Chapter 4:

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Re:Hero − Escaping Life in Another World

Dokun—Dokun.
…
Dokun—Dokun.
…
Dokun—Dokun..

Before there is light, there is only this: Dokun—Dokun.

The interval between worlds.

Two existences. Two hearts. Sometimes, they were in sync. Other times, not quite. But they were always tethered.

It’s warm here. Dark and heavy. Soft and submerged. Water from all sides. Thick, amniotic fluid. It cradled them.

It seeped into their lungs, yet they didn't drown. No breath was needed in this place—not in the space between the return.

He twisted his limbs—she twisted hers. He wiggled his toes—and she could do the same. They couldn’t see, but there was nothing to see anyway. They couldn’t hear, but there was not much need for it. Only the dokuns which kept them tethered.

For many months, there was nothing.

And for many weeks, nothing more. Only the space around them grew ever tighter.

And for many days, the world continued to press inwards.

Until, one moment, the dokuns gave way to something else—

thump.

Thump.

THUMP.

A thread pulled loose, and raw mana seeped in. Unfiltered mana. Odd—this is where life and soul interlace. Tiny vessels shivered, then tiny vessels began to move.

The gates within opened just enough, revealing a new realm.

There was no warning. No farewell.

He left first—crossing the thinning veil. And when he did, instantly, sound flooded in. A white brilliant light blinded his tiny eyes.

Plastic bracelets. Fluorescent lights. Vinyl floors. It was cold—and bright—and confusing. It was all too much, all at once. He could only cry.

She was next, and her tears soon joined his. She cried because he cried. This realm was too real.

The unseen hands that held them, held them tighter.

"Welcome," a warm figure said. "You're safe now."

✦✦

They were born minutes apart. Inseparable.

They cried together. Laughed together. Dreamt together.

But time has a way of undoing tethers.

✦✦

“You did it, Seiichi-samaaaa!” a bubbly voice squeaked. “The Demon Queen is vanquished!”

From the meadows, a barefoot girl burst through the shoots of tall, golden weeds. She twirled without reason, her semi-translucent skirt spinning wildly. The soles of her feet were smothered by fresh dirt.

He didn't look up.

A worn DS was grasped in his hands, stylus dragging through the same save menu of a game he’d restarted three times this month and never once finished. He didn’t even know why. He just liked the loop. Attacking the same demon boss over and over.

But anything was better than listening to her obnoxious voice.

“I said ‘you did it!’” She huffed, plopping beside him. “You’re supposed to fall dramatically and collapse into my arms. That’s how the finale usually goes, right?”

“Whatever,” he muttered, eyes still on the little smudged DS screen.

“You're so boring.”

“No,” he sighed. “I’m tired."

She looked at him for a moment, then down at his game, before puffing her cheeks and tilting her head. “This is why they never let you romance the elf girl.”

“I wouldn’t anyway.”

“I’d pick the cat,” she said, flicking his shoulder. “Nekomimi forever!”

She meowed in jest.

“Oh yeah—” she lit up, fishing a cracked, pink phone from her skirt pocket, the glitter case dangling by a broken corner, “—I saw this cat earlier near the footpath. Sooo chonky!” She texted something. “I’ll send you pics.”

He groaned, collapsing into the grass. “Please don't.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I don't even want to be here.”

“Mom said you had to,” she said, pressing send. “Besides, you were becoming too weird. Always some place else with your face buried your games or whatever.”

He didn’t follow. Instead, he reached for a manga from a pile beside him and began flipping through. The girl slouched in defeat. Her gaze drifted past him into the rustling sea of yellow grass. “Oh—there it is again!”

“What is?”

“The cat!” she shouted. “I’ll be back!” she shouted.

The girl stood up—and ran off.

But he couldn't be bothered. He turned a page. Then another. The chirping of birds rose and waned with the warm winds which carried in from the hills, bending the reeds in long, lazy sways. His thumb tapped at the DS. The owl-beast just sat there in its capsule. He wondered what he'd name it. Something dumb. Something no one would ever say out loud.

It was only when sky began to burn an orange hue in the reflection of his DS screen that he'd realized the obnoxious voice hadn't spoken in awhile. He sat up.

“…Hey,” he called.

But there was no answer. Only the sound of the rustling weeds and heavy chirring of evening insects. He frowned. Closed his manga and slid the DS into his pocket.

He tried again: “Hey!”

Still nothing.

He stood. Slowly at first, then moving faster, each step parting the tall grass that blushed gold beneath the setting sun. His legs brushed through the tall grass, now cast orange by the late sun.

“You idiot, where are you?!” he called. Even louder this time.

Yet still, no reply.

Eventually his brisk pace gave way to a desperate run, spinning around in every direction, waiting for her to reappear.

But she never did.

And there, in a little opening in the meadow, he saw—

A cracked, pink phone wrapped in a glittery case. It was submerged in the black dirt.

He picked it up. It was cold.

“Nyamo…” His breath caught. “NYAMO!!”

Only the grass whispered back. It spoke of the answers he could never understand.

Silence followed.