I found myself in a tunnel of light, caught in a hypnotic dance of rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. They cascaded in waves, as if white light had shattered through a gigantic prism, creating a spectacle that was both fascinating and terrifying. In a corner of my mind, I found a fragment of an eight-year-old childhood memory, when I had discovered a dusty book in the school library. It was about the rainbow—an optical phenomenon where the sun's rays refract through water droplets, giving birth to these spectacular colors. The book mentioned the acronym ROYGBIV to remember the order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. I no longer knew the title or author, but the information had been etched into my mind, like a lighthouse in a sea of chaos.
Why does this tunnel have the colors of the rainbow? I wondered, my heart pounding wildly. Was it a sign, a portal to something else? Or just an illusion hiding a darker truth? The answer did not come. The fear of the unknown paralyzed me, just as it did the others in the class, who floated ahead of me like captive shadows in the spectral light. They say that human fear stems from ignorance—what happens after death, what the darkness conceals. In that moment, I was as lost as anyone else, trapped in a mute panic, unable to find meaning in what was happening.
I tried to calm myself, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, as I had read in a magazine about anxiety control. But my emotions were a chaos, like a storm that wouldn't stop. Still, I looked around, trying to anchor something familiar in this strange landscape. Ahead of me, my classmates and Professor Kanzaki floated in the tunnel, their silhouettes blurred by the vibrant colors. Kenji Tanaka was at the front, as usual, his shoulders straight, as if he was trying to dominate even this impossible situation. Aiko Sato floated next to him, her long hair billowing as if in an invisible wind, her expression oscillating between fear and defiance. Haruto Nakamura looked agitated, casting nervous glances around, while Daichi Kimura floated with clenched fists, as if he wanted to punch the tunnel itself. Professor Kanzaki, her thin glasses reflecting the colors, tried to appear calm, but her hands were trembling.
To my left and right, no one. I looked down—only pitch blackness, a dense dark that seemed to swallow the tunnel's colors, like a hungry black hole. So I'm the last one, I muttered to myself. Is that good or bad? I had no way of knowing. Maybe it was better this way—to be last, invisible as always, safe from Kenji's sneers or Aiko's giggles.
After a few moments, I looked down again. The darkness had grown even deeper, like a sea of ink threatening to devour everything. A phrase I had once read echoed in my mind: No one, after having looked into the darkness, wishes to remain there eternally, in uncertainty. I hadn't understood what it meant then, but now I felt the weight of those words. Darkness was the opposite of light, of life—a void that seemed to hide something, but what? A promise of peace or an even greater nightmare?
Suddenly, I felt a shift. My body began to drift away from my classmates, pulled by an invisible force towards the darkness behind me. At first, I thought it was an illusion, but no—I was moving, as if the void itself was calling me. Fear gripped me, more intense than ever, making my heart thump in my chest.
"Help! Please, help me!" I screamed, my voice broken by panic.
No one turned back. Not Kenji, with his arrogant air, not Aiko, who always laughed at me, not even Professor Kanzaki, who seemed to be the only one with a trace of humanity. I screamed again, more desperate:
"Someone, please! Don't leave me here!"
But my screams dissipated, absorbed by the invisible walls of the tunnel. My classmates floated on, hypnotized, as if I were invisible. Their faces were blank, their eyes fixed forward, as if a spell held them captive. Why can't they hear me? I wondered, my heart tight. Or do they not want to help me? Why? Why? The questions swirled in my mind, mixed with painful memories: Kenji laughing while my notebooks were torn up, Aiko posting humiliating photos on social media, Haruto and Daichi shoving me into dark corners of the school. Was I so worthless that even at this moment, I didn't matter to anyone?
The darkness was pulling me harder, like a cold, unforgiving current. My body trembled, but I no longer had the strength to fight. Is this my end? I thought, my inner voice cracking. In that moment, my life flashed before my eyes, like a movie played at high speed. Memories I thought were forgotten appeared clear, sharp as a knife. I saw my parents, Elena and Victor, standing on the shore of a lake, holding me when I was only a year old. They were crying, but not out of love—they were debating whether to throw me into the water. I don't know what stopped them. Maybe passersby, maybe a trace of conscience. How could I remember such a thing? Yet, the image was vivid, as if my brain was discharging an impossible memory, like a "cascade" of mental impressions, as I had once read about "cortical disinhibition" in moments of extreme stress.
Then, other images: our house, a chaos of garbage, empty alcohol bottles, and the smell of mold. My room, with its rusty bed, the small closet full of books and manga—my only refuges. The park where I ate in silence, the only place I felt like myself. The school, with its cold corridors and the classmates who humiliated me: Kenji, with his arrogant sneer, Aiko, with her sharp laugh, Haruto, always ready with a cruel joke, and Daichi, with his heavy fists. The school library, where I escaped into stories of better worlds. Every memory was like an open wound.
Why did all this happen to me? I wondered, with imaginary tears streaming down my face, although I felt nothing physical in this strange tunnel. Was I too weak? Is it my fault? Is it a curse or a destiny I can't escape? The questions overwhelmed me, but I found no answers. Perhaps I was just a defect, a mistake of the universe, meant to be erased.
"If this is the end, maybe it's better this way," I whispered. "To disappear from this universe."
The darkness swallowed me completely. There was no longer any trace of light, neither up nor down. No smell, no sound, not even the echo of my own breath. My feet felt no ground—I was floating in an absolute void, as if existence itself had dissolved. Is this what happens after death? I thought. It didn't resemble the heaven or hell from books. There was neither peace nor torment. There was just... nothingness.
"Where am I?" I murmured, my voice lost in the void. "Is this the end?"
Suddenly, a faint sound broke the silence, like a murmur coming from a great distance. It was as if someone was speaking, but the words were foreign, from a language I had never heard. The sound intensified, becoming clearer, yet still incomprehensible. The voice seemed to belong to a single entity but had two overlapping intonations: one masculine, grave, like distant thunder, and the other feminine, melodious, like a subtle chant. It was as if one being was speaking with two voices simultaneously, mixing authority with gentleness.
"Who are you? Or who are you?" I asked, my heart pounding wildly.
The voice continued, a series of strange sounds: #@#@$$#@$&§∆∆€¥%. I tried to identify the language, but it was useless. It didn't sound like Japanese, English, or anything else I knew. I shouted, frustrated:
"I don't understand what you're saying! What do you want from me?"
Suddenly, a few words became clear, as if an invisible translator was whispering in my ear: "...to exit this area, you will have to fulfill the mentioned condition!"
I froze. How could I understand now? A translucent panel appeared before me, floating in the dark like a screen from a video game. The letters glowed faintly, as if written with liquid light:
[DS] – System
[Progress: 1% out of 100%]
A clear, firm voice, similar to the earlier murmur, resonated:
"This is the reason you are beginning to understand."
I asked, my voice trembling with confusion and fear:
"What is this panel? What condition are you talking about? Who are you? Where are my classmates?"
But the darkness began to absorb me again, like a cold wave pulling me into an even deeper abyss. The voice continued, calm but evasive:
"We wish you success in this challenge. You will find out who we are at the right time. The condition you will discover soon."
"Wait!" I screamed. "What does that mean? What challenge? Where am I going? What happened to the others?"
The voice fell silent for a moment, then replied with a note of amusement:
"Patience, Kaito. Answers only come to those who survive. The condition is connected to you—to who you truly are."
The panel updated, the letters pulsing more intensely:
[DS]
[Progress: 10% out of 100%]
"What the hell is going on?" I roared, in despair. "Why is the darkness absorbing me again? Wasn't this the end? Where is it taking me?"
Silence settled again. I floated in the void, my heart hammering like a drum, waiting for what would come next. In my mind, only one question persisted: Am I a defect of the universe, or is there something more?