I worked really hard

Alex went to wear some clothes after taking a bath. Coming to his room, he saw bloodstains on the floor and walls that he failed or didn't bother to notice the first time.

If he had suffered injuries, why wasn't he feeling any pain? Even with the information he recovered, everything was unclear. Nothing made sense, no matter how he jotted the facts down.

He thought about how the facility got destroyed, and he could vaguely remember someone saying that the patient, him, was unstable and exploded.

--Well, that does sound cool, but I'm sure that I didn't explode…probably.

Of all the possible answers, Alex hoped that one was wrong.

'Where is my phone?'

The average teenage instinct finally emerged, and Alex tried finding his phone. After searching the whole house and finding similar bloodstains on the stairs and kitchen, meaning he was the wild animal that raided his own kitchen, he ended finding his phone in his room from where he started, which is nowadays considered normal.

The phone was dead. Alex plugged in the charger, and after a few minutes, it became usable again.

--Guess I should have asked them to come up with a better excuse.

As soon as he opened the phone, a worrying amount of missed calls and text messages inflated the phone. They were all from his friends from every social app he had.

He did expect a few calls and messages, but that amount was far more than he could imagine. He could fill up a book just from printing the text messages.

Alex didn't want, nor could he reply to all of them. Instead, he called Yuuto to get the latest news.

--It's 8 in the morning, so I'm sure he's awake.

Yuuto was always an early riser no matter the day. A behavior expected of a journalist.

'Hey, Yuuto. What's up?'

'Alex!? Is that you?'

'Yeah, it's me, so I was wonderi-'

'Alex, where've you been? You suddenly went missing. I tried calling and texting you, but you wouldn't respond.'

'Ye-yeah I know so-'

Yuuto was talking too fast. Hearing Alex's voice for the first time in a month surprised him.

'Also, when I asked the school about you, they said you left some weird application about going to Germany to visit your great aunt Bessie? I thought you were half American. People have been making a lot of rumors about you, and I can't clarify them because my source of information disappeared on me.'

'Yeah, about that ….um ...crazy story actually. Will tell you about it later, anyway, what are the rumors?'

Yuuto was too energetic. Alex tried to change the topic.

'Some say you're a prince and returned to your country in Europe. Some claim you've been kidnapped and taken to Africa. Others just straight up think you're dead. These are the most popular.'

'What?'

'They even held a funeral for you.'

Alex was speechless. He was only gone for about three weeks, yet they turned him into a dead European prince taken to Africa. How did they reach that conclusion was something he knew but didn't want to admit it. School kids sure like to make up rumors and gossip.

'Anything else going on in school?'

Yuuto sighed, taking his first long breath since he attended the call.

'Nothing much. Everyone is just stressed because of the exams that are starting tomorrow.'

'Ex-exams? What exams?'

A cold chill ran through Alex's spine.

'This semester's midterm exam, what else? You do remember, don't you?'

'Ye-yeah, of course.'

'Good, I was worried. You suddenly disappeared for three weeks, but came back just in time for the exams, guess you were studying in Germany. Did you bring back a souvenir for me?'

'Yeah, sure sure. Anyway, my phone is about to die, so see you later.'

'Sure, by-'

Alex hung up.

'This is bad. What am I supposed to do? I don't remember a single word of what I learned, and I skipped almost three weeks of school. How am I supposed to make up for that?'

Alex was a student with high grades and a higher reputation. He can't simply walk in and fail the exams. Terrified, he grabbed his head and sat down, and as they say when in trouble, be optimistic.

--Maybe, there's still hope. What are the chances of a major earthquake hitting Kanagawa tomorrow? Let's see, Kanagawa is a part of Greater area Tokyo, and Tokyo has about 85% of a chance of having an earthquake every day. You need to have an earthquake of a magnitude of 5 or greater on the Richter scale for the authorities to cancel school and offices, and the last major earthquake was in….

'Wait! What am I thinking? Actually, how do I know all of this?'

Alex was desperately ranting his head for ideas that could save him.

'I have to come up with a plan.'