Chapter 184: Awake at the End

——But please remember this one thing.

——This world will one day reach its end.

——Yet, I can assert this with certainty.

——Your efforts, your lives, your deaths, will never be in vain.

▼

"——Mya!"

Awakening with a scream on a winter day... that was the plan, at least.

"…………Who?"

I asked.

No answer came.

And so, ten seconds passed in silence.

…Could it just be a hallucination?

Deciding that, I drifted back into the pleasant world of a second nap…

………….

………………………….

Hmm.

Mmmmm.

What's this? Something feels off—I can't sleep at all.

Hmm?

I propped myself up halfway and rubbed my head.

And then I realized what was wrong.

It's hot. I'm uncomfortable. Really hot.

That made no sense at all.

I'm one of those people who sleep without heating in winter—I feel like I enjoy the cozy warmth of an oフトゥン even more that way.

Yet today, it's terribly stiflingly hot.

It's as if someone skipped straight to summer and threw open the door to it.

"…………hmm?"

With my blurry vision without glasses, I checked the air conditioner.

The light indicating it's running……isn't visible.

Apparently, the air conditioning is properly turned off.

"…………………hnnnnn? "

Then why is it so hot?

I tilted my head, fumbling around blindly for my smartphone.

I thought, I need to get the log box...

But something was off. My phone, usually right by my pillow, was nowhere to be found.

This won't do. Missing the log box would ruin my reputation as a free player.

"Ah? Where is it? Where could it be?"

I searched frantically in every direction, feeling around for my phone.

But no matter how hard I searched, my smartphone was nowhere to be found.

Instead, what surprised me was the ancestral sword left by my grandfather, touching my fingertips.

A Japanese sword by my pillow?

Am I some kind of samurai?

But that wasn’t all that was strange.

It almost felt like the furniture arrangement had changed slightly.

My first thought was pure, unadulterated terror.

Could it be that someone I didn’t know had renovated my room while I was asleep?

Well, there's no way someone would actually do something like that, and I can't even see the benefit of doing it.

Even if it were my neighbor... even if it were Mr. Tanaka... I doubt he'd do something like that.

For now, I quickly fumble for my glasses and put them on.

I focus on assessing the situation.

The abnormalities in the room... they're all over the place.

A pair of sweatpants tossed aside in a messy, undignified manner.

A mountain of Gundam model kits brought in from somewhere.

A balcony window reinforced haphazardly with cardboard.

Also found a small portable generator? Something like that.

"Hmm...?"

What on earth is going on?

Shaking my head in confusion.

Checking the time, it's just past two in the afternoon.

"Hmmmmmmmm?"

This was another inexplicable thing.

Something didn't match up with my memories, somehow...

For now, I'll turn on the TV... but it doesn't respond at all.

Well then, I'll try turning on my notebook PC and asking for help from online communities, but it seems the internet connection just won't work.

That's not all. This room, in fact, doesn't even have electricity.

"What's this? What's this? What's this? What's this? ………"

I mutter these words like a mantra as I pace around the room.

I don't understand what's going on.

I just feel, deeply and clearly, that I've been caught up in something terrifying.

It felt as though I'd been suddenly thrown from my familiar everyday world into another entirely different one.

Frantically searching every corner, I finally managed to find my phone, but it seemed completely unresponsive.

Then, after much effort, I discovered a usable tool: a disaster radio I had no memory of buying. It had a handle attached to the body, and you could power it by turning the handle around and around.

I immediately started turning it round and round, round and round, round and round.

Suddenly, a voice came through, as if from a pre-set frequency.

This is Akihabara's community. … This recording is a message to survivors in Tokyo. … Akihabara is now a safe zone. ………… Repeat: Akihabara is a safe zone. ………… There is plenty of water and food available. ………… If anyone listening to this broadcast needs rescue, ……………

For a while, I listen attentively to the voice.

And I confirmed, for good measure, that all other stations seemed to be off the air.

Yeah.

I'm still not sure, so I concluded that.

Then I opened the balcony, which was blocked by blackout curtains.

"Well, well."

Only then did I finally understand.

It seemed that—while I'd been happily napping—

the world had ended.