The first one I thoughtaboutwas my Grandma.


    I’ve been living together with her since my earliest memory.She was the kindest, greatest and most understanding person Ieverknew. She scold me once a whileif I went against her,but never tooharsh. She knew what I would like as a birthday gift even though I never mention. She justknew it. She knew all aboutme.


    When I was younger, I asked him aboutmy parent’swhereabouts. She said.


    “Your parent diedin an unfortunate car accident”


    The same answer always came from her mouth no matter how many times I asked her.She gavenofurther explanation about that. So, I stopped askingher.I couldfeelthat she’shidingsomething.But, I will not force her to speak without herselfwanted to. I believe that she will talk about them in the future.I will patiently wait.


    Although, yes, I am curious about myparent.Eighteen years of theirabsenthas becameahabit of mine. I’ve grown accustomedto lifewithout a ‘parent’. Grandma is all I have.That is enough.


    Shealways told methat,“Nevergive one hundred percent of your trustto people”


    Shewould addsomething like, getting myself too indulgedaround them will one day for sure, causeme harm.


    I didn’t know what she mean by that.


    But, thereisone thing that I know for sure.


    I am going to be dead while wearing a girl’s uniform.I will be on the headline tomorrow as acrossdresser who fell down from the school’s rooftop. That didn’t sound too cool in my ears.Grandma will beso sad.


    Before I closedmy eyes shut,I saw the sky turning bright.


    Is that heaven coming for me?


    The sky was shining so brightthat I could feel it behind my closed eyelid.But, something caught my mind asthe lightwas soblinding andfelt‘blue-ish’ behind my lids.


    Why am I still not reach theground?


    I opened my eyes and found myself floating mid air, falling butnot with the usualspeed, as if I was sloweddown and my cloth moved in a way like the astronaut move in the space.I was surrounded by zero gravity.I couldn''t hear anything, as if the sound vanished.


    I rolled my eyes to side,reaching the school ground, observing what was occurring around me.Some studentswere facing up with finger pointing toward me, some were clutching their palmin frontof their mouth, while the rest were walkingtoward the gate not noticing me. But, it was all in slow motion.


    My sight wasfiltered blue. Everything I was seeingwere tintedgrey and blue, almost sepia like but blue.


    MaybeI have entered the realm of thedead.


    Before my mind decided on that,I saw a differentlight flashed on therooftop. It felt like as if shadow wasmaterialized on themid-air.It gave me a shiver down to my spine. I started to have an ominous feeling.


    Thatis no heaven.Iwill be going to the hell.


    The shadow waswhirling inacircle, I was sure that it was around where Kisaragi and the others stood.The circlegrewtallerand shot uptothe skycausing an apocalypse like atmospherein just a blink of an eye.Colour vanished, even the blue. The world hasbecomeblack and white, with the blackat thestrongerside.


    Later then,a pitch blackshadow appearedand float above my chest.I couldn’t actually move freely to react as my movement was bind in the slow motion.


    The shadow touched my skin and crawled on it. They slowly but steadily covering me from the heart as thecenterto all around my body.It wascold.It seeped into my skin andspread the cold into my blood rapidly.Then, it engulfed me whole.


    Is that the end?


    Apparently not.


    My consciousness faded from this world.


    The next time I opened myeyes, Iwas inan endless white void space, where no horizon could be seen froma far. This time, I was surrounded bythelight. But, it didn’tblind my eyes. The light felt soft andwarm, as if itwas trying to get me to sleep.


    I was confused,Am I in the Heaven or the Hell?


    I wonder what happened to Kisaragi, Sasaki and the others after witnessing me falling down from the rooftop. They must be traumatized.


    Amomentpassed.


    A black dot appeared from the farbackof the voidspace.It grew larger andcloser as if it was slowly crawling toward mylocation.


    Before I could further observe, theblackdot spread andtwirl like a tornado directly toward me. Itblasted through me in a splitsecond andferociously invaded my mind.


    I was overwhelmed, my head hurt so much that I groaned in agony.


    Stripe of memories flashed through mymind. The sudden flash of memories were too overwhelming that I couldn’t think straight anymore.


    I sawGrandma,Kisaragi,Sasaki andallthefaces that Iremember.


    A lot of events thathappened recently.


    Myself as a middle schooler.


    I saw the younger me playing inthe forest Iused togo.


    Untilmyself as a baby.


    The memories that flashed into my mind were goingin abackwardsequencesin just a few seconds.


    It was so fast that my headfelt like splitting.My body felt boiling hot.


    UntilI saw thatoneweird memory.


    Amiddle aged woman.


    By the bedside, crying andweeping.


    Something is strange.She lookedjust like Grandma,but in her younger state.That’s weird. I never saw grandma’s picture in her younger age. ButIwasone hundred percent sure that she was the same person.I just knew it as a fact.


    Seeing her tears rolling down like that, made me heartache.I wanted to stroke her cheek. But, I couldn’t move anything that was playing in my mind.


    She came closer to me and held my hand.


    “It was all myfault.You are too kind...” she paused andsnuffled.


    “I should’ve listen to what my mother said. I shouldn’t let youknow about that.


    Ireallyhatedmyself”


    Her teardrippeddown to my hand which she held.


    My vision blurred. I couldn’t see her face as clearly as before anymore.But, I can see her forcing to smile in the last moment.


    “See you again...Shiratsuki”


    The flash of memories ended.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ***


    My consciousnesscameback to me again, but this time, I can freely move my limbs.


    I was lying onthe cold hard ground.


    My sense of hearing gradually came back to me.Heaviness haven’t leave my head but it was better.


    It was kind of... noisy.


    Islowly opened my eyes.It was dark at first, but then my eyes adapted to it and caught the dim light emitted from theceiling of a....cave?


    A lot ofnoise jumbled together and reached myhearing. I can hear clearly now, soI turned my body to the side andslowlylift myself up into a sittingpose.The once dark vision turned out to be brighter as I sobered up.


    “What kind of joke is this!!”


    “W-What is happening?”


    “Where is this?”


    “Can anyone explain the situation?”


    A lot of people complaining and grumbling, some were crying.


    I sat on the ground surprised.


    Didn’t I fall down from the rooftop?Is this the realm of the dead?


    No.Somepeople around me were the students of the same school asme. There’s no way that they were dead too.


    Is it the light I sawdestroyed the world?


    It was such a coincidence if the world really destroyed at the moment I fell down to death.But, I have a hunch telling me that wasn’t it.


    I stood up while scanning the surrounding.


    We werestanding in the centerof acave with weird bright dirt ceiling.I’ve never seen anything like that before.


    Everyone was busylooking around to findclues.There were someholes around the cave, which seemedlikethey could lead us to somewhere else.Although, not knowing where it could lead might berisky, staying here clueless won’t help either. Some students started to form their little own group and marched toward the hole’s entrance.There wasanespecially big and tall hole in the cave. I saw a few people walked in there.Some walked into the other hole.


    Aroundhundredsofpeople here. Not all of them werestudents, some people wear casual clothing, some were in their working suit.I could see a fewunfamiliar face in every ten or twenty people.But, almost eighty percent of peopleare the students and ninety percent ofthepeople are around the same age as me.I didn’t see any elder or young children.


    Not manypeoplewent to venture,majority ofthemwere too scared to wander around in this unfamiliarlocation.


    What’s happening right now?


    Ineed someenlightenment. So, I walked toanearbystudent and asked.


    “Do you know how did we end up in this place?”


    That boy was startled by my sudden questionbut then he answered.


    “I have no clue at all.I was on the shoe lockers hall. Then there was a light appeared around me. Then,the next thing I knew is that I am here”He explainedwhile looking puzzled.


    Odd.That’sa bitdifferent from how I got here.


    “Thanks”


    I weaved through the crowdtrying tofind familiarface.But, all I got was a short weird stare from them.


    Ohgod.


    I amstillwearing a girl’s uniform


    That explained why theylooked at me in such a weird way.


    I have to change it as soon as I am out of here


    I was thinking like that as I continue weaving through bunches ofpeople,heading to thebiggest holeof this cave. It wasso big that I have to tilt my head upjustto see theupper side of the hole.


    The hole was totally dark unlike the cavewe stayed. There was no light on it’s ceiling and the air that flowed out from the holewas creepily cold. It brought shiver down to my spine.I didn’t feel likegoing in there.


    “Everyone listen to me!!” A voice of a young man called out on everybody.The murmurs haven’t totally went dead buthe actually did toning them down for a bit.The echo on the cave acted as a natural speaker and helped him spreading hisspeech.


    People turned theirbodyto thedirectionwhere the sound camefrom.


    “Please calm down!!Do not wander around by yourself” Hesaid.


    I know that guy.


    He’sKishidaKenya. He ismy class representative and also a student council’s member.He excels in study andis a verydisciplined guy.


    “For those who know where is thisplace,pleasespeak!”


    Silence.


    Nobody knows huh.


    Wheneveryone was busy thinking aboutKisihida’squestion.


    "H-HEELLPPP!!!"


    A scream resonated from within the pitch black cave hole.Thescream was vibrated with terror.All the eyes shifted to the hole. Everyone stood still, trying to catch what was the voice.


    I remember that a small group of studentswith male leadinghelda cigarette lighterwalked into thehole.


    Don’t tell me that soundwa-


    A body of a girl student was thrown out of the hole.Hit the crowd of people who stood nearby the entrance.In a blink of eyes,dozensof people were thrownback all together with theimpact caused by the flying girl.It was so strong that it actually produced a strong gust of wind as she passed through.


    I rancloser to the girl who lie down subconsciouslyordead.


    She has abig claw mark dug deep into her back. Blood was gushing out making whoeverthat stuckwith her, bathed in her blood.


    People started to hysterically scream and panic.What on earth is that thing that could make a wound like that? Is it a bear? But the size of the claw is too big. Ican’t think of any animalswith claw as big as that.


    “r-run....” the girl said before she huffed her last breathe.


    Run? Fromwhat?


    GROOOOWWWLLLLLLL...


    The hole once again resonatedbut this time. It was a deepferocious sound of an animal.


    The noisy crowd once again became deadsilent, people were surprised by thesoundandstarted to move far away from that hole. Leaving the dying girlon the cold ground floor. All of them squeezed to theback of the cave.


    Sound of feet thumping on the ground could be heard.It was a heavy stomping sound, as if the creature was a giant.Itcame closerwith alowgrowling sound.


    Everyone’s eyes on that hole.Nobody dare to make voices.


    Then, that creature finally came out.


    The height was around 3 to 4meters tall.Itwas a black three headed hound like creature.Its black furwasmessy, unruly and dirty.They were snarlingwith theirlong sharpteeth out.Its forefeet werecomplementedbyoversized claws, three claws on each foot.Thehind legs seemed to be so strong andtough.


    The middle head drippedbloodysaliva while snarling


    at us.


    That creature looked like theCerberusin the myth.


    I quickly scanned the surrounding.There were other holes in the cave. I spotted the smallest hole in the back of thecave anddecided tomoveto that place.


    People were too shock and they seemed to be paralysed infear, couldn’t process what they were seeing.


    I slowly weaved through the crowd in case sudden movementwould agitate that creature, with my eyes constantly glancedattheback.


    The three headedcreaturewiggling their nose and sniffed.Their sniffing sound wereso loud that it echoed in the cave.


    It took few steps forward to where the dead girl lying.


    Then one of its head bowed down and bite that girl up. With its strongjawand sharp teeth, it chomped on her body. Sound of bone cracking could be heard. Her blood spurted all over the place.


    Part of the body hang out fromits mouth. Seeing that,the head next to itsnatchedthe part of the girl which hang outand ripped the girl’s bodyapart.


    Whatever inside the girl came out splashing down to the ground. It was a horrible sight to see.


    "t-this can''t be happening"


    "it was all an act, right?"


    The crowd started to get noisy.


    "N-NNOOO!!"


    A girl screamed out with a high pitch voice reacting to the scene before her eyes. People were snapped out of their mind and startedpanic.


    Upon hearing the scream, that three headed creaturebecame alert. Their ears pricked up while dropping the body part they were chewing.


    Ggrrrrrrrrr..........


    Thecreaturesnarled and sniffed.


    All three heads bowed down followedby thechest, then the body wiggledbefore it jumped.


    “RUUUNNNNNN!!”


    It was chaos, people ranto the opposite direction of where the creature was. Nobody know where should they run, for the moment,runningaway from the monsteris thepriority.


    Those people started to bump each other, pushing away every person who blocked their way. It doesn’t matter whether the person was a male or female, younger or older. They ran only to save themselves.


    That monster landed on the crowd.


    Pounded those people with itsheavyweight. They were instantly crushed under its feet.


    As thecrowd became disarrayed, I started running too.


    Luckily, that monster jumpedonto the other side of the cave where it was quite far from the hole of my destination.


    I shouldn’t be thinking it as a luck, should I?


    That monster bit on whatever thatstood nearby, it pounded on people to constraintthem down on the ground. Then one of its head will biteoffwhatever stuck out from its foot.It was an easy catch.


    Just a bit more...


    Just a few meters infrontof me, was the small cavehole that I intended to go.


    That thing won’t be able to go through this


    I thought that I will be safe. But no.


    That monster jumped high to the midairagain and poundeddownrightafew meters beside me.


    Yes, right next to me.


    I stumbled on my feet from theshort quakethatmonstercausedand Ifell to the ground.


    That monster was looking straightinto me, snarling with all the saliva drippinguncontrollably, with few bodies under its feet.


    This time, I will be dead for real.