The sky was still dark from the storm. A deafening roar echoed across the icy mountain. Everyone stood frozen, literally and figuratively staring into the sky. The shadow had vanished, the winged creature disappearing into the clouds, leaving only cold silence and fear behind.
Then… chaos.
Screams erupted. Some students dropped to their knees. Others clung to each other. Teachers tried shouting over the noise, trying to bring order, but no one was listening. It was panic. Raw, suffocating panic.
Monaki stood at the center of it all—stunned, speechless. His lips were trembling. His knees felt weak.
A firm hand grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him hard.
"MONAKI!" It was Mr. Takahashi, his teacher. "What the hell is this? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Monaki opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Another teacher grabbed the cousin,Taru. "Was this your experiment?! What did you two build?!"
"I..I don't know," Taru stuttered.
"The machine… the storm… the teleport"
"Everyone settle down! Please!"
One of the men who had been in the principal's office earlier stepped forward, raising both hands. His voice was firm, calm, but carried authority. "Panicking won't get us anywhere. Let's take this one step at a time."
Gradually, the room began to settle. Murmurs faded to silence.
Then, another man older, sharp-eyed, wearing a dark coat, [he too was one of the men in the principal's office] approached Monaki quietly. Without a word, he gently took him by the arm and led him away from the crowd, back to the lab.
"You need to breathe," the man said softly. "Here."
He handed Monaki a cold bottle of soda. The seal hissed as Monaki cracked it open with trembling fingers.
His hands shook. His eyes were still wide, haunted by the image of the horned hamster, by the dragon's wings above the school, by the snow-covered mountain that wasn't supposed to be there.
"We'll get through this," the man added. "I've seen bad situations before. But we'll find a way."
Monaki didn't answer immediately. He took a long sip of the drink, wiped his mouth, then leaned against the lab table, staring into nothing.
Then the man said quietly, "Your honest opinion... What do you think this is? What happened here?"
Monaki blinked. Slowly turned to him. "I have a theory…"
He glanced around. "Can you help me with a piece of paper?"
"Sure," the man nodded, pulling one from the shelf and handing it to him.
Monaki took a deep breath, then began to write—shaky hands sketching out an idea.
Before they could continue, the manual loudspeakers in the school crackled alive.
"Everyone, report to the main auditorium immediately."
Within minutes, all 98 students, teachers, scientists, and staff were crammed into the school hall. The doors were shut. Windows sealed. The panic had dulled into silence but it was the heavy kind of silence. The kind that follows disaster.
Some stood anxiously. Others sat still, numb.
Principal Sato stood in front, pale and shaking.
"What happened out there," he said, "was unlike anything we've ever known. We need answers."
Monaki slowly stood up. Faces turned to him.
"We believe…" Monaki started, still unsure of his own words, "we believe the teleportation device... changed."
"How?" a teacher asked.
"When we tested it on objects—non-living things—it worked perfectly. But when we introduced a living organism... we think it altered the energy signature. Our hypothesis is that it reacted with DNA. Changed the machine's properties."
"What are you saying?" someone called out.
"I think… it created a rift. Not just teleportation—but dimensional travel."
The crowd erupted.
"You mean we're not on Earth anymore?!"
"Where are we?!"
"What dimension are you talking about?!"
Monaki's voice rose above the panic: "We don't know. But we saw the snow, the mountain. And that… thing in the sky. It's obvious it isn't Earth not our Earth atleast."
Someone stood up and yelled, pointing. "YOU did this! You and your stupid machine! You brought us here!"
A few more voices joined in: "He's the reason we're stuck!"
"We could die here because of you!"
Monaki's fists clenched. "I didn't know this could happen! I didn't plan for all of this. We were trying to replicate a science experiment!
A student stepped forward and slapped Monaki across the face. The whole hall went quiet.
"STOP!" Principal Sato barked. "No more fighting! This isn't helping."
The tension was thick. No one sat.
Principal Sato then asked "how do we go back?"
Monaki took a breath. "I think... if we replicate everything that happened the same way it happened, we might be able to open a rift back home."
"Then DO IT!" someone shouted.
Monaki shook his head. "We can't. Not yet. We need power. That device only works with extreme voltage. Lightning powered it last time." And that's just one of the things we are missing.
Everyone looked through the window. The sky outside was clear now. Just snow. Cold. Silence.
The room fell into a deep silence again.
Then a student whispered, "So we're stuck here?"
Another teacher asked, "How long can we survive in a place like this?"
"We all saw the dragon," said one of the lab assistants. "God knows what else is out there…"
"Enough," Principal Sato said, stepping forward. "We will not survive by tearing each other apart. Right now, we bunker down, secure food, stay safe, and prepare. This is our reality now until we find a way back."
The tension was still there. Heavy. But quieter.
Then one voice pierced the calm again.
"This is on you, Monaki…"
Monaki didn't respond.
He just stared out the window, into the cold, white void outside