I have a memory of playing a really fun game. I remember it clearly.
My opponent appeared in what I guess you would call outer s.p.a.ce. They were of course in a s.p.a.ce warship. There was a whole fleet of them and it was honestly pretty cool, but it was my job to command my fleet and defend against their attack.
Those attacking opponents were my old friends.
I…well, I stood in an open area and commanded my subordinates. I think it was what you call the ship"s bridge. It was designed just like you always see in anime and whatnot.
Everyone took action when I gave an order. But none of them were human.
They were automatons running on AI. They promptly began to intercept our opponents. They immediately executed my orders, you could say.
Meanwhile, one of my friends on the offense side displayed their face in the air in front of me. I was using a Shinto-style Revelation Board, so my friend"s face appeared inside the torii-shaped display s.p.a.ce.
We were playing a game, so there was only one thing to do: tease each other. We made faces and exchanged trash talk, but…hey, just cause you have more control over the Revelation Boards is no excuse for moving it around to peer at my face from the side.
Well, whatever. I laughed and admitted defeat, so it was time for the real battle.
I won if I defended against their attacks. After a while, we stopped for a break. I again heard my friends" voices coming from the offense side and we once more teased each other and laughed together.
While reflecting on how much more we could do when compared to the past, I suggested we continue with the game and I got ready.
There was someone by my side then.
Who was it? Oh, yeah. I remember. But the game was more important at the moment. Yes, if I won this, she was going to tell me something important. Um, what was it again? I think it was in exchange for showing off what I could do in the game. But it wasn"t that I asked to borrow some money or see her underwear. Oh, maybe I should have asked to feel her b.o.o.bs. No, I guess that would be inappropriate. Anyway…
"Wow."
I lost. Badly. And an AI spoke from my Revelation Board.
"Oh, that would be a game over there."
I heard the AI"s voice.
"Umm, let"s move onto the next game then. I will set it up."
"Complete. …I will now open the next game."
"Oh…"
I woke up to find it was night.
The stars were scattered across the sky and I was looking up at them from a seated position.
I was looking up.
That meant I was looking at the sky. That was a simple thing, but it caught my attention for some reason. Because…
"Huh?"
I was zoning out.
Yeah, that"s what it meant. I was still half asleep.
I said at the start that I "woke up" because I felt like I had forgotten something. My mind wasn"t working. It was like something wasn"t right or something felt wrong.
"Oh, right."
It was waking up while looking up at the night sky. That"s what wasn"t right.
If I had woken up, then I should have been lying down, right? So why was I sitting up? And since I could see the night sky so well, I had to be outside. Why was I outside at night? The word "nightlife" came to mind and I think that helped wake me the rest of the way up, but…
What?
It had felt like my mind wasn"t working, but I could see why now.
I couldn"t remember anything.
I had no memories of the past.
I had these words in my head, but no past at all.
Oh, no.
I stood up and tried looking around.
I wasn"t naked. I was wearing clothes. White and black ones. My mind managed to recognize them as a "uniform" and I felt like that was a link to who I was. I felt like I had grasped something about myself.
"Ahh."
I could speak.
"Clothes. White and Black. A uniform."
I could speak words. I could also sweat nervously. I remembered that was called "panicking".
"I have no memories."
I said it slowly. Not only could I say things, but I could say them without really thinking about it. That was a relief, so I just said whatever came to mind.
"I have no memories."
That was my starting point. But…
"I"m a guy, I"m young, I"m wearing a school uniform…a summer uniform! This is a summer uniform. My shoes are…Converse! C-O-N-V-E-R-S-E! I can say that. I know what these are."
I touched my body.
"Hair, skin, eyes, nose, mouth, arms, hands, chest, stomach, hips, d.i.c.k."
I tried saying it again.
"d.i.c.k."
I felt like that part was important. Like I could keep going as long as I had that. Was that really true? Maybe not, but I decided that was my philosophy. And…
"Let"s unb.u.t.ton this."
I unb.u.t.toned the chest and checked inside to see the skin of my chest. I didn"t have b.o.o.bs. Not surprising, I suppose.
"I don"t have b.o.o.bs."
It really hit home when I said it out loud. That was important, so I had to remember it. But…
…I do "have" stuff.
I had a body. I mean, that seems obvious, but maybe it wasn"t so obvious? Or rather, I didn"t know what was going on here, so I wanted to check on the obvious stuff too. That"s how panicked I was. However…
"Umm."
What was the deal here? I had no memories, but I could find the words for everything and I "had" stuff. So what was the problem with my situation?
There was nothing wrong with me.
But I was outside.
I had been sleeping sitting up out here and I could see the night sky. In that case…
"Below me."
Terms like "the ground" and "at my feet" came to mind, so my vocabulary wasn"t failing me yet.
I had seen this before, but I hadn"t really thought about it.
"Hey."
The ground glowed with a dull red light and it flowed below me.
I was standing on a sea of lava.
"Eh?"
This seemed strange.
I knew what things were, so I knew lava was hot. I knew there was no way I could be standing on it.
…Eh? What, what?
I tried to turn around and look, but my foot caught on a rock being carried by the lava flow.
I tripped and started falling right into the sea of lava.
"Ahh."
I was surprised to find I knew enough to think "I am so dead."
But something appeared just before it happened: a dragon.
"Huh?"
This shouldn"t have been possible.
It was a monster, a fantasy creature, a goblin…well, no. Not a goblin. Regardless, I was pretty sure it was an enemy. Probably anyway.
But the real problem was how it was so big I had to look up at it and how it was made of lava. Or maybe pure fire.
It had horns and what looked like a mane.
It was a dragon, a wyrm, a…um, what else do you call them?
Simply falling in the lava would"ve killed me, so this seemed like overkill.
It reared its head and dove toward me. Yeah, this was bad. Just not good at all. I didn"t want to be attacked by anyone who wasn"t a busty girl.
"Ahh."
I thought I heard a sizzling sound.
In other words, I was dead. And my cause of death wasn"t "b.o.o.bs". It was "rammed by a dragon". That"s no fun.
"This is a pain, so I will omit it from now on."