Chapter 1 : Frosty Night

Man it's really cold tonight everyone in the bustling city of Hibi thought so when the records of the coldest day in over a decade were broken on the night of 23 rd December .

Still it was not enough to stop hustle and bustle of the festive season after all it was two days to Christmas and everyone had plans for the next day going on a date with that someone special , spending time with family and cherishing their smile , kids fantasizing about Santa Claus and preparing a decorative tree to wait for their presents

The spirts of the society were all to warm and welcoming even in those frigid conditions

Somewhere in the middle of all this lay a mansion big enough for 20 people to easily reside in occupied by a sole member Yamashita Ayumu.

Ayumu was a young adult of 21 years who had inherited a decent amount of money along with a small company after his father passed away last year

He was just lying on the bed staring at the ceiling fan as it went round and round in circles lost in his own dream land where he was currently battling a lion barehand trying to ward it away from the beautiful lady standing right behind him

The fight was very intense as Ayumu saw himself just barely dodge each and every attack of the lion and then suddenly when the lion pounced upon him he rolled under the lion caught its tail while getting up grabbed it and tossed the lion in air making it land backwards and his head breaking open in two as the lion was taking his last breath he took one last swing at Ayumu ripping his shirt and leaving his torso bleeding

Ayumu screamed in pain and realised the same moment that this was it there was no way he could survive that fatal blow as blood kept oozing out and he could see his organs

The beautiful lady came rushing to Ayumu's side trying her very best to supress the blood from dripping but all her efforts were in vain Ayumu took her hand in his and smiled at her wiping tears of her eyes with his other hand and mustering all his strength he whispered his last words

" If I was able to save you then I don't regret a single moment of my life now I can rest in peace knowing my life wasn't all for naught."

After replaying that scenario in his mind over and over rethinking every detail over and over and when he was satisfied with the result of the way he died in his thoughts he picked up his cell and looked at the time it had already been more than two hours since he was lying like that

It had became a habit of his after being alone all the time he went to work at the company his dad left behind in the morning came back with dead eyes at night lay in his bed without the energy left in him to cook himself something or order something from outside

Everyday after work he would just daydream trying to think of unique or most unordinary ways that he himself would die in and even as the festive season was ongoing it made no impact on Ayumu he was still living the same daily routine

You would think that a kid in early 20's having the luxury of staying a mansion , no one to scold him or stop them from doing what they want would live his life doing something fun every night hangout with random strangers going clubbing or to pubs maybe smoke some blunt and end the night with a hooker and what not this would be a perfect chance to go wild

But Ayumu wasn't like those teenagers who knew of nothing but to party around and throw away the hard earned money of his father Yamashita Haruka

Also having no friends or family had just left him hollow he was already the quiet kid since his childhood the one person who never seemed to find his place in the class and no one bothered to talk to him leaving him socially awkward never really knowing what to say to another person

Parties weren't the kind of thing that intrigued his interest all that he wanted was just someone who could understand him and spend the day with him without judging him or saying his was a moron for saying something stupid a person with common sense would never say

But it looked to him that god couldn't even give him that much after a while he just admitted himself as nothing but a failure who ruins each and everything he gets himself involved in

And his only escape from all of it was entering his dream world away from this world where he would dream about himself suffering and dying as he thought that he deserved punishment he just couldn't understand why he was the only one left alive in his family of four and wanted nothing but to be free of this world where even with all the money he had he was empty from inside

As the clock stuck 9pm Ayumu got up from his bed and went to the bar counter near the kitchen and started making himself a drink he grabbed the glass from the cabinet and added some ice to the glass followed by an orange peel and then grabbed a bottle of Macallan and poured it into his glass

He opened is phone and started scrolling through various memes and reels while slipping in a sip or two of scotch as the ice began melting and giving a richer taste to it

After finishing his drink he put the glass in the sink and headed for bed to escape from this reality as soon as he could

Laying on his bed he realised that tomorrow was christmas eve wondering if he would be all alone this year as well and the obvious answer visible to him was yes

He thought who in their right mind would want to waste his/her time spending christmas with him and went to sleep loathing himself