Today was one of those days. You know the ones, I mean...
The days in which, if something could go wrong, it would go wrong.
It began like any other day. Ruki woke at daybreak, waking her sister and getting her ready for school. Getting her breakfast, making sure she was alive, all of that. Then, as Ruki was about to bite into her first slice of toast of that morning, something odd happened.
A letter shot through the letterbox. That was strange in itself, the postman never came until far later in the day. Especially in the ‘slummier’ districts of Shibuya, like this one. Ruki lifted the odd letter and held it just below her chin. The heavily stylized text seemed to glitter and flicker as light passed across it. It was almost like it had been written in the pure black, still-wet ink.
Interested, she flicked the letter open with a finger. It was written on very thick card-like paper, that once again seemed to glint and twinkle in the low hall light. It seemed awfully posh, especially when read out in the hallway of the old, dirty apartment.
The letter read as follows:
Ruki.
Board the Shibuya; Trail Express at exactly 11:00 am on the morning of the 16th.
A ticket is enclosed within.
We look forward to seeing you.
It was as simple as that. Straight to the point was an understatement. It didn’t even describe what kind of job, it would be. What she needed to bring nor what to do other than to board this train at 11:00 am exactly. In fact, she had never heard of the Shibuya; Trail, before. Maybe it was some kind of joke.
Yeah. It could be a joke. A stupid joke.
Although, if it was real. She’d be turning down a job opportunity, something that had not been offered to Ruki, ever. Then, something else fell from the envelope. A tiny rectangle of paper printed on the same paper, except with an image of a train printed upon it. It appeared to be the ticket, for this train. Does that mean it was real?
A few minutes, Airi left for school, passing by Ruki in the hallway. “See you later, sis. Are you okay? You look a little perplexed...”
Ruki lifted her head from the letter for the first time in minutes and looked down at her equally blue-haired sister and half-smiled. “Oh yeah. I’m fine. Just junk mail. Nothing to worry about.” She scrunched up the letter in her palm and then walked back into the living room. “You better go, or you’ll be late.” She shouted back, down the corridor. As the slam of a door indicated that she had left, Ruki sat down at the table and looked down at the letter, again.
“I guess, I have nothing better to do,” she decided, picking herself up. “Even if it is a joke or a prank, I could still do some busking...”
Shortly later, Ruki left the house with her cased guitar, Stormy, safety hanging from her back. As she walked, she held the letter in her left hand, still scrunched. The train station wasn’t terribly far from the slums of Shibuya. It was fairly busy as usual, several hundred people clustered looking for their correct station. Some of them clutching briefcases and wearing suits. Others with suitcases and wearing holiday attire.
The grand clock that hung in the middle of the station read 10:57 am. That meant, according to the letter, she needed to find her train in three minutes. She began to run across the train station, clutching her guitar close to her to prevent it, slamming into anyone.
“Damn. Damn. Which one is it.” She said to herself, moving horizontally down the station whilst peering up at each train name. The clock ticked to 10:59 am. She had a minute to find it.
“It looks like she needs a hand...” An unseen voice said, in her ear. Ruki turned but saw no-one, other than a suited man, reading from a book. “Now! Gooooo!”
Suddenly, Ruki felt, a great force pushing against her back. It was forcing her forward beyond the crowd and into a deserted part of the station. A large and rather odd train lay before Ruki. It was larger than any train, she had seen and was a shimmering blue color, except for the side which was bright orange. It sort of looked like one of those weird anglerfish. It even had one of the hanging lights on the forehead to imitate the angler fish.
Very strange, she thought. But, then again, she was pushed by an unseen force and fell straight into the open doors of the train. She fell flat on her face. The train burst into life without waiting for her to get up. An engine roared and the train stormed away, leaving a plume of smoke in its wake.
Ruki slowly got up and held her head – a bump was appearing on her forehead from where she had collided with the floor. The train was completely empty if not for her. Rows of simple wooden benches laid with a soft, thin cushion filled the trolley.
She sat down at one and waited patiently. Perhaps, someone would come along soon and swipe her ticket. But as several minutes passed, no-one else appeared. Ruki looked out the window and was greeted with literally nothing. They must be moving at some speed, as everything outside was a blur.
Then as suddenly as it started, the train slowed and stopped. Ruki looked out of the window and saw a great number of other oddly designed trains too. “I guess this is my stop, then.” She stepped off the train, a little unsure and unsteady. “This all feels like a bad dream.”
She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she failed to notice, the… the… odd creature at her feet, that she almost stepped on. It looked like a giant green slug monster with great round eyeballs which hung from twisted stalks. “Hey, you almost s-slepped in me,” it said from the wide, toothy mouth. Although its tongue appeared to be so large, it lisped, slightly. “Sheesh, humamans! T-tlicket?”
“Huh?” Ruki said, a little confused. She was at least 75% sure that she was dreaming at this point. “I want your tlicket. TLICKET.”
“Oh...right,” Ruki said, holding out the ticket. She held it out to the odd slug creature and it slammed its tongue down on it. It appeared that it was holding some kind of stamp in the mouth folds as a mark had been left upon the card. “You may go and qulickly. Sleesh.”
Following this instruction, Ruki left and quickly. She walked up the stairs and found at the top, a rather most beautiful sight. A great city. Buildings which soared up into the sky. Hundreds of them, maybe even more. “Okay… make that 100%,” she said to herself. As she saw in the street ahead, a crowd of similarly crazy looking monsters.
