Chapter 21

-On the Other side-

“What the hell was that just now??” Rein’s thoughts raced.

“Was that kid... me? A book author? What’s going on?” His mind spun as he walked—no destination in sight, only the urge to get as far from the Void Travelers as possible.

He kept walking and walking, until suddenly, he stopped.

People were moving around him—walking in perfect sync, their eyes dull and lifeless. Rein stared, blinking several times, unsure if he was imagining things.

But no, nothing changed. They kept moving, all at once, like puppets on invisible strings.

“What is wrong with these people?” he muttered.

And then, as if summoned from memory, Kierra’s voice echoed in his head:

“They were kinda weird. Dead-eyed. Empty-looking. Didn’t care at all.”

Rein froze.

He turned his head slowly, scanning every direction. Everything looked… pale. Dull. Lifeless. The people didn’t seem alive anymore.

“Something’s wrong… They weren’t like this the first time I woke up—”

He stopped mid-sentence.

“Woke up, huh…?”

-Some Time Ago-

Rein opened his eyes, blinking at the world around him. Everything felt... strangely familiar. Slowly, he sat up, disoriented.

“Where... is this?” he mumbled.

Then, a tall figure appeared in front of him.

“Welcome,” the figure said gently.

Rein stared at them, still half-conscious.

“Look around. Do you recognize where you are?”

He squinted at the distant buildings.

“…That one looks familiar.”

“Oh, that? That’s your school.”

“Oh… right.”

“What about the others?”

“…I don’t know. I can’t describe it, but they all feel familiar somehow.”

The figure chuckled softly, smiling.

“Good. Welcome, Rein, to your own world. You’re the ruler here. Everyone in this place bows down to you. You can do anything you want.” The figure bowed in front of Rein and greeted him warmly.

Rein furrowed his brow in confusion.

“You know how broken our society is, right? You’ve always wanted to fix it, to make it better. Well, here... you can.”

“Huh?”

The figure said nothing more. They simply vanished.

-In Void World-

“Okay! Now we need to get the third object to turn into a memory orb!” Leo shouted.

“Let’s gooo! Two down, three to go!” Kierra cheered.

“Okay... so which object should we get now?”

“Hmm... I have no idea. Remon, do you know what the next object is?” Leo asked.

“Nope.”

“Aww, then what should we do?”

“There’s no way I’m going to touch every single object in this whole city!” Kierra groaned.

“Hmm... is there a strategy to make this more efficient?” Leo rested his hand on his chin.

“I think we should take it as: ‘what objects would be relevant to Rein?’” Remon suggested.

Kierra huffed. “How would I know?? I’m not him!”

“I know, I know… but just think.”

“What object Rein thinks is important, huh...”

They all fell silent, deep in thought.

“A pen? You know, for writing?” Remon suggested.

“Prob no. What about another book?” Kierra replied.

“No, that’s probably not it. The objects should be five different things,” Leo said.

“Ugh... I can’t think of anything...” Kierra looked defeated.

“Let’s think while walking. Maybe we’ll spot something along the way,” Leo said.

“Alright.”

As they walked, a faint sound of cheering caught Kierra’s attention. While Remon and Leo kept moving forward, Kierra veered off toward the noise.

A crowd had gathered, and curiosity pulled Kierra closer. Their eyes widened as she spotted someone with long twin-tails knocking out an opponent with ease. The crowd erupted into cheers.

“The mysterious girl strikes again! An endless win streak from her! No one’s ever done this before!!”

Kierra locked eyes on the figure.

“Who wants to duel next?”

Silence. No one raised their hand. Then, Kierra’s hand shot up from the crowd.

“OOOH! We’ve got a new challenger! Step right up! The ring is yours!”

Kierra stepped into the ring, the crowd hyped and roaring.

“Hey, you look cool,” Kierra said with a smirk.

The girl gave no response.

“Ready? 3... 2... 1... Start!”

Before Kierra could even react, the girl was already in front of her—her fist smashing into Kierra’s face. Kierra was flung across the ring. The crowd erupted again.

“She’s so fast... I didn’t even see her move...” Kierra thought, grinning as she stood up.

As Kierra tried to regain balance, the girl was already rushing in again. Kierra leapt and landed behind her, throwing a punch—dodged. The girl pivoted and landed a solid kick to Kierra’s stomach. Kierra stumbled back, clutching her side.

Before she could even breathe, a punch landed square on her jaw.

Kierra was launched again, falling hard. The crowd screamed in excitement.

Expressionless, the girl approached once more. Kierra stood, steadying herself.

She came charging, three punches in rapid succession. Kierra blocked with their arms, barely keeping up. As the fourth punch came, Kierra ducked low and swept her opponent’s leg. Caught off guard, the girl fell.

The crowd exploded.

“WHOA! What just happened?! This is the first time someone’s knocked her down!!” the announcer screamed.

“Who will take the win this time? Our undefeated champ, or the mysterious four-eared challenger?!” The excitement in the arena reached new heights.

Meanwhile...

“Kierra, maybe try touching random stuff, like we did with the laptop,” Leo groaned.

No response.

Leo and Remon turned around.

“Kierra?”

But they were gone. They weren’t behind them anymore.

“Wait... where’s Kierra?!”