Chapter Text
Winter, one of the most coldest seasons of the year. White ice crystals form, snow starts to fall from the sky, and the holly jolly spirit of Christmas has arrived. The season brings a cold, delicate, fluffy blanket around the city, and festive lights glistening.
All Kamiyama High and Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy students were dismissed from school, because of the freezing weather of winter. As soon as they got their jackets, put on their mittens, and grabbed their school bags, they were celebrating already. They had enough time to start living in the comforting, yet shivering weather.
An Shiraishi was one of those students, happy to relax under the sheets of her comforting bed on a Monday with no worries and annoying complaints about school ot homework.
As she began to start walking back home, a voice called out her name. Wondering who it was, she decided to listen to the voice.
"An-chan, an-chan! Would you want to walk home together?"
Curious, she turned around. It was unsurprisingly Kohane and her two friends, Akito and Toya, signaling for them to walk together.
"Hey, An." Akito said, "Kohane really wants to come along with you, she dragged us into this."
Laughing, An nodded as an answer to Kohane's question.
"Sure! I'd love to come along." An responded, smiling.
Kohane was giggling crazily, holding her hand as Akito and Toya followed.
"So, how was your day?" Kohane asked.
"Good! I finally got an A+ on an math test!" An said, cheerfully.
"That's cool! What about you, Aki-san?" She asked, bubbly.
"Meh, mine was alright. I got a C on the math test. I fuckin' hate math, but whatever. I'll definitely get scolded by my mom later, or something." Akito replied, rolling his eyes.
"Oof, that's not good." Toya responded back, "I hope nothing bad happens..."
"Thanks, Toya." Akito said, back to him.
An was happy with the moment they were all having, making memories while walking her back home together. "How wonderful!", she thought. As she began to look up into the sky, something... was off.
Buildings around them looked like as-if they were melting or corrupting, almost like the world was glitching. An was worried and her heart beat started to rise. What was going on? Is the world changing by itself? Am I just hallucinating?
As the Kamiyama High student began to overthink, rhe conversation between her friends began to continue, soon enough, they all arrived at An's house shortly.
"Hey, An-chan! We've arrived." Kohane said, joyfully.
...
There was no response, An was too focused on the warped imagery of the world as she continued to have her head up in the sky. Her orange eyes couldn't resist to keep looking up, she was slowly loosing it. Until...
"An-chan...? We're here now." Kohane asked, again.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I was thinking about something, my bad... it must've been SO awkward..." An responded, shaking.
"Yeah, it WAS awkward. Ms. Skyscraper." Akito sighed,
"Oh, come on Akito. Give her a break! She must've studied hard for that test, y'know. So maybe, she's just in disbelief? Eh?" Kohane replied, angrily.
An and Toya were both standing there, both tired and exhausted. They didn't want to hear one more bit of this argument about her. So, she made her leave quickly.
"Uhh..... thanks for inviting me to come with you guys, see ya later!" An replied, in a rush while smiling.
An went to put her cold hands in her pocket, getting the key to her house out of it. She began to put it through the lock, turning it multiple times before finally opening the door.
"I'm freezing, can we get to my house next?" Akito said, hands shivering as he sneezed.
They all laughed except for Akito, who was suffering from the cold weather.
"Haha! That's what you get, Mr. Sneezer! Hahahahaha!!!" An cried,
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh... Yes, we can! I just can't stop laughing... hehehe!" Kohane said, giggling at Akito.
"We're gonna go now, bye An!" Toya said, nicely.
As they waved goodbye to their friend, An began to open the door to her house, and put the house keys back in her pocket. Suddenly, she got an strange notification from her phone.
Curious, she stopped what she was doing and looked at the notification.
The notification was titled "CORRUPTSEKAI.mp4 downloaded!" Weird, she hadn't downloaded any files this morning, she thought it was just an small bug from her Street SEKAI.
Annoyed, she put her phone in her pocket and continued to unlock the door.
As she walked in, her mom greeted her with a smile.
"Hello, An. How was your day?" She asked, greeting her with an treat she made for her.
"Good!" An responded, as she took a bite out of the treat. "I got an A+ on the math test." She said, proudly.
"Oh wow! That's great. Hopefully you can get more when winter break is over." An's mom said, kindly.
"Thanks for the small treat! I'm gonna go up to my room now if you need me." She said back, walking up the stairs to her room.
"Okay, honey! Just know that I'm making dinner if you're still hungry!"
"Got it, see you later." An said, proud of herself.
As soon as she got to her room, she called Kohane.
"Uhh... An? What's up?" She said, answering to the call wondering what she was calling her for.
"Hey, so have you gotten a weird notification for something titled... 'CORRUPTSEKAI.MP4'?" She asked, curiously.
"Oh, yeah! I got that notification as you walked into your house! Akito and Toya got it too, sooo..." Kohane replied.
"Did any of you guys click on it?" An asked, in a curious tone of voice.
"No, none of us did. Why? Did you click on it?" She said, unexpectedly.
"Of course I didn't! It's weird and suspicious too, so why would I take the risk to do that anyways?" An replied, "Also, is Akito still with you guys?"
"Yeah, he is. We gave him our mittens so his hands didn't freeze, now my hands are. It's unfortunate, but we care." Kohane said, in response to her question.
"Maybe we should all meet up to find out what's going on? It may be difficult and upsetting, since tomorrow is the first day of winter break. But, we might find out what's going on if we stick together!" An said.
"Yeah! That's a great idea, An-chan! Let's schedule for 4:58 PM, we should meet up at the WEEKEND GARAGE, since your dad is chill with us handing out there. We could get snacks and everything!"
"Cool! Uh, well... I'll talk to you later. I kinda smell, and need to shower after all of that walking."
"Okay! Talk to you later!" Kohane said, before hanging up.
An was exhausted, she had already seen so much in 1 day, everything around her just seems off! Weird cracks on buildings in Tokyo, strange notifications, Akito sneezing, which was hilarious, but weird.
All she wanted to do now was relax! Tired, she began to take an relaxing lavender bath to get her mind off things. The heavy rain pouring outside calmed her as she dipped her hair into the bath water.
After a while, An got out of the shower to dry her hair and herself. As she got into bed, she tried to get some rest, while relaxing her head onto a pillow.
"Ah, finally. I can relax! No overthinking, no notifications, just me and my bed..." An says, to herself.
As she listens to the rain pouring, drip by drip, wetting the window right next to her bed, she soon falls asleep to the calming sounds of the weather.