Prologue

[Do you like —]

"What the—where did this come from?"

Yamada becomes enraged.

"I was one kill away from a six-kill streak. Damn it!"

He moves his cursor quickly towards the red cross 'X' and clicks it.

He closes the notification window which appeared suddenly on his PC. Rolls his shoulders, cracks his neck, and leans back into his gamer posture, eyes narrowing as the match reloads.

[Do you like —]

"Again?!" His voice cracks with frustration.

"Of all the times for a pop-up to appear this… fuck it!" He clicks the red cross again, closes the window, and restarts the game.

[Do you like—]

"I’ve had enough of this! I haven't even opened a browser, yet why this!" Yamada yells at the monitor.

"Yamada! Stop shouting at that game and do your homework!"

Not this old fart again, he thought with an enraged look on his face.

"Okay, Mom!" he shouts back with fake obedience.

He closes the dialog box again on his screen, clicks on the game client aggressively and reloads the game again.

"Man, this sucks. I was this close to a new record kill streak. But, this freaking notification—"

His hand freezes on the mouse as he looks at the bottom right corner of his screen.

"—wait a second... I have 'Do Not Disturb' on then how is a window even forcing itself over the game?"

[Do you like the white room?]

***

"Cops discovered the body of 19 year old Yamada Watanabe covered in blood this morning, surrounded by a scene of incomprehensible violence. Investigators are currently analyzing a single, disturbing video he streamed live to the internet shortly before his death. While the evidence points to a self-inflicted tragedy, still questions remain. Why would a healthy young boy do such a thing? Was it the pressure of his family life, or was someone else pulling the strings?"

Same old PTSD suicide cases on the news, he thinks. He turns off the TV, and the screen fades into black.

Man, what a way to start the day, he checks his watch.

"Shit, I’m gonna be late for my shift. Takeda is going to scold me again."

He sits up from his chair and goes to the washroom.

He splashes cold water on his face and pats his skin dry with a towel and walks back into the living room, reaching for the light switch. Click.

"Huh?" Click-click.

Click-click-click. He turns the switch on and off multiple times but nothing happens.

"Aw, come on! What happened to the lights?!"

His eyes land on a red envelope which he picked from his apartment’s mailbox and tossed aside earlier.

He tears its seal, and reads it:

[To: Aoi Natsuki, XXXX

Fukushima

URGENT: NOTICE OF SUSPENSION.

It has been four weeks since your last payment. Please settle your outstanding balance immediately. Failure to pay will result in a total power disconnection today.]

He throws the envelope on the table. "Are you kidding me?! I’m already broke this month. I haven’t had a real comfortable meal in weeks! I even lost my last job, and just recently managed to get this new one."

He clutches his head with his both hands "I lost the last job, I barely scrambled into this new one. My life is nothing but a joke. No money for food. No money for the gas bill. I've been surviving on nothing but instant Yakisoba, and now they cut the power? I absolutely despise this."

He sits on the chair in the dark living room.

There’s nothing I can do, he contemplates. I can’t even ask my relatives for a loan. Those scums are worse than blood-sucking worms. Nobody is going to lend money to a nobody like me.

His stomach growls in hunger. "Here we go again!"

He checks his refrigerator but he finds nothing aside from a small carton of strawberry milk.

Another day of going to work on an empty stomach.

He drinks the strawberry milk in a few gulps, grabs his IC card, and steps out of the apartment.

He feels the gentle warm breeze but it does nothing to clear his head.

He pulls out an electric bike from the docking station and leaves for his part-time work.

He docks the electric bike near the convenience store.

He pushes the door open, the cool air from the air conditioner splashes his face as he enters the convenience store.

"Konbanwa." he greets his manager.

"Konbanwa, Natsuki." his manager replies from the side of the counter.

He enters the changing room, pulls out the apron from the locker, and puts it on.

He adjusts the apron, takes a deep breath, gets himself in the polite, working mode, and heads toward the counter.

Back at the counter, the store seems quiet but it has a few customers.

He starts the usual loop of scan the barcode, look at the price, take the payment, hand over the receipt.

It is a mind-numbing cycle, but at least the pay keeps the lights on, or it would have, if he hadn't fallen so far behind.

"Here, please check this out for me." A customer slides a pack of instant ramen across the counter.

His eyes land on the text printed across the ramen pack:

[LUCKY DRAW! COMPETE IN THE 15-PLAYER CHALLENGE AND WIN 1,000,000 YEN!]

He sees the text written on the ramen pack and instantly a sarcastic laugh bubbles up in his mind but he keeps his face professional.

Compete in a challenge and win a million yen? That’s how they lure people into buying their products. People are so clueless these days, they don’t even know that a prize like that doesn't exist. I bet there isn't even a ticket inside the pack. It’s all just for show.

"That will be 180 yen, Ma’am," he says, sliding the pack of ramen back to her along with her change.

As she walks away, his eyes lingers on the remaining ramen packs on the shelf.

***

"Your shift is over, Natsuki. You can go home now," the manager says to him.

"Okay, Manager." he replies as he switches back from his customer service mode.

"And yeah, one more thing," Takeda adds, his voice becomes softer than before.

"Feel free to take this instant ramen. I know you’re low on budget this month with the new job. It’s the least I can do." He puts an instant ramen bowl on the counter.

Aoi picks up the ramen bowl. "Mr. Takeda... can I eat this here? My power was cut off this morning because I wasn’t able to pay the electricity bills. I can't even boil water at home."

Takeda sighs with pitiful eyes. "Sure, go ahead. Just make sure you head out as soon as you’ve finished eating."

"Thank you, Mr. Takeda."

He walks over to the hot water dispenser next to the instant ramen vending machine.

The store was nearly empty except of two customers.

He opens the lid of the ramen bowl. He stumbles slightly, clutching the ramen.

"Watch yourself, lil’ guy," he says, looking down at a small boy who has run into him.

"Sorry, Oniichan!" the kid apologizes before scurrying off toward the cookie aisle.

He looks at the lid of the bowl. A million yen, he thinks with a tired smirk. No lucky draw coupon? Heh. Definitely a scam.

He peels back the plastic lid, the dry noodles smelling of salt and umami.

He presses the button on the dispenser, watching the steaming water fill the bowl to the inner line, presses the lid of the ramen bowl back down and rests his chopsticks across the top to keep the steam in.

The pack says it’ll take three minutes for it to be cooked. In ten minutes, I’d eat, and then I’d have to go back to a dark, cold apartment.

He starts eating the ramen thinking The electricity is done for. I guess I’ll have to sleep in the dark today. I hope no one gets to see a day like this.