Beyond Escape

Below was the sound of chaos, civilians murmuring, unchaste gossiping, and shrieking pleas. The girl from above paid them no mind, as her own was spinning with morbid satisfaction.

They said your memories reflect before your own eyes when you die. For her, these memories came in pieces, like shards and glass confetti, a refraction of pink and yellow light, like with one sliver-moment shining from the cascades, where she found herself looking at her past.

"What is the meaning of life?" It was a reflection of her child self, questioning her mere existence. She once thought it was a profound one-liner, a rhetorical ask that left philosophers questioning.

Now, though, as she fell from the school rooftop, she found herself murmuring, "It doesn't have a meaning at all."

Sure, life is all about a million things, but it doesn't exactly have any meaning. To live is to have a purpose, to have something to live for, and yet...

Kichi Arinaki doesn't have something to live for anymore.

So, she embraced the fleeting moments of her past; those images slipping and fading as fast as they came, mocking her for what happened, yet relieving her for all the pain she'll finally be able to escape from. She's falling into darkness and accepted it.

She felt featherlight when she closed her eyes.

And then she opened her eyes again.

The floor beneath her was rising and falling, swiftly moving. It felt like she was riding in something. Why is she still alive?

Slowly, Kichi tried raising her hands and stared at them, then looked around. She's sitting inside an almost empty, brownish-red train. From beside her, though a bit too far, an old man wearing a hospital robe was silently staring at the night view through the window. Parallel to him, two children were holding hands, with the older one whispering probably words of assurance to the younger. Next to them was a woman in a work outfit, crying soundlessly.

At this point, Kichi's nonchalant composure melted away. It was confusing. Isn't she supposed to be dead? And if she somehow lived—which wasn't likely to happen— isn't she supposed to be in a hospital? Unless a train is now a hospital room, this isn't it.

She felt tired yet alert, panicked yet calm, and utterly conflicted. Why is she on a train? And who are these people beside her?

The train suddenly halted, and its whistle blew loudly, breaking Kichi out of her reverie. Another one of the transports slid noisily, stopping just right beside hers. "We have stopped at SCOD9012 station. Thank you for riding the astral train," an echoing, mechanical voice announced.

"Huh, astral train..." Kichi murmured for the first time. "Sounds... otherworldly."

The doors opened with a soft whoosh. The old man tilted his head over, then immediately walked out as if he was just going on his usual day. The children hesitantly followed right after, glancing around them, one even stared at Kichi yet looked away immediately. The other passenger, the woman in work clothes, stayed there unmoving.

What will happen if she follows the others? Well, one way to find out is to go...

Kichi reluctantly stepped out of the train, warily looking around the dark place. Then, as if the world warped, a silhouette of a beige platform loomed into the nightly view.

It was pure chaos; steam billowed from the other train's engines, piercing whistles echoed, white-clothed children ran around, people whispered, cried, and laughed. It felt just like a normal noisy night on the railroad, except that something felt strange.

And despite it looking normal, this definitely isn't normal! Kichi was past the confusion state, now she went full-on analyzing mode. She's on a platform with a lot of people. Before this, she... died. But then she woke up in this strange place. And that only meant one thing...

Isekai.

Right, she must be isekai'd! This odd platform resembled the beginning of an isekai plot of an anime about an overpowered main character she always watched back at home. A jumpy conclusion, but a reasonable assumption nonetheless. Better than a coma theory... maybe.

The prospect of a new life in another world made Kichi ecstatic, especially now that she can reset whatever mistakes she's done in her past. The question is... is she whoever she is right now?

Kichi stared at her arms, pale and thin, despite the sleeved cloth of her uniform. From beneath, she could make out the faint red marks on her wrist. Her school uniform, huh... she's still wearing her black skirt. She tried combing her short black hair, still a bit rough from all those recent hair falls. Maybe it's just the same as before?

She found herself slightly disappointed about just being herself. Well, you can't possibly have all the joys of life. At least she's somewhere else now, far away from the stinking world she so despised.

Her stomach fell at the thought. What if this is just the same as before too? What if this'll end miserably as well? Heck, what if she's just having delusions right now, and her body is in the hospital being revived? No, she couldn't—

"KYAAAAAAAAH!" A woman suddenly screamed as a loud crash broke her out of the bad thoughts.

"Nyahaha! We finally got free, Onee! Ah, these losers won't stand a chance on me now! Time for my most awaited comeback!"

"Now, now, Imou. Don't be too excited. After all, haven't everyone who missed us dearly grown too wary~?"

Kichi swiftly turned to look at the commotion. Towards the exit were two women attacking passersby with a strange imperceptible force. Judging by their almost identical faces and clothes, they must be sisters.

Both of them were dressed in black full robes long enough to trip in, outlined with an ominous bloody red color. How unoriginal, they look like a generic witch villain that could easily be brought down by the protagonist.

Villains... this just piles up the evidence that Kichi really got transported into another world! But right now, this isn't important... with the crowd running in her direction, she has to take cover!

Quickly looking around, she hid behind a nearby fruit stall— while wondering why there's even a fruit stall in the middle of a train station— and observed them from far away. Maybe it's unwise, but she felt like she could learn more about the world from this fiasco.

The taller of the two must be more experienced, hurling large debris from the fallen building with the same invisible force she seemed to control with her open palm. The smaller, however, is focused on causing mayhem in the crowd. She attacked ruthlessly with her fists, and her poor victims fell unconscious immediately. Hopefully not dead.

So magic does exist here... a complicated and dangerous one at that. How could these two even be defeated? If Kichi were to pass by, she might get obliterated immediately! Those unlucky victims... she could only dream of helping them.

Hmm, helping them, huh... why would she dream of helping them at all? It's not like she owes... "if" magic does exist here, doesn't that mean she has one too? This situation might be a moment of self-discovery, and maybe she could do something at least...

No, no. What if she messes up? What if she doesn't even have magic to begin with? Wouldn't it be awful to spend the last seconds of her new life being slapped by a witch after blurting out random embarrassing magic words?

Before she could do anything else, however, a woman's voice suddenly emanated from behind. "Whatcha doin' there thinkin' like ol' Sherlock'? Ahh, don'tcha worry, imma help ya with that, just lemme hit you up reaaal quick~"

Kichi turned immediately. Another one of the witch sisters was standing in front of her, wearing a crazed smile and their terrible fashion sense. She instinctively backed away, but her knees stumbled on their way and she was left only sitting in that very place, open and vulnerable.

Her breath stuttered in her throat as she felt the hapless pounding of her ears. There's another! So there's the tall one, the medium, and the short... this situation is scary. It's becoming ridiculous! Is dying by "magic" painless at least?!

No, no, she's not going to surrender this new life that quick! This world has the cool fantasy elements, and it's something to live for at least! She ought to think of something, to do something, and not just stare while shaking like a leaf!

Kichi raised her hand and pointed it in front of the villain like what the tall witch did earlier, then blurted out the first thing she had on her mind, "W-water...!"

The witch stared at her, confused. "What the f—"

A massive glow of (color whatever) bloomed just right beside the enemy and almost immediately, a blast of water came rushing on her. It blasted her into the very end of the wall, curved to the right, then hit the other two unsuspecting witches like a violent, horizontal waterfall.

Kichi stared at the now-unconscious villains, then gaped at her trembling hands. Did she... do that? Is she that powerful? That's just... aren't they dead now?! This is definitely an overpowered ability, the magic that came rushing from her adrenaline!

"Ah, that was sooo close!" a girl sighed in relief just right beside Kichi, causing her to flinch.

Maybe not.

The new girl had long, navy blue hair and eyes, her grin full of easy grace and confidence. She wiped her fairly sweating hands on her clothes; a breezy (color) ruffled dress that only reached her thighs, with a large white and blue bow in the front.

"Don't be too hostile, I'm not an enemy!" she said jokingly as she felt Kichi's stare, "Good thing I was there, else you'd be sliced up like an English breakfast in no time!"

The girl idly played with droplets of water with her hands, nothing more than boasting about what Kichi can't do. She then beamed from whatever figure behind Kichi. "Oh, of course, you deserve some credit too, Kam. What with your portal and all."

Kichi nervously turned around, not liking the idea of someone sneaking up behind her. Sure enough, a tall guy stood, smiling at her apologetically. Judging from his green jersey and calm gaze, he looked quite mild-mannered and scholarly, probably even harmless, unless he started to quote Aristotle between debates about veganism.

"If only you weren't tripping all the way here, then we would've come earlier, Sue," Kam sighed. He approached the unconscious witch and checked for vital signs. "She's still breathing. Call the detainers. Her favorite cell's already waiting for her in jail."

The so-called Sue saluted. "Aye aye, captain!" she waved in front of the portal-like floating projection— where her water magic came from— and as if on cue, several uniformed people started coming out of it. Kam led them towards the unconscious witches and started fixing everything up.

Kichi only stared. This is certainly... odd. Oddly exciting, at that. So magic really does exist here in this world. And it's interesting... but she can't help thinking that something may be amiss. Something wrong maybe... She let out a forceful breath, rolling the tension off her shoulders.

The past is past. Nothing more but a burden to finally let go of now with her new life in a new world! It's supposed to be fun! So why was she still feeling unnerved?

Sue eventually noticed her and mistook her nervousness for confusion. "Oh right, right! Sorry for being a bit too busy. But you can't help but feel admired by me, huh?" she smirked and summoned water droplets from her palm, "No need to praise me! I know I'm so darn cool."

So the water splash thing really wasn't from her. Now, that just felt so... sad. Yet another memory to store in her cringe archive to overthink about...

Kichi sucked in a sharp breath. "I apologize for being unhelpful and uhm..." for being embarrassing as well, she couldn't say. "T-thanks so much!"

Sue laughed abruptly that she had to slap a hand over her mouth to quieten herself. "Nah, no worries!" she said just after, unaware of Kichi's judgmental gaze. "As long as no one's harmed, then everything's a-okay!"

Then she turned serious, and ominously, she questioned, "Now, I can tell... you're new here, right? And from SCOD9012 no less..."

From SCOD9012? That must be the train she woke up in earlier, judging by the announcement. But what does it mean? Why does it sound like some sort of forbidden code? What is this platform for anyway? What is this place?

"Where," Kichi began, feeling the nervous tingles from her spine, "am I?"

Looking surprised, Sue sheepishly looked around. "Oh boy, where should I begin?" she mumbled, desperately eyeing Kam's busy figure beside her. After a few moments of contemplation, she resolutely answered, "Well, you probably knew about this already, huh? Judging by your death code."

Kichi frowned. "What?"

"Miss whatsitsname, you... died by suicide, and you're now stuck in the astral world for redemption."