"Where am I?"

Reow! A car zoomed by, far exceeding the speed limit. As I looked towards it, I was blinded by a flashing light shifting from red to blue. A policeman was pursuing the car which had just passed me. The wind created by the passing car caused my bangs to fly into my eyes. The same wind also caused a section of my loose violet shirt to flap off my body, but my ocean coloured jeans held firm. Turning away, I simply let out a sigh, trying to let my eyes recover. After a few moments of being stopped on the concrete, I finally continued walking, uncertain of where I was going.

I kept my gaze downwards towards the sidewalk. I didn’t want anyone to make eye contact with me. I’m so tired. The thought echoed around my head, blaring in my ears. I looked around to see where I was I started, only to be met with lights which shined far brighter than any star in the sky. The bright lights plastered around everything, be it signs for advertising, buildings, even trees. Finally able to see a street sign, I got my bearings and understood where I was.

As I began to turn my gaze back to the sidewalk, I accidentally made eye contact with a woman across the street. Quickly I flicked my head in the opposite direction and towards the ground, causing what felt like whiplash. I started walking away and picked up my pace.

“That guy was such a creep.” Two girls laughed at one another as they passed by me on the sidewalk.

I increased my pace even more till it felt like I was doing a light jog, rather than competitive speed walking. Getting a decent distance from them, I began to realize they most likely were not talking about me, but rather making idle conversations about their lives. The embarrassment had stained me red.

I should be almost home, I think. When will I get a raise? I’ve been following all the rules and making sure all my work is handed in on time. Actually, I probably won’t ever get one. My senior keeps taking all the credit for my work and I can’t bring it up with anyone since I’m scared of what‘ll happen. I’ve heard people get kicked out of the companies they work in when they make justified complaints, as they are “disturbing the peace of the office”. This realization made me simply hang my head and give up.

I hit a hard wall and got pushed off it.

“What the hell are you doing?” The wall asked me. Wait, maybe this wasn’t a wall.

I looked up to check, and it indeed did seem to be a person. I swiftly apologised and just as swiftly ran away from him, entering an alleyway to hopefully get away without any more trouble. However, in the alley way I ran into something shady happening.

“Aw, looks like a stranger seemed to have walked into the wrong part of town.” The man spoke playfully.

“Umm, no I-I-I--.” I couldn’t get the words out.

“Haha, he’s shaking like a leaf. What’s your name?” The man laughed, prodding me.

“H-h-h-h-hibiki End-d-dou, sir.”

“Interesting name.”

“I swear I’ll tell no one what I saw.”

“Yeah I believe you. But just as extra insurance.” He spoke with a grin coming across his face.

I feel something sharp enter my stomach, causing my body to begin losing heat. The sheer terror of the situation kept me standing for mere moments, until my mind had finally processed what had happened. The cold metal brushing up against the inside of my stomach made the situation come into full view. As he finally pulls the blade out of my abdomen, I fall to the ground.

The man began to run away along with the person he had been dealing with. Crimson began coming into my field of vision as the heat inside my body drained quicker and quicker. The red was sticky to touch, and stained not only my skin, but the ground as well. So this is it thenーI’m dying. I never got to do anything. All I did was keep my head down and avoid trouble and all that got me was more trouble. Why couldn’t I have done something different?

“Hack!” A large cough came out of my mouth, bringing more blood with it. The sight of it made me quiver with more fear. I guess in the end I’m still a coward. This was the final thought I had before I had finally blacked out.

A strong light blazed into my eye.

“Even when I’m dead the stupid sunlight won’t leave me alone when I wake up.” I spoke aloud. Hold on a second. Sunlight? I tried opening my eyes and to my surprise I had awoken in a completely different place, surrounded by a large field. As I tried standing, my legs chose not to cooperate, leaving me to stumble over due to how much they had been shaking.

I speedily put my hand to my stomach trying to find the wound, but to turn up with nothing, not even blood. I tried checking my hands to see if the stains of blood on them had remained, but once again nothing. I tried coughing into my sleeve and while my throat was dry, still nothing. My legs, having regained some confidence, allowed me to stand. I looked around trying to make out anything, but there was only a field.

I guess my best bet is to try walking and seeing if I can find anything. I started with an awkward limp as my feet were still not ready to move at full capacity. The field was full of yellow wheat. Well I’m not completely sure of what it is, but it probably means I’m close to a farm.

A great big grumble came from my stomach, the noise of which would only be matched by lions. I need something to eat soon or I’ll die again, I thought. Actually, come to think of it, did I even die? I tried to piece together the mysterious circumstance of my body and my location. Before I could further think about it, a bright red, ripe, large, sphere came into view, growing from a vine. Its juicy appearance made me lose any trace of myself as I made a mad dash for them in hopes they would quell my hunger.

Some sharper blade of wheat cut into my legs along the way. I could feel the pain permeate through my body, but that couldn’t stop my dash, as now the hunger had been in control of my body. Upon reaching the vines I grabbed three of the juicy fruits, and ate them at a pace which could be deemed a world record. After regaining some sense of self, I kept eating but slowed my pace considerably, savouring each bite.

“What the heck are ya doin’?” A man in overalls questioned while pointing a pitchfork at me.

“I’m sorry sir, I was just so hungry.” I tried explaining.

“What’s yer name son?”

“It’s um, Hibiki. Hibiki Endou.”

“Now I’ve seen it all. A noble, eating my tomatoes like a beast?”

“What? Noble? No, I’m just an ordinary guy. Would you please accept my apology?”

“So yer a liar, huh? No, that ain’t enough to get ya out of this. With clothes as colourful as that, there ain’t no way ya ain’t rich. Yer a spy aren’t ya? I’m calling the guard. Come with me!”

I turned around as fast as I could and began making a dash, but before I could reach my top speed, a sharp metal point penetrated into my Achilles. This pain combined with that from the wheat caused me to completely fall over, grabbing my foot in pain.

“It hurts, it hurts!” I cried out loudly. The man grabbed my arm and began dragging me through the field, destroying far more crops than I had. As he dragged me through the entire field, my body began accumulating cuts and scrapes the whole way through. By the time we had finally reached the destination, my entire body had gone numb from the extreme pain. He threw me on the hardened dirt, causing the numbness to fade and be replaced with more pain. “It hurts!” I cried once again.

“This feller was on my fields destroyin’ all ma crops. You think he’s another spy? We’ve gotten a lot of thems hidin’ out in the fields after they cross the border.” The farmer said.

“Looks like it to me. What kind of spy would wear blue and purple anyways? Gives them away instantly. We’ll take it from here.” A man with a helmet spoke with a raspy voice.

He pushed me from my side to my back, forcing me to make eye contact with him. His helmet shined due to reflecting the setting light. A grin appeared across his face. The grin on his face reminded me of the person who had stabbed me. Oh no. This is definitely bad. I then blacked out from all the pain.