|𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠| ; 「𝐵𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦 𝐷𝑜𝑔」

Chapter 1: 追体験 - Reliving

「5年後」
- 研究室 -
||午前7時45分||

「5 years later」
-Laboratory-
||7:45 AM||

It has been 5 years since you were taken in and cared for. Long story short, this place was an experiment lab, a place where- well- experiments happened, with a bunch of scientists wearing white coats and professional goggles or something, I don't know how to describe scientists. Except for the fact that they do smart people things.

You were relaxing inside your room. To be specific, the same room that you were dropped in when you were a baby. You spent almost your entire life in this very room, yet you never went insane, somehow. I mean- this room was the definition of a mental institution room, white walls, white flooring, white everything, it was so bright that your eyes could break any second, but you have gotten used to it.

Suddenly, the door of the room slowly opened, making you turn your head in that direction. You noticed that it was the same man who brought you into this room for the first time when you were an infant. You learned that his name was Atsuo, which meant kindness if you weren't mistaken. In fact, your first word was his name.

"Little y/n, time for breakfast!" His voice was the definition of affection and care. He treated you as if you were his child, you soon realized that not many children get the same treatment. Yes, you heard me, there are children here, some even as young as 4 or an infant. You learned that this institution takes in children who have special abilities. Most of the kids here come from families who live in poverty, the institution makes a deal with the parents to give them the child while they give the parents a big load of money, as much as 1.000.000 Yen or maybe even more, it depends on how stubborn the parents are and the child's ability.

You, in particular, were an expensive one for some odd reason. Atsuo said that the institution paid almost about 10.500.000 yen for you. Which so far, was the most the institution had bought anyone for, you were oddly curious why they paid so much for you. The payment also depends on the child's unique ability, and you wondered what your ability was since they paid that much. You also haven't been in 'training' or so they call it. You prefer to call it 'experiments' since it was obvious, this place was a lab. You were slightly naive, but not stupid.

"Y/n?" Atsuo called out to you, your mind snapped back to reality as you looked at him, holding a tray of food that was for you. "Ah- yes, sorry.." you muttered with an apologetic tone as Atsuo placed the tray of food in front of you. "Is it about your upcoming training?" He asked with softness in his voice, he sure did know how to comfort a child.

You nodded slowly at his question, you heard from others that it wasn't even harmless training, it was pure hell. They weren't training you, they were testing you, and using your abilities for selfish desires. Well- that was what you heard from the victims. But Atuso wouldn't tell you, nor give you any hints about what was about to come, it made you even more worried.

Atsuo sighed looking at the expression on your face. "Look, y/n, you don't need to worry about anything, those people just want to scare you." Atsuo tried to reassure you, patting your head gently with a smile on his face. That smile on his face always brought warmth to those who saw it, and you felt better just seeing him smiling at you. "Right.." you tried to calm yourself down as you took a deep breath and looked at the tray of food that was given by Atsuo. Atsuo slowly sat beside you, as he watched you grab the tray of food.

As usual, it wasn't anything fancy, it was mashed potatoes with baked beans, with a side of sliced chicken meat and water. It was an okay breakfast, you were even grateful to eat.