A white light flashed. Growing brighter and brighter and brighter-

There was the image of Sayuri-chan kneeling over him, trying to wake him as an ambulance arrived and more teachers from the school pulled Ayumu away from the scene, but… it was different. It wasn’t the view as Kaoru had seen it. That was his body laying there-

The image went fuzzy, like a bad signal on the TV screen. 

Kaoru felt himself pulled away from the view, zipping past more views of similar. They were in countless sizes, all in a rectangular view. People, places, things he didn’t recognize. Faster, faster, faster. Kaoru didn’t know which direction he was being pulled in anymore. He was dizzy, blinded by the thousands, millions of screens that he zipped by.

And then it stopped. He was pulled to a stop in a dark abyss. 

In every direction he looked, there was countless of those screens, but too far away to be anything but little white lights. He floated, unable to do anything but turn in different directions. He couldn’t make his body go back or forward, and the only thing to mar the silence was the slight buzz in the air.

“A suitable candidate has arrived. Guide them well.”

Kaoru jerked, looking in every which direction for the disembodied voice, but there was no one, anywhere. 

“Over here, candidate,” a childish voice said.

Kaoru jerked again, and spun so fast that he spun himself several times and even made himself upside down. 

The… creature he saw once he stopped moving was… well, he really had nothing to compare it too. 

It would have reminded him of a patchwork doll, with all the red, dark green, blue, purple, and brown patches that looked sewn together making it up, except its twisting body was at least hundreds of feet long. 

The head was vaguely doglike, a matted sandy brown with large, deep pooling eyes of a much darker color and floppy ears that fell just as long as its arms. The color of said arms, a dozen feet long easily, matched its head, and the tip of the tail in its… paws? Kaoru couldn’t see any feet, and besides the head and arms, the creature was thin enough to be a very thick string.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the creature said. Kaoru couldn’t decide if the voice was perfect or didn’t fit the body. “I am called 255-255-0.”

“What are you?” Kaoru questioned, finding his voice. 

“I am your partner for the Cannon Fodder Caretaker System, otherwise known as the CFCS, should you choose to accept,” the creature said, twisting its body further.

No, no, voice definitely didn’t fit.

“Cannon… Fodder… Caretaker System?” Kaoru said. “What is… What?”

“The CFCS is a system born of a wish!” 255-255-0 said enthusiastically. “More specifically, hundreds of thousands of millions of wishes! In many worlds, there is a child who is no more than cannon fodder for the plot! They are unfairly left to a miserable fate, and thus the wish was made for retribution for these children! And since they are in fact children, they need a caretaker to help raise them! And that is where you come in.”

“Me?” Kaoru’s brows raised in surprise. 

“But of course!” the creature stated. “You have met the rather extensive list of criteria to become a Cannon Fodder Caretaker.” A long, yellowed scroll appeared in front of Kaoru, twice as long as he was tall with print too tiny to read. “But of course, we’re not asking you to do this for free.”

“So I get some sort of reward?” Kaoru said. “I just… go raise a child and get some big prize for it?”

255-255-0 twiddled its paws. “Well, it’s not quite as simple as that,” it explained, beginning to twist around Kaoru in a wide circle. “The reward, if you will, is that you’ll be able to return to your original world, or continue life in another world you’ve visited. After 100 successful missions, you’ll be allowed to make that choice, and keep all the rewards you’ve reaped throughout the way.

“Throughout your missions, you’ll be able to gain favors from the system and special skills and abilities that will stay with you from world to world. However, each world you enter will have a different difficulty. Your choices and how equipped you are for it may make it different from the official difficulty level.”

The creature stopped twisting, but now all Kaoru could see was a patchwork wall all around him. The head and arms came down to face Kaoru. 

“The main mission will always be to raise the child to an adult, anywhere from 18 to 20 depending on the world you enter,” 255-255-0 said. “But each world may also have secondary or side missions, if you will. Completing those will give you even greater rewards. The better each mission, main and secondary, are completed, the higher score you receive, and the higher your score, the better your rewards.”

Well, that sounded rather simple in theory, at least. Children were all different and had special needs, so it wasn’t surprising that some would be more difficult than others and Kaoru wouldn’t exactly be equipped for them. 

It was… what Kaoru had always wanted. 

And he wasn’t ready to die, either.

“What do I have to do?” he questioned.

255-255-0’s expression lit up. “Give me a proper name to bind the contract!”

“That’s it?” Kaoru’s brows furrowed. Deceptively easy.

“That’s it!”

Kaoru thought for a long moment, but there was really only one name that came to mind. “Patchwork,” he declared. “I name you Patchwork. Patch for short.”

Patch began to glow, less of a mystical light and more of the glow from a screen. Its body began to curl tighter and tighter around Kaoru, until that patchwork string completely surrounded him, pressing against him from all sides.

Then, with a quiet woosh, Patch’s body was gone. And so was the large, open space Kaoru had been floating in. 

Instead, his feet were firmly placed on a sleek, black floor so shiny he could see his reflection. Various devices were about the space he was in, glowing in a pale blue, greenish light. And sitting on the ground in front of him was a medium sized white and light brown dog with that same patchwork look.

“Welcome to your Space, Master,” Patch said, tilting its head. 

Kaoru stumbled a bit as he turned in a circle, looking all about the room. “What is this place?”

“Your Space is where we will go between worlds,” Patch explained. “You’ll be able to access your scores, as well as your skill and attribute points. You’ll be able to purchase different boons to help in different worlds, but there is a much simpler version you’ll be able to access through me in each world. You can view your previous missions from here as well. As you gain experience, you may even be able to access it from within worlds!”

Patch barked and trotted over to one of the walls with a stand in front of it. It sat on its hind legs as Kaoru followed. 

“This is perhaps the most important space in the entire room,” it said. “This is called the Memory Lock Chamber.”

“What’s it for?” Kaoru questioned. 

If dogs could smile, Kaoru was pretty sure that’s what Patch would be doing. “The human mind is not made to hold hundreds of years worth of memories. For some humans, even a couple of years makes things fuzzy. It is inevitable that you will lose some of your memories the longer time goes on. It could even result in you completely forgetting the world you originated from and your purpose. That being the case, the Memory Lock Chamber will hold your memories. They will be kept safe and intact for your viewing pleasure!”

Kaoru approached the device but didn’t touch it. “Has that happened before?” he asked. “People forgetting the purpose of their mission and who they really are?”

Patch whined sadly. “Yes… Many previous masters thought they could handle it and didn’t begin to use the Memory Lock until it was too late…”

Kaoru nodded. “Right… So how do I do it?”

Patch barked. “Just place your hand on the green ball right there and it’ll do the rest!”

Kaoru placed his hand on the emerald-colored ball atop the device, and it immediately lit up the Space. A pleasant warmth and numbness spread throughout his body as his life flashed before his eyes, just as it had right before he died. His three younger sisters, always clamoring over him and for his attention. His aunt welcoming him into her home with wide open arms. Graduating from university, his first day at the daycare and meeting Sayuri-chan, meeting Ken and going on their first date, the day Ayumu had been registered to their class, placing that stupid hat on Ayumu’s head because it seemed like the right thing to do-

And then it was over in a matter of minutes.

He pulled his hand back as the warmth began to leave him. “I still remember everything,” he said, looking down at Patch. Patch’s tongue lolled out of its mouth.

“Of course. It didn’t take your memories; it copied them.” 

Patch hopped on its back legs, pawing at the green ball. Suddenly, the image of Ayumu’s first day in class began to play on a holographic screen. It touched the ball again and a vague memory from Kaoru’s childhood played with crystal clear focus.

“It copies things exactly as they happened,” Patch explained. “If it had taken your memories, we’d be seeing it as you remembered it. This particular memory, and most memories that happened years ago, would be blurry or distorted. As it is, all of them will show up fully intact!”

Kaoru stared in awe at the hologram. It looked so real and life like, as if he could reach out to touch it and feel the things he was seeing. But his hand just phased right through it. 

“Is there anything else I should know?” Kaoru asked.

Patch hummed, sitting back down on its hindlegs and tilting its head, one floppy brown ear hanging low and twitching. “There are more things that you should know, but most of them will only make sense after you’ve experienced a world,” Patch explained. 

“I guess it’s time, then,” Kaoru said. “So, how do I do this?”

Patch let out a bark and led Kaoru back to the middle of the room. It placed its paws directly in the center and it began to glow with the same light as the rest of the room. A wide circle opened up, and a rounded pod rose from the ground. It opened automatically with a soft hum when everything settled. 

“Just lay right in there and we’ll transfer to your first world!” Patch said excitedly.

Kaoru hummed and went to the pod with very little complaint. He sat on the edge and reached for the top, but froze before he could close it all the way. 

“I have one more question,” he said, and Patch sat at attention. “How does… this whole thing work?” He gestured to Patch. “I’ve read web novels with this kind of premise before. The… system or partner or whatever is usually not seen. It acts as more of a subconscious thing, from the novels I’ve read.”

“I am as seen, verbal, and involved as my Master would like me to be,” it said. “If my Master wishes me to be tangible and a part of the world with them, I will be. I am able to write myself into the world only enough to remain by your side in a convenient matter. If they wish for others to understand me, they can. If you wish to verbally give me orders or only think about it, you can do either. However, this is only applicable to each world we enter. A world like the one you come from is non-magical and others would find it strange to hear a talking dog, so in those kinds of worlds, only you will be able to understand me.”

Kaoru hummed. “Well, whatever fits the world, then,” he decided. “But I’d like you to always remain at my side.”

“It can be done!” Patch declared. “Will. Will be done.”

“Get in here,” Kaoru said fondly, patting the side of the pod. With an excited yip, Patch jumped into the pod with Kaoru. 

The pod was, very obviously, not made for more than one person. Or more than a person. A person and a creature that happened to look like a dog. It was strange to actually feel the pod shifting and growing to accommodate both of them. 

“Just close your eyes, and let me take care of the rest,” Patch said. Kaoru did as he was told. 

Instead of the black that would usually be behind one’s eyes, everything became a bright, bright white.