Hayato slowly opened his eyes. His whole body tingled as if he was covered with hundreds of insects walking on him. He looked to the sky, which was now dark and cloudy. The place where he laid on was moist, and so were his clothes.
'Finally, an environment that fits the situation, huh?' was the first thing he thought, though unintentionally. For a moment, he wondered why he would think such a thing, but his mind quickly recollected the events of the past few days.
'Well, that's the second time something like this happens, huh? Wonderful...'
He propelled himself upward, testing the condition of his body. He prepared himself for the soreness of his muscles, the excruciating pain of his bruises, and maybe the feeling of having some broken bones. Nonetheless, he didn't feel any of these things. Rather, he was way too fine.
'Hm? Didn't I get beaten up? If not, then why was I lying in such a moist and dirty alley?' Hayato scratched the back of his head while slightly frowning.
He forced himself to remember more things, any detail that could give him a clue about his situation, but nothing came. His mind was still "turning on". It would need some time to recover from its dizziness.
'Well, for starters, I think that it is a good thing to get out of this alley.'
Hayato grew up in that city, so he was familiar with each and every corner of that place. As he walked around there since he was a kid, even the names of the streets were easy to remember just by walking around them. However, that didn't happen now.
'Is it because my mind is a bit messed or do I really not know where I am? Did those bastards toss me in another city or something?'
Hayato was pretty sure that all this was Trevor's fault. That guy would go through hell just to pester him and the other people he aimed for.
The more Hayato walked in that alley, the less and less confident he was about being in his city. Everything was so... different. From the design of the tiled streets, the walls of the houses that formed the alley, the roofs of the visible buildings...
"Shit", he muttered. "I am not home, definitely."
His eyes widened and he felt his mouth going dry once he left the alley, a brand new world greeting him as he did so.
'Where am I? Why did I...? How?' he was so shocked that he barely could think by himself. He waited for a response that would never come.
'If I was in a neighboring city, things would still be manageable. However, this place is not one of these for sure.'
Hayato studied Feudal Japan and the Old Chinese Empire. Although he knew their geography and architecture only by photos, he would be able to recognize them if he was to see something similar in real life. And now, there he was, looking at the houses, establishments, and streets that he had previously only seen in pictures.
'I wouldn't be mistaken about it. There is no way. Everything is so assertive: the houses, the stores, the imponent and luxurious buildings in the distance... Am I in Japan? China? But, what kind of part of Japan is it? It's not only the architecture, but the people around. Their clothes and manners, the way they talk...'
A drop of cold sweat ran down Hayato's cheek. He gulped, then closed his hands to prevent them from trembling wildly.
'It doesn't make sense. How could I suddenly appear in an Asian country? I think that Trevor wouldn't go that far to torment me. He wouldn't, right?
'Anyway, since I am already in this pinch, I might as well ask people for information. It won't hurt.'
Hayato took a deep breath, then stepped forward. The nearest group of people was standing on the other side of the street, so he headed there.
When he was in the middle of the street, he heard a roaring sound (like engines working, metal hitting metal, and pressurized steam). He looked to the right, seeing that a vehicle came in his direction. It looked like a motorcycle, but with a less lean design. Instead, it was robust and rustic, the metal of its body was all rusty and dirt. The operating mechanism of that vehicle was very ancient and the steam coming out of the gaps and cranks in the metal made it look unstable.
Despite its looks, however, the vehicle was undeniably fast. Faster than many motorcycles Hayato had seen before. Unfortunately for the boy, this vehicle was not the only one coming. A few seconds before it turned and entered the same street Hayato was, another two came right behind.
Now, they looked like a carriage. There were two people in it. Despite the other details in its strange design, what drew Hyato's attention the most were the things that pulled that carriage: two round robots with five casters under them that spun very fast, leaving marks on the tiled street. They were not too big and looked like a ball of rust and scrap metal, but were as strong as bulls and agile like a cheetah.
No need to be a genius to know that it was a chase.
'...and I am in the middle of it', Hayato gulped.
With a large delay between his realization and reaction, he stomped the ground, jumping toward the sidewalk again.
'Damn me! I reacted way too late!'
While still in mid-motion, the boy glanced at the two strange vehicles coming his way. The impact was sure to happen.
'Am I gonna die? Right now, just like this? I don't even know where I am, to begin with. Will I just kick the bucket all of a sudden?'
Hayato couldn't believe it, but that was his fate. As pathetic as it was, his lack of ability again put him in a stalemate which he couldn't get out of.
'Even after I decided to live a new life, try and become stronger than I was before, never let anyone step on me again...'
He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, both in fear and anger.
'But this cruel world has no mercy. Who cares about my feelings, after all?' this dark thought echoed across his blank mind. He waited for the unavoidable crash.
That was when his heart throbbed hard, feeling like it would explode. If he woke up in heaven and God said to him that he didn't die from the car crash, but from a heart attack, he would believe. That throb was strong enough to resonate through his entire body, though that was not all. A tingling wave of electricity followed as well, he felt all hair in his body stand on end.
When that strange sensation was gone, he felt strong nausea, stronger than any he had before in his life. Hayato never had drunk alcoholic drinks before, let alone felt the sensation of having a deadly hangover. If he did, he would know how to describe half the power of that discomfort.
He couldn't bear it anymore and threw up everything inside his stomach. He felt like he would throw up his own intestines at some point.
"What... What the hell?"
Hayato didn't imagine that he would have enough time to throw up before getting run over by that car.
The boy opened his eyes and looked around... only to realize that he was not in the same street as before. Right now, he stood on top of a giant temple located in an elevated part of that city, as if it was built on top of a fairly high slope. From there, he had a nice view of everything around him.
"What?" he muttered once again. He sure had many surprises that day.
First of all, being up there helped him to get an idea of where he was. Unfortunately, it only served to show him that he was somewhere he didn't know at all now that he confirmed that the whole city had the same design pattern. He was even able to see more of that strange technology in buildings or other vehicles, some of which were flying over the city.
The second surprise was, of course, related to how he got up there. He still had no clue about what just had happened on that street. For him, everything seemed very real, so he couldn't be hallucinating. Besides, it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to escape from that car crash, his reaction was slow and his body... well, he was out of shape since the day he was born.
'I wonder...'
"Hey! What are you doing there!? Who are you?"
Hayato got startled by that voice. He gave a little jump to the side, but that was enough to get him off balance. He barely had the time to turn to the person that had just said his name before his feet slid and he fell from the roof.
'I have a good sense of space and I could tell that I was about twelve meters or so from the ground. If I fall from this height head first...'
Then, he felt that same sensation again. Once adrenaline started pumping into his blood and his heartbeat rate increased, a single throb made his entire body shiver, resonating in every corner and causing a lingering wave of electricity to run across Hayato.
'H-Here we go again, I guess?' he closed his eyes.