His breathing speed up dramatically, sweat was running down his brow and his subconscious gave him to understand that he was in danger, someone, or rather something was chasing him. Ichiro was running for his life as he felt the tormenting presence of the creature on his back. In an act of bravery he turned his head just to see what was behind him, when he looked at it, his face turned pale and waited with bated breath. It was a tall, thin and without a doupt creepy criature, with small slanted eyes and long pointed ears,just by looking at it Ichiro easily deduced it was not human. In any case, the only thing he wanted in that moment was to run away from there.

He kept running just watching tall and dry trees pass by his sides, the overwhelming silence towards wich the only sound that could be heard were the heavy footsteps of that stalker beast. Running away seemed impossible since no escape route was visible, he did not lose hope, he knew he needed to lose sight of it. After several minutes of intense persecution, Ichiro finally finded an hiding place between a group of dry bushes, as soon as he hid there the absolut silence was present. Hir arms went around her knees and crossed to protect himself until the uncertainty stopped causing him anxiety, he wanted to make sure no one was waiting outside the bushes but it was complicated as he couldn't see anything at all and better stayed there for a while.

Ichiro knew he couldn't stay hidden for ever, sooner or later he would have to steel himself and leave. The deep silence and the lack of signs of any evil presence made him consider to leave the place as soon as possible. First he poked his face and turned both sides, not seeing anyone, Ichiro decided to come out of hidding and started walking. Even with the pressure of not knowing the threats that could await him, he knew there was no going back and he would have to continue walking. Everything seemed to be going well, only taking small steps that did not make his pressence know was all he had to do and he was doing it successfully. Until in a clumsy, Ichiro stepped wrongly on a branch that caused him to stumble and slam his face against the scraped floor. Suddenly, the sound of leaves and branches waving began to be heard and the creature who was hidding among the trees slipped through them to descend.

Panic when seeing the creature next to him made him immobile and want to scream uncontrollably, be he couldn't do anything else besides screaming. The creature violently took Ichiro by the arms and raized him. Hungry for human flesh, the creature opened it's mouth.It seemed the end for him but before it hurt Ichiro, he opened his eyes just to see the ceiling of his room. Ichiro was just dreaming, he had a nightmare that looked so real that he jumped out the bed in fright.

"Another nightmare huh?" Asked Katsuo who was lying in front of Ichiro's bed. Ichiro sighed several times to calm himself down and then replied

"Yeah, again with the dark entity" as he called that criature in his nightmares. Katsuo consolidated when he saw Ichiro's horror expression in his face and tried to keep him calm. Katsuo was more than used to woken up by his roommate's nightmares and has been always there to make him feel better after that.

"Let me bring you a glass of water, It won't take long" Katsuo went down the stairs, when he returned he gave Ichigo the glass. "Thanks Katsuo, and sorry to wake you up again this week" Katsuo smiled at him "Don't worry, you would do the same in my place"

Katsuo lay back on his bed again to sleep a little longer. "try to sleep a little bit, there are still about two hours before dawn"

"I'll try, night Katsuo, and thanks again"

Katsuo yawning "Don't mention it, night Ichiro"

Date: October 11,2026

Place: Jikona, Osaka,Japan

Universe number: 10124831

It was the third time in the week that Ichiro had a nightmare, each time they became more frequent that he felt a great mistrust simply by resting his head on the pillows, despite of it, his eyelids closed again to regain some rest before the sun came up. At the morning, with a feeling of tiredness Ichiro woke up again. Excitment was not something present in his daily life. At first he thought he had a dream life in the orphanage, but over time his perception waned. Sick of every day being exactly the same as the one before, a philosophical idea flooded Ichiro's mind, existencial thoughts like "When am I going to leave this place?" or " what the hell im going to do with my life?" were the only things he thought about. Without any alternative, Ichiro started his morning as he always does, he went to badroom to pour water on his face so he could really stay awake and not fall asleep again as has happened on ocasion. After that, he put on his every day outfit; a boring blue sweatshirt, jeans and a pair of white tennis shoes.

After sighing deeply with a little dejection between his sleeves, the teenager descended the stairs and headed to the large dining room where all the other children gathered for breakfast.

" Good morning to all, hope you had a good rest to start the day with a lot of energy!" exclaimed happily Nani, the woman incharge of the orphanage. "Morning Nani!" was the exclamation the children gave infected by Nani's joy

"Please, feel free to grab all you want and sit back to enjoy the food!"

While the rest of the children took their food and sat at the long and wide table, Ichiro disgusted by Nani's cloying positivism simply took his food without attracting attention and disappeared without a trace. At the end of the dining room a door that gave access to the backyard of the orphanage was opened by him to be used as an leakage from Nani and the other children.

"Shit, that was close" thought after getting out the door to the garden. He was one of the oldest boys in the orphanage and socializing with younger guys wasn't something that caught his eye. He just looked for a pacific place to take breakfast.

"Maybe I could sit here" Ichiro saw a rusty bench next to the children's playground. A relaxing meal session away from others was all he was looking for, but suddenly, the sound of someone approaching him was perceived. He gulped "Shit, did Nani have seen me?!"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

A whisper close to his ear caught him off guard."Boo"

Ichiro's arms went up as he was taken by surprise and a sudden scream left his lips. "Shit Katsuo, you want to give me a heart attack?"

"haha, don't be mad, I just wanted to surprised you" said Katsuo with a slight laugh.

" Just don't do it again, okay?" exclaimed Ichiro a little annoyed.

"okay, I promise, I saw you coming out the back door and thought about keeping you company". Ichiro leaned a little to the right so that his friend could sit on the bench. They both began to taste their food as they looked at the horizon that faced the outside world. The same thoughts that previously shook Ichiro's head were re-presented and it was inevitable that he mentioned them to Katsuo.

"Katsuo, can I ask you something?" Katsuo not knowing what to expect replied "um...yeah?"

Ichiro with a serious and cold voice asked "Do you really think we will get out of here someday?" Katsuo was stuned by hearing those words came out of his friend's voice, rarely he brought up a topic of conversation like this.

"Why the question?" asked Katsuo while lowering his eyebrows. "I mean, just look at us, how many years have we been living here? how long until the day they adopt us?" argumented Ichiro. with his head bowed and his mouth on his fist, Katsuo silently pondered.

"Wow, I think never thought about it" thoughtful comment. Now with the disturbing question that Ichiro asked him, Katsuo returned the question "What do you think about it?"

"Sincerely, I don't know, who in their right mind wants to adopt a 16 year old teenager?" commented Ichiro with a little disappointment. The maximum age a child can be to live in most orphanages was 17, unfortunately for the two orphans, their orphanage was no exception. If a child was not adopted before 17, he would be forced to leave the orphanage and face the dangers of the outside world alone. The way things looked, Ichiro and Katsuo had a similar future not too far ahead, they needed to create a plan for when they had to leave.

"Any idea what we are going to do Ichiro?" Asked Katsuo hoping his partner had something bright in mind. His hopes were far from reality, a stubbornness abounded inside Ichiro, one that deep downmade him not want to be welcomed by a new family . He had this feeling for a few years ago, but he had never mentioned openly with another individual.

"you see Katsuo, Ironically I'm not even interested in someone adopting me" Ichiro said it just like that. " what? what do you mean?" Katsuo exclaimed amazed.

The answer Ichiro gave is due to a deep desire that was beyond his understanding, " I don't want to live with anyone other than my real parents" was the argument he gave. Katsuo knew what Ichiro was talking about, after all, any orphan went through the same stage.

"Ichiro, I know how you feel, trust me, it happens to all of us" Katsuo rested his hand on Ichiro's shoulder as he tried to make him come to his senses.

"I know you want to be with your real parents, but they are gone, you need to accept it" although he did not show it in a facial way, a sentimental pain hit Ichiro hard, although his brain still did not process it, he knew it was true. The minutes passed, the two friends finished their lunch and the children began to go out to have fun with each other. Katsuo got up and calmly said goodbye to Ichiro. "I retire, see u in a while, think in what we talked about, okay?" Ichiro showed a slight smile on his face, and confidently answered " sure, sure, I will"

After Katsuo leaved, a set of emotions came to Ichiro. On the one hand he had got rid of a weight from above for having brought up the topics that he had saved for so long, but on the other hand he was disappointed and angry, the answer received from Katsuo despite being true, he definitely don't wanted to hear it. Staring into infinity, Ichiro did nothing but stay leaning on the bench. He had managed to enter into inner peace, at least for a while since the sounds of children playing and running caused him to lose serenity. He just lost patience by hearing those annoying noises and consequently stood up and went to his room. Upon reaching the entrance of the orphanage, he noticed that Nani was already waiting for him at the door. "Come on, are you kidding me?"

" Hi Ichiro; can we talk a little bit?" expressed Nani with a big smile in her face. He tried to pretend he wasn't listening and not to make eye contact but Nani's big bright eyes looking directly at him made his strategy wasted. He looked at her and with a distant voice asked " yeah?"

Nani was not carried away by Ichiro's indifference and commented to him "I notice that you were not present at lunch this morning, is that true?

"No way!" , I was sitting next to they new boy, Mai. I probably finished eating earlier and I left, and you thought I was not there" He refuted

" mmmmmm are you sure Ichiro? Nina doubting asked

Despite Nina's intimidating questions, Ichiro kept his cool and safely answered her. "absolutely"

Nina still mistrusted Ichiro's claim, but ignored it " I see..... oh right, It was probably my mistake, sorry Ichiro, you can go where you were going"

Ichiro continued on his way with an embarrassed face, even though Nina let him go, her inquisitive gaze would not detach from him. Upon reaching his room, He did not hesitate to protect himself and put the lock on the door and then jumped to meet his warm mattress. "God, that was so uncomfortable,I have to distract myself to forget that scene." In the search to find something that would make him lose the bitter drink, he ducked his head under his bed to meet old comics. "let's see... Captain thunder versus the evil alliance mmmmm noup... Galactic boy and the attack of the cyborgs... boring.... princess Valerie at the tea party..... wait, why do I actually have this one at my bedroom? Agh, there must be one I haven't read before"

After Ichiro's failed attempt, he looked again under his bed. Waving his arm, Ichiro found nothing but dust. Until he went deeper, his hand felt a thick book with a stiff texture. He took the book out of the place where it was being forgotten and after tapping the cover lightly to remove the dust, the title of it came to light. "Introduction to quantum physics" was the name of the book that he would just discover in his own bedroom.

"How did this get here? I had not seen it before." Curiosity was piqued in him and forced him to turn the pages. "What is a time line, multiverse, quantum superposition mmmm right, this one looks interesting." Fascinated by the incredible and striking titles that inhabited the index, Ichiro was struck by the title of page twenty-three "Time travel." He began to read the content of said page. at the top of the page, the text began with two questions "Can you imagine being able to change something in your past?" "Can you imagine bringing someone from the past to the present?"

He was captivated to continue reading. The text commented on things as theories proposed by famous physicists, possible paradoxes that such trips could cause, however, what most intrigued him was the section of time machines. The book included some illustrations of some prototypes of how experts on the subject imagined these artifacts would be. Some looked complex and with an arsenal of parts embedded on them, only one prototype looked smaller than the rest. Said prototype looked like a pocket compass but computerized. According to the article, it design could generate a strong energy charge,allowing whoever had the artifact in their possession to break the time bars causing a temporary fissure. The book mentioned something important, It should not be forgotten that all these concepts were included in the word "in theory." That is, it could not be stated if it could really work. That did not discourage him and a spark ignited in his brain. His eyes were filled with brilliance, his heart beat with joy, that could be the opportunity to fulfill Ichiro's dream that he longed for the most.

"hey, what's up?" asked Katsuo when entering the room they shared. Ichiro looked away from the book to look at Katsuo and show him a smile. It was the first time in a long time that Katsuo had seen his friend smile. "why the smile Ichiro?"

"I got a plan" replied Ichiro firmly