The familiar sound of police sirens was the first thing he heard when he woke, and he instinctively pulled his pillow over his head as he tried to make sense of the mass overload of information that was rapidly flowing into his brain.
Once it became more manageable, he made a blind grab for his phone and only hesitated for a second before he pressed the button to make his screen light up.
'8 July 2010'
He stared at his screen for a few more seconds before he allowed his hand to drop over his eyes in relief, "I'm back. I'm really back."
Hibiki only allowed himself a few moments to get his thoughts in order before he got up to grab a book and a pen and sat in front of his computer.
'If this is going to work, then I need to plan ahead, and I need to be ready for when the bridge happens.'
Unfortunately, he already knew that he wouldn't be able to unlock his job or the abilities that came with it yet since the jobs and abilities themselves came from the 'Heartstone' of the Greed's Decree system itself, but that didn't mean that there was nothing that he could do to prepare.
He'd already deduced that trying to stop the game from being created would only delay the inevitable, and trying to destroy the labs themselves would simply land him in jail, so his only hope of beating the system would be to allow for most it to happen as it did in the past, but with one major difference.
'I will have the upper hand this time.'
A quick internet search allowed him to gather information about the items he would need to level his job once the system broke through, but as expected, most of the items were either made of fake materials or they cost a fortune that he didn't have.
That left only one option.
'I need to be one of the first ones to participate in the social experiment, but I will need to be careful of how I go about it.'
He grabbed his wallet and checked the amount he had on him, but the money he usually kept in it wasn't there anymore, which made him frown before he jumped up in a panic as realization swept through him.
8 July 2010 was the day his younger brother, and last remaining relative, got shot during a robbery at the nearby convenience store.
At the time, Hibiki had still been asleep after working all night, so his brother, Akio, had taken some money from his wallet because he'd wanted to cook for Hibiki's birthday.
The sound of the front door closing had him freezing for a moment before he jumped into action and ran out of the room.
He made it to the front door in record time, only to sigh in relief as he saw Akio freezing in place with a guilty look on his face. He seemed to have forgotten something in his haste to sneak out, "Ani? Sorry, did I wake you? Is something wrong?"
Hibiki shook his head as he fought the impulse to rush over and check whether it really was his Akio, his otouto, and he put on a stern face, "Otouto, didn't I warn you before to at least tell me when you go somewhere?"
Akio sheepishly nodded as he hid his hands behind his back. Hibiki knew they held the recipe for the dish he'd wanted to prepare because it was that same paper that caused him to almost throw his life away entirely in the past.
Akio seemed uncertain as he tried to think of an excuse, "I just saw that we were out of milk, so I was going out to buy some. I was going to be right back."
Hibiki nodded, "That is fine, but I think I will go with you. It isn't safe to walk around alone. They still haven't caught all the members of that one group. "
Akio didn't seem to want to agree at first, but he couldn't come up with a good enough excuse, so he could only follow Hibiki.
Halfway to the store, Hibiki persuaded Akio to go to a different shop even though it was a bit farther, but it sold a wider range of items. Akio didn't seem to mind, though, and they were soon heading home again until Hibiki's senses started telling him that something was wrong.
Given what Hibiki knew of his job and class, he wasn't going to ignore the feeling even if it ended up being fake, but before he could find a safe place for them to hide for a while, a small group of people turned a corner and came running down the street in a panic.
Three of the four were carrying guns.
The one in the front was carrying a bag full of something light. He shouted, "Move! Get out of the way, you fools!"
Police sirens could be heard in the distance, but they were rapidly coming closer, and Hibiki could see that the group seemed to panic even more.
Hibiki moved to pull Akio to the side just as one stopped and aimed at his brother, causing the guy to curse and aim at him instead.
One of the other guys called back to the guy, "What the hell are you doing?! Run!"
But the guy merely smirked, "Creating a distraction!"
The gun went off, and it felt like everything was suddenly going into slow motion.
As Hibiki realized that it was going to hit him in the chest, he instinctively called upon his abilities, but sadly he wouldn't be able to use them anymore, or so he thought.
The familiar rumbling sound of maxed-out bass suddenly echoed up, and he braced himself as gravity suddenly slammed down everything around him.
He stood frozen with wide eyes as he saw that all of the robbers had been flattened to the pavement along with the bullet that had been meant for him, though nothing else had been even remotely touched, "Gyrokinesis? How do I still have-"
He turned abruptly, only to see his brother on the ground as well, "Akio!"
A stinging pain suddenly zapped through his brain, and he clutched at his mind while falling to his knees, only for his eyes to widen in horror as a familiar 'voice' echoed in his mind, "The boy is fine. You should be worried about yourself. We didn't make that bet simply so that you could die here."
Hibiki's hands started shaking, "How is this possible?! You haven't been created yet!"
The voice in his mind laughed, "Oh? I was created long before that experiment. Every time another being wishes for something that isn't theirs, I grow stronger. The game itself was merely the catalyst that gave me a tangible form, but like I said, our bet still stands: Show me a humanity that can live free from greed, and I will cease to exist. Fail, and you already saw what will happen. I only saved your life because your struggle amuses me."
The presence painfully left his mind, and he quickly picked up his brother in the hope of getting him to the hospital. He didn't dare stay behind because there was no way to explain it to the police. He would worry about the voice later.