""That game was based on this world, wasn't it?""
There was no other explanation for things. No way to tell what had happened.
"Could it be some weird joke by some higher being?" Albert posed.
Nah that was a stupid thought.
"Maybe a coincidence? No, right?"
"It's too uncanny to be a simple coincidence."
We both sighed.
In the end, I decided to go ahead and smoke one anyway. We chopped the cap with our teeth, used our own hands as a light and took in a deep puff of the cigar.
The smoke flowed into my head, down my lungs and then eventually came back out again in large puffs.
"Clove?"
"T'was expensive as hell."
I nodded and took in another puff.
"Maybe a fortune teller?"
"Stupid."
"Maybe some god from the previous timeline showed things to someone there as a dream."
"Things are incorrect."
"Hence dream."
Albert bit his lips.
We were both clutching at straws.
"Yuyu, if someone could do that…"
"They would have asked for help."
Even someone as powerful and old like Titania, who even Agares had to bow in front of, knew nothing about the existence of the Earth that we had come from.
To think someone could reach it, was a tad too hard for us to digest.
In that case.
There was only one solution that came to mind.
"Just like us…" I started.
We both bit our lips.
"W-what does that mean? How is that possible. Do you think we were alive during the time that someone from in our world was?"
"It could be something like regression again? Like what happened with Luka."
"If that was the case then they would have made a change. Not a fucking game."
Albert swung the cigar in his hands.
"Whatever the case. I think this is the only explanation that fits."
I sighed and leaned back.
I guess we had no choice but to accept things.
"Someone in our world…"
"Was a transmigrator from here…"
We both sat up.
If.
If they were a transmigrator and had been placed into the body of a child like us. And if they had nothing but their own fucking memory to go through with.
"Then who?"
Who in the fuck was it?
***
Simple guitar beats and synth merged into one as loft beats rang in a man's ears.
[Cola Cocoa! Feel the music!]
Holographic advertisements blended with the neon signboards under the night sky.
But the man's ears were plugged and his eyes closed.
He shimmied from left to right as the sound of the music continued. In came the vocals, the voice of the ages old singer like smooth butter as it always was.
"Woah, watch it young man."
Crowds of people staring at their watches and AR glasses moved around as they pushed through the streets. The young man turned on his feet and snapped his fingers.
"Sorry about that!" He said and got just a wave in return.
His eyes closed once more as traffic lights changed and the floating cars all zoomed around. The man still vibing to the city pop rocking in his ears turned through the alleys and over to the main streets.
Labyrinthine paths extended all over, the distinction between the sky and the ground long since broken as floating footpaths and buildings had come into existence.
With another step, he arrived the crossing over to a higher route and waited for the signal to change.
The chorus was about to hit again.
[Mida—Beep! Touch~]
A notification. The man clicked his tongue, but didn't let it ruin his groove.
His eyes opened and on the corner of his sight, through his glasses was reflected a small red signal.
[Warning for Midtown Manhattan. An E-Ranked Gate has been located near Hell's Kitchen. We request the citizens to not try and attack the gates on their own.]
A chuckle escaped the man.
"New York…" he said, and the music blared in again.
The light turned and up he climbed through the footwalks, the zipping cars a tad slower now.
Holograms reached wherever the eyes could see while blips with large imagery and larger advertisements floated in the air.
A smile still on his face, the man started bobbing his shoulders to the music.
His eyes gazed upward as the largest blip in the skies broadcasted the news for the day.
[Two years have passed since the attack of the Cosmic Dragon on the Pantheon. Thanks to the sacrifice of the two brightest students, we have managed to send that disastrous threat back into the gate. The academy has decided to open a monument for the two heroes.]
Though the visuals of the grieving parents and students fluttered in the story, the man barely looked at it.
His eyes were stuck on the sub headline at the bottom of the screen.
"Fifteen people have died in Midtown Manhattan after the opening of a gate in an act of daredevilism"
The announcer continued once more—
[Experts say that only one year remains till the beginning the dragon warned us off…]
But he didn't care.
"Hahaha! New York."
The man held in his laugh and continued on his path.
The trumpets had just begun in the song, and there was no way he was going to miss that.
His eyes closed, he continued blindly on the path as the blaring horns and the flickering lights left him unaffected.
Before the chorus once more, another beep sounded and the man froze in his tracks.
"Stop. Stop. Pause."
The music stopped.
The beeping continued in rings.
With a single tap on the air in front of him, the call came through and the voice line connected.
[Hey, hey, hey! How's it going boss?]
"What do you want?"
[I just wanted to ask if you'd like a drink or something. We could, maybe shoot some ideas about the second part of the game. People are just dying to see some more Luka and the girls. Say, boss. I was wondering, how about we add the second part of the game on Earth?]
The man stopped listening midway through.
His eyes fell on a group of young women making their way through the streets, and a grin spread on his lips.
[Killer right? It's also cool since they say those outer gods or whatever will be attacking us next year]
"I'll talk with you later."
The man turned on his heels and licked his lips.
[Hello? Boss? Boss Albert? Boss!]
"Disconnect."
The call cut.
"Play it from the top."
The music started again.
"Sexy ladies, here I come."
And Albert, set off.
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