He hoped that everything that had just happened was merely the same nightmare he always had. He hoped that when he opened his eyes again, he would return to that peaceful dream world.
"Dream world..." But something popped into his thoughts, a thought that began to expand into a question he couldn't understand.
The dream world… wasn't that the real world?'Why are we getting them mixed up? No… why is my head so empty right now?''Who… am I?'
Fwip!
His thoughts were frozen, like a car slamming on its brakes, as he saw a pale white hand shoot out from the darkness, pulling him back into the world of reality.
"Gah!" The young man's eyes shot open in panic. The first thing he saw was a plain, white ceiling.
'Where… is this place?' The young man pushed his upper body up to look around. He found himself in someone's bedroom. He assumed it was a bedroom because the room had many decorations that made it seem that way.
Above the headboard of the bed he was on, there was a poster of a female actress playing an instrument similar to a violin. At the foot of the bed was a makeup table with numerous tools on it, including a mirror that was reflecting his own face.
'Wait a minute. That can't be…' The young man stared at the mirror on the table, only to see the reflection of someone he didn't know sitting on the bed and staring back at him. Wondering why that person was looking at him, the young man tried raising a hand to wave a greeting. He was stunned when he saw the image in the mirror move along with him. Even the shocked expression was identical.
'Th-this is getting way too crazy.'
Curious, the young man quickly got out of bed and walked towards the object to touch it. He found that what he was touching was indeed a real mirror. It wasn't a window or a partition with someone behind it. And what made it even more unnerving was that the figure in the mirror copied his every move and wore the same expression. As hard as it was to believe, he now knew that the person he had been looking at all along… was himself!
'Am I dreaming? If this is a dream… at least the face in there should be someone else's, not mine, right? Haha… right, that has to be it! This has to be just a dream!!' The young man began to grab at his face, starting to pinch it hard. But when he felt the pain, the fear began to overwhelm him once again.
"It's… not a dream." The young man recalled what had happened before. He trembled with fear as he remembered the face of the hooded girl cutting down others with her sword.
Creak.
But as he was panicking at his own thoughts, a sound like wood scraping against the floor drew his attention. When the young man turned, he saw that a door in the back of the room was being opened. Soon, the head of a mysterious girl peeked out, looking at him from behind the door.
She was a golden-haired girl with a ribbon adorning her head. Her sparkling green eyes seemed to defy the rules of the world entirely. And once again, though her appearance was lovely, what truly caught his attention was something soft and fluffy twitching back and forth on her head.
'After a dog… now a cat?' His face froze for a moment, but it quickly returned to one of panic, because he had just remembered that he had never seen her before.
But before the young man could panic any further, the girl, who seemed to notice his anxiety, began to wave her hands to calm him down.
"D-don't be scared! Don't be scared! I'm your friend! Th-the boss asked me to come get you because he knew you were awake. So please don't run away, and please follow me. Please!" the girl said, clasping her hands together as if begging. He was the one who should have been wary, but now the girl seemed more distressed than he was. This helped the young man's emotions to stabilize, as he sensed she truly meant no harm.
"O-okay."
"Thank you!" The girl revealed a relieved smile before quickly turning and walking out the door. But a few seconds later, she stuck her head back into the room, beckoned with her hand, and spoke to him.
"Um… you can follow me now."
Seeing this, the young man nodded slowly. He thought this girl might be a little obsessive, so he decided to follow her without waiting for her to ask again.
When he walked out of the room, the young man noticed the girl was waiting for him at the top of a staircase that led to the lower floor. As he was walking towards her, he took the opportunity to survey his surroundings. He realized that the place he was in looked like a dormitory from his old world, with several rooms lined up in a row. Each room had its own nameplate attached to the wall near the door, written in English. The room he had just come out of was named…
'A-M-A. It's read as Ema… right?'
"Um… excuse me, miss…?" the young man said, looking at the girl waiting for him. The girl quickly replied.
"R-Rumi! That's my professional name!"
'Professional name? What's that about…'
"Ms. Rumi… may I ask you something? Who are you people? I mean… all of you who are here," the young man chose to ignore the previous matter and ask what he really wanted to know.
Hearing this, the girl made a troubled face before answering, rubbing her hands together.
"Um… we're just ordinary company employees."
'Ordinary company employees?... Ordinary company employees don't go around slashing people! Or summon spears out of their hands to stab people!''
The young man, thinking the girl was trying to dodge the question, saw her pretend to be oblivious and immediately turn and run down the stairs.
"Boss! Your relative is here!!"
"How many times do I have to tell you that kid is not my relative, dammit!!"
Hearing the familiar shout from downstairs, the young man gathered his courage and slowly descended the stairs one step at a time. When he nearly reached the bottom, he was met with the sight of a large, luxurious room filled with vibrant colors and the smell of wine. The floor below was covered with an orange-brown carpet. The golden walls on all sides were so polished they seemed to glow. The furniture scattered throughout, far outnumbering the people inside, made it look excessively opulent, like the wasteful room of a millionaire.
The young man noticed that in the center of the room, a group of five people(?) were sitting together on a sofa, with a brown table decorated with dragon-like patterns between them. The one sitting at the head of the table was the little kapom-creature he had seen before. When that person saw him, he was waving his short arm at him.
"Hey, kid! What are you spacing out for! Come sit here, dammit!!"
Snapping back to his senses from the shout, the young man hesitated, wondering if he should join them. But it seemed he took too long to think. The red-haired girl, apparently unable to wait, sprang up from the sofa and walked straight over to drag him into the group.
"Aww, don't be scared. Big sister here will take care of you!"
"W-wait a minute," the young man tried to resist, but due to his unfamiliarity with the situation, coupled with the girl's overly friendly demeanor, he didn't dare to oppose her. He let her lead him by the hand to a seat on the sofa next to her.
After sitting down, the young man couldn't help but feel a little excited, as he was now surrounded by two beautiful women sitting on either side of him. He wouldn't have been flustered if they were just ordinary women, but one of them had given him a very lasting impression just a short while ago.
When the black-haired girl saw him sit down next to her, she stood up, grabbed a glass, and placed it in front of him before picking up a wine bottle to pour. But her actions were interrupted by the little kapom's words.
"You idiot! Why are you pouring wine for a kid?! He's not even 20 yet, hey!"
The black-haired girl blinked a few times, then put the bottle down and placed the wine glass in front of the red-haired girl instead.
"…Sorry. I'll go get some orange juice."
With that said, she turned and walked towards a refrigerator located behind the bar counter.
"Boss, you're so old-fashioned! When I was in Letoreno, my teachers forced me to drink alcohol when I was 16," the red-haired girl said as she picked up the glass and downed it in one go, before letting out a happy "Hah!"
"Hmph! I can't believe those Celestials let their kids drink booze at that age! Even the Helers, who are famous for being demons, have a law forbidding minors from drinking before 18, you know!!"
"That's why they have a saying: the more you forbid something, the more you encourage it, Boss. Some things you just have to let go and let nature take its course."
"Speaking of which, I'll have another sip!"
"You idiot!! I bought that wine for me to drink, not for you!"
After listening to their conversation for a while, the young man saw the black-haired girl walking back to the table. This time, in her hand, she held a carton that looked like an orange milk box with a label of a woman flashing a peace sign, which she poured into a glass for him.
"Th-thank you," the young man bowed his head to thank her. The girl didn't reply, merely nodding slowly as if in acknowledgment, before sitting back down on the sofa and opening a book she had placed there.
At first, the young man didn't plan on paying her any mind, as what she did yesterday was still burned into his memory. But when he saw the title of the book she was reading, he couldn't help but turn to look at her directly.
A Guide to Telling Jokes for Stoic People.
'What the hell kind of book is that…'