Junko Hattori’s memories were fragmented, but clear. She remembered being burnt by the colorless flames. She could remember the terrifying feeling, a mixture of heat and pain. She remembered being inside that hell, and how the psychological pain was far worse than the physical. But now, that feeling was just a memory. Her body was unharmed. She was dressed, and standing by a beach. The waves were lapping at her feet.
The ocean.
The beach.
She looked around. All she could tell was that she was on a beach somewhere, at a bay. She was standing on a short, crescent-shaped beach. On the right side was a cape, and behind it, a dark jungle. And to her left was a massive, sheer cliff. This was no ordinary cliff.
She looked up it. It seemed to go on forever and ever. It broke through the clouds and went up as far as the eye could see.
Impossible.
That was Junko’s conclusion.
If this world was still Earth, what she was seeing was impossible. The cliff’s height and length seemed to go on forever. At least, they went as far as she could see. And what was more, the cliff was collapsing into the ocean at a constant speed. At its bottom it was turning into blocks that looked like CG polygons, before disappearing into the ocean. But for all that, the cliff didn’t seem to change at all.
Some kind of... infinite cliff?
She felt a sudden chill as she looked up at the cliff, which extended high into the heavens. And then she saw something even more frightening. The sky she was looking up at was dark. There was no sun, just a dark heavy layer of clouds. Normally, even on a cloudy day you could tell where the sun was. This world had no sun. But strangely, she could still see her surroundings. It was somewhere between night, and a cloudy day, in terms of visibility.
A VPS, perhaps? She wondered, as she looked around at the sea.
But there was no sign of the unnatural characteristics that VPSes always exhibited. In a VPS, the waves would be coming in at a set tempo, immediately obvious to even a casual observer.
Did I... die?
She began to wonder if this was the afterlife. The terror she felt began to grow stronger. B-But even if I did... why am I here alone? She decided to think logically, in order to drive away the fear. If this were the afterlife, she wouldn’t be here alone. Many people died with her at the same time. I-I guess for now, I need to go somewhere...
She started to walk. She was able to walk across the beach. She could hear the sand crunching beneath her feet. She wasn’t going anywhere near that cliff. Which meant that going into the jungle was her only choice.
The jungle was filled with thick vegetation, forming an impassable wall of green. Even if it was her only option, it was still worrying, not knowing what could happen there.
Akuto...
As she grew more and more worried, the name suddenly came to her. But there was no way she would see him here, she knew. And her sadness only grew. The tears came naturally. She wiped them off her cheeks and looked forward. If I can still think, it means I’m not dead... Which meant if she kept walking, eventually she’d get somewhere.
She started to walk toward the jungle. And then, she heard water splashing behind her. She turned around in shock. Someone was crawling out of the sea.
Junko screamed and tensed up. The man seemed to have just washed up on the shore.
I-I didn’t see anything a moment ago...
There was no way she could’ve missed him. The man must’ve just washed up on shore a few moments ago. He slowly stood up, staggering and splashing. It was a tall man. Suddenly, he looked up. His hair was stuck to his face, but there was no way that Junko would fail to recognize him.
D-Don’t tell me...
The doubt kept her from speaking for a moment. He saw her first, and shouted.
“Junko...!”
And then, when she heard his voice, she was sure.
“Akuto...!”
Junko ran over to him without thinking.
“I’m so happy... I knew I’d find you!” Akuto said, just as Junko leapt into him and gave him a hug.
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