"The Fox decided to quit to Allah from this Anime. He couldn't live in this world of idiots anymore, just like I can't watch this continuation anymore," I wrote in my mini-blog on Telegram and checked the time.
"Stayed up until 3 a.m. again, and tomorrow I have to get up for work at 6:30."
Whatever... There was no one to be mad at except myself. After sending my review of "Boruto," I turned off the computer, checked that the alarm was set, lay down under a thin blanket, and turned off the light in the room.
It felt like only a few minutes had passed. I closed my eyes around 3:05 and opened them at 6:30 to the blaring alarm. It took about ten seconds to realize where I was and who I was.
The reason for such an early rise was simple... The remote work server had crashed like a copper basin, and everyone was sent back to the office again. Since the workday started at eight, I needed to be at the stop by seven. If I showed up later than the first minibus left, I might as well not go at all. In the long line for the minibus, you have time to think about everything under the sun, but I prefer imagining, like now, getting into a car accident at the next turn or something worse... In our city, the traffic situation, and incidents in general, are "not great." Every now and then, there's a real risk of ending up in something like that. During my university days, I once missed a formation because something happened to a tram's wheels while it was moving. One caught fire, filling the cabin with smoke, and it fell off with a bang. Luckily, the brakes worked, everyone was let out, and no one was hurt.
Another time in a minibus, a tire burst while we were driving. Fortunately, we were just pulling away from a stop near my work, speed no more than twenty kilometers per hour. Even so, we felt it hard in the cabin. If we'd gotten up to sixty...
And after almost five years in the Police Force, you start seeing life differently. My roof hasn't completely come off yet, though only a doctor could say for sure. With that kind of experience, you always think of and imagine the worst first.
My head is the embodiment of the saying "expect the worst, and most events will be a pleasant surprise."
I always expect the worst traits from strangers so I'm not surprised later.
I got to work on time, even managed to grab some food at the nearest store. After leaving the (sometimes not so) orderly ranks of the police, I made a few conclusions for myself, one being to work as little as possible and earn as much as possible. Auf!
If big earnings didn't pan out, I found work with minimal energy costs. "Two on, two off" shifts in support services. Sitting on my ass in the office in front of a computer. Minimal physical and even mental strain, since after a few months, the job turns into timely use of scripts that the bosses came up with for you.
The side effect was just obesity, since now I only run, at best, after those same minibuses, but not for long. Either I catch the departing bus quick, or I don't. No point running after it like a dog with tongue out. A human can't run with hands behind back at Formula 1 speeds like in Anime? Can't, right?
No, of course, the first years I tried to keep in shape and even peaked outside service while office-working, surpassing most ex-colleagues in fitness. But after gyms closed for half a year, I never got back into it. Maybe someday I'll save up and take care of my health again, but not today. Today's main task is not to fall asleep at the desk.
Task accomplished, and now I'm dragging my body to the stop, avoiding shady figures peering from the dark. Never considered myself a hero, though I probably couldn't pass by someone REALLY needing help. And let me tell you, I have backup in that department. Had to give first aid on the street and call ambulances a few times, even with crowds of gawkers around, but most people are dumb and just stood watching instead of acting. And had to use force... Not like in shows, mostly against booze-crazed street dwellers, not "real bandits" like people imagine, but still...
Lucky, few people on the minibus.
About half the seats.
I closed my eyes and opened them to the driver's shout.
"Hey, kid! Getting off? You're the last one and you're sleeping!"
"No..." I replied, sleepily looking out the window. "End of the line for me."
"Ah, okay then..."
Watching the nighttime embankment, I closed my eyes again and opened them to the screech of brakes and a blinding white light flooding the cabin.
I never figured out what happened to me, but I didn't feel any pain or fear.
I still don't know if I died in the crash or just fell asleep on the minibus and this is one hell of a bad dream, but as a fact... I ended up in a completely different world.
A world I never thought I'd end up in willingly. And especially...
"Naruto! Hey, Naruto!" a young caregiver called to me. A girl of ordinary European appearance in round glasses, about my age, around 26. Exactly how old I was before "arriving." "Enough staring at the Hokage's Residence, Naruto. Hear me? If you don't hurry, we'll go back to the orphanage without you!" she said.
"Sorry..." I replied in Japanese. "Coming!" Grabbing my bag of groceries, I caught up to the line of kids like me.