Word count: 1,989

<—>

"450 Yen for udon?! Seriously?" If one were to observe Fujino Yuki, you wouldn't find anything particularly remarkable about him. He was a slightly pale-skinned young man with a mop of short, straight black hair.

His plain brown eyes peered out from beneath tired eyelids. He dressed in a black T-shirt and grey pants that clung to his slender frame.

"I might as well eat dog food at this rate," he grumbled. At 21 years old, he was a college student majoring in economics. To him, it was the dullest field imaginable. He would have preferred to pursue a different one, but his fianancial status had other ideas.

The udon packet clattered in his shopping basket. Fujino paid for his items at the cashier and left, all the while silently complaining about the price.

He stood outside for a moment, enjoying the light night breeze before he headed straight toward his apartment. It was more of a dorm than an apartment. But that's neither here nor there.

As he was walking he pulled out his wallet only to find 800 yen remaining. 'Guess I'll skip the bus stop then.' being the stereotypical broke college student he is. He was forced to take up a part-time job just to afford rent and necessities. And he'd rather save up whenever he can.

However, fate tends to be unpredictable, and this one is no diffrent. Fujino Yuki was destined to never make it home that night.

As he was walking he heard a commotion in an alleyway. A woman's voice to be precise. "Get off me!" She cried. He looked at the alleyway and the people who were pointedly ignoring it, then back at it.

"Oh, what the hell. Might as well blow off steam." he dropped off his groceries at the end and entered.

Just as he expected. A middle-aged man was in the process of assulting a woman, her screams and scratching doing little to push him away.

"Just let her go, man. It's not worth it," Fujiro intervened, intereupting the vile act unfolding before him.

"Think about it. Is five minutes of pleasure really worth a prison sentence? You know how fucked up the justice system in this country is."

The man, unimpressed by Fujiro's attempt, retorted, "Back off, kid. You won't like what happens next if you don't."

Fujiro raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" He glanced at the man's crotch. "Sorry, but with that size, there's not much you can do." He smirked at the man.

The would-be rapist was not pleased. "What did you say, brat?" He turned fully towards the person who dared to interrupt his fun time.

"You better leave before I-"

"Yeah, no," Fujiro, already on edge due to rising prices and general living conditions, was not a patient person. The sight of the woman's pleading eyes and the general situation he found himself in pushed him over the threshold.

"I'm in a bad mood today, so I won't repeat myself: let her go." The man pulled out a knife in respone.

He lunged at Fujino, slashing the knife in an arc at him. He stepped backwards, avoiding the attack. The man stumbled, overextending himself.

Fujino seized the opportunity, grabbing the man's arm and kneeing him in the crotch. The man doubled over in pain, spit flying on his face, infuriating him.

Quickly disarming the rapist, Fujino kicked him hard in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, he straddled the man and unleashed a brutal beatdown to his face.

"This. Is. What. You. Deserve. Scumbag!" he growled venomously. Not giving the man a chance to retaliate.

Fujino firmly gripped the man's face, his fingers digging in deeply before he began to repeatedly bash his head-

He suddenly stopped, gazing down at the battered and bloodied face of the man. With eyes as dark as night and broken teeth scattered around him.

Glancing at his own hands, Fujino felt his heart sink.'I lost control, again'

As he stood up, his heart racing and breath hitching, he noticed the horrified expression on the woman's face.

"....I think it's best if you go." His gaze shifted to the assulter, disregarding the woman as she quickly left.

The man appeared to be in a bad state, with his eyes shut and swollen, blood trickling down his face. He couldn't see it, but he could imagine that his genitals were also swollen.

He silently observed as the man struggled to leave the alley, debating whether or not to contact the police. Ultimately, he chose not to.

The woman was probably heading to the police station, and if not, then the beating would hopefully teach him a lesson.

"Good lord, could this day get any worse? All I want is to head back home, eat some Udon, and lay in bed,"

His lamenting paused when he heard the screeching tires and the loud crash.

"What the…?" He emerged from the alleyway to find a chaotic scene. A convertible had collided with a light post, causing it to fall onto the car.

There was a body on the ground, surrounded by a growing crowd of onlookers who were screaming in shock.

Fujiro approached the body and his heart sank even further. It was the man he had just brutalized.

"I jinxed it! I jinxed it! I jinxed it!" He felt like tearing his hair out. Of course, the day had to take a turn for the worse, such is his luck

"Kyaah!"

"Oh kami, what happened?"

"Someone call for help!"

People rushed to check on the injured man. "I saw him coming out of that alley all beaten up," one of them pointed to the alleyway, which happened to be in Fujiro's general direction.

"…"

There was unnatural silence as people took notice of the bloodied-hand youth. Suffice to say, he didn't like the looks he recived one bit. So he did what any resonable human being would do: run.

He dashed towards the narrow alley, disregarding the shouts and the people chasing after him.

'Of course, the guy who's actually the good one get blamed while the other one get's away scot free' Fujiro grit his teeth in anger

He ducked and weaved, taking turns and sharp corners that he was certain didn't exist but didn't question.

After a few minutes of running, he finally paused to catch his breath, leaning against the wall. Gasping for air, his lungs burning from exertion.

"I think… I… Got… Away…" he chocked out. "Actually, since when… was this place.. that big?" Fujiro finally took notice around him.

Having lived in the city for years, he was familiar with most locations, including the route between the nearest 7/11 and his dorm.

He was absolutely certain that the maze he found himself in shouldn't exist.

Fujiro heard a distant click sound, and suddenly, all lights around him turned off, engulfing him in darkness.

"What the fuck! What kind of horror movie bullshit am I in?" He reached for his phone, only to find it missing.

"Fantastic," he grumbled. He walked around, feeling around for the walls to navigate. However, he couldn't feel anything. In fact, even the one he was leaning on disappeared.

'What in the world is going on? am I having a stroke?'

The click sound returned, a spotlight shined on top of him, scaring him. "Hello? Anybody here?" He was met with silence.

"Oh kami, could this day get any worse" he sulked, today has been tiresome and he'd really prefer not dealing with whatever is going on right now.

"Not really, you've hit rock bottom."

Fujiro whipped around, eyes darting across the darkness but he couldn't find the voice.

"…uhh, can I help you with something?" He smiled, feeling a shiver down his spine.

"Yes, you can." Now that he thinks about it, it sounded like the voice was… "Crazy question, but you wouldn't happen to be in my head now, would you?".

"A perceptive one, that is refreshing, I daresay." The voice sounded… impressed?

"Yeah, thanks for the compliment and all but i'm really in a hurry so if you would excuse me, i'd like to go back home." Fujiro asked.

"Oh yes, you were being chased for brutalizing that man, correct?" This put Fujiro on edge.

"Relax, i'm not here to chastise you. Quite the opposite in fact, you did the right thing." this surprised Fujiro. He never expexted someone to agree with he had done.

"Umm, thanks I guess, random-voice-in-the-head. So… can I go now?"

"Now now, be paitent. i'd like to borrow your ears for a moment. For you see, I have a proposition for you" Fujiro didn't like the sound of that; he really just wanted to go home.

"It is rather simple; do you want to go on an adventure?" If Fujiro was confused, he was downright bewildered now.

"Huh… uhh… what" he was sure the voice was enjoying his reaction.

"Take your time, we're not in a hurry" the voice sounded amused now.

"…Before we do anything, just where the hell am I?" Fujiro asked the million dollar question.

"You are in my domain. I have witnised your escape so I brought here. And no, you are not suffering from a stroke nor any physical ailments. This is all real" Fujiro pinched himself for good measure.

"Okay, and if I refuse your 'Proposition?'" He was cautious, just because he was saved doesn't mean he wants to owe a favor.

"Nothing, I will simply bring you back your apartment. However, I don't think refusing is a good idea." A TV screen appeared infront of him.

It flickered to life, showcasing a CCTV footage. Fujiro was there, peering into the alleyway before dropping his bags and heading in. It fast forward until the woman ran out of there. Then the man showed up next, in a daze, stumbled into incoming traffic.

"This CCTV footage doesn't paint a good picture of the situation. A young man entering an alley, a woman fleeing, and an badly injured man exiting, who has don nothing wrong 'allegedly'. It doesn't look good for you," the voice explained.

Fujiro felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "What about the woman? Won't she testify?" he asked, clinging to a glimmer of hope.

"The woman is an illegal immigrant. She won't speak up, and even if she did, her testimony wouldn't hold up in court. She would be deported immediately," the voice replied, crushing his hopes.

"…"

For the first time in his life, Fujiro had no idea what to do. Should he agree and see what happens, or refuse and face the harsh justice system of Japan?

After a moment of contemplation, he finally spoke, "Yes." He rather go through the former than deal with the latter again.

"Wonderful, I knew you would accept" the voice approved of his answer.

"But before we begin, I belive it's time to preforming the sacred ritual" Fujiro raised an eyebrow.

"What ritual? I'm not going to drink the blood of a virgin nor sacrifice lambs," he exclaimed.

"Nonsense, it's a simple one that only requires one step. It's quite important before you get Isekai'd," Fujiro's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Oi oi! What the hell do you mean by isekai?" he got no response.

The spotlight above suddenly turned off, followed by another click sound. In an instant, he found himself standing on a highway.

He barely had time to react when he heard the honk of a 12-wheeler truck speeding towards him.

"You motherfu-".

<—>

Reiwa-era secrets!

Fujiro's favourite dish is Udon! It's cheap, easy to make and tasty! Since childhood he would always make sure he would it eat 3-4 times per week.

<—>

And this concludes my first ever chapter! I have half the story and major plot points already planned out from beginning to the end, so i'd like to hear to any suggestions you guys have.

I don't like begging for stones. If you think this story deserves it then thank you. If not then that's fine; you reading my work is more than enough for me.

Each chapter should be around 1-2K words.