1

Expectedly, the search ended up being fruitless. Spending the past thirty minutes going around the area with no particular destination in mind, Kazuki did not find any trace of his transfer classmate. Nonetheless, he certainly felt that the wallet inside his pocket had gotten a lot lighter after he did his leisurely walk.

"Well, guess I'm not the brightest person around. Did I really expect to run into her here?"

Nevertheless, he still tasted the sweet sensation of tea and the numerous street food from the tip of his lips.

"At least I got something out of this trip. Back to school we go tomorrow, then," he said as he looked at the ID with a silver rose printed at its back.

Walking towards the main plaza from his mini-adventure inside Aria Alley, he playfully twirled Sayaka's ID momentarily before putting it back into his pocket. He then took time to slow down the pace and look at his surroundings.

Deep inside, he admired the way the whole place was structured.

Exploring the place is an adventure in itself for those who do not frequent Aria Alley, and those signs that beautifully lit the way help add to the atmosphere. Surely, those wouldn't be too special for someone who frequents the place for his daily dose of hard drinks, but for someone who rarely comes like Kazuki, the place was amazing, an area lost in the passage of time in contrast to the modern high-rises and the technocrat-influenced Shiroki City.

The slightly tired Kazuki spied a good space to rest. A corner away from the most active bars and novelty shops seemed really enticing.

Finding his perfect place to rest, Kazuki leaned against the wall and observed people who started flocking the bars.

At 8:30 p.m., the night is just about to begin for most of these night owls.

"I should tell Hikari that I'll be running a bit later than originally planned tonight," said him with a wry smile, turning to his phone. "Knowing her, I'll probably get a scolding."

As he focused on texting, he felt his head hurt a bit. It was like a jolt that quickly went away. It would have been good if it had ended there, but it did not.

The letters on his phone began becoming blurry, and his fingers trembled. It was an unpleasant feeling that Kazuki had never felt before. His head spun before the sensation made him drop his phone, and he shook his head in response.

It was then that he realized that his phone did not drop onto the brick pavement of Aria Alley. Instead, it was coarse rock that took the brunt of the phone's fall.

First, Kazuki picked up his phone and checked to see that it was fine, much to his relief. Next, his eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, the result which drove the blood in his body cold.

Gone were the establishments and people of Aria Alley. In place were rocky structures that stood even higher than the structures that they replaced. Kazuki felt a sense of desolation in the air, a fact helped by the fact that the night sky has been replaced with a crimson blanket.

By all regards, the first thing to get into his mind was an archaeological site. It was either that or ruins. Putting his phone back into his pocket, he quietly mouthed the words Where am I?

He felt his heart racing, something that he doesn't often do. Placing his hand over his chest, he took numerous deep breaths while his wide eyes continued surveying the surroundings. He abruptly stopped as his nostrils were assaulted by scents he did not expect to feel.

Somehow, he had been transported to a completely different world for reasons and means unknown. While beginning to try to get a grasp of what just happened, he forced himself to take another deep breath, and with it, he simply felt the cold and lifeless atmosphere.

He looked at the ruins ahead of him which stretched all the way to infinity it seems. However, he can make out one landmark: a gigantic tower in the distance, possibly made of coarse rock, granite, or similar material as it shot skyward, seemingly piercing the scarlet blanket that covered the world.

Kazuki began his walk forward, marking that tower as his destination, when he stopped on his tracks. His ears picked up an unfamiliar noise, and it continued on. Before long, he realized what sound that was.

Growling and screeching. Lots of them. One after another.

Kazuki's illusion of this being a world devoid of life was completely shattered, and not in a good way. Fighting back his fears, he turned around, and it was then that he saw them amongst the broken down structures.

They were lying in wait it seemed. Behind the pillars, behind the walls, and from several meters away. They peered and observed him from afar.

Not for long.

They began moving towards his direction like a cohesive unit.

Shadowy figures, resembling humanoid shapes but are neither human nor animal. From what Kazuki can make out of them, they seemed to have barely visible limbs with fingers that stretched out in contorted forms. Without eyes and mouths, they seemed to be animated shadows in a literal sense, ones that could make even the bravest souls crawl.

They do not look like they want to be friends.

Knowing that his hunch was mostly correct, Kazuki broke into a run.

Away from them, try to get as far away from them!

2

What the Hell? I did not sign up for this!

Those thoughts had kept playing on repeat inside Kazuki's mind. He had gone through Hell navigating this landscape, along with its near-suffocating air and the sheer danger creeping around him, made known by growls of monsters from beyond this world.

He had lost track of his sense of time. Every now and then, those shadows would emerge, stalking him before disappearing. He was unsure whether they were there from the get go or were spawning spontaneously like enemies in a video game.

Whatever those things were, he was completely sure that they are not good news. Finding no real place to go, he had instinctively set the tower at the center as his destination. However, with all that's going on, he had hit a snag in that goal.

After successfully evading the shadowy monsters, temporarily at least, by using the ruins to his advantage, something huge has appeared in front of him.

"You gotta be kidding me."

A loud screech was what he got a response from something that towered over him in front.

As he ran from the shadowy monsters, he had approached a clearing. He should have known better. It always felt settings like these are primed to be ones that precede unfortunate events.

What he saw this time was unlike those shadowy monsters that pursued him for those agonizing hours. It was also a shadowy figure, but instead of having a humanoid shape, the towering shadow monster instead had two scythes for arms.

It had no face, but given the scythes, the large cylindrical abdomen, and numerous legs, it was clear that this shadowy monster took on the form of a giant mantis.

Kazuki partially expected some glowing eyes, but where eyes would have been was mere darkness.

The thing certainly did not want to be friends, and that prompted Kazuki to momentarily take a better look at the clearing and its surrounding routes.

Right behind the mantis enemy were several roads that led to more dilapidated structures. Perhaps he could slip past this thing and use those gigantic structures for cover. Maybe the collapsing structures could even help serve as his cover should the thing go after him.

Before that, he had to find a way to lose this monster in front of him or at least momentarily shake it off.

He did not have to wait long.

With a screech, the mantis raised one of its sickle arms and swung. Swinging through the air, the huge arm moved rather quickly but not at a speed that was impossible to follow.

Guided by his instincts and adrenaline, Kazuki bent down. With his feet pushing him forward, the rushed onward, aiming to get past this attack and set his plan into motion.

Unfortunately, the boy himself was not the fittest person around, and he barely dodged the first downward attack. With an awkward slide, he fell down on his back with force.

He was positive that he had dodged the attack, but moments ago, he still felt a force push him back and drive all the momentum out of him, causing him into this predicament.

"Ah, shit..." he grimaced.

His eyes quickly homed to the place where he felt the impact and was greeted by the sight of torn clothes at the area around his left shoulder. He was glad that he was not hit directly, but looking at the damage the swing did to his now ruined clothes, he did not want to imagine a situation wherein he got hit directly.

A whistling sound followed, and he rolled around as he felt the ground beside him shake.

He had barely dodged the second attack, a downward stab by the gigantic enemy. Relief entered his mind as he realized two things.

One, is that luck could be on his side after all.

Second and more importantly, the mantis enemy seemed to have a delay for every attack. It was certainly not the most agile fighter, and he could use this to his advantage.

Time to take advantage of enemy cooldowns!

Using both sets of limbs, he quickly picked himself back up. He knew full well that one hit would be all the thing needed to take him out, but at least he had to make the monster work for it.

Wait, what am I thinking? Screw dying here in the first place! I'll get out of there, somehow.

Kazuki felt his heartbeat quicken and along with it his temperature rising. He never felt as self-conscious before. Then again, he never found himself in such an unexpected life-and-death situation like this before.

Looking up, he saw the mantis raise both arms and prepare to attack in a downward motion.

This is it.

Focusing on the two arms, Kazuki found the right timing. With his feet pushing him back, he scored a clean dodge this time around. Wasting no time in this little window of opportunity, he sprinted as fast as he can, past the mantis and straight at the broken down structures that should provide temporary cover.

One meter, two meters, three meters... Running as fast as he could, Kazuki lost track of the distance he had traveled, not even looking back at the monster. It was not agile, and it should not be able to catch him if he had already gotten this big of a head start on it.

Once he made it to the more crowded area, the environment would become to his advantage, and perhaps he could have time to think of a plan to get out of here.

In the midst of his mad dash, he placed one hand inside his pocket and took out Sayaka's ID.

"I cannot let myself die here. Hikari's waiting, and so are Amagi and Shiki," he said.

While looking at the item, he resumed as he recalled the events of the day once more, "I have yet to return you to your owner, too."

Of course, he cannot allow this to be the end. Deep inside, he longed to still do many things. He still longed to spend some carefree days with people. He had sworn to shut himself off from the rest of the world except for a select few, but it was those people that made him refuse to give up.

Now that he found himself in this current situation, it was all the more evident that even the few connections he kept were the ones keeping him strong enough to push onward.

He did not want to leave them behind.

He had to keep beating Shiki in Eternal Fighter 3. He still had to sate his curiosity for that mysterious new student. He had to somehow get back at Ishida and his clique. He did not want to make Amagi and Hikari sad.

Fueled by his desires, he slowly felt that he could get out of this more and more...

Then, disaster struck.

Landing poorly with one feet, Kazuki felt the entire force and momentum of his body launch him forward, landing him awkwardly on his face.

Running really wasn't for him, and it seemed that he pushed his luck a bit too far with that reckless sprint across unfamiliar terrain.

He picked himself up, much more awkwardly this time, but the moment he finally got up to a vertical base, he felt the sharp sensation of something piercing him.

He then found himself being hoisted up by something from behind him, and the knowledge of that fact took the air out of his body. He wanted to shout, but his voice was drowned by... a gurgling sound. The sound of blood being spat out soon followed in irregular intervals.

Shit!

The pain seared through his body, and the sight of a gigantic scythe sticking through his bloody chest did not help matters.

Convulsing, he felt the ID leave his grasp and drop down to the rocky floor. His blurry vision barely saw the scythe one last time before the idea of his imminent death finally started to sink in. One after another, images of the few people he cared about flash through his mind as he started losing control of his cold body.

Fate is cruel...

Those were his last thoughts before his vision failed him and his body started growing cold.