The sound of a gun being fired echoed throughout the building, followed by silence.
"F*ck.."
Kenji clutched the side of his stomach as blood started staining his hoodie.
"S-sir! It's over! The police are coming!"
The girl shakily spoke before dread flushed over her face, seeing Kenji's state.
"F*ck! B*tch! How dare you!!"
The man tried to get up, but Kenji kept holding on to him.
"Let go of me, brat!!"
He started bashing Kenji's head with the butt of the pistol, making it bleed.
"I'm so hungry..."
Kenji said in a low voice before he suddenly moved upwards with his mouth wide open.
CRUNCH!
"ARGHH!!"
The man's eyes widened as Kenji started biting down on the man's neck, causing blood to spurt everywhere.
"L-let go! F*ck!!"
BANG!
He let out another shot from his gun, the bullet shot through the roof, causing the girl to duck under the counter.
CRUNCH!!
"IM SO F*CKING HUNGRY!!"
Kenji screamed as he bit down harder.
The man's eyes turned upwards before he suddenly stopped breathing.
The building fell silent, with only Kenji's heavy breathing and the blood dripping making any noise.
"Sir!"
The girl behind the counter moved over towards Kenji, immediately checking up on him.
"S-sir! Thank you for saving my life! Please hold on! Help is on the wa-"
The girl suddenly halted, as if time suddenly stopped.
The white cat from before suddenly appeared.
"W̷̛̲̑h̴̦̅̅á̶͔͚́t̶̲̪̚ ̵̳̾̆ȉ̸͚͘s̸̙͖̎͂ ̸̨̱̿́ȋ̸͚͌ͅt̵͔͍̍ ̴̩̋́t̵͠͝ͅh̴̡͔͛̋ả̷̹͕͝t̶̙̍̕ ̴̳̋̐ŷ̶̯̖͛ǒ̸͖̭ṳ̸̈́̒ ̵̦͂́t̴̫̋ͅr̷̟̽̌ù̸̻̩̅l̸̮̤̒͘y̷͔̒ ̴͎̫̎͠w̴̞̾̾a̶͈͊n̸̹͙̾t̴͖̐?̶̯̽͐"
The same voice from earlier whispered once again.
"I.. I wanna live..."
Kenji spoke with a low voice as he struggled to breathe.
"S̴̨̺̐ọ̸̇ ̵̜̀b̸̨̻̒ẹ̶̓͘ ̴̖̲̾̐i̵̦̅̿t̶̏͜"
"I̸͎̕ ̶̜̏ͅh̸̟̊̽ō̸̒͜p̸̢̬͊ẹ̸̇́ ̸̗̓̈ẗ̴͕̪̀h̶̬̕å̶̘t̵̳̟̔̈́ ̴͙̥̎o̴̲̓̆ṉ̸̥̀e̶̠̞͌ ̴͎̹̐d̷͙̣̿͠a̷̟͛y̵̰͛̀ ̶̖̘̋̐ẅ̶̡́̀ȅ̵̙͘ͅ ̵̧̘̽̆ẃ̵͜i̴̘̕l̸̹̃̈l̸͕̀̈́͜ ̷̟̹̈́͛m̶͖͓̔̀e̶͉̓͘ͅe̷̥̣͂͋t̴̻̅͘ ̵͝ͅạ̴͋͘g̴̞̓̅å̵̪͖̄i̷̪̻͒ṇ̶͉͑ ̶̢͔́̾ď̸̨̠ẽ̷̻̖͋ã̴̤́r̷̻͓͊̓ ̷̣͐̉f̵̢̟͑̈́r̷̡͇̄ī̸͖͇e̴͇̘̅̕ǹ̴̠̀d̵̥̍̀.̷̟͖̐͛.̴̙̲͆̑.̶̖̇͊"
Everything suddenly went black for Kenji.
He could not see anything, hear anything, smell anything, nor feel anything.
And for a while, that became his reality.
Nothing but him, darkness, and his thoughts.
'Is this death?'
'But I can still think...'
'What about the cats.. and the dogs too...'
'Who's gonna feed them now...'
Time passed as Kenji's mind wandered for what seemed to be days, weeks, or even months.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared that blinded Kenji.
And after all that time, he finally felt something, water, water everywhere.
'F*ck! Am I underwater?!'
Kenji panicked as he immediately tried his best to swim upwards.
'What?! Where are my arms?!'
He panicked even more when he realized that his legs and arms were gone.
'Wait, let's calm down...'
'How am I breathing right now...'
It was then that he realized something, if he didn't move forward, he could not breathe.
'What on earth is going on...'
He couldn't help but be confused by the current situation, as only one thing came to mind.
'Fish... I'm a f*cking fish...'
Kenji thought to himself, feeling incredulous about the idea.
[Analysis complete...]
'What was that?!'
[Ark Program Code 00000000000002 Activated!]
Kenji heard a voice in his head. It was a soothing, feminine voice, yet somehow mechanical.
He also realized that he could not speak physically, which made sense as he was underwater.
'Hey! Voice in my head! Tell me what's going on!'
Kenji thought up words in his head, hoping to communicate with the mechanical voice.
[Affirmative Operator, I am Ark Program Code 00000000000002, please designate a convenient name for me]
'A name?'
Though Kenji was confused, he decided to go along, as he finally had someone to talk to after all this time.
'Eva.. like that one white robot from that movie with a cute cleaner robot'
[Affirmative, Operator has designated the name Eva]
The situation became way too surreal as Kenji thought to himself.
'I've become some sort of fish and there's a mechanical voice in my head...'
[Operator, do you have an inquiry?]
'By inquiry, do you mean what?'
There was only silence for a few moments.
[Let me rephrase Operator, do you have any questions?]
'So that's what you meant... You should've just said so!'
There was only silence for a few moments.
'Tell me what's going on, Eva, what are you? What kind of fish am I? And where am I?'
[To answer your first question, I am Ark Program Code 00000000000002, designated name Eva, a sentient program for the growth of the being 0000100502003, Isonade Kenji..]
'A system?'
[Yes, through me, and your physiology as a monster, you shall evolve to become stronger.. and perhaps... smarter too...]
'What do you mean by that last part?'
[Nothing, dear Operator, I was just giving a general statement of my capabilities..]
Kenji somehow felt insulted but decided to let it slide as he signaled her to continue talking while he swam.
[To answer your second question, you are currently a lesser great white shark]
'What?! Really?!'
[Shall I answer that question, Operator? Or was that statement purely rhetorical?]
'What do you mean by rhetorical?'
Eva fell silent for a moment once more before speaking.
[Does the Operator wish for me to answer that statement? Or was that just an expression?]
'Oh! That was just an expression, of course! Man, I got lucky! I'm a great whi-'
Kenji suddenly slowed down his swimming as he was frozen by what appeared in front of him.
'W-what the fuck...'
A large skeleton of a sea creature hundreds of times as large as him appeared in front of him.
'What is that?!'
[Unavailable to identify species, apologies Operator, but I am able to gather information about its age based on the deterioration and hardness of the bones.]
'Okay.. how do we do that?'
[The Operator only needs to make physical contact with the bones once, and then I shall be able to tell..]
And so with some reluctance, Kenji swam closer and tapped it with one of his fins.
[Based on my analysis, this former lifeform started decomposition three millennia ago.]
'Three millennia?! That's like three hundred years!'
[Three thousand, actually, Operator.]
'Three thousand?! D*mn... but there wasn't a fish this large on Earth, is there?'
[Earth? Operator, may I ask what this Earth you spoke of?]
'Ha! It seems like I finally know something YOU don't, Eva!'
Eva became silent, as if she were waiting for an explanation.
'Earth is the name of the planet we're currently swimming in! How could you not know that?!'
Moments passed before Eva finally spoke again.
[I will now answer your third question from earlier, Operator, your current location is somewhere within the Azure sea of the Grierson continent, on planet VOL-465..]
Now, Kenji became silent for a moment.
'We're not on Earth..?'
He suddenly stopped swimming for a moment before he started to feel like he was choking, forcing him to continue swimming.
'F*ck! Why can't I just stand still for a moment!!'
[That is because your physiology will not allow you to take in oxygen without swimming, dear Operator; it is a process called ram ventilation.]
'I know that... all sharks are like that..'
[Correction Operator, not all sh-]
'Atatata, I don't wanna hear it!'
'Please answer me, Eva... am I really not on Earth..?'
Eva took a moment before replying.
[Yes Operator, as I've stated earlier, I've never even heard of such a planet, perhaps it's unregistered...]
'I see... so I'm on some sort of alien planet? I guess it makes sense given how large that skeleton is in comparison to me, despite me being a literal great white shark...'
[A lesser, great white shark Operator...]
'....'
[Dear Operator? Are you alright?]
'Why am I starting to think that you aren't really here to help me at all...'
SWOOSH!
Before Kenji could continue to talk, a creature swam past him, creating movement in the water, followed by bubbles, flowing in front of him.
SWISH!
It moved again, but this time it revealed itself.
'Is that a motherf*cking squid?!'