Matthew-George-Yves-Franklin Carter is a way too long name for this short story, hence we will name him Chaume. Chaume standing for thatch in French, and Matthew-Yves-Georgie-Frank Carter's hair looked like straw, and Matt-George-Olive-Franklin Carter's story took place in France.

See how annoying this name is ?

Anyway, Chaume was an exchanged college student, a very lazy one. There was nothing special about him except that he was a loner who had no idea of what to do in life, like approximatively half of the students on earth.

That day, Chaume forced himself to go to class while knowing this was not the path he wanted for his future. The way to the university was the exact same as the one he had taken during the last few months. The weather was as shitty, and the minutes were as always passing slowly. The clock finally indicated lunch time with clemency, therefore Chaume's curled up spine broke free.

Chaume was eating a simplistic sandwich alone somewhere behind the College's building, that is, until an alarm rang and his momentum froze. It did not sound like a typical alarm, it was neither a fire nor an attack, at least not your usual attack.

It was what was called a Dungeon Break. 

Indeed, in Chaume's world existed dungeons and dungeon breaks. This sur-natural event defying the laws of science was explained as a portal leading to an alternative universe where humans were not, but odd creatures were.

Unlike most fiction stories with dungeons portals, here, human kind had not been given super powers to fight against those monsters, thus the only way were lame weapons like a knife or a gun, and in worst cases, tanks. It is with these weaponized strengths that professionals were going into dungeons to clear them by killing their respective boss.

The reason behind the breaking of a dungeon was generally due to it remaining unclear for too long - Like right now.

Since rare, it was a first for Chaume and this city. 

Backpack on, our main character sluggily stood up whereas people ran with horrified expressions, stained by red complexions, shrieking in unison. He swallowed the over chewed bread, about to take a second step forwards but something squeaked underneath. 

Chaume glanced down to his shoe flattening with all his weight a strange white fur rug. He quickly backed off and the rug jumped into a fluffy ball. The thought rushed faster than the afraid students, this thing was a copy paste of a rice ball ; although covered in dirt thanks to Chaume.

While floating in the air, Riceball sparky gaze was ogling the unfinished sandwich.

"Want some ?" Chaume shook the food to Riceball's non-existent nose.

The salivating little creature had no idea what "Go ahead" meant, yet it knew it had been granted permission to increase its low hunger bar.

Riceball stretched its small mouth into a gigantic maw decorated of saliva lines and shark like fangs capable of tearing apart a bear. Riceball gobbled the sandwich in a single bite thereupon the mouth returned to its initial state, a grateful smile added. 

The scene had put Chaume in a daze which cut short when the white fur collided with his forehead. 

"Riceball...?"

It seemed a connection had been made. Still...it probably was not the moment or place. 

In the background, behind Riceball, a woman yelled to her dangling forearm at the verge of detaching itself from the rest. Chaume scowled in disgust, lips curling downwards, then, chills escalated his back to the sight of the woman's aggressor ; surely above three meters, a deer appearance but a humanoid standing and chainsaws for arms.

The deer's head swayed towards him in a micro-second, as if its instinct knew it was being observed, and oh dear, Chaume could have pissed in his pants. The paused chainsaws started up, blood lust boiling within the vertical irises. The woman fainted due to the lack of blood - Or perhaps she died, Chaume could not bother to care, already too busy with his own critic case. Without a doubt, he was the next target.

The death knell echoed in the campus, one hoof after another, crushing the tar, crushing the hope.

Chaume was ready to say bye-bye, however even if he was ready, maybe Riceball was not. Unlike Chaume, this innocent ball could have been destined to a bright avenir. 

Was this thinking an excuse for Chaume to have his protagonist ending ? Who knows. The heroic young man screamed the name of his new companion from the top of his lungs, hand pushing this one's gummy self away in a last attempt. The chainsaws rose in the sky, sentencing the hero by their enormous shadows.

Sayonara....He whispered in his mind, embracing the role of the main character of a shônen ; glitter in his cornered tear ; rainbows all around ; petals dramatically falling like the soft melody of the piano coming from....from…...erm from.……...Yeah bullshit, this never happened. What happened was that the hero turned out to be Riceball who rebounded on the wall and flew right into the deer's plexus, this with enough impulse to make it stagger a few centimeters back.

"RICEBALL !" Chaume acclaimed in awe before facing the same faith as the deer. His nose got punched by the bouncing Riceball, so hard it bled. "Riceball..." He whined ass on the ground, careless of the still present threat which prepared an attack. 

Gladly, Riceball special kick had had its effect and the monster miscalculated the distance hence the chainsaws got stuck in the tar, right between Chaume's spread legs.

Chaume let out weird noises of fear as crawling away on the cracked ground that soon turned into Moses separating the sea. His vision suddenly went dark, a hole of light slowly growing further. He was falling, really deep. The vision of Riceball rushing to him was followed by a black out.

-

Chaume held his throbbing head, body covered in scratches, the torn backpack testing his balance. 

Catching the echoes of Riceball's squeaks in the distance, he analyzed the surroundings.

A sort of hallway, oddly similar to the university's one, yet with an eerie atmosphere ; ivy gripping the walls and numbered doors, a sharp ceiling made of glowing stalactites, rocks here and there on the floor.

Chaume dragged his weak feet to the bottom of the corridor, getting closer to the unhuman choir. 

There, he found a red ball hitting with all its might the horde of monsters.

"Riceball !"

To Chaume's voice the rice covered of tomato sauce made a U-turn on itself.

"RICEBALL !"

To the tone of this second call, Riceball understood it had not been cautious enough. 

It was the moment to return the favor. Without processing what he was about to do, Chaume reached for his metal bottle in his backpack that afterwards crashed on the ground, and with this almost harmless object he jumped on the skin and bones creatures bearing countless eyeballs to smack the shit out of it.

The metal mashed a handful of eyes, letting out a nauseating sound ; Chaume's grasp on the weapon trembling because of it but also because of the adrenaline. He quickly found himself in a tight spot when the other monsters formed a circle around him therefore Riceball came to the rescue. 

While Chaume was clumsily swaying his bottle in all senses, Riceball widened its maw as much as it could to then chop off a few body members which were thereafter spat on the stalactites like impaled chewing-gums made of flesh, bones and blood.

Our useless main character was amazed by their incredible teamwork capable of reaching the final boss. 

It had to be the final boss. 

In this classroom a thousand times the seize it should have been, was something sat on a black throne. This thing had near five necks each linked to a head uglier than the other as its torso was alike an amalgam of wrinkled skin. The thing left its throne to overview the two frightened ants.

Chaume had done it. His pants had turned darker as a warm sensation slid down his shaky legs. 

He could not feel ashamed in this hopeless situation.

Riceball peeked to the human, its gaze softening in pity.

"Riceball..." Chaume mumbled "RUNNNNNNNNNNN" He yelled with exaggerated features and overemphasized sweat drops on his forehead. In an instant, he was rushing towards the exit.

Riceball gave a keen nod before doing the same, however one of the monster's neck extended at the speed of light to the doorframe - A toothful grin greeted Chaume who was convinced this picture would haunt him till his death, said death clearly on its way in the fastest train.

Scared stiff, Chaume's mouth gaped a "uuuUUUWAAaaaAAaaHHH" Then a louder "UUUUUUUWWAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" as tearing up.

The following second, the toothful grin was gone. What remained was a headless neck which quickly retracted back to the throne as spurting gore. Chaume's eyes roll to his left, tense body immobile. He caught a glimpse of Riceball's mouth shrieking then stared at the rolling head clashing into a table's leg.

"RICEBALLLLL" Chaume bawled out as rushing to hug the tomato rice, his tears tracing a line in the air.

A second neck extended to interrupt this beautiful embrace, that only, to join its severed sibling. 

The last intact necks came all at once towards the duo, unaware that the power of friendship was unbeatable. Riceball was being applauded by his friend in the background each time a head fell down ; he was a true hero, he was the true hero.

At last the wrinkled torso collapsed and the winners celebrated with joy, until the area began to shake. 

The throne exploded, the stalactites shattered on the ground - Everything was crumbling. 

The two best-friends sprinted out of the room and encountered a wavering blue oval in the corridor, a portal so to say. Chaume's expression enlightened as he swayed back to Riceball, but then....the light disappeared.

"Rice...ball...?"

Riceball's appearance had become spectral, like a faded gleam, like a cloud, a mist, an illusion. 

Riceball sorrowfully squeaked then slowly approached Chaume and bumped on his forehead.

"So this is a goodbye...."

Riceball then proceeded to use its strength to push Chaume's forehead, forcing him to step back. 

Chaume bitterly smiled with pinched eyebrows, and once his back was turned, he cried.

His heart was hurting. His throat was hiding a knot. 

He wished he could have saved Riceball. 

Maybe...there would have been a way ? Maybe by learning more about portals he would be able to save other rice balls….

The lost student finally felt like his future had meaning.