"Huff-"

A young man walking down a narrow street took a deep breath of fresh air.

The sun's rays of light which usually shone like beams of hope, were lackluster; signifying night's imminent approach.

"Haah"

Breathing out, a gust of wind tousled his wavy black hair as he continued on his stride.

'Another day of annoying supervisors, boring work, and early ass clock-in times.'

The young man thought as he walked up a flight of stairs, pulled out his key, and opened the door to his apartment. A strong scent of ramen and cupped noodles assaulted his nose, reminding him of what he'd been eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for months.

'This can't be healthy.'

Thinking this, he sighed, stepping inside. He placed his keys and bag on a counter after moving empty cups and wrappers of cupped noodles out of the way and into the trash. Finally walking over to his couch, he sat down, closing his eyes looking very peaceful.

'A fucking break; thank you whatever god gave us the heavenly day Friday!'

A small smile appeared on his face, his eyes still closed, looking like an old monk who had just reached enlightenment.

"Knock, knock."

After around five minutes, two loud knocks came from the door interrupting his little moment of peace.

"Mr. Xavier!"

An aged woman's voice came from the other side.

'Ugh, maybe If I wait for a while she'll go away.'

"I know you're in there, I saw you walk in!"

'Well there goes that plan.'

Xavier, opening his eyes annoyingly got up to answer the door for the woman.

With a wide comforting smile, he opened the door. A short Asian woman with long jet-black hair entered his sight; Mrs. Chen, his landlord who was very to the book about her job. Behind her stood two tall bald guys, surprising him a bit.

'White milk duds…are those even a thing?'

Xavier jokingly thought to himself, not letting that show on his face.

"Why hello, Mrs. Chen and friends! What brings you to my humble abode?"

He spoke as politely as possible to this landlord of his, contrasting his usual personality while talking to others.

"Sir, I need the rent. I can't wait any longer!"

She shouted again, blocking the man's polite verbal attack.

"I know, I know, ma'am. Give me another week I promise I'll have it."

"You said that last week!"

The woman's anger could visibly be seen due to the large vein on her forehead.

'Fuck, I did say the same thing last week.'

Xavier responded with silence as he truly didn't have anything to say, he felt kind of bad taking advantage of the lady but he just didn't have it.

"Haah, listen I need you out of here by tomorrow. I have painters coming in to redo these walls."

Mrs. Chen said after calming herself down, the vein in her forehead fading. As she prepared to exit, ending the conversation, she was stopped.

"Wait, I'll paint them. Just white right? I'll paint them so please let me stay for another week I swear I'll have it by then."

He pleaded, closing his eyes and putting his hands together in a begging manner.

The woman stood silently, thinking about her response before finally answering.

"Fine, next week or you're out. I'm serious this time."

Mrs. Chen, agreeing to his request, left with the two behind her. The duo following behind her like loyal dogs.

"Oh, and if you're going to say 'Mr' you have to say my last name not the first. Enjoy your afternoon!"

Xavier waved her off, finally landing a clean blow with his polite approach, the woman having a small but noticeable smile as she walked away.

'Didn't expect her to let me slide with the one-week thing…mm no reason to question unexpected blessings, now I just need to paint the walls. Ding, ding, ding! another side-quest for Mr. Gatlin.'

With these sarcastic thoughts in his head, Xavier seemingly had forgotten the most important part of their deal. Walking back into his apartment, he noticed a small white bag on the counter with a tag attached to it; picking it up, he read what was on the tag.

" 'Lala Land pills' that guy's naming sense is almost as bad as his little pop-up intro."

Chuckling, he remembered something weird that happened a couple of nights ago.

---

----

'Damn! How is there nothing to drink in here, do I drink that much?!' Xavier thought,

ravaging his poor refrigerator in hopes of finding a beverage.

'The store isn't that far… fuck it I'll go'

Grabbing his wallet and putting on a pair of sweats, He left his apartment with a quick jog as the store closed around this time. Arriving in about five-ish minutes, he bought his favorite drink: blue lemonade.

"Thank you for shopping at QuickyMart, have a good night sir." The half-sleep store clerk thanked him as he exited the store.

"Yeah, you too man."

Opening the drink and taking a sip, he walked back to his apartment with a satisfied smile.

Xavier's eyes slowly lifted towards the vast expanse of the night sky, transfixed by the shimmering stars that twinkled and danced above him. The sight was so breathtakingly beautiful that he couldn't help but stop and stare in wonder and amazement.

'I should take outings like these more often.' He obliged.

"Hippity, Hoppity, Mcboppity!"

Suddenly, A man in a pink helmet and black suit and tie appeared before him, interrupting his little star gaze sesh.

The startled Xavier fell on his ass, spilling his drink in the process. Frustrated, he quickly got back up and shouted.

"Where'd the fuck you come from?! You know how late it is you can't be out here scaring people like that!"

Xavier shook his moist, sticky hands as he cursed the guy out.

"My apologies sir. My intentions weren't scaring you it was surprising you, on greatgreetings.com it said people liked surprises" Grabbing his chin, the man wondered why his abrupt greeting didn't work.

Xavier stared at the man in silence, in awe of his stupidity

'It just had to be me who ran into this idiot, I guess the freaks aren't out at night anymore it's just the dumbasses.'

Sighing, Xavier prepared to walk away before being stopped.

"W-wait sir! I didn't stop you for no reason, I have something that'll peak your interest."

Smiling, the man pulled out a small white bag and held it up like a trophy, earning a weird look from Xavier.

'So he's not just a dumbass, but a junkie too?'

Even though he thought this he still let the guy speak; seemingly amused.

"Behold customer! This product is the first of its time, something millions would die for, something-"

Before he was able to finish, he was cut short.

"Skip the exaggerated introductions and just tell me what it is, I'm already pissed enough."

Xavier said as he gestured towards his damp hands and clothes.

"A-ahem, inside this bag, are our new Lala Land Pills; these pills can bring you to places of your wildest dreams. What separates them from other hallucinogens is that they do not disrupt any form of operations inside your brain, whether it's how your neurotransmitters function or your cortical activity. It's harmless!"

Wrapping up, he handed it to Xavier signaling for him to take it.

Staring at his hands, Xavier pondered for a moment.

'If these pills are real why is this my first time hearing about them? Even if using drugs for this purpose isn't the most common, they'd still be somewhat known… fuck it, who am I to act all nerd-like you only live once anyway' Thinking this, he shrugged his shoulders.

"..Price?"

The merchant in the pink helmet trembled to hear this, his excitement visibly seen.

"Huhuhu, Well, sir my favorite letter in the alphabet is F... add a REE to it and you get a total of….FREE!"

He hurriedly handed the bag to the surprised Xavier and with a blink of an eye, vanished with the same abruptness he had when he appeared—leaving Xavier dumbfounded and alone on the street; cringing at his outro.

"I know this strawberry shortcake wearing, men in black ass, corny motherfucker didn't just leave like that."

Chuckling at his remark he prepared to keep walking before being interrupted.

"STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF AND FIND A SHELTER OR SOMETHING, SHIT! I'm trying to watch the game and these bums won't be quiet."

A man in one of the nearby complexes shouted angrily from his window.

"Hahaha, I got to be dreaming…" Xavier laughed hysterically, continuing his walk to his apartment.

-----

---

Completing his stroll down memory lane, he sat back on the couch with the bag in hand, tossing it up and down in his palms thinking about the pills' effects.

'Maybe if I take these I'll reincarnate like that slime or that overpowered magic skeleton. Or I could just die and be the idiot who trusted a random guy who gave him some pills….it's a risk I'm willing to take.'

Xavier's otaku chunni side started taking over as he thought of the possibilities; taking the pills out of the bag, he placed the bag back on the table and examined the pills; they were a hot, loud, shade of pink similar to the man's helmet. Taking a short sip of water, he shoved the two pills down the hatch; closing his eyes, he braced himself for the mental impact and craziness he was about to go through.

"..Gulp"

Swallowing the pills, Xavier's vision blurred as abstract colors appeared instantly like he was in a trance. The pills hit him like a tidal wave and he suddenly collapsed, slouching down from his already seated position and falling on the floor. Still conscious, he looked up for some reason, noticing a word on the bottom of the bag that he hadn't seen before.

"Experi…mental? so this is how I die huh.. well, put me in a more interesting world next time kamisama."

Those were the last things he could blurt out before falling unconscious, his body stopping its jittering and twitching as it laid lifeless on the ground.

Death to overdose would be whats put on his autopsy, as the young Xavier Gatlins short life of 22 years came to an end.

Or did it?

———-

Next chapter will be more story developing and even more entertaining than this my good reader, just trust my vision and add to library while your at it ;)