Masachika opens the dilapidated door of his crappy and small apartment room.
"I'm home..."
His words fall on no one's ears.
No one is waiting him home.
His little gremlin of a sister is not there to tease him.
His girlfriend Alya is not there to give him her affection.
He has no way to contact his family and friends.
His work peers excluded him from their circle for being an 'ancient' Japanese that is not 'woke'.
He is now a foreigner... in his own nation... in the place he lived for years already.
He's really alone, and he knows that fact all too well.
"What a tiring day."
"9-9-6 work schedule is just fucking inhumane!"
Masachika lumbers in exhaustion towards his bed after 12 hours work shift from 9 AM to 9 PM for 6 days a week (hence, 9-9-6).
"Why did the government allow this kind of shift!?"
"It's downright slavery!"
"Fuck you, A3! You allowed the bloodsucking mega corporations to enslave everyone!!"
"The aliens should have killed you all first!!! Fucking typical politicians!!"
Masachika yelled and vented into his pillow some more, making sure his complaints are not heard by the surveillance system around his apartment room.
"I'm at my breaking point..."
"Fuck... I want to go back... I want to go back so bad... The future sucks ass!!"
Masachika stands up and stares at his balcony.
"Will my suffering end if I just... take a leap of faith?"
"...I think there's a scene in that movie... Men In Black 3, if I remember correctly?"
"Will Smith goes back in time by jumping off high places."
Masachika opens the rusty door of the balcony and looks down.
He gulps when he's analyzing his chance of dying.
However, he finally yields to his survival instinct, choosing to stay alive after all.
"..."
"I guess I'm just too much of a pussy for suicide."
"No, it's much more honorable to stay alive and fight."
"...At least, if I die, I want to know what happened to my friends and family first."
"Get a grip of yourself, me!"
He slaps himself while staring at the blurred mirror, trying to mimic Alya's voice encouraging him back then.
"Masachika, don't give up! I know you can do it!" He says to himself while mimicking Alya's voice.
"..."
"Alya..."
"...I miss you so much."
Masachika proceeds to turn on his old phone and search for Alya's nudes.
"Fuck, I hope I'm not turning into a porn addict..."
"Then again, what other kind of happiness I can even get out there now?"
"Thank you for these nudes, Alya. I promise I'll only ever stroke it to you!"
But before he can even unzip his pants, loud advertisements play from a nearby jumbo billboard and drones on the night sky
"SHIT! WHAT-"
"Oh, it's that ad again."
Masachika stares with disbelief at the bright ad featuring a loud, barely nude blonde girl with a face mask promoting a famous energy drink brand, E-Negi.
"Fuck, what's with this? Even the sky is not free from advertisement now!"
"It's so loud that the building is shaking!"
"And this ad is just... fucking annoying... even after multiple times seeing it, I can't get used to it."
"The neon is fucking bright too, even my dark curtain can't stop my eyes from getting burned by its brightness!"
Masachika put some solid plank of wood on the window while being bombarded by the bright and loud obnoxious ad, trying to save
"...Where's my old beloved country?"
After hours of terrible sleep due to the playing advertisement, Masachika was completely awakened by a knock on the door.
"Wait... let me get dressed first."
After a minute, he heads to his door.
He knows it must be the landlord. There's no one else that would visit him.
"I paid the rent in full last time. Please don't tell me the price is rising again..."
He opens the door slowly and sees a familiar figure.
He widens his eye in disbelief... Tears flow down his face as he keeps staring at the visitor.
"...You...!"
The visitor smiles and waves back at him
"Long time no see." The visitor said to him gently with a familiar woman's voice
"I... want to apologize for just appearing now."
"It took me a long time to track you down... "
"But I finally found you."
As the visitor finishes her greetings and apology, she lifts her hat and mask to him.