Red Moon

"You are dismissed." The teacher said to them as the clock hit five o'clock. This was when Rika stood up immediately. Her classmates approached her and asked her to go with them to some karaoke bars. "Sorry, I do not like wasting time. Besides, I don't like you guys at all, you're too loud." She said to them, leaving them shook and aghast at her bluntness.

As soon as she left the room, her other classmates proceeded to berate her and call her names and such. Her only friend followed her afterwards. "Come on, Rika, I thought we talked about this already? You can just not say what you really have in mind if it is too blunt." Semi, a blonde-haired woman her age said to her. "Why? Why Should I have to pretend in front of those loud-mouthed people?" She asked as Semi just sighed. "Let us just go home already." She said to Rika as the latter nodded.

Rika was a petite and smallish woman who was eighteen years of age. Her black ebony hair was worn down without any clippings at all, it was so long that it reached her back. She never had many friends at all, after what happened to her parents. She quickly snapped out of it as Semi tugged at her. "I am going to go stop by somewhere before going home. You can go on ahead." She said with a smile. Rika nodded and went off on her own as she had almost arrived.

But something would happen that would be the catalyst for an even more surreal event. It was like all the other people vanished in the streets, leaving only her alone with a child right on the street. The problem now was that there were rays coming from the headlights of a truck, apparent that there was a huge truck coming on to the street where the child had fallen. Rika did not know why, she was always really detached about these sorts of things as crime in this city was always at an all-time high. But it seemed like her body moved on its own, out of pure instincts.

Before she could run out, she noticed something up in the sky. Something that she had never seen before. The moon itself was red. It was as if it was oozing with blood itself. "W-What the hell is that…" she noted as she realized that she had time to beat in order to save the kid.

She ran to the child and dove in order to throw him out of the way, to save him from harm's way from being hit by the truck. She was successful in that, as the child looked like he had injured its knees after falling which stopped him from getting up himself. A loud clang was heard, that was the impact that came after the truck had hit Rika Sato, killing her outright as her body was now on the streets. Multiple people had screamed as they realized what had just happened.

Rika was ventilating hard as she was still trying to process what had happened, she did not yet realize that she was dead and was long gone already. She could see nothing but darkness. [ Hello there. ] A man's deep voice was heard. "Who are you?!" She exclaimed. [ In time, you will know. But for now, what you must understand is one thing and one thing only – you are dead. You have died a few seconds ago. ] The man said. "D-Died?! No! I got out of the way! I saved that kid and I got out of the way!" Rika argued that she was still in the world of the living. [ Denial, denial. Well, it is not like your denial will change anything. ] the man retorted back.

Rika was far too shook to even say anything back, she was both confused and scared, a good reason to be. [ Well, now that you have nothing more to say, I am going to give you a choice. A choice that will help you come to terms with death, to help you come to terms with it by offering you your life back. The life that was lost trying to save a child you did not even know. A choice that you cannot hope to refuse. ] The man added. She was still shaken and did not say anything.

[ I will give you your life back, in exchange for your nighttime. Night by night, as the moon turns blood red, you will do something, think of it as some sort of payment for allowing you to live once more. ] The voice uttered out as Rika slowly stood up from the darkness altogether. "What is it, tell me." She said. [ It would be better to show you rather than to just tell you. ] the voice retorted back.

The darkness that shrouded her eyes was now gone, as there was the sound of a light switch turned on. She noticed that they were on top of a skyscraper somewhere in the city. "I-I thought I had died…" she said as she was in disbelief. As she looked around, there were plenty of people in the room with her, all of them looked at distraught at the situation as her.

[ Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the Red Moon Reversal Program. You will be given weapons of your choice in the back room, please eliminate this monster. ] The voice came out of nowhere as the windows were now full of digital images of a humanoid alien standing at about three foot tall.

"W-What is happening…" She asked herself as nothing had made any sense so far in her perspective.