Press Start To Begin A New Adventure

Nothing worked. Not a damn thing she did succeed. Zero, zilch, zip, nada, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. Every time Lexa killed herself, she would just end up back in the hospital bed, completely fine—well, as fine as she was prior.

Which was to say, not at all, being bedridden, but Lexa digressed.

Still, it was like a game. A respawn of sorts. When she died, everything would go dark and she'd feel weightless, unable to see anything until the weightless feeling was gone, her eyes opening to the sight of the ceiling of the hospital room, and—and that 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 would be on the window every single time without fail.

You. Mocking her. May. Taunting her. Not. Ridiculing her. Die. 𝘛𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 her. Every single time without fail when she opened her eyes after coming out of what she assumed was darkness.

Aside from the inability to die due to some no-ball, fuckface entity or 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 was keeping her trapped in this world, Lexa did figure something out though. She was the only one who could see the message. No one else could seemingly as the nurse assigned to her looked a bit puzzled when she asked if the window could be cleaned, and the nurse cited that there wasn't anything there.

In the end, Lexa got what she asked for. Luckily the message went away as the nurse gave the window a quick wipe down, and that marked the end of her attempts. At least as of right now.

Because Lexa had tried almost everything she could think of. Her options were vastly limited, however, with being linked to a machine, but it was still exhausting experiencing death over and over again only for it to be…

Meaningless. Disheartening, too. It pissed her off so much.

...𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵. 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

——

Eventually, as she grew tired of trying to suicide her way out, the next day came and went. As Akari stated before, she was there early in the morning, almost as soon as Lexa woke up from an otherwise dreamless sleep, but so was her father, too.

It was not as eventful or heart-felt as Lexa thought it'd be. She thought that despite everything she would be overjoyed to see her father alive, and while she was happy, the feeling was… muted. Almost not even there.

In fact, she could hardly register the feeling when he walked through the door, looking just as young as he'd been when she was in her late teens in the old world.

…Actually, the man she called father was always young-looking. In fact, he certainly did not look as though he was in his early forties like Lexa knew he'd be around while she was eighteen, aging rather well. His leanly built body was hidden underneath black slacks and a white button-up shirt with an overcoat that was a similar shade of black as the slacks, and his features were sharp as ever with the beard he sported being well-groomed.

However, Lexa noted that his swept-back hair wasn't a chestnut sort-of brown, but rather black. Underneath the lighting of the hospital room, it shined like the feathers of a raven—having the same purple-blue sheen as hers. So just like before in the old world, they shared hair colors, but his eyes. His eyes remained so dark that his pupils couldn't be seen but somehow, some way, Lexa could feel warmth radiating from them rather than a cold darkness.

"Forgive me, Lexa. For not coming sooner," he told her mournfully, his deep voice soft. "Many things went wrong, but luckily, one of my superiors stepped in and took over for me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Jun-san," Akari chimed, patting his shoulder. "You know our Lexa understands your position."

Yes, Lexa did. In Japan, her father, Jun, had been a military man, and while not in the military anymore, his skillset and high capability did have him high in demand. And Lexa understood that perfectly well when it came to emergencies like these, Jun wasn't readily available. If she had any complaints, then she'd just come off as ungrateful.

"It's okay. Really," Lexa said, cheerfully as she could muster. Cheerfulness did not come naturally though, so she feigned just enough to make herself less pitiful, forcing herself to wear a grin.

It worked. Jun seemed to be more at ease, less worried with how 'happy' his daughter appeared to be even after Lexa told him about her condition, and then the time was passed with idle chatter. Still, Lexa felt almost nothing. It was like her body was on autopilot while her mind was elsewhere, numb to most stimuli.

Really, she knew she should be ecstatic that her father was alive and well, but somehow, she wasn't. She was happy, yes, but the feeling was largely clouded by…

Lexa wasn't sure. She felt numb. Maybe it was because she had more pressing matters? She was trapped in this world—and since she was trapped, that meant she had to deal with Z-Day and beyond since she seriously doubted she could die and stay dead even then. Death by 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 was not particularly appealing when she'd be devoured in the most painful way possible, and she could not stress enough that she didn't want to experience that over and over.

Not to mention that… well… Lexa had problems on top of problems. Some with herself. However, with the end of the world near, she didn't exactly have the time to properly assess her problems in favor of situations that would cause her bigger problems if left unchecked.

𝘜𝘨𝘩. 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘢𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴.

It wasn't before long that her father and Akari decided to leave. Akari promised she'd be back, but Jun was far more hesitant to make such a promise, pausing at the door.

"I'll be okay, Papa," Lexa told him, giving him a soft smile. She didn't like to lie to him, but it was, technically, a half-truth. Physically, she'd be okay if everything went the same as before, but mentally? All Lexa wanted to do was laugh at that. "Just focus on work, all right? Grandma's doing okay with taking care of me right now."

Jun faltered slightly. He looked as though he had something to say, but the words were simply not vocalized. His lips morphing into an almost defeated smile, Jun gave a short nod.

Then Jun was gone, leaving Lexa alone. Only the soft huffing of the respirator that sucked air out of her lung was there to keep her company.

——

Her treatment went according to schedule, and on Lexa's third day in the hospital, the pain had pretty much subsided thanks to the effects of the pleural drainage. The only problem with this, however, was…

Boredom. Nothing 𝘣𝘶𝘵 sheer boredom. Akari came to see her every day, but Lexa couldn't even walk around on her own. She remained linked to a machine via a tube, and she had to have an IV drip twice a day. It was tough even getting to the bathroom, and of course, Lexa hadn't been able to shower for a couple of days, though she did receive a sponge bath.

𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘒𝘢𝘪, she told herself. It was the only saving grace. Her room did have a small TV, but even if she turned it on, the only shows that they aired were Japanese dramas that Lexa had no particular love for. She did give reading a try, reading a few of the books that Akari brought, but Stephen King—and she was a little surprised he existed here with how media was fickle about including real-life people, characters, and brands due to copyright and trademark issues—wasn't able to quell her boredom as much as she liked.

She even tried to make some attempts on her life again, just to pass the time as she thought of ways to kill herself, but she grew bored of that real fast. To think that before all of this, she got a rush off near-death experiences, so much so that Nikolai would scold her, but now, actual death did nothing, not even to quell boredom.

So Lexa simply decided to pass the time in idleness. It wasn't relaxing by any means, but it still felt better than the alternatives.

Until the sixth day, that was, where Akari brought her mobile phone. Instead of the old flip phone she thought she'd have at eighteen, it was the 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 she owned right before she was kidnapped by Kai. An iPhone, to be specific. Far more fancier than what her eighteen-year-old self back in her old world had access to and definitely not what Lexa expected she'd have in this world.

…𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦? 𝘚𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺? She pursed her lips. God, all this isekai nonsense was a pain to deal with, but when Akari left for the day, Lexa turned the iPhone on after having plugged it into its charger the moment Akari gave it to her.

Greeted with the sight of a silver apple on a black background, the seconds ticked by. Then. The lock screen came up, and she blinked, gaze owlish.

On the LCD screen of the smartphone, clearly set to be the wallpaper, was a photo that depicted her and Saeko—specifically, it was a 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 version of her and Saeko. Lexa couldn't have been any older than fourteen in the photo, and she was sure the same could be said for Saeko, looking something akin to the flashback the anime had when Saeko spoke of her would-be molester to Takashi. It was also very clear that Lexa… or rather 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥'𝘴 Lexa… had pulled Saeko into taking a photo, a so-called selfie with her arm loosely around Saeko's neck, giving the camera a wide grin that showed off fangs—sweet baby cheesecakes, when the hell did she get 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 sharp bastards?—while Saeko had a far more reserved smile.

Yet Saeko's eyes shone with affection, not quite looking at the camera. Instead, deep blue orbs were directed at Lexa, normally piercing but this wasn't the case for the photo, looking soft. Sort of like the way she looked at Takashi after the shrine—

Lexa did not finish the thought. She set the phone in her lap, face-down, and clasped her hands together, eyes closed almost in mock prayer.

...𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘰. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘢𝘦𝘬𝘰. 𝘈 𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘭. 𝘗𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘭. 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.

Or at least she had 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 be, Lexa thought bitterly. It wasn't like Lexa wasn't attracted to girls. In fact, Lexa didn't have a preference as far as gender went, but a relationship was something she didn't need thrown into her ever-growing list of problems. Not to mention that while she was physically eighteen in this world, she was mentally twenty-nine-years old. Saeko was technically legal, yes, but 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 so, with eighteen having long felt like a child to Lexa.

𝘜𝘨𝘩. 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘦𝘬𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴…

Carefully, Lexa took a breath, opening her eyes and picking up the iPhone. Almost as soon as she did, a notification appeared at the top of the screen. A text message from… someone called Unknown?

𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍

𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕

Her brow furrowed. What the hell was this about? Well, she didn't have anything to lose by not checking it, so she quickly navigated to the inbox of her email. She only had one, the sender being the very same person. Unknown.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦: 𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙽

𝐓𝐨: 𝙼𝚎

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟹𝟷𝚜𝚝 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢, 𝟸0𝚇𝚇

𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭: 𝙶𝚒𝚏𝚝

𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍.

[𝟷 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝.]

Compensation…? Trouble?

Lexa stared at the screen unblinkingly, her grip slowly increasing on the phone as a surge of anger rose in her, boiling. Was this thing… communicating? She shook her head. Obviously, it was, but… Was it 𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 her? Sure seemed so with how it actually thought some attachment would serve as compensation for not letting her die.

Her features morphed into a scowl, glaring down at the screen, at the [𝟭 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.]. However, as much as Lexa didn't want to admit it, she knew this… entity or whatever… was persistent, given just how many times she tried to kill herself only to be brought back and told no every time. So to save herself the energy, resisting the nearly overwhelming urge to cast the iPhone aside, she tapped onto the mail attachment. Immediately, the anger melted into confusion.

[𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚍.𝚎𝚙𝚞𝚋]

Lexa had to clear her eyes to see if it was a lie. The file extension was… a copy of the manga. The 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 series, it seemed, going up to the very last chapter ever released, judging by the table of contents she saw. She wasn't sure what to make of this. All she could do was stare at the screen in confusion, wondering several things.

Is this what… Unknown… meant as compensation? Was this confirmation that this world would follow the events of the manga rather than the anime plotline? What else would this entity do?

Lexa pursed her lips, brow furrowed. She closed the mail app, opened the browser, and typed quickly with her thumb.

𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝|

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟏𝟗,𝟓𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬

While there were lots of results, the series itself did not exist and the search even tried directing her to other things. No matter how much she scrolled, clicking page after page, there was nothing that indicated it had ever existed. Lexa figured as much with how this world was reality to the characters, though searching up 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘰̄ 𝘋𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘬𝘦 and 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘰̄ 𝘚𝘩𝘰̄𝘫𝘪 proved they existed because their other works showed up under their names.

Unconsciously, Lexa let out a small sigh, setting the phone down and glaring at the ceiling. She was beginning to think that trying to figure this all out when she wasn't even fully recovered was more trouble than it was worth, but she didn't have much time before spring, especially when suicide was just simply not an option.

The iPhone buzzed. She lifted it wearily to eye-level, seeing another text message.

𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍

𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝. 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕.

Ugh.

Lexa powered the iPhone off, pinching the bridge of her nose. She had some answers now, but this 'Unknown' character tended to raise more questions that she was sure would remain unanswered with how Unknown seemed so vague.

...𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘰?

She wasn't entirely sure. The more she found out, the more questions she had with few answers. And tomorrow would mark the seventh day since her arrival, a full week of her being in this world, and she was already so sick of it. Tired—

No, that wasn't quite right. Lexa was tired long before she came to this world. Actually, tired wasn't even the word, the more she thought about it. She was...

Broken. Kai's broken little toy that got promoted to some 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. Her life wasn't her own. Not to end, not to even live anymore. Anything.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Lexa could hear snipping, threads being cut strand by strand. Lexa let out a weak laugh, feeling the edges of her vision starting to blur by the sting of tears. Strange how it was so comforting but so… humorous. She didn't even know why but something about the metaphorical threads being snipped just made her laugh and cry.

She sniffled, using the sleeve of her hoodie—brought by Akari—to rub at her eyes before she turned to the window. Yesterday, it had started snowing with Tokonosu City looking like a winter wonderland, blissfully unaware that it'd be made into a city of carnage in spring. Supposedly, the snow wasn't supposed to come until next week, but tomorrow would be the 1st of February, so no one could really predict when it'd snow when that month was peak snowing weather.

Less and less time until spring. Until the beginning of the end. What was Lexa going to do until then? What would she do after then? She couldn't escape, that was abundantly clear, but—

Finally, all the threads seemed to have been cut. Lexa smiled, letting out yet another laugh that was a little stronger but sounded broken. If the nurses or doctor heard, they'd probably be so very concerned. In the window's reflection, even Lexa couldn't deny that she looked maniacal, the grin tugged at her lips crazed and menacing with those sharp, sharp fangs as tears streamed down her cheeks. It reminded her of how Kai looked whenever he didn't put on his mask of perfection, having his scary, ugly, and true self exposed.

𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺'𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.

So Lexa would make one. Put on a big show, create the best ending possible. Because maybe, just maybe she'll have some peace and quiet. Death.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯...

She laughed.

𝘖𝘩 𝘸̷͔̮̈̈𝘦̴̙̭͚̈́𝘭̵̨͖͌𝘭̴̖̆̊͘.