Chapter 7: Ch 7 - Manga Reboot
The sunlight was too bright.
Keita squinted as it streamed through the window, soft and golden, far too cheerful for how he felt. For a moment, he thought he had woken up in heaven. Or maybe hell. But the ceiling above him wasn't the cracked, stained one from his grimy apartment—it was clean, spotless, the kind of ceiling you'd find in a newly animated high school rom-com.
A breeze blew through the window and brushed his face. Cherry blossoms.
He blinked. Then blinked again.
"What the hell..."
He bolted upright in bed.
He was no longer in his ratty futon. Instead, he sat in a perfectly made bed with checkered blue sheets, a suspiciously cozy blanket around his legs, and an anime poster of a busty idol girl on the wall above his desk.
He scanned the room. A neatly stacked pile of schoolbooks. A basketball in the corner. A shelf filled with DVDs, manga, game cartridges.
A full-length mirror stood beside the closet.
He staggered toward it.
His breath caught in his throat.