Prologue (1/2)

Ren Mitsuo.

He was an average young man with a promising (not really) future ahead of him.

Finally finishing his studies at his university, he was about to embark on the road of success (sarcastic dreams), until disaster and misfortune hit him at once.

In reality, he was just as normal as can be.

He knew that he would face hell to even get a chance at getting a job after university, as such, he changed his mindset midway and didn't go at it as hard as before.

His friends, who were already down the wrong path dragged him with them and showed him the wonderful world of anime, manga, and novels.

Like a honey trap, it caught him in its jaws and did not let go of him.

Since then, he was obsessed with them, and they became his go-to drug to even have some fun.

Real-life became harder and harder, his body started getting sicker by the day and everything became tiring for him.

With his only escape being his dark small room and the joy he gets from reading or watching his anime shows, manga' and novels.

He did not completely let go of his studies however since there were still his parents and life to consider, and instead did his part and was soon ready to finish and find a job.

So that he can alleviate their concerns and problems.

But unfortunately, an accident happened just as he started to motivate himself to start searching for jobs.

**********

Ren was not the hardworking type.

He usually stayed late and woke up even later, but today was different.

5:00 Am!

The clock in his room read.

His eyes felt painful to open this early, but he took just a few seconds to shake off his tiredness.

'I shouldn't have watched those three last episodes… ugh,' He groggily thought.

That was even more important considering that today was important for him.

He was dead fixed on searching every nook and cranny for a job today.

Especially considering that his family had gotten quite tight financially recently…

His guilt for taking life easy so far was eating at him, and he wanted to help his family.

This became his motivation.

He got up quickly and went to take a quick shower.

After which he started to shave his growing beard.

Ren was 21 this year, and he could be called moderately handsome with his angular cheekbones and sharp eyebrows.

Particularly, his green eyes added to his charming visage. If he decided to get a girlfriend, they would be interested to know more about him.

That is if his obsession was not known.

In contrast, as if to reflect his past few years of laziness and self-indulgence in anime and so on, his body was slightly obese for someone his age and height.

His belly was slightly protruded, and he always tried to keep it sucked in to not make that fact known.

His hands deftly moved about and he soon had a clean and new look on his face.

"Alright, this is good." He muttered in satisfaction.

He then moved on to dress himself up.

Since today was a serious day for him, he wore the only suit he had, which was bought just for this occasion.

By the time everything was done, it was already 6 am.

So, he went into the kitchen, grabbed a piece of toast, and applied some jam before he started heading outside. Regretfully he didn't get to taste his mother's rice today, since it was still quite early.

Closing the door after he was outside, he took a deep breath as he looked at the sky.

It would be a lie if he said he wasn't nervous, but overall, he was ready to face today with the brightest smile he could muster.

"Let's do this."

He checked the briefcase had had full of his documents one last time before he started marching ahead.

**********

1:30 pm

Reality came baring its fangs on Ren.

Of course, this was not Ren expecting to get hired.

This was the first day for him. And he was still applying for every company he could.

But not many would even give him the chance to apply. This was what frustrated him.

They would look at him in contempt, and then proclaim they were not short on staff.

He was growing tired by the second, and by the time it had reached 1:30 pm, only two companies from the dozen he had visited took his number and the documents he had.

Giving a vague reply of we'll contact you if there is anything new…

'Sigh… it's not like I didn't expect this…'

There was no short talk about this.

Everyone he knows always complains about the same thing. But deep inside, everyone always feels themselves to be special.

And until one experiences something themselves could they relate to the others who had before them. This was the ad reality.

Right now, he was on the way back home from this tiring day.

He had just gotten off the bus, but he still had a bit of walking to do to reach home.

His tie was already removed and put inside the briefcase.

He was sweating and his sleeves were rolled up in an attempt to refresh himself and get some air.

His stomach which he tried sucking before, was on full display since he was too tired to keep up the act.

'It sucks…'

He moved his eyes to his phone that was opened on the app Metube.

He kept scrolling aimlessly searching for something to watch before he reaches home.

!!

[ Bad Breaking news out of Yokohama city!!

In a residential area… A huge fire appears to have…

Firefighters are doing everything they can to control the situation but…]

All of a sudden, his phone refreshed automatically and the first video that came up was live news coverage of a huge fire engulfing an apartment building.

The fire appears to have started from the upper part of the building, but it had spread rapidly and had engulfed the whole building by now.

Ren's eyes widened as his body started to shake violently.

"T-that…"

The briefcase was dropped on the ground in shock, and moments later he started running desperately.

His direction, the smoke-filled place right in front of him.

"That's our apartment building!"

*******************

Read advanced chapters ahead of the public release:

https://www.p.atreon.com/ThighsSeeker