Prologue: The usual way home.

“Ko-kun, wait a minute.”

I was on my way home as usual, and the people who stopped me were a couple from the same class as me. We both get along well enough to talk, but we’re not very close to hang out in the arcade or mall after school.

At school, I am called Koh by men and Ko-Kun by women.
It was very confusing to have a guy with the same last name as mine in the class, so this ‘calling system’ was already established on the third day of admission.

“Yes?”

“The teacher called me and told me that he wishes
see you in the staff room”

The one who spoke was Zen Ichimura, a handsome and serious guy, who has a reputation for being forced to take care of things by teachers.

The woman beside him, Miori Ichijo, is often involved in the hassle of tutoring poor learning students by the teacher, but she always seems to be having fun with that charity work.

I could sense from the conversation that they seemed oddly very familiar to be only dating for a little over 2 months.

‘They must have been childhood friends, it is not unheard of childhood friends to become a couple after all.’

“What could it be?” I said.

“It’s about career aspirations.”

“I don’t think that’s true…”

‘They say career aspirations…’

I decided to ignore going because it was going to be troublesome for me to again argue with my homeroom teacher.

After all, I have already decided what I want to do.

[The first choice is “Wandering trip to Europe for about 365 days.”]

[Second choice “Tour of Asian ruins”]

[Third choice “Trip around Africa ~In search of rare animals~”]

‘My homeroom teacher is very annoying…’

It was my honest opinion…that I couldn’t say out loud.

“Yea, it’s true Miori-chan, he wants to talk about what kind of university you want to go to, what department you want to go to, and so on.”

“Have you not decided yet, Ko-Kun?”

“I’m not going to college next year, because I’m going on a trip for a year.”

Ko-Kun even obtained his parent’s approval. He plans to take university entrance exams after returning to Japan when he finishes his tour.

‘I think it’s a reasonable decision because the examination fee and tuition fee are wasteful.’

“Well whatever, we’ve told you, so you better go to the teacher.”

‘Annoying.’

I had already had several interviews with my homeroom teacher along with my parents, but the atmosphere was such that, I was only allowed to choose between applying for university or getting a job.

‘I don’t think the faculty needs to understand. I just want to go to Europe instead of going home. If this goes on he might even convince my parents to stab me in the back.’

“It’s amazing to travel alone, Ko-Kun.”

“But why travel now? It doesn’t have to be now right? You can go tour around the world after college.”

“Waiting…I wanted to do so since middle school.”

“What about travel expenses, food, hotel expenses…”

“No, I often camp as a hobby, so I’m used to camping, and if you can harvest wild grass, you won’t have to pay much for food.”

My hobby is solo camping. On long vacations, I live a self-sufficient life myself in the mountains with minimal equipment.

At first, it was about two days, but recently I have been holding it all the time during the long vacation.

‘Since I didn’t have a hunting license, I even practiced catching prey with my bare hands.’

Usually, it will be only snakes and frogs, rarely something much more savory.

Small animals such as rabbits can also be caught.

The three of us continued to go home while conversing. Naturally, I have no intention of going back to school.

‘This kind of call can be annoying later if you ignore it, but it’s okay because I’ve decided to ignore everything he says until my graduation.’

“Something is noisy.”
“Yes, it sounds like a bell,” Ichijo agrees.
“Hey, don’t you think it’s weird that a bell sound can be heard from here?” I said, after all, we are in the solemn evening streets where the heck does this bell sound come from

Suddenly, right in the middle of the three of us, the ground glowed green. The light quickly spreads and becomes circular.
‘This is gross’

It was creepy, so I instantly jumped out of the place. I thought I had escaped from the circle of light, but the center of the circle chased me as I fled.

‘Is someone shooting lasers from drones?’

Thinking so, I looked up at the sky and felt as if my whole body was currently weakening accompanied by terrible dizziness.

“What’s this…”

The more the circle glows, the worse my condition becomes.

Terrible ringing in the ears, as if a jet is passing through. Feeling weak as if you are stuck in the ground.

‘I feel like I am going to lose consciousness anytime…’

Soon, my eyes rolling back to my head I fell on the green glowing ground.