A bump woke me up from my slumber. Everything was blurry, so I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake off my drowsiness.

 

Now that everything became clear, I began looking around. A confusion arose in my mind as I did.

 

‘Where am I?’

 

I appeared to be on a train. It looked normal, just like any regular train. But what was strange was the people around me.

 

There were a few passengers inside, and each of them wore a strange outfit I’d never seen before.

 

No, wait… I actually had seen this kind of outfit before, but it’s just that…

 

No one wore them on a regular basis.

 

Each of the passengers wore an outfit that looked like those fantasy outfits I'd seen in TV shows or video games. 

 

It’s the kind of outfit the NPCs in an RPG game would wear.

 

‘Are they all going to a cosplay-convention or something?’

 

I came to a conclusion, but….something still felt weird. It’s not about these people who dressed in the fantasy outfits, rather—

 

‘How’d I get here?’

 

I didn’t remember going on a train. Heck, I didn’t even go out that much. I was the type of guy who preferred to stay indoors, doing my own stuff, rather than going outside.

 

So suddenly being on a train was so weird, but it’s not as weird as me not having any recollection of coming here in the first place.

 

All I remember was….

 

———

 

It was a starry night. I was walking on a quiet street, heading toward my apartment. I was in a very good mood as I hummed a song. A bag of junk food was in my hand.

 

‘What a lovely night.’ I thought as I enjoyed the cold night breeze.

 

Though, my fun time got interrupted. 

 

In front of me were people. There was something off about them.

 

There were three guys, big and tall, all dressed in black hoodies. In front of them was a teenage girl dressed in a high school uniform.

 

The three guys walked quite a bit distanced from the girl, but from my perspective, it still looked like they were following her.

 

As each second passed by, they were getting closer and closer to the girl. 

 

‘That’s sus as hell.’

 

Not long after, the girl seemed to notice something off about these guys behind her, so she picked up her pace.

 

And as I expected, the guys behind her also picked up their pace!

 

They didn’t even care if it was obvious. They were obviously following her!

 

The girl looked scared as she sped up even more. 

 

The guy behind her did the same.

 

The cycle repeated, and it wasn’t long before a walk turned into a run.

 

All the tension from before seemed to melt away and be replaced by a sense of danger. The girl was running for her life while the three guys were running after her and were about to catch up!

 

One of the guys finally caught up to her and yanked her toward him. The girl yelled and screamed.

 

“P-Plese, let me go! Please!” She cried and begged.

 

Though, as if in a movie, the guy chuckled like an evil villain.

 

“Hey, little cutie, you should have known better than walking alone in such a quiet street. It’s like you're begging for it!”

 

The other two just laughed like mob characters.

 

I sighed. ‘Is this a fucking teen drama.’

 

The girl continued to beg and cry, but that only served to make the bastard even more delighted.

 

Though, that wouldn’t last very long. Their laughter suddenly turned into a surprise noise as I punched the first guy in the face!

 

He staggered and lost his grip on the girl.

 

“Run.” I said calmly.

 

The girl looked confused, scared, and glad, all kinds of mixed feelings, but she still did as I told her. She broke into a sprint and fled the scene!

 

My fist already landed on the second guy’s face, when the third guy retaliated with a punch to my gut!

 

Air left my lungs as I staggered. I held my stomach and groaned in pain. 

 

I gritted my teeth and tried to endure the pain as I retreated backward.

 

I took two of them by surprise, but that wouldn’t help for too long. Once they’re recovered, then I was fucked.

 

The best option right now would be—

 

‘So long, assholes!’ I gave them a finger and broke out into a sprint!

 

“Fucking bastard, get back here!!” The third guy yelled. The other two seemed to have recovered already.

 

Though, I couldn’t care less about that. Right now, I need to flee!

 

I ran and ran and ran. Although I hadn’t gone outside much, I still exercised regularly. If I didn’t, then there was no way I would have the guts to play a hero and take those guys by surprise like that.

 

Though, all that didn’t matter right now. I finally made it to a more crowded street. There were people here, a lot of them. 

 

‘Perfect!’ I made a fist in my mind.

 

I kept sprinting, pushing people after people out of my way. The passerby were surprised, and angry, but I couldn’t care less.

 

My ass was on the line here. I couldn’t care less about disrupting their fun night-walk for a little bit.

 

The sounds of yelp and angry scold rang out from behind me. It seemed like those three guys were still following after me.

 

‘Persistent bastard.’ I clicked my tongue and continued running.

 

Not long after, I finally made it to a more crowded street. It was a commercial street beside a boulevard. There were tons of people roaming around, enjoying their lives.

 

And—Just like before, I was here to ruin their fun times. 

 

I pushed people to the side, trying to make my way forward.

 

There’s gotta be some place I could hide in this mass of people. I tried to find such a place as I kept running and pushing.

 

Then I bumped into something, or rather, someone. I looked up and my eyes widened. 

 

I was surprised, slightly panicked even.

 

This guy looked familiar. He was so buffed. His muscle was very impressive, it looked as if it was about to explode.

 

Though, contrary to his muscular build, this guy, or girl? was dressed in a magical girl’s uniform!

 

“Hey, sweetie. Why are you in such a hurry~?” He, or she, said in a cute voice.

 

Shivers ran down my spine, but now wasn’t the time! The three guys were about to catch up to me!

 

I tried to run another way, shoving other people aside, but this big guy was blocking me again!

 

“Hey, what’s your problem!?” I snapped.

 

“W-What?” He sounded heart-broken. “You just suddenly bumped into me in this crowd of people. So I thought you liked me and did that intentionally. B-But, why are you yelling at me like that…sob…sob..” 

 

Then, the big guy suddenly cried out loudly! 

 

A-And people around me were looking at me with weird stares… Though, there seemed to be a lot of weird gazes coming this guy’s way too.

 

“Waaaaa!! Why are you so cruel~!? I’m just a frail-looking girl. I don’t like being scolded like that! Waaaahhh~!!” He, or she, continued to weep loudly.

 

I began to panic as I apologized and tried to calm him down. Though, I was very restless, looking back every now often, and sure enough, those guys were getting closer!

 

“Bastard, you’re a dead meat!!” One of them yelled.

 

I became even more panicked as I turned to look at the weeping magical-man in front of me. “H-Hey dude, stop crying for a second!”

 

“D-Dude? Y-You called me dude? I’m not a dude! I told you I’m a frail-looking girl with a pure heart! And you’re yelling at me again!! Wahhhh!!” He cried even louder!

 

“Okay okay! Look, s-sweetie. Three bad guys are coming after me right now. So can you just step away and let me go, please?” I tried to speak as gently as possible.

 

The big guy sniffled and looked at me with a pouty look. 

 

“Okay. *sniffle* I understand. *sniffle* Don’t worry, honey bun. I’ll help you out!” 

 

He began to calm down and said with a face full of justice. Though, I must say, he looked even more terrifying with that kind of expression…

 

“What are yo-”

 

Before I could finish my sentence, he suddenly shouted, “I’m an ally of justice. A magical girl who will punish every bad guy!”

 

Every passerby, including me, were having an expression that seemed to say, “What the fuck?” on our faces.

 

But, that’s not the problem. The problem was in the next second, he pushed me to the side, real hard, and charged toward the three guys while shouting some magical girl’s lines again!

 

I staggered and lost my balance. I tried to regain my balance by stepping backward a few steps, but the people around me pushed me further back!

 

Not long after, I was finally free. I was pushed to an area with no people around. It was so free, but so…weird…

 

Wait!

 

I suddenly realized something—I was on a fucking boulevard!

 

A loud horn suddenly rang out from the side, followed by the sound of people shouting, “Watch out!”. 

 

I looked in that direction, my eyes widened, and all I saw was a headlight of a truck!

 

Then…everything became dark…

 

No pain, no struggle, just pure darkness….

 

I wanted to curse that bastard who pushed me here, but all I could think of was—

 

‘Have I seen him before somewhere?’