Not a Single.
5:30 AM, Kanjirosai Japan
The dark streets where practically quiet, the only thing to be heard was a small flap of a birds feathers or the occasional pin drop. The tone of the town at the time was a sort of "misty" atmosphere, without the mist that is. The sun was like a scared child hiding behind their parent, with the parent being the horizon.
This, however, was nothing new to Hifumi. He was aware of the sun's patterns and personality every single morning. This is due to the fact that he hates to wake up, on a school day that is. The comfort of his bed was always something he enjoyed in the morning. At night, however, was different. The bed would be almost as hard as a rock, making going to sleep more of a chore than a relief. Hifumi *always* wakes up before his alarm, which makes him fall back asleep for a couple seconds then get blared by his phones alarm. So, he grew to dread the feeling of waki-
*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
He'd quickly shut the alarm off after being jump-scared. He'd then roll over from his side to his back, staring at the ceiling then closing his eyes once more. It was quiet for a bit, before he heard footsteps coming from the stairs and trudging towards his room. This here, was the second out of 4 parts of his morning.
Suddenly the door swung open. It was his mother. She was about to say something until...
"I'm already up." Hifumi stated with all his might, still tired.
His mom closed the door without saying a word. Then those same footsteps were heard going back downstairs, and the shutting of a door sound shortly after. Hifumi hated the fact that he basically had not one, but two alarm clocks annoying him early in the morning. He'd then lie there for another minute before getting up. He wanted to avoid his mom marching into his room again telling him to wake up.
Speaking of marching, Hifumi did so to the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror.
Messy, dark blue and neck length were all the ways you could describe his hair without trying to bully him. Even though they're average, He had nice black eyes, but that was overshadowed by his somewhat pale skin tone. It wasn't pale to the point where it was concerning, but pale nonetheless. He'd stare at the mirror for a bit before giving a sigh, and prepared to get dressed.
Whilst getting dressed Hifumi's mother opened the door once again.
"Hifumi don't forge-"
"MOM!"
"Sorry."
Now about to leave, Hifumi would get himself ready to walk a bit to the train station. He'd always hate doing it mostly because of the colder temperatures, however now, it was late June so it shouldn't be the worst, he thought.
"Hifumi, your dad said he'd be home late today so if you don't see him that's why."
"Yeah."
"And don't forget to turn your phone off in class I don't want you getting in trouble!"
"Yeah."
"And have a good day!"
"I will..."
-6:30 AM-
Despite taking his time to get dressed he'd still have 30 minutes to reach school and another 15 before it started. He'd walk to the local train station and aboard the train. He sat down due to him not like standing upright, reach into his bag, and plop in his earbuds thinking to himself he was annoyed about the fact that his school started earlier than others in Japan. He then went to his playlist and clicked on the song titled "Love and Daze: Encore Alley~!"
"Love and Daze" was an upcoming idol group, with their new song being "Encore Alley." Hifumi was a huge fan of underdogs proving their worth in just about any form of media, so he loved the idol group ever since he saw them for the first time. Almost 2 years ago.
Hifumi looked behind him and saw the child, finally not hiding behind the parent.
-7:15-
Nothing really happened to him whilst getting off the train and walking into school, into homeroom, and onto his desk. He would just keep the same Love and Daze songs repeated in his playlist with a couple of Anime Openings in the mix here and there. The class this morning was quite chatty, with small groups of boys and girls chatting. However, the group that was by far making the most noise was the one that consisted of the most people. Most people would call this "The popular kids group" however Hifumi called it "Saburo and Friends", with Saburo being probably the most popular of the group, not to diminish the others notability of course. The group had 5 people in it, all recording some weird dances to a foreign language. Hifumi was bored yet despairing the wait for the teacher, so he decided to review the groups members.
Group member 1 - Saburo Asuka, he had short Yellowish Orange hair with Orange eyes - "He'd practically be your average popular guy in an American high school film"
Group member 2 - Setsuko Atsuko, long Golden hair with curls, Teal eyes to top it off - "She'd be your Queen Bee if you gave her a title"
Group member 3- Yu....Yu...-
Hifumi was gonna make descriptions for the other friends but decided it was too much work. However something did catch his eye. It was a black hair girl with bluish silver eyes and highlights near the end of her hair. And in front of those eyes were glasses..... glasses? The confusion of the glasses was from Hifumi thinking that the group wouldn't hang out with anyone even remotely nerdy, even though glasses aren't exactly a nerd thing. But that wasn't where the confusion truly stemmed from. It was because he'd never seen that girl in his homeroom. Not that he paid attention to the people in his homeroom but he'd at least know a familiar face, and hers was not.
"Maybe she's from another homeroom." He thought and decided not to think on it longer. He would put his head down after. But as he did he heard footsteps approaching the classrooms door, and quickly took his earbuds out.
"Alright class you know the drill, in your seats so I can start attendance and wrap some announcements up.." Said the teacher, with short black hair and brown eyes. He'd then continue,
"Oh yeah, also we have a new student." He'd then pointed to the unfamiliar girl with glasses. "... To which I've seen you've already met." His voice got already more depressing than it was a couple seconds earlier.
"Woah a new student?" a boy shouted
"I didn't even know new transfer students could show up before the teacher got here." A girl whispered.
The new transfer student walked away from the popular kids gang then walked up next to the teacher and in front of the chalk board.
"Hey everyone, My name is Mei Kohaku, I'm transferring here from Yokohama and would like to have a great year with you all." Kohaku would then bow graciously.
"Great, now then Keiko please raise your hand... Good now Mei you can sit next to her."
Since the class started to settle down Hifumi started falling back asleep, He'd wish school would hurry up and end so he could get on his computer and play games all day. You see, Hifumi isn't really the type to talk to people unless he absolutely has to and really isn't interested in doing anything in person, an internet type of person if you will. His goal is to be the #1 at the fps title called "Maximum Firepower" or "MFP" for short. He thinks if he attends tournaments online and offline he can gross enough money to live a peaceful life. And if that doesn't work he'll "Become a youtuber".
...
Suddenly the schools Announcement system played Chimes indicating the next period. Hifumi couldn't tell whether he actually slept or was just putting his head down but it didn't matter to him, as long as he got through the day as quick as possible he didn't really care. He'd start speed walking to the door before he slammed into someone dropping his phone from his pocket.
He looked up to see a Black haired boy with blonde highlights, Group member 3.... the thought to himself, "Yuuji Takehiko"
"Sorry." he'd then quickly bent down and tried to pick up his phone, however he was too slow, Yuuji picked up the phone first.
"....?"
"LOL. IS THAT IDOL SHIT...?" He exclaimed, to which everyone's head turned towards all of them.
"PEOPLE ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THIS??? HAAAAAA" He once again shouted, almost like he was going out of his way to be annoying.
Hifumi was frightened, he quickly blurted out anything on his mind "Dude, just give it ba-" but before he could finish his friend group decided to peak over his shoulder.
"P-PWAHAHAHA" A deal of laughs where directly towards him.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!?!?" Setsuko would say as she burst out in laughter
Hifumi would attempt to quickly snatch his phone and run but Yuuji would dodge his hand
"J-J-J-JUST GIVE IT BACK!!"
"J-J-J-J- HAHA" Yuuji would begin to mimic him.
"G-GUYS RELAX ON HIM THIS ISN'T FUNNY." Saburo would intervene in the humiliation.
"....? So then why are you tryna hold in your laughter LOL?" Yuuji stated back. At first Hifumi thought that Saburo was on his side until he saw him turning red trying not to Snort. Even people they weren't even friends with the group joined in.
Hifumi's heart dropped and his eyes started to water, dashing out the door before he would fully start crying. He sped out the school as fast as he could, getting away, the only thing on his mind. He didn't even know where he was running, didn't even know where to go. But eventually he ran out of breath and stopped at an empty street, out of breath. He didn't even know what to think, His mind was blurred and his heart raced while sitting down and crying on the sidewalk.
"WHYYYYYYYY WHY IS IT ALWAYS MEE" He shouted,
"NOBODY LOVES OR WANTS ME, NOBODY LIKES ME, I CAN'T MAKE FRIENDS I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT, I TRY AND NOTHING HAPPENS!" He screamed, then sounded like he was choking on something.
-8:45-
Hifumi would open the door to his house and close it, walking up to his room and laying on the bed. His face itched and burned so he'd lay his face in pillows. The same footsteps he heard not too long ago started stomping up the stairs, and once again his door flew open.
"Hifumi why are you home already!?" His mom shouted.
...
...
He wouldn't respond
"HIFUMI."
...
"HIFUMI HELLO??"
...
"HIFUMI."
"SHUT UP" Hifumi would yell back at his mother, furiously.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME OR WHAT I TRY TO D-DO, I ALWAYS T-TRY TO DO MY BEST BUT BUT NOTHING HAPPENS!!" Hifumi would stutter and repeat words shouting at his mother. To her confusion. She'd then wait a bit then walk closer towards him
"Hifum-"
"GO I JUST WISH YOU WEREN'T MY MOM, YOU ALWAYS TRY TO ANNOY ME, JUST GO."
Hifumi's head was in the pillows, so he couldn't see his mothers face, however he could assume the face she was making. She complied and closed the door, walking back downstairs. The only thing he could see was just the black void, and maybe that's the only thing he wanted to see. He didn't want anyone to talk to him, but he still wanted to play MFP on his computer, so he decided to get up.
-10:00 PM-
"HIFUMI, HIFUMI I KNOW YOU HEAR ME. ANSWER ME NOW DAMNIT"
...
"STOP PLAYING DUMB WITH ME!" His dad called to him, pissed. Realizing he wasn't getting through to Him he slammed the door shut.
...
"Ryo please calm down..." Hifumi's mother stated
"NO, ALL HE DOES IS SIT ON THAT DAMN GAME CALL DAY AND DO NOTHING PRODUCTIVE, AND THEN HE HAS THE RIGHT TO MAKE YOU-"
"Stop." His mother interrupted.
Hifumi turned his volume up.
Days go by, no, rather weeks go by of Hifumi not leaving his house, not even his room for most. His only thoughts where to Get on his computer or watch Anime. Sleeping, eating or going to the bathroom was nigh irrelevant to him. Going back to school was practically a fever dream, or rather a nightmare.
"Left.... Left.... LEFT" he shouted as one of his team mates get's shot in the head. Then giant letters drop from the top of the screen stating "LOSE"
"I TOLD you to watch your LEFT not just run around like an I-IDIOT!!!"
...
One of his team mates, who was already dead at the time turned on their mic, "Dude this guy sounds like an actual loser.
Then another, "I SWEAR I just KNEW it wasn't me who thought that. thank god."
Hifumi sweated a bit before trying to fight back. "I'm not a LOSER you guys just don't know how to play. You guys don't even know the Meta, you always use the Grenade Into the Portal Gun then smoke bomb your Way into-"
"Yeah fatso we get it you don't get off your ass all day LOL" His last team mate typed in the games chat.
"I AM NOT A FATSO."
"Well then you for sure don't have a life outside of this game huh??"
"WHATEVER I'm not arguing with you guys I'm leaving." Hifumi would then through his headset off, hearing laughter as he jump onto his bed. "It's not fucking funny.... they don't know what i went through!"
Hifumi layed down on his bed for a little while, before wondering where his food is. Usually his mother would bring him food at around 7-8 PM, but it was almost 10 and he there wasn't even a smell from the kitchen. But he didn't wanna talk to his parents, or even acknowledge them. So he wasn't getting up. Soon he just decided to sleep the hunger off.
"Why can't I just be in an anime or manga... I wish something interesting actually happened, instead of the same boring repeats. I wish I could have super powers or be a god. Life sucks." Thinking this, Hifumi would once again drift off to sleep.
3:44 AM
Hifumi stared at the ceiling before feeling a sharp pain in his stomach. He finally decides to get up and leaves his room, to which his heart raced, he didn't wanna see his parents faces, he didn't want to talk or even look desperate. He hated them. He hated everyone. If they care for him they would've tried helping him, talking him into going back to school. But since they don't care for him why should he care for them? Hifumi's mind flooded with thoughts like this before stepping down the stairs. He would stare at the very bottom before gaining the courage to walk down.
However no one was there. Not in the living room, Kitchen, Bathroom or the Bedroom.
"What... Where...?"
"Mom! Dad!"
No one answered back. And silence pierced through the air as if sound didn't exist in the first place. When he first entered the main rooms none of the lights where on besides the bedrooms, Hifumi thought they must've left to go to somewhere. However he saw that there was money on the counter next to his parents bed. He stared at it for a bit before walking over and taking it. The amount was ¥15,000, He would then quickly hide the money in his pocket then arrange the room to what is was like before he went in there, to the best of his ability at least.
"Well fine. If they wanna leave me then they'll see what happens" Was his justification for taking the Yen. He'd then put on slippers and prepare to open his door. Before stopping and sitting on the floor. He had remembered what transpired on MFP and even School, which he'd rarely even think about now. He started breathing heavily before taking a deep breath and walking away from the door.
...
Instantly he'd run towards the door and opened it. He'd feel a nice breeze on his body before his eyes started to water.
Wiping them, he was off to the local convenience store in order to buy ¥15,000 worth of food, and maybe a magazine or two. However while pondering what he would buy a thought cut through his head.
What if he see's someone from school...? Hifumi would start panicking, but still walking forward. He thought he should turn around a forget it, he wouldn't get in trouble with his parents and he wouldn't embarrass himself even more....
"I'm too far in now." Hifumi breathed heavily "A-and they probably don't even know who i am if they're from school... or maybe they won't recognize me."
Still thinking, He realized something odd, The street was quiet. Sure, it was 3 AM however there would be little noises here and there, Hifumi was sensitive to noises like that.
Hifumi shrugged, thinking it could just be that it's been awhile since he's been outside so he might not remember if it was truly an oddity or not.
Once he finally got to the convenience store, He'd realize how long it'd been since he been here. His mother usually cooked food and his father would get the groceries. He looked at the store a little before entering. The store had bright tomato colored letter on top spelling "Tomomi Take." There was also a Dark grey car parked in front of the store. Hifumi eventually stopped staring and took 2 deep breath breaths before walking in. He would then look at the counter, noticing that no one was there.
He assumed that the cashier was possibly on a break so he'd hurry and grab his stuff then run up to the counter.
He wait for about 4 minutes before shouting "Excuse me!" to try and get someone's attention. However no one responded, or came to the counter. Hifumi decided not to steal the items, so he went behind the counter and went into the back of the store.
No one was there, except a phone. Hifumi would pick up the phone however as soon as he did the phone would shut off, before it did he saw that it was on 1% battery.
"Well they can't just leave their job right...? What's going on...." He would say starting to worry.
Hifumi rushed out of the store and decided to take a risk, he would try knocking on someone's door. Yeah, it was 3, almost 4 AM however they would definitely answer.
"I mean it's not like they'll ever see me again right..." Hifumi would then knock on the door.
...
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
...
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
He would then wait a minute.
...
"There's no way.... this has to be some coincidence.."
He then decided to shout and run around the town.
"HELLO!!!! IS ANYONE THERE!!"
To once again, no response.
His next move was to call the police, he thought about not doing this since it'd sound insane if someone was calling saying "I'd thought everyone disappeared!" However Hifumi could just hang up quickly then if he really needed take the phone's battery out. So, after contemplating he decided to dial the number. The phone ringed for a bit, before it went straight to voicemail.
"...!!!!!" A cold sweat would slide down his cheek, before he went running to the police station. This time he couldn't come up with a solution or answer on why not even the Police didn't respond. As he was running Hifumi turned to his side to see something he thought he would never see. A car that was crashed into a pole. He'd run up to the car to see if there was anyone in there, however it was empty. Hifumi would stare at the crashed car, to which he saw his reflection in the broken mirror. Then his mind started to race again,
"Empty, crashed car with no one in it, police no responding, no trace of people in the town... no people.... Quiet.... Too quiet.... No food....."
"There's no wa-"
"So I was right...." A monotone voice sliced the air, behind Hifumi, because of this he would turn his entire body backwards, reflexively.
"It's You!!! your... Mei Kohaku!" Hifumi's jaw dropped in shock.
However Mei Kohaku did not look like the one Hifumi saw during homeroom. Instead, Her glasses were off, her clothes were not school clothes, rather she adorned a Tattered Short Silver Cape on her back and waist, a Dark silver Corset, With torn black leggings and boots. However the most prevalent new look was the fact that she was bleeding from the right side of her head to the right side of her arm and body. She held her right arm with her left, which it'd look to be broken.
Hifumi instinctively rushed to save her until suddenly she spoke something, to which no sound came out of her mouth, however she point her finger at Hifumi then.
*SHRNG*
Hifumi Ootake's arm came right off.
...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"
"AAAAAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Hifumi fell to the ground
"Are you the incentive..? or are you just lucky." Mei Kohaku spoke coldly
"AARRHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Hifumi curled up into a ball
"Whatever.... I guess it doesn't even matter anyways, now that the world is doomed." Mei Kohaku Spoke over Hifumi's screams of agony.
"AAAAHHHHHAH WHYWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHRRRRA"
"AAAHHHHHHHHHAAA"
"...."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"
"Already enough, you're annoying." She'd put her hands over Hifumi's shoulder and began to say something.
" ..." Then, the place that was missing an arm began to glow. And Hifumi's screams started to settle down slowly.
"WHHA-HUH??" To his confusion there was no longer pain, even thought he was missing an arm.
"That would only get you to stop feeling pain, not stop bleeding. You're still going to die."
"Huh- what did you do!??!?! How did you-wha?"
"Simple, I'm the 28th Warlock, if I wasn't able to do simple magic like that then I wouldn't be where I am right now."
"Warlock??!" Hifumi shouted, "How wait Magic?!??, wh-who or you.... those-
"Yes they exist, yes they're real."
They both stared at one another for a bit before Kohaku decided to speak again.
"Not that it matters anymore."
"What do you mean... Wait, D-do you know why everyone's missing!?"
"I suppose I do, but then again I guess I don't."
"Wha-" Before Hifumi Could finish his sentence he'd collapse back onto the ground.
"I told you that your still going to die, should've covered up that wound before you went anemic."
Kohaku looked up, Buildings were being sucked into the sky, rumble and cars where being lifted at ease, as if gravity suddenly switched off.
"So this is it huh...? I can't say this is a desirable ending, however, I cannot say it was all bad either."
"what-s w-what's g-going on..." Hifumi used every urged he had to speak only a couple words, he could feel everything slipping away from him, however, it didn't hurt. Not in the slightest, he still was confused and conflicted however it was kind of peaceful.
"The World's ended, right now you're just in the post credit scene, Hifumi Ootake."
"Huh....?" Hifumi suddenly experienced a strange feeling, he closed his eyes just for a mere second, and experienced his entire life, just like that. From when he was a child all the way to right when he's speaking to Kohaku Mei only a couple seconds ago.
....
"Man.... I sucked huh..."
"Those are your last words...? Whatever, I'll answer your question Hifumi Ootake. I am the 28th Warlock, 'Mei Kohaku' is just an Alias, My real name means nothing, nil. I am tasked with defeating Nowts, Supernatural entities that posses things that do not exist anymore. I am the wielder of Silver down to a tea. I am the one who will save this cruel, merciless, harrowing, miserable excuse for a world. Or at least, I was. I failed my mission and that's that."
"Now... does that answer your questions..?"
.....
"Not a single."
Suddenly both Hifumi Ootakes and Kohaku Mei's Eyes shoot wide open turning pitch black. Then their bodies begin to pulsate. And the world begins to turn white. No, rather, the world begins to turn anew.