White lilies stretched across the plains indefinitely, beneath the sea of flowers, the tufts of grass to most would practically be considered non-existent. A slow rain of cherry blossom petals danced as it descended, melting away as it became naked to the eye amongst the terrain, and in the midst of it all; laid a heavily wounded young woman, gritting her teeth hard as she clutched the massive wound on her stomach where blood continued to seep, and not so far in front of her stood the infamous yōkai who started it all, that damn cursed yōkai.

She knew behind that fan obscuring that yōkai's face stretched a massive devilish grin; this had entertaining for the yōkai, and that fact sickened her in the stomach, and somehow that feeling overpowered the pain—a thought of adrenaline brushes past her, but she shakes it away immediately.

"It's a shame things have to end here, really," The yōkai spoke with that fake kind, sweet, and motherly tone she has been all too familiar with at this point, "You have been my favourite Gappy, after all."

That term sent shivers down her spine regardless of the countless times from different mouths she heard prior. "I'm… not your damn... play toy!" She managed to say beneath a series of breaths, but it wouldn't matter, the yōkai would pick up on it regardless—heightened senses or something, and that she still has to remember clearly; this thing in front of her was barely human, despite everything about its appearance telling everyone none the wiser otherwise. "None of us Outsiders were meant to be in the first place, Yukari."

"Aw, don't be such a party pooper~." Yukari sang while clapping the fan closed, "You understand though; the residents here need this to thrive. This World as a whole needs it to continue existing."

"Yeah..." feet wobbled against the grounds as she struggles to stand tall, "But you and I both know that you don't need people from the Outside World just to create incidents nor for... 'meat supply'."

"If only you weren't so aware, like the other Gappys," a massive black void started to tear into the fabric of reality next to the yōkai, eyes contained within stared into her soul. The portal is the very thing the yōkai was notorious for. "But it's also what I love most from my dear favourite."

Faint sounds of train horns grew louder, a beat or two later, a light beamed in front of her, the earth beneath her begins to tremble, to which she loses her footing yet again. From that void, a Metro train emerged and approached her at an alarming speed, horns were constantly blaring, and for some reason, Eurobeat music companies it. It didn't help that the front carriage was coming at her at an odd angle; as if the front wheels were connected to the rail next over. Was it… drifting?

~ Speed, speed lover, games not over ~

She didn't dare to question nor think about it; if it was under different circumstances, maybe then she would've.

"Sayonara, my Gappy."

~ Hot glitters on the track ~

She hated that time felt ridiculously slower at every second death was creeping up. If she had to be completely honest; she'd rather it be quick and painless. This just reminds her of the countless dreams in which running away never existed, because it's always too slow and she gets caught in the end regardless of how hard she tried to hide. She hated those dreams with a passion.

~ Speed, speed lover, countdowns over ~

But...maybe this was just a dumb dream, and she'd wake up with a jolt upon impact.

She would've loved that.

~ Running to win or die~

To be back home.

To be in her room.

…

She closes her eyes and waited.

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

Yup…that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

[AN]

*slightly modified once again, completely changed Authors Note

If you want context behind this story's creation, continue reading these notes. Otherwise, you are free to skip this and continue on.

This story first started as a joint effort between another person and me, circa 2014-2015, it didn't have a title back then due to the fact it was just for fun between the two of us. It remains incomplete, riddled with plot holes and shenanigans all over the place. At some point, I watched the YouTube Walfas series; "Diamond in the Rough" and was inspired to take our story and completely revamp it into a somewhat full-fledged story ever since. With permission of course.

To emulate us having our own side of the story with our self-insert as the main character, this story will go back and forth to be centric around one of the two OC/SIs, and also the writing style will slightly change depending who its on (at least to the best of my ability, since attempting to downplay my writing on purpose ended up being a big struggle so far)

Originally, I wanted this story to be considered a mix of dark fic and satire. However, after writing the latest chapter (4), I didn't feel right calling it that, you might still see some elements of seriousness and comedic tones going back and forth throughout the story. Still, for now, I don't want to consider the story to be dark fic + satire officially.