Fall into the unknown

This first Monday of May seemed to be starting in the most ordinary way possible.

A day you forget about after a week or two.

At least, that’s what I thought before receiving a message on my phone. It wasn’t a number saved in my contacts, so at first, I assumed it was just telemarketing.

But since I rarely receive messages, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to check who the sender was.

And when I saw that it was from the most beautiful girl in my class, I had a feeling that maybe this day wouldn’t be so ordinary after all.

I’m not the type of person who gets bullied between every class, but I’m also not the guy everyone wants to hang out with. I’m just an average guy living my days as normally as possible—completely opposite to the person who had just messaged me.

Rin ASHIBA, the most popular girl in my class, had sent me a message? It almost felt like a dream.

Since we were in the same class, I had spoken to her a few times before, but I had no memory of ever giving her my phone number.

So receiving a message from her felt really strange.

But since I rarely get messages, I quickly opened it. And what a surprise when I read its contents.

"Hey Sora, I never had the courage to tell you this face-to-face, so I’m asking you through a message.

Can you meet me at 9:10 AM in room 103?

Rin ASHIBA."

I read the message at least three times to make sure I wasn’t misreading anything.

But no, she had really just asked me to meet her.

Still, there was no point in getting my hopes up. Maybe she would be there with someone else. Or maybe she just needed a favor.

Well, whatever. I might as well go now and find out what she wants.

As expected at this hour, the classroom seemed empty.

I knocked on the door, but there was no answer, so I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

Strangely, no one was waiting for me inside.

"Ahh. I guess it was too good to be true for this to be an actual meeting. But since I’m a bit early, I might as well wait a few more minutes. Maybe she got delayed."

But after 15 minutes of waiting, still no sign of Rin. Even after sending her another message, which she hadn’t opened yet. That probably meant she had blocked my number or deleted our short conversation.

"What was I expecting? Rin wanting to meet me? What made me think that was even possible?"

Disappointed and with my pride slightly wounded, I headed for the exit.

But once I stepped outside the classroom, the familiar school hallway was gone—replaced by an enormous, completely white room.

"Whoa, what the hell!? Why is the hallway gone? And why did the door just disappear? What is this room?"

"Hey, Rin? Is he the one the Tower chose?"

"Weird. That wasn’t me who just spoke." Sora thought.

"Who’s talking? From what you just said, that means Rin is here too? Why are you talking about a Tower? And more importantly, what the hell is this white room? Why am I no longer in my school?"

"Instead of yelling like an idiot, why don’t you turn around?"

"Oh, I recognize that voice." Sora muttered to himself.

"Rin, is that you? But why are you sitting on an all-white throne? And who’s the guy next to you? Why is he as white as the room? Is he sick? Does he need medicine? I have some in my bag if you want, dude."

"Yes, Sora, it’s me. And before you start asking a million dumb questions, let me introduce you to Phoster."

"Hey, Phoster. Nice to meet you, though I would have preferred to do so in a more casual setting. Right now, it feels like I’m standing trial, and it’s not a great feeling."

"Hey, Rin, can I mute him for 10 minutes?"

"Bad idea. I don’t think he’d survive it."

"What are you two whispering about? You’re too far away for me to hear."

"Alright, Sora, shut up for two seconds and let me explain everything from the beginning."

"Okay, Rin. Go ahead, I’m listening."

"First thing’s first: forget about your old world."

"My old world? What does that mean?"

"I was getting to that. I said that because the moment you walked through that door, you entered a new world: ARK. Well, maybe ‘planet’ isn’t the right term. It’s more accurate to say The Tower ARK."

"A Tower?"

"Yes, the Tower is divided into *** floors, each one vastly different in size, climate, and culture—as if each floor were its own country."

"Wait a second, I didn’t catch the number of floors you just said."

"The Tower has *** floors."

"What?"

"*** floors."

"Stop, Rin. There’s no point. We can’t reveal that information to him. They have already found us."

"Damn it. That means we won’t be able to tell you much, and we have limited time before you’re sent away."

"Sent away? Where? And who are ‘they’?"

"We can’t answer that because you wouldn’t understand yet. Anyway, the point is, the Tower has chosen you to become its new ***. And to do that, you’ll need to *** the *** of each floor."

"Wait, now I’m understanding even fewer words."

"Rin, just give him the simplest possible explanation so he gets at least a basic idea of why he’s here."

"Alright. The inhabitants of ARK are all born with *** *** from birth, *** ***. But since you weren’t born ***, you *** *** *** ***. That’s why we *** you a *** of ***, we called it ***. Basically, every time you *** **** *** and you ***, you’ll *** certain *** ***. The stronger you ***, the more you *** ***, and that’s *** how you’ll be able to *** the *** *** *** ***. To *** *** its *** ***."

"That’s great and all, but I didn’t understand a thing. What am I supposed to do?"

"Damn it, Rin, we’re out of time. We have to drop him now."

"From this height?"

"Yes, no choice. They’re coming."

"Drop me where? How!?"

And before I even realized it, I was already in free fall, the ground having disappeared beneath my feet.

"WHAT THE HELL!? I’M GONNA DIE IF I FALL FROM THIS HEIGHT!"

"Good luck, Sora. We’ll do everything we can to find you again and explain everything."

"Try not to die like an idiot. That’d be a shame."

"THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME!?"

"Hey Phoster, stall them for thirty seconds."

"Why?"

"I’m going to help Sora not die."

"Do you realize the consequences of that?"

"Yeah, yeah, the leaders and all that crap, I know. But if we don’t do anything, he’ll be in bad shape."

"Of course, but if we help him, we delay the moment we’ll see him again."

"Don’t worry. I’m telling you, he’ll land on the -5th floor. Almost no one is there, so he should be fine."

"And that reassures you?"

"Don’t worry, trust me—he’ll still be alive when we see him again."