[New World Arc] Part 1: Where and who am I?

It all happened very fast. One day I was playing with my cats and picking on my mother. The next I suddenly felt very sick and was rushed to the nearest hospital. When I got there, the doctors said I had COVID. The first thing I could think of was:

"All the vaccines I took were useless? What is this bullshit? I only got infected after taking all the vaccines? It's a joke, right?"

A few hours passed and I seemed to have improved. I was kind of sleepy and breathing heavily but it wasn't as bad as I arrived. I thought maybe a good rest would help me recover, so I decided to get some sleep.

"Meow!"

'Hmm…? I think I must still be dreaming. I'll ignore it and keep my eyes closed'

"Meow!"

'Did they let a cat into the hospital?'

When I woke up I felt brand new. Everything seemed normal until I looked around and saw that I wasn't in the hospital anymore. I was in a room that didn't look like the hospital room…or my own room.

"Uh, whose room is this?"

I said still a little sleepy as I tried to get up but I felt an extra weight in my belly. When I looked, I came face to face with a cat with red fur and red eyes.

"Hello there, kitten."

"Meow!"

"Are you lost too?"

"Meow!"

"Can I at least get up to see where I am?"

As if he understood my words, the cat jumped to the floor and kept looking in my direction as I got up and walked towards the window.

When I looked out the window I didn't recognize any of the houses that were nearby. Everything looked much tidier, with some trees near some houses.

"Has there been some work done and I don't know about it? Wait, how long did I sleep?"

I asked myself a little confused as I headed for the bedroom door accompanied by the red feline.

Upon opening the bedroom door, I saw a small staircase leading to the lower part of the house.

As I went down the stairs, I noticed that I was between the front door and the living room.

The place was small but very comfortable. Which was even stranger. How had I ended up here?

"Is anyone home? Mom? Grandma?"

Suddenly, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. My voice sounded different, or at least I heard myself different. In addition to not being a bit like the one before, now it looked even more youthful.

"Something's wrong there. What's going on?"

I spoke quietly as I inspected myself and saw that, in addition to being in unfamiliar pajamas, my skin looked lighter.

Still not quite understanding the situation, I looked for a mirror and luckily, there was one in the right corner of the living room. When I stood face to face with the mirror, the reflection showed a different person appearing in the reflection. Maybe because I woke up now it took a few seconds for me to process that that person was me. Now looking younger, with black hair and eyes and an even familiar face.

"Huh? Why do I look like Yuta from Jujutsu Kaisen? What crazy dream is this?"

In the heat of the moment, an ominous thought crossed my mind.

"I can't be Yuta…even in a dream…that means there are curses around and Yuta is accompanied by Rika…if she shows up what do I do?"

I started to sweat. While I was afraid that such a curse might appear, I was curious to test a theory. So in an act of pure fear I closed my eyes with all my strength, put my hands over my ears and then immediately said shakily

"C-come out, R-Rika!"