Chapter 2 - 02 - Awakening in a Strange Land
I woke up with a strange feeling, as if my body wasn't the same, as if I wasn't the same person. Something was... wrong? No, that wasn't quite it. It was more like everything around me was different, more expansive and more... wild. For a second, I wondered: (What is happening? Where am I?)
"-------XXXX----XXXXXXXX--"
I tried to open my eyes, but everything was blurry. My eyes? They felt heavy, though not uncomfortably so. Blue spots moved everywhere, making it hard to focus. It was as if I could see the world in a different way, more sharply.
With my vision still blurred, I tried to focus on anything around me. I noticed something different about myself. My hands — they weren't the same. They were smaller, with shorter fingers, small claws emerging from them, and dark skin. Looking around, or at least at what I could see, I began to move my tiny hands around and then noticed something else. My ears... were they large? And furry? They had a strange shape, like a cat's or a dog's. (Is this me? Are these my ears? Like an animal's?)
My memories... everything felt distant. It wasn't like I had forgotten who I was, but more like a weight had settled on my chest, something that made me feel... disconnected. What I knew for sure was that this was not Kyoto.
As I continued to feel around, I discovered a soft skin, what felt like fur, fluffy and smooth. It seemed like a person, but very large — or maybe I was just very small.
I heard something close to me again, as if someone was trying to get my attention, "XXXXX---XX"
"---XXXXX----XXXXXXXX--" Another voice, a bit further away, spoke this time.
I started trying to discern the sounds around me, only to realize they weren't Japanese. From what I could tell, they weren't English or Spanish either. Nothing anyone was saying made sense to me. Everything felt strange... the way people moved, the nature surrounding me, the sounds... None of it was familiar.