A human skeleton on a high school chair. That was the only spectacle Sora’s brain could focus on. A scene worthy of the greatest gore movies, but this time it was all too real, no special effects.

Sora, trembling, remained still and silent for a very long time. He could hardly make a rational deduction from what he had just seen. How could he? There was nothing rational about it.

Suddenly, Sora jumped up and turned quickly towards the door. He had tried to push it, but the door didn’t open. He then began to hit the door with his shoulder to try to open it, but to no avail. It was as if the door was made of metal.

That’s when Sora took a very long sigh and started to analyze the room with inhuman speed. He searched for any exit that could allow him to escape this nightmare. He then rushed towards one of the windows in the classroom. He jumped out the window, breaking the glass with his right shoulder.

His classroom was on the second floor of the building, so he calculated that with his physique, he could not possibly hurt himself by doing so and he just needed to land properly. It was the only way out he had managed to find.

However, as he was about to reach the ground, all he could see was total darkness.

“What had happened?” Sora wondered as he opened his eyes.

That’s when he realized he was sitting back in his chair, at the last table of the class.

Gabriel was sitting in the teacher’s chair, where Takashi’s skeleton had originally been. Crossing his legs, he looked at Sora as if he were amused by the situation. Sora had searched well, but Takashi’s skeleton seemed to have vanished.

“Don’t mess with me, what’s going on!” said Sora, raising his hand in protest and abruptly getting up from his chair.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Sit down, Sora,” said Gabriel in a slow and measured tone. As he spoke, his eyes lit up with a much brighter light than usual.

Suddenly unable to resist, Sora sat back down in his chair in a flash. The movement was so sudden that the legs of the chair cracked, a loud and unsettling “pop” sound echoed through the room.

Sora tried to struggle, but he was immobilized by immense pressure.

Gabriel took a step forward, scrutinizing every movement of Sora’s face and every inflection in his voice, as if trying to detect something. But before Sora could realize it, Gabriel was already in front of him, his face glued to his own. He had been faster than lightning, and Sora had seen nothing coming.

“Listen to me, my dear Sora. As you can see, I could kill you in an instant if I wish. But for some reason, something about you intrigues me… That’s why I’ve decided to give you a chance to survive. It’s up to you whether you want to take it or die right now.”

Upon hearing his words, Sora burst into loud, thunderous laughter that reverberated throughout the room, his shoulders shaking with uncontrollable convulsions.

Gabriel seemed surprised by his reaction.

“This can’t be possible. I must be dreaming. I’ll wake up soon,” he thought, but he didn’t believe his own words. How could he dream and feel such pain from the pressure crushing him in the chair?

“Why me?” he asked, his voice tight.

“Well, if you manage to survive, maybe we’ll find out,” Gabriel replied confidently, moving away from Sora and sitting in the chair next to him.

“I can’t die here,” thought Sora, lowering his head.

“Many people still need me,” he thought, especially his family and friends. But during this moment, he remembered the last sentence his sister Shuna had said to him before she died (“Sora, live for me…”).

Indeed, Maeda Shuna was Sora’s older sister. She was two years older than him and had passed away a year prior from brain cancer. She had fought the disease with all her might for several years, but had ultimately lost the battle.

Shuna meant a lot to Sora, and he was not the same person after his sister’s death. Many people believed that he and his sister were twins because they looked so much alike.

“I understand. What do you want from me?” said Sora, raising his head and looking towards Gabriel with an unmoving face, with a neutral or focused expression, without a smile or excessive movement.

“Fantastic!” replied Gabriel, standing up and raising both hands in the air.

“Win my challenge and show me how much your life means to you.”