Yuuto Kisaragi stared at the clock. The ticking of the second hand felt heavier than usual, like the final moments of peace before something inevitable. The bell was just seconds away from ringing, but Yuuto could hardly focus. His thoughts were elsewhere — on a world far darker than the familiar walls of his classroom.
He glanced down at the tattered book on his desk, Apocalypse Session. He'd read it cover to cover more times than he could count. It was a twisted masterpiece of survival horror, where the characters faced nightmarish creatures, psychological horrors, and a world unraveling around them. But Yuuto was different. He understood the game. Or, at least, he thought he did.
The shrill sound of the bell echoed through the room, shaking him from his thoughts. Chairs scraped the floor as students began to pack up for the day. Yuuto shoved the book into his bag, standing up just as the teacher called out.
"Hold on a moment, class. I have an announcement."
The room stilled, everyone looking back at their teacher, Mr. Yagami. He had that strange, unsettling smile on his face — the one Yuuto always found unnerving.
"Before you leave, we have something special for today's session," Mr. Yagami said, his voice carrying a weight Yuuto couldn't place.
Suddenly, the classroom lights flickered, and the world seemed to tilt. Yuuto's breath hitched in his throat as a cold wave swept through the room. His heart pounded as the windows darkened, blackness seeping in like ink, swallowing the daylight.
"What... what's going on?" one of the students, Akira, muttered, his voice tinged with panic.
A low hum, barely audible at first, began to grow, filling the room with an ominous vibration. Desks shook, papers fluttered, and the entire class felt something shift.
Yuuto's hand instinctively tightened around his bag, his mind racing. This... this can't be...
The room warped, and in an instant, the familiar school walls dissolved, replaced by towering, twisted structures, a cold, desolate landscape stretching into infinity. The air was heavy, suffocating, filled with the stench of decay and fear.
Yuuto's classmates stood frozen, disbelief and terror painted on their faces. He turned in a slow circle, dread pooling in his stomach as recognition dawned.
This wasn't a dream. It wasn't a hallucination.
They were inside Apocalypse Session. The novel he'd obsessed over.
And the game had just begun.
The silence was broken by a scream. Aya, the class representative, clutched her chest, stumbling backward. "What the hell is happening?!"
Panic spread like wildfire. Voices overlapped as students yelled, their fear palpable. Yuuto could barely hear them over the pounding in his ears.
"This is impossible," Akari, the girl next to him, whispered. "This... can't be real."
Yuuto's fingers trembled as he reached into his bag and pulled out the book. He flipped through the pages frantically, hoping for some kind of answer, a clue, anything.
"We... we're in the book," he whispered to himself, unable to believe it.
As if in response to his thoughts, a booming voice echoed through the air. It was deep, hollow, and seemed to reverberate from the very earth beneath their feet.
"Welcome, players, to Apocalypse Session. Only the strong survive. Only the worthy escape."
Yuuto's heart sank. He knew that voice. It was the first line spoken by the book's main antagonist, an entity that controlled the world's unraveling horrors. In the novel, the characters had been forced to survive, facing nightmarish challenges. But now, it wasn't fiction.
It was their reality.
Yuuto's classmates scrambled, backing away from the unfamiliar landscape. Towering buildings twisted in impossible shapes, shadows danced unnaturally, and the sky above churned in a sickly hue. The world seemed to breathe, as if it were alive and watching them.
Yuuto forced himself to focus, his mind racing. "Everyone, calm down!" he shouted, trying to gain control over his own terror. "I think I know what's going on!"
The others turned to him, desperation in their eyes. No one had an explanation. No one except Yuuto.
"We've... we've been pulled into a story," he said, his voice shaking but steady enough. "This place... this world... it's from a book I've read."
Kazuki, the class athlete, narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? A book? This is real!"
"I know it sounds insane, but it's true," Yuuto replied. He held up the novel. "This world is from Apocalypse Session. I've read it a hundred times."
"That's impossible," Aya snapped, clutching her arms as if trying to ward off the chill. "We can't be in a book!"
Yuuto opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a bloodcurdling screech pierced the air. Everyone turned in unison.
Out of the shadows, a figure began to emerge. Its body was grotesque, twisted beyond recognition, limbs too long and unnaturally bent. Its face—or what passed for one—was a swirling mass of darkness, teeth glinting in the faint light.
Yuuto's blood ran cold. He recognized it immediately. One of the creatures from the novel. A Nightstalker.
Kazuki stepped forward, fists clenched. "We have to fight this thing, right? If we're in some kind of game, we just need to—"
The creature lunged at terrifying speed, cutting Kazuki off. There was no time to think, only react.
Yuuto grabbed the nearest object—a jagged piece of metal—and shouted, "Run! Now!"
The class scattered, panic erupting as they fled into the unfamiliar world, leaving behind everything they knew.
The nightmare had only just begun.