Watanabe Tomoya
New Aoyama, 'For Pete's Sake'
Evening
"Not sure eh?" Nodding to himself, the teenager looked over at you again with only a single open eye, "That's a pretty human answer. No one can really decide until the actual moment comes... We're weird like that... But it's probably for the best."
In the end, you were pretty sure that he was the weird one here, but you kept that to yourself, glancing up at the hanging television set, the eternally somewhat-dirty glass still clenched in your fingers as the evening news came into view.
"And now we interrupt your daily programming to bring you the following announcement."
As if triggered by the words of the telecaster, the television set immediately cut to static, the harsh sound grating on the ears of everyone in the building, and drawing everyone's eyes to the large screen.
"This is a message for the humans of Tokyo City."
The voice of an older man, tired, and with an inherent charisma, echoed out from beyond the static screen, followed by the voices of others, men, women and children alike, echoing one after the other...
"Understand that what is happening now is something that could have been avoided."
"Your hatred drew the spirit of destruction to this place."
"The human condition is no longer relevant."
"You have ruined your own world..."
In that instant, as the last voice faded, the power cut out with a loud snap, as if the circuit breaker had been overloaded. Outside, an impossibly thick black fog had seemingly emerged from the ground, pressing against the now cracking glass as a chorus of screams erupted in the bar.
"Shit-!"
The girl, Maiya, pulled something long and thin from her jacket, and Kenji, surprisingly nonchalant about this whole thing at first glance, adjusted his glasses once, a brief grimace of fear crossing his face before it was hidden by his usual emotionless expression.
"Well this isn't good..."
Understatement of the century.
*Thud. Thud. Thud.*
Unidentifiable shapes, hidden in the darkness, were pounding on the glass.
*Thud. Thud. CRACK.*
Giving into the pressure, the thick miasma surged into the building the instant the glass shattered.
And everyone inside was instantly drained of whatever strength they had, screams turned to quiet moans, then silence, and even your vision was growing dark...
The shapes inside the bar... The ones that weren't human... Certainly looked human.... Like shadows...
On the floor, Maiya had Kenji under one of her arms, the other gripping the faint white steel of a katana as if her life depended on it, it's blade glowing slightly in the dark. She was the only one besides you who was still in the world of the conscious, but even as her eyes looked up at you, you could see her body fall into a deep slumber.
"..."
Eyes glowing white in the darkness, they stared at you, the last one standing, and waited, knowing the pendulum of fate would strike you down soon enough.
And taking two steps forward, your hands balling into fists...
Darkness embraced you.
And everything vanished.