Komu desu ga, Nani ka?

Side Story 1: The Day When my Daily Life Ended

That day, it was just an ordinary day. I go to school, eat with my friends, attend the classes, play games once I go back home, eat, bath and then sleep. It should have been such an ordinary day.

On that day, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and went to school. It's all because I played an online game till late night yesterday. Luckily, I was able to join the same party with Bald-san and I played throughout the night.

The Bald-san who I mentioned just now is a famous player in the online game that I play. Just as the name, a person who uses a bald-headed rough old man as an avatar, a free player who threw away romance, controlling such an amazing character with skillful techniques in the front lines. Due to the fact that he doesn't even chat, many players were attracted to him. It's inevitable that I was feeling excited because I can play with the famous Bald-san.

Upon reaching the school, I hold in my yawn and enter my classroom.

「 Morning 」

「 Good morning 」

「 Ossu....What's wrong? You look sleepy 」

I greet my friends who are Sasajima Kyouya and Ooshima Kanata. Both of them played the same online game as me, we were game comrades.

「 Ou, listen and get surprised. Yesterday, I formed a party with Bald-san 」

「 Seriously!? 」

「 Ou, seriously. We almost completed the quest thanks to him. 」

「 Uwaa. Seriously. Is it that? The one that I leave after that. 」

I played with Kanata till around midway. But, he logged out because it was already late in the night.

「 Dammit. I should have stayed up for a little more! 」

Kanata seemed to be really frustrated. But if Kanata didn't leave the party, I wouldn't have been able to play with Bald-san.

「 How was it, looking closely at Bald-san? 」

Asked by Kyouya, I recalled the gallant figure of Bald-san.

「 That is not a human. Avoiding the Besbel Witch's magic while advancing. Can you believe it?」

Besbel Witch is a boss in a high leveled dungeon and this fellow is rather harsh. On the internet, it was called 「Another World Barrage」 due to its outrageous amount of magic attack that it can fire in rapid succession. This boss is troublesome. 

Point was, there's no end in its magic. There's no opportunity to attack and if you leave alone, it will keep on firing magic. Normally, you would raise magic defense, then attack with the resolution to die together, or using shields for the ones at the back and keep on firing magic on it.

But that Bald-san, he charged straight from the front, avoiding every magic fired and jumped towards its bosom and cut it down. That was surprising. I opened my mouth wide looking at the game screen.

「 As expected from Bald-san. Looks like his other name, Idaten, is not just for a show. 」

「 No, there's no way anyone can move that fast without some skills. In the end, it requires skills to perform such movement. 」

Kanata said that while beating his own arm. Certainly, even with the same status and equipment, I don't think I can do the same thing as Bald-san.

「 Ah. I want to get better 」

「 Want to level up after school ends? 」

「 Sure 」

「 I agree as well! Let's train somewhere harder! 」

The chime rang after we settled our talk. We separated and sat on our own seat. Without knowing, that the promise will not be fulfilled.

「 Huh? 」

I started to prepare for the class. After I sat and I noticed that my pencil case was not in the bag. Come to think of it, I recalled that I used it to summarize the information of the game in a notebook. I probably forgot to put it inside the bag.

「 Uh oh 」

「 What's wrong? 」

The person who reacted was Hasebe Yuika, the girl who sit next to me.

「 I forgot to bring my pencil case 」

「 Aryarya. It can't be helped. I will lend mine to you 」

Hasebe hands me a mechanical pencil and an eraser.

「 Sorry 」

「 Ok! You're going to buy me a sweet! 」

「 So it's not free 」

I accept it while smiling wryly and waving my hand. Likewise, not knowing that this was another promise that could not be fulfilled.


And then, that time came.
It was during the Japanese Language class. I was sleepy. I was fighting against the intense sleepiness. In front, standing on the platform was a small-sized teacher called by a nickname, Oka-chan who was reading aloud the kanji from the textbook. Most of the students are dropping their line of vision to the textbook on the desk.

I shake off my drowsiness desperately and I unintentionally raised my head up. In front of my eyes was a figure of a female student sitting at the front-left seat. It was the person called Rihoko. It's not her real name. Real Horror Child. Rihoko for short.

She's an eerie woman who's very thin with a pale face and always have a gloomy expression. I don't want to speak ill of such a person, but an incompatible sense did it by all means even if I understand it. 

Rihoko dozed off boldly as if she is ridiculing me, who fought against drowsiness. While feeling unpleasant, I remove my eyesight from her.

There, 

It...was there.

It was a crack. I am probably the only one who noticed it in this classroom. Exactly in the middle of the classroom, above, a crack appeared where there should be nothing there. There was no other words to describe it except a crack. Moreover, the size gradually increased.The crack looks like it was going to break at any moment.

Even if I saw it, I couldn't do anything as I looked at it dumbfounded. The result probably would not change even if I did something...

The crack broke grandly. At the same time, I felt a terrible pain.

And I, 

rather, 

we all died.