XTRA-RECORDS 2 : THE HUNT BEGINS

I didn't stop running.. I kept my feet awake the whole night…

All the time, I felt like some hidden shadow was following me…

I was hungry…

I was sleepy…

but over all of those emotions, i was afraid...

that's why, I couldn't afford to stop eating or couldn't risk sleeping…

From the core of my heart, I was terrified… of that guy named fuji..

oh.. He literally killed my uncle in front of me…

and at that moment, he probably was chasing me…

"Oh damn…I am feeling sleepy…"

On the corner of a highroad, I fainted…

Before fainting, I heard people yelling over me… their voices sounded like insect noise to me..

yeah. something was wrong with my head..

then i saw, 2 headlights coming towards me…

and It stopped right before my head…

well.. what happened after that? I don't know. I lost my consciousness completely..

…

Everything went awfully silent…

In my dream, I saw that incident of my uncle's death once again.. That terrible incident…

And this time, Fuji caught me completely in my dream… he caught me by my neck..

i was screaming inside the dream and seeing my plight, he just kept on laughing at me.

I was afraid ..then, he punched me on my face..

which made me, broke out of the dream with a huge scream…

There I found myself in an unknown room..

The room looked rich but it wasn't that well-decorated.. Things were scattered from here to there…

There was a wholesome family picture on the table beside my bed.

A 40-50 years old dude, a same aged woman and 2 children with no care for life.. They seemed to have fun in that picture.. It felt so good to look at.

But the thing which concerned me was that even that picture was broken…

I got up from the bed.. And started walking around.

Then I found a person playing piano in the middle of a huge room…

but, that piano wasn't sounding good…it felt like a sound of despair.

And when i entered that room, he suddenly stopped playing that piano..

I came near that guy.

And discovered that it's the same old guy from the picture.. He has a beard now… which made him look older..

I tried to start a conversation by saying "Hello."

As that guy heard my voice, he stopped playing the piano. And looked at me with a huge smile on his face.

He asked me,

"Are you feeling good now?"

I was going to say that I am good but a horrendous sound came from my belly pointing out how starved I am Right now.

That old dude laughed out hearing such sound. which made me a bit uncomfortable, not gonna lie. but then he looked at me and said,

"If you are feeling hungry, you should say so.. Your needs must be clarified by yourself.. This is what defines you as a person… your role."

I was shocked to hear such words.. No , not actually shocked.. I was actually desperate to hear such sentences.. I needed to hear them from someone..

And there I found my 1st hope to reach my role in this world.

We both entered the dining room.. And there I saw two butlers standing with a towel on their hand..as I reached my chair, one butler passed a towel to me.. I read their name from their name plate stamped on their coat. One is Karl, and the other one is Walter.

I thanked them and sat on my chair..

After a while, there came food for us. It looked so delicious to me. So I started eating without thinking about my surroundings.

While I was eating, at that moment, I again heard that old guy's voice coming from my back.. I saw he had also come to do breakfast here.. He smiled at me.

I was eating with such passion that a lot of food was spreading from here to there.. I knew it was bad manners. But i was so starved to think about it.

But that old guy pointed that thing out and said,

"It's kind of bad manners to eat things in such a way. Everything has its own proper way of doing."

I looked at him. He looked quite serious discussing all this.

He continued saying,

"As i said, everything in this world has a proper way of doing. You also need to know that in this world, nothing is inevitable. Everything has an end. But did you ever think that, how's everything gonna come to an end? This world was created by the big bang.. There was a proper order for it. Nonetheless, we wouldn't have existed in the first place. But what's the true order of the world ending?"

I was hearing his blabbers as I was eating my food. I somehow got bored because of his talking.. it seemed like a boring class to me.

But something broke my boredom..

His latter words changed my whole life..

That old guy drank a glass of water and then said,

"This whole world is gonna end one day. But we don't know what's the true order for this ending.. The true story.. That one story of ending this entire world. And you know what, we play an important role in that story… a role worthy enough to live our entire life with."

I was hearing this with total amazement in my eyes. I was excited and confused…

Finally, I was getting what I asked for. A role.. A role to live in this world..

He then took me to a room filled with documents, ancient letters, blocks, stones.. Those looked so fictitious to me.

What're those?

What're their purposes?

I was just confused.

He suddenly turned to me and said,

"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Klaus Weber. A researcher.. At least, that's what I try to call myself. But people call me a scientist."

"Are both different?"

He laughed at my question and said,

"Well, fundamentally they are quite different."

I shook my head and said that, "by the way, i am solis-"

He interfered and said, "shimura? I know your name buddy. I'd not let any stranger get into my house. My men brought you from Japan to here Germany.. I have some plans for you."

"Plans?"

He then took out a book from the bookshelf..

I thought he was gonna show something from the book.

But all of a sudden, a secret door opens in front of us.

I was shocked and speechless. I never saw such things in my entire life.

And when I entered that hidden room, I felt like I entered a new dimension…

This guy named Klaus had researched on every single thing. there were blocks everywhere in that room.

sculptures.

The beginning to the end..

4 Goblins…

Multiple planes of existence…

My mind wasn't able to comprehend all those… the meaning..

I asked him, "how do you even know if those exist?"

He said, "my bloodline is special. We have our legacy. Though I didn't even know about any of them before i entered the mental plane."

I was startled. I recalled that line from Fuji sakamoto. He was also talking about some mental plane.

Seeing my confused face, he smiled and assured me,

"Don't worry. I am not gonna do any harm to you. You're precious."

I believed his words. And looked around the room once again.. There I saw a lot of references from the mental plane.. the eye which looks down on the invader. And the symbol. The goat.

i recalled all the events from my visit in mental plane. and those memories weren't that good..

I gulped and asked,

"You were talking about roles. Right? what's got to do anything with these?"

He didn't answer my question right away.

He started walking once again and stopped in front of a stone.. There's a lot of pictures drawn there. i was surprised seeing those sculptures.. it looked so ancient.

I murmured, "4 Goblins…"

He laughed, "yeah, that's what they look like. Don't they? My ancestors have been passing this tale of 4 goblins generation by generation. 4 goblins. The main attraction of this world ending story."

I was still in a well of confusion.. I kept itching my hair..

He pointed his finger to every goblin and named them in front of me,

"Protagonist, Antagonist, Explorer, Joker."

"So, old man, what're you among them?"

He smiled and replied, "I call myself an explorer. But it seems like I can't attend this world's funeral. So I am just gonna pass the baton of this role to you."

I hesitated, "so- so, you couldn't find the protagonist…and not the antagonist… not the joker or whatever the last one is.."

He laughed, "not actually. I couldn't find any. I don't know if you are gonna be the ultimate explorer or not.. But I hope you fulfil the tasks of an explorer properly. and you need to know that, the moment, an explorer finds every single goblins, the final act of this world begins."

I was in the middle of tons of emotions. Thinking about what I have left in my life to do.

I was in a pinch…

And I made a decision..

"I am gonna take on the challenge.. The role. I want that. I want a motive.. In my life."

Klaus asks right away, "even if it means to destroy this world?"

"Well, that wouldn't matter to me either way. I am not the protagonist. I don't need to act in that way. Also I feel like, after my parent's demise, the only thing that matters to me is a role in this world. And I will get it. No matter what."

Klaus didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he laughed and said,

"I was right to choose you. I find myself within you. A confused kid with no sense of direction having the world's strongest organisation as an opponent. You're just the same as me. Without my protection, you would be dead in no time against them. So you made a clever decision, kid."

"Well, I didn't think all those out.. You may be giving me too much credit."

We both started laughing. A lot of questions still surround me.

But no worries. I am gonna find the answers as an explorer. I will unveil the mysteries myself.

At least that was my motive at that time.

After a few talks, we both were leaving the secret room.

But suddenly, I found interest in something. I looked at that protagonist's sculpture. I once wanted to be one. What's he going to be like?

I asked Klaus about him.

He took a few breaths and then said,

"Well, my ancestors did predict a few details about him. According to them, he is gonna be someone special. A destined child. He is gonna have 5 mythical tigers following him. A deep love for the full moon. He will have his own throne. quite dramatic. isn't it?"

I was amazed by how awesome and epic it sounded.

"How am i gonna recognize him?"

Klaus showed me a hat lying on that room on one corner. A red hat.

"This hat is special. It can recognize the joker, protagonist, antagonist. but it can't recognize the explorer as anyone can be an explorer with the right mind set and with this hat. If you wear this hat, and some goblin comes near you, you will get a signal in your mind. Thus find the goblin. I never got any signal like this in my entire life, so I can't tell you how that signal's gonna work."

I nodded.

He looked at me and said, "it's the explorer's job to put all pieces together. Only an explorer can do it. I am counting on you."

Saying so, he left the room.. The only one remaining in that room was I.

I looked at that sculpture of the protagonist once again.. I felt jealous. But also excited.

And don't why..

but at that moment I laughed like a maniac…. careless...

"I will come for you, protagonist… it's gonna be fun."