Jet panted heavily from his physical exertion. He continued to cycle, despite his legs begging for a break. He biked along a dirt trail, heading up a steep incline. To his right, he could see a vast view of his hometown, the houses clustered together like peas in a pod. To his left were trees and fauna. Flowers bloomed alongside the trail, bright petals staring at the sun which shone brightly above. It was a beautiful day. There were no clouds in the sky and the air felt cool to his skin. It was a relief, given that he’d been cycling for an hour. His bike was old, the red paint having faded long ago while the gears on his mountain bike barely functioned. Jet groaned.

“Ugh. Why do you have to live on top of a mountain!”

He kept going. It felt like he was on some great odyssey. He wondered to himself how people could make this journey on a consistent basis. Shouldn’t Buddhist monasteries be more easily accessible by the public? He’d never been to one but he assumed it had to be like a church. Fortunately, his journey came to an end. The ground evened out, making it a lot easier for him to peddle. He entered a clearing, finding himself in front of opened red gates placed in front of a massive red, white, and yellow structure. The roof was red but had yellow ridges on top, reminiscent of waves. The walls and columns of the structure were a pristine white, as if it had been painted yesterday. Behind the columns was the entrance to the building, a massive red door with a golden door knob. Jet got off his bike and realized there were no bike racks.

“Oh shoot.”

He looked around, trying to figure out where to put his bike. He could leave it alone but he decided against it. He did that before assuming no one would steal his bike which was a mistake. He may have been 7 at the time, but he’ll never forget what happened to his tricycle.

“I still miss you superbike.”

He took his bike up to the gate, glancing behind his back. There was no one around. He took off his bike lock and wrapped it around the gate and his bike’s frame. He connected the two ends, double checking to make sure they were connected tightly. He stepped back, seeing the awkward position his bike was in.

“This should be fine right?”

No one answered.

“Yeah it’s fine.”

He strode through the gates, reaching the door. Jet paused. Should he knock? Should he go straight inside? He had no idea what the protocol was. He decided to knock. No response. He knocked again.

“Ugh hello? Anyone home? I’ve come to see Lorraine. I think I'm a friend of hers. She might hate me right now, I’m not too sure.”

On the other side he could hear a faint sound. He put his ear against the door, hearing some sort of low guttural sound. It sounded like…chanting?

“Oh yeah they do that.”

He decided to try the doorknob. The door was unlocked so he headed inside. He stood before a massive open area, filled with people seated on pillows with their legs crossed and eyes closed, chanting in unison. They were an eclectic grouping. From old ladies to teenage boys his age, the people sat in rows of about 10, all facing a giant golden statue of the Buddha who sat in the same position, facing them. Jet awkwardly walked among them, trying to find Lorraine. He didn’t want to interrupt so the best thing he could do was try to search for her among the people. No such luck.

In the back of the room was an open door frame, leading to the outside. Could he go back there? If Lorraine was here she’d have to be back there right? He tried his best to walk past the sitting chanters but his steps were too loud for his liking. The chanting became slightly off note as people got distracted. He accidentally bumped into someone.

The person he hit was strange. They wore white robes that covered their body like a large blanket. Their black hair was extremely long, covering up their face and went down to the floor.

“Oh my god it’s Sadako” Jet said under his breath.

He didn’t get a direct response to his movie reference. The figure began to mumble which Jet could barely understand.

“...false gods…..for the 11th…..false gods. Lies…..all lies….World full of lies…..Heresy” they said in a sibilant whisper.

“Ugh…sorry?”

The long haired person whipped out a piece of chalk and began to scribble on the ground. They drew some weird glyph Jet had never seen before. Was this some Buddhist practice? No one else was reacting to it, continuing their chanting. He shrugged, assuming that this was normal. He left, heading further into the monastery.

Jet found himself in a courtyard. It was circular in shape, with a massive fountain in the center surrounded by flowers. Stone paths coursed through the courtyard, allowing Jet to leave the plants undisturbed. He walked around the fountain where he saw a monk. He was an older man adorned in flowing red robes. He had a bald head and his face was wrinkled, reminding Jet of a raisin. The older man bowed to him. Jet returned the gesture but overdid it, almost tripping over in the process.

“Ugh yes hello” Jet greeted, straightening up. “I’m looking for Lorraine.”

The man nodded.

“Ah the abbot’s daughter.” the man acknowledged. “Are you a friend?”

“Yeah we go to the same school. I sit right next to her in class.”

“How pleasant. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

“Eh, that's up for debate. Where is she?”

The monk motioned for Jet to follow. After being told to take off his shoes, they entered a long hallway, the courtyard visible through windows on the right side, the left side decorated with Buddhist insignias and memorabilia. The ground was made of wood and was shiny, with Jet being able to see his reflection.

“She is currently in the exercise room.” the monk revealed as they continued to move.

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“No way, y’all got a gym?”

“Not for public use. It’s the miss’s own personal playground. It’s quite unusual but it’s convenient for her. I’m surprised the abbot allowed her to make it.”

“So the monks don’t use it?”

“No.”

“So I won’t see a super buff monk walking around?”

“D-do you want to?”

“.....Yes.”

The monk stopped, the two of them having reached their destination. He pursed his lips.

“I’m…sorry to disappoint you.”

“It’s ok. Also I just realized, don’t you guys stay silent?”

“That varies from monastery to monastery. We don’t follow that here. Neither do we request our monks to be celibate. It’s a personal vow, not mandated.”

“Woah, cool. I was wondering how Lorraine was born. I thought she got left on the front steps of this place or something as a baby. Glad we could talk.”

“Likewise” the old man said but his tone indicated otherwise. “Let me know if you need anything.”

The monk strode away, leaving Jet standing in front of a brown door alone. Behind him, the sun’s rays pierced through the windows. He knocked.

“Lorraine!” he called out. “It’s Jet!”

“Come in!”

Jet entered. The place he saw really was reminiscent of a gym. There was a bench press on his left placed against the wall with a dumbbell rack placed next to it. On his right a punching bag, a treadmill, an elliptical, and a pull up bar. Out of all the gym equipment, only the pull up bar was being used. Lorraine was currently on it, going up and down with ease. Her muscles flexed through her white shirt, long baggy blue shorts swaying as she moved. She dropped down, twirling to Jet. She tightened her ponytail as she strode to him.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked. “Didn’t I tell you to never approach me again?”

“Yes but, Rama and I kinda felt bad about things so I came to check up on you. Rama was supposed to be here too but he never got back to me.”

“Felt bad about what?”

She went to the corner of the room, picking up a towel and began to wipe herself down.

“Well..the whole thing.” Jet said, feeling hesitant to speak of it aloud.

“Oh you must mean the time we got attacked and I got slammed into the ground by our classmate.”

“Yeah that time.” Jet concurred, not picking up on Lorraine’s sarcasm.

“My neck still hurts. I had to wear a brace for a week.”

Jet rubbed his chin.

“Wait, that's why you wore that thing around your neck? I thought that was a fashion statement.”

“What? No! What statement would I be making?”

“That you don’t like to turn your neck?”

Lorraine sighed.

“No Jet, I wasn’t wearing that thing for fun. Speaking of fashion, what are you wearing?”

Jet looked down at his outfit. He wore blue jeans and a black shirt with the depiction of a scantily clad anime girl wielding two swords with golden hair.

“It’s Oda Nobunaga duh” Jet said matter of factly.

“What?”

“Yeah. In this series he and all the other warlords are anime girls.”

“Why?”

“Because the main character is actually in a dating sim so he knows about all the events beforehand and he soon gets a harem of all the warlords.”

Lorraine picked up a nearby water bottle and drank from it, trying to hide her disgust but failed.

“This is why I hate anime. It ruins everything. Warlords aren’t supposed to be anime girls. They were what men are supposed to be. Strong, intelligent, and with good facial hair. You better not tell me they ruined the Battle of Nagashino.”

“Oh I remember that episode. In that one Nobunaga accidentally trips on the main character and gets groped.”

Lorraine put down her bottle, looking at Jet nonplussed.

“You came here to make me feel better or something right?”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s not working.”

“Hey it’s not my fault you’re uncultured. Anyway, we’re getting off track.”

Jet leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.

“Besides the pain, how’re you feeling about what happened?”

Lorraine sat on the bench press, looking at the ground. Her reflection stared back at her.

“Feels surreal, like it never happened. Almost like a dream in a way, but the physical pain made it all too real. I had to lie to my parents, said I got hit by a car.”

“I said I fell down the stairs. Rama said he got hit by a truck which is funny given that’s almost what happened.”

“How is Rama doing?”

“I think he’s alright. It bothers him but what can we do you know? I’m trying to forget it happened.”

“It’s not that easy. I’m paranoid. What if there are more people out there? You think we can just brush it off?”

“We can try.”

“And fail. I don’t like how little I did. I got my rear handed to me. I was treated as nothing more than a nuisance.”

“I mean, can you expect much when up against a psycho gravity woman?”

“When it’s life or death, yes. That’s why I’ve been training hard, more than usual. Before I worked out for fun, now it’s to ensure I don’t get beat up again. There’s no way things are over, we need to be prepared. I still don’t really understand what happened back then but it’s clear they were serious.”

“I guess. Great, now I feel like I’m not doing enough. I came here to make you feel better, how’d I end up feeling worse?”

“Because I’m a realist. But seriously, I’m fine Jet. I’m surprised you came all the way out here just to see me.”

“Of course I did. You’re one of the boys.”

Lorraine narrowed her eyes, unsure of how to feel about that.

“Thanks?”

“Anytime bro.”

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Nah I’m good. Just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”

“Cool. If you don’t mind, I'm about to go take a shower. You know how to get out of here?

Jet nodded, giving her the peace sign as he approached the door. He put his hand on the doorknob but paused.

“Are we still not allowed to approach you at school?”

“As much as I’m going to regret this, you can talk to me at school. Sorry for ignoring you two, I…wanted to keep some distance. Also it was hard to talk in general. Windpipe kinda got injured.”

“Understandable. See you bro.”

Jet left the room, leaving Lorraine alone. She got up when Jet quickly reentered the room, his eyes wide. He slammed the door behind him.

“The floor is the ceiling and the ceiling is the floor!” he exclaimed.

“What?”

She went up to him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your place got really really weird.”

She pushed past him, opening the door and went into the hallway. What Jet said was correct, it was as if the floor and ceiling had flipped. She was walking on her ceiling now. Her feet crunched the lath and plaster. Jet joined her.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t take drugs when I got here,” he said.

“What in the world…”

She examined her surroundings, noticing the windows. There should’ve been light coming through them. There wasn’t. It was pitch black outside, almost like it had become night. Her eyes widened. Jet saw it as well and cursed.

“It’s happening again.”