𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐚 𝐯4: 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞!

Prologue: Welcome back despair, dear old friend

Total darkness, empty mind, no sound.

The silence was the only thing that was ringing my ears, while my eyes were immersed in an endless black. Everything was calm, so calm that for a moment I almost felt sorry to leave that place. It was like the end was come, a truce, the solution to all life's problems, created without stopping. A sentence to suffering. But I liked that, I always liked life. Mine was special after all. I was an Ultimate.

A nasty noise brought me back to reality, but this one was something new to me. I was completely alone, in unknown place.
It took me a few moments before I realized the room I was in was a classroom, and I was fell asleep sat on the cold floor made of stone. I suddenly stood up, dazed and confused. I looked around, searching for a landmark, something that could remind me why I was there, how long, and what had happened to me. But I didn't remember absolutely nothing. It felt like my brain had been emptied: a complete clean state.
I couldn't identify the source of that annoying noise, it had lasted, just enough to allow me to wake up abruptly.
I decided to try to move, and I difficultly took some steps towards the windows; the first thing I noticed were the bars that kept them securely shut. I froze for a few moments, even more confused. I reached out an hand towards those bars fixed to the wall. The contact with that cold metal felt as icy as the one I had with the checkered floor on which I had been sitting until a few moments before. My skin felt the sudden contact, and a shiver ran down my spine. I tried looking outside, but I couldn't see much except a deep blue panorama. More perplexed than before, I walked away from there.
I looked around, trying to concentrate.
The classroom was similar to many others I had seen in the past, if it hadn't been for one detail that made my blood run cold. I felt like I was being watched, something wasn't right... and I soon understood why. A camera was pointed steadily at me, and not very far from it there was a monitor equipped with a speaker hanging on the wall, probably the strangest one I had ever seen. I tried to gesture to the instrument with that dark lens, waving my hands.

"Hey! Is there anybody out, there? Can someone tell me where I am?"

No response came. I felt more tense than ever. I certainly couldn't stay in there much longer, I felt the need to leave. The door was there, standing in front of me.
My hand reached the knob, and once again felt the cold contact of metal. My heart was pounding, yet I wasn't in such a strange place. It was... a school, right? I took courage, and finally opened that door.
What I found before my eyes was nothing absurd, it was just a corridor. Dimly lit, with several doors. I couldn't even see the end very well from that point.
I turned towards the door I had just left: next to it, a sign saying "1-A" indicated which class that classroom belonged to. Next to that there was another one, 1-B.
Startled, I looked back at the corridor.

I was afraid to continue, I was invaded by that typical man's fear of what he doesn't know. The more I explored that place, instead of receiving answers, more and more questions arose. The most frustrating thing, however, was that I couldn't explain how I got there. I swallowed, and touched my forehead, realizing how much I was sweating. It was all so absurd, I had never felt such anxiety even at one of my tournaments.
Anguish had always been a dear and old friend to me, like one of those people who have always known each other and who know each other too well... but never had it been so strong, so damn intrusive. My feet were glued to the floor, I couldn't move. I felt suffocated. The feeling that something was wrong had grown enormously, I was so uncomfortable that I was on the verge of vomiting. And I was just walking out of a classroom.
I felt the urgent need to go to the bathroom, or I knew I would leave a mess on the floor. I quickly looked around and, seeing what seemed to me to be the service door - a nauseating electric blue - I rushed in that direction, managing to move and lock myself inside that room. I lunged for the sink, taking deep breaths. The feeling of nausea was always present, however... that damned anxiety didn't seem to subside. I put my hand towards the tap, opening it, and a jet of crystalline water began to flow over the surface. I wet my palms, my fingertips, and splashed my face. Only once I lowered my hands did I notice my reflection in the mirror.