Chapter 1 (1/2)

I thought it was just an ordinary earthquake at first.

Then the desks started to rattle and shake violently, and that moment, Literature teacher Urabe shouted “Everyone, get under the desks!”.

The lights went out and then everything plunged into darkness. The thought that raced through my mind was that even if the lights went out, it shouldn’t be this dark, because it was daytime right now.

The time was about 11:20 AM. I can attest to it as I was enjoying reading while bathing in a ray of light that came in from between the curtains at the prime seating position at the left side in the back of the cla.s.sroom. It was a clear day without a single speck of cloud.

Even if clouds covered the sun or if there was an eclipse, it shouldn’t be completely dark. But there was only pitch-black darkness.

Did it suddenly become night time? But how?

I tried to re-orient myself, but it was nigh impossible with the earthquake still going on.

It did not feel safe just staying still, but it wasn’t safe to move until the intense shaking had stopped. The only thing I could do was to crouch under the desk and wait for this d.a.m.n earthquake to end.

“Tsk….”

I bit my lower lip. I felt helpless against this immense power that I couldn’t do anything about. I could have just skipped the cla.s.s and not come to something like Modern Literature Cla.s.s. Why did I even decide to actually attend?

Ah, I thought it was a good opportunity to read.

What was in my hand was Hannah Arendt’s “Responsibility and Judgement”. I planned to read this cla.s.sic work leisurely this afternoon.

Of course, I was still reading it. Just a couple of pages ahead would have been a section on “Indifference to Evil”.... but now wasn’t the time to read. Thinking positive thoughts during emergencies like an earthquake, where anything can happen, was a form of avoiding the reality, too.

It was painful to just crouch under the desk in darkness while hoping not to get swept away by everything that was going on. I couldn’t help but think that I might die.

I never got to be a somebody and never did anything in my life.

After living my life like flowing water, was this going to be the end? n.o.body would criticize me for how I lived, but I still felt angry.

As if responding to my anger, the shaking intensified and the desks creaked even more. Inside the cla.s.s that was filled with darkness, shouts and screams, there was a sound of something collapsing. It was like the inside of a s.h.i.+p being swept up by a storm. The entire cla.s.sroom shook violently as if it had been tossed out into the ocean in a typhoon.

If the shaking became more intense, the building would collapse and everybody would be crushed to death. I could only imagine thoughts like that while everything continued to shake around me.

I’m going to die. Everybody’s going to die. While antic.i.p.ating for death, I could feel a laughter swelling from deep inside.

It wasn’t a bravado. While I didn’t want to die, I thought maybe this kind of accursed death was a fitting end for someone like me. I kept thinking this in the dark.

I really didn’t want to die, but if I died, then at least everything annoying in the world would end.

This fear, this anger, this annoyance that was hard to bear, everything would disappear if he died. I wouldn’t need to think about annoying things anymore. It’ll definitely be comfortable

What do I care about what happens to the world after I die. Everything was hilarious when thinking from that angle.

Alright, kill me. Let me rest now.

The moment I thought that, the shaking stopped as if it had never happened in the first place.

“Haa….”

I let out a deep sigh. I knew something like this would happen.

Life was like that. People who wanted to survive with all their might die for no reason, and those who have no reason to keep on living somehow survive.

Of course, I’m the latter.

Even though I don’t even have a special reason to keep on living, I keep clinging to life at the thought of death.

But so long as I’m alive, I need to keep on living. It’s already been 132 years since the G.o.d died.1 There was no salvation in this kind of world.

“Are you alright?” “Why’s it so dark? Is someone there?” “Can you turn on the light?”

Several flashes of light peered out from the darkness.

Of course, everybody had a convenient source of light called a smartphone.

I took out my smartphone as well. I unlocked the faintly glowing pattern screen and first thing I checked was… there was no signal. Calling for help wasn’t an option. The school was in middle of the city. If there wasn’t any signal, did it mean the nearby signals tower was destroyed or damaged in the earthquake?

Or did the cla.s.sroom move to somewhere a signal couldn’t reach? Next, I checked the time. 11:26 AM. The shake, which felt like it had gone on for so long, had only lasted for 5 minutes.

Then the date. That was normal as well. There was nothing like time travelling into Sengoku-era that’s so common in manga. No, even if there was a time travel, there wasn’t a guarantee that the smartphone calendar would be magically connected to it.

But we were trapped in darkness, so there was a chance that outside might be nighttime. Time travel was just a joke, but I needed to confirm.

I froze after s.h.i.+ning the light outside through a window. I opened the window with scratching sound and reached out with my hand. The outside of the window was packed with rocks. The reason why it was so dark was because the windows were blocked by the rocks.

Are we trapped in the cla.s.sroom? This wasn’t some “between rock and a hard place” joke. This wasn’t a funny situation. I could almost feel my head draining of blood.

It felt like I was in some Sci-Fi world, but now wasn’t the time to avoid reality. So what had caused this? Did some gigantic boulder collide with the school because of the earthquake? If so, the intense shaking that felt as if it was about to blow away the school could be explained.

But, wait a moment. If that’s the case, why was the gla.s.s left intact?

If a gigantic rock had smashed against the school, all the gla.s.s would have broken from the shock. It wouldn’t be strange if the windowsills had broken as well.

Then did the rocks just sprout from the ground as result of tectonic activity…. No, that’s not quite right.

I touched the rock, and it was cool and smooth as if it had been there for a long time. Upon closer inspection with the smartphone light, it was a wall made with stone bricks in fas.h.i.+on similar to a ruin.

“Oi, I can’t turn on the lights. What’s going on!”

The student who was clicking away at the light switch shouted and interrupted my thought. I’m the one who should be saying “what’s going on!”. But in the c.r.a.ppy game called “life” n.o.body gives out answers for free. I suppose it couldn’t be helped.

I turned on my smartphone’s flashlight app and looked around me. Because of the intense shaking, desks had fallen over and stationery was scattered everywhere. Even the lockers had fallen over and were spilling out their contents. That must have been the source of the loud noises.

Instinctively, I grabbed a mop from the cleaning supplies that were scattered on the floor. Just in case I needed it.

I sidestepped the teacher who was trying to make sure everybody was safe, and cla.s.smates who were at a loss, and carefully treaded around the debris to exit the cla.s.sroom.

I felt like there was light coming from the hallway… but lost my words when I saw it. It wasn’t the school hallway. It was a stone hallway like an RPG dungeon.

The wall was built with stone blocks. They were just like the stones I had touched earlier. It was smooth and cold to the touch, giving off an atmosphere of a real cave.

The faint glow of light I noticed earlier were torches. The iron torch holders kept the torches in place.

I took one of the torches to take a closer look. The end of the stick was wrapped in some kind of cloth that must have been dipped in something. Judging by the unique smell that didn’t seem artificial, I judged it to be something like resin.

Who would…. old iron tools, brand new torches… None of these would be here without someone around to maintain them.

The school hallway turned into some sort of a dungeon or a ruin’s hallway. Looking down the tunnel, there were torches at regular intervals. I didn’t know who, but somebody took meticulous care into illuminating this area.

“s.h.i.+njo-kun….”

“Seki, did you come out, too?”

Seki Midori. He’s a cla.s.smate from the same First Grade, F Cla.s.s and someone I can say is my only friend.  He wore the uniform all clasped up until his neck, and had very gender-neutral looking face almost to the point someone could mistake him for a girl. He really was a tidy looking, white skinned and slim bishonen.

Seki had long black hair, that almost looked bluish, extending down to his shoulder. If I look closer at his eyes, his large pupils looked green under the torch light.

But, Midori. He couldn’t have had a name that was more girly. He was usually calm and nice, but got angry every time someone called him by his name.

If someone tried to say “That’s a really girly name….”, he’d probably attack no matter who the opponent was. I didn’t care much about what would happen to my face, but Seki’s slender arm looked like it could break, so I never said anything.

“I saw you go out and followed you, s.h.i.+njo-kun!”

“You’ve got keen eyes as usual to spot me in the dark. Seki, let’s take a look around for a bit.”

I walked down the stone tunnel with Seki.

The cold air really made it feel like a dungeon.

There were students from other cla.s.ses wandering outside as well. I didn’t know any of them. Probably from Cla.s.s E. I ignored them and continued on.

The First Grade had 6 cla.s.ses; A, B, C, D, E, F. It was divided by scores from entrance exam.

In terms of b.r.e.a.s.t.s, F was the best, but the cla.s.s Seki and I were in, Cla.s.s F, was dead last in terms of grades.

Since my highschool was one of the top high schools in the prefecture, not everyone in Cla.s.s F was stupid either. But there were hierarchies in the school, and Cla.s.s F was looked down upon.

Cla.s.s F was made up of delinquents (and even half-a.s.sed delinquents who weren’t really troublemakers either), people who are repeating the grade for some reason, or people who were lazy and didn’t put in any effort like me.

Seki had a chronically weak body and didn’t feel so good during the cla.s.s a.s.signment exams. Otherwise, he would have been in higher up cla.s.ses.

If there was something strange going on, it might be best if only Cla.s.s F was involved. However, after checking the stone hallway with a torch, all the first grade cla.s.ses from A to F were present.

I hope this didn’t happen to the entire school. I wonder what happened to the 2nd year, 3rd year and Staff Room as well.

I don’t think the entire school turned into a dungeon. If that was the case, the cla.s.ses would have turned into stone as well and not just the hallways. The scale was also too big to be someone’s prank. There were too many impossible things from a logical point-of-view.

It would be more natural to think that the cla.s.srooms and the rooms in the dungeon swapped place via some sort of teleportation. Teleportation with ESP. Metastasis or transference with magic. They were all un-scientific, but it was the most logical way to think all of this was caused by magic.