Akira opened his eyes after stepping through the blindingly bright light. "Ok that was obnoxiously bright. Seriously no reason to ever have anything that bright, like ever." He muttered to himself before his vision cleared to reveal...Japan. He was inside a Japanese mall. "What?" He asks looking around. It was the same Japan he left behind when he died, the same bright neon signs and the same hustle and bustle of people walking. He looked down, feeling something was off to see his adventurer outfit, which had been akin to Joker from Persona 5, was now replaced with a very formal business suit. Gilgamesh was gone and nothing took its place as he slowly walked forward.
"Oh my god! It's Akira!" A voice suddenly called out making his head turn. A crowd of people started to swarm by him. "Sir sir! When will your next game be out?" "Oh sir! How about your next novel?" "No no the most important bit, when is your next album coming out?"
One after another the people asked him questions about things he never did or knew how to do. "Uhh." He simply said, at a loss for words. "I'll...get back to you on that!" He said before quickly rushing past them. The mob followed after him until he got outside where a limo pulled up and the door opened for him. He jumped forward sliding in with the door closing as he was fully inside the luxurious vehicle. He was panting at the sudden craziness. "What the hell is going on...?" He asked himself before realizing: he just jumped into a limo that pulled up perfectly for him. Looking around and sitting up right he saw he was alone within the very spacious vehicle. Soothing lights were on and bottles of champagne were in a color with fancy glasses to match.
"Good show there sir." A voice suddenly said, making Akira look up. Staring back at him was the driver; he was a middle aged Russian who looked like he'd beat someone with another person if they tried to mess with him. "A second longer and I'd have gotten out myself." He said to Akira.
"Umm." Akira again dumbly said, not understanding anything that was happening. "What's going on? Who are you?" He asks, making the man chuckle.
"Oh come now sir, don't tell me you had another day dream. Sometimes when you get those out of the blue like that you tend to lose who you are." The man said as he seemed to have dealt with this before. "I am Ivan, your driver. You are Akira Hirano; a wealthy entrepreneur of many things. You create and distribute about anything! And these daydreams you keep having are what fuels your creations. So got anything new and exciting in that head after this one?" He asks.
Akira takes a moment to think when it all seems to make sense sort of. It felt a bit foggy, as if he was hit in the head...but that was due to sliding in of course. He must have clipped the opposite door when he did that little stunt. "Uhh...I was in some fantasy land after I had died. I worked some stupid little job making barely anything and met with some interesting people after being reincarnated." Akira says to Ivan.
"Ahh." Ivan says with a smirk. "That sounds fantastic no? Starting over in life after you die. Sadly we only have one life so such thing could never happen." He says as they turn left. "But you know what can do with this? Make new game! Sasha would love new game like that." Ivan says.
"Sasha?" Akira asks, blinking rapidly. "Oh yes, your daughter." He says as he recalls. "How is she now? Last I saw her was this past Christmas."
They fall into simple small talk as Ivan drives them to a destination still yet unknown to Akira's mind. It was as if cracks were along his memories. They stopped at a light and Akira chose to lean forward and grab a bottle of champagne, pouring it in a glass. He takes a drink after circling it in his hand and immediately gets hit with a memory. 'Cheers!' His party said as they clinked mugs together after getting over losing their determination, celebrating the fact Darkness wouldn't die. Akira grips his head in slight pain as the memory cracks seem to grow; his vision briefly looks like a wall with a single crack now in it.
"Something the matter Mister Hirano?" Ivan asks looking back to his boss.
Akira squints a bit as the memory fades, replaced by himself and some business colleagues eating at a fancy restaurant to celebrate their mergers. "No...it's nothing Ivan. And how many times have I told you to call me Akira? We've known each roger for years now." He says with a smirk as he looks back up with the pain subsiding.
"You know Ivan can't help it sir. Very polite way of being raised by family. I try to work on it more." He says. Akira has heard that before over the years since he became his driver...had he?
The two lurched forward as the light turned green. Ivan skillfully drove them through traffic and past lanes till they arrived before a large condo. Ivan got out and opened the door for Akira who stepped out and looked up in awe at the sheer size of the building. "Jesus...whoever owns this must be loaded." Akira said, making Ivan look at him in confusion as he closed the door.
"But sir...you own this condo." Ivan says shocking Akira.
"I do?" Akira asks as suddenly another crack appears before his vision.
"That daydream hit you hard this time eh? Yes you do sir. While building is yours. Even let Ivan and his family have a floor to themselves after five year anniversary of job acceptance." Ivan said with a grateful smile. "Ivan advises you to go up to room, get some rest. Big day still to come remember!" He says getting back into the limo and driving off. Akira was even more confused. He had a big day still planned? When he was in Japan he barely had time for himself let alone big days planned ahead of time to remember.
He reached into his pocket and fished out a key labeled 'Floor 5, Room 217'. Akira just glared at the key label before sighing. "Of course I would...time to shine." He said heading into the condo. There he was greeted by staff and desk workers as he boarded an elevator and rode it up to room 217 on the fifth floor. Walking over and unlocking the door he prepared for anything...wait why did he do that? Would someone even attempt to attack him? His instincts told him yes but...where did he get such instincts?
Something wasn't adding up in his mind; the random memories, the crazy fighting instincts, and the party he had after he...died? But that surly disproves all this as a mere daydream like Ivan said. He was clearly alive so...what was all this then?
Shaking off the feeling again he pushed it open to see stuff that'd make a gamer like him drool: walls of games, consoles on display and the most recent ones plugged in to play, a PC that looked like it shouldn't exist for the general public, and the biggest TV Akira ever remembers seeing...another crack appeared.
"Huh..." he says moving to the nice soft couch. Sitting he moved his hands over it and leaned back, sighing in comfort. "How could I ever forget this?" He asks himself as a buzzing comes from his right pocket. Reaching in he pulls out a phone that looked generations ahead of what anyone had currently. "Hello?" He asks as he just slides the answer button over without reading the caller ID.
"Hey Akira, you get home ok?" A female voice says from the other end.
He pulls the phone away from his face and looks at the ID: Cynthia. "Yeah" he says putting it back to his ear "all good."
"That's great because we still have that dinner tonight." Cynthia says.
Akira stops at this, all his thoughts on hold. When Ivan reminded him of a big day left he thought maybe some stakeholders meeting, a family reunion, hell maybe even a high school reunion. That's not the point though, what was was that a dinner date was never even on his mind.
"Uhh, hello? Akira? Don't tell me you forgot; Ivan did say you had another daydream today." Cynthia says getting his attention back.
"O-oh no. Nothing like that." He says.
"Good, I'll see you at eight." With that she hung up.
Akira stayed still for a moment before taking the phone and unlocking it, scrolling through his contacts, texts, and photos. He saw many pictures of him and who he assumed was Cynthia. She was beautiful; the perfect girl to him. And to top it off she was smart too judging by their texts. That's when he knew...this was wrong. "Alright" Akira says standing and tossing the phone away "I was almost convinced. But now I know for sure...come on you damn Demon! Quit with the tricks!" He yelled out as he undid the tie and threw off his jacket. "It's me you're trying to trick with this! I'd never have this functional of a relationship! So stop the shit and come on out!" He yells.
A brief moment of nothing happened, then suddenly it felt like everything happened at once: cracks went across his vision and even the world around him till it shattered and the Demon could be heard roaring in anger. It stopped as another tear opened and he looked to see himself back in his proper outfit with Gilgamesh present once more.
He knew it was probably yet another trap that awaited him on the other side, but he didn't care. He needed to push through till he could find Ash, then find this Demon, and kill it. Once that's done close the portal to Hell and get back to Arkham. With that in mind he moved forward and pushed through closing his eyes yet again as the needlessly bright light from it shown as he went in. "Round two fucker!" He called out determined to win.
-
Ember: Well that's strange...
Lula: What?
Ember: It's as if we were added here now as opposed to earlier because an author forgot hat he wanted little skit's between us two deities for fun.
Lula:...
Ember:...
Ember&Lula: Naaaaah