"Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound!" A cheerful, handsome young man screams from the top of his lungs while walking down the street.
"Shut up!" A young girl smacks his head playfully, holding back a smile.
"Jacob, seriously, who would make a ruckus this late at night?!" She sighs, crossing her arms with disappointment.
"Hey! I'm just brightening up the mood a bit. It's so depressing here. I still can't believe you walk this way home every day." Jacob glides his hand through his fluffy hair, hoping to ease the pain a bit. The only light came from flickering streetlamps, stretching their shadows across the cracked pavement.
"Yeah, but don't worry about it. I've been dealing with a lot less creeps ever since you started walking me home."
"And you're welcome for that Yuno. I just radiate Alpha Mafia Ceo energy." Jacob jokes, a bright smile plastering his face.
Yuno rolls her eyes dramatically.
"The road's empty, get on with it." She walks ahead.
…
As they were walking, they didn't notice a strange, washed out worker following them. The man was sighing and giving Jacob an envious look.
"Hah, young love and a blooming school life." He looked up at the glowing moon, wondering where his life went wrong. Unfortunately, his reminiscing was cut short by a loud horn.
A truck, clearly going above the speed limit, was running straight at the two kids! His legs worked faster than his mind and the worker ran towards Yuno, pushing her away before the truck hit her. They both tumbled down, rolling over.
Jacob however? All that was left was his mangled body, a pool of blood forming underneath as the truck seemingly disappeared, it probably drove away.
"J-JACOB!" Yuno practically lunged at him but was stopped by the man as he called for the ambulance and police.
…
Where am I? What is this place? Jacob "awoke" to a pure, pitch black void. He was falling, but there didn't seem to be any end. Was this the afterlife? After EVERYTHING he's gone through…this was how it ended?
He couldn't accept it. He was one day off of graduation, one day off from finally becoming an adult. His friends! What about Yuno? Who was going to walk her home now? Michael, Leah, Mizuki, Shen, what about them? His valedictorian speech, his bet with Victor, the cat he swore to adopt.
His younger sister and brother were still waiting for him at home too. Who would cook for them? Clean up? Tutor? Oh no, there wasn't anything that could take him away from his family.
A mysterious force made him lower his eyes. When he reopened them, he faced a white sky. There were clouds surrounding him outside the little clear box that he was trapped in. Jacob saw the number 1000 written largely in the sky when he looked up and it was ticking down. Must be a time limit.
And in front of him was a total anomaly. On a regular wooden chair, sat a fully white mannequin. A halo was floating above its head and a pair of angel wings rested on its back. There were two hole sockets on its face, the "eyes" being two black beads.
"Hm, Kudasawa Isamu. 27, receding hairline, overweight, black company worker, virgin loser with an anime addiction. Perfect, absolutely perfect! A pleasure to meet you!" The creature looked at him.
This whole situation was strange. It reminded Jacob of those Isekai animes he used to watch. Right down to Truck-kun, but there was no way he was chosen as an Isekai protagonist, right? He doesn't even watch anime anymore!
"...My name is Jacob Lee and I'm 100% not balding. Nice to meet you too?"
The creature had its empty mouth jaw dropped. The clear mouth with no teeth, gums, nor tongue, spoked one more chilling sentence.
"Who the fuck are you!?"