Black, gray, white—these are the "Color" shades used to describe this dark, dreary city apartment. Apart from brown floors and cabinets, no other color stood out.

  It was an unsaturated living space devoid of all joy. Words cannot describe how abysmal this living space was, especially with the fact that surplus amounts of garbage and trash were scattered all over. Used napkins, old plastic bags, crumbled-up paper balls, discarded plastic cups and forks, scattered alcohol bottles and pill bottles, and so on. At first glance, one could make the safe assumption that the apartment was torn through by a hurricane.

  In this dreadful, horrifyingly messy apartment, a phone rang on the kitchen counter. "[Please leave your message after the tone,]" the answering machine said before beeping.

  A woman's voice followed after, concern in her voice. "... Noel? I know you're there. Noel, please, pick up."

  The apartment was in pure silence. The woman on the other end was calling out for "Noel". Calling out to the biggest piece of trash in that apartment.

  "Can we... can we please be grown-ups about this? Talk to me. You owe me that, at least, for all I've done for you."

  No one was there to answer. Not a soul was present to answer.

  "Do you hear me? I've done so much already, Nakamura, come on. I... I need you to tell me what's wrong. What do I do? What do you need from me?" the voice asks, increasingly desperate. "... you can't just shut me out like this again. Please, Nakamura, please...."

  It's all just trash. Discarded trash. Noel knew better than anyone that not a person was left in that apartment.

  "... tch... you pathetic little—" the voice spoke, becoming more hostile. "I can't take this from you anymore, you know that?! I try and I try and you're just... you're ignoring me! You're ghosting me! You do this EVERY time something goes wrong! I just... you frustrate me, Noel!"

  She screamed and she shouted. She called for someone who was simply not there.

  Noel is not there anymore. He cannot listen, he cannot pick up the phone, and he cannot answer or speak to her. He cannot do that anymore.

  "Fine! This is the last straw! Drop dead, Noel Nakamura!" the voice finally called out in the end, before hanging up.

  Beep.

  ...

  ... the funeral services were quick.

  Days after this call, neighbors found a young man dead in this apartment, lying amidst trash. Emergency services were called to the scene, with nothing else to be done except collect his body.

  Noel Nakamura, age 19. Died of unnatural causes in his apartment.

  Attendees shared stories of him as a starry-eyed boy who aspired for the stars. Teachers said he was the biggest dreamer in class. Friends called him the most dependable guy in the class. Family members shed tears for the sweet boy they loved with all their hearts.

  The sentiment shared amidst all was that he was going to a better place, that he did not suffer and need not suffer. He will rest amidst the angels, the "Christmas son" given proper rest.

  Wherever he ends up, Noel shall be free to dream all he wants...

  ...

  ... with one such outcome being a field with blue skies.

  Bright, blue skies. Fluffy, white clouds. Lush, green grass. The pure colors of nature. Far in the distance, a cozy and homely village with wooden brown walls, sturdy red roofs, and stone grey chimneys. The colors of civilization.

  Beneath his feet, a sandy beige path. A winding, curving path splits through the grasslands to guide travelers to this village.

  The sights all around are beautiful, glorious, and filled with—

  "GAH! (BLEEP)! (BLEEP!) (BLEEP)—!" Noel, the newest arrival, screams at the top of his lungs.

  Noel gasps desperately for air, hand held close to his chest as he coughs a fit into his other hand. "UGH! GHHHH... HK! HHhhhh..." Rather than take a step, he just stumbles forward, completely short of breath.

  Everything in his body feels like it's on fire. Everything in his head feels utterly foggy and hazy, making it immensely hard to focus and think. It takes him a while to understand his surroundings, a while to even make the attempt to.

  After all, he DIED.

  Noel doesn't remember how he died, though. He struggles to properly think about his death, to think about the causes and circumstances behind his fate. The one thing Noel knows is that he died, and now he feels not dead. Being not dead means he's alive enough to feel the overwhelming pain in his body.

  This is only made worse once Noel lifts his head and looks around for a moment. While his body is physically in pain, he is now mentally in pain as his eyes are forced to stare at this eyesore of a natural landscape. Noel's always disliked two things: bright lights, and the outside. So, Noel's immediate thought at seeing both of them combined into the most excessive sight he's ever had to look at: rainbow vomit.

  So, the bottom line is that Noel did not want to feel, and he did not want to see. By being alive right now, he had to do both. It hurts and it makes Noel want to scream.

  Before he can scream, however, something calls out to Noel. Something speaks and catches his attention enough to take all his attention off the bright sight of nature.

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  "Hello! Welcome, [Player], to the World of [Niwaki]!"

  Hearing this voice, Noel's eyes are brought to gaze upon the floating creature of white jelly encasing orange. A weird, strange, talking creature that floats a few feet off the ground at all times, its mouthless self speaking to him.

  Noel is in disbelief as he is face to face with the Guide Jelly. He does not know that this is an entity designed to help him through this new world of his, to teach him the essentials of where he is. Noel is staring at this creature in sheer, sheer, SHEER disbelief.

  "Before you can come into [Niwaki], we must prepare you for the—" the Guide Jelly tries to tell Noel, happily beaming in delight at the newcomer.

  Immediately, the Guide Jelly is interrupted and grabbed by Noel. His scrawny hands hold onto the gelatinous, flying blob, grabbing it successfully as he stares in absolute bewilderment at this creature. This thing is real and it's freaking him out.

  "T-The (bleep)?!" Noel exclaims, shouting in its face. "What are you?! Where am I?! Where is this?!"

  The Guide Jelly stares at Noel for some time in stunned silence, its eyes blinking a couple of times. "Well, [Player], and you're in [Niwaki], a land of—"

  "Don't call me that!" Noel grumbles out, his fingers squeezing the Guide Jelly tighter... feeling distressed at that word. Player. It makes him feel a chill down his spine, for some reason, and he... he just—

  Feeling Noel squeeze tighter, squeezing in a possibly hostile way... the Guide Jelly immediately slips out of his grasp and flies higher into the air, staring at Noel from a distance high up.

  Noel stares back, gritting his teeth and staring straight up at the Guide Jelly with raw unease. His hands hold nothing.

  Right now, the Guide Jelly is thinking about how... irrational... Noel is. Compared to other new arrivals, Noel is far more erratic. Far more forceful and impulsive, an exception to the typical newcomer.

  Even so, the Guide Jelly is meant to teach all who arrive, so it makes its best effort to accommodate Noel's frightened self. "I see that you're very... [Distressed], [Player]!" the Guide Jelly tells Noel, starting to float down slowly as it makes a detour in its purpose. "Very well. I will call you by your name. Please give me your name, [Player]?"

  Noel stares up at the flying creature as it asks him this and descends. The man is still frantically stressed and panicked, on edge around this creature he knows nothing about. As it speaks, however, it takes him a few moments to realize: of course, it wouldn't know his name. He didn't give it in the first place. Calm the heck down, Noel.

  So, he takes a deep breath to recollect himself before answering the creature properly. "... Noel. Noel Nakamura."

  "Well, nice to meet you, [Noel]!" the Guide Jelly tells Noel, expressing its cheerful tone once again, getting back on track. "As for what I am, I am... well, I am your guide. I am the [Guide Jelly], your guide to [Niwaki]'s basics and essentials."

  A pause of silence from Noel. "S... So, like, some video game tutorial NPC."

  The Guide Jelly slowly floats back down, and answers: "Yes!" It does not know what those words mean. Yet, it pretends it does anyway.

  "Hm," Noel noises, deep in thought as he stares at the creature for a while. Given enough time, he now feels... okay. Noel becomes indifferent to the fact that it's a floating talking blob creature now. He's fine with it, at least for now. "... I see. Uhm. Right. I... Okay. Guide away, then," he tells the Guide Jelly, wanting to get on with this spiel.

  The Guide Jelly sparkles and nods, before making a throat-clearing sound and continuing continuing. "Ahem. Allow me to start over. Welcome, [Noel], to the World of [Niwaki]! Before you can come into [Niwaki], we must prepare you for the adventure ahead of you! Here in [Niwaki], you will live your life in an..."

  Noel makes his best attempt to listen as he crosses his arms, staring at the Guide Jelly as it spouts its explanation about Niwaki or whatever. He tries his best to listen after that rough introduction he's responsible for.

  However, Noel doesn't pay attention to the whole rambling explanation. Not one single second or word remains in Noel's head. Not because the explanation is boring (even if it is an absolute snoozefest), no. He simply thinks about other things, too distracted to listen to the Guide Jelly.

  The main other thing is his shirt. As Noel's arms cross and he feels his arms, he pats the clothing over it and raises an eyebrow at the feeling. He finally looks down at his body for the first time, to see that he's dressed in some sort of burlap potato sack of an outfit.

  Noel thinks: Why the heck am I wearing this?

  If Noel's been correctly following the concept so far, he's in a completely different world, and he doesn't get to keep his clothes. Whatever brought Noel here made the deliberate effort to make sure he didn't get to keep his own clothes. Like, they took his clothes off and put him in the worst freaking clothes you could ever put on a person.

  Noel can't stop thinking that, he's constantly thinking about these clothes. Maybe he was too distracted by the fact his body was burning, to even notice the fact he had on some scratchy and irritating sack. Maybe it's because he only NOW sees the outfit. The bottom line is, these clothes are now very painful and irritating to his skin.

  Noel hates it. The "clothes" he has on are horrible. His hatred of these clothes completely occupies his thoughts, pushing out all other thoughts for some time.

  Unfortunately, this means he tunes out the Guide Jelly and its informative self. In the time Noel dwells on the uncomfortable clothes, the Guide Jelly finishes its long explanation and says: "... and conjure the shape of your trusty [Axe of Light]!"

  That's the only part that Noel even hears, the Guide Jelly telling him to conjure an axe. An apparent "Axe of Light"?

  What?

  Noel blinks his eyes and takes his attention off his painfully horrible clothes. Now, he just sees a tree, a tree that spontaneously came out of nowhere.

  Noel can piece things together to know he needs to chop this tree down. What he's bewildered by is the... "Axe of Light", confused about how to "conjure" it. He has already tuned out the explanation and is completely lost on what he has to do to, apparently, make an axe out of condensed light.

  Is it asking him to do magic he just does not have?

  ... hm. Okay. No. It's supposedly some kind of guide, some tutorial. Calm down, Noel, he knows he's able to ask questions. In theory, everything here is stuff he can do, and it's fine to ask the tutorial creature to repeat the steps. It's fine.

  "Okay... could you... could you repeat how to conjure the axe again?" Noel asks.

  The Guide Jelly nods enthusiastically. "Okay! To repeat: To extract the wood from this tree, please focus with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and conjure..."

  Right, okay, so he has to focus with all his heart and soul on conjuring the axe.

  That tells him nothing.

  That does not tell him how to make an axe. "Focusing his heart and soul" isn't something clear. Sure, the step of his heart can just be him tensing and clenching his chest, but what does he do with the step about his soul?! A soul is completely intangible, he...

  Okay.

  Alright.

  Maybe it's something instinctive he has to do. Maybe his heart and soul make sense to use in this world. Maybe if he attempts to focus, his heart and soul will fill in the blanks, and an axe will appear.

  Right. Noel wiggles his fingers and takes a deep breath. This is some kind of meditation crap, right? Noel closes his eyes, breathes slowly, and focuses.

  He focuses. He focuses heavily. He concentrates on getting his heart and soul to work, to make an axe.

  Make an axe, heart and soul, make an axe...

  ...

  It's not working.

  He's not doing it.

  No matter how much Noel tries to make the axe, it just will not appear. Noel's body shakes as he tries harder and harder to make this axe, to force out the light, to force it into an axe. His hand swings around a little, since holding his hand still isn't working, but... no. No dice.

  Noel cannot make the axe. He tensely realizes he cannot make the axe. He learns that he cannot conjure this tool no matter how hard he tries. His heart and soul are just not in it, they will not make this axe for him. He cannot axe it up.

  As a result... Noel cannot chop down the tree... and cannot continue with the tutorial.