A Vicious Little Clownfish in the Red Ocean

POV: Saori Kitagaya

I'm wandering across time through our dreams. Everything was cold and blue. Oceans above the ground with weeds swaying across the waves, this sensation is far from what a normal person could imagine.

Everything felt real, even for a touch of goosebumps from the air… I can still breathe and walk normally. Sharks, whales, and batches of fish revolve around me, dancing through the trails of hairlike threads.

This is the flow that I've been longing for, the complete feeling of satisfaction through the smoother movement of my surroundings. Unlike the real world, everything was peaceful. No murders, no crimes, no deaths, everything went natural.

But a thought arose in me when I saw groups of piranhas earing the smaller fish groups, scattering and spraying the red mark of vicious killing. Preying is a survival instinct, a well-born and inevitable natural habit that stays with animals.

Humans are once animals, and some still were. They are those without mercy and laugh without empathy while their faces are covered with blood. Those people deserve to be called animals.

Unless one becomes an animal, no one can stop other animals from killing, and that's what happened. I'm the smallest clownfish with the sharpest fang in this blue ocean full of predators, and there's no other way to protect myself other than to become one.

That little clownfish can kill the largest shark from the inside. Even in this natural ecosystem, the system is unbalanced.

I continue following the clownfish above me until it leads me to a huge glacier of ice standing on the floor. The glacier is as big as the statue of Christ in Brazil, and its center is surrounded by spikes pointing outward, like a sea urchin cut in half.

I can't walk furthermore the spike barrier. The clownfish swam towards the center, the largest spike pointing upwards, and when I narrow my eyes toward it, I see the face when I look in the mirror, my face only showing the head and my body is completely hidden within the thick ice.

It's my face five years ago when I have no home I can go to. The clownfish might have seen itself in its human form. I tried approaching quickly as I want to put my duplicate away from that prison, but chaos came.

Every fish behind me goes straight forward, away from something, like it's escaping from the unknown void of time. But unlike the others, the clownfish stayed and went the opposite direction. And as I turn back, I saw a bright light that blinds my eyes, completely filling my view with white.

I woke up, suddenly, remembering the things that is currently happening in the real world and at the same time, recollecting the scene that wrapped my dreams. Just mixing both things made me pinch my forehead.

I woke up in a house while lying on a couch. It's still noon with the painfully bright sun shines the windows. That coldness in my body is just a feeling of being topless sleeping. I'm all alone and realized that both Ikeda and Mayumi are gone. Did they try to betray me?

I'm still feeling weakened but my reserved adrenaline filled my energy. I rushed to the second floor and all I can see is a bed, just a bed.

"Ikeda? Mayumi? Where are you?" I tried shouting but no one answered. I scanned every room but no one was there. I opened the door and saw a whole village surrounded by the plains and the forest, and as I remember, this might be the village I'd seen earlier.

Well, if they're not here, I can do things my own way. It's better for me to be left out and do my plans smoothly. I need to prepare before every zombie regroups.

I wore my shirt and walk my way towards the edge of the village. If Ikeda and Mayumi are staying here, it's best to avoid their sight because they might be resting in one of the houses. There are only a few minutes until they've realized that I'm gone.

There might be two possible reasons why they aren't staying in the house I'm in. They might still be searching for goods or else, somebody might already be staying here. I just don't know who it was.

I'm planning to continue my way to the forest until I've seen footprints on the ground. The dirt might have been concealing it clearly, proving that this footprint is from someone leaving an hour ago.

I followed the footprints because this might lead to some acquaintance. After just a few minutes of walking, the prints vanished in the middle of the forest.

No… This is not just a normal forest spot. I've been ending murderers' lives for years and that includes cases within the forest. In my entry, I might have already triggered something.

Under the rays of light from the leaves above me, I can see strands of threads being reflected around me. I'm in a pinch point. Usually, this is my method of cornering enemies, but I guess I was the one who is cornered.

Someone already beat me to the race… But, it doesn't mean they already beat me completely. If I'm the one who set these traps, I'll know where I can disassemble them.

Someone knew my methods and has been copying them completely. There's no possible way others might have gotten track of me. I'm completely undercover.

After I disassembled the traps from the direction where I came, I planned on going back to the village, denying the territory I planned to claim. I can't declare war on someone's space without preparing.

But I wonder if these traps are really set for me since it's still the first day or, if my hunch was right, then…

Suddenly, I heard a huge alternating stomping from the deeper parts of the village. The continuous pattern of sound and its gradual amplification, meaning, there's a giant that is walking toward our way.

The earth shakes together with the trees while syncing with the sound. This is a complete sign of terror.

Out of nowhere, I've been dragged to the bush beside me by someone unknown to me. He covers my mouth as we hide our bodies completely from the environment. He then whispers.

"Shhh! Don't be too loud. You're still safe here."