Akira woke up, but not in his bed. He had chains on his wrists and ankles. Water dripping into the toilet echoes throughout the room.

'Is this some sort of prison?'

He got up from the board he was laying on and walked up to the cell bars. The chains rattled loudly on the cold concrete floor.

2 girls with gray hair and glowing yellow eyes walk up to the cell. One had an eyepatch on their right eye, and the other on the opposite. They were both wearing warden uniforms and looked around Akira's age. The girls turned and Akira saw a man with a big smile and an extremely large nose.

The man spoke. "Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room. We usually don't take in someone your young age but we can make some exceptions."

The girl on his left spoke calmly "The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream."

The long nosed man began explaining how the place exists between mind and matter. He introduced himself as Igor. "The state of this room reflects the state of your heart. Even though you seem free, you truly are a 'prisoner' of fate."

Akira is confused.

'Prisoner?'

"There is no mistake that ruin awaits you"

Igor says something about rehabilitation but Akira is still processing everything.

'Why am I having such a dream? Why do I need rehabilitation?'

"Oh right, I must introduce you. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They are wardens here. I will explain their roles on a later occasion, for we are running out of time here."

"Times up!" Caroline yells. "Now hurry up and go back to sleep."

'Wait!' Akira held tightly on the bars. 'I still have so many questions!'


Akira's eyes opened, and he was back on his bed. His phone pinged, and Akira leaned over his stuffed animal to pick it up. Sojiro decided to give him a phone when he first moved here, just in case he needed to contact him. He didn't have many apps, and he quickly noticed the red eyeball app.

'Is this a virus? Or did it have something to do with the dream?... Futaba would know, I think...'

Akira deleted it anyway, and went back to sleep.