A young university student stood by his lonesome in the middle of an empty street.
He lifted his head up, to see a beautiful moon hanging in the sky.
He looked around, and spotted no one in sight.
Absolutely none at all.
Not a soul could be seen among us, despite this being one of Tokyo’s busiest districts…
That was just sus-
*VROOM*VROOM*
The young student immediately threw himself to the left before his previous thought could even run its course.
After all, he had made the mistake of turning right earlier, and it had led to quite an unpleasant outcome.
“Nice try, Truck-kun! Better luck next time, sucka!!!”
*VROOM*VROOM*
In response to the retreating figure’s taunt, an inconspicuous truck blared its engine madly.
Sounds of one relentless killing machine revving itself up while numerous sets of wheels grinded the ground below reverberated throughout the empty street. Yet, as soon as the truck began to ram straight into its mark once more, one sentence had already caused it to halt in place.
“Hello! Hello! Is this place still open? The sign right here said that you don’t close until midnight!!!”
The student continued pounding on the door of a bookstore. Even knowing that no actual consequences would befall him in case of failure, a bit of desperation still couldn’t help but gnaw at the boy’s heart.
After all, despite his earlier bravado, the damnable truck remained to be one of the few exceptions in this city that could actually harm him.
Plus, it certainly didn’t help that the cursed thing had learned to camp and spawn-kill him as soon as he returned. The truck seemed determined to make its prey’s “ascension” stick, annoyingly enough.
That aside, getting turned into roadkill - no matter how many times - still hurt like a bit-
*Ding*
Some tinkling sound of a bell attached to the door’s top, as well as the presence of a shopkeeper, quickly put an end to such thought.
“Will you knock it off already! I am old, not deaf!”
The aged owner said with a frown, which only seemed to deepen as she saw how her troublesome customer was now grinning from ear to ear.
With a mumble under her breath, the owner walked back inside, moving past several shadowy figures – which looked like students of various ages – who were appearing out of thin air in different aisles of the building.
The young university student kept his gaze firmly on the interior of the bookstore. Slowly, surely, countless ear-splitting din from traffic and nightlife activities began to pick up behind his back. Then, and only then, did he dare to turn around and take a look.
The street was no longer empty.
Shadowy figures of different sizes and shapes could be seen everywhere. Some were pedestrians that occupied the sidewalks. Others traversed the road in cars. Many stayed in houses or buildings, busy with whatever they had been doing. In the end, all contributed to the hustle and bustle that made up the nightlife of Tokyo.
The boy blinked.
Humans had replaced the figures from before.
Furthermore, no one seemed to mind a truck near the middle of the street, which was causing a small traffic jam in its wake.
“Hah! How do you like me now, stupid rustbucket!?”
“VROOM VROOM!!!”
With a smug smirk, the boy pulled his lower eyelid down and stuck his tongue out at one fuming vehicle.
“Well? Are you going to enter or not? Make up your mind, young man!”
Unfortunately, as much as he would like to savor this win, an annoyed voice deep inside the bookstore quickly served as a crucial reminder.
After all, tonight’s peril had yet come to pass.
| | | |
It was subtle at first.
From the far end of the street, where the eyes could hardly notice… A few people darkened once again, turning into little more than shapes of themselves.
Then, the change grew faster, and closer, and bolder.
By the time countless shadowy figures were staring at a certain bookstore, one young university student had already closed its door shut.
He also made absolute certain not to slam it.
And, sure enough, as the young student turned around to address the owner of this place, one giant, hunched shadow had started to shrink down again, before reverting back into the old lady from before.
An eerie stillness lingered in the air as every single creature within the building had their gaze firmly upon a human and another “human”.
Thankfully, the suffocating silence didn’t last long.
“Sorry, miss!” The boy bowed with as much sincerity as he could muster. “Tomorrow is a big day for me, and I let my nerve got the better of myself.”
A presence seemed to resonate with the sound of those words.
Soon, not even the tiniest aura of menace remained within the sanctuary that this place could offer. One by one, all shadowy figures within the bookstore slowly turned back into human as well.
“I see…” The old woman sighed, then nodded at him with a tired smile. “Well, don’t let these old bones make you more anxious, then. Plenty of younglings like yourself are also panicking over what they still forget for their entrance ceremony, so go on and join them. Tch… You kids… Back in my day, none of us would ever be this sloppy…”
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As the shopkeeper walked away to deal with some other customer, the young university student finally let out a deep breath in relief.
At long last, the crisis had been-
[ DING ]
[ SIDEQUEST CLEARED ! ! ! ]
[ MAIN QUEST - “ REFUSAL OF THE CALL ” - STILL IN PROGRESS ]
[ REWARD -
Without missing a beat, two arms instantly reached into thin air.
In record time, one deep crack could be heard, as if an invisible window just got broken over someone’s knee. Then, a bam shook the building, followed by sounds of two feet stomping on the ground repeatedly.
By the time people could come to check what was happening, the commotion had already ended.
Not far away, a disgruntled boy could be seen browsing some books, grumbling all the while.
| | | |
Did you know?
Literatures were often described as a gateway to the soul.
Thus, it was no surprise when one’s stay at the houses of enlightenment often felt so tranquil and peaceful…
“Eeppp…”
Of course, it also helped that there was now a soothing melody from some certain classic to bop one’s head to, whenever one entered these establishments.
Just a week ago, the thought that libraries and such would have music playing in the background might have left me shaking in my shoes.
Now, however? I couldn’t help but appreciate it, as well as the way so many of Japan’s rigid norms had been meshed and melded with those of the west to the point that-
“EEPPPPPPPP…”
I sighed as my concentration slipped, causing what little control on the narration to waver before the young university student looked to his right and could barely hold back a snort.
Soon, whatever music playing in the back also changed its tune to fit that of a romantic comedy.
If these tropes could get any more obvious, maybe he should consider fortune-telling as a serious job prospect from now on.
That said, before the girl next to him could hurt herself and make the entire shelf fall over, the boy had already stood on his tiptoes and grabbed a pink notebook. Then, with a most convincing smile that was definitely not fake like plastic, he offered the item to one blushing maiden.
“Please pardon my intrusiveness, young miss. Alas, my heart simply could no longer bare to let any harm befall such a flower such as yourself, especially when this fierce brute of a bookshelf seemed so keen on keeping its prize away from your grasp~”
“Eh… Eh…? EEP…!!!”
The boy watched with amusement as his (future) love interest turned into one blushing mess after a single show of niceness from some complete stranger.
And I tried to be as sappy as possible as well… How nice would it be if real life could be this simple~ He thought, idly noting how clouds of steam seemed to be coming out of the girl’s ears while the lower half of her body had already begun to melt into liquid.
Fortunately for girl A, it didn’t take long before girl B – her bestest of friends - came to the rescue.
With a bucket and a towel in each hand, girl B cheerfully recovered the liquified remain of her bosom buddy before retreating altogether, waving at their newest male acquaintance all the while.
Everything happened so fast, the boy could only blink at the absurdity of it all.
And, given how both girls were wearing similar uniform to his, there was no doubt that he would be seeing them again soon-
DOGS DUCKING DAMMIT…!!!
The boy looked down to check his clothes with a grimace.
Sure enough, instead of the usual long-sleeve shirt and comfy pants that he had grown used to, there were now a simple white collared shirt, black jacket with white trim and black pants in their stead…
Universities in Japan weren’t even supposed to have a freaking uniform, for crying out loud!
Still, after a helpless sigh, the boy couldn’t help but chuckle at his situation.
Despite everything, these were still harmless compared to what he had to deal with on a daily basic.
Sometimes, silly moments like this didn’t feel so bad… Perhaps, with a more open mind, he would even be able to look past this city’s uniqueness and started enjoying-
“She seems like a nice girl, isn’t she?”
The young university student froze still.
Slowly, carefully, he turned to look behind his back.
Everyone in the bookstore was staring at him with an unblinking gaze and a chilling smile.
“That kid usually comes to this place. You should talk more with her next time.”
The aged shopkeeper winked knowingly, before turning her head 180 so that it could face the front of her body once more.
The tune of a romantic comedy was still blaring in the background…
“Oh, to be young again… to be young again…”
Amidst wistful sighs, sounds of a customer fleeing the bookstore could be heard, and it wasn’t long before the door was sealed tight with a slap.
| | | |
As soon as I managed to reach “home”, my heart was finally able to calm down again, and I myself could - at last - throw off the hold of the narrative.
After one final calming breath, I moved towards the living room’s sofa and slumped down onto it, utterly drained for the day.
Unfortunately, even as my body screamed for rest, my mind knew better than to succumb to such simple desire. At least, not yet.
With great effort, I fished out the iphone in my pocket. The thing was probably more durable than any ancient nokia by this point, given how it kept surviving being trashed by truck-kun.
Such thought left me with a fond chuckle, as well as a potential idea to act on later.
Now, though, it was time for the familiar ritual to end the day with.
Ready?
Set…
Doomscrolling go go go!
“Peace in the Middle East… Sad if born in the West… Yada yada yada… The Mouse is making questionable decisions with Desnayland™ again… No one showed up to storm Area 52 this week… Spacebook™ denied any association with the dragon government… Blah… Blah… BLAH! Ugh! This is getting nowhere!!!”
I buried my head in a pillow with one long-suffering sigh. The iphone slowly slid out of my hand and dropped down on the floor with a dull thud, though I could hardly care about it.
After all, the festering fear which had been gnawing at me for an entire week might as well be confirmed at this point.
Earth had fallen.
What little left of it, as well as what few people still awared enough to realize what was happening, would continue to warp and wane, until nothing but a crude imitator remained.
Evidence, you asked?
Well, my memory might have gone past the slippery slope by now. Still, I was very certain that this world used to have at least hundreds of countries.
Now? A quick search on Giigle™ would reveal that America had always been the sole “country” in the west; Europe only had Sweden, London and Rome in their lonesome – with the latter two being all that was left of what should have been much bigger nations; while China, Japan and Korea made up the entirety of the east. Aside from those, only less than a dozen others remained.
Sometimes, names of some odd places, seas or islands would show up on both the map I had bought as well as the one I drew on my own. However, they rarely stuck around for long.
And, no matter how hard I tried to memorize, write or record the proof of their supposed existence, a blink of the eyes would still manage to wipe it all away later…
It still frightened me, to wake up each day and see the map having shrunk down, without knowing what was no longer there…
By this point, it was hard to tell how much this world had been distorted, or how may “big shots” had been warped beyond recognition.
Youtut™, Tweeter™, Reddeckbeard™… I used to consider those like them to be untouchable. However, if even nations could be wiped away without anyone’s knowledge, then could I even trust that these giants hadn’t been replaced by some parodies of themselves in the first place?
It made me question how many of the truth seekers – or “conspiracists”, as the dragon government would have the mass think of us as – truly remained.
After all, when the world was already this fucked, what was the point of fighting anymore?
I had certainly thought about taking that damn truck’s offer more than once before…
…
…
…
But that would be cowardly, wouldn’t it?
To lie down and accept defeat, just because the going got rough.
To accept whatever might come your way, just because it was the easy way out.
If I hadn’t clung to life when that rustbucket turned me into paste all those weeks ago, would I have been able to open my eyes and see the sorry state of this world?
No, of course not.
I would have fallen deep into escapism and got brainwashed into one of those poor fools instead.
…
Heh.
What was I even walking in circles for?
Hadn’t I already decided on a course of action long ago?
I needed to find others like me.
Together, all of us would investigate the secret behind this entire mess and, if possible, deal with it for good.
It was a long shot.
Success felt slim, while failure seemed inevitable.
But…
Humanity wouldn’t have made it this far if it was easier to kill than some cockroach on the street, no?
Hah!
It was decided! For real this time!
I would create my own conspiracy club!
Project Wall Breakers go go go!!!
.
.
.
Later on, I would have to change my club’s name to something much lamer, but let’s leave that for another time.