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'What ...just ...happened?'

Everything seemed blurry. Alex was lying on something hard and was trying to make sense of his surroundings. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and saw a familiar ceiling.

'Where…am I?'

His body felt heavy but managed to get up to get a better view.

'Huh? I'm in my room. How did I get here?'

Alex found himself lying on the floor of his room. Why didn't he sleep on the bed was still mysterious but so was everything else. He saw the window was open from where the sunlight came to wake him up.

He couldn't think about anything else except for the fact that he was starving and needed food right now. He exited his room and went to his kitchen only to be more dazed, witnessing its state.

'Did some animals escaped from the zoo and raided this place?'

The kitchen was a complete mess as if a storm had hit the place. Everything that was supposed to be in the fridge and cupboards was spread throughout the floor, shelves, and table. Alex was not in the mood to start cleaning up the mess.

He grabbed the loaf of bread the was still packed, cut a slice, took a spoon to spread the jam from the jar that had survived the raid, and sat on the couch in the living room.

He felt he forgot something, something important. He casually opened the TV and saw the news, bread in mouth. There the headlines read.

'Mysterious fire in the old building in Chiba, the cause is still unknown.'

He didn't know what it was, but there was something that he needed to remember, but he just couldn't. The news unnaturally grabbed Alex's attention.

'Also, we found a young naked boy running from near the incident caught on camera. The police say he might be involved in it in some way. Although the camera couldn't catch his face clearly, the boy is injured and is estimated to be 16-18 years old judging by his body.'

'Something's familiar about that boy.'

Alex spoke with his mouth full. Pausing the screen, he looked closely, feeling a special connection between him and that boy. His height, hair, and body type, he was sure he had seen them somewhere before.

Now that hunger wasn't clouding his mind, he put his hand under his chin and took his thinking posture. His eyes wandered downwards and saw something that generally should be hidden.

--What!?

He stood up and placed his hands over his body to confirm that he wasn't wearing any clothes and was buck naked.

'What the hell happened!?'

No wonder the boy looked familiar to him. You don't need a clear picture to recognize yourself.

'Youth these days. I am not sure if the boy was involved in the incident, but I'll never be able to understand today's trends.'

A policeman disappointedly commented on the scene.

From the moment he woke up today, a chain of confusing mysteries hit him like a truck. He needed to know what was going on, and he needed to know it quick. Panicking won't help him much so, the first thing he did was resuming his thinking posture and sat down.

Within seconds, the key to unlocking his memories was discovered, and the crucial memories flooded his mind. Flashbacks to when he had cancer, agreeing to perform risky surgery, being a guinea pig, and then his final memory of hearing people screaming.

'Oh yeah…that stuff…happened?'

--Was the facility in Chiba? How did it explode? Did I get here by myself? If I am that boy, where are the injuries I saw on TV?

Alex was still not sure about the incident and had several questions coming down like rain.

'Okay, that happened.'

He tried to gather the information he knew.

'Considering I'm still alive and actually feeling very alive means the treatment was successful, meaning I don't have brain cancer anymore. The facility was destroyed, and somehow I got home in Kanagawa all the way from Chiba while running naked, bleeding and probably looking like a maniac and…'

He looked down and was still naked.

'I should put on some clothes first.'