The alarm clock goes off announcing the early morning. John puts the pillow in his ears, after all, the last thing anyone wants in a hospital is to have a time to wake up. He tries to ignore it, but the insistence of the alarm is dominant, making him open his eyes. Looking at the ceiling, he quickly thinks about his situation.
"Since when does the hospital room have an alarm clock? ".
He tries to get out of bed, but ends up falling. Despite trying to get up, he feels so unbalanced that he chooses to stay on the ground. John believes that he is probably dizzy, as his balance seemed totally crazy, to the point where he thought his height and weight were different. As John searches the floor for a place to lean on to stand up, he realizes that the room around him was totally different from the one he had been in the last few days.
The room was much smaller, with some antique furniture and a half-open window that brought a streak of light to his eyes. The weather had changed a lot, as the cold was bitter in France at the time. John believes it had probably been changed from fourth, leaning on the bed he goes to the door to ask a nurse why he was moved.
Gradually he regains his breath and balance, getting up and walking to the door. When he puts his hand on the doorkno, he finally realizes that something is wrong, looking at his arm, he notices that there was no wire attached to his veins. Turning his head, John realized that not only he was without any life support equipment attached to his body, but that he was standing, something he hadn't done in months.
With a few tears in his eyes, John remembers past events, knowing that there was only one way to confirm his memories, opening that door. Afraid, he turns the knob, seeing a living room outside. Although the location is really mediocre, the truth hits harder than a truck.
"Looks like riding that roller coaster was worth it" says John very relieved,
He kneels looking up. From that day forward it would be different, a sea of possibilities opened up, no matter what, for that boy the common but significant act of being able to breathe calmly was enough. Despite all the happiness, deep down John kept sad thoughts, after all, leaving his world meant no longer being able to see his family, friends or even favorite books.
As John has these thoughts, a light sensation starts to creep up his arms. Those threads, those damn threads, were creeping up slowly, as if he wanted to own him again. The hot stab over his blood was a nasty old fellow. The jabbing is constant, painful and also somewhat nostalgic.
John shakes his head, expelling those sensations and feelings, this was no time to have thought of that kind, he had a duty to start his new life on the right foot. If he complained, he would just be throwing away this privilege that had been given him.
Upon recovering, John begins to walk around the place. He realizes that this was probably an apartment on a relatively low floor, due to the proximity of the floor when looking out the window. The apartment was simple, with a living room and kitchen and two bedrooms, but for someone who had spent his life in a room he couldn't even walk in, that was practically a mansion.
As one of the bedrooms was locked, he started wandering around the living room and kitchen. Looking more closely at the furniture and objects in the house, he notices something intriguing. Those objects had designs that were at least eccentric, looking more closely, he couldn't see much of a technological difference in some machines in the rooms.Of course, the apparent lack of energy didn't help much to inspect the machines, but John had already picked up some clues that indicated what would be found outside by the designs.
When looking at the objects, a sudden fright, a strange figure in the reflection of the television scares him. When he calms down he realizes how stupid he was, that figure was his reflection, or more appropriately, his new reflection.
John goes to the mirror, now his imbalance makes sense, in fact his body has grown. He was taller, his blond hair was now black, his weak physique was now much stronger. A wide smile is put on his face as he observes how his hospital look has changed for the better. Overall, he concludes that his western look has been replaced by a much more Asian one, something interesting to look at.
Jumping in ecstasy and excitement, he finishes his analysis of the place. With his research, he already knew that outside he would find a world technologically similar to his, but somehow with a different culture, considering his appearance, perhaps Asian.
John casts his suspicious glances at the door, the door responds with a teasing little creak. With nothing more to do, the door opens, the world opens wide, being John's first glimpse of his new life, a man dressed as a dragon , dancing to a song while turning a board. John sighs as he faces what can be described as the personification of disappointment.
"Dragon Chicken Stick, helps hunger and health, today for only half the price" says the man as he rotates a sign pointing to a store in front.
It was a disappointing sight indeed, but in the end John was a little hungry. He descends a staircase that leads to the street, the building of his supposed house was small, with only two floors. John walks up to the man, but something on the way fascinates him.
Next to John, a woman passes while talking on the phone, which is common, but her clothes leave him speechless. She wore an outfit resembling a kimono or hanfu, which confirmed his assumption that he was somewhere similar to Asia.
Just a few minutes after thinking, he realized his surroundings.John was in a residential area, with some stalls and shops scattered between the houses. The houses were very different, some resembled simple houses, others resembled traditional Chinese houses, while others pull to a completely different design side that looks like nothing John has seen.
What John needed at the moment was information, all he had was unrealistic assumptions, but there was one place he knew he would find whatever information he wanted.John goes to the costumed man in front of him to ask a question.
"Please would you know where the nearest library is?" while John says this the man dressed as a dinosaur continues to try to call customers.
The man dressed as a dinosaur quickly offers the offer, then showing directions to the municipal library. John, full of excitement, gives the man in costume a hug of thanks as he runs off in search of his information.
"I'll go back later for one of the Chicken Sticks!" says John as he leaves.
"It's not Chicken Sticks, it's Dragon Chicken Sticks!" answers the man with a angry voice.
After some time running following the directions given to him, John can see a giant building that matched the description of the library. Breathless and excited, he finally arrives at his destination, engrossed in the possibilities of that almost mystical encounter he continues running, however being thoughtfully John forgets about his surroundings, bumping into a man who spills his entire drink over his own body.
Fallen to the ground, John realizes the situation he has put himself, the man, despite being old was extremely strong. The man screamed curse after curse so fast that it was impossible to understand a word.
It wasn't just the drink that made him furious, but also his clothes that were now completely stained with tea. Unable to calm the old man down, John just continually apologizes and bow down
"That's your fault boy, I'm going to be late for teaching on my dojo, and everything I don't need right now is to lose students" says the old man who then continues to send another barrage of curses.
"I can fix this sir!" says a girl who comes running up behind the old man.
She arrives with a leap, slapping the man's bald head, who gives a loud, somewhat embarrassing painful scream.After the slap, an almost luminous wind arrives over the old man, who in a fraction of a second, gets completely clean and even with the smell of a perfume.
"Don't worry, I cleaned you with my handkerchief" says the girl as she goes to John and takes his arm
The man is totally perplexed, looking at his clothes, not finding a single drop of tea. John looks at that girl, already getting the situation, he was not dumb he knew that girl was Eiko, the goddess he had met in some moments.The olny strange thing was that now she was with a rejuvenated appearance, but his questions were more about the reason for her coming.
"Forgive my brother, you know how boys are, always with their heads in the clouds " she says that as she walks away with John."Here you can have my handkerchief" says Eiko, throwing the handkerchief to the man, that stares the handkerchief scared.
The two run to the interior of the library. The place is simply gorgeous, the huge shelves full of books cover all the places, a few other shelves seem to contain scrolls, which makes John more excited than ever. Eiko looks into the lighted eyes from John, this was not the time to read.
"I know you must really want to start reading these books, but we have business to attend to, follow me" Eiko says this walking forward.
The two walk for a while, after about 10 minutes walking through the library corridors, John starts to wonder if she was lost. After 20 minutes of walking, he simply accepts that she's probably lost, choosing to keep following her until she finds herself. Upon reaching the mark of 37 minute of walking, he comes to the conclusion that she doesn't even know where she wants to go.Eiko notices he´s face of disappointed, which makes her even more consfused with the directions..
"I just can't find a place to talk alone with you for a while, you don't need to look at me like that for something so silly" shouts Eiko indignantly with John's gaze.
"How about one of those rooms of the study area of the library," says John as he points to a study site.
Eiko looks at the place he points.She gets angry to have to admit that she was lost, but end up follows him to the rooms. Entering, Eiko sits on the table to catch her breath, she looks at John who makes a face that shows he lack of any good thoughts at the moment.
"What's up, aren't you happy to see me again?" says Eiko trying to emulate some kind of mysterious air she had when she first met John.
"I wouldn't say I'm not happy, I would say I'm just sad" says John directly."Of course I'm very grateful for everything you've done to me but if you came to make me ride a roller coaster again..." John makes a scary pause after the phrase.
"Nah don't worry, I'm not going to make you go on any rollercoasters for now." says Eiko as she gets up. "I came here because it is mandatory to have a companion in a world of difficulty rank above S".
"What do you mean with for now, I won't enter in a roller coaster even if...." John thinks straight about what she said. "Wait, S rank difficulty world, but this is impossible, this place is different from where I came from but I didn't see any dragons or spaceships on the way here."
"Looking at the surface this place is pretty equal to the world you came from, but looking on a more mystical side" Eiko says this as she projects a magic screen in front of John to explain. "The reality of this world has a peculiarity, a fold that amplifies human social relations and destiny itself in order to have more extreme results"she syas this showing some type of magic power point.
"What exactly does this mean in practical terms ?" asks John wanting something more concrete.
"It means that every situation is handled in a way that looks more fictional" Eiko says this pointing to the screen. "Look for example this boy, he likes a girl he met on the school early in this day".
John looks at the screen that shows a boy in a school, he realizes that the boy's appearance was purposefully equal to him.
"Normally he would ask her out, but here he'll stay 3 years being her friend, having several adventures, to end up asking her to date." says Eiko as she shows the boy almost daying in the "adventures"."She'll be reluctant and run out in the rain, so that only later..." says Eiko which is suddenly interrupted.
"I get it now you don't need to extend the story" John says this clearly not wanting to see the boy suffering from passion anymore. "I still don't understand why all this supposed difficulty' says John thati s suspicious about the information.
"You are underestimating this world, it is not just because you are not a knight against a dragon in this world that it will be all easy, in this world you are a...." Eiko stops for a moment thinking."You are a Social Knight".
"What exactly is the job of a Social Knight" says John with a clearly ironic tone.
"His job is to help people who are experiencing problems generated by reality, this can range from social problems to physical confrontations" says Eiko as showing in the screen lots of problems.
"And you picked the guy who's been in the hospital for the last 10 years for this job?" says John clearly angry to see how unprepared he is for the job.
"You are a bookworm, your whole life has been prepared for this, I need someone who understands how this weird reality works. " says Eiko as she shows he reading a book in the hospital."John you said to me you wanted to go somewhere you are needed, I brought you to it".
Looking at himself reading a book in the past, John feels a certain cold in his stomach. His whole life reading was just a hobby, but now he had the chance to use his knowledge, to interpret that strange reality.
""Got it, I think I can help you with that" John stops and thinks quickly. "But it wouldn't have been easier to just change the reality to a normal state ?"
"We can't change the reality, it was the inhabitants themselves who did it" says Eiko with a certain sadness. "This city was the epicenter of what caused all of this, and where this phenomenon is stronger"
John thinks what kind of cataclysm could have caused such a large fold in the reality itself. Really that reality, although similar, had a lot of difference from its original. Eiko notices the doubtful face of John.
"Unfortunately we gods have rules, we cannot draw consequences from the actions of inhabitants of a world" says Eiko with a sad tone."It's a complicated situation, let´s focus on the important things" says Eiko who with her seriousness makes John a little scared.
"Okay, I get it" John thinks a little while looking at Eiko noticing her appearance. "I understand the whole situation, I just didn't understand your sudden change of appearance"
"We need some reason to always hang out together, so I changed my appearance to pass as your younger sister" Eiko responses with a smile."But if you want I can pass as your girlfriend too".
"No..." John responses quickly
The two look at each other totally serious. Eiko begins to burst out laughing while John remains with his face the same, reaffirming his response.
"I love how sincere humans can be sometimes" says Eiko as she stop laughing."Well I think that's it John, enjoy the day here, tomorrow we will have a busy day"
When Eiko says his name, John realizes something, his name maybe had to change. That name was the only thing from his other life that he carried, his body had already changed and adapted to the new reality but the name remained the same. John I didn't want to destroy that last bond with his original wolrd but inside he felt a strange sensation.
"Eiko, Are our names common here?" asks John very seriously.
"I guess you are the only one here with this name in this world" replies Eiko kindly."Eiko is more common, as the culture here is similar to Japan, which is the culture I took the name".
"So it would be appropriate for me to change my name to blend in better right?" says John with a sad tone.
"Don't worry, you don't need to change anything after all there are different names everywhere" says Eiko who notices John's face. "However if you insist, there are several names from the Asian culture of your world that exist here".
Thinking about all that, John realizes that whether or not that name reminded him of that sad past and without a future he was. Although sad it was true, he knew that to truly start again he needed to abandon that baggage he had brought with him.
"Hiroto is a cool name" says John with a heavy hearth."Since we will be siblings, it makes sense to have names of the same origin".
Eiko understands the reason for that sudden change. In all the thousands of years of her work, few had abandoned their own name in order to start over, in someway she thought the attitude was rash, but despite this she accepted his choice.
Looking into Eiko's eyes, he sees himself in the reflection of his eyes. Hiroto and John look at each other, and with difficulty, Hiroto turns and walks off into the unknown, while John disappears into the reflection, sad with abandon but proud of the courage of its counterpart.
Many want to start all over again, but few are the ones who have the courage and don't look back after they've made it.