HOTD: A New Dawn

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Tysone woke up many times throughout the night due to pangs of hunger. That corn potage hardly filled him up enough to last the rest of the evening. Sleeping the hunger off only made him weaker in the long run, until he couldn't stay in bed any longer. 

The only silver lining was that today was Sunday, which meant he'd be tutored in Japanese by that fang-toothed friend of his. 'There's no way she'd let me starve in her own home.'

He didn't like being so dependent on someone else for sustenance, but these were extraordinary circumstances; his pride had no business acting up when his stomach was growling like a nefarious beast demanding to be fed, or else it would be let loose.

Tysone groaned in deep shame for letting himself be in such a pathetic state. Well, it was not as if crying about it would make the situation any better. Toughen up—he was used to hunger anyway.

He got up and headed to the bathroom. He turned the shower on, shedding himself off of his clothing. The cold water hit his skin, packing enough of a punch to revitalize him a bit. After he got out, he eyed himself in the mirror with a critical eye. His body was neither too far nor too skinny, a perfect balance with enough flab to denote that the previous Tysone was by no means an overachieving athlete.

'Yes... I need to work out. Can't risk becoming like Kohta.'

No offense to the little guy; he was one mean gunslinger. But Tysone couldn't rely solely on firearms, not to mention how hard it'd be to get one. Of course, unless you were the protagonist—but Tysone didn't think he had that type of plot armor, so he'd rely on himself. 

Besides, he wasn't one to shy away from the pain that exercise brought. 

He stared at his mirror self, his determined eyes staring back.

…

It turns out that he didn't have many spare clothes he could use. Just some cheap shirts and baggy pants. He wore whatever was clean and shoved the rest in a basket to be washed later. 

It was early morning, though the skies of Tokonosu were overcast. Tysone preferred it that way. It brought him a level of inner peace that too much heat and sunshine could never achieve.

He walked through the streets of the city at a sedate pace, his stomach rumbling throughout. He made sure to memorize his way around so as not to get lost next time. 

He didn't have anywhere to go, really. It was too early to drop by Saya's estate, so Tysone figured that mentally mapping the city itself would prove to be beneficial when the streets would be consumed by hordes of zombies. Short-cuts. Dead ends. Hidden alleys. In conclusion, he'd be all-around prepared for anything.

Kids kept pointing at him before their mothers pulled them away. At least the mothers had enough decency to bow to him and mutter what he could only assume was an apology. Maybe if he knew Japanese, they'd be less intimidated?

Don't people love it when foreigners try to speak their language? Hell, some might even appreciate it.

'Tacky accents, here I go.'

An hour went by with him, going nowhere near where Saya lived but gaining knowledge that would be useful.

The streets soon began to fill up with families out for the Sunday markets and funky-named festivals; he ignored these since he was yet to actually grasp the language. He stuck out like a sore thumb with how tall he was.

It reminded him of those stupid videos of conceited influencers recording themselves walking down a bustling street, and capturing the way people would turn to briefly gawk at them.

Tysone walked aimlessly, wondering if he should eat out… after all, he had a thick wallet filled with nothing but oxygen.

A few hours into his one-man exploration, he decided to take a little detour. 

Walking for so long was tiring him out. That's when he stumbled upon a quaint place—a library. He'd have tried to read out its name if it wasn't written in kanji.

He entered. The bell jingled.

The library was air-conditioned and contained rows of literature that'd keep anyone busy for days on end. Each row was numbered and categorized by genre. Desks and chairs were arranged in an orderly manner. The sound of pages flipping was faint and subdued.

The moment Tysone entered, a few people peered over the rims of their own books to glance at him, before they resumed their literature.

While he wasn't the most avid reader out there, he wanted to know the social economic situation and political viewpoint of Japan—what better way than to find some books, both fictional and non-fictional, about historical events in this world and see if it juxtaposed with his original world.

There was a librarian by the counter. Tysone stopped by it, clearing his throat to get the clerk's attention: a bespectacled boy that looked unassuming but kind.

Tysone tried his best to speak in slow and understandable English. "Good morning, sir. I'm looking for history books written in English, if you have any."

The young man blinked, inching back slightly. He scratched his mop of black hair, a sweatdrop forming on the sides. "U-Uh... hello... how can I help you?"

That didn't inspire confidence, to say the least, but Tysone maintained a straight face. He pointed to the bookshelves: "History. Books. English. Please."

The poor boy looked petrified, his Adam's apple quivering in his neck.

Tysone waited, the muscles between his eyes tensing with impatience.

"Uh..."

It was then that Tysone caught something from the corner of his eyes, something that was objectively impossible and made him do a double take. A pretty girl had just walked into his peripheral, looking around with a seemingly confused look in her blue eyes.

Now, if it was only that, he wouldn't have even registered her presence. Oh, no. What had Tysone briefly mimic the librarian's contorted facial features was the fact that said girl was donning a bunny costume, exposing her shoulders and arms and clinging to her figure in a way that highlighted every curve. The outfit was sleek and black, with a shiny, satin-like finish that contrasted sharply with the pale skin of her long legs, which were barely covered by sheer black stockings. The bunny ears atop her head twitched slightly as if they were real.

More importantly, no one seemed to notice her. She was like a ghost that stalked her way around the library, completely unconcerned. Her black stilettos clacked against the turning of pages.

She got uncomfortably close to someone engrossed in a book, yet that man didn't notice her. She waved her hand in front of someone else's face, only to get the same reaction. She walked around, and around, sitting wherever she wanted—doing whatever she wanted, all with an inexplicably stoic expression on her face. 

Either way, she he must've sensed the librarian's panic and fumbling English and, in a bout of curiosity, slowly made her way over.

"..."

Tysone's eyes tracked her. She approached, until she hopped on the librarian's counter, slipping one stocking-clad leg over the other as she observed them. 

The librarian, of course, could neither see nor hear her. If he could, he'd probably have died from embarrassment right here.

Tysone inched away, confused. What in the name of anime powers was he witnessing?

The librarian, meanwhile, skedaddled away to get someone more qualified. 

Tysone took a better look at the girl. Yet another sense of familiarity struck him. Perhaps, if he had seen the anime version of this girl, he'd have recognized her instantly. But such a real life version took a few minutes of his mental gears turning before finally—

'Mai Sakurajima. Is that her?'

A seemingly encounter in the library. A bunny outfit. And a presence that was invisible to others. That's why, he looked deep into her eyes, and muttered. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She blinked, turning to look at him. A moment of silence ensued before—

"Oh, I'm surprised. So you can still see me?"

Mai spoke in clear English. Tysone was inwardly relieved for that. It took him a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "Am I supposed not to?" 

She stared at his face for a few seconds longer. "It doesn't matter. See you." She turned around to walk off, but Tysone calmly continued.

"Why are you invisible to others?"

A normal, reasonably intelligent person could have attributed it to a well-staged prank. Tysone had seen the anime Mai was from, and he also knew that for all intents and purposes, she was not supposed to appear here. 

So, he wondered. Was Mai an outlier, or were there characters from different anime walking around unbeknownst to him? If that was the case, how much of the original HOTD plot would stay the same?

Fuck it all. Seriously.