Sanetoshi smiled as he looked out of the train's window. Petting two black bunnies huddling in a basket on his lap, he hummed. "You know," he drawled in his luscious, smooth baritone, "what humans see are lies. Illusions." The black bunnies wriggled their ears as if showing that they were eager to be his audience. Which was encouraging, because there were no other passengers that would learn from his speech. The pink-haired- ghost? Magician? Deity? - existence fell silent, ruminating in thoughts as dark as the absolute, black landscape outside the train. Look- if he closed his eyes, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the world outside and the lack of the world outside. He opened his eyes and smiled nonchalantly at the bunnies. The landscape he saw, echoed throughout abstractly tangible dimensions of time, foreshadowed the inevitable collapse of human society as they saw it. Society and civilization would plunge into chaos,

Or so it was supposed to be.

Light filtered through Sanetoshi's otherworldly creamy pink hair from the window. Whimpering, the two bunnies covered with their dark velveteen ears two pairs of ruby red eyes that mirrored that of Sanetoshi. Like a holy sword that exorcised all evil, the light fell upon its prey, the rabbits, and shredded their existences to null. Without warning, without a noise, the bunnies disintegrated into dust. Abruptly, Sanetoshi stood up from his seat and clung onto a nearby metal pole. His crimson eyes flashed with anger and hurt- hurt that his eyes, his senses, his intuition would betray him. That the world would betray him by diverting from the fate the magical entity proclaimed for it. But no, the world would not betray him for no reason. Fate never worked that way- there was an action that must have transferred the train onto a different track, tangled the string of fate differently from the expected. So-

"Who might you be?" Sanetoshi asked, cocking his head to the right and closing his eyes to mere slits while smiling.

No one, nothing existed on the train but him. The bunnies, mere playthings and figments of imagination, had faded from existence, no longer needed. Sanetoshi did not mind. It seemed that finally that person had arrived. But on the train, all was silent.

Until a slight hum emanated from the ceiling. "The train will be stopping at the next station. All passengers are required to disembark the train."

A screeching noise interrupted the black, silent journey that Sanetoshi had enjoyed for all eternity until now. Gears, physical and disturbing, shifted as the train slowed to a stop.

Air hissed as the doors to the train opened. "We have arrived at the destination. Please enjoy your stay at-"

Sanetoshi exited the train, leaving the unknown announcer up to her own devices. He pushed his hair back and glanced up at the train station's sign overhead. In fuchsia lettering, it read

[Station of Beginnings]

Sanetoshi's eyes narrowed. Wind rustled his hair as his train left the station.

"What kind of strategy is this?"

Laughter, high and soft, filled the train station. "A survival strategy."

He turned to the source of the voice. On the other side of the rail, an emperor penguin hat, bejeweled and adorned with silver sashes, lay in the middle of the platform. Sanetoshi benevolently smiled at it.

"And who may you be?"

High laughter again. It was innocent, uncontrolled, much like that of a child. "You should know. You've wanted to meet me for so long, after all."

"I never knew that there was a person like me. One who could see that scenery. How can such a person exist? You must be a ghost. An illusion."

"Or maybe you just wanted that person for so long that you created me. No- you chose me. Are you sure that you didn't accidently leave your apple untended?"

Sanetoshi's smile slowly faded. "You…what are your intentions?"

"I don't care to tell you," the high voice said back to him. Sanetoshi scowled at the cheekiness, arrogance in its voice. In the flickering light, the silver sashes that adorned the penguin hat resembled gold. A squeak resounded as his train blocked his view of the penguin hat. Stalking back onto his train, he muttered, "Are you challenging me to a game?"

The penguin hat's eye slits gleamed bright pink. "Well, now…you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

Sanetoshi's train departed into darkness.

On the adjacent rail, another train arrived next to the penguin hat.

"I wouldn't really call it a game, you see. More like life, or something…"

"I just want it to survive."

The penguin hat disappeared in flames.

"Well, we'll definitely meet again," it whispered as it flecked to invisible ash.

"Because it's our fate."