"Do you believe in destiny? In a predetermined fate that we all follow?"
These were the words that pierced my ears when I realized that I had fallen asleep in class. On the first week of class, I had managed to fall asleep. I raised my head slowly to see Mr. Akari glaring at me.
"Well, it seems like your classmate has finally decided to join us in our lecture. What do you think about destiny, Mr...? ", as he stared at me intently.
"Ko-Kouji, sir.", I stuttered as I felt my classmate's gaze shift to me.
"Ah, Mr. Kouji... So what do you think about-"
The dismissal bell rang and cut off Mr. Akari before he could even finish his question.
"Well, I guess that's all for today's class. I'll see you in our next meeting and, hopefully, with your assignments. Stay safe, everyone."
As Mr. Akari walked out of the room, everyone began packing their bags and proceeded to go home, and so did I.
I always thought Shirohana High held high expectations for its students, and they do. I couldn't even fathom that I could have fallen asleep within the first week of class. Well, it's not like anything worse could've happened, right? Like having no friends despite the whole class being "buddy-buddy" with each other...
And there it was, that mysterious red thread appearing out of thin air leading me somewhere as always. Don't get me wrong, seeing a red thread mysteriously appear out of nowhere would startle anyone, but in my case, I've always seen this thread appear and disappear throughout the years. I don't know what it does or what its purpose is, but it has always guided me in my life. And all I've known is that I'm the only person who can see this.
I never knew what the destination may be of this red thread, all I know is that if I don't follow it, it will always find a way to bring me to its destination so I always follow it from now on. With this being said, I followed the red thread as it led me towards my home, walking in between tall buildings in the evening, signages flashing and people clamoring. At this point, I had gotten used to the noisy atmosphere of the city unlike my hometown of Hakone, "Oh how I miss Mr. Yamashita's ramen...", I thought to myself.
Suddenly the red thread started leading me toward an abandoned warehouse, a tall wired fence separating me from its entrance.
Why? I didn't know as well...
I still followed it, despite knowing that I could get in trouble, I mean technically I had no choice, I'll end up in that warehouse one way or the other.
I rustled through the broken portion of the wired fence as the red thread guided me, I swiped away a few boxes and trash bags until I reached the entrance of the abandoned warehouse. It had no lock on the door, nor did it have any people in it, well I didn't know that but I wanted to think that to feel safe. The red thread was phasing through the door, hinting to me to open it.
I slowly opened the door, its creaking echoing around the almost pitch-black atmosphere of the warehouse, dust engulfing my vision as I coughed a bit. I brought out my phone to light up my surroundings. I walked around a bit while in the guidance of the red thread, but it suddenly... vanished?
You decide to vanish now? In all places, an abandoned warehouse? Yeah, a high school student who can see a mysterious red thread in the air, wandering within an abandoned warehouse, I've watched enough anime and movies to know something's going to happen.
I turned around, retracing my steps toward the exit with the help of my phone's flashlight. But I instead reached... a wall? Had I wandered too far from the exit? Had I retraced my steps in the wrong way?
"I can try to find the door using the sunlight seeping through it.", I thought to myself but then remembered it was already evening, and with the time I'd spent following this cursed red thread, the sun had already set.
Suddenly, I heard echoing footsteps, they were rapid like someone was running. I readjusted my phone's light in its direction. It was getting louder.
Then before I knew it, someone had bumped into me, a middle-aged man with a beanie on, what was he running from?
"Get out of the way kid!", he swiped me away as I hit the ground again.
Suddenly police sirens sounded and the red and blue lights of the siren flashed and lit up a portion of the warehouse we were in and I could partially see the entrance which the guy I bumped into had slammed through. The red thread appeared again, moving in the direction where the man had gone through but it had a different path.
"It wants me to chase the guy?!", I exclaimed in my mind thinking it was ridiculous, what could I, a semi-ordinary high school student, do? But then I remembered that I technically had no choice... The red thread would find a way to make me reach where it pointed to in the end.
I started running.
"This is crazy! What am I? The main character of a story?", I shouted within my thoughts.
I was tailing the man who had bumped into me, was he a burglar? A suspect in a crime? A wanted criminal? Were the questions running through my mind as the red thread took a sharp left and so did I. Entering a tight alleyway filled with boxes with a wired fence that was blocking my way, following the red thread which went over the fence, I hopped over a few boxes and then over the wired fence itself.
Exiting the alleyway, I bumped into the man again and we fell to the ground, I tried to hold him down as I saw the cops in the distance running towards our direction.
"What's your deal kid?! Who are you?!", The man shouted at me as we both struggled, swiping each other's hands away.
"I'm Nathan Kouji of Sadowara! And I'm here to stop yo-", as he landed a swift right hook that connected to my cheek, knocking me unconscious.