Chapter 1: Late

Her image was burned into my mind.

It felt like a recent memory. At least that’s how it seemed. So fresh… like it had happened just yesterday.

She welcomed me.

Her long blonde hair framed her face like a halo, and there was something in her smile—soft and kind—that made me feel safe. Her red eyes are hypnotics. Beautiful, like rubies. And her scent… even in that half-conscious state, it wrapped around me, warm and intoxicating.

“Robin?”

Her voice was youthful… delicate… melodic… it made me want to hear her sing.

“Robin, I can feel that you're awake.”

Her soft hand had a special kind of tenderness. Ah, when she touched my forehead...

“How are you feeling? Robin? Can you hear me?”

I wanted her to say my name again.

“Rooobin. Robin.”

“Eh? Mmh… you… are… Uh… Uwaaaaaa!”

Under the sheets, I caught a glimpse of her body—totally naked. Perfect breasts. A slender waist that curved into wide hips and soft, plump thighs that made it hard to look away.

“W-who… who the hell are you!?”

“I’m so glad you’re finally awake! I’ve been waaaaiting for you… for sooo long.”

I shot out of bed and slammed into the floor.

I pressed my back against the wall, with the strange sensation that I was heavier than usual.

“Y-y-you… where did you come from? Wh-where am I!?”

I found myself in a white, spacious room—immaculate, almost unnaturally clean. A soft light filled the space, but somehow… it didn’t cast any shadows. The bed I was in felt more like a capsule than anything meant for rest, hooked up to a console that pulsed with slow, rhythmic beeps and a constant mechanical hum.

A thin, translucent tube was inserted into my left arm, just beneath the skin. It connected to a glowing blue fluid bag, suspended from a robotic arm that hovered quietly at my side.

“A hospital. Where else would you be, silly?”

“Hospi...tal… No, no. I was supposed to be starting college… What… happened to me? And… why the hell aren’t you wearing any clothes!?”

The girl sat up in bed, crossing her legs to hide her treasure between them.

If I hadn’t been so disoriented, so detached from reality, I might’ve pounced on her.

“Mm… well… turns out there was an accident. A deliberate one.”

She crossed her arms under her chest, emphasizing their size. She wore them with pride.

“Hey… don’t do that. You’re making it worse.”

I turned away, way too overstimulated by her presence.

“An accident… sounds serious…” I glanced at the floor, trying to remember.

“A terrorist attack. One of those world-changing ones. You were severely injured. But don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

“Terrorist? Severely injured? Did I—” I ran my hands over my body, searching for wounds, and then noticed something soft on my chest—“What!? Whaaaaaaaaaaat!?”

I started groping myself and, as insane as it sounds, I felt two round, firm lumps in front of me.

They were heavy, and the sensation was… unnervingly pleasant. I almost got stuck just from the reflex.

Boobs.

I had grown boobs. A nineteen-year-old guy, healthy as an ox, with an athletic, muscular body, now had boobs.

“You people… You gave me boobs!” I shouted, squeezing them in disbelief.

But the worst part… was my voice.

High-pitched. Feminine.

I instinctively clutched my throat, feeling how delicate my neck had become.

“My voice… My… voice…”

I was in full-blown panic mode.

I ran my fingers all over—through my hair, across my shoulders, down my arms, over my hips, legs, feet.

There was nothing left of me.

“Don’t tell me the reconstruction wasn’t accurate,” the girl said, startled by my reaction. “Well… maybe we messed up the size.”

“A mistake? This goes way beyond a mistake! What you did to me is a crime! It’s—!”

And then it hit me.

Something was missing.

Something very important.

That thing.

“YOU TOOK MY DICK!” I checked my crotch—empty, as expected. “GIVE ME BACK MY DICK!”

I screamed so loud I probably committed a public disturbance offense. But I didn’t care. I had every right—every damn reason—to scream.

My comrade, my friend, my warrior in every dark hour… was gone.

“What are you talking about? Ah… wait… don’t tell me you were trans… God. We didn’t think—”

“Not trans, not anything! I’m a guy! A man, born and bred!”

“That’s impossible. Your genetic data says you’re female. So, um… that’s why we… reconstructed you.”

“Reconstruc—! What the hell!? No, no, no, no, no. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL!?!”

“T-there wasn’t much of you left. Just the organs… aaah… you were kind of a m-mummy. Yeah, that’s it, a mummy. We had to reprocess all your tissues. Figuring out your sex was, obviously, impossible. Well, except by DNA.”

“Then you screwed it up! You messed up somewhere along the way! I’m not a girl! I’m a man!”

She looked genuinely shocked by my reaction—more so by what I was saying.

“Maybe you’re experiencing gender dysphoria from the trauma… mm… I should probably call the doctor.”

Furious didn’t even begin to describe my expression. I confronted her, because I knew who I was.

“No! My whole life! Every memory! Every moment! Every second! I was a man! Until today…”

“Oh… then maybe we made a mistake with the samples. If that’s the case… that’s… pretty bad.”

“You think!?”

She was clearly nervous now. With my face close to hers, I could see how she avoided my eyes, trying to escape the weight of my stare.

But that tiny pause gave me just enough space to realize something crucial.

"I’ll be waiting for you at the main entrance" —that’s the last thing she said to me.

“My mom…”

That’s right. My mom was at the opening ceremony. If I got hurt… then she…

“Where’s my mother? Is she okay?”

Her expression changed instantly—from surprise to anguish.

Ha… ha… I could already tell what she was going to say. It was obvious.

It was the same look my mom gave me when I asked about Grandpa.

“I’m sorry, Robin. You were one of the few survivors of the attack. If she was there…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. “I’m sorry.”

I let go of the sheet that covered me, now wearing nothing but a hospital gown.

“This… this is a joke, right? Hey… it’s not okay to joke about stuff like this. You can’t…”

My voice came out soft—no strength, no substance. Thin as a thread, not even trembling.

“If you want to check the records, the list of victims is available—”

“No… I… no, it’s not that… it’s just… it’s just… it’s just…”

I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Nooooooo!”

I ripped the cannula from my arm and ran out of the room. Adrenaline hijacked every thought, silenced every bit of reason, every pain.

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I didn’t even know where I was going. I just ran—like it was the only thing left I could do. I crashed into people and things along the way.

I just kept running.

Doctors tried to stop me. Some patient shouted something. I didn’t care—I was out of my mind. And surprisingly agile. I didn’t remember being able to move like this. I even ran along the walls for a bit… It was insane.

Well… I was fast, despite this unfamiliar body. Faster than ever. The world moved in slow motion.

It’s a damn shame I couldn’t enjoy it.

“Mom… Mom…”

That past… Ah… I still want to see her again. Hug her. Tell her how much I loved her. How sorry I was…

It was a tragic day, the one I chose to apologize.

I realized too late what I had done wrong. That’s why I asked her to come to the ceremony. To end that stupid tantrum.

I promised I’d be on time.

And in the most surreal twist possible—because of a terrorist attack—I ended up…

Late.

“Ah… ah… ah…” I was exhausted. It hadn’t taken long, but I was completely out of breath. “Where are you… Mom?”

I stepped through a large glass door that opened to the outside of the hospital.

Before me stretched a beautiful garden, with trees and flowers in vibrant shades of red, yellow, and blue. The sky was clear, bathed in the warm light of a sun that shone brightly but carried the gentle warmth of a chilly spring day.

In the distance, birdsong—synthetic, maybe—mingled with the whirring of machines moving among the upper branches.

But then… in the background… something took me by surprise.

The city.

A colossal city. Not just full of skyscrapers, but of massive structures that defied gravity—like monuments or floating parks.

Towers twisted upward, spiraling into the clouds. Buildings with glass facades that looked like liquid—like waterfalls made of crystal.

Some of them rotated slowly on their own axes or moved in strange ways, as if alive. I could hear the creaking of metal.

Their surfaces were smooth, polished, without visible seams. Floating holographic screens projected animated ads with soft melodies and seductive voices in languages I only partially recognized.

I could hear the humming—coming from what looked like trains gliding on invisible rails. Some moved horizontally, others vertically.

Everything sounded… peaceful. No horns, no yelling, no engines. Just an ambient soundscape, like something a synthesizer would compose.

“Where… am I?” I asked aloud, not expecting an answer.

Then—bam. I hit the ground.

“What!?”

“We’ve got her! Hold her!”

Two men grabbed me by the arms, pinning me down. They were in security uniforms.

“Let me go!”

“Bring a sedative! Now!”

“Careful with the patient! Don’t hurt her!”

I was on the ground, arms stretched out, held firmly by the guards. I couldn’t move.

After that hellish sprint, I was completely drained. No strength left to fight back.

And now they wanted to put me to sleep.

I didn’t want to sleep.

It felt like I’d already lost me for an eternity.

“No! Wait! Don’t do it!”

A nurse rushed toward me, syringe in hand. She came as fast as she could.

Just my luck… No, not sleep. Anything but that. I had this terrifying feeling—completely irrational in hindsight—that if I went under again, I might never wake up. It was so real, so suffocating. What else might they do to me while I slept?

“Please…” I begged. “Don’t put me to sleep.”

“Stop! Wait a moment!” a female voice called out from the hospital reception. The guards froze. “She’s just… waking up. She doesn’t need sedation.”

“What!? What are you saying? The patient is clearly in shock. She needs to be sedated.”

“She was completely fine just a moment ago. He… she just received bad news. That’s all. She’ll calm down… right, Robin?”

Maybe it was her aura. But something about her confidence worked like a balm on my mind.

“Yes… yes, of course. I just… needed some air. I promise I won’t do anything.”

Seeing me in that state, the guards and the nurse relaxed. They let go and backed off slightly.

The nurse called for a wheelchair, and the guards kept watch, just in case.

What surprised me was that they actually listened to her. I mean, she looked like just a regular girl… didn’t she?

“I understand you’re going through something… unpleasant. But there’s a lot you need to know.” Her voice was filled with compassion, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. “You’ve woken up in a different place. And I didn’t exactly deliver the best news.”

She reached out her hand, offering to help me up.

I took it gladly, feeling how delicate her touch was.

“My name is Ien Reed. I’m in charge of your case. I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

After all that emotional purging, I was finally able to catch my breath. Now I can admire the outfit of the girl standing before me. She wore a sleek, white outfit that looked straight out of a mecha anime, with one leg exposed—her right thigh on full display. It left me dizzy with her sensuality.

I'm grateful that she put on clothes.

And that gorgeous blonde hair tied in a high ponytail… those ruby-red eyes… Just—those eyes.

If it were only her looks putting her on a pedestal, that’d be one thing. But she radiated this calm confidence, paired with such kindness… it was overwhelming.

Ien was an angel.

…Huh? Why did I even think that?

Anyway, something else caught my attention. Something I’d been ignoring…

I had just sprinted across the hospital wearing only a patient gown.

That explains why the guy I bumped into called me a “flasher.”

“Nice to meet you… Ah… I guess you already know my name,” I said while trying to cover myself with the flimsy gown. “M-my name’s Robin Ward.”

Please, someone shoot me right now. What an embarrassment.

“Nice to meet you, Robin.”

How lovely it was… hearing my name from her lips.

I was stunned.

How am I not already in love with her?

What a beautiful girl…

Bzzz

A sharp noise tore through the air. It lasted barely a second, but hit like a direct blow.

Lethal.

Ien collapsed—

“Huh? Ien?”

I couldn’t even blink. My brain hadn’t yet registered why her head had tilted back like that.

I wanted to scream, but the lump in my throat wouldn’t let me.

“Down! Get down!”

After the collapse, the guards froze for a second—but quickly snapped out of it and dove for cover.

One of them grabbed my arm and hurled me back inside the hospital.

Me… for whom everything was moving too fast.

“What’s happening?” I asked while tumbling.

“Don’t move! Stay—!”

The guard couldn’t finish his sentence. A hole opened in his chest, and he dropped next to Ien.

She wasn’t moving either, with the same hole… but in her forehead.

A pool of blood spread quickly beneath her head.

I don’t know if it compares, but the mental impact hit me as hard as if I had been shot.

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Everyone in the lobby was panicking. As you'd expect, a wave of hysterical screams echoed through the building, and chaos erupted—people rushing in all directions, desperate to find shelter.

A siren began to sound, and a red emergency light bathed the room.

I crawled along the floor toward the central hallway, turning my head away from the scene.

Desperation took hold of me, draining all strength from my limbs. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.

With flailing arms and slipping feet, I barely managed to get up.

I looked back and saw Ien’s body—my angel—lying lifeless on the floor.

What a nightmare…

Terrified, I turned and ran.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I yelled, sprinting through the hallway, trying to follow the stampede of bodies.

KRASHHH!

What looked like bullets shattered the glass at the hospital’s main entrance—and then the windows down the hallway I was in. With each step I took, another pane burst behind me.

“Shit! We’re all gonna die!” someone screamed from deep inside the crowd.

“Keep going! Don’t look back! The shelter’s on the right!”

Guards stationed at the far end were shouting, urging people not to give up.

“What kind of madness is this!?” Fear had seized total control of me.

After surviving the last burst of gunfire, the guard guiding people at the hallway intersection was waiting for me.

I was the last in line. I should’ve been grateful he waited.

He grabbed my arm to steady me.

“Miss, please hurry. You—”

There are things that are hard to write about.

What happened next is one of them.

You could say… color disappeared. My vision stopped perceiving it. Sounds turned strange—like static from an old tube TV.

Then, I heard the smell of burnt metal. The air tasted like screams of despair. Everything was upside down—not physically, but in essence. What should’ve been solid felt hollow. Light had weight. I… the I… dissociated. My senses were wrong—twisted beyond recognition. Crushed, drowned, compressed.

I know—it’s absurd. What was happening in my head sounded like something out of a psych ward. Hearing smells? Tasting screams? It’s just… I don’t have other words. And I’m truly sorry, because I want to convey what it was like. But I don’t even know if language is capable of doing it justice. And that… makes me feel helpless.

"Mom… where are you now? Are you alive? Am I?"

So strange… but was it stranger than what came next?

Fast and slow—those ideas stopped making sense. Some things moved at a different speed than others. My own thoughts were racing faster than time itself.

Near and far—maybe my perception of space broke down too. I mean… I couldn’t gauge distance. The wall at the hallway’s T-junction was farther away than I remembered it being.

I don’t know.

It felt like I’d been there before. And yet… it was my first time. My body was moving—or no, the world around me was moving.

Contradictory.

My point of view stopped being “me” in the first person. I became a spectator. I wasn’t inside my body anymore. I was seeing myself… from somewhere behind my own eyes.

How many bodies do I have?

To my right, the supposed path to the shelter was flooded with a human tide, joined by those coming down the stairs.

And in the middle of all that—I saw something.

Even though there was no color—just shades of gray—I could still see the blood.

I’m a hundred percent sure I saw blood.

Easy.

After all, it was the liquid pouring from the necks of everyone packed in that hallway.

Maybe around a hundred people.

A hundred people… slaughtered, while I was lost in this ambiguous reality where time and space bled together. Including the guard who’d been holding me.

In the distance, the only thing in color was a single person.

They wore loose pants with intricate embroidery—a tribal design in a red as dark as arterial blood.

Over that, a moss-green jacket with the hood up.

Their face… I might never forget.

They wore a black mask, same as the clothes beneath the jacket. There was no clear boundary between neck and face. A red “X” was painted over the mouth. A spiral over the left eye. The other eye was completely hidden. Those marks glowed with an intense, fire-like brightness.

As I said… I don’t know if it was fast or slow. But I understood it all in a single instant.

And with that instant… it ended.

“Ah!” I screamed as I hit the floor.

The sight threw me off balance, and I crashed into the wall.

Lying on the ground, clutching the back of my neck in pain… the guard’s head—the one who held me—fell beside me.

And his body followed, collapsing in a stream of blood.

Color returned, yes… but only to make the horror feel even more real.

“Blurgh…” I grabbed my mouth, trying not to vomit.

I stayed on the floor, holding my stomach.

“Pretty normal if it’s your first time seeing something like this.”

The masked figure was at least twenty meters away… or had been. At some point, he’d appeared right beside me.

“Who… who a—?”

Before I could finish the question, a blow to the throat lifted me off the ground.

“Cough… cough…”

Mid-air, he grabbed the back of my neck and held me suspended a few centimeters off the floor, barely able to breathe.

“Too much noise… but acceptable.” He touched the side of his head—I assumed it was a comm device. “Gumi, move toward the emergency exit for extraction.”

The few who had survived the massacre were scattered across the floor. Most were unconscious. Those still on the stairs had fled to the upper level.

“Hel… hel…p…” My throat was so damaged I could barely form words.

“Don’t move. There are things even I’d rather avoid.”

He turned and dragged me across the floor.

He walked through pools of blood and over corpses, killing the few still breathing… without me ever understanding how he did it.

“No! Please! Let me—”

I remembered a question… one I once heard: Would you want to know your destiny? After witnessing this… if I had known what mine would be, my answer would’ve been a resounding no.

A few steps past the staircase—

BANG

A single gunshot shattered the stillness.

Goosebumps raced down my arms—not because I’d been shot, but because…

I saw her in my mind—Ien.

That poor girl who died right in front of me.

…Huh?

Why am I thinking about her now?

Why… am I crying?