20 years later…
The sun rose, and light began creeping through my window. I heard the calling of my name from downstairs.
"Yohan!" "Yohan, wake up!"
My eyes fluttered open, still heavy with sleep. I pressed my elbows against the mattress propping myself up, as a small yawn escaped my lips. I slipped out of my bed stretching trying to shake off the lingering drowsiness.
I began to make my way downstairs while rubbing my eyes.
Near the dining table was my mother who just got done making breakfast. She placed a plate on the table before looking at me sternly.
"Yeah, Mom?" I chuckled nervously, remembering what day it was.
I sighed, walking towards the table.
"You need to get moving, Yohan. You have school."
She said with a mixture of concern and impatience.
I groaned, slumping into a chair. "But, it's Friday Mom.."
"Why can't I just skip one day, summer is right around the corner."
Mom sighed, placing her mug on the counter with more force than necessary.
"Nice try, but you're going to school. "
"One more day won't hurt. Now hurry up and get ready."
I let out another exaggerated sigh slumping even further in the chair.
"Okay, fine I'll get ready.." I reluctantly sat up and began eating.
"Just knowIf I happen to fall asleep in class, it's your fault," I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?" My mom responded looking at me with a sharp glare. I quickly stared at the ceiling avoiding any direct eye contact, my finger began tapping the table nervously. Mom shook her head while crossing her arms before heading over to the kitchen. I sighed in relief before continuing to eat my breakfast. A couple of minutes passed after I finished my food
I got up from my chair, rushing to get ready for school. I brushed my hair in a slick back style while looking in the mirror. I changed into my high school uniform, but managed to forget to put on any socks. Most of the time I paid little attention to my appearance, and since summer was around the corner I slacked off even more than usual.
A few minutes later I walked back down the stairs, my hand raising as I waved off at my Mom.
"Bye mom, I'll see you later."
My mom stood halfway through the doorway, she waved at me shouting.
"Goodbye honey! Have a great day!"
I smiled at her response, though I can't deny that I was a little embarrassed at the way she shouted so loudly.
20 minutes later I arrived at school, I remembered my friends mentioning to meet up with them behind the auditorium. I made my way over pocketing my hands.
"Hey good morning, Yohan!" A familiar voice shouted my name waving his hand back and forth.
Oh, it's Yoshi and Anya. I hurried over to them waving back.
"Mornin Yoshi."
Yoshi placed his arm around my neck, his arm pulling me into a huddle with Anya.
"Woah man, what's going on?"
I said with confusion sparking.
"With summer on the way, we oughta do something."
Yoshi's words were followed by content.
Anything Yoshi thinks is fun always ends up badly.I chuckled, pulling his arm off my neck.
"Sure, but what do you want us to do?"
Finally Anya spoke, considering her face was glued to her phone the entire time.
"What if we head into the City after school?"
"We may find something for us to do for the weekend."
A smile played on her lips as she placed a hand on her hip.
Yoshi's eyes lit up, his mouth opened wide as he lifted his arm slamming his hand into his palm.
"Yeah, that's it!"
"You're a genius Anya, if we go to Osaka, we'll surely find something to do."
Anya placed her hand on Yoshi's shoulder smiling.
"Yeah, I know."
"You know I'm the smartest of us 3, try to say that more to me."
Shortly after she glued herself back into her phone.
Sometimes I think she's just with us out of pity. Yoshi chuckled, basically laughing off the pain.
"Pftt, yeah right.."
Yoshi halted glaring at Anya with an annoyed eye, he pouted—
She was right. He was always the dumb one. I myself agreed with her.
An announcement blared over the microphone speakers across the building. "Every student must get to their classes before the bell rings— You have 5 minutes." Is what the announcement said.
"Let's head to class."
I waved at both Anya and Yoshi as I walked the opposite direction to my class.
A few hours went by and the bells finally rang.
I walk out of class only to meet someone I truly detested.
His name was Tiwan and he's a pain in the ass. He often picks on me and my friends for enjoyment, sometimes I really want to just punch his face in. But I can't, he's simply too strong.
Oh great, it's Tiwan. My eyes rolled as I looked for another way to walk, that is until Anya called my name out.
"Afternoon Yohan, come here!" She shouted, tapping her foot aggressively against the cement.
"Oh hey Anya, what's up?"
I replied standing in front of her with a confused expression.
"You're still heading to Osaka, right? Her hand pressed against my chest feeling the warmth of my body.
"Yeah, speaking of such, where's Yoshi?"
My head aimlessly looked around, but I didn't really notice Anya's hand.
"That's the thing, he said he's going to meet us there since he left early."
Since when does he leave early? I thought before returning to reality.
"Oh, then let's get there now."
Anya smirked, grabbing my hand as we walked.
"Yeah but can we hold hands the whole way?" She replied with a little blush.
I looked at her with a shocked expression, my heart felt as if it dropped and I was more nervous than ever.
"Yeah, sure." I stayed calm, despite my nerves exploding everywhere.
Anya and I then walked to Osaka meeting Yoshi there, it only took about an hour as we finally reached the food shop we agreed on.
"You think he's late as usual?"
Anya snickered at her own comment.
"Yeah, he probably is."
I chuckled in response to her question.
I took the first step up the curb, my hand reaching out for the handle as I opened the door for Anya. Stepping to the side I waited for her to waltz in before walking in shortly after her.
"Yep, there he is." I said pointing towards Yoshi's hat.
Anya and I walked up and sat down at the table for us. I waved at Yoshi as Anya sat close to me.
"Hey Yoshi, did you already order?"
Yoshi looked up at me with a sarcastic look, he spoke in a dumb way mouthing the same words I did.
"Hey Yoshi, did you order already?" His tongue sticking out of his mouth mocking me.
"No, it's almost as if you guys weren't here yet." He said sarcastically.
"Okay okay, I got it." I said in response.
We both laughed it off as Yoshi usually jokes around like that.
Anya gently slammed her palms against the table to gather our attention.
"So, what are we thinking?"
"Takoyaki?— or maybe Kushikatsu?"
I turned to look at Anya, she gave some pretty interesting choices. Maybe Takoyaki? I pondered with my hand resting on my chin.
Yoshi smirked as if he never heard of either before. He agreed, patting his leg.
"Let's order Takoyaki." I replied by calling a waiter.
The waiter walked over happily taking our order.
"We'll have each have Takoyaki please."
The waiter smiled nodding their head, taking notes and adding our preferred drinks to the order.
"We'll be right out with your drinks and food." The waiter said walking away to the back.
"Well what're we doing after we eat?"
Yoshi perked at my question, but it seemed he instantly thought of something.
"He's probably thinking of the park." Anya said additionally to Yoshi's expression.
"How did you know?" He said, chuckling.
"Because you always say The Park."
He paused thinking if he really does say the park all the time. He turned his head crossing his arms.
"I only say it, some.. times." He whispered embarrassedly.
Anya and I both laughed.
"The park is still cool, just don't know why you're so obsessed with the Park."
Anya agreed, nodding her head.
"I know right!" She exclaimed wildly.
Some time passed as we waited for our food and beverages, our items had arrived 20 minutes later. After we quickly ate and left the shop, and the three of us walked to a nearby park.
"This better be worth it, Yoshi." Anya muttered.
Yoshi leaned his head back, crossing his arms, sighing.
"It will, I promise you."
We arrived to Nagai Park, it was so big and interactive. Strolling through the park we conversed about plans for the summer, and the blazing sun shined bright upon us.
Anya bumped me wiping her forehead of beading sweat—
"It's so hot, aren't you guys burning up too?" She groaned
Yoshi looked up towards the sun covering the sun rays from his eyes with his forearm
"Yeah it is kind of hot, but I'm not wearing so many layers like Yohan here."
Yoshi burst into laughter catching a glimpse of my layered school uniform— He hunched over.
"What?" I said, taking offense to his sudden laughter.
Yoshi placed his hand on my shoulder reassuring he was just joking.
"I'm kidding man, don't be so uptight."
I didn't think much of it afterwards considering I know my worth.
"Wearing slippers with your uniform isn't exactly stylish either Yoshi." I replied snickering.
Yoshi reeled his arm back before slamming it against my upper arm.
"Jerk." He muttered, almost whispering to himself.
Anya laughed along with my remark, her laugh was so cute.
I waddled closer to her, my arm rose as I slowly applied my arm around her neck.
The blush on her face was evident, she twitched at the contact burying her face under my arm.
I smiled seeing her cute skirmishing, she was like a real anime character.
Yoshi began mocking her but suddenly froze amidst the enraging rumbling nearby.
I also noticed, but before I could, the rumbling turned into a widespread earthquake.
Multiple people screamed and fell to the ground, a tree behind us began falling, and I instinctively shielded Anya.
But Yoshi jolted forward, extending his arms pushing us both out of the way.
He attempted to evade but it was too late, he was pinned underneath the tree.
We both arose, hearing nothing but muffled yelps.
I turned my head, my eyes shunned in fright at the chaos that had unfolded.
The ground was ripped up from underneath, vehicles flipped, buildings crumbled to the ground.
Unworldly creatures began crawling and climbing out from the ground, some looked like mutated ancient animals, others were huge alien looking monsters.
Anya shrieked at the sight of these things, and I laid there frozen.
It was like my body was stunned, my limbs just wouldn't move, even my eyes didn't blink.
Anya lifted her hand, and slapped me across the face. She screamed at me.
"YOHAN, IT'S OKAY.. LOOK AT ME."
My head couldn't move, it's not like I didn't want to, I was just too afraid.
Anya placed her hands on my face pulling my head towards her, her gleaming colorful eyes stared into me.
"GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, YOSHI IS TRAPPED."
Her voice seemed calm but I know she was afraid too by how much she was shaking, but I mustered the strength and finally moved.
I couldn't let my friends get hurt, or worse.
"I-I'm sorry, Anya..!"
I stood up helping her as well, we quickly ran towards the tree which was atop Yoshi.
The same muffled cries for help were heard under the tree, we tried lifting it but it was useless as it was far too heavy.
Tears streamed down Anya's face, unknowing of what to do now, she felt helpless and scared of what might happen to Yoshi.
"Hey, Anya.. i-it's going to be fine." I tried to act the calmest of the situation.
I yelled out for help from a few of the civilians running by due to the eruptions around Osaka, then that's when I realized.
The monsters that were emerging from the ground were brutally murdering people, their large claws and huge bodies simultaneously ripping them to shreds.
I grabbed Anya stammering on words, while backpedaling away from the tree.
Anya halted pulling on my arm back towards where Yoshi was trapped, but I had to make a choice—
Save Anya or save Yoshi.
When it came down to decision making I was horrible, I didn't know who to preserve.
The girl I love in my presence, or my best friend who was stuck under a tree
I stood there mindlessly thinking, it felt like my perspective was readily zooming out
But I snapped back to reality, I took a step forward and sprinted towards Yoshi.
I left Anya where I knew she was presumably safe from danger—
But she insisted on following me.
"Yoshi, don't worry I'm gonna get you out from under there bro!"
My breath was hitched and rapid— Anya's was too.
I held my hands underneath the stump of the tree to lift it up, but it was no use.
I kept trying, mustering all the energy and strength into pulling this off— Suddenly a flash of light beaconed around my hands, though Anya seemingly did not notice.
The light wasn't a reflection, it was more like a sign for a boost in power.
My hands gripped the tree, my fingers digging into its body as I slowly lifted it
It was like my strength had increased tenfold— It was lifted about three feet off the ground before Anya helped Yoshi from underneath the tree.
She looked at me with a mix of confusion and concern, then she spoke
"How the fuck did you just lift that tree Yohan?'
Then, her eyes locked onto something behind me, her mouth hung open in horror.
I only wondered what she saw, and then I turned— an eight foot creature towering over me with large arms and an elongated neck, drooling from its mouth onto the ground while it growled deeply at us. It was like looking at a gorilla mutated with a giraffe.
In a single moment stripped from us, the creature no longer just stood— it took a swipe at me and sent me flying into a nearby tree, my body slammed against the hard bark as I grunted in pain upon impact.
"Yohan!" Anya screamed out in worry, her thoughts on me now shifted to the creature that stood before her. It growled hungrily at Anya, and there again I sat helplessly holding my bashed elbow.
"Run!" My voice cracked as I yelled at Anya, even though she was carrying Yoshi and wasn't known for her strength. I slowly stood up making my way towards Anya.
But before I could even reach her, the creature suddenly stopped growling— Anya screamed out of fear, and stopped instantly as she saw something.
I couldn't make out what it was until I got closer, it was a fist shoved through the creature's chest— Shortly after a voice was heard behind it, and then the monster vanished.
A singularity formed in a condensed orb surrounding the monster, its strong attracting force engulfed its body entirely— killing it.
I ran up behind Anya holding her in one arm while the other held Yoshi's unconscious body, the man revealed himself stepping forwards.
"Yo, you're lucky I came just in time— Or you'd three be dead."
The man leaned forward considering he was way taller than me, he had a smirk played across his lips chuckling at his own words.
"I'm here to deal with these things in Osaka, you g-"
The man suddenly halted his speech, he looked down at the aura surrounding my hands noticing the colorful hue to them.
"Gold.. huh?"
"Well well, we got ourselves a rare specimen— I don't think you'll mind coming with me.. right?"
I looked at him confused, what did he mean by 'Gold'? What was he talking about? Anya felt the same, her expression dismayed.
"What? What are you talking about sir?" Anya spoke, her lips still quivering in evident fear.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay." The horrors still unfolding behind him, but he abruptly ended our short conversation.
He stuck his hand forward where all three of us were pulled into a space time unknown to anyone, instantly upon his presence we were in suspended animation.
We were instantly unconscious, I had no idea who this guy was or what he meant— All I know is I was worried for the safety of my friends and what came out of that man's mouth.