Chapter 3: 3. [Not]

At my aunt’s house, I browsed the web to find other clues about the missing people. All I could find were more news reports. They all mentioned they were last seen by their families going to sleep. But after the family woke up, they were gone.

I questioned my aunt about it, but she knew about as much as everyone else. Not a surprising fact.

In just a few hours since I came back to this town, I had a few pieces of this mystery laid out before me. Iyo’s dreams, the news reports, and Iyo’s dad.

That last one felt the most out of place. But no matter how hard I questioned him, Iyo’s dad refused to tell me more.

“What could it be?” I questioned as I clicked back and forth through the news articles.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying myself. It felt wrong for me to think that, but I’d always been fascinated by mystery novels, movies, and any other media. I was no expert investigator or anything, one could say I was woefully underqualified to be researching this, but I did feel a rush of excitement being able to use some of the things I learned from that media in real life.

A small phone icon popped up on the left side of my periphery. It was a green holographic symbol shaking left and right in a ringing motion. An annoying beeping filled my ears.

I pressed on the floating Icon, answering the call.

“You there Katsu?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you message Araki?”

“He said he’ll be over after the arcade closes.”

“Okay. Sorry again for pinning this on you.”

“It’s fine. I can’t blame your dad for not wanting you to go out at night. With all the disappearances and all that.”

She sighed, “Still, I can take care of my own. And you two would be there so…” she trailed off.

“Don’t worry. I got everything under control. If anything happens, my aunt’s cameras will catch it.”

On the taskbar on the right side of my periphery, I opened the app for the cameras. The way the NAHD was set up made all the app icons and new windows cluttered, but this was for the sake of security.

The app showed the cameras placed on the perimeter of the house, plus the one by the entrance inside. It was impossible for anything to sneak past the camera’s view.

With how paranoid my aunt had always been, it was fortunate that it came in handy in this situation.

“Okay…” Iyo said dejectedly. “I’ll call you later.”

With our plan set in motion, all I had to do was wait. But simply waiting felt like a waste of time, and yet…I could suddenly feel my mind clouding over. My eyes became heavy and my vision blurry. It was like my body was sapped of all its energy.

Without realizing it, I fell asleep on top of my keyboard.

---

I was awoken by a frigid breeze against my neck. Snapping my eyes open, I realized I was laying on a concrete floor.

“Where…?” I trailed off as I stood.

The large room I was in looked like a bunker with its concrete walls and ceiling. Large conveyor belts lined either side of the walls and a large roll-up metal door was at the far end of the room. Wooden crates were tucked away under the conveyor belts.

Before I could ask any questions, I heard the metal door squeak open ever so slightly, then forcibly shut once more.

Then, faintly, I heard a voice—

“Katsu!...Katsu!”

“Iyo?” I immediately recognized that voice. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the door.

“Help!” she screamed.

On pure instinct, I ran towards the door. “Iyo!?”

“Katsu! Help!”

I looked around for a way to open the door, but there was nothing. I gritted my teeth as I reach down to the lip of the closed door and tried pulling it open. My muscles burned and ached as I stupidly tried to pry the door open.

Then, another voice came from the other side.

“Katsuto!” the voice of Araki screamed.

“I—I’m coming!” I yelled back as I continued to pull. Yet the door didn’t move an inch.

“Infuriating, isn’t it?”

“Huh?!” I let go of the door and turned around.

I knew I heard a voice behind me, but there was nothing there.

“Who’s there!?”

A strong wind current flowed from the left to the right then back to the left. A strange occurrence inside an enclosed area.

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“That isn’t for you to know.”

“What the hell do you want!” I yelled at the air. Wherever that voice was coming from, it sounded like it came from everywhere at once.

“To see your will.”

“My…will?”

“Just how willing are you to save your friends? How willing are you to keep loneliness at bay?”

Once again, I heard the screams of Araki and Iyo coming from the other side of the door.

…

I never knew what being alone was like. For most of my life, I had Iyo and Araki there by my side. I always took for granted my friendship with those two, something I never realized. So when I lost that, I felt a part of me was lost too.

…

I walked back towards the door and grabbed the bottom of the door once more.

…

A shell. That was all I was. It was only after I moved that I realized everything I had. I was but another cliché, realizing everything I had after I lost it.

…

I dug my nails into the small gap between the door and the floor, forcing as much leverage as I could. Was it pointless? Probably, but I had to save them. No matter what.

“Rhgg—” I grunted as I used every ounce of my body to lift the door. My joints creaked as my muscles screamed. The metal dug into my skin, ripping through it and drawing blood. I ground my teeth until I could almost feel them crack.

The door didn’t budge…but I didn’t expect it to.

“I see.” The voice whispered with another cool breeze.

Suddenly, the door shot to the ceiling. Before I could get any sense of accomplishment, a hand emerged from the darkness that was the other side. It grabbed hold of my neck then forcibly pulled me in—

---

“Wake up already.” A hand shook the nape of my neck.

“Huh!?” I opened my eyes, revealing the laptop screen in front of me.

“Since when were you a heavy sleeper,” Araki said to my side. Without giving me time to respond, he added, “Where did you even get a NAHD? You do know you’re not supposed to sleep with one on, right?”

I unconsciously touched the device on my temple. The metal top was warm.

Was that just a dream? It had felt much too real for that to be the case, but there was no other explanation for that.

At least Araki and Iyo were safe.

“Oh um…” I was still shaken from the dream, but I tried answering him regardless, “Iyo let me borrow it for a bit.”

“Ah, it’s that one. Is it still acting up?”

“Acting up?” I parroted.

“Didn’t she tell you? That NAHD was having connection issues. I tried fixing it yesterday, but yeah, I’m no technician.” He scratched his head, “To tell you the truth, I actually fell asleep with it on and barely did any fixing.”

“So you’re a hypocrite.”

“No, no, I’m just teaching you what I learned.”

“Whatever.” I shoved him back a few steps.

With Araki now here, the plan was all but finished. All we had to do now was pass the time. I would be on the lookout the entire time.

---

“A perfect sample.”

“You call it that, but are you certain this is the right choice?”

“Does that matter? We’re in control. As far as they know, none of this happened.”

“…is that so…”

“Yes.”

“What’s their name again?”

“Katsuto. Katsuto Ookubo.”

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