It was a spring morning, a day that would inspire anyone to feel alive. I remember that morning I was happily asleep. I confess, I had stayed up late the night before playing video games. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep much longer, though, because, unfortunately, I always ended up waking up the same way—with a sharp pain in my stomach. I jolted awake.
"Ugh, damn, that hurts!" I opened my eyes and saw my twelve-year-old little sister, Fuuka, standing on my stomach. She was in her school uniform, arms crossed and looking rather annoyed.
"It's always the same with you, big brother. You stay up too late and in the end, I have to be the one to come and wake you up. At your age, you should be ashamed," she said, scolding me.
I tried to adjust my eyes to the morning sunlight as I let out a big yawn. "Okay, but can you stop stepping on me like I'm a doormat?"
She hopped off and walked out of my room, warning me that I had only ten minutes to get ready. After throwing on my uniform and brushing my teeth, I headed downstairs for breakfast. My father was sitting on the living room sofa, glued to his phone. He greeted me with a "Good morning," and I waved back while grabbing two slices of toast since Fuuka was already impatiently calling for me from the front door.
"You two have a good day," my father said as we left.
Ironically, that would be the last time I had a normal morning.
The hours at school felt endlessly long. I wasn't part of any clubs, and I didn't have many friends, just a few I occasionally talked to about video games or anime whenever something interesting came up. As for my relationship with girls, let's just say that the girls in my class would probably be more attracted to an insect than to me. The only one who really talked to me was Miss Yamamoto, my homeroom teacher. That very day, she called me in after class.
"I've told you this countless times, Mamoru Ryuji," she said, crossing her legs while cleaning her glasses. "Your grades are terrible. And it's my responsibility as your teacher to see that you improve. I need to know what's distracting you."
Her voice was stern, like I was on trial. Why was I such a bad student? I wasn't motivated, I guess. My dad had a ramen shop, and I could always work there in the future. I wasn't interested in studying for any particular job. On top of that, school wasn't fun. The loneliness, the rejection, and the way my teacher looked at me like a bug she pitied—it all just drained me of any desire to try.
After school, I went to wait for my sister at her junior high. She was finishing up soccer practice, and knowing how hard she kicked the ball, I honestly didn't understand how I survived her surprise attacks every morning. After a while, she finally came out, and we headed home together, walking along a riverbank.
"What's that?" Fuuka asked, pointing to something glowing purple under a bridge. She ran toward it, and I followed close behind.
"Wait, Fuuka, we don't know what it is!" I said, grabbing her shoulder. Then we both heard a sickening, slimy sound.
What we saw next was something that I could only describe as a mass of rotting flesh with a large purple eye that emitted a faint, hypnotic glow. In one of its deformed hands, it held a strange, polygonal device. Fuuka screamed in terror, and I was frozen in place. The creature pointed the device at my sister. I tried to shield her, but the device fired a purple beam that hit Fuuka, turning her into a glowing figure of purple light, which was then sucked into the device.
I stood there, paralyzed with shock, disbelief turning to rage.
"Give me back my sister, you damn monster!" I screamed as I charged at it, but with one powerful arm, it swatted me away, sending me flying.
I writhed on the ground in pain. "What the hell is going on?" I muttered. The monster turned its attention back to the device while I struggled to comprehend what had just happened.
Then, suddenly, a star-shaped portal opened above the creature. Both the monster and I looked up to see a girl falling from the portal. She landed directly on top of the monster, standing with her feet apart, inches from the creature's eye.
She had short brown hair and cheerful green eyes. She wore a strange white dress with purple trim on the skirt, sleeves, and collar, along with matching gloves and boots. A headband with antennae sat atop her head, and in her right hand, she held what looked like a toy laser gun.
"Whoa, I landed on something soft, hehe," she said, oblivious to the situation. She then looked at me before glancing down and realizing she was standing on the monster. With a startled yelp, she jumped off and stomped on the creature's eye, causing it to writhe in pain.
"Sorry about that, citizen of this world. I'll handle this in a jiffy," she said. She aimed her laser gun at the monster and yelled, "Pepper!" A red beam shot out, piercing the creature's eye. It collapsed and disintegrated into sand.
The girl casually walked over the remains of the monster and created some kind of bubble with her gloves, which encased the device that had taken Fuuka. She then turned back to me.
"Well, that was close. If I had arrived a second later, it would've captured you too. No need to thank me, citizen of this world. You won't remember a thing about this... Goodbye, memory!" She held a spoon in front of me, and all I could see was my own distorted, confused reflection in it.
"Oh no! I forgot my memory-wiping device!" she suddenly exclaimed, frozen in place. I could only shout, "Enough! What the hell is going on? Where's my sister!?"
The girl looked at me in confusion. "Your sister? Oh! She must've been absorbed by that device. I'm sorry, but you won't be able to get her back right away."
I collapsed to my knees, tears welling up in my eyes. I kept repeating that it had to be a nightmare, that any second now, Fuuka would wake me up like she did every morning. But this wasn't a dream. The girl crouched down and spoke softly to me.
"I suppose I should explain a little. My name is Stella, and I'm a space guardian from the Star World. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, saluting playfully. "That thing that took your sister was called an Amalgama, a zombie-like creature made of dead flesh. Unfortunately, they've been appearing in this world—or rather, your universe—for about two months now."
I could barely grasp what she was saying. Was she from another universe? Where had my sister gone? Why did the Amalgama appear here? Why was this happening to Fuuka and me?
"What do you mean by other universes?" I asked, trying to dry my tears and make sense of the situation.
"Well, you see, your universe and mine are parallel. They're like bubbles floating next to each other, but my universe is different. It's like a larger bubble that contains smaller bubbles, which are worlds within worlds. I'm from the Star World, an infinite space. Your sister was likely taken to the Dark World."
"The Dark World?" I repeated, still trying to process everything.
"Yes, there's an evil woman there who recently discovered your universe. She also found out that humans can be useful to her. You see, we have a power called Pink Power that measures our strength and abilities. Humans have it too, but you can't use it, and you only have a little bit. I'd guess your Pink Power is about 2, while I, just a regular soldier, have 233. The difference is huge. But here's the thing: humans can serve as catalysts and multipliers of Pink Power. So, she's trying to capture humans to enhance their power, absorb it, and use it to invade other worlds. If she succeeds, the Dark World will invade other universes, including this one, and she'll become the ultimate queen."
My eyes filled with determination as I stood up.
"So, they're going to use my sister as a tool to hurt others? We just have to go to that Dark World or whatever and save her."
Stella was startled by my words. "Are you crazy? You can't use Pink Power, and you have no combat skills. Any warrior could crush you like an ant."
I clenched my fists and pointed at her. "You'll help me. From what you've said, I could make you stronger, right? Together, we'll defeat that evil woman, save my sister, and stop those monsters from invading this world."
Stella was taken aback by my resolve, but after a moment, she opened another star-shaped portal.
"First, we'll get you prepared in my world. This technology is something only the Star World and the Dark World have, and we're the only ones who know about this universe. So be careful what you say. There are bad people everywhere. If anyone asks, you're just a weird alien, hehe."
She smiled, but I took a step back. "Wait. Before we go, I need you to come with me... I have to explain everything to my father and say goodbye..." Stella looked surprised when she heard the word "father."
End of chapter 1