[3.5 hours later]
The sun faded into the mountainous horizon, and lights flashed everywhere. Heavy clouds surrounded the darkening orange sky. The light pollution from Tokyo, one of the largest cities in Japan, was visible from the expressway Ichiro was on. Some ordinary people are walking from their offices to nearby local train stations, while others are in more unordinary ordinary situations. Various modern logos and video screens flooded the streets with a rainbow of light colors.
The area around Tokyo was mostly devoid of the ghosts. In the 1950s, the Emperor asked for the elimination of ghosts. The Association was established deeply because of this request. And because of that, there were no ghosts in the area. The only danger came was the dimensional cracks that appeared, releasing ghosts that lived in other dimensions. The researchers are still don’t know why it is happening, but this phenomenon was documented since the middle ages. These ghosts were easily defeated by the Association’s agents, and they never grew strong enough to threaten humans.
But for now, it was peaceful.
After exiting the expressway half an hour ago, Ichiro was stuck in rush hour traffic. He was reading the latest chapter of some wuxia web novel on his smartphone while listening to some relaxing music. His glasses, which he wore after the chase, reflected street lights. He was exhausted after 8 hours of driving, but he was at least satisfied, because he tested this truck to full potential.
After a few agonizing slow minutes, traffic finally moved, and Ichiro turned left. His left turn signal was turned on too long. It was the last turn before he arrived at his destination. Slowly but steadily, he made his way to the more forested area before grinding to a stop in front of the long modern-looking rectangular building screaming ‘I’m the science building’. Ichiro came to a stop at the gates, where armed guards stood. They demanded identification as usual, so he threw the stack of documents that Kagesada had given him again, and the gates opened after checking, and he drove inside.
He drove into the underground, expecting to find an ordinary parking lot... but there wasn’t one!
There was a full-fledged supply depot, with workers racing about lugging boxes. They were dressed differently, with only one thing in common: they wore mechanical suits that looked like exoskeleton. They were all wearing white, and each suit was equipped with a red button on their chest.
Ichiro was surprised for a second, but kept driving. He drove next to a man that frantically was waving a hand at him. He had thick rectangular glasses, wore a lab coat, and had much more untidy hair than Ichiro. His features were unremarkable. He had a rounder face than Ichiro’s, but his eyes were more narrow. He spoke first, without waiting for Ichiro to shut the door of a truck.
“Finally, you’ve arrived! Is my new research object inside? I was getting worried! Praise the Great One!“
He was the same age as Ichiro, maybe in his mid-twenties, and his voice seemed friendly. The excitement was seen in his eyes.
“Yes sir. It’s inside.”
The researcher took off his glasses, cleaned it with a cloth, and put it back on, smiling widely. “Thank goodness! I was getting worried that it got lost on the road or something! Your company is truly the best in this industry. Uh, what’s your name, anyway?”
“My name is Ichiro. I’m just a truck driver.”
The man in the lab coat stared blankly at Ichiro, feeling the aura he was emitting. He couldn’t understand what it was exactly, but he could tell that he had some sort of supernatural power. He then gave out a hearty laugh.
“My name is... Fukuhara Toshio! REMEMBER: Forget about safety when you’re in my facility! There is only one option: DANGEROUS RESEARCH!!!”
He exclaimed in a loud voice, as if he was trying to wake up sleeping people. He raised his hands up, as stood in a pose, waiting for something to happen.
A dramatic pause.
.
.
.
Nothing happened.
Hydraulic sounds, as well as box dropping noise, could be heard nearby. Swear words could be heard from afar, and men in suits ran toward them in panic.
Toshio was confused by all that commotion. It was embarrassing, but he tried to maintain composure. “Well, I consider it a failure. Shall we see the object?”
Ichiro, feeling the second hand embarrassment, nodded, and walked back of the truck, and opened the back doors with the key, exposing a strapped 1.5m box within. For whatever reason, the Toshio glanced at it and sighed.
“Why would you transport it in a box? The world needs to see it in its entirety! When I finish researching these pillars, the entire world has to know about my findings about them!”
Pillars? That was new to Ichiro. Ichiro wished to learn more, but he could not do so and didn’t want to. As a result, he cleared his mind and spoke the first thing that came to him.
“Regulations concerning safety... Fukuhara-sama. Can’t fret about that right now...”
“Safety-schmafety! In my facility, I don’t give a damn about that! We have to hurry! The world will know everything about these things in no time! Just watch! These pillars are going to change the world!”
The researchers rushed to the nearby men in mechanical suits and ordered them to transport the box out to the research ground. They easily hauled the box from the truck and continued to haul until they, like the scientist, slipped away from view to the hallway far away. Ichiro closed the back of a truck and prepared to drive away while this was happening. When he sat in the driver’s seat, however, he looked at the box of documents that were conveniently forgotten on the passenger seat. He sighed. He forgot to give the scientist documents. Ichiro grabbed the first batch of documents for this facility and dashed in the direction they were headed.
Ichiro ran so fast that he was creating wind as he was running. The other men in the facility didn’t mind because they saw it as normal as the strange things that happened there. His tired mind didn’t register it, and he was in the hallway where the recipient was in 13 seconds, compared to a normal man running, which would have taken 25 seconds. Ichiro then dashed down that hallway until he came to a pair of double doors labeled ‘Testing Room.’ It was the only door in this hallway, so he opened the door lightly after slowing down. Ichiro’s breathing has been labored after all that sprinting. In the middle of the room, he overheard Toshio shouting something.
“I can’t believe my ‘thunder-behind-my-back’ prototype broke at that precise moment. After analyzing this new sample and comparing it to other ones, I’ll fix that goddamn machine so it will always work without giving me an electric shock again! If it’s too difficult to repair, then I’ll make another one from scratch!”
He had a frustrated look on his face.
Ichiro lightly knocked on the door. Because the echo spread, Toshio could easily hear it. The scientist looked at him, and Ichiro opened his mouth.
“I forgot to give the documents, Fukuhara-sama. I also need your signature on one of them, just for the sake of formality.”
Ichiro entered the testing room completely. Except for the four hallways with steel doors, one of which Ichiro entered from, there was nothing inside. The room was just concrete filled with directional lights pointed at the box. The wooden box with metal stripes had already been partially opened, and inside ‘rubble’ couldn’t be seen from where Ichiro stood. Other men were fiddling with it.
“Ah, yes. I forgot about them too. Here you go,” He said as he handed over the documents.
Ichiro thanked him for his time and left the testing room. When he returned to the doors from he entered, he heard a thud. Ichiro turned around to see where the box was, a black crumbled stone, and a four sides of a box that had fallen to the ground. Toshio with his fellow men were running around in mechanical suits while inspecting it. Ichiro focused his attention on the stone and thought for a moment while looking at it. On the one side that wasn’t crumbled, which pointed to Ichiros direction, it had rune engravings all over it. They felt familiar to Ichiro.
“Could I have seen it somewhere?”
While thinking that, Ichiro rubbed his chin. His mind raced with memories as he searched for it. He looked at it for a few seconds before opening his mouth.
“Nah, it can’t be. My mind is playing tricks on me.”
He shook his head vigorously and kept walking back to the truck. He had then exited the facility with ease.
***
Ichiro arrived at some ‘Association’ office half an hour later. He entered the office after picking up the entire box of remaining documents. It was small compared to his employer’s office entrance, but it was packed with dangerous-looking people dressed in black and leaning against the walls. There was a large table in the center of the room. A young woman was sitting in front of a huge computer screen, typing furiously. She was wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath that was unbuttoned a bit. Ichiro walked over to the receptionist with a tired look, without being terrified or intimidated by anyone in the room.
“Good evening. I’m here to deliver the documents that I was asked to deliver today. It’s from IWT.”
“Ah, yes, that’s right! Thank you so much.”
The girl jumped off her chair and hurriedly took the box of documents from him. Her long hair swayed behind her gracefully. She seemed like she was in her mid-twenties, but she had a mature aura that made her seem much older. Like a granny that you would meet at an old folks’ home.
She signed the paper she needed to sign, and Ichiro took his leave.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
He exited the building as soon as possible, because the people dressed in black were shocked when he showed up, and he wanted to avoid them at all costs. He got back into his truck and drove away as if he had done it thousands of times.
***
After Ichiro had driven away, the receptionist took the box of documents and walked to the lift. She first dismissed the people who were standing there before boarding the elevator to the highest floor. When the lift doors opened, it revealed a modern office space with the view of the city below. The receptionist walked toward the window, where a tall, muscular man with a pure white mask stood near the windows, looking out at the streets.
But before that, she dropped the box on the table that was on the way, and went to greet the man.
“So, how does the possible one fare? Tell me first, and I’ll give you my opinion later.”
“Director, he isn’t one. His aura... is different. Not from this world. His ‘anti-spiritual’ aura is unique, but not from this world.“
The man in the mask narrowed his eyes slightly, as he stared at Ichiro’s truck driving away on the traffic jam. He then spoke with an icy voice.
“Regrettably, I must agree. I’ve seen auras like that in the ancient times, when the world wasn’t blockaded from the divine by the Great One. But I have seen no aura like this since then... By the looks of it, his moving seal was probably his strongest attack. His spirit is formidable.”
“Director, I understand. So, as you stated, the search for the ‘chosen one’ will continue?”
“Unfortunately, yes. After all, I had made a vow to my soul core. You understand why I did that.”
Behind the mask, a bittersweet smile was hidden, watching the people walking with umbrellas of various colors. They were correct that Ichiro was not a ‘chosen one.’ Because Ichiro got his abilities through ‘another’ means that we’re not of this ‘world.’ Usually ‘chosen one’ are selected by the will of the world, or so they believe. However, Ichiro was chosen by someone else. And the Director was right about him having an ‘anti-spiritual’ aura. That was what happened to Ichiro. He was not chosen by the world. Instead, he was ‘chosen’ by a ‘being.’
Director was an immortal... from another world. Because of this stupid vow, he has been trapped in this world for three millennia already. He has seen the downfall of gods, rise of spirits, and even a supernatural world war in his time.
The woman nodded and fiddled with her phone, deleting his name from the list. She then opened her mouth.
“Now that this situation is over, let us get back to work on the cheque that Umezaki-sama gave us...”
Hearing this surname, the masked man flinched. Hidetaka, the spiritual defense master and money, is a dangerous combination.
***
As soon as the sun faded away, the rain became heavy. Ichiro drove a couple of blocks before stopping at the parking lot. He then rushed to the unassuming high-rise building surrounded by advertisements. He walked to the doors in the center and opened it.
It revealed the main hall, the all interior made of wood and had the ‘style’ of the medieval isekai stories.
This place was an unusual hotel he found in internet. It was advertised as a ‘別世界からの宿’ or an ‘Inn from Another World.’ This hotel opened a few years ago because of the recent mainstreaming of the ‘isekai’ stories. Ichiro discovered it by chance six months ago while searching for low-cost hotels. It was inexpensive and had a distinct aesthetic, so he tried it, and liked it. It was his third time staying in it.
Ichiro approached the receptionist, who was dressed similarly to a medieval, no, 18th century woman. She smiled as she looked at Ichiro.
“Hello there. I would like to make a reservation for tomorrow night.”
“Welcome to the Inn, handsome traveler!“
The receptionist looked at him with her deep green eyes. “How many nights would you like?”
“One. For a single person.”
“Of course! That would cost ten silver coins! Premium one with breakfast in the morning, 15 silvers! Which one do you want to go with?”
It was one of the roleplay elements that filled this hotel. By hotel, one silver was worth 1000 yen.
“I’d like the second one. Breakfast included.”
“Very well! Please wait here. Your room will be ready in a moment!”
Few minutes later, she handed Ichiro a small card along with an old key by modern standards, labeled 506. He handed her his credit card, which she accepted and used to process payment. A receipt was printed out, and the receptionist gave it to Ichiro with a smile. He said her good night and went upstairs before asking her to wake him up at 10 o’clock.
Ichiro walked to his rented room on the fifth floor and entered it using a key. He shut the door and switched on the lights inside. The lights slowly glowed, as if the magic had been activated, revealing a modest room with wooden furniture, and with everything that an isekai inn would have inside, including high-quality furniture and modern appliances such as power sockets on the walls.
Ichiro stripped naked, washed in the shower, and climbed into his bed in his underwear after thoroughly drying himself. He was exhausted from the long trip. The exhaustion mixed with the stress of his current situation was making him drowsy as soon as he laid down on the bed. He fell asleep as if he had done nothing in his life.
Rewritten 27/11/2022
Improved the competency of everyone
Added some flavor, deleted some
Restructured the sentences that were janky
Here's the extra for opening the spoiler:
Fukuhara Toshio, 26 years old
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Horror one. Votes: 15 50.0%
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Another world second. Votes: 17 56.7%
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This world third. Votes: 9 30.0%
it's very entertaining to read
Me like
Lol, it probably is an inn from another world