Strange Phenomenon

Rumble! Rumble!

"RUN!!!"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"

"FVCK OFF!"

Amidst the chaos, Noir was the only one who did not make a fuss. This young man even had a grin stretched over his face.

He stood on the rooftop, staring at the street below. His cunning, indigo eyes swept over the chaotic crowd that tried to save themselves from the raging vortex from the east.

The clear sky slowly succumbed to the dark clouds dominating the sky. From there came numerous thunderstrikes, destroying every skyscraper in the city while the smaller buildings were getting swept by the vortexes.

Noir's eyebrows twitched as he witnessed the storm.

He pulled a phone from his pocket and surfed the internet. Every online news had reported about the raging storm. As he read articles and watched some short clips, he found out that this was a global-scale event.

It was not only his city or country that got raided by the storm, but the other cities and countries were also in chaos.

"I kind of expected an apocalypse. But this is not what I expected."

Turning off his phone, Noir gazed at the storm for the last time.

"Oh well, if it is this much. I'm confident I can survive this more than a zombie apocalypse."

Taking a deep breath, Noir began moving from his position as the storm approached. He ran and hopped over the obstacles. He leaped from building to building.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say his parkour skill was out of this world. Every move he made was flawless and elegant in its own way. Every landing he took was as smooth as butter and as flow as water.

When he reached the end of the building in the block, he paused for a moment and looked back at the storm and the streets behind.

He noticed a strange event happening deep in the place where the vortex had engulfed. There were no screams nor bodies, as expected. However, it was odd.

"Are the people caught in the storm vanished or what? I don't see any trace of them."

Shaking his head, Noir jumped and stood on the rope that stretched to the building across the road. At first, he walked slowly and carefully. Then, as he reached halfway on it, he began running.

Once arrived on top of the building on the other side, Noir made haste to his secret base a few hundred meters away from his current location. Just as earlier, he leaped and exerted his parkour skill to cross from building to building.

Ten minutes later, he finally arrived at the location.

Noir descended by sliding down on the planks placed in an odd way all over the back alley. After reaching the ground, he walked toward behind a pile of broken cars.

Opening the bottom car door, whose interior was emptied, he ducked and entered the hidden trapdoor leading to his secret base.

While descending the ladder, Noir pulled out his phone and turned the flashlight, aiming it at the base. He didn't want to land in the wrong place.

After that, he just walked straight, following the only tunnel presented before him. At the end of the path, he found a metal door, unlocked it with a code, and entered the secret base.

A soft, melodic voice immediately greeted him as soon as he entered the room.

"Welcome back, Noir. I'm... glad you're safe..." the voice said, shaking.

Noir stared at the beautiful figure, a girl with blond hair, in front of him after closing the door.

"So, what's the situation outside...?" the girl continued.

"Well, it's exactly like what you see on the monitor screen," Noir replied, looking around the place and then at her. "Anyway, what happened to you? You're a mess."

It was just as Noir said. The girl appeared to be in a mess. Her long hair was tangled, and her face wasn't any better. Her eyes were swollen as though she had just cried, and she stared at Noir as though he was the only thing she had now.

"Ahaha... It's nothing. It's the aftermath of watching a sad movie."

Noir sighed. He worried for no reason.

"Where are the others, though? I thought I'd already ordered them to gather here a few hours ago."

"Oh, umm... they're going outside."

Noir raised an eyebrow. "Outside?"

"They wanted to see the apocalypse through their own eyes."

"What?!" Noir snapped, and the girl flinched. "That's dangerous!"

As Noir turned around, trying to leave the base to look for the people he had gathered to prepare for the apocalypse - even though this wasn't the one they had expected - the girl desperately clenched his wrist.

"NO! Don't!"

"What do you mean don't?"

The girl looked at Noir in the eyes. Her eyes filled with horror and desperation.

Noticing her expression, Noir frowned. He put his hand on her shoulder gently.

"Tell me what really happened here?"

Suddenly, the girl broke into tears and buried her face in Noir's chest.

Bewildered by the situation, Noir couldn't help but embrace the girl, trying to calm her down. He didn't say anything as his eyes wandered the room.

Only two of them were staying in the secret base. However, the clothes belonging to the people he had gathered were scattered there in the small living room.

Once the girl had cried enough and fallen asleep, Noir explored the secret base and found the other evidence that indicated there were other people than the girl here before.

According to the girl, they were all going outside to see the apocalypse. But Noir doubted that.

If they were really outside, he should have sighted them before coming here.

"Are they going outside without their clothes? Hell, what are they? Exhibitionists? I didn't recruit them for that!"

Sighing, he turned around and returned to the living room.

"She must know something."

The girl, indeed, knew something. However, when he returned to the living room, the girl was...

"Hey, can you please tell me what's actually going on... here?"

The girl was missing.