Freaking out

A red cat lays on a sun bench watching still ocean reflect the image of stars rain down from the milky sky. The sound of piano plays a mellow tune.

A figure in black armor appears on the water surface.

"Bro, did you really stay here all day?"

The armor has a clear boyish voice. He turned off the metallic sound filter out of preference.

The cat turned to him silently.

The armor got to the point:

"It happened, like you said. That's the third one you got right... Are we all really going to die?"

"T-technically..."

The cat paused to compose itself.

"No one -- no one lives forever."

"Not cute, bro. You know what I mean. We're talking about humanity here. It's just going to stop like that? That's hard. I just can't see it happening."

"I..."

[Have you woken up to a dream where you know what happened but you cannot remember them happening?]

The cat gave up on speaking and switched to conveying its thoughts through text, with incredible speed.

"You already told me about this. Why are you bring this up?"

[Reminder, I guess. It's like that

[I don't remember what happened in my premonitions but the idea of what happened stayed with me

[The dragon

[The screams

[The demons

[The madness

[The magic

[Our extermination.]

"I don't get it, bro. So do you think we're all going to die?"

[Yes]

"Shit! What do we do?"

[Kiss your parents]

"Be serious bro."

[Serious

[Your parents are okay.

[Me, I should talk to CC, but don't wanna]

"I'm freaking out, bro."

[I get it

[Rose told me some stuff even though there's nothing concrete yet

[Maybe you want to try it]

"What is it?"

[Don't look at the dragon

[Don't listen to people talking about it

[Also, focus on your studies. Ecological science, right?]

"Economics..."

The cat paused, not realizing what kind of reaction it made.

"What? What's wrong with economics?"

[Not a relevant field

[Better than playing with psychology, but still studying things people made up]

"Bro, you're baiting. If you're going that far, science is also made up. Yea, Rose also caught me with this stupid lecture. I know how it is"

[You got it

[You're fucked]

Another figure appears on the water surface.

"Good evening, Pervie, Blackie"

The woman wearing only intricate tattoo markings speaks with a pretentious tone, their voice transformed out what was something closer to a baritone.

"Hey, Nasu"

The two replied casually.

"Okay, so, Pervie's predictions are coming true. I didn't personally hear the screams but I've seen the stories. I also checked with my sister and she said that she heard them."

"Yea, we were just talking about this. Bro says we're all fucked."

"I still don't believe the predictions, you know. They are literally just hunches you have. We don't even know why these things are happening -- how these things are happening. How can everyone just die like that?

"For all we know... whatever, I'mma hop on Island. Mao-Mao will be on at seven, feel free to join in."

"I'll go with you now"

"Pass. I'm still freaking out here. Have to jerk off while Ma's out."

The walking armor called Blackie disappears from this world.

A boy takes the headpiece off his face. His name is Leno, or Blackphase.

Leno is in a room filled with various ACG merch. He places his VR headset next to the small statue of Mao-Mao on his desk.

Leno gathered the stuff he needed, lotion and paper and such, and sat his bare ass on his soft chair. He checked if his door is locked before he put on his headphones and his happytime show.

Leno felt an instinctual chill creep up his legs. He felt his heart dropping step by step down to his stomach. He felt the air behind him stagnate. A shadow loomed over him.

Leno found himself stiff frozen. He couldn't will his head to turn around and see what is happening -- if there was anything behind him.

Leno could feel warm breath brush against his ears. Something was whispering to him. No words were spoken.

The sound grows bigger and bigger in his head, until he remembers where he heard it from. The sound pops inside him.

Warm liquid flows down Leno's legs.

"Ah shit!"

Leno's body jerked as he freed himself from whatever spell he was under. Even still, he could not stop the flow. Using his hands only made the mess bigger...

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit--"

So Leno gave up and waited until he depletes his reserves.

"Shit shit shit shit..."

Leno wiped off his mess, and gathered the stained article in a pile to throw into the washer later.

A trending anime song plays. Someone is calling Leno's phone.

"Hello, Ma?"

"I'll be late tonight. Go get a Take-Out."

"Okay, but why? Did something happen?"

"Oh, I didn't think to call you sooner. Did you hear the dragon scream? Feeling ill?"

Leno heard a pleasant tingle in his head as he makes the connection between this bizarre global phenomenon and his personal episode.

Then he remembered his little accident which pushed him out of his daze.

"No, no, I'm fine. I heard it. It just made me spill my drink."

"Well, you know how to clean that up. Anyway, there's been an accident involving some people who heard so I'm staying to deal with a few things."

"Do you have to -- does it have to be Ma?"

"What kind of question is that? Is there something I have deal with at home, Leno?"

"No -- nothing, Ma. It's just that you don't have to do extra work, right?"

The other person paused.

"It doesn't have to be me, but I can do it and I'm already here. Whatever, I said what I have to. You can feed yourself. Love you."

The call ends.

Leno remembers the conversation he had with Luka earlier. A known sensation gnaws at his stomach. There are a few things he cannot accept, but Luka is right in one regard.

Leno's phone flashed to notify him of a text message he just received.

[I forgot to mention, don't go outside too much. I think it has something to do with the people getting sick. I notice the people getting sick go outside to smoke. Don't smoke either or I'll kill you myself.]

Leno swiped away from the message without responding and started to browse for a meal to order.

Eight comes.

Leno wakes up not realizing he fell asleep while idling after he finished everything, his meal and all. There was a moment when he felt like he could never calm down. He already forgot how he did it, but his heart is at peace, at least for the next few minutes.

Leno looked through his phone to see if he missed anything while he was out.

Nothing.

Leno felt alone in the glow of his monitor. Mao-Mao and friends are still on Island performing along their idea of what a good time is.

Everyone there should know by now that the world is ending.

Everyone will die. Not in the sense that everyone will eventually meet their end according to their fate, but also in that very sense, depending on what one believes.

The collective humanity will end in a year's time, more or less.

It doesn't make sense.

A prediction has to be based on something. A collection of data that shows a trend of something happening. A directed effort to achieve a certain result. A basic assumption with an understanding of cause and effect.

How can anyone correctly predict the appearance of the dragon -- a thing that shouldn't even exist -- a thing that apparently doesn't even really exist?

Now, even people like Leno, people who didn't receive the gift of foresight can imagine how the future will unfold. They can imagine how the world will end based on what they have already experienced.

"Oh yea, guys did you hear 'that' earlier?"

Mao-Mao's boyish voice cannot disguise the fact that she's a girl.

Leno's thoughts snapped back to his friend's stream.

"Don't--"

The naked man with a cat head, Catrovert, interjects.

"Sorry, sorry, I just thought of something."

"Text me."

"Done. So what do you guys think about the new AI they released in Turtlesand?"

The discussion continues.

Leno missed the fact that it already happened. He wasn't watching the matter closely. It's not an important matter. But he can't help feeling like he's being left behind.

Leno's phone flashes. He also received Mao-Mao's text messages. She sent in over group chat instead of just to Luka.

[I heard the scream!

[Everyone was being really creepy about the dragon thing, I thought I was going INSANE!

[But I get it now. That's a really big eye on that dragon.

[It's more like an evil eye, really \( (.) )/]