1 How It Started

"Gray, get your ass over here!" A loud, deep, and whiney voice violently pierced my eardrums, breaking me out of my daydream.

"Hehe! It looks like the boss is after Gray again," distant coworkers murmured, with their sadistic smiles full of contentment.

"Coming!" I reply, trying to block out the suffocating, condescending glares from the office workers.

As I got up, my light jog turned into a slight run as I tried to fight my way through the six heads of Scylla, comprised of mangled computer cords that enveloped the entire office floor. But let me tell you something; I'm no Hercules.1 So I tripped over the last head and fell into my boss's room.

His facial veins were more noticeable than before, and the pitiful leer that he displayed, along with the giggles of my coworkers as I picked up my face off the floor, didn't help with my humiliation.

"Y-yes, sir? What do you need?" I stutter while wiping the debris off of my cheap, beige suit.

"Get this done by tonight. Or I'm cutting your pay!" He says while dropping a mountain of paperwork on the desk before me. As he peered over the myriad of papers, the look in his eyes gave me the sensation of a predator vs. prey relationship—of course, I'm the prey.

"B-but I—"

"No buts!" He yells, abruptly cutting me mid-sentence, "Start working, now!"

God! This fucking tyrant should just die already! I continued to curse him in my head as I grabbed the papers.

I trotted to my desk, attempting to balance the papers in my already handicapped hands while avoiding the unwanted attention I drew from my coworkers.

"All right! Lights out!" My boss exclaimed.

"Everyone but Gray can leave!"

All my coworkers swiftly got up from their chairs and walked out of the office, gossiping about whatever the most recent news article was following.

"Are you going to be okay by yourself?" Lucy (My only friend in the office) questioned sincerely.

"Yeah, I'm all right. Don't worry about me," I say while putting on a gentle smile as a pretense of my absolute agony.

"Okay. See you tomorrow?"

"Yup! Have a nice night."

Time to start all this work! I'm "so happy!

* * *

It is now 8:30 pm—the distant moon shines through the glass panes that make up the office building. How beautiful.

"Agh!" I grunt while stretching dramatically, "I'm finally done with all this damnable work!"

I rose from my half-slouched body, grabbed my satchel, took one last look at the mountain of work—this time finished—and dashed out the door.

I joyfully skipped down the cold concrete stairs into the parking lot and got in my car to get drunk... again.

I drove down the highway with much exhilaration, as I was eager to get into a food coma and maybe smooth talk a few girls while half-taken by the alcohol and a little too drunk to think straight.

I parked in the parking lot and skipped towards the door with nothing but pure joy plastered onto my face. As I got to the door, I slammed it open with too much vigor and put a dent in the adjacent wall.

"Fuck," I mumble to myself.

With my head down, I walked to the bartender and asked for three bottles of wine to drink myself into a coma. But like Newton's 3rd Law: "for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction." I had to pay triple for the drinks.

*GULP* *GULP* *GULP*

I downed three bottles of sake.

"Hey~ I'm sorry for your...Wall!" I cry while slurring my words.

"I'll do anything HICCUP to repay you~!"

I continued my maudlin rambles until we got to the door.

"All right, big guy, off you go," the bartender ushered me outside, trying not to make a scene.

I tried my best to walk to my car, but I could only stumble like a toddler attempting their first steps. I continued to stumble and eventually went past my car and into the busy nighttime streets of Tokyo.

Oblivious to the danger, I continued further. And that's when I noticed a blinding light in my peripheral...

*CRASH!!!*

All I could hear were muffled sirens and screams as my consciousness faded.

Am I dying? To be honest, I hope that's what is happening.

As I questioned my situation, I heard a voice say: "Transportation initiate!"

I subsequently closed my eyes and accepted my fate. After a few minutes, I saw a faint white light. Heaven? I thought to myself. But no angelic hymns or angels were waiting to greet me.

It was the ground...?

As I tried to process what happened, I heard a loud "KIEEK!!!"