"Thank you for the order. Please rate the service five stars."
While looking at her, the girl blushed and showed him an empathetic smile. The guy took the box from her and looked at her with a shaky gaze.
"Y-Yeah, of course. I will do it right now. Also, c-can I get your number?" The guy asked.
"You may have the best of intentions Sir, but you need to check yourself before uttering any of these sentences." She said with the same adorable smile and walked away from the door.
-Eh?
The guy thought as he went inside and closed the door with a gloomy face.
"Tch, it's the fifth time they sent me to deliver it to this guy. I wonder if the manager does it intentionally."
She said as she sat on the seat of her delivery scooter and started the engine with the key.
-Bhrooom…brrr…rrrroooommm!!!-
The vehicle made an abrupt sound, and she started driving to the next location.
From the cloudy skies above, snowflakes slowly fell. Snow coated the city lights, creating a shimmering reflection. One can hear the sounds of cars and people as they pass by, a lively city even in the dead of winter.
Having delivered all the orders, she returned to the shop and parked the scooter in the assigned parking spot.
-This day has been exhausting already. I wonder how I will cope with the rest of the day?
She pulled her helmet off and her grayish-white hair waved in the wind as if merged with the chilly breeze.
"Well, I don't have to do the night shift, so I can directly go home." She said and entered the store's kitchen from the back door, without making unnecessary noises.
"I am done with the deliveries, Takashi-san. I will go home now." She said.
Presently, there were two people in the kitchen other than the delivery part-timer. A man nearing his middle age and a young lady in her twenties.The lady was wearing an apron over her clothes and was cutting some vegetables while the man was wiping off the plates and glasses with a white cloth.
"Good work, Kyoka-chan!" The man said as stopped the cleaning and looked at her.
"Is everything alright, Aoi?" The young lady reached out to Kyoka and asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah, nothing big. I am just feeling tired."
"You have been doing overtime for the last few days, so it's expected. Go home and relax for a day or two. Both of us can take care of the shop for a few days, can't we Takashi-san?" She said with a slight smug on her face.
"Yeah, it's not like I will ever force you all to neglect your health."
"I will go then. Thank you, Takashi-san and Hina-nee, for understanding." After saying this, she left the kitchen and went outside.
"She looks much better than before, and I am glad to see that." Takashi said while wiping the glass.
"Yes, I knew she would overcome her past because she is strong, so there is no surprise in seeing her normal now. Whatever the case, let's get to work quicker manager, as the workload has increased." Hina said and went back to cutting and cooking.
Kyoka's home was not too far from her working place, at a walking distance, and since the house lied near the main road, the surrounding was always hubbub.
She reached in front of the gate and twisted the knob.
-Are they out right now?
She thought and took out the spare key from her back pocket and unlocked the door with it.
A narrow hallway with no welcoming figure greeted her as she opened the door. With a tired sigh, she blinked her eyes and as she opened them, the surrounding scene changed.
-Huh?
She thought while looking at her surroundings as she couldn't believe her eyes.
The gazes directed at her were those of wonder and incomprehension, as though they were looking at something strange.
"Eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk!!! Stay away from me!" She shouted as she looked at the endless array of eye like dots staring at her with a creepy conscience.
Nothing but these formless, microscopic creatures covered the world before her eyes.
*
Aoi Kyoka was born in Heisei-era Japan's pressure-free education system.
She had lived seventeen years, and to describe her life would take quite a toll on everyone's mind, so we will keep it short.
Apart from that, we can say she's a nihilistic hater of everything creepy, including many of the students from her classes.
There was a renowned incident that happened in the past, which was also the reason for her current behavior, but still she had been successful in overcoming it nicely.
On typical weekdays, she would occasionally think "I need to be busy with work here and there", and that became an odd habit of hers, meaning she would work overtime for no reason.
She spent her days in exhaustion, plunging ever deeper into the net with minimal communication.
"W-Where is did my house go to?" She said while trying to remove the amoebic creatures whooping on her body.
The fact that they were everywhere made it nothing out of the ordinary that they stuck to her body as well.
-It's disgusting and I can't do it, but I don't want to leave it like that.
As Kyoka thought, she removed the shirt she was wearing and threw it aside.
Even though she had on a shirt inside, there was no cause for concern, yet they still commended her body features.
Kyoka had blue eyes and shoulder-length, silvery-white hair that was usually tied by ribbons in a variety of colors in a small ponytail to the right side of her head, with the rest of the hair loose.
Her current clothing included an off-white T-shirt, a navy blue pair of jeans, and black shoes, except for the stripped T-shirt she threw out.
It was tough for her to stay strong, because she had never imagined something like that in her wildest dreams, and her past trauma resurfaced, which she had thought she had already moved on from.
"I-I-Is anyone here? Can you hear me?!" She asked to the black skies with a low pitched nervous voice.
[PARTICIPANT LOCATED]: [OCCUPYING THE 250-METER RADIUS]
[DISTANCE LEFT: 225 METER] - [IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION]
Kyoka couldn't hide her astonishment as she heard those words and sighed in relief. For her to catch up with the other person, she started running in the direction the voice pointed to.
Although it was a useless try, she waved her hair and legs aggressively in turns to get the jellies off her body and hair.
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 200 M]
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 150 M]
[ACCESS DENIED]: [REPOST TO THE START POINT]
While running, Kyoka vanished, returning to the point from which she started.
She stood still, wondering: Why am I still here?
"I need to meet the other person." She said with a vibrating voice.
[SECOND PARTICIPANT]: [SAFELY CONSIGNED]
[STARTING THE QUEST]: [LIFE CREATION]
Kyoka sat down in the same place, while gripping her body with her hands, unable to understand anything that was going on.
[PARTICIPANT - 2]: [MOVEMENT RESTRICTED]
[COMPLETE THE QUEST]
While she was sitting in fear, the creatures surrounding her moved over her, mistaking her as the surface.
-No, no, no ,no, no, d-d-d-don't come close to me!!
[QUEST REQUIREMENTS]: [POUR YOUR BLOOD ON THE SURFFACE UNTIL THE REQUIREMENTS ARE MET]
"Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk…stay away from me!!!!" She shouted while gnashing her teeth and gripping her body more tightly.
Her body started to vibrate and her eyes turned dark, like fish that had died, as memories of her past flooded into her consciousness.
She couldn't open her eyes because fragment of the incident trapped her mind.
[TIME LEFT: 5 MIN.]
.
.
[TIME LEFT: 4 MIN. 30 SECONDS]
[QUEST ACCEPTED]
[PARTICIPANT - 2]: [MOVEMENT RESTRICTION REMOVED]
As the voice spoke those words, Kyoka suddenly opened her eyes and looked around to check her movements.
[PARTICIPANT LOCATED]: [250 METER TO THE RIGHT]
"This person can save me."
"This person will save me."
"I need to meet this person."
As Kyoka ran toward the other participant for help, her face displayed a creepy smile and her eyes were clouded over with no light.
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 200 M]
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 150 M]
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 100 M]
A humanoid avatar was visible in the distance, so she sped up a little.
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 50 M]
[PARTICIPANT NEARBY]: [DISTANCE - 10 M]
"You will...save me?" Kyoka's smile twisted into a frown as she looked at the boy lying on the ground with the rippling blood surrounding him.
In this big world, she did not have the slightest chance of losing him. As she walked closer and looked at him, she recognized she cannot lose him because he was the only one there with her.
[REQUIRED AMOUNT: DEFICIENT]
[TIME LEFT: 5 SECONDS]
With her sharp eyes drooping helplessly, she thought,
-I wonder if this will be enough to save us both because I don't have the strength to go on alone.
-I need you.
[TIME LEFT: 3 SECONDS]
She pulled out the knife from her back pocket and slashed her hands repeatedly with it while screaming. She kept doing this until she completely severed her hand and fell right beside the boy.
-Either we will survive together or die together.
With the last vestiges of her consciousness, she spoke while mingling her fingers with the boy's fingers.