When Ryuji opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the forest where it all began.


    The key was still in his hands. He quickly dropped it, backing away slowly, eyes wide with fear. Without hesitation, he turned around and ran as fast as he could back to his house where his mother and younger brother were waiting for him.


    He arrived back home and his family opened the door. They greeted him warmly, welcoming him back just like they normally do. Ryuji jumped into his mother’s arms and hugged her tight.


    "I missed you mom," he told his mother, holding back tears of relief. “I am sorry for everything mom, making you worried and causing trouble. I promise to be a good boy now and I won''t get into any more mischief and make you worry about me.”


    His mother stared at him confused and asked, “What’s wrong Ryuji? Did you hit your head somewhere?”


    Ryuji didn''t say anything. He just continued to bury his face in his mother’s embrace, clinging to her tightly, afraid that she would disappear if he let go. His mother just let him be, gently patting his head.


    For Ryuji, time seemed to stand still. In his mother’s warm hug, he felt safe. Maybe all those strange and terrifying things that had happened to him were just a bad dream. He wanted to stay like this forever, to feel the nice warmth of home.


    His 10 year old brother interrupted their bonding moment by poking Ryuji hard in his side with one of his toys, a plastic sword that their father got his brother right before he passed away in a car accident.


    The sharp pain from losing his father hit him once more and a few tears fell down his face. His family looked at him. Their gazes filled with confusion at his unusual behavior.


    “You''re acting weird brother,” his little brother said. “Are you sick or something?”


    He pokes Ryuji again who yelps in pain and scolds, “Hey! That hurts you know!” He glares at his brother, who giggles playfully before hiding behind their mother. His brother sticks his tongue out at him before bolting back into the house.


    “You little brat! Get back here!” Ryuji shouts before chasing after his mischievous little brother, determined to get back at his silly little brother, ignoring the feeling in the back of his mind that something wasn''t right, that none of this was real…


    He carried on as if nothing had changed, living just like before, forgetting about the cave and underwater tunnels. Everything was normal. Or at least, it seemed that way for now.


    Every weekday, he would wake up to the blaring sound of his alarm clock jolting him awake at 6:30 AM. Half asleep, he would fumble for the snooze button, hide his head under his pillow in an attempt to steal a few extra minutes of sleep. Fortunately or unfortunately for him, his mom would yell at him to get his butt out of his bed and ready or he would be late for school. Only then would he reluctantly drag himself out of bed and get ready.


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    He would take a quick shower to wake up, brush his teeth, and change into his school clothes. In the kitchen he would greet his mother and brother good morning. Sometimes his mother would make pancakes for them to eat. They were always so tasty and filled the air with a nice warm feeling. If no pancakes were made, they would have cereal or toast. On the days that he was in a rush, he would quickly make some toast and eat it as he rushed to the bus stop.


    While on the bus he would either finish some last minute homework on his phone, listen to music with his earbuds while looking out the window at the scenery passing by, or play a game on his phone.


    He would arrive at school and either hang out in the cafeteria, talking with his friends about random things going on in life, or go study in the library. He was a very diligent student. When the bell rang, signaling the start of the new school day he would always attend classes, never skipping them as he wanted to go to a good college in the future.


    Between classes, he would meet up with his friends, joking and fool around with them before the next class. Sometimes he would rush to finish some last-minute homework that he may or may not have forgotten about for some reason.


    Lunchtime was the best part of the day. It gave him a chance to relax and reenergize himself for the rest of the classes that came after. He sat with his usual friend group, telling stories about any incidents that happened in class, and laugh at random things his friends would say.


    After school, he would either attend a club he joined, stay after school with a teacher to get extra help or just go home on the bus.


    After arriving at home he would relax in his room, play a game or watch a video or two on his computer to unwind and destress from the school day. If he had a lot of homework he would start tackling it before dinner and finish the rest later. If there wasn''t too much homework, he would push it off until after dinner.


    Even if he was a diligent student who studied and got good grades, he still despised homework like everyone else.


    After dinner he would head back to his room and change out of his daily attire into more comfortable loose clothes then go complete any unfinished school work.


    After finishing his homework he would study for his classes for an hour or two, then put everything away, jump into bed and watch YouTube, or listen to music on his phone until he grew too tired to keep his eyes open . He made sure to plug in his phone, set his alarm for the next morning, before pulling his blanket over himself, succumbing to sleep.


    The weekends followed a similar schedule except for a few things. He would wake up much later since he didn''t have to go to school. Instead of attending classes at school, he had a part time job to go to.


    It wasn''t anything special, just a cashier at a grocery store. It wasn''t anything special, but it wasn''t that bad either. His co-workers were nice and easy going, making the atmosphere of the store more enjoyable.


    The customers for the most part were friendly enough with a few exceptions of a grumpy person or two that came through the line here and there, but this just helped him learn how to be patient and let them be.


    He enjoyed working as it gave him something else to do besides staying home all day and was a change of scenery from always being at school. Plus, he was also saving up money for his college tuition. He had it all planned out. After his shift was over he would either go home or go hang out with friends.


    It was a nice balanced routine between work, school and home. Everything was going along perfectly for a while until he noticed something different.