I wrote this story in Japanese, and it was translated into English with the help of AI.
“Ugh!! What is this!?”
Suddenly, I was struck by a severe headache. At the same time, everything around me looked distorted.
Is it because of the headache!?
“Taichi, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
My mom called out to me with concern. Even she looked distorted.
“Ugh, uaaaaa—!?”
Even my own body was distorting. What the hell is going on!?
“Ta-Taichi!!”
My mother’s pained voice rang in my ears, and I looked in her direction. She was engulfed in flames, burned up in an instant, and then turned to black ashes and disappeared.
“M-M-Mom…”
It was as if my house had been waiting for me to witness Mom’s burning before it too started to go up in flames. I was the only one not burning. Even the clothes I was wearing weren’t catching fire!?
My father, who had been bedridden with a high fever, and my grandmother, who had been staying in bed with back pain lately—they all burned.
I hadn’t seen it happen, but I somehow knew. No, did I actually see it? There’s no way I’d know without seeing it… I don’t understand anything.
Did everyone burn? Did the house catch fire!?
Why, why, why, why!? Am I the only one who survived??
No… Momoka!
“Momoka!”
I shouted my little sister’s name.
My much younger sister, Momoka, had gone to stay at a friend’s house and wasn’t home today. So she must not have been caught in the fire.
I rushed outside. Without even putting on shoes, I ran out. The house was already charred and falling apart, but its shape still remained.
However, when I got outside, I was stunned.
“No way…!”
Everything outside was scorched earth. No houses were left standing.
It looked like a bomb had been dropped.
“No, no, no, noooo!!”
Cold sweat poured down my face. I didn’t even know where I was looking anymore.
“No, Momoka… Momoka must be safe. Yeah, she has to be.”
I started running barefoot. But then, I was struck on the back of the head by something and lost consciousness.
When I came to, I was in an unfamiliar room with only one door.
There were no windows. The light was on, and I was lying on the floor.
As I sat up, a large monitor, like a TV, descended from the ceiling.
A residential neighborhood was shown on the screen.
“Huh? This looks familiar… Isn’t this my neighborhood?”
The scene on the monitor was clearly the area where I had lived.
Then suddenly, it was hit by some kind of impact. The screen went dark, and when it came back, the residential area had completely changed.
It looked like a burnt field. Like a bomb had been dropped.
“Ugh, I feel sick… I think something happened…”
Then it hit me. That searing pain in my head, the distortion of everything around me.
And right next to me, my mom had been burning…
“Stop—!”
As I remembered, the exact scene I was recalling appeared on the monitor.
Even I was shown on it.
Near me, clutching my head in pain, my mom was burning and disappearing.
“S-Stop it!! Who’s doing this!? This isn’t funny! What the hell is the point of showing me this!?”
I was confused. I couldn’t even comprehend my current situation.
I mean, come on—
I didn’t even know where I was.
But the footage didn’t stop.
My dad and grandma, who had been sleeping, burned up just like my mom.
Next was my house. But my house still had its shape.
In the footage, I stepped outside.
Seeing the devastated scenery with no buildings left, my attention was drawn there.
Then the screen started showing places I didn’t even recognize.
But all of them changed in the same instant, becoming unrecognizable.
“Please, stop! This can’t be real, right!?”
I looked around. Then I ran to the door.
I grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge.
Of course, the door wouldn’t open.
I pounded on it.
“Hey! Let me out! Why the hell are you locking me up? Just let me go back to my house!”
No matter how hard I knocked or kicked, the door didn’t move at all.
“Ugh… again, my head…”
A splitting pain hit my head again.
I clutched it and crouched down.
“Help… it hurts…”
Then everything around me began to distort again.
Just as things started to warp, the room I was in suddenly caught fire.
『Hey, stop it. Just stop.』
A voice came from my mouth.
Yes, my mouth was speaking, but not of my own will.
And it wasn’t even my voice.
『You’ve just awakened, haven’t you? You’ve got no control. But just stop for now.』
Who the hell is this!?
『You’re far more cowardly than I thought. Looks like I pulled the short end of the stick.』
Again, this guy was speaking through me without my permission.
Or… have I really gone insane?
『Humans are such a hassle. I even tried to adjust to your understanding.』
I didn’t ask for that.
Give me back my body.
Because of you, I can’t even speak!
『Such a show of bravado, despite being a coward. But that’s amusing too.』
Are you mocking me!?
『Truly simple-minded. Utterly foolish. But fine, I’ll give your body back.』
“What—! I can talk!!”
『Of course. I made it so.』
“Who the hell are you!? Why are you keeping me trapped in this place!?”
I looked around. Behind the monitor, up at the ceiling—
There had to be a camera or something watching me.
『As expected, so simple-minded. I am not some being you can understand. I have no body like yours. I have no need for such hindrances.』
“Then… how are you even talking to me—wait, I’m not hearing your voice, am I? Are you talking directly into my head? But it doesn’t feel that way…”
『Your mind is so firmly locked into its frame that it can’t perceive anything beyond. Still, understand this: you are now in a situation far removed from what you believed to be common sense.』
“Anyway, just let me out of here!”
『Very well.』
Just as that incomprehensible being said so, I was no longer in the room with just one door.
Instead, I was up in the sky.
To be continued.
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