Chapter 1 - The Void

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Tokyo - Matsugaya Junior High - September 8rd 2058

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A quiet, soft, melody was emitted from the corner of a classroom; a row of windows were present, in the west side of the classroom, acting like gateways to spectacular views which could be seen through them. One view in particular, a large sparkling crystal clear aqua lake which reflected the sun's rays, was something which the students of this particular school boasted about frequently when inter-school events occurred. The rays of light reflected on a boy's pair of grey glasses, causing him to squint in agony.

The mysterious music was heard only by a lonely set of ears which belonged to a black head of unkempt hair, two or three strands of golden blonde could be seen below the barren blackness, as if they were the survivors of a grand cataclysmic event which had occurred in the distant past.

The disturbing background noise discharged by the chaotic ensemble of restless students could not be heard by the boy; the only sound that managed to reach Takami Shinso's pair of ears was the sound waves which erupted from his phone. The contrast between the loud, destructive sounds synthesised by Takami's fellow classmates and the meritorious music was ever present.

After experiencing the level of disruptive noise which was the standard at Matsugaya Junior High during the home room period, Takami had decided long ago that the most effect method to listen to his music would be to use a pair of speakers; his wireless headset, which was made of a seemingly luxurious battle-scarred black alloy, showed signs of overuse in the form of many scratches on the sides of the device. It was obvious to those around him that Takami frequently used the headset.

The wireless headset was a cherished present given to him by his deceased grandfather, Koizuma Shinso, who sadly perished three months after Takami's 9th birthday. The death of Koizuma, who had strong ties with Takami, affected him tremendously; he was no longer the young, bright and energetic child he once had been.

The only thing that could lighten Takami's grief over the death of Koizuma was the old, overused, headset that was the last remnant of his grandfather that he had in his possession. The music flooded into Takami's ears and embraced him, when he closed his eyes and reopened them, he was no longer in a noisy and bright classroom but in a dark paradise where there was nothing to be seen.

Takami could finally be himself in the presence of nobody. He willed a notepad and a pen to appear, poof , a blue A4 note pad and a black ballpoint pen popped into existence. Takami was already accustomed to this though, and even though everything was pitch black, Takami could somehow still see perfectly fine.

The melancholic rhythm that once took refuge Takami's ears could no longer be heard and was replaced by a soft humming and the sound of scribbling. In this void Takami liked to write songs that were composed based on his current emotions. He could exit the void by pulling out his phone and pausing the music or having his headset taken off him by someone.

Takami always pondered about what the void was, at first he believed that it was just a place that he would go when he went to sleep and that he could stay conscious when he went to sleep. When he researched if there were any people that had the same ability, Takami had thought that he was apart of a large group of people who could, as they put it, 'lucid dream'.

However, due to his ability to exit and enter the void when he liked, an ability not present in most lucid dreamers, he discarded the theory. Furthermore, Takami was unable to manipulate the appearance of the void, only the objects he had created; from the trials that he had ran, it seemed as though the only way to enter the void was through using his Wireless Headset that his grandfather had gifted him.

Suddenly Takami was forced to open his eyes, his wireless headset was no longer sitting atop of his head like a crown, but was now in the hands of Ayumu Sato. Takami, an apathetic man, did not harbour feelings of enmity towards others, however Ayumu Sato and his group, Haruka Suzuki, Kenzo Nakamura and Makoto Denki were an exception.

In Takami's opinion, Sato was the worst out of all four of them. Uncoincidentally, he was also the main focus of all the students in the school; Sato came from a rich family and had an amazing upbringing, graced with a lavish head of snow white hair, a faultless nose and flawless skin. He had a pair of polished emerald green eyes that shone so bright with hope and determination everyone could see them from a mile away.

The worst part about him, in Takami's opinion, was his personality; A typical arrogant self-proclaimed protagonist who thought that, "if I can do it then everyone else can as well!" completely disregarding his privileged upbringing and the many advantageous opportunities which were available to him throughout his 16 years of consciousness.

On the other hand, Takami was a unsociable introvert who never conversed with anyone, he came from a modest household which was middle class supporting a fairly comfortable lifestyle for the boy. Takami had two eyes that were a mix of white and black which would enrapture any person who would dare to stare into them along with near perfect milky white skin, freckles on each cheek were present and a head of midnight black hair with remnants of blonde strands. One of their only similarities was that they both had very good grades.

While Takami was slothful and liked video games and sleeping, Sato loved physical activities such as football and basketball and was therefore very active sporting a strong physique. They were almost a foil to each other, yin and yang, stereotypical rivals where the natural born leader would always prevail.

Suzuki Haruka was a very athletically talented person, he somehow took part in nearly all of the physical clubs that were available in the school; Takami had pondered how he ever had enough spare time on his hands to take part in all of those clubs. Suzuki was the best in all of the clubs that he partook in, a true prodigy, a diamond in the rough, who, if polished enough, could sparkle the brightest in any sport.

Suzuki had mediocre grades and a head of grey hair that complemented his pair of grey eyes which could seemingly stare into anyone's soul and reveal their deep and dark desires. Takami did not favour Suzuki as he would always attempt to recruit Takami into a random club activity and would always chide Takami about his lack of physical activity when he declined but overall was a kind soul.

Then there was Nakamura Kenzo who wore sleek black glasses and sported a malicious personality, he was two-faced and had obviously not taken good care of his body due to a lack of physical activity. Nakamaura had messy brown hair that was very obviously finger combed in an attempt to look presentable. The only thing that was half remarkable about Nakamaura was his grades, he was obviously very proud of them as he would compare his grades to others at any chance he got.

Suddenly, a bright yellow head of hair popped into Takami's view. It belonged to Makoto Ritsu, a playboy who had mediocre grades and was partially physically active which supplied Makoto with a semi-toned body. Makoto's pair of crimson red eyes glared at Takami. If Takami where to sum up Makoto in a single sentence it would be with this, he was a jack of all trades but a master of none.

"Why are you wearing something that looks like it came from the 1980's?" queried Sato. His emerald eyes observed the Wireless Headset with disdain, it was crystal clear that Sato did not like the sight of the damaged headset which was very much a relic from the past.

"Yeah, everyone uses a Light Link nowadays. Don't you have one?" sneered Nakamura. The Light Link was a new piece technology that was released in the spring of 2056, it allowed humans to use the Light Link to access the internet and do everything a computer could do such as, creating a imaginary keyboard users could use, access google and other websites, play games online, play music and other features and was a major success, 300million units were sold in the first month of operation. The light link was enabled by a small implant behind one's left ear, a painless procedure and could be taken out at a designated Light Link Shop.

Takami had a light link, he was gifted it on his 14th birthday on April 19th 2056, however he never really used the light link unless he had to when it came to music speakers, his parents and peers thought that Takami was just old fashioned and preferred to use old pieces of technology due to them not knowing about the existence of the void, a paradise which could only be entered through his Grandpa's headset.

Takami's eyes slowly moved towards Sato and then towards his headset, Sato knew what Takami was about to say, so before Takami could speak, Sato surrendered the old headset and scoffed, "I do not wish to contaminate my hands any further. This thing can break apart at any time and I am not going to pay for a replacement." explained Sato.

A mental sigh of relief was emitted within Takami's mind, however as Takami grabbed his headset he heard Makoto sneer, "I heard from Akari that Shinso's grandfather gave him that piece of junk, Hah what a loser."

Right then, in that moment, something inside Takami clicked, like a button which was pressed. His left white eye flickered black for a moment as he slowly moved his head toward Makoto, his vision was flickering black and at that moment all he could see was Makoto, "Take that back" he calmly demanded.

The air around Takami vibrated and shook in fear, Makoto, who had observed the change within Takami quickly surrendered at the speed of light and meekly apologised. Only then did Takami's left eye return to normal. It seemed as only Makoto saw the change in Takami's left eye, so when he went to converse with the others he was only laughed at, "Someone's eye colour can not just change, I'm pretty dumb, but at least I know that much." Suzuki roared with laughter wiping a tear from his eye.

Makoto then thought to himself that he might have just imagined it but shivered when recalling the aura around Takami at that time, it was if the light around Takami was absorbed within him creating a dark void around him. However, before Makoto could think about it more the door at the front of the classroom swung open.

The Homeroom teacher for class 3-C strode in, his name was Mr. Asano and was the home room teacher for class 3-C whilst also being a maths teacher. The only subjects that Takami enjoyed were Maths and History, as Takami was very interested in old war tactics and the real-world applications of statistical maths, furthermore Takami seemed to be a natural born talent at those specific subjects to boot.

Mr. Asano had thought that he had a clear understanding of Takami's antisocial and indifferent nature and only asked Takami for specific answers to some questions once in a while to make sure he would not bore Takami and make him stop paying attention. Unfortunately Mr. Asano could not have been further from the truth, but as long as Takami received work to do and new things to learn he was content.

However when attending other subjects Takami would sit in the back of the class and quietly learn everything he could, Takami was someone who was quite lazy and in turn did not want to waste time, therefore he put as much effort into learning new things but normally never contributed in class so he would not have to study outside of school.

When lunch time came around Takami slowly walked over to an unused classroom that was on the third floor of Matsugaya Junior High's three story tall building. The classroom was once the clubroom used by the light music club, LMC for short.

However it was abolished three years ago after all remaining club members graduated and went to Matsugaya High School, the high school that most students from Matsugaya Junior High went to due to its prestigious educational reputation stemming from how a very large quantity of students who attended the high school end up going to the top 10 universities in the world, No.6 being Matsugaya University and their world class mathematical department.

Takami had found out about the room two years ago when he was wondering around the building looking for somewhere to spend his free time during break and lunch time as he did not want to go onto the roof as it did not have air conditioning and was not a safe place to enter the void, leaving his unconscious body behind.

Furthermore, if a student had reported him to a Teacher, he may get forced to rest in the medical room for the rest of the day, therefore automatically forfeiting his right to attend his classes which would mean he would have to study at home to catch up.

Takami surveyed his surroundings and due to the lack of people around him, turned the handle clockwise by 60 degrees and pulled the circular handle upwards as the door was broken, the trick to opening the door stemmed from when he had observed the cleaning staff open the door when Takami had slept till 5pm during lunch as he had forgotten to enable his alarm to remind him to leave the void on the day.

Takami slowly opened the door, in order to avoid producing a creaking noise from the door hinges, alerting other people, due to the lack of maintenance which had been performed on the door. The room was fairly spacious and was in the shape of a rectangle, there was about 5 metres in front of Takami and a window showcasing a large sparkling lake and a bright blue sky filled with white blobs of clouds outside of Matsugaya Junior High. There was about 4 metres of space on the left and right side collectively.

Matsugaya Junior High had been built within the outskirts of Tokyo, small mountains where visible in the far distance, synthesising a majestic sight to behold. Takami has always admired the view from the old light music club room as if it were a famous piece of art.

On the both sides of the clubroom were large bookshelves filled with music scores, songs from famous artists and manga that the light music appreciation club used to read. There was also a large table with a blue A4 notepad and a black ball point pen. Takami stared at the objects on the table, he felt like he knew them, but did not know where from. Takami was startled; Takami remembered, that blue A4 notepad and that black ball point pen were the exact same one that he willed into existence when he was in the void earlier.

Takami speedily scrambled over to the notepad and violently turned the cover of the blue A4 notepad. There were the same lyrics that he has written just a few hours ago,

"But how?" Takami mentally screamed.

This had never happened, not even once in all of his time while using his grandfather's wireless headset and exploring the void. Forgetting about consuming his food, Takami grabbed the old wireless headset, stole his phone from his pocket and played some music, connected his headset and equipped the headset. Takami's vision shook as he closed his eyes, once again entering the void.