"Shouta!"
The harsh, loud voice echoed through the classroom, cutting through the noise like a sharp blade. All the students turned instantly, curious glances converging on the side of the classroom, where a boy stood motionless, indifferent to the sudden attention.
"If you're going to sleep, you should have stayed home!"
The teacher continued, his voice laden with irritation. The middle-aged man, with graying hair contrasting with his still-black mustache, slammed his palm down on the desk.
"I will not allow you to sleep during my class!"
The sound reverberated through the room, but the boy he was addressing remained in the same position. In fact, Shouta wasn't sleeping. He was just leaning back on his arm, his head resting on its side, staring out the window. The biology class dragged on monotonously, words about cells and mitochondria floating through the air without capturing his attention. Outside, the woods surrounding the school seemed much more interesting than anything the teacher could say about cellular respiration.
The man's shouts were not enough to draw his attention away from the outside landscape. What finally made him raise his head was something completely different: a trail of fire cutting through the blue afternoon sky, descending in an irregular trajectory, leaving a trail of fire and smoke behind it.
A meteor.
The thought instantly popped into his mind. Shouta sat up so quickly that his chair creaked, his brown eyes wide, fixed on the flaming object plummeting toward the woods. That wasn't something you saw every day.
Stretching his arm out in front of him, he nudged his nearest classmate, a brown-haired boy who was absentmindedly chewing on the end of a pen.
"Do you see that in the sky?" Shouta asked quietly, pointing his finger toward the window, excitement evident in his tone.
His classmate blinked, confused, and squinted to try to see better through the foggy glass.
"See what?" he replied, frowning.
"That thing there, in the sky... it looks like..." Shouta paused, trying to find the right words as the object disappeared behind the trees.
"It looks like it's falling."
"There's nothing there, man." His classmate stared at him with a doubtful expression. "Are you dreaming?"
Before Shouta could answer, the teacher's voice thundered again, even louder and angrier this time.
"Shouta!" The man pointed a trembling finger at him, his face red. "I will not tolerate disorder and contempt in my classroom! Leave. Now!"
Shouta didn't need to be told twice. In fact, he barely noticed the teacher's angry expression. His heart was beating too fast, the adrenaline of discovery pulsing through his veins. He jumped up, grabbed his backpack carelessly, and practically ran to the door, ignoring the murmurs of his classmates and the teacher's angry glare.
His feet echoed through the empty school hallway as he ran toward the side exit, which led directly to the woods. He had to find out what had fallen. He had to see it with his own eyes.
***
The cool afternoon air hit his face when he finally entered the woods, his lungs burning slightly from the effort of running. The smell of damp earth and dry leaves filled his nostrils as he headed in the approximate direction where he had seen the object fall. It wasn't hard to find the spot, the trail of smoke still rising between the trees, a perfect marker.
When he finally saw the crater, Shouta slowed his pace, a mixture of caution and excitement taking hold of him. The depression in the ground was about three meters in diameter, with upturned earth at the edges and small flames still crackling on some fallen branches around it. In the center of the crater was something that was definitely not an ordinary rock.
A sphere with a metallic sheen.
Shouta approached the edge with careful steps, his eyes fixed on the object. The sphere was about the size of a basketball, and its metallic surface reflected the sunlight, almost as if it were alive. Smoke still emanated from it, creating small spirals that dissolved into the air.
He leaned in to get a better look, trying to observe the details. There were patterns on the surface, lines that seemed to form some kind of writing or circuitry. It was fascinating. Alien? It had to be. There was no other explanation.
That's when the ground gave way.
"Damn!" Shouta barely had time to shout before slipping down the side of the crater, hot earth and rocks rolling down with him. He tried to grab hold of something, but his hands only scratched the loose soil, and in seconds he was sliding uncontrollably toward the bottom.
His body came to a stop at the base of the crater, which was even hotter, but not enough to hurt him. He exhaled the air from his lungs; he had unconsciously held his breath during the slide.
Smiling and blinking to clear the dust from his eyes, Shouta raised his head... and froze.
He was less than a meter away from the sphere.
Up close, it was even more impressive. The lines on its surface were even clearer. They were like a maze of circuits. The heat emanating from it was intense but not unbearable, and there was a low, almost imperceptible hum vibrating in the air.
Shouta stood paralyzed for a moment, just watching, mesmerized by the alien object. Then, as if responding to his presence, something happened.
Clank clank clank (metallic sounds)
The sphere opened.
It was not a common mechanical movement. The metallic surface simply split apart, metal pieces folding outward in a fluid and impossible motion, revealing the interior.
Shouta's brown eyes widened, and he swallowed hard.
Inside was... a thing. A viscous, green-tinged mass that seemed to pulsate, with veins glowing electric green running throughout. The thing had small spasms of light, intensifying and fading slightly, and Shouta could swear it was... alive?
It was something alive, and it was also a machine. Or maybe it was both at the same time. Or neither.
"What... what the hell is that?" he whispered, his voice low.
All his instincts screamed at him to get out of there, to run, to get away from that unnatural thing. But there was something stronger than fear: curiosity. That irresistible urge to touch it, to know, to understand the impossible thing right in front of him, was perhaps a unique opportunity for him.
Slowly, very slowly, Shouta reached out his right hand toward the green mass. His fingers trembled visibly. His heart was beating so hard he could hear it pounding in his ears. A few inches. Just a few inches.
The thing didn't move. It just kept blinking, as if waiting.
"Just... just one touch, come on," he muttered to himself, more to convince himself than anything else.
His hand was just a few inches away when it happened.
The shapeless green mass jumped at him.