Everyone has a purpose in life. One can may call it their role—some may call it their destiny. But for me, I would love to call mine as "Ikegai."

And my Ikegai is to protect my little sister no matter what.

***

Screech!!!

Crash!!!

It was a loud, deafening sound. A requiem to my painful huff and heavy breathing. My lungs hurt. Pain is invading all over my body. I can't think straight. Liquid?

Ugh... Crimson... red... I see. My blood.

My consciousness was fading. I'm reaching my limit. Everything's getting dark. Still strangely, despite this pain I can't seem to faint.

It hurts... so painful. I... want to sleep.

But... there was something that was keeping me awake. A voice. A small voice. An anguished yet melodic voice. It was a sweet yet distressed, crying voice.

"Uuu... Big brother... uuu..."

I know of this voice. I know it very well. It was calling to me. I know it dearly. It was my sweet little sister's voice.

It sounded rough, yes, compared to how her voice usually is. And her huffing is hindering her tone from returning to how beautiful it used to be.

Tears blurring her vision as well as mine. She was near but far. I was reaching for her.

The smell of burning rubber.

The smell of burning gas.

The smell of blood.

My eyes wandered. Someone was standing there. They were staring at us with eyes as red as blood. Near yet seemed so far. What was I'm thinking? What is it that I hope for them to do? But it was clear by how they act. They're not here to generously offer some help.

Intently staring.

It was suffocating.

And then, with the shadows of the eve, they disappeared. As if they'd faded into the darkness of the night.

And then the pain returned. I was reaching for them... But before I knew it, they already blended into the darkness of the eventide.

I remember it clearly. It was the day when we...

***

{Chirp—Chirp!!! Wakey wakey! Wake up! Wake up, Stupppiid! Stupid!}

"Ugh..."

I rolled gently on my bed, my right hand holding my head and my left reaching for the alarm clock.

Sweat beading on my forehead. My clothes are soaked from my own perspiration.

"A dream, huh. How long has it been since I last dreamed of that?"

I sat on my bed, still drowsy. Bags visible beneath my eyes. It was nothing new, really, but today my eyebags are worse than historically.

"Urgh..."

Slight headache, I'd really need more sleep. But I need to get ready. After all, today is the first day of school.

Cursed school.

What, nothing really. This is just a normal high school story. A peaceful high school life, just like anyone else's living right now.

—Or so I would love to say.

But once you open the window... Here is what you'll see: The sun is presently higher than expected from where it was meant to shine (the east.) Even though it's only 7:30 in the morning, the celestial body is oddly hanging in the middle of the sky. And that's simply not the oddity here, mind you. The supposed sun was in the center, surrounded by five dark circular objects; black matter that appears to limit the sun's ability to radiate light. That is why though the sun was up, everything is dimly lit and the melancholic atmosphere of the morning was beholded. Amazing, no? A sight to behold, yes?

Well, if you're already amazed by that, then you'll have to prepare yourself. This place was literally a salad bowl of oddity-a place beyond Earth. An island of truly fantasy-ic setting straight out of a lightnovel.

Don't get me wrong, it's not an otherworldly story. As while we are on Earth, we we're deemed to be in another world of our own.