Akaji wasn't mentally ill at least, not yet.
Though he had lost his sight and developed facial paralysis in a car accident during his graduation trip two years prior, he was absolutely certain his brain hadn't been damaged!
Yet, doctors still treated him like a psychiatric patient and kicked him out, just as they had at another hospital a few days earlier.
But he believed the problem wasn't with him, but with the doctors.
One had immediately summoned a psychiatrist with a straitjacket the moment their conversation took a wrong turn!
The other...
As a doctor raised under the red flag, nurtured by the spring breeze, and educated in modern medicine, after hearing Akaji's full medical history, actually recommended he consult a shaman?
Absolutely fucking ridiculous!
Just as Akaji was about to ask the doctor if he knew any priests or Daoists—finding the shaman too shady he was kicked out.
Akaji trudged heavily away from the hospital, feeling the world was utterly desolate.
Leaving the hospital, Akaji boarded a bus and settled into a rear window seat. Slumping against the glass, he unlocked his phone and tapped on a pink app on the home screen, its icon depicting the profile of a beautiful anime girl.
In this day and age, what teenage boy's phone doesn't have a mobile game brimming with lewd anime girls, a digital refuge for restless youth?
Akaji was no exception. His choice was Love and Magical Girls, a dating, combat, tower defense, and card collection game!
Whenever he felt down, a glimpse of Magical Girl Mai's radiant smile instantly healed his spirits.
As the app launched, a dynamic soundtrack and explosive animation filled the screen. A golden-haired Magical Girl in a rose-patterned magenta dress materialized, smiling at Akaji.
Hello, Captain! Welcome back! What shall we do today?
Hey! What's your problem, touching me? You looking for a beating?!
Go die! Pervert!
Listening to the Magical Girl's sweet voice spewing profanities, Akaji showed no reaction on his face, but a warm current surged through his heart.
As expected!
In this cold and indifferent world, only Mai could bring a touch of warmth!
In Akaji's mind, Love and Magical Girls had long transcended its status as a mere mobile game. It had become a nexus connecting him to another world—a world whose inhabitants had taught him profound life lessons:
When in doubt, charge in headfirst; smoke, drink, and swear like a sailor; get entangled with mysterious, beautiful girls of dubious origins...
These behaviors simply wouldn't work in the real world!
The bus pulled away from the stop in front of the suburban hospital, stopping and starting its way through half the city. Outside the window, the streets gradually grew more bustling.
Akaji remained engrossed in his mobile game, time slipping by unnoticed. Nearly an hour had passed before he looked up again.
To his surprise, he realized the bus had come to a stop at the side of the road.
All the other passengers had disembarked, leaving the empty cabin feeling strangely elongated. The doors were sealed shut.
Judging by the familiar high-rises and streets visible through the window, they were likely near Peony Street, still five or six stops away from Akaji's destination.
Akaji's gaze swept the interior until he spotted the bus driver, who had already leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest. He approached and tapped the driver's shoulder, asking, "Excuse me, sir, is this bus still—"
"Holy shit?!"
The bus driver, completely unaware there was still someone on board, jumped in surprise when someone tapped his shoulder. He yelped, sat bolt upright, composed himself, and glared at Akaji, resentment etched across his features.
"You! How did you get on? Who told you to get on?"
"Uh..." Akaji explained, "I'm a passenger. I've been on the bus since the starting station!"
The driver, who had forgotten to check for remaining passengers, froze for a moment before snapping back at Akaji, "What are you still doing here? Didn't I tell you all to get off already? We can't go any further today!"
Akaji was completely baffled. "We can't go any further? Why? Is the bus broken down?"
The driver clicked his tongue impatiently and pointed toward the windshield. "There's a massive pileup up ahead. Multiple vehicles crashed, and part of the overpass collapsed. How do you expect us to get through? I advise you to get off and find your own way home. It'll be dark soon!"
Akaji glanced at the electronic clock on the dashboard, his brow furrowing slightly.
Time: 17:08
Right, it's almost dark. I need to get home quickly!
Akaji got out of the car, briefly oriented himself, and headed straight toward his apartment.
It was just past five o'clock, and the sky was already beginning to darken. The setting sun cast a slanting, blood-red glow, like a thin veil of crimson silk draped silently across the streets.
The bustling street was congested yet strangely quiet. Strangers passed each other in silence, heads bowed as they hurried forward without exchanging a word. Even when their eyes occasionally met, their gazes were mostly filled with wariness.
Akaji wasn't surprised by this slightly eerie atmosphere. Ever since the sun had entered a "brief" period of cyclical activity decline five years ago, the days had shortened while the nights had grown longer. Strange tales, like weeds nourished by rain, had proliferated wildly beneath the prolonged darkness.
In this kind of world, learning to be alone had become a mandatory lesson for everyone.
It was precisely within this silent environment—where it seemed as though an invisible barrier had risen between each person—that the old song blaring in his ears felt so jarring and out of place.
Through the fog, I see flowers; in the water, I glimpse the moon. Can you discern this ever-changing world?~♪
Lend me, lend me a pair of wise eyes~♪
So I can see through this chaos, clearly, plainly, truly, completely~♪...
Like most people on the street, Akaji walked silently forward, the soothing, ethereal melody drifting into his ears. He paused briefly, turned his head toward the source of the song, and spotted Mr Rob in front of a café tucked away in a slightly secluded alley.
The comical rabbit costume, the portable speaker blasting music, and the colorful flyers he thrust at passersby—the standard uniform of a leaflet distributor.
The distributor wore an oversized, bulky black suit, garish red leather shoes, and an enormous white rabbit head.
The rabbit head was remarkably well-crafted, each strand of fur rendered with lifelike realism, as if someone had taken a real rabbit's head, enlarged it many times, and plopped it atop their shoulders.
Mr Rob enthusiastically handed out flyers to anyone who walked by.
Faced with the proffered advertisements, most people acted as if they couldn't see Mr Rob, coldly walking past him without acknowledging his presence.
Even when someone occasionally accepted a flyer, they would quickly crumple it into a ball and toss it into the nearest trash bin.
Akaji stared at the rabbit head's empty, lifeless eyes and its forced, rigid smile. Suddenly, his eyes began to feel uncomfortable, dry, and itchy.
Just as Akaji was about to look away and leave, Mr. Rob seemed to sense his gaze and turned toward him, waving enthusiastically.
"Me?" Akaji pointed at his own nose.
Delighted by Akaji's response, Mr. Rob continued waving vigorously while nodding emphatically, his movements so forceful one might fear his "head" would come flying off.
The white-gloved hands of Mr. Rob moved with a peculiar rhythm, emitting a strange, almost magical pull. Akaji found himself irresistibly drawn closer, step by step.
His mind grew hazy, and his vision blurred.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Mr. Rob's smile seemed to deepen.
Numbly, Akaji approached Mr. Rob. Just as he reached out to take the flyer being offered, a searing pain shot through his eyes, as if something were burning inside his eyeballs.
The intense discomfort instantly snapped Akaji back to full awareness. He froze a meter away from Mr. Rob, stared blankly at him for a second or two, then abruptly spun around and strode away.
I don't care, I'm not interested, I'm leaving!