The two of us kept on running through the city for a long time, we weren't sure if we were being chased or not since we had left so quickly, but I sure as Hell didn't want to take any chances. While we were running, I had soon realized that I was one who was leading the way while the girl followed behind me. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but because of the situation we were in, I had completely forgotten that I was new to Gamindustri.

"Okay...Okay, I think we might be good…" As soon as I stopped, the adrenaline inside had started to wear off and I had collapsed onto the floor. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest, and I was having trouble taking the shortest of breaths. "Hoo boy… I really overdid it…"

As I was saying, the two of us were pretty much running around blindly, or at least I was. From what I can remember, we had entered yet another unpopulated area of town. I hadn't realized this until I was finally able to breathe again and took in my surroundings. I was skeptical at first, but the girl didn't seem too worried about where we were, so I was able to relax.

"Mister, are you okay?" I was still sprawled out on the ground when the girl had asked me that. I slowly turned my head and saw that she was kneeling down right beside me. I can vividly remember seeing the worry in her eyes as she looked down at me and as I looked up at her. "You don't really look too well…"

"Me? Oh, no I'm fine! You don't have to worry about me." I was pretty much lying. My heart was about ready to explode, and my legs were sorer then they have ever been. I was pretty much ready to die at any given point in time. "I should be the one asking you that. Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you?"

The girl reassured me by shaking her head. I was relieved to see that she didn't have any scratches or bruises on her. I can't say the same for those criminals back there, after what had transpired. Once again, I'm going to wait until later to reveal what had happened back there, since I think the timing would be much more appropriate.

"That's a relief." I spent a few more minutes lying on the ground, trying my hardest not to pass out due to how exhausted I was. Now that I think about it, there weren't a lot of people in that area, but there was still people nonetheless. They probably thought that it was weird that a guy was sprawled out on the ground with a girl kneeling down beside him… But then again, who am I to care about what others thought?

I soon found enough strength to sit up. My head was spinning, and it was still hard to control my urge to pass out, but I somehow managed. "Oh boy… I haven't even been here for two hours and I feel like my life is in danger, ahaha…" If you couldn't tell, I was nervous for multiple reasons, the biggest one being that there was a chance of me being wanted by some sort of criminal organization. Nevertheless, I had to keep my composure.

"Huh? What do you mean by that, mister?" I was planning on explaining to the girl that I was "new" to Planeptune, but she had fortunately caught on to what I had meant very quickly. "Oh, I get it now! You're new to Planeptune, aren't you?"

"Basically." I've already established that this girl is an airhead, but I was also getting the feeling that she was slow to process things. It may not seem like it now, but I assure you that as we get further into this story, the longer it will take for her to process the most obvious of things.

"Wow, it's only your first day and you're already making an impression on everyone!" This girl had seemed really happy about this for some reason, and I couldn't quite understand why. "Although, I don't think it's in a way you expected… or wanted."

She certainly wasn't wrong, that was for sure. I had a feeling that I would get into some sort of mess eventually. Did I think it would happen this soon? Of course not, it all happened so fast. All I knew at the time was that I was going to have to be extra careful.

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot! Thank you for saving me, mister!" I had then realized that she had been calling me "Mister" the entire time. I found it a little weird because I was only 18 and I didn't exactly look old at all. "I knew I was forgetting to say something really important!"

"Oh uh… You don't have to refer to me as "Mister" you know. You're making me sound a lot older than I actually am." While I will admit it felt nice to be old enough to be called a "mister", I wasn't exactly ready to accept title until I was in my 30s or 40s. Little did I know that it wouldn't really matter in the end, considering my current position. "After all, I'm only 18."

"Huh? You're only 18? Then does that mean I'm older than you?" Before I continue on, let me just tell you that back in my world, people usually looked their age for the most part. If you saw someone wearing a fancy dress taking a stroll down the sidewalk, you could tell that it was a woman. If you saw a short person with a school backpack on and a young looking face, you could tell that they were a child.

Now, here in Gamindustri… that didn't mean absolute shit! This girl had looked like she was still in high school, yet she was older than me! At first, I just kinda assumed that she was older by a year or two, so I didn't think much of it. I never would've thought that I would learn the truth how old she really was until much much later. Would it matter by then? No, not really.

"Seriously? You look a lot younger than that." I would've asked her how old she was, but it's pretty much an unwritten rule that you never ask a girl her age unless she tells you, and since it seemed like I was going to be kept in the dark, I just decided to tell her what most girls wanted to hear.

"Huh? I do?" I was half expecting her to say thank you for the compliment, but it apparently didn't have much of an effect since she sounded a bit clueless. "Well okay… But if you don't want me to call you Mister, then what should I call you?"

Now, this is the part where I'm supposed to introduce myself. You know, give her my full name, and all that crap, right? Well, you know how my body likes to act on its own? This time, my brain had gone into autopilot and I had blurted out. "Tamazaki." I was trying to say "Trenton" but something just wouldn't let me say it.

After thinking about, I think I know the reason why I couldn't say my first name, and I guess that's because anytime I heard someone say it, I would always remember the bad memories of my past… Not trying to sound edgy or anything! But when I was younger, whenever someone had said, "Trenton" something bad would always end up happening to me moments later. Things such as something breaking and me getting blamed for it, and embarrassing myself in front of other people, or even just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You name it, and there was a chance it had happened to me.

Even though I was young, I had noticed that pattern. To test it out, I had people start calling me by my last name, and when they had started to do that, it was as if my bad luck had disappeared into thin air. The only person who still referred to me as Trenton was Celia, who didn't really believe me when I told her my first name was cursed and to just call me Tamazaki instead.

So getting back to the topic at hand, I think I had just instinctively said Tamazaki because I… guess I just wanted a new start. I didn't want to be known as Trenton Tamazaki, but just Tamazaki. I kinda had a feeling that this would complicate things if I were to get married or have a child, but I didn't worry too much because the chances of those happening were very low at the time.

If only the past me could see how he ended up in the future.

"Tamaza-...Tamazu-...Tamazucchni?" And this is where it begins. This was where the mispronunciations of my name had started, and would certainly not end for a very very VERY long time. "You have a really funny name!"

"...W-What? That's not what I said at all!" This was also the start of my useless effort in trying to correct her, not knowing that I would fail in the long run. "I said my name was Tamazaki! Not Tamazucchni!"

"Oh, Tamacheese! I think I get it now!"

"Tamacheese?! Where did that even come from?! I said Tamazaki! TA-MA-ZA-KI!"

"Ta-ma-..." Deep down, I knew she was about to butcher it so bad that it wouldn't even be recognizable anymore. "...Tamanoodle? That's how you pronounce it, isn't it? It's Tamanoodle!"

I was actually about to lose it. There were so many other fails in pronouncing my name, that I just don't even want to think about them. I stood there for a good solid 10 minutes trying to correct her, but the harder I tried, the worst it got.

"T-Ta-Tama... This is really hard, I can't remember the rest…" During that time, I had completely forgotten that I was dealing with an airhead. If I had realized that sooner, then there was a chance that I could've saved myself a solid 6-8 minutes of my life that I, unfortunately, will never be able to get back. "Oh, I know! I'll just call you Tama! Does that sound okay, mister?"

"...Sure, I'll take it." I was very agitated, and I didn't want to deal with her adding more letters to my name than necessary or butchering the crap out of it, so I just went with the nickname of Tama. "It's close enough and it's better than nothing."

"Okay, then it's settled! It's nice to meet you, Tama! My name is Compa!" And it was at that point I had officially thrown away my identity as Trenton and replaced it with Tamazaki. This was also when I had met Compa, the first friend that I had made in the world of Gamindustri, although I was kind of unsure at first if she considered us friends at first, but- "I hope we can become great friends!" -those thoughts were immediately put to rest.


"A guide?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be having someone show me around Planeptune. They wanted me to meet them at the Guild, but I guess I was a bit too late."

After the introductions and mispronunciations were out of the way, Compa had told me that there was somewhere that she needed to be. After what had just happened, I was really skeptical and didn't want her to be by herself since those criminals could've been lurking around, so I volunteered to walk her to her destination.

I was relieved that the route we were taking was in a much more populated area, so no one could really get the jump on us since people were around. As we were walking, I had explained to her the "events" that had led me to Planeptune. As much as I would've liked to tell her what was really going on, I had to remain silent. I didn't really know what would happen if I had told Compa what my actual situation was, and I wasn't willing to find out. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, it was just that I didn't want her getting involved in something that was potentially dangerous.

"I'm sorry that your first day in Planeptune was a total disaster, Tama." Seeing Compa sad had actually hurt me in more ways than one, and I can guarantee you that she isn't going to be the only person to do that. "I wouldn't blame you if you told me that those bad guys put a bad taste in your mouth."

"H-Hey, it's not really that big of a deal… I mean, I guess it is, but not in the way you think." Every city has its fair share of crimes, it's just something that happens naturally. Even with that in mind, I still understood where Compa was coming. "I'm not going to let that ruin how I see Planeptune, stuff like this happens all the time."

"This felt really different from all those other times though…" Compa was right though. In this particular crime, Compa was a victim, and if I hadn't played my cards right, who knows what could've happened to her? "You could've gotten yourself seriously hurt, Tama…"

"And you could've gotten yourself kidnapped or worse." Something had then popped in my head, and I was curious to find out what it was. "Speaking of which, why were you in that part of town anyway, Compa?"

"Oh, that's an easy question! I just finished working and I was going back to my workplace to return my supplies before leaving for the day." Compa lifted her duffle bag, indicating that her supplies were inside there. "I'm a nurse at a Hospital, but I sometimes travel and take care of people in their homes or other places."

"I had a feeling that you were doing something in the medical field." Even if Compa wasn't carrying that giant duffle bag of medical supplies, or hadn't told me that she was a nurse, I most likely would've found out since she was giving off a vibe that only some sort of caretaker would have. "So does that mean that you usually walk through that area when you're going to and from work?"

"Not all the time, no. I usually only go that way when I'm leaving work in a hurry, just like today. That part of Planeptune we were in isn't normally that dangerous, it's just really quiet!" I felt better knowing that it wasn't usually like that for the most part, but something had told me that after today, that was all going to change. "One of my friends called me and wanted me to go over to their place when I got off of work."

"So that's where you're going." I might've said this before, but it was really hard to tell what these buildings were. Apparently, we were in the housing district of Planeptune, but the buildings looked like the ones in the main city, which threw me off. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could really do about it, and I was just going to have to adjust.

I was thinking about asking Compa about her friends, but I felt as if that would be a bit too much to ask. She might've been a really kind and sweet girl, but I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable around me by entering into her personal space, we had just met after all.

The two of us continued walking for some time. Every now and then, she would ask me a question, and I would ask her one in return. Most of these were questions that I had to come up with answers for since I didn't exactly know what most of them had meant. It was going well if I say so myself… you know, until she had asked me one question in particular.

"Tama, what nation did you come from?"

"I'm… Sorry?"

"Well, you just moved here from another nation, right? I was wondering if you could tell me what nation you came from."

I was stumped. I knew from the moment she asked that question that she was talking about one of the 3 other cities I had seen while I was on that hill. Unfortunately, I had never gotten the names of that of those other cities during the short time I had been in Planeptune, so I didn't really know what to say.

"Err…" I had to think of something and it had to be believable. I have had some bad luck in the past, so I wasn't going to try to make up some city on the spot. "...How about you guess?" Those words had come out of my mouth without me fully realizing it. I want to say that my brain had done its own thing again, but I was thinking of asking her something along the lines of that, so I guess my brain just completed the sentence.

"Huh? You want me to guess?" I stopped walking and stood in place so Compa could get a good look at me. Compa also stopped walking and began to analyze me, and for whatever reason, I had a feeling that it just based off of my clothes. "Well, you dress like most citizens that come from Lastation would, but you kinda act like someone who grew up in Lowee. At the same time, your facial features and hair color remind me of most people from Leanbox."

I didn't have any visible reactions, but I was shocked yet amazed that my idea had actually worked. Compa had indirectly told me the names of the other 3 nations in Gamindustri… And that's when it hit me. The name of the world was Gamindustri, and there were 3 other nations that were known as Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox.

"(That… That has to be a coincidence, right?)" It had clicked in my mind that the names of the nations had sounded very familiar, and it was in more ways than one. All of these nations had reminded me of certain game consoles that were pretty popular back on Earth, and fact that Gamindustri had "Game" in its name had risen a lot of flags in my head. "(It has to be, right? Who would name their country after a game console?)"

"Aww, this is really hard! It's not nice of you to keep making me do really difficult things, Tama!" I felt guilty when I really shouldn't have been. The only hard thing that she had done was try to pronounce my name, and I wasn't even meant to be hard since it's only 8 letters long! "Can you just tell me what it is, Tama? I give up!"

"Y-You… You haven't even taken a guess yet, Compa…" As much as I wanted her to take a guess, putting her through this pain wasn't worth it. "Alright, fine. Even though you didn't give me a proper answer, you tried."

"Yay, I tried!"

After that failed guessing game happened, I told Compa what "nation" I had "come" from, and she believed me. Let me just say that for the first few days, I had to lie to a lot of people in order to stay safe. It didn't feel good, and I still have regrets, but it was for the better.

Oh, and you're probably wondering what nation I had told Compa I was from. That can wait until later since it's one of those things that should be brought up at the right time.


"We're finally here!"

"W-Wow… Y-You're friends live… here?"

Compa and I had finally arrived at our destination, which was her friend's house… Although, saying that it was a "house" is a bit of an understatement. "Tower" was a lot more appropriate. This very tower was the tallest building in the entire nation, I'm pretty sure that I had even seen it when I was under that tree a few hours earlier.

"Yup! They're really special, which is why they live here." I had thought that whoever lived in that tower was some form of royalty at first. Why would I think that? I don't have a single damn clue. The tower didn't even look like a castle so that just furthers my confusion.

"Is that so... " I had figured that since this was where Compa had to be, it would be for the best if I had taken my leave. I wasn't going to follow her into her friend's house since I'm sure I would be overstepping my boundaries. "Well, I did what I promised. Since you're here now, I think I'm going to take my leave now."

"Aww, you can't stay Tama?" I was a little glad that she didn't exactly want me to leave, which meant that I had made a good impression on her… But then again, it's not really hard to make a good impression on someone you saved, especially if they're like Compa. "But if you have somewhere to go, then I won't stop you."

"Yeah, as much as I would like to stay, I have things that I need to take care of before the night falls." That was another lie since because I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and I was practically wandering around aimlessly until something had happened. "It was nice meeting you Compa, I hope I'll be able to see you again soon."

"I really hope so, too. Thank you again for saving me, Tama!"

Compa had waved to me as she was entering the tower, and I waved back until she was no longer in my sight. I was on my own once again, but that inevitable. Compa was with her friends, and the sun was starting to set.

Oh, remember the girl I was supposed to meet up with at the Guild? I forgot to mention that Compa and I had stopped there on our way to the tower. It turned out that the girl wasn't there at all, and that was most likely due to me arriving at the Guild at least 2 hours after our original meetup time.

"I'm sure I'll figure something out…"

I started to walk away from the tower, but immediately stopped I had felt like something was wrong. I had a weird feeling, a feeling that you would only get when you were being watched by something or someone. I quickly turned around, but as I expected, I didn't see anyone behind or around me.

"Huh… I'm probably just imagining things." And with that, I had walked off. If only I had looked up, even if it was just a bit. There someone staring down at me from inside the tower. Who was that person you might ask? Well…

Let's just say that it was my future.