Episode 1: Look Before You Leap
I can't believe that my relatives had insisted me to join this tour in hopes that it will help me deal with the lingering trauma I've had since my mom was still alive. Growing up, my mom made my. At first, I thought there was nothing wrong since my mom said that there's nothing different between a boy and a girl. But once I reached puberty, that's when I realized that my mother was wrong. I learned about my 'boyhood' once I studied junior high. I tried to persuade my mom to let me live as a boy, but she wouldn't let me since she thought 'a good girl never raises her voice'. And to make matters worse, my dad was rarely around to defend me from my mom's demands and expectations. Even after my mom died several months ago, my memories of her still haunted my mind, even after my relatives took me in until my dad returns. So, they decided to sign me up for this tour.
As I patiently sat at the waiting shed with some of my essentials (food, water, phone, power bank, umbrella, towel, and extra clothes), a bus pulled up and a man, who I presumed to be the tour guide came out of the bus doors.
"Are you the last one to join the this tour?" the tour guide asked me.
"Yes," I nodded as the tour guide let me in the bus. I took a seat the very back, directly in front of the aisle. After this, the bus continued moving.
"Thank you for gathering here today, everyone!" the tour guide announced through a microphone so he can be heard here in the back.
Most of the passengers cheered, but I didn't care.
"Every single participant of this tour is of the chosen few with the intelligence, capability, and clear accounting practices necessary to find our website hidden behind many layers of protection! You are all fallen angels with broken wings, condemned to this corrupt world through the whims of gods!" the tour guide continued.
More cheering.
"We must not allow the sanctity of your wings to become sullied and troubled by the lowly riff-raff of this worthless world. This bus is Noah's Ark! We are now headed toward the new promised land!"
More cheering.
"Apologies for the delay introductions, but I am the representative of the organization sponsoring this tour: "It's Super Genesis!" or ISG for short. I am the Mystery Emperor, Dahara!" the tour guide, named Dahara, introduced himself.
"Cool!/Dahara!" some of the passengers said.
"Right then! So, everyone, what do you say to this reality?
"Goodbye!"
"Let's so this First Life Do-Over!"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, let's start with introductions! Keep passing the mic as you introduce yourself!"
Basically, everyone in the bus began introducing themselves to one another. Many of them have weird names, but I can tell that these are just fake names, like those online. There are even three Yuuna's so Dahara decided to name them Yuuna, Yuune, and Yuuno, respectively. After a while of waiting, it was my turn to introduce myself.
I began, "Um... My name is Atsuya. And... um... the reason I'm here is because my relatives said so. I've been through a lot in my life lately."
"Okay, that's everyone," Dahara said as he finished scanning the paper that I can tell was the list of all of us participants. "I'll now explain the overall tour. The name was already mentioned by Speedstar, but we're going to Nanaki Village, everyone's dream destination."
From everyone's reaction, I can tell everyone is delighted. And so am I, but I refused to show it.
Dahara continued, "Nanaki Village, as rumored in certain online circles, doesn't even exist on the map. Even today, many people go missing around this village, dubbed by some as a modern 'spirited away' phenomenon. However, the missing have not, in fact, vanished! They have created entirely new lives for themselves, free from the rules and constraints of modern society. That is Nanaki Village! Though well known among communities well-versed in urban legends, not even the police have located this village. However, we ISG have, with the help of a certain individual, discovered it!"
All of us reacted in awe.
"This should be interesting," I mused.
"We will now become missing people and start over in Nanaki Village. Let's shed all our burdens, and, just like in the tour name, let's have a do-over!" Dahara finished.
A while later, everyone started doing their own thing. Many of them even talked about this Nanaki Village and its supposed secret. Personally, I paid no attention to them until Maimai asked me from her seat.
"What about you, Atsuya?" she asked. "What does Nanaki Village looked like to you?"
I hesitated for a while before answering, "For me, I'd say it has been abandoned by its inhabitants a long time ago for some unforeseen reason, like maybe some lingering radiation from an atomic bomb."
We even sang 'The Unlucky Hippopotamus'.
Un no warui hippopotamus
hontou ni tsuite inai hippopotamus
Lululu...
Getsuyoubi medataku umareta yo
Kayoubi gakkou yuutousei
Suiyoubi kawaii oyomesan morau
Mokuyoubi kurushii byouki ni kakari
Kinyoubi tottemo omoku nari
Doyoubi assari shinjatte
Nichiyoubi ohaka ni umerareta
Un no warui hippopotamus
Tsuite inai hippopotamus no isshou
Kore de oshimai, kore de oshimai
Mmm...
A while later, we decided to park at a rest stop to buy some food and drinks or go to the restroom. Of course, I used the restroom with the PWD sign ( ) so no one would get the wrong idea of me going to a gender-specific restrooms. After finishing my business in there, I sat down at a nearby patio table.
"Hey, is this seat taken?" I turned to see Speedstar standing beside me.
"Oh, no. You can sit," I replied as he sat at the opposite chair.
"Hayato—I mean, Speedstar," Mitsumune called out as he approached our table. "You don't have to go to the men's room?"
'So Hayato is Speedstar's real name,' I thought to myself.
"Don't call me that," Hayato nonchalantly replied. "And what's with your 'Mitsumune' name, anyway?"
"Just going with the flow!" Mitsumune replied with a smile.
"Are you sure you don't need an umbrella?" Maimai asked as she passed by them, while sharing an umbrella with Puuko. "You'll catch a cold."
"I'm fine, just fine," Mitsumune assured them.
"You're sure having fun," Hayato pointed out.
"What? Well, isn't it better to enjoy it? We're all going to be together from now on."
"Together from now on, huh?"
"You know, um, Hayato? Can I call you 'Hayato' now?" I asked him.
"Sure, go ahead," he replied.
"Anyway, Mitsumune's right. At least enjoy your time with company, you know that," I continued.
"Besides, you don't believe that, Hayato?" Mitsumune asked.
"Of course not. I don't believe in crazies. I just came to confirm that it's all a ruse," Hayato answered.
"Hayato, quiet down," I said, afraid someone might find out about what he just said. "Everyone else is here since they thought that everything about Nanaki Village is true, myself and Mitsumune included."
Hayato scoffed, "Why would you know that, Atsuya? It's like a tour for overly self-conscious sickos to make friends. They're so casual about calling a 'life do-over tour'. It makes me sick."
"Hayato..." Mitsumune worriedly trailed off.
"Anyway, I guess no one's calling you today."
"Yeah, I've had it turned it off."
I sighed as I looked around for a while before I decided to get some snacks. But as I was walking past the women's restroom, I heard Puuko and Maimai talking inside.
Puuko: That boy, Mitsumune? He looked happy when you spoke to him, Maimai. He didn't seem to have a lot of experience with girls. So cute!
Maimai: M-hmm.
Puuko: Do you like him, Maimai? I'll take him off my list of potential Adams, then.
Maimai: You really need to stop calling them potential Adams.
Puuko: Oh, really?
Maimai: I don't like him. Quite the opposite. He rubs me the wrong way, so I thought I'd tease hm, that's all. By the way, what do you think about that Atsuya girl?
My ears perked up when they mentioned me.
Puuko: Her? Hmm... I'm not sure about her. She seems a bit off, don't you think?
Maimai: I know. She looks a bit weird if you ask me. I feel like there's something off about her.
Puuko: Hmm? Do you think she's... Nah, she couldn't be.
I brushed off their words and headed to the vending machine to buys some snacks since the store is already closed. But as I arrived there, I noticed Mitsumune with Masaki.
"Hey, Mitsumune, what's going on?" I asked them.
"I don't know, Atsuya. Masaki seems a bit worked up today," Mitsumune replied.
"Something bad will happen now," Masaki muttered, obviously to herself.
"What?" Mitsumune and I asked, catching her by surprise.
"Sorry, it's not what it looks like," she replied. "Um, I just thought something bad could happen if I could hold my breath till my hot snack was complete. It was kind of an impromptu fortunetelling... type... thing."
"Okay," Mitsumune replied back but I can tell he was unsure.
"I'm really sorry," Masaki apologized again. "I often do things like this. Telling myself if I can reach the next utility pole in five steps, something good will happen, or if I only step on the white crosswalk stripes, I can avoid catching a cold."
"Ah, I see," I said while nodding. "Let's just hope that's all it is since you didn't seem to be feeling well earlier. But still you just need to calm down and stop worrying about what would happen."
"It was the hippopotamus. I was so sad for the hippopotamus in the song, that I couldn't help it. By the way, do you two think I'm a little off my rocker?"
"'Off your rocker'? I don't think so, Masaki," I replied.
"Um, maybe, just a bit," Mitsumune chimed in.
"Of course you two would..." Masaki piped up as she smiled slightly. "People tell me that sometimes. That's a lie. They tell me that a lot."
Suddenly, she faced the wall as she was about to cry again. Mitsumune and I tried to comfort her so she won't cry but she told us that she was carsick. Fortunately for her, Mitsumune brought some medicine that would help her with her carsickness so he went back to the bus to get them. I gave her a bottle of water to help calm her down.
After a while, all of us went back to the bus, except for that Lion girl, who is inside the bus this whole time. Once the bus got moving again, Dahara suggested us playing Yamanote Line Game, with torture devices as the topic. When it was Mitsumune's turn to say a torture method, he said 'cannibalism', which led to him reading a 'death letter' in front of us as punishment. Dahara even explained if any of us were to leave in the middle of this retreat, we wouldn't want them spreading word about Nanaki Village.
Of course, Mitsumune tried, and I mean tried, to say a so-called death letter. I have to admit, it was hilarious.
"Hey, I don't want to lecture you all or anything, but this is way too irresponsible." Said the bus driver before asking Dahara. "Hey, are you the organizer? I'd heard that this is some mystery tour."
"Oh, it's all a misunderstanding! I called it a death letter," Dahara explained. "But people are just leaving their old lives behind."
"That's what I mean by irresponsible! What's this about starting over someplace new?" the bus driver shot down. "You shouldn't talk about starting over so lightly. Look at you, still so young. What do you know about life? Everyone's had it rough to varying degrees, but we don't run away. We work our way through the life the best we can. From where I stand, you're babies. You're still babies in life, just barely learning to walk."
"Hey Mister!" I heard Valkana spoke up and saw him stood up. "I'm a paying a customer here. Stop yapping and just drive, okay? If you're gonna lecture us, do it after you your job, okay?!"
'Hmm... that's one way to kill the ambience.' I thought to myself in confusion before I remember the time my mom yelled at me.
"Atsuko! Why aren't you wearing the dress I bought last month?!"
"Stop that, honey. Girls don't play soccer."
"ATSUYA ISN'T YOUR NAME! That's the name your father gave you! Your name... is Atsuko. SAY IT!"
"Little girls need to learn to be good!"
"You are a ticking time bomb." Lion's words snapped me out of my thoughts. "If you hide how you feel and hold in too much, you'll explode."
"A time bomb?!" I heard Mitsumune panicking as the driver clicked his tongue.
"You're getting on my nerves, Mister," Valkana scoffed as he kicked the driver's seat from behind. "Don't make nasty sounds like some sort of revenge."
"I should be able to click whenever I want. I'm having a rough time, too, okay?" the driver said. "I want to run away sometimes!"
Suddenly, the bus started to go faster as everyone in the bus began to panic.
"Sir?" Dahara said to the driver to slow down.
The driver began ranting, "With the economic downturn, they cut all my overtime. Now that I finally got a long gig like this, why should I have to bow and scrape to a bunch of losers like you guys? When I get a call out of the blue from my mom back home, it's her begging for money—what, am I just an ATM? I left home to earn money for the family, and I'm eating ramen night after night—no toppings, either! I can't even afford to put an egg on it. Not even a boiled egg!"
"What's your plan, old man?" Valkana asked.
"You want to start over, right? Say goodbye to the world? Then, let's just all happily die together in an accident!"
He then swerved the bus as all of us had no other choice but to hold on tight. I noticed Jack approaching the driver, saying that all adults pretend to act all nice and kill anyone if their guard is down. I agree with him in my opinion, my mother would always beat me up if I didn't do what she said.
And that was when I noticed Masaki vomiting on the driver. And, man, it was disgusting. We had to stop over and wait outside for the driver to change clothes.
Just then, we all heard such beautiful music and I noticed it was coming from a clock that read 12:00 midnight 🕛.
I'll take out the evil eyes...
We turned to see a woman wearing a pink jacket singing and approaching us.
"Creepy, right?" the woman said as she smiled. "This is a traditional nursery song from Nanaki Village."
"Koharun!" I saw Dahara ran over to the woman.
"So her name is Koharun..." I whispered to myself.
"It's been a while, Dahara." Koharun said as she gave him a hug, giving me the hint that they knew each other. "You still have the shadow of death in your face."
"Everyone, this Koharun!" Dahara introduced Koharun to us. "She's studying folklore as a university student. She's the one who told us about Nanaki Village."
"I was hoping to get there before you," Koharun said. "But I guess you caught up to me. You all look tired. Hang in there, it'll only take a little longer. Oh, ladies, the restrooms are—"
"Hey, who said you can take charge?" Valkana interrupted as he approached her.
"Valkana," Dahara tried to ease the tension between the two.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to butt in. Nice to meet you," Koharun said as she shook Valkana's hand, only for him to pull it away.
"Don't touch me with your smelly perfume hands, fugly." Said Valkana in a huff.
'Man, that guy is a jerk...'I thought.
"Okay, everyone, we're almost there!" Dahara said as we all went back inside the bus now that it is cleaned up. "Once we pass through here and keep going straight, there'll be a bridge. Right after that bridge is Nanaki Village.
I looked out the window and even though the road is foggy tonight, I can see the bridge. Looks like Dahara is right, we're finally here at Nanaki Village.