“Ah, ah, ah…”

I stayed there, speechless, contemplating the enormous amount of corpses lying on the floor.

My breathing was heavy and fast, a not so strange thing since I was extremely tired.

“Ah… ah…”

Little by little, with patience, my respiration slowed down as I was, not only recovering, but getting back to my senses too.

Then, a strong smell of rotted flesh reached my nose as I kept staring at the lifeless bodies around me.

“Smells bad” was the only thing I could say.

I didn’t feel anything towards the monsters, no signs of compassion or joy in my heart, just nothing. Probably killing so much of them made me forget the value of their lives.

I thought that was the way it had to be anyway, so I felt good for not caring about them anymore. It was going to make things much easier for me although, it was still cruel.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and I prepared for battle as fast as I could but I soon realized it was Lily who came for me.

“You done training? Had any trouble?”

“Just at the beginning because I was distracted”.

“Hey! Be careful! Don’t forget to concentrate in every fight you have, these monsters are extremely weak and aren’t really a threat but they still cause harm so you better watch out”.

“Thanks, I won’t distract myself during battle from now on”.

“Great! Now, we should get going because I need to prepare a couple of things before we go tomorrow”.

"Go? Where?"

"To the Academia silly, don't you remember?"

“Wait, didn’t we have to wait for two days starting today?”

“Oh no, it was starting yesterday. Today was free and tomorrow we go there and start classes! Although actual classes don’t really start tomorrow”.

“Hmm I see”.

Just as I said that, Igor appeared and told us to get going. We did as he said and left the place.

A couple of things happened later that day but they weren’t that important. To sum up, I arrived to Lily’s house, ate a lot, fought with Igor, got terribly beaten by him, ate again and finally went to sleep.

Oh wait! I almost forgot! 

That night when I was about to sleep, I thought about all what had happened until that moment, which was quite a lot. Now that I think of it, it was something very hard to swallow for a teenager like me.

I remember myself sitting on the bed and looking at the window with a very concentrated face worth of those philosophers immortalized in sculptures. “What was I thinking?” you may wonder. Don’t worry because I’m about to tell you.

“I need to put together all the information I have. A lot has happened but I got to put my head straight”.

“First of all, were am I?. This doesn’t seem to be a game so, what the hell is this? Another world? Another planet? And also, what’s the point on sending a group of teenagers here? Maybe to explore the place or maybe just for fun… Maybe the name of the game gives me some clue "Gambling of the Gods"... Also, who are they? Government? Secret organization? Aliens?”

This whole thing proceeded like a ritual: questions whose answers only generated more and more questions. My mind was filled with the phrases that we start saying once we learn how to talk in order get information and learn about the world that surrounds us. I was like a baby, no, that’s precisely what I was in that new world I found myself in.

After a while of asking the same unanswered questions I changed the routine a bit and asked myself  something, something very hard for me to answer at that time.

“Do I want to get home?”

Those words echoed through the room that remained silent until that moment. It was something I’d been avoiding to talk to myself since I wanted to believe I wanted to get home and see my family but the truth is that I wasn't very sure.

“I love my family and I'm really sad for not seeing them but you know... I’m just a hikikomori* with no friends that probably isn’t going to do something important in life. Right now I’m living the anime story that I always wanted and I’ve met more important people to me here than back home so, once again I ask, do I really want to go home?”

Like before, the room remained silent.

I thought about that for a good while. A whole discussion inside of my head was taking place as I tried to figure out the proper answer. At some point of the “debate” I expected Liv to come and tell me the answer but that didn’t happen. She had been my savior during my stay in that world and she probably got bored of saving my ass. At least that’s what I thought.

A couple of minutes later I reached my conclusion, a very coward one in my opinion.

“I don’t know”.

“I don’t know if I want to get home, I don’t know if I want to stay here, I don’t even know if what I’m doing now is right...”

I wasn't sure of my answer but I knew I had to take a decision. I knew I had to do something and then I thought about that: "I need to move forward... I want to find the truth about all of these and if I stay here, I'm not gonna find it".

I thought it was very coward of me for not deciding. That the thing that made me move forward was curiosity and not the love I felt for the persons in one world or the other. But that’s the way things happened and I can’t change that.

After that I quickly fell asleep and I remember myself having a dream of me saving the people trapped in that beautiful but terrifying world. 

----------------------------------------

It was morning, the birds sang as beautifully as only they know, the wet grass produced an addictive smell that could make any person feel good, the sun was irradiating with its astonishing beauty and the heavy luggage that we dragged made an annoying noise that didn’t match any of the things previously mentioned.

There we were, Lily and my person walking through the forest with an incredible amount of baggage filled with god-knows what. 

After a very lovely and warm goodbye, Lily and I decided to leave the house that hosted me and went to the Academia, the special school made for “beginning” adventurers that wanted to defeat the castle of Stoigom and, people that want to live a good life by being the personal knights of some princess or queen.

As we made our way across the gorgeous pine forest that surrounds Galdric, my beautiful companion and I were talking about all kinds of stuff.

“I still can’t believe that this little bag I have in my hand is the only thing that is mine among all these things!”

“Well, as you know, we girls need a lot of things to keep ourselves pretty don’t you think? Or is it that you don’t want me to be pretty anymore?”

After that answer I could just think “Girls are the same everywhere, aren’t them?” before replying.

“Of course I don’t! But I’m just saying if everything of these is necessary?”

“Haha don’t worry, most of what’s here are just tons of books and things that I believe could be useful. We’re living there after all”.

“Yeah, I think you’re right”.

“By the way Shiro, I need to tell you something”.

“Huh?”

“About that kiss the other night…”

When she said that my heart started beating faster and I couldn’t stop thinking about a lot of worst-case scenarios.

“Well, you seem like you don’t know how to handle these things so I’ll be very direct with you”.

That just made everything worse.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Don’t think that I’m your girlfriend now that we kissed. I mean, I think you’re cute and everything but right now I need to focus on my goal”.

“Oh! It was just that! Don’t worry Lily I understand your situation and I’ll help you accomplish what you want. You and your family have been very good to me so I'll help you as much as I can”.

“Thanks Shiro, that’s very kind of you…” she said with a bit of sadness on her face.

Then, I gathered all the guts I needed and told her something I never imagined myself saying.

 “But still you need to know that I really like you and if there’s any chance of getting something more than a kiss, I’ll do what it takes”.

She gave a tender smile, closed her eyes and finally answered me with a short but sweet “ok”.

Love is such a beautiful thing ain't it? I can´t believe that I missed all those situations during my teenage years just because I was afraid of people. Fortunately for me, I was fighting my fears and overcoming self-consciousness, I was starting to enjoy life.

I kept talking with Lily and faster than what I expected we arrived to the Academia. 

The first thing I saw was a big amount of people doing a line in the entrance and waiting to do something that, because of the distance, I couldn't notice what it was.

As everyone else, we made the line and waited for our turn.

"What are they doing there?" I asked Lily.

"We need to pay the fee first and then those ladies in uniform are going to give us the keys to our rooms and our uniforms".

I freaked out for a moment when I heard the word "fee" but I soon thought that Igor knew I had no money at all. 

"They have to pay for me" I thought, but decided it was better to pretend surprise because I couldn't say something like "Hey Lily! Thanks for paying me!"

I tried really hard in pretending I was worried. I put a sad face and said the word "fee" with an uneasy tone.

When I said that Lily simply was as direct as always and told me: "C'mon, don't act like you don't know we're paying you. We know your situation and if its just a small fee we'll help".

"Thank you Lily. It means a lot to me".

It wasn't a decorated "thank you", like those people usually say but don't mean. Instead, it was simple, rough and I bet she almost didn't hear it but it came from the bottom of my heart. 

"Don't worry Shiro, anyway, we have tooooooons of money!" she said with a cocky tone and a proud look in her eyes. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

I made a nervous laugh and then, without realizing, we arrived at the end of the line.

"Wait, did this enormous line move this fast?! That's efficiency" I said with a surprised tone knowing that not even in some places of our "civilized world" was this fast and organized.

Lily didn't hear me because she was busy paying the entrance.

"So you're paying for him too?"

"Yes".

"Ok, here you have your key and your uniform. What's his name?"

"Shiro... I forgot his last name..."

"Kurokawa" I said.

"Oh! Shiro Kurokagua! Mr. Melinor gave us a good reference about you"

"Uh, it's not Kurokagua. Kurokawa"

"That's what I said..."

At that moment I realized that there were diferences in the language. The ring I had to wear apparently translated what I said and what I heard but, what if there is a sound that exists in one language but not in the other... Well the situation here narrated is exactly what happens.

"Ah yes, I misheard. Sorry".

"Don't worry. Anyway, here's your uniform and the key to your room. The first digit of the number indicates the floor and the next two digits indicate your room".

"Thanks! Bye" said Lily before we left.

"Thanks..." I said in a lower tone.

After that conversation we got inside of the main building and Lily told me which room they gave me.

"My room? Let me see... 537"

"Really? Mine was 535! A bit closer and we would've been able to share our rooms. It would've been better if I had shared with someone I know..."

"Wait, is it allowed that a boy and a girl share rooms?"

"Yes..."

When Lily said that, I felt a bunch of emotions at the same time. First, I was happy that I could share with a woman. Then, I felt nervous that I could share with a woman. Later, I felt bad that I was really close to share with Lily but didn't at the end. I mean, that could've been the climax of my adolescence! Finally, I felt nervous again because I didn't know with whom I was going to share my room.  

I thought it was better for me to simply relax and wait to see who was going to be my partner.

Right when I was busy thinking in all of that I heard Lily questioning me for saying something that apparently was strange for her.

"Why do you ask? Didn´t you share rooms in your country?" 

"Ahh... Yes! That's it! It wasn't very normal for a boy and a girl to share the same room".

"Well that's weird" she said while we walked up the stairs.

"Anyway is not like I'm very normal either right?"

"Hahaha that's true. Oh wait! We arrived to the fifth floor already!"

"Really? That was fast."

"I guess it's true that time is faster when your talking".

"Yeah I think your right".

"535... 535... 535... Hey! Here's my room! I'll see you at the entrance ceremony then, bye!"

 "See ya' ".

Somehow she managed to put all her luggage in the room without help and closed the door.

"Her partner's not going to have space at all" I thought before heading to my room.

I didn't put attention to the place because I was distracted but when Lily left me alone I could appreciate the place better.

There was a lot of people. Everyone seemed busy setting themselves up or talking with other people. You could easily tell which ones were completely alone and which ones had their friends with them. 

I started to carefully look at the other ones. Each person was different and everyone seemed to be from different parts of the world. There were elves, humans, half-elves, and I didn't recognize the other ones. There were some black people but they didn't seem human, they had red eyes and pointy fangs. I could easily notice their teeth because they all were laughing a lot. 

"Their friendly" I thought.

Finally I decided to enter my room and save my few things.

I stood in front of the door. It was a very simple wooden door but it was pretty. It seemed well crafted and everything mantained. Actually, the whole place looked well mantained. 

I learned this later but the people from that world were really careful with whatever they do. They liked to see things well done.

Well, enough prasing to those guys, let's keep moving.

I introduced the key in the door lock and it smoothly opened.

A soft "Ah" was heard through the whole room as I entered. I rapidly lifted my head just to see a black-haired woman with purple eyes wearing a pair of broken glasses in the middle of place.

"Broken glasses? But glasses aren't supposed to exist in that oh..." said the voice that was paying so much attention to my story.

"See where I'm heading?" I asked with a smile on my face.