A Second Chance

Even after he became aware of the din of panicked voices around him, Souma spent a long time ignoring everything except the pale lilac screen floating in front of him. It was hard to really take in anything else. Or more specifically he had gotten the impression if he rushed into things it would be bad for his heart.

So, staring at the screen for now. It was easily the size of a laptop display, softly illuminated, and transparent enough he could see through to the stone floor and walls of wherever this place was. The edge of the screen framed by a pale gold border, looping into florid patterns around the edges. Displayed on the screen was a short message.

Congratulations, brave warrior! The kingdom needs you!

No matter how many times Souma read the message, there was only one reasonable conclusion he could come up with: He was going to die.

Souma tried not to scream, and finally resigned himself to accepting reality. He looked up beyond the screen to take in his surroundings.

He was in a room made of rough-hewn stone. The sort of material that you might expect to see making up the foundation of a castle. There were keyhole shaped windows set in the stone walls. From there, Souma could make out a hazy, unfamiliar orange sky. The stone walls went all the way up to an impressive arched ceiling, held up by giant pillars. It had a vaguely medieval European feel to it, not that he was an expert in medieval European architecture, or had ever even seen any in person. To be honest, the only place he’d ever seen this sort of thing was in a...

No no, let’s not go there yet.

Souma stopped his thinking from going any farther in that direction. He had the distinct feeling that if he finished that thought he'd be crossing a threshold he wasn’t mentally prepared to cross yet. He was going to have to be pragmatic about this, after all. He’d leave it at ‘in a stone building’ for now.

Having decided where he was, Souma decided he should figure out who he was with. As expected, he was not alone.

He counted at least twenty others here with him. It was a big room though, and the columns made it hard to get a good count, so maybe a few more than that. Almost everybody seemed about the same age as him, give or take. A lot of them were wearing school uniforms, mostly different kinds, though he did spot one group all with the same red and grey blazers. A few, like Souma, weren't wearing uniforms at all. Most of the other people were just wandering around, trying to figure out what was happening. Some were staring blankly at nothing. Others had formed into little groups and were talking to one another with hushed, worried voices.

Cliques were already forming.

I don't know anybody here, thank goodness.

Souma let out a small breath of relief. That was at least one less thing to worry about. He tried to move inconspicuously towards one of the windows. He wanted to get a better look at where he was. As he shuffled over the stone floor he did his best not to make eye contact with anybody.

He heard snatches of conversations as he passed.

"Where is this place?"

"D-do you think we were kidnapped?"

"Man! My phone isn't even getting a single bar!"

What had he even been doing before he was here? The memories of exactly where he had been were frustratingly fuzzy, like the last waking thoughts before sleep. But he was certain he had been at home, in his room. He barely ever left, so it seemed like a good bet. He couldn't have been doing anything in particular, maybe just staring at the wall, thinking about going out to buy something cool to drink. It was summer, and his room would have been hot even with the window open and the fan turned on. He would have been listening to the sound of frogs from the nearby rice field. The smell of a mosquito coil.

And then...

He sneaked another glance at the lilac screen still floating just off the corner of his vision. If he didn't pay any attention to it, it would gradually drift off, but the second he looked closer it sprang back like an eager puppy. He looked about, but he couldn't see any other screens asides this one, and it didn't seem to be drawing any attention. Either he was the only one who could see it, or everybody had one and could only see their own. The people staring blankly at nothing were strong evidence of the latter. They were probably doing the same thing he'd been doing a little while ago.

There's twenty of us. We're in a big stone room. I don't know anybody here. There's a floating screen haunting me with a welcome message.

The stone building wasn't cold, but it wasn't hot, either. Souma rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. It still felt grimy from sweat. He was still wearing the same clothes as before.

Something had happened, and here he was. It probably wasn't worth worrying about why, at least not yet. He rubbed his temples and let himself start moving his thoughts in the direction he'd been avoiding since he realized he was here.

This has gotta be some kind of game.

Had he been kidnapped in the middle of the night and brought here? To what? Beta test? But there were no games this advanced he knew about. Besides, why would you kidnap people to beta test your game? And if this was a game, then if it was this amazing you could have had your pick of beta testers. And anyway, asides from that floating screen it wasn't very game like. If it was, then at least so far.

So leading theory is I'm trapped in a game.

But when Souma looked out the window he felt that theory start to crumble.

Outside, he could see the whole world.

They were at the top of a giant tower overlooking a vast stretch of land that reached out all the way to distant snow peaked mountains. He saw irregular patches of forest, farm land, and little pockets of buildings given away by plumes of white smoke. A few scattered clouds lined the horizon, painted amber and purple by the setting sun. It went on forever. No matter where he looked, he found new things to look at.

This wasn't a game. He couldn't accept it. This was reality.

But if this is reality then-

"You there! Are you alright?"

Souma jumped at the voice, steading himself with one hand on the window sill. When he turned around to see who had spoken he felt his mouth go dry, and he found himself unable to reply. It wasn't that it had been a long time since he'd spoken to anybody, though that wasn't untrue. He'd just never met anybody this beautiful before.

Souma found himself staring wordlessly at the girl in front of him. It wasn't just that she was attractive, though without a doubt she was. She was one of the group wearing red and grey blazers he'd seen before. Her features were delicate and her light-brown eyes were kind and open. Her caramel tinted hair was tied in a single loose braid and hung over one slim shoulder. The way she leaned forward towards him accentuated her figure, which Souma was currently fighting a losing mental battle to avoid looking at. If he'd been pressed, he'd have said she looked like a model for some earthy clothing line. The sort of person who wore breezy dresses and sun-hats on her days off. She was probably the kind of girl who always excelled at everything, and was always surrounded in class. Just like-

Souma stopped himself, and nervously looked away as he answered, hoping she'd leave him alone.

"I-I'm fine. Thank you."

"Are you sure? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you before. Are you alone?"

"Ah, no. I mean, yes. Ah, actually I'm fine, really."

"You don't know anybody here?" She confirmed. "I don't know where we are, but when I woke up I was lucky enough to have a group of my friends with me. It looks like quite a few people were brought here on their own, though. You should come with me, we're trying to gather everybody."

Souma looked up to see five others wearing the same style uniform as the girl in front of him. Two more girls and three boys, all of them with the same uncanny good looks. Well, not that there was anything strange about that. People like this all tended to orbit one another, didn't they? The group was currently split up, each of them talking to loners like him.

"We don't know what's happening, but we want to make sure nobody gets left behind. We're all in this together, right?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah." Souma was momentarily blinded by this show of benevolence and forgot what was happening.

"You can call me Ami," she smiled and put her hand out.

Souma stared down at her hand for a moment, not sure what to do. Wait, what were you supposed to do next? Ah, his name. He was supposed to say his name, and then... Wait, this wasn't a trick, was it?

No no no. You've never met these people before.

And then Souma had a sudden realization: If he didn't know anyone here, then didn't that mean nobody knew him either? It wasn't like he was a celebrity or anything.

He felt something begin to lighten in his chest. Suddenly he didn't care where he was or how he'd gotten there. Kidnapped or teleported or brain scanned, what difference did it make?

Wasn't this an opportunity to start afresh?

And then there was Ami. He wasn't under any impression that she was interested in him or anything. After all, they'd only just met, and he wasn't yet so clouded in his thinking to mistake a passing concern for romantic intention. These private school kids were going about asking everybody the same question. That sort of encounter was squarely in the realm of fantasy.

But that wasn't the point. Here he was no longer Souma the pariah. He was just Souma the faceless background character. The sort of person that somebody like Ami would talk to normally.

Gingerly, he began extending his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm S-"

"I wouldn't shake that hand."

Souma froze, and felt that light feeling in his chest vanish in a wave of rising nausea. Feeling himself start to sweat, he slowly craned his neck to look behind him, at where the voice had come from. The high school student standing just inches away from him had a dire expression. His mouth was turned down in a glowering scowl, and his eyes burned with unconcealed hatred.

"Arita Souma. To think, even here, I'd run into a piece of trash like you."