January marked the beginning of a new year. The months preceding it were all empty in terms of substance. Nothing to talk about, nothing to do, no friends, just the turning of time and going through the repetitive motions of going to school and going home. Even now a week later after school began the world was monotonous. So grey I was beginning to think I didn't think I lived in the correct world. But something new introduced itself the afternoon I was in the stairwell. I wonder if it was a coincidence or fate when she fell into my arms that day. It wasn't a long fall but it felt like she'd fallen out of heaven. Maybe she was trying to kill herself or escape from someone and ended up falling, either way she was going to be severely hurt if I didn't catch her.

That day...

The weather was cold but soothing, not cold enough to wear a thick jacket but just right to wear a scarf. A young boy with shaggy black hair covering his youthful features stopped at the gates of the school he attended. He was dressed in a school uniform that matched his peers walking past him, a white buttoned shirt with a red tie and red plaid pants that stood out. It was the most distinguishing feature of this school's uniform, and for the girls it was the same, wearing a red plaid skirt that wasn't too short nor too long. This youth's name was Tanaka Yasuhiro and he was just an average ordinary guy into the typical things young guys like him were into. Reading manga, playing videogames, the usual things someone would do while in high school. Other than that he didn't have much to him, no exciting backstory or hidden skills. A sigh escaped his breath and he walked onwards to begin the next day of his ordinary life.

Sitting by the window in class 2-A he had his eyes glued outside looking at the various tall buildings surrounding the school in Shibuya all similar to each other in color and style with the only feature differentiating them being their size whether tall or short it still was all the same. He was practically asleep with his eyes open letting the hours pass by until the end of class. This was the brief time he could actually feel something other than melancholy, when the sky was lit orange and students either left for their clubs or home, and stayed to talk a little with their friends about what plans they had next. Tanaka was the latter, getting out of his seat and moving over to his only friend. He was way more handsome and clean than Tanaka could ever dream to be and had qualities girls loved like his height and perfectly symmetrical face. Hinata here was every girl's dream. Wherever he went there was always a different girl following closely behind him talking on and on like he was interested in what they had to say. Tanaka couldn't tell if he was simply another one of his orbiters but Hinata seemed to treat him well...

"Hey hey manga boy. Finally awake?"

Well to a certain degree. Hinata liked to tease Tanaka a little which got a laugh out of the two girls beside him. He leaned back in his seat and flipped his darkish hair "I saw you staring out the window the whole time. Your eyes were practically glued to the glass."

"Yeah... I was daydreaming that there was more to our regular lives y'know?" Tanaka rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and Hinata snickered as a response "Only for a loser like you. You barely do anything! Are you even apart of a club?"

Again the girls beside him giggled at rude comments and one of them interjected, "And there's no manga club you can join. You'll have to find a club outside your interests."

Tanaka nodded "Right... I feel like if I'm gonna join a club then it has to be something big. Maybe even... joining the student council."

A stark silence fell between the two and the girls shot a disgusted glare towards this idea. Hinata on the other hand laughed in his face, nearly falling out of his seat. He stood up and placed one hand on Tanaka's shoulder, gripping it tightly. "Listen, I know you aren't the brightest tool in the shed but-"

"Isn't it the sharpest tool in the shed?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to have a serious talk here!" Hinata's loud voice caused the girls to panic and leave the room in a hurry. He cleared his throat then said again "You're pretty naive so I know you don't know as much as I do, but joining the student council is a stupid idea. Those pricks are the worst people, thinking they're above all rules just because they can use magic. It's so sickening to me."

"Whenever I see them they're getting bullied by others."

"That's to keep them in line. To keep them from abusing their power." Hinata flipped his bangs and turned around "Someone like you probably wouldn't get the full picture. I'm just warning you. Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of all that bullying right?"

Tanaka wasn't as smart as Hinata, he felt he lacked much outside world knowledge due to being sheltered for most of his life. He never saw much of his parents due to their busy working lives and often was left to himself to play or figure out things. Having someone like Hinata to teach him what the world was truly like behind his veiled lenses was nice but maybe there were times Tanaka should've made his own decisions rather than letting others pick for him. For now he listened to Hinata's last bit of advice to join the newspaper club before he left the classroom, and Tanaka ventured out into the halls where he found the members of the newspaper club standing in front of a bulletin board in a circle. He could tell they were in the club by the cameras around their necks and one shorter boy carrying a video camera on a tripod. Judging by their appearances he figured Hinata told him to join this club because of their unkempt looks, untucked shirts, loose ties and so much more that made this small club of 3 look like a band of dorks. Well he was in no place to complain about his loserdom since years of self isolation turned him into a practically unrelatable person.

He nervously entered into their conversation asking if they had any open spots and much to his surprise they did. Making this coincidence feel much more like fate, they were looking for a more courageous person to help with their investigations into the abnormal.

There were rumors of a ghost haunting the nearby library students frequented and those students vanishing if they tried exploring the rest of the building.

"The old school was renovated into a public library but for some reason the rest of the school wasn't demolished. Honestly I'm too nervous to do it myself. We need someone to go with a camera to get footage of the place." the black haired cameraman said.

Tanaka nodded with a smile, "That sounds pretty exciting." He didn't believe in ghosts or the supernatural even though the student council had some rather unique traits. He was handed the tripod and camera and he followed the boys to the library where his life would change forever.

The library wasn't as big as the school Tanaka attended, only having 2 floors compared to the newer building which had 3. He stopped at the entrance lobby in awe, never having seen the inside of the library before. The smooth dark wood lining the rows of shelves containing book upon books. A thin green carpet soft to the touch. At this hour there were few students studying at the dark long tables by themselves and the librarian behind the counter was absent.

Tanaka had a deep gaze taking in the atmosphere of a calm library while walking past the tall shelves left and right, something the cameraman noticed and commented on, "You look like you've never seen a book in your life." he grinned

"Certainly feels like I haven't."

They stopped at double doors in the far back of the library where the chandelier's light didn't reach. One could tell this area was off limits from the paper taped to the door warning visitors not to trespass beyond that point. It was extremely rare for the library to be this empty so there were few chances for students, mostly delinquents, to sneak into the other side. The cameraman did a doubletake looking at the front of the library to make sure they weren't being watched and nodded "It's clear."

Though their disregard of the rules so easily made Tanaka feel uneasy about this decision. "Don't you think it's a bit weird that the newspaper club is sneaking around to get information?"

The cameraman crossed his arms frowning "Yeah it is. It's not my favorite thing to do but it's the only way we can get information for our papers. I'm sure you've noticed not just the school but the world has gotten a lot more secretive about things. I heard stories about detectives needing to break the law to bring back justice and expose the world's lies. I wanna do that kind of too."

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"That is pretty upstanding." Tanaka felt more confident in their goals to change the status quo. He stepped back and slipped and fell into the ground quite a distance, or he thought he did. He hit the ground flat on his back gently but was in a completely different setting than the library. First his mind was blank trying to parse what happened, then a cold dread fell on him. He sat up with all sense of happiness drained from his body leaving him in the coldness of what looked like a ruined building overgrown with forestry. The sky was pitch dark and the critters filled the silence so much that he would've preferred complete silence to this. His heart was pounding almost about to burst out of his chest in the form of vomit had he not slowed his panicked breathing.

All he was left with was the tripod the club gave him. It turned on but he couldn't tell it was properly working, not that it mattered now, he needed to get out of here. That's all he could think of. Not even knowing where to go or what getting out meant. He ran following what looked like a trail, an obvious clear path between the forestry covering the busted shelves and flipped tables and windows. Vines covered the walls and roots sprawled out on the floor. After nearly tripping out of the door frame, it finally came to mind when he looked back at the building that he was looking at the library in a completely post apocalyptic state. And now outside, he realized how towering the trees were and how the thick leaves completely covered the sky which left him in total darkness and shadow.

Tanaka wanted to scream. The mangas he read often had characters thrusted into a struggle they never wanted to be apart of, but through their adversity they managed to become powerful. But this wasn't a manga nor did Tanaka have any skills he was born with or granted. Rather than being the participant in the hero's journey he was just a spectator far detached from that life. It was impossible for such fantasy to be his story but now here it was--not reality being cruel but reality being real. His fear fell to an all time high when the ground rumbled from something getting closer, something no one in the world would've predicted or believed even if you showed them a picture of its existence. The thin branches broke and made way, bushes forced to bow crushed under the creature's feet. Tanaka turned as fast as he could, merely getting a glimpse of a four legged monster and its shining blue eyes before he ran back into the building with the beast chasing him. He retraced his steps where the back door was, opened it and threw himself back into the arms of the camera man screaming loudly.

The cameraman had to cover his mouth "You were only in there for like 10 seconds, what are you crying for?"

Tanaka opened his eyes and looked both ways. He stammered while stepping back "T-there w-was--" his winded breath made it difficult to speak and his head was so scrambled from the events that occurred. The club was confused however since he only went in and immediately came out screaming like he'd seen hell.

"And you left our tripod in there. Is there really a ghost on the other side?" The cameraman walked past Tanaka about to open the door ignoring his many protests about there being a demonic beast or something back there. And just before he touched the doorknob, the shorter boy warned them that security might be on to their schemes soon because of Tanaka's loud scream.

This caused him to sigh and he turned to Tanaka "Alright I guess that's the end of our investigation for now. Since whatever's got you shaken up did a number on you... you might as well fill in a form to the student council to look into it. And tell them everything you saw down to the minute detail."

That day changed his life forever, and it was perhaps the end of his normal days.

Sleeping was impossible. Everytime he closed his eyes he could feel the dark creatures behind his neck breathing and staring at him. He couldn't sleep in the dark fearing that would inexplicably fall into the other world again and have to face the monster that chased him. Even during the morning when he was entering the school he couldn't shake the feeling of something powerful looming over him. Students shot him weird glances but he didn't care because he saw something he wasn't supposed to and surely he was going to have to pay for it in some way. During the duration of class his legs wouldn't stop shaking and the thought of ever napping again was far gone.

After class normally he would talk with Hinata for a bit and be called a nerd or something but today he completely ignored him, even when he shouted his name Tanaka kept running. The only thing he thought about was what the cameraman said about filling a request form to the student council. They had forms students could fill out with problems relating to the school for the council to manage. Problems like preventing school fights or cleaning up vandalism, janitorial work in a sense but it wasn't common for these problems to arise. Instead, like Hinata said, the council were the ones on the receiving end of students' hate.

Tanaka had to disregard that, the supposed hierarchy of the school where the normal students were at the top and the council at the bottom. He had a bigger problem that could only be solved by their power, a power the students hated either out of envy or malice. He found the student council president on the first floor right at the doors, and could tell it was a member of the council by their distinct uniform and armband. Instead of a white buttoned shirt and tie, they wore a black sailor dress with a white collar, and on the bottom trim of the dress was a plaid pattern. On their left arm was a red armband with kanji most students didn't recognize.

As for the president herself. She was an extremely beautiful black haired girl. She had Long silky smooth hair and bangs that almost covered her eyes, a pale complexion and blue eyes like the ocean. The perfect woman in a sense and would be best girl if she existed in a manga. It was strange that someone like her was commonly bullied. Maybe it was her attitude, Tanaka figured. When he grabbed her arm stammering trying to get an explanation out she pulled away ignoring his words.

"W-wait! P-please listen this is really important! I-I can't get away from it!" Tanaka cried.

The student council president had to listen to the problems of every student to make the school experience pleasant. She stopped and faced him with a grimace, blunt in tone and plainly uninterested "What is it?"

"There's a monster in the library! Something big a-and there's a completely other world I fell into where everything's in a forest--" Tanaka gripped his chest trying to calm his heart and exhausted breath. "You have you come with me and see it! It's real all of it is real!"

This all sounded like a prank to the president but she had to fulfill every student's request even if it sounded fishy. If this ended up in her demise then she always had the option of burning her pranksters permanently. For now she listened and was dragged by hand by Tanaka. The library was more filled at this hour but he didn't care, going back to where he fell in the ground with the door now having a second sign warning trespassers they'd have to pay a fine and other paragraphs he ignored reading. The forest he fell into was no dream but he didn't know how to make it happen again. It was random, a one in million chance so he ended up standing awkwardly while the council president watched him.

"A monster is here?" Said the confused president.

"Yes!" Tanaka got on his knees to touch the ground thinking maybe he could sink his hand somewhere. "I fell into the ground here. No, here! No no... maybe it was..."

"Did you trespass beyond those doors?"

"I think I did. I'm not sure of anything I did to get to that forest but..."

The president walked forward touching the door handle much to his shock. Tanaka then saw the president furrowed her brow after a moment, then opened it, walking inside with Tanaka into a completely different location. He could feel something akin to jetlag passing through solidifying his claims and to test this he turned around to open the doors behind him once again, this time instead of seeing the usual library they were in seconds before--

BOOM!!

It was brief but Tanaka saw the head of a brown creature slam its head at the door frame completely destroying it and the surrounding buildings. He was knocked back with the council president beside debris that thankfully didn't crush them. Though maybe it would be better to die swiftly than to die to the monster now facing them. Tanaka looked up at a T-rex like dinosaur with a massive axe blade on its head, presumably the thing that it smacked them with and simply looking at it made Tanaka start crying in fear and dread. When he asked for more to his usual life he didn't want this, not certain death facing him this instant. There was still a lot he didn't get to do and and...

"..!" He looked to his side and saw a longsword slide from nowhere towards him. Fighting... that option never came to his mind when he fell into this predicament. Judging by this creature's smaller size compared to the one he faced before, maybe he had a chance to awaken something within him. He looked to his left and saw the president looking in awe of the monster just as he was with the world he fell in. Fear was drawn on her face. Tanaka figured he could quell such fears if he fought back like someone in the hero's journey would. He grabbed the sword and rose to his feet telling himself in his mind that all he had to do was slash at its feet, that's it. The monster was slow and its axe head was its only method of attack. Again, saying out loud "Just slash at its leg, slash at its leg..." he repeated the phrase stepping forward with trembling legs then rushed out into a sprint with the sword raised.

He screamed as he ran, ducking under instinctively dodging the monster lunging its head and hit the scaly leg with his hardest swing, stopping behind the monster and--

THUDD!!

It was fast.

Before Tanaka knew it he was crushed underneath the monster's tail. The attack was swift in one motion, or perhaps he was too slow. No, he wasn't fit for this at all. This wasn't his place to be. The searing pain was all throughout and looking at it made it worse. His body from waist down was crushed and,

THUDD!!!

Again the monster crushed him with its tail to ensure its target was dead. Tanaka's body and bones were crushed in a bloody mess, his blood in a large splat on the ground and him lying center of it all unable to utter a single scream for help. It was obvious he was far too gone to receive any help but saying it was the only thing he could think of before his vision darkened at the edges then complete darkness.

After that day nothing would be the same.