DAY BEFORE ONE

'Kaiser! Wake up! Kaiser! please... Don't leave me... You're the only one I got left... Please... Kaiser'

Huft...pant... pant...

"That dream again...?, how many times have I seen that..."

Pant... Pant...

Placing one hand on his forehead and the other to his chest, John Kaiser, tried to calm his unstable mind and his fast-beating heart.

Cold-sweat was pouring out of his body, and as if it was his daily routine he sat down and started taking deep breaths

Hoo... Haa...

Slowly and rhythmically breathing, he breathes in and out.

And after a minute his unstable mind, the fast beating heart was back to normal and the cold sweat on his body was gone as nothing has happened.

Then he looked to his right, next to his bed is a rectangular table and on top of it are many books, a lamp, and an alarm clock.

John Kaiser looked at the alarm clock.

"5:35 am, The same time as always..."

Haa...

A big sigh was let out before John Kaiser stood up from his bed.

He folded his blanket and fix the pillows and changed the bed sheet that was soaked from his sweat.

Next, he tidied up the scattered books that were on the left side of his bed, and place them on the shelf.

A lot of books can be found placed on his shelf and almost all of them are novels he bought, novels with different genres and atmospheres were placed accordingly.

And for a boy with an age of 18, his room is clean and organized not like others of his age, this is despite living in a house where people can't be found most of the time or rather it is the main reason.

His parents are always at work and only stayed in their house for like two hours a month, his two elder sisters live in a dorm at their respective universities near their grandparent's house, and his elder brother is already married and living with his wife and child.

John Kaiser was always alone in their house and the only thing that keeps him company in the novel books he bought with his hard-earned money.

He didn't use any of his allowance for things that he wants himself, novels and other kinds of books that can be seen on his shelf were bought with his own money.

His allowance was only used for food and things needed from school.

That is why, despite being 18 he now got almost 100k+ in his bank account, his monthly allowance of 5k is supposedly for his own expenses and 10k for his school, and another 5k for the grocery, and his wage as a part-timer is 4k.

The 5k for his own expense is always saved and the 10k is always divided to things he would need to pay up to on his school, And the 5k was always used for groceries, buying cheap yet fresh products from the market place and buying expensive stuff only when asked by his parents.

And due to this his ability to save and use money despite being born from a rich family is outstanding. Living alone for the past 11 years of his life and due to the novels he had read from those past years, he developed thinking that when he reached the part where he can have his own family, his saved money will be used so that his future child would not end up like him, he would spend most his time with his family and work at times with no important things.

"John? are you awake already?" a soft and warm voice. This voice is from his mother who is preparing things for their business trip.

"Yes, I am, anything you need?" kindly answered John, then he went out of his room and went downstairs to their living room.

"Are you leaving already?" he asked, as he looked at the luggage.

"Yeah... Sorry about this John... it's your birthday today yet no one around to be with you...*sob*" as his mother started to cry, John went near his mother and hugged her.

"Don't worry mom, It's fine, plus, you're still around right now, so it still counts" John reassured his mother as he slowly moves away.

Then his mother smiled bitterly and pushed something towards him, its a box, a big box with gift wrap covering it.

"This is my gift for you... I thought you might like this for your gift so I bought different kinds of them..." She said with a warm smile.

John smiled at her and asked "Can I open it now?" that was answered with a big nod.

He happily removed the gift wrap surrounding it and next he tear through the tape that was sealing the openings of the box and after he finished. He saw books and a lot of them, books with different genres and types, it was arranged in order:

-Encyclopedias- -Novels-

-Pocket Books- -Atlases- -Marketing 101s-

There were about 10 books for each type and almost an inch thick each. Except for the encyclopedias which are 2-3 inches thick each.

John was happy, he really is. The books that were gifted to him were all brand new and he hasn't seen any of them yet, despite having read 100+ books this is the first he had seen these types. He really appreciates it, cause books are his friends when he's at home, they accompany him when he's alone, he was able to live alone for 11 years due to books.

Without realizing it he hugged his mother again and started to cry.

*sob* *sniffle* *sob*

For the past 11 years, his gifts were all money. Celebrating his birthdays alone was like torture for him, especially when he was still around 7-10 years old. This is the first time in 11 years that he had received proper gifts from his family. So he was happy.

His mother patted his back and apologized to him. "I'm really sorry John..." then she pulled away and asked "I don't know which book you like so I ended up buying different kinds of them... Did you like it?"

John nodded, and as if he was waiting for their moment to end, his father showed up with many full plastic bags in each hand.

He smiled widely at John and handed him a box that looks like a box for cake.

"Why don't we celebrate your 18th birthday first, before your mother and I went back to our trip, what do you say?"

John was happy. He felt like his 18th birthday was the happiest birthday he ever had. He can't remember those birthdays when he was younger but the birthday when he was alone was engraved in his mind and heart, but it was all washed away, due to his 18th birthday and being with his parents again.

Days pass after his 18th birthday on Jan 4th, It is now the second semester and it's time to go back to school.

In the past days after his parents left for their business trip, John read the books his mother gifted him. He first started with the -atlases- then he read the -marketing 101s- then the -Novels- which was the interesting one among the book there. Time was limited and he was only able to finish up to the 3rd book from -Novels- category.

And now he is reading a book from the -Pocket Book- category as he walked towards his school.

He enrolled in a public school despite his parents saying he should enroll in a private one, but he insisted on a public one and said that they should just put the tuition for a private school in his bank account so that he would have money to pay up for his university tuitions, which was accepted by his parents.

Some may say that anyone can do the things he does, saving money everyday and spending little for himself doing part-times and using the money earned there for his own, yeah anyone can do it, but, John Kaiser is a boy from a rich family and people like him born with a silver spoon in their mouth can't just do the things he does for their everyday life.

"Yow!" a familiar voice was heard from his left side as he was reading, it's the heartthrob, girl killer of their school, his best friend, Alex Mendez.

"yow" John replied.

"How's your winter vacation? anything new happened? Oh, by the way, belated happy birthday bro!" Alex happily said, then he reached out a closed fist, it was for a fist bump.

"thanks" John readily bump fist with him and answered his questions "The only noteworthy thing was Christmas and My birthday..."

"hoo..., something new happened last Xmas? And your birthday? Hmm... Mind telling the story?" with an amazing look on his face Alex probed John to tell the story.

Among John's friends Alex is the only one who knows the things that happened in his past 11 years of his lonesome life, that is because Alex is a childhood friend of his, which he met when he was 4 years old.

"I'm... amazed, aunt Senna was able to know a gift to give you?, I wonder how she knew you liked books" Alex wondered which was answered by John like he was expecting for the question.

"apparently she saw me during x-mas eve reading books while the rest of them was enjoying the night, I was at the veranda that night and have nothing to do so I read the book you lent me, oh, by the way, here" John reached out to one of the pockets on his bag and pulled out a book and gave it to Alex.

"It got a nice story, though it's a typical Another world story the plot and character development was amazing," he said as Alex receive the book from him.

"I know right? this is my favorite novel you know!" Alex cheerfully exclaimed.

"you already said that a few times..." John said as he closed the book he was reading and entered the school gate, "I just realized... the main character of the book is the same as you Alex" he added as they continued walking.

"the same as me? what do you..., ah! no bro! you know it's a misunderstanding right!?, no one's interested in me from the beginning!" Alex exclaimed as he denies what John said.

"No one's interested... my ass! why do you think they would confess to you?!" John replied as he stops for a minute and punched Alex's shoulder and walk up the stairs.

"ouch... Maybe they're just playing around, you know those betting things game..." Alex said as he walks up the stairs and massages the shoulder that was punched.

"...Betting? 20+ different girls? Some from a different school and you said they are just betting?"

Haa...

As John let out a sigh Alex continued his explanation.

"And most importantly I'm not that good looking and I'm not that smart either I'm not that good at sports too... And John you're better than me"

"This moron...haa..." John sigh again that made Alex cock his head to the left. John saw this and explained.

"Alex," he said, "If I'm better than you I would be the one being confessed to, not you, and you know more than anybody, no one! As in no one! Has ever confessed that they like me, you know that"

"also don't degrade yourself too much, yeah you're not good at sports you're right about that, but you're amazing when it comes to speaking and arts also you're better than me in studying, you wouldn't be the school rep and class rep if you're not and also you're more good looking than any boys in the school, why would you be called a heartthrob if not?. Also, If you degrade yourself too much, it's like you're mocking others who are not on your level, have confidence, like when you're on the debate, not arrogance but self-esteem" He added as he entered their classroom.

"See?... You're really better than me" Alex muttered with a smile full of amazement.

"huh?" John cock his head wondering what Alex said.

"Nothing!" Alex smiled cheerfully as he follows John and sat beside him.

There are still 40 minutes before the class starts and each one of John's classmates is already inside the room, the doors are closed for both the back door exit and front entrance.

Alex is at the front and announcing things that would be needed for the second semester.

'He's aura changed... He seems he has more confidence when talking, it's more than the usual... Did he take my grumbling seriously?' John thought as he watched the surrounding, the other students are giving recommendations the others are talking with the other and some are sleeping.

'There's still 30 minutes left, I should read a few more pages before the teacher comes' John took out the book he was reading and opened it to the page he folded and set his watch to alarm after 25 minutes passed.

He immerses himself to reading and the surrounding has gone silent.

*ttring...ttring...ttring...*

25 minutes passed as he was reading and his alarm started to rung.

After getting out of his immersed state he noticed that the surrounding... is dead silent.

He looked around and saw that there was no one inside the room beside him.

There are the bags of his classmates, the blackboard that has recommendations written on it. But the door was closed.

'Where are they?' John asked himself.

He was too immersed in reading that he didn't notice the changes in the surroundings.

'Maybe they went down to the gymnasium...?, No. Alex would have told me, then where are they?' John continued to ask and answer his own questions only to remember a book.

'Why did that book suddenly pass through my mind?!' He asked again.

-Another World Heroes- was the title of the book Alex lent him. It was a book that features a typical Another World (Isekai) story and it passes through his mind when his classmates suddenly went missing inside the room.

It was right to question it. Modern-day with modern technology and the answer he came up with was a fantasy story in a book?

'It's absurd' he thought.

But then he wondered.

"What if? what if they were transported to another world?... But then again... I was with them... So why?" 'So why was I left alone?!' is what he wants to question but then he realized. "I'm not fitted to be a hero..." as he realizes it, he put down his head on his desk and closed his eyes.

He'll just wait for the teacher to arrived and answer the questions that would be asked. As he waits for the teacher to arrived he fell asleep.

He didn't know that time was stop inside the room the moment the alarm went off.

Then he heard a voice. It's not the same voice he hears in his dreams, but it's strangely familiar to him, it keeps talking but he can't understand it.

And as if it was time he was engulfed in white light, and finally understood what the voice is saying.

'Right. You're not fitted to be a hero and you'll never be, but it didn't mean that I'll leave you behind... Kaiser'