End of Century Chapter 01
"Pursuer of the End of the Century"
Chapter 1: "The Awakened Boy"
"---Wha...?"
I awoke with a sharp headache.
The first thing that greeted my sleepy eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling. In a dilapidated room.
"...?"
While Rubbing his head that still tingling from the headache, Hyogo Kato slowly got up.
With short black hair and an average build, aside from his menacing gaze, Kato Hyogo, a seventeen-year-old boy, didn't possess any particularly distinctive features.
Seeing himself wrapped in the school-designated tracksuit, he wondered if he had just returned from club activities.
Kato made this judgment based on his own appearance.
---After all, Kato completely failed to comprehend the current situation.
"Returning from club activities... right? So, where is this?"
The last thing he could remember was the club activities at school.
And yet, the place he suddenly woke up in was on the sofa in an unfamiliar room.
Question marks danced above Kato head.
"...Kidnapping?"
That was his first thought.
"No, there's no benefit in kidnapping someone like me," he reasoned.
His family wasn't wealthy, and it would be more easy to target a younger elementary school student than abduct a large high school boy.
Moreover, if it were indeed a kidnapping, it would be better to at least tie up his hands and feet. But they were free, and there was no blindfold.
What's more, he was even wearing the athletic shoes he favored for physical education. He could run and escape right now if he wanted to.
"...I guess I'll just leave this place for now."
He made that judgment and left the unfamiliar room.
The room where Hyogo had been laid to sleep seemed like a unit in an apartment building, and it had the feeling of having been unused for many years, judging by its state.
The floor had holes, and the wallpaper was peeling off.
Even though the room wasn't particularly spacious, had they perhaps kept a large dog? Large claw marks remained on the walls.
He swung open the creaking door and stepped outside. A lukewarm breeze brushed his cheeks as the view outside spread before him.
"??? !!!"
Unable to comprehend the situation before him, Kato was left speechless. Before him stretched out a city in ruins.
Buildings were either collapsed or at best, partially ruined. Cracks ran through the roads where cars would have passed.
"What... is this?"
"Guaaaaa!"
Suddenly, a shrill cry, akin to metal being cut, echoed, causing him to crouch down.
He saw birds take flight from nearby trees.
"Geez, that scared me. It's just birds."
Kato followed the shadow of the bird with his eyes.
"Huh? Isn't that bird kinda big...?!"
The bushes under the apartment rustled.
"What's going on this time!? Is someone there?"
He leaned out from the railing to look below. Then, a cat leaped out of the bushes.
"...A cat?"
The cat briefly scanned the surroundings and quickly retreated back into the foliage.
Kato looked up at the sky, but the birds were already out of sight.
"Sigh."
Standing around wouldn't solve anything, so Kato left the apartment.
*****
He walked aimlessly on the cracked asphalt road. During that time, he didn't see a single trace of a person.
If he continued not meeting anyone, he might end up sleeping alone in this desolate city.
In the first place, he had never done anything like camping in the wild. Was it something he could manage on his own?
While thinking this, he checked his belongings. No cell phone. No wallet. A pack of cigarettes in his right pocket.
"Why do I have cigarettes?"
Something unfamiliar came out of his pocket, and Kato tilted his head.
"Oh! I remember this cigarette..."
Indeed, just before club activities began, the advisor had suddenly conducted a possession check. To avoid being caught with cigarettes, a senior who was a smoker had stuffed it into Kato pocket.
"That jerk's cigarettes. Damn, you're not supposed to smoke at school..."
Muttering to himself, he reluctantly stashed the cigarettes back in his pocket.
"More importantly, seriously, where am I? And why is it so empty with no one around?"
After walking a bit, he realized it was a familiar city. He could tell it was Japan from the cityscape and the characters on the signs, but the scenery was entirely unfamiliar.
Suddenly, he looked up and caught sight of a road sign. It was scratched and covered in moss, making it nearly unreadable, but he could faintly make out the characters for "Okayama City."
"Okayama... Is Okayama really in such ruins?" He couldn't believe it and continued walking.
After a while, he reached a residential area. Then, he heard a gritty sound, as if sand was rubbing against something.
"! Is someone there!?"
Perhaps, someone might still be living, in this half-ruined residential area.
While listening intently, Kato turned towards the source of the sound.
"Hah, hah, hah... Someone... anyone..."
The sound drew nearer. The person making the sound should be around the corner of the next alley.
He turned the corner. What he found there was---
"Huh?"
A jet-black creature, resembling a leopard.
With a crunch, the enormous claws struck the asphalt, and the black leopard turned around with smooth movements.
Its calm and composed demeanor exuded an overwhelming sense of strength.
*Grrrrr...*
Its vertically slit pupils glared at Kato.
*GAAAAAAAHH!!!*
It let out a growl and lunged at Kato.
There should have been about ten meters between Kato and the black leopard. But in an instant, that distance was reduced to zero.
"Uooohhh!!!"
Kato twisted his body and narrowly evaded the attack. He couldn't stop in time, and his body collided with the asphalt, but he managed to escape being bitten by the black leopard.
"Ouch... my shoulder!!"
Despite stumbling, Kato somehow managed to stand up and began running to put some distance between himself and the black leopard.
"What... what is that?! A tiger? A leopard?! I've never seen anything like it!"
While it resembled a leopard, it was two sizes larger. It felt bigger than the lion he saw at the safari park he visited with his family years ago.
*Crash!*
There was a sound of something breaking above.
Without even having the time to check, Kato's face unconsciously turned towards the source of the sound. Thanks to that It saved him.
A large black shadow descended from the roof of a house. Of course, it was the same black leopard from earlier.
In an instant, Kato halted his steps. The black leopard also blocked his path, almost simultaneously.
"Damn it!!!"
*GAAAAH!!!*
A cross-shaped sword appeared behind the black leopard.
Kato understood that it was attached to the end of its tail, after the sword sliced through a leaning utility pole behind him.
The range was surprising, but what was truly terrifying was the sharpness.
The inside of the utility pole was hollow, but still it was reinforced with steel rods. Yet, it was easily severed.
"This is bad, this is really bad!!!"
The tail twisted like a whip, and the cross-shaped sword at its tip sliced through the air irregularly.
Kato instinctively picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at the black leopard.
*Growl*
The black leopard evaded the stone with a light step.
Seizing that moment, Kato turned and ran.
Of course, the black leopard wasn't so lenient as to let him escape. The tail's sword sliced through the surrounding houses.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!!"
It seemed the tail's sword possessed tremendous range and power, but it didn't seem to respond well to precise control.
At this moment, Kato had no way of realizing this, but fortunately, he managed to put some distance between himself and the black leopard without being cut in half.
"Ha... ha... I thought I was going to die!"
*Growl... GAAAAAAHH!!!*
However, in terms of the agility of a feline creature (?), that distance wasn't much at all.
Kato felt the approaching presence of the beast from behind.
"Darn it, is escaping impossible!? I need to find somewhere to hide... somewhere!"
He looked around, While gasping for breath.
Half-ruined houses came into view. He could easily hide if he wanted to, but he couldn't quite muster the courage.
If he were found, being trapped in a house with no escape route would be just as bad as a dead end.
"Damn it... where can I hide?"
The more he thought, the more indecisive he became.
At that moment, a rumble reverberated through the residential area.
"!? What's happening now!? Uwaaah!!!"
A herbivorous dinosaur-like creature suddenly jumped out in front of Kato, as if it came out of an encyclopedia.
it was a dinosaur, With a rocky exoskeleton and a massive boulder attached to its tail.
"...There's even something like this?"
Despair settled in.
Before him was a dinosaur, and behind him was the black leopard. There was no way out.
While he was hesitating, the black leopard caught up.
The cross-shaped sword approached, slicing through obstacles.
Kato bent down instinctively, narrowly avoiding the sword. The sword pierced the dinosaur.
*ROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!*
As expected, it was a sword that could cut through reinforced steel rods. It easily dug into the rocky skin of the dinosaur.
the dinosaur began to rampage, Swinging the boulder attached to its tail.
*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!!!*
The roaring and the debris from the houses scattered around created a commotion akin to a disaster.
*GAAAAAAHH!!!*
But, true to it's nature, the black leopard pounced on the now larger prey it had found.
"Uooh, uooohhh!!!"
Amidst the flying rubble and the two colossal beasts, Kato barely managed to escape from the scene.
"A-aah, aaahhhh!!! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna diiie!!!"
"Hey, you!"
"!?"
He was called out to, and he instinctively turned his face in that direction.
Before his gaze was a man.
He was probably in his forties. He was equipped with a bulletproof vest reminiscent of what a riot police officer would wear, a helmet, and a Japanese sword hung from his waist.
"What are you doing in a place like this!? This area is designated as dangerous!"
"Ah... a person. Finally, I've met someone!!"
Overwhelmed with emotion, Kato took the offered hand.
"Anyway, we need to get out of here quickly!"
Led by the man, Kato left behind the lair of the two giant creatures.
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