner of my eye, I saw something that resembles a rabbit.

I immediately followed it since I had nothing better to do in here with the class.

As i got closer, I saw the features of the “animal” it looked like a rabbit but only a little bigger, with 4 inch claws on its front legs and fangs that would put a lion to shame.

Not only that, I saw some kind of indicator just above its head. It said the following:

×××××××××××××××××××××××××

Sabre-claw Rabbit

Level:8

Common

×××××××××××××××××××××××××

“Wh-what the--”

I thought to myself. The monster itself is weird enough but why am I seeing that indicator--no, a status bar? And more importantly, how?

I was lost in thought when suddenly, I stepped on a dry piece of hollow wood by mistake.

In half a second, I saw the rabbit like thing glare at me from the distance. Just from that glare I could feel every danger alarm in my body trigger, as if telling me to run. This kind of pressure that this animal, no, this--monster releases, is the same of what a predator would when it’s about to hunt its prey.

In only a matter of seconds, the monster started sprinting towards me. I immediately gathered my senses and was prepared to run but I knew it was too fast. That, and considering my physical capabilities, I knew couldn't possibly outrun it.

Paralyzed, I stood there. Just seconds away from being ripped apart by this unknown being right before me.