Chapter 0 - Prologue I

"Hokkaido Trip - Kiyose Higashi High School."

I was staring at this letter from my school, which was sent to me via email. Soon after, I closed it and returned to play the horror game. The game was called Sins. At first, when this game launched, many people bought it, but after a few weeks, they dropped it saying it was annoying. I, too, at first thought that this game was annoying. Even now that it has passed it's 3rd week of release...No one has been able to figure out the first stage.

My name is Shiro Hyotaru. I am a shut-in. Yes, I am proud of it. Even though I am a shut-in, I live by my life quite well. I earn money through freelancing, so, there is no shortage in that part. The only bitter part is that I have to stock up on food and supplies. The last time I went out, I stocked up enough to live for about five months. My parents? Uhh...they left me.

I was not particularly close with my parents, and since I was a good for nothing fellow and always stayed home, they were fed up with me and left to stay in a different place. That happened five months ago and, yes, that was the last time I went outside. My supplies were almost over, and I had five cups of instant noodles, which would last about two days highest. I sighed and closed the game as well since I was not paying attention, and I was stuck in the first stage of it as well as others.

In the first stage, there were few jumps scares and a lot of gore, and there were choice-based. Like if there two options and if I chose the right one then he or she who was supposed to be murdered would be saved. I, of course, played it horribly...so a lot of people died, and there was a scene where it said..."Do you have the courage to become a sinner?"

There was no option there, and no matter how I scrambled with it, it wouldn't move from that dialogue. So most people dropped it, saying it was bugged. For some reason, I couldn't drop it. I tried messing with it for three whole weeks but, now even I was feeling hopeless. I looked at the email yet again. Even though I was a shut-in, I still attended school five months ago. I was not a daily attender, but I attended to keep up with grades and attendance so that they wouldn't grade me badly. If anyone were to listen that I was a bad student, then my freelancing career would be at risk.

I sighed and said...

"I might as well go to school for this trip."

It was almost the end of the year, so, it would be cold outside. Going to Hokkaido at this moment of the year is very special for some people. Especially for people who love the winter season. Since I had to go to school anyway for review, I might as well go on the trip to raise the school's view about me. I hated interacting with people in my class as everyone called me a chuuni geek. It was not like I had chuunibyou. I had an accident when I was little and got hurt in my left eye, and my right leg broke. After rehabilitation and a few months of rest in the hospital, I was discharged. Though it came at a great cost, my left eye was replaced with another eye. That is why my eyes had different colors. My right eye was black, and my left was navy blue. But I hated this fact as many people thought I did it on purpose to make myself look like some bigshot with the eighth-grader syndrome. I was bullied a lot because of this too whenever I visited school...another reason I stopped going to school. I got up from my chair, grabbed my sweater, and went out to stock up.

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I was purchasing the stuff I needed to make breakfast and dinner as well as some instant ramen and noodles for emergency cases. Just then, I suddenly felt a presence glaring at me from behind so, I turned around to check but saw no one. It was late at night, so I did not expect anyone to be here. The shop itself was closing soon so, I was glad I was able to catch it open. The shopkeeper gave me the receipt and paying it, I left the shop. As I was walking, sudden visions of the game sin flowed in front of me. I stopped in my tracks and shook my head...

"What's happening?"

I was confused. Did I play the game too much? I shook my train of thought and pressed on. Just then, I felt the gravity rise, and I fell. I was having difficulty breathing, and the visions grew even tenser as I saw the people die and blood spilling over and over. A person hitting another person with an ax, people eating themselves out of hunger, suicides, torture, people getting eaten by unknown beasts. I couldn't hold my nerves as I saw the events repeat at rapid speed before me and started vomiting. After a while, I stopped and scanned myself. Everything was safe and well, there was nothing out of the ordinary in front of me. Just what in the hell was that? I couldn't stop thinking about the thing. Was it me dreaming? I was walking, how could I dream about something like this while I was walking?

"Maybe I should stop playing the game..."

That was the only logical solution that came to my mind at that moment. Maybe because I was playing too much of that bloody and horror game that it was affecting my psychological state. I got up, composed myself, grabbed the groceries and supplies from the ground, and started walking towards home.

How could I have known at that moment that I was slowly being dragged into a dangerous situation from which I could never get out of...As I was walking towards home still thinking about what is going on with my mind.

Several butterflies surrounded me from behind waiting to engulf me...