Chapter 1: After the Flash

Was it a nightmare? That must be it; I'm actually still in my bed, soon I'll be waking up, and I'll prepare for school just as any normal day. I'm smelling the breakfast waiting for me while my mother is coming to my room to wake me up. Gradually, the smell of ashes and burn replaces that of breakfast. As I'm regaining consciousness, I become aware of the situation.

— "Nayumi... Nayumi, are you okay?"
— "Y... Yes... what was that just now? I saw a great flash and then nothing."
— "Yeah, me too; it looks like something serious happened outside."

The debris from the ceiling fell beside us. Fortunately, none of us were hurt. It was a little miracle that both of us escaped what could have led us to certain death.
We decided to gather our courage and look outside. We walk towards the staircase while the crackling walls and ceiling force us to speed up. The adrenaline I felt at this moment was probably the most powerful feeling I've ever felt in my entire life.

When we finally arrived at the staircase, we were reassured that the stairs were still practicable. In my mind, I thanked the school for building this basement with cement. However, the frail wooden that is supposed to open to the corridor didn't have this chance. It was lying at our feet at the bottom of the stairs. For a door to fly over several meters so easily, what could have possibly happened outside?

— "Iori, should we really go upstairs? Wouldn't that be a better idea to call for help?"
— "You're right; that could be dangerous. Let's call the firefighters and wait for them here while we're safe."

We pick up our phones at the same time, only to realize there is no more network.

— "No network, what should we do?"
— "I guess there's no other choice than going upstairs to see what happened."
— "Okay, I'll follow you."

We started to climb the stairs not without fear. Climbing each step as if we were on the verge of death. Eventually, we arrived where the wooden door should have been standing.

— "Okay, it may be even more dangerous from now, so we better make sure we stay together."

When I turn my back to see Nayumi, I notice her hands are shaking. Of course, this is an unusual situation we're dealing with; I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid myself. 

— "Let's hold hands so we won't separate."
— "Sure..."

We finally crossed the doorstep only to see a landscape of despair. The school buildings were completely demolished, nothing to see but ruins all around us. Never in my life, I thought I would see such a disaster.
While I'm regaining my senses, I feel pressure around my hand. Nayumi was still holding it like she was holding on dear life. She was trembling from head to toe; I would prefer not to imagine what was passing through her head right now. 

Should I try to reassure her? Wouldn't she become even more stressed if she sees how afraid I am?
Seeing her on the verge of crying convinced me to try anything possible to protect her.

— "Nayumi, are you okay? Look at me! Are you okay?"

As she struggles to make a sound, I have the reflex hug her to try to calm her down.

— "Thank you Iori, I'm okay now. I'm still just a bit shocked by what's happening right now. Tell me it's not real. Tell me it's a nightmare."

Of course, any mentally sane person would try to convince himself this is not the reality. Yet I must get her back to it, or it would be even more disastrous for her to understand later.

— "Listen to me, Nayumi, this is not a nightmare. You're not in your bed but in what's supposed to be our school. This is reality. Believe me, I'm afraid too, but I won't let us go down; I will try anything possible to make us return home safely. So please... help me."

Looking her in the eyes with our hands shaking was not the most convincing setup to say this. But given the situation, it's already great I could make her not sink into despair.

After we finally calmed down, we moved, intending to reach our houses and families. As both our houses are located behind the mountain, we hoped there would be someone waiting for us there.
We began to advance through what was still a corridor 1 hour ago, trying to avoid the debris and half molten metal bars littering the ground. But what was the most difficult to endure was the deadly silence that frightened us more and more as we walked.
Suddenly, Nayumi broke that silence with a scream.

— "Nayumi, are you okay?"
— "Th... there..."

Looking in the direction she was pointing to; my gaze stopped dead. A burned corpse was lying there. In fact, it was so burned that we couldn't recognize who it was. Its face was erased, probably because of the blast we felt moments ago. This blast must have been extremely powerful and hot, judging by the state of this corpse. I was so disgusted by the view that I threw up. Nayumi was crouching as if she was giving in, ready to disappear from this hell world.

— "Let's not stay there!"

I picked Nayumi up by pulling her arm and started to run as far as we can go. On our way, other corpses were to be seen. They must be those of the students and teachers of the school. Just thinking about it made me want to throw up again.

Eventually, we arrived at the gates. The school was built on a mountain, so we had an overview of the city from where we were. Unfortunately, there was no city anymore. It was just flat ground to the sea that was multiple kilometers away. The only unleveled land we could see was a big hole in the middle of the city with burning ashes rubbles inside of it.

— "What happened to the city? What is this supposed to mean?"

As I was contemplating the disastrous landscape that used to be the island I lived in, I finally realized nothing would be like before anymore. We had to resign ourselves. All we can do was moving forward and try to reach for our houses as fast as possible.

We began to go down the hill where our school was built. The sakura trees that were so firmly standing on the sides of the road were all burned, lying on the ground.
The once covered of petals pink-colored road turned to black. Moreover, a stench of burning was assaulting our nostrils. Actually, it was so strong we were literally crying.

— "We should cover our noses. There could be some hazardous gases."

There is no way a normal high schooler would say this, but it was not a normal situation anymore. We were not in a Japanese city anymore but on a battlefield.

— "Do you have a mask?"
— "I don't."
— "No big deal, let's use our shirts' sleeves."

Immediately I began to tear one of my sleeves off to cover my face with. I helped Nayumi by tearing her own sleeve for her to be safe as well.

— "Alright, it's a bit rudimentary, but that should do it. There's a military base near here. We should go there to try to find some help or at least get mask gas."

We are in Okinawa, an island covered with American military bases. There is no way we would not be able to find gas masks here. If we were lucky, we could even meet people or soldiers to help us.
Of course, given our school's state, there was no guarantee that the base was not razed as well. But deep down, I hoped that was not the case.
At this point, hope was all we had. If we lost it, we would basically be giving in our lives.

We resumed our journey to the base. We were at dusk now, and the absence of functional public lighting made our path more difficult to distinguished. Certainly, we could use our phones to light up our way if we wanted, but the batteries being limited, we decided it was better not to use them.
We kept following the road, or the memory we had of it when we eventually arrived down the hill. Finally, we reached the city... or what's left. There was nothing anymore except flying dust, reducing our visibility greatly. But we could not stop there; it would be too dangerous; the night is still chill at this time of the year. So we decided to continue, the weak glow of the moon being our only source of light.

— "If I remember well, the base is supposed to be about 5 kilometers from here."
— "It's cold already. Let's hurry."

Indeed, the temperature must be below 20°C now, and to make things worse; the buildings did not stop the cold wind since they were all demolished.
We kept moving forward a bit before finally resigning ourselves. It was too risky to continue when we could not see more than 5 meters ahead. We decided to take cover behind wall debris to at least protect ourselves from the wind gusts.

— "We can't go any further; let's wait for the morning to come here. You should try to sleep; I'll be on guard."
— "No, it will be too dangerous for you if you lack sleep; let's take rounds."
— "No, you should spare yourself; tomorrow will be a rough day."
— "As you should."

Seeing the determination in Nayumi's eyes, I give in and accept her proposition.
After some minutes, as none of us were in the mood to sleep, we started to chat.

— "Iori, I wanted to tell you I'm so relieved that you're here with me. I don't think I could deal with all of this alone."
— "That's the same for me. I'm was afraid when we were still at school, but knowing that you're here with me makes me want to go through this no matter what awaits us."
— "You know, you were so detached at school that I thought you were just a weird guy I shouldn't interact with too much. I'm happy to know that you're not so weird."
— "Haha, I'm still a human. I just used to live in my own world."

I can't blame her for thinking that. I was indeed only interested in my own comfort back then. All that mattered for me was not spending too much energy on what I thought was futile.

Eventually, Nayumi fell asleep. Leaving me alone in the darkness of the night.

Pff... that was a long day. It's not like in video games and series at all...

Never in my life would I have thought I would live such an adventure. Nobody would be prepared enough to experience something like this.
Turning my gaze to Nayumi, I started to shed tears. It was a relief from all the events I lived through until now. All these horrible scenes that kept coming before my eyes.

She looks so pure and beautiful when she's sleeping. If only the world would be like her.

The piercing sound of the wind and the clouds of dust are the only things troubling the angelic sight before me. Suddenly a hole formed in the dust cloud for the moonlight to pass through. At this moment, I wished the time would stop and never resume.

In the end, maybe it's better for us to die right now.

I'm already so tired of trying. Eventually, fatigue catches me and, failing at my promise, I fall asleep, only aspiring that everything would be back to usual when I wake up.