11:34 A.M.

11:34 A.M.

 

Back then, I, Habara Kentaro, was a huge idiot.

I was having a blast hacking industry data and selling it on the black market, heedless of the danger. School was beyond boring—it was actively painful—and I was so filled with scorn for the lower- or mid-tier firms’ security, so cheap even a teenager could break through it, that I never once felt guilty about stealing from them. I wasn’t after these firms’ data, I was after data from a bigger firm they worked under, but the larger company’s security was way better than the little guys’. I didn’t know what they were thinking, but the big shots all had their heads in the clouds and never bothered to look at the ground they were standing on.

“Heh heh heh…all mine.”

That day I’d blown off classic lit and was sitting in a café, using a black-market burner phone’s mobile service to hack into an industry data bank. This was a brand-new company, some sort of venture deal, but the investors were all foreign, and I was getting a sense there was something shady backing them.

And their security was shit.

I reached the main bank entrance easily.

“Heh, it’s your own fault,” I said, and pushed through that gate.

Suddenly my screen started flashing.

 

WARNING: INSTRUMENTALITY OF MANKIND

 

The text appeared on my screen.

Then my device froze and refused to boot back up.

Wh-what the…?!

I panicked.

A moment later, the phone started blasting a really loud alarm. Echoing through the shop.

Sh-shit, a virus! I’m infected!

It was a trap. I hastily pulled the cord connecting the phone to my device, and then removed the battery.

But it still didn’t stop.

It must be running on residual power.

“Tch, what the heck? Did it break?” I said, an awkward performance for the other customers glaring at me. I removed the speakers from the computer and at last the sound stopped.

“Sir, I beg your pardon, but…” the waitress said, frowning.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s over now!” I said, bowing my head. That weird text screen was still flashing on the phone’s screen, so I snapped it shut.

I asked for my check, and left, ditching the phone where it wouldn’t be found.

“Jeez, that was bad…”

My computer was assembled by hand from bits bought at the parts shop, so even if they managed to grab some info about it, they’d never trace it to me.

I relaxed. Rather than learn from this, I was totally ready to keep on going.

But the mess I’d found myself in was far worse than I thought.

I hit the town, hoping to grab a replacement phone from a fence. They usually hung around these parts.

But for some reason I couldn’t find a single one.

Weird…?

Instead, there were a lot of dudes with scary looks in their eyes roaming around. They all looked the same, so at first I thought they were yakuza.

But they weren’t. One of them spoke to me.

“You come down here often?” he said.

“Er, yeah… I’m a student.”

“High school? Can I see your student ID?”

When I blinked at him, he showed me a black badge. He was a cop.

“S-sure, it’s right here. What’s going on?” I asked, handing him my ID. I didn’t need to ask. I knew what. They were looking for me. A lot of them. All of them pulling in OT, all to catch an idiot like me when I rolled up.

“Oh? Pretty good school.”

The plainclothes detective gave me a look. He wasn’t one to miss a thing.

I just gave a vague nod. “Um…what are you asking?”

“Meaning?”

“Is this going to go like, in your report? I’d rather not get mixed up in any police business.” I was doing my damnedest to act like some snobby prep school kid.

The cop laughed. “Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Just you watch yourself.”

What an asshole. But while his tone reeked of scorn and contempt, he didn’t seem like he suspected me.

He poked at me for another five minutes before giving me my ID back and letting me go.

Exhausted, I went into a nearby café, sighing.

What the hell. They grabbed up everyone fencing stolen phones already? What the hell kind of hornet’s nest did I step in?

I’d barely made it out in time. If I’d let that alarm ring longer, if I hadn’t ditched the phone instantly, they’d have caught me. If I’d been dumb enough to use it again…

Desperately trying to get my hands to stop shaking, I took a sip of coffee.

As I did, a high school girl came into the café.

She was gorgeous, but that was not where my mind was. I soon looked away.

But she came right over to me.

“Habara Kentaro?” she said. She talked like a man.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, just sat down opposite me. Like we’d agreed to meet here.

“Uh…”

“They’re here for you, right?” she said.

“Wh-what?” I protested.

She ignored me.

“Time for you to quit that ‘job’,” she said. “You got away with it so far since you weren’t hurting anyone that mattered, but that’s over. I dunno what you hooked, but the world ain’t as forgiving as you seem to think. That alarm spooked you, right?”

She spoke in a normal tone of voice, with a smile.

“At least you took out a network of fences with you.”

There was a strange power to her smile, somehow both intimidating and reassuring. It didn’t seem like a smile someone who looked like her should have, but I couldn’t imagine her with any other kind.

“Um…what do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

“No, wait… What are you after?”

Had she been letting me get away with this?

Had she set it so that alarm would go off if someone started hacking me back?

So that my fuckup would get the guys around here picked up?

“Think what you like,” she said, and turned to the waiter. “Darjeeling Tea.”

She turned back to me.

“I’ll pick up the check. Consider it my way of saying thanks.”

She smiled.

I gaped at her for a moment, but then it all came flooding out and I blurted, “Oh…! That explains it. I thought it was all too easy! I’ve just been dancing on the palm of your hand!”

And she’d saved my ass. I sighed, and she took a sip of her tea, nodding.

“Well. Learn your lesson, and don’t do anything stupid again.”

“I should be pissed. You were just using me!” I said, suddenly angry.

“I’m not sorry,” she said. “Frankly, you deserved it.”

“That’s not what I mean,” I shook my head. “I mean, if you’d talked to me earlier, I could have helped do a lot more.”

She frowned at me.

“What do you mean?”

“I was hacking and stealing or whatever for… for no good reason. I was just bored, really. So… so if I’d known about you, I’d have been only too happy to help. Why didn’t you say anything?”

I glared at her, genuinely furious.

I was already in love with her.

“………”

She just stared back at me, at a loss for words.

“Right, Kirima Nagi-san? Of Shinyo Academy?”

She frowned.

“How do you know that?”

I laughed.

“How is that a surprise? Girl as hot as you, I’m hardly the only guy who figured out your name.”

“………”

She made a face.

And that’s how I got to know Kirima Nagi.

 

But right now, in front of me, that same day was playing out again.

“So you mean you’ve got a crush on me?” the thing with Nagi’s face said, grinning. But the way it smiled was nothing like the girl I loved.

“That’s true, but there was no way I could admit that to her then.”

I sighed.

“Why? Why wouldn’t you tell her?”

That smile grew even broader. It was irritating the hell outta me.

“How the hell could I? She’s a goddamn superhero! She’s not gonna drop that to date me.”

Lately I’d been trying to help her, but she just said she didn’t want friends getting mixed up in it and sent me packing. I did what I could anyway, but I don’t think it was much help. It’s like I wasn’t really there at all.

“How noble of you.”

Man, it sounded just like her.

I clicked my tongue, and glanced round the café interior.

The slick interior was all wood, the tabletop lightly varnished, reflecting about half the usual light. The lamps hanging over each table were neither too bright nor too dim, and very calming.

Even the scent on the air was just like the real place.

But…

“No matter how I look at it, this has to be an illusion,” I said, scowling. “I’m certain my body is still in the Moon Temple. I dunno what’s going on with it…”

“You think so?” The King of Distortion raised Nagi’s eyebrow, amused.

“I dunno what you’re up to, but I’m not about to stay trapped here. I’ll find a way out.”

I fixed the King of Distortion with my best glare.

“You’re very brave, Kentaro.”

“At least when you’re watching,” I said, laughing. “I dunno why you took her form, but I can’t show any weakness when I’m around her. Tough luck, there.”

I looked Nagi’s face right in the eye.

“There’s nothing here that I didn’t see personally. So this is all happening inside my own head. It’s a dream of some kind. That’s weird as hell, but you’re obviously pulling everything from my memories.”

“I see. Makes sense.” Nagi smiling at me like that sure gave me a confidence boost, despite myself. If only the real one would recognize my efforts like this… but that was a dangerous temptation.

Don’t fall for it!

I drove such thoughts out of my mind.

“What are you plotting?”

“………”

The King of Distortion avoided my gaze.

But that smile was still on its lips.

“You called this a dream,” it said, laughing softly. “Perhaps it is. But consider this, Kentaro.”

“…? Consider what?”

“The life you’ve led until now was all a nightmare.”

“What’s your point?”

“What’s the simplest way to escape a nightmare, Kentaro?”

“I don’t follow.”

“It’s very simple. Easiest thing in the world.”

The King of Distortion looked me right in the eye. And then…

 

Dahhdadadan, dan da-dan…

 

I thought I heard that song playing somewhere again and then a tremor shook the café.

The glass in the windows rattled.

An earthquake? I thought, forgetting this was only an illusion. But it didn’t feel like an earthquake.

More tremors came, but the gap between them was too regular. These were paced at the exact same rhythm as a human heartbeat.

My coffee cup fell over, and the liquid inside spread across the tabletop. The lamps were bouncing around and cords were falling off hooks around the café. I could hear the crash of dishes shattering.

“Wh-what the…?”

“Couldn’t be simpler,” someone said.

I turned to look.

And froze.

It was no longer wearing Nagi’s form. It was a young male student I’d never seen before. But with that same lack of light in the eyes.

“Wh-who are you?”

“The King of Distortion. I told you this.”

“Th-that’s not what I mean… who is he?”

I’d never seen this boy before. How was he in my illusion?

“Him? Kirima Nagi knows who he is. His name is Saotome Masami. He’s like you.”

So it was wearing this Saotome’s face now?

“S-Saotome…?”

“Just like you, he had a one-sided crush on Kirima Nagi. Although he did actually ask her out. She said no.”

“………”

I gaped at him.

I’d never even heard the name before. But if he’d showed up here, then that meant…

“So, the best way to free yourself from a nightmare…” The King of Distortion said. “Is to wake up. What else?”

“Hngg…”

I could feel fear rising up inside me, the one thing everyone fears the most. Namely…

 

Maybe I’m going insane.

 

If I was, then everything I’d done would fall apart, becoming nothing but an embarrassing, pathetic mistake.

“Unh…arghhh!” I yelled, stood up, and ran out of the café.

A moment later, that tremor hit me again—so hard I lost my balance and fell down. The roughness of the asphalt scraping against my palms felt undeniably real.

“Ow…”

I tried to stand up. Then a massive shadow loomed over me. So large it covered everything around me.

“N-no way…”

This felt wrong. I’d seen something like this before. But just because I remembered it didn’t prove whether this was an illusion or not. Because I’d seen it in a movie.

A series of tremors. A shadow on the pavement. And then a roar from above…

 

“Rrrroooaaarrr…!”

There it was.

“You’re shitting me…”

I turned around.

And saw a monster.

No other word for it. That’s what it was.

Fifty meters tall. Like an erupting volcano supported by six legs as large as expressway bridge supports, shaking the ground with every step. The impact made the nearby puddles thrash.

And as the monster stomped, it crushed buildings underfoot.

“………”

I gaped at it. In a sense, this thing appearing proved that I was trapped in an illusion. But something had a grip on my emotions that I rarely experienced when dreaming. Namely…

 

No way. This isn’t possible. I must be dreaming.

 

Who thinks like that when they are dreaming?

The monster shook its massive frame, and as if the unchecked energy raging inside it was overflowing, countless bolts of lightning shot out of it, destroying everything around. Nothing could stop such overwhelming destruction.

Devastation. This city belonged to the monster now.

I felt like its red eyes turned and fixed themselves on me.

I yelled and turned to run.

The town was deserted. Had everyone but me already fled? I ran through the empty streets. The mountainous beast behind me followed. With each step it took, windows around me shattered.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh…what the…”

What the hell was going on?!

Struggling to keep on my feet, I ran with all my might, turning a corner to try and get out of the monster’s path.

I saw someone crouching ahead of me.

It was a kid, crying. His head was buried in his knees.

“Y-yo, kid! Watch out!” I yelled.

The kid jumped, and looked up.

I was surprised to see his eyes were human. This wasn’t the King of Distortion.

He realized this, too.

“A…a grown-up?”

The monster was getting closer. He didn’t care about following the roads. He just stomped right through the buildings.

“R-run!” I said, grabbing the kid’s hand.

“Wh-who are…?”

“Habara Kentaro! And I’m not a grown-up, I’m in high school!”

The kid ignored me.

“You can see Zoragi, Mister?”

I’d never heard that title used to address me before.

“Just call me Kentaro, please. Mm?” I looked down at him. “Zoragi? You mean the monster?

I realized I’d seen this kid somewhere before.

Right, he’d been with his mom next to Shiro and me in line. I hadn’t paid him much attention, but I’d definitely seen him there.

“…!”

I remembered where I was now.

“Your name is Makoto, right?”

The kid gaped at me. “How do you know?”

Because I heard your Mom call you that, I thought. I didn’t bother answering.

“Right, that makes sense,” I said, grinning.

Of course. This was all coming from our memories. It was just that some of it came from barely remembered subconscious memories, things we didn’t know we knew. I’d probably brushed past that Saotome dude once before without realizing it. That explained him.

And Zoragi was probably something I’d seen on TV as a little kid.

“Wh-why did you stop?! Let’s run!” Makoto yelped.

“Oh…right.”

I started running again.

But not blindly, not anymore. I had a destination in mind.

What had the King of Destination said?

The best way to free yourself from a nightmare is to wake up.

He was right. I just had to wake myself up.

With Zoragi’s shadow looming over us, I ran as fast as I could, back to where I’d started—back to the Moon Temple.

 

And it was standing exactly where it was in the real world.

“W-we’re back? Is that good?” Makoto asked, anxious.

“Not a problem. Leave this to me!” I took Makoto through the unmanned entrance.

We ran up the giant staircase inside. Partway up, Makoto said, “Kentaro, I’m tired!”

He was breathing heavily and sat down on the stairs.

“Okay, you just wait there!” I left him there, racing toward my goal.

I was about halfway when something hit the Moon Temple, rocking the entire building.

Zoragi had caught up with us and was attacking the building. He knocked me down again.

His roar sounded like it was right outside the wall.

Was he after me?

Why would something that huge be chasing me down?

The pounding knocked me down a few more times as I ran, but at last I was there.

“I thought so!”

Just as I suspected, I found myself lying on the ground. Zoragi was trying to knock the entire building over, but here I was, fast asleep, just moaning a little.

Annoyed with myself, I put that frustration to work. “Wake up, moron!” I yelled and kicked myself as hard as I could.

 

***

 

“Wah!”

I jumped to my feet.

I’d kicked myself in the head and instinctively raised my arms to defend it, but there wasn’t so much as a lump. Although it did feel like it was ringing a bit.

“Um…am I…?”

It took me a moment to find myself. I felt like I was still running away from Zoragi… what was Zoragi again? I felt like I’d been in some deep shit. But I shook off my confusion pretty quickly. Right, I was in the Moon Temple.

It was dark. There were no windows and the power to the lights had been cut. But it wasn’t completely impossible to see. The green lamps of the emergency exit signs cast a faint glow. Even with the power out, the internal batteries would last a few hours.

Right…the circuits on those are too simple for anyone to do anything to them.

In the darkness around me, I could hear people groaning. I felt my way around. Everyone was in some sort of coma. Like I’d been a moment ago.

“What the hell is going on here?”

My eyes were getting used to it. I looked around.

“Unhhh…”

I heard a familiar voice nearby. I reached out and found him.

“Hey.”

“Unhh…I don’t know you…”

“Yo, Shiro, snap out of it! Wake up!”

I slapped Tanaka Shiro on the cheek.

His eyes fluttered open.

“Oh…”

“You remember me? Where we are? Talk to me.”

“H-Habara-san? Right…this is the Moon Temple.”

He shook his head. He was still with me, at least.

“What’s happening?”

“I dunno. Where’d you go?”

“I met ‘her’. And ‘he’ was there…”

This wasn’t illuminating.

“He?”

“The other one she was with,” he muttered. “I mean, honestly, I’m pretty sure he loved her more than I did. I think I tried to apologize…”

I had no idea what he was talking about. Probably something about that dead girl he’d come to the Moon Temple for, but it was all too vague.

“What about you, Habara-san? You were taken somewhere, too?”

“Hunh? W-well…”

I couldn’t give a straight answer myself.

I didn’t remember it all that clearly. I was sure I’d met Nagi and that she knew I was in love with her…but I couldn’t admit that to him.

“Yeah, I met…something called the King of Distortion.”

“Yeah, that thing… what is it?” Shiro said, nodding.

I folded my arms, thinking. “What’s he trying to accomplish here?”

“………”

Shiro was lost in thought, but eventually what I’d said caught up with him.

“He? You mean, you know who the King of Distortion is?”

“There’s only one person it could be. Same dude who made this weird-ass building.”

“Then… Teratsuki Kyoichiro? But he’s dead…”

“That’s the problem. Maybe he only faked his death and is hiding in here somewhere. Or maybe he is dead and he arranged it so this would all happen anyway.”

I scowled.

“Either way, this is a hell of a situation. We’re all dancing on the palms of his hands.”

“………”