Kai Freeman ran down the harshly lit hallway as fast as he could. His mind was filled with nothing but static and a single goal; survive. It wasn’t the first time he’d ended up inches away from a gunfight, and that prior experience ingrained the proper response into his subconscious. And all he was doing was simply acting upon that proper response.

  “Kai, Kai!” came the vague sound shouting from behind him that was drowned out by a painful ringing deep in his ear.

  He didn’t dare stop. Not until he was sure he was far enough away. And after a few more seconds of running, he felt that he was. Kai came across a corner and dived behind it, hunching over on the balls of his feet.

  The young man kept his head behind the wall and attempted to keep an ear out for anyone approaching despite the onset tinnitus making it quite difficult. His face had an almost vacant expression that belied his sole directive.

  As he finally started calming down, Kai felt a hand fall on his shoulder, making him jump forward and turn around to face its owner. Before him was a lady with dark red hair wearing a thick, white coat with a large, red plus symbol plastered on the center. There was a small group of people in similar uniforms behind her.

  “Do you have any other injuries?” asked the lady, her voice perfectly audible now that Kai’s hearing suddenly cleared up.

  Though the teen, still in a state of fight-or-flight, jumped back and raised his fists in a defensive gesture.

  “He’s going through shock,” sighed the woman with a strangely neutral expression, as if she was used to all of this. “One of you stay back and sedate him if necessary.”

  “Kai, Kai!” shouted Artyom from behind him. He ran up while waving a hand, seemingly trying to get the medical staff to back away from his ward.

  The young man turned around again, ready to throw a punch, but eased up after seeing Artyom with his hands raised in supplication. He lowered his own until they were by his side again.

  “You alright, there?” asked Artyom with a face full of honest concern. “That’s honestly never happened before, and I’m sure after the security team hears about this, it’ll be the last.”

  “What have I gotten myself into?” weakly asked Kai.

  “Hopefully a better life,” replied Artyom with a guilty smile. “Sorry that this had to be your first impression, we’re usually better than this, but we’re still not perfect.”

  “Artyom, we’re headed to portal room 3, what’s the status?” asked the lady who had healed Kai.

  “Everything’s under control, Claire,” replied Artyom. “One of the enemy soldiers snuck through the portal and tried to jump us, but the guards were able to stop him. None of us are injured and there’s probably not much left of the soldier to work on.”

  Claire nodded in response and motioned the small group behind her to follow as she made her way towards the carnage. After they’d left, Kai was still taking deep breaths in a desperate attempt to calm himself down.

  “Listen Kai, I know that this isn’t what you had in mind for a ‘magical isekai adventure’, but truth be told, neither did anyone else here when they were shanghaied from Earth. How about if we grab some hot chocolate and calm our nerves?”

  “Yeah…” said Kai, letting out most of his tension in a heavy sigh. “I could go for some hot chocolate.”

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  Back in the cafeteria, Kai’s brain worked overtime to process the memories that were finally made available to his conscious mind. He tried to stand up from the wire frame chair, but immediately began to shake.

  “Woah there, Kai. Kai?” asked Sheila in concern as her eyes began to widen. “Shit, I need help here!”

  A trio of the closest diners rushed over to the young man and grabbed onto his shoulders, sides, and waist, as they slowly eased him back into his chair.

  “Thanks, you three,” replied the rainbow-haired woman with a kind nod. “You alright there Kai? What did you remember?”

  “Ugh, something bad,” he replied, slowly rubbing his forehead with an open palm.

  “Damn, what’s going on with him?” asked one of the helpers. “Does he need to get checked out by Claire?”

  “Don’t worry,” replied Sheila with a sigh. “It’s just his second day here and he’s still dealing with residual amnesia, he probably remembered something bad.”

  “Where the hell did you pick him up from, a Grimdark World?” asked the second helper, eyeing Kai to make sure he wouldn’t faint on them.

  “Nope, fresh from Earth!” exclaimed Sheila, her wide grin not quite reaching her eyes.

  The third helper whistled in response. “Shit, what kind of a life that must’ve been.” He then placed an encouraging hand on the teen’s shoulder. “But hey, you’re at TOAL now, so things are going to get better!”

  “Thanks,” said Kai, trying his best to sound grateful as the dizzy spell began to fade. “But the memory was from after I showed up here.”

  “Wait, after?!” the three exclaimed in unison.

  “Hold on…” said Sheila, putting a finger to her chin as she sat deep in thought for a moment. “The security breach! You were there, weren’t you? We had an intruder that we had to take down, and I’ve been told the sight of the incident wasn’t pretty.”

  “Y-yeah,” replied Kai with a slow nod. “I don’t do too well around guns.”

  “Hey there, don’t worry about it! Any guns here only get fired to protect you and the rest of us, and that was the first time something like that’s happened in years,” said the woman as she placed her own soft, comforting hand on Kai’s other free shoulder. “Remember that, they’re your guns. And you won’t have to ever get near one either if you don’t join the Terran Defense Force.”

  Kai let out a sigh as he crumpled into his seat, the stress leaving his body through his breath. “Thanks, everyone. I’ll make it through, don’t worry.”

  “In that case, I’m going to get back to my meal,” said one of the helpers. “Hope your time here’s better than yesterday, in that case.” The other two followed him back to their own tables.

  “You know, I just remembered,” said Kai, suddenly raising his head. “I haven’t seen Artyom yet, I’d like to meet him again and thank him properly for bringing me here.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry!” replied the rainbow-haired woman with a cringing smile. “He got deployed on another mission this morning. Like, super early.”

  “Oh…” His head sunk back down to the table.

  “But don’t worry, you can see him again once he gets back! I’m not sure exactly where he was sent, but someone like him should only be away for a few weeks, maybe even one or two if you’re lucky!”

  “Yeah, alright.”

  “Speaking of your time here,” began Sheila, brightening up again. “Most people face a lot of homesickness when they get dragged away from Earth. I know I did, so I’ve planned out a full schedule with plenty of activities for you while you get settled in!”

  “Huh. I honestly doubt there’s much for me to miss from back home, but I’ll bite,” said Kai with a curious gleam in his eye. “What do you have planned?”

  “For starters, you’re really new here. So to fill in the gaps of what you don’t know yet, you’re headed to school!”

  “Wait, school?!” all but shouted Kai as his jaw dropped into his empty bowl of oatmeal. “I thought I’d be doing magic, or exploring some medieval village, or something that actually sounds like an adventure. Not school!”

  “Well, you have to learn about those things before we can let you do them safely, so you’re outta luck,” she shrugged.

  Kai groaned as he leaned back in his seat. “Of course, the first thing I do after I get isekaied is go to school.”