Chapter 4: Is This Really Me?

“Assume for a moment that you were defenestrated from something around the fiftieth floor of a building. Without a parachute. What sort of action would you take to survive the fall?”

Even if I didn’t show it on my screaming face, I was mentally panicking to the point of asking myself some pointless questions. Although I knew how pointless it was, I attempted to shield my face from the inevitable reunion with the ground.

I watched the rubble speeding below me, like little streaks of gray, grow steadily larger. Just how hard did I get hit? Given that I could barely recognize the rubble as rubble, I must have been moving way faster than a car. How was I not already dead? For some really odd reason, I felt an urge to pose while shouting, “How is this for a death streak?” I didn’t, though.

So, I spent a significant amount of time trying to distract myself from the soon-to-be in-my-face issue of my quite impactful meeting with the ground. Hi, I wanted to check, just in case; I know this is last minute, but can I still cancel the meeting? I figured not. Well, I guess I’d be making a splash on the world. Bad joke, but can you blame a girl for trying to make their upcoming doom a little fun?

Okay, really though, I lacked any idea of how I might escape the predicament of the approaching ground. Even if I somehow came up with a plan, well… 3, 2, 1… Impact!

A totally cute girl versus the hard ground. Everyone can imagine how well that went. Yes, after making a significant impact on the environment, I skipped across the ground a few times before finally tumbling to a stop. And yes, it hurt. Despite that, I stared at the sky for a few more seconds before pushing myself off the ground. After checking my body for injuries, I discovered girls don’t really get hurt from being flung from a fifty-story building.

All of that panic for nothing, I suppose. Once I verified that the bruises and scratches wouldn’t impede my movement, I brushed the dirt off my clothes and checked my surroundings. Aside from the miniature craters that formed a line and a little rubble, only the silver puddle next to me gave the wasteland any change from the otherwise bleak landscape.

“I guess I have some time to think now.”

Touka’s odd reaction made me really wonder just what really happened. What happened in the time I lost? Actually, what I wanted to know most was why the person in the puddle stared at me so intensely. She seemed familiar, but I lacked the glowing golden eyes that she displayed. The girl in the pool lifted a hand to her eye and touched the corner. My clammy fingers startled me as they touched my face.

Wait, was the girl in the puddle? Was she me? Since when did I have golden eyes? What color were my eyes in the first place? Now that I thought about it, weren’t my eyes always golden? Why did I feel so freaked out? Strange, the fall probably caused a concussion—that explained the weird thoughts.

“Well, what do I do now?”

“Why not die?”

The unexpected reply came with a large hammer approaching my face. While I dodged the hammer, the force still sent me tumbling away. As the world spun around me, I noticed the pink eyes growing closer with each spin. Just who in the world attacks someone without a reason like that? I mean, aside from the person who just swung a hammer at me. Why wouldn’t these weird things just stop happening and…

“Go away!”

Those pink eyes widened and immediately sped away the moment those words left my mouth. The hammer vanished, and so did the evening gloves that my assailant wore. The girl with an excessively fancy dress that appeared far too elaborate for everyday wear—who in the world wears a fluffy, Sweet Lolita dress adorned with lightning bolts— grit her teeth and held her hands in front of her before gripping something.

“What? Why? Mjölnir, come here!”

Given the lack of a hammer, I took advantage of the situation to run—or I started to. Seeing how fast this girl made it here, I quickly gave up on that idea. Instead of trying to run, I needed to fight. A heat surged through me as I glared at my enemy. If I eliminated my enemy, she couldn’t hurt me anymore.

“Ghh.”

That girl uttered a grunt as she parried my fist aside. A headbutt followed my fist. It hurt me more than it hurt her, but I took the chance while she remained off balance. I sent a kick to her waist; blocked by her leg, but still sent her tumbling. I just barely ducked—slipped, but who is checking—under her haymaker, sparks of electricity striking me despite dodging her swing.

A moment later, I cartwheeled over to her. Her arms blocked my kick at her belly, and the white streaks arcing from her body forced me to retreat. If only I had a hammer like hers. I only thought that when I felt a weight in my hand.

“Yoni! Why? Come back!”

As if to answer her call, the hammer wrenched itself out of my hand, and flew into her outstretched hand. Once she retrieved that hammer, she lifted it towards the sky, and a bolt of lightning crashed into her.

“Miracle Thunder Break!”

Why couldn’t we fight in a place without lightning? The electricity jumping through my body hurt. Or it did before it abruptly ended. The wasteland from just moments before became an endless haze. I took a step back and heard a splashing, rippling sound—a sound I recognized, yet managed to sound hollow as if something sucked the soul out of it. The noise sounded fake, like eating a strawberry cake, but without any flavor or texture. The ground rippled as if water, but my foot remained on top. What just happened?

“What in hell is this? This isn’t the other space. No, questions later.”

Once again, the girl lifted her hammer into the air, and I braced myself. This time, however, no giant crash of lightning appeared. The girl’s eyes widened as she stared at the hammer and then the sky.

“Why isn’t it working?”

I dashed at her, and although she blocked my punch with her hammer, she still went flying into the distance—a distance I quickly closed with another sprint that ended in a jumping kick to her face. She blocked this one as well, but I expected that and immediately spun to hammer my heel into her head. That got her. She gasped as she slammed into the ground.

“Still, that hammer really is unfair. It would be so much better if it wasn’t here.”

Almost as if responding to my words, the hammer vanished. I still didn’t know what caused these weird changes, but who was complaining? Aside from my enemy, of course. For the first time, her face twisted in fear, and I heard someone laughing.

The girl pushed herself away from me, mumbling something about forgiveness and living, but did she really think she could escape? I mean, even ignoring the wasted effort of trying to escape by scooting away from me?

I reached for her neck and, once I gripped it with one hand, she beat her fists against me. They did almost nothing, though. I took my other hand and, sticking my fingers into her eyes for leverage; I pulled. And that was the end of that. No more enemy. Oh, but I needed to get back somehow.

With that thought alone, the surrounding scene popped open, and I landed back in the wasteland, although some distance away from the holes. A metallic object shone amidst that desolate landscape, and once I approached, I found the hammer, which sparked menacingly at me. I didn’t need it, so I didn’t mind if it disappeared—and it did.

With the high from the fight fading away, the haze in my mind parted. What had I done? What did I just do? How could I have done such a thing? And a question pestered me…

Is this really me?