"What is going on?"
"Wait, I can hear myself now?"
One thing after another happened, and Senzo couldn't follow anymore.
At first it looked like a void—pitch black with no sound or scent. But now he could see and hear himself once again.
"But the question remains: who brought me here or how did I get here..." Senzo muttered, scratching his head.
He took a seat on the black ground, was it even ground?
He had no idea what kind of material the ground was, if you could even call it that, or where he was, for that matter.
At least it didn't look like anywhere on his home planet or the planet he was currently supposed to reside on.
"Haah, well, there's nothing much I can do except wait, I guess?"
Ring! Ring!
When he was about to take a nap and hoped this situation would resolve itself he suddenly heard his phone make noise.
But that was strange in and of itself. The people on Earth are currently frozen in time and he didn't give his number to anyone who could currently send him a message.
And then there was the sound. He was certain he didn't choose that sound for anything, so how could his phone make it?
"Wait!? Could it be?"
That's when an outrageous idea suddenly hit him.
Could it be something related to the multiverse OS?
When that thought appeared in his mind, he couldn't wait any longer as he quickly took his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it instantly.
***
[Multiverse Navigation OS—v1.1]
Welcome, User: [Senzo Kazuko]
──────────────
> Start World Jump
> Inventory
> Shop
> Background Information
> Abilities
> Mission Log
> ??? (1)
> [Locked Function – OS Upgrade Required]
> ───────────────
Tap an option to proceed. Hold to access Advanced Settings.
────────────────────
Senzo carefully scrutinized everything on the screen. He knew something had changed, he felt like there was more to it than just the new '???', but he momentarily couldn't place his finger on what exactly had changed.
"Am I being paranoid and only those question marks appeared? I feel like I'm not, though..." he mumbled as he kept going over each and every line on the screen, trying to find out everything that had changed.
"Ah!"
That's when he realized it.
"When did it update? I am certain it was version 1.0 when I first got it!" he exclaimed, but then his enthusiasm vanished just like that.
It didn't matter after all; he couldn't do anything about it except check out those question marks and hope he would learn something useful from them.
"Here goes, I guess."
Then he carefully pressed on the three question marks.
────────────────────────────────
[System Messaging—Beta Channel]
Chat with: [Unknown Sender]
Status: Active Connection Established
────────────────────────────────
Unknown Sender:
"Yo, what's up? How are you, Senzo?"
< Awaiting user response… >
────────────────────────────────
"..."
"What the hell is going on!?"
Senzo couldn't wrap his head around what he was seeing. Someone had sent a message to him?
How is this possible?
Now Senzo was in a predicament; should he respond or ignore it? On one side he could maybe learn more about this mysterious phone, but on the other hand he had no idea who the other party was, and they clearly knew him.
"What do I do?"
Staring straight at the keyboard, there were so many questions Senzo wanted to ask, but it could be dangerous.
While he was deep in thought going over all the options he had, he felt his phone suddenly vibrate.
────────────────────────────────
Unknown Sender:
"Don't you have a lot of questions about everything?
I can answer some of them, but only if you send your full name within the next 30 seconds.
So think carefully."
[00:30]
[00:29]
────────────────────────────────
"???"
Senzo's eyes widened slightly while reading the messages from the unknown sender. Why would I do that... but on the other hand what do I have to lose?
He was carefully contemplating his options. He felt like he didn't have much to lose by giving his full name, but you never know what weird powers that guy could have.
But the clock that was slowly ticking down was putting immense pressure on him, and just by reading the messages, it felt like the other party knew a lot about him and his current situation.
"Is it worth taking the risk? If he's asking me that, he should know my full name right?"
"Aaah, fuck it!" He exclaimed as he quickly typed out his full name into the chat and sent it right before the timer hit 0.
────────────────────────────────
Senzo Kazuko:
"Senzo Kazuko."
Unknown Sender:
"Good boy, now I will allow you to ask me 5 questions.
But it all depends on my mood so if I deem the question stupid or simply do not feel like answering... too bad."
Senzo Kazuko:
"..."
────────────────────────────────
"What the hell kind of douchebag is he!?"
Senzo was glaring at his phone, unable to believe his eyes. He really just called me a good boy? The fuck.
He wanted to smash his phone right there and just ignore the chat, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.
He could finally get some answers after all, even if there was a risk of him just ignoring all five of his questions.
"What should I ask first?"
He was unsure, but looking at the couple of messages, the other party seemed to be quite full of himself so maybe he could make use of that?
"It's worth a try, I guess..."
────────────────────────────────
Senzo Kazuko:
"What should I call your esteemed self?"
────────────────────────────────
Senzo visibly cringed while writing the message, but he had to do everything he could to try to get as much information as possible from the other party even if he had to kiss his ass.
────────────────────────────────
Him:
"Hahahaha, now that's what I like to see.
I will do you a favor and not count this one as one of the 5 questions, and you can just call me Him."
────────────────────────────────
"..."
Now Senzo was looking at his phone like he was holding the most disgusting thing on the planet; he just couldn't fathom what kind of narcissist he had met, and the worst part was that he had to entertain this guy's antics to get the information.